Disclaimer – all original Star Wars characters in this fanfic (excluding my OC's) are the property of Lucasfilm and Disney.
Chapter 22 "The Alliance of The Ancients."
The Orbit of Shili, Num'Ma – First Moon of Shili.
After the former Jedi Master left the Order, Zai'shira took Dooku to meet Bendu. She wanted to prove her words to the Jedi Master and to resolve his doubts. Deiven, Aven, and Avelon waited for them, not far from the massive entity, who, like always, remained buried in the ground with only his back, which was covered with large, coral-like spurs, remained visible.
"I'm so glad you joined us," Zai'shira stated with a smile as she walked alongside Dooku.
"It feels... refreshing," Dooku replied with his arms behind his back. "The only thing that worries me is that Qui-Gon is alone now."
"Don't worry, Obi-Wan will not let anything bad happen to him," the Togruta said reassuringly. "He cares for Qui-Gon just as much as you do."
When the two former Jedi spotted the group the distance, Deiven ran up to them immediately. "Hi!" the young Firrerreo greeted Dooku, who smiled and greeted back. "Hello, my boy. It's nice to finally meet you in person."
Aven and Avelon approached them as well, and Dooku bowed his head politely towards the Togrutan King. "King Tunalen, its an honor."
"The honor is all mine, Master Dooku... I mean, former Master Dooku," Aven replied with a slight smile. Zai'shira gestured towards the Anzat, introducing him to Dooku. "This is Avelon Karkko, our fangless hunter, who cannot drink. Jedi Master Volfe Karkko, who turned to the dark side, was his grandfather. Avelon, however, isn't like him."
"The fact that he's here with us proves that," Dooku replied reassuringly, looking at Avelon. "I heard about your grandfather. He was a strong Jedi, too bad he became addicted and fell to the dark side."
"He got what he deserved," Avelon replied bluntly. "But my parents were innocent, and the Jedi, who was responsible for their deaths, will pay with his life."
"The Council of First Knowledge sent a Jedi Shadow to kill Avelon and his parents so that another Force-sensitive Anzat would not become a threat to the Order," Zai'shira explained with a stern look. Dooku frowned and replied. "Hmpf, such a despicable act of hypocrisy. Actions guided by fear. Your parents will be avenged, Avelon."
"Thank you," Avelon replied, and the two shook hands. A sudden rumble drew everyone's attention. Bendu began to surface to greet the newcomer. Avelon saw Bendu when he arrived earlier, so only Dooku slowly widened his eyes. "Who or what is that?" he asked, astonished.
"The faithful child of the Force!" Deiven announced with a grin. "His name is Bendu!"
When Bendu ultimately revealed himself, he fixated his eyes on Dooku and smiled. "Ah! Another one to join our cause, welcome!"
"H-Hello," Dooku replied with a bewildered expression and slowly approached the large entity. "My name is Dooku, and I'm a former Jedi Master."
"It's nice to meet you, Dooku, former Jedi Master," Bendu replied. "Are you ready to follow the will of the Force?"
Dooku cleared his throat and replied. "I guess I am."
"Good!" Bendo replied. Avelon joined Dooku and Bendu. The three began to talk while Zai'shira spoke to Aven. "While they get to know each other, I'll take Deiven, and we'll head to planet Lehon. We need to finally meet the Builders and convince them to join us."
"Just be careful, you two," warned the red-skinned Togruta. "I think you'll be the first to meet such an old species after such a long time. They could attack you or simply greet you."
"We will be careful," assured the female Togruta.
Three hours later - Unknown Regions, Planet Lehon.
Lehon, also referred to as Rakata Prime, or the Unknown World, was a tropical world in a remote and relatively unknown corner of the galaxy known as the Tempered Wastes, a large void area of space. Its surface was covered mainly by oceans dotted by numerous clusters of islands and archipelagos. It was the only habitable planet in the Lehon system. Still, it shared an orbit around its primary star with the Star Forge, an ancient Rakatan space station and factory that directly drew its fuel from the system's primary star. The planet itself was orbited by two small moons, but one of them was close enough to be visible from the surface during daylight, covering a significant portion of the sky.
Zai'shira landed their ship near the beach, and Deiven immediately began to look around when he descended its ramp, admiring the sunny, tropical world and feeling the sand underneath his feet. He noticed many islands and destroyed starships sticking out of the ocean depths. There were worse places to visit in the galaxy.
The young Firrerreo sat down on the sand and closed his eyes. He opened them when Zai'shira closed the ramp and approached him. "Do you feel that Master Zai?" he asked. "Many Force signatures."
"Yes, but they feel strange and fuzzy," the Togruta replied and squinted her blue-colored eyes. "As if something was disrupting my ability to sense them."
"Hmmm... I don't have any problems in sensing them," Deiven cocked his head. "I wonder why?"
Deiven suddenly spotted something in the distance. "What are those?" he asked and stood up, pointing his finger at the strange small, reptilian creatures hopping on the sand. Slightly lifting his head up, he sniffed in their direction, trying to catch a scent.
"Those are Gizka, heh... I had a hunch they will be here," Zai'shira replied and glanced at her pupil. His animalistic tendencies and sharp eyes were showing, and she felt he had the urge to hunt the small animals.
"Come on, Deiven, we have work to do," she reminded him. "You can hunt some Gizka after we're done."
The young Firrerreo looked at Zai'shira and smiled widely. "I'll take your word for it!" he said happily.
With a festive mood, they two headed inland, straight into the dense jungle, heading towards the Force signatures. Deiven really liked this mysterious and slightly predatory place. In a small way, it resembled him his home on which he grew up, Shili. He always liked planets imbued with natural wildlife much more than the ones with technological marvels and concrete jungles.
Zai'shira's montrals were catching movements all over the jungle, but mostly it was just curious Gizkas and other animals native to Lehon. After a long walk, Deiven noticed something far in the distance. "Woah! What's that?" he asked, pointing at the sky. Zai'shira noticed a gigantic disk-shaped starship. She never saw such a strange ship and guessed it belonged to the Rakata.
Before she could answer, Zai'shira sensed movement and many Force signatures advancing towards them from all directions. Unlike the 'fuzzy' ones further away, the Togruta was able to sense them clearly. "Someone's coming! Get ready!" she reached for her lightsaber, and Deiven did the same. Soon, they were surrounded by the Rakata, who were armed with vibroblades and spears.
Deiven took a good look at the ancient race. In appearance, Rakata were grey-skinned amphibian-like humanoids with tall craniums along with eyes that protruded from each side of their heads on short stalks. They had three-digit hands that were tipped with claws. When the Rakata approached them cagily, Deiven noticed that all of them looked very similar, making it very hard, if not impossible, to distinguish one from another.
The Rakata spoke to each other in their native language. They talked and pointed at Deiven and Zai'shira, who didn't want to provoke them and stood calmly even though sharp weapons were pointed at them. However, they were ready to defend themselves if attacked. One Rakata, who currently approached the group clad in a red cloak, spoke to the rest of his species and looked at Zai'shira and Deiven. To their surprise, he spoke his next words in basic. "What are you doing here, strangers?"
Zai'shira's eyes went wide, and she was lost for words for a second. Regaining her composure, especially when Deiven nudged her with the elbow, she replied. "We're looking for the Builders, who want to atone for their past sins."
The Rakata was taken aback by that answer. Yes, they wanted redemption for their ancestor, who enslaved the galaxy, but how the strangers knew about this. Suspiciously, the Rakata asked another question. "Who are you?"
"I'm Zai'shira Kessen, former Jedi Shadow, and this is Deiven Virlo," she answered. "The Force gave us a task to bring balance to the galaxy and hints that would lead us to the ones that could help us. Builders, who want to atone for their past sins, are one of them."
The Rakata was silent for a moment and looked closely at the Togruta. When he spoke to the rest of the Rakata in their language, the group lowered their weapons and began to lively talk to each other. "My name is Cem'lul, and I'm the leader of the Rakata tribe that lives on this planet," the Rakata, who spoke basic, introduced himself. "Come with us."
Deiven looked at Zai'shira, who glanced back at him and nodded. They put their weapons away and followed the group.
After approximately thirty minutes of walking through the jungle, they reached a small, ancient Rakata Temple above which hovered the giant disk-shaped ship. Covered by the green moss, the Temple was indistinguishable between the dense vegetation of the jungle, making it impossible to spot it from the sky. The moment they passed through the archway, the Force signatures from earlier weren't fuzzy to Zai'shira anymore, and she was able to sense them without any problems. Turning her head back, she spotted elongated orbs that hovered a few feet over the ground and glowed in a mix of four colors: red, blue, yellow, and violet. Zai'shira squinted her eyes and guessed that it was some kind of Force-concealing Rakatan technology.
Cem'lul took a quick glance at the Togruta and noticed her reaction. "It's our invention," he explained. "The orbs create an invisible dome-like field, and only those who are perfectly attuned to the Force can sense other Force-sensitives that reside inside it."
"You mean those who follow the four aspects of the Force?" Zai'shira asked and added. "It makes sense since I somewhat felt the Force signatures when we first landed, but my friend felt them without any problems."
"Really?" Cem'lul looked at Deiven, who nodded confirmingly. "In that case, you must be very attuned to the Force. The child of prophecy that will guide us towards redemption. We waited for someone like you."
As they continued to walk, the young Firrerreo moved closer to Zai'shira. "I hope that they are not planning to sacrifice me on some altar or anything like that," Deiven whispered to her seriocomically.
"Heh, I don't think they will," the Togruta said reassuringly. "But if things get dangerous, we won't pull any punches."
When they finally reached a large main hall, aside from other Rakata, Zai'shira also spotted strange grey-skinned cephalopod creatures with six tentacles, who talked with other Rakata. They all had tall foreheads with tattoos and large sad-looking eyes set on oversized heads. Deiven noticed that the aliens had their faces covered with some kind of strange devices, presumably breath masks.
"Who are they?" the Togruta asked.
"The exiled members of the Gree Enclave," Cem'lul answered. A member of the Gree species shambled towards them and spoke to Cem'lul in a strange language. The Rakata listened and spoke to Zai'shira and Deiven. "This is Tober'k, one of the Gree researchers. He says its an honor to meet you."
"Likewise," Zai'shira smiled and bowed her head with respect. Deiven followed her example.
"Our species encountered the Gree thousands of years ago, and it didn't end... friendly," Cem'lul spoke ashamedly. "They're even more advanced than we are, but we had more warriors back then, so we drove them back to their home cluster. However, these exiled Gree formed an alliance with us, and we have a common goal now. We want to atone for our past sins, and they want to study the Force."
Zai'shira grabbed her chin. "We need to create a Kingdom of the Force, a faction ruled by the four aspects," she stated. "If the Gree want to learn more about the Force, Deiven can teach them everything they want in exchange for their help. With your combined technology, we would have everything we need to prepare for the upcoming war between the Jedi and the Sith, but everything needs to be done in secret until we'll ready to hold our own. If you join us and we manage to bring balance, the Force would forgive you for the past sins."
Cem'lul smiled and nodded. "That sounds very promising," he replied. "The ship above us belongs to the Gree. Over five thousand members of their race wait for a purpose, and we have over four hundred Rakata eager to prove themselves. The galaxy will tremble under our army and our technological marvels."
"Take it easy, Cem'lul," Zai'shira said with a slight chuckle. "We don't want to conquer the whole galaxy. That's not the will of the Force."
"Exactly," Deiven agreed. "The Force wants all Force-sensitives to respect its rules and follow all four aspects. We must convince them all to do that. "
"The Republic and all non-Force-sensitives can do what they want, but if the Jedi and Sith do not follow the four aspects of the Force, then we must destroy them to save the whole galaxy," Zai'shira explained.
"Ahh, I understand," Cem'lul nodded. "So, how do we start?"
A few moments later, Zai'shira and Deiven contacted Dooku, and Avelon, so that all four of them could decide what to do next. When the holographic images of the two men appeared on the Togruta's hand, they were surprised to see Rakata and Gree, two of the most technologically advanced races in the galaxy. Zai'shira quickly explained everything to them.
"Well..." Avelon began. "...if we really want to keep everything in secret, I suggest Rakata and Gree should build everything on Lehon."
"Good idea," seconded Dooku. "No one visits that planet anyway."
"Actually, some scavengers land on Lehon from time to time, but we deal with them," replied Cem'lul.
"We should build a Temple!" Deiven suddenly suggested, drawing everyone's attention. "The Temple of Balance, where we could teach the children from the list that Master Zai stole from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant!"
"Huh, that's a good idea, but where? Here?" Zai'shira asked.
"On Shili!" Deiven answered.
"That's a bad idea," Dooku disagreed. "Such a building, not to mention the arrival of the Rakata and the Gree would not go unnoticed, and the word would quickly reach Coruscant and the Jedi Order."
"Then let's build it on Shili's moon, maybe Zulio," Deiven proposed. "With the 'orbs' from the Rakata, the Jedi and Sith would never sense the Force-fueled technology."
"Hmmm... he has a good point," Avelon agreed. "Since Jedi and Sith don't follow the four aspects of the Force, they won't be able to detect us."
"Yes, that's true," Dooku acknowledged.
"Okay, so that matter is settled," Zai'shira stated. "But what about an army? Are we going to build droids or recruit actual people? Even if we recruit the children from the list, they won't be old enough by the time the war starts to help us."
"We'll build an army for you," announced Cem'lul. "After all, we are the Builders."
"Okay, but do you have the resources to do that?" Zai'shira asked, dubiously. "Shili is not exactly the richest planet in the galaxy."
"As far as credits go, I'll be able to provide the necessary funds when I return to Serenno and reclaim my rightful title," Dooku reassured.
"The Star Forge will give us everything we need, we just need to rebuild it and make it better," Cem'lul stated, making Zai'shira frown.
"What is this Star Forge?" Deiven asked, feeling a little out of topic here.
"The technological marvel, a giant automated shipyard, designed to create the most powerful army of all time," Cem'lul replied proudly.
"And it corrupts those who use it," Zai'shira added, arching her white eyebrow markings. "Most of all, it drew the energy and matter from the stars in order to construct and built, like a giant mechanical parasite. I read about it in the Jedi archives. That shipyard corrupted the Rakata species before. Didn't you learn everything after the first time?"
"We were cruel and savage species back then, so the Star Forge began feeding off these negative traits inherent in its creators," Cem'lulk explained. "As a result, the Star Forge became an immense tool of dark side power. It began corrupting us to gain the immense power it required to operate itself and ultimately caused the collapse of the Rakata Empire. However, with the aid of that boy," the Rakatan leader gestured towards Deiven. "The Star Forge can become a tool of your Kingdom of the Force: the Force Forge."
While Zai'shira crossed her arms over her chest, not completely convinced, Dooku spoke. "It won't hurt to try. If anything, we'll simply stop using it or, in the worst case, destroy it."
The Togruta sighed. "Alright," she agreed.
The Gree spoke in its language, and Cem'lul translated. "The Gree offer to transport the Rakata if required, their ship is capable of cloaking so it would arrive on any planet unnoticed. If you want to build the Temple on that moon in secret, that's the best way to do it."
"Much appreciated," Dooku replied.
"Hmmm... I have a question. What do we call ourselves?" Avelon asked. "I don't mean the faction, but its ranks. We're not Jedi Masters nor Sith Lords, right?"
"Well, yeah," Zai'shira shrugged. "In a way, our goal is to replace the Jedi Order so we could follow the same ranking system. Then again, simply claiming their ranks as our own seems lazy and out of place."
"Maybe we could be ArchKnights," Deiven proposed. "The highest rank one could achieve in the Kingdom."
"So ArchKnights instead of Jedi Masters, without rank of Master of the Order and a Grand Master," Zai'shira hummed. "Huh, I like it. It would refer to a position of superiority."
"Knights could simply replace Jedi Knights," Dooku suggested. "And Padawans could be replaced by Squires. It sounds more elegant and refined. Younger ones could remain younglings."
"Awesome!" Deiven exclaimed.
"All right then," Zai'shira looked at Cem'lul. "We're ready to start then. Tell your people to head to Zulio and start preparing to build the Temple, while the others will start to rebuild the Forge."
The Rakata nodded. We'll get to work immediately, he said and turned to his people and the Gree. While he began to speak to them, Zai'shira and Deiven looked at Dooku and Avelon. "Everything is working out great," she said with relief.
"I'll travel to Serenno," Dooku announced. "The faster, the better."
"Okay," Zai'shira nodded. "We'll await our return, Count Dooku."
The human smiled, and his holographic image vanished along with Avelon's.
When Deiven and Zai'shira boarded their ship, it was already nightfall. They had a good feeling about it all. Thanks to the Gree's cloaking technology, the Rakata would be regularly transported to Zulio, the third moon of Shili, where they will build the Temple of Balance.
"What a crazy day," Deiven commented. "The Rakata and the Gree, heh... now we can really start doing something."
"Yes, we can," Zai'shira agreed. "It turned out far better than I imagined. If we can remain hidden until the war, we'll be ready for anything."
"But I'm sad about one thing," muttered Deiven looking at the floor downcasted.
"About what?" Zai'shira asked.
"I didn't get to taste those Gizka," he replied with a grin. They both burst out laughing, which was interrupted by an incoming transmission.
"It's from Shili," Zai'shira stated. "I'll put it through."
The holographic image of King Aven appeared on display, looking a bit uneasy. "So, how did it go?" he asked.
"Perfect!" Deiven exclaimed.
"You won't believe my love, not only did we meet the Rakata, who are willing to help us, but we also meet the Gree, even more technologically advanced species, and they want to help us in exchange for learning about the Force" Zai'shira said with a grin, which faded when she took a closer look at the expression on her husband's face. "What's wrong, Aven?"
The King sighed and looked at his wife. "She was here, Zai," he replied, his voice full of tension.
"Who?" asked Deiven, squinting his amber-colored, snake-like eyes.
"Ahsoka..." answered Aven. "Ahsoka was on Shili, to hunt one of the Akuls. The Kel Dor Jedi that took her away from us now brought her here, letting her hunt alone in the wilds."
"How is she?" Zai'shira asked immediately, her heart beating hard.
"She did great, killed the Akul without any troubles, and made her headdress from its teeth," the male Togruta replied with sadness and pride in his voice. "She looked so pretty. They've left the planet shortly after."
"All that matters is that she is alive and well," said Deiven. "I didn't forget my promise."
"I know, Deiven," said Aven taking a deep breath. "Okay, come back to Shili and explain everything to me in detail, Aven out." The holographic image of Togruta vanished.
Zai'shira leaned back on the pilot seat, breathing a sigh of relief. She was very proud of her daughter. "Ahsoka," she whispered.
Deiven put his hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "Everything will be alright," he said with a warm smile. "Now, let's head home, I'm famished because of those Gizka."
Zai'shira chuckled and started the shuttle engines. After today, they deserved and good rest, and a good, hot meal.
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