User:Nayayen/Workbench

Commencement was the first story arc in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series of comics.

Originally, writer John Jackson Miller was going to call it Renegade.

Plot summary
While trying to make a sale, the Snivvian Marn Hierogryph is taken off-guard by Zayne Carrick, a Jedi Padawan assigned to bring the black marketeer to justice. Hierogryph manages to slip away from Carrick, who plummets off a high building. The phased Jedi manages to end up at a banquet held by the Jedi. After confronting his master, Lucien Draay, about the ordeal, Carrick is assigned to paying the Besalisk restaurant owner for dinner and the damage to the restaurant. Later, Carrick finds Hierogryph, and arrests the Snivvian, bringing him to the Taris Jedi Temple, only to find his friends murdered, with the Jedi Masters standing over them with lightsabers raised.

Carrick flees through the city on his Urban Navigator swoop, with Hierogryph in tow. They lose the masters' pursuit in a restaurant but fall down a garbage shaft that leads to the Lower City. Zayne tries to explain to Gryph what happened, and why his masters are trying to catch him. Hierogryph cuts down a Taris Civil Authority surveillance droid with Carrick's lightsaber. As they go out into the street, they see a large wanted bulletin in the SoroSuub Landing for Carrick's arrest for killing the Padawans, with Hierogryph listed as "an accessory" much to his chagrin. Hierogryph leads Carrick to a Kedorzhan bar, where he is sure that they're not to be seen, since the Kedorzhans can't see well after working in the mines. Carrick decides that they need to get offworld, and Hierogryph says that the only way off planet is through the Undercity. Back at the Temple, the masters are in meditation, eavesdropping on the fugitives' conversation, and prepare to go after Carrick.

During a dream, Zayne recounts a previous experience with his fellow Padawans, their final exercise as learners in an asteroid belt, when Gryph wakes him. They're riding in the back of a Wookiee's garbage wagon in the Lower City. As soon as they get out, they're accosted by Black Vulkar thugs who wish to collect their bounty. Gryph talks them out of it, saying there is spice sewn in the Wookiee's harness. He also tells Zayne about having spread a trail up to the gate to the Undercity, then continuing past the gate, since it would be crazy to go into the Undercity, because of the plague and the Rakghouls. Meanwhile in the Undercity, Masters Lucien Draay, Q'Anilia, Feln, and Raana Tey are fighting off hordes of rakghouls, having been misled by Gryph's deception. Master Xamar reports in that the fugitives have been spotted in the refugee camps. Gryph leads Zayne to the Last Resort, the home of someone who's helped him before, only to be attacked by Jarael, who tells them to leave. As Gryph is talking to Camper, an addled old mechanic, the Jedi Masters arrive with the Taris authorities. Camper fires up the Last Resort, which is actually an old junk hauler, and they all flee to space. As soon as they clear atmosphere, the power on the ship fails.

As the Taris orbital patrol ships are closing in, Camper fixes the power, and they flee to hide in an asteroid belt. When everyone else goes to sleep, Zayne flies clear of the asteroid belt's interference and calls Master Vandar Tokare, the master that taught him before he was apprenticed to Master Draay. He explains to him what really happened. Master Vandar believed him, but he was unsure if Zayne was that much innocent. Jarael knocks him out and flies them back into the belt. Zayne realizes that all of the masters are Consulars except Lucien. He decides they need to go to the last place the Padawans were before they were killed: the rogue moon, a low-gravity moon in the asteroid belt under perpetual bombardment from debris, and the site of the Padawans' final trial. When they get there, Zayne remembers that Elbee, the Jedi's loader droid, had fallen over a cliff, but would have seen what had happened to the masters there. They go to recover his remains, and Zayne realizes that Elbee had been thrown down, since the moon doesn't have enough gravity to have done that much damage to him. As they are gathering up the parts, the Masters descend on them from a patrol craft.

Despite managing to escape the Council, Zayne is convinced by Jarael that he has to turn himself in, for the Jedi shall never stop hunting him and eventually all he cares about will be destroyed in his attempts to flee. Returning to Taris along with Valius Ying, a bounty hunter, Zayne is brought before the Council, and it is revealed that the other Padawans were killed not because Zayne was late, but rather because of their number had arrived late, noticing that the Masters wore their lightsabers and that Lucien Draay was present. He deduced what the Masters planned to do and attempted to attack them, leading to their deaths ahead of the plan.

As he resigns himself to his fate, Zayne is rescued by Jarael wielding his lightsaber and disguised as the 'Sith' from the vision. The Council is taken by surprise and fails to prevent their escape. As he leaves the system aboard the Last Resort, Zayne leaves a message informing the Jedi that they had no need to search for him, for he would hunt them until he learned the truth behind their actions.

Dramatis personae

 * Zayne Carrick
 * Lucien Draay
 * Feln
 * Marn Hierogryph
 * Saul Karath
 * Q'Anilia
 * Alek Squinquargesimus
 * Raana Tey
 * Xamar
 * Gharn
 * Jervo Thalien
 * Shad Jelavan
 * Shel Jelavan
 * Kamlin
 * Oojoh
 * Gorravus
 * Reiva Carrick
 * Krynda Draay
 * Sowrs
 * Vandar Tokare
 * Benno
 * Camper
 * Jarael
 * T1-LB
 * Bala Nisi
 * Vrook Lamar
 * Zhar Lestin
 * Valius Ying
 * Shay Jelavan
 * Exar Kun
 * Zovius Mendu
 * Vodo-Siosk Baas

Species

 * Aleena
 * Anx
 * Aqualish
 * Arkanian
 * Offshoot
 * Besalisk
 * Bith
 * Drovian
 * Falleen
 * Feeorin
 * Gamorrean
 * Gran
 * Ho'Din
 * Human
 * Hutt
 * Ishi Tib
 * Ithorian
 * Kedorzhan
 * Khil
 * Koorivar
 * Miraluka
 * Nagai
 * Nautolan
 * Ortolan
 * Rodian
 * Skrilling
 * Snivvian
 * Sullustan
 * Togruta
 * Twi'lek
 * Yoda's species
 * Wookiee
 * Zabrak

Creatures

 * feathered dog
 * Kaadu
 * Rakghoul
 * Vornskr

Droid models

 * Diner droid
 * Jedi bulk-loader droid
 * T1 bulk-loader droid
 * Surveillance droid

Locations

 * Taris
 * Jedi Tower
 * Upper City
 * Lower City
 * Machineville
 * Junk Junction
 * Middle City
 * Undercity
 * Coruscant
 * Dantooine
 * Jedi Enclave
 * Rogue moon
 * Odryn
 * Corellia

Organizations

 * Galactic Republic
 * Jedi
 * Jedi Master
 * Padawan
 * Jedi Council
 * Jedi Covenant
 * Highport Stevedore Guild
 * Lhosan Industries
 * Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders
 * Sith
 * Taris Civil Authority
 * Black Vulkars
 * Hidden Beks
 * SoroSuub Corporation

Vehicles and vessels

 * Taris Jedi airspeeder
 * Goravvus's airspeeder
 * Tarisian airspeeders
 * Urban Navigator
 * Garbage Hauler
 * Last Resort
 * Taris Civil Authority Gunship
 * Taris Civil Authority police cruiser
 * Taris Civil Authority Airspeeder
 * Jedi Transport
 * Oroko

Weapons

 * Lightsaber
 * Shockstaff
 * Vibroblade

Other

 * Blaster power packs
 * The Force
 * Padawan Massacre of Taris
 * Durasteel
 * DX-300 traffic package
 * Holoprojector
 * Space suit
 * Blaster rifle
 * Tractor beam
 * Varactyl
 * Vocal enhancer
 * Ryll
 * Lum
 * Taboon hardwood
 * Dreeka fish

Issues

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1: Commencement, Part 1
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: Commencement, Part 2
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 3: Commencement, Part 3
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 4: Commencement, Part 4
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 5: Commencement, Part 5
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 6: Commencement, Part 6

Collections

 * ''Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement