Oldest Friend/Story

Oldest Friend an MI5 Chronicles story

New Vertica, Nar Shaddaa.

What a dreadful place.

It was a wretched hive of scum and villainy. He never thought he would find himself in such a place.

The whole planet seemed dirty, the natives disgusting...and that awful stench. What in the world was that smell?

Gruu Funkistann was a Jedi Knight and an agent with the Secret Galactic Intelligence Service, an organization commonly known as MI5. He was a Gungan and would most likely stand out like a soar thumb in a place like this. He strolled through the dumpy streets with his Jedi robes closed and his hood up over his head hoping not to attract too much attention to himself. His floppy ears were tucked down inside the back of his robe.

Gruu entered some kind of drinking establishment called The Dive. It's name suited it well. The place was a mess and the patrons, even worse. The vidscreens he passed were showing highlights from the Federal League Limmie championship game in which the Chandrila Chiefs defeated the Alderaan Daylights 2-1 just days ago. The drunken patrons didn't even acknowledge Gruu as he walked by.

MI5 was an anti-terrorist organization that helped police the galaxy. Not long ago, a message was received at MI5 Headquarters on Coruscant meant for Gruu. The message was in regards to a Human named Mathis.

Mathis was the Jedi Master that discovered Gruu on Naboo all those years ago and found out the little Gungan boy was Force-sensative. Mathis raised Gruu as his own and trained him in the Jedi arts. When Gruu became a Jedi Knight, the two slowly lost touch and Gruu could no longer feel Mathis' presence in the Force. Gruu feared the worst. Maybe Mathis had perished. For years he thought his old Master was dead. Until that message at MI5.

The message was supposedly from Mathis himself, requesting Gruu's help out here on the Smugglers Moon.

The hooded Gruu approached the bar and took one of the empty stools. The bartender, an obese Human who didn't care much for his personal hygiene, walked over toward Gruu.

"What'll ya have, pal?"

"Me-sa is lookin' for a Human called Mathis."

The bartender nodded. "He's been expecting you." With a quick whip of his head, he indicated a table in the corner to his right. A hooded figure sat all alone.

Gruu stood up and headed for the table. When he approached, he asked, "Mathis?"

The seated hooded figure slowly pulled his hood back. "Gruu, it is you."

Gruu immediately recognized Mathis' face. But he had grown much older. His Human skin was creased with wrinkles. Mathis' smile made the creases look even worse. "Mathis?" Gruu questioned again. "Me-sa...thought you-sa were dead."

"I know," Mathis responded. "There is much to explain."

"Even da Jedi Council told me-sa you-sa were dead," Gruu added.

Mathis stood up and said, "I will explain everything on the way. One of my former Padawans is in danger, and there isn't much time."

Gruu had no problem rescuing a fellow Jedi in need, but he still was uneasy about the fact that his former Master and oldest friend was "pretending" to be dead all these years. He wanted some answers.

Gruu followed Mathis out of the bar and into a nearby garage where they climbed into a beat-up old landspeeder. While Mathis drove through the sprawling city, Gruu demanded some answers. "Alright. While it's good to be seein' you-sa again, me-sa would still like ta be knowin' what is goin' on?"

"It's good to see you again, as well," Mathis started. "I guess I should begin with my hunt for the Sith."

Gruu waited patiently, his hood fluttering in the wind as they drove.

"Quite a few years ago, I thought I had a lead on a hidden Sith hideout. I warned the Council about it, so a few of them went to the site to investigate. As it turned out, nothing was there. The lead was a dead-end. Not long afterward, I picked up the trail of what I believed to be a Sith Lord. A Human by the name of Wootsa."

"Wootsa?!" Gruu exclaimed. He knew that name from a mission with MI5.

"You know him?" Mathis asked.

"Me-sa fought wit' him-sa in a lightsaber duel. Five years ago on Ryloth."

Mathis looked surprised. "That's where the trail led me, to some small hideout on Ryloth. Again I warned the Council and again they headed out to the location. Nobody was there. And this Wootsa was nowhere to be found."

Remembering back to the mission on Ryloth, Gruu said, "He-sa was killed by MI5 operatives and his body was destroyed when Da Baron's castle was blown up." A crime boss known as The Baron was who MI5 was after at the time.

"So that explains why I couldn't find any trace of him," Mathis surmised. "But anyway, after I had called the Council out twice, both of which were false alarms, or believed to be false alarms at the time, they warned me not to take them on a wild bantha chase again. They assured me that the Sith had been wiped out long ago."

Gruu immediately started thinking about all the Sith he had faced in the past few years with MI5... Apparently they had not been completely wiped out.

"So that's when I set all my focus on training my Padawan, and only training my Padawan," Mathis continued. "All that time I had learned to mask my presence in the Force so that the Sith couldn't sense me when I was hunting them."

"Dat's why everyone thought you-sa were dead," Gruu said. "No one could sense you-sa."

"But then my Padawan and I did in fact come into contact with the Sith. It wasn't just following a trail. They found us. We fought them, but they over-powered me and kidnapped my Padawan. After all, I'm getting pretty old and my Padawan was inexperienced."

"Then you-sa know where they've taken him-sa," Gruu deduced.

"Her," Mathis corrected his Gungan friend. "Her name is Acura Krill. She's 18 years old, just a kid. We need to get her back. And I fear contacting the Jedi Council for help."

"They will t'ink you-sa have come back after having been believed ta be dead, only to lead them on to another dead end."

"Exactly," Mathis confirmed. "Since I'm already on pretty rocky ground with the Council, I figured you were the only being I could turn to for help."

Gruu nodded. "Me-sa will help you-sa."

"Thank you, Gruu."

Gruu was looking forward to going on another adventure, or mission, with his old Master again. It sort of brought back memories. There was that incident on Felucia, the battle on the moisture farm on Tatooine, that little dispute on Alaris Prime...

Shaking off the memories, Gruu looked at their surroundings and realized they had traveled into Nar Shaddaa's Undercity. Talk about scum and villainy...

They ended up leaving the speeder and going in on foot. Trudging through an abandoned sewer system, they came to a large tunnel extending deeper into the Undercity. Inevitably reaching a large room connected to the tunnel, a female voice could be heard in the Force.

"I can feel you," the seductive voice said. Mathis and Gruu stopped and glanced at each other. "I can only sense one of you," the voice continued. "The other has masked his presence."

Gruu and Mathis continued forward, cautiously.

"Yes," the voice said. "Come closer."

They rounded a corner and saw a Human female dressed in a skin-tight black jumpsuit, with black boots and gloves to match. Even her hair was black. A lightsaber hung from her belt.

Gruu could feel the Dark side of the Force in her.

"We knew you would come for your friend," a female Barabel, also dressed completely in black, said as she walked into view.

Then a female Twi'lek entered as well, also in black. "But you cannot have her back. She is too far gone."

The Human stepped aside and, a few meters behind her, sat Acura. She was huddled in a fetal position, rocking back and forth.

"Acura!" Mathis exclaimed. "What have you done to her," he said, turning to the three women.

"She has the potential to become a powerful Force-user," the Human said.

"And she will do quite nicely in the battles to come," the Barabel added.

"What battles?" Mathis asked. "The emergence on the Sith?"

"Precisely," the Twi'lek answered. "In the coming years, the Sith will rule the galaxy."

"Impossible," Gruu said. "Da Jedi Council wouldn't allow it."

"It's currently underway, and your so-called Jedi Council doesn't have a clue," the Human said.

Mathis activated his green-bladed lightsaber. "Then we'll put an end to it now." Gruu also activated his.

The three women activated their red lightsabers. "An old man and a Gungan cannot defeat the Sisterhood of the Sith," the Human said.

The Barabel took an attack pose. "Mischa."

The Twi'lek did the same. "Henna."

The Human followed suit. "Katilynn."

The three Sith women lunged toward Gruu and Mathis, forcing them to defend. The three of them began circling the two Jedi, swinging their lightsabers. Their movement seemed synchronized, almost rhythmic. As the Sith danced around them, Gruu and Mathis could do nothing but defend, standing back-to-back. There was no opening to attack. The red lightsabers just kept coming.

Between parries, Gruu said, "Remember how we-sa..." He paused to defend a strong attack. "...we-sa outsmarted those thieves on...on Corellia?"

"Nice idea, Gruu," Mathis responded, feeling his muscles strain with that last attack. "That should work."

"Now!" Gruu yelled as he Force-pushed the Twi'lek, Henna, who was passing in front on him. He then immediately ducked and swung the lightsaber to his right, Mathis doing the same. With Henna a good distance away, they were able to attack the other two.

With their quick duck/attack moves, Gruu was able to slice the ankle of Mischa, the Barabel. But Katilynn managed to defend Mathis' attack.

The Barabel felt the pain and looked down to see that her foot was detached from her lower leg. She began to wobble and lose her balance without her right foot. She landed on her side and rolled just in time to defend against Gruu's attack. With Mischa on the ground, Gruu flipped over her and landed on the other side of her, thrusting the lightsaber blade into her chest.

When Gruu gave her that final, fatal blow, the other two women screamed out as if they were in pain. Gruu looked at Mathis, confused.

Mathis said, "Do they feel each others pain? It must be some sort of collective consciousness, a hive mind." He was forced to defend again when Katilynn quickly regained her composure and attacked again.

The Twi'lek, Henna, leaped toward Gruu, engaging him in a one-on-one duel. Gruu could see the rage in her eyes, burning like fire. He killed one of their own, now they wanted revenge. Revenge...definitely a Sith trait.

The two lightsaber duels continued for a few moments until Gruu heard Mathis cry out. Gruu turned to see his former Master on the ground and Katilynn towering over him.

"No!" Gruu fought harder now, forcing the Twi'lek back a few steps. "You-sa will not win this." He ducked out of the way of the red lightsaber, but one of his floppy ears was singed on the end from the passing blade from the follow-through of his quick movement.

"Ha!" the Twi'lek laughed before she felt the quick thrust of Gruu's green blade into her heart.

When Henna fell to the ground, Katilynn screamed again, feeling her sister's pain through the Force. But then Gruu heard another scream. He turned and saw it coming from Acura, thrashing around in agony. So that's what was happening. This Sisterhood was brain-washing Acura to become one in their Sith hive mind.

Katilynn jumped at Gruu while he was looking at Acura. She knocked Gruu to the ground and used her lightsaber to pin his down. The two lightsabers were burning a hole in the floor only inches from Gruu's head. Gruu felt her weight on top of him. She was larger, heavier, stronger than your average Human female. He could see the rage in her eyes as well.

"Killing two Sith," Katilynn said with a gruffness to her voice. "The Jedi have taught you well."

Gruu could feel the heat from the lightsabers. He freed his right arm and swung a punch into her face. She rolled over and Gruu leaped up and jumped on top of her. He used his left hand to pin down her lightsaber and used his right forearm to lean into her throat. While the Human woman was gasping for air, Gruu said, "But dis me-sa learned from MI5." He forced more pressure on to her neck until there was a snapping noise and her body fell limp.

Gruu could hear Acura crying out in pain, but he instead rushed over to Mathis' body. Thankfully he was still alive.

"Gruu..." Mathis managed to spit out.

"Don't talk. Save you-sa strength."

"You did it..."

"No," Gruu corrected him. "We-sa did it."

"But you...defeated all three..."

"Not without help from you-sa," Gruu said, holding his dying Master in his arms.

"Take..." Mathis paused to cough up blood. "Take Acura. Bring her back...to the Light side. There is...good in her."

"Me-sa will, Master."

Mathis closed his eyes and tried to smile, the blood dripping out of his mouth and down over his chin. "Thank you, Gruu. Thank you."

Gruu just sat there for a moment, holding the lifeless body of his fellow Jedi, former Master, and oldest friend in his arms. "Me-sa sorry, Master," Gruu whispered.

He then walked over to Acura, who was still rocking back and forth sitting in the fetal position. Gruu kneeled down and rested a hand on her shoulder. She flinched when he touched her. "Acura," he said.

She didn't respond.

"Acura," Gruu said again, "me-sa is a friend of Master Mathis. Me-sa's here to help you-sa."

She slowly lifted her head to look at the Gungan.

Looking into her youthful brown eyes, Gruu could sense the good still in her. She seemed to be trapped somewhere between the Light and Dark sides of the Force. "You-sa are feeling much pain, and me-sa can help you-sa."

"Stop the pain..." Acura mumbled.

Gruu helped her to her feet and they headed back out of the tunnels, Gruu carrying Mathis' body over his shoulder.

- - - - - - - - - -

Upon their arrival back on Coruscant, Gruu headed immediately for the Jedi Temple to speak with the Council regarding the events. They arranged to give Mathis a proper Jedi funeral and were saddened by what had transpired. Gruu now stood in the Council chamber, formally requesting permission to train Acura.

"You have been away at the Secret Galactic Intelligence Service for many years," Mace Windu stated. "You, Gruu Funkistann, are not the best choice to train her and bring her back to the Light side."

"It was Mathis' dying wish, Master Windu," Gruu responded. "Me-sa wants to honor his last request. Me-sa will take time away from MI5 ta work wit' Acura."

Yoda sighed softly. Gruu moved his gaze from Mace Windu to Yoda.

"Gruu," Yoda began reluctantly, "if promise, you do, to report every week your progress with her...then approve you're training we will."

"T'ank you-sa, Master," Gruu said with a slight bow.

"And continue to meditate on this Sith issue we will," Yoda added.

Indeed Gruu and Mathis had ended the so-called Sisterhood of the Sith, but what they didn't know was that they were in fact telling the truth. Events had already been set in motion to allow the Sith to rise up once again and fight to take over the galaxy. The Jedi didn't know that the Sisterhood had been formed by, and were working under, Darth Sidious. Though the Sisterhood had been defeated, Sidious was still out there allowed to weasel his way into the Galactic Republic and eventually destroy it from within.

End