Jyr raised an eyebrow in surprise. "How did you know that?"
Luke crossed his arms over his chest, still staring at the hologram. "One of the Jedi Council members is Rakatan. We've had some very long talks on the subject of his people's history, for which he unnecessarily carries a guilty conscious. He told me of several Star Maps that held the location to a device known as a Star Forge that was destroyed by a Jedi named Revan long ago."
Jyr nodded. "The Jedi archives mention Revan and the destruction of the Star Forge, but little else. This Star Map was never mentioned. Did you know it was here?"
Luke shook his head. "No, nor do I know where the others are. I only recognized this for what it was because I recognized the hologram as Rakatan."
"Did this Jedi mention anything else about the Star Map?"
"His name is Isi Nes, and no he didn't. However, he did inform me that his people once used the dark side of the force and interfaced it with their technology," Luke said, gesturing at the Rakatan construct before him, "and I can feel a trace of it now."
"Interesting…I suppose they wouldn't want to make it public knowledge after all they went through to hide it."
Luke frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Watch…"Jyr said as he walked up to the hologram. "What is the purpose of this facility?"
The hologram reoriented its line of sight on Jyr. "This installation was originally built to monitor agricultural reformation on a planet-wide scale, however, a malfunction in installation regulatory systems may have led to unanticipated super-growth of indigenous vegetation, malfunction occurred 24 years after last Builder communication…"
"What is the secondary purpose of this facility?" Jyr said, interrupting his spiel.
The hologram blinked. "That information is restricted to level red security access. Please enter the proper identification codes."
"Code phrase," Jyr said without a hint of sarcasm, "Shut up and do what you're told."
Luke turned his head and stared at his friend.
"Level red security access granted," the hologram noted.
Jyr turned to Luke and whispered, "I had my techs hack into the system."
"Auxiliary purpose of this facility is to conceal the Attonyyk structure located beneath this monitoring station, completing the galaxy-wide eradication of any trace of its original masters."
"What?" Luke asked.
Jyr held up a finger. "Why was the structure hidden and not destroyed like the rest?"
"Composite construction of Attonyyk structure was deemed too labor-intensive to dismantle and any orbital bombardment would, at best, only destroy the surface of the structure. Repurposing this world while masking the presence of said structure proved more economical and provided a quick means of erasing any obvious evidence of the Attonyyks' prior existence."
"Who were the Attonyyks?" Jyr asked, repeating questions that he'd asked days earlier.
"The Attonyyks were the primary enemy of the builders during their conquest of this galaxy. They, ultimately, proved unworthy to exist and were overwhelmed by the might of the builders."
Jyr turned to Luke. "Note the phrase this galaxy."
Luke's jaw dropped when he caught the subtlety. "The Rakatan came from outside this galaxy?!"
"I can't say for sure," Jyr cautioned, "but the phrasing is suggestive." He turned back to the hologram. "Display locations of all builder facilities at the time of the Star Forge's construction."
The black obelisk off to the side cracked open and the Star Map spun into existence in front of them. A swath of tiny lights marked Rakatan worlds, most of which were in what was now the unknown regions, but many were spread throughout all parts of the galaxy, including one blinking light marking the location of Kashyyyk.
"Now, display all current facilities," Jyr said.
The swath of lights disappeared…save for six.
"The other Star Maps?" Luke guessed.
Jyr addressed the hologram. "How many Star Maps were created?"
"Five Star Maps were created, using the technology of the Star Forge itself, to honor the glory of the builders' ultimate creation."
"What is the sixth location indicated on the map?" Jyr asked.
"The additional installation is that of Nathon, the second world colonized by the builders in order to access the rare elements in the planet's lava flows, many of which were utilized in the construction of the Star Forge."
"Wait," Luke interrupted. "How does it know those facilities are still intact?"
Jyr addressed the hologram. "Verify current location data for Nathon."
"Working…superluminal network handshake confirmed. Nathon beacon responding. Updating drift calculations. Nathon current status: online, position confirmed."
Luke felt his jaw drop even lower.
"Impressive," Jyr commented, "but that's not the end of it." He was about to say something else to the hologram, but hesitated and glanced back at Luke. "Your Rakatan Jedi isn't from this world, I take it?"
"No," Luke said simply.
Jyr nodded. "I thought not. Display schematic of the Star Forge."
The hologram of the galaxy diminished as a wire diagram of the Star Forge appeared.
"Show size comparison against a kilometer-wide cube."
A small box appeared alongside the Star Forge.
Luke's jaw dropped even further. "It's almost the size of a Death Star."
"A what?" Jyr asked.
Luke looked at him as if he was crazy, then belatedly remembered that Palpatine's Empire was well before his time. "A planet-killing space station built by the Empire long before you were born."
Jyr frowned. "I've heard it mentioned before, but I always thought the stories of it had been exaggerated. It would take an unbelievable amount of power to destroy a planet."
Luke nodded grimly. "It does, and the Empire built two of them. Both were destroyed by the Rebel Alliance shortly after they were built."
"How?" Jyr asked. "If you take the time to build something that massive you're going to make sure it's nearly impregnable."
Luke smiled, remembering back. "All it took was a single design flaw and a couple of proton torpedoes to take out the first. The second was a bit more complicated." He saw Jyr's head tip and eyebrow raise in a disbelieving gesture. "I'm serious. I'm the one that launched the torpedoes down a thermal exhaust shaft. The chain reaction destroyed the entire station."
"Incompetent morons," Jyr muttered. "And the second?"
"It was designed with a way to kill it, in order to draw the Alliance fleet into the open where they could be destroyed once and for all. Things didn't go as planned for the Empire, and they lost both their Death Star and their Sith Lord on the same day."
"Sith?" Jyr asked, suddenly more interested.
Luke frowned. "You didn't know?"
"Bits and pieces. Remember, my copy of the archives comes from before the Jedi purge. I didn't know when Vader actually died."
Luke cleared his throat. "Actually, I was referring to Darth Sidious…or the Emperor, as he was commonly known."
Jyr looked shocked. "Palpatine was Sith?"
"Yes, and it was his plan that the second Death Star be used as a trap for the Alliance. Vader killed him there, but died from the wounds the Emperor inflicted on him in the process."
"The galactic consensus says you killed the Emperor and Vader."
Luke shook his head adamantly. "No, Vader redeemed himself and saved me in the process, as well as fulfilling the prophecy of the chosen one."
Jyr frowned, and Luke could feel his emotions harden. "I don't think there can be any redemption for what Vader did. One doesn't switch from lightside to darkside and back again."
Luke looked straight at him. "You don't believe in redemption, do you?"
"I don't see how one who is truly lightside can fall in the first place."
"Many have," Luke countered, "You've read as much in the archives."
"Were they truly lightside, or merely force users passing off as Jedi to begin with?"
Luke opened his mouth to respond, then clamped it shut as his experiences over the past few years silenced his previously held beliefs. "The darkside can cloud one's mind to the point where you don't realize what you are doing."
"True, but then are you really darkside, or just a victim of it?" Jyr asked with no emotion present in his voice.
Luke considered that, not quite catching Jyr's meaning. "Explain."
"Can someone who is pure lightside ever knowingly go darkside?"
"Light and dark are incompatible," Luke responded, beginning to see Jyr's angle. "How then could two opposites coexist…without a great deal of internal conflict," Luke finished, finally realizing what his father must have gone through. "That bastard."
"Who?" Jyr asked, wondering where Luke's thoughts were taking him.
"Sidious," Skywalker answered. "He must have seriously screwed with his mind in order for Anakin to do what he did."
Jyr answered him with a trace of anger in his voice. "The darkside is not to be trifled with. It can do things the lightside can't, and vice versa. But in the end, I still believe that a true Jedi could never turn to the darkside. Vader may have been strong with the force, but he wasn't inherently lightside. If he were, he would have subconsciously rejected the darkside and fought his way free of its influence rather than being consumed by it."
"I don't suppose you believe the story of Revan's redemption either," Luke added, not sure if he agreed with his friend or not.
Aer-ki's eyes narrowed. "Not a chance."
Luke turned hisgaze away from Jyr and back to the Star Map. "I'm not comfortable with the idea that redemption is impossible."
"I never said it was impossible," Jyr amended, "but to go that far to the darkside requires one to want to do so. And in order to do that, one's basic essence can't be lightside."
"My father came back…and I could sense the conflict within him. A part of him was lightside, always."
Jyr stiffened. "If what you say is true, then it is beyond my understanding." The younger Jedi directed his attention back to the Star Map as well. "Display size comparison to Attonyyk facility beneath us."
A large chunk of angular mass appeared next to the Star Forge, approximately half its size.
Still a bit unsettled by their previous conversation, Luke shook his head in disbelief. "How could they bury something that big?"
"Most of the facility was underground to begin with," Jyr explained, "all they did was reform the landscape over top of it. Explain the seal."
The hologram on the pedestal gestured toward the ground behind him. "One route of entry into the structure remains, but requires twelve masters of the potentium to unlock the seal barring access into the forbidden depths. Entry, no matter what the cause, is strictly forbidden without the mandate of the grand council, and is punishable by the slowest, most torturous death imaginable."
"That's why I called for you, Luke. I can only operate nine of the locks. I need your help to get all twelve."
"Sure thing…you planning on turning the facility into a Shadow Alliance base?"
"At the least," Jyr said as he turned away from the Star Map. He led Luke around to the back of the Rakatan monitoring station, to the deep pit that had been dug into the forest floor in order to reveal an entrance that had been covered over by years of growth and decay. Another much larger dig site was visible to the west.
"What were you trying to do over there?" Luke asked.
"We tried to bypass the lock…unsuccessfully. The material that the Attonyyk structure is made of absorbs large amounts of energy, and shows little damage even from a lightsaber. It would take months to cut our way in even with the most advanced equipment."
"Show me this material," Luke insisted.
Jyr had them lowered down the artificial chasm, glow rods in hand, until they reached the small pool of water that covered the bottom of the pit. He flicked the switch on the nearby pump controls and the seepage water quickly disappeared. Aer-ki passed his glow rod over a rough patch of stone beneath their feet that showed minor damage from, among other things, a lightsaber blade.
"You've seen this before?" Jyr asked, sensing a flicker in Luke's emotions.
"Twice," Luke confirmed. "Once in the unknown regions, and then later on Chazwa, in what they called the Hijarna fortress, after a friend of mine noticed a similarity."
Jyr frowned. "That's odd. The hologram said this was the last trace of the Attonyyks."
"The structures were little more than crumbling rock," Luke added. "The interiors had to be refurbished with conventional technology. I assume you're hoping that the Rakatans didn't entirely loot this place."
"I don't know," Jyr answered bluntly. "But this material is far more advanced than anything my people can build. If even a fragment of their tech survived, it could advance ours considerably," he said, abandoning the scarred surface of the subterranean structure and mounting the ascent platform.
When they reached the top Jyr took Luke down into the upper regions of the Rakatan facility and led him through its own subsurface corridors until they approached a large, blank wall with a single raised circle, two meters wide.
Jyr pulled out his lightsaber and thrust it forward. It impacted with a force field a couple centimeters from the door. "Can't cut our way through here either. The emitters are on the other side and the field passes through the bulkheads as well. Luke glanced to his left and saw a large hole in the adjoining wall where Jyr had tried to cut around the force field.
"Ok," Luke agreed, "where are the locks?"
"Reach into the door with the force and you'll feel them, but be warned, they'll give you a bit of a headache when you try and operate them. The tech was designed for the use of the darkside, and it resists the lightside to a certain degree. If you can get three of them I'll get the rest. Four would be preferable."
"I'll give it a go," Luke said, stretching out beyond the force field and sensing the imbedded nubs of technology within the door. He washed the force over one and felt it react. He pushed on a weak spot and felt a grating vibration ripple back to him. It felt like grinding his teeth together, or scraping his fingernails over smooth rock…but he didn't relent. Soon the nub gave in and altered beneath his force pressure.
He reached out for the next one while maintaining his pressure on the first. He found it nearly impossible to manage both, and released his connection.
"It's the darkside sensitivity of the circuits," Jyr explained. "You have to forcibly restructure the mechanism before you apply pressure."
"How?" Luke asked. He'd never tried anything remotely like this before.
"Trial and error," Jyr said, raising a hand toward the door. "Watch."
He quickly made a connection with a node, bathing it in the force and refocusing its 'feel'. He then applied pressure and Luke felt it lock into place. Jyr released his connection and Luke felt it return to its previous state. "Try again."
Luke blew out a breath and closed his eyes. "He reached for a node and tried to rework the feel of it. At first he tried to alter it in any way he could, then gradually drove the angles of attack that he discovered closer and closer to where they needed to be. When he had progressed to what he felt was far enough, he applied pressure and found the node lock into place with much greater ease.
He reached out for the second node and, while maintaining both his hold on the 'essence' of the first as well as the necessary pressure, he sought to reconfigure the second. While he did, he felt Jyr begin his attempts on the others. Luke numbed himself to Aer-ki's actions and focused specifically on his assigned tasks. He cracked the second node within a few minutes…while the third required considerably more time.
When he finally succeeded, and with Jyr holding the other nine in place, the locking mechanism within the door unsealed and the force field dropped in a dim flash. Luke released the straining effort and took in a deep, rejuvenating breath as the thick door rolled to the side along the wall, revealing a bright interior.