Chapter 1

It was impossible to really the people around you. Even the ones closest to you, that spent years teaching and training you. They would always have their own secrets, their own thoughts, and in some cases die alone in the posh manor of a cartel boss. Leaving their Padawan alone in an apartment on Nar Shaddaa. The way Padawan Serbrina's Master had. The Jedi order investigated and concluded that it was a deal gone bad. The Master Olpa had been working with the Exchange, passing along information and keeping them a step ahead of authorities. Serbrina did not believe it at first, but there was evidence enough to form the conclusion, and one of the Council Masters had said that it 'felt right in the force'. Whatever that meant. Serbrina knew exactly what that meant. Her master had lied to her.

Six years she had been Master Olpa's Padawan. Olpa had raised her and taught her. As Serbrina got older she started including her more and more into various missions and their supposed payouts. Serbrina had been taught at the Temple on Coruscant, that a Jedi did not work for money. When she told Master Olpa that, the Master replied with, "how will you buy food to eat if that was so? We aren't ambassadors nor attached to the military, so we must provide for ourselves."

Recently, Olpa had been acquiring the finer things. Clothes were the start, but not the finish, that was the yacht docked in the orbital shipyard. Serbrina went to question the amount of money Olpa was getting from the missions they were doing, but Olpa surprised Serbrina with a fine silk and leather bodysuit for her birthday. The leather was sleeveless Echani under-armor that was worn under battle armor and combat suits. It was less than modest on its own, the pants portion of the suit was form fitting from the feet to the small of her back, while the top was sleeveless with exposed skin on the sides from the waist to the arms. It had slight collar to resist chafing on the neck and narrow shoulders. The leather was soft but durable designed solely to keep the armor from chafing the skin. The Echani had styled their armor to be flexible and maneuverable to match their artful martial arts. To Make up for the lack of modesty the red silk was stitched over the leather, giving the outfit sleeves, covered sides, and a skirt that hung low enough to cover her defined backside. Serbrina knew it had been expensive, more expensive than a Jedi could ever hope to afford, but she loved it.

Her protest stopped after that. Serbrina never really agreed with the material things her Master would obtain, but it was not her place to question. Besides, they were both Jedi. Her Master was sworn to serve the Light-side of the Force. Serbrina had even started collecting more Echani under-armor for herself, having fallen in love with the style.

She had been wrong. Her Master had been in the employ of the most notorious and ruthless criminal organization in the galaxy, the Exchange. Master Olpa had been selling them information on planetary governments, the closed-door meetings of the Republic Senate, and kept the Jedi from capturing all but the most useless cells. They had not working undercover to bring down an Exchange cell, her master had been the Cell. Serbrina should have known that the fine clothes, the luxury ship, it had all been there right in front of her. She did not see it. She had not wanted to see it. Not to mention that she had incriminated herself with a footlocker full of expensive clothing.

Now she was being passed off to a new master to complete her Padawan training, if there was even a Master that wanted to take her. There wasn't a target age for the Knight Trials, but two people she had grown up with had already passed their Trails. She was still Padawan, not even a Knight-Aspirant like most her age. Not to mention she had been blind to her Master, former Master, being an Exchange agent. She wasn't meant to be a Jedi and would fail her Padawan training, be sent a farming world to live out her days in disgrace. She could see it on the faces of the Council seated in a semi-circle around her. She was done, it was only a matter of time.

The Masters took turns asking her about Master Olpa. They asked why Serbrina didn't report the unusual activity, if she thought fine clothes and material possessions were the Jedi way, but what they really wanted to know was if she was like her former Master. Serbrina knew her shame was palpable in the force. She was as open and honest as she could be, knowing that they would know otherwise. It didn't matter if her answers made her look bad, she already looked bad, it mattered if she was honest or not. Honesty would be her saving grace, if she was able to be honest.

When one Master asked if she be willing to toss aside her beloved outfit and to renounce Master Olpa, Serbrina said yes, but she wasn't willing. Master Olpa had been right about one thing, the clothes are clothes, the ship a ship, none of them made a Jedi any better or worse. It was character of the Jedi that did that. Serbrina could wear fancy clothes and be charitable, just as easily she could wear rags and be inhumane. Material things were a temptation sure, but so was knowledge itself. It was the temptation of knowledge that created the first Sith, not a fancy robe.

It felt as if days had passed as they asked her questions. Probed her thought process. Evaluated her through the Force. In reality only an hour had passed. Finally, they took a small break to talk amongst themselves, leaving Serbrina to stand in the center of the semi-circle and eavesdrop on the conversation. They talked as if she was not there, not caring or concerned that she could hear them. It was a display and a test. They were testing her reaction to what they were saying, her emotions to their words were more honest than any words she could say. The display was in their ability to have this conversation with her there. They were so centered and in control of their emotions that they could be honest in the remarks with her present. Serbrina tried to keep her mind clear and not listen to what they were saying, but it was beyond difficult.

She was done. She had failed. Serbrina was everything they didn't want her to be and she would be cast out. Everything they were, but they hid it well enough that others could dismiss it without losing sleep. Minor vanities, they called it. Not an issue until a Master ended up a dead traitor. She didn't hate them, but she was judging them, guilty of the same crimes that quietly accuse her of. She picked each one out with her eyes and listed what was 'Unbecoming a Jedi'. Robes made with exotic materials. Lightsaber inlayed with precious metals. Holding power, both militarily and politically.

Each Master Serbrina looked at and judged would get eyed by the other Masters. It was if they could hear her though she wasn't speaking. Each of them having the same thought as the others, believing Serbrina's internal voice to be their own. It was fascinating to Master Sool. He stood outside the Council chamber, the only room at the top of the central tower of the Temple, listening to the voice in his head describe the faults of the Jedi Council. He had not been overly close with Master Olpa. He knew her, but their relationship as always been one akin to a student asking a teacher's advice. The last question she had asked had been on Force powers related to illusion and persuasion. When her crimes came to light, he had assumed that her inquiry had been to aid her criminal endeavors.

Now, he knew he had been wrong, and was glad he listened to the Force when it drew him back to Coruscant. He stepped into the chamber for the first time in two decades.

"Master Sool." one of the Masters said in shock. The man walking in was wearing a drab robe, that was holed in many places, probably had not been washed in weeks or months.

Serbrina noticed the empty seat in the semi-circle. She had been in the Council tower many times, that seat had always been empty. Now an old man, with a walking stick taller than her, was lowering himself into it and making noises of discomfort as he adjusted himself in the chair.

"It is the chairs, Master Pu'io, they do not agree with me." The old man, Master Sool. responded a trace of humor in his voice. His hair was silver and unwashed, pulled into a ponytail that looked like a rung out mop. His beard equally unwashed, but thankfully was trimmed close to his face.

"That's no reason to neglect your duties as a Council Master, Sool." Another Master snarled.

"You always were quick to anger, Master...I seem to have forgotten you name." A slight grin crept across his face.

A flash of anger and embarrassment shot through the Force, so strong that even Serbrina could feel it. Msster Sool only smiled and gave a quick wink as the other Master turned a dark shade of red.

"Enough." Master Pu'io said firmly, "This Council meeting is to decide the fate of Padawan Serbrina, if she should stay in the Order we must decide for her a new Master. If you are here to do anything else that that Master Sool, please hold it in until we are done."

Sool nodded, "of course, of course, she is the reason why I am here."

The other Masters all turned to stare at him, but it was Pu'io that spoke, "Explain."

Sool gestured with his walking stick, "I've been standing out there ever since she walked in here. From the start I've been tuned to her and you all. I have to say I'm impressed by her abilities, so strong and yet she does not even know she is using them. Amazing."

The Masters exchanged confused looks, before turning the attention to Serbrina, starring at her in an attempt to gleam what Sool was talking about. The confusion was deep on all their faces. Prompting Pu'io to say, "yes, she has a strong connection, but that is not ability. Surely you know that Sool?"

Again, the old man nodded, "very true, but she has been using the Force. The entire time she has been in here. Every time she spoke every thought she had, drew on the Force." Sool could see that he had lost his fellow Masters. It was understandable, they did not know what he knew, they had not been to the places he had. The Jedi Order loved its history and teachings, but once a piece of history was lost it could not be taught and the students of the future would not know. Knowledge was a core tenant of the Jedi Order, for this exact reason, but these Master, like many before them, had stopped acquiring it.

"We all know the story of how Padawan Serbrina came to us?" The other Masters nodded. "And that she was told a different story, one that was more friendly to the mind of a child?" Again, they nodded. Sool looked at Serbrina, the confusion had infected her, she had only heard one story of how she came to the order, but it was a lie. The Masters had heard the truth. "Tell us Padawan, how did you come to the Order?"

Serbrina was hesitant. This was a test, but she did not know what she was being tested on. Could they have lied to her about her family? She did not remember them, she had been younger than most when she was taken in by the Order. Could she have come here by some other means? She told them the lie that she had been told. "I was found on Corellia, my parents were laborers in a shipyard, they had three other children. When I was found to be strong in the force, I was given to the Order. They were struggling and it was a relief to them and me that I was going to be raised somewhere better."

The Masters looked horrified. One was tightening his grip on his lightsaber as he sat with stricken expression. The others were in various states of the same emotion. Except Master Sool, he was smiling ear to ear. Her story was a lie, they knew it, she knew it before she spoke. Her words resonated as truth in the minds of the Masters. Knowing it was a lie, Serbrina had them believing it was the truth, without doubt.

"Amazing is it not?" He boomed joyously.

"I don't understand Sool. What was that?" Pu'io voice was an attempt to be even and restrained, but it wasn't.

"I expected more from a Council of Masters, it seems the Jedi Order has lost more knowledge than it has retained." The Force rippled with anger, shame, and agreement. "She's a natural Illusionist, a class of Jedi that have not been seen since before Revan's rebellion almost 2000 years ago. Now they mostly manifest as those gifted with visual and audible illusions, but never pursued as main skill. Not in the same way combat and politics are." He said the last sentence accusingly; the other Masters gave off a palpable annoyance.

"You know that's not the truth of it. Politics is a necessity; the Republic is fragile at best and needs our guidance." A young Master said energetically.

Master Sool waved him off, "I'm not here to argue the moral failings of the Order."

"Why are you here then?" Pu'io questioned. "To tell us that this Padawan is skilled in a long dead practice? I doubt that is the case, speak your intentions Sool."

Master Sool bowed his head at Pu'io. "Very well. I will take this Padawan as my own."

The angry Master blurted out, "No, this power too dangerous, too tempting. She easily implanted a false truth into our minds on a subject that we know the truth of. What if she was using that power on Master Olpa? What if she had been controlling Olpa to do her bidding, consciously or not, it's too great a risk."

Master Sool waved him off, "a life of farming is below a Padawan of this talent."

"Not farming. Exile. We must strip her of connection to the Force and cast her out." The angry Master was standing now his arm pointing towards the massive window.

Sool himself stood and faced the angry Master. The old man looked feeble, hunched, unable to stand without the walking stick. His eyes though, shown something Serbrina had never seen before, they practically glowed. A pressure filled the room, the air got heavy as a distant sound began to grow louder in her ears.

Pu'io could not hide his surprise. "You have never taken a student before, why now?"

The pressure relented, the sound stopped. Master Sool's eyes cleared of the glow and his turned back from stone. There were many reasons why he was taking her as his Padawan. One being out of pure spite for the modern Jedi Order. They had grown stagnant, rutted in their own sense of self-importance. Another being that he was old and would join the Force soon, he wanted to pass on something of himself. It was selfish, he knew, but he long to pass on the knowledge that he had acquired, maybe even pass on his love for finding the lost. The girl was his chance. A Padawan that no one else wanted, for one reason or another, was his to attempt to mold into something that galaxy had no seen in a thousand years. A true Jedi.

"Because if I don't, you'll kill her." They knew he meant metaphorically, but the words still stung and had an unpleasant connotation. In essence though, Master Sool was right.

"Could it be true?" Padawan Serbrina's voice battled against the wind assaulting the landing platform. The roof of the Jedi Temple had small landing pads, reserved for emergencies and Council Masters. Master Sool had practically dragged her down the Council tower, whisking her outside to wait for his ship to be brought up from the hanger below. Even in the elevator it seemed that he was willing it to go faster. It was obvious he did not want to be at the Temple, possibly even on the planet. Serbrina could only guess wasn't willing to test his mood by asking.

"Could what be true?" His voice raised because of the wind, but had a hint of annoyance from having to wait to leave. Master Sool might be a Council Master, but he didn't want to be. It was bestowed up him because of deeds, seniority, and the fact that he was an empty seat allowing the schemers to breathe a little easier as they plotted.

"Could I have influenced Master Olpa? Did I somehow make her betray the Order?" Her raised voice could not hide the pain that was starting to surface.

Sool took a moment to think before replying. "You are young and want many things. Your will is easily forced unto other people, but it only extends so far." He turned to look at her, his old green eyes locking into silvery blue. "I was only a meter or two further away from you than the Council and was able to resist your power easily enough. You might be a natural, but your influence isn't that strong yet. As soon as Master Olpa left you, whatever you think you might have done would have subsided."

Serbrina sighed in relief. She didn't know if she could live with the death of a council master on her conscious. It would have too much for sure. Or maybe the actual death would not have been, but knowing that she had it within her power to cause a death like that. No, that didn't seem to bother her either. Maybe people knowing it was her would have been too much to bear.

She watched the speeders fly past in their organized chaos, trying to figure out what made her feel bad about this situation. Olpa's death or taking the blame for it? Out of the corner of her eye she Master Sool glance at her. Could he know what she is thinking? Did she suck at masking her emotions so much that he could read her like a book? Too many questions. Serbrina needed to know more. About her talents, Olpa, and Master Sool.

The ship finally came up from the hanger and ground crew cleared them to board. The ship was a modest converted freighter. Nothing special, certainly not anything Master Olpa would have flown. Serbrina was a little disappointed by the ship, but quickly reminded herself that her former Master was Exchange. It was a brick-style freighter with the cockpit centered in the front lower section, appearing to be almost a bubble of glass imitating a chin. Four large engines looked squished together on the back end, leaving Serbrina to wonder if that had been an addition and not stock. The interior was homely, carpeted floors, imitation wood paneling, a hologram fireplace in the dining area. The cargo hold was above the crew section, but was seldom used. There were half a dozen crew cabins but only one was furnished beyond a simple mattress. Besides the dining area there wasn't much in creature comforts. Sools cabin was only slightly less drab and barren than he vacant cabins.

Serbrina imagined that Master Sool had on more than one occasion landed this ship on some backwater planet and used it as a cottage or cabin. She followed Sool to the cockpit, which was as far from the communal area of the ship as one could aesthetically get. Wires hung free, tape kept panels from falling, more tape kept the pilots chair together, and there was blinking red light next to a speaker that had been left hanging from its socket by the single wire. She wanted to run of the ship, but Sool took control of the ship like he was one with it. A quick bang of his fist on the console and the light stopped blinking, a few seconds later the ship was lifting from the pad and trudging towards space without so much as a shudder. Serbrina had expected the ship's frame to scream from stress, but she only the hum of the drives.

Serbrina had watched the ascent for only a few minutes before returning to the common area. It was cozy there, even peaceful. She took a seat at the dining table, the chair was comfortable, but worn. The holo-fire was crackling while a vent underneath pushed heat out. When she closed her eyes, it was almost a real fire, almost. It felt like only a few minutes had passed before she felt the distinctive jolt of the ship entering Hyperspace. A moment later Master Sool walked in and started the process of making tea. Serbrina watched him, how second nature it all was to him to use the Force casually to his convenience. Her teachers would have thracked her with a training saber for doing what he was doing. Especially for using the Force to bring the sugar to himself when it was less than a couple feet away. Master Olpa might have been a criminal, but she had never used the for in a trivial way.

"You were taught that it is wrong to use the Force casually, were you not?" Sool said without looking at her.

Caught off guard Serbrina stuttered a reply, "Y-yes."

"And yet, here I am doing exactly that. I must be a Sith." He snorted. He sat across from her, tea mug in one hand, walking stick in the other. "You have questions, let's hear them."

In truth, she didn't know where to start. 'why me?' was a good one, but rather plain. She ran a few others through her head before deciding on, "Why me?"

"I don't know." He shrugged, then took a sip of tea, waiting for the next question.

What kind of answer is that? She screamed internally. "Why don't you know, Master?"

"Because I don't know." a sip of tea followed, this one he slurped.

It took everything Serbrina had to center herself. As a youngling the instructors had played this game, ask why to every answer. "Are the Sith evil?" of course, "why?" because they use the Dark Side of the force, "why do they do that?" because Light Side doesn't match their complexion? Thrack.

"Am I going to get answer that answers my question?" Serbrina asked as calmly as she could.

Master Sool debated saying 'I don't know' but decided that the girl had been through enough for one day. "If I have the answer, I will give it to you." Slurp.

She tried to think of a question that he would have an answer too. He seemed pretty knowledgeable on her talent with the Force, she decided to start there. "What can you tell me about Jedi Illusionist?"

Sool smirked, this was a good question. "Jedi Illusionist were the most powerful of their time. It's said that one Illusionist even made a Sith armada think a star was going supernova, causing them to flee, leaving an outmatched Jedi fleet to secure the system." He spoke with pride. "That's why Revan targeted them specifically when he turned to the Dark Side. So long ago, but he destroyed so much in his darkness, that I fear the Order will never recover." His voice filled with pain.

"What do you keep bringing up that name? Who was Revan?" Serbrina asked with genuine interest.

Sool looked passed her in thought, trying to find the right words to explain what he meant to say. "There are a few people though out history that leave echoes. That have such an impression on the galaxy and the Force that their deeds can be felt hundreds and thousands of years later. Revan was one of those people." His eyes stayed locked on the wall behind Serbrina, "because of him the Jedi fell into three wars. The last one nearly destroyed the Order and plunged us into the cold war that we still fight with the Sith Empire." It was not the thought of Revan that caused him to stare off, but the thought of having that influence in the Force. Revan had just been the last in a long line, he would not be the last of that line. "Now the Council sees a Reven-to-be in any young Jedi that does not conform to the norm. They rather hurt an innocent than to take the risk of allowing another to rise to that level of power."

Serbrina understood. Sool didn't revere the man, but what the man was. Much in the same way she had revered Master Olpa when she had first become her Padawan. It had been a wonderful feeling to be in the presence of someone infinitely more than her. At least that is how it started. Now she was feeling jaded, knowing that Masters and the Council were just as flawed as she was, there was no one to look up to, no model to follow. Her life as a Jedi would be less guided than she thought, maybe Master Sool would be different, but she doubted it. More than likely he was using her to spite the Council and would discard her as soon as she wasn't a thorn in their side. She gave it a couple years until she was facing a life of farming as a failed Padawan again.

"So, Revan leaves an echo over a thousand years ago and I'm suspect now because my talents are outside the norm?" Serbrina asked unenthusiastically. Master Sool nodded as a reply. Serbrina leaned back in her chair, slouched with her arms relaxed on the table in front of her. "So where are we going, Master?"

Sool placed his cup on the table before fishing out a datapad from his robes. After a few seconds of looking at it, he replied "Korriban, should be there in a few hours." His voice was flat.

Serbrina was taken off guard, "what?" She didn't even try to hide her shock, "why?"

"You were told a lie, I figured the best place for us to start would be to find you the truth." His hand returned to his tea cup and took a loud slurp.

The lie of how she ended up with the Jedi, but with everything that had been going on, she had forgotten. "Why Korriban though, Master?"

"Interesting thing, your DNA is not in the Jedi or Republic database. Well, yours is, or course, but lineage isn't. Meaning your parents are not from either. That leaves the Sith Empire, the Outer Rim, and Mandalorian clans as possibilities. Given your nature in the Force, the Sith seemed like a good start." He went to slurp his tea again, but the cup was empty, and he let out a quiet groan of disappointment. He rose from the dining table, placed his cup in the dishwasher before making his way back to the cockpit. Just as he was about to be out of Serbrina's line of sight he said, "oh, and your footlocker is in the aft emergency airlock, you should go get that."

Again, she didn't hide her shock, "What, why?"

"If you had obsessed over losing you material things, I would have spaced them, but you seem to know how to let go of things. I don't see any temptation to fear." He walked away.

Master Sool left Serbrina with many questions. Most of them she didn't even know how to ask. She wondered if it could be true that her parents were Sith and if that would change anything about herself. Would Sool leave her on Korriban to become the thing she had be raised to fight? She knew for a near certainty that if her parents were Sith, it would be another nail in coffin that was her Jedi career, maybe she should prepare herself to join the other side. It happened all the time, Jedi became Sith, Sith became Jedi. Most were spies, but not all. Serbrina forced herself out of her chair and made her way to the aft emergency airlock. Sool had told her to pick a cabin and call it home.

For the next few hours that was all she could do.