A/N: I forgot to post on Friday!! I'm soo sorry. I got caught up in
working on my semester project that's due Monday and it totally slipped my
mind. I normally have a 3-hour break Fridays, but I worked right through
it, then I was at school Saturday finishing my project, a full advertising
campaign where I had to design a poster, pamphlet and pin. Anyway, I only
remembered this morning (Sunday morning) then the Internet was blocked so
this is the first chance I've gotten today to post. I promise that the next
chapter will be up next Friday (Dec. 19)
Disclaimer: I own the characters. I own the plot. I own the Reldan star system. I own the Stellar-Rani quadrant. Lucas owns everything else in the Galaxy.
The voice in the void is inspired by episode 114 of Adventures in Odyssey, Someone to Watch Over Me, original air date 2/9/91. The official Adventures in Odyssey web site is whitsend.org.
Summary: One thousand years before the Empire was even imagined, the Sith were running rampant, trying to take over the entire galaxy. They might have succeeded, if it weren't for one hot-headed Padawan.
~*~*~
Del Myriad, episode I: The Sith wars.
Chapter 3: Or not
She was floating. No, not floating, just being there, surrounded by the nothingness of the Void. Everything was black, darkness was swirling around her. It wasn't entirely black though. The shades varied from dark grey to absolute black, with the occasional streak of yellow or red mixed into the swirling nothingness.
A voice came out of the Void, calling to her.
Del... Del... Come on Del... Come on...
Half of her wanted to follow the voice, but the other half hesitated, not knowing where it wanted her to come on to.
Suddenly, an entirely different voice spoke softly next to her ear.
"Del! Wake up!"
She opened her eyes.
"Master Kor-Ben."
She was lying on her stainless steel grey bunk in the Jedi quarters on Coruscant. Relief flooded through her. "I vanquished it," she whispered to herself.
"Welcome back, Del Myriad. Not too tired I hope?"
Del stifled a yawn. "Nothing I won't get over, Master Kor-Ben Tai. I've had worse days."
"Not too many, my young Padawan learner. Tracking down and slaying one of the most ruthless Sith left in the galaxy is one thing, but surviving your wormhole home getting hit by a supernova blast, well let's just say you're lucky to be alive, and even more lucky we found you.
Del started at this, sitting straight up in her bunk.
"Wait, supernova? What about the illusion you created?"
"What illusion?"
"The one with the palm trees and the white sand and the turquoise water." Del was starting to get confused.
"That wasn't an illusion."
Now she was downright worried. "Master Kor-Ben, I know for a fact that no planet in this galaxy has water that colour."
"The planet we found you on isn't in this galaxy. Apparently they do have water that colour there."
Nothing made sense anymore. "What do you mean, not in this galaxy? My wormholes never go that far off track. And what do supernovas have to do with it? How could I have possibly ended up on a planet I wasn't aiming for?"
Kor-Ben chuckled and raised his hand slightly to stem the stream of questions Del was spouting out.
"You do have a particular talent when it comes to wormholes. But the deviation wasn't your fault."
Del still had questions in her eyes, so Kor-Ben decided to start off at the beginning. "You caught up with Darth Tri-Con on Reldan 57, right?"
"It might have been 57. He had been jumping all over the Reldan star system after Endor."
"Talking about Endor, you were due to check in then, what happened?" It was slightly off subject, but a question he needed answered.
Sensing a lecture coming on, Del tried to explain herself. "I was getting so close to catching him. I wanted to have good news to report."
"Del Myriad, you are still a Padawan. I know you feel you are able to act independently and for the most part, you are, but part of the mandate of this assignment was to check in with your superiors at predetermined intervals to inform them of your progress, should you get separated from your master. Good news or not, you did not follow orders." Kor-Ben spoke sternly, but only to hide the worry he had felt at the week without word from his Padawan.
Del hung her head. "It won't happen again, master."
"It better not."
Kor-Ben still spoke sternly, but he cracked a smile, relieving his Padawan of the weight of his disappointment.
Del sat up a little straighter. "Tell me about the supernovas and me ending up in another galaxy. I find it a little hard to process."
Kor-Ben resumed his story. "Well, since you were late checking in, we sent out word to the Jedi contingents in the vicinity asking if any of them had spotted you, and one of them happened to see you follow Darth Tri-Con though one of his wormholes. Fortunately, she also has a talent for wormholes and was able to trace those created by the Sith to Reldan 57, where she found his body."
He paused, then when onto another side note. "You know, it was strange. We joined the Jedi on Reldan 57 soon after she found the body. I noticed he had the design of a skull with a snake for a tongue branded on his forehead. It looked exactly like that pendant you have."
Del was guiltily silent.
"You used the pendant to brand him, didn't you? I thought we had cleared this up. Even though they are Sith, there is no need to sink to their level and torture them."
Del snapped to her own defence. "I suppressed the pain receptors in his brain. He didn't feel a thing, so he wasn't tortured. Besides, it only takes 5 seconds."
"The Jedi should not feel the need to identify those who die by their hand just so others know they killed them." Kor-Ben spoke in a lecturing tone, as if he had said this several times before. Del rolled her eyes, as if she had heard this several times before and had no intention of listening.
"You haven't said anything about the supernovas yet."
The branding subject was obviously one that had come up before, and it was obviously one that Del wanted to avoid. Kor-Ben gave her a Look, but still picked up his story where he had left off."
"The Jedi that tracked you to Reldan 57 was able to detect the trace of a wormhole opening, and I was able to confirm it had your signature. She did a preliminary trace on it that revealed its destination was Coruscant. We knew you hadn't shown up though, so we had her do a more thorough trace, following the wormhole's trajectory. It happened to go through sector 23 of the Stellar-Rani quadrant, you know, where there are those clusters of white dwarf stars. Anyway, it appears that a cluster of five white dwarfs through which your wormhole went decided to go supernova at the exact moment you reached them, all five of them, almost simultaneously. The blast was powerful enough to send your wormhole off course."
Up until then, Del had been listening and nodding at the appropriate times, but this last statement threw her.
"That's impossible! Wormholes are subspace. Supernovas don't affect subspace."
"Supernovas don't /usually/ affect subspace." The Master corrected the Padawan. "In this case, it appears they did, knocking your wormhole onto a planet in another galaxy. Fortunately, we were able to lock on to your signature and re-open your wormhole so we could get you home."
Kor-Ben had just finished the story, when there was a knock at the door. It opened to reveal a messenger.
"The Jedi council wishes to speak with you and your Padawan, Master Kor-Ben Tai."
~*~*~
The council chambers were in a circular room atop one of the five towers that crowned the Jedi temple. Large windows covered the walls, allowing a sweeping view of the city below. In the terra-cotta coloured floor was set a simple circular mosaic of sand-yellow with brown leaf motifs. The council of twelve was seated around the mosaic, their backs to the windows. The doors into the chambers were set off to one side, in the only flat wall in the room.
The doors opened to reveal the messenger, followed by Jedi Master Kor-Ben Tai and his Padawan, Del Myriad.
"Ah! Master Kor-Ben! How nice of you to join us." A humanoid Jedi seated fourth from the door spoke.
Kor-Ben bowed slightly. "The council sent for us?"
"Indeed we did." The first Jedi to speak then nodded to the council member seated to his right, the third from the door, to indicate he was finished speaking.
The creature was of questionable gender, but the air of authority that emanated from him/her/it gave no doubt this was the head of the council.
"As you may have heard, approximately one third of the Sith confirmed dead over the past few months have had the design of a skull with a snake for a tongue branded on their foreheads. The ones found more than 2 months ago bore expressions of extreme agony, making us believe they died in great pain. Those found more recently bear expressions more closely resembling fear. We have been taking a closer look at these deaths and have found something quite interesting."
The head of the council nodded to the second in command, the Jedi that had spoken first. He turned and looked Kor-Ben directly in the eyes.
"Every place where a branded Sith was found had been recently visited by you or your Padawan."
Kor-Ben gave Del a Look. Del looked partially defiant, partially guilty and partially aloof.
"The last one was found just a few feet away from where Del Myriad's deviated wormhole originated from, on the 57th planet of the Reldan system. The council would like to know if you can tell us anything about this Sith branding."
The entire duration of the speech, Kor-Ben kept glancing at his Padawan with increasingly narrowed eyes. He turned to the council.
"I believe my Padawan had some explaining to do."
~*~*~
Dun Dun Dun.. I know I'm mean. But this chapter is longer than I originally intended. The whole scene in with the Council was supposed to be at the beginning of chapter 4, which was going to include Del's explanation and everything, but I had hit a writer's block when it came to the explanation, so I decided to stick what I had on the end of chapter 3.
Oh, and if you want to get a mental image of the Jedi council chambers, go watch Episode 2. I decided to put the head of the council 3rd from the door and the 2nd in command 4th from the door, because if I remember correctly, Yoda was seated 3rd from the door and Mace Windu was seated 4th from the door in the Council scene in Episode 2.
Thanks to thenewkid for thinking that my last chapter was the best I had put out so far. I hope I managed to top it with this chapter.
Next chapter: Leaving
Disclaimer: I own the characters. I own the plot. I own the Reldan star system. I own the Stellar-Rani quadrant. Lucas owns everything else in the Galaxy.
The voice in the void is inspired by episode 114 of Adventures in Odyssey, Someone to Watch Over Me, original air date 2/9/91. The official Adventures in Odyssey web site is whitsend.org.
Summary: One thousand years before the Empire was even imagined, the Sith were running rampant, trying to take over the entire galaxy. They might have succeeded, if it weren't for one hot-headed Padawan.
~*~*~
Del Myriad, episode I: The Sith wars.
Chapter 3: Or not
She was floating. No, not floating, just being there, surrounded by the nothingness of the Void. Everything was black, darkness was swirling around her. It wasn't entirely black though. The shades varied from dark grey to absolute black, with the occasional streak of yellow or red mixed into the swirling nothingness.
A voice came out of the Void, calling to her.
Del... Del... Come on Del... Come on...
Half of her wanted to follow the voice, but the other half hesitated, not knowing where it wanted her to come on to.
Suddenly, an entirely different voice spoke softly next to her ear.
"Del! Wake up!"
She opened her eyes.
"Master Kor-Ben."
She was lying on her stainless steel grey bunk in the Jedi quarters on Coruscant. Relief flooded through her. "I vanquished it," she whispered to herself.
"Welcome back, Del Myriad. Not too tired I hope?"
Del stifled a yawn. "Nothing I won't get over, Master Kor-Ben Tai. I've had worse days."
"Not too many, my young Padawan learner. Tracking down and slaying one of the most ruthless Sith left in the galaxy is one thing, but surviving your wormhole home getting hit by a supernova blast, well let's just say you're lucky to be alive, and even more lucky we found you.
Del started at this, sitting straight up in her bunk.
"Wait, supernova? What about the illusion you created?"
"What illusion?"
"The one with the palm trees and the white sand and the turquoise water." Del was starting to get confused.
"That wasn't an illusion."
Now she was downright worried. "Master Kor-Ben, I know for a fact that no planet in this galaxy has water that colour."
"The planet we found you on isn't in this galaxy. Apparently they do have water that colour there."
Nothing made sense anymore. "What do you mean, not in this galaxy? My wormholes never go that far off track. And what do supernovas have to do with it? How could I have possibly ended up on a planet I wasn't aiming for?"
Kor-Ben chuckled and raised his hand slightly to stem the stream of questions Del was spouting out.
"You do have a particular talent when it comes to wormholes. But the deviation wasn't your fault."
Del still had questions in her eyes, so Kor-Ben decided to start off at the beginning. "You caught up with Darth Tri-Con on Reldan 57, right?"
"It might have been 57. He had been jumping all over the Reldan star system after Endor."
"Talking about Endor, you were due to check in then, what happened?" It was slightly off subject, but a question he needed answered.
Sensing a lecture coming on, Del tried to explain herself. "I was getting so close to catching him. I wanted to have good news to report."
"Del Myriad, you are still a Padawan. I know you feel you are able to act independently and for the most part, you are, but part of the mandate of this assignment was to check in with your superiors at predetermined intervals to inform them of your progress, should you get separated from your master. Good news or not, you did not follow orders." Kor-Ben spoke sternly, but only to hide the worry he had felt at the week without word from his Padawan.
Del hung her head. "It won't happen again, master."
"It better not."
Kor-Ben still spoke sternly, but he cracked a smile, relieving his Padawan of the weight of his disappointment.
Del sat up a little straighter. "Tell me about the supernovas and me ending up in another galaxy. I find it a little hard to process."
Kor-Ben resumed his story. "Well, since you were late checking in, we sent out word to the Jedi contingents in the vicinity asking if any of them had spotted you, and one of them happened to see you follow Darth Tri-Con though one of his wormholes. Fortunately, she also has a talent for wormholes and was able to trace those created by the Sith to Reldan 57, where she found his body."
He paused, then when onto another side note. "You know, it was strange. We joined the Jedi on Reldan 57 soon after she found the body. I noticed he had the design of a skull with a snake for a tongue branded on his forehead. It looked exactly like that pendant you have."
Del was guiltily silent.
"You used the pendant to brand him, didn't you? I thought we had cleared this up. Even though they are Sith, there is no need to sink to their level and torture them."
Del snapped to her own defence. "I suppressed the pain receptors in his brain. He didn't feel a thing, so he wasn't tortured. Besides, it only takes 5 seconds."
"The Jedi should not feel the need to identify those who die by their hand just so others know they killed them." Kor-Ben spoke in a lecturing tone, as if he had said this several times before. Del rolled her eyes, as if she had heard this several times before and had no intention of listening.
"You haven't said anything about the supernovas yet."
The branding subject was obviously one that had come up before, and it was obviously one that Del wanted to avoid. Kor-Ben gave her a Look, but still picked up his story where he had left off."
"The Jedi that tracked you to Reldan 57 was able to detect the trace of a wormhole opening, and I was able to confirm it had your signature. She did a preliminary trace on it that revealed its destination was Coruscant. We knew you hadn't shown up though, so we had her do a more thorough trace, following the wormhole's trajectory. It happened to go through sector 23 of the Stellar-Rani quadrant, you know, where there are those clusters of white dwarf stars. Anyway, it appears that a cluster of five white dwarfs through which your wormhole went decided to go supernova at the exact moment you reached them, all five of them, almost simultaneously. The blast was powerful enough to send your wormhole off course."
Up until then, Del had been listening and nodding at the appropriate times, but this last statement threw her.
"That's impossible! Wormholes are subspace. Supernovas don't affect subspace."
"Supernovas don't /usually/ affect subspace." The Master corrected the Padawan. "In this case, it appears they did, knocking your wormhole onto a planet in another galaxy. Fortunately, we were able to lock on to your signature and re-open your wormhole so we could get you home."
Kor-Ben had just finished the story, when there was a knock at the door. It opened to reveal a messenger.
"The Jedi council wishes to speak with you and your Padawan, Master Kor-Ben Tai."
~*~*~
The council chambers were in a circular room atop one of the five towers that crowned the Jedi temple. Large windows covered the walls, allowing a sweeping view of the city below. In the terra-cotta coloured floor was set a simple circular mosaic of sand-yellow with brown leaf motifs. The council of twelve was seated around the mosaic, their backs to the windows. The doors into the chambers were set off to one side, in the only flat wall in the room.
The doors opened to reveal the messenger, followed by Jedi Master Kor-Ben Tai and his Padawan, Del Myriad.
"Ah! Master Kor-Ben! How nice of you to join us." A humanoid Jedi seated fourth from the door spoke.
Kor-Ben bowed slightly. "The council sent for us?"
"Indeed we did." The first Jedi to speak then nodded to the council member seated to his right, the third from the door, to indicate he was finished speaking.
The creature was of questionable gender, but the air of authority that emanated from him/her/it gave no doubt this was the head of the council.
"As you may have heard, approximately one third of the Sith confirmed dead over the past few months have had the design of a skull with a snake for a tongue branded on their foreheads. The ones found more than 2 months ago bore expressions of extreme agony, making us believe they died in great pain. Those found more recently bear expressions more closely resembling fear. We have been taking a closer look at these deaths and have found something quite interesting."
The head of the council nodded to the second in command, the Jedi that had spoken first. He turned and looked Kor-Ben directly in the eyes.
"Every place where a branded Sith was found had been recently visited by you or your Padawan."
Kor-Ben gave Del a Look. Del looked partially defiant, partially guilty and partially aloof.
"The last one was found just a few feet away from where Del Myriad's deviated wormhole originated from, on the 57th planet of the Reldan system. The council would like to know if you can tell us anything about this Sith branding."
The entire duration of the speech, Kor-Ben kept glancing at his Padawan with increasingly narrowed eyes. He turned to the council.
"I believe my Padawan had some explaining to do."
~*~*~
Dun Dun Dun.. I know I'm mean. But this chapter is longer than I originally intended. The whole scene in with the Council was supposed to be at the beginning of chapter 4, which was going to include Del's explanation and everything, but I had hit a writer's block when it came to the explanation, so I decided to stick what I had on the end of chapter 3.
Oh, and if you want to get a mental image of the Jedi council chambers, go watch Episode 2. I decided to put the head of the council 3rd from the door and the 2nd in command 4th from the door, because if I remember correctly, Yoda was seated 3rd from the door and Mace Windu was seated 4th from the door in the Council scene in Episode 2.
Thanks to thenewkid for thinking that my last chapter was the best I had put out so far. I hope I managed to top it with this chapter.
Next chapter: Leaving
