She felt it. A ripple of evil through the Force, everyone shuddered as they felt it. A declaration of pain, a promise of their demise. Ana fell to her knees, feeling her Master's' death...

A hand fell on her shoulder, and she turned. A bearded man stood there, looking at the wall of the transport.

"Your Master died a hero, never forget that." The bearded man then turned, facing his fellow Jedi. This man was Grand Master Zenthio, Ana noted. The Jedi looked down, staring at the floor. They felt many people die, others refusing to leave, while even more were being kept in the temple, unaware of the evacuation. In total, only about a hundred Knights, a few dozen Padawans and Younglings, and a handful of Masters escaped. About two hundred in total...

"My fellow Jedi, we are in a time of much doubt. We must not give up hope, however!"

"What even happened there, who was that man?" A random Knight asked.

"That was Decius. This Order has had many Grand Masters in its rim, and Decius was a Grand Master who never retired. Not really. It is said that he turned to the Dark Side a long time ago, though it was never confirmed until now. Today, we were planning on trialing him, for falling to the Dark Side. However, it seems that he knew this, and came into the Council room mid-meeting, and attacked us. He overwhelmed us in our surprised state, and we decided that we had to escape."

"What was with the Temple Guard, then?" Asked another Knight.

"It seems that Decius controlled them, if those ones weren't always loyal to him... regardless, we need to stay together. The Temple Guards have been becoming worse over the years, I believe that Decius had been taking over, even way back then. We are going to be retreating to a hidden compound on Alderaan, where we will plan our next move. But we should not think about his betrayal, we should be focusing on our lost friends. Let us recite our code, in their honor."

Everyone closes their eyes, and looks down.

"There is no emotion, there is peace."

"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge."

"There is no passion, there is serenity."

"There is no chaos, there is harmony."

"There is no death, there is the Force."

At this, everyone calmed themselves into a meditative state, waiting to reach their destination.

- TJO -

Within two days time, all the runaway Jedi had escaped to the Alderaan compound, solemn greetings being exchanged. They all stood waiting, filling the courtyard. They were watching Master Zenthio, as he stood there, feeling the compound through the Force.

"My fellow Jedi, we came underneath a terrible power for the longest time, but now we are free!"

The Jedi all looked up a little, focusing on Master Zenthio, confused. "How are we free, Master Zenthio?"

"For the longest time, the High Council was under oppression. The one known as Decius was an ex-Grandmaster, who held immense sway within the Order. He refused to give up several things that the Council and the Grandmasters following him required. Our Order was on the verge of death, but no longer will that be the case! We are free from Decius, and we are our own Jedi!"

Upon hearing this, many of the Jedi were filled with hope, the despair seeping out of them replaced by a radiating optimism.

"I ask you all that you remain on guard, for Decius might send forces to attack us! If this happens, we will certainly be ready!"

The Jedi got up, and started going around the compound, securing every last inch of it before the hour passed. During all this, Ana sat in the courtyard, meditating. She reached out through the Force, feeling everyone. Their optimism, it felt so sudden, and surprising. She felt around, and as she reached for each person, she found their optimism to be almost unreal... but as she thought this, she slowly felt her curiosity dim. 'Oh well,' she thought. 'Seems everything might turn out all right. Hopefully we are safe here...'

- TJO -

"It seems one of our younger members has a knack for battle meditation, she almost figured out that I was keeping our members hopeful using the Force..." a figure said from the shadows. "She might be a problem one day, or perhaps she will become a great asset."

The figure vanished, leaving nothing behind to even show they were there.

- TJO -

The next day, an unusual calm filled the compound, everyone securing and patrolling while others used the Force to heal the wounds of those who were hurt in the escape.

Meanwhile, several Padawans and Initiates were training out in the courtyard, Ana especially working hard to increase her dueling skill. They all performed their movements and duels under the supervision of a Knight, who kept a close eye on them, to keep them safe.

"Cmon Ana, form three should be easy for you. All you gotta do is keep that blade up, and keep your feet firm." This advice came from Balt, who was currently locked blade for blade with her.

"I know, but it doesn't feel right. None of the forms do, especially not form three..." she stared at Balt, feeling him push his green blade against her cyan one. She breathed deeply, and pushed him back with a bit of effort, stepping back. She closed her eyes, and felt around her, deactivating her saber in submission. After all, the blade was only in training mode.

'Dodge left.'

Surprised by the voice, Ana immediately rolled left, avoiding a slash from in front of her, though she mistakenly left her back open as she rolled.

'Roll back, then strike before he readjusts!'

Still caught off guard, Ana does just that, rolling backwards and narrowly avoiding the blade, before re-igniting her saber and aiming it just under Balt's ribs.

"What?! How'd you do that, Sundina?!" Balt asked incredulously. He's never seen Ana perform such an advanced movement before! Heck, he's never even seen her move without her eyes open!

"I... I don't know... I just felt something telling me to do that..." She stuttered out, equally surprised with her sudden ability.

Balt was about to comment on how there was no way she hadn't practiced that beforehand, when suddenly an alarm siren went off. They looked up, and saw several shuttles land in front of the compound, dozens of soldiers and war droids coming out, each led by robed figures. These war droids were the same ones that Ana saw in their escape, so the robed figures must be traitorous Jedi...

"Well, whatever you did, it can wait. I need you two to get indoors while we handle the intruders!" The Knight shouted at them, pushing them back as he charged into battle.

"Cmon, let's go Ana." Balt grabbed Ana's hand, and pulled her along to the nearest building.

"You don't need to hold my hand all the time, you know!" She wrenched her hand from his, running alongside him to the building, when suddenly are large hunk of debree was thrown in the way. She turned and saw one of the robed traitors there, who then ignited his dark orange blade, the snap-hiss of the blade unusually menacing.

"I'm afraid I cannot let any of you traitors live, even if it goes against the Jedi way." The robed man charged them, to which both Padawans ignited their blades and locked them against his.

"Strong for your age... but you will fall, like the rest of your Order."

Across the compound, various battles between Jedi and Jedi were being made, with other Jedi focusing on the soldiers and war droids.

"Even now, your traitorous sect shall fall, in the name of Master Decius!" The robed man pushed them back, before pushing both back. Balt landed and had his head bashed against a rock, knocking him out cold. Ana, on the other hand, rolled back as she fell, in a moment of remembrance of her fight with Balt.

"Your friend is not here to help you anymore, I'd suggest you surrender. It'll be less painful that way." The robed figure walked slowly, holding his blade to strike her. Ana closed her eyes, knowing she could not handle him alone. She de-ignited, and waited for the strike.

'Ignite now, and block left!'

Ana trusted the voice, and blocked a strike from the left, keeping her eyes closed. Opening her eyes after she felt the blade lock with hers, she kept her eyes close to the robed figure.

"How did you block that strike? I severely doubt that you're strong enough in the Force to see my strikes before I make them..." the robed man sounded confused, but pushed against her block, before pulling back and swinging right, only to be blocked again.

The robed man began to strike in a faster and faster succession, striking against her blade various times, each time she blocked at the last second. Her eyes had an extreme focus to them, and then she deflected his blade up in a perfect Djem-So movement, before spinning her blade and severing his saber hand at the wrist, in a move that will one day be called "the anti-Skywalker maneuver."

"Gah!" The robed man fell to his knees, and Ana put her blade under his chin, ready to kill him. However, a voice calls out to her.

'Killing is wrong, and striking down a beaten opponent is not the way of the Jedi. Stay your blade, Anastasia.'

Confused, Ana recognized the voice, finally. But before she could call out to it, a large rock impacted the head of her captive, knocking him out cold.

"Hah! Payback, you son of a Hutt!" Balt walked up, laughing. "Whew, let's head inside now, this guy is taken care of."

Ana smiled a little, nodding "yeah, let's go."

"Hopefully we don't get attacked again, yeah?"

"Yeah..."

- TJO -

"The invasion has failed, Master Decius. We lost over half our forces, and barely took out even a tenth of them. We had to retreat."

"It is understandable, they are all Jedi Knights and Masters, while I only sent Knights and soldiers to handle them... very well. Send more deployments, I want them gone."

"Yes Master."

The holocom blinked out, leaving nothing but darkness, and impending doom.

For the Jedi.