Ajunta Pall: The Divine Conversation
Ajunta Pall left Lettow changed. He no longer believed that the Jedi were in the right. His stay on Lettow had convinced him that the Force was far, far too much for any one group to monopolize. The Jedi, in their devotion had placed dogmas and restrictions upon the Force. They thought that they could own it, that they could dictate it, but the Force could not be understood like that. Pall believed that if he were to even begin to understand the great mystery, he would have to study all its aspects, not just the narrow, dogmatic view of the Jedi.
Pall did not know what to do. He no longer believed that the Jedi could be saved. They were far too set in their ways leading up to the original schism, and now after a series of brutal wars, there was no way that they would be willing to open their eyes to reform the Order. The only solution was for the Jedi Order to be burned to the ground for that Pall could build it better the second time around. But he could not do this. Not only did he not have the means, but even if he did, he could not wage war against them.
His moral compass had broken. At one time, he had been willing to kill the Dark Jedi whom he saw as a plague on the Force, but he had been misguided. The both the Jedi and the heretics were plagues. One caused unnecessary suffering, the other caused stagnation and ignorance to the higher mysteries of the Force. But how could he turn against the Jedi? Wouldn't he be no better than the heretics he had once killed? Plus why did it matter anyway? Who cared if the Galaxy remained ignorant of the Force? But no, he could not allow this either. If the Jedi were willing to embrace the true nature of the Force, or at least be open to other points of view, then their job of protecting all life would be much easier. Or would it?
Pall did not know. He had left his companions on Lettow. The reason for this is because he just did not want to talk to anyone about it. Instead he turned to the scrolls and holocrons he had brought with him. In particular, he had come into the possession of an ancient Sith Holocron from his time on Korriban. Many historians believe that this was when Pall fully committed himself to the dark side. However, this seems to be a very narrow view. In his journals, he writes about being disgusted by all, followers of the light and dark sides alike. It would be uncharacteristic of him to fully commit himself to one extreme. Rather, it is more likely that he was in a grey phase.
Alone on his ship, he writes of his despair. Many times, he contemplated killing himself just to end it. He had some rope, maybe he could hang himself. But no, he realized that that would not work. His survival instincts would kick in and his tremendous strength in the Force would snap the rope. He could use the Force to blast open the cockpit, ejecting himself into hyperspace. Or perhaps even do something as simple as turn on his lightsaber with the emitter pointing to his head, but he could not bring himself to do either of these. As much as he wished for the loneliness and vertigo to end, he felt called to do something, to use his life to serve the Force and by extent all life.
In the end, he decided to go to the only planet that could possibly hold answers: Tython. However, there was one problem; the planet Tython was located in the Deep Core, an uncharted web of incredibly unstable hyperspace routes. In the past several millennia, the Jedi had made many explorations into the core to find Tython, some successful, some not. However, even when they found the planet, the routes would rapidly change and soon the planet would be lost again. Pall did not know how to even begin to find it, but he had to try. He decided that should he die in a terrible hyperspace accident, at least his journey would be over and he had given it his best shot.
Just approaching the Core was tough. He traveled to the very edge of the web of hyperspace beacons linking the stars of the Galaxy together. Once at the edge, he turned to the Force. He sensed its currents. Powerful Jedi were able to probe the force to navigate uncharted star systems, and Pall had learned this ability back when he was still a padawan. The Force appeared as a crystal with a billion facets, he probed in, searching for weaknesses, shatterpoints. When he found one, it appeared like a glowing line towards his destination. He plugged in the corresponding coordinates to his navicomputer and jumped to hyperspace. This process was repeated over a half dozen times until he emerged in the middle of a vast expanse of stars.
His ship could not make the final jump due to the presence of too many stars on either side. His computer was just not precise enough to complete the journey, even with the help of the Force. He had come so close, but could push on no further. In his desperation, he turned to the Sith Holocron looking for something to help him. At last, he remembered a technique buried deep in the holocron that he had learned but had been too scared to experiment with: the Force Storm. It was the ability to reach through the fabric of space and rip open a hyperspace hole using the Force. Such an act would cause a great disruption in the Force, but could possibly work. It was the same ability that King Adas and the other ancient Sith had mastered and used so long ago. However, while they could fuel the storm with sacrifices, Pall had nothing. He would have to sacrifice his own life force.
He reached out into the billion faceted gem of the Force and found the path. He then focused all of his anger, frustration, and willpower. The Force rushed out of him like a hurricane, and the massive gaping maw of a hyperspace wormhole opened up in front of him. His ship fell in and was transported through the void to Tython.
(For more information on Tython, see Appendix D)
When his ship emerged, he had just enough strength left to park it in orbit before he passed out. When he awoke, he briefly surveyed the planet from orbit before choosing a landing place. He landed near the ruins of Vur Tepe, an ancient Je'daii temple built out of a Tho Yor ship. At once, he set to work trying to find out any relevant history, however time had removed almost all traces of the once great civilization. Pall was able to find an ancient weapons forge. He spent several days crafting a Force-imbued vibrosword.
When he was finished, he sat down to meditate. He reports that at once he experienced the Force as a single, unified totality. He writes that it was one of those experiences beyond the ability to be put down into words. He describes it as talking to the Force itself. The experience could not be described, only shown by the Force. He seemed to become the Force, to realize the total unity of the one with the all. In this way, he was able to not only experience the Force, but to see possible futures branching off from the present like cracks on a frozen lake. He could feel the ebb and pull of its currents as time moved from one possibility to another, but at the end of the steam, he saw something horrifying. He saw death and decay. He saw the various streams of time being swallowed up by a growing cancer. He saw all things dying, even the stars burning out. He witnessed the death of the Force itself.
When he snapped back to the profane world, he freaked out. He reports that he spent almost a week living like a beast in the wilderness. When he finally recovered, he realized what he had to do. He was determined to rebuild the Jedi Order by any means necessary- even if he had to burn the old to the ground.
To him, the Jedi were not innocent. They deserved to be destroyed. Their failed teachings had sparked war after war. They had turned the Galaxy into a charnel house, and Pall was determined to end it before the cycle could continue, before the echoes of death caught up with the Galaxy causing the Force to be extinguished from the Galaxy.
