Dantooine

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin did not meet Qaela's eye, choosing instead to stare at the cave where Ads and Arleigh had gone. He was rather pleased to see them getting along, and he hoped that Ads would continue to support her in the event that she chose to go down the path of a Jedi. Who could deny that it was the Force that had brought them to Dathomir, and that it had caused their meeting?

 

"You are correct in that I am going after him," he answered. "Such darkness cannot go unchallenged. But I am not concerned for my life. You and the others needn't risk yourselves by going with me."

 

Now he did turn his head to look at her. "I will make sure the Jedi Council knows of what I intend to do, but I will not ask you to accompany me... though I will accept your aid if you offer it." Even that was a somewhat dangerous proposition. He couldn't guarantee Qaela's behavior if confronted by such a Sith. She could be just as likely to ally with the dark sider and turn on him for the chance at learning some of that power. But Onderin's faith in the power of the Force overcame his wariness. Despite great peril, he knew there was strength enough within its will that he could overcome whatever obstacle.

 

He would go to Coronet city without fear.

[ObliviousKnight]

Onderin Starlisk's comlink chirped, indicating the reception of a message over the communications network of the Jedi Order. The sender was identified as Armiena Darkfire, from the usage of an ancient but otherwise valid identification code for the former Jedi Grandmaster. The message of brief and to the point, almost military in style.

 

“Master Starlisk, it’s Draygo. Masters Trevelian and Darkfire are with me. We’ve all felt a disturbance in the Force originating from the Galactic Rim and suspect that the source may be from Dantooine. Has anything unusual happened? Please respond.”

[Qaela]

She wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of the Jedi Council being involved. She figured Starlisk was able to at least accept her presence and freedom, but she wasn't sure other Jedi would be so lenient, especially if they found out her part in killing their former Grandmaster. It might be good to have more potential allies, but only if they didn't turn on her simply because she didn't bow to their strict ideology.

 

Still, she was surprised he didn't think it necessary to have her help. When facing a strong foe, it was always best to have as many strong allies as possible. When life and death were on the line, there was no such thing as overkill. The only way she ever survived was by having plenty of strong allies, not by turning down help.

 

She didn't immediately respond to him, but thought about other things, things she wanted and couldn't yet attain. "Will you think more of me if I help you?" she asked as nonchalantly as she could.

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin regarded Qaela searchingly--trying to figure the young woman out was like navigating the Koornacht Cluster with an outdated star chart. Ever since he had liberated her from the Jedi Temple on Ilum she had attached herself to him and he still didn't really know why. He had rejected her early amorous advances and demonstrated repeatedly a desire to alter her path away from the dark side, which she seemed completely unwilling to do. They were--philosophically and in other ways--nearly antithetical. And yet she still seemed willing to put herself in danger in order to raise his opinion of her.

 

The Jedi Master considered his answer. Whether or not her involvement made the difference between his life or his death, or his ability to vanquish this perceived evil, an ally was certainly a good thing to have. Although he could not allow the amount of support he had to determine whether or not he did the right thing and pursued this dark sider, he knew the strategic value of numbers. But would it strengthen his perception of Qaela if she showed herself willing to endanger herself to help him? Maybe marginally--she had already proven her ability to work with the Jedi toward a common goal.

 

"The potential is there," he said at last. "If you prove that you are not corruptible by this dark power as we pursue and catch up with its practitioner, it would speak to your control over the dark side and its temptation. Please understand that because I have not seen you exposed to such power, but that you have admitted to consorting with the Sith, I am forced by necessity to be skeptical."

 

Just then his comm chimed in. At least this time it wasn't a vague psychic message wafting in through the Force, he was relieved to note.

 

He was a little bit surprised but comforted when he realized it was coming from Armiena Dark--er, Draygo. And that she was with other Masters. It was reassuring to know that other such allies were at hand, especially ones as staunch as Draygo, Darkfire, and Trevelian. He almost wished they had Kirlocca's aptitude as well, but as much as he respected the wookiee, Kirlocca's exile had been purposeful. He had proven that his judgment could be so clouded by the dark side that he lost moral perspective.

 

He answered the comm. "Master Draygo, I am currently on Dantooine and can confirm that the disturbance occurred on-world. I have not approached the site of the incident but I believe it to be the work of a powerful Force practitioner. I was contacted via the Force by what I believe to be the perpetrator and he or she gave me reason to believe that the next target is Coronet City," he answered. "I recommend making haste for Corellia, and I will meet you there as soon as I can."

[Arleigh Burke]

((Sorry, Finals are almost over! ^.^))

 

She turned to Ads, "I feel kinda sick actually..." She looked at her hands and reached again for the orange crystal. This time being a bit more careful. It was like picking muja fruit, slow and steady. "I felt angry when I touched it, Angry to an extent I haven't felt in a long time. I would avoid those crystals if I were you." She stopped reaching for the crystal and looked at him.

 

"Should I take one too?"

[Darex Trevelian]

Making remarkable time, a Lambda-class shuttle appears out of hyperspace above Dantooine and begins a swift descent.

 

The moment that Darex entered orbit, he could feel it. A gaping wound, a mass of icy cold nothingness in the Force. It sickened him. This was clearly the handiwork of some Sith Master, for he knew of none other that had the stomach for the kind of violence that would create that type of void in the Force. His heart heavy, he landed the shuttle as close as he could pinpoint to the location where the emptiness was emanating from. It wasn't a precise art, and he knew he'd have to do some searching, so he hopped on the swoop bike that was in the shuttle's storage compartment. Heading off through the otherwise idyllic fields of Dantooine, he sent a comm to Onderin. "Master Starlisk, I'm onworld and heading for the epicenter of the attack. If you get the chance to join me, please do so, but if it will take you more than three hours to get here, forget about it, and we will meet outside the Coronet City grand opera house at 1400 hours in two days, local Corellian time."

 

As the Jedi Master approached, what had felt like one massive attack separated into two. Shrugging, he picked one and headed for it. The trace led him to a small farming settlement. The place was quite unsettled; clearly something had happened recently. He sought out the local security team, who told him that approximately ten hours ago, 20 people had been found dead in a locked bar, and when security forces had broken in, they had been attacked by nine others, all mindless husks that had attacked until they were dead. Security had lost five officers in the brawl before the nine had been stopped. "There is one other thing, Master Jedi," the Devaronian security lieutenant told him wearily. "One of the bodies had a datapad on him, outlining some sort of Force ritual. It was signed by Sith Master Jidai Geki."

 

Darex wasn't surprised; he had seen that much on the news, but he still somehow doubted that Geki had gotten free of CoreSec's maximum security ward and all the way to Dantooine without the Jedi Order being notified. He asked to be taken to the scene of the crime. It was grisly, but as he moved around the bar, his suspicions got stronger. This devastation was Geki's style, but Darex knew Geki quite well, and his Force-signature was absent from the scene. No, this was the work of someone else who was trying to pin it on Geki.

 

Only an investigation of the other site would tell the truth.

[Ads-Gop Flif]

((No worries, I just got home after finals last night))

 

Ads reassuringly placed his hand on Arleigh's shoulder. He looked at trhe crystals, taking in their soft glow. The orange wwas definitely not as eerie as the blue, although the anger that Arleigh felt was just as creepy. What made it worse was that Ads couldn't feel anything from the crystals that Arleigh had touched. He didn't think she was making it up, what sense would there be in that? Ads realized that not only could he not feel the anger that Arleigh mentioned, but he couldn't realy feel anything significant from any of the crystals. Except one. Perhaps it was just a function of how strongly the one crystal was calling out to him, singing to him, but he couldn't really hear anything significant from the other crystals. He made up his mind to not let that bother him and answered Arleigh's question that he realized he had left hanging.

 

"I wouldn't necessarily advise it. I won't say no because I don't really know much about them, but I do know that crystals are fairly important or symbolic or...something to Jedi. If it isn't your crystal then perhaps you're not meant to have it. For example, I can tell the exact location of the crystal that I am coming in here to get. I can tell how to get there and everything. If you can't, then it may be the wrong one or meant for someone else. That said, I don't really know how this all works so perhaps it's not a big deal if you take a random crystal. Either waya, I'm going this way to get my crystal," Ads said, pointing behind his back. "Keep up if you don't want to get lost!"

 

Ads turned and headed through the cave. After some turns and maybe a few twists, he had finally reached it. To him, it shone with an inner beauty. He couldn't help but smile at the thought of finally constructing his own lightsaber. After a moment's pause to take it in, he reached out and plucked it from where it had grown. He held it, felt its weight in his hand, and realized how perfect it was. No matter what anyone did, it was his crystal and nothing could change that. Ads pulled a cloth from his pack and swaddled the crystal. He gently cradled it, not wanting to drop it and put it in harm's way.

 

"Come on, Arleigh," he said to the girl, not taking his eyes off othe the crystal, its soft glow reflecting off of his face. Its birthing cry was the sweetest thing he had ever heard through the Force. Finally taking his eyes off of the crystal, he began the climb out of the cave.

 

((If Ads ever has a baby, I'm definitely going to copy and paste this post.))

[Arleigh Burke]

Arleigh gently placed her crystal into her satchel as she felt the anger began to drain. What an interesting time that had been. The crystal was warm to her touch and she could almost feel her own insecurity reflected in the crystal. She smiled and followed Ads into the abyss of the cave. The young Jedi found his crystal rather quickly, and they ascended from the cave. She blinked as the harsh sunlight hit her unprepared eyes. She looked around for the Jedi Master and looked to Ads. "Well did we find everything you needed for your lightsabre?" She was genuinely interested, for this was likely to be her path as well.

[Ads-Gop Flif]

Ads smiled at the girl's question. "Well, we found everything that we needed to find. From my understanding, while there are many parts of a lightsaber, only the one crystal might actually have a connection to its owner, although I am not sure. Thsat doesn't mean that lightsabers aren't unique--I have seen many unique lightsabers--just that this crystal is what gives it its Force connection to the Jedi."

 

Taking ther last few steps out of the cave, Ads approached Onderin. "Well, I got what I came here for," Ads announced to his master, patting his pack where he had apparently placed the crystal by now.

[Darex Trevelian]

Once onboard his swoop again, it didn't take Darex more than an hour to reach the site of the more devastating event. This was the epicenter, he could tell. Whatever had happened in the village, this was the true reason that whoever had done this had been on Dantooine.

 

As he dismounted and walked around the site, the lingering death made him nauseous. There was a very clear pattern of disaster radiating from a single point. Everything around that point was dead. No plants, no insects, no life of any kind was left. It was a circular blight upon the world. Nothing but ashes and bones. The bones indicated the presence of quite a few people who had been killed, and the scorch marks in one area indicated that the shuttle they had arrived on had self-destructed or been blown up. But Darex knew that that explosion was not the cause of what had gone on here. It was like the life had been leeched from the area.

 

There wasn't really anything else he could learn from the site. He hadn't yet identified the perpetrator, although he had a few suspicions. This place was just too dead to glean any kind of specific impression. Many had arrived, but he could tell only one had left. It was time to find out who that one person was, and bring them to justice. Before the same thing happened on Corellia.

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin acknowledged the comm from Master Trevelian but couldn't guess if he could be there in time so provided no further statement. Only a few minutes later, though, he could feel Ads emerging from the cave, radiating the satisfaction of a young Jedi embracing his new lightsaber crystal. The process didn't appear to have been too taxing, reminding Onderin that the experience could differ dramatically between Jedi. Some had visions, some were tempted by the dark side, and Onderin himself had had to outsmart a Gorgodon to slip past into the crystal caves beyond. Ads' victory was no less keen, however.

 

"Good work," he said. "While you were in there, I was corresponding with several other Masters whose attention was drawn to the same disturbance we felt when we arrived on world. Master Trevelian is here now to investigate the site of the disturbance. I would like to join him before heading to Corellia. I propose we make our way back to the ship and you can build your lightsaber there while we see what we can learn about what happened."

[Ads-Gop Flif]

((Sorry that I've been procrastinating for so long))

 

"Okay, that sounds great. Do we have any idea what really happened there?" Ads asked as he headed off for the ship. Luckily, due to plot contrivances, they were able to make it back to the ship rather quickly and without having to stop to eat or camp out. They didn't even all have to talk so it was really quick. When they got back to the ship, Ads met up with Onderin.

 

"So, are we ready to work on construction?"

[Onderin Starlisk]

((I would have liked one more post from Arleigh, but we need to keep moving.))

 

"Yes," Onderin said as they boarded. "But on that, I have no instruction to give you. All the parts are there, and you'll find that it appears to be a rather simple machine. But the true secrets reside within the Force itself. Trust in it, and your lightsaber will build itself."

 

As soon as everyone was aboard, the Jedi Master immediately headed for the cockpit, reaching out with the Force once again, expanding his sphere of influence and trying to get a read on the location of the disturbance as well as the familiar presence of Master Trevelian. Without hesitation he lifted the ship off the ground and started in his best guess of the right direction. Dantooine was large but mostly empty, and at sublight speeds orbiting the planet took only minutes.

 

It wasn't long before he could tell that the disturbance and Trevelian were close, and as he brought the shuttle down he was affronted by the strength of the disturbance. Although he tried to hide it, he was certain that his discomfort showed on his face as he lowered the boarding ramp. He looked at Qaela before setting forth. "Your senses may be less clouded here than mine. If you're willing to help, I could use you."

 

He then proceeded out from the ship, quickly closing with Darex.

[Qaela]

Being closer to the source of darkness was comforting, but there was something else here that she didn't like. Even though she had been steeped in the darkness and its many more arcane methods, this somehow felt wrong to even her. Initially, she had felt only the bliss of the surface darkness. Now that she was at its source, she could sense something else here, something that was deeper that disturbed even her.

 

The power used here required life as its fuel. Nightsisters had some spells that worked on the same premise, but that was like comparing a candle to an ion engine. Whatever the true source of power coming from this place, it was greater than anything she had felt before. That in and of itself worried her because if a being was able to tap into this power, they would be a force that truly needed to be reckoned with. Starlisk would definitely need all the help he could get, and likely from someone who knew and had access to the darkness in ways he did not. She loved and sought power as much as the next follower of darkness, but she was not so delusional as to believe that there wasn't a thing as too much power. Things had to be balanced, at least a little. If someone grew so powerful that they unleashed a spell that wiped out all life, who would be left to rule? What glory could be found within the darkness?

 

She new had a new issue to contend with. There was another Jedi Master among them, and she wasn't quite sure how they would react to her presence. She could hide in the shadows and keep a low profile, but where was the fun in that? She needed to know what her life would be like if she continued to attach herself to Starlisk, and what better place to find out than one where she likely held the advantage? As Starlisk had said, the darkness here clouded the followers of the light, so if a fight was to be had, she might come out on top despite being outnumbered. At the least, she could escape.

 

Keeping hold of her spear, she emerged from the ship and confidently strode out into the wide area of dark side destruction. It was a glorious feeling, though one that disturbed her slightly. The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end. She tried to get a feel for who might have done such a thing, but the presence was completely foreign to her. She had crossed paths with many of the most powerful Sith, but none who felt like this. There was a sense of maniacally chaotic purpose here that made the other Sith look positively sane, and that concerned her.

 

"You are going to need more Jedi if you want to stop this," she pronounced somberly. "Whenever we find whoever did this, I recommend orbital bombardment. You don't want to go anywhere near this sort of power, trust me on that. I don't even want to go anywhere near it, and I follow the darkness."

[Darex Trevelian]

Darex was just about to leave and head to Corellia when he sensed Master Starlisk approaching the scene, accompanied by several others. As they exited their vehicle, the Grandmaster went over to greet them. “Master Starlisk,” he said, bowing traditionally. “I’m glad you could make it.”

 

The woman that followed Starlisk out of the ship was, to Darex’s surprise, the Nightsister Qaela. He had never met her, but he had read her file. It was interesting to him to see her traveling with Starlisk. Apparently she was helping too, because as she came out, she immediately gave her own opinion on the situation. Her words were a bit melodramatic, but it was interesting that she also felt disquieted by the gravity of what had occurred here.

 

Darex nodded. “Yes, it appears that whoever was responsible for this catastrophe is a being of great strength and power. He appears to have leeched the life out of everything around us, centered over here,” he said, walking over to the epicenter and putting his hand on the dead dirt. “Then there was an explosion of some vessel, probably a shuttle given by the blast radius, which killed anyone else left, save our perpetrator himself, who then headed to a small village about 100 clicks south of here.” He stood up and brushed dirt off his hands. “The village pub was attacked. The local police force found a room that had been sealed from the inside. When they opened it, they were attacked by several men that had gone mad and killed everyone else in the room. The autopsies revealed no drugs in their system that would have caused their madness. It was clear to me after doing my own examination that their minds were twisted and snapped by the Force.”

 

He took a few steps closer to Onderin. “Obviously this was a Force-user of great power and skill, which narrows down our options greatly. There was a note on one of the bodies at the pub that was from Master Jidai Geki, claiming responsibility. While I wouldn’t put it past Master Geki to do something like this, it doesn’t quite feel right. Besides, last I heard, Master Geki was still incarcerated by CoreSec. Master Starlisk, you were on-planet when this occurred. Did you sense anything that might give us an idea of who exactly we are dealing with?”

 

Even if Onderin didn’t have an extra information, Darex knew they needed to move fast. Corellia was vulnerable, and even though he knew Masters Darkfire and Draygo would have arrived by now to scope out the situation, they would certainly need backup if dealing with a Sith of this power.

[Ads-Gop Flif]

((I had a long post typed up and then my tablet restarted and I lost everything. Sorry this will be vague but I hate redoing things.))

 

Ads spread out the pieces for his lightsaber and selected some and put them together. The hilt was silvery, it could only be turned on by Ads and there was a knob on the outside. It had a green crystal. Ads turned it on and it didn't blow up. Ads told Arleigh he was going out and then went to Onderin and Qaela with his new lightsaber clipped onto his belt.

 

((I will leave it up to others to decide when Ads shows up because it obviously would take longer than a minute for him to build the lightsaber.))

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin nodded at Darex. "Last I heard, both Geki and Ar-Pharazon are out of the picture," he said. "This doesn't seem like the work of Furion or Quietus. I think we have to face the possibility that Faust is still alive." Onderin had faced a lot of Emperors over his career, and many of them had been persistent and powerful men, his chiefest enemies. But ever since the massacre on Coruscant, he had realized that the destructive capacity of the entire Galactic Empire was at least still bound by law, and that the true enemies to galactic security would persist even through its defeat. He had striven hard to achieve that defeat, but now such men as Faust ensured that the troubles of the galaxy would prevail.

 

It was time to bring about the demise of those men. CoreSec was on the right track, but they had jurisdiction and other rules to keep them from pursuing these war criminals to the places they could run. Only the Jedi Order that had the agency to deliver justice.

 

"We need to get to Coronet City," Onderin said. "Whatever the Sith's designs are for that place, we need to try and prevent them. There could be many lives at stake." It was good to know that Aryian and Armiena were there, and it was very good to know that Aryian had fully recovered from his jaunt into the dark side. He trusted that they could handle even Faust (or whoever it was), but that assumed they were able to guess at his game in time.

[Darex Trevelian]

Darex grimaced. Unfortunately, that was the conclusion he had reached as well. There really was no one else that fit the bill besides Vladimir Faust. "You mentioned in your comm that you knew Corellia was going to be the next target, which means that Faust left deliberate hints when he felt your presence here. Since we are dealing with Faust, I have no doubt that he has indeed gone to Corellia, but I also guarantee that he is several steps ahead of us. Faust never acts without an intricate plan, and if he is practically inviting Jedi to chase him, then part of his plans include laying a trap for us."

 

Unfortunately, there wasn't much that could be done but follow the trail and hope they caught up before it was too late. Darex was not satisfied with that. People would die in the meantime, and that was unacceptable. No, they'd have to somehow out-think Faust, a man who was, beyond any shadow of doubt, a genius. "Alright, let's head to Corellia. Keep Jedi combat frequency resh open. I'll contact Darkfire and get a report on our way. I think we can agree that Corellia will not be his last target, so see if you can think of a place he might go next."

 

The latter was aimed at both Onderin and Qaela. He hoped that Qaela's unique perspective would be helpful, assuming she was invested enough to participate. He wondered what she was doing traveling with Onderin in the first place. As far as he knew, she was still a ranking member of the Sith. He made a mental note to ask Onderin about that later. Swinging his leg over his speeder bike, he nodded to them. "Unless we get further information while in transit, I'll meet you on Corellia."

[ObliviousKnight]

Darex Trevelian received an encrypted message from Armiena Draygo. It was audio-only, but the former Jedi Grandmaster sounded more than a little stressed.

 

“Darex, it’s Draygo. We’ve… made a bit of a mess of things. We can confirm that Faust is involved somehow, but he’s managed to get away. No civilian casualties that I know of, but… you know how it is. I suggest we meet up on the Eternal Vigilance and make our plans before he rears his head again. Oh, and I think I might have an outstanding warrant on my head for coercing a public official into establishing a no-fly zone. Yeah, if you could keep CoreSec from boarding the EV, just in case, that would be great.”

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin nodded and turned to go when he saw Ads approaching with a brand-new lightsaber on his belt. It seemed that the young man had had no trouble creating it, just as Onderin had anticipated. Ads had been a student of the Force for a long time and had proven himself quite capable of tackling all kinds of challenges that were thrown at him. At this point, Onderin knew that Ads was very close indeed to becoming a Jedi Knight. They would just need to find some time to get some lightsaber instruction in, for in this galaxy it was very likely that Ads would need to know how to defend himself.

 

"Well done," he said. "We're going to head back to the core worlds and pursue this threat directly." As he said that, however, Darex got a comm. After the other Jedi Master had listened to it and filled him in, Onderin frowned. "It's good to have confirmation that it's Faust, but I'm not certain that we need to spend time languishing aboard the Eternal Vigilance. We need to either spend time in the field investigating leads or get CoreSec on board to do the same thing."

 

As far as he could remember, there were still several ex-bounty hunters in CoreSec leadership positions. Given that they had managed to capture Ar-Pharazon and incarcerate Geki, deploying the same agents against Faust seemed like an obvious move, especially if he stayed among the core systems. They of all people knew what a threat Faust was.

[Darex Trevelian]

"I'll contact CoreSec, of course," Darex agreed. "But the problem remains that we have no leads. Putting CoreSec on alert will let us know the minute Faust rears his head up again, at least in the core, but otherwise I'm not sure if there is anything that can be done until he does make another appearance. There is not much we can do from a mobile link up with the Archive systems either. At least from the EV we can put the entire Jedi network on alert."

 

He wasn't happy that Armiena had chosen the Eternal Vigilance as their rendezvous. He knew how Darla felt about too many Jedi congregating onboard when they didn't have to. But with luck, they wouldn't be there long. And in the meantime, Darex wasn't at all opposed to being near his family. However, if they were going to meet there, and everyone was going to have to go through the almost-ridiculous security systems and protocols the EV had in place, then there was one other issue. Darex motioned for Onderin to step away from the others for a moment and put a hand on the other Jedi's arm.

 

"Chances are we will hear something on Faust's whereabouts before we get to the EV, but even so, I'm not comfortable with you bringing the Nightsister onboard it. It is a sensitive Jedi base, one of our last most strategic field resources. Even if you can vouch for her, I think it best if she remained on your ship or elsewhere." He didn't know why she was traveling with Onderin, or how trustworthy Onderin felt she was, but it was going to take an act of the Force itself for Darex to allow a Nightsister free access to his family.

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin gave a short exhale and shook his head. "Waiting for Faust to strike again is inviting this same disaster to claim more lives. He told me that he would be in Coronet City, so he wishes to be pursued. Why would he then let trail go cold there? I have no doubt in the insight and ability of Masters Draygo and Darkfire, but I cannot sit and wait." The Jedi had a way of paralyzing themselves by being unwilling to take action. It had been happening for millennia--it had even been the cause of the ancient Jedi Revan going to war against the Mandalorians.

 

Some Jedi had followed Revan back in those days, and many of them had been cut off from the Order for their actions. Onderin was confident that had he lived during those days, he, too, would have gone to war.

 

"Please inform me of any developments," he said to Darex as he turned to leave. "I'll be on Corellia."

 

Qaela followed wordlessly, apparently either content to let the Jedi settle their differences without her input or not caring enough to voice it. It would steer them around any unpleasantness concerning how welcome she would be aboard the Eternal Vigilance, anyway. Onderin knew she would prefer to have limited contact to other Jedi Masters, and while such was looking inevitable, he could at least put it off.

 

Soon they were back aboard the shuttle Onderin had been borrowing since way back on Ilum and quickly got offworld.

[Darex Trevelian]

Darex nodded. He had sort of hoped that Onderin would say that. He could always count on Onderin to not be one to sit and wait for things to happen. He mounted his speeder bike and zoomed off, heading back to where he had landed his ship. Once he was in space, he set course offworld.

[Aelyn]

The Open Road dropped quietly out of hyperspace in the system belonging to the outer rim world of Dantooine, its sublight engines cut for the moment.

 

Dantooine was not on Aelyn's list of tourist spots where she had been planning on visiting before she'd stumbled upon Aira Cadan and her life had taken a dramatic turn. It was far away from the interesting, influential, and busy worlds of the Core and, according to a holonet search Aelyn had performed during the jump from Borleais, it only had about a third of a million permanent residents total. Home only to a few cities and colonies with an emphasis on farming, the rest of the world was huge swaths of open plains, mountains, and oceans. Despite her chief interest being people, however, Aelyn was not overly critical of such planets, as they often possessed a natural beauty unspoiled by millennia of industry and expanding permacrete urban sprawls.

 

As was now becoming second nature to her, she immediately stretched out with the Force to see if she could glimpse the world's true character, to get the kind of impression only revealed by her new senses. She was immediately confronted by something the holonet had most certainly not mentioned, something which stood out to her like the signal of a lighthouse in the night.

 

"Is our destination is that beacon of Force energy?" she asked Aira even as she engaged the sublight drives and began to orbit Dantooine to bring the Open Road closer to the source. "It's really quite extraordinary, isn't it?"

[Aira Cadan]

Dantooine was always a mixed bag. It was the site of some horrific events in the past, but had always nevertheless regained its quiet peace. It always gave me hope. And I loved the landscape--the softly waving grasses were soothing, and the open spaces always made my spirit soar.

 

As we slipped into orbit, Aelyn commented on a beacon of Force energy. I stretched out my senses and felt nothing out of the ordinary. "What bea--" I started to ask. Then I checked myself. We were here for Aelyn, and if she was being led by the Force, I was not going to stop her. "Yes, of course. Take us down." I smiled. "Your senses are improving."

 

Once Aelyn indicated we were close, I had her land in the nearest town. It was a small one, but it would serve our purposes. As we exited the Open Road, I handed Aelyn a credit chit. "Alright, your first step is to get the mechanical parts you need."

[Aelyn]

Aelyn didn't miss Aira's momentary confusion, but it wasn't of any great concern to her when she had a clear goal ahead of her. The beacon of energy felt almost like a shaft of light cutting through the darkness, although it wouldn't be fair to call the rest of Dantooine 'dark'. Indeed, the wide open plains and sprawling herds of grazing animals as well as the predatory kinrath and kath hounds gave the planet an air of serenity. Somewhere beneath it all she thought she felt the distant echoes of tradition and serenity that she strongly associated with Tython and the Jedi Order. But truthfully it was difficult to focus on anything too finely other than the brilliant searchlight that seemed to be calling to her far more strongly than anything she had before felt in the Force.

 

Now having landed, Aelyn gathered the small handful of components she had so far. She'd mostly raided the small cabinet of backup parts she had for the Open Road in case she'd needed to make simple repairs without access to a mechanic. Her own skills in that area were modest at best, but in this case they at least gave her a start on the internals of the Jedi's weapon. She still needed several items, however -- a beam emitter and focusing lens, for example, as well as some pieces that could serve as a hilt. Her quest quickly led her to what was essentially a junk merchant -- most likely a scavenger. The man's strategy appeared to be to eyeball whatever she was looking at and name an outrageous price to see if he could sucker her into overpaying for it. Aelyn found, however, that the Force made it easy to tell when he was being deliberately dishonest, and by monitoring his emotions she found she could talk him down much closer to the object's actual value.

 

Most of the parts were common, like Aira had said. The hilt itself she would have to improvise. She collected a number of cylindrical objects, targeting ones that were clean and retained a luster that was silvery or brass. She then grabbed the activation stud from a fusion cutter, some loose wires, and a short length of some variant of leather together with some tiny fasteners. She purchased more than she thought she needed so that she had some options when the lightsaber actually started to take shape.

 

Stashing her purchases in her bag, Aelyn then looked out towards the Force beacon again. "We should rent a speeder," she suggested.

 

A few minutes later they were speeding over the plains in an open-top landspeeder towards a destination that had no physical shape yet. Aelyn really didn't know where she was going or what they were going to find, but she imagined it had something to do with crystals. She wasn't even sure exactly how far away it was, but she liked the feel of the wind in her hair, the smell of the earth and grass, and the warmth of the sun on her fair skin. It was hard to imagine in this peaceful place that somewhere, across the galaxy, a war was brewing. Aelyn wondered if someone like her could just lay low in a place like this and ride out even another galactic war in blissful ignorance. The thought held very little appeal -- her parents had impressed upon her that she had a moral responsibility to help people that grew proportionally with her means. At one point she had been envious of her father because he was able to do so much through his position; now the things that had happened to her in the last several days had opened up doorways to her that perhaps even he did not have.

 

Lost in thought, Aelyn nearly drove right past the source of the beacon. She suddenly hit the brakes and came to a halt near what appeared to be a cave mouth, thrown against her restraints. "Sorry," she apologized to Aira. "But I think we're here... wherever 'here' is."

 

Unbuckling, she got out of the speeder and started toward the cave, senses alert in the Force. There were definitely things living in there, and from how they felt, she wasn't sure they would be too happy about two humans invading their space. "Uh, any ideas on how to deal with the residents?" she asked.

[Aira Cadan]

As we drew near the cave, I became certain that it was Aelyn's crystal that was calling out to her, especially as I felt nothing. However, the cave was unsurprisingly filled with kinrath. I looked over at Aelyn, appraising her, and then made a quick decision. "There is a method of Force use that will be helpful here. I think you'll be a natural. It involves entering the mind of a creature and calming it, presenting yourself as a non-threat. It allows you to calm beasts and pass through without harm. It can also be used to tame an attacking beast, or temporarily domesticate one to use as a mount."

 

I quickly ran through the basics with her. It wasn't that much of a stretch from what she had already been doing, and it would be an easier jump later when I showed her how to apply it to sentients. Once I felt like she had grasped it, I nodded towards the cave. "Nothing for it except to practice as you go," I said. "Don't worry; if you need help, I'll be monitoring your progress."

[Aelyn]

Aelyn glanced back and forth between Aira and the cave for a moment. It seemed like her Master wasn't going to go with her, which meant that if the technique she'd just learned in theory didn't work, she would likely be attacked by territorial or predatory beasts within the cave. As a rule she tried to avoid that kind of situation.

 

After a moment however she set her jaw and faced the cave. She was way more capable now than she had ever been before. Even if the beast trick didn't work, she could run at superhuman speeds, dodge a dozen projectiles at once and glimpse the future. The world was simply less dangerous to her than it used to be.

 

Stretching out with her senses, she oriented herself towards the beacon and headed intrepidly into the cave. The first thing that hit her was a rather sweet smell that seemed to cling to the walls. It didn't take long before she saw a group of nesting kinrath. The huge arachnids were horrifying messes of legs and venomous mandibles, and many of them stood over four feet tall. Aelyn pushed down her natural fear response, instead focusing on the Force as she had been taught. She could feel the beings' simple minds. They were all seemingly connected together, each a mirror of the others. Their tiny brains seemed somehow sympathetic to the smell of this place, like there was some sort of affiliation between them.

 

Touching those minds, Aelyn planted a twofold suggestion. One was the calming technique that Aira had taught her. Simply put, the kinrath might see her, but they would be utterly ambivalent to her presence, neither curious nor threatened. The second part she was improvising -- she tried to influence them to think she had the same scent that the cave did, so that she would seem less out of place. On the first group, at least, it seemed to work, and she could feel in the Force some of the other minds of the kinrath seem to shift as well. Their hive mentality seemed to be working in her favor.

 

Moving on, Aelyn approached the source of the Force beacon. Although it was bright in her mind, it wasn't super clear what was the best way to get there, as the cave tunnels twisted and turned. She tried to keep track of where she was going so she could find her way back out, but it was difficult to do on top of maintaining her concurrent Force techniques. It didn't help that on two occasions she had to backtrack when she took a branch of the cave that led to a dead end.

 

A few minutes and several docile kinrath encounters later, she felt the beacon was right ahead of her. She rounded a bend and found herself in a large cavern and her breath caught. The entire area was sparkling with gems. There were blue ones, green ones, purple and pink ones, clear ones, yellow ones, and every shade in between. There was also an enormous kinrath that must have been eight feet tall sitting right in the middle, surrounded by attendants. It turned its alien gaze on her dispassionately, and Aelyn focused her new technique on it. According to what she had read en route to Dantooine, kinrath hives were ruled by a queen, no doubt the monstrous beast before her. One snap of one of its mandibles and it could kill her. Aelyn wondered suddenly if any Jedi apprentices had died trying to get lightsaber crystals. What an ignominious end that would be.

 

Edging around the outside of the cave, keeping her distance from the queen, Aelyn spied a purple crystal protruding from a rock nearby. Purple was a pretty color, she decided, and so started trying to pry the crystal out of the stone with her fingers. It wasn't coming out, and even as she tugged and tried to get a better grip, the Force beacon seemed to pulse, almost naggingly. She'd thought it was coming from the chamber as a whole, but now she looked around again and realized it was coming from a specific part of it. The part nearest the kinrath queen.

 

Aelyn gritted her teeth, almost paralyzed with fear. She was in the deep end now. If she lost her focus on her new Force technique, she would literally die. In that case, she surely would have been better off turning down Aira's offer to train her as a Jedi. Even her old life of humble, small-scale service beat dying over some rock in a crummy cave on a backwater planet. Being willing to take risks to walk this path and do greater good in the future sounded great in her head, but she wouldn't be doing anyone any good as a snack for oversized arachnids.

 

Unfortunately, she couldn't turn back now if she wanted to. The only way out was through. Quieting her mind, Aelyn centered herself again. She could do this. If the Force technique really worked as it had so far, the kinrath queen was no more dangerous than the cave walls were. She approached it quietly, the nagging sensation of the beacon drawing her forward. Once she was within five feet of the kinrath, she began realizing that the beacon was somehow under it. That was a problem.

 

She took another deep breath and let it out. "Hi there," she said, soothing the beast's mind and reaching out her hand. Taking a shaky step forward, she touched its rough leg, which felt kind of like snake skin. It eyed her but gave no indication of any intent it might have for her. "I... don't suppose I could convince you to move over there?"

 

The kinrath continued to stare at her, unmoving.

 

"Um. Please?"

 

Suddenly the legs were in motion and the queen scuttled off towards some other part of the cave, her attendants following her. Aelyn let out a sigh of relief. Under the kinrath was another rock outcropping, and set in it was a brilliant blue gem which seemed to shine with an inner light. Aelyn touched it and it came loose in her fingers. The gem shone in the Force even brighter than it did in the dim cavern light, which was provided by a column of sun spilling in through a hole in the ceiling. The crystal somehow seemed to warm her, like it resonated with her in the same way that the kinrath associated with the scent of the cave. It was probably the most beautiful thing she had ever seen -- just holding it felt like a privilege. In any case, it was definitely the source of the beacon she had felt even from space, and she wondered what that meant.

 

Aelyn turned to leave the way she had come in, but found three more of the smaller kinrath had moved to block her way. Touching their minds in the same way as the others, she moved to squeeze past them. To her surprise though, they actively moved to block her, their multifaceted eyes seemingly drawn the the crystal clutched protectively in her left hand. "Hey," she said. "I was meant to come take this. Is that okay?"

 

In response one of them suddenly scuttled toward her, mandibles slashing. She gave a startled leap back. The chamber filled with a harsh clacking sound and suddenly more kinrath came pouring in from the other entrances to the cavern. Aelyn's eyes widened as she looked around for some way to escape. Her eye was suddenly drawn to the hole through which sunlight was entering the chamber. Forcing herself to remain calm and remember that she had practiced this for hours, she called the Force around her and into her legs. "Fine. Be that way," she said to the kinrath, then sprang into action.

 

One leap took her to a high outcropping, where she teetered for a second before finding her footing and executing a second jump out into the sunlight. She was dazzled by the transition for several seconds, but despite all the clacking going on below her, she was safe, and she still had the crystal.

 

Triumphantly she jogged over the rocky hill and back down to Aira, holding the crystal aloft as she approached. "That was incredible," she said. "Look at this thing. Have you ever felt something so strong in the Force that isn't alive? How can it do that?"

[Aira Cadan]

"Excellent work, Padawan!" I praised as she came up to me. The blue crystal she carried was beautiful, and the perfect size for her first lightsaber. I chuckled as she asked her question. "To be honest, it's somewhat of a mystery. Some Jedi scholars do believe that the crystals are alive, and grow. Others say it has to do with the guiding of the Force. Others yet say that somehow the crystal chooses the Jedi, which is why not every crystal is fit for every Jedi."

 

I motioned for her to follow as I walked around the area, heading towards a large tree not far away. "You have just completed what is referred to as the Gathering. Now it's time to combine it with the other pieces and create your lightsaber. The crystal is not, by itself, the power source of the weapon. Like the Force user, the crystal is attuned to the Force. Without that attunement, the crystal is just a rock. And while a non-Force user could probably ignite and wield a lightsaber, provided the crystal was properly attuned to the Force, all that lightsaber would be for him is a shaft of superheated plasma. But for a Jedi, the lightsaber becomes more: it is a manifestation of a Jedi's connection to the Force."

 

We arrived at the large tree. I took a seat on the dirt under it's shade and motioned for Aelyn to do the same. "This attunement can take up to several days. You'll enter meditation. The Force will guide you in the making of the saber." I paused, wondering if I should warn her about the rest of it. "While you're ostensibly tuning the crystal, the Force will also make some attunement in you. I cannot say what it will ask of you, or how it will change you, but it will not do so without your submission to it's will. If you are successful, you will know when the blade is complete. I will keep an eye on you, and make sure you're safe while you perform this task."

 

I rose to my feet and smiled down at her. "May the Force be with you."

[Aelyn]

Days? Aelyn thought. She wasn't sure they had days to spend on anything. There was no telling what the Senate was talking about right now, and what steps could be being taken towards war.

 

But Aira was just as invested in putting a stop to the fighting as she was, she reminded herself. Maybe the Force would at least be sympathetic to their time constraints, if that was a thing. The way it had led her to the crystal promised that they were following its will, so the best thing for her would be to relax, focus on the task at hand, and let Aira worry about what they would do next.

 

So Aelyn took another deep breath and let it out as she did when centering herself. It was difficult letting go of her emotions. Her mind was practically buzzing as it mentally reviewed everything that happened in the cave. The excitement of the technique working, the fear of the kinrath, and the daring escape with her prize. She didn't consider herself an adrenaline junky by any means, but getting a taste of being able to call and rely upon her new supernatural abilities to get her through a situation most humans would find impossible was... a little bit intoxicating. It was a different thrill than she got from visiting new places, and a more immediate one.

 

Still, she forced her mind to quiet itself by closing her eyes and focusing on listening. She could hear the breeze in the grass, then she started to peel away the layers in her mind. Wind blowing through the cave. The birds chirping. Insects. Finally, the low hum of the universe that she could have been imagining but she had come to associate with the Force. The tone of silence, the peace of Dantooine.

 

Her hands picked up some of the lightsaber components she'd laid out in the grass before her, but mentally, she was somewhere else.

 

------------------

 

Aelyn walked down a dark tunnel. She could barely make out a thing in the dim light. She could hear the distant trickle of water, and something crunched beneath her feet. Occasionally a droplet would fall from the ceiling and land on her head or clothes, suggesting the cave was underneath some water source.

 

She had no immediate sense of why she was here, but the Force seemed to beckon her onward. An odd sense of foreboding hung thick in the air. The same anxiety she'd felt entering the cave and encountering the first kinrath came to settle upon her. She had only her wits and her mission in this place; there was no certainty of what she would find or whether she was capable of handling it. It was just her versus the unknown, and she could only hope her training had prepared her for it. She tried to reassure herself that the Force was with her, but it seemed empty with all the darkness that barraged her physical senses.

 

There was a scuttling sound from the ceiling above her. She looked up but couldn't see anything in the darkness. She felt a tickle on the back of her neck. She slapped it with her hand but there was nothing there. Suddenly she seemed to itch just about everywhere and she heard the scuttling again.

 

No, she thought. She called on the Force and pushed down on her fear. She focused on walking down the path. It seemed to go on and on. The trickle of water sounded closer than before, but she couldn't tell where it originated. The scuttling intensified.

 

Finally there was a new sound. A horrific slurping noise. She could sense something alive ahead of her. A freezing claw of dread wrapped around her heart. One twitch and it would tear her open.

 

"Wh-- who's there?" she managed.

 

Suddenly the creature shrieked as if startled. There was a crackling thrum and a red blade of plasma lit the cave, its brilliance startling. The creature was humanoid, but lean and bent. Its flesh seemed to writhe. At its feet was what appeared to be a human body, naked and partially dismembered. The trickle of water was coming from just beyond it, but it was dark crimson liquid. Aelyn's eyes stole to the ceiling for just the briefest moment. There, feet cemented to the stone ceiling, were a score of emaciated human cadavers, mouths agape in contorted masks of horror, their blood running in rivulets down the wall... or falling as droplets. Thousand-legged insets the size of Aelyn's head skittered between them, picking away at their pallid flesh.

 

"Kriffing hell!" Aelyn's eyes widened in horror and revulsion, and terror seized her as she turned around and fled from the wraith with the shining red blade. Bones littered the cavern floor, and with disgust she realized in the light that she, too, was coated in sweat and the blood that had been raining down on her. Twice she almost tripped and the red light source pursued her, revealing still more bodies cemented in the ceiling, hair dangling and flesh withered. She knew without a doubt that one false step and she would join them.

 

The frantic flight seemed to drag on for minutes as she desperately tried to remember the way she'd come in, hoping it would lead her to safety. Her ragged breathing was drowned out by the thrum of the blade that was at her heels and the clicking of a multitude of chitinous feet on the stone on every side of her. Surely she would never see the sun or her parents again, or any of the people she had met on her journey. Not one of her friends from Coruscant or since. And not Aira, whom she had been hoping to learn so much from about the Force....

 

The Force. Aelyn tried to call on it, but in her terror it had become slippery. Still, there was just a hint of a stirring from that other sense... a direction. She threw herself after it, not daring to think. The dark figure behind her seemed to mutter and chant, and she could practically feel his hot breath on her neck.

 

Finally she came to where the Force was leading her, her feet aching, her energy spent, her lungs on fire, coated in a cold sweat. There she saw a stone platform about waist high. Propped up on it was a lightsaber. It felt like the beacon she'd followed to Dantooine but... refined somehow.

 

No! she thought. This was where the Force was leading her? She couldn't use a lightsaber! How could she be expected to fight the being that had killed so many?

 

Death was her only alternative, however. The cave was a dead end. Aelyn called on the Force and the weapon leaped to her hand. Her finger found the activation stud and a brilliant azure blade erupted from the hilt. Suddenly her fear evaporated and in place of it she felt determination. It fit in her hand better than the best pair of traveling boots she'd ever owned fit her feet. It seemed almost to have a presence of its own; it was safety and peace and assurance. Like the warm embrace of her father after she'd woken up from a nightmare as a child.

 

She whirled about, somehow knowing just how to set her feet and position the blade. But her foe was gone, and so was the cave.

 

--------------------

 

Aelyn stood beneath the tree, azure blade thrumming in her combat stance. It was night, and a few rain drops were trickling their way through the branches to splash on her hair and skin. Occasionally one would hit the blade with a sizzle.

 

Suddenly she turned off the blade and collapsed back on the ground as her adrenaline faded, and her tears joined the rain that moistened her face.