<center><b>Assembly of Titans</b></center>
<font color=#66ff00><i>The Distant Past</i>
<b>Teyr</b>
General K'Kruhk's lightsaber was a blur as it danced across the battlefield, deflecting blaster bolts and reducing battle droids to scrap metal. The Jedi Master fought ferociously at the front of his contingent of clone troopers. K'Krukh rushed ahead of his troops, hoping to single-handedly destroy the droid army himself.
The Whipid did everything he could to ensure the safety of his troops as they fought valiantly at his side, yet the numbers of the droid army were overwhelming. As effective as K'Kruhk was in reducing the droids to slag, he couldn't be everywhere at once. He watched as one by one the clone troopers fell to the sheer numbers of the Confederation forces.
For every clone trooper that K'Kruhk was able to protect, seemingly another two or three would fall to the droid army which marched relentlessly towards them. The enormous spider droids drew nearer and nearer, slowly. The lasers mounted on top of their round 'bodies' cut a swath of death through the ranks of the clones.
Master K'Kruhk moved with unprecedented speed, the jade streak his lightsaber left as he sliced through the ranks of the droid army was the only clue to his location. General K'Kruhk tore through the droid ranks like a tornado, sending giant spider droids hurtling into the dirt and disarming battle droids in his wake.
Master K'Kruhk did all he could but he quickly came to the realization that it just wasn't enough. The clone troopers were falling at an alarming rate. K'Kruhk would not stand to march his men needlessly to their deaths. Despite the odds being stacked against them, the clones pressed on without fear.
"Fall back!" The Whipid exclaimed as he attempted to lead the men into a full-scale retreat. The clones however, were not budging from their positions.
"Sir, we cannot retreat, we have our orders. We have to take out that bunker!" The clone batallion commander known as '71' said, referring to their objective which was to take out the Trade Federation Battleship which had crashed into the planet and was now serving as a Separatist bunker.
"I will not lead you men to your deaths, we have to retreat!"
"With due respect General, death is what we were bred for. We are here to complete an objective, and that's what we're going to do." 71 replied matter-of-factly.
The clone commander did not budge. "We can achieve the objective, General. We need to press on." 71 said as he marched back towards the droid lines, the other clones did the same.
K'Kruhk admired the tenacity of the clones, many of them died as a result of what would come to be known as The Battle of Teyr, or as the clones would come to remember it, the <i>Great Canyon Massacre</i>.
The Battle of Teyr shook the very foundation of Master K'Kruhk. For a time, he didn't know whether he was doing the right thing. Seeing so many of his men march needlessly to their deaths took a toll on the Jedi and caused him to briefly drop out of the Clone Wars entirely.
Eventually, the Jedi Master came to a realization.</font>
<font color=#336600><i>The Recent Past</i>
<b>Toola</b>
"Evil must be opposed." The Whipid declared.
"Excuse me?"
"Evil must be opposed. Those are the words I uttered after returning to the service of the Republic. <i>Evil must be opposed</i>. You see, for a time after the Great Canyon Massacre, I questioned my involvement in the war. Leading those men to certain death, only a handful survived Teyr. Eventually I came to a conclusion..."
"Evil must be opposed." Marin Faulker interrupted.
"Yes, it appears that you too have come to that conclusion, Marin Faulker." The Jedi Master said, as the pair sat in the middle of the Whipid's living quarters.
"Indeed, I have Master K'Kruhk." Marin said as he leaned forward in the chair which was designed for a Whipid. The Alliance High Admiral looked like no more than a young boy in the oversized chair.
"I spoke those words nearly 50 cycles ago, to Master Windu himself. And do you know what I've learned here in my self-imposed exile, Marin Faulker?"
"What's that, Master K'Kruhk?"
"That those words are no less true now than they were 50 cycles ago. There is evil that runs amok in this Galaxy, and it must be opposed."</font>
<i>The Present</i>
<b>Yavin 4</b>
Master K'Kruhk stood hunched forward, putting his weight on a thick Ybarl walking stick which he had personally gathered on one of his many trips into the jungle.
The hulking Whipid scanned the room slowly as he watched his students, intently focusing on their form and technique. The enlightened Jedi Master wore a conical wicker hat which had become a staple of the instrospective Whipid.
K'Kruhk's pupils were from all across the Galaxy, from all different backgrounds and an assortment of races. Slowly, the group of would-be apprentices raised themselves up, then down, then back up again in methodical motion as they completed one-armed push-ups. From the looks of their sweat-stained clothing, the students had been at it for quite some time.
"Switch." The Whipid called out, tapping his Ybarl branch on the hardwood floor which echoed throughout the small space. Immediately the group of roughly a dozen switched from their right arms to their left.
"Free your minds from the burden of exhaustion. Let the Force flow through your weary, aching bodies. Allow its vast reservoirs to remove your fatigue."
K'Kruhk paced back and forth slowly watching as his students strained to extend their arms, each one dripping with sweat at this point. After a few moments of struggling to raise himself the Rodian student known as 'Wozer' collapsed onto the mat. A few of the students stopped to see what the commotion was, while the other, more disciplined students simply continued their workouts.
Master K'Kruhk walked over to the teal-skinned alien and extended his furry paw to help him back to his feet. He pulled the disoriented Rodian back to his feet and returned to the front of the room.
"Alright, that is enough for today my students. Rise, and reflect on what we have learned today." The weary students rose to their feet.
"Take a deep breath, and focus on what it means to be a Jedi Knight. Recite the Code of the Jedi with me, and ponder its meaning."
"<i>There is no emotion, there is peace.</i>" Master K'Kruhk began and the class joined with him.
"<i>There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no death, there is <b>the Force</b>.</i>"
"That concludes our session, students. Continue your lessons, and we will re-convene tomorrow morning bright and early."
"Thank you, Master K'Kruhk." The tired class replied in harmony as they shuffled out of the room.
Marin Faulker entered the room just as the students began to leave, a few of them nodded respectively as their paths crossed.
"I'm sorry Master K'Kruhk, it looks like I'm early." Marin Faulker said as he greeted the Jedi Master.
"Nonsense Marin, you are right on time." The Whipid humbly replied.
"It looks like your class is growing, you're up to what? A dozen?" The High Admiral inquired.
"Thirteen actually, and growing by the month."
"Are there too many for you to handle?"
"Not yet, but soon I will not be able to provide these students with the tools they require to mature in the Force."
"I wasn't expecting our class to grow so quickly."
"Some of my pupils are advancing quickly, soon it will be time to begin instructing them in the ways of lightsaber combat. It is time, Marin Faulker. We must expand this Praxeum we have created if our students are to flourish and live up to their true potential."
"How do we do that, Master K'Kruhk? We can expand into some of the other temples..."
"No, that is only one small aspect off facilitating the needs of our students. If we are to truly thrive, we must enlist more Masters to instruct our students in the ways of the Jedi."
"Where are we going to find more Jedi Masters? You don't exactly grow on trees these days, Master K'Kruhk."
"There is one that I know of, she has been in hiding for some time. I must go and seek her out."
"Seek her out? Where can we find her?"
"No, I must go alone. I must travel to Anzat."
<font color=#66ff00><i>The Distant Past</i>
<b>Teyr</b>
General K'Kruhk's lightsaber was a blur as it danced across the battlefield, deflecting blaster bolts and reducing battle droids to scrap metal. The Jedi Master fought ferociously at the front of his contingent of clone troopers. K'Krukh rushed ahead of his troops, hoping to single-handedly destroy the droid army himself.
The Whipid did everything he could to ensure the safety of his troops as they fought valiantly at his side, yet the numbers of the droid army were overwhelming. As effective as K'Kruhk was in reducing the droids to slag, he couldn't be everywhere at once. He watched as one by one the clone troopers fell to the sheer numbers of the Confederation forces.
For every clone trooper that K'Kruhk was able to protect, seemingly another two or three would fall to the droid army which marched relentlessly towards them. The enormous spider droids drew nearer and nearer, slowly. The lasers mounted on top of their round 'bodies' cut a swath of death through the ranks of the clones.
Master K'Kruhk moved with unprecedented speed, the jade streak his lightsaber left as he sliced through the ranks of the droid army was the only clue to his location. General K'Kruhk tore through the droid ranks like a tornado, sending giant spider droids hurtling into the dirt and disarming battle droids in his wake.
Master K'Kruhk did all he could but he quickly came to the realization that it just wasn't enough. The clone troopers were falling at an alarming rate. K'Kruhk would not stand to march his men needlessly to their deaths. Despite the odds being stacked against them, the clones pressed on without fear.
"Fall back!" The Whipid exclaimed as he attempted to lead the men into a full-scale retreat. The clones however, were not budging from their positions.
"Sir, we cannot retreat, we have our orders. We have to take out that bunker!" The clone batallion commander known as '71' said, referring to their objective which was to take out the Trade Federation Battleship which had crashed into the planet and was now serving as a Separatist bunker.
"I will not lead you men to your deaths, we have to retreat!"
"With due respect General, death is what we were bred for. We are here to complete an objective, and that's what we're going to do." 71 replied matter-of-factly.
The clone commander did not budge. "We can achieve the objective, General. We need to press on." 71 said as he marched back towards the droid lines, the other clones did the same.
K'Kruhk admired the tenacity of the clones, many of them died as a result of what would come to be known as The Battle of Teyr, or as the clones would come to remember it, the <i>Great Canyon Massacre</i>.
The Battle of Teyr shook the very foundation of Master K'Kruhk. For a time, he didn't know whether he was doing the right thing. Seeing so many of his men march needlessly to their deaths took a toll on the Jedi and caused him to briefly drop out of the Clone Wars entirely.
Eventually, the Jedi Master came to a realization.</font>
<font color=#336600><i>The Recent Past</i>
<b>Toola</b>
"Evil must be opposed." The Whipid declared.
"Excuse me?"
"Evil must be opposed. Those are the words I uttered after returning to the service of the Republic. <i>Evil must be opposed</i>. You see, for a time after the Great Canyon Massacre, I questioned my involvement in the war. Leading those men to certain death, only a handful survived Teyr. Eventually I came to a conclusion..."
"Evil must be opposed." Marin Faulker interrupted.
"Yes, it appears that you too have come to that conclusion, Marin Faulker." The Jedi Master said, as the pair sat in the middle of the Whipid's living quarters.
"Indeed, I have Master K'Kruhk." Marin said as he leaned forward in the chair which was designed for a Whipid. The Alliance High Admiral looked like no more than a young boy in the oversized chair.
"I spoke those words nearly 50 cycles ago, to Master Windu himself. And do you know what I've learned here in my self-imposed exile, Marin Faulker?"
"What's that, Master K'Kruhk?"
"That those words are no less true now than they were 50 cycles ago. There is evil that runs amok in this Galaxy, and it must be opposed."</font>
<i>The Present</i>
<b>Yavin 4</b>
Master K'Kruhk stood hunched forward, putting his weight on a thick Ybarl walking stick which he had personally gathered on one of his many trips into the jungle.
The hulking Whipid scanned the room slowly as he watched his students, intently focusing on their form and technique. The enlightened Jedi Master wore a conical wicker hat which had become a staple of the instrospective Whipid.
K'Kruhk's pupils were from all across the Galaxy, from all different backgrounds and an assortment of races. Slowly, the group of would-be apprentices raised themselves up, then down, then back up again in methodical motion as they completed one-armed push-ups. From the looks of their sweat-stained clothing, the students had been at it for quite some time.
"Switch." The Whipid called out, tapping his Ybarl branch on the hardwood floor which echoed throughout the small space. Immediately the group of roughly a dozen switched from their right arms to their left.
"Free your minds from the burden of exhaustion. Let the Force flow through your weary, aching bodies. Allow its vast reservoirs to remove your fatigue."
K'Kruhk paced back and forth slowly watching as his students strained to extend their arms, each one dripping with sweat at this point. After a few moments of struggling to raise himself the Rodian student known as 'Wozer' collapsed onto the mat. A few of the students stopped to see what the commotion was, while the other, more disciplined students simply continued their workouts.
Master K'Kruhk walked over to the teal-skinned alien and extended his furry paw to help him back to his feet. He pulled the disoriented Rodian back to his feet and returned to the front of the room.
"Alright, that is enough for today my students. Rise, and reflect on what we have learned today." The weary students rose to their feet.
"Take a deep breath, and focus on what it means to be a Jedi Knight. Recite the Code of the Jedi with me, and ponder its meaning."
"<i>There is no emotion, there is peace.</i>" Master K'Kruhk began and the class joined with him.
"<i>There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no death, there is <b>the Force</b>.</i>"
"That concludes our session, students. Continue your lessons, and we will re-convene tomorrow morning bright and early."
"Thank you, Master K'Kruhk." The tired class replied in harmony as they shuffled out of the room.
Marin Faulker entered the room just as the students began to leave, a few of them nodded respectively as their paths crossed.
"I'm sorry Master K'Kruhk, it looks like I'm early." Marin Faulker said as he greeted the Jedi Master.
"Nonsense Marin, you are right on time." The Whipid humbly replied.
"It looks like your class is growing, you're up to what? A dozen?" The High Admiral inquired.
"Thirteen actually, and growing by the month."
"Are there too many for you to handle?"
"Not yet, but soon I will not be able to provide these students with the tools they require to mature in the Force."
"I wasn't expecting our class to grow so quickly."
"Some of my pupils are advancing quickly, soon it will be time to begin instructing them in the ways of lightsaber combat. It is time, Marin Faulker. We must expand this Praxeum we have created if our students are to flourish and live up to their true potential."
"How do we do that, Master K'Kruhk? We can expand into some of the other temples..."
"No, that is only one small aspect off facilitating the needs of our students. If we are to truly thrive, we must enlist more Masters to instruct our students in the ways of the Jedi."
"Where are we going to find more Jedi Masters? You don't exactly grow on trees these days, Master K'Kruhk."
"There is one that I know of, she has been in hiding for some time. I must go and seek her out."
"Seek her out? Where can we find her?"
"No, I must go alone. I must travel to Anzat."