NationStates Jolt Archive

((OOC: This may touch on some unpleasant images. Not in any level of detail (for fear of being banned mostly...), but as I know some people who find the movie 'The Mummy' very scary I also know you can't be too careful. Just don't read it if you may take offence, and don't complain to me if you do read it and you do take offence...

S-O stands for semi-open, by the way. I just ran out of space 0_o ))

The Imperial Republic of Studium. A hundred years earlier, that name may have meant something. A huge interstellar empire, spanning hundreds of lightyears and constantly expanding. Studium was a great military power, with freedom and security for all its peoples.

But it grew too large. It made that fatal mistake that all empires seem to make -- it thought its resources were limitless. Their ships began to run out of fuel before they even left Studium space, stopping their expansion in its tracks and preventing a hunt for more resources. Slowly but surely, the empire that was Studium began to collapse in on itself. When its government ceased to exist, nobody stepped in to the vacuum of power that remained, and chaos reigned supreme.

The security people once knew and loved was gone. Bands of pirates, mercenaries and bounty hunters took up residence, terrorising any who got in their path. Women were repeatedly raped and there was nobody they could turn to for aid. Men either struggled to survive on their own ingenuity, or they were forcibly captured by slavers. Those who weren't being terrorised suffered in a different way, as their entire moral code dissolved around their heads. Inflicting pain on others, sex with strangers in public, killing people at parties just for fun -- these were the ways of the Studii now.

Those who lived on the outskirts of the old Studium Empire began to know the huge region of space as the 'Horrible Depths of Anarchic Studium Space', and marked the entire area as a no-go area. Despite this, drugs began to be ferried into the immoral wasteland of death and despair.



However, not all had been lost of the Studium Empire. Small remnants of Clone Troopers survived, and now roamed the space they had been bred to defend. They uselessly tried to restore law and order in key locales, almost always failing but always trying regardless. They killed mercenaries and bounty hunters wherever they found them, freed slaves and generally tried to put right the overwhelming wrongs that befell the Studium people.

Perhaps more interestingly, they blamed Studium's Jedi Council for their failure to respond to the situation before it got so bad. Instead of trying to help the people of Studium, half of them fled. The rest turned on each other; some became Dark, others remained Light. As with seemingly everything else in this God-foresaken place, the Dark won. The Clone Troopers, who had instituted a state of Martial Law in Studium (for what it was worth...), now regarded the Jedi as enemies of Studium, and actively tried to destroy them before they brought even more death and destruction to the troubled area.

There weren't many left, most of them had either left or killed each other. But they knew of at least three Jedi who remained in this place. They had received a tip-off from someone they had once helped that one female Jedi, supposedly a Dark Jedi, now resided on a world which used to be a business world, but was now a pleasure planet. Four Clone Commandos had been deployed from the Imperial Studium Ship Vulture, to eradicate the woman. The ship's name sounded more impressive than it actually was. It was a shadow of its former self. It has sustained large amounts of damage over the years, but there were no shipyards for it to get proper repairs.

Four Commandos against a Jedi. Was it enough?

Gamma 78 was about to find out. He stepped up to the counter of the seedy hotel they had tracked the Jedi to. This place had obviously once been a place of magnificence, probably home to wealthy businessmen on trips far from home. No longer. Its elegant wallpaper was burned black and covered in bright green and yellow graffiti. The chandeliers that dangled from the roof had been stolen, and now only fires in bins lit the room. The large stained-glass windows had been smashed long ago, allowing a glimpse at the stars above.

"I'm looking for a woman," 78 said through his helmet. His visor was tinted blue slightly, unlike most Clone Troopers who simply had black visors. "She has dark hair and is about... this tall. Have you seen her?"

The man behind the counter stood up and put his hands on the table. He was fat, quite old, and wore sweaty clothes stained with what appeared to be months of food. He looked the Clone's scratched white-and-orange armour over and sneered.

"Your kind ain't welcome 'ere, test-tube baby," the man said in a gruff voice.

"Really?" 78 said, stepping back. He looked back at the other three Clones and shrugged. "Hey I guess we'd better leave before this nice fella gets upset."

He turned around and suddenly launched forwards, grabbing the man around his flabby neck and slamming his head against the stained counter. As the man reached for an old-fashioned pistol tucked under his belt, 78 pressed the barrel of his blaster rifle against his head as a friendly reminder.

"Whoops, I must have slipped," 78 growled. "Now, where were we? Ah yes, I asked you about a woman, and you told me to get out. That suggests to me that you know who I am talking about. Do you, sir?"

"Y... yes, yes, I know her!" the man shouted. "Just don't kill me. I've a business to run!"

"That's a start," 78 nodded. "Now, where is she?"

"I... I can't tell ya, y'know?" the man pleaded. One of his hands, just out of sight, was fumbling around behind the counter for an old blaster pistol he kept down there. For emergencies, of course. "I've an understanding with the people what come 'ere! I can't just tell you their secrets! I'd lose all me customers!"

"That's alright," 78 nodded. "I understand. I'll just blast your brains out and pick out what I need that way."

"What?! Alright alright," the man shook in 78's grasp. He pointed up at a board full of keycards behind the counter. "She's in room 8971. Just... don't tell anyone I said that."

78 roughly released the man from his grasp and shoved him back over the desk. He looked down at his hand and wiped it on the desk, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Have a shower," 78 said. "Wash your clothes too, while you're at it. Alright squad, let's take the elevator. Defensive formation, two-by-two. Let's do it by the numbers."

Without even looking, he fired his blaster rifle into the man's stomach as he reached up with a pistol. He clutched his sizeable belly as blood spewed from it, and collapsed to the floor with a thud.

The four Commandos moved out, shoving their way through crowds of druggies and pushing aside hookers as they tried to get out of the lobby and into the elevator. They finally managed to reach the doors, and waited as they recalled it. People were looking at them strangely as they waited, which only served to make them hold their weapons ready. The doors opened and they gladly stepped inside, shutting the doors behind them again as quickly as they could.

"Those freaks give me the creeps," one of the Commandos said as he dusted his suit off. "What was up with that woman's eyes?"

"Stow it," 78 snapped. "If we are going to take down this Jedi woman, we have to do it quickly and effectively. Unless the floor plans have been changed since the Vulture's computer was last updated, there are three entrances to each room. A service door at the rear, the front door, and an overhead entrance in the form of air ducts. 81, 56, you two take the service entrance. 26 and I will take the front door. We'll catch her in an unexpected crossfire and finish the job, just like last time."

"Gotcha boss," 56 nodded. 81 simply mock-saluted. 26 shook his head but said nothing.

"You have a problem with that 26?" 78 asked sternly.

"No boss," 26 shook his head. "I just have a bad feeling, is all."

"Oh great," 81 sighed. "I hate when he gets one of those. All he does is whine about it!"

"Stow it, we're almost to the top," 78 snapped, raising his rifle.



The wooden panels of the hotel corridors were, like every other part of this building, trashed. Some of them were ripped off completely, exposing circuitry and pipelines beneath. The rest were ruined in some way, either by paint or what seemed to be a flame-thrower. There were several bodies; partially-rotted corpses of humans and assorted aliens, strewn throughout the corridors. The smell was appalling, and it lingered everywhere nearby.

Two metal doors were the only things not seriously damaged in some way, though there were bloodstains and burn marks all over them. They parted as a muffled chime sounded. The elevator appeared to be empty.

Until one Clone Commando stepped to one side from his cover, panning around with his rifle. He looked to one side and nodded. Another Clone Commando stepped out, looking around. They stepped out of the elevator and looked down each end of the corridor. They seemed to be alone, aside from the pour souls who could never leave this place.

The squad made its way cautiously through the corridors, always checking corners, always being careful, always watching their backs. They kept going until 81 patted 78 on the shoulder and pointed to a plaque next to one of the doors. It hung vertically from only one screw, but it was still legible: Room 8971. 78 nodded and gestured with his hand. Two of the Commandos split up and silently moved on down the corridor, disappearing into a service access door some way down.

78 and 26 waited patiently outside the door, silent. They never stopped looking for threats. This place was renowned for housing nefarious characters, who were usually armed with some weapon or another. 78 was more worried about the Jedi not actually being in the room, and imagined her coming around the corner and killing the two Clones who foolishly waited outside her door. It didn't happen, but the fear was there.

"Ready sir," a voice said quietly on his suit's communicator. 78 simply tapped his helmet three times to signal a 'go', and then nodded at 26.

They stood to either side of the door. 26 placed a charge on the door, set a timer and stepped back. It blew, smashing the door mechanism to pieces and flinging the door open. As it opened, 78 tossed in a flashbang. After it had blown, the two simultaneously stepped to one side and then through the door, expecting a firefight...

Other than a thin mist that was left behind from the flashbang, there didn't seem to be anything here.

78 looked across the room. The other two Commandos had entered from a small door at the back, but they too shrugged, seeing nothing.

"Maybe that guy was tricking us?" 26 suggested quietly. "It's lucky you kept him alive so that we could question him some more, huh, boss?"

"Shh," 78 snapped. He could hear something... giggling? Whatever it was, it was coming form the closed doors at the side of the room. He pointed, and gestured that they should enter. They nodded and took up positions. 78 stepped fowards and slammed his foot into the door, shattering the wooden mechanism. They all entered and immediately saw their target.

She was certainly an attractive young woman, there was no doubt about that. Long black hair, flowing down her back, atop of a head which was home to two bright blue eyes. Perhaps more noticeable was the fact that she was lying naked on a bed, playing some sort of computer game. She seemed quite surprised when the Commandos burst into her room and immediately rolled off the side of her bed to cover herself.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"There's the Jedi!" 78 shouted. "Open fire!"

The woman's eyes widened at that. She leapt into the air, dragging the bed clothes up with her and wrapping them around her like a dress in mid-air. Blue bolts of energy whizzed past her as the four suited Clones fired relentlessly at her. She touched a wall at the end of her jump and propelled herself backwards. As she flew over the bed, she held her hand down. Something stirred beneath the pillow. It moved to one side and a lightsaber hilt flew up to her hand. She landed on the floor elegantly with a glowing blue blade extended in front of her.

The Clones stopped firing, but didn't aim at anything but her. They were unsure of what to do. Normally they would have fired at a Jedi from multiple angles, but this room only had one entrance. From this angle, she'd be able to deflect every shot they fired right back at them. And she knew it. She smiled and paced from side to side, poking her tongue out at them.

"This is a bitch, huh?" she said.

"Drop your weapon and surrender to the Studium authorities," 78 said methodically. "Your execution may not be necessary if you are compliant."

"What... miss all the fun of life, you mean?" she laughed. "Surrender, so that I can spend the rest of my days on a decrepit starship and follow a band of brainless clones around as they try to serve an Empire that doesn't exist? Thanks, but... no thanks."

At that, she flicked her wrist. A chair slid and lifted from the floor, flying into one of the Commandos. It wasn't hard enough to injure, but enough to knock him off his balance. He was knocked sideways slightly and nudged another of the Clones off-balance. 78 saw what was happening and went to fire, but he felt an invisible force smash into his chest, and he flew backwards into the other room.

He crashed into a table, splintering it as though it were nothing, and lay dazed for a couple of moments. But he could hear fire, and deep thrumming noises that sounded very much like a lightsaber in action. He reached out for his blaster rifle and moved to stand up.

The Dark Jedi woman stormed out of the bedroom and held out her hand. No sooner had he stood up did he feel another invisible force against his chest. He slammed against the wall behind, winding him. Before he could regain control of his disorientated senses. The woman slammed up against him and put her lightsaber up against his neck.

"This is more like it," she said quietly, running her fingers across his chest plate. "I reckon you Clones could give a girl a good time... if only they programmed you with such desires..."

"What do you want?" he sighed.

"I want to know who told you where to find me," she said. Her voice was a little harsher now.

"The tip was anonymous," 78 said. "Even if I knew I wouldn't tell you, Jedi scum."

"Now now, there's no need for insults," she said, tutting at him patronisingly. "Perhaps they should have programmed in some manners too? Now, all I want is a name, and then we can both get on with our lives. Was it 'Durmas'?"

"Take your lightsaber, and shove it..."

He didn't finish his sentence. She simply swiped the humming blue blade sideways and then shut it off. She stepped back and left the gagging Clone Commando to fall to the ground, clutching his neck until he died.

"I have a better idea of what to do with my lightsaber than you do, my dear," she said. She looked down at the corpse for a few minutes. She seemed genuinely guilty, though she shook her head and tried to shake off the feeling. "That's just great, now I can't stay here anymore... damn Clones..."

She muttered to herself as she went back into the bedroom, to put on some proper clothes instead of simply wearing the bed sheets. She had to get out of here, and fast.

the sith empire of sephrioth wishes to send 200 sith foot soldiers in to assit you

An absolute tag for interest. What sort of involvement is it you're looking for? A character RP?

A shadowy figure, known only as the Bumpster leaps out and ... Tag ...

Drug addicts nervously wandered around the hallway, shaking every time they came too close to another person. They milled around nervously in the large lobby, having just witnessed a full Clone Trooper assault of the hotel. The Clones had a sense of anger, it seemed, and as soon as they learned their Commandos were dead, they sent a whole battalion of Troopers down to search the enormous building level-by-level. They left with nothing, suggesting that whatever they were looking for wasn't here.

The crowd seemed to calm somewhat, and all turned around to look at the main entrance. The door opened. A man stood there. He wore simple brown leather shoes, brown robes and a hood. As he started to walk into and across the lobby, his robes parted slightly and a glistening silver lightsaber hilt revealed itself. The man seemed disinclined to use it, though, as he passed by the reams of the damned.

He stopped beside the counter and looked over. A fat man lay in a pool of his own blood, motionless and blue. He was dead. The flies that buzzed around his corpse suggested as much, if not the hole in his stomach. It was a definite blaster shot -- he recognised the markings. The man turned around and looked across the crowd of drug addicts curiously. They all seemed to be following him, as though he were a glowing beacon of hope for them.

"Who killed this man?" the man asked, in a gruff yet peaceful and non-threatening voice.

The drug addicts looked around at each other blankly. One of them, seemingly less 'stoned' than the others, weakly raised his hand.

"It... was like... a white guy," the drug addict spluttered. He had either gone without drinking or talking for a long time from the sound of it.

"What do you mean, a 'white guy'?"

"A guy in... like... I dunno, man... some kinda... white suit..." the addict trailed off, rolling his eyes back as though thinking.

"A Clone Trooper?"

"I...huh? Dude, I... like, suppose, I guess," the druggie nodded. "But... like... different than, y'know, them other normals ones, what comes in and looks for things. Colourful, man!"

"Commandos," the man nodded thoughtfully. "What is your name, sir?"

"Me?" the druggie looked confused, and scratched his head. "I... me? I'm not... well, I guess... Carlo, man."

"Well, thank you for your assistance Carlo," the robed figure nodded. "Come with me, would you? I could use your help."

"I... what? You gots... like... some more Vardanol for me?" Carlo asked. He staggered towards the man as he started to walk towards the elevators in the hallway at the back of the lobby. "I'm... like, out... I really need a hit..."

"You know Carlo, you really should stop using those drugs," the man said. "They aren't good for your mind. You must cleanse yourself."

"Yeah... y'know, like, I'ma stop using that stuff," Carlo said. "It ain't good for... y'know... me 'thinker'..."

"Ah, glad to hear it," the man said patronisingly as he stepped into the elevator, and patted the filthy man on the back. "And for the love of the Force, put on some clothes would you?"



The door swung open slightly as the robed figure touched the smashed lock. He stepped inside and looked around. It was a decent room, largely untouched by vandals. This would probably have been one of the most expensive rooms available when it was still open for business as a legitimate company. Its wooden-panelled walls, red carpet and elegant furniture were complimentary to the ample amounts of space.

On the floor lay a Clone Commando, face down, with a pool of dried blood surrounding his head. The thick liquid had ruined the carpet, though that wasn't foremost on the man's mind as he bent down. His time as a General helped him identify the Clone as the squad's leader. He had apparently suffered a lightsaber swipe to the throat.

"Bummer..." Carlo said as he staggered into the room, knocking over a vase. "Like... he have some bad shit?"

"He was killed," the man said, standing up. "By a lightsaber. Do you know who occupied this room before these Clone Commandos arrived?"

"Yeah, totally," Carlo said, raising his hand. "Some Jedi, I guess. People were... I don't know, what with the doors, but... people were kinda scared. I think, kinda like, y'know, she was evil, I guess."

"I can sense her presence, but it is not a truly evil one," the man nodded, turning away and looking towards the bedroom. He sighed. "She is no longer here, but she spent a lot of time in there while she was."

He walked over to the similarly broken door and gently pushed it open. The lights in this room flickered on-and-off, and several of the wooden wall panels had sustained blaster shots. The rest of that Commando's squad lay in assorted positions on the floor, with various wounds. One of them had received a blaster shot to the neck, while the others had various lightsaber lacerations. The suited warriors almost looked like disabled battledroids of some kind -- their wounds had not even leaked blood.

"She was definitely here," the man nodded. "I am getting closer each time..."

"Like... she? How did you know... I, did I don't remember, y'know, like, tellin' you..."

"I must leave this place," the man said turning to leave. "Seriously, put on some clothes."

"Why don't you... like... I dunno... steal a couple o' these uniforms?" Carlo asked. The man turned around again and looked at him.

"That is actually quite a good idea," he said thoughtfully.



An hour later, a small, fighter-sized vessel launched from the business world, disappearing behind a cloaking field as it passed near a massive dreadnought. The dreadnought had severe damage all over its hull, and was no longer a clean white design. It could still destroy the small ship with whatever weapons it had left, though.

But it couldn't see the ship. The elegant ship flew right by, invisible, and zoomed off into hyperspace. The dreadnought followed soon after, though. They both followed the same person.

a small heavily armed troop transport landed at the hotell 200 sit foot soldiers disembarked all wieldining deul bladed light sabers

OOC:
a small heavily armed troop transport landed at the hotell 200 sit foot soldiers disembarked all wieldining deul bladed light sabers

S-O stands for semi-open, by the way. I just ran out of space 0_o

IC:

With its wings outstretched, the small craft looked like a massive, metal, gleaming bird of prey, swooping down to the surface of the world as though it were stalking a rodent, miles below. As the atmosphere began to burn all around it, it was fairly obvious that this was not a bird, but a ship. A small ship, but a ship all the same. The various scrapes, scratches and burn marks all over the small hull suggested that it had seen some action over the years -- though the same was true for any ship in this region of space, these days.

The wings of the craft raised slightly as it slowed down, coming in to land. Smoke, dust and steam rapidly gusted around below it as it slammed into the ground and shut off its burning red engines.

Two high-heeled black boots slammed down into the rock after a quiet pause. A woman stood beside the scruffy vessel, her long, loose black hair fluttering in the strong winds that blew. She looked around at the landscape presented to her, squinting to protect her eyes against the dust that blew against her.

The world was desolate. Volcanic rock covered the entire surface, its dark swirling patterns lending the whole planet a mysterious, spooky look. The strange, curvaceous rocky forms all over the place only added to that. The sky was a dark red colour, and the sun barely managed to shine through. There were no trees, no noticeable wildlife, no surface water, nothing. It was cold and dead here.

There was also a strong Dark Side presence here, which made it perfect to hide in.

"What a dump," she said, sighing. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn Clones. Why couldn't they keep their noses out? She just wanted to be left alone...

She stepped forwards slightly as the cockpit on her ship whirred shut. The ground beneath her feet cracked like glass as she walked. This wasn't volcanic rock. Something had happened here, apparently a long time ago. She wondered if the bizarre rock structures were natural...

She shrugged. Didn't much matter. She started to walk towards the nearest outcropping of bent rocky cones, which jutted up out of the ground like spikes, hundreds of metres tall.

ithe lead solder said i sense A jedi reaady your selves

OOC: Seph, he's trying to tell you nicely that this is currently semi-closed, i.e you need his permission to enter it (I think thats what it means) so please, this RP has been really good so far, don't ruin it.
*tag* for a brilliant read, keep up the good work Studium ;)

A network of dark tunnels, digging deep into the planet's crust and winding around like a labyrinth with no end in sight. That's what she found when she unknowingly stepped on a patch of particularly thin ground. She fell for what seemed like forever, surviving only through the Force. But even that had not been enough.

She clutched her arm as she hobbled through the dark tunnels, with only her lightsaber as a torch casting an eerie blue glow over the jagged rocks that surrounded her. Her arm felt broken, and she h ad cuts and bruises all over her, a lot of which were clearly visible through the nasty gashes all over her clothing. Her messy hair stuck to her sweaty face, driving her mad as it added to her annoyance. It was hot down here, too hot. And humid, surprisingly.

There was something strange about this place. The further she had fallen, the less she could sense the Force. Had her drop been any further, it was unlikely she could have used it to save herself. Something terrible had happened to this world... or was still happening.

After what seemed like months of walking, she stopped and froze. She could hear something, ahead of her. A constant, deep sound echoed through the corridors. A voice? Perhaps. She limped in its general direction, hoping that whoever it was would know of a way out here. Without a strong connection to the Force, and without access to medical supplies, she wouldn't last very long down here.

She finally noticed some light, and turned off her lightsaber so that its hum didn't give away her position. She edged cautiously towards it, finding it was a ledge, overlooking a vast cavern. The cavern wasn't exactly a bright, beautifully illuminated funhouse, but the flame torches dotted all around it were enough to make her feel a little less anxious.

"...and his blood will satisfy his mighty hunger!" a voice bellowed across the cavern. Squinting, she could just make out that the cavern of the floor was filled with a mass of badly dressed people, waving their arms and cheering. They were cheering at the man who stood on an elevated rocky platform overlooking the whole cavern.

Beside him was a large, rusty metal frame, held vertically with chains from the ceiling and a rocky stand on the floor. A man was strapped spread-eagle on it, with blood dripping down his body. He writhed around desperately, trying to break free from his restraints. The man beside him apparently revelled in it, jabbing a knife into his side -- not enough to kill, but sufficient to cause pain.

"The Demon of Death will appreciate this offering!" the 'preacher' bellowed, pulling the dagger away again. "His death will be most painful, to satisfy their sadistic lusts! Herkobanic acid will devour his flesh from his bones!"

He walked into the darkness, and came back with a pail, carefully holding it beside the restrained man. He carefully manoeuvred it until the man's hand dipped into the liquid inside.

The screams were horrific as the liquid bubbled with ferocious viscosity, bellowing smoke up into the air. When the pail was taken away again, and when the smoke subsided, the quivering man's hand was nothing but smoking bone. The flesh had been melted off it completely.

"Let there be pain! Let there be death! Let there be power!" the 'preacher' roared. He took the pail and threw its contents all over the restrained man, instantly engulfing the area in foul-smelling smoke. The screams of pure agony, which persisted for far too long for her liking, stopped abruptly as the liquid dissolved his vital organs. The smoke subsided after nearly fifteen minutes of hissing. Nothing but a skeleton remained on the frame, which promptly fell to pieces with no flesh to hold it together.

She turned away, trying her best not to gag -- she would, after all, not likely be getting any replacement food while she was down here. She was quite shocked to see two men armed with ancient-looking blasters standing behind her, grinning menacingly with their filthy teeth. She moved to attack them with her lightsaber, but her injuries caused her to drop it as the sudden movement caused her severe pain. She reached out and tried to call upon the Force to bring it back to her hands, but it was too weak -- one of the men saw it moving slightly and simply put his rugged boot down on it.

They reached down and violently grabbed her, dragging her off, ignoring her shouts of pain.



***



"That man assured me he had fixed the hyperspace engines," the robed figure grumbled as his Dart-class ship zipped through dozens of turbolaser blasts. The Clone Trooper destroyer had spotted them dropping out of hyperspace, and immediately pounced on them like vultures. "There are two constants in this universe; the Force, and cowboy engineers..."

The tiny ship was clipped on one of its short, back-swept wings, leaving a burned hole which exposed circuitry.

"Dude... we're like, gonna die if you don't think of something," Carlo said, surprisingly calmly. Not surprising, actually, considering he had enough assortments of mind-numbing chemicals flowing through his bloodstream to knock out a bantha.

"I am well aware of that, thank you," the robed figure said patronisingly.

He pulled the craft into an evasive loop-the-loop, heading straight towards the large vessel.

"Shouldn't we, like, be running away from the guys who're shootin' at us, man?" Carlo said, pointing at the looming ship.

"I know what I'm doing, my friend," he said.

The tiny, two-man craft zoomed towards the Clone Trooper's dreadnought, arrogantly dodging its fire as though controlled by someone with super-human reflexes. And then it disappeared, plunging into one of the many battle scars that plagued the craft's hull. Whether the dreadnought's internal sensors were working was a matter for debate, but so far as its external sensors were concerned, the ship had vanished. Its weapons fell silent as it started looking for them.

There was something not quite right about the Clone Commandos which stepped out of the ship which had just crashed inside the dreadnought. As the flames sent up a cloud of smoke which billowed against the emergency atmosphere forcefields, the two Commandos walked away from the wreckage, towards the the Clone Troopers who came to investigate the crash.

"You there!" one of them shouted. "What are you doing? Where did you come from?"

"We arrived in that ship, fool!" the lead Commando snapped. "You left us behind on that rock! I ought to have you executed right now!"

"S... sir? Sorry sir," the Trooper snapped to attention. "We thought you were dead -- your wounds looked lethal."

"They were for two of my unit," the Commando said. "But we managed to survive, and hijacked this unarmed junkheap to get back here. What is our status?"

"We are pursuing the Jedi as we speak, sir," the Trooper said. "We should arrive at the planet we think she's gone to within the hour. All Commandos have been ordered to a briefing session, sir. I don't think they intend to repeat the same mistake by sending only one unit -- no offence, sir."

"None taken, we were beaten by a Jedi, I can think of bigger dishonours," the Commando said. "Well... lead the way, Trooper."

"Yes sir!" the Trooper turned and marched down the corridor. The fact that one of the Commandos had what looked like the end of a lightsaber poking out of his armour, and the other appeared to be drunk, didn't seem to register.



They were led through the bowels of the wrecked ship. Debris littered the corridors, and the previously white walls were blackened from fires and explosions. How many battles this ship had seen could not be counted, but it was clear it had never been properly repaired. Overhead lights flicked, droids with missing limbs hobbled past, trying to follow their programmed duties as best as they could. Some areas of the ship were even home to piles of white-suited corpses.

They had to climb ladders to move between decks, as the elevators in this section weren't operational. The fact that even some doors didn't open made it seem like a miracle this ship was still remotely combat-ready.

After a brief tour of the devastation, the Troopers stopped walking, span around and saluted to the Commandos.

"You know the way from here, sirs," he said. "I am needed elsewhere. Anyone with any engineering knowledge programmed into them has orders to assist damage control parties when they are off-duty."

"Very well," the Commando said, nodding at the two Troopers as he stepped past them. They walked on down the corridor, allowing the Troopers to slip off to their respective duties.

"We don't know the way to that briefin', man!" one of the Commandos blurted as soon as they were alone.

"No, but we are not going to that briefing," the leader said. "We are going to find an escape pod, or an unguarded launch bay. As soon as this ship comes out of hyperspace, we are leaving."

"Oooh..." the other Commando said thoughtfully. "You smart, boss!"

"Quite..."

The drab, claustrophobic caverns were more intricate and went deeper than one might imagine. There were residential sections, which were actually illuminated and nearby a storage cavern. It wasn't homely, exactly, but it was better than the dungeons. Each cell carved roughly into the rock, with a makeshift metal door clamped shut indefinitely. The rock inside was cut so roughly that you could injure yourself just by being there, and it seemed plenty of people had.

The cells were all empty, though. It was only the torture chamber that was in use. A whipping sound repeatedly emerged from it, followed each time by an agonised scream. Occasionally, there was laughter accompanying the scream.

A man with a metal mask seemingly fused to half of his face took great joy in flicking the thick whip backwards and then bringing it forwards to smash down against the woman in chains in front of him, who contrastingly didn't appear to take any joy in it. The fact that it had gone on for what seemed like days with no questions being asked of her only made it worse. She couldn't scream any longer when being struck, so eventually she simply closed her eyes, gritted her teeth and tried to concentrate on something else.

After a while longer, two men came into the room and signaled her torturer to stop. He grunted in disapproval, but obliged. One of them was the 'preacher' from before, with his inane grin and his torn clothing. The other... she hadn't seen before. He wore a long black robe, with a hood pulled over his head and face so that no part of him was visible. He seemed to float over the ground rather than walk, and had his arms folded as though he were some kind of wise monk.

"This is her, Master," the 'preacher' said hoarsely. "The Jedi woman I told you of!"

"I'm... ugh... no Jedi..." she gasped, lifting her head up weakly. "And I will... crush you for this!"

"Ah, yes," the 'preacher' nodded, smiling even wider. "I apologise. The Jedi in denial, Master. Hollow words from someone without conviction, wench. Even if you were capable of such acts, you will not get the opportunity."

"What... do you want with me?"

"To die, of course!" the 'preacher' cackled. "As painfully as is possible! I have some wonderful flesh-eating insects ready for you! We thought that last one was the last of the Jedi, but now that we have found you we know there are two more waiting to feed my Master!"

"Two...?"

"Yes," the 'preacher' nodded enthusiastically. "You, and the one you are linked to so strongly. A... Jedi Master! Oh my Master, I am looking forward to giving you such a feast!"

"What are you talking about... feast? What feast?" she spluttered. "You can't eat me! I know... *cough* ... I know that you're scum but even that's a... ugh... stretch of the imagination..."

The robed figure silently glided towards her, and bent down. One of his hands came from inside the robe. It was little more than a skeleton with some rotted flesh hanging between the bones. He grabbed her chin and lifted up her head roughly, and leaned closer.

"I am going to feed off your power," he said, in a deep, almost mechanical voice. "When you die, I shall devour your soul and absorb your powers. You shall never become one with the Force, you shall become one with me -- and the more pain you are in when I consume you, the better."

He jerked his head forwards, poking it out of the hooded robe and into the dim light of a nearby torch. His hideous face was partially rotted, with a crack in the top of his skull and a patch over one of his eyes, which she could only assume was missing. God-knows where they'd dug him up.

"And when I have absorbed the power of every Jedi, Dark Jedi, Sith, and whatever else you pitiful Force-sensitive creatures choose to call yourselves, I shall be powerful enough to rise from this place," he growled. "These 'horrible depths' are but a paradise compared to what I have in store for them."

He rose back to his full height after violently shoving her away hard enough to induce a cry of pain.

"Enjoy the attention this enthusiastic minion gives you," the creature growled. "When your time comes, you will wish I had let him continue indefinitely. You are alive for this long only to lure the one you are tied to. When he is in my grasp, your time will come."

The creature turned, and began to glide out of the cavern. Presumably to sit on some kind of clichéd throne of evil or something. The 'preacher' followed, nodding at the torturer as he left. The torturer smiled and began whipping once more.

The two masquerading Clone Commandos carefully made their way through the devastated ship. It truly was heavily damaged. What light there was cast shadows through a thin mist of smoke. Occasionally, lights and control panels would send sparks across the floor like a fountain of luminous water, forcing them to instinctively shield their faces. They could smell the stale air and burning circuitry even through their helmet air filters. This ship was a wreck.

Every point where there should have been escape pods, there weren't. They had either been used, suggesting that the ship had seen a few close calls over the years, or the entire section had been destroyed or disabled. More Clone Troopers were beginning to get more suspicious of the two as they wandered the hallways aimlessly, stopping them more and more frequently. But they had no choice but to keep going, as nothing would be gained by pretending to be one of them for very long.

It was when another pair of Clone Commandos saw them that their disguises became compromised. Perhaps it was only a matter of time. It seemed unlikely that a pair of elite soldiers could have lived on a ship like this without knowing anybody else. Unfortunately, Clone Commandos had their numbers written on their suits, which meant that if anybody did know them, they would immediately recognise them. And these two did.

"78... is that you?" one of them said, in amazement. "And 26! Aren't you guys supposed to be dead?"

The two impostors shifted their weight uncomfortably. One of them was swaying slightly as though he was inebriated, whist the other one of them waved his hand slightly as he spoke up.

"You do not know us, Trooper; go about your business," he said calmly, putting his hand back down to his side again. The two real Clone Commandos looked at each other for a few moments, apparently confused. They shrugged and looked back at the impostors.

"Yeah we do, 78," the Commando nodded. "It's me, 12 -- don't you remember? Damn, what happened to you guys? The troops that went down to that hotel said you were pretty messed up. No pulse!"

The impostor frowned beneath his helmet at this response. These Clones must have started conditioning their troops against Force persuasion. It made sense, after all, as they had made it their personal mission to wipe out Jedi. But it was still unexpected to him, and left him without ideas.

"We... were knocked out pretty cold," 78 said, trying his best to speak quietly so that they didn't realise his voice was different to theirs. The suit made it slightly easier, but he wasn't going to take any chances. "They mustn't have checked carefully enough, because... well, here we are. We have to go to a briefing, excuse us..."

"No, the troopers said they used all the proper equipment and you were flat-line," 12 persisted. He put hands on his hips suspiciously. "Come to think of it, now that I see it I think that lightsaber cut across your neck should at least have stopped you from talking, if not breathing... and yet you're up and around as though nothing happened?"

"And is it just me, or is 26 a little shorter than he used to be?" the other Commando observed. Sure enough, '26' was a couple of inches shorter than '78'. This was unusual for a clone, to say the least. The two Commandos didn't seem to require any more evidence, as they quickly reached for their pistols.

"Alright, who are you and what are you doing here?" 12 snapped, lifting up his blaster pistol and aiming it at '78'. The other Commando followed suit, aiming at '26'.

"Are you threatening a superior officer?" '78' said, somewhat lacking in alternative responses.

"As 78 would tell you, if he were still alive, he is not my superior officer -- we are the same rank!" 12 said. "Now, helmets off, weapons on the floor, and explanations out!"

'78' glanced over at '26'. They nodded to each other. '78' reached down to his belt slowly, clasping his fingers around the cold metal of his lightsaber hilt...

And then he was violently thrown to one side as a thunderous roar pulverised their ears. He was smashed into the metal wall firmly with his back and then came crashing down to the floor, landing on '26'. Alarms began to wail in the distance, as the ship lurched to the other side. The light above exploded in a shower of sparks, apparently suffering from a power surge of some kind. The whole corridor went black. '78' desperately clawed at his helmet, trying to switch on the light enhancement mode of the visor. He heard some shouts and the clattering of Clone Trooper armour against the floor nearby, but he couldn't see what was going on. He finally found the right control and he began to see in the dark, in a monochrome view mode.

Carlo stood in front of him. One of the Clone Commandos lay on the floor, whilst Carlo had the second around the neck. He jerked the Commandos' head to one side violently, and dropped him to the ground.

"How did you...?"

"I wasn't always, y'know, a Vardanol junkie..." Carlo shrugged. He stumbled over to the robed figure and helped him to his feet as the ship shook once more.

"When we get off this ship, you and I are going to have a detailed discussion..." the man said sternly as he took Carlo's hand and rose to his feet. "But for now, we need to get out of here."

"Alert! Alert! Intruders detected in: SECTOR C DECK 12, SECTOR D DECK 6..." a bellowing computer voice announced, and began to read off various locations around the ship.

"Excellent," the man said.

"It is?" Carlo asked. "Erm... why?"

"Whoever is boarding this ship will have vessels of their own," the man told him. "All we have to do is get to the nearest beachhead and take one of their ships. So grab one of those pistols and let's move. I hear blaster fire not far from here."

"I don't see any beaches, man..." Carlo protested.

"It's a figure of speech," the man sighed. "Now move it!"

Carlo nodded and picked up one of the pistols that the Commandos had dropped. The robed figure, meanwhile, removed his helmet and most of his armour. Instead of using the unclear night vision mode of his helmet to see where he was going, a bright green beam of energy burst from his lightsaber hilt and cast a dim green glow over everything nearby.

"Dude! Awesome!" Carlo said enthusiastically. "I always wanted one of those! Can I hold it?"

The robed figure frowned at Carlo for a few minutes, and then shook his head. "No."

"Aw."

"Come on, we have to move quickly," the man said, and began jogging down the corridor. Carlo followed the green glow, not willing to give up his own armour.

They ran quickly down the slightly curved corridor, jumping over debris and ducking as panels and clumps of wire were loosened by the enemy weapon's fire. Sparks blasted from various points even more frequently than before. How the Clones had managed to keep this ship operational was a miracle, but keeping it operational during a firefight was unbelievable. And yet, here they were. And the man was sure he could hear the ship's own weapons giving its enemy a nasty broadside.

They stopped running quite so quickly as they entered an illuminated area. The lights weren't working, but there was a ferocious blaster fight going on. Clones seemed to be holding their ground, firing blue bolts of light rapidly at their entrenched enemies. Once in a while, one of them would pop up and return fire before ducking behind some debris once again. The man saw at least three Trandoshans, a Twi'Lek and several humans. They seemed to be wearing some kind of uniform, but he had never seen it before today so he had no idea what it represented.

"Can you use that thing as well as your hands?" he asked Carlo, speaking over the noise of blaster fire.

Carlo pulled the pistol up, twirling it around his trigger finger, threw it in the air and caught it perfectly.

"Yep," he nodded. The man was impressed, and patted Carlo on the shoulder.

"Alright then, let's clear a path."

The man stepped towards the Clones. They heard the hum of his lightsaber and turned to face him, but an invisible force hit their chests and knocked them into the bulkheads - hard. They were knocked unconscious and slumped down to the floor. He then stepped forward. The attackers, whoever they were, saw that there were only two people left and made no bones about standing upright and firing everything they had. The man used his lightsaber to repel most of the blaster shots back at them, taking out three of them and forcing the rest back under cover.

Carlo stepped out and shot at part of the debris they were sheltering behind. It appeared to be the main load bearer, as the rest of the debris fell to the ground. He then proceeded to deal each one of their attackers a blaster shot to the head, taking them all out in a matter of seconds. He put the blaster back on his belt and looked at the robed figure once again.

"Erm... well done," the man said, shrugging. "Look -- that is where their ship docked."

He pointed at part of the wall. Sure enough, the thick hull had been torn to shreds by the attacking craft, which had seemingly rammed into the Clone Troopers' ship like a bullet. The attackers then exited the vessel through the nose once their prey had engaged emergency forcefields, and used the debris for cover. A very effective plan, it seemed, had it not been for their presence.

"Let's board it and get off this ship," the man said, and jogged towards it.

***

The Clone Trooper ship sat between two slightly smaller capital ships, which may have been smaller but they were in infinitely better shape. Their weapons had destroyed its shields, allowing for dozens of tiny craft to head over to it and ram through its hull. The attackers had now ceased their fire, and their shields easily repelled the few weapons the dreadnought had left. All three of the ships seemed to ignore the small vessel which ripped itself from the dreadnought's hull and thrust its way towards the planet below.

The landing was... less than spectacular. The small craft clearly wasn't designed for entering a planetary atmosphere, certainly not at these speeds. It plummeted down through the air and smashed into the peculiar purple-brown rock, its bullet-shaped nose allowing it to embed quite deep into the dead world. It took the man and his drugged companion almost an hour to clamber out of the craft and find their way out of the hole it had created. When they finally did, they were presented with an eerie landscape on all sides.

The strange rock, which cracked like glass beneath their feet, stretched as far as the eye could see. In the distance were some mountains, the same colour as the ground they stood on now. There were no plants or animals that they could see. Not so far away, some strange rock formations jutted up from the ground. In some ways they looked almost artificial, but they seemed to be made of rock also, and there was nothing to indicate that they had been placed there. This planet must have been alive at some point, otherwise there wouldn't be breathable air. Whatever happened here was bad. And although it looked like the results of some ancient catastrophe, the man sensed that it might have been more recent than one might initially believe.

"Like... footprints, man," Carlo spluttered, pointing at the ground. Sure enough, a series of cracks in the rock lead off towards the rocky 'growths'. The man looked over and traced the prints back to their source, and saw her ship not far from their crash site. Abandoned, but in good order.

"She is close," he said gruffly. "Let us follow these tracks to their destination."

"Aw man... that's like... y'know, a long walk!" Carlo complained.

"You can stay here on your own if you wish it," the man shrugged. "But I am going to follow these tracks."

Carlo looked at him, and then looked all around at the eerie landscape. A well-timed gust of wind suddenly ruffled his hair and made him jump.

"OK, OK, man, I'll come with," Carlo said nervously.

The two began the trek towards the rocky growths on the horizon. The journey wasn't as far as it seemed, but without any landmarks or differing terrains to distract them along the way, it seemed much longer. The footprints curved slightly and then dipped in between two of the enormously tall rock growths, and then followed the curves of another, until they were abruptly stopped by a large, dark hole in the ground.

The man bent down and looked at the hole. It looked like a deep drop, to where was anyone's guess. But her footprints ended beside it, so he had to assume she had gone down there to hide. After seeing some blood on the size of the hole however, he realised that she probably didn't even know the hole was there. She may well have been injured by a fall she didn't foresee.

"We have to go down there," the man said, standing upright again.

"Down.... there?! No way, man!" Carlo shook his head.

"It is perfectly climbable," the man assured him. "The sides are close enough together so that you can lower yourself down gradually."

"I... don't care! I don't do holes, man!" Carlo said, adamantly.

The man sighed.

"Alright then Carlo," he nodded. "Then you have an important duty. Guard this hole well. It may well be the only exit, and I don't want to become trapped down there."

"OK then..." Carlo shrugged. "Have fun down there, man..."

"I am quite certain that I will," the man said, insincerely. He nodded, and then stepped up to the hole. Carefully he put his legs into the hole and used his arms to lower his body down. Placing one hand against each side of the hole and putting his feet in front of him, he began to climb down the hole. It seemed to be an almost vertical drop, with only a few places where it bent sufficiently for him to sit down and take a rest.

After what seemed like weeks of climbing, he finally felt his legs dangle. He allowed his body to drop down and to his relief, he hit the ground.

The tunnel he found himself in was pitch black. There wasn't a source of light anywhere. The hole he had just come down wasn't perfectly straight, so light didn't even reach the tunnels through there. He pulled out his lightsaber and illuminated the tunnel with a soft green glow, allowing the comforting hum to echo down the tunnel and off into the distance. To his disturbance, his connection to the Force felt weaker than usual, worryingly so. This tunnel either had some sort of 'Force deficiency', or there was something else down here. Hopefully, he wouldn't need to find out. He bent down and saw more footprints, obviously belonging to a female due to the heels, leading off into the tunnels. Dried droplets of blood followed.

He hurriedly began to jog down the corridor, following the trail of footprints whilst making sure he didn't trip over or hit his head on anything. From the way the footprints were laid out, she seemed to have been stumbling around slowly, unsure of where to go. The trail of blood was consistent though. There was some of it on the walls too, as she had apparently used them to keep herself standing every time she stumbled.

He stopped jogging when he heard something in the distance. He flicked his lightsaber off, and made his way carefully through the darkness towards the source of the noise. The closer he got, the lighter the tunnels seemed to get, until he finally reached some sort of ledge. It overlooked a dimly illuminated cavern, which one one half was full of people. The other half, separated by some sort of gorge, looked like some sort of stage. A man stood in the centre of it, yelling maniacally to his audience. Beside him was a strange metal frame, supported by chains from the roof of the cavern and a metal link to the ground. The shackles on the corners suggested to him that its purpose was nefarious at best.

He looked down at the floor beside him. The dust had been disturbed quite recently. More blood was found here, sprinkled all over the floor. He looked further across the floor to see a lightsaber hilt, abandoned. Hers? He picked it up and hooked it to his belt just in case. Even if it wasn't hers, in these trying times one could never have enough spare lightsaber parts. He shrugged and looked back at the cavern.

The preacher roared something about 'the day of reckoning', 'the greatest sacrifice' and other religious jargon that were commonly spewed from madmen. His audience seemed to be enjoying it though, as they roared their approval after each stanza of nonsense. The entire cavern seemed to have been designed for this sort of thing -- the chairs in the audience section were literally carved out of the rock, as was the stage on the other side of the gorge. The acoustics of the cavern allowed the preacher's bellowing voice to perfectly carry across the whole room, allowing every single person there to hear his nonsense. It must have taken a long time to carve all this out, which made him wonder just how long they had been down here. Perhaps they were the original inhabitants of this world before whatever catastrophe had befallen them?

A sound came from behind him. A boot scraping on the floor, and the clang of a metal weapon against the rocky tunnel wall. Two men were trying to sneak up on him. He played the fool, and continued to watch the events beneath him unfold. He waited... and waited... and...

His lightsaber burst to life once again and he span around, blocking an attack by a sword. His attacker looked surprised as he was pushed away. The second attacker swung around a mace menacingly. The robed figure ducked as the spiked ball swooped towards his head, and at the same time slashed his lightsaber across his attacker's stomach. The fat man let his mace go and clutched his stomach, before falling backwards. The other attacker had gotten to his feet by now and ran at the man angrily, only to run straight into his lightsaber. He gasped and fell to the ground, dead.

The man shut off his lightsaber once more and turned back to the proceedings. The preacher had stopped preaching, and looked to the far end of the stage. Two large men walked onto it, dragging something behind them. The man couldn't tell what it was from here. It seemed to be moving on its own though, however slightly. He suddenly had an unpleasant realisation...

"Cassy..." he groaned. The two men dragged a woman along the floor with some chains. She seemed to have been beaten relentlessly, and had little life left in her. They stopped beside the metal frame and lifted her up like a rag-doll, fitting the shackles to her arms and legs. Once she was held firmly in place, they stepped away and moved off the stage again. The preacher began shouting about a sacrifice once more. The audience were even more enthusiastic now, responding to his every word with a cheer.

As the preacher bent down and picked up a large container, they roared and applauded. It seemed to be full of some kind of insects, swarming around within the container, desperately trying to bite the preacher's hands through the transparent material. He held the container above his head and roared, "for the Dark Lord! For redemption!"

The robed figure ran at the ledge and jumped, pushing with his legs to get as high as he could. He cleared the gorge completely and landed besides the preacher. As he passed the preacher by, his lightsaber came to life and the green blade swiped straight through his neck, much to the shock of the audience. As the preacher's head fell from his shoulders, the container also began to fall. The man turned and quickly used what little Force power he had to send the container flying across the gorge. It landed in the centre of the audience, spilling the insects all over the place.

As the audience began to scream and run around, he used the distraction as an opportunity to free Cassy. He swiped his lightsaber through each of the shackles skillfully, and caught the woman as she began to fall from the frame. He gently lay her down on the floor and checked all of her vitals. She was still breathing, she still had a pulse... her blood loss seemed to have stopped for the moment. Fortunately, none of her many wounds appeared to be fatal. Her captors had made sure she survived each and every one.

She opened her eyes slightly and coughed, looking at him slightly. "T... Toku? You... *cough*... found me..."

"Hold still," he said. "I'm going to try and take away the pain. The Force has abandoned this place, but I can still help a little..."

He placed his hand against her chest and closed his eyes. Concentrating hard, he used the Force to see each of her serious injuries in his mind. He concentrated as hard as he could, trying to use the Force to repair them, if only a little. Even over the sounds of the screaming audience on the other side of the cavern, he managed to make himself concentrate on healing her. He had somehow managed to summon the strength to heal some of her worst injuries, when he heard something. Something different. Something disturbing.

A fearsome, deep, multi-toned voice growled; "Step away from my food, Jedi."

Toku gave the injured woman one last blast of healing and gently slipped her lightsaber into her hand, before rising to his full height and turning around. The figure presented to him was an abomination. A walking corpse. Flesh hanging from his bare bones, one of his eyes patched with the other one barely clinging to its socket. One of his cheeks had no skin left, exposing his rotten mouth. Yet, he stood at more than seven foot tall, in a good posture and with no sign of weakness. He no longer wore the robe which covered him when he spoke with Cassy; only a few tattered rags covered parts of his body now. They seemed to have fused with his rotting skin, permanently grafted onto what was left of his brown flesh. Toku sensed that this creature was immensely powerful... the Force was likely the only thing holding him together. So much power resided with him, and yet it felt twisted...

“I beg your pardon?” Toku asked him. He placed his hand on his lightsaber hilt, ready for anything.

“I intend to devour her Force essence,” the creature said in its deep, multi-toned, rasping voice. “When her body is lifeless and her soul fuels my power, I shall then devour you. She was but a ploy, to draw you here. When I felt your power through the bond you share with this female, I knew that the day of reckoning was approaching.”

“You will do no such thing,” Toku snorted. His lightsaber twirled to life, elegantly spinning around until stopping in front of him, ready. “I am charged with her safety. No servant of the Dark Side is getting near her. ”

“Your antiquated understanding of the Force is best left for the mortal realm, fool,” the creature cackled. “I do not serve the Dark Side of the Force! Nor do I serve the Light Side of the Force. I AM the Force! I absorb it, I devour it, I control it. I am as ancient as the Force itself. For all intents and purposes, Jedi, I am your God!”

Toku shifted his feet further apart as the ground began to shake slightly, dust falling from the roof high above them. The demon creature cackled, a bellowing laugh that reverberated around the cavern.

“If you were true to the Force, Jedi, you would bow down to me,” the creature said quietly. “You would give me the power I require to bring this universe to order. I am the only hope of salvation this twisted, weak universe has. And you can help give it that chance!”

“You pervert the Force to further your own twisted ideals,” Toku said calmly. “You could use the power you have to help millions of suffering and dying people, but instead you horde it. That makes you as much of a servant of the Dark Side as anything.”

“Sometimes, you must be cruel to be kind, Jedi,” the creature growled. “Sometimes, your subjects must be forced to see that your way, is the better way! This universe is a decrepit waste of life. It must be destroyed, and rebuilt from the foundation. Surely you can see that, Jedi?”

“I see nothing but the taint of the Dark Side in you,” Toku shook his head. “And you would have to force me to bow to you.”

“As you desire,” the creature snarled. Toku's lightsaber flew from his hand before he had a chance to react, and he was thrust down to his knees by an overpowering force. The creature cackled as he held out his arm. Toku was lifted from the ground and his throat began to squeeze shut. He gasped and gagged, desperately trying to use the Force to push the creature off balance, to distract him, anything. But it had no effect on him.

“With your essence combined with my own, I will be fully prepared to bring about the day of reckoning!” the creature roared, lifting Toku higher and higher off the ground. “The entire universe will tremble as I tear down the old ways, and build a new one! I will become a GOD!”

“Not while I'm around,” a female voice said calmly. The creature turned its head just in time to witness a blue lightsaber blade swipe through his raised arm, slicing it off cleanly. The creature roared, and Cassy flew backwards, topping to the floor. Toku was released from the creature's grasp and fell to the ground.

“You will suffer for an eternity for this!” the creature roared, holding its severed limb in the air. He heard something from the opposite side of the cavern, and looked over. He saw men in white suits filing into the room.

“Open fire!” a voice yelled from behind him. He span around to see more white-suited soldiers.

“You fools cannot hope to destroy me!”

As blue bolts of light began to flood the room from every angle, all aimed at the rotting creature in the centre of the stage, Cassy ducked and pulled Toku behind a rock for shelter.

“I never thought I'd be pleased to see those guys,” she said, wincing with pain as she placed him against the rock. “Are you still alive?”

“Yes...” Toku said. The sound of blaster fire was deafening. They both looked over the top of the rock, expecting to see a charred corpse, but... there was nothing of the kind.

Not one of the hundreds of blue blaster bolts was hitting the creature. They stopped in mid-air, a few inches away from him, and simply hovered there. The creature laughed at their inability to destroy him. When a veritable wall of hovering blaster shots began to form, he threw his arms into the air. The blaster bolts shot off at twice their original speed, forcing the Clone Troopers to take shelter behind rocks. Cassy gasped as she noticed that his arm had apparently grown back. He began to yank the Troopers from their hiding places and used the Force to fling them around like ragdolls. He took particular delight in smashing them against multiple surfaces, and each other, mutilating their bodies in the process.

The creature then brought his arms down and clenched his fists, determinedly. After a few moments, the cavern began to rattle and groan dangerously. Dust began to burst from cracks that formed all around the vast caves. The gorge that separated the audience section from the stage suddenly began to grow wider, and plumes of fire burst out from it.

“I think we should take this opportunity to leave,” Toku said, pulling his lightsaber back to him as quickly as his weak connection would allow.

“For once I agree with you,” Cassy nodded.

“Can you run?” he asked.

“Not so much,” she said, wincing once again and clutching her side. “But then, I don't have much of a choice. Let's get the heck out of here.”

The two jumped at once as enormous boulders began to fall from the ceiling, smashing down on the floor, and Clone Troopers were still flying around. The creature seemed to be drawing every surface of the caverns towards him, collapsing it from the inside. To manage such a feat would require an enormously powerful connection to the Force. Considering how these caverns blocked the majority of their connection to the Force, Toku shuddered to think what this creature could be capable of in normal conditions.

They landed together on the platform that overlooked the caverns, and began to sprint back the way they had come. Toku's lightsaber lit their way, and they followed the footprints they had both left behind – as well as the Clone Trooper prints which now also left a trail. Its seemed as though they were not going fast enough, as they saw the roof of the narrow tunnels begin to crack and collapse from the creature's power. But they ran anyway. Better to die trying, after all.

Finally, they reached the end of the tunnel and leapt into the hole. Hurriedly, they scrambled up the tight hole, using their ever-growing connection to the Force to jump up as many straight areas as they could. They gradually began to see light, and burst out of the hole and into the little daylight that this planet had to offer. Not a moment too soon, as the tight hole began to twist and seal itself no sooner than they left it. Toku looked around, seeing nobody beside the hole. Carlo must have hidden himself when the Clone Troopers came.

“CARLO!” Toku shouted, trying to steady himself as the ground became increasingly unstable.

“Who the hell is Carlo?” Cassy shouted over the noise.

“He is an acquaintance I made during my search for you,” Toku yelled back at her.

“Leave him, we don't have time!” she shouted back. He frowned at her, about to say something scolding, when Carlo's head popped out from a cropping of rocks. He ran down to them. They didn't bother to explain what was happening to him, as the ground beneath their feet began to collapse in on itself. Instead, Toku grabbed his arm and the three of them sprinted as fast as they could across the surface.

They ran just ahead of the collapsing rock for what seemed like an eternity. When it finally stopped, there was a crater some three miles across marking the planet. Even the enormous rocky growths had been consumed by the implosion. They stopped running at last, and stood beside the edge of the vast crater, panting for their breath. A welcome silence came over them. A peace enveloped the planet once again, and only the sound of the light breeze could be heard. Until they heard something else. A distant sound... which was very similar to laughter.

“We should leave this place,” Toku said. “We cannot hope to face this creature here. Its power in those caves was unbelievable. I dread to think what it is capable of now that it is in the open...”

“'We'?” Cassy grunted. “You are alive only because you were of use to me, Jedi scum. I will not be so merciful next time we meet!”

“What?” Toku exclaimed. “Don't be drawn in by the Dark Side! Remember what we had together! I know in your heart you do not serve the Dark Side. There is still time for you to return to the Light...”

“And why would I want to do that?” Cassy frowned. “Has the collapse of Studium taught you nothing, Master Durmas? The Light Side is weak. The Dark Side will always prevail.”

“Then why is it that I was able to rescue you, and you were not able to rescue yourself?” Toku Durmas asked her.

She frowned at him for a few moments, pondering his words and almost heeding them, but then shook her head. “It... it doesn't matter. I am leaving on my ship. There are Clone Trooper dropships on the horizon over there, I doubt the Clones will be needing them. Take one of those, or die on this planet, I don't care which. We once shared something... and for that I will not strike you down. Follow me, though, and I'll rip your throat out.”

She shoved him away from her, and began to run off towards her ship.

“Cassy, wait!” he called after her. He had spent months trying to find her, only for this to happen? Another burst of laughter from the crater nearby, closer this time. “Come on Carlo, we have to get out of here.”

“What about her?” he asked, pointing at the attractive woman, now quite far away.

“She is important to me, but I must make this my priority,” Durmas sighed. “I seem to be the last Jedi in this entire sector. I may stand little chance at stopping this creature, but... I have to try. I would be forsaking my duties if I did not. Let's get to one of those dropships and get out of here.”