"Finally out of retirement, I see."

A shadow detached itself from a nearby building, close to the Jedi Temple. A huddled, hooded figure limped over.

Vodo Baas' gaze on Leia was hard, lingering on her for a few long minutes. The Force seemed momentarily filled with tension, but after that short instance, it faded. He then let his gaze drift over to the other Master.

"I see you have taken it upon yourself to do this."

He leaned on his ever-present walking stick and shrank back in his cloak. He seemed very small in comparison to the Azguard, but he radiated anger toward the other two Masters present.

Vodo made no effort to hide his feelings. He no longer felt he needed to.

[font=Verdana]Before Dolash could even open his mouth to respond to Vodo's verbal jab, Leia had stepped between the two and was engaging Vodo in a harsh staring war. Behind Leia the Azguardian towered over the both of them; if she was trying to protect Dolash, there was probably no need.


"Dolash is only doing what should have been done a long time ago. While the Jedi have been loafing around on Naboo like a bunch of ignorant nerfs, the Empire has taken over most of the main trade routes in the galaxy. They dominate the Core worlds, and their territory stretches to every side of the galaxy. They have this planet nearly surrounded!<o></o>


It's only a matter of time before they blockade Naboo completely, and send a force down to occupy the planet and exterminate the Jedi. In case you‘ve forgotten, it's no secret that we are here. How did you let this happen? The Jedi have been pushed helplessly into a corner and most of them don't seem to even realize it!”


A crowd was starting to form at the foot of the steps to watch the Jedi Masters, and Leia moved out from between Dolash and Vodo to turn her back towards them.


"Dolash is right, the Temple needs to be closed. The longer the Order stays here, the more it just tempts fate. It is high time the Jedi got off this damned backwater planet, and tried to make a difference in this galaxy.”


Leia's gaze continued to linger on Vodo, and as he met it she felt a fresh wave of anger flow from him. She sighed.


<o></o><o></o>He’s holding some sort of grudge…[/font]

Dolash allowed silence another moment to reign before turning to face Vodo fully. A small crowd of onlookers - a few of them, Jedi - were now standing in complete silence around them.

"Now now, Leia," said Dolash, unfazed by the sudden arrival of both masters. "If Vodo is angry, he has a right to be. This temple is as much his place as it is yours or mine." Dolash kneeled, saying "If there is something you must say, Vodo, then say now, and I promise I will listen."

One of the on-lookers happened to be Marek himself. Who was surprised to see an altercation, or what appeared to be the onset of a possible altercation breaking out between the three Jedi Masters. Masters as distinguished as Master Dolash, whom Zolar had been a padawan of and Master Vodo, whom Marek knew only by reputation. There was a third master present, but she was someone he was unfamiliar with.

Marek listened intently as they spoke, keeping a mindful ear to the increasingly heated words spouting from the diminutive adept force user.

As intriguing as it was becoming he hadn't forgotten the pain in his side, which was causing some discomfort, but not enough to dissuade him from leaving. His curiosity would be fed before he tended to the mere scratch.

Vodo was silent for a long moment...

then...

He wheeled on Leia, "And what have you done? For anyone?


Nothing.


You went off and saved the world, then abandoned us as if we were a mere afterthought. Do not lecture me on inaction. Instead of leading this order, you walked away from it. And now look at what has happened."

He scoffed at her venomously. He cast a similar look at Dolash, and then pointed his cane directly in the Azguard's face, "Congratulations, Master Dolash."


Without no further words, and not so much a glace at the onlookers, Vodo turned and walked off, dissapearing as quickly as he had appeared. The Force seemed to swirl around him, a small maelstrom of energy as he moved away from the two Jedi.


More damage has been done today than either of you know.



His silent words seemed to hang in the air.

"Vodo...!"


Leia called after the Jedi Master, her voice echoing sharply off of the stone wall of the Temple gates. Vodo ignored her however, and soon vanished with the same suddenness that he had appeared with.


Her hands clenched into fists as she worked to suppress her anger. Now was not the time for the Jedi to crumble under the leadership of three bickering Masters...


Still, Leia was silently fuming.


He blames me for all of this...


She frowned bitterly, the worry lines on her face deepening.


The Jedi Master suddenly looked very old... even haggard.


The whole Order brought this upon itself. Sitting here enoying the sights, adopting a reclusive lifestyle. Waiting on 'Master Leia' to come back and tell them what to do. Is that really what they've been doing?


I shouldn't have to carry this order on my back any longer, I have other obligations! And so do they...


The galaxy can't afford to have any of these Jedi stay on this planet any longer. The Jedi have to mobilize!


Vodo has to see it sooner or later...


Leia turned to Dolash with renewed purpose.


"This is exactly why we need to get off of this damned planet!"

Vodo stood in front of the gates of the Temple. He contemplated the simple, yet elegant wooden doors, which rested on elaborate hinges crafted out of the finest metals. The rest of the Temple was much the same, it was not quite old, only standing for perhaps twenty years or so.

But it still seemed to represent the entirety of the demons that now tugged at Vodo Baas from every direction. They threatened to tear him apart.

He had spent years of his life in devotion to the Jedi Order. After Leia left, Vodo had done his best to hold it together, until the simple monotony of it consumed him as well. He was naturally a teacher, but his succession of failed apprentices and many attempts at training others had resulted in nothing but futility.

He had devoted himself to that Order. In a way, it was the only real thing he had.

And now some Master whom he had never really met had taken it all from him...

Vodo felt like he had been released into an endless void...

A could still feel the burning anger inside him. Anger at failing, anger at himself for letting this happen, but most of all, anger at Leia for forcing him into this position. He had been thrust into a position of leadership in the Jedi when that was never what he had wanted.

All he ever had wanted was to learn about the Force, and to wield it like the ancient powerful masters of old. He had only wanted to find a meaning to his life.


Now that meaning was gone.


The anger that he had bottled up inside him after Leia had abandoned the Jedi started to rise to the surface. He no longer could contain it, and he no longer cared.


Finally, he stopped holding it back....


And with a simple gesture, nothing more than a raised hand...


Vodo released it.


The door exploded inward, sending thousands of wood chips and splinters in every direction. The force of the explosion that emanated from the Jedi Master would have knocked any other person down. But Vodo stood there like a rock in a hurricane.

After a moment, he stepped over the newly created debris, and headed to his personal chambers.




He gathered up his few personal belongings, a few extra garments, complete with his signature hooded robe, a blaster, his credits...

And twelve small cubes.

Vodo himself had created it, a year previous. In it's weakened state, the Jedi Order was always vulnerable to attack. Vodo had wanted to assure the survival of it's vast library of information, material that had been compiled by thousands of Masters. Vodo treasured that information above all else, even his own life.

All of that information was contained in twelve holocrons, a perfect copy of all the information currently within the Jedi archives.

Vodo placed them very carefully in his bag, along with his other personal effects.

And with that, he headed to the hangar.

Dolash stayed by the ruined door in the silence that followed, and shook his head. "I didn't expect it all to go smoothly," he murmured.

With that, the Azguardian snapped back up, and turned towards Leia. "The Jedi Order can never be whole again - not, as you've said, as it remains a weight on our backs. It was such a weight for Vodo as well, although he doesn't realize it yet. Though he is wise, he is also proud, so perhaps with time and perspective he will change his mind.

"There is nothing left for any of us here, except perhaps to collect our personal belongings and formally close this place. There's nothing I valued in that building that I do not carry with me, and the people of Naboo may take it while we are absent, perhaps as recompense for allowing us to stay amongst them."

He felt as if there was more to say, as if more was expected of him. Then again, what else could be said? Vodo was furious, but had apparently still accepted the decision. Leia agreed, and if any others had issue with him they hadn't shown up. Maybe it really was time to... move on.

In a rare moment of clarity, Dolash raised his hands as though he were a conductor, driving forth a glorious symphony. The ruined shards of the gates drifted off the ground and fluttered around him. Briefly mesmerized, the crowd watched on as the doors reformed themselves, as though they were never shattered. Feeling the revelation pass, Dolash pulled the restored doors open, and stood unmovingly.

"I guess that's it," he muttered, in the ensuing silence. "So long."

"This is exactly why we need to get off of this damned planet!"


No sooner had the words left Leia's mouth than there was a loud explosion behind the two Masters, as if someone had taken a fully loaded hovercart and slammed it into the main doors of the Temple. Even as the repercussion of the blast made Leia's ears pop, a wave of dark Force energy washed over her.


Vodo...


Dolash was saying something, but Leia couldn't quite hear it over the ringing in her ears. Her attention was directed elsewhere... at the Jedi Master seething with rage and despair on the other side of the Temple walls. The Jedi Master who had just caused a solid wood door to exlpode in a raw expression of anger.


Jedi Master Vodo Baas. Her friend, colleague, former apprentice...


Genuine fear crept into her thoughts as she realized the very real possibility that the breaking of the Order would drive Vodo to the Dark side of the Force.


I have to try and explain, to make him see... maybe I did abandon him once without warning, but I won't do it again!


But first there was a crowd of suddenly homeless Jedi Apprentices to be dealt with. They were all watching Leia and Dolash closely, looking for any hint of reassurance. She turned her attention back to the gathering on the Temple steps.


"...with me, and the people of Naboo may take it while we are absent, perhaps as recompense for allowing us to stay amongst them."


The ringing in Leia's ears had finally stopped, and she managed to catch the end of Dolash's small speech. Whatever he had just said was beyond her comprehension, but that really didn't matter compared to what he did next...


Leia watched in quiet disbelief as Dolash used some sort of power she had never seen before to literally 'resurrect' the ruined Temple doors.


A stunned silence fell over the crowd.


Nobody, not even Leia knew that it was possible to reconstruct shattered wooden doors with the Force.


But then again, who had known that a single laser beam could destroy a whole planet? That the Rebel Alliance would defeat the Empire? That the Empire would somehow take over the whole galaxy again? That... she had somehow managed to survive it all, and was going to get married again?


Not Leia.


Suddenly nonplussed, Leia decided to take advantage of the silence that had fallen over the crowd gathered in front of the steps leading up to the Jedi Temple. Squaring her shoulders, she stepped forward to address them.


"This may mean the end of the Jedi Order on Naboo, but it does not mean the end of the Jedi! I want you all to go back to wherever you are staying, or feel free to stay inside the Temple for now. I want you to think about what you have just seen here.


For those of you who truly want to learn the ways of the Jedi, return here at 1800 hours tonight. We will discuss what has just happened here. Life is about to get very difficult for the Jedi, but I promise every one of you... you will not be discarded or left behind."


The crowd seemed reluctant to disperse, and Leia made shooing motions at them with her hands.


"Go on, get out of here... you have a lot of thinking to do and not much time to do it in. Come back tonight, 1800 hours... I will talk with you all then."


As the crowd finally started to shuffle away, Leia heard Dolash mutter something that sounded like "so long", and she turned to face him. A moment passed in which the two Masters simply looked at each other uncertainly, and then Leia moved forward and took one of Dolash's hands in both of her own.


"Dolash, I..."


She hesitated. What was there to say? They had just agreed that years of hard work on their parts was better off left abandoned. She squeezed his hand.


"Take care of yourself."


Leia pursed her lips and released the Azguardian's hand. Her peripheral Force sense was picking up the presence of an angry Jedi Master getting ready to slip out the back door of the Jedi Temple unseen.


"We will see each other again... as long as we both stick to fighting the good fight."


She managed to produce a small smile for Dolash, and then turned and skulked through the remade doors into the Jedi Temple.


Leia wanted to go to her own quarters and pack up whatever personal belongings she had left behind. She wanted time to herself to mourn, to try and figure out where she had gone wrong. To figure out where the Order had gone wrong...


Her heart ached to talk to Tyscio, who had stayed behind on Bonadan at her own request. She had thought she needed to do this alone, but now she realized that she needed him in the worst way. Someone to talk to, who would comfort her...


Instead Leia pulled the deep hood of her worn brown robe back up over her head, and set out to follow Vodo to the hangar. As much as Leia wanted to focus on herself... she knew Vodo needed it more.


A day had barely passed since Leia's return to Theed, and already she felt the old, familiar strain of unreleased tension in her shoulders. She realized that she had gotten a little too used to her lack of real responsibility on Bonadan, and although it had eventually driven her stir crazy she missed it already. Capricia had been a harsh war, and her stresses before that had been nearly intolerable. She had needed the break badly, but now it was time to get back in the grind.


Damn Order. Damn planet. At least soon the Jedi would be out in the galaxy making some progress....


She hoped.

Whether it was as a pirate, a Jedi or even his latest endeavour in vigilantism, Marek never really found his place in the galaxy. It seemed as though, no matter what he did or tried, he never truly made his impression felt, or even known beyond the confines of those whom he'd trained closely with. The Order was finished and everyone involved knew it, regardless if they'd openly admit it or not. Once a flourishing haven for all things Jedi, Naboo held little to zero appeal for anyone who called themselves a force user.

The confrontation of Masters reminded Zolar that nothing is ever set in stone, or built to last for that matter. With those final words, the Jedi would now be scattered few and far between, making the likelihood of an all out Sith assault inevitable, a threat that most certainly would spell the doom of all those who weld the lighter side of the force.

Wasting little time in the temple after he'd finally found a serviced Med pack, Marek returned to his hotel room to collect the rest of his belongings, then without further delay set out for Theed's main star port. The only trace that he'd ever been there was some bloodied linens, and his Jedi Comm. Unit which would be of little service to him, especially since there was no longer any affiliation between himself and the dispersing homeless.

Off the Grid.

With His destination unknown, chance would determine his next stop.