Chapter 12

There had to be sixty Raiders moving down from the mountain ridge into the village below. The Raiders did not intend this raid in broad daylight to take them by surprise. They moved methodically, confident in their numbers. As they made their way into the village, Kai-Kwon watched the Twi'leks, led by Ryu, overturn tables and take defensive positions behind them, the buildings, and throughout the empty market.

Finally, the horde stopped between the central market and the row of homes Kai-Kwon had slept in just two nights before. An eerie silence descended across the village as this pre-battle ritual commenced. The Jedi stood on the steps of the village hall, their robes fluttering behind them and whipping against their armor.

For their part, the Raiders didn't seem to notice the Twi'leks taking aim at them, as their sole focus appeared to be on the Jedi. Kai-Kwon wondered if their arrival triggered this attack.

It was Master Zon that broke the attempted intimidation. "Leave now and you have my word we will not follow," her voice boomed across wind and snow.

For the briefest of moments Kai-Kwon thought the heavily armored Raider in front was going to speak, honestly nothing would surprise him anymore. But instead he unsheathed a small axe from its back waistband and hurled it at Master Zon's head, who with a quick flick of her hand, sent the blade careening by her and intothe wall next to the door. Without wasting that movement of her hand she unsheathed both sabers and ignited them. That began an orderly procession of blue, green, and yellow sabers igniting that ended with Kai-Kwon in front of the bottom step. The chief Raider let out a tremendous war cry and he could see the spittle connected from one razor sharp fang to the other.

All at once, the village exploded into a torrent of battle sounds. The Raiders charged, the Twi'lek's blasters opened up, and the Jedi ran or leapt to meet the challenge. Kai-Kwon ran to meet the front line of the Raiders as they ran to meet him. The first attacker in front of him charged with large vibro-axe held over his right shoulder. Kai-Kwon held out his free hand and called the axe to it with the Force. The confused Raider, with hands still clutching air, ran into the Jedi's outstretched blade. In the same instant Kai-Kwon hurled the large axe into the back of another Raider flanking Tyosa Kyo, as he withdrew his blade from the still confused but now dying Raider.

The next minutes of the battle were bloody and furious as Kai-Kwon blocked, parried, and thrusted his way to the middle of the Flesh Raider pack. He blocked the wild swings of another Raider in front of him while ducking and sweeping, slicing through the Raider's legs at his ankles. In the midst of battle he got a another image of Orgus, this time surrounded by stone works and in front of a small stone building that housed a light saber construction table…

"the Forge!" he yelled while sweeping his blade across the midsection of another Raider.

"What's that?!" Master Zon called out next to him, her twin blue blades blocking attacks from the four Raiders around her.

"Master Din is at the Forge! And he's in trou-!" the last word cut off by the renewed attack of another Raider.

"Go!" she yelled. Seeing his worry, she added "we will hold the village, now GO!"

He put his faith in the Force and ducked out of the melee, ending the life of the attacking Raider as he did.

"My army has failed Doctor. Without the Chieftain and my apprentice, they lack any discipline" Bengel Morr hissed into his comm device.

"Did you really expect your army of mongrels to destroy the Jedi Order?" the Doctor answered.

"I believed if I could have developed their latent Force ability then we would have a chan-"

"A chance at what? Replacing the Jedi with an order of beasts? I see now I should have spelled things out a little more".

"What are you saying Doctor?" Bengel snapped, his anger and embarrassment rising.

"That your…army…was only ever to be a distraction. Now that they have served their purpose, I suggest you leave the planet" the voice answered back nonchalantly.

"Very well. I will leave for Coruscant immediately…but I don't appreciate being left out of the loop".

"Then you need to see past your idealism as it only makes you naïve".

"I-" but the connection was gone. Bengel threw the device against the wall and buried his head against his balled fists on the stone table.

Meanwhile in a darkened apartment on Coruscant the "Doctor" smiled at his ability to bend even superior beings to his will. Bengel Morr had no chance of getting off Tython and he had provided the needed distraction without ever considering he may have been anything less than a full partner in this endeavor. He slipped the comm into his belt and begin making his preparations.

Hours since leaving Kalikori, night had fallen and Kai-Kwon felt he was getting closer. He had been to the Forge once before with Orgus as a history lesson some ten years earlier. He remembered it being far longer than a decade. Must've been his lack of enthusiasm for history as a twelve-year-old.

He was worried for his former Master and wanted to get to him as quickly as possible but he needed a moment, he hadn't rested since before the battle and had been moving at an outright run for most of the trek. He sat on a large boulder and used this time to sink into the Force. Kai-Kwon's ability was such that the Force became a completely separate realm in which he could seem to fly in non-corporeal form. the reverberations could feel almost tangible and the life force of a normal being felt like a light source seen behind closed eye lids, or a flame in a snowstorm, depending on the Force alignment of the being. Kai-Kwon could fly to each and dismiss them based on the strength of their presence. Just seconds in this meditative state Kai-Kwon could sense ahead a bright light surrounded by a star hot ember, and he knew he had found what he sought.

Climbing a little farther he finally came into a clearing where he could see his destination for the first time. One ancient tree stood guard over the front steps, and as he ran his hand across its knotted surface he was hit by a vivid flashback from his trip here a decade before. Thinking of Orgus' lesson that day on legacy being our immortality, he was struck by the permanence of nature. At how much he had changed in those ten short years, when the tree was an exact replica of itself from before.

He shook himself out of his philosophizing and glanced up at the ancient stone city. The Forge itself was an ancient machine built by the first Je'daii over twenty-five thousand years ago. It had originally been known as Vur Tepe, one of the eight original temples created by the forefathers of the Order. It had been the temple of creation, where the Force would be manifested physically. First in steel, but later in the lightsabers they wield today. It had gone on to be a place of pilgrimage, where young Jed'aii traveled to create the light sabers, or Force sabers as they were known then since the beam of plasma energy could only be ignited and operated through intense focus.

He briefly marveled at the ability of the early Je'daii, to devote so much focus to simply keeping their blade ignited, and still having the residual focus and power to fight as ferociously as the ancient texts say.

Vur Tepe was a shadow of its former self, the tiered roof completely gone, leaving only the stone foundation. The active volcano that once bubbled perpetually below the temple, had gone dormant thousands of years ago, transforming the landscape around it to a more temperate climate. The temple ruins had much later become a village known as Demoria for the dormant volcano it was built upon, but even that small population had disappeared with the Great Expansion.

The actual saber crafting machine was housed inside the main courtyard. It was a bright night with the moon of Ashla in its full phase, while Bogdan was covered in blackness as always. He began the arduous trek up the four-thousand one-hundred and ninety-three steps, a numerical significance that had become lost in translation to the modern Jedi.

He stopped briefly to collect himself and replenish his energy for the battle he knew might be coming before eventually pushing his way off the last large step and onto the dark stone plateau. Instead of worsening, the snow and wind had all but stopped, leaving a thin white blanket on every surface. With this new clarity it wasn't long before his temporary exhaustion gave way to adulation as he saw Orgus bound and bloodied, but alive in front of the small dome that housed the Forge in Demoria's main courtyard.

From the walkway that ringed the entire abandoned village, Kai-Kwon looked for the antagonist behind this plot, and though he could see no one but Orgus, he could sense their darkness. Walking to the edge of the wall, he bypassed the short stairways on either side of him, and leapt the fifteen meters down to the courtyard floor.

At the sound of his landing Orgus Din looked up and flashed a bloodied smile. "I'm not sure how you got by my soldiers" came an angry voice from inside the darkened doorway to the Forge, followed soon after by a Nautolan clad in red chest and leg armor over his beige tunic and wrapped in the same dark robes Kai-Kwon remembered from the Temple. "but you have inserted yourself into matters you can't hope to comprehend…youngling"

"Bengal Morr?" Kai-Kwon asked. The Nautolan had been a few years older than he and they had never really spoken except for polite greetings passing each other in the hallways on their way to and from training sessions.

"I knew the villagers would be too weak to do what was necessary" the Dark acolyte spat as he stepped fully into Ashla's light.

"Not weak Bengel" Kai-Kwon said loosening his robe at the waist, "Just strong enough to defy you and your manipulation".

"Well then, they, like your Master" Bengel gestured at the bound Orgus next to him, "have been so indoctrinated that they cannot see what I'm doing".

"What are you doing Bengel? You were a good Je-"

"-still a good Jedi!" Bengel hissed. "It's you and him" he said pointing at Orgus, "and the Council that no longer understands what that means!"

Kai-Kwon sensed the only chance at a peaceful resolution here was to allow Bengel to air his grievances and try to reason with him. "What does it mean to you?" he asked.

"Do not play with me boy! Do you think I don't know you are stalling me while help arrives?"

Kai-Kwon help up his empty hands in a gesture of surrender. "My help is down in Kalikori, fighting for their lives, and the lives of the villagers…against your brutes".

Bengel smiled with sharp fangs exposed. "At least some beings have the stomach to do what is necessary".

"Yes, well, when mindless beasts are your allies…by the Force Bengel, these are your brothers and sisters you are slaughtering!"

He could no longer keep the anger from his voice. "What are you doing?!"

"Bringing justice to the galaxy! Not shirking from the responsibility because it may take violence to attain it". He matched Kai-Kwon's rising voice before catching himself with a quick smile.

"We walk in the light yes but we cannot be so blinded by the light that it causes us to appease evil, to placate corruption, or neglect innocent life for the sake of peace at any cost!" he finished with a wave of his arm encompassing everything.

"You are angry Bengel, I do not need the Force to tell me that. You are angry about the treaty…we all are. You are angry that the Sith hold half the galaxy under their cruel thumb…we all are. Our Order is not infallible, we make mistakes yes, but we work within the confines of what we have. The Senate wanted a ceasefire, the people of the Republic wanted an end to the fighting, and do you believe we should retake control of the government and dictate to the people?"

Kai-Kwon clasped his hands in front of him almost pleading for Bengel to see reason but with his next word he knew he had not. "Yes. We used to lead, and those were peaceful times. Beings are corruptible, and most don't know what they want except that they know it's their wants that are important. From the beginning, we were placed here by the Tho-Yor to lead these people! Not advise them! Or wait for them to ask for our help! We live under the tyranny of an apathetic and selfish majority!"

Kai-Kwon could only shake his head. "Then how would we differ from our enemies' brother?"

"Because we would fight for what is right! Justice, peace" Bengel answered, becoming more confident in his logic.

"The Sith believe they fight for what is right! For their own justice! Their own brand of peace. Maybe there is a discernable difference now Bengel, but I can promise the lines will blur until you couldn't distinguish a Sith from a Jedi. Better Jedi than you or I have gone down the path you now walk on, only one has returned to see his error" Kai-Kwon finished, his voice returning to controlled and measured.

"Look at you" Bengel said with a look of disdain, "even now you talk when your former master's life is in my hands, when you know you should fight! But you, like myself for a time, have been corrupted by the pacifism of the Council".

Bengel began to slowly walk in a circle to Kai-Kwon's right. "You assume too much Bengel" Kai-Kwon responded.

"Do I?"

"You assume that I am only here to save Orgus Din. That if Master Din was being held by pirates or Imperials that I would announce my presence and open dialogue. But you fail to see I did not come for Orgus Din alone. I came to save you as well brother. To keep you from falling and in turn keep the Order from losing a powerful son."

Kai-Kwon was now mirroring Bengal's circular walk. Pleas aside he knew they had already begun the ancient ritual of saber combat.

Bengel knew it too and he propelled them to the next stage. "I'm sorry brother, but the Order must be cleansed to be saved. We know now we cannot accomplish this with dialogue. I underestimated you, I see that now. You would've made a great Jedi".

Bengel finished the words softly as he ignited his greenish white blade and broke the circle moving forward in a ferocious aerial spinning attack. The initial attack was quicker than Kai-Kwon expected as he forgot to factor in the Nautolan's superior reflexes. He parried Bengel's blade aside just as the super-heated plasma made contact with the brow above his right eye. Kai-Kwon stumbled back briefly as the searing light temporarily burned the vision from his right eye. Sometimes millimeter misses weren't really misses in light saber combat, as Kai-Kwon felt the steady flow of blood over his right eye and down his cheek, and saw the devilish grin of confidence on the face of his opponent.

The battle took them away from the Forge and back to the steps and wall Kai-Kwon had leapt down from minutes before. Bengel's attacks had not slowed or relented since his opening salvo, leaving Kai-Kwon no opening to counter attack. While Bengel Morr was faster and more experienced, Kai-Kwon was stronger, both in body and in the Force, and was able to block and parry his most powerful strokes without losing all important body position and leverage.

Fighting in the shadow of the giant wall he had just been standing on Kai-Kwon could feel it closing in behind him, he Force leapt into the moonlight of the walkway at the zenith of the entrance stairway, and Bengel followed. A minute later Kai-Kwon still had not made an offensive stroke with his blade, and yet…he was winning. He knew it, and he could now sense that Bengel knew it as well. Allowing Bengel to take the offensive, Kai-Kwon had succeeded in discouraging and now deflating his confidence. Which, as the greatest battle masters of the Temple frequently told the Padawans, was the single most important factor in a battle…outside of the Force of course.

Now after a few minutes of handling Bengel's quickest and most powerful attacks without any close calls, he had his in full and Bengel's was evaporating. Feeling this shift in the Force, he finally launched his counter-attack. Bengel's next over hand cross strike was not unlike his last, but this time instead of simply blocking its path, he put everything into blocking the strike and pushing the blade back, opening up Bengel's midsection for a brief moment. Kai-Kwon used the opening to launch a quick Force push, staggering the Nautolan backwards before launching a side kick to Bengel's stomach, causing the air to rush out of his lungs like a popped balloon.

With leverage on his side, Kai-Kwon launched a series of overhead strikes alternating from each side of his body, the power of each succeeded in pushing Bengel lower and lower to the perimeter wall's stone floor. Finally he saw the green blade extinguish and clatter to the stone floor before caroming off the parapet to the mountain below.

The defeated Bengel Morr dropped to his knees with a growl of anger and Kai-Kwon brought his blade up to Bengel's chin as the Nautolan looked up with hatred and disgust. "Whatever you do with me doesn't matter, events are already in motion to save the Republic".

Deactivating his blade, he circled behind Bengel with a pair of flex cuffs. "What events? Who else is with you?"

Bengel refused to look up, his eyes never leaving the ground in front of him as Kai-Kwon bound his wrists and ankles. Coming back around in front, he took him by both shoulders and shook until Bengel looked him in the eye. "What have you done Bengel Morr?!" he shouted louder than he intended, the adrenaline from combat amplifying his normal manner.

Bengel only offered a crooked smile. "I have saved the Republic, and initiated the defeat of the Sith Empire…what have you done?" he turned the question on Kai-Kwon mockingly. "I will be remembered as a hero of the Republic. You?…an enemy of it".

Bengel returned his gaze to the ground in front of him and Kai-Kwon knew he would get no more out of him now as he stood to comm the temple. An unnecessary task as he saw a Temple shuttle approaching from the south.

After bounding the fallen Jedi, Kai-Kwon rushed to his injured former mentor. Reaching him he began to untie his hands when Orgus spoke. "He was speaking to someone just before you arrived".

Not realizing Orgus was conscience the sound of his voice startled him a bit. "Speaking to whom master?" He asked from over his shoulder.

"I'm not sure, but I am sure he didn't think I could hear him. he said he had failed. That Jedi from the Temple were coming, and that they should proceed without him if he doesn't arrive by tomorrow morning".

Kai-Kwon knew there was no need to ask him to elaborate. As he helped Orgus up they could just make out the sounds of the approaching sublight engines. Kai-Kwon saw Bengel look in the direction of the approaching shuttle, and then lowered his forehead to the stone ground, no doubt contemplating his bleak future.

As the shuttle descended to the courtyard, the side portal opened to reveal a bloodied and weary looking Su-Diri Zon. She hopped down to the snow covered ground and began barking orders to the four Temple guards debarking behind her. As she approached she saw the blood covering the right half of Kai-Kwon's face.

"Is it serious?"

Kai-Kwon reached up to his face for the first time and tried to wipe some of the blood off his cheek but found it was already too dry. "No Master, superficial".

"I'm glad Jedi Deo but I was asking your former Master" she said without humor. Something had happened.

"I'm fine Su-Diri. Bengel injected me with the cure to wake me up…the rest is superficial like young Kai-Kwon's wounds".

Looking behind Su-Diri as she reached the two of them Kai-Kwon asked, "where is everyone else Master?"

"Back at the Temple…Feelen Tooz has become one with the Force. Deno Vicara and Owen Tidina both were grievously wounded. The Raiders forced us to kill them all" she finished as she and Kai-Kwon helped Orgus to his feet and began to walk him back to the shuttle.

"I'm sorry to hear that but I feel the danger has only begun to get real for us" Orgus said from in between the two of them.

Their first stop was too Kalikori. Flying in low over the village to land Kai-Kwon could see the dark splotches on the snow and the destroyed market stands from the earlier battle. Only an exhausted looking Ryu and two of her maiden's walked out of the village hall to meet them. Master Zon handed Kai-Kwon a vial of antidote taken from Bengel and he hopped down out of the shuttle into the crunchy snow and trotted the distance to Ryu.

"Are you here to arrest me?" she said with worry her eyes.

"No. we have bigger problems Ryu. We have only come to fulfill our promise" he said while grabbing her wrist gently and placing the vial in her open palm. "For the Matriarch. The full amount."

The relief and gratitude overwhelmed her and she fell to her knees with hands covering her eyes. Kai-Kwon simply nodded to the Twi'lek maidens, replaced his cowl, and turned to head back to the still running shuttle.

"Don't you want to know why I've done this?" She called to him.

Slowing his trot he turned back. "I know why. You were scared. Scared for your mother and scared for yourself that you didn't have what it takes to lead."

She looked at him biting down on her quivering lip as the truth of her last few days was said aloud. "But you don't have to be scared, you have everything it takes; you have your heart, which is good and pure, and you have the respect of those you fear to lead". The tears continued unabated, but as the young Jedi climbed into his shuttle, they were finally joined by a hint of a smile.

Kai-Kwon was quiet on the ride back to the Temple, Standing and leaning out of the open side port, looking down at the passing countryside blanketed by midnight. Orgus could sense his inner conflict but waited until they had returned and handed over Bengel Morr to Masters Buwillix and Noor waiting next to the landing pad in the Temple's hangar.

Many other Knights and Padawans had crowded into the hangar to see the arrival of the last shuttle, and as Kai-Kwon was brisked away to the Council chambers he caught the eye of Kira Carson standing amongst some of the other Knights and Padawans. She broke off her look almost immediately. But not before he thought he saw relief in her ice blue eyes.

After a formal retelling of the day's events he was told to get a couple hours of rest and meet the masters in the Council chamber at sunrise. Walking down to the Temple's first floor he heard Orgus call his name and turned to see the veteran master had waved away a medic trying to apply a medicinal cream to the cut on his face. "Bengel Morr troubles you Kai-Kwon".

It was a statement more than a question and he knew not to be coy. "Yes master".

"Because you feel he was right about some things?" This time it was a question and Kai-Kwon paused a moment before nodding. "Yes master".

"I do as well" Orgus said with a conspiratorial smile. "But you remembered what's important where Bengel did not."

Kai-Kwon gripped the railing to fully face him. "I won't stand here and give you platitudes about the Council always knows best. We Jedi were never meant to be a hive mind like the Killik. We have differing opinions on politics, the use of violence, even the nature of the Force…but what we try and teach all of you is there is never a quick fix to our problems. The Dark Side of the Force promises us one and it tempts us with this promise. We must always recognize that and know that serving the Force is a hard journey, not meant to be taken lightly and it's never meant to be easy."

Kai-Kwon nodded slowly as his old master's words sunk in. "Now rest for the night and think on this. Don't push it off for another time. Doubts must be confronted, not stored in the back of our minds".

"I will Master Din" he said as he turned to head to his quarters.

"Oh and Jedi Deo?" Orgus called out from above.

"Yes Master?"

"Come to the Council chamber at sunrise…we have much to discuss".

He affirmed his understanding and began the walk to his room on the eastern wing of the bottom floor, knowing the words of Bengel Morr and Orgus Din would take the place of a noisy vid screen he couldn't turn off.