The Ascension of Darth Rasmus

A Jaden Korr Continuation Story

By: Matthew V. Willms

Preface

In order to have a better understanding of the events that follow you need to know several things about some of the characters mentioned the writings ahead.

Kyle Katarn is a smuggler turned Jedi in order to save the Jedi Academy on Yavin from being taken over by some Sith fanatics. Tavion the apprentice of the leader of the fanatics Desann who was killed by Katarn in order to stop the take over, and last but not least Katarn also spared Tavions life after their first but certainly not last meeting on a planet called Bespin, ever since she has been out to exact her revenge not only on Katarn but the entirety of the Jedi order itself for being weak and superstitious old hermits following magic and fairy tales, as her master before her believed.

Thank you and please enjoy;

The Ascension of Darth Rasmus By: Matthew V. Willms

Chapter 1

Awakened

Jaden Korr was raised on the planet of Minum in a small human colony that was set aside by the dominant species on the planet for outsiders. He was born to a father and mother who, when he was only six perished when a group of greedy imperials razed his small village to the ground. As he grew older his hatred towards the Empire grew and grew and grew throughout his young life, at the age of eighteen he joined a small rebel group that would plan guerrilla style attacks on different groups of the empire, that they came into contact with. Also a part of this group was a young Twi'lek female by the name of Jai'ir Shandow and as he stuck with the group more and more, Jai'ir and Jaden became very close not lovers, but very nearly that, they would flirt, joke and tease each other constantly, so much so the others in their group began placing bets with one another on when the two would finally agree to a bonding together, she was Jaden's best and closest friend in many years. Some of the other members of the group included a Rodian by the name of Gurlan Tak, a human by the name of Dax Jester and a Zabrak male by the name of Sou, and each had their roles, Gurlan was the thief, Dax was the scoundral and Sou was an old warrior whose focus was melee weapons. Together they called themselves The Eagles and they had quite the bounty on them if all five of them were caught. So they would constantly be fighting off bounty hunters or slavers that were after the enormous bounty the Empire had placed on their heads.

Growing up on the streets of numerous planetary systems he heard tales of Jedi Knights and how they used to protect the galaxy, he never dreamed that one day he would actually meet one. Until he met Jedi Master Jun Ur a Kel Dorian Jedi master with a strong talent with saber combat Jun Ur joined the small band of rebels and led them on several missions that ended in victory, however one day as they were attacking a small galactic outpost on Dantoine the once great site of an ancient Jedi training academy, Master Jun Ur fell to a sneak attack from a dark Jedi that had been in hiding for many, many years. With the help of his friends Jaden managed to defeat the dark Jedi simply do to his old age and not being as quick as he once was once the fight was over Jaden went to the fallen Jedi master and as his final request Jun Ur entrusted Jaden with his light saber saying only that the force was only just stirring in young Jaden and it had a vast future planned for him, and as his final request ended Jun Ur told Jaden to head to Yavin 4 where Grand master Skywalker would be able to train him in the ways of the force. As he lay Jun Ur to rest on a pyre in the fields of Dantoine, Jai'ir came and stood beside him simply comforting Jaden as much as she could, because she knew that Jaden deeply admired Jun Ur because of the travesty he had to go through the night his parents were murdered and his life changed forever, ever since Jaden had longed to gain enough influence or somehow gain some sort of recognition for even a fraction of the good deeds he tries to preform, however he has always been worried he could never do enough to gain that recognition and Jun Ur had ignited in him a fire that would not be clenched until he did something to help this galaxy he loved so much and save it from the Empires grasp. Jai'ir knew this and needed to confront him about this upcoming choice he faced. As the fire blazed and Jun Ur's body became one with the force, Jai'ir slipped her pale red hand into his and nestled her head into his neck, she felt Jaden's arm rest on her shoulder and could hear a sniffle from Jaden and she saw a tear fall to the ground, a deep breath and an exhale as he moved his hand to brush the wetness from his face, he turned his head to look at her sparkling green eyes and embraced her tightly. After a few long moments that Jai'ir wished would never end Jaden pulled away and looked into her eyes, took a breath and began to speak.

"Jai'ir, I think I need to go to Yavin and fulfil master Ur's request and become a Jedi, would you come with me to the space port tomorrow? You don't have to come with me to Yavin but I need to go. It's a calling I need to answer." Jaden said nervousness in his voice, and Jai'ir knew why, he must be worried she would get upset at him and never speak to him again, but if only he knew that not speaking to him ever again was the one thing she could never do, she loved him to much to let a thing like the joining of a new order halfway across the galaxy, come between them.

"Jaden of course I'll go with you tomorrow, if you asked I would join the Jedi with you, anything you need to do I want to be there for you to support you doesn't matter what it is, as long as I am with you and… us never dies." Jai'ir said with a sweet smile and placed her nimble fingers around his face and brushed it gently. Jaden closed his eyes and a smile came across his face, he knew that she cared for him but not this much.

"Are you sure Jai'ir, because I don't want to get in the way of your career with the Eagles, the last thing I could do was take you away from all this. I thought you liked this life. I don't want to force another onto you because of a calling I feel." Jaden said in response.

"I just don't want you to feel obligated to…." Jaden was stopped mid sentence because Jai'ir had pulled him close and was in the midst of giving him a passionate, long and meaningful kiss. At first Jaden was surprised and then, as he understood what was happening he closed his eyes and kissed her back. From somewhere in the darkness figures cheered and clapped, it was the rest of the Eagles, their faces dimly lit by the blaze of the fire, all were clapping, smiling and laughing as they traded the credits to whomever won the bet they had made on a previous day.

Jaden and Jai'ir separated yet the enormous grin that had come across Jaden's face never left its owner. He was happy for the first time in a long time and he pulled Jai'ir into another long embrace nearly crying tears of happiness for this moment. The two looked at one another, Jai'ir was blushing but smiling and Jaden was simply ecstatic.

"You talk to much sometimes Jaden. It was the only way to shut you up" Jai'ir said happily and laughed.

"So you'll come with me?" Jaden asked simply to clarify what had just happened to him by that funeral pyre on that calm night on Dantoine.

"I'd follow you to the ends of the galaxy and beyond Jaden, I love you." Jai'ir said if only to get it through his head.

"I love you too Jai'ir." As the whole of the Eagles Company began dancing and singing tunes from their childhood, a spark drifted up into the night sky disappearing from existence just below the moon. The moon also happened to be directly in front of a star destroyer's main viewing window where on the bridge the figure of a woman was illuminated solely by the brightness of that same moon, the figure stood silently with her hands folded behind her back. She could hear an officer of the Empire approaching from behind; he clearly had some news she needed to hear in order for the next phase of her grand plan to unfold.

"Mistress Tavion, our troops are ready to begin the assault on Dantoine, shall I give them the go ahead?" The officer asked so politely it almost made Tavion cringe with disgust.

"Yes captain you may give the word, and tell them not to touch the academy till my shuttle arrives everything else… let it burn." She dismissed the officer to his job with a wave of her hand. A sickening grin made its way onto her purple lips and a laugh came from inside her, she knew that this would be the first step onto her path to immortality.

"With the sceptre at my command, the left over force energy in this godforsaken planet will be mine and soon Lord Ragnos will return.

Jaden and Jai'ir and the rest of the Eagles rose to a truly horrible scene, the academy had been desecrated through the night and was still being destroyed they had to do something, they threw their gear on as quickly as they could, rushed for their weapons and headed towards the academy.

As soon as they reached the courtyard of the Academy, they knew that the people behind this were imperials, so together they began getting citizens to safety, shooting storm troopers and other mercenaries that the Empire had employed. As they fought their way through to the heart of the academy Jaden at one point felt his hand move to Master Ur's light saber however he stopped himself and placed his finger back on the trigger. Deep within the Academy Tavion had a long silver and grey sceptre with what looked to be the horns of a deer attached to the end, there was a long and bright red beam streaming from the middle of the sceptre's head to the seat that sat in the direct middle of the circular council chamber the Academy had built to accommodate a small few of the Jedi High Council to oversee the Academy in its day. Home to Ancient masters of the Jedi order and well renowned to be the trainers of Revan before his fall to the Dark Side, Tavion relished in the thought of destroying once and for all such a large symbol of what the Jedi once were, now though they were nothing but hermits believing in magic and fairy tales, that's what Desann had always said, the Jedi are nothing but weak old hermits now with barely enough power to keep them breathing, they are a blight on the galaxy and must be destroyed, every last one. To this day Tavion still held that belief, she was lucky Katarn had shown her some compassion back on Bespin else this whole plan would not be able to manifest itself. Her troops tore the academy apart piece by piece till nothing but the main wall in the council remained the source of the residual force energy. Marka Ragnos' sceptre siphoned the remains and glowed a bright orange with power. A laugh started in the sith empress's throat and a grave look of satisfaction came across her face, she had drained the force energy from the first of many different locations and the journey to the resurrection of Marka Ragnos had begun.

On the opposite end of the academy where Tavions' troops were just entering the Eagles were well into their escape and goal of getting to the spaceport where Jaden and Jai'ir would leave in a separate ship and the rest would return home to Nar Shadda to hire themselves out to a merc group or bounty hunter to make up for their lost treasures here on Dantoine. As they breached the south exit of the Academy they could see the spaceport only a short ways in the distance, however the only thing standing in their way was a Battalion of storm troopers close to fifteen in number that were waiting to take orders from their leader. There was one man patrolling the ranks, the Eagles assumed he was in immediate control of the troops and was waiting for his mistress to give him the order to send in the troops. Each trooper held a standard E-11 repeating blaster, a sidearm and some detonators. The Eagles didn't have much in response a few detonators, custom blasters and a light saber that no one knew how to use. Things looked grim but before someone could give the go ahead, Jaden followed by Jai'ir took off towards the enemy ranks. Jai'ir pulled out her twin J-20 blaster pistols, and Jaden had his Golden Flachette Quad-barrel shotgun ready to unleash. Following their lead the remaining three members of the Eagles armed themselves with their weapons and tore off after them, but not before Dax said.

"Come on Lads best not let the lovebirds kill themselves!" After which they charged into battle.

Jaden's focus narrowed from the general survival of his friends and the galaxy to simply this, get Jai'ir and himself to the ship unharmed, or at the very least a few scratches and scorches, he closed his eyes for a minute and took a deep breath while loading his shotgun, his blue eyes slowly opened and a slight flash could almost be seen if you were looking Jaden in the eyes. He lowered his head a little and let out an enormous cry, not failing to gain the attention not only of his enemies but also of everyone else around. Jaden raised his falchette squeezed the trigger, but nothing happened. Jaden panicked he had forgot to change his ammo before charging into battle so he would just be using blank cartridges instead of lethal rounds, with enemy troops closing on their location he and Jai'ir had to think, and think fast.

"What's wrong Jaden?" Jai'ir asked and then realizing he hadn't shot his gun. She turned to him quickly trying find a solution to the problem.

"Go Get behind the control panel I'm right behind you!" Jai'ir said, she laid down cover fire as Jaden hopped behind the desk his mind racing. A few seconds later she joined him, they had a temporary cover and only a few precious seconds to come up with a plan.

"I forgot to change my ammo before so I'd just be shooting blank cartridges, I'm trying to think for a minute here but the troopers are closing fast." Then from behind them coming out from the academy the Eagles immerged, blasting as they ran, each trooper fell one by one till only a few were left and the Eagles had re-joined Jaden and Jai'ir, The group was a short ways from the entrance of the landing pad, the only enemies left were an imperial officer and five storm troopers the rest of the attack force had all but disappeared the small group had managed to thin the ranks of the enemy to a healthy five, everyone was low on ammo but would fight till the end. Jaden felt a pull in his mind to the saber hanging from his belt, everything else in his mind was telling him to take it and use it, and it was if he could hear a voice shouting it from the mountains TAKE THE SABER and use it. Knowing he would probably regret this Jaden reached down and unhooked the saber, Jai'ir looked him in the eyes and a look of understanding came across her face and she nodded. That small encouragement from Jai'ir put his mind at ease. Jaden closed his eyes and took a deep breath; in his head he heard a voice calling to him.

"Jaden Korr trust in the force, let it flow through you and victory will be yours, then come to Yavin and all the questions you have will be answered." The voice sounded familiar but he could not place it.

Taking another deep breath Jaden opened his eyes, and his body felt new like something had awakened that had always been there but just in slumber waiting for the precise moment to stir inside him and start him down his destiny. He ignited the saber, it glowed a bright purple and hummed softly but he could feel it in his grip like he was holding a living thing and it was just newly born, so precious but so strong. Jaden hoped over the desk, and stated walking slowly towards the enemy troops, he could see the momentary look of terror come across the officer's face, and then he ordered the troopers to open fire and kill them, but Jaden wasn't alone, Jai'ir Dax, Gurlan and Sou all formed behind him and opened fire as well.

Together the Eagles fought back the troops and the officer clearing their way to the landing pad. Shortly before they rounded the corner onto the pad Jaden felt a great pain come over him it was like being shot with burning acid, the pain came from his chest when he looked down and didn't see anything he thought for a moment. He shut the saber off and hung it at his side again.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Jaden said to his friends as they stepped around the corner.

When they saw the reason for the feeling they all stopped in the midst of their stride, standing between them was a man or at least he looked like a man, he was clothed head to toe in red, orange black and silver, covering his head was a black hood and a black mask that covered his mouth and chin. In his hands he held an extra long saber hilt with what looked like curved hand guards. As they approached a low laugh began coming from the man and as he turned towards them he ignited his dual bladed saber, which glowed with a deep red colour and hummed loudly. It was a dark Jedi and it was all that stood between Jaden and the Eagles and their escape from this imperial attack on Dantoine.

"Ha, ha, ha now false jedi, where do you think you and your little friends are going?" The dark jedi cackled. His voice was high pitched and there was a hiss when he spoke.

"Jai'ir, Dax, Gurlan, Sou. Stay back this isn't your fight." Jaden said stepping between, the Dark Jedi and the Eagles.

"Ha ha ha ha ha, you think your little sacrifice will save them false Jedi, your wrong, once I deal with you I will kill them all, slowly and painfully and make you watch." The Dark Jedi eyed the crew, his eyes lingered a moment on Jai'ir.

"Except the Twi'lek I think I'll give her some, special treatment first and them kill her. Ha ha ha ha." The Dark Jedi cackled again.

"Your vile hands will not touch her, because I will cut them off before you even come close." Jaden said confidently.

"Now, now false Jedi I doubt you even know how to handle that weapon in your hands, prove me wrong and we may find use for you yet." The dark Jedi said as he moved his saber to the ready position of form Vii combat, a saber staff.

From inside him Jaden felt the presence of the force, and he remembered something Jun Ur said to him once. The force flows through every living thing in the galaxy, the grass, and the water the air and the trees, and if you give yourself over to it there is no other force in the entirety of the universe that can oppose you. These words flowed through Jaden's mind as he moved his thumb to the ignition button on the hilt of Master Ur's saber. He took a deep breath, exhaled and then from the hilt a bright purple light suddenly illuminated his face and his eyes opened.

When Jaden's eyes opened it was as if he began to see the world in a new light he could feel the force everywhere he looked, touched or stood he had entered the world of the Force and he was amazed by it. His senses became more attuned to the environment and he knew that from this day forward he had started down a path that very few these days could even dream of. As he lowered the saber he saw the Dark Jedi charging towards him full speed and Jaden only had a few milliseconds to react to the situation. His enemy barrelled down with a wild diagonal swing of his saber-staff, directly towards Jaden's throat, Jaden parried high and blocked it.

"Well done false Jedi that was more then most can do, but you will not be so lucky next time." The dark Jedi taunted.

His enemy swung wildly again this time aiming to slice him in half from head to toe. Jaden parried once more with a high block and then a short horizontal sweep aimed at the dark Jedi's mid-section, his swing was blocked as well, the duel went back and forth between the two for a few minutes, each doing well at blocking and parrying but now it was the dark Jedi's turn to turn the tables he began spinning his staff vertical and then horizontal, it was all Jaden could do but to jump out of the way, however when he did he jumped higher then he had anticipated and he felt the Force lift him into the air and launch him backward. The dark Jedi had called upon the Force to push Jaden backward, throwing his guard off. Jaden had a momentary burst of panic for he had no idea how to call upon the force to do anything but help him focus.

This moment of panic caused him to fall and he was barley able to roll out of the way as his enemy's saber pierced the ground beside his head. Jaden heard an audible scream from a short distance away, it was Jai'ir, Jaden had almost forgot that his friends were watching this whole duel unfold before them, these thoughts renewed his strength and he got up thinking now that he was the only line of defence between this dark force user and the lives of his friends which unless he did something would be cut short long before their times. He tightened his focus and allowed the force to flow through him aiding him in this terrifying situation. As Jaden watched his foe he noticed a slip in his technic just before he swung his staff downward for a vertical slice on Jaden's body, if he could just slow things down in order to make his attack he knew he could win this battle. Jaden blocked horizontal again and this time he pushed his foe's saber upward once his strike was complete and for a brief moment he called upon the Force to allow his movements to speed up and all of a sudden he felt time slow down and it was long enough that he would be able to lunge out at his enemy and pierce his body, hilt deep with Master Ur's saber to kill him. Jaden lunged forward stabbing the saber straight out and he felt the searing and melting of flesh as the blade made its way first through the clothing that his foe wore, then the skin he had followed by the flesh, muscle and finally bones to sink itself deep into the most vital organ a body can possess the heart. Jaden heard an audible shout as he followed through with this action, and then his enemy with one last breath went limp, and Jaden disengaged the saber causing the body to fall to the ground smoke still emitting from the saber shaped circle on the left side of his chest. He had done it; he had killed a dark Jedi.

Cheering erupted like a symphony from his companions across the landing port, and he could hear clapping and shouting from the outer fringes of the pad as well. It looks as if word had spread to the locals about a small group of rebels attempting to fight their way through the attacking imperial forces, and had all come to see this last duel between the rebels and the empire, and for the first time in a very long time everyone present witnessed a light saber duel. The event rippled felling of hope and courage through the rows upon rows of people just trying to catch a glimpse of a Jedi defending their home and not only fighting well but becoming victorious in the end. To this day all who were there left the duel feeling renewed in courage, strength and most of all faith that better things were to come not only to Dantoine but to the Galaxy as well.