DISCLAIMER: I do now own the idea of Star Wars, George Lucas does. None of the concepts below belong to me, please don't sue me. On the other hand, all the characters are original and do belong to me, until further notice (as in I might add in one of Mr. Lucas' characters later.)
Hope you like, it was my first try at Sci-Fi fan fiction. To the readers from Jedi Temple: hope you don't mind the butchering I did of you characters. Tell me if you want them out.
Enjoy!
-Demondayne
*
The darkness-shrouded man stood a full head taller than the woman in front of him. He was wearing a cloak that completely covered his face, leaving only shadows and guesses. He stood proud, looming and dangerous at the same time. The woman appeared to be a walking weapon. Hooked to each side of her belt were twin 9" blasters, matched by smaller models strapped to her calves. There were also two daggers latched to her forearms, primitive weapons but useful nonetheless. The way she held herself; right knee slightly bent to give off a casual stance at first glance, arms folded under her breasts, and eyes latched on the tall man, reeked with readiness to use the weapons she carried at any given moment.
From the confines of hidden pouches, the shady man took out a sack, whose contents clanged gingerly inside. He thrust it at the woman and made a snarling sound.
"Wren, I want them brought back to me dead, you hear?" His voice dripped with contempt and anger. Smooth and deep however, enough to make a Coruscant tavern-maid swoon. "Unspoiled. Otherwise, take whatever you want."
Wren caught the bag and tossed it into the sack hanging from her back and nodded curtly.
"As the highest bidder commands," she said through gritted teeth. Not the first time this man had paid an incredible amount of money for her...services. Usually it involved disposing of a few out-of-hand politicians, or slipping into a gallery and bringing something out unnoticed. This time... Reminding herself of what the reward would be when the task completed, she fingered her left-side blaster.
"You will see that the particular materials needed to excel are in your ship-" he continued before being cut off by the woman.
"You've been in my ship?" Wren demanded angrily. No one touched her model 16 Edge without her permission, no matter how much they paid. "If there is so much as a scratch-"
"You can be assured that nothing other than the hatch and door-commands have been touched..." She raised an eyebrow and he continued "...and none of your modifications have been scanned or removed." Wren frowned, then finally nodded reluctantly. There were things on that ship she had managed to...alter that would send her to the courts without a doubt of the outcome.
The man turned to leave, but she had one more question. A dangerous one, but needed.
"Why those two? There are other Jedi that have caused more trouble, why them?" He turned on a dime, then came up so close to her face that Wren could feel his breath, and see glints of reflected light from his eyes.
"Because that is what I said, and that is why bounty hunters are paid." He replied in a manner that made Wren take a step back. He moved a foot forwards, hesitated, then brought it back. "If the circumstances make you uncomfortable, I can always find another," he said. Wren was sure that under that hood he was smiling wickedly at her. She sniffed and turned in the direction of the hangar holding her ship.
"If you were to find another, you'd be paying twice the amount you are now, and he'd probably not be able to finish the job. You came to me for a reason, right?" He snorted, an odd sound coming from him, and she turned her back and headed towards her ship. She barely heard him mutter behind her. She wished she had not.
"Reason? You're the only one who knows what I'll do if you fail." With that she shivered and ducked out of the room.
*******
Swarth watched after the woman a few moments before turning to go himself. To be caught too long in one place was fatal to anyone like him.
The building they had met in was more of a maze than anything else, but that had purpose. Training. Most was painted the same colour, with exact precision unmatched by any outsider's droid. That had a purpose too. He had spent a great many years in this Temple, training, fighting, contesting and climbing rank. This place had no secrets to him now.
With a sure foot, he made his way around to a door, identical to its two neighbours, and put his palm to the scanner besides it. Those scanners had been designed by a pupil here. Quite a brilliant mind that one. Too bad he had had to be set down after escaping. No matter now.
The grey, nondescript door slid smoothly open. Swarth removed his hood and stepped inside to see the slim figure of a young woman sitting causally in the chair at his desk. Her posture marked her as short, but he knew she would still grow a few inches. She had brown hair cut to her cheeks- a personal choice- and brown eyes that sometimes held incredible amounts of emotion. She was very thin, almost unhealthily so, to the point that her long fingers seemed skeletal.
She looked up to meet his eyes and slowly got up, bowing.
"Master Swarth, sir, I had come as soon as your message came, but you were not here." A voice that could fool any member of the Senate, without sweat.
"Vaun, I have told you, do not hack the wires," he said dryly. Vaun snorted and threw up her hands, seeing the formality had disappeared.
"But it's so simple! The entire Temple is just sitting here, waiting for me to explore it. Without getting lost!" The latter came after a moments pause. Half a dozen times Swarth had had to fetch his very young Leaner from the darker depths of the Temple, just to have her run off and get lost in the city the day after.
"Sit," he commanded darkly, not in the mood for her youthful energy. "I am expecting someone important, who could very well change everything here." He was used to trusting Vaun by now, although he had only been personally teaching her a scant few years. She had to know, lest anything happen to him and his plans. "When they come, you know to become the meek Learner, understood?" He roughly cupped her bony chin in his two fingers, forcing her face up. "Understood?"
"Yes, Master Swarth," she answered. Suddenly the high-pitched ring, signalling someone outside his quarters, rang. Immediately Vaun backed to a corner, eyes cast down. Swarth let out a ragged breath as he walked back to his door, admitting the person outside.
Gender was hard to determine- it did not matter, really- as the individual was clad in a black cloak similar to the one Swarth himself was wearing. Blackcloak strolled in, uncaring of the miss of courtesy he had by not uttering a word. Not all of the residents of the Temples were mindful of customs, but times where quickly changing.
He spoke, in a voice masked by a device probably strapped to his concealed mouth.
"You have hired the bounty hunter as planned?" The sound emitted was that of a droid; cracked and obviously electronic. Swarth only nodded.
"Good. They will die." A surge of pride bubbled in Swarth, pride that they would finally be able to reveal themselves to the galaxy, show them that they had not remained extinct, quiet or docile in the thousands of years that had all but flown by.
Vaun was quietly watching the procession, curious as always but obediently staying aside. Her Master often had dangerous dealings he trusted her to witness, or sometimes take part in. This one she hoped she could.
Blackcloak had paused, as if thinking. He finally nodded in decision.
"Lafarga wants in on this, Swarth. Supposedly he has an unsettled score to settle with on of the padawans of the targets. I don't see why he should be refused." Swarth was wondering why that fledging of a Master was going after a pet of the Jedi, but he had a strange back-round. "He followed the bounty hunter."
'Ah well,' thought Swarth, 'At least we'll be rid of him.' Blackcloak turned to leave, then abruptly whirled back to face Swarth again.
"You and your padawan are to follow him to the Temple. Now." The last was a word reeking in command, one expected to be heeded. Hastily Blackcloak left, leaving him to hurry to the main hangar as soon as he could.
"Master?" inquired Vaun, almost forgotten in the exchange.
"Pack your things, girl, we have some Jedi to kill."
*******
Fire had erupted on top of an enormous dome in High-City Coruscant. The flames licked up to the heavens above, fighting each other for the oxygen necessary for them to burn on. So much akin to the battle inside.
They had hit too un-expectantly. Too many, too fast. Frantic, newly-trained Jedi Knights dashed back and forth, some fetching water for the blaze, or searching for hectic padawans, or healing varied wounded. Except for one.
She ran like never before. Dark brown robes flying behind her, dark hair flying in her face, she ran to a friend, away from her looming kin. Lucid green eyes flashed in fear, an emotion she had painfully learned to exterminate from herself.
~Master Siegan!~ her mind howled, searching for the Master who had taken her in after her own had been slayed. Pictures flashed through her brain, reminiscence of the night she had found Master Rethe sprawled on her quarter floor, blood almost over-flowing through the door. The same day, same hour, Master Obsedian had been found, slayed in the same fashion. She fought them down, still running madly.
~Aurel!~ The reply had been faint; weak, sign that Seigan was quickly tiring.
~Where are you?~ Aurel replied, not daring to stop even to change her direction.
~The Left-Wing Hangar! Bring the Masters, girl! They are-~ The mindlink was painfully shattered, indicating the termination of the kind-faced Master. Aurel shrieked in pain, clutching her temples.
"NO!" she bellowed aloud, running even harder than before towards the Left-Wing. Her pursuer had to wait, she would not let the killer of the Master get away like the last.
~Aurel...~ The mindlink was forced onto her, seething in the taint of a Sith Lord. It had chanted cruelly, and she instantly knew that her follower was drawing near.
~Stay away!~ she answered, her fear spitefully obvious in her tone.
~I've come back, and this time you will not get away.~
She had reached her chosen destination, and sharply snapped out her lightsaber. It shone a radiant blue, humming with ancient technology. A short moment of regret rang through her mind, reminding her that she would have had her white one completed for the Ceremony of Trial, officially indicating she had achieved the rank of full Jedi Knight.
With rage contained until this moment, she lashed out at the closest figure sporting the Sith black. The short man let out a yell at loosing both of his arms in a flash second before tumbling to the ground. Oddly satisfying. Aurel had only the time to flatten another with aid of the Force before feeling invisible bonds tighten around her waist, legs and wrists, throwing her back violently against the opposite wall.
Air completely expelled from her lungs, Aurel momentarily struggled to get her heart to stop pounding wildly in deprivation. Abruptly, what was keeping her plastered to the wall, disappeared, dropping her not-so-gracefully to her feet.
~You still run like the wind, little sister,~ The mindlink crooned.
"Get away!" she screamed, now oblivious to the battle around her. He was coming, the one thing she knew that if she faced, all would be lost.
~I come.~