Escaping Naboo

The next few moments became a blur of movement, for the Royal Guards of Naboo all they saw was a blade moving and slashing through the droids. By the time that the Droid squad had fired it's first shot, their were all carved up and defeated. As for the Sorcerer, he was simply walking down the hall as if his display of speed had been nothing.

'Was that a...Jedi?' The Queen thought, then immediately knocked herself out of her stupor. She too had been watching the short encounter and knew that she needed to get off this planet as soon as possible.

"Captain, go!" She ordered and watched the shocked man get out of his stupor as well. With three other guards, they dashed off in one direction while the other guards escorted her to safety.

With the Sorcerer, he was simply walking down the hall doing his best to drive attention to himself. Although, no practitioner would be able to sense him quite yet. He was keeping himself quite hidden through usage of Entropy, not wanting to reveal his allegiances to them. He was aware that at this time the two Jedi Diplomats should be arriving. If they were smart then they would ignore the upcoming massacre.

As Caidus exited the Palace, he had entered a courtyard where there where was a platoon of droids stationed. Before they could register his presence there, he allowed his powers in Entropy to shine. With a wave of his hand, a third of their forces were swept to the side like toys. With a mad dash, he was upon the group of droids in a near instant. His blazing orange blade came down on the commander droid with a downward slash. With a swipe of his hand he used the droid's two parts to collide with another. Caidus moved forward, allowing his bladework to take over. He carved his way through them as if he knew what was going to happen, and he of course did.

Caidus raised a hand and used a unique variant of Tutaminis to block an incoming laser bolt from hitting his back. The unique part of his use of Tutaminis had the laser bolt bounce off of his hand and be redirected right back at the Droid. As the Sorcerer cut down the last droid, he looked around him to find roughly fifty or so droids destroyed. After a moment of viewing his handiwork, he turned and began to make his way to the hanger bay. As he crossed the courtyard, he came across a Trade Federation hover tank. Said thank began to turn it' main gun towards him ready to open fire.

Caidus frowned, finding this to be a mild annoyance more than anything. Before the tank could lock onto him, the Sorcerer raised his hand made it's main gun turn towards another hovertank making it's way over to them. The gun landed on it's forced target, then Caidus had it fire into the coming hovertank. The ensuing explosion from the destroyed tank was quite the fireworks. Caidus then had the other tank be pushed backwards and into several parked Nabooian vehicles.

With Queen Amidala, she was with several advisors of hers as well as the two Jedi diplomats Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. They had heard the explosion, and were curious as well as surprised.

'Master?' Thought the the inquisitive Obi-Wan.

His master, Qui Gon did not think about it and continued to move. The group that was with them were all whom they could find. It was unclear if they knew that one of the Handmaidens was the queen in disguise. That said, Queen Amidala thought back on the Sorcerer's words and actually felt a bit worried for his safety. That thought ended when the group heard blaster fire near the hanger.

"What's going on over there?" Obi-Wan questioned aloud, then just as the group drew closer a battledroid's head skidded out of the open doorway.

The two Jedi both had their hands on their lightsabers, ready to face off against what devilry was inside. Just as the two were about to enter, the voice of Caidus called to them.

"Enter please, we have been waiting for you."

They couldn't sense anything within the room besides several pilots that resided within it. Cautiously and rather reluctantly, the assembled group entered the hanger to find droids scattered across the floor in pieces. The one at fault, being the cloaked Caidus standing near the Queen's personal starship. "If you would hurry, the pilots have already begun to power the ship."

Both Qui Gon and Obi-Wan furrowed their brows, each time they had tried to sense this man it seemed as if they were peering more and more into an Abyss.

It was obvious that he was there, just that it was like they couldn't sense his life force or even his presence within the Force. Was he detached from the Force? If so how was he capable of defeating the droids?

The first to remove themselves from their stupor was the Queen's advisor, choosing to remain in the stead of the Queen. The false Queen however with even more reluctance approached her starship, with the hidden one giving him quite a few glances. The two Jedi however remained stationary, until Caidus turned his back on them.

"Come Master Jedi, we are wasting time."

That statement got Obi-Wan and Qui Gon to move, still cautious about what was going on. It did not keep them from entering the Nabooian starship behind the Sorcerer. He walked with them following behind, their eyes barrowing into the back of his head. The Jedi were confused, not sure how to feel about Caidus. This amused the Sorcerer, sensing their confusion and intrigued thoughts.

'Master?'

'Yes Padawan?'

'How do we know that this isn't a...'

'Sith?'

'Yes master.'

Qui Gon mused over that, then let out a breathe before inhaling silently. Unfortunately before he could respond to his Padawan, Caidus answered for the old Jedi Master.

"You don't."

That caused the Jedi to feel their eyes widened, now knowing that their conversation did not go unnoticed. It was obvious now that the man before them had some form of advanced telepathy. To the point that he could passively sense thoughts and intentions without having to try.

Before either one could try to pry into the Sorcerer's reason for being here, a handmaiden jogged over to them. "Excuse me but you are needed in the cockpit, we are attempting to escape the Trade Federation blockade."

That caused the Sorcerer to just about float off the ground and past the handmaiden as if she were not even there. The action was seen as quite the spectacle, not many knew of his apparent way of floating off the floor. Even so, it got the two Jedi to quicken their pace to keep up with him.

As the three individuals arrived at the cockpit, Caidus looked through the main viewpoint. He was behind the pilot, watching as the ship drew closer to the Lukerhulk warships.

"Move to the left."

That order came out so suddenly that the pilot had to glance back at the cloaked man. "Move to the left or we shall all die."

The ship's sensors went off as soon as he said that, causing the pilot to do as he said with anxiety. "Good, now return back to the right."

These sudden orders continued to be issued to the pilot, and each time that he did this the ship seemed to have just moved out of a turbolaser strike. Just as they had passed the blockade, the ship shook. They had been hit, but were still able to reach Hyperspace in time. The Sorcerer mused, feeling as if he had done enough to set the stage. A throat being cleared is what got him to glance back at the two Jedi just staring at him. He found it rather amusing that the Jedi knew nothing, he would rather them continue to know nothing about him. After all, they were unaware of so much more.

"I am-"

"Jedi Master Qui Gon Jinn, and Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi."

The response that Caidus made essentially allowed the assembled individuals in the room to know that he was rather well informed. Before anyone could question him on how informed he was, he simply floated out of the room. It was obvious now to the two Jedi that Caidus was no ordinary man. He could not be truly sensed in the Force, his mind was like a shield that bounced off any sort of intrusions, and there was nothing that could be said if he was merely acting detached from the Force.

Of all those who found him most interesting was a certain Handmaiden of the Queen. She glanced at the Jedi for a moment, noticing their wary postures, then walked out of the ship's cockpit. This Handmaiden was interested in learning a thing or two about their apparent savior. As she walked through the halls of the ship, she finally tailed behind the cloaked Sorcerer.

"Excuse me", she called and watched Caidus come to a stop at the Engine of the ship, "I was hoping to thank you for saving the-"

"Do not thank me quite yet, Queen Amidala."

Those words caused her brows to rise up, she had been found out and so soon. She was sure that she had almost everyone else fooled and even the Jedi! How could this man just know...unless he wasn't like a natural Jedi. With a neutral glare, she pursed her lips. "Regardless, you helped me escape", she stated in a far more professional tone now, "That said, I would like to know as to why you are helping us."

Caidus stared at her, his ember eyes being all that she could see underneath his hood. He had a blank cold expression on his face, one that more or less showed his allegiance in the Force. Instead of responding with an answer to her question, he responded with another question.

"Why not?"

That question gained an indecrous glare, one that made the Queen want to berate him with even more questions. Before she could, a throat could be heard being cleared behind her. She looked back to find Qui-Gon standing their in his Jedi robes. He looked between Caidus and the disguised Queen for several seconds before giving her an even look. "I was hoping to speak to our mutual ally alone, Handmaiden."

To this, the Queen frowned but played her part and nodded. Reluctantly, she departed from that part of the ship while still sending odd looks back at Caidus. The man was a mystery to her in more ways than one.

Qui-Gon however wanted this mystery solved, especially with what he had been told by the ship's crew. Captain Panaka had told him that the Sorcerer wielded a blazing orange lightsaber. One that he used to defeat the droids both around the halls and most likely beyond it.

'It wasn't just the fact that this man could use the Force, the question is HOW did we miss him?' Qui-Gon thought.

Caidus slowly turned around, his feet still not touching the ground as his ember eyes landed on the Jedi now. The two simply stared at each other, neither one saying a word for several long intense moments. That was when the Sorcerer felt the tall tell signs of dark tendrils trying to pry into his being. The tall tale signs of a Sith trying to ascertain his potential as a threat. So of course, Caidus responded by metaphorically cutting the tendrils away much to the unaware Jedi before him.

"You are no Jedi', Qui-Gon started, "That much I can tell, but what I wish to know is how one such as yourself is capable of using the Force? Regardless of being disconnected from it."

Caidus internally smiled, finding the Jedi's quite entertaining. This was mainly because he found all Jedi ideological fools, they knew not of what dangers were out there. Jedi had no idea what truly exists, not even their esteemed Grandmaster.

"There is more than just the Light Side", Caidus uttered through a cold tone, "And the Dark Side."

With those words spoken, the Sorcerer simply turned and floated off into the Engine room. He could still feel the analyzing eyes of the Jedi Master on the back of his head. Try as he might, he could not pry into the Sorcerer's mind. It was like trying to look into a hole in the Force that he could not sense. This was amusing to Caidus in more ways than one, he was concealing his presence in the Force yes. That much cannot be denied, but he was more so hiding himself from that of the Sith rather than the Jedi. He wouldn't need to do that with them, they were so far in the dark that it was hilarious.

The Sorcerer saw an R2 Unit turn and began speaking in Droid tongue towards him. He raised a brow, realizing that the Droid had quite the mouth on it.

"Be assured that I am not here to act as if I know what I am doing."

There was silence after he spoke, then the Droid began spewing more Droid dialect towards him in shock and apology.

On the other side of the ship, Qui-Gon was with his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi. The two sat within the lobby area pondering on the Sorcerer's presence. The silence was eerie for the most part, neither knew what to think or say about the man. This lasted for several moments until a certain Handmaiden approached them.

"Master Jedi."

The disguised Queen called, hoping to gain some answers from the Jedi. Qui-Gon was the first to acknowledge her then his Padawan next. He gave her a raised brow as well as a slight smile. "Yes, what can I help you with?"

"The Queen wishes to know what exactly is that man to you and your Order."

That statement got odd looks from Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. The two didn't really know what to think of Caidus. He wasn't a Sith, well in the normal sense anyway, and he was most certainly no Jedi.

"To be frank, we don't know", Obi-Wan responded, "He's an enigma to us and we were hoping that you could shed some light for us."

The Handmaiden frowned before looking down slightly. "We are just as much in the dark as you are Master Jedi."

Then she went on to tell the events that transpired before the Jedi's arrival. This got intrigued and anxious reactions from the both of them respectively. It wasn't for the fact that he simply floated, but that he was a trained Force Sensitive who knew of the blockade. As well as being able to seemingly hide his presence to them, regardless of standing in front of them!

'What exactly was this man in the Force? What all could he do?' Obi-Wan thought with anxiety.

"Did he ever give you his name?" Qui-Gon questioned.

"No...no he didn't."