Bringing Leia outside..


"What are you doing?!" shouted Captain Vigor, as his patrol speeder moved to the location of where suspicious activity had been reported.

Bloody aliens sneaking all over the place!

"Tell me you left someone in there!" he pointed to area the stormtroopers, with their prisoner in tow, were leaving.

"No sir. We were charged to escort the prisoner to the nearest detention facility. AA-"

"-413," finished the Captain, "Yes, I know. But it doesn't take all five of you to bring this..." he looked at the masked prisoner and his voice trialed off. "Why is thing still wearing a mask?"

"The creature does not speak basic, Sir. By it's gestures we figure to do so would be hazardous to it's health."

"And when do we care about the comforts of criminals, Squad Leader?" snapped back Vigor. Then he brushed them off. "Go on and take it to the detention cell. Then get yourselves back here. This is a government building and an inspector needs to view the damage. Do you want an inspector to be allowed onto an unsecured site?"

The Squad Leader decided to respond with all due haste.




The Squad returned at the same time an inspector arrived on the scene and all missed the floppy eared alien sneaking out of the building intent on finding it's missing comrade.

Stormtroopers took positions outside and inside the building as the defacement was observed.



Room with a hole...


"Captain, your troopers said that the alien did not speak basic?"

Captain Vigor shrugged. "So they tell me."

The man from Imperial Intelligence looked up. "I will want to see this alien, of course."

The Captain nodded but couldn't help but say, "Sir, I do not see why Imperial Intelligence was called. A local civil defense inspector could have sufficed.."

"Captain," the agent said rather calmly. "Your soldiers were correct in stating that this was a government building. But do you know what government building?"


"No, sir."

"Around us are the remains of a Jedi Temple, Captain."

"Sir?"

"It's not common knowledge and the area has remained undisturbed for the most part but when a warning took too the waves of criminal activity on this site, better safe than sorry? With this building, as pretty much gone as it is, we leave nothing to chance even if the intrusion is petty pickpockets. Lord Lupercus would have our hearts otherwise so why take the chance neh?"

The agent grinned. "Be that as it may, I am glad to have come. Look here, Captain. This pile of debris. It is recent."

"Yes, sir. Probably from the hole in the ground." Captain Vigor replied keeping his voice cool though it still showed slight sarcasm.

"Careful, Captain." the Intelligence man warned, "What I wanted to ask you was, if this pile is part of the debris (and we can conclude a definite yes), why is it here and not on the ground of the floor beneath us? When you knock a hole into a floor of a multifloor building, it stands to reason that the debris would fall.."

"downward!" The Captain's eyes widened. "Emperor's Great Legacy, you are right!"

"There is no equipment I can see set up to extract the debris, soo..."

"The force?" the Captain asked, slightly incredulously.

"In light of this old ruin, a very real possibility." the Intelligence Man intoned. We must see to the prisoner but I would like another two squadrons called to this location."

"Sir?"

"The hole, Captain, the hole!" the agent pointed. "Where does it go!" He leaned forward, "And are the prisoner's friends there?"

"You think there are more?" the Captain asked, not figuring it out.

The agent slapped his hand on the datapad before him, "This report is accurate, yes?"

"Of course!"

"Then why would the prisoner have a personal commlink of not to contact friends?"


The Captain was reaching his limit in revelations. This was going to be a long night.




Detention Cell


Banyard yawned. His shift was up. Another person entered and Banyard grinned. "Right on the money!"

Coslo grinned as well. "Any excitement?" he meant it as a joke but Banyard answered. "Some alien was taken to 50-3b and an interrogator is in..." his mind was hazy... "200-3c.."

"Banyard, you must be more tired than you let on. There is no 200-3c.." Coslo quipped.


"Yeah well... " Banyard groped his mind looking for the data and came up emtpy. "I don't remember. There's an interrogator in there somewhere.."

"Ahh.. no problem. Have a good one, Banny."

"Later Cos."


*

As he entered his data starting his shift, he queried the log and noted why there was only one person on duty. Most of the squad was having trouble over at some old government building. No details.

He began to query the security system throughout the corridors and noted that the interrogator was not only strangely dressed on camera but was at Cell 050-3b. The new guy.


No worries there, he thought.


Then his com sounded. "Detention AA-413?" he responded.

"This is Intelligence 32. I am returning to interrogate the new prisoner. Please prepare for my arrival and requisition a droid if necessary."

"Sure thing, Intelligence." Colso complied, "What about the interrogator you've got there already?"

"What?"

"Yeah, you've got another interrogator signed..." he looked at the entries for visitors and found nothing, "ok.. not signed in. But I see him on the monitor.-"

"SILENT ALARM!," the man on the comm shouted. "Secure the detention facility and call for backup. Do not engage and DO NOT spook them. Silent alarm only! Keep visual conta--" the voice hit static, probably moving at a higher rate of speed with the patrol speeder.

Even as Frakutsk pulled the lightsaber from his cloak and extended his arm to offer it to Leia, she was abruptly sidestepping to put her body between the Gungan Jedi and the security camera monitering her cell. She then reached out and pushed Frakutsk's hand - and the saber - back into the concealment of his cloak.


"Be careful what you go waving around, there are security cameras monitering every move we make," she hissed in basic. There was a momentary silence as Frakutsk seemed to be puzzled by something, and then Leia spoke up again.


"How did you get in here without any trouble, anyways?"


Fraktusk proceeded to explain to Leia how he had been able to simply walk right through the front door with the aid of a few Force tricks, under the guise of an Imperial interrogator. His unlikely tale left Leia gaping at him, astonished... though this was hidden from him by her helmet.


She had never heard of anyone; even a Jedi, being able to simply stroll around a secure Imperial holding facility and not encounter anyone, save for some extraordinarily stupid security guard working the entrance desk.


Fraktusk had gotten in a little too easily... and that worried her. She ambled over to the nearest wall of her cell, and knocked on it.


"I'm not familiar with the floorplan of this building, but I am pretty sure we're somewhere towards the middle of it. Our best bet of escape is probably to go out the same way you came in. It might sound ludicrous, but... if how you came to be standing here isn't enough to make this ludicrous already, I don't know what is."


Leia slowly backed into the corner of her cell farthest away from Frakutsk, as if she were shrinking away from him. She was merely acting for the benefit of the camera; it was highly unlikely that any being (human and alien alike) would voluntarily accompany an Imperial interrogator anywhere.


"Now bind me up and escort me out of here. I'm your prisoner, and you have higher orders which dictate that I am being transferred to a more secure facility."

"Oksa"

Frakutsk bound Leia, and pushed her out of the cell. He walked down the bleak hallways, back the way he came. It seemed to take longer this way then on the way in. Frakutsk passed rows and rows of cells.

Something was distincly wrong right now. As if it was too silent... but it was no silenter than logic dictated it should be.

Eventually, Frakutsk reached the security desk in front.

To his horror, there was a new gaurd.

"Uh, sir. You'll need to present proper identification in order to be allowed to pass."

Frakutsk digged for something useful to say.

"Yous don't need to see mys identification. Thisa is mys prisoner and I have higher orders ta take it to mores secure facility."

Again, Frakutsk was speaking lowly and slowly and trying to hide his Gungan Speech.

"Uh..."

Frakutsk moved his fingers unnoticably beneath his cloak.

"You want to let me out."

"Yeah... you know, I really want to let you out. Thing is, I can't... Theres this lockdo-"

The gaurd stopped, realizing he had said to much. But it was too late, he had already slipped.

Frakutsk's eyes darted nervously once from left to right. His mind raced.

Vodo needed time. They still hadn't cought Vodo.

"The Lockdown iss nothings to my aorders."

"But, Sir..."

Frakutsk broke into the mind of the gaurd. Apparently, the law clearly stated that under no circumstances was anyone to be allowed to leave a ordered secure area without identification. All these rules and regulations had been engrained into this gaurd's mind. Was this man nothing more than a drone?

It occured to Frakutsk that his 'prisoner' was actually a Jedi master. Was it time for Leia to take action? Frakutsk supposed she would do something when where and how she saw fit...

The gaurd was weakening... but could Frakutsk compete with the orders of whomever had issued the gaurd his orders?

"Nos buts," said Frakutsk, laboring to fight years of conditioning and engraining, "opens the door."

"I'd like to-"

"So do so."

The man's hand wavered over a few buttons on his console, and something flashed through his mind.

737U38UQHG10

Frakutsk's first impression was that the man was mad. But then he realized what that must have been.

"No, I can't"

Moving at extreme speed, Frakutsk darted over to the computer, force pushing the gaurd aside viciously. The gaurd swore.

Frakutsk punched in the code very quickly on the console, and the door unlocked.

The gaurd reached for his blaster, but Frakutsk was quicker. Frakutsk sliced the barrel in two with his light saber.

It took a moment for the gaurd to realize what had happened. The gaurd swore louder than before. "What the?!"

Frakutsk charged over and opened the door.

...But there was someone only a few feet away outside.

The Present


The ventilation shaft was only about two meters wide, just large enough for him to get into without any problems.

Once he was inside, the shaft widened considerably, allowing Vodo to walk through it, albeit while hunched over.

He reached out to the Force, trying to feel what was ahead of him. All he could feel was the cold shaft as it stretched out for at least one hundred meters.

As he walked, alone, the memories resurfaced...






The Past (Kamino)...



Vodo looked up at his savior, his eyes blinking furiously to clear the afterimage of blasterfire and the glow of the blue lightsaber that still crackled and hissed each time a drop of rain touched the blade.


The Jedi holding the weapon was a young human girl.


She could not have been any older than eighteen. Her form was completey concealed in her long tan Jedi robes, with the hood drawn up over her face. All that was visible were her eyes. Eyes that were now turned toward the fallen Vodo.

"Who are you?" She asked, scouring the immidiate area for more droids.

"I am Vodo Baas, the coordinator for the five-three-two munitions supply..."

She cut him off, crouching next to him and looking him over, "Did you say Vodo Baas? As in Vodo Siosk Baas?"

Vodo frowned. He had never heard of a Vodo Siosk Baas before. In fact, the only thing he knew for certain about himself was his own name, "I do not know what you are talking about." He said.

The Jedi offered her hand, Vodo took it and stood, "Your name is similar to the one of an ancient Jedi Master, Vodo Siosk Baas." She said, again looking around.

Vodo frowned. That was certainly new information...

Before he could answer, she continued, "Who were your parents?" She asked insistently.

"I do not know. I was raised in an orphanage on Coruscant." He said.

She glanced around one more time before pulling him to the alcove, "Do you mind if I try something?"

"Try what?"

"A technique for sensing Force-sensitivity." She said impatiently, as if she wanted to get back into battle, but was intrigued by the possibility of trying a technique she had only recently learned...

Vodo's first reaction was to say no and then make his way to the other side of Tipoca City, where the munitions vessels had landed. But something inside him willed him to stop and consider her request. he figuered he had nothing to loose...

"Alright." He said.

"This won't hurt a bit..." She said, placing her hand on his head over his eyes.





He suddenly snapped to full alertness as the vent shaft abruptly ended, capped off by a grate. This was one of those times when a lightsaber really could come in handy. But Vodo had always forsaken the traditional Jedi weapon, instead concentrating on using the Force itself as a defense.

He also wielded his stick, which was the perfect nonlethal weapon for him. As a Jedi, Vodo had an extreme dislike for violence, and preferred to negotiate or "talk down" his opponents before fighting.

But as he was now reminded, lightsabers did have practical uses, such as cutting defiant hundred-year old vent grating.


But Vodo had also come prepared. He reached to his utility belt, which he had stocked with this old temple in mind. In a few minutes, he had his laser-cutter out and began cutting through the grating.

As he finished, the thing fell outward, clattering to the floor loudly.


Great. Now everyone in the whole temple knows I'm here.

He jumped out of the ventilation shaft, landing in a wide, expansive hall-way of some sort. Much of the stone that had made up the walls had crumbled, as had most of the ceiling.

As he had stated before, Palpatine had largely left the temple alone. But the numerous space battles over Coruscant, and the subsequent falling debris had taken its toll on the old temple.

Most of it was destroyed, but also as Vodo has said, most of the lower, sub-terrainian levels still existed.


He looked around for a turbolift, wondering how Fraktusk was doing, but afraid to use the comm in fear of undermining the Gungan stealthy mission...

*


Room with a hole



The area was blanketed with stormtroopers now but none descended through the hole. That was not their purpose. They were only to secure the area.


There was someone else who was being bothered with this little emergency and they were not in the best of moods.


"I should have been on Corellia yesterday!" he grated through clenched teeth. "Probably have a couple of alien children playing catch the Rebel." he murmured but the trooper closest merely responded with 'yes sir'.


He smirked to himself sardonically. No personalities!


As he walked up to the hole he felt a flicker of something but it was so faint he almost believed he had imagined it.


Almost.


His smile left. One thing he did know... his new clothes were about to be ruined.


"This better be good." he murmured grasping the edges and lowering himself down slowly.





Prison Guard and a floppy-eared alien


The commands were carried out and the appropriate droid requisitioned as the image of the masked alien was entered into the query.

Coslo watched with confusion on the monitor as the 'interrogator' bound the masked alien and led it out of the cell and down the corridors. The cameras watching every move as it slowly dawned on him where they were going.

Elsewhere in the facility, a requisition order was received and the appropriate of the five prison interrogation droids was chosen. The image of the masked alien inserted into the visual imaging system of the droid. Unfortunately, the prisoner was no longer static and so the necessary route was plotted to give the droid the most efficient way to carry out it's function.

The silent alarm had been tripped but he knew of nothing else to do. Coslo decided to play it straight for a bit even as he noted a slight hesitation in the interrogator's step.

"Uh, sir. You'll need to present proper identification in order to be allowed to pass."


It was the first thing Coslo could think of and the interrogator simply stammered and for the first time, the guard saw that he was staring at an alien.


A slight "whirring" noise in the distance was heard.


"Yous don't need to see mys identification. Thisa is mys prisoner and I have higher orders ta take it to mores secure facility."


An alien with a speech impediment as the command was given rather slowly and diliberatetly.


But something else was tugging at his mind. Something loosening the strictures that governed it.


What is wrong with me?

"Uh..." was all he could he manage as little bulges moved to and fro under the cloak.


"You want to let me out."


Those strictures on his mind loosened even more...

Coslo was not thinking straight. "Yeah... you know, I really want to let you out. Thing is, I can't... Theres this lockdo-"


STOP! his mind reacted strongly, his training suddenly coming back. What the frell are you saying!?


The alien's eyes shifted and it was at that moment, in some far recess of Coslo's mind that the alien was not a friendly.


"The Lockdown iss nothings to my aorders."


Coslo felt his mind slipping even more. As if the structure of his mind was hastly being cut apart by tiny knives behind a motive of panic. He felt a sudden on rush of saliva in his mouth and could only mumble.. "But, Sir..."


And then the knives turned to bayonettes as the alien's mind tampering broke the shell of structure keeping Coslo whole.


Frakutsk broke into the mind of the gaurd.


There was nothing but his training to compensate and a weak compensation at that. A small gurgling sound crept into Coslo's throat as his heart beat suddenl became erratic.


"Nos buts," said Frakutsk, laboring to fight years of conditioning and engraining, "opens the door."

The weak compensation of training gave Colso a minor touch of resistance even has he began to drool slightly. "I'd like to-"

"So do so."


And the command was punctuated as if a mental blast erupted in Coslo's mind, memories beginning to flash before him.


737U38UQHG10


He was thinking of his mother, living in an Imperial Medical Institution. The Institution waiting for his next payment that would come from the extra hours put in to this hellish guard duty at the back end of nowhere. "No, I can't"


And the alien lept over the counter, the masked prisoner still bound, and pushed Coslo out of the way.

The mere tactile touch of the alien shattering what remained of his mental hold...


He giggled slightly as his hand dropped to his weapon but the alien flashed a Jedi weapon cutting it in half.


Coslo's eyes, unfocussed, did not seem to register the act at first. His anger at his toy suddenly being broken flared instantly, "What the?!" he roared, his mind reeling in it's insane state.

The droid queried it's target, with hands bound and distracted by the drama unfolding, and proceed to move.

The alien coward jumped back over the barrier and Coslo was about to shout as his anger reached a height he never imagined possible.

And he never would for in that moment, a blood vessel broke leaking the life of his brain all over the inside of his skull.


He fell down dead.


At that moment, the floating interrogation droid moving purposefully along stuck the arm of the masked alien with the needle and began the injection process. It's recepticles waiting for the 'interrogator' to begin his questions.

It was not the droid's place to make comment on where the interrogator chose to operate.


The cameras caught the entire act and relayed them to the appropriate monitoring stations.




The Imperial Intelligence Agent jumped out before the speeder could stop nearly losing his footing. He grimmaced in pain as he kept shouting instructions into his comm as the door began to open...

Frakutsk had taken Leia a little too literally when she had instructed him to bind her.


The restraining cuffs that bound Leia's hands behind her back were unmercifully tight, allowing her no slack to work her wrists around in them at all. Clearly Frakutsk was nervous, and rendering Leia nearly helpless by cuffing her had probably done little to help ease his anxiety. But while Leia sympathized with the difficult position that the inexperienced Padawan had found himself in, she rather wished he'd at least have had the forethought to leave the cuffs loose; enough so that she could slip out of them if needed.


Strangely enough, the halls through which they passed on their way out were devoid of life. If Leia remembered correctly, the halls had been crawling with workers, droids, and guards when she had been brought in. Where were they all now...?


Frakutsk had set a rather hurried pace, and since their passage went completely unhindered they soon emerged into the main lobby of the detention center. It was only then that they finally ecountered an obstacle...


The uniformed security guard manning the main desk had been quick to intercept them, and Leia was forced to stand idlely nearby and watch as Frakutsk strode over to the desk to negotiate with the guard. Leia could sense Fraktusk tap into the Force, and start to direct it's energies towards the guard... a routine Jedi mind trick.


However, things only seemed to go downhill...


The guard seemed to be cracking. Frakutsk was pushing him too hard... a mind was a delicate thing, and had to be manipulated with great finesse, not great force...


"Frakutsk, I don't think..." she started to interject, but she was too late. The guard cracked, what was left of his mental composition having been broken. Frakutsk vaulted over the counter, and grappled with the guard for a moment before shoving him aside. Leia surged forward as the guard produced a blaster, but there was a snap-hiss as Frakutsk ignited her lightsaber and deftly sliced the barrel off of the gun.


Powerless to intervene in any useful way, Leia watched as Frakutsk successfully unlocked the doors and the mentally broken guard went into a deep fit of rage...


...and suddenly fell dead.


Shocked, Leia never noticed the black spherical interrogation droid glide up to her silently from behind until a long needle was plunging itself into her arm.


The injection was quick: the droid was programmed to deal with thrashing victims who very much wanted nothing to do with needles and injections of any sort. In the heartbeat that it took for Leia to whip her head around and take in the sight of her assailant, the droid was already withdrawing it's needle and bringing a stun rod to bear on it's "patient" to subdue it if necessary.


Leia's eyes grew wide with uncustomary panic as the identity of her assailant registered in her memory.


An imperial interrogation droid.


A barrage of memories; none of them pleasant, flooded her brain and paralyzed her with a remembered fear. Leia foggily deduced from unfortunate experience that the droid had just injected a potent, fast acting stimulant into her, the purpose of which was to... 'enhance her torture experience' so to speak. Any moment now her world would start to spin as her cruelly heightened senses began to take in far more sensory data than a regular human being could sanely handle. If the droid persisted in it's interrogation, or any injury were to come to her...


She didn't know if she could handle it again.


"Frakutsk..." she choked as she stumbled away from the wicked droid. Unfortunately, the Gungan had not taken notice of her dilemma and was disappearing out the door even as she opened her mouth to utter his name. Apparently he had assumed she would simply follow him...


Knowing perfectly well that she would be rewarded with an electric shock if she tried to flee from the droid, she made a run for the door anyways. A fair distance ahead of her outside, armored guards bearing guns were piling out of several speeders that had just pulled up, and after much shouting from an unarmed man in a grey uniform, they opened fire on the fleeing Frakutsk. The man in the grey uniform quickly noticed Leia as well, and a contingent of guards was soon headed her way.


Forced to choose between a squad of people with guns and a lone interrogation droid, Leia chose the interrogation droid and dodged around the stun rod it was trying to poke her with to head back into the unguarded depths of the detention facility. If she was lucky, she would find another way out. If she was unlucky... well, that was best left to mystery. But as things stood, she couldn't deny that she had a very good chance of finding out.


The interrogation droid floated after her in pursuit.


Leia ran back down the corridor through which she and Frakutsk had just passed through only minutes before. She would not get far... the sound of many pairs of boots striking the tile floor up ahead caught her attention, and she dove into an adjacent passageway just as the front ranks of a group of guards came into view as they rounded a corner up ahead.


There had been guards in the facility after all. Some sort of trap had been set, and she had just gotten caught right in the middle of it...

Oh... nosa...

This was all Frakutsk could think. He dared not even turn to look behind him. He hardly dared breathe. He was a Jedi deep in imperial space. He was an imposter and vandal.

And the clunk he had just heard behind him ment he was one more thing.

A murderer. The Imperial was dead. The poor man was just doing his job, and Frakutsk had killed him.

Oh, It wasn't intentional. It was a result of his actions. He was rash, foolish. Who was he to think he could just bash in to someone's mind and bang around without any consequences? The man behind him was dead.

But wait, what made Frakutsk think he was dead? Was it the collapsing clunk behind him? He could have simply fallen over, he could be nothing less than unconcious.

Frakutsk turned and looked, and what he saw made it worse.

In retrospect, Frakutsk realized he probably shoulden't have bound Leia so thouroughly. He hardly could think about that mistake, though, when the dead man still lay there, dead.

Could it simply be called a mistake? Was nervousness an excuse? No. Any Jedi knows that one must control one's emotions. Emotions, such as nervousness, hurridness, are not something you want controling your actions when you are tampering with someone's mind, like a surgeon shaking in fear.

Like a surgeon shaking in fear.

Worse yet, a surgeon who, while shaking in fear, makes an incision without concent of the patient, not for the patient's sake, for his own sake, and kills the patient.

But there was nothing he could do now, was there? The door infront of Frakutsk beckoned him to run though it. Maybe he could make it away in time, the security wasn't quite ontop of him yet.

Something always drew Frakutsk's thoughts back to the dead man. Had he just studied harder before this mission, he could have maneuvered in such a way to leave the man completely unharmed. Could he have? Perhaps a master could have, but what was Frakutsk? Frakutsk was a padawan!

The surgeon was an intern.

Sure, you could get a droid to do surgery, but Frakutsk was out of his league.

The door called again, it begged him to run. Leave the dead, flee before you join them. And, finnally, Frakutsk gave in to the begging.

Leia would follow, Frakutsk figured. With luck and the force, perhaps not both, they would make their escape. Vodo would have retrieved what they came for, maybe. They would be able to find eachother, maybe. They would be able to make a high-flying, heroic escape, maybe.

Frakutsk dashed outside and ran. He heard shouts and blasts behind him. In the dark of night, the cloaked Gungan was difficult to target. Not too difficult, however, that no imperial could hit him. Just as a blast was about to hit him, Frakutsk whipped around and deflected it. Perhaps he stayed turned around too long, because the time that it took to shoot a cold glare at the imperial in charge could have been used running.

Frakutsk dodged into a seemingly deserted building to his right not two seconds from the time he had left the detention ceter, not taking the time to read the sign that hung above its door. At least the speeders could not follow him there.

It was then that Frakutsk realized that Leia was not following him.

He did not have a plan for getting away from an entire squad of imperials on his own.

His improvisation skills were untested at the least.

"You are Force sensitive."


"I doubt that."


"I would not lie."




Vodo pushed the memories away as he climbed over a mountain of rubble that blocked his way. He was now deep in the bowels of the old Jedi Temple, far below the surface of Coruscant.

It had been well known that the Jedi Temple was one of the tallest buildings on Coruscant, but that time was long past. The temple was no more than a huge pile of duracreet and durasteel support beams. But levels of the temple existed that were below the surface, which is where Vodo now traveled.

The lowest levels of the temple were far more spartan than the ones that housed the training facilities, and the induvidual quarters for the Jedi that lived here.

Down here, only the highest-ranking members of the Jedi Council, and a few trusted others were allowed access. The walls were painted a drab, steel-gray color and the floors, which were littered with debris, were white.

Using the walking stick, and a small glowlamp, the Jedi Knight continued down a small stretch of hallway, which ended with a turbolift that Vodo hoped was still working.


Fortunately, it was, and Vodo looked at the control pad. Closing his eyes, he stretched out with the Force, letting it flow through him, letting it guide his actions as he selected a level, seemingly at random.

The turbolift hummed as it moved down the shaft. Vodo could feel distant flashes of pain through the Force, minor disturbances that he attributed to Fraktusk or Leia. His attunement to the Force wasn't as great as a Jedi Master, and he still ha trouble identiying the induvidual Force-signatures.

He watched the levels tick down slowly. Apparently, decades had reduced the car's power levels to near-nothing and the car took its time in getting to the destination.

The door opened, and revealed a huge room. Vodo's breath caught in his breathing passages. Finally!




His excitement faded after exactly two seconds as he realized it was nothing more than a large, empty room. He began to reach for the turbolift controls, cursing his bad luck at coming to a dead end when he felt a surge in the Force. His fingers hovered uncertainly above the button to close the doors and move to a new level.

Something didn't feel right...

He moved his hand away from the button.


Might as well explore this room before moving on

He stepped out into the room-


...and stumbled back as he felt a surge in the dark side of the Force. A red lightsaber sliced the air, where he stood merely a half second ago.

The hooded figure holding the glowing blade pressed the attack, slicing downwards at his seemingly unarmed opponent.

Vodo held up his walking stick and caught the blade in an easy block. He felt his opponent's shock at seeing a mere wooden stick blocking a lightsaber, but that dissapated in an instant as the lightsaber blade reversed it's attack before angling downwards at Vodo's head.

Vodo parried the attack easily, and directed the blade to his right side before moving in with a quick shuffle and snapping his stick around and across the head of his attacker.

The sharp crack resounded in the large empty room, creating a haunting echo as the two combatants danced around each other, parrying and striking. The only sound was tha of the lightsaber hissing each time it touched the wooden stick.

Vodo could feel the dark side in his attacker, and he reached out as well, trying to grasp a hold of the Force.

Vodo parried a particularly powerful blow to his right side and again stepped in toward his enemy, intending to strike his head again. But this time, the red blade did not move back to defend Vodo's incoming attack, and instead stayed where the Jedi Knight had parried it.

Vodo did not expect it and felt a horrible spike of pain as the blade grazed his shoulder.

His silent scream echoed throughout the Force as he continued to battle with his unknown assailant.





Leia!

The drugs were taking effect.


As Leia stumbled aimlessly through a dim corridor in a feeble attempt to escape the droid and it's imperial soldier friends in close pursuit behind her, the world suddenly began to spin... making her feel sick to her stomach.


World spinning.... can't breathe...


Panting for air, Leia leaned heavily against a wall for support and tried to collect her shattered wits. It was no use, her symptoms were only growing more intense...


The footsteps were getting closer, and Leia willed herself to keep going... however she succeeded only in shakily sinking to her hands and knees. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed that the Imperials had found her, and the interrogation droid was now steadily gliding down the hall towards her with a group of guards following close behind.


A cry echoed out through the Force, piercing her dazed stupor.


Leia!


Vodo...? she tried to answer back, hoping fervently that he wasn't in too much trouble... Frakutsk would need his help.


Leia helplessly rolled onto her back, only moments before she finally fully succombed to the drugs, and her body was seized by convulsions.



***



Captain Matt Dailry stepped past the interrogation droid of which he had just deactivated, and knelt cautiously beside the shaking alien.


There was something wrong here...


It was not long before one of his more outspoken suboordinates, a young kid by the name of Baker, soon spoke up.


"Uh, Cap? Why'd you shut off the droid? When Intel finds out that you've..."


"This is not the proper place for an interrogation droid to carry out it's business" Dailry interrupted, effectively silencing the young man. He reached out and thoughtfully placed a hand on the chestplate of the shuddering alien's suit. Judging by the wheezing sounds the alien was making, and the way it's body seemed to be convulsing, it seemed.... unhealthy? Dailry didn't know much about the specifics of the interrogation droid's methods or of this particular species, but something felt... wrong about the way it was reacting.


As had become usual, Baker couldn't help but speak up again. "So.... we takin' it back to it's holding cell or what?"


Ignoring the question, on impulse Dailry reached out and began to unfasten the latches that sealed the alien's helmet.


"Uhhh.... Cap, won't it suffocate in our air?" The guard asked, suddenly unsure of his superior's level of sanity.


The Captain was sure of his decision now however, and quickly slid the helmet off of the alien's head to reveal...


...a human female!?


There was complete silence as the group of guards collectively picked their jaws up off of the ground. Eventually Dailry broke the silence.


"Poor bitch, they OD'd her on drugs thinkin' she was Ubese or somethin. Come on boys, let's get her to the med center and report our findings."


Confident that they would be praised for their finding, the significance of the identity of their prisoner didn't seem to occur to any of them as they hoisted their prisoner and carried her off to the medical ward...

- Makashi (II) "Way of the Ysalamiri"

Considered by Jedi historians to be the ultimate refinement in lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat, Makashi was originally developed when various melee weaponry was far more common than blasters in the galaxy. Emphasizing fluid motions and anticipation of the trajectory of a weapon's swing, Form II allows the Jedi to attack and defend with minimal effort; manuevers with one hand are not unusual. Makashi uses extreme precision in its strikes and parries; this is taxing and due to the level of blade manipulation required, this form requires intense focus.

Elegant and powerful, Makashi is very akin to fencing, utilizing such techniques as parries, thrusts, and small cuts as opposed to blocks and slashes; like fencing, it is very adept at making a fluid attack immediately after a parry -- riposte. The greatest duelists in history were products of Makashi. It is, however, nearly useless against ranged weaponry and its effects diminish with the addition of multiple opponents.


- Seven Forms of Lightsaber Combat



The Past


"Ready?"

Vodo held up the training saber thoughtfully as Jedi Master Kahn showed him the proper way to execute a reverse-sweep, in the Soresu form of lightsaber combat.

The move was rather simple in theory. Soresu was a form created after the introduction of blaster technology on a wide scale. While maintaining a defensive stance, a Jedi could block lightsaber bolts effectively while using this form.

Which made it primarily a defensive form.

Vodo Bass preferred not to fight. He rather would talk and negotiate before igniting his lightsaber. He rather didn't like fighting very much. But like alot of things, he realized that it was necessary in some situations. It was a necessary skill. Mastery of the Seven forms could save his life, and the lives of countless others in the future.

So Vodo devoted himself to the study of the Seven Forms.

And when Vodo Baas devotes himself to something, he masters it.

Vodo quickly realized, through hundreds of spars with Kahn, was that each form had it's strength - and it's weakness. Soresu was strong in defense, but with it's lack of mobility, it was not a very good offensive form.

Makashi was a powerful in blade-to-blade combat, and was a very aggressive, nondefensive form of combat.


Kahn executed the reverse-sweep, and with Makashi in mind, Vodo parried, spinning away to Kahn's right and quickly thrusting forward, toward's Kahn's left flank.

The Master whipped his saber around and blocked it desperately, moving away.

"Interesting. Taking a liking to Makashi?" He asked, amused, raising his saber to attack again. They had been sparring for over half an hour, neither willing to admit defeat.

Vodo didn't move. His walking stick, leaning up against the far wall, lifted into the air, as if by an invisible string. Kahn didn't notice.

"It's better suited to this kind of duel..." Vodo replied.

"You are going to need something better than Makashi to beat me."

Vodo nodded, raising his left hand as he tossed his still-live lightsaber to Kahn, who caught it effortlessly- and was beaten back by a walking stick onslaught as Vodo slipped back into Makashi, driving Kahn before him in a series of rapid and quick strikes, all designed to keep both combatants moving.

Until Vodo parried both sabers outward and drove in-



The glare of the red lightsaber flashed flame-colored light, showing the face underneath the hood.

Vodo parried another swipe from the blade and whipped his stick around in a series of horizontal strikes designed toforce his attacker to bring the red blade close to his chest.

He was human, Vodo saw, but his face was heavily scarred, and was riddled with burns. Old wounds, from the look of it.

The Force was swirling around both combatants now. In the Force, the entire empty room was stormcloud of emotions.

Vodo forced the man back a few steps, and leaped upwards, flipping over head. As he sailed above the human attacker's head, he lashed out. The baffor wood thumped against the human's skull sending him flying.

Vodo landed and immediately crouched, drawing his robes around him as his attacker picked himself up off the ground.

Vodo slipped into the Krayt Dragon Stance of Makashi and prepared for another flame-colored onslaught.

"I am impressed, Jedi." His attacker spoke as if it caused him intense pain. His breathing was labored, but Vodo did not believe it from the battle, "You wield Makashi as if it were an extension of yourself."

Vodo did not move, instead he tried to reach out with the Force to probe his mind, trying to gauge his intent.

The human waved his hand dissmissively, "Oh stop that. You cannot read me with the Force. Don't even try."

"How do you know I am a Jedi?" Vodo asked.

"If you were anything other, I would be dead." The human replied.

"And just who are you?" Vodo asked, lowering the walking stick and standing to his full five foot height.

"I am the Guardian of this place."

"You are no Jedi." Vodo replied.

The human laughed. It was a horrible sound, "Oh... no... you are quite right. My name is... Wade...."

"Vox"

"Never heard of you." Vodo said, taking this chance to glance about the great empty room. Something didn't feel quite right.

Vox wasn't finished, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I am Vodo Baas. I am a Jedi Knight." Vodo didn't see any need to hide anything from this man. He didn't feel like a true enemy. Vodo was gradually begining to think that Vox wasn't trying to kill him.

He was trying to distract him. At least until he could figure out who Vodo was.

"You are here for the libraries." Vox said.

"So they still do exist?" Vodo asked.

Vox began to pace. His lightsaber was no longer on, and Vox held the hilt easily in his right hand as he maintained a healthy distance from Vodo.

"They do indeed. I always knew you would come... I always knew you would come back for it..."

"Where is the library?" Vodo asked.

Vox reached out with the Force, and somewhere, a switch was flipped.

Suddenly the entire room began to shimmer. Shelves upon shelves, computer banks, data cards numbering in the thousands suddenly came into existance.

Vodo had been standing in it the whole time!