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The Two Brothers
Fajo awoke to see Jared awake, dressed, and sitting by the window, meditating. Although he did nothing but open his eyes, Jared sensed immediately that his Master was awake. "I thought I'd get an early start on a big day," said Jared quietly. Fajo got out of bed and asked Jared what time it was. "It's just before sunrise," he replied. "We'd better eat some breakfast then," said Fajo, "If we're going to do this thing."
Fajo and Jared walked down the hall towards the cafeteria after Fajo had showered and dressed. The tension was thick in the Temple. It had been nearly a week since Fajo had been rescued. On board the warship the Jedi had learned a great deal about the Jin'Ha. They learned what part they planned to play in the recently declared Clone Wars, which was to eliminate the Jedi to make the Republic army weaker. But most importantly, they learned where the Jin'Ha were operating out of. It seemed they were operating out of the mining planet of Bandomeer. In the mines, they found ancient, giant hand-made caves that were stockpiled with the red Force and lightsaber resistant material, called cortosis. They already had some from their mines at Obredaan, but this new abundance seemed to make them much more powerful.
Now that they knew this, they also knew that they would most likely lose to the Jin'Ha if the Jin'Ha made an outright attack, or just went along with their original plan. The Jedi had to take the offensive, which would start today. Today, at midday, all Jedi Masters, Knights, and capable Padawans were being shipped off secretly to Bandomeer, where they would make their attack at night. They had been allowed one hundred Republic troops to assist them in their attack, as well as a few pilots to fly their drop ships. As time went on, the tension became more and more noticeable. People didn't talk much, not even Jared and Nath said much. Nath was not as experienced or trained as any of his friends, including Jared. Because all his friends and his Master were going into a dangerous situation, it was easy to see why Nath would be a bit reclusive and subdued.
After they ate, Jared and Fajo went down to the arena and picked an empty room where they could practice. They were fortunate to find an empty one, because most others had at least one pair of Jedis in them. Changing into battle armor, Fajo and Jared ignited their lightsabers and took the defensive stance of beginning a battle. They began to circle each other, and Jared began to speak. "Remember," he said, "Their armor is resistant to our lightsabers, so they won't go down unless you hit them in a gap in their armor, like at the knees or neck. They also carry pikes, swords, and similar weapons made of cortosis, so you can't just slice through them. And some will carry blasters too." "I'll remember that," said Fajo. "Now, shall we begin?" "By all means," said Jared, and lunged forward.
Fajo sidestepped his lunge and struck out with his saber. Jared brought his saber around his back and blocked the strike. Jared spun and dealt a stinging blow to Fajo's knee. He cried out in surprise and gave Jared an equally stinging hit on his neck. They turned and faced each other again, both of them smiling. Then they began again.
*************************************************
The freighter landed as the sun was going down in a barren wasteland not too far from Bandomeer's only city. Obi-Wan was sitting next to Fajo and Jared, along with his Padawan, Anakin, who looked at his gloved hand intently. Obi-Wan leaned over and said, "Every time I come here, I feel as I did years ago; frightened, angry, and..." Obi-Wan paused as he groped for the right word. "Hope," he said finally, remembering his times with his friend Si Treemba, the Arconan, at the Enrichment Zones.
There was a shuddering of the ship, and Anakin looked up sharply, pulled away from his thoughts. As the door slid open and a ramp extended to the ground, Anakin glanced at his Master. "Let's do it," he said.
The large drop ships raced along the plain, kicking up dust in their wake. Jared checked the radar in the ship. "We're almost to the coordinates," he said, as much to himself as to the rest of the people in the ship. "Weapons ready," Fajo told the rest of the Jedi and troops. The Jedi drew their lightsabers and held them at the ready, while the troops loaded their rifles and held them in the ready position. Since there were five hundred Jedi and one hundred Republic troops going, they decided to split up into five groups of one hundred Jedi and twenty troops. It seemed the best compromise between lots of groups and lots of people in the groups. The ships slowed down and came to a halt, opening their large doors wide. The Jedi and troops jumped out of the doors and raced towards the mineshaft entrances and HQ buildings they knew secretly housed the Jin'Ha, instead of the Meerians that claimed to own the place.
"Teams One and Two to the mines!" shouted Master Windu. "Teams Three, Four, and Five, follow me!" The groups split up and headed towards their respective targets. Racing up to the HQ buildings, the three teams split up again and each took one of the HQ buildings. Bursting through the double doors of his team's building, Jared saw a silver-haired Meerian look up in horror at the mob of Jedi and clones and faint, falling on the floor. "Get the Meerian out of here!" shouted Fajo. Anakin picked the alien up, slung the small body over his shoulder and run out with a pair of troops escorting him. "Find a freight turbolift!" yelled Fajo. "Over here!" came a reply. They rushed over to where a Jedi was waving. "Here's four," she said. "That'll do," Fajo replied. The team split up and stuffed themselves in the elevators. "Everyone to the lowest floor!" said Fajo before the doors closed.
In the mines, the two teams rushed past surprised miners and archaeologists. "Everyone out!" yelled Mace. The frightened and probably uninformed workers of the Jin'Ha rushed to the outside. Jin'Ha guards ran up the curving path to see what was happening and were struck down a few precise laser bolts. Mace stopped a hurrying miner and asked him how far down the mine went. "Uh..i-it only goes down to Core 6!" he said. Mace released him and proceeded to lead the team down to Core 6.
Unbeknownst to the five teams who were all below ground, all the Jin'Ha in the area had gathered outside to prevent any chance of escape. All the fighters and warships were away, so the drop ships were able to climb into the air to avoid being shot down.
"All the charges set?" asked the leader of each team. "All set," came their replies. "Then let's go! This place'll blow in thirty minutes!" Rushing outside, the teams found themselves confronted by a massive army of about two thousand Jin'Ha. But they did not stop. The army clearly did not expect this. Nearly half of them were struck down in just a minute. After that minute, however, they started to fight back. The drop ships hovered in the air above, watching the fight, not being able to participate. They would have come closer to pick up Jedi, but they knew how crucial it was all Jedi remained fighting.
As the fighting continued, Fajo heard a gasp and a thud. Looking behind him, he saw that Jared had a pair of blaster wounds in an arm and a leg, and was currently lying on his back, staring at the sky. "Jared!" he exclaimed, and dragged him behind a large boulder, of which a few other wounded Jedi had taken refuge behind. One was not moving. "I'll be fine," said Jared, still staring at the sky. Something was bothering him, but he didn't know what. "You go fight." Then he cocked his head to one side. "Say, Fajo, didn't we bring five drop ships?" Fajo turned his head to the sky. "Yes," he said. "Why do you ask?" "Because now there's only four." "One, two, three, four, you're right! There are only four." "So where's the other one?"
They could hear the drone of the hovering drop ships over the fighting constantly, but now there was another sound. It was more of a revving engine sound than the drop ships' humming. Then, bursting out of a cloud, they could hear the source of the new noise. It was a Republic gunship. The gunship wheeled and opened fire on the Jin'Ha soldiers. The Jedis and the clones scattered and let the gunship take care of the rest of the enemies. The drop ships lowered and let the Jedis and clones board. "There's no more room!" shouted he pilot. "That's alright, we'll have the gunship pick us up," replied Fajo. The ship lifted off, leaving the remaining Jedis and clones behind. They stayed behind the rock for a minute and watched the gunship and some troops finish off the Jin'Ha. A clone staggered over, gasping, a bloody wound in his shoulder. "Son of a bitch!" he said, touching his wound gingerly. "Those pikes have a nasty bite!" Abruptly, the firing stopped. Leaving the boulder, Fajo went out in the open and waved to the gunship to pick them up. The gunship turned and set down next to the boulder. Anakin jumped out and helped them get on.
The gunship, having picked up the few stragglers, lifted off and headed back towards the freighter. Looking back, Jared saw the charges detonate and create a fiery explosion. Turning back to the inside of the gunship, Jared watched Fajo finish putting bandages over his leg and arm where he had been shot. Jared could see red spots forming in the bandages. He looked over at the wounded troop. "Is he?" asked Jared softly. "Just sleeping," said a healer Jedi. Anakin knelt next to Jared and Fajo and said, "See, I told you I saw a gunship in that spaceport!" Jared smiled and said, "I'm just glad that the Republic army left it here after the battle." Catching Anakin's look, he added, "And that you spotted it and convinced the pilot to go back and check." "Thank you," said Anakin. Fajo joined in and said, "And I'm just glad we all made it out alive. Amazingly, no one was killed!" "You know," Jared said, "After all this, going to conference missions and talking to boring alien species doesn't seem so bad after all!"
The Two Brothers
Fajo awoke to see Jared awake, dressed, and sitting by the window, meditating. Although he did nothing but open his eyes, Jared sensed immediately that his Master was awake. "I thought I'd get an early start on a big day," said Jared quietly. Fajo got out of bed and asked Jared what time it was. "It's just before sunrise," he replied. "We'd better eat some breakfast then," said Fajo, "If we're going to do this thing."
Fajo and Jared walked down the hall towards the cafeteria after Fajo had showered and dressed. The tension was thick in the Temple. It had been nearly a week since Fajo had been rescued. On board the warship the Jedi had learned a great deal about the Jin'Ha. They learned what part they planned to play in the recently declared Clone Wars, which was to eliminate the Jedi to make the Republic army weaker. But most importantly, they learned where the Jin'Ha were operating out of. It seemed they were operating out of the mining planet of Bandomeer. In the mines, they found ancient, giant hand-made caves that were stockpiled with the red Force and lightsaber resistant material, called cortosis. They already had some from their mines at Obredaan, but this new abundance seemed to make them much more powerful.
Now that they knew this, they also knew that they would most likely lose to the Jin'Ha if the Jin'Ha made an outright attack, or just went along with their original plan. The Jedi had to take the offensive, which would start today. Today, at midday, all Jedi Masters, Knights, and capable Padawans were being shipped off secretly to Bandomeer, where they would make their attack at night. They had been allowed one hundred Republic troops to assist them in their attack, as well as a few pilots to fly their drop ships. As time went on, the tension became more and more noticeable. People didn't talk much, not even Jared and Nath said much. Nath was not as experienced or trained as any of his friends, including Jared. Because all his friends and his Master were going into a dangerous situation, it was easy to see why Nath would be a bit reclusive and subdued.
After they ate, Jared and Fajo went down to the arena and picked an empty room where they could practice. They were fortunate to find an empty one, because most others had at least one pair of Jedis in them. Changing into battle armor, Fajo and Jared ignited their lightsabers and took the defensive stance of beginning a battle. They began to circle each other, and Jared began to speak. "Remember," he said, "Their armor is resistant to our lightsabers, so they won't go down unless you hit them in a gap in their armor, like at the knees or neck. They also carry pikes, swords, and similar weapons made of cortosis, so you can't just slice through them. And some will carry blasters too." "I'll remember that," said Fajo. "Now, shall we begin?" "By all means," said Jared, and lunged forward.
Fajo sidestepped his lunge and struck out with his saber. Jared brought his saber around his back and blocked the strike. Jared spun and dealt a stinging blow to Fajo's knee. He cried out in surprise and gave Jared an equally stinging hit on his neck. They turned and faced each other again, both of them smiling. Then they began again.
*************************************************
The freighter landed as the sun was going down in a barren wasteland not too far from Bandomeer's only city. Obi-Wan was sitting next to Fajo and Jared, along with his Padawan, Anakin, who looked at his gloved hand intently. Obi-Wan leaned over and said, "Every time I come here, I feel as I did years ago; frightened, angry, and..." Obi-Wan paused as he groped for the right word. "Hope," he said finally, remembering his times with his friend Si Treemba, the Arconan, at the Enrichment Zones.
There was a shuddering of the ship, and Anakin looked up sharply, pulled away from his thoughts. As the door slid open and a ramp extended to the ground, Anakin glanced at his Master. "Let's do it," he said.
The large drop ships raced along the plain, kicking up dust in their wake. Jared checked the radar in the ship. "We're almost to the coordinates," he said, as much to himself as to the rest of the people in the ship. "Weapons ready," Fajo told the rest of the Jedi and troops. The Jedi drew their lightsabers and held them at the ready, while the troops loaded their rifles and held them in the ready position. Since there were five hundred Jedi and one hundred Republic troops going, they decided to split up into five groups of one hundred Jedi and twenty troops. It seemed the best compromise between lots of groups and lots of people in the groups. The ships slowed down and came to a halt, opening their large doors wide. The Jedi and troops jumped out of the doors and raced towards the mineshaft entrances and HQ buildings they knew secretly housed the Jin'Ha, instead of the Meerians that claimed to own the place.
"Teams One and Two to the mines!" shouted Master Windu. "Teams Three, Four, and Five, follow me!" The groups split up and headed towards their respective targets. Racing up to the HQ buildings, the three teams split up again and each took one of the HQ buildings. Bursting through the double doors of his team's building, Jared saw a silver-haired Meerian look up in horror at the mob of Jedi and clones and faint, falling on the floor. "Get the Meerian out of here!" shouted Fajo. Anakin picked the alien up, slung the small body over his shoulder and run out with a pair of troops escorting him. "Find a freight turbolift!" yelled Fajo. "Over here!" came a reply. They rushed over to where a Jedi was waving. "Here's four," she said. "That'll do," Fajo replied. The team split up and stuffed themselves in the elevators. "Everyone to the lowest floor!" said Fajo before the doors closed.
In the mines, the two teams rushed past surprised miners and archaeologists. "Everyone out!" yelled Mace. The frightened and probably uninformed workers of the Jin'Ha rushed to the outside. Jin'Ha guards ran up the curving path to see what was happening and were struck down a few precise laser bolts. Mace stopped a hurrying miner and asked him how far down the mine went. "Uh..i-it only goes down to Core 6!" he said. Mace released him and proceeded to lead the team down to Core 6.
Unbeknownst to the five teams who were all below ground, all the Jin'Ha in the area had gathered outside to prevent any chance of escape. All the fighters and warships were away, so the drop ships were able to climb into the air to avoid being shot down.
"All the charges set?" asked the leader of each team. "All set," came their replies. "Then let's go! This place'll blow in thirty minutes!" Rushing outside, the teams found themselves confronted by a massive army of about two thousand Jin'Ha. But they did not stop. The army clearly did not expect this. Nearly half of them were struck down in just a minute. After that minute, however, they started to fight back. The drop ships hovered in the air above, watching the fight, not being able to participate. They would have come closer to pick up Jedi, but they knew how crucial it was all Jedi remained fighting.
As the fighting continued, Fajo heard a gasp and a thud. Looking behind him, he saw that Jared had a pair of blaster wounds in an arm and a leg, and was currently lying on his back, staring at the sky. "Jared!" he exclaimed, and dragged him behind a large boulder, of which a few other wounded Jedi had taken refuge behind. One was not moving. "I'll be fine," said Jared, still staring at the sky. Something was bothering him, but he didn't know what. "You go fight." Then he cocked his head to one side. "Say, Fajo, didn't we bring five drop ships?" Fajo turned his head to the sky. "Yes," he said. "Why do you ask?" "Because now there's only four." "One, two, three, four, you're right! There are only four." "So where's the other one?"
They could hear the drone of the hovering drop ships over the fighting constantly, but now there was another sound. It was more of a revving engine sound than the drop ships' humming. Then, bursting out of a cloud, they could hear the source of the new noise. It was a Republic gunship. The gunship wheeled and opened fire on the Jin'Ha soldiers. The Jedis and the clones scattered and let the gunship take care of the rest of the enemies. The drop ships lowered and let the Jedis and clones board. "There's no more room!" shouted he pilot. "That's alright, we'll have the gunship pick us up," replied Fajo. The ship lifted off, leaving the remaining Jedis and clones behind. They stayed behind the rock for a minute and watched the gunship and some troops finish off the Jin'Ha. A clone staggered over, gasping, a bloody wound in his shoulder. "Son of a bitch!" he said, touching his wound gingerly. "Those pikes have a nasty bite!" Abruptly, the firing stopped. Leaving the boulder, Fajo went out in the open and waved to the gunship to pick them up. The gunship turned and set down next to the boulder. Anakin jumped out and helped them get on.
The gunship, having picked up the few stragglers, lifted off and headed back towards the freighter. Looking back, Jared saw the charges detonate and create a fiery explosion. Turning back to the inside of the gunship, Jared watched Fajo finish putting bandages over his leg and arm where he had been shot. Jared could see red spots forming in the bandages. He looked over at the wounded troop. "Is he?" asked Jared softly. "Just sleeping," said a healer Jedi. Anakin knelt next to Jared and Fajo and said, "See, I told you I saw a gunship in that spaceport!" Jared smiled and said, "I'm just glad that the Republic army left it here after the battle." Catching Anakin's look, he added, "And that you spotted it and convinced the pilot to go back and check." "Thank you," said Anakin. Fajo joined in and said, "And I'm just glad we all made it out alive. Amazingly, no one was killed!" "You know," Jared said, "After all this, going to conference missions and talking to boring alien species doesn't seem so bad after all!"