5 Years earlier from the present time

Three years had passed since that fateful day that Keekay left with Master Val'tesh. Since he was officially dubbed Padawan, Keekay had followed his Master on many missions for the Jedi Order, mainly missions of political secrecy nothing relating to combat action. Though Keekay was now 14yrs old he was not old enough to fight in a warzone but that was about to change. Master Val'tesh and Keekay where on such a mission of political importance aboard the Republic cruiser Reconciliation in transit to Tython where the information needed to be delivered in haste.

"All forces we are about to be boarded by Imperial Marines. Prepare for hand-to-hand combat in crew quarters." The Captain's voice came over the com system. Master Val'tesh looked to his Padawan. "Keekay, get to the bridge and set up a defense, go!" "What about you Mas-" "Don't question my orders just obey them!" He roared before running off. Master Val'tesh was very abrupt and often offensive but he had earned the right to be or so Keekay had been told, so Keekay shrugged in irritation and took off with a burst of speed from the force. He reached the bridged just in time as a squad of Imperial troops where flooding through a hole in the blast doors.

Keekay had learned quickly that his small size allowed him to be considerably more agile compared to an adult and he used this to his advantage. He threw his saber sending it spinning directly at the Imperial troops and it carved a swath through them ending four of the 12 troop's lives and severely injuring two. The saber returned to his hand where he ran up to the remaining Imperials and spun low removing the remaining six guard's shins like nothing. Groans of pain and agony could be heard through their helmets which Keekay silenced quickly as he whipped his saber at the heads of all the remaining troops that had survived the sudden attack from the young boy. The Republic forces on the bridge came out form their hiding places. "Padawan Keekay, I can't thank you enough. We didn't stand a chance to their firepower. "The Captain said as she and her officers all walked up to him. "No worries Captain, may I ask how we were boarded?" "As you can see the two Imperial cruisers have us in a tractor beam. They jumped from hyperspace and organized the attack perfectly. We didn't have any chance to react. They didn't even give us warning." She explained as she pointed to the two Imperial ships outside the bridge windows. "What about our escorts?" He asked. "When we exited hyperspace they didn't exit with us, we suspect that they ran into some Imperial trouble." She informed. "Well, I have orders from Master Val'tesh to secure the bridge and set up a defensive position." Keekay replied.

5 Years earlier from the present time

Commander Deva walked onto the bridge of the Emperors Wrath and up to the throne of Darth Venna. She took a knee, "Greetings my Lord," "Ah, my new Commander." I see the years have been good to you. Deva smiled, "Only because of the gracious credits the new Darth Venna has spent on training for me." "Credits are of no concern to a Dark Lord, It's what they can buy. Tell me, where did you receive your close combat training?" "On the world Mandalore, under Field Marshal Yash Sar, who was also the last Supreme Battle Master of the Mandalorian military." "Was?" "He met with an accident not long after my training had been completed." Venna smiled knowing full well what 'accident' meant. "Very good, what about you're advanced naval tactics?" "I received direct training under Grand Admiral Teshna Vos of the Imperial Navy as well as Admiral Ket Gash from the Republic Navy. Both were killed in training accidents of their fleets." "Are you trained to command ground forces. Yes I was trained by equivalent ranks and positions in Army tactics. My Imperial Intelligence training came directly from Darth Jadus." Venna sat up. "Darth Jadus of the Sith council?" "That is correct." Venna nodded with approval.

"Your first mission is in the heart of the Jedi Order, Tython. There is a young boy I want you to find all the information you can on him. His name is Keekay he is a Jedi possibly a Jedi Padawan, if your training is as good as the sources you have named are, then breaking into the heart of the Jedi Order will be easy and you will have proven this to me. This is only an information retrieval mission, Commander." Commander Deva gave a crisp salute. "I will find this Keekay and find all the information I can on this boy." She then excused herself.

5 Years earlier from the present time

Keekay kept looking at the Captain, she had amazingly gorgeous feature almost flawless with ink black hair that was in a ponytail. He kept looking at the Captain not sure what it was about her but something poked at his mind. Like he had seen her before or somehow knew her. She walked over to him while the Bridge officers began to barricade the door.

"You're very young for a Jedi ya know. I must admit it is rare to see skill, such as yours, in an ordinary trooper much less a child." He sighed as he crossed his arms. He was getting uncomfortable being around this woman, "Thanks, I-I suppose." She grinned, "How did you come to be a Jedi?" Keekay looked at her with his silver eyes. "I was brought to the Jedi temple on Tython by a Jedi Knight." "I assume that's your current master, yes?" He shook his head, "No Master Val'tesh is the Jedi who has taken me under his wing to teach me the ways of the Jedi." An expression of curiosity crept across the Captains face. "I was under the impression that the Jedi to bring a youngling to the academy was the Jedi who trained the same youngling." She stated. "A common misconception, Jedi's pick their Padawan's based on the connection the Knight or Master feels to the Padawan, those who aren't chosen within a certain age limit are sent to work in another lessor areas of the Order." She raised her eyebrows, "That seems a bit har-"

"Captain, Imperial forces are gathering down the corridor!" One of the officers interrupted trying not to panic. "Very well ladies and gentlemen, remember your training, stay cool, we have Commander Keekay we just need to hold out until our reinforcements catch up." The Captain soothed. Keekay activated his saber and stood near the Captain. The enemy lasers began flying past them, which Keekay began deflecting any that came close to the Captain or himself.

In the lower deck Master Val'tesh was deflecting enemy fire with expert ease. He was jumping and spinning as bolts of fire zipped passed him. Piles of dead Imperial troops where beginning to trail behind him. He came to the 6 enormous entry holes that the boarding transports had ripped open in the hull. Immediately he noticed the Sith marauder staring at him along with the boarding teams officers.

The Sith was from the Sith species and so his dark red skin stood out among all the dark grey colors of the Imperial troops. "Oh it has been too long since I faced a Jedi!" The Sith hissed in eager hunger as he drew his two lightsabers and brought their crimson blades to life in a bright flash. He jumped over to the Jedi and slammed his sabers into Master Val'tesh's own green double-bladed lightsaber. Val'tesh responded by slipping low and made a sweeping kick to knock his opponent off balance. The Sith jumped up instantly easily avoiding the sweep, he then made a series of flurries with his duel blades as he pressed his attack hard into Master Val'tesh.

The Jedi Master however was not only a master of wisdom and knowledge but an expert in saber combat. He allowed the Sith to push him down the corridor until he moved the fight to one of the arches protruding from the corridor. He positioned the arch to his left using the Sith's aggression of what seemed to be a series of mindless attacks with blind rage. Val'tesh managed to get the Sith to strike both of his sabers on the right blade of his own saber. He responded by slapping the two sabers of his foe into the arch with his free blade on the opposite side of his staff saber burring them deep inside the arch as he spun into the Sith that was struggling to free his sabers. The Sith saw the opposite blade of the Jedi Masters blade coming for his head and managed to fall back just in time to miss having his head cut in two clean pieces. All while his boot smashed into the Jedi's gut with extra power from the force throwing him back hard against the far wall completely catching him off guard, at the worst possible time the Sith roared in rage and wrenched his sabers from the arch and hurtled the crimson blades with invisible speed sending them to meet the Jedi Master's belly in one simultaneous swipe who never had a chance to howl in pain as all three cauterized individual pieces of the Jedi toppled to the floor. The Sith was smiling in a blood drunk frenzy. "I beat you Jedi and I am going slaughter every living creature aboard that had hope in you, because you failed." He said as he stepped over the spasm inflicted upper chest piece of Master Val'tesh as his body shut down.

5 Years earlier from the present time

Commander Deva took an Imperial shuttle to a small Republic outpost in the disputed warzones where she knew she had a higher chance of finding a Republic officer's uniform. She entered the atmosphere and began combing for fire fights. She found one easily and landed the shuttle directly behind Imperial lines which was not something done often and attracted a lot of attention from Imperial forces. She lowered the landing ramp and signaled the ship to open the hatch. As she came down the ramp she faced two troopers aiming their rifles at her face and an angry Imperial Officer giving her a nasty scowl. "What in the stars do you think you're doing Corporal?!" She yelled. The troops snapped to attention as well as the officer. "Commander? W-w-well w-we w-weren-" She raised her eyebrow. "If all Imperial officers like you didn't know what to do when unexpected things happened, the Empire would have collapsed long before we even allowed waists of flesh to rise to an officers position. Don't use anymore 'w's' while you're in my presence unless you can speak them. Now tell me your current status before I relieve you and personally take you back to the field headquarters." The officer gave a crisp salute.

"We are currently holding our position because the enemy has a strong defense we can't seem to break. We had a total of 623TOS and are limited on artillery." Deva paused to give the man a disgusted look. "Do not use, 'can't,' in my presence. You have a total of 623 troops and artillery at your disposal. The fact that you haven't already defeated this stalemate is enough for me to relieve you of command on grounds of cowardice and stupidity, but lucky for you that's not why I am here. Show me a map of the battle field." The officer led Deva to their field tent and began to explain the situation. She stared at the map and then at the officer, when she was done she slapped him hard across the face with the length of her forearm before pointing to two different locations on the map. "Divide the remaining artillery in two groups; have group-A bombard this point in enemy lines. It's weaker and easier to clear out so the enemy will suspect you're going to charge the location you just cleared. While you begin bombardment of this area you will take group-B of your artillery and shower this heavily defended area, cleaning out any serious anti-infantry turrets. While artillery group-B is firing your entire legion will be charging to this location like their lives depended on it. You will use hand explosives to remove your obstacles be they flesh, droid or enemy mines and flush out Republic forces from their flank once you enter the main trench, do not take the main trench first they will be ready for that, use spider trenches on the sides and attack from their flank."

Deva said as she corrected her white cap. "Now as fun as it was giving a tutoring lesson to an officer who should know better, I did not come for this. I need to know if you have any Republic officers in custody." The officer shook his head. "Very well, trooper, take my shuttle and land it at the field Naval base. Lock it under these command codes." Deva explained to the nearest soldier. "Wait 15 minutes before you begin your attack." She said returning her attention to the officer then left the tent.

She ran to the farthest edge of the battlefield she could find and then began to carefully sneak across the war torn field hiding behind rubble, wreckage and corpses. Then she spotted a Republic troopers uniform that she could explain the damages on it and how she survived. She began to strip the corpse of its armor plating and removed her own uniform. She then buried the corpse and her uniform to effectively ensure her story plausible then she grabbed the riffle of the dead soldier and made her way to Republic lines. She was crawling on her belly staying close to the ground as she drew nearer to the enemy lines. When she felt she was near enough to risk being spotted by a sniper she switched from a crawl to more of a back crawl only using her legs to propel herself through the thick mud due to the "injury" she had sustained as loyal soldier of the Republic following orders.

"Help, Please!" She cried out with anguish in her voice and a flawless republic accent while waving a hand up and grasping the burn spot on the armor. Some Republic troops poked their heads up over the small quickly setup barrier. "Medics are on their way! Hang tight!" A voice from one of the guards called back. Two field medics jumped over the barrier with a stretcher and pulled her on quickly then scrambled with her back over the Republic battle lines, they then carried her back to a safety zone where they removed her helmet and scanned the soldier ID number. "Antoinette Nasha… blonde hair." One medic said as they looked down at her black hair. They looked at each other as realization hit them, but it was too late. Deva removed her vibroblade and shoved it in the carotid artery of the medic to her left before kicking him away and jumping ontop of the medic to her right. She put her full weight on her forearm on his chest pinning him down and with her other grabbed his helmet and shifted her weight from her forearm on his chest to the hand on his mask in one quick, loud pop snapping his neck in less than the time it took to blink. She then jumped back over to the medic that was kicking and squirming in agony with the vibroblade protruding out of his neck. She removed the blade and repeatedly stabbed him until he had finally stopped moving.

After the confrontation ended she quickly switched into the non-blood drenched armor of the medic with his neck broken and then began to "tend" to the soldier who received fatal wounds in service to the Republic, or so some random Republic Officer would say to his family who would receive his badge of honor.

5 Years earlier from the present time

"Captain, I-I have a report that u-um Master Val'tesh has been killed." A com officer reported solemnly. Keekay's eyes widened in horror as he stared at the officer as if hoping somehow there was some error in the report. While this was all happening blaster fire was whizzing past them. Keekay was doing everything he could think of to not focus on the news of his Master's death by repeating the Jedi Code, in his mind over and over. "There is no emotion, there is peace…" The Captain looked to another of her officers. "Is there any sign of our escorts?!" She asked sternly. The officer shook his head. "Negative, Ma'am." She looked back at Keekay, "Do you have any ideas young Jedi?"

Keekay pushed the thought of his Masters death aside and began going over the situation. "I do," He said as he turned to the Captain. "Have all your officers take their stations and remove the enemy ships bridges with your turrets. Your guards and I will hold off the enemy while you take out the bridges of both ships, we need to stall for time it's our best chance. If we remove the troops leadership their organization may fail." He explained. "But we only have four guards, can you give us the amount of time we need to destroy their bridges?" Keekay looked at the hole in the blast door that was big enough for three adult men to fit through tightly. "Yes…" He lied not entirely sure.

"Officers, return to your stations! Man the guns, take aim on the enemy ships bridges. Guards assist Commander Keekay, move it!" The Captain barked orders. Keekay saw that the enemy was once again coming at the opening in the door and threw his saber out the hole cutting down a path of Imperial troops. He jumped in front of the hastily built barricade and began to hold off the determined Imperial troops whose numbers seemed endless. Unbeknownst to Keekay the Captain was watching him on and off as their guns laid waste to their foes bridges.

After 20min of holding off the enemy from entering the bridge and destroying one of the enemy battle cruisers bridges, four Republic cruisers entered the battle but not from behind where their escorts where expected. Along with this good news Keekay saw the bad news coming in his direction and it carried two lightsabers on his belt. Keekay saw the mammoth Sith coming for him. He couldn't believe how big the red skinned being was. The Sith's bright yellow eyes met Keekay's and all the young boys focus on the battle, along with the thoughts of peace went out the window. All Keekay wanted to do was teach this Sith, 3 times his size, a lesson.

"This is Jedi Master Saysha Suna. Hang in there a little longer while we take the heat off you." "Very good Master Jedi," The Captain replied then turned to look at Keekay's current situation. The moment she saw the red skinned Sith coming in their direction she connected the dots of the young Jedi's mind. "Remain at your posts!" she ordered before double timing it across the bridge to where Keekay was walking out the blast doors hole to meet the Sith. She grabbed Keekay across the chest and yanked him inside hard enough that he tripped and rolled onto the floor. Then she turned to face the Sith drawing closer. She drew her two pistols from her hips, switched one to the grappling hook and began firing at the Sith with the other.

The Sith laughed in amusement, drawing one of his sabers and deflecting the bolts with a cocky attitude before holding out his hand and giving the Captain a huge force push which would have smashed her into the bridges consoles snapping all her bones and killing her. But to the Sith's sheer astonishment the Captain used the grappling hook and fired at the bulk head near him which pulled her through his force push right up behind the Sith. The action was such a blur that even the Sith's power didn't warn him and before the action of trying to impale her was executed, the captain let 3 bolts loose into his skull. The mammoth Sith hit the floor in a loud thud causing all the Imperial troops now in front of the Captain to freeze.

Keekay's anger built from the Captain so rudely removing him from the battle which he had been wanting, almost needing to fight. But his anger ceased as he watched in astonishment, as this non-force user, kill a monster of the Sith in seconds, which great Jedi Master Val'tesh failed to do. The Imperial forces ceased fire and began to run back down the corridor while others lowered their weapons and began to surrender.

"H-How did you do that?" Keekay asked looking up at the woman. She smiled, "not all of us non-force sensitive's are useless ya know." He stared at her. "I guess not." He grinned. "I can't thank you enough Captain. When I heard my Master died, I wanted to kill that Sith and make him suffer, I wanted revenge. You saved me from making a grave mistake." He admitted as he gave her a respectful bow. "No worries young Jedi, I would hope that revenge is what you felt, because that's a normal reaction from seeing the monster that killed someone you cared for. I'm sorry you lost your Master, Commander Keekay I will never forget him as a tribute to him." Keekay nodded somberly. "I would enjoy fighting by your side again and hope one day I get to Captain. May the force be with you." Keekay said giving another respectful bow. The Captain knelt down to his height. "The galaxy is a small place despite what science says," She licked her thumb and wiped a smudge of dirt from his face. "You are a uniquely strong Jedi Keekay, remember this incident. I didn't pull you away from the Sith because I thought you couldn't handle it, but because the path you are on is a good one. I have a strong feeling you and I will meet once again." She smiled and tapped his nose before standing again.

After the battle had come to a close Master Saysha along with two other Jedi's and 5 platoons boarded to secure the rest of the ship that had taken serious damage. They went up to the bridge and walked up to the Captain and Keekay speaking. "Hello Captain, Padawan Keekay. It is great to see you unharmed. I see our timing was a little close." Master Saysha smiled her warm friendly smile. "Indeed it was, but this young Jedi held off much more than anything that could have been expected of him." Master Saysha directed her smile once again at Keekay. "Where is Master Val'tesh?" Keekay lowered his head. "I regret to report, that Jedi Master Val'tesh was killed in action." The Captain replied.

Master Saysha's expression died when she looked at the sad Keekay who didn't make eye contact. "That is most regrettable. Well, Captain since your ship looks like it has seen its last days, how about you join us aboard the Intangible." "Normally I would decline and remain with my ship, but I concur. This old girl's days of service to the Republic are over, thank you Master Jedi."

The crew that held off the attack valiantly was finally able to rest easy aboard the Republic rescue ship Intangible. As they exited the docking hatch Republic forces both rescued and otherwise went left while Jedi and Officers went right to the bridge. Keekay paused and quickly ran back to the Captain he had fought with. "It's kind of funny, but I never got your name Captain?" "It's Captain Desh Vrailia, my unofficial name is Deva." She smiled warmly and walked off to join her crew.