Chapter 1: An odd peace
"Another seven years" master Darryn Cath stated wearily, his wrinkled hand massaging his right temple. "Another seven long, pointless years. And how does it end? With another truce, that's how." Master Cath's irritation was very pronounced, with Coruscant's setting sun outside the council chamber casting deep shadows across his aged face.
"Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, Revan. It will never end, will it?" Cath gave a long sigh and looked out at the golden sun, as if expecting an answer. "Only once before have the Jedi and Sith ever made an attempt at peace. But all it brought was a war far worse than any other."
Around the council chamber, fellow Jedi listened to Cath, captivated by his words of unfortunate truth. "And even after last time, the Republic doesn't understand that the Sith can't be reasoned with. It's all about power to them, and it always will be. No peace between the Jedi or Sith could ever change that"
For years the Sith threat had laid dormant yet always a threat, ever since the Great Galactic war almost a milenia earlier. Ever since the fall of the Sith Empire, the surviving Sith Lords scattered themselves across the galaxy in an attempt to hide from the Jedi and the Republic.
When the Sith finally felt they had the power to do so, they returned once more. But it wasn't composed of the massive armies they had commanded nearly a thousand years earlier. It was just the Sith. No non force users amongst the ranks. Just the Sith Lords, Sorcerers and Marauders, each one just as deadly as the last.
When the Sith Guerrilla war started, their attacks were more vile and sinister than anything they had ever attempted before. They had resorted to guerrilla warfare, attacking anything of importance to the Republic in an attempt to destabilize it and offer a weak spot for the Sith to exploit. Luckily for the Republic, the Sith never found any such weakness. Never the less, with their small forces, it made it harder to find and bring these Sith to justice. But the Jedi were determined to stop this threat and after seven bloody years, they finally did.
Master Cath eventually gave notice to the two Jedi standing patiently in the center of the council chamber.
Keelu Rhane and her nineteen year old apprentice Jason Kiel were practically famous among the Jedi for their bravery and courage during the Sith Guerrilla war. Keelu watched the Jedi master with private anticipation as she waited for their briefing to officially begin. Her green lekku twitching slightly as they rested across her strong shoulders. Jason on the other hand, was in his own world full of sadness and regret.
From a single glance, you could tell Jason had seen far more in life than most boys his age. It was his eyes. Eyes that should have belonged to an old man like Cath, instead belonged to Jason. Eyes which gave the impression of not wanting to remember memories past, and just wishing to forget. The memories locked away in his mind were more inflicting than the scars he accumulated over the past several years. A once happy, eager padawan learner had become a sad, over-experienced Jedi almost over night.
Unlike her apprentice, Keelu had come to terms with what she had seen in the war and had learned to live with it. Over the seven years of war, Keelu had changed very little. Unlike most Twi'lek, She rarely showed any signs of emotion, and only did so on rare occasions.
"This truce is the reason why you are both here" Cath continued, "The Republic has demanded that four representatives from either side meet on a neutral world to negotiate the terms of the truce."
Jason listened to Cath, but his mind was once again getting the better of him. Flashes of memories crossed his mind`s eye, forcing his attention away from the Jedi master. The memory flashes were frequent and always the same. Each one was always more painful than the last, and they just kept coming. He closed his eyes at the pain of them.
Cath continued, knowing there was little he could do for the young man. "The planet of choice is an outer rim agriculture world called Vespae, which supplies fresh goods to planets such as Cato Nemoidia and Alderan. Its population is a little over 200 million and is mainly made up of humanoids. The surface is mostly thick forest and is largely unexplored." at last Jason opened his eyes as the memories appearing in his mind subdued.
Cath referred to his data pad to verify some of the information. "Republic scouts discovered an old monastery on top of the planet's largest mountain, we figure it will be secluded enough for the treaty to take place without drawing much attention. There is a small town at the base of the mountain, so they will know of your arrival but they promise not to interfere."
"What will happen to Abian IV? Will the Sith pay for what they did there?" Jason asked. Abian IV was the planet where the war officially took place and ended. In the last year of the war, the Sith discovered that the planet contained hundreds of relics from the old Sith empire. It was at that point that the Sith made an attempt to seize the world and it's artefacts.
Originally, Abian IV was a prosperous colony world free of pollution or war. Somehow the ancient Sith Empire had masked the dark presence of their relics and hid them across and under the planet surface, for what purpose the Jedi could only guess.
When the Sith invaded the planet several months earlier, the Republic responded with an enormous fleet which engaged the Sith on the planet surface and in space. The battle lasted three weeks before the Sith retreated off world, their forces reduced to half of their original strength. The Republic chased the Sith from system to system, never letting them stop long enough to reorganize and attempt to retaliate. Once they reached their home world of Korriban, the Sith realized they had no where left to run and reluctantly surrendered.
Abian IV had been eternally scarred and would never return to the way it was. The once hidden Sith artefacts had released their powers after they were rediscovered, further transforming the planet into a husk of it's former self. At the end of the war, the planet was left almost uninhabitable. A reminder to show the galaxy of how destructive and evil the Sith truly were.
"Jason there is only so much we can ask from the Sith" Cath cupped his face in his hands, giving further sign to his exhaustion. "I know that they pretty well destroyed Abian IV, but what do you want us to do, make them bring life back to a dead planet?" Jason was silent. He wanted justice. Justice for his sister who perished on the snow world of Illum, for the victims on Abian IV, and for the innocent people of the Republic and the rest of the galaxy. It wasn't right to let the Sith walk free without some kind of retribution.
Cath let out a tired sigh, "Jason, we are Jedi. It's not in our nature to want revenge. It's what leads to the dark side, you know this." Jason looked out the window at the setting sun, avoiding the master's piercing gaze "I'm sorry Jason, but there is nothing any of us can do to change what has happened" Jason tore his eyes away from the sun and looked at the Jedi master Directly in the eyes.
"I know master Cath, forgive me." Cath gave Jason a sad smile.
"There is nothing to apologise for Jason. The Sith did horrific things during the war, and it's only natural to want to make them pay for their crimes. What matters is that we accept what happened, learn from it and try to move on. So, if you'd please, let us return to the matter at hand."
Jason nodded stiffly.
Master Cath looked to the right of himself where Master Jarik Covell sat, his small white horns shining like ivory in the sunlight. The old Zabrak was legend amongst the soldiers of the Republic. His military strategies almost never failed to amaze.
"You will be traveling with Colonel Tana Medea from the Grand Army and her college, Captain Keth Oroli." the Zabrak said "They, along with yourselves, will be the ones signing the treaty on behalf of the Republic. If all goes well the Sith will sign the treaty, and we can enter a new era of peace. Well, the closest as we can get to peace with the Sith living on the Republic`s doorstep."
"What if the Sith refuse to sign the treaty?" Keelu asked.
Master Nuk Zaa, a female Rodian sitting on Darryn's left, glared at the Keelu with large, misty eyes. "The Republic feels that if the Sith do not cooperate then they will have no choice but to attack the Sith on Korriban to put an end to them for good. If it comes to this, the Jedi will not get involved. This is the Republic's decision, not ours, and we refuse to take part in genocide."
Keelu nodded, "we will do what we can masters, may the force be with you"
"And with you" said Cath. The two Jedi began to exit the chamber until a voice called out to them.
"Jason?" the young Jedi turned to look at master Cath, "Be mindful of your emotions young one. The dark side will evidently be present. Don't give it a chance to corrupt you."
Jason bowed to master Cath once more, "thank you master, I will do well to remember"
At that note, Jason turned on his heel and left the bright council chamber for the dimly lit hallway of the centre spire. As the two Jedi walked in silence toward the turbo lift, Jason felt something tugging at him. It wasn't something physical, it was the force. Over the years he had learned to take more notice of warnings in the force, and although this wasn't an obvious sign of danger. The force was telling him that something was going to happen in the near future, and whatever it was, it was important.
"Master, something doesn't feel right"
"I know, I feel it too. The force remains unbalanced as long as the Sith exist. But it doesn't feel like it has anything to do with Sith, does it?"
"No, I don't think so. Impressions from the Sith are usually more focused and defined, aren't they? Stang, I don't even know what the force is telling me. It's too vague and weak to make sense of. Why? are you having any luck understanding it?"
"No. But that doesn't mean we should regard it as unimportant. If it wasn't, then I doubt we would have felt anything"
"Yes master"
It took several Minutes but eventually the turbo lift arrived and the two Jedi stepped inside. Much of Jason and Keelu's time spent together was usually in silence. At first it had felt kind of eerie to Jason, but after a while it almost became comforting in a way.
"Is there anything you want to get before we leave?" Keelu asked her apprentice. Jason shook his head. There was nothing in his room that he wanted to bring with him; each item just brought back more painful memories of his sister's death.
The turbo lift slid past the dormitory level and rumbled to a stop at the temple's main hangar bay .Jason and Keelu stepped out of their lift, the smell of engine oil and grease wafting through the air. In front of the lift stood a silver S-7 protocol droid, awaiting their arrival with a data pad gripped in its metallic hand.
"Master Keelu?" it asked in its monotone voice.
"That's me" she said as they stepped closer.
Jason marvelled at the rows of different ships, wondering which one they would be taking. Back when he was a youngling, he loved technology, especially exotic star ships. Even after all these years, he tried to read holo books on new star ships in his spare time, but thanks to the war, he rarely had any time at all, let alone the desire for indulgences.
"The colonel is waiting for you in bay 87, here are the ship launch codes. It would also do well to look after the ship, after all you Jedi are notorious for destroying star ships." The droid handed over the data pad and walked off, not even waiting for the Jedi to say anything else..
"Talk about rude" Jason muttered.
"It's just a droid, it's just doing what it's programmed to do," said Keelu as they started walking down the rows of ships.
"Yeah well, they could have had at least programmed it to be a little more polite. Uh, master are you sure this the right ship?" Jason and his master had just reached bay 87, but instead of the sleek Republic shuttle Jason had been picturing, there was a small, dumpy cargo ship that looked like it could barely stand on its landing struts, let alone fly.
The ship was awkward looking, with it's oversized main engine and a large triangular cockpit. The two smaller engines on either side of the body looked ridiculous, and the body seemed almost bloated.
A very pretty, dark haired woman in a filthy republic uniform came walking down the landing ramp, wiping engine grease off her hands as she went. She smiled at the Jedi as they bowed in greeting. "Master Keelu, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard much about you" she said lightly. Keelu returned her smile.
"Likewise colonel, may I introduce my Padawan Jason Kiel."
Jason smiled at colonel Medea and shook her slightly dirty hand. This woman was not what he pictured of a Republic officer. During the war he and his master had very little contact with any members of the Grand Army, mainly because most of their missions involved espionage and tracking Sith across numerous worlds in the outer and mid rim.
"I thought this mission is important, what's with the cargo ship?" Jason blurted. His master glared at him disapprovingly, but the colonel's smile just grew even bigger.
"Don't worry" she reassured with a wave of her greasy hand "it's made to look this way. Those Republic scientists had been designing space craft disguised as cargo ships to try and infiltrate Sith outposts back near the end of the war. This was the original prototype of that program, it's got more hidden weapons than you could think of, and several you probably haven't heard of either"
Jason still wasn't convinced, Colonel Medea must have notice this, because the next thing he knew, Jason was being dragged toward the ship by the colonel as if she were a six year old showing her parents something of interest.
"Honestly, it's got a great interior, real cozy. The engines are top of the line, the shields too. Trust me; there isn't anything to be afraid of." the colonel let go of Jason and stood beside the boarding ramp, waiting for him to embark. Jason turned to look at Keelu, who just gave him an unsure shrug.
Jason stepped into the ship and was surprised to see it bore no resemblance to the exterior design.
Oddly, this was the most luxurious ship Jason had ever been on. The floors were covered in a soft red fabric with small diamond shaped patterns etched into them. The beige walls were lined with small crimson glow lamps, which cast soft shadows onto the walls and ceiling.
"This ship was designed for infiltrating the Sith?" he asked sceptically.
The Colonel actually giggled. "Yeah, originally of course. But the interior was re-furbished once the war was over. The Chancellor actually wanted to use it as his own private shuttle to get from place to place without drawing any attention. But before the weapons were removed the Chancellor decided to give it to the Jedi as a gift."
Jason continued to marvel the beautiful ship interior when a man about the same size of Jason came walking out of the nearby refresher. He was well built and had rugged good looks that could have betrayed him as an outer rim smuggler. The man was quite surprised to see the three of them standing there.
"This is Captain Keth Oroli," explained Tana "he's a friend and college of mine who will be accompanying us on our mission."
The Captain shook each of their hands and then rounded on the Colonel. "Tana, what's with all the grease?" he demanded. Jason had never heard a lower level officer say anything like this to a superior before.
Then again, he hadn't met very many officers in his military career anyway.
She just gave the captain a wide, beautiful smile, "just fine tuning the engine, who knows what kind of bugs the designers could have overlooked. But don't worry, I made sure it's working fine"
"Oh, I'm not worried about the engine" said Oroli, "I'm just worried about showing up in front of the Sith diplomats with my superior officer covered in grease."
"I'll clean after we make our jump, besides its going to take a couple days to get there anyway." the colonel turned to Keelu. "Do you have the launch codes master Keelu? That idiot droid said it was only authorized to give them to you and no one else," she mocked.
Keelu reached inside her belt and withdrew the data pad and handed it Tana. "Thank you, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to prep us for launch. Keth why don't you show them to their rooms?"
Keth nodded and Tana walked off in the direction of the cockpit, this left Keth alone with the two Jedi. "Soo..." the captain said uncomfortably, "If you'll just follow me then I'll show you to your rooms I guess. Like Tana said we're going to be in hyperspace for a few days so we should probably settle in."
Jason had several questions for Keth about his relations with Tana, but he decided this might not be the best of times. Keth turned around and headed down the tiny hall toward the rear; he stopped in front of one of the doors and turned to look at the Jedi.
"I hope this one is to your liking master Keelu, it was originally made for the Chancellor after all" he opened the door to show the plush interior, which wasn't much different than the rest of the ship.
"Thank you captain, but this is unnecessary, you or the colonel could have..."
Keth cut her off, "no, no, no, master Keelu, we already have our rooms, but thank you for your generosity." Keelu gave Jason and the captain another small smile then retreated inside her suite.
Keth turned to face Jason. "It's Jason right? Your room is over here." he led Jason to a room almost directly across the hall from his master. He opened it up to show it was just as lavish as the first.
"Thank you captain," Jason said with a bow.
"Any time my boy," Keth replied "hey, when you're ready you can meet us in the cockpit for take off."
"Sounds great, thank you again captain" he smiled at Keth and turned to enter his room, but the captain held him back. "Oh and by the way, call me Keth. I kind of hate it when people call me captain; it feels a little too formal."
"Sure thing" said Jason. Keth grinned then left him outside his room. Since Jason had very few personal belongings to bring, he decided to follow Keth instead of checking out his new room.
Jason could feel the small ship's engines power up as he reached the bridge. He was almost overwhelmed with the lights and sounds that filled it. It vaguely reminded him of a Couriscanti night club he had visited in his youth.
Tana turned in the pilot's seat examine Jason, "still not impressed?" she asked smugly. Jason raised his hands in submission, "alright, I give, this ship is incredible."
"Well," she said. "If this was enough to impress you, just you wait until she gets in the air" she turned her back to him to resume the lift off procedures.
"Speaking of her, what's her name?" Jason wondered aloud. Keth shrugged as he strapped himself into the co-pilot seat.
"You can check the ship registry if you want" he said, "it should be in that terminal beside you"
Jason turned to his left and walked over to the small terminal Keth was referring to. He flipped through the ship's data files until he found what he was looking for. Jason had to squint his eyes to read the tiny writing.
Ship registry no. 1585-7064
"Saurora"
"The Saurora" said Jason as he shut down the terminal.
"Hmm, nice name." Keth commented. "Wouldn't say it suites the look of the ship though" Jason gave a little laugh. Keelu walked into the cockpit, absent mindedly fiddling with her lekku.
"Are we good to go colonel?"
Tana nodded, "we're just waiting for approval for take off. I'd recommend you two should strap in, it shouldn't take long."
As the two Jedi found their seats a deep voice crackled over the comm. channel.
"Saurora, this is Couruscanti flight control, sector 169 B. Please verify your destination and departure point" Jason sat in the navigation chair behind Keth, he fumbled with the straps as Tana spoke into her headset.
"Destination; planet Vespae of the Abiz system, departure point is at co-ordinates 463-174-369." the comm. line went silent for a moment.
"Saurora you are cleared for take off. Have a nice flight." The line was cut and Tana took hold of the controls.
Jason just finished buckling in when he felt the ship rise off the hangar floor. He glanced out the window in time to see the ship blast away from the hangar and into the crowded skies of the galactic capital. As the Saurora rose into the sky, any details on the planet's surface melded together into their surroundings, becoming an ugly generic grey.
The Couruscanti atmosphere suddenly disappeared and the black of space enveloped them. Once the ship reached the departure point just beyond one of Coruscant's moons, Tana initiated the hyperdrive. Jason watched in amusement as the surrounding stars raced towards them until they became blurred and nothing but bright hyperspace became visible.
