Before - Legends AN 1/18 YOUNG DARK RISING

Greetings. This is a story that I intended to write a long time ago, but due to lack of inspiration and frustration, I decided not to. Now, I want to, so here is my version of how the Republic began, how the Jedi established themselves and a few other things.

I'm Ishy, so I will warn you if you haven't been warned that sometimes, I will have wartime scenes. I will have some mush, not much. And I will shoot all those who find profound meaning in it.

I will be posting in a minute, so enjoy!

 

Okay I am waiting. War parts? Oh my! you have to see some of the others stories.
shoot please.
You said romance parts?

 

Lol. I don't know if you've read any of my other stuff, but sometimes, it's meant to be romantic, but ends up mostly dead...Well, not quite with this story.

 

War time scenes? Gotta love those. I don't think there is enough of that on the boards. After all it is Star Wars. Anyway, can't wait.

 

Ah Ah! I am not afraid of that. POST please. I do not know your other stories. Sorry.

 

I'm here and looking forward to reading, Ish!

 

Hooray! Ishy's back at it!

Um, that is, I hope I can take it...

Zara, you're gonna get war scenes, and then some!

Bring on the lanvaroks (sp?)!

 

Sorry i haven't posted yet. i got caught in a hotel, then got really sick and now i'm off to virginia. sorry! i'm flattered people are actually showing up to read!

 

FIrst post is here. It'll move slowly at first, but then, boom!

Enjoy!
*****
It was very cold in space, but somehow, she could not stop sweating.

It had been two long weeks since they left, two weeks without standard communication. It had left her with a lot of time to contemplate and a lot of time for the dread to build up.

It wasn't that she was accustomed to fearing her Master. Perhaps if she had ever experienced this dread before, she'd know how to control it.

But things had never gone this badly before. They'd never had a chance to.

Your first mission alone and you couldn't even prevent...

"Trev Seik?"

Ela Seik's head came up at the greeting, eyes coming into focus on the small-framed woman lingering in the doorway. Her spine straightened imperceptibly and a slow smile spread outward from the center of her face, more like the gentle movement of a she-lily unfolding than a forced movement.

"Yes, Captain, what is it?"

The nervous expression of her visitor slightly eased as she entered the room with measured steps. "Pardon the intrusion, but we've entered orbit."

She nodded, pushing to her feet. "I'll be there in a moment to help with the landing cycle."

The other bowed, then backed away, leaving with the after thought of, "Trivaru Iten and Miphe will be waiting for us."

Iten.

Master Miphe she could handle. She'd loved him since the morning he found her in the mines of Trzai. She'd been a terrified girl of six, kept alive by instinct and powers she couldn't understand, fearing everyone and not remembering a life without darkness. One of the workers had mentioned her to the visiting knight and she'd come, expecting a reprimand or tests, not the love and assurance and freedom he'd offered her.

Two years later, she'd become his first apprentice.

Miphe she could trust beyond the space of eternities, but Master Iten was a different matter altogether. No one could expect compassion or understanding, only discipline and his perception of justice.

And what discipline she deserved was one she was not willing to face just yet.

For a long moment, she ached for a few minutes of extra meditation, for a way to escape this, but the fact of the matter was that nineteen thousand people had died.

And it was her weakness that had allowed it.
*****
The message had been simple, horribly unclear, but it explained many of the things he had been feeling.

Mission failed. Negotiations were unsuccessful and casualties high. Will return at Master Jedaa's behest.

Miphe frowned towards the darkening sky, senses stretching out towards his apprentice, but he could still sense little from her.

I curse the day I taught her mind-shielding.

The first day, he'd sensed things altogether expected. He knew little of the results, but knew that Master Jedaa had ordered her extraction without further delay. Anger, mourning, gut-wrenching despair were all her companions. By the third day, he'd been able to reach her, soothe her nerves momentarily, but the approach to Coruscant had only made matters worse.

"I hope she will cooperate," Iten murmured, mouth a straight line.

The tone was all wrong, set him on edge and on the defense. "You're speaking of Ela as a criminal," he said evenly. "I will have no such thing."

"She was sent there to put an end to the civil dispute, to negotiate peace," he snapped. "WHatever happened, she still has the blood of those innocents on her hands."

"I do not believe that to be the case," Miphe gritted, "and I do not believe Master Jedaa does, either."

"I am the disciplinary force of our Order," he countered. "I would not be here if our esteemed Master did not believe that."

A valid point, were this a matter of his office, but the simple matter was that they were the two available Masters to deal with such interviews.

"Master asked you and I to review her mission, then report our recommendation to him. He made no mention of disciplinary action."

Any further comment was curtailed by the arrival of t

 

I have a bed feeling about this problem.
Okay good post. Suspense. Yeah!

 

Great start! Nice establishing charaterizations, and still a good air of mystery as to what really happened.

 

Thanks! I'll be dealing with the Jedi a lot in this story, since they are the guardians of the Old Republic and will, of course, be at its inception. I also got part of this idea from that line in Ep2--"THere hasn't been a full-scale war since the beginning of the Republic" or something like that. THis is my version of how that republic formed, especially my speculation on why we have so many dang "Ord" worlds.

 

Wartime scenes, eh? Sounds like my kind of story. Interesting beginning.

-Tim

 

very interesting start

 

I'm intrigued.

 

Sorry no new post has come. It'll come in a couple of days, since I'm heading home tonight, then will be apartment-hunting. Please keep me in your prayers if any of you are religious. I'll try to write again asap, but regular posts will come more easily in September.

 

Definitely in my prayers, DarthIshtar, and upping for a great story.

 

I've been horrendously sick for several days and am finally a little better, but my netnazi parents won't let me on! Post coming soon, I hope!

 

Finally, a second post! Hope y'all enjoy. Is anyone out there listening?

*****
"I should have known I would find you here."

Ela's shoulders stiffened, but she did not dare to meet her visitor's gaze. Instead, her eyes wandered over the lush garden that formed the center of the Order's compound. Filled with pla trees and kiva flowers, cut through by a sparkling band of water, it had long been her favorite hiding place when she needed to escape lessons or her master.

Or reality.

"I came here, hoping to find some of that inner peace you always told me to seek, but the Force has withdrawn from me."

There was a sharp intake of breath, then a slow release, then a shift of movement as Master Jedaa sank into a sitting position next to her on the bench. A moment later, he was in her mind, uninvited, but not unwelcome. His presence was a balm for her seared senses and a salve for her still-raw wounds.

Finally, she began to feel a measure of the peace that had eluded her.

But her mind would not let her off that easily.

"You always were the extremist, Knight Seik," he mused. "At times, it serves you well, but it pains me to see you have so little confidence."

She opened her mouth to speak, but his hand, roughened by many years of service, curled around hers.

"Listen for a while yet, Knight Seik," he chided. "You've let your mind do a lot of persuading lately and that is why peace is avoiding your presence. The whispers of the Force are deafened when you're shouting your own prosecution."

Her eyes came up to meet his, found a hint of a smile rather than a reproach there. "There is nothing to my defense, Master," she countered softly. "Unless you count that some of us got out alive."

He pressed a finger to her lips, smile extending to his lips. "Yes," he granted, "some got out alive, but there are many other things that you did right.

"We sent you, an apprentice, to do the work that a Master would have found difficult. I know, because I have faced like circumstances before and I knew that we could trust you with such a responsibility. We did not know that it would become a burden, because even the Force does not reveal all its answers.

"When variables changed, you responded appropriately. The evils of other men were beyond your control, but you still..."

Her cheeks flushed. "I still got them into a fight they could not possibly win."

"As an alternative to letting them die as slaughtered animals," he said grimly.

For a long moment, there was almost silence, the only sound coming from the stream at their feet and the soft keening of the lira birds.

"Master Iten spoke with me," he continued softly, "but I'm more inclined to hear Master Miphe's side of the story."

She could not contain the relieved sigh. "What now, then?"

"Well, Knight Seik..."

"That is the third time you've ranked me above my station," she chided. "It's not like you to err in the details, Master."

"I err in no detail, Knight Seik," he interrupted. "It's not like you to be so unobservant."

Comprehension hit a second before he confirmed it.

"We have another mission that requires attention," he said mildly. "Four Knights will be sent to Alderaan and I would prefer that you be among those Knights, Knight Seik."

"Knight," she repeated, awestruck. "Does Master Miphe know?"

"Of course." His mouth quirked. "Of course, Master Iten is livid that his disciplinary action promoted you, but we all err in our judgment of character, sometimes."

Before she could respond, he pushed to his feet and headed for the cobblestone pathway that led from the garden, then turned back.

"I'll leave you to your search," he concluded, "but bear this in mind. The Force did not withdraw. It is simply carrying you rather than at your side."
*****
Morning at Antibes rarely changed.

The Palace had been torn down, burnt, demolished, or simply abandoned more than a few times in the history of the Alderaani people, but it always stood in the same spot.

The current Palace had stood for over

 

Anyone out there?!

 

Nadie me quiere
Todos me odian
Supongo que comere nomrices!
(Nobody likes me
Everybody hates me
Guess I'll go eat worms!)

Doesn't translate well, I know!

UP!

 

You posted during dinner time.

Intersting way to form an allegedly peaceful group- join or die

 

Hmm, I think I like this, especially Ela and Master Jedaa.

The Force did not withdraw. It is simply carrying you rather than at your side." I know where that came from!

Valeria sounds like a great character, too, not wanting to be out of touch with her people. Loved this line! ... until 'Her Royal Grogginess has extracted herself from the mattress.'

Surna's too smooth ... I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Sorry to hear that you were sick, and glad you're feeling better now. Did you want some ketchup with those worms?

 

Wow, the plot thickens. Hopefully more to come.

 

Naw, no ketchup. I just got off a spanish mission, so I'm eating everything with jalapenos and salsa.

Thanks for reading. So, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It won't in the way you're expecting, or maybe it will. We'll just have to see.