3667 BBY, Alderaan...
The air...it smelled of fire. Master Shjaaldu Kurrah breathed the acrid air as he rushed across the scarred terrain, once beautiful, now charred ruins. He summoned his lightsaber to his hand as he collided with his opponent, a grim faced Sith with beady yellow eyes glaring menacingly at him. They struck, emerald and crimson hues dancing across their determined faces. Master Kurrah spun away, his lekku flowing behind him like a billowing curtain as he engaged the Sith.
Suddenly, the air hummed with blaster fire and several more ignited lightsabers from either faction. Havoc Squad roared in, heavy cannons pinning down the Sith in the thicket. War Droids advanced, sputtering bouts of red laser at incoming Jedi and troopers. The forest was thick with the signs of war, a war started nearly fifteen years ago. Shjaaldu remembered this, but his attention shifted back to his engagement with the Sith before him, who threw his blade at him with the will of the Force. Master Kurrah vaulted over it, high into the air to land beside the Sith. He plunged his emerald blade into his the Sith's face drain of color and life before dropping to the ground.
Shjaaldu turned from the downed Sith to be engulfed in lightning, Sith Lightning. He felt his body go rigid, shocks scaling his blue-tinged skin. The pain was unbearable, excruciating, and all he waited to do was die. Suddenly, the lightning faltered, then abruptly died. Shjaaldu opened his own lavender orbs to gaze upon Master Ven Zallow, his blade dug through the masked Sith's chest.
He smiled, then rushed away.
Shjaaldu breathed for a moment and turned his attention to the battle about him, to the scores of scorch marks indented in the slim apo trees, of the littered bodies, both Sith and Republic, mismatched together amongst the still smoldering rubble of the Battle of Alderaan. He closed his eyes for a moment, finding calm amongst the uncertainty, but was stopped short as a snap-hiss sounded from his right.
He opened his eyes and ignited his own blade just in time to catch the towering Sith's barrage, forcing Master Kurrah closer and closer to the ground. The Sith, a menacing brute with the same beady yellow eyes, but with ash-colored skin and veins running along his bald scalp, kept pounding away at the Jedi's defenses-both physical and mental. This must be the Sith Lord Satele warned us about, Shjaaldu thought as he fought in vain to keep himself prostrated.
Suddenly, the Sith turned from him and Shjaaldu rolled away, taking a Sith Trooper and then a Marauder before turning to see a member of Havoc Squad, unhelmeted, engulfed in the embrace of Sith Lightning he had felt earlier. He tried to get up and help him, but was burdened as a wave of Sith flung down from a hill, crimson blades ignited. Shjaaldu stood up and held his blade at the ready, charging at them with wild abandon.
He knew of death, could feel its presence through the Force and tried to ignore it, but a lone Jedi against the darkness along the ridge was overwhelming. He decided then to except death, disengaging his blade and knelt down on the grass. Time seemed to slow down, seemed to drift about, as if in orbit and Shjaaldu retraced his steps to when the Sith first arrived, and when his world crumbled...
3681 BBY, Jedi Temple, Coruscant...
Shjaaldu paced his chambers as every agonizing second, the Order hung in the balance. He and the rest of the Council had recently overheard the plight of Jedi Satele Shan, whose harrowing tale of the return of the Sith brought visions of war to most everybody in the Temple. He regretted the loss of Master Kao Cen Darach but also realized the importance of his sacrifice-so it seems, did Satele.
She had spared no time discussing the attack upon the station orbiting Korriban, how she had engaged with two Sith Lords and felt her master's death in the Force. For one so strong and gifted in the Force, she was very critical about the council's neglect to answer back immediately.
"These are Sith!" she exclaimed before the Council. Shjaaldu stood along the far wall, watching dismally the argument prolong. "They can not be allowed to reach the Core Worlds! Masters', you have to have been there to know what-"
"Enough, Satele!" Grand Master Zym interrupted gruffly. The Kel Dor stood up and stalked toward her until he was eye level with the young Jedi. "We shall stop the Sith before they can make it any farther along the Outer Rim. Likewise, we shall don the mantles as leaders of the Republic's forces-when the time comes. For now, go rest, Padawan. You must meditate and learn to reason with yourself the importance of being earnest...and, being patient as well. Brash actions only lead to the dark side, Satele. Revan fell, so could you.
"The Blood of both him and Bastila run through you, Padawan. To see you fall would be a disaster like none we have encountered in over three hundred years. Now go... I must discuss this with Master Kurrah." Satele bowed deeply before turning and walking briskly out the dual doors leading out of the Temple.
"She is young still, Master Zym." Shjaaldu said as he stepped out from under the shadows. The Jedi Master wore his hood down to give his lekku room to breathe as he came towards the Grand Master. "She will learn, with time, we all do."
"Yes, but it seems our time is short," exclaimed Master Zym. "You heard her report as clearly as I did. The Sith have returned. They have reclaimed Korriban, their ancient home and seek further territory, conquering whole planets out in Wild Space and now in the Outer Rim. What am I to do, my friend?"
"As the Grand Master, you must unite us under one banner-that of the Republics, before it is too late. To bring about the end of the Sith, we must once again act as warriors, motivating the Republic's forces against the hordes of the Dark Side." Shjaaldu turned away and gracefully walked up to stand before the the large rectangular viewport, overseeing all of Coruscant. "We must be ready, my friend, for war.
"War?! We can't openly join a war! We are peace-keepers, guardians who stand vigil over the Republic-"
"-in times of darkness. This is one of those times, Grand Master."
"I guess you are right," Zym said, walking over to stand by the equally young Jedi Master. He put a spade-clawed hand onto his shoulder in a gesture of friendship. "We shall stand up against the tyranny that is the Sith. For the Republic, for Democracy."
Shjaaldu was awoke early as much of the Temple was, by the sound of Klaxons blazing. The Major players of the Council, including himself rushed to the inner Sanctum and quickly brought up a comm channel being hailed by the Chancellor. The Chancellor quickly informed them in hurried tones of a Sith attack in the Sluis sector, successfully capturing the world.
"This is outrageous!" Supreme Chancellor Berooken quipped, his large bulbous face a deeper shade of blue. "How could we have let this happen? Any thoughts, Master Jedi?"
"It seems, in light of recent events," Master Zym spoke up, his voice crackling under the breath mask he wore to protect him from the harmful oxygen-rich environment. "the Sith have suddenly reappeared."
"I can see this, Grand Master Zym. My question is: what are your people going to do about it?" Zym seemed to contemplate that very question for a few seconds before speaking.
"We live in a democracy, of free people. If the Sith win, no one will be safe. More importantly, no one will be free." He stopped to gaze upon the fuzzy blue-white holo of the Chancellor. "We shall fight for the the safety and security of the Republic, whatever it takes, Chancellor."
"Thank you, Master Zym. Your wisdom is ever so abundant." The Chancellor bowed this time as the holo fizzled out. The Council stood in silence for several seconds, no one barely even breathing. Suddenly, someone piped up: "What do we do now?" Again, no one answered for a while.
"Prepare for War."
Shjaaldu had not, unlike the rest of the Council, prepared for the carnage that besieged them. Soon after the recent attacks in the Sluis Sector, the Republic approached some of its most outlying systems, only to be rebuffed when they pledged their loyalty to the Sith Empire-and immediately drew them into open conflict which forced the Republic to flee. Shjaaldu grudgingly read the horrible report, all the while detesting the status of the Republics most dominant members.
The Senate shook like an active volcano ready to explode; cries of civil unrest flooded the rotunda and Berooken turned to the even more vulnerable Jedi for aid. Zym tried to be level-headed about the situation, but that brought them nowhere. The Sith were waging war and the Republic stood to lose everything if they didn't properly retaliate.
"Then what would you have me do, Satele?!" Zym exclaimed to the nearly barren antechamber, home of the Jedi High Council, hours after another heated exchange in in the Senate.
"I don't know, Master, but drastic measures need to be authorized. Our fleets are being pushed back at every turn. Sluis Van. The Aparo Sector. Even Ilum, Master Zym, have all fallen to the Sith. We need to redirect our focus to the outlying systems as much as we can-"
"Enough, Satele!" Zym ordered, and Satele paused. "Master Kurrah, your opinion?" Shjaaldu stepped from out of the shadows to regard them both, his lavender orbs full of sorrow and pain.
"We must act like the guardians of peace we promised the Republic-" Satele frowned at that while Zym seemed to smile. "-and if that means we must take this fight to the Sith, I agree."
"What?!" Zym bellowed, drawing a tight-lipped smile from Satele. Shjaaldu winked at her before nodding his head towards the double doors leading out of the chamber, which she filed out immediately. "How could you, my friend?"
"You know as much as I do that the outlying systems are in need of our assistance-"
"Yes, but we don't have the numbers significant enough to combat the war-mongering Sith. The Republic is effortlessly fighting back-"
"And how many more lives must be taken before we intervene! Look what happened to the Republic when Revan returned a Sith lord. They had prepared and prepared for their return and it was right under their noses! I don't want us to make that same mistake as before."
"It seems you have a personal stake in all of this, my friend." Zym said, coming up to him and placing a comforting hand over his shoulder.
"You can say that, Zym, you could."
3671 BBY, Sovereign, above Balmorra...
Shjaaldu was anxious; forever calm, he paced restlessly in front of one of the wide viewport on board the massive star ship Sovereign, waiting for the Sith's inevitable return.
"We've been here for weeks, Master Kurrah. There is no sign of the Sith returning." Shjaaldu looked at the captain of the vessel, his violet eyes full of sorrow, pain and a hint of anger as he continued to pace. "Master Kurrah, see reason, please!-"
"No!" Shjaaldu yelled, stopping abruptly to address his second-in-command. "Why can't you see the tide, the shadow coming. Master Allusis realized it, why can't you?."