Hiss, pop, zap!

The training sabers smashed together in an electric rhythm. Two Jedi circled in the cargo bay of a small transport ship. Both of them were wearing their tight under-robes. Their steps were light, almost silent, on the metal floors. The older of the two, older by nearly two decades, lunged forward. His posture was that of control, calm, calculated. His strikes were rapid and used no motion that was not required. The younger, a woman, slim and lithe, danced backward with an inhuman grace. Her training saber swept from side to side, pushing each of the quick strikes to the side. Her counter attack was sudden. A counter thrust up the length of one of the deflected blows. As she leaned into the srike her long light brow hair trailed behind her, a small braid flashing forth from her loose ponytail. The older, and much taller, man cocked his head to the side. The dodge did not engage his feet at all. He gave no ground. The lightly electrified rod that served as the training weapon's blade passed so close to his face that the unkempt hair of the man's beard and head rose and stuck to it. With his blow only barely deflected he swept his weapon low and drove the mock blade into the woman's waist. A crackle was heard as the electricity flared. The young woman staggered to the side with a curse.

"That was a fine use of the counter thrust. You must remember, Kyra, your true foes will not be relying on only their senses to fight." the older man said as he switched off the power source of his training blade. He ran a hand up and through his graying hair, pushing it from his face.

"Yes, Master H'ruda." Kyra replied, rubbing her side lightly as she turned off her own saber. Her green eyes moved over to the form of her master with a touch of awe. She felt unworthy to be student. It was a thought that often passed her mind. He was the greatest Jedi Sentinel in the order. He had slain what seemed like countless Sith in his time with the Jedi. H'ruda often told her that she was his student because he could see the talent in her. As far as she could tell, it was true. She had sparred with other padawan in her time and had been by far the best of those she had faced. She had even assisted H'ruda in facing down the agents of the Dark Side, some true Sith among them. They had been victorious so far. However, in the presence of someone who seemed so connected to the Force she often felt like little more than a child. Her braid was to be cut soon, H'ruda said she was becoming more than a competent Jedi. Yet, stil by the side of what seemed like a father she had never known, she always seemed to find more lessons to learn. Lessons were good, and, the Force taught them to everyone. Kyra only worried that a lesson being taught through the red of a Sith lightsaber would not be one she could afford to learn the hard way. "Meditation?" Kyra asked, though, she knew what the answer was. She did not need the Force to predict their daily routine.

Master H'ruda nodded to his padawan, a small smile touching his aging face. The two Jedi placed their training weapons on the rack and sat across from each other on the metal floor. They folded their legs under their bodies and closed their eyes. H'ruda could feel Kyra's extension into the Force. Another smile crossed his lips as he extended his own mind into the Force. The Master pushed his mind outward. He could feel the pulses of the inner workings of the ship. He felt the navigation computer making minor corrections to their course as it received information from the galaxy navigation system. He pushed out beyond the ship and into the void that surrounded all life. His mind reached far into that void. The Master's mind touched those of another ship. This other ship was not like his own. It was smuggling vessel. He did not know why he knew this, he only accepted that the Force would inform him. The Force had never led him astray before. In that ship he felt three shadows. One was faint. He could not sense it all the time, either. That one was full of darkness. It sought out pleasure in destruction and found joy in the suffering of others. One was too connected. It could not let go. It obsessed over details and made poor choices just to avoid loss. It's weakness was its connection to the third shadow. The last was a pathetic thing. It was ravaged by desire and need. It was barely held togther by something that it could not control, and, it craved control. There was another on this ship as well. It was not as consumed as the others. It was a man. A man who would do anything to survive and keep its needs filled. It was an animal that wore a thinking thing's skin. H'ruda had seen countless souls like his. "Do you sense it?" the Master quietly asked his padawan.

"Yes, Master." Kyra nodded, even though she knew they both had their eyes closed. "We are two threads, Master. We have been tied together with the three. Our paths are to cross, it can not be changed. That is good. They will not avoid us this time." Kyra felt a cold anticipation for that moment when their paths would indeed cross. These three were not only tied to the two Jedi. They were connected by the will of something far darker than these three. It was a looming shadow over the Galaxy that sent out tendrils to force its own will. It was the way of the Sith. They were fearful. They feared reprisal and hid themselves in manipulations and secrets. It was why the Jedi had to fight them. Their connection to the Dark Side was only a symptom of their mentality. The jedi acted in the light and were part of society. They would serve the good of all and do so in plain view. The Sith sought to reshape the Galaxy in their own image, yet, they hid themselves and destroyed peace so that they could profit.

"I can sense your dislike for the Sith." H'ruda said in his rough whisper.

"I know Master. I just want to protect the Republic."

"Seek them out because they refuse to see reason and wisdom. If they devoted themselves properly they could be a stable force in the Galaxy just as we are. Feel no negativity toward them. They are manipulated children. Twisted by the will of those who want more power than their place in the Galaxy would afford them." H'ruda spoke with true belief. He did not hate the Sith, that would be what they wanted. It was what they thought about the Jedi. No, H'ruda felt sorry for them. They were all just people once. They had been taken early and turned into weapons for a cult of personality. The one who made them needed to be disarmed. If that could be done by making the poor souls he had corrupted lay down arms that was always the best solution. However, all too often these people had been turned into weapons in truth. The lightsaber did not ask to be switched on, it merely complied with the will of its wielder. It was a shame and a waste of life.

"Yes, Master." Kyra breathed as she cleared the negative thoughts from her mind. This task was one she had been attempting for some time. This time, it seemed to work. Her need to stop the Sith was replaced with a sad compassion for them. She finally saw them for what H'ruda did. Just poor souls that needed instruction, but, were often to far gone to see wisdom. Her mind was drawn to the alert that would soon echo through the ship. They were nearing the target and would need to assume manual control of the ship. Kyra's eyes slowly opened, seeing her Master's almost gray eyes looking back at her. "We are nearing our destination." she whispered to the aging Jedi. He nodded in response to her.

"You have made progress. I think there is little more I can teach you. This will be your final task." as soon as H'ruda finished speaking the alert lights came on in the cargo hold. A robotic voice echoed over the small ship's intercom. 'AUTOMATED NAVIGATION TASK COMPLETE... MANUAL CONTROL REQUIRED

Kyra stood. "I will see to the helm, Master." H'ruda nodded as his padawan stepped form the hold and into the small connecting hall of the ship. He stood, stepped over to his dark brown robe and plucked it from the rack. His slid his slender arms into the flowing garment and exhaled a long breath. He could feel a powerful shift in the Force. This would change both of their lives forever. H'ruda clipped his old green saber to his belt and moved to join Kyra in the cockpit.

As Kyra brought the ship into the atmosphere she was struck withe beauty of Korpus V. It was long stretches of untended jungle dotted with small outposts. The padawan turned the ship downward and the Temple came into view. She felt her breath catch at the sight of it. Her time in the academy on Dantoine was a pale imitation of what she saw here. It had steep walls of gray and white stone, perfectly polished and gleaming in the warm sunlight. "It's beautiful." she muttered. H'ruda placed a large thin hand on her shoulder, "It is indeed, Kyra. It is a symbol. It is the rise of the Jedi. It must be protected. More students reside here than in any other temple." his gray eyes scanned the building. It was defensable. He saw a number of small anti-air towers and a few small barracks sitting near the temple complex itself. The Galaxy had been at war, yet, it had never come here. The peace here was about to be shattered. H'ruda reached out for the comm panel just before the light that signaled an incoming call illuminated. He tapped the accept button and a voice came over the channel.

"Master H'ruda." the calm voice on the other end of the line said. "We have you cleared to land on bay 3. I have also began the preparations you requested. The towers are armed and the men ready. We await your arrival."

"Thank you, Master Yaldorn." H'ruda responded. He knew the Jedi Guardian well. They had been in the same class of students long ago. He was a Twi'lek, quick to smile and laugh. He enjoyed the Twi'lek's company. Not only that but he knew the man was a powerful duelist. The two had sparred many times. H'ruda had found he could win the majority of their bouts, but, they were always close. H'ruda credited this to his use of Makashi, a style designed to face down foes with lightsabers and Force affinity. Master Yaldorn favored defensive art of Shien and Sorressu. They were effective forms, but, H'ruda had faced down many foes with sabers in bouts that would have ended in his own death if he was not careful. He had also developed an interesting technique where one switched the blade of your saber off and back on again. It was one of the only weapons you could do that with. He called it Vanishing Blade. He had taught it to Kyra and she had taken to it well. Her instincts were peerless in any Jedi he had met. The padawan seemed to have a connection to the Force rather rare. One H'ruda had and had cultivated. He knew she would be a force for Light just like he had, maybe even more than he had.

The familiar hiss of the rear hatch opening sounded all around the two Jedi. The pressurized air of the cargo chamber rushed from the opening hatch, rustling the brown robes of the young woman and her Master. Natural light poured into the dim chamber as the two stepped from the small ship. The day was mild and sweet with the scents of the surrounding jungle. Everything seemed so peaceful. Kyra walked across the small landing pad with her Master, to her left and slightly ahead of her. He was a good deal taller than she was and often out-strode her. She had learned quickly that walking slow was almost always out of the question though. She had longer legs than most her size, but, that mattered little compared to her towering master. He seemed to float forward with the calculated grace that can only exist in one utterly connected to the Force. Kyra, quickly pattered after him.

A small number of rather surprised care takers approached. One of them, an old man, held a data-pad and kept darting his eyes down to it and then back to the two Jedi. "Excuse me, Master H'ruda?" it was less a question of who he was, but, more of why are you here. "We received your messages about a threat coming to Korpus V, But-" the old man was cut off by a voice from the stairs to the landing pad. "Helon, this Jedi is not one to question when it comes to the presence of the Dark Side." H'ruda's were drawn to the form a smaller human man with flowing brown robes that were a smaller version of what H'ruda and Kyra wore.

"Knight Geoff." the Master nodded to him. The Jedi knight that had entered stepped onto the pad smiled in greeting at the two other Jedi. "I did not know you would be here. Teaching the children now?" H'ruda stepped past the small group that set were starting to set about their work on the shuttle. He extended his hand to Geoff who clasped it tightly.

"I wish we could meet less often though. You always seem to arrive just as I need some significant help." the Jedi Knight laughed lightly before he looked over at Kyra. She had a smile to match his own. He extended his hand to her and she took it, "I see you are still trailing our illustrious Master as well. Nearly done with your training now, aren't you?"

Kyra nodded eagerly to the short man. He was just a tiny bit shorter than her. Kyra liked Geoff. She had met him a few times before. Each time the Consular seemed to have gotten himself in over his head. "Yes indeed. Once we are done with helping you, again, I should be a full Knight, like you." Kyra emphasized the word 'again' in a playful manner causing the Consular to laugh.

"Hopefully you do not end up with my luck though." he released her hand flexing his hand. He forgot how strong the girl was. They had sparred before and she had bested him in every bout. He figured that was what would happen when you were trained by one of the greatest duelists the Galaxy had ever seen. His command of the Force was potent, but, even that seemed only just barely exceed this young woman's command of it. She was a prodigy. Handed to a legendary Master. Her destiny was for great things indeed.

H'ruda looked on the exchange of the two Jedi and smiled slightly. He wanted things to be like this for them without change. Yet, just as quickly as the thought entered his mind, he let it go. Things were going to change no matter how this day turned out. H'ruda only wished that he could warn Jedi Consular that he saw death in him. He knew the idea would only worry him more though. He would face down his fate with the training and practice he had been given. It was all any of them could do. "Your padawan is here as well then? He is nearing the end of his training if memory serves me."

Geoff turned his attention back Master H'ruda, "Still sharp as ever Master. He is with the children now. Preparing them for the coming storm." Master H'ruda nodded to him in appoval, and, felt the pride that exuded from the younger Jedi from the simple gesture. "Come. I will take you to Master Yaldorn. He is seeing to the defense forces now." Geoff turned and began to walk down the stairs he had acended earlier. H'ruda and Kyra followed after the Consular.

The door of the temple complex hissed open with responsive alertness as the three Jedi neared it. "Kyra,"
"Yes Master?"
"Lock each door we pass with Jedi code Zeta."
Kyra complied, turning from the group and quickly locking the door with a standard Jedi cipher. It would not be anything that a student or Jedi could not unlock with ease. However, to an intruder the code would take even a skilled slicer some time to overcome. It was a delaying measure. Kyra could feel the anticipation building in her. She knew this battle would not go well for them. She could feel it looming in the Force. They would need every advantage they could get. Kyra quickly turned and hurried to rejoin the two other Jedi. As soon as she had arrived H'ruda spoke again."Go to the children. Assist Geoff's padawan with getting them ready. Take them to lowest dormatory in the temple."

Kyra looked over to her Master, now sensing his own anxiety about the coming battle. She wished she could speak to him about it. Kyra did not ask any questions though. She knew time was short already. "Yes, Master." she said before stepping away from the group and following her drawing through the Force. She locked every door she passed on the way to common hall.

Geoff and H'ruda walked in silence as they stepped from hall to hall. The sense of impending danger had crept into the minds of both the Jedi. Geoff was nervous. He felt much better now that H'ruda had arrived. Before the Master had shown up Geoff had spent more time than he needed in meditation. He used it to calm his nerves. He could feel the darkness H'ruda had warned them of in his mind. It was a small thing, like a whisper from across the room. Now it was all he could think about. The front door of the atrium opened up, filling the room with the humid air of the outside jungle. H'ruda looked down the long stair case of the Temple and saw a line of defense soldiers being spoken to by a familiar green and red skinned Jedi. His moist skin caught the golden light of the sun and shined. The Twi'lek Guardian had both of his head tails tucked under his chin and flowing backward over his shoulders, crossed over his throat.

"The foes you will face will be Force Adept. They will use trickery and overwhelming force." Master Yaldorn said to the group of assembled soldiers, "You have recieved training to face these kinds of enemies. Use it. Keep your support teams at a safe distance and use them to provide support fire. Keep them distracted and use your explosives. Do not worry about saving them for armored targets. This will almost certainly be a strike team. Refrain from using your blasters if you can. Some of our foes may be able to deflect them. Leave that to the support teams. Focus on flanking them and putting them down with single shots from the side, or, use your thermal detonators. You have the force of justice and protection on your side. We will prevail. May the Force be with you." the Twi'lek turned from the men as his old friend H'ruda stepped down the last step. Yaldorn's thick lips pulled back into a needle=tooth filled smile. "Old friend." he said stepped forward to meet H'ruda.

"No need to remind me of my age, Yaldorn." H'ruda said with a forced smile. He wondered if the Guardian could not sense the impeding danger. No, that was not like Yaldorn at all. He could sense it too. He just had the good sense to keep a confident face on in front of the soldiers. H'ruda respected the Guardian's skill when it came to leading and understanding soldiers. Sentinels often worked alone, hunting the Dark in the shadows. Yaldorn specialty was what most people saw. The Guardians were the face of the Order. They fought side by side with soldiers. They served as generals and officers in the Republic in times of strife. The Sentinel kept his face as a mask of confidence for the men around them.

"Our age you mean." Yaldorn said clapping H'ruda on the shoulder, "Do not forget we were both in the same class back in those days on Dantoine." Yaldorn turned back to the men he had assembled. He took a step to the side and pointed one of his thick and powerful arms out at H'ruda. "You see here? This is my old friend, Master H'ruda." the men straighten slightly. They had heard that name before. They only knew small things about the elusive Jedi Sentinels. They did, however, know H'ruda's reputation as a master Sith hunter. "This man sensed the coming threat through the Force from lightyears away. He gave us ample warning and now, now, he stands with us against this threat. H'ruda has slain scores of Sith. This will pass and we will all laugh about how foolish they were to strike against the Republic by dinner time. The Force is our ally..." Yaldorn paused for a moment and awaited the return call. He smiled as the men bellowed it out.

"And a powerful ally it is!"

Yaldron turned back to face his old friend and took a deep breath. The three Jedi began to ascend the steps again. "Is this battle going to go as I feel it?" Yaldorn asked, hoping for H'ruda to assuage his doubts. The Master had always done that for him. They had known each other for many years now. H'ruda had always been a rock in the storm for him. The one man who never seemed to bend no matter how fiercely the wind ripped at them.

"We have preparation and foreknowledge on our side, Master Yaldorn. We have done all we can. Now, the Force will work and we shall be victorious." H'ruda spoke quietly and seriously. He believed that. He knew the fight would be easy, or, without loss. However, he could sense their eventual victory. The Force promised that to him. they would have victory. If only he could figure exactly what victory meant.

"Yes." Yaldorn nodded. "I will see to the defense of the inner temple. Geoff and his padawan will be imbedded in the temple defense forces. We will be victorious. What will you do, H'ruda?"

"I will send Kyra with the children and have her guard them, she is good with children and stalwart of will. I will walk the halls. I will lock every door I come across with Code Zeta. I will seek out our most dangerous foes and engage them. With their center crushed the weaker among their number will flee. Did you send communication to the garrison? Will they send support?" H'ruda looked over at Yaldorn as they climbed the steps.

"I did. They assured me they would send support if their scouting vessel spotted any trouble. I think they will be seeing plenty of trouble indeed." The Guardian touched his hand to the double sided blue saber he had on his belt. The touch brought some measure of peace to him as they reached the door to the temple.

"Then we have done all we can. The Force be with you." H'ruda said, extending his hand to the Twi'lek.

Yaldorn clasped the Master's hand in his. Glad for the touch of an old friend. He could feel the power of H'ruda radiating outward in the Force and took strength from it. "May the Force also be with you, Master." his tone had a reverence in it that H'ruda had not expected. It was almost as if the Guardian was speaking to the Counsel of Masters.

The three Jedi moved off in different direction. They all had their tasks in mind, focusing on the battle that was to come. It loomed closer and closer as each moment passed.

Above the planet, three Sith and their platoon of Shock Troopers were planning their attack on the Jedi temple that resided below them. At the present time, A woman with pale pink skin and lavender hair was standing in the cockpit of the starship discussing something with the pilot, a rather displeased look on her face. “How much longer before we begin our descent onto Korpus V?” she asked, her arms crossed over her chest, violet eyes narrowed at the planet visible before them. There was very little blue on the planet as it was covered by lush jungles occasionally interrupted by the blue lines of rivers scattered throughout.

“We are looking at about 15 minutes, but about two hours before we leave Arianna,” came the pilot's response, which just fed into the woman’s displeasure. She really just wanted to get the mission over with as she was perpetually worried about her closest friend every time they were sent out. She wanted to get in, get out and make sure that he didn’t lose his shit.

“I’m going to head back and let the other’s know, we may need some cover, so get the guns ready as soon as possible once we breach,” the woman, Arianna, stated before leaving and heading straight to the area where everyone was preparing their weapons. Once there, she looked at everyone and let out a breath, she hated having to deliver news. “Fifteen minutes before engagement and we have ninety minutes before we leave. Kill everything that moves and grab any packs that you may find, we need as much information as possible about other temples.”

With the news delivered, she went straight over to the other sith, one of her hands reaching out to the male to her left. It was a habitual thing, mostly because he would grasp it himself if she did not. She never really understood why, but it started to become a sense of reassurement for her before every mission. However, this time her grabbing his hand was only for a brief moment before she had to give a look over the blaster she always kept on her, along with the two sabers she carried. During this time, she started to chat in a low voice to Maegr about the mission itself, mostly to express her concern about what he normally did. The nature of the mission was rather cut and dry, get in, kill everything, get out and report their results and observations to their Master as needed. However, there was something about this mission that just did not settle well with the young woman and she really couldn't pinpoint what it was which only seemed to make it worse. When the ship shook, she let out a sigh and stood up with the rest of the troops and glanced at her three friends before her hands patted the sabers at her side. The entries were always pretty rough, but she had nothing but trust for their pilot... unlike the first two who had been found in ditches, killed in a rather 'mysterious' manner.

"So, is it just me or is there something off about this mission?" she asked both of her companions, not at all surprised if neither chose to reply to her.

Arianna's thoughts were cut short as another violent shudder ran through their ship, forcing her to brace herself and switch her footing so she would not fall into any of the troops around them. However, even with that thought interrupted, the ever present thought of what would happen to Maegr rolled through her mind. She normally did her best to stay within sight of the male as she wanted to ensure that she was around should his rage consume him as it was known to do from time to time. There was no understanding on her part as to why, but she had always been able to calm him. Sometimes it went smoothly, other times she would walk away with an injury or two, but so far there was never anything fatal. She was not worried about the scars she received from him as she always thought them well worth bringing her friend back to his right mind.

Then there was Silas, she never really had to worry about him as he always seemed to handle himself well enough. Even if she tried to help him on the rare occasion he was injured, she practically had to force him to allow her to assist. As much as they were part of the Sith, she felt them to be a part of her family and she cared for them as much as one could show without gaining grievous injury from a Master should you get caught. She knew that all too well and the intricate swirls and markings along her stomach were testament to what the Sith felt was a weakness within her. Maybe he refused her because of that, but she rarely ever allowed him to do so, and sometimes that meant he earned himself a solid smack upside his helmeted cranium.

But now really wasn't the time to reminisce about meetings and growing up was it? They had a mission they needed to focus on and she hoped beyond hope that her fears would not be realized. Sith or not, there were some things she could not kill, even if that meant forfeiting her own life.

The troops grew silent as everything on deck rattled under the sustained fire of the temple's anti-air guns. The weapons, only suitable for shooting down starfighters were little more than white noise to the corvette's shields but it was, with the turmoil of atmospheric entry enough to shake the crew to the point of tripping a few of the men over.
A sense of gloom had taken over the ship’s crew as the drop neared. Attacking a Jedi temple would have been no small task for a dozen Siths and a company of the Empire’s best troopers but they were not even close to those figures.
Rathos was, in Sith tradition, a shameless glory hound in constant search of the next victory for him to claim credit for, the more perilous the better. In that spirit, their Dark Lord had scrambled his apprentices and a platoon of their planet’s local troops hoping this uphill battle and the massacre of the massacre of young initiates would be remembered as a turning point in the war. The last straw that would destroy the morale of the Republic and their Jedi.

The three Siths however, stood in line at the edge of the loading bay unphased, seemingly immune to the tremors.

Maegr reached for Arianna's hand. He spent most of the way down looking at her until the ship slowed and the bay's doors opened a good fifty meters off the ground. She was an anchor in the chaos of the warped and unnatural emotions induced by the drug that constantly flowed through his veins. Of all them anger dominated, anger at nothing and at everything that he came across. The violent impulses born from that rage, he had been relentlessly trained to give into to the point that no inhibition came to suppress the urge to kill. He often found himself cutting down those that stood in his way before he even knew of his own murderous intentions, a trait he despised in himself.

Letting go of Arianna's hand he cranked a valve on the chest piece beneath his robes, patted Silas on the back with his other hand and jumped out of the ship sabres in hand. The rush adrenaline was a relief to the physical aches imposed by the Dark Side’s corrupting influence on the body and the drugs significant side-effects.

The local planetary defence troops had entrenched themselves in front of the temple's sandstone walls. Mobile parapets and assault cannon nests had been set up. Barely more than a hundred men stood in defence of the holy site, scared and unprepared for an engagement of that scale on such short notice.
Maegr, on his way down, opened his hand and pulled at his offhand sabre that promptly snapped into his. Raising it above his head he swung it into a throw that swooped across the enemy defence line cutting down several soldiers in its wake and hit the ground down on one knee with no impact, as if weightless.
Not a second passed before his two comrades landed to each his sides in similar fashion.

As the defence line was ready to wipe them out with more blaster fire than they could expect to deflect, the Ravenbeak tipped its nose towards the massed crowd firing a volley of green plasma with its earshatteringly loud anti-starship guns leaving nothing but smoke and molten metal afoot the walls.
With this done, the ship stabilised and the Imperial troops rappelled down from its belly.

The Dark Side thrummed in anticipation. There was blood, fear, anger, death, and suffering to feed it. The events that were to unfold rippled backward into the minds of all those who would dare open their ears to it. The screams of dying men filled Silas' mind. The music a crescendo to the pulsing of the Force in him. His breaths quickened. The moment before a battle was like the lingering touch of a lover just before the first time they made love. It was patient ecstasy. It was a promise of fulfillment and an end to need. Silas' lips pulled into a grin at the sight of a Twi'lek's dying face. He had never seen that man before. He did not know his tale or what his dreams were. He only knew that he would kill him. The massive Sith could feel the Twi'lek's dismay ripple to him from the future. It was water and wine to a man dying of thirst.

Silas turned his attention to the men around him. He stood nearly a head taller than each and every one of them. Many of them were powerful and skilled, but, none had his prodigious size. He loomed like a shadow over the faces of men, and yet, could vanish from them just as quickly. He rather enjoyed the strange powers he possessed. Many times the stories were told about small men and women using their guile and stealth to evade and defeat their foes. Silas enjoyed both ends of the spectrum. He could seem to vanish in plain sight and reappear when it was most terrible for his foes. When he chose to be seen, he was a tower of fear and menace. Both of his companions were slight of build, yet still powerful, and, the contrast with him was amusing. He looked over at them as they crossed his mind. They both were holding hands, as they always did before a battle. They feared what they had become. why should they not? Their lives had all been stolen and then they were taught to turn aside all laws and limits. Their master of course was the exception to that tenant. Weakness. Silas hated that the three of them were used and tossed aside like tools. They were worth far more than just murdering children.

The ship shook again, the anti-air towers were operational. Just like his dream had warned. They could do little to the ship though. It was only an annoyance. Silas' enhanced senses picked up the twist of the nozzle on Maegr's atomizer. Silas frowned. It was his biggest failure. Both his and Arianna's. They had failed to keep those drugs from being a part of Maegr's life. They had tried to help as much as they could. Arianna did not have Silas' gift of stealth though, she was caught. He could not save her from the torment their master had inflicted. The Sith's hand tensed, his gloves stretching in protest of the tightness. The Sith seized his hatred for his master. He inhaled it as his placed the blast mask over his dark skinned face. The mask let out a hiss as it attached to the lining around his face. He grasped the hood of his dark gray officer's coat and pulled it up over his very short hair, attaching it to the mask as well so it would not fall. He rolled his large shoulders and felt his mouth pull into a spiteful grin as the hatch opened revealing their victims.

Silas landed with his two companions, saber springing to life in his massive hand. His visor picked out nearly thirty targets in the surrounding area. The data was forwarded to the pilot of the Ravenbeak and in a few seconds the soldiers were laid to waste in a haze of ship board weapons fire. Silas looked around, letting his visor and enhanced sight pick out any other threats. His visor marked each of the defense towers and he sent the information and target data to the storm troopers. They were professionals, and, skilled soldiers they did not need him to command them to do what needed to be done. He would just keep an open channel with them and continue to feed them tactical data. Silas began to walk toward the front entrance of the temple, cloaked from detection in the Force.

As he neared the door it was quickly thrown open by three soldiers. Each of them held a thermal detonator, ready to throw. They looked over silas and to his companions. He raised his hand, catching the three grenades just before they left the men's hands. The balls hovered in mid air for no reason as far as the men could tell. Each one of them stared, dumbfounded by the hovering explosives. Their confusion was cut brutally short by the detonators exploding and reducing the men and most of the doorway to smoke and vapor. Silas turned from the door looking at his two friends. Behind his mask he was grinning, eyes wild. On the outside he was a faceless thing in a gray uniform, emotionless. His deep voice radiated out of the mask with a robotic quality, "Did you see the looks on their faces!?" he punctuated the statement with a short burst of laughter, then made an explosion sound with his lips before turning back to the blown open door.

The heavy metal doors thrashed open from the explosion revealing the temple’s vestibule, a great hall which many stone arches intertwined into a net through which the elements bled. A mosaic of beige and teal tiles described abstract pattern on the floor around a central lane of elevated parterres around which mirror fountains flowed.

“It is time.” Yoordlan said opening his eyes. He could sense them just outside the door. The small team at the door stepped out and made to throw their grenades. All of their explosives froze in mid air before the men and exploded. The doors flew apart and the three entered. The guardian ignited his blue double-sided saber with twin hisses.
“Fall in behind me and keep them pinned!” he shouted to the spread out team of fifteen soldiers he had with him. The doors were still a good forty yards away, plenty of distance to keep the soldiers safe from the mess of lightsabers that would soon be underway. They could use the large tree and fountains in the center of the room as cover from some of the deflected bolts as well. Yordlan hoped it would be enough, it had to be. His dark eyes flicked to the other two jedi in the room.
They were waiting just off to the right of the door, only about ten meters from the entry point of the Sith, dangerously close. He should have been the one to stand so close to them. The Consular had insisted though that it should be Yordlan that led the soldiers, the Twi’lek could argue with that logic.. Consular Geoff had his hand raised, a number of metal shards and pieces of rock from the door held in the air by the Force alone. The short human grimaced and let his hand fall, the pieces clattering to the ground. His padawan stood just behind him, eyes wide with anticipation and what looked like awe at the sight of their foes.
The Twi’lek Guardian started to move forward, whirling his double-saber into a flourishing pattern of dizzying azure light, “You three have come to fail! Turn and run with your lives or face me and die!” He shouted before lunging forward, a hailstorm of blaster fire being unleashed from the soldiers behind him.

Geoff let out his own shout of resolve, a saber of green springing to life in each of his hands, the left being slightly shorter than a normal lightsaber. “With me!” he called out to his padawan before sending his left hand saber streaking toward the reddish skinned woman. He did not make it spin like many who threw their sabers did. He prefered to keep it controlled and like a blaster bolt. He had the control to alter its course slightly if the woman tried to just deflect it like a standard bolt.

The Padawan followed his master, blinking rapidly. There was supposed to be three of them. They had sensed them, they even seemed to act like there was three of them. Yet, he could only see two of them. A man in a mask and a woman. There might be something else there, but, he just could not seem to focus on it or understand what it was supposed to be. Probably just his nerves getting to him.

---

Geoff’s sabre stopped dead in midair before making it to the Zeltron’s chest and its blade shutdown. The masked Sith had thrust his left arm and grabbed onto the weapon with the force. His attempt at harming the female Sith he walked by had fed the robed figure’s ire. Though it was frequent for Siths to latch on to events and psych themselves into a deliberate rage, the consular, through the contest of control, could sense the sincere outrage in the Sith’s mind.
Geoff struggled with great effort to try to take back control of the sabre, pushing it with all the might he could afford to muster but the power of his opponent progressively overwhelmed him.

The sabre picked up momentum and as Maegr opened his clenched hand into an open palm facing the jedi, the saber suddenly darted back into the Jedi’s direction spinning rapidly only to fly past his head.

Feeling a bit of relief at the thought of his enemy missing his mark, he ever so slightly dropped his attention away from the sabre. The green blade sprang to life and took a wide turn towards the crowd of soldier wading through five of the men with the disconcerting ease that was characteristic of lightsabers.

The Sith, with an upward swing of his right hand through bolts of lightning that, surging from his palm, ran along the ground towards the consular at great speed. Taking advantage of the masked man’s split attention, he seized back control of his sabre and steered away from the other soldiers back into his hand and guarded himself from the bolts with it.

---

Before the female could act, the green sabre had been halted and sent out on a tyriad against the soldiers behind the Consular, causing her violet eyes to focus briefly on Maegr. This was normal for him, any time he saw an attack headed for her he rarely ever let it get close enough to do any form of damage if it was within his power to stop it. Well, even if she wanted to this was no time to complain about what he had done for her, so she simply adjusted her attention to the next jedi, her sabre’s springing to life within her hands. This was not a time for words, this was a time for action, they had a mission to take care of.

The Twi’lek reached his target at a full run, the speed of which was the telltale sign of someone pushing themselves beyond normal limits with the Force. He sent his dual-sided blue saber into a whirling flurry of blows aimed at taking the red skinned woman in pieces. His flow was perfect, each strike was quickly redirected and sent into a sudden faint or true strike. The two blades, one extended from each side of his hilt, assisted this flurry of motion. He was using Shien in it’s truest form, currently banking on the sudden burst of aggression to overwhelm his foe.

Sabre’s at the ready, Arianna locked eyes with the Jedi that came at her, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she countered the blow. While it may not have landed, the force behind the attack jarred her arms a bit causing her to grimace before she pushed forward, forcing the man away from her. In retaliation, she began her own barrage of attacks, sabres ringing out in protest as the two began their intricate dance.

---

Maegr pulled at the sabre at his waist and from under his robes came a foot long hilt, a five feet long bright red blade surged from it as he ran forth ran forth towards the enemy back line. He lept over the knights and with his sabre blocked the strikes that targeted him in mid-air to land behind them.
The Sith felt a strike at his exposed back approach from the Twi’leks dual-blade but did nothing to stop it. Arianna bashed the knights slash out of course with an overhead strike as Maegr with a flick of his weapon knocked the consular’s thrust off target.
As the consular and the padawan lunged at his chest Maegr jumped and with a quick circular slash blocked both attacks and planted his heel into the young one’s face causing him to step back.

The simple soldiers behind the Jedis dared not fire at the melee for fear fear or hitting one of their masters. Geoff came at the Sith with a flurry of thrusts that seemingly took Maegr attention away from the Jedi from the padawan. As the Sith recoiled from the erratic attack pattern of the Jedi, the padawan prepared to strike him from behind with a telegraphed cut, waiting for the moment Maegr’s used his sabre to block one of the master’s attacks.
When the consular’s blade met that of his opponent he pushed through into a slash to force him to maintain contact and afford his padawan the time strike. The padawan footwork was punctuated by the sound of a sabre igniting. Immense pain coursed through his body but he found himself unable to scream. In his opponent’s offhand was a new sabre, held in an inverse grip and extending behind him and through the young one’s heart. The Sith had not even glanced at him.

Reading the fear and shock in the consular’s mind he winded his wrist into an overhead strike that the Jedi blocked before an orange blade sprang to his side and from behind crossed waist from left to right.
In shock as well, the Twi’lek lost focus and turn his gaze away from Arianna, for only a second. She punished the mistake by splitting the knight from shoulder to stomach.

The fear that covered the minds of the group of soldiers was a quenching flood of water over the mind of Silas. He turned from the fallen Jedi and set his masked gaze on the men. They had stopped shooting out of fear of hitting their comrades. Now their blasters were still due to terror at the three of them. The Sith moved like a predator, unseen even though he stalked through the center of the room. A few of the men turned and fled from the two they could see and the feeling of impending doom that swept toward them.

The large Sith in his odd robe like uniform seemed to appear from thin air before the fleeing men, his grin hidden behind the durasteel visor. The sounds of screams and sizzling flesh pierced the ears of the remaining men. They spun in time to see four men fall. The fifth did not fall though. He was missing both of his arms and seemed to be suspended in mid air. They turned and fired. their shots were almost random and shaky with terror. The suspended soldier screamed as his body was yanked form side to side and used like a shield as the Sith closed the distance to the group of soldiers. By the time he was sent flying from his suspended state, he was long dead. His corpse when rocketing into another soldier and sent him to the hard floor with a crack. The orange blade of the lightsaber suddenly doubled in length. It was sent whiling like a saw forward. Silas reached out with his mind and found the discarded sabers of the fallen Jedi. he pulled on all of them as well. Each one springing to life and whiling into the cluster of men.

In a blurred hurricane of colorful hot plasma, men died. The Jedi's sabers flew off to the sides out of control as the orange saber deactivated in mid air and returned to the large waiting hand of Silas. Men groaned in pain on the ground. limbs and pieces of people littered the ground. Silas took a deep breath, his intake hissing from the sharp inhalation. Other than the labored breathing of dying men, the room was still and silent. The silence of a funeral, a mass grave. His visor scanned the bodies and quickly identified the living men and the dead ones. It highlighted the dying men and marked them. He ignored it, it was not relevant that they lived. They would not be alive long and their injuries were far too extensive. Silas turned his attention to his comrades. "I timed that whole exchange at twenty six seconds. Do you think that is some kind of record for killing three Jedi and a team of soldiers?"