Chapter 1

Five hundred years earlier

"Determined you are?" Jedi Knight Bryan Tam paused in his packing of his planet rock collection, one of the few indulgences he allowed himself, to see one of his closest friends, Jedi Knight Yoda sat down on his sadly worst to wear couch. One that to be honest, he couldn't wait to get rid of.

Even if they were centuries apart, Yoda had taken the young human boy under his guidance when he first at age three came to the temple, orphaned from a war that decimated his planet. Even if Yoda wasn't his Master when he became a padawan, his Master was Yoda's padawan or at least something that lead back to Yoda. Bryan wondered if someone looked hard enough, everything lead back to Yoda or at least his species. They were the longest living force users the Jedi knew.

Bryan studied his old friend as he took in the empty quarters soon to be used for another Knight-Padawan pair. It was bittersweet leaving, but "Yoda, did the force ever whisper to you so fiercely that after everything you couldn't ignore it any longer? It came as a quiet thing and you had to follow wherever it lead you?" He asked as he packed his brown/black padawan braid in a special place along with his lightsaber crystal the only thing he asked from the council to keep.

"Meditated on this did you?" Yoda asked, his heart heavy. He would miss his friend.

Bryan snorted, a wide grin on his face. "More times than I could count. Master Tobin and I mediated together and the force is clear on this. We need to go." His amber eyes grew distant, "I don't know where though. All I know is, my care for my lover is selfless, the force sings with her. With us. Master Tobin is the same."

"Speaking of, Master Tobin needs help with her luggage." The lean, scholar lady grumbled as she set down a overflowing pack.

"Don't tell me you're bringing everything from the archives?" Bryan inquired as Yoda chuckled as he poked the bag with his stick. It's not like he needed his walking stick, but the nutrition was good.

"Nope, just the few bits and pieces I couldn't part without, including the Chosen One Prophecy." Her golden hair was in a messy braid, and her keen blue eyes were excited.

A short time later, Knight Yoda watched as his friend and his companion leave for parts unknown. He wondered if he'll ever see Bryan Tam again or anyone of his line. Only the force will know.

Five hundred years later

Jarl Aaron Tachi, in his early 60's, ruler of Honoghr walked slowly up the mountains to where the Noghri Clan Maitrakhs, female leaders kept their Grand Dukha, which was different from the one located in the Noghri's main city of Nystao where the Dynast clan leaders all males sat.

Aaron's once blonde hair was streaked with grey but his blue eyes were as striking as ever. His tanned face looked weary, as if heavy burdens made him slump as he trudged up the mountain. So lost in thought of his many concerns he tripped over some rock that fallen on the dirty trail. Aaron slammed into the ground, his breathe was driven from his body as his simple outfit of dark blue and grey didn't protect him from his fall.

Head ringing, Aaron got up and tried to walk on, determined not to be found laying on the ground. But his vision had turned pure white and blood dripped freely down his face and knees. Aaron took one unsteady wobble, reaching out to the force to guide him when his female Shadow, Yara-Oran took his hand in her hand careful of her deadly claws, the rest of her small compact deadly reptile-like body was in shadow in grey cloak as her black eyes looked outward..

Her voice was of nightmares, a cold, chilling, of a soft whisper as she spoke in basic. "I will guide you the rest of the way Jarl. The Pirkha is close, and the Great Dukha is closer still."

Thirty-five minutes later, Aaron's eyes cleared enough to step in the Pirkha or area of land where the Great Dukha or communal building was located. The hexagonal building looked old, at least more than two life-times.

Jarl Aaron's eyes adjust to the dim light of the Great Dukha and bowed deeply to the Noghri Clan Maitrakhs, the female leaders of the planet that he and people had adopted as their own. The people knew of the Jedi way of service but they didn't know how deeply that tradition had been passed on down the centuries.

In all things, the Jarl and whoever helped the planet in anyway, were in a sense Jedi, but only for this sector. The Noghri had allowed their forebears to be Jedi as they were to the core of their being and so each force sensitive if worthy, focused, disciplined enough recited the Jedi Code of old and became Protectors and Guardians of Honoghr and the surrounding area. Not all of the force sensitives wanted to be Protectors and Guardians so they had elected to be Jedi in another sense. In Shmi Skywalker's case, her oath to the people of Honoghr dealt with the healing arts and as a determined woman, she took her vows seriously. The dark would never have her. Each oath was different for each the force sensitive but all lived by the old code as much as possible.

It wasn't an easy path to walk, as more people had a higher sensitivity to the force, as in Anakin Skywalker's case, more higher training and method was required. It was a hard, and at times unforgiving life as Aaron knew as he had lost his only son and wife to the force's calling. When the force called you to do something, you answered whether you liked it or not, regardless of your feelings or path in life.

"I have come to serve." Aaron Tachi wasn't the Jarl here, he was the Protector and Guardian of the planet, as evident by keeping the planet from the galaxy at the request of their forebears, among other tinier things.

"We have come to a cross roads Tachi. Come let me show you what I had showed Shmi and Arne as they are trusted to our council. It is why they have been melancholy of late, but they are strong as you are strong." The oldest of the oldest of the female Maitrakh's was helped down from the central right seat by Yara-Oran, her granddaughter, as the one in the middle had been left open for as long as Aaron had known of this place.

Aaron followed the lit touches that Yara-Oran had lit to life as they passed into a deep tunnel that he never knew existed on Honoghr and he explored as much as the planet as he could when he was young.

He couldn't help gasping out loud at the huge stick creature mural that spread throughout the cavern he now found himself in, deep into the mountain, more then an hour had passed as he followed the oldest of the Noghri females.

"The Jarl heir, Anakin Skywalker isn't the only person to see a alternate history or in our case future. Long ago before your ancestors came to our planet we were divided and a warring society between our people. But one by one the seers of the different tribes had a vision, a incomplete one. So the seers, who we now know to be force sensitive sought out the other seers and the Great Dukha is were they first meet. Usually the tribes during that time only came together once a year for trade and that week no one fought no one. But that year the seers had quietly urged their clans to come together as one for the future they saw and detailed on these walls wouldn't come to pass. It helped that the seers saw the box we once worshiped as their downfall."

"What do you mean? I see space battles and dark rain falling and the planet dead. That hasn't happened. Whose the creature in black and the creatures in white? Who's…" Aaron waved his hand to the only detailed figure on the wall, a tall stately woman with brown hair, brown eyes and pregnant. She was a lovely woman and something about her seemed very familiar.

Yara-Oran smiled with all her teeth as her grandmother rested and Yara-Oran answered. "It is part of the vision that Anakin Skywalker had seen, but far into the future in which he has not seen but our seers did. That is the Mal'ary'ush, Daughter of the savior. Our once savior who we knew to be enslaved himself who became our slaver. That dark man is Anakin if you haven't found him when your brother did. It still might come to pass."

"Anakin fell that deeply?" Aaron wished he couldn't see that happening but he sadly did. Anakin still had emotional scars and mental ones that worried the ones close to him. He could see how Anakin could be groomed by evil men to do their bidding none the wiser, Mistral Charna came to mind and his grandson, Balin. But if Anakin fell and he didn't know the Charna's who had that much power to change the galaxy so completely? He knew that the white troopers didn't exist in the Republic. It made him uneasy and the force had pressed deeply to say, don't let this pass.

"He did, but love found him in the end and in the end, by being saved by love, he still saved us. This bleak future will not be. Another one, almost as bad or more so can still be. War is coming to our planet and this time, we will not sit by, let it ruin our world or our people. We, the Noghri councils of females and males are decided, we need to join the Republic, but we need to lay ground work first. Bring Anakin his Jedi instructors, and we need." The oldest female of the females paused in her commands to their Guardian and Protector. She didn't have the force like her son and his offspring, but she wasn't the oldest and wisest of her people for nothing.

"Aaron speak freely. What is troubling you?" Aaron frowned, as he knew exactly what she requested.

"We gave our daughter freely to the Jedi, she can't come back." Aaron missed Siri, he was there when she first walked, talked and did something so amazing in the force, Lucia and him gave her away to hone her force skills and serve the galaxy. Leaving her on Alderaan to be found by the Jedi was the hardest thing he had ever done besides gently unraveling her parent bonds to himself and Lucia and her sibling bond to Halim, who had cried in sorrow for many days at the loss of his sister.

"Our Noghri spies throughout the galaxy when dispatched had reported that the Jedi on Courasant has seem to have lost their service to the force and take requests from politicians more than anyone else. Are you not Jedi? Did you not swear to follow the force and the code and oath you have taken to protect our people? We almost killed your forebears because of fear, but we watched, waited and tested them. Then they gave us a gift, they saved a young Noghri who was important at that time, and in return we serve them as they serve us. Bring Anakin's teachers and Siri home. We need them. A female must sit on the Jarl seat once more, Shmi needs to have balance to work."

Aaron was stuck dumb by the way the force had surged around the oldest of the oldest female Noghri and how it sang with the righteousness of her words as well the hard earned respect that Shmi had of the Noghri people. "Give me a year, let me see what the people think and what your people think in return. If all is in agreement, then it is done."

"Agreed. One year from this day. Be ready."

He bowed deeply to the Noghri and helped her out of the hidden cavern.

A year later after fighting off assassins who he knew came from the Charnas, but still didn't have proof, he knew that the oldest female Noghri was right, his meditation throughout the last year confirmed it. Anakin needed his teachers and Siri needed to come home.

But he had hope so he summoned his personal councillor, Jedi Knight Jon Antilles, and the visiting Jedi Ky Narec who was visiting his force brother General Jarl Niko Shinai. They had bonded over an escape from a hell planet many years ago. His padawan Asajj Ventress wasn't with Ky for once, but deep in her studies to be a Jedi Shadow, as she took a liking to the idea after meeting the ones on Honoghr and after mediating on it with her Master and the head of the Jedi Shadows, Tholme, she started her studies.

"It's time. Summon Niko as soon as his dawn class is done." The two Jedi exchanged a glance and bowed politely to the Jarl as he knew that they didn't serve him, but advised him as a friend. They knew what Aaron meant.

Planet Galidraan, before the Great Clan War, many years before Siri is called home.

At age eighteen, medic Warrior Attis of Clan Thales knew his path in life. Or he did he amended, almost dropping the water he had for Vina's precious plants. He was only gone for a half hour as he stared at the carnage that raged ahead of him.

Instead of dropping the water, he backed away from the terrible slaughter of the civilians to assess the situation, setting the buckets behind a burned out building and covering his baskar armor with his cloak. His medic side outweighed his warrior side as he automatically started to catalog who he could help save. A high pitched sound caught his attention turning his blood to ice. A Jetii was wielding a lightsaber against civilians and wearing stolen baskar armor.

Attis shook as cold rage shoved out his concern on how to treat the villagers as his sharp green eyes narrow and he bit his tongue so it bleed, the cooper taste settling his nerves as his mind racing to see how this could be. How dare the Jetii use Mandalorian armor to seed distrust against them. Leaving the buckets behind he skillfully followed the man who surprisingly enough didn't sense his presence at all as he walked away letting his fellow killers to finish their work. Attis thought he recognized some of them, but he shoved that thought to the back of his mind. He had other things to be concerned with.

Attis didn't know how far he trailed the Jetii but hid nearby as the man stopped and sat down to peer over a ridge into the True Mandalorian camp. Attis frowned, why stop to see the killings? Why would a Jetii not help his companions… a cold dread started to replace rage as he had time to study the Jetii's 'armor.' It wasn't a Jedi underneath that armor but a Mandalorian.

If he had his clan insignia right, and he really thought he did, his father drilled them so he could repeat them in his sleep, it was Clan Vizsla. Or at least it was their colors, if you knew what to look for on blank armor, small etchings. Death Watch wasn't what he, his grandfather Daniel or Vina or even her father thought it was.

Not knowing what to do, Attis turned his head just to see Jango Fett, the so-called Mand'alor kill six Jedi with his bare hands, not all at once but fast enough that Attis almost emptied his stomach, the sour taste lingered in his mouth before he could shove it down.

Attis didn't know how long he sat there stunned at how ruthlessly the Death Watch operated as the Jedi finished killing all the people in the camp. Attis could hear Tor Vizsla, his leader or at least Vina's leader, laugh quietly to himself as if he was watching a story on a view screen.

Attis almost blinked as a thump shook the ground as a Manalorian warrior who was in armor come up just as the Jedi arrested Jango, the only survivor. "So I see that your plan worked, Mand'alor."

Attis Thules' heart dropped at the sound of that voice, his suspicion confirmed as the darkly tanned redheaded man took off his helmet. "I'm not Mand'alor yet Gladiola. Still up to what needs to be done?"

"No." The firm conviction of his beloved's father Evan, made Attis let out a small airless sigh and reach for his Kal dagger and gun as the man continued. "I agreed with many of your ideas Vizsla, but I'm not going to kill my kin because you don't care for a plant herbalist. Vina is doing great work along with others. I hope some day to see it. You have your way of making Mandalore great again, but the people will need a healed planet to go back to."

"Are you saying you're against me Gladiola?" The leader of Death Watch didn't give the man a chance to answer as he skillfully lit and used the stolen lightsaber. Evan Gladiola's head rolled almost to Attis's hiding spot. One he picked, because the rocks could hide his heat signature.

"Such a pity. He was a good fighter and his daughter well, maybe I'll have fun with her before she's gone. That is, if my men left me scraps." Vizsla stripped off the man's weapons as he continued to talk out loud. Tor always loved the sound of his own voice. "Why would I need to rebuild Mandalore's ecosystem if we're going to conquer other planets?"

At that, cold rage made Attis's mind speed up to the point of slowing down as his mind went into medic mode or warrior mode as Vina teased him during training. Attis knew that he couldn't face Vizsla head on. One, as skilled as he may be, Attis was still young and at times untried, two, you don't become a leader unless you have great skill. So instead Attis used his mind, which to his grandfather Daniel always said was his greatest asset. It was a tricky and risky maneuver, but it might just work.

Baskar armor was well made and sturdier than any, but as a medic, Attis had quick a few tricks up his sleeves, which included ways to bypass the armor if you needed to save someone's life without having to undo all of it and 'rebuild' it quickly.

First, he had to knock the man completely out and strip him of his weapons including that kriffing lightsaber. Hopefully then rescue Vina and her companions. Moving swiftly he tossed a breakable canister from his belt, hard at Vizsla. It didn't matter if the man swatted it away, it was a distraction.

Attis felt a grim satisfaction as the canister exploded as it clipped the right shoulder, making a hissing sound as some of the blue goop started to eat away the baskar armor at a fast rate as smoke filled the air, it was a non-lethal substance but the man didn't know that. Tor didn't care for the healing arts.

Attis held his gun ready at full stun as To,r instead of stripping away the armor dripping down his front, as Attis expected, Tor started to fire in the direction of the canister, which thankfully Attis wasn't there anymore as he had anticipated this action.

Attis was calm and cold and when he saw an opening he took it. The first shot went wide, the second pinged against the armor, the third almost made it and the fourth slammed into Tor's exposed side just as he shot at Attis. Tor was fast but Attis had to be faster to live and work as a medic on the battlefield, even in the smallest of skirmishes. You couldn't heal people if you got killed needlessly.

Tor jerked to a stop as a tremor went through his body as he suddenly couldn't catch his breath, then he dropped like a stone, jerking as he did so. Attis watched and waited, his gun still trained on the man letting a full ten minutes past before he switched weapons and stunned the man fuller into deep sleep as the blue goop finished the work, exposing most the of man's torso, upper arms and lower regions.

Attis didn't waste time, but pilfered all the weapons including the curiously baskar hilt lightsaber. Thankfully the jet-pack on the back was intact and a better design than the one he wore. Attis re-sculpted the baskar armor so to hide what he had done as best as he could. It was a makeshift job, but hopefully it'll seem like something other than a medic's work. Maybe.

Twenty minutes later he dropped out of sight a half klick away from Vina's base camp and came upon a worst scene than he had left as charred smoke filled the air. Attis threw up as he thumped to his knees in the dirt. As a medic warrior, Attis didn't wear the full baskar armor since he had to move quickly from patient to patient, but enough to cover the important parts.

Vina was gone. Her work was gone. Her fellow pioneers were gone. Tears of sorrow and rage dripped down his darkly tanned skin as he fruitlessly flicked his eyes from one burning field to another, the greenhouse was destroyed. The compound that held the living quarters and such was a smoking ruin.

Attis had doubts about Death Watch, but Vina was a proud member, but now he realized the truth of their ways.

Death Watch didn't care about Mandalore or its people. Vina was a child of the Watch, a group of men, women and children who were part of Death Watch but supported their efforts in other ways than battle. Attis was considering joining them since he didn't care much for the True Mandalorians and honestly the peaceful Mandalorians were a bit of a laugh.

But no more. A sudden thought flickered in his mind as he remembered Vina's red hair and deep brown eyes, but maybe some her work survived and maybe he'll can find others who could help. Attis quickly found what he was looking for and left. He had people to warn and evidence to show. He hoped the site that Vina's clan picked out was still intact or at least one of the off sites.