Chapter 47

Shili System

The library in the Coruscanti Jedi Temple held many reports, statistics and papers, including reports stating the probability of Jedi deaths. Not many died in their sleep nor of old age. Substantially more died in battle against overwhelming forces. There were actually a few who just disappeared, lost to space. Caloc had read about Ky Narec. He had simply disappeared one day, and people had assumed he was dead.

Because of these statistics, younglings in the Jedi Order were taught at a young age to practice survival tactics, including surveying your surroundings. Caloc was starting to wish he had paid more attention in those classes, especially about cave systems. Most cave systems worn away by either magma or water, grinding away at the stone until huge tunnel systems dug through mountains, cliffs, and on rare occasion, the entire planetoid itself. They were useful for finding clean drinking water. Other caves were dug out by creatures, like the Devaronian Tragolis, making huge tunnels that stretched on for kilometres, perfectly round and ready to be used again.

The Varactyl's cave was different though. It had been clawed and dug out by the beast itself, scratched out of the side of a hill. The cave was shallow, about the size of a normal room. The walls were dirt - hardpacked and watertight. A few smaller holes had been dug into the walls by the Varactyl, and it was clear that this was where the huge lizard was to sleep. It had a massive slab of stone that had been crudely clawed into the shape of a bed. Now, the lizard was sleeping soundly on the ground, tiny puffs of dust puffing up with every deep snore it breathed. The skin had darkened to a deep purple along the cranium where Caloc's finger's had jabbed, and it had not even stirred once since that fateful blow. Not even while they had been dragging it through the rain back to the cave.

The rain had only grown heavier. It crashed down through the air, sounding not unlike the engines of an airspeeder, except that it was constant. With the rain came the cold, and so Caloc had made a small camp fire from the few sticks and logs scattered around the cave. Hopefully, the varactyl wouldn't mind. Being cold-blooded, he doubted it would. The flames took time to birth, and even more time to grow to something that gave off decent warmth.

An occasional crash of purple lightning would illuminate the cave entrance for a minute at a time, yet it only lit up a few metres from the entrance. Deesix stood watch at the cave, his advanced scanners keeping watch through the night. The droid's photoreceptor scanned as he rocked his dome left and right, the red dots occasionally flicking along the colour spectrum as he zoomed in.

There was a round, smooth stone that Caloc dragged over near the spluttering fire and he leant his spine against it. Once more, he bemoaned leaving his satchel on the ship. It was now lost, the items inside out of his reach. Instead, he decided to check what he did have to help him.

His lightsabre? Thrown aside as the crash site, at least three hours walk away. That was unfortunate, but a Jedi always had the Force by their side. A Menachi always carried more than a lightsaber.

Before him lay the contents of the rest of his belt. Three small lockpicking tools, hidden away in the folds of the leather. There were a few pen-shaped canisters of nutrition balls and emergency liquid spheres, a small pair of macrobinoculars, and about four smoke cubes. He hadn't been able to refill his pouches since the battle in Fortress. That had seemed so long ago. Finally, he pulled out the last item from his person. It was not attached to the belt, but was instead secreted in a hidden slip contained in the black glove that covered the entirety of his left arm. His commlink.

He pressed down the activation button and watched the circle light up. The light cycled through the channels one by one. One by one, they hissed with static. As he had thought, the rain was causing comm interference. Perhaps there was something in the atmosphere, a naturally occuring electro-static barrier of some kind. He would need to try again after the deluge finished.

He was about to try and grab a few minutes of sleep when he felt something roughly slap into his right side. Rolling over, he pulled out a long cylinder. Confused, he studied it. The cylinder held the symbol of the Jedi Order, but he had never seen anything like it before. Had it already been in the cave?

The hairs on the back of his head stood up, and he turned. All he could see was the constant blanket of rain, until another crash of lightning erupted above, and the silhouette of a figure could be seen. He reached out with the Force, his only weapon of use in the small space, and used it to levitate a few of the larger stones around him.

A vicious hiss-spit erupt as a yellow plasma blade appeared in the figure's hand. They stepped forward, kicking Deesix aside as he tried to intervene. A thick tarpaulin covered their features, but Caloc could see a definitive feline aspect to the person beneath. Water ran off the tarpaulin, almost hitting the small fire that he had just been able to start. Quickly, he sent one of the nearby rocks hurtling her way, aimed at knee height. Her blade slashed down and cleaved the rock in two.

It was a real lightsabre then, but how had they gotten their hands on it? Black market merchant? Maybe a gravesite?

"Who are you?", he growled out. A better question might have been 'are you a Jedi', but Caloc decided that the question would be answered either way.

She darted forward, the heat of her blade hissing past Caloc's shoulder. He ducked as it swung through where his head should have been. As he rolled back to his feet, he scooped three of the smoke cubes from the floor. Stretching out his right hand, he pulled another of the stones from where it lay and threw it towards her. In the split second that she was distracted by his attack, he leapt forward and tried to launch a strike into the pressure point behind the shoulder. Unfortunately, before he could connect, a long, slightly furry coil wrapped around his wrist and threw him off balance. He crashed to the floor, his side filling with pain and a bruised ego.

"I wouldn't do that, kid.", the voice was clear, but she laced her words with a clipped accent he had only ever heard coming from some of his fellow Jedi. It was a Coruscanti accent, but had a deep growl behind it. It made him pause, and his hand dropped the three smoke cubes to the ground.

He held up his hands in mock surrender, watching the blade as it darted before his eyes. Matching the curious stare that the two feline pupils were giving him with one of his own, he again asked her, "Who are you?"

"Firstly, kid, are you Jedi or Sith?", she barked back in reply, tone full of authority.

Authority never really affected him. Tilting his head, he raised an eyebrow. Was she serious? The Sith? Why would she even ask that? The Sith had been diminished to little more than legend. "Why in the civilised galaxy would you think I was Sith?"

Her lips curled back in response, long incisors bared in a snarl, "I don't know if you are Sith, or just in over your head. You are leaning dangerously close to the Dark Side teachings of Slaith."

Her lightsaber gestured to the comatose Varactyl near the wall. Her tail, for he now realised that was what had thrown him aside during their duel, flicked in irritation. Swallowing, Caloc carefully rightened Deesix from where he lay askew. "I am Caloc Tiac, Jedi padawan to Stass Allie, Jedi Knight. All I am trying to do is to find her again."

"So then you are over your head.", the woman disengaged her lightsabre, but didn't let go of her hilt, "Your technique when you used your shatterpoint on the beast uses Sith teachings. Who taught it to you?"

His eyes narrowed as he thought about it. "I was taught by my circumstances in the Trakulis Orelis caves on Devaron. I heard a voice that spoke to me. I assumed it was the spirit of a Jedi."

Her expression soured, "Those caves are home to both the light and the dark. Were you near the Tomb of Slaith?"

"We were in the Tomb of Slaith.", he replied. This lady seemed to know a lot about the Jedi for sure, but was she one of them? She knew a lot about the Sith too, so maybe she was an adept or a member of the Church of the Whills, "But before you learn more about me, tell me – Who Are You?"

He put a little bit more emphasis on the last three words, and a flicker of surprise danced across the few features he could see of the woman. Reaching up, she drew back the hood of her tarpaulin, then shrugged it off from around her shoulders. Before him stood a tall woman, lithe and fit. Her entire body was covered in thin grey fur, covering her from pointed ears to the long tail swaying behind her. A series of black diamond markings traced down her head and arms. The two white-tipped ears twitched on top of her head, flicking a few stray drops from them.

She wore a simple yet utilitarian uniform, a brown singlet with a purple cloth wrapped around her shoulders. From this clung two large leather shoulder pads, leading to a harness in the middle of her back. To his surprise, there was another lightsaber clipped there. Finally, another strip of the purple cloth covered the white pants she wore, acting like a skirt.

She bent and gracefully retrieved the thing that had hit him, the one with the Jedi symbol engraved on it. Then she stared at him and spoke, her words still accented, yet clear and concise. "I am Runtan Tunrad, and I believe we may have gotten off on the wrong foot."

He shrugged her apology aside, "Happens all the time."

That earned him a look of trepidation, but she seemed to gauge his attitude as sarcastic, not aggressive. "I will help you."

In confusion, he tilted his head to the side. "With what, exactly?"

"You mentioned that you were trying to find your Master.", she answered, then gestured to the storm outside, "Our atmosphere doesn't appreciate certain engine emissions, so since it is bucketing down, I will assume that your starfighter crashed nearby. I only came because I felt another Force presence. But now I also see an opportunity to help you fully master your natural shatterpoint ability."

"You sensed me?", he questioned. "Are you a Jedi?"

Instead of answering directly, she pulled out the engraved cylinder. Set in the centre of the plague, right below the symbol of the Jedi order, was the words

To my now former apprentice, Runtan

Follow the Force.

Your Master, Nikil

This as an old Master Plague. On some of the Temple Outposts around the Outer Rim, Jedi Masters still gave these to their apprentices to begin their training. Caloc mused that for a moment before passing it back, "Why will I need your help?"

"Trust me.", she chuckled humourlessly, bending to pick up the cylinder that he had been hit with earlier. Now that he could see it clearer, he saw it was another lightsaber. "On this moon, you are going to need my help."

Moon?

"Wait, where are we?", Caloc asked. He looked out the cave entrance. "The sky has been overcast since I got here. I assumed I had just landed somewhere on Shili!"

Runtan gave him a look of surprise, "Well you were wrong. Where we stand is the second moon of Shili: Arratak, the moon of graves."