The Archives - Book 1 of 4

[Master Finch]

This is a little project of mine I'm working on. I'm not releasing the full plot yet, but the first three "books" out of the four "books" in the released novella will be ones that introduce three main characters, and the fourth "book" will be the actual plot. So here is Book 1 introducing Jedi Master Kan Winstari. Please leave feedback.

 

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Chapter One

 

A young Human Jedi with longish-short, brown hair dressed in beige traditional Jedi robes walked through the dark and polluted streets of Nar Shadaa, his lightsaber clutched neatly to his belt. The street was heavy with people; Rodians, Humans, Twi’lek and other races alike stood in a rushed line in front of a nightclub, guarded by two fierce Gran bouncers. The Jedi walked past the queue, and a bouncer pushed him back and held a pistol to his heart. The Jedi waved his hand in front of the Gran’s face.

“You will let me in.” He said in Galactic Basic. He had a soft, calm voice which could be used to soothe the most disrupted baby.

 

The bouncer lowered the pistol and stepped aside. The Jedi walked through the door and into a loud nightclub, playing repetitive, electronic music accompanied by laser lights of all colours bouncing around a smoke-clouded crowd of various races dancing with one another . The Jedi looked to the left and approached a bar with a large, pink sign which read “Beverages” in Huttese.

The Ithorian barman looked up at him and looked alarmed, and dropped the glass he was holding and started running into a door behind him. The Jedi ran forward, leaped over the bar’s counter, to the shock of the two humans sitting at it, enjoying their drinks. He waved his hand before the door and it opened upwards, revealing the Ithorian holding a long, metal bar. The alien thrust it towards the Jedi, who dropped to his knees and slid under the attack,took out his lightsaber, but before he could eject his blade, the Ithorian had struck again and hit the Jedi in the side, throwing him into some metal boxes in the corner of the small room. The Ithorian dropped the bar and ran out of the staff exit, heading into a dark alleyway. The Jedi pulled himself together, and ran after the Ithorian. Shortly after entering the alleyway, however. He saw three Rodians standing over the Ithorian, who had been shot in the leg, leaving it cowering on the floor. The middle Rodian pulled up a blaster to finish off the defenceless Ithorian, but the Jedi used the Force to pull away the Rodians gun towards him. He caught it, and walked up to face them.

“What’s going on?” he spoke in Rodese.

The middle Rodian pulled out another blaster from his belt and pointed it at the Jedi, who still had his lightsaber in his right hand.

“Weapons down, Human. This isn’t your business.” it said forcefully.

“Unfortunately, my friend, this Ithorian has information crucial to my mission, and I need him alive.”

“We don’t care for Jedi. If you get in the way we will have to kill you too!”

“You don’t want to attack me.” the Jedi waved his hand.

“Yes I do.” the Rodian shot his blaster, followed by his companions. The Jedi reacted quickly, ejecting the lightsaber’s blue blade, and blocked the shots. He managed to deflect two shots back at the Rodian’s companions, and pulled the Rodian’s weapon away again. The Rodian yelled out in fear, and turned, running away from the Jedi. The Jedi ran over to the Ithorian, and his heart sank with sadness and regret. The Ithorian had been hit by a deflected blaster in the head, and had been killed instantly. The Jedi closed the dead Ithorian’s eyes, and put his lightsaber on his belt to pick the lifeless body up. He carried it through Nar Shadaa back to his yellow speeder, and placed the body delicately in the back. He started up his speeder and set off back to his ship.

*

A green, female Twi’lek was meditating cross-legged in her small room inside her starship. She had offered her own personal starship she had inherited from her wealthy parents to aid her and her master in their missions for the Jedi Order. It was sleek, rectangular, and made of Mandalorian iron, with the engines on the back of two rectangular wings. The Twi’lek opened her eyes, and stood up. She could sense her master returning, and she walked to the ship’s entrance to greet him. She pressed a green button on the wall, and the light turned red and the bottom of the back of the ship slowly lowered to the ground. Her Jedi Master drove his speeder up the ramp and got out. The Twi’lek saw the Ithorian corpse in the back of the speeder, and looked back to her master.

“Master Winstari.” she began.

“It’s too late, Velara. He’s dead.” Winstari said. “Would you please deal with him? I need to tell the Jedi Council about my failure.”

“It’s not your fault, Master.”

“Velara.” he looked at her, and she nodded.

Winstari walked through the ship to the cockpit, and sat down. He opened up a communications link with Mace Windu on Coruscant. Windu appeared as a blue hologram in front of him.

“I have failed, Master Windu. The contact was killed, we have no more leads.”

“Hmm.. that is unfortunate.” Windu replied. “However, we have acquired another lead. You and your Padawan are to go to Mos Eisley on Tatooine. Your contact will be at a cantina. He is a human bounty hunter, so be careful.”

“Yes, Master.”

Velara entered the cockpit and sat down in front of the controls.

“Where to, Master?”

“Mos Eisley, Tatooine. The Ithorian was not our final lead after all.” he perked up.

“Will we be able to go together this time?” she said bluntly, without taking her eyes off of the controls.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to endanger you, Nar Shadaa can be very rough.”

“How am I meant to learn anything from our missions if I don’t get to go anywhere? I fear I will never be ready for the Trials.”

“Patience, Velara. I promise I will not be so protective next time. Your training has been going very well, you can nearly beat me in a duel.” He smiled at her.

“Pah. Nearly.” she started up the engines, and left for Tatooine.

[Master Finch]

Chapter Two

 

A Mandalorian walked through Mos Eisley Cantina with a confident walk. He was dressed in metal armour, which was coloured silver, with a white background. His helmet, also coloured the same silver and white, had a black T down the middle, allowing him to see. He carried a smart-looking WESTAR-35 blaster pistol, which had been well looked after. He sat down at a table in a nearby alcove, and signalled to the bartender with a quick wave. Two Rodians approached the Bounty Hunter, and sat down with him. The bartender came over to the table and produced three glasses, and filled them with blue liquid from a jug, and left the jug on the table. The Mandalorian produced 3 coins out of nowhere, held between his fingers. The ugly bartender took them and grunted softly, before returning to the bar to serve his other patrons. The Mandalorian turned to the Rodians, who were dressed in nothing but casual clothing.

“Are you ready?” he said. He had a rough sort of voice. One that could be used to command soldiers without making them think twice of the orders he would give.

They both nodded, and drew out two blaster pistols and pointed them at him. He instantly stood up, and kicked the blaster out of the nearest Rodian’s hand, ducked to avoid the other’s shot, caught the first blaster pistol and shot them both, dead. He signalled to the bartender again, who in turn signalled two droids, who came over to the table and picked up the bodies and carried them away. Now he had sorted that ugly business out, he needed only to wait for his next target to walk through the door.

 

*

 

Master Kan Winstari and his Twi’lek Padawan Velara docked at Mos Eisley Spaceport. Winstari had been meditating throughout the entire flight, and Velara knew that something had been worrying him since they had arrived in the planet’s atmosphere. She could sense his thoughts rushing around in his mind, but even her Master didn’t know what he had seen during his meditation. They exited the ship and passed through customs, and entered the section of Mos Eisley that contained the cantina.

“Master, I don’t feel too confident on this one. We don’t know what to expect, this contact could be dangerous.” Velara said to Kan worriedly.

“I know.. I sensed some danger in this mission aswell. Be mindful, and be ready. Remember to focus on your surroundings, but stay alert to what’s right ahead of you.”

“Yes, Master.”

They walked up to the cantina door, and Velara went to open it. But suddenly, Kan shouted out.

“No, wait!” It was too late, Velara had opened the door, and Kan had opened his lightsaber. He leapt in front of his Padawan and deflected the blaster shots that had immediately been fired at her. She realised what was happening and ejected her green lightsaber blade. The patrons in the cantina all rushed to the back, and ran out of the back exit. The Mandalorian had been waiting for them, and had prepared for their arrival since he saw their ship land. It was not hard to spot such a rare type of ship, as most people didn’t have enough money to afford one, not even successful bounty hunters such as himself.

Velara swung her lightsaber forward at her opponent, who flipped backwards onto his hands, and sprung backwards, kicking the lightsaber out of her hands as he finished his move, landing on his feet again. The hilt was flying through the air, and Velara used the Force to pull it back to her again. She gripped it tightly, ejected it and stood in a defensive stance, the lightsaber just in front of her chest pointing towards the ceiling. Kan Winstari left his signature Ataru stance, and swung at the Mandalorian, who stepped backwards into the bar to dodge it. The Mandalorian was very agile, considering the armour he was wearing. He pulled out his WESTAR-35 blaster and shot rapidly at Kan, who blocked each blast. Realising he had no hope of hitting the Jedi Knight, he quickly holstered the blaster and took out a thermal detonator. He backflipped behind the bar and armed it, holding it up in the air, threatening them. Kan spoke.

“All right, what do you want?”

“Your heads on a spike.” The Mandalorian answered. He threw the detonator at the wall behind Kan, and it bounced off and landed by his feet. Kan used the Force to throw the detonator over the back of the cantina, but it exploded a few metres away from the Mandalorian, who toppled over from the force of the blast, landing in the corner of the counter. Velara took advantage of this and jumped over the counter, and swung her lightsaber at his helmet, which split in half, revealing a dirty, angry human head with long, black hair. The Mandalorian punched Velara in the leg, and she cried out in pain. But Kan was already in front of him, and he kicked the bounty hunter in the face, knocking him out cold.

“Are you all right?” Kan said to his Padawan, who was still pressing her hand on her leg.

“I think so.” she replied unconfidently.

“Let’s get him onto the ship. I’m sure the council would like to question him.” he lifted the unconscious bounty hunter’s legs, and Velara lifted his back, and they started carrying him out of the cantina back to the ship.

“At least this one isn’t a corpse.” Velara said jokingly.

“That fight was terrible, Velara.” Kan scolded her. “Your saber techniques are fine, but you lack awareness.

“Yes, Master.”

“You were lucky I sensed those initial shots, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation now.”

“All right, I get it!” she said aggressively, upset with Kan and herself.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, Master. I know you’re only helping me.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. Well, yes, but another thing too.”

“What is it?”

Kan sighed, “I’m going to have to stop training you. I don’t think I have it in me. I’m sorry.”

“But--” Velara interjected.

“Don’t try and make me change my mind.”

They had reached Velara’s ship, and she dropped the Mandalorian on the ground to open the ramp. Kan hauled him into the cockpit, wanting to keep a close eye on him incase he woke up.

Velara sat down at the controls, and set the auto-pilot to go to Coruscant. She didn’t feel like flying, she felt drained from the last battle. Her legs had gone to jelly, almost as if she had been..

“P-poisoned.” she whispered, and fell unconscious.

“Velara!” Kan cried out. He checked her for a pulse. He found one, but it was weak. He looked at her leg, where the Mandalorian had punched her. It was bleeding. He turned to the Mandalorian and shook him awake.

“What poison is that!?” he shouted in desperation, spraying saliva over the Mandalorian’s face.

The Mandalorian laughed. “I won’t tell you, Jedi. She will die.” He laughed again.

Kan pushed the Mandalorian back into the wall, and punched him unconscious again. He rushed back to Velara and closed his eyes. Although she was unconscious, she was scared. He comforted her, and used the Force to try to calm her mind. If she was to die, she was not going to die scared and alone. The ship was on it’s way to Coruscant, and Kan ordered a medical team to await their arrival, but he feared it was too late for her. He shouldn’t have allowed this to happen, he should have been a better teacher to his Padawan. He was distressed, but tried to calm down. It wasn’t good for him or Velara. He closed his eyes once more, and laid with her as she slowly died in his arms.

 

End of Book #1