Keeper’s Chronicles: Story II

Keeper’s Chronicles: Story II is the second part of a Star Wars fan-work of Number Wan, known as Keeper's Chronicles, about the adventures of Saire Ornel, a girl from the orphanage house on the planet of Shiib during some of the events of the Galactic Civil War.

Overview
It's been more than three years since the destruction of the Death Star and the team of Grey Sparrow is wondering the Galaxy in search of truths about themselves. Saire Ornel is accompanied by her friends - Makk Taukvaster and two droids — the P2 unit and Gerbo.

The girl is reluctant to search for a Jedi Master as her mentor Erlion asked her, though she comes to seeing the truth in his will. She is eager to continue her search for Tammika, her friend, kidnapped years ago by pirates on Shiib.

In her search for a Jedi Saire arrives on the planet of Tuak'Khan, not knowing, that her journey attracts the attention both of the local authorities in the face of the powerful princess Kaji'Ka and the Imperials, planning to establish a new order on this remote planet.

Before even meeting the old Jedi Master D'Nar Saire walks the path of understanding the local people and their quite unusual traditions of finding harmony with nature, the mountains and their spirits. The encounter however didn't go as planned, as the Jedi wouldn't follow the girl to help fight the Galactic Empire.

Even though the team of Grey Sparrow left the ranks of the Rebels, they did help the Alliance a lot of times, thus drawing attention of the Empire which now pursues them. Having left the planet after a terrible Imperial occupation began, Saire and Makk flee to a scientific world of Quedalur, where their former rebel friends found shelter for the time-being.

Meanwhile the Dark Guild started to show concerns regarding a possible Jedi fugitive on Tuak'Khan, and Duvar Enego sends his agents to deal with former Master before Darth Vader would know there was one.

Main Characters
Saire Ornel – a young girl, grown up in the orphanage house on Shiib, who is helping the family of Anshelou. Her life changes greatly after Anshelou find a Rebel container, and her best friend Tammika is abducted by pirates. She meets and old man Erlion, who wants to show something to Saire and help her find the way in the Galaxy. Together with Makk Taukvaster and two her droids she comes many challenges, described in the Chronicles.

Makk Taukvaster – a mercenary, working for the Sarkoro Clan on Shiib. He decides to take Saire and Erlion on his ship to Uthel after he is betrayed by his counterpart in the clan – Jardo Saloni. After leaving Shiib he decided to stay with Saire and look after the girl and the droids.

D'Nar — a former Master Jedi, that left the galaxy to hide and rethink his acts on a remote planet of Tuak'Khan. He's been in exiles before, but this time he even gave up the ways of the Jedi Order, becoming a monk of one of local cults. Before meeting Saire he is confident, the Jedi would never achieve victory over the Emperor, but after some time he changes his mind and even saves the girl and her friends from one of his old foes.

Erlion– member of the ancient Order of the Keepers, guarding the Key of Eternity, a powerful relic from Uthel prolonging life of all living-beings on the planet. Even though еhe Chronicles are told from his point of view, he does not appear in the second story, only remembered by Saire and D'Nar.

P2 – a modified astra-droid who was on board of the rebel ship before the takeover of the Empire. He saves the main characters several times. Before the Clone Wars he served the Security Forces of Uthel. He is one who manages to save Saire and Makk during the bombardment of the planet of Quedalur.

Gerbo – assistant droid with language and protocol skills. He accompanied Saire during her trip to Tuak'Khan, but they are separated during the raid of the local guards. They are reunited only just before departure.

Kaji'Ka — the elected ruler of Tuak'Khan, who is determined to secure both her power and influence on the planet independently from the Empire while carefully playing politics with Imperial diplomats. Despite being loyal to anti-military methods of dealing with the Empire and neutral towards the Rebels, she eventually acknowledges the evil nature of the Emperor and his servants as they attack her planet.

Thrillak – a Dark Jedi in the service of Galactic Empire that somehow survived the Battle of Uthel three years earlier, is now executing the orders from Duvar Enego — to bring Tuak'Khan to the knees of the Emperor. Unbeknowst to him, his old foe Jedi is also hiding down on the planet and his presence makes the servant of the Dark Side feel a disturbance in the Force.

ZID-17 – an assassin droid, that receives a new order of capturing both the rebels sympathizers and the fugitive Jedi Master on Quedalur.

Captain Neshshe – a rebel commander from Uthel who lost most of his troops after battle near his native planet. He now seeks to form a new squad of followers on Quedalur to join the Rebel Alliance forces in a struggle against the Empire.

Captain Mordonn – a rebel captain of DP20 cargo ship captured by the Empire after the destruction of the starwars:Death StarDeath Star. His true motives remained unclear before the events, that took place on Quedalur.

Behind the scenes
The creation of Story II followed the completion of the very first sketches of the first part of the Chronicles, though most details of the plot would be finalised as early as 2001. The original idea was that Saire and Makk went directly to Quedalur to ask local scientists for help. By this time the characters were greatly associated with Rebel Alliance even participating in some of the major battles of the original Star Wars Saga (e.g. Battle of Hoth.

The most dramatic moment, that was later included in final drafts, was initially the destruction of the cities on Quedalur and death of thousands of people in the hands of the Empire. The plot was swiftly changed as the Empire bombarded the new sectors of the Quedalur University in order to scare all Rebel sympathizers and gain control over the vast scientific research facilities.

Tuak'Khan was originally conceived as a very primitive world, where the protagonists were only hiding for some time before the Empire arrived with its Imperial walkers that demolished the very village, where the rebels were hiding. This moment was added to the story under a great influence of the Dark Forces video game, released in 1990s, specifically the game level, in which a city was destroyed by a squad of Dark Troopers. The appearance of this unit was also planned, but was eventually abandoned.

The character of Kaji'Ka was one of the latest additions, as the authorities of this planet were quite 'faceless' and their role was a minor one. The princess was to play a double role as a depiction of a new side, that was neither Empire or Rebel Alliance. Her personal feelings and understanding of the conflict were to show, that the Galactic Civil war was in reality a much larger and dreadful conflict than it is usually believed to be. Trying to neglect this fact caused paying a high price for the princess, as she eventually accepts the ideals of the Rebels, but refuses to participate in the struggle convinced there is no power in the Galaxy that could challenge the Emperor.

Appearance

 * Star Wars: Keeper's Chronicles
 * Keeper's Chronicles: Story II (animated film)
 * Keeper's Chronicles: Sketches and Drafts