Luke Skywalker sat in the quiet room that he had taken as his quarters within the temple. In the middle of the floor he sat, his legs crossed over each other, his eyes closed, as he focused on his breathing, he felt the Force flow through him. Through the Force, he was able to sense the wide variety of life forms skittering in and around the temple as well as in the surrounding forest.

As he meditated, a smile started to form on his lips as he felt a familiar presence enter the room.

"Master," he said simply, greeting his old friend.

"Mmm....fear I still sense in you. Doubt too."

His smile broadens as he hears the familiar voice of his long dead master. "But I think you'll admit I have made much progress, Master Yoda."

His small head bobbed up and down in an almost dismissive agreement, just as it did in life when he trained the fledgling Jedi on Degobah. " Much improvement I have seen. Jedi Master now you are." Then his voice lowered. "But still doubt I sense..."

The smile smile dropped from Luke's face as the doubts he had internalized were given a voice. "All I see before me is a...monumental task. I have to rebuild the Jedi order, by myself. And while I know I'm up to it. I just don't know if I can do it alone."

"Fear you will fail, do you? Afraid another Vader you may create."

Luke's mind began to drift to his father and all of the atrocities that he had committed after falling to the dark side. He forced the thoughts from his mind, "It is a fear I will overcome."

Yoda nodded, his luminous form casting a strange glow in the otherwise dark room. "Much to overcome, I foresee. Many trials ahead for you."

"I have sensed it too, Master." Luke said, nodding in agreement.

"Yes. Darkness the future brings. But light within you exists," he says, pointing his cane at me. "And remember this, you will. Alone...you are not."

When he finished speaking, the ancient Jedi planted his cane in front of him, slowly vanishing into the ether from which he came. Luke sat their for a moment, examining the empty space in which his master had occupied just moments earlier. He felt a sudden calmness wash over him as clarity began to set in.

He's right. I'm not alone.

Yavin IV:

Kaylee Starsmore sits with her legs crossed at the base of a tree not too far from the main temple at the new Jedi Academy. There is a slight breeze which is refreshing on this humid day. Floating in front of her, are several medium sized stones. She often finds that this spot under this particular tree is a good place to come and clear her mind when she has something weighing her down.

There is no emotion, there is peace.

She has had a lot on her mind as of late. She has felt trapped spending all her time at the academy, not having been off Yavin IV in close to a year. And if truth be told, she has been feeling a little cramped as well. Another trainee, Rush Diel has been following her around like a lost puppy, unfortunately for him, she has no interest in pursuing a relationship, with him or anyone else for that matter. It's not that she doesn't find him attractive, because she does. His long blonde hair and chiseled good looks are enough to make any girl swoon...except for her. She just doesn't have time to get involved with anyone. Yet he persists.

As she mulls over the actions of Rush, the stone that she is levitating begins to orbit around a larger stone, slowly at first and then faster and faster. Suddenly, there is a cracking sound, as if a tree were being split in two. Before she knows it, the trunk of a tree, along with a massive boulder comes crashing down on the stone that she had been levitating, burying it under the debris. Kaylee just sits there, her mouth hanging open in surprise at what just happened.

"Now lift your rock again." said a voice from behind her. The voice of her Master, Corran Horn.

She turns and looks, only to find Horn and Rush, standing behind her giggling like teenage boys.

"You know, it wasn't funny when Master Skywalker did it either." Kaylee scolds them.

With that, Kaylee gets up and begins to walk toward the jungle.

"Where are you going?" Rush asks, reaching out to grab her.

"For a walk." She says without looking at him.

"Come on Kaylee, it was a joke." He pleads, suppressing laughter as he tries to get her attention.

"It wasn't funny Rush, and if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone." She insists.

"Let her go Rush, she just needs to cool off a little." Horn tells him. "She'll be fine."

The two men watch as she makes her way into the jungle, trying not to laugh, should they upset her any more.

The Empire was down, but not out. She still had ships, men and industry at her back, not like she once had, but enough to make the Republic hurt. Certainly Talon would wager one of his men against five of the Republics, his men were well trained veterans, brave, loyal and true. Their skill and character were superior to the lowly rebel. Talon genuinely believed that he and his men were better men than anything the Republic had. Whether or not this was true scarcely mattered, Talon believed it and would act accordingly. Still, his confidence and self-assuredness had not yet tipped over into insanity. The New Republic was winning and could out produce the damaged Empire at an alarming rate. The Imperials may have had the quality, but they needed the quantity as well.

The Empire also had a more worrying problem, internal disputes. So far as he could make out the Empire had split into four distinct groups. The first group were those who had followed gran Moff Kaine and formed the Pentastar Alignment. Second were those who had followed Zsinj and aided him in the establishment of the egotistically named Zsinj Empire. Third were those men loyal to Grand Admiral Thrawn, a fine leader and a fine choice of a man to follow. Talon had no dispute with the Grand Admiral so long as he did not seek to overturn the law of the Empire that made it such a precious thing. Finally there was Talon’s own faction, those men and women who had followed both the spirit and letter of the law and followed Madame Director Isard in service to the true Empire. At least, that’s what he thought.

Something of an impasse had developed between the factions, an impasse Talon Rake was determined to break. To that end Rear Admiral Talon Rake had suggested that the Empire temporarily adopted a more relaxed attitude towards the Republic, and go on a defensive footing, for the time being. Meanwhile, it would focus its expansive efforts against other, weaker foes. But their chief goal would be the unification of the various factions. By so doing they would gain resources, industrial capacity and troops and then give more meaningful opposition to the Republic.

Talon Rake believed that honour, duty and loyalty should be enough to move a man. Ysanne Isard knew better, she knew a tasty carrot and a big stick would move more men than principle. She could see to the carrot, Talon had to ready the stick. Strength had a habit of breeding more strength. Even a slight edge on the other factions could lead to huge gains later on. So, he had to secure ships, planets, factories, maybe even men all so Ysanne could have great bargaining power. To do this he had to strike at something that was neither controlled by the New Republic nor by one of the Imperial factions. Indeed, picking on even small, independent worlds was a risk. For all her wickedness the New Republic had fooled itself into believing itself some white knight in this dark galaxy and white knights often rode to the aid of the helpless.

Criminals, vagabonds and those unpopular in the Republic made better targets, for now. With this in mind Talon had cast his eye to two places. First was the Hapes Consortium, isolated for millennia and having only just opened her borders her tenuous ties to the New Republic were sufficiently weak in Talon’s view that the rebel dogs would not come to their aid. The population might be unmanageable though, still there was value and profit there. The corporate sector, out beyond Ruuria made for a better target. Isolated and a long way from the Republic, unclaimed by any of the major players but with enough wealth and industry to be worthwhile. Their isolation would make a prolonged campaign difficult, a short, sharp blow was what was required here. He had to take their heart in one fell swoop.

Standing with both hands behind his back, as was his custom, Talon Rake looked out through the main window of the bridge of the Ysanne. From there he could see Ysanne Isard herself, or rather the vessel that contained the fearsome woman, the Lusankya. Even Rear Admiral Talon Rake had to admit it was an impressive sight though he would wager his Daggers against it any day. It spoke to something primal in the pit of his stomach. But he could not stand here in awe of the vessel or in admiration of the woman aboard it. He had worlds to conquer. He let a wry smile hang upon his face whilst his back was turned to his crew, a smile that only grew as it noticed itself in the reflection of the glass, before adopting an even but firm expression and turning swiftly on his heel.

Still, with both hands behind his back he strode along the walkway, over the head of many of his bridge crew in their operation pits.
“Captain Dagor!” Talon called out, without anger or impatience but in the voice of one clearly used to being obeyed. Yullish Dagor, Talon’s long serving number two, came up obediently.
“Organise two thirds of our flotilla, led by the Ysanne. Lay in a course for Bonadan at Imperial II safe hyperspace speed. The remaining third will move to a location where they will be within 10 minutes hyperspace travel of the main force and hold there. Make sure it’s somewhere in dead space. Make all preparations for battle I intend to take the planet.” It was said in very matter of fact tones,as if the conquest wold not be a difficult or troublesome thing. Talon’s success had bred a certain degree of arrogance in him but his faith was not unjustified. It was a faith shared by his crew and by Yullish in particular, who clicked his heels with a smart.
“Yes Admiral.” Before returning to his duties and making ready for the attack.

It did not take long for the final preparations to be put in place, Talon and his crew knew their business well. A nod from Yullish signalling all was ready for his order. Standing at the rear of the bridge Talon turned once more to look out across space and the Lusankya. He paused to reflect for a moment, a tiny hint of that wry smile just creeping back onto his face. His bridge fell silent in anticipation before Talon said in a slightly quieter tone than normal.
“All stations, prepare for jump to hyperspace. Jump on my mark… Mark!”
A flick of the switch and the hyperspace engines burst into life, the universe bent around them and they were off. Tearing into space, tearing towards battle and, Talon hoped, tearing into the fabric of history.

The Fondaria Dropped out of hyperspace on the edge of the Coruscant system, near the orbit of Ulabos. There was almost no traffic this far from the New Republic capital making it the perfect place to meet a client who did not wish to be observed during negotiations. It would not be long until Gaele's mysterious customer arrived and she could finally learn the reason for all this secrecy. It worried her slightly that she had no met the customer and if they turned out to be hostile towards her there would be no ships nearby to come to her aid, but it was a risk she was willing to take. The message she had received, to arrange this clandestine meeting, had said that the client needed combat ready ships that amounted to a small fleet. It was not a deal she could turn down.

Her father would not approve of such dealings with mysterious, unknown clients. He would say, "they are up to no good..." and "If we get caught..." but this could put her father's company up there with the biggest shipwrights in the galaxy and bring in many large legitimate contracts. Yes, she had to go ahead with it. It was for the good of the company.

"Fondaria, come in, this is the Aivan."

"Aivan i hear you, what is your location?"

"We are on the surface of the Ice world, we are sending you the coordinates now."

Her nav console chimed as it received the new information, and she set a landing course.

"recieved, Fontaria out."

An hour later the Fondaria had navigated the ice bands orbiting the planet and made its way to the surface. Gaele opened the hatch and lowered the loading ramp. her environmental suit should have kept out the harsh cold of the icy planet but she still felt a shiver run down her back, maybe it was in anticipation of the strange meeting she thought. There were two of them, both men, standing nearby between the two ships, both wore face masks but neither had an environment suit, only thick clothing to protect them from the harsh conditions. She wondered how they could withstand the cold, but there were many Ice worlds they could be used to living on. The both looked human, but that wasn't always a good indicator of race, even some Fondorian men looked human.

The watched her approach without saying a word. When she was within a few meters of them she spoke.

"Hello, I am Gaele Tylin of TLY. May I ask who i am doing buisness with, your message was very vague."

She had received the message a week ago while conducting business on Kaut. she had been intrigued by the strange nature of the message but she resisted the urge to leave immediately, and finished of her negotiations for new ship building facilities closer to the core. Expanding the business was more important that adventures to the capital system to meet dubious potential clients with a flare for the dramatic.

The men glanced at each other briefly and the taller of the two spoke, his voice distorted by the breathing apparatus.

"Hello Miss Tylin, we only represent a client who wishes to do business with you. Our employer requests that he be allowed to remain anonymous, but you may call me Jisak."

"And I am Hurlim" the other said, his voice softer and quieter than the first man, but distorted in the same way.

Gaele looked at her data pad, which was attached to her left forearm, and tapped it a few controls to bring up a transcript of the original message. She glanced over it and looked up to the men again.

"Okay, well the order will need to be processed, despite the strangeness of this arrangement so far. I cannot sell you or whoever you work for any ships without going through the proper channels."

"We understand that fully."

Gaele heard a quiet metallic sound and then everything went black. She felt herself hit the ground, and her vision returned briefly and she seen the other ship take off and felt herself being dragged toward her own ship. She lost consciousness again.

Joren Kel sat in the darkened corner in the back of Jaspeel’s Cantina, which at one point in the not so distant past had been one of the nicer establishments on Nar Shaddaa. However, things within the city had changed in recent years. The Kath Hounds, one of the most vicious gangs on the planet had claimed the cantina as part of their turf. Things within the city of New Vertica had continued to get worse. The Kath Hounds took what they wanted and no one, not even the Nar Shaddaa’s security forces were willing to stand up to them.

As Joren sat in the corner booth sipping at his fizzade, voices began to rise and fall as a pair of Duros began a heated exchange with a Rodian over a game of Sabaac. Joren had begun to loath the card game, as that particular game of chance was the reason that he was in the predicament that he now found himself in. He had played a game of Sabaac with Amaral Kenso, one of the founders of The Kath Hounds and had won. However, Kenso was not one to take losing lightly, and immediately claimed that Joren had cheated, which wasn’t exactly untrue. Joren had used the abilities that he had inherited from his father to give himself an edge in the game. However, Kenso had no way of knowing that. Kenso was a sore loser, having been compared to an angry Wookie when things did not go his way. There was an altercation following the game, however, Joren was able to get away from Kenso and his thugs who had planned to make him pay for his victory over the gang leader. However, when Joren had arrived home, he found that the apartment that he shared with his mother had been broken into and thoroughly trashed, and to his horror he found that his mother was missing. The Kath Hounds were well known for using kidnappings and murder to spread fear to their enemies, as well as the population as a whole.

However, Joren was not one to sit idly by as the gang of thugs tore his life apart. From the time that Joren was a small child, his father had prepared him to take up the mantle of the Jedi, to lead a new generation of Jedi and fight back against the Empire. However, Van Kel had died when Joren was still just a boy, and was never able to see his vision come to fruition. After his father’s death, Joren wanted nothing to with Jedi, his “destiny,” as his father had called it, or the growing rebellion against the Empire. He would use the gifts that the Force had given him to perform parlor tricks and cheat at cards, however, that was the extent of it.

After his father had died, his mother, an accomplished bounty hunter in her own right taught him self defense, and had even taken him along on several bounties once he was old enough. It was after returning from one of these bounties that he met a young Mandalorian named Dono Ki’Lar. The two had hit it off immediately, and began spending most of their time together. Dono enjoyed “training” Joren in Mandalorian combat tactics, which mostly consisted of Dono beating on Joren until he lost interest. Between the training that his parents had put him through, and the regular beatings he took from Dono, Joren had developed impressive skills when it came to hand to hand as well as armed combat, and he was itching to use those skills against the Kath Hounds in order to set his mother free.

Suddenly, the sounds of tables being knocked over and their contents spilling onto the floor echoed throughout the cantina as the Rodian and the pair of Duros began to scuffle. Joren takes another sip of his Fizzade as the bouncers converged on the fighting aliens and began to escort them to the door. Then everything went quiet, just for a moment. Joren looked up expecting to see a group of Kath Hounds standing in the front entrance, however he saw instead the familiar form of a man wearing dark blue Mandalorian armor with a blood red lining around the visor. After a brief pause, the inhabitants of the cantina went about their business as the Mandalorian made his way to the back of the cantina where Joren sat. The Mandalorian walked over to Joren’s booth and pulled out the chair beside him. As he sat down, he took off his helmet, and as usual he had a jovial lopsided grin on his face.

“Any luck?” Joren asked as his friend got comfortable in the seat beside him.

"I have good news vod'ika, I found out where they are holding your mother." Dono said.

"I knew you'd come through, let's go get her." Joren said, rising from his seat.

"Not so fast Joren, they're holding her in the sublevels of their main base of operations. There are two ways in, and neither of them are going to be easy." Dono cautioned, placing a hand on his friend’s arm.

"I wouldn't expect anything less, let's go." Joren replied as he pulled away and began to make his way toward the front of the cantina.

"Very good, Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur" Dono said as he put his helmet back on and began to follow Joren toward the exit.

Joren knew that they would need time to plan their course of action, however, that they needed to hurry as the Kath Hounds were not known for keeping hostages. Joren didn’t know how this was going to go, however, he did know one thing for certain. Today was a good day for somebody else to die.

There. She had glanced over her shoulder again. Even in this part of the city, no one acted that nervously. Not even a Rodian spice smuggler. Karrus sighed. So, this is gonna be another one of those missions, huh? It had taken a full month of tracking down his target's connections, including a particularly nasty firefight at a cantina, to find her delivery route; he had hoped she'd at least put up a fight. Karrus slipped his rifle back onto its magnetic holder on his back and climbed back through the window. Slowly, he made his way outside, merging into the crowd of pedestrians moving through Galactic City.

Right behind his target.

He leaned in close, so that only she would be able to hear him.
"Scream and you're dead."
He saw her tense, but she wisely kept silent.
"Second back alley from here. You try to run, you try to call for help, you do anything other than walk back silently, I'll snap your neck right here."
She acted as though he hadn't even spoken a word, but sure enough, once she arrived at the entrance to the alleyway, she quietly walked right in. Karrus was right behind her. They kept walking for about a minute, until they were far from the bustling streets and crowds. Finally, she stopped and turned around.
"Why have you followed me?" she asked him. She spoke her native tongue, of course, but Karrus knew the language; enough to understand it, at least.
"You know exactly why I'm here," he replied. As he spoke, he drew his blaster. "I'm here to collect."
"Please, if it's money you seek, I-"
"Save it." Karrus hated when they tried to bargain. He fired three times: two in the chest and one in the head. Quick, clean, and painless. Mostly.

Karrus didn't bother with his rites; those he saved for fellow warriors. This woman was a coward, and she had received a coward's death. Instead, he walked back towards the street while activating his helmet's comm system. After a moment, someone spoke.
"Talk."
"It's done," Karrus said. "I'm entirely disappointed, though. She didn't even try to put up a fight."
"What'd you expect, Karrus? She's a Rodian. They may talk big, but put a real gun in their face and they all fall to pieces."
"You know that's not true. She was just a coward, expecting credits and secrets to save her from her hunters."
"Whatever you say, Karrus. Anyway, the fee is being transferred as we speak. And if you're interested, I have another job you might like. A real job, with real rewards."
Karrus exited the alleyway, again merging with the bustling crowds around him. "Real how?"
"Real as in Force Sensitive, pal. I know you love a challenge."
Beneath the visor of his helmet, Karrus smiled. He was eager for a true challenge. "I'm listening."

Edit

Deroke woke up slowly and rubbed his eyes. *Today is the day I find out who my master will be.* He thought, half excitedly, and half groggily. He sat and turned on his bed cupping his head in his hands. He often wondered what his parents would have thought him becoming a jedi. *Would they be proud, or would they despise me.* He thought back to the stories. *They never mentioned Rodian Jedi... but there must have been some.* he thought. self justifying himself. He definitely new there were warriors and bounty hunters, like Greedo, but Jedi? Deroke pushed the thought from his head. *It doesn't matter now, I'm going to be one whether there has been or not.
He heard a sharp but quick knock on the door. He lazily jogged to the door and opened it a crack. *A messenger, probably here to inform me of the meeting.* He thought, almost proud that he had improved in that area of the force.

"Excuse me sir, but Master Skywalker has told me to inform you that they will be expecting you in the main room in ten minutes."

"Thank you." Deroke said quickly, but politely. The messenger nodded and with a corner smile he added.

"Good luck."

Then he turned and bustled off down the hall. *no doubt has more messages to deliver.* Deroke thought as he closed the door and began readying himself mentally, and physically. After a quick change of clothes, and a second to calm his nerves. He left his room, locked it and begin his walk to the main room. He passed by a few people here and there, most gave a polite nod but all seemed to be busy in some sort of task. He let the thoughts go just as quickly as they came and then entered the big room. *This is it.* He thought, *Remember all the things the elder jedi taught me on the ride to the temple.* He ran through the list of things, careful not to let them overcome him as he waited to be spoke to by the masters.

The room was big but not intimidating. He stood near the center facing what he thought was where anyone of the masters would stand. Deroke was not one for having a gargantuan amount patience. His fingers begin to twiddle as he held them behind his back. He begin to shift ever slightly his weight from one foot to the other. Knowing it was an important day, He tried to rationalize in his head why he could be kept waiting. Then the thought expanded to the front of his mind. *That's right. Everyone was extremely busy today.* He remembered and a slight bit of relief rolled of his shoulders. He took another deep breath straightened his pose. He wasn't about to let a little thing like impatience ruin his masters' impression of him. A quirky smile seemed to appear on his face, as he felt the presence of someone coming near.