PART 3: ASTRAY ACOLYTES
CHAPTER 9: MALKRUST: TEMPLE OF THE DAMNED
Dooku parried another of Anakin's attacks. The boy was skilled and his powers were growing but he was not there yet. "Don't hesitate, go in for the kill when given the opportunity," Dooku coached as he deflected yet another of Anakin's strikes. "Let the force show you the way, let the force guide your every action," Dooku instructed still once again pushing Anakin's blade aside.
"Enough," Dooku said, ending the session as he pushed Anakin back again, the boy still had much to learn. Silently Anakin followed the Count into the main cabin of the ship and seated himself. Dooku walked further on until he was in the cockpit and then sat meditating as the star lines of hyperspace flew by him.
Anakin had gained much power under his tutelage but it seemed the more power his young apprentice gained the less control the boy had. This was contrary to the very nature of Dooku's teachings. Control of the self was the only way to master the force. What little self control the boy had possessed instead of being strengthened seemed to be waning. Dooku leaned back into his pilot's seat and let his mind take him back to when he had been a Jedi and training Qui-Gon. He had taught Qui-Gon the measures and value of control. Qui-Gon had stumbled over some things like most Padawans and had learned his lessons well. Control had never been an issue for Qui-Gon. A shadow of the pain that had never quite healed ached in Dooku's chest as he was reminded once again of his failure to teach Qui-Gon correctly. It was clear to him that if he'd taught Qui-Gon right his former Padawan would never have been killed. This failure hunted Dooku and now was threatening to hunt him again in his failure to teach Anakin self control. If the boy never mastered that then Anakin would never master the dark side of the force.
Dooku went over Anakin's training in his mind but found no flow in his teaching technique. Yet he knew there must be one, where was he going wrong? He was teaching Anakin to see what was coming before it happened but that was not enough. The matter perplexed Dooku and his mind went further back to conversations he had had with his own teacher master Yoda.
"Control you say" he could hear Yoda's voice, "control of the self is the ally of a Jedi, control of others the dark side this is. The ways of the Jedi cannot be learned by mastery of others but only through the self."
Dooku turned his thoughts away from the conversation he had had so long ago; Yoda of course had been right about many things. There was great power in the dark side, but only few would ever be able to reach out and take it. As Dooku mused on the nature of the dark side it came like a hunting voice from the depth of his memory,
"to give into anger, is to give into the dark side, that is why a Jedi must control themselves young apprentice."
They were the words of Qui-Gon to his own Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenodi during some training session a long time ago now. Dooku turned over in his mind again and again his failures with teaching Qui-Gon and now he feared making the same mistake with Anakin.
Anakin came into the cockpit disrupting Dooku's musings and took the co-pilots seat. "Where about to drop out of hyperspace?" Anakin said as he started flipping switches in preparation for the return to sub-light speed. The Bothans star map had proven to be correct, as they dropped out of hyperspace, a large planet loomed before them. Even without setting foot on the surface Dooku knew that this was the location he had been searching for.
Malkrust was a medium sized planet settled between two gas giants that dwarfed the planet by half its own size. As the small ship glided at sub-light towards the surface in a landing approach Anakin got the strangest feeling from the planet. It felt cold almost, the feeling was frighteningly familiar and took Anakin's thought back to the night time desert on Tatooine. Forcing his thoughts away from those times Anakin focused on landing the ship. "It looks like there's some kind of settlement or large structure in the south quadrant," Anakin said looking up from his scanners.
"Land there," Dooku said.
The ship landed before a huge building, triangular and on each side there was a large pillar with strange writing on them. "What is this place?" Anakin asked, the force felt swirled in darkness on the planet.
"A Sith temple," Dooku replied.
Anakin didn't know what a Sith temple was, but it wasn't important what the building had been, as long as it helped him in the long run. "What's in there?" Anakin asked as they approached the stone structure and the force stirred inside the temple.
"The temple holds the secret knowledge of the Sith, powerful secrets and we shall take them, and we will use this knowledge to destroy our enemies."
As they neared the steep staircase Anakin noticed that in the distance there seemed to be a mixture of wrecked and abandoned ships from an ancient era scattered about. Some looked as if they still might fly; others were nothing more than gaunt skeletons. The closer they got to the Sith temple Anakin started seeing glints of metal and lightsabers scattered about on the planet's dry red surface. Here and there Anakin saw and felt as his boot crunched over the ground what looked like glass welded into the earth, where a lightsaber had slashed into the sandstone of the ground and turned it into black and burnished glass.
Some kind of battle had taken place on Malkrust a long time ago, Anakin felt as if he could almost hear the echoes of it even now through the force. As they reached the temple the memory of why Malkrust reminded Anakin so distinctly of that Tatooine night came back to his mind unbidden once again. The scattered carnage was similar to that of the Tusken Raider camp. The way the force felt on Malkrust reminded Anakin of the hot rage he had felt then. The terrible vengeful power and the desolation of his grief. Echoes of what had happened on Malkrust could be felt even now, terrible things had happened there. The voice of their far distance whispered was the same as stained the sands of Tatooine, now being blown across the desert.
Dooku felt a thrill of excitement that he quickly controlled as they drew closer to the Sith temple. It was finally within his reach, the knowledge that he had lacked for so long. Finally he'd have the power, and could train Anakin correctly, fix and atone for his mistakes he'd made with Qui-Gon. With Anakin as his apprentice Dooku would destroy his master and hunt down Qui-Gon's killer. Together they would be able to bring peace to the galaxy. This time Dooku would teach and protect Anakin correctly.
Dooku turned to Anakin at the top of the stairs "only two may enter here, a master and an apprentice, we must work together in order to obtain our goal." Anakin nodded; stepping forwards Dooku raised his hand to the black stone building, with a heavy grinding sound the slab that blocked entry through the front moved with what seemed like tremendous effort from the Count. The Sith temple would not give up its secrets to any, Sith or otherwise without a fight, only the strongest could take the knowledge. "Quickly move inside," Dooku instructed Anakin.
Anakin stepped under the door but found any further entrance blocked by another massive stone slab. Anakin lifted that slab; he found it unusually heavy as compared with normal stone. For a moment Anakin struggled to lift the stone. He needed to be stronger and the stone was blocking his path to that power. Reaching into the darkness that lay behind the vial Dooku had pulled back for him Anakin lifted the stone. Nothing would stop Anakin from gaining this power and protecting Ahsoka, Asajj and himself.
Dooku stepped through to stand next to Anakin and let the black stone slab drop back into place with a thud. While Anakin kept the slab above them suspended with the force, Dooku raised the next block. They raised two more sets of blocks before they came to the heart of the temple base. Inside was a small stone room with no pathways leading out, "now we must go upwards," Dooku said looking above them. There was a fait seam in the sealing and below where they stood a square that was separate from the floor. "I will raise the plinth, you must open the way above," Dooku reached out an old hand to the floor and slowly the square rose towards the ceiling.
Similarly to the door entrance of the temple it took teamwork to make their way through the temple. Anakin parted the red blocks of interior stone and forced them back into the wall while Dooku kept them moving every upwards.
A sense of fear and excitement started welling up within Anakin as they made their assent. As they went Anakin kept pushing back the next set and then the next set, for six sets before they arrived at the top of the temple. Anakin was breathing hard and sweat was beading on his brow from the effort of keeping the stone blocks held back while they moved upwards. At the top of the temple was a chamber, small and triangular. In the center of the chamber was a short pedestal and sitting atop it a red triangular crystal glowing faintly. The force felt dark there and Anakin heard the whisper of some great power that resided within the crystal pyramid.
"This is what we have come for" Dooku said, reaching for the triangle "a Sith holocron". Closing his hands around it Dooku took the holocron. Turning to Anakin the red triangle reflecting in his eyes Dooku said "now we have what we have come for." walking to the wall Dooku placed the holocron in a space that fit it perfectly and the wall slid down into the floor, revealing the outside of the temple. They stepped through and were standing on the top of the temple, the exterior black stone standing stark against the red stone of the ground below. "A Sith holocron can sometimes also be keys to their temples," Dooku said.
Anakin said nothing, instead he looked out over the planet, the view for several miles around the temple showed everything as being barren and the ground was made of red stone. But further out a thick black forest grew with patches of red stone faintly seen between the dark masses.
"Come," Dooku commanded and moved to the corner of the temple which slid down like a lift and lowered them down to the temple base.
"Will this holocron help in mocking me stronger?" Anakin asked.
"This holocron holds secrets that only previously my master, a true lord of the Sith knew, now my master is no longer necessary. Together we shall learn the true nature of the dark side of the force," Dooku said in answer. He intended to explore the Sith temple further the next day, that night they slept on Malkrust
Palpatine scowled in his office, the senate session had just wrapped up and once again he found his plans hampered and blocked by Organa. That meddler, between the prince and Senator Amidala, Palpatine had never met more troublesome people in his life. The senate had agreed to vote on opening up peace talks and all Palpatine had been able to do was delay the vote as long as possible. But it would never be long enough, and then there was senator Mothma, he hadn't forgotten her. She was working tirelessly to bring undecided systems around to voting for peace. His entire plan was on the verge of going up in flames. He opened a line of communication to General Grievous on the Invisiblehand. The droid general's holo image flickered to life in miniature.
"General Grievous," Palpatine said.
"Yes?" the droid wheezed.
"The senate is close to brokering peace with the Separatists, they must not be allowed. An attack on the lobby meeting before the vote will bring these negotiations to a halt," Palpatine said.
"I will make sure those insignificant beings suffer," Grievous laughed.
"Good," Palpaitne said "good."