Welcome to Gaia! ::

**Forgive any typing errors I might make... My middle and third fingers are taped together because I jammed my finger rather badly during a game of football.

Also, forgive any technical errors that might pop into being... I'm grossly unfamiliar with the technicalities of the Star Wars world.**

Kiana leaned against the balcony railing, idly watching the life of Coruscant pulse and thrive beneath her. From her vantage point, she felt as though she were a mythological guardian of some sort, casting a protective shadow over her charges. Indeed, to the minds of the common people, she was.

If only they knew she spent most of her days lurking in her rooms, hoping for some scrap of attention from her superiors. Kiana gave a wry smile that didn't reach her eyes. Even with the notorious Jedi patience driven into her very being, she had long since grown weary of being sent on menial tasks. She had been a Knight for far longer than she cared to remember, yet still they treated her as if she had just created her first lightsaber.

"Mistress?"

Kiana stifled a curt sigh as she turned from her balcony. She had been so involved in her own thoughts, she'd failed to notice the droid's entrance. No wonder she was always kept in the dark. "Yes?" she returned evenly. The service droid whirred a moment. Kiana envied her peers that were mechanically gifted enough to be able to understand droids; to her, they might as well have been tin cans with mouths. "Your presence is requested by the Council," the droid informed her.

A brief moment of shock was only barely contained by the calm Jedi facade. The Council! This couldn't be just another mundane task; she would have been informed by some underling. For the Council to summon her--!

Abruptly, Kiana noticed the droid was still there. It watched her expectantly, its head tilted slightly. Kiana returned its look, at a loss. It had related the message, now what did it want?

"Thank you," Kiana tried, hoping the thing would leave her be. "You're welcome, mistress. If you will follow me, I was instructed to escort you to the Council chamber," the droid said politely. Kiana grimaced inwardly. The stupid thing knew she had no idea how to deal with its kind! "Lead on, then," she said, choosing the most neutral phrase out of the more colorful options her mind supplied her with.

The droid gave a stiff bow, then turned and headed for the door. Kiana took a quick moment to straighten her robes, refusing to acknowledge the nervous flutter in her stomach, then swept out of her rooms, following the droid.

Lord Drago started the Ebon Hawk, his Old Republic ship from his past, and took off towards his fleet of ghost ships. Once in the midst of the fleet he docked in his own custom cruiser, the Sundered Heart. Lord Drago exited the ship and began to walk into bridge, but was stopped by a voice from behind. "Stop, in the name of the New Republic!", A familiar voice said as he turned around. A clone and his troop stood with DC-17 reticals aimed at his head. They dropped their weapons as they took a look into his empty eyes, blood dripping down. "Ssoo... you wissh to sstop me?" He said in his raspy voice as he pointed his hand out at them. Purple lightning shot out from his fingertips as the life was drained from the clones. His face regained some of his youth as he basked in the glory of another four kills. "Yes... now I am ready to fight." He muttered in his normal tone. The life he had drained had at least given him a hundred more years. For a normal Sith Lord it would have given them only a year but the power of the dark side that leaked from his pores amplified that life energy by one-hundred times. He smiled as he remembered the old Sith proverb and continued on his way to the bridge. It does disturb me that the Republic had any knowledge of where my fleet was... but that doesn't matter now. If I get another apprentice I will be the single-most powerful Sith Lord that ever lived. "Captain, make your way to the lines of Eriadu. There is a Jedi there who is about to recieve their wings into knighthood. He may be built for light combat but any potential Sith apprentices are good at this point. If worst comes to worst, I will destroy both planets. However if we do manage to succeed, I want you to make a headway to Korriban, for he needs to learn about the Sith. Most Jedi can feel my presence from systems away but now that Gurala Ish-ta has taught me his technique in one of his holocrons not even the most adept Jedi can find me. Notify the other cruisers we will be leaving in a day's time. Oh... and do tell them to scan for stowaways..." He said as he walked into his chambers without questions to meditate.

((Don't you mean repell? eek Just saying... don't be mad but I have to keep up a rep.)) Darth Drago's ship exited hyperspace a day later. No tracking devices were found and no more squadrons were detected. Darth Drago had smiled at the news as he got up from his sitting position. Down in the hangar, he had entered the Ebon Hawk. Inside, Darth Drago was crouching over a small, old droid. A beeping sound could be heard and Darth Drago smiled again. T3-M4 was back in operation and could now assist him fight. He asked the droid if it remembered him, and the droid beeped offermatively. Darth Drago then ordered T3 to fix up HK-47, his so-called protocol droid. HK was really an assassin droid, supposedly the last HK model in the galaxy. Darth Drago had to attend to his deceased allies. He glanced around the center port of the Ebon Hawk and held back the bloody imitations of tears. He started with Visas, using the force to somewhat bring her back to life. Her heart jumped a bit as he picked her up and placed her into a bacta tank. After he was finished with the last one, Hanharr, the wookie aboard. After he was finished placing them into the bacta tanks, he got into the cockpit and started it up. He felt a tug at his shoulder; it was Mandalore, the former head Mandalorian from the moon of Dxun. "Hey, where are we?" He asked as he looked out of the window. "Mandalore, you've been dead for over one-thousand years. I have revived you as well as the others. You see, when Bao-Dur's remote activated the shadow manipulator on that... that evil planet... you all died. Visas had managed to put the ship in auto-pilot but unfortunatly she died afterwards. We have a purpose... you are back, but you need to stay near me to survive until we can get to Korriban. Visas and Handmaiden, as well as Atton are safe since they are force-sensitives. Bao-Dur... I wish he was still alive..." He said as he started up the ship. "Sir, that doesn't answer my question; where are we?" Mandalore asked as he looked at Darth Drago. "You are in an Old Republic cruiser. This is the New Republic, in the Clone Wars. The Repubilc is now fighting machines, like back in the day..." His voice trailed off as he pulled the throttle and began to make their way to Coruscant.

((Probably. Are you supposed to be Revan or the Exile? And Bao-Dur was force-sensitive. One more thing, you do know Mandalore's real name, right? Canderous Ordo?))

Adenn was to take the B1/B2 Battle Droid production facility of the factory. "Me against all these droids?" A smirk formed behind his helmet, "They don't stand a chance." He tossed a Thermal Detonator at a rack of B1 droids to clear a good path. Their weak frames were no match for the explosion, and the rack fell. "Echos, report in." Tech answered first. "I'm in, sir. No resistance yet." Bullseye was next. "I'm close to the objective. A few Spider Droids, nothing I can't handle." Pyro was last. "Pyro here, sir. I'm in the Scrap Repository. It looks like they have Scavenger Droids. Be careful."

((It is, but it's still good. Brianna was the Handmaiden's name. And if Jango is still alive, this must be before Geonosis.))

An explosion rocked the facility. "Advisor, what was that?" Adenn instinctively took cover. "I don't believe it! The Seps are firing on their own factory! Abort mission, get to the evac point now! They're--" Advisor's voice turned into static. "Advisor? Fierfek! Echo Squad, head to the evac point now. We don't have much time." He turned back the way he came, luckily not having gone far. He backtracked to his entrance and climbed the debris up to the roof. "This is 14. I'm already here." "Bullseye here. I'm close enough." Adenn heard a scream of pain. It was Pyro. "12, come in! Where are you?" No answer. "Does anyone have a reading on 12? He isn't answering." After a few seconds, Tech answered. "He is pretty close to you, sir. I'm suprised you can't get a reading on him. Wait, that's it. Scavs. He is in the next room, to your right. You can get out through the ventilation ducts the quickest." 15 blasted the door open and tossed an EMP grenade. Scavenger droids fell from the sky all around Pyro. "I have contact with him. Low vitals, we need to get him some bacta. We are on our way." Adenn holstered his gun and revived Pyro with his defibrulation device. He pointed Pyro the the air vents and they climbed to the roof. The LA/AT was hovering above them. "Get in, sir. We are going to Coruscant."

The Squad was En Route to Coruscant. The Advisor's hologram appeared. "Echo Squad, I'm glad to see you are all alive." Adenn was impatient waiting for contact with Advisor. "Do we know why the CIS attacked their own factory?" The Advisor answered, "It seems it was a trap. They were hoping we'd send a Jedi or two to take care of it and crush them inside. Enough of that, we have a new mission. A Jedi on Coruscant is being sent out by the Jedi Council. The Council would not tell us why, but we believe she is to assassinate the same Sith Lord that we lost Zeta Squad to. You are ordered to make sure this Jedi gets the job done, but we can't let the Council know of it. Zeta's last report stated that the Sith Lord was entering his vessel, so he must be going somewhere. Make sure the Knight knows where to find him."

Something was wrong.

A sense of unease pervaded the temple, tainting everything with its subtle flavor. Something had happened, and no one knew what. The temple itself seemed to hold its breath, waiting for the aftermath to explode into being.

Kiana trudged through the halls, heading to her ship. The Council had decided her first trip would be to Dantooine, mostly due to the fact that the ruins of the Jedi Academy seemed to be the most likely first stop for whatever evil they faced. Kiana couldn't help but surmise it was mostly the Jedi self-importance that led to this decision, as well as a lack of any other decent place to begin her search. The ruins had been picked clean for centuries, both by Jedi and the looters that had followed. Anyone wandering through the ruins would only find laigreks and rubble. But, it was a jump point.

Kiana exited the temple, stepping out onto the sunny launchpad. The launch crew were almost done securing the astromech droid to her Jedi starfighter, making sure the droid was functional and no hidden glitches would surface at a critical moment. Kiana was uncomfortable with droids in the first place, and the idea that in the middle of space, the only thing between her and certain death was a droid that looked vaguely akin to a refuse receptacle bothered her deeply. There was no help for it, though. Without that droid, any damages she might acquire en route would fester, and then it would be up to her to fix it.

That idea bothered her more than the droid did.

As she began to walk towards the starfighter, a breathless padawan ran up to her. "Mistress Kiana! Mistress Kiana, wait!" the boy called, waving one arm to get her attention. Kiana stopped and turned, wondering what else could possibly mar her day. The boy stopped a few paces from her, flinging himself into a hasty bow. "Mistress Kiana, there has been an abduction!" the boy whispered, glancing conspiratorially at the launch crew.

Ah. That is what could make her day worse.

"Abduction?" Kiana repeated, turning to fully face the novice. The boy nodded. "Yes, Mistress Kiana. Mistress Adi has summoned you, that she may inform you further," he said. Kiana's heart fluttered nervously, but she ignored it. "Thank you, padawan. Continue your studies," she said, brushing by the padawan as she headed for Adi Gallia's chambers.

This could not end well.

***

"As you see, Kiana, every evil act has an opportunity to lead to good," Adi said, steepling her fingers in front of her face. She lounged in a chair next to the wall, the light from the window casting a bronze glow on her dark skin. Kiana nodded, but knew her face betrayed her uncertainty. How could a padawan, plucked from a training bout in the middle of the temple by an unknown assailant, possibly be beneficial?

Adi smiled, her piercing blue eyes easily reading Kiana's body language. "Yes, it is unfortunate that the padawan was taken. But, from this villainy, we have gleaned a small kernel of information," the Jedi Master explained. Gracefully standing from her chair, she picked up a holocron, holding it in her palm as she activated it.

A young padawan sprang into being, his image tinted blue by the photon emitters. "Yes, Master," he responded to an unheard command. "We were in the yard, training with our lightsabers. He wanted a challenge, he said, so there were many of us facing him. He was holding us to a standstill at first, but out of nowhere we were suddenly falling like flies. I was the last to fall, but as I did, I saw something... strange.

"It looked like a man, clad in dark robes. His eyes..." The padawan grew quiet for a moment, then gave a shudder and continued. "There were a few others with him, but I couldn't really see them. He... he was watching the other padawan, Master. I fell unconscious then, but I woke up in time to see a ship. I have nothing to support this, Master, but I feel sure that was the ship of the man. It... it was very strange-looking, Master. Flat, like a plate, and tan-colored with red markings. The way it flew... it was very fast, Master." The image bowed, then froze as the transmission ended.

Adi turned the holocron off, returning it to its previous position. "This, Kiana, gives us something. You now have a clue," she said, meeting Kiana's eyes. The Jedi Knight gave a short breath. "A man in dark robes? A ship like a plate? That may well have described every smuggler from here to Dantooine, Master Adi," she said, struggling to hide her disappointment.

The Jedi Master tilted her head, the organic tentacles of her headdress falling over her shoulders. "I'm surprised, Kiana. You've proven to be very observant in your studies, but you missed the most important clue," she said softly, staring intently.

Kiana's brow furrowed as she ran through the conversation again in her mind. She focused on the padawan's description, but couldn't remember anything--

"His eyes," Kiana breathed, the truth hitting her like an airspeeder. "The man's eyes must be remarkably strange, to get such a reaction from the boy!"

Adi nodded, her face easing into a small smile. "Perhaps there is hope for you after all," she chided gently, her smile easing the sting of her words.

The slight admonishment did nothing to curb Kiana's sudden excitement. It was small, but it was better than chasing shadows. "The ship--did anyone else see it? Perhaps get a trajectory? Either while inbound or outbound?" Kiana asked. Adi shook her head. "Whoever piloted the ship was skilled at remaining undetected," she said.

A minor setback. Kiana unconsciously began pacing, speaking her thoughts aloud. "If that's the case, then the pilot would be a veteran at avoiding sanctions, embargoes, inspections... which would lead to his being a smuggler. Even if the man in dark robes was not, he must be employing someone who is. Therefore, I might be able to glean some information at the cantinas on Tatooine. Every smuggler there knows every other smuggler, especially if they're good. The man in dark clothing would want the best for such a risky maneuver as infiltrating the Jedi temple, so he'd go for the best," Kiana said, her mouth struggling to keep up with the sudden flurry of her mind. Adi nodded approvingly. "It seems we have chosen well," she said in an undertone, more to herself than anyone else. Her voice couldn't distract the Jedi Knight from her thoughts, which now ran away with her.

"Are you prepared for your journey, then?" Adi asked, this time loud enough to be heard. Kiana jumped, her introspection disrupted. "Yes, Master Adi. To Tatooine. I leave immediately. By your leave," she said, turning and bustling out of the room before Adi could say anything else.