So the next chapter, lately I have just not been feeling like writing soo... I don't know I'll write as much as I can but I really haven't been feeling it lately.

(24/02/22)

(Draco POV)

Waking up the next morning I finally felt a feeling I hadn't felt since the attack on Earth. Excitement, my emergence into the galaxy had made me cold and a little uncaring, though the prospect of getting a lightsaber was still enough to excite me.

A few minutes after I had finished getting ready my door chimed. Opening it revealed the familiar form of Shaak.

"Ah Dead, good to see you're up, you ready?" She asked as I simply nodded.

"Good, I'll be coming along with you." She said as we walked from my quarters to the hangar to meet our transport.

"So anything you want to know about?" She asked as we arrived in the hangar.

I just shook my head as we boarded, walking through the corridors before we came upon a room with a droid.

"Ah Dead, this is Huyang." She introduced as I just nodded in response.

"Hmm interesting one aren't you, not like normal Jedi that come to get their crystal, you will have an interesting life." He said which just made me stare at him.

He looked away and if droids could look rattled then that was what he was. "Anyway, let's get to Ilum," Shaak said breaking the tension that was forming between me and the droid.

Nodding I left to find a vacant room. As I was wandering around I came upon a sort of common room instead of being empty as I was kind of expecting or wasn't told about, it was full with five padawans all chatting and having a good time.

That all stopped when they noticed my presence. "Who are you clone?" A padawan asked with a tone of arrogance and self-importance.

I just stared at him not amused in the slightest, by the looks of it I wasn't that known to the younger generation even with my growing reputation. "Well, don't you follow orders of your superiors!?" He now shouted the others getting nervous of this, they probably noticed I didn't look like regular clones.

"J'air, maybe you should stop, they don't look like a clone." Another whispered yelled to him. "Of course he is, look at the armour, it looks just like them." He retorted, either not knowing what a clone looked like or was blind, as all the disturbance gained the attention of Shaak.

Noticing her appearing behind them before they did I just stood and waited for them to notice as well. Their eyes widened after a few seconds and they turned around with a little panic except for the arrogant boy who had a smirk on his face.

"Ah Master Ti, this clone refuses to answers to his superiors." He said pointing at me.

"You tried to order him around?" She asked with a little astonishment as he nodded. "You are a lucky padawan." She said wiping that smirk from his face. "What do you mean Master?" He asked a little annoyed and confused.

"He is a Jedi getting his crystal just like you." She revealed which shocked all of them. "Then why is he dressed like a clone then." He argued not seeming to understand there are exceptions.

"Because he is a special case." She said before turning to me. "This is Dead Space, he is the latest Jedi to the order." She said making a couple of them turn a little pale at my name.

The padawan who possessed quite a mouth for one as young as him look mollified but still annoyed that I was superior to him since he was still a padawan.

Not bothering to say anything else I left on my original purpose of finding my room. Even though I said I would help to teach, if I taught people like him then I was going to quit.

Walking through the corridors of the ship for a little longer before finally finding my room. Not leaving until we were at Ilum.

-o0o-

(Aria POV)

Heading to the ship's mess along with the rest of my group we saw Master Ti already there, eating something.

Approaching her I asked for everyone. "Master, could we join you?" She nodded indicating the available spots. All of us got something to eat before joining her.

We all ate in silence before Master Ti asked. "Something the matter padawans?"

looking at the others, none of them wanting to speak. "I guess we were wondering what the problem is with... Dead Space and why you said J'air was lucky?" I asked as Master Ti stopped eating.

"Dead... Is unlucky... He wears that armour and hood because it hides his injuries, the reason why he doesn't talk much if at all is because of another incident." She answered sombrely, though it didn't feel like the full story.

"The reason J'air is lucky though is because he doesn't like being demeaned or bossed around too much in a way. This combined with his misfortune means he can be a little unstable." She answered shocking us a bit.

"Then how, why is he still a Jedi and why doesn't he have his crystal already," J'air asked annoyed at what he was hearing.

"Because of his position, and your tone is exactly what will annoy him." Master Ti said not really answering all of his questions, though it wasn't like she had to, she was a Master.

"Whatever, he can't have gone through more than us, he is just getting special treatment." J'air retorted making Master Ti freeze, her face going a little pale when he said this.

Suddenly the air got thicker almost, it was becoming harder to breathe, a nearby dark presence. Everyone looking behind, saw standing in the doorway to the mess, was Dead himself. His clothes and armour, the horns and spikes on his head and arms just added to the intimidation that he was giving off.

Looking closer at the horn on his head I noticed something strange about, instead of being something natural it was more like scrap metal. Something which couldn't be natural.

Now walking towards us, he stopped in front of J'air. Raising his arm, J'air's body copied the motion rising up so he could look directly into Dead's hood. For a second nothing happened before J'air got more and more terrified before Dead just dropped him on the ground and left.

Shakily J'air got to his feet, his chest heaving as he took in air. "What did you see?" Master Ti asked getting to her feet.

"Pain, suffering and then..." He trailed off leaving the rest of us on the edge of our seats. "Then what?" Master Ti asked. "And then nothing, it just disappeared." He finished confusing all of us.

"Alright you should all go to your quarters, you need your rest." Master Ti said before leaving us alone, J'air gaining his arrogance and annoyance back. "That monster should be killed, he doesn't deserve to be a Jedi, he can go join those Sith." He said angrily stomping off to his room.

"You know he is right in a way, pain and suffering are things Sith have," Injia said although saying that J'air is right was like a contradiction in terms, she did have a point though, pain and suffering were qualities of the Sith.

"Not really, they are emotions, Sith inflicts on people," I replied as they took a second to think it through before speaking again.

"We shouldn't be talking too much about this, if Master Ti says he's a Jedi then that's what he is. That doesn't have to mean his life was filled with sunshine and rainbows." I reasoned the others conceding that my point had some credence.

"We should get to bed," Injia said leaving all of us to make our own way on what we wanted to do.

-o0o-

(Draco POV)

"Dead, we've arrived, waiting on you," Shaak said as I gave a small groan, getting up from my bed, all my joints but mostly my arms ached and slightly hurt.

Walking to her I saw them all wearing cold-weather gear. "Do you need some gear?" Shaak asked as I just tilted my head a bit.

Shaak happily got my meaning as she told me how cold it was. "It's well below freezing." I just shook my head, one of the features I had added to my armour was climate regulation unless it was an extreme temperature, such as lava, I don't think my armour could survive that.

"Oh-kay then, let's get going." She continued, dropping the door as we walked into a kind of temple.

Walking through it we came upon a central chamber, a weird sculpture hanging from the ceiling, looking across the room, a doorway covered in ice set into the wall.

Several statues of figures surrounded the central area.

Stopping Shaak turned to face us. "This is where your journey begins." She started as she held her hand up to the sculpture thing. As she did the light shone into it, the light flowing into the sculptures crystals before shooting towards the door covered in ice.

"Inside you will find your crystal, but make no mistake, if you do not get out before the door is frozen again you will have to wait for the next cycle to be able to get out." She warned as I just looked into the cave not really paying attention.

"Huh, even if I don't get mine in time, I will still be able to wait a rotation." the youngling, J'air I believe boasted, almost making me do a facepalm at his stupidity, if he couldn't tell that the door was just plain old ice he was even more of an idiot than I realised.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, a rotation is 19 days long, and it isn't exactly warmer in there than outside." She answered, making him lose his arrogant smile.

Hearing this all the other padawans became a little more nervous about entering as they gave each other looks and then the doorway looks. Silently growling at their unfounded terror I just decided to get this over with.

Ignoring the surprised looks the young padawans gave me I walked towards the doorway, stopping just before I was about to step inside I looked back at them, or more specifically at one of them, a Mirialan, she interested me the most, she didn't seem to have the dogma that that imbecile had and seemed quite smart too.

Turning back around I walked into the cave system, beginning the hunt for my crystal.

-o0o-

Already a couple of minutes had passed and nothing yet, to be fair I had no idea what on earth I was supposed to be looking for, like sure I knew it was a crystal but what kind of crystal, like a prism, a pyramid or a cylinder thing.

There were plenty of glowing lights in the walls, however, yet none of them really seemed to resonate with me, this cave system was filled with the force, this gave me several insights into this little excursion for the younglings, this was not only a school trip but also a test, testing whether they could overcome their weakness or fear.

This Was what made it interesting for me, I had no fear, at least not anymore, Grievous and my parents had seen to that when they had tortured me for several months and I didn't really have any weaknesses. Sure I wanted revenge, but that wouldn't mean I would let it blind me, along with what they did to me to make me able to turn into a form of smoke filled in the remaining weaknesses.

This meant that my crystal would be unique just like me, I was the oddball in the galaxy, that while being a pain and difficult also came with benefits. What they were exactly I wasn't completely certain but I could feel that there were some.

Seeing that I was getting nowhere and the fact that the cave kept tricking my eyes, as a glowing light would glow brighter the closer I walked to them before vanishing like it was never there.

Taking a few seconds to think I then thought of something. Closing my eyes I reached my hand out, instead of looking for my crystal with my eyes, I would use the force to look for it.

Using it to find one that would be like myself, something with a bit of light and a bit of dark, something that was unique.

Feeling for a few seconds I opened my eyes when I felt a resonance with my force. Homing in on it, it only took a few minutes before I rounded another corner and saw a crystal hanging from the ceiling over a chasm.

Seeing that it was too far to just reach out and grab it, I focused on the force, bringing it to me instead. After a couple of seconds of both gentle nudging and rough shoving, it finally came free, flying into my hand.

Taking a few seconds to look at it before I went to the exit, I saw that it was not what I was expecting, though I don't know exactly what I was expecting. It had two cones on either end, both forming another cone which met a sphere in the middle, I would imagine this was not what they usually looked like.

But, maybe they are, I wouldn't know, doesn't matter, either way, I've got it now, now time to get out. Looking at the way I came and all the turns and passages I took, I then looked down the chasm, at the bottom, I noticed a doorway, with ice starting to close it up.

Looking between it and the maze of passages I took, I took the simpler option and just jumped, transforming into what I was now starting to call my wraith form. As I fell I noted that all the glows I had been seeing before had vanished, all except the small glow in my hand.

Reaching the bottom I reverted back to my normal form, and exited the cave, looking around to see only Shaak, standing there, either I was the first one out, or she had sent them back to the ship to wait.

As I emerged it seemed to startle her. "Dead, back so soon, wow." She said with more than a little shock, she probably thought that since I never underwent any formal Jedi training or the fact I used the dark side would hinder my completion time.

I just nodded in response as she got over her shock. "Can I see your crystal?" She asked as I just simply held my hand out, the look of shock that had left her face, now returned as she took in its shape.

Picking it up she looked at it before returning it to my hand. "That's a crystal alright, but I've never seen or heard of one like that." She murmured as I thought about this new information. So it was unique, interesting, seeing no reason to stay here I pointed to the entrance to this temple.

"Yes, you can go Dead, you're not needed to wait for the rest of them." She answered as she turned back to the entrance to watch the doorway.

Nodding in reply I left, heading back to my quarters on the ship to wait for the rest of them.

-o0o-

(Aria POV)

After going through my trial I finally found my crystal, making for the exit. When I got to it I saw that Master Ti was waiting alone. Walking up to her I showed my crystal, as she looked it over.

"Hmm, yes this is a crystal, you'd be surprised how many people come out with ice." She said adding the last thing to the end as more of a bit of trivia.

Looking around properly, now that I was fully out of the cave I saw that no one else was there. "So... I'm the first?" I asked, I would be lying if I said I didn't want to be the first out.

"No, Dead was the first one out, he's just waiting for us back on the ship." She answered as she handed my crystal back. Hearing this made me a little disappointed, didn't he want to see who came out next.

"Why, didn't he want to stay and see if the rest of us made it?" I asked as I stood next to her looking at the doorway.

"Well, you didn't make a good impression on him with J'air trying to order him around and all." She started as I nodded, he was a bit annoying, hell even if he got his crystal I doubt he would last long in the war. "He also doesn't know you, he has no reason to wait for someone he doesn't know." She finished, surprising me a little at how cold he was.

"But what about in a fight, would he just let a person die because he didn't know them?" I questioned as Master Ti shook her head.

"No, you see, he only knows seven people or so including me, though I would be the least known out of all of them. But he would die to protect them." She said with a small smile. "His hearts in the right place, is what you're saying then?" I said tilting my head to the side.

"Pretty much, now let's wait for the rest of you." She said stopping all conversation about Dead.

-o0o-

(Draco POV)

Going back to that room with that annoying droid after I heard the others return with their Khyber crystals.

"Aahh so you all got your crystals, good, good now it's time to assemble your lightsabers." He said pulling out several pieces of random components to create one.

"Now feel what is your lightsaber made of..." He said speaking to that annoying little arrogant pest, he's lucky I'm as mild-mannered as I am and not a Sith, if I was I probably would've killed him by now.

Pulling out my crystal I let my mind open up to it, feeling what 'we' wanted, not what I or it wanted, what we wanted. We wanted to be powerful, strong, unique just like our position in the Jedi.

Reaching out with the force I searched through all the drawers and compartments looking for what we needed.

-o0o-

(Shaak POV)

Just as Huyang got to the Injia, some of the compartments behind him flew open, parts flying out of them, towards us. Dodging the flying components, they flew past us in front of Dead. Hovering in front of him, they came into the rough shape of a lightsaber, his hand opening to let his crystal fly up into the holder, it then quickly closed together, the entire design clear.

It was one I had never seen before, it had an opening where a crossguard like an ancient sword would. A strange black metal with a grip on it.

Standing up he grabbed his new lightsaber from the air. Looking down at it for a few seconds before leaving the rest of us alone. Both me and Huyang were in shock at the strange kind of lightsaber.

"Come now padawans, time to finish your lightsabers now," Huyang said bringing their attention back to their own lightsabers.

-o0o-

(Draco POV)

Once I got back to my quarters I just laid down on my bed and looked at my new lightsaber. Judging by the design and that of the lightsabers I had already seen it wasn't something common, maybe even the first of its kind.

Contentedly doing this for several more hours, thinking of things to do when we got back and what would be happening. I was then rudely interrupted by an explosion rocking the ship. Looking out my window I saw a separatist ship currently engaging this otherwise defenceless ship. Before I could think of anything more, the stars began to warp, the telltale sign of entering hyperspace.

Just before we disappeared another explosion rocked the ship, the whole ship rocking, tossing me around the room as it did barrel rolls, something I'm pretty sure was a bad thing is a ship doing it was in hyperspace already.

After what felt like hours of spinning and spending several minutes of each either floating when the gravity went, tumbling around the room like I was in a washing machine or trying my hardest to stop moving anywhere.

Trying my best I managed to look out the window, to see the hyperspace change as the stars appeared once again. However, as it did this so did another explosion, changing the ship's orientation once again, showing a planet. A planet that I had not seen before.

-o0o-

(Shaak POV)

"Everyone prepare for impact with Florrum," Huyang said as he tried to wrestle with the controls of the ship. Trying to salvage it so that we wouldn't crash onto the planet. Though it seemed too late as the latest explosion disabled what remained of our engines.

"Huyang, how long till impact?" I asked as all the padawans were trying their best to stay awake as they were strapped into their chairs dealing with the force of re-entry.

Now that I thought about it though Dead wasn't he went to his room and we hadn't heard since. Paling as the thought of what could've happened if he wasn't strapped into a chair.

All through this train of thought, Huyang had been counting down. "Twenty, nineteen, eighteen-" Just as he was about to say seven another explosion occurred, causing him to look down at the instruments and go silent. "What?" I asked concerned, what could make a droid concerned was something to be scared of.

"We have lost the crew quarters and the mess, the ship is tearing itself apart." He said making me pale even further, now looking more pink than red. The crew quarters was where Dead was, the chances that he survived now was less than optimal.

"One." I heard Huyang say as a second later we crashed.

So hope you enjoyed it. I have been feeling a little tired out lately, not really wanting to do anything other than reading and watching stuff.

Please leave reviews and send me PM's as it is really nice to know people appreciate this story.

Through Death I Get My Silence...