"How old do you suppose this place is?" Ithica's head swiveled around as he took in the sights of this sentry moon. Ancient, overgrown trees grew not more than 50 meters away but they all seemed to stop at a uniform point; as if the forest recoiled from the gray stone temple ahead of him.
"Old?" Laurune was snapped out of his reverie. "Yes, this place is old. Far older than I can venture a guess at."
"What is it made out of? I have never seen stone like this. It's so," Ithica paused as he searched for the right word, "Unnatural."
"Unnatural is right, this place, this temple, isn't supposed to be here."
"What do you mean?" Ithica sidled closer to Laurune, despite the humidity and heat of this jungle moon, he felt suddenly cold.
"I mean, this temple isn't of any design that you, or anyone in the Republic for that matter, is familiar with. "It's a temple to the Builders."
"The Builders?" Ithica looked at the temple. A line of runes ran along the closest edge of the temple. They were very angular but retained a flowing uniqueness that Ithica had never seen before. A language, lost to time and lost to the galaxy.
"The Builders was the name that was given to the Rakata race when it ruled the Galaxy over 25,000 years ago."
"The Rakata? Those barbarians?" Ithica asked incredulously. "You've got to be kidding!"
"Not at all." Laurune looked at Ithica. "Didn't you learn the story of the Jedi Civil War? What do they teach you kids in the Academy."
"Nothing about ancient legends and long dead societies." Ithica looked back at the Temple. Each time he looked at it, he grew more and more uneasy with the place.
"The galaxy is an old place; older than the Order, older than some of the stars in the sky. But nothing is older than the Force. When we are dead and turned to dust, the force will remain." Laurune spoke darkly. "The galactic constant."
"If this temple was, indeed, created by the Rakata, it meant that this planet was steeped in the Dark Side." Laurune continued. "Otherwise, it would not be here."
"How do you mean?" Ithica squatted down and surveyed the spindly grass stalks that forged a life on this rock.
Laurune sighed, they really should have been teaching more history. "The Rakata were, quite possibly, the first Major practitioners of the Dark Side of the force. To them, it wasn't the Dark Side; it wasn't even given a name. That's how inherent it was to their culture."
Laurune looked skyward, as if he were out there, among the past; among the legends. "Their technology ran directly from the Force. It was required to operate their equipment. It also acted as a vector for their hyperdrive systems. Thus, though their "Infinite Empire" was vast, few planets were under their total control. Planets like this, with so little indigenous life, needed anchor temples like this in order to travel here safely."
"What was the use of this planet. It hardly seems like the prime place to further an empire." Ithica scoffed.
"That is the mystery, my friend. Remember that the Rakata Infinite Empire was at its peak roughly twenty millennia ago. Not even those Rakata that live today have any idea what these satellite worlds' purposes were." Laurune sighed, "Lost to the sands of time." Laurune suddenly felt very old.
Ithica stood staring at the temple for a long moment before he spoke. "Should we go investigate?"
"What?" Laurune was snapped back to reality very quickly. "What are you saying."
"Well, why don't we go investigate."
"We're you not listening to me. This place is almost the incarnation of the Dark Side."
"But it's the only energy signature in this sector. This planet, this temple to be exact, might be the only link we have to the Hindsight." Ithica looked back to roughly the spot in the stars where the molten bits of metal were all that remained of the D-12 Republic Cruiser. "This might be the only clue."
Laurune sighed. "You're right. Still, I don't like the feelings that are emanating from this place." Laurune reached down and unclipped an Energy Tracker. The small rectangle instrument read and deciphered background energy signatures. It was also useful for tracking said energy signatures.
"We'll go have a look. But mark my words. We go in, and then we come right back out if we don't find anything. Got it?"
"Got it." Ithica said. A wry smile spread across his face. This was an adventure. Like the ones he had heard about for so long within the Jedi Order. A real for real adventure.
"Oh, one more thing." Laurune eyed the green and blue jungle around the temple with an increasing trepidation. "Don't touch anything. Got it? I don't know what enchantments are left over from the Sith Era. I don't want you to suddenly melt away because you couldn't help fondling the artwork."
Ithica snickered. "Yes master. Not a touch."
Laurune shook his head and started towards the temple. "Stay close."
Ithica's smile died away as he looked back towards the temple. Courage, he thought. It's just a relic.
Laurune crouched near the large ramp leading to the temple entrance. His hands trembled as he brought the Tracker up to eye level. A small blob pulsated on the optic display. They were getting closer to the energy source. Closer still to the source of his chills.
Not more than a meter away, Ithica crouched and stared into the jungle. The sky was darkening very fast and with it, strange noises issued from the trees. Ithica's hand clutched his robe and turned back to Laurune. "How far in?"
"At least twenty five meters. Maybe more." Laurune deposited the Tracker into his robes and stood. "Come." With that, Laurune steeled away his fear and stepped into the temple. Ithica stood, hesitating, then stepped in after the Jedi Master.
"Stay close, young Ithica." Laurune's hand hovered near his Lightsaber. He cursed himself. This was an abandoned temple. Layers of dust covered everything in front of him. The only footprints were the ones that he and Ithica were leaving behind. Nothing was out of place in this ancient relic. Still, the feeling was there, he couldn't deny that.
Ithica and Laurune stalked further into the temple. The air was felt oppressive and close. Before long, Ithica had broken out in a cold sweat. Laurune, having finally let his feelings take hole, had unclipped his lightsaber and now gripped it tightly in his hands.
As the Jedi pair entered into the antechamber, Ithica let out a gasp. The chamber was dominated by a large stone stage, almost a dais in its grandeur. Intricate carvings covered almost every inch of stone. Weavings and letters like those on the outside of the temple. Sharp curves and smooth flowing script. Ithica wished he could read every line, every word.
"Look at these carvings!" Ithica stepped forward and reached out to touch the dais.
"Stop!" Laurune shouted, his voice reverberating throughout the entire temple. "Those aren't Rakata carvings!"
"What?"
"Those carvings were done long after the Rakata civilization ceased to exist." Laurune looked around franticly. "Those carvings are Sith incantations!" He hissed. "We've got to get out of here!"
Ithica turned and was about to breakaway in a dead sprint when a sharp sound resounded through the amphitheater. A clap. Followed by another. Then yet another.
"Most astute, Master Laurune." A grating, alien voice choked out in Basic. "I didn't know you were such the historian."
Without hesitation, Laurune thumbed his green lightsaber to life. The verdant blade illuminated the dark corner where a truly frightening creature stepped forward. The thing, for Ithica couldn't be sure if it was male or female, walked on four squarely placed legs. The torso was longer than any humans ever could be, as were the arms. Its head was narrow and tall. The face, a horror all its own. The creature bore a mouth that was wide and rimmed with deadly looking teeth. Its eyes were merely black orbs and the creature wasn't blessed with a nose.
All over the creatures body was a tough shell that resembled chitin; like a giant lobster. This lobster, however, was quite a bit more dangerous.
"Good to see you again, master." The creature garbled out. Turning its horrid head it spoke, "And you must be young Ithica." The creature's mouth-parts clacked as it finished Ithica's name. The crustacean stepped forward again, it's feet clicking and clacking over the stone floor. "I've so wanted to meet you."
"Stop, Yai." Laurune moved in front of Ithica.
"Do you believe in fate, Ithica?"
Ithica craned his neck around Laurune to see the ferocious Yai.
"I believe wholeheartedly in fate." Yai brought a three clawed hand up and reached beckoned to the Padawan. "Fate, divine right, call it what you will."
"Yai, stop. Now!"
"Believe in it or not, destiny calls me." The crustacean creature stepped forward again and, once again, beckoned to Ithica. "You and I, Ithica, you and I are destined to meet. Destined," Yai's hand brought, from beneath a fold in his carapace, a lightsaber, "for great things."
The black, gleaming hilt of the saver caught the beautiful green of Laurune's saber and reflected it in their eyes. With a flourish, Yai extended his own blade. The bright red blade pushed back the green and the two began to battle for supremacy.
Ithica gasped at the saber. "You're a Sith!"
"Ithica!" Laurune pushed the Padawan back a few steps.
"You're a Sith." Ithica said again.
"Now why would you ever say that?" The crimson blade rotated in the hand of the crustacean. "Is it this blade? Red doesn't denote a Sith. It denotes passion. Something he wouldn't understand!" Yai sneered out.
"Enough of this!" Laurune pushed Ithica back, more forcefully this time. "Ithica, leave this place now." Sweat was now pouring off of the aging Master. "Go back to the ship."
"And leave you in here with him!" Ithica snapped back. "No way!" Ithica plucked his own lightsaber from his hip and ignited it. Blue and green and red, a Jedi tableau that had been played since the beginning of the two orders.
"Ithica, no. This doesn't concern you."
"What? What are you saying, Master? There is no way I am leaving you in here alone." Ithica didn't understand why Master Laurune wanted him out of here.
"You cannot stay in here. I'm not going to let him get to you." Laurune understood now; the purpose that his Jedi Brother, Vaandar, had spoken of. The vision brought from the fabled Seers themselves; it was finally here.
"Laurune is right." Yai stopped rotating his blade and brought it to rest at his left hip angled out towards the floor. "This is between me and my Master."
The words took a moment to hit Ithica. When they did, he looked towards Master Laurune and asked: "He was one of your Padawans?"
"Probably one of the most promising Jedi Sentinels I had ever seen. That is, until he became to enamored with teachings that should have remained with the dead." Laurune scoffed. "Those holocrons should have remained buried with the Lords who made them."
"Those holocrons are the property and the legacy of each and every Jedi. If you would have listened to me."
"What was there to listen to, Yai? Your rantings on how wrong the Jedi Council was." Laurune shook his head. "You came back and you hated everyone you saw. Including me."
"Oh, how wrong I was then. I shouldn't have hated you. I should have thanked you. I should have thanked you for opening my eyes to the lies that have been perpetuated since the great Sith War."
Ithica couldn't believe his ears. Not only was this hideous creature once a Jedi, but he had truly fallen to the dark side. A fallen Jedi, Ithica thought, This isn't the adventure I wanted to have.
Yai sighed, "Alas, my time has run out and there are so many things yet to accomplish. Come Master Laurune, show me how a Master Sentinel fights." Yai snapped his saber up in a mirror stance of Laurune.
Slowly, confidently, Laurune raised his saber. "Stay back, Ithica." With that, Laurune sprinted forward. His saber dipped low and then came up in a blinding arc, so fast that Ithica had to blink. Laurune was so fast. Never had he expected that Laurune was such a well of power.
Yai flicked his saber out and caught Laurune's blade. There was a flash and then a snap-crackle. The first blade strikes of a new war! Yai laughed aloud. "Come Master!"
Laurune spun and slashed his blade out, once again catching the crimson saber. This time, he succeeded in knocking the blade out of his way. He had a shot and he had all intentions of taking it.
Whirling his saber level with Yai's chest, Laurune stabbed forward. His saber point never found home. With a yell, Yai batted away Laurune's saber and continued the saber in an arc designed to trim Laurune's hair at the level of his ears. It was a simple act for Laurune to duck below the saber swing. He was then coming up, though not by his own volition. Yai snapped his front legs up in a kick that caught Laurune square in the chest. The Jedi Master cried out and was tossed onto his back.
Yai snickered and stepped back. "Isn't this power great, Master. This is what a Jedi is supposed to be!"
Having had enough of waiting. Ithica stalked forward and brought his saber up in the defensive stance he had picked up over the past couple of weeks. Laurune was still struggling to his feet when the Padawan stepped into the fray.
Ithica flicked his saber high and then low, each strike in the sweeping arc that Laurune had taught him. Each strike failed to hit home and Ithica was forced to stand his ground against his monstrous foe.
Yai simply laughed. "Good, Ithica, you sure are learning." Another spinning attack parried on the end of Yai's saber flashed across his eyes.
"Yai stop!" Laurune was on his feet and running forward towards the two.
"Sorry, Ithica. I have bigger fish to flay." With that, Yai slammed aside Ithica's saber and brought his hand up. A wall within the force came up and blasted the young Jedi back through the air. Ithica yelled out as he tumbled into the wall far from the edge of the dais. All the air that was still in his lungs was forcefully blown out. Beneath his back, Ithica could feel the ancient stone crack. Ithica's vision faded. The Jedi Padawan fought against the darkness that was fighting right back to consume his mind.
The young man could make out the faint outlines of Master Laurune and Yai fighting. The bright flashes of their lightsabers were some of the only sights that made it through the haze that was clouding his sight.
Laurune gasped as Yai's blade passed only centimeters from his side. The aging Jedi Master brought up his hand to join his other on the hilt of the saber. The Master then stabbed down through the air, stabbed straight at Yai's crustacean heart.
Sidestepping, Yai brought his hand up and caught the Jedi Master by the wrist. He pulled him forward, tipping his balance and tossing him to the floor. Laurune whirled over and skittered back, the whole time keeping his saber blade between himself and Yai's deadly blade.
"No longer, Master," The one time student spat. "No longer do I suffer under teachings that keep me in obscurity." Yai brought his arm up and waggled the saber dangerously close to Laurune. "This power is what a Jedi was destined to be. What the Order should have become." Yai's face screwed up into a mask that Laurune didn't recognize in his one-time student. "Instead, men like you slowly plague the Jedi. Keeping them stagnant and stunted."
"You don't mean that, Yai. I know you." Laurune got up to his feet, still backing up as fast as his joints would let him. Once again, Laurune felt very old.
"You have no idea what I have become, Master." Yai roared. "You never understood my fascination." Yai swung his saber and Laurune barely had time to bring his saber up to meet it.
"All of the greatest thinkers in the Jedi have been persecuted for their beliefs." Yai stalked forward, forcing Laurune onto the Dais. "Look at Ulic Qel-Droma! One of the most radical thinkers in the Jedi order and look what they did to repay him. Think about how he died. A mere shell of his former self. He died a death beyond death. He was dead even before he was shot in the back by some insect. Ulic wasn't killed by a rogue pilot with a vendetta. The Jedi Order killed him. They killed him the second they stripped him from the force."
"Ulic was a threat, he was dangerously close to falling forever." Laurune protested as he brought his saber up.
"So the Order's answer was to destroy everything he had been. Instead of listening to him, instead of listening to his ideas and views, they simply stripped him. Keepers of galactic justice indeed!" Yai, instead of doing what Laurune expected, snapped his saber up and knocked it from the Jedi's hands. It sparked momentarily on the dais, adding one more scratch to the hundreds that littered the stone. "No more, Master!" The Sith roared. "No more will the Jedi Order wage war on change." Yai snapped his saber down through Laurune's arm. The red blade screeched as it burned through flesh, bone, and cloth. Laurune screamed as his arm tumbled from his body.
Yai stalked around behind the Jedi Master. Reaching out, he seized him by the hair and pulled his head upright. Laurune whimpered in pain; white fire surged through his mind.
"Ithica," Laurune croaked out. The young Padawan was just now struggling to his feet. "Ithica, run."
Ithica couldn't believe his eyes; the sight that played out in front of him. It was a sight straight from his nightmares.
"Run!" Laurune yelled.
It was the last thing that Laurune ever said.
Yai swung his saber and separated the Jedi's head from his shoulders. A spark of serene pleasure ran through Yai's body. He had done it. With one saber stroke, he had severed all ties to his former life. Free, he thought, free of all the lies.
Ithica screamed and wailed. The final image of Laurune's eyes was burned on his vision and in his soul. Ithica was already out of the room and was pounding down the ramp of the temple before he even realized he was running.
Ithica ran out of the temple and into the warm air of the jungle night. Ithica had only one thought on his mind as he tore across the hardpan, towards the Viller. He had to let them know; he had to tell the Jedi Order. He had to warn them. The Sith were back. And they had already claimed one victim.
Yai stood for a long moment. He stood and stared down at the body of his one time Master. A sense of accomplishment drown out any feelings of remorse that he might have felt.
"So," Another figure stepped from the dark. "The first strike in this war has been made."
"No, Refa." Yai turned to the young man. "This war has been going on ever since the Jedi chose ignorance to an expanding philosophy. This war has been an eternal one." Yai raised his hands, his lightsaber blinking out of existence. "We are simply taking up the mantle."
"How true my brother." Refa stepped forward and knelt down to stare into Laurune's lifeless eyes. "How true indeed."
"What about the young one?" Yai stashed the saber back between the separations in his exoskeleton, one of the handy advantages to being descended from crustaceans.
"Methinks he would make an apt present to the Master." Refa folded his arms across his chest. "Your thoughts?"
"I agree. New candidates are always welcome. Especially one as strong as him." Yai clicked his teeth in glee. "Yes, I do believe you are correct, Refa."
"Naturally."
"It is settled, then!" Yai ignored the self-inflating Refa. "I will go and educate this young one."
"When you are done. Take the ship and bring him to the Master. I will remain here and make sure the beacon functions properly."
"Yes, you do that." Yai started off. "Tobril will be pleased!"
"Oh, and Yai!" Refa shouted after him.
"Hmm?" Yai grunted in response.
"Glory," Refa spoke. "Glory to the Sith."
"Yes," Yai echoed, "glory."
Ithica reached the Viller in what should have been record time. His hands were shaking so bad he had to punch in the code 4 times before the computer granted him access. A good thing too, his lightsaber was in his hand and ready to burn the door from its hinges.
As the ladder cycled down Ithica made a hasty check of his surroundings. The jungle seemed to press in from all sides and the nighttime noises on this planet were enough to drive anyone mad.
Ithica, the ramp, having descended, clambered onboard and ran for the cockpit. Biv, Laurune's personal protocol droid, was coming out to greet him and was quite shocked to find Ithica so nervous.
"Is anything wrong, Master Ithica?" The droid asked.
"Start the preflight sequence and help me get off of this planet." Ithica yelled as he passed the droid.
"Shouldn't we wait for Master Laurune?"
"He's dead!" Ithica tossed over his shoulder, already halfway into the cockpit. It was strange to say that. Somehow, he just couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Laurune was dead.
"My stars." The droid sighed out as it turned back towards the entrance.
In the cockpit, Ithica was frantically flipping switches and pressing buttons. For the third time, his saber got in the way and Ithica, reluctantly, set it on the console next to the pilot's chair. Ithica heard the engines whirring to life and, upon inspection, realized that the hatch was still open.
"Biv, shut the hatch!" He yelled back.
No response.
Suddenly, Ithica's hands felt very empty. He didn't turn around, but instead looked out of the corner of his eye. He could just make out the hilt of his saber, resting on the console. Steeling himself, Ithica decided on his course of action. He spun and called the saber forth from the console.
Ithica spun.
Right into the waiting hand of Yai. The Padawan tried to pull back but the hard grip of the Sith was too much for him to struggle against.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" The Sith snarled.
Ithica heard the snap-hiss of the lightsaber and saw Yai raise the weapon. He closed his eyes and waited for the strike. It never came.
Instead, Yai twirled, still holding the young Padawan, and passed the saber through the transparasteel viewport on the Viller. Then, continuing his spin, launched the young Jedi out through the glass.
Ithica was thankful that the saber swipe had severely weakened the viewport but not very thankful. He still hit with bone jarring severity. Ithica was powerless to stop himself from falling to the ground and hit with yet another bone jarring slam.
Yai was through the viewport and in the air shortly after that. Ithica was still rolling over in pain when the Sith landed not more than a meter from him. His arms came up too late to stop the kick that was delivered to him, by the sith, which sent him sprawling onto his back.
The crimson saber flashed down and passed neatly through the outer few layers of skin on Ithica's belly. He cried out in pain, only to be silenced by another kick to the ribs. The Sith laughed and mocked his prey.
Rolling away, Ithica scrambled to his feet and brought his hands up in a defensive gesture. His fingers spread in a claw-like way. The way that Korin had taught him.
"Bare hands against a lightsaber? You truly are brave, Master Ithica."
Then, with all the might he could muster, Ithica lashed out with the force and sent a wall of it straight at the Sith standing before him.
All he managed to do was push the Sith back a few centimeters. A full push with all the force power he had and all that was done was a mild annoyance delivered. The Sith cackled and spread his arms out.
"What was that?" Yai sneered. "Were you trying to mess up my robes?"
Yai stalked forward, Ithica backpedaled. Yai's jaw-parts clicked and clacked with each step.
"This, Master Ithica, is how it is done!" Snapping his hand up, Yai pushed out with a wall of his own force energy. The wall struck Ithica with all the force of a supernova. At least, that's what it felt like. The Padawan went sprawling across the grass and, all at once, Yai was upon him.
Ithica screamed as the Sith drove his foot down into his already burning stomach. Yai ground his heel into the poor Jedi and could feel the skin cracking and tearing underneath his foot.
The tactile sensation of grinding apart skin was something that Yai couldn't have conveyed even if he was a true poet.
Finally, he released the young man from under his foot and bent over his prey. "Pathetic!" He spat. "A Jedi is supposed to be the guardian of peace and justice. How can you be the guardian of anything if you cannot even fight to save your own useless life?" Ithica groaned in response. "How? Answer me Jedi!"
Picking Ithica up by his collar, the sith delivered another blow with the butt of his saber. Ithica staggered back a few steps on his heel. His eyes fluttered open just long enough to see the Sith raise the saber over his head.
The crimson saber came down in a crossways swipe and, this time, bit deeper than the first few layers of skin. Ithica gasped as he felt a jolt of pain shoot through his body. Then he slumped onto his back. His eyes refused to close, all he could do was stare at the stars and feel the pain welling in his chest. He was going to die.
Yai stalked around him for a moment. Marveling at how one so weak in the force could put up such little resistance. Finally, having enough of looking at his broken body, Yai knelt down as best as his four legs would allow him.
"It doesn't have to be this way." He whispered softly. "It doesn't have to hurt."
Ithica made no response. He couldn't, the pain was too intense.
"The Jedi are fearful. They are weak. You're not weak, are you Ithica?"
Again, no response.
"What if I told you there was a whole group of people cheering for you. Screaming for you to throw off your bonds of complacency."
The words seemed very distant to Ithica's ears but rang loud in his mind.
"Think about it, little one. Think about having your own group of people that want so badly for you to succeed. "
Yai reached out and touched the scratched and bruised cheek of the Padawan. "A whole family, Ithica, your family."
If he had the strength to cry, he would have.
"That's what you wanted all along isn't it?" Yai leaned in as close as he could. "A family."
Ithica did cry, the tears finally spilling from his eyes.
"Come and be a part of my family." Yai soothed. "Please, Ithica." Yai placed his hand over Ithica's chest, right where the burn started. "Join us, and never hurt again."
Ithica tried to yell out, but all that came was a soft whimper.
Concentrating, Yai projected his thoughts and the very thing that made him who he was. His very essence, into the waiting Padawan. The cut, the deep burn that ran the length of the young man's torso, instantly began to heal. Not fully, but enough so that Ithica wouldn't die. At least, not today.
At last, Ithica sighed and drew in a deep breath; the first breath of his new life. A life that was born out of a presence that Ithica couldn't understand. Part of himself felt very diminished, but another part felt whole. Ithica wanted to call out to the consciousness that he felt in his mind, but that no longer seemed important.
"Welcome to our family," Yai soothed. "Come help us build an Empire."
Part of Ithica objected to that statement but another part, a part that was now gaining a lot of volume, became very excited.
Yai smiled and, in turn, that made Ithica smile.
Softly, as if speaking for the first time, Ithica whispered: "Glory."
"Glory." Yai echoed.