Nar Shadda trail...

[Mantic Dorn]

Nar Shadda – home of the criminal hutt masterminds and their armies of smugglers. This was not a place one considered safe.

Yet, Mantic had found an interesting note in one of the old jedi enclaves about a jedi that supposedly made this moon his base of operations, even after the Jedi Order had left the world.
There was little information on this jedi and Mantic was fully aware that he was taking a chance heading over here.
All that he knew about this jedi was that he was called [member="The Dark Man"] and that he supposedly hade made the old Republic Enclave here on Nar Shadda his home. From there he kept forwarding the work as a jedi, although he had cut his ties with the order a long time ago.

Mantic wanted to learn more and had arrived with possible suggestion for him. However, wether or not the man was to be found remained to be seen. Mantic knew the location of the old Enclave and had made his way toward it. If the pieces of the puzzle he had laid fit he might find [member="The Dark Man"] there. Otherwise he would have to return empty handed.

The doors to were large and heavy, yet their imposing image diminished in its current state. A lone jedi could hardly be kept responsible to keep everything shiny after all.

​

Regardles, there was evidence toward that someone lived here. The larger room, a reception, was furnitured and well kept.
Opened up behind it and Mantic took a step inside.

He did not hide his presence in the force and a trained jedi would have little problem finding him if he wanted. Yet, Mantic made sure not to surprise anyone and took a sound step forward and announced his presence.

“Hello?”

 

[The Dark Man]

At the junction between the Refugee Sector and Corellian District stood a towering warehouse that seemed to sprout upwards and out of a bottomless pit, the Underworld laying far, far below. It stood solitary, with two long bridges connecting the sectors for the Jedi that once belonged to this enclave. The bridges were now decrepit, railings were missing and rust peeled. Ancient flags were hung from poles, the symbol of the Jedi Order flapped in the rotten wind, it's fabric torn and slug-shredded. The windows were blackened, all but for the highest point. A bright neon yellow burst through the glass panels and out onto the speeder-lanes.

The Dark Man sat at his desk, signs of a hermit were evident. The walls were plastered with news flimsiplast clippings, tomes and holocrons were sprawled across the table. Vandals had gotten in when the old man wasn't around and performed graffiti on the walls, and they had torn up his carpet. Some of the windows had been smashed, and much of the equipment that had formerly been present were now stolen. A single Jedi Watchmen to protect an enclave and Nar Shaddaa, he was stretched far too thin. The Republic had abandoned the people of this world to their fate, he would not.

He almost didn't notice the threads in the Force creeping up the desk. They tangled and intertwined, his own and someone elses. His head turned, and then he heard the voice. "Hello?" it asked. Ekul Selah gathered his cloak and draped it over his shoulders, garbed in black, with equally dark, round spectacles sitting comfortably on his nose, he retreated down the flight of stairs. Some of the steps were missing, others were mangled and rusted. It took a great part of care and a little part of the Force to prevent him from falling down them.

He followed the threads in the Force, eyes curiously studying them. He knew the individual who had arrived was not here to harm him, and it shone with a brilliant light. When his gaze rose from the threads, he was met with the sight of a Jedi. "And to what do I owe the pleasure?" he greeted him, bowing his head. It would have been customary to bow from the hips, but he still felt some bitterness for the task he had been abandoned to do alone. Cursed.

[member="Mantic Dorn"]

 

[Mantic Dorn]

There was dampness to the air and the muffled sound of a very old generator gave Mantic the impression that he might have been wrong. This place seemed abandoned enough and whatever signs of life he thought he had spotted must of course just have been from looters. He lowered his head to the chest and felt the emptiness and frustration nag at his inner for a while.
How the former mighty peace keepers had failed the outer rim. He was about to leave as suddenly he felt the web stir. Something moved and it did not move away from him.
The presence sent no hostile signals and was strong enough to be that of a powerful force user.
The Jedi?

Mantic turned toward the doorway as [member="The Dark Man"] entered. It was elderly man, showing signs of pain in his movement, but not only. There was another pain in the man as well - a much deeper and more troubling pain.

Mantic bowed formally from the hip.

“Greetings,” he began with a raspy voice. He had traveled some by now and the dust in the locale added to making his throat dry.
“I am Mantic Dorn, and I have come to seek out the jedi known as [member="The Dark Man"] or another jedi that claims to be serving in this enclave. I trust I might have the pleasure of standing in front of one of the said?”

Mantic folded his hands on front of him. He wore his own torn Brown jedi robe. It had been through a lot but Mantic had kept it well. If Ekul had any knowledge about sowing he would notice the extreme skill that had been used to mend the clothes on this jedi. Seams were barely noticeable yet, even with Mantics skill it was obvious that a change of Robes might be the wiser choice. If appearance mattered to him.

He coughed realizing how he might have come off as barging in.

“I apologize for coming unannounced. I run errands on the behalf of the Knights of the Republic, a small order with little of the resources that once belonged to the jedi in Republic space. I found you using… traditional means.”

 

[The Dark Man]

In a brittle voice he answered, "I am the one you seek." His eyes observed and the Force read. The Jedi Master was not quite as old as he, still young in body, but certainly old in spirit. He was taller than Ekul, and his robes were bruised and battered like his own, but unlike his own the Jedi had seen about mending the fabric. Ekul had not, his black cloak was shredded by slugs, blasters scorched the cloth, and his robes showed wear and tear. They were stained, but not dirty, he did what he could to clean them but some stains never left. The black did well to hide blood stains, but they still showed themselves as darkened patches.

In his time on Nar Shaddaa he had certainly not been sitting around - otherwise those looters would have never had the chance to tarnish his enclave. No matter how many fiends there were that were responsible, up against a Jedi Knight fully immersed in the Force.. they would have not stood a chance. He was a mythic Jedi in folk lore from the Outer Rim to the Core Worlds. A survivor of the Tournament of the Gods, or triumphant victor as some would have it. His feats were as legendary as his lightsaber, rumored to be entirely indestructible.

But all good stories only had a pinch of truth, and Ekul was not one to brag openly, but the child in him quietly enjoyed the stories that came his way. Then the isolation, loneliness and despair hit him like a wave, childhood. His light in the Force had always been bright, but as the years dragged on, it waned, and it did even more so in that moment. "What can I help you with, Jedi..?" he said, leaving the sentenced unfinished so that he may learn his name.

[member="Mantic Dorn"]

 

[Mantic Dorn]

With a shift of his robes Mantic took a few steps forward. His shoes causing echoes ripple through the empty room. It made it appear even larger and more abandoned then they really were.

He watched [member="The Dark Man"] watch him, assess him. It was natural, Mantic removed his hood and revealed his face, and just like the fellow jedi it wore signs of struggle and wounds, physical as well as mental. The gray strains and the weathered face did however tell of a man coming to a respectable age. Mantic was closing in on his fifties and even though he was young in comparison to [member="The Dark Man"] the eager found in youth had long since diminished.

“I am Mantic Dorn of the Republic Knights. I have come here to examine the state of the enclave and the state of the one jedi I have a record of serving in this sector.”

For a moment there Mantic had felt the rush of hope in the old man. But it had shifted, something had caused him to return to a more bitter state. Mantic had spent a lifetime working on keeping his emotions in check, and he recognized the techniques in this veteran. Yet, having operated out here alone must have been a great strain. He hoped he had not come to late.

Wetting his lips he pondered for a while. He wanted to have the meeting to be in a neutral term and there was an in built suspicioun in all of this. That was not good.

“May I have the honor of darning your robe while we talk. Then at least the both of us will be guaranteed to have been given something of value from this meeting, regardless of the words spoken.”

Mantic shifted foot and from his satchel he produced a bundle of needles and threads. He held them up to show that he was serious about the suggestion.

 

[The Dark Man]

He let out a sigh, "Hrmph," he turned his eyes downward to the floor. Now they come to examine the enclave. Now of all times. Not when the gangsters and thugs ruled the streets with an iron fist, not when the Techno Union dominated the planet for their own, but when the waters were settled, as settled as they got on Nar Shaddaa. It was a look of disappointment that pulled at his face.

The other of repairing his clothes was shot down quickly by a quick denying wave of the hand. "These robes and my cloak are a testimony to the trials I have faced as a Jedi. I will bare them till the day I die. They require not the attention of a needle, just a wash to keep them clean." His hands drew back, resting them on his belt. A flash of gold hung from his hip, an electrum-detailed lightsaber, reserved only for Jedi Masters, but he was no Master, not in rank.

"You may stay and talk, inspect what you will, but if attention gathers here.." he left the air empty. It was only a matter of time before the SpyNet caught onto the activities of the Dark Man, but the Techno Union and their Obsidian Order weren't the only threat to the enclave. Remnants of the Black Sun Syndicate and roving bands of Red Ravens still dwelt in the Undercity far below where they stood. A lightsaber could bag them a hefty credit on the Invisible Market.

[member="Mantic Dorn"]

 

[Mantic Dorn]

Mantic stood there holding his bundle with needle and thread for a moment. It would have helped him if he had been allowed to sow. It always calmed him.
But he knew better then to test man that seemed to have taken a defensive position toward him. Or perhaps what he represented. The latter was most likely more true than the first.

“I see…” he began almost with shame to his voice. Then he put away the bundle as he inclined his head. He noticed the golden hilt at [member="The Dark Man"] s belt and raised an eyebrow. He was not sure what rank the man held and was in no position to question it at the moment even if he had known it.

“Then, I choose to talk. The enclave is an important symbol for the jedi, but it is not steel and concrete I have come for. I have come for the heart of the enclave and as far as I can tell that would be you.”

“Times are shifting and as splintered as we stand. If I have understood things correctly you broke with the Jedi Order a long time ago. This is something that I myself most recently did as well.
And so I do not come here to claim anything. Nor can I say that you have any duties in regards to what I represent.” Mantic left a slight shrug

Mantic fell silent, he wanted to test if the man was interested, if he could be convinced to listen.

“I represent the remaining jedi of the Republic. It is not what you might be remembering. We are fewer than before, and I am the only master that chose to leave the order. But I believe our path has found the solid ground that we lacked before. And so, I stand here asking for this enclave to rejoin its servitude toward the ideal of the Republic.”

 

[The Dark Man]

The offer seemed to make the weight of the world, the burden of all things, heavier on his shoulders. He had been standing quite stoic, his posture now sagged. He turned his back to the Jedi, ambling over to a chair that looked like it hadn't been used in years. As he sat down, a current of dust flowed out from under him. The light breaking through a cracked window made the dust look like a thousand tiny distant stars as they settled on the floor.

He had never been one to bite his tongue, and so he rectified Mantic, "I did not leave the Order, they left me. They did not agree with my views.. their Masters were too untrained, unwise, their Grandmaster even more-so. Some were still younglings.." he paused for a moment, "Their Masters forced my departure. To think! that I can't express my opinions without being asked to abandon all that I was raised to uphold. But I never did." He spoke with passion on the subject, and there was a nostalgic way in which he ran his hands over the table. Remembering a time past, when the enclave had seen better days. He muttered to himself, "No, I'm still here."

"I knew the Jedi would be fewer - too fractured. Perhaps that blame can fall on those who had me leave, the Jedi Order of old did not tolerate differing views, and look how far it got them. Tiny sects of Jedi beyond count scattered to the winds, and the One Sith are united as ever - their war efforts may be paused, but it is only a matter of time until it starts again. Without a united Jedi front, what hope is there for peace in such an era of chaos? I will continue my operations here, and you may consider this enclave once more apart of your Republic."

[member="Mantic Dorn"]

 

[Mantic Dorn]

The Jedi were scattered throughout the galaxy. No one felt that wound like Mantic. He too had thought that the leadership of the orders seemed too young and inexperienced at times. [member="The Dark Man"] had not left the order, but rather it had left him. It made sense to Mantic and he realized that perhaps he had been to harsh on himself as well.
He had been part of the council, a trusted and respected member of the jedi order through out his life. As Grand Master Raaf had decided to leave the Republic and station the order in neutral space Mantic had left his seat at the council, yet he had remained loyal to the order. He had remained loyal in that he had kept his word and stayed with the republic.
That had been a mistake he realized now, that move had been the start of the downfall - hidden behind the grand vision of a united order. The unity never came though, instead Corvus had disapeared and the new grand master had barely found his seat before he declared that the order no longer supported the Republic. Those days had been terrible for Mantic. For a man that had been raised to believe that the order was the body that would guide and protect the free world the fact that the two no longer belonged together was a disaster.

He looked toward the sofas at the corner of the reception and smiled. It would be nice to sit down for a moment.

He did not have to ask [member="The Dark Man"] how he was feeling - it was obvious even without the force to guide him that the time for contemplation had come.

"There is much work ahead of us, and most likely trying feats. I believethe senate has an undersanding of our cooperation however. Tell me, what does this enclave need to operate?"

Mantic found a sofa and sat down, his eyes looking at his clasped hands waiting for the new found jedi.

 

[The Dark Man]

A short, intense burst of air left his nostrils, a concealed chuckle. "Only me it seems," he remarked, "I think the time is beyond us now for this enclave to be anything more than what it is now. With the Techno Union on my doorstep, it is a matter of time before they kick the doors down. It would only be a waste of resources to try and keep this fully operational."

His gaze shifted, beyond Dorn or anything material of their world, into the Force he looked. Dark threads were slowly wrapping themselves around the enclave, tightening their grip, threatening to suffocate the Jedi within. It had been like that for some time, but he grew more concerned in recent days. It had been getting worse, it was a premonition. It was trying to tell him something, and he knew exactly what that was. Someone was coming for the enclave. Who, what or why was up for debate, but there weren't many groups that had the motive, leaving a short list of possible assailants.

He looked back to Dorn. Whatever threat loomed over the enclave was not yet there, and would not be anytime soon. "When this place falls, and I am forced to flee, I will return to your Republic, until then I will remain here and operate on my own, and I will remain in contact." His hand reached for his chin and stroked the prickly, grey hairs. "But how do we proceed? The Jedi are.. frail creatures. Our numbers diminished."

[member="Mantic Dorn"]

 

[Mantic Dorn]

Mantic's eyes held [member="The Dark Man"] for some time. This mysterious, almost legendary jedi had been left here all on his own. Fending against the darkness without the support or acknowledgement of his former brothers and sisters. Deep inside Mantic felt a sting of shame. He had been a fiery defender of the Jedi Order at the time when this man had been abandoned. It was true that they had never met and never had been given a chance to interact at that time.
But a jedi was larger then himself, he had to know what was required for the sake of the greater good and from what Mantic could gather the reasons behind giving up on [member="The Dark Man"] were very vague. He recalled others that had claimed the same thing.
He had during his time in the Jedi order been asked to step up on several occasions. To take a leading position at that time but every time declined. He did not think of himself as worthy.

Why would he be different now? He allowed his mind to wander for a while. The enclave had definitely seen better days and Mantic too felt the darkness looming over it.

He sighed and placed his hands together, pursing his lips in thought.

"You have been protecting this enclave while the jedi order abandoned it. If you are certain it is a lost cause to try and resurrect it I will follow your advice. We must not risk loosing more assets or jedi where the force tell us to move away."

It was that simple. The force was sometimes very hard to interpret but from this encounter he had not been more sure. He had to trust this jedi.

"I believe we have to take a step back as jedi, return to our role as servants and not leaders. Pride was the down fall of the order, pride and lack of patience." he unclasped his hands and showed his open palms in a gesture of hopelessness to emphasize his words.

"Furthermore, the senate has tasked the Republic knights with opening training to force sensitive in the Republic. Instead of ignoring them, or trying to rid the galaxy of them we have decided to try and show them the way of the light. Through them it is my hope that the light will see a new dawn. But the fruits will not be ready for a long time, and until they are ready we must be prepared to sacrifice much to protect them."