Chapter Twenty-Three
Dantius brought Morgause to the first of four worlds that he had put on his charts for Morgause. Each one was supposed to be darker and more twisted with the powers of evil than the last so that Morgause understood the true extent of how a Sith Lord's search for power could affect the galaxy for long periods of time. Yavin 4 was the first on his projection as the Republic had managed to secure a permanent foothold in the wake of the return of Vitiate to the galaxy. Ziost was claimed after the Sith were forced to abandon it and Korriban, the most recent addition, was still being met with pockets of resistance. The fourth world, however, would be one that had been forever tainted by Vitiate and his appetite for immortality.
Upon setting foot on Yavin 4, Dantius asked Morgause to describe to him what she felt. "There are... beacons. Beacons of black fire which call to me like a moth to a light: I know it's dangerous to me yet I am urged forward by my Sith training," she admitted. Dantius ensured that there was no way she could go forward, in part by restricting her to the immediate vicinity to their shuttle and occasional enforcement of this restriction.
"Millennia ago, a young Jedi named Exar Kun came to this world to explore the ancient knowledge of the Sith left behind. He discovered and took over the Massassi within the temples of this place, dominating them so that he could use them in his armies. When he was defeated, his physical body died but his spirit was tied to the temple in which he fell, his hope having been to free his identity and power from his body to wreak havoc on the cosmos. There is currently no way to destroy him, anymore than there is a way to eliminate the traces of the Sith Lord who seduced him known as Freedon Nadd," Dantius explained to her.
"It stinks of hate, anger, and destruction here. Did Kun get any followers with him? I mean, besides the Massassi," Morgause inquired.
"Do you know the story of Ulic Qel-Droma?" asked Dantius. She shook her head no and he told her that that would be the subject of their reading material while they traveled to their next destination. Ziost, a world consumed by Vitiate though less extensively than Nathema had been, was still a world of prominence in the Dark Side and still held much in the way of ancient evil. However, along the way, Morgause asked him the most critical question he had been expecting after he gave her the databank with the story of Qel-Droma.
"Do we truly need to go to other worlds after Ziost? I think I've seen enough to know why I should take the training of the Jedi into my own understanding of the Force. The Sith might have had the right idea about allowing the full extent of emotions to be felt but even the freedom of emotions is taken too far. They rely too much on the more passionate emotions for their own strength and think only to their own ambitions and desires. The Jedi may be wrong about suppressing emotions but at least they use their powers in service to a greater cause than themselves," Morgause confessed.
"And that is what I wanted you to understand before you could begin your training as a Jedi. It isn't that we Jedi cannot feel emotion but it is that we are often required to put their emotions aside to serve their duties to the greater galaxy and, usually, to the Republic itself. But a network of Jedi Sentinels known as the Sentience believes that the Jedi are limited by their alliance with the Republic in their struggle to suppress corruption throughout the galaxy," Dantius said.
"But you believe that unhinging the minds of the Sentience in their means will corrupt them as much as the enemies they intend to face down in the shadows. Therefore, you want to create a contingent that can stop them from completely unraveling what unity there is to be had in the galaxy with the war over," Morgause said. Dantius nodded and turned to her as he prepared to bring the ship out of hyperspace for the trip down to the surface of Ziost. Before they landed, he told her that she was finally understanding the true nature of the Dark Side on her own terms.
"You will become a grand Jedi Knight if it is taking you so little time to understand what it is the Order aspires to protect the citizenry from. Ultimately, we intend to save the people from themselves and the Sentience knows this which is precisely why we cannot let them back us into a contradiction that they know our Code can produce for us. You will be trained to mentor the one who will help us against the Sentience if they should ever turn into the very things they swore to destroy when they first took up arms against the Sith," Dantius confessed. He didn't tell her that his former master, Mathes Colunga, was calling the shots in the Sentience and it was Colunga's attempt at forming the Uriek Confederacy that worried him.
The failure of his attempt to create a balanced alliance that paid homage to the ancient Je'daii in its construction had left him largely unhinged. Though he accepted the offer to return to the Jedi Order and a pardon for his treason in return for serving the Republic as it needed him, Dantius' worry lied in the free rein he'd been given since. Would time reveal Mathes to truly be interested in stopping corruption or would it reveal that fanatic devotion to a vision of balance had consumed his every fiber to the point of madness? Kultram, his new right hand man, was already an unhinged and unbalanced mind without factoring the possibility that Mathes was possibly the same way now.
"I can already feel the intensity of the Dark Side here, it's stronger than it was on Yavin 4 yet the Sith Lords there were older. Why is that?" Morgause asked.
"Normally, you'd be right about the older spirits having a stronger Dark Side presence. But here, something unnatural happened, something so vile and despicable that even the Sith Empire rallied with the Republic to stop the threat its source became. This is the mark of the damage that Vitiate was willing to do in order to secure his immortality, to hold death off another century when the Hero of Tython had depleted him of much of his power in their first battle," Dantius told her. They stepped into nausea, dizziness, and an urge to vomit when they stepped out their ship and unto the scarred surface of Ziost which had been used in the same ritual which had consumed Nathema.
"By the Force... what is this?" Morgause asked, lurching over and falling to her knees.
"This is the true definition," Dantius told her, clutching his gut, "of oblivion."
Chapter Twenty-Four
While Dantius was cutting his tour of Dark Side worlds a tad short, Ashlynn and Inoy were making the necessary preparations for their own freezing. It would take a few days and a little extra pay out of the wealth that Dantius had accumulated, particularly now that Morgause had placed her aunt's assets in a trust fund that included his own funding as well. Ideally, over the next ten years, their combined wealth would accumulate to so much that they could practically bankroll the Jedi Order themselves. This money would go toward paying for any allies that might help stop the Sentience as needed as well as pay off any mercenaries within the Sentience's ranks to turn the tide of any battle.
"I don't understand why Dantius never abandoned his attachment to credits when the Republic would've gladly compensated him for his troubles," Inoy admitted.
"Dantius was of the impression that if he held onto it and spent only what he needed to, he could make worthwhile investments that would advance the Jedi cause. Plus, he wouldn't need the stipend that all Jedi get which he instead had the Council channel towards humanitarian causes across the galaxy in the intervening years since he rejoined the Order. So far, it's lived up to the potential he saw in it and now with the wealth that Morgana accumulated and his general financial affluency (hailing from adoption by Muuns), we should see benefit the Order manyfold," Ashlynn told him. Inoy conceded that the wealth would indeed benefit the Jedi: with every credit of the trust fund going towards securing the Order's interests and needs, the Republic could focus on the task of helping their citizens rebuild in their all. As long as the trust fund information remained hidden from even the Council, the Jedi would benefit greatly from the proceeds in the intervening years.
Knowing this, Ashlynn commed Dantius to inform her that the Chancellor had approved of their motion to join the leaders of the Sentience in carbon freezing. "But the Chancellor has agreed only to let us be frozen for the remainder of the years that he has been allowed by the Senate. We'll be in there for the same ten years that he has put the Sentience under for while their plans move toward fulfillment. Meantime, we're going to need Morgause to put a serious lid on the trust fund unless the Council order that she donate every credit to the process of rebuilding the Republic and its people. With it, the Council won't even have to tax the wealthy more substantially than he's already going to need to for the Republic to remain afloat," she told him.
"Morgause has already signed a contract of silence, indicating that she will not speak of the trust fund and that only T7-A5 will have access to making deposits to Jedi accounts. But even then, he is programmed only to do it if Morgause approves the deposit in those accounts that the Order may afford the expense of rebuilding themselves without Republic aid. They'll also go a long way towards accelerating the demilitarization of the Order in preparation for its peacetime role as the guardians of justice across the stars," Dantius told her as he was traversing the hyperspace route to Coruscant.
"Should I apprise the Chancellor of Morgause's supervision of the trust fund?" asked Ashlynn.
"I already did before I set out with her to the other worlds. When I told him of the Sentience's leaders' need to be frozen, I originally told him that I was already going to bankroll their enterprises. I lied when I said they would need ever credit accumulated in a trust fund so that if he was somehow interrogated by a member of the Sentience, they wouldn't learn anything about it from him," Dantius explained.
"You lied to the Chancellor about the nature of the trust fund?" Ashlynn exclaimed.
"A necessary precaution against the Sentience stopping our attempts to put an end to their rampage if they end up being the next great threat with the Sith gone. Their message is guarding against corruption but we can never be entirely sure that they will not be corrupted in the process of serving their assigned duty. We need to place limits on their power wherever the Republic cannot, that is the nature of countermeasures like our carbon freezing ourselves and the trust fund that Morgause and I have together created. If we are going to put out the fire of the Sentience, we cannot do it with fire: we must be able to fight with water," Dantius explained to her.
"You've placed too much faith in your niece and too soon for this to be a healthy adventure between the two of you. Are you sure you are not blinded by your imperative to do right by your brother now that he has finally done right by you?" she replied.
"Morgause is much like her father in all of the right ways. She is resilient, she is powerful, she is ambitious, and she is patient and compassionate to a fault. Though brash and impulsive at times, she owes much more to the sins of youth (sins I recall you and I engaging in quite heavily, by the way) than to any part of her tutoring or her true nature. Besides, the fact she has sunk all of her inheritance from Morgana into this means that she is taking even greater risks than I am. Apparently, Morgana was my better by nearly four fold financially and I'm a multi-millionaire," Dantius countered.
"Let's hope the Council sees it that way, should the true nature of the trust fund ever come to light. You two are still taking a very dangerous risk, you most of all for all that you have asked the Chancellor to approve. And for what? We may never need to fight the Sentience for all we know, we may have done this for nothing!" she said.
"That's what I'm hoping but the instability of my former master leads me to wonder if his path will inevitably cross with the Dark Side once more. As it did when I served under him at Confederacy on Uriek.
"For all our sakes, I hope that the Council sees the light in your decision but with their influence and power throughout the war, we're all taking a very dangerous gamble here. Even I have sunk too far to return now that the carbon freezing motion has been approved. Has Morgause been assigned a Master who will understand her?" Ashlynn said.
"She will be assigned, by approval of the Council, to Inoy's former master Aria Tethys. Once training begins, she will be in good hands until we return from the carbon freezing to face down the Sentience if and as needed. No matter what, the Dark Side can never win," he said before cutting the transmission.
Epilogue
"By the right of the Council, by the will of the Force, I dub Morgause Brilliante Algethii a Jedi Knight of the Republic. You may rise and join your new Padawan learner," declared the Grandmaster of the Council. While Morgause was stung with slight regret at the absence of her uncle and his colleagues, she also understood it was for the greater good of the galaxy. Besides, her Master was there and that was more than enough for her to be happy at the moment.
"We welcome Menelaus Algethii into the Jedi Order and eagerly await to see what will become of him. Teach him well as Tethys has taught you, Morgause. He will need it in the years to come," added another member of the Jedi Council that Morgause recognized as the Jedi High Master. Morgause would've said she would try but she knew she would likely have been told to do or do not because there was no try in the Jedi Order.
"I promise only that I will instruct Menelaus in accordance with the will of the Force. Menelaus, will you come to accept your Padawan braid now?" asked the Grandmaster. Menelaus stepped forth, kneeling before the Grandmaster and bowing his head as Morgause had done before her Padawan braid was lopped off ceremoniously by his silver blade. As the lightsabers of the Council deactivated and the lights of the room flickered back on the Grandmaster reached for a pouch where he produced a metal braid.
He placed it around one of Menelaus' budding horns with an adhesive sticking the magnet to his flesh as the artificial tendril wrapped around the bony protrusion. "Welcome Menelaus, son of Hyperion and adopted brother to Morgause. The Jedi Order embraces you with open arms and hopes that you will become a powerful and worthy addition as your uncle has done," said the aging Grandmaster moments later. With the ceremony over, everyone was dismissed like nothing had happened though Morgause and Menelaus talked a good long while about what was to come for them.
"What's it going to be now, sis? I mean, Master," Menelaus asked.
"First of all, only call me Master in front of other Jedi. You're free to call me sis when we're alone. As for what it's going to be... I don't know. I guess all that we can do is live, laugh, love, and serve the ways of the Force however we can. Are you ready?" Morgause asked her foster brother. Menelaus thought carefully on it for a moment, walking and thinking at the same time as his sister did.
"Ah kriff it, it'll make pop happy. Plus you're my sister, with our uncle, your aunt, and our parents dead, all we really have in the end is each other," Menelaus said, opening his decision with a joke to ease the tension. Morgause chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder as they both walked down the hall of the Council to their destiny in the floors below.
"Menelaus, it might be premature of me to say this but something tells me the Force has some interesting plans for us both. You most especially with your power such as it is even at your young age," Morgause said. They traded no more words as they descended the elevator, due in part to other ears around them. When the shaft doors swung open, they stepped out to embrace their new purpose and new lives as Knight and Padawan.
A/N: Hey guys, thanks for sticking with me through this. Now that this is complete, I'll aim on having new content a little bit sooner though it will still be a ways out (not longer than it was before this, I promise. Have a great day and stay safe out there!
