Book Two – Rebirth
Chapter Ten
Dark Secrets
The speed at which it was moving was physically impossible.
Of course, if her battle against Juhani in a frenzy had taught her anything, it was that physics meant very little to Jedi. Especially to the ghostly apparition of a Jedi Knight who was on the verge of taking over the galaxy. Malak was known as the greatest duelist of his time and you don't earn that title by giving a damn about the laws of physics.
Which also meant that Xana was about to get cleanly cut in halve, if she didn't find a way to end the nature defying tricks of his spectral twin soon.
Her outstretched arm guiding the Force left the soft flesh of her side fully exposed, an opening which any skilled Guardian would take full advantage of, Ghost Malak included. After his monster leap he aimed a wide slash at her midriff in a diagonal upwards motion. The trajectory meant it would tear through her intestines, rip apart a kidney, destroy the stomach and pancreas, only to end up at the spine. Whatever damage it would do after that point was hard to predict, though Xana could think of more pleasant sights than a beam of searing light meeting a mixture of bone, gristle, marrow and nerves.
There could be no doubt anymore, no hesitation. The lightsaber was already cutting through her robes, the only thing she could do was finish what she started and pray her theory was correct. Just as the searing red beam was about to penetrate her skin, Xana finished her Force manipulation. Like a popping balloon the ghost snapped, vanishing from the face of the planet like it had never existed. The only remaining evidence of its existence was the now deactivated lightsaber dropping harmlessly to the ground.
Before she could even fully process that her trick had worked something heavy crashed into her, making her grunt in pain and lose her balance. She dropped flat on her back with a warm body on top of her, wheezing in agony when the impact knocked the wind out of her. It took a few deep breaths to come back to her senses, the two golden orbs floating above her slowly coming into focus, realization dawning. Apparently Juhani had chased after the ghost in a similar leap, but obviously missed it when it disappeared, colliding with the woman behind it instead.
So now Xana found herself lying on her back, with the full weight of Juhani's heated body pressing down on her. Once again their faces were separated by mere inches and she could feel practically every single muscle and bone of the Cathar's sinewy body pressing into her. "Hey now beautiful," she quipped, still high on adrenaline and euphoria. "If this is the way you want to thank me for saving your life, we should take this someplace more private."
Juhani looked around dumbly, wondering where the phantom had gone. "Saved my life?" she asked weakly, slowly coming to the conclusion the danger was indeed gone. Suddenly she looked down on Xana, eyes wide in shock as the Padawan's suggestion finally came through to her.
"T-this isn't what it looks like, it was an accident! I swear I didn't mean to imply I want anything from you, I'd never cheat on Belaya!" Her eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets and darting frantically over Xana. Suddenly she came to a second realization and her eyes turned possibly even wider. "W-wait, you want me to? You'd cheat on Bastila? Are you… are you flirting with me?"
Xana watched the girl stumble on her words with an amused smile on her lips. With just one sentence she had sent the poor creature into overdrive. "Calm down you," she chuckled. "It was just a joke. You know what a joke is?"
"Of course I know what a joke is," the feline snarled, while pushing herself up so their bodies were no longer as tightly pressed together, but still way too close for comfort. "But if this is your idea of a joke you have a very sick sense of humor. Besides, why do you insist on joking when we've nearly been killed by some creature of the dark side?"
"Because, my witty apprentice has absolutely no sense of timing," Bastila angrily said, while grabbing the Cathar under the arm to help her get up. She didn't seem very happy about Xana and Juhani tangled up on the floor, or with Xana making sexist comments. "Or respect for the feelings of others," she added when Juhani had gotten to her feet.
The tanned woman shrugged with a silly grin. "What can I say? I'm a victim of my own twisted mind." She got to her feet as well, inspecting her body for injuries as she went, coming up with none. "Maybe you should just help me get rid of the excess hormones," she suggested to Bastila with a lecherous grin.
"Maybe you should just pull yourself together, and accept that that's never going to happen," the knight countered, but even in the semi-dark Xana could see the brunette's ears reddening slightly.
"So Belaya was right," Juhani said to Bastila, face turning dark. "You are squandering the greatest gift from the Goddesses. No wonder your lover is turning to me in her desperation, her soul is suffering without its second half."
The brunette gasped for a moment. "She isn't my lover! And I for one value the Code above the religious beliefs of a completely different race, thank you very much."
Juhani flared up. "You might not believe in my deities, but that doesn't devaluate their teachings in any way! If two souls belong together, they should be together. It's the way things are meant to be, no matter your profession, allegiance or gender."
Bastila's nose shot straight in the air and Xana saw a haughty remark coming from miles away. Before the brunette could make a blasphemous comment Xana intervened by stepping between the quarreling duo. As much as she liked Juhani sticking up for her, she didn't want this to end in a brawl because Bastila was too proud and Juhani too devout. "Ladies, please! We're in the middle of a darkness infested ruin, let's stay professional here."
The brunette huffed, but held her tongue. Juhani shook her head and growled, but also decided to let the matter rest. Xana relaxed when the two stepped apart, glad to have averted a crisis. She checked up on the duo and noticed the various cuts across Juhani's body left by Ghost Malak. Crimson blood was seeping out of them, and they looked quite painful, but she didn't even cringe. "Bastila, you better heal Juhani's wounds." When the brunette gave her an offended look she rolled her eyes and added, "You're our best healer."
After that little stroke of her ego Bastila started examining Juhani's injuries, a faint blue glow shimmering around her hand as it moved over yellow skin. "So how did you destroy that Force ghost?" the knight asked as she was working. "I've never seen anything like that before."
"Me neither," Xana replied, in the meantime scanning the chamber using her increased Force senses. When she was satisfied she turned back to Bastila, who was swiftly healing the various wounds without leaving scars. She really was a very good healer.
"You've never seen such a thing before, yet you found a way to undo its existence within minutes?" Juhani asked skeptically.
"I had trouble with it at first," Xana admitted. "I was trying to destroy it with brute force, but nothing affected it. But then I took a step back and looked at it for what it was: a creation of the Force. No matter what you try to weave with the Force, be it a shockwave, lightning storm, or even the restoration Bastila is using at this very moment; all is created using the same methods and bound by the same laws and requirements. It's not magic, if it fails to meet the set of requirements it won't work. See it as a fire; you can put it out by taking away its fuel, oxygen or heat."
"So you took away the ghost's fuel?" Bastila asked, looking slightly impressed while trying to hide it at the same time.
"Something like that," the padawan nodded. "Force creations are a little more complicated than that though, there's a nice book called Laws of Metaphysical Dynamics at the library. You should read it if you're interested, though it's a bit dry and about fifteen hundred pages long."
Juhani blinked. "Why would anyone want to read something like that?"
"She's a nerd," Bastila explained with a conspiratorial look at Juhani and an exasperated sigh.
The Cathar nodded like that explained everything and watched Xana curiously, no doubt changing the impression she had of the 'useless whelp'. If it was for the better or the worse Xana didn't quite know, but frankly she didn't care. Yes, she was a nerd, but that side of her had just saved their ungrateful hides.
Bastila seemed a bit sour by the whole ordeal – clearly she didn't like being outsmarted by her subordinate – and silently finished healing the feline. Xana pouted, obviously she wasn't getting any compliments for her excellent job. Not that she should've expected it, with the two princesses she was traveling with. "Let's just move along," she sighed.
In the far corner of the room they stumbled on the skeletal remains of a Jedi. This must be the one Master Vandar told them about, the one sent to investigate the ruins. Judging by the state of his body he had been lying here for quite some time. "Damn. Revan was quite the Jedi if she manages to kill Jedi Knights even beyond the grave."
"Those aren't things to joke about," Bastila sharply told her apprentice.
Juhani watched the dead Jedi impassively. "It was foolish to send him alone. The Council should've known better than to underestimate Knight Revan's ability." There was a hint of admiration in her voice.
"On that I agree," the brunette conceded.
Xana eyed the two curiously, it appeared she had found the single two Jedi who had at least some respect for the former Dark Lord. "Have I joined the club of Knight Revan groupies or something?"
"Battle prowess, strategic insight, empathy and charisma; warriors like her are born only once a century. If you can't respect the greatest of your trade you don't deserve respect yourself." The Cathar left in the middle of how she felt about Revan's actions.
After a moment of silence for their fallen colleague, Juhani moved on through the next door. As they entered the room behind it they were fiercely attacked once more, but this time their enemy did not come in a visible shape.
They had entered a shrine of the dark side.
The dark side of the Force was extremely intense in here, the vile power casted an overwhelming curtain of gloom on the trio. All happy thoughts left Xana, leaving behind a deep depression gnawing at her soul, attempting to tear her down. Her darkest thoughts came bubbling to the surface; the prison, the loneliness, the futileness of her life, her attempt to end it, the sickening shame of being so weak to do so. It all came crashing down on her like a black waterfall of suffocating terror. She shuddered and nearly collapsed from the torment.
But she didn't allow it.
A small, strong part of her pushed the dark away, giving her a second of clarity. It had been the old Xana who had attempted to end her own life. Now she was the new Xana, the Xana with a purpose and people she cared for, people that needed her. How ashamed she might be of being such a weak fuck, she was weak no more. Now she was strong, with the power to end Malak's reign of terror. She didn't feel shame, simply because she had nothing to be ashamed of. Through sheer power of will she pushed the darkness away to the very edges of her mind, clearing it of the assailing evil and keeping the evil at bay with a steel mind.
She noticed her companions were feeling the same depression, Juhani was dipping her head and Bastila was visibly trembling. Seeing the brunette like that made her heart ache and she swiftly grabbed her bondmate around the shoulder, pulling her close while whispering reassuring words in her ear and gently patting her back. Bastila leaned into her, welcoming the contact and finding strength in it. "I'm being incredibly stupid, aren't I?" she muttered shamefully, but not leaving the close proximity of her apprentice.
"This place is vile. You must fight it, fight the bad thoughts." The padawan cupped the knight's chin and forced their eyes to meet, making sure to look confident and determined. She tried to convey strength through the bond. "You're strong, Bastila. And you're not alone, I'm here for you. Accept my help, it's not a shame to rely on others."
Bastila opened up. She pushed into Xana with force, wrapping her arms tightly around the strong woman, burying her face deep in Xana's shoulder and breathing heavily. "I'm such a failure," she whimpered.
"You're not a failure," Xana said firmly, while tightly holding on to the woman, "it's just this place putting nonsense in your head."
The knight sobbed. "It's not nonsense; I've failed everyone in my life."
"You haven't failed me. You gave me a chance, when others were ready to discard me as dark side trash. And I need you, so fight this. For me."
The brunette shivered in Xana's arms. "You don't need me. You're the stronger Jedi, the smarter one. And you know it."
The former marine gave her a stern look. "Back on Taris you thought differently. Back in the crystal caverns you were confident you were the better Jedi. What happened to that confidence?"
"Arrogance to mask my insecurity," Bastila admitted in a tiny voice. "One of my flaws. One of many."
"Everyone has flaws, even the Council Masters you so admire. Why would anyone want perfection when growth comes from flaws?"
For a moment Bastila was silent, letting the words sink in. Then she chuckled into Xana's shoulder. "How can you make everything sound so simple?"
"Because I'm a very simple and straightforward girl," Xana said with a soft smile on her face, while running a hand through Bastila's hair. "One of my flaws." The brunette chuckled again at that. "So, why don't you use that horribly annoying stubbornness of yours and tell the darkness and its lies to fuck off and die?"
The knight pulled back and gave Xana a stern look, but there was the shadow of an amused smile tugging at her lips. "You can call me many things, my apprentice, but I'm not horribly annoying. And, you will watch your language or you can scrub the enclave floors for the rest of your life."
Xana beamed at her. "Welcome back, Knight Shan. Ready to move on?"
Bastila returned the smile humbly. "I am, thanks to you."
"You can thank me later," the padawan told her. "We need to find whatever Revan was looking for and get the hell out of here. This place is twisted." Bastila nodded and released Xana, looking like her old self; confident and collected. As her bondmate pulled back Xana immediately missed the contact, but she steeled herself and turned to Juhani. To her surprise the Cathar was as calm and inscrutable as ever.
Xana inquired if she was alright, making the feline sigh. "Our battlemaster taught us to gain wisdom from the shadows of our past. But not all pain holds a lesson to learn. Sometimes all you learn in defeat, is that you have been defeated. It's just that… pain, nothing more."
Xana eyed her sympathetically. "The destruction of your homeworld was an act of random cruelty…"
"I will not let myself be locked up in grief," the feline declared fiercely. "This place is just another low attempt to make me feel miserable, but I will not allow it. I inherited the will of the warrior from my ancestors and I will not put them to shame." She stood straight and proud, pounding her fist to her chest and pushing it against her heart. She closed her eyes and started muttering something, praying no doubt.
The padawan admired the iron will the Cathar was displaying. If Revan's vision was any indication, Juhani had suffered tremendously in her short life. Losing her parents, her home, her entire culture and planet… a lesser mind would've broken over reliving those memories.
When Juhani opened her eyes again she breathed a relieved sigh. "It is gone," she told the other two Jedi. "I am ready to move on."
Xana gave her a nod. With the threat of the dark side dealt with she finally had the time to look around the room they were standing in. It was perfectly square, each wall being about thirty feet, with a door on either side. An odd looking computer terminal was lining the door on the far end. She let out a small gasp when she saw what was guarding the door.
It was a droid, but unlike any droid she had ever seen. It had to be ancient, its design and technology were both primitive yet elegant in their simplicity. The body was shaped like a spinning top and hovering about a foot above the ground. Three utility arms were attached to the bottom of the construct, with various hinges and tools. Xana wanted nothing more than to dissect the robot on the spot to analyze every single part, but she doubted her master would allow her to take the time.
Juhani had activated her lightsabers, but the apparatus wasn't hostile. In fact, it didn't appear to be equipped with weaponry at all. As soon as the trio approached, it started garbling strange noises.
"Is it broken?" Bastila asked, eying the droid cautiously. The droid made a different set of noises.
"I think it's trying to communicate," Xana noticed. "The second part was spoken in a different language than the first. I think it's cycling through various languages in its memory banks, to find the right one to communicate with us."
"I can reproduce any of the languages spoken by the slaves of the Builders."
"Hey, I recognize this language!" the padawan exclaimed. "It sounds like an archaic variant of the Selkath dialect spoken on Manaan."
"I can understand it too," said Bastila, looking at the droid with renewed curiosity. "But why would a droid on Dantooine be programmed to speak ancient Selkath?"
"Communication was vital to ensure that the slaves constructed this temple according to the wishes of the Builders," the ancient droid told them. Apparently it could understand Galactic Basic, but not actually speak it. "But you are not one of the slave species. Neither are you of the Builders. You are like the one who came before."
"The one who came before… it must be referring to Revan."
"So what is this piece of machinery?" Juhani asked. She had tucked away her lightsabers, but was still watching the droid cautiously, her body tense and ready to defend her two companions if necessary.
"I am the Overseer. The Builders programmed me to enforce discipline among the slaves while this monument to the power of the Star Forge was constructed. At project completion all slaves were executed. I was reprogrammed to serve should a Builder return in search of knowledge of the Star Forge."
"These Builders sure sound like a cheery bunch," Xana remarked dryly. She wondered if the high concentration of the dark side of the Force had anything to do with the execution of these slaves. "So, Mister Slaverbot, what can you tell us about the Star Forge?"
"The Star Forge is the glory of the Builders, the apex of their Infinite Empire. It is a machine of invincible might, a tool of unstoppable conquest."
"But what is it?" the padawan pressed. "What does it do?"
"The... the Star Forge is the glory of the Builders, the apex of their Infinite Empire. It is a machine of invincible might, a tool of unstoppable conquest."
"The droid is obviously not programmed with the knowledge we seek," Bastila pointed out. "The Star Forge sounds like some type of weapon, perhaps... though, in fact, it could be anything."
"It sounds more like a factory or weapons plant," Xana said thoughtfully. "That would explain how the Sith were able to amass a fleet so quickly."
The brunette nodded. "Yes, that sounds probable. Though I suspect the Star Forge is far more powerful than a mere factory. Created by a highly intelligent race, no doubt. Who are these Builders?"
The droid let out a proud series of beeps. "The Builders are the great masters of the galaxy, the conquerors of all worlds, the rulers of the Infinite Empire and the creators of the Star Forge."
"I've never heard of an Infinite Empire, or anything close to it," Xana said while searching her brain. "Whatever these Builders are, they're all dead."
"I find it strange there is no record of their existence," said the brunette, starting to sound annoyed. "Even the archives at the Jedi Academy make no mention of them, as far as I know. In the years before the Republic the Hutts were a dominant force in the galaxy, but they never constructed an empire. In fact, I know of no species that would fit with this information. Perhaps Master Dorak or Atris will know more."
"Maybe the Builders refers to the Sith," Xana ventured.
"I know nothing of these 'Sith', but they are not the Builders. The Builders are... the Builders. The empire of the Builders is infinite and everlasting. None can stand against their might and the power of the Star Forge."
"And how long ago did you last see a Builder, exactly?" the padawan asked, amused by the doctrine inserted in this droid. Whatever the Builders were, they knew all about the art of propaganda.
"My chronological circuits have marked over ten full revolutions of this system's outermost planet around the sun since the Builders left."
"Ten revolutions would take more than 20,000 years," Bastila gasped. "If this is true then this droid is nearly 5,000 years older than the Republic itself! There must be some mistake."
"There is no mistake. The Builders constructed my chronological circuitry using the technology of the Star Forge itself. My calculations are infallible."
"It would explain why there's no mention of the Builders in any of the archives," Xana said pensively. "So what is your purpose here?" she asked the droid.
"Now that the slaves are gone, my purpose is to aid those who seek knowledge of the Star Forge… if they are worthy. The ones who came before you – the ones like you, not Builders but not slaves – sought knowledge of the Star Forge and its origins. They proved themselves worthy and discovered the secrets of the Star Forge locked beyond the sealed door behind me."
"We have to find out what they uncovered. How do we prove ourselves worthy?" Bastila asked.
"The power of the Star Forge is reserved to those who follow the dark ways," the Overseer explained. "Prove that you follow the dark ways to open the path."
"That's little to go on," Xana remarked, seeing her companions looking just as lost as she felt. "How did the ones before us prove their worth? The ones not Builder, but not slaves."
"The one before you used the dark arts to inflict grueling pain on her apprentice. She was deemed worthy for her act of cruelty."
Juhani let out a low hiss. "This place is evil to its very core."
"What do we do now?" Bastila asked, her voice bordering desperate. "We must find a way to unseal these doors to learn more about the Star Forge! The Republic is depending on us."
Despite the situation Xana watched the brunette with a faint smile, this was the Bastila she had come to love so much. Who couldn't love a woman with such limitless devotion and commitment, despite her little quirks? Hell, those little quirks made her even more desirable, more human.
But then she returned to the grim situation and tried to come up with a solution. "You're able to conjure lightning, right?" she asked the brunette tentatively.
Bastila looked at her with wide eyes. "Xana, no! Whatever you're suggesting, no."
"Bastila, this might…"
Juhani interrupted her. "You know the ways of the dark side?" she asked Bastila suspiciously.
The brunette shot her apprentice an angry look before turning to the feline. "I've fought my share of Sith Force wielders and managed to reproduce some of their techniques," she admitted. "I thought it would be to our advantage to wield the enemy's weapon against them, but I've never actually done so."
"The enemy's weapon consists of lies and torture," the feline countered fiercely. "Are you sure you want to use that on a person, no matter how evil they might be?"
A shadow briefly crossed the brunette's face, and Xana couldn't blame her. She wasn't entirely sure herself what she'd do if she came face to face with Malak, but it probably wouldn't be pretty. The shadow went as quickly as it had come and Bastila raised her head proudly. "No, I don't want that. I'm not going to lower myself to their pitiful methods."
"Yet now it might help us prove our worth to this droid," Xana pushed. "Cast lightning on me for a short moment and the secrets of the Star Forge are ours. I don't mind dealing with a little pain if it leads to the key of ending this war."
"There's no way I will allow this!" Juhani spat, standing between the two of them and pushing them apart. "This place is designed to lure us to the dark side! We cannot allow this thing to corrupt us!"
There lay truth in the Cathar's words, it was very likely that this place was designed to do just that. This temple was constructed in a Force-bubble, similar to the one inside the crystal caverns. Except here lived only the dark side of the Force, filled with hatred for everything that lived. The droid tried to appease the wretched side of people, by luring them in with promises of invincible might and unstoppable conquest.
But they had to get through the door. If they didn't find out more about this Star Forge, their chances of bringing this war to an end were looking very bleak. "Bastila is strong," the former marine told the feline. "She won't be corrupted from hurting me a bit. Hell, she has hurt me a lot during our training."
"That was with good intentions," the Cathar countered. "Pain to encourage development. This is senseless torture."
"It's not senseless. It's a way to open that bloody door to find the Star Forge and turn this war around."
Juhani growled. "This is not a game Xana! This is dangerous. No matter the intentions, it's still torture." The fact that she called Xana by her first name for the first time showed just how distressed she was.
The padawan didn't give up though. "It is, but Bastila knows I'm willing to make this sacrifice, and I know Bastila is doing it out of necessity. As long as our minds stay pure it won't affect us."
"No," Bastila suddenly said in a quiet voice, making Xana and Juhani look up at her in surprise. The brunette seemed surprised herself, but then she steadied herself. "No," she said again, louder this time. "I'm not going to hurt you, never."
The tanned woman shook her head. "Bastila, this…"
"No Xana," the master intervened, sounding surprisingly strong. "The Code prohibits a master hurting her apprentice. And you're not just my apprentice, you're a close friend as well. I'm not about to hurt a friend, no matter what."
"But…"
"It's not going to happen, Xana." Bastila's voice was powerful and direct, everything about her posture leaving no doubt that she was the one in charge, and was not accepting opposition now that she had made her decision. "That doesn't mean I'm giving up on uncovering the secrets of this temple. Can you find a way to hack the droid, or that terminal? Or pick the lock on that door?"
The apprentice shook her head, "We're dealing with equipment that's twenty millennia old. Its code is written in a language that hasn't been heard since the Republic was founded. Not to mention that the programming is probably structured unlike anything we use today. Finding out even the basics would be a long study. And, if we try to get through the door by force, we'll probably trigger the defense mechanism. Who knows what weapons are hidden to fuck up our day."
"Now it's your turn to recover your confidence," Bastila admonished, giving the tanned woman a firm pat on the back. "If I recall correctly you've had a taste of what Juhani can do. And between the two of us we can deal our fair share of damage as well."
"Isn't it much easier to just hurt me a bit?" Xana inquired. She didn't feel like putting Bastila in danger if it could be avoided. Besides, they were already exhausted from a tough battle against the apparition of Malak.
"Of course it's easier. The path of the dark side is always the easy path. What separates us Jedi from the Sith is that we make the effort to do things the right way, no matter how hard it might be."
"Listen to your master," Juhani told Xana when she was about to press her case. "Don't be tempted to take the easy path."
Xana nodded, finally giving in. "Alright," she said, looking between the two knights. "We'll do it your way. I'll try unlocking the door and you two watch my back." No sooner the words had left her mouth or Juhani had activated her lightsabers and taken a defensive position.
"I'll keep the droid disabled," Bastila told her, already gathering the Force. "You work your magic on the door."
With her back covered the padawan approached the door's terminal, quickly noticing it was as ancient as the Overseer. Much to her surprise it booted up with a soft hum when she activated it, how it had survived for so long was a wonder. The green screen lit up with an array of strange characters that made no sense to her. She tried various buttons and commands to change the language, but it seemed it wasn't programmed to be used by the 'slave races'.
Trying to block out the two impatient Jedi Knights watching her closely she went for a computer spike. Only to find out none of the input ports were compatible with the plugs of her gear. Not to be deterred she grabbed her minitool with an assortment of screwdrivers, but to her annoyance noticed the bolt heads keeping the casing in place were of an ancient shape as well.
She let out an annoyed growl, but was determined not to let the fucker get her down. It was time for drastic measures, and there's nothing quite as drastic as a lightsaber to your rusty carcass. With a loud hiss and a stream of sparks and molten metal she started working on the lower side of the metal casing, slowly but surely tearing it apart and exposing the inner workings. When she had enough access she searched through the hardware, finding the chip she thought was the processor. She attached her spike to the wires coming out of it and much to her satisfaction her tool managed to connect to the terminal.
"There we go," she muttered as she issued a number of commands through the spike, successfully bypassing its defenses and forcing the door's override. She smirked when it started sliding open. "Success!"
She had cheered too soon, the Builders had been familiar with the concept of failsafe engineering. As soon as the door started opening a defense mechanism triggered and the side walls began sliding down, revealing hidden nooks behind them. No less than ten droids were stowed away behind the two walls, of similar design as the Overseer, but equipped with an assortment of blaster weapons. The assault droids powered up and started targeting the intruders.
Xana hadn't even blinked before Juhani was already on top of the first one, unleashing her twin blades on it with a passion. The droids didn't give her time to watch in admiration, as energy bolts came pelting towards her. In a fluid motion she activated her lightsaber and entered the Soresu form, effectively blocking the strikes and attempting to reflect them back at the assailants.
She quickly analyzed the battlefield, and was surprised by Bastila. After a bit of a slow start the woman had fully recovered and was now in her element, confidently weaving the Force into barriers, electromagnetic pulses disrupting the droid's circuits and various other buffs, all the while she was using her lightsaber to defend herself. The small hints of uncertainty were completely gone and she had reverted back into the confident Jedi Knight she was. Xana watched her with a warm smile, feeling a pleasant tingling in her stomach when she saw the beautifully trained body doing what it did best.
The padawan tore her eyes away from the brunette and decided it was time to pull her own weight, if only to show the arrogant Cathar she had been trained properly. She rushed to the center of the room – destroying the defenseless Overseer by smashing it into the ceiling with a geyser-like shockwave – and started weaving the Force like possessed.
There she stood – bolstered by Bastila's confidence – like an unwavering pinnacle in the center of the battlefield. Her back was straight, shoulders squared, green eyes blazing with fierce determination. The yellow lightsaber was locked in a constant dance, reflecting and deflecting, while her free arm was unleashing hell on the attacking droids. Should a Mandalorian walk into the room he would cower away from the woman, immediately recognizing Revan's overwhelming fighting style.
The Force smashed, ripped, breached and buckled; tearing through the enemy like a maelstrom of destruction. Often she helped Juhani by smashing a droid into the wall, giving the Cathar easy pickings with the readjusting machine. One of the fallen carcasses was lifted off the ground and thrown at one of its buddies with grueling force. This was Xana at her best; the Force her weapon, her lightsaber her shield.
When the last droid was destroyed Juhani gave the padawan an odd look, but when Xana inquired what was wrong the feline shook her head and looked away. Finding out the whelp was actually competent must've been quite a shock for the kid.
Bastila gave her an approving nod. "See, was that so hard?"
"Fine, you were right," the apprentice admitted. She had no problem swallowing her pride when she had made a mistake, unlike some in their group. "You made the right call."
The lnight tried to keep a straight face, but was unable to keep a tiny smile from tugging at the corners of her mouth. Xana couldn't help but grin at Bastila's behavior, it was too easy to stroke her ego to improve her self-assurance. It was one of the psychological tricks she had learned at the Lieutenant-program and it was serving her well. Confident Bastila was a powerful ally, this battle had once again proven that.
With the last resistance gone the three of them were finally able to pass through the now unsealed door. It led to the temple's last chamber, which was again rectangular. At the very end stood a strange structure, brown metallic and shaped like a spearhead. As they got closer the construct started moving; three separate arms folded away to the floor like a large flower opening to the sun. In the center a dark blue orb began floating upward, until it was suspended two feet in the air. Surrounding the orb were three prisms.
The orb turned out to be a projector, shining bright light into the prisms which in turn focused it into visible images. Bastila gasped when she recognized the blobs and nebulae that were projected in a wide, three-dimensional arc around the structure. "This is… this is a map. Some sort of intergalactic navigational chart. Revan and Malak must have used this to lead them to the Star Forge."
Xana watched the map in amazement, it was incredible that a civilization of 20,000 years old could construct something as sophisticated as this. "You reckon we could use this map to follow their path and find the Star Forge ourselves?"
"Probably," Bastila muttered. "If Revan was able to find it, so must we." She turned to her apprentice hopefully. "Have you learned how to read navigation charts by any chance?"
The former marine shook her head. "Nope, it's one big heap of mumble jumble to me. If only Onasi were here, the flight commander can probably read this like a book."
The master nodded. "We're going to need his help if we want to go after the Star Forge ourselves. Last thing I heard he was deemed fit for active duty, so perhaps the Council can pull the necessary strings to get him back on the team."
Xana sighed, she should've known Bastila would want her best buddy back on the team. Not that she could blame her, Carth was a pretty good guy, despite his broody and distrustful nature. His vast experience from the Mandalorian Wars more than made up for that, though it had come with the necessary traumas that made him possibly unstable.
Canderous Ordo had offered his help as well, which was probably even more valuable than Carth's. The gruff Mandalorian had fought all over the galaxy for forty years and had been there when Revan the Butcher slayed Mandalore the Ultimate in single combat. His determination to get revenge on the Sith coupled with his warmonger genes made him an excellent addition to the team, although Bastila was likely to disagree.
"But let's not get ahead of ourselves," said Bastila, bringing Xana's silent planning to a halt. "We should download this chart and bring it to the Council for further analysis. They must decide our next course of action, though I suspect our task has only just begun."
The padawan nodded. Of course it had only just begun, she was determined to see this thing through to the end. Even if the Council decided otherwise she'd go after this Star Forge, whatever vile construct it might be. It would fall at her hand, as far as she was concerned.