I didn't move so much as one centimeter when the door to my ready room slid smoothly open, revealing the forms of several people held within the confines of the Reborn honor guard I had ordered. For a moment everyone stood frozen as though in some sort of tableau: me sitting motionless, they not budging from their position just outside my ready room door.

I finally lifted a finger and tilted my visor toward them.

"Gentlemen... and, lady-?" I quickly appended as I saw a brief flash of a sinuous form hovering behind a very familiar jedi.

"Won't you please come in."

I settled a bit more comfortably in my chair, and nodded again, letting my hand relax on the top of my desk. That signaled the Reborn, who smartly opened a side of their "box" around our guests that they might enter into my ready room. The group seemed to hesitate a fraction, then gingerly made their way to come to an uncomfortable stance in front of my desk.

I waved toward chairs sitting quietly off to one side.

"Please, won't you take a seat," I began, half rising in deference to the Twi'lek and then sitting back down again. I raised a hand, and a Reborn appeared as if by magic with a tray of foodstuffs and drink.

I reached for a glass of something which glimmered a deep ruby red, stuck a straw in it, slipped it up underneath my helmet, took a sip, and waited to see if anyone would be bold enough to say anything.

[ 04-16-2003 12:12 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Suddenly, Lumbia reached for the food given and began eating, his eyes closed as he took it in. Placing it back down on the plate, he began to speak. His voice lull, yet stern like the voice of a father when speaking to his young son about messing with his speeder.

"Why is what I ask." His voice ran through the silence, a torch in hand.

"Why are we here? Shouldn't we be free people--just like the rest of the citizens on this planet." Lumbia said, staring at this thing called a man. It was a vigorous glare, yet not purely of hate. The power behind this hardy gaze held the arsenal of all the conflict within him. Darkness and light, the two fighters that kept him in bondage from being a Jedi, or a Dark Jedi. They kept him from moving past what he was, he seemed to be on the same level of mindstate since he picked up a lightsaber...

And now, he didn't have even that to comfort him. He had nothing, he was lonely in a world overly populated.

He wanted someone to hate, so it would ease the agony of the darkness within him...

It took a moment for his leer to waver, with his eyes taking attention to the rest and back onto the food. He began once again at eating, leaning back to create comfort, as he awaited a response from the crew.

Well at least he hoped they'd speak first, he didn't want a direct response from...this man.

[ 04-15-2003 11:03 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by LumbiaSith ]

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"Perhaps you misunderstand, young sir," I began, benignly enough. "Paul, would you care to explain to this companion of yours how mistaken he is? Or perhaps you would like to do this, Mr. Petrolu...

"Shawn," I interrupted myself, rising up and nodding to the Jedi. "Good to see you again. We certainly do seem to have a penchant for crossing paths, don't we?"

I then settled back comfortably, nodding politely to the Twi'lek who seemed to hunker closer to Shawn in bewilderment.

If only I could let her know I'm smiling, I thought to myself before turning once again to the young and dark haired man.

"If being led here in the security of an honor guard is not enough to persuade you as to our sincerity, why then, there is nothing for it but to see to your wishes.

"You are free to go... but I would like to speak further with Paul and Shawn, if they would be so good as to remain behind."

I raised a hand at that, and a Reborn stiffened, coming alongside the dark haired one with the intention of seeing him to the door...

...and to his freedom from us.

[ 04-15-2003 11:13 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Sorben Tarnus ]

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"I'm not leaving." The dark haired boy began once again, his voice strong as ever.

"The Twi'lek and I we're key to this mission you sent Paul on, and we're not leaving until either one of them do."

The Lumbia wiggled in his seat once more, and continued on with eating and drinking the food that had been kindly given to them by the lightsaber wielding guards.

He knew now that it wasn't an integration act, but he still didn't trust this man one bit. He just seemed to mysterious for him, by the hiding of his helment.

"Also, I have a question--why do your security have lightsabers? Are they Jedi."

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Good... he's not afraid....

"The key to this mission, as you state it to be, is currently having a full-memory scan," I said affably enough, referring to the ricketty droid my troops had carried off to the techs. "But then, since you have just now so much as stated your importance in this entire affair, why then by all means please remain and discuss matters with us."

Suddenly I straightened, then leaned forward over the desk. I pinned my visor on the group as a whole.

"I have already deployed more forces to Tatooine," I said earnestly. "But since you have been there in person, and going by the implications stated moments ago, I am asking you now to reveal what you have learned of the status of the Hutt's presence there."

I fell silent, waiting for an answer from anyone, when understanding suddenly dawned. Throughout the entirety of my little speech, the young man who's name I had yet to learn had not taken his eyes -- nor the remnants of his scowl -- from me, and quite suddenly I realized what was at the root of his rather vocal hesitation.

"Ahhh," I purred, reclining again just a bit. "You fear this."

I raised a hand to my helmet... and with no further ado removed it. Gently I placed it atop the table, running a hand over my close-shaven head, letting it fall from there to run down the scar which zig-zagged from my left eye to my jawline, and pinning my icy blue eyes directly into the dark pair of the young man who, surprisingly enough, refused to take his freedom when handed to him on a silver platter.

Behind the group every Reborn present stiffened to attention, lightsabers loose but ready, for the fact that I had uncharacteristically revealed my face to all.

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Patience now, Lumbia. You've already taken this too far...

"It is not fear, Tarnus," Paul said, removing his hand from his companion's shoulder. "Rather its curiosity as to the man who wears the helmet."

He had been developing a plan ever since they left the freighter and, if it works, it will possibly save the scant remnants of the Jedi Praxeum.

But he has to report Tatooine's situation first.

"The Hutts on Tatooine have lost most of their grip on the planet. Most of them have been killed by that new fleet that invaded the system. When your forces arrived to confront them, the survivors fled underground until it was over."

"I...we've recovered the droid. The data it carries will give you the excuse to crush the Hutts for good. But tell me..."

Paul leaned forward slightly, an inquisitive look in his eyes. "What do you intend to do with Tatooine? Make it another "grand conquest" for the Empire? It's practically a dead rock; no minerals, no strategic importance. It doesn't even have a dominating species!"

"The Hutts were the true rulers of the planet, but they only held control over the visiting populace. If their disposed of, the masses of travellers and tourists will be gone as well. The spaceports will be covered up in dust..."

Paul sat back in his seat, ready to make his point. "Surely Tatooine can be more useful to another faction besides the Empire..."

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Then, as Lumbia took in another sip of his Corellia Ale, he suddenly gained an idea that the Tattoine grounds were helpful for. Placing his cup down quickly to allow his presence to be emphasised, he moved his eyes up to the scarred face of the Imperialist.

"Do you want to use this in a plain to create a trade route. Rebuilding the population there. If not, it'd be a great idea." Lumbia's voice was soft, kind, but with a hint of mystical presence.

The young lad reached for some bread and began chewing once more. A smile came to his face as he devoured the nurishing food, staring up at the ruggid faced man.

"This food, it's very nice." He said, only to continue with his eating afterwards. Leaning back in his seat, he began fiddling with the cups, just as he did in the ship with the block. The item slowly floating above his hand, steadily rising toward the ceiling before it dropped down. It was a process that excersised his Force ability, but it had also become a habit.

Then suddenly, the force awakened in him--it was a disturbance. They're was something within these walls in paticular that had to dealt with something important, and it was drawing Lumbia to it like a magnet.

It took a few seconds before Lumbia could finally come to a conclusion of where it had come from. The boy's eyes darted over to Paul without anyone else noticing, as he drew in his thoughts.

"Hmm...Soemthing about the Jedi Praxuem." He murmured silently to himself, as his head moved back to the subject at hand. The cup that floated over his hand, which had seem to ease his mind a bit.

[ 04-16-2003 12:32 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by LumbiaSith ]

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Or me....

I let a slow smile curl my lips.

"If you must know, a military take-over of Tatooine was never the objective here, Mr. Arakeen, but merely the eradication of the Hutt's control of it. The planet has no populace to speak of, as you so eloquently point out, neither does it possess much in the way of barter or export other than an occasional Krayt dragon pearl. It did indeed attract others to gamble at the Pod Races, but that was under the control of the Hutts as well. It certainly does seem that the planet would now be just another forgotten rock drifting in the forgotten corners of space, only one without anyone present to make certain its population, small and insignificant as it is, remains alive.

"Wrong."

I stood up then, taking a breath and now sending a look directly into Shawn's eyes. Something seemed to pass between us, a memory of sorts of perhaps a better day.

"The Empire will be leaving a small police force in Mos Eisely to assure that the people will not be, ahh... taken advantage of by any other encroaching faction while the last of the Hutts are pursued and eliminated. Also, Tatooine has always been a place where those who wish to disappear travel to do so; this makes it all the more imperative that a solid police force is emplaced there.

"Whether the people still present wish to gather together and form their own governing body will be up to them to decide, not the Empire. We will just be present to ensure that whatever path they choose to follow would indeed be available to them without mishap from others."

Once again I paused, debating with myself as to how much more I should say. Then I decided to continue on, if only to show that the current Empire was a far different beastie than the heartless one in the days of Palpatine. This, if anything, was the bottom dollar all along as far as Admiral Actar was concerned, and I'd be damned if I'd let things slip out of control into any other direction.

"Merchants on Tatooine still have their shops, their connections, their homes. The spaceport, weather-beaten as it is, is still in operation. Our fleets are in pursuit of the remains of that one with initially attacked Tatooine, and hopefully that threat will not return. Only the backbone of illegal trade routes is being crushed, has been crushed; something of an infrastructure still remains in Mos Eisely, and it will be looking for direction.

"Perhaps you would care to assist in that direction, while the people there decide which it is that they wish: a coming together as a planet under the peaceful auspices of the New Empire... or the complete abandonment of an otherwise worthless hunk of rock in the armpit of space, as some would say...

"...unless you have something other in mind, Mr. Arakeen? Something about the planet's usefulness toward another faction?

"If you'd care to elucidate at this point, I am most interested to entertain your suggestions. But bear in mind, in any case a police force will remain on Tatooine to make certain the planet does not slide back down into the depths of lawlessness from which it had functioned for far too lengthy a period of time."

I fell silent then and sat down, reaching now toward a plate of sweetmeats and offering it to the group. My gaze swept over them, one at a time, lingered a moment on the form of the Twi'lek who was looking more and more uncomfortable by the minute. It was obvious to me that her transparent emotions were the ones by which I should guage the group; I nodded politely toward her and finished with a comment in her direction.

"You are free to travel wherever it is you wish miss, whether to Ry'loth or back to Tatooine... or you may take up residency here on Coruscant. We are not monsters here, as some would think of us...."

[ 04-16-2003 12:58 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Sorben Tarnus ]

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Lumbia alerted the Reborn guards with a single stand, his eyes darting over to Sorbern, as he slowly placed the cup down. Getting in a formal stance with his hands behind his back, he headed toward the door. The very expression on his face had grown timid, but the aura around him seemed to be dark for some reason.

"Die Bafoon!." The words rattled in Lumbia's soul, as the conflict between light and darkness continued on. A sneer growing on the silhouette figure as dashed flung forward in the void of light. Slicing and cutting out the shell that incased him for far too long.

The attacks were meanginless it seemed, for the shell that was light kept holding on. Regrowing it's torn parts like a lizard in only a matter of seconds. Darkness found itself just slicing out of insanity, meanwhile his invicible slashes whispered inane.

A flood of emotion rushed out the gates of darkness as he screamed. The very sound shattered the light that could move through space faster than the fastest speeder. The unbetable became beatable, and eternity of light seemed to pummel. The falling towers star fields we're absorbed into the interior of this darkness.

And the existence of the black hole was complete. The undestructable foe was created through the shape of light, and it took it's place in space.

Lumbia suddenly fell onto the ground, becoming unconscious as the race of emotions flooded over him. He was placed in a immobile state, with his hands on his head, and tears running from his closed eyes.

[ 04-16-2003 02:19 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by LumbiaSith ]

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"Take this man to sick-bay A-16, and quickly," I ordered, then watched as the honor guard of Reborn promptly used their force powers in synchronization with each other to elevate the stricken body entirely from the floor. Forming a protective box around him they quickly but calmly took him from my ready room.

I sat back down, opening a communication with CCHQ, and ordered a replacement guard of Reborn. I then contacted the sick-bay where I had sent the stranger, and waited with the frequency open until a med-tech confirmed his safe arrival there and placement into a diagnostic room. There the Reborn doctors were beginning to determine just what had happened to him, whether the affliction was something physical, mental, emotional, Force-induced... or any and all combinations of the variables presented.

Nodding in satisfaction, I regained my seat and once more sent a quiet look to those yet remaining. Mr. Arakeen had yet to reply, and while Petrolu was being as reticent as I remembered him as being I did expect some comment or other from him, while the Twi'lek...

I took up my glass of ruby-red liquid, removed the straw, took a great draught of it, and sat back with a patient smile on my face, waiting. That smile neither slackened or broadened when the door slid smoothly open and a fresh group of Reborn replaced the ones I had sent out upon their small errand of mercy.

[ 04-16-2003 01:46 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Sorben Tarnus ]

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His face grew pale as he held his right hand on his forehead. He didn't say anything, nor even looked, as the Reborn levitated Lumbia's body out of the room.

The visions were long gone by then, along with the pain in his mind and the discoloration on his face.

Paul finally noticed the shadow that followed Lumbia, but inside the room full of Dark Jedi Reborn, it was very hard to sense it. To follow his worries, his right hand had grown numb.

I will have to talk to Lumbia about this...if he returns to consciousness.

After a while, Paul sat up straight and removed the hand from his face. Then he started to clench and unclench it, trying to get feeling back.

"What I am about to say," he started, not meeting the gaze of the Imperial officer, "is strictly my idea. I have not talked this over with Master Petrolu, nor anyone of the Jedi Council...which is impossible considering its been destroyed."

"By now most of the foreigners on Tatooine have jumped off planet, so even if you wanted a governship there, it wouldn't work. However, if the Empire were to announce that Tatooine will become an asylum to all Jedi and Force-sensitives, survivors of the Jedi Praxeum or otherwise, you WILL have a suitable population then."

Paul waited for the words to sink in, not just to the Imperial officer but to Master Petrolu as well, before he continued. "This IS possible to accomplish. You'll have no fear of retaliation from us on Tatooine; revenge isn't an idea of the Jedi. What was done at the Praxeum back on Yavin was war; you had a tactical opportunity and you took it. We would have done the same."

"Loyalty will be hard to come by, but if I'm able to convince other Jedi to follow my plan, the rest will follow as well. What type of government we'll have, however, we may have to discuss later. Until then, though, I recommend I'd be in charge of reconstruction...under the supervision of your police force, of course."

Paul sensed the growth of concern and suspicion in the room, but decided to go ahead and finish what he was saying anyway. "The Empire faces new threats on its borders as well. The most dangerous of all would be the resurfacing of the Sith. The Empire would surely need the aid of well-skilled, fully-trained Jedi to face this threat. Sure, you have these..."

Paul waved a hand, motioning towards the newly-arrived Reborn guards. "...things at your disposal, but not even a dozen of them will stand up long against a battle-hardened Sith warrior."

"Listen, Tarnus..." Paul again leaned forward, and the volume of his voice went down so that it was barely above a whisper. "I have seen visions of the future. I have seen Tatooine...breathing with millions of people. The spaceports we see now have turned into massive cities, whole fleets land and take off from them, and there is no more fear within every citizen."

"If you agree...if you allow this to happen...Tatooine will have its own civilization."

A Jedi civilization. Paul thought, directing it to Shawn.

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As would my response to them.

With great care I set my glass back upon the table, sniffing a bit as I then settled back in my chair.

"Your statement regarding the Sith interests me, Mr. Arakeen," I finally said. "Tell me, what exactly do you mean by their resurfacing?"

I fell silent at that, and just kept looking him straight in the eye while I waited for a reply.

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He...he doesn't know about them...

"Surely you've heard the rumours? Or at least seen first-hand accounts of their appearance?" Paul responded. "Look...ah...I don't know all about the facts myself, but I have been sensing their growing presence for some time now. I've even tried searching for them, but to no avail."

Paul's eyes averted to the floor before he continued. "Its possible that some Sith still live in the galaxy, and that right now their trying to revive whats left of their race. Ah..."

He sat up again as he relaxed and his shoulders slumped. "I'm...I'm not sure if I believe it myself, and I'm not asking the Empire should as well, but its a threat that can't be ignored."

Paul finally returned his look to the intimidating, scarred man sitting across from him.

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"You're asking me to consider the threat of a... a rumor, Mr. Arakeen?" I asked at length, shifting a bit and lifting my head just the slightest. The fact that this man wouldn't meet my gaze wasn't going far toward endearing me to the suggestion he had made to me, and until he came clean about what he meant regarding the Sith threat he mentioned I wasn't about to consider Tatooine anything other than a desolate rock in the far reaches of space.

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Sith...as in Vader and Palpatine...rivived...?! What the hell was this Jedi talking about...

...that was, if he was a Jedi at all.

With that final little thought, Kia'ra turned and leveled darkening indigo eyes upon the shorter Jedi who was looking for all the Universe like he was as calm as an ocean after a storm. Then she turned and gazed at Arrakeen a moment...

...and finally shifted her eyes forward. They were impossibly dark. She didn't mean for them to, but two words finally slipped from her lips in a whisper: "Revived Sith...?"

[ 04-16-2003 10:23 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Kiara ]

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Paul sighed at that. "As I said before, I'm not asking you to believe it...but not to ignore it either."

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My eyes narrowed a bit as I continued to wait.

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It was a bout that seemed to take milluems to near it's finish. The world the two emotions faught in were his soul, sliced evenly in half like the ying yang. The two clashing at the center...

"You will die.." The words of darkness we're spat out, as his body flung at the speed of light, only to be matched with the very speed he conquered in his strike. The light that was pure enough to rip through any darkness that the galaxy could bring onto him, other than this silohutte figure.

The haunting eyes of the dark one seemed to reach new intensity, but the pure being seemed to equal that with his calmness. Defensive move after move to the offense of the dark. Slash after slash, the fight seemed to take new degrees of power every motion, and not one seemed to tire.

It was sudden though how it did end, with endurance meaning nothing. Only the blood that dripped from one's frame meant anything. The sticky gray liquid trickling from the sliced figure, as it came to a kneel of defeat. The arm of the man was severed, along with a deep cut in his shoulder blade.

The one who stood was light. It's calmness drawn into one compact place with a sigh of the being. It was only to be contrasted with the vigorous and barbaric slash of the head.

It slowly rolled...along with the times of darkness..

"AH!!" It was like the refreshment of reality from a dream. Lumbia was once again up, sitting on the table in sick bay, his eyes wide as he inspected his surrondings.

He wasn't in the room anymore!

"Hey, could someone get me back to the ready room!" He hollered aimlessly to the few people in the room

[ 04-16-2003 10:51 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by LumbiaSith ]

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"Sir, if you would be so good as to recline once again, we can proceed with our diagnosis to determine exactly what it is which seems to ail you," it said in a soothing tone of voice. "While we have yet to completely run every test sample we have taken thus far, preliminary testing would suggest that your epinephrine metabolysis is functioning at an accelerated rate, and your testosterone level seems a touch too high. There seems as well to be an actively functioning midichlorian count, which although is not the highest level on our scales is still not to be lightly dismissed. I'm sure that with your cooperation we can finish our procedures, and come to some solution which will balance out your biochemistry once again."

He rattled to silence, now laying his metal appendages lightly on the young man in a manner meant to assure and quiet him, and tried to get him to lay back down again.

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"I've spent countless hours meditating on these 'rumours', and every time I do I would see something...but would never understand fully what it was. Yet as time goes on...it becomes clearer and clearer..."

Moments passed before Paul, again, gave another sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. "You wouldn't understand. Jedi are taught to trust our feelings. Right now, I can feel this shadow encroaching upon the galaxy, leaving me no choice but to accept it as fact."

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The medical droid unit quickly was rearranged through seconds of work. It's body twirking from the action, only to suddenly stop and freeze in spot. The droid had been taken off line by an anonymous being.

Lumbia casually jumped off the platform he once unconsciously laid upon, and headed through the chamber to the main door. He was aiming back for the ready room, which he could feel the presence of all the people he left there.

"Hmm...I hope the guards aren't doing their duty on this medical chamber." The black haired youth thought aloud, while his hands were placed behind his back to keep a formal posture.

[ 04-16-2003 11:09 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by LumbiaSith ]

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...and to the fact that his sister was associated with them. He didn't doubt Arrakeen's sincerity regarding what he was feeling or seeing in his meditations, for he too could sense darkness, albeit unspecified. And he did know that there were those who intended to revive the Sith civilization...

...but those beings and people were few and rather secretive. So just who knew wnough about the Sith to spread anything regarding them? "Where have you heard these...rumors?" Shawn asked in a deceptively serene voice, then waiting to see just how the other Jedi would reply.

[ 04-16-2003 11:15 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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Even if he did know for a fact that the Sith had indeed returned to the Galaxy, as I knew altogether too intimately, what would it gain us? The fact was that they were indeed here... and the fact that this jedi was having intuitive nightmares about them didn't make me feel much better about it.

Not one little bit.

I shifted a bit, and cast another look round the group, raising a hand and cutting my eyes to Shawn for a moment to halt any response anyone might now make.

"Do I understand correctly that it is your desire to use Tatooine as a base of sorts from which to revive the Jedi Praxeum, which was destroyed when Admiral Actar initiated his first wave of blockades upon the Galaxy?" I asked, turning my eyes back into Paul's.

"And do I also understand you correctly in that, if the Empire does agree to this, you will work with us, acquiese to military command should the need arise, and stand part and parcel with us should this... Sith threat prove to be more than mere rumor?"

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For a long time, Paul didn't say anything immediately. He knew what the answer was, but he was afraid to say it. Knowing that he had no choice in the matter, he pushed himself to go ahead.

Paul closed his eyes along with his hands into fists. Instead of answering Shawn's question aloud, Paul thought-spoke to him instead.

I have heard these rumours...from my Padawan.

Paul opened his eyes, leaving his answer alone for now. There was still the issue of Tatooine he must deal with...

"Yes." Paul said, answering all of Sorben's questions. "However, we cannot assist your military when it comes to risking the lives of innocent civilians. This includes operations both inside and outside the Empire's borders."

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"What would your jedi do then?"

[ 04-17-2003 01:17 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Sorben Tarnus ]

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