Chapter 19 Redeeming a Fallen Jedi

Alright, another long set of notes regarding a characters lightsaber styles based on my interpretation on how I played that character as well as info from Wookiepedia. This time for Juhani who will appear as an antagonist of this chapter.

She is an aggressive combatant like Bastila. But unlike with Bastila whom I initially felt was an Ataru practitioner but changed my mind, I do still believe that is the case for Juhani, at least to an extent. Because she does have acrobatics in the form of force leap within the game. She can jump right into battle which I think is a very Ataru-like move. She can also use both Flurry and Power Attacks. As I described when I spoke of my reasons for changing my mind on Bastila, Ataru uses not only acrobatics and agility but also strength. It is also more aggressive than defensive, a trait that both Juhani and Bastila share with how I play them. They rely on the force for defense more than their lightsaber I feel. So, I feel Ataru would be her primary form. But since she is a Jedi Guardian, I would bet on her being skilled in a more lightsaber forms as well. She could then help Calak in his lightsaber training as well on the ship as a few extra scenes to perfect his Niman form and bring it to its true potential by incorporating all of the other forms into it.

Since she also has the Power Attack, I would say she has some skill in Shien or Djem-So, with Shien being a good option for defense without weakening attack. Probably Shi Cho since it is the most basic of lightsaber forms. However, taking into account that she did fall to the dark side for a while and injure her master, as well that she has quite a fierce, aggressive personality (with her first line in the game being 'I will be your doom!) and fighting style, I believe there is another form that would suit her just as much if not more than Ataru. Juyo, the Ferocity form that is said to inherently bring Jedi closer to the Dark Side as it relies on emotions, which is why only a skilled master like Mace Windu is allowed to practice it by time of the Clone Wars. Juhani definitely struggles with her emotions. Juyo is also a form that varies from user to user, as it is imperfect and often practiced only by wielders or masters of MULTIPLE other lightsaber forms. Juhani also has a weakness against force powers with how I play her, and that is another trait of a Juyo user, being vulnerable to enemy force powers.

So, all in all I'd say Juhani has these four forms in her arsenal. Shi-Cho, Ataru, Shien/Djem So, and Juyo. All of which are attuned with her aggressive and fierce personality and fighting style. She can have some good defense if you give her Force Armor and at least Advanced Jedi Defense, but she is definitely more focused on offense. Now onto the chapter.

The Cathar charged at Calak who just managed to ignite his lightsaber and put up his other defense in time. The blue blocked blocked the red that had aimed for Calak's neck. He also surrounded himself in an invisible force shield to guard against enemy force powers in the event that the Cathar unleased something against him. That was one of the most basic and most necessary techniques taught to the Jedi right now with the reemergence of the Sith. Defending against their Dark Powers could mean the difference between life and death.

Fortunately, the Cathar did not use the dark side against him, she seemed to focus inwardly, powering her rage. Based on her charge and words from mere moments ago stating she would be his doom, she was clearly an aggressive fighter. Calak had worked to find a balance in his primary form of Niman. Zhar had had him study all seven lightsaber forms and their strengths and weaknesses so he could react accordingly to counter.

The Cathar sent a flurry at him and he was forced to fall back on the defensive Form III for a moment. Her lightsaber spun, and she jumped high, bringing her blade down. Calak blocked the flurry and leapt off to the side as she came down, using the maneuvers of Form IV, Ataru, which the Cathar also seemed be incorporating as well with a bit of Form V mixed in. She was clearly a skilled lightsaber user.

He shifted as she completed her attack, striking with a strong Form V strike as well. He was stronger then Cathar, and managed to bat her blade aside and nearly land a blow that would have cut her in half. But she managed to backflip away.

Then she threw her lightsaber at him!

Calak's eyes widened, sure for an instant that he was gonna be beheaded by a flying lightsaber. Yet he wasn't going down without a fight. The red lightsaber moved so fast, but Calak moved and seemed to react with pure instinct, raising his hand and using the force to grab hold of the lightsaber, diverting it's course so that it stopped mid-swing just inches from his torso. He was shocked, how had he managed to do that?

The Cathar looked in surprise as well. Calak stood there, frozen with confusion. She recovered quickly and then called her lightsaber back to her hand. He silently cursed himself, if he'd taken advantage of it while her weapon was out of reach he could have ended her then and there. But did he want to kill her? If he had to, but maybe there was another way. Zhar had not given him any instructions on what he was supposed to do other then face her.

She reengaged him, using a different style. Before, her attacks seemed to follow a pattern, now that pattern was gone. She went one direction at first and then switched course to the other, feinting. Calak barely managed to block or evade this new style, which he recognized as Juyo.

Calak had not trained in Juyo himself, as Master Zhar had told him that it was a highly difficult form to master. It inherently drew on emotion, which could make it easier to fall to the dark side. Only a few hundred Jedi of the thousands in the galaxy had been picked to study it. Apparently this Cathar had been among them, and she'd likely fallen to the dark side in pursuit of it. Form VII was aggressive and chaotic, built off of the other forms as it required a foundation in multiple bases just like Niman, but often with more emphasis on offense. No two subsets of Juyo were said to be the same. There was no pattern, just random attacks meant to confuse an enemy. It was working, Calak couldn't tell which direction the next attack was coming from, it was as if the Cathar wielded three lightsabers instead of one as she struck, Calak let the force guide his blade, which he was sure was the only reason he was still alive.

But Calak knew for all its strengths, Juyo had one weakness, being suspectable to enemy force powers, something Niman specialized in, which made Form VI the perfect counter to Form VII. He lashed out with the force, sending a wave of energy that knocked the Cathar off her feet. He then charged forward as she got back up, but was too late to stop the stab he sent to her right shoulder. She let out a pained yell.

"Arrgh!"

Her lightsaber fell, the blade extinguishing. Calak felt the blood rushing to his head, a desire to finish her filling him, but he resisted it. She hadn't done anything to him… other then attack him… yet. He didn't know if she was a really a Sith or a fallen Jedi. He'd defeated her.

She also realized this as she clutched her wound in pain before looking at him.

"You… you are strong. Stronger then me, even in my darkness," she said.

Calak lowered his lightsaber but didn't activate it. She still had one good arm she could use it if she tried.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I am Juhani!" she declared in a voice of anger. "And this is my grove! My place of dark power! The place you have invaded. When I embraced the dark side this is where I sought my solace. It is MINE!"

Calak took in her words with his ears, while his forces senses allowed him to sense her emotions. Anger and hatred were there, but there was also regret and shame as well. If she had those two emotions within her, there might be chance to persuade her to turn away from this dark path.

"You embraced the dark side?" he asked. "Why?"

She looked at him, the anger dimming and replaced with sadness.

"When I slew my master… Quatra, I knew I could never go back... and now I revel in my dark power. Power enough to crush the life of one such as you… or so I thought."

Calak looked at her with pity. She had hurt someone she cared about because of her carelessness and now was hurting more as she felt there was no way out.

"The dark side is never powerful enough," he told her.

She sighed in frustration. "What do you want? Why do you bother me?"

"I've been sent by the council to cleanse this grove," Calak said.

"They've sent you here to kill me?" she asked. "Then do it. I cannot be saved."

"I don't know about that," Calak said. "I can sense your regret. I do not hold anger toward you, you've lost your way I see."

There were footsteps nearby, causing Calak to look off to the side. Canderous and Mission approached. How long had they been there?

"You should really just kill her in my opinion," Canderous said. "Never let an enemy come back to attack you again, even if it might be fun."

"If you think she can be redeemed, I'm with you," Mission said.

Calak looked back at Juhani whose anger had faded somewhat. She now looked at him with intrigue and he could sense a glimmer of hope in her.

"You don't hold anger to me?" she asked.

"No, I wish you peace," he said.

"Not anger… peace," she with a slight scoff. "Yet even with your naïve attitude you managed to beast me."

Her anger then returned. "I am pathetic, thinking myself strong when I embraced the dark side but I am nothing. There is no way I could be turned back! I always thought the council held me back because they were jealous of my power. But I could not meet their standards. I never have been, I was always too aggressive for a Jedi."

Calak decided to press forward.

"The first step on the true path to knowledge is knowing when you are ignorant."

She pondered his words and spoke in humility quickly followed by remorse. "I seem to still have much to learn. Both about being a Jedi and myself. But I wish the cost of my ignorance had not been so high. I wish my master had not suffered because of me."

Calak thought of something he could say to sooth her. He then recalled that Master Zhar had said those that died became one with the force, and weren't truly gone.

"Even in death, the force will allow her to live on. You are her legacy, you can still do good if you turn back now."

She took a breath and what Calak felt of her anger that she had directed at herself faded away and was replaced completely with remorse as well as well despair. "If she were still alive right now, there is so much I would say to her… so much I would apologize for. Oh how can I ever face the council, what I did, striking down my master in anger was unforgivable."

"Anger?" Calak repeated. "Show them you have freed yourself of that base passion!"

Juhani was silent for a moment, hope growing in her. "If I show them I am free of my passion, that I am serene… willing to forsake the dark side… maybe, just maybe… do you think they would accept me back?"

Calak nodded. "Your inner peace and harmony will show them your sincerity. I can sense it."

"I… thank you, Master Jedi," she said.

"Not a master yet," he corrected her.

"You are still a better Jedi then I ever was. I will go back to the enclave and see the council," Juhani said.

"We'll go with you," Calak promised.

He then approached her, looking at the wound on her shoulder. Putting a hand on it, he transferred force energy from himself to her. The wound healed in a few moments and Juhani let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you," she said flexing her arm.

They suddenly felt a shift in the force of the grove, instead of the coldness of the dark side, it now felt warm with the light. Calak smiled at the feeling, knowing he'd succeeded. He then turned, there were two paths into the grove over a small hill, one he'd taken to the right, and another directly in front of him. He walked in that direction.

"Hold on!" Juhani warned him. "There is a camp of Mandalorians not far from that direction!"

"More Mandalorians?" Calak asked. "Well, I was gonna fight more of them if I got the chance."

"Lets go get em!" Canderous said eagerly. "Wouldn't mind putting down some of these raiders."

"Is working for Davak really that different?" Mission asked.

"Maybe not to you, but raiding those weaker than yourself has no honor. I don't like cowards among my kind, and will gladly kill these Mandalorians," Canderous explained.

They headed out the path in front. After emerging from the trees they saw a group of figures, two Mandalorians, one with a rifle, and the other with a double bladed vibrosword. The rest were Duros henchmen.

"For the Republic!" Juhani stated as she lit her red blade again. "For my redemption!"

She charged at the group, Calak lit his own lightsaber and followed. The Mandalorians and Duros saw them coming.

"Jedi!" the one with the blade said.

"And two… hey you're one of us!" the rifle wielding one said as he saw Canderous.

Canderous looked at them with disdain. "You've fallen low, extorting mere settlers."

"We do what we have to survive! If you're too trapped in your code of honor, then you can just be another head for us to take!" the first one said.

Canderous and Mission activated their energy shields while Calak and Juhani held their lightsabers at ready. The blade wielding Mandalorian activated his own shield to ward off both blasters and lightsabers, then charged. Calak and Juhani went for the swordsman, their lightsabers clashing against his cortosis lined blades. He was formidable, striking strong and fast. But with two Jedi they managed to hold him at bay. Calak fell onto Soresu once again and blocked the onslaught of attacks from both blades, good thing he'd had plenty of practice against a variety of melee weapons including double blades before now. They provided a faster rate of attack which could be enough to overwhelm. If not for Juhani backing him up, he might have found it very difficult to defeat this raider. Juhani struck from behind, catching the fully body energy shield with a number of quick strikes. The swordsman turned to her, seeing she was more skilled with a lightsaber then Calak, his weapon spinning. Juhani struggled to keep up with both blades, it was almost like fighting two people at once. Her preferred forms that Calak had seen where Ataru, Djem-So, and Juyo, all of which were aggressive and best suited against a lone opponent. While this was one man he wielded a weapon that allowed him to fight like two.

But Calak was there to back her up. He sent a wave of force energy out just like he had against her only minutes ago, it knocked the Mandalorian down and Juhani went in, stabbing at him. His energy shield withstood that strike, but flickered and burned out. Calak then came forward and stabbed as well, catching him in the face through his visor.

Canderous and Mission, meanwhile, took on the Duros with their blasters. Good thing they didn't have energy shields and quickly fell to the shots. That left the lone Mandalorian who fired desperately against them. He managed to break through Canderous's shield as Calak and Juhani charged. Canderous grunted as the weakened blast hit him in the stomach, he clutched it as he fell.

"Canderous!" Calak yelled in concern.

The Mandalorian grit his teeth.

"I'll be fine, my shield stopped the worst of the damage. My healing mod will have it patched up in no time."

He pulled himself to his feet. They all slowly made their way back to the enclave. Juhani was brought before the council while Calak spoke with Master Zhar.

"The dark taint is cleansed and Juhani's path down the dark side has been halted. You have done well my pupil," the Twi'lek master said before handing Calak something. "Please accept these, your very own Jedi robes."

They were plain brown robes with shoulder guards like many of the other Jedi here on Dantooine. Calak smiled and accepted the gift.

"Congratulations, apprentice. Or should I say, congratulations Padawan," Zhar said. "Go and rest now, you have earned it."

"Thank you master," Calak said.

He returned to the ship where he found Bastila. She saw the robes he was carrying.

"You've been accepted a member of the order I take it?" she asked.

Calak nodded and walked onto the ship, going to the left quarters he shared with Carth and Canderous when they slept. He changed into his new Jedi robes and stuck his equally new lightsaber on his belt. Now he was no longer a soldier, but a Jedi, perhaps the Jedi that could defeat Darth Malak and stop the Sith for good. That would come, but for now Calak took a moment to relax after walking among the plains and doing his other tests. There were still some more Mandalorians and who knew what else on this planet that needed dealing. But he would do what he could to make the galaxy a better place and stop this war. He sat and meditated.