Star Wars Episode I: The New World [RP]

[Faith Crest]

Star Wars Episode I:
The New World

Since the defeat of Darth Vader, many years have passed. The new world has dawned upon us and the Jedi Order has been rebuilt. But there are still some who are descendants from those that fought for the dark side. They remain in secret, hoping that one day that they can surely rise again and create a dictatorship across the galaxy. In the meantime, the Jedi Order has overseen the rise of new Jedi to protect the universe. Jedi Initiates, Padawans, Knights and Masters have emerged to be the defenders of the galaxy once more. But there is a great darkness lingering in the background.

One young Jedi survived on the dark side following the death of Darth Vader and Palpatine. He vowed revenge against the resistance. Many generations on, a new Sith lord is on the rise. The free world knows nothing of this, yet has failed to recognise the signs of the dark side so far. With the ascension of a new Sith lord, another war that will threaten the universe once more and many lives at stake, it's up to the new Jedi to put a stop to the chaos that would surely purge the peace that had been fought so hard for in the past.

***​

Dawn Turner opened her eyes and panted. Her curious brown eyes looked up towards the droid that was firing shots at her. She deflected them with her blue lightsaber, whilst showing off the acrobatics that she performed. She jumped to her right, concentrating hard on the droid that continued to fire blasts at her. Eventually, she seized her chance and managed to reflect one of the shots back at the droid, which destroyed it. She smiled, knowing that her victory had finally come into sight.

"... The seventh droid we've had to repair this week, Lady Turner," a servant was saying to her, as they walked down the halls of the Jedi Temple. "The Jedi Order knows you wish to hone your training, but what are you trying to achieve?"

"Perfection, but no creature alive has ever achieved that," Dawn remarked, beaming away. "There are rumours that a Sith lord or two have risen again. The Jedi Order hasn't confirmed those rumours, but I need to be ready. I believe that the Sith killed my father, just to get to me."

With that, she left the servant standing there and scratching his head. It was true. Dawn's father had been mercilessly killed in the middle of the night four years ago. From an early age, Dawn had been chosen to be one of the new generation of Jedi because the old ones sensed the Force within her. That meant she had to leave Naboo to go to Coruscant to become a Jedi. So when her father had been killed, it sent shockwaves through her mind. Her mother died thereafter of natural causes, probably unable to bear the grief of losing her husband. Dawn had never expressed her regret of losing her parents close to each other, only to briefly state that she "had to move on."

But Dawn had never moved on inside her head. The duty of ruling Naboo had been passed on to her cousin and that allowed Dawn to continue on with her Jedi training. The rumours of a Sith lord were true in her head; she knew that they had slaughtered her father, just because she was the descendant of the Skywalker family. The dark side obviously had some kind of feud with her family, but she cared little for that. Completing her training was what was important right now. She had to be ready.

 

[Azrael]

-----

Above Kamino, two dozen Advanced Pelleaon-class Star Destroyers hovered the aquatic planet. Out of the flight bay of one of the Star Destroyers came out an Imperial Lambda-class shuttle. Its wings spread out and flew down into the planet’s atmosphere accompanied by a air squadron of TIE Predator-class starfighters. They descended down to the surface only a few meters above the turbulent Kaminoan seas and was within distance of the capital city Tipoca City.

Getting clearance from the Kaminoan delegation that it was a Jedi Ambassador inside the Imperial shuttle, they landed in a ship hangar guarded by the local security clone troopers, the last vestige of the Grand Army of the Old Republic hundreds of years ago. The Imperial shuttle’s underside loading ramp slowly dropped with a loud hiss.

"Have the negotiations gone well so far?" Demetricus asked the stormtrooper commander. "Were they as sucessful as the Imperial Majesty hoped?"

"Yes..The Kaminoan Prime Minister finally gave in to most of our terms and is willing to have his people's homeworld come under the protection of Her Majesty, my lord. Well when pressured by the threat of direct control by an Imperial High Commissioner rather than the Kaminoans themselves, they agreed." The stormtrooper commander informed the Jedi General as he walked out of the Lambda-class shuttle and exited the Kaminoan ship hangar. "With the cloning facilities under strict Imperial supervision, we can make sure no one other than our own agents will utilize the facilities for their own gain again."

"Her Majesty and the Imperial Senate will be well pleased with these results once these negotiations will be eventually ." The Jedi General beamed knowing that the Kaminoan-Imperial negotiations have been a success. this would surely become a precedent for hundreds of more unincorporated systems to peacefully join the Empire. "At last, the times of pressuring countless systems to join by threats of invasion or destruction during the time of Palpatine has ended."

"Surely Her Majesty has some motive behind these proposed treaties with these Outer Rim systems." The commander said as he took off his helmet and stopped walking. Demetricus stopped as well. "It's strange that we are re-establishing diplomatic relations with these people after three hundred years of isolation; not since the end of the Clone Wars has there been communications between Coruscant and Tipoca City. It's almost as if the Empire needs to make alliances with these systems...almost like something is threatening them."

"That's classified information reserved to members of Imperial Intelligence and the Jedi Order. Any further questions involving such information will be punishable by execution by firing squad. Do you understand my words?" Demetricus threatened him. "Is that clear soldier?"

The trooper nodded sweating nervously as he was shaken. "Yes, my lord. Sorry for questioning on such important matters, I'll shall leave you alone then." Demetricus just nodded at him and put them back down.

No one beyond Her Majesty and the top tier of the Imperial government and Jedi Order should ever know about the rumored resurgence of the Sith reported by his old friend Jedi Knight Dawn Turner who encountered the alleged Sith Lord murder her father, an important Naboo nobleman, in her youth. Any leak of such information would cause mass panic among the populace. Demetricus knew that his intentions for threatening the Imperial trooper were good, but still it pained him to go out of his normal character just to threaten him back to not ask any further. But his main concerns right now would be to report back to the Empress before thinking of apologizing.

"A new clone army must be raised to defeat the Sith. The True Sith that Revan of long ago had attempted to found only to end in failure. A Sith Lord will never rule Coruscant ever again." He thought.

Demetricus would soon eat his words soon.
-----

 

[Faith Crest]

Retiring to her chamber, Dawn allowed her body to fall physically on to her bed. She was exhausted, she had to admit to that. However, there was no stopping to getting stronger in her training. Failure was not an option, at least now with Dawn Turner. She lay back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. The strength that was once inside her body had been taken away by the intense training exercises she had been undergoing in the past few months. The Jedi Order had ordered her to rest, but of course, being in some kind of royalty meant she had some form of power over them at the same time. Needless to say, she found the situations in the Jedi Council's chambers quite amusing.

They didn't find it funny. Over and over and over again, they continued to tell Dawn to take time away from her training ... a week, perhaps. She was burning herself out. Dawn sat up on her bed and put her lightsaber on the side on her metal drawers. Once that was done, she lay back against the pillows and got comfy after a while. Although it was only in the middle of the afternoon, she now slept funny and odd hours. Her training had required that she stayed up later hours and it messed up her sleeping schedule. Still, it didn't seem to bother her whatsoever. The rumours of the Sith lord only stirred her to hone her skills.

Three hours later, she jumped immediately and panicked, breathing heavily.

It had happened again.

The very memory of her father's death had haunted and plagued her through the recurring nightmares that she suffered while asleep. This was the main reason why Dawn was now afraid to go to sleep at night. She feared that the Sith lord that mercilessly killed her father would come after her next. What had she ever done to the Sith lord? She'd only heard stories of them, let alone even met one! Her first encounter with the Sith lord proved to be eventful, as she had been happening to be visiting Naboo since the Jedi Council were pleased with the progress she was making on her training. Having celebrating the rank of Jedi Apprentice, Dawn Turner had returned home and with no idea of what she was going to face back at home.

He was masked and hoodded at the same time.

Dawn's mother had hidden in fear. Bringing out her lightsaber as she looked upon the mess at home, Dawn found the Sith lord hovering above her father's dead and motionless body. Anger resided in her mind. Fear was etched across her face. The Sith lord seemed to have shown no mercy, although his face had been hidden at the time by his mask and hood. Dawn had lunged at him and fought valiantly. The Sith lord hissed that she could have been next. However, she was only mystified when he left her with minor injuries.

The nightmare was different.

Instead, her mother had been killed as well. Dawn was still the same fifteen-year-old Jedi Apprentice back then, but the palace was deserted. Too quiet, perhaps. The Sith lord had hovered above both her parents' bodies this time. He turned to face her. Dawn tried drawing out her weapon, but she was paralysed with fear. She fell to her knees, hoping that the Sith lord would free her from the grief that she felt. On the other hand, he tortured her. The Force was used in such a cold, cruel and vile way that it took a while for Dawn to remember what it felt like to be hurt by it.

"It's just a dream," she told herself. "It's just a stupid dream."

 

[Azrael]

-----

Demetricus wipes the rain from his wet face and blinks in awe at the tall, pasty white alien before him.

"The Prime Minister has been expecting a Jedi or some other representative from the Imperial Diplomatic Department for some time now. Not an occupation force filled with armed stormtroopers, the Congress of the Galactic Alliance will consider this invasion an illegal action punishable by economic sanction. Luckily for you, the Imperial Military is paying us quite a ton of credits as a bribe to keep this between us."

"Just to let you know that the Jedi Order and Her Majesty personally had no idea that this had occured. I am as surprised as you. I will make sure that the Empress knows and reprimands the Moffs who commanded this action."

"I'll believe you, Master Jedi. The Prime Minister as well as I know that the Empress, being the honorable woman she is, and the Jedi Order would never permit such an action from occuring if you had known."

The door slides open. Demetricus and the Kaminoan servant enter and cross to where the Prime Minister rises, his expression joyful, from his chair, which seems to be created out of pure light.

"May I present the Prime Minister of Kamino, Rhoan Su." "And this of course is Master Jedi.."

"Pallopides. Demetricus Pallopides." He interrupted.

Prime Minister Rhoan Su points with his long, slim fingers to a chair right by his desk where the Jedi Master could sit down. Demetricus remains standing and the Kaminoan aide hovers back towards the entrance.

"It is simply an honor for us to have one of such high stature in the Imperial government and Jedi Order such as yourself here in our humble homeworld, Master Pallopides." Prime Minister Rhoan Su welcomed him and offered him a seat. The Jedi Master remained standing yet smiled at the kind offer being offered again to him. Perhaps the Kaminoans weren't as business minded as said by the Jedi Council. "Especially arriving at the calmest part of the year. Weatherwise speaking."

"Thank you for the warm welcome." The Jedi Master beamed happily at the towering Kaminoan, but his facial expression quickly changed into a frown. "But I prefer that we stop with the pleasantries and go on to our business. With reports of the new Sith Empire being true, compliments are not needed in such dark times." Demetricus sat down on the chair and eyed at the Prime Minister warily. "What do you say?"

"Very well then, Master Jedi. Her Majesty and your colleagues in the Jedi Council will be most pleased to hear we are ahead of schedule in the development of the new army your old Master Ben'du Marek had requested on behalf of Her Majesty to be cloned. Five hundred thousand soldiers of various Force-Sensitive templates by which you donated are now ready for combat once it arises. Four million troops more are well on their way to be fully developed."

"That is excellent news that you had reported to me." Demetricus stood up from the floating chair and brushed
off some dust from his Jedi robe. "Well I have heard enough. I can now return and report back to her." He turned
around and began to walk away until he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Yes, Prime Minister?"

"To give an accurate report on the army's development, I would suggest you would at least inspect the new units. Or at
least the new elite commandoes of the DNA template that your Master had donated; I think you might be impressed at
who is the template."
-----

 

[Mistearea]

Kital Amanal, the newest of the Sith Lords, stands over the body of a man that was a little too drunk to aim a blaster accurately. The low hum of the weapon in his hand fills his ears and calms him down as the heat from the crimson blade slightly burns his arm. He removes his finger from the power switch and listens as the blade vanishes. He then looks to the singed hole in the hood of his black cloak and towards the blaster that had caused it. Thinking that the owner of the bar would much rather keep his place open, and the fact that it was Kital's favorite place to get a drink, he holds out his hand and various coins fly from the pockets of the two slain drunks and into the open arms of the bar tender.

"For the damage."

He clips the device in his hands to his belt and vanishes into the crowd as they go back to drinking as if nothing happened. He then walks out of the bar and looks at the Mos Eisley space port that houses a brothel of races and con artists just as plenty. His dark yellow eyes scan over the occupants of the area until they fall on a small group of Ewoks admiring the aincient relic that is his Hoverbike. He quickly forces them away for the device and climbs on. His goved hands grip the handles of the familiar object as the ignition switch seems to turn itself. He pulls downwards on just one of the handles and feels the device jet forward and under a large creature who's name he forgets.

Once out of the area, he pulls out a small communicator and says to himself, "Let's see how my men are doing. I wonder if any of them will have to die."

 

[Faith Crest]

If only this night hadn't come.

Emphasis on the words, if only.

Dawn Turner glanced at herself in the mirror after changing into a white dress that would make her look easily recognisable amongst the crowd. It was the one night of the entire year in which the Jedi had a chance to relax from their usual training and so on to have a dance in the ballroom. It was highly anticipated every year, but Dawn was perhaps one of the few Jedi that despised it. She didn't like dances whatsoever; it just reminded her of being back home in Naboo and those formal occasions when she met highly important people (her father had usually dragged her out to meet them on his orders). So the dance wasn't anything easier to deal with.

Every year, someone would only ask Dawn to the dance because she was one of those highly important people. After all, she was the heir to the throne of Naboo. She was obviously going to draw attention and make her "date" seem so important alongside her. But no more! Dawn had rejected people being her "date" for the past four years, perhaps it was a sign that she was too busy to be mourning over the deaths of her parents than to be moving forward with her life. For a Jedi, true love was all, but forbidden. Look what it had done to Anakin Skywalker ... he had been corrupted, the birth of Luke and Leia would not have been possible were it not for Padme for getting pregnant with them.

Many people assumed that Dawn would one day become a victim of the dark side. She was determined to prove them wrong. She was determined to lead her life as normal as possible. Ascending to the rank of Jedi Knight was crucial. She had been a Jedi Apprentice for several years now, her power quickly rising with that. But the Jedi Council would probably refuse her the rank, partly because of her descent from the Skywalker family. And strangely enough, Dawn thought of her twin brothers ... where they were now, what they were doing and if they still thought of her, too.

The rumours of the Sith lord still had her sitting on the edge as well.

"I won't go to the dark side," she whispered silently. "No one will make me."

Taking a deep breath, Dawn walked out of her room and started to silently walk through the halls. She hoped to God that no one was going to try be her "date" again. For heaven's sake, she was hoping that this night would pass so quickly.

 

[Azrael]

-----

Thunder and lightning roared in the distance and the downpour of rain didn't hellp lighten the mood. Twenty thousand clones, their faces covered from view by their helmets, were marching in formation with their lightsabers in hand. They were being led by Mandalorian commanders to antique Kaminoan Victory I and II Star Destroyers, ready for war againist the emerging threat of the Sith that it posed to the Galaxy.

The Prime Minister "Are they not beautiful and magnificent creatures you ever seen, Master Jedi?" Rhoan smiled then tilted his head to the Jedi Master.

"I suppose they are." Demetricus nodded slowly scratching his head. "These are not mere creatures, but human clones."

"Well then." Rhoan turned his head from the hallway. "I believe we should continue on. You'll find the next thing I will show you very interesting.

They continued with their tour as they walked through a small classroom filled with identical adoloscent male clones, probably not more than five years younger than the Jedi Master. Their teacher was gruff looking and quite old in appearance. He was obviously a Mandalorian by the primitive armor he was wearing. Rhoan tilted his head from the window and returned to venture in the hallways. Demetricus quickly followed the Kaminoan Prime Minister.

"We take great pride in our high quality armed combat education and training programs taught by the instructors we had hired from their homelands of Concord Dawn and Mandalore. The education of the clones had barely changed since the Clone Wars when Minister Lama was in power. You can not get much better combat education from any other race of beings in the Galaxy." He tilts his small head towards the glass window. "Here is an example of this group of clone troopers was created twenty years ago. Two decades for your concept of time."

"Fifteen years is quite a long time? Don't you still use growth accleration on the cloning program?"

"Oh yes, we still do use growth accleration when our clients need their clones rapidly like in the case of the clonetroopers of the Old Republic created with the Jango Fett template. Yet our scientists in the years during the Galactic Civil War that such manipulation of growth in their bodies caused many of them to go into fits of insanity."

"Insanity?"

"Yes, it's quite a terrible thing to hear many of the Empire's stormtroopers, especially the older ones who had saw action during the Clone Wars. Led to many incidents of brutality on their part, it did. So we decided to no longer pursue the process of growth accleration unless it's under a special circumstance."

"So they now age at the same rate as normal humans? Most interesting.."

"Precisely Master Jedi Pallopides." Rhoan stated.

Prime Minister Rhoan Su guides Demetricus through the large Kaminoan battle training room. Several cloaked figures and an escort of unarmed Imperial stormtrooper commandoes follow the two as they walked by hundreds of thousands of identical clonetroopers, wearing white Kaminoan armor. They were training through hand to hand combat with one another.

"Of course like the clonetroopers of the Old Republc if you know, these Force Sensitive clones are totally subservient to their commander, although their complete loyalty is to the Empress of the Galactic Empire. Through modification of their genetic structure and at times, disciplinary measures, we had made them less independent than the original person."

"And who was the Force Sensitive host who donated their DNA for the template?" Demetricus asked. He was never told by the Jedi Council nor the Imperial Intelligence Agency at who it was that donated their DNA for the program. "I need to know for my report to the Empress." He said.

"It is unknown at who was the original template of the clones since we had never met him in person, and only through communications. He claimed to be a member of the Jedi Order's High Council and preferred to be called Master Lanama."

"Never heard of him before in my life. Do you know where I may contact him?"

"I'm afraid to tell you that I have not heard from him in years. Apparently he is trying to find leads to this new Sith Lord everyone in the Galaxy's been hearing about."

"Very well then." Master Pallopides frowned slightly and turned around for the door glaring at the cloaked men who stood by the Prime Minister's side. The Imperial commandos followed him. "I guess it is time for me nevertheless to return to Coruscant to give my report to Her Highness. I am skeptical of this Master Lanama and will check the Archives if he exists or not once I make my report to the Empress." He opens the door. "Just to be aware that this will not be my last time you will see me, I will return. Just you wait."

And they left the room on their way back to their ships.

"That was too easy."

"Looks like the Jedi Master bought your deception, Prime Minister." One of the cloaked men spoke before bursting into a brief chuckle. "We should inform our agent back in Coruscant that she should dispatch Master Pallopides once he arrives at the Imperial Palace."

"Make sure you and your apprentice will keep your promise to provide a monetary compensation for our deception to the Jedi and armed protection for Kamino from Imperial invasion, Darth Plageius. I do not want this war your Sith Lord wants to spread to the Rishi Maze. Kamino has had enough scars that yet to heal from the Clone Wars."

"Heh." The Dark Lord Plageius pursed his lips. "Of course, Prime Minister. I will certainly remember to remind my Master to reward you for your act of vassalage to the Sith." One of the cloaked men spoke, his expression clearly showing that he is smiling. "Farewell to you, Prime Minister. We'll be in contact with you again shortly once the war begins."

The strangers walked in the opposite direction towards another open door and left. Rhoan Su sighed and turned to eye at his aides, among them We Nuat.

"I have a really bad feeling about this, my servant." The Prime Minister rubbed his head and looked out the window seeing the Imperial ships depart. "Both sides, the Jedi AND Sith these are so naive that simple use of force will prevent any bloodshed." He placed one of his small fingers by the pothole window. "It was the threat of the Republic clone army that brought three years of bloody warfare throughout the Galaxy. I should know out of everyone here since I was old enough to remember." Feeling a hand on his slim shoulder, he frowned. "It's best that we should terminate the cloning program. The money is not worth the lives of hundreds of billions throughout the Galaxy and the good favor of the Imperials and Sith."

"As you wish, Prime Minister." We Nuat quickly left.
-----

 

[Organization_42]

Maya Boleyn sat in her usual corner of the Jedi Archives, unaware of the setting sun outside, or how much time she had spent sitting and reading. She was deep in concentration, reading about the famous Clone Wars that had taken place centuries ago. It was then that a particularly clever Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, had risen to power in the Republic and gained control of the galaxy, declaring himself the Emperor and nearly wiping the Jedi out of existence.

For Maya, this was more than a fascinating story. She'd heard rumors, mainly from her friend, Dawn Turner, that the Sith could be trying to come to power again. Although it didn't seem very likely, history had proven over and over again that the only thing one could expect from the Sith was the unexpected. They came out of nowhere, worming their way into people's lives, gaining their trust, and then striking at the perfect moment. Many were even former Jedi: Count Dooku, who became Darth Tyrannus, Anakin Skywalker, who became Darth Vader, Jacen Solo, who became Darth Caedus...it was so easy to slip toward the Dark Side, and still, the Jedi would never learn. They still remained confident in their powers with the Force, never believing that they could be fooled by the Sith.

Maya snorted as she reached the end of the record, which described the downfall of Anakin Skywalker. Sometimes she felt her patience slipping away when others remained ignorant of history's countless warnings. But she wouldn't complain about it aloud; she could tell how her friend Dawn, an actual descendant of the Skywalkers, was sensitive about the possibility of good Jedi falling to the Dark Side.

"Miss Boleyn?" called a computerized voice. Maya didn't look up. "Excuse me? Miss Boleyn?" repeated the voice, and a mechanical arm jabbed her in the shoulder.

"What's that?! Who's there?" she called, only to see that it was her droid, MC-425. "Oh, hey MC," she said.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Miss Boleyn," replied the droid, "But my itinerary says that it's time for you to go to the Jedi Social!"

"Oh, that," said Maya with a sly grin, "I got out of that."

"Really? I was under the impression that attendance was mandatory."

"Not for me. I told Master Secura that I was too ill to go." The whole thing was a lie, of course. She only wanted an excuse to get out of the event. It wasn't because she disliked dancing. The rumored threat of the Sith was too important to ignore, even if it was only a rumor. She wanted to research as much as possible to prepare her fellow Jedi in case they were attacked, and it seemed silly to waste precious time at a dance.

"But if you are ill, what are you doing in the Archives? You should be in bed!"

"You're right!" she gasped, jumping to her feet, "C'mon MC! We'd better get out of here before someone spots us!"

 

[Azrael]

-----

Master Jedi Pallopides stood in the command bridge of his Advanced Pelleaon-class Star Destroyer Palpatine, observed the view of the Imperial capital homeworld of Coruscant only to shut his eyes. To let his mind to flow freely with the Force so to speak. The Imperial Core Sector Fleet, which he led as its Supreme Commander, had just left hyperspace as it left the Kamino system to return back to Coruscant. The negotiations between the Imperial diplomatic delegation led by Pallopides himself and the Kaminoan Prime Minister was a success for the Galactic Empire.

It would be also a success for the Jedi Order.

Its standing with the other weaker, independent political bodies in the Galaxy such as the Chiss Ascendancy in Wild Space or the Corporate Sector in the Mid Rim would definetely improve as a result. Diplomatic negotiations with these political. No longer would the people of the Galaxy could claim that the Second Galactic Empire under Her Imperial Majesty Marasiah Fel II was completely different in its manner from its old predecessor, the Old Galactic Empire under the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, the distant ancestor of Pallopides. Worlds no longer had to fear of being threatened with invasion by the Imperial Army or annihilation by the long-destroyed superweapon, the Death Star. This Galactic Empire would no longer pursue such barbaric past policies only allowing voluntary membership by worlds willing to join.

That's what at least Demetricus hoped that rest of the Galaxy would share in his view that the Galactic Empire should be.

"Lord Pallopides." A male voice called out his name softly, speaking in a Coruscanti Basic accent. Demetricus, his mind focused on the possible reaction by the Coruscanti citzenry to the establishment of the Second Grand Imperial Army, ignored him and continued to dwell in his thoughts. "Lord Pallopides." The voice repeated and placed his hand over Demetricus' right shoulder. "Sir?"

Demetricus opened his eyes. "What is it that is so important that you had to disturb me?" The Jedi Master hissed angrily and turned around to see that it was none other than Lord Gilford de Solaris, his second in command as well as one of his best friends since they met ten years ago in the Imperial Academy at Naboo. He sighed and said. "You know that I do not like being disturbed while trying to have my disorganized thoughts on the Kamino mission synchronize with the Force, Gilford."

"I am sorry to disturb you, Demetricus in your meditation exercise." Gilford bowed his head and apologized. "It is involving the Social being held in the main hall of the Jedi Temple. You are late to the function and attendance is mandatory after all for all Jedi."

"Yes, Gilford. I am very well aware that I am late for the so-called mandatory Jedi Social." Gilford answered back with a frown."My mission to Kamino as a diplomatic emissary on behalf of the Her Majesty in obtaining the clones was higher up in importance to me a Jedi than attending some stupid dance."

Gilford nodded, "You are right I suppose. Duty and responsibility comes first."

"And to tell you the truth, the Social is just an excuse for especially the younger, adoloscent members of the Jedi Order to sneak in drinks from the local cantinas to get drunk or getting high from illicit deathsticks."

"Well, not exactly." Gilford pointed his index finger at the communications room several dozen meters ahead. "The reason I came to speak to you was to inform you that someone wanted to speak to you in private. I don't know her at all but she looked quite lovely for a Jedi Knight wearing that white dress. Also by assumption of the way she spoke with a distinct yet lovely accent, she is a Naboo. Looks like she was going to attend that Jedi Social."

"Do you know who it is?"

"Oh yes, Dawn Turner."
-----

 

[Faith Crest]

"Dawn? Dawn Turner?" came a deep drawling voice.

Flinching at hearing his voice, Dawn forced herself to turn around to face the bigheaded Jedi Knight Andrew Haughton. She didn't like seeing him, considering he would constantly tease her about the fact that he was a Knight and she was still somewhere between Padawan and Knight. One day, she had sworn that she would end their little feud by squaring off against him. However, such quarrels were to be ignored at extreme times like this. The Sith were probably on the rise and this was a matter Dawn would have wanted to avoid. However, Andrew pursued her in his attempts to mock her.

"I see royalty can be jealous," he assumed.

"And your big head just might fall off because I might be the one to snap it," she growled, continuing to walk on to the Jedi Social. She had taken a quick glance to see that he was dressed formally as well to attend. But the more she walked down the hall, the more she began to think that this encounter was much more than to make a mockery out of her. "Andrew, leave me be."

"Actually, I was hoping you didn't have a date to the dance," Andrew said, laughing quietly.

"I don't have a date, no, but I wouldn't go with you if you were the last Jedi on the universe," snapped Dawn, prompting a few male Jedi that were walking through to go, "Ooh!" at the Jedi Knight.

This was just one of those informal occasions that Dawn had to attend. If she had it her way, then she'd be gladly upstairs trying to get some sleep. The nightmares she continued to have seemed to have some kind of impact on her sleeping routine. As Andrew continued to persist with his desire, Dawn felt obligated to use the Force on him. However, such uses were only abuse. She couldn't abuse the Force, at least not while the eyes of the Jedi Order were on her. The rumours of the Sith had alerted them to the past and it pointed in her direction. Not many people, apart from higher authorities, knew that she was a descendant of the Skywalker family. Her surname hid that fact very well.

"Just one dance?" pleaded Andrew.

"Go and dance with someone your own rank," she whispered angrily, as they came to the main hall in which there were couples dancing already. "I'd prefer it if you could go and waste your time on people that can match up to your power!"

She sat down at the bar and sighed sadly, burying her head in her hands.

"Are we starting with the Alderaan Ruge?" asked the barman.

"Why not?" murmured Dawn, as she thought back on the servant's words earlier today.

 

[Organization_42]

Maya hurried through the hallways towards her room, while MC flew ahead, checking for signs of life. It was imperative that she not be sighted by any Jedi, whether they really knew her or not. She got away with a lot of things, but the Council wouldn't approve of her outright lie to them, even if it was over something silly like a dance.

Unfortunately for Maya, she had forgotten to tell MC to check behind them too.

"Well, look who it is. Maya Boleyn, my favorite Padawan."

Maya groaned inwardly. It was that Jedi Knight, Andrew Haughton, though under normal circumstances, she'd hesitate to call him a "knight". He always found it amusing that she was one of the oldest apprentices in the Jedi Order, having failed the physical part of the trials so many times. And tonight, it sounded like he was in a particularly sour mood. When she turned around to confront him, she noticed that his face was flushed and he had a half-empty bottle in his hand...probably from the Social.

"Oh wait, I'm sorry!" he said, "Shouldn't I be calling you a fellow Knight? After all, you can't still be a Padawan after all these years, right? How old are you now? Twenty-five?"

"Twenty-one, actually." She sounded quite calm, and that was because she had just thought of a simple solution to this potential disaster. "Listen, Andrew, I don't have time to talk..."

"Of course. You still haven't gotten to the dance yet, have you?" He paused to sneer at her uniform. "Is that what you're planning to wear?"

She shook her head. "No, I can't go. I caught a bad stomach virus and I have to run to the bathroom before I throw up everywhere. Unless you think that would go with your outfit?" she added in a sweet voice.

Haughton's face grew pale, making it look like he was the one who was sick. "Never mind then; I won't hold you up!" With that, he raced away in the opposite direction. Maya smiled at her victory. Anyone smarter than him would have realized that she looked perfectly healthy, but not him. She was suddenly interrupted from her thoughts by MC.

"Hurry Miss Boleyn!" it cried, "You must get to your bed if you feel so sick!"

"Ok, MC," she said quickly. Her droid had been a gift from her master, Vos Secura, and because it had been made in the Jedi Temple, it was strictly programmed to comply with Council orders. Thus, she sometimes had to be careful about what she said around him. "Show me the quickest way back, please."

 

[Azrael]

-----

The Rodian Angol strides through the masses of Jedi watchman to the base of the shuttle ramp. Hearing the shuttle land, the troops snap to attention. It is obvious that many are uneasy about the new arrival; seeing that this man is said to be one of the Empress' closest advisors and powerful Jedi in the Order. Nevertheless, the Rodian Jedi welcomer stands arrogantly tall with confidence.

The exit hatch of the Imperial shuttle opens with a whoosh sound, reavealing only darkness. Then the sounds of heavy footsteps striding across the shuttle was soon followed by a raven-haired man clad in Jedi robes adorned with parts of Mandalorian armor.

The ravenette Jedi looks over the assemblage as he walks down the shuttle ramp. "Master Pallopides, an unexpected pleasure it is to have you once again in Coruscant." The Rodian welcomed him. "The Council surely had missed your presence in Coruscant in this past years."

Demetricus rolled his eyes at the compliments showered on him by the Rodian."If you please may do me a favor and stop with the pleasantries as you may, Master." Demetricus spoke. "I decided to hold off on reporting to the Her Highness on the mission to make sure that there are not any illicit activities going on in this function. I will not tolerate a minority giving the rest of the Jedi Order that Luke Skywalker, may the Force bless his soul, an another excuse for anti-Jedi sentiment among the commoners to rise. It is enough that Grand Hochmeister of the Imperial Knights Reynald is proposing a bill to the Senate to disband the Jedi Order and place its Knights under direct supervision from him."

"I can assure you that won't happen considering that the Jedi Order are de facto independent from any Imperial interference due to the offical Theed Treaty established forty years ago between former Emperor Orez Fel the Wise and Grand Master Kota. And we are trying to make sure none of our more 'rebellious' members who are suspected of conducting such activities in this important function would be prevented from coming at all. Those who resist mandatory orders to sleep through the function will how I say it 'terminated' from existence in the Archives. But still such measures could only go so far."

Demetricus smirked. "Then it is a good decesion on my part that I had arrived here to instill some disciplinary measures of my own to motivate those renegades back into order. At least my reasons for coming here won't be entirely selfish."

"Master, I think not we need to break the Jedi Code by allowing you to 'practice' your extreme disciplinary ways on a bunch of Jedi just for sneaking in alcoholic beverages and deathsticks from the local cantinas. Not that I am defending these alleged culprits, but most of these perperators are mere boys and girls just entering into adolescence. To allow you to do what you want would be considered child abuse by Imperial HoloNet reporters if they ever find about that previous incident in Naboo where you murdered the former Padawan of Master Vos Secura."

"And they never will unless the Jedi Council would love to see the people's faith in the Jedi Order crumble in mere moments." Demetricus fired back in response to the Rodian's criticism of him with a fact. "An effort that took two hundred years to build slowly over time. And the Corellian so-called Jedi was behind the Sollustan slave rebellion that costed millions of Imperial lives to stop."

"He was a good kid!! Olos had such promise of rising up the ranks!! He had the potential of becoming the Galaxy's most powerful Jedi ever in history!! And you cut him down with his own lightsaber and threw his body in a lava pit. And you had the darkness in you to lie and say he was murdered by the Sollustans..ARHHHH!!!!" Angol screamed as his body was lifted up in the air by the Jedi Master.

"Look here and listen up, you pathetic excuse for a Jedi. I did not come here to listen to your bantering of something I did and regreat to this day. I especially did not want to come for this pathetic excuse for pre-marital sexual relations and illicit substance addictions." He soon lowered the Rodian's body back on the floor and glared at the Jedi watchman. They left leaving the two alone in the shuttle bay. "I came to speak to a friend. An old friend....Jedi Knight Dawn Turner. Where is she?"

Angol shrugged. "Last time I saw her, she was trying to avoid Andrew Haughton. She was trying to contact you for ages wanting to know how things had been since you last met at your last co-op mission fighting the Shadow Witches of Dathomir. To put it in short, she is drinking at the bar ahead. Are you going to maim her too, Master?"

"Of course NOT! She's one of the few people, unlike you, who I actually care about. Dawn is my best friend and I would never lay a hand on her." Pallopides placed the brown hood over his head and took out his weapon. "Farewell."
-----

 

[key490]

Haden studied himself in the mirror one last time before he left for the party. He was wearing his tux outfit he was given by his father back on Corellia. For a nerd, he cleaned up good. He was well aware of what the other Jedi were saying, but he didn't care. In fact, he just thought of it as another responsibility. If he wasn't going to be the nerd, who would be. But he put all these thoughts aside as he walked out the door of his room.
As he neared the main hall, Haden pulled out the picture of his parents he was given before he was taken to join the Jedi Order. Even though the Jedi are forbidden to make attachments, he wanted to meet them, just once.
Haden entered the main hall and immediatly headed for the bar. He turned to the bartender and said, " I'll have a Corellian Ale." He then turned to his right and saw a lady in a white dress. He asked, " So what brings you out to one of these little gatherings?"

 

[Faith Crest]

As Dawn sat down and figeted with the red striped straw in her drink, she thought about her good friend Demetricus. Where was he now? It had been many months since she last saw him. Apparently, he had been on some kind of important mission for the Jedi Order. And then suddenly, she snapped out of her daze when she saw Haden sitting next to her at the bar and asking her a question. His face was somewhat familiar, but then again, she did see a lot of Jedi in the Temple.

"It's compulsory that I come here," she replied. "My cousin is the ruler of Naboo, having taken over from my parents. So in other words, that does make me royalty. I have to come every single year to make a good impression on the Social. Otherwise, people wouldn't come if I weren't here. To put that into short words, I'm forced to come. Besides, it's sometimes better than being alone in the halls of residence at this time of night. What's your reason for coming here?"

Whilst she awaited his answer, Demetricus popped up in her mind again. She started messing around with the straw again, appearing to be a little bit distracted. If she said those things to her Jedi Master, then he would surely scold her for being so ignorant. However, this was the Social and she decided it was time to let her true feelings be known.

 

[Azrael]

-----

Demetricus' face slightly reddened with envy as he saw Dawn and some unknown Jedi speaking to one another in the cantina right in front of him. A flood of thoughts flowed around his head involving the mysterious boy. Who the hell was he? Did she replace him with this guy as her friend? It's been almost a year since he and Dawn led their last mission together fighting the Dark Jedi witches of Dathomir.

It was not like they were going to see each other again since they made a promise right outside the Imperial Navy shipyard before he left to the Core Sector Fleet. A pinky swear promise at that for him to never forget her and carry her old lightsaber hilt, the one he had given to her as a gift, until he would return. She also promised to always look up at the Coruscanti sky and smile, in the hopes of him returning the same as always. He calmed down only to smile and blush again. It was there that they hugged and shared an innocent kiss on the cheek. A kiss on the cheek that was innocent. Right?

Dawn along with her troublesome friend Maya always worried about Demetricus turning to the Dark Side of the Force. After all, he had told the two of his Sith heritage. Like Dawn Turner who was a descendant of the famed Anakin Skywalker, he too was a descendant from a Dark Lord of the Sith. One of the most powerful Sith Lords of all, The First Emperor of the Old Galactic Empire Darth Sidious, known as Palpatine, by his mother's side at least. The man who practically caused the Clone Wars, the Great Jedi Purge and the fall of the Old Republic. He always told them to quiet their fears that his paternal descendant through his father and old Master Ben'du, Galen Marek was an Sith apprentice of Darth Vader who turned to the Light and became the founder of the Rebel Alliance.

"It is not like I would become a Sith Lord now knowing the mistakes of my ancestors." Demetricus spoke to himself while people entered in and out of the cantina. "With lessons learned from them, it is less likely I'll join them. After all, they did ruin my life by murdering my family." The mysterious Sith Lord popped in his mind, it was obviously the same man who had been starting these uprising in the Outer Rim as well as being suspected of the alleged 'Jedi' who put the original order on the Imperial clone army. Most likely the one who killed Dawn's father

"She was so sad back then. It pained my heart to see her cry." said Demetricus solemnly. It was true, Dawn tried to keep a straight, calm face about it whenever they were in the presence of the Imperial officials and other Jedi. Demetricus knew very well that she spent hours locked in their quarters accompanied by Maya and him trying to cheer her up despite what had happened. It took years to fully get her back into normal but they eventually got her out of that shell once again and back into active duty right at the time that rumors of the Sith returning to the Galaxy spread through the populace of the Empire.

This time, Dawn was determined to strengthen herself and become one of the most powerful Jedi. Even more powerful than legends such as Galen, Yoda, Mace, Revan and annihilate the Sith once and for all. Yet she would not do it alone. She had the back of Maya and him to always lend a hand. He would personally see that Dawn would fulfill her destiny and right the wrongs of their mutual bloodlines. But now, he wanted to get her attention away from the 'kid' and talk to her as close friends, not as Jedi.

"Now if I only had the courage to talk to her.." Demetricus lowered his head in defeat. "How could I had succuumbed to my true feelings?"

He heard a chuckle from him. Demetricus could only frown.
-----

 

[key490]

He gave a slick smile and said, " Its a way to get to know some other people. For example, our conversation right now. And it takes the pressure off of training."
He then saw something was troubling her. " I don't usually talk to people about their problems, but you seem very depressed. Whats on your mind?" he asked.

 

[Azrael]

-----
As Demetricus was about to muster up the courage to speak to her. A screeching ring sounded off suddenly much to his as well as everyone else's displeasure. Just when he was going to speak to her, someone had the audacity to call him right now. The raven-haired Jedi Master mumbled obscenities angrily to himself as he took the source of the noise from his hands, a small grey portable holoprojector with its light shimmering a bright red.

Demetricus sighed again and walked towards one of the empty hallways of the Jedi Temple. Someone obviously had tried calling him earlier but no avail, so he or she must have left a message from him. He immediately turned on the message, a holographic likeness of the Galactic Empress draped in black Imperial regelia. Like always, she was accompanied by Imperial Knights

"Lord Pallopides." The Empress spoke. "I had tried to communicate with you hoping you would report to me on the results of the Kaminoan-Imperial negotiations between you and the Prime Minister regarding the new Clone Army when I heard from my agents once they had learned of your return." He frowned; the fleet was under a cloaking device for the reason of avoiding the Empress' attention and allowing himself to see Dawn. Unless there were spies serving the Empress who had disguised themselves as crewmen under his nose. How clever of her. "I expected you to attend the Social. I know that girl you admire, Miss Turner, is also attending." Demetricus frowned. "You probably already know since my spies had intercepted that little message of Dawn's before you heard it. Anyways can you please be a dear and report to at the Imperial palace as soon as possible."

"But." Demetricus frowned and thought about Dawn. But his duty always came first. He sighed, "It shall be done, my lord." The Jedi Master turned off the holoprojector and placed it back inside his pocket. "I guess I can talk to her later tonight if she's still there." He walked back towards the cantina to see the guy and Dawn speaking. "I guess this is farewell again for now, Dawn."

At least the night was still young.
-----

 

[Organization_42]

As soon as Maya got back to her room, MC-425 began zooming around, pulling the sheets off of her bed, fetching some medicine for her to take, making a pot of tea, etc. She shook her head at him and dutifully sat on the mattress, but she was far from tired. Time to do some more research.

After Anakin Skywalker made his transformation and Darth Sidious rose to power, the last of the Jedi were exterminated, with a few exceptions. Maya's thoughts went to the two Sith Lords' descendants, who also happened to be her friends, Dawn and Demetricus, Demetri for short. Although she tried not to show it, she often worried that they might follow in their ancestors' footsteps and turn to the Dark Side. It wasn't exactly an unusual occurence, with the Jedi Order always being so overconfident in itself and its powers. But she would never admit that to them, because she knew that Dawn would worry and Demetri would only get angry.

As she thought about Demetri, she wondered how his mission in Kamino was going. Maya personally disliked the idea of building another clone army; hadn't that brought about the downfall of the Old Reublic and the Jedi Order in the first place? But she also hated the idea of clones in general; it didn't seem right to her that people would design other people to do only their bidding. Nonetheless, she hoped that Demetri was safe and that his mission had gone well. Perhaps she should send him a message. If he was still on Kamino, he would not be in range, but it couldn't hurt to try.

To her surprise, the signal picked up. "Welcome home," she muttered, as she waited to see if she would get a response.

 

[Azrael]

-----
While Demetricus and his stormtrooper escort returned back to the shuttle, it appeared that the Jedi Social was in full swing. He heard the laughter of those celebrating inside the Great Hall, including Dawn and that other Jedi as well joining along too. Demetricus looked out the window to see more shuttles, probably filled with Jedis from all over the Galaxy wanting to take part in the celebrations, arriving and landing in the nearby shuttle bays. His stormtroopers were busy conversing amongst themselves on how 'ugly and scary looking' the natives of Kamino were; ignorant grunts. He had no time for such nonsense.

It was time to think on that alleged master Lanama.

"Who was he?" Demetricus asked himself. "Or what is he?"

The Kaminoan Prime Minister said that Master Lanama had been allegedly a former member of the Jedi High Council a couple of decades ago. Yet when he returned to his ship to search the Jedi Archives, there was no written records of such a Master Lanamra. That's when his thoughts shifted from this Lanama to the two cloaked men who were following him, Rhoan Su and the unarmed stormtrooper escort of his back at the cloning facility. He wished to speak to him whether they were personal retainers of the Kaminoan Prime Minister or as one of the many hundreds of Mandalorian teachers who instructed the clones. But he did know one thing.

Their aura combined just reeked of the Dark Side of the Force.

"Perhaps just maybe, they are..." He was interrupted by a loud ringing sound coming from his robes, no doubt it was his portable holoprojector. In the possibility that it might be the Empress checking up on him, he put up a straight face and picked it out of his pockets placing it near his hears.

"Welcome home." The female voice said on the other side, it sounded familiar to him.

"Maya? Is that you?" Demetricus asked.
-----

 

[Organization_42]

Maya's smile grew huge as Demetri's face appeared on the holoprojector. He looked tired and a bit irritated; judging from the background noises, he must have made it to the Jedi Social. She tried to hide a smirk, knowing full well that her friends would kill her when they found out that she had skipped it.

"Maya? Is that you?" he asked, his voice sounding a bit crackly due to the transmission. But it was better than nothing.

"The one and only!" she replied, "I take it you're back from Kamino? How did the mission go?"