Saga So Close To Falling (with Echuu Shen-Jon, Sev'Rance Tann, and clones!)

Title: So Close To Falling

Author: Kudzu

Timeframe: Clone Wars, Year One

Characters: Echuu Shen-Jon, Naat Reath, Sev'Rance Tann, OCs

Genre: Action/Angst

Summary: He has pursued her across the galaxy. Now, Echuu Shen-Jon must choose between the darkness and the light as he confronts Separatist General Sev'Rance Tann on Krant. Based on the last mission of Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns.

Disclaimer: Unofficial, Echuu Shen-Jon, Naat Reath, and Sev'Rance Tann characters property of Lucasfilm, etc etc.

Epigraph: "We walk in the dark places no others will enter. We stand on the bridge and no one may pass" - Captain Martel, Babylon 5



A long hunt indeed, thought Echuu Shen-Jon as he listened to the banter of the clone troopers standing helmetless around his encampment.

He had tracked Sev?Rance Tann, murderer of his Padawan, Stam Reath, here to Krant at the edge of Bothan Space. His new Padawan, Stam?s sister Naat, had been captured by the red-eyed Dark Acolyte. The stage was clearly set for endgame. But whose end? Echuu wondered.

The rage that kept him going was dangerous. Echuu knew that. He brushed the edge of the dark side to fuel his Vaapad fighting style, passed down from his Master, Mace Windu. But the dark side also gave him strength?and Echuu was now sure that without it, he could not have come this far.

It was time to kill Sev?Rance Tann and end this. Only then could he afford to abandon the dark side, and then his fury would be tempered.

Fury. Not many Jedi named their lightsabers. However, Master Windu had a tradition of naming his sabers - one that he had passed down to Echuu and his more recent Padawan, Depa Billaba. Echuu had lost his lightsaber on Aereen, the moon of Krant where his armies had laid waste to the Neimodian entrepreneur Plure Barron?s illegal mining operation. Nobody had missed the resources that he had skimmed off the top of Barron?s captured stash. His new lightsaber, he had christened Fury. It seemed so very appropriate.

Maybe after he was done here, he could construct a new one and maybe give it a name that the Council wouldn?t so much disapprove of.

The leader of the band of Wookiee colonists that Echuu had discovered living on Krant, who had allied themselves with the clone army for the same thing that Echuu wanted - revenge on Sev?Rance Tann - approached him with a groan. Although Echuu couldn?t fluently understand Shyriwook, he had taken to using the Force to sift through the Wookiees? thoughts to get a better understanding of what they were saying. It worked quite well, although the Wookiees who had expressed wonder and puzzlement at his apparent understanding of their language had been quite befuddled when he replied that he could not in fact comprehend their Shyriwook much at all.

Salchokk, as the Wookiee leader called himself, apparently wanted to know when the Republic forces were going to be ready to move against Tann?s western outpost. ?Soon,? Echuu promised him. ?Very soon.?

Salchokk cocked his head and made more animalistic growling noises, which Echuu divined with a brief touch from the Force to be requesting that the Jedi Master have his gunships deployed in front of the assault wave to clear out the Separatists? ground defenses. The Jedi nodded. ?I can have that be done.?

The Wookiee grunted satisfactorily and lumbered off. Echuu let out a sigh he didn?t know he?d been holding.

* * * * *

?He?s stressed,? Private CT-45/630 said again, jerking his thumb towards General Shen-Jon.

?And I?ve told you,? Lieutenant CT-71/203 snarled, ?whether he is or isn?t, he?s our General, and it?s none of your business.?

?I don?t mean to undermine his authority, Lieutenant,? CT-45/630 replied in a meeker voice. ?Or yours, sir.?

?Glad to hear it,? CT-71/203 retorted.

CT-13/666 wondered again for the umpteenth time whether or not someone might have spiked their clone lieutenant?s cloning vat. He was always so ornery.

He risked another glance towards General Shen-

 

Wow! This a really nice short story. There's so much happening in this piece, but you did an excellent job of keeping it tied together and retaining your focus throughout, e.g., the battle scene is really well done, but not overwhelming.

Thematically, it's interesting to look at the dark side as something a Jedi can tap into and use with relative ease--that's the appeal, right, it's an easy way out. I liked how you showed it was something more than just a fighting style, how the dark side starts to erode Echuu Shen-Jon's personality--the bit with the nausages was great and the naming of his lightsaber (this might be a source for future plot bunnies). I think that other writers on the use of Vaapad fail to flesh out this point adequately: Vaapad is hit or miss with selling out to the dark side, kind of like a professional athelete using steroids, maybe. It also brings up some key issues with Windu's use of Vaapad, perhaps his surly temper is a product of his close connection to the dark side?

The wrap-up at the end following the duel was fitting. I am not sure about field promotion to Knighthood in the absence of the council or a more extensive trial for the Padawan (maybe this begs more backstory or I've overlooked something--no worries), but the officer's promotion is reasonable, especially if Echuu Shen-Jon has fallen in battle. <--I'm not being nit-picky, I'm just curious.

Eager to see more of your work!

 

I have five other fanfictions linked to in my sig

Glad that you liked it, and thanks for the review!

 

good stuff

 

Thank you much

 

Did anyone else read this?

 

Well, OK, for whoever's interested, I just updated the cover art on my sigged website for this one. A thousand credits for whoever can identify the person who I Chiss-ified to make into Sev'Rance Tann.

 

i'll get to reading this soon. And Clone Campaigns, awsome game! I love that game.

 

Meh, I hated it, but I did really like some of the stuff from the campaigns, and a tad few of the unit designs (read: gunship bomber and clone walkers). So this is my attempt to redeem it, I suppose. If only it had been rendered in glorious 3D...alas...

 

I just liked it because you could do cool stuff, like have an army of Death Stars... and i hated the campaigns, so i just skipped them with cheats and watched the videos before nad after them. lol.

 

Well, Simon the Killer Ewok was admittedly very funny.

 

Sev'Rance Tann and Echuu Shen-Jon starring in something besides a clone war campaign fact sheet!

I had to dredge this story up, but you know how much I like Sev'Rance. I just wish everyone else saw her coolness.

To be serious for a moment, I really like how you were honest with both Sev'Rance and Echuu's feelings. It was nice to see Echuu brush the dark side and not having it glorfied/forgiven. And of course, Sev'Rance was perfectly ruthless (her executions are always a nice touch).

Over all, a great look into the dark side

 

Gave this story a glance, haven't read it through yet. (Though I plan to.) And being a fan of the Galacitc Battlegrounds game, I enjoyed it. People should consider doing stories about game levels. It's a wonderful opportunity to tell good stories. (As a matter of fact, I've been thinking about doing a couple of short story fics based around Battlefront II levels.)

Hmm. It kinda looks like Lacey Chabert.

 

Nice short fic, Kudzu! I've been looking into the histories of General Tann and Echuu Shen-Jon for a while as part of a convoluted bit of background for a Saga/Beyond fic arc, but not owning Galactic Battlegrounds I never got the 411 on how exactly the final confrontation went down and the exact personalities of the two characters. Both are pretty interesting obscure figures of the EU, and Tann indirectly contributed to one of my best OC's.

Oh, and Tann's Nemoidian flunkies ... amusing on two levels there

 

Another nomination! "So Close To Falling" has been nominated for Best Vignette in the Winter Saga Fanfiction Awards! Thank you so much!

And oh, goodness, I didn't catch these last pieces of feedback here! It's not Lacey Chabert. And I beat you to a BF2 adaptation with "Where Glory Is" Always room for more. I like seeing well-done game adaptations about. There's not enough of them.

And yes, I was hoping that someone would catch the Neimodian names. Heh. Thanks for reading and reviewing, guys!

 

The Neimodian names!!!

I was looking for fics to nominate for Saga, and I remembered you had written a fic on my darling Sev'rance. I must have been slow on the uptake the first time through, because now that I've reread this, I noticed Khondee Liesariys and Rhums Feldh.

 

Awesomeness!

CT-13/666 wondered again for the umpteenth time whether or not someone might have spiked their clone lieutenant?s cloning vat. He was always so ornery.

I love the dry humor you give your clonetroopers. It always fits in so well with their upbringing and situation.

I busted up at the Neimoidian names! I could make another joke about the money that Echuu skimmed from the captured stash, but that probably doesn't belong here.

Also really liked the way you incorporated Vaapad and the dark side into Echuu's personality. oqidaun said it much better than I ever could, so I'll just point to her post.