Before - Legends Exar Kun: The Amber Torch, pt. 1 - 3 (Aug 20)

Exar Kun: The Amber Torch pt. 1

Dramatis Personae
Exar Kun, Jedi apprentice
Krystal, former slave
Vodo-Siosk Baas, Jedi Master
Crado, Jedi apprentice
Sylvar, Jedi apprentice

3998 BBY

The Dantooine sun shone brightly in the midday sky. Birds flew through the air, herds of animals grazed in the plains, insects buzzed around the trees, fish swam in the rivers.

A blaster shot rang through the air. It was quickly followed by another, and a third.

A woman ran through the forest, leaping over fallen logs and ducking under low branches. A fourth bolt of energy shot past her head, thudding into a tree trunk and igniting it. The smell of burning wood and ozone reached the woman's nostrils as she ran past.

She burst through an opening and splashed through a shallow stream. Her pursuers were not far behind. As she reached the other side, another shot rang past. She glanced back to see two men emerging from the trees on the other side. Quickly, she hurried back under the cover of the plantlife and began running again, hoping the slippery rocks in the stream would slow the men down.

Ducking and jumping, pushing branches out of the way, the woman hardly noticed the large man in front of her before she ran into him, full speed. She rebounded off of him and ended up flat on her back. She looked up, but the man was standing with the sun directly behind his head so she couldn't see his face.

Suddenly, the two men pursuing her burst through the bushes. They stopped short when they saw the man standing in front of them.

"Hey now," one of them said, "we saw her first! We get to claim the bounty, not you. So if you don't want to be hurt, you better back off now, mister."

The man just stood there, not moving, not saying a word.

"I warned you," the pursuer said as he raised his blaster and pulled the trigger.

The strange man quickly pulled something out of his long black coat. A bright blue light leapt forth with a loud snap-hiss. The light blocked the bolt and reflected it harmlessly into the trees.

The two men froze at the sight of the lightsaber. They had never encountered a Jedi before, but had heard stories, mostly from people missing a limb or two. They looked at each other, and as quickly as they appeared, they disappeared back the way they had come.

The woman looked up at the man as he deactivated the laser sword and placed it on his belt again. He reached down and offered a hand. She took it and got to her feet. Now that she could look at him at a better angle she saw that he was a good foot taller than she, standing at around six foot six. His long, black hair was tied back in a ponytail, revealing a handsome face.

"Thank you," she said. "They would have killed me for sure."

"Why did they want to catch you? And what did they mean by bounty?" he asked.

"Some Hutt slug put a bounty out on me because I ran away from his palace. I couldn't stand being a slace girl for a gaggle of muppets to drool over."

"I see," the strange man said, studying her. She, too, had never encountered a Jedi before, but she had also heard stories. Stories about how they could read minds and force you to do things against your will. He looked into her eyes a moment longer, and then he smiled. "Well, I'm glad I could help out then."

"So am I. My name is Krystal," she smiled back, offering her hand, which he took.

"I'm Exar. Exar Kun."

 

Phew! [face_shocked]

That was some start, wild_karrde!

Lots of suspense and a pair of interesting characters. I'm looking forward to see what happens to the former slave and her Jedi rescuer!

And it's set on Dantooine ...a place I've never come across in fics. The only time I heard about it was when it was mentioned in ANH.

Nice stuff!

Blaine

 

Very nice, w_k! An interesting start, and the action was well described. Good job, and I'll stick to the end if you finish it. Now what will happen to this pair?

It's open to answer, if you want.

 

Exar Kun: The Amber Torch, pt. 2

Crado leaped high into the air, barely managing to avoid the staff that was aimed at his legs. He landed with a heavy thud and quickly spun around, his lightsaber cutting through the humid air at where Vodo-Siosk Baas standing a split second before. Baas, however, was now standing six feet away, easily out of harm's reach.

"You must learn to anticipate my movements, not just in the Force but also by instinct," Baas said in his alien voice.

"Yes Master," replied Crado, panting. The large cat-man had been sparring with his master for the past hour, trying to perfect his lightsaber skills. He still could not best his teacher, and doubted he ever would, but every day he learned something new and every day his body grew stronger and faster. He knew that some day he would become a great and powerful fighter and would help bring down all the evil beings in the galaxy.

Or at least, he hoped he would. But he always carried around the secret fear of failure. He wanted so badly to impress his master and fellow students that he would do almost anything to prove how good he was. He knew that wasn't a good trait for a Jedi to have, but he couldn't help it.

"You did well, Crado," Sylvar said, aproaching from the sidelines where she watched the lesson. The sleek female feline wrapped an arm around Crado, her lover. He smiled down at her, taking pleasure in her simple words. She always had the ability to make him feel better about himself.

"Yes, but you'll have to do better than that if you want to become a Jedi," a voice said. All three Jedi turned to see Exar Kun exiting from the woods.

"Stop it, Exar, you're being arrogant again," Sylvar growled.

"Realistic, is more like it. He moves too slow, a real Jedi must be as fast as lightening, striking in the blink of an eye," Kun replied.

"And I suppose you're that fast, Exar?" Sylvar asked sarcastically.

"He's faster than lightening!" a female voice replied. That's when Crado finally noticed the human woman standing behind Kun, just inside the boarder of trees. She took a step forward, coming into the light cast by the sun high in the afternoon sky. She had long red hair, light skin, and was wearing a blue jumpsuit. "He blocked a blaster bolt without even blinking!" she added excitedly.

"Exar, who is this?" Baas asked as Exar and the young woman came forward to meet the other three.

"My name is Krystal," the woman said.

"She was being chased by what were apparently two bounty hunters. I scared them off, but they'll probably be back," Kun added.

"Did you hurt them?" Crado asked, awed by the fact that Kun had blocked a blaster bolt. He himself had failed the test many times when his master used the training blaster.

"No, just scared them by deflecting the bolt. I don't think they were expecting to run into a Jedi in the woods," Kun said with a grin.

"Why were they chasing you?" Sylvar asked.

"There will be time for that later. Come, Krystal, back to our home. You can clean yourself and we can all get something to eat," Baas said, gesturing towards a small building a short distance away.

"Yes, you must be tired from your run, and again from the long walk here," Kun added.

As the group began heading towards the house, Crado noticed Sylvar eyeing Krystal. He poled her in the arm to get her attention, then raised one furry eyebrow. She shook her head, indicating she didn't want to talk about it. Crado knew they would talk about it once they got some privacy.

 

This is really well done, w_k. Keep it coming, mister.

 

You've sparked some old comic book flashbacks.

Haven't read the names Crado and Sylvar in a loooong time.

 

Exar Kun: The Amber Torch, pt. 3

Exar Kun stood in the doorway of his Master's home and looked around. It was a small and simple home, with most of the space dedicated to the four bedrooms of the Jedi who lived there, along with a kitchen and dining room, a small living room, and a room filled with ancient Jedi artifacts that Master Baas used in his teachings, and some he didn't. Kun had been living here, along with Crado and Sylvar, for the last fifteen years, since he was a small boy. He had been training as a Jedi for a long time and he hoped that his time here was soon at an end. He knew he should be more patient, for that is the way of the Jedi, but he could not help himself. He felt the power of the Force within him, almost overflowing, and was constantly testing his own limits, both mentally and physically. He wanted to learn everything he could about the Force, and knew that he could not learn it all from Baas.

He respected Baas, without a doubt, but he also knew that the Master could not teach him everything he wanted to know. Baas followed the guidelines handed down by his master, but those guidelines, in Kun's opinion, were flawed. Baas refused to teach him anything about the dark side of the Force, fearing that Kun would turn from the light. The way Kun looked at it, however, was that a Jedi who was ignorant of the dark side was much more likely to turn to it than one who knew as much as possible about it. In his mind, once you understood something, you could conquer it. If Kun knew nothing about the dark side, then how would he know if he was being seduced by it? It made no sense to him.

But Baas was the Master, and Kun just an apprentice, so he had no say in the matter. He would just bide his time, and when the opportunity to learn about the dark side would arise, he would take it. Until then, he was content to perfect his skills, both with the Force and with the lightsaber. Today was his first chance to ever actually use his lightsaber in battle, although it wasn't much of a battle. But still, knowing that if he was not able to deflect that blaster bolt then he would have been killed brought a thrill to Kun. He actually used his lightsaber to defend himself against a real threat, and not just Crado or Sylvar, who were no threat at all.

As Kun watched his fellow apprentices, he felt a sadness. Neither of them was anywhere near his level when it came to either manipulation of the Force or skill with a lightsaber. The only one who offered a challenge to Kun anymore was Master Baas himself. And as good as Kun was with a lightsaber, he could never beat, or even match, his Master. But Kun knew, one day, he would best his Master. And when he did, he would truely be a Jedi Knight.

His eyes moved around the room and landed on the woman he met in the woods today. Krystal. At least, that's what she had said her name was. Kun wasn't sure what it really was, but he knew that Krystal wasn't it. He could sense the truth about the bounty though, but was certain that the reason she gave wasn't entirely true. She was a mystery, and Kun liked that. Something different from the routine of training, a new puzzle to solve.

One that offered the opportunity to test his skills in a real life and death situation, as with the bounty hunters earlier.

Kun smiled.

"Exar, come help me with the broloth soup," Baas called from the tiny kitchen to his left. Kun looked at Krystal a moment longer, long enough for her to turn and meet his eyes. Again, Kun sensed something beneath the surface, something she wasn't telling them. And again, Kun became excited at the prospect of a little adventure in his life. Then, looking away, he made his way to the kitchen to help Baas with the soup.