IC:
Holoworld III, one year ago
The cantina, dubbed, the Firegnat, rested in the slums of the city Inspiration, the capital of Holoworld III. There, in the back room, he waited for his adversary to meet his end. Who entered the room did not look like who he had fought back on Falleen, but it mattered not. His signature in the Force remained the same. Wasting no time, he unclipped his lightsaber.
A snap-hiss, and a red blade glowed before his muscular, armored body. “You haven’t changed,” his adversary noted, sizing the Dark Jedi up. “I must say, I didn’t expect you to be here so soon.”
“Blackthorne,” he said, his voice dark, deep, and dead of emotion. “It ends here. This will be a testament to all the Jedi… of what happens when they commit treason.”
Then the charge, and his opponent immediately took out his white blade, ignited it, and the two beams clashed. The armored man twisted his wrist, and allowed his blade to slide free, before he dodged the resulting impact of Dark Jedi’s, then brought his own around and at a diagonal cut. The blow was met with the Dark Jedi’s own lightsaber.
“Did Maladan tell you to kill me?” he asked. “If so… then you shall fail as well. The old man thought he could defeat one as skilled as I… and he was wrong.” The comment had not shaken his opponent. This meant nothing to him, however, and instead of awaiting a response, jabbed at the other, whom in return shifted his body to the left as the lightsaber came within centimeters of impacting his Mandalorian armor. His opponent swatted away the blade before he could alter his attack, and then performed a roundhouse kick. The move caught him off-guard, and caused him to stumble back.
“You’ve prepared,” the he noted. “Too bad it was for nothing.” As he brought his blade back, his opponent brought up his left arm and, using the Force to trigger the command, let the projectile fly. A split second later, the small projectile which left the gauntlet’s hidden launcher split itself in two, with a small wire connecting the two points. Arrowheads popped out the front, and another split second passed before it made contact. The lightsaber flew out of his hand, and was carried to the wall behind him, whereupon was slammed against the wall as the two ends of the projectile bore into the duracrete.
“You have no idea,” his enemy responded. He disengaged his lightsaber and discarded it. “Now, we play on my terms.” The man produced a DH-17 blaster pistol.
He just laughed. “No blaster pistol can harm me,” he said, and brought out his hand to call it from his opponent’s. However, the armored man had prepared for this and, as the pistol left its grasp, he followed it to its new carrier, bringing his fist back and connecting it with his jaw. He collapsed backward, and the pistol fell to his side, whereupon his opponent called it to his own hand.
“Then you shall be proven wrong,” the man said, and brought it up to meet him. “Defeat is part of a warrior’s life… and I have recovered from our last battle. Stronger than before.” His opponent squeezed the trigger, but not before he could roll out of the way. The Dark Jedi then called his lightsaber to his hand, as it broke free of its bond, and was already using the Force to toss the blaster pistol aside from his foe. The lightsaber reached his hand, and the red blade protruded, and he swung with all his might.
And stopped. The Dark Jedi could not have ever heard this counter-attack come, however, because he would have never thought his enemy to use a vibroblade in a lightsaber battle. He looked down at the blade, lodged into his gut, as a crimson fluid began to run down his dark armor, and drip to the ground.
His hand grew weak, and he dropped the lightsaber to the ground, and disengaged, as the red blade slid back into the hilt. He looked at the armored man, furious and with disbelief.
“You are weak,” the man told him, “and very predictable.” He called the blaster pistol to his hand one last time, and pointed it directly at his forehead. “And now, Ilan Garuda, you shall die as nothing more than a man who was proven wrong.” He squeezed the trigger, and a single blaster bolt came out of the pistol, and Garuda fell to the ground. Darkness, and silence, consumed him….
The commotion caused the people in the front of the cantina to call for the authorities. And when the proper authorities had arrived, Blackthorne was long gone. They investigated the crime scene. Given the obvious signs of a combat scenario, they concluded it was more of a “private business”, of sorts. Regardless, they had to clean up and close the case. The obvious fact was that the man, lying in a pool of blood, with a scorch mark on his forehead, was dead, and had to be removed. It was bad for business, after all.
Two medical officers hauled the limp body on to a medical repulsorsled, and hauled to a repulsorcraft to be carried to the morgue. Once they loaded the corpse on in the vehicle, one man spotted movement. Curious, the two approached, on either side.
With a last bid of energy, two hands firmly grasped the men. Before they could panic, however, a strange, tingling sensation ripple through their bodies, and then they were unable to make any noise, as suddenly the pain grew so immense, that within seconds, both fell to the ground, dead.
Slowly, with some effort, the two hands retracted, and tossed aside the medical sheet. Ilan Garuda lifted himself off the sled, and out of the vehicle. He noticed his lightsaber was missing, and he narrowed his eyes. True, he was alive, but still weak, and he needed to flee. He could always build another lightsaber, and it was unlikely he would be able to retrieve either his or Teslar’s before anyone else could, and before making a scene. Darth Vader and Darth Sidious’s teachings came into his mind, and utilizing what was left of his strength in the Force, he concealed himself from view, and retreated to safety.
A couple hours later, a lone, battered Kihraxz-class fighter broke atmosphere and entered orbit of Holoworld III.. Once the coordinates were set, it burst into lightspeed, never to return to the world.
Present Day
He had grown in power. Teslar Maladan had been quite useful to him, after all, having utilized what he had learned from training the fool’s remaining Force and life reserves one year ago. Ilan had learned of a powerful artifact, through his journeys, which would aid him in his bid to destroy the Jedi, eradicating them from the face of the galaxy forever. He had traveled to many places, touched by the Dark Side of the Force. Ziost, Roon, Ambria, Thule; each location granted him more knowledge, more power. It was only a matter of time before his training under the two Sith Lords, Vader and Sidious, had proven to be a useful tool in unlocking the secrets these planets held.
The Dark Lords had failed in their plan. They had hoped to keep him away from their teachings. And, with the arts of the Sith embedded in his memory, he expounded upon them with their teachings, and took on the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith. Whether other Sith would consider him one or not, he held the knowledge, the teachings, and was trained in the arts of the Sith.
During this time, he had a run-on with an old warship, perhaps one of the last of its kind. If it weren’t for the fact that it was manned and fully operational, it would have been a floating tomb. The Venator-class Star Destroyer Mark II had become his personal flagship, after he had “convinced” the captain that his best interests were to be loyal to him. However, despite its complement of seventeen TIE-series fighters, it still was not enough. Ilan soon found himself thirsting for more power. More possessions, unaware that it was happening.
Of course, every master would need an apprentice, and so, Ilan had taken under his wing not one, but several apprentices. Even together, they could not defeat him. Not yet, anyway, for they still had a way to go before they could compare to him in both the skills of a lightsaber and the knowledge of the Force. And so began his movement, a move to put the Jedi Order to ruin, once and for all. He would do what, with all their power, Darth Vader and Darth Sidious were unable to do. Ilan was determined to exterminate every last Jedi.
OOC: Okay, with introductions out of the way, you can expect the next post to be an actual piece of writing, instead of recounts. Hey, I needed to put people up to speed on why Ilan is still alive, and what he's been doing, somehow.
