I know, I said I'd write more but I felt like it was a natural stopping point. I went back and fleshed out some descriptions to make the chapter longer, but you can't flog a dead horse… I mean, you can, but it won't do anything… except make you feel bad.

Anyway, yeah, here's the chapter. I'll try to upload another today, so remember to check again later. ALSO, I'd like some non-Force users. These can be bounty hunters, scoundrels, pilots, Imperials (stormtroopers or agents) and even just random civilians.

Just… no more Mandalorians, okay? I'm not really sure if I want any Mandalorians in this story 'cos… well, you can watch the Mandalorian (anyone else think that show's a bit strange? Not bad, it's just that it's funded better than other TV shows, but it's not quite got that usual budget for a Star Wars show, so everything looks a bit naff).

Sorry, I'm drinking coffee, so I'm rambling (I wrote this in like 2 hours).

Enjo!

The Jedi Temple, Tython, Deep Core

16BBY

The boulder in front of the door cracked and groaned as it split in two. Hopefully the noise wasn't too loud. Looking over her shoulder, the grey hood of her flightsuit revealed the tanned skin and forest-green eyes of Avethelia. She narrowed her eyes, looking around the ruins of the temple and then zipping her flightsuit over her lilac tank-top.

Avethelia walked forwards and climbed over the debris. Her shoulder brushed against a piece of stone and dust fell down past her hood (thankfully she still had it up). She grunted, pushing herself forwards and feeling her thighs press tightly against the gap in the stone. She panted and leant forwards, poking her head out of the gap.

Avethelia stumbled a little, but caught her footing as she looked around in the light that flooded the large chamber from the cave-in. A carved face of a hooded Jedi had fallen down, cracking the massive bronze-and-gold monument that looked to resemble a holocron. The Eye of Zallow – her master, Fel, used to tell her it was a holocron that no-one had been able to open. That it carried ancient knowledge from before thousands of years ago – before the Old Republic, even.

She frowned. Fel… he was gone. She pressed her hand to the Eye of Zallow and sighed. They were all gone. All her friends, teachers, partners – they'd all died. And she was left standing there – an archaeologist in a ruined temple. Some things just never changed. Except now, the clones were hunting her.

She sniffed and let out a sharp breath – she couldn't afford to cry. Not with the Empire hunting her. She'd heard rumours of Imperial diplomats being killed across different planets, found with lightsaber wounds. Though it warmed her heart to not think or feel, but fully know that at least a handful of other Jedi were out there, fighting… she knew they wouldn't last long. Tython was a planet the Empire would investigate soon. It was too famous not to.

Avethelia ignited her lightsaber and made her way through the temple. Polished wood that was no splintered. The once-shining blue holograms of famous Knights and Masters past were absent.

She used the orange light from her lightsaber to find her way into one of the chambers, finding broken stone tables, crumpled and crumbled. The hooded statues at the end of the room were destroyed, though the large chair between them, on a raised platform, still stood. Avethelia smiled – she'd been educated in a classroom like this. It was where she learnt about Revan's Redemption, the tales of the Exile, Meetra Surik… she'd always been fascinated by such stories, but what was more was the fact that they weren't just stories – they'd actually existed. Revan did fall to Darkness and was redeemed. Meetra Surik did lose her connection to the force and did create a new Order. It was comforting, in a way – knowing all those stories. The Jedi could never truly die. The Empire couldn't destroy everything.

She turned and made her way back to the Eye of Zallow, walking up the ramp that curled behind it. It was strange, how the Temple was thousands of years old, but the damage done to it had been so recent. And, even knowing that, it looked just like the ruins Avethelia used to excavate. Then came that slow, gutting realisation.

"This is just another ruin now…" she muttered.

Avethelia walked around on the second level of the temple, holding her lightsaber aloft and following the wall. She stumbled slightly, finding a large chunk of the platform had fallen away, adding to the debris blocking her entrance. She took a few steps back and ran forwards, leaping and landing on the other side of the gap. The platform shuddered for a moment and Avethelia looked forwards to see a doorway. She ran fast, trying to shut out the pain in her legs.

Her foot fell, then her leg, but her front foot hit something metal. Her leg slammed into the wall, but she had one foot and both hands on stable ground, but the weight of her other leg, pressed up against the edge began to pull her back. She thrust her head forwards and rolled, emerging on both feet and dusting her hands off. She summoned her lightsaber from the ground, igniting it and peering over the edge to see even more debris blocking her way out.

"Wonderful…" She murmured, turning back to the room she was in. "Okay, Aves…" She muttered to herself, "let's see what we can find."

The room was large, crowded with aisles of archives, though none were beaming blue and black, like they should be. The power clearly wasn't working… or perhaps it just wasn't turned on? Too much to hope for, she guessed.

Avethelia walked towards one of the aisles and activated the other blade of her lightsaber, shoving it into the stone floor and walking closer to the dormant record. She tapped twice on it and nothing happened. She walked to the start of the aisle and slid the metal lid off of the panel, examining the wiring: nothing was done to it (at least, not what she could see), so the problem was with the power. Of course, powering the entire temple wasn't feasible – even if she could, it'd attract too much attention. She just needed to get the archives working…

Avethelia glanced around, thinking. She remembered the holocrons that used to float at the end of each aisle – all gone now. Most likely seized by the Empire… that probably meant anything with power was stolen too.

Removing her bantha-skin rucksack, Avethelia plunged a hand inside, hoping she had something useful. She found her holopad and tapped it in thought. Just maybe…

She cracked open the durasteel of the holopad and jammed it into the panel, pulling out the red and silver wires and attaching them to the base of the pad. She set the frequencies to 0 (a dead channel) and, suddenly, the aisle began to whir and dimly pulsate, humming gently. Avethelia smiled, hearing the whispers fill the chamber again, echoing throughout the temple. She could never make out what they said, but it was reassuring. There was no death, there was the Force.

Avethelia began to examine the codes and identifications of each record in the aisle. Security training protocols, evacuation procedures, curfew hours, rules and regulations for Padawans in the Kalikori village, code of conduct in watime…

She grunted in frustration. None of this applied – she needed information on known Jedi before the purge. Or, at the very least, access to the beacon. The only thing was, where was she going to find it if she could only activate one aisle of records at a time?

Avethelia unzipped her flightsuit and tied the sleeves around her face and tying her red hair back from her face in a plait, looping it around behind her head. She flexed her arms, now more muscular and tanned as she sighed. She was only thirty-two, but it felt more like thirty years rather than three. She drew her lightsaber from the ground and removed her holocron from the aisle, moving onto the next.

It was going to be a long day.

As I said, short. But I'll upload another chapter today to make up for it (I'm in that writing mood). Remember to review and follow and so on.

I've gotta say, I actually really like the character of Avethelia. Strong female protagonists always have a special place in my heart and I really love writing them. It's about a month late, but Happy Feminist Day!

Ayway, next chapter will be up today.

R.