THE JEDI RANGER CHRONICLES
DARK RETURN
Since the reformation of the Jedi Council under Master Luke Skywalker, a group of elite Jedi was assembled to conduct missions outside the normal expanse of Jedi operations. Known as the Ranger Corps, they are few in number, never numbering more than fifty at a time. Armed with lightsabers and an array of blasters, they are sent in as search and rescue teams or used for recovery missions to retrieve lost or stolen items. Always up for the challenge, the group has, for last six years, been led by three highly decorated Jedi: Kendor Nishio, Mace Rannick and Zadok Starfire. These are some of the stories from this elite group, and while many of their deeds are kept secret, some have slipped out into public knowledge...
What were they doing here? Dantooine was uninhabited. Had been for the last thirty years. What was it Leia Solo needed so badly? Kendor Nishio eased the throttles back on the Jedi starcruiser and the ship began to slow down as they approached Dantooine's orbit.
"Looks like the old base is just about below our orbit, Mace," Kendor said, looking at his fellow Jedi Ranger, Mace Rannick. He pointed at the radar screen, showing an oblong structure about 100 miles below their current position.
Mace set the ship's scanner to the most refined setting, and scanned the old Rebel base.
"Scans of the base are negative for life forms," he replied, tuning the scanner to a wider band, which now scanned the surrounding area. "Just small life forms in the surrounding jungle. I don't see anything bigger than a half-meter."
Kendor nodded and put the ship on a trajectory with the old base.
Within a half-hour, the ship was touching down on an old landing pad. The team of seven Rangers, members of the Jedi Order who were tasked with reconnaissance and pathfinding missions, exited the ship, blasters in hand, lightsabers on their belts, and quickly made for the closest entrance to the main building.
They knew there shouldn't be anything living there, but there were life forms out there that could conceal themselves and those were usually very dangerous life forms to encounter. Ranger Magena Kaster used a holomap to lead the team in the right direction.
"Down to the left," she said, pointing to a very dark corridor. Light from Dantooine's sun streamed through the large windows, but this corridor was windowless, and there had been no power since before the Battle of Yavin. The rooms and hallways had been overgrown with wild roots and plants since, which was almost twenty years now.
They carried small lamps, each one bright enough to light nearly half the hallway on its own. Magena and two other Rangers, Ikebana Prence and Damen Ronansi, went for the data box that the Princess had asked for. Kendor, Mace, and the two, Even Othone and Paleas Jemini, stayed behind to watch their ship and defend against anything that got too close.
As the three Jedi made their way down the dark hallway, something shadowy moved at the end of the hall. "What the Force was that?" Ikebana asked, surprise registering in his voice.
Magena leveled her blaster and continued slowly. Her heart raced faster as they neared the end of the hall. In an instant, the dark form came sweeping towards them. They fired their blasters, but whatever it was was on top of them before they could scream for help.
Magena shot into a doorway to her right as the shadow enveloped her partners. The room she wound up in was sparse, and had a large window where sunlight flooded the room, blinding her momentarily. The door slid down behind her with a thunderous WHAM! She held her hand up to her eyes, shielding them until her eyes adjusted to the light. She looked around the room, unsure of what she would find. She suddenly realized she was missing both her blaster and lightsaber. Did whatever it was outside take them? She didn't know.
Something metallic flashed in the far corner of the room near the window. She cautiously approached the item. It was a datapad, covered in dust and webs from a nurrospider. She brushed away the webs with a gloved hand and lifted the datapad into the light. A small blue light blinked in the bottom right-hand corner. She touched the screen and instantly, the datapad sprang to life, showing figures and numbers, which made no sense to Magena.
Outside, the silence was ominous and she knew something terrible must have happened to her friends. She stuffed the datapad into a satchel draped over her shoulder, and moved back to the door. It didn't move. She tried to use the Force to raise the door but met with the same result. She grabbed her comlink.
"Kendor? Mace? This is Magena. Can you hear me?"
At first, static greeted her. Her second attempt met with success.
"This is Mace," came a voice from the other end. "Where are you guys?"
"I found the datapad, but we got attacked by something in the hallway. I got away but I don't know what happened to Ikebana and Damen.
"Where are you?"
"I'm in a room near the end of the hallway. I can't get out, though." She paused for a second. "My lightsaber and blaster are gone, too."
"Okay. Hang tight. We're coming for you."
"There's something in that hallway! It's some kind of shadow being. Be careful!"
Mace assured her they would be.
Reaching out with the Force, Kendor sensed that something was lurking in the hallway. He spotted the dropped lightsaber and blaster Magena didn't have. But where were the others?
Quietly, Mace and Kendor worked their way down the hallway. Again, the other two stayed on watch. Their lights played over the walls, and Kendor caught a fleeting glimpse of the shadow at the end of the hallway. They both holstered their pistols and grabbed their lightsabers. As before, the shadow was on them instantly, but both Jedi were quicker. Their green blades lit up and they slashed at the shadow.
An inhuman shriek filled the hall, and the shadow formed into an alien creature, something grotesque, with blue and purple skin, covered in scars and foul-smelling, sickly yellow blood.
"Where are my men?" Mace said, leveling the tip of his lightsaber to the creature's throat.
It laughed at them. They heard a banging coming from their right. Kendor went to free his friend. Mace grimaced, the smell making him sick.
"I ask only once more: where are my people?"
"They are no more…" the alien croaked. It laughed again. Then, its eyes rolled back in its head, and it died.
"Great!" Mace yelled, kicking the body with his boot.
Several doors down, Kendor was using his lightsaber to cut a hole in the door to the room Magena was trapped in. With a loud crashing sound that echoed through the halls, the metal door came crashing to the floor, and Magena stepped out into the hall. She looked at the creature on the ground.
"What is that?" she gasped.
"That is the thing that attacked you guys," Mace responded.
"Where are the others?" she asked.
"It said they were dead. But I'm not leaving here until we have them….. dead or alive."
It took almost the whole day to search the complex, but the two Jedi were never found. Only their blasters and lightsabers remained. Whatever that dead thing was must have disintegrated their bodies. They were one with the Force now.
Deep on Byss, a planet steeped in the Dark Side of the Force, Lady Ravanna, Mistress of the Sith, sat in her command center, which was the largest room on her modified Sith cruiser. She watched on her holo-projector as the two Jedi killed her pet phantom on Dantooine. She clenched her fists as the phantom died in the hallway, but she also felt a sense of satisfaction that it had obliterated two of the Jedi. Now, it seemed, they had taken a datapad and her working their way outside. But she had one more trick up her sleeve.
Outside on the landing pad, Magena, Mace and Kendor were boarding their cruiser, when the building exploded, sending the other two Jedi flying with the blast, killing them both. The three Jedi on the gangplank were thrown off, their clothing scorched and something came sliding towards them. It was a small datacard.
Wiping blood from his mouth, Kendor picked it up. He struggled to his feet, feeling his head spin as he did. Magena was unconscious nearby. Mace was stumbling towards the two bodies. Kendor pocketed the card and wobbled over to Magena.
After carrying Magena on board, and loading the two dead Jedi into their old sleeping compartments, Kendor made contact with the Jedi Temple on Yavin 4, informing Master Luke Skywalker of what had happened. He also tried to find out what was on the datacard he had found, but it was damaged in the explosion. The librarian at the Temple would be able to pull the information off the card.
Soon, the ship was limping home, its hyperdrive damaged in the explosion. Due to the damage sustained to the ship, the ship couldn't go to light speed for a long time. This slowed down their progress and the normally twelve-hour flight turned into a four-day flight home.
After checking in with Master Skywalker, delivering the datapad to Princess Leia, and delivering Magena to the medical center, Mace and Kendor went to the library to try to recover whatever was on the datacard they had recovered. Over the course of the next three hours, the datacard revealed its secrets.
The datacard contained a data entry from someone named Ravanna, who had signed it Lady of the Sith. It was a claim of responsibility, and warned of further attacks at Rebel bases and Jedi outposts. However, it wasn't specific as to how these attacks would be carried out. They searched for the name in their databases, only to turn up that she was once a Jedi Knight who had been seduced by Jacen Solo's Sith personality, Darth Caedus.
"I'll give the information to Master Skywalker," Mace said. "Go check on Magena."
Kendor nodded and they went their separate ways. Mace delivered the news to Luke and Luke told him that a meeting amongst the Jedi Council would decide the next course of action. In the medical bay, Magena was hooked up to a ventilator and heart monitor. The blast had badly injured her internal organs and her brain had been scrambled. Her body was bruised from the impact and she looked really bad.
He kneeled down beside her bed, took her hand, and kissed it.
"Hang in there, my love," he whispered.
It was no secret that the two were in love, and under the new Jedi Order, Knights were allowed to marry, instead of being celibate under the old Order. He talked to her, told her what they had found, about who had done this.
Kendor stayed by her side that night, sleeping in a chair beside her bed. In the morning, Mace walked in with a grim look on his face. He swept his long red hair from his face and sat down in a chair across from his friend.
"How's she doing?" he asked, looking at Magena's still form.
"Her condition isn't good," the other replied. "Lots of internal damage and swelling in her brain. The doctor isn't sure what will happen." He took her hand again. "What's the word?"
"Master Skywalker and the Council are still behind closed doors until tomorrow. I'm still bothered by something, though."
"What?"
"Luke never told us where Tenshi went. She's been gone nearly five years and our trip and near-deaths occurred on the anniversary of her disappearance."
"So? Do you think there's a connection between my sister's disappearance and Ravanna's emergence?"
"I do. But I have no evidence to suggest anything. All we know is that there are Jedi in trouble out there and we have to help."
That evening, reports from outposts on Corellia and Zonama Sekot came in, saying that explosions within the outposts had killed dozens of Jedi. More reports soon followed from other worlds. Ravanna's name was suddenly everywhere inside the Jedi Temple. The information on the datacard had been correct, and nothing could have prevented the immense loss of life.
Anger and frustration permeated the Temple walls as plans to scour the galaxy for this Sith warrior were set in place.
Deep in her outpost, Ravanna watched with glee as dozens of explosions rocked the outposts she had visited as a Jedi and she waited for one more, patiently anticipating the destruction it would bring. But it would not happen today, she knew. No, she would bring down the Jedi Temple on Yavin 4 in a few days, when she could be there to witness it first-hand. She stood, and walked to her quarters. There, she changed into a skin-tight pair of pants, and an armored chest piece with a long sleeve on her left arm, and no sleeve on the right. Then, she slipped on a pair of knee-high boots and prepared to leave the planet. She felt the scar on her stomach, a reminder of why she hated the Jedi. She remembered the pain and agony of being stabbed with a poisoned dagger by an insane Jedi who had faced no repercussions.
She went to the cockpit and plotted her course for Yavin 4.
At the Temple, another Ranger, Zadok Starfire, spent time with Kendor and Mace, as they had been assigned to search the thick jungles around the Temple. Magena had opened her eyes that day, and Mace had gone alone to see Grand Master Skywalker.
He confronted the older Jedi in his quarters.
"Master, I need you ask you a serious question."
Luke eyed the young man, and sat quiet for a second. "What is it, Mace?"
"What happened to Tenshi? I mean she just disappeared before the Battle of Coruscant."
Luke thought for a minute before answering. "I cannot divulge that information, Mace. What happened to her... it's a very complicated thing."
"Sithspit," Mace shot back. He felt himself turning red. He forced himself to calm down. "You know what happened."
The elder Jedi regarded him, knowing what the missing Jedi meant to him. He knew they had been very close and at one point, more than friends. And he knew how close to Kendor he was. They had been best friends since birth and Luke had found all three Force-sensitive children when they were under five years old. Tenshi had been two when Luke had arrived on Coruscant, more than a decade before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion and subsequent renaming and colonization. After five years of secrecy, Luke bit the proverbial bullet and sighed.
"Do you remember the fight between Tenshi and Kaster Makken?"
"Yes, of course. He stabbed her with that blade covered in some kind of toxin. Took her weeks to recover."
Luke nodded, took a long breath, and looked away. "After the fight, Kaster was taken to the psych ward. He was declared insane by the doctors there. We never formally charged him with anything. Tenshi argued her case for punishment while you and Kendor were offworld. The Council told her he would be dealt with. Nothing happened. I assume that's why she disappeared."
Mace stated at his Grand Master. Sudden realizations began setting in.
"Why were we never told this?" he asked, a feeling of dread building in his stomach.
"The Council decided on secrecy. I am only telling you this so I can clear my conscience of it. You may only tell her brother what I have told you."
"Yes, Master."
"Is that all?" Luke asked, feeling a weight lifting off his shoulders.
"Thank you, Master. At least know we have a good idea of what happened to her." He bowed, turned and left the room.
Luke sighed and turned to the washroom.
In the Med Ward, Mace recounted Luke's story to Kendor.
"That makes sense," Kendor replied. "Now, I wonder even more about your theory that she's the one we're after."
"I do, too. Now, gear up. We've got to get to our patrol sector."
Kendor nodded, and they walked to the armory to gear up for their rotation out in the jungle.
She came out of hyperspace just above Yavin 4, and within visual range of the Temple. While she was still almost twenty thousand kilometers above the planet's surface, she had her visual sensors trained on the Temple's location.
Her ship, The Eradicator, lolled about in orbit, drifting ever so slightly above the jungle planet. She looked at the countdown timer on the ship's control panel. It was on the final few seconds of the countdown. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest, and a dull ache in her gut, right where she had been stabbed.
Suddenly, a huge explosion filled the viewing screen and she cackled with delight. The fools who were dying down below had no idea it was one of their own who had had taken their lives.
"I told you I would pay you back, Son of Vader," she sneered. She touched her stomach, felt the scar and grimaced.
As the explosions around the Temple occurred, Ravanna walked to the rear of her
ship. Waiting in a room, isolated by a durasteel door, was a clone. The clone was that of fallen Sith apprentice Darth Maul, who, almost sixty years before, had been bested by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, the man who had started Luke Skywalker on his path to restarting the Jedi Order.
She watched the monitor outside his room as Mauul pace around the room, practicing his lightsaber forms and martial arts the original Maul had been taught by his Master, Darth Sidious.
She punched in a combination on the keypad beside her and the door slid open.
As the door opened, the cloned Mauul stopped his exercises and turned to face her. She was proud of her clone, as she had found a Sparti cloning tube that hadn't been destroyed by the fighting after the reborn Emperor Palpatine had been killed. She had found the half-machine/half-Zabrak Maul hiding in isolation on Dathomir after her turn to the Dark Side. She could see how old and fragile he had become, even though his mechanical legs were still strong. His mind had weakened too. She had bested the old Sith and killed him. Then, she took a sample of his midichlorians and hatched her clone. The only issue was, as had been encountered before during the time of Grand Admiral Thrawn, that clones grown too fast had become mentally unstable. The clone of great Jedi Master Jorus C'boath had gone insane and tried to kill Luke before meeting his end at Luke's hand.
This clone was proving to have the same issues. Even though she had infused the clone with mutated midichlorians capable of giving him super strength and speed, he was increasingly becoming more unstable mentally, and she knew she would either kill him herself on Yavin 4 or let the remaining Jedi do it. He was not coming back, one way or the other.
"Is it time, Master Ravanna?" he growled as she entered the room.
"Yes, it is. As promised, you will have free reign of the facility and I only want two left for me: Kendor Nishio and Mace Rannick. You may even have Luke Skywalker for yourself."
She backed away from the door as he walked out into the hallway. She smiled to herself. This would be a glorious day for the Sith.
Down in the Temple, the three Rangers were recovering from the numerous explosions that had almost killed them.
"You guys okay?" Zadok asked, looking around the room.
"I'm fine," Kendor replied first.
"My ears are ringing," Mace said, struggling to stand.
They surveyed the destruction, and joined survivors in aiding the wounded. Outside, they heard shouts and laser cannon fire as a ship dropped down over the Temple.
"SITH!" someone screamed.
They heard lightsabers ignite all over the place.
They made a beeline for the Med Ward only to see Magena stumble down the hallway
towards them.
"Mags!" Kendor yelped. He ran to her as the Temple shook with a thunderous blast. The ceiling caved in and a chunk of duraplast came crashing down on Magena and Kendor.
"Go help on the front lines!" Zadok said to Mace as be began clearing debris from his friends.
"May the Force be with us!" Mace said before making his way towards the raging fight.
As Darth Mauul decimated his opponents, Ravanna appeared behind him, whipping survivors that lay on the ground.
Mace stopped short as he heard the screams of Jedi dying up ahead. He also heard the sound of something else: a lightwhip being cracked and the sizzle as it connected with lightsabers. He figured it would be best to ambush the enemy fighters and so hid in a dark corner, lightsaber in hand.
Suddenly, Darth Mauul came crashing through the wall in front of Mace. The
debris cloud knocked Mace backwards, but he quickly caught his balance and
ignited the blade. The dark hall was bathed in green and red light, as Mauul's
double-bladed saber ignited again.
"Oh, boy..." Mace muttered just loud enough for the Sith to hear.
Mauul swung his weapon with absolute accuracy, but his timing was slightly off.
Mace managed a quick feint to the right, swung his blade up, and cleaved the
clone in half. The two halves split apart, and the clone fell to the ground, at
last dead.
That was when Ravanna entered the hallway behind him. "Very good, Mace. You
have taken care of a burden for me."
He spun around to find himself facing a hooded figure. He couldn't see her face, but her exposed torso peaked out from the opening and he saw the familiar scar near her navel.
"Tenshi?"
"Tenshi is dead, Mace." She touched the vibroblade on her hip and stepped forward. The lights in the other hall flickered as power surged across the ruins.
"So you must be Ravanna then," he replied.
She nodded, smiling.
"Why did you leave without saying anything?"
"I said something, Mace. But no one listened! They brushed me off, told me Kaster would be taken care of. He got sent to the psych ward. No formal punishment. But that's not what you want to hear, is it?" She played with the lightwhip handle in her hand. "I told you I needed to leave. I just decided to do it when you were offworld with my brother. Make it … easier, I suppose. But now, none of that matters. Now, I'm going to kill you and my brother. You mean nothing to me, now. You … are my enemy!"
"Did our love, our life-long friendship, mean nothing to you?"
He leveled his lightsaber at her, the blade inches from her chest.
"Once, yes. But I have found the true way of the Force, and you are not a part of it!"
The lightwhip hummed to life, and she lashed out at Mace, the tip of the whip scorching his right arm. He ignored the wound and struck back, using the Force to push her into the far wall. She hit hard, and bounced off. She landed with a THUD and stood, wobbling slightly. He moved quickly, charging forward, but her whip hit him again, this time, in the face, leaving a jagged scar across his left cheek.
He grunted in pain, and she struck again, this time kicking him hard in the chest. He went down, dazed. She dropped down on top of him, and jammed her left hand against his throat. While she was a good deal smaller than him, she had a secret weapon: her hand was a mechanical replacement. She began to slowly squeeze harder. He gasped.
"Do you like that, lover?" she chided. She forced a kiss on his lips and then squeezed harder.
"You're history!" Mace croaked, and he drove his knees into her back, sending her tumbling over his head. Suddenly, they heard a shout, and Zadok appeared, lightsaber in hand.
"Mace! You okay?" Zadok pulled Mace to his feet and they turned back to face Ravanna.
She was getting back up as they turned to her. She screamed, an inhuman war cry, and wrapped her whip around Zadok's blade. He forced the blade loose and dropped low, sweeping her legs out from under her. As she fell, a section of roof collapsed, landing on the two Jedi. Zadok was knocked unconscious, and as Mace worked to free his friend, Ravanna disappeared down another hallway.
After a few tense moments, Zadok was free and Kendor and Magena had joined them.
"Who was that?" Kendor asked. "We heard a whip."
"That…. was your sister," Mace replied. He felt dizzy, and sat down. "Our suspicions were right."
"What?!" Zadok blurted out. "You can't be serious."
"I am," Mace said, willing the room to stop spinning.
Magena looked at Kendor. "I'm sorry to hear this."
"We've had our suspicions about it," he replied.
"We need to finish this if we're gonna get out of here alive," Mace said.
"If she's still here," Zadok pointed out. "We need to stop her. Fast."
"I think I'm okay," Mace said, standing.
"Me, too," Magena added.
"Let's go finish this," Kendor said.
The others nodded and worked their way through the rubble.
Sitting in the Council's chambers, Ravanna occupied Luke Skywalker's seat. She mused over the events that had just unfolded, and the aftermath of it all. She knew they were coming for her, and she was ready.
After a good half-hour of searching the four Rangers found her. She stood and bowed slightly.
"So nice of you all to join me," she said, her voice almost sing-song.
"This ends today, Sister," Kendor said.
Outside, another crash of falling ceiling.
"You couldn't be more right, Brother."
In a flash, she attacked, her lightwhip splitting the air between Zadok and Magena. She swung it hard, cracking the wall behind them. She screamed again, causing the room to shake. Kendor launched his attack almost simultaneously, but she repelled him with a massive Force push.
Magena dodged another blow from the whip, but Zadok was struck in the leg by the outer edge, singeing his trousers and burning his leg. Ravanna turned the whip on Mace, and he caught it with his lightsaber blade.
She Force-pushed him backwards, and leapt at Magena, driving her to the ground. She could feel the Jedi's ribs crack as her knees connected. "So now it ends for you, Magena!" she hissed. She began choking Magena with her bionic hand, and her opponent was still too weak to fight back.
"Now, you die!"
Magena could feel herself beginning to black out when Zadok barreled into Ravanna, knocking her to the ground. She screamed as a piece of broken durasteel punctured her side, going in only enough to draw blood and crack a rib. Zadok flipped off as she struggled to stand.
Finally on her feet, she yanked the metal from her body and tossed it to the ground. Mace jumped forward, landing next to Zadok. Their lightsabers were up and ready. Kendor joined them a moment later.
Ravanna knew she was trapped, but by no means defeated. She still had plenty of hidden weapons to use, including her lightsaber.
"Why?" Kendor asked, eyeing his sister. "Why have you done this?"
"I've explained myself once already, Brother. I don't care to repeat it."
"I have a right to know!"
Suddenly, Zadok was hurled backwards by a blast of Force lightning that sent him slamming into a chair.
Ravanna stood before the two Rangers, her lightwhip glowing and humming in the
dusk. The two Jedi activated their lightsabers and readied themselves for the final showdown between old allies... between family. Kendor started moving left and Mace went right. Ravanna fingered the vibroblade on her waistband and in a flash, she snapped the whip at Mace and hurled the blade at Kendor.
Dodging the whip, Mace rolled underneath the glowing whip and sliced at it. To his shock, the whip wrapped around the blade and she snatched the saber from his grasp.
"Oh Sithspit!" Mace cursed. Reaching out with the Force, he fought to get his
weapon back.
Kendor deflected the blade and launched himself into the air, closing the gap between them less than two feet. Ravanna swung the whip at him, but it was too late. Kendor thrust the three foot blade deep into her sternum, the blade emerging from her back.
She gasped, letting the whip drop and deactivate. Mace's now-deactivated lightsaber clattered to the ground. Struggling to breathe, a thin trickle of blood emerging from the corner of her mouth.
"How about that?" she said, looking at the glowing blade in her chest. "Killed by my own brother."
Kendor pulled his blade from her body, and stood there, watching her. He was suddenly wracked with guilt. Maybe he could gave saved her. Maybe she wasn't truly that evil. Even Darth Vader had redeemed himself at the Battle of Endor. Mace willed his lightsaber back into his hand as Ravanna sank to her knees.
"I love you, Brother," she whispered and slumped over.
Kendor dropped his lightsaber. Then he sank to his own knees and wept. The battle was over. The uncertainty of his sister's whereabouts. The aching in his heart and anger at the Council for keeping this information secret for so many years. It was all done. Mace put his hand on Kendor's shoulder and stood like a silent sentinel, watching over his best friend.
After a moment, Mace walked over to the body and gently lifted it up, cradling it. He didn't see the Lady of the Sith anymore. He saw the beautiful girl he had known what seemed like a lifetime ago.
In the corner, Magena came to, holding her side where she could feel broken ribs on both sides of her chest. When she saw Kendor on his knees and Mace with Ravanna's body, she understood what had happened. She watched as Mace touched her face, tears running down his cheeks. She felt her own eyes well up and hot tears roll down her face.
Mace held the body for a few minutes. Then, he stood, leaving the corpse on the ground. Looking around, he noticed Magena and walked over to her.
"You okay?" he asked quietly, kneeling beside her.
"Yeah," she replied. "I'm sorry it had to end this way."
"Me too," he replied. "But it needed to before anyone else died."
She nodded and he helped her to her feet. Zadok groaned as he came too, and held his throbbing head.
"Oh, what the Force happened?" he mumbled, looking around.
Kendor walked up to the body, lifted it into his arms, and stood.
"I love you, too," he whispered.
The others joined him, and looked at the peaceful face the body wore.
"Let's get out of here before something else falls on us," Zadok said.
He and Mace began clearing debris away from the doorway, and they emerged into the decimated outer hallway. At the end of the hallway, they saw light and realized the wall had collapsed, opening into the jungle beyond.
They emerged into the late afternoon sun, and saw other Jedi wandering about, some with obvious injuries and concussions. They walked towards them, and they stepped back, looks of shock and horror on their faces. Luke appeared and stopped short of Zadok.
"Oh, no," he said when he saw Tenshi's lifeless face. "I'm sorry, Kendor. I – I could have prevented this."
The younger Jedi didn't look at his Master. None of them did. They were all in mourning.
Kendor started walking again, and his friends followed. Luke let them go.
That night, they built a funeral pyre and laid Tenshi's body on top, then lit it on fire. They stood in silence, Magena cradled in Kendor's arms. Zadok stood cross-armed, watching the fire with mixed emotions. She had been his friend, and also his enemy. But she had been something else too. For unknown to his Ranger friends, he had a tendency to slip off during missions, almost playing both sides of the fence as it were. He would trade information to either side, depending on if either side's objectives would also suit his own goals in the long run. And just like his fellow Jedi needed to know important and secret information that he could seek out, she and her fellow Sith had sought and received secrets from him as well. But with her dead, no one would ever know the truth. And this left Zadok feeling torn between staying as neutral as possible, or running the risk of having his veil unmasked by both sides, and being forced to choose either the path of the Light, or the path of Darkness.
Mace stood alone at the foot of the pyre, letting his emotions go as the flames shot up into the night sky. Overhead, medical ships began dropping into the atmosphere to deal with the wounded. Teams of Imperial engineers were also dispatched to help with the reconstruction effort. While he feared that the alliance between the New Republic and the Empire was shaky and not worth the paper it was printed on, he had come to trust several Imperials with whom they had worked on various occasions. He knew the morning would bring heartache and more pain when the dead were positively identified. Hundreds had died that day, and thousands more had died throughout the galaxy. A terrible chapter had been closed with one thrust of a lightsaber, as it so often was in the war against the Sith.
Resting her head on his chest, Magena wiped away some tears as she looked at Kendor. "What happens now?" she asked quietly.
"Now, we have closure," he replied. He held her tighter to him.
Several Imperial transports ferrying medics and engineers raced overhead. They all looked up to watch them pass by. Zadok stroked his goatee, pondering his next course of action, whatever that may be. Mace bit back the tears and closed his eyes, willing himself to relive the happy times he had shared with Tenshi. As the fire burned itself out, they turned and headed back towards the Temple. The road before them was long, and, they knew, filled with uncertainty. But whatever it held, they would watch each other's backs until the end.