Author's Note:
I hope y'all love the more magical side of the force seen in TCW and Rebels.
Set before ANH and within the SWRebels timeline
The princess of Alderaan, Leia Organa, was barely seventeen and she was already an elected senator and an active member in the Rebellion. With her Status as a senator and being the princess of a non-militarized planet, she was often able to travel long distances in humanitarian missions, it was easy to claim that on said mercy missions a ship was lost to pirates. It was also easy for Leia to transfer information between different rebellion factions without suspicion on said missions.
It was on one such mission when she received a transmission that was supposed to be brought to the newly indoctrinated Ghost crew. A very small Rebel group that stood out from the rest because they had a two Jedi onboard.
Supposed to be being the key word. Because the group had only just joined, they very rarely made contact with the main groups or base. They preferred to stick to themselves. Often not even trusting the other Rebel factions because of the Jedi onboard.
Which is why Leia Organa could not quickly give the transmission to them, no one knew where they were. And being in a privileged position in the Rebellion she made the choice to act on the information given and her own knowledge of the Jedi.
And so, Leia Organa made the bold decision of forming a small squadron and planed an infiltration mission to acquire the ancient holocron for the living Jedi of the Rebellion. They had to investigate the temple before the Empire burned it to the ground.
It was quickly approved with the Rebels infatuation with the legendary Jedi, the idea that they would be restoring a part of the Jedi that were lost, and the low risk of a small infiltration of an unoccupied planet. Along with the hope that this mission would encourage the Ghost crew to become more involved with the main factions of the Rebellion making it so the Rebels once again had Jedi in their ranks.
Of course because any news of Jedi traveled fast in the Rebellion, it also traveled fast to the Empire.
"There has been urgent news from our spies." The captain of Vader's current ship, Piett spoke to his commander in a crisp core would accent. "The Rebels have gotten word of a Jedi temple, located on Dathomir. They appear to launching a small recon team to investigate."
This was interesting news. But there were no Jedi temples on Dathomir. Because of the secrecy of the Jedi, the Sith and other force factions were not well known, he could see how many people often mistook them for one another. The Rebels would be in for a surprise if they expected a Jedi temple. Especially considering the trickery of the extinct Nightsisters of the planet.
This would however be a good chance to eliminate any Jedi who were in the Rebellion that may come to investigate it. Vader would like them to be those two half trained Jedi that kept returning to the hidden Temple on Lothal. If not, elimination of ordinary Rebels would and the destruction of the temple would do just fine.
"Inform General Veers to prepare a small squad immediately. We will arrive before the Rebels and wait to ambush them." Lord Vader gave him orders.
"Right away milord."
Taking only a small crew of stormtroopers and their General, allowed for a fast departure to Dathomir, and it also allowed them to remain undetected for when the Rebels arrived.
The main problem was they were not entirely sure where the temple was. Their spies had not been able to determine the exact location the Rebels has received.
Darth Vader flew into the planet blind trusting only the force to guide his path.
They landed the ship far away from what had once been civilization as Vader followed the largest presence in the force he could find. He hoped it was not simply left over Nightsister magic that drew him into this area.
"Milord do you know where the temple is located?" General Veers asked him.
"I do not. But the force has guided me here." Vader responded. "We will walk a short ways to the location, we do not want the Rebels to detect our ship."
The small platoon followed Darth Vader as they trekked through the red and green planet.
"The Rebels have breached atmosphere." The stormtrooper captain said, as they were closely approaching the location.
Vader reached out in the force, there was a singular ship, no more then twenty people inside. This meant they likely thought this would be a quick infiltration mission.
A disappointing discovery was that the Jedi- Palawan duo, Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger, who he had meet once before and had escaped his grasp, were not onboard the ship. But there was another force signature. One that seamed familiar but he did not know the name of.
"There is a singular Jedi onboard the rebels ship. If possible they are to be captured for interrogation." He told the troops.
A chorus of "yes milord" came from his stormtroopers as they readied their weapons for the incoming fight.
What Vader believed to be the temple was in sight. It was carved from dark stone and glowing green with the Nightsister's presence. A decade after their extinction the temple appeared to be in perfect working order. The Nightsister magic still pouring out in green smoke as if it was being freshly created.
Moving through the halls of the Nightsister's temple he sensed a disturbance in the force. It was not a disturbance of warning or danger, but rather a pulling call that beckoned him deeper.
Vader had wanted to set up the ambush towards the entrance of the temple, but he felt compelled to move inward by the force.
He could almost hear the whispers of whatever laid in the center of this place calling to him like kyber crystals called to the force sensitive.
"Come to us, you are not of the Jedi or Sith. You may be worthy."
He could almost see shadows of people moving through the temple as they once had. It was as if the temple was still alive years after the Nightsister's extinction.
None of his troops seamed to be effected by whatever laid within.
It was only until General Veers spoke up did Vader stop the journey to the center of the temple.
"Milord, would this be a good place to set up the ambush?" Veers said, not wanting to outright say Vader was making the wrong choice to keep moving inward.
The area they were in was a room decorated in carved wall writings and places in between a myriad of seemingly endless hallways.
"Set up the ambush here." Vader said knowing Veers was correct. "I will return shortly before the Rebels arrive."
Walking through an archway Vader continued his journey to the center of the temple alone.
Deep within the stone hallways he came to a circular room with intricate carved patterns in the floor. It was Interesting to note this room had five entrances, meaning that it would be possible for the Rebels to take a different path to the center that did not intersect with theirs. In the center of the room there was a raised platform where a glowing red triangular holocron gently floated.
There was a Sith holocron within a Dathomiran temple.
Strange, but the Nightsister's had used a mixture of the dark and light side of the force. It would not be impossible for them to have experimentally make a hybrid holocron. Much like Sith holocrons whatever was inside must have been infused with a person's life force and therefore was capable of communication with the living.
"Are you worthy?"
The voice spoke to him again, and this time he knew it was coming from the holocron itself.
Vader not willing to place himself in some sort of battle with this ghost, left the room and returned to his troops. He felt the holocron call back to him one more. But he knew better then to grab that object with his hands. The Sith holocrons were vastly different then their Jedi counterparts, and with this one having part Nightsister inside it was likely more dangerous then the Sith ones could ever hope to be.
"Do not leave me here alone."
"Lord Vader do you know what the scripture on the wall says?" His general asked.
"I understand the language." Vader told him. Darth Sidious had him learn the language a long time ago while he had been recovering from his burns. It was the language of the Sith. Once used by many, now only two. The fact that the walls were inscribed with this language instead of the Nightsister's own ment they had once been in close contact with the Sith. How long ago this was and why, Vader did not know.
"Will you translate this for us milord?" Veers said pointing to the words above the archway headed towards the holocron Vader had just walked out of. This phrase seemed to be carved repeatedly into the walls.
The words were written in Sith, but the phrases themselves were obviously Nightsister. Often cryptic in their statements, more like poetry meant to capture feeling rather then having any substance or meaning.
"Blood that sheds blood shall walk in one another's path." He translated for Veers, the words loosing rhythm and rhyme in the translation. "Life of life that causes death will live as that death and it will set us free."
The last part of the short poem reminded Vader of the Sith and Jedi codes. Whoever had built this temple had taken inspiration from them.
"I'm not sure if I understand." Veers spoke his mind without prompting.
"These Nightsister's writings are more of poetry then substance. It would be useless to spend time to determine their meaning."
Darth Vader hoped the Rebels path would intersect with their own within this labyrinth of a temple. Hopefully the Jedi onboard would be called to the center in the same path he had been.
And he sensed the Jedi was getting closer with each passing moment.
The Rebels, unsuspecting of the incoming ambush, followed Leia Organa through the tunnels unprepared for the upcoming fight, chatting amongst themselves.
The princess had been positive on the correct way through the tunnels despite having no map, traveling through hallways sure they were not lost. None of them saw the ambush coming.
The Empire opened fire on the Rebels before they realized they were there.
With many supporting beams, artful arch-work and intersecting hallways, there were many places for the Rebels to hide and they quickly took cover and returned fire. Princess Leia chose to stick to the back of the room as she was not as heavily equipped in armor as the rest of the Rebels.
Darth Vader, as usual, took place in front of his stormtroopers with his lightsaber out, deflecting the incoming fire and protecting his small group of troops as he slowly pushed forward. The Rebels were outmatched and clinging to their hiding places best they could, trying to avoid shooting at Vader's lightsaber and endure more blasterfire.
Leia seeing more archways behind her and feeling the need to find whatever laid at the center, left the battle zone and ran trough a doorway behind Rebel lines.
Vader sensing what he believed to be the Jedi take off running through the hallways, stopped blocking blaster fire and ran through the archway he knew led to the Sith holocron, taking a blaster shot to his right shoulder as he disengaged from battle. Leaving his troops to finish off the remaining Rebels.
He arrived in the holocron's room a second after what he had presumed to be the Jedi did.
The Sith Lord was incredibly surprised to not see a Jedi, but rather the young princess and senator of Alderaan Leia Organa. Knowing this, Vader now had to capture her alive in order to fully convict the Royal household of treason without risking a full scale planetary Rebellion. Sidious would be disappointed in him if he did anything less.
Being much taller and stronger then the princess he was able to catch up to her quickly.
The princess had just gotten her hands on the triangular holocron when Vader was able to get a hold on her arm. Planning on dragging her out of the temple and bringing her directly to the jail cells onboard his Star-destroyer.
However, neither of the two were able to make another move as a presence entered their minds and turned their thoughts to static, stopping their current actions.
"We haven't been visited in a long time."
A woman's voice spoke directly too them in a strong but unpleasant voice.
"It's a shame neither of you are worthy of me."
Vader tried to fight off her presence but was trapped within his own mind unable to connect with his body.
"But maybe you could be."