3rd Person:
Master Zinn struggled to suppress shuddering winces of distressingly increasing pang as she led Jarelle through the balanced steps of Shii-Cho lightsaber combat. Though her leathery Kel Dor forelimbs were still scarred and nearly disfigured from De'Busk's failed assassination attempt, she pushed her frail body to demonstrate the ancient basic motions of the Jedi honed into Form 1.
Jarelle followed along intently, echoing Zinn's saber-polearm maneuvers with her own gleaming beskar twin-blade. She took care to control her natural strength when sparring, not wishing to tax her wounded mentor further than her limits. However, fierceness still smoldered behind Jarelle's purple eyes as she envisioned confronting the Trandoshan commander's Jedi lackeys once again.
Noticing Jarelle's simmering irritation misaligning her already barely practiced steps, Zinn dropped her gold-colored saber-pike. "Remember, passion can lend potency when tempered, but uncontrolled it will consume all in its path." She gestured to the habitat's window where a swath of land still lay bare, bombardment marred Dantooine's once pristine forests from De'Busk's attempts to find the hidden location over a few cycles.
Jarelle bit back a remark before Zinn's staticky voice came through again. "I witnessed similar destruction firsthand when I served alongside Sansa years ago on Alderaan." Zinn's expression grew distant at the memories, her breath became shakey. "We exposed the previous Chancellor's scheme to defraud the core systems banks..."
Zinn laughed to herself for a moment. "In the political fallout, the Council conveniently reassigned me far from the Core on this neglected Frontier assignment." Jarelle's green eyes widened with recognition as Zinn pressed on.
"I remember the day--the jaded fools could not even meet my eyeline!" Subtle memories threatened to break through Zinn's hazy mind but it was as if only certain memories peaked through, her head wracked with pain.
Jarelle cocked her head "Why would the council side with such a scandalous regime?." She stepped closer, intrigued to finally hear her mentor's full story. Zinn lowered her head solemnly. "Chancellor Mathus could not abide a Jedi interfering with his profits or authority, I had discovered his family's plot to create false loans toward Ambria...." The Kel Dor sat resting her body for a moment on a carved wooden chair.
"The foolish human thought it was a good idea to launch a whole fleet of clunky battle droids funded without anyone's consent to crush the Outer Rim with impunity." Zinn rocketed for a moment, letting gentle breezes sing her memories back to life.
"So he influenced the Council to remove the 'agitator' while granting protection to corporate stakeholders like Trazzeck Arms and Minerals--represented by none other than Commander De'Busk Trazzek..."
A nesting large snail that called the Dantooine Treeline it's home came into view before the two hardened female warriors. "When I first arrived I began to notice data streams about large amounts of cargo being lifted toward Ambria still--Mathus may have stepped down but his cut ran deeper than the order cared to admit."
Jarelle set her jaw, her long black hair masking her large facial scar. "Then the Jetii Order is complicit in both Mathus and the Trandoshan's colonization and crimes!" Zinn raised a fist but Zinn interrupted her. "The Council believed they acted justly, Dantooine having been an already exploited hyper-lane meant we Jedi could not disrupt the 'essential' flow of the new territories...but detached doctrine is blind without compassion." Her voice trailed off.
"I realized that truth too late" Her weathered clawed hand came to rest gently upon Jarelle's worn gold-ornemented Beskar armor, the much younger warrior regarded her master with grace. "I only wish I had spent less time focused on what I was told to--not what I saw..."The evening began to express its purple blanket as the ex-Jedi Knight Jarelle spoke with spite on her tongue. "They are all kath hounds eating each other..."
"Not the order as a whole Jaja. Many Jedi like Sansa feel what is happening out here, though their companion's ideology chains them. If we can make this male Jedi actually understand what is at stake, three Jedi can succeed where I failed alone."
Resolute purpose radiated from Jarelle's scarred visage. "By Ordo's banner, we shall bring justice to Dantooine with Sansa's help...or die trying, master!" Pride swelled in Zinn's heart seeing the noble combatant her apprentice had become despite such adversity and loss around them.
Through the habitat's viewport, Dantooine's undulating grasslands and forests stretched serenely to the horizon now that the battle's echoes had settled. Zinn prayed this haven could be preserved from further ravaging at least till Jarelle could be fully trained. Zinn Force-pushed her lightsaber pike toward her, gesturing for Jarelle's next lesson to commence.
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Sansa descended through crude mining tunnels, guided only by the glimmering white glow rod she had brought with her. The Tholothian squeezed through a jagged narrow fissure, Force barely shielding her throat from choking dust that engulfed her.
Ancient simple carvings lined these neglected passageways...escaping slaves from the Revan and Malak's dark Sith Empire in millennia past. She had spent the last 3 weeks searching for any signs of the Mandolorians to no avail with Torrin, now she trekked alone in search of deeper answers from the Force.
At last her path ended, opening into a mammoth chamber with stygian infinity pooling beyond the glow-rod's reach. Sansa activated her thin purple lightsaber, her blood turning to frost in her veins. Splintered Sith commemorations and serpentine collums curled around the grotto, emanating scraps of purified dark side power not felt for centuries.
She felt the choking grip of the ancient evils dulling her senses, Sansa realized this was why they had had so much haze over their stay on Dantooine. This buried vault's spires and architecture bore no resemblance to the graceful Jedi temple built far above. Sinister Sithil energy permeated everything like a soul-smothering miasma.
Sansa feared to imagine what malignant rituals Malak and Revan’s old Sith followers executed in this unhallowed sanctum before the Order sealed its abyssal maw. She tried to piece together who all knew of this place, its memory was nowhere in her studies at the Jedi temple records.
Sealed energies begged to spring forth into her. Horrified realization crystallized as she glimpsed digger scars near the base of the dark side-- De'Busk's illegal excavations must have breached the crypt's archaic wards long ago. She was abruptly basked in a stream of wretched twilight, encompassing like a black hole in the Force.
Insidious whispers crawled from the psychic wound rippling outward but contained by the obvious high amounts of sinister heirlooms below the surface of the planet. Via their bone-chilling cacophony, Sansa parsed two distinguishable presences someplace deep in a creviced wasteland of southern Dantooine-- a cold cunning hunter cloaked in voided twisted shadows...and a darkened corrupted scythe, young and drunk on power.
"Impossible..." Sansa puffed, stumbling against a crumbling wall. "The Sith line died centuries ago after Darth Bane!" Yet her senses did not mislead the Jedi knight. Like frigid phantoms, Darth Cognus and her latest disciple briefly manifested through the reopened gateway, feasting on her terror before vanishing back into ambiguity with only a demonic giggle.
Sansa forced down her panic, sanity reeling from the dire implications now threatening the whole galaxy as the dark side once again materialized from hiding, on Dantooine of all places. She knew not what hellish plans spurred this covert Sith rebirth, only that the Jedi Council must be not only made aware but present on Dantooine themselves.
Glancing desperately around the chamber for any last clues, Sansa called on the Force to collapse part of the chamber ceiling decisively, plugging the tortured sepulcher with debris without bringing down the whole surface Jedi temple above. She ran back up the dilapidated tunnel before stones ceased tumbling, resolved to quickly alert Torrin and make for the Coruscant contact before the Sith trail went cold once more.
Sansa scrambled from the cracked mining tunnel out into the chill night air, gasping for breath. She steeled her emotions before monitoring a Dantari miner attempting to sneak food from an ajar container near the temple. The Tholothian shook her head as she was reminded of the more tangible issue of the planet's extortion, her heart pounded as Sansa realized how little they actually had control of the wild Rim.
She was nearly halfway across the staging yard when Commander De'Busk emerged from behind an automated drilling apparatus, flanked as ever by his two towering Wookiee guards. The albino was fixated on the dazzling night sky while the other rumbled with undisguised menace at the Jedi's presence. "Why Sssansssa my dear, what bringsss you ssssneaking about my facccility at this late hour? Were your Government accomadationsss, not enough?"
Stolen story; please report.
De'Busk's faceted orange eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You seem...flussstered my dear." Sansa silently cursed herself for not taking more care to conceal her escape, not expecting the Trandoshian to still be so active at night. "Apologies Commander, I frequently wander while meditating on the Living Force...this site's residual energy led my feet astray. What has you working so late?" She kept her tone pleasantly curious.
She resisted the instinctive urge to glance back at her makeshift rubble seal over the grotto gateway, instead compelling an uneasy smile. De'Busk bared his skewed fangs negligibly in joy. "I do not sssleep while my enemiesss yet draw breath." His large green cranial brow ridge glinted in the moonlight. "Ssspeaking of which..." He extended a datapad displaying a clandestine image of Jarelle's brother earlier that day with an obscured hairy figure dripping in blood, the boy was barely recognizable as pieces of his flesh had been taken and resewn back to him.
"It seemsss the Mandoloriansss were not the only onesss to escape my purge. Little rat ssays hisss warlord bitch sssissster near Jakar Border Ssssector." He tapped the smudged location far in Dantooine's unsettled north. "The outcassst is undoubtedly the radical Zinn...meddling where she isss not wanted. " Sansa was barely able to remain silent at the news of her old friend being labeled as a traitor.
"But sssoon we ssshall extingussssh their pathetic rebellion for good!" The Trandoshan's utter conviction sent a fresh chill through Sansa's heart. She unlike Torrin had not heard of Zinn's plight, the knight had merely thought master Zinn was on a long mission not a direct enemy of the Republic. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out why Torrin had kept such a secret from her as the lead Jedi sent here.
Obtaining boldness against her nervousness, she met De'Busk's reptilian glare. "The Jedi--I seek only unity for all Dantooine's people, Commander, the enemy will make itself clear." She held the Trandoshan's calculating stare, neither daring to move a muscle. The sound of panting was the only noise cutting the taut stillness.
His wookie brothers' hunched stature remained trained on Sansa until De'Busk finally chuckled. "By all meansss, rest easssy knowing I will try your naïve plan. I ssshall be watching...I rarely misss anything, my dear." He turned to depart before glancing back with slit pupils.
The clack of his solid black boots halted "Feel free to let the Jedi order know our misssions current progresss, they will be pleasssed with sssomeone ssso....vigilant." The unspoken threat hung tangibly as De'Busk's hulking frame retreated into darkness, flanked by the more imposing Wookie sentries. They made their way to a group of exhausted Mercenaries milling about next to a formation
Sansa slowly discharged the anxious breath she had been holding. The slimy Trandoshan clearly suspected her of unraveling his secrets. She would have to navigate this similarly to the Mathus scandal. Once beyond sight of the sentries, Sansa broke into a Force-enhanced run toward where she had left Torrin.
Her quick feet sprayed dew and scattered local Kath hounds as she made her way across the long meadow leading to their provided sleeping pods near the edge of the complex. The way forward was obscured to her but her passion was stoked by the knowledge of the hidden Sith menace.
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Torrin tossed fitfully in his spartan living quarters, brows knitted as flickers of darkness swirled through his dreaming mind. He stood within a vast shattered hall, sapphire sabers drawn as spires toppled and molten fissures split the fracturing floor. He did not recognize the location but felt familiar at the moment as he gripped his weapons tight enough to draw blood. Torrin tried to see through crimson-choking smoke to no avail.
He barely perceived across the miasmic veined chamber stood a raven-hooded silhouette wreathed in shadow, its face obscured by an Antiox mask dripping blood. Torrin tried to wipe his eyes before he heard the sound of near-constant saber clash pierced his ears.
Crimson blades carved destruction through attacking Jedi with crippling might. The very ambiance thrummed with shrieking dissonance, defiling energy bleeding from the cloudy figure's robes. Somewhere screamed the Force itself, recoiling from this profane vessel unleashing annihilation.
All around lay strewn the bodies of Republic troops and Jedi alike, broken like puppets with severed strings as they lay dismembered in the dark corridor. Still, the relentless merciless advance continued... one final robed nightmare against which Torrin stood alone in the collapsing abyss as he watched the last member of the council fall--His own master.
Behind him cowered huddled an unknown woman protecting two small children bundled to her chest. The unmaking wrath soon to overwhelm their desperate guardian, her cries drowned out as if heard underwater.
With a ragged gasp, Torrin jolted awake. Cold sweat slicked his brown skin as he slowly recognized Sansa's concerned features haloed in Dantooine moonlight beside his meager cot. The vision's fear yet lingered, still sour in his throat.
He had never witnessed such perversion of the Force's fundamental laws, even in bloody skirmishes against Weeqauy pirates and Mandalorian raiders. The horror sank into his stomach like a deep well.
Torrin slowly sat upright, regaining composure as Sansa described her own unnerving discovery at the mining complex concealing far more than met the eye. He listened intently to fears of a Sith resurgence somehow manifesting on rural Dantooine when their Order proclaimed that the ancient foe was long extinct.
As Sansa finished her dire saga, Torrin shook his dreadlocked head bitterly. "This shaded peril cannot be...the Sith are merely shadows of our ever-evolving light, we both need to take more care in protecting our minds from exhaustion..." His beating heart betrayed the subtle doubts.
Sansa turned away from him, her silken robes flourishing with her motion away from the bed. "I risked a lot...coming to you with this Torrin--the order cannot turn a blind eye to a Sith resurgence!" Simmering sensations of her vexation rattled the force.
He sighed, lost on distant battlefields, not wanting to remember his night terror. "In CENTURIES fighting between the stars, never did we encounter real Sith despite seeking out their hidden shrines at every opportunity." Torrin eyed his lightsabers still clasped to his waist when he was meant to be resting.
"You must have been mistaken, Sansa...Lingering dark energy plays tricks even upon Jedi senses merely from times past." He rose with conviction and firmly clasped her shoulder, his dismisal though unknown to him hurt the Tholothian woman.
"Tomorrow we will investigate this mining anomaly together and discover the real source fueling these visions...I swear to you no Lord of the Sith haunts this land. The Force itself guides the Republic's vision ever forward..." His expressions lingered in the night air heavily before Sansa made he way to her bonded pod without a remark, her purple tendrils twitching as she walked through the doorway.
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As dawn's first light encroached over Dantooine's rolling grassy elevations, Torrin and Sansa made their way cautiously back to the mining complex. Sansa led them to the cracked tunnel she had escaped from the previous night, apprehension rising in her throat at the thought of what dark revelations awaited below. The morning was filled with silence between the two Jedi Knights.
However, as they descended into the gloom of the tunnels, Sansa realized with dawning horror that the rubble sealing the sinister Sith vault had been cleared. Fresh excavation scars surrounded the now gaping maw, tunneling supplies, and spotlights revealing a coalition had descended not long ago.
Sansa's head tendrils squirmed with her reeling mind. Torrin pushed his blue robe back, staring at the passage's walls now bare of their unsettling carvings that depicted long-faded blights. "It seems Commander De'Busk did not rest either after your late-night chat..." His expression was grave yet didn't betray his inner doubts of the Trandoshan.
They soon reached the vast miasmic enclosure Sansa discovered at the tunnel's end but found only broken remnants of the vile monuments and shattered artifacts that had sent psychic blasts through her sanity. gathering scattered rubble and stone dust were the sole traces anything had occupied the expansive hollowed space.
Sansa clenched her fists, backstabbed and infuriated. "That fucking Trandoshan!" She slammed a booted foot against the black cracked floor. "He must have had spies following me...Now any proof the Sith prevails is erased!" Her shout echoed through the void, the sound of chittering insects was the only response the darkness had.
Torrin rested a calloused hand gently on her, attempting to ease his new friend's mind. "Peace, Sansa. Perhaps it is for the best, so their lingering talons cannot ensnare other souls if some form yet endures." His steady voice calmed her turmoil. She shrugged off the man's touch, stepping away from Torrin.
Sansa turned to meet his brown eyes, her truth boiled in her Tholothian heart. "But clearly De'Busk himself has fallen under its dark power...this is not over, I feel it in the Force!" Resolve glossed in her expression and Torrin nodded grimly. Hands resting on lightsaber hilts, they ascended back into morning's soft rays.
" We will not be alone for long...I was finally able to notify the council of the temple 2 days ago..." Confidence rang in Torrin's tone but faltered seeing Sansa's bitter smile. "You still don't understand old friend...The Republic's masters do not care what happens on these backwater worlds..." Her robes swirled as she strode off. Torrin watched her depart across the complex, conflicted at his core.
He had sworn loyalty to the Jedi Code above all else. But in his heart, Torrin could not ignore the daily signs of this planet's blatant lack of watch--the Council served agendas beyond simple justice in such a long-spanning time of galactic peace and growth.
With rising unease, he wondered if darkness had already sunk its claws in deeper than either realized...Flashes of his nightmare came over him. Torrin strode after Sansa as she combed the staging yard, seeking any lingering dark side traces the Danturi miners may have missed. "Sansa, you must let this go. No Sith haunt this place, and now their taint is cleansed even if some artifact did remain." His tone left no room for debate as the miners scurried away from the visitors without a word.
Sansa whirled to face him, cheeks quivering in frustration. "You STILL refuse to see the truth, Torrin?! De'Busk hid whatever he found below and will use it for his own ends." She began to access one of the protocol droids lingering near an unactivated drilling apparatus near the new mine shaft.
"You do not have access to that...Im sorry, HEY!" She ignored the droid's annoyance at having been taken apart so suddenly. "Shut up droid!" Torrin clenched his jaw, not wanting to be fined for the droid's illegal tampering. He opened his mouth to retort when an exclamation rang from across the complex.
"YOU REPUBLIC DOGS WILL DIE LIKE MY FAMILY!"