Title: The Sith War Chronicles: A Jedi's Destiny
Author: Jedidanny ( danielleskywalkerjedihotmail.com )
Rating: PG-13 for this specific chapter.
Genre: Romance, action-adventure
Setting: A good fifteen-twenty years after the Jedi Academy has been opened. All original characters, except for maybe Luke.
Summary: The story of Renoa Stormhaven, a young Jedi who goes through many adventures… R&R!
A/N: This is my first Star Wars story I've written in four months, so be patient with me. I had a huge writers block, and had no feel to write a Star Wars story, but hopefully I'll be able to do something with it. If not with this specific storyline, then something else…Star Wars doesn't belong to me, it belongs to George Lucas. A note: I had to make up the planet Korzac, not knowing what kind of planet the Sith would hide on, so please bare with me at the lack of description of the planets atmosphere and all that.
Another note: I chose this rating for this chapter because of the interrogation in it. I chose not to skip over it because sometimes the readers are interested in it…but please don't use it against me as a 'bad' or 'sick' writer…there are worse things out there. Just type in the word 'torture' in Google and you'll see what I mean.

Chapter Two
 Cole's Disappearance

Shadowstar Shuttle
Heading towards the
Possible Sith hideout
On Korzac

Cole sat in the back of the shuttle, strapped in, with his eyes closed. Only a few moments before, it seemed, he had left his little sister at the Jedi Academy so he could go on this mission. He almost felt guilty, leaving his sister behind like this, but if he completed the mission, he would not only become a Jedi Knight, but a Jedi Master, too. Besides, Renoa was eighteen now; she could take care of herself.
A loud beeping noise awoke him and he was instantly up, unstrapping himself and walking toward the cockpit, stifling a yawn.
"What's going on?" he asked.
The pilot, a Jedi student about a year older than Cole named Arek Nightrider pressed a button on the console, once, then a couple more times, getting frustrated. "We're close Korzac. These Sith must have a pretty advanced hideout because we've been caught in their tractor beam. Tell the other students that we have to get to the evacuation pods as quickly as possible so that we can escape before they can board the ship. The pods fit two in each, and someone will have to stay behind to make sure the ship doesn't fly into the planet and they have to get back to their own pod before being caught. If no one's caught, we'll have the coordinates for each escape pod be to go to the planet and hopefully land in the same area so that we can rendezvous," he explained.
Cole nodded, his eyes solemn and serious for a moment, "I'll stay behind and make sure they don't find any of you guys. If I don't land after you rendezvous . . . then assume I've been captured, and do whatever you have to to keep you and the others from being captured."
Arek looked up at Cole, almost startled at his words; he knew that Cole had a younger sister to take care of, and knew how it felt to be a big brother, so he also knew that Cole was taking a big risk of not coming back to the Academy again.
"Cole, are you sure? What about Renoa?" he asked.
Cole hesitated, swallowing hard. He knew from talking to Arek in the past about 'brotherly duties', so he knew that Arek knew how hard it was for him to volunteer to stay behind, "If anything happens to me, tell her I love her, and to never forget that . . . . be there for her when she finds out. I know it might seem like just because I'm one of the oldest on the mission, I think I should be the one to do this, but that's not why."
Arek nodded, "I'll tell her. Be careful, Cole."
"I will. I'll go tell the other students and get ready," Cole said. With that, he made his way back into the lounge area where his bag was, walking way in the back with it to stuff it into one of the escape pods. He then looked to the other students, who were all sitting around talking.
"Listen up, you guys. The Sith hideout has a tractor beam that's pulling the shuttle in toward the planet. We can't risk being caught, so we're going to evacuate into the escape pods. The escape pods take two people at a time, and I'm staying behind to make sure the ship doesn't crash into the planet. You will all rendezvous at the same part of the planet before setting up camp and investigating the Sith hideout. The last escape pod is for me, so we need each of you to climb into them as quickly as possible, two at a time," he explained.
The students all nodded and began doing as they were told. Cole watched as they shuffled into a line to enter the escape pods two at a time, the person behind them closing the door and pressing the EJECT button. He leaned back against a nearby wall and closed his eyes, in hailing deeply and letting it back out slowly, beginning a Jedi calming technique he had used a few times before. He opened his eyes again to see that he was the only one not in one of the pods, other than Arek who was coming in from the cockpit.
"The ship is set on automatic right now; it shouldn't be long until they send a ship up with some sort of guards to board and search the ship. Don't let them catch you, Cole. I've . . . heard ugly things about prisons that are run by the Sith," Arek said.
Cole nodded, "I won't. May the Force be with you."
"You, too," Arek said, climbing into the second to last escape pod. Once he was in, Cole walked over and pressed the button to close the door, waiting for the light to go on with the words EJECTED lit up. Once this happened, he ran toward the cockpit and began pressing a few buttons, turning the lights off. He pulled the saber he wore off his belt and ignited it, walking back into the lounge area and hiding against a wall before disigniting the saber again.
A few loud noises were heard, and it was a moment later that the door leading onto the ship was opened, allowing passengers to board from one ship to the shuttle Cole was on.
"Spread out; take anything you believe useful and take any prisoners you can find," a voice hissed.
Cole let out a silent breath before reigniting his saber and moving away from the wall, yelling. There were about eight guards, a few of them very strong in the dark side; they stepped back in surprise at the sudden attack and ignited their sabers, ready to battle the Jedi before them.
Cole looked to the first guard he could see within the darkness of the ship and waited for him to make his move; the Sith spun toward him, bringing his blade toward Coles back but Cole backed away and connected his blade with the other, making a sizzling noise. He pulled his blade back and ran toward the Sith, aiming for his chest, only to find a leg pulling in front of him and tripping him, making him fall to the floor hard. His saber spun out of his hand and away from him from the hard fall, and suddenly the lights were turned on. Two hands grabbed Cole by the shoulders and lifted him off the floor, pulling his hands behind his back and placing stun cuffs on his wrists.
A figure wearing all black with the hood up walked slowly toward him and stopped before him, pulling the hood back to reveal a face with red eyes and black and yellow tattoos all over, barely hiding a scar that came from below the eye to just above his upper lip.
Cole swallowed hard, inwardly kicking himself for being so careless and allowing this to happen, looking to the man before him.
"You were a fool to have thought you could defeat us by yourself, Jedi. Where are the rest of your teammates? I know there were more of you on this ship; I can sense it in the air, and in your fears," the figure hissed.
Cole struggled in the guards grasps, wincing as a small shock was sent up through his wrists and in his arms. One of the guards pressed a button on the cuffs to turn the shock level up higher. "I'll tell you nothing, Sith scum, no matter what happens to me," was all he said.
The figure laughed, "Oh, I doubt that, little Jedi. I think it will not be long until you will tell us everything we need to know. Prepare yourself for a lot of pain, Jedi, because until you tell us what you need to know, that's all you will know. It will be all you can feel, all that surrounds your mind and your thoughts. Yes . . . I can feel the fear within you all ready." He walked closer to him, moving to one side and leaning over to whisper in Cole's ear, "Remember the name Kayne Blackdeath, Jedi, because it is a name that you will remember for the rest of your life. It is a name that will haunt you in your sleep, your nightmares, because it is the name of only one of the ones who will make you miserable; me."
Cole pulled his head back and the guards tightened their grip, making him wince. Kayne laughed and began walking away, "Take him to the other ship and bring him back to the base. Make sure he's taken care of right away."
The guards started to pull Cole back and toward the entrance they had come through, taking him back onto the ship they had come on.

Yavin 4
Jedi Academy

It had now been a few days since Cole had left on his mission and Renoa was anxiously awaiting his return. Why had there been no messages sent out letting the Academy know they were okay?
After a long argument with her master, Renoa had finally given in to allowing him to put her in a healing trance to heal her knee. When she had woken up, it felt as though nothing had been wrong with it in the first place.
Even though she knew that Cole was okay, her heart kept telling her that something was wrong and that Cole was in danger, so she decided to talk to her and Cole's Jedi Masters. She wandered the hall looking for them, and finally found them standing in the middle of one of the training rooms, talking.
She entered the room and walked toward them, trying to look as calm as possible. She wore no training uniform today, and instead wore a short sleeved dress of a blue color going down to her ankles and partially covering her boots. The locket that Cole had given her hung around her neck, and her hair was pulled back into a braid.
As she approached the two Jedi Masters, she bowed to them in greeting before standing back up straight again and keeping her gaze on them, "I am sorry to interrupt you, Master's, but I wish to talk to you; both of you."
The two Jedi Master's looked at each other, eye brows raised, trying to look surprised, yet they had both expected this conversation to come. They knew something about the mission that they had not yet told Renoa.
"What is it, young apprentice?" Master Darkwood asked her.
"Cole is the only family I have left; you both know that because you grew up and graduated with my parents. You would tell me if something had gone wrong on the mission and something was wrong with Cole, right?" Before either of them could answer, she said, "I have a feeling that something is wrong. The Force tells me that Cole is in danger. If this is the case, then I want to know about it right now and know what's being done about it."
Master Darkwood looked to Master Windthrower, as though silently asking him for help before looking down and sighing. "The truth is, Renoa, something has gone wrong on the mission. We received word yesterday that just before the shuttle was going to fly toward the planet they were going to, they were caught in a tractor beam coming from where they believe is the hideout of the Sith they were looking for. They were unable to get out of the beam, so to protect everyone involved, they used escape pods to get away before the ship was boarded, but someone had to stay on the ship to make sure it didn't crash into the planet. Everyone but the person who stayed behind was able to make it out without being caught," he said, swallowing hard.
Renoa's heart began to pound faster, and she swallowed hard, inwardly kicking herself as she stuttered at her words, "It wasn't Cole, right? He was able to escape with the others."
Master Windthrower shook his head, "No, Renoa. I'm sorry. It was Cole who volunteered to stay behind; he was captured by the Sith who boarded the shuttle."
Renoa's eyes lit up, her heart continuing to pound faster, "He's going to be okay, though, right? We're going to get him out of there," she said, tears starting to come to her eyes.
When neither of the masters answered, she shook her head. A tear rolled down her cheek as she shook her head, looking to Cole's Jedi Master, "No. This is all your fault. You sent him on the mission in the first place, and now he's gone!"
"Renoa, wait . . ." Master Windthrower started, but he cut himself off as Renoa started to run out of the room and back down the hall to her own room, slamming the door shut behind her.
As soon as she entered her room, she ran to the bed and fell on it face first, crying into the pillow as hard as she could.
Cole . . . you promised me. You promised you'd be careful, she angrily thought, knowing that she knew better than to allow her anger to control her.
After a few moments of crying, she sat up, not bothering to wipe the tears streaming down her face. She reached up and opened the locket, looking at the images that popped up before her and immediately looking to the recent one of the two of them. As she stared at it, she closed her eyes and the tears continued falling; she closed the locket and the images disappeared.

Sith Hideout
On Korzac
Sith Prison
Cell # 33428

As soon as the ship had landed, the stun cuffs were kept on Cole's wrists and a tight mask with no eyeholes was put over his face so that he couldn't see where he was going. He had to depend on the guidance of the guards, because not even the Force could help him. As soon as he had stepped out of the shuttle, he had lost all sense of the Force because of Ysalamari, the one creature that could keep a Jedi from using the Force.
Soon, the guards stopped Cole from walking and pushed him forward into a room, removing the mask from off his face. He was then brought toward one of the walls where shackles were put on his wrists, neck, waist, and ankles before the stun cuffs were removed. The guards then walked out of the cell, leaving Cole alone.

A few hours later

Cole lay with his head back against the wall, his eyes closed. He dreamt of Renoa, of how she must be feeling at this moment, if the Jedi Masters had bothered to tell them what happened. The 'scene' then changed in his dream from not so much being about his sister, but about his parents.
Cole and Renoa's parents died when Renoa was three, and Cole was five. He remembered them vaguely, but was able to remember what Renoa could not. He remembered feeling no emotions about their deaths when he was told about it, other than knowing inwardly that he had to take care of his little sister.
The sound of boots hitting metal opened Cole's eyes and took him away from his dream of memories; someone was walking down the hall. The sound stopped, and the door slid open, revealing two guards. They wore black cloaks with white helmets, looking much like the Emperor's red guards had, and one of them held a pair of stun cuffs and the mask from before in his hands.
Cole swallowed hard, mentally preparing himself for what was to come; he had heard the stories of what happened to those who had been unfortunate enough to be taken to Sith prisons, especially Jedi, or those strong in the Force. They were tortured, even if there was no reason; if there was a reason, they were interrogated for months, and he knew that that could become the case with him. He was the one who knew where the others in his group were, and what they had come for.
The two guards walked over to him, placing the stun cuffs back onto his wrists after removing the shackles. They placed the mask back over his face tightly and began leading him out of the cell.
Finally, Cole heard the sound of a door slide open and he stepped in. Off in the distance, he heard the sound of someone screaming in pain, and could feel it through the Force, even though he couldn't use it. He was forced into a chair and the mask was removed; the guards pressed a button and the chair began moving back, the part where his legs were strapped moving up so it looked as though he were now laying on a flat table.
A hiss was heard as the door opened again, and Cole heard the sounds of boots coming closer to him. He looked up to see he was staring into the blood red eyes of the Sith who he had met on the ship.
"I do hope you enjoy this, Jedi. It will be a long, endless process for you, especially since we do not know your name. We can make this easy, or hard; it is your choice, but I must warn you. My technicians can become rather nasty and cruel when they are bored, especially to new subjects," Kayne said, sneering.
"I'll tell you nothing, no matter what is done to me," Cole said, struggling in his bonds a little.
Kayne's lips moved into a smirk, "Very well. You were warned, Jedi. I know from my own experiences that these machines are very painful. You see all of these tattoos?" He pointed to each of the tattoos on his head and face, "I had these done on purpose, with one of the machines that was created for making such marks. Don't be surprised if you find yourself with marks such as these soon."
Kayne nodded and he backed away, watching as the two guards began to set things up around Cole. A fourth figure soon appeared, scars all over his features, it seemed, an evil smirk coming to his face.
"Get him ready for level four. I want to see how much pain he can handle," the man said.
The guards began to unstrap him from the table and pull his shirt off. They then brought him over to a long table with straps on it with a cover attached to it. They forced him onto the table and strapped him down, putting the cover over his entire body.
Cole swallowed hard as he saw needles begin to appear, as well as some other things. Two gloved hands made of medal appeared and held his head still as one of the needles made its way slowly toward him. It stopped at his cheek and injected the needle into it. Cole cried out in pain, but it only seemed to hurt more when he did this. The needle was taken out and he felt his cheeks begin to puff up. Two more hands appeared, holding a bucket of clay. They began to put it on his face and spread it out, not covering his eyes. They then put it on his stomach, arms, legs, and feet. A fan-like machine appeared and they began to put it over him, using it to harden the clay. After a few minutes, the clay moldings were taken off.
The cover was lifted up and he was unstrapped, taken over to another chair. He was laid on his back, but upside down. A couple of the mechanical hands appeared, and they began their work, starting with his head. They began painting his face and neck black and started to shave off his hair.
While the hands near his head were doing this, the others began dropping hot wax onto his bare stomach and legs.
When the hands at his head were done, they disappeared and the guards unstrapped him once again from the chair, able to easily drag him along. He was now bald on the top of his head and at the sides.
A net-like harness lowered from the ceiling and the guards brought him over to it. They began strapping him into it and it lifted him up into the air. The hands reappeared, holding needles and other contraptions. They loomed closer, and Cole began to mentally prepare himself for the pain he was about to go through . . .

Yavin 4 JediAcademy
Renoa's Room
(Renoa's dream)

"Cole, let's play hide and seek!" an eight year old Renoa shouted.
"Okay. If I tag you, I'll make the tickle monster come out," ten year old Cole teased.
Renoa giggled and ran away, Cole chasing after her. Renoa's tiny little feet weren't fast enough, though, and Cole caught up to her.
"Gotchya!" Cole said as he grabbed her around the waist and picked her up, falling over with her still in his arms. She screamed and giggled as Cole turned over so she was on the ground and he knelt above her, holding her arms down.
"Who's the best, most wonderful, spoiling big brother in the world?" he asked.
"Uh…Master Darkwood?" she asked.
"Wrong answer!" he said, starting to tickle her. Renoa giggled, "Okay, okay, you are!"
Cole let go and helped her stand up. The two walked off into the distance, soon disappearing.
Renoa woke up, sitting up with sweat poring down her forehead, her heart beating, panting fast. She looked over at the chrono clock; two A.M. She lay back down and sighed. It was just a dream. A dream of a memory she had forgotten about a long time ago. Since Cole's disappearance, she hadn't been the same. She was more quiet, paid less attention to her studies and training . . . her master understood that she was grieving, but if she was ever going to become a Jedi Master, she knew she had to put these kinds of things behind her, and hope for the best. Hope that Cole was still alive, somewhere out the galaxy, and that he was going to be okay.

Chapter 3: Dancing in the Moonlight