The Old Republic

[Tifa Lockhart]

Kraross stepped forward now, stopping to stand in front of Kalen.
"You're holding back," he stated plainly. "That in itself is the true sign of a good Jedi. Those with power must first learn to restrain it."
He folding his arms behind his back, a stance that seemed a staple for Jedi.
"Your stance is narrow and flimsy, that is why i knocked you aside so easily. Widen your stance to strengthen your core. You project your attacks in your body language, learn to be still before making your move."
He loosened his posture again.
"Would you like another try?"

[Renegade]

His comment about restraint being a trait of a good Jedi hit him like a bad smell. Him, performing a trait that was naturally synonymous with Jedi? Ridiculous, he only held back because he was smart, acting on deception, not restraint!
He looked at Kraross with a flicker of confusion, then he turned to Aele. "Perhaps Aele should try, it would seem I am not fully healed, I must stop for now." he lied.

[Tifa Lockhart]

"Hmm... Very well," He agreed, stroking his chin in thought. "Insistence is important though, remember that."
He turned around to beckon to Aele then, who walked forward immediately.

Kraross assumed his defensive stance again, and Aele slunk forward and around, gauging him carefully, trying to work out his weaknesses. When she saw a opening she leaped in with a quick thrust, movements sped up with the force. The master dodged and swung, she ducked beneath his blow, swinging at his knee caps. He stepped back and launched a push at her. She pushed her own had forward to counter him, running forward the moment his force was hindered. She slashed forward and Kraross side stepped, moving around behind her. He brought the hilt of his saber down - not the blade - on her back, which over balanced her and sent her sprawling onto her face.

"Skill with a blade is a trait of your kind, Aele. You are not hindered by what your eyes tell you, and therefore cannot be fooled with feints and trickery. However your senses have not been as well honed as most of your people. You lack the focus to watch all around you, and therefore you can be taken by surprise from directly behind. We will broaden your focus and patch that gap."
He deactivated his saber and extended a hand to help her up.
"I will take you both as my Padawan's."
He dipped into a bow to them, hands clasped in a triangle before him. Cautiously, Aele returned the gesture, trying to mimic him.
"Do you have any questions?" He asked, looking between them both.

Aele thought that the man seemed slightly cautious, but it barely showed past his kind smile.

[Renegade]

"Just one," he asked knowing that full well that it would be shot down as 'against the Jedi beliefs'. "When do we get to go after those Imps that kept us?"
Kraross was about to say something along the lines that we do not seek vengeance, but one of the other Jedi Masters spoke before him. "We do not condone revenge, as you are probably aware," Said the Kogruta female. "However, we were watching that base for a while."
A lump formed in Kalen's throat, but his anxiety passed as the Master continued. "We could not see inside, but we were monitoring the comings and goes of the base." This was good, Kalen thought. They would not have seen them inside a shuttle. "We tracked a Sith assassin that we believe to be the cause of the in-fighting you described. He is still on planet, and is holed up in a cavern, only a few hundred kilometres from here. We are sending Master Kraross and you two, to find and capture this Sith."
Find, yes. Capture, would not bode well for Kalen and Aele. Kalen looked at Aele suddenly worried.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele could not stop herself from biting her lip at the thought of what capturing this assassin would mean. If they took him in, he would surely rat them out to the Jedi, and then they would be done for.
Aele didn't want to spend her life rotting in some Jedi prison.
"As the council wishes," she replied to break the silence.

[Renegade]

Kalen and Aele were sent to meditate for an hour before they were to leave. Kalen used this time to create a face wrap. He had told Kraross that he did not want the assassin to know that they were still alive, lest they come after them if things did not go as planned. He seemed to agree and even helped Kalen make it. Nothing fancy, just a trimmed bit of cloth to cover his mouth. He tied it behind his head at the neck, making sure it was tight, but so that he could still breath.
For the next half hour after Kraross had left, Kalen paced back and forth, feeding on his lust for revenge.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele was not as worried about being recognised as Kalen was, convinced that she already looked a lot different with her knew veil. A hooded cloak would suffice to conceal the rest. Her Master visited her briefly to see how she was going before he departed, leaving her to her meditation. She'd concentrated hard as he'd told her to do, feeling her senses sharpen as she did so. Already in her short time here she felt as though her abilities to perceive had strengthened.

Soon though, Kraross returned, bidding her to accompany him.

[Renegade]

Kraross had retrieved Kalen also, and together the three of them exited the temple. Waiting for them were three speeders. Kalen had plenty of experience with these on Thule during the days when he was not training. He looked over at Kalen with wide eyes, as a non verbal question if she had ridden one before. Then he remembered he could not see his expressions, or could she? He could never figure that out, she was still mostly a mystery to him.
"Ever ridden one?" He asked instead, just to be sure.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele looked troubled when she realised they were supposed to be riding speeders to their destination. She'd never ridden on one... it was somewhat harder to map one's surroundings at such high speeds. She didn't trust her abilities that far.
"No..." she replied to Kalen hesitantly. "I haven't."

"The other Miraluka here do not have too much trouble with speeders," Kraross said dismissively as he walked down and mounted his own.

That didn't seem to reassure Aele any... she'd never 'seen' another of her kind before... she'd been the only one on Thule, and she'd never met another Sith of her species. Was she somehow inferior and that was why she struggled in areas that others of her kind coped easily? Was she somehow lacking the deep connection required to 'see' clearly?
'Maybe there really is something wrong with me...' she thought.

[Renegade]

Kalen shrugged. "You'll pick it up quickly," he smirked. "You'll have to"
HE got on his speeder and followed his master into the forest, slowly at first so that Aele could catch up, then he pulled down the throttle and passed Kraross. It was good to have something to be reminded of home. He would train with this Jedi for a time, it would make him stronger to know their ways, he just needed to keep fooling them.
At least he was able to get revenge on the assassin that had tried to kill them.

After a few hours of travel that came to the foot of a hill, which Kraross had ordered them to stop at. Kalan got off the bike and looked around. The local fauna's chirps and howls echoed through the forest, it was oddly calming. Over the hill Kalen could see a large ridge, which above it, continued into a mountain range. Along the wall of the ridge, Kalen spotted a cave. "There, Master." He pointed to the cave, he had to really force himself to call this man his Master. Though he was all he had at the moment.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele lagged behind the whole way to the foot of the hill, getting the hang of the speeder after a few minutes of trial and error, but still unwilling to go too fast.
She caught up with them eventually, gleefully dismounting. She was glad to be back on solid ground once more.

"Very good, Kalen," Kraross replied, though the response sounded somewhat automated, as if he gave the praise out of necessity rather than desire.
"We'll make our way in carefully, I will take the lead."
With that he'd glance back at his two padawan's briefly, before starting up the hill towards the cavern.

[Renegade]

Kalen kept up with Kraross and they entered the cave, though he did not look back, Kalen assumed Aele was close behind them. It took less than a second for his eyes to adjust to the dark. There was no sign of life at all. If he was here, he did not seem to be here anymore, nor did he seem to have stayed long. Though Kalen could not shake the feeling of a fourth presence. A presence that felt too familiar.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele jogged a little to catch up with Kraross and Kalen, feeling a little uneasy in the cold dank of the cave. Of course the darkness made no difference to her, but the place just FELT off...

[Renegade]

Before Kalen could react there was a burst of force in front of him that knocked him and Kraross off their feet. Then came the assassin droids, the lightning staff of this one planted into the dirt, only because Kalen had managed to roll out of it's way. He kicked the droid, sending it off balance and activated his lightsaber and counter attacking after jumping to his feet with speed otherwise impossible without the aid of the force.
The droid dropped as Kalen sliced it, but the thing still crawled at him in vain, so Kalen burnt his saber into it's forehead. Only now Kalen became aware that the Sith Assassin had been fighting Kraross, he rushed in to help but the Sith pushed him away. Kalen flew half way across the cavern. He looked up, shaking the stars from his eyes to see Kraross dodge a first rock flung at him, but not the second. It planted and knocked him unconscious. The masked man laugh, and Kalen was quick to his feet, light saber reactivated, looking for Aele. It felt odd to him that despite the imminent danger to himself, his first concern was of her.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele had felt the ripple of Force energy coming towards them, feeling it knock Kalen and their Master from their feet. It had allowed her to be prepared for it, crossing her arms in front of herself and widening her stance to withstand the impact. Her booted feet slid backwards on the gravelly floor of the cave as the force impact pushed her back a few feet, though failed to knock her over as it had the other. She recovered quickly, igniting her saber and filling the dark cave with a luminescent purple glow.
She made short work of the droid that came at her, hacking it to pieces with a skilful pattern of slashes. She felt her elation soar. This was how it was supposed to feel! This was how in control she'd always USED to feel when fighting with a blade!
She'd moved in to engage another droid when a sudden ebb off in her Master's energies turned her attention towards him. Something had knocked him unconscious.
"Master!" she yelled, finishing off the droid before turning to run towards the Sith Assassin, intent on protecting the fallen Jedi.