Redemption; a rather long short story

Redemption
   The planet OR-1285 is a small cloud covered planet in the outer rim, it has only one native species of plant and a couple species of small rodentlike animals, it doesn't even have a name. But the sith wanted it for a staging point to attack our nearby base, so the council sent my master and I, as well as a Rodian master named Grodee and his padawan Gelu.
   Grodee and Gelu landed on one side of the planet and my master and I on the other. My scans had told us that the Sith troops on our side of the planet were holed up in a cave, my master sent me and a detachment of fifty men to keep them in the cave, unfortunately a large storm rose and we were forced to take shelter in the mouth of the cave, where the enemy was waiting. We defeated the troopers at the mouth at the cave fairly easily but there was standing water covering the floor, and raising, making it difficult for my troopers to see booby traps. They would step on a pressure panel and trigger hidden blasters, I lost three men that way.
   “Master, we have a small problem.” I paused to dodge a flurry of sizzling blaster bolts, “The caves are heavily booby trapped.” I deflected a blaster bolt with my saber, letting the force guide my movements.
   “Do your best to hold out! We can't get to you right now!”, my masters voice came through the com accompanied by the sound of a struggling drop ship, “We will set down ten clicks to the south of your position!” The heavy growl of his voice filling my earpiece reminded my to stay calm and not stress. I could almost here him say “Stress will only hinder your ability to touch the force!”
   “We are holding at the mouth of the cave.” I called into my com, “the floor where we are is in standing water and slopes up into the cave, so I am sending two men a little farther in to evaluate a position a little up hill.”
   I sent Bonzer and Troll up the hill to scout. I told them to go all the way to the top and to be mindful of traps.
   “Comman...” it was Bonzer. I turned and pulled out my saber as their helmets came rolling down the hill. The bottoms were scorched.
   “master.” I hissed into my comm, “We have a problem, sith.”
   “Its too bad you troopers don't have a jedi with you, I do enjoy a challenge!” Her boots clicked lightly on the stone as her sultry voice bounced from wall to wall. As her feet came into view I held my hand up to tell my men to hold their fire.
   Step by step she was slowly revealed to us, her long legs clad in tight matte black pants, a thick dark brown belt hanging at an angle from her hips, a corset like top covered most of her torso in pitch black bantha leather, gracefully streamlined pauldrons protected her shoulders, and a pair of light blue lekku hung behind her.
   “oh, Well a challenge it is.” she said with a smile, “Come along 'Commander' or would you prefer to send your men to their death?”. She kicked Trolls helmet at the end of her sentence, sending it skittering the rest of the way down.
   “What is going on?! Did you say Sith? I couldn't here you over the storm!”, I pulled out my earpiece and sighed.
   “Would you like to know the names of the men you just slaughtered?” I said curiously, “So that you may remember them in prison?”
   “Do troopers even have names?”, she asked
   “Bonzer and Troll, their friends and comrades gave them their names.” I replied.
“And what makes you think that I am going to go to jail?”
she asked, she had a smile on her face, and a twinkle in her eye. She ignited her saber and pointed it in my direction.
   “Because I will not kill you.” I ignited my deep cerulean blue saber and shifted my feet into a defensive position.
She laughed and lunged forward bringing her saber around in a wide arc angling downward so as to cut me from my left shoulder to my right hip, but she was too slow.
I stepped aside and deflected her saber into the cave floor and kicked her shoulder sending her into the wall.
“You are better than I expected!” she gasped, “I will have to be a little more careful!”
“Thank you.”, I brought my saber up and readied myself again.
“What is your name? I should like to remember it as I fly away from here.”
“If you manage to defeat me I will give you my name.”
She smiled, and lunged again using a tighter upward swing.
I deflected her saber over my head and stepped around her to avoid her next swing.
She spun holding her saber in a wide two handed grip.
I blocked vertically and held her off.
We stood like that for a whole second,
neither one of us wanting to show weakness by backing away,
we looked into each others eyes for the duration.
I finally forced her back.
She stumbled back, her light body bounced off of the wall.
“I sense the fatigue that you are experiencing, you have waited for us to arrive and barely slept for days, dreading your fate. Surrender and live the rest of your life in peace.”
“Hah, my fear gives me strength, I will win”
“If you say so.”
She feigned left then spun to the right, her swing was even slower than before and her body seemed to move at odds to itself
I deflected her blow and brought my saber down her right upper arm, leaving a scar down it and startling her into dropping her saber into the raising water.
She stumbled away screaming, falling on her back clutching her arm.
“Surrender, I will not kill you.”
“NO! I can't!”
“You have little choice.”
“You have little choice.” she pointed behind me to a bunch of battle droids.
“You cannot stab me in the back, but you also have nowhere to run”, I smiled as I turned and laid waste to the battle droids, and rescued the remaining men from my detachment. When I turned back she was running up the hill.
   “I am Carrac'dun!” I called, “we will meet again!”
“Yes, And I will win!” she called back.

   “You did not do very well apprentice! Twenty men slaughtered and you let a sith escape?” my masters jovially booming voice filled the cave.
   “General, sir, with all do respect the Commander did better than I would have dared to hope.” Colonel 'Stache defended me, “In fact we recovered this, it is proof that he beat the sith apprentice, Sir.”
   “Colonel, I was not upbraiding my young apprentice, I was...” My master paused, “You do not understand humor do you?”
   “No, sir.” the Colonel replied twirling his obviously out of regs handlebar mustache.
   “Master, may I see the siths saber?” I asked.
   “I suppose, but why?” he responded
   “Commander, it is against the military code of conduct to collect trophies.” the colonel injected, “Of course, as I understand it you two will be meeting again, in which case you are just keeping it to return it at a later date.”
   “Haha, I guess you better train extra hard from now on!” My master bellowed, “Is she a pretty one?”

“You let a Jedi escape?”
“Yes Master, I am sorry Master”
                     Force lightning shot out of her masters fingers and caressed her body, leaving trails of scorch marks on her clothes as she writhed on the floor screaming.
“and you lost your saber?”
“I am sorry, Master.” she sobbed from the floor, tears pouring from her eyes.
“I thought I did a better job of teaching you, On your feet, you piece of filth, you will have to use my spare saber.” her master held up a battered old saber hilt, “But first you will go and convince the Selketh that it is in their best interest to work with us. I will decide when you are responsible enough to replace your own light saber.”
“Yes, Master.”

“Carrac!” my masters booming voice cut through the noise of the dojo where I was training like it was silent.
“Yes, Master?”
“Orders have come down from the council, You are to go to Manaan and negotiate a deal with the Selkath, you are going with Master Listratia and her padawan!” My master laughed, “I think you should shower before you go!”
“Yes, Master.” I hurried to my apartment, showered, changed, and put my saber on my belt. I paused at the door, then I clipped a medium length courier tube to the back of my belt and slid the sith apprentice's saber into it.

   “Padawan, the jedi council saw fit to send you with us to learn. Please refrain from speaking to the representatives of the sith, and do not fight with them it is a peaceful mission.” Master Listratia spoke in a slow deliberate manner and her padawan stood by her side meekly. They wore robes that were clearly not for fighting and their tunics were cut to be impressive more than comfortable, while I wore a cloak that was plain and came off easily and a tunic cut for comfort and maneuverability.
   “Yes, Master Listratia.” I replied.
   The ride to Manaan was long and tedious so I spent a good portion of the flight in the ship gym training or meditating. Padawan Szokio watched me intently, but turned down all of my offers to train, claiming he was a student of the purest form, Form Zero, which I “would benefit from learning”. When we landed we were met by a party of Selkath, and the first thing I noticed was the Sith ship in the opposite pad. We were led to our rooms and told that dinner would be served shortly and a page would lead us there, so I meditated until then.

“Commander Carrac'dun! Fancy meeting you Here!”
I actually smiled at the sight of her, until she pulled a saber from her belt and ignited it. I heard the room draw a collective gasp.
“This is a peaceful mission, we should hold off on settling our dispute until we have left Manaan.”
“I suppose you are right, but why are you here?”she asked, “you are obviously not a negotiator.”
“I am here to learn the art from Master Listratia.”
“Ah, I see, I am here to ensure that our Hosts decide to aline themselves with us.”
“I see, this seems to be a good time to propose a trade.”
her eyes narrowed.
“What sort of trade? I cannot leave unless I am asked to by our hosts.”
I reached behind myself and pulled her saber from the courier tube.
“have something that belongs to you, cleaned, fixed, and working.”, I lit her saber and then extinguished it, “I do not have your name though.”
The room was silent and still.
“Shelaya Tor”
I tossed her the saber. And smiled.
“Next time we meet I will take to prison.”
“I am sure you will try.”
   Dinner was interesting, and rather quiet. I kept catching Padawan Szokio staring at me, and once when I looked towards the head of the table I saw Master Listratia frowning at me. I myself was caught slightly off guard by the friendliness of my worthy opponent, but I put it down as an attempt to throw me off balance. Perhaps she also enjoyed our bout in the cave, but looking at the scar carved into her arm I doubted that.
   After dinner the Selkath Leader asked us to join him in his thrown room for drinks and light discussion, on the way there Master Listatia confronted me.
   “How do you know that Sith?”, she Demanded, “And why would you return to her the saber she lost?”
   “I fought against her in the Caves, on OR-1285 and I returned her saber because I respect her as a worthy adversary and if I beat her and take her to jail it will be in as fair a fight as I can manage, Master.” I said what I said without thinking and afterward figured that I would retire to my quarters and meditate.
   “A warriors pride? Such foolery, what have you to be proud of?”
   I said nothing and stared straight ahead, I copied Colonel 'Stache's body language and hoped she would drop the subject.
   “Well, Padawan Carrac'dun?”
   “I don't think you would understand, Master Listatia, His fate lies on the winds and fate of war, while yours rests on the Winds of conversation.”
   “I defend freedom from those who would take it by force,” I said looking directly at Shelaya, “you defend it from those who would take it through clever words and careful lies.” I looked at Master Listatia.
   “And you two have a score to settle?” Master Listarious frowned, “I will never understand you people.”
   Master Listatia turned away in a swirl of robes and hurried down the corridor. Leaving Shelaya and I alone and awkwardly staring at each other. I could tell that her palm itched for the hilt of her saber, as did mine.
“You refuse to fight, so what do you suppose would happen if I cut you down right now?”, the was an angry edge to her voice, she was winding up for battle.
   “I don't think you would jeopardize your mission so easily.”
“You think my mission matters to me? You and I are alike! We both crave the chaos and confusion of battle, our mouths water at the thought of finding an opponent worthy of our full skill!” she smiled evilly, “We are both here, we both have our sabers, lets finish this! I will bring my master the heads of three Jedi”
   “What if the Selkath decide not to aline themselves with your cause? You will have failed your mission. You master would be most displeased.”
she shuddered and I could feel her anger turn into fear. And then she shook her head, and glared at me.
“You just want to stick me in your jail! You just want to be rid of me!” she screamed, “Master wants me, trains me, he trusts me!”
“You master trusts you, so you would throw that away to have my head?”
“I don't get it! You are supposed to be angry! Your master doesn't trust you!” she said, “Why aren't you getting angry?”
“Listatia is not my master, she is A master.”
“but...”
She turned and ran off down the hall.

   The next morning at breakfast, I sat next to Szokio again, and the entire meal he looked back and forth between Shelaya and I. Shelaya was giving my a hateful glare every time I looked up, of course every time I looked up she looked away. Szokio looked puzzled.
   “Padawan Carrac'dun?”
   “Yes, Szokio?”
   “I thought you were friends?”
   “With whom”
   “With the Sith”
   I looked at him for a moment trying to decide whether he truly didn't understand the difference between respect and friendship. He just stared back, looking somewhat puppy like.
   “Well?”
   “I respect her as an opponent who challenges me.”
   “What does that mean?”
“It means he wants to kick my ass on a level playing field.”
   “Exactly!”
   Szokio still looked mystified and I was running out of analogies, and only had one parallel left.
   “Have you ever had a debate with an opponent as skilled as you were and you enjoyed to debate against them?”
   “Yes, but that is different.”
“how?”
   “We weren't risking our lives, and we weren't fighting with weapons.”
“when was the last time you used the saber you hang from your belt?”
   “I do not use it, I have no need to.”
   “If the council ever decides to send you with my master and I into the battle field, you will find that your lack of saber training is a bad thing.”
   “That would never happen, I am not a warrior!”
   “I am not a consular, yet I am here.”
“I might just take your head to prove how worthless you are.”
   “Please don't, it would not prove beneficial to either of our missions.”
“What makes you think I care about my mission.”
   “I think we have covered this already.”
   “Padawan Carrac'dun, may I have a word?” Master Listatia came from behind us and rested her hand on my shoulder.
   “Of course Master.”
   I stood and went into the hall with her, I had a bad feeling about the topic of this conversation.
   “The Shelkath are leaning towards total neutrality, which means that we will be asked to leave soon.” her face betrayed no emotion, “the reason you were sent with us was to protect us in the case that the sith won or that we were both asked to leave, please focus on your task.”
   “Yes, Master. Shall I await instructions in my quarters?”
   “I believe that might be for the best.”
   “Yes, Master Listatia, should I report in to the council?”
   “Yes, that is a good Idea. You should tell them that there is a Sith Apprentice here, and that she has threatened us multiple times.”
   “Yes, Master.”
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there is more coming I just wanted to get started on posting.