A piece ‘a Me

I wrote this in preparation (rather optimistically given how long it’ll be before it arrives) for the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMOG from EA/Bioware/Lucasarts. I’ve long been a fan of the Old Republic era of Star Wars, and was genuinely drawn into the period hugely by the Knights of the Old Republic video game RPGs. This is a draft and may change yet, in fact I intend to overhaul it as more information about the game and the timeline becomes available.

This is pretty much the first piece of writing I’ve ever released, so please, please comment and criticize. I like people to tell me what they think as it’s really the only way I can judge my work and improve it. Thanks and enjoy…

Shinyo Velock. A young Jedi in a dark time.

It’s so easy to become aggressive and headstrong, filled with resentment for the atrocities of the recent past. From the death of his parents on Utapau only 12 years ago, to the Sacking of Coruscant just a few short months ago, it took a special kind of person to keep your head and stick to your goals in a time like this. 

Raised by loving and proud parents in a sinkhole city on Utapau, Shin was always aware from as early as he could remember that something beyond his own body was helping him along the way. He never really knew what. His father only said that he would find out one day when he was old enough to understand. This talent didn’t go unnoticed, however. The Sith, who occupied Utapau early on during the Great War, intended to take the boy as soon as he was old enough to stand the Sith training regime. What they didn’t see coming until it was too late was that the Jedi, tipped off by a message passed from Shin’s parents, would also come for the boy.

On Shin’s 8th birthday the Jedi Order sent two Jedi, the Twi’lek Master Tres Ul’Quam and his Zabrak Padawan, Uthir Vern, to rescue the boy from the Sith occupied world. The rescue effort was successful, but at a price. Master Ul’Quam was struck down while battling with Darth Terros, the ruling Dark Lord of Utapau at the time, and faded into the force. Only the brave actions of Uthir Vern, who cut off one of Terros’s hands and pushed him into the sinkhole, saved them. They escaped Utapau and, after holding off a group of Sith fighters, made the jump to lightspeed to escape the Sith patrols. After meeting Kel Dor Jedi Knight Gorna Doon on Nar Shaddaa, and escaping attempts by bounty hunters and the Sith to capture them, they returned to Coruscant.

Shin was a member of the Jedi Order now. It was a big and scary world for someone so young. So much to learn, no familiarity, and still grieving the loss of his parents and home. At first, Shin withdrew into himself, and found it difficult to learn the teachings of the Jedi Masters that taught the Younglings. That changed when one day he caught the attention of Master Willa. Willa was one from ‘Yoda’s species’** and a great master. He sensed the fear and pain in the boys heart, and the strong grasp of the Force the boy had, and began tutoring him personally. Shin blossomed under Willa’s tutelage, quickly catching up and surpassing his classmates. He also began to open up, making some new friends, a Twi’lek girl named Reyna Tawn, and a Zabrak boy called Carin-Dur. The three of them formed a bond, as friends and through the Force that would set the path of their lives together forever.

At the age of 11, Shin was given an apprenticeship with another person he had formed a great friendship with. Now a Jedi Knight, Uthir Vern had petitioned the High Council in person to take the boy on as his Padawan. Although initially suspecting Uthir Vern wanted to teach Shin for emotional reasons, which would drag him to the dark side should anything happen to the boy, Uthir convinced them ultimately by citing his knowledge of the importance of Shin’s place as a Jedi and protection of the boy from the Sith. Uthir also took great pains to ensure he studied every text he could get hold of in the archives that would help train the boy and also advance his own progress as a Jedi. Impressed by his dedication, the High Council relented and allowed him to take the boy as his Apprentice.

Shin left his friends behind. Reyna was taken as an apprentice by a Jedi Master, but was only assigned to menial missions on Coruscant as she was not considered strong enough to take part in the war. Reyna soon became frustrated, and with Shin gone and hardly ever seeing Carin-Dur she became depressed and began to resent the Jedi. One night Reyna disappeared from the academy and was not seen again. With both friends now gone, Carin-Dur struggled with his study, and as was customary for one who didn’t find a master by the age of 12, he was forced to leave the Jedi Order, but as he was such talented technician the Order helped him, enrolling him at a Republic military college on Coruscant as a droid engineering student.

Initially the apprenticeship came as a shock to Shin’s system. Suddenly torn away from his friends and the comfortable environment of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Shin began to doubt his abilities. Being Uthir’s Padawan threw him out into a big wide galaxy, on dangerous assignments and into a war. After a tough first assignment that left Shin mentally scared and physically in pain, he was at a point of despair. His grip on the Force that he had built up over the years was slipping away. It was at this time that he saw his first vision. As he laid awake one night the ghost of his father came and sat next to him on his bed. He explained how proud he was of Shin, and that these trials were all part of becoming a truly great Jedi. The next morning Shin explained what he had seen to Uthir and Master Willa, who both reassured him and, before he and Uthir left for his next assignment, helped Shin let go of his pain and rebuild his connection to the Force. Shin rose to shine on his next assignment, when used the Force to contain an explosion in a town that otherwise would have killed hundreds. 

But it was also a war the Jedi weren’t winning. In the next 6 years Shin was to see Jedi and Republic soldiers alike dying on battlefields and missions around him. He’d see others fall to the dark side. One such person was Shin’s friend Reyna Tawn. Uthir and Shin crossed paths with her on a mission to the Outer Rim worlds to recover a Holocron lost to the Jedi many decades earlier. Reyna was part of the Sith party hunting for the same Holocron. One night she crept into the camp and tried to kill Shin in his sleep. Fortunately both he and Uthir had anticipated this and were actually lying awake. Reyna failed to defeat them both, but did manage to severely injure Uthir, and slashed open Shin’s hand. Shin subdued the young Sith warrior, who was strong but lacked the skill at the lightsaber that Willa and Uthir had taught Shin. Overcome with anger, Shin almost killed her but, at the last minute he looked into her eyes and he saw a tear. Sensing the fear and sorrow his friend was suffering, he relented. In return Reyna saw the awful pain she’d inflicted upon her former friends and her resolve broke. Shin offered her redemption from the Dark Side and she joined their mission. The pair then saved Uthir using the Force to heal his wound, and saving his life. Ultimately the three of them defeated Reyna’s former Sith brethren and recovered the artifact. Reyna would eventually be accepted back into the Jedi Order and, after a period of retraining, started along a new path as a Jedi Sentinel, defending the Republic and the Jedi alongside her new master Gorna Doon.

On another such mission to the Outer Rim worlds Uthir and Shin needed a technician to help them destroy a Sith battle droid facility. As far as Shin was concerned there was only one person for the job. Carin-Dur, now serving in a Republic Army engineering corps, joined them as a technician for the mission and soon proved his worth, however not in the way either were anticipating. The facility was heavily defended, and Shin and Uthir were soon overwhelmed by the Sith guarding the droid works. Carin-Dur threw down his blaster rifle and used the Force to grab a lightsaber from a fallen Sith warrior and effectively joined them as a third Jedi, using the Force and his newly acquired lightsaber to defend his comrades. He would later confide in Shin that he was disappointed, but not angered, to leave the Order, and he had always felt he could have become a Jedi if he had been given enough time. Shin and Uthir appealed to the Jedi High Council to find Carin-Dur a master before he fell to the dark side. They used his ability and loyalty during the droid factory mission, which would have failed without his help both as a technician and as a fellow Jedi, as evidence that he’d matured enough and had significant ability with the Force. In an unprecedented move, the Council granted Carin-Dur a trial under Master Willa. The trial would test his resolve as a Jedi and mastery of the Force to it’s limits. Carin-Dur grasped the trial with both hands, emerging as a true and loyal Jedi. The Council, somewhat stunned by this, faced no choice but to allow him to become a Padawan.

A Togruta Jedi Kinght, Elm Torare would take on Carin-Dur as her personal responsibility, assigning him to security duties on Coruscant and allowing him to further study the droid engineering that was his area of expertise. Away from his two friends, however, Carin-Dur again began to fall behind. Willa confronted the young Zabrak about this and soon began to sense the Force bond between the three friends. It had accounted for Reyna’s defection to the Sith, and Shin’s collapse in confidence after his first mission as Uthir’s Padawan. Willa was fascinated by this bond, but also concerned that if one of the friends was to die the other two would be forced toward the dark side by the feelings of loss. He gathered the three Padawans together and explained the situation. He told them they were to each undergo a trial as individuals, which would take place away from each other.

Apart from each other, the trial proved difficult and distressing for all three. Each friend in turn was faced with the same scenario where they were on a mission as a team of three and one of them was killed by a young Sith Acolyte. They had to choose wether to kill the Acolyte, or offer him redemption despite what he had done. Ultimately, all completed the trial to Willa’s satisfaction. Willa then explained why it was important to be able to work apart as well as together, and why they should cast away all fears of losing each other or face the risk of falling to the dark side. The three agreed to honour Willa’s teachings and for the next 6 months worked apart and finally were able to find their true potential as individuals. Occasionally, however the Council would assign missions to Strike Team Gamma, which was a code name for a team made up of the three masters and their students. They proved a powerful team, the Force Bond between the friends enhanced all their skills and that of their masters leading to a Jedi super force. They would be the pivotal force in many a battle.

Recalled to defend Coruscant from advancing Sith Forces, the team was assembled to defend the city-planet against Sith attacks. The attacks didn’t come, at first. The Sith Empire fleet rallied for what looked like the final strike on Coruscant but instead sent a diplomatic team to the Galactic Senate to negotiate the Republic’s surrender. The Jedi stood by, knowing that they were planning something terrible, but helpless to act. Then it happened, during the night. Thousands of Sith Marauders hunted dow the Jedi and laid siege to the Jedi Temple. Orbital bombardments wreaked havoc, killing thousands of civilians and destroying buildings all over the planet. Strike Team Gamma fought valiantly to protect the temple, but ultimately were unable to stop the Sith entering the temple. They laid waste to the temple, removing man important Holocrons, and ultimately challenging the Jedi High Council, killing 6 of it’s members. During the fighting, Reyna was wounded. Shin and Carin-Dur were forced to leave her as they and the three masters tried to stem the tide of Sith Marauders. As they fought on, Gorna Doon was killed after charging into a group of Sith to rescue a team of civilian workers, Shin suffered a severe injury to his left arm, and Carin-Dur was knocked unconscious after being buried by falling debris. Finally, Elm Torare was also wounded but managed to get to safety with Uthir Vern and Master Willa’s help. As all three Padawans lay close to death they simultaneously had a vision. From the safety of their hiding place, Elm Torare, Uthir Vern and Master Will were able to project an image themself to each of them as they lay in the fallen rubble of the temple to give him a message that all three were all still alive. The friends reached out to each other and supported each other through the force long enough to be rescued by medical teams after the fighting stopped.

As the dust settled after what became known as the Sacking of Coruscant, the Galactic Senate were forced to sign the oppressive Treaty of Coruscant agreement, and the Republic was at the mercy of it’s Sith invaders. Blaming the Jedi for failing to defend against the Sith and drawing them to Coruscant to sack the Jedi Temple, they expelled the Jedi Order from Coruscant. The Jedi gathered what remained of the Order, the remaining holocrons and records from the Temple, and left. They relocated to the ancient home of the Jedi Order, on Tython.

It is there that the friends, Shinyo Velock, Reyna Tawn and Carin-Dur, and their remaining masters, Uthir Vern and Elm Torare rest, recuperating from their wounds, helping to rebuild the Order and contemplating a new galactic order. One of Cold War.

** I hate to have to phrase it this way but, as you may know, the species has no official name in Star Wars canon.