Ronin sat there, waiting for his master's voice to return, but nothing could be heard. Ronin fell to his knees next to his master's body. Now that the battle had passed, Ronin could process the loss he had just experienced. Ronin was in complete shock. Master Yothalt was dead. The old Jedi had been like a father to him, and now he was gone.
"I failed you, master," he uttered softly as he knelt by his master, head hung, with tears silently falling from his face and onto Yothalt's robes.
Overwhelmed with grief, the young Jedi remained practically unmoving, struggling to accept his master's passing. Several hours passed, and Ronin knew he had to get moving. Ronin pushed himself up to his feet and wiped away the grief from his face with his tattered and torn robe. Ronin's body ached from the stress of the events he had just been through. His back was covered in welts from being thrown directly into a stone wall by the Sith. Ronin's robes were torn all over the place due to tumbling down the temple wall. Ronin looked down the hole of his shirt to see a long gash directly across his chest. The pain suddenly increased as Ronin focused on the wound, making Ronin quickly look away. Ronin scanned his surroundings, taking notice of the numerous piles of dust that had housed hundreds of Sith and Jedi spirits only a moment ago. Ronin then looked down at the fallen form of his master once more. His eyes moved to the left, and he gazed upon the carcass of Silas Dymo. Ronin knelt by the body of Silas and picked up the shadow's stone cylinder of a saber, placing it on his belt next to his own and his master's. Ronin looked up and saw that the entrance he came into was still sealed. Ronin then looked up to see a small opening on the roof of the vast cavern. The space had allowed light into the expanse, and now it would serve as an exit for Ronin. Before Ronin started climbing, he walked over to the crumpled form of T-73, the old republic droid that had accompanied the pair of Jedi in their search for its owner, Silas Dymo. This time, the little droid was far out from the spectrum of repairability. Now, it was malformed over a stalagmite, too warped to salvage. However, Ronin noticed that its memory disk ejector appeared intact. Ronin pressed the eject but to no avail. Ronin then lodged his finger into the hunk of metal and pulled out a mostly-intact memory disk. Ronin examined the disk and deemed it should still be able to relay the information it contained. Ronin clipped the disk to his belt along with the three sabers. Ronin looked up at the opening in the ceiling. He would have to climb out of the cave, which would prove difficult.
About half an hour later, Ronin found himself halfway up the wall, clinging desperately to the inverted protrusions of the cavern. Ronin seethed with pain as his chest stung every time he extended his arms to reach a new handhold. Ronin was no stranger to climbing, but he was already exhausted; his route was at a steep incline, and Ronin found himself climbing upside down for prolonged lengths of the climb. Ronin's hands were bloody and torn from scaling the cavern walls in several places. Each time Ronin pulled himself up, his body quivered as a bolt of pain ran through him as if begging him to stop. Despite the pain, Ronin pressed on. Ronin knew he was alone out here, so he had no other means of escape. As Ronin neared ever closer to the opening, his body began to fail him. With one final effort, Ronin threw himself into the air and pushed himself off against the wall with a force jump. Ronin barely cleared the ledge and landed on his stomach against the hard ground above. Ronin lay there, exhausted from the enormous strain the climb had placed on his already famished body. He stayed there for half an hour until he finally returned to his feet and began descending the mountainous terrain. Fortunately for Ronin, the worst of his departure from the temple's grounds was over. In the distance, he could see his speeder parked where he had left it. Ronin trudged down the remainder of the path until he reached the speeder. Ronin pulled himself up and over the speeder and rested on its seat momentarily. Ronin rested for a moment, knowing it wouldn't be for long. He had to go back and retrieve his master's body. It was his duty to ensure Yothalt had a proper funeral. Ronin whipped the speeder around and twisted the throttle, sending him flying toward the black spire again. The speeder steadily grew closer to the hole in the ground, and Ronin veered straight down into the abyss of darkness once more. The little light there had been before was now more diminished, forcing Ronin to slow down for fear of hitting a rogue stalagmite. Moments later, Ronin stopped the speeder right before the fallen form of Yothalt. Ronin walked over solemnly to the body, lightly brought Yothalt's limp form over his shoulder, and then placed him gently on the back of the speeder. Ronin got back on the speeder, but as he was about to leave, the body of Silas Dymo caught his eye.
While a Sith may have possessed his body, it wasn't Sila's fault that the Sith overtook him. Ronin knew that the Jedi lying before him deserved a proper burial just as much as Yothalt did. However, Ronin would not be able to take them both in one trip, as it would put too much strain on the speeder since direct ascensions heavily taxed a speeder's thrusters and engine. Ronin then concluded that he would take two trips to retrieve both bodies. After recovering Sila's body, Ronin solemnly fastened the two passed Jedi onto his speeder. Ronin tried to stay strong, but tears slipped past his eyes. Ronin then began his journey back to the shuttle and disappeared into the darkness of Malchor once more as he sped away. After a rotation of riding, the fuel of the speeder became alarmingly low. Ronin hadn't fully accounted for the extra use of power that the weight of a third body would bring.
Ronin stopped the speeder and looked to the horizon, watching as the sun slowly descended, taking the small amount of light it provided to the planet's surface. Ronin got out of the speeder and slumped against it. Ronin attempted to contact R-5 earlier, but no communication. As Ronin sat against the speeder, he began to slip into unconsciousness, eventually falling asleep beside the speeder.
Ronin was awakened by a loud humming sound that rang through the air, dispelling the silence that had come before. Ronin bolted upright, ready for an attack, but soon relaxed as he stared at the red-white T-6 shuttle heading right for him and the speeder.
"R-5? Is that you?" Ronin said as he pressed down on his commlink.
The familiar sound of R-5's beeps and whistles affirmed to Ronin that it was indeed R-5.
"Good work, R-5; I didn't expect you to have the sublight boosters repaired by now," Ronin said to the communicator.
R-5 responded with an indignant beep.
"Did you get the comms array working?" Ronin asked.
R-5 whistled in response.
"Sort of? I guess that will have to work for now."
R-5 blooped, and the commlink's audio turned off.
Ronin looked up at the shuttle as it came in for a landing. The shuttle landed at a somewhat awkward angle, as the landing gear had sustained severe damage from their earlier entry onto Malachor. The hull had also gained several deep thrashes across the base of the vessel, but at least it could still fly, Ronin thought. Ronin returned to the speeder and pushed it up the ship's exit ramp. Ronin carefully unloaded Yothalt's and Silas' bodies onto the beds in the medical bay and stored the speeder in its storage compartment. Ronin then walked over to the cockpit, where R-5 greeted him enthusiastically. Ronin then garnered the controls and brought the Jedi shuttle back into the air.
"Patch us through to the Jedi temple, R-5."
R-5 responded with a negative spin of his head.
"Atmospheric disturbances. Right. Try again when we get out of the planet's atmosphere."
The shuttle flew up and away from the darkness of Malachor, leaving the planet's black surface far behind. After several minutes had passed, The shuttle had exited the Reach of Malachor's gravitational pull and entered open space. From behind Ronin, R-5 beeped that he was getting a signal.
"Get us through R-5."
R-5 adjusted the console until a hologram flickered on the ship's dashboard, revealing Master Yoda and Mace Windu standing before him.
"Padawan Ronin. Overdue you and your master are." Master Yoda's voice warbled out.
"Yes," Ronin replied.
"Successful in your mission, where you?" Yoda asked.
"We discovered the origin of the distress signal to be that of Silas Dymo," Ronin said simply.
"Mmm, and what say of this did your master?" Yoda queried.
"Master Yothalt... Master Yothalt didn't make it out alive. Ronin said with obvious pain in his words.
"What? How? And out of where?" Master Windu responded, obviously taken aback, while looking down at Yoda, who looked just as surprised.
"I'm still not totally sure of what happened. My master and I traced the signal to Malachor. We found an old temple Master Yothalt was sure was the temple of souls. Hundreds of fallen Sith and Jedi were scattered on the temple's grounds. We walked through the darkness, where we eventually came upon the temple. There, we found Silas Dymo still alive. But he wasn't. A Sith warrior had somehow possessed... Silas. And he attacked us. Master Yothalt cut off his hand and sent the Sith down a pit, but the Sith came back, and he... he killed Yothalt." Ronin said gravely.
"The temple of souls? I thought that was a myth." Windu exclaimed.
"A myth we believed it to be, but never completely sure of this, we were." Yoda.
"How did you get out?" Windu questioned Ronin.
"After The Sith had killed Master Yothalt, he ran into the temple. A shadowy essence wafted behind him as if escaping from his hand. I eventually caught up to the Sith and found him with an ancient holocron. He opened the holocron, and a loud scream rang out. When it stopped, I was surrounded by the dead Sith. They were almost alive again, holding out their lightsabers, ready to finish me. Before they could, a bright light streaked into the chamber, followed by the dead Jedi. One of the Jedi spoke to me and told me I needed to destroy the holocron to free the spirits and stop the Sith shadow. The Spirits fought each other, and I chased the Sith through the temple. We fought, and he nearly killed me as well. Before he could bring his lightsaber down on me, I crushed the holocron, and all of the darkness of the shadow left Silas' body. I looked around and saw the same thing happen to all the spirits. After a few moments, they were all gone.
"Mmmm, hard for the council to believe, this will be," Yoda said as he scratched his chin.
"Yes, very," Windu added on.
"I know it sounds crazy, but it is true. I even have one of the Shadow's sabers." Ronin said as he picked up the hilt from his belt and activated it before the two Jedi masters.
"Troubling this is," Yoda replied.
"Where are you right now, Padawan Ronin?" Windu asked.
I'm outside of Malachor's atmosphere. I'm transmitting the coordinates to you. The ship's hyperdrive took a beating upon entry, so I'll need a shuttle to pick me up.
"Very well. We will send you a shuttle immediately. When you return, we expect to hear your complete account of the ordeal before the council." Master Windu stated.
"Of course, Master," Ronin said with a slight nod.
"Until then," Windu replied.