Chapter 1
Utasin Finscar awoke with a daze. His head was pounding in pain and as he struggled to open his eyes. He tried reaching for his lightsaber, but couldn't seem to find it. He concentrated as he tried to summon it with the Force, but his head hurt too much.
What happened? He thought as he scratched his mop of shaggy dark brown hair. As he began to recover his strength he discovered he was within the confines of an escape pod. The memories came flooding back. Where is the Senator? Where is Blin? Are they alright?
Right at that moment, the door of the escape pod opened. Blinding light pierced his half-open eyes as the silhouette of a tall, yet familiar Zabrak stood outside. This answered question number two and half of question number three.
"Blin… is this what being one with the Force feels like? If so, I see why the Sith want to be immortal so bad," croaked Utasin with a half-smile.
Blin's brilliant green glistened. "You never stop with the jokes, do you?"
"Glad to see you're alright, pal. Can you give me a hand? I can't seem to find my lightsaber."
Blin grabbed Utasin's outstretched hand and pulled. Utasin stumbled as he tried to gain balance.
Standing at about a normal height, Utasin was a half human, half Miraluka with piercing dark brown eyes. Barely over the age of eighteen, he was a very charismatic and light-hearted Padawan who was adored by his peers. He excelled in his Jedi training, quickly mastering many sorts of Force techniques, but he had a lot of trouble making mature decisions.
Blin Krieg was Utasin's best friend. The two of them trained together since they were both young children. Blin was the taller of the two, but not much. He was a Zabrak with pinkish beige skin and small horns that stood atop his bald head in two rows. Blin preferred to keep to himself, but he had a wonderful sense of humor when he did keep company. Only seventeen years of age, Blin had already nearly mastered seven forms of lightsaber techniques and had impressed his masters with his incredibly level head.
"There's your lightsaber! You were sitting on it, you bantha!" laughed Blin, reaching into the seat of the escape pod.
"I'm not a bantha, you nerf-herder," Utasin retorted as he attached his lightsaber back to his belt.
"So much for our first mission on our own," muttered Blin, looking out into the vast distance. There was nothing but rolling green hills for miles and an infinitely blue sky above.
"It would be an easy mission, they said! Bring the Senator back to Coruscant they said! The Sith won't interfere!" spewed Utasin.
"Let's calm down, Fin. What would a master do in this situation?" Blin paced about for a few seconds. "We need to find the Senator."
"The Senator could be dead for all we know! What do you remember?" inquired Utasin.
"I remember we were boarded by the Sith almost as soon as we left the atmosphere," Blin recalled, "There were so many of them so fast. You were knocked unconscious during the firefight and I was just able to drag you to the escape pods. The Senator was locked in his chambers and I haven't seen him since we boarded. I feel bad for abandoning the fight, but the battle was lost and most of the crew had been killed already by the time we reached the escape pods."
"There's nothing we can do about it now," said Utasin. "Thanks for saving me back there, by the way."
"Forget about it," Blin responded, "Let's go find some answers like real Jedi."
The two friends began walking in the direction they felt would have civilization. They walked and walked for what seemed like hours, until about mid-day when they began to see a lake in the distance.
"Telos sure is beautiful now that the ecosystem has been restored," Blin noted as they walked through the tall grass.
"Hey, do you see that there? Smoke, over there by the lake?" asked Utasin.
"Maybe we can find some answers about the ambush that occurred and maybe even find some clues as to the whereabouts of the Senator," said Blin.
The two of them began to walk more briskly toward the smoke when the appearance of a small transport became more and more visible.
"It looks like a… a… swoop bike!" exclaimed Utasin.
When the two of them finally reached the shore of the lake, they saw the steamy remains of a swoop bike half way in the water.
"The driver can't be too far from here," said Blin, standing at the shoreline.
"Not too far at all!" exclaimed a voice coming from behind them.