The Eternal Vigilance (The Maw)

[Darex Trevelian]

Darex took another deep, steadying breath. Yes, Armiena was right, both in the location of the disturbance and the need to act quickly. For the moment, they knew where Faust was. But he surely wouldn't stay there long.

 

He was about to speak up, when a strand of worry plucked at him. There were so many things that could go wrong. He knew Armiena was willing to take the risk, and that she was a strong independent woman who could take care of herself, but what she was proposing was no small matter. If it worked it would be worth it, but if it didn't, who knew what would happen? He didn't want to put his friend in a position like that. But he also knew that this was their best chance. "Alright," he finally said.

 

He was about to speak to the Cathar that Aryian had brought in with him, but then a security guard motioned for her to come over, and the opportunity was lost. The Grandmaster did want her to feel welcome, but it was probably best she left before what was about to happen, especially as she was clearly new to the Order. So Darex settled for softly speaking a welcome into her mind through the Force, and encouraging her to head down to get herself registered in the system. Perhaps she reacted strongly to hearing his voice in her mind--it was usually a shock to those who were unfamiliar with that form of communication--but Darex didn't really notice. "Please leave us," he said quietly to everyone else in the room.

 

Once the Council Chambers were empty save for Darex and Armiena, he moved over to her. "Try to relax," he said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I will do my best to track you while you hunt him down. I will not abandon you to his clutches," he promised. "Have no fear."

 

With that, his green eyes closed, and he immersed himself in the Force. The light side embraced him, and for a moment, he was overcome with the gentle joy of it's presence. His connection with it never grew old, and he hoped it never would. Slowly, he entered Armiena's mind, moving in gently along streams of shared memories that they both had. He felt her removing what barriers she could to help him, but her mind was locked up very tightly. He did what he could to minimize her discomfort, and tried to stay away from memories of a personal nature, but it was inevitable that he learn things about her that he hadn't known before. Finally, he nudged a corner of her brain and put her into a deep sleep.

 

Once she was unconscious, it was time to get to work. The Grand Master immersed himself even deeper into the currents of the Force. Human error would be debilitating at this juncture. He had to surrender himself to the Force and trust it to not let him make a mistake. Fortunately, Darex didn't have to change a lot in Armiena's mind. He left her long-term memory completely untouched and focused instead on the short-term. Carefully, he turned the Force into a razor that scraped away and obliterated most of what had happened over the past few days. It was difficult and painstaking, and Darex was grateful for the time he had spent learning the healer's arts from his old master, Skye, for much of the theory was the same. He was narrow with his mental probe, and yet he had to plunge deep, for he had to remove not only memories of events, but the feelings related with those, and even the tangents her mind had taken as a result of the things that had happened and the conversations she had had. There were things he could leave in--what had happened, Faust's words, her leaving Corellia and heading to the EV. But everything else had to go.

 

It was hard to say how much time passed, for both Jedi were unaware of it. But eventually, Darex knew he had removed every relevant memory from the present back to when she was on Corellia only a few days ago. He left untouched everything that was not going to change. Now came the even tricker part. He had to fill her mind with false memories. In theory, every Padawan learned to manipulate the thoughts of others and give them ideas that were not their own, but what Darex was doing was on another scale entirely. He worked carefully, giving her a memory of being tormented by the words Faust had spoken. He built in a good deal of anguish, and then had her remember leaving Corellia when they learned that Faust had fled with the beginnings of an idea.

 

While she was traveling to the Eternal Vigilance, he gave her memories of wrestling with herself, trying to determine the best course of action. He had her come to the realization that no matter how much it would pain her to collaborate with a man that she so despises and wants to destroy, Faust had spared her in the past when there was a much greater threat to be dealt with and he might be in a similar situation now. If he was telling the truth, she had to seek him out and learn what he knew. He had been forced to remove the memory of Faust's attack on Kashyyyk, since it had been too tied up in her sharing her plan, but he knew it was an important detail. As much as he didn't like doing it, he gave her back that memory, changing only the location. She needed to believe she had been in space travelling to the EV when it occurred. Finally, Darex turned to a different aspect and implanted a code phrase in her mind. Once triggered, it would cause her to contact Darex with Faust's location, leaving the door open for the Order to bring in the cavalry. When it was triggered, she would no doubt be confused, but she would act. Darex also made sure that when it was triggered, she would be ready to defend herself against Faust, for he knew that might well be the moment that Faust figured out what was going on.

 

The last part of the procedure was covering up what he had done. He wouldn't put it past Faust to scour Armiena's mind to see what her true intentions were, and he had to make sure that Faust picked up nothing out of the ordinary. That was one benefit of their strategy; the plan had originally been Armiena's in the first place, so it had her flavor of thinking. When she woke, she would believe the idea was her own from the start, and if she believed it, then Faust would detect no meddling in her mind.

 

Finally, it was done. Much like a padawan building his first lightsaber, Darex took some time to bathe Armiena's rebuild mind in the Force, letting it make small corrections, naturalize the false memories, and cover any gaps he might have accidentally missed. Then Darex ever so slowly inched his way out of her mind again, going out the same way he went it, through shared memories. He wouldn't be surprised if she woke up saying that she had dreamt of something from their shared past. Once he was done, he stepped back and opened his eyes. It was strange for a moment to be back in his own body, and he shook his head and blinked several times.

 

Then he reached out and shook his friend. "Armiena, wake up." If he had been successful, she would wake up thinking that she had just arrived on the EV and fallen asleep in the Council Chambers.

[Darex Trevelian]

As Armiena came to, Darex was glad to see that it had worked, as far as he could tell. Armiena immediately acted, her parting words a reminder to Darex of the promise he had once made her. It was a sobering memory, but it was a vow that he would keep.

 

Heading out of the Council chambers, he started putting together a Jedi strike team, volunteers only, who would be ready to move the instant they received news from Armiena. He gave orders for them to be equipped with not just standard strike team equipment, but with anti-Force user weapons and strategies. He was pleased to see some of the names of the volunteers pop up on the list. They were all good Jedi, and particularly skilled at bringing down Sith. Their orders were to do whatever it took to stop Faust. Darex himself planned to join the team, and to that end, he spent a few moments assembling some gear, ranging from light cortosis-plated armor to stun grenades and a blaster.

 

Once everything was ready to go, he headed to the security room. There was a Jedi hopeful onboard that he hadn't had time to personally meet what with all that had been going on. He entered the room just as the Cathar was speaking with the security guard, Brutus. He approached with a small smile. "That is one of your options," he interjected, catching the last bit of her words. "But not the only one. Forgive me for interrupting. We weren't introduced earlier what with everything going on. I'm Darex Trevelian, Grand Master of the Jedi Order. You are most welcome among us."

 

He crossed his arms. "You came here with Master Darkfire, yes? Is he teaching you the ways of the Force? Or did he simply bring you here to find you a place amongst our Order? This place is more of a command center at the moment, but if you are seeking a place where you can start learning what it means to be a Jedi, I can arrange transport for you to our training facility." He was unsure if Aryian had officially taken her as his padawan or not. "It might be best for you to go there either way. Master Darkfire is part of the hunt for a very dangerous Sith criminal, and it would be too dangerous for you to accompany him during the search." It wouldn't just be dangerous physically either; a person who had just recently become aware of her Force-sensitivity would be ripe pickings for Faust and the persuasion of the dark side.

 

He uncrossed his arms. "The choice, however, is ultimately yours and his."

[Darex Trevelian]

Time had passed in hurried spurts for Darex. He was extremely busy; while the numbers of the Jedi were dwindling in the galaxy, there was still plenty of behind the scenes logistical and administrative work for him to do to keep the Order running. At times he missed doing field work, but there was something satisfying to seeing the overall work of the Order on a large scale, rather than just on an individual level.

 

And, he mused, it was nice to be with his family. Jax and Alana were four years old now, and perpetually asking "why", trying to figure out the galaxy. They were very strong in the Force, and Darex had taught them a few control exercises so they wouldn't be caught off guard by their powers.

 

But as time passed, more and more of his focus was taken up by the hunt for Faust. Master Starlisk was spearheading the effort, and Darex was using the Jedi's resources to try to follow information trails and hints. But Faust always seemed to be one step ahead of the Order. Which, Darex thought disgruntledly, was no surprise when it came to Faust.

 

But finally, there was a break. Faust went the one place they would be sure to find him--Coruscant. Of course, his presence there was the lure in a trap that Darex had no doubt was set for the Jedi, and anyone else that happened to wander by, but that didn't matter. For the first time, they could get there and stand a chance of stopping him before his trail of destruction affected the galactic capital. And in Darex's mind, this was his moment.

 

He gathered some resources, for an anonymous tip had indicated that Faust was employing dark side abominations as his army. Darla and the twins met him in the hanger. "Why are you going, Daddy?" Jax asked, his lip trembling.

 

"I have to, Jax," he replied, mussing his son's hair. "It's my duty. Remember what that means?"

 

"You pro-tek people," Jax said.

 

"That's right, I protect people. And there are people on Coruscant who need me to protect them." He hugged both twins, one in each arm. "You two be good for Mommy while I'm gone, okay?"

 

They nodded, their eyes big. He turned to Darla and embraced her. Unlike with the twins, both adults understood the gravity of what Darex was going up against. They had both been personally affected by Faust before, and knew that Darex's chances of returning were slim. He kissed her deeply. " Stay strong for the twins. I will always love you," he told her quietly. "No matter what happens."

 

Tearing himself away, he climbed into an E-wing. He heard Alana start to cry as the cockpit closed around him. Looking out, he gave one last smile and a salute to his family before the repulsors kicked in and took him out of the hanger and into space.

[Darex Trevelian]

At a secret set of coordinates handed to him by Jaina Jade Skywalker, Darex's shuttle emerged from hyperspace into a black void. The empty space between stars always looked tiny on maps, but in reality, there were lightyears between even the closest star systems. The emptiness had been known to bother deep space pilots after a while; star systems were islands to be clung to in the wild emptiness of the universe. But it didn't bother Darex. In a way, it was peaceful out here. Quiet. He could feel the pulse of the galaxy better being removed from some of the hubbub of the rest of the beings in it.

 

But as tempting as it was, he wasn't here to meditate. He immediately began scanning, and after five minutes, his scopes lit up. He turned the shuttle towards his destination, and once it appeared on his visuals, he smiled broadly. There's no place like home, he thought warmly. And the Eternal Vigilance really was home for him, as much as anyplace could be for a Jedi. The twins had spent a good number of their early years here, and even before that, it had been a place of rest and retreat for him.

 

The ship immediately went into defensive mode on his approach, but he sent the proper codes, and the massive colony ship allowed him to land. Upon touching down, he went through rigorous screening to ensure that he really was who he said he was. He didn't mind; defensive measures like this kept the EV safe. But finally, he was cleared, and given free reign of the ship. His first stop was to the control center. Reaching into the bag at his side, he carefully replaced the holocrons that Jaina had taken. There was a hum as the ship was restored to full power, and Darex programmed in several microjumps, just to throw off any potential pursuit.

 

Then, he turned the colony ship towards the center of the galaxy. With a thrust of it's engines, the colony ship headed into populated space once more.

 

Seeing that everything was fully functional again, Darex headed to his old cabin. He desperately needed some food, and then some sleep. It had been a long time since he had had either.

 

The suite of rooms was clean, but it felt quiet, lonely, and empty without his family there. He ate a ration pack in silence. He toyed with comming the twins, or even Darla, but he refrained. The twins were with Skye, and Darla didn't want to hear from him. He sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck. Eventually, he got up, cleaned up his meal, then flipped on the holonews.

 

The headlines jumped out at him, and he watched in mute dread as the coverage of Faust's latest attack on the Senate played out. He mourned for the dead; everywhere the Hunter went, death followed. He had business to take care of, but Skye needed every hand she could get to help out. Well, at least the GA will be hunting him directly now, too, he thought. The more eyes, the better.

 

Eventually, he flipped off the screen. For a moment, he wished he hadn't come back to all of this heartache and loneliness and death and horror. But then he took a deep breath and steadied himself. He would work to change that; to bring peace and light. Rising, he headed to bed. Things would look better in the morning.

[Darex Trevelian]

During the long journey to Coruscant, Darex found himself in the heart of the ship, building a new lightsaber.

 

This one was simple, unadorned save for a cushioned but textured handgrip. He used the spare crystals the EV carried. Normally, he'd go choose one on Ilum, but for now, he needed a practical weapon that was a symbol of his willingness to come back into the galaxy fully. A real, meaningful lightsaber could be something he built later.

 

A few hours later, his task was done. He checked his comm, acknowledged Vos' message, then rose. There was a subtle vibration in the decking, and he headed to the hanger.

 

Far above the city-planet of Coruscant, the Eternal Vigilance came out of hyperspace. Darex was already in the hanger, engines prepped on a quick and light Jedi Ace. As soon as the colony ship dropped out of hyperspace, Darex launched. Moments later, the EV disappeared back into hyperspace on a preprogrammed course.