The R2 Unit whirred along as it got inside the blue Starfighter.
"You ready Tobias?" Asked Jedi Master Maison Ondura.
"Yup. R2-D2, is in and I'm ready to go," Responded Tobias.
R2-D2 spun his conical head and whirred and beeped his approval.
"All right, let's go build you a lightsaber!" Maison said, firing up his green starfighter. "R2-D8, set course for Ilum." Maison's green R2 unit beep-booped as the duo took off in their starfighters, heading off into space.
Ilum was a planet of snow and ice, but also the home of the fabled crystal caves, where young jedi would harvest crystals for their lightsabers.
As they landed their Starfighters, the weather outside was ruthless, snowy, and cold.
"TOBIAS!" Maison yelled, trying to be heard over the wind. "Follow me! An entrance is this way."
Tobias nodded as he hopped out of his starfighter and began the long to the crystal caves.
Tobias stared in awe at the beauty of the cave. Glittering crystals of all colors jutted out from the walls and the ceiling.
"How do I know which one to choose?" He asked.
"You know the Force," Maison replied carefully. "So listen to it, flowing through the crystal that chooses you."
"Chooses me?"
Maison laughed. "Yes, remember my young padawan, you don't choose the crystal. The crystal chooses you."
Tobias nodded and closed his eyes. It took a while, but soon, it came like a whisper. It had been lying there for centuries, just waiting for the perfect person to come along. So Tobias followed it, and ran deeper into the cave, and before long, its voice became louder. As a song of joy.
Tobias opened his eyes and found himself staring at a large teal crystal. This was it. He could feel it. It would even work as a focusing and primary crystal. He could just feel it. Tobias called out to the Force and broke out two shards, and put each in a separate pouch. Then he turned around, and ran to join his master once more.
"I'll have to wait and see which crystals you chose once we get back home." Maison said, once they left Ilum. They were headed back to Coruscant, when suddenly a Templar starfighter jet came out of nowhere.
"Crap." Tobias swore.
"Language!" Maison scolded.
"Looks like we've got trouble!" Tobias said as he U-turned and opened fighter on the Templar jet.
"No! Don't engage- forget it." Maison said. And he turned around and tried to shoot the jet to no avail, as it took evasive measures, and at the same time opened fire, narrowly missing their ships but hitting Artoo, who let out an electronic screech.
"Artoo!" Tobias gasped. His droid's metal casing had been severely damaged, yet he still seemed operational.
"Retreat Tobias!" Maison commanded. "Just make the jump to hyperspace so that we can get out of here! We'll have Artoo repaired once we're home."
"Fine." Tobias complied, as the stars around him stretched into thin lines, as he traveled through hyperspace.
Tobias sat in a dark room, meditating through the Force to align his lightsaber crystals, a crucial step of the lightsaber building process. If done incorrectly, it could cause the conductor to explode once activated.
Tobias was a special case as a padawan. Normally, young Jedi would be put in a class and were taught the ways of the Force and went to Ilum in an event with other classmates, known as "The Gathering" to make their lightsabers. All of this was done before they were assigned a Master. But Maison Ondura had seen something in Tobias, and convinced Master Yoda to let him train him himself. So, that is how he ended up making his lightsaber at age sixteen. As Maison's teachings were mostly the same as Yoda's yet still different. He taught Tobias how to wield a lightsaber (A training one of course), but he also was taught some force abilities at an age younger than most.
Tobias knew his training was finally coming to an end, and that soon he would become a full Jedi, yet he wasn't ready to give up being a padawan just yet.
"The Templar have no desire to keep that peace treaty," Jedi Master Lamon Stolz said. "The attack on the Jedi Temple on Q'tar in the Ileenium system, the murder of Lish Menel, and now an unprovoked attack on a padawan and his master."
"Yes, full of the Dark side, they are." Yoda replied. "Something very sinister has resurfaced, I fear."
"You're not going to suggest that the Sith have returned, are you?" Maison asked. "I thought that we defeated them years ago."
"I fear that…. somethings never die, Master Ondura." Yoda said calmly. "The Dark Side, always be there, it will. And as long as it is, someone will be there to take advantage of its power."
"We need to send someone to Dromund Kaas." Master Y'von Khora said. "And to talk to the Templar, to end this atrocity. This maybe the only way that we can settle this peacefully."
"I'll go," Maison volunteered. "With Tobias."
"I can agree with that." Lamon said. Everyone else nodded.
"Settled then, it is." Yoda announced. "Ondura and Tobias will head to Dromund Kaas, and hopefully settle this." He then turned to Maison Ondura. "May the Force be with you."
"What?" Darth Magnus said coldly.
"One of our pilots intercepted two Jedi Starfighters, but- they got away." Commander Maun said, doing his best to remain calm.
"You have one job, commander. Do it well. Now tell me, what went wrong?"
"They- made the jump to hyperspace."
"I want those Jedi- not excuses!" Darth Magnus yelled furiously as he used the force to send Commander Maun flying against the wall. "Now go do your job. You wouldn't want to know what would happen if we needed to meet like this again."
At that moment, another officer walked in. "Excuse me, Lord Magnus, but we have just received word that the two Jedi have been sent on a …. diplomatic mission to discuss the treaty over on Dromund Kaas."
"Is that so?" Darth Magnus said. "Congratulations, you've just been promoted to Commander, at least you can do your job. As for Maun here, you are now on janitorial duties. Surely even someone like you can't mess that up."