Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
So, this one will be much calmer than the last two, but will also feature another fan-favorite Sith Lord. Not in person, but records of them.
Let's get to it.
MR11: I'm kinda trying to go through different eras of the Sith, and I already visited the Triumvirate with Nihilus. I may mention Traya, but she isn't the focus of this chapter.
Guest: Don't plan on mentioning Nox. Might mention Tulak Hord, but won't go into much detail about him.
Rico: Well, the in-universe reason is made clear at the end of The Dark Soldier. From a writing standpoint, I hadn't thought of the character by the time I finished The Terran Alliance Strikes Back.
Chapter 52- An Interesting Find
(February 5, 2051)
Ben glances around quickly at the crowds around him and Rey before returning his attention to the cantina up ahead. He and Rey had made their way to a planet in the Outer Rim on the border of Terran and First Order territory after receiving a message from Luke. Apparently, according to Luke, a smuggler friendly to the Alliance had found something on the black market he thought might be of interest. Luke had said that the items in question would be of use to them on their journey. Ben and Rey, who had still been studying the ruins on Yavin IV and the legacy of both Naga Sadow and Exar Kun, had made their way to the planet.
Rey moves up so she's right beside Ben. "That's the place?" she asks.
"Yeah. We're supposed to meet him there. Not quite sure what he looks like though. Stay sharp. We don't know how many First Order sympathizers might be here," Ben says.
The two make their way into the cantina. Looking around, Rey spots an empty table in a less crowded part of the cantina and gestures towards it. Ben nods and the two head over to the table, taking a seat and resting their arms on the table as if talking to each other. The hoods they're wearing conceal their faces.
The two sit there for a few moments before a server droid comes up to them. "You two want anything?" the droid asks.
"Two mugs of spotchka," Ben responds. The droid nods and wheels off.
The two sit in silence for several more moments before Rey mutters, "How do we know how to find this guy?"
"Oh, he can find you."
Ben and Rey jump a bit, then look up to see the man that has walked up beside their table, also wearing a cloak and hood that hides most of his features. However, they can tell her is smiling.
"Are you the one we were supposed to meet? The one Luke Skywalker sent us here to find?" Rey asks the man. The man simply nods in response.
"How did you find us?" Ben asks, concerned that they did something that could give them away too easily.
The man is quiet for a moment, then pulls his hood back ever so slightly that it hides his features a little less, than lifts his head slightly so they can totally see his face, revealing the face of an old, black human man with a kind smile. One that Ben knows.
"It's not too hard to spot a Skywalker if you know exactly what you're looking for," says Lando Calrissian.
"Lando?" Ben asks in shock, not having expected to see the old family friend here, especially when nobody has seen or heard from Lando in the last 6 years as far as he knows. He then stands up and gives the old man a hug, smiling and letting out a small chuckle. "Wow. I did not expect to see you here. What are you doing here?" he asks with a soft laugh in his voice.
Lando chuckles in return as he embraces Ben in return and gives him a few pats on the back. "I thought it was about time I saw little Ben again," he says. The two then separate and Lando gives him a big smile. "I've got something you might want to see."
"Yeah, let's talk about that," Ben says as he takes a seat, gesturing for Lando to sit too. As Lando sits down, Ben asks, "Where have you been, Lando?"
"Well, after everything went to hell, and dealing with losing my daughter…I needed to find a better life. So, I've been wandering the galaxy, looking for the life that calls to me now. I've been living the simple life. But, with the war going on, I decided I couldn't stand by. So, I've been working undercover, trying to help recruit for the Resistance, and looking for information that could be helpful. I've been keeping a watch on the criminal underworld in the galaxy, looking for things even your alliance with Boba Fett can't give you. And, as it turns out, I found something," Lando says.
Lando reaches into the bag hanging from his shoulder, and a second later pulls out what looks like a thickly bound book of some kind. He sets it gently on the table and slides it towards the two young Jedi. "I found this a few days ago. In the possession of an antiquities dealer who has a liking for Sith artifacts. I reckon he might have been a Sith worshipper himself. Anyway, I managed to get it from him, although he tried to cheat me out of a lot more money in the process."
"You pay him?" Ben asks.
"No. And he's not a problem anymore," Lando says confidently, his meaning clear.
"Well, what is this?" Ben asks curiously.
"According to the guy I got it from, this is a journal kept by an old Sith Lord named Darth Malgus," Lando says.
Rey looks confused, not having heard the name before, but Ben's eyes widen in shock. That's a name he hasn't heard in quite a while, but he remembers from his mother's lessons. The name of one of the most powerful, successful, and interesting Sith Lords of all time, and a Sith who was infamous during the days of the Old Republic. "Darth Malgus? But I thought what was left of his journal was acquired by the Emperor in the days before the Clone Wars and put in his Book of the Sith." The Terran Alliance had managed to find Palpatine's Book of the Sith during the liberation of Coruscant, when Plo Koon had discovered it in a secret chamber within the Imperial Palace. Plo had kept the book mostly secret, and eventually handed it over to Luke, who had kept it safe on Ossus until Jacen destroyed his temple, at which point it was brought to Earth by Kelly and given into Ahsoka's care, who kept it safe and hidden in the Temple. Few were permitted to study any parts of the book, and even fewer were allowed to study the entire thing. However, those who knew of it did know which Sith Lords' writings had been put into the book and a general idea of what it contained. Among those writings were journal entries of Darth Malgus, acquired by Palpatine on the black market shortly before the Clone Wars. Only a few entries had been included, and since Palpatine and Anakin obviously could not be asked about it, it was assumed that these entries were the only scraps of Malgus' journals that had survived since his time.
"The man who had it mentioned that. Apparently this had survived hidden on Korriban in a place he thought might have been an intelligence center. He found it on a recent trip to Korriban. Wanted to keep it for himself, but I thought the Alliance might find a use for it. According to your father, you two are hunting Sith lore," Lando says.
"Yes. We've been looking into the history of the Sith so we can learn more about the dark side and better prepare ourselves to defeat Kylo Ren and the First Order," Ben explains.
"Well, then I assume this will be of use to you," Lando says with a smile.
Rey reaches out and takes the book, holding it up and examining it before looking at Lando. "Thank you, General. This will be a great resource for us," she says.
Ben smiles at Lando. "Thank you, Lando," he says too. He pauses, then says, "Why don't I call up Aunt Leia? Have her send a ship for you? We have to keep going on our journey, but the Resistance could use you."
Lando smiles and shakes his head a bit. "My fighting days are long gone, little Ben. But do me a favor. When you see her again, give Leia my love," he says.
Ben is quiet, wrestling with his emotions. He doesn't want to just leave Lando here, nor does he want to not let Leia and Grand Admiral Page know about him. But Lando has clearly made a choice about the life he wants. And he knows that there is no way Luke didn't know it was Lando who had contacted them. Clearly, Luke respects the choice that Lando made. He should do the same.
"Alright, Lando. But you know, that if you ever need us, or just want to reach out, our whole family is always ready for a call from you," Ben says with a sad smile.
"I know," Lando says. He then stands up and pulls his hood more over his face again before he says, "Good luck, Ben." He then looks at Rey and says, "It's good to meet you, Rey." Then, Lando turns away and disappears into the crowd.
Ben and Rey watch Lando go before Rey says, "I wish we could've got him to come back with us."
"I know. But Lando clearly knows what he's doing. If he wants to remain in the shadows and live a life away from the war while helping as he can…we should respect that," Ben says.
The two sit in silence for a few more moments before their gazes slowly turn to the journal in Rey's hand. Ben is quiet for a moment before he says, "We should get back to the Falcon and start studying that. If that is a complete, or almost complete, journal of Darth Malgus…the information inside will invaluable to us understanding the Sith."
(February 6, the Millenium Falcon, deep space)
In the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon, R2 carefully rolls in, scanning the cockpit to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary and everything is still functioning. The Falcon is now hovering in deep space, where Ben and Rey had taken it so they could make their studies in peace with much less risk of being found.
As R2 checks on the cockpit, in the passenger bay, Ben and Rey are deep in their studies of Malgus' journal. With R2's help, they had managed to digitize a number of pages of the journal, which Rey is currently studying, while Ben is continuing to read from the pages not yet digitized.
For the past day, Ben and Rey have been completely consumed with their study of Malgus' journal. Ben had first shared with Rey all the stories he had ever heard about Malgus and his achievements and life. After Rey gaining that basic understanding, they had delved into the journal. The journal went over his early life and his early fighting in the Great Galactic War. Peaks at the end of the journal confirms it goes through Malgus' life up to a few months after the ceasefire that ended the Great Galactic War.
They've only read a small amount of the journal so far, but already they've learned a lot. For his time, Malgus was a Sith in a class of his own. His views on the Sith Empire, and what it meant to be a Sith, were unique in his time. From what he's seen already, Ben has a feeling that Malgus captured the essence of what it meant to be a Sith Lord, and the essence of the masters of old, better than any other Sith of his time, and maybe any other Sith since the old days besides Palpatine himself.
Ben also remembers something from what he was allowed to know of the Book of the Sith. Palpatine highly respected Malgus, and might have in fact respected him more than any other ancient Sith save Darth Bane, and that he wanted Darth Vader from to learn from Malgus. Clearly, Palpatine saw a lot of admirable qualities in Malgus that the Sith of his time didn't. On top of Malgus being one of the most feared and respected Sith commanders of the wars in which he took part, Malgus will certainly have a lot to teach them.
As Ben flips a page of the journal, he thinks ahead to the other destinations they have planned, and other Sith they are intending to research. He's now starting to think of their mission as not learning multiple different lessons from the histories of different Sith Lords, but rather one large lesson on the Sith as a whole. But, even with many Sith teaching them…maybe Malgus is the headmaster.
And, I'll end there.
So, I had several guesses as to which Sith I would feature in this chapter, but to my surprise, nobody guessed Malgus.
When talking about influential Sith, Darth Malgus cannot be overlooked. Not only is he one of the best lightsaber combatants of all time, but I would argue that Malgus is one of the few Sith Lords that understood what it truly meant to be a Sith. His views on the Sith, and his story, have fascinated me, so I had to use him.
Now, as with the duel with Exar Kun, what they're learning from Malgus is something that will come up again and again in this story, as they will heavily lean on Malgus' teachings to understand more Sith lore. Unlike the spirits of Nihilus and Exar Kun, Malgus won't be making an appearance in this himself (not that I wish I could, but I wanted the duel with Exar Kun's spirit and the brief appearance of Nihilus' spirit to stand out).
And then, the other big part of this chapter. Lando! At first, I actually hadn't planned to have Lando show up until the end of the story, and the person who would give them Malgus' journal would be someone original and unimportant. But after some thinking, I decided I couldn't just keep Lando to the sidelines, and I wanted to feature him a bit more in this story.
Alright! Next chapter will be up soon. It will show a bit more of their studies of Malgus, and also feature them looking into some of the more modern Sith. Until it's up, please leave a review, and stay tuned!
