Bastila:
Rian was in no condition to be moving around. The only reason she hadn't crumpled into a nauseated ball was because she was relying on my life force through our bond. It was an unusual sensation and I wasn't exactly fond of it.
Yet, I couldn't find it in my heart to reprimand her. Master Vrook had made a point to visit me privately away from the ears of the other masters' nights ago. A troubling man, his words were hasty and to the point.
"She is quick to laugh, quick to anger and above all foolhardy," Master Vrook had said. "Everything that a Jedi is not. But she is sincerely a good child with well meant intentions. If you put your mind to it, you can protect her, but if you become confident for a moment, she will destroy you."
It wasn't the most pleasant bit of information that I've ever received. After Master Vrook had left to skulk in the shadows again, I was left shivering.
Perhaps he had a point. Rian wasn't so horrible, if I could ignore every word that passed her lips. The constant turbulent emotions were still unsettling, but the soul beneath it all wasn't nearly as bad as the one Rian sought to portray. I could only wish that the woman decided to take a vow of silence.
She was quiet at the moment. Rian appeared to be inspecting the cobwebs on the wall, but our bond told me she was trying to will away her hang over. Carth was a few steps behind her, like always, watching warily. Master Vrook wanted me to protect her. How could I protect her if I couldn't even get close to her?
I had to reach out to her. I smiled. Rian continued her thorough inspection of the wall, she hadn't even noticed. I swallowed the sigh that tried to escape; I had to be made of stronger stuff than that.
The steps I took towards Carth were slow and my hard soled boots assured that my movement was audible. Carth's thick neck muscles tensed as he heard me approach. Was I really monstrous enough to warrant such a greeting?
"We could always come back later when Rian is feeling better," I suggested quietly.
"Are you scared?" Rian finally turned her face around. Her eyes looked black in the dim light as she glared at me.
"No," I forced the words to my tongue. "I'm not."
'Scared' couldn't possibly describe the utter terror that coursed through me whenever I was in the woman's presence. Master Vrook warned me against confidence; I sorely wished he had some advice in regards to fear.
"I'm concerned about you," I said. "I don't want you to get hurt because you insist on being here when you're not well."
"I'm fine," she insisted.
"Carth, talk some sense into her," I pleaded. "Please."
"No way." Carth threw up his hands. "I've learned my lesson. I'm not picking sides. I'm staying out of this. You two will eat me alive regardless of what I say."
"I'm fine, I'm going in," Rian growled. "If you want to stay out here until your knees stop quaking, be my guest, but I won't be keeping you company."
She pushed herself off from the wall and staggered through the entrance way. I shot Carth a frantic look, but he just shrugged. Rian's scream, followed by a large crash sent Carth running after her. I trotted after him, my hand on my lightsaber.
Rian was sprawled out on the stone ground, a disgruntled look on her face. Her legs were twisted around a heap of cloth and a travel sack.
"What's that doing in the middle of the floor?" Carth chuckled as he went to retrieve Rian.
My throat felt like it was closing in on itself, but I pushed myself forward. It was exactly what I feared. The deep blue material was what was left of a battered Jedi robe, the glint of a lightsaber hilt shone beneath Rian's left ankle. A Jedi had become one with the Force and Rian had tripped over his remains.
"Is there any identification in the travel sack?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Carth asked as he hoisted Rian to her feet.
"A Jedi died there, I just want to know who it was," I said.
"There's no body here," Rian grumbled.
"When Jedi die, they become one with the Force so there is no body," I hastily explained. "There's his robe, his lightsaber and his travel sack. I just want to know if there is any identification in his sack."
"You mean Jedi robes come in all colors?" Rian asked.
"What?" I spluttered.
"I get this dingy looking brown, but that Jedi got a nice blue," Rian said. "Why did I get gypped?"
"That's all you can think about?" I demanded. "Someone died here."
"So, people die all the time," she replied. "There's nothing we can do about it. But I can get a new robe. Should I ask one of the Masters? You've got a pretty pink one too. Would they have red?"
"I hate to interrupt," Carth cut in. "But we're not alone."
My eyes followed his finger to the center of the room. An enormous droid burbled and churned. Its ancient spider-like limbs creaked as it turned its sensor light at us. I readied my lightsaber, if that droid was capable of killing a fellow Jedi I couldn't let my guard down.
The red sensor light focused on Rian and the droid paused. Rian raised an eyebrow, but she made no move for her weapon. How that woman managed to live as long as she had was beyond me.
The droid gurgled. It was a strange language of fricatives and alliteration, but I couldn't decipher a single thing the droid said. My stomach tied itself into a knot at that realization, as an apprentice in the academy one of the first things the Jedi teach is a vast array of common languages. My tongue wasn't the best for handling Rodese, but my ears understood perfectly well.
Fortunately, Rian didn't nod along with the droid. Instead, she scratched the back of her head.
"I don't understand you," she told the droid.
The droid stopped speaking abruptly. The sound of whirring gears echoed in the relatively empty tomb. I placed my lightsaber back in my belt and knelt down by the deceased Jedi's travel pack. Plain and indistinguishable, the only way that I could figure out the name of the dead Jedi would be to search through the pack. I gingerly opened it. Along with the expected rations and medkit, a holocron was safely tucked away in a pocket.
The flick of a finger illuminated two forms. A Twi'lek woman and an adolescent Cathar shadowing her nervously. The Twi'lek glanced over her shoulder at the Cathar and chuckled.
"Come now, Juhani," the Twi'lek amicably scolded. "Say hello to Nemo."
Juhani, who couldn't have been more than twelve when the holocron was recorded glanced up from her feet and stared out wide eyed.
"Hello," she slurred in awkward Basic.
"We'll be leaving for Dantooine in two days, Nemo," the Twi'lek continued. "I expect a cup of tea and to meet this new student of yours."
The image fluttered out and I shook my head. Of all the Jedi the council could have chose to send here, they had to decide on such a good-natured, kind old man like Nemo. The decision was above me, but I could still be saddened by the results.
Rian looked bored as she shook her head at the droid. "Nope. I still don't understand you."
"I think the droid is trying to communicate with us by cycling through a variety of languages," I offered. "Each time it spoke it was using a very different alien dialect. The droid can probably understand us. The problem is it may not have been programmed with the phonemes of a language we can understand."
Rian met my assistance with an ugly expression. Judging from how cranky she was, I suspected she was in dire need of a nap.
" /I can reproduce any of the languages spoken by the slaves of the builders,/ " the droid stated.
"Hey!" Rian exclaimed. "I understood that!"
"Well, I didn't," Carth said. "It sounds like garbled Selkath."
"That's because it's an archaic variant of the Selkath dialect spoken on Manaan," I replied. "But why would a droid on Dantooine be programmed to speak ancient Selkath?"
" /Communication was vital to ensure that the slaves constructed this temple according to the wishes of the Builders,/ " the droid explained. " /But you are not of the slave species. Neither are you of the Builders'. You are like the one who came before. /"
"It must be referring to Revan," I realized. "The Dark Lord and Malak likely encountered the droid when they explored the ruins."
"Would someone mind translating for me?" Carth demanded. Lines creased his face in the characteristic suspicion of his that made Rian so weary. I think I was beginning to share her sentiments.
"You can translate for yourself," Rian said.
Carth raised an eyebrow and she scowled.
"I'm serious," Rian insisted. "Ancient Selkath is just a less fancy version of Selkath. You can speak Selkath can't you?"
"A little," Carth grudgingly admitted.
"Then you can speak ancient Selkath no problem," Rian decided. "It's lazier, with more assumption involved. If I'm talking to you for instance, I wouldn't say 'you' or 'Carth' because it's a given fact that I'm talking to you, so the 'you' would be viewed as an unnecessary word."
"I think I understand." Carth forced an awkward smile.
"So if I wanted to tell you that you stunk like a bantha," Rian grinned. "I wouldn't say, 'you stink like a bantha,' I'd say, 'stink like bantha'."
"Real cute," Carth replied dryly.
"See?" Rian laughed. "You're getting the hang of it already."
A frown began to form on my lips and I willed it away. How was it that they were able to put each other at ease in a dreary place like this? It was so frustrating that every time I tried to put something to right between us I somehow managed to make it worse. The masters told me it would get better with time, but I was beginning to doubt it. Everyone else seemed content with their already formed relationships aboard the Ebon Hawk. The droid liked me. At least, I thought he did. If he didn't, I could always reprogram him.
"Perhaps we should continue our exploration of the ruins," I suggested.
Rian pretended to ignore me and turned to the droid.
"Are you some type of guardian?" she asked it.
"/ I am the Overseer, /" the droid answered. " /The Builders programmed me to enforce discipline among the slaves while the monument to the power of the Star Forge was constructed. At project completion all slaves were executed. I was reprogrammed to serve should a Builder return in search of knowledge of the Star Forge./ "
"All I caught was something about a Star Forge," Carth began, but was immediately silenced by Rian's raised hand.
"How long have you been here?" Rian asked.
" My chronological circuits have marked over ten full revolutions of this systems outermost planet around the sun since the Builders left. /"
I did the math in my head and my jaw fell open.
"Ten revolutions would take more that 20,000 years," I murmured. "If this is true then this droid is nearly 5,000 years older than the Republic itself. There must be some mistake."
The droid flickered its red light at me.
" /There is no mistake,/ " it said. " /The Builders constructed my chronological circuitry using the technology of the Star Forge itself. My calculations are infallible./ "
Rian chuckled and pointed at the rapidly flitting light. "I think the droid's mocking you," she said.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you influenced it somehow," I muttered.
The guffaw that erupted from Rian sounded unnatural in the empty space of the ruins. "That droid has nothing on any rust bucket I'd program," she managed between giggles.
"The droid seems to respond better to you," I noted. "Why don't you try asking it something else?"
Rian nodded and cleared her throat. "Droid, is there any way I could get Bastila to lighten up?"
I blushed furiously.
" /This Bastila is unknown to me,/ " the droid stated matter-of-factly. "/ It has nothing of relevance to the glory that is the Star Forge./ "
"Don't let her get to you," Carth whispered.
"I'm fine," I insisted. "Really." My hands felt cold as I pressed them against my cheeks.
"For all I know she might be trying to make friends with you," he suggested.
"And perhaps a rancor is just lonely as well," I replied. "But we stay away from them regardless."
"Alright, serious question now," Rian announced. "Who are these Builders you keep talking about?"
" /The Builders are the great masters of the galaxy, the conquerors of all worlds, the rulers of the infinite empire and creators of the Star Forge,/ " the droid said.
"These Builders must have been an extinct people," I deduced. "Though it is strange there is no record of their existence. Even the archives at the Jedi Academy make no mention of them.
"In the years before the Republic the Hutts were a dominant force in the galaxy, but they never constructed an empire. In fact, I know of no species that would fit with this information."
"I can't believe that this has been sitting here right next to a Jedi enclave and they don't have any information about it in their archives," Rian snorted.
"It actually makes me relieved," Carth admitted. "It's good to know that the Jedi aren't as infallible as they pretend to be."
I swallowed my pride. "It's one thing for fools who aren't connected to the Order to scoff at it, but please, Rian, as a Jedi, treat it with some respect."
Rian appeared startled. She gave me a curious look but said nothing. Instead, she turned back to the droid.
"Have you seen a Builder recently?" she asked.
" /I have been here ever since the completion of this monument, /" the droid answered. "/ In all this time no Builder has returned to seek information on the Star Forge. /"
" What is the Star Forge? " Rian asked.
"/ The Star Forge is the glory of the Builders, the apex of their infinite empire, /" the droid gurgled enthusiastically. "/ It is a machine of invincible might, a tool of unstoppable conquest. /"
"You don't really know what it is, do you?" Rian replied blandly.
"/ The Star Forge is the glory of the Builders, the apex of their infinite empire, /" the droid repeated. "/It is a machine of invincible might, a tool of unstoppable conquest. /"
"The droid is obviously not programmed with the knowledge we seek." I sighed. "The Star Forge sounds like some type of weapon, perhaps, though in fact, it could be anything."
"Could it have been a factory or weapon's plant?" Rian suggested.
I made a mental note to confer with the masters later. "Maybe, that might explain how the Sith were able to amass a fleet so quickly," I replied. "But I suspect the Star Forge is more powerful than a mere factory. Maybe the droid has more information we can use?"
"Where can we find the Star Forge?" Rian asked.
"/ Now that the slaves are gone, my purpose is to aid those who seek knowledge of the Star Forge,/ " the droid acknowledged. "/ If they are worthy. The ones who came before you, the ones like you, not Builders but not slaves, sought knowledge of the Star Forge and its origins. They proved themselves to be worthy. They discovered the secrets of the Star Forge locked beyond the sealed door behind me. But there was another who failed to unlock the secrets and paid the ultimate price. /"
"The droid must be talking about poor Nemo," I murmured. "The council sent him here to investigate and it cost him his life."
I heard the snap hiss of a lightsaber and nervously fingered my own. Ignited lightsaber in her hand, Rian had a malicious grin.
"How can I prove myself worthy?"
