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| - Snow was fluttering about as far as the eye could see, enveloping the glittering white countryside. The sky radiated a batter of crystal blue, purple, and dark blue colors crafting an alluring evening skyline. A small hill leading down to a large pond settled in middle of the snowy valley. A short, thin human girl trotted down the pathway towards the pond, she was clad in thick brown robes, drapping her whole body. The snow flurries raged onward, and the wet drops drained down onto her already damp robes as she flipped her hood up over her head. She was rather pale, and had bright green eyes, with a short dark bob hanging down in front of her eyes. At the bottom of the hill, standing on the edge of a sturdy peice of ice, stretching out onto the water stood another young human, a boy, tossing rocks out on the water trying to skip them across. He was quickly becoming frustrated as he failed time and time again, blowing the overgrown bangs of his hair out of his face, and wiping his nose, which was becoming pink due to the cold. A soft voice chuckled coming from the fair Zabrak leaned against a tree behind him. "Why not use the force Omanea? It is our primary weapon you know?" He stated, clearly being sarcastic. Omanea shrugged and rolled his eyes, "Keeshan, how many times do I have to tell you? The force is not our "weapon" it's an instrument for peace, and doing good in the galaxy and-" Keeshan cut him off, chattering his hand mocking his friend and grinning, "Blah blah blah, stop taking what the masters say so seriously bud. Have a little fun." The girl just then stepped to the bottom of the hill where the two boys were, "We need to find Master Pondcha, it's getting late." "Tired already Sheia?" Keeshan joked. "No! We just need to be getting back to the academy, it's cold out here." "I'll warm you up!" The Zabrak teased again, clicking his tongue several times and shooting a wink at Sheia. Omanea shook his head, "Do you listen to anything we've been taught?" He chuckled and blurted a short, too the point, "no." Keeshan then stood up from the tree, stretching, "But seriously guys, we're old enough to take care of ourselves, let's just loosen up for the night." A booming laughter echoed from the path as a large, Kajain'sa'Nikto Jedi Master trotted down. "Oh Keeshan, no matter how old you think you get, you'll never be able to take care of yourself." The comment drew a sigh and a roll of the eyes from Keeshan, but a smirk and some laughter from Omanea who nudged his Zabrak friend. Sheia, eager to leave approached the Nikto, "Master, is it time to go back to the academy?" "Indeed child, get your things padawans, we need to head back." Master Pondcha turned, and the three padawans followed him back up the trail. They emerged on the other side of the thick woods sometime later, stepping out onto a poorly developed gravel street, stretching down through a small, rather unsophisticated colony. As the headed down the road, the numerous colonist were bustling about, moving supplies, sealing their windows, and getting in doors. The padawans, freshly arrived on the planet, were confused by the commotion, Sheia reached out to their master, "Master? What's everyone doing?" "Preparing for the storm Sheia." "Storm?" Omanea asked. "Yes Padawan, it rolls around once a year here on Aveia, a massive snow storm, blacks out everything, but it's unique. The electromagnetic waves the event produces knocks out all communications." He pointed up to the western sky, were a massive black cloud completely blocked the sky line, it was lighting up green and blue as sparks of lightning blitzed across the formation. "Looks fun...and dangerous." The cocky Zabrak added. "Not so much dangerous young Keeshan, just a nuecence. But you know this knack you have for danger will likely get you in trouble one day." "Eh, I can handle it." The master laughed, amused by his padawan's confidence. As they walked down the street, they strolled past a young human girl, slumped against a building, shivering beneath her ragtag apparel, with an empty cup in her outstretched hand. Pondcha slowed down as he approached her, trickling several credit chips into the cup, shooting a smile as he walked past the girl. The girl watched the four walk away and smirked, "I can get used to this." She stood up, glancing up towards the coming storm, and trekked off towards the woods. The group approached a speeder, carelessly parked on the edge of the street, and the four climbed in, taking off down the road, away from the city and the storm. The girl eventually found herself exiting the forest, on top of a small cliff, overlooking a worn out mining encampment. She crouched down, drawing marcobinoculars to her eyes. Down at the camp, the workers and guards were spralling, shutting down equpiment, moving it in doors, and readying for the storm, much like the town. However, two robed men, walking with the miner's head foreman caught her attention. They were clearly carrying on a conversation, handing off a case to the foreman. He opened the case, revealing an abundance of credit chips. "Interesting." she muttered. She continued observing, the two robed men were leaving, climbing into a speeder, but the foreman had turned to his workers, muttering to them, and signaling towards the exit. Over the next few minutes, they finished housing their equipment, and then loaded up on speeders, the whole faculty leaving, save several guards and the foreman himself. She rolled back behind the trees, rolling up her worn sleeve, revealing a sleek blue gauntlet with a holoprojector built in. She activated the projector, on the other end was a human in armor. He was middle aged with a short buzz cut and a dark tattoo around his right eye. "Master Aldonia." The girl sighed, "Trejos, how many times do I have tell you, it's Ire, don't be so formal." "Yes mam' " Ire rolled her eyes, "Anyways Lieutenant, I was just investigating the mining camp. It appears our friends from the academy are bribing the miners here. Masters Ushefar and Kusan it would seem. Proof of corruption." "Indeed mam', however, I don't believe corruption necessarily means their dealing with the Sith." "Maybe not, but it's evidence for the council to launch a deeper investigation." She glanced back at the mining facility, and then the storm. "Have you heard from Taylor at all?" "No mam', he's been silent since arriving at the academy. I'm assuming he doesn't wish to blow his cover." Ire nodded, "Good idea, I'm going to report my findings to the council. This storm is about to hit us, we'll be out of communications for several days, I suggest you and your men bundle up Lieutenant." Trejos saluted, "Yes mam'" and the holoprojector shut off. The sky was growing darker now, and Ire turned heading back towards the town as the snow flurries began to grow furious. Across the landscape, some distance away, nestled in a small open wooded area sat a Defender Class Corvette. The top of it was padded with blotches of damp greyish snow, and the ships rampart had been extended down. Several soldiers in Republic heavy winter gear were outside, chatting among themselves. Trejos stepped down from the ship, scanning the area. "Alright boys, let's get inside, storms coming." One of them, a large Trandoshan stood up, his massive sword hanging from his back, "I'm ready to get off this damned world, it's freezing" he hissed as his razor-like teeth chattered. Trejos waved them to the ship, "We've got a mission to do Kecax, we don't leave till it's done." A dark skinned human, rather muscular and large gave Kecax a hard pat on the back, "Come on ya' big lizard, quit complaining." Kecax growled and jokingly shoved the human, "Shut it Garrell." "You complain so much you sound like Braylon" he countered as he looked back at the last of the soldiers, a slender human topped with a thick mop of hair, and scars across his face. "Haha" the other human mocked, "You guys are so funny." "Lighten up" Garrell exclaimed delivering another slap on the back, this time to Braylon. Braylon sighed and shook his head, sniffling due to the cold as he walked up the into the ship with the others. "I just don't understand why we're stuck here on this rural ass, cold, blistering, pointless planet, and not out in the war." "We're here to investigate the possibility that the Sith have infiltrated the academy here Corporal." The Lieutenant countered as he sat down in his seat, the silver wars were tinted red with the lights and designs inside the ship, and as he glanced into the back room, Trejos could see the glow of the star map. "We're not ready for war anyways, that's what happens when you lose over half your squad Braylon." Kecax said as he saluted, honoring their fallen comrades. "I'm going to bed." Braylon sat down next to his CO, "I'm just saying, do you really think something is going on here sir?" Trejos shrugged, "I don't know, Master Aldonia seems to think so, and we haven't heard back from Taylor, a good sign he thinks somethings going on...so we'll just have to see. But right now, the other thing we have to worry about is this coming storm." Back across the countryside, Ire was arriving at her makeshift shelter, built into the back of an old abandoned warehouse in the colony. She shuffled through the dark, dusting and gravel busting out from beneath her feet as she strolled across the room. She nudged open a door to a smaller room, several motion lights flicked on, revealing a living quarters. She sat down on a rickety chair, tossing her holocomunicator down on the table in front of her and activated it, this time displaying several jedi, a Kel Dor, two humans, and an Iktotchi stood in view. "Ire, what do you have to report?" The female human asked. "Masters, it appears that several jedi a committing bribery here." "Bribery? Who?" The male human scoffed. "Masters Ushefar and Kushan." "Distrubing, might I ask young knight, who were they bribing and has there been any indication that the Sith could be involved?" the Iktotchi asked. "The mining foreman at the facility here, shortly after they left, the foreman had most of the workers leave as well, it appeared as if they were preparing to weather the storm there until the masters arrived." The male human appeared uninterested, interrupting before anyone else could get a word in, "Well this seems very unrelated from the Sith might I say, we shouldn't worry." "Even if it is unrelated to the Seth, a crime is a crime Julian." The Kel Dor masters voice boomed, "Commited by our own, this is a concern for the order." "I Agree" the female human added. Meanwhile, this entire time the Iktotchi was thinking, deeply concerned for some reason. "Ire, keep an eye on the masters, we will deal with this situation internally soon enough. Stay in the area of that mining facility as well." "Yes Master Traaj" She attempted to speak more but the communication became compromised, the hologram flickering infront of the masters. "Th---storm---los--g----nal-far-ell-mas--rs." The hologram then shut off. Julian looked to the other jedi masters, "This is hardly a concern for those two knights Traaj, we should be having do far more important things than this." Traaj looked up to the others, "Maybe so, but that planet houses a dark power, something that has been untouched for thousands of years, beneath the surface." The female human glanced over, "You think they might be using the miners to dig it up." Traaj nodded, "Possibly." "What is it?" Julian questioned. "I am not sure, I've been to the planet before, I've felt it. I'm heading to the archives, research this." He bowed his head to the other masters and turned, the Kel Dor Jedi following behind him. "Jano if this could be a, precarious situation, do you trust your former Padawan can handle this." Jano nodded, "Of course he can." "You have much faith in young Core. Are you sure he's okay, especially after what happened on Onderon?" "Yes, Taylor despite his attachment to his emotions, Taylor is resilient, unbreakable. That knight has my faith..I trained him." Traaj smiled, "Indeed, and if that's any indication, he could just become the finest Jedi we've had in sometime."
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