Chapter 16- Tomb of Jaq

Malachor V was a hell hole. It was my lease favorite place in the whole Galaxy. It had been the true cause of all my inner turmoil. Here they changed me, here they made me into a weapon. If I had the ability to, I would destroy this dump. Funnily enough, my mission at the moment is to do exactly that. Meetra's mission is to rebuild the Jedi Order and destroy all that remains of the Sith.

I was back in the pilot's chair (or what was left of it after my rampage). As the Sleheyron's Bishop descended from the stormy black clouds and dodged the deadly green lightning I witnessed the monstrosity that had become of the world. Beneath me thousands of Storm Beasts roamed. Each one had the ability to take down scores of Dark Jedi masters. These weren't the weak trained ones but the wild and hungry ones. Occasionally every few miles I found a small pack of three or four Sith Jedi trying to hold their ground against the surrounding endless waves of abominations. Their deaths were inevitable the way I saw it. And I felt nothing but guilt for them.

The TrayusAcademy came into sight. It had changed since my last visit, the mountains had torn away to reveal an architectural marvel. This place was truly Sith, one could easily mistake it for being the birth place of the Sith. Below were the ruins of a Sith warship, it had been beaten up badly by Mandalorian guns likely from the battle of Malachor V. It had become encased in rocks and was likely inaccessible.

The ship was of no concern to me though, the Academy was in sight. Many storm beasts were approaching it as the Trayus Assassins and guards protecting the establishment fell back. It was sickening watching the Sith leave men behind, or to use others as bait. That was the Sith rule though, every man for themselves and sacrifice the weak. By now the Sleheyron's Bishop had flown over the structure and was now over the Trayus Core. I had been here once before, the final of the trials was based somewhere below and around the core. It was a beautiful masterpiece, and in our education we had not been taught who it was that had built it. Large spiked teeth protruded from the ground in a circular shape, a large red eye sat in the centre. It glowed with the Force. I assumed the centerpiece was made from a gem or something.

Within a short amount of time I arrived at the TrayusAcademyDockingBay. It was small, but was filled with aircrafts seeing as the savagelands had overthrown all of the other landing pads. As I lowered the ramp I sat in the cockpit and wondered. What if they could tell, what if they realised I was no longer Sith? Like in the hangar of the Leviathan, it was overpopulated and there were many people bending over backwards just trying to prevent the academy from sustaining a complete collapse.

The bunk room was as it had always been. Unlike the rest of the new academy, the bunks still resided in a mountain and the walls still resembled that of cave walls. The brown-red rock walls always reminded me of Korriban. I found my bunk with ease, still remember where it was. There was a small sign on the rock wall behind my bunk reading 'Jaq'. Once it had read as 'Atton' but the malraas Garm had vandalized it. At the end of my bed was the old silver footlocker. I gave the lid a light kick and it popped open. Inside was everything. Inside were my boots, my dual blasters and my ribbed jacket. My ribbed jacket. I began removing my blue cloak when Drayven entered.

"Atton," he began. "You didn't tell me you were coming. You didn't reply to my message."

"I didn't get it". I said as I began removing items of clothing and replacing it with those within the footlocker. "Someone by the name of Shan intercepted the message and sent me a new one."

"Shan? That's Darth Malak's apprentice."

"It is. So how have things been? I notice the academy's changed. And I did actually get your message, but not long ago."

"Not much else has changed really." He said as he began thinking to himself.

"What's this about us coming under new management?"

"Oh yeah, Sion."

"What happened to Malak?"

"He fled, he took a fleet and his apprentice to the unknown regions. Malak briefly said something about a forge of some kind and if any of us wanted to join him to bring glory to the Sith we should follow."

"And did you?"

"No! We're assassins, we assassinate. We don't march into battle and fight in wars, we do skirmishes. The rest of the Sith believe that they will all die, and because communication is so bad the new Sith Empire is being built without them. It's unlikely we'll find out what happens to Malak for a few more weeks. If we find out from Malak, good. If we find out from anyone else or don't find out nothing, then he failed his mission and will die."

The Sith were so complex, I thought to myself as I tied up my boots (the last of my clothes). Maybe there was a way to escape from it all, it wouldn't be like fleeing. It'd be more like escaping…forgetting.

"Hey, Drayven."

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember that memory extraction technique Tomen used to talk to us about?"

"Yes…"

"Is it possible to do it to yourself?"

"What? Why?"

"Drayven old friend, I want to forget the Sith. I'm resigning."

He stopped, shocked. Drayven Kharr fell back and knocked over the plasteel container beside his bed.

"R…Resigning? Why?"

"You were always right, Drayven. The Sith are not good for me. I have to move on."

He regained his balance and rolled his eyes.

"I understand, look, you're just mad. Did you fail in killing your target? Is that why you're angry, Jaq. Did she esca-"

"No!" I yelled. "She did not escape! I killed her! I killed her! And don't you ever call me Jaq ever again, I'm Atton now! Atton! I'm leaving the Sith and you can't stop me!"

"You can't be serious. I know I said you had to watch out, but this puts a damn target on your back!"

"I can, watch."

I dropped on my knees and placed both palms on my temples. I pushed all the Force I could into my empty skull. Malachor V, the Sith – I wanted it all out of my head. This process was a delicate one and Drayven knew that if he touched me he ran the risk of leaving me brain dead. I couldn't do it all, though. Not only was I not strong enough but the planet was refusing to let me forget. In the end I repressed all memory of the world I walked. The Sith stayed strong in my mind, and I realised that I did still actually remember everything. Slowly the knowledge dripped from my mind and I was forced to hurry if I was ever going to do what I wanted to. If I didn't hurry, then I'd lose all knowledge of the planet I was walking on.

I turned away from him and left the bunks behind me. I left my friend that day, the man he was I would never see again. Karma works like that I guess. He was only being nice to me to help me, but I was blinded by the Sith and could not see that. Now, he was being a son of a blaster because I had gotten better; here, there was no middle ground. As I left him behind I held tightly a thermal detonator in my hand.

I still remembered the people, the Sith teachings, the power. I wasn't strong enough to completely repress everything in my head. In time my memory would return to me and I would, in theory, remember everything about the world but its location. In space location was no more than a number, a set of coordinates.

I arrived at the weapons cache in the academy. It was unlocked and console records showed that it had not been accessed in just under a year and a half. Perfect. I opened the massive barred doors and entered. Inside were a series of vaults that led to the 'personal stashes' of weapons and demolitions. From here one could observe and control their weapons but could not get access to them. From here I could flick a switch and twenty thermal detonators, two ECD detonators, a poison grenade and fourteen thousand frag grenades. I also had access to seventy thermal exposure tanks that could explode on mass scale if fired upon.

So I flicked the switch and sent all the munitions to my room. They would drop through a chute and travel via a belt to by bunk room, specifically below my bed. There was a small chute at the end of the bedroom for item collection. Inside that chute I dropped a timed thermal detonator before Drayven had entered. In twenty hour hours the detonator will explode and send all my munitions with it. This would be enough to obliterate the whole sector of the academy. Even better, if I was really lucky, the flames would travel through the belt vents to the weapons cache and blow up everyone else's munitions. This, in theory, would cause chaos for all Sith everywhere.

I thought, 'Yes. This'll destroy the new Sith Empire before it even starts.' Oh course, over the coming years I would discover that I would be very wrong about that statement. Malak's Sith fleet would fall and the very few survivors would return and join the new Sith Empire. I was odd, Malak's Empire was dark and cruel but Sion's Empire was way worse. If Malak's was to kill an innocent village elder, then Sion's would be to slit the throat of the Elder and watch as the droplets splash against the faces of her grandchildren before you decapitate half of them and train the rest to use the Dark Side so that one day they could do the same.

When the bunkhouse blew up the next day, I wondered if there was anyone who survived the first trial of Jaq's tomb.

The Bishop was waiting for me after I returned from the weapons cache. I still held the second thermal detonator, I would be using this later. Large beads of sweat cascaded down my forehead as slowly my mind ached and I lost control of my memory. Around me I forgot the world, then I would learn it once more before forgetting it entirely. I was becoming brain dead, I had to get off Malachor before losing consciousness or I'd be another fallen casualty to the trial of Jaq's tomb.

I launched the ship and punched in the destination for Korriban. The world around me faded to black and I was forced to rely on sound. My Force Sight had left me and I was not entirely sure what to do. I felt around the keyboard and deleted my navigation history so that in the future I would never have to come searching for this place. Then I was thrown off the chair. I assumed it was my body going into sleep, but I heard a loud crack of thunder and made the guess that a large bolt of Malachor Lightning had pierced the hull. If indeed it did, then space would kill me. I tried to open my eyes, tried to stand and move but I was too weak. My memory wipe was far too overpowering and slowly I drifted into a deep, dark sleep. The last thing I felt was the jerk of the ship as it entered hyperspace.

Malachor V, it built me. No, it built him, it built Jaq. And in a matter of hours I would awaken with no memory of the world but the memories of a plan I had placed so deep in my mind that I would never forget. I had hoped Malachor would never again come into my life. I was wrong. Now I can remember it clearly, what it was like. That was so long ago, it's probably evolved for the worst now. I can see it, but I can't find it.