Chapter 27
Luke Skywalker walked down the corridor of Tar Vizla's statue, his emerald lightsaber brightening his surroundings. As he walked deeper into the dark path, he heard a soft singing coming from the end of the passageway. He was close, he could feel it. He grabbed his comlink to ask Sabine where she was. "Sabine, what's your current e.t.a?", he asked into his comlink. There was a short static before the young mandalorian replied back, "I'm almost at the door, I estimate a few more minutes".
"Alright, notify me when you are there", Luke said before turning off his comlink. Luke reached the door, he noticed the elegant designs around the door. It seemed to be telling a story, but the language was in ancient Mando'a , and Sabine was occupied at the moment. He touched the stone slab which had the symbol of the jedi order, the floor started to shake as dust started falling from the ceiling. And the doors opened. Luke walked inside the room, still with his ignited lightsaber at hand. His eyes travelled across the room, taking the sight in front of him. That's when he noticed it. The large metallic table in the middle of the room. In the middle of the table was a small black orb which had a faintly blue glow inside. Luke smiled gleefully as he took in his discovery. He reached for the orb when his elbow suddenly hit a button on the table, Luke froze in terror as he slowly removed his arm away from the table.
Suddenly a large holo-image popped up. Of course, Luke thought to himself, This is a hologram. An ancient design, perhaps over 3000 years old. I just hope it still works. The image displayed was a young blue twi'lek no older than him, then a message started playing:
"This is Mission Vao, commanding officer of the Republic", the blue twi'lek stated. "Tar, I hope you have received this.", Mission paused for a moment as the hologram glitched for a second, "As you know, the jedi are being attacked by the Trinity of Evil. These new sith, Darth Kreia, Sion, and Nihilus, they're something different from anything we've seen before. Revan is still missing, I hope your master, Bastilla, has told you about him. We hope this new jedi, who calls herself The Exile, may be the key to defeating the sith", Mission took a deep breath before she continued, "I hope everything goes well on your mission to unify the Mandalorians, Zaalbar and Captain Ordo will be there if you need help. And there's something else I need to tell you", Mission paused again, this time a small drive popped out of the table.
Luke went to grab it, it was very small, he could barely get a grip. He noticed it had a input that fit well into his compass. "This is the map to the first jedi temple ", Mission explained, "Or at least a piece of it. Revan and I found it at the edge of wild space. He claimed it would be the answer to his question of who is really behind all of this. We decided to break the map into several pieces in case the jedi were led to extinction. Which in this reality, is highly possible. We spread the pieces across the galaxy in case one falls into the wrong hands. You are meant to guard this last piece with your life, keep it locked away. Its been prophetized th-", Mission's message was then cut off as the old holotable groaned and shut itself off, forcing Luke back.
The room was now dark and quiet, the only source of light, was Luke's saber. Luke took the small drive an inserted it to the compass. At the center of the compass was a plasma-encased supraluminite lodestone, it started to glow a bright blue and made a low hum as a hologram of a map started to be displayed. The map buffered for a moment, before it displayed its true beauty. Luke watched in awe as the map started displaying the trail he started on the planet Pillio, and now led to his new destination.
The planet that held the first jedi temple...
Ahch-to.
Sabine Wren pointed her flashlight to the huge clay door that stood before her. She studied the markings surrounding the door, noting that it was written in Mando'a. It read: Here lies Tar Vizla, a great nobel leader and warrior. The One to unite two worlds. "Probably refers to him being the first mando jedi after the Mandalorian-Jedi war", Sabine said to herself. She reached towards the slab that held the Vizla insignia. The door opened, rumbling everything around her as it opened. As she entered the room, there was an old machine that held a large black orb, no larger than her blaster. She slowly walked towards it, but then stopped as the machine came to life.
The machine let out a mechanical groan as the black orb started floating, it let a bright glow as a hologram started to display a message. The message was playing, but Sabine couldn't understand it! It was an unknown language, coming from a species of alien she never seen before. And she knew her species well, both from learning during her time in the imperial academy, and her time in the alliance. This species must be extinct now. Sabine walked around the machine, and she noticed an old computer terminal. "Hopefully this will help", she said in dismay. She started interacting with the computer, but it was useless. It wasn't written in Mando'a or Aurebesh, but the same unknown language that alien spoke.
"What are you hiding in here?", Sabine sarcastically asked the tomb as she tried to think of a plan to extract the data. She then noticed a book, clutched in the arms of Tar Vizla's armor. "Maybe that's the key", she said in realization. She walked over to Vizla's armor, the armor was definitely fit for a powerful man, a modified crusader armor in a navy blue paint job with a mixture of black and white detailing, it stood six feet tall, and it made her seem like a child. Sabine grabbed the book that was surrounded by the armor. Dust puffed everywhere as Sabine coughed at the huge amount of dust the book contained.
Sabine opened the book, flashing her flashlight towards the pages to see if she could read the knowledge it contained. She was surprised to see Mando'a on the left, and the unknown language on the right. It was a translation book. "Bingo", Sabine said victoriously. She started reading every word the book contained, entering to the world of knowledge of the past.
Luke walked out of his set of stairs, holding the completed compass dearly. He noticed that Sabine still hasn't come out of her own set. "Sabine?", Luke called out. He didn't receive an answer, and he started to worry. Not only about her safety, but the other set of arguments he would receive from Ahsoka. He started walking down Sabine's set of stairs, to notice the faint light of a flashlight casually gleaming the surface.
"Sabine", Luke called out again as he entered the room. He saw the mandalorian holding her flashlight in one hand and a large book in another. "There you are", Luke said grabbing the attention of Sabine, "I told you to comm me when you entered", Luke said in a serious voice. "Miss me that much?", Sabine jokingly asked. Luke simply chuckled, "Not really. I mostly afraid of having to endure another one of Ahsoka's rants".
Sabine's face fell once Luke mentioned Ahsoka. "You know she's just trying to look out for you, right?", she asked in a stern voice. Luke sighed not meeting Sabine's gaze, "I know she is. I know that deep down, she cares for me as if I was her own blood. But there's many things we disagree on, and we both need to accept each others point of view", Luke said sadly as he looked down to the old machine lying on the floor. "Well you better clean that mess up once we return to the ship. I'd hate to listen to you guys arguing. Its been months since I had a good sleep", Sabine said. Luke looked at her in confusion, "I've only been with you guys for two weeks?".
"You get the point", Sabine pointed out, "Come on, help me crack this code". Sabine started explaining everything, from the unknown alien species and their unknown language, to the book that held a translation in Mando'a. The two spent a few hours working together before they were finally able to unlock the secret. "The Forgotten Empire", Luke said in awe, breaking the silence. They discovered that the alien species was called Rakata, and they had the most powerful empire until a disease started wiping them out nearly 40,000 years ago. They found a planet almost at the edge of the unknown regions. It had no name, no indication of life, but what it did have was a file on thePurgills and their connection to the Rakata Empire.
"I don't believe it", Sabine said in disbelief. "What is it?", Luke asked her as he examined the file. "The Purgills, they originated from that planet. They were used as weapons to conquer the galaxy during this Rakata-Celestial War. They return every year, it's around the same time they took Ezra", Sabine said excitedly. Luke smiled at her, they were close to finding the lost padawan. "Let's get to it then", Luke said as he started going towards the exit. Sabine followed suite, still carrying the old book in her arms. Suddenly a loud beeping noise was heard. Luke quickly turned back to Sabine, he noticed the book was flashing red, it was rigged. Sabine quickly threw the book back, when it met the floor, it exploded. A loud explosion blasted Luke and Sabine out of the stair way. The statue started to rumble as large pieces of clay and brick started falling down.
Luke grabbed a nearby boulder with the force and smashed it against the wall, the wall instantly broke, creating a hole large enough for Luke and Sabine to escape. The two jumped into the hole, barely managing to escape. Luke used the force to hurl some pieces of debri away from them. The Statue of Tar Vizla finally collapsed behind them, leaving nothing but piles of rocks. The two were now panting hard, laying on the ground. "You know, Ahsoka was right about you", Luke managed to say as he gasped for air. "Oh yeah? And what's that", Sabine responded in the same manner. "You always blow stuff up", Luke replied as he tried holding his laughter. Sabine joined his laugh as she threw a small pebble at him.
"No!", Ahsoka shouted. She watched in horror as the statue exploded and started to collapse. She was too late. Artoo let out a cry as Ahsoka brought the speeder to a stop. She jumped off the speeder as she covered her mouth to muffle her screams. She fell on her knees, not caring about the faint pain in her thigh. And she started crying. But it was suddenly covered by a soft laugh in the distance. She looked towards the source of the sound, and found two humans lying on the floor laughing. Ahsoka quickly got up and ran to them, Artoo following close behind her. It was Sabine and Luke. "Sabine! Luke!", Ahsoka shouted in glee, the two humans instantly got up in surprise to see the Togruta. "Ahsoka?", they asked in unison. "You were supposed to stay on the ship", Sabine commented before being cut off by a tight hug.
"Oh, I was so worried about you two", Ahsoka said as she hugged Sabine and Luke tightly. She turned her attention to Luke, noticing dried blood across his face and the barely visible scar at the edge of his forehead, she instantly went to caress his face, "By the force, what happened to you? Are you alright?", Ahsoka asked in shock and worry. But Luke didn't answer, his attention was somewhere else. "Luke? Luke are you alright?", Ahsoka asked again. "Ahsoka?", Sabine said getting the Togruta's attention. Ahsoka turned to Sabine and saw what they were staring at. In front of them, was an entire squadron of New Republic soldiers. Hera Syndulla stepped in front of them, raising her blaster, "In the name of the New Republic, you are all under arrest".
