The caverns of Ilum. Hidden under the white mountains, once a haven for Jedi seeking solace or precious gems for their lightsabers, had been a desolate and hidden sanctuary for decades. The temple had been the site of a hundred murders and a vortex of dark side energies, while the caves were sealed off for reasons unknown. Usually, a single Jedi would stand watch over the semisacred region, keeping the gates shut and the temple sealed, but he was nowhere to be seen today, even as his intergalactic com device buzzed with incoming messages. Actually, he was already dead, a victim of the battle raging within the mines.



****

Remnant soldiers took turns peeking above the rocks to unleash punishing volleys of glowing blue plasma bolts at the advancing Republican soldiers. The sergeant of the squad was getting nervous, his men lacking the needed technology to fight back hard enough, their weapons slow to fire and not as accurate as the lighter but faster and precise guns the Republic men had. To make matters worse, they had no grenades and were being pushed to a dead end tunnel. There was a shaft that went up, but nobody had any ropes or grappling hooks. They were sure to be killed, and the man hoped the other squads in the mines were more successful than they were.

The Jedi knight leading the opposing squad prepared to give the command to finish the squad off, but he would not live long enough. A gray shape descended with a slight flutter down the shaft, and quickly dispatched the nearest soldier. The Jedi held his weapon in a guard and readied his stance, and while the soldiers turned to fire at the opponent, one more had his weapon knocked down and was thrown back, and the beleaguered Remnant troops fired, their weapons lighting the cave with flashes of aquamarine glow. The assassin quickly cut down another soldier with his vibrosword and now turned to the Jedi. Lightsaber and kinetic energy met and, to the Jedi's shock, the opponent was actually able to parry blows and counteract even the best swordsmanship skills the Knight could offer. It was only seconds before the knight was dead, slashed at the torso. The mysterious fighter dissapeared among the caves darkness, leaving the Remnant troops to finish the Republic troops.



The killer was Ton Tanj, a former Jedi now exiled from the Order and a man who could no longer use the Force. He was an assassin and a collector of Jedi bounties, though he was not in the business for pleasure, nor for fame, and not even for the money, but rather for justice. His kind of justice was almost revenge, but it was pure as water and devoid of any kind of selfishness. Whenever people asked, he said it was the Jedi who betrayed him, not the other way around, and that he was the innocent guy. Whatever your stance on Tanj was, one thing could be agreed on: he was good.

And that was a lesson the two Jedi confronting him learned the hard way. He drew two shotos and parried one lightsaber, kicking the other Jedi in the groin and retracting his foot in time to escape the retaliating slash. He grappled the former's weapon hilt and delivered a solid bash to the face with his weapon's pommel. The Jedi reeled back in pain but was saved from a stab at the heart by his partner, who tried to block the way with a quick leap in Tanj's path. The guy was good at displaying his lightsaber, but bad at actually putting it to use, leaving gaps big enough for Tanj to penetrate his defense and grab his wrist, stopping the flashy display in it's tracks. The Jedi was able to give a shocked face expression before being thrown lifelessly head-over-heels at the wall. The other Jedi was more of a challenge, since he had seen Tanj's tactics in action. He gave a good fight for a moment, but he had no expected two shotos flying towards him, slicing one hilt but missing the other, and was subsequently killed.

Tanj ran down the cave into a larger cavern filled with winding staircases and ledges along the walls. All over, opposing squads fought over small patches of the cavern, most skirmishes clustering at places where gems could be seen protruding from the walls or on staircases that led to the uppermost levels. Jedi Knights were easy to spot, since their weapons gave them away among the crowds. Tanj removed his vibrosword from his back scabbard and ran with all his speed towards the nearest fight. As he ran, he said his oath in his head, I do swear, so long as I live, to preserve the Jedi Order and to fight for the light. Justice, truth, and loyalty.

With this oath in mind, it would seem to be the epitome of irony how the man without the Force who fought to preserve the Order had a final goal of killing the Grand Master.

~EW~