Chapter Seven: The First Sins
Mira's attempt to report to HAVOC Squad almost failed at the entrance.
Several Republic Troops intercepted her. When she insisted she needed to see Cress Va'Shann of HAVOC Squad, they laughed at her. One beefy corporal looked her over, clearly appraising her.
"I work with Viidu," she said, hoping that his influence would get her through, or at least get her back out unharmed.
The man just sneered. "I wouldn't namedrop Viidu," he said. "From what I hear, he might be on the way out."
"Corporal Vicks!"
A voice called out. Mira turned, and recognized the sergeant from outside the village. Had it only been that morning?
The corporal and his men straightened as their sergeant approached.
"You helped us," he said to her. "I'm sorry these men are repaying you so poorly."
Mira shrugged. "I've handled worse," she said, downplaying the encounter. There was no sense in making unnecessary enemies.
"You need to report to HAVOC?" he asked. She nodded. "I'll show you in."
He took her back to a large room with a holographic map in the center. A mustached man wearing captain's stripes – clearly the leader – was talking with a dour-looking Cathar lieutenant. Cress sat in the back of the room, resting even as he waited for someone to decide on his next order.
All eyes looked up as Mira entered. Cress stood, took a step toward her.
"This woman says she has important information," the sergeant told them. "I know her – I'm inclined to believe her."
He gave Mira a nod, then withdrew.
The captain was the first to speak. "I'm Harron Tavus, CO for HAVOC Squad," he said. "This is Lieutenant Jorgan, and that's – "
"Cress Va'Shann," she finished, nodding at him. "We met this morning."
"She saved my life in the village," Cress said. "And took out that air cannon."
Tavus' expression remained neutral, but she could see a shift in his eyes as he began reappraising her.
"Seems like we owe you a debt, Miss…?"
"Mira Kahl," she replied. "And much as I love the gratitude, I'm afraid I have bad news. I snuck into Mannett Point this afternoon - don't worry about why. But while I was there, I saw some of the hardware the seps have."
"Did you see a bomb?" Cress asked urgently. "It would have been under heavy guard."
She shook her head. "I was in a ventilation duct," she said. "Very limited field of vision. But I saw enough."
She described the hardware she had observed. Jorgan whistled.
"Sounds like our separatist friends are getting outside aid," he commented. "If we can take her word for it."
His tone was brusque, and his expression made clear that he wouldn't have taken her word if she'd told him it was nighttime.
"Forget my word," Mira snapped. "Take my pictures."
She pulled out her PADD, brought up the photos she had taken. Jorgan and Tavus looked at the images, exchanged a glance.
"May we make a copy of this data?" Tavus asked. The question was a mere pleasantry. Had Mira refused, they would have confiscated it anyway.
"Of course," she said. "While you're at it, make sure you copy the specs of the island that are in there. They aren't 100% up to date, but they're good enough. Oh, and so you know - security is very lax."
She described the perimeter, and how easy it had been for her to slip through.
"I wouldn't count on it staying that sloppy," Jorgan remarked. He eyed the image of the Walker and the air cannons. "This wasn't scavenged by homegrown terrorists. They're getting help from outside." He glanced at Tavus. "And I think we both know who has to be giving it."
Tavus said nothing, but it was obvious even to Mira how troubled the captain was.
The sun was just starting to rise as Canlyn and her friends reached the summit of the Tythonian mountains. She caught her breath as she saw the first rays of dawn settle onto the mountain path, bathing the painstakingly-restored shrine of the Great Forge in light.
"No sign of Nalen," Ashara observed. "I think we beat him here."
"No scent, no track," Qyzen confirmed. "Small hunters have won this race."
Canlyn refused to make any assumptions. Nalen and Calief could be lying in wait, masking their presence.
"Let us be mindful," she said.
The shrine of the Great Forge was actually a very small space, a chamber designed for a single person. Canlyn entered as her friends stood guard. The room was empty, save for the Force crystals sprinkled around, waiting for a padawan to claim.
She probed the area with her senses. Nothing. It was as Rajivari had said – The advantage of knowing her destination had offset Nalen's head start.
Probably not by much, however. There was no time to waste. Even if she was still a padawan, not yet at the end of her training, she would need to build a lightsaber.
"This will require all my concentration," she told her friends. "Would you two please watch out for me?"
"Like you have to ask?" Ashara replied, unhesitantly.
Qyzen agreed. "Make your weapon. You have earned. No one shall disturb you."
Canlyn knelt. She drew out the hilt of the First Blade and separated it from its casing. She lay the two pieces on the floor in front of her. She closed her eyes and meditated, selecting the crystal for her lightsaber.
This was a sacred part of the ritual. The color of the crystal that powered a Jedi's lightsaber was as personal and significant as the blade itself. Blue crystals, the most common, represented the physical level of The Force. Master Caecinius wielded a blade of blue. Yellow crystals, such as the one that powered Master Syo's lightsaber, pointed to a balance between combat and scholarship. Green crystals were the rarest. Green represented the mysteries of The Force. To choose that color was to declare a dedication to the endless exploration of truth.
Canlyn opened her eyes. An emerald crystal floated before her. She had not specifically willed it, but somehow her mind had pulled it to her. As soon as she saw the color, she felt its rightness.
The next stage was the most difficult. She could not push the components together. She must only nudge, suggest, and leave The Force to bind them or not, as it willed.
The pieces hovered in midair. A thin strand of electricity emerged from the crystal, tentatively exploring the hilt. Another electric web shot to the outer casing. The three floated together, as if in some kind of mating dance. Gradually, they came together. The crystal slid over the hilt, then the casing over it all. Sparks engulfed the whole, then faded.
Where there had been three objects, there was now only one. Canlyn grasped the hilt and rose, activating it. She emerged from the shrine into the early morning air, raising the blade high above her head, pointing it directly at the sky. What had been the Hilt of the First Blade was now her own lightsaber. An expression of her will through The Force, and The Force's through her.
Ashara gaped, awed in spite of herself. "Lyn. You – "
Whatever she was about to say, she did not get the chance. A curved stick connected with her head, and she slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Nalen Raloch stood a few meters down the path, the slumped form of Qyzen at his feet. He approached the shrine, pausing at the steps below Canlyn.
"Fitting that it's you," he said. "Armed with the last lightsaber this Forge will ever make."
Canlyn reached out to him with her left hand, palm open, claws retracted. An offering of peace.
"Nalen," she said. "Your must sense that your power is destroying you. There is still time to save yourself."
"Go ahead and talk, Jedi," the Twi'lek sneered. "That's all you do, isn't it? Talk, and nod, and preach, and do nothing while the Flesh Raiders ravage our home!" He reached for his hunter's axe. "I know Rajivari's secrets," he spat. "Only I can protect my people. Our village, our families, our future!"
"How is this helping your people?" Canlyn demanded. "Think of Allia. She's worried for you, Nalen. She does not want this."
"I did this for Allia!" he shouted. "I did this for all of them! They can't see the danger you Jedi pose, but I can."
"How does this protect them? How will destroying this Forge weaken the Flesh Raiders? How will it make your people safe?"
Nalen's eyes darted about in confusion. "It will make sense when you're dead," he said. But the certainty in his tone was gone.
Canlyn stepped toward him, deactivating her lightsaber.
"What are you doing?" Nalen growled, raising his axe again. "Raise your weapon. Fight me!"
"No." She took another step. "I believe you are a good man. You have been scarred by the losses you have endured, but still you work to fortify your village, making it a little safer from the Flesh Raiders each month."
He was shaking now. As she moved toward him, he backed away.
"My people must be safe," he insisted. "My people die, and the Jedi do nothing! My matriarch supplicates herself to your Council, begs for aid, and still the Jedi do nothing!"
Canlyn returned the hilt to her belt, held up both hands. "If the Jedi have wronged you, I am sorry," she said.
She saw instantly that her words had not been well chosen.
"If?" he snarled, raising his axe again. "I have seen Flesh Raiders carrying off our children! I have found their bones in their camps, gnawed by their teeth! If? "
Canlyn held his gaze. Slowly, she knelt before him.
"What are you doing?" Nalen demanded, taking another step back. "What Jedi trickery is this?"
"Revenge is the path to the Dark Side," she said calmly. "But if you must have revenge, then take it on me. I will not fight."
Nalen raised his axe. His hands shook. He stared at her, and she met his gaze calmly.
He lowered the axe, then fell to his own knees beside her.
"I just want my people to be safe!" He buried his head in his hands and began to weep.
Another voice sounded from behind him. A harsh, scornful voice.
"Coward! Kill her! Kill her and destroy this monument to Jedi weakness!"
A man approached. A human. He wore Jedi robes, but held a lightsaber that was a deep red. He raised a hand to Nalen, and blue lightning shot out. The Twi'lek screamed as he was struck, thrashed on the ground.
"Worm," the man growled.
Canlyn jumped between the lightning and Nalen, raising a hand to reflect it back at the attacker. The lightning stopped immediately, leaving her and the man mere feet apart, facing each other.
"Calief, I presume," she said.
He bowed mockingly. "It is well that you know your executioner. Don't bother sharing your own name, Jedi. I will not remember it."
He lunged. Canlyn barely activated her lightsaber in time to parry the blow, then dodged another by the merest whisker.
She mentally placed herself back on the training grounds. She recalled Master Caecinius' lessons. "Don't stop moving!" She put herself in motion, circling around Calief, studying for weak spots.
"Your form is textbook," Calief complimented, as she parried another slash.
Master Caecinius' voice again. "Commit to your assault… In genuine combat, you cannot afford to hold back." She saw an opening and took it, pushing forward with all her strength. Calief was forced to back away as she dealt a series of hard slashes. She lunged, and he cried out as her saber slashed his side.
Calief stared at the injury. Then he grinned. "What do you know? The cat has claws."
He ducked low and ran at her, headbutting her in the stomach. She was sent reeling back, gasping for air. She only barely held onto her blade.
Calief rushed in, delivering a cyclone of blows. She managed to parry, but the effort left her drained. She was down on one knee, holding his blade at bay with her own.
His free hand came down on the side of her head, a hard punch that knocked her flat to the ground. She lost her grip on her lightsaber. She watched as it rolled away.
Calief stood over her, his own blade in hand.
"You are weak, like the rest of the Jedi," he said. "We will reshape the Order, make it strong."
"Rajivari believed the same," Canlyn gasped. "Like him, you will fail."
He raised his blade to deliver the death blow. Canlyn forced herself to keep her eyes open, determined to face the moment of her death.
The moment did not come. Instead, there was a flash of blue. Then slowly, almost agonizingly, Calief's head slid from his shoulders. There was no blood. The wound had been cauterized even as it was inflicted.
"What – ?"
Master Caecinius stood over her, the bold blue of his lightsaber crackling.
He deactivated the weapon and held his hand out to Canlyn, pulled her to her feet.
"Collect your weapon, Jedi," he instructed. She remembered her dropped lightsaber. She reached out a hand, and it leapt to her. She returned the blade to her belt.
Her mind tried to form one of a thousand questions. Where had he come from? How had he known to look for her? Nothing coherent emerged, but he sensed her confusion and explained.
"When you reported your destination to Master Yuon, she immediately updated the Council. And speeders are faster than walking"
He had brought a med team with him. Behind him, Canlyn could see them tending to both Ashara and Qyzen.
No one was checking on Nalen.
Canlyn turned away from Caecinius, going to the Twi'lek hunter. He still lay on the ground, his breathing ragged. She knelt at his side, checking his injuries. She had stopped Calief's lightning quickly, and the physical harm was superficial. Still, he continued to twitch and sob.
"I think his mind is broken," Caecinius said. His voice sounded cold, dismissive.
Canlyn felt the unwelcome anger rise again.
"He is our responsibility," she insisted. "Calief may have molded him into a weapon against us, but we were the ones who ignored his village. We were the ones who put out an artifact we knew might be unsafe. We committed the first sins!"
Caecinius was obviously unconvinced, but he was not inclined to argue the point.
"We will bring him back with us," he said. "The Council will decide what to do from there."
He activated his transmitter and called for a shuttle to pick them up. Canlyn stayed by Nalen's side until it arrived, and remained with him until they landed at the Temple. Only when she could see the medics taking him for treatment did she allow Master Caecinius to lead her away.