Chapter Seventeen

Thick smog shrouded the LiMerge Building within the Coruscanti district known as The Works. Long ago the area had been a center of industrial production, before manufacturing moved offworld in search of cheaper labor. Now it was semi-abandoned, the rusted factories and towers giving the area a hellish appearance. It was the perfect place for the temporary headquarters of the Inquisitorius. It was perfect place for Darth Vader to begin strengthening these new dark side acolytes to point that they'd be useful.

The surviving members of the group that had ambushed Darth Vader in the Jedi Temple Archives stood in a line as their new master inspected them. The roof of the cavernous room towered high above them, steam from the machinery hanging like a sickly fog near the ceiling. All of them, from the pale toned Pau'an man to the tall Dowutin woman, stood at silent attention. Near the end of the line, seemingly the most unassuming of all, was a thin woman of medium height, her dark blue skin showing beneath the dark armor that each of the Inquisitors wore.

"Your training thus far has been inadequate," Vader spoke, his deep voice booming. "Your grasp of the dark side tenuous." Vader glanced at the Pau'an. "Some of you have Jedi training. You must forget everything that they taught you. The Dark Side is fueled by emotion, by passion. Embrace your fear, your anger, your hatred. Embrace the true power of the Force." Vader held out his hand. Behind him the piping that lined the walls began to warp and bend, as if an invisible hand was crushing it.

A droid approached from the side, a thin, skeletal model that seemed like it had stepped out of a lava pit on Mustafar. Its black and grey plating was warped and pockmarked, one of its eyes knocked slightly out of place. In the droid's outstretched hands rested a large metal tray, upon which ten circular rings lay. One of the rings lifted itself into the air and floated into Vader's outstretched hand. He held the ring out and gripped it by the handle that lay at the center. Suddenly a bright red blade erupted from one side.

The group standing before Vader instinctively shied away as he pointed the tip of the lightsaber towards them. Next Vader moved the hilt until the blade was parallel to the line of recruits. With a snap hiss a second blade erupted from the other side of the ring.

"These will be your weapons," Vader said. "Your tool as you hunt down the last remaining Jedi as they try to cling to the old ways. Your tool as enforce the will of the Emperor. Your tool as you do what must be done to bring peace and order to this broken galaxy." He deactivated the lightsaber and handed it the Pau'an standing in front of him, at the center of the line. "Break off into pairs and begin training with your new weapons. Soon your trials will begin."

With that Vader turned from the group and strode from the cavernous room, leaving the recruits to their own devices.

oOoOo

The world of Obroa-Skai revolved in space below the Crescent-class transport, reflecting blue, green, and golden light upon the polished hull of the ship. Aramis's eyes widened as he took in the vista stretching out below them. Lehal Jak sat in the rear seat, to the left, while Uraala occupied the co-pilot chair beside him. She adjusted controls on the ship's scanners, looking out for any unwanted attention. Marring the picturesque view were two arrowhead shaped warships in high orbit, bone white vessels glittering in the distance like the bones of a predatory animal. Imperial-class Star Destroyers, fresh out of the KDY shipyards, stood like sentinels over the world below them.

"There's a lot of traffic in and out of those destroyers," Uraala said. They had only been away from Malastare for a couple days, yet she seemed to have responded well to the reduced dosages of her medication. She had maintained most of the renewed energy her new medication had given her, without the darkened mood. Aramis liked to think that the meditation lessons he had been giving Lehal Jak, which Uraala had joined, were helping. But he didn't know for sure. And she had a lot weighing on her mind. They had no idea how well her father's civil war with her uncle was going.

"Troop transports," Jak said, peering over their shoulder at one of the sensor screens.

"Looks like your homeworld is under Imperial occupation," Uraala said. Jak's visage darkened but he didn't seem surprised.

"Should we try one of the spaceports or…" Aramis began.

"No," Jak interrupted. "Head for the northern part of the southern continent. There is a small agricultural town with a hover train depot. We should land in the forests between there and the river."

"Forests are usually good places to hide a ship," Uraala agreed. "I'll go get my hiking boots on." She placed a hand on Aramis' shoulder and gave him a gentle squeeze before withdrawing from the bridge. Aramis titled the controls, turning the transport away from the Imperial ships and beginning the descent through the upper atmosphere and towards the destination Jak described. Obroa-Skai seemed an odd mix of dense urban cities and rural countryside. The cities were all circular in shape, usually centered around towers that stretched high into the sky. Aramis found the mix of stone and transparisteel construction captivating. Each city had a singular coordinated aesthetic, something that urbans centers on Malastare and Coruscant lacked.

They flew over a shallow sea, the water glistening in early the morning sunlight. Huge trimaran sailing ships slowly traversed the water, their triple hulls bouncing gently over the waves. Aramis found himself wishing the Jedi had built their Temple on a world like this instead of on an overpopulated duracrete labyrinth like Coruscant. A coastline became visible on the horizon, with Jak leaning forward and peering through the viewport.

"Bank west," he said. "Fly flow." Aramis obeyed, lowering the ship until they were just a few meters above the treetops. He slowed until he spotted a trio of structures, grain silos, peeking out from the top of the forest ahead. Aramis spotted an opening in ahead, a small clearing that wasn't quite big enough for the ship. But the branches of the trees offered little resistance as he titled the nose upwards and lowered the repulsors. The sound of the branches scratching against the hull sounded like nails on a chalkboard, followed by a loud thump as the ship settled on the ground. "Not my best landing," Aramis said. "But it will have to do."

"I can get some people to cover our ship once we make it to the village," Jak said. Aramis undid his restraints and rose out of his chair.

"You know the locals?" he asked.

"My uncle lives here," Jak nodded. "I've been away awhile, but small towns like this don't change much." Jak led the way out of the bridge, with Aramis following behind.

"I feel like the Empire might have something to say about that…" he whispered. Uraala was snapping a gun belt around her waist as Aramis and Jak entered the ship's lounge. Two large blaster pistols were holstered on each hip, with spare ammo cartridges in between.

"Is all of that necessary?" Jak asked.

"Did you not notice those Star Destroyers up there?" she answered. "Those things can hold a lot of troopers."

"True. But nobody carries weapons on Obroa-Skai," Jak said, frowning. "This world has one of the lowest crimes rates outside of the Core...you'll stick out."

Uraala wrinkled her nose but unclipped her belt and dropped the blasters onto the lounge sofa. When Jak turned away she pulled the bottom of her white shirt up, revealing a concealed pocket blaster. "Better safe than sorry," she whispered.

Aramis donned a brown cloak, identical to the one Jak wore, and followed the older human down the loading ramp. Uraala took the rear. Aramis glanced back at the ship's polished hull as the loading ramp folded up behind them. He noticed their reflections bouncing back at them, and he realized suddenly that he almost resembled a Jedi with the cloak draped over his shoulders.

The trio moved through the forest, following Jak's lead. Eventually they came to a clearing, a field that full of some crop that Aramis didn't recognize. The plants were stalky and tall, with the end of each branching out in a wide brimmed purple flower. Silvery veins in the petals seemed to shine with an inner light that seemed to flash every time the wind moved through the field.

"What is this stuff?" Aramis asked as Jak led the way through the field.

"It becomes dye for clothing," Jak answered. "It conducts electricity so it's handy for making hi tech weaves." The plants silvery threads seem to light up in response, making Aramis suspicious the plants could hear them. The group emerged on the from the other side of the field. A two story farmhouse, a large silo that seemed to be a multi-purpose fuel tank, and a huge barn were in a triangular formation, with a clearing that served as a landing pad in the middle.

"Do we just walk up to the front door or…" Uraala began.

"I think we've been noticed," Aramis interrupted. An older human who was so alike Jak except for his huge wiry beard, interwoven with white, stood between the house and the silo, a blaster rifle in his hands with a huge scope that looked like it was meant for shooting varmints rather than people. Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, stood to either side behind him, trying to look intimidating but succeeding only in looking intimidated.

"Uncle Paku," Jak said, holding his arms wide in order to clap the eldest member of the family on the shoulder. The man was as tall as Jak, and just as muscular as well, despite the arena fighter's years of training.

"Lehal," Paku answered. "We heard a ship fly by...imagine my surprise when you walk out of the electro-dye field. How many years has it been?" he asked, his voice deep and carrying loudly.

"Since before the war," Jak answered. "These are some friends of mine," he added, backing away from his uncle's hug and nodding towards Aramis and Uraala, who each introduced themselves respectfully but not giving much more than a name.

"After all this time what brings you back to Obroa-Skai?" Paku asked. "Did you find all the answers you were looking for out there?"
"Unfortunately no," Jak said, shaking his head. "The war put all of that on pause...especially with how it ended." Aramis glanced at Jak, knowing full well he referred to the fall of the Jedi. "We're here to speak with Professor Haldas."

"Course you would be back for that old dinosaur," Paku said with a sigh.

"I haven't spoken with him since I left," Jak said. "Is he still in charge of the archeology college?"

"He is, but he had to relocate to the Capital just a few weeks ago," Paku revealed. "The Imperials showed up, as I'm sure you've noticed, and they're reorganizing the university system. Consolidating all of the leadership."
"The university system has been the same for hundreds of years…" Jak said.

"Yeah well, you can tell them that," Paku said. He glanced at Aramis and Uraala. "I'm guessing there is a reason you landed in a forest and not at one of the spaceports."

"We're trying to avoid Imperial scanners," Uraala said, nodding.

"I planned to take the hovertrain to Coaston. But if Haldas has been moved to the capital…"

"You'll have to take the southern train," Paku said. "But the Imperials have restricted rail traffic to the daylight hours. You'll have to wait until tomorrow."

"Would you be willing to house us for the night?" Aramis asked.

"Sure, plenty of room," Paku agreed. He turned to the teenagers flanking him. "Go tell your grandmother we've got guests."

"We also need to hide our ship," Jak added.

Paku ran his fingers through his wild beard. "Well, we could use one of the bird nets. It's an electro-weave, so we can program it to look like like the tree tops." Paku glanced between Aramis and Jak. "Two strong young lads like yourselfs, help me load the net into one our hover tractors."

"I'm not getting left behind," Uraala said, scowling slightly.

"My mistake," Paku said, raising his hands in apology and letting out a booming laugh.

oOoOo

Aramis leaned out of the open window in the second story of the barn located on Paku's farm. It was the late evening, with the last vestiges of daylight quickly receding over the horizon. A soft purple glow emanated from the electro-dye field, accented by flashes of light from the petals that looked like miniature lightning storms.

"I don't know if I've ever seen a world prettier than this," Aramis said. The second story of the barn was large enough that parts of it had been converted into sleeping quarters for the part time workers Paku hired during harvest season. He had put Aramis and Uraala up here, while Jak overnighted inside of the house. Aramis didn't mind, however. He was much more interested in taking in the nature that surrounded them. Dantooine had even less development than Obroa-Skai did, but it was much more featureless, without the oceans or forests to breakup the sea of grasslands. Malastare had undeveloped areas as well, but Aramis had never spent any time outside of Pixelito City. Aramis had only been away from Coruscant for a couple of months now. The lack of skyscrapers and layers of duracrete surrounding him still felt odd.

"How many worlds have you seen?" Uraala asked. She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She was attempting to stretch the time between doses of her medicine as long as she could, which meant the return of her symptoms. But they weren't as extreme as before, at least.

Not yet,Aramis thought to himself. "Not very many," Aramis said aloud. "I was Temple Security...which meant I pretty much stayed around the Temple."

"I started running cargo for my father when I was a teenager," Uraala said. "I've seen more worlds than I can count. If you think this field is pretty you should see Felucia light up at night."

"Dantooine set off my allergies," Aramis said. "I can't imagine what all the fungus spores would do me."

"Well, there is Mon Cala, an ocean world. Phosphorescent fish ride the waves just before sundown in a mating ritual. The schools of fish go on for kilometers."

"Wow," Aramis remarked.

"Yeah," she responded. "The sad part is that poachers can easily spot them and they swoop down with huge nets strung between airspeeders. I was there to deal with some of them and the guard came down on us."

"How did you get away?" Aramis asked.

She smirked mischievously. "I turned my ion cannons on our buyers, knocked them out of the sky. They would've gotten away if I hadn't shot them down, so the Mon Calamari let us go with a warning."

"Lucky," Aramis said. "Jedi Temple Security wasn't very lenient like that. That was probably it was so hard to track down sources. That and everyone thought there was half a chance the Jedi would snatch their children."

"I'll admit to trading those kinds of stories when you wanted to scare a kid. Behave or the Jedi will come for you," Uraala said.

"Unfortunately there was some truth in that rumour," Aramis said quietly.

"Is that how you ended up with them?" Uraala asked. "I've always thought it was odd they kept the identity of your parents from you, or even what homeworld you came from and what species you belong to."

"I was given to the Jedi by my parents," Aramis said. "They were refugees who somehow knew I was Force Sensitive. But they didn't stay at the Jedi Temple long. When I was accepted to Security Forces I gained access to the Archives but there weren't any records about my parents. They were only at the Temple a couple of weeks. Later on I was able to check civilian records but they seemed to have disappeared."

"You think they are still out there somewhere?"

"I'm not sure," Aramis admitted.

"Maybe while we are looking up Jedi medical records at this university we can try and find out where your parent's might have come from."

"I...I hadn't thought that."

"It's worth a try," Uraala said, squeezing him tightly. Outside the evening advanced into night. The flickering light from the electro-dye field continued to flash and flow like a web of energy. Every now and then the sound of a TIE fighter howling in the distance interrupted the serenity like the call of an angry predator on the hunt.

oOoOo

The recruits paired off as Vader instructed them, each taking one of the ring-like lightsabers and using them against each other for the first time, albeit on low power so as not to cause any unnecessary loss of life or limb. Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith, could do as he wished, but his underlings did not have permission to kill each other. That didn't stop their training exercises from becoming heated.

The Pua'an man squared off against the smaller woman with the dark blue skin. They didn't know each others names, as every member of this new group was supposed to delete their previous lives from memory. They had yet to receive new designations either, which made them feel as if they didn't have an identity at all.

The Pua'an, who was tall, thin, and gaunt, eyed his lightsaber with a critical eye. He was a former Jedi Temple guard, trained in the mastery of a saber pike. This was a very different weapon. He gave the saber a few test swings. The ring-like hilt seemed to inhibit rather than enhance his freedom of movement.

Opposite of him the woman with the dark blue skin, belonging to a species that nobody else in the room was familiar with, kept her saber switched off. She studied her opponent silently, her eyes seeming to take in every detail of his movement.

"Are you ready?" the Pua'an asked, his Core-worlds accent proper and upper class.

"I don't warn my enemy before I cut them down," the young woman answered back. Her accent was also from the Core, but it lacked any sense of pomposity.

"Well said," the Pua'an responded, immediately before he lunged with his lightsaber. The woman activated her lightsaber at the last second, batting away the blade when it was inches from her face. Instead of counter-attacking she continued to deflect and dodge all of the Pua'an's attacks in a style that defied classification. The Pua'an soon grew frustrated but resisted tapping into his anger, a lingering result of his Jedi training. His opponent had no such hang up.

The classically trained swordsman began to throw more of his weight behind his strikes in an attempt to knock her lightsaber out of her hands. Her entire body was shoved backwards as she blocked each attack, until eventually he achieved his goal and her ring saber went flying. His eye's widened triumphantly as he watched the blade sail away, but then he felt a slight sting against his throat.

The woman had leapt towards him, drawing a plasma knife from some hidden sheath within her uniform and placing against his throat.

"Yield," she said, venom in her voice. The Pua'an scowled angrily but held up his hands in a sign of defeat. A floating camera droid hovered above them, recording every moment of their duel. Identical droids floated over the other soon-to-be Inquisitors, the low hum of their repulsors filling the room with noise, accentuated with the clashing of lightsabers and angry yelps as some of the combatants received non-fatal blows.

"That won't happen again," the Pua'an warned her.

"Not to worry," she smirked. "I'll kill you a different way each time."