Hi again everyone! Dakkaman777 here with another chapter of Star Wars Shroud of the Dark Side, now a few things I want everyone to know:
Everyone who wants to see another great Prequel Redo, check out Aspiringactor's Star Wars 'the Malevolent Darkness' trust me it's a great read :)
And before you all ask, yes I have seen Force Awakens, what are my thoughts on it? Well…. thank god there are 4 good Star Wars films now XD and thank god it doesn't get in the way of what I wanted from this story in the first place as it barely mentions the prequels at all.
Now…. onto the awesome.
(UPDATE 09/02/2016) Thanks to SnarkyBacterium for pointing out a bunch of my errors in grammar and spelling, I hate it when my writing is full of errors. cheers for the help mate :)
Chapter 2
Smoke billowed into the pure blue skies of Alderaan as the wreckage of the Jedi shuttle continued to give off fumes. The thrusters of the once graceful shuttle billowed smoke and black gas into the once pure air, but then again it was not the foulest smelling thing around.
A squad of at least 10 men covered head to toe in black armour scoured the area, trying to find traces of their quarry. All the men were the exact same height of 6 feet, which was very disturbing to think on, and all were heavily armed with a blaster pistol at their hip, a baton like weapon strapped to the packs they were wearing on their backs and a Blaster rifle in both hands.
Whoever these men were, they were not friendly and most likely were not normal men, especially by the animalistic way some of them seemed to crouch down to all fours and sniff around for a scent like a bloodhound.
The others threw pieces of the ship's wreckage around, displaying their strength by throwing the industrial strength Hull pieces around like they were nothing. Snarling and sniffing were the loudest noises besides the burning wreckage.
One of the black armoured individuals had a red shoulder cape, signifying his higher rank whatever it may be. He looked over the wreckage with his arms crossed and barked order to his men in a deep growling, guttural voice that wasn't pleasant on the ears.
Uncover every scrap you can! Find the scum! Find them! he growled in an alien language that could only be described as an abomination of sound, his helmet didn't help his voice as it added a synthetic muffle to his voice.
Another of the black armoured individuals came out of the wreckage, dragging the corpse of the pilot, his helmet all but fused to his face from that explosion that caused his death. The leader of the men stepped forward and began to inspect the body, trying to find anything they could use to track the others.
The ones on all fours snorted and sniffed their way around the wreckage of the ship, but all chances of finding a scent were impossible when the air was being savaged by the smell of fire, smoke and burning star ship fuel. Any scents that would have been left behind would have been overpowered by the strong scents of burning in the area.
The men on all fours gave up on trying to find a scent when they realized it was hopeless, but one of the others near the outcropping of the trees was rustling around in the grass on one knee. His hand rustled the grass out of the way to reveal a boot print in the ground, a snort of a chuckle could be heard behind the face plate of his helmet.
the one with the red shoulder cape approached the one that had found the foot prints and even behind his helmet you could tell he was grinning like a maniac. He reached into his belt and took out a small disc device and held it in front of him.
A small blue hologram appeared out of the device, the hologram being that of Darth Faye and her master, Darth Maul. Maul had his arms crossed in front of him, an expecting look plastered on his face, while Faye seemed much calmer and much more composed.
"Have you found them, Sergeant?" Maul asked.
The sergeant replied in basic, but his accent and tone of voice made it nearly impossible to understand a word of what he was saying, even Wookiee's could speak better basic than whatever the Sergeant was.
"Please, spare me the ordeal of trying to listen to you speak basic. Speak in your own tongue, Sergeant." Maul said with his eyes closed in discomfort.
"Yes, My Lord, forgive me. We have scoured the area, but have only found a set of foot prints heading towards the capital…should we pursue them?" the Sergeant replied in his gravely alien tongue.
"Yes, ride them down on speeders, leave none of them alive." Maul replied with a gruff tone.
"It will be done my lord. And what of the witnesses?" the sergeant asked after he beat a fist against his chest.
"Witnesses?" Faye asked.
"A few Alderaanians, probably Farmers or hunters, they were snooping around the site before we got here" the sergeant replied.
"Have they seen you?" Maul asked with his arms crossed.
"We have captured them sir, they have indeed seen us." the sergeant replied.
"...There were no witnesses." Maul replied blandly, as if their lives didn't matter.
"Master, they've done nothing wrong, they don't need to die." Faye told her master.
"They've seen the troops, they know too much already, we cannot jeopardize the mission." Maul replied with a glare before he turned his head back to the Sergeant.
"Like I said….there were no witnesses." Maul told the Sergeant firmly.
"It will be done, My Lord" the sergeant replied as he turned off the hologram projector and placed it back in his belt.
The sergeant walked over to where three of his men were keeping 4 Alderaanians guarded at gunpoint, their blaster rifles training on their heads the entire time. The 4 young men were obviously terrified at the sight of these intimidating figures standing tall in their pure black armour and unsettling visages.
"Please, we were just trying to help anyone that got caught in the crash, just let us go." the oldest of the citizens pleaded, a young man around his thirties.
The Sergeant however completely ignored the man's pleads and immediately drew his blaster pistol and pointed it between his eyes. A flash of red and a high pitched screech filed the air and a second later the man fell to the floor, stone dead.
The sergeant gestured to the other men who were beyond terrified at this point, and the black armoured troops aimed their rifles and pulled the triggers.
"Master, you didn't need to kill them." Faye said as she turned to her master. She didn't take joy in the killing of innocents when it didn't benefit them at all, those men were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"They would have alerted the Capital of Jedi's presence and in turn, our Presence. They had to die for the plan to work." Maul replied with his arms crossed.
"But Master, they were innocent." Faye replied, obviously distressed with her Master's actions. Maul however was amused with his young learner, she had not seen much of the world as he did, her childish naiveté would soon fade away with time, he remembered when he was a foolish child.
The Sith did not have a place for a weak heart.
"He would have simply been another casualty in the long run, better to kill him know rather than delay the inevitable." Maul said blandly as he turned and began to walk out of the room.
"But killing innocent Civilians?!" Faye near shouted, stopping her master in his tracks.
"Do I sense doubt in your tone?" Maul asked without even looking at his apprentice.
Faye lowered her gaze in shame at her outburst, her Master deserved respect, she had not followed him this far only to disgrace him with the same outburst that a spoiler child would give their parents. He was her master, he had done so much for her, taught her so much, he deserved her resect and compliance.
She instantly dropped to one knee and kept her head bowed.
"Forgive me, Master. I did not mean to speak in that manner." Faye spoke softly, hoping her master would be in a forgiving mood.
Maul only smirked as he walked over to the red Twi'Lek and put a gauntleted hand on her head.
"Emotions give a Sith their power…but they can also lead you astray if you cannot control them. You are Young and inexperienced….soon you will understand why I do this." Maul spoke in a kind tone that no one would expect from such a viscous looking individual.
"Now come, Young one. The General will be arriving soon." Maul said as he gestured for Faye to stand back up. She did as was told of her without question and began to follow her master out of the room.
"Must we see him, Master? That….thing…it…"
"Scares you?" Maul finished her sentence for her, Faye only nodded.
"Yes…he has that effect." Maul finished as they left the room.
The landscape of Alderaan was both vast and beautiful to out-landers and natives alike, the snow-capped mountains, the lush fields of grass, the dense and beautiful forests and most of all the silver citadel of the royal palace of Alderaan, home to the royal family and the centre of all trade for most of the known universe.
The shimmering city shone brightly in the light of the sun in the distance as the Jedi and their co-pilot companion walked through the grassy plains towards their destination.
Owen was still quite shaken up by the recent events that had taken place, it wasn't every day that a simple pilot in training would survive a horrible crash and have to accompany four Jedi on their mission. Anakin, being the one closest to Owen's age, was trying his best to explain their mission to him, a mission that seemed simple at first, but was growing more and more dangerous with every passing moment.
"…Master Ranto is one of the leading members of the Jedi Council, it's his mission to make contact with the King of Alderaan and find out what is happening with the disappearing cargo ships in the vicinity, we are simply his escorts." Anakin explained to Owen who listened intently.
"So, do any of you know why the Alderaanians shot at us from orbit?" Owen asked.
"It wasn't the Alderaanians." Xame replied immediately.
"The People of Alderaan haven't practised warfare in thousands of years, having anti-air artillery for them is as likely as the force being a microscopic organism." Obi-Wan explained, the Alderaanians would never employ weapons of war like blaster cannons even at the worst of times.
"So, who do you think shot at us?" Owen asked.
"Bounty Hunters?" Anakin suggested.
"Using Heavy artillery? Very unlikely." Obi-Wan replied.
"A Crime Syndicate like the Hutts, the Alderaanians arrest plenty of their smugglers on a daily basis." Anakin yet again suggested, running through the options.
"The Hutts would never risk attracting attention by attacking a major world like Alderaan, they may be criminals but they aren't stupid." Xame replied.
"It could have been the Trade Federation or the Techno Union, they have been at odds with King Organa for years." Owen chipped in a suggestion.
"The Trade Federation and Techno Union have nothing to gain by attacking Alderaan, simple Trade disputes never result in a planetary invasion. And even not to mention that Neither one of them can hide themselves from a Jedi…there is only one thing that can dull the Sensory abilities of a Jedi…" Ranto spoke from the front, his hand crossed behind his back.
"Master, you can't mean…but they've been extinct for a thousand years." Xame asked her master in disbelief.
"The one thing that can hide itself from a Jedi….is a Sith." Ranto said, with that last word, silence filled the air, the very word 'Sith' silenced all three Jedi and the Young man alike.
"…A…Sith?" Owen asked, unfamiliar with the term.
"The Knights of the Dark side, they've had many names as the eons have passed, but at their core they have remained the same." Ranto continued as he walked.
"That's impossible, the Sith have been extinct for a thousand years." Anakin questioned, a Sith being alive now would be borderline impossible, force users may have been powerful but they were far from immortal.
"Not entirely impossible, Anakin. Some of the great Jedi masters have been known to live absurdly long lives, Obi-Wan and Master Ranto's master for example." Xame smiled at the apprentice.
"I know that, but the Sith were literally wiped out, as in killed…dead." Anakin replied.
"We don't know enough on the situation to assume that it's a Sith." Obi-Wan told his companions.
"There aren't many beings that could block themselves from a Jedi, yet alone a Master like you Master Ranto, what else could it be?" Xame replied, her reverence for her Master showing in her tone of voice.
Xame had been Ranto's apprentice since she could remember, and as was the case for many Jedi she trusted every word her master uttered. In her eyes, he was the father she never had, even though they were of a different species. In her training, Ranto was kind, caring, compassionate and wise, he didn't just teach her to be a Jedi, but to be an individual, to embrace her feelings but never let them control her.
So when Ranto had an opinion on something, it was almost a certainty that Xame would agree with him.
"Ok, I am completely lost. What are the Sith?" Owen whispered as he leaned to Anakin.
"Imagine Jedi, only evil." Anakin whispered back, his still simple view of the force bleeding through his words.
"Be that as it may, no matter who it was blocking our view of the force, there is a fact that someone on this planet wants us dead. So it would be a smart move to get to the palace as soon as possible." Obi-Wan replied to Xame who smirked at him knowingly as a tree line came into view.
"Just past these woods is the palace, we should be there within the day." Ranto said as the dense forests of Alderaan came into view.
Despite being a technologically advanced world, Alderaan was mainly comprised of vast mountain ranges, dense forests and lush fields of grass, all around it was a beautiful world. Especially since the Alderaanians hadn't practised war in thousands of years, thus giving the planet plenty of time to flourish and become a beacon of peace and beauty in the old republic.
Ranto smiled at the beauty of the surrounding area, taking a lungful of the fresh, clean air as he did. It was when a Jedi stood on the soil of such a rich, fertile and peaceful planet that a Jedi was at his strongest, the force was created by life itself, so a planet full of life like Alderaan would make an elderly Jedi like him feel like he was young again.
But there was something very wrong, he had been to Alderaan numerous times in his life, he had felt the force flow through this planet like water through a river and every time it filled him with peace and serenity.
But now…. there was something wrong…the planet felt polluted.
Ranto's eyes shot wide open and he quickly turned around, his white braid swinging as he did so. Obi-Wan and Xame were shocked at Ranto's reaction and seconds later they both felt the disturbance itself.
There was something chasing them, and it was gaining, close.
"Anakin! Owen! To the tree line!" Obi-Wan yelled orders to his Apprentice and the young Co-Pilot, the latter of which raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"NOW!" Xame shouted at the top of her lungs.
Anakin didn't need to be told twice and grabbed Owen's arm, dragging him along as the two boys began sprinting at full speed towards the treeline in sight. Obi-Wan and Xame began to run behind the two young boys, they were the ones in the most danger after all.
And no matter how many times she saw it, Xame could never get over how fast her master could run at times, his skill with the force flowed through him as much as his blood did, granting him the physical abilities of a man half his age.
Obi-Wan wished he would be as lively at Ranto's age.
Anakin and Owen while still confused at why they were running immediately understood why they were running as a high pitched wailing sound could be heard closely approaching at a rapid pace.
The tell-tale sound of a speeder bike.
Now Anakin understood why they were running into the trees, Speeders were fast, but their weakness was in manoeuvrability in dense areas like that of a forest.
What happened next was terrifying, red blaster bolts began to impact upon the trees and ground around them.
These weren't ordinary speeders!
"Spread out! We'll be harder to hit!" Xame shouted as the other immediately obeyed and scattered around the trees in an attempt to avoid being shot down.
"Owen, stay close to me!" Anakin shouted as the young Co-Pilot followed him, running for his life.
The two young boys ran as if their lives depended on it (which they did) and just as they thought they were home free, a red blaster bolt struck a tree in front of them, causing the large trunk of wood to collapse in front of them, blocking their escape.
Anakin could have easily jumped over the massive trunk, but Owen couldn't, to escape would mean abandoning the young boy to what could be certain death. Anakin couldn't levitate the tree with the force, he didn't have the strength or the time necessary to do it.
Anakin turned to see a contingent of Speeder bikes come into view, slowing down as they passed the treeline in order to avoid crashing face first into a tree.
"Owen stay behind me!" Anakin ordered the young man whom offered no objections to the young Jedi.
The closest Speeder fired bolt after bolt of blaster fire at the young Jedi, who in the blink of an eye ignited his lightsabre in both hands and deflected every bolt sent at him with skill and grace worthy of a Jedi.
But deflecting such high velocity bolts was very tiring for the young Jedi, he couldn't keep this up forever as the Speeders approached like Rancors with a stomach ache.
Sweat began to run down Anakin's brow as the onslaught only grew, but just as he fell to one knee and thought himself done for.
Xame leaped in front of the young Skywalker and ignited her green bladed lightsabre and began deflecting the bolts with all the skill and grace of a master Jedi. Anakin and to a greater extent Owen sat there with their mouths agape at the movements of the Female Zabrak which flowed like liquid around the bolts that threatened death.
Xame however didn't stay on the defensive for long as she began to walk towards the speeder, still deflecting and blocking bolts as she did, her walk turned into a brisk walk which in turn turned into a slow run.
Just as the speeder came within a few feet of her, the Zabrak span to the right of the speeder and in the blink of an eye and a swing of her sabre, she lopped off the front section of the vehicle, sending the black armoured driver flying off the seat and crashing to the ground with a loud bone breaking thud.
The next closest speeder came zooming in at full speed, as if it was going to ram into Xame. But all of a sudden the speeder screeched dead in its tracks, sending the driver flying just as high as the last driver, except this one was sent face first into a tree.
*CRACK!*
Anakin and Owen winced at the sound of the driver's back breaking in half as he slammed into the tree trunk.
Obi-Wan smirked as he released the now empty speeder from his grip, allowing it to drop to the floor now that no one was behind the controls. The Jedi Master turned quickly to see the other Speeders approaching.
There were 7 in total, including the 2 unfortunates that he and Xame just dispatched.
"I suppose running wasn't as viable as an option as we thought." Xame sighed as she flourished her saber and got into good stance.
"Let's try and keep at least one of them alive, they may be the ones who fired at us from orbit." Obi-Wan agreed as he unclipped his lightsabre from his belt yet didn't ignite it.
The speeders zoomed forwards, unloading red blaster bolts as they sped forward.
Xame deflected any bolts sent her way while Obi-Wan side stepped and weaved around the bolts as if he could sense where their trajectory was before they were even fired. Obi-Wan's agility and reflexes were truly a sight to behold as Anakin and Owen simply stood there in total awe at the skills of the two Jedi.
Once the speeders where within a yard of the Jedi, they screeched to a halt. Two of the speeders kept their fire up in an attempt to keep the female Zabrak and male Human busy while the other three dismounted their speeders and unsheathed their batons from their backs and with a flick of their wrists, were extended to a few inches short of a Lightsaber's length.
The batons however had been electrified and buzzed and cracked with the high power energy behind them. There was a slight chance that those batons could easily withstand a Lightsaber blow with them being drenched in electrical energy.
Obi-Wan focused on the three making their way towards him, he could already tell that the one with the red shoulder cape was the leader from his attire and the way he held himself.
The three charged full speed at Obi-Wan with their Batons bared, flickering and buzzing with electrical energy, and their movements carried by what seemed like a hell of a lot of physical strength.
Obi-Wan held his still inactive lightsabre in front of his face in both hands like a salute to his opponents that ran towards him.
The Sergeant lunged at Obi-Wan with his Baton, in the blink of an eye Obi-Wan's lightsabre ignited into a bright Sapphire blue and the two weapons clashed with a hail of sparks. Obi-Wan grimaced at the brute strength behind the attack, this guy was not human if he had this kind of raw Physical power behind his strikes.
"Jedi! You die now!" the sergeant growled in basic. Obi-Wan knew many languages, being a Jedi of his skill and experience he was a linguist of sorts….and even then it was hard to understand the Sergeant's words. His voice sounded as if he had drunk battery acid and rubbed his vocal chords with sand paper, the gurgled, growly words sounded as if they were vomited up by a dying Hutt.
Obi-Wan however didn't rely on brute strength, a Jedi was more than muscle, the force fuelled his movements, made him move like water through a stream, constantly a step ahead of his opponent. However, it seemed like the Sergeant had prior combat training as he obviously understood basic swordsmanship, when the other two black armoured troops attacked it made the fight a lot more challenging on Obi-Wan's part.
Fighting three individuals with basic combat skills would have been easy, that is if they didn't have the inhuman physical strength that these men possessed.
Obi-Wan's concentration was split between the three men attacking him with those electrified batons. Wielded by a normal man, those batons would probably stun at best while hurt a lot, but with the strength that the black armoured men possessed…it would probably snap limbs in half like twigs.
Xame however, while not as skilled as Obi-Wan was trying her best to deflect the blaster bolts shot at her by the two remaining speeders. Her primary concern was making sure none of the bolts hit Anakin or Owen.
Owen watched as the Jedi fought off their black armoured opponents, after seeing the display of Master Ranto's power it was no surprise that Obi-Wan and Xame would be this skilled.
"…Ugh….Ugh….Jedi!" a gravely and grotesque growl came from behind Owen.
The young Co-Pilot turned and was horrified to see the lumbering form of the black armoured troop that had been thrown from his speeder earlier, still alive and angry from the young of his voice and the way he clutched his electrified baton.
"Anakin!" Owen shouted, gaining the young Apprentice's attention as the brute lunged at him like a predator, snarling as it bared its baton.
Anakin blocked the blow with his lightsabre, but unlike his Master, Anakin neither had the strength nor the proper concentration to fend off such a hulking wall of muscle.
With every blow that the brute sent his way, Anakin's stance faltered and it wasn't long until he was forced staggering to the ground. With one more brutal blow, Anakin's lightsabre was sent flying out of his hands, leaving his completely unarmed. The black armoured brute stood menacingly over the young Apprentice, and held its Baton high over its head. One swing was all the brute needed to snap the young Jedi's neck if not crush his skull with the force behind the blow.
*BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
However, the brute did not expect Owen to pull a small Blaster pistol on him, and fire a few rounds into his chest. The brute looked down to see three scorch marks deeply imbedded into his thick black chest plate, smoke emitting from the burnt flesh of his chest.
Owen's blaster was a very small and compact model and it did its best to penetrate armour as thick as that. It would take a blaster rifle at the very least fully penetrate all the way through the brute.
That was the problem with Blasters, if they barely made it through the armour, they were next to useless.
"Grrrrrr….You…..Little!" the brute growled as black blood began to leak from its wounds.
Owen in a state of fear aimed his blaster as carefully as he could in a situation like this and fired off a few more shots.
*BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
One bolt harmlessly bounced off a dense shoulder plate
Another missed entirely
But Owen got lucky on the third as it hit the brute in the throat, burning right through the thin mesh armour and straight through his throat. The brute dropped his baton and both hands reached up to his neck in a desperate attempt to lessen the pain that shot through the creature as it stumbled towards Owen.
But just as the Brute reached out to Owen with a gauntleted hand, a blue blade sliced through its back and emerged through its chest with a sizzle as flesh and armour were cauterized together by the heat of Anakin's saber.
The brute turned its head to Anakin, and a pained snarl could be heard reverberating through the synthetic filter of its helmet. With one jerk, it slammed its elbow into Anakin's face, blood gushed from his nose as he was lucky that the strength behind the blow was weakened significantly.
Anakin fell back, trying his best to stop the bleeding as well as deal with the pain of getting hit with the force of a Jackhammer. All Jedi could protect themselves Physically with the force to some extent, but Anakin was a trainee with barely any real experience.
But just as the growling Brute looked like he was going to finish Anakin off, with the still ignited Saber in his hand.
This Black armoured creature had to have a strong pain tolerance to yank a Lightsabre from its chest and not keel over from the pain of a hole being burned into its chest.
But just as the creature raised Anakin's saber above his head, it was sent flying like a ragdoll into a tree where the trunk snapped its back in half like a twig. Anakin's saber deactivated and fell to the floor as the creature was killed instantly.
Anakin jerked his head to see his saviour.
Standing there was Master Ranto, only his usually kind demeanour had been replaced with a scowl of a battle hardened warrior. His hands weren't even outstretched to use the Force, it was almost unreal how powerful the Jedi Master was, to use the force to that extent without any exterior actions.
The other black armoured creatures jerked their heads to see the Jedi Master, and even through their Black Visages Obi-Wan and Xame could sense the shock and fear within them.
"It seems I have to step in" Ranto spoke as he turned his gaze to the other attackers.
The Sergeant took a step back before bolting for his speeder, his men closely following him. Xame was freed from the strain of the constant blaster fire and Obi-Wan was free to run to his apprentice and check on his wellbeing.
All the remaining Creatures got to their speeders and sped off in a haste, but just as Xame was about to give chase…
"No, allow me my dear." Ranto said as he held out his hand, and with a single swiping gesture of finger, one of the black armoured troops was yanked clean off of his speeder and sent flying through the air until he was stopped right in front of Ranto, whom had lowered the towering beast to his face.
"You and I are going to have a little chat." Ranto smiled before he sent him crashing into a tree. Not with enough force to snap him in half, but enough to keep him firmly in place as with a few other quick hand movements, vines from the tree began to wrap around the creature and keep him tied to the tree trunk.
"Anakin, are you alright?" Obi-Wan asked as he inspected the young boy's face.
"I…I think so." Anakin said, holding his nose to try and stop the bleeding. Obi-wan motioned for Anakin to take his hands away, which he did, under close inspection Obi-Wan gaze a sigh of relief.
"Nothing serious, it's just a broken nose. It's an easy fix." Obi-Wan smiled as he began to help his apprentice fix his nose.
Obi-Wan was both relieved and proud of Anakin, having stood against one of those creatures without batting an eye. The common misconception about Jedi was that even the young ones were deadly combat experts, that couldn't be further from the truth, yes they were skilled but they were still young and inexperienced, and against enemies like those black armoured thugs which even Obi-Wan had trouble with, it was a good sign that Anakin didn't get himself killed.
Obi-Wan smiled, thinking of what a few more years of training could bring to his apprentice. He hoped he could train Anakin as well as his master had trained him.
"Are you ok, Owen?" Anakin asked the young Co-Pilot who was still tightly gripping his blaster pistol.
"That….That was the first time I've shot someone." Owen said, his hand trembling a bit from the shock.
Anakin chuckled a bit before replying "Yeah, from that aim I suppose so." Owen looked at Anakin and began to chuckle himself, the little quip from Anakin loosened him up and let him relax just a bit. Just being alive would do.
Obi-Wan treasure moments like this, it was what made being a Master worthwhile. Being a Master was not only about nurturing the skills and abilities of his apprentice but seeing him grow from a boy to a man.
"Now, you are going to tell us everything you know, understand?" Xame asked as she leant down to look the brute in the visor.
"….." the brute stayed absolutely silent, not moving an inch.
He was a stubborn one.
"Ok, I can't read this visor, I'm taking his helmet off." Xame said as she reached forward, undid the clasps that kept the helm in place and removed the helmet from the brute's face.
To say this guy was ugly, would be an understatement. Though his face's proportions seemed…humanoid, he was still grotesque to look at. His lower jaw was squared and had two long tusks jutting out from his mouth, his two eyes were black except for the bright Yellow iris' that only solidified that this guy was not human as his brow was very pronounced. His skin was a dark shade of Green or brown with a very reptilian texture, his ears were pointed and from his head was slick black hair done up in a short black braid.
"Wow….uh…you're a Looker." Xame said as she stood up and took a step back.
The creature narrowed his eyes as if offended by the sarcasm in the female Zabrak's comment. He growled and spewed forth a few gravely words in some alien dialect that Xame almost mistook for him choking on something.
"Go to Hell, Jedi scum" the brute growled at Xame in its alien tongue, spitting on the ground in front of her to emphasise his disgust.
"Um…Ok, did anyone understand that?" Xame asked.
"There is no need, I can sense that this one is merely being stubborn." Ranto said as he took a step toward the brute. From the way the creature flinched, Ranto could tell he intimidated the brute.
"You know who I am, yes?" Ranto asked, already knowing the answer.
The fear that Ranto sensed in the creature only confirmed his suspicions on the matter.
"You know that if you don't speak, I can rip the answers I need out of your mind, don't you?" Ranto asked, deadly serious.
The Brute nodded.
"Now…Will you cooperate?" Ranto asked.
The Brute paused, before he nodded again.
"Who sent you?" Ranto asked.
"…L….Lord…..Maul." the brute growled out in his gravelly voice. Luckily the Jedi Master had an ear for strange accents.
"And what is Lord Maul? A Bounty Hunter, a Hutt, what?" Ranto asked.
Obi-Wan, Anakin and Owen were now paying close attention, Anakin with his nose bandaged and Owen having gotten over his trembling. The next answer would confirm their fears, of who this 'Lord Maul' was, a Crime lord? A Bounty Hunter, A Hutt or the worst answer possible…A Sith Lord.
"…He is….S…Sith." the brute stuttered.
Anakin and Obi-Wan's eyes widened in shock, the fact that a Sith lord was alive, thousands of years past their supposed Extinction was a bad sign. Owen after seeing what the Jedi were capable of, the idea of an evil version of that genuinely scared him.
"How can you be sure he isn't lying?" Owen asked.
"If he were lying I would sense it…besides, he has nothing he can hide from me." Ranto answered Owen's question before turning back to the creature.
"Was it you and your forces that shot us out of the sky?" Ranto asked.
The Brute nodded, his expression growing more terrified by the second.
"Why? What would have to gain from killing us?" Ranto asked. Obi-Wan, Anakin and Owen now within range of the conversation as they were anxious to hear the answer.
"I….I have said too much…" The Brute said with a trembling voice.
"What?" Xame asked in confusion.
"I…I cannot go back….I…I have betrayed the trust of my masters….they….they…." the Brute began to hyperventilate in shock as he stuttered his words.
"What do you mean? How many Masters? How many Sith are there?" Ranto asked in a hurry all of a sudden. The Brute looked Ranto dead in the eye and Ranto could see nothing but pure terror.
"…You have no idea what awaits you, Jedi. Your time is ending….the dark side has returned." the Brute said before he closed his mouth and swallowed something.
Obi-Wan then realized what the creature had swallowed and instantly dashed forward to try and get his mouth open, but once he did the Creature's eyes rolled back into his head as his mouth began to foam.
The creature was dead.
"What…what was that?" Owen asked.
Obi-Wan's head hung and he replied "A Poison capsule in his tooth, he killed himself before letting us have any more information." Obi-Wan then stood up and walked over to the corpses of the other 2 deceased creatures and dragged them back to the tree.
"Master, what are you doing?" Anakin asked.
"Trying to see if I can figure out what race this is." Obi-Wan replied.
Obi-Wan had been all around the Galaxy, he had seen all sorts of Alien species in his time as the apprentice of the greatest Jedi of all. By looking at least another 2 of these faces he could probably piece together what race this was. And when he figured out their race he could probably narrow down what the alleged Sith had for allies.
But when Obi-Wan took off their helmets, he was met with a shock.
They were all exactly the same, the exact same skin colour, same eye colour, same ear length, same tusk length, same space between eyes, same size of the jaws, everything about these soldiers was identical to a T, and Jedi had good eyes, they could see little differences in even skin colour.
But all 3 of these creatures looked 100% identical, from their height to their hair length. Even their mass produced armour had more individual aspects than the soldier's faces.
"They…They're Clones." Obi-Wan said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Clones?" Owen asked.
"Genetic copies, created from the DNA of an individual." Xame said with her arms crossed as she too inspected the brutes once she squatted down beside Obi-Wan.
Clones were an oddity at this time, once for a time Clone Armies were worth a dime a dozen, easy to make armies that age quicker and were bred for war. Thousands of years ago Clones were used a lot in the creation of military forces, but due to their limitations and expenses the use of Cloning technology became a drain on resources and soon became abandoned as little more than a tool in medical technology.
"Enough talking, we can discuss this once we get to the palace, these…Clones have already taken up too much of our time, so I suggest we move." Ranto commanded as he undid the vines holding the Clone to the tree, letting the body fall to the floor.
"Yes Master. Anakin, Owen, you two go ahead with Master Ranto, Obi-Wan and I will watch the rear in case those clones come back." Xame told the two young lads whom nodded and did as instructed by following Master Ranto.
The two Sith waited side by side on the landing platform, Maul with his arms crossed in front of him and Faye with her hands behind her back. Both of the Sith, the Master and his apprentice awaited the arrival of a very important player in their plans with great patience.
While anger, rage and passion was a Sith's strength, they would also practise the patience that came with it. After all, power was nothing if you could not control it.
The clouds parted as a black shuttle came soaring into view, slowing down as it approached the landing platform. The ship looked very formidable with its thick armour plates, black and red colour scheme and its presence amongst the two Sith Knights and their black armoured Clone troops.
A squadron of at least 25 clone troopers had assembled, along with a few higher ranking troops, signified by the red accents lining their black armour. They presented their blaster rifles as the shuttle touched down and the landing ramp extended.
Maul looked at Faye to see that she was obviously nervous, quite understandably so as the General was one such individual that deserved respect from all of his peers and would severely punish those that didn't.
"Don't be nervous, my apprentice." Maul spoke.
"I'm not nervous." Faye replied.
"Fear is natural in the presence of one with the General's reputation." Maul replied before turning his gaze back to the shuttle of which steam and smoke began to hiss.
Two Clone troopers both wearing long black capes, holding long blaster rifles with bayonets attached, walked down the ramp before stopping at the very end and turning to salute the figure behind them.
A huge, towering white cloak made its way down the ramp, metallic clanking of steel against steel accompanied each step with the audible whirr and clank of machinery. The figure was 9 feet tall at the very least even with his neck hunched down, his head looming like a predator as his sharp yellow reptilian eyes glazed across the landing platform.
Whatever was underneath the cloak gave this…. man a sharp angled frame as his face was shielded by a mask, a mask that was emphasised by the two large metal frills at both sides. In fact, the mask seemed more like it was his face, as he had no signs of a nose and the long vents acted as a mouth of sorts. The face was that of a masked Kaleesh.
This towering structure of a being marched forward, being saluted by the Clones as he walked past them and up to Maul, leaning down even further to look the Sith in his eye.
"Welcome General." Maul spoke calmly.
A deep, booming, commanding voice came from the General, a synthetic voice that was filled to the brim with power, authority and sophistication. He didn't stutter, he didn't cough, and every word he uttered was crystal clear to any with ears.
"Lord Maul, I was expecting a larger welcoming than this." the General spoke.
"I would have had more Clones present, but unfortunately the Jedi arrived sooner than we expected." Maul replied.
"So I have heard," the General spoke with the smallest hint of judegment in his voice before he turned his crane of a neck towards Faye who seemed as rigid as a board "And I suppose this is your apprentice?" he continued.
"It is, Darth Faye, may I introduce you to General Grievous." Maul announced clearly to his apprentice.
"Hello, General, it is a pleasure." Faye bowed her head to the towering Cyborg.
Grievous stared at the Young Sith before turning his head back to Maul, an obvious sign that he was not impressed by the young Twi'Lek girl and had not yet earned his attention.
"Very cute, but we do not have time for petty discussions like this…. The Master is awaiting us." The General spoke to Maul. The Sith Lord's expression instantly changed the moment that a 'Master' was mentioned, and Faye saw it, only one could get a reaction like that from her master.
"He requested we contact him on my arrival, it would be most unwise to keep him waiting." the General spoke.
Maul only ever in his life feared one, only one could strike such feelings into the heart of the Zabrak Sith Lord, only one could elicit the respect and obedience of Grievous, and only one could call themselves a true Master of the Dark Side.
"Darth Sidious wishes to speak with you."
Ok, that took longer than I expected to get done, Force Awakens gets released and I manage to get 1 chapter done…..huh…..yeah I really need to prioritize here. Just kidding, I had reasons for being so late on my updates, Uni work piles up and real life keeps throwing obstacles at me in order to prevent me writing my Fics.
NOW: a few notes:
Before you ask, NO, this is not the General Grievous you all think you know. This Grievous is more akin to the 2003 animated Grievous (AKA, the good one) like I said I was going to have some characters used better and more aptly in this rewrite of the trilogy, this is just another one.
YES, the clones are the villains in this version, another idea I got from RedLettermedia(the guys know exactly what they are doing)
If you are having trouble imagining what the clones look like, they look like the Sith troopers from The Old Republic PC game (hence the profile pic) if you want a simple explanation of their faces...Imagine Uruk-Hai from LOTR the Two Towers, they are what's closest.
Expect a lot of ideas from the 2003 clone wars series (that series was my childhood) things like the badass Grievous, Durge, ARC Trooper badassery, so be sure to watch a lot of that if you want a taste of some of the stuff I may put in.
Now that I got that out of the way, please leave a review, tell me what you liked, what you want to see, who you want to see.
And before I get any of these I want to stress yet again, for the purpose of this story, nothing but Episode 4-7 (theatrical) are canon…nothing else matters, none of the books, comic books, games, prequels or spin-offs, so DON'T leave something like "Uuum, actually in the phantom menace they said this" because as of now, those 3 movies don't mean jack.
So please, make your reviews as long and detailed as you want without waffling on, I love me some constructive criticism, NO FLAMERS OR TROLLS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! And please no 1 or 2 word reviews, I hate those, I want my readers to let me know exactly what they think.
And now for a Dakkaman777 speciality, something to get the brain juices flowing:
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT THE FORCE AWAKENS!?
Me: simple, the new characters that added a fresh new take on Star Wars while going back to what made the franchise good in the first place, like I said, first good Star Wars film since 83 XD
This is Dakkman777 signing out, see you guys next chapter and MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!