Hi! Welcome to my story. For those of you who have read my work, this is probably unecesary, but for those of you who have, this is a story of Semreh Kaasen, the main character of my other story, The Jedi Strike Back. Of course, this is a prequel. However, if you haven't read the other one, this story should be pretty easy to get into. Naturally, i own nothing here except the characters I made up...which is almost all of them for this.
P.S. I'm sure some of you will wonder about Halber's speech. I wanted him to have an interesting accent, so I decided to try and make him sound a little South African. At least, in his slang.
Now, please enjoy.
"Incoming!" A voice yelled as Semreh threw himself to the ground. He fell, landing in several inches of water layered with a filthy combination of mud and gore. He felt a pair of hands haul his body up by his belt, dragging him forward.
"Move it boy!" A rough and oddly familiar voice yelled through a helmet. Semreh looked up into the faceless mask of a clone commando, who was firing his carbine with his right hand while dragging him with the left. "It's your plan. Try not to screw it up!"
Semreh brushed the clones arm away, not wanting to burden the soldier, and drew his saber, igniting it with a loud hiss. He and the clone advances, poring fire down onto the panicked column below. The local militias of Sluis Van tried to keep their supply routes safe. Unfortunately for them, the Republic and their guerillas were just as intent on taking that supplies. Around Semreh, allied Sluis Van natives and humans poured fire onto the transport, forcing the merchant guard to fall back, using their own trucks as cover. Just as Semreh predicted.
"Beta Squad," he said into a headset microphone he had strapped to his head. "Anvil in place. Drop the damn hammer already!" From the other side of the small trail, a line of fire burned through the woods, firing on the now exposed backs of the guards. At the front, a set of five lightsabers blazed, guiding a line of ragged guerrillas and three clones in heavy armor into the battle below. The Clones and Jedi were the greatest threat to the convoy, striking with precision and calm skill, while the guerillas roared and screamed vulgarly, letting their weapons swing wildly during their charge.
"Jeez," he thought, watching the scene with disgust as the guards remaining defenses were instantly penetrated, "These guys need to be trained up a bit." The Republic had inserted them, a team of six Jedi and four clone commandos, into Sluis Van in order to attempt to weaken the Separatist stronghold from the inside out. So far, it had been a slow bloody job.
Once a major supporter of the Republic, the Sluissi had finally become disgusted with what they saw as a corrupt Republic. With support from Dooku's battle droids, they'd seceded from the Republic and trained their own defense force. Of course, there were always those who still clung to the old regime. The Jedi had been sent here to rally those remnants under the Republic's banner.
Sluis Van, with its enormous spaceport and major military facilities, could not be allowed to secede unchallenged. However, the Republic and its fledgling army was no match for Sep forces just yet. So, a new strategy, developed by Master Yoda was put into use. It involved using detachments of Jedi and Clones to train locals to fight their "oppressors" for the Republic. Semreh, his master Nostwa, and two other Jedi, Padawan teams were inserted on Sluis Van soon after this plan was put into action. Of course, Semreh would never presume to question the wisdom of Master Yoda. Even if he had dropped Semreh and his master onto a planet filled with hostile, armed Sluissi and battle droids to train the lowest dregs of society to fight in the rocky terrain. No, he'd never question that.
What remained of the battle was over in another few seconds. Surviving and wounded Sluissi were quickly rounded up, escorted through the woods to the rocky terrain in the surrounding hills and mountains. Semreh approached his Twi'lek master, who was using her double bladed lightsaber as a baton, guiding the guerrillas quickly off the trail.
"How long till the battle droids show up?" Semreh asked, looking around nervously. The wooded area around them would shield them from Sluissi eyes, but not the advanced droids sensors.
"Not long." She stated, surveying the guerillas and their prisoners. "Still, unless they bring heavy tanks, we should be all right. I'm more worried about them tracking us up the mountain. I'd prefer it if they couldn't follow us…" She let her voice drift, her green face egging him on.
"All right," Semreh said raising his hands. "Want me to take the others and wait for them on the trail?"
"Yeah," She said, looking distantly up at their stronghold in the mountain. "I'll meet you back at base." Semreh nodded and turned, heading towards where the other padawans and masters were carefully tending to those to wounded to be moved. Before his master was out of sight, he yelled after her, waving to get her attention.
"Hey, would you send Theran down too. We could use his skills for this and it would be good experience for him."
Theran was a native of Sluis Van and a Clawdite. Like his parents, who had like him taken refuge in the mountains when their allies had landed, he was a shapeshifter. Unlike his parents, who could only shape as into shapes with relatively the same mass as their original bodies, Theran had inherited a rare trait in the Clawdite gene; the ability to shape his mass as well. Semreh had no idea how he did it and he had not yet presumed to ask Theran how he broke the laws of physics.
Besides that, Theran was also Force sensitive, if only a little. Due to the shortage of Jedi in the galaxy and the war that looked like it was going to be longer and longer with each passing day, Master Nostwa had decided to help train the boy in some of the basics of manipulation. His parents had agreed and Nostwa, probably hoping to convince them to let the boy go off planet and train as a Jedi. Or at least, use his abilities for the benefit of the Republic. Of course, everything she was doing was against the Jedi Code, but Nostwa had never felt that some of the rules of the code couldn't be broken or bent in extreme situations.
"All right," She said nonchalantly waving over her shoulder." Semreh turned, heading towards the site of the ruined convoy, where the other Jedi were attempting to ease the pain of the wounded and dying. He approached the hunched over figure of one of them, tapping him lightly on the shoulder.
"Droids are coming." He said quietly to Master Rufus, a Coruscanti native with a round face and baleful eyes. His apprentice was Halber, a longhaired young man a few years older than Semreh. "You gonna stay here or head up to the mountains?" Master Rufus sighed, helping the injured man lean his head forward, making sure he didn't choke on his own blood.
"Not yet." He said, looking around. "There are more wounded I can help." Semreh hesitated, unsure of how to break it to the man that they needed to move, or the droids would overtake them. When he voiced his concerns, Rufus lowered his head, looking strangely defeated.
"Take Halber. Try and by us some time while we get these guys out of here." Semreh looked at him, confused.
"You want us to risk our whole operation to save a bunch of wounded enemy grunts?" He said a little worriedly. The older master looked up at him a little sharply.
"We are Jedi, are we not? This is what we do." Semreh nodded swiftly and hurried over to Halber, who was checking the pulse of a man sprawled over one of the overturned landspeeders of the convoy. A big man, he was all muscle, powerful arms and massive legs. The gun slung over his back was just as massive, a tripod mounted rapid fire Lasersplicer that was known to cut men in half with one shot. He turned to Semreh, swing the gun from his shoulder to rest in his hands.
"Hey old comrade." He yelled heartily, checking the power gauge of his weapon. "Are we getting some action, bru?" Semreh smiled. Halber had arrived late to the temple, and still retained the accent of his home world, wherever that was. He had a small, stubby beard growing in. It was dirty blond, as was the rest of his hair, which was cut short and almost always hidden beneath his Jedi cloak.
"Looks like it." Semreh said, picking up a discarded blaster from one of the enemy soldiers. "We're to buy time for our masters to get the wounded out of here." The big man nodded and began walking down the trail towards where the other two Jedi were working.
"Oy," He yelled in greeting to the two hooded figures at the end of the road. They stood ankle deep in bodies, a short Mon Calamari whose gills and jelly eyes shook slightly in excitement, and a tall blond haired girl who looked like she could be on the cover of some holomagazine. "We got some work we gotta do, brus!" The blond girl stood up, igniting her saber and flourishing it with a flashy grin.
"Great, where?" She said with a fierce grin. Semreh smiled back at her. Somehow, despite the fierce battle that had taken place and the blood and mud that covered all of their clothes, she seemed to have come out of it without the slightest stain on her robes. Her name was Elena, and her master's name was Celant.
"We're to go down the road and set up an ambush to help hold off the droids while you and Master Rufus get the rest of the prisoners out of here." The Mon Calamari nodded and hurried over to master Rufus, flashing an encouraging smile at Elena.
"Take care padawan. I'd hate to lose such a promising student." Elena smiled back over her shoulder as they hurried away. "Tell Theran to meet us at Alpha point. We'll set up the ambush there."
The guerillas had been hiding out in the mountainous terrain around that road for nearly a month. They'd been very prepared to ambush any convoy that happened to be moving through the area. Of course, every time they hit them, a platoon of droids was always in tow. Therefore, Semreh and the rest of the Jedi had set up ambush areas, such as Alpha point, where they knew they would have the advantage over the passing droids. So far, none of the droid units had managed to make it through the woods intact to their various bases in the mountains.
As the padawans came to one of the Alpha point, Elena let out a low laugh and said she was going to take up a position on one side of the road and that Semreh and Halber should take the other half. Semreh didn't mind being ordered. After all, he preferred to follow rather than lead. What did disturb him was that low laugh. It was loaded with anticipation and almost happiness. There was definitely something un-Jedi about it. When he voiced his opinions to Halber as the trudged up a rocky outcropping, Halber agreed.
"I know." He said, surveying the road below. "Something's happened to her. Remember when we were in the temple together. Before the War." Semreh nodded and stopped. He was going to stay in a lower area of the outcropping, letting Halber use his heavier gun from above.
"Yeah," he said, "She was the perfect Jedi, always talking about the stars beyond Coruscant and how it was our job to protect the Republic. Still, this war has done something to her. Like she's changed. But it's barely been a month so far."
"Yeah," Semreh looked across the road. She had concealed herself well. He could barely even sense her with the Force. For a brief moment, he wondered why she was bothering to conceal herself with the Force. He pushed it from his mind when a slithering behind him caught his attention. He drew the captured pistol from his belt and quickly aimed it at the ground. There, lying in the grass, was a rapidly expanding snake that seemed to be growing the features of a Clawdite. He smiled.
"Hey Theran. How are your parents?" The young Clawdite emerged, his snake tail splitting into a pair of legs and his arms sprouted quickly from the snakes sides. Semreh had a personal interest in Theran's parents. He'd actually known them before the war when, in one of his first missions, he and Master Nostwa had come across their home. It had caught fire and he and his master had rushed into the building, rescuing them from the flames. Odd how that one mission had affected so much. He and his master had been selected for this mission because of their prior experience. The Clawdite family had virtually adopted the pair of Jedi, and Semreh felt like the little Clawdite as his own younger brother.
"Good, thanks." He said. He was about the same age as Semreh, except perhaps a little younger the way he clung to his parents. Then again, Semreh had heard somewhere that Clawdites grow up more slowly than humans. "Are the droids here yet?"
Semreh shook his head. "No, but Elena is in the brush across from us and Halber is going to hit them from the rock outcropping from above. So, you stick with me for a while. All right?" Theran nodded and followed Semreh through the brush at the bottom of the outcropping.
"See ya bru." Halber said with a smile, climbing into the rocks overhead. Semreh and Theran got down onto their bellies, peering out into the trail.
"How long till they get here?" Theran asked nervously. He kept changing his facial features, going from a long haired old man, to an ancient Krath woman, and back to his own Clawdite form. It was a sure sign that he was worried.
"Relax. Remember the training Master Nostwa gave you?" The Clawdite nodded and his features gradually settled into his normal form.
"Right. Sorry." A second later, he sneezed, and his face changed again. "It's these bushes we're hiding in."
"What!" Semreh whispered urgently.
"Yeah," Theran continued, "They're Fresian bushes. I'm allergic, and it messes with my shape shifting, making it impossible to control."
"Really," Semreh said watching the horizon. "It's not dangerous, is it?"
"No, not unless I swallow it or something. Then, I'd probably lose my ability to change. Still, it definitely a pain if it gives away our position."
"Don't worry about it." Semreh said as the sound of distant clanking began to break the silence. The droids were on the move. Semreh peaked his head out, squinting down the road into the fading light. There, in the front were the super battle droids, armored bodies presenting a shield meant to protect the weaker, skinnier droids behind. From his position, Semreh could also see that there were a lot more droids than they'd thought. Too many.
"Frag!" He cursed quietly, pulling himself back into the brush. He pulled out his comlinking, keying into Halber and Elena's comlinks.
"Do you guys see what I see?" He whispered into the comlink.
"Yeah," Elena's cocky voice said, "A lot of scrap metal we can turn into fortifications."
"Too much scrap metal." Halber said. "You guys can't see it from down there, but this column goes on for at least a mile. This is probably their big push to take us out. They just used the convoy to pinpoint our location." There were several moments of silence as they all took in what Halber was saying. Part of their success so far in the war had been through the virtue that the enemy had underestimated them. That only a few platoons at a time would be sent at them. Now, it seemed the Sluisii were done messing around.
"We'd better retreat to base." Semreh said, slowly backing out of the brush.
"No way!" Elena protested quietly. "Come on. We have the advantage. We could probably hold them all day from this position."
"But we'd be telling them that our base is in this area." Halber countered thoughtfully. "And then they'd just send more. On the other hand, we still have to buy some time for our masters. I think a few of us should stay behind while one of us returns and starts the evacuation. That way, we can buy some time and inform our master's." Semreh nodded to himself and turned to Theran.
"Go back to the stronghold. Warn them about what's going on." Theran nodded. A second later, a small multi-colored bird shot out of the brush and into the air, heading for the mountain base.
"Kid's a real lekker." He said. As far as Semreh had managed to understand Halber over the years, there were still times where the meaning of his slang confused him.
"What's that mean?" He asked as the droids continued to march.
"It means I like the little guy, all right. Now focus, we've got a little problem here."
"I like him too." Elena whispered into her comlink. "As long as he stops the shape shifting into a clone of me. That's just creepy." Semreh smiled despite himself. The two treated him like a dear friend. They'd fought over the past week or two together. Somehow, something had just clicked between them. Now, they felt like old friends.
The droids were closer now. The three padawans tensed, looking out from the bushes they hid behind, aiming down the sights of their weapons. As the Super battle droid line passed them, Semreh readied his blaster, taking careful aim at the backs of one of the Super battle droids. It was one of the few weak points on their bodies. After all, the Seps never expected their droids to run. Then, it happened. Elena leapt from the bushes, diving head first into the crowd of skinny battle droids, who tried to turn and fire on her. They were too clumsy and Elena was a blur by now, spinning and swing her lightsaber, a wide grin on her face as the droids fell, splattering oil like blood on the ground.
"Haha, let's rock and roll."
Semreh sighed, and took careful aim with his blaster, hitting one of the Super battle droids from behind. Then another. Before he could get a third shot off, the droids turned, spraying the bushes where Semreh was hiding with blaster bolts that flew from their wrists. Semreh leapt up throwing himself to the right, so the droids all turned to fire at him. Of course, that forced them to turn their backs on the rock outcropping again, and Halber chose that moment to fire his heavy blaster, raking the Super battledroids from behind.
Semreh looked up and grinned at Halber, who gave him a small two fingered salute and a smile before turning his blaster on the rest of the droids. They fell like leaves from autumn trees, but every time one fell, two more would spring up. Elena was surrounded by them now, only kept alive by her Force driven reflexes and her sheer reckless attacks. The droids fell around her, hewed low like wheat in a field. But more sprouted up, aiming bolts of high powered plasma that scorched her robes.
If you'd looked at Elena though, you would have thought she was simply strolling through the street. Her robes were almost perfectly clean despite the oil and ash that coated the ground and she had this calm, but joyous smile on her face, like a worker that truly enjoyed going to work every day.
Halber, seeing she was surrounded, leapt down from his high post, drawing his leaf green saber in his left hand while his right aimed the Lasersplicer swinging from his shoulder strap. Well, not aiming actually. Then again, he didn't have to aim at this point. The droids fell in long lines, both to the scattered fire of his repeating blaster and powerful swings from his lightsaber. Semreh, seeing an opportunity to clog the narrow roads with droid bodies, joined them, drawing his saber and hacking his way forward.
Halber had never really been a fighter. Which was weird, since he had the body of a brawler. He was, like most Jedi, a pacifist by nature. Of course, when the war had started, he and his master had answered the call. Peaceful was one thing; Helplessness was an entire different cup of caf.
Still, even in the midst of a life and death battle, he couldn't help but look over at Elena and the wild joy that shown from behind strands of her long blond hair. There was definitely something wrong there. Halber had known Elena all her life, just like Semreh, and he had never seen anything like this. Where normal Jedi would be sad, even hesitant to strike, Elena seemed to be eager. Her yellow blade whirled, and three of the advancing battle droids lost their heads.
Halber yanked his mind back into the present as more battle droids charged, metal feet still clanking on the ground and stones. He really didn't know how long they could hold, but he guessed it wasn't long.
"This is bollocks!" He yelled as a blaster bolt grazed his arm. "We gotta get out of here. Now!"
"Are you kidding!?" Elena roared over the pinging of blaster fire. "We've got them all piled on top of each other. We stay, and we could hold them by ourselves." Halber and Semreh exchanged looks. Now, she just seemed crazed. Turning, they each grabbed one of her arms and, Elena kicking and screaming, dragged off the battlefield at a run.
Elena wasn't crazy. At least, she didn't think so. She just wanted to go back and fight. Those droids were all right there, stacked on top of each other. Every swing of her saber would fell five at a time. How was that not the best odds they would get? Still, as the continued running down the trail, deflecting blaster fire as they went, Elena noticed that the smoke and fire around them was not exclusive to their area. In fact, there in the mountain, she thought she could barely see a thick billow of wavy smoke rising from the area that would have been their base. When she voiced her worries to Semreh and Halber, they turned and their jaws dropped momentarily, followed by a steely resolve.
Turning their backs on the droids, the sprinted, this time running pell-mell up the mountain. The droids tried to follow, but the rocky terrain and speed of the Jedi made that impossible. Soon, the Jedi were far ahead, almost at the entrance to the caves. Finally, they came to the tunnel where their base had been hidden. Elena gasped involuntarily and Semreh and Halber both cursed at the same time. The door to the tunnel had been blown open and now lay in a smoking heap on the floor.
Semreh and Halber advanced tunnel quietly, blasters scanning slowly, searching for movement. There was none. On the floor, many guerrillas were lying, strewn every which way. They were sprawled over chairs and desks and tables. The floor was slick despite the little amount of blood on the floor. A small drop of some liquid fell, striking Semreh on the nose. Disturbed, Semreh looked up and gagged in horror. There, hanging from a long piece of steel he'd been impaled on, was Master Rufus. His mouth was grotesquely shaped and his hands and feet hung at odd angles. This was because they were bound together by stun cuffs. Master Rufus hadn't been killed. He'd been executed.
Semreh hesitated, then reached placed his hand on Halber's shoulder, who had yet to notice. He leaned back and whispered, "What?" Semreh, unable to look him in the eye, pointed upwards. Halber looked up. His hands shook for a second and he dropped his heavy weapon. His knees soon followed.
"Master!" He whispered. His face, suddenly a mask of indescribable and terrible pain. Then, it was gone, replaced by a carefully controlled. Reaching up, he grabbed the spike piercing his master and pulled it out of the ceiling. His master fell, caught and lowered to the ground by Semreh.
"Someone is going to pay." Elena said quietly, a dangerous tone in her voice. She was shaking and her eyes were flashing as she walked towards the next door. Semreh looked at Halber for a second, but then got up and followed Elena down the tunnel. Halber stayed behind, staring at the remains of his master.
Elena's heart was beating now, hitting her chest like a hammer. If Master Rufus had been killed, what if-
"No!" She thought, looking around the corner of one of the many winding passageways of the mountain. "Can't think like that. Gotta find Master Celant. And she'd better be safe."
The deeper she we went into the base, the more worried she became. She saw dead guerillas everywhere, but so far no Jedi robes. Where was she?
Two hours later, and neither Master Nostwa nor Master Celant had been found. The padawans had gathered in the room with the least blood in it. Sereh still slipped stepping inside.
"We can assume that the Master's were captured," Semreh told his quiet audience. "We can probably still rescue them if we hurry." Elena nodded, her face a mask of fury. Semreh may have normally warned her about the danger of those feelings, but not today. It'd be too hypocritical.
They both looked at Halber, who was clutching his head, hands ripping at his hair. His weapon was abandoned, propped up against the wall. Finally, he spoke.
"Elena and I will go after master Celant. You take Master Nostwa." Semreh paused, unsure of how to respond.
"Halber," he said gently, "They're probably held in the same place. We don't have to split up."
"Yes we do." He said, looking up. His face was perfectly clear and serene. "Do you see any of the civilians in here? Like Theran, and the little lekker?" Semreh shook his head, realization dawning.
"Your right." He agreed, "Somebody led them away from the base."
"Exactly." Halber continued. "And either way, we need to both find the refugees and investigate the city for news on our masters. Elena and I will head for the city, while you track down the civilians. Either way, we'll meet at least one of the masters." Semreh nodded. As usual, Halber had a sound plan. That's why he was the leader normally in these missions.
"We'll meet back here in three days." Elena suggested as Semreh headed towards the door. He nodded without looking back.
"Agreed." He turned then, looking them both in the eyes. "May the Force be with you my friends."
If you enjoyed it, please review. If you didn't, please review. I enjoy constructive criticism.