Chapter 5

Jogrum Katarn was the last to arrive in the Jedi Council Chambers. It was the dead of night on Ossus. All the Jedi Council members were physically present on Ossus, none of them by hologram. The gravity of the meeting fell on every single council member.

"Tonight, we have made a decision." Katarn stood up from his chair and began to walk around the circular chamber. "A decision that will change the fate of the galaxy forever. Despite opposition from some members of the council," Katarn stared daggers towards three Jedi close to the other end of the chamber. "we have made our choice. The question now remains: how?"

Twi'lek Viker Manuush jumped to his feet. "Master Katarn, I must—"

"Grand Master."

Beneath green lips, Manuush gritted his teeth. "Yes, Grand Master. We have served this galaxy faithfully for over 25,000 years. A declaration of war by the Jedi would only serve to undo all we have accomplished. Public opinion of the Jedi Order has never been higher in the history of the Alliance and the Old Republic!"

"Sit down, Manuush."

Manuush stood his ground set his voice into a mocking tone, "Master Manuush."

A fire lit in Katarn's eyes and he raised his hand. Dipping slightly into the Force, Katarn forced Manuush back into his seat. "If public opinion really is with the Jedi, then the people will understand our reasons. It doesn't have to come to war."

Struggling to stand back up, Manuush cried. "But it will! The citizens of the galaxy aren't Jedi. They won't see it the way you do."

Getting ready to use the Force to shut Manuush's mouth, Katarn said pulled back his grip in the Force. He closed his eyes and breathed. There is no passion, there is serenity. "We, as the Jedi High Council have resolved to set a particular course of action. No one Jedi Council member has the power to overturn the rest. Nor," Katarn glanced towards the Horns, "do three."

"Grand Master," to Katarn's right, forceful as ever, Grottl spoke, "we have obviously reached an impasse on how to go about our plans. Our decisions will have a tremendous impact of the galaxy. In addition there is the issue" Grottl eyed his fellow council members. Although he didn't say it, everyone knew that Katarn and Grottl were referring to Katarn's destructive vision during the last Council meeting, "we discussed earlier. May I suggest we consult Wori-Ky?"

Katarn nodded. He extended his arm and with the Force, pressed down on a small, irregularly shaped button that was mounted on one of the corners of the holostation in the center of the room. A small beeping sound emitted from the button.

Several minutes of silence past. One of the Jedi Masters, a relatively young Bimm named Gren Ritaich, looked around to his fellow masters. His face was contorted in mask of confusion, but for some reason did not ask what was on his mind.

After another set of boring minutes, the side turbolift opened with a small whooshing sound. Wori-Ky stepped lightly into the chamber. She wore robes of deep purple, the color of wine, and where most humans would have eyes, the Miraluka had two unevenly tied pieces of cloth, a lighter shade of purple than her robes. Her light brown hair stopped where the cloth covered her eyes, except for the long ponytail that emerged from the center of her head and spilled down by her shoulder blades.

She extended her hands outward and the curtains lined around the chamber descended over all of the windows. With her further urging in the Force, the light of holostation in the center of room dulled and the station began to submerge into the floor. Fully tucked in a small circular crevice that had opened up for it below, a maroon circle identical to the rest of the carpet, covered the area where the station had been. Both artificial light and natural light disappeared and the Jedi Council Chamber was plunged in complete darkness.

All the twelve masters (Ritaich lagged behind the others in confusion) stood up and grabbed their lightsabers. Nearly simultaneously, the masters extended their saber arm and activated their weapons. A rainbow of colors shone brightly as the only source of light in the room, from Torrent Horn's brown blade to Suri Da-Boda's yellow blade to Curria Weslyanda's blue blade.

Her arms extended, Wori-Ky walked to the circle in the middle of the chamber, where the holostation was previously. The masters' lightsabers floated out of their hands and surrounded Wori-Ky in the air, shaped as a perfect circle.

Maintaining the hovering sources of light, Wori-Ky sat down in the circle. She assumed a meditative position, closed her eyes, and all of the masters felt an absence in the Force.

"What happened? Where did she go?" a panicked voice cried.

Katarn's brow furrowed momentarily until he realized who it was that had spoken. "Ah, Master Ritaich. You haven't experienced Wori-Ky's work with the council before."

"Lucky bastard." Muttered Grottl.

Ignoring the sandy blonde master, Katarn continued to address the Bimm. "Master Ritaich, Wori-Ky is perhaps the most accomplished seer this order has ever known. Excluding her, excuse me, normal visions of the future, Wori-Ky has several advanced methods of gazing forward from the present, of which these methods are to be utilized only in the presence of the Jedi Council."

Ritaich scrunched his snout in confusion and slightly twitched his elongated ears. "But she ceases to exist in the Force. Even flow-walking—"

"You know flow-walking is forbidden." Katarn said sharply, shuttering at the thought. "No, Wori-Ky is performing a technique she developed from the writings of the first Grand Master Skywalker. Secrets from his travels among the galaxy's Force-users."

Ritaich trembled several whiskers, the Bimm equivalent or raising an eyebrow. "I don't recall reading anything from Master Skywalker like this."

"These are from writing restricted to the Grand Master," Katarn glanced at the cold Miraluka and could feel a slight annoyance radiating in the Force from the Horns, "and those he chooses to share them with. She is beyond the shadows now, in the cradle of the Force itself."

Katarn fell back into his seat after Ritaich showed no signs of asking another question. He took a deep breath and prepared for a long night.

Time passed slowly. Katarn could practically feel the inertia moving along his body like a Vong tizowyrm falling down him. Soon, the need for curtains to shut out the system's sun disappeared, although no one opted to raise them. After a time, Weslyanda stood up and used the side turbolift to descend from the tower. After several lengthy minutes, the Zeltron returned with an armful of food, which she proceeded force-feed to Wori-Ky and, after some difficulties, decided to Force-feed the food to the seer.

Time stretched farther and longer and, although they could not physically see it, the masters all could sense dawn approaching.

Around what Katarn believed to be midday, he pulled out a datapad from within his robes and typed a short message to Master Avogadro that informed the historian that the Council members would be indisposed for the remainder of the day.

By the time mid-afternoon reared its head, the Jedi all had small hunger pains in their stomach. Suri Da-Boda took the turbolift back to the surface and transported a large hovertray of food for the masters to consume.

Nighttime soon descended once again and many of the Master's began to feel a gnawing pain in their stomachs again, long since having depleted the tray of food brought up by Da-Boda. Osias Farril had long since nodded off to sleep. In most normal situations, the Council members would have had to stay awake, but Katarn lightly instructed his fellow masters to let the old Jedi rest.

During the time of night when seconds feel like hours and hours felt like eternity, the masters all felt a large presence in the Force appear in the void where Wori-Ky had not existed.

"Master Ritaich, wake up Master Hirdt." Katarn indicated towards the drowsy Bimm, "Inform him to ready the medical facility and have an apprentice and an IV come to bring down Wori-Ky.

As the Bimm left the chamber, Wori-Ky stirred on the floor. Having regained consciousness, the seer tried to stand up, but her feet collapsed under her and she feel back down to the floor. From beneath the cloth that masked her vestigial eyes, a faint glowing shone in the near-complete darkness. The Miraluka, now completely returned to the plane of the Force, opened her mouth and said in an inhuman voice. "Ask, and I shall answer."

"Wori-Ky," Katarn asked in the darkness. "how can our Order lead the galaxy into war, to achieve our birthright?"

Wori-Ky's head was involuntarily thrust down towards he back. Shakily standing up, Wori-Ky spoke again in an inhuman voice. "I see a galaxy drowning in blood, cleansed by the fires of war and the ashes of destruction. The galaxy collapses in on itself and only the Jedi have the power to end it. An enemy rises where an ally once was. A Force-user, heir to a great legacy, will fall from greatness, and become the greatest threat to the Jedi and the galaxy. The balance will hang on his decisions and he will choose whether to restore the galaxy or abandon it. A hero will emerge from the Jedi Order, and only that hero will be able to stop the enemy of the Jedi and save the galaxy from the power of the dark side. The enemy takes arms against the Jedi and only the true Jedi have the power to save it."

Wori-Ky spasmed and collapsed once more onto the ground. The Masters' lightsabers all extinguished and each master summoned their weapons back to their hands, before shoving them onto their belts. Katarn extended his left arm and the glowpanels of the chamber flickered back on. Several masters raised their arms over their eyes to mask themselves from the sudden appearance of light. The circle where Wori-Ky had been disappeared and the chamber's holostation rose back into place.

Just as the light returned, Ritaich and Pael Orco, a Givin padawan and assistant to the Order's primary Healer, Hirdt, entered the room. Orco pushed a hovering gurney and, with the aid of the Force, loaded the unconsciousness Wori-Ky onto the gurney. Moving rapidly, Orco attached an IV attached to the gurney into Wori-Ky's wrist veins and rushed the Miraluka into the turbolift.

"This one doez not understand." Sim asked.

"It seems quite simple to me." Katarn said. "A new threat is approaching the galaxy, possibly the greatest enemy the Jedi have ever known."

"If we accept this, we must consider the identities of—"

"Masters," the holostation that had recently returned flickered on. "Chief of State Tam has just returned from a meeting in the Outer Rim and is requesting the Council's presence on Coruscant immediately."

Katarn raised an eyebrow at the Coruscanti official. Katarn looked down at the chrono beneath his brown sleeve. "Timely, particularly for Wori-Ky." He muttered. He turned his face back to the official. "The Jedi are rather busy at the minute, I don't believe we will be able to make it."

But, Masters," the official paused and shivered slightly before saying the next words shakily, "it's the Empire."

"Emperor's black bones!"

Everyone turned in surprise to the typically silent Osias Farril. The old Jedi looked positively frightened as Suri Da-Boda used the Force to shut the holostation off.

Katarn began to program his chair to descend to the surface. He turned to Scorpio and said quietly, "Prepare the ship."