Chapter 2

Ossus. Home of the New Jedi Order.

During the last Purge, the Sith descended on the Jedi at Ossus and massacred them. The Jedi were scattered and many artifacts were lost. The Sith patrolled the Auril Sector to ensure the Jedi never attempted to return. However, when the Darth Krayt was finally killed, permanently, many surviving Sith in an act of desperation dropped toxins that ravaged the world

The Jedi returned to Ossus soon after the war ended. Led by Grand Master K'Kruhk, the Jedi journeyed to their old home, only to discover the carnage left by the Sith. Dismayed, the Jedi began to leave the planet when a peculiar Yuuzhan Vong named Nei Rin emerged from what was once a planet and offered her services to the Order. Under Rin's direction, Yuuzhan Vong shapers used terraforming biotechnology to restore the planet to its former glory. Under the Jedi, the shapers brought Ossus to an even younger state of life, bursting with both life and the Force. What had once failed as the Ossus Project succeeded on the planet the project was named for.

What remained of the Jedi Academy, originally built by Luke Skywalker, was rebuilt and became known as the Academy of Knowledge and History. In the same valley that housed the Academy, new buildings were built by the returning Jedi Order. With credits provided by the Galactic Federation Triumvirate, the Jedi built a giant complex with the most up-to-date technology. The entire valley that once only held the Jedi Academy now supported a facility rivaling the Jedi Temple on Coruscant; all built with the most modern technology and high rise rounded buildings, including several spires.

Although not intentionally a tourist destination, many visitors decided to attempt a visit to the Temple. With the new time of peace and prosperity beginning, the Jedi had welcomed the tourists and, with some more financial help from Coruscant, created a massive spaceport complex a couple of kilometers away from the valley that housed the Jedi Temple. The spaceport also had a separate but connected facility that functioned as a hotel for offworlders and could house several thousand sentients of many numerous species at any given time. Given near unlimited access to the Jedi Temple buildings, with only few places (at least, places that the tourists know exist) that offworlders were restricted from. The rounded buildings now were often seen to house both Jedi and offworld researchers scientists, historians, and even the occasional recreational family trip.

Inside one of the spires rising high above the domed buildings, positioned in the center of the valley and towered above the others, a council of the highest ranking Jedi met.

The chamber was draped in maroon carpentry. The room was dimly lit, however natural sunlight flooded the room from the windows that constituted the chamber walls. A large holographic projector/comm station was placed in the center of the room. The chamber had no exits other than a single door with a small turbolift big enough to accompany one, possibly two people if they were not prone to claustrophobia. The Masters themselves entered the chamber through small personal turbolifts connected to their chairs. Each of the chairs could move up and down the transparisteel turbolift that connected to the ground level. The twelve clear turbolifts gave the spire the image of a multi-barreled blaster.

Today, all twelve members of the council were present. At the head of the Jedi High Council, sitting at a red and grey seat identical to the others chairs with the exception of elongated armrests, sat the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, Jogrum Katarn.

Katarn has dark brown hair, neatly cropped to above his ears with his short bangs pulled back over his head. He sported a full beard, as dark and as neat as his hair. He wore flowing brown robes with gold trimmings and his lightsaber, with its blood red hilt, atypical from the standard chrome, dangled from his brown belt. He worked his fingers along his chair as one of the council members, as light green Twi'lek with stripes running down his lekku the color of forest shrubbery, finished a long speech on Mid Rim pirates.

"…hope the Jedi might provide assistance in countering this threat." The Twi'lek began to sit down when, as an afterthought, he rose back up, directing his comment to a female Bimm, added, "Also, one of the worlds being targeted is Bimmisaari, home of the esteemed Bimm species."

Katarn lulled himself out of his boredom and said with a touch of sarcasm, "Thank you, Master Manuush. I'm sure the whole council will agree that you've brought up many interesting points," a couple voice in the chamber snickered, "and we will discuss plans for aiding the fight against these pirates at a later time."

"Excuse me, Grand Master," the Twi'lek, Viker Manuush, interrupted, "but may I inquire as to why we do not plan on discussing plans for aid now?"

"You may inquire, but do not expect a response." Several voices snickered again and one Jedi, another human across the room from Katarn, laughed out loud. Manuush, not amused, glared back at Katarn and the Grand Master continued, "As pressing as these pirate attacks are, we have greater business coming from Coruscant itself. Master Grottl?"

At Katarn's right hand a man with sleek blonde hair, pulled back in a similar fashion to Katarn, but the hair on the back of his head flowed down in small strands to just above his shoulders. His worse sandy robes, only slightly darker than his hair, and had green eyes that seemed both cold and reckless at the same time. As he stood up and walked to the projector in the middle of the room, he revealed his abnormally large height, standing slightly over two meters tall. His walk revealed a slight limp, an old injury that, when asked the cause, Sorpio Grottl would look at the person inquiring with his piercing eyes and they would, without fail, stop asking. Although many of his relatives had differing appearances, particularly when it came to hair color, it was said that all members of the Grottl shared the same eyes, the eyes of their common ancestor, Master Tahiri Veila.

Grottl activated the projector and immediately an oversized projection of Chief of State Hirim Tam appeared in the chamber. Grottl turned to sit down as the transmission began to play.

"Addressing you inquiry as to compensation for the mission, the GA Senate has agreed to allot twenty thousand credits to the completion of this mission, as well as credits for any supplies or travel arrangements you may require. I will assume, for the time being, that this will be adequate compensation." The holographic Tam pulled out a datapad and started to scroll through information, "Now, as you know, the assassination on my predecessor, Hydan Trell, occurred two standard months ago on Trell's native Cinnagar. Trell was not being monitored at the time for reasons still being investigated within the GA government. What we want you to do is, simply, discover who committed the assassination and bring him or her to justice. I won't lie to you Jedi; it's not going to be easy. There are no existing recordings of the area where the incident occurred, no eyewitnesses, no identifiable DNA samples. It seems that this was either a security problem gone horribly wrong or, more likely, a carefully planned trap. However, Trell's trip was never publicized and was only decided on about a week before departure. If this truly is an orchestrated plot, it seems like something that should have taken months.

"As far as we can tell, the only source that would know the cause of the assassination would be the assassin him or herself, or any associates that person may or may not have. The Galactic Alliance Intelligence Service has an agent deployed on the mission, one of the best, however so far the assassin's track is cold.

"I know you Jedi have a reputation for solving the unsolvable. If there are any issues regarding payment, you know how to get in touch with my aides'. In addition, any inquiries regarding the assassination or intelligence requests should be submitted to Director Virmon. Chief Tam out."

The holographic transmission flickered and phase out.

"Will we be sending anyone?" asked a long, brown haired human female.

"The price suffices, Master Horn." Katarn said.

Horn grimaced, and turned to her similarly haired husband, Torrent. Whispering so only her husband could hear, the female Horn, Anat, said, "Disgusting. We're Jedi, we shouldn't be asking for payment."

Horn gave something that might have been a scowl, if he didn't have such a gentle-looking face. "Tell that to Jogrum."

Ignoring the Masters Horn, Katarn looked directly ahead to the near-crimson colored Jedi, Curria Weslyanda. "Master Weslyanda, I understand your apprentice is planning to undertake this mission?"

Weslyanda stood up in place. She took a long bow before Katarn. Although it might have seemed to be a sign of respect, Weslyanda, a Zeltron, bowed as a way of teasing Katarn, whom the whole council knew had a weak spot for her. Still bowing, "Grand Master Katarn, my apprentice, 1-22, is preparing to depart as we speak."

Mesmerized by Weslyanda "bow," Katarn didn't speak for several seconds. When he realized she had finished speaking he cleared his throat and said, "Thank you, Master Weslyanda. If there is nothing more anyone would like to say…" Jogrum looked around the room and when no one spoke up, he concluded, "All right then; we are done here."

Almost instantly, several Masters began to descend down to the ground below. Anat Horn gave Katarn a quick glare and then joined the other masters.

Before Katarn, four Jedi remained. There was the Master to his right, Scorpio Grottl. Farther down the circle of chairs sat Suri Da-Boda. Da-Boda was a dressed in red robes. Her robes were laced with copper lining the same color as her eyes and hair. He skin was fair. He lightsaber, when ignited, as exhibited a copper colored blade. Although the entire temple has temperature control, Da-Boda wore long red gloves that extended past the sleeves of her robes, and wore tights on her legs to serve the same purpose. Her face was pointed and, although he features seemed in perfect proportion, it did seem that they extended farther from their respective spaces then most humans.

Immediately to Suri's right sat a red-skinned Barabel with black eyes. Often known to in Jedi Order as the fiercest of the Jedi, and the current Battlemaster, Sim Sebatyne sat taller than the other Jedi, dwarfed only by Scorpio Grottl. She wore simple brown robes, less and less common to the Jedi Order in the current day. As any student Sim had ever taught or sparred against will say, Sim was a master of all lightsaber forms and could fight using a single blade, double-bladed, dual blades, and even the rarer blades including crossguards and lightwhips. She most commonly wielded a single bladed saber in her main hand, accompanied by a lightsaber tonfa in her off-hand, delivering a deadly combination of offense and defense.

Finally, much farther down the circle, and a few seats away from Katarn's left side, sat old Osias Farril, a Jedi in his seventies who had seen little action in his last several years. He wore dark, black robes and had short white hair, seemingly cut military-style, but in actuality had just stopped growing, but was not yet balding. His age and experience was evident in his face, but had fewer smile wrinkles than most of the elderly. He was often standoffish and quiet, even towards his other masters, and was said to have been a strong-willed Jedi before the loss of his wife.

Katarn sunk in his seat, allowing the formality he held during Council meetings to ebb away before his closest confidants. He closed his eyes and gave himself a few seconds to feel the ebbing of the Force. Finally, Katarn reopened his eyes and looked towards the Jedi before him, the matriarchs and patriarchs of their respective Jedi families. Without turning, he asked, "Scorpio."

Grottl craned his neck a near ninety degrees to face Katarn, "Yes, Jogrum?"

Katarn wrinkled his nose in slight annoyance. He knew the Grottl knew what Katarn was thinking about. "Our stratagem is coming closer to its endgame. Are you behind us?"

Grottl nodded. "I have spoken to the Grottl clan. We are behind you."

Katarn gave a slow nod. "Good, thank you, Scorpio." Continuing down the circle, Katarn's eyes rested on the stunning Da-Boda. "Suri?"

Da-Boda nodded her head in a small bowing motion. "The Da-Boda's, however small—"

Katarn waved the thought away, "What your clan lacks in size, it makes up for in power."

Da-Boda respectfully bowed her head again, but did not bother to deny the charge. "We are, for the most part, behind our plan, however some have expressed opposition and are threatening to let the general Jedi populace know of our plans."

"Those opposed, is it the Sunriders?" Katarn asked.

"Yes, Jogrum."

"They are a meddlesome bunch. See to it they don't let the other Jedi in on our plans…yet."

Da-Boda's eyes widened in something, if she were not a Jedi, might have resembled fear, "You mean…deal with them?"

Katarn quietly chuckled, "No, talent like that cannot, unfortunately, but squandered." Katarn face turned solemn, "But if they cannot be curtailed…then yes, you will have to dabble in some…unpleasantness."

Suri nodded and Katarn eyes shifted slightly to the Barabel. "Sim?"

"This one has alwayz been behind you. And you know the Sebatyne'z position on this."

Katarn nodded deeply. "And so I do. And I thank you for your continued support. You're combat abilities will soon find new meaning, Master Sebatyne."

Katarn eyes finally rested on Farril. Katarn raised a single eyebrow towards Osias and the old Jedi merely gave a small nod in response.

"And the other side of your family, the Durrons?"

Again, the old Jedi gave an affirmative nod.

"Good, then our man in field should be contacting us within moments—"

As Katarn said it, the holoprojector in the middle began broadcasting an enlarged figure of a man. His features were masked by the dim-lighting of wherever the projection was coming from.

"Masters Jedi." The man clasped his hands together in reverence of the Jedi, "Recruitment is going well. Enlistments are in the thousands per day."

"I am very glad to hear this. And the planets?"

"We are spread thin throughout the systems of Outer Rim, as requested."

"The droids?"

"Operating at one hundred and ten percent efficiency."

"Good. We'll need to be inspecting operations personally on the station. How soon can you get there?"

"Within two standard weeks, Master Jedi."

"Very well. We will see you there."

The transmission cut out. Katarn eyed the Jedi in the chamber. "We cannot all go. The others will notice. I will need two to accompany me. Volunteers?"

"I will go." Grottl stood up, trying his best to stand out as Katarn's best.

"Scorpio. As always."

Farril made a small motion with his hand and said with a croaking voice, "I will not be missed."

Katarn only nodded in response. "Then our job here is done for now."

The Jedi all nodded and were getting ready to descend their chair-turbolifts when Katarn cried out in pain. He felt lightning run through his body and his vision was blacked out by blinding white light.

Katarn clawed his face, trying to find the source of pain when suddenly his vision cleared and he saw the other four masters looking at him in confusion.

Gasping for breath, Katarn screeched, "D-didn't you all feel that?"

"This one felt it. A disturbance in the Force." replied Sim. Around her, all the masters nodded their heads.

"But, but the pain and-and-and the blinding white light—"

"Perhaps," croaked Farril, "you are simply more in tune to the Force."

"Yes…perhaps." Katarn wondered. The pain seemed to have left no physical mark. But what was it the Force was trying to tell them. "Did anyone get a sense for what it is?"

Da-Boda frowned and suggested, "The Force did not speak with words or images. But I feel something is coming. Something…wicked is coming."

Katarn, unsure of what he had perceived, merely nodded.

"Our visions are unclear. There is no use on contemplating on something we cannot perceive." Farril said.

"Agreed." said Katarn. Sensing no one had anything left to say, he began, still shaky from the vision, to punch in the level to which the turbolift needed to take him. Others followed his lead and swiftly departed. Finally, only Katarn and Sebatyne remained. Katarn hands shook as he finished programming the turbolift.

"Jogrum?"

Katarn stopped inches away from pressing the button to depart. "Yes, Sim."

"Your vision. Is it possible the Alliance has become aware of our planz?"

Katarn shook his head furiously. "Impossible. We've taken every security measure possible. And even if they did, they could never foresee the extent of what we've created, our when we will make our move."

Sebatyne pursed her lips, or the Barabel equivalent, and asked, "And when will that be?"

"I cannot say. The Force will present the opportunity we need."

"And," Sebaytne thought about her next words very carefully. "could that opportunity arrive with this vision?"

"I do not know."

Sebatyne bowed her head. "Well, this one is not worried. If you say an opportunity will present itself, I believe you. It is the vision I am more worried about."

"As am I."

Sebatyne began to program her turbolift. "You heard what Suri said. Something wicked comez." Sebatyne finished programming her lift and promptly departed.

Katarn looked off into space. Not with his eyes, but with the Force. There was something out there. Something bad. But maybe—just maybe—it might be the opportunity he was looking for.

"Yes," Katarn pressed down on the turbolift and began to descend down the transparisteel spire. He saw the landscape of Ossus pass by his field of vision and he muttered, "Something wicked this way comes, indeed."