Chapter 2
The air in the Jedi Temple was far cleaner than it had been on Yavin IV. The planet wide city was alive, full of people who remained unaffected by the horrors of war. It had been a long time since Lian Clowd had seen such peaceful faces, untouched by the death and destruction that affected the Mid and Outer-Rim.
"We lost so many younglings." Master Cypher Ichthys of Mon Calamari sighed.
"But we saved many more." Johanno Quinn responded.
Lian Clowd was in a meeting with the Jedi Council to discuss the fate of Abe and Sia. The council had changed a lot since he had held a seat. There was a zabrak male, ithorian, cerean female and a twi'lek male he didn't recognize. On top of that, one of the council members wasn't there at all. The only ones who showed up in person were Master Sitrus, Ichthys, Quinn, the small green Yin, and the chief Saber Master Finton Calras.
"Dark shadows rising in the outer rim." Yin said as he scratched his chin.
"We wish for you to remain here at the Jedi Temple and instruct Abe Rain." Calras said.
"What of the girl?" Lian asked.
"A new master, she must have." Yin said.
"I nominate Master Eagen." Sitrus said. There were gasps among the council members. Some whispered to themselves. All eyes fell upon the empty seat in the chambers.
"Are you mad?" Ichthys said.
"With all due respect, Master Eagen is hotheaded, hot tempered and…" Calras was interrupted by Master Sitrus before he could finish his thought.
"And one of the best fighters in the entire Jedi Order." Sitrus stated. "His swordsmanship rivals yourself."
"If you put her under the tutelage of a man like that…" Ichthys started. "I fear that with the missions he is so eager to take, and with the darkness inside his heart, you will be delivering Sia Rayne right into Darth Mallow's clutches."
"It is the shadows looming over the both of them that convinced me to make this decision." Sitrus said. "No other Jedi knows the Dark Side quite like Master Eagen. I believe that together, they can end this war."
"And I believe that if they fall to the Darkness as so many others have then they could spell the end of the Jedi Order." Ichthys said.
"I have staked my entire reputation on Master Eagen. He is a member of this council no matter how much you may protest."
"I agree with Master Sitrus." Quinn said. "Eagen more than proved his worth throughout this war while so many of us stay in mere advisory roles."
"It is the path of the Jedi to confront fear." Yin said. "I agree with Master Sitrus."
"I may not fear them falling to the Dark Side." Calras stated. "But I do worry for the girl's safety."
"An inevitability it is in times of war." Master Yin said.
"Then it is settled." Sitrus said as he disbanded the meeting. After a minute Lian found himself walking through the halls of the temple with Sitrus.
"So, tell me about this Master Eagen." Lian said.
Eagen ducked into a Cantina to lay low. Ord Mantell was a junkyard planet controlled by the Sith. Here, scrappers scoured through ancient ships and droids and melted them back down to raw materials to be shipped to Hypori. The transports used special hyperspace lanes that the Republic didn't know about. Eagan had come to the junkyard to steal a sith star chart that showed the coordinates of those hyperspace lanes.
Things had gotten a little hairy and the empire was now looking through the city for him. He sat at the bar and ordered himself a drink. People from all across the empire were taking refuge here. Eagen had noticed that the empire seemed to have made deals with the hutts in order to bulk their forces up with mercenaries. That seemed to complicate things.
A few minutes later a trio of inquisitors walked into the cantina. Eagen didn't have his lightsaber on him. He rarely carried it on missions like this. One glance at it would reveal his identity and bring the inquisitors down on him. Yet that didn't seem to matter. As one of the inquisitors sat down next to him and removed her helmet.
"What brings the inquisition here?" The bartender asked.
"Oh you know, long day out at the scrap heap." The human female said as she placed some credits on the counter. "Anything you can find on Naboo will do."
"Coming right up." The bartender nodded as he took her credits.
"So what brings you to this part of the galaxy?" The inquisitor asked the Jedi. Eagen took note of her partners. They both stood by an exit, blocking any escape. A bounty droid already had a gun at the ready. Everyone in the cantina seemed to know something was about to go down.
"Mercenary work." Eagen answered.
"Ah, then you must know Darth Taranus." She assumed correctly. There wasn't a Jedi alive who didn't at least know the Grand General of the Sith Army. But Eagen had a bit more personal knowledge of him. And he let a bit of that slip through enough for the inquisitor to notice.
"I do."
"You know, it's the craziest thing." She continued. "We had a thief at the base today. The security droids were destroyed by a blaster so we assumed it was a republic infiltrator. But to steal what they stole, you have to know the Force. Which means it had to be a Jedi."
Eagen took a deep breath as he sensed her reaching for her lightsaber. Against your average knight these inquisitors would be enough. But Eagen was no ordinary Jedi. Faster than anyone could react he grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face into the counter hard enough to splinter the wood. He whipped around and unloaded a volley of blasters into one of the inquisitor's chest before he could even ignite his lightsaber. The bounty droid fired a powerful disruptor blast at him. He used one hand to stop it with the force and the other to pull the droid into its own blast, destroying it.
He grabbed the first inquisitor by the head and vaulted over the counter. He broke her neck over the edge, killing her. The third inquisitor had his lightsaber ignited and spinning. He sliced the bar in half but Eagen effortlessly dodged it. He then kicked the dark side user's knee, ripped the lightsaber from his hand, got him in a headlock and snapped his neck.
"Sorry for the mess." Eagen said as he threw the bartender all the credits he had in his pocket. "Lana, get the ship ready."
"Eagen!" Of course, as soon as he opens up communication with his crewmate she shouts at him. The Mandalorian was in a jam. Blaster fire echoed through the transmission. "We got a lot of scum trying to attack the ship. Calagar and I are holding them off." Calagar was another partner of Eagen hailing from Cathar.
"I'm on my way." He cut transmission and started running.
He jumped from rooftop to rooftop blasting any imperials and mercs that entered his crosshairs. They must have somehow identified him and used that to know what ship to look for. Not many people in the empire would know about his personal vessel the Equinox III. Darth Taranus was one such individual.
Eagen let the Force guide his hand as he fired blindly into a jet trooper behind him without breaking stride. He was now in view of the hangar and saw the soldiers using a mobile barricade to advance. One black-clad trooper manned the laser cannon that kept Lana and Calagar pinned down. Eagen took aim and fired a volley of blasts into the soldier's back before leaping over the barricade.
As he flew through the air, Calagar threw the lightsaber. Eagen pulled it into his hand and ignited it before landing. The purple blade formed a wall against the incoming blaster fire. Lana and Calagar both came out of cover and knelt at the Jedi's side, using him to deflect incoming fire while they made quick work of the approaching soldiers.
"Did you get what we came for?" Lana asked.
"Would they be after me if I didn't?" Eagen said as he presented the wayfinder.
"More are gonna be here soon." Calagar growled.
The three of them ran onto the ship. Lana and Calagar manned the pair of quad-laser turrets as Eagen took off. Imperial droid starfighters and sith interceptors were already in patrol paths above the planet. As Eagen took evasive maneuvers, the other two residents of the Equinox III stumbled into the cockpit. One was a red protocol droid named J2. The other was a multi-tool droid named BB.
"Oh Master Eagen?" J2 started.
"Not now!" Eagen shouted.
The Imperial Dreadnaught was firing all of its lasers at the nimble craft. Eagen recognized it as none other than the Third Dusk, flagship of Darth Taranus. The mile long capital ship resembled a hammerhead with six powerful engines and a massive primary weapon capable of crippling other capital ships. But against the nimble cruiser there wasn't much it could do aside from scrambling all fighters.
The second the Equinox III was clear of Ord Mantell's gravity well, BB plugged in hyperspace coordinates that it had already calculated and Eagen punched it. They had escaped once again. Earning a sigh of relief.
"Master Eagen. Master Eagen!"
"What is it J2?!"
"While you were away you received an urgent transmission requesting that you return to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant at once."
"Blast it all." Eagen sighed.
"Man, Taranus really wants you dead." Calagar said as he entered the cockpit.
"I don't get it." Lana said. "It's not like you've done anything to disrupt his goals...yet."
"He made it personal long ago." Eagen didn't need to explain what happened to them. They already knew. Taranus was simply wanting to finish what he had started five years earlier when Eagen was still a padawan.
"So, heading to Coruscant eh?" Lana said as she removed her helmet. "I've followed you all across the galaxy and yet you've never actually taken me in all that time."
"The city sucks and I hate it. I'd rather be somewhere like Kashyyk where there's a lot of trees." Eagen was a triptocan. Triptoca was a forest dense with forests. Eagen's race were primarily arboreal. Even the way he sat, with his feet on the seat, was a force of habit from the days before he was recruited as a Jedi.
"Well, I'm sure they wouldn't call you back to the core worlds without good reason." Lana said.
"Yes, Master Sitrus made it sound very important." J2 insisted.
"Fair warning, Mandalorians tend to fight alongside the Sith." Eagen started. "You may want to…"
"Not on your life!" Lana snapped. "I'll just avoid any Jedi if they're going to be offended by my religion."
"It was just a warning." Eagen shrugged.
Anger, pain, regret, Sia's mind was in turmoil. Her home had been sacked by Sith forces. In the days since then, the Sith took over the Yavin system and were now using the temple as their own officer academy. And the worst part of all, Bale was never found.
He was still alive. She could feel it. Though, she could also feel deep down that he had been captured and was at the mercy of Darth Mallow. She had to try an be strong. She had to confront this shadow if she were to truly become a Jedi. She had to be strong for Abe.
"Sia." Abe said as he walked in on her. She was packing her things. She was to meet her new master down in the training room and she was already running late. "Are you really leaving?"
"Yes." Sia sighed. She gave her little brother one last hug. "But I'll always think about you. I'll find Bale and bring him back, I promise." She planted a kiss on his head and held him close. "And I'll keep in touch as much as I can."
"Stay safe." Abe said.
She didn't respond. She knew that was a promise she couldn't keep. She was taking on a master with a nasty reputation. She hadn't been told much about the man who would be overseeing her training. Only that he was from a planet she had never heard of, in his early twenties, and had spent the last five years in the Outer Rim fighting the Sith with his own elite force.
When she arrived at the training room, Master Quinn was departing. The only figure in the room stood on a raised platform. He had shimmering black hair, dark robes that were cut differently than usual Jedi robes, and a white bandana over his forehead.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for a Master Eagan." She said. The man was also short in stature, shorter than her even.
"I am Master Eagan."
"Oh, sorry, my name is Sia."
"Yes, I know who you are." He interrupted. He slowly drifted down with his hands behind his back. "Master Quinn briefed me on what happened on Yavin but there will be plenty of time to get to know each other out on the field. First, I need to see what Master Clowd has taught you. Draw your lightsaber."
Sia was hesitant and confused. She thought there would be an interview or at least basic introductions. As she drew her sword he smirked. This was the interview. She used the Force to put a barrier around her that would prevent Eagan from using the Force against her.
"Aren't you going to draw yours?" She asked.
"I doubt that will be necessary." Eagan shook his head.
"Okay then." She dashed forward and swung for his neck. When the blade was mere inches from his throat he lept into the air and flipped over her head. She spun around and swung again but he ducked under it.
"Form Four, very aggressive, very exhausting, you must be quite powerful. I can see why Sitrus wanted me to watch over you."
"You'll find I'm full of surprises." She reached out with the Force to push him but he didn't budge. Instead he ran towards her. She swung again and he caught her wrist. He elbowed her stomach, spun her around and put her in an arm bar.
"Lesson number one. The Force belongs to nobody." He hissed. "It is the folly of the Sith that they try using it for their own personal gain. And the Jedi try to be its ally while never understanding its true intents and why it only guides their action when it's convenient."
"The Force IS the ally to the Jedi. That's what Master Clowd said."
"Light, darkness, life, death, creation, destruction, one cannot exist without the other. So too are the Jedi and Sith. We can kill every single Sith Master, Apprentice, Marauder, Inquisitor and Acolyte. The Dark Side of the Force will still remain. And it will always find arbiters given time."
"Then what hope is there in winning the war?" Sia asked.
"To save what we can. To know that there is no fighting what the Force has in store for us. To know that until the end, we will never know its intent. But what you and so many others who have never seen battle don't understand...there is hope in that." He let her go and she withdrew her lightsaber.
"What do you mean?"
"Reverse what I said about the persistence of the Dark Side."
"They could kill every single Jedi…" She put the pieces together in her head. "And the Light will still rise again."
"Creation and Destruction." Eagan said. "Not understanding the binary nature of the Force, is what leads to Jedi losing hope. The Sith do not build themselves on hope. That is why it's so dangerous to even dabble in the power of the Dark Side."
"My brother." Sia's voice caught in her throat. "He is there, in their hands."
"We will save him if we can." Eagan said. "But right now, my forces are gearing for an assault on the shipyard above Hypori. That is our next destination."
"Understood Master." Sia bowed. Eagan rolled his eyes and walked towards the door.
"You are powerful. But you have much to learn about control, duty, the galaxy and yourself." Eagan gave these final words before they headed to the hangar where he kept his ship.