This story is mine, all intellectual material isn't. Promise.
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His name was Naga and he lived in the tombs. He had been born here, raised by the tomb and the desert beyond. He had learned to read from the weathered tablets hidden away in the tomb archives. He had learned to speak from the masters buried within the sepulcher. He had grown tall and strong hunting the beasts that roamed the desert outside the tomb. His eyes glowed a golden yellow in the dark recesses he called home, his vermillion skin the color of the desert sand. His name was Naga, and he was a Sith.
He made his home in a sanctuary above the entrance of the temple proper. Originally created to house the servants who once guarded the tomb, it was now Naga's bedroom. Pillows and blankets of varying condition were piled in a corner. A stream of constantly flowing water filled a large stone basin used by Naga for bathing. Around the large firepit in which Naga cooked his meals lay piles of spare parts, metal scraps, and stone tablets covered in sharp crooked script.
Naga's room looked out on the desert, designed to give the occupant a three hundred and sixty degree view of the tomb's surroundings. A long time ago, there had been many like Naga, living in the tombs that dotted the desert. But men from the sky came to raid the tombs and steal from the masters, and so every cycle there had been fewer and fewer until only Naga remained. But Naga didn't mind. He had been lonely at first, and had asked the masters in the tomb about it. They said it was alright. He was a kissai, they said, a guardian of the tombs. If he was able to keep the sky men out and the others couldn't, clearly the others shouldn't have been in the tombs to begin with. That made sense to Naga. The masters knew better than him anyway. He wasn't lonely after that. He took care of the masters and they kept him company, telling him stories and teaching him secrets.
They also sent him visions. Usually of a large beast that would make for a good meal for Naga, but sometimes of danger, of a creature loose in the tomb or a crazed metal man in the desert.
The night before the summer solstice, the masters sent him a vision of a sky man with a purple sword. The sky man looked like one of the masters, and the masters warned Naga that the sky man would come to the temple. Naga asked if he should stop the sky man, but the masters told him no. They said if he tried he would be defeated, and the tomb would be destroyed. Naga didn't want that, so he asked what he should do. The masters said that Naga should decide.
Naga wasn't sure he liked that. He didn't know as much as the masters, how could he make that kind of decision? The masters said they trusted Naga, and would show him how to make the right decision. They showed him where ancient books had been hidden all around the desert, in the old tombs and the great temple at the edge of the desert. They gave Naga one of their swords, and with the red blade he was able to fight the beasts and metal men who lived in the desert.
They taught Naga about his people, the Sith. They taught him about the Great Masters, who had come before them, and the Qyasik, the invisible power which bound every living thing together. They showed Naga how to make the Qyasik bend to him, how to move large stones without touching them, to push beasts off cliffs to kill them quickly, to crush the heads of the metal men to stop them. The masters showed him the secret art of their swords, the ten styles of fighting. They made him fight metal men and larger beasts to show them he had learned well. They made him memorize the ancient codes of his people, and of the masters. It took him a long time and was very hard, but Naga trusted the masters and knew they wanted the best for him, so he kept going.
One night the masters came to him again, and told Naga that the sky men would return. They told Naga he was ready to meet the sky man master, and that he would make the right choice. They told him he was a master now and they called him Naga'ari. Naga thanked them, but decided he would stay just Naga if it was alright. The masters laughed.
It was the first day of winter when the sky men returned, and Naga prepared to meet them.
Mace Windu pulled his cloak tighter against the wind. Korriban was an accursed planet, bereft of life, covered in the tombs of dark and cruel Sith Lords. Just being here made the Jedi Master feel as though a massive weight lay on his chest, stifling his breathing, and trying to snuff him out. The crew of the ship that had brought him here moved around the landing site, unperturbed by the oppressive nature of the planet.
"Don't go too far off master Jedi." One of the men called out. "There's nasty beasts in the tombs." Windu waved in reply, but kept walking.
The Jedi Council had sent Windu to investigate a disturbance in the Force. Since the fall of the Sith Empire, there had been no activity on Korriban, the planet abandoned to malfunctioning droids, wild beasts, and intrepid tomb raiders. But recently, something had become active. Something powerful was reaching out through the Force from Korriban. Knowing Korriban's dark history, the Jedi had sent their finest swordsman to investigate.
Anything powerful on Korriban meant a threat, not only to the Jedi Order, but all life itself. Mace Windu was here to find and destroy it.
He could feel countless eyes on him as he walked through the ruined stone tombs. Voices whispered on the wind, and half heard conversations and footsteps echoed off of ancient walls. Even a thousand years later, the power of the Dark Lords buried in the tombs could be felt.
Long shadows cut across a wide stone square not far from the ship. Windu noted the position of the sun, and reckoned he had perhaps two more hours of daylight left. He was sure he could defend himself from anything that might live in the tombs, but a night out in the open was not a prospect he relished. He walked the perimeter of the square for a while, examining the strange writing on the walls surrounding him. He couldn't read the writing but he could almost taste the knowledge they held. Faded, half erased, diagrams of light saber forms dotted the walls. Images of strange beings using what Windu guessed was the Force lay hidden within murals of hieroglyphs and eroded script.
He was so immersed in the murals that he was quite surprised when a bleep from a small comm in his pocket alerted him to the fact that his spacer comrades were setting up an evening perimeter around the ship. He hurried back, shadows seeming to chase after him as darkness fell.
He arrived back at the ship to an unusual sight. Two spacers had an ancient droid between them, its chest piece cut open.
"What's going on Captain?" Windu asked. A fat greasy spacer with an unshaven face grinned at Windu.
"Got one of the droids on your walk did you Jedi?"
Windu blinked. "What do you mean?"
The change in the spacer crew was immediate. The two crewmen holding the droid upright promptly let go and scrambled backwards. The captain of the ship went a greenish color. The two men on the perimeter shrunk backwards towards their comrades.
"Explain captain." Windu said, as soothingly as he could. "What's wrong?"
"This droid shut down today." A spacer managed. "The burn was fresh."
"We need to leave." One barked, his voice tinged with panic. "Now!"
The spacers were panicking. Windu could feel them growing ever more terrified by the moment.
"As long as I am here, you are protected." He reached out, pressing down the panic in the crewmen. "I need you to tell me what could have done this."
"There are…things…in the tombs." A spacer stammered. "Red skinned creatures. They attack crews that land."
"They look like demons." The captain mumbled, hugging his arms around himself. "Yellow eyed demons."
"Do they wield light sabers?" Windu asked. "Jedi weapons?"
"I've never seen one." The captain said. "Them that do don't usually survive."
"Get into the ship and seal it." Windu said gently. "I'll take watch tonight." It was a little disappointing how quickly the spacers got the door of the craft sealed. Windu took a seat in front of the door, and waited.
He didn't have to wait long. The creature found Mace Windu crouched over a small fire burning in front of him, trying to find a way to make a packaged meal appetizing. It came upon him so suddenly, that he had to suppress a jump of alarm. One moment he was fiddling with a piece of processed false meat, the next staring into two golden yellow eyes across the fire.
They regarded each other for a while, Jedi and creature. Then the creature spoke;
"You are sky man." Windu paused, and then replied. "I am."
"I am Naga." The creature bobbed it's head quickly in what Windu assumed was a sort of bow. "I protect tombs of the masters."
"Mace Windu, Jedi Knight." The creature cocked it's head to one side in a strangely childlike manner.
"Je..dai?" Windu nodded. "That's right, Jedi. I am a servant of the Force and the Jedi Order."
"I serve the Qyazik and the masters." The creature grinned, all sharp teeth.
"Who are the masters?" Windu asked, offering a sugar cracker across the fire to the creature.
"The masters live in the tombs." The creature replied, nibbling cautiously on the corner of the cracker. "Very wise, very powerful." The creature took and experimental bite, then paused.
"What is this?" it asked, lifting the cracker."
"A sugar cracker." Windu smiled. "Good?"
The cracker vanished into the creature's mouth. "Mumph." It nodded emphatically.
Windu passed the packet of crackers over. As the creature, Naga, devoured them, the Jedi examined his visitor.
The creature was humanoid, built of wiry muscle and long limbs. Sharp bone obtrusions marked the creature's elbows and face. It had four fingers on each hand, which tore open stubborn airtight packaging with alarming ease, suggesting immense strength. A heavy black wool robe was tied tight around its body, presumably to keep out the cold.
"I found this earlier today." Windu gestured to the droid that lay a few feet away. "Is it yours?"
"Many metal men in the desert." Naga replied distractedly. "All crazy, have no masters."
"Do you know what could have destroyed it?"
"Desert beast, another metal man." Naga's mouth was full of sugar cookies. "The desert a dangerous place."
"This one was cut open." Windu said. "With a light saber."
Naga stopped chewing.
"You know sword of the masters?"
Windu didn't answer. Naga had been living in the tombs of dead Sith Lords. Clearly it referred to Sith as it's masters.
"Are you a master?" Naga asked.
"I am a Jedi."
"You have sword?" Naga stood up. The creature was taller than Windu by at least two feet. "You are sky man master?"
This had gone badly. Windu rose, hands open. "I have a light saber, yes."
The creature nodded slowly, and Mace was sure it was about to attack. Then it grinned. "I have one too!" From within the folds of its robe, Naga drew a light saber. The crimson blade shot out, illuminating Naga and Windu in a red glow.
"Gift from the masters." Naga explained.
"For what purpose?" Windu asked, his hands sliding to a position where he could quickly draw his blade if the creature attacked.
"They say Naga must be prepared to meet sky man master. So they give Naga blade so I am ready to meet you."
Windu stepped slowly away from the fire. "What did they say you should do when you met the sky master?"
"Make own choice." Naga deactivated its light saber. "Decide what to do with sky man master."
"And?" The light saber's blade was gone, but Naga kept the hilt in his left hand.
"I will bring you to the masters. Show them sky man master with the sugar crackers."
Windu paused. "You want to bring me to your masters?"
Naga nodded. "Quickly! Masters won't want to be bothered if we are too slow." It scooped up the remaining packet of sugar crackers, and set off into the dark. "Sky man master come too!" It called over its shoulder.
Mace Windu knew a bad idea when he saw one. But he felt no malice in the creature. One hand on the hilt of his light saber, Mace Windu followed Naga into the dark.
They ran for what felt like hours, scrambling over rocks and through dry thorned bushes. Gradually Mace felt himself being led downwards, into the depths of a massive tomb complex.
"Stay close!" Naga called from up ahead. "Many traps here for sky man thieves."
Torches began to appear on the walls the further in they went. Statues of cruel faced creatures like Naga cast dancing shadows. The flickering flames gave the statues a definite feeling of sentience. To Mace it felt like the statues were watching, perhaps even following, him.
"Almost there!" Naga's voice seemed to come from a great distance. The smoke of the torches was becoming almost unbearably thick. The air was becoming thinner, making his head spin. This had been a terrible idea. Mace coughed, and stumbled, only to be seized by a pair of painfully strong hands.
"Careful Sky master." Naga was behind the Jedi master, propping him up. "We are with the Masters."
Mace rose, and staggered again. He and Naga stood in a massive rotunda, surrounded on all sides by high curving walls rising up into a domed roof. A hole in the roof allowed in a beam of white light, illuminating a space in the center of the chamber. Along the walls, small niches had been cut into the stone at regular intervals. Each space contained a small urn, sealed by a sculpture of a face.
"This is a tomb." Mace murmured.
"Yes, rest place of the Masters." Naga nodded. "But sacred place also, place of learning." Naga took Mace by the shoulder, and almost dragged him to the center of the chamber. "Here we can speak with the Masters."
Mace's eyes watered. Something was magnifying the moon light streaming into the chamber to an almost blinding point. All around the chamber walls, the torch smoke swirled and ebbed, completely obscuring the walls. Naga had vanished, sinking back into the shadows of the chamber edge.
A loud rumble echoed through the chamber. Mace felt light headed again. Something was in here with him and Naga. Something large, and strong. Something old. There was a second rumble, and Mace fell to one knee. Whatever it was, it was pressing down on him through the Force, a great invisible hand trying to crush him into the floor. Mace gasped as the air was pushed from his lungs.
Then suddenly, the presence, and the pressure, was gone.
Mace blinked furiously, pulling himself to his feet. He tried to peer into the dark, but could see nothing.
Then suddenly, a figure appeared. A tall creature made up of gray smoke, bearing similar features to Mace's guide.
"Welcome to Korriban, Je'dai." The creatures mouth didn't move, but Mace heard the words, soft and sibilant, slithering into his ears.
"What are you?"
The creature bowed. "We are the Masters." Other figures emerged from the darkness, surrounding Mace in a small circle.
"Why do you want to speak with me?"
"You interest us." This voice was loud, booming, a voice of command.
"We have long been without interest." Another voice, old and hoarse.
"Korriban does not receive many visitors." A fourth voice, high and cold.
"Who are you?" Mace asked. He felt strange, not afraid, but anxious. He could not understand why, but he felt like a padawan again.
"Who are you?" The first voice asked. The others laughed.
"I am Mace Windu, a Master of the Jedi Order."
"A Master!" the third voice wheezed mockingly. The others laughed again, their voices echoing around the chamber.
"A Master!"
"A Master!"
"A Master!"
"Of the Jedi Order," Mace grimaced. "yes." The Masters were making fun of him. He could feel amusement and derision flowing through the room. He could feel himself being weighed against an immense, perhaps immeasurable strength. He could feel their incredulity.
"What makes you a master Mace Windu?" the second voice boomed. "What gives you the right?"
"What knowledge have you revealed?" the first voice hissed.
"What cities have you built?" the third coughed violently.
"What worlds have you conquered?" the second rumbled.
"What power have you attained?" the fourth sneered.
Mace stopped himself from answering. He wanted to shout, to scream at the taunting figures. He wanted to tell them about Vaapad, the saber style only he had mastered. He wanted to show them his work building the Jedi Order into what it was. He wanted to scream about his battles, his duels against force users and monsters. He wanted to show them his strength in the Force, to reach out and bring down the weak, aged, stone walls on their heads. He wanted to, and both he and they knew it. He took a breath.
"I only teach." Mace replied. "My students call me master."
There was a pause. Then, after what felt like an eternity in silence;
"Good answer." The voices laughed. The smoke, which had poured towards the Jedi as the Masters had mocked him, sank away and dispersed. The light, which had been blinding, faded to a reasonable pale glow.
The four figures came into sharper detail. Four red skinned creatures in black robes, with piercing yellow eyes.
"Forgive our games." The first voice, now a square shouldered, straight backed red skinned man, smiled at Mace.
"We were not certain you were what we hoped." The second figure was tall, perhaps seven feet, it's robe stripped to it's waist, exposing coiled muscle.
"You are important Master Windu." The third figure was small, hidden beneath his black robe, leaning heavily on a gnarled wooden cane.
"Very important." The final figure wore a crown of gold, a long beard of red tentacles extending to his stomach from his chin.
"I played your game." Mace said curtly. "I need an explanation, now."
The first figure bowed. "You are owed that. Ask and receive no lies."
"What are you?"
"We are Sith." The fourth figure answered.
"Ah, ah, ah!" the first raised a hand to stop Mace, whose hand had shot to his waist. "The Sith were a race, our race, long before they were your enemies."
"The Jen Je'dai, your dark ones, came to us here on Korriban." The fourth figure murmured.
"They began what you know as Sith." The third wheezed.
Mace left his hand on his waist.
"Why am I here?"
"You will bring our people back." The second figure boomed.
"What?"
"You are to aid in the rebirth of the Sith race." The fourth said slowly.
"It is a great privilege to save a species." The first smiled genially.
"How and why, would I do this?" Mace asked. The four figures all stood directly in front of him, and out of the corner of his eye, Mace could see Naga watching intently, munching on a sugar cracker.
"Why?" the first laughed. "Because you are a Je'dai."
"It is your duty to preserve life." The third figure's body shook with coughs.
"As to how, we have provided the means." The fourth gestured, a crooked, four fingered hand pointing at Naga.
"That boy is the last of us." The second rumbled. "The product of an effort to breed out the corruption that destroyed us."
"Corruption?" Mace raised an eyebrow.
"Interbreeding." The first waved a hand vaguely. "Abandonment of the old ways."
"The Sith Empire was the result of this corruption." The third groaned. "A bloated mockery of traditions thousands of generations old."
"The Sith Empire began with Naga Sadow." Mace replied. "I have seen images of him. He was like you."
"The traitor…" the fourth figure spat. "was half breed. A corrupted fool. He came from your dark ones more than from the Sith."
"Naga Sadow did not understand what it meant to be Sith."
"None of them did."
"We understood. We understand."
"We will rebuild the Sith as they were meant to be."
The figures' voices rose in volume. Energy swirled around the rotunda, excitement and anger and something else. Mace almost laughed out loud as he realized, he was feeling their hope. They needed him to help them.
"What's so important about Naga?" Mace asked. The figures paused, almost surprised he was still with them.
"He is true Sith." The third figure beckoned to Naga. "Carefully bred to exemplify the best features of our species."
"Strong, fast, clever, and brave." The second boomed. "Strong with the Force, and gifted in the saber arts."
"He has learned the old ways of our race. He understands what it means to be Sith."
"What do you mean he understands?"
"Naga, show him."
Naga trotted forwards, standing ramrod straight before Mace and the four figures. He paused for a moment, as if unsure what to do, then hissed in a strange guttural language;
"Nwûl tash. Dzwol shâsotkun. Shâsotjontû châtsatul nu tyûk. Tyûkjontû châtsatul nu midwan. Midwanjontû châtsatul nu asha. Ashajontû kotswinot itsu nuyak. Wonoksh Qyâsik nun."
"Peace is a lie, there is only struggle. Through struggle, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me." The fourth figure translated. "Well done Naga."
Naga smiled quickly, and raised his hands over his face. He looked, to Mace, decidedly bashful.
"I've heard the Sith Code before." Mace grunted. "This doesn't make me feel any better about helping you."
"You've heard only the false Code." The first figure retorted, then, in a high cackle recited: "Passion to strength, strength to power."
"The Jen Je'dai did not understand the Code. They sought an easy way to power. They used their desire to find that way. The true way is much harder." The second rumbled. "A true Sith is above such a base emotion as desire."
"I don't understand."
"You aren't Sith. You aren't meant to." The third figure chuckled. "Ask Naga, he will explain."
All five turned to stare at Naga, who was still hiding behind his hands.
"Well Naga?" Mace couldn't help but grin at the alarmed look Naga gave him. "Explain the code."
"Oh! Ah…" Naga's face scrunched up in concentration. "Life not peaceful. To live, we struggle against the rest of the world, and against what we want but shouldn't do. Struggling make us strong, teach us important lessons. Struggling teach us to hunt desert beasts from above, to hide from armed metal men. Struggle teach us not be lazy, not be scared, not be greedy. When we become strong we become powerful. Strength give us tools to be more than survivor. Strength let us write books, build…things, have children. Strength gives us power to create. When we have power, we have victory. When Sith can throw out bad men who enslave Sith, we have victory. Victory is when we do not have to struggle. When we have victory, we no more wear chains, and we become free."
He stopped, and looked at Mace expectantly. Mace looked back, totally nonplussed.
"Well done Naga." The first figure said. "Give us a moment." Naga smiled again, and trotted off, back to the packet of sugar crackers he had left carefully on a plinth.
"Do you understand now Jedi?"
"Not really…" Mace admitted. "His translation is a bit different from what I've been led to believe it should be."
"His is the old translation." The third figure poked Mace in the chest with his cane. It didn't connect, but Mace felt cold where the smoke billowed over his chest. "His is the one we shall rebuild our people around."
"All we ask, is that you take him with you." The second figure draped a huge arm around Mace's shoulders. It felt like icy water was pouring down his back. "Take him from the tombs."
"To where?" Mace asked, sliding out from beneath the freezing arm.
"Your temple, where else?"
"Would you prefer a highly trained force user wander the galaxy on his own?"
Mace Windu rubbed his eyes. He wasn't equipped for this.
When Mace Windu left Korriban, it was in a shuttle crewed by terrified smugglers, with an infuriatingly curious Sith in the cargo hold. Mercifully, the return to Coruscant was without incident. Apart from Naga's discovery that too many sugar crackers makes the eater hyper. Mace had to pay to repair the saber burns when they landed.