Star Wars: Tem Marr Series Part Two

by Trauwyn Marr

A month passes since Tem leaves Xio to learn more about the Cardan Forces, in a hope to lift the veil over the mystery as to why he is wanted so badly by Cuun. As the time passes, Tem and Xio grow respectively, and Tem learns more, nearly ready to return

Two months after the destruction of Canaltha, planet Anteid…

Blue bolts pierced the air, raining down on a small group of armor clad troops. Shouting in surprise, they returned the fire, but were quickly brought down. A new group of armor clad troops walked by the paralyzed bodies. The lead soldier removed his helmet and knelt down beside the fallen troops. "Better luck next time. Don't worry, I'll make sure you're not lying there too long. Wait till the itches come." Tem Marr grinned down at one trooper and hefted his ion-charged blaster rifle onto his shoulder. "How many are left now, Ruwn?" Tem asked the Zabrak on his team. "I'll find out right now, sir." Ruwn said. "I'll have to wait for the guards at the flag to respond, though." Tem grimaced. "Alright, lets vote. Should we wait for a response or press forward?" Tem asked the other troops on his team. They all decided to press forward, and Tem wasn't surprised. They were all eager for more combat, but Tem wasn't particularly fond of the fighting, but he knew it was the only way to learn about the Cardans legally. "Lets go then." Tem said as enthusiastically as a Hutt with no credits. He pulled his helmet back on and lead the way forward. The clinking of their armor was the only sound that could be heard in the silence of the empty corridor. "Report back, no signs of troops on their side yet. We can expect to find heavy resistance by the enemy flag, sir." Ruwn said from the center of the formation. As the communications technician, he was most valuable to the team's victory by capturing the flag. Only the communications technician and the squad leader knew the necessary codes and procedures to change the transmitter's signature. "You two, wait here." Tem ordered the two rear officers to take up guard positions. Tem moved forward with the rest of the squad. "Signal is getting stronger. Not much farther until the flag." Ruwn whispered. Tem nodded and checked the charge on his blaster rifle. He took several steps forward and looked around a corner. "All clear. Come on g-" Tem was cut off as a door hissed open between them, spilling out several opposing troops. "Ambush!" Tem shouted and opened fire on the new arrivals. Smoke slowly filled the corridor as more then a dozen blaster rifles were being fired. "Go! The flag isn't far!" Ruwn shouted from the other side of the battle. "We'll hold them here!" Tem ground his teeth together. "No! We can take them!" Shadows in the smoke fell to the ground with a thud. "Don't argue with me, Tem!" Ruwn shouted back. "We're going to lose if you hang around! Go!" Tem shook his head angrily and ran around the corner. The sounds of weapons firing slowly faded as Tem ran, his own pounding footsteps drowning them out. He skidded to a halt in front of a large iron door. Slapping his fist against a door panel, it slowly hissed open. The single glow lamp in the room shone down on the flag and transmitter box. Tem pulled his blaster rifle forward, expecting to be shot at as soon as he entered the room. He slowly crept into the room, searching the dark corners of the room for movement. There was nothing, though and Tem slowly lowered his blaster rifle. He strode quickly to the transmitter box and began entering the necessary codes. "Freeze, Marr." A voice said from behind him. "Turn around and step away from the transmitter." The voice ordered. Tem did as ordered and found a blaster rifle jabbed into his ribs. "Ow." Tem grumbled. "Shut up, Marr." The voice growled at Tem. "Sorry." Tem rolled his eyes. "Is this about me shooting you in the back, Wenz?" Tem asked, cocking an eyebrow at the shadows. The troop stepped forward and removed her helmet. "Maybe, and I thought I told you to shut up?" The Zabrak said, jabbing the barrel of the blaster rifle into Tem's ribs again. "Now, I just need to figure out what to do with you." Auwna said. "There's not many choices. All of my team has to be put down before you can win without capturing our flag. Or you can wait until your squad finds our flag and changes the transmitter. That way, I won't be uselessly paralyzed on the ground for who knows how long." Tem said, grinning slightly. "Then it's all a matter of deciding to shoot you or not." Auwna said with a vicious smile. The blaster rifle eased off Tem's rib, and he made his move. Grabbing the blaster rifle, he tried to move it away from him before she could fire, but he was not fast enough. His muscles screamed and twitched as the armor's neural disrupters pulsed through his entire body, rendering him useless on the ground. "Good job, Tem. You made up my mind in record time." She grinned down at the paralyzed Tem. "We're even now. Have fun, it's going to be a long time before my team captures your flag." She left, her laughter echoing back to him.

Tem sat silently drinking his usual pale blue drink that he had grown accustom to drinking in the Facility's cafeteria. He sat away from the others, enjoying the only privacy he got during the lunch hour, thinking of everything that had happened months before. Canaltha, Quwka, the mysterious voice, the Senate, the Jedi, and Xio. Xio stuck in his mind constantly, and it was what usually drove him forward. Each fight, each battle, each victory drew him closer to getting his answers and returning to the girl he loved. He wanted to be back with her, to see her, to hold her, but that voice beckoned to him. There was something about it, something that Tem was drawn to. "No hard feelings about today, right?" Auwna's voice burned through his thoughts like a blaster bolt through flesh. He quickly returned to reality and shook his head. "Over a game of capture the flag? Hardly." Tem drained the small plastic cup of its contents and ran his fingers around its surface. "You seem upset." Auwna said, taking a bite out of her nourishment bar and seating herself across from Tem. "What if I told you it was about a girl?" Tem said with a smirk. "I would say 'Oh, that explains it all.' " Auwna said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "There's something else you're not sharing." She pointed out, before taking another bite of the nourishment bar. "I'd like to keep it that way too." Tem muttered. "Fine by me, but no one person can carry all their own troubles, if they keep trying to solve the problems of everyone else." She said with a smirk. Before Tem could respond, the intercom buzzer sounded and all activity in the cafeteria stopped. "Could Cadets Marr, Wenz, Rign, Kuad and Lufd please come to the High Commander's office. Thank you." The intercom clicked off, and Tem rose to his feet. Auwna did likewise and Ruwn Kuad, the Zabrak Communications technician on Tem's squad, Janelle Rign, a female Codru-Ji, and Shten Lufd, a large Wookiee, with his fur ranging in different shades of gray soon, joined them.

They all stood at attention, waiting for High Commander Gaul to enter. No one knew what was going on, and Tem could only assume they had passed their exams and were about to be assigned positions. As each minute passed, another muscle ached and Tem could barely tolerate it anymore. The door hissed open just as Tem relaxed and he had to quickly stand at attention again. "Good morning, Cadets." The Gotal said as he entered. "Good morning, sir." They responded in unison, followed by a roar from Shten. "At ease, troops. Some congratulations are in order. You are the finest in each of your classes." Gaul said, as he paced behind his desk. "You will all be assigned to ships and be expected to perform as well as you have in your classes. Auwna and Tem will be aboard the Nova Storm. Ruwn and Janelle will be aboard Lunar Maze and Shten will be aboard Majestic Dragon." The Gotal stroked some fur around his neck and nodded to the new troops. "Dismissed."

Tem pulled on the new blazer he received with his new uniform. He looked into a mirror and examined himself. "I'd rather wear my beaten nerf-hide clothes." Tem muttered at his reflected image. "Looking good." Auwna said from behind him. Tem nearly jumped out of his skin. "Thanks for knocking." Tem grumbled at the Zabrak. Tem turned and picked up his bag. "When do we take off?" Tem asked. "In five minutes or they're leaving without us." Auwna said, turning to leave. "And you plan on just walking? I have a much faster way of getting there." Tem said, stifling his laughter as Auwna gave him a puzzled look. Tem rounded the corner to the side of the small living complex. His Zentr, given to him by the Canta Elder Council on Coruscant, snuffled the grass looking for something edible. "What the hell is that?" Auwna said, panic entering her voice. "Calm down. It's a Zentr from Canaltha, a riding beast. She's the friendliest thing you'll ever meet." Tem said, whistling for the Zentr to come to him. "She'll get us to the hangar in time. Unless, of course, you're afraid." Tem grinned. Auwna shook her head. "Not afraid about it. Afraid of your riding skills, maybe." Auwna said, looking between the massive canine and the young man. Tem climbed onto the Zentr and pulled on the reins. "Are you coming?" Tem asked, offering a hand to help her on. Auwna reluctantly took his hand and pulled herself on. "I hope you know what you're do-" Auwna was cut off as Tem kicked his heels into the Zentr's ribs and sent it galloping across the open plains of the facility. "Quip! Quip!" Tem shouted, urging the Zentr faster. The ship was going to take off any minute, with or without them. "Tem!" Auwna screamed from behind him, clutching his shoulders, hoping not to fall off the speeding canine. The Nova Storm was not much farther. It took another steady minute of riding before Tem eased the Zentr to a halt and hopped off, next to the Nova Storm's landing ramp. "Fun, right?" Tem said with a grin. Auwna just glared at him and walked up the boarding ramp of the ship. Tem laughed and followed her up the landing ramp.

The three wedge-shaped ships screamed through the clouds of Vita. The planet was a world of sand and rock. The city of Ejak was nestled between two rocky cliffs, nearly impenetrable without detection. The cruisers would land outside of the city walls and release swoop-riding Commandos into the city. Tem didn't bother reading about what the Commandos would have to do. Tem only had to sit safely in the Nova Storm calculating information streamed to his console and analyze it as necessary. He was partially glad that he was away from the battle for once. He stretched out in front of his console, scanning the information that constantly scrolled across his screen. Everything looked perfect. The ships were on time, would soon be deploying their swoops and there would be little to no resistance because they won't know what hit them. As a matter of fact, everything seemed a little too perfect. Tem sat up and looked at the console again. Little to no life form readings came from Ejak. He cocked his eyebrow and kept searching through the information. "Sir!" Tem shouted, jumping from his seat and tripping over his own feet. Captain Dorje strode towards Tem, looking annoyed by having this fresh cadet on his ship deck. "What is it, officer?" Dorje said icily. Tem pulled himself up and dusted himself off. "Sir, there's something wrong with readings. It says there are heavy turrets dotting the perimeter of Ejak. That wasn't in the mission briefing, or in any of the files I could find on the city." The Captain looked at him as if he were crazy. "Show me these readings, officer." Tem moved aside to show the information to the Dorje. He read it in silence. "This hardly indicates that there are active turrets awaiting us around Ejak, Officer. Don't pester me with these problems again." Dorje sneered at Tem and briskly turned and walked away. "Prepare to drop the ships." He said coolly. Tem reluctantly seated himself in front of his console, but began hacking into the ship's commands. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Auwna whispered from her console. "Saving our skins, what does it look like?" Tem shot back. "About to be kicked out of the Valcuns." Auwna growled. "At least they'll be alive to do so." Tem countered, rerouting power from weapons to shielding. Auwna shook her head. "Marr, I'm not even going to try and understand you." Tem smirked. "Good, it spares me explaining myself to you." Tem continued rerouting power and flying the ship just out of range of the turrets. He looked around; hoping no one was noticing him piloting the ship. So far, only Auwna was the only one who knew, from the looks of things. "Deploying the troops, sir." Another officer shouted from his console. "Good. Launch them now." The ship shook as the massive docking bay opened and the ship landed firmly on the ground. Energy bolts splattered across the viewport and worried cries broke out across the bridge. "Calm down! I want a report right now!" Dorje shouted. "Those imaginary turrets came online and are firing on us! That's what you stubborn old man!" Tem screamed at the Captain. "Fighters, coming in fast." Auwna said, as Tem and Dorje stood up and were glaring furiously at each other. Explosions illuminated the bridge, followed by more energy bolts uselessly hitting the Nova Storm's shields. "The Commandos are being shot down by the fighters." Auwna reported. Tem winced considerably, and broke the glaring contest with Captain Dorje. "Auwna, we'll man the side turrets. We can provide cover for the Commandos as they penetrate the city." Tem said, shoving his way past the Captain. "Marr, if you leave now, you leave your career as a Valcun soldier as well." Dorje threatened. "Fine, I'd rather have my life anyway." Tem shot back with a glare. "Coming, Auwna?" Tem turned to face the Zabrak. She hesitated, looking between Captain Dorje and Tem. "Stay then, I know how much being a Valcun means to you. I can handle the fighters by myself." Tem said sincerely and walked down the corridor. Auwna got up and followed after him. "Wait for me, Tem. You're useless with a gun turret anyway." Tem smiled at the Zabrak. "What are we waiting for? Take port, I've got starboard."

Tem climbed into the gunpod, rubbing his head. He could hear the screams of the fallen Commandos, but didn't have his comm on. He found that strange, but could not think about it right now. The ship's turrets were originally quad cannons, but now boasted a twin cannon on spinning arms around the quad cannons central guns. Targeting was accomplished by wearing goggles or a single eyepiece. Tem pulled on his set of goggles and activated the turret. The controls were simple. There were four triggers on the handlebars. The top two controlled the whole cannon, while the bottom two were used to target ships efficiently. Turning the handlebars left or right made the cannon and the gunpod's chair swivel in that direction. The gunpod would only allow the turret to swing within one hundred and eighty degrees up or down. "I'm targeting them now, Auwna. You got blues; I'll handle reds. Copy?" Tem said, pulling the lower triggers. His display through the goggles lit up with red and blue circles as he targeted more ships. "Roger." Auwna said. "Here they come." Tem said, pulling the top triggers and sending waves of red bolts into a sea of fighters. The fighters returned fire, but couldn't peg the gunpods. Blue and red circles vanished as fighters were destroyed, and Tem couldn't help but notice how much faster blue circles were vanishing then red ones were. They spent several minutes shooting through the starfighters' ranks before one slipped through their fire. "I can't get him!" Auwna shouted. Tem's turret jammed. "Frag! My gun's jammed!" Tem shouted back. Struggling with the restraints, he half threw himself out of the gunpod. The starfighter blew it to pieces, sending bits of debris through the closing doors to seal the breach in the ship. "Are you alright?" Auwna asked through their personal comlinks. "I'm fine, meet me in the hangar. We've gotta clean up the rest of those fighters."

Auwna and a Dug, named Multabu, were waiting for him in the hangar. "Extra help?" Tem asked, looking at the Dug. The Dug was about to say something, but Tem cut him off. "If you can fly, I'm happy." Tem said. "Where are our fighters?" He asked, looking around for the tri-winged ships, which resembled the new T-16 Skyhoppers that were on the market. "Parked in the back. They're ready to go." Auwna said. "They should fly smooth, too." Multabu spoke up. "I just finished working on them." Tem nodded. "Good. Get your flight suits on then, and we'll take off." They all ran towards their lockers and donned their flight suits and wasted no time lifting off, screaming out of the hangar as fast as their ships could muster.

The three ships burst through the hangar into open air. They flew in unison, turning direction and targeting the dozens of enemy starfighters that remained. "What's that in the clouds?" Auwna's voice crackled over the comm. "They look like heavy frigates." Multabu said. "I'm scanning them now." Tem added. "Keep the fighters busy while my scan finishes. I can't fly and hack through their systems at the same time." Tem muttered. "How can you hack them from you ship?" Multabu asked, bewildered. "I'll explain when we're not going to die. Here come those fighters." Tem pointed out, sending his ship into a crooked dive. Auwna and Multabu did likewise, but quickly shot back up and opened fire on the enemy ships. "Come on, come on." Tem muttered to his ship's console. "Bingo." He pulled the ship up and fell into formation again. "Five heavy cruisers, armed to the teeth and one is carrying all explosives, no crew. They're going to blow us to the Unknown Regions if we don't stop them." Tem updated his other squad mates. "Gotcha, Captain." Multabu said enthusiastically. "Copy that. But, which one?" Auwna asked. Tem hesitated. "You don't know do you?" Auwna accused. "Well, there were a few fighters about to attack me…" Tem trailed off. "At least we know one of them is explosives. I can hand pick the one with all the explosives on it. They still have enough fire power to destroy each of our cruisers, though. So we should disable them all, just in case." Tem quickly added. "Disable? Why not just blow them all into atoms?" Multabu asked. "Because the Valcuns can use these cruisers for missions. Trust me." Tem said. "I'll draw the fighters away from the battle, you two take out those cruisers." Tem ordered. "Yes, sir." Multabu grumbled. "Copy that." Auwna didn't sound pleased either. Tem turned his ships ID to public, allowing all ships to read it. His gamble paid off, and all the fighters began swarming around him. "Stang!" The transmitted ID had also drawn the attention of two of the cruisers. Tem had his hand full, jinxing and juking away from red energy bolts and blue ion blasts. They wanted him alive, but Tem couldn't understand why. Blue electricity danced across the hulls of several of the fighters, as they flew into the path of the ion's blast. Now, Tem mused, I just need to do that again.

Dorje stood dumbfounded in the bridge of Nova Storm. Never in his career had he seen a new cadet out of the Facility be so talented in so many fields. His best deck officers could not even compare to what they were doing. Fighting off swarms of starfighters, and then flying three snubfighters against five heavily armed cruisers. The worse part was, they were winning! Dorje couldn't help but feel stupid and very unprofessional. He had to discharge them, though. They had went above their orders and simply left. Then again, how would he explain letting go two of the best cadets Facility had to offer to High Commander Gaul? Dorje sighed heavily and resumed listening to the updates on the battle overhead. "Wing Four is under attack from two heavy cruisers and a count of eight starfighters. Wing Two and Seven are attacking the cruisers, with one disabled already." The young officer said. "We are picking up signals that the Wing Two and Seven are probing the cruisers for something. Do you know what that could be, sir?" Dorje simply shook his head. "No, I don't. Continue monitoring their activity. Update me again in five minutes."

Shoving forward with all his strength, Tem sent his ship into a spiraling nose-dive. More starfighters had been disabled, but now there were too few to use as shields anymore. More and more red energy bolts smashed his ship. Everything was dropping into critical and Tem knew he couldn't sit here anymore. There was a vague chance he could fly between the two cruisers and they would pummel each other with their ion cannons, but then the starfighters might shoot him down. His shields dropped and he had no more time to think. Pulling his ship up, he raced towards the cruisers. Blue ion bolts sizzled past his ship, burning the underside of his ship. As he got closer and closer to the cruisers, their shots became more frequent, and the starfighters had assumed where he was going. Tem shot between the two frigates, as they exchanged ion blasts from each other. One of the cruisers shuddered and blue electricity crawled across its hull. "Are we late, sir?" Auwna voice crackled through the comm. "Yes, Auwna, I would like some help!" Tem shouted at her. There was a choked laugh on the other end, and the other cruiser fell away out of the battle after its twin. "There's one more cruiser left. I'm guessing it's the one with the explosives." Auwna reported. "Alright, we'll form up, and attack it head on. Copy?" Tem tried to regain some of the lost power that had been taken from him during the battle, so he was no longer vulnerable. "I got this one, sir." Multabu said and rocketed towards the cruiser. "Multabu, no!" Tem shouted. "Don't go after it!" He pleaded. "He shut off his comm." Auwna said. Tem cursed for a few minutes. "Alright, we'll blow some gun emplacements and then he'll have a better chance of living. Let's go."

"Wing Seven is streamlining to the remaining cruiser. Wing Two and Four are far behind, trying to catch up." The officer read. "They just came within our range, we can disable their ships from here and pull them out of the battle, sir. Our ships can destroy this last cruiser." Dorje listened and shook his head. "No, leave them be."

Multabu was overwhelmed with joy. Now was his time to be the hero, now he would be the one people would look up to him and be indebted to him. Not that greedy Marr, who always stole the spotlight from others, who was always the hero. No, not this time. Now it was Multabu's turn! I will no longer be a simple mechanic; I'll be a squadron leader, Multabu thought, Now I will be famous! Me! Not Marr!

Amazingly, Auwna and Tem were able to pull enough speed out of their ships to get to the cruiser shortly before Multabu. They quickly began their work of eradicating all the gun turrets from the ship's hull. Some were on the surface while others were behind plates of armor, making them more difficult to hit. Auwna was determined to get each one that she could, though. Her ship's console beeped and she looked down. The turrets were targeting her; she had flown within their range. When she looked up again, she was met with a flurry of angry red bolts.

Tem ship roared towards where Auwna had been. She had dived away from the ship to avoid the first wave of bolts, but now they were following her closely, determined to destroy its target. Tem was barely within range, and wasn't a primary target. He ground his teeth and fired a torpedo at the single gun turret. Multabu streamed past him, and went into full range of the turret, blasting uselessly at it with his ion cannon. The torpedo was not going to make it, and the turret turned its attention to Multabu, along with several other turrets.

They had taped into the comm frequency, listening in eerie silence as everything unfolded. When the comm chatter ceased, the officer began reading again. "Wing Seven has flown directly into the range of a majority of the turrets, and they are all bearing down upon him." He said grimly.

Tem mustered as much speed as he could from his badly injured fighter, but it was not enough to catch up to Multabu and take the primary target slot in the slaved ship's targeting systems. He watched helplessly as each turret landed several dozen hits upon the ship, until finally, all that remained was burning debris. "Auwna?" Tem said, shakily. "Yeah?" Auwna's voice came back to him. "Let's blow this thing."

The Nova Storm's bridge listened to Tem's plan, and they had to agree with Auwna. It was suicide. "What are the odds of one of our torps getting through though? They'll explode outside of the drives, but not make it through the reactor shaft." Auwna asked. "There's gotta be another way." She half-pleaded. "I'll make sure the torps get a direct hit one way or another." Tem said sternly. "Just fire your torps at Delta Five Seven Five and I'll take care of the rest." With that, he switched off his comm.

"Tem? Frag you!" Auwna screamed at her comm. She had no other choice now but to follow orders. She followed Tem's ship to the back of the cruiser, the blue haze of ion engines directly in front of them. Each drive was large enough to park a freighter in. They were well out of the range of the turrets now, but the danger of being cooked alive by ion engines still kept them tense and edgy. An indicator light flashed on, telling her that she was now in the desired position to fire her torpedoes. "Missiles away." Auwna muttered and let out two salvos of her torpedoes. Tem's ship flew ahead of hers, following her torpedoes. "Good luck, Marr."

Tem's ship groaned in protest. The hull plates boiled as he ventured closer to the ion drives, and the shield began to warp. Tem could only hope he knew what he was doing. He matched Auwna's torpedoes in speed and was traveling, side by side, with them. He was determined to send one torpedo down the drive shaft and blow the reactor core, even if it meant he had to die doing it. The ship's power began building at unhealthy speeds, strain tugging the ship in every direction. "Almost there…" Tem muttered, stroking the missile triggers. Tem's eyesight went and he was shrouded in darkness. "Just great…" Tem grumbled and continued flying further. There was a warning buzzer, followed by a soft click and Tem couldn't stand anymore, he had to fire the torpedoes. Pulling the triggers, he released five salvos of torpedoes into the drive shaft. He pulled out of the ion drives path, his ship relaxing again as the situation returned to normal. Tem's eyesight was still gone, and now the ship was about to explode beneath him. Continuing to fly blind, he could only hope that he would make it out of this one alive.

Explosions blossomed from the back end of the cruiser all the way to its nose, but Tem was no where in sight. Explosion after explosion lowered Tem's chances of survival, and Auwna was starting to give up hope. The whole ship exploded in a magnificent flash, shooting rubble all around. Flames plagued most of the wreckage, and most was beyond recognition. Auwna stared at the rubble, hoping to see Tem's ship come out of the wreckage and be all right. After about five minutes of silence, the comm crackled to life. "What a ride." Tem's hoarse voice filled her cockpit. "Tem!" Auwna shouted. "You're alive!" Tem's weak laughter filtered from the small speaker. "Blind, but alive." Tem said. Auwna could see his ship now, limping through the wreckage and looking as if it were pieced together by a hawk-bat. "I'll attach the tow cable, and we'll get you to the Med center, Marr." Auwna said, trying to control her voice. Silent tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks and she wiped them away. They returned to the Nova Storm without saying another word.

The mission was a success, with only one hundred and fifty deaths out of the five thousand crew and Commandos. Tem's eyesight had returned after two days and they were now resting in the city of Ejak. The new Valcun base on Ejak was an impressive battle scarred building, resting in the heart of the city. Tem and Auwna walked through the dark, empty corridors to the main audience chamber. High Commander Gaul wished to speak with them, and both of them were expecting to be discharged. "Auwna, I'm sorry I got you tangled up in this mess. I should be the only one here, not you with me." Tem said as they walked. Auwna shrugged. "It doesn't matter, Marr. We saved a lot of lives. They'll probably hundreds of mercenary groups out to get their hands on us now." Auwna pointed out. The main doors towered above them. "Well, this is it. It was nice working with you, Officer Wenz." Tem said formally, extending his hand. "Likewise, Officer Marr." Auwna replied, taking his hand and shaking it. "No better time then the now." Tem muttered and opened the doors. All four thousand, eight hundred and fifty Commandos, mechanics, deck officers, and higher authority figures were waiting at attention for them. Tem and Auwna walked down the walkway towards the front of the room where High Commander Gaul and Captain Dorje waited for them. Tem was gaping, but Auwna was quick to hide her surprise and appear completely professional. They stopped in front of the Gotal and the human at attention. Tem quickly hid his surprise and waited to hear what High Commander Gaul had to say. "Captain Dorje tells me you two are responsible for what happened during the battle of Ejak." The Gotal began. Tem quickly stepped forward and spoke up. "I was the one who disobeyed orders, sir. I went into the battlefield against the wishes of Captain Dorje and I took Officer Wenz with me against her will. I am fully responsible for Officer Wenz's and my own actions." The Gotal cocked an eyebrow at the young man, and smiled slightly. "I see, then." Gaul said. "I wonder if you would behave as a General." He said, stroking the fur around his neck. "General?" Tem said, caught off guard by the Gotal's words. "That's correct. Tem Marr, you have been promoted to General for your quick thinking and battle readiness. Auwna Wenz, you will not go unrewarded for aiding our young hero here. You have also been promoted. You are now a Lieutenant." Gaul saluted to the two, and was soon followed by applause from the crowd. Auwna and Tem exchanged glances, and he finally grinned. Turning to the crowd, he raised his arms for silence. "Now, in light of my new promotion…" He began, grinning broadly. "Drinks are on me!" The crowd roared and Tem couldn't help but laugh.

One day before the Battle of Ejak, planet Sullust…

A young woman, clutching an auburn blade in front of her body, tried furiously to deflect the dozens of searing energy bolts that threatened her at every turn. She swung her hair out of her face and backed away from the massing mercenaries, as they took more and more ground from her. Xio Mara bumped into her Master, Yahra Nal'Tai, as they fought back to back against the several dozen mercenaries that had effectively surrounded them. "Master!" Xio shouted over the thrumming lightsabers and roaring blaster fire. "I thought you said this would be easy!" The small Chadra-Fan squeaked in amusement. "It could be much worse, Padawan!" The furry bipedal responded. Xio grimaced and nodded. It, honestly, could be much worse. Xio praised the stars when Canta commandos burst in and quickly ended the mercenary threat, taking no lives in the process. She had learned the Canta took pride in not having to resort to killing and regret having to kill if they must. Seeing the Canta wreaked havoc on Xio's heart. She remembered the sacrifices they had made on Canaltha, but was glad that the Canta were slowly making a name for themselves. The Republic had seen their biological technologies and asked the Canta to start construction of huge hordes of weapons. The original weapons were mostly made of spare parts, from both droids and ships, pieced onto an existing blaster frame and outfitted with extract pumps and gambr's, a sticky fluid that created a thin shell around the extract that, on impact, would release the extract's toxins, paralyzing the target. However, now the Canta were able to work alongside well-known companies, such as Blastech and Merr-Sonn, to create their weapons. The Canta now resided on the world of Luath, far on the Outer Rim, after being relocated from the efforts of Tem Marr, the love of her life, after Canaltha's destruction as it plunged into the Void. That had been one month prior, and now Tem Marr had joined the Valcun Mercenaries who waged war against the Cardan Forces. He had told her that he was going to seek answers, but he had to undertake in training. The last message from him had been a week ago, and was she was beginning to worry. The longest she had to wait for a message from him was four days. Xio was guessing he had graduated and was celebrating with his squad mates and friends at the Facility, as the Valcun training centers were usually called. "We will be boarding the next ship back to Coruscant, Padawan." Master Yahra pierced her contemplative state. Xio pulled herself out of her mindless thinking and nodded to her Master. "Yes, Master."

Yahra Nal'Tai watched as her Padawan sat silently in her seat, her eyes clouded with distant memories as she thought of her love, Tem Marr. It was forbidden for the Jedi to have such attachments, but Yahra could not deny her Padawan of it. She, too, had fallen in love once. Yahra had just become a Jedi Knight then and her eyes had fallen on another Jedi Knight. The Chadra-Fan Jedi known as Muun Yun had captured her interest as she had admired the soon-to-be Jedi Master. He possessed great knowledge and intelligence, and still maintained a lively personality, behind the solemnity of his Jedi discipline. As all Jedi must do, he had sacrificed himself for the greater good. A group of Jedi Knights had been sent to Korriban to disband a Sith cult that had been forming, and Muun had stayed behind to fight off the last of the strongest Sith forces as the other Jedi lifted off and returned to Coruscant. Yahra had suffered greatly for many days afterwards, and her heart had always had a deep hole ever since, that nothing could fill and that no amount of Jedi training could heal. Tem Marr reminded her of the way Muun use to be, and a great weight was lifted from her shoulders as this young man helped heal her wounded heart. Though the echo of Muun's death remained, she no longer felt the hollowness that had accompanied her for so long after her meeting with Tem. He possessed great power, as the Council had foreseen. Yahra wondered if she should warn Xio of the dangerous path that love could lead a Jedi, but Yahra could not bring herself to ruin what her Padawan felt for the pilot that had fallen into the Jedi's palms. May the Force guide your love better than it had mine, Xio Mara, Yahra said to herself, still watching the love struck young woman.

The two stood in front of the Jedi Council, Master Yahra finishing her report of the situation on Sullust. "It seems rather odd, how suddenly a simple mercenary group is becoming such a threat to the Republic, and many systems within its boundaries." A distinguished male Firrerreo said, sitting among the four Council members that made up the Dispatch Council which tended to all assignments of dispatched Jedi throughout the Republic. "There are few worlds in the Outer Rim territories that had allied themselves with the Republic, but now we are losing them, either by force or by fear. The Republic needs the Jedi to protect these worlds, but even we cannot fight armies of mercenaries." Another member of the Dispatch Council spoke from her seat. A Sullustan, who didn't show the age of much of her fellows, Yahra noted. "The Valcun Mercenaries…" Xio whispered from Yahra's side. "What was that, Padawan?" Yahra asked, looking at her Padawan. "The Valcun Mercenaries." Xio repeated. "What of these mercenaries?" The Firrerreo asked, giving the Padawan a confused look. "The pilot Tem Marr went to join the Valcun Mercenaries one month ago. I believe he mentioned they are at war with the Cardan Forces, which are the ones trying to collect so much territory in the Outer Rim, and the few worlds in the Mid Rim." Xio explained. "Is it possible that, if we aid or fund these Valcun Mercenaries, we could subdue the Cardan threat?" Xio asked. Yahra could feel the excitement pulsing through her at the thought of being able to see Tem Marr once again, after so long. The Council members looked at each other, and contemplated this for several moments. "We will look into this Valcun Mercenaries option you have laid before us." The Sullustan said, her large black oval eyes still jumping between the other three Council members. "Thank you, Masters." Yahra bowed along with Xio and they quietly walked out to leave the Council to their investigations.

The Jedi Temple was, at most times, very empty due to the need for Jedi out in the Outer Rim to help defend worlds against the Cardan onslaught. Xio had little time to even use the Refresher before she was needed to attend another session with the Dispatch Council, for another mission. Xio quickly put her Padawan robes on again and grabbed a datapad, which had the latest updates from Tem. She read as she walked, not worrying of bumping into anyone in the deserted corridors.

TRANSMISSION FROM FACILITY CODE 82942, ANTEID

XIO, SORRY I HAVEN'T TRANSMITTED IN NEARLY A WEEK, BIG TROUBLE WITH THE CARDANS. I HEAR YOU'RE FACING THOSE SAME TROUBLES WITH THE REPUBLIC. I RECENTLY JUST GRADUATED FROM BEING A CADET TO A DECK OFFICER, INFORMATION ANALYSIS. I WILL BE GOING OUT TO ANOTHER PLANET SOON, TO HELP THE WAR EFFORT, SO YOU MAY NEED TO ADJUST YOUR TRANSMITTER TO ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING CODE:

00101001010111001001110001001110100101101000111100110

IT'S A MILITARY CODE FOR THE VALCUNS, AND I DON'T THINK THEY'LL HAVE ANY PUBLIC TRANSMITTERS WHEN WE GET THERE. I DIDN'T WANT TO HAVE YOU WAITING AGAIN FOR ANOTHER COMMUNICATION FROM ME. TALK TO YOU IN A FEW DAYS.

TEM MARR

END TRANSMISSION.

Xio smiled as she read, and adjusted the transmitter on her datapad to accept the binary code frequency, and a small weight had been lifted off her shoulders. However, a new one had been added to the burden. He was about to go into real warfare, and he may not live through it. Xio tucked the datapad into her robes as she walked. Though, would they really put a new cadet into serious danger so soon? Xio asked herself. No, no, not likely. She shook the thought from her head, and saw her Master waiting for her at the Council's chamber doors. "I feel as if we are about to be sent on another life threatening assignment, Master." Xio said to her Master. Yahra laughed slightly. "They are all life threatening. Do you recall the simple patrol on Nar Shadaa where there was no danger, and you were complaining of boredom? Then you nearly fell off the street into the darkness below?" Her Master laughed some more and Xio narrowed her eyes. "You were the one who told me to look over the edge to see if I could see the bottom." She protested. Her Master ignored her and continued laughing. Xio tried to think of an embarrassing moment that had happened to her Master but could not think of one. "Master, you are lucky I cannot think of a time where you were supposedly on a safe journey and you did something to make it dangerous." Xio glared at her Master. Yahra laughed harder and shook her head. "The only time I made a clumsy mistake as of such, was to agree to relief a moisture farmer on Tatooine of his womp rat infestation." Xio smiled and started laughing too. Yahra smiled, still squeaking slightly at the past mistakes made. "We should not keep the Dispatch Council waiting like this, Xio. Quickly, we must go inside."

The luxury liner, Hyperspace Jewel, carried Xio and Yahra to Dantooine. Usually the charter contained only Mid Rim worlds, not worlds in the Outer Rim. The cruiser was full of tourist, adventures, and two Jedi. Technically, one Jedi and her Padawan, Yahra mused, as she peered out a transparisteel window at the serene planet below. Long ago, there had been a great Jedi Enclave, destroyed by Malak, and rebuilt once again to defeat a new threat against the Sith. That had been nearly fifty years before, and now the Jedi worked in the Republic capital of Coruscant. The Enclave is where Xio and herself were to begin their investigation. Due to the lack of facts from the rumors, only the two Force-users would be investigating, and there would be no backup if they required it. That, for some reason, made Yahra very uncomfortable, despite the tranquillity of the beautiful planet. Settlers had remained the dominant inhabitants of Dantooine, but even they were sparse on the planet. The nearest settlement to the Enclave was a day's journey away, then another day to get back. Perhaps we will be able to get a speeder or swoop to lessen the duration of the trip, Yahra contemplated, turning from her view and walking out of the large suite that they had been given for their journey to Dantooine. Xio was already waiting for her, gripping a railing as to not be thrown around the suite, as the ship landed not quite gracefully onto Dantooine's surface. "Do you sense an unrest as well, Master?" Xio asked, releasing the railing, and hefting her bag over her shoulder. Yahra closed her eyes and stretched out. The feelings around the planet shifted, squirming like a worm in mud. "Yes, I do, Padawan. We must be extra cautious." Yahra squeaked softly, and shouldered her own bag.

No speeders, or swoops, were operational at the central town that they had arrived at. Now, underneath the blazing sun and weighted by their packs, and having to deal with the more ravenous wildlife, they walked in the general direction that the Enclave was in. Xio was already agitated after passing a familiar rock formation for the eighth time. "Are you certain we are going in the right direction, Master?" Xio complained, shifting her pack for the fiftieth time since they started their trek through Dantooine's grasslands. "Yes, quite sure, my young Padawan. The rock formations all appear similar, but they are not. The Force is guiding us to the Enclave, I do not believe it will lead us astray." The Chadra-Fan explained, continuing forward, hobbling over a hillside. "In time, you will learn to be able to follow the Force so clearly." She continued, taking a brief look at the Padawan out of the corners of her tiny beady eyes. "I can follow sentient beings, Master." Xio said, swatting away a horde of insects interested in turning her face into a hive. "Yes, but you cannot sense something that is not alive." Her Master responded, seeming to have no trouble with the insects at all. "What about droids? They are not living, yet they can be seen through the Force." Xio pointed out. "The power that surges through their metal bodies is what we see in the Force, Xio. Everything else that does not live, you must allow the Force to guide you, and nothing else." Master Yahra said, turning to face Xio. "However, there is life in the Enclave, and that is what I am using to find it." She squeaked with amusement and returned to her hobbling steps. Master Yahra had never been so… alive before. It was a change that had only occurred after the Chadra-Fan had spoken with Tem in the Jedi Academy on Coruscant. Tem had proven, time and again, that he influenced most beings in one way or another. He had certainly affected Xio in a way she would never forget, but she was in love with the pilot. How did Tem affect Master Yahra? Could the Chadra-Fan be in love with him as well? Xio made a disgusted look at imagining Tem with the small furry bipedal. It did not seem likely that her Master was interested in him in such a way. Xio pushed the thoughts out of her mind and looked around at the terrain that now surrounded her. "We are close to the Enclave." She said, looking to the horizon, seeing the silhouette of the Enclave in the distance in front of the setting sun. "If we continue our travels uninterrupted, I believe we will make it there before midnight." Master Yahra said, not stopping to discuss it, seeming determined to reach the Enclave by midnight or sooner. Darkness washed over Xio, and she suddenly felt very afraid. "Master, do you sense something wrong about this place?" She asked, looking around nervously, waiting for several cloaked assassins to rid the two Jedi of their lives. "No, I do not. Perhaps you are feeling a pocket of dark side energy, left behind from years before." Xio nodded as Master Yahra hypothesized. That was a completely logical explanation, so Xio had nothing to fear. At least, she believed she didn't.

They had pressed forward all night, and exhaustion ate at Xio's will to continue forward. Eventually, exhaustion won the battle and Xio was forced to rest. She sat among the thick grass and watched as her Master continued forward. There was a flash in the Force, that sparked all of Xio's senses and she was suddenly given a new strength. Unfortunately, she had not sensed the danger soon enough, and Master Yahra lay unconscious from not only a flash mine, but a stun mine as well. Even if Xio could wake her Master, her limbs would refuse to move for some time. Xio fell onto her stomach as several beings approached. "Cardans…" Xio whispered. Weequay and Rodian thugs had gathered around the fallen Jedi Knight. "Weequay found a Jedi!" One of the Weequay shouted. "Shut up!" A Rodian honked at the Weequay. "There may be others around here, we gotta keep quiet and get this Jedi into an energy cage back at HQ." The Rodian went on, pointing at two Weequay, then at the Chadra-Fan. They walked away, with the Rodians looking around for any observers and then retreating back towards the Enclave. "Oh no." Xio muttered. "Why can't these simple assignments stay simple!" She scolded the air around her. Now she had to develop a plan to rescue her Master without getting caught herself. The exhaustion, once again, pulled at her, and she allowed herself some sleep. With the strength she would regain from a rest, she would be much better equipped to rescue her Master.

Xio crept slowly along the perimeter of the Enclave. It was buzzing with activity, probably from the prospect of a captured Jedi. Xio listened closely to the conversations going on around the Enclave. "We found a datapad, transmissions from Tem Marr. He's the one, along with any Jedi, that Cuun wants, right?" A human said. A Wookiee roared and barked in response. "That many credits for a live Jedi? One hundred and eighty thousand for Tem Marr alive?" The human nearly shouted. "He must really want Marr bad. The datapad belongs to a kid though, Xio Mara. The Chadra-Fan says she doesn't know any Marr either, so the datapad must've slipped into her possession somehow." The human went on, walking out of hearing distance. Xio cursed under her breath. Now they would be after her as well. She went the opposite direction of the departed beings and slowly slipped deeper into the Enclave. It was a maze of corridors, and large chambers. It was difficult to avoid being noticed at times, but Xio was able to detain any possible threats, stunning them with the Force and locking them in large lockers, which had been strewn throughout many of the corridors. The farther she went, the more excitement flowed through the Force, and Xio could only assume she was nearing the place where her Master was being kept. She looked around a corner and saw the energy cage, guarded by several dozen Weequay and Rodians hovering dangerously close to the alarm controls. She couldn't stun them all with the Force, not without being shot or missing several of them that would sound the alarm. She had to fight her way through them. Xio unhooked her lightsaber and ignited it, the auburn glow reflected off the metallic gray surfaces of the Enclave. She turned the corner, raising her lightsaber defensively. "Drop your weapons, and you will not be harmed." Xio shouted, using the Force to amplify it further. The Weequay seemed unaffected but the Rodians shivered and began to lower their weapons… until the Weequay opened fire. Xio continued approaching, lightsaber raised and deflecting the few bolts that threatened her. She was able to come within arm's length of them, before the alarms went off and their shots became more precise. She deflected and dodged, cutting through them and adding the stink of burned flesh to the smoke filled air from each spent energy cell of the blasters. Xio stood panting over the bodies of those that had challenged her. She quickly turned off the alarm and deactivated the energy cage. "Quickly, Master. They are coming." The Chadra-Fan stumbled out of the energy cage, weakened from torture and endless interrogation. "Master, please be strong." Xio pleaded, using the Force to add any extra strength she could spare to aid the injured Master. A blaster bolt exploded into the ceiling above their heads and Xio quickly moved forward to defend her Master, putting her out of harms way. More Rodians, Weequay and a few humans had come to challenge the young Padawan, hoping to overwhelm her perhaps. "I will not fall to you!" Xio shouted and rushed forward, spinning her lightsaber with blinding speed. The blasters went silent, and all that remained were a pile of bodies at Xio's feet. She felt an urge, a power, she had never felt before. It beckoned to her, telling her to accept its strengths and to shatter all her foes that would face her. "Do not… listen to the voice that calls you… Xio…" Master Yahra limped towards the Padawan. "It asks you to join the dark side, and it is not a path you will take. Not while I still have strength… through the Force." Xio squeezed the lightsaber hilt, the voice called louder. She stands in your way of great power, you must destroy her if she is so selfish as to deny you power. Xio deactivated the lightsaber and clipped it back onto her belt. "Your empty promises do not interest me." Xio said aloud. Yahra squeaked slightly. "You made a bold choice. Never have I seen the dark side beckon so loudly for any Jedi. To… reject it is astounding, Padawan." Xio smiled at the Chadra-Fan. "I have had you as my Master, who has trained me well enough to stay true to the path of light, Master." Yahra nodded and squeaked softly. "Our enemies gather, we must move."

They slowly made their way out of the Enclave, hiding from large patrols hunting them as they stalked the corridors. As they traveled, Yahra regained her strength, but exhaustion limited her abilities still. "We must leave Dantooine quickly, Padawan." Yahra said, when they had finally found sunlight. "I believe you are right, Master." Xio said, sounding worried and the snap-hiss of her lightsaber adding worry to Yahra. "No, we do not fight. Carry me, Padawan. Gather speed from the Force, and run. There is a ship; it will leave by nightfall. Hurry!" The Chadra-Fan screamed and was hoisted onto the young woman's back. There was a call on the Force and Xio ran, almost as quickly as a swoop, towards the only landing pad for miles. "Let the Force guide you, Padawan." Yahra whispered, and slowly drifted to sleep.

The small Chadra-Fan on her back slowly became heavier and heavier. It dampened her speed considerably and the sun was setting faster then the landing pad was coming closer to her. She reached out into the Force, searching for the ship about to depart, and slowly created an engine problem that could easily be repaired by altering the polar axis module's fluxuator. Hopefully, that would buy her enough time to get to the landing pad before the ship departed. Xio was skilled with manipulating machines, but never thought of it as a formidable talent, as other Jedi became swordsman or healers. There was no such thing as a Jedi Master who had mastered mechanics with the Force. It was why she trained furiously with healing and lightsaber training sessions when at the Jedi Temple. They would prove to be more useful in the future, Xio was sure of it.

"You're one lucky gal." The flight coordinator was saying to Xio. "Pretty and lucky. That's a lethal combination sometimes." He smiled, but Xio ignored him. "Yep, the ship suddenly got a flutter, and the polar axis went all wacky. Just fixed it now, and she's ready for lift off. You and your little friend there should be able to find a spot no problem. Not many people looking to get away from Dantooine who can afford it." He said, handing her passcards to access the small cabin in the ship. "Have a good flight." He called after her, as she vanished into the ship. The little rodent-like being was in a deep sleep, and so Xio had to carry her Master into the cabin and tuck her into a sleeping pod for the trip back to Coruscant.

They stood before the Council once again, except it was Xio who was explaining what had happened on Dantooine. Yahra was proud of her Padawan, and that she had grown up considerably over the years. She would soon be a Jedi Knight, showing the strength she showed on Dantooine. "The Cardan Forces already occupy Dantooine? That is not something we foresaw." A Twi'lek said, sitting next to the Sullustan. "Yes, and we still have yet to discover why they have become so aggressive suddenly." The Firrerreo mentioned. "There is some unsettling news about the Jedi as well." Xio spoke just loudly enough to be heard. She was nervous about speaking to the Council, Yahra thought. "A man in the Cardan Forces, by the name of Cuun, has placed bounties on any living Jedi and a bounty for one Tem Marr." Xio explained. "Tem Marr?" The Sullustan tried to control her surprise, but worry showed in her face. All the Council members looked between each other. "This is, indeed, a dangerous development. We must meditate on this, and investigate further. Thank you very much." Yahra and Xio bowed and turned to leave, when the Twi'lek called them back. "Xio Mara, there is one more thing we must complete with your presence." The Twi'lek said. "On behalf of the Jedi Council," The Sullustan began. "You are now a full fledged Jedi Knight. Congratulations." The Firrerreo finished. Xio stood there, gaping slightly at what had just been said. "I, uh, thank you, Masters." Xio bowed deeply to them and retreated back to Yahra, leaving the Council behind them. "A Jedi?" Yahra said, squeaking slightly with amusement. "I still believe you could use more training." Yahra looked up at the young Jedi. "Though, the only thing you could learn from me is how to keep your mane clean throughout your journeys. Seeing as you do not have a complicated pelt as my own, we would be wasting time." Xio smiled politely and looked at the floor. "Is something wrong, Xio?" Yahra asked, wondering why her old Padawan was not more excited. "No, nothing, Master. Nothing is wrong." Xio smiled again, but resumed watching her feet. If she did not wish to talk about it, Yahra would not press it further. They walked silently down the corridor together for, possibly, the last time in several years.

Ten months after the battle of Ejak, planet Anteid…

Tem had made himself scarce over the months, not being seen or heard since the battle of Ejak. Rumor had gone around the Facility that he had gone insane, but that was hardly the case. Auwna searched the entire Facility for him, finding him seated at a workbench, welding together sheets of metal. Auwna slowly walked up to him, trying not to be heard. "Hello, Auwna." He said, voice cracked and hoarse from lack of usage. He turned and faced her, scratching at a coarse, uneven beard. His eyes had gone dull gray instead of the vibrant green they use to be. His hair was longer, ragged and matted, drenched with sweat. His clothes were wrinkled and some even clung to his body in places, as if he hadn't changed in weeks. "Hey there, Tem." Auwna said, hesitantly. He regarded her briefly then turned back to his work. "You've come to see what has happened to me, haven't you?" He said bluntly, picking up the welder and igniting it again. "No one has seen you for months. You're always away, or hiding out somewhere." Auwna replied. Tem turned to her again. "You don't hear them all, you don't know what their thoughts are beneath the surface. Now go, leave me to my work." Tem said, turning back to his work. Auwna opened her mouth to say something, but she knew Tem would simply ignore her. She turned her back on him and walked away.

Auwna, Ruwn, Shten, and Tem, who still resembled a Gamorrean on a bad day, stood before High Commander Gaul. "I hope you are all prepared for your next mission." Gaul said, as he paced forward. "You will be infiltrating a new Cardan weapons factory on their main planet of operations, Quitun. The factory is not of regulation model in Cardan Forces, and so we want it destroyed. Any information on what it was making would also be helpful." Shten roared a response and Gaul nodded his head. "I am aware that none of you have any demolition skills. This is why a Ryn contact will be awaiting your arrival on Quitun. He will possess the demolition skills required to destroy the factory." Tem could be seen rolling his eyes at the Gotal, obviously annoyed by most of the process. "Gaul, you mean to say that you couldn't find a Valcun in Facility with any decent demo skills?" Tem proclaimed, smirking dangerously at the officer. "Silence yourself, Marr." Gaul warned. "I'm sure you don't want to suffer the consequences." Gaul threatened, reaching for his blaster. Tem already had his blaster out and at the ready. Auwna and Shten pulled out their respective blasters and Ruwn struggled with Tem to take his firearm away. Shten helped Ruwn pull Tem out of the room, as he thrashed about and yelling at the top of his lungs. His maniacal laughter could be heard from the corridor outside the door.

Tem sat in the hangar, hunched over the workbench once again. His head throbbed as more and more voices filled his head. Each voice added their own worries, fears, concerns, pains and tortures. "Quiet down, already. You're giving me a headache." Tem mumbled to the voices, but they just grew louder and became clearer. He clutched his head, and tried to shut them out. Screams broke through the voices, pained and full of despair. Tem fell off the stool he was sitting on, eyes clenched shut, squirming on the ground. He pleaded with the voices, hoping they would stop. Then everything went silent. Tem slowly opened his eyes and stood up. The hangar lay in ruins, a gaping hole where the workbench was. Facility lay in ruins, as well. Demolished by battle, and patrolled by massive droid ships. Tem walked towards the gaping hole and stared out at the destruction. "Impressive, no?" A voice said from behind Tem. He spun around, reaching for his blaster, but it was not there. "Tem Marr, how pathetic." The man said. He was a foot taller then Tem, with grayish silver hair falling far past his shoulders. He had piercing silver eyes, which measured every inch of him. He was well built and covered in black robes, which flowed around him as if a gentle wind were blowing. "Who are you?" Tem demanded, trying to control his overwhelming fear. "I am Taru Tyenn. Your next question will be 'What happened here?' " Taru laughed, mocking the young man. "Simply, we destroyed it. You chose the destination, I wielded the power and this is the result." Taru said, waving an arm out over the destruction that lay before them. "No, what? How? We?" Tem stuttered, trying to make sense of all of this. "Yes, we did. As I said, you chose the destination. I simply brought all this chaos to Anteid. Just like several other worlds." Taru explained. "You have a choice now, Tem Marr. Accept my power, or be destroyed." Taru threatened, the cold silver eyes narrowing into a glare. "Never!" Tem shouted at the man. "Then you will die." A lightsaber materialized in Taru's hand and he ignited the crimson blade. He leapt at Tem, and froze in mid-leap. A snarl frozen on his face and lightsaber held ready. A cloaked figure walked out from the shadows. "You still have a choice, Tem Marr. Come to me, together we can create things beyond your wildest dreams." The new figure beckoned. His voice was familiar, as if Tem had heard it before. "Who are you? How will I get to you?" Tem asked, walking around the frozen Taru. "I am your new Master. You will come to me, when I call. The future awaits you, make the right decision." Tem jolted awake, drenched in sweat and breathing rapidly. He looked around and saw the hangar around him intact. With a sigh of relief, he sagged back against the floor and panted. Was that a dream? It had been so real. Make the right decision… the words echoed through Tem's mind. Tem looked around the hangar again. There was something different about it. There was no sound, except for Tem's own breathing. The voices had gone, and they no longer plagued Tem's mind. "I'm free…" Tem whispered. "I'm free!" He shouted and got to his feet. He didn't know what to do, he was so happy. Had the cloaked figure in the dream helped him or had it been something else? Perhaps he had gone insane, as everyone had thought. It didn't matter to Tem at the moment, he was too happy. Now, some celebration was in order for his new found freedom. Picking up his bag, he went to the cafeteria to get enough food to satisfy a Rancor.

Auwna, Ruwn, and Shten waited by the Cardan dropship that Tem had captured in one of his 'private' missions. Tem was the only one who wasn't there and he was holding back their departure. "Is it just me, or has Tem changed?" Ruwn said, after several minutes of uncomfortable silence. Shten whuffled his response, and Ruwn shook his head at the Wookiee. "I don't think so. I don't remember anything happening to him in the first five months that I knew him." Ruwn thought aloud. Shten roared and growled a question. "No, fame didn't go to his head." Auwna said. "He spent most of the time away from people. He sat in the corner of the cantina, while everyone else was drinking the night away." She explained as she moved towards the dropship's lowered landing ramp, leaning against a hydraulic pump. "When I talked to him, he said he could have saved everyone that died, but he didn't. He hated himself for it and that's when he went into seclusion." Auwna finished just as Tem walked up, carrying a bulging bag and eating a nourishment bar. He stopped in mid-bite, looking between the two Iridonians and Wookiee. They all stared back at him and Tem cocked his eyebrow. "What are you all looking at?" Tem said around a mouthful of nourishment bar. "Nothing." They said in unison, and quickly scrambled up the landing ramp.

The ship shuttered as it entered hyperspace. Tem was, as usual, at the ship's controls and Shten was busy working in the cargo hold. Ruwn and Auwna were in their room, listening to the steady hum of the hyperdrive. "Ruwn?" Auwna asked, laid out on her bed. "Yeah?" Ruwn replied, stretched out on his own bed. "You're going to be careful, right?" Auwna questioned, sitting up and looking over at the other Zabrak. Ruwn did the same, their knees brushing together. "Of course I will, and we'll have each others backs covered." Ruwn smiled at her slightly. "You're dangerous with a blaster, and well, most other weapons." They laughed together for a minute and just smiled at each other. "I just don't want to lose you, Ruwn." Auwna whispered. "You won't." Ruwn said, and they kissed passionately. They slowly rubbed the horns that protruded from their foreheads together. Ruwn wrapped his arms around her and she just smiled at him.

Tem sat in the cockpit, working on his new blaster. It looked like any other blaster, but used power cell slips. Power cells were placed into a small metal casing, pushed into the blaster, and when one was spent, Tem simply had to pull back the top of the blaster to force the used power cell out. This caused the next power cell to move up and plug into the energy feed. Shten padded in and sat into the co-pilots seat, grumbling in Shryiiwook. Tem smirked up at the Wookiee. "I don't think they had Wookiees in mind when they designed this thing, Shten." Shten growled at him and Tem held up his hands defensively. "Alright, alright. No need to get angry." Shten barked a question and Tem nodded his head, still putting together his blaster. "Go right ahead." Shten let loose a long series of growls, whuffles and whines. Tem was taken aback from the question. "Of course I take full responsibility of the well-being of my squad." Tem said. Shten roared and growled slightly. "Why do you think I stopped doing missions with other people with me?" Tem snarled at the Wookiee. Shten roared back, annoyed. "Because I am responsible! I lead them into danger, and they die! How am I supposed to feel? 'Oh well, time to find a new squad.' " Tem shouted at Shten. They both rose from their seats and exchanged glares. Shten roared angrily at the young man. Auwna and Ruwn burst into the cockpit, blasters drawn, looking between the Wookiee and the human. "What's going on in here?" Ruwn shouted at the two of them. Tem glared at the Zabrak. "Nothing." He left, shoving Ruwn out of his way.

The Cardan homeworld of Quitun was, in many ways, like Coruscant but differed in just as many ways. The capital city of Nukli was separated into several different areas. Military, civilian, industrial and business districts made up the city, with busy streets filled with beings from a dozen different worlds and airways crammed with airspeeders and airbuses. The dropship hovered over the city, towards a landing pad in the civilian area. It took Tem nearly an hour to explain why a Cardan dropship was landing in the civilian area instead of the military district where it belonged. He was the only one in the cockpit again, locking himself away from the others. He still felt annoyed with the Wookiee, and wasn't willing to speak to anyone else. Tem landed the ship without problem from any of the air controllers. Tem pulled on his nerf hide jacket and picked up his bag. He walked out of the cockpit and straight to the landing ramp, not saying a single word to either of them as he passed them. "Tem! Wait! What's going on?" Auwna called after him. They chased after him, but he just quickened his pace. When he reached the city, he disappeared into a crowd, leaving the others behind to take care of themselves.

Auwna, Ruwn and Shten ran down the landing ramp, looking for Tem, but he was no where in sight. "Where could he be?" Ruwn mumbled. Shten roared and waved his huge furry arms around. Auwna shook her head. "We should probably head for the safe house. Tem will eventually turn up there." Ruwn looked as if he was going to say something, but he didn't. Shten grunted and hefted up their packs on his back. "Thanks, Shten." Auwna said, reaching up and scratching the Wookiee under his chin. They all filtered through the crowds in the direction the safe house was in.

"Targets have split up. Marr has run off in the opposite direction then the others. Should I pursue Marr?" The Kubaz honked into a comlink. "No, Marr will come to me on his own. Follow the others. I want to know where they are staying." Cuun said. He was no where near Quitun, but his spy network kept him well informed of what Tem Marr was up to. "Should the bounty hunter truce be called off? We could be rid of a lot the bounty hunters in Nukli if they're all after Marr." The Kubaz said. Cuun listened to the Kubaz, closing his eyes. "No." He said after a few minutes. "The bounty hunters will not be a problem for very much longer. At least, not in Nukli."

Tem shouldered through the crowd of people. He was ignored as the next person in the sea of beings. Tem was just glad he could walk through them all, without hearing their thoughts. The flow of people changed slightly, and Tem was forced into an alley. Trandoshans, Rodians, and several humans cut off the alleyway around him. They all had their blasters drawn and aimed at him. "Ah, from the stories we had heard, we thought you'd be a much better hunt!" One of the Trandoshans hissed. "I'm sorry." Tem said, adopting an apologetic look. His hand fell to his scout blaster at his hip. "Is that your disappointed look? I thought it was a Hutt's backside." The Trandoshan snarled at Tem, threatening to dismember him, but was restrained by chuckling comrades. "What should we do with him?" A Rodian asked. "The bounty hunter truce is still up. If we use the stun batons or the stun setting on our blasters, we might as well parade with this kid on our shoulders." A human grumbled. "And every bounty hunter from here to the Core will want your hides if they find out you have him in your possession while the truce is still on." A female Firrereo said, stepping into the alley, blaster drawn. The original group formed closer around Tem. "Myta, what if we cut you in on the bounty? He's worth a lot, and split it seven w-" The human said. "Save it." Myta cut him off. Stun cuffs fastened around Tem's right wrist. Using his left hand, he withdrew his scout blaster and tossed it to the Firrereo. "Catch! They're going to kill y-" The butt end of a blaster rifle came down across Tem's face, sending him to the ground. The other cuff went around Tem's left wrist and was secured before the Rodian was shot in the back. The Rodian's body fell onto Tem's, the horrible smell of burned Rodian flesh burning his nostrils. Another thud sounded from the alley's entrance. The Rodian's body was pulled off of him and the Firrereo knelt down beside him, removing the stun cuffs. When he was free, he sat up and leaned against one of the alley's wall. Myta remained kneeling down beside him. Her brown and white hair flowed behind her. Her face was soft but worn and she wore a simple white blouse and long nerf-hide skirt and knee-high nerf-hide boots. "You got a big bruise there." She said, touching the side of Tem's face. Tem winced. "I'll be fine. Are you all right? You took them all alone." Tem said, looking at the singe marks on her skirt. "Handsome and a gentlemen. Makes me want you for myself, instead of handing you over to Cuun for credits." Myta said with a sly smile. "Cuun?" Tem asked. "Who's that?" Myta sat right next to him. "The new leader of Cardan Forces. A really weird old man. No one knows anything about him, except that he rose to power and now they're challenging the Republic for territory. He, for some crazy reason, wants you." Myta explained. "But, I should be going, before some 'friends' of mine show up." Myta said. She briefly looked over him once and moved closer to him. "Make my hunt worth while, Marr." She whispered and kissed him gently, before getting up and walking out of the alleyway, tossing back his scout blaster. Tem stared blankly for a minute, wondering if the Firrereo had actually kissed him. When he recovered from the shock, he went and picked up his scout blaster, emptied of the power cell. Tem decided it was time to get to the safe house. He was no longer angry, but now he wanted to be surrounded by them in case more bounty hunters decided to go against the truce. He had to admit he had gotten himself into some deep Bantha fodder.

Tem walked into the safe house, seeing Auwna, Ruwn and Shten waiting for him. They all glared at him slightly, but soon softened and came over to him. "Are you all right? What happened? How did you get that bruise?" The questions flew at him like blaster bolts. "I'm fine, a souvenir from some 'friends' I met in town." Tem said, trying to get some breathing space. Tem looked up at the Wookiee and shook his head. "Shten, listen. I'm sorry I lost my temper at you. I know it's not your fault." Tem said, looking at his feet. Shten whuffled and pressed a huge furry paw against the side of Tem's head. Tem smiled up at the Wookiee and patted the furry paw. "Thank you." Tem murmured. Shten barked and whined, making him smile. "Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself just fine." Tem said, smirking.

The small safe house offered little room for them all. There was a kitchen unit where they would cook and eat, and then another room close to the main door. They all lay sprawled on the floor, half covered in soft sheets. Tem woke up to the door buzzer and found Ruwn's foot jammed into his ribs. With a painful twist of his body, Tem was able to squirm away from the snoring Zabrak, avoid bumping into the Wookiee and managed to creep by the other Zabrak, without waking them. Tem was still half-asleep and it never came to mind that this could be a squad of Cardan troops looking to take them into interrogation. The door hissed open, a dim orange light filtering through the doorway and casting an orange glow over the slow heaving bodies of Tem's friends. The light burned Tem's retinas and he had to cover his eyes to ease the pain. "Tem Marr?" A shocked Ryn voice proclaimed. "Yeah?" Tem said, his vision slowly returning. "You're the last human I expected to see in Nukli, especially with all those bounty hunters around here after you. But then again, you've done stupider things." The Ryn rambled. Tem's eyes widened slightly as he recognized the voice of the Ryn. "You're the last Ryn I expected to see on Quitun. Come on in, it's good to see you again, Gural."

Gural explained everything he had gone off to do after the destruction of Canaltha. He had learned about demolition and construction, working as a starship mechanic on several worlds. He was hired by the Valcuns to do a large demolition job, involving the new structure that had been built in Nukli. He learned as much as he could, from his sources, about the factory but little had turned up except a floor map. Tem had woken everyone else up, so they could all hear what Gural had to say about the factory. "So, we know nothing except where to go?" Auwna asked. Gural nodded. "And security is as tight. Very tight, but my Mrlssi friend can get us in." Gural added. "Undetected, I hope." Ruwn grumbled. Gural's tail twitched slightly. "Well…" Gural began. "I knew it!" Ruwn shouted, jumping out of his chair. Gural jumped out of his own chair in a panic. "Security is tight! I can only disable the security systems for half an hour!" Gural shouted, looking frantically between them. "Then another five minutes once I set the bomb." Shten jumped out of his chair, sending it to the ground with a loud thud. He roared angrily at the Ryn. "Calm down!" Tem shouted over them. He and Auwna remained sitting, but were both ready to pull out their blasters. "It's not a lot of time, but it'll be enough for Ruwn to hack into the systems and lock down the hangar." Gural twitched visibly and everyone turned to face him. "You can't lock down the hangar, it's as open as space." Gural said. Shten roared and threaten to rip the Ryn to pieces. Ruwn added his voice to the roaring. Tem tried to shout over them again, but was unsuccessful. He fired a shot from his blaster into the ceiling, plasteel raining down on him. "Quiet!" Tem said, obviously annoyed. "I'll figure something out, now everyone get some sleep. You're going to need it. That's an order." Tem said sternly. "Dismissed." He pointed to the door and they all marched out, leaving him and Gural alone. "You can lock yourself in the storage closet, it's probably the safer if you do." Tem said. Gural nodded hastily and went to the closet, his tail twitching nervously the whole way. Tem sat back down at the table and rested his head in his hands. It would take a miracle for them to survive this one. Pulling out his datapad, he began working on a miracle.

Auwna found Tem passed out on the table in the morning. He clutched a datapad in his hand as he slept. Ruwn stepped up beside her. "Did he stay up all night working on this?" He asked, moving forward to grab the datapad. "It looks like it." Auwna whispered. Ruwn tried to access the files, but it had been locked down. "So much for having a peek." Ruwn murmured. Shten soon came in and Gural stumbled out of the closet, looking at them all. His eyes were wide with fear. "Relax, we're not going to kill you." Ruwn said. Shten whuffled and grunted, extending a furry paw forward. Gural looked at the extended paw and shook it, whistling softly. "So, we're good now?" Gural said, looking between them again. They all nodded and Gural nearly sagged to the floor with relief. Auwna hid a smile with her hand. She had never seen a Ryn so wound up before. Tem groaned and rubbed at his eyes. Ruwn jumped and quickly put the datapad back on the table, turning his back to it. Auwna grinned and shook her head. Tem looked around at them and blinked several times. "Did I miss something?" He asked. "Nope, nothing at all!" Ruwn said, adopting a joyous expression. "Now, who wants some stimcaf? I sure do!" He said quickly and ran over to the dispenser. Auwna couldn't help but laugh, while Tem simply shook his head.

They all sat around the table once again, only with Tem absent. He had gone outside for some air, taking his datapad with him, refusing to share its contents. They drank their stimcafs in silence for a few minutes, until Gural started whistling softly, laughing at something. They looked at him and he stared back. "What?" He asked. "What's so funny?" Ruwn demanded. "Oh." Gural said, starting to whistle softly again. "It's been a long time since I've seen Tem, but he's hardly changed at all. Still trying to save everyone but himself." Gural shook his head. "I didn't believe the stories about him until I met him when he saved all our sorry tails on Canaltha." He said. " 'Stories'?" Auwna said, smiling. Shten whuffled and grunted. Gural stared at the Wookiee, looking puzzled. "He says do tell." Ruwn translated. Gural grinned and went told one of the stories of Tem Marr.

Tem came in as Gural was finishing his story. "Really? Who was that?" He asked, as he came in. Gural grinned at him. "You, of course." Tem cocked his eyebrow at the Ryn. "No, that wasn't me. I would've known if I did something like that." Tem said, grabbing the last available seat around the table. "And I haven't done anything like that before." He pointed out, grabbing a fruit from the bowl at the center of the table. "What about at Ejak?" Auwna said, smirking. "That was nothing." Tem argued. "We lost one hundred and fifty men. I don't consider that being heroic." He growled slightly. "Out of five thousand, and you saved the rest of them." Auwna pointed out. "If it wasn't for you, we might not be here." Tem waved his hand at the Zabrak. " 'Might'." Tem grumbled. "Marr, you know you're a hero deep down. It runs in your veins. Remember everything Chor did?" Gural said. "I don't want to talk about my father, Gural." Tem snapped. "I want to get on with the mission." He added. "We should head for the factory and be there by midday. Any problems with that?" The others shook their head and slowly gathered their things. Tem picked up his bag, and went outside. He didn't want to be mad at them; he had no right to. His father was so great, and Tem wanted desperately to stay out of his shadow, and be his own person. He didn't want to be the son of Chor Marr; he wanted to be Tem Marr and whatever destiny had set for him.

They reached the factory by midday, as Tem had planned, with their Mrlssi contact waiting for them. "Oh… my… A Wookiee." The Mrlssi said as they approached. "I wonder if you are like the many other in your kin, very short tempered." The feather-covered being said, clicking his long fingernails together. Shten's upper lip curled back to reveal sharp teeth, with a low grumbling in his throat. "Oh dear." The Mrlssi squeaked and stepped sideways to place Tem between him and the Wookiee. "General Marr, I presume?" The Mrlssi asked, extending a three-fingered hand. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you. Gural has told me many stories of your acts of heroism." He said, bobbing his head. "Oh, really?" Tem said, turning his head to glare at the Ryn while shaking the Mrlssi's hand. "This infiltration you are about to under go…" The Mrlssi whispered. "It proves your courage, General. You must be a very talented individual to have lived this long. The odds of you surviving for this long are one in-" Tem held a hand up to stop the Mrlssi from continuing. "Thanks, any information you can give us?" Tem asked, hopeful that more information had leaked during the time Gural had gotten his. "I'm afraid not, other then the fact that the whole facility has been deserted, shortly before your arrival. Another mathematical impossibility, I assure you." He said, his eyes darting back and forth as he did mental calculations. "Great, thanks." Tem said. "You might want to get off planet." The Mrlssi simply smiled at him. "Of course, General. I fear my odds of successfully escaping this planet after your visit into the factory will become much smaller as time passes. I have already made such plans." He said, looking at his chrono. "Speaking of which, I must be departing to arrive on time at the spaceport. Once again, General, it was a pleasure to meet you." The Mrlssi said and quickly scuttled off towards the bustling crowds. They stood staring at the hatch for a minute, before Auwna spoke. "Generals first, sir." Auwna said with a smirk. "I know, I know." Tem said, waving his hand at the Zabrak. Pulling open the hatch, he prepared himself to jump away from blaster fire. None came when the hatch was opened completely. "Ok then…" Tem muttered and climbed in.

They walked through the many corridors for five minutes before they finally found the reactor chamber. "Go ahead and get to the hangar, we'll meet you there." Tem ordered Ruwn and Auwna ahead. "Yes, sir." They saluted and marched off for the hangar. Gural was hunched around a power coupling, sparks flying around him as he worked. His tail made small circles in the air as he worked, obviously pleased with himself. One thing Ryns weren't short on was pride in themselves. Tem's comlink crackled to life and he pulled it off. "Marr here." He spoke into it. "No trouble in the hangar, sir." Ruwn's voice said. "We're preparing a few ships for take off. How much longer will you be?" Gural turned from his work and pushed his goggles up to his forehead. "In about fifteen more minutes." Gural said, and went back to work. "Alright then, we'll see what kind of damage we can do to these other ships." Ruwn said. Tem's forehead throbbed. He pressed two fingers to his temples. Images hovered through Tem's mind. "Ruwn, wait. Is there a huge bartered freighter there?" Tem asked. "Yeah… How did you know?" Ruwn asked, his voice full of shocked amazement. "Don't damage it, I have a use for it." Tem responded. "Alright, sir." Ruwn said, slightly confused. The comlink went dead and Tem leaned against a wall, checking the power on his blaster. Each power cell in the slip was at full, just like they were the last time he checked. Shten busied himself by cleaning carbon scoring off his bowcaster. The Wookiee obviously had been in many battles previous from all the carbon scoring built-up on his bowcaster. "Another story, for another time." Tem muttered to himself.

"Go! Go!" Tem shouted. The bomb had been strapped on and they had twenty minutes before the automated security systems would come on. Unfortunately, the bomb was only set for five minutes. "Quickly!" Tem shouted again as they ran. Movement caught Tem's attention, and he skidded to a halt. "What the hell…?" He muttered as he stepped closer to the transparisteel window. "Oh, frag!" Tem shouted, eyes wide with fear. Legions of war droids marched in formation in front of him. They were all armed with the finest weaponry and varied in shapes and sizes. One turned its head to where Tem was, and then all the others joined it. Arming their weapons, they all turned in unison towards the wall housing the transparisteel windows. "Oh, frag!" Tem screamed and ran down the corridor to catch up with his comrades.

Tem bolted into the hangar, winded from the run to the hangar, obviously. He started shouting gibberish at them and Auwna stepped forward, grabbing him firmly by the shoulders and shaking him violently. "Marr! Calm down! What is it?" Auwna shouted at him. "Droids…!" Tem wheezed. "Five… thousand…" He coughed and straightened. "I… I can take them." Tem said. Auwna shook her head. "No, you can't. Not five thousand, at least." Auwna said. "Get in your ships." Auwna ordered the rest, putting an arm around Tem to help him to his. He turned and pulled away, pulling out his newly modified blaster. He aimed at the Zabrak, and she rose her hands in defense. "Tem… What are you doing?" Auwna asked slowly. "Get in your ship. That's an order." Tem said sternly. "But, no! I won't leave you here to die." Auwna snarled back. Tem lowered his aim and fired centimeters away from Auwna's feet. "Then I'll kill you if I have to." Tem said. "Go, now, Lieutenant." Shten and Gural were halfway into their ships, frozen by Tem's sudden change. Ruwn was safely tucked into a fighter and waiting to blast out of here. "Marr…" Auwna growled. "No arguments, Lieutenant." Tem calmly replied. Auwna spat at Tem's feet and turned to her fighter, walking quickly towards it. "Head for space, don't want for me." Tem said, turning to the corridor he had come. Shten roared and Tem turned around. The Wookiee had made his way to the human. Whuffling something, Auwna watched as the Wookiee picked up the young man in a hug. "I'll be fine, now go you big furry oath!" Tem shouted. Shten dropped him and went to his ship. The V-shaped fighters were Cardan Forces standards, and they all knew how to fly them, but Auwna was afraid for Tem. There was no way he could survive, no matter what he said, unless he pulled off a miracle.

Eight of the Cardans finest starcruisers created a blockade around the planet, ready to intercept any ship trying to leave Quitun in a hurry. "Launch the droid starfighters, any resistance against us will most likely be ceased by our robotic friends." Cuun said, watching several dozen displays in front of him, as other crewmembers bustled about at their own consoles. "Yes, sir." The deck officer said. "Droids fighters launched."

Tem's blaster shots were lost in a sea of return fire. He kept firing nonetheless and went through another of the power cells. Two used power cells were on the ground by his feet, with the rest of the slip vanishing quickly as Tem tried to destroy the droids. "Gural! Go!" Tem shouted at the Ryn who was busy activating a turret. "I, uh, um… no!" Gural shouted back, with a grin. The turret came online and he fired down the corridor where the droids were coming from. They fought for three more minutes until Tem realized only a minute remained on the bomb. "Gural! Get to your fighter! The bomb!" Tem shouted and ran for the giant Ore Hauler that Ruwn had started for him. The Ryn went to a landspeeder instead of a ship, a bandoleer of explosives strapped to its covering plates. "Gural! What are you doing?" Tem shouted at the Ryn, wide-eyed. "Tem! Tell this story to everyone." He said, and slammed the accelerator down, speeding down the droid filled corridor. "This is for shutting down my bomb!" Tem heard Gural's voice echo back down to the hangar, before it struck Tem. "Good luck, Gural." Climbing into the Ore Hauler, he skipped the start-up diagnostics and fired the engines. He didn't want to be stuck here when Gural forced the bomb to go off.

"There are too many of them!" Ruwn shouted, his ship bouncing around to avoid laser fire. "Hold steady! We can make it!" Auwna shouted back, but she wasn't sure of it. Eight starcruisers were waiting for them past the sea of the droids, and they were already taking heavy damage from the starfighters. There was a hole in the formation and Auwna jetted for it. "Form up, let's get out of here." She said, flying into an especially thick cluster of droid starfighters. They were met with wave after wave of energy, pounding ship and shield, slowly destroying them. "Shields out." Ruwn and Shten put in after only a few seconds of flying through the blizzard of energy. "We can't hold out much longer." Auwna muttered, grinding her teeth. "Anybody call for backup?" Tem's voice crackled over the comm. The massive Ore Hauler roared past the fighters and ripped through the droid starfighters with its asteroid grinders and laser cutters. "You're actually flying that piece of junk?" Ruwn shouted at Tem. "You got a problem with that?" Tem responded. "Because I can land and hide out for a couple of weeks if you guys want." The Ore Hauler began to drop in altitude. "No, no, never mind what I said. Give us a hand here!" Ruwn quickly apologized. The Ore Hauler was amazingly limber and extremely speedy for its size and make. That wasn't something to worry about right now. The onslaught of droid starfighters still raged on around them and she couldn't be distracted by Tem's new ship.

While the ship continued slaughtering droids, Tem busied himself with finding a safe hyperspace route through the blockade. The cruisers were in too tight a formation to fly between them without getting killed, and the droid starfighters were keeping them from getting farther away from the blockade. There was an asteroid field, but he couldn't lead them through there, not with the Ore Hauler. "The Ore Hauler…" Tem muttered. "Form up behind me in a straight line, we're flying through that asteroid field." Tem said over the comm. "What!" Ruwn shouted back at him. Shten roared his agreement to Ruwn's proclamation. "Would you rather fly between the ships that are trying to kill us?" Tem snarled. "I guess not. Lead the way, General." The V-shaped ships behind him lined up, single file, and followed Tem through the asteroid field. "Shields up, it's going to get really bumpy."

"Master Cuun, sir, the ships are breaking away and heading for the asteroid field. I am afraid we cannot follow them without taking considerable damage." The deck officer reported. "We will follow them, officer." Cuun said, raising his hand, picking up the imbecile before him with the Force. "Or you will have more to fear then damage taken to this ship." Cuun snarled, dropping the officer harshly to the ground. "Follow those ships."

"They're following us!" Tem shouted in disbelief. All eight cruisers, and all the droid starfighters, were flying into the asteroid field after them. "What the hell did you do to make them so pissed?" Ruwn asked. "Another time, Ruwn!" Tem shouted irritably back. He sent his ship into a spiral, the laser cutters and grinders ripping through asteroids that threatened to pummel his ship. "We'll make it to the other side before they can catch up, though. Boost speed, I want to make sure we make it." Tem ordered, increasing the Ore Hauler's speed. "We won't have to worry about that lead cruiser for much longer." Auwna said. Tem looked at his sensors and saw the massive asteroid barreling towards the cruiser. The asteroid simply vanished before it even made contact with the hull and Tem was suddenly breathless. He collapsed against the deck of the Ore Hauler as it plummeted downwards into atmosphere. "Tem! Pull up!" Auwna shouted. Tem regained his breath and quickly pulled the ship back into the asteroid field. "What happened to that asteroid?" Tem asked, looking at his sensors. "It just… vanished." Ruwn said. Shten roared and whined. "I agree. It's all clear from here, guys. Head for space, I'll keep that lead cruiser off your backs." Tem said. He swung the Ore Hauler into a tight loop over an asteroid, speeding for the cruiser. There was one thing he could do to ensure that his squad mates survived, but there was no guarantee that he would survive.

"Sir, the Ore Hauler is hailing us. He claims to be a Tem Marr and is willing to be brought aboard." The deck officer continued to plague Cuun with useless reports. "Then place the tractor beams on his ship and bring him to me." Cuun snarled. "I, yes, sir." The deck officer stammered and quickly went to spread the order. Closing his eyes, Cuun reached out with the Force, found Tem's powerful presence. He had grown more powerful since he had forced the vision of the destroyed Facility into Tem's mind. Cuun's thin lips curled into a smile, revealing disgustingly rotted teeth. Tem Marr will prove to be the most powerful being Cuun had ever taught. He would not be a failure like his past apprentices, but be a hero to the Sith, in a sense. The future had unraveled before him, and it proved quite advantageous for Tem. He still had one choice to make, though. There was false sincerity in his transmissions, and he was not about to be captured. "I will change that." Cuun mumbled and reached out for the young man once again.

Tem flew the Ore Hauler around the lead cruiser, as it blasted asteroids away from itself. He was waiting for a response to his transmissions. So you have come to me… A voice echoed in Tem's mind. "What? Who's there?" Tem said, looking around the empty cockpit of the Ore Hauler. Stop your frantic searching. I am not aboard your vessel, but I am on the cruiser before you. I see you are much healthier now, did my mind blocks work? The voice continued. "You stopped the voices from talking to me, if that's what you mean." Tem said slowly. Ah, good. Then it did work. I feared you did not have the mental stability to keep the mind blocks in place. It appears you do and you are proving yourself to be much more powerful each time I touch your presence. The voice spoke softly, like a mother would a frightened child. "Did you destroy that asteroid that was about to hit your ship?" Tem asked, wondering if this voice possessed such power. Destroy it? No, I simply transported it away from me. I believe it collided near the outer rim of the asteroid field. I could be mistaken, however. The voice said, rambling on about the possibilities. "You really did that?" Tem questioned. Of course, you can possess that great power if you wish. Simply do not fire the concussion missiles and destroy my tractor beam generators. You will be so powerful that you could rule over all the Sith, myself included. The voice prompted. Sith…That word struck Tem like a lightning bolt. The Jedi Council on Coruscant had told him that he would put himself in danger of becoming a vicious Sith warrior if he did not stay with them and began his training. He couldn't understand why he was so important, but hearing the stories of the Sith, Tem was not about to become one. "Sorry, but I think I'll blow your generators and run away, anyway." Tem said and armed the concussion missiles, just as forty tractor beams locked onto him. "Missiles away. I hope you like explosions." Tem said to the air around him with a grin. He emptied all the concussion tubes and watched as the explosions blossomed across the cruiser's hull. Fifteen tractor beams remained intact, but Tem could easily fly out of those, at least he was confident he could. When the Ore Hauler attempted to run from the tractor beams, it groaned in protest and was still held firmly in their grip. "Frag!" Tem shouted and slammed his fists against the console. There would be no escape this time, and this is what he was left with. He activated the transmitter and transmitted a final message to Xio Mara on Coruscant. When he was finished, he prepared the ship for a power overload in the core reactor. The resulting explosion would destroy both ships, and the Sith aboard that ship. At least, Tem mused, I'll have one less Sith on the Jedi's, and Xio's, case. His ship was slowly pulled closer and closer. "Mom, dad." Tem said to his reflection in the viewport. "I'm sorry I had to resort to this, when I could've ignored this cruiser and be lightyears away from here, safe." Tem muttered. He swore he could see his parents in the reflection in the viewport, smiling at him. Their lips moved wordlessly, but Tem understood. You've made us so proud.

One week before Tem Marr's death, approaching planet Yavin Eight…

Xio sat patiently aboard the filthy freighter. "How much, eh, longer until we reach Yavin Eight?" Xio asked the even filthier pilot, as she pulled a small rodent off her robes. "Not much farther. Fraggin' space lanes are so spaced up. You better praise a Hutt for me being able to get you here so quickly." The pilot grumbled. Xio shook her head wearily. What a long trip, Xio thought, I can barely stand the company of this…pilot, who needs some manners. "Wake me when we arrive, pilot." Xio said, closing her eyes and hoping it wouldn't be much longer. "Yeah, sure." He went on to mumble about the problems of the galaxy, but Xio just ignored him.

Yavin Eight was much like Yavin Four and Two. Covered in forests, jungles, lakes, oceans and various other different terrains', it was as good as an example of an uninhabited world much like its sister planets. The difference between each planet was the species that roamed the surface of each world. The Massassi once roamed Yavin Four, until Exar Kun had destroyed most of the race. Melodie had much territory on Yavin Eight, but Yavin Two remained a mystery. The planet was said to be home of brutal beasts and savages, descendants of exiles, but could not be confirmed. Cardan Forces were pushing harder and harder each passing month, but the Valcun Mercenaries were keeping them stranded in the Outer Rim. The Cardans owned several Outer Rim worlds, but only one or two in the Mid Rim. The Valcuns refused most territory, and only stayed on one planet long enough to regroup and return back to one of, what they had titled as their central worlds. Xio walked through one of the many jungles, searching for the Melodie children who lived on the shoreline until they made the journey to the underground pools where they would make their progression into adulthood. "Don't move, human." Xio stopped and stood motionless. The sound of charging blasters could be heard in the brush around her. Yellow eyes pierced through the thick undergrowth. "I mean you no harm, young Melodie." Xio said calmly, raising her empty hands above her head to show they contained no weapons. "I am a Jedi here to investigate the presence of others of my species who will cause harm to you." She explained. "If the others of your kind mean us harm, why should we trust you?" The young voice questioned angrily. "Perhaps I could prove to you I am worthy of your trust?" Xio looked at the pair of yellow eyes glaring at her. There was a rustle and murmurs from the young Melodies as they debated the proposal. "We will take you to the elders. They will know what you can do to prove yourself." There was more rustling and the yellow eyes vanished. "Find our village, and you will show the elders that you are worth their time."

After an hour of searching, Xio found the village sitting by the lake. The Melodie children lived near the adult Melodie so that they were not completely on their own from birth. Shadows in the lake seemed to follow Xio, and she could only assume it was the adult Melodie, making sure she did not try to harm their offspring in anyway. Xio kept walking towards the village, trying to ignore the numerous shadows in the lake following her. "You finally made it. We were starting to think the purrella got a hold of you. I guess we're not that lucky." The young Melodie boy grumbled obviously annoyed by the arrival of the Jedi. Xio sighed and smiled politely at the Melodie boy. "Could you please take me to see your elders?" The Melodie children were beginning to test her patience. "Yeah, sure. Follow me." The Melodie boy said and started wandering towards a hut out on the lake resting on stilts. Xio followed him, noticing the shadows in the lake again. "I didn't get your name. Do you want to tell me?" Xio asked, looking away from the lake. She didn't particularly like deep open water, especially after the firaxa shark incident. "Lubast." He said curtly to her. "How much longer until you go for the transformation to adulthood?" Xio asked, ignoring Lubast's disinterest in conversation. "Next week." Lubast seemed to walk faster. Xio smiled slightly to herself. "I see. Do you go to protect your fellows from purellas in the caves?" Lubast shook his head. "No, I have to stay in the village and protect the younger Melodies. I'm not skilled as a warrior to fight off purella." Lubast growled slightly. "Oh, well, you are still doing something important here." Xio pointed out. Lubast remained silent the rest of the way. Xio's heart raced as they walked over the rickety planks of the dock leading to the hut. "I, uh, is this safe?" Xio asked, carefully walking along the dock. "Safe enough for a Bantha to walk across." Lubast said, several steps ahead of her. "Ok." Xio said, not quite certain about that. A horn sounded from the village. "Stang! Black Coats!" Lubast shouted and withdrew a blaster rifle. Red bolts of energy splintered the dock in front of and behind Xio. "Stang, indeed." Xio muttered and withdrew her lightsaber, scanning the jungle for the source of the shooters. A stray bolt destroyed the plank beneath Xio's feet and she plunged into the lake. She screamed in terror as she plunged into the darkness of the lake, watching as the light above slowly faded.

"Will she be all right?" Lillina asked, looking over the drenched young human stretched out, limp, on a makeshift cot. "I certainly hope so, Lillina." Venia responded the young Melodie. "Only a Jedi will be able to help us. You children are not able to fight the Black Coats that are invading us. They may even overwhelm this Jedi that has been sent to aid us." Furner pointed out. "She is all we have, and we must be grateful. Myta says they are having difficulties enough already. That they were able to spare us a Jedi is a great honor." Venia said. Xio groaned and lulled her head from side to side. "Wha-what happened?" She murmured and sat up, her wet hair clinging to her face. "We were attacked by the Black Coats. You fell in the lake, and went unconscious." Venia explained, almost as if it were of no importance. "Oh." Xio said, trying to tidy herself up. "I am Xio Mara, of the Jedi Order. Sent here to investigate the problems that one of your spacefaring friends had reported to us." Xio stood up, and tensed considerably, noticing that she was near the deep water again. "Oh, yes, that would have been Myta." Furner said. "The Black Coats are the problem." Venia put in. "They came here in big ships! They bring blasters and they light the jungles on fire!" Lillina shouted from her place by the door. "Do they happen to have a strange fish skeleton printed on their coats and ships?" Xio asked, getting ready to place a hand on her face. "Why, yes, they did. You have encountered these Black Coats before?" Xio shook her head, face covered by her hand. "Yes, and no. There is a very long story that would explain all of this, but I'm afraid we don't have that time." Xio said, removing her hand from her face and looking between the three Melodie. "Yes, yes. Straight to business, good." Furner said. "Our scouts have informed us that the Black Coats are planning on invading our lakeside village. They see the children as a threat, apparently." Venia explained. "I see. I will attend to this matter then. Can your scouts take me to the Cardan camp?" Xio asked. Furner and Venia exchanged a momentary glance. " 'Cardan'?" They said simultaneously. "Oh, I'm sorry. The correct term for the Black Coats is Cardan Forces. They are mostly regarded as the Cardans by most beings in the galaxy that know of them." Xio explained. "Oh, thank you for educating us Jedi. Myta did not tell us the name of our invaders, and left in a very big hurry. Something about a mark being spotted on a distant world where we cannot travel. Marr, I believe the name was." Furner said. "Marr? Tem Marr?" Xio asked quickly, standing up at the mention of the name. "Yes! Yes! Tem Marr! That was the name Myta spoke of before she left. She was very excited to have found this Tem Marr." Lillina said happily then blushed when everyone stared at her and went silent. "Do you know this Tem Marr, Master Mara?" Furner asked. "Yes, I do. That is also a long story, I'm afraid." Xio smiled politely, but there was something lingering behind it. "I should probably go and handle this Cardan situation before it is too late." Xio said and quickly left the hut. "I believe this Tem Marr means a great deal to her that she is not willing to discuss." Furner pointed out. Venia shook her head. "Are you so blind, Furner? She is in love. Anyone would have recognized her behavior as such. You should stop swimming so close to the surface. The algae is beginning to affect your thinking capacity." Venia said and then dove down to the deeper reaches of the lake. Furner laughed slightly. "Lillina, would you please accommodate our Jedi friend until she departs for the Cardan camp?" Furner asked the young female Melodie. "Yes, father. Is something wrong with mother?" Furner laughed again. "No, child, no. She is just remembering a time long in the past." Furner shook his head and smiled before diving down after Venia.

"How much longer until we reach the camp?" Xio asked, cutting down another low hanging vine with a laser cutter she had brought with her. "Not much. You must be silent when we reach the perimeter. They have skillful scouts." Lubast explained. "That means you can't keep cutting the vines and you'll have to move them out of your way." Lubast said with a smirk. Xio tucked away the laser cutter back in her boot and continued forward. "We're coming within their perimeter. This is where I leave you, I'm afraid." Lubast said. "Good luck, Jedi." Lubast retreated back into the thick jungle, vanishing almost instantly. "Yeah, thanks." Xio muttered, and began to crawl on her stomach. If the scouts were as good as Lubast said they were, it would be better if she wasn't walking about in plain sight.

Several kilometers and five scouts later, Xio found the main camp. Repulsor cranes, mining equipment and droids worked furiously to clear away the dense jungles, to make way for more droids and equipment to do their assigned tasks. Xio watched silently as the droids worked. A massive treaded droid used fine lasers to quickly deteriorate the jungle around it. Xio rubbed her temples as the lasers burned through the vegetation. The cries of the jungle numbed her mind through the Force. Melodie were said to have some Force sensitivity, and this would have contributed to their discomfort with having the Cardans occupying their world. Even the planet itself cried out, as another tree, with its roots running deep into the soil, was cut down or ripped from its place. The local wildlife was also running in every direction, trying to avoid harm, or ending up becoming targets for bored Cardan soldiers. There weren't many of them. A dozen or so, Xio counted, one or two were techs to maintain the droids and one was a coordinator. Xio didn't have any skill as a computer slicer so she would have to capture the techs and maybe the coordinator to provide access codes not given to the techs. The techs were huddled near a command hub, trying to stay away from the obnoxiously loud soldiers who were going on about some new blaster model. The coordinator was small, but louder then most of the soldiers, puffing out his chest with authority and barking orders' at them all. Xio watched as the coordinator retreated back into his makeshift office as the soldiers resumed disputing the blaster's range. If Xio attacked head on, she would draw the attention of the techs and the coordinator, giving them time to run and hide, or lock themselves somewhere. Xio decided going straight for the coordinator would be the best course of action. However, that meant she had to continue her belly crawling towards the coordinator's shed. "The work of a Jedi." Xio muttered to herself and began crawling towards the coordinator's office.

Xio had finally made it to the coordinator's office, but darkness had fallen over the jungle. "Alright, fire the generator. We work through the night! Where's the night shift?" The coordinator shouted from nearby. This could make things easier, Xio thought to herself. The coordinator would most likely go to sleep now, while the others worked. With him incapacitated, he wouldn't notice Xio in his office until it was too late. There was a grinding roar and the sound of surging power, before blinding lights flickered to life and illuminated the whole area. Xio suppressed a scream as the lights burned her eyes, and ground her teeth together. Her eyes slowly readjusted, but she still could not look near the light sources without seeing spots. Xio slowly rose and made her way towards the coordinator's office. She crept towards the back end of the hut and began cutting through it with her cutting laser. There was a light still on inside, but the small hut looked as if it was separated into two rooms. Xio hoped she was cutting into the bedroom, and could catch the coordinator as he was coming in to sleep. The cutting laser took minutes to make a large enough hole for Xio to enter, and she was pleased to discover that she was right. She looked around the darkened room, the only light from the powerful lighting fixtures outside, casting an eerie shadow along the walls. There was a small cot, bedside table covered with notes and blueprints, and a door opposite of the bed. The door creaked open and the coordinator came in. "Who the-?" He didn't have a chance to say anything before Xio had his arm securely behind his back and jabbing her lightsaber hilt into his ribs. "Listen to me, and listen closely. I want you to take me to the main control hub, and get any techs you have to come with us." Xio said slowly. "Or you will find out what it's like to be on my bad side." Xio twisted the lightsaber hilt to painfully rub against his ribs. "Now do as I say, and we shouldn't have any problems." The coordinator just nodded, and was already sweating excessively. She led the man out, gripping him firmly in her grip to be sure he did not decide it would be a good idea to try and run. They slowly made their way to the techs unhindered. The night shift guards were gathered around heaters playing pazaak. Their hollers of joy or disappointment rung out through the camp over the loud buzzing of the powerful glow lamps and heavy machinery droids. The techs were huddled near a computer console, discussing their favorite politicians. "Tell them to shut down the droids." Xio whispered, pressing the lightsaber harder into the little man. "Hey! You techs, I got a job for you!" He began. "Get security right now! I'm being held hostage!" Xio cursed under her breath and knocked the man unconscious and igniting her lightsaber. "Shut the droids down, and I won't have to kill you all. Do it now." Xio demanded, holding her lightsaber at the ready. The techs were even more cowardly then the coordinator and set to work. The droids ceased their activities and rolled towards designated sections where they would shut down and recharge their power cells. "Leave this place, and never come back. I will personally hunt you all down if any more Cardans walk this soil. Do you understand me?" The techs nodded nervously. "Good." Xio turned and walked away, heading for the jungle where she would disappear just as Lubast had done earlier that day.

After several long hours, the Cardans slowly packed up their things and vanished into the sky above, leaving little evidence of their stay on the surface. Xio could feel the trees rest easy once again. Xio yawned, having stayed to watch the departure efforts had exhausted her, and she was half-asleep on the ground right now. She rose slowly to her feet and began walking back to the Melodie village. She could get some sleep there, inform the Melodie of what happened, and then be back in Coruscant to present a full report on the matter. Right now, though, Xio needed sleep. I wonder, Xio mused, what the next blue milk run will be that I must complete for the Council.

Back on Coruscant, Xio gave a report to the Council, and they dismissed her until they needed her again. Xio walked into her room and opened the only blinking message left on her comm unit. Xio smiled, knowing it was from Tem. Last she heard from him was seven days ago, when he was leaving on a special assignment. He had refused to give any further information on the subject and said he would contact her soon. She opened it and played it. Warning buzzers sounded from the comm. "Xio, it's Tem. I'm transmitting from a stolen ship I used to escape from Quitun, the Cardan homeworld. I didn't want to tell you how dangerous this mission was because I knew you would worry, and I didn't want to put you through that." In the distance, the ship groaned in agony. "I don't have much time, so I'll be blunt. My ship is captured, and I'm about to destroy it. I'm sorry, but I have no other choice. Please forgive me, Xio. I'm really sorry. I love you." The comm died and Xio sat there, staring at it. She checked the comm; desperately hoping there was another message. A message that told her that Tem had found a way out, that he had gotten away, but there was no such message. She pressed her forehead against the comm unit, bursting into tears. "No…" She whispered. "Why did you have to do this? Why did you have to leave me?" Her tears dripped down onto the comm's display, rolling down its smooth surface to fill in unseen cracks. No answers came, and only the truth remained. Tem was gone, brought down in battle. The galaxy seemed a much larger and lonelier place then it had once been.