The whine of the Eta-2’s twin turbine engines were drowned out by the alarms blaring inside the cockpit. Kael had been hesitant to receive this assignment from Master Yoda. Endor was commonly referred to by spacers as the “desert island” of space. Rarely had any ship landed on the Sanctuary Moon intentionally. The stellar anomalies in that region of space made traveling through the sector risky. It was those same anomalies that had Kael spinning towards the surface of the planet.

The starship was falling from orbit in a hurry, he had to act fast. He was still docked with his hyper-ring, if that went down with the ship he’d be stuck on the moon. The release controls were unresponsive. He tried again. No response. He reached out with the force. He knew this ship, he knew where the lock pins were that held the ring in place, knew the connections that had to be severed to prevent the ring from shorting out. The green and silver astromech beeped and shrieked in its dock. Kael closed his eyes and…the ring broke free of the ship!

* * *

It wasn’t one of his more gossamer landings, but he’d managed to save the ship…mostly! He pulled the manual release for the cockpit and pushed the transparasteel hatch upwards.

“You okay R3?” The beeps and whimpers from the domed droid seemed to indicate that it was rattled, but otherwise alright. “Good.”
The ship had crashed in a clearing. Towering redwoods, the sharp scent of pine, and the chirping of insects dominated his senses. Kael knew the reputation of this moon. Scattered amongst the trunks were the downed wrecks of countless ships, fallen prey to the peculiarities of this section of space. He reached down to his belt and retrieved his com-link, with luck he would be within range of Master Secura’s party.

“This is Jedi Master Kael Corerunner,” he called into the mic. “I’ve crash landed on the Forest Moon of Endor. If you are receiving this please respond.” He waited, listening intently for the faintest crackle…nothing. He sighed and looked to the trees surrounding the clearing. Somewhere out there were the parts he needed to repair his ship, if not the power cells then at least the long range communications.

Megumi ran thru the tree tops, her fellow pack brothers at her side or behind her. She was going to try and hit the droid base again, maybe get another message out. It was worth a try. She stopped right above the base in one of the trees, looked down at the droids running around. She frowned. Something wasn't right. The droids weren't normally this active. She knelt down and closed her eyes, letting her senses reach out so her ears could catch what was being said.

"Where did the ship land?"
"Not sure, the rader is still down from the last attack. We know it's north from here"

Megumi opened her eyes and said "a ship landed here? And it can't be separatists, or they would have come straight here. I better get there first" she stood up and saw a dozen or so droids get into the tanks and head north. She jumped up and ran and jumped thru the trees, following the tanks. She hoped she would beat them there.

Once he’d set R3 on the repairs that could be accomplished without replacing parts, Kael headed into the forest. If he wasn’t in range of Master Secura’s party then there was no reason he should be anywhere near the Separatist Base. Regardless, he kept an eye out for droids, nothing stopping them from sending out scouts. His plan was to walk out a kilometer from the crash site and then make his way back.

The hiss of Master Gaern's lightsaber cut through still quiet of the forest as Kael ignited it. He swung the glowing sapphire blade lightly at a nearby tree, leaving a shallow scorch mark. Hopefully if he kept marking trees in this manner every ten meters or so ir would keep him from getting lost.

Megumi got ahead of the tanks and was heading straight when one of her pack brothers howled and she stopped, looking around. She sniffed the air and nodded. "Good catch, pack brother..." She jumped down and landed on the forest ground. She took off north west, following a scent of metal, sweat and light saber burn off. But the droids spotted him and were on his tail.

"Sithspawn!" Kael cursed under his breath as he ducked behind a tree. He heard the AATs before he saw them. Unclipping his other two lightsabers from his belt, his mechanical armed whirred quietly as it split along its length. He waited. The droids were moving closer. He looked up. That branch was just within reach. He jumped. His landing caused the branch to tremble slightly. Again he waited. The droids began to pass by. As the third AAT made its way under his branch he sprung into action.

He dropped from the tree and plunged two of his lightsabers into the top of the droid tank, crippling it. Before the droids on the ground could react, he'd cleaved three of them in half. The second AAT was coming around to fire on him. He ran between the two tanks just as it fired. He was thankful that droids seemed to rarely think before acting. That was all the tanks taken care of. The remaining droids were brought down by whirling blades and blocked blaster-fire.

Megumi was watching from above, her eyes studying the warrior on the ground. She smiled and said "his a Jedi....at last....I might finally be able to..." Then a noise from below made her look down and see more droids coming, but not the normal kind. She hadn't see these kinds before. They rolled instead of walked, and had shields. She looked back at the other Jedi and said "he won't see them coming..." She jumped down and landed a few feet from just as the odd looking droids stopped. She pulled out her saber and deflected the laser blasts, her movements fluid. She waited till they stopped firing and used the force to pick up a nearby log and smash the droids with it, flattening them. She sighed turning her saber off and saying "those were new..." Then she relized the other Jedi was behind her and staring at her, which made her swallow. " opps..."

Kael spun and moved into a defensive stance as he heard the droidekas approach. Before he could begin deflecting their assault, something jumped down from the trees. The lightsaber it ignited wasn't red, but that didn't necessarily mean the one wielding it was a friendly. After all, he owed his mechanical arm to an emerald blade wielded by General Grievous.

The newcomer appeared to be Shistavanen based on her appearance, brown and silver fur covering her body, pointed ears...yeah definitely Shistavanen. She deflected the blaster bolts without much trouble, then used the force to wing a rotting log at the destroyers, knocking them flat. The threat was neutralized.

"Those were new," he heard her say as she extinguished her lightsaber. Her ears pricked back, as though remembering she was not alone. "Oops!"

Kael had not moved from his defensive stance, and he saw no reason to do so. He narrowed his eyes at the newcomer.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

Megumi turned around, her bright eyes looking into his. "My name is Megumi Wolfbane. Jedi of this moon...the only one. It appears someone got my SOS message....it's not safe to talk here. Come with me" she whistled and two of her pack brothers, wolf like creatures, came from the trees and Megumi jumped onto the back of the bigger one. "My brothers will get us to safety. Then I can explain more. Please "

Jedi of this moon? There were no Jedi assigned to The Sanctuary Moon! She referred to the creatures that just leapt out of the underbrush as her brothers. They were definitely not Shistavanen. She'd defended him from the droidekas, but that could've been part of a ruse in an attempt to gain his trust. Bottom line, he was going nowhere with her.

"There are no Jedi assigned to Endor," said Kael. "So I'll ask you again. Who are you?"

Megumi sighed and said "I already told you that. And I can explain later. Right now we have to get out of here. Before we end up like master...." She looked around, her senses telling her more droids were coming. She cursed then said "I live on this planet alone, fighting droids and scum for the peace of the universe. I sent the SOS that the council received from here a week ago. Can we go now?"

Eloda eyed the two Jedi from afar, questioning the female's intentions. The look in her eye was indeed desperate, yet somewhat off-putting. The man before the Shistavanen seemed to grow impatient, and with each passing second, anger welled in his eyes.

"He's getting nowhere with this girl... I needed this entertainment, though, considering those troublesome droids... Damn things that I fought were lacking in intelligence. I suppose that's why they were in such great numbers..." Eloda murmured to herself, trailing off about her disdain for those despicable things.

"Wrong answer," said Kael. He sprinted off between the trunks, using the force to lend him speed. If this crazy wolf-girl followed he would not hesitate to attack. His situation was bad enough, stranded, no contact with the temple, droids would likely be searching for him soon if they weren't already, he didn't need some nut-case with a lightsaber complicating things any further.

"Guess he's had it with her... That alone concerns me."

Eloda watches the stranger speed away through the tall trees, skillfully using the Force to his advantage. His ability to barely even disturb the lush foliage, was enough to amaze her.

Giggling to herself, Eloda whispered with a smirk, "Strong with this one, the Force is."

Megumi cursed then said "boys, keep him out of trouble. I won't let another Jedi die on this moon. I'm going to make sure those droids don't follow him" she took off back the way she had come while the two beasts went after kael.

Megumi found where more of the droids were coming from and said " I need to distract them somehow....wait, I know" she jumped into the trees again and closed her eyes again. She focused on the leading tank and turned her hand. The tank suddenly stopped and floated in the air, then went flying into a nearby tree. The droids started freaking out and Megumi dropped from the trees and landed right infront of them. "Hello boys....did you miss me?" The droids pointed their blasters at her as one said "it's the forest spirit! Fire at will!" They started firing and Megumi jumped into the air, taking off in the wrong direction, hoping to lead them away. The droids followed her and kept firing at her.

The two beasts kept up with kael but didn't flank him, knowing he wouldn't like that. But soon kael was about to reach a dangerous part of the forest and the bigger beast barked and ran fast enough to catch kael, running in front of him and making him stop. The beast growled, keeping him from going ahead where if he looked closely at the ground was quicksand hiding under the tree roots. Both beasts sat down, waiting for him to choose a different route.

Megumi lead the droids to a clearing me the cliffs where she stopped and waited for them to catch up. Once they did she smiled at them and said " come on boys, your getting slower. Do droids get slow in old age or just dumb?" The captain who was sitting on top one of the tanks said "that does it, blast her already! Use the sonic canon!" Megumi pulled her saber out as one of the other tanks doors opened and a odd looking weapon came out with a droid sitting on it. The droid turned it on and a ear shattering sound came out, causing Megumi to grab her ears and cry out, her sensitive ears catching everything. The droids started to fire at her and she was hit a couple times before she could get out of the way. But the canon was still goi and she could barely think as she hid in the trees. She held her head with one hand as she reached I to her side bag and pulled out charges. She threw them around the tanks, aiming for behind them. They landed and set off, the whole cliff exploding and sending the cliff and the droids into the river below. After a few minutes the sound died off and Megumi took a few breathes. She looked down and saw her wounds. One in she shoulder, her left side and her right thigh. She cursed leaning against the tree then got up, jumping to the ground and landing on her knees. "I have to get back...to the den....before more...show up..." She started running as fast as she could, blood drops trailing behind her.

Trying her hardest to regain her posture after almost being shot out of the trees, watching the Shistavanen run past her, Eloda quietly followed behind, making sure to keep distance between her and the female.

Thinking to herself, she tried to make sense of what had just happened. "I can't even begin to truly comprehend what is happening here... Maybe I should regret crashing here... He better fix the damned ship soon, I'm not liking this."