As promised, chapter 5. Read, enjoy and keep up with the encouraging reviews, they keep me going.
Chapter 5: The Strongest Warriors
Vergere's ears vibrated when she felt Shimmra's anger inside the Holy Palace on Yuuzhan'Tar. The supreme Overlord had learned of the failure on Mon Calamari only minutes earlier and Vergere had thought it wise to vanish for a moment. She knew Nom Anor would have done the same somewhere. Shimmra's anger was focused on his high priest who had suggested the attack. The poor fool, thought Vergere.
She smiled inwardly as she felt Jacen, somewhere out there, in the vast coldness of the galaxy.
It would seem, Jacen Solo, that you have begun the next phase of your plan
I will look forward to seeing it into action…
It was wet, the air was heavy and the gravity wasn't helping much but Jacen didn't complain, nor did he seem to notice. He and Fenix were walking towards a temple made of stone on Dxun, Ossus's moon. The thick flora and the high number of predators hadn't bothered Jacen much, only his goal mattered to him. Now in a big clearing, Jacen could feel his surrounding without interference. The sky was dark, it was night and the lack of visibility, added with the constant rain would have probably gotten anyone else lost, but Jacen knew his way. It was his first visit on Dxun but he followed his path guided by the Force. Fenix never complained, he could only stare at the perfect blending of nature, mystified by its imposing views it could display.
Jacen stopped at the bottom of the temple, before the long stairs that would take him high up. He saw some writing on the stone. Fenix read: Honor of a warrior, then kept looked at the top, despite the darkness, his blue eyes could see up to the top. A T shaped light appeared from entrance at the top. The light was blue and its shape uninviting, inciting fear and pain, but Jacen didn't care, pain was his servant and his resolve was stronger than steel. He climbed the first step, then the second, and then the third then kept going without tiring. Fenix followed him with equal resolve, or maybe it was just Jacen's reassuring atmosphere. He did not know, he did not care, whatever waited at the top was worth the effort, he knew that much.
They reached the last step a few minutes later, showing no signs of fatigue, Jacen walked forwards, towards the temple's entrance. They reached the center of a large room, lit only in its center by a simple light. They were surrounded; Jacen could feel it, dozens of figures moving silently and deadly around them. Jacen did not flinch, neither did Fenix, he simply looked at the empty shadow in front of him and smiled, again, with his face empty of emotions, only resolve.
"Well" he said "Isn't this awkward…"
"You have some guts, joking in a moment like this" said a muffled voice, through a cold helmet.
"Perhaps, but I did not come here to joke, I came here to talk"
"You're talking already."
Jacen faked surprise "Isn't this childish? Especially for you."
"Very funny kid, you got 5 seconds to talk or we blast you…"
The voice barely finished its word when Jacen brought his hand down in his pocket. He heard the distinctive click of blasters ready to fire. Ignoring the blasters, he took a small orb out of his pocket. The orb was dark blue and radiated a strong energy.
"Where did you get this?" asked the voice nervously
"Same place your last leader left it of course, on Malachor V."
Without adding anything, Jacen heard some movements. The shadows were no longer hiding themselves. The blue t-shaped glow appeared from the far end of the room, coming out from even deeper in the temple. Lights slowly light in the corners revealing dozens of heavily armored humanoids who all wore one distinct feature, a T-shaped visor on their helmets. Jacen turned back to the one wearing the blue glow.
"Malachor V" said a new voice, its accent clearly from Concord Dawn. "You've been to Malachor V"
"Yes, though it's nothing more than a deserted graveyard now." Jacen said "I've come to see you Mand'alor"
"…What do you want with Mandalorians?"
Jacen smiled, a smile that would have scared any adult, except those standing in the room. Before he could answer a warrior spoke
"Ke nu jurkad sha Mando'ade, burc'ya!" Don't mess with Mandos, mate!
Jacen felt the words coming to him through the force and understood its meaning. He replied in their language
"Udesii" Take it easy
Shocked or not that a stranger knew their language, the warriors didn't flinch.
"K'uur" Be quiet, simply said Mandalore to the warrior without looking at him
"A Mand'alor!" But Mandalore! began the warrior before being silenced by a glance from the blue lit helmet.
Turning back to Jacen, Mandalore resumed. "You're a Jedi, what I don't get is what you're doing with a Yuuzhan Vong, but then again it doesn't concern me. Again I ask what you want here."
Jacen turned back to Mandalore and looked at him straight in the eyes, or rather visor. "Direct way it is then" he started "I want you, all of you to come with me."
A silenced laughter rose up in the background as the warriors realized how crazy the kid in front of them really was.
"Gar jetiise lise nau'ur ca ti jetii'kade…" You Jedi can light up the night with your lightsabers… began a warrior.
"… but you lack what it takes to order us around Jetii Jedi" finished a second warrior."
Ignoring the warriors, Jacen and Mandalore resumed once more.
"You think bringing us that stone will make us follow you around like dogs? You Jedi are even stupider than I thought, it's a miracle you found this place."
The atmosphere around Jacen grew heavier and so did his look. Taking all humor out, Jacen replied. "First of all, I didn't come here to buy your service with this stone, Fett, and second of all Jedi doesn't really apply to me right now."
Though surprised by the kid's reaction, Mandalore still didn't move. "If you want us, you gotta be worthy of commanding us, and you gotta have the credits for it. Both, I'm sure, you lack."
"You doubt I have honor? You doubt I have skills? You doubt me?" asked Jacen. He turned to Fenix and nodded
Jacen threw the dark blue stone to Mandalore, who caught it. He took his lightsaber and handed it to Fenix. The giant slayer then returned to the door, as if staying out of the way. Jacen looked around him at the confused warriors.
"Come, Mandalorian. Come with all your warriors at once. I will show you who you're dealing with."
He slowly blinked, memories filling his mind.
He was running, running away from the darkness, running into even more darkness. He was tired, confused, lost. This place was familiar to him, despite the higher temperature, he still recognized it clearly. Underneath the rubles, underneath all the wasteland that had become of the place, he recognized the faint smell, the subtle presence of the area. He could feel the moisture in the air, sticking to his skin, making him even more tired. His senses blurred from time to time but not his presence. For the first time in his life, he wasn't aiming for a goal. He was simply running in this place he had once called home. This place he had come to know as the center of the galaxy. This place that had now been reduced to a state of total destruction, this place that was now being reborn, reshaped into something new, like a Fenix, he knew it all too well.
He was hurt, his body was bleeding in several places but those wounds didn't affect him, he didn't even feel them, his mind was probably hurt even more but that didn't stop him either. He heard voices behind, in the distant shadows. Someone, something was pursuing him and whatever it was, it wasn't alone anymore. The heavy rain kept his presence hidden; unfortunately, those following him didn't seem to care about the water. They had a clear purpose and he didn't want to find out what. A sharp noise, followed by a halo of light on his left. He saw the explosion, he felt it through his entire numb body. Rubles of duracrete splashed in all directions, hitting him in the face, sending a sharp message to his brain that it hurt. He ignored it, he kept running away from it all.
Eventually, he found himself in what looked like a clearing, but it was not. He was inside a cave, he didn't know how he had ended up there but he had. Around him, black figures, covered in a grayish cloth, robeskin. He stopped in the very center of the cave's vast opening. He was surrounded, darkness everywhere, confusion, fear, pain. He stopped thinking for a second. Pain was his servant, not theirs. He looked at the leader of the black figures, approaching him. Tall, imposing, it was everything he could imagine as dangerous. It seemed enormous. It stopped, at a good distance from him. Soon two different figures appeared from behind. The first, one he had learned to recognize even in the worst state of confusion, the second, one he had learned to hate, one that had hurt his closest bonds. The Second figure spoke.
"You have kept on quite a wild chase, Jeedai Jacen Solo." He paused for a moment, letting the words sink in. "But here, in this holy place, you are nothing, you are merely a useless boy, one that represents so much, yet so little."
"I must say, you surprised even me." Continued the first figure
"Now, this ends, you will come with us, conscious, …or not." He finished, signaling the black figures to move in.
He never flinched, he never gave in to panic or fear. He simply looked at the black figures around him. He could feel it, all around him, the energy released by the people in the cave. He could feel it more and more clearly. Lights in his mind were slowly coming to life, as if awakening from a long slumber, one that had seemingly lasted for an eternity. It was not simply floating all around him, it was flowing through him. Somewhere, deep inside his mind, a river was forming.
The black figures approaching him slowly noticed something on their prey. His eyes were glowing; his entire body radiated something they could not identify. He was here, he was there, he was everywhere. Seeing he was not afraid of them, they attacked. He did not even look at the ones around him, he simply stared at the biggest one, their leader. Rocks, boulders were detaching from the cave's walls, part of the ceiling was breaking, all falling loose, floating in the air, around him. Soon, crushing the black figures, hitting them with the might and strength of a river. The boulders were spinning around him, forming a vortex. A vortex of pure energy.
The rocks fell on the ground with a slam, the many other black figures stopped, then charged again. He raised his hand. Red, hot, deadly, streams of energy escaped his finger tips, dancing wildly around, burning and eating anything in their path. The streaks of energy consumed even the air around them. Time itself was eaten away by the vortex of energy. Slowly, the darkness around him, in his heart, faded away, giving place to the light, creating a balance in his heart.
A wry smile formed in his lips. The heartbeat later, everyone, but him, were on their knees, pressed by the heavy weight of his presence. He had awakened once more.
Jacen Solo had returned to the force.
Jacen blinked once more, the last two days had flashed by in a heartbeat. He turned to Mandalore and smiled, genuinely, then nodded to the rest of the warriors present.
"Yes" he whispered "This will do nicely."
Mandalore replied "Well now, you have the strongest warriors of this galaxy on your side"
"Indeed, Mandalore, indeed..."
He turned to Fenix
"Contact Vergere, it is time for her part."
Fenix's eyes flashed in a deeper blue, a light that inspired determination.
Determination would be a key factor for Jacen, he knew it all to well.