Prologue
My name is Marcus Baromeer. I am… ha. I WAS a Jedi Knight under the Old Republic.
Why the "was", you ask? Well, seeing as it is a long tale, I shall give you the condensed version. Hope you've got some time on your hands.
My transition from a mere Padawan Learner to a full fledged knight was done under the tutelage of my old Master, known as Dooku. Naturally, he was a keen observer of my connection with the Force, which later contributed to my downfall, but that will be explained later. Master Dooku always gave me more credit for my actions than I thought was due, I only wish I had been wise enough to see what his true intentions were then.
My mission was to a small planet in the Outer Rim called Caleb IV. I was assigned by the Jedi Council to expose a large criminal ring that had all but taken control of the planet. I completed my mission, only to find it was a very carefully laid trap. By a Sith Lord, no less. A kriffing Sith Lord, the archenemy of the Jedi, who had supposed to be extinct for a millennium. So you can imagine how I least suspected this. Nor did I expect the identity of the Sith, my old Master, Dooku, who had taken up his title as Count, but I will refer to him as Darth Tyranus, as he was later known to be. I put up a very good fight, my own Ataru style nearly defeating his own elegant, yet near obsolete Makashi style, but it was his use… no, abuse of the Force that allowed Tyranus to win. He inhibited my eyesight with a Dark presence, which gave me a sort of cataract. My original eye color changed slightly, but I could not see a lightsaber if it were coming down to slice off my head.
I was somewhat surprised Tyranus did not kill me right then and there, but instead, he brought me back to Coruscant, in front of the Jedi Council. He explained that my eyesight had gone because of my, ahem "feeble attempt to turn to the Dark Side". He made it seem, in all his charisma and influence that he had, that I had tried to learn the ways of the Sith, and therefore had to be cast out of the Jedi Order in disgrace. I tried to tell them all of Dooku's deceit, but none would listen to me, not even his new Padawan. My friend, Qui-Gon Jinn.
But just being an outcast was not enough for the Jedi Council. They took me out into the center of the temple and stood me in front of all the Jedi. And through the Force, they… altered me. It was not painful, but they all but severed my connection to the Force. Not only this, but not too long ago, a band of Gray Jedi had been discovered. Tyranus had me tied in with them, and they were also transfigured, not into beasts, but into strange household objects. Tyranus thought it fitting, for he said that I was planning to use them as such, to resurrect the Sith. (Please note this was an old Force ability, only known by Yoda himself. You wouldn't find Master Windu or Master Mundi using anything like this.) I was now entrusted with a small, spheroid receptacle which contained the exact Force signature to change all of us back. It was love that was required to unlock it.
Love. The one feeling the Sith would not be able to feel, and the Jedi lived on. Needless to say, we were banished from the boundaries of the Republic and onto one of the Outer Rim planets. Markos-Delta.
We all retired to a large castle near the edge of a forest, a ways away from a small settlement. I became Master, for no one else was willing. As time waned on, a most peculiar thing began to happen. I was able to see somewhat, through the Force. Oh, damn! I forgot to mention, that we had all been severed from specific branches of the Force. We could perform rudimentary Force abilities, such as a grab, or a slightly higher leap, at best a small push. But the Force still flowed through me as I was able to see, somewhat. Not with my eyes, of course, but by the Force signature of everything around me. And the events that turned the galaxy upside down. I saw it all, I presume it made me into something of a hermit. But who was around to see me anyway? As I said, I saw all. The battle of Naboo, which revealed the Sith once more in the form of the Zabrak Darth Maul. The duel between him and my old friend Qui-Gon Jinn was a sight I had long since gone without. A fight. Adrenaline rushed through my veins with each swing of lightsaber or lightstaff. When Qui-Gon fell, and his Padawan rushed in and sliced Maul in half, I would not be able to sleep, for I was far too riveted by all this action that had taken place. But, in the process, Qui-Gon's dying wish to his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, was to train someone who I cultivated a healthy dislike for; Anakin Skywalker. The "Chosen One" who would bring balance to the Force. He was bad enough a whiny little youngling, but as an arrogant Padawan who fell for the Senator from Naboo, Padmé Amidala. This was against the Jedi code and would eventually be his undoing. But that's another story.
The Clone Wars broke out from the Battle of Geonosis, the screams of each dying Jedi reverberating through my bones. But what I found most likable about the battle was that Kenobi, whom I've wished to meet so badly, revealed Tyranus as a Sith Lord as I tried to. I compliment him for that, and his bravery trying to take Dooku himself. Skywalker just rushed in and got his arm lopped off. What's heroic about that? But undoubtedly the riveting part was where Yoda faced Dooku, the Ataru style nearly defeating him too. But Tyranus cheated again, using the Force. Yoda was detained and saved Skywalker and Kenobi's lives while Dooku made off with top-secret plans for a moon-sized battlestation...
The Clone Wars stretched the Jedi thin, until their climax, where the Master Sith, Darth Sidious, revealed himself. He was hiding behind the façade of the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. All the Jedi who stood against him were destroyed save for two. One was Yoda, who escaped to Dagobah. The other was Skywalker, who was in turn seduced by the Dark Side. He became Sidious' new apprentice, granting him he name of Darth Vader.
Vader's first mission was to eradicate the Jedi who would stand against Sidious, which he did extremely well in concert with the Republic's clone troopers left over from the Clone War. (Hence the name.) Virtually all the Jedi were executed, whether by Vader, Sidious or the Clones. The screams and cries haunt me to this day. But in all of the knowledge, they seem to have forgotten about me. Sometimes I wonder whether that is a blessing or not.
You see, when all of the cries through the Force began to call out, the receptacle began to break. It's been cracking ever since, turning slowly to dust. The thing that once kept us young, ageless yet contained in these forms was now breaking. We are all dying. We have about another few moths left, maybe more. In the rest of my time, I watched as Kenobi faced Vader of the volcanic world of Mustafar, Kenobi thrice amputating Vader, and allowing the need for his now trademark life-support suit. Kenobi slipped into hiding on Tatooine, on the other side of the galaxy, and Vader began to take control of the Empire which was once the Republic. But his two offspring, twins from his dead wife, Padmé now are in hiding as well. So now, I construct lightsabers for Skywalker's children and the Jedi they would in turn train, for they are our last hope to restore the Jedi and peace to the galaxy.
They will find my works here, but if there is to be a new Jedi Order and if the Empire will ever fall, I won't be around to see it. I will be dead, resting the way I have earned. It's not an honorable death, but it's the best that will ever come. The others cling to hope, that one of them will find someone to fall in love with. But I have abandoned that hope. It is too late for all of us. Don't bother pitying me. I'm already dead.
