NOW…

Nube walked slowly into the Council room. It looked nearly exactly how it would in years to come, but with less Masters. Times were tough.

He had been summoned by his old Master, Yoda, to come and meet with the Masters of the Order. Nube had a feeling he knew what this would be about, but tried not to think about it. Thinking about it only brought pain.

He stood in the center of the circular room, the Masters sitting around him in little dome chairs. Master Knuck Jorax, a tall, white human with brown hair, spoke first.

"Nube, do you know why we have summoned you today?" he asked. Nube shook his head, even though he knew well what was happening.

"No, Master Jorax," he replied. Master Yoda was the next to speak.

"Know, you do. Do not lie, my apprentice," Yoda said, although technically Nube was no longer his Padawan; he was now a full-fledged Jedi Knight. He had been since a few years after… no, he didn't want to recall that day. Nobody did.

"What do you mean?" he asked, playing stupid, and knowing he sounded like an idiot. Master Dorunt, a bald, white skinned Zabrak spoke up.

"You know as well as we do that Darth Masa and his apprentice have amassed a huge army," he said. Nube knew, but just like the Republic, he tried to ignore it.

"Yes, I know," he replied.

"The Sith Lords must be destroyed if we are to bring peace; you know this, don't you?" Master Jone, a brunnete woman, asked. Nube said nothing, already knowing what they were going to ask of him. He wouldn't do it; he couldn't. He refused.

"Help, we need, to destroy these Sith Lords," Yoda said, his face wrinkling as he talked. Nube could see that Yoda had not wanted Nube to be asked of this. Yoda was like a father to Nube, and understood how Nube felt.

"We have sent a message to Masa's ship, asking for a peace meeting on Mustafar," Master Jorax explained. "We intend to attack he and his apprentice their, and end this war once and for all."

"Master Jorax, Dorunt and I will be going to Mustafar later today. We are asking you to join us, Nube…" she stared when he interrupted her.

"I won't do it," he said. A frown formed on her face. Master Dorunt stood up.

"Nube, please consider this, you are the only one that can…" he said.

"I won't do it!" Nube said firmly, and stormed out the door.

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Sanai entered his master's throne room. It was a dark, brooding rectangular room, and at the end sat Masa in his black chair. Sanai walked to him and bowed at his feet.

"What do you wish?" he asked, looking at his Master. His master had short graying hair, with a graying goatee, and wore a black robe, a hood over his head. His skin was wrinkled, and was getting more so every minute; his eyes a dark red.

"I've just received a message from the Jedi temple," Masa told him. Sanai wondered what the Jedi wanted with them; they would never try to attack, Sanai was sure of that. He and his master were too powerful for a few mere Jedi to even dare THINK of attacking. It was suicide.

"What did they want?" he asked. Masa sighed.

"A feeble attempt to destroy us," Masa replied.

"How can you be sure?" Sanai asked. He saw anger flare in Masa's blood-red eyes.

"Do not ever question me, Sanai," Masa said, an evil glare in his eyes. Sanai lowered his head. He should have known better than to question his master; he had an uncanny way of knowing things before they happen. "I have foreseen it. We will meet them, and they will die."

Sanai took a deep breath. He would do what needed to be done. What his master asked.

"When shall we depart?" Sanai asked. Masa took no time to answer.

"As soon as possible."

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Nube was sitting in the Temple garden; the same garden that he had met Kyan in all those years ago. He could almost remember everything about that day: training with Master Yoda, sparing with Kyan. Everything had been so much simpler then, before this war.

He felt a presence, and opened his eyes. Master Yoda was next to him, sitting with Nube.

"Know I do how you feel about this," he said. Nube nodded.

"I won't do it. I won't kill him," Nube said. Yoda nodded next to him. He understood.

"Understand I do. But help, they'll need," he told Nube. Nube knew they did, but he refused to do what they asked. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't. "Only you know his style, powerful enough, they are not."

Nube looked at his old master.

"Even if I tried, I couldn't kill him," he said. He meant that in two ways: he knew he couldn't win, and by some miracle he did, he wouldn't kill him.

"Come to that, it may not," Yoda said. Nube didn't understand what he meant, but thought about it anyway. "Stop this war, you could."