The Valley
Danika
I had never understood how someone about to die could feel free, but I did at that moment. Carth and T3 were out, and headed for the Ebon Hawk. I had less than 50 hours to get to the Star Map, with one of my teachers trying to get me to assassinate the Master of the Academy. At least two of those vying for the same position ready to kill me in an instant if they had the chance. The other willing to let me die if it meant getting me out of his way.
The Galaxy had much to lose if I died, but I did not. So I was free. I went to the entry to the valley. A student named Tariga had been assigned to stand at that door, and assure that everyone was warned about the dangers. There was a cave full of flying creatures named Shyrack, and a horned predator called the tuk'ata. His suggestion that I could ask for help from the security guards I took with a large dose of salt. Most of these students wouldn't ask for help, and those that would might end up on a little list of Master Uthar's.
The entry to the valley was through a rift in the mountains. I jogged along it, watching for any danger.
Millennia ago, men had stood pillars to show the Galaxy their pride. Now they were staggered by the centuries, some collapsed in ruin. Guards walked through the area, and a few researchers wandered among the wreckage.
I ran down the slope, and took it in from there. Some of the pillars, the more weathered ones, were marked in runes of the ancient Sith language. Part of me knew I should stay here, learn all I could find a reason for their antipathy. Another part screamed that there was no time.
"Magnificent isn't it?" An older man was standing beside me. He waved toward the cliffs to either side. "The tombs of the greatest masters of the Order. Naga Sadow of the original Sith race. Ajunta Pall, the first Human Dark Lord. Tulak Hord, and Marko Ragnos from more recent times." He sighed. He wasn't evil, he was an archeologist standing in an ancient place, and was awed by it.
"Of all the tombs, only one has been entered successfully, that of Naga Sadow." He pointed toward the far northwestern tip of the valley. "That one unfortunately, they won't let us explore. The Masters of the order want to keep using it as a final test for applicants." I could hear the faint outrage in his voice. A scientist stymied by politics.
"Oh, I'm Galon Lor. Chief archeologist." He looked across his domain with satisfaction. "We knew the Ancient Sith Race lived on this planet, but no one even dreamed that the Human Sith had been here for so long!"
"Aren't there records?"
"Not much from more than two millennia ago. What we did have was sketchy at best. These ruins date back to the Original Sith race before they were banished into the depths of space 4000 years ago. They are also the best preserved. No one knows what set the Sith on their self destructive path, but maybe one day I will enter Naga Sadow's tomb and find out." He sighed sadly.
"What are they letting you do?" I asked.
"They've let me do the translations of the glyphs on the faces of the other tombs at least. That is how I know which is which." He pointed at the far northeastern corner. "That is the tomb of Marko Ragnos. The most recent of the tombs. Barely 1500 years old. Some say he placed himself there to claim supremacy over all but Sadow. Down at this end," He pointed to the west. "That is the tomb of Tulak Hord, who died 2800 years ago. Little in known about him. Ragnos destroyed all records of him. But this." He pointed to the east. "Is the jewel in the crown. Ajunta Pall, the first human dark lord, dead now for 2000 years. He was the first to rebel against the Jedi teachings, and led his followers here. The glyphs claim he is actually buried here. Perhaps his sword was buried here as well."
"His sword?"
"Yes, legend claims he forged a sword himself in the old manner, using both the Force and metal in it's making. A sword that wounds both spirit and flesh." He sighed. "But until one of those young fools tries and succeeds in penetrating to the burial chamber, we will never know."
"Others have tried?"
"Maybe a dozen since I have been here. Ten years, I have waited, seeing young people try and fail."
I felt a tug from that grave. I walked away without comment, and ran up to the door. It slowly rolled back, and I entered.
Tomb
The air was dry and dusty. A layer of dust 25 millimeters thick lay on the neatly laid stone floor. There was a door ahead, and it opened at my approach. Beside it on a pintel was a carved block of stone. LEARN IN THE PATH OF THE MASTER
The passage was ten meters long less than three wide, with a sealed door at the other end. On the walls were glyphs. I looked at them carefully. A glyph of light, a glyph of knowledge, a glyph of darkness, a glyph of strength. A few meters on I saw what might have been a duplicate of this series. The floor was laced with open power cables. One wrong choice and I would be fried.
Carefully, I touched the glyph of light. It settled beneath my probing fingers, and refused to lift again. The door behind me slammed shut. I stepped to the second series of glyphs. As I had surmised, they were repeated here.
Ajunta Pall had risen to power in the Force among the Jedi, then fallen away. I reached out, and pressed the glyph of knowledge. It settled in silently. I walked to the third, also identical set. I pressed the glyph for darkness, and again, I survived. I came to the last, and pressed the glyph of strength. There was a click, and the door before me opened.
I walked down the hall to another door. This one opened, and I stepped through, feeling it close behind me. It was another room ten meters long, and on the wall was another stone tablet. WALK IN THE PATH OF THE MASTER.
The floor and walls had holes every half meter or so. Suspicious, I picked up a small stone, and threw it. Disruptors fired from the niches, reducing the stone to dust before it had gotten halfway.
I knelt, and meditated. I wouldn't be able to leap across the room. Not and hope to block a dozen or so disruptor bolts at the same time. Ajunta Pall, little was known about him. What the Jedi order did have I had not read, so that was no help. I looked at the tablet. One side was graffitied with words in a more modern dialect. A fine upstanding member of the order.
I stared at the simple sarcastic comment for a long time. Could it be that simple? I looked at the floor. A line of red could barely be seen in my Force-augmented sight running straight down the center of the room. I picked up another stone, and rolled it onto the floor. As it rolled down the line, nothing happened. But the instant it skittered off that path, the disruptors again reduced it to dust. I stood, and walked down the line, head up. At the other end there was a lever, and I pulled it. The next door opened before me.
A narrow walkway led across a massive chasm. In the center of it was a pillar of stone three times my height. It had been cut and shaped so that it blocked the path completely. On the face of it was another carved message. BE AS STRONG AS THE MASTER.
I touched it. The stone was ancient, one of the old pillars that lay in the valley, cut to this very purpose. I drew the Force, and lifted the stone. As I did, I angled, and it slid over into the abyss. I almost let it go, but instead moved it out of the way on the landing behind me.
There was another door at the end of the walkway, and on it sat yet another stone tablet. BE ONE WITH THE MASTER.
I opened the door. A light passage went up from the tomb, and light came down. Beneath it a tomb lay before me, and on it the sigil of Ajunta Pall. I walked toward it, and as I did, I felt the door closing behind me. Then in the light above the tomb dust whirled. As it did, it took shape, floating down to stand between the cover stone and me. The shape became clearer, then finally formed into a man. His face was heroic and tragic. His robes were ebony, and on his hip hung an empty scabbard.
"A Jedi. Here?" He looked at me. "Why have you come to this dark place, Jedi? Why do you disturb my restless sleep?"
"Ajunta Pall." I whispered.
"I had a name once... Ajunta Pall, yes, that was my name. I was one of many, first among equals. Servants of the Dark side of the force." He looked around. "Sith Lords we called ourselves, though the Sith themselves did not accept us. So very proud..." He looked back at me. "In the end we were not so proud. We fled here... We hid from the wrath of those we had betrayed. Then we fell, and even as we fell, I knew it would be so."
"Those you had betrayed?" I prompted.
"Our Jedi Masters. Those that had taught us of the Force. They warned us against the Dark side. But we discovered it, we practiced it in secret, we gloried in our newfound powers. We were discovered? Or did we flee?" He shook his head. "I can no longer remember. It has been so long. But it was here that we came. Here that we hid. Hoping to grow. Instead we fell."
"How did you fall?"
We feared our Masters, but it was not they that destroyed us. Is it not obvious what happened? We believed that all would be equals within the Force, no masters, no Padawan. Only students all, the stronger helping the weaker to learn and grow. But not all can use the Force as well as others. Jealousy sprouted. Greed. Hatred. Those with little power schemed to find a way to take what only the Force can give. Those with true power refused to hand what they learned off to others freely.
"Students learned only so they could wax fat in the Force, then replace their masters. Others schemed and stalked their equals to find the secrets maybe only one knew or could use. When subterfuge would not work, force and violence would. We fought among ourselves to see who would be the greatest among us, and we brought our own folly down upon our heads.
"Finally I stood with only students to challenge me, and I was the most powerful one. But at what cost? Friends I had held dear had died, many at my hand, and I had taken all they had from them." He looked at the tomb. "When I might have had a new apprentice I refused. For I knew that an apprentice would learn from me only enough to assure my destruction. Even when I taught all equally, there were those willing to murder each other for a perceived advantage. So eventually I did not even teach. Just hoarded the bits the Force like flinders of broken metal and glass a collector-bird considers valuable.
"Now I lay buried here, and the most powerful of our greatest secrets died with me. No one holds them now, only I remain that even knew they existed. It is fitting I think. Our power fled from our followers, and they died, but the power we had remains and infects this place." He looked back at me. "Tell me, gentle traveler, did any of the Sith survive? Did those we train go on to greatness? Have they returned at last?"
"The Sith have returned, but nothing has really changed. They still teach that only the strong will survive. They still train a single apprentice, knowing that the apprentice will one day kill their master."
"Then it has not really changed, has it?" He knelt beside his own tomb, reaching out as if to touch the stone. "So much time, so much pain, so much misery, yet we learned nothing."
"Why do you remain here?"
"Remain." He stood again. "Yes, I remain. I have spent all these years alone regretting all that I have done. All I hoped to make right has gone in the dust of memory. I remain because I tied myself to this place. I forged a sword to wield in battle. A sword made of the Force and metal, and filled with my arrogance. It bound me here, locked me into the rotting corpse I have become, refused to let me free. I had so much joy in the new faith we had taught our followers. Now I am as dead as that faith, and only the dogma of it remains. I am alone in darkness, as I was then, as I am now."
I felt a wave of pity. "Is there no way to free you?"
He looked at me. "Most would only see a tomb to plunder, power to grasp in their own hands, even if it killed them. But you... I see pity in your heart, sadness for one long dead." He waved toward the tomb. "If the sword were removed, taken from the tomb, taken off this world, perhaps it would free me. I do not wish for it to rot away as I have, to become just a lump of iron that pins me like an insect in a collection. This I would command you to do."
"I will do this." I reached out, and instead of sliding through him, I felt a solid arm. He looked down with shock, then up at me with wonder.
"How is this possible?" He reached out, and his hand slid through my face. "How can you touch me, yet I cannot touch you?"
"I don't know." I said. I ran my hand up that arm, touching his face, and he leaned into it.
"All these centuries without a human touch. It thrills me in ways you cannot imagine. Perhaps I can teach you something in return. Will you trust me?" I pulled my hand away. Then hesitantly, I reached back out. "Touch me on the forehead. Here." He touched his own head. I reached out, and as my finger touched his head, I felt something flow through me. Thoughts, dreams, and among it all, his symbol. I jerked back.
He smiled sadly. "All I have learned is now yours. Like all knowledge,it can be used for good or ill. Use it wisely." He motioned toward the stone. "There are three swords in the sarcophagus. A last test for those foolish enough to reach here, and assume they could control my power. For them I would let chance decide. But for you I have a riddle;
"I am that which grips the heart in fright, hearkens night and silence light."
He moved aside. "It was written on my sword long ago. Take the sword, and place it in the hand of the statue beyond." He pointed at the back of the chamber. "If you choose correctly, my sword is free of this prison.'
"If I choose badly?"
"That would be... Unfortunate. I would be forced to kill you."
I reached out with the Force, and lifted the stone aside. The sarcophagus lay beneath it, and I lifted the lid gingerly. As he had said, there were three sheathed swords set in brackets on the lid. I drew out the blades, and looked at each. The right hand one was the narrow wand of an ancient vibroblade. The second a shiny silvered blade. The last a worn blade as black as pitch. I carried them back to the statue of Ajunta Pall, his hand out as if to hold a sword in defense. I set them down.
The silver blade screamed of arrogance. The power of someone that knew he was supreme. The vibroblade was one of the older style, larger than normal due to the power cell that made up its pommel. The black blade was a bare workman's weapon, made to kill back before lightsabers had been discovered. Each was marked in a script I could not read.
I looked at the spirit. A fine upstanding member of the order the mention that a dead hand had written. Such a man would never have been ostentatious. He would have considered a sword a tool to use not something to scream his arrogance. I picked up the black blade, sliding the hilt into the statue's grip. The statue glowed, then before my eyes began to collapse into dust. I grabbed the blade back with a cry of dismay.
Ajunta Pall smiled. "You have chosen wisely. Now take it. Take the other blades as well. Take them and go. I must go on to my darkness."
"There is no need to stay here now." I whispered.
"I fear the darkness, but I fear returning to the Force beyond it more." He replied sadly. "But I must journey into the darkness for the last time, with all of my regrets intact."
"You can return to the Force, return to the light as you yearn to." I pressed.
"Return? But I betrayed my master, betrayed his teachings. If I asked they would rebuff me." He began to fade.
I caught his arm, forcing him to return. "No. Take the chance. You have been punishing yourself for so long, would any of your masters accept that? They might have killed you or healed you, but they would have never done what you have done to yourself!"
"If only I could return" He looked past me eyes sad. "I would find my master, fall to my knees, admit my mistakes, and ask him to help me find the way again." He looked at me. "But I cannot find that way."
I reached out, and felt not his body, but his spirit in my hand. He looked at me with a smile on his face. "So adept. Can you-"
"I can only try." I said. I felt the spirit floating on my hand, the vision of him fading until he was only a glow of blackness in my hand. I stripped the hatred away, the anger, and the greed. When I was done, all that remained was a seed of light. Then I felt a direction, and pointed. "That way."
As it faded I heard voices.
Master
Ajunta, my student. Welcome home.
The tomb was just a structure now. Just stone upon stone. I picked up the sheaf of blades by their sheathes, and walked out of the tomb.
As I approached the disruptor trap, I stopped. Someone stood at the opposite end, idly flipping a stone into the air.
"I thought you might succeed." Shaardan said. He bent to pick up another stone. Then he flung one toward me. The entire row of disruptors fired, and not even dust reached me. "Curious thing about this trap. It will continue firing until whatever it shoots at is gone." He flung the second stone, bending to grab another before I could move. "So just trying to cross it with me here would kill you."
"You have made your point. What do you want?"
"You really can't be that stupid." He snarled. He reached behind him with the Force, pulling a large rounded boulder. "I want the sword. Once I give it to Master Uthar, my place as the new student is assured."
"You wouldn't have consider trying to get it yourself." I commented dryly. "It's typical of your kind, really. Always ready to take the easiest path."
"Of course it is. I am a true Sith. Not a weak-willed Jedi looking for power." He tossed the smaller stone, and stooped to grab yet another. "Now that you have gotten the sword, I think I will relieve you of that horrible burden."
"I must decline your gracious offer. I have done all the hard work and wouldn't dream of giving it up now."
"Ah, but I insist." He smiled. "After all, I can keep this up all day. I brought enough food and stims to guarantee that I will still be awake a week from now, but you didn't bring anything of the sort, did you?" He laughed. "When fatigue makes you too stupid to understand what has happened, I can drag you into the pit and let you die. Your choice."
I reached back, and took the sheaf of swords. I pulled out one on them, and made to toss it. "No." He ordered. He pulled out a small-wheeled trolley, and tied a string to it. Using the Force he pushed it across to me. "I wouldn't dream of having it destroyed. Tie it firmly."
I did as he instructed, and he pulled the trolley back along the safe line. He set the sword aside. "Now all I need is a few moments." He pushed hard with the Force. The boulder flew toward me. I ducked as the weapons ravened, shards flying past me as they reduced the man-sized rock to shards, then to dust. When the firing ended, he was gone.
I contemplated his victory calmly, then drew out Ajunta Pall's sword, looking at the ebon blade.
Acceptance
I jogged back to the Academy entrance. The cool air felt electric, and as I ran up the ramp into the central chamber, I understood why. Master Uthar stood in the center of the room, surrounded by the dozen or so students. Kneeling at his feet was Shaardan.
"Well, applicant, you asked the presence of all of the students. Speak."
Shaardan pulled out the sheath, extending it toward Master Uthar. "Master, I have penetrated the tomb of Ajunta Pall, and retrieved his sword!" There was a buzz of anticipation from the students and teachers. Uthar reached forward, and Shaardan placed the sheath in his hands.
Uthar drew the silver blade, looking at it critically, then slammed it down, shattering the blade on the stones. "You fool. Did you think you could lie to us about such an artifact? Any fool with a brain would have looked in our archives, and discovered what Ajunta Pall's sword looks like. But you, it seems, thought a lie would be sufficient. This is the second time you have tried to gain admittance, and you have proven to be a fool as well as incompetent. This will be the last time you try."
Uthar reached out, and Shaardan caught at his throat, choking. "The Sith do not need either fools or liars. Do you have anything to say before you die?" Shaardan gasped, looking at me with entreaty, then his neck snapped and the body sagged. "I didn't think so." Uthar released his grip, and the body fell limply to the floor. "You have all received a salutary lesson. Do not lie to me. I am not amused by it. Return to your studies."
I walked past the body, and returned to my room. I set the sword in my footlocker, then went to find Yuthura.
"I gained Ajunta Pall's sword." I reported.
"I hear you eliminated some competition while you were at it." She said, grinning. "Shaardan would never have made a good Sith anyway."
"Tell me more of your life." I asked.
She tensed. "Why? Have I invaded into your privacy?"
"Yuthura, I am just curious. You seem to have been driven by what happened in your past, and I wish to see what drives you."
She grimaced. "There is no need-"
"There is every need." I replied. "You wish me to trust you in removing Master Uthar, yet you are not willing to trust me with this small piece of data?"
She shrugged. "I don't see the harm in that. I was a slave on Sleheryon, owned by Omeesh the Hutt as I have already told you. To the Hutt a slave is less than nothing, and can never be anything else in their eyes. I was a pleasure slave, and Omeesh liked nothing better than to find things that distressed my spirit and force me to do them. He used to boast that I didn't have the brains to deny him." Her face grew feral. "But I burned with hate for the worm. I promised myself that I would become more than he imagined. That I would crush those like him before I died.
"One evening, while he was in a drunken stupor, I killed him, and freed myself from my collar. I slipped aboard a small freighter. The crew found me as they entered the next system. They were not happy. The Hutt would have considered them guilty of aiding me, even though they had not. They used me, and then abandoned me on a desolate planetoid alone. They thought I would ask to go back to my slavery, but anywhere was better than Sleheryon.
"When I was rescued, I thought it was luck. But the Jedi that found me told me it was because they could feel my presence in the Force. I had it within me, and that untrained need had drawn them to me.
"The Jedi found you." I looked around. "How is it that you are among the Sith instead."
"I see no need to tell you such a personal thing."
"Yuthura, we were both Jedi at one time. I felt that perhaps we could become friends."
"Friends will stab you in the back without a thought. I have no need for friends."
"Is that so." I leaned forward. "A friend is one you know will not harm you. That will cover your back as you have asked me to do in removing Master Uthar. I would really like to be friends with someone that expects so much of me."
"You have odd ideas for someone who wishes to become a Sith." She shook her head, smiling. "But your demonstration in the colony tells me that you share at least one hatred."
"I cannot abide slavery." I admitted. "Juhani, my friend, came within a centimeter of becoming slave to the man that murdered her father. I would have killed everyone on this planet rather than let that happen."
"Yes." The word was a hiss of hate. "The Jedi didn't understand that. They took me in for training, though I was much older than the average Padawan. But I never progressed past the Padawan-learner stage. I had discipline, but no peace. The hatred of slavery kept me from being at peace with the universe, but my teachers held me back. They wanted me to become like them, uncaring monsters that allowed slavery in the Galaxy because of personal freedom.
"Personal Freedom!" She snarled. "The slavers have the right on too many worlds to enslave others. While on those same worlds, a slave cannot be freed because it violates the slaver's rights! I wanted to free them all, to send all of the slavers to the hells they deserve.
"Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. I left the Academy on Brunwald, and came here almost six years ago. They say the Dark Side is evil, but at least the Sith are willing to use their skills to do something!"
"So you came here, to learn how to kill slavers everywhere." I said softly. "Yet you are still here. Have things changed so much?"
She growled. "My hate has not diminished. Nor my resolve. I know it might sound strange, but Master Uthar tells me it is my compassion that stands in my way. When I can kill without compunction, I will be ready."
"But if you lose your compassion for the slaves you wish to free, what will you have remaining?" I stood, touching her shoulder. "It is your compassion that drew you so vehemently to this cause, yet without it the slaves are merely people in the wrong place. Soon you would see the slavers in the same light as well and then what help would you be?"
"You're trying to confuse me!" She looked panicked. "You don't know what being a slave is like!"
"Compassion again, and anger that I who have not been a slave would deny your quest." I said. "Yuthura. If I had been there when you were a slave I would have freed you."
"Revan freed me, to come here." She said.
"Revan?" I felt my heart freeze. "You knew Revan?"
"Well, I met her." She shrugged. "When I was on that planetoid, I had to scavenge for food. I ate things during my time there that sicken me even now. One day almost six years ago I was coming back to my shelter and there was a woman with a mask standing there. She named herself as Revan, and told me that my pain had drawn her to me.
"I was suspicious. While I had heard of Jedi, I had never met one and knew little about them. I was sure that she was merely a gentler slaver than most. I ran and hid. But she followed me. I tried to strike her but she merely waved her hand and stopped me. Finally I grew too tired to fight, and slept. But when I awoke I was not on a ship with a collar. I was still on the planetoid and before me were an array of survival tools I had only dreamed of before.
"A week passed, and I felt that she had gotten tired of dealing with me. But then she returned. She had been on a mission, you see. She asked me if I would be willing to come with her. I said yes." She shook her head. "Not long after I fled the Jedi, she came here. She slew the Master at that time, and challenged all that stood to fight her and her disciple Malak. When we refused, she entered the tomb of Naga Sadow, and departed. A few months later, she came back, telling us that she was now Dark Lord, and commanded us all to do her will.
"She spoke of a new order, with the Republic and the Sith under one hand, and nothing in the Galaxy able to stand against our combined will. But in the end Malak outshone her. Such is the way of the Sith. Why do you ask?"
"It has been rumored that Revan is still alive." I said.
"What of it? She was a fool to let Malak ambush her in that way. Unless she has gained in power, there is no way that she can regain her place as Dark Lord."
"What if that isn't what she wants?" I asked. "What if the Jedi have redeemed her?"
"Then it is harder for her than before. Do you honestly think Malak will let her live if he discovers it?" She shook her head. "No, he'll find her and kill her, wherever she is."
I stood. "I am going to get some sleep. Then I am going to gift Master Uthar with the Sword."
"Sleep well, friend." She smiled hesitantly, but it grew brighter as I smiled gently in return.
"Be well, friend."
Tomb
A few hours later, I arose, and prepared myself. Master Uthar was still in the central room, and I walked over, dropping to my knees.
"What do you want?" He asked. I extended the sword of Ajunta Pall.
"What is this?"
"The sword of Ajunta Pall which Shaardan tried to steal from me." I replied.
He stood, drawing the blade from its sheath. He looked at it for a long moment. Then roared. "Assemble the students!"
I stayed kneeling as everyone came as ordered. He held up the sword. "Look upon Ajunta Pall's Sword!" He roared. Then he pointed toward me. "Look at she who gained it for us!" He reached out, and helped me to my feet. He led me to a door off the central chamber, and it opened. Within was a large room filled with artifacts of the Sith. He took the sword to a statue similar to that which had once been within Pall's tomb, and inserted the sword into the statue's hand. "Blessed is she that returns such an artifact. Can she do more to prove her worth?"
"I know the Code of the Sith." I replied.
He led me back to the Central chamber. "Answer well. Peace is a lie, there is only..."
"Passion."
"Through passion I gain..."
"Strength."
"Through strength I gain...
"Power."
"Through power I gain..."
"Victory."
"Through victory..."
"My chains are broken."
"The Force shall free me." He finished with a satisfied smile. "Tell me, young one, knowing the words, and what they mean are two different things. Would you agree?"
"Yes."
"Then answer true or false, Mercy is for us to decide."
"False. There is no mercy."
Excellent." He clapped me on the shoulder. "You have proven yourself worthy of being the newest pupil. You have bested them, and only one thing remains. If you fail, another will take your place. If you succeed, Mekel and Lashowe will be sent away today."
"The tomb of Naga Sadow." I said.
"Ah, you have heard of the test. Does it frighten you?"
"No, Master. I have done more dangerous things."
"Well spoken if brash. When you are ready-"
"I am ready now, Master Uthar."
He looked at me for a long moment. "Then to death or glory. Come."
We waited long enough for Yuthura to be called. Then we started down into the valley of the Dark Lords. Uthar led us, with Yuthura pacing me and ignoring me.
We reached the tomb, and my own memory remembered how the tomb was opened. Uthar reached out, touching the panels of stone in a simple pattern, and the vault door opened. We walked in, and he stopped, sealing the door behind us.
"Here, young student, we separate out the true Sith from those pallid ones who only aspire without true worth. You have earned this chance."
"Indeed you have." Yuthura purred.
Uthar looked at her with loathing. "I don't like your tone, Yuthura. What are you up to this time?"
"Why nothing, Master." She lied smoothly. "I am merely agreeing with your assessment."
"Indeed." His tone spoke volumes. Uthar looked back to me. "You must go on from here alone, as did Revan and Malak so many years ago. When you reach the ancient Star Map. There you will find a lightsaber among other things. The Lightsaber is your initiation present. Return to us when you have it, for that is not all you have to do."
"Be cautious." Yuthura said. "Like all the tombs of this valley, this one has it's own defenses. They have been left intact for this test."
"Yes, indeed." Uthar added sourly. "You understand what you must do?"
"Find the star map, pick up the lightsaber, return." I replied.
"Good. Yuthura and I will await your return."
I turned, facing the inner door. I walked up to it, and pressed the button. A dark hall stretched forward, and as I walked through the door, I felt it close behind me. Ahead was an intersection, and beyond that a ramp. I started to step forward, then stopped myself ten meters back. A small piece of debris lay on the floor, and I flipped it into the center. As it came down a flash of energy ripped across the stone, and the debris bounded into the air, smoking. It hop scotched across the intersection, barely half of it reaching the other side.
Yet down that ramp it also skittered as energy blasted it again and again. Finally the discharge died because, I noted sourly, the rock had been destroyed. I flipped another piece to land near where the first had finally been destroyed, but this time there was no discharge. The system only activated that far because it had started in the intersection.
Other pieces proved the all of the other sections including the entry way for ten meters were the same. If the floor of the intersection was touched, the other sections were activated. I stepped back tight against the left wall, and focused on the wall of the east section. Then I sprinted forward. Before my foot hit the center block, I leaped, and rebounded from the inner wall to land sprawling on the floor past it.
There was another downward ramp, and I paced down it. Ahead was a door, and outside the door a corpse. I checked the walls, and found where a needle gun was installed. A handful of dust into the air revealed a light trip at knee level. By breaking the beam I would have caught a burst of needles. I stepped over it.
The door hissed open, and I smelled a rank stench. Leaning forward, I looked around the corner. Terentateks, a pair. They wandered around at the opposite end of the room, snuffling at a few corpses that were on the floor. I started to back up, and found that the door I had just passed through had closed silently behind me. There was a latch to press, but the door didn't move. Again I looked at the Terentateks. Beyond the one to my right, was what looked like a lever. Beside it was also a door.
I considered what I would have to do. Get past them, through the opposite door. I had discovered in dealing with the Terentatek on Kashyyyk that while powerful and well-equipped for slaughter, they weren't fast except in a straight run. Maybe I could use that to my favor. I stepped out, and whistled sharply. They spun in place, then began a lumbering run in my direction. As the first came almost close enough to strike, I leaped up onto its back, then leaped again before it could react, landing on the second one. I was on the ground running toward the lever as I heard the collision of the first Terentatek with the wall as it tried to follow.
I flipped the lever, then punched the door control frantically. The second Terentatek had turned, and was coming back, a screeching bellow cutting through my brain. The door opened, and I leaped inside as it slammed into the lintel. The door was too small for it to pass, something it figured out rather quickly, and I frantically crabbed back away from the door as it tried to reach inside. A claw scratched across the sole of my boot, but the fingers of that monstrous hand were too short to catch it.
I stood, backing away from the monster glaring at me from the doorway. A pair of stone pillars stood in the center of the room, and after some probing on one, I found a small niche. A golden key lay there, and I picked it up. On the key a Sith Rune read LEFT. In the second pillar I found another identical key, marked with the rune RIGHT. There was no way out of the room except back past the now furious Terentateks. Another problem I faced was the door I had entered through was easily large enough for a Terentatek to follow.
The Terentatek near the door had moved back, glaring at me sullenly. It knew I would have to get past it, and I knew from what records the Jedi had that they were a patient species. I discovered by thinking about it that I could deal with the problem, but I first had to get out of this room, across the next, and up that ramp.
I needed some space to get a run up, and I moved as far back as the room allowed. The Terentatek hissed, watching my preparations. I took a deep breath, found that calm center so necessary to a Jedi, and became one with it. Then suddenly I leaped forward. I ducked under the swing of the first Terentatek, rolling between the legs of the second, and was up running toward the door as they turned around.
The door hissed open, and I was through it before the claws could rip me apart, leaping to pass over the light trip running up the ramp as fast as I could. Behind me the needle gun stuttered, and there was a crash as the offending equipment was ripped from the wall. Ahead of me I could see the intersection, and just before my foot would have landed on the floor, I leaped, putting every muscle and all of the force into it.
I flew over the floor of the intersection, and behind me the first Terentatek stepped on it. I rolled frantically as I hit the floor, and sprawled out just past the section of hot floor. Behind me I heard keening screams. Unable to stop in time, the first Terentatek staggered around less than ten meters from me, still trying to charge me. I watched it's legs fry off, and its torso slammed to the blazing stones. Behind it, I could see the second Terentatek. It had skidded to a stop just short of the hot region on that side, and stood growling at me as it's partner was slowly fried away.
It took a long time. Terentatek are big, and the machinery only fried it a centimeter or two at a time. When it's agonized screaming died, the one that remained hissed, trying to come up with a way to reach me without entering that hell. I watched it as the dead Terentatek was reduced to ash, then even the ash was blown away.
It snarled. Claws closing and opening. "Well!" I shouted. "Come on!" I picked up a pair of stones, and flung one to land in the now quiescent hot spot on that side. It stopped, looking at the stone, then screamed, charging. It made a leap past the center section. As it did, I the other stone hit the center plate.
Instantly the process started again. The creature actually made it far enough to take a swipe at me before its legs were gone. It scrabbled forward using its forelegs. But only the arms and torso reached the safe area where I was. I skipped up onto its back, and my lightsaber punched down into its brain ending its misery. I leaped off it past the hot section to the north, and ran down the ramp.
At the bottom was a door. I opened it, gasping at the acrid stench in the air. A pool of acid lay before me, covering the floor from a meter or so from where I stood, to the door on the opposite wall. To my right was a pillar, to my left another pillar. I looked at the two keys, and walked over to the left pillar, then paused. What if they had also meant right as in correct? Or left as in being left standing here? I walked to the right pillar, and inserted the key.
A bridge rose, the acid flowing through channels. I gingerly crossed it, and opened the door. It led to yet another ramp, this one climbing steeply. I ran up it, and opened a door. Before me was the pintel of the Star Map. It opened as I approached, and the glory of their creation glowed in mid-air. I scanned it, and immediately crossed past it to a kneeling statue. On the outstretched palm of the statue's hand, was an ornate lightsaber. I flicked it on, grunting at the red beam. All this works for something this gaudy.
I looked around the room. On the walls were carvings of the alien builders. One of them caught my eye, and I moved closer. A shape that looked like a short lightsaber pommel floated above a star, exactly like the Star Forge in my vision.
I turned, retracing my steps. At the base of the ramp, standing on the bridge, were Master Uthar and Yuthura.
"You return with your new weapon in hand, as I foresaw." Uthar purred.
"The Force has served you well, young one." Yuthura agreed.
"You took great risks gaining your prize, young student. You had to use all of your skills, and much more. No peaceful meditation, no pacifism, all adrenaline caused by fear and hatred.
"Sometimes you must fight and kill in order to achieve your goals. This uses your passion, it makes you stronger, and in the end, it makes you superior. This is the lesson we teach with this final entry test."
"Are you saying a Jedi could not have gained this?" I flipped the lightsaber.
"When a Jedi acts, it is with skill and courage, true." Uthar admitted. "But the Jedi teaches that passion for anything is counterproductive. That only in achieving inner peace can you find true strength. But think.
"Did you not feel the excitement of entering a place that might lead to your death? Did your passions not flow when you faced the Terentatek? Satisfaction at their deaths? Didn't you feel more alive than you have ever been just passing over the acid? What real purpose is served by denying any of this? I would tell you that the Jedi have their own purposes for denying such, and since you have fled them to come here, you must know it. They restrict because they want to. To keep the passions of youth from overriding the so-called wisdom of age. They don't want excellence; they want plodders like themselves."
"The Sith are not the only ones who strive and risk their lives."
"True. But the Jedi deny their passion. They claim they fight only when they must, but is that really true? Doesn't each of them have their own causes they will fight to attain? Revan when she was among us claimed she was going to reconcile the Sith and Jedi, find a weapon so powerful that peace would last a millennium. Yet she came to us because the Jedi could not do it alone. We never deny a part of our struggle, or our strength in fighting it. We are superior because we do not lie to ourselves."
"I can't believe that." I growled. "I don't feel superior, even to those the Sith would call weak. I bleed and die as they do."
"If you came to the Academy, you must have felt that yearning as every one of the weak do. To give yourself to the dark side, to become more powerful than anyone can imagine. All any of our Masters here can do is show you the path, we cannot put your feet on it. You have followed it this far, caused the death of another student to stand here. It is up to you to decide if you will continue."
"And if I would not?"
"Your can continue on the way of the Sith, or you can die here. Someone with such power cannot be allowed to escape."
There it was. The steel fist in the velvet glove. I nodded slowly. "I think I am beginning to understand."
"Good." Uthar slapped his hands together, rubbing them sharply. "Now for the last of this test. You have learned some lessons in competition, and arranging for me to kill Shaardan was well done. But do you have it within you to kill directly?
"All things compete in life. Even the smallest organism knows it must kill or deprive another of the necessities of survival to succeed. To stand still is to die, now or the near future. Even societies face this. So it is among us. Compete for honor. Win or die. No other options exist. Mercy is a thing created by the weak to stay the hand of the strong, so it is irrelevant.
"So your final test is to strike down another for no other reason than to deny this mercy the weak claim. Normally, I would have arranged to have a student here that you might have feelings for. But there were none. However I find that Yuthura and you have become friends, and she is perfect. Kill her, and prove your worth."
Yuthura leaped back, drawing her lightsaber. "So this is what you planned all along! To have me killed!"
"My dear apprentice, I told you your compassion was a weakness. Do you think I didn't see it in action when you met this one? Why would someone protecting a weak fool from slavers get into the Academy otherwise? You have ambition without the skill to make that ambition fact. That is your weakness, and I am going to exploit it!"
"No, my dear master." Yuthura hissed. "It is time for you to die! My pupil stands with me."
"Is this true, young one?" As he asked, Uthar moved so that we were standing like a triangle with mutually opposing points. "You wish to stand with this compassionate fool against me?"
"Compassion is not a weakness, regardless of what you say, Uthar. I stand with her."
"Do you hear that, my master!" Yuthura caroled. "That is the sound of a new wind blowing through the Academy! Of a new master taking her place!"
"Then face a Sith master and die!" He screamed. As his lightsaber ignited, I pushed with the Force, throwing Yuthura aside. Uthar paused, confused, then screamed as I used the Force to throw him off the bridge into the acid pool. He came up screaming now in pain, and I blocked as I cut at him, slicing through the haft of his lightsaber, and taking off both legs at the knee as he went over the bridge and into the pool on the other side. I spun, the blade punching through his chest as he flailed there.
Yuthura stood, looking at me oddly. "You stopped me from fighting. Why?"
"Because you're not lost to the light yet, Yuthura. Murdering Uthar to take his place might have been the last step to damn you." I shut down the lightsaber, reaching out toward her. "Yuthura, come back to us."
She sneered. "Betrayer! A Jedi pretending to be my friend! I really liked you, Danika. But I share power with no one." She lit her lightsaber, the blade blocked by my own.
"I don't want power."
"I wish I could believe that. I will try to be quick." She rained a flurry of blows on me, my lightsaber blocking each. Then I reached out with the Force, and she caught at her face, the lightsaber falling as I squeezed her head. She screamed, falling to her knees. "Pl-lease! Mercy!"
I released the grip. My lightsaber pointed at her. "A Sith begging for mercy? Something they deny everyone else? Are you really a Sith?"
She looked away, then sighed. "I suppose I am not." She answered looking up at me. "Any other student would have struck me down, taken my place. But you are not like the other students somehow. I don't know why that is, but it is the truth. I was right when we first met, wasn't I? You're different. Something we have not faced in a long time."
I pulled out the datapad, and the Star Map glowed in mid air. "I have what I came for. Not to be a Sith, not to kill you. Not even to kill him." I waved toward the seething acid. "Just this."
"You're too good for me to believe that you had to train when you came here. I should have realized it sooner. So, what now? Do I gain mercy? Will you just let me live?"
"Tell my first why you tried to kill me."
"You reminded me too much of what I was like when I first came to the Sith. I didn't want to think about that."
"Maybe you do need to think about it." I said. "Has becoming a Sith assured the end of your quest? Has even one slave been freed by your actions?"
"You're right." She whispered. "In my search for power, I have forgotten those who are enslaved as I had been. All the things I wanted to do all the wrongs that I wanted to right. None of them have been accomplished. I have moved farther away from that idealist I was every day, and allowed myself to be blinded to that fact."
"Maybe you need to change that." I shut off my lightsaber, holding out a hand. "Maybe you need to find peace within before you can find it out there."
"The Jedi tried to show me that. I don't think I can make up for what I have done since."
"No one is beyond redemption, Yuthura. Only their own unwillingness to accept it makes them beyond redemption."
"I know I no longer belong here, but I don't think I belong among the Jedi. I must be my own person again first. I have you to thank for showing me that." She took my hand, and stood.
"Don't write off the Jedi so easily. It is said that even Revan was redeemed."
"I will believe that when I meet her." She replied.
"Go to Coruscant. I will see what I can arrange in time. But when you leave, go through the caves."
"Yes, I think I would like to compare our travails with Revan when I meet her. But you have things you must do and I must assist you. We go together or not at all."
I gripped her hand tightly, then we ran out of the tomb. At the entrance, I used my 'Sith' lightsaber to slash the entire stone face of the door down to it's bottom, causing the door to collapse, sealing the tomb for all time. No more
students would die trying to walk that hellish path.