Zaalbar Tokocharger

"Every end is a new beginning."

-Zaalbar Tokocharger



Training Missions
25 BBY three years before the Clone Wars

Zaal was in the training room in the Jedi Temple. He was jumping from pole to pole, but was slipping on a few.

"Concentrate, Zaal." His master,  Vette Derlih, said. "Let the force guide you, help you in your training. He stopped, and fell to the floor. Vette was a blue Twi'lek, as Zaal was.

"Butovers-to-hard-Master." He panted out. Vette walked over, and helped him up. Zaal dusted himself off, and sat in a chair in the corner.

"My young padawan, you must learn to use the force to strengthen you." Vette said, sitting beside him.

"But it's... Too hard... Even with the force." He said, trying to regain his breath, and Master Vette shook her head.

"You are very strong, but you must learn to focus. Enough for today, go get some rest." Vette said.

The smell of freashly cooked food greated him, as he entered the mess hall. Zaal got his food, and heard his friend Aarok Bactamark

"Hey, Zaal, over here!" Aarok  called over to him.

"Hey, Aarok!" Zaal said, and hurried over, and sat down.

"What about a quick training duel after we eat?" Zaal asked."

"Sure!" Aarok said.

"Okay." Zaal said, and started eating.

They quickly finished thier meal, and walked to the dueling pad.

"Aarok, you ready?" Zaal said.

"You bet!" Aarok responded.

Zaal and Aarok stepped into the ring. He reached down, and grabbed his lightsaber, ignited it, and held it forward. Zaal took the first move, and swung his saber down toward Aarok's blade. He deflected Zaal's first thrust down to the left and went back to guard just in time to parry another thrust. that came close to getting under his guard. Zaal let his blade slide down Aarok's, then pivoted under Aarok's guard, freeing his blade to face Aarok from the right. Aarok stepped back and swung around as he adjusted his stance to meet Zaal's attack. Aarok let his left hand go of his saber, and extended the blade in a one handed thrust to give him more reach, as he advanced to Zaal, but Zaal would have none of that. Zaal brought down his saber on the tip of Aarok's blade, with maximum force, and knocked it out of his hand.

"Good job, Master Aarok." Zaal said, his saber pointed at him. Zaal deactivated his saber, and picked up Aarok's. "Here." Zaal said, and tossed it to Aarok.

"Thank You Zaal, You are very skilled, Your Master should be proud. But now you need to hone your skill, to truly be the best you can be." Aarok, said, accepting his saber.

(part is being continued)

Rescuing the Master
22 BBY, four months after 'Training Missions'

Zaal and Aarok walked stealthily through the underground building. Zaal's Master, Vette Derlih, had been kidnapped, by the Separatists.

"Zaal, Stop!" Aarok said quietly, and Zaal obeyed. Battle droids marched down the corridor. The Jedi stepped into a small room quickly.

"Hey, your not supposed to be here!" said a droid, who had spotted them.

"Famous last words of a droid." Zaal commented, and whipped out his saber, and left the droid in a smoking heap of spare parts. More droids walked in. Zaal and Aarok had reduced half of them to smoldering junk. suddenly the droids started retreating.

"I hate it when they do that." Aarok said.

"Do what?" Zaal asked.

"Retreat with no reason." Aarok said

"There's always a reason, Master Aarok."

"Thats why I hate it."

"Arthree, find out where Master Vette is." Zaal ordered his astromech droid, pointing to a datajack.

The droid gave a response of a series of beeps, and rolled over to the spot in the wall. after a few moments, the droids head swiveled around, and produced a ghostly blue holoprojection. Master Vette was bound to a chair in am empty room.

"That makes no sense. She should be heavily guarded." Zaal said

"It makes perfect sense. It's a trap." Aarok said. "And may be made for us, personally."

Ok, so it's a trap, whats our next move?" Zaal asked.

"We do as usual. We spring it."

"Thats a plan I can follow."

Zaal and Aarok hurried to the chamber where Master Vette was being held. Zaal immediately started working on the door, ignoring the R3 unit. The door swooshed open, and Zaal walked in.

"Master!" Zaal exclaimed.

"Zaalbar!" Master Vette said. "It's a--"

"Yes, we already know it's a trap, Master."

"Well, you just walked into it."

"That's the plan."

"You know, Zaal, sometimes, your methods surprise me."

Behind them, the droid monster, Grievous walked in, before Zaal had time to unbind his master.

"Jedi Scum!" Grievous said, with his three Magnaguards next to him.

"Zaal, don't engage him." Master Vette ordered.

"I won't leave you, Master."

"Zaal, Leave this to me." Aarok said.

"Not a chance, Master Aarok." Zaal said, and activated his saber.

"Ah, two more sabers to add to my fine collection." Grievous said, and went into a coughing fit.

"How bout I add yours to mine?" Zaal taunted.

"Fool!" Grievous said.

"Do not underestimate him!" Master Vette said.

Grievous reached for his four sabers, and advanced on Aarok, and Zaal.

Zaal swung his blade ar Grievous, but was easily deflected. Zaal and Aarok fought the beastly droid until the point of complete exhaustion. But Zaal managed to cripple his left leg.

"This is not the last of me!" Grievous snarled, and crawled out on his four arms in a spider like fashion.

"Coward. if you so much as scratch his armor, he crawls away to get repairs." Zaal commented. but the Magnaguards were still a problem.

The droids advanced, electro rods crackling with energy. Zaal sliced at the droid, but these droids were quick. bouncing off the electrostaff, Zaal swiveled around and cut the droid’s head off. That did not stop it. These droids had a photoreceptor in their chest, allowing them to fight without a head. Zaal faught fiercely, calling upon the force for strength. Aarok, and Zaal eventually chopped down the droids.

Zaal rushed over to his master, and released her from the chair. red lights flashed, and sirens blazed. Droids rushed in.

"Master, here!" Zaal said, and tossed one of the Magnaguards electro stafft to her. Master Vette caught it, and slammed it into the chest of a super battle droid. Zaal chopped and sliced at the droids, and deflected blasts. The door to the chamber slammed shut.

"Zaal you get the door! I'll cover you!" Aarok yelled.

"Yes, Master Aarok." Zaal replied. Zaal burst through the wall of droids blocking the door, reducing them to scraps. he plunged his blade into the durasteel door, and started cutting his way through. The droids pushed forward, but the Jedi Masters kept them back.

"Almost there..." Zaal said.

"You might want to hurry, I dont know how much longer we can hold this." Aarok replied.

"Got it!" Zaal said, and the circular metal slab fell with a clang on the ground.

"Master, you first!" Zaal said.

"Zaal, it is my job to protect you, not yours to protect me, you go." Master Vette said.

"Master..." Zaal said annoyed. He slipped into the middle of the droids.

"ZAAL!" Master Aarok, and Vette exclaimed.

Zaal jumped into the air, and reached into the Force. He pushed out with the force so hard, that the droids slammed into the wall, and cracked it.

Master Vette stood, amazed. "H-how?" She asked

"I dont know." Zaal said. "It just kinda happened I guess."

<p class="MsoNormal">"We'll talk later, right now we have bigger problems." Aarok interrupted.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Agreed." Zaal said. The droids just kept coming, and the Jedi just kept slicing them down.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Zaal, which way to the exit?" His master asked.

<p class="MsoNormal">"The northern wall has an air-lift out of here." Zaal replied. He had studied the blueprints of the place over and over, memorized every inch of it.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Destroyer droids incoming!" Aarok said.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Finally, some fun." Zaal replied.

<p class="MsoNormal">"You have a strange sense of fun, Zaal." Master Vette said.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Well, I'm afraid that your sense of fun, is boring." Zaal replied with a grin. <h2 class="MsoNormal">Stranded Late 21 BBY

<h3 class="MsoNormal">Crash landing <p class="MsoNormal">Zaal was on a small ship, on it's was to Umbara, to Take over  Teneniel Zann's Squad of clones. Teneniel was injered, and could not lead her troopson the folowing missions. The ship blasted through hyperspace, They had left the Jedi temple half an hour ago. Zaal's Master was talking to Teneniel via Holocomm.

<p class="MsoNormal">"The Umbarans destroyed one of out AT-TEs, and the explosion threw me to the ground, breaking my right arm, and a few ribs." Teneniel was telling Vette. "But it's not as bad as it sou--" The holocomm craclked then went out. The ship rocked, and litrally fell out of hyper space.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Whats wrong?" Zaal asked, as he looked out the window. They had run into an astroid field. "There was no astroid field on the Nav chart."

<p class="MsoNormal">"The computer cant tell us where we are, This must be an uncharted region of space." Vette said. The computer must have malfunctioned, or been sabataged.

<p class="MsoNormal">The ship rocked again, as an astroid slammed into the hull. Zaal jumped into the pilots seat, and flipped the shields to full.

<p class="MsoNormal">"This ship cant withstand much more of this!" Zaal said

<p class="MsoNormal">"Go towards that planet." Vette said, pointing towards a rock barely large enough to be considered a planet. Zaal directed the ship in that direction, as the ship was hit again. Alarms blared, and warning lights flashed.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Shields at 17%. One more hit and were done for!" Zaal said. The ship cruised to the planet at a steady pace.

<p class="MsoNormal">Just outside the planets atmpsphere, another astroid struck, and the ship went spining out of control.

<p class="MsoNormal">"The sublight engines are not responding!" Zaal exclaimed, as he watched the window loght up from the meatle warming up to a red hot glow, as the ship entered the atmosphere.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Were comeing in too hot!" Vette said.

<p class="MsoNormal">"I know, I know." Zaal replied calmly.

<p class="MsoNormal">the ship screamed through the sky, and kept going faster and faster. Finally, they broke through the thick layer of clouds. Suddenly a range of snowy mountains filled thier view.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Zaal, are you just going to sit there, or are you going to do something?" His master said.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Im just goining to sit here." Zaal said.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Are you crazy!" Vette said in a worried tone. "Give me the controls!"

<p class="MsoNormal">"I could but it wont do any good, the ship wont tespond to anything." Zaal said, the ground comeing closer by the second. "You may want to strap in soon."

<p class="MsoNormal">Vette reacted quickly, and imeidatly did so.

<p class="MsoNormal">no more that ten seconds later, the ship slammed into the snowy mountain. <h3 class="MsoNormal">Unknown Teritory The ship was slideing down the mountain, across the snowy rocks. Zaal shook his head to clear his mind, and was suddenly alert. The ship was heading straight towards a large bolder.

"Master!" Zaal shouted, but Vette had been knocked unconscious. Zaal had to do this himself. He thought fast. As the bolder neared, Zaal gathered the force, and pushed the ship to the left of the bolder. Zaal heard a screach, as the ship's right sider was shreaded by contact with the rock. Zaal looked forward, and saw nothing ahead of them.

Zaal got out of his seat, and rushed over to his masters seat. "Master." Zaal said again. Zaal felt the ship slow down as they hit level ground. (Not finished)

Into The Storm
Zaal and his master hiked through the snowy terrane, wearing the cold weather gear from the ships emergency kit. It was not much of a kit though, but more a medium sized travel bag. It held enough supplies to keep a group of four alive for a couple of weeks.

Even with the warmth of the multi layered clothes, with their Jedi robes still on, under it all, the cold still seeped through. The Twi'lek home planet, Ryloth, was a rather warm planet, so Zaal had gotten used to colder-than-Ideal Tempatures, but he could never prepare himself for this kind of weather.

"Master, we need to find shealter quick." Zaal said. "There's a storm building up ahead." As if to make a point, there was a sharp gust of chilled wind.

"I think your right." Master Vette said.

The Cave
Zaal and Vette pushed through the snow. The blizard had droped the tempature at least another fifty degrees, and the storm was no where near full potential.

"Look, up ahead!" Zaal's master said.

"What? i dont see anything." Zaal responded. Then he saw it. A shadow in the snow, a darker patch, barley visible. As they got nearer, the shape came clearer. It was a cave enrance. They entered the cave, and Zaal dug into the emergency pack, and pulled out a glow rod, and lit it up. Zaal looked in the cave, the stlagtights hanging from the ceiling.

As they walked deeper into the cave, it got noticeably brighter, leaving eerie shadows on the cave wall.

"Zaal, you see that, right?" Master Vette said.

"See what?" Zaal replied.

"Small points of light in the cave walls."

"I dont see-" Zaal started, but then he saw it. "Wait, yeah, i do see it."

"Good, i thought i might be seeing things, considering i was nocked unconscious."

Zaal moved the glow rod closer to get a better look, but they faded and dissapeared.

"Thats strange." Zaal said, then he switched the glow rod off. Suddenly the glowing points light up brighter than before. Zaal reached for his dagger, and pried a few loose from the wall.

"They look like some type of crystal" Zaal said,and sliped them in his pocke. They went on down the cave once more.

Zaal kept the glow rod off, for the crystals provided more light that the glow rod did, and there was no point in waisting the power cell.

The cave began to get warmer, untill they started sweating.

"There must be some kind of geothermal heat source somewhere." Zaal said

Zaal took off his cold weather gear. and packed it tightly in the emergency pack, and Master Vette did so to.

Soon it was bright as day, and a rather cumfortable tempature in the cave. Suddenly there was a blood curdeling screach, and Zaal instinctivly grabed his lightsaber, but stoped himself just intime from activateing it. He did not want to signal their position, to the beast. Zaal rushed forwards, and found the beasts lair. There was a huge lizzard like creature, covered enough fur to create a legion of wookiees. The thing must have been fifty feet from head to tail.

The monster sniffed the air, sucking so much air in, it was like a gust of wind was blowing through the cave. The monsters jaws were splattered with blood, and there was a horable stench in the cave. It had just had a fine meal, judging on the size of the carcass stting there. It sniffed the air again. It opened raised it's head, and took another wiff of the air. It haden't seen them yet, but somehow it could smell them over the stench of rotting carcass. The monster sniffed the air once more, when walked over to what looked like a natural soruce of water. It wasched it jaws, cleansing it from the blood of it's meal. Zaal and Vette took a few steps back. Zaal acidently kicked a rock, and it went tumbling down the uneven floor of the cave. The beast raised it's head from the water, and looked around, and started moveing towards them. It clearly had not spotted them yet, sniffing the air, looking in every crack in the cave. Zaal reached out with the force, attempting to calm the beast.

"Zaal what are you doing? We need to get moveing" Master Vette whispered  urgently.

"Shhh!" Zaal said. The beast was almost on top of them, and let out another screach. Zaal reached out with the force again, pushing deeper in the beasts mind. It finally noticed them, it's eye about half the sive of the Jedi. It just stood there, stareing at them.

"What's it doing, Zaal?" His master asked.

"Master, if you dont want this thing to eat you alive, let me concentrate." Zaal replied. The white creature ended up crouching down and fell asleep.