He could hear shouting in the distance. Shouting, laser fire and screaming. From his hiding place behind one of the ornately carved thrones of the Council chamber he peeked out to one side, to see a number of other infantile faces staring back at him wide eyed from behind the other thrones. Human and alien, male and female. They were all terrified and confused. So was he. As he counted the younglings in their simple white tunics, he heard the loud whine of repulsor engines roar past the transparisteel walls of the chamber and whirled around to see a heavily armed gunship coming in to land on the plaza. Bolts of green light streaked down from the flock of similar craft that were converging on them, srtikingly out of place against both the majesty of the temple, and the glittering cityscape that stretched out into the permanent sunset beyond it. The gunship that had caught his attention landed and deployed its contingent of faceless, white armoured troopers who spread out in front before opening fire, the packages of emerald light shredding a target who was too close to the base of the walls for him to see. The room rattled as an explosive charge went off somewhere deeper in the temple. Suddenly a tug on his sleeve drew his attention back to the chamber. It was Reann Taran, his best friend since they had started their training. His round 6 year old face was red as though he were struggling not to cry.
"Jona! Why are they doing this? I thought they were on our side!" He wailed, not thinking to keep his voice down.
"I don't know, Reann."
"What are we going to do? If they find us in here we'll be trapped!" hissed another voice from across the room. This was Zenli Latak, another one of his acquaintances in training, her green skin and cranial tendrils were unmarked by the tattoos customary of the adults of her culture.
"I don't know!" Jona snapped furiously. "Now be quiet or..." The chamber door slid open with a hiss and all the children fell silent. A tall human male strode purposefully into the room, clad in a rich brown tunic beneath a black robe and deep cowl that Jona recognised very well. He had never liked the owner, few of the children did, but now his appearance was the greatest gift Jona had ever recieved. He jumped up from behind the throne and ran to the man.
"Master!" He called out. "There are too many of them! What are we going to do?" As he spoke, the man looked up and Jona felt a chill. The face beneath the cowl had always been sullen and angry, but now it was flat and murderous. The aura of massive power that Jona could always sense from him even more so than any of the other masters was now like a black, icy void. He took an involuntary step back as a blade of white hot azure light snapped out from his left hand with a distinctive snap-hiss.
"NO!!!" The black robed man whirled as he heard the shout to see a young man sprinting through the door at him. Gannel Zartrin, 14 years old, was one of the older apprentices and Jona had never thought him to be very clever, but knew he was friendly and also a very talented swordsman for his age. Now he could only gape in shock as Gannel ignited his own sapphire blade and lunged at the traitor, who raised his weapon and parried the blow with ease.
"Get out of here! Go!" Gannel shouted at the children as he unleashed a flurry of hard blows against the man in black who deflected each one effortlessly, clearly outclassing the younger, untested student. They came out of cover, but made no attempt to get past. Jona began to ask what was happening.
"RUN! NOW!!!" Gannel roared. Immediately Jona grabbed the two nearest students, including Reann.
"Come on! We need to go!" The children began to run for the exit, but as they reached it, the man in black kicked Gannel in the chest, then turned and gestured at the door. Just as Jona and Reann passed through it, the door slammed shut, trapping the other students inside with the duelists.
"Jona! How do we get it open?" Reann asked. Jona stared at the door in growing horror.
"We can't." He said simply. "We don't have the power to override him. We have to get moving." As he spoke, the humming, whirling and sparking of the lightsabres was punctuated by a sudden loud crackling, and then silence. One of them had struck flesh. One of the combatants had been killed.
