Blood Band Brothers

[Rexraptor2000]

Shadow heard lightsabers ignite behind him as he began to slow his run into a walk as he walked into the dorms. The droids that weren't being cut down by the masterless lightsabers started to fire at Shadow. He deflected them all back at thier owners and then used force wave as Vader joined the battle.

[RC-1162]

Vader let loose a Force Storm, unimpressed by the resistance offered by the droids and decimated the remainder of the droids.

 

"Well, that was easy," he commented and deactivated his blades.

 

He turned to Shadow.

 

"So, what do you plan to do now?"

[Rexraptor2000]

"First, to have the troops conduct a thourogh search of the ship to make sure there are no rouges. Second, to try and find out where I sent us. And last, to apologize to Leia for yelling at her. It was wrong of me to get angry like that." Shadow replied deactivating his own lightsaber. He had cooled down, but the anger still was fresh in his mind.

[RC-1162]

"Well, thats nice," said Vader as he motioned to the door so that they could get started with the search. "But there is some fault on her side. I'll talk to her later."

[Rexraptor2000]

"Troops! I want a full search of the ship conducted and I wanted it done half an hour ago! Split into patrols of twelve men and shoot anything that's made of metal or is half metal." Shadow said over the com. Then he went over to the room that Cyphon and Leia were in and knocked. "It's safe to come out now." he said.

[Master_Archon]

Before any man could move to go follow Shadow's orders there was a sound of marching that could be heard through the corridor. A force of cyborgs 250 strong came trudging down the hall, all of the clones stopped and readied for battle. Once every cyborg was in the hall they compacted in the middle sending wave after wave of men. On the other side of the hallway, Jaken and Vok came in, right before them and their men got to the droids they stopped, eight DT Phase-1's got out in front, they activated their wrist shields and charged! The first group of cyborgs was knocked over by the DT's shields and then they were trampled, the second group was quickly hacked to pieces. Then Jaken and Vok activated their sabers and gave a battle cry that all of their men took up as well, and then they charged! But because of the cyborgs formation, it was hard to break through, even lightsabers couldn't brake through very well.

 

As the battle raged outside Cyphon came out of his concentrated look, got up, and went into another dorm room, the sabers outside dropped to the floor. Cyphon kept going down the rooms, until he couldn't hear much blaster fire. He then turned and opened the door to the outside hallway! When it slid open he found himself in the middle of the cyborg formation, an area not resieving much blaster fire. The first thing he did, was reach out and use force crush on two of the nearest cyborgs heads. When the cyborgs noticed him they turned, many would think what he was doing was suicide, but he had different plans!

 

In around three seconds his demeaner changed. His eyes turned black, pure utter black, no pupil, no white, just black! And in his eyes could be seen hundreds of little specs of light, showing the age, experience, and wisdom that had so long been hidden from normal eyes. His face wrinkled, and became haggered, his hair wilted, and his hands became thin and gaunt. He looked as an old man, and there was a reddish aura about him, it was cold, harsh, and full of darkness.

 

Do to his change there was a pause in the battle. The cyborgs were stunned, and in many, they felt something that had so long been forgotten to them, fear. But this still did not stop them, three fired, one shot missing, one shot hitting his left leg, and the other hitting his right shoulder. His face contorted into a look of pain, but only for a moment. The battle started going again, but before it got to far, he lifted his hand, and said, "HALT!! You foul minions of the Emporer!!" After he said halt, a pulse of force energy could be felt by all, force users, and non-force users alike, it knocked the cyborgs to the ground, the DT's on their backs, and the clones on their rears. Jaken and Vok were able to resist more, but were still knocked to a kneeling position.

 

The cyborgs started to get up, but Cyphon lifted his other hand, and said in an even sterner voice, "I Damand Respect! I not only Demand Respect! I Command IT!!" From saying the final it, another pulse came out, knocking the cyborgs back down, and many of the clones flat on their backs. The cyborgs hesitated, then Cyphon changed again, his hands, and hair turned back to normal. His face cleared of all wrinkles, he started to smile a bit, and his voice became soft, and the aura changed to a pale gold, it was warm, comforting, and full of peace! He lowered his arms, and said, "come, friends, why did you do this to yourselves? Your commanders have abandoned you, the Emporer...never really cared for you!" he said this with a soft voice, yet it echoed and stirred the ship. "Think...think deep beyond your programming, back to the days you said you hated and wished to get away from....yet you trully loved them!" he said, "remember the days when laughter came easily, and were not hidden by robotic programming." "Think deep within you....do you really want to die for someone who promised immortality, but all he gave you was an unthinking mind." At this Cyphon paused, then said, "What Say You!!"

 

Most of the cyborgs had gotten up by now, many hesitated, others had their blasters up, but were still thinking. Some started to twitch, from them digging into their hidden memories, others had already dug, and were thinking, staring at the floor. Then they started to talk, first in binary, then the more they spoke the more they changed. Then they spoke in basic to eachother, but it was the common droning robotic voice. Then, slowly, but surely, they changed, they spoke in normal dialects, slowly coming out of their robotic voices. Many who had normal organic eyes had a light in them, they started to shift, and ponder. And then something happened that shocked everyone...they smiled, they smirked at eachother, then to the amazment of all...they started to laugh! Some even cryed, the clones, so shocked didnt know what to do! Then, they stopped, and their faces softened and became straight once more. They all turned and stared at Cyphon, one cyborg stepped forward, there was total silence, no one made a noise, but then something happened that made everone's jaw drop. The cyborg grabbed Cyphons hand, and started shaking it, and said, "thank you." Cyphon smiled, and in a weak voice said, "your welcome." The cyborg smiled, Cyphon smiled back, then the cyborgs got into a line of two by two's and started marching to the brig, singing old marching songs, long hidden in the back of their memories. The clones stood stunned, watching the cyborgs go willingly to the brig, one clone said he counted 120 cyborgs!

 

Cyphon smiled at his shocked companions, then fell forward, and passed out from his injuries! And so they witnessed Force Conversion for the second time, in the age of the Emporer!

[Rexraptor2000]

Shadow was one of the first to snap out of it. He looked around at the stunned clones and said "Well? What are you waiting for? This isn't the first time you've seen it. Get Cyphon to the medical wing!" he ordered and the troops rushed to do what he told them. He then got on the com and said to every trooper on the ship "Troops! The droids are now friendly due to that conversion trick that Cyphon pulled off. So do not open fire when a droids army passes by you!" Shadow then turned to the door and opened it to find Leia.

 

"Sorry for yelling at you Leia. Will you forgive me?" Shadow asked.

[Master_Archon]

Leia looked up, puffy eyed, with tears still running down her cheeks, she was sitting in a corner, the commlink lay on the ground, where she had been listening to the battle. She looked at the floor when Shadow came in, she mumbled, "It's okay, I'm sorry too."

 

Jaken and Vok came in behind Shadow, first they looked to Leia, then they turned back to Shadow. Since they had nothing more to do, they hung around Shadow for orders, or just to follow him, since Cyphon was passed out.

 

Brutas came up behind them some time later and asked Shadow, "Sa, the diplomats wish to speak with you...and who are you calling old!" he said indignently, after remembering what Shadow had said about him.

[Rexraptor2000]

Shadow turned to Jaken and Vok and said "Go make sure that this ship is still throughly searched because there were plenty of non-cyborg droids when we came on." they both nodded and left. Shadow then turn to Brutas and said with smile "Actually, I was referring to Cyphon when I said that. And please take me to the diplomats."

[Master_Archon]

"Right this way, sa" said Brutas motioning down the hall. They went down the hall, then down another, and down a couple of other halls, until they reached a conference room, the door was shut, representing privacy was needed. There stood two Dark Troopers P-2's on either side of the door, they snapped to attention when Brutas and Shadow came near. Brutas took off his helmet, he wasnt anything anyone expected him to be. He was a Kel-Dor, round and wrinkled with age, bareing many scars, but full of fight, with a fire in his eyes, he sighed, motioning to the door, "they're waiting in there sa, hm, wot wot, hm, I think they were expecting Cyphon though. You'll have to be on extra good behavier, you young rip" he said, waiting patiently for Shadow to go in.

[Rexraptor2000]

When Shadow walked into the room, he felt like he was walking into a minefield. Being a Jedi and a General, he knew how to handle diplomatic problems. But when you walk into a room full of diplomats that had just been freed, you won't exactly get a warm welcome, especially if it wasn't the person that they were expecting. So Shadow started off to quell any questions about Cyphon. "If you were expecting Master Cyphon, he has been incapacitated for the time being, but I will answer your questions."

[Master_Archon]

Most of the Diplomats were females, seeing as the role of diplomat is something that women are good at aspiring to.((that's a complament for all you ladies out there! )) But this made things quite a bit worse, because they were, well...filthy, tired, and hadnt eaten in days. There were about twenty diplomats, each from a different planet, and something that not many expected, but there were about ten famous people as well, singers, dancers, holo-movie stars. They all turned to Shadow, a little disapointed, some of the female stars eyeing him like a piece of meat. One of the friendlier diplomats came forward, she was a 5' 11" Twi'lek, she was young, and represented Ryloth. Offering Shadow her hand, though she was more affraid of him than some of the other diplomats, because she was new to this career and hadnt met a jedi before, and the rumors the Emporer spread about the First Gray Jedi and his followers, wasnt exactly plesent. "Hello, j-j-jedi!" she stammered in a weak voice.

[Rexraptor2000]

Shadow smiled a warmly and shook her hand. Then he turned to a trooper and said "Why haven't these people been fed yet? Get these people some food and I wanted it done ten minutes ago." The trooper left and Shadow turned back to the Twi'lek. "Why are you afraid? All the droids on this ship have been eliminated and the cyborgs are on our side now since Master Cyphon persuaded them with Force Conversion, the same thing he used with the clones. And my name is Shadow." Shadow said.

[Master_Archon]

"Y-y-y-your a jedi, there, well, n-n-not kind to aliens, at least that's what the Emporer says!" The twi'lek said, still scared and shy. One of the movie stars walked forward, he was a 6' tall Rodian, and he was in his late forties, but looked good for his age. "Haha, child, worry not, I have met many jedi, they are the kindest people you could meet!" he said this with a smile on his face. But this didnt reassure the young diplomat very well. The rodian said hello to Shadow and stepped back, letting the young twi'lek who was still very afraid, take care of the talking, seeing as how rodian arent too articulate in most cases.

[Rexraptor2000]

"Well, to push rumors aside, the Jedi are normally peace loving... police men you could say. Except they're not corrupt like some police men, exercise diplomacy, are excellent fighters incase situations go bad, and do not harm anyone if they don't have too. There is thing thing called the Force that runs through all living beings and some are born with the ability to control it and can be trained to control it properly. From the force is where a Jedi draws his strength. Unfortonatly, there are two sides, a light side and a dark side. The dark side believes that if you are weak, then you die. It believes in controling the force, rather than letting flow through you like the Jedi. The people who embrace this are called Sith. Emporer Palpitine is a Sith Lord who overthrew the Republic by influencing the senetors with the Dark side, and starting the Clone Wars to give complete emergancy powers to him. The Clones, were bred early on as part of Palpatines plan to overthrow the Republic. The Order that deemed Jedi traitors to the Republic and to be exterminated was called Order 66. Killed practically all the Jedi, only a few surviving. Then Master Cyphon came and used force conversion to... change the clones minds, making them our main troops. Of course, since we can't take the emporer's droid army on directly, we've had to emphasize gorilla tactics. But to put it simply, we are the good guys and the droids are the bad guys." Shadow said. The diplomats looked like they were having a hard time taking it in.

[Master_Archon]

The twi'lek relaxed a little, she smiled and said, "well....Shadow, my name's Sashei Loruun, I'm a diplomat from Ryloth. The rest of us were suspected disidents" she finally said. The others made their introductions, and the discussions commensed.

[Rexraptor2000]

The food came and the diplomats looked like they really needed it. "I'm surprised that you all are still alive. Starvation isn't exaclty what diplomats are trained for." Shadow said as they ate.

[Master_Archon]

One of the the other diplomats spoke up, "yes, but the will to live is stronger than, starvation." Sashei spoke, "and what are your hobbies, Mr.Shadow? What do you like to do in your spare time, while your not fighting wars!?" Some of the other diplomats had settled down after they had eaten, and were intrigued to hear what Shadow had to say. They listened and discussed issues with him, but they held back questions, specifically meant for Cyphon. After the talks were done, many of the diplomats, and famous people started having more, casual conversations with Shadow. Sashei asked, "So when are we going to get to see our rooms?" She smiled at Shadow, Sashei was beginning to find the jedi and their ways interesting, and she wanted to know more.

[Rexraptor2000]

"So, what do you want to know first? What I do on my free time or where your rooms are? I can talk about my free time on the way to the dorms. And my last name is Gravemind." Shadow asked.

[Master_Archon]

Sashei smiled, "yes lets talk on the way to the dorms, I'm feeling tired." Many of the others agreed, one of the diplomats stood up and opened the door, "lead the way General" said the diplomat, the other diplomats got up, and bowed, as is the custom with diplomats, as a show of respect. The famous people thanked Shadow in a different way, the males shook his hand, one by one, while the females hugged him, as is common with famous people.

[Rexraptor2000]

As Shadow led the way he talked about his hobbies. "Well, I like to be with my troops in whatever they're doing. So during the seven years of silence, it was mostly hard exercises and then doing something fun afterwards, like playing a game of tag DC-15 style with the stun on. Please note that I was 17 years old at the begining of these seven years. On my time without my troops, I like to read, shoot at the shooting range, sparr with the other Jedi, meditate on why I have to meditate when sleeping is better." This recieved a chuckle from the troops passing by and some of the diplomats.

 

"I occasionally write just for the sake of writing, whatever it might be. What I love to do the most though is watch the young troops and the younglings as they train." Shadow said.

[Master_Archon]

The diplomats were intrigued by Shadow, Sashei was the most intent listener, finding that the more she listened about the jedi, the more she liked what she heard, and in the back of her thoughts, envied the jedi, and wished to be one of them. "So, we're going to be on this ship...three, days, maybe more afterwards, depending on where we end up. I hope to learn more about you, and the other jedi, Mr.Gravemind!" said Sashei with a smile on her face, she seemed to always be smiling, at this she bowed low to Shadow, for the lower you bowed, the more respect you were showing, and she turned and went into her dorm. The other people did the latter and left Shadow to enter their dorms, the last person in the hall with him was the rodian, he smiled and said, "I got an idea awhile back, since we'll be here so long, I thought that maybe me and the others, you know, the singers and all. I thought we could throw a party, or a celebration, for the soldiers and other young people...it's the least we could do to pay you back, and it would boost morale for the troops. You know it's tough in war, so how bout letting the soldiers relax, kick back a little....come on whatta ya say!?"

[Rexraptor2000]

"I think that's a great idea. I'll talk to Master Cyphon about it when he wakes up and see what he thinks. Until then, you get yourself some sleep. All of you look like you could use it." Shadow said patting the Rodian on the back and left. The ship was mostly quite now, as most, if not all, of the troopers were sleeping at this hour. He headed down to the engine room, where he would sleep.

 

When he got there, it was spotless clean in contrast to earlier in the day. He also saw that some other clones were there sleeping, not because there were not enough room in the dorms, but because they wanted to be in the presance in the place of their fallan brothers. He understood. He wanted to be in the presance of his fallan troops. He chose a spot and fell asleep.

[Master_Archon]

Cyphon twisted, and turned, and jerked in bed, his dreams filling with horrid visions of desacrated corpses, defiled graves, bodies of ones he had known through out this war. He saw Vader, Shadow, Leia, Jaken, Vok, and Brutas, he also saw a figure, though less known to him than the others, it was the merchiant, John, he saw, Thor, and Kadesh, and many more. Then he looked and saw that they were gone, taken from him, he was in an empty wasteland! "AAAHHH!!!!" he came screaming out of sleep, 'huff' 'huff', he was panting, and had broken out in cold sweats, his face was worn and tired, pondering a moment on his dream, he said, "so is the life of those who see no end."

 

Though he was still weak, and in pain, Cyphon got up to go wonder the ship. In lonelyness and tiredness, he trudged, looking in on sleeping people, avoiding those still awake, and thinking on his dream, he sobbed, and weeped, for he knew things, things that made him feel lonely, and ostrisized, among the ones he knew, and called friends!

[Rexraptor2000]

"We cannot be defeated. The ones before could not defeat us.

The ones after them could not defeat us. How can you hope to defeat

us when those before could not, even in their minds? We plauge your

mind till your grave and then we steal your flesh and blood and mind.

We will keep coming until all is ours and nothing is left.

Ridding the galaxy of false promises and this so called 'Force'."

 

Shadow woke up recodenizing that cold voice. It still chilled him to this day. He checked his Chronometer and it said two o' clock. He tried to fall back to sleep but he couldn't so he relieved the clone outside on sentry duty. The clone was asleep within seconds of laying down. Shadow's mind wandered about the day's events and how they could have been or how he could have done better. "The past is the past. If your dead troops saw you like this they would laugh themselves dead," an old clone once said to him once when there had been an accident and some of his troops had gotten killed.

 

So Shadow decided to focus on how he could improve his tactics, rather than morn for the dead. He felt better thinking about that. The rest of the shift went uneventful and he was soon relieved, and he fell asleep within seconds.