AN: Hello everyone I'm back, man it's been a while, well a lot has happened recently the holidays, birthdays, work, family matters ya know that thing called Real Life, but worry not I have several chapters written up for you to read.
Disclaimer: I only own my Characters.
Chapter 16 (the siege part three)
"Why did I have to be right?" Vega bemoaned as he prepared to leap into the courtyard to face the Urku Death Bringers only for Daniel to place a hand on his shoulder.
The Urku Death Bringers were killing any unfortunate friendly who got in their way or who tried to fight them save the exceptionally skilled who held their own as everyone retreated into the keep, HK-51 supported from the tower with his sniper downing any, Death Bringer he could.
"I count fifty." Daniel said as he watched the carnage below.
"Same." Auron agreed, "that means…" he looked at the group with him Daniel, Vega, Rohkea, Zhrine, Dah'um, Blaze, Tannsi, Aaron, a clone identified as Teal -if he remembered correctly-, and himself "... five for each of us." Auron smirked.
"Then let's GO!" Blaze shouted as he jumped from the wall into the courtyard with Dah'um and Teal following.
Vega said nothing and leaped into the air and dive bombing on to a Death Mage's shield with a force enhanced strike breaking the shield and following up with his lightsaber killing the mage via bisection from head down, Vega didn't think about it he only moved onto his next target, he was too deep into the Force to care at the moment, a crossbowman shot at him, Vega caught the bolt mere inches from his face in an impressive display of reflexes then threw it back at the sender all the while using the Force to propel the projectile even faster then before, the projectile slammed into the crossbowman the bolt going straight through his chest and out the other end, the crossbowman didn't seem to realize that anything had happened to him, he attempted to load another bolt only to drop dead from the grievous wound, Vega turned to face a sword wielding Death Bringer also called a Dread Knights by the Sages, and charged to meet him.
Daniel had just dispatched two of his five enemies and was currently wielding the staff of a death mage and battling a dread knight with it for his light saber had been knocked askewed. Daniel used the staff to redirect and pin the knight's blade, before following up with a back hand and causing his foe to drop his sword, the urku retaliated by throwing a punch at Daniel's ribs, Daniel cried out in pain and threw the warrior into the wall, and clutched his ribs in shock, 'that hurt… far more than I expected.' Daniel hissed to himself, then he looked up at the warrior getting back up and noticed why, his gauntlets had small points on them all the force of the blow was concentrated on those points, and considering how hard an urku could throw a punch that was quite substantial, "clever bastard." Daniel muttered and got into a stance and hissed slightly in pain 'ribs might be bruised or broken, can't worry about that now.' he thought to himself as he dodged a strike from the urku's gauntleted fist, and countered with a Force enhanced strike to the warrior's solar plexus, at least where it would have been if he were human as Daniel assumed, but it got the desired effect Daniel's strike broke the armor and imbedded his fist into the warriors abdomen, causing the urku to cough up blood, before Daniel followed up with an uppercut to the warriors face and effectively knocking him unconscious, Daniel then called reached out with his hand and called his light saber into his hand, Daniel then effortlessly dealt with two crossbow men successfully killing his share of the fifty; looking around he saw Vega, Auron, Rohkea, and Blaze had also killed five Death Bringers, and were helping out the others with their share.
After dealing with the death bringers the group of ten came together for a moment, "I count thirty friendlies dead." Auron reported.
Daniel nodded, "let's see if we can fill those tunnels in before more pop up." Daniel suggested.
"Too late!" Teel exclaimed and shot into the horde coming up into the bailey.
"Kriff!" Aaron cursed and joined in the shooting.
"Fall back!" Dah'um ordered.
"You go, Daniel, Auron, and I will hold them off." Vega said as he stood ready.
"You're right on two of those people" Daniel said.
"Just try and make me go!" Vega retorted.
"I'm staying too!" Blaze stated.
"Whatever let's fight!" Auron shouted and sent a telekinetic wave infused with lightning into the horde to slow them down.
Daniel just sighed in resignation, "Fine!" then charged into the horde his light saber in one hand and fire in the other, with Vega and Blaze following.
Aaron just sighed in annoyance, "Why don't they ask for their shards to help them?" he asked out loud.
"I'm wondering that myself." Dah'um said, as they fell back into the keep.
(Location: the enemy camp)
High Gul Mun watched the battle progress in his mind's eye, he watched as the Jedi and the sith from before battled with the master's legion along with a young boy that appeared to be on the cusp of entering his teenage years, alongside a hulking man who looked like he was taking on the army mostly by himself, "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" a voice shouted breaking Mun's concentration, he turned to see the Grand Gul glaring at him.
"What do you mean master?" Mun asked confused.
"Why were the Death Bringers sent into the fortress, his majesty commanded no such thing!"
"He did?" Mun asked surprised, "Gul Balga ordered for the troops to tunnel into the castle so that the Death Bringers could infiltrate the castle to soften them up, we did that at the beginning of the battle."
The Grand Gul sighed, "I see, you haven't received the orders yet, his Majesty is preparing to bring out the great beast to destroy the monument of the sage's power." he explained, while pointing at the castle, Mun's eyes widened in surprise.
"After all this time!?" he asked shocked, before he composed himself "I see… do you want me to tell Balga to stand down or to take the bailey?"
"I'll take care of it." the Grand Gul assured him, and reached out to Gul Balga, 'Balga I have orders from his majesty, why have you sent in the death bringers?'
The high gul felt confused, 'Was I not supposed to?' he asked
'No you weren't but don't worry about it, his majesty is getting the great beast ready for its debut.' the grand gul explained, the mighty mace wielder's signiture flared with both surprise and excitement.
'What do you want me to do?'
'Send in the troops you were going to into the bailey and attempt to take it over if that isn't possible without reinforcements… don't bother.'
'Understood.' with that the link was cut off, and the Grand Gul watched as the smoke rose from the other side of the wall which was occasionally decorated with bright flashes of red and blue.
(Location Mugg Fallow orbit.)
Glowing red eyes glared into the golden feline ones, "Was that really necessary?!" the Chiss Padawan growled at his fellow Jedi.
"Yes." Uriah answered calmly, as he turned back to his decoding of the sith database, "They can focus more on their job now that their urge to kill us has been satisfied."
Nuru hit the cathar upside the head, "What kind of logic is that? they are my friends!"
"Friends that have a chip in their brains that makes them want to kill us!" Uriah exclaimed.
"We could have subdued them."
"We would have only put off another confrontation."
Nuru resisted the urge to strangle the cathar, before he sighed and released his anger into the Force, besides if he did try that Uriah would have likely overpowered him, "I don't like this."
"Well it's better this way, don't worry when we meet the others and get their chips removed we will tell them the truth, and I will allow them a free one to the jaw." Uriah assured.
Nuru sighed in resignation, "Fine."
Uriah continued to work on the terminal, before sighing, "I'm not going to get anywhere with this I can't read Sith," he then turned to Nuru, "So do you know these Jedi that we're going to meet, Daniel and Vega?"
Nuru raised an eyebrow, "I know Daniel somewhat… mostly by reputation as he was born into the order." he answered.
Uriah furrowed his brows, "Is that unusual nowadays?"
Nuru looked at him strangely before realising he came from another time, "Well yes, the Jedi forbade attachments, so we're not allowed to have families, there have been a few exceptions but those were because of certain circumstances."
"Like?"
"The species of that particular Jedi was on the verge of extinction." Nuru explained.
"Ah I see so Daniel is?"
"Human." Nuru answered.
"...Humans are nearly extinct?"
"No… his mother Naomi was a Jedi padawan and while on a mission with her master, she got separated from him, and well…" Nuru trailed off.
"... Oh." Uriah said in realization, "I see. Who did it?"
"A Dark Jedi criminal." Nuru answered, "that's all I really know on the subject." he sighed, Nuru could tell that the mandalorian war vet. was incredibly angry, "She asked the council if she could raise the child, and they agreed, some members of the order didn't like that very much."
"I get the picture." Uriah muttered, "How about Vega?"
"I don't know all that much about him to be honest, all I know is that he was brought into the order later than most."
"Hmn." Uriah hummed in thought, before the ship hummed to life signifying that the ship had jumped into hyperspace, "I believe that we are on our way to Varon."
"Rarok did say that we'd be going today." Nuru said.
"Yes he did… I just hope that we're not too late."
On the bridge Rarok watched as the ship lurched into hyperspace, before going over to the consell he pressed a few buttons and a holo of the chiss engineer appeared, "I see that you are on your way to assist agent Mi'ika'akah."
Rarok nodded, "Yes, do you have the rendezvous coordinates?"
The engineer nodded affirmativly, "We'll be there in about two weeks if not sooner." he reported.
"Good, see you soon." Rarok stated, with that signal was cut off and Rarok sighed, he was about to leave the bridge when a blinking light caught his attention, his curiosity getting the better of him he walked over to the consul and saw that some one was attempting to decode the sith database, "Breaker," Rarok said into his wrist after activating it, "have any of your men been trying to decode the data base at the terminal in the laboratory section?" he asked.
"...No sir… none have my men been in there." came the response.
Rarok narrowed his eyes slightly, before they widened, "That bastard!" he exclaimed, then he made a beeline for the deck the terminal was on.
Back in the lab, Uriah sighed, stood up and turned to the door, "I had hoped he wouldn't notice."
Nuru appeared confused, "Who?" he asked and turned to the door just in time to see Rarok run into the room, a look of rage on his face.
Rarok walked up to Uriah and punched him in the face, "What the hell?!" he shouted.
Uriah took a moment to make sure his jaw wasn't broken before answering, "It was for their own good as well as ours."
Rarok resisted the urge to strangle him, "Don't give me that bantha shit! Your order gave that excuse when they kidnapped a child"
Uriah just rolled his eyes, "It was the easiest way to avoid a confrontation, if they think we're dead then they will not try to kill us. Also what is he talking about?" he asked and turned to Nuru.
The Chiss Jedi just sighed, "He's referring to this scandal we had about a year or two before the Clone Wars, it was called the… I don't even remember what it's called, I was busy fighting a civil war!" the blue skin stated, "even if that woman was her mother, well guess what Rarok she was better off away from her!"
Rarok's eyes widened in disbelief, "How can you say that!?" he shouted back outraged.
"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact that she was more concerned about being a celebrity then she was about 'her' supposed child that we supposedly kidnapped!" Nuru shot back.
Uriah watched the argument before him unfold unsure of what to do or say "I can't help but feel I'm missing a bit of context." he finally butted in.
Nuru and Rarok turned to him and sighed, "It started on the world of Ord Thoden, in the city of Domitree, the city was hit by a quake that devastated it, and relief efforts started, the Jedi were involved and in the city we found a baby girl that force sensitive, the Jedi believed her to be orphaned understandable considering the circumstances." Nuru began, "So the Jedi brought her to the Temple on Coruscant and began to train her in the Force."
Uriah just shrugged, "Seems reasonable, but where does the whole 'kidnapping' thing come in?"
"That comes in." Nuru spat, "When this woman from Ord Thoden appeared on Coruscant and claimed to be the girl's mother and asked to have her back, the council refused having said that since they opened her mind to the Force it'd be wise to continue her training."
"You say that like she isn't her mother." Rarok stated.
"As far as I'm concerned she isn't." Nuru said, "if she is then she's a very bad mother."
Rarok hadn't thought about it from that angle before if he was honest with himself, "Do you have any evidence to support that she wasn't the mother?" he asked.
"No evidence to support she was." Nuru countered.
"So you didn't even do a DNA test?" Rarok dead panned.
"... Not that I know of." Nuru admitted
"Do you see the problem with that?" Rarok asked gently, "While I do admit that woman is not mother of the year material, that doesn't give your council the right to take her against the consent of the parents."
"That doesn't make it right to storm into our temple and punch a Padawan into unconsciousness either." Nuru retorted.
Rarok nodded in agreement "I agree."
"I think I get the gist of it." Uriah stated, "this woman either lied or was telling the truth and sued the Jedi order for kidnapping the child."
"Yep pretty much, then Aris was sent to a Jedi training facility… I wonder if it's still standing?" Nuru sighed.
"It probably is," Rarok assured him, "that's all in the past though and we need to focus on our current situation."
"You won't tell breakout squad will you? At least until we get the chips out of their brains." Uriah asked him.
"I don't like it." Rarok sighed, "But I understand, we'll be at Varon in two days." with that he began to walk out of the lab.
"Rarok," Nuru called, the Mando stopped and turned to the Jedi, "this may sound like a weird question but, have you had some weird feelings before?"
Rarok raised an eyebrow, "uh… doesn't everyone?" he asked.
"What I meant was, Have you ever found that you had an inexplicable amount of luck, or you would experience events of Deja Vu?" Nuru rephrased the question.
Rarok turned to face the Jedi, "Why do you ask?"
"So you have?" Nuru asked.
"Yes I have, why do you ask?" the warrior repeated.
Nuru looked at Uriah then back at the Mandalorian, "Because we have reason to believe that you are force sensitive."
"He has more reason, I am still uncertain." Uriah stated, "That and I admittedly don't want to believe it."
Rarok stared at Nuru for a moment, "Why do you say I am Force sensitive?"
"Well I get a vibe from you you do have a noticeable presence in the force if one actively looks for it, and… you activated a Rakatan ship." he explained.
Rarok raised an eyebrow, "I don't follow." he said.
"The Rakatans, you know the ones who created the 'Infinite Empire'?" Nuru tried.
"Yeah I know that, but what does that have to do with me being force sensitive."
Nuru sighed in exasperation, "The Rakatans utilized technology that was connected to the force, it drew upon it like an energy source, and the technology can only be accessed by force sensitives, that why the Empire eventually fell the Rakatans loss the ability to use their tech because they had lost the ability to call upon the force." he explained.
Rarok stood their for a moment before shrugging, "Cool." he said nonchalantly, "What do I do about it?"
"You can ignore it if you want and not bother to train it or find someone who'd be willing to teach you in wielding the force." Uriah answered bitterly before turning to work on disassembling his lightsaber and reassembling it.
"So not you." Rarok sighed.
"I won't be responsible for handing your people access to the most powerful thing in the universe, not like the traitors." Uriah growled, Nuru could sense some feeling of intense hatred, and betrayal bubble up to the surface at the mention of the Mandalorian Knights.
Nuru looked at Uriah, "Did you know Dojander Kace?" he asked the cathar.
Uriah snarled in contempt, "I don't disagree with his views on the Republic, but what I couldn't like was that he sided with the Mandalorians they killed so many innocents and claimed it was an honorable ordeal." he spat.
Rarok clenched his fist slightly but didn't interrupt.
"One of the Jedi who joined him was…" he bowed his head in grief, "My mate." he told them much to their surprise, Nuru began to feel that he was looking at Sylvar or the male version of her anyway.
"That sounds awful." Nuru stated.
Uriah laughed bitterly, "That my friend is the understatement of the century, I have never felt so betrayed in my life, when she joined them it was like she was stamping all over the memory of our people, what's worse she took our youngest with her, when I confronted her I didn't give her a chance to try and explain her actions I was so angry that I tried to kill her."
Rarok however jumped in, "Did you do it?"
Uriah shook his head, "No she called for backup and I was overwhelmed and captured and brought to Demagol, he experimented on me for a bit before he injected me with that disease, I lost consciousness and then I woke up with you standing over me." he finished pointing at the Mandalorian.
"I'm sorry for what you had to go through." Rarok sighed.
Uriah just turned away from him, "Well we can't change anything about it." he spat bitterly, "My mate made her choice to follow Dorjander and had to live with it."
"Do you know why Master Kace sided with the Mandalorians?" Rarok asked him.
Uriah turned to Rarok his eyes burning with hatred, "I don't care about his reasons, he said it was because he felt the Republic was beyond redemption and that the Mandalorians were going to win and that they needed our guidance, I told him he could shove it."
"There is another reason…" Nuru started.
"Nothing you tell me will change my view on those traitors." Uriah snarled and turned back to his saber.
"Kace fell in love with a Mandalorian woman, Varda, she taught him our traditions and he married her, they were expecting a child, but she died in a Republic bombing raid led by the Jedi." Rarok stated.
For a long moment Uriah sat still unsure how to respond, "Just leave me alone." he stated he felt so spent he didn't know what to think anymore.
"Uriah?" Nuru asked
"LEAVE ME!" Uriah bellowed and threw them out of the room with a telekinetic shove, and sealed the door behind them, he then buried his head in his hands.
AN: well that's it for this one hope you all enjoyed, and please leave a review.