Thanks to the reviews. I realize the paragraphs were too long, and I tried to make it work by breaking it up a little better. Hope it works out for you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anakin had hurried home, anxious to spend what time he had left with his wife before he started off to Naboo. He found it slightly ironic that he would be traveling to Naboo, his wife's home planet, and even to one of her favorite locals, and yet she would not be able to be there with him.
Padme opened her eyes to find Anakin in bed next to her, a slight smile across his lips.
"Don't pretend you've been there all this time, Anakin. I can see you're freshly showered."
"I wouldn't dream of it, and I know I can't deceive you anyway. You're too smart for me. But now that you're up, I have some good news. I get to go and spend some time on Naboo. Yoda gave me leave to go and check something out."
Padme couldn't hide the jealosy in her eyes. "That's not fair. I'm stuck in meetings for most of the day, while you'll be having the time of your life doing whatever "Jedi" business it is you have on Naboo."
"That's the price you pay for being a senator, M'lady. Just try to get a little time off if you can, especially if the meetings aren't all that important. We haven't been able to spend any time together there since our honeymoon."
Padme let out a long sigh. "Alright, I'll see what I can do. I really want to see my family again too. Until then, I have two hours until I need to be at a meeting with senator Organa. What would you like to do in the meantime?"
A smile came to Anakin's lips. "Oh, I'm sure we'll come up with something," he said, as he brought the lips of the love of his life to his own.
-------------------------------------------
Anakin's Jedi starfighter gently landed on the platform of the central Naboo docking area. His craft was unique among all of the Jedi, as he had custom designed it using his incredible skills as a mechanic. Not only did he triple the shield strength, but he added zero gravity boosters that made his already extremely agile ship more maneuverable than any known craft in the universe. If any other fighter tried to make the turns he did, they'd lose consciousness, but he had the added benefit of the force. He also improved the engines so that this already incredibly fast fighter could double the speed of the other Jedi craft. He even was able to modify a cloaking device so that it could be used on his small ship. He then added armaments by making two reverse laser cannons, adding an ion cannon, and modifying proton torpedoes so his ship could carry miniature versions that had the same explosive impact. Most of these modifications, however, he kept hidden from all save Obi -Wan, whose own ship Anakin slightly modified.
As he descended the ramp, the docking officer met him. Anakin stopped suddenly as a wave of the most tremendous evil filled his mind. During his studies, Anakin had developed a force power that allowed him to read others minds, but he was told by Yoda that this power was used mainly by the Sith because of its intrusive nature. Over time Anakin had noticed that although he could intrude and read the minds of upright individuals if he wanted to invade their privacy, the ability self activated around those whose thoughts were in line with the Sith. He had spotted many a criminal in the past by this ability, and it had helped him to know of dangerous situations before they even presented themselves.
This young deck officer, however, was worse than most. Anakin could read all of the murder, rape, theft, and malice that filled the soul this still young man before him, and how the low ranking officer reveled in it. It was as if every thought of the officer's was evil, and all good had left him.
Anakin's hand was on the hilt of his lightsaber, and it took a considerable amount of self control from ending the wretch's life as he stood before him. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that so many others were around, and it would look grim for a member of the Jedi order to end the life of another without any provocation.
Only one thing was left for Anakin to do. He reached out with the force, and erased the mind of the individual in front of him. Anakin never thought this force power would be of use to him, but even now he realized that there was a reason for everything in the force, and it just takes a matter of time before it is realized. The officer before him stumbled somewhat, and Anakin steadied him. Anakin had preserved the basics of function and identity in his memory, but destroyed the rest. This mans life was now a clean slate, and Anakin was curious to see how he would use it.
-------------------------------------------
Anakin closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply. The very sent of this area was invigorating to him. He knew every small detail of this field and the surrounding waterfalls, as this is where he had spent so many happy moments with his beloved Padme.
Most of their honeymoon was spent in this area, as Padme's family owned all the land, including the nearby mountain and lake with its surrounding country. This provided a wonderful respite as it truly was secluded from the rest of the world, a perfect retreat for those trying to hide their love from society.
As Anakin walked the edge of the water, replaying in his mind the many happy moments of his life in this paradise, he recognized an ethereal trail from his dream, and went immediately to the waterfall he saw scarcely a day ago in vision.
There was nothing particularly out of the ordinary with this specific waterfall, which made it all the more intriguing to him. Anakin trained his thoughts, and used the force to divert the falling water, only to expose a large boulder that seemed to meld into the rock wall behind it.
He easily manipulated it out of the way with scarcely a thought, and what remained was a dark recess into the cliff side. Anakin made sure he could sense no one else in proximity, and entered the gaping abyss. Once inside, he allowed a force ball to illuminate the walls that had remained unseen for possibly millennia.
He was amazed to see the wall covered in ancient Jedi holocrons and runes, many of which were familiar to him from his studies. As he neared what appeared to be the center of the room, an apparition slowly became visible barely a few feet from where he stood.
"It is an honor to meet you Anakin, for long have I awaited the arrival of the Chosen One. My name is Konath Ordon, and I have summoned you here for an errand of great importance."
Anakin stood partially mesmerized by the ghostly figure before him. He had communicated on several occasions with the departed Qui-Gon Jinn, but he had known Qui-Gon well, while prior to his vision he had never before seen this man standing before him.
"I know you must have questions, but I ask you to clear your mind, and accept what I have to tell you. I was part of a brotherhood of Jedi that lived almost 6000 years ago. We had achieved through tremendous discipline and training the notoriety of being some of the greatest duelists the order had ever seen. Now I see that this started us on a dangerous path, for we took it upon ourselves to be sure to live up to our renown. Determined to become even more proficient in our skills, the twelve of us separated to areas of extreme isolation, and spent an entire year in meditation upon lightsaber forms, after which we reconvened to share with one another what our meditation had uncovered. Each of us had invented a new style, very similar to our personalities, yet completely new to what the universe had then known. Most of our styles were very defense oriented, yet there was one among us by the name of Tulak Hord who had returned with an offensive style so brutally effective and unrelenting that it could not be stopped by any known lightsaber form."
This name was known to Anakin. He had come across it several times in his studies, and had spoken of him with Master Yoda. Anakin knew him to be the greatest swordsmen of the Sith Empire, although information on his life and death was scarce to say the least. Anakin had tried to search out information on him earlier to no avail, and Yoda had counseled him to give it up. Little did he know that Tulak was actually the fallen member of the twelve he had read about the previous night.
"Tulak was the best swordsman among us, and he fought with a passion that was second to none, but neither I nor my other brethren anticipated the evil that would come from his time of meditation, nor the darkness, probably stemming from his pride, that had been in his soul prior to his year of solitude. To my great sorrow, I returned to our predetermined spot only to find three of my brethren slain. Little did Tulak know that although he slew their bodies, their time in meditation had allowed them a closeness in the force that allowed them to continue almost as corporeal forms, yet still be at one with the force. They were the first to attain such an existence which ability was well known for ages, although this knowledge was lost from the world for roughly one thousand years before a Jedi that is well known to you discovered it anew."
"Qui-Gon Jinn," remarked Anakin. It gave him a strange pleasure to know that his former mentor had been able to rediscover such a powerful force technique that had been lost for ages.
"These of my slain brethren informed me of what Tulak had done, how they were betrayed, and how their lightsaber forms were ultimately ineffective against his powerful new style. Fortunately, my fallen comrades were able to ascertain certain moves and timing of Tulak's form, and when the other seven arrived, we all went immediately together to a secret underground facility to discuss what action to take. Luckily for us, Tulak's embrace of the dark side had made him inherently fearful of what we could do with our yet unknown lightsaber forms, and he had fled before I and the remainder of my brethren arrived."
Anakin listened intently to the information unfolding before him.
"I say we were lucky as from what our fallen brothers had conveyed to us, none of us would have been able to defeat him. If we all had arrived at the same time there might have been a chance, but history wasn't so kind. We decided at that meeting that although each of us had been gone for a year, the safety of the galaxy was more important than our physical comfort. We began another period of isolation, yet this time we were together, even with the spirits of our slain brothers. Our sole purpose was to develop a style that could counteract Tulak's."
"When we left six months later, we had succeeded in our task, yet we soon learned devastating news. Tulak had destroyed much of the Jedi order during our time away. One positive note was the fact that Tulak had been killed scarcely a month earlier by an apprentice he had taken to help him in his evil conquests. His apprentice apparently became frustrated that Tulak wouldn't share his secret lightsaber form, and murdered him while he slept."
"It was rumored that Tulak recorded his secrets on a holocron, but no one could recover it though many searches commenced. Afraid that someone might uncover this holocron, we decided to train others in the style we had developed. To our dismay, it was such a demanding and difficult style, that many who attempted to learn it became seriously injured by their own hands. Deeming this type of fighting too dangerous, we took it upon ourselves to hide it from the world, and protect it with our lives, until one came who could learn what we had discovered, and use it to bring an end to the Sith once and for all, the Chosen One of prophecy. Our only solace came from the fact that although what we had created took such tremendous skill that only few would ever be able to learn it, Tulak's form required even a more able wielder, so even if the holocron were discovered, the knowledge might be of no avail to the finder."
Anakin was truly in awe at the information that had just been presented to him. What could he say to all of this? Somewhat even to his surprise, he simply said, "So when do we start."
