Masro Fhin: Homecoming, Page 3

  But at the last trade Noe’Ray declared that the planet and all the moons were now part of the Domelan Empire and that he would invade and conquer all who resisted his Empire.

  The Meadans refused to comply and Noe’Ray attacked and conquered them in short order. He then turned his attention to Alconia and the attacks began.

  We are a peaceful people and the Domelans are warriors. Our weapons and training our limited to what we need to hunt.”

  So the “Warriors” in the hanger were little more then hunters. Masro thought to himself.

  “We have no doubt in time they will succeed and take over our planet unless you can stop him Master Fhin. We ask that you go to the Fourth Moon and challenge Noe’Ray for rule of the Domelans the way that Master Yoda did so many years ago.”

  Masro was surprised at the request, “I will go to the Fourth Moon, but I will not challenge Noe’Ray. I will attempt to negotiate a new treaty with the Domelans. I am here as an ambassador, not an assassin”

  The shocked Council Members began whispering among themselves. Masro could not make out exactly what was being discussed, other then it was a debate over whether or not to reveal some piece of information to him.

  “Enough,” Karo commanded bringing the chamber into silence,” The Chancellor has entrusted Master Fhin with resolving this dispute and we must trust as well.”

  “I will leave immediately for the Fourth Moon,” Masro said as he bowed and took his leave of the Council.

  After his exit the debate in the Council started again, “He should be told all the facts as we know them.”

  “No, it may sway him to their favor.”

  “Yes, then it would be hopeless.”

  Karo again put an end to the debate, “If he is meant to find out he will. The Jedi will not fail us. He must not.”

  Chapter XI

  Arriving back at the hanger Masro asked Benine to prepare the ship for departure, but was interrupted by an alert tone from the droid. Masro pulled out his comlink and clicked it on to the “Droid” setting which translated the beeps into a computer generated voice that sounded far too much like a Protocol Droid for Benine.

  “Two beings approaching from the east,” the comlink chirped, “You know how much I hate it when you use that thing.”

  Alertful of the warning Masro could not hold back a small laugh. He knew Benine despised sounding like a stuffy Protocol Droid.

  Masro placed one hand on his lightsaber and reached out with the Force. He did not sense any danger. What he sensed was a mix of sadness and joy.

  “We are sorry if we startled you Master Fhin,” Morsa said as he entered the hanger accompanied by a female Alconian. Alconian females differed only slightly in appearance from male Alconians due to their shorter snouts and smaller eyes.

  “What can I do for you Morsa,” Masro asked as he walked towards them.

  “We must be quick Master Fhin, we have been forbidden by the Council to speak to you. This is my wife Jorna. She wanted to see you before you left”

  Masro bowed his head, “It is a pleasure to meet you Jorna.”

  “It is so wonderful to see you again Masro,” Jorna exclaimed.

  “Morsa, why would the Council forbid you to speak to me?”

  Morsa took Jorna’s hand, “Masro, you were so young when you left Alconia and we look so much older then we did back then. Masro, we are your parents.”

  My parents? Masro was shocked. Babies with high midi-chlorian counts were taken from their parents at a very young age, and in all but a few special circumstances Jedi had no contact with their families once they enter the Order.

  And yet here he stood, face to face with his parents. Masro was at a loss for words.

  “We just wanted to let you know how proud of you we are and that we miss you and love you very much,” Morsa said.

  “Forgive us Masro. But it has been so long since we saw our sons that we had to defy the Council and see you, if only for a moment,” Jorna said.

  Masro’s comlink chirped again, “Several beings approaching the hanger from the West tunnel.”

  “We must go, quickly,” Morsa warned pulling Jorna away from Masro and back into the east tunnel.

  “Goodbye my child,” Jorna said as she and Morsa disappeared into the dark.

  Masro stood alone for a few moments still in shock from the encounter. Sons? Why have they not seen my brother?

  “The ship is ready for launch, and please turn that thing off.”

  “Thank you Benine, it’s off.”

  Benine whistled a thank you as Masro climbed in the cockpit.

  Chapter XII

  En route to the Fourth Moon Masro briefed the curious R2 unit on everything he had learned so far. Benine chirped and Masro looked down at the translation screen.

  “No, I did not leave anything out.”

  More beeps.

  “Yes, I am quite sure.”

  The droid chirped again.

  “Yes, I’m fine Benine, thank you.”

  Benine whistled.

  “No, I do not wish to talk about it. Can we please focus on the mission? Have you been able to get landing clearance for the Fourth Moon yet?”

  Benine beeped a no.

  “Well keep trying.”

  Masro peered out into space and found himself lost in thought about meeting his parents. He knew such meetings were forbidden in the Jedi Code, but he was glad that he got to see them and that they were proud of him. He wondered about what could have become of his brother.

  It was not unusual for young Alconians to be killed and eaten by the various types of predators on Alconia. The scar on his tail was evidence of that.

  Suddenly at the same time Benine started beeping and whistling the comlink began squawking as well.

  “Unknown vessel you are ordered to land your ship at the attached coordinates and surrender. Your ship now belongs to the Domelan Empire.”

  Benine beeped.

  “No Benine, that is not very hospitable at all,” Masro clicked on the transmit switch, “This is Jedi Knight Masro Fhin, Ambassador to the Supreme Chancellor.”

  Before he could ask for landing clearance Masro was interrupted, “Who you are does not matter. You are now a prisoner of the Empire.”

  Benine chirped.

  “Let me guess, transmission terminated at the source.”

  Benine beeped an affirmative.

  “Well then, proceed to the coordinates they gave and we’ll go from there.”

  Chapter XIII

  Masro let Benine pilot the ship in to the coordinates provided by the Domelans as he visually scanned the landscape. The barren Fourth Moon was very different from the dense forest of Alconia. The terrain was rocky and Masro could see no obvious signs of vegetation on the surface of the moon nor did he see any lakes or rivers. Benine beeped and whistled.

  Masro checked the translation screen, “You’re able to conduct a scan now Benine? Good, please proceed.”

  The droid quickly whistled back.

  “Already done scanning? I should have known. On the screen please”

  Data started to flow onto the translation screen.

  “So the underground structure is similar to Alconia’s cavern systems?”

  The droid chirped an affirmative.

  The Domelans must be resilient beings to flourish in such harsh surface conditions Masro thought to himself. The underground caves and caverns must contain water of some kind for anything to live here.

  “Set her down just outside of the coordinates they gave Benine, I don’t want to set down right on top of a trap.”

  Benine beeped his understanding.

  Benine set the ship down about five hundred meters outside of the landing zone provided. As Masro exited his ship he figured he only had a minute or two before a welcoming party would arrive. Benine also started to exit his compartment of the ship.

  “No, Benine, before anyone arrives I want you to take the
ship and keep yourself hidden somewhere nearby. Fly low so they can’t track you and be ready in case I need to be picked up for a quick exit.”

  Benine gave a sad whistle, but complied without an argument. As the ship lifted off and sped away Masro could sense the hate and anger in the approaching Domelans.

  Masro still had hope of resolving the dispute without having to resort to violence, but as the Domelans got closer their anger grew stronger. For the first time since he took this mission he doubted the matter would be settled without drawing his lightsaber.

  As Masro waited patiently, he readied himself with a Jedi relaxation technique. He cleared is mind and took a deep breath. As he held his breath he reached out to the Force, letting it flow through him. He channeled the energy from the planet through his body and then back into the planet again.

  It was then that he realized that the planet was not as dead as it appeared on the surface. Masro could feel the presence of a multitude of underground creatures in the surface below him. Masro believed that what he sensed was an underground colony of some kind of small mammalian creatures. Before he could explore these sensations further he was forced to break his concentration due to the approaching transport.

  The transport was twice the size of his Jedi Star fighter. The open air cabin sat atop twin tank like treads that propelled it over the uneven terrain. He could see one Domelan in the front drivers’ seat of the craft and as many as ten more in the passenger area.

  As the transport came to a halt the Domelans in the passenger area jumped to the ground on either side of the transport.

  The Domelans were reptilian in nature like the Alconians, but that is where the similarities stopped. The Domelans were more then twice the size of the average Alconian in both height and mass. They were both large and muscular. They must be tremendously strong Masro thought to him self. At first glance it appeared that the Domelans did not have a defined neck, but upon closer examination their necks’ were actually protected by bone like armor started at the either side of their throat and going all the way around the back of their head. This made it appear as if their head seemed to flow right into their huge shoulders.

  Instead of the thousands of small scales that covered his Alconian body the Domelan skin was smooth and looked tough and leathery. The skin color of the warriors in front of him ranged from a pale dark blue to near gray.

  Masro noted their snouts were much shorter then his, but their mouth and teeth appeared much larger then his. They had large, almost feline like eyes, obviously for seeing well in the underground caverns of the moon.

  Similar to him self they had three clawed fingers and an opposable thumb on each of their hands. The Domelans had two large clawed front toes and one on the back of each foot. Notably absent on the Domelans was a tail.

  As they exited the transport the Domelans formed two lines, one on each side of the transport. As they moved forward they moved from a single file line facing him to lines moving outward from left to right of him. They were getting ready to surround him.

  Only two of the warriors in front of him were armed with blasters. The others were armed with a large metal double sided axe. The shaft of the axe was nearly as long as the warrior holding it. At the hilt of the axe was a sharp spear like tip, making each end of the shaft a deadly weapon.

  Hidden from view under his Jedi robes Masro held his lightsaber in his right hand, his thumb ready to switch on the blade in an instant.

  “My name is Masro Fhin, Jedi Knight and Ambassador of the Supreme Chancellor. I come in peace and do not wish to fight you. I am here to negotiate a treaty between your people and the Alconians.”

  One of the two Domelans armed with a blaster stepped forward and spoke, “Alconian or not, all Jedi were banished from our world when the one you call Yoda challenged and killed our forefather Ja’kan and then abandoned us. Jedi have no honor.”

  This is going to be harder then I thought.

  “Master Yoda was the one challenged and he did not wish to fight Ja’kan. He fought only to defend him self, which is the Jedi way.”

  “Even you admit that Yoda was a coward!”

  That didn’t help.

  “No, Yoda came here in peace, as I do.”

  One of the Domelans off to his left interrupted Masro, “There is no peace for cowards!” and charged him, battle axe held high above his head.

  Masro quickly jumped and flipped backwards to avoid the coming blow. He ignited his lightsaber mid flight and struck a defensive posture upon landing.

  The attacking battle axe landing right where Masro had been standing moments ago, without hesitating the Domelan spun, swinging the axe and throwing it at the Jedi. Masro barely had time to duck to avoid the flying axe. They move incredibly fast for their size Masro thought to him self. Heck, they move fast for a being my size!

  Despite having been surrounding by the Domelans his leap carried him back over the warriors behind him so that they were now all in front of him. Masro hoped that he would be able to get out of this jam without having to hurt anyone but as the warriors began charging him he realized it might come down to that if he wanted to survive.

  The two Domelans armed with blasters began firing at him. Masro easily deflected the bolts with his lightsaber. Masro tried directing the bolts back at the shooters, hitting one of them in the shoulder knocking him to the ground.

  One blaster taken care of.

  Seeing his counterpart taken down by the returning blaster fire the other Domelan discarded his blaster and grabbed a battle axe from the side of the transport.

  With the blasters out of the fight Masro now felt that he had the edge with his lightsaber versus the battle axes.

  The first Domelan to reach Masro swung the axe high above his head and tried to cut Masro in half. Masro was able to step back to avoid the blow and then used his lightsaber to slice the double sided axe clean off of the shaft. Again the Domelan surprised Masro with not only his speed but his persistence of attack. Not missing a beat the warrior simply tuned the staff in his hands so that he was now armed with a spear instead of an axe and aimed it for the Jedi’s chest.

  With a flash of his green blade Masro turned the spear into nothing more then a short metal stick. Now unarmed and facing a Jedi Knight wielding a lightsaber Masro was again surprised that the Domelan pressed his attack.

 

  Masro used the Force to throw the Domelan back, crashing him into another warrior, knocking both to the ground.

  Masro now stood at the center of a circle of Domelan warriors. Surrounded again and knowing the Domelans were unyielding Masro resigned him self to the fact that there was no peaceful way for him to end this encounter, all he could hope to do was try to incapacitate the warriors.

  Masro reached out with the Force trying to anticipate which warrior would attack first. The battlefield grew strangely quiet save for the humming sound coming from his lightsaber. Then all at once the Domelans rushed him. All of them, all at once.

  They don’t even care if they hit each other as long as they hit me too Masro thought to himself. They leave me no choice.

  Masro stepped to his right and began cutting into the attacking Domelans. He tried to keep his blows confined axes and limbs but with so many warriors attacking him at once it began to be difficult to keep his blows confined to those areas.

  After several minutes only one Domelan remained standing. The other warriors lay wounded or dead about the battlefield. The now one-armed warrior stared long and hard at the Jedi before reaching down and picking up the axe that lay at his feet.

  “Please don’t,” Masro pleaded, “I do not wish to harm you further.”

  “You are a coward Jedi. You do not deserve to share the battlefield with a Domelan warrior.”

  The warrior then charged at Masro, axe held high, “One of us will now die!”

  Masro recognized the attack. With the axe held high the warrior would charge him a
nd try to bring the axe down on him where he stood. Masro knew it would be an easy blow to avoid.

  But as the warrior approached instead of swinging the blade down on him the warrior swung the axe out to his side and tried to land a swinging side blow to the Jedi. Masro was not prepared for the angle of this attack and his only recourse was hurling his lightsaber at the Domelan, the green blade embedding itself in the warriors’ chest. The warrior fell it the ground and dropped the axe.

  Masro looked around the battlefield at the senseless death and destruction. I wonder if Master Yoda had as hard of a time with the Domelans?

  Masro approached the last downed warrior to retrieve his lightsaber. He reached down and grabbed the hilt of the blade and flicked off the switch.

  As the blade extinguished the Domelan let out a weak groan, “You…are still….a coward…..Jedi.”

  Chapter XIV

  Masro boarded the Domelan craft and sat down in the driver seat. He clicked on his comlink, “Can you copy Benine?”