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- "Your children would have been the most powerful force users in the galaxy, more powerful than anyone before them and perhaps after them. They would have been able to rend and knit the fabric of existence at will. I have seen a vision where they made a grown man melt into a pool of liquid matter without lifting a finger. Did you really think I could let something like that pass? No, I couldn't. There is no crystal of Infinite Rage, Derek. There is only your death."
- — Zohmaj Hauc to a dying Derek Muir
Duel at Ossus[]
Events leading up to the Duel[]
Ever since he had joined the Jedi Order, Derek Muir had realized that he had a difficulty in dealing with his anger issues. It was something that made him different from the rest of his Bothan family and it was something that concerned him deeply. He was always easily provoked and he gave in to his anger very easily. Through the Force and meditation, he had brought these occurrences down, but his ability to meditate was never strong. His master had worked with him, but even he had had difficulties in getting through to Derek.
When he and his master were separated, Derek headed back to Bothawui to see his family. At this point in time he had passed the four Trials and was a Jedi Knight in everyhting but name. He used his family's money and connections to be able to travel the galaxy and learn from various Force groups around the galaxy, enhancing his knowledge off the Force, all in an attempt to calm his inner rage.
His solution lay in his dreams, visions granted to him by an unknown higher power. All of them centered around a blood red crystal, the Crystal of Infinite Rage. He went to Crystal Shard Point and found a relatively powerful Force user there, Crystal Roshia. She was able to interpret his dreams and point him in the right direction when it came to the quest. he went after hte cyrstal, having located it on a planet near Myojin known as Fuega.
Unfortunately, it pitted the Jedi Knight up against the likes of Zohmaj Hauc, an extremely powerful Sith Lord who wanted the crystal for his own purposes. The two Force users clashed on the planet in the Fuega System. Derek realized that he could use his rage, but use it for the light. So he did. He opened himself to the Force fully and unleashed hell on Hauc. The Sith Lord however, was a far superior swordsman than Derek.
He managed to just beat Muir however. An underhanded trick allowed him to throw Derek far back, and the Sith Lord was able to claim the Infinite Rage for himself. He left, leaving Derek on the planet.
The Bothan Jedi Knight went on a hunt, chasing after Hauc, who stayed one step ahead of him. They clashed from time to time, as the Bothan continued to perfect his sword skills against not only Hauc but other Sith and Dark Jedi in Hauc's employ. During this time, he contacted his brother, Erik Muir, and asked for his help. Together the two brothers would be able to bring down the Sith Lord.
They were supposed to meet at this one abandoned system. Erik arrived, and waited, but neither Hauc or his brother came. During this time, he felt a disturbance in the Force, centered around one person, though he didn't know that person's name. He just knew that he had to go to Arkania. Who was he to question the Force? Erik left the system. Less than an hour later, Hauc jumped in system followed by Derek.
There Derek inflicted a serious loss on Hauc, though he was unable to kill the Sith Lord. Hauc escaped yet again, this time on a shuttle bound for Ossus. As the Sith Lord's ship was exploding all around him, Derek got back in his transport and gave chase, the final chase of his life.
He didn't know that ever since Fuega, the Sith Lord had been baiting him, wanting him to come after him so that he could kill him. Every time, it appeared that Hauc was just barely getting away, but in reality the Sith was just toying with him.
The Duel[]
- "We're not evenly matched, you and I. You just don't want to give up. Your inability to control your rage makes you weak. You have the qualities of a Jedi, Derek Muir, I will give you that. But you also have the qualities of a Dark Sider."
"I hope you're not offering me a chance to join you, for I will not."
"No...No, I'm not. I'm merely commenting on how I will be able to add another notch on my measure of how many Jedi I have killed." - — Zohmaj Hauc and Derek Muir
The duel on Ossus began after the two spoke for a few moments. Hauc knew that he had to kill Derek here and now. He had read the texts that prophesied the birth of Derek's twin boys and what they would be able to do. They would be the most powerful Force users ever, connected so intimately with the Force that they would be able to kill simply by thinking it. Unfortunately Hauc didn't properly read the texts, his interpretation of it was wrong. He didn't know that Derek's twins would be half human and half Silserian, something that Joshua Karn had properly understood. He believed that they would be two Bothans.
With the notion that he had to kill Derek now in his mind, Hauc struck. The two began to fight, in an old abandoned temple. They went back and forth. Derek had, over time, become one of the finest swordsman in the galaxy. His skills hadn't been honed from years of training, but rather from years of fighting Hauc and his Sith. His style was one of imagination and flare, a true master of Niman. He had also been able to learn Hauc's style and had become one of the most qualified to face Hauc.
Both men knew this and dug in for what was going to be a long fight. They trashed the temple as they fought, destroying the insides. As they dueled, Zohmaj utilized Dun Moch, knowing that Derek had problems in dealing with his anger and rage. He wanted to push Derek to his limits and thus force him to expose himself. Derek knew this and tried to counter it as best as he could, but he knew that since he'd never been good at stopping his inner rage from growing, he wouldn't be able to stop himself. His fight against Hauc had become too personal for Derek, it was just something that had become integral to him.
His only real contact with the outside galaxy had been his brother, but his brother hadn't been able to dissuade him from doing what he was doing. Neither had he been able to find a way to help his brother with the single mindedness that he was bringing to this problem. It was as though Derek had declared a personal Ar'kai on Hauc.
Everytime that the two brothers had been working together, Erik had been able to restrain Derek in some way. But he wasn't here, and Derek had a sinking feeling that this was going to be his last chance to get Hauc and threw himself into the fight. The two continued to fight for some time, neither able to fully best the other. Slowly, it seemed that Hauc was gaining the upper hand. He was able to push Derek back more and more each time. For his part, Derek's attacks were fewer, but were more calculated. He had to get past Hauc's formidable defenses and he had shifted tactics, deciding to go for fewer but more biting attacks.
As the fight continued, Derek felt his strength begin to slip and knew that he had lost the battle. It came suddenly. Hauc blocked Derek's red lightsaber and then stabbed him through the stomach. Derek didn't die instantly, and Hauc, falsely thinking that he had achieved victory over not just Derek, but Derek's future children, Sahaja and Jaidev, spoke to him for a while, telling him of the future that would take place now that he had failed and hadn't killed Hauc.
Then he left.
But Derek didn't die there.
Aftermath[]
- ""You're a…"
"Indeed. So I don't fear that action of yours. Now to my question?"
"Sure. I got it from a friend."
"Where did he get it from?"
"A farmer."
"A farmer?"
"A farmer, you know…a dead guy."
"Ah. So your friend stole it from a dead man?"
"Well no."
"The dead man, who was he?"
"I dunno. He was a Bothan like you." - — Kamino Citizen and Erik Muir
Neither of them knew it at the time, but a powerful Force user by the name of Joshua Karn had been following Derek and Hauc for a while, tailing them from place to place. He knew that Derek couldn't die here and set up an appointment with the cloners on Kamino to provide Derek with a new body. The body that was created was made by combining the genes of a more than a few powerful warriors, all of which came from the private stock that Karn had built over the years.
The body was also prematurely aged so that when Derek was placed inside of it, he would be at the same age, though he would age normally after that.
The action would bring the Jedi back from the dead and it would allow him to conquer the one of the strongest weaknesses that he had, his anger and his ability to control that anger.