Endeavor [Complete]

Prologue

The whir of a Jedi weapon joined the other sounds of the fight that was escalating rapidly just outside the Balmorran village.

A tall, insectoid alien moved towards the cloaked, saber wielding figure. The creature spun around towards him, pincer like hand outstretched and stinger pointed. Master Nix whipped his green lightsaber through the air, cleanly removing one of four legs.

"These Colicoids are getting out of hand! We need to retreat to Farnel Outpost!" shouted the red and white armored Republic officer next to theJedi. He whipped out his blaster and let out a volley in the direction of the swarm.

"No," the Jedi said gently. "We can't leave this village to these monsters. We can take them. Call in your troops."

The man shrugged and tapped at his comm, summoning the soldiers waiting for orders.

Another of the mutated insectoid aliens rolled up into a ball and approached the Jedi. He whipped the saber around, and it pierced the shell.

"We need to get these people out of here," the Jedi shouted. He ran towards the cluster of villagers huddled away from the rampaging aliens.

"The Colicoids have never attacked like this before!" a worried woman said, running up to the Jedi.

"These are mutated, escaped laboratory experiments. Vicious. They've spread to regions beyond Bugtown, I was sent to help clear it out."

"Yes, please, help us!" the woman said. The man nodded in response and turned to fight the two approaching insects, his lightsaber in hand.

He jumped into battle right away, performing a backflip and landing on the flat head of one of the creatures. He leaped straight into another and shoved two more of the bugs with a powerful Force blast.

The Jedi Master was distracted by a scream behind him, belonging to a child. He jerked his head around to see one of the monsters rolling towards a small group of children, huddled in fright at the edge of the group of villagers. Not wasting time to think, he Force leaped in the direction of the frightened children. But he was too late. Something else had happened first.

The Colicoid mutant had been thrown backwards into a rock by a Force blast, crumpled to the ground unconscious.

A small girl, no older than five was in front of the group. She stood with her arms outstretched, trembling, a shocked expression on her face, staring at the mutant she had just unwittingly stopped.