Listorm Hail parts 1 and 2

by Coldstar101

Follows the Journey of Listorm Hail as he becomes the force's weapon of balance. He is also a bit moody at times, but he does what is needed to be done.

Twin Silver Blades

Prolouge

Thunder rippled across the sky of an unnamed world that lied within the outer rim of the galaxy. A small transport shuttle could be seen atop of an ancient plateau carved out by a long forgotten species. The shuttle was small, approximately ten meters long with the widest part being five meters across. The plateau was covered in thick snow that had the consistency of slime, along with the grey color from the constant volcano's ash it left the two in the ship in a sour mood. The two inside the ship were far from lost despite being on a planet completely unknown to any astrogation chart, they were right where they wanted to be. The loading ramp lowered into the grey sludge, which made a disturbing sound when it completed its descent. The first to leave the ship to set foot into the sludge was the larger of the two creatures, the figure stood an impressive two and a quarter meters tall with a light grey cloak that seemed to melt through the snow as he walked.

The creature pulled back the hood to reveal the youthful face of a human who could not be over thirty galactic years. Despite the youthful face the experience this man has faced could easily be seen in his dark grey eyes, for they were far older than his physical form. The man had a neatly trimmed beard,that was a dark red, along with the hair atop of his head which was cropped short to form a military like style. The thin lips on the man always held a flat line squirmed into the shape of a smirk as he looked upon his goal, a cave in the center of the plateau. The man called back for his accomplice to hurry along to join him.

Like the first to leave the ship this one had a cloak as well that was a similar shade of grey, but once the hood was pulled back it revealed a much younger face than before, the young man beneath the hood was hardly fifteen, but his red eyes showed similar experience beyond age like that of his older companion. The hair on this young man, which went to his sturdy shoulders, was like shining silver. The silver haired boy's angular handsome face was disfigured by a long scar that ran from his right temple to the right side of his lip. The scar was a reminder of his past that he has shared to no one, not even his colleague who he traveled with for the past two years.

The young man headed the older mans call and dashed through the grey snow to catch up to the man making his way easily through the slime. Unlike the older man his cloak did not melt the snow as he walked but instead picked up every clump it could, making it awkward to wear the thick fabric. The boy wore an emotionless face as he looked at his newly stained cloak as they walked. He unclipped the golden brooch that held the cloak in check and folded up the slimy cloth as they walked then placed it into his pack. The older man shiffed his gaze from the cave to stare at the boy as they walked, the boy was quite wise given his age and had saved the man many times over. They have shared many adventures in their few years together, even surviving the destruction of alderaan.

He remembers seeing the boy in broken cuffs while running from imperial officers in the trade market on Alderaan. The boy was caught with multiple valuables that were clearly not his, but when the silver haired boy ran into the grey cloaked man he stumbled back and was caught by the officers. The boy looked to the grey cloaked man for assistance and received much more than he expected. The grey cloaked man burst into tears and thanked the officers for returning his younger brother who he believed lost for a month, and after he promised his kid-brother would cause no more trouble and returned the gems to the officers and apologized dozens of times over they left the market district and headed for a hanger. The grey man motioned for the boy to stop, and once he did so the man lowered himself with his hands on his knees.

"Now why would you waste your talent on something as trivial as thieving, I sense great potential in you child and will like to show you what you can do," the man in the grey robe adjusted his cloak to show on his side a silver metallic hilt to a weapon known to all, a real lightsaber. The boy almost reached for it but found his hand caught in the grip of the tall man. "You will receive your own one in time, but for now do you have any parents?"

The boy just realized how soft the man's voice was, he sounded like he was permanently ill, but the boy figured it to just be hard living that drove him to that voice. The boy then remember the question and shook his silver covered head multiple times. The grey man slowly nodded as if he expected this exact scenario.

"Do you wish to travel with me, and believe it or not I am not really giving you a choice because we don't have long," the man said this as grabbing the boy's arm and pulled him into the small shuttle in the hanger. The boy did not resist the pull, for he did the opposite he began to pull the saber wielder into the shuttle and they soon took off with little trouble.

Once they exited the atmosphere they saw a great sphere enter the horizon, it was the size of a small moon with a large disk-shaped indent. The silver haired boy stared in wonder and the grey robed Jedi was busy pushing in coordinates for their destination. The man did not need to see the large station to know what it was, for he sensed a great amount of evil about to be unleashed on the beautiful planet below. As a small tear rolled down his face the station emitted a great green light, and then the small shuttle took off into hyperspace.

The memory of their first encounter distracted the man as he felt the smaller strong arm of the silver haired boy clutched his cloak to keep him from wandering into the cave. He sighed at his carelessness and kneed down on the snow which melted away to reveal the red stone of the plateau's top. He thought of his objective and why he was here, the force spoke to him, it told him to travel here and lead his young friend into the cave where the boy was to meet his trial to gain the right to carry a saber like his own.

"Listorm," he paused as he tasted the name, the man has called the child only by silver hair for most of their journey and the rarely uttered name left a strange taste in his mouth. The young man turned to face him and awaited for his orders. "You are to venture in alone, and find the crystal that speaks to you, but be wary the force warns me that this cave has turned many before the hyperspace war into servants to the darkside." The boy appeared unimpressed, but he bowed to his master nonetheless and turned for the cave.

The plateau was cut around the cave the boy realized as he stared at the entrance. Its opening was almost like a door with a grand arch that towered over four meters high. The light from the constant lightning was nonexistent at the beginning of the cave and it caused the boy to reflexively reach for a glow rod in his pack but stopped mid-reach. He placed both of his arms by his side and took the first step into the cave entrance. The feeling changed in an instant, the cave was covered in light that took the form in little crystals that littered the walls in rows, even though they naturally formed they were evenly spaced creating an illusion of torches. The torches lit the slanted path that lead deeper into the base of the mountain, and soon the boy began the walk along the smoothed stone. He soon heard the crystals calling to him, but he left them be. He knew which ones will lead to a darker path and which lead him down a path of his own choosing.

Listorm walked for what felt like hours, and soon he reached a three-way split in the path, The path on the right was lit with blue and green crystals, with the floor being made out of a dark lustrous stone that seemed calming and peaceful. The passage on the left was lit by shining red and black crystals with a hard and twisted path that called out to him with promises of power and will lead to his greatest desires. The boy sighed and turned to the middle path where he saw a roughly cut archway and the floor was covered in moss and he even heard the soft squeaks of rodents, there was no light to guide him in this cave, no blinding blues or bloody reds, only the darkness was his ally as he found himself past the archway and into the dark path. The path was uneven and caused him to slip and cut open his hands and knees on the stone. The cave grew colder and the only thing that kept him warm was his own blood that soon covered his arms and legs. Listorm felt none of the pain as he walked along the path, for he was busy listening to the voices.

"Why do you continue down a path so difficult boy," said a low gruff voice behind him. The silver haired boy carried on without even turning to face to voice. "Why do you take this path over the one that promised power and control over you're enemies, don't you want to never know the taste of fear again and use the fear in others to gain power?" The voice was softer and sounded like a woman now, but Listorm knew it to be the same voice.

"Why would I want to rely on other's, won't they slow me down like you are trying to do?" Listorm replied with a calm deep voice that would fit a man twice his age. The voices would not give up that easily.

"The power the darkside can bring would be easily gained, and all it would cost is the death of those beneath you who already deserve the swift death you can bring them," the voice changed to a wheezing old man who shrieked a laugh at the end of his statement. Listorm shrugged casually then tripped over another rock as he walked on. The fall had him face first into a questionable substance but the young man calmly stood up and wiped the warm goo from his face.

"You could bring a new order to the galaxy with the power hidden in you, and the path you are choosing will not lead to you're true potential, just think about all the people who would serve you." The voice was starting to fade, Listorm was beating it easily. The voice then appeared in front of him in a form that was familiar to any who studied the older days of the republic, the apparition donned a grey and red mask, the mask of a mandalorian wars general, Lord Revan stood before the young silver haired boy.

"You know who I am child," the voice said in a clam tone. "I am greatness, I am true power, even though I was just human, yet I was strong enough to face the true emperor from long ago." The long dead sith lord removed his mask to show a pale smooth face with long brown hair. "I fought with the most powerful force user of my day and age, and I almost defeated him, but I saw to much of the light side so my power slipped and I fell, I do not wish for the same mistake to happen to you, please turn back and choose the true path." Listorm almost laughed at the absurdity of the plea.

"Revan fought for the light, and would do so again if he lived, your lies do not beat the facts of the Jedi, but don't worry I don't want to join them either, for I have my own path to forge," The young man waved the apparition away and he walked in peace for another ten minutes before he met the next challenge.

The next apparition walked beside him for some time before it spoke. "I find it wise to avoid the darkside, but I do hope I can sway your vote to the light," he stopped abruptly as Listorm fell once again, but he ignored the apparition's concerns. He stood back up and felt the scraps on his body start to fade.

"Stop," was all the young man said to the apparition. He turned to face the attempted healer and saw an older man with a white white beard. "Master Kenobi," was all he said to the long dead Jedi.

"You have heard of me?" The surprised Jedi asked. "I was not aware that my name carried such value." The Jedi motioned for the young man to sit but Listorm replied with a slow head shake and carried on his path.

Once Listorm was away from the Jedi he heard another voice speak to him.

"Tell me young child of the light," the voice said, Listorm ignored the voice and carried on. The voice now sounded old and soft, like a grandfather talking to his child's child.

"Can you recite to me the Jedi code?" The voice seemed confident with that request.

Listorm stopped in his tracks and then let out a sarcastic laugh that caused the voice to stop its whisper. "I will tell you the code that I follow, and the code my master always wished to follow" The voices silenced at once.

"There is no dark side, nor a light side, there is only the force," he paused to see if the voice would interrupt him but was pleased to see it did not. As he walked he sung the rest of the code with a thin smile on his stained face.

I will do what I must to keep the balance

The balance is what keeps me together

There is no good without evil, but evil must not be allowed to flourish

There is Passion, Yet emotion

Serenity, Yet Peace

Chaos, Yet order

I am the wielder of the flame, the protector of balance

I am the holder of the torch, lighting the way

I am keeper of the flame, soldier of balance

I am a Guardian of balance

I am a Grey Jedi

When the last of his words escaped his lips he heard no more apparitions but something greater, the voices were actually appealing to him unlike the others.

"You wish for balance," a voice said to his right

"We wish for balance as well," said a voice identical to the other, yet Listorm knew it to be a new voice.

"You are worthy," both voices said in unison and soon Listorm settled down to the floor of the cave where his wounds caught up with him and he soon passed out.

While the young man balanced on the impossibly thin fence of dark and light, the other man who traveled to the lost world soon found himself with some unwanted company. He was waiting for only an hour before the strange contraptions approached him, the group of droids approached slowly from behind their meditating target. The programming that drives them brought up the possible endings for their encounter with the hostile Jedi, and they also knew that he was listening to each of their footsteps.

The cloaked man kept his eyes closed and listened to the droids' heavy footsteps, and even heard their hands quickly cutting through the air to signal some plan, undoubtedly to surround him, and they surely would have caught him unaware if not for the grey snow that made any slight step sound like a full canteen sloshing around.

The droids took their positions around the Jedi and each droid ignited a blade of red light from their right hands, and the Jedi acknowledged them by lowering his hood and hopping to his feet and with the silvery hilt of his own weapon in his hand he ignited the bright viridian blade. His opponents were photocopies of each other, each stood two meters tall with thick plating around their chests and each had arms that went to their knees, beside having extended arms and incredibly thick chests they scarcely resembled human, but had no mouths or nose. They spoke in sign language, with long skeletal fingers, to each other and within each right hand was a devastating blade like his. The droids didn't even wait for the Jedi to make his move, instead they charged as one, forming a star point pattern around the Jedi they began closing the distance quickly, but not before the Jedi could get off a tactic of his own.

The three to his back he reached out with the force to launch them back several meters in order to give him time with the two at his front. With the blast he sent behind the two he faced closed the distance in short time and the three fighters started their dance. The droid on the right of the Jedi swung with and overhead chop, and the droid to the left swept the blade across its front. The Jedi swung his blade in a curve up to parry the overhead chop while ducking having the other blade narrowly avoid his saber wielding wrist. The Jedi launched his left heel out at the ankles of the left droid taking its feet out from under it. The droid that still stood attempted a thrust on the crouching Jedi, hoping the awkward positioning of the Jedi would cause a quick easy kill, but that would only have worked against a regular opponent for the Jedi's wrist twisted around at the last second to deflect the second attack from the droid. The red saber was deflected into the snow causing the now superheated snow to turn into a thick steam.

The droids that were knocked back into the air from the Jedi at the beginning of the fight soon stood back up, and with only minor scratches and dents, they charged the Jedi once more. Before they could close the distance completely, the thick steam filled the air and caused the droids to automatically switch to fog vision.

The droid the Jedi kicked down was back on its mechanical feet, but while it was busy focusing on getting up, the Jedi moved back a few more meters. The only droid that was not knocked down was the only one still fighting the Jedi. The red blade slashed down in pursuit of the Jedi's waste but once again the Jedi proved the quicker.

The bright blade slashed down and moved up the blade of his enemy to cleave the elongated thumb off of the droid, and the Jedi knew it did no real damage but it caused the damage detectors in the droid to go off and as a result the droid backed off a few meters. Thus giving the Jedi time to turn to the next three droids bolting towards him. The first to get close to the dangerous enemy found his underhand swing easy deflected and soon found the end of the Jedi's blade inside the thick armor on its chest. The droid moved to grab the Jedi's hand to snap his fleshy wrist away from the weapon, but before it could its vision slit and soon it watched the fight from two different angles.

With one droid down the Jedi turned to meet the others. The next droid came at him with a fast flurry of blows that were driven only on speed and had no skill. The Jedi deflected the attacks that came from over, right, left, and under all with ease and efficiency, for each attack he deflected he managed a cut of his own on the droid.

The droid backed off to survey its wounds while its three comrades charged forward, the Jedi landed a cut across its chest from shoulder to waist, and the other wounds were made by quick thrusts which one landed in the droids right shoulder making the only weapon it had useless. The droid stood back and waited, for if it joined now it would only be a damper to the others.

The three came on in harmonious movement, each strike was precise and aimed to kill, but the Jedi was still too fast and the only progress they made against the expert swordsman was a few minor burns. The droids knew that they stood no real chance unless they were a full team, but with only three in working condition it was a different story entirely. The next attack against the Jedi the droid to the left threw itself atop the Jedi, causing it to be impaled but allowed it to make a vulnerability in the Jedi's defences. The droids dead weight made movement difficult on the Jedi, because the droid final movement was to lock its fingers around the Jedi's shoulders and would not be removed easily.

The Jedi made a risky move to throw his right side, where the droid latched itself, into the others causing them to chop through the arms and torso of the unwanted weight. Their saber bit deep into the Jedi's flesh which caused him to grimace in agony. The nerves in his right arm were all but useless, so he swapped the blade into his left hand where he deflected another blow from both of the droids who swung from opposite sides. The Jedi cursed himself for his foolishness and pulled strength from the force to fuel his his savage strikes against the droids.

The droid that was now to his middle took a defensive stance and let the attack happen, deflecting most of the savage strikes from the grey robe. The other droid tried to find an opening in the man's form, but with every endeavor it made the Jedi deflected it with ease and pushed the other droid back even further. The droid on the defensive signaled, with its free hand, to its partners to rush as one. The droid with the defective arm did not hesitate, it charged in with complete abandon and leaped onto the back of the Jedi.

The man's Jedi instincts is the only thing that kept him from immediate death. He used what strength he saved in his dead arm to pull from the force and use that power to blast the defensive droid back with a bolt of lightning. Once he had it pushed back he faced the droid in mid jump, the Jedi swung at the airborne droid cleaving it in two, but at the same time he felt his right arm fill with intense heat and then only his shoulder could be felt.

The last remaining droid gawked in wonder at the Jedi's ability to keep a fighting stance without an arm. The droid was all alone against a crippled opponent, and yet it still did not believe in its ability to win. The Jedi's breath came in quick succession, with the only thing keeping him upright was willpower alone. The droid and the Jedi paced slowly around the plateau, never taking eyes off each other. The two launched at each other in unison. The first blow was made by the Jedi who parried the droid's thrust and then swung his blade through the right leg of the droid causing it to collapse, but not before returning a strike of its own. The red blade impaled the Jedi's thigh and cut several centimeters down and split his kneecap. The Jedi used the last of his strength to drive his blade into the metal skull of the droid, the lights in its eyes fading.

Even calling upon the force to heal his wounds was much too difficult for the Jedi to accomplish. He layed down on his back with his eyes closed as he heard the metal foot steps from the droid he blasted with the lightning.

"Oh hell, I forgot one," he laughed. The droid stomped down onto the Jedi's chest causing him to cough blood. "You can be a little nicer to a potential prisoner," he said while staring at the droid who only shook its head.

The Jedi sighed and stared at the droid who deployed a serrated blade from its wrist and it brought it to the Jedi's throat.

While his master was dealing with the droids, the promising apprentice awoke from his slumber almost as fast as he fell into it. He heard the crystals talking once more, but to each other not the boy.

"I believe that I will be his main weapon, for only a true fool will pick someone of your caliber to power a saber," said the crystal on the left.

The other crystal made an audible sigh from the other side and countered with, "We shall let the young master here decide who is in what, well what do you say young one?"

Listorm sat upright and rummaged through his pack to find a durasteel container which rattled with objects within. The boy placed the box on the cave floor and felt blindly for the switch to open the container. The crystals saw the young Grey Jedi struggling and proceeded to light up the small cave with silverlight.

"Thank you," said the boy. Soon the young one had the box open and he began taking out all sorts of electronics and casings. Thankfully he anticipated the possibility of failure of constructing his first saber and brought along enough parts to make two of the deadly weapons.

The silver haired boy sorted all the parts around him and sat in the middle with his legs crossed. He then slipped into a trance of meditation, and once he felt like one with the force he initiated the construction of his blades. The two identical hilts formed almost at once, for the young Jedi practiced hundreds of times so the parts and their place were engraved in his mind. He reached out with the force extending his reach to place both crystals in their respective hilts. The boy left his trance and grasped each blade and once he did so he felt his skin crawl and once he inspected his arms and chest he saw new markings making their way around his body. They were faded and hard to make out in the dark but he sensed their shapes to every detail. The new marking that covered his right side was the right side of an exploding sun, the closet part being on his chest and the debris of the explosion was scattered across his arms. On his left side he felt the same sun but in its youngest stage, there was no debris and the waves of energy it gave off was traveling down to his finger tips. He then received the only words that meant anything to him etch into his back.

The new markings did not cause any pain, but quite the opposite. He felt a new feeling surging through him and he soon felt relaxed and all the scars he had, beside the one on his face, faded out of existence. The tattered robes he wore soon changed to a brighter shade of grey and the new robe produced a red belt for him to place his newly acquired sabers. He tried to admire the his garments, but he sensed that his master needed him, so he began making his way through the tunnel.

The path was much easier to traverse now, which caused a little wonder in the young man but he spent no time to observe the smoother path. There was no real physical change in the path but there was a noticeable change in the Jedi. The already finely toned body of the young man rippled with tightened muscles, his height was almost ten centimeters higher and his speed was tripled what it was before. He already passed by the fork in the path and could sense his master's life fading quickly.

Thirty more meters, he sensed the pain his master felt from his attackers. Twenty meters, he could feel the false life that came from the mysterious assassins he could sense droids. Ten meters he heard the force telling him to jump for the exit at the same time he felt the last of his master's life slip away. He jumped for the exit, trusting in the force. He launched through the exit like a missile and had sabers in hand before he even realised.

The droid stood in place, holding the older Jedi by the collar of his robes. Knife already pierced a few millimeters into the dying Jedi's neck. The droid did not even see its doom. The leaping Jedi flew over the droid and swung both silver blades down in a crossing pattern decapitating it and causing it to fall away from its helpless prisoner.

Listorm landed gracefully while facing his dying master. He felt tears fill his eyes as he approached the man he thought of as his own father. Listorm held the dying man in his arms and tried to pull from the force to heal his master, but he was never able to heal anyone before so he did what else he thought was right. With his master in his arm he pulled some of the pain away from the man, to make it more bearable, and placed it inside his own body. The sudden burst of agony had no effect on the young man and if it did he did not show it.

Once most of the pain was away the master opened his fast fading eyes to see his young apprentice. He reached up with his remaining arm to push back the cowl on the young man's face to see his eyes changed from red to grey and his skin was even paler than before. He also noticed the strength in Listorm's arms grew immensely.

"You grew so much sence I last saw you," he joked through pale lips spotted with blood. "I remember the days you were so young and homely, but now you are truly a sight to behold." His hand shook as he placed it on the young man's wider shoulders. "Now you're so much wider and taller, oh the time does go by fast."

The younger Jedi felt his tears streaming down his face as he looked upon his master. He always saw him as a strong man who no one could best in a fight a man that was greater than all and more humble than any. Now here he laid joking on his deathbed in the arms of his apprentice, his friend, his son. The Grey Jedi placed a hand on his dear friend's chest and cried.

"Why do you cry child, I will be with the force soon enough and will be quite happy that I will die near my greatest friend," the man said through a rough voice because he fought back tears as well. "I am afraid that I won't see you for some time, but that matters little and for now I want you to continue your training and help restore peace to the galaxy in a way that only a neutral party can, bring them all together and stop the rise of corrupt leaders," he paused to cough out a clot of blood in his lung.

"I will, but I need you to be by my side when I do it," the young man shook after every word. His master placed a hand on his head and ruffled the silver hair that was now shorter than before he entered the cave now only coming down to the middle of his neck.

"I can't stay long, and you know that" he sighed and shivered in the boy's arms. "And I like you're hair that way, makes you look more devilish," he laughed half heartedly. "Leave me here boy and make the galaxy a safer place, I even had the ship's autopilot engaged to take you to Bespin because I know you liked it there."

"I won't leave you here, you deserve much better, now tell me master as a final request where would you like to be buried," asked the boy in a whisper.

"Any where you seek fit will fit my liking my boy," he replied. "May the force be with you Listorm Hail."

The man's body went limp and the last of his life force blew away in the wind. The sentient crystals shared the anger Listorm felt, they fueled him with power and soon the plateau as a whole was struck by violent blasts of red-tinted lightning. Following their master's summons. The Grey Jedi did not cry out in pain but allowed the vicious strikes of lightning to speak for him.

He soon lifted the limp body from the plateau carrying it close to his chest while his tears fell onto the pale and cold cheeks of his master. The silver-haired Jedi slowly walked up the ramp to the ship where he carefully placed his master's body into the cargo hold with a sleep roll underneath. Once he managed to hold back his tears he hurried out of the ship to salvage what he could from the slaughtered droids, the only things he could salvage was two of their memory cores. That was all he needed.

Part 1

The Journey's Beginning

Six years after the events on the strange world, the now grown Listorm awakes in his small apartment in Cloud City, a mega platform that hangs in the sky of the gas giant Bespin.

The silver haired man sat up right in his small bed where he stretched his arms to release the kinks of nights sleep. He moved slowly and quietly to not wake his neighbors in the apartment below, for he was up at a considerably unreasonable hour in the night. Hie surroundings were the same as they always were. The small studio had only three rooms: a kitchen, which was equipped with a small cooler and stove, a living room that doubled as a bedroom which only had a couch and the small bed that Listorm just left, and finally a small bathroom that was difficult to traverse thanks to how tightly packed in it was. The grey Jedi could have had a penthouse suite with only a wave of the hand, but that would have been to luxurious for the simple mind of Listorm.

Listorm headed for the door as quietly as his feet could let him, and before he opened the door he grabbed a cloak that hung on a peg near his door. He took one last quick look around to remember the exact place of every object, his training taught him to look out for the minor details that could change if an intruder entered his home, and once he had a mental picture saved he punched in the code for his door which opened with a slight creak that took the man's breath away, for the neighbors were never real nice about unwanted noise. Once he was satisfied that no one heard the door he headed down the stairs while his door slid shut.

On the way down the stairs he saw the old Janitor struggling with his keys to open the supply closet. With a sigh the silver haired man approached the senile cleaner.

"Would you like some help their old timer?" Listorm asked in a friendly voice while taking the keys without waiting for a reply.

"Oh thank you lad," the Janitor said through squinted eyes and he reached up to pat Listorm on the shoulder, for the younger man stood nearly half a meter taller. "I don't know what I would do without you sometimes." He added the last part with a thin lipped smile and Listorm returned it in kind, and with a sharp nod Listorm headed out the door to the dimly lit world of Cloud City. As soon as he stepped out the door he had to dodge a speeding air taxi that used the walkway to pass traffic. Listorm was not mad, he merely laughed and started down his usual path to the market district.

He soon could smell the food from all the stalls which caused him to drool some, but he knew he could not afford any price of food, for his last credit just went to his most recent rent payment. The young man sighed and started the other way when he heard a loud crash from near by and several people screamed. Instinct took over and the young Jedi, propelled by powerful legs, made it to the scene before the culprits even rounded the corner that was only twenty strides away. The only one who still screamed was a short obese man who was screaming more out of anger than fear. The Grey Jedi thought it to be a mere vandalism gone wrong, but then he heard the man mutter something under his breath that would have been lost to the surrounding sound, had the Jedi's fine hearing not been around.

"Damn it I knew I was late on paying, but this is just ridiculous," the small man muttered. The man stood slightly over one point five meters and had weight that would have fitted the near two meter tall Listorm. The man had beady little black eyes that reflected the lights angrily. He had no neck to speak of, and the only thing the man had redeeming about his appearance was his fine clothes and a grand cane in his grasp which he shook at the corner the men disappeared at.

Listorm breathed in greatly, for he knew this one will be troublesome, and a long sigh escaped his lips. He approached the small man who still yelled unheard insults at the felons and tapped his blubbery shoulder.

"Would you like some assistance sir?" Listorm asked the pudgy man nicely. The man turned with cane in hand and swung in startlement at the much taller man, but only to have his cane caught by the same hand that tapped his shoulder.

"Would you like some assistance sir," Listorm repeated in a much more agitated tone. The man realized his mistake and pulled his cane out of the Jedi's hand and tapped the ground repeatedly while he spoke.

"I would yes, but I don't think one man could do anything about the current situation," he said with a thick nasally voice that hurt Listorm's ears.

"I am more than capable of handling most situations, and I over heard how this was a payment problem," the last part he added in a whisper which caused the short man to turn red and soon the fat hand was guiding Listorm into the building that was vandalized which was either the home to the homely man or a shop of some kind on first inspection.

"I don't know how much you know about the gangs around here, but there is some pretty mean loan sharks around here who force you to pay them for protection," he started to explain while locking the door and closing the blinds. "The only protection this district needs is from those wholigans." The short man huffed as he walked as if the pacing he was doing was taking a lot out of him.

Listorm, who leaned against the wall, visibly lit up as the man explained the situation. These gang members have been harassing people for the last few weeks and those who were victims were not able to get the guardsman's attention, and some believe that they are being paid off by the street gang. Listorm continued to listen only half-heartedly, for the thought of a decent fight invigorated him.

"And that's why we need them gone," the man finalized.

Listorm sat up from the wall and took a few seconds to digest all that he heard. The man told him how they kidnapped his daughter and stole his safe, but he appeared more concerned over the safe then the girl, but why would the Jedi care about what the man holds higher for it was not his place to tell this man what to love and what to cherish. The only thing that left the jedi suspicious is the man's sudden heart rate increase when he said daughter. He was either lying or his weight was catching up with the man. Listorm sensed no other problems though and agreed to help rid the streets of Bespin from these violent men.

"Where is there base?" questioned the taller of the two.

The heavy-set man leaned in close to Listorm to whisper into his ear, his breath smelled of rotten meat. "They are in the industrial district, an old weapons factory that shut down shortly after the war." The man stepped away from Listorm and waved for him to leave his property, and Listorm gladly obliged.

Once outside the building he realized how fresh the air tasted compared to that gremlin's home. Listorm shrugged half heartedly and started for the industrial district which was only a half hour walk. Listorm walked with his hands beneath his cloak where he felt the familiar hilts of his lightsabers, he never had a real reason to use them sense he headed to Bespin considering the only interesting thing that happened in the last six years was the sudden influx of imperial forces who left nearly as quickly as they came.

Listorm does remember feeling a spine chilling power that drew from the darkside when the imperials arrived, but once he tried to investigate the imperials were gone and the only lead he had was an unreliable little Ugnaught, a pig like humanoid, that only said there was a large man in an all black suit that had a deep voice. Listorm did not care who the enemy was, and all he wanted to do was prove his mettle against another force user but sadly that never happened.

While he was caught up in his thoughts he saw some street beggars struggling to start a bin fire. Listorm breathed out to see his breath turn to vapor, his training made it so cold had little effect on him, unless it was at extreme temperatures, and with a snap of his fingers the bin lit ablaze which caused the beggars to jump back in surprise. Listorm laughed aloud and continued on his way.

Listorm walked on for another twenty minutes or so and soon stood at the gate to the factory. He took note of the guards right outside the main door to the building. There was three of the thugs standing like statues. The one in the middle of the doors held a heavy repeating blaster and wore heavy armor that would deflect anything but the strongest of firepower. The two guards on the sides of the doors were dressed in similar armor, but had much more wieldable blaster rifles that could be just as devastating as the heavy weapon, if they were trained marksmen. Listorm pulled his arms close to his sides and hunched over as he approached the trio of armed men. While he walked he developed a limp and a slight slur and started talking nonsense as he walked. The guard took note of him and raised their weapons slightly. Listorm was glad they did not immediately open fire on a helpless drunk.

Listorm put on his most hoarse voice as he approached the group. "Do you youngers know where a man can get a cheap drink?" Listorm hacked while pulling the cloak up to cover his young face. He hiccuped for added effect, and the guards lowered their weapons in response.

The largest of the three, the one with the repeating blaster, stepped up to the false drunk. "I know that there is none here sir, so why don't you continue on your way and go back to the alleyways where you belong." His tone showed that he was trying to be threatening, but this man's personality was easy to read, as well as his mind.

Listorm peared into his mind as the guard stepped closer. What he saw was rather interesting, he saw a family which was struggling to survive in the harsh gutters of the market district, and then he saw the face of what he assumed was this man's daughter, who could not be older than ten. Then he saw the woman's face which was covered in filth and her clothes were more ragged than the young girl's. He sensed that the woman had done some unspeakable things to afford clothes for her child.

The man reached his arm out to grab Listorm, but the Jedi proved the faster and leaned back. The armor-clad figure stood nearly ahead taller and was much bulkier than Listorm, but he did not nearly have the speed necessary to catch the squirly disguised Jedi. Listorm sucked in his breath when he did the action though, for his reflexes were much too sharp for an old drunk, and the guard realised this too and started to reach for his blaster. Listorm cursed himself for his mistake and knew that killing this man would be certain doom for his family, but there was always another way.

Listorm's hand shot from under his cloak into the larger man's chest, where he called upon the force to blow the air from his lungs and cause his stomach to lurch. The big man crashed to the floor clutching his stomach and gasping for breath. The stun was only temporary and should leave little to no long lasting effects on the man.

With their friend suddenly at the feet of the cloaked man the two men raised their blasters. The one on the right uttered something through a thick accent that Listorm could not identify, but that mattered little. Listorm slowly approached the two guards standing at his full height and lost his limp. The cloak around his shoulders fell away to reveal the light grey robes and the two silver hilts on his belt. Listorm kept walking as he revealed himself and now stood in between both guards, who were petrified with fear, and he placed his hand on the locked door.

"You can either leave or fight me, that is you're only options and if you even try to oppose me I will not spare you like I did to your friend over there," he motioned his head back to the still twitching form of the first guard. The two guards dropped their weapons and ran for the gate's entrance. Listorm, still with hand on the door, cocked his head back to stare directly into the security camera. He called upon the force once again to blow the door away and as he did so he extended the middle finger on his other hand to the camera.

As he stepped through the doorway he saw the dimly lit dusty floor of a long abandoned factory, but the idea of guards guarding an empty building was far fetched. He peered around till he found another camera that was directly above the largest machine on the floor. Listorm brought his fingers to his eyes then pointed to the cameras.

"I want you to come out by the count of ten," Listorm yelled to the camera. "If you don't I will start tearing this building apart wall by wall." Listorm extended his arms in direction of the camera while closing his eyes.

"One," Listorm shouted as he use the invisible hands of the force to tear the bolted machine from the floor. "Two," Listorm said with eyes open. The silver haired man pulled his arms back slowly and the machine followed closely behind until it was twenty meters from the wall it once rested against. "Ten!" Listorm shouted while pushing his arms out quickly while releasing his hold on the machine. The large machine slammed into the wall with enough power to crack a starship hull. The wall and machine blew apart and the old building shook fiercely. Soon he head a voice over the intercom.

"Can you not count jedi?" questioned the mechanical voice over the intercom. The voice sounded computer generated with a hint of anger. Listorm shrugged and turned to a new sound that came from the room labeled office. Listorm leaped across the room to land in front of the office door. He heard the turbolift stop and saw the light from the lift fill the dark room. The impatient Jedi pushed the doors open with unneeded strength. The doors clapped against the walls and fell from their hinges.

"They don't make doors like the used to," Listorm joked while viewing his surroundings. The now lit room was nothing special, there was two desks in the corner with a monitor on both. The walls were littered in filing cabinets and papers covered the floors. Listorm noticed a slight stench in the room that smelled of old boots.

Listorm scrunched his nose slightly and stared at the man who stood in the turbolift, his features were hard to see under the mask he wore and the bulky armor covered up any chance of seeing a definite build. The Masked man appeared caught off guard when he saw Listorm, as if he met him before. Listorm tried to pierce the man's thoughts but was blocked by the helmets interference.

"Nice helmet, must have cost an arm and a leg." Listorm trailed off as he examined the clear bionic left leg of the man. "Oh," Listorm uttered quietly and he shifted his gazer back up to the man's mask.

"I have seen that face before, you were once a slave before if I am not mistaken," the Masked man said while stepping forward. Listorm suddenly felt a chill down his spines and his only answers were the ignition of his sabers. Anger took hold of him as well as horrible memories from long ago.

He thought of his previous owner, an older man who beated him and molested him while he was but a child. He was property, a pet, nothing more.

Listorm pushed his thoughts away and saw that the Masked man had produced a shining black sword. The blade was clearly energy resistant, which pleased Listorm for he wanted a real fight, and a real opponent. The adrenaline that shot through him now brought a smile to his face. He never had a true opponent throughout all his life, and the only fights he ever experienced were training and that one droid he destroyed. Listorm sized up his enemy once more to try to get a feel for the possible strategy, but that damn mask distorted any chance of that, so he had to rely on skill alone. This was fine with the young Jedi.

The Man in the mask was not a man at all, but a young woman who was battled hardened and lucky enough to have a suit of custom mandalorian armor. The sword she held was made from a metal called phrik, amongst the strongest in the galaxy. The glossy black metal was connected to a hilt made from a krayt dragon's femur. The power behind the blade was boosted by the strength enhancements within the armor, which allowed the wearer strength several times their own. The plates, which covered only the vital areas, were made from the same material that the blade was. The flexible parts of the devastating suit were cortosis weave which deflected most energy attacks away from the body leaving a bruise at most.

The woman beneath the mask was truly beautiful. Her face was angled and perfect in almost everyway. The smooth skin was slightly tanned which she took from her father's side. Her eyes were almost a perfect almond shape where bright green orbs laid. Her lips were parted in a white smile as she looked upon the Jedi, who she knew from long ago, and the smile didn't fade as the Jedi started his first attack.

Listorm attacked with all the hate he could muster, all the feelings from long ago, and as his blades began a deadly dance. The first attack of Listorm's came from his left blade that he lunged into the chest of the impressive armor, but that accursed sword came down in a flash to deflect the attack into the floor. The follow up swing came from the right blade that was deflected by the man's power armor. The Masked man threw his head forward into Listorm's nose, sending blood all over his grey robes. Listorm hardly took notice to the blow and threw another swing from overhead with his right saber, and his left was swinging low for the man's right shin. The overhead swing was deflected by the blade, and the swing to the shin bounced off the shin plate. The armored man charged forward at the Jedi with blade swinging in all directions. The sudden attacks had no goal other than to drive the Jedi back, which is exactly what the Masked man got. The Jedi soon backed out of the office while deflecting each blow of the Masked man. The Jedi, no longer with a shortened ceiling above his head, lept back several meters.

Listorm took stock of his situation; he felt the warm blood from his crooked nose, which he quickly cracked back in place without taking his hand off his blades. The loud cracking sound made the Masked man wince. Listorm laughed aloud.

"You can back a Jedi into a corner, break his nose, and humiliate him when there is no crowd, but you can't take a cracking sound?" Listorm kept on giggling which cause the Masked man to stare blankly.

"You were just mad, and now you're happy," the man ignored Listorm's comment. "You truly are a delusional man." The mechanically altered voice was deep and charismatic, and even though he was fighting the man, Listorm found it hard not to appreciate the fine voice.

"Well you have seen nothing yet," Listorm said suddenly turning serious. "I was held back by the tight walls, and now you will see the real me." Listorm knew he had no chance against the Masked man in combat. He was easily as skilled as he, and even if he proved the better in swordplay the armor made it near impossible to score a decent hit. Then a thought occurred to the young Jedi, if he could not use the force to see the man's movement he would simply use it to enhance his own.

Listorm breathed deeply and closed his eyes, allowing the force to guide his movements. The Masked man charged forward with blinding speed that would have brought master duelers to their knees. Listorm; however, was accompanied by something much more potent than a master.

Once the sword wielder closed the distance the true match started. The first swing came from the Masked man. The dark blade came towards the Jedi's side, and with the added strength from the armor it would have cleaved him in two! The Jedi parried the blade away with his right saber and the strength the force brought him allowed him to land a left handed blow against the Masked man's shoulder. The power behind the strike caused the Masked man to back away from the Jedi and rethink his forceful push.

"You fight well 'Jedi', but you will always be the little slave boy to me," The Masked man was testing the Jedi's patience, and clearly the result was explosive. The Jedi lept forward in a whirlwind of light.

The Masked man lifted his blade to try to fend off the sabers, but the force was applying a much greater speed than the power armor could provide. The Jedi realized that his attacks were in near vail, for every hit that he managed to land bounced off or were nullified by the cortosis weave.

This man is good, Listorm thought over and over. Listorm, still gaining little ground, pulled more from the force to enhance his strikes, which were fueled by quickly building rage. The twin silver blades and the darker than night sword filled the factory floor with fizzles and cracks. The constant ring of metal as the hilt of the sabers clashed against the powered armor in an attempt to distract the Masked man's solid defense. The sound of the battle brought all who still remained in the old factory to view the spectacle from the catwalks and the safe distance of the office.

The Masked man, even though wielded a single blade, was still keeping up with the lightning fast strikes of the sabers and the only show of battle weariness was shown on the armor in little scorch marks. The Jedi was also showing little signs of slowing in his efforts to take out the smack talking fighter.

"Damn phrik," Listorm hissed as he continued the savage assault against the living fortress of a man. He saw nothing other than a swirl of silver all around him, that he could not even track! How was this man defending every swing when the attacker could not even see his offensive? Then it clicked into place.

Listorm noticed that the man was only blocking when the sabers came close to his mechanical leg. Listorm laughed aloud and pushed on, wanting this fight to last a little longer now that he knew the weakness in the man's defenses.

The man in the mask laughed as well, but in a strange mechanical tone that sent chills down the Grey robed man's spine.

"You enjoying this as much as I am?" Listorm yelled over the sound of their clashing blades.

The Masked man, who just pulled his head back to dodge a blade aimed at his neck, replied with yet another laugh and said, "You haven't changed much have you Listorm?" Listorm's face contorted in a murderous rage he could not control when his past was spoken of again.

"It's time to end this," Listorm whispered. The Masked man was about to ask what the Jedi asked, but was cut short from a sudden pain in his leg. Listorm reached out an invisible arm, while they fought, and grasped a sharpened piece of sheet metal from the machine he destroyed. That metal soon became a speeding missile that launched itself into the back of the Masked man's knee. The sensitive tubes within the leg gave out and soon the Man was fighting on one knee and blinding pain. Listorm now held the advantage and brought along another series of blows that the fallen Man could no longer defend and drag himself back. The dark blade was smacked out of his hand and skidded across the floor. The twin sabers both pointed in at the visor in the mask, the only thing that could be cut through in the invincible armor.

"You have lost," Listorm stated calmly. "Now tell me how you know of me." The tone of his voice left no room for discussion, but before the masked man could reply, the onlooker of the fight all raised their rifles in unison.

"Correction Jedi, you have loss," the masked man said in a voice filled with exhaustion.

She would never admit it to her troops, but the young woman beneath the mask was truly tired from the fight, the leg was designed to be powerful, but still had the weakness of being connected to nerves, and the Jedi's unexpected blow brought upon real pain and the sudden need to fight for her life left her completely exhausted. She looked upon the Jedi, who held his hand up high while her men gathered around, with newly found respect. More than she had given him long ago, and that seemed impossible until now.

The guards in the heaviest armor placed force restraints on the Jedi, rendering his powers to a very limited amount, and pulled him away without a fight. The woman felt a sad smile forming as she watched the Jedi walk away.

She thought of back when he was but a boy and she was a girl, no thoughts of attraction to the strange looking boy, and if any have occurred they quickly left after he did something gross or creepy.

That was all until their master, and they were were both slaves to the same man, got drunk and approached the young girl with lustful eyes. Young Listorm threw himself in between the two and took the first blow without fear and without regret. The master soon beat him into submission and took him, instead of the girl, to his room.

She wished he never did that, she wished he never entered her life, she wished he would never feel that pain again, and yet even after the experience the crazy boy always looked at her with a smile, even if it was feigned, and always told her it was not her fault and he would never blame her.

The crippled woman was pulled from her thoughts as a young man, dressed as a field medic, hoisted her to her feet. She put her arm around his shoulder and made off for the medical ward where she was to have her leg replaced, and sit in silence to think about the strange boy who saved her from their corrupt master.

Listorm sat in a cell staring down at the floor. The durasteel floor was cool to the touch, and the energy field that kept him from escaping burned hot. The toilet in the corner smelled unclean and clogged, Listorm could not hold back his strange laugh as he thought of his predicament.

"I was wrong to even attempt to rescue the girl, let alone stay for a fight," Listorm whispered to himself. "Why did I do something so strange and risky, if only I had your guidence master," Listorm stared at the plain ceiling and wondered what the man would have said if he saw him now.

Listorm pictured that he would only point and laugh at getting caught and then bust him out and lecture him on the way back to the ship as they stepped around the bodies of the guards.

Listorm laughed once more, and then began his pacing around the cell. His belt felt wrong without the comfortable weight of his sabers, and the cell around him was built to keep force users in, for the young man felt the empty space the force usually filled. They were expecting him, and he fell for it. Listorm's fist flew into the wall leaving a slight dent in the metal used in starship hulls.

Listorm stared at his reddened knuckles where small beads of blood started to form. He thought of how he could would not even be able to heal this outside of the cell. Even after the death of his master he could not learn how to heal the wounds he caused or gained, the power was not obtainable to the young Jedi, and it never will be. The sad thoughts were ripped from his head as soon as they came when he heard the field behind him shut down and a tall woman walked in. He cursed himself for always relying on his Jedi senses, but stopped as he observed the creature that stood in front of him. She had long raven colored hair that was pulled back into a single braid that went to the middle of her shoulders.

The eyes that stared back at him were almond shaped, and bright green. The color was warm and had depth, where Listorm's own orbs were dull and two-dimensional. Her skin was slightly bronze as if she sun bathed to perfection. Her lips were thin and in a half-smile that showed bright white. Her height was just above two meters, around Listorm's own, and her build was rather muscular for a woman, not that Listorm had any need to complain. The toned body was covered by a thin gown of green silk, that matched her bright eyes. Listorm found that he had to close his mouth after he regained his senses.

"What do you what," Listorm squeaked slightly. His eyes went wide when he heard the nervous voice-crack. The woman laughed and came closer to Listorm, she was not even half a meter away, and she was looking him over. Listorm sucked in his breath as she closed the distance even further. She was eye to eye with him, with eyes filled with temptation.

"Your eyes have changed over the years Listorm," She whispered into his ear. The scent of her almost distracted Listorm, for the smell of fresh berries were hard to resist, from what she said. Listorm pushed her back suddenly and lept back only to slip on the wet floor near the toilet. The woman recovered from the powerful push quickly and was soon standing above the lost for words Listorm.

He stared at her in wonder, how could a creature that appeared so delicate fight against a jedi who draws upon both sides of the force. Listorm, who held a perplexed look, did not even notice as the woman grabbed him by the chin and once again stared into his pale eyes.

"Remember damn it," she said with tears rimming her eyes. The sight hurt Listorm more than he liked to admit, but he could not place why or what this woman wanted him to remember.

"Nice form," Listorm, referring to the fight they had, said awkwardly. He blushed when his words rang in his ears.

"You don't remember do you?" the lengthy woman said while pulling her head away from the man. She sighed and offered a hand, which he took in his, and pulled him to his feet with ease.

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember much from back then," Listorm admitted while rubbing the back of his head in slight embarrassment. He perked up immediately when a guard came forward with his twin sabers. The Jedi reached out for his blades, but received a quick smack on the wrists before he could grasp the blades. He looked at the woman who held an irritated look.

"You get them back after you agree to a deal," she explained to the scowling Listorm. She sighed and took her eyes away from the slow-witted Jedi. "I need you to accompany me to a trade agreement with some salvagers that have come across a strange piece of tech…" the woman turned around to see that Listorm was reaching for the blades once more, but quickly pulled his hands back when she turned.

"I will agree to go, but only if you agree to let me free after this deal," Listorm stated while tightening his belt and smoothing out his robes. Once he looked back up the woman held her temple between two fingers and breathed heavily.

"You are in no place to bargain, Jedi," the woman was quickly getting tired of Listorm and his antics, but she knew that the Jedi was trying her patience, for she knew that without her armor to stop the Jedi, she would have no chance of stopping the Jedi and his whirling silver blades of death.

"Well then I guess I will settle for a nice room and fine wine, in that order," Listorm held a bright smile on his pale face. The sight made the woman smile just as greatly.

"Very well," the woman gracefully approached Listorm and the blood quickly rushed to the young man's cheeks. "I will request your room next to mine." She turned on the ball of her foot and swayed out of the room with exaggerated movement.

Listorm called out. "When are we leaving and what do I need?" The woman smiled and turned around to face the Jedi.

"Tomorrow, and I need your sabers and you," and with that the woman left the cell block leaving the Jedi in a mix of emotions, but the one that rang out the most was joy, and the young man found himself smiling the same stupid grin.

Part 2

The Salvaged War Machine

Once morning struck the skies of Bespin, the joyful Listorm awoke in black silken sheets on a bed that formed to his body's needs. The room he was given was rather large for a single person, around five meters by five meters, but the privacy was nice for a Jedi who wished to meditate. As he moved the fine sheets away from his person he noticed that he still wore his robes and they had a slight smell of sweat from his thrilling fight, along with the smell of toilet water from the slip. He sighed and stripped off the grey fabric and suspended it in the air while he explored the now lit room. The exit lied straight across from the king sized bed, and along the right hand wall was a massive closet and two sets of dressers. The closets were all empty except for a long grey robe, which appeared to be custom made for the grey Jedi, and atop one of the dressers was a bottle of fine wine, cheese, fruit, and fresh bread. The Jedi, who has not eaten in a few days, was suddenly drooling over the simple meal. Before he partook of his gift he grabbed the clean robe and headed for the bathroom connected to the left wall.

The water started with a hiss and once he stepped in the warm water loosened his tight muscles. The filth was running down the drain leaving a trail of browned water. Listorm's sight was transfixed on the water and he thought of back when he lived with a collar around his neck and the only time he was ever clean was when his master sprayed him down with a powerwasher. He could still remember the painful bite of the icy water, and the sight of the common tool always sent a shiver down his spine. Even though he could have slaughtered his old master now, the thought of seeing a man like that again was not an appealing one.

Listorm finished up and soon dried off and donned the new robes. The grey was a few shades darker than the one he always wore, but the fresh fabric was soft and welcoming. He looked upon his old robes, that still spun in the air, and scrunched up his nose at the smell of them. Listorm nodded slowly realizing that the only way he would ever wear those robes again is if he washed them a dozen times over. He told the force to let go of the robes into his awaiting arms, and he soon headed for the door.

The door opened, while he reached for the knob, and was greeted by the familiar face of the woman who spared him from the cold confines of the force cell. She was wearing, what Listorm assumed, the under armor for her power suit. The outfit formed around her well toned body, and was rather tight fitting, Listorm found his eyes having a mind of their own. The owner of the wandering eyes received a sharp pain from the woman's hand.

"Look at my eyes Jedi, I need you to be serious for this upcoming task," she was out of patience Listorm realized.

"You have my full attention my Lady," the Jedi spoke in an even tone. "What is the mission at hand."

The woman, caught off guard by the sudden switch, cleared her throat and motioned for Listorm to back up a few steps. Once he complied she placed a holo projector on the ground. She pushed a button on a remote strapped to her wrist and the holo projector lit up. The image on the projector appeared to be a strange looking hyperdrive.

"This is an old republic style hyperdrive, said to be in fully working order, and the one who salvaged it said that there are many other relics like it," The woman explained to the confused Jedi. "But the only way we are to get the rest is if we meet the salvager in person, and the meeting point is on Hypori, an outer rim planet that used to supply the confederacy droids." The woman let her eyes settle on the Jedi to see if he had any questions, and to her surprise none arose and he motioned for her to continue.

"Naturally we believe this to be a trap and I shall be accompanied by a group of guardsmen and will be in my armor," she licked her lips before continuing. "The salvager said to come alone, or send an emissary to retrieve the hyperdrive and the map leading to the other ancient relics." She looked at Listorm as if she expected an irritating response, but merely met the gaze of the grey Jedi.

After Listorm took the information in, he straightened up and paced about the large room. "You want me to go talk to a guy that might kill me, and I am supposed to trust that you will get me out safely?" He stared hard at the woman's green eyes.

"I never said you would come out safely, I did not even say you would be the emissary," The woman snapped back. Listorm grew a playful smile.

"Well I just assumed, considering that I am a new member and therefore is most likely to not be missed by the rest of the group." Listorm could see the anger in the eyes of the calm faced woman. The sight caused him to snicker.

"Yes, you will be the one going into meet the salvager, and yes you will be the bait for the trap," she pressed another button on the remote which turned off the projection and she went to receive the projection. "But we will make sure you get out of there alive and just a little scraped up at the most." Her hand was little more than ten centimeters from the projector when her hand was caught by the Jedi, who she had not even heard move. She felt the blood rush into her cheeks.

"I need to ask this so I don't refer to you as woman or girl," Listorm explained quickly. "What is your name my leadership?" Listorm raised a single eyebrow at the woman and slowly raised them up, her hand still in his.

"My name is Pawn Villa, and I would like it if you release my hand," she hissed through sparkling teeth. Listorm let her hand go and took a few steps back and allowed the woman to grab the projector and place it onto her wrist, where it locked into place, and with a turn of the heel, and a huff of anger, she strode out of the room with undeniable grace. Listorm walked to the still open door, with old robes still in hand, and started of in the other direction.

The layout of the building was simple, and the Jedi already had most paths memorized, so the route to the maintenance room was not that difficult to find. The door to the maintenance room was made out of shiny steel, and the smell that could be detected from behind the door was a mix of sweat and grease. Listorm knocked on the door, for he heard no activity behind the door so he figured that a knock would be less rude, and he was startled by how quickly someone responded to the knock.

The mechanic that stood in front of him was nearly ahead shorter then him, and the face was covered by the hat they wore. The owner of the had tilted their head up to show the face of a rather attractive young woman. She had grey grease marks all across her face, and the most noticeable one was at the tip of a little button nose. The skin that the much covered was pale and covered in freckles. The lips of the young woman were bright pink, the only thing that the woman protected it appeared, and shapely. Her eyes were rather large and were a murky brown. The hair, held up with a ponytail, was a dull red and filled with chunks of steel and oil. Despite her small stature she had a finely toned body, which could be seen in her arms that were covered in a short sleeve mechanics shirt. With her hair pulled back her ears were easy to see, and her right one was missing a chunk, and they were large ones indeed.

"Hey mister, you're that new guy right?" She said in a light hearted voice.

Listorm payed her no heed and looked over her head. "Where is the head engineer, I was told to see him if I had any questions about my gear," he stopped abruptly when the young woman started to giggle and snort.

"You're looking at her bud," she smiled a big grinned smile to show bright white teeth.

Listorm took note about how everyone here was concerned with oral hygiene.

"Is everyone here so indirect of gender, or am I just sexist?" Listorm asked aloud. The redhead laughed again.

"I don't blame you, considering it is quite uncommon for the head engineer to be female, but you might want to be a bit careful about assuming here," she explained quickly. "And that's because some people here are not even human, but they're not very common." The woman started to skip around the first work table.

"Well then, I wish to have my old robes cleaned and sealed away safely," The small woman stopped skipping and gave him an evil glare. "What?" He asked after a long silence.

"Say 'please' please," she continued the glare.

"Please please," Listorm mimicked in a higher voice. Even though he mocked her she appeared satisfied by that and then took the robes from Listorm.

"Why do these smell like you rolled in krayt dragon scat?" the sassy question caused Listorm to chuckle.

"Well I can tell you I never did that, but it's just because I have not washed it in a few days, and the fight with your boss caused a bit of sweat to stick." The woman nodded at that and placed the robes on the table.

"She's a good lady you know, and I heard that she knows you from a while back, and before you ask, no she never told me why," The redheaded woman noticed Listorm's slight disappointment and she decided it was time to steer their conversation into another direction.

"Well my name is Ally Barns, and it is a pleasure to meet you mister Jedi," She extended her grease cover hand, pulled it back to wip it on her side and extended it again, which was clasped into Listorm's strong grip.

"This Jedi's name is Listorm Hail, or just Listorm for short." Listorm released the hand after a quick shake and turned for the door. "See yah later shorty," Listorm said to the girl as he left the room. "And remember to keep my robes safe, please."

"Sure thing Stormy," she called back. Listorm walked away knowing that his robes were in good hands.

As the Jedi marched on for the meet-up with the woman he now knew held the name Pawn, he wondered about how she could have acquired such a strange name, and while he was caught up in his thoughts a small cleaning droid zipped past whining all the way.

He laughed at the small droid that was moving much too fast to truly clean the floors, but nonetheless the droid was full of determination. The sudden appearance brought Listorm to lose track of his thoughts, but that mattered little, for he had his first mission in who knows how long, and he did not want to leave Pawn waiting. Listorm soon was seen sprinting down the halls to the hanger.

The elegant Pawn stood at the ship awaiting for the last arrival, the Jedi, with arms across her heavily armored chest. With the heavy armor on and the voice modification made her truly unrecognizable to any who met both sides in separate meetings. The heavy armor shined black, as if the vicious fight with the Jedi never even happened, and it might as well not happened for the metal on the suit was indestructible, and the only weakness in the woman's defenses was her bionic leg that if it was to armored the joints would lock, but that area was already much too hard to hit when the woman was properly defending.

She stared at the watch attached to her suits wrist, and saw that Listorm was a minute late and counting. She sighed jumped back in fright, when she peered up, at the sudden appearance of Listorm. He stood there with a smile on his face and hands on his hips.

"Ready when you are captain," He stated and added a bow for effect. She smiled beneath the mask, but held a stern voice when she addressed the Jedi.

"You need to work on your timing Jedi, but we need you for this mission, so I will allow this one to slide, but anymore and we will leave without you." she did not mean it, and she would never mean it, this man is her past, present, and maybe even future.

"Sorry about that , just getting my old robe on the cleaning list, and that little mechanic is a bit distracting." Listorm held his smile, but moved on of his hands from his hip to the back of his head. Pawn slowly shook her head and pointed at the ship's ramp which Listorm ran aboard and the woman soon followed and sealed the door on the way to her seat.

As the crew of the ship began the start-up routine, Listorm leaned back into a chair and closed his eyes, the force called to him. The voice was faint at first and indistinguishable, yet the young man heard the voices request and knew what to do. He fell into a deep meditation and the force began displaying images of what is to be.

The first thing he saw was that there was a storm on the planet among where they were to land, the black clouds swirled around violently and showed no mercy to their ship. The next image is of them crash landing with few survivors, and the few that survive are forced to trek on to the meeting point, the captain showing no weakness, but Listorm could already feel the sorrow and displeasure from the captain's heart. Listorm wanted to look away from the wreck, but allowed the force to carry him along. The plan was a trap, he knew this already, but he thought that the trap would come from their contact, possibly a human, but the only thing he saw was a large machine trapped under rock. The droid beneath the rock cried out for help and that its master was awaiting it, Listorm saw his own hands reach out with the force with ease and move the large rock aside.

The next pause was much longer, he saw black for what felt like minutes, he let the force continue his guidance. A new picture began to take form and it showed the massive droid crouching near a body that Listorm thought was its master, but the thought felt wrong, and before he could see the body the Force brought him to another site, a crashed ship that still held power and enough room for the crew that remained, but when he looked around he saw that only four of them survive the trek across the planet, and the initial crew was fifty strong, and two of the four were carrying a stretcher with a thick grey cloth over it. Listorm felt both his mental and physical body managed to start up the ship and take off, but they are stopped by something large and explosive, the vision cut out there.

Listorm is jerked into alertness when they enter the planet's atmosphere, the storm was already taking control. The agile Jedi lept out of his chair, without even unstrapping his harness, and hurried for the cockpit. The two pilots worked vigorously to fix the complicated system, but all the controls were fried, even the landing gear and toxin controls.

"Get back," Listorm shouted to the Pilots who hurried to heed his command. Listorm called upon the force to give him the strength to steer the ship held in deadlocked controls. The force granted him the strength to steer the ship from another lightning strike that would have surely ripped the ship in two, he continued fighting the resistant controls and managed to dodge a few more bolts, but it was all in vain. The next movement Listorm saw outside the cabin was a large green beam heading there way, this was no lightning.

The beam blew through the hull of the ship. The engines and all the crew in the back were lost, and then Listorm knew that there was no changing this vision, only guiding everyone through it. He shouted with all he had to the back for everyone to brace for a crash landing, and then turned the ship down into a large dune, just like the one he saw in the vision.

Listorm awoke with blood dripping from his forehead and his breath came in rapid breaths. This was not Hypori, for the droid planet had a relatively easy to breath atmosphere, he reached into his side pocket and found his breath mask which he quickly pulled over his face. He turned around to see on of the pilots impaled with a large metal pipe, Listorm could still see the horror in his eyes.

He had no time to mourn the dead, he had to help the others on the ship. He hurried through the ship and found survivors here and there, which with everyone he flipped on the rebreathers within their suits. The Jedi found Pawn lying against a wall unconscious, but the filters in her suit kept her from suffocating on the thin air. Listorm managed to wake her with an adrenalin shot from the scattered first aid kit. Once she awoke she looked around and even the mask could not conceal the horror in her eyes.

"How did this happen?" She cried quietly. "This is all my fault, I killed so many good men." Listorm could hear the tears starting in her eyes, but he bent down to be eye level with the woman.

"None of this is your fault," Listorm knew it to be a lie, but he could not let her break down. "These men signed up for anything to help you in your fight against…" Listorm paused, he never learned why they were fighting, why any of them would be risking their lives to fight for this woman. While he pondered the thought for a few seconds, he pulled Pawn to her feet and whispered into her ear.

"They need a leader now, and you're the only one capable of filling the roll," Listorm felt his voice go thin and quiet as he spoke. "Tell them about how they should be proud their brethren died fighting for whatever you people believe in, tell them to move on and tell them you found a ship on you're scanners," Pawn's eyes, if they could be seen, opened in surprise from the words the Jedi was saying.

"What ship, do you know where one is?" Pawn questioned with uncertainty, but some hope filled her voice.

"I know where one is yes, but I don't know how I know, and I also know that this new ship will come to meet a violent force, but I know no more than that other than we escape," Listorm declared, but even he did not know if the few survivors that make it to the ship will even survive the blast he saw.

"Is there a chance we can escape?" Pawn was grabbing Listorm's shoulders with an iron grip that would have hurt any other man.

"I believe so," he lied and wished that he had not, for the moment it escaped his lips it hurt him so. "But for now we must head east, the new ship is about seventy five kilometers. Pawn nodded slowly at the fact, but started to assemble those few that remained.

Listorm stepped out onto the surface of the planet to feel the ground below him harden and sink at the same time. He could feel the the force around, and the force was surging in levels of power all around him. He felt the power surges fluctuate and shift as he paced around. The ground only sucked him in slightly which would not have been real concerning if not for the fact that the ship was sunk at the exact same level.

He lowered down to get a better look at the soil only to see it was dirt mixed with heavy amounts of ash. Listorm stood back up to peer around at his surroundings, and besides the soil mound he crashed into, there was no other natural formations. The only thing he saw on the horizon was bits of metal sticking out and broken droids. The sight was unnerving to the Jedi, and the feeling he got from this planet wasn't just darkside. He felt a mixture of light and dark that evened out to the grey he always drawn upon. The Jedi could feel his power rising from just being surrounded by the powerful aura. He held no smile though, and until he was off this rock a smile would not appear.

Pawn's voice was soon heard over the Grey Jedi's thoughts. He turned to face his captain to see her doing a head count. There was only twenty seven of them left. Ten lost to the ships back that was blasted apart and the rest were not lucky enough to survive the landing. Listorm cursed under his breath and was once again torn from his thoughts. He could feel something watching them, something that unbalanced the force greatly.

"And then when we reach the ship that lies to the east we shall escape this foul world and never return, we shall slaughter the one who set us up and hold a private ceremony for each who lost their precious lives to the storm." Pawn rallied her troops, and even with the heavy losses they were ready for the long and arduous journey. Listorm would have smiled if he could even feel the happiness within, but the strange power that filled him sucked all joy from his form. He could only feel contentment with the world around him, like he was before the transformation in the cave. He sighed and fell behind Pawn as she lead them on.

The long march felt like no time for Listorm, who was lost in his thoughts, why did he ever feel the need to become happy, how did the cave change him, why did he enjoy the happiness, was it all easier to deal with? The questions were never ending, and even though they consumed him, he noticed the sound before the rest of the group. He could hear a high pitched whine that was not far from them. Listorm stared down at the ashy ground contemplating the sound.

"My vision told me of a droid not far from here," Listorm said to the nonresponsive ground. His voice was barely above a whisper, but the whole group heard his statement.

"What do you mean?" Pawn questioned. "What droid?"

"A large one that I have to help, I don't know why I do, I don't even think it needs my help," Listorm could not explain it, he knew that if he saved the droid everything would change, but the force told him to, and he had to listen to his master.

"You all can keep going, I can deal with the droid," Listorm stated. "And after you reach the ship give me no longer than a two hour wait then go."

"We can't leave you," Pawn almost shouted. The sudden burst of anger shocked all but Listorm. He shrugged and turned with hands in the pockets of his robes. He called upon the force for just a minor speed burst, but received far more than he expected. The droid was only a kilometer away, but the force pushed the young man's body well past what he needed. While running he heard the voices of the soldiers behind him, he heard Pawn yell for him to get back into formation. Listorm did not heed her orders, instead he felt his legs speed up and the wind whip by his head causing a low whistle as he ran.

Listorm felt nothing for the group he left, he felt only the force pulling him towards the large droid that was held under the stone. He had to save him, he had to listen to his words, he had to bring him to the ship.

The thoughts Listorm held dissipated as the force called him to rest. He could see the rock now, and could see the droid held under. The droid could wait according to the force, so Listorm sat down with legs crossed over one another and closed his eyes.

The vision he saw was of the droid going enraged and clashing with Listorm after the droid stared at the body he saw in the previous image. Listorm assumed it to be the droid's master, but had no solid evidence. The force started to lead him to another vision but instead of showing him it paused and faded away. Listorm opened his eyes and relaxed his grip on his hands, the knuckles turned a bright white while he saw the visions.

"I guess I will wait for a better time," Listorm said aloud, and he slowly rose to his feet and started his approach the droid. He could get a good look at the colossal being now, the giant being would stand over four meters when upright, it had huge hands that could enclose around a man with ease. The large arms were thicker than tree trunks, and the legs were just as thick. The relative shape of the droid was almost humanoid despite the massive size. The plating around the droid was rusted and corroded. The main armor around the chest was caved in from the boulder and Listorm, if he did not already know about the war machine's capability, thought of him as unfixable. He could tell that the droid was listening to its surroundings even though it appeared deactivated.

"What are you hiding droid?" Listorm asked the hulking mass of steel.

The lights in the droids eyes flickered on to reveal a pale blue light. The droid lifted its left arm to the sky.

"I require assistance, and if you help me get back to my master than I am sure he will compensate you greatly." The droid's voice came out slightly higher pitch than Listorm pictured, but he knew of what this thing was capable of, yet he felt the need to help it still. The force wanted him to go down this path, so he will with no complaints.

Listorm reached his hands out and felt for the force, and slowly began to lift the massive boulder. The droid dragged itself from the pit and slowly sat up, some of the struts in his legs were bent and others were cracked.

"I am in considerably bad condition," the droid stated in the same innocent voice. The droid placed its hand on the ashy ground and slowly rose to its feet. The legs creaked, but held together well, and then lifted its right hand to its face where it bent the large mechanical fingers. The colossal machine then turned to Listorm with a blank face.

"Thank you for saving me," The droid said in a happy tone. Listorm blinked slowly in response. "Do you not like me human?" The droid asked. Listorm shrugged and held his hand out to the droid.

"I am Listorm, the one you will soon hate," Listorm held his hand there for some time, waiting for the droid's response.

"Strange greetings you humans have, and I don't believe that I will hate you any time soon, for how could I hate the one who saved me?" The droid still gently shook hands with the grey man. The Jedi put his hands back into his pockets and started of for the ship that was now only twenty kilometers away, and the droid followed with little difficulty matching the Jedi's slower speed.

"What brought you here droid?" Listorm asked. The droid's feet slammed into the impact absorbing ground with loud thuds.

"My master built me here, and I was separated with him some time ago, I was in standby mode until someone came, luckily it has not been too long," replied the droid.

"How long is not to long?" The force was supplying him with his questions, like he was a powerful puppet.

"A few months I think. I am unsure of the exact time it took, but my master will be able to tell," The droid switched to a slightly worried voice, "I hope master will not be upset with me and my inability to complete my task, whatever that was."

Listorm shrugged as he run. He was only ten kilometers away now, and the rest of the journey was spent in silence.

Once the distance to the ship was only a kilometer the massive droid skidded to a stop. He soon turned in the direction that Pawn and the others were.

"I sense more organic lifeforms twenty kilometers that way, shall we go to your people Listorm?" The massive droid flexed its fingers once more. The sight cause Listorm to grip his sabers, but once again the force told him to let it happen. The grey Jedi could only feel guilt, a minor amount sure but guilt nonetheless, in his stomach. He did not want this to happen, and he knew he could not stop it no matter what he tried, for he physically could not attack the massive droid, the force held him back.

"I don't know if that is the greatest idea droid, I think we should just focus on finding your master…" He paused when the words escaped his lips. Why was he running for the ship if he wanted to be rid of the droid, they should be finding the big droids master not going to the only escape route.

"I shall now engaged the humans," The droid started of in another run and Listorm could not chase after, for the force was giving the droid a head start. Listorm cursed under his breath and waited for his legs to respond to his commands. He stood there shaking and could sense the droid closing in on the group, rather he could feel the danger the group was in for. Listorm's legs twitched and stung as he tried to fight the force's hold on him. He could not fight it and he knew it, but he could do one thing with his legs, and that was sit down.

"Tell me how I can save the few who last that droid?" Listorm could feel his heart getting heavy and his head getting light. The force told him to close his eyes and he obeyed. The vision showed that the droid first showed with good intentions, but was soon under fire from the soldiers and Pawn. He saw that the droid feign incapacitation in order to stop the firing, but the soldiers kept on and one wandered to close to the struggling droid.

The droid threw a massive punch that threw the man back several meters in a tumble. The droid soon stood up with red eyes and then the light faded and a new image appeared, it was the droid standing over the body once more, but this time Listorm could see the mask of Pawn and the woman was somehow wounded or incapacitated. The Droid could fight against the seemingly indestructible armor. Listorm opened his eyes and felt feeling return to his legs. He leaped up and started to run for the group of soldiers walking into death's arms.

He never felt himself run this fast, the air whistled by and his ears were completely deaf. His feet barely touched the ground as he ran. He was running for only a few secondly but the distance he traveled was over a tenth of a kilometer. He felt his sabers jump into his hands and the blades ignited with a hiss. He felt his speed increase greatly, even more than before, the air around him was hard to breath even with the breath mask. The force noticed this and then surrounded Listorm with a sphere of oxygen. He pulled of the breath mask and breathed in the clean air. His speed increased once more. He could see the fighting, hear the shots of the rifles, hear the sound of the wounded and the screams of those defending the dead.

The droid was less than twenty kilometers when Listorm jumped. His twin silver blades imbedded deep into the droid's back, and Listorm let gravity pull him down, tearing circuits and wiring as he went. The droid was not even affected by the attack, however it did cause the droid to notice the much smaller Jedi.

"Listorm," The droid said while turning. It's front was much more armored than before. The mechanical monstrosity was sprouting plates of thick black metal sheets. The plates were quickly covering the body and the tip of a blade began to form on the back of the large droid.

The Jedi stood still and awited for the droid to make the next move.

"I must thank you for allowing me to meet your friends, I would not have been able to activate my fighting protical, and I would have regained my memories of past experiences." The droid's voice was now much deeper and filled with venom as it spoke. "But I can't have my 'savior' die without knowing the name of his killer, now can I?" The droid started laughing a shrill shriek and began drawing the blade upon its back.

"I believe the name Rhen fits best, it is from the name Rhen Var, a cold and unforgiving planet," Rhen wrapped both huge hands around the blade and lifted it into a defensive stance. "I think that name fits well don't you?" It repeated.

"I can't allow such a being as yourself to exist Rhen, I must destroy you at any cost, I don't yet know why the force told me to save you, but I don't care." Listorm held that at first glance appeared calm, but the unyielding hatred started to settle in and could be seen in his eyes.

Rhen dashed forward at a blinding speed, but was quickly intercepted by the two silver blades held in a V-pattern. The blow buckled Listorm's force enhanced knees. The pain was only temporary, for the force would not let the pain stick.

This battle will be spectacular was all Rhen thought, while Listorm thought only about how he would keep his remaining friends safe. The group was thinned, but Pawn could still be seen amongst them, and she was shouting orders to the men that still remained upright. Listorm hoped she was telling them to run for the ship and leave him, but he could tell it would never be that simple and he hoped the vision, that was going to be, never happens. Listorm then thought of how the force did not tell him where the two beings would fight.

"Rhen, let us take this elsewhere, they will only get in the way and I do not wish anymore dead to bury at the end of the day." Listorm stated his demands and Rhen sheathed his massive swords.

"This is a prime spot for a fight, but I will wait a few minutes for your friends to leave," the droid stated. "They have tell the count of three hundred to escape, and after that this will be our battle ground." Listorm could see know other ways to convince the large machine, so he turned to Pawn.

"Take the men to the ship, and get out as fast as you can." The woman took of her helmet and approached Listorm. His oxygen field filled her lungs with clean and refreshing air.

"You brought this droid," she said with tears filling her green eyes. "But even though you did that I know you did not wish for any of the deaths it caused, I wish you the best of luck." She embraced Listorm in a quick hug then placed her mask back on then turned for the ship's direction and once she was gone from sight Listorm turned to Rhen, his eyes turning from grey to a pale pink, then finally to a fiery red.

"Two hundred ninety nine, Three hundred." The massive sword was once again removed from its sheath and the two creatures took their stances.

Part 3

The Grey Jedi and the Invincible Machine

With the group of the remaining men and Pawn long gone, Listorm was left alone with the hulking mass of metal known as Rhen. The large mechanical killer held his three meter long black blade with ease. The weight of such a blade would cripple any who attempted to wield it let alone go against it. The blade was dull at the tip, the only sharp part was along the edge of the blade facing away from Rhen. The hilt of the giant blade was another two meters, allowing the giant hands of its wielder to wrap both around. There was three holes evenly dispersed within the blade and the guard of the sword was non existent. The thickness of the blade was longer than Listorm's palm, and the blade itself was almost half a meter wide.

"Impressive blade," Listorm said while fidgeting his fingers over his own hilts. "Such a blade deserves a name correct?" Listorm was just trying to stall, to further increase the distance Pawn and the others could gain, but he also was a little interested in the name of the mighty blade.

"I suppose I shall give it a strong name, something that rolls of the tongue," Rhen explained while lowering into a crouch. "I shall name it SoulShifter." Rhen stepped closer with SoulShifter leading his way. "I suppose you have named your sabers as well?"

"I have not put much thought into the names, but I do know what they respond to." Listorm lifted the blade is his left hand. "This is MistSlayer, while this one," he lifts his right saber, "is named FogBringer, and know that introductions are out of the way what do you suppose we do?"

Rhen answered with a charge followed by an overhead slash. Listorm responded by blocking it like he did before, but this time the force behind the blow was much more. Listorm felt his teeth rattle, and his knees crack under the force of the blow. He shrugged it off and felt the force fix his legs. He could not control when the healing wave released, but he trusted in the force to keep him alive for this fight.

Rhen stepped back a few steps and awaited for Listorm's reaction, and Listorm responded in just the way Rhen wished. Listorm hurled himself at the massive droid with sabers spinning all the way. The Jedi turned into a drill mid air. The two blade's tips came together and slammed into the massive droid's chest, but if Rhen felt it he did not show it. Listorm landed on his feet and slashed at the monstrously thick leg, but that also had no effect. He attempted to leap back, but once he jumped he felt his head crash into the awaiting hand of Rhen, where he was held fast. Rhen enclosed the Jedi into his huge paw and brought the Jedi up to his face.

"Do you believe that those puny weapons will do anything against a God-like being?" Rhen's voice dripped with more venom than before, and the voice was no longer mechanical. He sounded much more like a regular person than ever before, but there was no humanity in this titan's mind. Listorm tried to break free of the gripp, but only felt the grip tighten and some of his ribs cracked and he could feel one of the now free bones puncture his lung. He gasped for air but found nothing.

"Can't fight back now can you, no wise words or insults, or are you to full of fear to speak?" Rhen loosened his grip on Listorm, but still held him fast in his fist.

"I think you are confusing fear with blood Rhen, but luckily for you I have plenty of blood to bleed, and I will gladly lose it all to destroy you." Listorm felt his bones knit back together and the hole is his lung close. Rhen laughed and threw the Jedi up and placed both hands on his massive blade to cleave Listorm on his way down.

Listorm flew up several meters before starting his descent, but once his fall started he reignited his blades and somersaulted towards the ground. He brought up his Blades just in time to intercept Rhen's Swing, but the force of the blow threw the Jedi much farther than he anticipated. Rhen watched as the Jedi sored through the air, and when he hit his maximum height the tree like legs pushed him fast in the direction the Jedi was traveling.

Listorm saw the Droid was already standing where he would land, but Listorm could not let the droid use him for juggling practice. He turned to face the sky and force pushed with all his might to throw himself down immediately. Listorm flipped in the same moment he released the push and felt his feet slam into the ground. Rhen was already charging forward with the giant blade raised again. Listorm sidestepped away from the chop, but could not stop the flat of SoulShifter. He felt the several tons slam into his face and felt several more of his bones break from the hit, but before he even hit the ground the force repaired each of them.

Listorm coughed up the blood clot in his throat and turned once more to face Rhen. The massive droid was not even trying. Luckily Listorm was also holding back several amounts of his power. Rhen stepped up with the large blade resting on his shoulder.

"Ready to face oblivion Jedi, or will I have to kill your friends first?" Rhen threatened with a smile in his voice.

Even if he could beat him what would this beast do to get out of losing, Listorm thought. He could feel the warmth of his own blood dripping out of his knees, the force was patching up the serious injuries at least, But how long would that last him.

"Did you hear me, or are you stuck in your own thoughts?" Rhen said while reading his blade yet again. Listorm stood straight with eyes burning red.

"I will never let you hurt them again, if I have to die to see to their safety then my life was well worth it, just know that i will not die easily." Listorm felt no fear, he still only felt the white hot rage in his chest, and that feeling will never fade as long as this being still stood.

"Well then, as a Jedi you have to live up to your promises, start taking this seriously and then maybe I won't be able to turn this planet into your friend's graves." The massive legs propelled the droid forward with blade carving through the soil as he went. Listorm called upon the force to increase the strength in his arms, much more than he has ever done, and even then he did not know if it was enough. The large blade left the soil swinging straight for the Jedi's neck, but the agile Jedi turned to face the blade head on with sabers rose. The blade smashed into the sabers and the blast of air that it pulled with it blew back the hood on Listorms's head. His hair had stripps of dark grey mixed with the silver.

Listorm felt himself skidd back from the blow, but he still stood straight with the blade caught in his blades. Listorm started to push the blade back, and to both his and Rhen's great surprise the blade was being pushed far faster than expected. Rhen pulled the blade back and a dark red glow began to illuminate below the dark plates that covered the droid's body.

"I have yet to even cross half my potential, and you should be proud because my designers are the only ones to even know this to exist." Rhen explained to the Jedi who was still in awe with his own ability. Rhen exploded in rage and started the onslaught once again. "You listen to those of higher ranking boy!"

Listorm snapped his blades to the right to block the first strike, this collision was even more violent than before, and that blow was still not half of Rhen's true strength. Listorm knew that his chance of success was slim and would be getting thinner if he could not go on the offense. The next blow was another overhead chop which Listorm sidestepped and then he kicked the blade with force fueling his powerful legs. The blade was knocked back and was only away for a second before Rhen could get it back in the fight, but that was plenty of time for Listorm to propel himself under the legs of Rhen and pop up on the other side. Listorm swung both blades with force infused arms. His sabers brought sparks up and dug deep into the armored plates, but the attack never phased Rhen.

The massive droid leapt up into the air, turning while doing so, and once he landed the ground shook under his weight. The droid then swept out his left hand and Listorm tried to dodge the massive hand but was caught in the grasp once again. The grip tightened quickly and Listorm soon felt his spine snap and his whole body went numb and unresponsive. He was paralyzed.

"I don't think you will be coming back from that one as easily, and what was it you said about as long as you live your friends would be safe?" Rhen screeched his laughter once more and Listorm could only stare at the droid as it turned to leave. He could feel the force working vigorously to patch him back together, but he knew it would take some time, he only hopped that Pawn and the others are already off this rock, but Listorm know the few survivors were not even halfway to the ship before the unstoppable machine closed in on them.

Almost twenty minute has gone by, his friends were probably dead by now, but Listorm knew that not to be true. He knew that some make it onto the ship with one wounded, and that wounded was probably Pawn. The thought of her lying broken at Rhen's feet enraged Listorm more than he could currently let on. He felt feeling return to his neck as the force finally repaired his brain stem, he could move his mouth and soon his arms and hands, and when his feet responded he leaped up with blades in hand. Listorm drew as much power from the force as he could and started to run in the direction of the ship.

"I have to get there, I can't let them die, I have to save them," Listorm repeated tis over and over out loud as he ran. The landscape around him become a blur once more as his speed increased exponentially as he ran. The large black form of Rhen could be seen and the sound of blade crashing against metal rang through the air. Listorm knew who Rhen now fought.

Rhen brought his blade up once more before letting gravity bring it down against Pawn's power armor. The phrik metal never even dented from the blows, but the woman inside was severely beaten and broken from the blows the large droid. Her eyes were starting to fade, and the filters in her suit were damaged. She was running out of air. Listorm could sense her life force leaving her and that only drove him on more. He let out a cry of anger as he saw her twisted body under Rhen's massive blade. Rhen heard this and turned with fire in his eyes.

"Why, won't, you, die?" Rhen shouted, and he turned to face the Jedi who already had his blades imbedded in the thick plates around Rhen's neck. The sight of his armor being damaged startled the droid and he could not even grab at the Jedi because he was already gone. Listorm walked up to Pawn who lied still on the ground. Her armor protected her from being torn in half from the blade, but she most likely had internal bleeding and broken bones. Listorm tuned to the few men who still stood.

"I will have a word with her and then you shall take her to the ship, but for now go grab the stretcher from the medic," Listorm explained to the soldiers who nodded and scrambled for the deployable stretcher.

"You don't get to do anything!" Rhen shouted at the men and a large cannon spouted from his shoulder. He aimed it at the man near the medic.

"Stop it Rhen, if you let them do it then you can fight me at full power, and if you kill them then you will never see the fight you wish to have." Listorm had no way to carry this out, but it seemed to convince the bloodthirsty droid.

"Very well you have three minutes, but any longer then you all die." Listorm nodded to Rhen and then turned to Pawn and he removed her mask and took out his own. The visor was cracked, but at least the filters worked. He placed the mask over Pawn's delicate features and then saw her open her dark green eyes.

"I thought you were dead, that was why that thing caught us," she said softly. Listorm shook his head and felt tears fill his eyes. He could only imagine what he would have felt if this planet did not put a cap on his emotions. He brushed back her dark hair and lifted her in his arms.

"Look at your robe, I had it custom made and now it is destroyed," Pawn joked softly, her voice was fading. Listorm looked at his attire and did notice the fabric was torn to pieces and his force markings beneath the robes could be seen clearly, and they were much darker than before. The two sons now developed color, one red and one blue. He even saw a thin grey line separating them.

"This bastard did it, and I will make sure he pays for the," Listorm said, and if the tone of his voice was not filled with rage it might have been a joke. The soldiers came back with the stretcher once more and Listorm placed Pawn onto the soft cloth and then saw her eyes close.

"Take her away, and don't wait for me, just leave as soon as you get to the ship." Listorm felt his throat tighten around his tears. "Go now, don't wait," he said once more and then he turned to Rhen who had the sword out once more.

Listorm heard the men leaving and the sabers leapt back into their master's hands where they ignited with a hiss of protest. The lense was cracked from their last fight, but Listorm won't let anything else happen, he will destroy this beast and join them at the ship, or he will hold Rhen off for long enough for them to escape.

Listorm chuckled when he thought of his escape, he knew that he would never be able to leave this hellish planet, but he knew now why the force brought him here. To destroy a being that could shift the galaxy into darkness without any assistance. Listorm was here to kill Rhen and Rhen was here to kill him. Listorm laughed once more and tore of the top of his torn robes.

"Take a good look Rhen, I am your end, I am the one who shall kill you, I am Listorm Hail the force's catalyst of balance, and I seen the future you never get to see," Listorm said to the still counting Rhen. "You will be lying in a pile of scrap at my feet."

"One hundred eighty, and we shall see Listorm the Jedi," Rhen lifted his blade and the red glow beneath his armor shined bright.