Jedi: A Star Wars Fanfiction, Part 1: The young one

by Imperial Doctor

This story is set before the 'Phantom Menace' and focuses (mostly) on a kid called Emrys who conveniently has no surname and has an exceptionally high midichlorian count. The 'Young One' follows Emrys' early life and education at the Jedi temple as an initiate. The story is treading between the new Canon and legends material, specifically SWTOR stuff. Rated T for violence and stuff

Foreword (PLZ READ!)

Yes I know, I did say a Star Wars story as compensation for my tardiness with the Doctor Who fanfic. Darn... that word 'tardiness' looks a lot like 'Tardis' fanpoints to anyone who saw that without looking at this second sentence XD! Anyway, this was a story I completed ages ago before I got caught up with tons of IRL stuff, so that's why it's probably infinitesimally better from a literary point of view- at least from my opinion anyway- for all I know this could just be another garbage/rubbish that somehow made it's way out of the creative side of my brain into paper (digital anyway, but the expression stands nonetheless); to be fair everything we produce is garbage/rubbish(whether reused, reduced or recycled but rubbish is still rubbish), however, something is only garbage/rubbish if only one chooses to see that said thing in a deprecating way. But the more perceptive and resourceful people could tell from a pile of useless refuse and random useful material scattered haphazardly. Bah! I know not what I speak of, I am but a crying, whining child next to the compiled wisdom of humankind over the ages. Anyhow, this remains as a reward for your patience.

Rambling aside, we now get to the story relevant content: this story is set before the 'Phantom Menace' and focuses (mostly) on a kid called Emrys who conveniently has no surname and has an exceptionally high midichlorian count. The 'Young One' shows us Emrys' early life and education at the Jedi temple as an initiate, nevertheless the (EXTREMELY LONG) prologue doesn't even introduce us to Emrys and instead focuses on far too much exposition and supporting cast 'screen time'. And that's all I can tell you without spoiling the entire story- no wait I just spoilt it XD! Never mind...

Thx for reading the foreword, now would you be so kind as to continue reading the rest of the story?

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Jedi

Part 1: The Young one- Prologue: The Artefact

(Queue Star Wars title scroll intro theme(Or pretend to sing it, both ways are fun))

It was a peaceful time in the galaxy, the Republic has influence

over thousands of star systems and the Jedi have had a successful

peacekeeping role within the Galactic Republic. Reducing the public

threats to petty pirates and crime lords armed with credits and influence.

Here is the new challenge for the once mighty, lightsaber wielding

light side knights of justice, where their enemies once had powers

of the Force, now the new foes' less glamourous abilities that pale

in comparison to that of the red blades and sorcery of their ancient

adversaries.

Now it is up to the Jedi to maintain order by undermining the criminals'

efforts in crating disorder. Little do the Jedi and the Senate know that

the real threat lie hidden in plain sight...

46 BBY

A solitary hooded stranger walked calmly through the shadowy alleys of the Coruscant underworld. He was in the dregs of galactic society. Criminals, fugitives, ne'er-do-wells were abundant here under the noses of the self righteous senators who had turned a blind eye to the notoriety of the underworld whilst enjoying the extravagant luxuries of the surface. Here, though, there was a more diverse blend of species: where the surface had mainly humans and high status beings like Muuns, Neimoidians, the Gran, Umbarans, the underworld had Rodians, Ithorians, Dugs, Devaronians and species unheard of from the Republic who had managed to illegally migrate themselves to the rich capital planet of the Republic. With the senators choosing ignorance of the underworld's depravity, the main body of peace and justice in Republic space, the Jedi, had chosen to follow the example of the senators; claiming to serve the greater good and the people, the order of peacekeepers had dismissed underworld's criminal activity as petty and below them: a short term inconvenience. Instead the Jedi turned their sights to the rest of the galaxy rather than dealing with Coruscant's dark side. This had greatly angered many, especially those who saw the Jedi as merely servants of the self serving senators of this hypocritical government; even some renowned Jedi masters realised this and had joined this party of political thought. What is the greater good in serving a corrupt system that was the bright, prize apple of galactic politics that more or less everyone knew was rotten to the core? The hooded figure clenched his fists.

Armoured males and females exited a large cantina, armed to the teeth with ranged and melee weapons. At least the bounty hunters do more peacekeeping than the Jedi ever could in this era, thought the hooded figure, nodding at the warriors in respect whilst keeping his face and features concealed inside his hood's shadow. Some of the bounty hunters returned the gesture with a friendly smile or a nod and the rest didn't acknowledge him as they passed; he sensed that the latter had deeper motives than saving people or money- far too complicated for him to be interpreting in a short span of time. In any case sensing feelings of freelancers was not his mission today. The hooded figure resumed his course, set upon his objective.

After many minutes of walking and watching, a piercing scream was heard, then he saw the suspect. A shifty eyed Aqualish sneaked out of a home, hands bloodstained, vibro knife in one hand and some object wrapped in a cloth in the other. The Aqualish ran off as the first wave of innocently curious bystanders began to gather around the crime scene. The hooded figure inhaled and leapt up upon the roofs of the average height buildings of this level, no mean feat for someone of his species. Surveying the landscape with his enhanced sight to spot the Aqualish criminal amongst the confused crowds below and calling upon the powers he was gifted with to enhance his speed to race after the crook, ignoring the second round of screams; this time not of pain, but of horror and confusion. He thought in his mind: Perhaps the authority will arrive at the scene to restore order, or perhaps even the Jedi... nevertheless, the figure shook his head as he sped with ridiculous rapidity. No, his goal was not that of the Jedi guardians, for he had an idea of the bigger picture. He had the clues, the evidence and he had the pieces, now all there is to do is assembling them to form the sculpture's true shape... whatever it is.

As the Aqualish reached the other side of this district, he slowed down and wiped his bloodied hands with a wet rag which he'd prepared in his trouser pocket. The hooded figure too slowed down his pace but still stalked his quarry with intrigue and purpose. In front of both predator and prey was an abandoned building, formerly a power plant or maybe a factory; however, the funding of the construction project had been cut off for some reason or another. Now this place was a haven for secretive meetings between the underworld's most shady characters. The building was rarely used as it was in the centre of the well guarded marketing centre of this district. Although, what better place to hide oneself than under the enemy's nose where they'd least be expected? The hooded figure couldn't help but grin toothily: his suspicions were correct and they did correspond with his calculations -which were seldom wrong. His peers had always compared his intelligence to that of the Biths and Muuns, but he'd always thought the compliments as understatements. He was so much more.

The building had it's roof reach almost to the ceiling separating this level from the level above. It was time to return to the ground. The hooded figure jumped down from the roof of some closed convenience store and landed on the ground on one hand and both feet without making a sound, the only evidence of his drop was the small breeze of wind emanating from the blast radius of his impact point. Feeling the wind, the Aqualish stopped for a minute and turned around. There was nobody there. Returning to his original direction, whilst trying to not sigh with relief, the Aqualish resumed his course. Little did he know that the hooded figure hid under the shadow of a closed derelict casino. Continuing to follow the crook, the hooded figure kept to the shadows of the looming buildings around him, using it's darkness to envelop his presence from the grabbing rays of light and the prying eyes of the hidden cameras.

At the front of the building was a doorless archway, it appeared unguarded but the hooded figure sensed the presences of multiple sentient beings. As the Aqualish strode closer to this entrance, two humanoids clad in black wearing masks over their mouths and armed with scoped blaster carbine snipers appeared from behind each side of the archway. The snipers were primed at the Aqualish, who raised his hands in surrender and babbled something in the non-human's native tongue. After this, the masked humanoids lowered their weapons and escorted the Aqualish into the building. The hooded figure quickened his pace but slowed down when he saw two durasteel staff wielding Zabraks. Whoever was behind this is clearly not some pleasure seeking Hutt crimelord, who normally favoured Gammoreans as guards, but someone with deeper motives than to seek a short term rule or to terrorise Coruscant's underworld at a whim. No, no this was someone who went out of their way to remain low profile as to arm Zabrak warriors with durasteel staves as opposed to force-pikes.

The hooded figure waited and estimated when the snipers would be out of an earshot. When he was convinced, he leapt out of his hiding place like some Kath hound and attacked the Zabrak guards without a weapon. The Zabrak guards reacted quickly and outstretched their staffs to hold the hooded figure at bay; he was impressed: Zabraks had two hearts which gave them their tremendous speed, however, they would be no match for his powers as he'd sensed their lack of power in the Force along with their arrogance. With two durasteel staves pointed at him- one an inch away from his throat and the other a centimetre from his solar plexus- the hooded figure backed away slowly. The Zabraks smirked at the sudden surrender; their arrogance justified as who in their right mind would attack two skilled Zabrak warriors armed with durasteel staves whilst unarmed? The hooded figure stopped his apparent retreat and leapt upon one Zabrak's staff. The bodyguard was strong enough to keep his staff parallel to the ground but didn't see this trick coming. With enhanced strength and speed, the hooded figure flicked his feet and kicked the Zabrak in the jaw, sending the thug falling back as he (the hooded figure) landed gracefully upon the floor. Suddenly, the other Zabrak thrust his staff at the face beneath the hood. With no time to evade, the hooded figure met the strike with his palm to intercept the weapon. The Zabrak's eyes widened as his weapon ricochetted off the intruder's palm as if it was some strong stone on a rocky planet in the outer rim or something, thus causing the guard to stumble back. The hooded figure seized the initiative of the moment- or more accurately seized the Zabrak's staff.

The guard was loosing the grip of the situation.

With the long staff at his disposal, the hooded figure held one end with one hand and used the length of the weapon's reach to trip the already stumbling guard up. The guard landed head first upon the floor knocking him out cold as the staff swung once more in a two handed grip to strike at his groin with a satisfying thunk! The hooded figure then slid his rear hand to the centre of the staff and sliding his leading hand up the staff, with that he thrust the weapon into the other Zabrak's stomach area, winding him. Finally, the hooded figure jabbed the guard's forehead hard, also to knock him out cold. Placing down the durasteel staff on the permacrete floor next to the disarmed guard, the hooded figure entered the building. Sure enough, there was a pass code locked blast door which the masked humanoids had taken the Aqualish to since there were no other doors that the schematics had shown him. According to his sources, the pass code was always changed every day manually, making it impossible to steal. Fortunately, it didn't matter to him: with a wave of his faded moss green hand, the door was tricked and admitted him.

As the door slid open, he was greeted by the sight of metal crates and footlockers. To others, this may seem normal and innocently boring, nevertheless he saw through this illusion and turned left to find a set of downwards going stairs, hidden by a black curtain and robed by the lack of light. This was going to be far too easy! Calling upon his powers to guide him through the dark staircase, the hooded figure questioned whether this mission was worth it. Surely they must've suspected that he'd hired a bounty hunter to map out this exact place so that he could exploit every advantage possible against their favour? That Nautolan must have done a great job or they wanted him to think he had the advantage. Either way, he knew the Force was with him tonight.

The masked humanoids took the Aqualish to a large hooded man. His black outer robe had gold streaks that caught light when he moved, gold writing were inscribed upon the rim of his hood. The writing was unrecognisable -in Republic space anyway- and below his robe was a glint of silver on his black belt and faded gold armour which was duller than most aurodium discovered in the galaxy, perhaps alloyed with another metal or worn from use. The man waved off the masked guards in dismissal. The guards obeyed and headed for the stairs. Next the man slowly approached the Aqualish.

"Do you have it?" he enquired excitedly in Galactic basic, a language known by almost everyone in the galaxy and spoken mostly by humans, then he outstretched his hand, palm facing to the ceiling in a demanding gesture, "the artefact, do you have it?"

"Yeah, boss I got it, oh and I had the whole house slaughtered," replied the Aqualish in his own tongue, clearly understanding Basic but unable to speak it, taking out the cloth wrapped item, "now, where's my pay, Mister knight"

"Artefact first," snapped the man flatly but somehow making the Aqualish nervous. Avarice driven, the Aqualish handed over the artefact to the 'Mister knight' and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. 'Mister knight' unveiled his prize, a dull grey key-like object . However, it was hard to see his expression from under the hood, "you've done well, Golog, I am pleased"

"And the money...?" prompted Golog the Aqualish criminal, barely containing his excitement. 'Mister knight' took the silvery object from his belt, it was cylindrical and had a hole on the upside. He pressed a red button on the object. With a click and a hiss, the object emitted a yellow blade from the hole. A lightsaber!

Golog froze in terror.

"My friend, be honoured that you are slain by the blade of a Knight of Zakuul!" declared 'Mister knight', with a swing of his sword, the Knight of Zakuul swiftly beheaded the Aqualish, the yellow blade burnt the flesh so the blood would leak out later. 'Mister knight' clicked the button again to deactivate the blade. He turned around and walked towards a table with a similarly dull gold helmet as his armour. It was time! The hooded figure leapt out of his hiding place on a metal bar in the ceiling and landed with a three point stance, using his hand as an additional shock absorber. 'Mister knight' didn't turn around to confront him, instead he unveiled his brown haired, fair skinned head and quickly placed the golden helmet upon it. The helmet also covered his face along with the eye holes lighting up with white light when his helmet touched his head. Finally, he turned towards the hooded figure and raised a black gloved finger on a golden gauntleted hand at the intruder, "guards! Kill this interloper!"

The hooded figure dodged two blaster bolts aimed at him and ran towards their sources. The two masked humanoids melted out of the shadows, each wielding a single edged vibroblade. The hooded figure recognised their species now... they were the Maladians. A race of sentient humanoids who were typically worked as well paid assassins. They were notorious for eliminating opponents with swift efficiency and able to adapt to situations very quickly, killing their targets- even Jedi- with skilful ease. The Maladians closed in on the hooded figure. Sensing it was time, he dodged the first slash of one assassin and barely avoided the second by the other. The wind threw back his hood to reveal the bald green head of a Neimodian, his wide orange eyes monitoring the movements of the assassins' blades. He sent both of his hands forwards in a pushing motion sending the Maladians flying back. The force of their impact with the floor knocking them out. The Neimoidian turned around to face 'Mister knight'.

"Are you sure they were Maladians?" asked the Neimoidian mockingly, pointing his thumb back at the fallen assassins, "you shouldn't rest all your confidence upon your cronies, oh, and those Zabraks back there? They were disappointingly easy"

"Tyth curse you, Jedi!" spat 'Mister knight', his muffled voice was seasoned with anger, "tonight was supposed to be a clean job but you had to intervene! However, I will ensure that there will be no witnesses!"

"You mean, you will try," chuckled he Neimoidian.

With that, the knight ignited his yellow lightsaber, roared a battle cry and charged at the Neimoidian. Being a Jedi, he too drew and ignited his own lightsaber albeit a dark blue colour. Their blades clashed, each trying to land a strike on each other but failing as the other parries the strike with their own blades. The Jedi analysed his opponent's style as the human performed his attacks. Judging by the characteristic aggressive two handed blows, he guessed at the strength orientated Fifth form of lightsaber combat, Djem So or perhaps the aggression based form seven, Juyo. Formulating a strategy based on this conjecture, the Neimoidian Jedi switched to a more defensive style. Despite this, the ferocious Knight of Zakuul was relentless, his savage strikes eroding the Neimodian Jedi's defence.

The Jedi gritted his teeth as he fought to maintain the integrity of his feeble defence. It's weakness was due to it being the incomplete, watered down version of both defensive forms five and three. The latter being completely devoted to defence, making one near impervious to attacks- even those of rapid fire blaster bolts. In any case, the Neimoidian utilised the sixth from of lightsaber combat, Niman, the diplomat's form. Suited for the ranks of Jedi consulars, who specialised in dealing with problems by negotiation and minimal combat. True to it's purpose, the form is a hybridisation of all seven known lightsaber forms, however, this feature makes the form hollow and barely useful against masters of the other forms if one did not posses neither greater strength nor speed. In the Neimoidian's case, he was experiencing just that. Their blades locked once more.

"It seems you've fallen victim to Tyth's fury," sneered 'Mister Knight', "I can sense your strength leaving you"

"Is this really Tyth's fury?" questioned the Neimoidian sarcastically, trying to put up a smirk but got a fatigued grimace instead, "I was under the impression that it could do so much more, too bad, seems I was wrong"

"You really want to die, don't you?" retorted the Knight of Zakuul, annoyed at the persistent master Jedi.

"There is no death, there is only... the Force," replied the master Jedi with a weak, knowing smile.

With that, 'Mister Knight' pushed the Jedi's lightsaber back in anger and advanced slowly and calling upon the Force to intimidate his annoying adversary. Fortunately for the Jedi Master, his proficiency with the Force Shield allowed him to shrug off the weak attempt of Force Fear and focus on anticipating the enemy's next move. The Neimoidian felt his opponent's intent increase as the Knight summoned more Dark side energy to fuel his fury, but at the same time sensed something else. Something that the Knight had no idea was going to happen. The next stage of his plan.

All of a sudden, the ceiling above the centre of the room collapsed as another robed Jedi landed in a three point stance amidst the debris of wood and metal. This newcomer had his hood back, revealing his spiked, dark orange-brown Kajain'sai' Nikto head. Taking the initiative, the Neimoidian Jedi master attacked the dazed knight with his lightsaber. The attack was parried but not countered since the Jedi's offensive momentum had sent the knight on the defensive, and what's more, the Force power he'd been gathering had been dissipated from the sudden interruption and strike; however, being a well trained warrior, 'Mister Knight' recovered enough to halt the Jedi's momentum in the duel. Unfortunately, the Nikto Jedi ignited his lighter blue lightsaber and moved to attack 'Mister Knight'.

This was too much for the Knight of Zakuul, he was outnumbered and worse: taken by surprise. The Jedi had played their cards well. This was going to take too long. He disengaged from the Neimoidian and began to slowly back away towards the exit that led to the stairs to the hangar bay in the next level, lightsaber still activated and held in a two handed grip. Then, he remembered something. Smiling underneath his helmet, he reached behind him with his left hand and pressed a button on a hidden remote control in his utility belt whilst simultaneously deactivating his blade. The lightsaber deactivation prompted the Jedi to lower their guard (slightly) and the press of the button caused thick, grey clouds of smoke to fill the room. 'Mister Knight' had a helmet on so wasn't effected, but the Jedi were too late in holding their breath and were now coughing and retching. Seizing the opportunity, he turned and ran for the stairs. The two Jedi called upon the Force to see through the dense smog and for them to hold their breaths in time to reach the stairs where the gas curiously didn't invade the airspace there.

When the Jedi reached the stairs, they took time to breathe properly once more as they coughed up the smoke residue in their lungs. As they did this, they utilised the Force's healing powers to heal their lungs and to nullify whatever lethal effects the gas had. Fortunately, the effects were either minor enough to be healed in a short span of time or had no poisonous effect whatsoever. The two Jedi deactivated their lightsabers and clipped them to their respective utility belts. The Nikto nodded at the Neimoidian.

"That was some planning, Master Shaban," he remarked with genuine compliment, "I'm surprised we even got this far"

"I've seen better days, Padawan Ima Gun Di," replied Master Hasr Shaban, sighing then blinking, "oh, sorry I forgot you're not my Padawan any more, you're a knight now"

"It's alright, Master, I miss the good old days too," Ima Gun Di said reminiscently, sweeping off the dust from his maroon robes under his brown outer robe from his theatrical entrance.

"Now we've recovered let's hurry, one mustn't get complacent," Master Shaban urged as he himself ran up the stairs, Ima Gun Di following closely behind.

As they ascended the steps with augmented speed, Ima Gun Di felt nostalgic. He was back once more with his mentor, chasing obscure evils. Back in the day he'd found their missions pointless since most of the crooks the Neimoidian arrested weren't proven to be guilty; although days later, the two would hear news in the underworld- or whatever shady part of the planet they were on- that some massive plot had been stopped due to a lack of vital personnel being at their posts. Despite this, Ima Gun Di had rejected the path of the Jedi Shadow his Master had taken (just like the Neimoidian had rejected the path of Jedi Consular from his Cathar Master) and instead became the less obscure class of Jedi Guardian in his Knighthood two standard years ago. Ima Gun Di had enjoyed the path of Guardian better but it was a few weeks ago that his old Master confronted him and asking him a favour: to help him with his mission. Initially he had refused, he had left the way of the Shadow behind him two years ago. It had been tempting to help his Master once more, but at the time he'd rather be doing his daily lightsaber practise; that was until his Master promised him that there would be some actual lightsaber clashing this time.

His first thought to that was some bounty hunter that was good with a vibroblade and had claimed a lightsaber from the stone cold hand of some dead Jedi's maggot ridden corpse. Then the Neimoidian had shook his head when he made that suggestion and said to him eagerly: "Think bigger!"; to which the first thing that came to his mind was some rogue Padawan with a high Midi-chlorian count. When Ima Gun Di expressed this, his former teacher had face-palmed himself and shook his head even more vigorously before muttering at how unimaginative his former pupil was. Then telling the Nikto Jedi Guardian that they were after a confirmed Knight of Zakuul. Their existence shrouded by the invalidity of legends, they were thought to have disappeared along with the location of Zakuul as soon as the Old Republic and the Sith Empire regained the upper hand in Galactic politics once more. At this, Ima Gun Di shrugged and said: "Oh, I thought you were going to say Sith" to which the Neimoidian had replied with a roll of his eyes and saying: "Not that big". Now looking back at it, the Nikto Jedi Knight had severely underestimated the excitement and danger of this mission. The Zakuulan knights had a reputation of being well trained in the lightsaber arts even more than the Jedi or the Sith. This prompted Ima Gun Di to join his Master's hunt as the Neimoidian possessed very little skill or talent in Martial arts apart from his mastery in some arcane hand to hand combat style which he had learnt from an ancient holocron on one of the Neimoidian's first solo missions as a knight. Apart from the Zakuulan knights' relatively superior blade work, these legendary warriors were trained to use both the light and dark side of the Force without being dragged into one extreme. This Ima Gun Di had to see for himself.

"I told you this was going to be fun," shouted Master Shaban over their leather boots clanging deafeningly against the metal stairs, smiling.

"For you, maybe!" called back Ima Gun Di, trying to catch up with his former Master, who was always better than him at aptitude for Force based skills, "I didn't even get to trade blows with him!"

"Patience young one, your time will come," Hasr Shaban said loudly over his shoulder, "there is no emotion-"

"-there is peace," finished Ima Gun Di, they were reciting the first verse of the Jedi code which had always been used as a constant mantra in everything the Jedi did- with very few exceptions, of course. Suddenly, there was the sound of blaster bolts being fired.

"That would be the Coruscant underworld police battle droids I ordered, I assume?" asked Master Shaban, maintaining his super human pace.

"Affirmative, Master," confirmed the Nikto Jedi Knight with a sharp nod, "I took the liberty of setting them on absolute war mode"

"Good, that should buy us time to chase 'Mister Knight' down," The Neimoidian thought aloud, "all the more reason to hurry"

"And you preach of patience?" muttered Ima Gun Di shaking his head.

On the top floor in the hangar bay, 'Mister Knight' positioned himself between the battle droids and his ship. Deflecting the blaster bolts with his yellow lightsaber, he was disappointed at the droids' lack of accuracy. He had expected their abilities to be beyond the HK assassin units of the Old Republic era which he had practised against, but instead these lousy shots barely skimmed him and had missed him on many occasions, instead hitting his beautiful ship. His Vaylin class mark three infiltrator. The droids had him cornered and now were closing in on him, surrounding him and overwhelming him with their fire power. Mustering his rage and his drive to finish his mission, he let loose a powerful Force wave that tore apart the droids' limbs and rendering them useless. With no time to admire his handiwork, 'Mister Knight' deactivated his lightsaber and headed for the ship... only to be confronted by the two Jedi, their lightsabers activated. Izax damn the Jedi! Apparently they had sneaked behind him when he was fending off the droids.

Enough was enough, the Knight lit his blade and charged at his enemies without announcing his intention to duel. The Neimoidian parried the ferocious strike and stepped back to allow his Nikto companion to overwhelm the Knight of Zakuul with his defensive style of lightsaber combat. Seeing this, 'Mister Knight' retreated and switched his form to the more technique oriented style. Adjusting his footwork to be more linear, 'Mister Knight' now began to attack with one handed thrusts and riposting quickly after parrying. This toppled the Nikto's momentum and they fought at an equal ground now. 'Mister Knight' now integrated Force fear into the duel, giving him the opportunity to gain the upper hand and sending the Nikto stepping backwards as he thrust his blade at the Jedi Knight's warily defended centreline.

"Feel the venom of Zildrog's fangs!" boasted 'Mister Knight'.

"Master, now!" called Ima Gun Di, with that, the Neimoidian attacked with a leaping strike at 'Mister Knight', who blocked the attack just in time before Force pushing Ima Gun Di into a pile of heavy durasteel with a sonorous crash.

"Get-out-of-my-way!" roared 'Mister Knight' in anger and unleashed a flurry of blows at Master Shaban as part of the form appropriately dubbed 'Tyth's fury', "as you can see, I'm in a bit of hurry"

"If you were cleverer, then you would've just ignored the droids and go," taunted the Neimoidian, with that the Knight unleashed the full power of Tyth's fury and cut the hilt of the Jedi's lightsaber in half before stabbing him with rapid multiple linear thrusts of the 'Fangs of Zildrog' at the Neimoidian's lungs, liver and kidneys with deadly precision. Hasr Shaban fell backwards to the ground, defeated.

"No, if you were cleverer, you shouldn't have gotten in my way," mocked 'Mister Knight' as he kicked the Neimoidian's dying body, then he turned to the struggling Ima Gun Di who was still getting himself out of the heavy durasteel pile, "perhaps I should kill your pathetic Padawan for good measure too, I must say his performance was... ground breaking- ahahahaha!"

He laughed cruelly as he approached the clanking pile. Suddenly a beeping ball with a flashing red light rolled right in front of him.

"What the-"

KABOOM! The explosion threw the Knight of Zakuul back towards his ship. 'Mister Knight' wasn't hurt since his armour took most of the damage: no more than a few dents and scratches.

"There he is, blast him!" shouted a helmeted marksman with several green head tails that protruded from their headgear as they shot their stun setting rifle at the knight. 'Mister Knight' could not afford to be stunned and so scampered away into his ship, closing the entrance behind him. The helmeted marksman was joined by a squad of masked Coruscant underworld police officers armed with hold out blaster pistols. 'Mister Knight' shook his head as he watched from his cockpit. Idiots, he thought whilst preparing his ship for lift off, don't they realise that ships with good deflector shields are invincible against hold out blasters?! With that, the Vaylin class mark three infiltrator escaped the wrath of the pitiful policemen.

The helmeted marksman stowed their rifle in its place on their back and took off their helmet. This was a green skinned Nautolan female with her pupil less, wide, black eyes, her profession was a bounty hunter. One of the best in Hasr Shaban's opinion as his life began flashing before his eyes. They had met before on several occasions, in fact the first time they confronted each other back in Hasr's solo Knight days, they were on hostile terms as they were hunting the same criminal and to top it all off, bounty hunters did not see eye to eye with Jedi. Hasr's objective was to interrogate the subject and the Nautolan's was to kill the acquisition. But it turned out, the acquisition was behind the whole chaos on Ord Mantell so killing him wasn't that much of a loss, since the criminal had his plans stowed away inside a datacron which Hasr brought to the Council of First knowledge. From that moment on Hasr and the Nautolan grew to respect each other and would work on the same side.

"Hasr! Hasr, are you alright?" cried the Nautolan with concern, holding the back of the Neimoidian's head, she fumbled with her free hand inside her bag, "hold on, I'll patch you up with a medpack"

"No... Shiina... it's too...late," croaked Master Shaban grabbing her free hand before letting it go as he coughed, "My... former Padawan, where... is...he...?"

"Get the other Jedi!" commanded Shiina the huntress at the police constables, who nodded and headed for the durasteel pile, "hang in there, Hasr!"

"Don't... worry... everything's going... to be... fine," gasped Master Shaban before coughing again, the policemen finally released Ima Gun Di from the pile and led the Nikto to his old Master.

"Master! No!" shouted Ima Gun Di, running and kneeling beside Shiina the huntress.

"Ima Gun... Di... has the knight been... stopped?" asked Master Shaban staring into Ima Gun Di's blue eyes.

"No, Master, I'm sorry I couldn't save you in time, he got away," reported the Nikto, his voice cracking and his face downcast.

"Oh..."

"But I did have the foresight to disable his long range engines and hyperdrive," Ima Gun Di consoled his dying teacher, "he won't be able to make it beyond Centax-4"

Hasr Shaban let loose a wheezing laughter before succumbing to another round of coughing.

"Hush, Hasr, save your strength," said Shiina softly as she stroked his head.

"Why should I? I'm dying!" laughed Master Shaban before again falling into uncontrollable coughing, then he gasped for breath, "I haven't got... long left... his lightsaber pierced... both my lungs... I'm actually pretty impressed"

There was another gasping pause.

"Shiina, old friend...if you don't mind... finish this mission for me... the artifact... is very important," explained Master Shaban, Shiina the huntress nodded and he looked at his old Padawan, "Ima Gun Di... knight of the Jedi Order... I want you to help Shiina... this is also... a Jedi matter"

"Yes, Master,"

"And... one more thing"

"Master?"

"When you... do this mission... I want you... to not be...driven by... vengeance," rasped the Neimoidian Jedi, his final wish in accordance to the Jedi code, "do I have... your word?"

"There is no passion there is serenity," Ima Gun Di recited.

"Good... I can become one with the Force...now..." Hasr Shaban rattled his final gasp before saying: "There is no death..."

The light went out of the Neimoidian's eyes.

"There is only the Force," finished Ima Gun Di quietly. The policemen took off their masks in respect.

At the Jedi temple, the Funeral for the late Master Hasr Shaban was held the following day, the clouds of Coruscant was a sombre grey whilst rain poured down steadily soaking the Jedi's brown robes and causing them to turn into a darker shade of brown. The Jedi had decided to hold the funeral indoors because of this. Apart from Jedi, several notable individuals attended the funeral, there was Supreme Chancellor Kalpanna, Senator Ranulph Tarkin of Eriadu, Senator Palpatine of Naboo, Finis Valorum, Trade Federation Senator Nute Gunray and somehow even Hego Damask, the Muun Magister of Damask Holdings. The Euology was done by Master Shaban's former mentor, a female Cathar Jedi Consular by the name of Klinn Propre. Ima Gun Di sat next to fellow knight Rahm Kota on his right and Master Sifo-Dyas on his left who sat next to Master Dooku with his spiky haired Padawan Komari Vosa. Ima Gun Di realised there were two people missing: Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Sifo-Dyas leaned towards Ima Gun Di and whispered: "Qui-Gon and Obi-wan are away on a mission on Mandalore"

"Oh, right," nodded Ima Gun Di, that explains the empty chairs.

"Which reminds me, Sifo-Dyas, about the Mandalorians-" began Dooku, but then was cut off by the ceremony starting silence. Ima Gun Di saw Klinn Propre, dressed in her white robes without her outer robe, step up towards the shimmersilk sheeted corpse of Master Shaban and whispered her final goodbye to her former Padawan. Following this, the corpse was lowered slowly into the crypt. When the crypt had been resealed did Master Klinn Propre begin her parting speech.

"Hasr Shaban, a very eager and promising pupil, always thirsty for knowledge and loathed lightsaber practise," Master Propre spoke, her speech devoid of grief, which was exemplary act of self control that all Jedi ought to follow after losing a close friend or someone just as or more important, Ima Gun Di noticed her whiskers twitch and a smile lit up her face as she continued, "though even with his aptitude for the Force, he always like hand to hand combat, the man rejected the path of the Consular to become a Shadow..."

After the eulogy had finished, the attenders of the funeral paid their respects to the deceased Neimoidian Jedi and mingled amongst one another with drinks and small talk. Ima Gun Di was sharing a bottle of Sullustan wine with Rahm Kota whilst having an idle conversation.

"So, Ima, what do you think the murderer was planning?" Kota asked, scratching his brown tied back hair with his free hand.

"Well, Rahm, to tell you the truth I don't actually know," Ima Gun Di replied to Kota, they were in first name terms as they'd been in the same clan as younglings, "Master Shaban always kept his plans to himself and only tells people what they need to know"

"Hmm..." said Kota thoughtfully, as Ima Gun Di took a sip off his wine glass, "by the way, when are you going to get your first Padawan?"

"Oh Please, I've only been a knight for two years," scoffed Ima Gun Di, giving Kota a friendly nudge, "and you've been a knight for four and I don't see a Padawan with you right now"

They heartily laughed, clinked their glasses and downed their drinks in one go. Then, Ima Gun Di spotted Master Windu approach them.

"Sorry to interrupt, Kota, a moment of your time please," Master Windu said with urgency in his calm, low pitched voice.

"Of course, Master," replied Kota, offering Ima Gun Di an apologetic smile.

"By the way, Ima Gun Di, I'm sorry about your Master," Master Windu spoke sincerely.

"It's alright, Master Windu," smiled Ima Gun Di sadly, with that Kota and Master Windu departed. Ima Gun Di was suddenly approached by Hego Damask, the Nikto swore he saw the Magister talk to Dooku, Palpatine and the Supreme Chancellor on the other side of the room. The muun wore his dark green robes with a matching green skull cap, his attire matched those of the muuns who worked for the Intergalactic Banking Clan. His decapitated jaw was hidden by a sinister looking breath mask and he was supported by a walking stick.

"My condolences, Master Jedi," Magister Damask spoke with a rasping, mechanical voice, "I hear from Master Dooku that your Master was one of the best Jedi Shadows ever trained by the Jedi"

For some reason Ima Gun Di seemed to think that he heard an almost mocking tone by the muun which saddened instead of angered him. It made no sense. Then again he was quite devastated by his Master's death and may have been hearing things.

"Thank you, Magister Damask," nodded Ima Gun Di solemnly, but stopped at that, he had nothing to say to the Magister for he didn't know the muun aside from reputation and thus was at loss for words. Before Ima Gun Di could try to think up of anything else to say, Damask continued.

"Excuse my curiosity, Master Jedi, but I heard that the late Master Shaban was killed by a supposed Knight of Zakuul," Magister Damask said inquisitively, his eyes narrowing, "is this true?"

"Well, the man claimed he was one..." Ima Gun Di began, racking his brain for details of the previous night, "though I do suspect that he was merely some fanatic cultist who wielded the Force and held a lightsaber... he was but one of many non-Jedi groups"

"And yet they stole a Zakuul related artefact?" Damask pried further.

"That's what I've heard, but I cannot confirm, only my Master saw it," Ima Gun Di shrugged in honest uncertainty, then suddenly, his commlink beeped, "excuse me, Magister, I have some other place I was supposed to be"

"It is no problem, Master Jedi," the muun waved off his apology and made a move to turn around but stopping himself, "if you do find out anything about this 'Knight' be sure to contact me for I am... intrigued"

"Don't worry, Magister Damask, you'll be the first to know," smiled Ima Gun Di, a little to easily perhaps. With that, the muun departed to the direction of Senator Palpatine. Wait a minute, did he just promise that the muun will be the first to know? It seemed too much for a coincidence that Damask had asked for updates on the investigation's development. Did the long lost system of Zakuul and it's culture really matter to some money loving muun? Then again everyone had their own unique interests. The Nikto Jedi answered the call, "Hello, Jedi knight Ima Gun Di"

"Hey kid, where are you? My armour's getting drenched in this rain!" growled the voice of Mast Shaban's bounty hunter friend, Shiina. Ima Gun Di rolled his eyes, bounty hunters have no manners,he thought to himself.

"I'm at my master's funeral, why aren't you?" returned the Nikto.

"I don't do funerals, not even for friends, besides I'll stick out like a sore thumb," explained Shiina the huntress by way of an excuse, Ima Gun Di could just imagine her shrugging carelessly right now, "and didn't you say we'll meet at the place? I thought we were gonna chase that lightsaber juggling bantha fodder and bring him to justice as soon as possible!"

"Oh yeah..." remembered the Jedi knight, making his way to the Masters of the Jedi council and Master Propre's group to excuse himself, "give me a moment I'll see you there"

The commlink clicked off as a response. Putting the device back on his utility belt, Ima Gun Di quickened his pace. He was going to complete the mission in his master's memory, he will retrieve the artefact... no matter what.

---

Afterword

Yeah, I know, the intro sound like some Shakespearean play, 'two families both alike in dignity...', you get the picture.

Anyway, thank you for reading this piece of fan literature, your reading time and views are appreciated- comments are even better, though! Now, regarding comments, I'm sure I've mentioned something about comments in one of the Doctor who stories, if I haven't, I'll say it again anyway: any comment is great so long as it's constructive, also constructive comments can sometimes be harsh, I'm alright to a human enough degree on that, however, harsh comments doesn't automatically mean it's constructive.

I will write another instalment to my stories soon, but I can't promise anything, so please have patience and I once again thank you for the views!