Rey couldn't believe her eyes, the Millenium Falcon stood on replaced landing pegs, it's ramp open and welcoming on the red stone landing pad outside of Kessel's main medical facility. "You did this in three weeks?" She eyed Chewie in wonder.
Chewie shrugged and purrowled humbly.
"How'd you get ahold of the cockpit glass?" Ben asked as the trio plus threepio ascended the ramp.
Chewie told him.
"Remind me to thank them." Ben shook his head ruefully. "Even the trade routes aren't exactly safe."
"So, we are going to use Han's route getting out of here, right?" Rey batted her lashes at her scowling husband.
"Not a chance." Ben declined forcefully.
"Oh, come on!" Rey's smile faded.
"Once through that maze was enough excitement to last me for a lifetime." Ben shook his head stubbornly.
"It'll be different this time." She argued. "You aren't shot to pieces and I'm not half dead."
Ben glared at her. "Maybe not, but that's a path that takes only a fraction of a heartbeat to kill you. It's too dangerous."
"Bleh!" She grunted. "If you and the Falcon could do it in the shape you were both in, it should be easy now." She coaxed.
Ben scoffed wordlessly and strapped himself into the co-pilot's seat. "The commercial route will do, Chewie." Ben said firmly.
"It's Chewie's ship, he should decide the route." Rey's expression begged the furry giant to choose her option.
Chewie looked between the two then growled his answer.
Rey slumped into the jump seat, defeated.
"He's right, we almost blew the sublights on the way in, they'll need going over by a pro before the ship can even contemplate doing anything that stupid again." Ben said, feeling no triumph in winning his first arguement with his wife. Rey's misery got to him too much to allow him to savor the victory.
He slipped into her mind and sent her the entire memory of their entry into the Kessel system.
"Wow." She said when the memory was finished playing. "That was terrifying!"
"If you still want to do it…" Ben promised. "We'll come back some day after the kids are grown up, but until then, no way."
"Why can't we just wait til after they're born?" Rey frowned, rubbing her belly while one of them kicked her enthusiastically.
"You grew up without parents, I may as well have…" He didn't acknowledge Chewie's snarfle and glare at those words. "Our kids aren't going to ever have to worry about that." He vowed. "If it kills me they'll never go through a day where they wonder where we are or if we love them."
Rey's disapointment dissipated into a dreamy, misty eyed smile. "Ok." She agreed. "But as soon as they're grown up, we're coming back here."
A week later…
Ko'da greeted the pair with reverent diffidence as they stepped down the ramp of the bat-winged shuttle they'd borrowed from their temporary home aboard a Federation dreadnaught named the Revenant. "Sacred ones, we are honored to welcome you back to our village!" The diamond skinned alien bowed deeply. "We have much to show you and many gifts for our saviours! Please, come with me."
He lead them into the temple cave.
"Gifts are not necessary," Ben protested.
"These are." Ko'da smiled, his luminous body lighting their way while he lead them through the darkened cavern to a tunnel they'd never noticed before.
"Not even the Halcyon has been this deeply into our temple." Ko'da informed them as it pressed it's slender hand to a smooth place on the stone wall. The stone in front of them whooshed open and both Jedi gaped with wide eyes and open mouths at the very modern turbo lift in front of them.
The trio stepped inside and descended for only a few seconds before the door opened again shocking the outsiders to the core.
The facility beyond the turbolift looked as if it belonged aboard a ship as sophisticated and large as the Redemption. White walls, floor and ceiling glowed softly, computer terminals and work stations dotted the foreground while huge shelves of books extended into the distance.
"We are not safe above the ground, farkillers rule up there, we live and work down here." Ko'da explained.
"You never fail to amaze us, Ko'da." Ben mused, looking around in wonder.
"Our scholars have finished translating your tomes." Ko'da gestured to a nearby computer terminal with the Jedi texts stacked neatly next to it. "Surprizingly they discovered that two of your manuscripts had companion texts here, in our own library. Those have been translated for you as well."
"How…?" Rey was curious but confused.
"When Je'di came, it gifted several texts us, now we gift them to you." Ko'da lifted a tiny box from next to the stack of Jedi books and opened it.
It appeared to be empty at first, but upon closer inspection Rey discovered two tiny, clear concaved discs. "What are these?" She asked, taking the box and peering into it.
Ko'da handed Ben an identically sized box in a different shade of grey as he replied, "Data readers." Recognizing the confusion on the human's faces he added, "Touch them to your eyes."
"Huh?" She recoiled.
"Like the translator behind your ear allows you to hear, these must touch your eye so you can see." The slender being demonstrated by removing one disc from it's own eye then replacing it.
Ben was the first to successfully insert the disc into his eye. "Whoa!" He yelped. "That's trippy."
"You need both for best results." Ko'da said encouragingly.
The second disc went in more easily and Ben blinked owlishly around the room. The discs reminded him of the display inside his helmet except that they seemed to just add to the world around him instead of limiting his view to a rectangular digital display. He looked at Rey and grinned. "How do I change the labels?"
Ko'da responded, "This terminal will allow you to customize your displays."
Ben looked at the terminal and jumped. Above the nondescript terminal was now what appeared to be a hologram of a typical computer display.
Rey inserted her second disc and looked around as Ben had, her mouth agape until she looked at her husband then she started giggling. "Yes, I need to change a label too."
They shared a mental laugh over the mistaken label on the display.
"Did we make a grave error?" Ko'da asked, concerned.
"No," Ben grinned. "The label is absolutely true, just not exactly correct."
"Which label?" Ko'da inquired.
Ben was trying very hard not to laugh when he responded, "The one that lists gender…" He bit down hard on his bottom lip to keep the laughter at bay. "My lovely wife should read as 'Gender: Female' not 'Sex: Godess' … in the interest of linguistic correctness, of course."
Ko'da frowned. "Our apologies, the technician must have misunderstood our instructions."
Rey thought to her husband, 'At least they mistook you for a sex god instead of a woman this time.'
'We'll see if you still think this one's a mistake after we get back to the ship.' He promised and winked at her with an exaggerated leer spreading across his face.
"No need to apologize," Rey smiled despite the bright flush to her cheeks. "As my husband stated, the labels are right… though not quite correct."
Ko'da nodded solemnly, completely unaware of why the human beings found the simple mistake to be so humorous. "Our technology evolved seperately from yours, so you'll need a terminal in order to manipulate your ocular sensors or access the translated manuscripts." The alien motioned to the computer. "We make you a gift of this one."
Ben was taken aback by the Aaronian's generousity. "That's very generous of you, but I doubt we'd be able to make ot compatible with our power outlets…" He said.
"Power outlets?" Ko'da frowned. "What is a 'power outlet'?"
"It's how we provide power for out technology." Ben tilted his head slightly. "You don't have those here?"
"No, the power generator is built in to our macrotech and our microtech is powered by body energy..." Ko'da was more curious than anything now. "How do you fly beyond the stars with such primitive energy technology?"
"Force knows." Ben shook his head. "I guess we spend too much time and resources on war, weapons, and travel tech." He shrugged.
Ko'da frowned again but changed the subject. "Can you show us your weapons?"
Ben's brows shot upward but he pulled his saber from his belt and offered it to the alien.
"Activate it, please." Ko'da didn't reach for the light saber.
Ben stepped back and ignited his crimson blades.
"Curious." Ko'da said thoughtfully. "And yours?" It asked Rey.
She ignited her blades as well.
"Very curious." Ko'da clicked it's tongue.
"They are powered by the crystals within them." Ben explained, extinguishing his weapon and securing it to his belt.
"Come, there is more to show you." Ko'da led them back to the temple cavern, to the opposite wall from the carved, inlaid and painted prophecy wall. The alien's bioluminessence glowed brighter and brighter as they crossed the room.
Out of the darkness what appeared to be a human figure holding a T shaped object of bright white began to emerge. As light spilled over the wall their ocular sensors began to identify and label the various materials that comprised the carved and painted figure. Below the figure was several lines of script.
"What's it say?" Rey asked, confused by the white blades.
"It speaks of your gift of purity from vanquishing the great evil." Ko'da said. "But your blades are unchanged."
"Can you read it as it's written?" Ben asked.
"Certainly." Ko'da acquiessed. "If the chosen shall emerge victorious over the great evil, it shall be imbued with the power of the Halcyon." It's hand slid across the words as it spoke. "Once it's heart and blade have been cleansed, it's legacy shall bring lasting harmony between the powers of creation and destruction."
"What is this 'Halcyon' power that you speak of?" Rey asked.
"The power of Je'di the ancient one." Ko'da answered simply. "The prophet who foretold your coming."
"He was Halcyon?" Ben asked, touching a finger to the image of his and Rey's weapons arranged with his pointed toward the floor and hers horizontal, as if his crossguards were as long as his blade.
"Yes, a very powerful Halcyon prophet." Ko'da nodded. "We have included the history of Je'di the ancient and the history of Halcyon to your translated tome files on the computer we have gifted you..." The alien hessitated. "One of your own manuscripts is titled 'The Fall of the Halcyon Order.' You should read it after the books about Halcyon that we have included as gifts."
"The Halcyon Order?" Rey frowned. "I've never heard of such a thing."
"Few have." Ben mused. "I ran across a few mentions of them in my search of the Jedi Archives."
"What is it?" Rey looked at her husband in shock.
"According to what I read…" He hessitated. "An order of Force users that predates both the Jedi and Sith by ages."
"How could they predate the light and dark sides of the Force?" Her eyes were huge in the dimness.
"That painting…" Ben turned to peer into the darkness toward the picture of a being done in black on one side and white on the other. "That is Je'di, the Halcyon, isn't it…? Not a literal portrait, but a depiction of his Force signature…"
"Half in darkness, half in light." Ko'da nodded. "It was Je'di who went on to form the Jedi Order who shunned the dark half of their nature."
"He created the imbalance in the Force that has lasted a thousand generations…" Ben shook his head. "In his desire to embrace only the purest parts of himself, he threw the Force into so much disarray that it had no choice but to create the Sith."
"Yes." Ko'da nodded. "Je'di's motives were pure, but the results…"
"Threw the galaxy into chaos for thousands of years." Rey whispered.
