Chapter Fifteen

Aedan followed Jocasta through the lower city. They acquired cloaks and wore them on the long journey through the decrepit, dark, forgotten part of the planet, appearing like every other wretched person dwelling in the depths of Coruscant. It was twilight up on the surface, the last vestiges of the artificial light were fading away, not that it mattered down in the undercity.

"How many made it out of the temple alive?" Aedan asked.

This noticeably upset her. "Too few. Not enough. But some. I do know that."

Aedan gritted his teeth, the anger within him building. How? How could this happen? And how could we not see this coming? And no warning from the Force? "How could Anakin have done this? What about the prophecy?"

Now Jocasta stopped and faced Aedan. "What is the prophecy? Recite it for me," she said.

"A Jedi will come. To Destroy the Sith. And bring balance to the Force," Aedan said.

Jocasta held up a finger. "No. That is not it. And for someone who is so emphatic about details and who has spent days upon days in the archives, I expect more from you. You're better than that, Knight Kahl."

The rebuke stunned him as well as stung. He bit back his rebuttal. "Okay, what's the real prophecy then?"

"A Chosen One shall come, born of no father, and through him will ultimate balance in the Force be restored," she said. "Nowhere does it say anything about a Jedi and there's nothing in there about the Sith being destroyed. No, those who first read the prophecy took on their own interpretation, they bent the facts to their own desires and assumed it spoke of a Jedi destroying the Sith. It does mention balance, but what does that even mean? That the number of Jedi will equal the number of Sith. Or that the power of either side would be equal. Who is it that determines what balanced actually is, or perhaps what the correct balance is. To me, the scales leaning towards the light side would be a far more preferable balance. So, who is to decide?" She sighed, noticeably bothered. "I am the Chief Librarian of the Order. I am a Master historian. It is my duty to study and to understand the history of the Jedi and as much of the galaxy as I can so I can best inform the order and further it's knowledge and enlightenment. But we would all be better off if we ignored that prophecy. Think of the pressure that placed on Anakin—everyone around him whispering about the chosen one."

"You think the prophecy is what made him fall?"

She sighed, "I have no idea. Sure, he had his personal issues—aloof, aggressive, stubborn, impatient, but you've seen what he's done. How many lives has he saved in the countless battles he fought in? He was always so brave and courageous, and always fiercely loyal to his friends."

Aedan thought of Ahsoka and how well he trained her. How deeply he cared for her. He shook his head, "It's just so hard to believe he could do this," Aedan said.

"It was him," Jocasta's voice barely a whisper. "I'm sure of that. His grotesque sneer as he tore through unsuspecting Jedi entering the temple will haunt me until I die."

They walked in silence for another five minutes.

"How has it come to this, Master?" Aedan said, unable to hide the tremor in his voice. "How could this have happened?"

She had no response. No answer. No wise knowledge to impart. She merely trudged on through the dark streets of the lower city, and Aedan followed her. Another question plagued his mind even more though, one he dared not ask in fear of receiving the same silence.

What the frack were they going to do now?

They had been walking for thirty minutes—down stairs, up walkways, around broken-down buildings, and through rubble until finally they came to a wall. A solid duracrete wall. Aedan stared at it, seeing that it extended upward as far as he could see into the darkness of the upper regions of the city, and it also extended as far as he could see to the sides. It was completely smooth, with no defects or indentations to the facade. Was it a building or perhaps a support structure? Whatever it was, it was massive.

He turned to Jocasta, "Okay, now what?"

"Ignite your lightsaber," she said.

He was about to protest, but decided to just go along with it. His blue lightsaber lit up the darkness further, but he still couldn't see the ends of the wall in front of him. He looked over to Jocasta who merely nodded back toward the wall.

Then he saw it, a glowing azure Jedi Order symbol emanating from the wall.

"This is our way in I'm assuming," Aedan said.

Jocasta nodded, and then took out her transponder. "Jax, we're here. In ten minutes make your move."

"Copy that, Jo. I shall make lovely spectacle and bring them on a merry chase. Good luck you two," he responded.

"Okay, now what?" Aedan asked.

"Reach out and you tell me," she said.

Aedan sighed in exasperation, "Is now really the time for a lesson?"

"I want you to find the way, someone else needs to have this knowledge."

He didn't like the tone in her voice, or what she was implying. They had lost so many Jedi already. Aedan couldn't bear the thought of losing even one more.

But once more he didn't protest. Sinking into the Force, he did his best to ignore how dark and tainted the it felt.

How could you let this happen?

Regardless of his current extreme qualms with the Force at the moment, he reached out. And felt something on the other side of the wall. It wasn't alive, but it was palpable through the celestial energy field.

"Feel it?" Jocasta asked.

"Yes, what is it?"

"The door handle. Use it."

"Alright," he grabbed it with the force and gently moved it down.

There was a click as it slid into place. The glowing jedi symbol brightened, and then the edges of a door appeared in the wall. What the Force?

"Now, push it in."

Aedan reattached his saber to his belt, and then put his hands in the center of the "door" and began to press inward, but it didn't move an inch.

"With the Force, Silly."

He dropped his hands and sighed, then reached out again and grabbed hold of the door with the Force, which now that he had a grip on it, it felt more like a heavy duracrete block, and moved it inward, centimeter by centimeter. The block slid back slowly but smoothly until there was enough room for them to squeeze by. Jocasta held up a hand for him to stop and then walked through the opening, Aedan followed closely behind and they stepped into a dark corridor. Jocasta moved the block back into place using the force and then walked on.

"This way," she said, her own lightsaber now illuminating the darkness. From here they could see that the short corridor split in two. The path right ended in what appeared to be a lift that must have been centuries old. The path to the left continued on into darkness.

"Where are we exactly?" Aedan asked.

"We are now inside the mountain top that the temple is built around. The top and the foundation have been carved out, and that lift leads up into the mountain peak."

"And where does that lead?" Aedan asked pointing towards the pathway to the left as they drew closer.

Jocasta shrugged, "Down into the base of the mountain."

And that's when Aedan felt it.

Cold. Dark. Dangerous. Ancient.

He veered toward it, and peered down the length of the tunnel, but it remained shrouded, as if the tunnel itself was blocking out the light.

He had fought dozens of dark jedi before. He had taken down psychopaths, murderers, and monsters. Hell, he'd taken down Salas Sa'kard, the most dangerous man in the galaxy, but never, in all his life, had he ever felt darkness like this.

"What's down there?"

"Nothing," Jocasta Nu said simply. "Just the heart of the mountain and the foundation of the temple."

"What do you mean nothing? You don't feel it?"

"Feel what?"

Aedan turned her, mouth open. "The dark side."

Master Nu smiled. "My boy, I've been living in this temple for decades. Surely, I of all people would know if there was a dark side entity directly beneath my very home."

Aedan stared at her dumbstruck. How could she not sense it? The vileness he was sensing made him shiver. It made his stomach queasy. What in the Force was going on? Had she grown accustomed to it after all these years?

That couldn't be right, he'd lived here for most of his life as well but it was entirely palpable to him right now.

"Master, something is down there. Something evil."

She stared at him for a moment and then shook her head. "Even if there is something down there, we can't investigate it now. The longer we wait to get into the archives, the harder this will be. We must do this now."

Aedan tried to peer into the darkened tunnel once more. Maybe I'm losing my mind. There's no way an entire order of Jedi, particularly Master's like Yoda, Obi Wan, and Windu, couldn't have perceived this themselves. Not to mention Kyra herself.

He sighed. "You're right. Let's go."

Master Nu stepped onto the archaic lift, and Aedan followed her. The ride up seemed to take far longer than expected, but they did have several hundred levels to ascend. It stopped abruptly, and opened into a small room, maybe two meters by two meters.

"Uh, this doesn't seem right," Aedan said, as he stepped off the lift.

Jocasta Nu stood there, crossed her arms, and raised one eyebrow.

Aedan pinched the bridge of his nose, and then looked upward for any kind of celestial help. And that's when he saw the tubular shaft leading upward. He exhaled loudly; this was getting annoying.

It was too far to force jump all the way up, but there were metallic looking bars that were on the side of the shaft pointing straight up. Each bar's end appeared to be resting on a hinge and were spaced out at around twenty meters all the way up the shaft. He was about to mention something about how annoyingly tedious this secret pathway was, but knew better than to complain. It was imperative that a secret passage into the Jedi Temple be as difficult and esoteric as possible, restricting its usage to Jedi and, only a select few who actually knew about it. He felt a sense of pride that he now knew about it.

But that pride was quickly annihilated as he realized the possibility that he and Jocasta were the last two people alive who knew about it. Using the Force, he grabbed the lowest bar and gently pulled, the metal bar moving on its hinge to land flush with the other side of the shaft, creating a nice hand hold for him to latch onto. He flexed his knees, and with a burst from the Force shot upwards through the shaft and caught the bar with both hands. He looked down as Jocasta stared up at him, waiting expectantly. He sighed, did a pull up, hooked his foot on the bar and pulled himself on top of it, one hand steadied himself against the wall. He reached out for the next bar, pulled it down, and then leapt up to catch it. He did this six more times until finally he made it to the last bar of the shaft and saw that a meter above it was the ceiling, but to the side was a metal grate only a half meter wide and tall. He hoisted himself onto the bar and slowly moved the grate to the side as Jocasta climbed up next to him. There was something solid blocking the way out.

"It's storage crates," Master Nu said. "I moved them in front of the grate when I escaped. We'll move them together. Slowly."

The two jedi carefully moved the obstructions out of the way, and squeezed through the narrow opening. Aedan recognized this as one of the many storage rooms throughout the temple—the walls were lined with blue and gray utility crates.

"How close are we to the archives?" Aedan whispered.

Jocasta gestured with her head toward the door, moving silently toward it. "The back entryway to the upper level of the archives is right across the hall from us."

Aedan shook his head, "I can't believe it. This might just work."

Jocasta nodded, and then opened the door. She checked the wide hallway and then walked quickly across. Aedan followed behind her. She opened the door, and they both slipped inside the entrance. The archives were already a dimly lit room, but now that it was night out, and most of the lights inside were broken or off, they would be well concealed under the cover of darkness.

Aedan's heart broke at the condition of the archives. They were a mess. Half of the shelves were knocked over. Holopads, holodisks, and holocrons were scattered all over the place, and every statue or bust was demolished. Aedan was unsettled looking at the wreckage, he couldn't imagine what this was doing to Jocasta. The archives were everything to her. But she continued forward, not faltering in the slightest as they crept along the upper level of the large room. Aedan reached out with his senses, and although he knew there were enemies in the temple, none of them were close. They stopped at the railing in the main archives corridor where there were rows of shelves that rose to the ceiling.

They crouched low, and Jocasta pointed below them. "The door to the archive's mainframe is down there, in the first corridor."

"I know, I've seen the door before. Once we're inside, then what?"

"Then I access the mainframe, only a select few in the order are able to do that."

"Understood."

"So, once we're in there, you guard the door, and I'll erase Kyra and the force sensitive younglings."

Aedan nodded, "How long will that take?"

"Erasing Kyra will take less than a minute. The younglings will take longer as it's an itemized search and delete."

"Great. I'll do what I can."

Jocasta nodded, and they both hopped over the railing and landed softly on the bottom floor. They both peered around the large darkened room and perceived no threats. "The hard part is over now. Just through this door, and we'll be out of here in ten minutes," Jocasta said, walking toward the archive mainframe door.

After the absolute terror and despair Aedan had experienced in the past few days, the relief washing through him at something finally going right was nearly euphoric. Get this done, and have Kyra back in my arms in no time. At least something can be salvaged in this fallen world.

Jocasta Nu hit the button on the right, and the door opened. A red lightsaber extended forward. A gasp escaped from Jocasta as the blade pierced her chest. Aedan threw himself to the side as a different blade shot forward like a missile. He dodged the projectile, and then grabbed Jocasta as she stumbled backward.

"My, my, how fortuitous of me," a robotic voice echoed from the other side of the door. Aedan began pulling a struggling Jocasta out of the way as a white skinned Pau'an with red facial markings stepped through the door. "I've dreamed of eliminating you for years now. All those times of refusing to let me into the secret archives and now I can read every last holodisk in here."

Aedan's brain seemed to short circuit as he couldn't get his faculties under control. How did I not sense them? He looked as Jocasta stared wide eyed in front of her, blood dripping from her mouth, her hands clutching at the cauterized hole going through her torso. No, no, no, this can't be happening. Aedan held her around the waist with one hand, his right hand igniting his saber.

The second figure stepped out of the mainframe room behind the Pau'an. He was clad in a helmet and armor that looked exactly like a temple guards, only instead of white and gold, this one's armor was black and red. "That makes two of us, Grand Inquisitor. I've waited a long time to kill Aedan Kahl."

That voice. I recognize it.

Aedan continued backing up, but his heart dropped as he heard a multitude of heavy boots hitting the ground. Clones. They were coming from everywhere and would be here in moments.

He reached out and felt Jocasta's spark fading fast. This cannot be happening.

"Leave me, Aedan," she said. "You must live. There's already so few of us."

"That's exactly why I can't leave you."

Then the black armored dark jedi stepped forward and removed his helmet.

Jarrison.

"You've got to be kidding me," Aedan said.

Jarrison smirked, "Only if you think your death is funny."

Aedan shook his head. "How? Why?"

"I'm the one that told the council about you and Kyra, and you're growing attachment.

Aedan bobbed his head, "I figured as much."

Jarrison smirked, "Once I found out that they let you stay in the order, I knew we were compromised as an order."

"Please. You had feelings for Kyra yourself and would have done the exact same thing as I did. You're just too insecure and weak to handle loss."

Jarrison's eyes flashed with anger, but the Pa'un stepped forward. "Nevertheless, I sought him out, and took him under my wing, and now giving him true purpose."

"And you are?" Aedan asked.

"The preeminent member of the Inquisitorious-Jedi Hunters ordained by Darth Sidious even before he issued Order 66. Jarrison here is my...apprentice. Not yet a full-fledged Inquisitor, but well on his way."

He already had the idea that this was the case, but the confirmation still caused his stomach to roll. "So the Chancellor is Darth Sidious."

The Pau'an chuckled, "Ah, top marks for you."

All this time. He shook his head. The order had been doomed long before Order 66. There was no stopping this kind of warfare. How could we all have been so blind?

Aedan let out a long exhale, and set Jocasta on the ground. Once again staring death right in the eye and not backing down. He raised his saber up in front of him. "You might take me out, but I'm taking you two with me."

Jarrison smiled and held out his long hilted red lightsaber, then another blade extended out the other side.

"Of course," Aedan said.

Then the Pau'an raised his hilt with the circular guard, and a blade extended on the opposite side of the other one.

"Great."

Then the blades started spinning around the circular hilt.

"Well, that's different."

Jarrison smiled widely, "I'm really going to enjoy this."

"Bring it on," Aedan said, and settled into Makashi as the two dark jedi advanced toward him.