Star Wars
Heart of Evil
It has been three years since the JEDI EXILE defeated the Dark Side Triumviate of Darths Nihilus, Sion, and Traya. Like the prodigal Jedi Knight REVAN - the Exile follows the former Dark Lord's path into the Unknown Regions to confront the True Sith Empire.
Two years and several months later, the SITH reveal themselves in an assult on the rebuilding planet of TARIS. Three Jedi Knights named RAIDEN SKYWALKER, REG TOLLIAN, and XANTOS KELVIN along with Jedi Master JUHANI gathered the remnants of Taris' population and led a guerrila war on the Sith. It was a success, but at the cost of the Jedi Master.
The Sith Lords behind the assult, DARTH TYRAVEL and DARTH XANITH plot to convert these young Jedi heroes to the Dark Side of the Force. Three months after the Taris incident the three heroes leave the Jedi Order for personal reasons. Now, three years after the Exile's return several heroes and anti-heroes embark on a quest to defeat this Sith menace.
Will they succeed at defeating these Sith Lords and bring peace to the galaxy? Or will a new Dark Lord of the Sith rise from the ashes from their predecessors and bring a new dark age upon the galaxy?
The peaceful Dantooine Enclave, tediously rebuilt by the the tireless Disciple, was now a large training academy for Jedi. Three young Jedi, Sparrow Volescu, Serap Aku, and Xander Floyd, were in the middle of meditation when their master entered.
"Excuse me, Padawans, may I have a word?" asked Mical.
The three jedi followed Mical to a nearby room, which was a small office like place. Mical had them sit down.
"I have heard a disturbance in the force. I fear Darth Xanith is getting more powerful. I'll need you three to train, harder and more powerful than before. There is a taint, on the far side of the planet. I fear it is the Dark Side. I'll need you three to go investigate."
The three of them nodded, and they left the room, and then the enclave.
"Well, I suppose we should train first," said Sparrow.
"Agreed," said Xander.
"Wait," said Serap, "Who should be the team leader?"
---
"Cmon, were getting out of here," said a voice.
Three Jedi, young ones who kept together, best friends, left the Jedi Enclave. They felt they had no need for the Jedi Teachings anymore, and wanted to go Rogue.
"Now, are we sure about this," said a voice as the three ran.
"I don't know" said another.
"Whatever we choose to do, we need a leader" said the last.
---
"DIE!" said a bounty hunter as he charged another.
The attacked one fell down, dead. Shot by three others.
"Nice job, guys" said Jinn Starr, with a grin.
"He was getting us angry, wasn't he?" asked Riquus.
"Oh yeah, and we stuck him good," said Mihial, looking at the corpse.
Jinn Starr stared at the pile of credits the dead guy dropped.
These four men were friends to the core, they had met a little while ago, and linked up, and were a deadly team of fighters.
Now, they were bound to an Exchange boss on Nar Shaddaa.
"I want to get out of here" said Jinn, picking up money.
"Same here, I want greener pastures." said Mihial
"Yeah, but where are we gonna be without a leader?" asked Riquus
--
"I nominate myself as party leader. And did anyone notice that Master Mical's fly was open other than me?"
Serap just noticed something, he zipped his up.
"Of course we could always not have a team leader. That works pretty well for me. I say we go train on some settlers. Sounds pretty fun to me.... Just kidding. Seriously, where should we train? I think it would be better if we trained at the enclave some more, until we're ready to leave."
Sparrow shook his head. "I think you're just imagining things, Serap." he shrugged, not even remembering Master Mical even having a fly. "But I'll have to suggest we train in the Kinrath caves. Those guys just never run out of hatchlings. I've also heard there are some rare crystals in there..." he grinned, the prospect of sabre-crystal hunting intriquing him.
"Ok...um... how about you go in front, and I'll uh... watch your flank."
Serap was not a fan of the dark, nor Kinrath, or any other spider-like organisms. He started twiddling his thumbs...
"Yeah! We could always use more crystals, and by clearing out the kinrath, we could make the plains a lot safer for the settlers. Just last week, a settler, and his wife was killed out in the plains by a kinrath, and I gave their kids most of my money, but I still think they're in big trouble."
Sparrow laughed at Serap's seeming fear. "Serap, we aren't even there yet." He paused. "But... perhaps we do need a group leader... I personally don't care."
"I suppose it would be much better, for you to go in first but that does not mean you get first pick of the crystals. I really want a Kasha crystal I hope I can find some.... I also heard that sometimes when Jedi go into the cave, they find a crystal specially attuned to them, I hope I can get a crystal like that too..." said Serap
Xander catches up with the other two.
"We'll all split the crystals, but keep in mind that's not the only reason we're going there, we need to train. And if we can't decide on who gets a crystal, we'll just have to hand it over to Master Mical"
Sparrow nodded. "Yeah... true. That's a good idea. And don't worry, Serap. I don't even want a Kasha crystal."
--
"I'm just a simple scout one of you three can be the leader. But for now let us get some where safe to make the choice." Says Jinn
"Yes, let's get out of here," agreed Riquus, glancing around, "The geometry is horrible."
"A leader?" Riquus mentally asked himself as he and his companions exited the scene. Due to his age, he had always thought of himself as a parent, or at least an older brother, of the other three in his little band, but they were on equal terms with one another.
He had already ordered men to their deaths during the war, and felt no desire to do so again. Riquus glanced at his three friends, wondering if he had what it took to order them to place themselves in danger, to get hurt, to act against their will and common sense. And if they would even obey.
"I have always acted on my own," said Fortis. "From the time I was six years old until only 5 months ago when I meant you all. Plus I'm only 14. I don't think I'm ready to lead."
"Riquus is 32," thought Fortis to himself. "Why doesn't he just take charge already?"
"Yes Riq, why dont you take leadership I have faith in you," Jinn says over his shoulder staying a bit ahead of the rest to scout the area. He keeps his rifle in hand just in case.
A note for the reader(s) regarding the "character timeline" in this story. If at all you feel the need to ask "Who did what first?" always refer to it as so: Mercenaries, Jedi, Rogues. In order until a later point in the story. Now going by age it's like this:
Riquus
Jinn
Reg
Raiden
[unknown character]
Sparrow/Xantos/[unknown character]
[unknown character]
[unknown character]
[unknown character(x2)]
Xander/[unknown character]
[unknown character(HK model)]