Wow. We're on to Chapter 5 already… Cool! I have nothing to put, except…enjoy!

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Jard reeled, almost falling. Aiden gasped.

"That was Jor-El! I felt it! He'd only been knighted last week! We've got to get down there!"

"Right." Jard started the lift.

As they dropped towards the ground floor, Jard frantically went over the possibilities of the attackers identities. They were obviously Force-users, by the ripple in the Force, but who? They could some sort of cult, or extremists. It could be a band of exiled Jedi…no, too farfetched, and they didn't feel like Jedi anyway. So what?

The lift ground to a halt, jerking Jard out of his thoughts. Aiden drew himself up to his full height and breathed deeply.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

Jard drew his saber, and ignited it. The blade glowed blue, just as Aiden's face was lit up in a purple glow. Jard swung his blade into the offensive position.

"Let's go." Jard opened the door, and gasped.

A scene of devastation lay before him. Smoke billowed from every conceivable cranny in the Entrance Hall. Blaster bolts filled the room, and the stench of death was everywhere. The whine of lightsabers could be heard distinctly above the din.

Jard reacted to a laser bolt that came his way, batting it aside, and then rolled to the left. Aiden leapt high, deflecting shots in midair, and cut down an attacker as he landed. Jard quickly took stock of the situation.

The Temple seemed to be under attack by a mixture of mercenaries, who were wielding blasters, and robed figures, obviously force adepts, sporting red lightsabers. As Jard took a closer look, one of the strangers engaged Aiden fiercely in combat, driving him backwards. Aiden fought well, parrying and thrusting, his sword a blur of purple. Jard charged to Aiden's aid, but was forced to retreat as the mercenaries unleashed another hail of blaster bolts. Twirling his weapon, Jard noticed other Jedi scattered around the Hall, locked in combat with deadly foes.

One of the blaster-wielders charged him, firing wildly as he came. Jard tensed, and sprang. He somersaulted over his opponent's head, landed, spun, and cut him down in an instant.

As he whirled to face the enemy, he was knocked to the ground by the same awesome pain he had felt in the lift. He screamed in agony, unable to stop himself. The other Jedi continued to fight, they being better trained to shut out aspects of the Force if needs be.

As Jard thrashed, he finally caught sight of the source of the flex in the Force. Across the pockmarked floor, Aiden was lifted into the air and hurled backwards by what appeared to be blue lightening, flashing from a black garbed hand. Before he even landed, Jard knew that Aiden was dead even before he hit the ground, and not just from the smoke that was rising from him. He felt the ripple in the Force as Aiden's soul became one with the void.

Jard blinked, and a single tear slid from his eye.

"There is no emotion, there is peace." He muttered furiously to himself, as he felt the anger well up inside of him. He called upon the Force and the anger was quenched.

Jard knew only too well what the lightening signified. He had read about them in the great archives of the Jedi Order. It was a weapon used by only one adversary. The sworn enemy of the Jedi. They who had not surfaced for a millennia.

"Sith."