The Hunt Begins

The Thunderbolt reverted from hyperspace and came upon the golden planet itself: Tatooine. A barren wasteland, Tatooine was a safe haven for rogues and outlaws. Being on the Outer Rim itself, few had ever traversed there and settled on the planet. There were even rumours of the Sith-endorsed company, Czerka, setting up operations on the desert planet. Unfortunately, as that rumour went on to explain, the company had thought there were valuable minerals and ore which soon proved to be useless and inert. Czerka had lost millions of credits on a wild bantha chase, especially when the indigenous Tusken Raiders-- often referred to as 'Sand People'-- started committing attacks on Czerka employees and anyone who would venture out far enough from the established settlements. Nomadic, the Sand People never stay at the same location twice; which has led others to believe that there are a great deal of tribes spread across the planet's surface.

In the cargo bay, sparring with his Wookiee companion Frreral, Dante found himself glad to have more companions along, if only to spend the time throughout this journey. Parrying and deflecting blows from the incredibly strong Wookiee, the young man brought his blade to a figure-eight, hoping to deflect the golden energy sword away from his furry companion. Anticipating the angle with which Dante had intended to deflect his lightsaber, Frreral thrust his blade through the hole the figure-eight had left. The young Knight spun the lightsaber away from the Wookiee, but he pushed himself on the defensive as the Wookiee had spun about with his sword, aiming for the man's neck. What took the Wookiee one arm to strike at, took Dante both of his arms to block with his lightsaber. You fight well, Dante. I can see why your opponents would fear someone such as you, growled Frreral. Smiling, the young man said nothing and continued to deflect the golden blade off to his side and managed to center his sapphire blade at the heart of his companion.

"I win," he declared, grinning at the Wookiee.

In a low growl, Frreral merely replied to the young man, "you were going to win anyway. If you weren't my superior, I'd rip your arms out of their sockets."

Amused yet slightly disturbed, the young Knight bowed and said, "well, before you decide to change your mind, I better go to the cockpit and check on our status." As opposed to wearing his Jedi robes, the young Knight had opted for his more 'unconventional' gear, with the exception of the cortosis bracers. They were not a part of his equipment necessary for sparring with Frreral. As he left, he waved to 2 of the commandoes, Flin and Sirry, who warming up for their own training exercise.

They had been patiently waiting to use the cargo bay after the two Jedi were finished sparring. Flin was a Kiffar, a near-human, who possessed the gifted telemetric ability, which allowed the user to read events from an object. Of course, with or without that particular ability, the specialist was a deadly woman who few would dare to cross. Her companion, Sirry, was the demolitions-expert. She was extremely valuable and had saved the group's necks more than a few times. If anyone needed to demolish something, Sirry was their woman.

Walking past the main hold, he spotted Rin and Tun levitating small power packs into the air and assembling a small hold-out blaster. He paused for a few moments and walked over to the two young women, who had stopped working on the survival pistol and greeted the Knight. "Ah, Master Dante," the young Padawan Tun had said. "What is it that brings you over here? Did Master Frreral give you a good wallop or was his natural musk too much for you?" She winked to the Jedi and giggled teasingly. The young 17-year old had reminded him of a fellow Padawan from long days past. Jade Vel, he thought to himself. She had been one of the first to answer the call from Revan and Malak during the Mandalorian Wars. She had been one of the first to fall victim to the Dark Side after Revan's ascension to 'Dark Lord of the Sith.' Regretfully, she had been the first of Dante's dark brethren to fall before his blade.

"Dante," she called to him. "Join me. Join Revan. It's great: you get to feel the power of the Dark Side and you get to use the Force rather than It use you." She looked at him, her eyes no longer purple, but a sick, repugnant yellow. She had immersed herself in the Dark Side. She freely gave herself to the dark teachings and had forsaken everything that had once made her who she was. Her blade no longer shone of the compassionate violet that rivaled her own eyes. Instead, it was the blood red that was renown as a Dark Jedi's lightsaber. Those days they had spent training with each other were long gone. Those unforgettable nights, when they broke the Code of the Jedi and gave into their desires, were gone too.

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He looked at her, his blade shining the fierce sapphire it had always shone, "no, Jade. I can't. My oath is to the Jedi, to the Light and to peace and justice. For all the things you once stood for." His eyes were filled with grim resolve. The memories he had enjoyed with her were gone now. She was no longer his Jade, but Revan's Jade. The three bodies of their fellow Padawans lay silent on the floor, around her. Jaks, Garn, Faldon. All gone because of her. Because of Revan. She was no longer a Padawan now, however Dante still was. His braid still hung against his shoulder. He would make this his last stand and knew only one of them would leave this room alive. She had to pay for her crimes.

"You once broke the Code with me. Those memories were not lost to me. I can still be with you if you join me, Dante. Don't be foolish!" She hissed. Her stance was fearsome and she was poised to strike. Feeling the light emanate from his form, she knew he was contemplating a choice that didn't have to end his life.

He shook his head, "no, that was a time when we were both on the same side. Jade, come back to the Light. I can't join you, Revan will only continue to destroy everything we stand for. Surely you can see that he will eventually turn on you!" He pleaded. Her eyes no longer retained a semblance of light. The lust for power had consumed her. She had become drunk on her own power and embraced the Dark Side, forever forsaking the Light.

"So be it, Dante Ravenmoon. I will never forget the time we had together." She leapt out to strike. He parried her lunge and spun about and sliced right through her black cloak. He missed her by a few inches. She spun to confront him and drove her blade to the top of his head, attempting to cleave him in two. Blocking her powerful attack, both lightsabers were an inch from his eyes. Gritting his teeth he tried to push back, she was just too strong. She continued to shove the blade lower and lower, but she hadn't counted on one thing: the lightsabers from her former allies were strewn across the floor. Reaching out into the Force, Dante felt the pull of a lightsaber directly behind her. Kicking out at her with his legs, she fell back as he did. He pulled the nearest lightsaber towards him, finding it's mark: his right hand. Activating it, a golden light flared to life and he brought both of his blades to bear on her. She blocked his sapphire blade and had managed to spin around, whacking the golden sword away. Unfortunately for her, Dante had expected her to do just that. He brought his golden blade to slash upwards at her midsection while thrusting his sky-blue sword. "Ungh!" She grunted as she deflected the first lightsaber and found a blue lightsaber in her midsection. Dropping her blade, which deactivated as soon as her thumb left the activation plate, she fell to the ground, calling out with her last breaths for Dante.

Deactivating both lightsabers, he rushed to her side and brought her close in his arms. "The Jedi... are an outdated Order... doomed.. for extinction... save yourself, Dante." With that, she was gone.

"Dante? Dante? Helloo?" The young Padawan called out to him. He had tuned out a minute ago, recalling the memory of losing Jade Vel, his former comrade, who Tun had reminded him so much of. Shaking his head, he returned to the present and found both women looking at him quizzically.

"Sorry, you just reminded me of someone long ago," he replied. When he looked back at her, he suddenly remembered the young Twi'lek's question. "Ah, no, I beat Frreral," he said at last.

"Hey, I'm up for a rematch, if you'd like!" Came the reply of Frreral down the hallway to the starboard dormitory. Smiling and shaking his head at the Wookiee's remark, the Knight looked at Rin and asked, "what are you two up to?"

Rin merely shrugged and said, "well, I'm helping Tun out with her training. Honing her skills through the Force. We're practically building a survival pistol." Suddenly interested, he found himself beginning to wonder how handy his Twi'lek comrade-- that is, Rin-- really was.

"Oh? That's impressive. Where's Master Phaete?" He suddenly asked. It was strange that someone else was tutoring the Master's apprentice.

"He's in the garage, working on his lightsaber. He had mumbled something about a malfunctioning setting. Tun came looking for him to help her bring herself more in tune with the Force. I volunteered to help," Rin answered, adding a wink to thank the Knight for bringing her aboard this voyage. It was apparent to Dante, from the beginning, that Tun was like a little sister to Rin. Though the Jedi code forbid attachments, it seemed that they were very close and could be mistaken for sisters had it not been for the slight pigment difference. Other than that, Rin seemed to be more of a Master to the young Padawan than Phaete was. In fact, he rarely saw Phaete and Tun together, which added to his suspicion that perhaps Rin was being tested by the Council to see if she was ready for a Padawan. In fact, come to think of it, he had never really spoken to the Jedi Master. Perhaps when the opportunity presented itself, he would talk to the Iktotchi Master.

Suddenly remembering where he was supposed to be, he nodded to Rin and said, "I'll catch you later. I have to check on our status." With that, he left.

With her eyes on him as he left, Rin couldn't shake off a peculiar feeling. He seemed centered, radiant and different than most Jedi. Perhaps Alec was the great Master and Dante is his accomplished successor as so many claim, she thought to herself. Or maybe his loss is what has affected Dante heavily. "Personally, I think he's starting to have something of a crush on you," Tun said to Rin, wiggling her eyebrows and smiling.

Elbowing the teen's bicep, Rin merely smiled and said, "come on, let's finish this thing and then test it out on some junk metal."

As he entered the cockpit, Sekula had already started bearing the freighter closer to the planet's surface. Noticing the young Knight, he merely flipped switches and greeted the young man. "Ah, Dante. What brings you here?" He had a smile to his face, already knowing that the young man wanted him to land on the outskirts of Mos Eisley. That had been the first place the young man had retrieved his cortosis bracers and had a feeling the information he was going to find was located near there. As the freighter continued on course towards the planet, Dante strapped himself into the co-pilot's chair and started checking the status of the ship and making sure it was ready to land.

"Oh nothing really," he said. "Just wanted to make sure we were closer to Tatooine and it seems we're on the mark." Flipping a switch, the young man spoke into a small microphone, "all right everybody, we're approaching Tatooine."

Smiling, the older man looked at the Jedi and said, "you know something? If you weren't a Jedi, you'd make a great pilot. We could do cargo runs and even make a wager or two at the cantina."

Shaking his head, Dante only smiled. Oh I have a hunch I know where you're going, he thought to himself. After a few moments, he said to the commando, "ah, another life maybe, but certainly not this one. And when we hit the ground, make sure you stay out of trouble. I don't want to have to come back and save you," the young man winked at Sekula.

There was a moment on Bakura, when the commando had stopped for a drink. Fortunately, as a military man, some of the local girls had their eyes on him. A military officer, male or female, still looked good in uniform. As it so happened, two of the local girls were in relationships with much larger and brutish men. By the end of the night, Sekula had 2 broken ribs, a bruised eye and a swollen fist. As for the two thugs, who turned into 4 when the fight started, they were in much worse shape. At least the commando didn't have to pay for his drinks. Suddenly, a beeping noise came from a warning sign. A freighter was picked up on the ship's sensors.

When Sekula checked the identification signature of the vessel, he whistled. "I don't believe it," he finally choked out. Looking at the sensors, Dante realized why. The freighter they picked up on sensors indicated that it was the Ebon Hawk. "There have only been a few people who could ever see such a beauty up close and few more who have ever owned it," the Commander said. "I think it was last seen on Taris. Though when we were on Dantooine, I heard that Taris was destroyed over a month ago. But whoever's got it now, well, they better count themselves lucky. I would give anything to fly that." Shaking his head at the sight of the Ebon Hawk zooming past them, Sekula locked in the coordinates to land and began to move into the planet's atmosphere.

Dante's feeling, on the other hand, had been slightly different. Amazed as he was at something so spectacular, he could have sworn he felt a familiar presence of not one, but three Jedi. He shook his head, thinking to himself, perhaps that was just a thought. I doubt the smugglers or whoever designed that ship had Jedi in mind when they built it. Suddenly, through the Force, he felt his comrades touch the same sense of ripples and disturbances through the Force. Well, apparently the neighbourhood felt the same thing, he thought once more. Ah well, it's not like Revan was in that thing.

After the Thunderbolt landed on the planet's surface, Dante walked down the ramp, his cortosis bracers were on and he had his trusty disruptor pistol hanging on his holster on his left thigh. His lightsaber was left dangling on his right hip. The disruptor pistol had saved him on several accounts, eliminating a few unlucky Sith soldiers and slow Dark Jedi adepts. To conceal his identity as a Jedi, he wore a black poncho over his clothing. As he made his way down, he was followed by Rin, Lon, Simon and Sekula. Frreral and K'Ghruk stayed on board, they would roast in the hot temperature that was the desert of Tatooine. Even their nanosensored clothing wouldn't be able to help K'Ghruk and the Wookiee didn't have any clothing, with the exception of a bandolier around his waist, acting as a belt. Even a Wookiee Jedi had to place his lightsaber somewhere. On board the cool-temperatured ship, along with Gors and Hex, the two Jedi would provide excellent communications between both groups. Phaete, Tun, Flin and Sirry would head out towards another part of the settlement, the 'Old Quarter,' searching for supplies and any information about a recently opened cavern from those who might have known about it. With their comlinks on their persons, both groups walked together towards the settlement and split up as they made their way inside.

As Dante's group made their way towards the local cantina, he noticed the diverse group of species that walked amongst each other with little hostility. Of course, there were old hostilities that would never go away. Rin paused for a minute and noticed that Dante was preoccupied. "Hey there, you all right?" Realizing that he had been keeping his comrades from entering the potentially hostile condition, he nodded and then walked first into the cantina, followed by Sekula. As they had previously waited for Dante, the group turned around and found that Rin was now apprehensive. Nodding towards the others to move on and commence with their search, Dante walked up to his fellow Knight and asked her, "hey, what's wrong?"

"Slaves," she said, pointing to a group of young children who were playing around. Looking closely, he saw what appeared to be barcodes burned into the back of their necks. He remembered his previous missions where he and Alec had encountered pirates or slavers and had put a stop to some of their actions. On planets that are so far removed from Galactic events, slavery is something many corrupt Senators turn a blind eye to. Even the Jedi haven't been able to stop all acts of slavery, no matter how many times they had prevented corrupt business officials from committing such a horrendous act. Shaking his head, he looked at Rin and said, "before we leave, remind me to have a chat with their owner."

As Dante and Rin made their way into the cantina, they looked around and spotted Sekula sitting at the bar with the blind swordsman and his apprentice. It seemed that they were getting along rather well. Finding an empty booth, Dante and Rin both sat down, on opposite sides. After ordering the 'now rare' Tarisian ale, they sat down, enjoying their beverage while looking out for a man who was supposed to be the contact they were waiting for.

Sitting down, on the other side of the cantina, he spotted them. A human and a blue Twi'lek. Before them was a blindfolded man, a Jedi Padawan-- the braid wasn't hard to miss-- and a dark skinned human. Sekula, he thought to himself, smiling with anticipation. He had dirty blonde hair, grey eyes and was prominent a rotund figure wearing a dark green tunic with his dark trousers. His boots had reached up to his shins, his durable blaster pistol rested on his right hip. Looking at his quarry, his thin lips parted, smiling once more. He downed the last of his Tarisian ale, noticing that the other two companions-- the man and female Twi'lek-- had the same refined tastes as he. Getting up, he moved towards Sekula, who had his back turned and was talking to the blind man, who-- and he could have sworn he saw the blind man notice his presence-- didn't appear to notice the nearing visitor.

As he brought his hand to touch the shoulder of Sekula Mumba, the blind man's hand darted out and grabbed the man's forearm, twisting it with such strength. The man screamed out-- more in surprise than in pain-- and Sekula turned around, brandishing one of his heavy blasters on the man. "Hello, Haden," he said, smiling at the rotund man. Haden only groaned while rubbing his hand. "Perhaps we'll be better suited to having a chat elsewhere." The commando ushered the rather plump man towards a booth that was filled with two other occupants: a human male and a blue Twi'lek female. As the man sat by the corner, Sekula holstered it, confident that the Jedi could handle the shifty man.

"Well now," said Dante, "who's this?" Looking at the man who seemed a bit terrified at the group of strangers who had taken an interest in him, she smiled reassuringly towards the terrified man. "Well Dante, this is Haden Torch," answered Sekula. "He's the contact we've been looking for. I believe he has something to tell us. Go on, Haden, do tell us." The man had regained his composure and hit the commando on the shoulder, hurting himself against the Mandalorian armour Sekula was still wearing.

"Well," he started, rubbing his fist, "I am Haden Torch. Information finds its way to me and I pass it on to those who happen to have the right incentive." He looked at both Jedi, unaware of who they were or what they represented. "I see you know my former colleague. He still hasn't owed me for that bucket of bolts you probably came in on." Turning towards Sekula, he asked, "you still own the Devil's Maiden, don't you?" Sekula merely shook his head, indicating that the once prominent vessel was most likely destroyed from whoever wanted the soldier dead. In this case: the Sith. "Oh, nevermind then," he said. I've yet to meet a military man who will pay for anything, let alone drinks. Dante looked at the man and from his dark glare, Haden started to find himself sweating nervously. "What do you know about any risen caverns?"

The chubby man looked at the Jedi and smiled, "what's it to you?" Dante returned the gesture and tossed a 100 credit coin towards him. His smile even larger now, Haden told him everything he knew about the new cavern that caught the attention of Czerka, hunters and even the Sand People. The Sand People had found a rare formation of crystals and it had revealed that a krayt dragon was drawn to its power. The game hunters had found a terentatek that also happened to reside within the area. Czerka had lost two teams of miners and mercenaries to the same terentatek. No one had stopped either creature. It was odd that the Sand People had managed to elude two fearsome animals, both of which would tear the limbs off a man with ease. No one had been there for days and the area had been marked off as dangerous until the sandstorms cover the cave once more.

After renting two speeders, both groups had made their way towards the cavern, led by Haden Torch, of course. Glaring at the entrance, Phaete merely said, "are you sure this is the cave? We don't have much time. I sense...other relic hunters on the prowl." Haden merely shrugged and made his way towards the entrance. Alongside him was none other than Lon Vorik-- who had introduced himself after they left the cantina. Through the deep, dark cavern, the group, led by Haden, Dante, Lon and Phaete, followed through the natural fixtures, amid wreckage and what appeared to be corpses and skeletons. "Nothing has seemed to survive," muttered Lon. His sight through the Force revealed nothing but death, stench and decay. No one, who had entered, had walked out alive. When the group reached a corner, Dante noticed a dark durasteel pedestal with a prize on top. "There it is," he said, pointing at the object.

The cubicle object hovered above the pedestal. Aside from the vertices, which was made of darkened plasteel, the surfaces of the holocron was crystalline. As he began to move towards it, Dante noticed the red beads that found their way towards each of their heads. He felt the ripples through the Force-- similar to the ripples he had felt when he was on board a refugee freighter during his days as a Padawan. Mandalorians? He thought to himself before his lightsaber snapped to his hands and flared to life.

5 Sith Assassins decloaked around them. Haden Torch and Master Phaete were nowhere to be seen.

"Are you sure the others won't mind?" The pudgy man asked the Iktotchi Jedi. "Of course not, they went through one tunnel, we went into the other," replied the Jedi Master. "It's the process of elimination. If we find the holocron that leads us to the artifact, then we'll let them know. Until then, we can communicate through the use of comlinks." The man looked back at the ground, watching his step as he tried to make sense of the Jedi's logic. "Oh, all right," he merely said. Wait a minute, do comlinks even work in here? Haden paused for a second, trying to make sense of it. The Iktotchi continued walking, as if he knew the area around him. Phaete would have been a terrifying presence, had he not been a Jedi Master. "Are you coming, Torch?" He asked the man behind him. "Whatever predators may lurk near, do tend to pick up strays." That was all the encouragement Haden needed.

As he caught up to the Master, Haden heard what sounded like a rock falling and much further away, light grunts and metallic clangs. Phaete stopped suddenly, spun around and yelled, "down!" Taking the advice of the Jedi Master, Haden dropped and saw what appeared to be another Jedi leap over him and ignite a crimson lightsaber. "Jedi don't have red lightsabers," he mumbled to himself. After he got up, he reached out for a blaster, only to feel an invisible hand pull the weapon out of his hand and shove him right into a stalagmite, rendering the poor man unconscious. The last thing he saw, before his eyes closed on him, was another Dark Jedi coming face to face to Phaete.

As he slashed horizontally across the two assassins in front of him, Dante successfully sliced his frontal opponent in half as his blade crashed against the other assassin's vibrosword. His focus was now to one opponent rather than two. He continued to use his saber to deflect the strikes the assassin brought down on him; each cleave or slash coming closer to his body. Shoving forward, the Dark Jedi fell back and pushed himself on the defensive within a flash. The Jedi pressed on with a controlled fury, the lightsaber and sword sparking against each other, while any spectators would only notice several blurs where one strike had taken place.

Lon had decapitated his first opponent and found himself face to face with a double-sided vibrosword wielder. Ducking under the first swing, Lon brought his silver blade behind himself to block the returning swing, forcing himself to bring his blade over his head and blocking the other side from cleaving his chest in two. In an instant blur, he began blocking, striking and parrying off each twirl the assassin continued to rain upon him. As the blind swordsman leapt into the air in a butterfly, dodging the low slash of the sword as the silver blade arced upwards on the assassin's back, dropping him to the floor, screaming out for pain. The scream wasn't that long.

Noticing his why his companion had earned the nickname, 'the blind swordsman,' Dante brought his blade down, with his left bracer, he deflected the downward slash the assassin made at the young Knight, believing it to be an opening. As soon as the sword struck against the cortosis bracer, the vibrations gyrated against the sword, resonating against the forearms of both Dante and the assassin. Stifling the odd sensation, Dante ducked and rolled, following through with his blade impaling the assassin through the heart. Now there was one assassin left and two Jedi Knights. It was a bad day for the assassin.

As the assassin kept parrying off each strike Lon made against him, Dante jumped over the two and from behind thrusted his lightsaber towards the assassin's back, forcing him to fight on two fronts. The assassin spun, deflecting both blades and in the middle of both Knights. As skilled as an assassin might be in stealth and quick death, he was surely no match for the two Knights in a toe-to-toe match. Unfortunately, unaware of this factor, the assassin continued to fight on both fronts and couldn't help but noticed that he was being pressed back into the corner. With a surge of courage running through his blood, he Force-pushed both Knights and leapt for the holocron. Had he engaged his personnel cloaking device, he might not have hit the ground in five pieces: head, midsection, legs and outstretched arms. Both Knights had thrown their blades as they noticed the assassin leaping for the holocron.

As both Knights got up and moved towards the holocron, Lon couldn't help but ask, "so, any idea where Phaete and Haden went to?" Dante shook his head. "I don't know, to be quite honest. One moment they were here," he said, pointing to the ground. "The next thing, they're gone." He looked up and saw Lon touching the holocron. Waiting for the holocron to open, Dante took a deep breath. A few more moments and nothing happened. "Here," the young Knight said to his companion. "Let me take a look at it." Handing it over to Dante, Lon only waited a few more moments when Dante said the one thing that came to their minds. "Fake." Looking around, Dante realized that the cave could be filled with any number of 'holocrons.' Glancing at his companion, the Knight merely said, "this could take a while."

"Or perhaps not," came a familiar voice. It was Phaete. He walked up towards the two Knights, with Haden behind him-- nursing his own bruises. Looking at his companions, Phaete only smiled and said, "the caves were filled with fake holocrons. But there is only one real holocron and here it is." He held up the crystalline cube, revealing its metallic vertices and edges. After a moment, Dante looked at the Master and carefully phrasing his question properly, he asked Phaete, "Master, when did you leave? We seemed to have run into some trouble." Looking around the surface and noticing the corpses of the assassins, the Iktotchi merely nodded and replied, "you two seemed to have handled yourselves well. And to answer your question, Master Dante, it was through the process of elimination and shortly before you ran into..trouble." Raising his right eyebrow, Dante merely replied, "curious."

Haden, just walking towards the three, spoke up quickly. "Actually, we ran into a bit of trouble ourselves." The trio looked at him. "Yes, indeed. We ran into two Sith and they outnumbered Master Phaete-- when they knocked me out, of course. Master Phaete was able to drive them back and take the holocron they had in their possession, and lucky us!" He exclaimed, slapping his thighs and flinching from pain. Dante, looking at both Haden and Phaete could only nod and looked at the Master, who merely nodded to certify the account. Some observer, he thought to himself. Waiting for the Master to activate the holocron, the young Knight asked, "should we test it to see if it works?" The Master nodded again and activated the holocron and from its blue appearance, a small figure of a robed man-- no more than in his early 30s-- stood atop the surface of the holocron and began speaking.

"This is Jedi Knight Val Qurashi. My Padawan, Dosheo, and I have been sent by the Jedi Council on Coruscant to search for any holocrons from the Ossus Academy. The Academy-- and most of the planet-- was destroyed by the Sith, some time ago. Some of the holocrons and other artifacts were shipped away from Ossus, but we've been searching for a specific and, albeit, unique holocron. It's called the 'Unifier.' The Council believes that this artifact contains the lost teachings of the original Jedi. Our current teachings speak of paths for us to take through the Force. But from what I've gathered and seen, I believe the 'Unifier' speaks of one all-embracing path. It's possible that, in actuality, it could unite the Jedi and the Sith. It could bridge the gap that has forced us to be enemies for so long. I also believe that this power will allow us to be more in touch with the Force, and truly understand what the Force wants of us."

The Jedi paused for a moment and spoke once more. "I know the Jedi teachings have slowly changed over the centuries, but I feel the Council is only chasing a myth. An object that doesn't exist. The idea that there could be an item through the Force that could unite the Galaxy is preposterous and wishful thinking. As wise as the Council may be, I don't entirely believe they may be right in this affair. However, it is not my wish to debate the wisdom of the Council. All I know is that the following star systems contain some clue as to the whereabouts of this object, if it even exists. My former compatriots, who have journeyed before me have left clues and holocrons that contain information. This holocron will contain all of the information I've gathered at this point. If I fail, may my companions, who search for the 'Unifier' after myself, find it. May the Force be with us all." After another moment, the Jedi couldn't pull their eyes away from the holoimage as the systems were called out. "Bakura, Dagobah, Honoghr, Tatooine, Ryloth and Utapau." The image faded.

After a few more moments of silence, it was Dante who spoke up. "This quest has been around for millennia, hasn't it? No one's found this thing and yet the Council hasn't given up hope. Why?" He looked a Phaete. The Iktotchi only shook his head; either he didn't know or he wasn't going to say. Lon looked at Dante and asked him, "well, Dante. Where do we go now?" The young Jedi said to no one in particular, "I've been to Utapau, Bakura and Honoghr. I found a holocron or datapad that said similar things. I never knew how long people have followed through on this journey, until now. I guess we go to Ryloth next." He looked at Lon, who realized that the seeds of doubt weren't planted on himself alone. "It's closer." Everyone else merely nodded.

As everyone began making their way towards the exit of the cave, there came the distinct high-pitched shriek of the 'Jedi-killer' terentatek, the Dark Side creature that was supposedly extinct from the Great Hunt. Turning around, the Jedi saw the large, roundish and thick armoured creature. It shrieked once more and began to charge at them.