The Enclave ruins, as they always had, arched over the hilly landscape, visible from the salvager's camp in the valley before the creek and bridge that led to them. The approach was much like Trista remembered, though native Dantooinian foliage had only recently been cut back and tamed by the haphazard campers.
The camp, such as it was, provided only a minimal amount of information. The Enclave sublevel was infested with native, burrowing laigreks. A man fitting Vrook's description had come through earlier, but not left. Another man had entered the sublevel alone, a day or so ago, and was probably dead by now. There were a pair of missing scavengers and an ongoing property dispute tearing the camp apart. They'd not been any more helpful either, just vehement about the group not entering the ruins.
Trista tugged her coat around her as she left the camp, more from nerves than cold. The area was temperate this time of year, if dry. The prospect of running into Vrook again, first out of the old masters, was chilling. He would be thrilled to see her.
As they rounded the final hill and the Enclave proper loomed ahead of them, Atton whistled. "Nice little setup they had here."
Kreia interrupted her before she could respond, tucking her robe around her similarly. "Do you feel it? The wound on this world... its center is here."
Trista nodded.
"If we gather the Jedi, this is where they will come. And if those are slain, all that remains of the Order will draw here."
Trista frowned, glancing at Kreia from the corner of her eye. Something about her tone said more, that there was something still obfuscated behind her words. After a moment, she frowned. It could be a hundred things.
"When?" she asked, instead of challenging her.
"We will know when the time comes — of that, I am sure." Kreia sniffed as they stepped onto the fractured stone bridge. "And I hope our enemies do not."
"Agreed. We must move quickly once we know, then. In the mean—"
"Tris!" Atton grabbed her arm, and she stopped, glancing back toward him and the blaster he'd already drawn.
"Att—"
"How about you lot take a vacation?"
Trista followed his eyes and, at the sight of three silvery, humanoid-sized droids, drew her sword. Force's sake. Handmaiden's electrosnaff snapped to full next to her.
"Announcement," the middle droid said, the glow of a stealth generator still deactivating around them. "You have caused us a great deal of effort to find you, Jedi."
She scowled. "Good, I'd hate to make your job easy."
"Annoying recitation: In that case, let us facilitate communication."
"Threat: come with us without resistance, Jedi... or you will come with us in pain."
"No deal," Atton said, hand still tight on her arm.
"Pick your favorite," Trista said, shrugging out of his hand and reaching forward. The leftmost droid began to crumple as blasterfire erupted around them, and without thinking, she held out her hand to block. Just as the droid slumped, folding into a ball of metal, a bolt of blasterfire slammed into her arm. Trista swore and staggered back.
Handmaiden slid past her, judging from the streak of dirt on her otherwise white outfit. She burst up in front of the middle droid, swinging her electrostaff down in a move more akin to a dance than a fight. Bao-Dur pushed Trista a step back and opened fire on the right droid, as Kreia raised her hand. It slumped down, sparking, then crumbled into metal parts. Handmaiden knocked the last back and Trista reached around Bao-Dur and twisted her hand. The droid began to twist, wrenching down as she focused, and Handmaiden knocked its head off with one blow from her staff.
Atton already had the wrapper off a kolto bandage when she looked up, pulling her sleeve apart to get at the burn.
"Anyone else notice how easy these things are to kill?" he asked as he plastered the bandage onto her arm.
"Yeah," she said. "They say they're bounty hunters, or assassins, but they don't seem to have any upgrades for facing Jedi. Or anyone halfway competent with a weapon. It seems strange they'd go after a group who begins combat training at six."
Handmaiden nodded. "This is my first encounter with these droids, but they do not seem more skilled than other combat droids I have seen. Their choice of quarry seems odd."
"That's the problem with droids," Atton grumbled, pulling her sleeve back down over the bandage. "Whoever programmed them must have hundreds to throw at us — and no idea how to fight Jedi." Trista raised a brow and he looked away, starting down the path to the right. "Sublevel's this way, right? If we're gonna be carving our way through bugs, I want to be out by sundown."
Handmaiden and Bao-Dur glanced at her, and she sighed as she started after him.
"He's right, laigreks get more active in the dark. If we go now, we might avoid most of them."
#
A few feet into the Enclave it opened to a broad, four-way overgrown garden, the tree at its center gnarled, peppered with blaster burns, and half-scorched by bombardment. That it was alive was a miracle. Trista patted the trunk as she entered, feeling an almost solidarity with the damn thing.
"You and me both," she mumbled, then turned back. "All right, let's go straight first — that's a dead end. Then, uh, we'll head to the right and go around. Unless there's major blockage, it's a big circle."
"Well, at least it'll be easy to get eaten by bugs."
Trista turned back to Atton, still standing in the entrance. "Can you stop calling them bugs?"
"Why, it's what they are?"
"It makes it creepier." She dropped off the other side of the garden, waiting as they rejoined her around the central tree. Ahead, she could just see movement in the darkened rooms ahead, and hear the tapping of hardened insect legs on the stone floor. "Looks like a few mines up ahead, few laigreks. Atton?"
"On it." He reached into the bag at his side. "What flavor?"
"Hand me an adhesive, we'll throw at the same time. Pick your favorite."
"Hm." He plopped a blueish grenade into her hand. "Frag shouldn't bring this place down on us."
Trista waved them all a few feet back from the entrance and motioned to Atton before counting down. On one, they both threw their grenades.
Blueish-green flash-adhesive burst from the first, coating several laigreks and the floor and walls. A second later the frag exploded, sending shrapnel through the insects, into the adhesive, and skittering off the floor and walls. Once the shrapnel had settled, a few seconds of blasterfire from Atton and Bao-Dur were enough to put the remaining laigreks out of their misery.
Once the flash-adhesive had vanished, dissolving into the stone, Trista picked her way through the shrapnel field and pushed the remaining sharp bits against the walls with a little encouragement from the Force.
"I doubt we'll find anything back here," she said. "These were administrative offices, offices for the training council — Malak no doubt took anything of value out of here. Barring that, it's close enough to the entrance that the salvagers cleaned it out." A laigrek chittered from next to her, lunging despite grievous injuries, and Trista drew her blaster and fired. It fell to the ground, still.
"Should we look anyway?" Atton asked.
She nodded. "Vrook might have something tucked away, and came back for it."
They split up through the series of chambers, as Trista stood in the back room thoughtfully. Tentatively, almost fearfully, she reached out in the Force.
Something screamed through it. She felt every ordinance as it hit, every death as the Enclave collapsed around its students, every—
Trista snapped back from it and drew several deep breaths. "Okay, none of that," she whispered, shaking her head. "None of that."
To her left, a panel on the wall seemed out of place. The Enclave had several little cabinets like this scattered throughout. Being a Jedi had a heavy emphasis on minimalism, but all people collected detritus – and even the Jedi had records they wanted to keep hidden. Hoping, perhaps, Vrook had left something behind, Trista walked toward it and eased it open.
What she did not expect was a human-sized compartment behind it, occupied by a terrified, young human woman pressing herself up against the back of it and holding a small knife ahead of her. Trista stepped back and raised her hands.
"Hey, it's all right," she said, as reassuringly as she could muster. "I won't hurt you." The girl didn't stop shaking. "My name's Trista. What's yours?"
"K-Kaevee," she said. "You killed my laigreks."
"Your laigreks?"
"Th-they were my pets. They protected me."
Trista nodded and brushed the Force again. The girl in front of her was Sensitive, and it took only a second more for Trista to form a terrible narrative in her head.
"Do you want to come out of there? I won't hurt you."
"I'm supposed to protect the Enclave! You need to leave — you aren't supposed to be here."
Trista took another step back, hoping it might coax Kaevee out of the hole. "It's okay, Kaevee, I used to live here. You did too, right? You were a Padawan?"
Hesitantly — very hesitantly — Kaevee stepped out, still holding her knife protectively. Now that she had, Trista could see she was wearing old Jedi robes, dirty and torn and patched, and too small. The pants were more like capris, and the sleeves of the robe came to her elbow, and it looked like it'd been let out a few times. Her hair might have been red-blond at some point, but it was dirty and matted, and she was gaunt. Shock had set in Trista's heart, followed by anger, and she struggled to keep it from her expression.
Had no one thought to look for survivors? It'd been five years since the Enclave burned...
"I—I am! And one day I'll be a Jedi!" She paused, studying Trista closely. "Are you a Jedi?"
Trista shook her head. "I used to be. How old are you? You might have seen me around."
"I'm sixteen."
She smiled comfortingly. "I was probably a little before your time. But I was here. Are you hungry?" Kaevee nodded, and Trista pulled out some of her kit's water and food. "Here."
Kaevee took a hesitant step forward, grabbed it from her, and retreated. She settled down on her heels and tore the food open. Trista echoed her stance, still trying to be non-threatening.
"Were you here when the Sith showed up?" she asked. Kaevee nodded, then swallowed.
"I was outside the Enclave. My master left me with the Matales, but then the Sith went there and they all died, but I hid. And I'm hiding until my master comes back."
"It's been five years, Kaevee, I don't think they are."
She ducked her head and nodded. "I didn't know what else to do – no one came back."
"You've been very brave to stay here. Can I ask a few questions?" Kaevee nodded, her mouth full again. Atton appeared in the doorway, and Trista waved him back.
"Who's that?" Kaevee asked, popping to her feet, and Trista shook her head.
"I'm here with a few friends. You don't have to worry about them. People could come into the Enclave if they were with a Jedi."
Kaevee nodded and settled back down. "I know. Right before the Sith came, there was a ship here full of non-Jedi. Most of them were nice to us! There was one man with a huge blaster who wasn't, though — he shot holes in the hangar wall. They had to let him out to go hunting."
Trista smiled. "Did you know anything about them?"
She shook her head. "They were here for almost six weeks. I think one of them was being trained? I remember Bastila Shan was with them. She was a big deal."
Wait. That was one of—"Do you remember who else was with them?"
Kaevee frowned. "There was the man with the blaster, but we didn't talk to him. I think he was a Mandalorian! Some other Padawans were talking about him, but I just avoided him. There was a Twi'lek, too, she was a kid like us. Her name was Mission, I think? And a big Wookiee! He was her friend, but he didn't talk much. We got him to throw us into the reflecting pool once, and the Masters had us cleaning the floor for a week." Trista smiled. "Juhani ended up leaving with them too. She was always nice to us, but really tense. Like, all the time.
"And there was a Republic officer. He wasn't in uniform, but you could tell. He was nice to us, too — he called us all 'kid' all the time. And there was Anna." There it was. "The Masters didn't like her. I think Master Zhar did, but the others didn't. We did though, because she was always nice to us. Got us in trouble a lot, too! Vrook used to make her sit by the reflecting pool with a stack of datapads on top of her head for hours — she wasn't very good at it, though." She paused. "The Wookiee also threw her into the pool a couple times. They didn't make her scrub the floor, though. Just more datapad sitting."
Trista drew a deep breath. "Did they come here often during the war?"
Kaevee nodded. "The last time I don't think Anna was with them, because you always knew if she was around. You could just tell. They left a few people here to train. And there was an old guy with them that time. He got into an argument with a couple of the Masters, but I don't know what it was about. He brought a whole bag full of candy from Anna and slipped it to us when Vrook wasn't looking.
"Then..." She looked away. "Then the Sith came."
"Do you remember why?"
Kaevee shook her head. "When they went to the Matales, they were asking about Revan. But I thought — they told us Revan was dead! And why would Revan be here? He was a Sith, he didn't have a place on Dantooine! The Matales didn't know anything, but the Sith didn't care. They killed them all."
For the amount of emotional trauma she'd suffered, Kaevee didn't seem to have a problem talking about it. Trista nodded. "Have you seen any Jedi since? Other than me."
She nodded, tucking the meal wrapper into a pocket. "Master Vrook came back a few days ago. But I couldn't be sure it was him! So I sent my laigreks to make him leave, but he just made them stop. I was gonna talk to him, but the mercenaries came and took him. They never come here! I've seen them outside the Enclave a few times, but not inside it. I ran and hid, and there was a big fight. They said they were going to take him somewhere."
Trista nodded, glancing back at the door. Atton was standing with his back to the side, just out of Kaevee's view, and nodded back at her. Good, at least he could pass it on to everyone else.
"There's a bounty on Jedi, so they'll probably collect. Thank you for telling me — we can help him now. Have you ever taken anything from outside the Enclave?"
She nodded, and Trista handed her another package of water. This time, Kaevee didn't scoot back after taking it. "I was just trying to get money to eat. I thought about going to one of the farms near here and paying for food. I know it's wrong, but I'm so hungry. But I'll do something else."
"Exactly." Trista took the stern tone she'd used with Initiates when she was helping with training. "Jedi don't use animals to drive people away, and they don't steal. You had good intentions, but we don't hurt people. Do you understand?"
Kaevee hung her head and nodded. "It's... there was a holocron, and it said bad things. That the Jedi were gone, and I had to protect my home no matter what."
"And that's why you don't trust strange holocrons."
"I was just... so scared, and—"
"Hey." Trista reached out and gripped her shoulder, squeezing gently. "We all make mistakes, okay? Hey." She tilted her face up. "There's nothing wrong with trying to survive. But if you ever want to be a Jedi again, you've got to stop. Believe me, people have done worse things than stealing a little farming equipment."
Kaevee smiled back with relief. "Yeah. Okay."
"What'd you do with this holocron?"
"It scared me, and I threw it back into the ruins. The salvagers found it a few months ago."
"Great. I'll try to get it on my way by, so it doesn't hurt anyone else." Kaevee nodded. "Do you remember how to get to the old Matale estate from here?"
She nodded. "Yeah. It's out across the creek, past the salvager camp, then south across the plains."
"Good. So this is what we'll do." Trista tapped Kaevee's training lightsaber. "Hide this, and head to the estate. Ask for Administrator Adare and tell her Trista sent you. Don't say you were a Jedi or anything. You can tell the Administrator, but no one else. Tell her I said to take care of you. After that, we can talk about maybe picking up your training, okay? If you can stand his lectures, Vrook might help you once we find him."
Kaevee nodded and stood, tucking her lightsaber down the inside of her pants. "Okay, I should be able to make it."
"All right. Be careful, and I'll see you when we return."
She nodded and reached back into the cabinet, pulling out a tattered bag. "Oh, I found a few things. I don't know how to use them, but you can have them? And those are the things I took from the farmer." Kaevee put a few parts and items into Trista's waiting hands. "And the mercenaries fought Master Vrook back in the old archives." Without waiting for a response, she scurried past Atton with a small "eep," and then out into the courtyard.
"You were too forg—" Kreia started.
"She was a scared child," Trista said, cutting her off. "Abandoned by the Jedi, who never even bothered to come back to look for survivors. After what she's endured, I won't berate her. If my methods aren't suitable, you can wait on the ship."
A connection to the Force wasn't necessary to sense Kreia's displeasure as it rolled off her in waves. Trista handed the items to Bao-Dur, who turned them over in his hands.
"These are the moisture vaporators the farmer was looking for," he said, handing them back. "A few lightsaber parts, and a few droid parts. Could be useful."
"Great. Do you want to keep track of them?" He nodded and tucked the parts away, and Trista slid the vaporators into her bag. "Let's keep moving, I'd prefer to sleep somewhere outside tonight."
