Star Wars: Episode 1 The Dark Prince

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xeous
(Disclaimer: This is my first attempt at literature since the 5th grade.
I'm trying to write a background story(ies) about my character in Rex' RPG game since I'm a little bored. PLEASE don't write in this thread smile )

Chapter 1:

The clang of Master Senemi's footsteps going to the Jedi Council's chambers were loud enough to wake the dead, he was obviously irritated. He gushed through the opening and immediatly glared at Master Windu.

"What was the idea of this? I'm fairly...positive that the negotiations for the bacta will end peacefully."

"Fairly positive are you? Hmmm...Not positive I see."
Master Yoda responded.

"No, they will end peacefully. You have my word. The Faleen are feudal but they wouldn't attack Mon Calimari. Not with the Republic defending it."

"It's not your word that we're worried about. We fear that there is...An outside presence. One that's putting pressure on the Faleen. We're re-assigning you. Go to Faleen and find out who or what it is that is enticing them to force the Calamari to drop their prices on Bacta. Then come back here and report it." Ordered Master Windu.

With a quick glance to Master Yoda, who responded with a nod, Master Senemi was off. Streaking down the halls, walking at a pace that you only do when furious about an incident that just occured.

"I never liked that man." He thought as he was walking toward the hanger to get into his Jedi Starfighter.

xeous
Chapter 2

"Well this should be fun" Senemi mumbled as he was approaching the Green planet.

Upon landing he was greeted with Spears, Blasters, Rocks, any weapon that the Falleen lower class could find. They jammed the spears into his back and knocked him unconcious.

When he woke up, he was laying in a bed. A cold, hard bed. He checked for his saber. Gone. His credits. Gone. They took anything that was worth anything off of him. If it was shiny and looked valuable, it wasn't there any more. He swiftly walked over to the door and attempted to open it. Locked. "Fantastic. I come here to negotiate and I get conked on the head and robbed...Will anything good come of this?"
He muttered.

Just as those words flew from his mouth the door flung open and in walked a young boy, approximatly 6 years old. He was a human. A human, clear out here on this green, mucky, mushy planet? How? Why? The only thing that Master Senemi saw was the food. He was starved. The boy sat down the food:

"Why thank you, young lad." Was Master Senemi's greeting.

"You're from above? Are you a light god, like our Prince?" Replied the boy.

"Heh. Light god? I don't know much of that. But yes, I guess you could say that I'm from above. I'm from Coruscant. It's in the..."

"You're from where? What is that?" He asks.

"You mean that...You aren't aware of other systems? You aren't educated? You speak Basic. You must be educated."

"No, I'm a serf...Or so they tell me. They say that I've already been traded 10 times. No one wants me because I'm different...I wish I had a tail and was green like everyone else...Maybe then I'd have friends. But..You! You're like me." He sighs...

"Well, What's your name? Mine is Dukaray Senemi. By the looks of it, I might be here for a little while, I might need a friend."

"I'm Christof. Christof Joulden."

"Alright. Now that we're acquainted, why am I locked up?" Asks Dukaray.

"Well...You're not locked up. They've taken you in. You're a serf now. Nothing you can really do. Unless you've got 20 years. That's about how long it takes to buy yourself. I can't wait to be free..."

"Let's see what we can do about me getting off this rock, whatdya say?"

Christof's eyes light up. You can tell that he craves to help people off of this dreaded planet.

"Sure!"

They walk outside and are chit chatting away when they come across a large group of Falleenians taking a swim.

"Tunashi unkiuni? HAHAHAHA" Shouts one of them.
("Wanna go for another swim, human? HAHAHAHA"wink

"Menosuki dopiki noriki, Tenemisino?!" Christof bellars back.
("Why, so I can stay under longer than you again, Tenemisono?"wink

"Habaduki norichini tufuki, noi sknni..Chrissy!"
("Not if you dround first...Chrissy!"wink

"As much as I'm enjoying this little conversation, whatever it's about...We really must hurry. I have important business to attend to."
Interrupts Dukaray.

"Serfs have no important business...We just...work. This is our fun time and they hate me, try to kill me during our fun time. In fact, I'd be dead now if it weren't for..."

Christof ducks and a spear sails over his head. He turns to look to his left to see who threw it. He stands there for a second and looks at the two culprits...They mumble something in their native tung and turn and run.

"I see..." Master Semeni interjects, "you have quick reflexes and you can feel things...Bad things before they happen?"

"Yeah...Though I don't like to talk about it...It makes me more different."

"It's really nothing to be ashamed of. There are many more like you that have the same talents. Maybe one day you can join them. It must be soon, though. What's your age?"

Christof stands there for a few moments and replies, "I'm not really sure...I've been here for 4 years and before that I don't remember hardly anything..."

"Lets go, we need to see the leader here. Can you take me there?"

"Yes," Says Christof, "But I don't know what kind of shape we'll come out in."

xeous
Chapter 3

They walk up flights of stairs and reach the massive doors to the temple like structure and behold, there are guards.

"Neeni Uchkari Weeniii Funkini, luni korri?"
(May we see the prince, in love?)
Says Christof in the vowel-ridden language.

"Noi!"
(No!)
Replies the massive guard.

"Ask them again." Tells Dukaray

"But.."

"Don't ask questions...Just do it. But this time, order them...Don't ask."

Master Senemi waves his hand just before Christof says his first sylable.
"Yui dokini shuchi nokini Weeni."
(You will let us see the Prince.)

"Yeei, unkini Weeni doraki sufuni tortilini."
(Yes, the Prince is in the throne room.)

The doors open and they walk into a beautiful room covered with golden wallpapers. This room is decorated with no expense-the finest pearls and crystals from the far reaches of the galaxy. It definatly makes you wonder, if this prince is buying the Bacta, why would HE need to lower the price?

"How did you do that back there?" Christof is in bewilderment...He's only seen people go into the palace...Never before has he gone in...Never before has an outsider entered.

"Don't worry young one, if all goes as planned, you too will soon learn to do many things just like that. And much more."

"As planned?...Anyway, the Prince speaks basic, or so I'm told. I've never actually seen him. Nor do I really want to. They say he's done terrible things with his light weapon."

They walk into the throne room and see no one. Soon, a young Falleen female comes walking out of a west corridor. Dressed in full battle armor she zooms past the two humans, picking up a hilt off a table(not Dukaray's) and zooms by them again.

"Miss..." is all that Dukaray gets out before she flys by him.

Not thirty seconds later, another young female Falleen walks out. This one is dressed in full eveningware. They actually look quite stunning in the deep yellow dress that she's wearing. Obviously, she's royalty.

"I am Niki. My husband has just left. That was his sister getting his lightsword. Can I help either of you? I am the leader of this planet for the time being." She announces.

"I am Jedi Master Dukaray Senemi. I have come here investigating the hostility toward the planet of Mal Calamari. Do you know anything of this?"

"I only know that we are hostile because of the increase in prices of Bacta. They realize that we are in desperate need of it so they increased the price of our only supply. It's robbery!" She snapped back.

"Why are you in such a desperate need? Are your people dieing from disease? If so, we can send Republic..."

"NO! There will be no one from the Republic here. We remember what your kind did to our people almost a thousand years ago! We never forget! Never!"

She's obviously very angry about something that happened during the Sith Wars...

"I don't quite understand...What happened? I know the war with the Sith was faught very close to here...But I'm unaware of anything that happened." Responded Dukaray.

She looks at him with desperate eyes. "You really don't know? Well...Ok." She begins telling the story.

"Our people are famous for their large lung capacity. We can dive to the deepest depths of any ocean. The men in black came and captured us for just that-our diving abilities. Hundreds and thousands of our kind were taken away to swim...swim for Koltar. They made medpacs out of koltar back then and the war heightened the demand for it. Thus, prices went up. They figured that if they could have their own supply of Koltar, they could put more money into ships, troops, and the like...Anyway. If we didn't meet our quota of Koltar per day, no less than 20 Falleen were killed. By the end of the war, over 50,000 lay dead because of a war that we had nothing to do with."

Dukaray looks amazed. "These people said they were from the republic? They weren't. The Sith were the only ones that dressed in black. Our troops wore red."

"No, no. These men were captured by the Republic. They said so. They said that the Republic forced them to come here!" Panic begins to set in.

"No, it's not true. Prisoners were all issued a blue-grey jumpsuit in the Wars. I can help your planet in your disputes. I just need my ship and my weapon so I can return to Coruscant and report this." He responds.

"You shalt not go anywhere! You will stay here..."

Master Senemi waves his hand.

"You will let this young boy and I leave here, with my weapon, on my ship to go to Coruscant. We will return. I promise you that."

"Here is your weapon. Your ship is in our hangar. Please return soon." She replies.

Captain REX
laughing out loud

Looks good.

xeous
I just noticed that I used the complete wrong tense of the verbs...Don't hate on me, I was a little tired...

xeous
Chapter 4

What Niki forgot to mention was their hangar was a good distance away. Approximatly a mile and a half. After questioning a few of the locals as to where the hangar was, they were off. Hopefully in the right direction. Along the way, Christof didn't so much as look at the creatures whom he had spent practically his entire life with, much less say goodbye. Most yelled what seemed to be rude comments toward him, but he kept trucking along, asking Master Senemi about Coruscant and what the other children were like, the feel of traveling in space, and the like. Master Senemi's answer was usually, "You'll see soon enough."

As they arrived in the final half of the village, obviously the upper class, there were no rude comments, only staring. Staring at the young boy were Nobles, ones who felt they owned him. He wasn't really a slave, so even if he lived in the Republic, they couldn't free him with the slave laws.

Senemi was interested in what the Council would have to say about this boy. Almost too old to be trained, but not quite. He would, most definatly be at a disadvantage compaired to the younger padawan, yet his natural ability may make up for it. Would he be a danger to the Jedi Order? With proper training and guidance, probably not. Senemi made up his mind at that moment, Christof will become his padawan as soon as he finishes his basic Jedi training with Master Yoda. The request will be made before the Council is even told of what has happened here, in the past.

As they were approaching the hangar, they were stopped by a tall, lanky Falleenian.

"Neemi Shacki noi casi, Christof?"
(What are you doing out here, Christof?)

"Noi pai dosi noi raki, Zerono."
(Nothing that's your concern, Zerono)

"Tui backi raki, sasi!!"
(I'll make it my concern, slave!!)

After the exchange of words, the tall reptile grabbed Christof with both arms fully extended. Master Senemi ignighted his lightsaber and held it just above his scaley green arms. Zerono jolted back in shock.

"Unifaci doi keni!"
(He is a light god!)

"Yei, doi neeki sumi dosshi fefi noi, terrini lambrogini."
(Yes, and if you don't take us to the hanger, he'll cut you into diced meat.)

"Oki Oki..."
(Ok, Ok)

"He says he'll take us to the hanger. He's one of the upper classed nobles that ownes the land where I...We stay. He has access to the hanger since his ship is in there..."
Christof Explained.

Senemi was intrigued, "And what kind of ship is it?"

"I don't know..It's some kind of passenger ship, no cannons, or so I'm told." Replied Christof

"Really. Well, maybe he could be of use to us. Ask him to take us to Coruscant."

Master Senemi waved his hand toward Zerono.

"Neeni uni canabi, loi dei Coruscant."
(If you would, take us to Coruscant.)

"Yei, Sunami duki suenei sofili. Bushi doini eurenieimali sufulei."
(Yes, I have business near there anyhow. But I'm not leaving until morning.)

"Euanai dokini looki foshimi quini."
(Alright, we'll come back then.)

"He says that we have to come back first thing in the morning. I have a friend that lives nearby, we might be able to sleep there."

"I thought you didn't have any friends." Replied Master Senemi, quite curiously.

"Well, When I first came here, she took care of me...I almost died." Christof was obviously remembering the pain that he went through for the first year of his life on this planet, pain that made the taunts of the locals seem like pricks from needles.

Christof was interested in the lightsaber and asked what seemed like thousands of questions about it. "Will I get one?" "What Color will it be" "Will I choose the color?" "Will you teach me to use it?" If it seemed like he ran out of questions, he just recycled them again and again but, Dukaray's answer always seemed to be, "You'll find out soon enough."

They soon approached a modest sized house, nothing special. Christof bangs on the large door and almost immeadiatly it's answered.

"Awi...Christof! Uni cassoi doi coniserei. Ci Ci."
(Hel...Christof! I was just leaving. Come in, come in.)

"Could we please speak Basic, Gero, so my friend can understand?"

"Of course! Of course! Come in, come in! And you are?" Gero looks over to Dukaray with honest eyes.

As Master Senemi was answering, Gero raced around the kitchen, fixing drinks.

"I am Jedi Master Dukaray Senemi. Pleased to meet you, Gero. Was it your daughter that helped Christof when he was in his time of need?"

"Yes, it was. But unfortunatly, She's not here right now," Gero glances over to Christof, "She works at the Bacta plant on Mon Calamari now."

Master Senemi replied with a puzzled look, "I was under the impression that she was younger."

"Well...She has actually been old enough to work there for quite some time but, she wanted to stay home and help with my wife..." Gero replied.

"I see, well..I'm a little curious. Why would a Noble Falleen woman, who is much older have such compassion for a young serf who is human?" Senemi asked.

Gero chuckled, "She isn't Falleen. She's human. And she isn't really that much older. We...adopted her when she was young, her parents were killed here a few years after she was born. I guess that was about six years before Christof arrived...She must have had a soft heart for him."

Master Senemi was obviously trying to comprehend, "Why would a noble family adopt a young human female? We're outsiders to you."

"The life of a serf," He explained,"is all about numbers. The more people that work as a family, the faster you can purchase your land. We had no children and I guess she grew on us."

"So...You were a serf? How did you become noble." Dukaray glanced at Christof, "I thought that was almost impossible."

"Oh it is! We worked hard, sold our products, and bought our land. With the land comes nobility. With nobility comes trips to other systems to learn their ways and spread ours! They only take the best to spread our culture and we were the classic rags to riches story though, we never forgot where we came from."

"Amazing," the Jedi Master was obviously impressed, "in a world of such hatrid towards outsiders you not only took in one but two humans. That is indeed admirable."

They all walked over to the table where the drinks are setting and sat down.

"Thank you," said Master Senemi as he grabbed a drink, "Now, do you know anything about why there has been an increase in the cost for the bacta? Maybe you have some inside information on it?"

"No. I have no idea why. I'm sorry." Gero replied with much somber.

"I see. Thank you. If I may ask you a favor..." Gero interupted, "Anything for Seren's childhood friend."

"May we stay here the night? Our ship is leaving in the morning and.." Gero interrupts again,"You're leaving! Christof my boy, your dream! You're leaving! I'm so happy for you! Yes, of course you can stay, of course!" Gero gave Christof a hug and offered to make dinner. The two humbly denied responding with the fact that they have a big day tomarrow and need rest.

"Of course, I still need to take care of my bussiness anyhow. Good luck Christof!" Gero hollared as he walked out of the door. Little did Christof know that he would never see Gero again.

xeous
Chapter 5

Master Senemi was awake before sunrise, as usual, meditating on why there would be an increase in the price of bacta and why this planet would have a large need for it. Christof walked into the room and obviously had something on his mind. Master Senemi could sense it.

"What's wrong, Christof?" Asked Master Senemi

"Will...Will I ever see this place again?" Replied Christof.

"Honestly, probably not. But you never know. You never really know where your path will lead you. Your life may lead down one solid, unforgiving path one day and the next, you may take a road that you've almost sworn never to take. You never know." Dukaray replied, never opening his eyes.

After he wrapped up his meditation, Master Senemi and Christof walked down the road, toward the hangar. Senemi had never seen a sunrise quite like this one. The gasses from the swamps absorbed some color and made the trees almost look redish yellow. It was breathtaking. Christof never noticed, perhaps he takes it for granted now.

Hardly any of the cold blooded reptiles were awake in these wee hours of the morning, it was still quite cold. But, as they walked into the hangar, they saw Zerno, preparing his ship for liftoff, wearing a heated suit.

"Eeki nucasi durpi, humanei."
(I don't know how you stay warm, human.)

"Essi tui mufi cheeki, reli."
(We're better than you, reptile.)

"Pfff. Youi dooisni ergati, humi queini takei."
(Pfff. You, just get into the ship, get ready for takeoff.)

It seemed like no time at all before the trio were in the air, in space, then on Coruscant. Master Senemi needed to get to the Council immeadiatly to tell them about his finds, the boy and about the Sith.

Coruscant was bustling, speeders everywhere, people walking to and fro, cantinas were packed. Christof's eyes were lit up. Never before had he seen such technology, never before had he seen so many people! This wasn't a time for gawking at the amazing city, though, they had work to do. They needed to get to the Jedi Temple and fast. Master Senemi feared that there was a war about to break out and he needed to stop it.

The Master Jedi walked into the Chambers a little calmer this time, he had no reason to be angry, in fact, he was quite pleased.

"Do you have any new news, Dukaray?" Asked Master Windu.

"Yes, I have a few new orders of business to attend to. First though, I would like for you to have a look at this boy

that I found. He was a serf on Salleen. I have found him to be gifted in the ways of the force." Anwsered Master Senemi.

"Well...We shall have a look at him but, immeadiatly after you tell us of the news." Ordered Mace.

"Alright. It seems that during the Sith Wars, some soldiers captured and enslaved many Salleenians. They forced them to dive for koltar and.." Master Windu interrupts, "what does this have to do with the disputes over bacta? I don't care about what happened a milenia ago."

"Well...It seems that someone that isn't actually on Mal Calamari is ordering the increase in the sale price of bacta. It will require further investigations before I can confirm it one way or another." Responded Dukaray.

"Then go, investigate wherever you need to. Spare no expense to find whoever is running the bacta plant. Then, pursuade them to drop their prices back to the normal level. And, Dukaray, on your way out, send in the boy." Mace responded.

Dukaray nodded then walked out the door stopping by Christof.

"They want to see you now, don't be nervous. Just talk to them as you've talked to me...I'm going off to Mon Calamari now, I'll be sure to say hi to Seren for you."

Christof nodded as if to say, "I'll see you soon." and walked toward the Council's Chambers.

As soon as he entered, he was bombarded with questions,
"How old are you, Christof?", "How feel you?", "Would you be willing to give up the life you have now?", "Would you be willing to live without emotions?", "Willing would you be, to give your life to the Jedi Order?"

He felt paniced. He answered them to the best of his ability and was soon dismissed. How did he do? He yearned to become a 'light god' and defend his people from the prince. Then he remembered, how could he do this if he must give up his life? Maybe, as Master Senemi said, he would return via the path less traveled.

Soon, out stepped Master Yoda...Christof chuckled at the size of the Master Jedi, he was about the same height.

"Decided to train you, the council has. Becoming a Jedi Knight, you are. Begin training tomarrow, you will. To your quarters you must go now."

Master Yoda showed the boy down to the room that he would be staying in for the next few years of his life. He had many questions to ask Master Yoda but the time wasn't now. He could somehow feel it.

xeous
Chapter 6

A few weeks have passed and Master Senemi was still looking for employment at a Bacta plant-the only way he could actually get inside of the operations. He entered a busy Cantina in the middle of Mon Hilmo, a rather large town on Mal Calamari. He visitied a total of 3 towns and three plants in the past few weeks, Seren worked for none of those plants. He couldn't get hired at them, either. He noticed a local wearing a shirt with a small crest, advertising for the local bacta plant.

"Good morning, would you happen to know where a fellow could find some work around here?" Asked the Jedi.

"Huh...Oh, yeah. Everyone works at the Bacta plant...Pretty much everyone. Hell, I'll take you there, I have to go to work in five minutes anyway." Replied the big fish.

"Alright, that would be greatly appreciated." Responded Master Senemi.

Soon, the large Calamarian slamed his hand on the table and said, "Let's go." They were off. Walking past many, many cantina's on the way. Master Senemi though to himself, "These fish must drink more out of the ocean than most do in it."

Finally, they arrived. It was a large building but looked nothing like the other plants. Master Senemi asked, "I've been to a couple other Bacta plants, why is this one so different?"

The Calamarian replied, "Well, the others that you visited were extracting plants. This is a refinery. We don't need the outside storage tanks that you saw at the other plants because we don't need to seperate anything, nothing is combustable. We just refine the goods that are sent here. We also pack the ships before they head off..."

"I see...Well, where do I apply?" Dukaray asked. Straight to business as usual.

"Right over there." The big fish pointed.

Master Senemi walked over to the front desk and asked for a job application. They handed him a glass slate with a holographic image on it, the lady handed him a writing utinsil then explained what was required. He filled out the sheet and pressed send, soon the lady had the application, and his entire history, on her screen.

"My, my. A Jedi master? Why would you come here for work, I thought that jedi didn't value property." She said, matter of factly.

"Well, we don't. My ship broke down and I need a limited amount of credits to get the parts I need. Should take me a couple of months of honest work to get them. Then I'll be on my way." He responed.

"I see...Well, we do need a temporary loader. One of our men is in the hospital with injuries. We could use you until he gets better. What do you say?"

"Absolutly, I need to get those credits any way I can." It was a good lie.

"You can start immeadiatly. Right this way please." She said and pressed a button to light up one of the doors.

Senemi began walking then stopped, he felt something that he hadn't felt since he was on Falleen, "Do you happen to know a...Seren, from Falleen?" he asked.

"Yes, I know a Seren. Why, who are you?" She asked, with emotion this time. Not at all like that dull, robotic tone she had been using.

"I am a friend of Christof Joulden. He sends his reguards."

"Christof?! I haven't seen him in ages! How do you know him? How is he doing? Is he in trouble? Has he made any other friends? I have so many questions to ask you of him."She replied and her eyes lit up, Master Senemi could tell she looked at him in a completely different light.

"Christof is fine, he's going to become a Jedi. I freed him from Falleen, he's on Coruscant now." Dukaray replied.

"Amazing. That little boy...Now to become a Jedi. Quite amazing. My contract here is only for five more years, then I'm going home to help father with the paperwork for our serfs. Maybe he could come and visit us once he becomes a jedi?" She asked.

"Perhaps." He responed, thinking the exact opposite. "How difficult would it be for me to have a meeting with the boss here?" He asked. Again, straight to business.

"Not hard at all, now that you're an employee. Mister Senharo has special time frames set aside to speak with employees but, it's extremely hard to get an appointment if you aren't at least in the orginization." She explained

"I've noticed...Well, could you set me up with an appointment? I have some questions for him. And if you could do me a favor, erase Jedi off of my occupation list. And add something prestegious for my work history." He asked.

"Umm...Alright, a friend of Christof's is a friend of mine. I'll help ya out. But you do understand this is perminant? There is nothing I can do to bring back your previous history once I change it...At least from this terminal." She replied with almost a puzzled look.

Master Senemi nodded and said, "Well, I'm off to work." He never thought those words would come out of his mouth. But, as he once said, the path less traveled often leads to where you need to go.

Dukaray walked through the lit doors and into a large room with ships backing in. It was a docking bay. "Wonderful" he thought, "this is going to be easy."

"Hey, you! Don't just stand there, help us move these crates. They're super heavy, man! It takes a couple of us to carry one! As soon as we get done, we've got a lunch break so lets hustle it up!" A muscular man yelled.

"Where are they going?" Master Senemi asked.

"We don't ask questions like that, man. We just move the babies, we don't care where they go." The man responded, obviously hinting.

Master Senemi walked over to where the three men were standing.

"Just tell me where to place it once we pick it up." He replied.

"Well, over there." The man pointed behind one of the large transports.

"Ready, one, two, three, lift!" The other two men grabbed one case, with much strain and began to carry it across the room. Master Senemi watched as they set it down a couple of hundred feet away.

Master Senemi glanced at the crates then lifted his hand. All of the massive crates lifted at once. He then guided them across the loading bay and set them next to the other crate. He looked back at the men with dropped jaws. "Ah, it wasn't so bad. Let's eat."

He started to walk through a door on the east side of the bay when another door on the west opened and a woman yelled, "Dukaray Senemi! Mister Senharo would like to see you now!"

Dukaray stopped and said to the guys, "I'll see you guys later, I have to talk to the boss."

Master Senemi followed the lady out the door and down the hall into a large octangular office. This office was well decorated with a royal look. A couple small pearl statues were on the corners of his desk, holographic images of his assistants, ready for his disposal at any second, and the like. He must have been an important man.

"Ah," the fish stood up, "Dukaray, nice to meet you. What can I do for you?"

Master Senemi responded, "This isn't good enough."

"Excuse me?" said Mister Senharo.

"Mister Senharo, you can see my crudentials, I need something better. I'll work for the same price but this just isn't high enough caliber work for me. I'm better than this, I'm above it." He responded.

Senharo rubbed his chin and looked at his monitor, "I see...Please, call me Jeeze. We do have an operation on Ruusan that you may be interested in. The pay IS better and you're right. This is rather low work for a doctor."

Master Senmi chucked inside, "Well, she did up my past employment record." he thought.

Jeeze continued, "Our operation needs doctors, you see. It can be rather hazardous and..Well, that's it, it's about all that I can tell you. Maybe if the big boss likes you, he'll fill you in further."

Then it hit Dukary; Ruusan. That's where the epic final battle between Jedi and Sith occured. What kind of operations could be there?

"Your ship leaves in the morning. Good luck" Said Jeeze.

The Jedi Master stood up and shook Jeeze's hand, something that was unorthodox for him to do, then left the room. How could he report this to the Council and not be noticed? He wondered if transmissions were monitored off of this planet. He couldn't chance it. He had to wait, wait for the right time to tell the council. They might not know about Ruusan until this mission was over.

xeous
Chapter 7

Upon arriving on this barran, hideous excuse for a planet, Master Semeni felt something that he hadn't felt since he was back on Falleen-The Dark Side. It had an eerily strong presence on that planet for some reason, he didn't know why but he was determined to find out. As the transport hauling Bacta and the Jedi Master approached the planet's
surface, the pilot called out to the ground crew, "This is transport Echelon Delta Bravo six one niner asking a standound of all arms, repeat, a standown of all arms." As a precaution, Dukaray concentrated on hiding his force-sensitivity. Just in case there really was another force sensitive on this planet.

As the Ship landed, Semeni saw it; the largest structure in the outer part of the galaxy that he had ever seen. It almost looked like a factory and surrounding it were large turrents, from this distance, he couldn't determine the caliber or type but he was almost positive that it could shoot down any Jedi Starfighter with one blast. "Why would they need that much firepower to defend this rock?" Semeni thought...

Once the duo stepped out of the ship, another shock hit Semeni. Falleen. There were hundreds upon thousands of the reptiles. It was an entire city, full, a large city at that. The Jedi Master was intrigued. "What's with all the big lizards?" He asked the pilot.

"Eh, don't worry about them. They're slaves..." The Pilot replied.

"Slaves? But how? And why are they clear out here on Ruusan? I don't understand." The Jedi master was obviously a little dumbfounded about how they ALL could possibly have been taken prisoner, the Falleen were warlike people but they usually faught to the death. Unless the odds were impossible, of course. But, with the amount of lizards that Semeni saw on this planet, there was no army that would have been impossible for them.

"You'll see soon enough. Come on, let's go inside. I don't like being around them." The pilot replied with a condecending attitude.

The two walked into the cantina, how convienant that it was only a few feet away from the landing pad. Inside were all humans, no "aliens" to be seen. There was even a sign, "No aliens." "Amazing", Senemi thought,"they work for the people here yet they can't even get a drink?"

"They don't need a drink," The bartender announced,"But you do!"

The barkeep slid down some kind of contraption.

"How did you..." Senemi was again puzzled.

"All the newbies think that, even if they don't say it. You can see it in their eyes.

Welcome to Ruusan. So what's YOUR speciality? Not that it matters..." Responded the bartender.

"Well, I'm a doctor if you must know. And why doesn't it matter?" Again, the puzzled Jedi Master replied.

"Heh...You really don't know?" The bartender turned around and showed Dukaray his neck. The bomb sat there, circular, blinking with a red beam.

"I thought..." Before Dukaray could continue, the bartender motioned at the pilot. He also had the peacekeeper.

"They're on us so that we aren't feudal towards each other. The truth is that we're ALL slaves." He explained, "If we fight each other, we get no work done. And there is lots of work to be done...You'll get yours too. Don't worry."

"And you agree to this? I'm guessing that there is a guy with the big button that blows all of them...you up, right?" Dukaray was definatly onto something here, his mind working any and every angle he could think of.

"We didn't exactly have a choice. Once you get on this rock...Within the first day, you get yours...There's nothing you can do. If you fight back, he just cuts you in half and..." Dukaray interrupted,"Who is HE?"

"He is Zeron Rachul. If you're lucky, you won't meet him. You'll meet his apprentice."

Dukaray finished his drink and turned to the pilot. "Care to show me around this rock?" He asked.

After he nodded, the two proceeded to walk out the side door. They walked into a hangar complete with troopers and starfighters. "This looks like an invasion army." Dukary peered on, hoping he was wrong.

"It is. Zeron is sick of the Republic's policies so he figured that it's about time that he reveals himself as the most powerful man in the galaxy."

"Oh, I almost forgot. There's someone I want you to meet, Dukaray. He was real nice to me when I first came here and made me promise to be nice to the newbies. He'll probably feed you and help ya out until you get used to living here. He is also very wise, ask him anything, he is sure to know the answer."

The two exited the hangar and walked a good ways before comming across an old looking hut. Much like the ones that he saw on Falleen. Straw looking roof, primitive almost.

The Pilot knocked and the door opened. "Come on in, it's open if you didn't notice!" A voice yelled from deep inside the hut.

"Lance? Lance, where ya at?" The pilot yelled.

"Gregor! Good to see you old friend," It was most definatly a Falleen, a large one at that. "Have you brought another shipment of Bacta? Oh, and I see some fresh blood?" The large lizard chuckled.

"Well, this is Dukaray Senemi and this is...Hell, I don't even think I introduced myself. I'm sorry, I'm Gregor Tyran. This is Lance Facet." Gregor, the pilot, explained.

"Lance?" The Jedi chuckled now too, "That's quite a name for a Falleen."

"Yes, my family began to abandon our old ways long ago. We realized that after the first 500 years, we wern't getting off this rock." Lance explained with a somber tone.

"Wait! The Sith?" It hit him..The first 500 years, there must be a second. That's about when the Sith supposidly took the Falleen off of their homeworld. "So Zeron is a Sith?!"

The elderly lizard chuckled once again. "You suprise me, human. You know of the Sith. But it was not Sith that took our people off our homeworld. It was Zeron's ancestors. They wanted to make more money by digging for minerals on this deserted planet and we were to be the diggers. So far, we've found pretty much nothing. It's a worthless rock. When he came into power, we knew he was different. He was power hungary. The only real reason he keeps alive is to build his ships and produce his weapons, and maning his army isn't too shabby either. Soon, he will take over the Republic with our people and there is nothing we can do about it...Unless we wish to die."

"Wait, Zeron can use the force, correct? I mean, he is force sensitive?" The Jedi Master

waited for a response to his question.

Lance waited a second, almost looking for the answer in his vast database of information. The lizard was at least 120 years old and in those years came much experience. "Yes. And again, Dukaray, you suprise me. You know of what is called the force. I've seen him use it. I've also seen him use his lightsword."

"I must stop him from invading the Republic. He has far too many troops for them to stop if he makes a sneak attack. Is there any way to disable the ships?" Dukaray asked with desperation.

"The controls for his ships are in the top of his palace. There, I cannot take you. It is much too dangerous and I am afraid to die."

Gregor chimed in, "I can show you where to disable ths ships. But you will surely die if Zeron comes..."

Dukaray lifted his cloak, exposing his saber.

"What?! You are a.." Dukaray interrupted, "Shhh...Yes, I am. There is no need to be alarmed. I also intend on freeing your people when I go to the palace. Now, will you help me?"

Lance's chest filled with pride, "For my people who have been captive here for far too long, yes I will."

xeous
Chapter 8

After Gregor went over the location of the controls for the transports one last time, Master Senemi was on his way. The duo of Lance and Dukaray may have looked impressive as goons for a loanshark attempting to get payments from lazy bums but not to undertake something of this magnitude. Deep down inside, Dukaray was worried that he may never see Coruscant again. Never get the chance to teach Christof the ways of the Force. He concentrated and put these thoughts, feelings behind him and only thought about what he was about to do.

They arrived at the palace and were met by two human guards. "We have a meeting with Zeron." Dukaray said, with a wave of his hand.

"Alright go on in then." Replied one of the guards.

The guard reached over and opened the door, when they entered it felt eerily similar to somewhere Dukaray had been. He couldn't quite place it but he swore that he had seen this room before. It must have been from Falleen, the palace there. Was this "Prince" the same one from Falleen? No, it would make no sence. Why would he increase the sale price of Bacta on his own people. Then again, why would he hold his own people as slaves? Nothing was fitting together, yet.

"STOP!" A voice yelled, "Where do you think you're going? Turn around slowly."

Dukaray and Lance turned around and saw a female human dressed in leather battle armor. Her almond tanned skin glistened with sweat in fact, sweat beaded through her black hair, down her forehead, and dripped off her nose. She threw a whip aside that she was holding in her right hand and yelled again, "I said, what do you think you're doing?"

"We have a meeting with Zeron." Dukaray replied, waving his hand once again.

"Zeron doesn't meet with slaves and since he and I are the only ones on this planet that aren't slaves, my guess is that you're lieing! Now, tell me what you're doing in here, slave!" She was obviously the apprentice that the bartender spoke of.

"Lance, go disable the ships and if you can, turn off all the bombs, perminantly. I'll take care of her. You know how to do it as well as I and my guess is that if you meet anyone along the way, they'll help you...They probably want freed also. Go, now!" The Jedi Master called out his orders to the Falleen with fire in his eyes.

He then glanced over to the woman, who wasn't more than 40 feet away, throwing down his challenge. He knew she heard him. He knew she understood his plan and what they were to do. Now, what would she do about it?

The woman reached down to her belt and pulled out a hilt, a saber hilt. She ignighted it. The deep red beam flowed like blood. It's deep hum instiled fear into her opponents, but not Dukaray. She had never faught a Jedi before and had no clue what she was getting into.

Dukaray reached down to his belt and whipped out his saber, with a fluid motion ignighting it. The emerald green blade almost had a twinkle to it, beautiful really. It had a low hum also, both must have had upgrades to the blades strength.

Since the woman was the challenger Master Senemi waited for her to make the first move. Onward she sprinted, straight at Dukaray, the blade humming around her ear, she wound up and made a stiff diagonal blow striaght at Dukaray's head. The Jedi Master ducked it and the female attacker spun around with her blade held vertical, hoping to block any attempt of a counter attack. She was weak with the blade, attempting to end this quickly so that Dukaray couldn't kill her, which he knew he would.

The lights went out and all that was left for light was the red and green colors of the sabers glowing in the dark. "He's doing it...He's really doing it." Dukaray thought to himself. "I have to end this soon." Then he faught the thoughts out of his head and concentrated on his opponent once again.

She made a couple of fancy moves with her blade then initaited another attack, sweeping at Dukaray's chest, he blocked and locked the sabers. The fight for position insued, he won and she quickly retreated, nearly escaping Dukaray's death blow with a scratch on her arm.

"Why do you do this? Why fight for them? These slaves...They've been here a long time, longer than you or I could imagine. This is their life. What will they do with freedom? What will they do then?" She gasped for air with each sentence. Dukaray's blow might have done more than he had thought.

"I fight for them because they can't fight for themselves. This is the way of the Jedi. I fight for peace when there is war poking it's ugly head out. It is you who started this war, you who took advantage of these.."

She quickly made a swipe at Dukaray which he easily deflected and threw aside, he then jammed his saber into her heart. She gasped, feeling the pain of the energy blade slicing through her source of life. She then collapsed on the floor in a heap. He reached down to feel if she was still alive but there was no pulse. Dukaray lowered his blade and retracted it. He murmered something then ran to help Lance. This was done but he could still feel the presence of another force weilder on this planet, close.

He soon arrived in the control room, the presence of the Dark side was getting stronger by the second. "Hurry up Lance, we've got to get off this rock, and take everyone with us that we can." Dukaray said.

"I'm trying but I can't seem to find how to reroute the transports." Lance replied.

"That's fine. We'll go to Coruscant, the Council will know what to do with these..."

There was a scream from the main room. A man's scream. Dukaray knew what it was, the Dark Prince.

"We have to get out of here, NOW! Go!" Dukaray yelled. As Lance ran through the back door, Dukaray sealed it. He then turned back on the lights and walked to the main room. There he saw a man dressed in all black, hunched over the woman whom Dukaray just killed.

"My wife...My apprentice. He will meet you soon, I swear it." He stood up, the man was a Giant, no smaller than six feet seven inches. He ignighted his long blade and glared at Dukaray. "You, you're the one I've been feeling! It's been a while since I've killed a Jedi, it's time for you to meet back up with Terina!"

The huge man came bolting down the hall, he sliced at Dukaray before the Jedi Master could get his defences up, Dukaray ducked and tripped up the man, throwing him to the ground. The man got up and Dukaray ignighted his blade now and the man threw him a good 25 feet back with the force then ran at him and made a slice with Dukaray still on the ground. Dukaray rolled backwards onto his feet and took a defensive stance. He just needed to hold this guy off until Lance could get the transports running, about another 30 seconds.

The Dark Jedi Delt a powerful blow that jarred Duakary back. "Lucky for those strength crystals" He thought. Dukary then pushed him back with the force then ran out of the door, towards the hangar. If he timed this right, he could jump on a ship just as it was taking off, if he miss timed it, he would either be stuck on this planet or need to fight the Dark Prince a little longer.

As he arrived, the ship was just taking off. Perfect timing, something that Dukaray wasn't known for. He lept onto the ship just in time, leaving the planet and the Dark Prince behind. The battle was faught and they had won, for now. He knew that it truely wouldn't be over until Zeron was dead. He didn't know if that was something that he had the ability to do.

xeous
Chapter 9

As the transports packed with newly freed slaves approached Coruscant. Cheers and beers were flowing about. Everyone was extatic, no one had dared to go up against either of the Dark Jedi before, not even in mass. Dukaray did this and won, so to speak, so he was their hero forever. Generations of Falleen had been on that planet, now free and soon, ready to go back to their homeworld. The Dark Prince wouldn't show up there ever again since he knew the Jedi would be watching. When the transports arrived, Dukaray sprinted stright up to the Council's chambers. Soon, he would have time to rest but not now.

He went in and explained everything that had happened. He explained that the Prince's ancestors stole the Falleen away long ago and how Zeron was power hungary so he took over the planet. Dukaray explained that the increase in Bacta sales was to fund his army on Ruusan. How Zeron covered this up by increasing the sales on his own planet and attempting to go to war with Mal Calamari. The Council would soon send Jedi to the planet of Mal Calamari to discuss what would be done with the Bacta plants since they would no longer be owned by Zeron.
Finally, the Council dismissed Dukaray to get some rest.

"I have but one more favor to ask of you, Council." Dukaray said.

"Let it be known, what is it?" Master Windu responded.

"As soon as...When Christof finishes his basic training. I would like to be his Master. Him, my apprentice." Dukaray eagerly awaited a response.

"Let us discuss this, Master Senemi." Master Windu replied.

The Council met for a short period of time then Master Windu responded, "Dukaray, your request will be granted. Christof Joulden will become your Padawan learner when his basic training is completed. He will be your responsability until he

takes the Jedi trials, do you accept?"

"I do." Master Senemi's eyes glimmered, he loved that kid and soon he would teach him everything.


Chapter 1, Episode 2 will be out soon!

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