AN: hey everyone here's another chapter boy this week has been crazy I celebrated my birthday and one of my brothers got Married, but I managed to squeeze in a few hours to write this chapter so I hope you all enjoy.
Disclaimer: I only own my Oc's and the species I introduced in this chapter.
Chapter 9 (Something is afoul)
"Mugg Fallow is a planet believed to have been the origin point of the parasite Mnggal-Mnggal." Rarok Cardea read aloud as his ship made its way to the planet, "Fortunately it was cleared of the infestation a little over a week ago." he finished reading, "I'll have to take your word for that." he muttered, he looked at his navi computer to see how far he had to go, "I'll be arriving in about 30 minutes, that's good." he said and started to check his equipment to make sure it was ready, after doing that he looked back at the cryo pod with the cathar Jedi in it, "Perhaps on one of these ships there is something I can use to help revive you." he told the cathar.
After about thirty minutes the ship came out of hyperspace, and Rarok took control of the ship steering it towards the planet, he saw several research ships in orbit and kept an eye on them to make sure they wouldn't be hostile, so far they seemed to ignore the fact that he was there, he checked the data pad again to make sure he was finding the right ship it took several minutes but he eventually found the , "There you are." he said and pulled his ship into starboard hangar.
Rarok sent several probe droids throughout the ship to make sure that there were no threats on board, they would also work to repair the ship and any droids that they found and reprogram them to help repair the ship as well when they determined it was safe, "Let's find the med bay." he told the cathar and he activated the pods repulsors and pushed it along into the ship, his HUD keeping track of his probe droids' progress.
After several minutes Rarok found the medbay and set about to revive the man in stasis, it took several more minutes to open the pod, he than placed the Cathar into the bacta tank to cure him of the Falsin's Rot, after that he sat there and waited for the man to wake up, he had a feeling that they were going to come to blows given the fact that during the Mandalorian Wars the mandalorian neo crusaders did slaughter millions if not billions of cathar, Rarok let out a sigh of disappointment at that, he really hated the fact that the crusaders basically tried to genocide an entire species simply because they helped defeat them in the previous war if anything a true mandalorian would have shook there hands for a great fight, or at the very least actually fight them rather than bomb them as they slept or ran.
The probe droids had determined the ship was clear of any and all threats and they set about to repair the ship or reactivate the repair droids, while that was happening Rarok decided to kill time by looking over the tactical data of the 'Far Outsiders' it took him about five minutes to read it 'hm, the way he describes these things… it looks familiar, but where have I heard of it before?' the young mandalorian thought to himself, before he could contemplate it any further the Bacta tank monitor pinged telling Rarok that his cathar friend was all good and ready to go, he walked over to the tank and drained it the Cathar gently collapsed to the floor of the tank as the fluid drained from the tank, after the tank was completely drained Rarok opened it and picked up the cathar and placed him on a bio bed, after a few second the cathar began to stir, Rarok saw this and started to talk to him "Take it easy you've been in cryo for quite some time." he told the cathar, "That and I just treated your illness of Falsin's Rot." Rarok finished.
The Cathar tried to open his eyes but the overhead light stung and he closed them again, Rarok took note that he was about the same age as him, putting him at a Jedi padawan if Rarok guessed right this brought a thought to Rarok 'could he be a member of the Revanchist Movement?' he asked himself it made sense he was a Cathar he probably joined the movement to help his people, "What's your name?" Rarok asked.
The Cathar took a deep breath his arm over his eyes to shield them from the light "I am Uriah, of the Jedi order and revanchist movement." Uriah answered his accent rolling the r's a little, "How long have I been in stasis?" he asked.
Rarok sighed, "According to the ships logs, nearly four thousand years." he told him.
"Four thousand years?!" Uriah asked surprised and finally managed to open his eyes they were a nice golden color much like that of a feline like the cathar species was and they were staring at Rarok with intensity, "Who are you and what is your armor?" Uriah demanded.
"My name is Rarok Cardea…" Rarok didn't finish due to him ducking below a strike from Uriah's retractable claws.
"Butcher!" Uriah shouted as he continued his furious assault on the young mandalorian, Rarok kept dodging and avoiding the blows.
"The War is over!" Rarok tried to reason as he backed off, "Has been for nearly four thousand years!"
Uriah had enough and threw a push out and pinning the Mandalorian against the wall, Rarok struggled against the telekinetic grip that held him in place but it proved no use, then he noticed that Uriah had stopped, he still held him in a telekinetic grip but at least he wasn't going to kill him… yet, "Who won the war?" Uriah asked.
"The Republic and the Revanchist did." Rarok answered.
"What about my people? Are they alright?" Uriah asked hopefully.
Rarok managed to nod his head "They're great, the Cathar's population is even greater than it was before the Mandalorian Wars." Rarok told him.
Uriah grunted in acknowledgment, "What about the Jedi? How are they?" he asked.
Rarok let out a breath "You're probably not going to like what I have to say." Rarok began, "The Jedi are nearly extinct." he said bluntly.
Uriah's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed "How?!"
"Here's the short version, the Jedi led an army of clones to fight in a war against an army of droids eventually the supreme chancellor issued an order to kill the Jedi saying they were traitors to the Republic, in reality the Chancellor was a Sith Lord and the Jedi discovered his existence." Rarok summarized.
Uriah took that information in with a grain of salt, not sure to trust the word of a butcher, he closed his eyes and stretched out with his senses, the dark side was strong now the Force felt out of balance as it always did during a conflict where there was a lot of death, "I need to find the Jedi." Uriah said once he opened his eyes.
"Than it's a good thing I found you I was tasked by Senator Organa of Alderaan to follow a ship into the unknown regions they have two Jedi aboard a Padawan and an Initiate." Rarok told him.
Uriah narrowed his eyes at the mandalorian with suspicion, "If I discover that you're lying I will kill you." Uriah promised with a growl.
Rarok remained pinned to the wall for a moment and nodded his head in understanding, "I don't doubt it."
Uriah dropped Rarok and began to walk along the ship before Rarok called after him "The ship is pretty big, bigger than most of it's type try not to get lost." Rarok told him.
"If I ever need to find you again I just need to follow the scent of a butcher for hire." Uriah retorted taking a jab at the mandalorian.
Rarok jaw clenched at that "What about the Mandalorian woman?" Rarok asked stopping Uriah in his tracks, "Would you say she was a 'butcher for hire.'?"
"You are not her, and you have yet to prove to me through your actions that you are honorable like her, because as far as I'm concerned she was the only honorable Mandalorian I know of." Uriah retorted.
"There were plenty of honorable mandalorians throughout history." Rarok tried.
"Honorable? According to who? I've seen the Mandalorian definition of honor, it's because of your 'honor' that 90% of my people were killed by an orbital bombardment, and some were sold into slavery." Uriah growled.
"That isn't my definition of honor." Rarok retorted, "Look I know that my word may be worthless to you and I don't blame you, but I will earn your trust." Rarok promised.
"You're right, your word is worthless to me, it can start being of worth when we find those Jedi you told me about." Uriah responded and left the room.
Rarok sighed a bit, he understood that Uriah had a lot of reason to hate mandalorians and quite frankly Rarok shared his hatred towards most of the neo crusader's, he wondered briefly if there were others among them like the mandalorian woman there probably were but as of right now those men and women's names were lost to history and probably would never be discovered.
Rarok just stretched and then walked on up to the bridge of the ship with the data pad in hand he pressed the button on the Far Outsiders again 'I have a feeling that one ship isn't going to be enough.' he thought to himself as he reread the data and looked out a viewport at the ships in the debris field, 'Fortunately I know where to find more.' he thought with a smirk and set about to begin work on that.
Location uncharted world (Sages of Ashla temple/fortress)
Vega sat perched up on top of the fortress wall looking for any sign of the group that went to go rescue Caleb, the dark green fields in front of the fortress was lit by the moon and star light, Vega sensed Micah's presence come up behind him and he turned to face the chiss, "How are Rohkea and Aaron?" Vega asked concerned.
Micah sat down next to Vega and answered him "Rohkea will be fine that Wookie can take a lot," he started, "Aaron will need a bit of time to recover."
"Why he got stabbed by knife he should be fine?" Vega asked confused.
Micah turned to look at Vega his red eyes glowing, "The urku's blood is extremely poisonous to humans, Aaron was lucky we got to him so quickly." Micah answered his voice not betraying the unbridled fury he felt.
Vega just swallowed a lump in his throat upon hearing that Adegan sensed his distress and sent waves of comfort along their bond, Vega silently thanked his partner and looked out over the field, "I hope he gets better." Vega said his voice quivering a bit.
Micah nodded in agreement and looked out over the field as well, than he saw something in the distance three heat signatures he smiled "I see them they're on their way here." he told Vega.
Vega perked up and looked out, "Where I can't see them, how can you?" Vega asked curiously.
"My species can see into the infrared spectrum, I see their heat signatures." Micah answered with a smirk.
"Wow." Vega said amazed, "That's amazing."
"It does have it's uses." Micah agreed and ruffled the kid's nearly black hair, "You should be able to see them now." Micah told him, Vega looked out over the field again and sure enough he saw the group coming in fast on their speeder bikes, he stood up and with all the speed he could muster made his way to the gate to greet them, Micah just chuckled and followed him.
When they showed up at the gate the speeder bikes came in with their riders, whom all dismounted them Vega walked up to Caleb, "I'm so glad you're okay!" he said and hugged him, but Caleb didn't return the hug he only patted the boy's shoulder till he let him go, Vega was a bit confused by his actions, "What's the matter?" he asked.
Caleb sighed a bit, "They can tell you I need a bit of time to myself." Caleb said heavily and moved off.
Vega looked at Daniel and Auron as if to ask what was the matter, "I feel we should tell everyone this at once, he said we could." Daniel started, "Plus we need to prepare meet us in the central room." he finished, Micah nodded and went about to summon everyone to the tactical room in the ship barring Caleb of course.
Caleb walked through the fortress as if he knew where to go, finally after some walking he came to a dorm area with twelve doors on each side of the hall making it twenty-four rooms, he walked over to the final door on the right, "This was your room wasn't it?" he asked out loud.
Lapsionnea manifested right next to the ranger, "Yes it is, I lived here with my Wife and our children." he answered.
Caleb looked at the spirit for a moment, "I take it that your family is still in stasis?" Caleb asked.
Lapsi' nodded, "Yes our stasis chambers were kept separated in case an intruder broke in, I was killed in my pod with no chance to fight."
"And it is my fault." a voice proclaimed, Caleb looked over to see another spirit wearing similar armor to the carvings he saw on the wall, Lapsi' looked at him as well.
"I hold no malice towards you." Lapsi' told him.
"Well you should!" the spirit cried, "I should have not alowed him into your chamber." he said his voice thick with guilt.
"You thought he was here to help, not cause harm." Lapsi' told him.
"I failed to stop him from escaping." the spirit said in a manner that told Caleb that if he was alive he'd be sobbing.
"Father, please don't blame yourself." Lapsi' pleaded, Caleb just watched the exchange unsure on what to do.
"Why don't you blame me?" the grieving spirit retorted.
"Because you didn't kill me." Lapsi' answered with a smile, "And I could never hate you father, and thanks to you my family now has an opportunity to live their lives."
"Without their husband, or father." Lapsi's father added depressingly.
"I wouldn't say that." Caleb spoke up, when he realised what he said he resisted the urge to hit himself, "What I mean is he lives through me, he can be the patriarch of his family through me." he said, "I'm not making any sense aren't I?" Caleb asked embarrassed.
"My friend here is right through him I live." Lapsi' said.
"Is he going to take your family for his own?" the spirit asked confused but also angrily.
Caleb's eye's widened and he raised his hands defensively "That's not what I meant!" he exclaimed, "I meant he can appear before his family and be there for them." he explained.
"I think I understand what you're saying." the spirit guardian said, then he sighed sadly, "I'm very sorry for what you went through it couldn't have been easy." the spirit said genuinely.
Caleb resisted the urge to say 'you think?' opting to say "Thanks." instead.
"I think it might be good if you visit your brother, he's going to want to see you." the spirit told him, "that and he could use the help."
At first Caleb was going to insist that he wanted to be alone -well as alone as he can be with Lapsi' now inhabiting his body with him- before the guardian added that last thing, "What's wrong with Aaron?" he asked concern leaking into his voice like a blood does from a fresh wound.
"He was stabbed in the abdomen by a knife covered in urku blood, the blood is poisonous to humans and it'd be best if he's not too overly worried about you and he knows you're alright." the spirit told him.
"Where is he?!" Caleb asked worried.
"He's on your ship in the hangar, receiving medical treatment." the spirit answered, as soon as he said that Caleb took off running towards the hanger, thanks to Lapsi' he knew exactly where to go.
Daniel and Auron had gathered everyone barring Aaron, Rohkea, the medics from the bright flight who were treating Aaron and Rohkea in the tactical room, "I'm sure you're all wondering why we called you here." Daniel stated.
Everyone nodded, "Well the Urkus and Gul have succeeded in bringing back a dark force user known simply as the 'Dark Master'." Auron started.
"Is that why they captured Caleb?" Micah asked.
Daniel nodded, "They were going to sacrifice him so the Dark Master had a body to use." this caused the group to raise an eyebrow.
"Well it's good you managed to stop them." Vega said, but the looks on Daniel and Aurons face had him worried, "You did stop them right?" Vega asked.
Daniel looked at Auron as if to say 'you tell them', Auron just nodded slightly in agreement, "When we arrived in the sacrificial chamber…" he started and swallowed, "Caleb was lying on the altar with a sword in his chest." he finished, this caused everyone's eyes to widen in disbelief.
"But we saw him come through the gate with you." Micah said numbly.
"Caleb explained it on the way home that he was not yet dead and that a spirit of a man who died some years ago used the force to help him by merging their spirits together, it healed Caleb's wounds and he lived." Daniel brought up, "I know I'm still trying to wrap my head around it and I think he is too." he added upon seeing everyone's questioning looks.
"Is he okay?" Vega asked.
"Of course he isn't okay." Alpha 17 spoke up, "You don't go through an ordeal like that, and not come out with scars." he explained.
Daniel nodded in agreement "He's right, Caleb is going to need some time." no sooner did he say that they heard the turbolift door open and they saw Caleb Sobec run past them and into the medical room.
"I guess he heard about his brother." one of the clones spoke up.
"Seems like it." Micah agreed before he turned back to Daniel and Auron, "is there anything else?" he asked
Auron nodded his eyes narrowed, "We need to prepare for a fight." he told them.
Daniel nodded in agreement, "The dark master let us go, saying that we had one week to make a decision, give him one of our bodies or battle his legion, and I have no intention of giving any of our bodies over to him." Daniel told them.
"Sir while I'm all for fighting till the bitter end, we are facing I don't know how many pale skins…" one of the clones started, Daniel remembered his name as Blaze.
Daniel held up a hand to stop him, "I thought about that, and fortunately we have two things going for us, one we have quite a bit of materials to build some droids, and two we have help coming he'll be here a little bit into the siege so we only need to hold off the enemy."
"So we're going to be fighting from this fortress?" Alpha asked.
"An engagement in the open would end badly for us even if we are technologically superior and are fully prepared, they outnumber us by a huge amount, and believe it or not they have armor that would protect them from our weapons." Auron explained, "it makes more sense to fight off a siege than to just get ourselves killed fighting a legion with just forty-eight people and two of them are recovering in the med bay, and six of them are not soldiers but medics."
"Just tell us what you need sir and we'll make this fortress insurmountable." one of the other clones stated confidently with a grin, Daniel could appreciate the enthusiasm.
"We need weapon placements, rockets and motors wouldn't hurt, as well as some blaster cannons, you know what go talk to Alpha, he may be able to come up with something." Daniel said referring to the AI.
"Yes sir!" the same clone said.
"I think that's all to talk about, so let's get to work." Auron suggested, everyone nodded in agreement, the clone all left to go see the AI about weapons and other things, Micah and Alpha 17 stayed in tactical room to come up with strategies for the upcoming fight, Asajj approached Daniel and Auron, "I think we should look for the combat holocron on these Urkus and learn about them." she told them.
Auron and daniel nodded in agreement, "I concur, shall we?" Auron asked as he started making his way to the door with Asajj following.
"You both go on ahead I'll catch up." Daniel called after them, Auron noded and Asajj just shrugged and they left the room, Vega was sitting in a chair to stunned for words, "Hey bro you okay?" Daniel asked kneeling in front of him.
"I don't know, from what you told me Caleb nearly died." Vega said as tears appeared in his eyes.
"We all die at point or another," Daniel started "but you know what?" he asked, Vega looked at him curiously "there is something after death." Daniel told him with a smile, "We all become one with the Force and are reunited with our loved ones."
Vega looked at Daniel with a quizzical look, "Then why do we grieve when someone dies?" Vega asked.
This actually caused Daniel to think about it, "I guess, because we know we won't see them for a long time, or because there were things you wanted to tell that person and you won't get that chance." Daniel answered somewhat disheartened that it might not be the answer Vega was looking for.
Vega just thought about the question himself, "I guess there is no definitive answer, we just grieve because it's how we are." Vega said.
Daniel shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you Vega." Daniel finished, "Look Asajj suggested that we go find the holocron on the Urku let's go check it out." Daniel suggested both to change the subject and to get Vega ready for the fight to come.
Vega nodded and started following him, all the shards followed them as well, after they left only Katie, Micah, and Alpha 17 were in the room.
Katie looked over at the Med bay door her lips pressed together in worry, before she went in leaving the chiss and the crippled arc trooper alone to discuss a defencive strategy, as she walked in she saw Caleb sitting beside Aaron's bedside, the injured and unconscious ranger was hooked up to machine that drained his contaminated blood filtered it and sent the purified blood back in, "How are you Caleb?" she asked concerned.
Caleb sighed a bit, "A little shaken up, but my brother needs me now… my problems can be dealt with later." Caleb answered.
"Caleb… that ordeal must have been…" Katie stopped unsure of how to finish.
"Must have been what?" Caleb asked condescendingly and looked over at her and glared at her.
She just stayed silent and turned away from his piercing gaze, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude." she said as she made her way out the door.
"Wait." Caleb called making her stop in her tracks and turn to him, "I'm sorry it's just I don't know how to talk about it, I didn't mean to scare you off, I noticed the past few days that you and my brother have been getting closer." Caleb started and pulled up another chair for her to sit in.
Katie smiled and sat down next to him, "It's okay, if you wish to talk about it, your brother will be there to listen to you," she said addressing his first subject, "as for Aaron and I, he was going to have a picnic with me before all this." she said as she remembered him asking her that.
"Well there is nothing stopping you from doing so, we have a whole week before we face the enemy." Caleb said ruefully.
"He needs to recover first." she retorted with a chuckle.
"Oh?" Caleb raised an eyebrow, "why is that? it's just a picnic." he countered with a smirk.
"Shut up." she laughed with a blush.
"Ah, I jest." he said and waved it off with a laugh.
They descended into silence only the sound of the blood machine filled the room, "Do you think that we can win?" Katie asked.
Caleb took a deep breath, "If we fight smart, yes." Caleb answered honestly.
"I meant everything can we win against all the obstacles ahead of us?" she restated.
"My answer still applies to all that." Caleb answered, "we'll take some hits sure, but that's how it works you know what you do when that happens?" he asked her.
She shook her head, "You put some dirt on it." another voice answered the two turned their attention to the bed to see a now conscious Aaron smiling weakly at them.
"Aaron you know that's not medically advised on an open wound." Caleb said in mock surprise.
Aaron just rolled his eyes and chuckled, "So what happened after Xor imbedded my knife in me?" he asked curiously.
"I killed Xor and we drove the rest of the horde away with HK's help." Caleb started hesitantly.
"After that we took the ship to the fortress and now you have a week to recover." Katie finished
"Let me guess more of those pale skins are coming this way huh?" Aaron asked the two nodded and he let out a small sigh, "I guess that means we'll have hold off on that picnic." Aaron said sadly to Katie.
"Hm, I don't know, I have idea." she told him.
"Oh?"
"You can't bring me to a picnic, I'll bring the picnic to you." she said sweetly.
"Works for me." Aaron said smiling, than he looked at Caleb who had a far off look in his eyes he also noticed that Caleb's eyes were slightly discolored from their usual brown now possessing a more bluish hue to them, he thought at first it the lighting playing tricks on him, yet no matter how Caleb moved that hue never went away, "Caleb you okay?" Aaron asked concerned.
Caleb looked away as his eyes welled up with tears, "I'm really glad you're okay." he said as he shook a little, "Bro if anything ever happens to me tell our family back home that I love them." Caleb requested.
"What brought this on?" Aaron asked confused and worried.
"I… will come by later okay." Caleb said as he walked out of the room on his way out he whispered to Katie "Allow me to be the one who tells him."
Katie nodded in agreement and patted his shoulder affectionately as he stood up and left, "What was that all about?" Aaron asked concerned for his brother.
"He want's to tell you himself, please be patient." Katie told him with an expression Aaron had trouble identifying.
Aaron just sat there dumbfounded and hoped his younger brother was okay, 'what happened to you bro?' he asked himself.
Caleb went to the training room and walked over to the wall adjacent to the assembler room and sat down against it, "Lapsi' are you still there?" Caleb asked quietly.
The deceased sage appeared right in front of him "I never left Caleb." Lapsi assured him.
Caleb just smiled sadly, "How are you doing?" he asked not sure what else to say.
Lapsi just sighed and started to pace in front of him "In many ways I'm happy that I 'live' and can see my family again." he started, "But, I wish it didn't have to be like this."
"Who killed you if I may ask?" Caleb asked.
Lapsi looked at the ranger in thought, "A Sorcerer of Rhand, who goes by the name Black Sun." he finally answered.
Caleb hummed in thought, "You want to kill him don't you?"
"Yes." Lapsi answered bluntly, than he looked away, "I will admit though that saving you may not have had 100% pure motives."
"You want me to kill him." Caleb stated more than asked.
"I'm sorry for not being completely honest with you." Lapsi apologised.
"Look I don't care what your motivation was I'm happy to be alive and I will do my best to help you in this endeavor, but first I have something to do here." Caleb told him.
"You want to kill the Guls." Lapsi' stated.
Caleb stood up "You're damn right I do." he growled, "they nearly took my life from me for some stupid reason, they nearly took me from my family both the one here and the one at home, all for some "Dark Master" who died long ago."
Lapsi sighed "I fear what we may become if we go down this path."
Caleb hung his head at that "I am scared of what I am capable of now." he said as his hand glowed and he lifted a training weapon off the rack.
"I can teach you how to use your new found powers, but you must also work with the others on discipline if you don't want to become what we seek to destroy." Lapsi told him.
"I didn't think it was possible for a Force insensitive to become a Force sensitive." Caleb said as he looked at his hand.
"Oh it's very possible my friend, it just that most might not survive such a transition." Lapsi told him, "Of course the way they did it to you was a bit different than how it normally works, at least with how I'm familiar with it."
"What?"
"Don't worry about it I never took an interest in the subject, I was more of a warrior than a scholar." Lapsi' told him with a chuckle.
"Ah." Caleb said in understanding and left it at that.
"Let's go grab my weapons they're yours now." Lapsi' told him as he disappeared.
Caleb just let out a sigh and walked out of the room to the location where Lapsi's weapons would be.
Meanwhile the clones were talking to the Gree AI now designated as Alpha, "Ah, hello soldiers how may I be of assistance?" the AI asked upon 'seeing' their arrival.
Blaze walked up to the assembler datapad in hand and held it out "This has everything we need, the quantity of it all is up to you." Blaze told him
Alpha would have nodded if he could of, "Place it on the scanner."
Blaze complied and backed off as Alpha did his thing "I will need the defencive strategy if I'm ever going to know how many weapons will need, fortunately the droids I can build right now." .
Blaze nodded "that's good." Blaze said as the clones began to file out.
"Wait!" Alpha exclaimed, "I have something for you right now." Alpha told them with what could pass for excitement, this brought all the clones back in the room as they looked at the AI's storage device curiously.
"Well get on with it." one of the other clones said somewhat impatiently.
"A'den be patient." Blaze reprimanded sternly.
The scarred clone just scoffed and rolled his eyes, another clone started to chuckle "You got something to say Swift?" A'den grounded out.
Swift just waved it off "Awe, come on A'den cheer up a bit for all we know Alpha here has some new gear for us." Swift said cheerily as he put his arm around A'den, "Am I right?" he asked the AI.
"You are indeed correct Swift." the AI confirmed.
"See!" Swift exclaimed excitedly.
"Knowing our luck it's just some stupid blaster that is ultimately no different than the rest." A'den groaned.
"Don't be such a pessimist." Swift retorted with a smile.
"If you are done bickering my gifts are ready." Alpha cut in with what could pass for humor.
"What do you have?" Blaze asked his curiosity getting the best of him.
As soon as the question was asked the arms on the assembler reached out and grabbed several armor pieces and held it together to show armor similar to the Phase 2 clone trooper armor, at first the clones didn't know what to think than Alpha spoke, "This battle suit was requested by the black bisector for you."
That caused the clones to raise an eyebrow, while Swift scowled a bit, "And what exactly does it do?" he asked neutrally.
Blaze merely sighed he knew that Swift had some animosity towards Daniel and the Jedi in general especially after Daniel's treatment of them till he came out and apologized to them in front of the entire crew but Swift was still bitter about it.
Alpha took note of Swift's restrained hostility but decided not to comment instead opting to explain the new gear, "The armor's appearance in based off the phase 2 armor as you can see and it carries a lot of the same benefits, but that's where the similarities end, the armor is equipped with an energy shield capable of stopping blaster bolts, ballistics, antimatter projectiles…"
"Antimatter?!" Swift asked with a raised eyebrow, all the clones shared the surprise and confusion.
"And other environmental environmental hazards." Alpha finished as if Swift hadn't spoken, "it also contains a grapple launcher in the left wrist to climb building and cliffs or snare enemies with if you desire, in the right wrist is a small wrist mounted blaster for a back up, it also has retractable arm blades in both arms both to cut your enemies with and to stop yourself from sliding off slippery slopes, it also possess a micro energy field to disperse impacts incase your shields are compromised though that will do nothing to stop antimatter, other features include it increases your strength so you can hit harder, you can go into space for extended periods of time, oh the Hud monitors your shield status , ammo, vital signs, and comms with other people." Alpha said.
"Wow the commander requested all that?" Blaze asked astonished.
"Actually he requested that I build some armor that would help improve your survivability in the battles to come, I was the one who decided to put what features on the armor." Alpha explained.
"But why would he care?" Swift asked.
"Not all Jedi are Krell, Swift." another clone brought up.
"Not all clones are like the ones who participated in the massacre either, Saber." Swift retorted.
"At least the commander is coming to terms with it and is no longer blaming us Swift, I get it Krell left an impression on you but you can't let him dictate what all the Jedi are like." Blaze told him.
"He let his experience with the clones at the temple dictate what we are like!" Swift growled.
"Yes he did, but he's making things right and trying to put it behind him." Blaze acknowledged.
"You have to admit he's doing something at least." A'den piped in.
"I thought you hated the fact that Jedi padawans automatically got the rank of commander when they didn't earn it." Swift stated with furrowed eyebrows.
"I still hold to that, but this," he gestured to the armor, "tells me he may have actually earned it I still have to see what he can do but I'd say my opinion on him is a bit higher than what it was." A'den said with a grin.
"You do have to admit, he at least cares." another clone stated.
Swift sighed, "Yeah I suppose you're right Kad."
"Is there any other questions?" Alpha asked.
"Yeah why did you create shields that could stop antimatter, nobody we know of uses antimatter weapons?" Blaze asked curiously.
"The gree had the capabilities to make them and quite frankly you all have no idea what's out here in this region of space, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." the AI reasoned.
"Wait you can make antimatter weapons?" Swift asked surprised.
"No I can't, I don't have the means to, do you have any idea what it takes to produce antimatter?" the AI asked rhetorically.
"uh…"
"Of course you don't." Alpha finished, "now that that's all taken care of, take the armor and I will get started on the droids, if you have any request don't hesitate to ask." Alpha said the clones all nodded and left the room save for Blaze.
"You go on ahead I'll catch up." Blaze told his brothers, they all nodded and left wanting to test their new gear.
"Can I help you with something Blaze?" the AI asked upon seeing the fact that the clone hadn't left yet.
Blaze turned to the AI with a small smirk on his face "Yes you can." than his expression changed to one of gratitude, "I don't want to sound ungrateful Infact I'm really grateful for the armor, the thing is I'm not a normal trooper." Blaze started.
"Oh?" the AI inquired
"I was a blaze trooper that's how I got my name." he explained, "and well I used different gear than the rest of my brothers…"
"Say no more, tell me what you need and I will get it for you." Alpha interjected.
"I'll compile a list and get to you shortly." Blaze told him.
"Do so quickly, I'll begin droid production." the AI said.
Blaze nodded and left the room to go find a quiet place to compile the list.
Meanwhile the force sensitives were in the vault looking for the Urku combat holocron when the spirit guardian appeared before them, "you're looking for the Urku combat holocron?" he asked them.
"Yes we'd like to know what we're dealing with." Asajj said impatiently, the others nodded in agreement.
The spirit nodded and reached out with his hand and another spherical holocron came out of the storage area, "Follow me to the training area." he beckoned as the spherical holocron orbited him as he walked through the halls of the fortress, the group all followed him.
After a few minutes he led them to a big courtyard with a stone floor and walls surrounding it with an open ceiling that showed them the day sky, "In a week we'll be facing the Dark Master's legion, I didn't want to have to do this but we're going to fight him from this fortress." Daniel explained to the spirit.
"A wise decision, considering what you'll be facing." the spirit said not all that happy about the battle being fought at his fortress, but still understood that this was the best course of action to have as few casualties as possible.
"That's why we're here, to see what we'll be facing." Auron stated somewhat impatiently wanting to see what it is they are up against.
"Wait the Urku's only come out at night right so we'll be fine right?" Vega asked somewhat uncertainly.
"That's if they don't block out the sun, Vega." Daniel answered as if he was talking about the whether.
"Which they will most likely do." the spirit confirmed.
"How long will it be before the mandalorian shows up?" Asajj growled, Daniel had noticed that Asajj had an untold amount of hostility towards this Rarok Cardea.
"If he sticks to the plan he'll show up about three days into the siege five days tops." Daniel answered calmly.
"Can we hold out that long?" Vega asked hopefully.
"If they're constantly attacking us it depends, I think we can but I have no idea what we're up against if these things are anything like the Massassi warriors during the war with Exar-Kun we may be in trouble." Daniel answered honestly.
"Daniel you'ld be able to take a group of mutant Massassi no problem." Auron told him.
"I'm not worried about us, I'm worried about the others." Daniel clarified.
Auron looked at Vega and understood what he was talking about, "But, I doubt they have massassi." Asajj scoffed.
"The Urkus remind me very much of the old Massassi from what I have read in the history books." Daniel brought up, "Under Naga Sadow, at least the ones we've seen, for all we know the Dark Master created a bunch of 'super' urkus like Naga Sadow did with the massassi after he lost the war." he added.
"I really hope that's not the case." Auron groaned.
The spirit set about to open the Combat holocron instead he didn't speak a mantra this time he just threw the sphere in the air and it spun on an axis it opened much like the the previous one they witnessed and spread out to encompass the entire courtyard, a holographic display appeared before them with a list "Here's how this works, that list before you is the enemy we have stored, let's get started." the spirit beckoned and he picked the first one on the list and a horde of holographic Urku appeared, "Begin!" the spirit bellowed and disappeared.
The Holographic warriors converged on the force users and they retaliated, these were nothing that Auron and Daniel hadn't faced before and had little difficulty dispatching them Asajj was handling it well and dispatched hers effortlessly, Guardian while never having fought before held his own really well thanks to the fact that his droid body could perform at full capacity at all times, Vega had some difficulty but the techniques he was taught and the practice he had over the last few days saw him through this exercise, after the exercise was over the entire horde was dead with very minor 'wounds on the group, "These warriors are worse than the B1 battle droids." Daniel deadpanned.
Asajj nodded in agreement, "Indeed."
"You can atleast say this these guys are very loyal to the Dark Master if they're willing to fight like this." Auron said with a shrug.
"The Urku worship the Dark Master like a god." the spirit answered as he appeared before them, "What you fought here was essentially the force to weaken the enemy and make them over confident if they didn't succumb to them that is, the next to come are a bit more challenging." the spirit warned as he activated the second list, as soon as he did several holographic heavily armored Urku appeared armed with swords and shields, pikes, crossbows, and staffs? the ones armed with staffs had almost no armor to speak of thus revealing their rather lean and slim build, the armor they did possess was a face mask with two eye holes, and a kama that covered its legs "I fear for your lives if you actually face these." the spirit said regretfully.
"What?" Vega asked the others could sense his anxiety and most of them shared the feeling.
The spirit didn't seem to hear him, "Begin!" he shouted and disappeared, the group took a defencive stance wanting to test this new adversary Daniel, Auron, and Asajj studied the armored warriors the noticed that the armor was weak on the joints to provide mobility, the ones armed with sword and shield came at them first the group retaliated by striking with their weapons the Urku brought their shields to bear, their lightsabers hit the shield and did nothing than the crossbow men retaliated by shooting them Daniel got hit in the left shoulder and found he couldn't use it, Vega got hit in the leg and found he couldn't move it either, Asajj caught the bolt sent her way and threw it back twice the force it was sent at her it never reached its target it bounced off a barrier and the group saw that some of the staff wielder held their staffs up in the air, they could see a faint shield form around him, the crossbow men, and another staff wielder who brought his hand up and threw bolts of red lightning at the group, Asaj attempted to bring up her lightsabers to catch the bolts of electricity but a warrior had her blade tangled up and she got hit full force Daniel dropped his lightsaber and caught the bolts of energy with his hand before a crossbow bolt hit him in the head, Auron growled sent out a force wave to knock the surrounding warriors off him and the rest of the group, he spared a glance at the group, Vega was alright with a 'wounded' leg, Guardian was fine as well, only Daniel and Asajj were out of commision, Auron snarled this wasn't good these warrior were far more organized and dangerous than the previous ones, with this in mind he shortened his blade's length to half the normal blade length so as not to get tangled up like Asajj had, he than placed his hand on the ground and sent a telekinetic surge through the ground to off balance all these urku… it worked Vega blasted a staff wielder in the head with his blaster Auron speed blitzed the other before he found himself tangled up in an electric chain he tried to break free but couldn't, Vega saw this and shot the staff wielder who was using his lightning to restrain Auron, just in time to because a bolt was about to hit Auron in the neck, he avoided the blow and grabbed a pike that was about to skewer him and yanked it from the Urku's grasp and threw it at a crossbow men skewering him.
Guardian was defending Vega while the boy shot the Urku warriors with his blaster, Guardian armed with wrist mounted blades stabbed another Urku in the neck before a bolt of red lightning hit him, however instead of shortening him out it only powered him up, and he retaliated by throwing a knife he took off an urku warrior at the staff wielder who redirected it harmlessly to the side before he threw a sustained burst of of red lightning at the shard, eventually Guardian's droid body couldn't handle the excess input of power and he fell over unable to move leaving Vega vulnerable, Auron saw this and moved to support the young Jedi as best as he could, Vega shot at the staff wielders but they had their defences back up a bolt came right for Vega but the bolt was caught in the middle of the air by Auron and he broke it by crushing it, the wood splintered and he threw it away, "These things are something else." Vega commented.
Auron only nodded in agreement "Can you move?" he asked not taking his eyes off the remaining Urku.
"My leg is still paralyzed must be a part of the simulation." Vega told him, Auron bit back a curse in his throat and set his lightsaber back to its standard length.
"Alright, then use the force, do the same thing I did I have an idea." Auron told him, Vega nodded and sent a telekinetic surge through the ground and off balance the group, Auron then used the force and channeled it into his lightsaber usually this was viewed as unnecessary as the Lightsaber could cut through almost anything, but Auron was done taking chances, his crimson blade changed its hue slightly to a scarlet almost purple color and he charged, an urku warrior again raised his shield to stop the blow but this time the lightsaber shattered it, the blade continued on its arc cutting through the armor and the warrior itself like a hot knife through butter, this caused the rest of the horde to focus their attention on Auron which is precisely what he wanted, he activated his second blade and pulled Daniel's lightsaber into his off hand and began to slaughter the Urku left and right Vega shot the crossbow men and staff wielders that were out of Auron's reach, after five minutes it was all over and Auron collapsed on the ground exhausted, Vega found that he could move his leg and stood up as did the rest of the group.
"Well, that happened." Daniel said somewhat embarrassed.
"You think?!" Asajj growled, she was not at all pleased at losing to these things.
"How though… you defeated the Guls how are these things even beyond them as combattants?" Vega asked confused.
"It's quite simple really, the warriors you just faced trained their entire lives for battle they live it and they breath it they are specifically bred for war the perfect killing machine is what the Dark master wanted and I'd say he got it." the spirit explained as he appeared before the group, "The Gul's while some may be warriors spent most of their time trying to resurrect the Dark Master, that and you had the advantage of being a complete unknown, but even still you managed to prevail."
"Yeah... with two survivors, and one wounded that's not a victory... in my book." Auron panted out as he stood up.
"Why are you so tired?" Guardian asked.
Auron turned to Guardian and took several deep breaths before he answered, "I had to use Force Weapon to kill them, when one uses an ability they have almost no practice with depending on who they are tend to lose a lot of stamina, that and it took a lot of power to break through their armor with my lightsaber." Auron explained, "I wasn't used to outputting and maintaining that amount of power for that long." he finished.
Daniel sighed "I guess we'll have to practice our control with Force Weapon if we want a fighting chance."
Asajj looked down at her lightsaber, "With our lightsabers?" she asked.
"I know it seems redundant but in all honesty it's our best bet, Force Weapon increases the destructive potential of a weapon, it theoretically can and has been used on a lightsaber before." Daniel explained frustrated.
"Watch your tone with me boy." Asajj growled
"Or what?" Daniel retorted, "You'll kill me? Not a good idea we're already low on manpower as it is, maiming me isn't a good idea either because we all need to be at our best when we face our enemy." Daniel challenged.
Asajj just snarled "Damn you Jedi."
"Yeah yeah I get it 'you Jedi are the worse people in the galaxy', I've heard it a million times, and quite frankly don't have the patience right now to deal with it, so will you shut up so we can get back to training?" Daniel snapped.
Asajj had to admit this Jedi had a backbone to be talking to her like this, and in any other situation she would have eviscerated him for doing so but that was her old life and they were dealing with a threat right now, "I like you Jedi, yes let's get back to training." she said with a little bit respect leaking into her voice and held out her hand for Daniel to shake, the Padawan stared at the hand for a moment in distrust before cautiously accepting it after exchanging a firm handshake they turned to the spirit.
"Okay what else can you tell us about what we were facing for example what were those staff wielders?" Daniel asked curiously, Daniel and the group had guessed that they were force users given what they saw what Daniel was doing was seeing if he could get specifics.
"They're what you call force wielders however there natural strength with the force is weak however the staff they wield augments their powers." the spirit answered.
"So they're force enhancing artifacts." Daniel stated and brought his hand up to his chin.
"Sounds like it." Auron agreed.
"Can we counter that?" Vega asked this prompted Auron to look at him.
"Not really no," Auron started "well there is kind of a way to do so." he corrected himself.
"Take the staffs for ourselves!" Daniel exclaimed with a snap of his fingers, "we can use our enemies weapons against them and figure out how they work." he explained.
"Like we didn't get it already." Asajj groaned in annoyance.
"... can we do it again, see if we can you know actually make it through?" Vega asked after a moment of silence.
"Of course." the spirit said and went about to set it up
"Wait!" a voice called out, they all turned to see Caleb coming in with several different weapons on him including a staff similar to the urku mages but whereas those had red gems his had blue, "Do you mind if I join?" he asked hopefully.
The group looked amongst each other and shrugged, "If you're up to it, sure."
"Why do you have my son's weapons?" the spirit asked his voice sent a chill down everyone's spines.
"I said he could use them father." Lapsi answered as he appeared next to Caleb genuinely surprising the group except Daniel and Auron who've seen it before, "They belong to him now."
"Who are y...you?" Vega stuttered out upon seeing Lapsi.
"I suppose introductions are in order." Caleb said with fake enthusiasm, "this is Lapsionnea, but you can call him Lapsi for short or Benjamine could work as well." Caleb said introducing Lapsi to the group, "Lapsi this is the force sensitives of our crew."
"A pleasure to meet you all." Lapsi said with a bow prompting Daniel and Vega to bow in greeting as well, and Auron subtly waved his hand in greeting.
"You really weren't kidding when you said you didn't understand this situation." Asajj whispered to Daniel and Auron, the two of them nodded slightly.
"Do you wish to try the simulation again?" the spirit asked still glaring at Caleb Sobec who took Lapsi's staff and held it at the ready.
"Yes." everyone said practically in unison as the took their opening combat stance.
The spirit nodded, activated the simulation and disappeared.
The horde of those same warriors appeared again and the group now knew what to expect, "Vega, Guardian you take out the crossbow men and mages." Caleb told them surprisingly, they complied without question Vega pulling out his Blaster, and Guardian deploying his wrist mounted blaster and shot at the mages and crossbow men, some mages brought up their telekinetic shields to protect them how ever Caleb did a throwing motion with his hand and an ethereal dagger came out of his hand pierced the shield and hit the mage stunning him and consequently bringing down the shield only for him to be hit in the chest with a blaster bolt as well as an urku crossbowmen.
"What the...?" Auron started before a sword swing from and enraged urku warrior forced him to defend himself.
"Kill them first, ask questions later." Daniel strained out as he tangled with another warrior.
Asajj killed the warrior attacking her by stabbing it in the areas where the armor was weakest, she than deactivated the blade to get it out quicker and reactivated it to parry a blow from another warrior.
Caleb's hand glowed and he punched a warrior in the face, he followed up withs twelve different strikes in the span of two seconds before reaching up for the Urku's head and clenching his fist causing the head explode violently in a shower of yellow blood, seeing this caused the Urku to back off in surprise by the move, Caleb then reached out with his hand and it began to glow, a similar glow appeared on another Urku which actually began to scream in terror "Break the chains of the Dark Master." Caleb commanded as he finished, the Urku then started to attack it's brethren.
This time the simulated fight was finished within about fifteen minutes and most of them had only minor wounds with two of them coming out with mortal wounds but they could be healed before death set in, overall much better than the first time, Caleb looked down at himself in both wonder and in horror, "You ranger, what the heck was all that?" Asajj asked rudely.
"Asajj give the man a moment." Daniel rebuked.
"...What do you sense from me?" Caleb asked them after a moment of silence.
The force users all looked at each other before Daniel answered, "In all honesty we're not completely sure." that answer genuinely worried the ranger.
"It feels like you're two people at the same time, both are bitter about something, and your presence in the force is much stronger than before." Vega tried to explain.
"It's a side effect when the spirits of two beings who were murdered to harbor feelings of resentment and bitterness towards the ones who killed them, this can in theory drive them both to embrace Bogan." the spirit explained, "in your case ranger it's the Guls and the Dark Master, in my sons case it's Black Sun he has a grudge against."
"The criminal organization?" Daniel asked confused.
"No he's a Sorcerer of Rhand." Caleb answered somewhat reassuringly, mostly to reassure himself, Caleb wanted to stay as far away from those scum as possible.
"Ah." Daniel said in understanding, "I hope this doesn't mean you'll go on a vendetta." Daniel remarked.
"Of course not the Gul's will likely come here, so I'll kill them here." Caleb growled, "As for Black Sun, Lapsi knows it's not likely that we'll run into him." he sighed.
Daniel looked at the spirit, "Caleb said it was forbidden to do what Lapsi did can you explain why?"
The spirit nodded, "Like I said the spirits of two people who have been murdered that merge tend to go on vendettas against each of their killers, sometimes if one spirit is stronger than the other they can kill the weaker spirit and take control of the resurrected body containing the knowledge of the other, that's what happened with the Dark Master."
"Can you tell us more about the Dark Master?" Auron asked.
"The Dark master was once a Sage of Ashla a powerful one at that, he however grew arrogant and desired to gain more power I think he understood this for he left to go meditate and to find inner peace, one day on his spirit quest he sustained grievous injuries and would have died but the spirit of a sage who died long ago saved him by merging with the injured man, but the combination of the spirit's natural connection to the Dark side combined with the man's lust for power the Dark Master went mad with power and started his conquest of our world." the spirit explained.
"Who was the spirit who merged with the Dark master?" Vega asked.
"His name was Gareth Mon, an Urku who was a great member of our order." Lapsi answered.
"What!?" Daniel asked surprised the others were immediately interested.
"He was a part of a group of Urku who while still connected to Bagan were far more... reasonable if you will." the spirit explained.
"The Dark Master's first target were those tribes of Urku he killed most of them and forced the remnants as well as the more wild Urkus to fight for him." Lapsi added.
"Are there any left?" Auron asked hopefully.
"After the Dark Master was killed the remnants of the tribes went into hiding for they feared what our alliance would have done to them if we caught them, I guess at the time I don't blame them the alliance butchered any Urku settlements they could find not even realising that those tribe remnants helped us from the inside." the spirit answered regretfully.
"So in short you don't know where those tribes' descendants are." Asajj summarized sardonically.
"We know at the very least they're on the continent to the south of this one." the spirit answered
"Why didn't you try to find them?" Vega asked curiously.
"We wanted to give them their space, plus we're unsure of how they'd react to us." Lapsi tried to explain.
"Look it doesn't matter now, perhaps they could help us in this fight." Daniel reasoned.
"If you can find them yes they could." the spirit conceded, "or they will kill you."
"Well than I'll be sure to make my arguments as persuasive as possible." Daniel retorted with fake humor.
"Have you ever negotiated before?" Auron asked him curiously.
"My career as a Jedi has always been on the battlefield so not really," Daniel explained "you?" he asked.
"I attempted to help negotiate with a Hutt crime lord ended up punching that over sized slug for attempting to feel up the female ambassador." Auron recounted.
Caleb chuckled at the image of a teenage boy hitting a Hutt, "I take it the Hutt didn't take to kindly to that?" he asked after he stopped chuckling.
"Oh, I killed him with that blow." Auron told him with a shrug.
"...Okay." Caleb responded nervously after a moment of silence.
"Anyway first I'd like to see all the enemy has to offer before leaving to find potential allies." Daniel told the spirit, who nodded in understanding.
"You wish to see the next enemy? Or do you wish to try against this one again?" he asked.
"Let's check the other guys we can fight them later." Auron stated, the others nodded in agreement, the Spirit chose the next group and then they saw a group of Urku astride some strange reptile like creatures.
"These are Urku raiders they ride those lohikäärme, be careful of them they breath a poisonous mist that will cause unbearable irritation and eventually if left untreated will kill your muscles preventing you from moving that extremity." the spirit explained.
"Huh interesting." Caleb commented.
"How so?" Vega asked curiously.
"On my world our folklore tells of lizards that can breath fire or other harmful substances in fact I think a lot of worlds have those same legends, anyway they're called dragons and the thing is lohikäärme translates into 'Dragon'." Caleb explained.
Daniel spun around and looked at the ranger in surprise, "How do you know that?" Daniel asked surprised he was the language expert after all.
"He has access to my knowledge Daniel, therefore Caleb here is the only active, living expert on our culture." Lapsi answered cheekily.
"Well than that's good, wait did you fight the Void Spawns?" Daniel asked.
Lapsi and Caleb nodded in unison, "Perfect!" Daniel cheered while clenching his fist, drawing a chickle from Auron and Vega, and causing Asajj to roll her eyes.
"If you're done there's more to see." the spirit said his eyes were alight with amusement
"Of course sorry about that." Daniel said sheepishly.
The spirit only shook his head in amusement and chose the next enemy on the list, the next thing that appeared stood at about nine feet six inches, it had a thick scaly hide, it reminded Asajj of a rancor except the head was bit more humanoid looking.
"The Dark Master employes beasts in his legion this one he made through use of alchemy, few of them they are semi sentient and can be reasoned with but some are just like wild animals and not things you want to mess with, their scales offer a great deal of protection against a lot of weapons at the time we fought them the only sure ways to kill them was to shoot it in the eyes or the mouth but something tells me that your lightsabers should make short work of them." the spirit explained.
The others nodded, "Alright then, I see we have one more to look at." Auron observed
Both the spirit and Caleb flinched at that, "I'm afraid you're wrong." Caleb said ominously.
"This is the last one I can show you, because the last one no matter how hard we try can't be replicated." the spirit answered, "but first let me show you the second deadliest servants of the Dark Master." as he said this the final image appeared, the creature was eight feet tall and covered in scales, it appeared to have as much strength if not more than the previous beast but the thing that really stood out was the wings on the creature, it also had talons on its hands and feet "This is a Dramon, one of the native species to this world alongside the Urku, the Dramon were a peaceful people before the Dark Master captured several of them and broke their wills and turned them into his warrior slaves." the spirit said sadly.
Daniel and Vega's heart went out to this majestic creature, Auron felt like in some way he could relate, Asajj and Guardian had no words for this, "so these Dramons are doing this against their will." Vega stated.
"A long time ago they were, but since then the descendants of those captured are loyal only to the Dark Master and his will for they no nothing else." Lapsi explained with a sigh.
"Fortunately there is a tribe of Dramons in the southern continent its thanks to them we know of the Urku Tribes down there and they'd most certainly want to help especially if they hear that the Dark Master is back." the Spirit added.
"I thought you said that after the war with the Dark master you decided it was best to relocate everyone?" Vega brought up.
"Did I say that? I'm sorry I meant all the humans relocated as well as the some others but the Urku tribes stayed for obvious reason and most of the Dramons stayed because they didn't want to leave." the Spirit explained.
Everyone nodded in acceptance at the answer, "Alright then so we can get some great allies as well as have some fierce enemies, now for the last one you mentioned." Daniel beckoned, given the spirits expression Daniel wished he didn't hadn't asked, but Daniel knew that not knowing what you were up against could lead to his own death as well as the death of everyone with him.
The spirit dismissed the image and the holocron deactivated and assembled itself back into the small sphere it was, "In order to answer your question I'm going to need to show you as I have not the heart to tell you by word of mouth." he started and knelt down, he than beckoned for them to do the same "please." the group complied some more grudgingly than others, "before I begin I should tell you what you will see may be disturbing." he warned them and retreated into a meditative trance before they could ask, Caleb looked like he knew what they were going to see and thanks to Lapsi they did, soon they all linked their consciousness with the spirit and the world faded away.
Daniel opened his eyes to find himself in a field with small hills he took note at the fact that the hills had entrances telling him that they were either graves or they belonged to people who like to live in hollowed out hills, but given the lack of foot traffic he deduced that the former was the correct assumption, he looked over and saw Vega was coming to, "Hey." Daniel said as he helped him up.
"Where are we?" Vega asked as they stood up.
"We are in the Barrows of Mijorn, Mijorn was a great kingdom many years ago and one of the first victims of the Dark Masters terrible fury." the spirit said.
"So I was right these are graves." Daniel said with a nod.
"It's getting dark." Auron observed, indeed the sky was bright orange and rapidly becoming darker.
"You know what they always say, a graveyard is a scary place to be at night." Asajj said with a grin.
"Well this night the Barrows were certainly a scary place to be." Caleb said.
"Why is that?" Vega asked nervously, in answer to his question a group of men came over the hill.
The men and urku were armed with all sorts of weapons, they were clad in dark armor, before they group could continue studying the group the leader of the group spoke "Again we visit these ancient tombs, this time to corrupt the souls of the fallen and to turn the land against the remaining sons of Mijorn." he told his group, Daniel, Caleb, and Auron recognised the garb he wore it was the same garb of the Grand Gul but the man was obviously different.
"What does he mean by 'corrupt the souls of the fallen'?" Vega asked with wide eyes.
Before anyone could answer one of the urku captains spoke "Our guls must stand atop the Barrows in order to taint the graves beneath, it is our job fellow urku and warriors to see that they succeed." he said the urku and men all nodded in agreement, "however time is short we need to hold as many barrows as possible to complete the ritual before the sun rises on the new day." he explained.
"Let us get started than." the grand gul smiled sending chills down the group's spines and made his way to the top of the hill with the others following, when they reached the top of the hill the Guls all seemed to slump over and enter a trance and spoke something that the group couldn't hear, than to most of the group's horror the grass on the hill began to wither and die, the land turned into a cracked sickly grey ground that nothing fair would grow there again, but that wasn't the worst of it, the tomb's door open and out came a skeletal humanoid phantom that walked out of the tomb and into the field it let out a tortured almost inaudible whisper like groan that sent chills throughout the bodies of the group and the urkus, "he's perfect the Dark master was right, these shall be the bane to the people of Mijorn, the the rest of this world and the galaxy." the Grand Gul said gleefully.
"Jedi, meet the deadliest servants of the Dark Master, the Draugr." the spirit said expressing pity for the tortured man, "they were once the ancient kings and queens of Mijorn now doomed to an everlasting nightmare and will never know peace."
"No that can't be there must be some way to help them!" Vega cried out.
"Not with the help of a force sensitive I'm afraid." the Spirit sighed.
"What do you mean?" Daniel asked swallowing a lump in his throat as more Draugar came out of the tomb.
"The Draugar have some weird effects on us force sensitives for some reason, they seem to have an aura that causes us to feel fear and it suppresses our connection to the force making us weaker it also seems to drain a force sensitives energy when they're nearby, only non force sensitives really have a chance to fight these things for all they have to deal with is the aura of fear." the Spirit explained.
Before the conversation could continue the outraged voice of man shouted throughout the hills "You have dishonoured the souls of our fathers once atop these hallowed grounds, I will not suffer your foul presence again." as if to emphasise his point an arrow struck one of the lesser guls in the chest and he fell over dead, the Urku and the Gul all growled in contempt at that.
"Ah, Captain Benjamin Narthean of Mijorn." the spirit said identifying the owner of the voice, "he fought with such valor rarely seen among humans who don't have the blessing of Ashla and even then his dedication eclipsed many of our own." he said in admiration.
Caleb turned to Lapsi "I can see why you were named after him." he commented.
"It's too bad he's long dead now he'd have made a great ally." Daniel remarked, the Spirit, Lapsi, and Caleb all winced when he said that, "he died this night didn't he." Daniel said having seen their reaction.
None of them answered him and Daniel took that as a yes and bowed his head in silence for the man, despite the captain's best efforts the Dark Master's captured each of the barrows and corrupted the souls of the dead Mijorn spawning more of the Draugar who hunted the captain down but he proved too clever for them and continued to snipe the Guls with his arrows however it was only a matter of time before they found him among the tombs, the grand Gul made his way to the royal barrow to corrupt the kings of old however the captain ambushed him and knocked him off his feet, "So the man finally makes his presence known, you finally run out of arrows." the Grand Gul jeered.
"Whether by bow and arrow, Sword, or my bare hands I will not allow this unholy business to continue!" Narthean shouted and clashed blades with the Gul.
"You fool you have revealed yourself to us, you are vastly outnumbered." the Gul chided.
At this however the Captain smiled which confused the Gul before the sound of cavalry could be heard as well as footstep, "did you think these grounds would be unprotected? Your wit is more lacking than I thought." the Captain grinned, which was matched by the Gul.
"You fool your forefathers shall bear the doom of your guards here." the Gul said triumphantly , the captain's smile faded at that as he heard his colleagues scream in fear and terror.
The Captains expression was grim but determined, as he heaved sending the Gul back, he didn't let up as he continued his assault, he struck with such fury and strength that the Gul couldn't hold his weapon and had to block with his armor and dropped to his knees in desperation, however before the Captain could get the final blow, a Draugr intercepted the strike with a dark blade that should have rusted away long ago, "Why?" the captain asked his voice breaking "what do you have to gain from this!?"
"Power is what we get captain, the power to rule this world and the worlds beyond this one." the Grand Gul answered "no one has the might to stand against these creatures not the sages and neither their distant brothers those who are blessed by Ashla are at a disadvantage against them!"
"How fortunate it is that I am not!" the Captain shouted as he fought with the Draugr this went on for several minutes before he managed to disarm the spirit, "Be at peace son of Mijorn!" he shouted and stabbed the creature in the neck before removing his blade and decapitating it the creature seemed to whisper in gratitude as it 'died', the Captain looked at the grand Gul again who watched the display with a smile which honestly surprised the captain.
"You have proven to be a worthy opponent captain." the Grand Gul started as several more Draugar came over the hill in a semi circle and causing the captain to back up he looked behind him and saw that there was no place to go he was trapped between the creatures and the royal barrow.
"I do not fear you hauta rosvo, you can only kill me!" the Captain shouted in defiance, the group watched in silent anticipation Daniel wished he could help, as did Vega, Auron just watched he wanted to look away but he couldn't, Asajj watched with silent respect for the captain as he made a final stand, and Guardian nodded his head in respect, Caleb had to resist the tears from falling out of his eyes thanks to Lapsi he knew what was about to happen next.
The Gran Gul let out a cruel chill inducing laugh and moved forward, the captain and the sorcerer engaged once more each fighting with the Gul having the advantage he kicked the Man in the chest and knocked him off his feet, the captain grabbed some loose ground and threw it in the Guls eyes and tackled him to the ground Narthean took his knife and tried to stab the Gul but the Gul had a lot of strength and threw him off of him with the aid of his telekinesis, after that the Gul just seized the captain with his telekinesis and held him in place have had enough he force the captain to his knees and he glared at the Gul in defiance.
There were no words spoken as the Gul took his sword and stabbed the man in the chest, there were no words when the Gul released his hold over the man, there were no words as the man fell to the ground unmoving, unbreathing, Captain Benjamin Narthean of Mijorn had begun his journey into eternity, the group saw this coming but it still hurt to see it the man had given his life to protect this field and in the end he failed though they did feel comfort knowing that this man was remembered for all these millennia after his passing, but what happened next truly shocked them.
The Captain's body convulsed and twitched and groaned the group looked over and saw the Gul in a trance like state and then the captain's body rose up almost a foot off the ground and he came down his skin was pale and his eyes no longer the brilliant blue had a dead look on them, than he spoke his voice sounding like death's breath, "I am the whisperer." he proclaimed.
The grand Gul laughed again "How fitting is this man's punishment?" he asked rhetorically to his fellow guls and urku who just arrived, "his dedication in life will be matched only by his devotion after death, let his tortured soul hunt the leaders of our enemies." he said triumphantly.
The group all trembled in anger at this, Vega leaped at the Grand Gul in order to kill him "You bastard!" he shouted however the vision ended and they found themselves back at the fortress training yard, "WHY!" Vega screamed in anguish which was matched by everyone present.
"Please tell me he was freed from that torment?" Daniel begged, the spirit only shook his head in sadness.
"So he's still out there somewhere?" Auron asked unbelieving.
"Yes, and none of us can free him." Caleb sighed, "Our connection to the Force will weaken us if we go anywhere near him and he'll be able to kill us."
"So a Force insensitive has to do that, that's good we have twenty of them." Asajj brought up.
"Six of them aren't fighters, and three of them are out of commission." Daniel reminded her.
"That still makes eleven plus the mandalorian on the way." Asajj retorted successfully keeping any negative feeling from slipping into the word 'mandalorian' but of course Daniel imagined it was because whatever grudge she had against Rarok was not important at the moment.
"You're right I imagine between them one of them will free him." Vega said having calmed down significantly.
"They need to slay him with a blade a projectile won't do." the spirit cut in.
"Does it matter what type of blade?" Guardian asked curiously.
"It shouldn't." the spirit assured.
"Well now that that's all settled I will go get ready for my journey to the south." Daniel said as he and the others stood up.
"Daniel, becareful the Dark Master will send forces to stop you, that and if you want to save time you'll have to go through the Barrows it's the quickest way." the spirit told him, Daniel eyes widened and he nodded in understanding.
"Why don't you take the fighter?" Vega asked confused.
"I have no idea what the Dark Master has, I don't want him causing the ship to crash while it's in mid flight." Daniel explained.
"A smart decision." the spirit told him.
With that the group left the training area and Daniel told the others what they were up against and all of them expressed disgust and pity after hearing the story "Don't worry sir we'll make sure that the Captain get's his well deserved peace." Blaze said after Daniel explained that the force users would be at risk if they attempted to engage him in combat.
"That I don't doubt." Daniel said with a nod, "now another matter, we learned that there are several indigenous people on the continent to the south and that they may be willing to help us if only to have get revenge on the dark master, I have volunteered to go." he told them Sentinel stood up.
"I'm going with you!" he exclaimed, Daniel knew better than to argue with his shard so he nodded in agreement besides having him there would definitely help.
"Are these the Urku and Dramons you told us about?" Micah asked.
"Yes, that's not a problem is it?" Daniel asked.
"Far from it if they are willing to help I'd say the more the merrier." Micah answered.
"Alright, if there are no objections than I'll leave immediately." Daniel stated, everyone stayed silent, "very well I'll get ready to go." he said and left the room to prepare for the journey south.
It took Daniel roughly five minutes to get the necessary provisions he was at the gate Sentinel standing next to the speeder that would take him south Sentinel was also talking to his father Guardian but Daniel couldn't hear what they were talking about, the entire crew was there to see him off the clones in their new armor that Alpha made for them, he approached them first and Alpha rolled to meet him, "Sir be safe out there." Alpha said.
Daniel nodded his head, "I will, I recommend you all use the training module to learn to fight some of the more deadlier servants of the Dark Master." he told the rest of the clones who all nodded in agreement, Daniel walked over to see Aaron in his wheelchair the medical droid had say he could get out for a bit.
"Daniel... stay safe." he said as he pulled the padawan into a hug, which the boy returned.
The send offs continued in a similar manner, Micah gave him a handshake, Rohkea gave him a big bone crushing hug which caused to Wookie to hiss in pain but he shrugged it off, Katie just hugged the boy and bade him farewell, "I want to go with you." Vega said quietly.
"I know but I'm going on a very dangerous path I can't afford to risk you to the Draugar." Daniel said as he pulled the young Jedi into a hug.
"Just stay safe. Okay?" Vega mumbled into his shoulder.
"Absolutely." Daniel said as he pulled away and moved onto Caleb.
"Whatever you do don't engage the Draugar." Caleb said seriously prompting Daniel to nodd, Caleb then pulled him into a hug, "Stay safe kleiner bruder." he told him and pulled away.
Daniel nodded "Thank you grober bruder." he said and turned to Auron.
"Don't expect a hug." Auron said humorously prompting Daniel to chuckle, "And don't think this get's you out of training either when you get back we're doing double work." Auron said seriously.
"Bring it old man." Daniel retorted playfully with a smile, drawing a chuckle from the former sith apprentice.
"Stay safe out their." Auron said and pulled Daniel into a hug despite himself.
Daniel pulled away and nodded he than walked over to the speeder and turned to Sentinel "You ready?" he asked the shard.
"Ready when you are." Sentinel responded.
Daniel nodded, "then let's go." Sentinel opened up his front again and Daniel backing into it and the suit closed around him, after that was done he mounted the bike and looked at the crew and gave a them a salute, Asajj who did not give him a farewell just grunted and waved him off, with that he sped off out of the gate and made his way south to hopefully forge an alliance with the people who live here.
AN. wow this chapter was fun to write though I will admit action scenes aren't my specialty (especially between super powered beings and non super powered if that wasn't clear any advice in this area would be appreciated) also writing the scene where Daniel tells Vega about what happens to the dead and he asks why they grieve for them that actually got me to as some questions "Why do cultures who believe in an after life grieve the people who die if they believe they'll see them again when they die?"
any way Questions only two people reviewed (come on people review if only to say you hate the story)
Mandalor the Freedom: as I told you in our PM Caleb will cope with it in his own way and I hope I conveyed that in this chapter.
Icewolf779: I will not turn everyone into force sensitives mostly because I don't see the point in it also because it is actually dangerous to do that as I explained in the chapter.
Explanations: Draugr is singular Draugar is plural also the name is from Norse mythology but the entity is based off my own imagination having taken inspiration from LOTR (I love that series I should do a crossover with that at some point hint hint)
Lapsionnea and Benjamin are the same name just in totally different languages also what Caleb did was a force power that the Sages created to help them control the Urku if they got bold I'll go into more depth in the next chapter.
anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you next time