Evil Dark Lords and Pretty Pony Princesses

First Contact

Book 1: Chapter 1

”Knowedlge of the unknown is what we seek every day of our lives. We seek to understand the universe around us, even as we have yet to understand ourselves. This is something that has been embedded into our peoples very DNA, and it does not matter who or what you are, every person wants to seek that which they do not know.

So, when given the chance to do what no other has done in over several thousand years... It is an experience that most would crave. I myself have been in such a situation. First contact; the fabled thing that all races of the Galaxy went through when they managed to make it to the stars. I, on the other hand, managed to perform the reverse and crashlanded on an unknown planet, in an unknown galaxy, in the middle of a skirmish. What I have learned from the experience and the many that followed it, is to never ask for more than you are truly ready for.”

Darth Marr - a tentative diolauge on his first expierences.

The massive wedge-shaped vessel hurtled through the blue-whiteness of Hyperspace at incalculable speeds. None of the crew who did not possess even a shred of Force sensitivity survived the initial lurch into Hyperspace. The Ship looked far worse for wear as it hurtled through the blue of hyperspace, plates shifted and buckled under the stress, and hundreds of explosions marred the surface of the near mile-long vessel.

In the Hangar bay, the Eloi rocked on its landing gear. TC, Marr's eternal companion, ran through the ship's list of sensor reports. The shields were down, the engines were offline, and the life support was running out of power fast. TC himself could also feel his own power supply slowly draining, but only slowly. His power supply was shielded against most forms of interference, but whatever kind of anomaly they had found themselves in had found a way to drain his energy anyway.

Once the HK-protocol droid was done, it checked on it Master and his progeny in the med-bay. The interior lights for the Eloi were dimmed or, as in most cases, extinguished by the loss of power. He quickly arrived at the med-bay and assessed the situation. His Master, ancient though he may be, looked like a babe asleep in their crib. The ancient Sith was laid out on the ground with his cloak wrapped around himself like a snug blanket.

The droid filed away the picture for later use, blackmail, and stepped over his Master. He checked the straps wrapped around Dromas and found that they were snug enough to keep the Feeorin in place. TC then picked up his Master and easily strapped him into one of the other beds in the room. he checked the monitors around both his and Dromas' beds, their brain waves were erratic, more so in Dromas' case for obvious reasons, but outside the norm for any sentient being.

TC made a snap decision in that moment that would send the Eloi, and her crew, on an adventure like none other. The Droid quickly marched back to the cockpit and rerouted as much power as he could into the engines before there was nothing left to give. With a massive boost of forward momentum, the Eloi was launched out of the Anakin Solo at close to Mach 1. The instant the ship made contact with the Hyperspace anomaly outside the ship, the Eloi almost instantaneously reverted back to real space. The jarring effect of this, coupled with the overwhelming effect of the Anomaly, drained the ship of the rest of its immediate power and knocked TC into a reboot loop.

The Eloi, which was now stumbling through space at sonic speeds, was set on a degrading course away from the Anakin Solo's flight path. Incidentally, the ship was also, almost immediately, caught in a massive planet's gravity well. What little power was left online allowed the ship to do a simple scan of the planet.

A simple mathematical equation popped up on the ships main screen. 44,000Mi X 44,000Mi. A list of further equations then popped up under the first. At the bottom of the screen, a set of flashing numbers appeared.

Surface Area: 2.1 Billion Square miles.

Continentes: 10, 5/10 = Supercontinent, 2/10 = Avg. Contintent, 3/10 = Sub. Continent.

Water%: 56% water, depth max = ~20,000Ft, Sensor obstruction = possibly deeper.

Sentient lifeforms: List = inconclusive, Sentient Life Confirmed~1 Absoluute.

Temperature: Avg. = 85.6F’, Max Temp. = 175.9F’, Min. Temp. = -130.92F’.

Magnetic Poles~Error: Magnetic poles are in flux, advise caution!!!

The screen died moments later. A loading bar appeared on a smaller data pad attached to the Captain’s chair. On it, a list of emergency reroutes for power consumption and generator reboot came online. The readout indicated that all emergency power was being routed to the medical bay to sustain its sole injured occupant.

The ships minimal computing power tried to manage what little power was left to restart the generator, but could not, with its limited processing power, figure out how. The ship had one of two choices; reroute all power to the generator to jump start it and cut the life-support to the med-bay, or reroute all power to the med bay and cut all other functions save for shields and let the ship crash.

The choice was made for it when the gravitational pull of the planet became even stronger than it was previously. The ship hurtled down towards the blue-green ball of epic proportions at thousands of miles per hour. As the ship entered the atmosphere it became a long streak of red against the night sky. The ships reentry was violent and explosive as the ship cut through the sound barrier a little over three times, almost making a fourth sonic boom just moments before it magically leveled out mid-air.

The ship flew over a vast ocean, larger than any ever seen outside of the true water worlds of the galaxy. It slowed drastically as it neared one of the largest landmasses on the planet. It then lost altitude at a significant speed and arced towards a short mountain range. It leveled out again suddenly and took a straight on landing into a large forest the sat at the feet of the mountains. A large trench, almost a mile long, stretch out behind the Fury-class Interceptor before it came to a halt.

Half buried under a metric tone of dirt, the Eloi smoldered. Steam and smoke in equal parts rose up from the crashed vessel. A few minutes passed and the forests occupants began to encircle it, but just as everything thought it was over with, the ship fell back from its slanted nose first position. It crashed back on his aft section, bent a wing, and settled on to the ground. The wildlife fled in terror from the sound. Nothing in the forest came back to see what it was after that.

The wreck smoldered and smoked for what seemed like hours before life seemed to come back to it. Lights came on inside the craft, a soft red to illuminate the interior, and a soft wiring could be heard coming from the aft section of the ship. Inside, a life of another sort seemed to be coming around...

Darth Marr’s POV

I achingly raised a hand to my face and rubbed against my eyes. They felt heavy from sleep. ‘How in the hell did I get down here?’ I wondered to myself when I opened my eyes and saw that I was on the floor of the med-bay. my cloak was wrapped around me and my body ached. It felt like I had been put up against Luke and Ben in a no holds bar sparring match ... And then fed to a rancor!

“My damn head...,” I growled. I could feel a lump forming at the back of my head, and I could tell that I had a few symptoms of a concussion. “Where the Force is TC?” I moaned. I pushed myself up into a proper sitting position. It was at that point that I noticed that my helmet was gone and that I was breathing fresh air. Not my proudest moment seeing as I freaked out. I wrapped my hands around my mouth screamed and scrambled around for my helmet.

Before I even found my helmet though, I realized I wasn’t chocking, and I wasn’t dying. So! I was an idiot, no mistakes there, I calmed myself and moved to my feet. I looked around the room, noted my son, and slowly dragged my sorry ass over to his bedside. I ran a hand over his chest; it rose and fell slowly and shallowly under my hand. I looked mournfully at his mutilated arms, both gone thanks to Caedus, or whatever the fekking hell that bastard decided to call himself anymore. I used the life force I had taken from the woman earlier and forced it into Dromas’ body. I knew it wasn’t much, but it was enough to help kickstart his bodies healing ability.

I felt the energy leave me and enter him with a sense of loss. I then latched onto the Force and began to pull the energy through me. I channeled it into my hands and molded it into healing energies that I could use to help heal my son. I moved my hands first over the stump that was his right arm where the monster had ripped his arm off. I used the energy I was gathering to staunch the bleeding before I moved to the other arm.

His left, while more of it remained, was an even grislier sight to behold than the entirety of his missing right arm. The fact that there were still strips of flesh still hanging from him almost brought me to sick up all over the floor. Tears of anguish spilled from my eyes in droves as I looked upon my eldest living son. I staunched the bleeding as best I could, but I had to remove most of his upper arm with my lightsaber to keep him from bleeding to death.

When I knew he was no longer in danger of bleeding to death I began working on his ribs. I could see through the armor he wore that most of his ribs had been shattered by whatever it was that monster had done.

“I won’t let you die, my son, not while I still hold life within me!” I promised him, tears streaked down my cheeks as I pushed as much energy as I thought safe into his body. I used what medical knowledge had been passed on to me from Jedi Master Cilghal to mend his ribs the best I could. I will say, for posterities sake, that mending ribs that have been turned into shards of their former selves is a bitch and should always be done in the presence of a master healer...

It took me three hours to fully mend his ribs, and relieve the pressure his collapsed chest had had on his lungs. I stripped him of most of his armor and made him as comfortable as I could. I needed to see what happened to TC and why the ship was running on emergency power. The door to the med-bay was open and the main hub of the Eloi looked to be in fair shape, so I searched the rest of the ship for my missing HK-P droid. TC, my ever eternal companion, has been through worse crashes than a Tatooian podracer on spice, so I wasn’t too worried for his wellbeing.

I walked into the cockpit and looked around for my eldest friend. What I found was somewhat perplexing at the time, but anymore I know that Tc had saved my life and the lives of others with his snap decision. My friend was seated in my chair, hunched over and all but completely drained of power. Next to him was a small screen with a blinking light on it signifying a missed message.

I gave my friend a cursory glance and plucked up the datapad. I rested a hand on the back of the chair and used the Force to pump some power into the little device. With a blink of white light, which quickly turned blue, the pad went through a quick bootup. seconds later a list of calculations and estimates appeared on the screen.

Surface Area: 2.1 Billion Square miles.

Continentes: 10, 5/10 = Supercontinent, 2/10 = Avg. Contintent, 3/10 = Sub. Continent.

Water%: 56% water, depth max = ~20,000Ft, Sensor obstruction = possibly deeper.

Sentient lifeforms: List = inconclusive, Sentient Life Confirmed~1 Absoluute.

Temperature: Avg. = 85.6F’, Max Temp. = 175.9F’, Min. Temp. = -130.92F’.

Magnetic Poles~Error: Magnetic poles are in flux, advise caution!!!

I scanned over them and blinked in surprise at the sheer size of the planet we had apparently crashed on during my slumber. The planet was massive! I had never seen anything of its size in my long life. Granted, I had sequestered myself away in my empire for most of that time, I still have seen much of the Galaxy. But still, the oceans must be massive! Especially if they account for a little over half the planets surface... and twenty thousand feet? That’s a rather... Disturbing depth, and for it to just cut off? I know for a fact that my skin shivered at the thought of what could be under that much water.

No, I have never liked deep water, and I never will ... Not after Mannan and sure as Sith after the Yuuzhan Vong war... Fek those fekkers.

Inner monolog over, I guess. Needless to say, the information I got from the Datapad left me somewhat poleaxed. I was on a planet with sentient life, my ship is crashlanded, and I don’t know what part of the Galaxy we’re in anymore ... If we’re even in the same Galaxy, to begin with. I have head stories of ships traveling through time, across impossible distances, and disappearing altogether thanks to Hyperspace Anomalies.

After I finished with the datapad, and my own little freakout session, I walked around to the front of the chair and knelt before my comatose droid. I pushed him back in the seat and checked him over for any signs of obvious damage. I found none. Damn droid is hardier than you’d think, but still far more fragile than you’d expect from an HK unit.

I popped open the cover for his power core and quickly diagnosed the issue. He was simply out of power, nothing major. I collected a bit of Force energy into my hands and slowly pushed it into the droids power pack. This was something that I have done hundreds, if not thousands of times before. With his power core fully charged, I slipped it back into place and closed up the cover. I gave his chassis a firm knock and watched patiently as his systems came back online.

I moved over and sat against the back of one of the other flight seats at the fore of the Cockpit. I watched my drab grey and green droid with interest as his systems came online. His limbs twitched erratically and his photoreceptors flickered several times before his entire body jerked once and his eyes beamed up to full alertness.

“Master!” was the first word out of his mouth before he lunged across the open space and engulfed me in a simile of a hug... you’d think an HK droid would be without any sense of emotion, but TC is far too different, and ancient, to be considered normal by any measure of the word.

“Its good to see you too TC, I hope your nap went well?” I jibbed with a small laugh as my arms wrapped around the droids shoulders.

“Very funny Master, but what happened?!” he exclaimed. He got to his feet and pulled me up in the same motion. He stared me in the face with his gold-colored lenses. “All I remember was getting the ship to launch out of the Anakin Solo and straight into a blue vortex... Then nothing.”

“That would be because you were drained of power my friend. I recharged your battery and I’ve also fixed Dromas up as best I could... He needs medical attention. I am going to check outside and see where we are, maybe send out a probe after I do a quick recon... We need a Doctor to finish getting Dro’ fixed up. While I’m out I want you to get the cloning machines up and running... Along with the generators. I want this junk heap at least shielded before I set out on any expeditions.”

“Thank you, Master, I will do what I can to get her working again. I will watch over Master Dromas while you are gone, be safe, Sire!”

I bid TC farewell and went off to search for any of the small personal probe droids we had stashed aboard the Eloi.

I searched the cargo hold for any of the droids I knew had been stockpiled onboard. I pried the lid off of one of the crates and peered inside; six probe droids and a droid controller stared up at me. the little black insect looking droids creeped me out with their soulless look. Nothing that moved like they did when activated should ever be painted black and made to look like that!

“Let's get you little fekkers up and running. We need to know what its like outside,” I muttered to myself. I carefully prised them out of the crate and set them up on the box next to it. I brought each one up to my ear and tapped it real quick, just to see if I heard anything rattle around inside of course. When I was satisfied and heard nothing out of the ordinary, I put the droids down and checked on the controller unit.

The controller was a bit larger than the probs; seeing as it was the centerpiece of their entire network that was to be expected. I rubbed at the large dome-like eye on its underside and checked it over thoroughly for any sort of damage. I hummed in satisfaction and placed the bug-like thing down on the crate.

I lifted all seven of the black fekkers up with the Force and levitated them across the room towards the loading ramp. I set them off to the side and glared down at the ramp with distaste. I looked behind myself at the door leading to the bridge and hollered at TC

“Hey, is the fekking power working yet?!”

“Not yet Master, why?”

“No reason...,” I then proceeded to use the Force to unlatch the ramp and lower it. I also used the Force to simultaneously lift up the back end of the ship just enough so that I wouldn’t damage the ramp. Better to make sure shit doesn’t get destroyed now than having to go back and fix it later when we try for space. The creaking, and scraping of metal on metal, reverberated throughout the ship like a bad omen. I clenched my jaw at the noise and battled through it easily. “I’ll be back in a bit TC, just going to let the droids do their thing,” I remarked before I set out. As I passed the seven black abominations they floated up and behind me like the dutiful little menaces they were.

“Be safe Master,” TC remarked joyfully from the bridge.

There was little to no light that came down from the heavens as I walked outside. The air was cool, though I felt the ebbing heat from the Eloi against my skin with every change in the breeze. The air smelled of earth and burnt wood, but a pleasant undertone of fresh wood and old undergrowth seeped in the longer I inhaled. I felt at ease all of a sudden, like I had found a nexus of the Lightside, and had stepped out of the Dark entirely. It was the most at peace I had ever felt in my almost nine hundred years of life.

I took in a long breath of fresh air and held it for a moment longer before I let it out in a slow exhale. When I went to arrange the droids on the ground in front of me I felt the Force rush into me. It was like a waterfall had been formed right over my head and let to wash over my body. The deluge I felt was intense, to say the least. It wasn’t heavy though, it was light and welcoming, even if it was invasive and all-consuming. The depth and width of the Force as it flooded my body was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I could feel everything around me, the earth, the grass, the trees, the animals, the air, and even the clouds were barred openly to me to see and feel within the Force. If you have ever had someone bare their soul to you, and be told everything about them... Then you know but the tip of the iceberg that is what I felt that night. I fell to my knees and wept for joy at the sensations I was feeling.

My mind brought up every single moment that I had ever been happy, in a futile attempt to try and compare that moment to anything else. The only things I can think of that came close were the days I married my loves, and the day my First and Only biological son was born.

Once the influx of emotions and sensations was brought to an end, I collapsed down to my hands and knees. I gasped for breath and tried to steady myself after the high I had experienced. I slowly sat back on my heels and looked up at the night sky. I gasped and could feel my heart shudder in my chest. The stars were incredible, more numerous than I had ever seen them, and far brighter than they should ever have been.

Something that I will later know for sure, but suspected then, was that we were no longer in the same Galaxy as we were before. I knew on an instinctual level then that we were far from home, so far in fact, that things would never be the same when we returned - if we returned.

After I set up the droids and got them to launch, I cast once last furtive glance at the surrounding forest and the long track of burnt ground that led up to my ship. I scowled at what I thought was a cross between some sort of avian thing, and a large cat, as it jumped behind a jumbled mess of fallen trees and overturned bushes. I stopped for a moment to contemplate what I should do, but when I didn’t see it again I simply shrugged it off and went back inside the Eloi. In hindsight, this was possibly one of the best things I have ever done ... Next to-ah ah ah! Spoilers!

Anyway, I went inside and almost instantly noticed that the lights had come back online. The air was recycling and the hum of the generator could be heard, along with the deep-seated thrum it gave off reverberating through the deck of the ship. I sighed in relief and looked around for TC. When I didn’t see him I shrugged and figured he was busy. To that effect, I went to the med-bay and checked on my son.

When the door to the med-bay swooshed open I stopped in surprise at what I found. Dromas was no longer on his bed but instead was safely secured in the Eloi’s one and only Bacta Tank. His montrals floated effortlessly in the blue tinted liquid. His face was peaceful looking, but the twitch of his arm and shoulders told me that he was still in quite a bit of pain.

I walked up to the tank and placed a hand against the glass. I stared at my son for what felt like an eternity. My thoughts went back to the moment my body had frozen, I tried to think out the reason behind my freezing, but could rationalize a concrete reason. My only hope after that was that my son lived and that the cloned replacements for his limbs would be good enough for his body to accept. The thought that his body might reject the cloned limbs sat heavily on my heart and mind, but after a minute longer I looked away from him and his tank and went looking for TC.

I turned left out fo the med-bay and walked down a short corridor that led into the cargo bay. I clambered over a few of the fallen boxes and made my way to the common room. Opening the door I looked inside and saw that the door to the conference room was open. I walked over and peeked inside; TC was leaning over the ships Holographic table looking at the images the Droids were sending back. I knocked to alert him to my presence and strode up next to him.

When I looked down at the table I was struck by how green everything was. The forest we were in was massive for one, and there was a huge mountain range not far from us to the east that was covered in snow. To our west, I saw that there was a large town situated in what appeared to be a large clearing. There were a few trees scattered about, but nothing that you might consider any sort of grove or forest. There were a few hundred houses scattered around a castle in the center of town, and beyond the houses were large swaths of farmland that seemed about ready for harvest.

“Seems like we’ve landed on a backwater world, Master,” TC chortled. He always had a thing for the simplicity of backwater planets, how simple the people lived compared to the bustle and hustle of Galactic Civilization.

“Seems that way-” Before I was able to continue though I was cut off by an alert from the probe droids I had set loose. The Holo map zoomed in on the situation quickly. TC and I found that it had zoomed in right on the clearing right outside the ship. Over two dozen of the same creature I had seen duck behind the fallen trees not moments earlier was now outside. Each of them was armed with primitive armor and weapons, a metal of some kind is what I had guessed at the time.

“TC, I’m going to go out and meet them; lock down the ship, grab your rifle, and spring a trap if necessary. I’ll get kitted out real quick and take care of them.”

And just like that everything was set and ready to go. I marched back through the door, across the common room, and directly into my private quarters. To the right of the door as you enter was my desk, which was now tossed up against the adjacent wall thanks to the crash. Everything that had been on it, magnetically clamped down, was now on the floor. To the left of the door was my floor to ceiling locker. Straight across from the door was my bed, still pristine even after the crash.

I rounded into the room and knelt before my locker. I popped open the bottom two draws on it and fished out a few things: a second pair of lightsabers, a pair of Model 22T4’s, and an extra pair of clips and energy slides. I clipped the saber hilts to the back side of my belt and slid the two pistols into their own custom made holsters on my boots.

I shut the drawers and locked them down with a quick swipe of my hand and a bit of ‘magic’ with the Force. Striding out of my room I made a beeline for the med-bay where I had left my helmet. I quickly located the black and red piece and swiftly placed it over my head. I tossed my cloak off to the side, where it landed on a bed with a soft *wumph*

“I’ll be back when I get back TC!” My modulated voice carried throughout the ship. With a wave of my hand and a bit of concentration, I lowered the ramp once more and marched outside and into the unknown. I could clearly see the group of twenty plus creatures inching towards my ship from the direction of the trench. The closer they got, the more I was able to passively pick up from their emotions. None of it was good.

So, in an effort to better understand my chances of coming out more or less ahead of the competition, I cast my Force Perception out to see what kind of reactions I should be expecting, what I got was far too similar to what I had left behind.

Anger, hatred, greed, fear, loathing, lust, and pride. The strength of their feelings had almost made me stop in my tracks, it had almost been like I was looking into the Darkside of the Force and that alone, not the minds of whatever these creatures were. I steeled my nerves and pulled out both of my long Sabers just to be safe. I may not enjoy Niman style fighting very much, but I am not considered a master in the style for nothing either.

As the group got close enough to see me, they raised their swords, shields, and pikes against me -but did not advance. A single member of their group, a creature with white and red plumage coming from its helm, walked forward on its three free legs. It, like the others, had armor on almost every part of its body. The only places they didn’t wear any armor were their faces and their forelegs. Those with shields had them attached at the shoulder like massive pauldrons and they carried their sword with the other leg. Those with Pikes or spears held them aloft with one clawed hand while the rest of their body stabilized them.

The one that walked forward stopped a few paces from me and looked me up and down. The look of disgust it gave me made me want to punt the little fekker like a Corellian football. I glared at it from behind my helmet and gripped my sabers tighter. I took a moment to solidify my stance, my right foot forward a bit more than my shoulders while my left moved back to brace my body in case I had to move quickly.

“Under ordairs oph his adgestay the King Leritose oph the Gryphon Esire, your sossessions rhelong to us now!” The creature stated in a heavily accented basic. It was only thanks to years of language interpretation that I was even able to understand most of what he said.

“Your King has no say over my possessions, Gryphon,” I stated plainly and levelly. My voice came out slightly modulated and horse, but clear nonetheless. I twitched my head away from them and glared even harder behind my mask. “Leave on your own, or I will be forced to make you,” I growled the last part and hovered my thumbs over the activation studs on my sabers.

“Dphying ‘y King whill cost you, creature. Hand opher your things and liphe, or don’t hand the’ opher and die!” The Gryphon growled through its thick accent. The little quadruped glared at me with prideful hate and undisguised greed for what felt like an eternity. It was the cutest, and most disturbing, thing I had ever witnessed as an eight-hundred-year-old Sith. When I made no move to relinquish my weapons and belongings, though, he growled and jerked his head in my direction. On his unspoken command, the rest of his soldiers charged.

I was not impressed, to say the least. They swarmed me, in mass. I lazily lifted my hand towards the one in the center, their apparent leader, and hit him with a mild Force shove. He tumbled ass over teakettle and landed in a mud puddle. The rest of them only flinched slightly at the sudden attack but continued on nonetheless.

The first to reach me was a shieldsman; it tried to bash me with its shield while it swung at my midriff with its sword. I easily blocked the swing with my hand -I grabbed its claw and broke it easily with my Force enhanced grip- and spun around it while still holding his claw. I redirected the howling Gryphon into the ground and stomped my foot into its back legs. A wet snap quickly followed and the Gryphon howled in pain. I left it there and activated the saber in my left hand just before I plunged it hilt deep into the next Gryphon’s chest. It twitched at the pain for but a moment and then stopped. The rest cawed and screeched in rage and pressed their attack against me.

Sidestepping I brought my sabers up and cut through the first next one to reach me. My blades cut through its chest and neck easily - all three-thirds of it fell to the ground with a wet plop while the rest tried to get at me. The next came low and tried to cut into my calf; I stopped it with an armored boot to his skull. His head caved like paper mache behind the force.

Next, one tried to cleave me in half at the waist with its sword, but my armor stopped it with barely a scratch. I coldcocked it in the face with barely even half my strength to fend it off. I watch in morbid fascination as its head crushed inwards from the strike like a tin can; these creatures were not as tough as I had first thought I guessed. But, what I had not realized in my battle-fueled high, was that I wasn’t reeling in how much I was augmenting my body with the Force. So, while I was, in fact, pulling my punches, it was like cutting the force of a Turbolaser down to a fourth of its strength.

Two more tried to stab at my face with their swords, but I simply cut their swords in half, then their arms off at the bend, and finally, I cut off their heads all with a few simple flicks of my wrist. Their deaths were so fast that the rest of their cohort thought them still alive when until the pair landed in the mud in pieces. With my back turned to the rest, one tried to jump me, to wrap its clawed fingers around my neck and choke me. The instant I had felt something on my back I shifted my shoulder, hunched over sharply, and chucked my enemy to the ground where I then stomped on its neck with all my might. I lashed out with my hands to either side and bifurcated two separate Gryphons from beak to tail. The two halves of the two Gryphons fell to either side of my blades and emptied their entrails upon the muddy ground.

The soil around me was now soaked with the blood of these Gryphons, even as my swords cauterized their wounds the effect of everything else falling out simply reopened them. The smell, thankfully for myself, was dulled because of the helmet I wore, otherwise, I might have wretched at the stench it all made.

A single Gryphon tried to spear me with its pike, but the wood behind the blade simply shattered under the weight and force of the attack when blade met armor. The air in my lungs was driven from me and I doubled over. I grunted and lashed out with a hand at the offending party. I grabbed it with the Force and made it explode from the chest up. I had made a significant air bubble form in its lungs where I compressed it almost instantly. When the tension was released it exploded outwards the same way a grenade does when the timer goes off.

Gore and bone fell to the ground alongside streams of blood. Intestines now covered a few of my other attackers, but it did not seem to dissuade them from their goal of killing me.

“Leave! And I won’t kill you!” I shouted. My modulated voice sounded more like a roar than a yell, but still did nothing to stop them. Only a few were left now, several having been killed in the explosion I caused.

I danced to and fro between wild swings meant for my chest and legs, each time one swung - I took an arm, each time one charge - I beheaded them, each time one tried to hold me down - they were torn apart by the Force. The last one to attack me of the group came from behind. It tried to shove a small dagger into my back, but I whipped around and cut the blade off. It then tried to gore me with its claws, but it broke them against my armored abdomen. It tried to go for my eyes, but I swatted it away.

From down on the ground, it looked up at me with hatred in its golden yellow eyes. Its beak contorted in a way that should not have been possible for such a stiff piece of anatomy and sneered at me. I looked down at the creature with contempt, not too far from hatred since it, and its compatriots had just tried to kill me. I waited to see if it would surrender, but what I was given instead was disappointment.

It lept up once more, is beak and broken claws ready to try their luck once more. I ended the farce with a simple horizontal swing. I removed the top of its head right at the crux of where the top and bottom halves of the beak came together. The Gryphon crashed to the blood-soaked ground with barely a twitch.

I stared at the massacre around me with barely restrained disgust. The power of the Darkside, or at least a facsimile of it, could be felt leaving their bodies.

Just as I was about to turn back and head inside to rest, I was bowled over unexpectedly. The Gryphon I had tossed aside, their leader, now stood over me with a sword poised to crash straight through my helm. I brought my sabers up to take the Gryphons claws off, I was surprised however when my swords clashed against the Sword.

Sparks flew, and smoke began to rise from our intertwined blades. I could tell that the metal was beginning to melt under the heat of my blades, but not fast enough that it would count for anything. I shoved the Gryphon back with the Force and vaulted to my feet. Once vertical I stared at its sword with interest. The blade, now that I was able to actually see it, had had some sort of blue glow to it. the metal underneath the glow also seemed to repair itself and return back to pristine condition. It was not a very ornate sword, as you might have imagined, it was just a simple gladius with no designs or sigils wrought into its surface. The only part of it that seemed out of place was the small ruby embedded within the pommel. The ruby seemed to glow with ethereal light for a moment, but when it no longer shined I noticed that the sword also had stopped glowing and had finished its repairs.

My simple analysis at the time was that it was some sort of power gem, imbued with the Force, that allowed the sword to resist the extreme temperatures my weapons used and also that it allowed for simple repairs to be done automatically. It made me pause for but a moment in awe at the genius of it, but only a moment.

I Readied my blades and glared at the Gryphon. It snarled at me with its sword at the ready, its armor was covered in mud and a bit of gore. Blood seemed to drip from around its barrel, but I could not tell if it was simply the mud rolling off its body, or its own lifeblood seeping through. Out of the Blue, it screeched and threw itself at me like a berserker.

it swung overhand at my head, but I handily deflected it and shoulder checked it and pushed it away. I tried to deliver a roundhouse kick to its head, but the Gryphon ducked under my sweeping leg and tried to instead stab at my groin. Instead of dodging I continued the motion and used my other leg to smack the back of his head with the heel of my boot. I bound away, spinning on my heels, and landed with my feet shoulder width apart and my swords at my side. I took notice that I had knocked its helmet off once I came to a stop, I also had to stop myself from chuckling at the comical sight it made when it gripped its head.

With its helmet now missing, the little fekker looked far less intimidating than it originally did. Granted, it wasn’t that intimidating in the first place. The Gryphon snarled at me. It gripped the back of its head and winced; its claw came back with fresh blood from the impact site.

“Master, our scan of the area has been updated! There is a town of sorts off to your southwest, sire. It seems to be under attack by the same creatures you are currently engaging. Advised caution: If you plan to go into town, make sure the milk’s not bad, Sire,” TC suddenly pinged in over my helmets builtin communicator. I grunted in response but did not pay his words much mind since I was a little preoccupied.

The Gryphon wiped its claw against the ground, an attempt to get the blood off methinks, but a futile one. It snarled, again, and charged. By this point, I will say that I had thought these creatures to be woefully inept at fighting and warfare in general ... How badly I was mistaken.

The Gryphon swung at my head, and I rose up to meet it, but just as our blades were about to meet it used its wings to bost over my and perform an aerial flip. Just as it had used its wings to move through, I had felt a subtle surge of power course through it and into its wings... It was not too unlike the Force, but still different enough that it had caused me pause. It swung mid-air and clipped the back of my head. I could feel the reverberations from the strike in my skull, the jarring effect of it all made me stumble forward and clutch my head. The Gryphon continued the assault and barreled into the back of my knees. They immediately folded under me and sent me down like a massive sack of rocks.

I yelped and swung out wildly for a moment to try and catch myself, self-preservation is a bitch. Instead of catching myself, I ended up killing the Gryphon that had incapacitated me and made a fool of myself. I laid flat on my back, covered in blood, gore, and mud, with my sabers splayed around me. The sound of water and mud boiling under the intense heat of the blades was the only sound now besides the ever-present sounds of the forest.

I groaned under my own weight, seeing as having your legs basically kicked out from under you is not a pleasant experience in the first place, getting the air knocked out of you on top of it because of your armor just compounds it all even more. The fact that I accidentally killed my enemy only adds insult to injury.

“Is it too late -cough- to call in for the night, TC?” I groused around a chough. My chest hurt, my back ached, and my knees felt like overworked hinges with no grease. I depressed the activation studs on my sabers and let them fall into the mud from my hands. The sound of their iconic thrum going away let me know that they had fully powered down. I rolled onto my side and relieved the pressure on my aching knees. I groaned at the release and grit my teeth. I slowly pushed myself to my knees and tried my best to get ahold of myself.

“Why is it pick on Darth Marr week?” I grunted out between gasps. While not exactly expecting an answer, I received one anyway. All I can say is that I am happy that I left my cloak inside...

“Because you woke up and declared it was your week, Master,” TC snarked right back. I know I had this look of absolute nothingness on my face for about a full minute, and I do laugh about it now because it was the most perfect response I have ever received in that kind of situation. Granted, I was not happy at the time.

“I will smelt you down and turn you into a gaunk droid,” was my immediate response.

“You always have the nicest things to say, Master. But, there is still that town I mentioned. It is being sacked by the very same kind of creatures as the ones you just bested. I am wary of sending the probe droids closer in fear of them being spotted by these ‘Gryphons’, but I would advise caution if you decide to go out there, Sire. The night is Dark and full of Terrors.”

I knew before he had even finished talking what I was going to do, as I'm sure any self-respecting man would agree was the right thing. I looked around at the state of things; my ship was crashed and half buried under, possibly, a literal tonne of dirt and burnt plant matter, I was covered in mud, gore, and blood, and there were over two dozen dead bodies littered around me. For a first contact sort of scenario, this was pretty fekking shit by anybody's standards ... Except possibly the Yuuzhan Vong. They usually left bodies after every first encounter they ever had.

“Okay, I'm coming back in. I need to gather up my cloak, grab a pack, and a few other supplies. While I’m gone, I want you to do an autopsy on the bodies things out here, the Gryphons. I want to know what I’m up against, and how to easily kill it. I also want their genders, I don't want any sort of confusion if I end up helping the Locals. Also, try and get a pic of any of the ones in the city, I want to know who it is I'm helping in there. I don't care if we end up losing one of the Probes, we have a couple more crates of them in the hold."

“Right away, Master. I will send along the relevant information post haste as I acquire it. Good hunting, Sire,” With that the channel went dead and silence once again had become my companion. I sighed, contemplated what that the Force had planned for me, and then got up off my knees. I brushed as much of the mud off my body as I could, but it proved a trial in futility as quite a bit stuck in between the crevices of my armor and the fabric underneath.

I recalled my blades with the Force, they slapped against the palm of my hands with a reassuring weight. I carefully placed them on my belt and checked over the rest of my armaments. Nothing was amiss, both my blasters were still in place, all five of my sabers were where they should be, and my armor was as intact as it was when I first put it on, that is excluding the fact I was still covered in quite a bit of mud and blood.

I centered myself in the Force for a minute, not to expel my emotions like the Jedi do, but to simply get better control over them. I searched the Force for guidance, like many who have come before me. I found that the Force did indeed seem to pull me in the general direction of the town TC had mentioned. It was that moment, and many like it afterward, that set me on an ever greater adventure.

With my course in mind, I went back inside and readied for my excursion into the unknown.