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Planet: Trask
Location: Large mysterious ruins
Timeline: Couple months after the Battle of Corellia
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Deep within an old, dark ancient ruins, lies a mystery that has never been told to nobody for decades. Hiding beneath the vast ocean on the ocean planet, held many treasures and secrets that are unknown to most people across the galaxy, waiting for someone or something to find its mysteries. Within the ruins, sounds of metal can be heard clashing and slashing against each other and through the open air.
Two silhouettes wearing long brown robes wielded golden colored weapons, dueling each other in close combat. Grunts and quick shouts came from one another, each one of them trying to find a weakness in their opponent as they hope to gain the upper advantage in their fight. As the two hooded silhouettes fought, sitting upon a large boulder that loomed over them from a distance, was another silhouette with brown robes who watched the duel with some interest. The robes covered most of the stranger's body and face, but the dim light from above the cave revealed an older man with a rough brown beard, his black eyes watching the two as if he was studying them from afar.
As the duel between the two was almost coming to a close, the one silhouette that looked quite feminine, caught the other silhouette off guard as that person lost their footing and collapsed to the ground. Having lost their sword, the silhouette was about to get back up before the feminine silhouette pointed her golden sword at the stranger, the point of the blade just inches away from their face.
"Looks like I win this one," the cloaked female said, catching her breath after their long duel.
"Looks that way," the other one said with a male's voice, he too was trying to catch his own breathing. "But so you know, I let you win that one."
Rolling her eyes, the woman put her blade away and reached down to grab the man's hand, pulling him up and back on his feet. He brushed himself off the dust and dirt that was on him as she replied, "Keep telling yourself that."
The man smirked as he brushed off the last of the dirt from his clothing. "The more we discover each other's weaknesses in battle, the more we will know how to compliment each other's strengths. I think we're going to make a good team."
Both of them smiled at one another when they heard a clapping coming from the older man who had been watching them from the beginning. Standing up, he hops off the boulder and walks towards the two, a long brown and golden staff in his right hand. "Well done, you two! You're getting better and better by the day. It will not be long before you yourselves become masters of the blade."
The two young swordsman smiled at the older man, appreciating the praise from him. They had been working very hard for many years, and have been very diligent to fit in. Hearing those words gave them more faith.
"If it weren't for you belief in us, I don't think we could have gotten to where we are," the man replied, removing his hood from his head. His face revealed that he was quite young, but had just reached adulthood. He had brown, faded facial hair growing on his face and upper lip with long, shaggy brown hair that reached down to the end of his neck.
"I agree with Naaja," the woman agreed with her partner, removing her hood as well. Just like Naaja, she was about his age and just reaching adulthood as well. She had brown hair like his but was much longer and was tied into a ponytail to keep the hair off her face. "Though I still don't know how I feel about going up against them."
Hearing the fear in her tone, the older man smiled softly as he placed his hand on the woman's right shoulder, gently squeezing it. "No one ever feels ready, Zeteara. I felt the same when I was your age. Just remember; you will never be alone. Now come, let's head back to camp. The night is approaching and we still have some work that needs to be done beforehand. Plus, I bet you're both starving after all that training."
"I think I'm good for now master," Naaja boasted a little to him, Zeteara shaking her head at him slightly but with a smirk on her face. Before he knew it, and just when he was going to continue, the sound of a growl was heard as it echoed through the large cavern. Naaja's cheeks turned to red in embarrassment as his master and Zeteara laughed.
"Well, I think your stomach says otherwise," Zeteara continued laughing.
The two young students gathered their things and began following their teacher back to the campsite. But as they began their trek back, Naaja began to feel a bit uneasy as his feet began to drag until he came to a complete stop. Zeteara and their teacher looked back at him as they noticed him in some sort of trance, his expression and eyes going blank.
"Naaja?" Zeteara called to him, some concern rising in her own voice. Before she knew it, Naaja then screamed across the entire cavern, dropping his belongings as he quickly placed his hands on his head and dropped to his knees. This immediately made her and her master worry as she rushed to him. "Naaja?!"
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As Zeteara's voice echoed into nothing but silence, Naaja's mind began to go through multiple images that quickly flashed through him. There were many things that were familiar to him, but the rest were things that he had never seen before, places he has never been, people and voices he had never met or heard in his entire life. The more they ran through his mind, the more confused he became.
That was when the images stopped as he suddenly appeared in some sort of city-like location. The place he stood in felt very familiar to him, small and large buildings looking identical to where he was born. However, all around them, it was all nothing but destruction and debris, fire blazing inside buildings and city streets as the smoke rose to the skies. Although the destruction around him was jarring, the all too familiar, but also unknown, voices resurfaced. However, the voices around him began to echo across the entire fiery city.
'Naaja...'
'Your parents...'
'Insolent fools!'
'We have been waiting...'
'Naaja...'
'Naaja?'
'Who are you?'
'NAAJA!'
The last voice alerted him immediately, grasping his golden sword from who knows where as he got into a fighting stance, searching all around him for any enemy to try and harm him. As he searched and searched, something then caught his sight down the burning street in front of him. There, standing near the blazes, stood a black robed figure with a hood covering their face. It was hard to tell who the person was, but judging from what he could see, it seemed to be some strange man, undoubtedly looking straight at him. Even with the hood hiding his face, he could see clearly the crimson red eyes that seemed to almost pierce right through his heart. Surprising enough, he didn't feel any sort of evil within the man, let alone any ambition of wanting to fight him. He knew that he wasn't going to find out anything by just standing still, so he began to cautiously walk towards the cloaked man, his eyes still staring at him.
As he got closer and closer to him, he could slowly see the face of the man as the fire around them both illuminated his cloaked face. He seemed to be about his age, and judging his entire look, he could see that this man has been through quite an ordeal in his life. From what, Naaja could not tell. Finally reaching the young man, he stood about six feet apart from him, resuming his fighting stance as he still didn't know who this man was.
"Who are you?" Naaja asked the young man, feeling as if he needed to know it. The crimson red eyes that still stared at him never moved as the cloaked stranger raised his hands and began removing the hood from his head. His eyes widened little by little as the young man revealed his face to him.
The young man's expression showed a calm but serious look to him. "Someone who needs your help..."
Immediately after, a sharp jarring pain went through his head, screaming throughout the entire destroyed city as he grasped his head once again. Just as the stranger and the entire scenery vanished before him, he was hit yet again with more images he had never seen before. In that instant, a bright orange light enveloped his entire sight, the visions he was seeing coming to an end...
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Naaja slowly opened his eyes to the dim light of the cavern, noticing that he was on his knees and was still grasping the once horrible pain that went through his head. He looked up to see both the very worried expressions of his teacher and his close friend, Zeteara. His teacher had been standing a few feet away from him while she had him in her arms, one on his shoulder and the other on his waist.
"Naaja? Are you okay? What just happened?" Zeteara asked him, noticing the concern she was carrying in her tone of voice.
He slowly shook his in response, putting his arms down to his sides. "I...I'm not really sure..."
He looked up to his teacher, who looked back at him with a curious expression on his face. "Master...I think the Han'Shi was trying to tell me something."
"What did you see?" his master replied, his curiosity peaking.
Pondering on whatever he just saw, and on the stranger he shortly spoke to, he replied back. "Someone was calling for help. I think we're going to have company, and soon..."
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Location: Inside the Black Shadow...
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"AHH!" The shout echoed in the dim room as Kydan began to catch his breath, his body covered in sweat.
He had been sleeping in the confines of his own ship after a long day of filing reports on Coruscant with Calena and the clones. He had retired to his quarters early after that and decided to catch some rest. But in his sleep, he had a very strange nightmare of images; many places, people and voices that all seemed so familiar, yet others not so much. He had then encountered some stranger who was cloaked in brown robes and hood who had asked him a strange question before vanishing. He was then ambushed with more visions that he could not make out fully before waking up with a startle.
He placed his cybernetic hand on his sweaty head, slowly trying to calm his breathing and anxiety down. What seemed like forever, he was able to catch his breath before turning his head towards the medium-sized, metal desk that had been built into the side of his quarters. There were many objects and items placed among it, and out of those things was his and Dark's Forge saber. Looking at it closely as he could, he could feel some kind of vibration coming from it, as if it was trying to tell him something.
"Kydan?"
Breaking his gaze away from the hilt, he looked towards the middle of his room as Dark stood in the middle, his red crimson eyes illuminating from the darkness staring at the young mercenary. He could sense something was up with Dark, judging from how he was standing in place.
"You alright?" He asked his partner, his dark figure floating above the ground a little bit. "I heard you shouting in your sleep."
"I, uh...I'm not sure, Dark," Kydan replied back, unsure how to explain what had all happened. Frankly, he wasn't entirely sure what he saw at all.
"Well, considering that the blade is giving off a strange vibe, and you with your powers active, there's something going on." Dark said to him.
"My powers are active? What do you mean?"
"Your eyes...they're crimson red right now."
"What?" Kydan questioned softly as he got out of his large bed and walked to the mirror on the right side of the room. As he looked at the mirror, he could clearly see that Dark was right; his eyes were crimson red. Whenever they were red, it was then that his Forge powers were active and ready to be used. This caused even more confusion. "That's weird. Why would they be active like that? That's the first time it's happened like that before."
"I'm not sure, but...there might be one conclusion I can think of."? Dark replied to him, pondering over the possibilities of why this was happening.
"What would that be?"
"It's a rare occurrence," Dark began to say. "But I believe that the Force is using the Forge to tell us something. Long ago, this occurrence happened due to large future events that would be coming. When that happened, users of either the Force, Forge, or both would be given visions of the upcoming events. It's not entirely all bad, but a lot of times, they weren't good either."
"So you think that I had a vision from the Force?" Kydan questioned, slowly starting to piece the puzzle together.
"Most likely, yes."
This made him ponder as he began to pace around his quarters with his hand placed on his chin. He contemplated everything that Dark said, as well as with whatever he could tell from the visions he had seen. Not entirely sure what he all saw, but from what he could just tell, most of it wasn't very good. The only thing that he didn't feel as a threat was the strange man he spoke briefly to before waking up. Something about that stuck to him, concluding to the fact that whoever that person was, they were the first key to his visions.
Dark continued to watch his friend pace through the room before he finally stopped and looked to him. "Dark?"
"Yeah?"
"We need to talk to Calena about this, first thing in the morning," he said as he began thinking again. "I feel as though something is about to happen, very soon..."
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Planet: Coruscant
Location: Republic Center
Timeline: Next morning
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"Are you sure about this?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself, Calena. But where I was in that vision, and whoever I seen, this is no coincidence. The Force is trying to tell us something."
"Hmm..." Calena thought out loud, putting on her thinking face as she and Kydan walked along the large docking bay of starships. Following close behind them were Commanders Breona & Patterns, along with the infamous Tanga Squad following close behind their brothers.
Earlier in the morning, Kydan had woke Calena from her sleep just before she could herself. At first, she wasn't too happy that he waken her up so early, but then changed her attitude after he told her what had happened. Sensing something was wrong, she told him to meet with her at the entrance of the Jedi Temple to discuss more on his visions before heading to the Republic Center. In the hour, the two met up at the temple, just as the break of dawn was just rolling in, the skies of Coruscant shined with thousands of small to large lights. He explained everything that happened to her, including when his own abilities were suddenly activated without him knowing. Once explained, she contemplated on the matter before explaining that she too had some sort of vision in the middle of the night, just a few days.
She explained that a few of his strange images actually matched along with what she had seen, however what she saw within her vision was nothing like Kydan had experienced. One thing was for sure, their mission that they were just recently given was very similar to the images that they both shared; a planet that was primarily just ocean.
"Well, I don't know about you," she said out loud, "but it probably wouldn't hurt to be extra cautious during this mission. Whatever you saw, and the fact that we shared the same place...this could be dangerous."
She was right. Not really knowing what they were about to cross paths with on their mission, anything could happen. "I agree. But, no matter what happens..."
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it lovingly, a smile fixated on his lips. "I'll protect you."
She smiled back and quickly pecked his cheek with her lips, a tinted blush shown on her own cheeks. That was when the sound of soft chuckles was heard coming from behind them, both lovebirds turning around and seeing the expressions of their friend's faces. Egile had a small smirk as he slowly shook his head, where most of the clones who were carrying their helmets had knowing smiles that you just wanna punch. Breona, however, just smiled at his two friends while Patterns looked between them with a confused look. Kydan and Calena both shook their heads, but stilled smiled nonetheless.
"Did, uh...did I miss something?" Patterns questioned to no one in particular, causing even a bit more laughter from his brothers as it just made him even more confused.
Breona chuckled at his brother and placed his gloved hand on his right shoulder. "I'll explain it all on the way. But the best way to start...is that they finally got together."
Patterns looked between him and his commanding officers, who went right back to talking as they continued to hold hands. It took him a few moments to really shift the gears in his head. His eyes widen as he stared back to Breona dumbfounded. "Wait what?!"
Immediately after, the entire group, as well as Kydan and Calena, all laughed at Pattern's slow realization.
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Planet: Trask
Location: Orbit
Time: One day after departure
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The moment the Republic forces dropped out of hyperspace, they were in for a fight for dominance. One by one, however swiftly, each Republic transport and battleship appeared from the one days worth of hyperspace travel as they were met with a large handful of Separatist warships. From what everyone could tell, it appeared that the Separatist hadn't been in the Trask system for very long, due to the way their ships were positioned in a certain formation. However, that wasn't enough for the immediate enemy fighters that had charged right towards the entire fleet, blazes of laser fire and missiles either passing by or hitting their targets. At the same time, the rest of the droid forces moved in to help in the assault, slowly but surely making their war towards them.
But the Republic was ready for them. Figuring that the Separatist would somehow venture out to Trask soon or later, they would hatch a plan in order for the ground units to land. Admiral Wolrein, who was commanding the fleet, ordered the ships to maneuver into the infamous "Marg Sabl", which would make all the Venators turn side ways with their underbellies opened for enemy attacks. However, this gave them the opportunity to send out their squadrons of fighter and bombers safely without being shot down so quickly, where they would all pour out from the middle. Quickly enough, over dozens and dozens of Republic starships flooded out into the battlefield, with Commander Egile and a few members of Pattern & Breona's squads to join in the fray.
While Wolrein and his forces occupying the space battle yet again, the transport ships could begin their landing on the planet. Although the planet was mostly covered with ocean, there were some large docks that they could board on, where some of the droid army would be waiting for them. Coming into view, they saw the large floating metal docks that sat afloat above the water, enough for their transport ships to land their troops on. But not a second went by before they were being shot, hundreds of metal soldiers trying to cause some kind of damage to the landing parties. But it wasn't enough as the Acclamators and gunships landed and boards the docks, ramps lowering themselves down and hatches rapidly opening up as hundreds of clone soldiers began flooding the docks as well. Patterns and his legions of brothers swarmed the enemy quickly, making quick work of holding a landing zone for any additional reinforcements to assist.
Patterns looked towards the battlefield before him, gazing beyond the vast ocean around them. The skies were very cloudy and were beginning to darken, the sounds of rumbles filled the air with a few streaks of lightning appearing out of the clouds. Raining slowly began pouring onto the battlefield, droplets sometimes clashing or bouncing off his armor plating. His memories of when he began his training from home soon occurred in his mind. "Heh...reminds me of Kamino in a way."
"Commander Patterns?" one of his brothers called out to him, rushing up to the commander with a few other men behind him. "Vasper Squadron reporting for duty!"
"Good timing, boys," Patterns acknowledged to them, a smirk forming on his lips from underneath his airborne helmet. "Let's try and see if we can control the situation. Hazzle, Slopes, I want you two take sniper positions on the right flank. Clang, Trans, help guide in our walkers for frontal assault. Vista, your with me. We're gonna handle the evac of any civilians that are still left on this wreckage. Everyone clear?"
"Sir, yes sir!" all of Vasper squad called out saluting or standing straight with their blasters held to their chests. With just a nod, Patterns and Vista made their way through the town while the rest went to take their positions. The battle was just the beginning...
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Location: Bottom of the Ocean
Time: Present Time
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As the battle ensued above the skies and ocean, the remaining ground team proceeded onwards towards where General Grievous' transport was headed. Just like him, Kydan and the others were after the same thing; the mysterious energy signal that emitted below the ocean. The Jedi Council was curious as to what this was and if it could benefit the Republic in some way, thus giving this important task to Kydan and Calena. To find Grievous travelling towards the same location, they could only assume that he was after the same thing.
Having followed the Droid General down below the ocean, they soon descended below the surface in multiple deep diving vehicles. These water boats were called AT-ABs, newest designs for underwater transportation. They were about as long as the Coruscant Police Gunships, acquiring the front cockpit style from the original design which was able to be piloted by two people. It's designs were also shaped the same, along with some looks from both the LAAT/i Gunships and the ARC-170 Starfighters. It had four wings with two on each side, with the addition of a laser turret placed on each bottom wing. It had large ramps that were used to extend outward in order to deploy its soldiers. Although they weren't able to carry walkers, they were able to carry a single AT-RT Walker and a dozen soldiers all at once. To defend itself, they not only carried turrets, but also missiles for vehicle combat.
Within the few gunboats, each one was loaded with dozens of clone soldiers and a couple of pod walkers to assist. In the leading boat, Kydan and Calena were taking command of the operation. With them was a few members from Tanga Squad, which were Commander Breona, Sergeant Burner and Degree, while the rest of the team were under the command of Egile in space. As for the rest of the men, they were all members of Calena's battalion, each one geared up and ready for some action.
As Calena and Breona went over the plans again with the men, Kydan's senses were slowly building up as he started to feel a strong presence towards the unknown source that they were all headed. He placed his hand on his head, struggling to keep himself under control. That was when he felt a gentle touch on his right shoulder. A soft female whisper spoke to him, just loud enough for him to hear. "Hey, you doing alright?"
He turned his to her as he saw some concern in her expression. "I'm not sure. I can sense something here, coming from the mysterious signal it seems."
"Really? I hadn't felt anything yet..." she replied with a raised eyebrow, trying to reach out with the Force as well.
"Huh...very strange," he replied back, not entirely sure why that was. Maybe it had to do with his Forge abilities?
'Generals,' one of the clone pilots chimed. 'We've found the source of the signal that we've been following, and...well...'
'You might just want to see for yourself,' the other pilot spoke up, unsure himself as to how o explain it.
Curiosity now even raised more, both Kydan and Calena, as well as the clones, all looked at the monitor that was placed toward the front end of the boat as it sparked to life. What they saw made them look upon it in awe. What seemed to be very old and ancient, it appeared to be some sort of temple that had been built deep under the ocean. Much different from the Jedi Temple itself, the temple looked to be three times larger from viewpoint. It consisted of more towers that surrounded it, some of them having different shapes and sizes compared to most. It was hard to tell, but from a distance, there was some kind of light blue glow that appeared all over the temple, illuminating it completely. Although it was very old and crumbled, it still looked beautiful to their eyes.
"So that's where the signal is coming from?" Breona questioned, still a bit at awe of the temple before them.
"Apparently so," Kydan replied back, staring at it as well. The closer that they were approaching it, the more he could sense a strong presence coming from within that place. He was now sure that this was the right location. "This has to be. I'm starting to feel it a lot stronger now."
"Yeah, so can I," Calena said, slowly starting to sense something coming from the underwater temple. "Now I know what you were saying. The Force is very strong here."
"If that's the case, then Grievous can't be far either."
"You may be right, sir. Look!" Breona pointed on the screen, his finger directed towards a large, brownish red metal squid that looked to be positioned on the left side of the ocean temple. That machine was known as the Trident-class assault ship.
"Grievous..." Kydan spoke, his voice seethed with anger as his eyes narrowed. "Pilot! Get us into that temple! If Grievous can get inside, then there has to be an air pocket within that place."
'Copy that, sir!' One of the replied back as the entire crew felt the boat moving faster. At the same time, the other two transport boats followed closely behind as they made their way towards the opposite side of the ruins.
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Location: Ancient Underwater Temple
Time: One hour later...
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"What is the situation, captain?" Grievous sternly questioned his droid captain, who was being escorted by a couple B1 Battle Droids.
"Our scanners were right, general," the captain acknowledged back, looking down at its holographic device. "The signal is coming directly from within this temple. But I must warn you sir; there are several sections of this place that are blocking the main path towards it. It may take longer than scheduled."
Grievous scoffs at the droid. "Mere stumbling blocks will not deter our path towards the signal. Take some of our troops and search the ruins fully. I will take some guards and head deeper into the temple and find the signal."
"Roger roger," the droid captain quickly saluted as it signaled towards most of the troops to follow it.
As both Grievous and his droid forces split up into two groups, a cloaked stranger from afar watched as they moved towards her direction. Placing the binoculars she had on her down, she pulled out a small circular device as it lit up in a dim blue color as she softly spoke into it. "Master, I found the intruders. They've split up into two groups; one is heading away from the camp site, and the other is heading towards it."
'Then it's just as Naaja had foreseen,' an older man's voice replied back, his tone telling her that his fears has grown. 'Keep an eye on the group that is heading away from us. Don't attack unless it is necessary.'
"What about the other intruders?" Zeteara questioned, feeling somewhat concerned of the situation before them.
'Naaja and I will handle them and the others,' he replied back. 'If the situation becomes worse, I will contact you. But for now, stay safe as long as possible.'
"Yes master," she said as she continued to watch the droids completely split into two. "May the Han'Shi guide you."
'And with you, my dear,' her master repeated back, a hint of concern in his own tone as well.
Placing the device back into her pocket, she watched a moment longer as they continued their march to the temple before making her way back inside it, hoping and praying that the temple's defenses will hold them for a while until they were ready.
At least, I hope they will hold them off for long, she thought to herself, feeling more concerned of their current situation.
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Location: Opposite side of the temple
Time: Present time
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The purple beaming light from Kydan's lightsaber just brighten enough for him and the others to see what was before and around them. From behind, Calena, Degree and a few of the clones stood closely behind, the men all wearing sub lights that were attached to their Phase II helmets. Calena, who didn't activate her saber yet, stood closely by Kydan as she clutched her hand into his cybernetic one.
Sometimes, when she would take a hold of it, she would feel guilty and blame herself for allowing Kydan to lose his arm for her sake. She had thought at times that there could have been a better way so that it wouldn't have cost him. However, she tries to keep reminding herself that she didn't need to do that, that her boyfriend would remind her every time that he would do it again and again if it meant saving her. It would make her swell up in tears, knowing that the love they had for each other meant more than anything else. That included his own arm.
Feeling her senses like before, Kydan clutched her hand with his cybernetic one a bit tighter as he turned his back to her with a sweet smile, silently telling her that he was happy with the decision he had made back then. She returned the smile herself, moving a bit closer to him as they continued forward deeper into the temple, not once losing her hold on him.
They had been walking for some time now, at least about a half an hours worth. Their journey into the temple was very intriguing; they had spotted thousands of crystals, both big and small, formed into both the rocky ground, walls and in the water. Not to mention, many of them were attached to the temple before them, illuminating it just enough for them to have a good view of what it looked like. It just made them look at it in awe like before. Due to the situation with Grievous and his forces already within the temple, they decided to split into two groups; one that would head towards the signal within, while the other scouts out the place for anything, even some clankers. The group that wasn't with them were both Breona, Burner and the rest of the men who would have offered to investigate the other areas of the temple.
However, that soon will change.
As the group continued forward, they were met with a large challenge before them. Kydan, who reluctantly let go of his girlfriend's hand, signaled the others to halt as they reached what appeared to be a collapsed walkway that was once built here. They presumed that the bridge must have been destroyed long ago before any of them were even born, perhaps to the times of the High Republic era.
"Well, this is going to be a challenge," Degree gulped as he stared between the broken walkway and then looked down to the dark abyss below them. It was hard to tell how deep the crevasse was, but he was sure that no one would survive if they fell into it. "It doesn't look there's nothing to help us get across."
"Looks like we will have to turn back and find another way around it," Calena suggested to them, which in turn they all nodded in agreement. Just as she , Degree and the men began to turn back around, she looked and saw Kydan just staring across the walkway, almost motionless. "Kydan? You alright?"
He didn't even answer, let alone twitched a muscle. His mind was entirely focused on something else. A single voice inside his head. 'You're very close,' a young man's voice echoed into his mind as he continued to stare ahead at the other entrance on the opposite side. 'Come to us. We will be waiting...'
Blinking his eyes from his trance, he looked beyond the broken walkway for a brief moment before looking to Calena and the others. "No. We have to get other there."
"But how are we going to get over there, Kydan?" Degree questioned, most of the men nodding their heads in agreement. "We aren't exactly Jedi who can just...jump over there!"
"That's exactly what we are going to do Degree," Kydan grinned back, only fueling the confusion in their heads. "Calena and I will jump over to the opposite side, while you and the others make your way around the temple and meet us inside."
"Are you sure about this?" Calena questioned him, slightly concern of his idea. It wasn't that she didn't agree with his plan, it was only that his ideas can be a bit...reckless at times.
"I am," Kydan replied back, his tone sounding more serious than before. "Whatever, or whoever, is here are just beyond the entrance of the temple. We have to get over there, right now."
Although she was a bit hesitant with his plan, she completely trusted him nonetheless. If he said that they needed to get over there by jumping, then that's what they were going to do. She turned to Degree and her men. "Alright men, you have your orders. Kydan and I will jump across the broken bridge, while all of you find a different path that can lead into the temple. Am I understood?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Degree and the soldiers all shouted back, holstering their weapons as a sign of salute.
Degree then ushered the men to make their way around the temple as they all headed back towards the same way they had come from. Kydan and Calena watched them for a moment before they both looked back at the open crevice before them. Even though they both had done reckless things in their lives, they were pretty sure that this would probably reached the top of the list. Calena's face expressed worry as she could feel the fear rising inside her, not entirely sure that she could do this.
But that soon started to fade away as Kydan took her hand into his cybernetic one, staring at her with a confident and comforting smile. "You can do this, Cale'. I'll be right here with you."
Taking a deep breath and exhaling it out, she looked back to him as her own smile appeared. "Thanks, Ky'ie." She looked back to the big gap between them as she began taking big breaths to calm her. "You ready then?"
"Yep," Kydan inhaled for a moment before letting it out. "One..."
"Two..."
"THREE!" They both shouted as they immediately ran to the edge of the broken walkway and then used the Force to help them make a big jump over. When they were high in the air, just about centered between both sides of the walkway, they could see how wide and open the gap really looked from below. The jump between both sides was about a mile long, just barely enough to take a leap of faith. What seemed like time had slowed them both down, they were finally falling in mid air as their feet had just missed the gap in between. They collided and rolled across the ground for a moment before they were able to stop themselves.
They both groaned from the pain they had felt before they tried to get back up on their feet. Kydan got to his feet first before helping Calena get back on hers, both of them catching their breath after they realized that they were holding their breath since. They both looked to the opposite side of where they just were before they look to each other and laughed, happy and relieved that they were able to make it.
Their laughter died down as Calena spoke up. "You know, even though your idea seemed a bit scary at first, it actually worked out pretty well."
"Tell me about it," Kydan replied as his laughter soon died off as well. "But, just for the record, lets hope that we don't have to do that again."
"Agreed," she giggled with a smile. She then grabbed his right hand and began to pull on it a little. "So, you ready to move on?"
Not replying back, he just smirked at her as he pulled her closer to him while they made their way into the temple, their hands not letting go for a moment.
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Travelling for a little bit, the two were still holding hands and staying close to each other as they observed their surroundings before them. Unlike how it looked outside the place, they could see how old and ancient the temple really looked from within. They weren't exactly sure how old this place was, but they could conclude that the temple has been around for a lot longer than they could predict. Carvings and images looked very old to them, some of them either looking a bit familiar or at times known as well.
Just circling around a large lit pool of water, they soon saw an entrance that had some sort of indicating light source at the very top of the roof. The wall that was revealed carried some light source as well, revealing some kind of plant life growing between the entrance and walls. But as they approached closer, they noticed some sort of computer to the left side of the entrance. It seemed to be some strange technology, but it also had designs of older technology that they could recognize too.
As soon as they got closer and closer to the entrance and the computer, both their senses alerted them immediately as Kydan pulled Calena behind him and activated his purple lightsaber, the blade illuminating around them and before them once again. This time, however, the purple light revealed a strange man that stood before them. He had brown shaggy hair with a shadowed beard on his face. He also wore a vanilla colored tunic that could have been mistaken for Jedi clothing, however a bit of the design looked rather different from the viewpoint.
Kydan raised his blade to the strange young man, keeping Calena behind him still as both of them cautiously stared at him. "Who are you?!"
"We have been waiting for you," the man replied, not even moving a muscle as he continued to stare at them both. "I am happy to finally meet you, at last."
"Wait...your the voice that was speaking to me earlier," Kydan realized as he slowly lowered his blade. From behind, Calena looked between them both with curiosity and confusion, not entirely sure what he meant.
"Indeed I am," the young man smiled, looking between the two. "And I can see that you brought a friend as well. I will admit, I'd thought you would come alone."
"Wait a minute," Calena replied walking next to Kydan rather than hiding from behind. "What exactly do you mean? Who are you?"
"My name is Naaja Bondara," Naaja replied back. "This may sound weird to you both, but we believe that the Han'Shi has brought you here for a specific reason. Because of that, we wish to help you."
"We?" They both questioned, their own confusion rising even more. At that moment, a cloaked man wielding a golden staff appeared by the entrance as he stared at them both, his eyes watching their every move as if he was stalking his prey.
Sensing that both of them were becoming a bit suspicious, Naaja ushered them to follow. "Come. We have much to talk about."
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Here it is everyone, the long awaited chapter has finally arrived! This has been a long time coming, considering the editing and rewriting we went through to make this chapter and the next one after. But we are glad to say that we are very proud of this and really hope you all will too.
Not to mention, we are so excited to include three brand new characters in this chapter; Naaja Bondara, Zateara Chillos & the Master Guardian, who's name we won't reveal 'til later lol. We look forward to having these characters for future chapters and builds in our series.
As for the build itself; this was a trial and error challenge that I have been wanting to try and do for some time. Just by looking at it right now, the effects took a couple days to experiment with, including the illuminating light that was coming from the special effects lightsaber. The MOC is one of my favorites that I have so far, as this was the first of many that I began to change up my building skills to create better looking and detailed creations. I do hope you all have enjoyed this as much as I had building it.
That will be it for now, so thank you all so much for your wonderful support over the years. We really couldn't do it without any of you! So please, continue showing us your support and hit that like to let us know, as well as dropping a comment of your thoughts about it. Again, thank you all so much and have a fan-building-tastic day/night! See ya in the next one!
- Director KW & CGN
![[SW The Dark Mercenary] Chapter 25 - The Voices Within](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50968018342_a0d1962414_z.jpg)
![[SW The Dark Mercenary] Chapter 25 - The Voices Within](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50968018342_a0d1962414_b.jpg)
