Prelude to Episode 1

Not as good as the original, better than the prequels.
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Vencuyanir
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Prelude to Episode 1

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Venc had spent years on backwater planets. Hunting and hiding and remaining out of the mainstream of events. After he had completed his trials to be Mandolorian, he had gone in search of his parents.

The snippets and trails each ran their coarse and went cold. They had for what he could tell, just vanished.

It was while he was returning to Concordia Dawn and Mandalor that he had heard of an incident. A librarian. A fabled historian, had vanished. The path to the Darksaber had been removed to who knows where.

Not certain why it would matter to him, he sets off on a new search. Clan Golec had lost one of its most revered sons, Latho Golec.

@Kaelin
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Kaelin
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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Kaelin awoke.

There was a disturbance in the other room, no doubt the source of what had awoken her. Noise.

Very gingerly she climbed out of bed and crept over to the door, her tail twitching anxiously as she did so. Then as carefully as she could, she slid the door open a crack so that a sliver of light shone through and she could better hear better,

Voices.

Couple of battle droids along with a squad of Separatist soldiers, but also the enraged voice of her foster Latho. Clearly he was angry, furious at the intrusion in the dead of night. Since he'd taken her under his wing as a foundling, Kaelin felt oblige to intervene somehow. But how?

Latho had been teaching her, but that training was far from finished. That said, he'd often stated that she was too much on the impulsive side and needed to think more before she acted. An idea came to her.

The Separatists had their back to her with one of the spindly looking droids being the closest. It appeared to her to be on the weak side and she reckoned that she could sneak up and grab it's blaster to turn the tables on the Separatists. It would be a case of sliding the door open a little further and cre-....

"Warning! Another humanoid detected!"

She'd forgotten the loud clank the door made when it slid open far enough and cursed her luck as some of the blasters were pointed in her direction.

"Who's this?!" Demanded one of the soldiers. "We weren't expecting anyone else!"

"She's...." Latho began replying with a pained faced. "She's my daughter, adoptive daughter. Let her go, she doesn't know anything of what you seek!"

"That's for us to decide!" Snapped the soldier. "Bring her!"

The two droids kept their blasters trained on her as one of the other soldiers approached and went to grab her arm. Kaelin waited for the man to reach out with his hand, then barrelled into him and sent the pair of them sprawling. Kaelin was more quicker and was soon back on her feet facing down the next soldier who tried tackling her. She let out a flurry of blows but realised a moment too late she'd left her back unguarded.

WHACK

Pain exploded in her head, making her eyes water and her vision fade.

She felt herself go limp as the floor came up to meet her before everything went black....
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Vencuyanir
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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Venc had been on Mandalore only a few days when he had gotten word that Clan Golec had lost two of its most honored sons. Two brothers in fact, Davu and Latho. Davu had been a member of the Galactic Senate until his death by what some were saying was Satine Kryze. Latho's death had occured at the his family home.

The hunter in Venc became the detective. Curiosity killed the Nexu and he was certain that the brothers' deaths were no coincidence. Such things never were.

It was a good ways to Coruscant and there were those on Mandalore suspicious of anyone heading to that sector. Venc knew that were splinter factions existing in Mando space. There were those who sided with the Sepratists. There were those who sided with the Republic. There were even those stood bodly against all of them and vied for peace and a unified Mandalore. A unified Mandalore had Davu Golec's reason being with the Galactic Senate.

Latho was just as famous as his brother. He was a student of the past. The historian who had gathered the only facts to the true Mandalore. Details surrounding the whereabouts of various pieces of the armor. Rumor also held that he knew how to find the Darksaber. The armor would sell the leadership role of Mandalore but the Darksaber would solidify the claims. Latho was the only one known to have the details to the Darksaber.


The family home was silent and empty and was rather impossing at night as shadows played freely across it's exterior. The lights were out and even the streets below the gate, Venc could tell that there was nothing moving on the grounds or in the house.

The normal security measures, common to most homes, seemed to be missing. Security cameras, there were none. Patrol droids, there were none. The house felt like it was open to the public or that those who resided insided feared little, including the civil unrest that few spoke of but everyone was aware of.
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Kaelin
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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Kaelin awoke.

Her head pounded from where the Separatists had bashed it with the butt of their blaster and a pair of stun cuffs round her wrists kept her arms pinned behind her back. Clearly, the Separatists weren't taking any chances.

Even with partially immobilised arms, she managed to push herself up into a seating position in order to get a better look at her surroundings. It appeared to be some sort of storage unit, a hold on some ship was her best guess going by the background hum of machinery. Of Latho there appeared to be no sign, no doubt he was being kept elsewhere on the ship to minimize their chances of escape. It had probably also been done as an incentive for Latho to talk as he had no way of knowing whether she was safe.

Clever.

Confounding matters was that the Separatists had captured her whilst she was in her nightwear. If she'd been wearing some of her day-clothes she would've had some tools secreted away that she could've used to disable the cuffs but no such luck. The Separatists weren't dumb and they also weren't leaving anything to chance. As much as Kaelin was loathed to admit it, they were good and had set their minds to capturing Latho. But why?

What was it they wanted Latho for?

Kaelin was beginning to worry that she wasn't going to like the answer.
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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Other oddities continued to add themselves to the scene.

Venc was not sure how long the home had been vacant but there were no signs that anyone had been here to investigate. The home was of such a build that it had its own landing field for a YT series class frieghter, but that was in the back. Of course the house was a fair distance from its nearest neighbors, easily a quarter mile in any direction.

Still standing at the low wall surrounding the well maintained lawns and gardens, Venc decided to use the tunneled entry. It had been a few days since foot traffic had been to or near the house. between the wind and the infrequent rain this time of year, the dust and dirt remained undesturbed by anything else.

Carefully he stepped through the entryway and into the grass of the manicured lawn. Only a few days time since Latho disappeared.

Venc paused with a deep thought on his mind, if the Mando-Separatist sympathizers had managed to get the Republic to send soldiers to Mandalore to quell an uprising, a massive war would have broken out. The seat of power would have been up for grabs with various clans viaing for the title of Mandalore. No Republic troops and Davu Golec dead. The Golec house empty.

Venc made a very careful approach to the house. The situation had certainly gone from bad to worse.

Without a war the seat of power would remain unchanged. The Separatist would need something more substanial to over throw Duchess Satine. Like framing the Duchess. Hadn't he heard that she was being held on Coruscant.

Venc made it to the front door, which he found unlocked. Once inside he used his helmet's thermal optics and infared, instead of the house lights.

The entry way contained a few collections. All of them Mandalorian but the entry way held nothing of interest in locating Latho.

The long entry way led into a large living room with several doors and additional hallways.
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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They'd gone into hyperspace at some point, though Kaelin knew the exact instance they did so as her stomach instantly started doing somersaults. They travelled for some time, though Kaelin didn't know whether it was days or weeks but longed for the ship to drop back into realspace. Food was brought for her, but there was only so much that she could eat and then keep down.

It was a mercy when they finally dropped out hyperspace again, though Kaelin didn't much like eating or doing much else for that matter. There was also the matter of where they had arrived, from the few snippets of conversation she heard it appeared that they'd arrived at the destination intended for her and Latho. Least it sounded like her adoptive father and mentor was still alive, though she didn't seen or heard much of him.

After the ship landed and they were marched off it, only then did Kaelin see Latho again and saw that he'd been roughed up by the Separatists no doubt wanting answers. Both of them remained cuffed and the soldiers kept them apart, probably to reduce or even deter any changes of escape. Likewise, where they arrived appeared to be a prison complex and located on a desert world to boot. Clearly the Separatists were going through alot of trouble making sure that Latho was removed far away as possible from Mandalore, but they hadn't killed him...yet.

As of yet she still didn't have any clue as to what the Separatists were up to, though she ended up having plenty of time to mull over it after they threw her into a cell on her own and still cuffed. Latho was also put into a cell on his own, though some cells down so that they could only hear rather than see one another. The Separatists seemed pretty determined that neither of them would be able to escape, though Kaelin wondered how long she and her mentor would be here for.
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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Standing in the hallway from the entrance, about to set foot in circular mid-space, Venc halted. After a few minutes his left leg began to ache as a reminder that he had stopped himself short of actually entering the room and he needed to put his foot down.

Slowly putting his foot down, he realized then that the room was a mess and that he was about to step right into the clutter. The room had been tossed. Wall hangings torn down. Busts and statues toppled. From where he stood, it even looked as though someone had gone through the papers on what Venc guessed was Latho's desk, which amounted to a very large, almost dining room sized table.

Stepping lightly in and around the clutter, Venc found his way to the one spot of the room without clutter, well sort of. The center of the room held an enormous skylight, that right now would cast an eerie glow reflected upon thousands of tiny shards of plasti-glass. Not quite in the center of the room, Venc observed a few footprints, excentuated by the tiny tears of glass being crushed and ground into the rug and carpet. Droids

The group had been actually a mix of armored troops and droids. Distinctive footprints and the lag of disregard for what they stepped on, led Venc to the conclusion, that they were B1 Battle Droids, currently in use by the Sepratists.

Looking up from the floor beneath the skylight, he began tracing movements throughout the room. The droids had taken positions by the doors, in a manner that they could cover multiple exits. The armored troops seemed to have caused all the destruction.

One hallway led to the kitchen and the rear of the home. And all the doors were open with only two looking like they had been entered.
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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After having spent some time in the cell, the only good thing was that she no longer suffered from hyperspace sickness and her appetite slowly returned but progress was hampered by the cuisine on offer. She was still cuffed, still stuck in a cell on her own and could hear Latho as he was dragged off for questioning by the Separatists. Though she still had no idea what the Separatists wanted and wondered how long it be until she got dragged away for questioning.

With little else to do, Kaelin tried practising some of the things that Latho had taught her. It kept her occupied and her mind sharp, this was in addition to trying to figure out how she would escape. However the Separatists were pretty competent and seemed to be taking no chances, thus making the prospect of escape much more difficult.
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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Venc determined that there had been two occupants to the home. Latho for sure, as his room was filled with even more Mando "collectibles" than the living room.

One room was rather sparse as if the occupant had moved most of his things, there was however a family portrait on the wall of two young boys with two armored individuals. Quite likely the boys parents.

A third room was more spacious than the first two, may have been a room for Latho's parents but had since been converted into a study. Walls were filled with either paintings or bookshelves full of texts or "collectibles".

The last bedroom would have been a customary guest bedroom. Mandolorians were either very hospitable and welcomed you with open arms. Or they were your vilest of enemies. Likely this last room could have also served as a holding cell or a torture chamber, had the room been anyone else house except Latho's.

The guest room is what drew Venc's attention. On the ground and in the room were very femanine articles. From clothing to accessories, there was definetely evidence that Latho had had a female visitor for sometime. Now both Latho and his female house guest were gone. Taken by the Sepratists.
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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Kaelin awoke.

Something had disturbed her sleep but the cell and the corridor seemed, relatively speaking, serene enough. Far as she could tell it was the night cycle, though this was purely based upon the regular dimming of the lights rather than seeing the outside world. The quietness was almost oppressive, but something was up.

No, not fully quiet.

In the distance she could hear faint shouts and another noise she couldn't quite make out, neither were all that reassuring. She felt a tremor in the floor beneath her feet and the power flickered, the forcefield blocking the entrance to her cell fizzled. There was another much bigger tremor and the power went out, causing the forcefield to collapse and emergency lighting casting everything in a sickly red glow.

Stunned for a moment, Kaelin's brain finally made the connection and realise that this was her chance to escape. She was now to free to go find Latho and then find a way out of his place. Another tremor combined with the sound of explosions close by spurred her into action as she hurried out of her cell bound for the one that had housed Latho.

She got maybe a few feet down the corridor before everything was suddenly turned upside down and blackness engulfed her....
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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Great dead ends.

Still in the dead of night, the night sky lit up the central living space. The Seps had come in and left the same way.

There were no signs that Latho or his house guest had left the central room. The Seps ship never landed. Repeled in and out, with Latho and company in tow.

Venc began cleaning the floor. Fragments and pieces of the house went in one pile. Latho's research and Mando history went in another. Anything belonging to the female visitor went elsewhere. Furniture was also its own separate pile. Taking the better part of the early morning hours, Venc was satisified with detail in cleaning.

As the first rays of early morning settled in, Venc was able to see somethings completely missed in the dim light of night. Footprints. Distinctive footprints.

He had noticed them earlier the previous evening but now he could see definition and details he had missed before. One of the humans was walking on an injured leg. Heavily favoring his right side.

Another had a pair of boots with something stuck in the treads. Venc followed the trail of this Sep, forward and backward across the room. Then he noticed under Latho's study table a boot print. Clearly the individual had placed his foot on the support between the legs, unconsciously. When he moved his boot off it had dislodged the object from the treads. The rock was no bigger than a grape but was certainly under the table.

With the small rock in hand, he began walking the central room again. He found similar pebbles and small stones throughout the room. The Droids and Seps apparently frequented a place away from Mandolore.

Venc stored his findings and sat down in Latho's room to take a nap. Quite certain that no one would be disturbing him.
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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Kaelin awoke.

Her head was pounding and her body ached all over from where it had been hit by debris. A chunk of the wall laid atop her and she could feel a breeze as well as the acid smell of smoke. A dull ringing filled her ears, though there were other sounds which were muffled and remote almost as if she was underwater.

With a groan, she pushed the rubble off her and staggered to her feet wincing in pain as she did so. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she forced one foot in front of the other as she inched her way along the corridor using the wall for support. At last she came to Latho's cell and found it choked with rubble.

A wave of despair overcame Kaelin as she sank to her knees, the only person that ever seemed to care about her was now gone.
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Re: Prelude to Episode 1

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Being effective in his research, Venc had determined the length of time that Latho and his house guest had been gone. Cross referencing the time they were gone with ships that cleared and left from Mandalore to travel through space, he was able narrow down, where Latho was taken.

Ships were heading to Coruscant, Tattooine, and several other planetary systems. When Venc came across the information for the Fallen Star Galaxy, Venc stopped. This galaxy was remote, not quite in the Outer Rim, held a possible location, a rumored prison planet, Alsokul.

Venc studied the rocks and such. Highly unlikely that it is from any civilized okanet or planetary system.

Taking care to route out and around his target, Venc felt it best to leave no trail for anyone else to follow. A few weeks later Venc was able to land on Alsokul. What a mess.
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