Master Windos vs. Lieutenant Eliwufe'en'omfo (Core Name: Eeno)

Perched on top of one of the many summits in the Or’ena mountain range on Kiast, only a few kilometers or so from the new Jedi Praxeum, the Velastari Temple is an old forgotten Vatali Jedi temple surrounded by mountain peaks on all sides. Thin wispy clouds and fog tend to linger around it when not otherwise blown away by the cold mountainous air channeled through the mountains. The hot suns of Kiast shine on this particular peak regularly, forming beautiful rainbows as the light reflects off the metallic surface of the Vatali structure. As a result, despite the temple’s heightened elevation, the Velastari Temple and its surroundings atop the peak are warm enough to not only support green vegetation, such as trees and grass, but also humanoid visitors, who can get by with a variety of layers depending on the season. In addition, the elevation makes the air breathable, the toxic fumes of the planet only residing in the lower atmospheres. Past the peak itself, the ground drops away quickly, forming dangerous ridges that travellers can use to travel from peak to peak.

Occupying a relatively flat portion of land on the summit, the Velastari Temple invokes the Jedi temples of old but with the classic design elements of the Vatali civilization and a few changes to suite the terrain. Hooded Vatali statues flank its entrance, the aged metallic stone having long lost its luster. The atrium of the temple is surrounded by four spiraling pillars and is filled in between with a cacophony of support structures, some of which include landing pads and storage. This once well-organized system of buildings has fallen into disarray, ancient machinery and debris breaking up any direct approach to the main temple itself. Long defunct droids, some partially scavenged, can be found throughout the atrium. As to the spiraling pillars, no one is quite sure if they are structurally sound, but they appear to have been watchtowers and may have possibly at some point served a secondary purpose due to the number of additional rooms within it.

Once one makes it past the atrium, the main temple itself comes into view, towering over the smaller spirals below. Like other ancient Jedi temples, it has many mysteries that will only reveal themselves to Force-users, unlocking portions of the temple one might assume didn’t exist. Its architecture is highly reminiscent of the old Jedi Order, though less grand in scale than its peers. Nevertheless, it has all of the remains of core components one would expect, such as a Jedi Council room, housing, a library, and training rooms. Few enter the temple itself unless undergoing trials and Odan-Urr does it best to preserve the Velastari Temple from further damage. This landmark serves as not only inspiration to the next generation of Jedi but also as a solemn reminder of the Jedi long gone.

Windos stood overlooking the cluttered atrium of the Velastari Temple, boots planted on stones reclaimed by moss. A few paces away, his JN-66 analysis droid, Junior, floated over the debris. A blue diagnostic grid spilled from its projector, washing over the broken statues and rusted machinery choking the courtyard.

"I have bypassed the power regulators on twelve derelicts in the atrium," Junior reported. "However, using millennium-old automatons for a live-fire exercise introduces an eighty-percent chance of unpredictable tactical variations."

"Good," Windos said. He kept his eyes on the thick clouds spilling over the mountain ridge. "Chaos is an excellent teacher."

A shriek of sublight engines tore through the serene mountain atmosphere. A moment later an E-wing fighter punched through the cloud cover, banking hard against the treacherous crosswinds. The twin suns of Kiast caught the emblem of the Knights of Allusis painted on its hull. Repulsorlifts kicked in with a deep thrum, flattening the tall grass and scattering centuries of dirt as the ship settled onto a cracked landing pad.

The canopy popped, hissing as the pressure equalized. Behind the cockpit, a concealed compartment slid back with a mechanical whine. Eeno stood, the brisk wind catching his hair, and grabbed his helmet from a storage bin. Behind him, the dome of his R3 unit emerged into the sunlight. The droid trilled a series of sharp, agitated binary chirps, rolling onto the wing to loudly complain about something that Windos couldn't make out from this distance.

Eeno jumped down to the ancient stonework, carrying his helmet loose at his side. Windos stepped over a half-buried gear to meet him, offering a nod.

"Glad you made it," Windos said over the dying whine of the engines. He gestured toward the sprawling mess of ancient metal, broken support pillars, and dormant droids blocking the massive doors of the main temple.

"Our task today is simple: reach the temple entrance. The problem is the atrium. It's a maze, and we took the liberty of hot-wiring the old security droids hidden inside." Windos paused, shifting his stance. "I won't hold your hand, Eeno, but I won't let you die. We move together, we cover each other, and we adapt."

Junior’s hum deepened. "Proximity sensors have registered your presence. Defenses are activating."

Deep in the junk piles, mechanical eyes flared. Sickly yellow light cut through the shadows. Rusted servos ground and screeched, echoing across the quiet courtyard. The first repurposed Vatali defense droids hauled themselves free from the rubble, heavy blasters sweeping for a target.

Windos swept his cloak back, resting his hand near the hilt of his lightsaber, but he didn’t draw it. He just watched Eeno.

Eeno didn't speak. He lifted his helmet and slid it over his head. The environmental seals hissed shut, locking into place. The polarized visor caught the corrupted yellow glare from the approaching droids.

"Our exercise starts now," Windos said, a small smile forming. "Ready to work?"

“What just old clanckers?” Eeno asked as his lightsabers flew into his hands. “I’ve destroyed thousands of those,” as he said that he quickly dropped into his stance as a user of Vapaad; right foot front pointing at the nearest opponent, left sideways behind steadying him, the right lightsaber out the same direction as his foot while the left in a diagonal to defend his body from blaster bolts. With two successive snap-hisses he activated his blue-white lightsabers to finish the pose.

Unsurprisingly the droids did not attack the starting point. Either he was out of range of the old rusted weapons or the medical programming of the analysis droid was making a compromise. No matter Eeno took a tentative step forward. The droids trained their weapons on his but did not shoot, apparently it was the former. Taking another step forward going almost definitely inside the droid’s range he realized the droids act similarly to B1 battle droids. At least the two he could see here seemed to have decided on waiting for him to make the first move.

Obliging he stood into a different type of stance, still part of Vapaad but more fitting for running, and sprinted at the closest droid. His danger sense warned him just moments before the first bolts came screaming out at him. Blocking them with relative ease he reached the first droid. Swiping down to split the droid’s head then up through its torso to make sure it stays down he dealt with the first one.

As he turned his attention to the second three more piles of rubble animated to produce more droids. Nemo, his Astromech, began to roll towards another pile of rubble as Eeno engaged the second droid. Struggling mildly to block four sets of blaster bolts he decided to cut through the second’s blaster instead of destroying it.

Now much easier because he only has to content with three blaster bolts he went for the next droid. Slicing this one down two more piles of rubble animated one of which the one Nemo had gone to. Switching to the defensive so he can reassess the situation Eeno planted his feet and began to block blaster bolts from three of the four droids. The fourth, the one Nemo had gone up to, exploded before firing a single shot.

As he blocked bolts he looked for where his droid was now. He found him with his welding torch out at another pile of rubble, the droid was welding their blasters shut. Eeno engaged the next as he blocked the bolts of the three droids, cutting its blaster off. Engaging the last two he cut them down triggering the last four to activate.

Not forgetting about the two that only had their blasters cut off Eeno kept the battle moving. One of the four new ones blew up just like the other, its blaster not able to clear the bolts past a shut barrel. Engaging one of the remaining three Eeno again cut off its blaster. He disengaged his left lightsaber and blocked the two sets of bolts with ease. Using the force he took the one closest to him and sent it flying into one of the ones shooting, disabling both in a fury of sparks. He repeated the move with one of the other advancing droids then cut down the last one.

Feeling nothing from his danger sense he took off his helmet and turned to Windos, “Nice warmup, got anything else?”

Windos just stared at the young Jedi. Eeno stood there in the middle of the wreckage, holding his helmet casually at his side. The courtyard smelled like melted slag and burnt wiring. The Chiss had moved fast, and using his astromech to weld the blasters shut on the fly was a genuinely smart trick.

But taking his helmet off in an unsecured combat zone? That was just asking for a hole in the head.

"Put the bucket back on," Windos said, shaking his head. He hadn't even pulled his lightsaber yet, keeping his hands loose by his sides. "You made a ton of noise."

Before Eeno could ask what he meant, Junior let out a frantic, high-pitched whistle and zoomed backward.

"Sir," the analysis droid chimed. "Seismic triggers tripped. The primary defensive grid is waking up."

A deep rumble shook the stone under their boots. Up in the four spiraling watchtowers ringing the atrium, centuries of packed dirt and moss crumbled as heavy metal grates retracted. Emerging into daylight were four pristine, heavy-duty Vatali sentry droids. They stepped up to their ledges, hoisting long-barrel slugthrower rifles.

"The scrap on the ground was a tripwire," Windos called. "An avoidable one."

He finally grabbed his hilt. The black blade snapped to life with a harsh hiss just as a deafening crack split the air.

Windos stepped in fast, sweeping his blade up in a tight arc. He caught the heavy slug right before it could take Eeno’s unprotected head off. A shower of sparks and superheated air washed over both of them.

"Have Nemo get to the main temple doors and slice that lock!" Windos shouted. He dropped into a low stance as red targeting lasers started cutting through the light mountain fog, sweeping right toward them. "We've got to draw their fire and figure out a way up those towers. Playtime is over. Move!"

“We have a problem there,” Eeno said as he put his helmet back on and got out his blaster pistol, “this place is too old to have SCOMP links.” He used his still ignited lightsaber to block another slug splitting it into pieces of superheated metal that splattered harmlessly on his armor.

He blocked two more shots before firing his pistol at one of them. Two shots missed but the third hit its shoulder leaving only a small mark, too far away for that to be effective. Range, he thought, those aren’t snipers if I move back the bolts- these are not bolts, he realized, they are slugs. Slugs have very limited ammunition. Moving back five steps he blocked another slug. He decided he needs to train more against slugthrowers. Even with the armor protecting him it was hard to block them in a way that no large chunks get through to burn through the armor.

Eeno quickly moved out until the droids started to miss some of their shots then stopped. He blocked one then saw another coming which would miss him. Instead of ignoring it he used the force to stop the slug in midair. Considering the size of the slug and the size of the rifles the droids were using there couldn’t be more than forty left between the two that were shooting at him.

Nemo heard what Windos and Eeno had said and sprung into action. Readying his welding torch and small manipulator arms that Arnid Vus had recently repaired he rolled up to the control box of the temple’s door. Chirping idly to himself he started working. The door indeed did not have a SCOMP link but Nemo did not care about that. He cut out the box’s casing to get at the wiring behind it then extended his SCOMP connector. Wrapping parts of the wiring around it he was able to send a signal through to the door to open.

Eeno blocked two more slugs as he moved around to keep the droids aim off. Having a moment to free his left hand he reignited his second lightsaber with a snap-hiss. Three more shots miss and he blocks another before he hears what sounds like grinding stone. He looks over and sees Nemo welding the casing back on a control box right next to the temple door which was opening. He started to move back towards the door blocking slugs along the way. Nemo went inside as the door began to close again. Using the force to empower his jump Eeno leaped into it as well.

His droid said a string of binary in his direction that translated to, “[We will be locked in here for a while, I with the droid man was here.]” Eeno decided he too wishes Arnid was there to help.

"You're stuck with me, I'm afraid."

Windos’ voice bounced off the vaulted stone ceiling. He stepped towards Eeno and his droid from the sealed entrance, hauling Junior by a mechanical strut. The analysis droid’s casing sparked, scorched black along one side from an unfortunate glancing shot.

Letting out a ragged breath, Windos smacked a thick layer of pulverized rock off his cloak. It had been close. He'd thrown himself through the gap just as a volley of slugs chewed the exterior steps to dust, the massive doors slamming shut practically on his heels.

Snap-hiss. Windos' lightsaber flared to life, cutting through the dark of the temple interior. The black plasma shed harsh white light and cast long shadows against the towering statues lining the hall.

He looked towards Eeno. "You survived the ambush," Windos said, his voice flat. "You recognized you were outgunned, used your assets, and secured an exit. Good."

He took a slow step forward, considering scolding the young Jedi for forgetting the directive that they should move together. But he had done a good job, and considering Windos had made it into the temple along with the Chiss, Eeno had evidently correctly assessed the situation and the older Jedi's abilities.

Windos killed his blade. The darkness immediately swallowed them again, leaving only the dim flicker of the droids' optics. He nodded toward the pitch-black corridor leading deeper into the temple.

"There is a data-cylinder in the central chamber. This exercise is complete once you have it in hand." Windos shifted his stance, waiting. "Lead the way, Eeno. Show me what you've got."

“You should really thank Nemo,” Eeno said, “My plan was to wait just at the edge of their range until they ran out of slugs, because slugthrowers do that pretty quick, then cut a hole in the wall.”

“Good job then Nemo,” Windos admonished the droid, “he’s still one of your resources and he was used well.”

With a snap-hiss Eeno reignited his lightsaber than took off his helmet again, “I know it is dangerous to take my helmet off,” he said as he saw Windos’ mouth open, “but I have to see with my eyes and the helmet blocks my peripherals. I’d wager being able to see my enemy is better than that little bit of protection.” With a hand gesture Eeno told his droid to put his SCOMP link out, and when the droid did so he put his helmet hanging on the link.

With Windos behind and Nemo at his side Eeno went off into the darkness. The darkness seemed to close around him as he went deeper and deeper. Eventually he couldn’t even see his Astromech next to him, only the light of his lightsaber then even that went out.

Eeno heard an explosion then the world around him came to life. What he saw was not what he expected. Clone troopers surrounded him and they were fighting Mandalorians. He recognized where he was, the planet of Haatmando’a’lor, and it looked like the invasion he had been part of during The Clone Wars was under way. He looked at the carnage unfolding, this must not be part of the battle I was in he decided because he did not see anyone he recognized. That is anyone he recognized and would have met.

Standing in a clearing the chaos of battle raging all round him was Tarre Visla, with the Darksaber ignited. The first and to Eeno’s knowledge only mandalorian jedi turned to face the padawan.

“You boy,” Visla said, a man who was supposed to have been dead for centuries speaking to him, “what do you see here?” The mandalorian’s voice was deep and ghostly.

“An invasion of a separatist world that would have killed many had we not intervened.” Eeno answered remembering everything that was said about the mandalorians here, haat, or true in basic, mandalorians they called themselves. The survivors of this’ children were probably still living here.

“That is not what I see boy.” The mandalorian jedi turned away to watch the battle. “I see pawns in a game none of you knew you were part of. I see meaningless death caused by those who claim to be peacekeepers.”

The scenery around them changed and Eeno saw his master, a basilisk named Xald Urvax. His master carved through the mandalorians killing with speed and precision Eeno still could only dream of.

“I see the blood of my kin and of clones and of jedi wasted here. I see jedi not as peacekeepers as they once were or noble warriors as they were in my time but as cowards killing an enemy that had not yet even attacked them and allowing their real enemy to control them,” Visla said.

“This must be some trick. The jedi protected the peace by fighting here. There was no way we could have known of Palpatine,” Eeno said.

“If you will not accept the truth,” the mandalorian before him said as he turned to face Eeno, “Then you will die here!” A white sword appeared in Tarre Visla’s left hand as he swung the darksaber at Eeno.

Eeno with his right lightsaber still ignited blocked the blow. He then took his other lightsaber in his left hand and ignited it with a snap-hiss. He attacked the mandalorian again and again each time the strikes were blocked. They continued like this for a while Tarre Visla staying on the defensive. Then the mandalorian jedi began to speak again.

“Your order was not taken down by the sith. Not entirely by them,” the mandalorian fought while he spoke now going on the offensive, “They had already compromised everything they were in the name of democracy. All they were at the end was hypocritical rhetoric and baseless oaths.”

Eeno blocked the mandalorian’s strikes feeling like there was a weight being added to him with each one. He knew that the weight was from the words. Remembering the order, remembering his doubt at the start of The Clone Wars. He thought back even farther to his time in the chiss military. He could not see a difference between the acendancy he saw as vile and the jedi’s actions during The Clone Wars. He tried to think of anything that could prove the mandalorian jedi wrong but he could think of nothing. Eeno stopped fighting and Tarre Visla stopped too.

“You are right,” Eeno said reluctantly, “I have never truly been a jedi have I?’

The mandalorian raised the darksaber above his head and slashed it down towards Eeno. It stopped just above his right shoulder as the jedi master before him said, “Eliwufe’en’ofmo I knight you,” he moved the darksaber over to Eeno’s left shoulder, “Rise Jedi Knight and fulfill your duty. Keep and make peace in the galaxy and teach others the ways of this the true Jedi.”

The world changed before him. Eeno went from the battlefield to a round chamber, in his right hand instead of a lightsaber was a code cylinder. All around him were the remains of what looked to be more of the century droids. “What happened?” Eeno asked Windos who was standing in front of him.

“You’re asking me what happened,” Windos said, “What happened to you?”

“I think I just became a Jedi Knight,” Eeno said, “if you want the full story let’s get out of here then I’ll tell you.”