Far beyond the nearest suns, deep in interstellar space, journeyed the Ch'unthor. The magnificent Shadow Jedi training vessel traveled silently, alone, a world unto itself. In the bowels of the ship he sat; amongst many others of other species, ages and creeds. All united under one cuase, one banner, one pourpose...

BALANCE

The room was emense, the tall ceilings with transparasteel walls added to the great depth giving the jedi students a spectacular view of the galaxy. This helped remind a jedi in training that, in time, every Jedi would be called on to go out and serve among the stars. Master Gue sat in the middle of the room as his student faned out around him, forming small circles all around the room.

He sat comfortable on the ground, hands in front of him palms facing each other, but apart, moving closer and farther apart.

"Imagine the energy between your hands, like electrical bolts flying back and forth. It might feel wierd, but thats simply becuase its new to you yet. It will become natural in time."

His voice traveled across his room, not for being loud, but simply for being heard

"You should feel the pressure incresing between your hands now, due to the increasing energies. When it gets too much for you, when you think you cant handle it anymore, imagine the energy forming two balls under either palm, and turn your hands palms down."

He turned his own palms down to illustrate, his eyes closed as continued speaking

"By concentrating on the balls, you should be able to manipulate the energy energyto sense the area below you. Use the energy to stretch out and feel the ground below you. Sense the sand, feel the durasteel plates below it. Stretch your senses out to feel through these balls."

He opened his eyes and stood, glancing across his students

"Once you have become good at locating objects using this technique, work on building up the amount of energy you can manage, soon we will explore another improved use of this ability"

"How long . . ." Said cole, "until they arrive?" continued Kaine. The Inquisitor twins directed thier query toward their master in the shadows.

"Not long my students. Patience above all else is something you must grasp." Breathed the darkened figure. His smokey breath the result of a near miss with a TIE fighter laser cannon on Vjun, a near miss that shredded his vocal chords, replacing his voice with a croaking huskyness that whispered on the air.

"The Chu'unthor won't be much longer at all. I have forseen its arrival. It will find you two here, and assume you are nothing more than mere travellers, marooned in this crippled transport, and rescue you. Then we will reveal ourselves to them . . .and kill them all." In all his damnpened croaking, Darth Xion managed a cackle while looking back into the crashed transport from his apprentice twin's, towards his friends and trusted guards, Maxor Krath and Xek Jerrad, both former agents of the Crimson Empire, now loyal to him, in the abscence of the dark lord.

"Soon my friends, you will all have the slaughter you so desire. Very Soon. For now . . .we wait.



Maxor, Activate the distress beacon and return to your compartments."



"Yes my Master." Complied Maxor.

Turning about him, he sensed the levels that each of his students had attained. They were all quite attuned, yet raw to the force. He could sense their minor atunement to his lesson, nothing near discipline or mastery, just enough though to introduce them to more basic concepts.

"Now, instead of concentrating on those balls under your palm, surround yourself in such a ball, to sense around you. This sphere is called your zone of responsability. You can carry on expanding your abilities on this field, work towards accuracy over a huge sphere, as an unreliable sphere, however huge, is useless."

He sat back down, acheiving a relaxed pose amongst his trainees

"You should also work towards completing your zone of responsability through active meditation. THis way you can create it whereever you need it. If you want, you can use passive meditation to create the sphere, and then it should stay active in your mind afterwards if you have the basic will to keep it there. Basic training in this skill will be your goal for the rest of this day..."

On the bridge

The captain on duty smudged his nose. Retirement was nice, but he could never stay away from the lure of the stars. Space had always been his true love, and now he was borne to it for as long as he pleased.

"Sir, we have a distress beacon going off in our vacinity. Approximatly 150km off our starboard side. Recomendations?"

"That far off the beaten track? No doubt they would have no chance otherwise so far into interstellar space... Change course to intercept them, hail them under all normal frequancies and notify them of our intents. If they respond inform me immediatly."

"Yes sir, on our way sir"

[i]So far away, one could hope they hadnt given up on rescue just yet...

Silence. In this day and age, silence was friend and foe to many. Problems on worlds could not be taken in silence for long, sooner of later things would have to be heard. On other planets, silence was a grand weapon, those beings shielded themselves in a shroud of silence, cutting themselves off and prospering in obscurity.

Xek was one of those people. Forever wrapped in a binding cloth of anonimity, never saying a word . . .never shedding an expression. The perfect weapon . . .protected by the perfect shield.

He sat in the unnerving quiet to the rear of the passenger bay, covered in a viel of crimson silk . . .glimmerng slightly in the dimly lit cabin. Leaning on his staff, Xek pushed his mind into a deep state of concentration and prayer . . . a pre-battle meditation.


.............


Twinkling from the side of the small transport was a fizzling conduit, exposed to the rigours of space through an explosion . . .albeit it one counterfeited by Xion and his crew. The defect was purely cosmetic, a theatrical ploy to whomever they would come across.

The comm system crackled synthetically , yet another prop in thier dramatic arsenal.

"This is the ship . . .Aranada . . .requesting . . .immediate . . .must assist . . .fuel . . .power levels . . .gone . . .need help. . ."

Act one . . .scene one.

"We as Shadow are not threatened by debates on various aspects of the force. We work with in the flow of the force for that which is contributory to our health and well being. We rely on the force to support our conclusions about a situation. We believe in a universal force that supports all life. We see force use and wisdom in living, as being united in the way one views the world and lives in it. A worldview and philosophy of life which we identify as the Shadow path. Based on Social conventions Initially a person interprets the force as being good or evil, Dark or light. Social conditioning is a driving force of ordinary reality. Rather than teaching a path that is a good, evil, dark or light way of looking at the world, we conceive of the force as being whole. With this view, we acknowledge that the force has no sides and hence no fence in the middle to sit upon. We seek to live in harmony with the force, in balance offering fulfillment to life and consciousness. We acknowledge a depth of power far greater than what is apparent to the average person. Because it is far greater than ordinary, but we see it as lying within that which is naturally potential to all."

He paced around the padawans, some older than the others, much older than the prefered padawan, yet eager to learn the ways, the path the life of the shadow. They would not be held back, their path was their own destiny, to shape for themselves, a path they would create with each new dawn. This chamber, this open shelter to the stars held the future of the shadows as they were, as they had been and as they would be forever more.

"Know thy self. This is an important idea, and your first step down any path. Who are you, how do you think, what around you has helped create the individual you are today, as well as how to help improve yourself to further growth? Take what you can and apply it to your self.
As you look into yourself, search for that understanding you will come across that which does not belong are that which hinders you. A process we call unlearning helps one to face their inner selves on a critical level, a mental house cleaning. It is a reviewing of past experiences, that which you fear and respect and love. This is an on going process that requires mindfulness in it's upkeep to not let your guard down and fall into damaging patterns. It also covers perceptions of the self and of others, are you subscribing to the perceptions of others or creating your own? The tools of mindfulness and perception will come in handy here and elsewhere along your journey. But the drive for self-improvement must be present, or you will have failed before you have even begun."

He spoke, not mearly for the words importance, but as a test of will inside his speech. They would need to concentrate, to focus all their beiging on one point and hold it there. His voice would be that point, failure to do so would surely mean a lapse of concentration, and thus a lack of discipline that would require all new retraining for the entire group

"You are not alone here of course, for there have been those before you whom can share some guidance and stratagems that worked in their cases, but adapting your own is recommended."

He stoped pacing as he uttered his final words, gazing across the wide room, watching those under his steed, all focused and all in tune with the flow of things. He sat where he had begun, begining a more comfortable trance as he reached out with his senses once more, exploring the sensations of the new...

Out in space, the Chu'unthor fell upon the small shuttle like a predator upon its prey. A light blue swirl eminated from the lower portion of the ships gullet, dragging the injured craft into itself. Those that seeked help wouldnt be denied, no matter what they were, no matter what they claimed to be.

The huge ship seemed to swallow up everything as it came closer... stars, planets, the entire galaxy vanished as it was obscured by the Chu'unthor.

The Jedi Master waiting patiently a few hundred meters off away from the Aranada had never seen such a massive vessel. It seemed to eclipse even the size of a Super Star Destroyer.


No matter, Vodo Baas thought, he will not be difficult to find.

The small modified ship mostly fit the design specifications of one of the old Jedi Aethersprite starfighters, but it was highly modified. It originally had been a gift from a wealthy landowner on Naboo, for whom Vodo had rescued his daughter, who had been held hostage by a certain Gen'Dai.

Upgraded systems and weapons, along with better sublight speeds complimented a state-of-the-art stealth package, masking the ship from most sensors. A painted hull reflected the starscape, making the vessel almost invisible. Vodo was told only the highest quality sensor scan would be able to locate the tiny starfighter.


Which was good. Because the smallish Jedi Master was on a witch hunt.


Using only minimal thrusters, he guided the small fighter toward the freighter being taken up into the Chu'unthor...