KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC III: THE TRUE SITH RECKONING
Co-Authored By machievelli and Tysyacha
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Even though the JEDI EXILE has defeated DARTH TRAYA
within the heart of Malachor V and silenced the wound in
the Force that the Mandalorian Wars caused, all is still
not well. With her dying words, Traya revealed that the
true war against the Sith waited for the Exile beyond the
reaches of the Outer Rim. The Exile has gone to find REVAN,
a former Dark Lord of the Sith and her former Master.
Meanwhile, the TRUE SITH have launched an attack from
out of the shadows. They mean the galaxy to pay for first
forgetting, now denying, and in the future, betraying them...
Upon Dantooine
"Dantooine shall survive. The community you saved shall be the
foundation upon which Dantooine shall be habitable again. They
shall drive back the raiders, the Mandalorians, and all that strike
at the Outer Rim. The Republic shall again establish their presence
there, and shield it with its forces, and Dantooine shall heal, be
safe, and its skies free! The ruins of the Academy shall remain."
These were the words that Darth Traya spoke to the Exile
before her death about that planet's brighter future. Would
they still be correct after the machine landed?
It arrived as any other ship would, sailing down smoothly and
landing with a careful thud in the Dantooine docking area.
Administrator Terena Adare's assistant Dillan and another
member of the Khoonda militia left their posts to greet it.
"What is that thing?" asked the Khoonda militiaman, puzzled.
Dillan rolled her eyes. "Let's see--could it be a ship? It's probably
a freighter, although it's not like any one that I've seen before."
"Whatever it is, we'd better see if anyone friendly comes out of it."
Grr. A low hum emanated from Dillan's throat. How come
she was stuck on this planet, prospering though it was, with such
idiots? Filled with rage, she turned on her blaster and fired twice.
The Khoonda militiaman crumpled to the ground, his face shocked.
Back at their posts, two other Khoonda guards saw what Dillan
had done. Without hesitation, they fired their own blasters, but
Terena Adare's assistant had flicked on an energy shield. A strong
one, probably an Arkanian Energy or Verpine Prototype variety!
Other security personnel swarmed to the rescue, but they were
either caught in the crossfire or began turning on the other
combatants. Their comrades, who were as surprised and
terrified as the first man had been when Dillan shot him down.
The shootout lasted for several minutes, but neither Terena
Adare nor her lieutenant Zherron emerged from their offices.
They were off-planet, negotiating new trade routes with
emerging non-Exchange merchants from Nar Shaddaa.
Perhaps it was for the best, for if those two had fought in
the battle, or even witnessed it, they would have been
doomed. They would have gone mad just as Dillan had...
The vessel, after watching in silence with its machinery
barely humming, launched inconspicuously into the sky. It had
accomplished its mission. The survivors of the battle would not
remember details. They would not even remember the ship itself,
simply that Dillan had turned on one of her fellow officers and a
fight had broken out. If that. Insanity worked no wonders for the memory...
Now this is good! The good start of hopefully a great fic, keep it up Tysy!
Now this is good! The good start of hopefully a great fic, keep it up Tysy!
Agreed, very good Tysy, though I thought you'd continue your TSL Fic. Anyways, I'm looking foward to more.
I'd like to see more, keep it going.
Tysyacha and I will be alternating, so this might get a bit confusing. Before you ask, this is the Danika Wordeaver Revan from my KOTOR novel...
Four Years Earlier
Revan
I had forgotten how much I hated this damn planet. Even when it was just bait in a trap, I had loathed the Malachor system. Now that I knew what had been wrought here, I hated it even more.
T3 whistled from the engine room. We had come in and the electromagnetic storm had fried half the circuitry. He had worked like a slave, but it would take maybe a month or more to repair. A month I couldn’t waste.
“T3, come here.” I ordered. I looked back as he approached. A squat little tin can on wheels. A lot of people would think the design ugly, but to me he was my best friend. I bit my lip. After the way I had left, my only friend, probably.
“Where is HK?” I asked. He gave a long warble, followed by a series of clicks and squeaks. “I know we don’t have what we need to get him operational. But I have a decision to make, and I have to make sure he doesn’t have any information that an enemy may want. Have you erased his memory as I ordered?”
The little guy whistled and whined a bit. “I know he’ll be mad, but only if you two get off this rock again.” He chuckled at me. “I’m sorry, T3, from here I have to go alone.” He whistled sadly. “I’m sorry.” I knelt, running my hand over his head. “I want to take you with me, but that ship I found won't take two.” He protested. “No, I’d have to pull your primary memory core to take with me, and I am not that good. Can you get the ship operational?”
He gave me a long drawn out explanation. “All right, then listen. Sooner or later, someone is going to come here, and if this ship is ready, they’ll take her. You stash yourself, pretend to be shut down. Once you’re out of here, get a message to Carth or Bastila. They have to know.”
He weebled, and I sighed. “I’m going to miss you too. All right, prepare to record. For Bastila. Code it “Bastila-Shan Desurita, Revan Chandar Bai Echani.” He snickered, and I gave him a minatory look. “Hey, by the definition of my world we are married, so calling her my wife fits. Stop chuckling. You’d think you never heard me call her that. Ready?” He signalled assent.
“Bastila, my heart. I hope you get this quickly, and I hope you forgive me. It was cold to let you go to Helena’s funeral alone. But I know my leaving then hurt even more. But I have been having memory flashbacks. Memories of the Traya Core, of what I did when I was still Revan.”
I sighed, leaning my head against him. I hoped it wouldn’t screw up the holo image, but I was sick unto death of all I had done, or allowed done.
“I would destroy the Core, but I don’t have the equipment necessary. If I could activate the generator that was left here, it would be gone in an instant. But the ship is damaged, and if I wait until she is repaired, I will not be able to do what must be done.
“The Sith are an enemy, but not ‘the’ enemy. I had clues, clues enough to terrorize me back then. They made me act to protect the Republic, and gods help me, I did more damage that I intended in that attempt. Malak added to my destruction, and unless I can find a way to stop them, the Republic will die.
“Go to Dantooine. Talk with Master Vrook. Ask him to check the records for Tal-Shayana. I won’t tell you what it means. He should know what to do about it.
“For the love you bear me, do not follow me. Where I go no one should have to go, and I will not ask anyone I love to follow me to their deaths. If I had not given him the key, we would not be in such danger.” I sighed. “But I trusted him. I still did when we spoke last right after the Star Forge. I didn’t remember what he had done. Now I do, and it’s all my fault.”
I reached out, picturing her before me, hand held in entreaty. “Remember me, and forgive me for what will happen.
“Message ends.”
The Exile: Distress Call from Dantooine
Present Day
I had been searching for Revan for quite a long time now. Four
years? Five? Perhaps nine? It seems that when you're traveling
through space, trying to forget all the deaths that you've caused
and your wounds that have yet to be healed, time becomes a blur.
At least T3-M4 was with me. Funny little droid, always cheering me
up with his beeps and whistles. T3 had even chanced to laugh at
Atton Rand, back in the day when he'd piloted the Ebon Hawk.
Atton had wanted to know if he'd ever "have a chance" with me,
but even though he was witty and clever, my heart belonged to
someone else. Someone I met on Dxun, and knew I loved when
I fought Darth Nihilus alongside him aboard the Ravager.
Where was he now? Still on Dxun, I hoped, gathering his clans.
My task was different, and perhaps much more difficult. I had to
find Revan, whether or not he had ventured past the Outer Rim!
Feeling desperate, I turned to T3. "Are you sure there are no
messages for me locked in your memory core?" He whistled
disappointedly. "What about Bastila Shan? Rumors say that
she traveled with Revan aboard the Ebon Hawk, and helped
Revan destroy the Star Forge after turning back to the Light."
I said her name again. "Bastila Shan." A few beeps, but no recordings.
I sighed, my shoulders heaving. "Sith spit! I'll never find Revan at this rate."
Suddenly, I heard a frantic beeping from the communications system
aboard the Ebon Hawk. I raced toward it, T3 wheeling along
behind me. When I flicked the switch, a frightened-looking civilian
in a maintenance worker's uniform started to stutter, his eyes wide.
"I--I've just come from work!" he gasped. "At the Khoonda government
outpost. Dantooine's in danger now because everyone's gone crazy!
They're just killing each other without a second thought. I've heard
that Dillan was the first one to go mad. She's Administrator Terena
Adare's assistant. She shot a militiaman down for no apparent reason!
Please help us. This is a blanket recording intended to be broadcast to
every ship within one hyperspace radius of Dantooine. Come quickly!"
I just stood there, shocked. How in space could seemingly sane people
suddenly go insane, all at once? I thought of Kreia, or Darth Traya.
She'd had the power to make people cower in fear, to fill their minds
with dread and terror. I feared that perhaps the citizens of Dantooine
had been attacked by a Sith remnant, another Dark Jedi or Sith Lord
who had power like Traya's. If so, I'd gotten the message none too soon!
"Come on, T3, I said, running back to the cockpit. "I'm setting a
course for Dantooine. Revan can wait. I may not be a Jedi anymore,
but if I can once more aid the planet that I helped to save, then
maybe I won't feel so lost anymore. So empty, still, even after
Malachor V." T3 agreed with a determined whirr, and we
sped off.
Two good Chapters. I hope this works out better for you Tysy than it did with dual writing Ya-Yevo. I'm looking foward to more.
Really good chapters, and i see this will go well by the chapters. Also, what's the time-span between K2 and the fic? 1, 2 years? Perhaps more or less?
Really good chapters, and i see this will go well by the chapters. Also, what's the time-span between K2 and the fic? 1, 2 years? Perhaps more or less?
I'm guessing straight after, but let's see what Tysy or mach say.
Present day:
I looked around me. Four stone walls. How could I have been so stupid? The old saw 'fool me once' ran through my head. I had spent the last three years here, and while they weren't willing to just kill me, I was still as surely dead being trapped .
My only hope was Bastila and T3. He must have escaped.
But I had lost hope of that. Without the message getting to her, Bastila would not even know where to start looking!
I ran the planets down again. All long time Sith worlds, all to find the one thing no one had even known to look for. It was listed in our Archives, but as an old Sith Legend.
The Sith equivilant of the twilight of the gods.
Well I'd found it all right. But from within I was unable to do anything.
Oh, very good. Keep them coming.
The Exile: A Dead Survivor and a Living Hope
Part of me feared that the maintenance worker's distress call from
Dantooine was a trap. As an exiled Jedi following the ways of balance,
however, I knew I couldn't let this stand. Even if his report was false,
I wanted to know why the custodian would say such a thing. I didn't
think that he had been lying, but I'd also learned that those you called
your closest allies could turn on you in the end...
Ah, Kreia! Would you not have betrayed me if I had let the Jedi
Masters cut me off from the Force for a second time? Would I have
been complete in your eyes, and therefore in no need of that last test?
For that question, it was too late to receive an answer. Kreia was dead.
As T3-M4 and I landed on Dantooine, we saw five or six civilians rush
toward the Ebon Hawk. Their blasters were drawn and their
vibroblades brandished for fighting, so I knew our welcome would
not be a friendly one. I took my Force Pike and beckoned to T3.
"Come," I said. "Don't worry. I don't want to kill anyone--only
stun them until I can figure out why they went crazy and how
I can heal them." The droid beeped assent, turning on his Droid
Deflector Mark V shield, and we both emerged from the Hawk.
As I suspected, the citizens were hostile. There were more of them
with blasters than with vibroblades or other melee weapons, however,
so I armed myself with an Arkanian Energy shield I had crafted. Using
my Force Pike, I managed to stun five of the people who fought me,
and as T3 and I advanced toward Khoonda, more of them did.
Fortunately, the Khoonda government building seemed to be empty.
"Maybe all of the officials inside went out to see what was going on,
and then they--lost it," I told T3. "Let's see if we can find refuge here.
I'd like to find a comlink or some sort of communication device to try
and contact Administrator Adare. If she doesn't know what's happened,
we have to warn her. And fast," I added, using a burst of Master Speed.
We searched through all the rooms, but we found no people except a female
corpse in the medbay. Just like Kreia, I thought, only this one's
a lot younger. I stepped forward to check her pulse at the wrist
and neck, only to have her open her eyes and grab mine! I choked.
"Aakh!" I rasped, terrified, trying hard to breathe. Using the Force, I began
to try and heal her. The woman soon relaxed, letting the pressure in her
hands loosen from around my neck. She gazed at me with sad eyes.
"I'm sorry," she said, her voice low. "My name is Leina Verista, and I
don't know why I did that. Most likely, I'm sick. Am I crazy? I hope
you're a medic, madam, because I desperately need one right now!"
"I'll help you." I used a few of my Advanced Medpacs and Life
Support Packs on her. Leina looked like she'd been badly injured
in several fights. Had she been outside, stricken with fear or
perhaps the desire to kill, and only managed to crawl inside
Khoonda when it was almost too late for her to heal herself?
"Thank you," said Leina, relieved. "I am an archivist, researching
the ruins of the Jedi Enclave on this planet. It seems to have
been rebuilt within the last several years, although I've found
no new information on the former Sith Lord Revan or Bastila Shan."
"Bastila?" I blinked twice. "Revan? What do you know of them?"
"Revan cast off the mantle of Sith Lord, of course," Leina said, smiling,
"and returned to save the Republic. Bastila Shan, or Bastila-Shan Desurita,
Revan Chandar Bai Echani, was left behind, wondering what had happened
to her one-time Padawan. Beyond that, I know very little else, my lady."
Suddenly, T3-M4 let out a series of excited chirps and whistles. In a
flash, he displayed a holovid recording of Revan's last message--to
Bastila! I almost passed out cold when I heard my Master's words.
"Oh, my!" cried Leina, startled. "What in space have I uncovered?"
"Something I need," I told her, "to find my former Master. I was
once a Jedi myself, but I have been exiled, never to be reinstated.
I served under Revan as a general during the Mandalorian Wars.
Tell me," I asked Leina, "what is Tal-Shayana? Revan said to ask
Master Vrook to check the records for it, but I don't even know
what it is. Being an archivist, I wonder if maybe you might?"
Leina shook her head. "I am sorry. I wish I knew. However, I've
been keeping archives and records ever since Dantooine was
stabilized and the Jedi Enclave partially restored. Let's go there,
and if we see any other hostile citizens, run--don't shoot."
Even though I wasn't carrying a blaster, I nodded, and T3-M4
followed us to the ivy-strewn ruins of the semi-rebuilt Enclave.
I remembered how Atris had begun its reconstruction, and how
Kreia had revealed herself there and the truth about me.
If I was a wound in the Force, or a partial one as of now, then
what were Revan and Bastila? What was this Tal-Shayana, even?
Two good Chapters. Well done. I'm looking foward to more.
Two good Chapters. Well done. I'm looking foward to more.
Quoted for emphasis alright. Two great chapters, and meesa want more, or i'll do "Love" to you, "HK-47 Style". Now, jk, keep it up!
Tal-Shayana:
Legend of the Original extinct Sith race. ‘The harp of doom’. A device created in the midst of history before the Republic was formed. Supposedly an alien race came to a Sith occupied system and terrorized the people, taking many Sith as slaves. The harp was created by a Sith lord Olin Barduk, who used the technology of this alien race, which supposedly joined material objects and the force. When activated, the harp would drive all specified targets within range mad, though the range and effects is rather vague.
The only written records of the Tal-Shayana were in the Sarcisoma Sithic, or ‘Legends of our people’ published 27,000 years ago. Written in an age that did not as yet have electronic storage, and limited to the ruling teaching class, those tomes have sadly disintegrated. However copies of them existed up until the arrival of the ‘Dark Jedi’ who became the progenitors of the Sith we face today.
It was reissued in the New Sith tongue 1200 years ago during the reign of Ajunta Pall. A translation of the original was deposited before he left the Republic in the Jedi Archive on Dantooine, Coruscant Corellia and Echana.
Sadly, the Jedi Civil War devastated Dantooine and that archive is believed destroyed.
From: The Encyclopedia Republica, issued 21004.
Another good Chapter mach. I'm looking foward to more. Please note that I don't mind a little bit of history.
The Exile: Two History Lessons
Such was the record that Leina Verista believed she found buried
within the encroaching plant life and debris of the Jedi Enclave ruins.
Her thin dark eyebrows furrowed, and she turned to me in consternation.
"See here," she said softly. "If indeed this Tal-Shayana, or 'harp of doom',
has returned to plague us, then the galaxy is in grave danger. Not only
the Republic, but those worlds which lie far beyond it. Do you see?"
"I think I do," I said, "although not completely. Who has been 'playing
this harp of doom', so to speak? The Sith? I doubt those followers of
the three Sith Lords who were left behind after their deaths could
activate such a weapon. They're--very fragmented, most likely, and
unorganized. I do not believe any attack using it would be random."
"Nor I." Leina gazed at me sternly. "Tell me who you are, my lady, and
what you know of the Sith, if anything. Then perhaps I can tell you
all I know of what and whom could ever 'play' such a harp. Agreed?"
"Agreed," I said, regret weighing down my heart once again. "My
name is Tysy Dvukh, and I am no longer a Jedi. I was exiled from
the Order after I served under Revan in the Mandalorian Wars.
After my trial and sentencing, I wandered the galaxy in sincere
penitence. I was eventually able to bring peace to Onderon,
Nar Shaddaa, and Dantooine. Unfortunately, the one who helped
me do this was a Sith Lord herself, named Kreia or Darth Traya."
"I've heard of that name," said Leina, "and nothing fond. Tell me
--why did Traya choose you, out of all the Force Sensitives
that she could have chosen, to try and carry out her plans?"
"On Malachor V, the first time," I told her, "when I activated the
Mass Shadow Generator to end the Mandalorian Wars, I killed
thousands upon thousands. I cut myself off from the Force,
though I did not know it, in order to escape the crushing wave
of gravitational destruction that would have caught me up in it.
"Traya chose me because I voluntarily severed myself from the
Force, which she hated. She hated that the Force seemed to
have a will of its own, and would control her and all of us in
order to achieve some measure of balance. So she believed."
"What do you believe?" asked Leina. "Please, tell me the truth."
"I love the Force," I said, "for without it, I am nothing. I may
have been the living proof of Traya's theory that life could
exist without the Force, but should it? I believe that I exist
for another purpose--one tied to the Force instead of apart
or separate from it. I live to serve the galaxy, and the Force."
"Good," said Leina. "Let us talk some more, but first let us
leave this place. Even the animals have gone insane here,
and there's no way two of us can withstand this atmosphere
of madness for too long. I only withstood it," she said, "because
my will is strong. I was once in the miltary, and my mind is trained
to resist delusions and phantoms. Will you take me to your ship?"
I did, and Leina Verista became my first new passenger aboard
the Ebon Hawk since I defeated Traya at Malachor V.
Yay more history. Good Chapter.
Interesting background about Tal-Shayana by Mach's part and good chapter about Tysy and Leina. Tysy and Mach, tell me, with what face do you picture Tysyacha and Revan?
Corellia
Bastila
“That is odd.” I looked up at Mira’s soft comment. She was deep in her studies. I had not wanted to handle an apprentice just yet, but when Tysy Dvukh had dumped her on me, there was little I could do about it. The girl had a lot of capability, but she still tended to be... brusque with others.
“What is?” I asked softly.
“You had me cataloging all of the records from the main temples. I know a lot is missing, but...”
“But?”
“Look.” She brought up the holocron that had been saved from the Telos archives gathered by Atris.
“The Sarcisoma Sithic, the translation by Ajunta Pall.” I identified. I had never actually read the book, but I had been told by Revan it was an excellent piece when judging the long term intent of the Sith. “We have three copies, don’t we?” I know that Atris had saved the copies from both Corellia and Coruscant, and Revan the one from Echana.
“Yeah, but they aren’t the same!”
“What?”
She sighed. “Look. Pages 421 to 442, covering something called the Tal-Shayana. The Corellian book says it was located on some planet called Mesialia. But the Coruscanti copy says it was on Margialo. The Echana copy however says that clues to it’s location can be found on Korriban, Margialo Mesialia and some planet named Suchin. But also says that finding it is even more dangerous because of...” She leaned forward, reading and translating the ancient records from old basic. “...‘The beast and boom‘. whatever that means.”
I leaned back. The Order did tend to hide things a little too well, as did the Sith. But to have done so in this manner was curious. “Is there a mention of additional copies?”
“Nope. Just these three and the one from Dantooine. But Mical told me it wasn’t there when he looked.”
I walked to the com panel, and tapped in the code for Dantooine. After four minutes, I was disgusted.
“Something is wrong. All contact with Dantooine has been broken for-” I looked at the chrono on the wall. “Fifteen hours now. It is possible that some of the hypercom links between here and there have been damaged and are still unrepaired, so it would be faster to travel there.” I looked at her. “Let’s go, Apprentice.”
She mumbled.
“What was that?”
“Well Tysy always called me Mira, you know? Couldn’t you just loosen up a little...” She looked at my face, sighing. “I guess not.”
The Exile: Leina's Admonishment
Just as we boarded the Ebon Hawk and I was about to relate
hyperspace coordinates to T3 for our next move, Leina turned to me.
"Where are we going?" she asked, her eyes serious. "Do you know?"
"I don't." I sank down in the co-pilot's seat in the cockpit of the ship
and sighed heavily. "I don't even know what we're doing, or where
we're going."
"You should." Such a blunt retort from Leina should have stung me, but
it didn't. I couldn't explain why. I was usually very sensitive when someone
hurt my feelings. "Exile, please cease wandering for a moment and listen."
I started. Kreia? Is that you? It couldn't be. Leina was very young.
Leina gracefully poised herself in the pilot's chair. I interpreted this as
a gesture that she possibly thought she knew more than me, but who
could blame her? She did, and for the moment, she was my Master.
"This is a threat you know nothing about," she began. "I don't mean to
blame you or judge you, as there is no time for either mistake. The Tal-
Shayana is meant to drive men and creatures mad, not just as a means
of confusing them and causing chaos, but as a way to break their will.
For the Sith, the true Sith, inducing insanity is never an end in itself.
What would it profit them if the people and life they controlled were
nothing but blathering idiots? This Tal-Shayana is a tool, but only that."
"The scary ones are the Sith who might have made it and are using it!"
"Indeed." Leina nodded. "The Sith need everyone to achieve their goals,
even if each person's purpose is only to lose his life, or her mind. However,
there are some, very few, who are chosen by the Sith for other destinies."
I didn't quite understand, but I thought I had a glimpse of what Leina
meant. "Some people--not Jedi--have told me in the past that there are
fates worse than death. I always thought that meant struggling with
insanity, living the rest of your days in a care home where no one thought
you were yourself anymore. That scares me, because I am not immune to
such things." I chose not to fortify my mind that way when I was Consular.
"I know, Exile. However, the Sith choose some to do what no sentient being,
sane or insane, wishes to do unless they have truly turned to the Dark Side.
Serve them of their own free will, yes, and knowing full well what they're
doing. However, there's more to that. You can bear it now: hear me.
"The Sith...choose some...permanently. The horror of this is that those
who have been chosen and who turn never think that they have turned
to the Dark Side. They believe they are servants of Light, and that they
act in the name of order, peace, and justice. They do not lie to themselves.
They tell themselves what they believe is the truth, and for the Sith, it is!"
"How can I protect myself against this?!" I asked, horrified.
Leina smiled. "I cannot teach you that, Jedi, but someone else will help you."
She put up a hand to steady me. "We shall wait here. Someone
is coming, and neither of us should leave Dantooine yet, though
the danger of what might be the Tal-Shayana has not passed."
Good two Chapters, both at a good standard. None is better or worse. I'm looking foward to the next Chapter.
PS. I think Jason has my curiosity.
Yeah, good chapters, although i found the Mach's chapter a little confusing.
Yeah, good chapters, although i found the Mach's chapter a little confusing.
I could explain it all for you this very second, Jase:
But I won't. If you've read my other stuuf, you'll see all of them have a convoulted thread worked through them, and I expect you to work at figuring it out!
No, i made my way through it just fine, it's just a little confusing, but i'll get used to it. :)
Mira
“Master, why is this so confusing to you?” I asked her a day or so later. She had been in a deep contemplative mood all of that time, and I hated to interrupt it. Tysy had always been easy going in her training. She had shown me the basics, then as I had tried new things, guided me gently through them. But Bastila was the ‘throw them in the deep end and make them swim’ type.
But Tysy wasn’t a member of the order any more. So far they had only tracked down five masters, and two of them had run so hard when they had been discovered that we despaired of ever rebuilding it. Visas and Brianna had tried to take up the training of other younglings until more could be found, but like me their training had been ‘haphazard’ according to Bastila.
Haphazard, does anyone really use that word? Tysy had returned to her power and quite honestly I think she could clean Bastila’s clock on her worst day. But she hadn’t gotten permission to return to the order so all of her training and abilities were suspect. Therefore so were my own abilities. Let’s not even mention someone that had been partially trained by Atris, or had been suborned by a dark lord. When I had mentioned Atton and Bao-Dur Bastila had merely sniffed. A man that had hunted and killed other Jedi and a man guilty of mass murder? What kind of Jedi would they be? Obviously the recruitment process used by Tysy was flawed, and that was it.
Bao-Dur had gone back to Telos rather than put up with the BS. Atton had disappeared gods alone knew where. I almost wished I had gone with them.
“The problem is that as Mical pointed out, the looting of the library on Dantooine was at first very thorough.” She replied. “A lot of the books and holocrons that disappeared were rare one of a kind items which cannot be replaced easily. In fact the only complete record of Jolee Bindo’s adventures is the one he kept for himself.
“But Dantooine wasn’t hit by Revan when she was dark lord. Neither was
Corellia or Coruscant. All of the looting done there was after the Diaspora of the knights when we faced Malak and the New Sith. It was after Malak’s death that the Korriban library was ransacked.
“It makes me wonder what would have happened if Revan had not taken that one book. Would it also be just a confusing riddle?” She looked at me, eyes haunted. “The facts point as Mical said, to someone who knew exactly what they were looking for and where. Someone who knew the books well enough that all they had to change was a single page.
“The only ones with that much knowledge within the order were the old masters and archivists. That is why I sent Sasha and Juhani to Telos. We’re trying to find out who had been there before Tysy returned. Someone must have known Atris was still alive. Someone we would have trusted.”
The ship came out of hyper, and we began our descent. She had gotten hold of a Corellian courier, commenting darkly on ‘falling into the ancient past’ when it was all the Navy could spare us.
She scanned the hypercom satellite. Nothing wrong with it. We orbited, sending down signals until we got an answer. The Ebon Hawk was on the ground near the ruins of the Academy.
“How did I know she would be here?” Bastila sighed. “Put us down beside the ship.”
Another good Chapter, but it's been a while. I'm looking foward to more.
I agree with Pottsie, another good chapter. But still confusing for me. :xp: Bah, i'll eventually get the hold on this.
The Exile: Redemption or Further Condemnation?
I heard soft, muffled footsteps approaching the Ebon Hawk. Leina
Verista turned her curly dark head. "Someone is coming." Odd--that was
the second time she had reminded me of Kreia in less than an hour. Had
Traya's Force Ghost possessed her? I guessed not. I'd heard of Force
Ghosts in the Jedi histories, but never of Force Ghost possession. Oh, well.
Leina and I stood up and exited the vessel, coming face-to-face with--
"Mira!" Forgetting all my sense of decorum, I rushed forward and wrapped
the red-haired spitfire Jedi in a bear hug. "I'm so sorry I left you behind.
When I went to search for Revan, I had to see if I could restart the Jedi
Order. I"--couldn't finish, however, because Mira had returned my hug.
I sensed Leina glancing at us quizzically, so I kept my physical greeting
as brief as seemed proper for a Jedi. Even a former Jedi. There stood
another woman with Mira, tall and dark-haired, her eyes serious, aloof.
I cleared my throat. "Ahem," I began nervously, because I didn't know her.
"My name is Tysyacha Dvukh, and depending on your perspective, madam,
I'm a Mandalorian War criminal. I am known as the Exile for following Revan."
After I saw Leina's face scrunch up with what could have been either
confusion or irritation or both, I knelt down before the taller woman.
"I am at your disposal, either alive or dead." My vow was sincere.
The Force flowed through this bastion as powerfully as it had through
Revan, or at least it had when he had been my Master. Who was she,
and what connection did she have to "power, the heart of the Force"?
Mira looked puzzled, her right eye squinted. "Stand up, will you?" She smiled.
Another good Chapter Tysy. Nice to see Tysy too.
Bastila
As much as I wanted to hate her, I couldn’t. Tysy had not chosen her exile. She hadn’t chosen to remain exiled either. I wanted to shake my head. Better yet, I wanted to grab the half dozen masters that had exiled her and not survived to lift that ban. I needed more people for the training!
I know I had denigrated the training the three women had gotten from her, but by the same token until we had enough masters together to be properly defined as a Council, we could not lift that exile.
At least she was properly penitent about it. “Yes.” I echoed my apprentice. “Get up." I looked at the woman beside her. “You are?”
“Leina Verista. I am one of the Archivists working with Mical.”
“Oh yes.” I turned back to Tysy. “I assume you are looking for the Sarcisoma Sithic and the references to the Tal-Shayana.” I motioned, and Leina handed me the book she had found. “This copy has been altered as well, Apprentice.”
Mira rolled her eyes at me, taking it. “Yeah. It says Suchin.”
“Altered.” Tysy looked at her friends, then at me. “By whom?”
“If I knew that, it wouldn’t be a mystery, would it?”
“So what does this damn thing do?”
I explained what was known. The size, even the shape of the Tal-Shayana had never been recorded. Ajunta Pall in his translation had merely mentioned that it was a legend of the original Sith race, and left it at that.
“So let me get this straight. We’re looking for something bigger than a bread box, hidden where? On one of those planets?”
“No. Those planets give clues to locating it.” I demurred. “I seriously doubt they would have left it to find that easily.”
“Why not?” Leina asked.
“If you had the ultimate weapon, would you leave it where anyone could find it?”
“That’s true. The Traya Academy had been hidden on the core of a gas giant.” Tysy commented. “So what do you want me to do?”
“Let us divide this search up. You check on Korriban and Mesialia. We will check Suchin and Margialo. We will meet...” I considered. “We will meet on Korriban at the old Academy site.”
She nodded.
“Then let us be about it.”
Short but good Chapter. Something tells me that this Fic isn't updated much.
Long time no see a chapter, and another good one in fact.
Short but good Chapter. Something tells me that this Fic isn't updated much.
Sorry about that, Pottsie. I'm writng a third 'faerie' realm book (If you're not at least 18 don't bother to ask) and trying to update acceptance at the same time. My version of the Jedi Trials may not be what everyone likes, but I am trying to incorporate everything I have interpreted from Outcast and Academy.
The Exile: Monastics on Mesialia
"So it's to be Korriban for us," said Leina wryly once Mira and the mysterious
Bastila Shan were out of earshot. "She sends us to investigate one of the
darkest of Sith homeworlds, when she herself never mentioned she would go
anywhere as dangerous as that. What do you think that portends, exile?"
"I don't know," I said, "but I think you should give her a break. I mean,
she's a Jedi, and she has a definite plan to try and find the Tal-Shayana.
Who knows? Maybe Bastila and Mira will find more danger on Suchin and
Marchialo than we will on Korriban and Mesialia. We should never assume
that our suffering will be greater or lesser than someone else's. That sort
of one-upsmanship leads to hatred and even more suffering, I think."
"You are wise. All the same, I do not trust her. I've spent enough time
around Jedi and their artifacts in the Archives to recognize someone who
believes she knows better than most people what is the right thing to do.
I have a distinct sense, and not through the Force, that Ms. Shan believes
that your training of her new apprentice, young Mira, is inadequate."
I nodded. "I sense that as well, but let's not press the issue. Right now,
I'd like to go to Mesialia. I'm not quite--ready for Korriban yet." I still
remembered the visions I had experienced in the Shyrack Cave--removing
explosives from the paths of ghost soldiers, defending a dark Kreia, and even
battling Revan himself. Mesialia, I thought, would be a more peaceful planet.
I was wrong. As soon as we arrived at the landing station on that world,
I saw the most unsettling thing I had since Traya at the heart of Malachor V.
Hundreds of Mesialians, both men and women with shorn heads, humans
and aliens alike, carried signs that read, "Repent! The end is near." Such
a sight would not have alarmed me if it were only one person doing the
marching, but the sheer volume of sentients all dressed alike chilled me.
They seemed to be progressing very slowly toward the distant horizon,
seeming out of place in their simple brown garments in the booming city.
"Excuse me," I said gently to one of the marchers once I had recovered
my composure. "What end is near? The Sith?" The marcher nodded sadly.
"The Harp of Doom," he said. "That is what Miortva says. She is the seer
of our people, and we must be done with craving and selfhood if the Sith
are not to destroy us. If we lose our sense of self, the Sith will bypass us."
Somehow, I shivered. "Take us to Miortva," I told the monastic. "Please."
I reached out through the Force and felt fear, sadness, loneliness, and a
concealed desperation in the marchers. Leina put her hand on my arm as
we meshed with the burgeoning crowd, making few sounds above a whisper.
"No Tal-Shayana has done this," Leina said coldly. "The fear of it certainly has."
Another good Chapter. Well done.
Yeah, agreed, very well done.
Suffering from a slight case of writer's block, guys. Sorry. And I did not want to suffer from premature articulation as well. But here it is...
Revan
12 years earlier.
We came out of hyper space, and approached the moon. My flag ship Peragalian moved into orbit.
Malak came up behind me, his lips pursed. “So this is where it is?” He asked.
“Perhaps.” I didn’t want to tell him just yet. The clues I had found on Korriban and Mesialia. On Suchin and Margialo had led us here. But what I expected to find would still be illusive.
“I will be back.” I told him.
“You don’t trust me?” He sounded hurt. He knew what we sought. He knew how important it might be. But I could not tell him without taking the chance that all hell would break loose here. No one had touched this artifact in almost 30,000 years. Just being there might activate it, and when the odds are that something will go horribly wrong, I have always been the kind to do things alone rather than risk others. Just as when we had found the Star Forge, I would go down alone.
“My old friend, I don’t even trust me. You know how I am.”
Having known me for almost 30 years, he nodded.
The small shuttle felt good under my hands. It had been so long since I had been at the controls, and this felt so right.
The door loomed before me, and I pressed the communication panel, inputting the code. The musical notes played over the proper frequency, and the doors, large enough to allow Peragalian entrance slid aside. The Sith, as I had discovered on Korriban liked to build on the heroic scale. This door was larger than the facility required, but boy did it look grand! The compartment beyond it was almost mundane. Not a speck of dust anywhere. The shuttle settled down like a fly landing on a kitchen table, and I turned to the exterior environmental controls. There was no air in the compartment. Not surprising. The entry ways were thirty meters from the deck, except for a few personnel access air locks a few meters away. I shrugged into my space suit, then walked across the compartment. The gravity generators were still working, so it was not that difficult. I opened the hatch and hit the cycle button. The door snapped closed, and I heard the hiss of air. I checked the scanner, and grinned. Like a couple of the planets I had mentioned, the builders of this facility had assumed unauthorized access. If I had been without a helmet, I would have died slowly in that atmosphere. Not that it was poisonous, merely out of tune with a human’s metabolism enough that I would have gone into anoxia.
I opened the interior door, walking down the hall as I checked the scanner. When I passed through the third such hatch 200 meters farther on, the oxygen content was high enough that I wouldn’t die. Still I kept the suit on.
It took me three and a half hours to find it. I was amazed by the simplicity of design. Our ancient forebears of every race tended to be a little more flamboyant than we are now. They didn’t have the color and possible fabric and material we had, so theirs was more in the order of using more and more of what they did have. But the Tal-Shayana was unadorned, almost barren.
I checked the device out. No, we could not move it without major equipment. The damn thing weighed almost 200 tons, and was made in one piece like so much of the Rakata equipment was. We couldn’t dismantle it.
I checked the room, and found a smaller version of it. That was only an arm full, and I picked it up. Then I looked at the full scale device again. Now how to move it from here to.
Where was here, by the way?
I frowned. Wait, I had not considered at that time how to move it. Why was I...
Three years previously:
“Get out of my mind!” I screamed. I was kneeling on the floor, holding my head at the agony. I had seen people being interrogated by the Jedi Masters before. It had not been a pretty sight, and it wasn’t, as I had just discovered, painless. The Sith use the same method, and unless this was the Sith method, it would be far worse.
My jailer grinned. “Soon you will tell me what you decided with the Tal-Shayana.” He gave me a jaunty wave. “Until then the small one will keep doing it’s work.”
I glared at him, then began to meditate. I built in my mind a solid wall of stone, with-
Present day
“Try again you bastard.” I opened my eyes. I had been sleeping, and found my memory flowing back. The wall I had built was still there, but if he had gotten me to go over it’s construction yet again, he would have found the way to penetrate it. After three years of this, I still did not enjoy the game, and his attempts to break and turn me with torture had stopped within the first weeks.
He shrugged. “They will look for it.” He told me.
“Who?”
“Those Jedi that still survive.” He gave me that wicked grin again. “I left them enough clues after all.” He laughed, walking away from the cell door. I wished right then that I had my saberstaff. If nothing else I could have removed myself from the equation.
As much as I hoped they would find my message, find the Tal-Shayana, rescue me, I hoped as much that it would never happen. Better that I died her, with him still unsure of where it was.
An unexpected Chapter. Weren't expecting that. This Fic is on the up and down. Another good Chapter mach.
The Exile: Five Unholy Vows
The crowd, as I expected, led us to Miortva, but what I did not expect
was for a stench of sweat and decay to emanate just as strongly from
her as from the rest of the brown-robed throng. I was overwhelmed. Who
was this woman at the spiritual head of hundreds upon hundreds, this
walking corpse with clammy skin and eyes as dry as Dantooine desert?
"Good day," announced Miortva without a trace of warmth in her greeting.
Instantly, all murmuring in the crowd ceased down to the faintest whisper.
"Who are our enemies? Who seeks to destroy all of life in their endless hate?"
"The Sith!" roared the people with one voice. Where was their anger, however?
Their passion? Their fear or worry? Was this only an inevitable fact for them?
"Why are they hunting us? Because we've been selfish. We've sought to
preserve our own lives at the cost of countless others. What creatures
have we killed and eaten, never to live again? What tiny cells have we
consumed while drinking or even breathing? As we sow, so shall we reap.
The Sith will slaughter us like all the living things we've slaughtered, unless
we promise to sacrifice ourselves so that the galaxy will heal. The Vows."
"I vow to take no food, lest I kill a living thing," the crowd declared as one.
"I vow to take no drink, for the cells within it once gave birth to all of life."
"I vow to wear no garment except these robes, which I'll let shred to rags."
"I vow not to cleanse the dust or bacteria from my body, since it too is alive."
"Lastly, I vow to remain chaste, touching no one except to help them stand."
I felt the fingernails of Leina Verista dig into my flesh and possibly draw blood.
"Exile. We leave. Now."
Two great chapters, the plot is just fantastic!