Legacy of the Jedi: Side B

Challenge and diversity make us strong. Too much protection can prevent us from learning, from reaching our potential. We can learn from others, but we must also learn from our own experiences…and our own mistakes. It is your destiny to train and become Jedi Knights and use the Force when necessary to maintain peace in our galaxy.

-Luke Skywalker, Grandmaster of the New Jedi Order

LotJB[ I ]LotJB

Kani Asari knew her best friend was in trouble, knew that being several days late to pick her up for what was hopefully a once-in-a-lifetime event was unwise in the extreme. After all, it wasn't every day Coruscant had a grand reopening. She exhaled and tried to keep her mind clear as her lithe form moved through the Form Five katas, saber weaving an intricate pattern through the air mimicking the deflection of a multitude of blaster-bolts. A bead of sweat rolled off a strand of golden-blonde hair, and she whipped around, her lightsaber evaporating the perspiration in a single sweep. Clenching her fist around her lightsaber, she struggled to maintain control of the rising annoyance she was feeling, deliberately letting her dunderheaded best friend know through their bond that standing her up for such an important event was hazardous to his health. Of course, the others in the room weren't exactly helping her mood either.

"Face it, Kani, he is so your boyfriend," Melodie Jedi Apprentice Cappricia giggled.

"We're not like that," a red-faced Kani Asari defended herself, batting aside a flurry of imaginary blaster-bolts with a bit more vigor than was needed. She grimaced, so much for calm and focus. "He's just my friend, my best friend."

"That's how it always starts off in games," Pantoran Jedi gamer Loli said distractedly, button mashing her controller to take out a giant K'lor-slug. "Come on! You can do it! You almost had this thing last time! He's down to half health, you can do it!"

"Yeah, well this is real life," Kani retorted, continuing with her lightsaber kata. "Even if I was interested in him that way, and I'm not, I'd just be making our friendship even more complicated. I'm perfectly happy with the way things are now. Well, not exactly happy. Our fearless leader better have a good reason for being several days late. The ceremonies start today."

"Thought you didn't like the media spotlight and all," Cappricia asked. She was sitting at a table cataloguing memory crystals from the archives. On the same table was a dish of silvery fish her people loved to snack on; a direct import from Yavin Eight obtained during a small adventure a few months earlier.

"She just wants to spend time with her boyfriend," Loli explained unhelpfully. "He is definitely losing a lot of relationship points with her for being late."

"Argh, you two!"

"Kani!" The voice of fifteen-year old Jesmin Sarkin-Tainer called out from another room. "Your boyfriend's on the comm!"

Kani groaned. "He's not my boyfriend!"

"Should I tell him you're busy?"

"You girls need to find something else to busy yourself with," Kani muttered, shaking her head. "I'll be right there."

"Hey, with most every Master and Knight going to the re-opening of the Coruscant Senate building, we had to pick something to amuse ourselves with," Cappricia chirped. "Besides, you're lucky enough that Ben is taking you to the ceremony with his family. Let us have our fun while you're still here."

"He better be calling to explain why the Falcon is several days overdue," Kani sighed.

"It's an old ship, probably didn't get the right upgrades for it," Loli chirped, then pumped her fist as her character performed a finishing move. "Yes! Take that! Kill my Jedi Sentinel seven times and that's what you get!"

Kani just smiled and shook her head, leaving the others to their various activities. Passing Jesmin in the hallway, she smiled. "Thanks , Jes."

"Not a problem," Jesmin grinned.

Taking the turbolift to the communication hub high in one of the many archways that spired over the Praxeum, Kani took a brief moment to look at her reflection in the mirrored window of the lift. Her seventeen year old image stared back at her. A hand absently went up to rub the sun-shaped Kasha pendant attached to the leather cord necklace Ben had given her for her birthday that year; thumb tracing over the ancient inscriptions carved into the crystal. As she did, she made a few minor adjustments to her hair and robes and released a breath, absently letting the Force course through her. Letting her hands fall to her side, she gave herself one last look over. She was perfectly happy being Ben Skywalker's best friend, perfectly…

The turbolift doors opened and Kani made the short trip to the alcove. Hitting a button, she couldn't help but grin inwardly as Ben Skywalker appeared in holo-form. Outwardly, though, she decided to have some fun at his expense.

"Is it usually your habit to stand me up?" Kani asked with an arched eyebrow, folding her arms in front of her. "Three days late is a new record."

"I know, I know," Ben groaned. "I'm really sorry about this. But when Uncle Han stopped by that last refueling station, the techs put the wrong fuel into the Falcon and blew out most of the sublight-drive. We've been stuck in the middle of nowhere since then. The YT-1300 isn't exactly a modern ship these days, especially with all the modifications Uncle Han made to this one."

"So your excuse for not picking me up for those ceremonies on Coruscant is that your ship ran out of gas?" Kani continued with an impassive face. She couldn't keep up the charade though and her mouth cracked into a wry grin. "Isn't that supposed to happen after you pick me up?"

Ben rolled his eyes. "You know how plans with my family go. Uncle Han said he should have repairs done by today so we shouldn't be too much longer."

"You know about how plans go with your family," Kani reminded.

"Yeah," Ben chuckled. "Make sure to pass the word on to my brother will you? Tell him we're running late."

"I don't think he minds," Kani laughed. "He's on the Mim Lunar Low-Gravity training facility right now. I think he went there to get away from his hordes of admirers."

"Why do I get the feeling there's a story behind this," Ben groaned.

"Ryza Durron and Jesmin Sarkin-Tainer, I'll leave it at that," Kani drawled. "Janek's quite the charmer you know. Only problem is that he's charmed two at one time and both don't like to share."

Ben shook his head with a rueful grin. "No, I don't know. And I don't want to know either. Have I ever thanked you for keeping away the hordes of my admirers?"

"I make sure you do," Kani smirked. He always made her feel light-hearted and relaxed. Just friends…

"Anyways, how is everything else back on Ossus?"

"Quiet, dull," Kani replied dryly. "With only Master K'Kruhk and Tionne here all the lessons have been canceled and everyone's taking advantage of it. Why did Chief of State Hamner have to declare today a galactic holiday again?"

"So he could have the biggest possible audience for this reopening," Ben sighed in agreement. "My dad and mom have to attend to show Jedi support for this monumental occasion. Even when Hamner already has dozens of Knights and Masters from each of the Praxeums attending. I might not like the guy, but you have to admit he's done a swell job of patching up the galaxy."

"Maybe your family should take a page out of your cousin's book."

"Oh, Anakin?"

"Yeah. Didn't he tell Hamner that the galaxy needs more than symbols to stay united?"

"Problem is, the Jedi Order doesn't want dad to step down from the position of Grandmaster. They saw what happened the last time dad stayed out of things and are afraid of straying if he steps aside."

"That's stupid." Kani said bluntly.

"Yeah, but we can't do a thing about…." Ben's hologram flickered severely, the sound cutting off.

"Ben?" Kani frowned, looking at the settings of the holo-comm. "Ben?'

Ben made a gesture, but then his hologram winked out completely.

A sense of foreboding filled Kani, the Force warning her that something big was about to happen. Leaving the comm-station, she took the lift back down to the ground floor and stepped out into the courtyard where Tionne was entertaining some of the younger students.

"Apprentice Asari," Tionne smiled. "What brings you out here?"

"Master, I'm sensing…"Kani just shook her head, not sure what it was she was feeling.

"Trust in your instincts, Kani," Tionne instructed gently. "What is it you feel?"

"Darkness," Kani shuddered and hugged herself with one arm as she gazed up at the Ossus sun-lit sky. "Nothing but emptiness."

And then a massive shadow suddenly blocked out the sun, plunging the courtyard and the Praxeum into darkness.

"Look! It's the Mandalorians," one of the younglings cried out happily. Gesturing to the looming outline of one of the Mandalorian's newest Keldabe-class strike cruisers. Two more ships, Kandosii-class battleships, entered from high orbit, taking position on either side of the cruiser. The younglings were used to the Mandalorians stopping by on occasion, since the farmstead of Jintar and Dinua Skirata had a contract to resupply the Ossus Praxeum. This often meant that the two brought their children, or one of the many other families in the Skirata branch, and the younglings delighted in playing 'Mandalorian and Jedi' with the resupply teams.

But the Mandalorians had never arrived en masse in battleships. Tionne and Kani exchanged worried glances. The Mandalorians definitely weren't here for a social visit.

A small spherical droid exited the cruiser and floated down to the courtyard before Tionne and Kani. It rotated for a little bit, and then projected a hologram.

"I am Mand'alor the Restorer of the Mando'ade Empire Reborn," the helmeted figure of Belok Rhal announced. "You will send out all Force sensitive children below the age of thirteen or we will open fire and kill all those who resist and take the children anyway. You have an hour to send them all to the front entrance of your facility where I will be waiting to receive them. There will be no negotiation. The choice to live or die is yours."

A hushed silence fell over the crowd. The sound had been loud enough that everyone in the Praxeum could hear the announcement.

"What are we going to do?" One of the younglings asked, eyes wide with fear.

"Don't worry," Kani smiled bravely. "I'll go talk to Belok and find out why he's doing these things."

"Kani," Tionne said softly.

"It's okay, I've talked with him before, he knows me," Kani said. In fact, Belok had been somewhat of a pen-pal since she had first met him nearly ten years earlier. Without parents of her own, and with Belok's own daughter killed off in the Yuuzhan Vong War, the two had developed a rather unique surrogate relationship with each other. She sometimes wrote to him for advice, and he in turn would write back asking how her day was going. To many, Belok was the big, scary Mandalorian in charge of the Mandalorian Protectorate. To her, he was practically an adoptive father. "He won't be doing this without a reason."

"If you're sure."

"I am, get the little ones down below in case shooting does break out though."

Tionne looked dubious, but she nodded. "Good luck and may the Force be with you."

Kani watched silently as she herded the younglings back into the building. She then gazed back up to the Mandalorian warships floating above. Almost to herself, she muttered. "And in case shooting does break out."

She clasped her hands together, her eyes glowing purple with energy, the Force swirling around her. When she emerged from her flow-walking, the time limit set by Belok was nearly over. She took a moment to recover from the emotions that were swirling through her.

There was a downside to seeing many possible futures almost simultaneously. Especially if said futures were full of despair and death. On one hand, she regretted flow-walking, but on the other…at least she managed to gain the closure she needed. Now, whatever future lay in store for her, she was ready for it.

Releasing another deep breath, Kani made her way to the front of the Praxeum. Standing at the foot of the steps was Belok Rhal himself, along with a large group of heavily armed Mandalorians.

"You should have listened to my warning," Belok's voice sounded mechanical behind his helmet. He calmly drew his blaster. "I said no negotiations."

"Probably should have listened," Kani said softly, her hands at her side. Her heart fell as she realized which of the potential futures she had seen was about to come true. With his words, she immediately knew what Belok was going to do, knew that she was powerless to stop what was coming. She could try to fight it, of course, but there was no point. In a few seconds, no matter what she did, she'd be dead. "Why?"

"Doesn't matter," Belok took aim, no emotion in his voice at all. "I told you to bring out the Jedi children."

"Will you at least let me look you in the eyes before killing me, buir?"

Belok's arm wavered slightly at Kani's use of the Mandalorian word for father, but then he nodded. With his other hand, he removed his helmet.

"Oh, Belok," Kani sighed, her expression pained as she reflexively reached up to grip her Kasha pendant and squeeze it tightly. The man's faced showed all the signs of someone immersed in the dark side. His skin was unnaturally pale, veins prominent. His normally brown eyes completely yellow.

"It's Mand'alor, Jedi scum," Belok answered tersely, donning his helmet once more. His finger squeezed the trigger, and Kani's head whipped back as the superheated metal slug caught her square in the forehead.

She was dead before she hit the ground.

"Oya, Mando'ade," Belok bellowed. "Let's kill some Jedi!"

There was a guttural cheer from behind him as weapons were fired into the air in anticipation. As one the three Mandalorian ships opened fire with their turbolaser batteries. The flowing arches of the Praxeum crumpled almost immediately, crashing down onto the crest-like domes below. After several seconds of firing, the ships stopped, leaving the Praxeum in a barely recognizable state.

Mandalorians began to jumpjet out of the ships' airlocks, a whole army of them descending on the Praxeum's corpse.

Belok pulled out a second plasma pistol and gestured forward. His group of armored individuals followed him into the building, weapons at the ready. Flamethrowers were used in every corner and ventilation duct, the walls scorched black. The armored soldiers approached the Praxeum from all directions, with those trying to run immediately gunned down without mercy.

"Sensor team!" Belok barked.

"Reading three life-signs around the next corner."

Belok unhooked a grenade and activated it. At the last second he lobbed it around the corner and it ignited in a flash.

"Life signs are gone."

The group rounded the corner and saw the charred bodies of three teenage Jedi who had tried to make a stand.

"Keep moving," Belok ordered.

The next hallway, two lightsabers came flying out, decapitating several Mandalorians. Belok and the others simply traced the sabers back to their origins and opened fire in a withering storm of plasma bolts. Unlike lasers, plasma bolts couldn't be reflected back at their shooter and stayed in their molten form on impact with lightsabers. Two more Jedi defenders were dead.

"Several meters below ground," the sensor operator announced. "Massive gathering. I'm guessing that's the kids."

"Split up," Belok announced. "Teams Arpat and Balac, the southern wing. Go."

Hundreds of Mandalorians continued to flood the Praxeum, the sounds of their weapons indicating contact with survivors of the bombardment. Over the comm, one could hear the continuous reports of 'clear' as each room was checked with ruthless efficiency.

"Next room," the sensor operator warned, stepping over a fallen column.

Belok lobbed a stun grenade into the hallway, then polarized his visor as he charged in. Loli and Cappricia, both disorientated by the blast, never stood a chance. Beloc activated a wrist blade and slit Cappricia's throat, and then whirled around and jammed it into Loli's mid-section.

Coughing the Pantoran teen whimpered, weakly clutching at his arm. "Reload save game."

"Game over," Belok replied evenly, removing the blade and letting her drop to the ground next to a suffocating Cappricia. Belok glanced at the dying Melodie and fired a single shot from his plasma pistol. He then wiped his wristblade off on her robes. Touching his comlink he ordered. "Find the Jedi children now. A bonus for every one brought to me."

The Praxeum and its surrounding area continued to burn, the black smoke rising high into the sky. Home to nearly three-hundred Jedi when at full capacity, still had over two-hundred individuals within even with the Knights and Masters away. But the Jedi had no ships, had no defenses against the trained commandos now storming every building. The flashes of plasma fire could be seen in the few surviving windows. Teenage Jedi apprentices were being gunned down in hallways, in the surrounding gardens, everywhere.

For fifteen-year old Jesmin Sarkin-Tainer, the scene was right out of a nightmare. She had been separated from Tionne and the others when the bombardment began and had no way of reaching the basement safe-rooms on the other side of the campus. Unlike most of the other apprentices her age, however, she had the benefit of receiving GA Special Forces combat training and survival skills from her dad. With her were several other younger Jedi, all looking to her for survival.

"Stay calm," Jesmin whispered, as they crawled beneath a collapsed wall. Despite her advice, her own heart was beating miles a minute. They could hear the thumping of explosions, the high-pitched whine of plasma pistols, and the stomping of Mandalorian boots all around them. "We'll survive this."

Another explosion as part of the damaged Praxeum collapsed in on itself, a stream of fine rock and debris trickled through the cracked ceiling and dusted the fleeing Jedi as they crawled.

The four young Jedi managed to wiggle themselves out of the destroyed building they had been in. But when they stood, they saw just how bad things were. Thick black smoke choked out the sky, the incessant crackle of a fire burning out of control was matched in intensity by the heat radiating from the blaze. The blasterfire, which had been so prevalent at the start of the attack, had been reduced to only one or two shots with long intervals between them, like the last few kernels in a bag of popcorn. The Praxeum was beyond saving, yet, the route out of the campus didn't look inviting either. From their position, they could see squads of Mandalorians patrolling all about the perimeter.

In what was left of the courtyard, now visible from where they were thanks to a giant hole in the Praxeum's walls, a Mandalorian shuttle had landed, and younglings were being herded to the vessel at gunpoint. If that didn't convince the small group of frightened Jedi that life as they knew it was over, the sight of what happened next was permanently burned into their mind.

A wounded Tionne Solusar was pushed forward along with the rest of the younglings, a blaster burn on one leg making her stagger. Belok, who was overseeing the process, noticed her and pulled out his blaster as he walked towards her. Without a second thought, before Jesmin and those with her could process it, the Mandalorian leader placed the muzzle of the blaster right to Tionne's forehead and fired.

"I said kids only. We don't need fully trained Jedi causing problems on the flight to Manda'yaim."

The terrified younglings began to cry in earnest as they were forced to march past Tionne's crumpled form. Her body lay still on the burnt flagstones of the courtyard, white eyes wide and unseeing.

"Shuttle's full, Mand'alor."

"Take off, we'll fit the rest on the next flight."

"Come on," Jesmin swallowed painfully, forcing herself to look away from Tionne's body as she used her arms to redirect the others away from the sight. She might not have been as powerful as her brother when it came to all things Force-related, but even she had felt the death of a woman who was like a second mother to her. "We have to get out of here."

"But where do we go now?" Asked a terrified Vekki. Though two years older than Jesmin, the petite, red-haired human girl was more into computers than anything else. She had the rare ability to affect computer systems and droids with the Force, and her quarters was filled with co-opted training remotes and mouse bots that she called friends. Despite her proclivity for slicing, she was definitely no warrior.

"As far away from anything Jedi," Jesmin murmured, reaching out to place a calming hand on the shorter Jedi's shoulder.

"What about my tribe?" A Ysanna youth asked. "Master K'Kruhk is there with a class of…"

"Them too," Jesmin shook her head, her soot-covered blonde hair fluttering in the breeze created by the intense heat nearby. "The Mandos will be looking for any large concentrations of life. We'd just bring trouble to your people. We'll head towards the mountains."

The group stepped out from the cover they had been using, then froze at the sight of a vibroblade extended towards Jesmin.

"Su'cuy," a black-armored female Mandalorian said coolly. Behind her were several more Mandalorians all with rifles raised. "I'd advise against using your Jetii tricks. Mand'alor wants you alive, but if you threaten me or my own, we'll put you down."

Jesmin felt the others shrink behind her, even when she herself was barely in control of the fear threatening to freeze her in place. But then she saw something on the woman's armor and a small flare of hope returned. "Gar cuy Kyr'tsad!"

At that, the woman seemed to frown behind her helmet. "You know Mando'a?"

"What's Death Watch doing with the main Mandalorian faction?" Jesmin asked in turn.

"Ad, tion'ad cuy gar?"

"Jedi Apprentice Jesmin Sarkin-Tainer," Jesmin answered bravely.

At that, the woman holding the vibroblade let out a groan. "Sarkin-Tainer?"

"Yes."

"Let me guess, Doran's your brother?"

"Yes?" Jesmin said cautiously, feeling the danger wane.

"Sometimes I hate your Force," the Mandalorian woman sighed and sheathed her vibroblade. "Come with us if you want to stay among the living. We have room on our ship."

"What about the others?" Jesmin gestured back to the Praxeum.

"Can't do anything for them. Mand'alor will become suspicious enough as it is."

"Wait," one of the children spoke up. "Why are you doing this?"

"Saving your lives or massacring your friends?" the Mandalorian female asked.

"Both?"

"We're massacring your friends so we don't get ourselves stuck on the business end of a dar'jetii's lightsaber. I am saving you because that girl there has a brother who earned my respect a long time ago. Now let's move!"

With no other choice, the group hastily followed the helmeted warrior's orders, darting through the forest towards her landing ship. Once ushered onboard, Jesmin finally managed to piece together the identity of her savoir.

"Vor entye, Tracyn Gedyc."

"Thank me later," Tracyn said, taking off her helmet. Her lone sky-blue eye remained as kind as ever, while her cybernetic eye glowed red and swiveled to focus on the young Jedi before her. "This is only the beginning."

Jesmin looked back out the ship's viewport, her eyes closing as she felt more Jedi die.

"Why?"

"Because the galaxy is a cruel and heartless place," Tracyn answered, her voice still maintaining a mechanical vibe despite the absence of her helmet. She came from behind the younger girl to rest her hands on the younger girl's shoulders. "Do you have a comm-frequency for your brother? As soon as we're clear, I'll turn you over to him."

"I…I haven't heard from my brother in a couple of years. He disappeared after encountering a faction of Sith during some incursion in the Bheriz system."

"That does sound like him. Fine, I gave my word. And Doran's family. That means you are too. You and your friends can stay with my group for the time being." Tracyn said. She then paused. "I am sorry we can't save any of the others."

"I know," Jesmin said sympathetically. She turned away from the window and looked down at her hands, suddenly missing her mom, dad, and brother more than anything. "I know."

LotJB[ II ]LotJB

Janek Skywalker, fifteen years young, was fairly different from his older brother. Where Ben tended accept a leadership role and embrace the spotlight, Janek had the benefit of being in the considerable shadow of his brother. Not that he didn't shun a leadership role or the spotlight. He had a lot more confidence than most boys his age due to said brother and last name. He also had no qualms with using the Skywalker name to gain a following in the Jedi Order.

A select following.

Cousin Jacen might have political supporters, Cousin Anakin had military supporters, his brother had friends at all levels of the Jedi Order. But Janek had a much more enjoyable following.

After all, a following of teenage girls always did wonders for a teenage boy's ego. Fortunately, Janek also had Mara Jade Skywalker as a mom, who helped to keep said ego in check. That didn't stop him, however, from appealing to his fan-base. He knew that he was in peak physical condition, that his blue eyes shone like his father's and his red hair—tied back in a ponytail—caught the eyes of those around him. He had confidence, smarts, and the wherewithal to use them.

Now and again though, he did need a break from all his adoring admirers. Whoever said Jedi couldn't feel romantic attachments had obviously never been in his shoes. So many girls, so little time.

"So which Girl of the Day was it yesterday?" Ryza Durron said with exasperation, kicking off a nearby wall of the Mim Low-Gravity Training facility—a facility built on one of Ossus' moons to teach Jedi how to handle a variety of low-gravity situations. Clad in a tight black tank-top and loose gray pants, the part-Kiffar teenager used the Force to augment her speedy assault.

"I don't kiss and tell," a shirtless Janek smirked, twirling the training staff and blocking Ryza's rapidly delivered strikes. His blue eyes darted back and forth as he met each of her attacks with one of his own.

That only seemed to annoy her, and she picked up her pace. "Romor? Jayk?"

"Not telling," Janek laughed, batting aside her next attack and stepping in close. He hooked an arm around her waist, and stole a brief kiss with a cocky smirk.

Ryza pushed him away with a look of mock disgust. "I'm not that type of girl, Skywalker. Besides, it was Jesmin, wasn't it? She had that ridiculous smile on her face after your 'study group'."

"You see, that's why I don't date girls who can read minds," Janek said, it was his turn to make a face.

"Skywalker, all girls know what's on your mind."

"Soooo, I should tell the rest of the girls that it's your fault I decided to date only men instead? I know that Josat…"

"If you want a mass slaughter of hormonal teenage Jedi girls, sure. I'd even get away with it by claiming self-defense," Ryza's golden eyes sparkled. She whirled around, knocking Janek's staff out of his hand and sweeping him to the ground. "My dad already thinks that with us being Skywalker and Durron we're doomed to flame out super-nova style. I didn't have the heart to tell him that we weren't even together. After all, you go after Miss Commando with all the subtly of a rampaging Reek."

Janek returned the leg sweep so that Ryza fell on top of him. Wrapping an arm around her and rolling on top of her he grinned and stole another kiss. Breathing heavily, he whispered into her ear. "Yeah, but who did I invite up here to train with me, unsupervised?"

Against his bare chest, with his weight pressing down on her and his voice like liquid honey, Ryza couldn't help but blush impressively and shiver. The heat of his body, and his masculine scent had her thinking things she was pretty sure the Jedi of the olden days would frown upon big-time. Once she managed to get her scrambled thoughts back into order, she quickly looked away lest she drown in his sparkling sky blue eyes. She playfully swatted him and after some pushing, managed to extract herself from beneath him, calling on the Force to control her rampaging hormones. It didn't help that Janek also got up and decided to do some stretching.

"Hey, I thought us girls had a corner on that exaggerated stretching!" Ryza complained, eyeing him nonetheless. She was only mortal after all, and there was a very obvious surface reason why Janek had girls chasing him wherever he went. Not the least was the results his near-daily hour-long work-out routines had on his body.

"Who's exaggerating?" Janek said innocently, smiling his winning grin.

The light-hearted talk and their shared smile, however, died in an instant. The two felt the death through the Force the split second it happened.

"Kani!" Janek breathed, his lunch rising and his head spinning. "Oh Force, Ben…"

More deaths followed in quick succession. Janek, having always been as strong as his brother in the Force, felt each death with increasing agony and collapsed to his knees.

"Skywalker! Focus on me, on my voice!" Ryza gritted out, crawling to him on her hands and knees and gripping his head in both her hands. "On me!"

Janek remembered that both of Ryza's brothers were down at the Praxeum and tried to block out the mass death of Jedi occurring several thousand kilometers below. He gave himself a mental kick to get his brain thinking about something else. Feel sorry later, try to save the day now. "We need to get to the control center, find out what's happening!"

The two teens scrambled back to their feet, but only seconds later, Janek's legs failed him again. This time the loss was felt a lot more sharply and he sucked in a pained breath. "Damn it! Not Cappricia too!"

He gripped onto a nearby wall with one hand and Ryza's shoulder with the other, his expression haunted. The Melodie Jedi had been like an older sister to him, a mentor in many ways. It had been her dream to learn as much as she could about the galaxy before she changed into her fish-form—had even wanted to start an underwater library of Jedi materials back on Yavin Eight. Always happy, eager to learn, Janek couldn't think of a single reason why anyone would want to hurt her, much less kill the bright and caring Melodie. But she was now dead, and it didn't matter if a reason existed or not. Nothing was bringing her back.

The two staggered through the hallway, grimacing and squeezing each other's hand as one death after another echoed through the Force. Their young hearts beat a pained rhythm, each death making their heads spin and their lunch rise in their throats. Each death came like a kick to the chest, sharp and abrupt and leaving a lasting ache. By the time they reached the control room of the training facility, they had stopped feeling deaths. Which wasn't a good thing despite the relief they felt. It just meant that the killers had run out of people to kill.

"My brothers are still alive," Ryza managed, sounding both relieved and terrified at the same time. Her skin was pale, sweat mixing with her tears as she gripped onto Janek's hand as if he would disappear on her.

"It's the Mandalorians," Janek whispered, looking at the sensor readings with a gaze that was both haunted and furious. He squeezed her hand just as hard, trying to ground himself amid the maelstrom of distress in the Force.

"But why would they do this?"

"I don't kno…"Janek trailed off, his eyes squeezing shut as he felt Tionne's Force presence vanish. This time even Ryza let out an audible sob, and hugged herself to his arm, burying her face into his side.

"This is just a bad dream, right Janek?" She whispered hoarsely against his side. "A bad, bad, bad dream."

Janek offered what little comfort he could, pulling the other teen to him in a hug meant to reassure the both of them. Rubbing her back, he looked on, in a similar state of denial as the Praxeum's location became a glowing red bonfire from orbit. Then the sensor console began to beep. "We have company. Three Mandalorian ships on approach. Probably detected our life-signs."

Ryza's eyes snapped open, and she stepped away from him, her Force presence harsh and full of rage. She was the daughter of Kyp Durron after all, and she had inherited her mother's silent fury. "We're not going down without a fight."

"You got that right," Janek nodded. "Looks like they're heading for the main docking bay."

"Wait, I sense…Jesmin's on one of the ships!" Ryza exhaled. "She's still alive!"

Janek looked at the sensor readings again. "But her ship will be the last to get here."

"Between the two of us, we can hold the others 'til she gets here. Those bucket-heads are going to regret pissing off a Durron and Skywalker!"

When the two Mandalorian shuttles at the forefront of the group made their final approach, neither expected their landing to be so undignified. The top of the landing bay retracted as the Mandalorian slicers forced the doors opened, and the two shuttles began to descend.

Pooling their strength, both Janek and Ryza reached out with the Force and forcibly slammed one shuttle into the second. Both landing vessels came crashing down into the hangar in a tangled metal wreck. Several Mandalorians crawled out of the wreckage and raised their blasters, only to see an industrial-sized load-lifter fly through the air like a ballistic missile and slam into the combined wreck with a deafening blast. Bodies and shrapnel flew every which way as the fuel and ordinance in the shuttles ignited. Had it been any other invading force, those on board would probably had been killed to the last man.

But there was a reason why the Mandalorians had such fearsome reputation.

More Mandalorians began to crawl out, some even covered in flames, and they joined the others in firing at the two young Jedi.

Knowing that the Mandalorians had the advantage in range, both Ryza and Janek sprinted from cover to cover, closing the distance. When they reached striking range, Ryza's purple saber hummed to life and promptly dispatched two Mandalorians in a single sweep. Janek's green blade caused after-image blurs as he twirled it and spun it about through a line of the armored soldiers, dispatching Mandalorian after Mandalorian. Had the crack soldiers been organized and unscathed in their landing, they might have been able to win without serious losses. But the crash and subsequent dismantling of survivors, left definite holes in their defensive lines. Even then, these were trained soldiers and not rabble.

"Kill the Jedi!" One of the Mandalorians yelled, firing a rocket at Ryza.

The lithe half-Kiffar teen performed a back-flip and evaded the missile, then dove behind the wreckage of the shuttles. Janek quickly neutralized the Mandalorian firing at Ryza, only to receive several blaster shots as he did.

"Janek!" Ryza shouted from behind her cargo crate. "Don't you dare die on me too!"

"Didn't plan on it," Janek staggered behind another crate. He gave her a tired grin, grimacing as he poked at a blaster burn on his side. "That's going to need bacta."

Ryza threw herself to the side as another wrist-missile obliterated her cover. Sprinting towards her attacker, her saber hummed as it deflected shot after shot. The Mandalorian tried to jet-pack away at the last second, only to have his head fly off without his body.

Another round of blasterfire sounded, and Ryza yelped as a superheated slug pierced her leg. Janek reached out with the Force and yanked her to him before the Mandalorian could take advantage of her lapse in defense.

"Got you," Janek breathed, hugging her close.

"Thanks," she managed back, her hands gripping her wound. "Getting shot hurts."

"No kidding. How many of them are left out there?'

"Including the guy that shot me, about seven more," Ryza said weakly, reaching back to grip his hand in a tight grip. Both of them were spent energy-wise and knew it. They could hear the surviving Mandalorians getting ready to launch their final attack. "We tried."

"Yeah," Janek rested his forehead against hers, mentally apologizing to his family. "We did."

Then, the third Mandalorian shuttle arrived. Jesmin Sarkin-Tainer leaped down from above, her blue saber sweeping through several unsuspecting Mandalorians.

"Kyr'tsad traitors!" An alarmed cry went up.

Ryza and Janek took Jesmin's distraction to burst out of their cover.

"Come on!" Jesmin yelled, furiously blocking blaster fire as best she could. The Mandalorians with her poured suppressing fire down on the others.

"Thanks for the rescue and the ride, S-T," Janek muttered, holding his side with one arm and supporting Ryza with the other.

"Not like I can leave your handsome ass on this moon," Jesmin retorted, slapping his butt as he passed. "Durron's maybe."

"Love you too, S-T," Ryza said sarcastically, nursing a fresh burn on the side of her face.

The Mandalorians in the shuttle continued to fire on their brethren, neutralizing the last of the threat. Jesmin helped the injured duo onto the ship and closed the hatch behind them.

"So, where are we heading to now?" Janek asked, slipping into a healing trance.

"Their base. My brother is close to this group, we'll be safe."

"What about my brothers?" Ryza spoke up, glaring at the other teen. "What happened to them?"

"Mand'alor is going to deliver them to the dar'Jetii," one of the Mandalorian rescuers said evenly. "To be trained in their ways."

"Dar what?"

"Sith," Jesmin supplied for Ryza.

"Oh heck no," Ryza shook her head and tried to stand. "I'm not letting any Sith get a hand on Maia or Zeth!"

"Deal with it for now," the Mandalorian woman said sharply, shoving the young Jedi back into her chair. "As it is, I'm going to have to explain to Mand'alor and his dar'Jetii buddies just why we took this detour and how come the other two ships didn't come back with us. You ever try lying to a Force-user? Damned near impossible."

"Errr…why did you pick us up?" Janek asked.

Tracyn arched an eyebrow at the young Jedi. "Sarkin-Tainer is family thanks to the actions of her big brother. In Mandalorian culture, family is everything. We don't abandon our own."

"Oh…thank your brother for us when you see him next, Jesmin," Janek breathed. "And thanks for coming for us."

"Of course," Jesmin whispered, hugging herself. "Wasn't about to lose any more friends."

Janek smiled faintly, but his expression faded at the look on Ryza's face. "Ryza, don't worry, we'll get your brothers back somehow. I promise."

"I know," Ryza exhaled. She squeezed her own eyes shut to send as much reinforcement as she could to her brothers. Stay strong you two. I'll rescue you, so just stay strong!

LotJB[ III ]LotJB

"Finally!" Zeltron quasi-Force sensitive Rali Xici—Raxi to her friends—exclaimed, beaming. "We've actually managed to do it!"

"It only took eight years," twenty-one year old, part-Mirulan, Siare Amah chuckled at his girlfriend's exuberance. Even then, he too couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. How could he not? After facing non-stop toils, navigating bureaucratic red-tape, predatory gangs, Killik remnants, and corrupt politicians on all levels for nearly every day of their past seven years, it was amazing to see all that work finally pay off. "Eight years, weeks without sleep, and ungratefulness all around."

"We got it done, don't knock it!" Jedi Knight Seha Dorvald laughed, joining in with the good cheer of all those around them.

The official re-opening of the Denon Old City—though technically it had been open for business for the past year—was designed to coincide with the reopening of Coruscant, and millions of refugees all over Denon were in a celebratory mood. With donations from Tenandro Industries, Yuuzhan Vong Shapers, and several other powerful corporations, the past seven years had been spent fixing up the Old City to make it livable once more. Truly livable and not just a collection of shanty-towns that spanned the entire planet.

Borne partly from necessity—the Yuuzhan Vong and Swarm Wars had created an emergency refugee crisis that even the Senate couldn't ignore—and partly from the unyielding efforts of the Denon Temple Relief Team, several hundred billion credits had been allocated to make the Old City 'new' again. No longer did it smell of smoke, with an aura of depression and gloom. No longer did barely functioning holo-signs flicker on and off at random intervals. The painstaking work of the team spearheaded by Jedi Master Deran Nalual and Denon Temple Initiate Rali Xici had borne fruit many times over, with the gratitude of the billions of refugees palpable in the Force. Countless new jobs were opening up as the Old City morphed into a mini-state of its own, with its own sanitation systems, police units, and more. There were sectors such as Little Rodia, Bothawui Reborn, and New Sernpidal, where survivors of various conflicts congregated to preserve their culture as best they could.

Viewing it all from a traveling hover-platform full of revelers, the Denon Temple Relief Team couldn't help but look at it all with a sense of swelling pride. All those restless nights, aggravating committees, and 'studies' were worth it.

As Raxi took it all in, she couldn't help but truly feel that she was a Jedi, if not in ability, then in spirit.

"How's it looking down there?" Siare asked, completely blind save for his Force-echolocation ability.

"Amazing, happy," Raxi laughed, looping an arm around him. She gestured to the gleaming highrises in the distance and the bright white lights that illuminated the now vibrant Old City. The last stop on their 'victory' tour of Old City districts, the capitol, looked nothing like it had nearly a decade earlier. In fact, if it wasn't for the lack of sunlight, it looked like something one might find on the surface levels of the planet. "Oh, I really wish you could see it!"

"I'll just take your word for it," Siare laughed again, basking in her emotions as she hugged him tightly.

One of the other pluses to have come out of the eight-years of non-stop work was his relationship with Raxi. When he finally asked her out three years earlier, he had been a nervous wreck. Not only was she four years older, drop-dead gorgeous due to her Zeltron physiology, and outgoing, he had his own insecurities to worry about. Namely, he was blind, weaker in the Force than she was, and had a tendency to be more pessimistic about the galaxy. When she had agreed to go out with him, he had been shocked. He supposed it was the ultimate of galactic jokes; that a stunning Zeltron would go out with the one blind male in the Temple. But they had now been together for three happy years, and he certainly wasn't complaining about the hand the Force had dealt him.

As the hover platform headed out of the new 'rural' areas—a vast tract of terraformed land capable of producing food for the surrounding cities—the good feelings in the Force suddenly shifted. It was a change so sudden that it registered even with those barely able to feel the Force.

"What the kriff?" One of the other members of the team whispered in confusion.

Ahead lay the unofficial 'capitol' of the Old City, where a unity-government made up of several of the larger refugee factions oversaw the day-to-day issues that popped up. It was then that the cheering they had heard from the city wasn't cheering at all. It was screaming, screams of terror. As the hover platform drew near, they could see black smoke wafting up from several nearby blocks. Several of the highrises showing signs of damage, with broken windows and holes in the wall visible even from the distance the Denon team was floating.

"I'm going to try Central," Seha said nervously, activating the platform's comm-system. "Central, this is Jedi Knight Seha Dorvald, do you read me? Central, come in?"

"Jedi Knight Dorvald, stay out of the city! I repeat, stay out of the city! Some sort of contagion is rapidly spreading throughout. We think it might have been in the water supply! Everyone who's been using the new water system is changing!"

"Changing?" Seha said, hearing the anxiety in the man's voice.

"Changing! We're all changing into these creatures! Even I am! Oh Force, I'm changing, I can see it! My skin is turning gray! I'm not going to turn into those things!"

"Calm down, can you tell me what's hap…" Seha trailed off as the sound of a blaster discharging echoed through the system. Seha blanched and looked to the others with a bewildered look.

"Bring the platform to a halt just outside the city," Jedi Master Nalual directed evenly, though her own face was tight with worry.

"Yes, Master," Raxi quickly plotted the course, her worried gaze looking back and forth over the city.

The platform slowed, the screams, explosions, and all around chaos wafting out from the burning city.

Siare took it all in with his other senses, his face tight in anger. With a yell, he pounded the platform's railings. "Blast it! We just finished making the place better! Why the blazes is the Force going to tear it down again!"

"First we need to find out what is going on. Loana," the blind Togruta master turned to the Bothan Jedi Knight with them. "Can you slice into the local databanks?"

"The Old City isn't set up for remote connection because of the old wirings," the Bothan shook her head. "I'd need a direct access to the central banks."

"Into the city, then?" Raxi looked to Master Nalual.

"Yes."

The platform surged forward again, coasting between the forest of towering buildings around it. The team got a glimpse at what was happening when the windows of a nearby highrise shattered. Three massive gray creatures leaped out of the building with an enraged snarl. One overshot the floating platform. The other two, however, found their marks. Two politicians who had been on the platform to observe the opening, let out screams of terror as the creatures bowled into them and took them over the opposite side of the platform.

"No," Raxi breathed, wide-eyed.

"Look!" Another of the team pointed out as the platform coasted over the refurbished main-square.

The team looked down, then promptly lost whatever composure they had managed to keep. The city-square, capable of holding over a hundred thousand people, was jam-packed. Full of the very gray-skinned creatures that had just attacked them. The creatures moved on all fours, snarling and howling at the passing platform. Their deformed bodies covered in torn scraps of blood-stained clothing, beady black eyes glaring upwards.

"What…what could cause all this….?" Seha whispered hoarsely.

"I have no idea," Deran murmured, shaking her head. "But the sooner we get to the bottom of this, the sooner we can right it once more."

"For how long?" Siare said bitterly, his echolocation clicks allowing him to 'see' every contour and angle all around him.

"For as long as this body draws a breath, I will harbor hope and light within me," Deran answered back patiently. "Just because things seem bleak, it does not mean it will stay that way. We have spent seven years building this place up, and I for one am not ready to feel it fall apart so soon."

"She's right," Seha said determinedly, checking her lightsaber and the tools on her utility belt. "We're Jedi. We do nothing, the dark side wins. And I don't like losing."

"Best bet for any information is the regional capitol building," Loana pointed to the gleaming white and gray structure in the center of town. "If the local government has any survivors, they'll be there too."

"I can't see how anyone can survive this," one of the politicians on the platform murmured, looking over the side at the myriad of creatures clambering through the apocalyptic mess below.

"I can't either," Siare muttered, his repeated echolocation clicks giving him an even more detailed view of the area.

"We must trust in the Force," Master Nalual counseled gently. "For now, let us focus on uncovering the truth behind this madness."

"Find the truth?" One of the other politicians protested. "Space that, we need to get out of here, have the upper-city raze this place to the ground before those things get to the surface!"

"Control said that there was something in the water," Seha said. "The main aquifers pass through much of the Old City before reaching the new. If the problem started down here, we need to figure out when and how to best help those on the surface."

"Look, over there. There's a taxi terminal, and the parking slots are full. Drop us off there and you do your Jedi truth-seeking business. We'll take the taxis back to the surface and get you help," the politician continued. "We're not soldiers, none of us are."

"I wouldn't go there if I were you," Siare said impassively.

"You can't tell us what to do, Jedi," the politician glowered at the younger man.

"Fine," Siare shrugged. "Go ahead. Just wanted to let you know that there are life-signs inside those taxis. Some just out of sight too."

"Other survivors," a second politician voiced.

"If they're survivors, how come they didn't escape?" Raxi asked with more calm than her part-Miraluka counterpart.

"It's safer if we stick together," Loana voiced.

"I don't know about that either," Siare exhaled. "Maybe we should try to help them get back. There are, what, nearly a hundred of us on this floating platform. Chances are, not all of us are going to make it back to…."

"Siare," Jedi Master Nalual chided gently.

"Just being a realist, master. Loana and Seha are the only fully trained, combat-able Jedi on this thing. This was supposed to be a celebration, so we don't even have any blasters with us. As great as Seha and Loana are, even they can't protect everyone against everything out there."

"The capitol building has transports and an armory," the local administrator of the current section of the Old City offered. He glanced to the others. "If you gentle-beings can refrain from hysteria for several more minutes, once we arrive at the capitol building we can both arm those who wish to help the Jedi and assist those who wish to inform the surface of our situation in leaving."

"We continue to the capitol building them," Raxi said with forced cheer at the reluctant nods of consent from the more terrified members of their group.

The circular platform resumed its silent trek over the city, a dark raincloud that passed by unnoticed as it floated through the chaotic landscape. There were howls and screams that echoed through the various levels of the city. Distant sound of blasterfire that fell silent almost as soon as it started up. Walkways and buildings were engulfed in flame, wrecked speeders crashed into everything crash-into-able. And all around, everywhere the group looked, there were those gray-skinned creatures prowling and sniffing at the air.

"Some of those things are wearing clothes," one of the aid-workers realized.

"The guy from Control did say they were turning into something," Siare shrugged.

"This city was fine when we were going through rehearsals for this three days ago," another aid-worker said in disbelief. "How fast does this change take place?"

"That's one of the things we'll definitely find out."

As the capitol building grew closer, the group could see flashes of a fire-fight occurring at several ground-level entrances. Hoards of the gray-skinned creatures charged out from the darkened blocks, drawn by the sound of the fight. Fending them off was a battalion of antiquated battle-droids and automated defenses. Defenses that were fast being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers charging them despite the impressive pile of bodies they were creating.

"Only droids," Loana noted.

"I can sense life inside the building though," Siare said after another moment. "Can't tell if it's more of those things though."

"Aim for the roof landing pad," Master Nalual directed Raxi.

"Yes, Master." The floating platform elevated as its repulsors intensified their anti-grav fields.

Even as they ascended, though, the sight before them wasn't reassuring. Several windows in the building were blown out, as if something large had crashed through them. The power on various floors also appeared to be out. There were even clawmarks alongside the face of the building, as if something had climbed its way along the duracrete…many somethings. Worst yet, as they reached the top of the structure, they could see a giant hole in the roof.

The group groaned.

"What is it?" Siare asked Raxi.

"The capitol building might have a small pest problem," Raxi answered.

"Administrator Alston," Master Nalual looked to the local official. "Were you able to complete the networking of the databanks throughout the whole building?"

"Eighty-percent of the computers inside are networked," he nodded. "Including all the ones in the upper levels. It's a closed system since the surface city administrators didn't want anything to do with the Old City."

"Good, then all we need to do is get to a computer terminal."

"Siare and I can handle that," Raxi volunteered.

"Loana and I can take the others to the armory and vehicle bay," Seha nodded. "Be careful you two."

The defenses in front of the building failed, and the creatures let out a howl of victory as they bounded through the doors.

Swallowing her fear, Raxi smiled weakly at her friend. "You too."

LotJB[ IV ]LotJB

Jedi Knight Jysella Horn briefly wondered if her day could get any worse. Waking up late for an important meeting with the Corellian Senate, she had spilled hot caf on her robes on the trip over. Only to learn that the meeting had been rescheduled earlier that morning for some distant date. She then discovered that the Corellian government was once again slashing the budget for the Corellian Praxeum. The Corellian government had been decidedly anti-Jedi ever since the Killik War—though the Jedi were indirectly responsible for the loss of a good portion of Corellia's military capabilities during said war. Lastly, she had just learned that she hadn't passed her trials for Jedi Master. 'Too young' the masters had called her. 'Impatient' was another word she remembered.

Ever since her brother had died during the Swarm War, Jysella had pushed herself hard to be the best Jedi she could be. She had to be Jedi enough for both Valin and her, but evidently, seven years of hard work was not enough. Seven years of helping the helpless, bringing peace to the ungrateful, and otherwise trying to be a Jedi in an increasingly hostile Corellian climate. Frustration was something she was becoming very familiar with. In fact, if her dad wasn't the leader of the Corellian Praxeum, she would have considered quitting all together.

Her personal life had suffered as a result of all her stress and dissatisfaction. Forget her on-again off-again relationship with Tarc Slane. That was now a completely melted-down, bridge-burned, stomach-ache-inducing memory.

"Jysella, you have to sto…"

"What? 'Stop'? I am a Jedi, Tarc. Unlike you glorified cab-drivers, I can't just decide to stop being one! I can't hang up my lightsaber and let the galaxy pass me by in blissful ignorance as I shuttle one stupid sap from one place to another. What I do, it affects so many lives, so many systems. I have to do this because I inherited all the Jedi mysticism from my dad."

"Yeah, and you see what it's doing to you! Don't tell me that yesterday's thing was a trick of the light, don't even think about using your Force to get me to believe it either. I know what I saw! When I interrupted that training session to give you dinner, your eyes were yellow! Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't yellow eyes on a human mean 'evil Jedi'?"

"So you're an expert on Jedi now? Drop it, Tarc. My brother died building this Praxeum, the Green Jedi, and making sure they were on the straight and narrow. I'll be damned if I let some tour guide stop me from continuing his dream. If you don't like it, fine, then leave! I don't have time for our little fling any more anyways, my Master trials are in several months and I don't need any distractions."

Her relationship with her dad was professional at best, she only talked with her 'wise' father when absolutely necessary. And her mom, well, how can someone not a Jedi even hope to understand what she was trying to do.

"Jysella, honey, I'm…"

"Worried, I know, mom. Stop. I'm fine. Next month, I'll be a Jedi Master just like dad wants me to be. I'll have fulfilled his wish by following in his footsteps, and I'll then dispense useless words of wisdom to the next generation just like him."

"Don't take that tone with me, I'm still your mother."

"Yeah, great, whoohoo. Listen mom, I'm tired of the looks you and dad send my way. I'm helping others, making this galaxy a better place, what about that is there to complain about?"

"You've accepted one mission after another. Haven't taken so much as a vacation day since the Killik War, and I've had to learn from the media that my daughter was in bacta not once or twice. Oh no, you and your father don't do anything small. I had to hear about it five times. What was the last one? You jumped in front of a superheated metal slug meant for a refugee and flash-fried your side?"

"So, I lived? That little girl lived. The bad guy was sliced in half. What's your point?"

"You're self-destructing."

"And you're exaggerating. I still have so much to do, can't afford to die."

"Sella…"

"Mom, enough! Seriously. I get enough flack from the Senate and the other masters, I don't need a lecture from you. At least the Jedi Masters and senators know what goes into keeping a planet running, you've spent nearly all your life trying to break the laws and profit from it."

And that was another relationship that her frustration had shot down. With everything piled on, Jysella couldn't possibly fathom how her current day could become any worse.

And then it did.

"Jedi Knight Horn!" A panicked voice called out, followed by footsteps hastily running through the hall. "Jedi Knight Horn!"

"What?" Jysella sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Does another refugee group need relocating?"

"Jedi Knight Horn!" The Corellian Jedi Apprentice scrambled into Jysella's office, panting as he did. "Trouble! The Corellian Defense Force has declared the Praxeum an illegal military institution and are marching on us!"

"What?!" Jysella stood, her eyes darting to her window.

"Head of State Denjax Teppler was deposed as well! It's why this morning's senate meeting was canceled."

"What?" Jysella repeated again. "Who's in charge then?"

The apprentice grabbed the HoloNet control and turned on the monitor. Jysella's jaw dropped, her hands fell limply to her side.

"…and I promise to reverse the trend of decline that these so-called Corellian Jedi have inflicted on our great government! As I speak, the Corellian Defense Force and a special group of concerned citizens are rounding up the Jedi to execute them for treason. Just as I promised all of you loyal followers at that farce of a trial over a dozen years ago. I'm back. Back and here to clean up our planet of the weakness that has taken root. I will make Corellia great once more, or my name isn't Thrackan Sal-Solo!"

Jysella looked out the window, her eyes bulging at the sight of hover-tanks and legions of soldiers marching down the main road to the still yet-to-be-completed Jedi Praxeum. But then she narrowed her gaze at the group of individuals leading the military. The 'concerned citizens' or so Thrackan had called them, were Force-sensitive.

Two figures were at the forefront of the entire group, both masked and hooded, but obviously male and female. Humanoid male and Twi'lek female. The male waved a finger in the air in a circular motion. Before Jysella could think of anything else, the hovertanks opened fire. Windows blew out, walls crumpled. There was a deafening rumble again, and the entire building shook.

"We need to get to the landing bay," Jysella hissed. "No way we can fight all of them."

But that option was made a lot more difficult a second later when Corellian Chase-X's roared by, quad-laser cannons blasting off the green mirrored jewel at the top of the building in a definitive statement.

"What are we going to do?" the apprentice said in panic.

"Well, we run or die," Jysella said tersely, gesturing for the teen to follow her. "If the entire planet wants us dead, then that's all we can do."

"But we're Jedi. We've been helping them for the past ten years!"

"And evidently they don't need us anymore," Jysella replied as the building shook from another bombardment. She made a gesture as several more frightened apprentices joined her. "Life is never fair."

They rounded the corner and saw a squad of Defense Force commandos at the opposite end. Both Jysella and the commandos readied their weapons at the same time. Her yellow lightsaber hummed as it deflected the laser bolts, and when a few seconds passed, the squad of commandos was dead on the floor from their own projectiles.

"Keep moving," Jysella said dispassionately.

When they reached the hangar bay, the escape by ship went from difficult to impossible. The commandos had destroyed all the vessels sitting in the hangar, and there were three other commando squads present with weapons raised.

"Surrender, Jedi," the lead commando ordered, voice mechanical in nature because of his helmet.

Red lightsabers lit up and three of the black-dressed, hooded and masked people Jysella had seen outside emerged from the ranks of the commandos.

"Don't bother, captain," one of the three dark Jedi said lazily. "We got this. If you want you can blast the brats later."

"Darth Moderus said that we weren't going to kill kids," the commando protested.

"Very well, then we'll finish off the apprentices after we deal with her," the dark Jedi said dismissively.

Jysella held out her hands to either side of her and addressed the apprentices. "Stay back."

"We can fight."

"I said, stay back," Jysella repeated, holding up her lightsaber. She pressed a second button and a second yellow beam of light emerged from her saber-staff. "This will be over quickly."

Jysella went on the offensive, her saberstaff twirling about in her hands with a deadly hum. Her body whipped about, avoiding the thrusts and slashes of her opponents, her feet constantly in motion. An over-the-shoulder block turned into a sweeping attack. The three dark Jedi were forced back slowly but surely. Her saber whooshed and buzzed, slicing off the sleeve of one of the dark Jedi, scorching the cheek of another. Throughout it all Jysella remained unscathed. She might not have been made Jedi Master, but she had made damned sure she was on the same combat-level as one. Then again, the three she was up against weren't the best bladesmen she had faced either.

Valin could have taken them. Jysella clenched her jaw as that stray thought caused her to misstep very briefly.

The three dark Jedi used that opportunity to attack in perfect unison, two trying to tie up her blades while the third went in for the kill. Only, the third was suddenly blasted with a ball of Force energy and rebounded painfully off the smoldering wreck of one of the ships.

"Mind if we even the odds a bit?" Falleen Jedi Knight Natua Wan asked with her usual detachment, dropping down from a hole in the ceiling.

A second dark Jedi was sent flying in another direction as Natua's Selonian apprentice Shrona dropped down from another hole in the ceiling. Now a teenager, the lithe polecat form of Natua's apprentice radiated a molten fury at having her home attacked.

"Let's finish this up then," Jysella said, taking advantage of their arrival to skewer her surprised opponent.

The commandos seemed to remember that they had guns in their hands and frantically brought them up to bear. Even heavily armed and armored, they were no match for the three Jedi that quickly carved through their ranks.

"Great, now we still need a ship," Shrona commented simply, pushing the last commando off of her sky-blue saber. Several more apprentices dropped through the hole Shrona had come through to join the survivors. Even then the building continued to boom and shake from constant bombardment. "And fast."

"And the Force has provided one for us," Natua pointed out the open bay.

A civilian transport appeared to be defying all odds and was weaving around the laser fire of several Chase-X's in pursuit.

"Everyone get ready to jump!" Jysella yelled out in warning.

The transport swung by, side-door open. The dozen Jedi leaped in unison, tumbling into the hold as the door slammed shut and the ship rocketed away. From the viewport, the Jedi could only watch in disbelief as the building they had spent the better part of a decade in crumbled under the barrage.

"What happens now?" Asked one of the apprentices in a hushed voice.

"Now we continue to live, to learn, and take strength and comfort in the fact that we have survived this day," Natua answered, knowing that Jysella would be distracted due to their rescuer.

"Tarc," Jysella managed at the door of the cockpit, staring in disbelief at the pilot.

"Jedi Horn," Tarc replied without any warmth.

"Guess I deserved that."

"Mind strapping in to the co-pilot seat? I think some of those Chase-X's in pursuit have Jedi pilots. We're not going to last much longer up here."

"Right, sure," Jysella did as bidden, checking the ship's sensors. Four fighters were in tight pursuit. "Does this thing have any weapons?"

"It's a taxi, it has a fare-meter," Tarc replied sarcastically. "If you want to bill them by the kilometer, maybe that'll get them to back off."

Of course, Jysella's day happened to get much worse. A missile fired by one of the fighters impacted with the side of the ship. Military ordnance versus civilian manufactured taxi wasn't exactly a fair match up.

"Blast it!" Tarc groaned over the smoke and blaring alarms. "We're going down!"

For those on the ground, all they could see was the flaming ship careen off several buildings before disappearing into the forests just outside the capital in a blinding fireball.

Back in front of the Praxeum, the attack had been halted.

"Darth Moderus," a masked figure knelt in front of the attacking force's leader. "The building has been destroyed. All survivors are now in our custody."

"And what of Jedi Master Horn?" Darth Moderus said without emotion. The flames of the burning Praxeum reflected off the glossy ebony mask he wore. Carved to resemble someone who's mouth and eyes had been sewn shut, the mask was just as expressionless as his voice. "I left instructions for him to be left alive so he can be made an example of. Were your people up to the task Lord Saedis?"

"He chose to fight, my lord, killed eight of our initiates before we subdued him."

"And Corellian casualties?"

"Nearly a hundred were lost sir, close to fifty were in the advance team by the landing bay, including three more initiates."

"The Jedi?"

"Eight Green Knights were killed in the fighting. But we've secured twenty of the apprentices."

"This Praxeum had nearly twice that in apprentices."

"The ship that eluded our fighters…"

"The aerial assault was your responsibility, Lord. Let us hope your successor does better." Darth Moderus ended the report by skewering the man's bowed head with a blood-red saber.

The others shifted nervously, knowing full well their commander had a reputation for punishing failure and rewarding success. He also wasn't too discriminatory in that respect, considering the fact that the man he had just executed had been a fellow dark Jedi,

"Secure all Jedi! I don't want any more slip-ups," Darth Moderus barked. "When High Master Namman Cha returns from Coruscant, I want the Sith Praxeum of Corellia fully up and running."

"Sir!"

The remaining lightsaber-wielding attackers hurried off to do his bidding.

"See? Wasn't that fun?" Darth Moderus' until then silent companion said lightly. "You got to kill a very bad man, a Sith Lord, in front of an army of dark Jedi and no one cared. Could never have done that as a Jedi. You felt their fear, didn't you?"

Moderus ignored her. "My sister?"

"I had the charter request put in to DonoSlane Excursions. I assume that was the crazy pilot who braved the squad of Defense Force fighters. Now the question is, what are you going to do about your father?"

"I'll let you handle him, Alema," Valin said evenly, removing his mask to let the cool Corellian air wash over his pale face. "I have to give you some fun after all."

"So kind of you, my apprentice."

"I have to make up an excuse for Namman when he gets back from Coruscant. I doubt he'd accept the fact that Saedis' incompetence allowed half the population of the Praxeum to escape."

"You're good at thinking on your feet, Darth Moderus. I'm sure you'll come up with something," Alema retorted, slinking off towards the burning entrance of the building. "Aren't you glad the long game is finally paying off?"

"Not glad," Valin replaced his mask. "But relieved. Sooner or later, this will all be over."

LotJB[ Chapter End]LotJB

A\N: Darker and more personal in nature, these plots are =p. Next chapter for Side B will be up in January as I do an 'every-other' schedule for updates for now. On the bright side, if you were following my Forging the Future series, you now know that Tracyn survives =).

Now for a deleted, alternate scene and a taste of how dark things could have gone. The scene would have taken the place of the current Denon Temple gang arc and was replaced for the arc that wound up in the story:

*Snip**Snip*

"Happy Life Day!"

A surprise party would probably have been more effective if the one being surprised could actually see everyone jump out from behind the furniture as the lights flicked on. But Siare Amah, half-Miraluka half-human, barely-Force sensitive, was blind to it all. Even then, he had a broad smile on his face as he enjoyed his twenty-first birthday. He emitted a small echolocation-click with his tongue, the Force allowing him to briefly 'see' everyone in the room.

"Wow, you guys went all out," Siare laughed as confetti rained down around him in one of the Denon Temple's lounges. The room was packed with Jedi and non-Jedi alike, many he had known since coming to the temple over a decade earlier.

"Blame Raxi," Jedi Knight Seha Dorvald patted him on the back. Then, in a mock whisper, "I think she likes you, you know."

Siare chuckled. It was a running joke with he and his friends. After several years of beating around the bush, he had finally worked up the nerve to ask Raxi out on a date. To say that had been intimidating would have been an understatement. Raxi was…well…Raxi—four-years older, a fun-loving Zeltron, with everything that entailed, and a self-confidence and intelligence that often made him wonder why she had agreed to that date in the first place. "I think so too."

"Not every day you turn twenty-one," Raxi chimed in, a champagne glass in both hands.

"You've said something similar for my last three birthdays," Siare laughed, taking one of the glasses, and looping an arm around her. He shared a quick kiss with his girlfriend before taking a sip from his glass.

"Yeah, but this time I was able to get the old gang back together…well, most of them." Raxi led them to the communication's panel.

"Yeah, and I said I'm sorry," Jedi Knight Niko Enrader chuckled, via holo-comm. "Bothawuii is still a mess, and Loana would have my head if I prioritized a birthday over the restoration of her people's world."

"Send her my regards," Siare waved in the general direction of the voice speaking.

"Will do."

"{No worries, Akkazi will take up the slack,}" the energetic chatter of the lone Jawa in the room said boastfully. "{Will speak enough for three peoples, eat enough for three too!}"

"As long as you don't get yourself sick," Siare couldn't stop smiling at the 'old gang' and all of the people he had grown up around. "And Trey, don't think I don't see you there. How'd you get GA Intel to give you some time off?"

"It's Wraith Squadron," Trey Courser said slapping Siare's back affectionately. "Commander Tainer is a real push-over when it comes to family stuff. I just told him that I needed to help my old family celebrate a milestone and he gave me leave."

Siare rotated his shoulder with a grimace. "And you're still working out."

"You don't seem to be doing too bad in that department either," Trey laughed.

"Yeah, well, when your girlfriend is a drop-dead bombshell, you kind of feel self-conscious about these sorts of things," Siare deadpanned. "I'm blind, not stupid. Don't want to embarrass her if we go some place together."

"Never going to happen," Raxi rested her head against his shoulder with a contented sigh. She played with their interlocked hands for a moment, before leading him around the room to greet the other well-wishers. "Ak-obi said he'd be by in a little bit. Still on his way back from his supply run."

"Still can't believe he quit the GA Starfighter command," Trey shook his head. "I had always pegged him as a lifer. Career all the way."

"I think after Indare, and the whole Swarm War, he had enough," Raxi said gently. "He doesn't really talk about it, but I think the Swarm War was the last straw."

"He was one of those under Moff Fel's command, the one that was wiped out nearly to a man," Siare nodded, looking away. "I don't see how he couldn't be affected. Nearly everyone he served with died."

"Hey, enough of those thoughts," Raxi proclaimed. She hopped up onto a nearby table. "This is your Life Day party, Siare. Now, smiles all around and someone turn up the beat!"

Siare shook his head with a rueful smile and let Raxi pull him over to the dance-floor as a modern-beat began to blast from the speaker system. The others in the room, barely-Force-sensitive, non-Force-sensitive, and actual Jedi, joined in the festivities.

Just as the party began to hit its stride, a series of massive explosions suddenly blew out the bay of windows. People and debris were lifted off the ground and sent flying by the shockwave. Before anyone could recover, several missiles streaked through the smoldering gap and hit the opposite wall of the lounge. People who had been thrown towards the far wall from the first strike were promptly sent pinwheeling the other as the missiles detonated. The deafening blasts and scorching heat washed over the revelers, killing dozens in a split second.

Siare, ears ringing, couldn't even use his echolocation to see anything as he lay on the ground, dazed.

Through the smoke, the other survivors could see two gunships floating right outside. The gunships then let loose with their chain-cannons and laser turrets. Large chunks of the Denon Temple erupted under the barrage, flames igniting. Those few who had stood to see what was happening were immediately cut down. The gunships backed up, tracking their fire all over the building's façade. Another volley of missiles was fired, and there was a tremendous vibration throughout the structure as the missiles ripped through the building.

The Denon Temple, resembling a row of ascending modular triangular-prisms stacked off-centered on top of each other, was literally ripped in half as the central module erupted like an overripe melon. The upper modules were sent crashing several dozen stories downwards, smashing through the walkways and plummeting even further into the undercity. The lower modules were aflame, thick columns of smoke rising into the sky.

Siare spat out the coppery glob from his mouth, blindly groping around for something to help him up. The moment he put weight on his legs, however, he let out a cry and collapsed back to the ground. He carefully reached down and found that a metal shard had embedded itself into one of his calves. Gritting his teeth, he yanked the shard out, yelling out again as he nearly blacked out.

"Raxi," He breathed out, using what little ability he had with the Force to restore his hearing. Without the echolocation, he was truly blind. His heart was pumping wildly. adrenaline and his worry for his long-time friend making him temporary ignore his aches and pains. He could feel the scorching heat of a crackling fire nearby, hear the pained groans and moans of those around him. "Raxi!"

He clicked his tongue, the Force painting a picture of a living hell for him. Bodies, parts of bodies, flames and shattered walls all around. The picture faded, and Siare let out a groan of pain and flopped back to the ground. It hurt to breathe, to move. Feeling his torso, he found another piece of shrapnel emerging from his stomach…and another from his chest.

As if a switch had been flipped, Siare shuddered, suddenly feeling really cold, feeling really tired. Well, as birthdays go, Siare, this is definitely the worst.

"Siare!"

He heard Raxi's voice but suddenly found he had no strength to emit another echolocation click. He was barely registering the debris poking at his back, or the pain from the main injuries he had. And he knew that wasn't good at all.

"Siare, no!" A pair of hands gently lifted him up, Raxi cradling him to her.

"I'm dying," Siare murmured in realization, the shock further numbing him.

"No, no, you're not!" Raxi hissed, taking one of his hands and bringing it to her face. "You're not dying, read my lips! You're not….you can't…"

Even as he traced the contours of Raxi's face, Siare could feel the Force calling, could feel himself slipping away. His hand fell back limply at his side, his awareness of the world around him falling away. He heard Raxi's pleas, and as much as he wanted to stay with her, he didn't have the strength anymore. He was tired, so tired. He tried to summon the strength to tell her how he felt, one last time.

"Raxi," he croaked, just those words sending tearing pain through his chest.

"No, no, no, no," Raxi whimpered, her forehead pressed against his.

"I…" Siare tried to draw in enough air to finish his thought, but the Force wouldn't let him. "I lo…"

His body gave out, his last breath leaving him in a raspy cough as blood trickled out of his mouth. And then he was still.

Raxi just sat in the middle of the chaos, her body burnt and bloodied from the attack, holding Siare's form to her. Tears ran freely down her cheeks as she just stared up at the stars, wondering what had just happened. Why the galaxy had once again succumbed to the darkness that was now drowning them all.

*Snip**Snip*

Commentary: So...yeah, I was initially going to wipe out the whole Denon gang, but decided to give them their own story arc instead. Plus Star Wars never got that depressing, unless you count wanton slaughter of kiddies, so I decided to give Siare and Raxi a happier fate.