The four Jedi assigned to the Ryloth mission stood outside a battered Republic cruiser's loading ramp supervising their fifth group of refugees from the depths of Torr's underground compound. The group had made a few trips back and forth from the inside of the compound and had extracted a semi-conscious Silais Torr on the second trip. He had been propped against a landing strut near his own ship and searched thoroughly by Oomaal. Trevor had led at least two trips back into the slaves quarters in his attempt to assist Shudo and Oomaal. A pair of young adults stopped and chatted with Nawara for a moment. A giggle from the youngest of the pair caught Trevor's attention. Her green eyes blinked quickly at being caught, and immediately hid her face in embarrassment. Trevor bowed his head, and turned back to the elder Jedi. Oomaal and Shudo were quietly discussing the rest of the extraction timeline.
"Masters," Trevor gently interrupted the conversation to gather their attention.
"Yes, Trevor." Shudo did not turn around, but knew his padawan was anxious to be doing something else.
"Since the former slaves are now mostly out of the pens, would you mind if I investigated his office space? There might be more slaves that we need to find." Trevor wasn't sure if that idea would be received well, as the transports were nearly full.
Kura Oomaal took control of the conversation. "Actually, Trevor, I was just thinking that Torr might have something in his office. I was never able to get into that part of the complex. If you could be so kind, please proceed with a quick search. You have thirty minutes. Shudo, please go with him and assist."
Both Jedi bowed to Oomaal, turned and trapsed back into the bowels of the fortress. Earlier they had to expand sections of the hallways that had started to crumble due to the E5's attack. The pair strode silently through the great hall and proceeded to search the entire office area. They found a small cache of weapons that they immediately disabled and confiscated. Trevor found the slave trader's console and immediately began to search for any more information regarding the slave trade. He was able to copy most of the files onto his own stash of datapads for the investigation droids in the analysis room back on Coruscant. The entire process took less than the time Oomaal allotted for the Jedi, listening to the Force guide them to the location of the most important information. The pair worked silently and independently, giving each other glances so as not to disturb the silent peace that seemed to have found a home in the former slavers headquarters. Shudo waved Trevor out of the room as the pair gathered their bounty. The trip out was nearly bittersweet for Trevor, but he felt a change in his heart. For not the first time, it was evident that he had finally come into his own as a Jedi Knight. He unknowingly straightened his back, making himself nearly a centimeter taller. Shudo made another mental note of this change.
The ships were in the final pre-flight countdown when the Jedi emerged from the rubble. They split up, Trevor entering Il Ventyce and Shudo the Crystal Phoenix. The ships lifted off, engines blossoming to full power under the vast load they now carried. The trip, though only an hour long, was uneventful. The slaves were allowed access to the refreshers throughout the ship and new clothing was handed out as well. Trevor could feel the changes in the emotions of the passengers. He smiled from the navigator's seat on the bridge.
The landing at one of the largest Rylothian cities was quick and the debarking of passengers went rather smoothly. An emergency triage center had been set up in one of the more posh hotels, no doubt politically moviated. Or so Nawara had mentioned under her breath when the shuttlecabs delivered them to the hotel. Security around the hotel seemed to be rather intense as well, as hundreds of medical staff were set up in the major conference rooms. The cataloging of all the passengers and equipment took nearly three days to complete. Trevor had no real compulsion to leave the former slaves, so he help the medical staff and investigators whenever he could. What Trevor did not lose sight of was the fact that all of the Rylothian cities were built underground, similar to the fortress he had just come from. Building rose hundreds of feet into the air, and stalactites and stalagmites were converted into buildings all through the underground. During his stay, he took the time to tour some of the more open areas of the city. He did not get the name of the city, but watched the people and culture move around him. The local holonet was showing a freak firestorm overhead, and Trevor watched with rapt interest. He had seen the hot and cold side of the planet when he arrived, but did not realize how intense the storms were.
After the third day, most of the passengers from the freedom flights, as many of the elder slaves had called them, were cared for. The emotional reunions of familys and loved ones were not attended by any of the Jedi. For those that had none, a special center had been set up to pair them with others for support and comfort. Housing was provided by the local government in a fairly posh hotel. Near midday, Shudo and Trevor felt that they were in the way, so they requested leave to head back to Coruscant to give an official mission update. Even though there had been reports during the preceding days, a visit to the Council was usually required for face-to-face confirmation of events.
The Crystal Phoenix spent the next six days traveling back to Coruscant. Trevor took the time to catch up on some of his studies that had been neglected over the last month or so. He and Shudo talked about the missions he had been sent on over the last few weeks. They discussed and debated over the experiences, what he learned during the mission, and how he arrived at the conclusions. Shudo interviewed Trevor in detail more about some missions than others, and the two debated certain points that Trevor had never thought of during the mission. Shudo also mentioned that Kimber Thomree, his 'big sister' during his formative years and Shudo's second padawan, had begun her search for a padawan of her own. She had been a Jedi for many years. Having taken the Trials at an extremely young age, she had more years to learn the ways of the Jedi and experience different missions than Trevor's. She was an accomplished Jedi in her own right. She never talked about her missions, but seemed to be happy to bask in the glow of other's company. Shudo did not give details, and Trevor was eager for more. Even though he'd been a Jedi for three months, it was not a common sight to have a padawan within the first year of knighthood. They continued to discuss subjects during the trip back. Trevor also pressed Shudo into giving the exact details of the programs that were replaced on E5. The elder Jedi gave a list, but Trevor pressed.
"Master, what kind of behavioral programming did you put into E5?"
Shudo shook his head. "Nothing more than usual. Why?"
Trevor mentioned the caution E5 exhibited during his Tatooine mission. "Since you have not added anything to his programming, then he is just a feisty droid. I thought you might have placed some sort of behavioral modifications to his programming. Feisty droid."
Shudo smiled. "Yes, he is. He was on this ship a long time, and I am glad to see that a padawan of mine could use him. Kimber is cautious enough on her own, but every so often, you need a reminder."
The pair shared a moment, each reflecting on a different memory, when the re-entry klaxon blared, announcing final approach to Coruscant.
The ship landed in the docking bay with a gentle thud. The landing ramp opened and the pair emerged before the end hit the deck. They logged evidence with the analysis droids, and then split apart. Prior to departing, Shudo gave Trevor instructions to meet him in the Council chambers at approximately midday. Trevor nodded and headed towards his quarters. The corridors were surprisingly empty of beings. He did not notice how quiet things were in the Temple before. But being in a ship for nearly a week caused an emptiness to be in his soul to interact with other beings. He opened the door to his quarters and noticed that the morning light was a bit diffused by high thin clouds. Might be rain today, he thought. He changed his robes, spent some time in the refresher, and then headed down to the cafeteria for a quick meal and some interaction. When he arrived, the room was nearly empty. A few people he recognized waved at him, and he nodded back. He ate his meal slowly, sitting near a window. A human youngling walked into the room, seeming to be on the verge of tears. Trevor sensed the youngling's despair and immediately stood up.
"Youngling, what is the problem?"
The youngster, Robiar by name, was surprised by the Miraluka, but immediately recovered. His sleeve swept across his cheeks, wiping away the tears that had escaped his eyes. "I… I… was trying… to… to lift a… box.. and…"
Trevor got down on one knee in front of the child. "And you did not lift it on your first try, did you?"
Robiar did not allow words to escape from his control of emotions. Trevor smiled, "Come. Sit with me for a moment."
The two walked towards Trevor's seat. Trevor offered Rodiar some of his meal, and the youngster nibbled graciously.
"Rodiar, do you know why you were asked to lift a box?"
"Yes, it was to help us channel the Force."
"Why do you think that you did not lift it?"
"I am too small."
Trevor smiled. "Ah, but Master Yoda would not accept that answer, would he?"
Rodiar looked at him, chagrined. "No," he poutily replied.
"Do you know how many people in my clan could lift a box the very first time they were asked to do it?"
The child looked at him expectantly. "How many? Did you?"
Trevor smiled. "No, youngling. In my clan, no one could lift it."
Shoulders slouched noticeably. "But…"
"Rodiar. Because you were not successful the first time, does not mean that you can never do it. It just means that you need to practice. A Jedi must learn from his failures, or else he does improve himself as a Jedi. You do want to be a Jedi, don't you?"
"Yes, Master." The eyes twinkled in anticipation.
"Please, just Trevor. I am no one's Master. Take some friendly advice. Concentrate and listen to what the Force is telling you. Learn from your mistakes. Practice. I practice with my lightsaber all the time. Is it because I am bad with it? No, but I want to be better each time I have to use it. Confidence, lad. Practice. Frustration leads to anger. And you know where that goes. If you cannot do it the first time, meditate on why you could not and work around it."
The young boy looked at Trevor with determination in his eyes. "You sound like my instructor. But the words seem different coming from you. Thank you, Ma-- Sir Trevor. I will try."
Trevor nodded at him. "Just between you and I; don't let Master Yoda hear that. You know what he says about try. Oh, is that your instructor over there?" Trevor pointed to a cloaked Rodian at the door to the cafeteria. Trevor recognized Master Herndo, the Jedi Instructor specialized in telekinesis, the art of moving objects with the Force. Trevor had learned the same speech from Herndo years before. The two nodded at each other as Rodiar leapt from the table and walked over to his instructor. At the door, he turned and waved to the seated Jedi. Trevor waved back, wondering if he had the patience to train someone like the youngster, as he just had done with the young boy. Trevor stood up, grabbed a fruit from the exit arean, and chewed on his first bite as he headed for the Council Chambers.
There were no empty seats in the Council Chambers on this sunny day. It was a nervous time when the entire Council listened to his every word. He was asked to give an accounting of how he accomplished his mission on Ryloth. Shudo took a step back to allow his former padawan the floor. Trevor did not give a blow by blow detail of the entire episode, but did give statements like "disarmed" and "dispatched". The first time he used disarmed it took all of his Jedi training not to burst out laughing. A Jedi 'disarming' someone definitely had a different connotation that other security forces. Death of innocents was taken seriously within the Jedi Order, but in this case, all of the deaths were justified. The Council nodded their approval of the report to Trevor as he concluded. Shudo filled in the rest of the details of his portion of the mission. Master Yoda turned to Mace, who had been staring rather intently at Trevor during the entire report. Windu simply nodded once, not even turning to Yoda. The wizened Jedi turned back to the pair.
"Thanks the Council gives to this report. Brought to justice, the trader of slave has been." Yoda turned slightly to Ki-Adi Mundi, who took the floor.
"The Rylothian delegation to the Galactic Senate have sent along commendations for those that were involved with the mission. Kura's and Nawara's are on file along with yours. Know that they are very happy to have their people returned to them."
Shudo and Trevor bowed deeply to Mundi, Yoda and Windu. The three leaders of the Council nodded in response, and the Jedi pair turned away, out of the chambers. Once the doors closed, Trevor turned to Shudo.
"Master, how often do governments send commendations?"
"Almost never. But this mission was very in-depth, and obviously the work was certainly dangerous. I feel that there is nothing in this but honest sincerity on the part of the Rylothians. They have a number of their people back. Wouldn't you be glad to have your family home?"
Trevor thought about that as he walked back to his quarters. The only family he knew was those in the Temple. Of all the people who were around him, most were like close friends. A couple of people were much closer, and came to mind much quicker: Kimber and Yendis. He knew rules were in place within the Order and he never questioned them much. He just looked upon them with compassion and love from within.
As he approached his room, he felt that he had been cooped up in rooms, quarters and ships for too long. There were exercises that he suddenly felt the need to do. He changed to a more comfortable outfit and headed down to an exercise arena. The arena was just for youngling learning to gather the Force within themselves and jump much higher than normal beings did. A Jedi technician was sitting near the control board.
"Master Jedi, what can I do for you?"
"If possible, can you set up the main arena for me? I'm looking to do a little Force-work."
The tech smiled at him. "Youngling training?"
Trevor laughed. "No, not really. Can you make it a bit more random? I also want it in short bursts, between thirty and sixty seconds."
"Yeah, I can do that. Should be about five minutes before it's ready. Why do you head down? I'll blink the lights when I'm ready."
Trevor thanked the tech and left the control room. Moments later, as the technician was about to flip the lights, a shadow blocked the light coming from the hall. The tech nearly screamed, but a calm voice prevented the noise from being heard outside the door.
"What did he ask for?" the voice gently pressed.
"He requested an adult variation of the Youngling training program," the tech answered. "Master, why --?"
"I am curious," the voice cooed. "Keep to your work." The cloaked Jedi stood back and watched the monitors carefully.
Trevor entered the chamber a few moments later. The area was nearly fifty meters across, and easily that high. Trevor enjoyed working in this room, as there was space enough to really jump high. The columns started out only about five meters tall for the first set, as a way of warming up. However, for the next twenty minutes, Trevor worked on bridges, narrow walkways, and very high balconies, or so he thought of them. Trevor had started another round of drills, bouncing off of one column to land on a higher platform, when the platform below him suddenly headed towards the floor. In shock, Trevor turned around and found the entire room being reset. As he reached the floor, he realized there was a slight disturbance in the Force, as if someone was letting another Jedi that they were standing there. Trevor turned his vision toward the door to the arena and noticed Mace Windu standing at the door. The hairs in the small of his neck raised in alarm, but he took a deep breath and bowed respectfully to the best Weapons Master the Order had seen in nearly five millennia. Windu's background was not well known, but his feats in the field equaled the rumors of how good he really was with a lightsaber. Trevor noticed that the brown cloak was wrapped loosely around the Weapon Master's shoulders and the renowned lightsaber was clipped slightly forward of the left hip. Windu's dark skin shown in the light of the arena.
Trevor walked over to the doorway, inquiring, "Master Windu. Is there something wrong?"
Windu shook his head. "No, Trevor. I was just wondering if we might have a word together."
"Certainly." The pair walked deeper into the room. The hatch closed to the arena with a resounding thud. Trevor imagined a prison gate being closed, but immediately turned his attention to Windu, who had stopped near the center.
"I have been watching your progress since you became a Jedi Knight, Trevor. You have been exceedingly successful in the missions you have faced. Many battles you have fought, and fought well, I might add." A slight pause. "Have you thought about what you want to do in the Jedi Order?"
"Yes, Master. I have thought about this for a while, but wasn't sure how I should approach it."
"What is it that you want to do here?"
Trevor inhaled deeply, and pushed forward. "I want to follow in your footsteps. I want to be a Jedi weapon master."
Silence engulfed the room, and the two Jedi stood across from one another. Windu nodded.
"Let us see how good you are, young Knight. I am challenging you to a duel, right now. How long will it take for you to be ready?"
"I can be ready in five minutes."
"You have two." The stern voice of Windu ended the argument before it even began. Trevor's wish to be a Weapon Master was being put to the test. This was more nerve-wracking than his original Trials to be a Jedi Knight. Windu shed his cloak and unclipped his lightsaber, indicating that he was ready anytime Trevor was. The younger Jedi turned his back to the armed Windu and began a series of serious calming exercises geared towards battle. He also took the time to review the rules of dueling within the Jedi Order. At any time, a Jedi could call the duel off and both combatants would disengage their lightsabers to signal the end of the duel. Also, neither combatant would harm another Jedi. Duels were used to conducted for training and testing. In the history of the Jedi order, there were only two people who could have been known to best Windu. One was Master Yoda and the other was a former Jedi named Count Dooku. Trevor had never really known Dooku, except to see him walking the halls of the Temple. Trevor gathered the Force within him, calming himself and preparing himself for the toughest duel in his career.
Mace watched the Miraluka kneel down, back facing him. He knew the younger Jedi was capable of being a Weapon Master just from the reports. He was not rash, but when he made a decision, he followed through. He killed not for joy, but out of necessity. He was always working to make his skills better with a lightsaber and that was what drew Mace to Trevor. There was a burning desire for knowledge and learning. Trevor made mistakes, but he learned each time and adjusted quickly to each encounter. The distraction mission on Ryloth sealed Trevor's fate with Mace. Windu knew that, though many could have done what he did, Trevor was one to reflect on his actions and wonder if it could have been another way. His reputation amongst the Jedi located at the Temple had reached Windu's ears and he listened about the 'seemingly blind man' who could wield a lightsaber better than those in his clan. Weapons master were known, not just for their bravery, but also their cunning wit and skill with a lightsaber. Master Yoda could have been one, but he chose a different path.
A sudden movement from Trevor shook Mace from his reverie. The Miraluka stood up, turned and nodded once to the Jedi Master. Windu returned the nod and the room was suddenly filled with silver and purple light. Windu stood on guard, watching for the first sign of movement from Trevor, violet blade pointed directly at the ceiling. Trevor kept his saber parallel with the floor, looking around the room with his vision to see who might be watching the action. Fortunately, all of the observation windows and doors were closed tight. This is definitely a test, thought Trevor. Otherwise, it would be embarrassing to Trevor if he lost.
A flash of purple light moved towards Trevor with amazing speed. Trevor barely had time to react before the blade was in motion again. The blazing speed at which Windu could move was astounding. Trevor had never experience fear while being a Jedi, but he now knew that he was easily outclassed by the more experienced Jedi. It was all he could do to block each swipe of the blade. Windu's expression never changed, and he swung the blade as if it were part of his own body, fluid and smooth. The series of attacks stopped, and Trevor responded in kind. Silver blade connected with violet in a shower of sparks. Desperation started to set in, but Trevor pushed it aside. He could already feel his strength sapping and he returned three swings of his own blade in Windu's direction.
The ferocity of the counter attack could only be described as surprising to Mace Windu. He did not expect to have the 'young pup' be able to counter so quickly, and accurately. Windu needed to exert quite a bit of energy to block the silver blade. Yes, he is ready to train for it, Windu thought. But he has a lot to learn still. It might be nice to train another… The thought trailed off as Windu saw a hole in Trevor's defenses. Windu took a step back, as if to give the youngster some breathing room, but then reversed course quickly, rattling the younger Jedi into a completely defensive posture. The first swipe cut deep into Trevor's garment. The second swipe angled towards a sudden opening near the Jedi's throat. The violet blade moved of its own volition. Trevor saw the deadly move coming and knew that he would not be fast enough to counter.
"YIELD!", he shouted. The violet blade stopped within three centimeters of his neck and immediately was disengaged. Trevor turned off his saber as well, as the adrenaline of the encounter suddenly burst from him. Hands shaking uncontrollably and breathing erratic, Trevor took two steps back from the victor, bowing in acquiescence.
"Trevor." Mace's voice was not the stern one he expected, but rather a calming voice; one of a concerned brother. The voice spoke slowly, almost haltingly. "You have learned much in a short time. Meditate on this. Continue your studies and your training. Do not dwell on the results." Both Jedi bowed, Mace Windu turned and strode from the room. Trevor, dazed and confused, stumbled three minutes later, humbled by his loss to the best weapon master in the Order of all time.
Trevor stood at his window, motionless. Though the last rays of warming sun had left his face more than an hour ago, he continued to stand like a statue of a man in deep thought. His force-sight drifted in slow, sweeping arcs across the surrounding scenery as the lights of congested sky-traffic competed with the fading glow of one of Coruscant's spectacular sunsets.
The illusion of motionlessness was broken as Trevor's hand slowly reached up to finger the jagged, singed slash on the side of his tunic--the unmistakable mark of a lightsaber. He couldn't stop re-playing the duel over and over in his mind. It was clear to him now that he still had so much yet to learn. The thought was sobering, but he couldn't quite suppress the lingering sense of excitement.
A soft chime from the com-unit broke Trevor's moment of reflection. As he approached the wall-mounted screen, he saw a blinking yellow light indicating an encrypted message. The source was surprising: Local Coruscant Relay Node XG-644671/B5. That's less than a twenty-minute skycab ride from the Temple, thought Trevor. He couldn't imagine who would be sending him an encrypted message from that area--unless it had been re-routed from another source. Whoever it was, they were clearly concerned about the information being intercepted before it reached Trevor. The encryption prevented the message from being accessed anywhere but at his private com-unit.
He quickly accessed the message. While the identity of the sender was conspicuously absent, Trevor had little trouble recognizing the icons flanking the glowing text.
-- Trevor, I've come across some interesting info I thought you should know about…
-- One of my contacts revealed that there was secured shipment sent out of Metallos to the Necropolis system recently. He indicated that the shipment included an unusually heavy compliment of security droids of unknown make…
-- Apparently, the shipment appeared to be the usual secured sentient remains typical of shipments to Necropolis, but was registered only as "Manufacturing Alloys," which would have allowed it to bypass a number of high-security checkpoints…
-- I would investigate myself, but I'm currently in the middle of an important trade negotiation. I think you would have less trouble with local security anyway…
-- My contact saw four "security" droids similar to those on Umgul. I have no idea how many may still be on Necropolis, or if any are of the type we saw on Ord Mantell. Be careful…
…A friend.
The flashing pictures were familiar as they looked remarkably like Yendis Arctel's new blade hilts. Now that he'd seen her again, he was glad to have news from her. She had grown into a beautiful female Zabrak, and he knew he'd never be able to keep her out of his imagination. Shaking his head of the cobwebs, he read the transcript again. ..security droids similar to those on Umgul. If Yendis was right, then more of these droids were out in the open market, and that was not a good thing. Trevor took a moment and wondered who might be behind the creation of these droids. Trevor decided to head immediately to the Council Chamber. He grabbed his cloak and lightsaber, which were placed on the kitchen counter upon his return. He left his quarters, bound for the turbolift. Master Windu was right, I should not dwell on this. I need to evaluate this later. Trevor pushed the entire incident from his mind, calming himself. He knew that this information passed on to him was rather important. A sudden flash of insight gave Trevor motivation for finding the mastermind behind these droids. I wonder what kind of connection these droids have to that holocron? Trevor stopped in the middle of the hallway as the hair stood up on his skin. Could that artifact have been instructions on how to build a lightsaber? The end result Trevor could not fathom, but he felt that he was getting closer with each passing day.
Master Eeth Koth and Seasee Tinn stood across from the entrance to the chambers, discussing the current events of the day. Master Yaddle was seated in her chair. The trio seemed to be hushed conversations when Trevor was admitted. The seated Jedi turned slightly, bowing to the youngster. Trevor bowed to all three.
"Trevor." Master Koth spoke calmly, nodding in return.
"Master Koth. I have received information from a contact of mine that a secured shipment has been sent to Necropolis. My contact mentioned that there was an unusually heavy compliment of security droids sent along with that shipment. The registration only as 'manufacturing alloys', which prompted my contact to forward this to me. What also made my contact more concernedwas the type of droid used. The four droids they described exactly fit the description of those I encountered on Umgul."
The trio of Jedi were as still as status. Koth's voice, though quieted, still shook Trevor greatly. "Interesting. Manufacturing alloys." Koth turned to the seated Jedi. "You would know better than I, Master Yaddle, but I believe that the entire surface of Necropolis has already been completely developed into funerary structures. Any new structures would be erected on the other planets in the system."
Yaddle nodded, a look of consternation on her face. "Right you are."
Saesee Tinn found his voice and added his comment to the mix. "Mysterious droids." The trio looked at one another, each mired in their own thoughts. Trevor did not want to disturb them, but felt that time was starting to speed up.
Eeth Koth turned to the newest weapon master initiate. "You uncovered the existence of some sort of mysterious ringleader for whatever is going on, didn't you? This Talon?"
Trevor nodded, "Yes." His simple reply belied the anxiety that he felt inside. He quickly sequestered it with a deep breath.
"Do you have reason to believe that you would encounter him here?"
"I am not sure, but it disturbs me that there are more of these droids out there. And I have not been notified of any new developments in regards to the the Sith artifact from Alderaan. It is my concern and worry that this artifact might contain the instructions for creating a lightsaber. I'd like to request permission to investigate this shipment." Trevor kept his breathing calm as he watched the trio look to each other to make the decision. Trevor thought he saw Saesee Tinn's head nod fractionally. He quickly turned his vision to Master Yaddle, but Eeth Koth spoke to him.
"We will grant you permission to investigate. If you believe that you have come across this Talon, do not engage him directly." Trevor quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Eeth Koth continued. "I would send Master Shudo with you, but he has recently departed for Zolan."
Trevor bowed to the group. "I will send you word when I get there and will keep you apprised of the situation. If I cannot send it directly, I will have my astromech forward it along."
"Very good. Use caution."
"Yes Master."
Yaddle turned her wizened face. "May the Force be with you."
Trevor bowed to her, and to the others, turned around, and left the chambers. The main doors closed and the Jedi Council members turned to each other.
"Do you think that he should be allowed to follow through with this?" Saesee Tinn inquired.
"I was discussing the matter with Mace before arriving at the Council Chambers," Eeth Koth replied. "He mentioned that he gave Gul'dan one of his 'tests' in the main training arena earlier. Mace and Shudo were wondering what Trevor wanted to do within the Jedi Order. Windu tells me that he," nodding his head towards the doors, "wants to be a Weapons Master." Heads nodded, looking out the door that Trevor departed from moments earlier.
Trevor headed back to his quarters, and communicated with E5 to prep the ship for take off. He was still tired from his duel with Mace, but a sense of urgency gripped him in a vice-like grip. He went over to the com-station and requested a background download of the Necropolis system. Trevor knew of the Necropolis system, but wanted to verify that he had his information correct. The download was directed towards E5 and the Whitecloak. He gathered his standard wardrobe and his lightsabers from storage. He locked the door to his quarters and headed directly to the flight deck. E5 was sitting in his hatch, beeping incessantly. Trevor nodded and climbed aboard to get a translation of the droid's status of the flight.
"Yes, E5. We are going to Necropolis, the graveyard planet. Take us out, I need to do some research on the planet system for the trip over."
Trevor received an affirmative response from E5, and immediately took to his datapad on the Necropolis system. The information was vast, but Trevor sped through most of the extreme detail, but concentrated on the main planet, Zolan. The Zolanders were a quiet, reserved peoples who revered the dead. They had been known for nearly sixteen millennia as the keepers of the deceased and knew all of the proper burial rights and customs for worlds in the Galactic Republic's member worlds. The first inhabitants of the Zolan homeworld were so distraught that the different species were being merged into one society that the uniqueness of such customs as burials and funerals that they took it upon themselves to document as many different species pushed together with the advent of hyperdrive engines. Soon the entire planet was being overrun with requests to bury the dead, that the planetary system soon became known collectively as Necropolis, City of the Dead. Terraforming needed to be performed on the outer systems within the last four millennia and to this day, Necropolis is used by genealogists and family members to honor the dead.
Trevor realized that the denizens of the planet were not the normal species that he'd run into on other worlds. The download even included some of the more colorful superstitions of the planet; one such story included bemoaned that ancient traditions forbid any activity other than internment or visitation of grave sites within the cemetary. If proper respect is not shown, the corpses will rise from the dead to take their revenge on the living. Keeping on the clearly marked paths is strongly recommended, the information concluded. Trevor shivered in his seat, and decided that he would not venture from the paths if he could avoid it. Lightsaber wounds never really heal anyway, but these kinds of stories seemed to make his skin crawl.
The rest of the trip was rather innocuous. Trevor put himself into a meditative state to try and recover some of his energy from his duel with Mace. He continued to replay the duel over in his mind, but now, nearly three hours after the actual event, the 'student' inside pushed passed the 'loser' and broke down each of the moves made by the Jedi Master. Trevor kept his vision closed and reviewed it in slow motion, repeating the swings in his mind and trying to feel how he would be able to use them in the future.
The fighter exited hyperspace nearly two hours after leaving the Coruscant system. Necropolis was on the outskirts of the Core Region of space, and the short flight meant that Trevor could actually pilot his own fighter for a change. E5 left the controls alone, letting the Jedi practice his skills as a pilot. The feisty droid noted that the Miraluka had found confidence in the last few months behind the stick of the fighter. He had never had to fly in combat, and Trevor wasn't sure he wanted to, but E5 had keep checking on him every few turns to check to see if the Jedi wanted the automaton to take over. Trevor smiled, thinking to the first time he was behind the controls of his first Whitecloak. He pushed off the inquiry and realized that he needed to figure out how to get down to the planet without arousing suspicion. Trevor suddenly realized that Eeth Koth had deferred to Master Yaddle, the most noted historian within the Order. With her advanced age, or what he thought was advanced age, she would find that Necropolis would be a great place to learn about history; a treasure trove, really, that any historian worth their value in credits would salivate if they stumbled upon it. With the number of Jedi who perished over the past millennia, it is possible that he'd be able to get down to the planet to pay his respect to any of the fallen Jedi. Just walking through and tying in births, deaths, and family information would keep an history buff busy for nearly a day.
While thinking of this type of information, Trevor's mind wandered. Who is controlling these Dashade? Why would they be here on a 'dead' planet, a planet with very few living beings? It just doesn't make any sense. The thoughts flowed over him, allowing him to coast down through the atmosphere. He realized that tons of Jedi might be buried here as well. Even though the ritual of cremation was used on Jedi who perished in the line of duty, Necropolis would certainly have memorials for fallen Jedi. And with the variety of species located on the surface, there certainly should be an automated system to deal with the vast amount of inquiries.
Trevor communicated with the Necropolian Central Computer and made his requests for different Jedi. The system responded with the location of the modest memorial to Shoaneb Culu, one of the more famous Miraluken Jedi. Trevor downloaded the information and turned to face E5, who was mounted on the outside of the ship.
"E5, see if you can get the central network to give up the numbers of ships that did not request a burial site."
The droid responded with a quick affirmative twitter, and the Jedi studied the location against his planetary maps. Moments later, E5 responded via the translation screen.
"I have found nearly a thousand ships within that time frame."
"Are any of the ships identified?"
E5 showed nearly two hundred different ships that did register with the central computer. Trevor nodded, realizing that he was searching the wrong way. Most visitors will use the register as a guest book, showing future visitors just how important that they might be by visiting certain family celebrities. Well, that was rather interesting. Guess I'll try to think of something different.
Trevor kept going over options, throwing out ones that seemed to simple, or too complex. He mulled over more options, turned his vision down onto the planet. The foggy mist that covered nearly ninety percent of the planet reminded Trevor of Umgul. Looking down on the trillions of grave sites suddenly gave him an insight he had missed before, just because it was so obvious.
"E5, give me a listing of ships that recently interned more residents of the planet."
A questioning chirp issued from the outside. "You want what?"
"You heard me. I want to know when the last shipments of cadavers were delivered and where."
The translator did not register what the response was, but the smile on Trevor's face gave the droid the impression that he did not need a translation for his last comment. E5 responded with about six internments. Trevor held his breath on his next question.
"Ok, where did they go?"
The astromech researched the question and showed the information on the main display within the Whitecloak. One of the shipments was Hill noble, a long standing ancient Core World culture. E5 also provided Trevor with a human burial sites, a Kuati internment. Trevor remembered from his history classes many years ago that Kuat is the most prominent of the Core human worlds that currently did a vast amount of ship manufacturing. The huge spaceyards were extremely elaborate as Trevor remembered one picture. The Fautis crypt, the information noted, had five deliveries in the last month. Trevor reviewed the information, but something about the Fautis deliveries caused him to wander to that location. He asked E5 to direct him to the nearest landing area. Suddenly the comunit twittered.
"Whitecloak entering the Necropolis system, please identify yourself," a mechanical voice inquired.
"Trevor Gul'dan of the Jedi Temple, Coruscant."
The traffic controller immediately changed its tone. "Sir, you are cleared for access to all of Necropolis. Have a nice day."
Trevor smiled and thanked the controller. He landed the Whitecloak onto the landing area, which had as much floor space as the hanger bay back at the Temple. Trevor shut down the engines, and realized that he still was not fully energized. The adrenaline of the duel and tailing this lead had finally run out. Knowing that the Council was watching his every move, he decided to check in.
"E5, open a secured, encrypted communication channel to the Jedi Council."
"This is Trevor Gul'dan reporting in as requested. I have landed and will be investigating two crypts where there have been internments within the last week to verify the existence of proper internments. I will report back when I have more."
Trevor sent off the transmittion to the Council, and immediately felt a need to catch a quick nap. He set his seat back, leaned in and got comfortable for a quick cat nap. He instructed E5 to wake him in one standard hour and immediately drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
Trevor woke feeling more refreshed, which made him feel better about the walk that he had ahead of him. The landing area was nearly nine hundred meters away from the Fautis family crypt, and the walk would certainly do his sore muscles some good. He raised the canopy of the fighter and climbed down. He locked E5 into his socket and gave the droid the normal instructions. He also tested his communicator, just in case. Trevor turned around and realized that Necropolis was a huge city. There were pyramidal monuments on every street. Large obelisks, pyramids, monstrous crypt buildings reaching up and vanishing within the fog shrouded sky. The green-grey mossy turf littered the ground outside of the worn stone walkways. Trevor realized that attracting any attention would not be a good thing, so he stayed to the pathways. He listened to the light wind blowing through the bushes and trees. Small animals scurried around under the brush, causing Trevor to snap his head to the left and right quite a bit. He kept his hand on his lightsaber but after a few minutes, he realized that he was being paranoid.
He turned a corner, looking down a long boulevard containing the Fautis crypt. The crypts was very large, not really that remarkable. It was at the extreme limits of his vision. Something gave him a very strange feeling. Something is off. He looked around for a stone path, but none were immediately available. The fog shrouded the building, but he figured that he'd just walk down to the next path. Keeping the cowl of the cloak over his face, he walked down the middle of the boulevard, advancing just a little slower. He moved his vision ahead, trying to figure out why the building disturbed him. As he neared the building, Trevor turned his vision upwards, along a balcony. He spotted an alcove with a figure inside, a second alcove with a figure ….. that moved backwards into the doorway. Trevor nearly stopped in his tracks, but recovered quickly. He decided that he would continue on, and find a new path. He continued along. The next building actually would have covered his approach, but figured he'd give that figure a chance to forget him. He walked past six buildings, turned left, took another left and wandered up the path to the large building next to the Fautis Crypt.
Trevor moved himself out of the way, into an alcove within the next building, sad down, and concentrated his vision on the crypt next door. The stairs leading up from the pathway lead to a balcony with two statues framing an large door at the top. A figure was hiding behind one of the statues. The dark-skinned bald figure kept looking out as if keeping a guard. The wide shoulders and heavy build of the figures left no doubt in his mind that these beings were Dashade. It looked like they were on guard duty for something. Trevor continued to watch the sentry. He remembered that the Dashade might have been Force-sensitive, and might be able to sense him. He performed a Jedi hiding trick that was part of his Trials. He muted his presence within the Force, hopefully giving the Dashade a false sense of security. Once he performed that, he turned his vision back towards the Dashade. The figure stood up, reached into his belt and pulled what looked like a block from a pouch. He placed it against the doorframe, which caused the door to open. The sentry walked down the corridor and turned just inside a hallway that lead to a set of stairs.
Continuing down the hall, Trevor noted that the glyphs on the walls showed murals of the Kuati culture. What was notable about the murals was that the Kuati society was matriarchal in nature. The woman were depicted in regal robes, while the men were much smaller in stature. He kept his vision on the Dashade, who reached a second door approximately half way down the corridor. It opened into an actually crypt chamber, complete with sarcophagus in the middle of the room. Inside were three other Dashade lounging around the room. They had their weaponry and equipment scattered around the room giving the impression that this was their central base. Two of the Dashade were sitting down, cleaning a piece of equipment while the third was standing over them. The fourth Dashade walked up to the standing one, who questioned the newcomer right away.
"Anything?"
"Nothing out the front. He kept moving. Nothing out the back either."
Trevor breathed a sigh of relief, knowing now that he was not spotted on his return trip.
"Sir, looked like he could have been Jedi."
"Could have been Jedi, could have been anyone. Keep a watch out."
The two standing Dashade headed back out of the room, each one heading in opposite directions. Trevor searched around the room, watching the equipment and the remaining Dashade working on their equipment. One added a new energy cell to his vibroblade while the other was reassembling his weapon. As he scanned the room, he noticed a small blaster against a wall, gear inside of alcoves, a fusion furnace on the floor, weapons on benches. Stuff was strewn everyone, except on the sarcophagus in the middle of the room. There was not a stitch of equipment was anywhere near it.
Trevor switched his vision back to his current location. He knew that he was in a precarious spot. He decided to observe the suspicious sentries for a while. He also needed a place to create a plan of attack. He climbed up the outside to the first level, sat down behind a statue, and pulled out his communicator.
"E5, retransmit to the Council immediately. This is Trevor Gul'dan reporting in. I have found four Dashade at the Fautis Crypt on Necropolis. I am currently observing them, but their base of operations seems a bit strange. A sarcophagus lies in the middle of the room with nothing on it. Every other object, alcove, and bench in the crypt has something either leaning on it, strapped on it, or is being sat upon. I will be continuing my investigation, and will report when I have more."
He ended the transmission, stowed his communicator, and continued to watch the Dashade's patterns for the next hour. Adrenaline started to flow, but Trevor stored the energy away for later, figuring that he'd need it.
The hour passed quickly, giving Trevor the impression that these Dashade had been here for quite a while. The sentry's movements were practiced, but boring. Duty station here was a boring assignment it seemed, and as any guard duty, they had done most everything twice already and were both on-edge and bored at the same time. Trevor realized that a surprise attack would be the best way to catch these guards. They were definitely guarding something, that much was clear. One hour was all Trevor needed to gather the pattern. A Dashade would walk from the main room, out to the main doorway for a while, go up the stairs, check outside, head back down the corridor and search the other side with the same pattern. The whole pattern seemed to be rather lazy, for these fierce warriors. Knowing their prowess in battle, Trevor gathered that they had been here for at least five days. He decided that he needed to check out the main room. He moved his vision to the main room, and searched completely around. His curiosity about the sarcophagus got the best of him, and he turned his vision inside. After adjusting to the completely darkness, he realized that he was not looking at the remains of a body, but rather random equipment. Trevor noted that a set of wires were drilled through the floor, heading down into the crypt itself. Trevor followed the wiring through the floor, and was surprised to find a shaft heading straight down directly underneath. As he continued down the shaft, a feeling of danger hit him like a vibroblade. His vision reached the bottom of the shaft, which held a repulsorsled at the bottom. The sled seemed to be set up as a lift to go up and down the shaft. A couple of indicator lights gave notice that the sled was definitely in working order. The sled sat in a low-ceilling, wide corridor that cut across the buildings. As he moved his vision down the hallway, the sinking feeling got stronger the closer he got to a set of blast doors. The lights in the corridor force Trevor to adjust his vision slightly. He pushed his was through the doors and he was surprised by the sudden darkness. He consciously switched to a 'night vision', and it was still dark. He pulled back to the corridor and pushed back through the doors. Still darkness. He thought it was rather odd, but what really made him nervous was the feeling of danger coming towards him. It was the similar feeling he had on Ryloth after he fell to Silais Torr's trap and he saw the ripples the first time. He reverted his vision back to himself and breathe deeply. Whatever is down there, is not good. What would prevent me from seeing with the For-. The idea hit him like a warhammer. What kind of object could make that kind of darkness? A Sith exhibit popped into his head, and he immediately grabbed his communicator, and placed it on his datapad.
"E5. Any report back from the Council?"
The droid transferred three words. "Proceed with caution."
"E5, I need another link with the Council, this time, a live link."
A moment passed, and the astromech chipped that a connection had been made. Trevor placed his communicator on his datapad, and the images of Mace Windu and Eeth Koth appeared on the screen.
"Masters,
I have run into something that I have never seen before.
"What
is it?"
"Using my unique abilities, I searched through the crypt where the Dashade are." He continued with a description of the shaft, sled, and the corridor to the blast doors. "When I pushed through the blast doors, I saw only darkness."
"Did you sense any life on the other side?"
"No. But it is my belief, a hunch really, that this is the hiding place of the Sith artifact."
Windu responded. "Did it appear to you this way before when you encountered it?"
"I had a feeling of not wanting to be in the room with it."
"Were you able to observe it in normal light?"
"I never saw it on Alderaan. But it is the exact same feeling."
"You don't sense any other Dark Side presense?"
"I didn't, but it does not mean that it wasn't there. I have only had this experience once before."
Windu stared at the view screen. "What action would you like to take?"
A deep breath. "We need to recover that artifact."
"I agree. Do you think that you can achieve that?"
"I believe I can."
"Then recover it. Leave as soon as possible."
"Very well."
"May the Force be with you."
"Gul'dan out."
A small twitter from the communicator caused Trevor to look at the screen one last time.
"Be careful."
A smirk crossed Trevor's face. "Keep the engines warm."
"They are already on."
Trevor put away all of his communication gear and grabbed his lightsaber. He released his adrenaline and moved his vision towards the crypt. The Dashade had been doing guard duty for so long it had become mechanical. When the Dashade had moved away from the outer doors, Trevor climbed down to the stone walkways, and jogged over to the Fautis Crypt stairs. He bounded up the stairs two at a time, lightsaber at the ready just in case they decided that they wanted to suddenly change their pattern. He moved to the left side of the door and stood behind a statue, concealed by shadow. He calmed himself using his Jedi training, waiting for the guard to show himself. As the door opened, Trevor remembered that the guards swapped in the middle of the hallway. The first guard looked right, away from this position. Oh, no, thought Trevor. The sentry walked through the door and turned right into Trevor's hiding spot. Both combatants were surprised by seeing each other, but Trevor got the jump. He ignited his lightsaber and swung at the same time. The guard jumped back out of the way, hitting the back wall. Trevor swung a second time, catching the Dashade's midsection. It grunted a bit, and Trevor, sensing his advantage, moved in and connected on the third swing. Its eyes looked at him with complete surprise. The eyes suddenly rolled in its head, and the body slumped down on the ground, dead.
Trevor performed a quick search of the Dashade's body, and found the key to the door, a security kit, and a pair of macrobinoculars. He grabbed the key, and immediately opened the door to the inside. Knowing he only had a few minutes of surprise left, he wanted to make the best of it. The door slid open, and the Jedi raced through it toward the other side. As Trevor passed the door leading into the crypt, the other guard opened the far door. The guard did not register the danger for another second. Upon seeing the silver blade of Trevor's lightsaber, the sentry reached down and pulled his blaster rifle a fired two quick shots. The first shot nearly caught Trevor in the head, and the Jedi ducked behind an alcove as the second shot headed past. Realizing that he had no time left, Trevor bolted from the alcove and headed straight for the sentry. The Dashade had pulled out its comlink and was screaming into it. Trevor attempted to pull the communicator out of his hand, but the Dashade was able to keep hold of the device. Trevor's actions caused the shouting to stop, but he knew it wouldn't be for long. He reached out again, this time attempting to pull the blaster instead. This time was successful, the blaster flew down the corridor towards Trevor. He did not even attempt to catch the blaster; it sailed past and slid across the floor. The Dashade bellowed loudly, not bothering with the comlink any more. Both combatants raced towards each other, meeting halfway between the crypt door and the opposite entryway.
When the two were within close proximity, Trevor's blade seemed to move of its own volition. It swung for a head shot first, but the Dashade ducked underneath, grazing its' head along the wall. Trevor brought the blade down, reversing its course. The Dashade tried to move out of the way, but the blade caught him in the midsection. It dropped down to one knee, and tried to respond with its own attack. Trevor anticipated the attack and hopped out of the way of the vibroblade that the Dashade was wielding. Unfortunately for the Dashade, the ferocity of the attack caused the vibroblade to lodge itself into the stone wall. It tried to pull the blade out, but due to the embedded depth, the Dashade could not pull it out. Trevor seized upon this and immediately swung his blade, dissecting the arm that was trying to pull out the blade from the Dashade's body. The Dashade, upon this final attack, passed out and collapsed against the wall.
Trevor finished his swing, turning around and starting towards the main door. As he took the first step, the door opened and the final two Dashade stepped into the hall. They could see past the Jedi to their companion slumped against the wall. What really caught their attention was the vibroblade and appendage vibrating against the wall. The pair immediately raised their blasters and loosed a volley against the Jedi. Only one of the four shots fired caused Trevor to move quickly out of the way. It caught the edge of his robes at about the same spot that Mace had singed earlier that day. Trevor moved in while they fired, and was close enough to swing wildly at the pair. They both jumped back a couple of meters and fired again at Trevor. The shots this time were nearly synchronized such that both shots barely missed Trevor, causing more laser scarring on his robes. Trevor rebounded on the second volley to deflect the laser fire back at the attacker. Both again had to duck out of the way, each nearly taking the bolt in the chest. Trevor moved in to closer contact, swung at the first, catching him in the chest. It jumped back, but not without a huge gash down the chest. Trevor immediately swung his blade upwards across the second Dashade. His lightsaber caught the wall during the follow-through, causing a shower of sparks to light the hallway. The second Dashade fell down in a heap as Trevor twisted around, bringing his lightsaber to the ready position. The first Dashade fired two more times. The first time the shot hit the roof of the hallway, the second nearly catching Trevor's shoulder. The heat of the blaster shot was felt on both his face and his shoulder. Trevor remembered seeing a move Windu did during their duel and he performed the move correctly as the blade and his saber arm were both extended out, causing the head to roll down the hallway. Trevor extinguished his lightsaber and investigated the remaining guards.
A small glimmer of hope came through as he realized that these Dashade were just like those that he met months ago on Alderaan. They had trounced him in battle then, but today was certainly a different story. He searched the bodies but noted that the gear was basically the same. He left the bodies alone and headed into the sarcophagi room. The room looked exactly the same as before, but it had a different smell than what he expected. He walked toward the middle of the room.
Trevor thought back to what he saw inside the sarcophagus. The mechanisms might have been anything from hidden stairs to a false floor. Remembering the repulsorsled at the bottom of the shaft, he took out one of the security keys and pressed a series of buttons on the key itself. As he pressed a blue key, two indicator lights blinked three times. Trevor stood back from the coffin and watched the entire floor lift up towards the ceiling. Trevor watched it slide into the domed ceiling. He turned back to the hole in the floor, and waited for the repulsorsled. When the sled reached the top of the shaft, it slowed and settled into position. Trevor walked onto it and the indicator lights turned amber. The sled dropped down the shaft slowly, giving Trevor the impression of being truly underground. The time that it took gave him the chance to realize that they were indeed under the surface of the planet. The depths gave Trevor the distinct impression of being buried alive, which gave him the shivers. The sled slowed at the bottom, and gave Trevor a chance to look down at the blast doors.
Trevor walked down the corridor toward the doors, and the closer he got, a feeling of darkness crept into his heart. He'd felt something like this once before, back on Alderaan. He continued to the blast doors. The feeling continued to get stronger the closer he got. It seemed to wash over him, but he concentrated on keeping his balance and took out his lightsaber. There was no sense of life but Trevor did not want to take a chance. He wasn't sure if the security droids seen by Yendis' contact were even in the room, or even on the planet. He reached out with the security key to open the blast doors. Dust blew out from the interior into Trevor's face. His lightsaber gave some light, but the interior lights were starting to illuminate and Trevor got his first real good look at the room.
The circular room contained main ornate statues with a sarcophagus in the center. Around the room were nine different alcoves. Over half the alcoves had statues standing in the middle. The remaining alcoves had the statues leaning to one side; a great place to hide. Trevor moved his vision to the nearest one and was rewarded with a red sensor 'eye'. He crouched into a defensive position and first one, then two, finally four security droids, exactly the same type as the ones on Umgul. Trevor waited, giving them the first opportunity to attack. Sixteen blast shots headed towards Trevor in a matter of a few seconds. Unfortunately, the security droids were not very good shots at moving targets, especially when the target was a Jedi. Due to the vast amount of firepower aimed at him, he could only deflect one shot back into the fray. The deflected shot turned a droid sideways, causing scoring on the right shoulder and a minor breeze away from a nasty step. However, it recovered itself and tried to fire at the Jedi one more time.
This time Trevor went on the offensive. He took a two meter step towards the closest droid, and swung hard at the shoulder. The blade connected, but Trevor's follow up strike went through the middle of the droid, connecting with the three struts, severing them instantly. The top half slid down and fell off. Trevor turned around, approached the next droid who was heading right for him, and shove his blade directly into the 'heart' of the droid. The eye faded to darkness, and as Trevor watched it, it tipped over in slow motion as if someone was willing it to stand on its own. The remaining two took aim and fired at him. Trevor deflected one back to the one that was already damaged, causing it to spark and smoke. The carcass fell backward onto a pile of rubble. The final droid fired at Trevor, but the Jedi anticipated the shot and was able to redirect it back directly into the chest of the droid. The arms and legs flailed like sails in the wind and also collapse. Trevor breathed a sigh of relief, trying to catch his breath. A huge sarcophagus sat in the middle of the room with ornate engravings around the outside. The dark cover had some sort of intricate border on the top. A mural could be seen on the circular ceiling, depicting some sort of large gathering or event. Trevor could still not shake the feeling in the pit of his stomach. The stone coffin did not seem to have any keyhole or security panel on it. Trevor took a deep breath and reached out with the Force to lift the cover off the coffin.
The cover came off easily, lifting slowly nearly half a meter off the sarcophagus. The darkness was suddenly punctured by a red light and the familiar snap-hiss of an activated lightsaber. The red blade stuck up through the stone, cutting it nearly in two. Trevor lifted the cover even higher and his newest antagonist sat up. The lightsaber wielding droid from Ord Mantell sat up and turned directly to Trevor. Once the droid sat up completely, Trevor dropped the stone cover directly on its head. The droid was pushed sideways against the far side of the sarcophagus. The red blade of the lightsaber slashed through the stone, cutting it into half. The droid stood right up, swinging the blade and stepping over the open shell of the sarcophagus. Trevor took a tentative step back, grasped his lightsaber and ignited it as well. The silver and red lights gave an eerie glow to the crypt. The droid swung its saber first, catching Trevor unawares. The blade swung down, catching the robes twice as Trevor jumped out of the way both time. Trevor rebuked the droid and gave a triple move that certainly pushed the droid back towards the remains of the stone cover. Trevor could feel his strength ebbing with each block of the droid's attack. Last time he met a droid like this, Yendis was at his side. Trevor took another breath and tried to block the droid's counterattack. The first strike hit Trevor's left shoulder, causing shards of pain up and down his left side. Trevor twirled away, causing the next two attacks to go wide. He responded with a flurry of his own blows, but he knew that he was weakening.
The silver blade swung in and the red saber came up to block the attack. Trevor felt the blades pushing against one another and pushed even harder. Sparks could be seen showering the two combatants as the strength of the smaller one pushed the red blade back into the shoulder of the other. Trevor suddenly released the blades and took a step backward to keep the other at bay. The droid tried to respond with a killing blow, but Trevor kept hopping out of the way, block the blade down into the stone. Exhaustion was just around the corner for the Jedi and he knew that he needed to be quick on the next attack. Sweat streamed down his neck, pouring into the wound on his shoulder. The two blocked and parried back and forth, nether finding a way through the other's frantic defenses.
Trevor started to reach for the Force to enhance his next swipe. However, he was already moving in a predefined motion. He swung the blade across the chest, however barely knicking the armor on the droid. The next swing, Trevor spun around, outstretching his arm and extending the blade through the mid-section of the droid. Sparks and electric arcs were seen spilling from the middle of the droid as the lightsaber deactivated and the top half of the droid spilled down into the rubble of the crypt. Trevor deactivated his lightsaber after a moment and collapsed to one knee. His shoulder screamed in pain, and it was extremely difficult to move it. Dirt and grime covered his face and laser scarring dotted his cloak. He now had ample time to investigate the bad feeling he'd been having ever since he opened the door. He stood up and limped over to the sarcophagus.
The interior of the sarcophagus was lined with metal and in the middle was an indentation, about where the droid was sitting when the cover landed on it. Trevor reached down, and lifted one of the panels. The panel lifted with relative ease. He looked inside and found a small pyramid shape, exactly the same dimensions as the Sith artifact that was in the Aldaraan Museum. He looked around and could not find a cloth with which to pick it up. He realized that in his state, any Jedi or Sith artifact would require a focusing of the Force to activate it. And as he was as exhausted as he was, he didn't have enough reserves to even push a button. He picked it up, dumped out the contents of the security kit, and placed the artifact inside. After wrapping it around his good shoulder, he limped down the hall, and up to the main viewing chamber.
Trevor pushed the pain away as he walked out of the chamber and headed towards the entrance. He pulled out his comlink and paged E5.
"I need a pick up at this location," and he activated his homing beacon.
In a matter of moments, Trevor saw the Whitecloak appear, hover and land on the stone path. The vibrations of the Whitecloak's engines caused loose rocks to vibrate uncontrollably. Trevor covered his face during the landing process and limped over to the ship. As he neared the ship, he looked over to the side into the grassy area. A rock seemed to be moving of its own volition, towards the ship. The rock seemed to be the shape of an arm. Something seemed to be causing it to move.
"E5, lift up just a few centimeters."
The landing gear slide across the rocks, causing more vibrations into the ground. As Trevor watched a long four-fingered appendage reached out and swiped across the ground as if trying to grab something. Trevor looked around and noted a couple more of them. One was just reaching up towards the air, and Trevor caught sight of a mouth in the middle of the 'hand' and nearly shivered in fear. No wonder they want people to stay on the path, Trevor pondered. He lifted himself from his reverie and pulled himself up to the pilot's seat.
"E5, let's get out of here."
The droid lifted off, and headed directly out of the atmosphere.
"E5, head straight for home. Priority one, do not stop for ANY one. And I mean anyone."
The droid acknowledged the command quickly and the Jedi closed his eyes for a quick nap, knowing that the droid would get them straight home.
E5 navigated the ship through the Coruscant airspace and landed on the landing pads. He twittered to Trevor as he reached the pad, and he squeezed the sleep out of his eyes. He climbed down to the landing pad, and slowly walked over to the turbo lift. He gathered himself inside the lift, trying to organize his thoughts. He closed the front of his robes, and placed his hands inside the armsleeves.
Trevor walked off the turbolift towards the Council chambers. The doors opened well before he reached the doors. As Trevor walked in, he noted that there was not an empty seat in the chamber. All of the council members were present and the surprise on Trevor's face could not be any more evident. Trevor's inner defenses were certainly down, but the ashen face that greeted the Council explained the lack of protocol. The disheveled Jedi entered the inner circle and stood at attention in front of Master Yoda, Master Windu and Sir Ki-Adi Mundi.
"Trevor Gul'dan. Glad to see you return." Master Windu greeted him.
"Thank you. I am glad to have returned."
"Found something have you?" Master Yoda chided.
"Yes, Master. I have." Trevor reached down onto his belt and pulled the security kit off. He reached into the bag, pulled out the cloak-covered artifact and broke tradition by walking from the center circle to Master Yaddle. She reached her hand out and Trevor placed it gingerly into her hands. She pulled off the cloak, and twisted the artifact around in the fading light of the Coruscant sun.
"Examine this we will," she stated.
"I am sure that you already know, but I believe that this is a Sith artifact."
"Indeed."
Trevor nodded and exhaled a deep breath, as if coming up for air from a very long swim in cold water. He returned to his spot in the middle circle and brought over the security kit over to Master Yaddle. She took the kit from him, placed it on her lap, and placed the artifact on the arm of her chair. She placed her hand on it, giving the indication that she did not plan on letting it out of here sight at anytime in the near future.
Trevor returned to the circle and noted that Yoda and Windu were raising their eyebrows at each other. He wondered what that was about, but continued to concentrate on standing up straight.
"Done well you have, Trevor. Much danger you faced."
"The Force was with you, as it always is." Mace interjected. The dark-skinned Jedi stared at Trevor. "You need to rest. We will look forward to receiving your full report whenever you are feeling well enough to send it."
Trevor weakly responded, "Very well."
"Well done," Windu responded gently. Trevor nodded and turned away. The undercurrent of anticipation washed over him as he left the room, realizing that the Council probably had more than one of these artifacts sitting around. Master Yaddle was well-known throughout the Order as the one to talk to about such things. Trevor filed that tidbit of information away, and concentrated on keeping one foot in front of the other. He knew his destination was the MedCorp emergency room and it was not that far away, only a few floors down.
He exited the elevator and headed towards the triage room of the healing room. A Bith Jedi healer named Elan Dahai immediate sensed that Trevor was on his last reserves. She reached out and help Trevor down onto a gurney. Trevor muttered a quick thank you, and then passed out. The healer began her work, and the doctors continued to monitor him through the night. Surgical droids worked on his scars and other minor contusions. Trevor did not respond through any of these procedures, but the Healers and nurses did not take any chances. Word filtered through the Order within hours of Trevor's return that a Sith holocron had been recovered recently. Dahai looked down at the Jedi on her table and realized that this was the Jedi who had risked life and limb to recover this artifact. She nodded at the bravery of this unknown Jedi and thanked the Force that there were guardians such as this one who risk their lives to keep peace and justice throughout the galaxy.