Star Wars: Darklight

by AB

Chapter 1

Fall, Ruin and Death

Author's note:

This story is 100% fictional.

This story will feature sexual scenes between minors of various ages so if it's something you don't like/agree with or it is not legal in your area/country or are not as of yet of legal age to be reading this sort of stuff then don't read any further.

I welcome feedback emails with healthy criticism, suggestions etc. or just plain correspondence, but flames will be ignored and those email addresses will be added to the block sender's list.

Like many I am a fan of the Star Wars universe. A warning though as much as I am a fan I am not a fanatic or a "fanboy", this means my information and knowledge is not complete, it's not as someone who has read all of the graphic novels, read the books etc. I have only seen the movies as well as played the video games and seen the TV series, so expect that I will not blindly follow the "canon" or the "history" as given by the series, movies etc. I will, but to the point where it helps the plot, from that on my imagination will do the rest.

For this story I was inspired by the end of Revenge of the Sith when a teenage-looking Jedi saves Senator Organa and dies in the process and I thought "No, I'd love it somehow if that boy had survived and then later helped Luke with rebuilding the Jedi Order. So from this thought this story is born although as you'll soon discover it takes place many, many years later.

May the force be with you and I hope you enjoy the story.

The Galactic Republic has stood for three thousand years,

Ever since Luke Skywalker and Rey Skywalker took down the First Order, after the destruction of the Galactic Empire and the Imperial Remnants.

For three thousand years the New Jedi Order kept the peace from the new Jedi Temple in Tython and the Republic Ruled with the Senate from New Alderaan, a newly discovered blue planet in the Hosean System near Nar Shaddaa.

For three thousand years the Jedi have thought the Sith all but extinct but the dark side can never really be defeated, just like the light cannot be.

In the outer reaches of the undiscovered regions and the rim, darkness has festered and now it strikes.

Under the command of Darth Solus and his master Darth Incendius the Sith attack starts to unfold and the first Systems fall to the dark side.

The Republic is deadlocked in senate hearings, deliberations and committees and is late to respond to the Sith onslaught.

After a year of fighting New Alderaan falls in a surprise massive attack and the Republic forces scatter.

Lightyears away in Tython the Sith launch a stealth attack at the very heart of the Jedi order, the Jedi temple.

All inside the temple are murdered, all but a young Padawan named Tern Amargo.

Tern tries to help some of his fellow younglings escape as their world comes down all around them.

"RUN! Run for the shuttle! I'll hold 'em off!" Tern yelled at the younglings behind him. He himself was no older than twelve, waving his training lightsaber at the enemies before him.

These soldiers had not the usual white armour of years past but a new sleek and polished black armour. Tern pivoted around slicing a head off and blocking rifle shots. His training was incomplete at best but he could not leave those younger and weaker than him to their fate. The enemy troops and assassins were killing all in their path.

"Someone kill the fucking brat already!" Someone screamed behind him.

Turning around he cut off an arm fending off more blaster shots, one after another, the dorm room was alight from his lightsaber's blue blade and the red laser shoots.

"AGGHHH!" He fell to the ground clutching his right shoulder with his left hand, a shot had hit him square on his shoulder. He gritted his teeth and holding his hands in clenched fists, he stretched them outwards pushing the soldiers back and throwing them against the walls of the dorm room using force push.

"Karek, take the rest of the young… " He barely had enough time to see a ray of red come through his right shoulder before pain shot all over him.

He fell down feeling life ebb away from him. The understanding of time fled from his mind and he had no idea how much of it had passed before he felt warmth inside his chest. He heard muffled voices.

"What are we supposed to do with this one? He's still alive." A male voice asked, obviously someone else.

Another male voice replied. "Throw him in the incinerator with the other bodies, a Sith can't find a proper apprentice these days… give someone a lightsaber and he can't even kill a Padawan properly I should kill him myself but no, let him burn alive for the glory of the New Shadow Empire." The disembodied voice said before breaking into laughter.

He felt a breath near his ear then that same voice started whispering to him. "Can you feel it? Can you feel the power of the dark side? The hatred? The pull of death? Agree to be my apprentice, agree to submit to the Dark and I'll spare your life."

Tern had no strength more than to just nod "no".

"So be it." Tern felt himself weightless, almost flying for a split second before he fell on something soft.

He, again had no idea how much time had passed when he heard screams in the distance.

"We must go help." One of the two Dark-armoured soldiers said to the other.

"If we don't burn these bodies Darth Solus will flay us alive." The other one said.

"And if the remaining Jedi are pushing back? If we are defeated what do you think his "majesty" will do to us, then?" The first one replied back.

"Fine, what about the barely alive one?"

"What about the little shit? He's almost dead. Even if he manages to get up and start walking there's nowhere to go. We control the planet, there's a blockade forming in orbit. We have control of the temple's upper and middle floors. There's nowhere for him to go before someone finds and kills him." The soldiers laughed and left.

Tern could feel what little life he had left drain little by little.

He did not need a voice in his mind telling him he had to leave. Every move he made, every single one of them caused him pain. He stood up from the pile of corpses, feeling bile rise from his stomach as he looked upon the bodies of those he had known all his life as far back as he could remember. Turning around he started walking, his hands on his shoulder and supported himself against the wall.

"Upper and middle floors? The Council's Hangar-bay is in the lower floor… must get there." Using Force sense to detect the enemy soldiers and Sith Assassins he very slowly and with great agony reached the lower levels of the temple. Twice he almost stumbled upon enemy soldiers. Trying not whimper and groan the whole way he finally boarded one of the remaining V-Wings.

"Give me a break…" He groaned when he tried to power it up and found it voice locked. He broke open the panel and started working on the cables with his vision starting to blur.

Finally, the ship powered up and started to hover.

"Hey! That V-Wing is trying to escape! Blast it!" He heard voices from outside, then the ship rocked as blaster fire hit it.

Tern lost no time and floored the thruster, "Astromech, fire at them." He ordered the astromech which beeped, chirped and lowered the rail-turbolaser gun for ground targets and started firing at the enemy soldiers as the ship sped away.

The shaking and vibrating of leaving the Atmosphere gave way when they escaped Tython's atmosphere.

"Yes, I see themYB-9, get us out of here… no I don't know Illum's coordinates, don't you? … What do you mean you don't have them? Ugh Stupid droid, get us out of here, any inhabitable planet will do!" Tern talked to his astromech, while trying to patch up his shoulder. He shot himself with an injection of insta-life to regulate his heartbeat and stop him from dying of internal-bleeding and bandaged his shoulder. He had to find a medic center or it could get infected, but first he had to escape the enemy Capital ships that were taking place in orbit around the planet for a blockade. The temple was not the only building in Tython.

The Incoming ships were huge. Tern could not be sure of their exact size but he estimated them roughly around 2 kilometers in length. They had the known wedge shape except for a spherical underbelly and a hole in the front of the ship instead of a conical shaped ending.

"So many of them… " Tern thought as his ship jumped to hyperspace. Sleep overtook him.

Alarms and YB-9's beeps and screams woke him up. "YB-9, what is going on? What is this planet?" YB-9 beeped something.

"What do you mean you don't know and we're crashing on the planet's surface? How could you have hyperspace jumped us here if you don't know what… or where here is?" YB-9 beeped some more.

"What do you mean random guess? Navigation and engines are malfunctioning from soldier fire? Well we're about to crash on the planet's surface, do something!" Tern yelled and the V-Wing continued to plunge into the desert planet's atmosphere.

Tern pushed back on the throttle trying to get the nose of the fighter up, "come… on… already… I did NOT survive the Sith to die in a fucking crash!" YB-9 fired the reverse thrusters just as the fighter grazed the sand and dragged on it until it finally came to a halt.

"Yes, I know we're leaking fuel, yes, I know we're about to become bantha-fodder!"

"The eject won't work… " Tern murmured, getting a glimpse of the leaking fuel in the corner of his eye.

He tried banging, pressing and pushing on the glass to no avail before in a rush of adrenaline and despair he "pushed" by use of the force, smashing the glass just enough for him to fit through.

He jumped off landing on his stomach a few meters away.

"Ugh… come on YB-9, get out of there arl…" The explosion caught him mid-sentence sending him flying back and landing him flat on his back.

He stood up dusting his clothes, groaning. "Well… I better find some kind of sentient civilization or I won't last long here. I've never seen so much sand before." Tern thought as he hugged his shoulder and started walking. Everywhere his eyes could see he could see sand and only sand. He had no compass and he was way too tired to even try any force related powers. He had no idea what the time was in this planet so he walked slowly, to conserve energy until night fell. He had nothing with which to light a fire so he lay on the warm sand and cried himself to sleep.

"I have been walking without end for two days and nights now… If I don't find something to drink soon I'll die of dehydration… I suppose as deaths go it's not the most horrible one." Tern felt strangely calm about dying. He took a breath and kept walking.

Half a day later he saw smoke columns rising in the horison.

A few minutes later he saw a rock valley extend below the dunes and in the middle a settlement, not a large settlement but large enough to have a small starport. It was currently empty.

"Water, can I have some water please?" He asked a vendor, a disfigured-looking male human.

"Five Credits." Tern paid him, he knew he was getting reaped off but he had not the strength for barter. "Do you know where I can buy a freighter ticket out of here?"

"Only star-pirates and smugglers come around these part of the Galaxy you don't need a ticket young one, you need a miracle. You can find more information in the local watering hole. I would not trust the tavern's owner if I were you." The shop owner told him.

Tern nodded and left. "I trust no one."

"Some food and something to drink." The tavern owner turned to see the young battered teen. A smirk appeared on his lips.

The Iktotchi [Horned humanoid alien species] served Tern up, a small plate of something that looked like food and a ceramic cup of a quasi-viscus liquid.

Tern paid, got the trey with the food and drink and sat on a table, wolfing down the meager food, nearly vomiting from the speed and the hunger. The tavern owner sat opposite to him crossing his hands in front of him.

"What is a youngling Jedi doing out here in the outer rim?" The man asked him calmly.

Tern tried to not show his surprise. "I am not a Jedi, youngling or not." He denied his existence.

"Those robes, that haircut, but if you say so… what are you doing here, in the outer rim?"

"I live in the other side of the planet, what is it to you?" Tern asked casually.

"I know all that goes on in this settlement." The man replied, his hand rubbed up against Tern's.

"Obviously not all. I want passage out of this wasteland."

"I can get you a ticket if you want. It'll cost you though."

Tern smiled, he knew the man was lying. "Bullshit, only pirates and smugglers come in this planet." The owner was caught by surprise but bounced back quickly.

"You are tired child and have been caught a fool. There is a freighter coming tomorrow. Let's get you some sleep and tomorrow I'll gift you the ticket." The man told him.

Tern did not like the man, there was something… slimy about him.

"Yes, I could do with the rest." Tern replied leaving things vague enough. He needed the rest but he did not trust the man, and from the shop owner's information earlier he knew the Iktotchi was lying to him.

The tavern owner nodded and stood up. Tern studied him, he was tall, standing at about one hundred and ninety centimeters, with dual horns coming out of the top of his head and going down on the sides of his face. He had strong, powerful-looking arms and muscles of a man who has worked with manual labour all his life.

Tern finished his drink, he did not like the flavour and stood up. He headed for the upper floors and the rooms.

The man followed him. Tern felt uncomfortable.

"This is your room. Do you have credits to pay with? You don't look like you have much?" The Iktotchi man pressed closer to him.

"How much is the room?" Tern asked.

"Fifty Credits." Tern almost chocked on his saliva.

"I can buy a fucking speeder with that kind of money! I won't pay more than 10 credits and it's still a steal!" Tern tried to haggle.

The tavern owner did not even laugh or blink. "That's the price kid, pay or leave."

"I can sleep for free." In an act of despair Tern tried his luck in Jedi mind-tricking the guy.

The man laughed, "So you "are" a Jedi youngling. Not that easy to trick me little one. If you have no money there's other ways to pay with."

"What? Like clean dishes or something?" Tern tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The man laughed again. "No, boy, that's what cleaning droids are for, I mean with your sweet-looking body. Drop them robes and let me have some fun, then you can sleep the rest of the night for free." The Iktotchi held on to his hand by his elbow. Tern took a deep breath and jerked his hand trying to leave.

"No, thank you, I'll sleep elsewhere then." The man held tightly on to his hand and shoved him in the room closing the door behind them.

"There's nowhere else boy, now be a good boy and get down on your knees for me, there's a dick to be sucked here."

"I said no." Tern tried again to leave. The man slapped him hard across his face sending him back on his back.

"Well. If you're gonna be such a little bitch, grab on to my horns whore 'cause you're in for a fucking ride!" the man grabbed him by his neck holding him up. Tern felt his heart rising and he lost it.

In a rush of adrenaline, exhausted and in despair, Tern force-pushes the Iktotchi back, smashing him up against the door. "You, you would rape me, a child?!" There was cold fury in Tern's eyes, the man tried standing up but he was lifted off his feet as Tern started to force-choke him.

Tern realised what he was doing and shoving the man against the far wall to the right he darted out, ran down the stairs and left the establishment.

He ran to the opposite end of the settlement and hid behind some crates and rubbish containers, waiting for nightfall there.

As night fell he was quick to fall asleep, an uneasy sleep full of tormenting dreams.

In one dream he was standing inside a burial chamber the tomb was huge, full of tall walls and statues of hooded figures looking down at him. A deep, ethereal voice calling to him.

In another dream he was killing Karek, a youngling friend of his back in Tython, with a double-bladed lightsaber.

In another dream he was killing Jedi knights. That last one woke him, it was still dark but it would not be dark for long. Tern could tell that dawn-break was near.

He stretched and groaned in pain. "I used an ability of the dark side of the force… does that make me a Sith? I don't feel like a Sith… don't' want to be one or give in to hatred and anger… I won't give in to those feelings, but… what if denying them is not the solution either… bah! Remember your training Tern. Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force." He admonished himself for his thoughts, reiterated the altered version of the Jedi Creed that younglings recite during the initiate trials and stood up.

He walked to the small-sized starport and saw the freighter landing.

"What's this? What are you doing here squirt?" A large human man stood on the ramp as it lowered.

"I want passage to the next planet of your voyage." Tern requested confidently.

"No. Come on boys offload the cargo, let's get paid and leave this barren rock." The captain told him before ordering his crew about. The crew started offloading the cargo while the captain chatted with another long-necked alien before the long-necked alien paid him.

"I better not try to mind trick him… there's a lot of others present and after my failure last night… " Tern thought before turning to the captain again. "I am no squirt, and I can pay for my passage, with labour if need be."

The Captain turned to see him laughing. "What can you possibly do at this young age? I'm not running an interstellar boy-brothel you know."

"That's not what I had in mind, and if you tried to touch me in this way I would kill you," Tern spoke softly but with as much confidence as he could muster.

The captain along with other members of his crew laughed. Tern continued speaking.

"I can fight just as good as any of them and I am an expert in reading facial expressions and body language, for example that one would have gladly paid one thousand credits more for the cargo you just delivered to him."

The captain stopped laughing and looked at the young teen intensely before grinning. "Fine, a test then." He grabbed a pipe that was lying around and threw it at Tern. Tern grabbed it. "Gravira Tharon, come here please." A Caamasi woman came closer to them.

"Tell me what she thinks of me." Tern failed to see the captain winking at her.

Tern stepped closer to her studying her deeply.

"She… fears you," he watched at her face, "and hates you," he saw her clenching her claws, "and she does not respect your leadership or you. If it wasn't for the fear and her apparent cowardice she'd have challenged, you a good lon… " She attacked him bearing forth her talons and sharp teeth. He deflected and parried her attacks dashing left and right. The biggest effort went not to deflecting her, even in his weakened state he was a Jedi Padawan and could have defeated her easily, but he did not want to reveal his origins and abilities to smugglers. It was this distraction and his state of injury and general fatigue that allowed her to sweep his feet from under him, disarming him from the pipe he was holding.

The captain laughed. "Okay kid, you can handle yourself, I guess we can take you along with us for a few jumps. Name's Captain Jeral and my ship's the "exiled beauty". Now jump in, Gravira Tharon here will show you to your bunkbed," the captain told him and boarded the ship.

Tern said nothing as he boarded the freighter.

The freighter rambled as the engines turned on.

Tern watched the planet disappear out of a porthole.

Tern's first assignment was to defraud a merchant out of as much gold as he could. Considering the boy's unwillingness to use the Jedi mind trick it proved a much tougher assignment than he had anticipated. The mission after that they had to escape a Republic cruiser after stealing cargo from some of the freighters it was guarding. Tern kept trying to help by reading the minds and expressions of those the captain was doing business with, but it was increasingly obvious that he did not like being with this crew and that the captain knew of it and was keeping him preoccupied.

A month later they landed on a swamp world, the whole planet was a swamp, forest and sea. "I don't know what I hate more… desert planets or swamp ones… " Tern muttered. One of the crew sniggered like he knew something.

"Captain… " Tern acknowledged the man.

"Come with me boy." Jeral told him and started walking with Gravira and a couple of others.

"Where to?"

"Just follow me, child." Tern could feel, even untrained as he was, that something was just not right.

"Oba Feh, my good and old friend, how is the trade going?" Jeral asked another female human.

"Oh you know… slaves never actually go out of fashion, at least not out here in the rim." Oba smiled.

"Is this the child you were telling me of? I have a few Sith buyers who will pay handsomely for this one. They appear to be buying force-sensitive slaves by the bucket".

Tern's face blanched out. "You… you can't sell me as a slave… I'm a member of the crew ain't I?" He took a step back, his eyes darting all over trying to find escape routes.

"No, youngling, you are not, I was just using you while I negotiated a good deal with the Sith. These things take time, so here we are." Jeral grinned.

"No, I will not be sold into slavery." Tern turned to leave but Jeral grabbed his elbow, turned him round and slapped him throwing him stomach-first on the floor.

"No, not again, never again, no one will touch me like this again." Tern spoke before unleashing a force-push wave, and rising to his feet he started force choking Jeral.

Jeral was almost dead, life choked out of him when something hard impacted the back of Tern's head.

He woke up in the hangar, above him stood Jeral and two Sith Assassins.

"Master Insidious will be most pleased." One of the Assassins spoke and kicked Tern on his ribs.

Tern's hands were focused in loosening his binds.

The Assassins loaded him to their ship and paid Jeral. Tern waited, he knew the ship would have life pods, so he waited until they arrived near orbit on the next planet. Breaking his binds, he force-pushed the two soldiers guarding him and ran to the life pods bay. He jumped in one and activated it.

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