Title: Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt
Author: CelticPhantom
Summary: In the years before the fall of the Jedi order, there was another Jedi order, those who believed in balance of the dark and the light, they were known as the Shadow Jedi.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Star Wars universe if I did I would be a very rich person, unfortunately I only own the characters, planets and so on which I create for this fic

A/N: Changes to the chapter and I tried to fix every mistake but if you see anything just tell me.

Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt

Searching through his mind, and his soul, down to the very essence of his being the Shadow Jedi felt for that point of light. Once found he turned his attention to that dark half of his core self and grasped both tightly. Images flew through his mind, focussing he let neither part gain complete control and forced them into harmony. Each would feed into each other, not bound by either but rather aided by both.

He was brought out of his meditations when a gust of cool air signalled an entrance into the humid room that featured various plant life from all over the galaxy.

A small smile tugged at the masters lips, he could feel the strength and energy of the individual who had just entered the room and he could sense the intent. At virtually the same instant as the other he whipped around lightsaber drawn midway through. He found himself at a crouch in front of his opponent, witnessing the cool gray of his blade pulsing against the molten bronze of his opponents blade. All the master could do was allow that tiny smile grow into a full blown grin, "You know most Masters would have your head for a stunt like that, your just lucky you're my Apprentice."

The tall blonde girl grinned accentuating the narrow, streamlined features of her face, her green eyes twinkling with humour, "Just making sure your prepared for anything."

He withdrew and deactivated the lightsaber, leaving only the gentle humming of his apprentices, "Aida your becoming more and more like me everyday, the council must be terrified."

She laughed and deactivated her own saber, "The only reason the council doesn't like you is because since you joined you've almost blown our cover more than any three Masters combined."

He smiled knowing all too well that she was right. Memories passed through his mind of being called into the council chambers many times after many missions. He rarely listened any more, the arguments were always the same, the Shadow Jedi were a secret to be kept hidden from society, there were hundred of other ways he could have accomplished his objective, and the consequences of the Shadow Jedi being found out. He never cared anymore, they were precautions the Shadow Jedi took to hide, and as all Shadow Jedi knew Master Nevan Coronis disagreed with all his passion, and only his devotion to the order stopped him from completely letting the secret out.

He turned his attention elsewhere as another entered the room, someone whom he could not sense in the traditional way which invariably meant one thing, looking up he was met by the form of a tall, pale yellow, bullet headed protocol droid, "Master Coronis, the council requests your presence they said the matter is most urgent."

He nodded and looked over at Aida, "Wonder what it's about." he seemed to ponder this for a second before shrugging it off, "Well we'd better go I suppose." he clipped his lightsaber to his belt and followed the droid out of the room.

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Nevan stared into the reflective walls of the lift, studying himself. The Aranis, a humanoid race virtually indistinguishable on the outside from any human, except for a single feature. A relatively tall semi-muscular body, short dark brown hair, pale skin, and a long narrow scar around the side of the neck, all of these surrounded that one feature. His eyes were completely silver and staring into them were almost like staring into polished chrome that seemed to glow with an inner power, his eyes, the eyes of his people, the Aranis.

Soon after the trio exited the lift from the meditation grounds, Master Nevan Coronis found himself standing outside the council chambers waiting for the droid to alert the council of their presence and to usher them in.

As Aida and Nevan waited he stared out at the planet around them, the deep purple of the forests surrounding the massive obsidian structure of the Shadow Jedi temple, the pale red-orange of the sky, flocks of drivvans flying overhead, on this planet Nevan had always found himself at peace and he treasured every moment he had on it.

It seemed like an eternity, some small form of revenge for his antics over the years Nevan mused. The droid exited and headed directly for them, "The Council will see you now Master Coronis."

Nodding in response, Nevan started forward into the room, Aida falling in step behind him.

He made a quick scan of the room and realized that only half of the Council was there, the first member he made eye contact with being the only friend he had on the council. Master Kepis, a lean Diecadian man with the ridged forehead and yellow eyes of his people. Kepis was man whom Nevan had been friends with Since he had joined the order so long ago.

He moved on to take stock of the hostile members of the Council, Master Lenga a Diecadian like Kepis, and the mans polar opposite, tall, muscular, and dark haired, the two had clashed on many occasions. Master Rendax, Nevan had no real quarrels with the man, it had seemed in most council matters Rendax always remained quiet, and yet he seemed to understand and see beyond what most people would. Rounding the Council off was Master Mursems, a relatively small human woman who's powers were extremely strong, especially for such a young Master.

Nevan bowed, showing his respect for the Council members, despite the differences each member was wise in their own area and on the Council with good reason, "You summoned me?"

Master Kepis' face was grim, a very different look for the man Nevan called friend, "Over the past two years there have been reports of several outer rim worlds, falling into civil war."

Nevan frowned, knowing there was definitely more to come, "That doesn't sound so unusual."

Lenga took over where Kepis had left off, "We didn't think so either, until we heard reports of a Jedi showing up on each occasion, shortly before the war broke out, a Jedi trying to broker piece not very odd, until it seems reports indicated that it was the same man each time, and neither a member of the Jedi order, or the Shadow Jedi."

Taking over during Lenga's pause, Rendax continued on, "Upon hearing reports of him turning up during another tense negotiation process of the Tar'pi system we sent someone to investigate."

Master Mursems held up a holo of a decapitated body, "This was sent to us two days ago it's the Jedi we sent to investigate, before we lost contact though he sent us a photo of the mysterious man in question, it seems he is a former member of the order, in fact he left around twenty five years ago, about four years before you joined us."

Nevan squinted at the picture, the glowing silver eyes of the Arani race showing no recognition of the man in the picture. Kepis once again took the reigns, "We want you to investigate further, and we want him taken out of the picture." He paused and tossed a pad too Nevan who deftly swiped it out of the air, "That is all the information you'll need, your ship has been towed out of storage and brought into the launch bay."

"With all due respect is a fallen Jedi something more along the lines of the Jedi's responsibility." Nevan inquired.

He detected slight grin from Mursems, "Since he was originally one of ours, we would like to keep this one quiet, you do know how to do that don't you?"

Nevan ignored the last comment and bowed once more, "If that is all, than we will leave immediately."

Kepis smiled, "Watch your back, and may the Force be with you."

As Nevan and Aida exited the chamber Kepis was treated with a simple response of "I'm always careful."

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Nevan grinned as his eyes examined the sleek half saucer design of the Demons Foe, twin spikes curving inward at either end giving it an almost crablike appearance. The dark gray hull was marred only by, occasional colourful identifier markings added by Nevan, and the dual laser cannons of a lighter colour, two on the port side, and two on the starboard, one top, one bottom each. Four years had passed since he had begun training Aida and he had not seen it very often, most missions required them to take different forms of transport.

"How is she?"He asked, his eyes never leaving the ship as he questioned the nearby mechanic.

"Fuelled and ready, all you need to do is a quick preflight check and your on your way." The technician smiled at the Shadow Masters obvious love of his ship.

Nevan turned to his a Apprentice and smiled, "Shall we?"

"Ok but no fancy flying, you were blacklisted for a year when you decided to fly full speed around the city at a...what was it Master Lenga said."

""I believe it was a dangerous, stupid, and suicidal level."" The memory made Nevan suppress a laugh.

""Yes, I mean did you honestly think that just because the city is on the other side of the world that no one would notify the council."" Aida grinned.

"Oh I was just having a little fun." He said in mock defence.

"You accidentally led an enemy fighter here and then decided to do a victory lap when you shot him down." Aida said with a dull voice.

"Even the best of Masters can miss a small tracking device planted on a ship and as for the victory lap, no harm was done." Nevan replied.

Aida looked thoughtful for a second then said, "If the council hates you for doing things like that I wonder how the Jedi thought of you when you were still with them."

Nevan keyed in the entry code to the Demons Foe as soon as they reached the ship "Why do you think I'm here, compared to how they react there I have a hell of a lot of freedom for a, what was it a couple of masters used to call me, a disrespectful scoundrel."

Aida broke into fits of laughter.

"And you may not believe it but I was a hell of a lot tamer back then, when I first got here I was held in very high regard by the council, they relied on my wisdom many times."

They reached the cockpit of the ship, Aida now having to use a wall for support because of the laughter, "Since then only Master Kepis has been able to see past my...fun loving attitude."

Tapping a few controls he brought the ship online and began a preflight check, he sat down as millions of thoughts ran through his head before he turned serious and looked over at Aida, "Never lose who you are, yes many times you will be forced to act diplomatically but never let that change the person you are, I had to leave many good friends behind because the composed and rigid code of the Jedi was slowly killing who I was, I can only be so thankful I found the Shadow Jedi."

He paused for a moment, tapped a few more controls and then continued on, "And always remember there are certain situations where the way your Master acts is a very bad thing, try not to follow his lead all the time."

Nevan's serious look was quickly exchanged for a smile, "Now go in the back and meditate, once I make the jump to Lightspeed I'll join you, something tells me these are the only moments of quiet we'll receive in the next few days."

Nevan watched his Apprentice, the young girl who had become like a daughter to him, leave and could only keep smiling.

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A/N: Ok beginning of my first full length Star Wars fic, what did you like, what didn''t you like, what was your favourite line, any feedback you could give me would be great, if this first story goes well I have several future fics in the series planned.

And please notify me of any mistakes you see