"So, Coruscant, you said?" Atton asked as he punched in the coordinates.
"Yes. Get us out of here," Valia ordered. When the ship was rocketing into hyperspace she left the cockpit, preparing to go over What T3 had taken from Atris' database. What she found surprised her as she had pulled up a small stool. A record of her trial, the last known location of the masters-all of which had been on the Council that had exiled her.
But that could wait. She needed to stock up on some serious weaponry...
"Those are Atris' records you have stolen."
Valia wheeled around, facing the nervous young Echani, the youngest of them.
"What are you doing on our ship?" Valia asked. "It is too late to take you back, rookie."
"I know. I am doing this on behalf of my mistress. I can help you-"
"I saw what your sisters are capable of. To say I was not impressed is a statement made only for your benefit."
"But I can fight-I can shoot-"
"That won't be enough. Yes, you may know how to hold yourself against the average merc, but that pales in comparison to the most elementary Sith. It's not like the training mat-"
"My sisters neglect my training! Because I honor the face of my mother!" the Echani spoke with a passion that caught Valia off guard.
"You should not have depended on your sisters for your training. And you don't look ready to kill-" Valia stopped herself, eyeing the young Echani's body.
Her stance needed improvement, but she wasn't hopeless. Not like her sisters. Valia had been initially fooled by the refinement of the others. It had turned out to be merely the product of practice, not effort. And judging by how she held herself, she was clearly used to fighting and worked hard to attain what skill she could from her incompetent sisters. She still did not look ready to kill.
But still...the risk was worth it. And Valia owed the rookie's mother at least that much.
"If you journey with us, you must be prepared to kill. It will be disgusting, It will horrify you at first-as it should. But you must commit. And you will have to follow my instructions. Do you understand?"
"I do. I will not fail you."
"Don't fail yourself, rookie."
"What the hell?" Atton blurted out as he walked into the main hold, his hand fumbling for his blaster.
"Stay your weapon," Valia ordered. "This one has agreed to come with us."
"How can we trust her?"
"How can you trust me?" Valia asked.
Atton took his hand off his weapon, rolling his eyes. "Good point."
Valia turned to the Echani Handmaiden. "You will occupy a bunk. I'll assign it to you. Wait in the cargo hold for now."
"I shall do as you ask, Exile."
"Call me Valia. That is your first instruction."
"You're being unusually friendly to her," Atton said, a complaint just under his tone.
Valia waved her hand. "It is not friendliness. That one has potential, unlike her half sisters. It is potential I intend to utilize."
"Half sister-?"
"Did you notice the face, or are you blind?"
"Oh, yeah...her face was different. Do you know her?"
"Pardon?"
"You called her Arren, back on Telos."
"I called her Arren because she has the face of her mother, Arren Kae, a Jedi Weapon Master. It was a misunderstanding."
"Oh, I see. Didn't know Jedi were supposed to have kids," Atton replied frowning.
"They are not. At least, not lately. That policy of Jedi not marrying was backed by the Shadows as it isolated you average Jedi better in case said Jedi ever needed to get offed. Arren was a fine Weapon Master, one of the finest the Order had. Her reputation went out the window when it was discovered she had a child. It was like all she had done previously didn't matter," Valia answered, angry at how Arren had simply been kicked out for an act of passion."The Order was foolish to cast that one out. A warrior with a sword will always find a reason to cut with it again. She made her way to Revan during the war. She and her lover, General Yusanis, were my equals in combat."
"General Yusanis was her lover?" Atton said, surprised.
"Who do you think knocked her up in the first place?" Valia asked rhetorically. "You sound like you are familiar with Yusanis."
"Well, I, uh, just heard about him, that's all," Atton replied quickly.
"Huh. So you did." Valia eyed him but decided it would take too much time to get the real answer out of him. "Arren died getting me off Malachor. Pushed me onto a shuttle just as a Mandalorian rocket hit her. I was thankful she was at least not alive when the Generator was activated. I owe Arren."
"I see. We'll reach Coruscant in a few hours, so, try to find something to do until then," Atton yawned, walking back to the cockpit. "Me? I'm gonna get some shut-eye."
Valia walked into the cargo hold to find the Handmaiden practicing her combat arts.
Valia pursed her lips in distaste. The form was all wrong, her back wasn't straight enough, and her hands were not steady, like she was nervous all the time. The foot work was also too slow.
The Handmaiden stopped, when she noticed Valia.
"Oh...welcome Valia. I was merely practicing."
"What's your name, Daughter of Arren?"
"I-my name is not important. Only my purpose is," she said with resolve.
"Nonsense. I don't want to be referring to you as a Handmaiden all throughout the Journey. It's demeaning. Out with it."
"I-I don't believe it's important. You may continue calling me a 'Rookie' if you want."
"Your mother's defiance lives on. Okay, Rookie, show me what you know."
The Rookie disrobed, revealing brown undergarments. There was not an ounce of spare fat on that steely muscle the Echani had.
"Huh, seems your mother's defiance wasn't the only thing you inherited, Rookie," Valia said, taking in the young woman's body. Valia removed her armor.
The Rookie winced when she gazed at Valia's body.
"Let's see if you can take me, Rookie."
The Rookie hardened her gaze and launched a knife hand.
Valia grabbed it-and then found herself flat on her back. The Rookie had reversed it.
Valia lept up. "Good. That was twice as long as your sister lasted, Rookie."
The Rookie rushed forward with a kick, but missed and caught a blow to the side of her head from Valia's fist. But the Rookie did not give up. She leg-swept Valia-who managed to hand stand for a brief second as her legs were thrown out from under her. She landed back on her feet in the exact same spot.
"Good. You're a fighter, alright," Valia said, readying herself.
The Rookie launched into a series of blows aimed at Valia's chest, all of which were blocked. The Rookie grew frustrated as she began to constantly have her momentum exploited as Valia countered with a series of well placed blows to the shoulder. No matter what the Rookie tried though, Valia would reverse it.
At least until the Rookie gave a spin kick that got Valia by surprise. Valia stumbled back, wiping blood from her nose.
She smiled. "I'll say this for you, Rookie, you have spirit."
The Rookie was breathing heavily. She raised her balled fists.
"That's enough for now, Rookie. Your foot work is a little weak, so you need to move faster. Your guard can be totally exploited, so, we'll work on that later." Valia wiped the blood from her nose again, surprised by how much it was still bleeding. "You think you can handle a little action?"
"Of course."
"Good. You are coming with me to Coruscant. When you practice, don't try any of the fancy moves; stick with the ones you know are working. Stick with the basics and I'll work with you from there."
Valia put her armor back on and walked out. As she made her way to the sleeping quarters to get rid of the ringing headache she had, she noticed Bao-Dur fooling around in the med-bay. It was where Kreia was. He was doing some sketches of her inert figure.
"I remember when I was just a boy and my mother took me to see the puppet show. Have you ever been to a puppet show?" Bao-Dur asked in that oh-so-gentle voice as he drew designs for a mechanical puppet of Kreia.
Valia snorted.
Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
Coruscant, sector J 7 (Formerly Jedi Sector)
The Hawk touched down on an obscure landing pad far out of the way of the traffic lanes based on Valia's directions.
It was morning on Coruscant as Valia, the Rookie, Bao-Dur, Atton, and T3 came off the ship.
"So, what are we doing here, General?" Bao-Dur asked. "Does it involve something illegal? Because illegal things can be kinda fun."
The Rookie and Atton both exchanged glances.
"We're going to The Grip."
"The Grip? What the hell is it?" Atton asked.
"It's a village deep in the Coruscant depths. Populated by Force-users." Valia answered, staring at the Jedi Temple that was just a few kilometers off with both longing and loathing.
"What, like a nest of Jedi?" Atton asked, suddenly nervous.
"Some are, some are not," Valia answered. "This way."
The group sauntered over to a rusty looking turbolift door.
"Don't look too safe, General," Bao-Dur noted. "But then again, what the hell do I care?"
"You'll be fine," Valia assured, hitting the activation pad.
The door creaked open and they began the long trip into Coruscant's depths.
It was dank, it was dark. The light from above barely reached these depths, like they had entered a completely different world from the one above. It was a tight alleyway. Valia could hear dripping from some pipe in the distance.
"Follow me," Valia ordered, taking the first step onto the filthy floor of the alley way, the close walls seemingly closing in on them in this shadowy world.
The group marched down the alley, all keeping eyes on the shadows, expecting something to jump out at them.
Atton felt something going up his back.
"Gah!' he yelled, jumping. He scowled when he realized it was only Bao-Dur using his fingers.
"Sorry. I couldn't resist. All this gloom and doom brings out my playful side. And you are so delightfully jumpy, like a little gizka on stims."
"Don't do that!" he snapped.
Valia paid the two no heed and turned left and came across a door. She knocked on it three times.
A slide in the door opened. Two sulfurous yellow eyes stared out at them.
"Say the password or buzz off," the bass voice growled from behind the door.
"It's a trap," Valia replied easily.
"Huh. Okay, you can come in. You gotta surrender your weapons by the door though. No arguments. Are you expected?"
"No."
"Fine. I'll tell Xahn." The slide shut and the door opened.
It was a hodgepodge of stone huts and scrap metal shacks easily covering an area of three blocks. Men and women of several species dressed in various types of rags, some with yellow eyes and some with a sickly pallor to their face milled about, warming themselves by nearby street fires or doing some practical tasks.
What caught Atton's eye-and made him gape-was that all these people, even the children he spotted, had lightsabers.
"Welcome to the Force sensitive black market," Valia explained, lifting an introductory hand.
"So these guys are all Jedi?" Bao-Dur asked, fascinated. "It reminds me of a roach colony. I like roaches. Crunchy, but with a salty aftertaste, depending on the species."
"Many of them are. Many more are failed Padawans, ex-Sith. Some even used to defend the temple. Dark side witches, light side healers. Pick a discipline, and you will surely find their rejects here," Valia replied, totally caught off guard by Bao-Dur and doing her best to hide it.
"Leave your weapons here," the burly Iktotchi Sith guard said, covered in red and black Sith tattoo's.
The group disarmed at Valia's insistence, and the ex-Sith put them in a rusty bucket next to him.
"What are all these guys doing here?" Atton asked.
"This place was founded as a haven for those looking to escape the Jedi and Sith's endless wars. Many here are veterans from the Exar Kun war and the more recent Civil War. The ones who founded this place were disgusted with both the wasteful luxury of the Order and the violent excesses of the Sith. For this, many of the founders were wanted by both groups for being traitors, others just found themselves here without anywhere else to go. They have developed their own, stand-alone techniques in combat, and a mess of superstitions," Valia finished, walking down the street as a bunch of the villagers eyes turned to meet her. "They sell a number of items that the Jedi would be quick to confiscate, were there any around to protest. When the Temple was abandoned, they sent their own teams in to steal as much as they could before looters or more Jedi could come. I bet Atris was spitting fire over that. As a result, they have a several of the Order's most important holocrons in their possession." Valia stopped at a stone door and banged on it.
"Welcome, Valia. it has been a long time," said a figure completely cowled in a black robe said with a scratchy voice, opening the door, a small smile visible beneath the deep hood.
"Xahn. You look healthy," Valia hissed, grinning fully.
"What happened to your voice?"
"Bomb shrapnel in the neck."
"Figures," Xahn replied, beckoning the group in. "Take a seat. All of you."
Atton spotted the one chair and quickly sat down. Bao-Dur settled on some rumpled rags in a corner, picking at his nose a little. The Rookie sat on the floor on her knees while Valia planted herself on the ground in the lotus position, T3 close by.
"It has gotten bad out there, or so I hear," Xhan stated. "I should have known you would be returning soon. How was your stay on Iga?"
"Not too bad. The village seems to be alright."
"Yes, we are struggling along, as always," Xahn replied in an off-handed manner. "I assume you are here for your equipment."
"Of course. You kept it in condition, right?"
"Yes. I have checked on it now and then, naturally," Xahn hissed. "Do you know where the Nosferan known as Revan has gone?"
"No. I admit, it crossed my mind to go and look for her, but with the Sith chasing me, I just haven't had the time."
"I know what you mean. I've been at my wits end dealing with the Sith. A couple of their assassins were caught snooping around in the temple by one of my men. A few also managed to find this place, even with the Jedi Alchemy we've employed to protect the village. We killed them, but I figure it's only a matter of time before more show up."
"Any more Jedi come here?"
"Only one so far, and she was only looking for protection. We gave it to her. Name's Raya Secura."
Valia jumped up. "Raya survived?! Where is she?"
"We set her up with a spot at the end of the village. She's not here now, she's working as a dancer in a cantina topside. The Rusty Pole, I believe."
"Guess I know where I'm headed next. By the way, you got any 'extra' items?"
Xahn grinned at the question.
"I managed to acquire an interesting relic." Xahn pulled a long iron box from underneath his ramshackle bed. He opened it.
What was inside sparkled.
"What a beautiful weapon!" the Rookie exclaimed.
The sword had a gentle curve to its edge. It was fixed with calligraphy in a language Valia knew beyond a doubt to be a Nosferan tongue on the flat of the sword. Its ornate hilt hugged the bottom of the blade like ivy hugs a wall, with the leather grip so tightly bound to the hilt it seemed to be melded with it. The blade itself was almost white, and polished to a mirror sheen, giving an unnatural glow even in the darkness.
"A genuine Jedi Katana," Xahn explained. "Pulled from a stone in the tomb of the Jedi Shinkage Baiken himself. After thousands of years, it is still sharp enough to punch a hole through a solid wall of durasteel with the lightest of taps."
"Baiken, you say?" Valia said, her interest perked. Nosferan's had a habit for embedding themselves deep into other societies. The design of the single edged blade smacked of Nosferan sensibilities and their notorious metallurgy.
"Yes. We don't know too much about him, though," Xahn replied. "It's yours. You'll need something like this."
Valia gently removed the sword like it was a baby and took its equally beautiful white sheath. For a second she thought she heard a sound like whispers coming from the blade. "Thank you, my friend."
"And here is all of your old equipment," Xahn said, pulling out a large, brown trunk.
Valia took out the dark brown robes and demon mask. Her custom pistols were all black, and seemed to swallow the light around them. There was also her handbook of killing techniques, her holocron and her handcrafted knives.
"Thanks Xahn. You're a true friend," Valia complimented. "Keep safe from the Sith. I have to go and look for Raya."
"If you are planning to go to the Temple also, be careful, some Republic garrisons set up shop there to protect it from looters. Not that there is much left anyway. I heard an admiral by the name of Carth Onasi has confiscated whatever is left. Many of the village elders are growing...irritated with him and his 'investigations'. Watch out for him. He's a slippery one, and there are rumors going around that he knows the Force."
"Thanks for the warning," Valia signalled to the others. "Time to go."
The group left Xahn's home and the Rookie spoke up. "These people are not what I envisioned as Jedi," she said with veiled disgust.
"Rookie, none of these people are Jedi. Not anymore. They are probably better off that way. This endless war has chewed through many on both sides."
"How can you say that? These people here have forsaken their duty to protect the innocent!"
"Rookie, has it occurred to you that maybe all any of them want is to stop fighting? That they just-" Valia found herself losing control but the Rookie was acting like a copy of Atris. Even if she did not intend to be. Valia had learned her lessons too late to make a real difference, but there was still time for the daughter of Arren to be steered onto the right path.
"My mistress would not approve of these people just trying to survive. Especially the Jedi."
"It is precisely because they are just people trying to survive that Atris would hate them. They have removed themselves from the conflict. They are having children and making a living in a community, however hard a life this is, it is still a life. Even I admit to being a little jealous," Valia hissed ruefully. "There is more to life than just having this creed or that, Rookie. Both sides have forgotten this. See that door guard? Judging by his tattoos, he was probably a frontline enforcer. Ask him why he still isn't out there, trying to make people's lives as frakking miserable as the Force will allow him to." Valia pushed the Rookie to the guard. "Ask him!"
Recognizing it as direct order, the Rookie approached the burly Sith.
"Um, excuse me..."
The guard stared at her. "What is it? Speak up."
"I wish to know why you left the Sith."
The guard glared. "May I ask why?"
"Just...because I wish to know."
The guard though a moment before finally answering.
"Spending a month hip deep in bodies on the battlefield can make someone quit anything. Especially if that someone made the bodies," the guard answered thoughtfully. He gestured all around him. "That's how a lot of us ended up here. Ask anybody, including the ex-Jedi. There comes a point where the killing becomes rather pointless. Some of us revile the thought of ever raising a sword against another person now. There, you have your answer. Now leave me be."
The Rookie, shocked by the answer, nevertheless nodded and went back to Valia. "I see what you mean."
Valia nodded approvingly. It was good that Atris' lies were stripped from the girl. If only a little.
"So why are you trying to look for them?" the Rookie asked.
"I hate to admit this, but I must. Jedi are unfortunately still needed. They are an inspiration because they sacrifice themselves for others. That was the only ideal of theirs I really liked. I also suspect one of them of being a Shadow, and I cannot allow them to ever gain a foothold among Jedi ever again, lest they collapse from within."
"A Shadow?"
"Oh, right, you were not around for that conversation." Valia explained it in detail, which left her companion pursing her lips in dismay.
"What you have told me is-disturbing. Why would the Jedi resort to such tactics?"
"It is called thousands of years of the Order's best and brightest defying their masters and making the Galaxy burn. The Shadows were born probably from a feeling of great indignity among some of the more fanatical members of the Jedi. Whenever a Jedi went bad, others would suffer for it. It was from arrogance and anger that the Shadows were born, an unwillingness to have their precious tenets questioned any further. But the first Shadow masters, they too recognized that they were being stonewalled by their teachings. So they would operate in secret, killing the most powerful who were displaying the warning signs. or even those the FEARED would display the signs. The man who shot Ulic Qel Droma dead, Hoggon, was a Shadow, at the behest of Nomi Sunrider, the head Master of the Shadows at the time."
"But-you can't be right! Nomi Sunrider was one of the greatest Jedi who ever lived. From what I read she would never have-"
"Yes she would. She had seen Ulic kill his brother right in front of her so she cut him off from the Force. That she did not kill him right there was because there were at least twelve Jedi around her at the time. She had to let him go. Him training Vima, her daughter, proved to be the last straw."
"But that speech she gave on mercy-"
"That was a speech, designed to hide the truth of her soul," Valia grunted. "Come, it is time to go topside."
