Cal sat meditating in the Cinnamon Wind's still room, a section of the ship designed specifically to always remain calm even during violent maneuvering, and let his mind reach outward in all directions. In truth, it was the oldest trick in the book as far as the Jedi were concerned. Allowing one's mind to spread out among the currents of the Force, and for a brief time achieve peace in being immersed in the current. Here among the darkness of hyperspace and in the bosom of the ship, Cal felt that peace differently than at any point in his life.
Part of him knew that he should be afraid, worried that they were heading into the deepest quagmire in the galaxy as they raced against who ever attacked them through the Force. Yet, as he focused in on himself, on his mission and what he needed to protect, there was not a trace of fear. He was done with fear, once it had consumed him to the point that he cut the Force out of his life. As if it was a burden dragging him into the abyss instead of the life preserver dragging him to the surface. The Force was peace, it was the balance between life and death, the whole made up of the many. Both the Cosmos and entropy personified.
"The Force is me and I am the Force." Cal whispered, his words traveling into the Force itself as if he was a tuning fork.
His perception continued to expand, following the wake created by his words. Cal found Merrin, the woman he loved and shared perhaps a piece of his soul with, not but a few yards away. Tucked into a cozy corner, she poured over her focus and the book so bright in the Force that Cal could swear it was written with the Force itself. Her image in the force was of glittering onyx, pulsing with the emerald light of a million tiny stars within her. Silently, he reached out to her and felt an electric surge as his mind found hers.
"Cal." He heard her say and with a sigh she released her energies outward, flowing into his so they could dance like nebulae waiting to birth a star.
They came together, two spectral forms against the back drop of the Force and began to dance. The world around the two barely an after thought as they moved to music no one else could hear, spectral forms melding and breaking seemingly at random. An eternity and just a moment passed as they simply enjoyed each other, took comfort in the undeniable fact that they could reach across the emptiness of space and find each other. Took comfort from the fact that two survivors need never be alone again.
"Cal."
He opened his eyes and found himself back in reality with Merrin in his arms. Merrin's legs were wrapped around his waist and she sat comfortably in his lap, her face barely an inch away from his. Cal's arms wrapped around her instinctively and he held her close, his forehead against hers.
"That's cheating you know." He said, staring into her eyes.
"Yes, it is." She said, a laugh just behind every word.
"I am so glad I met you." Cal said, gently rocking back and forth as they held each other.
"I am glad too." Merrin replied. "How else would I have gotten off Dathomir? Not too many cute Jedi stopping by these days."
"You know, I remember you weren't such a comedian when we met." Cal said, planting a kiss on her lips.
"I blame you and Greez, bad influences all." Merrin said, returning the kiss.
They stayed like that for a long while, lost in each other as they traded sweet nothings and let their close contact warm them both. Eventually as all things must, their moment timeless moment ended with a lurch of the ship and the tell tale hum of a hyper-drive deactivating. Slowly, an electric sensation worked its way over the pair, as if they were slowly being lowered into cold water. Every cell shivering as they stood up, Cal and Merrin looked to each other.
"We're here." Cal said, slipping his arm over Merrin's shoulders.
"Yes." She replied, wrapping her arm around his waist. "Tython."
?
Rowan stood before the holo table staring at the planet displayed there. It was a mid sized world, covered in thick forests with two moons equally as lush orbiting it. All in all it was a curiosity more than anything, a habitable world nestled in one of the oldest sectors of the Galaxy, but something about it was nagging at him. He could feel the power of this planet, feel it like an anchor on his chest, and for the first time in his life he felt the Force as it truly was.
Rowan raised a hand and unfurled his fingers revealing a smooth metal washer stuck to his palm. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and focused on the washer. Feeling for the "muscle" he'd used in his duel with Kella, Rowan willed the washer to move. Focusing on the mental image of it rising off his palm and forcing out any other outcome out of his mind's eye. He was Rowan Blackfire, he would do where others tried.
"I am one with the Force and the Force is one with me." He muttered, remembering the old mantra of the keepers of Jedha. "I am one with the Force and the Force is one with me."
He opened his eyes and watched as the washer rose an inch off his palm. Swallowing a triumphant cry, Rowan focused on the washer and the phantom sensation as he flexed the "muscle" lifting the washer. With a thought, he set the washer to spinning and felt the relief as exercise broke loose tension he hadn't known was collecting. Like grime breaking off a gear assembly revealing a gleaming machine beneath, waiting to be used.
"And this is part of all of us." He said, as breathless as a pilgrim having an epiphany. "All we need to do is reach out to it."
"Realizing that we're the river and not the stones, eh?" Trilla said, appearing in the door way with a tray of coffee mugs in one hand.
"Ughm, yes I suppose." Rowan said, dropping the washer with a clink as he jumped back.
"Don't be embarrassed." Trilla said, stepping up to the table and tapping one of Tython's moons. "I remember the day I realized the same thing, such a powerful lesson for anyone to learn. Especially a ten year old."
"It's..." Rowan said. "It's an odd feeling."
"Just you wait, as your sense of the Force develops you'll start to get a lot of odd feelings." Trilla said, laughing darkly. "The Force is infinite, and though we may be part of it, our singular minds just can't understand the majesty of the Force all at once. It's like reading a book a sentence at a time over the course of decades."
"Thank goodness, and here I thought I'd be flinging around unlimited power all willy nilly." Rowan said, rolling his eyes.
"Alright! We're locked in to enter orbit in around three hours." Greez said, barging into the room. "Cere's glued to her comms station and I'm hankering for some coffee."
"Morning Greez." Trilla said, handing him a cup of coffee. "Speaking of Cere, I haven't seen her in days. Is she alright?"
"She's been sulking since the pulse or what ever that was." Greez explained, shaking his head. "I've been trying to talk to her, but as we've gotten closer to Tython she's just burying herself in monitoring for any sign of trouble."
"I'll talk to her before we disembark." Trilla said. "Her connection to the Force is strained at best, and the last thing we need is for Cere to exhaust herself."
"Can't say I blame her." Rowan said. "I can feel Tython, like you can "see" the sun even if your eyes are closed."
"It's the cradle for all modern force philosophy." Trilla said, staring at the planet. "There's a reason our ancient predecessors settled it, and there's a reason they left. Something tells me we shouldn't terry here."
"From what I've read of the Auger we won't need to." Rowan explained. "Supposedly it could move through hyperspace almost instantly. All we have to do is get it online long enough for me to que in an extra galactic jump. There's a nice little pocket of stars just outside Imperially explored space that I have my eyes on."
"You seem to have this all planned out." Greez said, raising a bushy eyebrow at Rowan. "How certain are you exactly that this will work? Or that you can even turn this thing on without killing us?"
"Currently sitting between absolute certainty and absolute gobsmacked panic at the moment." Rowan said, flashing a gap toothed grin at Greez. "But I do some of my best work in the moment, so don't worry your fuzzy head about it."
"Do you count almost blowing us both up with a dozen seismic charges as some of your best work?" Greez asked.
"It worked didn't it?" Rowan asked.
"That's not remotely the point." Greez said, rubbing his temples. "Sometimes I miss the days when all I had to worry about was some gangster out of Tatooine coming to collect a gambling debt."
"But think of the stories you can tell next time you saddle up to a card table." Trilla said, making no effort to hide her amusement. "I can't say I've heard of many pilots who've delved so deep in the galactic core after treasure and adventure as you, Greez."
"In other words take the clout and shut up." Greez said, raising his arms up in surrender even if he couldn't stop a smile from spreading across his face.
?
Elsewhere, between the ships:
Cere sat in a temporary comms room, really just the comms arrays of the two ships spliced together into on monstrosity of wire and antennae. Greez wasn't wrong when he said she'd been obsessed with sniffing out any hint that they were being followed or had company waiting for him. But what he didn't know was that she had stolen something from the small safe they kept in the bowels of the Mantis, a smooth cylinder containing the catalyst for disaster or salvation if she used it correctly.
Taking off her headset, Cere sat back and withdrew the cylinder from the pack at her feet. She could feel the sliver of black metal floating inside the smooth glass. Feel it's darkness call out, hungry and cold to whisper promises of power to her. Promise that if she gave a pound of flesh she would have the power to protect the ones she most needed to. This close to Tython, the sliver was practically singing to her, and it took every ounce of Cere's will power to not open the tube and take the weapon into her hands. To finally let the darkness take her and give her the power hatred and anger promised.
"I don't need you." Cere whispered to the hateful thing.
Oh really? A cold mockery of her own voice asked. You don't?
"Not yet." Cere said. "Trilla came back from the darkness, and these children are some of the strongest I've ever met. They won't need me."
Are you fine with that? The voice asked. Fine with being the pathetic old master, regulated to taking phone calls?
"No." She admitted.
Don't worry. The voice whispered, a chill passing down her spine. Our time will come.
?
Starkiller's stomach sank as the craft descend through the clouds of ash revealing the rivers of magma and spewing vents covering the planet's surface. This was a place of power and significance, both his connection to the Force and the phantom memory of his father coloring his view of the landscape with horrible meaning. This was where his father was betrayed by the Jedi and this was where his father had erected a monument to that betrayel.
As the ship landed he caught sight of it, a tower of shimmering black veined in dense lines of runes, each glowing with light color of blood. Starkiller could feel it more than he could see it, the tower stood out among the landscape like a ray of black sunlight, yet as he was hurried along by Proxy, Starkiller didn't feel any negative feelings coming from the tower. Only absolute power tempered by control, as if the tower itself was just an extension of its master, and not a product of emotion or weakness.
"Proxy." He said, holding back a cough as they walked. "That tower is made of dark. Does that make sense?"
"That statement is illogical and improperly uses physical descriptors, but yes Master I agree that the building does appear to be made of dark." Proxy admitted, his holographic array blinking slightly as the harsh atmosphere of the planet washed over him.
As they trudged through the ash coated walkway the tower's presence only grew stronger, smothering Starkiller's perception in absolute focus. He could feel the strange energies of this place, warm and resolute, slipping through him as if he was a sponge rooted in the path of an ocean current. Found that the power felt good on his cramped muscles and racing mind. Felt his own power surge as he stepped closer to the obsidian door, and felt for the first time not a call to hatred or anger but to a cold sort of control that was beyond either lesser emotion. That call blinded him to the corpses resting in the ash heaps to the sides of the pathway, and obscured the looks of fear on the Purge troopers' faces.
They stepped through the doorway after another few minutes of walking, and came into a wide entry hall. The walls were pure obsidian, veined in pitch black metals and blooms of dark red crystal that thrummed slightly as they walked past. Starkiller was fascinated by the runes etched into almost every surface, recognizing the handful his father had taught him as the mysteries of Sith engineering and alchemy. Yet there were a thousand more that he could barely make out let alone comprehend, some were neatly ordered and almost beautiful in how they were written as if they were miniature works of art, while others were so alien that it hurt to look at them for too long.
"My son." His father's voice echoed through the hall. "Welcome to my humble abode."
"Fa...father." Starkiller said, biting his lip to stop himself from jumping back into Proxy. "This place is...amazing."
"Indeed it is my son." His father's voice boomed. "All that I knew as a Jedi and all I have learned as a cursed apprentice of the Sith has gone into forging this castle, my son. Do you feel the power here? Sense the potency of our alter?"
"Yes father." Starkiller said, nodding vigorously as he basked in the sheer majesty of the place. "Is this...is this the power of the Sith?"
"No my son." His father's voice said, suddenly a whisper almost swallowed up by the low hum of the castle. "This is the power of the Dark Side, not the poison the Sith drink gladly until they are turned to rotting husks. In this castle lies the first sparks of the true Darkness, a darkness that cannot exist without the light to be sure, but is far more potent than what my master could ever hope to wield. For in this tower boy, rests the Cosmic Darkness and in its mysteries lies the absolute power to balance the light. All you must do my son is reach out for it, and you shall know it's eternal majesty."
Without question he did, and reached out beyond his physical form through the Force. The instant his mind left the confines of his mortal shell, Starkiller was met with a tidal wave of black power that washed over him with bone crushing force. Potent energies flowed into him, saturating every cell with strange alien warmth and the horrible ecstasy of every nerve activating at once. His body trembled and he fell to his knees as raw power seeped into his muscles, his bones, into the very nuclei of his cells until every atom thrummed like a tuning fork. Reverberating with power his underdeveloped mind could barely perceive let alone process. Then it was done and Starkiller found himself on his knees, sweat dripping from every pore as the titanic high faded and he returned to his senses.
"Good, feel your new strength my son." His father said as he appeared before Starkiller. "Let it settle as if it was an extension of yourself, do not fight it or attempt to control it. Simply exist alongside it."
He forced himself to breath slowly, taking air in through his nose and out through his mouth, savoring the surprising chill in the air with each breath. Slowly, he began to acclimate to the power flowing through him, to the connection to the true darkness. Felt it flow through his veins like his life blood, felt it animate his muscles like electrical impulses, and felt it warm his flesh as if it were his own body heat. With a final breath, he felt the power merge with all that he was and all he could be, felt the peak he now stood at as he looked up at his father's masked face.
"Thank you father." Starkiller said, absolute control smoothing the childish cracking that once affected his voice. "This is beyond anything I thought possible."
"You are welcome my son." Lord Vader said, kneeling down to offer Starkiller a hand. "Together we will grow even stronger than this, my son. Stand where no Sith has ever stood, where no Jedi has stood. You and I will forge an empire built from the cosmic blackness that will survive both the resurgence of the Light and its waning. Take my hand boy, and we will begin the preparations for our final trap."
He looked at the black gloved hand for a long moment. There was still something at the back of his mind pulling at him to run, to escape from this place and forsake the power his father offered. Yet Starkiller could not stop himself any more than he could pluck a star destroyer out of the sky, and he reached out to take his father's hand. Strong fingers wrapped around his own in a firm grip that was almost caring as Vader helped him to his feet.
"Come boy." Vader said, gesturing for Starkiller to follow. "There is much to be done before our guest arrives."
"A guest, father?" Starkiller asked as they began to walk.
"Oh yes my son, we are expecting illustrious company." His father said, something like a wry chuckle barking out of speakers. "In fact, we shall be preparing to make this fortress suitable for an Imperial funeral."
?
Merrin entered Rowan's workshop, subtly aware that the strange man she'd come to like somewhat, was aware of her despite her best efforts. He didn't bother looking up from the garment he was tinkering with, but there was a subtle shift to his body language that told Merrin that she was welcome to take a seat. She did so and watched him go about his work, stitching gleaming black thread into a bodice and connecting lengths of dark green ribbon into a central hub of smooth black metal on the back of the garment. Her eyes fell on her sphere, once a shattered remnant and now a restored sphere what had survived the purge on Dathomir recast within gleaming Kyberite, Rowan's own recipe for something he called "Amped Kyberite".
"Almost done." Rowan said, stitching the last of the green ribbon into the folds of the body suit masking it completely. "There we are, your new favorite outfit is done Lady Merrin."
"My new favorite outfit?" Merrin asked, as Rowan lifted up the garment and showed it to her.
"Well, it's more of a compliment to your travel clothes, but it's going to make your Force magicks far easier to use." Rowan said.
Unfurled, Merrin realized that the garment was indeed a fortified red leather harness with swathes of fabric and pouches sown into the structure of it. She noted that it was functionally similar to some of the travel harnesses her sisters use to carry their tools and weapons in crossed with Rowan's own style of armor. A garment made for quick movement and maximum utility.
"I like it." Merrin said, nodding. "You would make a good hearth sister, Rowan."
"I'll take that as high praise." Rowan said, laughing as he turned the harness over and tapped the mechanism built into the back. "My impeccable sense of style aside, this is the crown jewel of the piece. This mechanism is a secure holster for your sphere, nestled into a fabric-kyberite lattice originating here at the small of your back and terminating in the gloves and boots. So now, you should be able to draw on your sphere while keeping your hands free, and as an added note you can adjust the amount of layers you're wearing at any given time. Quality witching gear no matter the season."
"You are very generous for a man Trilla calls a terrorist." Merrin said, running her fingers down the harness.
"I like a challenge and I like building things for people I like." Rowan said, a smug grin on his face. "Despite all the trouble you lot have gotten me into, I have to say you, Cal, and the rest have grown on me enough that I don't have the heart to charge you for my services."
"That is good." Merrin said, patting his cheek. "I wasn't planning on paying you anyway."
?
Cal's teeth clattered as they disembarked from the ships and onto the frozen plateau stretching to the horizon. They had landed in the northern reaches of Tython, so close to the planet's north pole that even the shielded navigation components on their drop ship was thrown off by strangely powerful electromagnetics of the pole. Even that paled to the sheer pressure the planet placed on Cal and the other Force users as they stepped out onto the ice choked ground. To Cal, it was like stepping into intense humidity without any kind of moisture in the dry air. Truthfully, it was electrifying as he felt the planet almost amplify his natural connection to the Force and invigorating him even as the cold wind cut into his skin.
"Here." Rowan said, coming from behind to wrap thick woolen scarf around Cal's neck. "Told you these would come in handy."
"Consider me humbled and grateful." Cal said, teeth chattering as he finished wrapping the scarf around his face.
"Don't mention it." Rowan said, tightening his own scarf as the others filed out after them.
Only Cal, Merrin, Trilla, Cere, Rowan, and Kella had come down to the planet's surface as the non Force sensitives were wracked with a worsening head ache the closer they came to the planet. Maybe it was the activated key, now an open twenty sided sphere glowing with an internal violet light, affecting the planet's attunemnt to the Force, but what ever it was the "normal" members of their crew would have to stay in orbit. Watching for any sign of trouble or anyone else seeking the vault.
"It's colder than Escovierian blizzard out here." Kella cried, her fingers clamped tight around the key as it gently pulsed against the mid day glare. "Where do we go now?"
"I don't know, the coordinates on the compass lead to this exact point." Rowan called, taking out the compass and almost dropping it with his gloved hand. "Is it-"
Before he could finish speaking, the key pulsed brightly and sent out a narrow beam of violet light across the snow covered ground. The beam raced across the near smooth surface of the ground and over the horizon line. With a sound not unlike a sigh, the key collapsed in on itself around the source of the beam, eventually settling on a perfectly spherical shape as the beam began to pulse brighter and brighter. Cal looked down and saw that a thick line began to spread horizontally around five feet in front of them, and he barely managed to point at it when the line shot off in both directions as fast a pod racer.
The line was joined by dozens and then hundreds of others as the ice began to shake, collapsing in on itself where the lines intersected. Rowan grabbed onto Kella's left arm and Merrin her right as the key's light became almost too bright to handle, and the beam thickened to near a foot in diameter as is screamed out across the growing crevice. With the added support, Kella dug her feet into the slush, the snow melting away to reveal an ornate stone platform, and held the key steady as the world changed around them. Ice turned to water even as it shattered and collapsed filling the growing gap with water before something glowing violet in the depths instantly converted it to steam.
With a final roar, the last of the ice fell into the ravine and the key's light went out to be replaced by the soft velvet glow filtering through the mile wide plume of steam coiling into the air. Cal waved his hand forward and pushed some of the steam away with the Force, and stopped dead in his tracks when he caught sight of what it obscured. Even through the steam, Cal could see a towering pyramid surrounded by the half obscured silhouettes of massive saurian creatures carved out of a faint blue stone. As the harsh winds of the plateau blew away the last of the steam, Cal stood in awe of the complex and the pyramid itself, that looked like it could fit three star destroyers side by side and still have room to spare.
"Hole E shit." Rowan said, slack jawed awe on his face as he stepped to the edge of the platform where a long stair case began the descent towards the gate. "That's...that's a Star Temple!"
"So we're in the right place then?" Merrin asked.
"Most definitely." Rowan said, hopping from foot to foot as he barely contained his excitement. "We're looking at an intact Star Temple, probably the only one left in the entire galaxy!"
"As amazing as this is, our job is to get it open and secure the Auger." Kella said, handing Rowan the key, it having transformed back into a twenty sided sphere. "We have no idea if anyone's on our tail or already lying in wait. Come on."
With that, she started down the still steaming steps.
"Some people just can't appreciate the moment." Rowan said, tossing the key up and down as he followed after his sister.
?
Two miles out from the edge of the Star Temple crater:
"This Corporal Lancer...of the..." the Imperial officer spat, blood flowing down her face from her nose as she leaned against the comms station. "Requesting...immediate bombardment from orbit. The...area around the anomaly is extremely hazardous to...non...Fo...ack!"
The words died in her mouth as blinding white flash of pain erupted in her forehead. She collapsed onto the ground and tasted blood as she bit through her lip, only managing to get a hold of herself after a solid minute of struggling. Spitting blood and bile, she pulled herself up to the receiver and returned to her report.
"Our ship crashed when...the...pilot went into a headache induced seizure." She reported. "When we crashed...our craft...was...assault-ACK!"
She screamed out as a long talon stabbed through her back and through her chest. With a sickening lurch, she was pulled into the air and felt hot breath reeking of rotting flesh blasting against the back of her head. The last thought that went through her mind was of her fish tank oddly enough, and just as she realized how ridiculous that was for a last thought something tore out her spine, cutting both the thought and her life short.
?
"So, there's no sapients on Tython anymore, right?" Cal asked, as their group traversed the wide courtyard towards the base of the pyramid.
"No idea." Rowan said, rolling the key over his hand over and over as they walked. "Not exactly many census takers this in the Core. Why do you ask?"
"I just have a feeling we're not alone." Cal said, a familiar itch tickling the back of neck.
"Cal, I'm possibly the most paranoid person in the galaxy." Rowan said, raising an eyebrow. "We're in the middle of Tython's global ice sheet, thousands of miles from any of the comforts that make life worthwhile for anything but a Flesh Raider."
"A...Flesh Raider?" Cal asked. "Tell me that's just a joke name you pulled out of your ass."
"No it isn't unfortunately." Rowan explained. "Horrible creatures Flesh Raiders, devolved Rakata slaves that wondered the wastes of Tython in a by gone era. Hunting any source of protein through even the harshest of environments. Mother used to tell me stories about them when I was being a bratty little shit before bed."
"So...they aren't just bed times stories then?" Cal asked.
"Oh no, there's a fascinating archaeological journal about them I have stashed away somewhere." Rowan explained, mentally searching through his library. "Really nasty stuff too, the bastards were evolved to kill just about anything and then strip the meat from the bone with razor sharp teeth. But you don't need to worry about them, they were wiped out centuries ago, and the only examples that could be alive today would be living relics of the Rakata."
"He says while walking through an unearthed relic that judging by the humming sounds coming from that pyramid is quite obviously a "living relic"." Trilla said from the front of their formation.
"What? You think the Rakata left some in the area just waiting for the day someone was stupid enough to reveal the gate to the one thing the Kwa denied them?" Rowan asked. "Please, our lives are hardly so cliché."
"Fair enough, but I'd keep an eye out for any long lost beasties." Trilla said, wiggling her fingers at the pair. "Anyway, if you lot get eyes on any Kyber crystals do speak up, I'd like to have an actual blade before we leave this planet, thank you very much."
"I'll keep an eye out." Rowan said, rolling his eye.
A few minutes later, the group arrived at base of a set of steps leading up to a blue crystal control panel before a sealed stone door. The pedestal was made up of dozens of small plates, each inscribed in a runic text and centered around an angular notch at its center. Rowan hopped up the stairs and without any hesitation slapped the key into the notch and hopped back, shielding his face with his arms.
"Expecting it to explode, were we?" Trilla asked as she and the others ascended the stairs behind him.
"You never know these days." Rowan said, lowering his arms and watching the different crystal plates pulse softly as the key sank into the notch.
"So, do you have any idea how to actually open this gate?" Cal asked, as the panel began to thrum.
"Theoretically, yes." Rowan said, cracking his knuckles as he stepped up to the panel. "There was a combination inscribed into the compass' inner ring and inside the key itself. All I have to do is activate the correct commands in the correct sequence before the timer counts down and the doorway should be opened."
"How long will that take?" Cere asked, scanning the courtyard through a blaster scope.
"Roughly two hours." Rowan said. "The Kwa apparently had the typing speed of protocol droids, but thankfully there's no time limit on entering the commands. Very nice of the saurian bastards if you ask me."
"And how much time do we have on the countdown?" Cal asked, looking at the floating script inside of the key.
"Roughly two and a half hours." Rowan said with a shrug.
"Oh." Cal said. "So we have roughly a thirty minute bit of leeway, then?"
"Twenty nine minutes now." Rowan said, already hard at work manipulating the crystal plates with deliberate speed.
"Let's leave him to it then." Trilla said. "Cere and I will secure a perimeter. Cal, Kella, and Merrin, you three stay close to Rowan and by the Force you make sure he doesn't stop until the gate is open, got it?"
"Yes commander!" Kella said, saluting Trilla with all of the venom of a school child accepting a reprimand.
With that, Trilla nodded to her former master and struck off down the stairs leaving the rest of the group to watch Rowan. He was already lost to the task, singing a melody under his breath to keep track of the sequence as he manipulated the crystal plates. Cal leaned against the side of the pedestal and pulled his scarf tighter against the resurgent cold.
"Have I said you look fantastic yet?" Cal asked Merrin, as they both ignored Kella's outraged look as she watched Trilla and Cere walk off.
"No, but it is appreciated." Merrin said, twisting her arms and leaving a trail of green flame lingering in their wake. "Rowan put this armor for me, and I am finding it quite nice."
"Because I'm the best damn armorer this side of the inner core." Rowan said, managing the words without slowing his pace what so ever.
"You know, in most people that constant need to validate your self worth through your utility would be grating." Kella said, rolling her eyes. "But on you it's kind of cute."
"Kella, I'd flip you off but my hands are occupied." Rowan said, his gaze darting around the panel.
"I'll write it in the minutes for this expedition then." Kella purred, sticking her tongue out at her brother.
?
Trilla threaded her way through a ring of statues, watching the stairway they'd descended at the mouth of the artificial valley as she tapped her pistol against her temple. She didn't know if it was the intensity of the planet's connection to the Force or her own sense of paranoia, but Trilla couldn't quite shake the feeling they were being watched. Something was out there, waiting in the glare of the ice above that much she knew.
"See anything?" Cere asked, her pack clattering against her back as she balanced her rifle against one shoulder.
"Not yet." Trilla said, looking at Cere's pack. "Pack the entire comm room did we?"
"I like to be prepared." Cere said, forcing a smile. "Plenty of ammo and spare parts in case we need them too."
"Now that brings me back." Trilla said as she took cover from the resurgent wind behind a statue. "Remember when I forgot my satchel of Delovar?"
"Oh yeah, I remember that day because I told you not to forget it, what, five times?" Cere said, a chuckle brightening her face. "Lucky I had an extra credit chit or we'd have been stuck in that noodle bar for another week."
"I thought you loved those noodles?" Trilla asked.
"No way, I still have nightmares about those blasted noodles." Cere said. "I only said that because you loved eating them."
"Cere, I only said that because I thought you did." Trilla said with a dark chuckle. "When was that? Just after the Corval campaign?"
"No, it was the Dornfeld campaign." Cere said, staring off into a memory. "The only reason I remember it is because that was the first time you managed to take down two super battle droids in one swing. I was so proud of you that day, proud of the Knight you were becoming."
"Look at us now." Trilla said, gesturing between them. "Two washed up exiles chasing a super weapon on a relic of a planet."
"You're not washed up." Cere said, shaking her head. "Trilla, you did the impossible. You came back from the darkness, and stood against what the Empire twisted you into. You lived where so many others died, and now you're here, fighting for a better tomorrow. Even if you don't believe it yourself, your story is just beginning."
"I'll start writing it when Rowan finishes my damn arm." Trill said, gruffly. "And don't count yourself out, Cere. Without you, I would have killed Cal a long time ago, and you were there to pull me out of the dark, remember? You're not quite out of chapters to write yourself."
"Turning my own words back on me, eh?" Cere said, her hand resting on her pack almost protectively. "I'll settle for a good end, personally."
"Don't-" Trilla began before something long and metallic cut through the air to interupt her.
For a moment she couldn't comprehend what was sticking out of the stone in front of her, but as her mind slowly registered the vicious looking spear sunk eight inches into the stone perfect clarity fell over her. They were under attack, and that realization was followed by two more spears flying through the air. Trilla kicked Cere out of the way and jumped back, the both of them narrowly avoiding being skewered.
"Who's attacking us?!" Cere yelled as she rolled into a crouching stance and fired a volley in the direction of the attack.
Trilla had no time to answer as a dozen lumbering figures came running down the stairway into the artificial valley. Primal fear turned her blood to ice as she caught sight of the...things running at them. They were hulking beasts, like a mix between a hammerhead shark and a flesh golem, wrapped in animals skins and torturous mechanical augments sputtering and sparking as they advanced. The smell of rotting meat filled the air as Trilla raised her blaster, firing a volley of her own at the monsters, only for her blasts to have no affect beyond slowing them down.
"Damn you Rowan if these are fucking Flesh Raiders!" She cursed, turning on her heel and running away from the monsters, Cere close on her heels. "Tell me you have thermal detonators in that pack."
"Never leave home without them." Cere said, plucking two silver orbs out of her pack and tossing them behind her.
The detonators bounced off the ground and into two of the monsters, a pair of thinner specimens frothing at the mouth. One got caught in a protruding bit of bone in a head piece while the other was swallowed whole by the charging creature. A few seconds later, both of the unfortunate catchers disappeared in a blast of light, viscera, and a cloud of stone debris. That only bought a few moments before Trilla saw the rest of the pack split around the blast zone and increase their speed, the smell of their fallen's blood in the air driving them into a ravenous frenzy.
Trilla and Cere reached the stair way to the panel where the others were already gathered. Kella and Cal in defensive stances with their weapons at the ready while Merrin focused swirling green energy between her palms behind them. Merrin slapped her hands onto Kella and Rowan's shoulders, blasting both with a burst of green energy before the two Jedi rushed forward past Trilla to meet the advancing monsters head on.
"Cere, cover Merrin while I check on Rowan!" Trilla ordered as she bounded up the stairs, the sounds of light sabers slicing through flesh and blaster fire behind her.
She found him at the panel, keying in commands faster than she'd thought possible.
"Flesh Raiders?" He asked, not breaking his stride.
"I think so." Trilla said, turning to watch Cal slice through a spear before cutting into its wielder's leg to almost no effect. "Anyway you can speed this up?"
"Yes actually." Rowan said, nodding to a small soft patch just below the notch where the key sat. "That's some kind of universal input output port by my reckoning. Good news is that I can connect the decryption routines in my eye and use my neural network to input the sequence in about a second."
"That sound-" Trilla said, cutting herself off to fire a bolt into the eye stalk of a monster before it could flank Cere. "That sounds lovely, what's the bad news?"
"Two things actually." Rowan said, the strain of keeping up the conversation and the sequence input apparent on his face. "One, I need someone else to stab the input cable into the port and two I'd be exposing my brain to a thirty thousand year old computer system that may or may not be intact."
"Sounds like you have a decision to make." Trilla said.
"I really don't." Rowan said, nodding to a pocket. "The cord's in there, plug it into my eye and the panel. I can take it from there."
Trilla did as he asked, taking the cord out and slipping it into the port in his normally covered eye and without hesitation plugged into the gel like port on the panel. Rowan continued working at the panel for a few seconds before his muscles locked up and with a high pitched yelp he fell forward onto the pedestal. The panel lit up as a rapid sequence of lights played across the plates culminating in a bloom of dark violet light that was bright enough to stun the combatants down below for a moment, only for the temporary silence to be broken by a roar that shook Trilla to her bones. Beams of violet light segmented the doorway and with a deafening crack, the stone fell away to reveal an endless hall way filled with stars.
"Time to go." Trilla yelled, grabbing a hold of Rowan and the key as she made for the door.
Cere appeared on Rowan's other side and helped Trilla haul him towards the door while Merrin teleported Kella and Cal in behind them. Together, the group hauled their collective asses towards the doorway, as they did Trilla looked back to see their pursuers far behind. The monsters transfixed by the glowing gateway, their deformed faces curled in amazement as they chanted something in their guttural language.
"No need to worry about "living relics", eh old boy?" Trilla asked as she and Cere dragged Rowan through the gateway, the three of them disappearing into a space between worlds.
?
Starkiller stood still despite every instinct telling him to run as the sleek black ship opened up to let its passengers off. His father, well the image of his father, stood beside him watching the procession of red clad guards come down the gangplank. He could feel the raw power housed within that ship, felt an entity so filled with hate and malice that it burned Starkiller's tongue the longer he focused on the ship. If it wasn't for the new power his father had granted him, Starkiller would have bolted right then and there. But that was not part of his father's plan.
"Steady yourself, young master." Proxy said beneath the disguise. "We must not fail Lord Vader."
"I know." Starkiller said. "I know that."
Proxy almost spoke again, but before he could another figure stepped out of the ship. If he had been looking with just his eyes, Starkiller would have seen a hunched old man wrapped in an ornate black robe and hood. But as he gazed at the man through the Force, the old man appeared like a hateful red sun, an aberration of acidic distortion eating itself from within. Starkiller bit his lip, using the pain to focus his mind and fight back the instinct to run or vomit at the sight of the thing walking down the gangplank.
Then the thing turned its gaze on him, and Starkiller felt the oppressive presence a mouse feels as a cat hones in on it. The thing's lips curled back into a sickly smile as he approached them, slow thanks to the old man's gate it affected and the four guards surrounding him. When the thing finally reached them, his red eyes focused on Starkiller and he licked his lips before speaking:
"Lord Vader!" He said in a voice like broken glass and silk as he looked towards the disguised Proxy. "What have you been up to in this tower of yours? I could feel it's pull from orbit."
"Using the knowledge of those who came before me, master." Proxy said, or maybe his father was speaking through Proxy. "This is no mere castle, through study and experimentation I have created a focus for the Dark Side. In fact, if the right catalyst is used one may even open a doorway into the cosmic Force itself. It is with this power that a doorway to the Auger can be opened."
"Excellent my apprentice." The thing said, venomous delight dripping off every word. "If your claims hold true then you will be worthy of a mighty reward. Tell me, is this precocious lad the catalyst?"
"He is a necessary part of the procedure, master." Proxy said. "The catalyst for today's reaction is far more potent than the boy. If you will follow me, I will take you to the staging area where we will embark from when the gate on Tython is opened."
"Lead the way, my apprentice." The thing ordered, his red eyes once again locking onto Starkiller as they began to walk, his guards staying behind to man the door. "Tell me boy, is my apprentice so confident that he would parade an apprentice of his own so openly?"
"Lord Vader is not over confident." Starkiller said, panic threatening to overcome him at any moment. "And I am not his apprentice."
"Oh?" The thing asked, a wry grin revealing rotted teeth. "I can sense great potential in you boy, but I suppose my apprentice keeps you around for menial chores does he?"
"No." Starkiller said as they entered the entry chamber and made for the main stairway.
"An inquisitorial candidate then?" The thing asked, a rasping laugh sending spittle flying as he spoke. "Though the others may grow jealous if they knew our dear Lord Vader was playing favorites."
"Favoritism is hardly a new indulgence among the Sith, master." Proxy said in his father's voice. "The boy is a means to and end, a tool to be used in focusing the powers of this castle and of the darkness. He can no more wield a light saber than a farm boy can destroy moons. Have no fear, master, the boy poses no threat to you."
"I fear nothing, Vader." The thing spat. "But I do chafe at insolence."
"Of course, master." Proxy said in his father's voice.
"Tell me boy." The thing said, the jolly malice back in his voice as they descended the stairway towards the heart of the castle. "Has Lord Vader told you of Padme?"
"Padme?" Starkiller said, phantom memories of his mother rising from the depths of his mind.
"Oh ho ho." The thing said. "Vader, how uncharacteristically cunning of you. It would bring a tear of pride to my eye if I still had tear ducts."
"You honor me master." Proxy said, pushing open the thick stone door to the inner sanctum.
The thing went quiet as they stepped into the sanctum, his red eyes wide with surprise and maybe a touch of fear as he took in the heptagonal room. His gaze flicking over the runes, the inlays of dark red crystal, and finally locking onto the gate at the center of the room. The bacta tank usually at its center was gone somehow and Starkiller could feel the air thrum with power despite not seeing any sign of his father.
"This is far more potent an altar than you described, Vader." The thing said, no mockery in his tone now as he stepped closer to the gateway at the center of the room.
"That is kind of you to say, Emperor." Proxy said, turning on the thing and slashing down with a suddenly lit light saber.
Faster than Starkiller thought possible, the thing drew two light sabers from within his robes. Effortlessly parrying Proxy's strike and with a twirling pivot, slashing through his defenses and cleaving the droid in half. Proxy's illusion blinked out as his two halves clattered floor, and Starkiller heard his internal mechanics fail with a guttural crunch. The thing looked over Proxy's halved form and began to chuckle, madness and absolute certainty lighting his eyes as he began to turn around and around.
"This is what you bring against me Vader?" He asked. "A toy and a child? Tut tut, my apprentice, I thought higher of you than this. I suppose the droid was to distract me so you could sneak a fatal blow from the shadows? Or perhaps you thought to trap me in this chamber like a rat, hm?"
"No master." His father's voice echoed through the sanctum, everywhere at once. "I placed no faith in Proxy nor stone to hold you for even a moment."
"Then what?" The thing asked, red eyes searching every nook and cranny for Vader. "Is it the boy? Do you expect him to strike me down? No, even you are not so foolish. I am all of the Sith, Vader, your master in experience and power. Appear before me now and this will be forgiven as an apprentice testing his master's reflexes. Make me ask again and I will-"
"What?" His father's voice asked. "You will do a few flips? Perhaps you'll cackle like a mad man and drain the essence from young Starkiller there. Your tricks grow old master, and I think it's time you were retired."
"Oh? Where was this confidence when I fished you from the magma and rebuilt you?" The thing spat. "I gave you every-"
"You took everything from me!" His father's voice echoed like a thunder clap. "And now, I will take every thing from you."
Tendrils of red and black energy leaped out from the shadows, grabbing at the thing's hands. He raised them, pushing back against the energy with a bubble of force as mad laughter escaped his lips. Only for that laughter to falter when the energy crackled out in a net, growing over his protective bubble until he disappeared in a writhing mass of crackling energy. With a sickening crunch, the mass collapsed in on itself and formed around the thing, burning through his robe to lick at grey scarred skin and draw reddish brown blood.
"No!" He screamed. "No! No! No!"
The energies fed back into the gate, and through it Starkiller saw an endless sea of shifting colors and shapes. With a cry of anguish, the thing's body began to burn and the flames fed into the sea where Starkiller saw glimpses of people and places. An electrifying flood of energy slammed into him, drowning his senses with the images dancing in the gateway.
"No one's ever really gone." He heard a gruff voice say.
""But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters." He heard a young man say.
"Let the past die." He heard another young man, this time gruffer, say.
"Without me, you'll never be free." He heard his own voice, at least an older version of his voice say.
Then it was done, and Starkiller senses returned to him. He found himself on his knees, staring over the smoking husk that had once been the Emperor into the still flickering portal at the heart of the gate. But now, a bacta tank had risen out of the base of the gateway and within it stood his father, armored in what looked to be stark white armor.
Only it wasn't all white, Starkiller watched as blackness darker than any black he'd ever seen spread across the white armor. Unblemished armor was consumed by a wave of black, spreading across the armor like the shadow of an eclipse until his father was a black silhouette cast against the red glow of the chamber. The only light within the tank was a deep red glow from the visor of the helmet, and in that glow Starkiller felt immense pressure as his father's gaze considered the room. That gaze locked onto the husk on the ground, watching as its chest rose and fell with rasping breath.
Vader reached forward and pressed his hand against the glass. With a loud crack the tank shattered into a million pieces and fell to the ground as if they were grains of sand as Vader stepped out of the tank he inhaled deeply. He savored the unimpeded breath for a moment before raising a hand, and pulling the three light sabers off the ground, dissembling them in mid air. Starkiller watched as Vader flicked a wrist, separating the red crystals at the sabers' hearts from the rest of the components and pulling them with him as he walked towards his master.
"Has any one ever told you the tragedy of Darth Sidious the cunning?" He asked in a voice that echoed through Starkiller's implanted memory, his voice no longer distorted by machinery. "It's not a story anyone will ever tell again."
"Trai...traitor." The husk rasped. "All I've given...all I sacrificed for you."
"So says the snake to the scorpion." Vader said, the crystals floating around him burning bright red as the black slowly over took them. "Starkiller."
"Ye...yes father." Starkiller said, standing up on unsteady feet.
"Hold out your hand." Vader said.
Starkiller obeyed, and was mystified as one of the black crystals appeared over his palm. Light saber components flew at the crystal, clicking together as if they were magnetic pieces of a puzzle, and in less than a minute Starkiller held an unlit light saber. It was a fine weapon, made of dark purples and obsidian infused metals, and when Starkiller ignited it he found that its blade was pitch black. Somehow cold as it cut through the air.
"You...can't do this." The husk on the ground spat. "I am the Sith!"
"And I am the Sith's end." His father said, reaching down and grabbing the husk by the throat to lift him into the air.
Red bulging eyes stared out from charred eyelids, true fear fighting against rage as Vader turned on his heel and offered the husk to the gate. Tongues of black and red energy leapt out, digging deep into the husk's flesh and plucking him from Vader's grip. The husk was dragged back into the gate itself, his form dissolving into ash to be consumed by the sea of color beyond the gate. The husk let out a final scream, a raging protest so strong that it seemed to reverberate through the Force itself as if he were a hateful star going super nova. As the scream faded, Starkiller was again slammed with energy, an answer to his father's sacrifice, and only managed to stay standing thanks to his father taking him by the arm.
"Weather it." He ordered. "Do not let the power overcome you my son, become the river not the stone."
Starkiller hung onto his father's words, let his voice become a pillar to lean on as the energy flowed into him. What could have been a second or a century passed as he breathed in and out, focusing his mind on the power raging through him. Letting the surging power just become another function of his body, another unconscious act that was as natural as breathing. With a final steadying breath, Starkiller straightened and looked up at his father's masked face.
"Good my son." Vader said, reaching up and unclasping his face mask revealing a scarred yet resolute face. "It's good to look at you with my own eyes."
"It's...it's good to see you too father." Starkiller said, unable to stop the smile from forming on his lips.
"Now my son, we have one last piece of work to do." Vader said, patting him on the shoulder before turning back to the gate.
Vader reached toward the crystal console built into the floor, a tongue of black lightning licking across it. It hummed in reply and began to pulse slowly with a dark velvet light. Starkiller watched as the gate at the center of the room began to hum in unison, shifting the visage from the sea of color to a long hallway speckled with stars.
"Our friends on Tython have performed their part well." His father said, reaching out with both hands to pluck two freshly constructed sabers from the air. "Ahead of schedule even, shall we grant them a bonus for their expediency?"
"Yes father." Starkiller said, igniting his new saber and marveling at the pitch black blade. "I think they deserve a reward."