Saviors of the Force.

The door banged open before Aviendha?s hand reached the handle. Krina swept in, a tall blond who made men stare and monarchs beg. In her hand she held a comlink, and the other was perched on her hip, making her entire demeanor one of annoyance.

?Luke has a project for us,? she said simply.

?Really? What is it?? Aviendha replied, genuinely curious. Skywalker didn?t assign tasks to just anyone. He only gave them to people he was absolutely sure he could trust. Needless to say, she was mildly surprised.

?He wants us to find some missing Jedi . . .? Krina paused dramatically. ?Shren. Xi-Oni, I think Luke said his name was.?

Aviendha blinked and creased her brow. ?A missing Jedi? Why would Luke concern himself with missing Jedi? Surely one or two men claiming to have the powers claimed in the past can?t cause him any harm.? Intriguing, she thought to herself. I will have to watch myself because this is becoming a very tight walk between my ruse with Skywalker and the truth with Shren.

Krina shrugged, a gesture that looked odd with no trace of amusement on her face. ?He said he would brief us later. You can ask him then, I suppose,? she replied. Then, she gave a brisk nod and left.

Aviendha looked at the door after Krina disappeared. Shaking her head, she sat back down at her table, scribbling in her tablet again, occasionally glancing around her at sporadic noises.

 

Hope I haven't sent any of these characters in the wrong direction. Just trying to get the story moving again...

 

No Ejan, I think that was pretty good actually. You too Musical Jedi. At the moment I am trying to work out how many chraracters are part of Xi-Oni Shren's Jedi contingent. Of course there is Xi-Oni himself and Ramiel Kenobi. Do we have others, or are they yet to join our crusade?

 

Cool. By the way, what's the name of Luke's Star Destroyer?

 

it's called the Skywalker, what a vain *******.

 

Laguna: I was planning on having Avaka Tarsis join up with them soon, but I've had some trouble figuring out how to do it.

 

Oh, hmm. Well for the moment then it looks like I'm in charge of the Jedi group (all two of them).

Well, looks like they'd better be off to where the action is, so we need a reason to get to Nal Hutta seeing as that's where Skywalker's headded. Of course the two factions will be unaware of each other's presence in the system, how does that suit your plans Ejan? Do you have any specific plans for them in Nal Hutta, perhaps there is an important person or artefact there.

Aviendha, Krina, Avaka or Shrike (whoever) can smoehow join up with the Jedi there I guess. That'll get the story moving.

 

Not a clue, actually. The only reason I wanted them in Nal Hutta was because that's where the bounty hunter went and they want to make sure his employer doesn't cause them any more trouble. As for Xi-Oni, last we heard about him, he was on Tatooine, but got transported somewhere else. That's what the others are trying to figure out.

Got a good idea? Go with it. I don't want to spend that much time in Nal Hutta becaue I would assume Luke wants to get back to his search for the Jedi.

 

Aviendha is part of the resistance force, just not on the planet with them, obviously. Subterfuge is good for any resistance force. Anyway, I hope no one minds the liberties I've taken.

 

No, what you've done is great Musical Jedi.

I've been trying to work out what to do with Ramiel and Xi-Oni. They're going to Nal Hutta to meet a young woman by the name of Ashla Pace. Ashla is the daughter of Mondo Pace, Xi-Oni's close friend during adolescence. Mondo is now the governer of one of Nal Hutta's five key districts and has established one of the last reputable shipping organisations in the galaxy. His daughter is not a force user, but is highly trained in combat. More importantly, she worked for many years as a pilot for her father's company and has recently expressed a desire to aid the cause of his Jedi friend. Ashla will become the pilot for the Jedi group, and assist them in any way she can - she is especially adept at infiltration and intelligence. Her craft, Liberty's Vengence is heavily modified with extra weaponry, armour and stealth technology. I'll writeher into the story with my next post.

Of course, this means that our unsuspecting foes are about to find themselves staring down the lightsabre at each other. Time will tell us what happens.

[This message has been edited by Laguna (edited 02-11-2000).]

 

The mottled haze was the only thing visible as the Skywalker cut cleanly through the silence of hyperspace.

Luke stood at the front bay bridge window, watching and thinking. Soon, things would be falling into place. The galaxy was shifting, going through an evolution, and he was going to be at the forefront of it. It was a long time coming, he noted, but he knew that all change occurred in cycles.

A thousand years before, another great shift occurred. The Republic, the great galactic seat of government, had finally collapsed and fell to the all too brief occupation of the Empire, which in turn fell to the rise of a New Republic. Governments will fall, he thought. Governments will rise. But people will remain the same. And indeed they had. In the thousand years that had passed since the fall of the Empire, the galaxy had gone back to being pretty much what it had been before, a conglomeration of malcontents, drifters, and factions squabbling for control over laughably trivial matters. There were eras of peace, eras of strife, and general indifference in between.
The only thing that had changed were the Jedi. The Empire had effectively destroyed them, and as much as others had tried to revive the mythos and the tradition, the great Order that had once been awed and revered had become nothing more than a sideshow. The only promise that had arisen was the work of his own ancestor and namesake. The first Luke Skywalker had been the savior of the Force, the product of a fabled legend, the Son of the Suns, as the story went. After the death of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker had come out of the ashes of a dying society, and almost single handedly revived the Order. The Republic was rebuilt, the Jedi Council was reformed, and all seemed well.

But it wasn't. By this time, the Force was nothing more than a dying religion in the minds of the populace, and those who held the keys to its power were no longer revered, but scorned. The galaxy had lost its respect for the Order, and consequently it never fully resurfaced, regardless of the tremendous efforts put forth by Skywalker and his kin.

Over the next several centuries, the Force had again found its way back into the galaxy, but not in the way its progenitors had intended. Instead of becoming a force for good and justice, a symbol of the peace that had once existed in the galaxy, the population that inherited the Force had become a force for greed, indifference and self-preservation. It spread almost like a disease, until it was nothing more than a rude metaphor for a devolving society. Force users were as common as smugglers and politicians, and were about as well respected. Few were those who sought a higher purpose with the power, and even fewer were those who believed in the Order that power had once embodied.

But the tides were turning. Slowly, people were beginning to take notice at the shape of the galaxy, and beginning to take interest in the history of what the galaxy had once been. Luke Skywalker, descendant of the original, was putting himself at the forefront of this movement. He was aware of the possibilities inherent in a New Order, and he had the resources to make it happen. But he didn't intend to repeat history's mistakes. There were others who were similarly motivated, but the ones who were looking to the original Order for inspiration were going to find themselves sadly misguided. History was going to be rewritten, and it was going to start with Luke Skywalker and the elimination of the old Order.

Luke smiled faintly as he saw his plans slowly coming to fruition. But one step at a time . . .

He turned from his thoughts and walked away from the front window. He stopped by the Nav Officer, who logged a proximity alert and looked up from his terminal. "We're entering the Nal Hutta system, sir."

"Good."

 

Second page! (in other words, UP!)

 

Uppers!

 

Sorry I haven't posted yet, but I have completly missed the thread so far.

 

It's too early to have run out of ideas. . . Somebody's got to have a post ready, right?

 

Working on it...

 

Yeah, I'm back after nearly a week. Should have something within 36 hours. Don't be disheartened.

"Where did you dig up that old fossil?"
"I can't believe he's gone..."
"Oh he's not dead, not yet."

 

*drags the fic back to the first page* Stay.

 

With a loud hiss the ramp lowered from the transport and two robed figures descended to the landing platform.

Nal Hutta. Ramiel Kenobi took in his surroundings. A steel-crete cess pool. What are we doing here?

As if answering his unspoken question, Xi-Oni Shren spoke quietly to his protoge.

"My friend's representative will be here shortly and will transport us to his residence. There we shall meet with Mondo
Pace, along with his daughter Ashla. Ashla is the pilot of the frieghter Liberty's Vengence and will aid our cause greatly."

Ramiel snorted. What help could she possibly be?

There was something about this place that disturbed Ramiel greatly. As though there were a great evil depression in the Force. Like a ysalamiri bubble of misery. He hoped they'd be out of here very soon.

Another transport shuttle landed at the docking platform and an alien of a species Ramiel was unfamiliar with disembarked and approached them. The creture was followed by a 3PO protocol droid unit.

Ramiel despised such droids.

The creature croaked at Xi-Oni and Ramiel for a few moment, the droid then providing translation.

"I am Ratguar, servent of Mondo Pace. My master is awaiting your arrival, please follow me."

"Thank you," said Xi-Oni diplomatically and the protocol droid translated. The creature shrugged and turned back toward the ship.

"Master, what is that?" Ramiel questioned his master discretely.

"I'm uncertain, I've not seen a creature like it before." Xi-Oni looked at Ramiel. "I see you have also sensed the disturbance that rests over this place," the senior Jedi commented.

"It feels like an aura of death."

"I fear greatly that you are all too right, my friend."

Ramiel looked at his master, wanting to ask what he had meant, but Xi-Oni had closed his eyes in a trance-like meditation as they walked up the ramp into the shuttle.

Indeed his power was great, Kenobi mused, still disturbed by what awaited them on Nal Hutta.

 

Woo-Hoo!!!! New post!!

 

Yessiree, we're back on course, I'll have some more tomorrow

 

Hey, this is only a suggestion, but maybe we should start emailing back and forth between the authors so that we can plan ahead and not overlap posts.

 

The special forces commando wimpered pitifuly at Aldien' booted feet. The Poor commando's arm was broken in several places, and his left leg was lying of in the corner of the room. Burns and cuts cris-crossed his broken body. He would have fainted from the pain long ago, had he not been pumped full of stimulents.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that, my friend. I would have gotten the information I wanted a long time ago, but i seem to have left all my elegent torture devices on the cloud city," Aldien said with a sad looking smile, "Now, where is our friend Jastiss?"

"I-I-I think he went back to Skywalker," the comandor gurgled.

"And where is Skywalker going?"

"I c-c-c-can't tell you!"

"Nox?"

The massive former-gladiator marched up behind the comando and grabbed the man's one unbroken arm. With the hum of servos, Noxes mechanical grip tightened, crushing the commando's arm to a bonless pulp.

"Nal Hut-ack!" The commando gasped as a neural inhibitor in his head snapped into place. The implant hissed. The commando dropped to the ground, dead.

He had said too much...

 

Alternatively we could start up a thread entitled "Saviours of the Force: Planning Thread" to discuss ideas. Whatever's easier. If you want to get me on the email, the address is

anakincasting@yahoo.com

 

*shrugs* I don't really care either way.
********************************************

Aviendha stormed into the meeting chamber, an angry look on her face. ?What is the meaning of this?? she demanded, flinging a data pad across the table. The pad slid, coming to a graceful stop in front of Luke Skywalker, who picked it up casually, his face icily calm.

Scanning it quickly, his face contorted darkly, and he eyed her harshly. ?How did you come up with this information, di?Jinn?? he asked, his voice frighteningly emotionless.

Striding across the room, Aviendha looked out into the stars, her hands clasped behind her back. ?Come off it, Luke, surely you?ve known long before now that I maintain my own network of informants across this galaxy. I?d be surprised to find out if one of your near-comrades didn?t. How did someone find one of the two people not on this ship who knows our destination? And more importantly, who now knows where we?re headed? We?ve lost one of your finest and gained an unknown enemy,? she summed up, turning heel and facing Skywalker.

Running a chilling eye over her, Luke stood up and walked to the window, gazing out of it himself. After a few moments of silence, he looked down at the datapad in his hand and fingered it thoughtfully. ?Intriguing news, I must admit. We enter a cheerful game of cat and mouse.? He turned to her, handing her the datapad. ?As assuredly as my ancestor crushed the Galactic Empire, I promise you that we will crush any rebellions against us.? Aviendha allowed herself a grim smile, the irony of the Rebellion?s victory not lost on her. Glancing down at the datapad, her smile melted away. I always win had been added to her summary report, punctuating what he had just said.

?Of course,? she added thoughtfully, leaving the lack of a title echoing through the room. Then again, she never addressed him by anything other than her name. A smiled spread across her face. ?Of course.? With a ceremonial nod, Aviendha left as abruptly as she arrived, already plotting her next move behind formidable mental shields.