Title:  Savior II: The Way Of The Force

Author:  Jonathan Evans

Author email:  noggins@btinternet.com

More of these stories at the Republic Saga Homepage: http://www.angelfire.com/scifi/republicsaga

Summary: Sel'ine Dr'alik joins Mace Windu into battle while the Republic slowly crumbles.

SAVIOUR II
THE WAY OF THE FORCE
By Jonathan Evans

The Jedi Temple was full of rumours about the events that
were happening all around the galaxy. The Great Clone War
had been fought for nearly a year and there seemed to be
no sign of a conclusion. The Clone Armies of the Republic
were winning victories against the forces that threatened
them but their grip of control over the systems they won
back seemed so tight they would never let go. Without
anyone realising, the planets of the Galactic Republic
were becoming police states.

Sel'ine Dr'alik had spent much time away from her teacher
during this time. With him leading the troops into battle
he had no time to train her. It was a hard time for the
Jedi Knights as their numbers slowly dwindled in the war
and without training apprentices there could be no future
generations. Sel'ine was beginning to realise that no one
else thought of things through her perspective but there
was nothing she could do.

It had been three years since Mace Windu took her under
his wing. No one had chosen her to be their next Padawan
Learner and Master Windu, remembering her from back on
Ryloth when he rescued her from a slaver. Now, three
years on, the Clone Wars had begun and the Jedi were
sent thousands of parsecs out into deep space to try
to rescue any hopes of maintaining peace and justice
in the galaxy.

"Hey! Sel'ine!" a voice behind her called. She turned
around to see Evajo Siinit, the Padawan of Adi Gallia
who had also barely survived the early battles. The
young Twi'lek was glad to see a friend among the hundreds
of bodies in the Jedi conference room. Evajo fought
his way to her and smiled. "Have you heard? General
Kenobi and Skywalker have just won another victory on
Malastare!" His voice was full of excitement, missing
from most Jedi these days. Sel'ine admired that in him
and saw him as a beacon of light in the dark recesses
the Jedi were slowly becoming. "They think the war could
be over soon," he continued, trying to get a response
out of his friend. She just smiled.

"I suppose you know that though," Evajo continued to
get information out of her. "You being Master Windu's
apprentice." How could she not admire him for his
confidence. Maybe overconfidence was the path to the Dark
Sside of the Force as the Council used to say, but at
least it made him feel better. "You know I don't see him
all that much these days," she frowned. "He's too busy
planning out strategies for battle. Who'd have thought
the Jedi would come to that?"

Silence filled the room as two completly different
figures walked onto the stage. One, Master Windu, was
tall, proud, wearing his Jedi robes like military
uniform while at his side stood Yoda, dressed in the
simple outfit of a philosopher. That, Sel'ine thought,
was what a Jedi should appear like. She admired Yoda
more than any of the other Jedi Masters she had met
in her time, not taking into account the slight crush
she used to have on Master Kenobi.

Windu was the first to speak. "As I'm sure you've already
heard, our armies have secured Malastare. That is the third
victory in recent weeks." He looked sternly at everyone
who was watching him intently. "That does not mean we should
get over confident. Nearly four thousand Jedi have lost
their lives already this year and there is a chance more
could happen. We do not want the mistakes of Geonosis to
be made again but it seems they already have been."

Yoda took centre stage. Suddenly even the quiet murmurings
came to a stop. You could have heard a pin drop as all the
Jedi, from all corners of the galaxy, waited with bated
breath to hear what the wizened little creature would say.
He opened his mouth slowly. "Commended Skywalker and Kenobi
will be. But forget you must not that our ways are those
of peace, not war. Learn we must that wars not make one
great."

His stick tapped on the stage and seemed echo though the
entire Temple. "All I have to say is that." He turned to
Windu. "Aything else?" The dark skinned human shook his
head. "I don't think so. You are dismissed."

The Jedi of all shapes, sizes, races, colours and ages
moved out. Yoda turned quietly to his old friend. "Fear
I do that the people's opinions of our order are falling.
Seen to be leading the clones are we and in battles
many innocent casualties there are." Mace Windu was
obviously concerned with the same matters.
"I agree that the planets that are taken back are controlled
harshly by the Chancellor but it does appear to be we who
are doing this," he mused. "But there is nothing we can
do."

"Close to the Chancellor you are. Speak with him you must."
"I'm not sure what I could say to him. The longer this war
goes on the more reclusive he is becoming. Nontheless I
will try." Yoda nodded to Windu who walked down from the
stage where Sel'ine was waiting for him. At first he was
shocked by her presence.

"Master, is it true?" she asked, obviously having taken in
all that the two Jedi Masters had been talking about. "Are
the people turning against us?"
Her mentor he nodded regretfully. "It is, Sel'ine. There
have been several anti-Jedi revolts on Cerea, Toydaria and
even Naboo." He looked around to see that Yoda had gone
without them noticing. "It truly is a dark time for our
order. We can only hope that it comes to an end soon or
even I cannot predict what will become of the galaxy."

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

When Sel'ine saw her teacher next he was leaving Chancellor
Palpatine's quarters looking dismayed. She hadn't seen him
like this before but she knew it was something serious.
She walked carefully towards him, expecting some kind of
telling off for being too inquisitive. "Master?" she asked
to get his attention. He turned to her and gave a strained
smile. "What's happened?"

"The Chancellor has ordered an attack on an enemy cloning
facility on the moon of Piteki IV. We are making the first
move." He looked around before speaking in a quieter voice.
"I have been ordered to lead the battle secretly. I must
mobilise a Jedi and clone army at once."
"Aren't you going to tell Master Yoda?" The Twi'lek girl
was becoming increasingly unnerved by her master's words.
But there was something else, something inside him that he
seemed to be hiding. There was something he was afraid to
tell her.

"I'm coming with you, aren't I?" she questionned him slowly.
It was something to do with her that was worrying him. She
needed to find out what exactly it was. He looked at her
with caring eyes and shook his head. "You have no real
experience in battle. I do not want to lose you."
"But surely we'll win. The facility probably isn't that well
guarded plus we'll catch them by surprise. And what other
was am I to gain this 'experience'?"

He was still hiding something. What had Palpatine asked of
him? There was no way she could dig any deeper without
arousing his suspicions. Then he spoke. "I have a feeling,
a premonition, my student. This will not be a victory. I
know deep down, the Force has told me, that we cannont win
this. We're not meant to win it. Yet I must fight, I must
lead Jedi to their deaths. You do not understand it, but one
day you will when the Force truly begins to speak to you."

He turned away and began to walk off. "I can't say any more."
And with those words he was gone, leaving Sel'ine more
worried about his well being than she ever had before.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

Evajo Siinit sat alone in his quarters meditating. Just in
front of him, his lightsaber was hovering in mid air, spinning
slowly. He sensed a presence nearby and put it down onto the
ground. "Sel'ine," he smiled until he saw the serious
expression on her face. "What's wrong?"

"It's Master Windu," she said as she sat down in front of
her friend. "I don't think I should even know this and I
definately shouldn't be telling you but he's been ordered
to lead an army to Piteki IV. He's sure we're going to lose
but has to do it anyway."

Siinit noticed how concerned Sel'ine was for her master. It
was understandible. He had saved her from a life of slavery
to become a Jedi Knight. Without him who knows where she
would have been now. The young man nodded. "If it's the way
of the Force then he must do it."

Sel'ine shook her head. "No. He's worried. When I offered to
come with him he said no but there was something inside him
which told me he knew more than he was letting on." She sighed
out loud and started to play nervously with her head tails.
"Something's wrong, Evajo. Something dark is happening and
Master Windu knows. He's trying to protect me from it, I'm
sure, but he knows."

"You should be glad he wants to save you from it," Evajo
shrugged but Sel'ine glared at him. "He's been like a father
to me. Back on Ryloth we were told not to trust humans but
he's proved to me that you've got to look deeper than the
surface."

"And are you?" the human Padawan asked cautiously.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

Adi Gallia sat in Palpatine's office watching as the Chancellor
paced up and down, occasionally glancing out of the window.
He finally turned to her and spoke. "Surely you don't believe
what your apprentice has told you?" he said. "My policies go
against any attacks on systems without approval of the
Jedi Council."

"It isn't what he said, Chancellor," Gallia continued. "It's
more of what I felt him thinking. He is concerned, as I
and other members of the Council are, that this war is
becoming more of a political struggle than it is a
fight for freedom."

Palpatine visibly frowned. It was rare that he showed any
emotion but this really hit him hard. "Freedom is something
that cannot be spoken of so flippantly. To have freedom we
must first make sure it can't be so easily lost again."

"So holding planets by force won't last?" the Jedi woman
asked, using all of her diplomatice skills. "The public
are beginning to worry."

"They shouldn't," the Chancellor said carefully. "Without
control there would be no freedom there would be anarchy."

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

It came as a shock to Sel'ine when Mace Windu arrived at
her quarters and told her to come to the landing bay
where a starship would be waiting. She followed, worrying
that something more serious than she imagined would happen.
Reaching their destination, Windu showed her a small black
vessel where fifteen Jedi and around thirty armoured clones
were waiting. She turned to him. "What's going on?"

"You're coming with us," he informed her. "I agree with
everything you told me yesterday, but please, don't do
anything stupid. I don't want to lose you, Sel'ine."
"Yes, master..." she began. "But..."
"We haven't got much time. The Council will realise we're
gone soon. Hurry. Get on board."

Sel'ine jumped onto the landing ramp and was quickly followed
by the troops and the Jedi. She looked back to see Mace
glancing nervously towards a set of doors leading into the
main part of the Jedi Temple. He quickly shook his head
and jumped on board as the ramp slowly moved up.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

"Someone on that vessel knows of our plans," the hooded
figure of Darth Sidious said to the man standing next to
him. "Whoever it is could destroy our chances of
obtaining this most pleasing vistory."

His companion nodded but obviously didn't agree. Lord
Tyrranus, Count Dooku as most knew him, had other
thoughts on how this would aid the Sith cause. "No,"
he stated. "If things go as planned no one will survive
this except for our leak."

Sidious nodded thoughfully as the black starship disappeared
into the night's sky. "True. I underestimate him at times
but he does exactly what we want him to." The two
dark clad figures disappeared into the apartment and
could no longer be seen.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

Sitting next to Sel'ine was a Rodian Jedi. She turned and
gave a weak smile. "Hi," she said. "You're hear for the
long haul too, huh?" The Rodian shrugged and turned away.
He was nervous, scared even. In these times even the Jedi
Code was starting to mean nothing. Only four Council Members
had survived the massacre on Geonosis. Her teacher, Master
Yoda, Plo Koon and Adi Gallia. Maybe Master Ki-Adi-Mundi
would be around now if he hadn't been forced by Master
Gallia to go to the planet while she took on the seemingly
more dangerous task of dealing with the Droid Control
Ship above the planet.

There was a shudder as the ship entered hyperspace. She
had made the effort of looking at star charts before she
left Coruscant, before she even knew Master Windu would
change his mind about taking her. Piteki IV wasn't far
from the centre of the Republic and it would take them
less than twelve standard hours to get there. Still, it
was going to be a long jounrney.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

Seven hours into the voyage and the Jedi were becoming
increasingly worried. Sel'ine had looked into the cargo
hold where the Clonetroopers were sitting eerily calm
in preparation for the battle. They hardly moved. They
didn't seem human yet they were if you looked at it
from a certain point of view.

She walked towards Master Windu's private chambers. There
was a blue light coming from the darkness. Looking closer
she saw her teacher talking to a hologram. Whoever it
was didn't look familiar yet she sensed... something.
Although she couldn't hear what was being said the conversation
seemed to stop. Mace turned around but Sel'ine had disappeared
from sight.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

The Jedi starship came down just outside the cloning facility,
a specially designed cloaking device rendering it invisible
to any sensors that were present in the huge complex before
them. The landing ramp opened with a hiss and Sel'ine noticed
the Rodian shudder. He shyed away from the exit as the Clones
left first followed by the Jedi. She put her hand on his
shoulder. "It'll be alright," she said half to reassure
him and half for herself.

They were the last to leave and a loud battle had begun
before they'd even got off the ramp. Hundreds of Destroyer
Droids and Super Battle Droids had ambushed them. Sel'ine
held out her hand and the lightsaber at her side flew into
it. The green blade extended almost too slowly as a blast
flew towards her head. It was deflected with only nanoseconds
to spare.

On instinct, Sel'ine launched herself forward, hacking the head
off the droid that fired at her. It fell lifelessly to the floor.
She looked around to see Clonetroopers being shot down while
Jedi struggled to maintain control of the situation. Mace
Windu seemed to be heading towards the entrace of the metal
building. Two Jedi and several Clonetroopers followed and
were blasted to pieces by turbo lasers mounted around the
top, powerful enough to take out a starfighter.

Pushing her way towards her tutor, she sliced and hacked
at the droids that were firing at her. A green hand touched
her and she twisted around. The Rodian Jedi! He was still
alive and had clung onto her as being his only hope to
get out alive. She couldn't hear him above the noise of
battle and wasn't very good at lip-reading most of the
less humanoid species. "I'm trying to find my Master!"
she shouted as loudly as she could. He seemed to understand
and followed her towards the entrance.

The turbo laser fire rained down on them but, expecting the
onslaught, Sel'ine's lightsaber deflected most of the
attacks that rained down on them. Her companion did the
same and they got to the hole in the durasteel blastdoor
that Mace Windu had sliced through. There was an explosion
above her as a thermal detonator thrown by a Clonetrooper
took out one of the laser mountings. She dragged the
Rodian inside to avoid the flying shrapnel.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

The cloning facility itself was pretty basic. The metal
walls that seemed to go on forever were dull and grey
and there seemed to be no sign of life. The two Jedi
ran through the corridors before the Republic troops
could trample them in their relentless attempts to
follow orders.

"I sense something..." the Rodian said quietly. "In here."
He motioned towards a door and the two stopped running.
Sel'ine touched the metal and realised that there was
a life form in there. Only one though. She ignited her
lightsaber and cut it open.

The lights were out as they stepped in. A cloaked figure
was in front of them, leaning on a damaged computer
console. The light coming from her weapon caused the
mysterious stranger to turn around. Sel'ine suddenly
realised who it was.

"Master Windu!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing?"
Mace turned around. "It was a trap. This facility
has been closed down for months. The information we
were given was incorrect. So many lives have been
lost. It's all my fault."
"No, Master. It isn't. It's not your fault..."

The worryingly quiet Rodian finally spoke up again. "If
I am correct, Master, it was the Chancellor who ordered
the attack." If his words were meant to comfort Mace
they didn't work. His eyes began to fire up. "Of course!
There had a be a leak. Someone who would try to damage
Palpatine's reputation. I would never have thought it
would be a Jedi..."

Before Sel'ine could react, Mace's lightsaber sliced
through the Rodian. The two pieces hit the floor with
a thud. The young Twi'lek looked up from the steaming
remains to her teacher's eyes. She saw something in
them that scared her. "Master!"

"He must have been working for the enemy, trying to
lead us into a battle that we would lose. My fears
were correct." His turned off his weapon and put it
back at his side. His apprentice look more and more
nervous. Mace tried to explain. "I had a message on
the journey that there was someone on our starship
who was leading us into this trap. I couldn't do
anything but continue. When I saw the deaths..."

"Are you even sure it was him?" Sel'ine said, becoming
more and more erratic. "You struck out so fast. I...
I even sensed anger."

Windu didn't look at her. He bowed his head. It was
a humbling experience to have your mistakes pointed
out by a Padawan. All the deaths, the losses, they'd
all got to him. He needed release and this was the
only way he could get it. Memories of the day just
over ten years previously came to him as he refused
the training of Anakin Skywalker because he sensed
anger in him and yet here he was, a senior Jedi
Master, resorting to it. What a hypocrite he'd become.
He turned around and left the room. This had to end.
He had to call a retreat.

Sel'ine stood alone sensing the feelings that went
through her teacher's mind. Something was going
to happen soon. Something dark.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

The starship journey back to Coruscant was a somber one.
Only two other Jedi had survived, the Clonetroopers were
slighly better off with twenty alive but over half of them
seriously wounded.

Sel'ine sat quietly. Master Windu was alone in his quarters
and she didn't want to disturb him. The remaining members
of the Council would not be happy with this but she
hoped the presence of Mace would have calmed Yoda down
slightly. Somehow she doubted it. A serious mistake had
been made but still she refused to believe the Rodian
had been the cause of it. She eyed the two Jedi sitting
in separate corners of the room.

The first was human, nervous, scared. He was suffering from
severe shell shock, his arm shot off at the elbow. Noticing
Sel'ine watching him, he turned away. The other survivor
was a female Zabrak. Two of her horns had been lost and
the wounds were bleeding. She didn't seem to care about
stopping the flow as it came down her face. Sel'ine
recognised her as Detori, a Knight who passed the Tests
around the time she herself had become a Padawan. Neither
of them seemed the type to betray them. Would someone be
willing to risk their own lives for that?

She slowly began to realise she was the least injured.
A blaster wound on her side that she barely noticed appear
was all that she had to show she was even there. The
other Jedi probably thought she was the one. Her eyes
glanced towards the door to Master Windu's quarters. Around
the edges was the familiar eery blue light of a hologram.
Sel'ine began to fear the worst...

			END!