Remembrances As his ship made course corrections to continue it's journey toward Coruscant, her occupant allowed himself to drift off into a sea of memories. He was thinking of the first time that he met the Jedi Master Shao-Lei Kitaen who had taught him the Jedi way and tradition. They had become fast friends since that first meeting in a dimly lit cantina in a nowhere spaceport. The friendship lasted through every lesson Master Kitaen had to give him. Soon, Master Kitaen told his old friend that he had become the master and he the pupil. Modest as he tried to be when it came to his gifts that Ako-vaw had bestowed upon him, he had to somewhat agree when he felt feeling for the young Shao-Lei Kitaen that were akin to those a father would feel for a son. The friendship was a stronger bound because Kitaen was open minded to learn from his new friend as well. This would last until the final day they shared a breath of air in this galaxy. He had barely made his way around this galaxy through a few systems until deciding to investigate the first habitable system on the outer rim he came to. As he stepped through the doors that fateful day he was dressed in his clan's tribal attire of flowing yellow robes with a bright orange sash over the shoulder sweeping around the main robes. There were several discussions going on in the noisy room as music filled the repugnantly stale air. The denizens of this dark abode paid little attention to a blind man. Everyone seemed preoccupied with one thing or another, mostly the drink in their hands. There were several scantily clad humanoid females dancing on round dais throughout the bar. After some time, he had made his way through the sea of bodies to find shelter in a corner booth. An even lengthier wait occurred until a waitress came over to take his order. "Greeting. What can I get you?" A rather voluptuous female Bothan sauntered over with a smile upon her lips. "What teas do you specialize in?" His lips returned the smile he could feel in her voice as he questioned the liquid menu. "Are you serious?" The look of surprise and disbelief flooded her face as she shook her head. "I apologize if I have inadvertently broken some local custom or law?" He bowed his head reverently trying to avoid any offense. "Look, all I know is that anyone hanging around this place is interested in one thing in their mugs." She placed her hands on her side in resolute despair. "And what drink is that?" He clasped his hands around his walking stick as he cocked his head with a smaller smile. "Mostly one called loneliness, but you don't seem the type. What brings you in here anyway?" Her face was filled with curiosity about the blind man and his strange interests. "I am a traveler and was looking for a place to find shelter to rest." His fore brow betrayed the thoughts forming in his head. "Perhaps cool glass of water would be sufficient." "Water we got, be back shortly." She swayed her ample body over to the bar to fill his order of water and returned within moments. "Thank you. About the payment…" He began to inquire as to what kind of monetary exchange system this area used when she interrupted him. "Forget it, water is free on this planet." She beamed a smile at the charmingly blind man. "Thank you once more for your kindness." He moved his hand into a pouch he carried under his robes. Within he carried a ground bark from a tree upon his home world of Yominia that produced a sweet flavored tea when mixed with most waters. It was shortly after he took his first sip of his tea that the sound of heavy feet made their way into the cantina. "Josef Montros, I hear you have chosen to refuse paying your share of tribute this session, that's sad to hear." A looming figure in black robes pointed a leather-clad finger at a short man clothed in the attire of a local farmer who was drinking at the far end of the bar. The dirt of the earth he toiled in seemed to exude from the peasant's own flesh. His skin was worn and weathered under a hot sun and an unforgiving backbreaking toil of the same dirt. "Please I can not afford to pay." The heavily worn eyes of the short dirt farmer betrayed the fear that was swelling inside him as he shook from head to toe; he dropped to his knees as if begging for his life. "Really? How is it you can afford to stay in this cantina and drink this swill if you can not pay?" His very shadow seemed to bully the short man into a state of fear. "You will pay, one way or another. I will make an example of you to all who would oppose me." With a gesture of his hand the short farmer at the far end of the bar was levitating in mid-air and gasping for the very air he helplessly hung in. "You reign of tyranny here has come to an end." A Jedi master stood with his head covered by his robe and hands folded inside the arms of his robes, stood before the marauding intruder. "Master Kitaen, I was wondering when you would show up." A wicked smile flirted across the man in black's face. "Amis Serurdor, did you really think you could leave the Jedi order and turn to the dark side without notice?" The words echoed from underneath the robes as if a disembodied spectre was within. "Of course not, I knew you'd follow me." Amis relaxed his concentration on the farmer as he dropped to the cantina floor. "Then why have you betrayed your training and these people?" The Jedi Kitaen raised his hands from under his robes in an offering manner. "Do you really need to ask that question? Just look around you at the problems of my homeworld here. If we are weak, as is the Jedi council, then we will never be safe. Only with the dark side as our ally will we be strong and feared, therefore safe." Amis seemed to spit the words from his mouth in vile contempt. "These are your own people, this is your birth planet before being taken to the Jedi temple to be trained. You of all people should know their plight and empathize with them." Kitaen dropped his hood from his head; his facial features were those of a middle-aged man, chiseled and rugged from a lifetime of service to the galaxy. "Perhaps I could, once a long time ago, no more can I feel anything but contempt, look at them. They are sheep in a galaxy controlled by wolves." Amis looked around the room as he though back through the years. "Now the wolf has come home to devour the sheep?" Disappointment filled the Jedi's face as he folded his arms in front of himself. "Not devour, herd is more appropriate. They lack guidance" The disdain for the Jedi was evident with Amis' every word. "You are misguided my young friend." The Jedi held out his hand as open as his heart and just as vulnerable also. "Just as I am no longer your padawan, as we are no longer friends. You could have spoken up against the council and sided with me. Instead you and the council stood by while these people suffered under the oppression of Count Threldor." Anger burned in his eyes as fierce as in his soul as he gazed directly into Master Kitaen's eyes. "Count Threldor has taken his office legally and we must pursue the matter of his anarchy in the same legal manner or we are as bad as he, as well as igniting a galactic war based on sovereign principles." "Could my family who bore me into this world to serve the Jedi afford the luxury of those lofty principles?" He stared intently at his former master until issuing his own reply. "They died with their principles, as did many others and many more still do. Now I can be the power that leads them out of that anarchy!" "I can't let you do that. I've come to bring you back to stand trial before the Jedi council. I will speak on your behalf and for your people. With the council's approval we can bring this matter before the Senate for investigation." "The time for talk is past, now is the time for action. Time for liberty and equality for all my people." In a violent rage, he swept his arm across the bar's counter top flinging all the mugs to the walls. "I agree with you, but this is not the way. Come my padawan it is time to return home." The Jedi waited with open arms as concern and affection filled his countenance. "You should never have come after me. You are far too late to stop me now. What you failed to realize is that I have been secretly studying the dark side for years. I admit that a part of me hoped it would never come to this, but I have found the council wanting for lack of direction and understanding. Now I follow the true nature of "The Force" and the dark side is my ally. Witness the power of my ally as you lay your life down for the cause of the galaxy." Amis Serurdor drew his lightsaber to life as he cleaved downward a death-dealing stroke to Master Kitaen's head. Calmly and within the wink of an eye, Kitaen's lightsaber intercepted the glowing red blade a breath away from his head. His own blue-white beam pressed against the red beam discharging the ions in the surrounding air with a brilliant show of sound and energy until the two combatants were equidistant from each other. The two warriors seemed locked in a contest of physical strength as each maneuvered with their blades pressing for an opening. Finally, Amis "Force" throw Master Kitaen against the wall. It was then, that the blind man noticed that "Ako-vaw" was being called upon in the cantina. As the contest continued the Yominian drew upon "Ako-vaw" or "The Force" to determine more about the two adversaries. One man was surrounded by darkness, his purpose was selfish and meaningless, while the other was bathed in the light and served the purpose of the galaxy. Shao-Lei Kitaen lay on the cantina floor as Amis Serurdor stepped forward to deliver the final blow To be continued
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