( Not much action in this chapter. All talking. Next chapter will be all fighting :D

And thanks for the hint, LysdexicOne ;)

In Transit

Three mild arches ran down from the ceiling along the dark grey walls of the half cylindrical, three metre wide and four metre long passenger cabin. Set into each each were three oval, eye like lamps which illuminated the cabin in a gentle yellow-white light. One third of a metre from the black carpeted floor, benches covered in sponge wrapped in grey synthetic leather unfolded from the wall on either side along the entire length of the cabin.

In one corner there sat a young man in brown robes, hands held out as if trying to grasp an invisible ball, eyes closed in intense concentration.

On the same bench, in the middle of the cabin was a tall humanoid figure wrapped in red and black cloth and a grey cape.

Opposite him there sat an an old, bald man in weathered grey robes, and another old man with black and white hair and robes.

"I feel it ! I feel it ! The Void, it's real ! It's … it's … " The young man muttered excitedly. A black haze gathered between his palms and sent ripples through the air around it, which flowed up around his arms, eventually engulfing his entire body, distorting the light around him so that he appeared as if seen through the unsteady surface of water. "it's … woo ! It's cold !"

The ripples dissipated, leaving him shivering and panting. The next moment, he closed his eyes and held out his hands again, ready for another attempt.

"Easy, Kart. Living things do not react well to the Void, at first." The grey caped figure advised.

Across him, the bald man said sternly. "Understand this, Zeratul. You are the only being I have seen whose mind has not been twisted by use of the Dark Side. If Kart is going deeper into this, can I have your word that he will not become another Sith Lord ?"

"I promise, Farid. If my conjectures are right, the Void and the Dark Side are not exactly the same thing. In fact, the truth is still more complex than that. " Zeratul assured the old Jedi. "A question, Jedi master. How did the Sith order come about ?"

"Long ago."Farid looked down at the floor and began recounting the history that had been passed down among practitioners of the Force for generations. "Since the beginning of the Republic, the Jedi order has practiced the Force and used the power thus cultivated to serve and to protect. I am not sure where, how or by whom the Force itself was discovered, but around seven thousand years ago, one member of the order came upon a strange revelation. He believed that by abandoning the contemplation and passiveness that was the guiding principle of the Jedi way, and totally embracing one's passions and capacity for destruction, one could attain a power far above that achieved by any Jedi. He had stumbled upon the Dark Side of the Force.

He was forbidden from teaching the Dark Side to younger Jedi. Despite warnings, he soon gathered around himself a sizeable following. They tried to take over the order, but failed and were exiled.

This dissident cult came to the world of … what was it called, Enri ?"

The other old man sitting beside Farid continued for him,"The world of Korriban, where they encountered a species adept at using the Force, called the Sith. They ruled the Sith as gods, and eventually interbred with them, so that as time went on, they became almost became one people.

Five thousand years ago, a Republic explorer vessel made first contact with the Sith Empire. One Sith Lord named Naga Sadow decided to invade the Republic and take revenge on the Jedi. Thus ensued the Great Hyperspace War.

There followed several major conflicts between the Sith and the Jedi.

Then two thousand years ago, on the world of Ruusan, the Jedi dealt a massive blow to the Sith order. Sith Lord Kaan and his army were utterly defeated, and it was thought that the Sith had been taken care of once and for all."

"However, as was soon realized, and as you can see, the Sith were not completely destroyed. They had only gone into hiding."Farid concluded. "So far, none but the members of the Jedi order know the truth of their existence."

"All that. Wars resulting from differences in beliefs." Zeratul sighed and shook his head.

"Do you sympathize with them ?" Enri raised one long white eyebrow.

"Not entirely. I have encountered one of their apprentices. The … Dark Side has clouded her spirit. She desires power above all else. The Sith are out to dominate. What they cannot control they destroy."

"Haha. Almost like you read the Sith Lords' minds through her ! " Enri laughed. "I wonder how often you do that ?" Now Enri stared at Zeratul in a manner that made him feel as if the old Jedi was the one peering into his thoughts. At once, a flood of images flashed through his mind's eye. They were vague, familiar, but hard to place. Exoskeletons, magnificent structures of gold and crystal, a green glow, cold endless outer space… He had not felt so overwhelmed since … since his mind touched with that of the -

"One of their apprentices ?" Farid asked.

Zeratul shook himself free of the trance, and saw that Enri was back to his usual self, no longer staring at him. "Yes. She looks like Kart, and they seem to know each other. Who is she ?"

"That would be Kart's sister, or so he tells me. Having travelled so far, you must have also realized, that societies on different worlds treat the issue of kinship differently."

"She did mention to Kart about avenging their homeworld." Zeratul rubbed his chin. "What did she mean ?"

"Kart and Gaya were born on the world of Svarg." Farid replied. "The Svargans were a peaceful, spiritual people. Contact with the Republic had not diluted their traditional way of life. Through an as yet unknown influence, they began recently to exhibit a relatively high affinity for the Force."

Zeratul nodded as he listened. "They would make great Jedi."

"Unfortunately," Farid settled into a solemn expression. "The Sith got to them first. It seemed they had unearthed an ancient, forgotten technology of unknown origins on that planet. The Svargans could not tell us anything about those relicts, except for a selection of myths and folklore, and they had no idea what the Sith were up to. Through patient investigation we finally discovered the terrible truth: the Sith were building a superweapon that could clear the entire surface of a planet of almost all intended targets. If they were to attack Coruscant with that weapon, the Republic would be thrown into chaos."

Enri struck the back of a palm with one finger and waved both hands vigorously above him. "Poof ! Just like that !" He then pretended to choke himself and drop dead.

From a corner of the cabin came the muffled chuckles of a young man trying to hold in his laughter. "pfhpfh… stop that Enri, I am trying to concentrate !"

"By then the weapon was nearing completion."Farid continued, ignoring the horseplay going on beside him. "Enri and I were sent to sabotage its construction, but we were thwarted by the devious cunning and sheer power of the Sith Lords. We had no choice but to carry out our second plan. We had reported to the Senate about a 'dangerous separatist movement' based on Svarg, and it was agreed to send a fleet to eliminate this 'threat' to the 'stability of the Republic'. At first its role was to distract the Sith Lords' forces as we slipped in and disabled their weapon. Having failed to accomplish the latter, the fleet was notified, and they all fired on the location of the weapon." Farid closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"The Sith Lords escaped." Zeratul ventured.

"Of course."Enri chuckled. "If we could escape, so could they."

"I wish that were the end of it." Farid sighed. "The weapon … was activated. It hit the nearest target available: the planet of Svarg itself."

"By Adun !" Zeratul sat up, appalled. He flared his psionic appendages in shock. He remembered when a similar "superweapon" was used by the Protoss to defend the Dark Templar homeworld against invading Zerg forces. It wiped all Zerg off the face of Shaquras. Had the power of the Xel'Naga relict been turned against the inhabitants of the planet itself – "Genocide !"

"Yup."Enri "Except that to outside observers it seemed as if we blasted the planet."

"We are to blame for not stopping the Sith Lords in time." Farid nodded. "All those lives lost. We Jedi felt it clearly throught the force." He pressed a hand against his chest. "It feels as if a large part of your being has been torn off and burnt away. It leaves you scarred and fractured within. Pain that is more than just pain."

Zeratul nodded back. He could understand exactly how that felt.

"When the dust had settled, we returned to Svarg to look for any survivors. We searched the surface of Svarg for days. The weapon had turned most of the once lush world into a barren landscape. There were little signs of life. Charred forests here, smouldering fields there. Crumbling ruins were all that was left of the Svargan's civilization. And then, we found a group of survivors, Kart among them. They lived on the other side of the planet, far from the weapon. It devastated his homeland as well, but by some miracle, it could not kill them all.

The Force was strong in him, I could feel. When he saw me, he asked if I knew where his sister was. He thought that since I was Jedi, I should know. I explained that it was not that simple. Then he asked if he could become a Jedi." Farid laughed bitterly. "I … had failed to prevent the tragedy that had befallen the people of Svarg. It felt almost criminal to deny the young Svargan his wish. So I took him in.

Kart never met his sister until years later, on Coruscant. What she was doing there I did not know. They met by chance, and though they instantly recognized each other, they did well to hide their affiliations from one another, it seemed. Kart had never seen a Dark Jedi until then, and neither he nor I, when he told me about it later, suspected that she was with the Sith.

He next saw his sister in the cave where we found you. You know the rest.

She is lost to us now. Another reminder of the dreadful consequences of our attack on Svarg."

"She is not." Zeratul replied. "I believe it is a matter of discipline."

"What do you mean ?"Farid.

My turn to tell stories, Zeratul thought. "Members of my species share a psionic link with each other." Zeratul stroked the nerve chords behind his head with his claws. "Together with that is the ability to access certain psionic abilities considered unique to the Protoss. You can say that we are born attuned to the Force, perhaps in the same manner as the Korriban Sith, or the Svargans, if they were to evolve further. The Ancient Ones, the Xel'Naga, saw that we were endowed with the purity of form, and decided to guide our evolution. Secretly, they protected and nurtured our species. As our civilization covered every corner on the world of Aiur, the Ancient Ones revealed themselves to us.

At first they were revered. And then, our ancestors were gripped with paranoia and individualism. Motivated by an irrational fear of their own creators, they turned on the Xel'Naga and drove them away. The Link was temporarily dissolved, and Aiur entered an era of chaos and bloodshed.

Then the great scholar Khas unearthed the forgotten teachings and technology of the Xel'Naga, and with them he revived the Link. He preached Khala, the 'Path of Ascension', reestablishing peace and stability to Protoss society. However, there were those who refused to submit their wills to this new world order." Zeratul leaned back and narrowed his eyes. "I was one of the last batch of exiles from the Homeworld, before it fell to alien invasion."

"Interesting." Farid smiled. "The Khala, this was the discipline you were talking about ?"

"Yes." Zeratul nodded. "The great warrior Adun taught the Rogue Tribes how to wield the psionic powers of the Templar, but without the discipline of the Khala, the members of the Rogue Tribes were unable to control their powers, bringing violence and destruction wherever they went. And thus group by group they were forced to leave the Homeworld.

Calling ourselves Dark Templar, we cut off our nerve chords, thus severing our connections to the Link. And that was when we discovered the Void."

Zeratul held up one hand, palm up as if supporting a sphere. The orange glow in his eyes intensified. A red haze materialized above his hand, condensing into a black core in its centre. The air around it shimmered and rippled. He held it out towards Farid, and the Jedi Master felt a slight tinge of cold numbness wash over his body.

"I see." Farid nodded as well. "Your people had a disastrous brush with the Dark Side of the Force. To keep it under control, the regular Templar follow the Path of Ascension, while Dark Templar, like you, shun the Force and learn to wield an altogether different energy."

The ball of Void energy thinned out and vanished. Zeratul sat back. "I am different now. I have learned to wield the Light energy of the Templar as well. It is possible to merge them, but I have been unable to achieve that."

"I see you will have a lot to teach Kart." Farid leaned forward. "The boy seems to have taken quite a liking towards you. After this mission is over, I'll h –"

"Sorry, to interrupt, Jedi Master Farid. We have landed on the prescribed location on TP6." Came the voice from the cockpit. "The surroundings appear safe. Despite being designated a moon, it is still massive enough to have a breathable atmosphere. You may proceed. Be careful, and good luck."

"Of course it has a breathable atmosphere." Enri laughed. "Can you imagine the Black-Cloaks fighting in space suits ? Their enemies will probably laugh to death before getting struck down by their light sabres. Haha …"

"Thank you, pilot. May the Force be with you." Farid announced towards one end of the passenger cabin.

On the other end of the cabin, a rectangular section of the wall slid into one side, and a dim blue light shone in from outside.

Farid look towards the inner corner of the cabin, where sat a shivering figure blurred and obscured by a severe rippling in the air around it. "Stay here and wait for us, Kart. If all goes well, we should be back in a standard hour or two."

"C … can't I come along asss well, Master ?" Kart stammered in reply.

"No, Kart, only two persons can accompany Zeratul."

"Brr … w … why alwaysss do w-what we arrre told ?"

"Whatever we do, Kart, we take the lives of others into consideration. That is how we are different from the Sith."

"O ookay … sssee you later."

Farid stood up, followed by Enri and Zeratul. They walked over to the exit of the shuttle, and stepped out into the open.

-

( See you later.

This should be no longer than Grey Templar 1, but I think the plot now makes more sense XD

Starspawn07 )