The Templar's Last Stand

[Skroth da Ripper]

*The sands of the barron surface of Travin seperated and swirled as two starfighters touched down in the wasteland. The darkness of night was the perfect camoflage for the two ships to slip in almost undetected. Those defenses that did detect the 2 ships didn't last long enough to send out a distress signal. The ships, though quite different in form, both had the sign of the intergalactic mercenary group known as the Dark Dragoons painted on the sides of the hull.*

*Simultaneously both of the ships opened revealing the pilots. out of the cockpit of the first ship came a metallic being who seemed to be built for the sole purpose of causing widespread destruction where ever he went. His armor was a misture of grays and blacks. There were deep dents in it as well, showing that this particular fellow had been in his share of shootouts. By the looks of him, no one would be surprised if he didn't loose a single one. A large minigun also loomed over his shoulder adding a few more points to the intimidation factor. The most distinguishable part of the figure had to be the emotionless orange eyes of his helmet. He finished leaping out of his ship's cockpit and he leaped off his ship, landing on the wasteland floor. The droid leaned up against his ship.*

*As the larger ship opened its doors, the rampway of the ship extended. A large alien figure began to walk down it. He was completely covered from head to toe in a fire red cloak. He had bluish/grayish skin, and his blazing red eyes cut through the darkness. The massive being looked around and took a deep breath.*

"Vyle, set up a perimeter, we'll camp out here tonight, then head out tomarrow."

*The droid nodded and began to carry out his orders.*

[Cloud Selestor]

(A ship could be seen in the atmosphere above, coming at high speeds then slowing down considerably. It hovered above the landing platform, waiting for the go ahead to land the shit. Cloud landed in the Travin spaceport with his modifed X-Wing fighter. Another ship followed close by and landed as well when the clearance was given. As the cockpit opened up slowly, some pressure was released. Cloud took his pilot equipment off while the engines came to a halt. Stepping outside the plane, he hopped down and looked around for Chrono. Chrono had stepped out of his fighter as well, approaching Cloud. He made his way over to him as well before speaking.)

"Chrono, will you mind telling me why you dragged me out all the way here. Travin is basically....wasteland, what importance do you have here? Don't mumble either, like you usually do."

(The two men stood there, being covered in cloaks. A dusty breeze went by, blowing their hoods off. Travin was known for its wastelands. It basically just had one main city and the rest was junkyards. Scavengers used the place to get equipment needed for various repairs. All Cloud knew about the location was that it was the sector capital of the Minos Cluster. He never had been here before so it was a rather good idea to be cautious. Cloud and Chrono's hair fluttered slightly as he awaited patiently for what Chrono had to say. Cloud knew it had to be somesort of a good reason to be all the way out here.)

[The Chrono Knight]

*Chrono turns to Cloud and opens his mouth preparing to speak, when a man in brown dusty robes ran up to him, and began to bow. He had a mask on, much like the tusken raiders native to tatooine, but it had a few slight differences. The most obvious one being the 2 horns that decorated the side of the mask. Chrono looked down at him. He began talking to chrono in a foreign tongue. Chrono motioned for the native to rise and said.*

"Las terra nath. Er serato ourta norat. Leras frae el calpor."

*The figure gets up bows one last to Chrono, he then runs off. The boy then turns back to Cloud.*

"I had you come along because my tribe is in danger. A day before we left, I received a vision sent by the elder. In it was a view into the possible future. In it, my family, my home, my world, was whiped clean of life. If I stayed with the jedi to train during this time, I would forever have to be held responsible for this. I won't let that happen. My people are depending on me, and as long as I live I will not let them down."

*Cloud has a suprised look on his face as Chrono finishes his little speech.*

"What?"

[Lord Vyle]

*By the time the reploid finished setting up the perimeter defenses, it was late at night. Skroth had been asleep for sometime now. Vyle sat down next to his ship and took off his helmet. He placed it down on the ground and sighed. Why the hell was he even here? He was a rare breed of droid, capable of emotions and independent thought. Exactly like a human. He was a reploid, a droid not bound by programming, nor making decisions based upon past data. In the beginning he was supposed to be a public enforcer. A defender of the people as it were. He couldn't get over that. He was actually supposed to defend THEM. THEY were the ones who destroyed him the first time. They felt that a being like him was too dangerous, so they destroyed the company, and tried to destroy him.*

*Unfortunately for them, they had no idea that reploids could be rebuilt if their most important chip survived.*

*Vyle's memory chip somehow remained intact. He did not know how or why, but one day he was reactivated by Skroth. His new body was much different from his distroyed one. For starters he was no longer just a prototype metal frame anymore. He had synthorganic flesh, a face, features. He looked human. Like one of those creatures that destroyed him and his past. He would have risen to glory, and if his current plans worked out, he would retake his former place and rebuild his race. The organics would pay for the crimes against him. However one being was holding him back.*

*His 'master' placed a kill switch into him. Skroth knew of Vyle's little grudge against all things organic. Therefor to protect himself from the reploid, he had to do that, otherwise, He'd be on the receiving end of a backstab. One day though Vyle vowed that he would override the switch, and kill the protoss for keeping him on a leash of sorts.*

*Vyle smiled at the thought of jamming his saber through the ptotoss' back, and ripping it through his side. He would watch the look of pain and terror on Skroth's face and would laugh at the pitiful being. But as long as Skroth had the kill switch active, Vyle had to keep his plan on hold. Or else he would be again deactivated, and probably wouldn't be so lucky as to be reactivated again.*

*Vyle sighed and took out one of his railguns, which he begain to clean while waiting for sunrise.*

[Cloud Selestor]

"That is a bad omen indeed, something to be alert about. Well, I suppose that is a good reason to be here at such a time."

(Cloud scratches the back of his neck, surveying the area. This being his first time here, he wasnt sure what to expect. He was on his toes the whole time just incase something did happen.)

"So Chrono, care to lead on now? We better get going so we can make sure nothing bad ends up happening."

[The Chrono Knight]

*Chrono nods to Cloud*

"Before we start the journey to my village, we must buy some supplies. We will not survive the dangers of the wastes long without them."

*The two begin to walk towards the market place.*

[Skroth da Ripper]

*The protoss tossed and turned in his sleep, visions kept running through his mind. visions that weren't pleasant to say the least.*

*Skroth was surrounded by fire, buildings and plants were burning in the uncontrollable inferno. The dragoon merely stood in place, his glowing red eyes were locked upon a single person, a boy none the less, who merely stared back at him.

*Skroth smirked at the boy, as he ignited his arm mounted psi-blades. The telepathic power surged through them, and golden blades of light shot out of the gauntlets. The boy didn't make any movements acknowledging the danger. He merely drew a sword. The protoss chuckled and charged at the boy. Driving one of his Psi-blade gauntlets in his direction.

*The boy side-stepped and countered with a sword strike to the large protoss' leg. Blood ran down the leg as the boy struck again, this time slicing through the bluish gray flesh on Skroth's back. The sith screamed in pain and struck at the boys mind, with a bolt of psychokinetic energy. The nomadic child flew backwards and through one of the walls of a burning building.

*Skroth tried to get up, but to no avail. a bone in his leg must have been cut through from the boy's strike. He looked around*

"VYLE!"

*No reply*

"VYLE! GET OVER HERE!!"

*Again no reply from the droid. There wasn't even a sign that he was here. Skroth crawled over to a sturdy structure, and attempted to pull himself up. Which he did, but it was then that he realized that part of the leg that had ben struck was gone. The sword cut cleanly through the bone and evidentially severed it.

*The protoss looked back at the severed limb and then down at the bloody stump which was all that remained of his leg. He shook his head.

"This isn't happening..."

*He looked back up and saw the boy again. He was walking slowly towards him. His bloody sword in hand, and a look of hatred in his eyes. Skroth attempted to hobble away, but tripped and fell to the ground. His face hit the dirt hard, and blood began to run from his nose. The Sith groaned and rolled over. His opponent was standing over him. The urge to kill him was in his eye. The nomad raised his sword high, and-*

"KWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!..."

*Thump*

[Cloud Selestor]

(As he walks in the sand along with Crono, Clouds shields himself with a minor Force barrier to block the flying sand. It was a relatively weak shield, but enough to keep the sand off him and his eyes. Cloud was looking ahead, as he could see a few small buildings in the distance. He looks over at Crono as he had his own shield up as well.)

"Kind of hard having a marketplace in these conditions, I guess they adapt to it."

[The Chrono Knight]

*Chrono nods*

"Ya it took them a few tries to get the place so it wouldn't fill with sand every night."

*Chrono chuckled a bit and kept walking. The area was pretty crowded for it being such a small place, the two ducked into a store with a sign that chrono translated while walking in.*

"Wasteland Survival Surplus."

*Cloud nodded and kept next to Chrono. The store owner was at the counter. He looked like a scruffy old man, who had grown up in the wasteland. Upon seeing Chrono, the man nodded.*

"Take what you need, Korath already told me of why you're home."

*Chrono nodded at the man, and took, 2 masks, which resembled that of the being which greeted the 2 from their ships. He also took a heavier cloak, a pair of boots, gloves, and 1 elaborately decorated sword with an even more elaborately decorated hilt. He handed Cloud the set of the clothing and the sword.*

"Go put these on in the back room, my tribe won't let you anywhere near my village how you're dressed now.*

*As Cloud goes in the back room, Chrono puts the second mask on.*

[Lord Vyle]

*Said Vyle as the bird like creature fell to the ground with a thump. His blaster rifle's barel was still smoking as Skroth looked out of the window of his ship at Vyle*

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

*Boomed the protoss warlord. To which Vyle merely shrugged and replied*

"It invaded the camp, so i shot it. You DID want me to secure the area. Didn't you?"

*Skroth shot Vyle a menacing glare and mumbled something under his breath as he turned away from the window. Vyle pointed the rifle at the area his master was and faked firing off a round at him. He then glanced around at the scattered carcasses of all the other miscellaneous creatures he shot throughout the night. The Reploid let out a chuckle at all the sight and began to clean the rifle which he held in his grasp. Crickets began to chirp, and the protoss began to snore again. Just those two sounds alone made the reploid want to kill something else.*

*The night was only halfway through.*

[Cloud Selestor]

(Cloud nods and heads to the back, carrying the gear in his arms. The door shuts behind him as he lays the stuff down on a table nearby. He starts to switching some clothing and put the other gear on that Chrono gave him. It was rather heavy gear indeed, Cloud felt like he was going to topple over to the ground. Though, from what his friend said, it was a must if he was to help him. After getting the needed gear on, he opened the door again, looking at Chrono.)

"My friend, can this gear get any heavier? I feel like I just put a few tons on."

(Cloud looked at himself to see his gear below then back at the store owner and Chrono.)

"So, did I get everything on right?"

[The Chrono Knight]

*Chrono nods at his friend and chuckles a bit at the comment.*

"Yeah, you have it on right, but trust me, the gear could be a lot heavier, since you're not used to the wastes. Needless to say, the wastes are very dangerous to those who aren't used to it."

*Chrono looked outside, and then came back in.*

"Night is almost over. Only a fool would travel the wastes during the day. Lets just hang around the city until tomarrow evening. check over your gear and pick up some supplies from the store. I'll try to get us a place on a caravan headed towards my village. We'll meet up at the inn tomarrow. Try to get some sleep in before that time, you'll need it."

*Chrono takes off his pendant and hands it to Cloud.*

"This will help you get what you need for the trip, just show it to the clerk of the stores, and they will give you what you need."

*Cloud looks down at the pendant and nods, though in the back of his mind, he wondered why the clerks just gave Chrono what he wanted for free. The two nodded to each other, walked out and went their separate ways.*

[Lord Vyle]

*Vyle watched the sun begin to rise over the horizon. The droid Holstered his gun and walked over to The Dark Judgment. He knocked loudly on the door.*

"Its morning."

The droid then went to the back of The ship and hit a button. The cargo hatch swung down revealing 2 swoop class speeder bikes. He carried them out of the ship one by one and set them up. He ran a last minute diagnostic check on the bikes. They were fine. Vyle then went back to his Tie Defender and began to holster his other weapons, including a second blaster rifle, a concussion rifle, and a belt that was completely loaded up with various explosives*

*He came back out and saw that Skroth was on his bike and ready to head out. He was completely in black, with his usual red cloak and hood over those clothes. A visor came down over his face. He looked at Vyle*

"Let's head out."

*With that the protoss speed off. Vyle made it to his bike soon after that and put on his helmet. He made sure all of his weaponry was secured upon himself before speeding off behind his master.*