Author's Note: I do not own Star Wars only the story and bulk of characters I've created for this fanfic.

Continuity Note: This is my own take on the Sith War Era with my own characters.

A long time ago,

In a Galaxy far, far, away...

STAR WARS

DUELING ORDERS

Episode 1:

Echoes of the Void

It is a time of conflict. The Galactic Republic has fallen under siege from the powerful Mandalorian Dominion. Outmatched and struggling to quickly build up its forces, the Galactic Senate has called on the Jedi Order to aid the Republic.

Initially hesitant to mobilize its order for war, the Jedi High Council ultimately permitted Knights to aid the Republic on a volunteer basis. A group of Jedi Knights organized by the charismatic Junius Raynar became an elite force within the Republic forces, resulting in a turning of the tide against the Mandalorians. General Raynar and his men quickly became heroes of legend across the galaxy until the High Council's fear came true.

During the Brutal Battle on the planet Magroria, one of Raynar's best friends, Marrick Blakstone discovered a connection to the darkside of the force on the battlefield. While the Republic was ultimately victorious, Marick's conduct during and after the battle alarmed his fellow knights. When confronted by Raynar, Marick quickly turned against his friend, slaughtered his fellow knights, and fled.

And now, with Raynar missing and the Mandalorians regaining their advantage, The Republic desperately seeks their famed general while the Council dispatched 6 powerful Jedi Masters beyond the Outer Rim to bring Marrick to justice…..

...The Stars seemed dimmer somehow, near the edge of the void. Outer space always seemed like a cold, desolate place to Lyna but this was different. There was an emptiness to this region beyond the outer rim the likes of which she hadn't seen anywhere else. It was hard for her to believe that she was now standing on the deck of a Republic Cruiser staring out at it. She had never actually travelled beyond the core worlds before and now here she was.

"Anything on the sensors?" The ship's captain asked the helmsman.

"We are detecting the locator beacon of Blakstone's Jedi Fighter." The officer answered.

"Is there anything else?"

"There are echoes, sir."

"Echoes?" Master Jende, A green Twi'Lek Jedi, asked. "What echoes?"

Lyna turned and saw the 6 Masters huddled around the holographic command module with the captain. They were surrounded with several Republic Commandos, one of which answered. "Radio signals travel for a long time in space. Bouncing off planets, moons, and asteroids. They degrade quickly but remain detectable for some time. If there are echoes-"

"-The somebody else was out here." Master Faris finished.

"Any indication that they are still here?" The Captain asked the Helmsmen.

"We aren't detecting any other fresh signals. I think they've moved on."

"Or they're well hidden." The captain turned to Master Faris. "Should we scout the system?"

Jaris shook his head. "We don't know how long Marrick has been in this system or how long he will remain. We need to move in while we have his position."

"Very well." The Captain turned back to the command module and grabbed the intercom. "All hands, battle stations. Be alert for potential enemy contact."

The captain put down the intercom and ordered to the helmsman. "Set the course for the planet and prepare to enter orbit."

Lyna walked over while the Captain gave more commands. Jende nodded. "You enjoying the sight, Padawan?"

"It is interesting, Master Jende."

"That it certainly is." Jende looked at Master Jarvis. "It's not like you to be impatient, Jarvis."

"This is an urgent situation." Jarvis and Jende had been friends for nearly as long as Lyna, herself, had been alive. The two men came to the Jedi Order together as younglings, learning in the same class before going off with their separate masters. Jende volunteered for this mission specifically to give Master Jarvis support.

"Whatever happened on that battlefield had nothing to do with you, Jarvis."

"It has everything to do with me." Jarvis quickly shot back.

"I'm just saying-"

"Can we discuss this when it's done?"

Jende conceded. "Of course."

Jarvis looked to Lyna. "Go down to the transport. We shall be disembarking soon."

"Of course, Master." Lyna left the bridge, nodding to the other masters as she did. Jende was right, Lyna had never seen her master like this. He was always so measured in his actions, longing to discuss the situation at hand. It was distressing to see him so shut down and quick to end conversation. Lyna understood it, of course. Marrick was his Padawan before her.

Lyna was there when he was told. Lyna had never met Marrick, he had left for the war when she had been chosen to be Jarvis' new Padawan just over a year earlier shortly before her 13th birthday. She was overjoyed when he chose her, she had become concerned that she wouldn't receive a Master and be sent to the agri-corps to cultivate crops for the colony. She was lucky to get Master Jarvis, he was well respected among the Jedi Order and he had trained Marrick Blakstone. One of valiant Knights defending the Republic from the Mandalorian threat, she was so excited.

Jarvis spoke fondly of Marrick quite often whenever Lyna asked about him. And Lyna had asked about him that very day, in fact. When the head of their Jedi Temple had come in to give Jarvis the news. The look on his face was heartbreaking, Lyna was sure she would never forget it.

She reached the transport where several republic commandos were prepping their armor and weaponry. They took notice of the young padawan stepping onto the transport shuttle. She heard one of them say to the others. "Who brings a kid to a mission like this."

It certainly was surprising that Master Jarvis elected to bring Lyna along on this mission. None of the other masters had brought their padawans, the mission was seen as too dangerous. Marrick had already killed more than a dozen knights when he turned. The High Council on Coruscant would've sent more than just 6 masters to deal with him had there been time, but they couldn't risk the trail going cold. The Republic fleet had tracked Marrick to this sector but could go no further and, by luck, his ship was still in the system with its beacon running. They had to move quickly. The only reason Lyna could figure as to why her master had brought her along is that he had felt it was important for her to watch as her teacher confronted his failures.

Lyna strapped herself in as the commandos all made their way onto the transport soon followed by Jarvis and the other Jedi Masters. Jarvis was human, like Lyna, he had brown skin covered with a short grey beard and hair. He had been with the Jedi Order for many years, but he had only had a handful of padawan learners.

"While I, of course, respect the abilities of 6 Jedi Masters to deal with one of their own." One of the Republic Officers, a Major, said. "The captain feels, given the echoes, it would best if a full squad accompany you on the ground to deal with any other issues."

"Your help is appreciated." Master Jende replied as he took his seat next to Master Jarvis. "But leave Blakstone to us."

"With pleasure."

With Everyone now seated and the rear hatch closed, the engine of the Transport fired up. Lyna shuddered as she felt to ship take off, she never cared much for flying. There was a nervous tension in the air as the transport shuttle entered the planet's atmosphere with a rumble. Lyna clenched her seat as the ship until the turbulence had passed. The ship's pilot reported back, "There is a clearing not far from the beacon."

"Very Well," The Major yelled back. "Put her down. Commandos, prepare for egress!"

All the Republic Commandos stood up with their blasters in hand as the rear hatch opened up and folded down. The commandos dropped down to the ground took a defensive formation while the shuttle landed. Lyna and the Masters all stood up and walked off the shuttle. Jarvis looked to Lyna. "Stay by me, Padawan."

"Yes, Master." She said as her feet left the hard surface of the shuttle and touched the soft grass of the planet. It was dark, very dark. "Is it night?"

"No." Master Jende answered. "This planet revolves around a blue dwarf."

Lyna's eyes adjusted to the planet and she saw that it was, in fact, daytime. The blue sun stood at the center of the sky, shining like a small moon. Giving the surface a light blue lumination. The forest was surprisingly thick, planets surrounding dwarf stars typically had light vegetation but these weren't normal trees. It was difficult to see in the sun's dim lighting but these trees seemed to have a purple tint to their leaves. What a strange planet this seemed to be.
The Commandos maintained a perimeter while they made their way into the forest towards the location of Marrick's Jedi Fighter. There was a stillness to the forest that was unnerving. A chill in the air that Lyna felt in her spine. And everything was so quiet.

It didn't take too long for the fighter to come into sight. It became pretty clear pretty quickly that Marrick didn't have a smooth landing. He didn't crash exactly because there would be more damage to the fighter itself, but the limbs of the trees above were broken off and scattered across the ground which was disturbed by Marrick apparently not extending the landing gear.

"Why didn't he land in the clearing?" The Republic Major asked.

"He wasn't in his right mind." Jarvis answered as he stepped up the wing of the fighter and saw the cockpit stained with blood. The Master placed his hand upon the glass of the cockpit and closed his eyes for a moment. "He was still in shock when he arrived here. Yet to regain control of the madness that overtook him on Magroria"

"He could still be unstable." One of the other human masters warned.

"There is a strong possibility." Jarvis agreed while stepping back down from the fighter. "But the more urgent issue at the moment is where he went from here."

"The sensors detected a structure not far from here." The Major chimed in. "A pyramid of some sort to the south."

The group left the fighter and moved south through the wilderness. The wilderness that was so distressingly quiet. Far too quiet. Lyna stopped and listened carefully for something, anything.

"Something wrong, Lyna?" Master Jende asked, prompting the rest of the group to stop and look at the Padawan Learner.

"No animals." Lyna answered. "No birds. No bugs. Nothing is alive here. Nothing but the trees."

The masters and commandos took a moment to examine the surroundings. There was indeed nothing alive. The Major looked to one of the commandos, "Are we sure there are no pathogens in the atmosphere?"

"The viral sensors didn't detect anything, Sir? Besides, there doesn't seem to be any bodies anywhere."

"This planet has been lost to darkness for a long time." Master Jarvis stated. "Whatever stripped it of life may no longer be here. In any case, we should be screened as soon as we get back to the cruiser."

The Major nodded, "I agree. Let's keep moving."

After a couple more hours of walking, the pyramid came into sight. It was old and made of stone. Scaling up into the heavens with its many layers that made it resemble a giant staircase, it towered over the forest. Surrounded by fog and illuminated only by the stars dim blue lighting. There was something ominous about it.

The Commandos maintained their perimeter around the Jedi as the group stepped off the soft ground of the planet and onto the hard stone of the ancient structure. They moved through the fog and walked up the stairway leading up to the base of the pyramid. The air grew colder with each step towards the entrance. Lyna's skin began to crawl and a chill went up her spin. Her knees began to buckle. There was something about this place, Lyna turned away from the pyramid and had to sit down for a moment.

She tried to compose herself while Master Jarvis took a seat next to her. "Everything alright?"

"I'll be ok." Lyna assured her master. "I'm not sure what's wrong but-"

"You're afraid."

"Yes, master."

"The dark side of the force is strong on this planet." Jarvis explained. "It bleeds into the air in and around this pyramid. Fear is the only reasonable response to a place such as this. You fear the building, I fear what could be inside of it. But a Jedi can not be controlled by fear, my young padawan."

"What's in there?"

"Only what we take with us."

Lyna nodded and stood up alongside Master Jarvis. "Is it why he came here, Master? The dark side?"

"I don't know." Jarvis answered while the two walked up the steps. "This planet is not on any known star chart. This pyramid looks older than the Jedi Order itself. For Marrick to come here, of all places, immediately after falling to the dark. There must be some connection, something more than chance. But those are questions for another day, another mission. Another less conflicted Jedi."

Before long, the commandos were stepping onto the main platform at the entrance of the pyramid with the masters right behind them. The commanders kept their blasters pointing forward as the Jedi switched on their lightsabers to provide more illumination. Slowly, they stepped through the open doorway and into the corridors of the structure, filled with statues and etched wall images that nobody recognized. There was a tense silence followed by a stench.

"We've got a body!" One of the Commandos reported. "Scratch that, we've got bodies. Lots of bodies."

As they entered what appeared the main hall of the pyramid, through the flashlights attached to the commandos blasters and the glow of the lightsabers, the images of more than a dozen dead bodies came into view. Armored bodies left lying with their weapons at their side. Some of them were in pieces. Lyna had never seen a sight like this before, it churned her stomach.

Master Jende investigated one of the dead while the Commandos kept their guard up. He looked down at the dead, seemingly reptilian creature, with grey scales almost as thick as the black armor it wore bearing a long melted slash. "I don't recognize this species."

Keeping his blue lightsaber up for light, Master Jende reached down and grabbed the weapon at the creature's side by its hilt. He examined it as the Republic Major walked over to him. "What is it?"

Jende pressed a button located on the hilt, triggering a plasma blade similar to that of a lightsaber to appear at the end of it. With a red glow, it curved along one side with a stern base at the other. "It's an ax."

He switched the weapon off and tossed it back down to the ground. "This one was killed by lightsaber!"

"This one was as well!" One of the other masters shouted back followed quickly by the rest confirming that all the bodies were done in by lightsaber.

"Blakstone?" The Major asked.

"Most likely." Jende answered.

"Well then, where the hell is he?"

"One of two possibilities." Jende speculated. "Either he was overwhelmed by this ambush and taken. Or, after overcoming the ambush, he commandeered their ship."

"How do you know he still isn't here?"

"Did you detect anything resembling a ship on the way down, Major? Something brought these creatures here and someone flew that something out. Given that no one took the time to collect these bodies, I'm going to assume that Marrick defeated his attackers and took their ship so we wouldn't be able to continue tracking him."

The Major didn't disagree with the Jedi's assessment. "Marrick is a pretty lucky traitor. Stumbling upon this planet the same time as these things. Unless you think that, somehow, they kne-th-...what is he doing?"

Jende turned and saw Jarvis sitting cross-legged in the middle of all the bodies. "He's reaching out to the force. To get a vision of what happened here."

"You guys can do that?"

"A few of us can. Radio signals aren't the only thing that echoes, Major. And the force echoes strongly in this place."

"Careful, Jarvis." one of the other masters warned as bits of rock began to levitate around Jarvis. "The dark side is strong here."

Lyna had seen her master do this a few times before. It always amazed her, the ability to connect to Force-Echoes was so rare among the Jedi. She hadn't even heard of the gift prior to becoming Jarvis' padawan. She watched as he calmed himself, reached out his hand, and placed it on the ground to see what he would later report to the Jedi Council…

...Jarvis opened his eyes and saw Marrick sitting there. He was alone, still covered in the blood of his fellow knights. Still in shock from his actions. Jarvis couldn't see much of the surroundings, they were clouded by the dark side of the force. But he did watch as Marrick suddenly became alert. Drawing his green lightsaber as, out of the shadows, the creatures attacked.

Armed with the plasma-axes and spears, the unknown creatures were skilled in combat but Marrick was still fueled with rage and hate. He parried the incoming strikes with ease and quickly began striking down his attackers. The sight of it was shocking to Jarvis, Marrick was always a tough duelist but he had never seen his former padawan strike with such ferocity.

Initially caught off guard by Marrick's skill, the attackers soon demonstrated a strong ability of fighting against Jedi. They surrounded him and attempted a more coordinated attack. The battle became more even as Marrick finally began to gain some level of control of himself and took a more controlled and defensive posture to deflect the red-plasma weapons, successfully countering whenever he could. But, even while being outnumbered, it didn't take long for Marrick to obtain a clear advantage. And, one by one, he struck down all of his attackers par from one.

After cutting down the last of the unknown creatures, Marrick turned and soon found his sword connecting, not with one of the plasma-weapons, but another lightsaber. There was a brief pause as Marrick stood in shock and stared at the other warrior while the simmering glow of their green and red lightsabers locked between them. The warrior, clearly skilled with the force, raised his hand and sent Marrick flying across the room. Marrick landed on his feet but his lightsaber was immediately stripped from his hand, flew across the room, and landed into the hand of the other force user.

Jarvis could not see the other warrior, could not make out the words he spoke to Marrick before opening his hand and allowing the lightsaber to float back into his former padawan's hand. The figure then turned and left the pyramid with Marrick choosing to follow….

….Jarvis disconnected from the echo. His breathing was frantic as he processed what he had just witnessed from the force. Lyna watched as her master sat there among the bodies Marrick had left behind. Even then, she could sense his anguish as the reality of what had happened in this pyramid began to set in.

"What did you see?" Master Jende asked from behind.

"It wasn't an ambush." Jarvis slowly rose to his feet. "It was a test of strength. It is as we feared. Marrick's connection to the dark side drew another to him."

"Who?"

"I don't know. I couldn't see. It"s hard to see the dark side."

"By the look of it, these bodies have only been here for about a day." The Major chimed in. "They may still be in the sector. Maybe we can still catch up."

"Don't bother." Master Jarvis stated softly. "They are long gone now. We were too late...I was too late."

Without another word, Master Jarvis turned and walked towards the exit. Concerned, Lyna walked over to him. "Master."

He didn't respond. He just kept walking straight out of the pyramid.

Author's Note: Thanks for Reading, feel free to leave a comment. Check out my page at /writer_jameskeller to support my original Novel, The Empty Desert. Which you can read on