A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
STAR
WARS
CLAN OF THE DRAGON
The War Is over! On the planet Utapau Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi has destroyed General Grievous, Supreme Commander of the Separatist Droid Army, leaving the CIS leaderless
Meanwhile on Coruscant the Jedi have discovered that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious. After a failed attempt by Jedi Master Mace Windu to arrest the Chancellor, Palpatine has dispatched the elite legion of Clone Troopers known as the 501st under the command of the newly anointed Darth Vader to send the unsuspecting Jedi to their doom.
Among the Jedi is Chad Kantor, also known as the Dragon, long considered to be one of Anakin Skywalker's archrivals in the Jedi Order.
Darth Vader marched through the Jedi Temple cutting down everyone in his path. This place had been his home for years and he had fought alongside many of these people during that time. But none of that mattered now, Palpatine's orders were clear.
"Every single Jedi, including your friend Obi-Wan Kenobi, is now an enemy of the Republic. Do what must be done Lord Vader, do not hesitate, show no mercy. Only then will you be strong enough with the dark side to save Padmé."
Nothing else mattered to him except Padmé. If saving her meant he had to betray the Jedi then so be it.
"Lord Vader!" exclaimed one of the troopers "There are two Jedi downstairs keeping our men from advancing!"
"Yes… I sense… Yrrej Iksrege… and… Chad Kantor… I'll deal with them."
Yrrej Iksrege was a Jedi Master and accomplished swordsman, and Jedi Knight Chad Kantor had been his favorite student and was about the same age as Vader. Kantor's mastery of lightsaber combat form V had earned him the nickname "The Dragon". Many had considered him to be Anakin Skywalker's greatest rival and the two of them had sparred many times over the years, their duel's usually ended in a stalemate.
"Not this time." thought Vader.
As Vader came to the bottom of the staircase the elderly Yrrej Iksrege came charging at him wielding his green lightsaber.
"I'll cut you in half traitor!"
Vader pointed his lightsaber down towards the ground at an angle. When Yrrej got too close Vader cut him in half with a lightening fast underhanded sweep.
"NO!" cried Kantor.
"Your Master is no more." said Vader.
"… I'll never forgive you Skywalker!"
"Do I look like I want your forgiveness Jedi? There is only one thing I want from you."
Kantor and Vader's blue lightsaber blades started to clash. They had sparred with each other many times before and could almost predict each others moves. Sparks flew from their lightsabers as Vader would slash at Kantor who would then attempt to counter before Vader blocked it following up with counterattack of his own. Kantor like Vader had served as a general during the war, but unlike Vader Kantor had made it through the war in one piece. So Vader decided to fix that. He jumped into the air and with one swift strike he scored a minute wound on Kantor's face, much the same as Asajj Ventress had done to him during the war. With his free hand Kantor covered his wound and shrieked in pain as Vader landed a few feet behind him.
"Shiim… A minute wound…" said Kantor "You do realize that is a sign of desperation."
"You forget, when used by a skilled swordsman it is seen as a taunt by a superior duelist."
Kantor ignored the small wound on his eye and continued to battle with Vader. At one point their blades became locked.
"Give it up." said Vader "You are no match for my skills!"
Kantor laughed.
"While you've been busy playing with droids and machines all your life I've been honing my skills with my lightsaber and growing closer with the living force, so that when I meet an agent of the dark side… I can kill it!"
Using the force Kantor blasted Vader back into a wall. He was about to charge at him when suddenly…
"Run Chad run!"
Chad looked back down at his master's hacked body. He could've sworn he just heard him speak. He didn't have time to think about it, Vader started to stir. Chad seized his opportunity and ran.
Chad Kantor's white Jedi robes were a blur as he raced through the corridors of the Temple deflecting blaster fire from Clone Troopers as he went.
"My master is dead."
Chad's master had been like the father he never knew. He taught him everything he knew about lightsaber combat and the force. Before Vader killed him he told Chad he should escape because he had a wife to take care of. Chad had never told his master that on one of his missions during the war that he had fallen in love with a woman he had rescued and married her. Such an attachment was against the Jedi code. It was Chad's most guarded secret yet somehow his master had known all along. When asked him why he never told the council his master replied, "To be perfectly honest I thought you two were a perfect match."
Chad had to escape; he had to get to Kamilla to make sure she was safe. He came to a storage room and stopped to catch his breath. Suddenly he sensed something behind him and reignited his lightsaber, he turned around ready to cut whatever it was in half.
"… Younglings?"
There were four younglings in the room with Chad. One of them was a female Togruta, one of them was a male Iridonian Zabrak, one was a blue skinned female Twi'lek, and one was a male Nautolan. None of them looked older then five years old.
"Are you the dragon?" asked one of them.
Chad lowered his weapon.
"I am."
Suddenly a group of clone troopers came charging into the room.
"Kill the Jedi!"
The younglings watched in amazement as Chad used his lightsaber to either deflect the troopers' blaster bolts back at them or cut them in half until the last of them had fallen. Chad turned to the younglings. He couldn't leave them to fend for themselves, they wouldn't stand a chance.
"Come with me." he said "More will be on the way."
The hallways were filled with clone troopers, so Chad and the younglings climbed into a ventilation shaft and made their way to the hanger where hopefully they could find a speeder or something and escape.
"Master Kantor, what's going on?" asked the Togruta "I thought the clones were our allies."
"I don't know." said Chad "But right now we need to worry about getting out of here with our heads still attached."
The came to the vent right above the hangar. Down below they could see dozens of troopers.
"There are too many of them." said the Twi'lek "What are we going to do?"
Chad knew that jumping down and trying to attack that many clone troopers was potentially suicidal. But over the years he had learned that sometimes there are alternatives to fighting.
"I'm going to try something." he said to the younglings "Pray the force is with me."
He reached out with the force for the sergeant in charge of this particular squad of troopers.
"Our job is done here." whispered Chad.
"Our job is done here!" barked the sergeant.
"We're needed on the upper levels."
"We're needed on the upper levels!"
"Everybody out."
"Everybody out!"
Within moments all the clone troopers had left the hangar.
"How did you do that?" asked one of the younglings.
"The force can have a strong influence on the weak minded." said Chad "Now let's go."
Chad and the four younglings jumped down into the hanger, hopped into an air speeder, and flew out into the city. They were instantly spotted by several troopers who fired at them with laser turrets, but Chad easily dodged them.
"They're following us!" said the Nautolan.
Two ARC-170 starfighters came up behind them and started to fire. Unfortunately the speeder Chad was flying didn't have any weapons on it.
"In that case I'll just have to improvise." he thought.
Chad ignited his lightsaber and threw it back at the ARC-170s. Using the force he sent it slashing through the wing of one of the fighters sending it crashing to the ground, and then he sent his lightsaber towards the other one doing the same. When he was done he used the force to bring his lightsaber back to him.
"Wow! That was awesome!" said the Zabrak.
"Why do you think they made me a general?" replied Chad.
Eventually Chad landed the speeder and he told the younglings to get out and follow him.
"Why are we stopping here?" one of them asked.
"The clones are going to be looking for that speeder, so we're going to get another one."
Chad and the younglings raced through the streets of Coruscant until they found a place that sold speeders.
"I kinda like this one." said the Nautolan.
"Right now one speeder is as good as another." said Chad.
The younglings started to climb in when a man came up to them.
"Excuse me, what are you doing?"
"We're buying this speeder." said Chad.
He took out a bag and gave it to the man.
"I think this should cover it."
The man looked inside the bag.
"Whoa!"
It was filled with credits, probably more then enough to pay for the speeder. Chad jumped inside the speeder, turned to the man and said, "If anyone asks, you didn't see anything."
"You're the boss." the man replied.
Chad and the younglings took off.
"Master Kantor, where are we going exactly?" asked the Togruta.
"Somewhere safe."
Chad flew the speeder to the place where his wife Kamilla lived. After they were married she moved from her home planet to Coruscant.
"Wait here." he said to the younglings.
Chad knocked on the door. When it opened his wife wrapped her arms around him crying. She had long dark hair cascading down her back, her skin was a hazel-like tan, and her eyes were like two gorgeous black pearls.
"Thank heavens you're okay!" she cried "I heard about what happened at the temple and… Oh my! What's happened to your face?!"
She put her hand on the scar on Chad's eye.
"It's nothing. The clones have turned on us for some reason. I don't know why… I had to get out of there… Yrrej is dead."
"Oh honey…"
For a moment he just hung there in her arms.
"Kamilla I… I have four younglings with me… I couldn't just leave them there."
"Well don't just leave them outside, bring them in." she replied.
Chad brought the younglings inside.
"Get some rest." he said "I'll be keeping watch. If you need anything Kamilla can get it for you."
"Hello, what are your names?" said Kamilla trying to smile.
"I'm Kita." said the Togruta.
"I'm Gan." said the Nautolan.
"Cera." said the Twi'lek.
"And I'm Zar." said the Zabrak.
Hours passed but no one appeared to be looking for Chad or the younglings.
"They're finally asleep." said Kamilla.
"Good… We can't stay here… All over the HoloNet they're talking about Jedi attempting to assasinate the Supreme Chancellor."
"Oh my… Chad what are we going to do?"
"… I have a friend in the senate who might help us."
"Can you trust him?"
"I saved his wife once."
Chad started trying to make contact with his friend.
"Senator… Senator Organa… Do you read me?"
"Chad? Boy, I'm pleased to see that you're not dead."
"The entire 501st legion attacked the Jedi Temple and…"
"I know, this has been happening everywhere. Where are you?"
"I'm still on Coruscant, but I can't stay here."
"I understand, I'm on my way back to Coruscant right now. I'll make arrangements to get you off the planet."
"Thank you Senator."
When day broke Kamilla and Chad had their things packed and were ready to leave. Eventually they were told to go to an old junk freighter that was supposed to be heading for Raxus Prime, when it would really take them anywhere they wanted to go. After the war Chad was going to leave the Jedi order so he could start a family with Kamilla, but he never expected to become a father of four overnight.
"Are you sure you're up to raising four Jedi younglings?" asked Chad.
"More for me to love." said Kamilla smiling.