Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt

Nevan strode into the common area and scanned the room, quickly finding Aida, "Little problem, Qui and Obi where called off to negociate a border dispute in a nearby system." Nevan shook his head in exasperation, "The Jedi Council always had their priorities a bit mixed."

Aida blinked once, "So we're on our own?"

Nevan took a seat beside her, "They should be back in a few days, but then again this could all be over by then."

Aida's gaze dropped to the floor, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Nevan patted her back in comfort and then stood up and began to walk away, over his shoulder he said, "We'll be at the fourth moon in twenty minutes."

They had received the message from Qui-Gon that the Dark Jedi had promptly headed for the fourth moon of Cerallis, where a colony similar to the largest one on the planet below was.

They had gotten the message shortly after they arrived back at the hotel and had spent the last few days training, waiting for the repairs to finish.

As soon they had been finished the pair headed for the dockingport where they had met Gui, Nevan handed him the promised credits and with a smile handed him and extra two hundred.

After that it was the simple task of doing a preflight check and starting it up. Nevan had smiled broadly as he heard the gentle thrum of the sub light engines. He patted the consol and whispered, "Feeling better girl?"

And with that they had been on their way to the moon.

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The ship lowered onto the dockingpad, the repulsorlifts kicking up dust around the Demons Foe, although the two settlements were virtually identical the planet and moon were a stark contrast. While Cerallis was a beautiful planet with emerald green forests and deep azure blue oceans covering most of the planet, the fourth moon was nothing more than rock crags and dirt.

Nevan lowered the landing ramp and he and Aida descended. As soon as they were off he keyed in the code for the security system.

"Aida." Nevan said, "Remember how I told you to stay on your guard, well stay even more focussed than before."

With that he continued forward, tossing the hundred credit docking fee to the official as he passed, not letting the men even begin to ask for it.

"At least before we didn't have a face to put on what we were looking for!" Aida reminded him cheerfully.

He laughed, "True enough."

They walked side by side, Nevan keeping his senses focussed, while Aida kept her eyes running back and forth among the streets, "So do we have any leads?" Aida said, breaking her vigil for a moment.

Nevan gestured for her to turn left, "In his message Qui-Gon said that he had tracked the man to a droid warehouse on the east side of the city right before the Council called him away."

"Master?"

"Hmm?

Aida fidgeted with her robe, "Maybe you should continue the story?"

Nevan sighed, "Very well, if I say no you'll just keep asking." He said with a hint of pride at the tenacity he knew was within his Apprentice.

As we exited the governors office Qui-Gon immediately spoke up, "Something doesn't feel right, we should have had contact with the other team by now."

I mentally ran through the list and realized he knew none of them, Shaza a Fallen woman, Jon Harris a human male, and the team leader, Eros a blue skinned, red eyed man, from an unknown species beyond the Rim.

Kaitlyn seemed to know what I was thinking, "I know Eros and he's usually very punctual if they aren't here then something's wrong."

I nodded, "Stay alert, something tells me this isn't going to end well."

I scanned through the datapad governor Taryn had given me, "Seems like our first contact is a man named Orinis."

It was only a quick walk from the governors office to the contact point with Master Orinis.

"I'll go in first, he may not be very cooperative if he's confronted by three people." I told them.

I made may way to the front entrance and stopped to take a deep breath. Gently pushing open the door I strode in to be faced with one man with his back to me, his right arm out and in the hand a lightsaber.

Aida stared expectantly at her Master, "Well what happened?"

Nevan scowled, "I thought I told you to keep your guard up and your senses stretched my young Apprentice." He chided her.

"What?"

He sighed, "Reach out, that empty dockingport over there."

Aida looked at Nevan for a moment and then turned her senses towards the dockingport, then it hit her, a dark aura seemed to cover the building.

A predatory grin crossed Nevans face, "Looks like we don't need to find that warehouse."

Nevan took the lightsaber from his belt and kept it ready, Aida following his lead as they advanced on the dockingport.

Nevan stopped for a moment after several minutes of walking through the dark corridors of the dockingport, the control that was required to keep both their presences masked from the Dark Jedi within was taking its toll on him.

He silently put a curse on the heads of the architect who had designed this building, "Is it just me or is this hall going on and on without an end?"

A crimson blade of light sprang to life in front of them, "The hall may not end, but you've reached yours." The black clad figure, that seemed the materialize out of nowhere, announced.

The slate gray of Nevan's own blade came to life, as did the bronze of his Apprentice's, "Your outnumbered."

"Your weak." The figure countered

Nevan made a clicking sound with his tung, "Oh please you should be able to come up with something better than that."

The figure surged forward surged forward with an unnatural speed.

Nevan took the lead, the hallway being only big enough for the two to fight and adding Aida would only put them at a disadvantage. The enemy rained blow after blow down on Nevan who barely managed to block each.

"Master!" Aida yelled out.

Nevan followed her thoughts and caught the image of an empty landingpad, followed closely by a hissing noise, signalling the door was open.

Using the Force he pushed his opponent and knocked the figure off balance, giving Nevan enough time to turn on his heels and dash to the landingpad where he found it was pitch black, the bronze glow of Aida's lightsaber the only thing showing her presence.

A close by humming and a feeling in the back of his mind warned him of the proximity of their attacker.

Nevan dove forward and into a roll, the crimson blade barely missing his neck, he came to a stop a few meters away.

Aida advanced, covering her Master as he came to his feet.

The two lightsabers crashed against each other again and again with crack. Bronze and crimson beams of light, nothing else in the darkness of the landingpad. As the two continued the deadly duel each blow leading into a block, each block fuelling the next assault, both trying to gain an upper hand, Nevan had another idea.

As his Apprentice fought with all her strength, and held her own to his pride, he reached out through the Force and touched the mind of the attacker. Darkness clouded it and much like the lightsabers in the darkness, amid this cloud were a few stray thoughts and feelings, points of light, points of light that felt decidedly familiar although he couldn't place it.

With all his strength he struck out through the Force at his opponents mind and found the mental barriers strong beyond belief. Bringing himself back to the present Nevan watched Aida fight, she was beginning to lose ground.

With that he reentered the fight, mentally giving Aida orders to back off. He fought with an unusual lightsaber style, one that seemed fitting to the Shadow side. His attacks were powerful, swift, and precise, but above all they were always an answer to his opponents. Everything his opponent did fed his next move, using each motion to move into the next, in essence he was nothing but give, and his opponents molded their own style against themselves.

Unfortunately for Nevan it seemed the attackers strength and skill improved with every passing moment, as did their presence in the Force, almost as though he was not fighting one...but many.

"Aida!" He called out to her, "Run!"

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A/N: Hope you all enjoyed, it is starting to get more interesting I think and I would appreciate any help and input or just any positive Reviews you could send my way if you enjoyed.