HeartOfMan here with something of a passion project of mine, something inspired from when I was reading a Star Wars CYOA a little while back. While creating the character and backstory, I realised this could be a fun way both to hone my own skills as a writer and to express my love for Star Wars. This series, from the original trilogy, to the prequels and the sequels and everything in between, means so much to me, and I figured I'd give this story a whirl.
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Jedi Master Cirinis was a big fan of space travel, and she thanked the Force that she was able to spend so much time among the sky and stars. Having all of known existence at one's fingertips was power and possibility on a scale so great that many people failed to even recognize it; instead complaining about travel time or food or equally asinine things while they hurtled through space at speeds faster than light.
What she was not a fan of, however, was the pirates who made their nests in the skies and space-ways of the Mid and Outer-Rim, praying on travellers without the means to defend themselves. Cirinis felt pretty justified in saying that the galaxy would be better off if such people went home and rethought their lives, but she was a Jedi and a peacekeeper - not a career counselor.
Yet, as her Defender-class light corvette was rocked by another blast from the multitude of pirate ships on their tail, Cirinis felt pretty justified in her feelings at that moment. Peacekeeping was pretty difficult when under heavy proton-fire, after all. Cirinis rushed through the halls of her vessel in an attempt to reach the cockpit when the ship rocked heavily to the side, and she was thrown against the curved wall. Her lightsaber dug painfully into her waist against the cold steel of the ship's interior, but the Defender righted itself after a moment and Cirinis was able to push forward. Sparks flew and lights flickered as the shields did their best to hold out under onslaught of attacks, and it was when a heavy explosion sounded from somewhere outside the ship that she reached the flight deck.
Cirinis fell into one of the empty seats behind the pilots and fastned the restraint harness over her chest, calling out. "Naeth! Vosh! Mind filling me in?!" As she spoke to the pair, the Jedi Master immersed herself in the Force and let her growing fear wash away - if she wished to survive this attack, then she would need to steel her courage and face the situation head on.
The two human pilots of the Defender corvette kept their eyes ahead even as she spoke. Naeth, the ship's captain, a dark skinned and built man in his prime with long hair tied into braids, answered over his shoulder, "Pirates, Master Jedi! I'm not sure which clan or family, but I'm not about to stop and ask for a pilot's license!" Another blast hit the ship and if not for the harness, Cirinis would have fallen out of her seat. She then watched as Naeth took one glance at a monitor to his left, let out a harsh string of curses in Old Corellian, and turned to his co-pilot, a younger man with pale skin and dark brown hair. "Engage the hyperdrive! I'll keep us alive long enough to escape." Naeth twisted the control column and the ship banked left, even as a proton torpedo sailed past the ship and off into the distance and exploded with a flash of purple light.
Vosh began what Cirinis could only imagine was the hyperdrive initiation sequence, and while she was not a starpilot by trade, she knew enough that the bright red lights suddenly flashing throughout the cockpit was a sign that something was maybe, probably, most likely wrong. "Uh, Captain, the navicomputer is damaged. We'll be jumping blind." The ship dipped suddenly, narrowly avoiding another proton torpedo that exploded somewhere in the distance. Naeth remained silent for a moment, mulling over his choices, before muttering under his breath.
"Eh, screw it." Then, the Corellian gripped the accelerator and for a moment the ship seemed to almost fight the command, alarms and lights blaring. The Jedi watched as Vosh put his faith in his captain and pressed a series of buttons, entering a command that silenced the system's warnings, and Cirinis heard the telltale whirring sound of a ship about to enter hyperspace. "Guess we're trusting in the Force, right!?" He laughed, voice tinged with a barely hidden fear and resignation.
Cirinis would be the first to applaud his bravery. The Jedi knew there was a chance she might die on every mission she took and even if she hadn't expected the end to come at this moment, she took comfort in knowing that at least she could die among the stars, and that she would return to the Force. Captain Naeth did not hold the same belief in his heart, yet he still faced the unknown with courage. She hadn't known the man for long - just the few days he'd flown the Defender for her mission, but if nothing else she had come to respect him and his crew. "May the Force be with us all", Cirinis said, resting her hand on her lightsaber as she gave herself over to the Force for what may be the last time.
The ship lurched as the noise of failing metal and machinery sounded throughout the cockpit, and they left the stars behind.
When the Defender didn't crash into a stray asteroid or get swallowed by a wandering black hole in the first five seconds of flight, Cirinis and the two pilots let out an almost collective breath of relief. But when a third set of warning alarms sounded, and the ship suddenly dropped out of hyperspace and into a planet's atmosphere, the Defender itself appearing just above cloud cover, Cirinis knew it wasn't going to be so simple or easy - nothing today was, for that matter.
"Captain!" Vosh cried, "The hyperdrive failed!"
"I don't give a damn about the hyperdrive!" Naeth shouted. He gripped the steering column tight and did his best to steady the ship as they began a forced re-entry. Through the cockpit's windows Cirinis saw the Defender begin to burn, parts of the metal hull melting and peeling away. "Sit-Rep, Master Jedi: we lost our shields in the attack, so we either burn to death, or we die on impact!" Naeth flipped a set of overhead switches and power returned to the ship, the Captain having activated some form of backup power supply. The Defender's engines began to burn, and the ship shuddered under the strain of the thrusters and the gravity of the planet even as it slowed somewhat. The captain turned to Vosh and then Cirinis, a fierce, almost manic smile on his face. "Now, I don't know about you or Vosh", he said, gripping the controls with white knuckles, "but there's a chance I'm making it outta this alive, and I'm taking it."
"If we make it out of this alive", Cirinis responded, shouting to be heard above the sound of a broken starship falling out the sky, "I'm getting you both promoted!"
When they had entered hyperspace, she had put her fate in the hands of the Force, and it had chosen to send her here, to a system she didn't know and a planet she didn't recognise. She'd be damned if she didn't live to find out why. The Jedi shut her eyes and leaned forward in her seat, feeling for the Force in herself, in Naeth and Vosh and the rest of the passengers onboard the ship. She reached for the Force within space and the stars, willing herself to be a conduit for the oldest energy in the universe.
Cirinis raised her arm.
She felt for the space outside the Defender; searched for the atmosphere seeking to burn her and the crew to ash. Holding the image of the ship and the forces against it in her mind, the Jedi created a barrier of will and Force between the two. Cirinis heard Vosh gasp and opened her eyes, maintaining her connection to the Force as she did so. The ship, which had been burning and falling apart, was now covered in a rippling, transparent barrier. Vosh, and Naeth to an extent, stared through the window and at the shield protecting the ship as it fell, with the co-pilot even turning to look at her outstretched arm and up to her face which was now pinched in concentration.
"I've got the ship, you two handle the landing."
Vosh could only nod, face slack in what Cirinis could only describe as awe. Vosh was vice-captain of a Republic corvette on Coruscant, practically the home of the Jedi, and even after spending days on mission with one was still shocked by the Force. In his defence most people, even those who lived on Coruscant, would go most of their lives without ever seeing the Force in any direct fashion, so she'd cut him some slack.
"Ok, right, yeah - this is fantastic", Naeth rambled, visibly straining with the controls even as the ship continued to plummet. "The ship can't generate enough upward thrust to stop our fall, only slow it down a bit, so we're still gonna crash and die." He said to no one in particular, before he paused for a moment. "Unless..." Then he pushed the throttle to the max, and Cirinis was pushed back in her seat as the ship pressed forward, now falling at an angle. "Find me a stretch of open land!"
The co-pilot tapped another sequence of buttons, one too long and too complicated for Cirinis to follow, and a hologram of the planet was projected in front of his eyes before zooming into the area where our ship now was. After a moment, a selection of bright red dots appeared on the map. One in particular caught her eye, larger than the rest and located at the base of a mountain.
Cirinis then looked through the cockpit's window, seeing that same lone mountain off in the distance below them and fell back into the Force, reaching out with her senses once more, and then she felt it. She felt it through the Force in the same way she could feel the presence of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, old and ancient and brimming with subtle power, and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that this mountain was where the Force intended for her to go. "What's down by that mountain?" Cirinis asked, pointing at its peak with her free hand.
Vosh pressed a few buttons on the flight terminal and the planet-hologram zoomed in towards the mountain. "Oh, scrap me! Captain, there's a city down there. A large one, too!" On the scanner, Cirinis could see what appeared to be a walled city stretching out from the mountain's base in an arc of around a dozen or so klicks. Other than that, however, the scanner couldn't make out much more about the settlement, and Cirinis chalked it up to damage from the attack.
"Any open land near it?" Naeth called.
"Twenty-five degrees due east, sir!" The co-pilot responded, pressing a button and locking in the coordinates. A small, digital compass appeared on Naeth's holoterminal by his hands, along with the distance measured in meters. Naeth nodded and twisted the steering column, angling the . "We're less than two klicks out from the closest place we can land, but Sir, that's a good seven or so klicks from this city!"
"Quit your yapping! We can walk, can't we?!"
"Gentleman!" Cirinis butted in. "Less talking, more flying!" The Jedi could appreciate a bit of banter every now and again, but she felt the jokes could wait until after their lives weren't in question and she wasn't maintaining a Force Barrier over an entire starship. Though... "Captain, what is your plan for landing?"
"It's a little trick they teach you at the pilot's academy on Corellia, Master Jedi." Naeth said, briefly looking over his shoulder at her. "If you've got even half working thrusters, you can turn any free-fall into a controlled glide. Then all you need is an open stretch of dirt long enough to come to a stop on. Only problem is", he began as he pointed at the area where Vosh had suggested we land - a series of grassy plains broken up by a multitude of small hills, "those little speed bumps are gonna do us more harm than good."
"Seven hundred meters and dropping, Captain! We're still falling too fast!" Vosh called, voice high and scratchy with panic. Cirinis couldn't blame him; even to her untrained eye for flying, their angle of descent was far too steep for what Naeth had in mind. "We're gonna crash!" His arms came up in front of his face, eyes screwed shut in a futile defence against gravity itself.
Cirinis intensified her focus on maintaining a useful defence, pushing sight and sound away and feeling through the Force alone. Distantly, she felt beads of sweat begin to roll down her forehead and cheeks, her hands growing clammy and slick as her still upraised arm began to tremble, but she ignored the pain and the exhaustion - all that mattered was her will. The Force Barrier around the ship pulsed, translucent blue light coalescing and coating the ship's hull, and Cirinis felt the strain throughout every fiber of her being as she called upon the Force more than she ever had before.
When the Defender fell from the sky and hit the planet's surface, it did not do so in a blazing comet of fire or shattering steel, but rather a bright flash of azure light.
Stars flashed in Cirinis' vision as the ship impacted the ground, nearly blacking out under the strain of holding the ship together. The Republic vessel bounced once, twice, and the Jedi saw Naeth hold on to the ship's controls for dear life as he tried to control the vessel, while Vosh continued to shield his face. Cirinis, in contrast, simply gripped the harness tight with one hand while the other hung limp by her side.
The ship shook and groaned, and after a horrific shriek of metal echoed throughout the halls behind them, Cirinis felt fairly certain they'd split in two somewhere. Even so, the Jedi watched through the cockpit's window as the Defender came grinding to a halt, carving a furrow in the dirt.
Sparks flew from the control panels as the Defender's systems flickered and died, either running out of power or finally succumbing to all the damage it had sustained in the past ten minutes, and Cirinis slumped back in her seat and thanked the Force they'd made it out alive. As a Jedi, she was trained to handle all-manner of near death experiences all while keeping her composure. Yet even she could say that anyone who went through what she and her companions just did and not be shaken up even a little was in need of more medical help than she could provide.
To his credit, Naeth managed a shaky smile and a weak chuckle, before turning to Cirinis with a smile and asking, "So, about that promotion?"
"That will have to wait", Cirinis replied with a light laugh, removing the harness from around her chest and standing from her seat, gesturing with a hand for the two Republic pilots to do the same. "Let's see how our guests are faring, shall we?"
Vosh turned to her, throwing an arm over the back of his seat even as colour began to return to his face. "Uh, well, I don't think the Captain and I are particularly well suited to such a thing, right Captain?..."
The man in question turned to his second in command with a confused expression, before his eyes widened and he nodded rapidly. "Yep! Sorry, Master Jedi, we have to, uhh..." He trailed off, looking lost for a moment all the while keeping his eyes locked on Cirinis'.
"Run a system diagnostic!" Vosh answered, coming to Naeth's aid.
"We have to run a system diagnostic!" The captain echoed, smiling like he'd been the one to come up with the idea in the first place. "You know, see if getting this ship off the ground is a realistic possibility, or at least see if we can salvage anything useful for the trip to this city we found."
Cirinis folded one arm over her chest and palmed her face with the other, and then said, "If you don't want to talk to the delegates, then feel free to just say so."
"We really, really, really, don't want to talk to the delegates." Naeth said, while Vosh could only give a few short sharp nods. "I'm sure they're nice people and all once you get to know them, but we'd rather stay in here where we won't have to listen to those two insulting our heritage, our standing in society, or anything else along those lines."
"They're far from the worst politicians I've ever had to deal with. Take that how you will." Cirinis said with a laugh before turning away, starting down the hallway and back to the ship's conference room. "But I do have to go make sure they don't kill each other. It wouldn't do to have them survive the pirates, the hyperspace jump and the crash only to die at one another's hands."
"Have fun with that, Master Jedi! Call us when you're done, but don't be too long. We're pretty close to sundown as it is, and I'd rather not be out in the open when it gets dark." Naeth called from behind her.
"Oh?"
"I have a bad feeling about this planet, is all."
Cirinis couldn't help but feel the same. The Force was strong on this world, but beneath all of that power was a sickness that she'd never felt before, not truly. One she had been taught to avoid ever since she'd been a young girl in the Jedi Temple. It was always there, tempting her and other Force-Sensitives like her, and now that she was on this world's surface she could feel a lingering hunger buried somewhere beneath the surface - malevolent, twisted, and from what Cirinis could feel it was only held back by the light of day.
The Dark Side.
This planet's sun was up, and while the Force was as calm and comforting as always she dreaded to imagine what would reveal itself once darkness fell.
She'd need to be quick.
The Defender, Cirinis noted as she walked through the ship, was not getting off the ground anytime soon - no matter how much Naeth and Vosh tried. Big chunks of the hallways were missing, allowing a view of the planet's surface outside, and when Cirinis peered through the largest of them she was treated to a view she doubted she'd forget anytime soon. Bright orange grass in a field of alien trees that glowed like lightbulbs, dim now under daylight, all blooming mismatched flowers that ranged from blue to green to red, all as far as the eye could see.
The Jedi had seen this forest brought up on the scanner, and she knew that from where they were now they were only around five or so klicks from open fields. From there it was only another short two klicks or so from this city she and the two pilots had set their sights on. Cirinis tried to get a view of the city - from what she saw on the scanner she should be able to see it from here. Even if the trees were blocking the view of the city itself she should've been able to see the mountain, but she figured they could've just landed at the wrong angle to see it.
Continuing down the hall, she entered the main conference room. What was once a round room with the ship's main navicomputer in the centre and a multitude of seating areas was now a wreck, with the entire left wall and a section of the roof missing. Alongside the damage to the hull, the navicomputer was very clearly broken beyond repair - most likely a consequence of the large shard of metal lodged through the top of the projector and into the computer itself.
Off to the right Cirinis spotted the two she was looking for, delegates from the neighbouring planets in the same system: Selnar and Frenmore. Selnar's representative, a slim, middle-aged man with tan skin and receding dark hair named Kilnen was sat in his chair, looking pale and stiff as a board. The only signs of life Cirinis could make out were his trembling hands that he had rested on the ruined remains of the table the Cirinis and the two delegates were sitting at before the ship fell under attack.
To Kilnen's right was Frenmore's own delegate, Cear. She was a pale and stocky woman with dirty blonde hair that reached down to the small of her back, looking to be in her early to mid thirties. The politician was on her knees just before the table and Cirinis figured she'd gotten up from her seat and collapsed not two steps later. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach as she vomited violently onto the Durasteel floor, and the Jedi couldn't help but feel bad for both of them. Few were able to keep their wits about them in life and death scenarios, and Cirinis would not fault Kilnen and Cear for their fear, untrained and untested by combat as they were. Politicians fought in courtrooms and the like; not in hyperspace dogfights.
Cirinis leaned on the remains of the navicomputer, giving the two delegates a moment or two to gather themselves, but as the minutes ticked by the Jedi felt she would need to step in. They had a little time to spare, after all, but they were still on the clock and they needed to reach the city before the end of this planet's current rotation, lest they experience first-hand whatever dark power lurked within this world.
She clapped her hands together and Cear and Kilnen both turned sharply towards her. Cirinis plastered a smile on her face and strode forward. "Sorry about the bumpy ride there." She said, pulling Cear to her feet as gently as she could. Cirinis produced a tissue from within a pocket in her robe and gently wiped the corner of the shaking woman's mouth and the edge of her chin. "You know how it is: get attacked by pirates, jump blindly into hyperspace, crash land on some remote planet - but hey, we're all good for now."
Cear managed to stand, having regained some of her strength, but she still stumbled over to lean on the wall by Kilnen to ease some of the strain. She then held her hands up to her head and rubbed her temples, saying; "For now?"
"For now." Cirinis confirmed. "There's some civilization nearby, a large city even, and from what I saw on the scanner while it was still working it was pretty well fortified. We only need to make it before nightfall, so we should probably get moving."
Kilnen reached a shaky palm to his forehead and wiped away the sweat on his brow. After a moment of heavy breathing, the representative of Selnar pulled himself out of his seat and onto his own two feet. "What waits for us if we do not reach this city in time?" He asked. "I, for one, feel it is better to stay with the ship and simply have you and the pilots deal with any oncoming dangers - our rescuers would be better able to locate us that way."
"As much as I do not agree with his tone", Cear spoke up, "I happen to agree with his suggestion. If we're in danger of attack come sunset, wouldn't it simply be better to fortify our location and wait for rescue?"
At that moment, Naeth and Vosh appeared out from the hall leading to the cockpit, and the Jedi and both politician's gazes turned to them. In response, they mumbled something about checking the cargo hold for supplies before moving off down to that section of the ship.
"The Force is strong on this world, and it is tied inexorably with the cycle of night and day", Cirinis continued on, unperturbed. She held up an open palm and focused on her senses. She felt in her heart and mind the precarious balance between the light and the dark on this world, and how it shifted out of their favour with every passing second. "As far as I can tell, we are as safe as we possibly can be in this situation - but only so long as the sun shines upon us. Now, I am confident in my power and skills as a Jedi Master, and I am able to defend you from any number of threats, but I can feel the light of this world and know without doubt that the dark here is beyond me."
Kilnen and Cear took one look at each other before turning back to Cirinis, nodding their heads almost in unison. The Jedi smiled, glad to see her two charges were capable of seeing reason in the face of danger. She'd travelled across the galaxy on diplomatic missions for years on end before, and she knew from experience just how stubborn figures of political importance could be. It could have been the shock from the multitude of life-threatening situations they'd faced today, but the fact they listened to her with minimal complaint earned them a couple points in her book.
"I'll go see what Naeth and Vosh have managed to scrounge up while we were talking." Cirinis said as she turned away from the delegates. "Gather your strength; the journey may not be that long, but it will test us. That much is certain."
...
In the end the two pilots had been able to salvage one of the republic issue speeders along with some light rations and some first-aid kits from the cargo hold. The rest had been lost in the crash, but some supplies were better than none and Cirinis always was more of a glass-half-full kind of woman. Of course, republic speeders were designed to carry two riders at a time so she, Naeth and Vosh had volunteered to make the trip on foot.
"Gotta say, Master Jedi; for all I'm anxious to get off this planet, the scenery aint all that bad." Naeth piped up, and in all honesty Cirinis didn't entirely disagree. The forest they had spent the past forty minutes trekking was, in its own right, breathtaking. She'd gotten a glimpse of it through the holes in the ship after they'd landed and while they were setting off, but that hadn't done it justice. In all her time spent travelling the galaxy, she'd never been anywhere quite like this.
Sure, orange grass and weird looking trees and flowers were part and parcel of space travel - for every species of sentient life in the galaxy, there must have been at least a dozen different types of plants and fauna. No, what made this planet so amazing was just how in tune everything was in the Force. Cirinis had been to planets strong in the Force before, and she'd been living in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant ever since she was five - yet none of those had ever felt so alive.
The flowers sprouting from the forest floor, the leaves growing out from the tree-tops, even the dirt and the rocks beneath her feet: everything here resonated with Force, with life.
Even the rest of her group could feel it, though they may have not quite understood what it was they were feeling. To them, what they were experiencing was just a sudden case of the chills or seeing things out of the corner of their eye. Cirinis could see it in how her companions seemed almost relaxed in this forest landscape, but their eyes would dart to the side or they'd pull their cloaks or jackets around them just that little bit tighter.
It was the influence of life and the Light, along with the encroaching Dark.
Cirinis would have loved to spend an hour or two meditating here had there been more time before sunset. That, and the fact she was currently walking and keeping an eye out for any danger.
"You narcissistic brute! Lording your family name over me like I am some lowborn scum! How dare you!" Cear cried, voice high and indignant even as she maneuvered the slow-moving speeder around a rather deep looking hole in the dirt.
And then there was that...
"I am not lording my status over you, my dear." Kilnen rebuked, and for all his voice was calm and measured it was clear by the way his arms were tightly wrapped around Cear's stomach that he was not a fan of speeders. "I am stating that my family has been campaigning for the betterment of Selnar on a political level for generations."
"You are a piece of work Kilnen!" Cear hissed. Naeth and Vosh, who were walking just behind the speeder alongside Cirinis shared a concerned look before turning to her, but she shook her head, gesturing for them to leave it be. The Jedi had seen them after the crash and she would rather them be arguing with each other than paralysed with fright. "I earned my place on the Council of Frenmore, and I did it through blood, sweat and tears! Not through family connections and bribery!"
"How dare you accuse me of corruption! I have not committed a single crime in my tenure as Director of Finance, nor before it! And just be-Ah!" Kilnen argued but was interrupted when Cear moved around a tree a tad sharper than was strictly necessary, at least by Cirinis' own experience with speeders, and he lurched forward in his seat even as he scrambled to keep a grip. "Was that really necessary?" He asked in an almost shaky voice.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
The delegates continued to argue while Cirinis trailed behind them and the pilots, keeping an eye on the group from the back. She'd played protection detail more than her fair share of times in the past and the Jedi had always felt watching for threats from behind was more effective than the front, at least when she was the only one on guard. Politicians and diplomats walking around with guards was a pretty common practice, especially during turbulent periods like elections or civil uprisings. Typically, people like Kilnen and Cear would have a whole security team on their payroll to cover every angle, but Cirinis never fell into the role of bodyguard unless things had already gone wrong.
Most of the people she was assigned to protect were pretty happy to have a Jedi for a guardian but some were much less receptive. Maybe their people had bad experiences with the Jedi; maybe they were prejudiced against her order on a religious, political or ideological level; maybe they were simply too stubborn for their own good. Whatever the case, sometimes those who needed help were also the most adamant in refusing it.
She'd never had to experience anything like Master Qui-Gon and his Padawan had all those years ago on Mandalore, but she'd come close. All in all, Cirinis had learned to spot when her charges wanted an overt show of protection, or when the best course of action was to watch from the shadows.
A chill ran through the Jedi as she thought about her old friend, Qui-Gon Jinn, and she came to a stop. Her companions came to a halt as well, all turning to look at her with curious and almost worried expressions, but she didn't take notice of them. Her mind lingered on the fallen Jedi, slain by the first Sith to appear in a thousand years during the Battle of Naboo little over a year ago.
The wind picked up and Cirinis shivered, even though her robes should have been more than enough to keep out the chill.
"Uh... You alright there Master Jedi?"
Qui-Gon and her weren't close - he was far too aloof and she too private, but they'd spent enough time together in the Jedi Temple in between missions that she'd come to value his company. They were both fascinated by the mysteries of the Force, afterall, and no matter how their conversations started out they would always find their way back to debating and discussing what it means to be a Jedi.
"Master Jedi? Cirinis?"
The Jedi code forbade attachment, and many outside the order claimed such a tenant was harmful to any sentient-being - Force-Sensitive or not, but that wasn't what the Code meant. Not really. The Jedi were peace-keepers on a galactic scale, so they couldn't afford to have any bias. That was why Jedi were trained from such a young age, taken to the Jedi Temple with the permission of their parents before they could grow attached to their family or people. If they didn't, they could become partial to one particular group or person, and while compassion was the core of the Jedi Order, it wasn't their place to pick and choose who they were compassionate to.
The Jedi Order did not believe things like marriage, friendship and personal possessions were dangerous in and of themselves, but if a Jedi let themselves get attached to something in such a way that they feared to lose whatever they held dear, then they would inevitably be drawn to the Dark Side. Some of the more eclectic members of the order, who did not see the Jedi Code as the be all and end all like the more devout Jedi, claimed that the Jedi Council's views on attachment were well-founded but stagnant and, while it was applicable to the old galaxy, it fell short in the day and age they lived in. Cirinis wasn't sure - her expertise lay in the study of the Force itself, along with politics and diplomacy. She never saw the point in debating the Jedi Code since it was much less a set of rules and more a series of ideals and guidelines.
What she was sure of, however, was that you didn't teach a child about sex and drugs by sending them to a brothel or some back-alley dealer, but by educating them on the dangers of such things and making sure they are able to make their own informed choices. Of course, she wasn't a mother, and she imagined values on those types of things varied from person to person, but her point still stood.
That was why Cirinis had never taken on a Padawan, and why she tended to isolate herself in the Jedi Temple, honing her knowledge and skills in the Archives and meditation rooms. Attachments made things complicated.
"What's wrong with her? Why is she just standing there?"
Cirinis had never had to deal with the loss of a friend before - she didn't have any for most of her life even, so when the news of Qui-Gon's death reached her on Coruscant...
The funeral was the easiest part. She hadn't been able to see the body through the flames of the funeral pyre, and the cloth covering him before had shielded him from view. Afterward, she'd made sure to inform the High Council that she was available for any missions almost immediately after the funeral was finished. They'd offered her time off to mourn, to let go, but she had a duty to the Order and the galaxy as a whole and her grief was inconsequential in the face of that.
"Captain, I don't think she can hear us..."
Cirinis began to tremble, palms growing slick with sweat even as her eyes swam, but her body felt distant. It was like when she meditated, but instead of reaching through the Force she was reaching into herself. Her heart pounded in her chest, and there was the oddest sense that something was wrong and she was missing something incredibly important, yet she couldn't put her finger on it.
The Jedi's legs gave out even as her mind raced.
"Scrap me! Vosh, get the med-kit! There's one in the speeder's storage! You two keep an eye out!"
She'd moved on. Master Yoda spoke of acceptance, of letting go, and that was exactly what she'd done.
Hadn't she?
Cirinis knew failure. She knew death. But every time she failed at brokering peace, when negotiations had turned violent and she had been forced to take lives in order to defend herself, she'd been able to return to the Temple, release her feelings through the Force and carry on with her life.
It had never been personal.
But every time she showed up to their usual table at the Grand Archives and found it empty, or their little corner of one of the meditation rooms being taken, she remembered. How could she move on when, the second she found a semblance of peace her eyes would be drawn to places where her friend should have been, and wasn't.
She told those who asked that she'd moved on, that she was okay, and most days she could even believe that. But on the nights when the Force wasn't as responsive, when she spent the night tossing and turning in her bed in the Temple, she couldn't hide from the truth.
She missed her friend.
Lie all she might with talk of letting go and acceptance, she knew that when the chips were down she was unable to practice what she preached - at least outside of missions. Finding peace in death was the easy part. The challenge was finding peace in life, in living every day while missing a piece of yourself. Some days, Cirinis didn't feel like she had what it took.
Maybe she should just let it end...
No!
Cirinis surged to her feet and tore her lightsaber from her belt, igniting the blade and falling into a defensive stance. The Jedi basked in the comforting white light of her blade and reached out with her senses and will. She reached past the Darkness that had taken hold and with a breath released her fear and anguish into the Force.
She was one with the Force and the Force was with her.
That was the truth. Not whatever lie the Dark had forced on her. She missed Qui-Gon, that much was certain, but she would never give up - to do so would only sully his memory, along with everything he had stood for in life. If Obi-Wan Kenobi could avenge his master by slaying that Sith beast, become a Knight, and take a Padawan in the form of the Chosen One all in one day then she could find it in herself to carry on.
The Jedi glanced down and saw Naeth on his knees in the orange grass, fumbling with a med-kit as he stared up at her in shock and confusion. His eyes shot to her white lightsaber and he scrambled up, drawing his blaster and falling back behind her even as he peered around them in an attempt to see through the dense foliage around them.
"Naeth! Vosh! Get Cear and Kilnen to safety!" Cirinis called. The Force pulsed through her with every beat of her heart and filled her body with energy despite the exhaustion from the crash. "This is my fight."
Naeth glanced her way but kept scanning for threats even as Vosh rushed to the speeder, hurrying the two delegates back onto their vehicle. They must have dismounted when she'd collapsed and now they were losing precious seconds because of it. The Captain then shook his head and pressed up to her back, blaster at the ready. "You're pretty funny for a Jedi, 'cos there's no way you seriously told me to leave you! Especially after the show you just put on!"
Beastial howls and grunts echoed through the forest even as inky black smoke drifted out across the canopy from all around them, blotting out the blue sky and the setting sun, leaving them in near total darkness. The only light Cirinis could see was the determined white glow of her lightsaber, along with the headlights of the speeder. Even then the light from Kilnen and Cear's vehicle was dimming with every passing second, and soon her blade would be the only source of light around.
"Whatever this is Naeth, they are of the Dark Side." Cirinis said. "I have no doubt in your skill with a blaster, but these foes will be beyond you." She turned back to the pilot with a smile. Calm confidence was a Jedi's friend during combat. It allowed for a clear mind to call upon the Force along with the will and self-control to beat an opponent without overwhelming them. It was something Cirinis had done her best to master ever since her days as a Padawan. Now that she was a Jedi Master, she felt she had a pretty good handle on that.
Evidently, Naeth agreed, and with a slight huff lowered his blaster before rushing off. As he ran he called out to Cear, who had now climbed back into the driver's seat of the speeder, "We're making a run to the city, got it?! Keep your eyes peeled, drive fast, and don't stop for anything! Me and Vosh will catch up!"
Cear reved the speeders engine with a nod even as Kilnen clung tightly to her and gunned it through the smokey dome that had settled around them. They were followed shortly by Naeth and Vosh, dashing through the darkness with their blaster held in front of them to ward off attacks.
Whatever creatures Cirinis was to face, she would do it on her own, but not alone, for she trusted in the Force. She was never alone.
Heavy footsteps sounded to her left and Cirinis swept her blade up, turning to face whatever threat presented itself all even as she focused on keeping her breaths even and her body steady. She wasn't the best swordswoman the Jedi Order had to offer - her talents lay in the academic and the diplomatic, yet that did not make her any less dangerous to those who gave themselves over to the Dark.
"Show yourself!" Cirinis called, running a hand through her white hair and moving it away from her eyes. For a moment the Jedi wished she had brought a hair band with her on this mission, but she had never been one for braids or buns, especially after spending years wearing one as a Padawan, but now was not the time for distractions. "You wished to break my spirit while skulking from the shadows, but you have failed! Now, make yourself known before I drag you into the Light myself!"
She didn't have to wait.
A veritable wall of black hide and claws exploded out from the darkness and into the dome that had formed around Cirinis, charging at the Jedi with reckless abandon and an earth-shaking roar. The creature was fast, especially for its size, looking to be a good four or five meters tall as it threw itself at her claws first. Too fast, even, for a normal person to react in these circumstances, but Jedi training was for more than just peaceful negotiation.
Cirinis channeled the Force into her legs and with a sharp breath leapt up and over the beast, twisting upside down the air with her lightsaber held in a guard to block any follow up attacks. She needn't have worried. The creature, having put all its speed and power in its first strike, slammed into the dirt with a shriek of anger, leaving a dent in the earth. She landed behind the creature's prone form and by its legs that resembled black tree-trunks more than anything. The Jedi did not let the creature's immense stature, even while laid-out on the ground, intimidate her. Size mattered not, after all - Master Yoda was living proof of that. She swung her lightsaber at the beast's ankles with the intent of ending the fight before it even really started.
She did not expect for her weapon to bounce off its chitinous hide without so much as a scratch or burn.
Her eyes widened and she fell back a couple of steps, reassessing the situation. There were materials that could resist the cut of a lightsaber; beskar and the now extinct Zillo Beast's hide being two examples, but it wasn't impossible for more to exist. In a galaxy as large as theirs, you were bound to run into something new every now and again. She'd need to work out a way to-
The beast flung itself to its feet and bounded back and away from Cirinis even as she leapt back. It didn't react to her movements, though, instead watching her with its large, intelligent crimson eyes.
Cirinis reached through the Force, probing the beast's mind for its emotions so that she could better anticipate its movements, and all she could feel was hunger. Hunger, and a burning rage for people like her - Force Sensitives, that was. The Jedi took a step forward and held her lightsaber towards the creature, but there was no change in its emotions. Just that same burning hunger and hatred for her kind.
"Do you understand me?" She asked even as a deep sympathy took hold in her, getting a good look at this creature for the first time. It was clearly a Rancor, one of the native beasts of Dathomir. Yet, despite its resemblance to that species there were some major differences Cirinis could make out. It's hide was black with red veins marking its skin, and was armoured with black chitin that, at a guess, was responsible for deflecting her lightsaber. Beyond that, most Rancour were benign and relatively intelligent creatures. This particular beast, though, was missing both of those things if its lack of emotional response beyond anger was any indication.
"I'm sorry", She began. Whatever this Rancour was, whether it had been born this way or somehow turned into this, she had a duty to liberate it from the shackles of Darkness that had been placed upon it.
The beast roared and lunged for Cirinis, swiping both its claws at her, but she rolled underneath it. Coming to her feet with supernatural speed thanks to her mastery of Force Control, she was able to turn and face the Rancour even as it crashed into the ground once again. Cirinis eyed the creatures body, searching for chinks in its armour, but before she could find any it dug its hands into the dirt and launched itself at her feet first. Only her enhanced senses saved her then, its speed that great, and she brought up her lightsaber and slashed down at the creature's ankles, taking a step to the right as she did so.
Once again, her blade was met with resistance as the beasts natural armour protected it, but she had been counting on it. With the Force enhancing her strength and the Rancour lacking any meaningful leverage with which to utilise its immense strength, Cirinis was able to divert the attack away and into the orange grass.
From there she thrust forward and swept her lightsaber up towards the beast's left arm, left exposed by its reckless attack, and angled her swing at its elbow joint. This creature had powerful natural armour, that was true, but its sheer speed and graceless agility meant that its protection had weak spots. Considering how this beast moved its arms and legs without any issue Cirinis would bet on the joints of the elbows and knees being vulnerable.
Her bet paid off as her lightsaber cleaved through air and then flesh, the singing white blade severing its forearm from its bicep even as the wound itself was seared shut.
The altered Rancour hadn't been prepared for its armour to be overcome so easily, staggering back and letting out an agonised roar even as it clutched its wounded arm. The Jedi felt its rage climb higher and higher even as it searched for an opening in her defences. Cirinis didn't give it a chance to regroup, sweeping her lightsaber up into the standard Niman guard.
She wasn't as dedicated to lightsaber combat as much as other Masters like Kit Fisto or Mace Windu, preferring to stick with the tried and true Form 6 but unlike the other more diplomatic Jedi in the Order she understood the value of lightsaber practice. One must strive for peace, yet prepare for war - those were the values she lived by, and she would always try and dedicate at least an hour per standard planetary cycle to her lightsaber practices so that she wouldn't grow lax.
When judged as a pure lightsaber form Niman was generally considered to be the weakest and understandably so. With its relaxed approach to bladework and the rather lax training regimen most of its users employed, Cirinis could see why many combat-oriented Jedi would write Niman off. Form 6, however, had a strength many Jedi failed to see, and that was its inclusion of the Force into its arsenal.
Cirinis thrust her left arm forward with her lightsaber held angled off to the side, and with an effort of will reached through the Force and pulled the Rancor towards her. She wasn't trying to lift the creature off its feet since that would only prolong the fight and tire her needlessly; no. All she needed was to keep it off guard. The beast stumbled forwards with its arms flailing in an attempt to catch itself, but Cirinis had already moved in close, her lightsaber held out towards the creature to ward off any potential attack.
The Rancor hunched low and to the right, sweeping its remaining arm up at her. Its claws tore through dirt and orange grass with blinding speed and Cirinis was pressed back, dancing away from the attack even as its attack found purchase on her Jedi robes and tore the garb from her shoulders. With a pirouette the Jedi brought her lightsaber up and through the Rancor's shoulder, sending its arm spinning onto the ground. Its roar was deafening, filled with anger and pain but all Cirinis felt was pity.
Some among the Order found a kind of joy in their lightsaber training, but Cirinis had seen too much, done too much to feel anything but a deep sense of regret whenever she was forced to draw her blade.
But she couldn't afford to hesitate here. One wrong move and she would lose her life, and that was something Cirinis wouldn't allow to happen while there were people depending on her. Not while she still needed to know the Force's reason for sending her, if any.
Calling the Force into her body, Cirinis leapt up onto the Rancor's shoulder and before it could even register her presence she swept her blade through its thick neck.
She hopped down to the ground with nary a sound even as the corpse collapsed to the ground, twitching and spasming. The Rancour's head was sent rolling into some grass behind the body, out of sight, but Cirinis knew the expression the monster wore in its death would haunt her for some time.
There wasn't any sadness. There was no fear or confusion, not even an ounce of shock had registered across its face.
There was only rage. Hate.
What had happened to this world that such a broken creature was left to roam its wilds?
Cirinis didn't know, and the only way to find out would be at this walled city in this world of bright light and consuming dark. But as the blinding dark faded away from around her, and the blue sky and setting sun was revealed once again, all she could see was the veritable horde of monsters that had surrounded her and the Rancor's body.
Dark creatures made of chitinous black hide of shapes and sizes surrounded her, snarling and drooling and oozing hatred for her very existence.
Cirinis swept her white lightsaber up into a guard as the horde charged.
The Jedi stood against the dark and did not fall.
—
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did please do leave feedback so I can fix any mistakes I made or go over points you might have found clunky. Or maybe you hated the entire thing and want to make me cry. Wouldn't be hard. Anyways, stay safe out there. Peace.