(Prelude)

I sat in the council chambers on Tython, for the last month we had been going over the recordings taken by my ships security feed, and that of my droid 3C-FD, I had been forced to watch everything that had occurred during the past few years of my journey to stop the Genohardan and the New Sith Order from purging the galaxy of the Jedi and the Purebloods, a few things I didn't know about, but wish I had. I looked at the group of Masters overseeing my Trial, Satele who was never my biggest fan, Masters Schria and Shi'ka, probably the only two Jedi Masters who had ever really believed in me, Master Tol Braga who blamed me for the failings of his Padawan, and others from both The Academy Sect. and the main Jedi Order, looking down on me, judging me, when I had done nothing wrong, I watched as the final piece of recorded evidence began to play on the Holoterminal, I watched as the Voss entered my room on my ship, I just sat there on the bed looking defeated, even though I had just won, I watched as I heard the last words I ever spoke to the sole remaining member of my crew, I couldn't hear the first part of the conversation, I still couldn't believe it had come to this, "And do you?... Have something you want to say?" were the first words I heard.

"I can only understand your behavior today as a response to a history of pain," the Voss said standing in my room, acting like I was to blame, "and I hope you won't try to justify it."

I leaned back in my chair as tears began to well up in my eyes, I remembered all too well how this all began, and try as I might to put it out of my mind, I couldn't help but remember…

Rise of the Sith Lords

Chapter One

Genoharadan Wrath

(The Truth Not Told)

It has only been a few weeks since I began training under Master Teradid, I have spent most of my time on Tython, and when I'm not with my Master, Rarsk and I scour the Jedi archives searching for any reference to the Lord of Hunger and his mask, but we have been unable to find anything. I asked Master Teradid if he'd ever heard of a Lord of Hunger, I skirted around most of details and only made a vague mention of a Chiss telling me about a mask, I didn't want to nor did tell him about the Genoharadan for fear he might reconsider taking me on as his Padawan. Rarsk tells me I'm being irrational, but being hunted by the most notorious group of assassins is not something I'm going to take lightly. My Master has told me he will look into the restricted files of the archives, but what if that turns up nothing… what if he doesn't tell me everything, I don't tell him everything… We've already talked about trust, and I do trust him, I just don't trust myself, I know my Master doesn't believe I've told him everything, I've got to become a better liar. I wish Areeva was here, she'd know what to do, but Master Braga took her on as his Padawan and then they went off to Corellia to join the war effort. I have no other choice, I have to slice the archives, so I holocalled Areeva and she set up a meeting with an expert slicer, Hal Ordoo, she met on some backwater planet; we've set up a meeting on the Upper Ring of Carrick Station to discuss…

I shut off my Holorecorder as the green Rodian Hal Ordoo came into view, he came over slowly and sat down in the chair across from me. Rarsk lingered not far off from the cantina to watch our meeting, making sure nothing went wrong, "I hope you have my Credits," he said.

"Five thousand… All the money I have in the world," the money wasn't mine, I received a small portion of Master Denai's savings, it was blood money, and I wanted to be rid of it, "Now explain this to me, how are you supposed to slice into the Jedi archives from the Republic fleet?" I was skeptical to say the least.

"Jedi," the Rodian scoffed, "No imagination. All the ships in the vicinity of this Station are linked through a central hub, creating a potentially enormous computer network, I could hack into a Hutt bank account on Nar Shaddaa from here and they'd never trace it all the way back," Hal kicked his feet up on the table, putting his hands behind his head, calm eased from him in waves.

"Fine, let's test your system," I said mockingly, I didn't like this guy, " I need you to find me anything about or pertaining to a lord of hunger, and his mask, hidden in the Jedi archives," I didn't think he could do it.

"Watch," Hal said squinting his already beady eyes, he rose slowly and strolled over to the Galactic Network Hub and began typing furious at the terminal, I rose slowly and made my way over, doing my best to make it look like our business was unrelated, "Learn."

"Aren't you worried someone is going to see us," I was looking around making sure no one was looking our direction.

"That's why I chose the Upper Ring, look around, everyone here is involved in shady dealing, there isn't anything legitimate happening, so they won't squeal on us unless they want us to squeal on them, unspoken blackmail," the way Hal talked it sounded like he more than enjoyed the prospect, "We're in," he said with quiet excitement, and he began to work feverishly on the terminal, "You're Jedi council is good, they already know someone's in there system, I have to find that file quickly…" sweat was beading off of Hal's head, I was beginning to have second thoughts about this, "Dammit!" he hit the terminal.

"You didn't find what I was looking for I take it," I was a little taken aback by the sarcastic apathy of my tone.

"No I saw you're file, but your Jedi shut down the archives before I could even download any useful information," I sighed, I figured I should probably just wait until Master Teradid found something, "But this job may not be a total wash," Hal smirked over at me.

"What?" I looked at the terminal and I could see a very partial part of a semi-decrypted file, the parts that were readable made a very brief reference to Telos IV and something about a ship called the Ravager. I remembered when I was exploring the archives finding a mention of a Jedi enclave on the Telos orbital station, it wasn't much but I had a lead, "You've been most helpful Hal, you're excused." I said abruptly.

"What no thank you," Hal said mockingly but I gave him a look that said rather unpleasantly, go away, and he backed up slowly, "Alright man, don't ever call me to help you again," and with that Hal was gone, he disappeared off into the crowd over by the cantina, Rarsk came over and stood beside me, "Found something?" he gargled.

"Yes, we're going to Telos IV," I began to make my way to the elevator with Rarsk on my heels, I had to make it to the Transport shuttles and hope one was on its way to Telos, as we arrived on the bottom level we began to make our way through the crowd, I turned the corner to go down to the shuttles when I saw my master and Grand Master Schria Davan approaching me, did they know I'd broken into the archives, were they coming to tell me they no longer thought I was fit be a Jedi, the rational part of my brain took over and told me that this was a seriously ill-timed coincidence, so I bowed before bow of them attempting to show the utmost respect.

"Padawan Kaeyd it is very good to see you," Master Teradid smiled at me and erased completely my suspicions they knew what I was up to.

"It is very good to see you too Master," I calmly replied.

"What a coincidence, it is very fortuitous that we ran into you," Schria said, tranquility came off of her in waves.

I looked over at her and lightly smiled, "Very."

"Indeed," Master Shi'ka began, "Kradok I will be going with Master Davan to Voss and I may be out of contact… I thought I should inform you," he paused and his face took on a slightly more seriously demeanor, "Also, I have been doing some research into on that topic you told me about… when I get back we will have to meet and talk about it."

Immediately I was nervous again, I looked around out of reflex to ensure no one was watching, then I returned their gaze and falsely smiled, "I have been doing some research myself and I'll be going Telos for a few days to follow a lead… if you don't mind," I tacked on at the end for good measure.

Shi'ka just nodded, "Very well, I wish you the best of luck."

I bowed once more before Master Davan, "Always a pleasure, I'll see the two of you when I get back."

"Padawan Kaeyd," Schria said her tone becoming more solemn, I became worried that she did indeed know what I was up to, "I never got the chance to tell you how sorry I was about Master Denai," My heart was suddenly full of sadness, my fears all but forgotten, "I'm only bringing it up now because I have been left in charge of her personal effects and I'd think she'd want you to have this…" Schria handed me a ship ID transmitter and a Carrick Station security card, she was giving me master Denai's ship, "You'll find it in Hanger Bay four, Good luck on your journey," she smiled as she and Shi'ka began to leave.

"Thank you, Master Davan," I replied with the utmost gratitude, "I shouldn't be doing anything dangerous, just some information hunting, good luck to you as well."

Master divan turned around, "Thank you," and with that she and Master Teradid left to go to her ship on their flight to Voss.

"What Now?" Rarsk gargled placing his hand on my shoulder.

I smirked, "We make our way down to hanger bay four, we've got a ship to catch after all," and with that we were off. It was going to be so much easier sneaking around the galaxy trying to dig up information about the Lord of Hunger and the Genoharadan now that we had ship, and I was confident that someday, some way, somehow, we were going to get out of this mess.