A new planet

Jaune Arc rolled over, wheezing heavily. Very careful not to roll into his vomit. He stared upwards, and a clear blue sky shined down to meet him.

He raised his arms in a cheer.

"I made it!"

Then, he went limp on the grass, groaning once more. Unprotected hyperspace travel did things to the human body.

It was a miracle he survived the trip in one piece.

Jaune forced himself to stand. Checking his belt, he was relieved to find both his blaster and lightsaber still in the same place he left them.

Walking over to the escape pod, he remembered a trick that one of his former associates taught him. Imperial escape pods had tracking beacons. And if Jaune didn't want to be found, he needed to disable it.

Once he knew where to look, it wasn't hard to find. A small metal cylinder with an antenna and a red flashing light. Drawing his lightsaber, he slashed the tracking beacon. Destroying it and rendering it useless.

Jaune retracted his lightsaber and placed it back on his belt.

Inhaling, he smiled at the fresh air. It has been a long time since he had been on a planet with natural vegetation. Reaching out to the force, he wanted to gather his bearings.

The force returned in kind, as Jaune felt every living thing around him. From the largest tree to the smallest insect. It was a trick his master had fought him, as it helped her calm down in stressful situations.

But, something was wrong. The force felt… off. As if there was something else. Living creatures felt different from what he was used to. Force-sensitive animals were uncommon, but not impossible. But this was different.

Jaune tried focusing but felt his attention being drawn somewhere else.

A creature had entered his senses. Something was wrong with this thing, however. It generated no force whatsoever. Jaune had read about a certain lizard species that generated a null field for the force, but this was different.

The creature felt dead. Radiating an aura of negative emotion, causing it to emit the dark side of the force.

Jaune opened his eyes and turned to the forest. Two red eyes stared back. He unclipped his lightsaber and powered it on. The blue blade extends to its full length.

He would rather not have to kill the local fauna of the planet, but wouldn't hesitate to defend himself if he needed to.

The creature charged out of the brush, and straight towards Jaune, giving the Jedi a good look at his opponent. Jaune calmed and reminded himself of what his master had taught him. His feet shifted as he held the lightsaber pointed across his body, adapting the Form I stance Shii-Cho.

The creature's fur was pitch black, with small bone plates across its body. One of the plates surrounded its eyes in most likely a form of protection. On its hands were sharp claws that dug into the ground, pulling the creature forward. Had this creature fallen so far towards the dark side, that its appearance has changed as well?

The creature lunged, bringing its arm upwards to slash at Jaune. Jaune in response raised his lightsaber and dashed to the left, swinging his lightsaber down in the process. The creature landed roughly, as its limb was now separated from its body, giving no support and making it crash directly into the ground.

Instead of choosing to leave, the creature instead got right back up and lunged at Jaune with its other arm. Surprised by this action, Jaune was barely able to lean backward in time to avoid the strike. Swinging down with his saber, Jaune cut off the other limbs of the creature, before stabbing his lightsaber directly into his skull.

Jaune felt regret. The animal was probably just spooked by the escape pod, and he had to kill it. His regret turned into confusion however when the animal began to dissolve. Its corpse became black ash and dissipated into the air.

This creature wasn't natural. Jaune kneeled next to the corpse, trying to examine what was left before it dissolved.

Perhaps this explained the creature's lack of a force presence? If it was artificially made, like a droid, then it wouldn't have a force presence, to begin with.

The corpse had fully dissolved, leaving only grass underneath. Jaune stood, clipping his lightsaber to his belt. He stepped away from the escape pod, walking towards the forest. If there were more of these creatures out here, it would be best if he was able to find civilization.

Taking one last look at the escape pod, Jaune turned away and entered the woods.

The path was treacherous, tree roots covering the ground, with uneven footing, drop-offs, and rocks, the walk wasn't pleasant by any means. Jaune almost twisted his ankle on a smooth stone but caught himself.

More of those creatures appeared in the forest as he was walking. He drew his blaster out of its holster and shot at one as soon as it looked at him. It took a few well-placed shots to bring down the creature, but eventually, it collapsed and turned into ash as well.

The force screamed at him in warning, and Jaune ducked. Another one of the creatures lunged at him, its jaws instead biting into the tree that he was standing next to. The creature's teeth were stuck, and it was unable to pull them free. Drawing his lightsaber, he powered it on and decapitated the creature.

He eventually came across what looked like civilization. A wall. He saw it from a distance and began making his way toward it. Upon reaching the wall, he looked up. It was tall, and he could probably scale it with force if he needed to. However, first impressions were everything, and he didn't want to scare the locals.

This meant that Jaune had to walk around the perimeter until he found the entrance. He did, finding a gate to this massive wall.

"Hey! Who are you!" Jaune blinked, looking up. The man who yelled at him, wore an assortment of armor. In his hand sat a rifle, whether it was a blaster or slugthrower Jaune couldn't tell. But what he could see was the blade attached underneath, and that it was pointed at him.

"Hi! I'm a bit lost! Could you tell me where I am?" Jaune yelled back. Relieved that they spoke Galactic Basic.

"What?! Kid, how the hell did you get out here?! We're nowhere near Vale!" The man yelled back. Jaune kept the name Vale in his mind, must be the name of another town, or city.

"Well, my ship crashed not too far away from here. Could you tell me what planet I'm on?" Jaune said back, his hands resting on his hips.

"What?! Kid, did you hit your head out there or something?! You're still on Remnant right?!" The man yelled back. He must be hard of hearing, Jaune thought.

But what he said did reveal some things to him. He was probably on a backwater planet, where the natives haven't even been in outer space. No space meant no ships for Jaune to use, and probably no droids either.

"I mean I did slip…" Jaune said, lying on the spot.

"You aren't with any bandits, are you?" The guard asked. Jaune saw him tighten his grip on the rifle.

"Nope. Not with any bandits, just lost and trying to find my way." Jaune said, raising his hands in the air. The guard squinted him for a moment, before turning around.

"Alright, let him in before the Grimm get him." The man said. Jaune raised an eyebrow. Grimm? Was that the term the inhabitants of the planet called those creatures? Or were they referring to something else?

The massive gate began to swing open. Jaune waited for it to open completely, before stepping inside completely.

Jaune was greeted by several different people. He assumed them to be guards, as they wore similar uniforms and each wielded a similar rifle with a blade attachment.

"Welcome to Luton young man. Sorry for the cold reception, we don't get visitors that often." The older guard who Jaune had spoken with earlier said.

"Got to say though, I'm surprised you didn't run into any Grimm." His suspicion that the creatures were called Grimm was practically confirmed at this point. Trying to blend in, Jaune nodded.

"I did. Killed a few with my blaster." Jaune said, bringing his RSKF-44 blaster out to show the guard.

"Impressive gun. Well, if you're looking to stay, the taverns that way, if you ask around, I'm sure someone will give you a ride to Vale." The guard said, pointing down the road.

"Thanks for the help," Jaune replied.

"No problem." The guard said, turning to leave. He stepped back up to his post atop the wall and continued his job.

Jaune turned and began walking through the town, in the direction where the man had pointed. He continued inside, observing the town around him as he walked. It was small, giving Jaune a clear view of the surrounding wall wherever he looked. It seemed cozy though, several families were playing outside on a nice day. However, upon seeing a stranger in their community, they pulled their children back, most likely out of suspicion of a stranger.

Jaune ignored the local's actions and continued on his way toward the tavern. The town looked standard but seemed pretty advanced structure-wise for a planet without space travel. Usually, planets the Republic had alliances with that hadn't discovered space travel lived more primitive lifestyles.

Mysteries upon mysteries. Well, Jaune wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Perhaps he could investigate.

He spotted a tavern-shaped building, seeing patrons sitting at tables and sipping drinks. Jaune looked at the sign above and stopped.

It wasn't written in Aurabesh.

Karabast.

…

Well, this wasn't good. Jaune was most fluid in Aurabesh when it came to writing, as it was even more standard than Galactic Basic. Even Huttese used a form of Aurabesh, but this looked nothing like it.

It actually was pretty similar to High Galactic, strangely enough. But it had been years since he needed to use High Galactic while reading.

Jaune sighed, if he was going to be staying on this planet for any amount of time, it would be beneficial to learn how to read the local language.

He had another revelation. His credits would most likely be useless on Remnant. Most likely they used a different system of currency.

So, Jaune was stuck on an unknown planet with a weird connection to the force, creatures made from pure Dark Side, no money, and can't even read.

He inhaled, then exhaled. Tapping into the force to calm himself.

At least there was no way the Empire would be able to find him here.

He stepped into the tavern, getting strange looks from those sitting at tables. Jaune once again ignored them and made his way to the bartender.

"Hello stranger, what can I do for you?" The bartender asked. Jaune stopped short of the bar and leaned his elbows on the table.

"I'm looking for someone who will give me transport to Vale," Jaune said, remembering the city name that the guard had told him about.

"Ah, well. There's George in the back there, he'll be leaving for Vale soon. I'm sure he'll give you a ride if you can convince him." Jaune could certainly convince him, but Jedi mind tricks only lasted so long. And he certainly didn't have the money to pay…

So he would indeed have to convince him.

Jaune noticed the reserved man, who sat alone in a booth with a drink and a meal. He took a seat across from the man, who looked up at him questionably.

"Who are you?" The man said. Jaune getting a better look at him. He had a scraggly beard, with a large scar running down across the right side of his face and over his eye. George wore a bomber jacket, with black fingerless gloves. His eyes were gold, which was… unique.

"I'm looking for transport to Vale. I was told you were leaving to go there soon." Jaune said.

"Yeah, I am. What's it to you?" The man said, taking a sip of his drink.

"Well, I was hoping to tag along. I got lost, and somehow ended up out here, and would kinda like to get back to where I came from." Jaune said, making up a lie on the spot. The man raised an eyebrow.

"You got lost? Out here? Do you know how far away Vale is from Luton?" George said, obviously not buying Jaune's story.

"No, that's why I got lost." Was Jaune's reply.

"Touché," George muttered, taking another bit of his meal. Jaune patiently waited until he was finished chewing before asking again.

"So? Any chance I could tag along on your trip? I promise I won't be a bother." Jaune asked once more, but George still looked unconvinced.

"I don't know kid, something's off about your story. And in my line of work, you learn to trust your gut-" The man stopped, as a large explosion shook the town. Screams of terror followed.

"What in the brothers?" George muttered, standing from his booth. Jaune followed suit, hand resting on his blaster.

The rest of the patrons nervously stood as well, congregating at the entrance of the tavern. Where they all watched, Jaune felt through the Force the nervousness and fear radiating from them.

Jaune made his way through the crowd, eventually getting a good look at what had caused the commotion.

A group of people, each wearing a form of red, black, or gray. Each held weapons, a strange assortment of slugthrowers, and melee weapons. Through the force, Jaune could feel that a few were more unique than the others. Not force-sensitive like he was, but different. More similar to the strange force of the planet itself.

Even though Jaune did not know who these people were, he recognized what they were. Bandits. Their actions and behaviors were nearly identical to those Jaune had encountered during his travels of the galaxy with his Master.

A large hole was blasted into the gate that Jaune himself had entered not long ago. The surrounding guards were lying on the ground, most likely dead. The bandits were currently harassing a family as more of their members entered through the hole. Laughing, as if this was all a big joke to them.

"Listen up folks! We are the Branwen tribe! We'll be taking what we want, and anyone that stands in our way will die! Got it?!" A man yelled out, stepping away from his group to address the town as a whole. He wore an assortment of gray armor, a red shirt, and black pants.

Jaune, sees the fear of the townspeople, the corpses of the guards, and the families being harassed. Stepped forward.

"Enough. Leave these people alone." Jaune said, knowing as a Jedi he couldn't step away from those in need.

"Oho! We've got a brave one guys!" The man called out to his buddies, and Jaune removed the retaining strap from his holster. The man turned back to look at Jaune, his eyes drifting to the weapons at Jaune's hips.

"Tell you what. How bout a duel? You win, we'll just pack it up and leave. I win?… Well, you can probably figure out what will happen." The man said, staring at Jaune. He placed his slugthrower back into the holster.

Jaune gave a sharp nod, saying he agreed. The man grinned, making his arm parallel to this body. Jaune did the same, staring directly at his opponent.

A tense silence followed, as the two stood across from each other. The man's comrades, the Branwen tribe, stood in anticipation. Most likely waiting for their fellow member to gun down Jaune. But standing behind the Jedi were the townsfolk, fearing for their lives and safety.

The man's grin slowly fell, as his arm muscle twitched. And they drew their weapons.

Jaune had to admit, the man was a fast draw. It perhaps had to do with the soft glow of energy that emanated off his body when he drew his slugthrower and the small influx of the strange Force that radiated from these people.

But Jaune was faster.

Before the man could even pull the trigger, Jaune had enhanced his abilities with the Force. And two blaster bolts found their way inside the man's chest, causing a strange field around his body to break when the first blaster bolt collided. Letting the second one hit directly where his heart was.

"Whuh…?" The man muttered, looking down at his chest. His face fell, as Jaune felt the Force leaving his body. The man fell backward and landed on his back. Dead.

Jaune calmly lowered his arm, waiting for the Branwen's to make their next move.

He noticed another woman standing above the rest. She wore a tan shirt with a gown collar and sleeves. Her hair was cut short, and on both of her arms sat two strange contraptions. She stared in shock at the dead man laying on the ground, before looking at Jaune with pure anger.

"Get him!" She yelled, the bandits all yelled, and began to charge at Jaune. He tensed, raising his blaster once again.

He fired, his RSKF-44 only picking off a few targets. To his surprise, the bandits were a lot more agile than he expected. Dodging his shots, as they gripped their melee weapons tightly.

One of the Branwen bandits jumped with a yell, raising his sword for a swing. Jaune jumped back, amplifying the distance by using force. The man slammed his sword into the ground where Jaune used to stand, drawing his hand back, he force-pushed the man off his feet and flew backward.

Holstering his blaster, Jaune took his lightsaber off his belt. Powering it on, he raised the bright blue blade parallel to his body.

Advancing, Jaune met the closest bandit head-on. He swung his lightsaber in a downward arc, the bandit raised his sword to block the lightsaber. But the blue blade cut right through the metal sword, cleaving the bandit's weapon in half.

His shock was evident, but when Jaune swung his lightsaber in an upwards motion, the blade cut across the bandit's chest, and he fell over dead.

Another bandit tried stabbing him directly with his daggers, but Jaune deflected with his lightsaber. Spinning the weapon, before stabbing directly into her abdomen. She stared at him in shock, before being Force pushed off and into a wall.

"Fuck! A Huntsman!" One of the bandits called out, the remaining becoming far warier of Jaune himself.

'What's a Huntsman?' Jaune thought to himself, raising his lightsaber in a defensive position. The bandits pressed buttons on their weapons, and their weapons folded in on themselves, gears whirring as those who wielded melee weapons now held slugthrowers.

Which wasn't good for a lightsaber.

Karabast. Jaune thought as he hopped behind a market stand. Quickly taking cover as slugs flew all around him, and punched through the wooden stand, leaving marks on the wall.

Jaune drew his blaster. Waiting for the slugthrowers to run out of ammo. While they were rare to encounter in the galaxy, he had run into someone using one before. Like blasters overheating, slugthrowers ran out of ammunition and their user would need to reload.

As the hail of slugs stopped, Jaune concentrated on the force. Pushing the market stand, it collided with two bandits, breaking the stand and sending them sprawling onto the ground.

He spun, using his blaster to gun down the bandit that had finished reloading. Running towards the next bandit, he jumped into a swing with his lightsaber, preparing to cut him down when something strange happened.

When he closed his arms in front of him, the barrier around his body returned. This time, sharp barbs extended from his body in a defensive stance, stabbing into Jaune's arm when he swung.

Jaune stopped immediately, throwing himself back out of surprise. What was that? That couldn't have been the force. Bringing his blaster up, he shot the bandit before he got a chance to do so. Looking down at his arm, he hissed out of pain. There were two holes, and they were bleeding. His mind struggled to come up with an explanation for what just happened. But the pain reminded him to focus on the present.

Tearing off a piece of cloth from his shirt, he thought back to the days of the clone wars and tied the cloth around the wound. But quickly pushed the memories away as they led to unpleasant thoughts. Standing, he surveyed the area with his blaster.

Seeing no more threats, he holstered his blaster. But the feeling of danger didn't go away, Jaune turned, seeing a tunnel of flame approach him.

He jumped to the side, powering off his lightsaber in the process, the flames just missing him. Looking at where the attack came from, he saw the same bandit leader removing a red crystal from her weapon and placing it in a new one. Some kind of handheld flamethrower perhaps?

Then, she used the weapon on her right hand, and a tornado of air emerged, the funnel going right for Jaune.

What?! Jaune thought as the air picked him up off the ground. His mind spun in confusion but stopped as he roughly slammed into the wall.

How-? What even was that?! Jaune thought, confused by the weaponry the bandits were using. As it was unlike anything he had seen before.

He focused on the threat at hand, knowing he could investigate later if he lived to do so.

Another bandit entered his field of view, this one wielded a slugthrower with a barrel that turned into a funnel. He loaded another red crystal into it and shot at Jaune.

A fireball flew forth from the slug thrower, moving quickly towards Jaune. He pushed off his feet, dodging out of the way of the projectile. Using the Force, he pulled the bandit towards him. Once close enough, he powered on his lightsaber and stabbed him through the chest.

Moving quickly he sprinted back towards the bandit leader. Who was aiming her weapons at Jaune. She sent out smaller blasts of air and fire alike, but Jaune was moving too quickly for her to get a solid shot off. He saw the small structure the leader stood atop, and made his way toward it.

She realized the same thing and fired a large gust of air again to knock Jaune off his feet. However, he changed directions at the last second. Instead of running for the building, he turned and threw his lightsaber. The weapon curved mid-air, spinning on its side as it flew forward. It easily sliced through the wooden support beam, and flew back into Jaune's hand when he called it back with the Force.

The whole structure began to slip, the bandit leader lost her footing as the structure collapsed to one side. She fell off and hit the ground as it completely collapsed around her.

Jaune heard another weapon being loaded and turned. A bandit held a rocket launcher in her hands, and she had just finished loading it. Now holding it on her shoulder, she aimed Jaune, before firing.

This rocket was much larger than the ones he was used to dealing with. But still traveled the same. By calling upon the Force, Jaune was able to Force push the rocket mid-air, returning it to sender. The bandit barely had time to react before the rocket exploded on them.

A large explosion flashed, where Jaune saw fire, ice, air, and some electricity, and when it was finished, the debris was surrounded by a black glow and slammed into itself making a small ball.

What was in that rocket? And what's going on with this planet?

Swapping his attention back to the bandit leader, he was able to catch her standing back on her feet.

"Bastard!" She yelled, throwing both of her arms forward. A large tornado formed, the fire mixing with the air to cause a funnel double the usual size to be shot directly at Jaune.

He powered off his lightsaber and quickly attached it to his belt. Drawing both his hands back, he channeled the Force. Pushing with both hands, the funnel stopped in its tracks. As if it hit an invisible barrier in mid-air.

"Just die!" The bandit leader yelled from the other side of the funnel of fire and wind. Jaune felt her increase the power of this elemental anomaly. He began to struggle with holding the funnel back.

But he calmed, slowly inhaling and exhaling. Feeling the Force flow through his body. And with a yell, he let out all the concentrated Force forward in a massive push.

The funnel dissipated, but not completely. The majority of the elemental energy was blown backward towards the bandit leader, who screamed as the fire descended on her, and as the air picked her up and launched her over one of the houses she was standing in front of.

Jaune exhaled, knowing that it was over.

Then the cheering began.