Chapter Eight

"Masters, I left here with your blessing several months ago. With a vision from the Force guiding me, I made my way to Ilum and, lead by the Force, discovered a grotto accessed by a long and deep cave network. Saturated with Force energies, I lost myself in meditation and was given a vision of what the future holds. And an alternative; another, darker possibility. What these are, I cannot say. What is to be, must come to be of its own accord, without our direct influence."

Halycon looked around the chamber and saw each of the Masters deep in thought, debating inwardly with themselves the impact of her words. Only one face looked at her still. Sitting on his haunches, a warrior's habit that he maintained even after all these years, and looking at her with a twitching nose that was smelling the pheromones her body sent out while his beady eyes looked, searching for answers; his wickedly pointed teeth distorting his soft smile, though the edges of his mouth were cracked from dryness. Shintor gently rose to the balls of his feet as he spoke in his iron hard voice.

"Your odours betray you, Halycon. You have more, much more, then an unshared vision from the Force. What is the weapon hanging by your side?" he questioned, pointing stabbingly with a gnarled finger towards the black cylinder hanging on Halycon's belt.

Smiling mysteriously, with an almost mischievous twinkle in her eye, Halycon continued.

"You are correct, Master Shintor. Since the beginning, we have used sabres as our weapon. An elegant, dignified weapon, requiring skill and honour to wield properly. However, there will be a weapon, in both futures, that will render our sabers useless. It will be some sort of energy projectile weapon."

While she spoke, Halycon had unclipped the lightsaber from her belt. Swinging it up into an en garde position, she flipped the activation switch, and with a crisp snap-hiss, ignited the blue blade and moved into a warm up routine. The Masters looked on as the blade hummed and buzzed through the air. Suddenly leaping through the air in simulation of an overhead attack, Halycon landed kneeling on one knee, plunging the lightsaber into the marble floor hilt deep. Ozone wafted through the air, tickling everyone's noses, and reminding Shintor of roasting Chakobsa on his home planet.

With the flick of her finger, Halycon switched off the lightsaber, panting slightly from the exertion of the demonstration.

A slight tic in the left eye the only betrayal of age, Kaja Sinis looked on with awe tempered by years of wisdom garnered at the hands of things that were not always as they seemed.

"Fortuitous timing this is," he began. "Planned by the Force this must have been. But what, for a gift such as this, is the price?"

Halycon looked at the weapon in her hands, and in a voice that sounded lightyears distant, spoke softly. "This is the beginning of the imbalance. This is the beginning of the descent of darkness. There is one who will fall astray of the teachings of the light and will become full of hatred. He will take it and control it, using it to ravage the Force. He will I am an idiot it like one who has no care, and will leave his imprint upon the very fabric of the Jedi for millennia."

***

The only sounds to be heard in the crisp night air was the hum of the landing gear appearing from the underside of the ship as it settled, sinking slightly on one side in the moist earth. Once it had completely settled, there was total silence, not even the slight rustling of the wind through the leaves of the forest, nor the groans of the wounded and dying warriors. The partially cloud covered moon cast a soft glow over the everything making the sweaty faces glisten gently as they listened to the shiny flying monster which sat on the ground before them, making strange hissing sounds. Everyone looked at the Warmaster, waiting to see what he would do.

Nothing in all my studies of Ausi-Janibu has prepared me for this, nothing in my wildest dreams comes close to comparing to what I see before me.

With a swallow of trepidation, the Warmaster stepped forward, his cloak billowing gently in the soft night breeze, and his eyes wide open. Planting his spear resolutely, he waited with a brave face for the shiny monster to say something.

"Landing gear secure, defensive weapons powered up,all clear for landfall Master" called the pilot.

With a wickedly curved metal tri-claw clicking softly together rhythmically, Kaltiir stabbed at the gangplank control which lowered with a hiss of hydraulic gases while bright yellow light spilled out into the black night, and she took a deep breath in of the fresh night air, almost finding pleasure in the rich scents of soil and grass and trees that rolled in through the hatch, but instead discovering the beautiful smell of charred flesh, heard the delightful sounds of moaning wounded. A vicious smile curled the corners of Kaltiirs mouth upwards as she strode down the ramp and came to a halt in front of one of the savages, one who had the air of authority. Kaltiir could sense the others savages waiting for this one to act, to follow his lead, and decided to force his hand.

Shey watched as the shiny monster opened up, and a four armed creature walked out of it down a stiff tongue and looked at him. Shey stiffened as he felt tendrils of thought enter his mind. Narrowing his eyes, he looked inside his mind, taking up his mental weaponry for the first time since he had assassinated the previous Warmaster. Seeking out the invading mind, Shey was not surprised to find it emanated from the strange creature from the stars; dark, powerful and almost overwhelming, and he suddenly realised that while he had been bolstering his mental defences, his bodyguard had been thrown like rag dolls far into the jungle in what he knew was a show of power.

Who but Ausi-Janibu, or his servant, walks out on the tongue of a shiny monster?

Ausi-Janibu stepped toward him and began speaking in a harsh, demanding voice, and though Shey could not understand the words rolling through his mind, he could understand the intonation, and felt the evility exuded outward in waves from his God, and got down on one knee, head bowed, and with sadness tinged with steely resolve, held his spear out in a gesture of submission.

Better to live, to fight another day.