The Endangered
Everywhere I go, I see nothing but death and decay, he thought to himself. He wore a long black duster that swirled around him as he stood on the balcony, admiring the long starscraper buildings that loomed overhead. Coruscant, the jewel of the Galaxy was considered to be an entire city on a planetary scale. For all intents and purposes, it was. The planet continued to be a symbol for the stagnating Republic. It had only been 6-7 years since the defeat of Darth Malak and the Sith Empire. It had certainly been no victory.
The Sith Empire had effectively destroyed itself after the war; there had been no strong leader to rally the divided groups of Sith. The Sith were nothing but a remnant in an unforgettable nightmare. Unlike the Empire, however, the Sith were not yet defeated. The Jedi had lost. By the war's end, barely a hundred Jedi remained, where there were a thousand. The Sith had begun to covertly hunt down the Jedi, dwindling their numbers. The Jedi had become helpless pawns, fighting for their own survival. 2 years after the war, the Jedi had disbanded. The Jedi Temple had become a tomb. The Thousand Fountains had stopped running. The Jedi Order was effectively gone.
Time had grown longer as the Republic was forced to rebuild itself, trying to recover from the losses of the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War itself. The looming leviathan that was the Sith had become a fledgling cluster of star systems. There had been a recent assault on the reconstruction efforts on the planet Telos, one of the first planets to be destroyed by the Sith in the beginning of the war. As it turned out, a small group of Jedi—along with the help of Admiral Carth Onasi—defeated the Sith incursion. They had prevented a disastrous situation from escalating into a massacre.
The only Jedi representatives located within the upper echelons of the Republic were Bastila, a survivor from the battle of the Starforge; Atris, a Master hidden within the depths of Telos itself; and a small group of rogue Jedi that resided in the central tower of the Jedi Temple.
This particular group of Jedi had found a way to devote themselves to the belief of an all-embracing Force, while helping the Republic rebuild. They only took the missions that required the skills of the Jedi. After all, they were keepers of the peace. The Force had become more embracing, uniting those who may inevitably heal the Force. The war had affected everyone—including the Force; its impact would affect the Galaxy for decades to come.
He moved away from the balcony, entering inside the room, where he could find his way to the exit. He wanted to leave the Temple, if only for a little while. A walk would do me good, he thought. He walked through the silent halls; the darkened corridors did nothing to disturb the silence that was the Jedi Temple. He made his way towards the entrance, eager to leave, when he noticed three forms waiting in front of him. One was a droid, the other was a T-headed Ithorian and the final form was the largest—and most ruffled—of the three: a wookiee.
"Going out for a midnight walk, Dante?" The Ithorian asked the man. Dante only smiled.
"Care for some companions that can't sleep as well?" The wookiee growled.
He looked at his companions, remembering how far they had come in the last 5 years. Too many had left, too many had tried to get rid of Dante and the teachings he had acquired through the holocron device known as the 'Unifier.' The Jedi Order—or what was left of it—decided to disband, ignoring Dante's plea that the unifying Force was something they needed in order to survive.
Unfortunately, that idea had been thrown out; several of the Masters had been angered by Alec Ness' prodigal student's persistence. "No thanks, Frreral. Perhaps some other time," he said. His raven hair had grown much longer; it split into a widow's peak that covered his eyes. For someone still as young as he was, his hair was beginning to show silver streaks that were oddly symmetrical.
"All right, but be careful. You still owe me some credits from the last time we played Pazaak."
"Funny story…" he began to say, smiling at the wookiee.
Frreral let out a low wookiee moan.
"I'm kidding. You'll have your money soon enough. I am aware of the fact you can rip my arms out of my socket and beat me to death with it, Frreral." With that he left the Temple's entrance, running down the flight of stairs that would lead him into the world of Coruscant. He couldn't help but chuckle as he remembered one incident when an unfortunate bounty hunter decided to 'collect' his bounty. Frreral had been weaponless, but he was definitely not timid. The wookiee smacked the bounty hunter's weapon from his hand and popped the man's arms out of his socket. With that, Frreral beat him within an inch of his life—as a warning, of course. He had been one of the first disciples of the new way, taking care to find a balance within him to use both the Light and Dark sides of the Force.
As the young man walked through the political district of Coruscant, he couldn't help but be overcome with feelings of regret. It didn't have to be this way. We are keepers of the peace, as we have always been. Now the Republic is in shambles and the Jedi are nowhere to be found. Yes, we had to disband because of Sion, Nihilus and Traya, but we could have done more. In our ignorance, we left a shattered Republic to save our hides. He shook his head. At least Bastila and Carth are trying to accomplish something. As for Atris and the others…
His thought was cut short by a loud piercing scream. The Jedi looked up and realized he had walked away from the political district and into a seedier element. The Coruscant Underworld. He heard the scream and channeled the Force around himself. He felt the rush of the Force all around him, the rush of life that filled his senses. He heard the scream again. He began to run towards where he thought the voice was, weaving through the traffic of people walking throughout the underground. He found an alley behind a large building—behind a cantina. He heard the scream again and heard the voice.
He walked through the cantina, finding its highest level and he climbed to the roof. The building was ancient—definitely smaller than most of the buildings that made up the city of Coruscant. He walked along the roof, hearing the high-pitched scream. He knew he only had a matter of time to home in on the woman. He raced to the end of the building and he knew he had found his quarry.
"No! Please!" She screamed. She was obviously a teen. The human girl was certainly attractive and it must have definitely picked up on the five who cornered her. Two of them were human; the others were a Twi'lek, Rodian and Weequay.
He looked around for a way to make it to the ground safely. There was none. Throwing caution to the wind, he jumped. Using the Force around him, he slowed his descent and the Force cushioned his fall. As he landed behind them, his hand immediately went to his lightsaber. They heard something drop and spun around to find an ominous figure in a long black coat walk slowly towards them.
The weequay looked at the rodian and the twi'lek. "Kill him," he barked.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Dante replied, his voice cold. He gently used the Force to strengthen his words. "Leave her alone and walk out of here."
The green bulbous eyed rodian began to listen to the Jedi, but was cut short when a human yelled out, "that's a Jedi mind trick, you nerfherder! Stay here! I used to kill you Jedi when I worked under Malak. Your tricks won't work on me."
"I warned you," he said again to the group.
The woman had stopped screaming, watching what was transpiring before her eyes.
Everyone else turned around and moved towards the Jedi.
In a blur, the Jedi ignited his cerulean blade, decapitating the twi'lek instantly, while he spun around to deflect two blaster shots back to the weequay, dropping him instantly. "I told you to stand down," he said calmly, as he sliced the rodian in half.
The two humans had continued to open fire at the Jedi, eager to stop him. With that failing, the men tried to turn and run, but found themselves cornered.
Using the Force, he pulled the one human who didn't speak and threw him high into the air and onto the roof of the cantina.
Taking advantage of his momentary lapse in judgment, the former Sith opened fire on the Jedi. He didn't count on the Jedi's abilities to be formidable. The three blaster bolts came flying back at him, searing through his clothes and skin. He had three burnt holes in his chest.
Dante deactivated his blade, taking careful glances to make sure no one had seen him. Holstering his lightsaber, he walked to the young woman and offered his hand. "It's all right, no one is going to harm you again," he said reassuringly. She took his hand and rose. Terrified, she left quickly, eager to put this night behind her.
The young man only sighed. They're terrified of us. Rightly so. We are the cause of their misfortunes. He left the alley, eager to make his way back to the Jedi Temple, where he owed a certain wookiee some credits. He gazed up at the sky, noticing the airspeeders and several ships flying towards their docking ports. He sighed, realizing that he wished he was in the Vaapad.
Sekula and Sirry had given the old gunship to him, after they had decided to leave the Republic to settle down. As it turned out, gunship had belonged to Dierak Hessian, the Mandalorian Dante had fought with for years. He found some irony in the notion that Hessian's greatest enemy had taken away his last possession. Then again, Hessian was dead, so the vessel did not have an owner. Dante made a mental note of paying the two former commandoes a visit.
Well, looks like I will have to have a chat with Mr. Romantic, he thought to himself as he felt the Force gather around him as he leapt high into the air, landing on the same rooftop that the unfortunate survivor had landed on.
The man was groaning as he realized his arm was broken and it was harder for him to get up.
Dante walked towards the man and a dark look came over the Jedi. "Tell me something," he began as his black-gloved hands began to emit a blue glow. "Do you enjoy preying on the weak and fearful? Or are you strong enough to handle someone like me?"
The man's look became more fearful as Dante approached him, slowly and yet so quickly. He tried to scream—he was desperate to scream as a whirl of blue crackling energy flew out from the Jedi's hands.
