Prologue
1: Manaan, a world covered in water. Its cities sit atop its surface, gulls cawing above them. An industrialized world, the bipedal hominids known as Selkath live out their daily lives under Republic dominion. There was a time only Ahto City stood over the water, but that was two thousand years ago during the Jedi Civil War. Now, during the Jedi-Sith War, Manaan has evolved into an interconnected series of metropolitan cities fed by the lucrative nature of culture and trade. Lying in the Mid Rim close to another industrialized Republic world called Onderon, the Selkath have not felt the need for fear of the Sith because of their general distance from the ongoing military conflict. Their comfort has assured their loyalty, and the continued supply of the medicinal commodity kolto to the war effort.
Kolto is a liquid produced in the underwater reefs of Manaan, used for the purpose of healing wounds and preventing death in the case of critical injuries. Bacta, a healing resource from Thyferra in the Inner Rim, is more common than kolto in Republic space because of its higher quality. Lower in quality or not, medicine of any quality remains in constant demand. The fact the Jedi-Sith War has been going on for decades without an end in sight means medicine will remain a strategically important resource. Kolto saves millions of soldiers every year for the Republic, but that is about to change. A Sith invasion places the security of the comfortable people of Manaan in jeopardy.
Unprepared, the Republic military scrambles to coordinate a defense. They call neighboring Onderon for help, but their reinforcements arrived too late with too few men. While they arrived in orbit, scanners detected Sith transport craft were already making runs back and forth between the fleet and the planet surface. The invasion had already begun; the Onderon fleet in no way matched the size or firepower of the Sith fleet. The Manaan fleet had been destroyed, and while their combined efforts could have staved off the attack, on their own neither has a chance. The Onderon fleet decided to retreat, calling to all other Republic systems to send aid as quickly as possible. It never arrived, the war having turned against the Republic in a series of surprise attacks coordinated across the galaxy. With no one to help the Republic government on Manaan, it fell to the Sith and their Allied Systems.
At least in this iteration of the Jedi-Sith War, the Republic works in conjunction with the Jedi in military matters, but not intergalactic policy. The Sith coordinate the military effort while governing a few specific planets, but most of their conquered territory is self-governed as a collective called the Allied Systems. Each system manages their own policies, while remaining loyal to the Sith military. This does not include foreign or trade policy, however, much to the inconvenience of members of the Allied Systems who need resources from Republic or Hutt space. Some joined the Sith willingly, others out of a desire for self-preservation, a few looking to sabotage their neighbors, and most to avoid Sith invasion. The Sith control these systems through fear, but once they lose their strength many of these systems will no doubt turn against them.
Before the invasion of Manaan, Ishka (human, girl, 5) lived with both her parents in the inner, underground portion of the city Sesue. They worked odd jobs to make a living and had to make sacrifices to avoid poverty. These early experiences ensured Ishka grew up financially insecure, feeling partially responsible as if she wasn't doing everything she could to help her family. She had friends who taught her how to steal from the local produce market, and how to outrun the police. Emen (human, boy, 6) lived with his uncle and aunt towards the surface. The uncle and aunt worked despite being of age for retirement to continue paying for elderly care treatment for Emen's grandmother. He grew up critical of the fact his guardians worked their whole lives for very little, taking care of their grandmother when they could hardly care for themselves. Without anyone to talk to about these problems, Emen struggled to cope.
The invasion disrupted the course of their lives permanently, but neither child fully understood the implications of abandoning their homes. They expected they would return someday. Ishka's father took her to a refugee camp separated from the rest of Sesue. Emen's family urged him to meet them at a certain transport station, but they never arrived. His aunt and uncle would have gone with him if they didn't have to pick up his grandmother from a nursing care facility. Once it became clear emergency shuttles weren't stopping at the station anymore, the moon creeping over the waters of Manaan, Emen realized he had to escape on foot. Everyone he knew, as far as he could tell, died that night.
Alone among thousands of strangers and other lost children, Emen had no one to protect him for those first couple days. After passing by this malnourished kid a few times, since they lived in the same sector of the camp, Ishka's father could not help but offer him some of their rations. Emen didn't have any for himself; without proper paperwork connecting him to a legal residency there was no way for him to qualify as a citizen of Manaan. Refugees from other worlds, illegal immigrants, and persons lacking their documentation all starved in the camp. Ishka and her father continued to support Emen, despite the detriment he presented to their own survival by eating a third of their food. While Ishka's father was not an extraordinarily compassionate man, he did see Emen as an innocent victim of a terrible situation. While he could not and did not wish to help everyone, the visibility of Emen's hunger to him made the issue impossible to ignore.
While Emen lacked skills that would help his new friends, he developed new ones along the way. He would steal food with Ishka or create a distraction that allowed her the time to obtain something more precious like a pair of shoes. A couple more days passed, and the camp fell into disrepair as the morale of its employees began to diminish. A seemingly endless stream of refugees arrived on boats from nearby cities and crawled out from the ruins of Sesue. The food supply stretched thin, lawlessness overtook the already precarious sense of order in the camp. The refugees tried to maintain a sense of hope, but some began to panic. The Sith army, having defeated the weaker Republic army stationed in Sesue, drew closer. Anyone with good sense, including the guards stationed at the camp, began to evacuate. Holding twenty thousand people, they could not evacuate quickly enough.
The camp is a module attached to the city, inside it yet separated by a bridge and a series of maintenance tunnels. Refugees scattered through the tunnels, maintenance shafts, plumbing, city officials were drawing up blueprints of every escape route as the Sith arrived. They commenced a slaughter; many tried to run but most died or got arrested. Ishka couldn't find Emen or her father but escapes by swimming from the camp to the city ruins. Emen thought he saw her father looking for Ishka, but before they could reunite he was swept up with the movement of a panicked crowd. They jammed their way through the maintenance tunnels, wherein Emen separates himself from the mob in one of its darkest recesses with no experience of the area to guide him to escape.
At night the two children slept hungry, one drenched in saltwater and the other in complete darkness. The next morning, Emen escaped the tunnels by smelling for which entrances had stale or fresh air. Ishka spent her time navigating the ruins, looking for a path to double back to the refugee camp. She wanted to find her father but reunited with Emen among the ruined city instead. Both were surprised to see each other again, a silver-lining achieved despite the suffering they endured. They miss their families and stick together out of a need to stay attached to the past no matter how distant it has become. They continue looking for Ishka's father that day, but have to give up to avoid being found.
Two weeks passed, dark jedi continually searching for and giving chase to the children. Why they chased, how they knew where the kids were, Emen and Ishka don't understand. While searching for food one morning, a sith master tracked them down. A jedi master, Ansu 'navu Bes, Twi'lek (male, age 41, blue skin), senses the attack while on a completely different mission. He was sent to Manaan to safeguard any padawan or master still alive but instead discovers these two children who happen to be force-sensitive. Master Bes believed their meeting an act of fate, coming upon children who otherwise would have been captured then indoctrinated into the ways of the Sith. Despite having not found any of the jedi stationed in Sesue alive, Master Bes considers his mission a success. He gets them to his small cargo craft; without ever learning the fate of their families, Emen and Ishka leave Manaan.
2. Master Bes takes them to Coruscant, along the way doing his best to help these traumatized children manage the stress of losing their previous lives. Coruscant is the capital world of the Republic government, located in the Core World sector. The planet is one sprawling, multilayered, interconnected city covering the surface. The Jedi Temple for the Grand Council sits in the same region of the planet as the Republic Senate podium and the Republic Military Bureau, all of which necessary in coordinating the war.
During this period, in which war has become the norm, jedi are just as much part of the military as they are members of a politically ambiguous religious practice. Just because the Jedi Order prefers to not pick sides in politics, however, it does not mean individual jedi do not invest themselves in politics much to the dismay of the Grand Council. Jedi are the shamanistic spiritual defenders of the Republic, and the traditional enemy of the Sith. Capable of extraordinary powers by tapping into the Force, both sides teach different paths on how to manipulate the Force. Jedi prefer to think of themselves as guardians of the light, compassionate side of the Force while Sith claim the dominating aspects known as the dark side.
The most experienced jedi masters make up the Grand Council, an advisory board for Jedi Councils in other Republic systems. Master Bes wants to train Ishka and Emen, but the psychological damage they experienced may compromise their future. Grand Master Veshei (reptilian, age 56, teal scales), leader of the Grand Council, gives Master Bes permission to train these children. Master Bes is one of the most exceptional Jedi in the Order. Director of Republic special operations at the age of 33, at 39 he was offered a seat on the Jedi Council on Dantooine. He refused out of respect for his responsibilities within the Republic military, and their bureaucratic political factions. If anyone can teach these two children it's him, at the age of 41. Considered an expert in both lightsaber and defensive Force powers, balanced in his emotions, a matchless agent and politician, Master Bes is the full package. If he proves incapable of controlling them, they will reinstate the one padawan rule in which either Emen or Ishka will partner with a different master.
3. Twelve years pass, during which Ishka (17) and Emen (18) have become exceptional padawan. Master Bes (age 53) teaches them everything he knows about the Force, the jedi code, their responsibilities as military officers, and his personal political leanings within the Republic. Involvement in politics is frowned upon by the Jedi Order, but many like Master Bes see his involvement as unavoidable.
When he was a padawan, Bes wanted to join the Grand Council. As he learned more about the Sith from his own master, he realized their teachings should not remain hidden from Jedi. Corruption within bureaucracy on more than one occasion helped Master Bes succeed in his missions in Special Operations. Informal connections with Republic and Sith employees, politicians, and military helped strengthen his spy networks across the galaxy. He killed hundreds, eroded governments, and built new ones in the name of Republic and Jedi. The Order accepts this morally grey character as a teacher because of his immaculate record and political influence. Otherwise, he would've been forced into exile long ago. For these scarred children, they believed no other jedi could help them. As a representation of the forces that shaped their past, Bes could be a guideline by which to navigate their future. He feels suited for the tedious, repetitive nature of training his padawan. He strengthens their understanding of a complicated, self-harming galaxy as best he can.
4. The next 6 Months: The trio, having succeeded in multiple missions within the safety of the Core Worlds sector, receive their first mission pertinent to the war effort. They travel to the Outer Rim world of Rodia to prevent a social uprising against the established Republic faction. It's a world covered in rainforest, its biome so invasive that cities need a clear, domed structure surrounding it to keep the wildlife and foliage out. On arrival, the trio bear witness to a revolution in support of the Sith and Allied Systems. Republic and Sith agents, both Force sensitive and non-sensitive, work around the clock to discredit each side as betraying the interests of the people.
The Jedi and Sith have made it their mission to kill their less publicly visible members and sabotage each other. Master Bes finds himself against the interests of his own side as he notices the Republic agents have only exacerbated an already unstable situation. Both padawan learn the Republic is not always the good guy, that like any other government it serves its own interests sometimes at the expense of the people. The Rodian government are locked in an unfavorable set of conditions with the Republic, who can't protect this system due to its distance from the Core Worlds. Almost all worlds in the Outer Rim are open to Sith attack, more exposed than the Inner Rim at least. There hasn't been a threat against the Inner Rim since the attacks on Manaan and Onderon twelve years ago, but the Outer Rim has experienced constant military conflict for decades. Despite the odds stacked against him, Master Bes succeeds in bringing stability to Rodia without any bloodshed on his part. A few members of the government looking to overthrow it were arrested, and Master Bes promised that he will petition for Rodia to become a neutral system outside of direct Republic control. His friends in the Republic Senate will no doubt back up this proposition, since they would rather lose a system to neutrality than gain another enemy sided with the Sith. Whether Rodia joins the Sith becomes officially the concern of Rodians, not of the Republic. Emen and Ishka take this as a lesson for how to overpower the enemy without shedding blood.
5. Next 2 months: The consistent raiding by the Sith of Outer Rim trade routes has left the Grand Council with an ever-increasing concern for the sector. As a result, the Grand Council assigns the trio to a garrison with the Jedi Council on Dantooine, a farming world in the Outer Rim. After learning some names, Bes tracks down odd jobs to afford themselves an unassuming apartment in a town near the capital city. For a while their lives turn to small hobbies, and they tend to each other emotionally. Padawan Emen and Ishka have fought many a dark jedi and killed several people at this point during their missions in the Inner Rim, many of which intended as simple missions which end up blowing out of proportion. Master Bes works with them to provide closure, to understand their shared pain. It doesn't go away though, it seems there is nowhere in the galaxy safe from the influence of the Sith.