Chapter 29
3637 BBY, 16 ATC - Outside New Adasta
Night fell. Ziost's twin moons once again hung themselves in the sky, illuminating the icy plain upon which Sierra and her Jedi Masters stood. It was quiet, save for Siphon's continued struggle to escape her bindings. The Jedi had already begun to return to their shuttle and make preparations to proceed to their next destination.
"Are you sure this is the Holocron you told us about before?"
Sierra turned to Jedi Master Delmont Delray and nodded. Delray was not her own master, but they had worked together for so many years now, it almost felt like he was a second instructor. They had served together on Corellia, Balmorra, Alderaan. He was a human man of about forty years, though many assumed he was older because his hair had turned a shocking white early in his life.
"I'm positive." She had examined it herself before the other Masters had delivered it into a secure containment unit; it was exactly the same relic that had been pried from Lethe's fingers: six pyramids uniting into a singular form.
"It doesn't seem all that powerful to me," Master Delray mused. "Perhaps it's defective."
"Siphon - the Sith - probably didn't have enough time to decipher the Holocron's secrets," said Sierra.
" … if you say so."
Sierra managed a small smile. There was much on her mind. So much didn't make sense … and something didn't feel right. She could feel it in the air, taste it on her tongue. That sensation that everything was about to go horribly wrong.
"Master. How did you know where to find me?"
"Your friend - that sith pureblood - he gave us the tracking frequency," said Delray. "He said you were in the midst of a chase and couldn't make contact, but would need our help."
Sierra frowned. She should be thanking Astraad now, but ...
"How did he know how to get in touch with you? I never gave him your com frequencies."
"He got them somehow. And good thing he did. Saved us a few hours … and your life, I suspect." Delray turned to glance at the other Jedi before returning his attention to Sierra.
"I hope you have everything you need. The other Masters will want to head to our new rendezvous location immediately."
Sierra had nothing but the clothes on her back and the lightsaber she had stolen from Lord Rend, but her lack of possessions was not what troubled her. Rend's absence, however, did. She had lost him in the scuffle after hearing the explosion and he hadn't reappeared since. She expected him to try and save Siphon, had assumed that he held more loyalty for the woman.
"Hey kid, you okay?" asked Delray. "You look about a million miles away."
Sierra rubbed her eyes and then feigned a smile. "Yeah. It's just been a long day."
"Uh huh. Take it easy, Sierra. You've done good work today."
He was right about that, at least. She had accomplished everything she had set out to do. Lethe was saved from a corrupting influence. The real Siphon had been stopped. And the Holocron - the relic that she had followed undercover for over six months - was finally in the Jedi's possession. Perhaps now, they would get the answers they sought, or even find a trace of the being they hunted.
… still, something felt wrong.
Sierra sighed. It was probably nothing. Lingering jitters and anxiety. There were more important things to worry about.
She wondered if she would have an opportunity to reach out to Astraad or Lethe. Gratitude and apologies were due, respectively. She still felt uncertain about Astraad, but the man had been right about one thing - she could not have beaten Siphon and Rend on her own. His puzzling insight aside, she still owed him her life. And Lethe …
Sierra was not sure if Lethe would be able to accept the truth, but she still felt she owed her false master an explanation at the least. They might not be able to be allies or friends, but they had both saved each other, in different ways perhaps … but Sierra truly did want to see Lethe - impostor though she might be - rise to prominence in the Empire.
She mulled the thought for a while before deciding that reaching out to Lethe might be pressing her luck.
Most of her brethren had already returned to their shuttle, but a few remained outside, hovering over a manic - but thankfully gagged - Siphon. Sierra approached, finding Masters Onok and Landai.
"Excellent," said Onok. "Sierra, you're familiar with this Sith, right? I'd have your opinion. What should we do with her?"
"Kill her," said Landai. "We've no use hauling a Sith around and we can't let her go free. The Empire -"
Sierra had enough of killing this day. "She could still be useful. The Holocron is still a mystery … she might be able to help us understand it."
"You mean despite that pathetic display just now?" smirked Landai.
"I think Sierra speaks reason," said Onok, pursing his lips thoughtfully.
Landai sighed. "Let her be your charge then. I wipe my hands of this."
"Certainly," Onok said with a smile. The twi'lek dragged Siphon by the scruff of her neck onto the shuttle, followed closely by Landai.
Sierra did the same. As they entered the shuttle and the landing bay closed, Sierra felt a hand on her shoulder, placed there in congratulations. "Well done, my padawan."
Sierra turned back and offered a smile and bow of her head. "Master Garault."
Garault looked like he had aged many years since the last time they had seen each other, though that couldn't have been more than a year ago. The human man wore a fresh new scar on his face and Sierra thought she saw a smattering more gray strands in the man's brown hair. Still, the sight of her master filled Sierra with a sense of reassurance and belonging that she hadn't experienced in quite some time.
"Your accent's starting to make me think we have two sith lords on board," Garault said with a small grin.
"Sorry," Sierra said. A few more attempts at vocalizing Republic Basic later and she still sounded like half her tongue had been born in the Empire. "It's hard to get rid of it once you start."
"I can imagine. But we can deal with that later. For now, we have the Holocron … enough to investigate whether it has any connection with the disturbances happening across the planet and -"
Landai issued a warning over the com system. "Prepare for takeoff."
Sierra watched as the Jedi Masters strapped themselves into their seats. She recognized most of them, though not all. Garault gave her a look that indicated their conversation would continue later. She sat herself into the nearest available seat and secured her own safety harness.
Their shuttle ascended, thrusters pushing them off Ziost's frozen plains. Higher and higher they climbed, penetrating the planet's stratosphere. From here, she could see New Adasta out the pilot's cockpit. It felt strange knowing that she was leaving the city behind - her home within the Empire for so many months. It had not been pleasant, by any means, but -
That's when she sensed it. A disturbance in the Force. Massive … overwhelming. Something rushed at them from all directions: a power that felt both familiar and yet strange in its unique terror. It chilled her to her core, sucked the breath from her lungs. It reminded her of the Holocron, and yet ...
Then it was gone.
"Did you feel that, Master?" Sierra asked, unable to suppress the alarm in her tenor.
Garault nodded, the slightest flicker of burgeoning concern spreading across his face. "I did." He raised his voice, calling out to their commander, "Master Surro, did you-"
Before Surro could respond, Delray screamed, clutching his head in agony.
"Delray! What's the matter?!" shouted Surro.
If the man heard the question, he gave no indication that he did. "Get out! Get out of my head!"
Surro unstrapped herself from the copilot's seat and rushed to Delray's side. "Onok! Help me with him!"
But Sierra could tell that Master Onok did not hear a single word. He stared at his hands, face enrapt in fear, heart consumed by horror.
"It's the Holocron!" Sierra shouted. "It's the Holocron!"
"We are JEDI! Remember the code!" Surro summoned the Force to bring Delray's mind to peace, but to no avail. "There is no emotion. There is peace!"
Siphon started to laugh, overcome by her mania, and yet suddenly her laughter cut short, like someone had turned off a recording. Her eyes went white, dull, and opaque.
"There is no ignorance. There is knowledge!"
Sierra watched as one by one, all the Jedi Masters aboard their shuttle succumbed to the Holocron's irresistible will.
"There is no passion. There is serenity!"
Master Garault screamed, hands clawing at his eyes, his nose, his mouth, desperate and flailing, pawing at the orifices on his face as though he could pluck out the intruder with his fingers.
Frantic, Sierra unbuckled herself from her seat and seized the Holocron's receptacle from the still-babbling Delray. Her lightsaber cut through the container before she even realized; the Holocron dropped to the floor of the shuttle - without a single bounce. Sierra slammed her weapon down into the relic, but no matter how hard she pushed, her blade would not penetrate it.
"There is no chaos. There is harmony!" Surro hollered into the cockpit. "Landai! Get us on the ground, now!"
But Master Landai too, could no longer hear. Could no longer act. She clutched at her head in simultaneous confusion and agony, screaming. She lost control of the shuttle; it veered wildly off course, losing thrusters, antigravitational lift, environmental stabilizers … they were careening back to the planet. They were going to crash.
"There is no death. There is the - no! NO! I won't let -. He can't do this!"
Sierra didn't understand. Why was this happening?!
Surro shrieked in wretched anguish. But the next words she spoke were perfectly calm. "You know what you have to do, Sierra. Don't let him take us. Don't let him take control."
She wanted Sierra to kill her.
"Remember who we are! Remember the sixth line! There is no contemplation. There is only duty!"
Spurred by the Jedi Master's words, Sierra raised her blade up high.
But it was too late.
He came for her now. Vitiate. The Sith Emperor. His voice bellowed in her mind, shattering all focus, eradicating all concentration, silencing all dissension: YOU ARE MINE. She was his. She could no more resist him than an asteroid could escape the gravity of a sun. She was an insect, trapped in his hurricane, destined to be swept into his maw.
And through him, she caught a glimpse of what was to come.
Even as she brought her weapon up to grant Surro's last request, her arm was already moving sheathe the blade. Not by her will, but by his. By the Holocron's. Her will was no longer her own. She had been subsumed, just like all the rest of them.
They had lost their chance. They had lost everything.
All that remained were puppets. All that they knew was submission.
Moments later, their shuttle crashed back onto Ziost's surface.
"Toes … look!"
Hallie pointed up to the sky. Tosin looked up … and watched as the shuttle of Jedi - the shuttle that had taken off only minutes ago - crashed back down to the planet.
They ran forward to get a better look.
From the wreckage, a dozen Jedi masters crawled out … but there was something wrong with them. Something unnatural. Tendrils of crimson energy wafted off of them in waves, tainting light with dark. Swallowing hope with despair. Trading defiance for capitulation.
Something was controlling them all. Eris. Siphon. A dozen Jedi Masters. How was it possible?
Tosin sank to his knees. The power … it was incomprehensible! Infinite! Simultaneously carnal yet transcendent. Ravenous, yet indifferent. It pulled at him like a star, radiant in its beauty, but deadly in its wrath; leaving only ash in its wake.
The female Jedi Master - the leader from before - stood up. He saw her clearly now; her hood had been torn off in the crash. Brown dreadlocks pushed up and behind her head highlighted a myriad of scars that painted themselves across her face. There was no doubt … this was a Jedi Master who had seen years of battle, had survived countless engagements.
And still, she had succumbed.
The rest of the Jedi followed suit, but Tosin could tell they too did not do so by their own will. Invisible strings lifted their arms and legs in a facade of independence, but Tosin saw through them. Marionettes. That's what these Jedi had been reduced to.
The group split into two. The Jedi leader led a group north, towards New Adasta, feet dashing upon the snow with aberrant speed. The other group included Lethe's apprentice, who untied Darth Siphon's bindings and helped her up. All of them headed east -
But the Siphon who stood was no longer their master. Tosin could feel it, even at their distance. The way she moved was different. Cold, calculating stares had replaced the frantic madness that had been Tosin and Hallie's constant companion since their return to New Adasta. Whatever, whoever, now controlled the Jedi, also controlled Siphon.
"She - Siphon's getting away!"
Hallie's frantic cry jolted Tosin from his reverie. By instinct, his hands lanced out an arc of lightning at his former master. Just as the bolt was about to connect, Eris's form suddenly turned, stepping straight into the path of his attack. The lightning surged into her and she collapsed to the ground; no shriek, no cry … just stillness.
They chased after their quarry, barely able to keep pace with the fast-moving group of dominated Jedi. As he ran, Tosin summoned the Force once more to charge another charge of electricity … but nothing came. Once more, his power failed him. Once more the darkness abandoned him. Again and again he tried, each time only to be met with brazen defeat.
As they passed Eris' body, Tosin let his feet stumble and fall. Hallie broke her sprint, returning to lift him back up.
"Toes, we can't stop!" Hallie screamed, her voice filled to the brim with all the futile despair, pent-up rage, hopeless regret that had plagued them both since their former master drafted them back into her service. "She's getting away! We need her to save Andora!"
Tosin stared at his hands; he already knew it was useless. He could no more command lightning now than the Jedi who fled could break free of their bonds.
He had failed.
They watched as Siphon, along with the Jedi, disappeared into the horizon; Hallie sank to her knees in the snow.
The rustle of cloth drew their attention back to the fallen Eris. The woman stood up slowly, grunting as she did so. Tosin stepped forward to put Hallie behind himself, shielding her as best he could. In the back of his mind, he wondered if it would be any use. Eris had taken his lightsaber. The Force rejected him. What chance did they stand?
"I … I'm free," Eris breathed. "H-how …?"
Tosin put two and two together. The jolt of lightning - perhaps the last he would ever throw - had somehow severed the connection between puppeteer and puppet. His attempt to stop Siphon had inadvertently freed Eris from her domination.
"Stay back," warned Tosin.
"You don't understand," Eris cried as clarity renewed panicked desperation. "We have to save them! They're still under his control!"
"They're your masters," said Hallie, the words sparking realization and understanding in them both. "You're Jedi."
Eris nodded, offering neither denial nor explanation. "You saved me. You broke his compulsion! Please, you must help me - you can save them all!"
Tosin's nose curled in disgust. "Why would I want to -"
Hallie interrupted him. "No, wait. Toes, if she … maybe she can help us."
Eris' eyes darted between them both, frenetic in her hope to reach an understanding. "A bargain then. Help me save my masters, and I'll help you-"
"You'll help us capture Siphon," said Tosin.
"Alive," added Hallie.
The young Jedi nodded. "Agreed. Whatever it takes. Did you see the other group went? We were heading east, that much I remember, but -"
Eris' words stopped dead in their tracks as suddenly she began to claw at her head in excruciating agony. Tosin whirled around to see a figure standing alone in the distance.
Lethe.
Somehow she had found them. He raised his hand to attempt to throw Lethe back through the Force, but she was too quick. Too driven. She slammed her hand in a wide circle and forced Tosin and Hallie to the ground.
This was power magnified a thousand-fold by pure, unadulterated rage. Unquenchable vengeance. Undeniable sorrow.
"So it's true, Sierra. You are Jedi. You are a traitor."