"Lancelot, we're almost there." I hear Cortana told me.
I woke up from my sleep and looked out the window of my ship. Out in the void of space was the lush green planet of Tython. As the ship flew closer, I could feel the rich force here. "So, this is the home planet place of the Jedi Order." I muttered in amazement. "Cortana, did you find where Fay sent her message from?" I asked my friend.
"I believe so, the message came from the ancient Jedi Temple, but I'm also detecting another starship near the temple." Cortana told me.
"Another starship? What kind?" I asked her.
"It appears to be a smuggling ship, but I don't know who they belong to." She told me. I looked at the planet, hoping my wife was alright.
"Understood, we'll keep the prowler cloaked until we land near the Temple." I told her.
Cortana nodded and she flew the ship down to the planet. As we flew to the surface, I started feeling uneasy. Almost as if a dark presence is on the planet. We exited the clouds and we spotted the old Jedi Temple. Cortana flew the ship over the thick forest near the temple.
"I'll set the prowler to auto pilot. I'll recall it when we need to leave." Cortana told me.
"Got it Cortana. Let's hope Fay's still alright." I told her before I unplugged Cortana's chip from the controls. I headed for the hanger and opened the ramp. Outside I could see the Jedi Temple in the distant. The temple was old and was covered in vines. I looked around for the ships Cortana detected, but I couldn't see them through the tree cover.
I jumped off the ramp and and used the force to slow my decent. As I landed, I tried to sense any lifeforms around me, but I couldn't sense any beside the plant life. Waiting no more time, I jogged to the Jedi Temple.
As I continued through the forest, I noticed some sort of creature laying flat on the ground with a bunch of blaster marks on it's back. I took a closer look and the creature was a bulky bipedal humanoid with razor sharp teeth, eight small olfactory slits lined their upper lip and two stumpy eyes stalks protruded from the sides of it's box-shaped head. I haven't seen something like this since my time at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
"Is that what I think that is?" I asked Cortana.
"I believe that's a flesh raider." She answered.
Flesh raiders are a hostile natives who inhabit Tython since the end of the Galactic War. Their tribal and aren't afraid of attacking anyone. Their's a reason why their called Flesh Raiders.
"It looks like he was running away from the temple." Cortana deduced. The Flesh Raider was laying way from the temple.
"Agreed, we better be careful." I said before we continued on our way.
As I jogged, I kept my guard constantly up. As I got closer to the temple, I could feel the dark side.
"Lancelot, are you alright? I noticed your heart is racing?" Cortana said in my helmet.
"I'm alright Cortana, it's just that I can feel the dark side of the force here." I told her.
Cortana showed herself on the side of my visor. "But I thought this was the Jedi home planet, why would the dark side be here?" Cortana asked me.
"I actually asked about that to Master Sifo-Dyas once. He told me during the Galactic War, the Sith invaded the planet and set up a Sith Fortress here. At the end of the war, the Jedi destroyed the fortress and made a academy, but the Sith left a scar of the dark side on planet. Because of Jedi younglings started sensing the dark side of the force, the Jedi abandoned the planet. Since then, no one has been to Tython for over thousands of years." I explained to her. Even though the dark side is present, it's not as strong as I was expecting.
"That begs the question though. Why would a Jedi like Fay be doing here?" Cortana continued.
"Good question. We'll ask her when we find her." I told Cortana as we finally exited the forest and arrived at the Jedi Temple. The temple was old and huge. Vines from the forest covered much of the outer walls of the temple. Outside of it were three smuggler ships
Before I went any further however, I sensed someone coming closer. I ran behind a bush. As I waited for whoever came close, I noticed that is was a specie I've never seen before. The specie was some sort of tall lizard standing straight up. He had blue scales and a fan of flesh around their head. He was wearing body armor and wielding a blaster rifle.
"Cortana, do you know what that is?" I quietly asked Cortana.
"A Tarasin. Their a reptile sentient specie from the planet Cularin. But what's strange is that they almost never leave their home planet." Cortana told me.
The Tarasin walked next to the bush I was hiding behind and I took the chance. I quickly got behind the Tarasin and I activated my electro baton. The Tarasin turned around just as I electrocuted him. The electro baton wasn't strong enough to kill him, but it did make sure he would sleep for a couple hours. The Tarasin's body went limp and I carried his body behind the bush.
"So, what's the plan exactly?" Cortana asked me.
I looked around the area and noticed some Tarasin guards at the entrance of the temple. "First we'll set up explosives on the ship's engines so they can't get away, then we'll sneak into the temple and hopefully find Fay." I told her.
After a while, I used my cloaking device to sneak around the landing site and placed explosives around the smuggler ships engines. Now at the temple entrance, I used the force to left a rock and threw it near the guards without him looking. The guards noticed the sound of the rock and went to investigate. Taking the opportunity, and sprinted to the entrance and got inside.
As I got inside the temple, I could feel the history of the temple. When Jedi would bring new recruits and when the Sith attack the place. As interested as I was, I made finding Fay my top objective. I quieted my thoughts and meditated, trying to sense Fay. I can feel other life forms around me, but only one of them felt familiar.
"Cortana, I can feel Fay somewhere above us. Can you detect any life signatures?" I asked her.
"Give me a second." Cortana said. After a few seconds, she responded. "Not right now, but if were start heading up, I should pick up on life signs."
I nodded and quickly ran for the stair way. I would have used the elevators, but that would risk signaling my location to the Tarasins. After a minute, I arrived on the third floor.
"Got it, I'm detecting life signs nearby. Take a right and straight until you've arrived to the seventh room to your left." Cortana directed me. I quietly moved to the room. As I moved through the hallway, I noticed some of the open rooms appeared to be ransacked, making me wonder what these Tarasins were looking for.
We finally made it to the room where Cortana detected life signs. I peeked behind the door and there were five Tarasins. Three of which were pounding their hammers on the wall for some reason. The other two were conversion with each other about in their native language that I didn't understand.
"They're talking about a Jedi behind a hidden wall. They're also talking about how someone name Dilo is bringing explosives to get the entrance open." Cortana told me before I asked. I looked at the wall the Tarasin were pounded on and decided to make my move.
I took out a flash bang and threw it in the middle of the group. The Tarasin were caught off guard and couldn't prepare for the flash. The flash bang exploded in bright light, stunning all the Tarasins. I switched my blaster into a electro baton and used force pull on the nearest two Tarasins. The Tarasins flew towards me and I knocked them out with the electricity of my baton.
The remaining three Tarasins recovered from their stunned state and charged at me. I switched my weapon back into a blaster and fired stun shots at the Tarasins. The Tarasins fell to the ground along with their unconscious compatriots.
After doing a sweep of the room to make sure there weren't other enemies, I holstered my weapon and I walked through the door.
"Cortana, any idea how to open this?" I asked her, referring to the wall.
"I did a scan of it, but there aren't any machines used on the wall itself. It's just a large slab of stone." Cortana told me.
Since this was a Jedi Temple, I decided to act of a hunch. I lifted my arm and reached out with the force. Feeling a hold of the wall, I raised my arm and lifted the heavy wall. Behind it was long hallway leading to who knows where. I walked toward the entrance while holding the slab up. Once I'm through, I let the slab slide back down gently before making my way weeping into the hidden passage.
As I walk through the dark hallway, the entire place was covered in dust. I tried sensing for Fay, and I felt she was close.
"Lancelot, I'm detecting a life sign up ahead." Cortana told me. I picked up my pace.
At the end of the hallway, I found a bright lit large room. In it was a pedestal with several holocrons and the person I almost never thought I would see again. In front of me was beautiful blond light skin woman in Jedi robes laying against the wall asleep. She holding onto the side of her stomach.
"Fay! Fay Wake up!" I yelled as I went to her side, taking my helmet off.
Fay's eye's twitched a little before she opened them, showing me her grey eyes. "Lancelot? Is that you?" She asked.
"Yeah, hang on. I'll get you patched up." I told her as I pulled out a biofoam canister.
"You got my message." Fay said, half asleep. How long has she been like this?
Cortana showed herself on my gauntlet. "Of course we did. Just wish we got here sooner." She said as I applied the biofoam to Fay's wound. "What happened? Who are these Tarasins?" I asked her.
Fay looked to me with a tired look. "These Tarasins are the Wyrd, a dark side order. When I was captured, Dilo, their leader, kept interrogating me about the holocrons, but I didn't know about them until the force showed me a vision of the Wyrd taking them." She answered.
"But what are they after?" Cortana asked Fay.
"Dilo wanted to know about a holocron containing information about the ch'hala tree on Cularin. They want to turn it to the dark side." Fay told us. I wanted to ask more, but a explosion suddenly occurred at the other end of the hallway.
I turned my head, facing the hallway. "I'm guessing that's Dilo and the other Wyrd" I said before I offered my hand to Fay. She took it and helped her up. "I suggest that you take cover for now until you completely recover." I told her before I put my helmet back on.
"Alright, but please be carful." Fay told me before she hid behind one of the pillars.
I readied my blaster, got into cover on the side of the door, and aimed down the hallway. "Lancelot, I'm detecting multiple life signs heading our way. Seven of them." Cortana warned me, but one of them felt wrong, almost like that Sith I confronted on Naboo. I decided trying to take them alive was out of the question and I set my blaster to lethal.
Down the hall, I spotted seven Tarasins running at my, one of which was wearing a creepy mask that looked like it was made from dead wood. I steadied my blaster and opened fire, sending a laser through one of the Tarasin's head. I was about to kill the other, but one of the Tarasin's raised his hand and I was pushed backward.
Now I know why I felt uneasy. It was the dark force user. I got back up and threw a grenade at the Tarasin's grouped to take them all out. The force wielding Tarasin levitated the grenade, but I shot a laser at it, causing it to explode. The explosion engulfed the Tarasins, but the force user jumped through the blaze. He brought out a lightsaber and activated it's crimson beam of light.
I switched to my electro baton and clashed with Tarasin. Our strengths were averagely matched, as well our skills with melee weapons.
"Who are you!?" I demanded as I put pressure in my strike. The Tarasin jumped back before I could break his guard.
"I am Dilo, Lord of the Wyrd. Surrender and I will make your end swift and painless." Dilo ordered. If I wasn't wearing my helmet, he would have seen my 'really' look.
"I'll pass." I said as Dilo and I clashed against one another.
I decided to change tactics. Dilo swung his lightsaber at my head, but I used force slow to temporary halt his swing. I switched to my blaster and pointed it at Dilo's head. Dilo moved his head at the last second, barely dodging my shot. His lightsaber was freed from my force slow and tried to slice my head off. I rolled away and rushed back at him, swinging my electro baton at him. Dilo and I traded a flurry of attacks at each other. Each of us blocking, parrying, or dodging the attacks. What Dilo didn't know was that I was studying him, getting the hang of his fighting style, letting me be able to instinctively predict his next move.
I parried Dilo's lightsaber and delivered a punch at his face, knocking him to the ground with a cracked mask. I was about to continue my attack, but the remaining Tarasins opened fire on me. I fell back on my initial attack and returned fire, killing two of the five remaining Tarasins.
Suddenly, I was pushed back against a pillar. I looked at Dilo, and was raising his hand against me.
"Well, well, you put up more of a fight than I thought." Dilo said with a smug. I tried to resist, but I couldn't move. "Kill him." Dilo ordered his followers.
The Tarasin soldiers point their blasters at me, aiming for the joints in my beskar armor. I pray to the force they have bad aim. The Tarasins fired their blasters, but the lasers froze in mid air. The Dilo and the Tarasins were shock by what happened and were flung against the other pillars, as well as the lasers.
I was dropped to the ground and looked at the woman responsible for my rescue. Fay was standing next to me, holding out her hand. "I'm glad you got your second wind." I said as I accepted Fay's hand.
"As am I." Fay respond with her kind smile as she helped me up.
Dilo and the other Tarasin's recovered from Fay's force push and glared daggers at us.
"I suggest you surrender. You can't beat both of us." I told Dilo.
Dilo began laughing. "Surrender? Surrender is for the weak. And the Wyrd have no tolerance of the weak." He said with a sadistic smile.
The Tarasins threw their explosives at us. We were about the force push them away, but Dilo quickly levitated them up above us. I grabbed Fay and shielded her with my armor. Next thing I knew was being blown away by the explosion before I briefly lost consciousness.
"Lancelot! Lancelot!" I heard Fay's voice. I opened my eyes saw Fay supporting me. "Lancelot, please. you need to get up." Fay shook me. I slowly got up with Fay's help.
"Are you alright?" I asked her as I leaned upward.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that." Fay responded, chucking a bit, before looking behind me. I followed where her eye's were looking at and saw ruble standing around us. "The explosion collapsed the ceiling around us."
We got up and used the force to levitate the ruble out of our way. Once they were removed, we saw that Wyrd were gone, as well as the holocrons on the pedestal.
"They can't have gone far. Let's go!" I told Fay. She nodded and we rushed out of the room and back through the secret hallway. As we ran, there was one question stuck in my mind. How did the Wyrd know about the hidden holocrons in the first place?
My thought was cut off when a pair of Tarasin ambushed us at the end of the hallway and opened fire on us. I brought my blaster up and blasted their rifles inside their barrels, causing them to be destroyed. Fay used the force to temporally put them to sleep. We ran past them as they fell to the ground fast asleep.
We ran out of the room and I looked out a window showing the front courtyard where the smuggler ship was at. Down below, I could see Dilo and a couple other Wyrd getting onto the ship. Dilo was holding onto a metal case, which I assumed was containing the holocrons. He looked up at me and smirked before entering the ship.
"They're going to escape!" Fay exclaimed as the ship's engine fired up.
"Doubt it." I responded as the ship took off of the ground. "Cortana if you would." I said as the ship was flying above the temple. Fay looked towards me, wondering what I had planned.
Cortana showed herself on my gauntlet. She was smirking and snapped fingers her fingers. The ship's engines exploded and crashed back to the ground in a ball of fire.
"You plan for everything, don't you." Fay commented while smiling.
"I wouldn't say everything. Lets head down there and make sure the holocrons are okay." I said before headed for the elevator.
We ran outside to see the shipwreck surrounded in flames. I really hoped that metal case was durable.
Suddenly, part of the wreckage blew away, reveling Dilo. I was shocked he survived that, but it appeared he was extremely burned be the explosion. Next to him was the case holding the holocrons, but was severely damaged. Dilo looked at us in pure rage.
"You! Do you have any idea of what you've done!?" Dilo asked up in absolute anger.
"I'm guessing stopping you from stealing the holocrons." I retorted.
"No." I raised a eyebrow. "YOU TWO JUST GUARANTEED YOUR DEATHS!" Dilo yelled before he activated his lightsaber and leaped at us.
I activated my electro baton and blocked his lightsaber. Fay would defend us, while I focus on attacking. Fay force pushed him away from me and I fired a laser at him. Dilo swung his lightsaber to deflect the laser, but I slowed it with the force, messing up his timing for a split second. Dilo took the laser in the shoulder, but he got right back up and ran at us.
I charged at him as well and we sent a flurry of slashes at each other. Dilo was definitely experienced, but he wasn't using any specific lightsaber style I knew of, making me guess he self taught. Even so, I know have a hang on his fighting style. I dodged one of his attacks and sent a kick at his shin. Dilo grunted in pain and jumped back before I could strike his head.
He raised his hand threw a large piece of metal from the wreckage at us. Fay grabbed it with the force, but Dilo jumped over it, wielding his lightsaber overhead. I raised my electro baton over my head to block it, though it was only a fake. I waited at the last second when he swung his lightsaber near my electro baton, and used force dash to quickly move myself to the side, dodging Dilo's attack.
Before he could react, I pulled the force around my electro baton and I swung a saber blast at his waist, sending him flying against a large piece of the wreckage. The impact caused what's left of the ship to fall right on top of him. Dilo fell to the ground with the rubble pinning him down.
Fay and I walked over to him as I kept my blaster aiming at his head. Dilo was trying to lift the wreckage off him, but to no avail.
"Don't move Dilo. This is your one warning." I told him. Dilo gave up on moving the wreckage and looked at us in hate.
"You think you've stopped us! You have no idea what he has plan!" Dilo yelled at us.
"Who exactly are you referring to?" Fay asked him. I could tell she's using the force to get him to relax, making him more keen to answer.
"Is he the one who told you about the holocrons?" I added. It would explain how they knew about the holocrons
"As if I'll tell you! You have no idea what he'll do to us if we fail!" Dilo responded. This time, Fay and I were sensing fear in him.
"Dilo. If you tell us who he is, Legion and the Jedi can protect you. Just tell us who he is." I offered, hoping he would take it.
"You mean lock me away." Dilo told us, knowing what I meant.
"Yes." I responded honestly. "But at least you'll be protected from him." I told him.
Dilo thought for a moment before looking at his lightsaber. "I don't believe that." He said before he pointed his lightsaber at his head.
"No! Don't!" Before I could stop him, Dilo activated his lightsaber right as it was being pointed at his head and killed himself.
Fay and I stood their in shock. We couldn't believe Dilo would just kill himself like that. We both looked at each with one thought. Who would scare Dilo enough to make him kill himself.
I was about to ask Fay if we could interrogate the other Wyrd, but we heard blaster fire from the temple. We ran back in and up to the third floor as fast as we could. What we found horrified us. All of the remaining Wyrd were killed. I studied how each tarasin died, they all died from a laser in the chest. I started connecting where they were shot, and they all pointed to the tarasin's Fay put to sleep earlier. The pair were holding a blaster pistols in their hands.
"They killed their members before killing each other." Cortana deduced, feeling just as horrified as we were.
"I don't understand. Why would they do this?" Fay asked with anxiety in her voice.
I thought for a moment before answering. "I'm not sure. Maybe whoever Dilo was working for threatened to do something terrible to them in case they failed." I responded.
Later, I gathered the bodies of the Wyrd and buried them outside the temple. Fay was checking on the holocrons to make sure they were intact. After that was done, Cortana called down the prowler to the courtyard while I salvaged the communication array, hoping anything remained that who give us a hint who the Wyrd were working for.
Unfortunately, the communication was beyond repair. We stood in the courtyard as my ship was flying down with Fay holding the holocron case. It landed in front of us and the ramp opened.
"So, I'm guessing you need a lift." I said to Fay I got on the ramp.
"I would appreciate that Lancelot." Fay replied before getting on board as well.
We entered the prowler and headed for the cockpit.
"Do you want me to take you back to Coruscant with the holocrons?" I asked her as I sat on the pilot chair and put Cortana's chip in the controls.
"Actually, no." Fay replied. Cortana came up on the holocron display, sharing my surprised look. "These holocrons were not meant for the Jedi. When I studied one of the holocrons, it showed a message from Satele Shan."
"Satele Shan? If I remember correctly, she was a descendent of Revan and Bastila Shan, right?"
"Correct. Shan saw a vision of a force user, loyal to neither the Jedi nor Sith, fighting a terrible darkness the galaxy. According to her, the force user is a person born from a force user who lets the force guide her, and a warrior who fights for the people of the galaxy." Fay explained.
I thought of what I looked back at her in realization. "Fay, you don't mean…" I couldn't finish .
"Yes, I believe our son is the one who will face this darkness." Fay told me.
I wasn't sure how to react. Ever since Galahad was born, I've been focus on making a galaxy a better place for him and everyone else. If what Fay says is true, then our son would one day be in the fight of his life.
"So what do you want to do?" I asked Fay.
"For now we need to hide the holocrons until Galahad is ready. Someplace where the one who the Wyrd were working for never finds it." Fay answered.
"And what about Galahad? Do we tell him about this?" I asked giving her a serious look.
Fay looked hesitant for a moment before answering. "I don't believe that's wise. I want Galahad to make his own choices in his life." Fay told me. I sighed in relief, sharing her opinion.
"Thank you, Fay. As for hiding the holocrons. I know of a couple places on Avalon where we could hide them." I told her. Cortana began setting up the the navigation computer.
"Very well. It will be nice seeing Avalon again" Fay said as she got comfortable on the copilot's chair.
Fay and I talked for hours as we were heading for Avalon about what we were doing these past years. Fay have been following the will of the force and she helped bring peace to many worlds for years. I told her about the Naboo Crisis and Qui-Gon's death at the hands of the sith.
Fay remembered Qui-Gon. She was saddened by his passing and wished it didn't happen.
"Lancelot, do you believe the Wyrd were working for the Sith?" Fay asked me.
"It's possible, Yoda said that there are always a master and a apprentice. Considering that the sith on Naboo got cocky after he defeated Qui-Gon, I'm willing to bet the master put the Wyrd up to it." I told her after giving it some thought.
"Lancelot and Fay, we'll be approaching Avalon in a moment." Cortana told us. We looked out of the view as the ship exited out of hyperspace. We could see a lush green planet in front of us with orbital defense platforms and a the defense fleet.
"I see that Legion has done well over the years." Fay said, looking at how far Legion has come.
"Indeed, soon we'll be a fighting force for the people." I replied.
"Lancelot, I sent our landing codes and we'll be landing shortly." Cortana told me. I nodded as we passed by the defense fleet.
We entered Avalon's atmosphere and flew to Camelot, capital city of Avalon. We headed for the spaceport and landed in one of the hangers.
"Lancelot, I believe you should know that I just got a message from Galahad saying he got a feeling we were coming home." Cortana told us.
"What!?" Fay and I said in unison.
"He said he's at the spaceport waiting for us." She informed us as the ship landed at said spaceport.
Fay and I looked at each other, wondering what to do. "Do you want to stay on the ship until I take Galahad elsewhere?" I asked Fay.
"I…I don't know. I don't even know what to say to him. I'm afraid " Fay replied uncertainly.
"What about the force? Doesn't it guide you." I said.
"It guides me where I need to go, but not my decisions." Fay answered while in thought.
"Well…" I looked through the window spotted and Galahad at the entrance of the spaceport. "Would it be bad for him to know he has loving mother who cares about him." I told her.
Fay looked through the window and saw Galahad looking for us.
A small sincere smile grew on Fay's face. "I guess not."