Chapter 3

Crunching leaves and snapping twigs underfoot echoed as loud as the pounding heartbeat in his ears. Nirawan jumped onto the rotting corpse of a fallen tree to catch his breath. He glanced over his shoulder, but there was no sign of his pursuers in the thick underbrush. The forest floor was awash in random patterns as streamers of light trickled through the dense foliage of the towering canopy overhead. His eyes narrowed trying to pick up the slightest movement or reflection. Even with his atrophied powers, he could still sense their hunter instincts on full alert and approaching quickly. Mechanical shells assisting their every step, they would not tire nor would they give up.

He had been returning to the small cottage he called 'home' along the outskirts of west Orimar when the attack had begun. The disturbance in the Force had been clear enough to plow through his dulled senses and even before the first ship had appeared overhead, he knew it was time to move on. To steer clear of whatever forces had decided Arona was ripe for the picking. His simple goals of laying low and acquiring enough credits to make it by thoroughly wrecked as the dart-like ships darkened the sky overhead like a swarm of insects.

It had been easy to find work as a mechanic among the lower income citizens who toiled relentlessly to make the upper echelon more comfortable. The arrangement of social classes was distasteful to him, but keeping a low profile was far more important than concerning himself with Arona's long history of monarchy.

He longed for Master Utt'noh's wisdom and guidance. Not to mention his strange sense of humor. That particular Twi'lek didn't seem to pick up the more subtle nuances of everyday human lingo. It made listening to him tell the simplest crack in basic an adventure in humor.

The great disturbance at Katarr had changed all of that where Master Utt'noh's life had come to an abrupt end. Such a blow to the Force sent shock waves across the galaxy. Nirawan could still feel that horrible moment when so many Jedi ceased to exist at one place while he carried out mundane duties far away in safety. He had been aware of the exact moment Master Utt'noh's life essence disappeared, their fragile bond forever severed and left for dead. Great sorrow of the event filled his spirit at first, but it was soon accompanied by anger from being denied the right to be there with them in their time of need. He knew that meant a certain death for him as well, but at least it would be better than the wildly swinging balancing act of dreadful sorrow and vengeful hatred his mind would reel between. Meditation only gave brief moments of calm and even that eventually failed to abate the storms in his mind.

His dispatched message to the Council for instructions was replied with a message to standby. That they'd get back with him after they'd conferred on what actions to take next. He never heard from them again. Maybe he was forgotten, maybe they were all dead. The thought of being alone, possibly the last follower of the Jedi was too much. Fear overtook the emotional control he'd fought so long to gain mastery over. Years of mental discipline and conditioning slipped from his grasp, so he ran. He kept running until he thought he was far enough to be safe. Along the fringes of the Unknown Regions, he found that safety on a backwater planet called Arona. At least for a time.

The sharp pop of a snapping tree branch in the distance sent him fleeing toward the north once again.

His destination had been the outlying spaceport district of Orimar, where he hoped to find a way off the planet and away from the dark shroud of evil that had fallen over it. However, as the distance to the spaceport decreased, the density of enemy patrols increased proportionally. Or was that exponentially, he wondered. Either way, patrols outside the city were busy rounding up the local farmers and rural dwellers.

One group of armored soldiers he was sneaking past seemed too busy breaking into a farmhouse to notice his presence. At least until he managed to stumble into a squealer security droid hovering among the surrounding crop of dome stalks. The droid shrieked, blaster fire erupted and he decided not to stick around.

Nirawan pushed harder to put more distance between himself and the hunters, but his brief stops to catch his breath were coming quicker and he knew it was only a matter of time. Passing a wide tree, he turned around and planted his back to it.

Pressing his eyes shut, he tried to form peaceful thoughts to ease the pounding in his head and chest. Thoughts of light breezes across the grassy plains of Alderaan and then of a tranquil backdrop of stars on some distant moon flashed through his mind, but they came and went too quickly. They were disjointed and out of reach. Pointless, he fumed.

He tried to counter the anger building within. Maybe they'll run by me if I hold still, he mused.

A shimmer amongst the foliage next to him caught his attention. His hand reflexively fell along the metallic cylinder hooked to his utility belt. The shimmer coalesced into a splotchy brown and green armored trooper as a cold, sharp poke of metal pressed against the side of his head.

"Freeze, dreg!" The words were chilled and metallic that filtered through the comm mouthpiece while the protective helmet's darkened faceplate concealed the soldier's identity.

Nirawan's eyes darted searching for the others. Either they were still invisible to him or this one was a lead scout. Regardless, there was no time to consider how long before more would be arriving. "Hey," he said trying to sound as innocent as possible, "can't we talk about this?"

"Shut up and don't move until the others get here."

Annoyed with the soldier's assertiveness, Nirawan tried to reach out with his mind. Maybe he could make him 'forget' he'd found him. "The guy you're looking for is heading west."

"What? I thought I told you to shut up."

It was worth a try, but he finally gave up after realizing it was no use. Either the soldier had been trained against such tactics or the sad truth was his skills had simply diminished too far to be of help to him.

Even more annoyed now, he decided to take a more direct approach. "You know...you're too close."

The soldier shifted in annoyance. "For someone who has a blaster planted at his skull," the metallic voice warned, "you don't listen very well. Last warning, corpse."

Nirawan's brows furrowed heavily at the soldier's haphazard decision to let his guard down. Maybe it was bold arrogance that provided the opportunity. Probably just stupidity, he surmised. Whatever it was, he wasn't going to let it pass unused. "Tactically speaking, you're too close. Just thought you should know, I could disarm you at this distance and finish the job quick and painlessly."

The soldier's chest and head bobbed as he let out a contorted laugh. "Yeah, you just try..."

Before he could complete the thought, Nirawan's hand punched upward sending the blaster's barrel pointing skyward. A shot disappeared into the canopy above. With a crackling pop and hiss, the soldier looked down in time to see a sparkling viridian shaft disappear into his chest armor. Darkness overtook him and he slumped against the tree.

The soldier had stood at least a full head height over him, while a heavy blaster hung from a sling that was looped around his neck and left arm. He hadn't used it though. Instead, he'd drawn a hold-out blaster pistol to poke Nirawan's head. He grabbed the pistol and shoved it in his utility belt.

Gotta get out of here before the others... Before Nirawan could take a single step, a tingling on the back of his neck and the subsequent chattering of rifles being shouldered captured his full attention.

"Halt!"

He spun to face four more of the heavy armored soldiers.

"By the way," said a metallic voice, its owner's identity as obscure as the others, "thanks for the tip, we'll shoot you from here."

Nirawan released a heavy sigh. Swiveling his lightsaber into a defensive stance, "Thugs just never learn," he stated, "always talking when they should be shooting."

"Kill him!"

Blaster bolts erupted in a furious hail of crimson light and piercing commotion. Nirawan deftly jinked and swirled his blade sending the blaster bolts careening off in various directions. Trying to deflect them back to their origin, a few found their mark as two soldiers collapsed. One from a bolt directly in the faceplate while the other to the neck, the weak point where chest plate and helmet met. He ran toward the remaining two and with three swift slashes the shooting was over while smoking ruins lay at his feet.

Hmm, maybe I'm not as rusty as I thought.

As the quick surge of adrenaline wore off, a mild pain began to register in his mind. He touched the spot where it was originating and winced in surprise to the open wound he found. It was a grazing wound along his side. The light vest he wore protected him from most of the damage, but the bolt had found its way to him nevertheless. It had left a charred, ragged hole where several layers of skin were missing, exposing the damaged raw flesh below.

Blast, spoke too soon.

He flipped open one of the utility pouches on his belt and pulled out a small kolto pack, ripped it open and shoved it in the hole made in the vest. It immediately eased the pain and a soothing, cool sensation spread over the affected area. He rummaged through the soldiers' belongings and discovered a couple grenades and some food capsules which promptly caused his gut to rumble. Devouring the compressed nutrients, he set out toward the spaceport.

Nirawan pressed the back of his head against the hanger wall and slowly rotated until he could just see around the corner. Three ships sat on the sprawling landing pad on the far side of the flight line beckoning him to fly one away. One was a short range pursuit fighter and was dismissed immediately. The intersystem shuttle sitting next to it looked slower than starlight, but an aging light freighter with a Czerka emblem on the opposite pad appeared promising.

A voice in the back of his mind chided him. It sounded a lot like his own and suspiciously Jedi-like. Wouldn't this be theft?

I'm just going to borrow it! Besides, it's a Czerka ship.

Good point, his inner voice replied.

The only problem was what lay between him and his escape vehicle. Four rudimentary cages holding several prisoners in each lay along his path. It wasn't the cages that posed the problem as much as the six guards loitering around them. Two of the guards appeared to be Trandoshans and were leisurely poking at some of the prisoners in one cage with pain sticks. Their snarls and hisses had the prisoners pressed hard against the opposite side. The sticks they jabbed through the bars released a brilliant, white arc from the tips resulting in shrill screams from the recipients. The other guards were humans and a Rodian.

Nirawan tried to think of a plan and remembered the grenades. He reached into a pouch to retrieve them, quickly checking the type codes. One was a concussion, the other a frag. He pushed the frag back into the pouch.

Needing the guards to be a little closer so he could span the distance faster, he poked his head fully around the corner to be sure they couldn't miss him. "Hey, lizard breath, over here!" he shouted while waving at them.

Nirawan waited until the guards had zeroed in on his position before ducking back behind the corner. The humans and Rodian took off toward him while the Trandoshans hung back. Doing a three count, Nirawan tossed the grenade around the corner. The advancing group watched helplessly as the object arced over their heads before finally glancing at each other. There was a cacophony of swears as they scattered.

The sudden blast was louder than expected and Nirawan found himself wishing he'd covered his ears. He took off around the corner and ignited his lightsaber. Everyone had been flattened, including the prisoners who were piled on top of each other. The Trandoshans were already scrambling up drawing the vibroswords slung on their backs.

He slammed his lightsaber down hard making full contact against the closest Trandoshan's sword, its cortosis blend forging saving it from becoming useless scrap. A second slice to smack the sword away followed up by a sweeping arc in the opposite direction found contact across the creature's thin chest armor. It backpedaled away clutching the gaping wound before falling backward.

Nirawan sensed the second Trandoshan's sword splitting the air, plunging in for the kill. He dropped to a crouch as the blade swept overhead, its distinctive hum following close behind. Swirling around in a 360 degree motion, there was little detected resistance as his lightsaber passed through the Trandoshan's legs. A wet thump followed shortly thereafter while the lower half of its legs remained standing.

Hopping up to face the remaining four guards, he immediately raised his saber to deflect the expected oncoming blaster bolts. Instead, there was a great chatter of metal bouncing on permacrete as the guards tossed down their weapons and raised their hands.

Scratching sounds began emanating from the ground next to him. He glanced down to find the legless Trandoshan clawing its way toward him. Damn, that lizard is dedicated! Nirawan gave it a swift kick across the face which promptly ended its efforts.

"Hey! It's about time you showed up! What were you trying to do, kill me?" shouted a young female voice.

Nirawan glanced around and found a dark haired girl in a casual white uniform impatiently shaking the bars of her cage. Her gritting teeth and snarled face betrayed her attractive features.

"Come on, hurry up! I can't be in here all day!" her snappy voice demanded.

Nirawan shook his head and walked over to the cage while keeping a close eye on the guards. "Calm down, lady. It's not like you're going anywhere," he razzed.

With a purposely clear harrumph, her eyes narrowed at his comments.

He poked the locking mechanism with the tip of his lightsaber allowing the prisoners to spill out of the cage. Motioning for the guards to come over, he pointed in the cage and they filed in without argument. Touching the lock a second time, he welded the door shut.

"That was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen," she said staring down at the legless Trandoshan. "You're here to rescue me, right? My father sent you?"

Nirawan was already tiring of her so he ignored her. He quickly walked along the other cages and released the rest of the prisoners. After a quick thanks, most of the prisoners disappeared around the corners of the hanger while others took off across the flight line.

The girl caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "Hey, I asked you a question. You should be protecting me. Don't worry about that rabble, they'll be fine," she said dismissing them with a wave of her hand.

"You know, I'm really starting to regret letting you out."

"How dare you talk to me that way." Poking herself in the chest, "Do you know who I am?"

"Lady, not only do I not know, I don't care." He began walking toward the freighter, glad he would soon be far from the planet and even more glad he would be far away from miss loves-to-talk-her-head-off.

"I'll have you know, I'm the Chancellor's daughter," she stated matter-of-factly,

It was enough to make him pause for a second, but only for a second. He glanced over his shoulder, forcing a smile. "That's nice," he said before continuing.

"Wha... You think I'm lying? Why would I lie? Here are my creds!"

Nirawan continued walking and without looking behind, waved her goodbye.

"You know, at first I thought you were a Jedi and my father sent you to rescue me. Now I know you're just an idiot! You probably stole a Jedi's weapon and are nothing more than a thief!" She threw her hands on her hips and drove icy spikes into his back.

His body came to an abrupt stop, his shoulders collapsed and his head lowered with a sigh. After a few moments, he turned around and walked back to her. "Would you please just stop? Go," he said flipping his hand at her in an attempt to shoo her away, "before more of these thugs show up and we end up on the wrong side of a blasterfest."

Her lips were pressed tight and hard wrinkles formed at the bridge of her nose. "If you don't start listening to me, I'm going to kick you between the legs."

Nirawan visibly recoiled as a phantom pain flashed across a spot between his legs. As he was about to respond to her incessant bellyaching a familiar tingling rippled across his skin. If being chased by five armor clad soldiers would cause the hair on his neck to rise, what in the galaxy could cause all the hair on his head to jump to attention?

A somber voice from behind broke the stillness. "Well now, I can't have you going around releasing all of my master's servants. How would the excavation ever be completed?"

The fear in the woman's eyes screamed of danger. Nirawan spun on his heel to face the new threat. A black robe enshrouded the figure, its lowered face mostly hidden behind the drawn hood. An amused smile tugged at its lips as it methodically walked toward him.

"Sith," Nirawan spat. His mind raced as he now understood the unexplained strong dark side presence felt when the attack began.

"Yes, young Jedi." The Sith stopped several paces short of Nirawan. "Your presence here is somewhat...troubling to me. However, I sense you are not that strong in the Force. Tell me, are there more of you? Is your master near?"

Nirawan felt an overwhelming desire to answer the question. The words spilled from his mind and rushed toward his mouth. His pursed lips quivered, unable to contain the words. "I'm...alone," he revealed. Clenching his teeth, anger seethed at his betrayal to himself.

"I see. And what are your intentions here, young Jedi?"

Trying in vain to hold it back, he couldn't believe hearing the word escaped his lips. "H...hiding."

The Sith's amused grin turned a to an evil smile that seemed to stretch from ear to ear at the opportunity that had presented itself. He pushed darkness toward Nirawan intending to invade his mind, to cloud it further. "Feel its warmth surround you? So much more could be yours. The Jedi and their insipid teachings are all but gone and they left you here all alone. This can only be for one reason. Your place lies with us," he hissed. "Strike down the weak one behind you to earn your place. Take your first step toward your true destiny. You'll be embraced as a brother who will be allowed to realize his full potential. The decision is yours."

Poking her finger toward the Sith, "Listen you," she began. Her words were cut short as a constriction formed around her neck and air ceased to pass through it. She clutched at her throat trying to free herself of the invisible hand that had captured her.

Feeling the dark words clawing their way into his mind, Nirawan was surprised at his desire to continue listening to the woman's smothering sounds. The darkness swirled around his mind tempting him. Beckoning him. He tried desperately to center his thoughts and erect a mental barrier that would deflect the evil, but it kept poking its way in deeper. When he felt his control slipping away, he decided he'd had enough. Igniting the lightsaber in his hand, he swung it up to permanently end the interrogation, but the Sith was faster. His own saber bursting to life, he was much faster and effortlessly deflected the attack.

Having overextended himself, Nirawan's defense was dreadfully exposed. The anger he harbored and the darkness attacking his mind further eroded what discipline still remained. Instead of counterattacking with his lightsaber however, the Sith thrust out his hand sending Nirawan crashing into the woman. They both rolled out of control, Nirawan feeling his lightsaber snatched from his grip.

"Foolish choice, Jedi."

Nirawan crawled up to his knees, his eyes firmly planted on his lightsaber now in the Sith's hand.

The Sith stepped up to him and raised its lightsaber high overhead. Nirawan knew his intention was to halve him. All of his energy drained now that his failure was complete. Time seemed to slow as if it was the dark side's way to draw out anguish for as long as possible. He tried to find an inner peace in hopes of becoming one with the Force. Fear of its rejection saddened him further.

A familiar voice seemed to come from nowhere, yet it was everywhere. "Never, never give up, young Padawan."

It couldn't possibly be. Could it? "Master?" Nirawan was incredulous.

"Your destiny is not to end here. You must help others who need you and find others to help you."

"But how?" he asked, unsure if the voice was real or if insanity had gripped him during his last moments of life,

"At the station that orbits Sessu, she will find you."

"But..."

"Do the right thing, Nirawan. Besides, you have not expended all of your options."

His brows shot up as he remembered. A surge of knowledge and energy injected into him that he hadn't felt in a long time. It was as if a cold morning fog that had settled around him was suddenly burned away by a rising sun allowing him to see the horizon once again. It was accompanied by a strong breeze that blew away the darkness clouding his mind.

He spun out of the way of the falling blade which had been brought down excessively hard and leveled the hold-out blaster to the Sith's face. A beat passed as the Sith's widening eyes finally revealed the mistake he'd made. Nirawan squeezed the trigger sending the coherent bolts of energy smashing through their target. He kept squeezing the trigger until the energy cell was depleted and the only movements from the fallen body were uncontrolled muscle spasms.

The woman, now free of the invisible fist, ran over to him. "For crying out loud!" she yelled between gasps for air, "What the hell took you so long!"

Realizing he was already missing her silence, "I forgot I had it." He tossed the now useless weapon at the body.

She rolled her eyes at him as he snatched up both lightsabers. "Well, for what it's worth, thank you for not killing me."

Hearing her words made him want to sink into the permacrete as he thought about the desires that surged through him. For a moment, he did want to cut her down. This puzzled him the more he thought about it. "Look, I'm sorry...about before. I just wanted to get out of here as fast as possible." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Nirawan Chantle."

"Yeah? Well you should be! You can't just talk to the..." His quickly hardening face told her the wrong words were pouring out of her mouth. She stopped, forcing out a quiet sigh. "Me too. I mean...I'm sorry, too." She took his hand and shook it. "I'm Luori Oryan, consular for Arona. Nice to meet you, Nirawan."

He placed his hand on her shoulder. "I want to help, Luori."

"Really?" she said, her eyes brightening noticeably. "That's a pretty fast change of heart. Like you had a revelation or something."

"Something like that."

She grabbed his hand and started dragging him in the direction of the palace. "Great! No point standing around here, let's go!"

Pulling her back, she turned to face him with impatient eyes. "We've got problems," he said.

"You're telling me?"

"Yeah, that Sith could do things I don't think he should be able to do. Something here is very wrong, very dark here. We need more help. A lot more help, actually."

"Fine, we'll find some of the Royal Defense Forces and..."

"No, I mean outside help. Jedi help, Republic help, whatever. I should contact the High Council and you should contact the Senate."

Her face became dark.

"What?"

"There is no Council."

"What!" His worst nightmare had come true.

"I don't know, just things I overheard from senators at parties. They say they've disbanded or gone into hiding or something."

Nirawan rubbed his forehead. "Master Utt'noh could've mentioned that," he strained.

"Who is Master Utt'noh?"

"Never mind." Pointing his thumb at the freighter, "We need to get to Sessu Station. Once there, you can send a priority hyperspace communique to the Senate about what's going on out here. Maybe they'll help. I have to go anyway. There's suppose to be someone who can help us there."

She shook her head violently. "Oh no, you said you'd help me. Here. Now," she said, jabbing a finger toward the ground. "We have to get to the palace and find my father. He'll know what to do."

"Luori, you're going to have to trust me on this. You're just going to have to trust me. I can't fully explain it and I do believe your father is in a lot of danger, but we can't do this on our own. We need help. We'll come back and we'll kick these Sith bastards off the planet and then knock them out of orbit, but it starts with getting help." He saw her features soften as she knew he was right.

She stared hard at the permacrete and thought about what she'd planned on doing and realized she didn't have a plan. What she wanted to do was irrational and probably suicidal. She nodded in agreement. "Okay, but you promise we'll come back and fix things here?" she asked quietly.

"We'll find help to make things right, or I'll come back and mop them up myself," he mused.

She brightened a little and agreed.

Grabbing her hand, he pulled her toward the freighter. "Come on then, lets get going." Once again he was running toward his escape vehicle. Except this time, he felt a lot better about it.