I awoke the next morning on the cold, metal floor. Apparently I had rolled off my cot sometime during the night and landed right in one of me piles of spare parts. I rubbed my eyes to clear my sight. Through one of the ship's rusted holes I could see that it was early morning because the sun was just barley over the horizon. I stood up from the ground and took a deep yawn as I stretched my arms out. As I stretched my body some of the parts from the pile that had stuck to my skin fell from my body and hit the ground with a clanging sound.

My body was a little sore, probably from sleeping on the ground, and I had a pounding headache from my hangover. I decided that before I did anything to start my day I'd have to start felling better. So I sat my butt down on the cot, closed my eyes, and began meditating.

As I sat there meditating I could feel the muscles in my body slowly begin to unwind itself. A few minuets of meditating, the stress and tension in my head slowly worked itself away. Just like that after ten minuets of meditating I was back to decent health. That little trick was almost worth the sixteen years of Jedi training alone... almost. Now If only it could cure smell because I stank. So I got up form the cot and washed up in the ship's washroom, which was unfortunately in no better condition than the rest of the ship. Part of washing up was rubbing a special lotion on the skin that prevents extreme dryness of the skin from Lanoul's desert weather. After getting myself spick and span I changed into a white tank top and light gray shorts.

For breakfast, the most important meal in the day, I decided to grab a quick dehydrated beef bar which tasted as bad as it sounds. Sure it was nasty but it was easy, cheep, and good for the body so I made sure to stock up on them whenever I see them on sale.

After gobbling up, and them keeping down, my breakfast, I walked over to the cargo hold door and pounded my fist against a big green button causing the entire ship to jerk violently. After the ship stopped jerking around the sounds of loud grinding gears echoed throughout the cargo hold. The sound was loud enough that if I still had a hangover I'd be going out of my mind right about now. The ship gave one more jerk and grind before the cargo hold door started opening. It took awhile for the rusted door to open all the way but eventually after a few minuets of struggling it opened all the way.

I took another big yawn as I walked down a ramp that came out whenever the door opened. I reached the bottom of the ramp and took a look around. Because it was early morning there were only a few people walking around. Most of the people up this early were shop keepers getting their shops ready in the bazaar. A few of them waved at me as they passed. I smiled and waved back.

As I saw the friendly people walk by, I inhaled the welcome scent of breakfast being made in a restaurant near the bazaar, and watched the sun rise into the sky and all I could think was, here we go again. I hated to think of Soundy-Dail and its people as monotonous but I kept thinking this day would be nothing but a replay of the past six months. I wake up, I work, I take a break, I close shop, I go to Gory's bar, and then I go back to sleep but the more I thought about it the more this feeling kept telling me this day was going to be different.

I decided that since I was already up I may as well open up shop. I got back into the ship and moved my desk over to the front of my shop, not forgetting my bucket chair, and opened for business. I waited on my bucket as I watched more and more people setting up for the bazaar. Most of them ignored me but a few gave more welcome waves which I returned. I felt stupid sitting in the middle of so many people on a bucket... like I did every day.

At first I figured that no one would show up so early but to my surprise I saw Wire walking over to my shop with a leather bag in her hands. She gave me a quick wave as she walked up the ramp and set her bag down on my desk. "Hey there."

I raised an eyebrow, "Hey, loitering or business?"

She put her hand on her hip and frowned, "You know if you keep asking me that I'm going to start thinking that you don't enjoy my company."

I laughed, "Yeah. I guess I wouldn't want you to get that impression."

She shook her head and scoffed as she opened the bag. After a few seconds of digging around in the bag she pulled out two devices. One was the broken game system that her brother brought me yesterday and the other was the same device, save the giant crack in the back. She set them down on the desk and looked me in the eye. I could have sworn she was trying to do a sad, little, puppy dog face, "Hey, Ceddes... umm... So I went to the bazaar with my brother yesterday after we visited you. There I saw another game system. One that worked. So I secretly bought it without my brother knowing about it. I wanted to surprise him."

I nodded my head and smiled, "That's good. So now you want me transfer your brother's data?"

She forced a large smile and shrugged her shoulders, "Well you see. I spent all the spare money I had on the game so I don't have any spare credits. At least not until the end of the week when I get paid."

I took a deep breath and sighed, "All right. I'll do it now and you can pay me later. Fortunate for you, I robbed some ladies at Eerque last night. I got a huge payday."

"Well good for you!" She said with a smile and a pump of the arms before getting back to business, "Now can you hurry it up! I gotta get to work soon."

I gave her a stern look before grabbing the two systems and stood up. I headed to the back of the shop, or front of the ship, and placed them on the ground near a cylinder shaped device about the size of a human torso. It was a computer. I reached around the back of the computer and found a little cord connected to the computer. I took the end of the cord that wasn't connected to the computer in one hand and grabbed the broken system in my other. Near the bottom of the system is a plug-in designed for the cord in my hand. This type of plug-in was universal and could fit many different types of cords and wires each with a different purpose.

This cored led to a section of the computer that took information from one source and saved it into its memory. When I plugged the game into the computer I hit a black button with a green "up" arrow on it. The computer then began saving the game's memory into one of it temporary memory drives. When it finished it made a loud beep signaling that it was finished. I unplugged the broken system and placed it on the ground before picking the new game up. I repeated the process except this time hitting a black button with an orange, "Down" arrow. This button caused the computer to then take the data that was just saved into the computer and insert the data into the new source, in this case the new game system.

When I heard the beep I unplugged the new system from the computer. I bent over and grabbed the broken device then walked back to the front of the shop where Wire was waiting, impatiently. I sat back down on my bucket as I placed the two devices onto the desk top, "All finished."

Wire clapped her hands together, "Thank you so much! I wanted to surprise my little brother with this gift. It'll cheer him up." I could feel a deep sorrow fill her heart as she continued, "My brother has been doing nothing but playing games lately. He's been acting so strange lately and all the other kids are making fun of him for it... so he has no friends."

It was none of my business but something inside me told me to ask her, "He's been acting... strange?"

She shook her head as if she had just snapped out a trance, "Umm... never mind. I didn't mean to gush about my problems to you."

I got a distant, dark feeling. I had no idea what it meant and it was too faint to understand it. I had to snap out of my own trance, "Hey, its no problem."

She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, "Well, I have to get to work." She put the two devices into her carrying bag, "Well... thanks again. Umm... bye."

I felt as if I should say something to her but I did nothing but wave to her as she left. I started to get worried. Something didn't feel right but then again my feelings were all too distant for me to read. All I could do is go on with my day to day business like normal but I'd have to stay aware of my feelings at all times. I refused to be caught off guard by anything... hopefully it was just a passing feeling and nothing more.

It was noon already. I had two paying customers early in the morning. My first customer wanted me to repair her holocam but after looking at it I told her that in her case she'd be better buying a new one. She thought I didn't know what I was talking about and told me to repair it anyways. It was a quick fix. I only had to replace a single part. However the part I had to replace was the bulb of the cam and cam bulbs are far from cheep, not that I'm complaining. I got paid in full.

The second thing I repaired was a small gonk droid. The only thing I had to do was replace a few worn down and twisted wires near its processor. Normally I'd be thrilled to have two decent paying customers but not today. No matter what I did to busy myself I still had an uneasy feeling. Sometimes it would disappear and I'd hope it was all nothing but eventually it would always return.

Now that I had nothing to do I sat at my desk, on my bucket, staring into the sky, or more... past the sky. I stared into space wondering what was going on beyond the stars. I hadn't been off of Lanoul in the past six months and I was wondering what was going on out there. Wondering if perhaps the Jedi council had finally reached some stability... I knew it hadn't. Wondering if the Sith were weakening... I knew they wern't. Wondering what Master Tal would think of what had become of my life... I had no idea about that one. Wondering if any of it had to do with my constant dark feelings... I'd probably find out.

My aimless wondering came to a sudden halt as everything around me began to come into an impactfulll pulse. The distant dark feeling came to a full warning. I stood up from my seat and saw the people around me running. They were running from the domed port. They all ran with fear for their lives. I saw it in their eyes and felt it in their hearts. They were terrified.

On instinct I hoped over my desk and landed onto the ramp outside my ship. I looked over to the dome and instantly noticed what everyone was afraid of. Like a raven in the sky, a black, sleek, Sith ship had landed on the outskirts of town. Rather than landing at the port they landed just outside the port. Probably so they wouldn't have to officially register their ship in the dome's data logs.

From a distance I could make out a few smaller figures walking from the ship toward town. They were nothing but blurs at the moment but I got a chill just looking at them. I clenched my fists and scowled. This had to be the dark feeling! Nothing was right about this. Sith had visited Soundy-Dail many times in the past, each time they did the townspeople reacted the same, but never before have they landed outside of the port. Whatever they were planning on doing, they didn't want to be recorded in the data logs for it.

I looked back at the crowd. None of them even noticed me. They were too worried about the Sith, as they should be. I quickly hopped back into my ship and ran over to one of my piles of junk. I outstretched my right hand and pointed my palm toward the center of the pile. I concentrated on a single object at the bottom of the pile. I used the force and almost like an invisible arm of the force I yanked the object form the bottom of the pile, causing the parts in the pile to fly around the room, and summoned the object into my right palm. The object was a lightsaber handle. It wasn't pretty. The handle was smaller than normal and it's metal shell was unpolished, plain, and clunky. It may have been ugly on the outside but it was well constructed. I kept the weapon hidden in one of the piles in case of an emergency. I slid the small saber into one of my large pant pockets keeping it concealed.

I took a deep breath as I once again leapt over my desk and stood on the ramp outside my ship. I stood there watching the Sith make their way to Soundy-Dail. As they got closer I could make them out. Seven Sith troopers and another Sith in a black cloak. The Sith troopers were the common fighting force for the Sith. Unlike the Sith Lords and Sith apprentices the troopers usually weren't sensitive to the force. Rather than lightsabers they fought with the more common blaster. They wore black body gloves that covered their entire body except for their heads. Strapped over the body glove was dark gray blaster armor placed on various parts of the body. The troopers were most recognizable by their sleek, dark gray helmets. A black, visor, face plate masked the trooper's face. The trooper's helmet covered their entire head, unless the wearer was of a species that had horns or something of the sort the would protrude from the helmet. Then they'd have to make holes in the helmet themselves. Along with the intimidating armor, each trooper also had a blaster the size of a human forearm strapped to their side. The Sith troopers were low on the Sith food chain but they weren't anything to mess around with.

The Sith in the black cloak accommodating them was probably the commander of the unit. This confirmed that they meant business. I'd seen troopers in Soundy-Dail before but never a Sith commander. I looked back over my left shoulder and saw that the streets of Soundy-Dail were almost completely abandoned. All but a few like me, watching the Sith arrive from a far. The one straggler that stood out the most was the Gotal mayor of Soundy-Dail, Rento Purren. A Gotal was a humanoid species with a flat face and was marked by a pair of ridged cone-like horns sprouting from the top of their head. He was walking from his house behind the bazaar toward the dome where the Sith were coming from.

(note: Gotal, the one in the middle, /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/species/gotal/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined)

Rento stood their in his white vest and white skirt. He stood there trying to look as serious as possible but he couldn't mask his fear no matter how hard he tried... and to his credit he tried hard. With every step he took he grew more and more anxious. I looked back toward the Sith who were getting closer... and my ship was in the middle of them both.

As Rento walked by in front of my ship I ran down the ramp and met with him, "Wait! What are you doing?"

Rento stopped in place and lowered his head, "I have to meet with the Sith. I have to tell them they can't enter town without registering in the data banks."

"Don't be a fool." I said as I put a hand on his shoulder and used the Jedi calming technique. By flowing calming thoughts through his body I was able to calm him down a bit, "They'll kill you if you try anything like that."

"I can't allow them in my city." He said firmly... he was too headstrong for my Jedi trick, "They wouldn't dare kill a mayor of a Lanoul city. We are neutral and they wouldn't want to make another enemy."

I shook my head, "The Sith don't care about Lanoul. Lanoul has no use to anyone which is the only reason why it isn't under Sith control now. Don't give them a reason. If you stand in their way the entire planet could pay for it. Don't underestimate them."

He shook his head in defiance, "No, Ceddes. They are not fools. They would never attack a man of my position for no reason."

I frowned, "No, they are not fools. They know there is nothing you can do to stop them and they will kill you."

"You are but a boy, Ceddes. You know nothing of politics." He finalized as he continued his march toward the Sith. I tried to stop him but he was too determined. I could do nothing but watch him march closer and closer toward the Sith. By the time he reached the Sith, they were all ready near the entrance of town. Only a few meters away from entering the city. I watched from a distance as Rento began a conversation with them. I couldn't hear them but I could see Rento pointing toward the Sith ship. I assumed he was telling them to leave but I would never get a chance to ask Rento about it. Soon after Rento confronted them a Sith trooper shot him dead. I clenched my jaw and lowered my head for Rento. I felt bad for him but he acted foolish and paid the price for it.

The Sith began their march back into town as if nothing had happened. Killing was all a standard act for them. I slowly walked back toward my ship as they got closer and closer. I walked up the ramp and sat down on my desktop, keeping a stern eye on them. When they finally arrived into the bazaar area I could finally make out the Sith commander. It was a human male in long, black robes. I'm sure he was burning up in those robes but I guess he'd rather look intimidating than look comfortable. He was young too. Even younger than I am.

There was something even more odd than his young age and that was his attitude. It was if he was trying to act tougher than he actually was. He walked with a cocky strut and a stupid grin on his face. It looked ridiculous. No Sith commander would ever act like this. I realized that he was no commander but if he wasn't a commander why was he in charge of a small unit. Unless these weren't his troops. Maybe they were his bodyguards. Why would this kid need Sith bodyguards?

My thoughts were interrupted when one trooper stopped his march and walked up the ramp toward me. I gave him a cold look as I stood up from my desk and looked down at the shorter trooper. At first the trooper seemed a little hesitant to approach me. That didnt' last long. He must have realized that he was a feared trooper and I was, at least to his knowledge, a simpleton. He stood in front of me, standing face-to-faceplate. He looked up at my repair sign and grunted. I cocked my head to the side and gave him a patronising look, "Can I help you, sir?"

The Sith chuckled as he removed his blaster from his side and jammed the barrel into my side. I didn't flinch. He squeezed the trigger, I still didn't flinch. I had no reason to flinch. If I was in immediate danger the force would let me know. I was right to listen to the force as the blaster never fired even though he pulled the trigger. The Sith pulled his blaster away from my side and handed it to me, "If you're any sort of repairman you can fix my blaster. Its been giving me some trouble lately."

I grabbed the blaster from his hands and looked it over. As soon as I saw what model blaster it was I knew what to look for. I ejected the blaster's battery pack and looked inside the section of the blaster where you insert the pack. I spotted the problem, inserted the battery pack into the blaster, and handed the weapon back to the trooper, "You are using the 45 model. This model often has a faulty charger and often ends up draining to much power from the battery packs at once. This causes the battery pack to leak and fry the charger. You should upgrade to the 64 model."

The Sith stood there as he thought about what I told him. I think he was expecting me to know nothing about blasters and wanted to make me look like a fool. Well he failed. I hated giving a Sith advice but I also hated getting shot and if making one of them look like a fool was a result, all the better.

The trooper just nodded his head like he knew it all along and without paying me he walked back to the rest of his squad. Without the distractions I turned my attention back to the young Sith in robes. He stood in the center of the street with his eyes closed and hands out stretched in front of him. He had his eyes closed in a deep concentration. He kept moving his body and pointing his stretched hands towards different directions as if he was being guided... probably by the force.

I suddenly realized who this kid was. Many years ago the Sith would train certain Sith for only one purpose, to find others sensitive to the force. Back when I was in the Jedi order I heard that Darth Vultous had resurrected the same tactic and began training young Sith to seek out other young ones sensitive to the force. Vultous wanted to search for these specific young ones all across the galaxy. When they were found they would be taken, by force if needed, from their friends or families and sent to Sith academies.

There at the academies they would be evaluated by Sith lords. When the Sith finished evaluating them one of three things would happen. The Sith would accept the young one and begin training them, or the Sith would decided they weren't strong enough in the force to bother with force training and would train them as troopers where they would often meet their fate as cannon fodder, or if they were deemed worthy enough in the force and the child refused to join them, the Sith would kill the child so the Jedi couldn't recruit them. It was a cowardly act and was one of the reasons why I don't regret killing Darth Vultous. However, it would seem the new Dark Lord of the Sith had continued with Vultous's evil tactic. Fortunate for me Sith seekers could only detect the force in younglings. Younglings that usually weren't even aware of their untapped abilities. Someone like me could easily mask my presence from them. Unless they had some sort of unheard of power.

That would also explain his age and his group of Sith troopers. The Sith only started training these new Sith seekers only a decade ago. So the first batch of trainees would only be around eighteen years old. As for the troops, I was right about them being bodyguards. The Sith seekers were trained only to search for young forcelings and knew nothing about battle.

I continued scouting his technique. He still had his eyes closed and arms out stretched in front of him. Only now he was slowly walking, step by step. Each Sith trooper, as well as myself, watched him in amazement and curiosity. I put my hands on my hips and squinted in mild concentration. I was trying to get a feed off his thoughts. Maybe I'd be able to detect what he was detecting. Try as I might I couldn't get a read off him unless I wanted to use enough force power that would unmask my presence from him. That was a risk I wasn't willing to take, at least not yet.

The seeker must have gotten a strong reading because he picked his pace up from a slow walk to a jog. The troopers readied their weapons and trotted after him. I watched from the back of my ship until they disappeared down an alleyway between the bazaar and a local Inn. As soon as they were out of sight I levitated my lightsaber from my pocket to my left hand and with my right hand I levitated a small shard of broken glass inside of my ship to the palm of my hand. Without further hesitation I ran after them kicking up a large trail of sand behind me.

I ran toward the alleyway they disappeared behind and quickly halted as I reached the corner of the local Inn. I put my back to the Inn's brick red wall and slowly edged my way toward the corner. I took the piece of glass in my rand hand and held it just beyond the corner. I angled the glass in my hand until I caught a reflection of six of the seven troopers standing outside a sand colored house. I couldn't get much of a look from the glass so I dropped the glass to the ground. I turned around to face the wall of the Inn and looked at the Inn form top to bottom. It was two stories tall with a flat roof. It was perfect.

I concentrated the force into my body and used what is known as a force jump. When a force user concentrates their force into their body they can leap higher than usual. The highest I've ever leapt was around nine meters. The Inn was only around seven meters tall. So I took a quick, deep breath and leapt high into the air. I landed feet first on the top of the Inn. I knew that nearly all the roofs in Soundy-Dail were flat so that made my job easier. I started running and leaping from rooftop to rooftop down the left side of the alleyway. I continued my stealthy, acrobat act until I reached the house on the opposite side of the one that the troopers were standing around.

I laid down on my belly to keep my visibility as low as possible then crawled over to the building's ledge. I popped my head over the edge just enough to get a good view of the troopers. They were all standing around the sand colored house with their blasters drawn, ready to fire. I had a really bad feeling about all of this. My feelings only got worse when I got a look inside the house's living room through the front door. There I saw the cloaked Sith verbally arguing with a grown man. I couldn't tell exactly what they were fighting about but I guessed it had to do with the seeker finding a young forceling in the house.

After a few more minuets of watching them argue, my guess came to fruition. I saw the seventh trooper enter the living room dragging a young boy behind him. I clenched my jaw trying to hold back my anger when I recognized the boy as Wire's younger brother. A sudden picture of thoughts drew itself in my mind. Wire mentioned her brother was acting weird lately and when she did I started getting that dark feeling. Those sensitive to the force are often viewed as weird by others, especially at a young age and somehow the force was trying to tell me that this boy was going to be in trouble because of his talents.

I wasn't sure how the force was telling me just by a brief conversation with Wire that a boy would be in trouble many hours later. Some great Jedi masters may have had such foresight but I was never taught anything near this sort of premonition in teachings. I couldn't lay around thinking about that though. I had to do something.

The trooper continued dragging the boy by his arm through the living room. The boy fought back as much as possible but he was no match for the trooper. His father stepped up and tried to help his son but the Sith withdrew a crimson bladed lightsaber from his side. Just from his stance I could tell he didn't know how to fight with a lightsaber but against an unarmed father he didn't need know anything other than how to swing it and he was planning to. He raised his saber over his head ready to strike the father down. I had to act fast but I was too far away to act physically. I quickly thought of something and figured it was the only way.

I quick closed my eyes and released as much force power as I could. In doing so I unmasked myself from the force and from the seeker. The Seeker instantly noticed my presence and took a few steps back. He crossed his lightsaber over his chest in a childish defensive tactic. The trooper dragging the boy must have noticed something was wrong by the seeker's actions. The trooper stopped and said something to him. The seeker shouted something back as he began fidgeting around. I couldn't hear what he said but neither could the six troopers standing around the house. So for those six troopers nothing seemed out of the ordinary... so I figured I'd change their thinking.

I gripped my saber tight in my hand as I popped up to my feat and leaped toward the six troopers. When I was airborne I closed my eyes and had to quickly clear my mind of any outside thoughts. I had to concentrate on my surroundings and the troopers around me. I could feel the ground beneath me getting closer and closer. Before I landed on the ground I quickly rolled my myself into the landing. At the same time I landed I ignited the teal colored blade of my lightsaber. I opened my eyes and saw the six Sith troops aiming their weapons at me. I positioned myself into a one kneed crouch and grinned as I took a large swipe with my saber, decapitating three of their blasters rendering them useless.

Two of the the other troopers shot at me with their still functioning blasters. I quick hopped up into a standing position. The quick hop caused one blaster bolt to miss me. The other bolt was still coming at my back, fast. I twirled the saber over my left shoulder and around my back, deflecting the blaster bolt off my saber and back into the chest of the trooper that originally shot it. Even with the blaster armor the bolt was enough to strike the trooper dead. With one trooper down that left three unarmed troopers and two troopers with a blaster in their hands.

First thing I did instantly after I dropped the first trooper I outstretched my had toward the three unarmed troopers and used a technique called the force push. Its pretty much self-explanatory. Force push was a standard technique used by most force users. It basically channeled the force into a sudden, and depending on the intended power, a very violent push toward an individual, or if strong enough, to a group. These three were somewhat clustered together so I used a powerful push and sent the three troopers flying backward into the stone wall of the house behind them. They hit the wall with a loud thud. I had used enough power to knock them unconscious.

Two remained. Allot had happened in only a few seconds time, thus both troopers were still off guard. The trooper, that along with her dead comrade had fired upon my just seconds ago, aimed her blaster toward my head. In the brief moment she used to aim her weapon I had already swiped my saber through her blaster, disabling it. It happened so sudden she never noticed her blaster was half the size it used to be and tried shooting me. Of course nothing happened. She looked down at her blaster and before she even realized her weapon was destroyed I force pushed her into the wall of the sand colored house.

One remained. The last of the six aimed his blaster at me. I rolled my eyes and switched my lightsaber off. He kept his weapon aimed at me. I don't know if he was too afraid to think or if he was just an idiot but he pulled the blasters trigger... nothing happened. He must not have recognized me as the guy that told him his blaster was busted and didn't work because he kept trying over and over again to shoot me with a useless scrap of metal. I ran past him toward the sand colored house's entrance. He was about to slam the butt of the blaster into the back of my skull when I force pulled, opposite of force push, his head into the side of the door's stone wall. Helmet or not he was knocked out cold. Five unconscious and one dead, not too bad.

I entered the sand colored house with my lightsaber gripped in my right hand. As I entered into the living room I got another bad feeling. That feeling was realsied when I saw the father on the ground with a deep and fatal lightsaber wound in his left rib, near his heart. To my left, near the corner of the living room a middle aged women, I assumed the mother, laying motionless with a blaster bolt wound near her neck. The mother was allready dead and the father was moments away from passing. There was nothing I could do for him. I tried to save his when I saw the Sith draw his lightsaber, but during my quick fight with the troopers him and his wife were struck down. I failed. The only thing that remianed was the boy. His face was pale and emotioless as the trooper held his blaster to the temple of his head.

I had to take a deep breath to calm my emotions. A part of me wanted to rip my blade through their bodies but I couldn't allow that part of me to take over. As the trooper held the boy hostage, the seeker started chuckling as he pointed his lightsaber blade at me, "Look Jedi. Look at what you did. Two lives, forever extinguished. All because you wanted to get in the way of the Sith."

I kept my face emotionless, "Look, junior. I'm no Jedi and you are no Sith Lord. You are but a peon. So stop acting like you belong with the big boys."

The trooper was smarter than the seeker and had to be the light of reason for him, "Careful. This one is not to be taken lightly."

The seeker paid no attention to the trooper's advice and decided he could take me on with his lightsaber alone. He thrust his lightsaber at me without any form or tactic in mind. He wasn't of my concern. What I had to worry about was the trooper with his blaster pointed at the boy's head. I easily sidestepped his thrust in one quick motion and with my next motion I reached my hand toward the trooper's blaster. Through the force, I yanked the barrel of the blaster away from the child's head and yanked it toward me. The jerking motion caused the trooper to accidently pull the trigger causing a bolt to fire from the blaster's chamber. The bolt flew inches over my right shoulder and found its mark behind me where the seeker now stood from his thrusting attempt. The young and inexperienced seeker fell dead from the bolt striking him in the side of his unprotected head.

The trooper gave up his attempt at holding the boy hostage and gripped his blaster with both of his hands, hoping he could keep me from manipulating his blaster again. The boy now freed ran from the trooper and to his dying father's side. The trooper started firing wildly at me hoping one of his shots would hit me. I dodged the first two before swiping one of the bolts away from me and into the troopers left hip. This caused him to stagger and caused a long enough of a distraction for me to leap in front of him and slice the tip of my saber a few inches into his chest. He dropped his blaster grabbed his chest in pain. He wasn't distracted for long as he reached with his left hand toward his waist where he had a thermal detonator clipped to his belt. Thermal detonators are small explosives in a small round sphere. He was planning on taking us all out so I had no choice but to decapitate him with my saber before he got to his detonators. Five disabled and three dead, too messy.

I took a deep breath and sighed as I flipped my lightsaber off. I looked over my right shoulder and saw the boy crying over his father's body. He had passed away during my altercation with the last trooper. I walked over to the boy, knelt down on one knee, and placed my hand on the back of his neck. I thought about using the calming powers of the force but decided against it. Sometimes people just needed to cry and mourn.

I sat with the boy as he cried over his parents. A few minuets later Wire ran into the house. From work she heard about the attack from the neighbors and rushed over. She saw her parents and grabbed her brother in a tight embrace as they both shed tears for their fallen parents. Without a word I stood up and left them alone. They needed to be alone and I needed to find some things out.

--

I stood outside the city, gazing upon the Sith ship. The ship was a tri-foiled Corrbinn-class transport shuttle. It may have been Sith but I had to admire it's design. The ship was the color of a starless night, pitch black. The body of the ship was a sleek bullet shape with a curved, transparent window near the tip of the body. The back fuselage section of the body was where a small group of soldiers would sit during transport.

The ship had three wings attached to the body. Two of the wings were side mounted. Each of these two wings had an ion engine attached at the base of the wings. Ion engines are one of the most common engines that propel star ships. The third wing was placed on the top of the ship, along its spine. The hyperdrive engine was placed at the base of this third wing. The body itself was only around five meters long, the side mounted wings were just less than three meters long, and the wing based off the spine was only about a meter and a half long. It wasn't a large transport shuttle but it was well armed and agile enough to be used in space battle.

Fortunately, the Sith left the back ramp, near the rear of the bullet shaped body, down. I took a last glimpse of the outside of the ship before I walked up the ramp and into the ship's body. Inside of the tube shaped fuselage there were two benches to the left and right. This is where the soldiers would strap down during transportation. I figure five average shaped humanoids could fit on each bench. In the center on the fuselage was a small pedestal with a holocam attached to the top of it. Beyond the fuselage was the single manned cockpit. The cockpit had one chair with a controls based around the single chair.

I knew what I wanted to do, I wanted to find some information about the Sith but I didn't know where to find it. If such information even existed on this ship. I doubted that the Sith would leave any vital information in such an obvious place but the Sith I fought today seemed somewhat inept. Maybe they were careless. Before I began my search I heard footsteps coming up the ramp behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Gory coming up the ramp behind me with a smirk on his face, "You know if you would have told me you were a Jedi I would have comped your food too."

I laughed, "Yeah well... you're food is something I don't really feel comfortable putting in my body anyways."

He cocked his head to the side and pointed to my gut, "Trust me food ain't as bad my Gory Busters."

"True," I said admittingly, "Besides, I'm no longer a Jedi."

"Yeah" He said as he sat down on one of the ship's benches, "I figured that. Why would a Jedi spend six months on Lanoul?"

I sat down on the bench across from him. They were uncomfortable seats. Due to the ships tube like body I couldn't sit back all the way and my neck had to be bent forward. I guess Sith weren't much for comfort. I put my right elbow on my right leg and rested my chin on my right palm. I took a deep breath and sighed, "I was hoping to live a peaceful life here. It may be a dessert planet but its nice here. I wanted to leave my past behind me... but I knew that wouldn't last long. In fact, six months is longer than I expected to live in any one place."

"Sounds like you've got some plans off Lanoul." He said as he fidgeted in his uncomfortable seat.

"Yeah. I can't stay here. Besides, after six months I realized a peaceful life just isn't for me. Its... boring." I told him.

"You are still young. When you get my age things will slow down... well maybe not. You are a Jedi after all... or at least have their powers." He smiled as he started reminiscing, "When I fought for the Republic I fought along side many Jedi. They are true warriors. I'm sure you are the same."

I shook my head, "No. People die around me. I was outcast from the Order by leading so many Jedi to their graves... and today I couldn't save Gully's parents... I did manage to spare some of the Sith's lives though... the enemy I could help but not the innocent."

Gory reached over and slapped me in the knee cap, "Kid, this is war! You can't expect to save everyone. Jedi aren't all powerful. You can only do what you can do. You managed to save as many lives as you could today and that is all you can ask of yourself. You helped the boy today so... why do you think you can't help people just because you are no longer a Jedi?"

I didn't have an answer for his question. After I was outcast I thought I could no longer fight for those who couldn't defend themselves but I did that today for Wire's brother. I still wasn't convinced though, "What about Gully's parents? They might not have been killed if I hadn't of... helped."

"How do you know that?" He asked, "Even if they died because of you, which I don't think they did, their son is still alive and well. Don't you think that's what they would have wanted?"

I grumbled, "Yeah, all right. I get it!... Maybe I should start helping people again?"

"That," He said, "Is you're choice and you're choice alone."

He was wise for an old drunk. I had to admit he was right. I needed to decide where to go from here on my own. I was hoping for some advice but I was a man now and had to live my own life. My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of more footsteps coming up the ramp. I looked over and saw Wire standing at the top of the ship's ramp. Her eyes were pink from crying and her face was very somber. I scooched over on the bench to give her room to sit down next to me. She walked over and sat down with a quite sigh, "So... you are a Jedi, Ceddes?"

I watched her as she slumped over in her seat and rested her elbows on her knees. For a second I thought she was going to vomit but she didn't. I put my arm across her shoulders, "Well, not anymore... and I should mention my real name is Laan."

She actually chuckled for a brief second after I told her I'd used an alias for the past six months. Gory forced a gentle smile, "How you doin' girl?"

"I'm doing... all right." She said, "The surviving Sith have been arrested and are being shipped to the nearest Republic strong hold... My brother is with some neighbors while some family friends are taking the bodies near the outskirts of town. We're burying them tonight... I don't know what to do now. What if they come back for my brother?"

I gave her shoulders a slight squeeze, "Go to the Jedi temple in Coruscant. Tell them about you're brother. He's too old to begin training which is a good thing. The first part of training is saying goodbye to you're family forever. However, they will provide with a sanctuary from the Sith."

"I know some people in Coruscant from my days in the Republic. I can take you there and set you up somewhere nice." Gory added.

"Thanks." She said without emotion.

"You should probably leave as soon as you can." I told them.

"What are you planning on doing, Ceddes... err... Laan?" She asked.

"I'm not sure yet." I said, "I'm trying to find something about the Sith in this ship."

"Need help?" She asked, "I need something to take my min doff things anyways."

"I'll help as well." Gory offered.

"Sure," I said as I stood up, "I'll check the computers at the cockpit. You two can check for anything around around here. Look for anything that might hold information."

Wire looked over at the central pedestal, "Like a holocam?"

"Exactly." I said with a slight smile.

"Well lets watch some videos, eh Gully?" Gory asked with a forced cheery attitude.

I left them to watch any messages or videos left on the holocam while I sat down at the cockpit's only chair. This may have been the only comfortable chair I've sat in my entire time in Lanoul. From a bucket, bar stool, a stiff cot, and hard benches, this padded chair was a nice change of pace. Guess Sith care about comfort after all. Down to business though. I looked the control panel over. I wasn't familiar with the overall layout of this control panel but it didn't take long for me to figure out what most of the buttons and levers did.

The first thing I did was open the navicomputer by hitting a black button. A hologram of the overall galaxy popped up to my left. I played around with some of the configurations hoping to find the last place recorded on the navicomputer. Maybe it would reveal a Sith location. However, the ever crafty Sith had erased any and all past locations from their navicomputer. I tried hacking into the navicomputer hoping the remnants of the erased memory still remained somewhere but there was nothing.

My meaningless attempt at hacking the navicomputer ended when Gory called for me, "Laan, this might be worth something."

I hopped out of the chair and walked to the back. I stood there as a holo-image of a female Sith clad in black robes hovered above the pedestal as the holocam played the recording. Her face was masked by her robe's hood and her voice was very scrambled over the holocam but she seemed familiar, "-ust bri... back any ...ld you find ... to the Hyarsythe ...demy," I could just make out the name, Hyarsythe academy. Now I knew who she was, "-...do not fail me."

The image turned into static and vanished as the recording ended. Gully looked up at me, she actually seemed a little more cheerful at the sight of this video, "This has to be something! Do you know who she is?"

"Yeah." I told her, "Her name is Phyress Lokindr. When I was a Padawan I was told about a hidden Sith academy, the for mentioned Hyarsythe academy. She was hand picked by Darth Vultous to run it. I remember seeing images of her in one of the Republic's most wanted files. During my time as a Padawan the academy was never found and she was never captured."

"So that academy she was talking about, you think its the same one you couldn't find?", Wire asked.

"Most likely." I responded.

"So, Ceddes... sorry, Laan, do you think you can use this message for anything?" Gory asked.

I smirked and shrugged my shoulders, "Maybe. Depends on how crafty the Sith are. I've got some hacking to do."

I got back into the cockpit's chair and started my work. I started by opening the ship's main operating system which came up in a blue, holographic screen to my right. I opened a program that held the ship's incoming messages. Only one message remained in the ship's system but it was the only one I needed. I opened a few files until I was able to open a small black screen with nothing but a yellow text code. The code was the message's calling code. Every message sent by any holocam is encoded with a unique code made of letters and numbers. Different parts of the code meant Different things. One part of the code had something to do what make of holocam was sending the message. Another part had something to do with how far across the galaxy the message was sent. Some of the code was just random. There are many parts of the code and many reasons for each part of the code. The part I was looking for had to do with where the message was sent from. The hard part about finding that is not all holocams are attached to any tracking device so the message would have no way of nothing where its being sent from. So that part is not always written into the code. The Sith may have intentianlly used one of those holocams for just such a reason. Hopefully they didn't know about the code, most people didn't and if it wasn't for old man Herrvis I wouldn't have either.

After carefully looking the code over, I was overjoyed to find the part I was looking for. The section near the later half of the code that read, 332-4R. I knew for a fact I could use this to track the sender of the message down but this was only half the process. None the less I could harley contain my excitement. I shot back to Wire and Gory, "I've got it!"

Wire and Gory walked over to the cockpit and looked over my shoulder at the screens in front of me. Wire shook her head, "Umm... I don't understand any of this."

I pointed to the 332-4R on the smallest screen, "That's it! I'm pretty sure I can track down where ever the message was sent with this code."

"How do you do that?" Gory asked.

"I'll show you." I said as I got rid of all the screens and brought up the main system program again. I opened a file for the ship's navicomputer. From that file I opened up another one causing the ship's navicomputer to flicker back on to my left. I looked at the familiar hologram of the overall scope of the galaxy. So many systems, so many stars, so many planets and I was about to track one down with a simple code. I opened yet another file inside the ship's system causing a little blank screen to pop up. It was a system writer... which is complicated... but basically you can alter a few things in the navicomputer by using the information all ready stored inside of it. I entered the code, 332-4R into the system writer causing the navicomputer to temporarily flicker off and back on a few times. At first I thought I broke it until the navicomputer flipped on and stayed on. This time a single planet was shown on the navicomputer. A blue planet with a large ocean and light blue masses in various areas around the sphere. Below the planet the code, 332-4R was written in white text. I closed all of the program files leaving only the navicomputer. The 332-4R text then transformed into the name of the planet, Apsus.

I clapped my hands together, "Thats it! I could see the academy on this planet. Its almost unheard of and far out of the way of any other planets. A perfect location for a Sith academy."

I zoomed the navicomputer out from the single planet and saw a screen of the outer rim system. It was near the edge of the system so it must be a cold planet. Gory patted me on the shoulder, "Well, I'm impressed. So what are you going to do now? Turn this into the Republic?"

It was a good idea in theory but I couldnt' do that. First of all they might not even listen to me and second of all I don't trust what they'd do with this information. Right now the Republic is run by warmongers, as are the Jedi. Those who live by the way of justice and peace have been pushed aside by the brawny. It was causing a war within the Republic and the Jedi Order. The more I thought about it the more I confirmed within myself that I could not trust them. To answer Gory's question I just sat back into my chair and lowered my head, "Whatever I do, I have to do myself. I can't trust any of them at this moment."

"Wait! What can you do by yourself?" Wire asked with a tone of concern in her voice.

I shrugged my shoulders and cocked a grin, "Well... what I'm planning on doing... will probably get me killed."

"Whoa, Laan!" Gully shook her hands in front of my face, "Are you thinking clearly?"

I brushed her hands from my face, "I can't hold back from the force any longer. I want to help people... Hopefully I'll do that or die trying. It may sound extreame to you two but this is what I want to do."

Wire and Gory exchanged worried looks before Gory patted me on the shoulder again, "We can't stop you so we may as well support you. Even if it is from afar..."

And that was that. I knew I had to act as quickly as possible and I would have to leave Lanoul almost immediately. The longer I waited the more likely the Sith would find out the seeker unit had been captured or killed. If they figured that out they might be on the look out for their ship and I needed this ship to leave the planet. That and the fact that the anticipation was killing me.

I spent another hour on Lanoul. I said my farewell to "Gory" Avory whom I gave my busted up ship and all the parts inside to. I said farewell to Gully who thanked me for helping her brother and said I could visit them in Coruscant whenever I wanted. I said farewell to Gully's brother who finally told me his name, Riveth. I wished him luck and gave him some simple tips about the force and how to deal with a few things. At least I thought that was farewell...

A few weeks ago I mentioned to Wire that I had always wanted to be able to afford to buy something nice from the bazaar. Before I left, the three of them took me to the bazaar and offered to buy me something from the bazaar, no matter what the cost. I assured them that they didn't need to, but they forced me to go shopping in the bazaar. I looked around and really did enjoy myself. I eventually found something that caught my eye, a necklace. It was a bit thicker and a bit heaver than regular necklaces, made specially for men so I liked it. The cord of the necklace was made of silver chain links. The ornament that hung from the necklace was beautiful. The ornament was a Lanoul wolf's head in front of a sun, causing sun rays to form around the wolf's head. Lanoul wolves lived in the mountains around Soundy-Dail. They are known to be loyal to the other wolves in the pack. The wolf was made of silver with black eyes. The sun rays around the wolf were also sliver.

It was the most fun I'd ever had on Laounl and I appreciate the fact the Wire and Riveth spent time with me during such a difficult time for them but I think they needed me just as I needed them at the moment. I wore my necklace around my neck as I said my final farewells and entered the Sith ship. I brought the ramp back into the ship and sealed the door behind me. I put my back to the door as I reached up and held the ornament of the necklace in my right palm. I looked at it's shiny surface and sighed. I just had the best moment in the past six years of my life and its unfortunate that it came between two very dark moments. One being the slaughter of Wire and Riveth's parents and the other being what I was about to do. It was a very risky plan and I knew I would have to keep this memory in mind because it could very well be the last good memory I ever have... My plan could either kill me... or it could draw me to the dark side of the force. I place I never hoped to travel...