Jarik POV...
"No, not that! This one goes there, that one goes there! Got it?" I explained irritably, pointing at the different electrical components of the ship.
R5 squealed back at me in annoyance, but did as I told him to do, fixing up the correct parts of the ship. I sighed in exasperation before continuing with my own part of the repairs. During the last day we've gone through, Ahsoka, Mara and I had all returned back to the ship in order to fix it up. We've already been out of contact with anyone else for almost an entire week by now, so Senator Organa was bound to be freaking out. I don't entirely know how he would be taking it, and he'd probably rule out the possibility of us being dead, since the Empire would probably send out a public message to boast about it.
While Ahsoka worked on the engines, having more experience than the rest of us, me and R5 were working on repairing the electrical grid to the ship, as well as fixing the hyperdrive. During our escape, it was hit pretty badly, and the hyperdrive motivator was cracked, in need of serious repair. Luckily the Knight Hawk has spare hyperdrive parts that are required to fix it, but without the proper equipment or tools, it would definitely take some time. Mara spent the time practicing with her lightsaber and the Force or receiving some mechanical lessons from Ahsoka. While we're here ti would be a good opportunity to get some practicing in for her, since there's nothing else for us to do really besides repair the ship. And I was curious about this planet as well, especially after hearing Satele's voice before waking up.
The electrical comparator suddenly sparked violently, and I pulled my hand back with a muffled curse, shaking it to relieve some of the pain. This was some absolute crap right now. R5 let off a small laugh at my accident and I sent him a death glare in return before getting up from where I was on the floor.
"Well this is a bust," I muttered to myself, exiting the room towards the engines, where Ahsoka currently was. On my way there, I passed by my room before stopping, turning to look in there with a confused frown. Sitting on the desk was my holocron, and it had a dim blue glue, something I haven't really seen it do on its own before. Curious, I entered the room and slowly walked up to the holocron, raising a hand to pick it up.
Upon touching it, the blue glow turned a little bit brighter. That's when a voice starts to echo around me: it sounds like Satele, although I can't make it out. Almost instinctively, I reach out with my other hand and touch the holocron gently with the tip of my finger, pulling my hand away after.
A small hologram of Satele shows up, which surprises me. How could a hologram recording of her be on this? It was never made or had any such files of her in there...
She speaks, although it seems like broken up files and dialogue mashed together.
"...are you alright...(static)...peace is the ideal padawan...(static)...these are the moments we strive for...(static)...the temple is buzzing with...(static)...suggest you prepare to face...(static)...you...(static)...always made me proud..."
I continue to listen to the different recordings of her speaking, finding the last bit kind of touching, and I have to wonder if this is her way of trying to tell me something.
"...find the temple...(static)...disturbing confrontation...(static)..."
That's when things start to get weirder, as the hologram of Satele suddenly clears up, no longer full of static, and she seems to be looking directly at me. I widen my eyes slightly.
"...Sidious..." she says, like a warning, which triggers some flash of a vision in my mind.
She stands with another man, similar in his looks to her, staring up at a massive, humanoid looking droid... or something else, which stares down at them.
Vision changes to show a much older Satele standing inside of what looks like a dark, shadowy temple. In front of her is a series of misty images, and Darth Sidious appears in the smoke, cackling in delight. Satele stands in a defensive position, and then the vision fades away.
I'm jerked out of my vision, and then the hologram fades away with a slight glowing shade of red. As the red glow fades away, I can hear a distant echoey shriek... and I know immediately that the scream belongs to Darth Sidious.
With a startled yelp, I drop the holocron as it feels like my hand was shocked violently, and watch it fall to the floor, now sitting innocently as if nothing ever happened. I stare down at it warily in confusion, slowly picking up the holocron and placing it back on the desk. Through the Force, I then sense someone at the door and turn around to see Ahsoka standing there, a look of concern on her face.
"Are you alright?" she asks.
"I'm, not sure," I admit, glancing back at the holocron.
"What did you see?" she asked, moving forwards.
"It was Satele, in a jumbled message," I told her.
"Satele?" she asks in confusion. "I thought she wasn't ever recorded on that holocron..."
I nod my head in agreement. "I know... but thats besides the point. It sounded like she wants me to find something, a temple."
"A temple..." Ahsoka murmurs. "You don't think she means the first Jedi Temple, do you?" Ahsoka questions thoughtfully.
I give off a shrug. "Maybe... but we are on the planet that birthed the Jedi Order," I pointed out. "When I came out of my coma, Satele also told me to come find the temple. I think it's something I have to do," I told her.
She nods slowly in understanding. "Alright, then go. Mara, R5 and I can finish up the repairs of the ship while you're gone."
"You sure I should go galavanting off like this?" I ask her skeptically, despite the pull from the Force to do exactly that.
"I think this is, I guess once again, another journey you need to go on Jarik," she tells me.
"Oh how familiar," I mutter with a role of my eyes.
"Yup," she says with a smirk. "Besides, we'll all be fine. It's not like the Empire has any presence on this planet right? We only got here through sheer luck," she points out.
"Alright, well, I'll see you soon then," I tell her.
We share a quick goodbye kiss before I separate from her, grabbing a small supply kit and exiting the ship with a small speeder in tow. We keep two of these on the ship just for emergencies whenever we need to use one on a planet, and how wonderful it'll come in handy here. Force knows how awful it would be if I had to travel at the rate of one of the Viking's boats on water and wind travel. I grimace at the thought of that.
Mounting the speeder, I close my eyes and stretch out with the Force, looking for the pull that I've been feeling ever since coming out of the coma. It feels like it takes forever, but once I finally do, the Force seems to pulse around me, showing me a certain direction to travel. Opening my eyes, I turn in the direction the Force is guiding me, and take off, weaving through the trees on this island before quickly coming out to a beach, shooting southwest across the open ocean in the direction of what I hope is the Jedi Temple.
Ahsoka POV...
Later that evening, hours after Jarik had left, I was sitting on the ramp of the ship, looking out at the view of the sunset through the trees, being able to have such a view from our ship crashing through them. I was worried for him of course, but he could take care of himself out there. Mara was already asleep, having gotten tired early after spending the day filled with Jedi lessons and ship repair.
I sensed a familiar light presence in the Force, and looked up at the branches of a nearby tree to see the convor once again perched there, looking down at me. I stood up and looked back at the convor curiously.
"Who are you? And where do you come from?" I ask. "I'm curious to know," I tell the convor.
She blinks her eyes and hoots, stepping off of the branch and taking flight, swooping through the trees. Before disappearing, it turns on its wings and hovers in the air, chirping at me with a gesturing motion before taking off again. Getting the message, I jog after the convor, brushing aside small trees and bushes that are in my way in pursuit of it.
This goes on for another few minutes as she continuously stops periodically to make sure I'm following, before flying off again. Eventually, I move a bush out of my face to reveal a small clearing in front of a cliff at the edge of the island. Sea stacks and large mountainous cliffs surround the area, the ocean smashing against the rocks far below. What really gets my attention is something that the convor is perched on at the edge. I widen my eyes in shock when I realize what the statue resembled.
The statue was a crumbling, ancient and eroded, but close enough sculpted image of the Daughter.
Jarik POV...
I don't know what I hate worse: sandy deserts or massive expanses of ocean. I'd probably been speeding across the surface of the ocean for about an hour and a half now, and it seemed like their was no end to this ridiculous adventure in sight as far as I could see. The twin suns were now positioned lower in the sky, signaling the start of early evening, and I sighed irritably in slight exhaustion, pulling a ration bar from my kit attached to the speeder. Taking a bite, I grimaced at the bland tasting food, having never liked it since my first mission on Geonosis anyways.
Thinking about Geonosis... that feels like such a long time ago now, when things were different. I never expected to gain such a huge name for myself in the Clone Wars, much less figure out I'm descended from Revan and Bastila. Despite all the bad things I've seen during the Clone War, part of me wishes to return to that time of ignorance, when I was young and happier, with Ahsoka as my best friend, Master Kenobi being a wonderful teacher, and Anakin as the funny, if determined and serious Jedi General to banter with. Reality to what the Clone Wars really were with Sidious is just a killer. Me and Ahsoka have come so far since then... I lost my arm, battled Sith Lords and apprentices, and now I'm a father with an adopted child, and a Jedi Knight, teaching my own student alongside Ahsoka.
I was broken out of my trip down memory lane when the water beside me suddenly exploded, and out popped what looked like a huge green marine reptile, probably another species of dragon that seems so popular to this planet. It roars at me, and I swerve to the side with a yelp when a blast of water gets shot from its mouth in my direction.
A small splash of that dragon's water manages to hit my left hand, and to my surprise, my prosthetic steams and groans and some of the metal becomes deformed under the heat of the water.
"Are you kidding me?!" I exclaim in shock and irritation.
The dragon roars again and I gunned it hard on the speeder, going as fast as I could away from it. I was in no mood right now to think about fighting a water dragon, especially one that can melt my face off, in the middle of the ocean. Glancing behind me, I notice it following underwater after my speeder and roll my eyes in exasperation. What could I have possibly done to anger the stupid thing?
The Force sends me a warning, and I swerve to the right as the dragon bursts up from underneath the surface, intending to ram me before I moved. As it comes down again, I raise a hand and send a Force blast at it, sending the dragon flying back through the water a few feet. It cries out in obvious surprise, not knowing what just happened as I travel onwards.
Looking forwards, I see a small pinprick on the horizon in front of me and narrow my eyes. Whatever that is must be an island, so I push myself faster. Stretching out with the Force I try to confirm whether or not that is the place I'm looking for, but there's too much going on for me to tell. A burst of water gets shot at me again, and I dodge the water blast, moving towards the island. This guy just won't give up! And apparently water dragons are fast too, which is so lucky for me.
The island ahead of me gets closer, and now I can get a sense of serenity from the island in the Force, very lightly, almost unnoticeably, but it slowly grows the closer I get. I smile to myself. This must be it!
Another loud splash from behind me gets my attention, and I glance back to see the dragon raise its head out of the water, preparing to fire a blast of boiling water. I prepare to move out of the way, when it suddenly closes its mouth again, and almost... calms down. It falls behind, lowering its head underneath the water again before disappearing, apparently not having an interest in me anymore.
"What...?" I mutter t myself in confusion before shrugging it off. No water dragon chasing me, the better. Turning my gaze forwards once again, I can now see the island clearly, the twin suns setting behind it, bathing the island in a warm, beautiful glow. The light side of the Force resonates gently around it, and yet I can also sense a small amount of something else on it somewhere, feeling like an annoying itch. I can't make it out, but this has to be the place based on the Force signature.
Eventually, I pull up alongside a small rocky beach, slowing down and parking the speeder in the middle of the flat earth. Dismounting, I look around, wrapping my cloak tighter around me against the cold, salty mist that sprayed up. In front of me was the beginning of a long pathway of stone steps, leading up the island towards the center.
"This is it..." I say quietly to myself, pressing forwards.
I could hardly believe it. I was at the sight of the actual, first Jedi Temple, a place nobody has visited for probably thousands of years.
Oooohh, the first Jedi Temple has been found! :D
Also all of the words Satele said in that hologram, besides "Sidious" of course, are actual quotes from her in Legends that I picked up. And big surprise for you all, she learns about Darth Sidious! How and where, that's yet to be known hehehe, but in her later years something happens where she obviously learns his name.
And Ahsoka is on her own little quest to find out why the convor really has been following them, and just who Morai truly is.
Thank you guys so much for supporting this story! And also, a new side-story will be coming out, and it's going to be Forces of Destiny (suggested by Shadow Solaris), which I think would be a fun little idea. I know not many people seem to like it, but I think its a fun little mini-series directed at much younger audiences, but we can all agree that the Ahsoka episodes are great. :)
