Beyond - Legends The Era of Chaos

STAR WARS: The Era of Chaos

1

NONE OF US liked setting up an ambush. This seemed like common know-ledge to any good soldier?the required patience, the long pauses, the frailness of it all? ambushes usually didn?t end up the way you wanted them to. Like the captain said back when I was a grunt: Every plan is good until the first shot is fired. This was evidenced all too well back in the assault on a pirate base on Nar Shaddaa. My squad hid, lying in wait. Some of us were a bit jumpy on the trig-ger, so when a pirate finally showed up, one of my squadmates activated his sidearm?a lightsaber?and tore the pirate asunder. But the noise that came with it attracted the attention of everyone within earshot, and soon enough we had had 50-some-odd pirates shooting at us.
I?m a soldier in the New Republic Army. I?m the XO of the 5th Jedi Mili-tary Battalion. I?m also a Jedi Knight, as is everyone in my division.
A while back, after the Empire finally fell, some dweeb of a chancellor de-cided to let the Sith rise again. He trained more than a few followers, who in turn gobbled up thousands upon thousands of their own apprentices. The cycle continued, and within five Standard years the Sith had a new empire that posed a serious threat to the Republic.
Now, I?m not sure how much you know about the Sith Knights (or more importantly, how much you want to know), but I can tell you plenty. A Sith fol-lower is a godless minion, a member of a limitless horde. He?s been brainwashed to a frightening extent, and his mind is a black, empty void that knows nothing other than a desire to let the Sith empire grow and to ruthlessly slaughter all that stand in his way. He?s more or less adept in the dark side of the Force, and can freeze your lungs, stop your heart, crush your brain, or snap your neck with a simple gesture. His lightsaber can deflect shots from your blaster right back at you and end your day nice and quick, and the saber can cut through three meters of solid durasteel with a sharp flick of the wrist.
The standard rank and file had nothing on even a single platoon of these guys. That?s why the Republic came up with the Jedi Military Division: a force of soldiers, all Padawan learners, Jedi Knights, and Jedi Masters, whose sole assign-ment was to counter the attacks of the legions of Sith.
After the horrible mess that was the Nar Shaddaa Incident, I was assigned from being the Operations officer of 1st Battalion to the Executive officer of the 5th, and plopped down on a little, lackluster dustball of a planet called Learon. They sent me in alone, without backup, to find a public area and try to acquire intelligence on the progress and plans of the Sith war machine.
I remembered having told Bates, the commander of K Company and a good friend of mine, to keep my ship warm for me while I was gone. ?Will do,? he had said along with a nice, crisp hand salute. What a great officer.

The ride down to the planet was long and uncomfortable. I had been strapped to the side of a crate with no companionship or way to pass the time for 3 hours, save listening to the constant chirping of an overamped R2 unit. Astro-mechs are always there when you don?t need them, I?ve noticed.
The shuttle touched down. I traded my fatigues for what I thought to be much more practical and comfortable Jedi robes, with no weapons other than my wits, the ever-present Force, and my equally ever-present best friend?my light-saber, which I had at a convenient concealed position, just out of view but within easy reach.
My rugged boot-clad feet touched the dirty ground of this boring world. The shuttle pilot seemed to be eager to return to space and gawk at the stars, and he left me behind with little hesitation. The engine wash kicked up dirt and mud, which was kind enough to stain my clothes for me.
With nowhere to go but away from where I was, I let the Force guide me and I started walking.
After a trek that took far too long, I found myself in the middle of a run-down city not fit for a mob of nerf herders. I saw