The secret passage beyond held more coldness and blackness than Cooper was used to. The uneven ground did the clone no favors either, occasionally providing a stumbling block for his feet. As his vision finally began to adjust to the darkness, Cooper could just make out Sekel, the general keeping up his confident stride toward wherever the two were going.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Sekel called back, glancing over his shoulder to ensure his young charge was still following. "I installed a hideout down here to guard some of my own personal relics. Some of the city's most prized artifacts are stored here as well."
"Where did you find the means to build this?" Cooper inquisitively asked, raising an eyebrow as he followed the general. "Did the city help you?"
"I have my ways with some of the more prominent members of the city council…or at least I did, before the Empire swooped in," the Umbaran mused.
A thick, stone door stood as an obstacle in Cooper and Sekel's path. The clone raised a skeptical eyebrow. I don't see a keyhole anywhere, or a way to open the door, for that matter. "Uh, now might be a good time to tell me where this key of yours is," Cooper warily suggested, glancing over his shoulder in case any Imperials happened to be following them.
"That's why I came with you, Cooper," Sekel confidently answered, craning his neck and casting a warm smile back at the clone. "I am the key."
The Umbaran closed his eyes and raised his hand toward the door.
Almost immediately, stone began to scrape upon stone as the door slowly slid open. The teen could barely keep his jaw from dropping, and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head. What the—how? He tentatively moved to the side, allowing himself a chance to take in the reality of what was playing out before him. The stone door continued to open at Sekel's command. He's Force-Sensitive?! How did I not realize it sooner?!
The more Cooper thought about it, though, the more the idea of Tay wielding the Force began to make sense. The boy could see it all clearly now. How else would Tay have been able to predict the Imperials' presence near the fugitives' ship? How else could the general have known about Harlow, or the crystal Cooper had found on Utapau?
Tay lowered his hand, taking a deep, soothing breath as the door finally opened completely. He turned toward the young fugitive. "We'd better hurry," the general pointed out, his voice sounding as if he were completely oblivious to what he had just done. "I doubt the Empire will take kindly to your friends' distraction."
The general strode through the open passageway, with the former cadet not far behind. It took time to get the shock out of his system, but Cooper eventually found the courage to speak. "You, uh…why didn't you mention you were Force-sensitive?"
"Why didn't you ask?" Sekel countered, his tone inviting the teen to question him further. "Did you honestly think your friend and the person hunting her were the only ones?"
"Well, um…kinda," the clone fumbled with his words. "Are you a Jedi?"
"I was," the general answered, fumbling for the glowrods he had taken earlier. He hastily cracked one and shook it, the bioluminescent light quickly eliminating the darkness of the secret room. Cooper's jaw nearly dropped in awe. The treasure trove was crammed with crates and artifacts, the likes of which the boy had never seen before. A dust-covered helmet lay on the oak desk with only a worn set of robes to keep it company. Several books lined a shelf to the clone's left, enticing the clone to come closer. Cooper let his curiosity get the best of him as he reached for one of the books. His eyes immediately spotted the circular crest on the front cover: the emblem of the Jedi Order.
"Careful with that, my friend," Sekel warned, casting a concerned look as he began sifting through the desk drawers. "Some of this stuff hasn't seen the light in months."
"So, you're really a Jedi?" Cooper inquired, placing the book back on the shelf. "Why are you all the way out on the Separatists' capitol?"
Sekel swiftly shook his head in denial. "I'm no Jedi, not anymore," he said, a look of disgust in his eyes. "Would you believe me if I told you I actually came out here to get away from the Jedi?"
"What happened?" Cooper curiously asked, sitting down in a nearby chair.
"What happened was I came to realize where the anti-Jedi sentiment was coming from," the general grumbled. His gaze flickered to the clone. "Tell me, Cooper. You claim to know my friend, Harlow. What do you see when you think of her, or any other Jedi?"
Cooper rubbed his hands together as he mulled over the question. "I…I see someone who treats me like my life matters," he said. He distantly recalled the time Harlow had been there for him after he lost Blaze, how she had shushed Cooper's cries and told him everything was going to be all right. "I see someone who's loyal and kind. Someone who doesn't see me as just another cog in a machine. What do you see?"
Tay let out a sigh in response. "My friend, I wish I could see what you see in the Jedi," Sekel countered. "I'm sorry, it's just…I don't know the Jedi Order can see the Republic's starving, shivering citizens, their ruined homes, their sick children, and yet are too distracted by a war to solve any of those problems. The war placed the Jedi in a no-win situation, and they paid the ultimate price because of it."
The rogue clone shrugged his shoulders in response. "That doesn't really explain how you got here," he sheepishly suggested.
"It was toward the end of the war," Sekel started, grunting as he sat down next to the young clone. "Someone had the bright idea to bomb a hangar at the Jedi Temple. I'd heard the perpetrator had been caught and I assumed that was that. Back to my daily duties around the Temple."
Cooper tried his best to hide his disbelief as he listened. Damn. I get there were those who hated the Jedi, but to do something like this…
"And then I stumbled upon a lightsaber duel," Sekel continued, his voice reflecting his own disbelief with each word. "Two Jedi, one of which wielded a pair of Sith blades. I called the guards as quickly as I could. Turns out that the red blades were stolen, and that the Jedi wielding them had orchestrated the whole thing. When questioned, she said that the Jedi had become nothing more than, and I quote, 'an army fighting for the Dark Side.'"
"And…you believed that?" Cooper followed up, his intrigued tone prompting Sekel to continue his narrative.
The Umbaran mildly nodded his head, his eyes reflecting just the slightest hint of shame. "I believe the war placed the Jedi in a position they could not possibly handle. One of my friends, a Pau'un Temple Guard, he left the Order almost immediately after the whole thing was said and done. As I lay in bed that night, I thought about all the lives that had been lost. All the bloodshed from the clones I commanded, all the heartbreak from the civilians I encountered every day. I was a Jedi General, and I was a peacekeeper. But I felt I couldn't be both."
"So you left, then?"
"I did. It was one of the hardest decisions I had ever made. Sometimes, I still can't help but wonder what might've happened if I had stayed. And sometimes I don't ever want to find out."
"The Jedi I heard of who did leave the Order, they ended up falling to the Dark Side, didn't they?"
"Throughout the Order's history, there were several infamous examples of Jedi who strayed from the light and embraced the Dark Side," the former Jedi informed, eyes narrowed in pity. "So many Jedi thought the same of me after I left, thought that I wanted to toss aside the rules and the Jedi Code. But that wasn't entirely it, no. I was going to help as many people on both sides of this damned war as I could. And then the Empire came.
"Harlow contacted me after she escaped the carnage," Sekel wearily continued, eyes narrowed to the ground. "She snuck into Tamwith Bay just as the city's conflict with the Empire escalated. We eventually decided to split up and go into hiding. We kept our locations secret, and we made a promise not to go looking for each other until the time came to act. In fact," he stood up, strolling over to the bookshelf, "I think I may have something that should tell us where she went."
As Sekel's fingers scanned the bookshelf's contents, Cooper could barely contain his excitement. After so long searching, after so long evading Third Brother and wondering what would happen if the monster got to Harlow first, Cooper believed he finally had a source of genuine hope.
The clone didn't have to wait long before Tay returned, a device in his hand. The cube's glowing light helped the glowrods chase away any lingering darkness. "We used this holocron to record our locations," Sekel explained, holding out his hand to show the relic to the clone. "I left it locked away down here because I had a feeling I would need it again. And I don't know about you, Cooper, but when one of my close friends is being hunted as we speak…well, that certainly tells me it's time to act."
The former Jedi closed his eyes and raised his free hand toward the holocron. The device's shimmering light stood out against the dimmer glow of the glowrods. The holocron reacted to Sekel's suggestions, splitting apart and opening like a three-dimensional puzzle. The general wasted no time ripping the crystal from its chain and adding it to the puzzle.
Cooper's eyes widened as the map contained within the holocron closed the distance between him and Tay. The Umbaran opened his eyes, gazing upon the map as he stood next to the clone. "Do you want to take a guess where she is?"
The teen stared quizzically at the map as his mind counted the possibilities. Well, we found nothing but corpses on Utapau, and we found Tay on Raxus. She's not on Kamino, Teth or Coruscant, either, or I would've seen her already. He let out a hopeless groan. That's five planets ruled out so far, five planets in an infinite galaxy. Where could Harlow be?
"I give up," Cooper said, slumping his head in defeat. "There's so many places she could be, and we don't have the time to search them all. This is impossible."
"Ha!" Sekel snarked back, staring skeptically at the young clone. "Nothing is ever truly impossible unless you believe it is." He placed his hands on the teen's shoulders. "Concentrate."
"I'm trying to concentrate, that's the thing," Cooper grumbled, tapping his foot impatiently.
"I don't mean on the map, I mean on your friend," Tay elaborated. "You know her well, don't you? Where do you think she would go to hide?"
The clone took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he thought the question over. Well, I know Harlow would want to avoid any Imperial eyes, which means crowds aren't an option. That eliminates most of the Core worlds. She also didn't mind the cold, if I remember. Most Separatist planets are out of the question, so she'd have to look for someplace isolated, wouldn't she? "What about isolated planets?" he suggested, eyeing the map again. "Somewhere the Empire hasn't considered habitable?"
"You sure?"
"I'm willing to bet the Empire's reach only extends so far. Harlow also didn't mind the cold, so looking up frigid planets wouldn't hurt." Cooper glanced around the room, brow furrowing as he found no signs of a holoprojector. Not sure how we'll be able to filter out the planets on the map without a computer. The holocron doesn't exactly count. "Is there anything back upstairs we can transfer this data onto?
"I don't think we'll need that," Tay replied, nodding his head in understanding. "Let me try something." The general took a deep breath and closed his eyes, leaning back in the chair.
"What are you doing?" Cooper asked, tilting his head.
"Meditating," the Umbaran answered, keeping his eyes shut. "Force-Sensitives can sometimes sense each other's presence in the Force."
"Oh, I see," Cooper perked up, kneeling beside the general. "You can call out to Harlow through the Force. What if she doesn't answer, though?"
"She will," Tay reassured, opening his eyes slightly. "The Force lives around and inside every living being, including you and me. Harlow will sense my presence, and she will respond to it. I trust her."
With that, Tay closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath as he tried to concentrate. Cooper sat and watched with held breath. We're so close now. This is the only lead I have left. It can't be for nothing.
Sekel's eyes snapped open, a joyful smile lighting up his face. "I think I found her."
Cooper raised an unsure eyebrow. "You certain?"
"I can sense her all the way from here," the general said back, his smile and shaking hands showing just how hard he was trying to contain his excitement. He looked at the map once more, this time pointing toward a distant planet in the Outer Rim. "There. Rhen Var. That's where her presence is the strongest. I'd stake my life on it."
The young clone could barely hold back a disbelieving laugh. Rhen Var. I guess it makes sense why she would hide there. After all, from what Cooper had read on the Holonet, Rhen Var was not only isolated, but also home to ancient ruins. There had even been instances of a few lucky smugglers finding ancient Jedi artifacts on the icy world. In addition, Rhen Var had not been a strategic location to the Republic or the Separatists during the Clone Wars, which meant the Empire would likely not have much interest in the planet, either.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Cooper said, swiftly turning back towards the door to leave. We know where to go. Now it's just a matter of getting out of here. He craned his neck back to find Tay rummaging through another drawer.
"Take a right once you leave the hideout," the Umbaran told the clone, eyes focused on the drawer and its contents. "You'll find the escape hatch there. There's some more gear I need in here. Go and find your friends. I'll be along."
Cooper nodded his head in response, before beginning the short sprint back to the surface. He could hardly contain the hope swelling in his heart as he stumbled over stone after stone. Deep down, the boy knew the easiest part of the journey was over. There would still be the daunting task of escaping Raxus in one piece, and in getting to Harlow before Third Brother could.
The sight of the hatch leading into the woods overwhelmed Cooper with relief. He allowed himself one moment, one chance to catch his breath before he opened the hatch, the metal groaning in protest. The bright glare of the setting sun assaulted the clone's eyes as he began to move forward, eager to catch up with his friends.
Don't worry, Harlow. I'm on my way to—
The smack of a heavy object across his head cut Cooper's thought short.