Twilight's Dawn

[Dax]

Twilight's Dawn

The Galactic Republic has been the dominant power in the known galaxy for several millennia’s, or since its creation. Through its unchallenged supremacy, it has explored and charted many star systems, one of them being Sol who has nine planets orbiting it, including a small blue planet called Earth. The Galactic Republic, especially its humans, has taken notice to this planet and its primitive human inhabitants that seem to have evolved separately to the Republic’s humans. They have decided to keep watch from afar on the planet, studying it for purely academicals reasons, preferring to watch it evolve independently.

After a few years of unfettered research and observation, the Sith Empire, thanks to its feared intelligence agency, learnt of this untouched planet and thought up a scheme. If they could get to this ‘Earth’, establish contact with these innocent humans and annex them to the Empire, they would gain a new and potentially enormously powerful ally and a large inflow of soldiers and resources. The Empire, as a consequence, has sent some Sith lords to the planet to prepare the terrain for its fleets.
The Republic has not taken lightly to this aggressive move by the Empire. In retaliation, the Republic has sent Jedi Knights to the planet to eliminate the Sith lords and end the menace.

Both sides have unfortunately made their presence known to the Earth humans and some humans have decided to be more friendly towards the Republic, others the Empire. The world governments still stay officially neutral. Earth is currently in the year 2011.


Once on planet, the hunt begins, but something more sinister waits, taking both the Jedi, the Sith and the Earth humans by surprise and may threaten the entire galaxy…


Players:

Kael Ardmore - Ruu - Jedi Consular
Whabb - Count - Jedi Master
Kessad Ei-Shan - Kyrt - Jedi Knight

Elizabeth "Billie" Corvino - Digimuse - Human
Red_Wolf

Darth Jaraxix - Dax - Sith Lord
Talitha Shan/Jane Rogers - Lyonesse - Sith Assassin/Spy




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Earth. A tiny blue spec amongst many, many others. What differentiates this one from all the others? What makes this one small planet important enough to make the two most powerful empires in the galaxy fight over it with ferocity? The answer is simple as it is complex: a scientific, academic initiative gone wrong, the ambitions of a rising superpower getting where it is not supposed to be and the struggle of a species to maintain its freedom.

Fast forward a couple years and you have Earth surrounded by near constant orbital battles of Republic and Imperial flagships and space jets. The wilderness and uninhabited areas of earth are full of gun battling Imperial and Republic Troopers. The rest of the planet, cities and suburbs alike, are filled with the common sight of Jedi and Sith dueling. Although Earthen humans do not live in continuous fear, this constant war is starting to take a toll. Even if the planet’s nations are mostly neutral, they do not reflect the population’s mood. The normal man and women are angry. So much so that certain humans have decided to take matters into their own hands and kill any non-earthen human in sight.

Now, the sides are clear. The Empire wishes to annex Earth to its Empire so as to acquire an important new race for their expanding ambitions. The Republic wishes remove the Sith and leave Earth as it was, untouched and balanced. Earthen humans wish to remove all of the aliens from Earth immediately and get revenge on them for ruining their specie’s lives.

[Ruu]

Kael Ardmore looked around with intense sea-green eyes, surveying the city of Montreal. Though he had been to some places on Earth, this location was new to him. A large city, perhaps one of the largest in the country the Earthen humans called Canada. And he was here to try to make another desperate plea for aid. He shook his head at the thought. The Earthen humans were angry, and rightly so. The interest of the Republic had brought with it the dark designs of the Empire and now these people were in very real danger. They were becoming hostile, and the young Jedi didn't even need to stretch out his senses to feel the very palpable aura of anger, fear, and mistrust. He had heard of Sith and Jedi alike attacked in various parts of the world. So far, he had been safe, but only because of diplomatic immunity. Soon, that immunity might not last.

As he walked past skyscrapers, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him. Perhaps it had been paranoia...Ever since that one encounter with the Sith...He shook his head; no, he wouldn't think of it! So far he had been fortunate to stay away from battles with the feared enemy, but he knew with the escalation in violence, that would soon prove to be impossible. The Sith were bent on destroying the Jedi presence and exerting their dominance over Earth.

So much war and destruction...Kael had to mentally block out the pain from the people fighting and dying...the Earth itself groaning with pain as space debris struck its surface. A weaker man might have cracked under the pressure, and Kael was not far from breaking down as it was. He wanted to help so badly...The heal the hurts of the wounded. He had the power from within and the amplification crystals, but he couldn't use them for his own selfish need to feel whole. He needed to use them with the well-being of others in mind...If only he could do more...His hand tightened around the hilt of his lightsaber, little used. Violence couldn't be used to combat more violence, could it? And yet the forces of the Republic were doing the very thing they spoke against. He shook his head...This was all so confusing...All those thoughts jumbled in his mind, clouding his focus, making him less aware of his surroundings...He should have known better...

[Count]

Whabb's furry head poked out from behind the thick jungle tree, and he swung around its rough bark with agility and grace, followed by a troop of other bearlike Ewoks, like himself. They did not have his Force-enhanced speed and reflexes, but their whole life was spent on the moon of Endor, and they were as at home in the trees of Earth as those of that moon.

Whabb suddenly signaled his troops to a halt, having sighted a platoon of Imperial soldiers standing nonchalantly in the woods, hopelessly lost. With a few shakes of a claw, the rest of the Ewoks were gone, spreading in a pincer movement that led to the enemy soldiers being surrounded. With that, Whabb leapt gracefully to the ground and pulled a lightsaber from its holster. He walked brazenly right into the middle of the Imperial camp, knowing there was no Sith Lord among their ranks. This was the cue for the Ewoks scattered through the surrounding trees to load up with everything that could come to hand.

The Imperial commander, a nameless stormtrooper but for the insignia his left arm, to his credit, had his army roused and ready in half the time it took for Whabb's troops to load their slings and prepare javelins. Whabb crossed his stumpy legs and sat down, giving his troops a few minutes while the Imperials scratched their heads in puzzlement. When he was quite sure they were done, he flashed a spiky-toothed grin at the stormtrooper.

"It's a trap," he said grimly, and then activated his lightsaber. The stormtroopers reacted instantly, hands going straight to their weapons to fire, but they were hit with many small, natural projectiles before they could so much as pull a single trigger, and then the Ewok was upon them. The small, bearlike creature's white lightsaber flashed and whirred like snow upon a cold, gray dawn, heralding death for the Imperial troopers at every turn. With Whabb so closely engaged, the Ewoks were unable to fire, but the stormtroopers were leery of shooting at so close a range, for fear of missing. The situation seemed bleak, but Whabb, the heat of battle rushing straight to his head, Force Pushed a great number of stormtroopers in all directions as he madly fought his way to the commander. Freed from such inhibitive, the stormtroopers opened fire on the spinning Jedi Master, and Whabb was hit in the left arm and the foot before beginning to defend in earnest.

Luckily, his troops had made ready for the assault on the Jedi Master, and the stormtroopers were suddenly quite busy fighting a large number of rock fragments and wooden javelins, all of which were falling from the forest canopy above their heads. Many of their shots found their marks, and small bearlike shapes could be glimpsed falling through the canopy, only to be caught to rest a great height above the ground, spread-eagled against a high forest bough. Whabb's eyes flashed, and he leapt high above the stormtroopers, cape flaring out, coming to rest with his lightsaber cutting directly through the commander's head. Whabb pulled his weapon out of the stormtrooper's cranium, brandishing the lightsaber at the remaining troopers. This action was rewarded with a heavy round of blaster fire, which the Jedi Master was forced to work hard to evade and deflect.

"You fight honorably and well, good stormtroopers," he yelled, while evading the hail of blaster fire, "and it pains me much to see you defeated in such a manner, but I'm afraid that war is war, and your time has come." With that, he skidded to a stop, reached into the Force, and held out one hand. From the extended palm, an enormous blast of the Force sent stormtroopers flying in all directions. Dazed and confused, they made easy targets for the Ewok fighters, who finished off the remaining stormtroopers and set about counting the casualties. Whabb made his way over to the dead commander and used his lightsaber to slice off the insignia, staring at it wordlessly.

Nameless commander, he thought to himself, you fought with honor and skill and died a casualty of war. Your troops were loyal and strong, and it truly was an honor and a privelege to fight them, rather than a bore or a simple slaughter. He was snapped from his reverie by a tap on the shoulder from one of his men. The pale Ewok turned and looked at the soldier, a grizzled veteran by the name of Greiron, who saluted smartly.

"Master Whabb, we have lost ten Ewok braves out of fifty, may their souls rest, and the Imperials wounded another fourteen." A glimmer of annoyance crossed Whabb's brow, which did not go unnoticed by Greiron. "Still plagued by your OCD, huh, sir? Well, having ten wounded would be worse than nine, so we can at least be thankful for that..." Greiron paused. His eyes widened in shock as the irate Jedi Master rubbed his foot. "Oh, okay, make that ten, then. Buggers fought well, didn't they? Almost a shame to kill them, but such is the price of war. On their side, not a one escaped the punishment. Commander was fairly high-ranking, though why they'd stick him out here without a map is anyone's guess. Maybe someone ate it? Anyway, there were fifty-four stormtroopers in all, not counting the commander. You did well, Whabb." The Jedi Master glared at the veteran.

"You call the senseless slaughter of a well-trained squadron of troops a good job?" he began, but Greiron cut him short. "Yes, I do," he said angrily, "and don't you go spouting your 'wartime' speech nonsense again. This was a well-trained squadron of enemy troops, and we managed to fend them off. Those same troops could potentially have surprised and overpowered us another day, or perhaps one of our fellow squadrons. Suppose everyone escaped but you, and you had to live with the punishment of knowing that your hesitation led to the deaths of all your men!

"But that's not what it's like. Because in war, the dishonorable thing to do is to only fight the weak squadrons, even if you're powerful enough to defeat the strong ones. The strong are to protect the weak, and if all else fails, leave the weakest for others. It's only customary, and it allows others to take care of the nuisances so that you can eliminate the threats. With all due respect, sir." Greiron saluted once more, turned smartly, and went right back to tending the wounded. Whabb watched him go, a smile playing around his lips, and then he went to see what he could do to help.

In less than a day, the Ewoks were licking their wounds in the Republic base, preparing for their next mission. Whabb walked into the waiting room, his bearlike mouth set in a grim line.

"This one's a solitary mission, boys. You have to cool your heels while your boss goes down to earth to keep the peace; apparently, those casualties were a bit too high, and the squadron is not to act as a squadron until it is recovered to full strength. Don't worry about me; as a Jedi, I heal fast, and keeping the peace can't be too strenuous. I look forward to recovering you boyos some time in the future, fit and fresh and raring to go," he said in Ewok. Anyone who chose to listen in at that point in time would just hear a series of chirps and whistles that made no coherent sense and culminated in the Ewok Jedi Master simply walking out of the room.

[Digital Muse]

Billie took a sip of her coffee and immediately wrinkled her nose. Cold again. She leaned back in her office chair, rubbing her left thigh where it still ached nearly constantly. Her brown eyes flitted toward the stained coffee pot and saw that it was empty. Again. Well, she needed a break from her cases anyway, might as well make some fresh coffee. Billie levered herself out of her chair, pausing a moment to stretch her leg, then limped to the old coffee maker. It was black and held together in the back with duct tape. As usual, the city budget was tight and amenities like a new coffee maker were right out.

Billie ruminated on her cases as the coffee maker sighed, hissed and burbled through its cycle of brewing. The Dominic Grange murder? His brother did that. I just have to find the rodent. Marcia Trent? Not sure. Probably her pimp or someone she was selling crack to. I have to get out there and work my contacts. The one last night? No I.D. but the robes marked him as one of those Jedi guys. The brass is really up in arms about that one...

"Corvino! In my office!" Her Lieutenant shouted across the room at her. "And bring me some coffee while you're at it."

Billie stood there a moment, that small niggling worry at the back of her mind prodding her with the possibility that she would be let go due to her injury. His tone hadn't been angry, but Lieutenant Forbes never sounded angry. But, she took a deep breath, poured the two cups of hot coffee and slowly limped toward the office, well, conference room/office/meeting room. It was small point of pride that she managed the walk without spilling any coffee in spite of her limp. Entering the room, Billie handed off her Lieutenant's coffee and closed the door behind her. Looking at the small, well-built black man in a perfectly ironed pink button down shirt with a black tie gave her no clues to the reason she'd been summoned.

Her Lieutenant calmly took a sip of his coffee, waiting for her to take a seat. "You're being reassigned." He started off without preamble.

Billie's brow arched upwards. But she simply waited for him to continue.

"You need to meet your team in..." He looked at his watch. "In an hour at the Percival Molson Stadium. On the field." He held his long-fingered hand up to stop her questions. "You'll find out everything you need to know when you get there. Get Singh up to date on your cases and head out."

Billie had been dismissed. She stood, still bewildered, and headed back to her desk. What in the hell was going on? She wondered to herself. She was in homicide because she hated puzzles and was driven to solve them. This was one hell of a puzzle. Someone had better have some answers and soon. As Lieutenant Forbes had ordered, she got Sargent Singh updated on her cases as best she could and grabbed her firearms, badge and purse before heading down the stairs to her car.

The drive across town was only slightly irritating given the light traffic in the mid morning. She pulled into the huge parking lot of the University stadium, still unable to come up with any possible reason she would be meeting anyone, new team or otherwise here. Unless a player had been shot on the field, that is. Billie slid out of her car, ignoring the cane she was supposed to be using in the back seat and began the long walk to the playing field.

Almost 20 painful minutes and 2 Vicodin later, Billie emerged from the player's tunnel and out onto the perfectly manicured green playing surface. Only to find herself utterly alone. "What the hell?" She muttered to herself angrily. If she'd been set up for some joke, heads were going to roll.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

Kessad Ei-Shan knew very well he was being followed.

It wasn't an Earth-human; this one was Force sensitive. And no Jedi would tail him so. Likely Sith: reason to keep his lightsaber in-hand.

And so he was alone in the presence of Sith. Precisely what the Jedi Counsel wanted to avoid. 'You are to be accompanied by a Jedi Master at all times,' they had instructed in no uncertain terms. They did not trust their prodigal knight.

Master Rao seemed to think the circumstances warranted splitting up, regardless. 'Investigating suspicious Sith activity' had been all she shared of their mission into the commercial heart of Montreal, until she'd instructed him to search a parking structure for anything out of the ordinary.

Nothing but concrete, primitive vehicles, and orange flood-lights. Before he felt the presence of the Sith, the most suspicious thing he'd seen was an oil puddle.

Even if he hadn't sensed the attack coming, the hiss of an igniting lightsaber alerted Kessad to the attack. His own flared to life, and he whirled; his blue saber clashed with red, the blades crackling as Kessad held back an attempt to push past his defense with brute strength. This Sith wasn't very strong, though... In fact, this 'Sith' couldn't have been older than eighteen.

The youth fell back into a ready stance and drew a deep breath before launching a series of attacks. Keeping his saber close, Kessad batted away the light strikes with minimal movement.

"Your form needs work. You're just an apprentice, aren't you?"

The boy paused and shook his head. "Not just any apprentice. Today, I'm proving myself worthy to study under Darth Jaraxix. Today I'm bringing him a Jedi's head."

"Let me guess... You left your trainer and snuck aboard an Imperial troop transport headed ground-side."

"What do you know!" The boy howled and pressed his attack. Kessad laughed at his attempts, side-stepping and circling the apprentice as he blocked and deflected easily with one hand.

"Feet, boy!" Kessad snapped, causing the apprentice to jump. The elder smirked. "Yes... that was one of Gul Duras' prompts. You've been training with him, I see. Your use of leverage is fair, but he'd be appalled with your footwork. You rooted to that patch of concrete?"

"What do you know of Gul?" The boy slashed against Kessad's defense, but picked up his feet regardless, now matching Kessad's steps.

"I dueled Gul. Defeated him two times out of three."

"Liar. If he won even once against a Jedi, the Jedi would be dead."

"'Jedi' is little more than a title. If you wish I can show you how I defeated him twice." Kessad triggered a control on his lightsaber's hilt, and the apprentice's eyes flitted to the weapon's tip as it extended by several inches. The boy returned his gaze to Kessad uncertainly.

The pause was all Kessad needed to begin his first swing. The youth yelped and parried once, again, and again as he retreated from the onslaught. His face drew in concentration as the blue saber became an arc of constant motion, one deflected attack flowing into another - and the boy's reach was hardly sufficient to surpass the elongated blade's range, even if he dared to open his defense. Kessad laughed; he was sparing the boy, just giving him a taste. His lightsaber scarred the concrete floor as he spun it and slung it high to low, driving the boy back against one of the structure's supports next to a service elevator.

In the midst of the fray, Kessad's comm unit chirped. He paused, saber aimed for the apprentice in an obvious display of don't try anything. The watched him, lightsaber quaking in his hands, possibly wondering whether this Jedi could actually have dueled Gul Duras.

Tugging his receiver from his belt, Kessad stuck it to his ear. His brow furrowed at the message. He glanced at the device; it was a Republic emergency channel.

"Percival Molson Stadium." Kassad shot a glance at the apprentice. "What do you know about it?"

"W-What?"

It didn't take a Force-sensitive to tell the boy knew nothing. "Don't follow me."

To his credit, the apprentice hesitated even when Kessad turned his back, but a moment later he thrust with his blade. He found it twirled about by the blue saber, and levered straight into the concrete pillar. The next thing he knew was blinding pain from his right hand's fingers - he snatched them back, clutching the cauterized stubs. Something clattered to the floor beside him. Half his lightsaber's hilt. Looking up helplessly, he found the other half still lodged in the pillar, sparking.

Kessad reached out to the flowing Force, and with a flick of his wrist, tossed the boy's left boot out from under him. "I said 'don't follow me'."

[Ruu]

Static from his comlink as it crackled snapped young Kael from his reverie. Pulling it from his belt, he heard a few more bursts of static and some unintelligible words.

"Can you repeat that? I didn't hear you," he said, bringing the comlink to his mouth.

"I said, report to Percival Molson Stadium immediately. There is a mission of utmost importance and your diplomatic skills will be needed."

"Wait...who is this..." began Kael, but the comlink clicked off.

The channel had been an official Republic channel, but it easily could have been compromised. Still...the urgency in his contact's voice prompted him to at least check out the Stadium. Besides, he could feel ripples in the Force, a slight disturbance. He looked down at his makeshift hologram, a map of the sprawling city. Quickly getting his bearings, he broke out in a sprint until he reached the stadium. Closing his eyes, he sensed only one presence. He cautiously entered the stadium, hand on the hilt of his light saber, preparing for a trap. Yet all he saw was a middle-aged woman looking around with a rather confused expression.

"Excuse me miss..." he said in a voice that made him sound much wiser than his twenty-one years, "Are you looking for someone?"

Was she his contact for this mission?

[Dax]

Darkness loomed over the city of Montreal. The streets were damp with the recent rainfall and, by the sounds of the distant groaning in the skies coupled with the lack of stars; it was probably going to get wetter. Jaraxix’s mind relaxed a bit. Whatever planet he went to, he liked the rain. To most sentient races, the rain brought some depression and sadness. To the Sith Lord it meant an easy time using those very emotions brought by the cold, damp weather to overpower his enemies with despair. It would be a blessing for the next day. The Sith Lord tried to kill at least a Jedi a day, just for the sake of looking forward to something.

Jaraxix walked over small puddle after small puddle, getting the edges of his robes wet, all while making his way through a crowd. This city was apparently known for its night life. Primitive. Uncouth. Disgusting. For this reason, the streets were rather full. Even with all that has transpired: war, murder and destruction throughout their world; these people live on, barely changing their life style to the new ‘alien’ activity on their planet. To him that showed spirit, that showed exactly the resilience his beloved Empire needed, exactly wh-… At that moment, a young man, probably in his twenties, with strange, Earthen tattoos, piercings and sticky hair bumped into him.

Jaraxix hadn’t deemed it necessary to avoid him, thinking that people in this city, and planet in general, would have the decency to stay out of another’s way. Especially if that ‘other’ is wearing an eerie black cloak and mask. However Jaraxix was keeping his head pretty low, so his mask wasn’t really to visible to the idiotic 20 year old, who also had the nerve to continue: “Hey man, what the fuck? Look where you’re fucking go-…” Just as the human was finishing his sentence, Jaraxix looked up to him. By the look of his widening eyes, the Sith Lord smiled a toothy grin under his mask. The young man finally realized who he had bumped into: one of those aliens. Not only wasn’t it just any of the aliens, it was one of those creepy red sword-wielding ones.

“Hey, uh, whatever man, whatever, I just, you know, ok? Whatever, ok?” The young man kept repeating that same sentence as he quickly walked away. Jaraxix chuckled to himself as he kept on walking through the mass of people. That is why he liked these Earthen humans. They are feisty. If they join the Empire and they are made able to control their irrational fear, they will be a very useful addition to the Empire. There is nothing more powerful than a man or beast that can control its fear and canalize it into a weapon. That is something they don’t teach in the Jedi order. Which is fine: it just makes it easier to kill them.

As Jaraxix lumbered on, the streets were getting less and less crowded. It seemed that these humans would rather avoid this part of the city, but the more the Sith Lord thought about that possibility, the less likely it seemed. Humans, especially the young male variety, do not care if a sector of a city is dangerous. They will venture into it regardless. No, this had to be something different. It had to be something… alien. Then Jaraxix felt it. He felt Force users. It couldn’t be Sith, otherwise he would have known about their possible mission and if they had blocked off a route or something. It must have been… them. Jedi. They must have closed down these couple of blocks for some reason. Whatever that reason was, it did not matter. Those Republic-loving ‘knights’ were going to die.

Jaraxix felt the Jedi coming closer. He knew that they could sense him, but they couldn’t identify him. He could use that to his advantage. The Sith Lord made his way to a conveniently placed alley way, straight to his right. Jaraxix then simply walked deep enough into it so his form would be very vague and his face impossible to see, his body thus covered in darkness. This would be perfect. Jedi were usually too trusting, too complacent, to be able to possibly weed him out and he was just about to use that against them.

Jaraxix waited for a couple of minutes when he finally heard it: “You, who are you? If you are a Jedi I demand you tell me your name, if not… you will face the consequences.” The second he heard the Jedi’s voice, he discreetly activated a location transponder for later use. As for the Jedi, Jaraxix was disgusted. Firstly, there were four Jedi. Two masters and two padawans. The fact that one of the masters decided to let the padawan speak was a typical sign of Jedi weakness. Secondly, it was obvious that he, the dark figure in the alley way, was not a Jedi. Even if they couldn’t make out the details with the darkness, they should know it was a Sith simply because he was hiding in the alley way and he didn’t speak to them right away. He was not exactly acting like any Jedi would. And lastly, they were going to die.

“Again, I ask you: who are yo-“, the Jedi started, but Jaraxix spoke up harshly, yet calmly. “Me?” he said in a dark, deep voice. “I am… your worst nightmare.” As he finished that sentence, the Sith Lord ignited his first, dark red lightsaber in the dark, finally illuminating his dark figure and mask. The padawans took a step back, but the masters did not flinch. “You should have followed the lead of your apprentices, Jedi ‘Masters’. You would have had a better chance to survive.”

One of the masters spoke: “You do not frighten us, I only pity you, your ange-“ Before he could finish his speech, an explosion was heard and the second Jedi master standing not too far from him was sent flying into a nearby building, killed instantly. The idiots were so focused on him they had not realized that Jaraxix had been buying time talking to them, and was simply waiting for one the elite Bounty Hunters to arrive to his aid. Jaraxix was good, but he doubted he could take on 4 Jedi.

With all that confusion, Jaraxix sprung to life, igniting his second, dark purple light saber in mid-air. He landed right next to the now orphaned padawan and cut him down before he had a chance to engage his blade or even scream. After that, he turned around to face the two remaining Jedi, the second duo of master and padawan. Both lightsabers were at the ready, prepared for a fight. A fight they were going to lose.

“You monster, you shall pay for this!” shouted the Jedi master.

Jaraxix, ignoring those empty words, was the first to strike, attacking the padawan. The Sith Lord swung four consecutive, quick swings at the young Jedi with his two blades. The Sith Lord was amazed that the padawan was still standing and able to block the shots as they came. The Jedi master, on the other hand, was trying desperately to get Jaraxix’s attention but ferociously attacking him, but the Sith Lord would not heel. He kept attacking the padawan, seeing from the corner of his eye the Bounty Hunter watching the fight atop of roof, keeping an eye out to see if his master needed any help. He would not.

After a couple tense minutes, the Sith Lord was getting weary of this game with the youngling. The padawan was good, but not good enough. He was now going to die. Jaraxix swung one last time at the padawan, blocked one last blow from the master and jumped high into the air. He landed near the corpse of the second, dead padawan, then extended his palm towards the confused Jedi. A strong Force blast sent his foes flying. He then took the opportunity to throw both of his blades like a boomerang to try and finish the Jedi off.

One of the blades, the dark red hued one, hit the padawan right on the neck, killing him instantly. The master, on the other hand, deflected the other blade, the dark purple one, sending it to the floor, forcing it shut off immediately. As that happened, the red blade swung back to Jaraxix’s hand. He now only had one blade, and he would rather die than have that Jedi steal one of his own… and that was just what the scoundrel was trying to do. Before the Jedi could reach the Sith Lord’s unignited purple blade, though, Jaraxix let out an intimidating roar and charged with a huge Force Jump.

As he landed, he unleashed a flurry of attacks on the Jedi master, who was having a hard time parrying them all. As they fought, the Bounty Hunter watched in awe. It seemed as if it the two lightsaber warriors were dancing a carefully planned out choreography. Lightsaber duelling was so graceful that it seemed nearly staged to all those non-Force sensitive users. The Bounty Hunter, realizing his master could take care of himself, flew away on his jet pack, leaving the scene as silently and unseen as he had entered it.

Meanwhile, back on the streets, both men were starting to get tired from the intense fighting. A flurry of red and green was all that could be seen, especially since the colors were accentuated by the darkness of the night. Jaraxix parried a shot from the Jedi, and then launched an attack, soon followed by another parry, to be followed by an attack, so on. It seemed as if it was a match of forces. But it wasn’t. Jaraxix had yet to duel a Jedi who could withstand the full power of a Sith Lord and the dark side.

With one last parry, Jaraxix stepped back and twirled his saber around a couple times. “You fight decently, Jedi… join me, and I will teach you more. Join me and I will show you your true potential!” The Jedi scoffed. “What a pathetic attempt at recruitment, Sith, I should ju-“ Jaraxix cut him off before he could finish. He really could not stand speaking Jedi.

“No? So be it, then…” Jaraxix knew, obviously, his offer would be turned down. But he also knew that the Jedi had relaxed a bit and had less adrenaline in his veins. He will be much easier to take down, now. “Feel then my power! Witness the one and true side of the force!” With that, Jaraxix extended his left arm, hands and fingers, then pointed them at the Jedi and let loose chain lightning. The light sider was taken by surprise and brought up his blade just in time to block the onslaught. He hadn’t been ready, though, and the effort was extreme.

Slowly, Jaraxix walked towards the Jedi while keeping up his lightning onslaught. As soon as the Sith Lord was where he wanted to be, he executed many moves in succession. In mere moments, Jaraxix stopped the lightning, jumped in the air, flipping, while having his lightsaber fly to his hand in the air by use of the Force, igniting it, and landing right next to the Jedi, thus engaging him once more.

The Jedi was now completely off balance. His form had crumbled and his moves were erratic. He was already dead. “Now, die”, was all that Jaraxix said. In one flowing movement, Jaraxix hit the Jedi’s lightsaber with a powerful blow, knocking him slightly off balance, then he roundhouse kicked him in the chest, further unbalancing him, then he stood straight up again, twirled both of his sabers, severing the Jedi master’s hands. His blade then fell to the floor, his cut hand still grasping it, and the Jedi fell to his knees.

Jaraxix placed both of his lightsabers in a scissor position around the Jedi’s neck. “You shall now be removed from this planet, just as your precious Republic will be soon enough. And there is nothing you can do to stop it…” Fear widened the Jedi’s eyes in resonance to those words. A second later, his head was rolling on the floor.

The Sith Lord proceeded to collecting the four fallen Jedi’s lightsabers, hung them on the back of his belt, out of sight, and continued his walk as if nothing happened. He, of all things, especially did not want that kind of technology falling into the hands of any crazy, ‘independence’ or ‘freedom’ fighters this damned species had a tendency to develop and who could potentially put a thorn in the Empire’s plans.

After an hour of walking, Darth Jaraxix was standing in the center of the city, on top of Mount Royal, right at the foot of a giant earthen religious symbol: a lighted cross. From this position, he was able to watch over much, if not all of the city. Already four Jedi in the city were dead, and not many should be remaining. He would soon move on to the other major cities that are on the same ‘country’ as this one, such as Toronto and Vancouver. One by one, the superficial earthen ‘nations’ shall fall and swear loyalty to the Empire.

At that moment, Jaraxix heard a small bristling in the bushes. He did not panic, nor did he ignite his weapon. He knew precisely who it was. “It’s about time you got here, Gwar.” Jaraxix did not even turn his head as he said those words. From the darkness of the brush and trees, a humanoid figure appeared. He did not show his face, nor did he walk into the artificial light of the huge cross. He simply stayed in the shadows. It was an Imperial Agent, a worker for the Empire’s intelligence agency.

Gwar, the Imperial agent, then spoke. "Sorry master, it won’t happen again.” Jaraxix didn’t make a sound. “Master, we have received a strange distress call coming from the Percival Molson Stadium. I have been trying to contact the field base for hours for more information, but no such luck. They’ve gone dark. The instructions were not specific, master, but due to its suspicious context, I, as does Imperial High Command, believe you are the one who should take care of it, whatever that may be.”

Jaraxix nodded. This made sense. Imperial Agents were arguably the best servants in the Empire. With a wave of his hand, the IA was gone and Jaraxix looked over yonder to the place where the distress call was coming from: the Percival Molson Stadium. Reluctantly, he made his way towards it.

It took a few minutes, but Jaraxix was finally at the stadium, although not at the entrance. He had seen two people enter it already: one Jedi and one human law enforcement agent. That was odd. Why would a distress call come from a place where those two persons were meeting?

Deciding to stay out of sight, Jaraxix went to the back of the stadium and entered it through the back door. He quickly made his way to the dark recesses of the stadium. None of the stadium’s lights were on, but there was enough light coming from downtown just one block away for people here to have enough visibility.

Jaraxix roamed through the darkness of the stadium, taking care to conceal himself from that Jedi who could be able to sense him. The Sith Lord now simply waited to see if anyone else was to show up to this ‘party’.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

Kessad's thoughts groped for any explanation of the summons to the stadium. The streets were oddly empty this part of town; he wondered if that was related. His expression darkened at the threatening weather system in the distance, and he quickened his pace to a fast walk. The stadium wasn't far and nothing but disadvantage awaited the tardy.

Even as he neared the place, he felt a presence - or at least one - already in the vicinity. So honed were his short-ranged, short-termed senses of the Force for combat that his ability to detect at range was sorely neglected. He knew nothing but that he was not the first arrival; as such, he had to be cautious. The main entrance to the stadium grounds was not a wise path.

Nor would lurking in the darkness do him any good if there were Sith about; Kessad couldn't conceal his presence as most Consulars would. There were, however, other advantages to be had. He chose high ground: arriving at the stadium, he took the stairs two at a time up to the stands overlooking the field.

He quickly realized he was too far from the gloomy field to make out much of anything. His section of the stands was lost in the shadow of the highest tiers, yet the city lights behind him did little more than illuminate two vague figures below. It occurred to him that he might turn on some of the stadium's lighting, but he didn't know where the controls might be. For now, he would hold his position; if there was a clash between Jedi and Sith, lightsabers would reveal it quickly enough.

Kessad shut his eyes - they were a distraction for now - and stretched his senses into the Force. He had to remain perfectly still to gain any useful level of perception. Now at least one of the pair below was Force sensitive. But... something didn't feel right.

[Lyonesse]

Talitha stood in front of the open suitcase on her hotel bed and tried to decide what to do with her evening. In one half of the case was a tight black dress, delightfully tortuous high-heeled black shoes and a sparkling set of Earthen jewels. In the other half sat an equally tight black body suit, a black cowl, a blaster, and her light saber. With the former she could spend the evening wandering the city of Montreal, pulling a native or two close and helping them indulge in their darkest thoughts and desires, leaving them either broken or stronger, well tested beings by night’s end. With the latter she could wreak a less intimate but no less satisfying sort of havoc.

It was a difficult decision because every time Talitha took up her Sith identity it posed a risk to the Earthen identity she had adopted, even if the risk was slight. However, it had been quite a while since Talitha had let herself be what she truly was. She had been playing her role so thoroughly it was beginning to grate. So much of her job and her life as Jane Rogers involved being cheerful, polite and sycophantic, it was nearly unbearable.

She was still debating when a beeping noise sounded within her ear. Talitha frowned as she touched a hand to her throat to turn on the receiver in her subcutaneous comlink. “Yes,” she snapped. Whoever had the audacity to call her like this had better have a very good reason to do so. She was undercover as a native, who certainly would not have had a comlink implanted beneath her skin.

The encrypted message played out in a seemingly unintelligible string of words—a secondary precaution in case Talitha was ever caught—and it took a moment for her to unscramble the message in her head. Startlingly enough, it was the code for an emergency message ordering her to report to some place within the city, some…Percival Monson Stadium. Talitha had learned what an Earth stadium was, but she wasn’t sure if she knew what a Percival Molson was. “I hope you don’t expect me to hurry too much. I can hardly go out dressed like this,” Talitha said into the microphone implanted in her throat, but she was met with silence. It would seem her evening had been decided for her.

With one hand Talitha searched “Percival Molson Stadium” on Jane’s iPhone while she unfolded her bodysuit and slipped into the skin tight protective material. The phone gave her a quick summary of the place as well as directions directly from her hotel—it would seem antiquated Earthen technology was good for something at least—as she headed into the bathroom, pulling a pair of small jars out of a pink cosmetics bag that also contained her native makeup. With practiced ease she smeared her entire face with red paint, giving it an even coating that dried quickly as she applied ancient Sith markings in black atop the red base.

As the paint dried she pulled her hair into a painfully tight braid, adding her boots and wrapping her cowl around her shoulders, letting it drape low over her head, hiding her eyes and half of her face from view. Finally came her belt, loaded with her lightsaber and her blaster as well as a personal stealth field generator. With the stealth field activated she would be nearly invisible, not entirely, especially to a trained eye or a sensitive mind, but the most the natives would see was an odd ripple in the air as she moved or a flash in the corner of their eye.

Talitha dropped from the balcony of her room two floors to the next balcony, descending the building quickly and gracefully and then she was off, racing across the city on foot until she reached a thoroughfare her memorized directions said would take her past her destination. She swung up onto a post bearing colored traffic lights that hung over the busy road, perching there for a few moments before a large truck passed beneath her and Talitha swung down onto it, relishing in the wind against her skin as it blew back her hood and tugged a few small strands of hair out of her neat braid.

The truck took her within half a mile of the stadium before it turned away, leaving Talitha to flip off and land gracefully on the sidewalk with the slight help of the force. She didn’t mind the run, but slowed her pace considerably as she reached the empty fields of black asphalt surrounding the stadium. She double-checked her stealth field and both of her weapons before making certain her inner stealth field, the one that protected her presence from those who could otherwise sense her through the Force.

Certain she was nearly undetectable, Talitha took in the stadium before her. She still didn’t understand why she had been asked to break her cover to respond to some emergency—especially since she could see no signs of said emergency. Anger at being jerked around curled tightly within her chest and Talitha stoked it like a fire, letting it coil tighter and tighter as she approached the stadium. If there was indeed an emergency her controlled anger would fuel her.

She found an entrance marked “Maintenance” and made short work of the lock, slipping inside and into a maze of corridors. Choosing the direction that called strongest to her, Talitha slipped into a locker room and instantly stopped in her tracks, from beyond the showers and lockers, through another door she could sense the presence of someone who was force sensitive. She crept through the room slowly, her hand on the hilt of her lightsaber. At the door she paused and debated opening it. Doing so would expose her presence to anyone on the other side, but backtracking and finding a less conspicuous way out would waste time she might not have to spare. Talitha rested a hand against the door and leaned against it, doing her best to listen through it and try to ascertain what was happening on the other side. If she was going to make this decision it should be as informed as possible.

[Count]

Whabb sped through the atmosphere, small ship making planetfall with practiced ease. The small, bearlike creature scampered quietly through the forest, in search of the nearest civilization, but was halted by the muted beeping of his comlink. When the Ewok touched the button at his ear, an odd, unfamiliar voice came out of the speaker.

“There has been a major issue that requires your areas of expertise at the Percival Molson Stadium, Master Whabb,” said the strange voice. Before the Jedi could ascertain the identity of the caller, the link was terminated. Whabb shrugged, attributing the oddness of the voice to his injuries, interference, and the fact that the Republic tended to use many different callers to dispatch Jedi everywhere. Turning a smart 180, he made his carefree way back to his ship and sped to the stadium.

As he was approaching civilization, Whabb made sure to start the radar deflector and camouflage shield; many Earthmen had expressed their desire to see all aliens dead, and the Ewok was different enough to stand out in a world filled with humans. As the tiny ship touched down, Whabb slid out and leapt impossibly high up to the roof of the nearest conveniently low building, attempting to avoid notice by using the white of his cape against the clouds. Springing from building to building, making his way up to the tips of the tallest in the city, Whabb savored the wind in his face, clean and fresh from the high altitude. It had been quite a while since the last time he’d been able to go on a solitary mission, and he found he quite liked the feeling.

Such thoughts were cut remarkably short as the Jedi Master landed with a small thump on the roof of the stadium, his goal. Putting one small paw on the edge of the roof, he swung himself over and in with one easy motion, scurrying among the rafters to better get a handle on who was also there. His beady, calculating eyes surveyed the scene intently, and his nimble paws led him finally to a secluded, but nonetheless open to all who were looking for one such as him, spot many feet above the ground, near to the entrance of the field. The Ewok bared his sharp teeth in a wolfish grin at feeling the presence of several other Jedi, but the smile faded to a grimace as his probing revealed a Sith Lord, Darth Jaraxix no less, and a human woman.

I smell a scam, thought the bearlike alien, but there’s not much I can do about it now. The voice had to have been legitimate to have called me on that secure channel, but now that I think about it, it was quite fishy. And that coming from someone who knew Uncle Driblix well! Nice man, horrible death by mercury poisoning. Regardless, it may have been Darth Jaraxix who called this as a trap, but for the simple fact that he called three Jedi and an Earth woman to the same place and then showed up himself. He knows he wouldn’t be able to combat all of us at once…but then, why is he here? The Jedi Master gnawed his lip, nearly drawing blood. So many mysteries that remain unsolved…I’d better stick around. The Ewok shuddered. Even if all of my instincts are telling me to get while the going’s good.

[Digital Muse]

When a resonant, yet calm voice called out to her, Billie's head snapped up to find its source. The man's voice had reminded her of Father Dominico. In the robes this young man wore, he rather looked like a monk to the cop as well. She spent less than a heartbeat to take in the man's looks, from the long red-brown hair, blue eyes and the faintly lined forehead of a scholar. She couldn't immediately see any other markings or scars on him.

Billie sighed heavily, certain she'd pissed off someone big up the chain of command. When the Jedi guy asked if she was looking for someone, Billie shrugged her shoulders under her worn leather blazer. "Hell if I know. I was hoping someone had some answers, cause it sure isn't me."

Limping out onto the unnaturally green grass of the field, the spot between Billie's shoulders twitched with nerves. The open stadium floor was so exposed, that anyone taking pot shots at them wouldn't be able to miss. The weight of her Glock 22 in the holster under her arm was only vaguely reassuring given the uncertainty of her situation. Bilie approached the Alien (as she called both the Jedi and the Sith), but stopped well short of him, having heard some fantastical things about their abilities. She believed only a fraction of the rumors but did believe in the "100 of Anything" rule, which dictated that no matter how powerful a person or nation was, 100 times the enemies will still take you out.

"You want to explain what you're doing here? I don't see you as a Redbirds fan."

[Dax]

Darth Jaraxix looked on to the stadium from his darkened corner with a smirk. More Jedi had arrived. Two, to be exact. There were, unfortunately, three of them now in the stadium. He wasn’t sure who or where one of Jedi was, but the Sith felt his presence nonetheless. Jaraxix knew that there was another Jedi on the field, talking with the human woman. They were easy to keep an eye on, so he wasn’t fretting about them. He was more worried about the two Jedi he couldn’t see. Especially one of them, who felt very familiar… Jaraxix shook his head. ‘No. He’s dead,’ thought Jaraxix. ‘There must be a disturbance in the Force…’

Jaraxix then stopped using his extra abilities and started using his natural ones: his eyes. If anything was a top happen: a republic surprise attack or a human ambush, he would be able to escape and possibly kill one or two of his enemies in the process. Making a mental a mental picture, Jaraxix drew his route to his kill, then to the exit. If anything happened, it would be easy to execute his plan. The only one to die would be the female human standing in the middle of the field, and possibly the Jedi that was right next to her, although that really depended on his reaction speed and agility.

The Sith Lord looked around once more around the field. He thought about any possible allies that could have received the ‘distress’ signal other than him. One name came immediately to mind: Talitha Shan. As far as he knew, she was an experienced assassin and stealth fighter who had been working undercover in this city for quite some time. He knew she was here, somewhere, but he couldn’t sense here. Her cloaking abilities by using the Force were above average. The more Jaraxix thought about it, the more he thought she could have made a good student… if only she hadn’t chosen the way of assassination over the warrior.

Jaraxix closed his eyes, trying to sense if anyone else, be them friend or foe, found themselves near his position. To his great surprise, there were. And not just a couple… there were literally hundreds of them. Jaraxix opened his eyes. “Impossible,” he muttered. The Sith Lord simply looked out into the distance to see that hundreds of Jedi were simply walking in the front gate. “What is going on…” Jaraxix said, teeth clenched, anger rising. What made matters worse, is that Sith warriors were coming from all around the stadium: over the walls, the back exit, etc. Then it got even stranger: sirens could be heard out into the distance. Hundreds of them. And they were getting louder by the second. Humans.

Cops, firefighters and every other emergency, security or otherwise law enforcer showed up at the stadium, all rushing in, pretending to ignore the hundreds of Jedi they were walking past. As this very, very strange spectacle unfolded, the Sith, on the other hand, were amassing on the second half of the field and stands, simply staring at the spectacle. Everyone seemed way too confused to do anything.

When the dust settled, one of the strangest sights Jaraxix had ever seen unfolded before his very eyes. Jedi, Sith and Earthen humans were standing, divided on both sides of the field, a huge gap separating the two cutting through the middle of the field, in complete disbelief. The Sith Lord knew, however, that this would last so long. In a couple of seconds, they were all going to realise where they were and what was going on. And it wasn’t going to be pretty. A massive charge from both sides was going to happen, and Jaraxix wasn’t sure he wanted the casualties.

Darth Jaraxix was about to step out of his shadows, lightsaber ignited and yell at the Sith to stop lollygagging around and cut down the Jedi, but he was cut off. An incredibly loud drumming noise came out of nowhere and all of the lights in downtown Montreal shutdown, including the lights on the stadium, igniting panic and screams from the humans. Immediately, lightsabers of green, blue, purple and red hues all light up one after the other. However, before any of the Sith or Jedi could proceed to attacking anyone, the lights of the stadium, and only the stadium re-opened.

The drumming sound that Darth Jaraxix had heard earlier was now at an almost unbearable level, forcing the Sith Lord to cover his ears with his hands. Finally, everyone in the stadium saw the source of the noise: a huge, black, sleek, insect-like ship. It was not of Republic or Empire. In fact, Jaraxix had no idea WHAT that ship was…

As the ship floated towards the middle of the stadium, hundreds of bright, distant flashes in the night sky illuminated the hull of the insect ship. Jaraxix’s eyes widened in disbelief as the truth crept into his mind. Those bright flashes of light were explosions, and not just explosions, they were explosions of the carrier ships, both Republic and Empire, that were orbiting Earth. This meant a couple of things. Dath Jaraxix’s mind raced to calculate the implications this event brought, coolly.

First of all, all HQ commands would now be down. Their eyes in the skies were effectively down and out. That, and reinforcements were out of the question. This was not good. Not only were the Empire’s forces considerably weakened, same for the Republic, but these new arrivals seemed to be very potent and powerful. It wasn’t good news at all.

As Jaraxix was processing this through his mind, the insect like ship covered the whole of the stadium with its hull. Everyone present down in the stadium, Jedi, Sith and Earthen alike, were looking up in awe. As they all stared at it with their jaws down to the floor, bay doors opened beneath the alien ship. From it, came hundreds of pods that shot out from the orifice and landed everywhere in the city. The number of pods that were being ejected from the ship soon multiplied to the thousands. This was no simple attack; this was an invasion. And Jaraxix finally realised what this ‘emergency call’ to the stadium was all about. The attackers had brought all means of defence and security into one place, so that these invaders could kill them all, easily.

Anger rose up in Jaraxix’s mind. He would not stand by while his Empire was destroyed by foreign attackers. Not unless he was still breathing. Then things got worse. Instead of a constant flow of pods coming out from the ship, five, transport-like ships things flew out of it. They flew down to the stadium, landed and reptile humanoids starting to walk out of them. They all lined up in the middle of the field where there was a gap between the humans, Jedi and Sith. There were several lines of them, with each line on its extremities facing their respective side.

Then one reptile, physically identical to all of the other reptiles save for a badge on its chest, stepped out of the transport ships and stood in the middle of his soldiers. He then spoke, astonishingly, in their common language: “People of this Galaxy, we are the Yuuzhan Vong.” Jaraxix eyed the armoured beast with a ferocious stare. He could barely contain his anger. However, the Yuuzhan Vong captain went on. “You are all valuable warriors, which is why we have decided to spare you all from the initial attack. We have deemed you worthy. Surrender to us here and now, and we will spare you. You will be given the chance to serve us in our conquering of this galaxy!”

When the beast demanded Jaraxix’s surrender, something in him cracked. His seemingly calm and collected persona evaporated. The Sith lord let out a bloodcurdling yell, attracting attention towards him. He then yelled, at the top of his lungs, “For the Empire!” At those words, the Sith warriors cheered, yelled and charged the reptile humanoids. The Jedi followed suit and the humans retreated to cover, drawing their primitive weapons and firing on them.

Jaraxix, taking advantage of the created confusion, took a step back and executed an extremely long Force Jump, flipped, ignited both of his lightsabers and landed on the field. He then eyed the captain, who had just noticed the Sith land not too far away from him.

“You should have surrendered while you had the chance,” spat out the captain. Jaraxix didn’t answer. He simply stared at him for a couple of seconds… then charged. The captain let out a battle yell of his own and charged Jaraxix as well. The Yuuzhan Vong had a strange weapon: a staff. When Jaraxix attacked the captain, and his lightsaber clashed with the staff, the latter amazingly did not break. It was the first time a weapon that wasn’t a lightsaber withstood the might of a Sith’s or Jedi’s blade.

This wasn’t good. The alien captain laughed at Jaraxix’s efforts to cut through the staff, but to no avail. Instead of wasting time with this fight, Jaraxix snorted, and then Force pushed the captain away, catching him completely off-guard. The Sith then jumped away from him, and into the general fight. There, he retraced his exit route, because his original one was now obsolete. After simultaneously scanning his surroundings and chopping down some Yuuzhan Vong, Jaraxix finally found it: it was an escape door that led to the subway tunnels.

The Sith made his way there, and, before going through it, looked around him. Jedi, Sith and human alike were getting overwhelmed by the number of the attackers, who were now pouring in from outside of the stadium. There was nothing he could do. All he could do now was survive. Without another thought, Jaraxix dropped down through the trap door and into the tunnels.

He didn’t look, but he could have sworn that he was being followed…

[Kyrt Malthorn]

Kessad took in the unfolding events with furrowed brow. Jedi, Sith, and the earthling-humans gathered. Highly improbably coincidences were, in Kessad's experience, convergences in the Force. Turning points. Fulcrums on which the fate of the galaxy swung. More often than not, in unexpected ways.

Such was the case. The blackout fell over the city like a shadow; the alien vessel loomed overhead, reigning harbingers of destruction. The shuttles descended, the aliens presented themselves, and the captain delivered the ultimatum. It was nearly too much to take in all at once.

Nothing prepared him for the next moments.

"For the Empire!"

Kessad knew that yell, and even as the chill still crawled down his spine, he saw the man - the Sith, Darth Jaraxix - landing before the alien captain. Few words were exchanged, and fewer blows - and by the time Kessad ripped his attention from Jaraxix, the stadium was in chaos. Grimly, he deduced best of both worlds - Sith and Jedi - were in all likelihood, lost. And the earth-men were utterly outmatched. Though his hand clutched feverishly at his lightsaber, Kessad kept his thoughts tightly in reign. It would do no good. Here, at the spearhead of the alien force, one more warrior could not turn the tide.

Instead he sprang into action with a different goal. He still had his high ground. Racing through the stands, he avoided the battle below while his eyes tracked a man through its midst: Jaraxix. The Sith he sought vanished through a door.

Force jumps were not Kessad's specialty; he preferred the stability of his own two feet. Still, he managed to steady his fall to the field by Jaraxix's egress route. He slipped through the door into the passage beyond, lightsaber off but ready.

[Ruu]

Kael couldn't hide the confusion in his eyes when the young woman couldn't answer his question. It couldn't be mere coincidence that they had both been summoned to the same location. As the woman approached, he could sense her unease. They were rather like sitting ducks in the middle of the stadium, but no one else...He froze as he felt a ripple through the Force, like a slash of darkness in the middle of the daytime sky. The woman's words fell on deaf ears as he contemplated the meaning of the ripple. The presence was so familiar, so haunting...Why did it bring back a feeling of pain? An inkling of dread?

He was about to apologize to the woman for his loss of focus when he sensed two other presences, both Jedi. That was at least reassuring. For the time being, it would be best not to alarm the woman. He knew the humans tended to be suspicious of both the Jedi and the Sith.

"Ah...I am sorry, Miss...I did not mean..." he began, but his words were cut off as Sith, Jedi, and humans began to converge on the stadium.

He quickly pulled the woman back with him into the shadows, wanting to assess the situation before being seen. Suddenly, the lights flickered and reappeared...An insectoid ship blocked the sky, explosions blossoming in the distance. Impossible! How could it have penetrated the defenses of Sith warships and the Republic fleet alike? And yet now everything was beginning to come together...This wasn't a routine mission. This was an invasion, and now all of the strongest warriors were gathered in one place. Were the invaders going to wipe them out in one fell swoop? Kael's heart was torn. He couldn't just leave his comrades to die...But he was no fighter. His healing skills would not do much good in an all-out fight, and diplomacy did not look to be on option.

"We have to go, now!" he said firmly to the woman in front of him, just as the apparent leader of the instectoid creatures demanded their surrender.

A shout followed by the cloaked form of Sith Lord could be heard and seen as he tried to cut down the leader. Kael's eyes widened when the lightsaber failed to cut through the alien's strange weapon. These were no ordinary opponents...The Sith Lord soon seemed to realize the futility of his actions and made towards an escape route as the other forces began to battle. Kael held his head in his hands as it began to throb with unwanted memories. That one failed mission...The Sith...Kael shook his head with sudden determination. He would follow the Sith Lord and find out why the dark man was causing his emotions such distress...He turned back to the young woman.

"I must...follow that Sith..." he said slowly, realizing he probably sounded quite crazy at the moment, "Please...will you follow me out of here? I cannot just allow you to be harmed by these...invaders..."

He felt guilty upon saying those words. Both the Republic and the Sith had been invaders as well at some point or another. He wouldn't blame the detective if she decided to shoot him then and there.

[Digital Muse]

Before the Jedi could answer Billie's question, things got really weird. From every tunnel and entrance, more Aliens arrived, then more cops, firefighters, paramedics, until the stadium was nearly full. "What in the name of all that is holy?" Billie whispered. If there had been such a thing as a sixth sense, Billie's would have been screaming by now. The Jedi gripped her arm suddenly and pulled her into the dark shadows of a tunnel. She tried to jerk her arm out of his grip angrily but failed. "What in the hell are you..."

A ominously dark shadow parked right over the stadium, making Billie's words die on her lips. She looked up to see a gigantic space ship loom into view. "Oh shit" She whispered. "That's not good." She remarked in possibly the greatest understatement in the world. Pods shot out from the ship, heading everywhere and smaller ship-things came down into the stadium. When an insect-like Alien showed himself and began to address them all, Billie knew they were truly in the shit.

One of the Sith guys called out in a battle cry and attacked the new Alien leader, which turned out to be the catalyst to the clash between the Jedi and Sith on the field. She watched as the Humans were cut down in their hundreds like so many sheep. "No!" She screamed, trying to struggle away from the Jedi's grasp. "Let go! They're dying out there!"

Unlike Billie, the Jedi had a calmer head, "I must...follow that Sith..." he said slowly, realizing he probably sounded quite crazy at the moment, "Please...will you follow me out of here? I cannot just allow you to be harmed by these...invaders..."

Billie looked from Kael toward the blood bath on the field and back again, she knew all was lost for the men and women trapped between the warring factions. Be damned with the Aliens. She hadn't seen Jaraix escape down a tunnel, but she nodded rather numbly at the Jedi. "Yeah...yeah. Alright."

Drawing her gun, Billie let him lead her down through the tunnels within the stadium, he seemed to know where he wanted to go, while she got completely turned around. As they worked their way through the stadium's tunnels, Billie peppered the long-haired Jedi with pointed, angry questions. "Who the hell was that? Did you guys have another enemy and they followed you here? Why couldn't you have just fucking blown your own heads off and left us alone!?"

[Lyonesse]

“What in the Empire’s name is going on out there?” Talitha could hear muffled voices beyond the door that separated her from the field, but more than that, she could suddenly feel a serious disturbance in the force. Her curiosity and frustration warred briefly with her sense of caution, and the former won out with a few small concessions to the latter. Talitha kept her stealth field activated as she cautiously opened the door. She need not have worried about anyone paying her attention, she realized as soon as she saw what was happening outside.

She had never heard of the Yuuzhan Vong, but she could certainly recognize this situation—Jedi, Sith, and even Earthen forces gathered together en masse—for what it was: a brilliant, brilliant trap. She couldn’t have done better herself, which was absolutely terrifying. She briefly debated retreating back through the locker room, but heard sounds from behind her and caught a brief glimpse of one of the reptilian Yuuzhan Vong hunting through the rows of lockers. They were cutting off escape routes already, clever bishwags.

Finding her chances better on the open field, despite its proximity to so many potential threats—both Yuuzhan Vong and Jedi—than the cramped, narrow locker room and hallways crawling with the lizard folk. She was still cloaked and—Talitha’s stream of thoughts was brought to a jarring halt as a figure she knew well leaped down into the stadium, screaming a battle cry that made her smile even now. Jaraxix was followed by a tide of both Jedi and Sith, both of whom seemed to have forgotten their sworn hatreds in the presence of this new, audacious enemy. Talitha was forced to deactivate her stealth field or be trampled in the rush, but she made sure to keep near the edges of the field. She was well aware of her own strengths and weaknesses, and a straight fight was not one of her greatest strengths. Talitha did much better when she could ambush or take her opponents by surprise, but she had a sinking feeling that if there would be any surprises on this field of battle would come from the Yuuzhan Vong.

Unfortunately, her prediction was proven correct as Jaraxix found his lightsaber deflected by the weapon of the Yuuzhan Vong captain. This was not going to end well, and Talitha did not want to be around when it did end. While she was loyal to the Empire and the idea of surrendering to some other force was out of the question, Talitha was not the sort to blithely throw her life away for a hopeless cause either…and apparently Jaraxix wasn’t either. Talitha noticed him carving a path through the Yuuzhan Vong, but it was a path that led away from the heart of the battle. He obviously had a way out of the stadium.

Talitha smiled and followed after the red and purple lights of Jaraxix’s whirling lightsabers, her own double-bladed hitting a few of the Yuuzhan Vong, but not as many as it should have. Her weapon bounced off of theirs, but thankfully Talitha was less concerned with the kill than she was with simply getting the creatures far enough away from her to slip past them and follow Jaraxix. She watched him disappear through a trap door in the ground before she was distracted by a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. It took longer than she would have liked to get past his guard and when she turned back to the trap door where Jaraxix had disappeared she was startled to see a Jedi and an Earthen woman descend through the same door. Well, well, well it looked like the infamous Darth Jaraxix might just need someone to watch his back. Cutting through one last lizard man between her and the trap door, Talitha reactivated her stealth field and leapt gracefully down the trap door, silently following the Jedi and his companion, her lightsaber put away, but her blaster drawn. The Jedi might not be the enemy above, but down below in these tunnels...

[Count]

Whabb wasted no time when leaping down to the stadium grounds, lightsaber in hand and activated before he hit the ground. In the mass of flailing enemies, Whabb's white lightsaber provided the only light in his field of view. Whabb bared his pointed teeth and tapped into the Force...

...to absolutely no effect. The reptilian enemies, the Yuuzhan Vong, were pushed back maybe two feet by the blast, seemingly unaffected by the blaze of Force power that Whabb had just unleashed. The Ewok stared in surprise, and then hacked away at the stunned enemies until they clustered around him again...

...Only to find that Whabb had one more trick up his sleeve. Namely, another lightsaber, identical in hilt and color to the first. The dual combination of the lightsabers drove the Yuuzhan Vong back yards of precious distance, allowing the clever Ewok to unite his forces with incredible speed. Once a small group had assembled in one corner of the field, the Ewok sheathed one, noting its powerful effect on the unprepared enemy. Such a trick might be useful in future.

Just then, the Ewok turned and came face-to-face with the grand leader himself, the Yuuzhan Vong who had been the first to speak, calling out in a raspy voice something to the effect that they would all perish unless they surrendered. He didn't seem very impressive compared to the others that the Ewok had been fighting, but Whabb was not one to judge based on appearance. This alien probably rose to the rank of badgey-chest for some reason, and Whabb was willing to bet it wasn't tiddlywinks. Quickly dashing around him, the Jedi Master attempted to strike from behind...

...only to have his lightsaber met by the staff. The Yuuzhan Vong could move with unbelievable speed, almost as fast as the Jedi Master himself. His physical advantage also meant that Whabb did not stand a whelk's chance in a supernova of surviving an encounter at this point in time. Before the alien leader could press his considerable advantage, Whabb fled across the stadium, where a familiar mismatched pair of lightsabers was flashing through the horde.

A sensible idea, thought Whabb begrudgingly. We aren't going to win this engagement, so we should probably pull out. His train of thought was interrupted by a sudden shock; two of his Ewok soldiers were clustered around him, shooting rocks out of slings at the enemy. As the Jedi Master made his way through the horde, hacking and slashing, more and more of his regiment ended up around him, defending each other as they moved towards the exit. The Jedi fought ferociously, giving no quarter until he finally arrived just outside the stadium. He ducked into a side alley that was alien-free until he arrived, and conferred with his troops.

"What...what are you doing here?" he asked, staring at the assembled bearlike creatures. They looked at each other and grinned.

"We were given orders to come down to the stadium, Whabb," said one. "I guess you were, too. That was a pretty little trap, wan'nit?" The Jedi Master chewed his lip, drawing spots of blood.

"Thank you all for coming here, friends. I can't tell you how much I am relieved to see you alive. Now, I don't have a course of action in mind, but I can assume that Darth Jaraxix does. I saw him heading into a trap door that leads below the stadium, and I can sense his aura now. I don't like the idea of teaming up with a Sith Lord any more than you do, but it might be valuable and potentially safer now that we have a common enemy." He unsheathed both lightsabers and drew them across the wall of the stadium, retracting them when he finished and giving the cut section a good kick. The pieces fell away, revealing a small room with a trap door immediately apparent. Beyond it, the fray was escalating into a full-on war.

"Let's go in now," said the Ewok reluctantly, opened the trapdoor, and slipped inside. "Ugh, underground." His company followed him, and one by one they vanished into the murky depths of the tunnels.

[Dax]

As soon as Darth Jaraxix dropped down into the tunnels, he looked around to see what would be the best way he could run to. As luck would have it, both ways seemed to stretch endlessly. It was an odd thing to have in a football arena, but then again this place was old, by earthen standards, and had probably served other functions beforehand. However, the corridors were still pretty large, and where he was standing was much wider than it was along the rest of the tunnels. If needed, he would have enough room to defend himself, which was good news. The city, and potentially the entire planet, was compromised by the invaders.

Jaraxix walked in circles for a short moment, trying to use the Force to sense what the correct path was. He wanted to get out of the city, or at least the immediate surroundings of this arena. He had to find a way off this rock and back to Dromund Kaas. He needed to inform his leaders about what just happened, if the didn’t already know, and help organize a counter offensive. The Sith Lord’s mind was buzzing with plans when he heard a noise. Someone followed him and was going down the ladder into the tunnels. Quickly, Jaraxix launched himself to a dark corner of the hallway, trying to stay out of sight when the intruder would finally step into the light.

What Jaraxix saw made his cold heart skip a beat. It was none other than Kessad, his old apprentice. He hadn’t died… so what had happened to him? Jaraxix was about to give away his position when it struck him. His old apprentice, the one who held so much promise, failed the most crucial of tests: loyalty. He had defected from the Empire and the Sith Order to return to the Jedi. Jaraxix was not too surprised. He knew something had to go wrong with this apprentice, just as things had gone wrong with the others. Within the darkness, the Sith Lord ignited his red blade in his right hand. This prompted the immediate reaction and attention of Kessad.

“Hello again, young Kessad. Tell me, has the Jedi Order been kind to you since you returned into their weak, frail hands? I simply must see what they have taught you, that I, apparently, could not…”

Kessad flicked his saber to life, but it remained at his side, illuminating the folds of his robe as he stepped forward. "They have been apprehensive. Perhaps wiser than you would give them credit for. But you misjudge me. I have not sought to sit beneath their teachings as I once did. I sought a vantage from which I could observe. Or would you hold it too dangerous to observe? To study the effects of another's beliefs in practice?"

"A vantage point? A vantage point? Are you so without honor to forsake the Empire, the Order and your master so easily?!" Jaraxix's anger was steadily building, yet he remained well in control of his abilities. "Your task was an easy one: kill your old master Amaahn. Nothing more, nothing less. What have you done instead? You betrayed us. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cut down the terrible disappointment you are right now."

"He is dead," replied Kessad, sternly.

Jaraxix hesitated a moment. He wasn't sure what the hell was going on at the moment. Had his apprentice betrayed him? Hadn't he? There was one way to know for certain. "Kessad, what you may have done or not in parallel to your desertion is only complimentary. Now, you must fight for your survival." With that, Jaraxix lunged forward, igniting his second lightsaber, simply trying to see Kessad's style. If it had changed, his student was unsalvageable. If it was largely intact, the Sith Lord may consider forgiveness. Well, if his student survived, that is.

Kessad's saber whipped up crashing into Jaraxix's blades not a foot from his neck. "Fool! To speak of survival..." With all his might he flung Jaraxix's sabers away from him, as he stepped back just out of reach. As he flung his weapon about behind him, he triggered his saber's phase, its length shooting out several extra inches for a broad two-handed arc."...scrapping with your miscreant pet while Kath hounds circle your home!"

Jaraxix smiled. "Call me a fool, would you, my apprentice?" The Sith Lord ran to a wall and force jumped off of it, flying over Kessad's head; toying with him. Every time the old Sith engaged his opponent, he looked at the footwork of his old apprentice, noting how he moved his arms, how he moved his body, and, especially, his hands. "You still have much to learn, young one, your arrogance, although commendable, is misplaced. That is when problems arise."

""Arrogance?" Kessad's blade met Jaraxix's at every turn, and he raised his voice over the crackling sabers. "Which of us will not weigh contrary beliefs, admit there may be some strength in a way that is not ours? Test me now if you must." He spoke impassively, but the twinge of a scowl betrayed the source of the strength of his arm: he was vexed. "Your last test had all but the effect you wished. I broke Master Amaahn. He pleaded for his end long before I was through with him. I knew what you wanted..." He bashed away both of Jaraxix's sabers with a burst of feral might. "A proof of loyalty. But my loyalty is not to the Empire you acclaim so single-mindedly. It is to strength, wherever it may be found.”

Jaraxix stepped up his flurry of attacks. The speed at which his sabers flew through the air steadily increased. He was going to take this little test to another level. When Kessad yelled the details of his fight with his master over the loud of the cracks of clashing lightsabers, Jaraxix couldn't help but laugh. "You broke him? With this fighting technique? Woe is he who falls to this." Jaraxix's blades whirled at an ever increasing speed, the three blades that were in battle were but blurs of light now. "As I said," Jaraxix said, softly, not sure if his apprentice could hear him or not, "you still have much to learn..."

Kessad began to laugh. His concentration nearly slipped; he left an opening, but he wasn't about to let Jaraxix have it. He leaped backward, a two-pronged push of the Force between himself and his old master enough to give himself the split-second reprieve he needed. "By the time Amaahn's lightsaber met mine, he was already broken. He merely refused to recognize it."

Jaraxix soon imitated his apprentice, Force pushing off of him right after a flurry of side-cuts. The Sith Lord simply waited for Kessad to engage him for the next, and probably last, part of the so-called test. "Don't forget why you came to me, Kessad. You wanted power, and I was the one to give it to you. Instead of staying where the true strength was, you returned to those you left because of their weakness. You gave them a second chance they didn't deserve. You turned your back on your anger." Jaraxix spit. "You weren't Sith material. I was wrong."

Kessad paused. "I returned to observe the ways of Jedi in light of your teaching. But..." He launched his assault, "Do not," he punctuated every word with a furious strike, nearly losing his words to the thunderous crackling of energy, "assume that I need your approval to... define... strength!" The last two words accompanied a furious stab and a slash with all his might behind it; the Force pushing his body beyond the limits of his normal strength, the blow with his lengthened saber left a scar two feet deep into the cement floor Jaraxix deflected it to.

"Enough!" yelled Jaraxix. The Sith Lord, within a split second, closed his lightsaber and brought up his left hand to Force push Kessad away, ending the fight. However, being true to the promise the Sith Lord had with him, Kessad attempted to counter the push with the Force powers of his own. For a few seconds, they stood at equal force. Then, with a slightly paternal smile, Jaraxix pushed Kessad away with a surge of strength in his Force push, sending Kessad to the floor next to a wall. The Sith Lord walked slowly up to him, towering above his young apprentice. "Kessad, as I said, you have much to learn. Come back to me, and I will spare you. Together, we will get off this rock and claim this planet for the Empire.” With that, he closed his last lightsaber and sheathed it. He then extended his hand in a rare show of sympathy.

Kessad shook his head to clear the pain of his skull cracking against the wall. He lifted his eyes and stared at the hand as Jaraxix's words began to register. Finally, he flicked off his lightsaber and stood - without the offered aide. "And you really think this world would have been such a great asset to the Empire?” He shook his head. "It is lost, now, in any case. And weakening ourselves will help neither of us survive."

As Kessad rose without aid, Jaraxix mentally patted himself on the back. He never wanted his apprentice to take his offering of help, and the fact that he didn't came as solace to the Sith Lord. "Don't trouble yourself with those matters, apprentice. These things wi-" Just at that moment, noises were heard from the ladder. They had been followed, again. Most probably jedi. Jaraxix turned to his apprentice. "Convince these Jedi not to attack me. I'm not in the mood to kill more of them as of right now..."

"I agree," Kessad said, stepping forward. "But I am not your apprentice."With Jedi within earshot, Jaraxix did not verbally refute, but he still shot a glare at his apprentice.

[Ruu]

Kael descended the ladder with Billie close behind him, silently walking the tunnels with a look of dread in his ocean-like eyes. As she bombarded him with questions, his attention was brought back to the present for the moment. Not only was he fairly certain the Sith they were tailing was the one from...before...his mind was reeling from the disturbance in the Force caused by the endless death and destruction on the surface. His sense could only take so much, and he felt like curling up and covering his ears, though he knew it would do no good. Taking a deep breath, he strove to answer the woman's questions as calmly as possible. After all, she had a right to know the answer to them. She was a native of this planet, and it was because of both the Sith and the Jedi that these new Aliens had found them.

"I am as confused as you are as to why these beings would attack us. I have read of them in the holo-files of the Jedi Temple, but little information was forthcoming. Their appearance here is as much of a surprise to me as it was you. You are right in that they most likely followed us here. They probably noticed the energy signatures of the armadas above the planet. We should have left you alone, I admit. But once the Sith set their sights on you, we couldn't do nothing. They would have taken over your world and enslaved as many as you as they could. They would have attempted to indoctrinate you with the dark side of the Force and instilled a fear and terror that has never been known to you. I cannot undo the wrongs committed against you, but I can offer you my complete support in aiding you...even if that means all of us must leave."

After speaking those words, Kael was silent as the aura of fear swept over him once again. To be a Jedi was to be unfazed by feelings such as fear and anger...There was no hatred, only the Force...And yet the platitudes of the Jedi could not quell the swell of emotions roil inside the young Jedi. Images returned unbidden of another war torn planet, contested by both the Republic and the Empire...For so long he had striven to gain the trust and confidence of the people, to protect them from the evil of the Sith Lords and yet...it had all been undone by a Sith Master...Jaraxix...the name was ever seared into his mind. And Kael was almost completely certain that this was the Sith he was following. Jaraxix held the same desire for power, the complete confidence in his own abilities, confidence that Kael had sorely been lacking that time that seemed to be ages ago...

Kael suddenly held up a hand to bring Billie to a halt as he felt surges of heightened emotions flowing from the tunnel directly in front of them. The sizzling and crackling of lightsabers could be heard for a while, and then...all was silent yet the dark presence was still there. Another presence, vaguely familiar, could be felt. Kael's heart surged with hope. Another Jedi? Thank the Force, that would be a blessed relief.

"Be careful...a powerful Sith Lord is near. Stay behind me. I'll protect you," he said softly, drawing his lightsaber.

He knew he had revealed himself as the sky blue beam burst into existence, but he knew the Sith Lord had felt his presence earlier. Better to reveal oneself in the light rather than skulking about the dark. Kael's eyes focused on Kessad for a brief moment. He knew the man...the Jedi Masters had been somewhat wary of him, saying he had returned from the Dark Side. But in Kael's mind there was always a chance for redemption. But why was Kessad just standing there? From the sounds and the senses given off by the two, they had just engaged in battle. Normally, a fight between a Jedi and a Sith was a fight to the death. The thought vanished, however, as the Sith entered his field of vision. Tall and imposing, clad in the darkest colour of night....Jaraxix. The name pierced him like a lightsaber through the heart. Old wounds from times past returned to torment him. His free hand reached to touch the scar on his chest that now seemed to burn with an unquenchable fire. He could almost hear the snap of bones once again, his own bones that had been broken through the sheer power of the Dark Side. Unspeakable torments flashed through his mind, the torture that had brought him so close to death...even worse, so close to the Dark Side, even if to stop the pain...And then...the cries of thousands touched his ears, the thousands who had been mercilessly slaughtered by the orbital bombardment by the Sith armada...their punishment for allowing the Jedi to escape. Only because of his comrades had he survived the ordeal, but his mind still had not had time to fully recover. How could this be happening? This entire mission was turning into a disaster...

"Jaraxix..." he whispered, finally finding his voice, though he could say nothing else.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

It seems I'm not the only one who has a history with Jaraxix. Kessad nearly smirked at the thought, but that would lend him no credit here; he restrained himself. Taking another step toward Kael, he lifted his hands and displayed his switched-off lightsaber. "Jedi... Whatever your history with Darth Jaraxix, now is not the time to let your emotions consume you. They will not serve you here. Jaraxix is willing to forgo violence: if you will do the same, we may yet have fates apart from useless slaughter at the hand of the Yuuzhan Vong."

His eyes flitted to the woman. Not a Jedi. An earth-woman. What was she doing with the Jedi?

Perhaps the battle above was not the only focal point in the movement of the Force, today.

[Digital Muse]

Along the tunnel was the oddest dance of light and the smell of ozone. Billie felt the Jedi in front of her hesitate and suddenly his own light saber was out and alight in front of him. Reflexively, Billie raised her firearm, "Whoa, Whoa, whoa! What do you think you're doing?" She hissed.

The pair rounded a corner, Kael remaining in front of her protectively. Billie heard the Jedi whisper a name; Jaraix. A few more feet and an odd scene. Several yards apart stood one of those creepy Sith son of a bitches and facing him was another Jedi. Looking at him, he didn't look all that friendly either. He was black with gray eyes that almost matched his gray robes. Worse? Everybody had those freaking light swords out, even if the only one lit up was the Jedi nearest her.

Billie stepped away from Kael, her arm snapping up as she tried to cover each of the aliens in turn. "Alright, Montreal PD. Drop your weapons!" She ordered with authority in her tone. "I said drop it!"

Kessad blinked at the Earth-woman impassively. A part of him admired her natural authority. Her actions were far from wise, but due only to ignorance. He reached out his hand with his saber as though to drop it... which he did. But the weapon hung in the air, clutched in the Force, as he folded his arms, his message displayed without words. A Jedi cannot be stripped of his greatest weapon.

Billie's eyes jerked to the black man as he made to drop the handle of his light saber. But she kept the other two me in her sights. Her gaze slipped back to the black man to ensure he'd done as he'd been told only to see the silver handle suspended in mid-air while his arms were crossed in front of his chest. "Aw crap." She murmured. She hated when rumors turned out to be true. "Why is it never easy?" She grumbled. "Look. I don't want to shoot you and you don't really want to be here...I'm guessing." She looked toward Kael and then toward Jaraix. Damn those dark masks and stuff just made the hair on the back of her neck stand right up. God, I hate aliens. She thought to herself.

[Count]

Whabb's stubby ears perked up immediately when a loud voice spoke up.

"Alright, Montreal PD. Drop your weapons!" said a human woman; "I said drop it!" Whabb was unimpressed, and if the red glow ahead of him was any indication, it was not going to be an easy task to remove the lightsaber from a Sith - if she was lucky, she didn't have Jaraxix...

...but she did, and as Whabb descended down the ladder, he motioned for his troops to continue fighting above; they would only get in the way in the cramped space of the tunnels, and to be honest he didn't want them to be in an enclosed space with a xenophobe, Darth Jaraxix, and a Jedi of questionable intent; Whabb didn't fool himself for a moment that he and the only trustworthy Jedi in the area would be able to hold off the other occupants of the musty tunnel.

The Ewok strolled nonchalantly into the muted glow of the confrontation, holding up a warning paw to discourage an assault.

"I have no idea what's going on up there, but I have figured out one thing. Before you decide to go ahead and storm up there, guns blazing, you might want to know that these Yuuzhan Vong are physiologically immune to the Force. They have no midi-chlorians whatsoever." He turned suddenly to the policewoman, smiling mischeivously. "I know this doesn't make sense to you, but just follow along for now. You don't have to worry about this at all." He stepped back and waited patiently for a response, lightly touching his lightsabers as he did so.

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