Chapter 1
Mission
Four years later
Battles raged all around her, the noise distracting her. Nickole ran through the crowd of droids, slicing through them like a hot knife through butter. They dropped left and right, but Nick was more concerned with the blocked entryway behind them. She knew that behind the debris blocking the door were a group of younglings, trapped. The last wave of droids moved toward her, and she sliced through them as cleanly as the ones before them. She approached the blocked entrance, and double checked behind her to make sure the droids were all gone. She tried pulling the rocks away from the door, but it was no use. She then began using her lightsaber to slice through the rocks. It was more difficult than the droids, but she managed to get through, and the pile collapsed. She climbed over the top to reach the younglings, and - "Simulation failed."
"Again?" Nick cried. She turned to her master, sitting in a chair off to her far right. "I killed all the droids; I didn't even get a scratch! Why did I fail?"
"Control, Nick." Zaimur Vaal stood to properly address his padawan. "You did not pass because you failed to use every method we Jedi have in our arsenal, as is the purpose of this test."
"What do you mean I didn't use every…" sudden realization dawned in her eyes. "Oh. Well you know I'm bad at that!"
"And you will never get better if you don't practice. Maybe you should spend less time in the sparring hall and more time on your skills with the Force. You will never become a knight if you—"
"Don't master patience to hone in your skills with the Force. I know Master Vaal." Nick had heard this speech many times and didn't hesitate to finish Vaal's sentence.
"Good. Other than that, you did excellent." Vaal's habit was to always offer a compliment to keep Nick's spirits up. He knew that she was often too hard on herself, and he always had that strange philosophy to say something good and bad.
"Thanks master."
"Sir," a clone rushed in speaking to Vaal, "Master Yoda is calling."
Vaal straightened his robes. "Very good, thank you captain." He then turned to Nick. "You go get some lunch, then you can go check on the Ewok tribes."
"Yes sir," she nearly shouted. She bowed and rushed out of the room.
Vaal smiled after his padawan. She was sixteen, and still had a lot to learn, but she would become a knight soon, and he knew it. He thought about her friends in the Ewok tribe, and hoped she would be able to let go. His thinking, unfortunately, distracted him from his task at hand. He righted his thoughts, and swept off to meet Master Yoda.
00000
Tanner strode onto the imperial starfighter, pride gleaming in his eyes. At seventeen, his master was letting him go on solo missions, a feat rarely accomplished by the other apprentices, and his first important one had been a complete success. He had managed to acquire two transmissions between Jedi. One of specific war plans against the sith, and the other about the new recruit. He was ushered to his master by the droids, and kneeled before him. "I have brought the transmissions, my lord."
"Wonderful. You have surpassed my expectations, yet again Tanner. Now, we listen."
Darth Saris put the small disk into a slot on his chair, and the two listened intently. This conversation was dealing with the person the Sith would recruit next. Saris was intent on this padawan, for they were the padawan to his old rival, Jedi Master Vaal. However, they had no idea who this padawan was, nor how far they had progressed in their Jedi training. The only thing the Sith knew, was that this young person had a very strong mediclorian count, and that they could be the one prophesized to raise the Sith out of the dark ages, and into a new light.
Tanner was deep in thought, wondering why he wasn't the one the Sith were looking for, when the conversation began to play.
"Hello Master Yoda."
"Hello Zaimur. Nick's training progressing, how is?"
"It's going well master, though there is a problem."
"Still having problems with the force, your padawan is?"
"It's like Nick isn't trying."
"Keep calm and be patient, you must. Master itself in time, the Force will."
"I understand, Master Yoda, but –"
"No buts. Things for a reason, the Force does."
"Yes Master Yoda," and the transmission ended.
Tanner looked at his master, who had a smirk painted on his too-pale face, his yellow eyes staring at his apprentice. "Krytal, I have decided your final mission before I can give you your full title as Sith Lord."
Tanner looked at his master in awe. He surely couldn't mean it, for he had said it before. "Are you serious, my lord?"
"Oh quite," Darth Saris chuckled. "You are right to question me boy. I will not fail you this time, if you do not fail me in return. Bring me this young padawan, Nick. He will be of great use to us. I might even let you train him in the ways of the dark side."
Tanner beamed with excitement. He was finally getting his chance, and capturing a padawan learner would be his toughest challenge yet. "I won't, my Lord."
"Good. Now go fetch me the boy. I can't wait to meet him."
AN: Hi. Sorry, I totally forgot to describe Nickole and the gang. I'll introduce you to the final two characters in chapter 2 "Friend" and then if I forget again I'll put character descriptions in the author's note. R&R, I'm new to this whole writing thing and I hope I'm doing good.
TTFN!
Alyss (pronounced like Alice)