They sat in the war room, gathered around a large holographic map table.
Empty caf mugs were strewn across it, and for the moment it showed only a
dim two-dimensional view of the Yorillian capital and surrounding lands.
They had made good time in reaching the small military outpost about fifty miles outside the city, and were relieved to find that General Neros's forces had not yet taken control of the base. The Commanding officer, General Anston, had in fact welcomed them with open arms, relieved that the princess was safe and saddened at the loss of King Delan he had found quarters for everyone and had let them rest and freshen up.
Now there were four of them seated around the table, Orin, Joran, Jadala, and Anston himself, and for the last half an hour they had been discussing what they should do next.
"Do you know what Neros's position is within the Capital?" Jadala asked. She was almost a changed person now, as if a shower and a change of cloths had washed all the hurt and pain away, her hair was tightly bound up at the back and she now wore a nondescript black jumpsuit.
Anston, a tall dark skinned man with a perpetually scowling face looked up from his mug of caf. "From what my sources tell me he has the entire city under his control and has imposed martial law on the citizenry."
"What is the rest of the Military's position?" Orin asked the General. "Are they going to support Neros's claim to power?"
"Shortly before you arrived Neros sent a planet wide transmission to the Armed Forces announcing his take over of power. Shortly after that I began to contact the heads of the armed forces," the General told them.
"And?" Jadala asked impatiently.
"And it would seem that the majority of the services are adopting a wait and see policy, chances are if Neros goes unchallenged and consolidates his power the rest of the military will fall in line behind him."
"So for the moment we only have to deal with those forces loyal to Neros," Orin clarified.
"Right, which would seem to be the garrisons worth of troops that are directly under his command around the capital, and at least one Capital class ship from the space defence force," said the General.
"Okay, so what force do we have," Jadala addressed Anston.
"At this present time we have this one supply base, but several of the outlying Army base commanders have hinted they would be willing to help oppose Neros," the General answered with a scowl.
"So what are our options?" Joran spoke for the only the second time since their council of war had begun.
Anston cleared his throat, "The way I see it we have two options open to us. The first is we can gather as many troops and equipment as possible and launch a full scale attack against Neros's positions and in all likelihood start a civil war that will spread around the planet. Or, we can attempt to cut the head of the snake and hope it withers and dies."
"I guess option two is the preferred option then," Joran said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Which means gaining access to the palace, and to Neros. Not to mention his backer."
"His backer?" Anston looked confused.
"It would appear that he has enlisted the aid of a Dark Jedi, or more likely it's the other way round," Orin told him.
Anston once more gazed into his almost empty caf mug, swirling the dregs around as he considered this new information. "That would explain a lot, I had a hard time believing that Neros would try something like this on his own. I presume no one else knows about this Dark Jedi?"
"If you mean the general population or the rest of the military then I doubt it, it would not look good for his image," Orin speculated.
"Very well then, I may be able to deal with Neros's troops inside the palace but you gentlemen will have to deal with the Dark Jedi."
"Our pleasure," Joran said in a low and dangerous voice.
"In that case I suggest you retire and get some sleep, we will talk again in the morning, by then I will hopefully have something new for you," Anston said.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
Joran found himself wondering through the base late that night; apart from the occasional sentry it was quiet and peaceful, in stark contrast to his soul. His emotions were still raging, thoughts of violence and revenge cascading through his mind like an unstoppable waterfall. He had thought he had destroyed all of Lorn's dark disciples, all of Mira's killers, but it would seem that he had been wrong, and one more remained.
And so once more thoughts that he had put aside four years ago had returned to haunt him, the screams of the dying in the restaurant had returned to haunt his dreams.
'It wasn't your fault' something inside his head said in Mira's voice. 'After four years you shouldn't still be blaming yourself.'
Whether it was really Mira, or some phantasm that his own tortured mind had made up he didn't know, didn't care really, it was just nice to hear her voice again. "It was partially my fault Mir," he told her.
'No. It was Lorn's followers fault, they are to blame. Them and only them!'
"Maybe, maybe it doesn't matter anymore. The fact is I lost you, and even with all the powers of the force I can't change that. Even with all my Jedi training I couldn't save you."
'You can't save everyone love, it's just not possible. But you can save some people, you have been given a great gift, one that if you choose to use it for good you can help people with.'
"You always were an idealist," he told the phantasm in his mind.
'Maybe, but it doesn't mean I'm not right, think about it love,' she told him.
Deep in his own thoughts Joran wandered outside the base and strode over to a small hillock just inside the perimeter, he was almost at the top before he saw the small figure sitting huddled against the night looking out at the horizon.
"How long have you been sitting up here?" he asked.
"What are you doing here?" Jadala spun at the sound of his voice.
"I'm just out for a walk," Joran answered.
"Why are you here?" she demanded angrily. "Did Orin send you, he worries too much."
"Whoa, your majesty hang on a minute. Like I said, I'm just out for a walk," Joran stated flatly. "And yeah, from what I've seen of Orin he does tend to worry too much, I think he thinks its part of his Jedi'ly duty."
A small almost undetectable grin cracked the edges of Jadala's angry expression.
"I didn't mean to interrupt your solitude, I'll leave."
Joran turned to go and Jadala hesitated before saying, "No it's okay, I could do with the company."
He was tempted to tell her that she might want company but he was not sure that he did, instead he sat down beside her. The moon was full tonight and there were plenty of stars in the heavens to shine down on the desolate landscape before them. Row after row of unploughed dirty brown fields played out as far as the eye could see, once it had been rich agricultural land, but now it was dry and barren.
"You're not like Orin are you," Jadala said; a statement not a question.
"No, not anymore," Joran replied without looking at her.
"But you're not a Dark Jedi either."
"What makes you so sure?" he asked her, his words almost lost in the breeze.
"Because you helped save me," she stated gazing out at the horizon.
For a long while they sat in silence, the night wind howling around them, chilling them to the bone, yet neither of them was inclined to return to the shelter of the base. Joran turned to study the young woman who sat beside him, she was different to the frightened girl that he had talked to on the stairs of the palace.
Most people found it took a lot of time to pull themselves back together after the death of a loved one, but circumstances had dictated that she not have the luxury of time. Since her near breakdown at the palace he had not seen her cry or grieve for her father, that would come later he knew from experience, right now there were too many things to occupy her mind. Like how to retake control of her planet, and how to avenge her fathers death.
"Why did you leave the Jedi?" she said finally, tilting her head to look at him.
"I lost someone I cared for," he hesitantly replied.
"They were murdered?"
"Yes,"
"So you went and avenged their death, and turned away from the Jedi?" Jadala guessed.
"Yeah, I avenged her death. Or so I thought," Joran told her in a low voice.
"The Jedi on the roof?" she asked him gently.
"Yes," was all he said.
"He was responsible partly for my father's death as well. You're going to kill him?" she wanted to know.
"Yes, I am."
"Good."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
Orin stepped into the briefing room trying to stifle a yawn; he failed and used his hand to cover his failure. Joran, Jadala, Anston, and several senior officers Orin didn't recognise were already waiting for him.
"Glad you could make it Mr Vorn," Anson said.
"Sorry, rough night," Orin replied offhandedly.
"Well in your absence some of us have been busy and we now have a partial plan on how to stop Neros. During the night we have received a battalions worth of troops from the local commanders on the mainland, including heavy tanks, just about enough to take on the garrison and distract them so you can launch your attack on the palace."
"What about air attacks?"
"Well Neros has only one star ship, although it is a cruiser. However I have taken the necessary steps to make sure she does not interfere in our little uprising," Anston said almost smiling.
"Uprising?" Orin asked confused.
"Yes, uprising," Jadala said.
"You see, we've decided to hold off attacking until tomorrow night, after Neros is officially sworn in as the new ruler of Yorill," Joran explained.
"Ah, I don't get it. Why?"
"All will be explained later, now we have work to do," Anston said smiling for the fist time since Orin had met him. About two hours later they had a plan formulated and Anston stepped out to start issuing orders to the battalion commanders personally and the group disbanded.
Later Orin found Joran alone in the bases gym practicing against a remote. "Trying to burn off a little bit of aggression?" he asked.
"Yeah, something like that," Joran said as his lightsabre moved in a flurry of light to deflect a volley of fire from the remote. "Up for it?"
Orin unclipped his lightsabre and took off his robe. "Okay,"
Joran turned to face him, ignoring the remote. Orin ignited his lightsabre and moved towards him. "You going to turn that thing off?" Orin asked indicating the remote.
"No, it adds to the challenge."
"Fine."
Orin swept his lihhtsaber down from the guard position and sent it arching through the air so unblocked it would slice Joran's legs off. Almost casually Joran blocked it, a slit second later Orin reversed the stroke and aimed high but was also blocked out. The remote fired at Joran who out of pure reflex blocked the bolt and then split the droid in half. "Oops," he muttered.
Orin stepped black then renewed his attack with a lunge followed by low strike, both of which Joran deflected, then suddenly Joran jumped from defence to attack with a high low combination. Orin caught the change through the force, that of barely controlled aggression, but nevertheless had trouble in defending the attack. Joran's blade cut in from the side, then he switched to attacking Orin's unprotected head. Blade's flashing, intermingled with each other, they continued back and forth, Joran attacking, Orin defending, for what seemed like hours but in reality had only be about fifteen minutes.
Finally Joran stopped, he was breathing heavily. "Guess I did need to blow off some steam, thanks," he told Orin.
"Your welcome," Orin said almost surprised by the sudden abating of Joran's aggression. "How do you do that?" he asked.
"Do what?"
"Switch your anger on and off like that?"
"Easy, I just remember the past," he replied with a bitter smile.
Orin looked thoughtful before replying, "You know I just don't get you."
Joran looked amused, "Really, why ever not?"
"I've met a few Dark Jedi, and quite a few people who have dabbled in the dark side of the force, but you're different. With them they felt evil, or corrupted, like a slowly decaying tree, but you don't feel like that."
"Really, and why is that?" Joran asked intrigued.
"I don't know, with the others there were always two sides of themselves in conflict, with one eventually emerging the stronger. You however don't seem that way."
Joran again gave Orin a bitter smile, "Maybe deep down it's because I've accepted who I really am."
"You may have accepted who you are, but you don't seem to have accepted what happened in the past. And I think that's why you're the way you are."
"So what are you saying, that if I accept the past then one side of the force will claim me over completely?" Joran said angrily.
"Maybe."
"Well, it could be a while then," Joran said before walking away.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
Akin Tharll floated in a bacta tank fully conscious, and fumed at his defeat by the accursed Jedi; the Jedi had been his masters downfall, they would not be his. He had been prepared for one Jedi and was sure he could have defeated Vorn, but the appearance of Joran Roth had thrown him. Not particularly because of the fact that he had then had to fight two Jedi, but because of the fact that Joran Roth was unlike any other force user he had ever encountered. He attacked with an unabridged fury that could only come from the dark side, and yet he stood in defence of Vorn and the Princess, these facts had Tharll totally vexed. The idea of trying to turn him completely to the dark side briefly occurred to him, but he discounted it almost immediately, no, Roth wants to kill me not join me.
But he will fail, I will eliminate both of them, I was ill prepared last time and underestimated them, but not so again. Tomorrow Neros will assume rulership of the planet and I will be healed and ready to deal with the upstart Jedi… and then I will succeed where my master failed.
While Thrall fumed silently in the bacta tank, Neros himself was busy. So far things had gone pretty much to plan, with the exception of the Jedi's intervention. No matter, that was Tharll's concern now. However the Princess had escaped, and that was his. Because she would undoubtedly seek help, already he was getting reports of forces massing against him to the south of the city.
That however would all be solved after tomorrow, after he was sworn in as ruler then the rest of the military would fall in line behind him and he would crush anyone left who opposed him. Yes, all he had to do was survive one more day, the only problem was his troops were spread out; half of them were on the streets of the city keeping the peace. Perhaps it was time to move a few out to the south to keep track of any forces that might array against him although he doubted that there was any one commander who could cause him any serious harm. Yes, all he had to do was hold out until tomorrow.
They had made good time in reaching the small military outpost about fifty miles outside the city, and were relieved to find that General Neros's forces had not yet taken control of the base. The Commanding officer, General Anston, had in fact welcomed them with open arms, relieved that the princess was safe and saddened at the loss of King Delan he had found quarters for everyone and had let them rest and freshen up.
Now there were four of them seated around the table, Orin, Joran, Jadala, and Anston himself, and for the last half an hour they had been discussing what they should do next.
"Do you know what Neros's position is within the Capital?" Jadala asked. She was almost a changed person now, as if a shower and a change of cloths had washed all the hurt and pain away, her hair was tightly bound up at the back and she now wore a nondescript black jumpsuit.
Anston, a tall dark skinned man with a perpetually scowling face looked up from his mug of caf. "From what my sources tell me he has the entire city under his control and has imposed martial law on the citizenry."
"What is the rest of the Military's position?" Orin asked the General. "Are they going to support Neros's claim to power?"
"Shortly before you arrived Neros sent a planet wide transmission to the Armed Forces announcing his take over of power. Shortly after that I began to contact the heads of the armed forces," the General told them.
"And?" Jadala asked impatiently.
"And it would seem that the majority of the services are adopting a wait and see policy, chances are if Neros goes unchallenged and consolidates his power the rest of the military will fall in line behind him."
"So for the moment we only have to deal with those forces loyal to Neros," Orin clarified.
"Right, which would seem to be the garrisons worth of troops that are directly under his command around the capital, and at least one Capital class ship from the space defence force," said the General.
"Okay, so what force do we have," Jadala addressed Anston.
"At this present time we have this one supply base, but several of the outlying Army base commanders have hinted they would be willing to help oppose Neros," the General answered with a scowl.
"So what are our options?" Joran spoke for the only the second time since their council of war had begun.
Anston cleared his throat, "The way I see it we have two options open to us. The first is we can gather as many troops and equipment as possible and launch a full scale attack against Neros's positions and in all likelihood start a civil war that will spread around the planet. Or, we can attempt to cut the head of the snake and hope it withers and dies."
"I guess option two is the preferred option then," Joran said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Which means gaining access to the palace, and to Neros. Not to mention his backer."
"His backer?" Anston looked confused.
"It would appear that he has enlisted the aid of a Dark Jedi, or more likely it's the other way round," Orin told him.
Anston once more gazed into his almost empty caf mug, swirling the dregs around as he considered this new information. "That would explain a lot, I had a hard time believing that Neros would try something like this on his own. I presume no one else knows about this Dark Jedi?"
"If you mean the general population or the rest of the military then I doubt it, it would not look good for his image," Orin speculated.
"Very well then, I may be able to deal with Neros's troops inside the palace but you gentlemen will have to deal with the Dark Jedi."
"Our pleasure," Joran said in a low and dangerous voice.
"In that case I suggest you retire and get some sleep, we will talk again in the morning, by then I will hopefully have something new for you," Anston said.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
Joran found himself wondering through the base late that night; apart from the occasional sentry it was quiet and peaceful, in stark contrast to his soul. His emotions were still raging, thoughts of violence and revenge cascading through his mind like an unstoppable waterfall. He had thought he had destroyed all of Lorn's dark disciples, all of Mira's killers, but it would seem that he had been wrong, and one more remained.
And so once more thoughts that he had put aside four years ago had returned to haunt him, the screams of the dying in the restaurant had returned to haunt his dreams.
'It wasn't your fault' something inside his head said in Mira's voice. 'After four years you shouldn't still be blaming yourself.'
Whether it was really Mira, or some phantasm that his own tortured mind had made up he didn't know, didn't care really, it was just nice to hear her voice again. "It was partially my fault Mir," he told her.
'No. It was Lorn's followers fault, they are to blame. Them and only them!'
"Maybe, maybe it doesn't matter anymore. The fact is I lost you, and even with all the powers of the force I can't change that. Even with all my Jedi training I couldn't save you."
'You can't save everyone love, it's just not possible. But you can save some people, you have been given a great gift, one that if you choose to use it for good you can help people with.'
"You always were an idealist," he told the phantasm in his mind.
'Maybe, but it doesn't mean I'm not right, think about it love,' she told him.
Deep in his own thoughts Joran wandered outside the base and strode over to a small hillock just inside the perimeter, he was almost at the top before he saw the small figure sitting huddled against the night looking out at the horizon.
"How long have you been sitting up here?" he asked.
"What are you doing here?" Jadala spun at the sound of his voice.
"I'm just out for a walk," Joran answered.
"Why are you here?" she demanded angrily. "Did Orin send you, he worries too much."
"Whoa, your majesty hang on a minute. Like I said, I'm just out for a walk," Joran stated flatly. "And yeah, from what I've seen of Orin he does tend to worry too much, I think he thinks its part of his Jedi'ly duty."
A small almost undetectable grin cracked the edges of Jadala's angry expression.
"I didn't mean to interrupt your solitude, I'll leave."
Joran turned to go and Jadala hesitated before saying, "No it's okay, I could do with the company."
He was tempted to tell her that she might want company but he was not sure that he did, instead he sat down beside her. The moon was full tonight and there were plenty of stars in the heavens to shine down on the desolate landscape before them. Row after row of unploughed dirty brown fields played out as far as the eye could see, once it had been rich agricultural land, but now it was dry and barren.
"You're not like Orin are you," Jadala said; a statement not a question.
"No, not anymore," Joran replied without looking at her.
"But you're not a Dark Jedi either."
"What makes you so sure?" he asked her, his words almost lost in the breeze.
"Because you helped save me," she stated gazing out at the horizon.
For a long while they sat in silence, the night wind howling around them, chilling them to the bone, yet neither of them was inclined to return to the shelter of the base. Joran turned to study the young woman who sat beside him, she was different to the frightened girl that he had talked to on the stairs of the palace.
Most people found it took a lot of time to pull themselves back together after the death of a loved one, but circumstances had dictated that she not have the luxury of time. Since her near breakdown at the palace he had not seen her cry or grieve for her father, that would come later he knew from experience, right now there were too many things to occupy her mind. Like how to retake control of her planet, and how to avenge her fathers death.
"Why did you leave the Jedi?" she said finally, tilting her head to look at him.
"I lost someone I cared for," he hesitantly replied.
"They were murdered?"
"Yes,"
"So you went and avenged their death, and turned away from the Jedi?" Jadala guessed.
"Yeah, I avenged her death. Or so I thought," Joran told her in a low voice.
"The Jedi on the roof?" she asked him gently.
"Yes," was all he said.
"He was responsible partly for my father's death as well. You're going to kill him?" she wanted to know.
"Yes, I am."
"Good."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
Orin stepped into the briefing room trying to stifle a yawn; he failed and used his hand to cover his failure. Joran, Jadala, Anston, and several senior officers Orin didn't recognise were already waiting for him.
"Glad you could make it Mr Vorn," Anson said.
"Sorry, rough night," Orin replied offhandedly.
"Well in your absence some of us have been busy and we now have a partial plan on how to stop Neros. During the night we have received a battalions worth of troops from the local commanders on the mainland, including heavy tanks, just about enough to take on the garrison and distract them so you can launch your attack on the palace."
"What about air attacks?"
"Well Neros has only one star ship, although it is a cruiser. However I have taken the necessary steps to make sure she does not interfere in our little uprising," Anston said almost smiling.
"Uprising?" Orin asked confused.
"Yes, uprising," Jadala said.
"You see, we've decided to hold off attacking until tomorrow night, after Neros is officially sworn in as the new ruler of Yorill," Joran explained.
"Ah, I don't get it. Why?"
"All will be explained later, now we have work to do," Anston said smiling for the fist time since Orin had met him. About two hours later they had a plan formulated and Anston stepped out to start issuing orders to the battalion commanders personally and the group disbanded.
Later Orin found Joran alone in the bases gym practicing against a remote. "Trying to burn off a little bit of aggression?" he asked.
"Yeah, something like that," Joran said as his lightsabre moved in a flurry of light to deflect a volley of fire from the remote. "Up for it?"
Orin unclipped his lightsabre and took off his robe. "Okay,"
Joran turned to face him, ignoring the remote. Orin ignited his lightsabre and moved towards him. "You going to turn that thing off?" Orin asked indicating the remote.
"No, it adds to the challenge."
"Fine."
Orin swept his lihhtsaber down from the guard position and sent it arching through the air so unblocked it would slice Joran's legs off. Almost casually Joran blocked it, a slit second later Orin reversed the stroke and aimed high but was also blocked out. The remote fired at Joran who out of pure reflex blocked the bolt and then split the droid in half. "Oops," he muttered.
Orin stepped black then renewed his attack with a lunge followed by low strike, both of which Joran deflected, then suddenly Joran jumped from defence to attack with a high low combination. Orin caught the change through the force, that of barely controlled aggression, but nevertheless had trouble in defending the attack. Joran's blade cut in from the side, then he switched to attacking Orin's unprotected head. Blade's flashing, intermingled with each other, they continued back and forth, Joran attacking, Orin defending, for what seemed like hours but in reality had only be about fifteen minutes.
Finally Joran stopped, he was breathing heavily. "Guess I did need to blow off some steam, thanks," he told Orin.
"Your welcome," Orin said almost surprised by the sudden abating of Joran's aggression. "How do you do that?" he asked.
"Do what?"
"Switch your anger on and off like that?"
"Easy, I just remember the past," he replied with a bitter smile.
Orin looked thoughtful before replying, "You know I just don't get you."
Joran looked amused, "Really, why ever not?"
"I've met a few Dark Jedi, and quite a few people who have dabbled in the dark side of the force, but you're different. With them they felt evil, or corrupted, like a slowly decaying tree, but you don't feel like that."
"Really, and why is that?" Joran asked intrigued.
"I don't know, with the others there were always two sides of themselves in conflict, with one eventually emerging the stronger. You however don't seem that way."
Joran again gave Orin a bitter smile, "Maybe deep down it's because I've accepted who I really am."
"You may have accepted who you are, but you don't seem to have accepted what happened in the past. And I think that's why you're the way you are."
"So what are you saying, that if I accept the past then one side of the force will claim me over completely?" Joran said angrily.
"Maybe."
"Well, it could be a while then," Joran said before walking away.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
Akin Tharll floated in a bacta tank fully conscious, and fumed at his defeat by the accursed Jedi; the Jedi had been his masters downfall, they would not be his. He had been prepared for one Jedi and was sure he could have defeated Vorn, but the appearance of Joran Roth had thrown him. Not particularly because of the fact that he had then had to fight two Jedi, but because of the fact that Joran Roth was unlike any other force user he had ever encountered. He attacked with an unabridged fury that could only come from the dark side, and yet he stood in defence of Vorn and the Princess, these facts had Tharll totally vexed. The idea of trying to turn him completely to the dark side briefly occurred to him, but he discounted it almost immediately, no, Roth wants to kill me not join me.
But he will fail, I will eliminate both of them, I was ill prepared last time and underestimated them, but not so again. Tomorrow Neros will assume rulership of the planet and I will be healed and ready to deal with the upstart Jedi… and then I will succeed where my master failed.
While Thrall fumed silently in the bacta tank, Neros himself was busy. So far things had gone pretty much to plan, with the exception of the Jedi's intervention. No matter, that was Tharll's concern now. However the Princess had escaped, and that was his. Because she would undoubtedly seek help, already he was getting reports of forces massing against him to the south of the city.
That however would all be solved after tomorrow, after he was sworn in as ruler then the rest of the military would fall in line behind him and he would crush anyone left who opposed him. Yes, all he had to do was survive one more day, the only problem was his troops were spread out; half of them were on the streets of the city keeping the peace. Perhaps it was time to move a few out to the south to keep track of any forces that might array against him although he doubted that there was any one commander who could cause him any serious harm. Yes, all he had to do was hold out until tomorrow.