The twin suns rose over the bloody red horizon of Glade 6, the last of the six moons in the Glade system, and home to some of the galaxy's most criminal and nefarious villains. Azekel Jakome frowned; suspicious, as he walked slowly from his Academy space cruiser in the moon capital's main hangar bay. The seedy, lizard like denizens of the dim bays giving him space as he strolled cautiously from the Jedi Academy marked spacecraft and out into the main planetary reception lobby, his lightsaber tapping his side comfortably as the loose, light brown robes of a newly ordained Jedi Knight furled in the slight breeze that ran through the corridors of the airy hangar.
"Hello, sir, and welcome to Glade 6 Trans-galactic Hangar Bay Eighteen ..." a dusty, aged droid chimed as he strolled by without looking. He had no time for the lip service to formality of this criminal planet; his first mission for the Jedi Academy would run smoothly and without incident, he had decided. Master Skywalker and the New Republic had decided on the new Knight to lead a tentative envoy to this despicable backwater hive in order to facilitate governmental harmony and accord that would hopefully bring treaties and protection to the planet through the New Republic Organization of Allies for Intergalactic Justice.
"I have no time, droid, I know my way around." He dismissed the mechanoid impatiently, scanning the corridors for trouble that didn't come as he stalked out into the open mega-dome of the planet capital. Sensing a presence behind him, the Jedi turned his head around, his shoulder length black hair swishing about as the man stalking behind him pulled up to a stop. Azekel was momentarily stunned.
"Hello, Jedi." The voice was thin and mechanical to match the armor covered man behind him. Azekel turned around, not believing his eyes. Never in the young Jedi's life had he seen true Mandalore armor, as beaten and battered as this being's was, and Azekel felt a faint wave of apprehension shudder up his back as he thought back to the once proud, deadly race that had caused so many Jedi suffering and death before and during the clone wars. Composing himself from the momentary surprise, the Knight adapted a neutral look.
"That's a nice costume, friend. Can I help you?" He said, trying to hide the unease in his voice. The last of the men to wear the armor of the Mandalore had been the ruthless mercenary and killer Boba Fett, killed over the pit of Carkoon by Jakome's own Master Luke Skywalker as his friends and he escaped the villainous clutches of Fett's one time employer, Jabba the Hut. That had been more than ten years ago, Azekel reminded himself with assurance, and Fett was long since dead; digested and rotten in the stomach of the Sarlaac monster in the pit of Carkoon.
"Yes, it is original Mandalore armor; constructed in the since destroyed primitive factories on Kamino." The figure hissed, nodding slightly. The Jedi Knight felt a strange presence growing about the man as they conversed, and apparently the feeling of apprehension had traveled to the scant passersby as they ducked out of sight or hurried past with fearful glances. "It is a true relic of the pre-clone wars, Jedi; a time before your kind nearly wiped out the race of Mandalorians completely."
Jakome was taken aback by these words, spoken with obvious hate and derision toward the Jedi elite Master Skywalker had just begun to reconstruct after their own obliteration by the recently defeated Empire.
"Your sense of history is somewhat skewed, bounty hunter, as I am supposing you are; the Jedi helped vanquish the evil Mandalorian race for its acts of barbarism and ruthless tyranny!" He corrected, according to the teachings of the old books of the Jedi Academy, though he had remembered Master Skywalker talk about the 'unjust acts of the Mandalorian wars.'
"Barbarians? Tyrants?" The armored figure spat through his voice box, "These are the words my people are described with? You Jedi have not changed at all, even after your sorry defeat by the Empire!" The Mandalorian jumped back as he yelled these last few sentences, and the Jedi sensed the explosion of anger in his opponent as his lightsaber came up, merely in a defense posture; Jakome was surprised, however, as the Mandalorian, if he really was one, brandished his own crude saber, its red light hissing into activation as the man sunk into a perfect saber attacking posture.
"A lightsaber," Azekel frowned, although slightly impressed at the craftsmanship, "An unusual weapon for a child of the Mandalore. Where did you get it?"
At this the mercenary seemed to almost laugh in mocking reply.
"One of your friends lent it to me, of course. It is a blade of the last of the Sith warriors of this time, a killer of hundreds of your Jedi people; and today it shall kill again!" He growled evilly as he struck, lightening fast, too fast, for a normal man, the hate radiating all about him as Azekel was pushed back by the forceful assault. Stepping back from the rabid Mandalorian, the Jedi regained his posture and tried to compose himself once, more, but was defending again in moments, the ruthless, hate-driven charge of the mercenary giving him no time to breath. In minutes the Jedi found himself back nearly to the wall by this uncanny foe in nearly ancient armor.
"Ah! Your powers in the force are strong!" He gasped between counterattacks the mercenary easily parried. "but your hate will betray you, come, end this fight!" he yelled as the sabers cracked and sputtered against one another.
"You fear me, Jedi?" spat back the armored warrior, "Or does a Jedi always seek to trick his opponent into ease, then slit his back open?"
The Mandalorian sprang, but Jakome had used the moment of relief to leap up to the hangar roof support beams high overhead, the force propelling him beyond the reach of any known creature in the galaxy. As good as this mercenary scum was with a lightsaber, and as fast as he had trained to be, Jakome thought, the force was not strong enough with him to propel him this high; forgetting the mission he had been sent here for, the Jedi searched his mind for a way to get this anomaly of the force back to Yavin 5 with him. Master Skywalker and the rest of the new council would be shocked to see an outsider exhibit such skill, though hateful and suspiciously Sith-like, in the force.
"Mercenary," He shouted down at the waiting soldier, "You are indeed talented with the lightsaber, and show much promise in the ways of the force; my masters and teachers would love to see your skill and talent at the Jedi Academy, if you would only end this useless fight and come with me to my ship!"
"Now you see you cannot win so you seek to compromise?" shouted the Mandalorian, "I will never join the despicable Jedi!" and with that he leapt, incredibly high for a humanoid, yet not so high as to reach the Knight's perch. The armored man landed evenly on his feet back on the ground to glare up at the unreachable Jedi. Unlike his predecessor Fett, Jakome noticed, this Mandalorian didn't have a rocket-jet pack, but he shuddered to think about what sorts of other surprises the killer had hidden in his armor. Suddenly, out of nowhere the Jedi was hit with a disturbance in the force nearby, and he pulled his eyes from the crouched mercenary to scan the space below for the source of this new presence.
"Jedi!" came a shout from behind him, and he turned, shocked again to be confronted by yet another lightsaber.
"Who ... ?"
"Scared, Jedi? You should be!" laughed the Sith evilly, his black robes gleaming eerily by the red light of his lightsaber as he sprang forward to Jakome's support beam with a cackle of hateful delight, his saber slicing viciously downwards in a move to disembowel the surprised Jedi Knight. Azekel fell back in surprise, his own green saber barely lifted in time to deflect the attack as he felt the support beam slip away from under his boots and he began to fall.