Acquisition
Dante moved as quickly as he could to the Council's Chambers, his dark cloak sweeping across the floor as rapidly as he moved. After 2 days of refitting the Thunderbolt and sparring with fellow members in the Jedi Enclave, Dante felt he was ready to leave for his mission once more. He was aware that the Council knew everything he did, pertaining to the holocron, as he had told them after his meditation in the grove, where the Council once more declared that their decision will be known at a later date. Though he was anxious to know the decision the Council had made now, he also knew that whatever its outcome, he had to make do with what he had. As he entered the Council room, he saw 5 Jedi Masters: Vrook, Kavar, Dorak, Vandar and the mysterious Master Phaete. Unlike his human and elfin counterparts, Master Phaete was an Iktotchi. Just around the same height as his human counterparts, the Jedi Master had two down-sweeping horns which made him look even more fearsome. His demeanour always remained grim and near expressionless.
"Greetings Masters," the young man addressed to the Council members. After Dante had bowed and the other Masters returned the gesture, the young man spoke up. "I trust that you have made your decision about my request?"
Vrook looked to Vandar and spoke first. "Yes, we have made a decision about your request, young Ravenmoon. But first, we have some disturbing news. Darth Malak has begun to set his sights at larger and more promising targets. Dantooine may be one of them. It is of the utmost importance that you leave as soon as you can. Dantooine may no longer be a haven for you and other Jedi." The young man squared his shoulders and inhaled deeply, fearing what he was about to hear.
It was Vandar who looked up at the young Knight and spoke. "Your request, we've granted. Take 5 companions, you will. Jedi Knights, Frreral and Vorik will accompany you, along with their Padawans. Find them in the training room, you will." Dante began to bow, but stopped abruptly.
"Master Vandar, did you not say 5 companions will embark with me. I would rather not question your wisdom, but, who is the fifth?"
The aged Master only smiled and said, "the fifth companion, Master Phaete shall be." Phaete merely bowed when Vandar mentioned he was to join Dante's group.
What is going on? the young man wondered. Is this no longer my mission? Before he could speak, Kavar was the one who spoke up.
"This is still your mission, Dante. However, Master Phaete has merely expressed his interest in joining this mission, so as to see what this holocron really is. He will be an observer, nothing more."
"Very well, Master. Master Phaete, it will be an honour to have you on this mission." The Iktotchi merely bowed and left the room to gather his belongings.
After a moment's pause, Vrook looked at the young Jedi and said, "Dantooine may be in danger, but you must carry on with your mission. The galaxy may depend on it. As for Master Phaete, do not mind his presence. Perhaps having a Master along with you may increase your chances of finding the artifact. And perhaps you will also benefit from his teaching and presence alone."
As if, thought the young man. Dante bowed and turned to leave, ready to seek out his companions, when Master Vandar spoke up.
"Dante, another task for you I have."
He turned around and asked, "yes, Master?"
"Another companion shall be joining you. Waiting for you in the training room, Knight Mesa is. Many Jedi are to go with you, perhaps, but beware the Dark Side. Clouds the future it does."
The Knight bowed and left the room, eager to seek out his companions before he would find the entire Enclave going with him. So many Jedi along in this mission. Maybe Malak is a much larger threat than anyone had previously anticipated, he thought to himself. Whatever threat Malak may pose to Dantooine, the Masters are eager to move as many of the younger Jedi away from battlefield as soon as possible. I don't blame them.
Sekula came back aboard the Thunderbolt and made sure all systems were online and working while initiating the pre-flight checklist. The vessel hadn't really changed, though there were two new ion engines, an advanced shield generator and new personnel gear. There were two crates of high grade thorium explosives and a few new blaster rifles. He left the cockpit and moved towards the cargo bay and looked at the gear. 3 heavy repeating carbines, 6 heavy blaster pistols, 3 disruptor pistols, a bandolier of ion grenades, sonic detonators, frag mines, frag grenades, thermal detonators. Whoa, thermal detonators? He thought to himself. I wanna get my hand on these babies. Thank you Sirry, I could kiss you! Of course, if Sirry had heard him, she would have force-fed him the detonator. As he looked around, he spotted a few plasma grenades and 3 suits of Corellian powered battle armour, a Zabrak combat suit and even-- Mandalorian armour? Puzzled, Sekula walked towards the armour and found that, in fact, it is Mandalorian battle armour.
Of course, that armour was famous around the galaxy. 4 years before the Jedi Civil War, there was the Mandalorian War, where the warrior-like Mandalorians engaged in a ruthless, no-holds-bar strife that engulfed the galaxy and almost destroyed the Republic before the Jedi-- before Revan and Malak stepped in to rally the Republic military and emerge victoriously. Of course, after that, Revan had turned on the Republic and declared his own war against the galaxy.
Looking at that armour, he couldn't help but wonder if that was for him. It seems that it could fit me. Everyone else is either shorter or smaller than me. As he looked around, he moved closer to the Mandalorian armour. Continuously looking around, he inched closer to the armour and picked it up and made for his quarters. Several minutes later, he came out, in a silvery plated walking armoury, sans the helmet, of course.
It seemed that when Sirry or Hex had picked up the armour, the helmet had been missing and there had been burn marks around the neck piece. Lightsaber burns. The merchant had said that the armour had just arrived, sold to him by a Padawan and a gruff looking man with a rather mean looking repeating blaster carbine. There also happened to be a female Cathar with him.
It didn't matter to Sekula, of course. The armour worked just fine with or without the helmet. As he made his way to resume the pre-flight checklist, he couldn't help but be overcome with delirious laughter.
As Dante entered the training room, he was overcome with what he saw: a blue-skinned Twi'lek moving expertly with her two lightsabers, both of which were sapphire. Her movements were blurred. She had kept pushing back her sparring partner with each spin, twist, thrust and deflection she made. For every strike her opponent made against her, the Twi'lek made four. As her blades kept moving, her opponent, a young green-skinned Twi'lek, had to surrender. She deactivated her single violet blade.
"I yield, Master Mesa." The blue Twi'lek, Rin Mesa, deactivated her own blades and bowed to the young Padawan.
"You fought well, Tun. You must make your Master proud."
Smiling, the Padawan turned to walk towards her bench where she grabbed a canteen of water.
Dante walked up to Rin as she grabbed her own canteen. "Greetings, Master Mesa," the young man said to Rin.
"Ah, Master Ravenmoon. Your reputation precedes you. I am sorry to hear of the loss of Master Ness."
Dante nodded, reminiscing about that painful memory. I'll always be with you, Dante. Those were the last words Alec had said to him through the Force, before he had fallen to the blade of that witch.
"Well now, Dante, what is it that you needed?" She asked him, puzzled by his intentions. There were a few who had eyes upon her, yet she had never seen Dante around. In fact, she had never seen him before this very moment. She only knew about him through the exploits of both he and Alec.
"Well, Rin, the Council has requested your presence to join me in the search of an artifact-- you wouldn't happen to know where Masters Frreral and Vorik are? They are to accompany us as well."
She pointed towards a corner where a Wookiee and a blindfolded man were dueling. "They would be over there. We could go and meet them if you'd like..." she let that question linger.
Twi'leks, more accurately female Twi'leks, are seen as sexual objects and toys throughout the galaxy. It didn't help that many of their fellow Twi'leks from their homeworld, Ryloth, sold a lot of young Twi'lek girls as slaves to the organized crime syndicate, The Exchange, and other gangs. Luckily, she was saved from such a life by a Jedi who eventually became Rin's Master.
"Very well. After you, Rin," replied Dante. As they walked towards the large Wookiee, Master Frreral, and his companion, the blind-folded man, Master Vorik, both Jedi deactivated their blades. Lon Vorik, was actually Miralukan. A Miralukan was a blind Force-sensitive species that was one of the few near-humans. They hailed from another homeworld, but had a colony closer to this section of the galaxy: a planet known as Katarr. Though physically blind, they could see things due to their connection with the Force itself. Several people had called Lon Vorik the 'blind swordsman,' since he was one of the few finest blademasters that were on Dantooine. "Greetings Masters, my name is Dante. I trust that the Council has spoken to you?"
It was Vorik who nodded and spoke first. "Yes, we know of the mission. The 'Unifier' seems to be a bit of a sacred artifact to the Sith and Jedi alike." Dante nodded and turned to Rin.
"As I was telling you before, Master Rin, the Council has requested that we leave for the Outer Rim and continue our search for the artifact. Master Vandar personally requested that you join us."
She nodded and looked at both Frreral and Vorik. "Your Padawans will have to come along as well. Where are they, right now?"
"They're meditating at the grove. I'll get them and perhaps then we can leave. I'll meet you at the ship, Masters," growled Frreral. As the giant Wookiee left, Dante led the way for the other two to follow him to the dock.
Lon spoke first, "who else will be joining us? I know about Commander Mumba and his 'ragtag' commandoes, but did the Council specify anyone else?"
Dante sighed, remembering the reputation that often accompanied Phaete. On the lighter side, his apprentice, Tun Kira, was a much liked person. "Well," the young man started, "the, uh, Council requested the presence of a Master." Their eyes still focused on Dante, the young man lowered his head as the words left his mouth. "They request that, uh, Master Phaete, join us." It was hard to determine the expression on Vorik, but Rin's expression said it all. Sighing, Dante said, "yes, I know his reputation for being worse than Vrook-- if there is such a thing. But I would say that at least having another Jedi, let alone his apprentice-- whom I know you have a special attachment to, Rin--, is something more along the lines of a blessed gift."
"Or a mixed blessing," snorted Lon.
When all of the Jedi gathered near the docking ramp of the Thunderbolt, it was apparent that the Council was so much more generous than Dante had anticipated. He had expected no more than 3 or 4 Jedi at most, but the bodycount of the entire group-- including himself-- stood at 8 Jedi and 5 Republic commandoes. 13 voyagers in all. The Jedi group consisted of Dante, Rin, Lon and his apprentice Simon Cannon; Frreral and his apprentice, the large Whipid, K'Grhuk; as well as Phaete and his apprentice Tun Kira. As the young Padawans made haste into the ship itself, Dante led the procession of older Jedi up the docking ramp. Feeling an odd ripple through the Force, Dante felt for his lightsaber through the Force. The other Jedi were undoubtedly doing the same.
Soon they saw a streak of silver plated armour leap out of nowhere, followed by the words "Yub Yub!". Instinctively, the Jedi Masters pulled out their lightsabers, igniting them at the sight of a Mandalorian.
"Well hello to you too, Masters," came the reply of armour-clad Sekula Mumba, who had to restrain himself from laughing hysterically. Reluctantly-- and realizing his error-- Dante deactivated his blade, as the others did the same.
Slightly annoyed, yet whole-heartedly amused, Dante said to the older man, "my apologies, Sekula. For a minute we thought you were a--," cutting him off, Sekula finished the sentence for him.
"A Mandalorian? Hehehe, sorry about that, Dante. I just thought you might have wanted to see my..oh." He paused and noticed the small group of Jedi behind the Knight. "Greetings Masters. Heh, didn't see you there." The commando blushed, though it was hard to see since his dark complexion hid it well.
After a moment, especially with Rin and Frreral trying to hide their laughter, Phaete spoke up. "Yes, well, next time perhaps you might not want to surprise us. Accidents have been known to happen, Commander." Sekula mumbled something inaudible after Phaete had walked up the ramp towards the main hold.
Frreral couldn't contain his laughter anymore and burst out laughing. After a few moments, the Wookiee growled, in his native Shyriwook, "Commander, I am certain I shall enjoy this journey with you."
"Well, I'm glad to have you aboard, then. At least someone will laugh at my jokes," replied the Commander.
Moments after the Jedi and commandoes had stowed their gear and were aboard, the Thunderbolt left the planet with great speed and made the jump to the Outer Rim.
As Dante made his way to the cockpit, he couldn't help but notice how the commandoes were wearing some form of armour. They've come more than adequately prepared, he thought to himself sadly. It appeared that they also knew of the possible incursion to Dantooine and wanted to be ready for whatever danger awaited them, be it Inner Rim or Outer Rim. Entering the cockpit, he saw Sekula-- still in his Mandalorian armour-- making course corrections and flipping through the weapon-systems check. Hearing the Jedi Knight behind him, he turned around and nodded to the young man.
"Hello, sir. What can I do for you?"
Dante, returning the gesture, merely asked, "what course have you laid in?" Sekula pointed towards the Galaxy charts and said one word.
"Tatooine." Strapping himself into the co-pilot's chair, Dante couldn't help but enjoy the sight of the blue swirl that was hyperspace travel. After a moment, the commando spoke first. "This is one of the reasons why I enjoy space travel." Dante could only nod. Sighing and ready to take that leap of faith, Sekula lightly said, "Dante, I'm really sorry that Alec couldn't be with us. He was a good man and did more for the Republic than anyone could have ever asked of him. I also know that Dantooine may also suffer the same fate as the Galaxy if Malak has his way. We'll find a way to stop the Sith."
Looking at the commando, the young man replied, "I know. Tatooine will be a good first stop. Can't get more Outer Rim than that. Of course, we'll be going much further." Both of the men were looking at the endless blue tunnel of hyperspace. After a few more moments of breathing in the sight, Dante got up from his seat and rested his hand on the commando's shoulder. "Well, I better go and inform our guests where we shall be heading. We'll stop the Sith yet," he said. Or die trying, he couldn't help but think as he left the cockpit.
After he informed the group of Jedi as to what their destination was, he excused himself and retired to his bunk. Lying down, he threw his sheet over him, the nanosensors tuning itself to the right temperature to keep him comfortable. Ah, that's so much better, he thought as he found himself slowly descending into darkness. Sometimes it's just better to sleep than to meditate.
The freighter was adrift when they had found it. The Guardian, a Republic cruiser, had left immediately from the catastrophic battle in the Dagobah system. Now, out here in open space. the Guardian had tracked one of the few remaining freighters of refugees it was assigned to escort before the Mandalorians had ambushed them. In the Outer Rim, anything could happen-- and having the worst-case scenario play itself out was by far one of the cruelest things to happen in the Outer Rim. The Mandalorians had ambushed the Republic flotilla that was escorting refugees from Cathar, and it had become a massacre. 3 Republic cruisers and 2 Republic frigates held the Mandalorians at bay whilst the Guardian and the Horus made the jump to lightspeed to find the few remaining freighters from the ambush. Now, the Guardian had found one adrift in open space. The freighter didn't get far before its hyperdrive had short-circuited. Luckily, the battered ship was in one piece-- a rare occurrence when hyperdrives malfunction while a vessel is in hyperspace transit. GuardianGuardianGuardianHorusGuardian
"There it is," said the Captain of the cruiser. "Inform our boarding team to launch and see if there are any survivors."
"Yes, sir," replied the Coms-Officer.
"And maintain Battle Alert status. I don't want those Mandalorians to hit us again, unexpectedly," the Captain barked.
On board the freighter now, the Search and Rescue team split up and moved throughout the corridors of the freighter. There were dead bodies everywhere. It would be impossible if there were any survivors. "Master," came the voice of a wary and teenaged Dante. "I feel, nothing but death."
Master Alec looked at Dante and said to the boy, "I know. But be mindful. Trust your feelings, there is something elusive here." Before he could even finish the sentence, there came the distinctive sounds of blaster fire and screams along the corridors which led to the port dormitory. Igniting their lightsabers, both Jedi made their way to the dormitory and found nothing, but the dead bodies of their companions. "Personnel cloaking devices," hissed Alec. Realizing the potential danger around him, Alec spun his blade around himself and struck at the back of Dante.
"Ungh!" A decloaked Mandalorian fell right behind the Padawan.
Spinning around and realizing to his horror that the Mandalorian would have been the cause of his untimely death, Dante quickly brought himself deeper into the Force, tuning himself to any ripples. "We need to inform the boarding shuttle," the young Padawan had said. No more than 17 years old, Dante had already gained a lot of experience and insight, in no small part due to Alec and the war the Jedi were thrust into. Grabbing his comlink, the boy was about to speak into it when Alec stopped him.
"They have already departed, Dante. I had suspected as much, so I informed them before we made our way into the port dormitory." Walking around the vessel, they only found more dead refugees and the rest of the Rescue team. Their blasters had been taken.
"Blast," the young Padawan exclaimed. "I can't sense anything, Master. It's almost as if--," he was cut off when he felt the presence of three distinct ripples in the Force surround both him and Alec. Both Jedi brought their blades up and leapt out to strike at the group of Mandalorians. The two they leapt out to struck never saw the Jedi coming and were down in an instant; one had lost a head, the other gained a hole through his chest where his heart had been. The third companion, however, anticipated their strike. He quickly decloaked and brandished a blood-soaked, double-sided Vibroblade, but as skilled as the Mandalorian might have been, he was just no match for two Jedi. He knew this, of course, but had elected to remain and fight. It was the glory of battle that enticed and invigorated such warriors as the Mandalorians. Both Jedi brought their blades to bear on the Vibroblade, dodging, parrying and anticipating each strike the fanatically armoured warrior made.
Finally, as Alec had stunned the warrior with the bulbous pommel of his lightsaber, Dante brought his lightsaber to cleanly decapitate the warrior, instantly cauterizing the wound. As soon as they had disposed of the Mandalorian, they deactivated their lightsabers and looked at each other. Their Force-bond had never been stronger. Their time together had allowed them to anticipate each other's moves and through the Force, they were able to coordinate their strikes against their opponents.
Suddenly, a klaxon blared throughout the freighter. Looking at each other, this time with a grave expression on their faces. "Self-destruct warning," they both said at the same time. They began running through the corridors, sidestepping and jumping over bodies that lay strewn across the floor. They had made it towards the escape pods and as they entered that particular section of the large freighter, they were greeted by 5 Mandalorians. All of the Mandalorians, with the exception of the one in the center of the group, had the overall colour of blue and the trademark silver-coloured plating. The one in the center had a dried blood colour for his entire suit. There was no doubt that he was the leader.
"Hello, Jedi. I've been expecting you," he said, almost as if he had a smile to his hidden face.
There is no chaos; there is harmony