Chapter Five: The Tyrant's Plea

"The Force exists within us, but we exist within a universe that knows nothing of it. How, then, must we face the rise and fall of governments, the constant tides of war, and the endless need of those without our power? Beyond even the conflict of light and dark, this may the Jedi's central dilemma."

Jedi Master Odan-Urr, Reflections on a Thousand Years

Year 29 of Xim's reign
537 LE

When she'd left the Tythan system, Moorai had hoped to discover wonders in the worlds beyond. In her journeys she'd found pulsars bleeding rainbow radiation into space, natural canyons twenty miles deep, mile faces hand-carved into rock, a pre-Rakata space station the size of a moon. Yet nothing prepared her for the Star Forge.

This giant had been made by mortals, died, and drifted through space for half a millennium. Then it had been resurrected by the Jedi beside her. Daneel Kayn emanated satisfaction, and that also took getting used to. The man she'd known at Corellia had been uncertain and tried to hide it, but now he was a Jedi Master who'd mastered something.

"You say you've consumed the flesh of a star," she said as they walked down a cyclopean hall. "Does this mean you're ready to produce new starships?"

"Not yet. The stellar material needs to settle in the Forge's core before it can be used. We're not sure how long that will take."

"And then what will you make? Weapons? Spacecraft?"

"Both. In theory, the Forge can create just about anything."

"So you've said. I must ask… You seem to have created ships with local design. They're primitive compared to ours. No internal gravity, lesser weapons and armor, hyperdrives that rely on a beacon network. Why haven't you tried to make more of our ships?"

"We looked into it, but the way this Star Forge learns new designs is a little… cannibalistic. You have to feed it a complete starship—or weapon, machine, what you'd like. The Forge will take it apart, every circuit and panel and chip. The Rakatan computers memorize the pieces and how they fit together, then draw on the raw material at the core to replicate those parts and assemble them. Naturally it's not perfect, and we have to check everything that comes out of the foundries."

"So this behemoth is a very sophisticated copying machine?"

"Basically, except you have to sacrifice the original. The Rakata were ruthless like that."

"You weren't willing to give up the Hand of Light," Moorai said approvingly.

"There's no guarantee the copy would be perfect. We didn't want to risk it."

"And now that you have three Tythan ships?"

Kayn shrugged. "We weren't expecting you to show up, but we may consider it. So far we've been copying designs from the planet called Ranroon. Its people were the ones who found this thing and got it working."

"But you and Shen have improved it."

"I had special knowledge, thank to my studies. Shen has… I dare call it an ancestral link with this machine. He can intuit it in a way nobody else can."

After a few silent paces, Moorai admitted "I am not comfort-able with this place."

A smile tugged Kayn's mouth. "I didn't expect you to be."

Back on Corellia, Moorai had advised against getting involved in the affairs of non-Force users. Jecca Tholme had argued for it. Kayn, as Master, had sought to balance them, but in practice usually sided with Jecca, who must have been loving the Jedi's newfound ambition. Moorai was glad Jecca was elsewhere.

"You don't have to tell me we're playing a dangerous game," Kayn said. "The Star Forge is our best defense, not just because we can make ships, but because Xim wants it badly and only we have its location."

Politics, power-plays, deception and guile. Moorai had never liked those things, yet they were inevitable when Jedi interacted with the larger galaxy.

"You traveled for years with Master Talyak," he said. "Did any of that change your views?"

"We saw much, of course. And found many Jedi who wanted to help."

"I can't wait to meet them all. But I was asking about you."

Moorai gave a wheezing sigh. "You're wondering why I came here at all."

"You were always adamant about not getting involved. You must have had some idea of what you'd be getting into."

She wheezed again and thought back in time. "My views have shifted… somewhat. Once, early on, when we'd only gained a few other Jedi, we visited a world. It was primitive, without spaceflight, but the native sentients had built cities, some very large. When we visited we found a place beset by torrential rain, for days and days. Lakes swelled, rivers flooded."

"I don't suppose you minded."

"Not especially," the Selkath said. In fact, it had been good to feel so much water. "But it was too much. The dam outside the city was old, cracking, and ready to burst. The flood would have washed away the city, killing hundreds. So I dove to the bottom of the reservoir. I used the Force to hold its cracks together, then dragged stones and boulders to reinforce it. The dam held until the rains finally stopped and the water calmed."

"That was something only you could do," Kayn reasoned.

"Yes. I saved many lives, and felt pride for it. But we didn't expose ourselves to the natives. We asked for neither thanks for glory."

"But you still liked playing the hero," he needled.

"I suppose I did," she admitted, and felt glad Jecca was elsewhere. "But that did not change my view."

"Then why are you here?"

"Talyak has told the other Jedi that a great trial is coming in this place, and we must be ready. He says it may be a trial of the Force itself."

"A vision?"

Or a hope, Moorai thought. "He insists," she shrugged. "I left the Core because I believed I could learn more about the Force in the worlds beyond."

"And you want to see if it passes the trial."

That was the short of it. "I won't run off to battle the worms like Jecca… I suppose, for now, I am at your disposal."

"I'm glad to have you," he said earnestly. "Though you should spend time on Idux too."

"I would like to meet this 'prophet,'" she allowed. He sounded like an intriguing contradiction: Force-user but not a Jedi, a hermit who preached involvement in stellar drama.

Kayn added, "Shen was born there, you know."

"I did not."

"The Tionese call the planet Idux but his people had another name for it. It means 'watchtower.'"

"Is it a watchtower you've built, or a fortress?"

Kayn smiled ruefully. "Can it be both?"

Moorai doubted, but she didn't know for sure. There were many things to learn in this strange place.

-{}-

When he went to visit the Prophet of Idux on his mountainside abode, Mal-Oba Talyak felt like he was stepping back in time. In his youth he'd spent one year on each of the inhabitable worlds in the Tythan system, and this humble cave reminded him of his hermitage in the Apex Range of Obri's moon.

On the moon Talyak hadn't received a single visitor, but it was clear that Gedor, despite his remote locale, knew how to host guests. He heated herbal tea over the fire in the center of his cavern and served it to Talyak in a small ceramic cup.

"My newest recipe this is," the Prophet of Idux said with a tiny smirk. "Hope you enjoy it, I do. Your student does."

"Erakas? He was not my student." Talyak spoke in halting Tionese. It had been a long time since he'd had to converse in this language, and he'd never mastered it.

"Yet guide him you did. Speak highly of you he has."

"I am glad to hear." Talyak snipped the tea's fragrant stream with all four nostrils, then sipped. Sharp and bitter, but pleasant. "Tell me of yourself. Please."

"What wish you to know?"

"Where you come from. How long you are here."

"From far away I come, well beyond the Tion. But at Idux I have been, oh, almost forty standard years."

"Your followers?"

"Very few in the beginning. Explode in number they have, since the Jedi joined. Good to see this is."

"Is it? You must know… in the Core, we Jedi were alone. With ourselves." He clasped lower hands together. "Non-Jedi lived apart. And in other systems… I have not seen this."

"Uncomfortable are you with admirers?"

"No. But it is… different."

And dangerous, he thought. In ancient times, non-Force-users had been driven off Tython by wars between Je'daii factions. He would have preferred a society where the Force-deaf and the hearing could coexist together, but in his many travels he'd not seen it. Usually the two groups stood apart. Here they joined but the Jedi were in clear dominance over the rest, idolized almost like gods. He disliked that, because he knew how fallible Jedi could be.

"Difficult it is, sometimes," Gedor admitted. "Thus I live up here, far from them. But our responsibility they are nonetheless. Protect, guide, and help them we should. And to us they return the favor." He smiled softly. "Welcome them I do, welcome you all. Alone I thought I was in touching the Force."

"Where you come from… do they know the Force?"

"Strong the Force was with my people." Gedor looked down at his own tea-cup. "But long ago that was. Seen one of my own race I have not in centuries."

"Forgive intrusion, but how many years are you?" Talyak placed a lower hand on his chest. "I am one-hundred and six."

"Old is that, for your kind?"

"If the Force is with me, I have three or four decades left."

"Then young you are. A thousand years my people may live. Straddle the span I do now, a little closer to end than beginning." Gedor shrugged. "Time I still have. Patient, I can be. Not like humans."

"No." Talyak took another sip of tea. "They call you Prophet. Can you see the future?"

"Hints I am given. Intimations. Shades."

"Have they hinted at what's ahead?"

His green brow wrinkled deeper. "Loom a trial does. War between Hutts and humans rages with no end in sight. Only with what you call the Force can this conflict be resolved."

"Do you suppose this? Or does the Force say?"

"Both, I believe."

Talyak exhaled, blowing steam from his cup. He'd not realized how much he needed to hear his own beliefs confirmed. He'd arrived less than a day ago knowing nothing, and been since deluged with information about the Jedi, the Iduxians, and the role they were playing in a massive war between brutal empires.

When leaving Tython he'd been afraid that the Force, which meant everything to him, would mean nothing in the greater galaxy. Finding the Tion cluster barren of Force-users seemed to confirm his fears. Now it seemed the Force did matter after all. If only it didn't come with such a terrible burden.

"Troubled are you?" asked Gedor.

Talyak took another sip of tea. "It can be, to receive what one wants."

He wasn't sure Gedor would understand, but the small creature nodded, "A great responsibility the Force is. See and feel things we can that all others cannot. But what to do with power, hmm? The most important question, this is."

Gedor didn't understand at all. Talyak struggled to verbalize. "I doubted, for long time. The Force seemed so little. Here in Tion, there was no Force. No Force-users. There was life… but a void."

"No void on Idux," Gedor said with soft pride. "Not anymore."

"Yes. It joys me to feel. But you said—I feel—there is a trial ahead. A war must be stopped. We will be tested. So will the Force."

"With the Force, possible all things are. Tell your Jedi this many times I have and believe it I do."

"You believe we will succeed?"

"Yes." Gedor added, "So much have so few Jedi accomplish-ed already. Save a world they did."

"I was told."

"Just the latest deed that is. Turn the tide they have in other battles. Heal the hearts of many Iduxians also. Given them a purpose, a cause to live and fight and die for." Gedor lifted his head. "A teacher to Erakas and Essan you may not see yourself, but their guide you were nonetheless. Proud of them you should be."

"I am," Talyak said, but it touched upon another doubt. They might yet succeed in this trial, but the first mission that brought them to the Tion had been a failure. They'd been charged with recovering an ancient Tythan ark but found it derelict, its thousands dead in their sleeper-cells. He'd hoped to at least discover how and why the ship had failed, but Xim's empire had captured it instead.

An old failure, but it nagged. If the Force meant for him to be in the Tion, as he now believed, had the Force not also meant for him to find peace for those lost Tythan souls? He wished he could ask Essan about it somehow.

"Among your people," Talyak said, "did they believe the Force has a will?"

"Ah. With your Jedi have I spoken on these things. Urge us, the Force does. Grants us visions sometimes. And directs us, I believe, to be responsible for those less blessed."

"And did they believe in two sides, light and dark?"

"Foreign to me that doctrine is, though consider it I have." Gedor took a last drink from his cup and set it down. "Thinking of the Star Forge, are you?"

Talyak blinked. He had, but he'd not expected Gedor to bring it up. "A Rakata weapon. The Rakata were evil. They almost destroyed Tython and the ancient Je'daii."

"A weapon the Forge is not," said Gedor. "Merely a tool. Evil it might have done once, but rely on we do for ships, weapons to defend. Save Moralan without it, we could not. Washing away its sins we are."

"I hope you are right," Talyak said. "I will have to see it myself."

"Welcome you would be, though perhaps better you could serve elsewhere. Jedi remain on Moralan. Senior you are, and appreciate your presence they would."

"Everyone looks to you. Have you thought to go?"

He shook his long-eared head. "Range so far, I would not like. Like my simple abode I do. Though this Star Forge, I also desire to see… and to feel."

"Then we might—"

Talyak was interrupted by the buzz of the comlink in his robes. Holding the teacup with his upper hands, he fished it out with his lower-left and tapped it on.

"Master Talyak, where are you now?" It was Zephian, a Mirialan Jedi who'd come with him on the Dawnchaser. He spoke in Tythan, his voice tense.

Talyak replied, "I'm with Gedor in his abode. What has happened?"

"We've been hailed by a ship in orbit. The one called Essan is coming in to land. She says it is urgent."

Just who he wanted to talk to. "I'll come down, thank you."

"Master Talyak, it's not just her. A warship's also settled directly above us."

"Is it threatening us?"

"Essan says… not yet."

"Understood." Yes, he'd arrived just in time. "I'll hurry back."

He pocketed his comlink, finished his tea in one hot gulp, and rose. Gedor, who'd not understood the conversation, looked at Talyak expectantly.

In Tionese, he said, "You want to come off your mountain for this."

-{}-

They met in a hold aboard the Hand of Light, spacious enough for seven people to sit in a circle. For the Jedi, Tythan ships had been homes and refugees as they explored strange stars, the only places they were truly safe. Now, everyone's thoughts dwelt on that Imperial polyreme sitting over Morning Star in geosynchronous orbit. Because all present were Force-users they could feel each other dwelling on it, which made it all the more ominous.

Essan tried to steer them. She'd brought that ship here, as well as its ultimatum. She said, "Xim's made himself clear. He's about to launch a major offensive and wants us to join it."

"He's not giving us much choice," Erakas glowered. Each time she saw him, with often months in between, he looked more worn, his eyes darker.

"What exactly does he want us to do?" asked Ashar Gell. The human, sitting beside Erakas, was bent forward, elbows on knees. "Does he want a repeat of Moralan? Because you all know how difficult that was."

"I do not," said Mal-Oba Talyak, "but I have heard."

The Talid Master sat beside Gedor and the two made a study in contrasts: one stout, green, and wrinkled; the other tall with six limbs, dense cream-colored fur, and a thick tail spilling from the crate on which he sat. Essan hadn't expected to find Talyak and thirty more Jedi here, and normally she'd be happy, but Xim would be even more pleased. That sucked all the joy out of reunion.

"Xim wants more of what I've given him," she said. "When he takes me into battle, I'm placed in an observation deck on his ship. I meditate like Gedor taught me and try to affect the will of the soldiers in battle."

"You crush the will of Xim's opponents and strengthen his own people," said Erakas.

"Sometimes," Essan admitted. "I try to convince both sides to stop fighting when I can."

"We've done that in some battles too," said Vediah. "Well, we've tried."

"Some tries are more successful than others," Ashar added. He told Talyak, "The Force just doesn't work on the Hutts, or the species they use as priests. We can't persuade or affect them. Their slaves are hard to influence too."

They were speaking Tionese for Gedor's benefit. For that reason only Master Talyak was here from the new arrivals, and she could tell he was concentrating to follow along. The Talid blinked twice and said, "Battle meditation… I have not learned. I cannot help here."

"Unless you learn it yourself," said Erakas. "I'm sure you'd pick it up quickly, Master."

Talyak shook his head, uncertain. Gedor said, "Difficult it can be for the old to learn new tricks."

"It's not just that," Essan added, "Since the start of the war, Xim's infantry has been beyond decimated. His best janissaries and Lancers were killed at the Second Battle of Vontor. And after the Mutiny, he doesn't trust flesh and blood like he used to."

"Xim's robots," Vediah said. "I've noticed that. His fleets just feel… emptier than the Hutts'."

"So a paranoid warlord demands we help him destroy a bunch of xenocidal worms," Ashar summarized. "The way I see it, we've got two questions. What should we do, and what can we do with that polyreme parked over us?"

"Xim claims it's here to protect us from Hutt retribution," Essan said, "and when we join him, it will leave."

"You believe that?" scoffed Erakas.

She knew how deep his bitterness went. "Xim's many things, but he usually keeps his word. Either way, Ashar's right, there's only two questions that really matter."

Ominous quiet seized the room. Shen, who'd been silent until now, ventured, "What of the Star Forge?"

She'd heard that Kayn and a handful of Jedi, plus hundreds of non-Jedi crew, were currently aboard. "He seems to think we're more valuable. He's willing to let it lay for now."

"For now," Erakas stressed. He asked Shen, "How hard will it be to move the Forge on short notice?"

The Rakata hissed through sharp teeth. "Ranroon engineers moved it last time by locking on an abandoned hyperspace buoy. I cannot say what it will take to move again."

"What defenses does it have?" asked Talyak.

"The armor is centuries old, but strong. The engineers installed missile launchers, but they could not fight back a fleet."

The Rakata's face was hard for Essan to read, but she picked up hesitation in the Force. It was Gedor who pried, "More weapons, might the Forge have?"

"The Forge can be a weapon, perhaps," Shen said uneasily. "Master Kayn and I have found a mechanism. A way to make it… let us say… vomit."

"You're making a space station puke?" Ashar screwed his face. "What, you'll give it indigestion?"

"Of a sort." Shen gave a rather human sigh. "Master Kayn sees the Forge as a machine. To me… I feel it, like a living thing." He tapped a three-clawed hand to his chest. "It has just gorged itself on the fires of a star. Its belly is full with star-fire. But we have devised a safety mechanism that would eject the material from the core."

"And barf up primal energy of the cosmos," Ashar summarized.

"That sounds like it could destroy anything," Vediah said warily.

"Only if you get Xim to line up his ships nicely in front of its mouth when it pukes."

"Into other methods of defense you should look," Gedor said. "A Forge, after all, it is. New weapons it can produce. New ships meant for war."

"We do not know when it will be ready to make new ships," Shen said. "The core has not settled."

"We should start producing as soon as it does," Erakas said. "We have to be ready for Xim to turn on us."

Essan felt an irrational urge to defend the daritha, but he was right. Looking around the group she said, "Will you be joining Xim's campaign? Is that decided?"

"He hasn't given us much choice, has he?" Vediah eyed the ceiling, the warship unseen.

"Agreed," Ashar sighed. "We've got thousands of people down here. We can't put them at risk. And let's be honest, we've tried to stay neutral in this war, but we've come down on Xim's side more than the Hutts'. Sometimes there really is a lesser evil."

"Xim can be very brutal," Essan warned. "He let his troops run rampant when he took Ko Vari. They went wild, pillaging and killing for days. He said it was necessary, because they'd gone half-mad anyway fighting Boonta's armies. He said they needed to just… get it all out." She swallowed the bitter memory.

Awkwardly, Ashar said, "Maybe there's an upside to having a mechanical army."

Silence again. Erakas shifted eyes to Talyak. "What's your opinion, Master?"

"I am still stranger here. Much I do not understand."

"Please," Essan prodded. "Whatever's on your mind."

The Talid folded all four hands on his lap. "Ships you have. Forty Jedi and thousands of followers. Will they follow into battle?"

"Many of them want to," Erakas said.

"Because they worship you?"

He flinched. "We're not gods. We lead them. We've gotten Imperial defectors, former Hutt slaves, all sorts of people who came to Idux with holes in their hearts. We've filled them the best we can. We've got doctors, soldiers, mechanics, engineers, families with children."

"Your own small empire."

Now Shen objected. "The Jedi give of themselves. The Iduxians give in return. It is not exploitation, as my ancestors did."

Talyak sighed. "You lead, they follow. Into Xim's war."

"We won't just be his servants," Essan said. "He actually allows me a lot of autonomy." She wanted to talk about her visit to Pesegam, but this wasn't the time.

Silence again. When it stretched too long, Vediah was the one to break it. "I think we should go, and not just because he's got missiles pointed at us. I think it really is the right thing to do."

"Agreed," said Ashar.

"This isn't a vote," said Erakas. "I also want to hear Gedor's thoughts."

Eyes turned to the Prophet. He screwed his face thoughtfully, carving deeper lines. "Danger there is in this, but even more, potential. To save lives. To shift the scales of history. An opportunity Xim gives us, whether he knows or not." He opened eyes wider. "Still, reckless we should not be. Interested I am in seeing this Star Forge. With Shen, I think, should I go."

They all stared in surprise. Best Essan knew, Gedor hadn't left Idux in over thirty years. Maybe that wasn't so long for his kind, but she asked, "Do you sense something that we don't?"

"Only a trial," said Gedor, "of which Master Talyak is well aware, yes?"

The Talid nodded.

Erakas said, "Shen, I think you and Gedor should stay on the Forge. Let's be blunt: Xim wants Jedi helpers, but he's not going to welcome a Tyrant to his fleet."

"I agree," said the Rakata.

Erakas immediately turned to Ashar and Vediah. He was a leader now, making snap hard calls. The neophyte Essan had first met was gone. He said, "We're going to have to train the new Jedi in battle mediation. And teach them a little Tionese. And fill them in on everything happening in this part of the galaxy. That means you two are Masters now."

"What?" Vediah's white jaw dropped.

Ashar rubbed his head. "I appreciate the promotion, but isn't that a little extreme?"

"Don't think about the old ranks," Erakas said. "They don't matter anymore. You're going to have to lead these people. Same with Jecca and Koltatha. I'd like to send at least one of you to Moralan with a ship full of new Jedi."

"You know I'll volunteer for that," said Ashar.

"Good. Can you handle this, Vediah?"

The Devaronian swallowed and looked very young. "I guess I don't have a choice."

Erakas gave her a brittle smile. "Now you know how I felt when I ended up in charge of you all." The smile wilted, and he looked to Talyak. "Master, I respect your objection, but this is something we have to go through with. I'm not going to order you to do anything, but we could use your help."

Essan felt something from Talyak then; he, too, was reflecting how much Erakas had changed. The Talid said, "Follow what you feel is your path. I will take my own."

"Decided one, have you?" asked Gedor.

"I believe I have." Talyak looked at Essan. "What has Xim told you about the colony ship from Endregaad?"

She'd not been expecting that. "His scientists retrieved it, took it apart, and analyzed it. His top researcher, Director Loreac, used its navigation logs to chart a path to Hutt territory. That's how they were able to expand there so quickly."

"This ship went from Tython, through the Supremacy, then to Tion?"

"The ark was moving at sublight speeds, which means it passed through that cluster over six hundred years ago. The Supremacy didn't exist then. I think it was still Rakata territory." She glanced at Shen. "Loreac said that the ark didn't fail by accident. It was deliberately sabotaged to kill everyone aboard and continue on its way, transmitting data back to a recipient."

Everyone except Talyak had heard this before, but their expressions darkened at the reminder of such evil. Shen said, "My ancestors set a wide net across the stars, but its mesh was not fine. Enclaves existed beyond our reach. And crippling arks full of passengers..." He shook his head. "I do not know every-thing about the old empire, but it does not sound like something they would do."

"Xim's people think the same," Essan said. "They assumed this was some lower-tier civilization that didn't have the resources to build their own probes, so they hijacked colony passing to do it for them."

"In the most murderous way possible," added Erakas.

"Flagrant disregard for other life sounds like the Hutts to me," Ashar said.

"Xim decided the truth wasn't worth pursuing." Essan told Talyak, "Honestly, I agree. What happened to those people is a crime, but whoever did it's long gone. Unless they're the Hutts, who have plenty more crimes on their shoulders."

"True this is," added Gedor. "Many centuries my people live, as do the Hutts, but no others have I heard of with so long a span. Gone, the perpetrator must be."

Talyak was surprisingly insistent. "I believe, more than ever, the Force guided us here. You. Me. Erakas. We came for that ark and found a mystery inside."

A mystery that had long ceased to be relevant. Essan glanced at Erakas and saw the same thought. Both wondered if Talyak would rather chase shadows then get tangled in this war.

But that was his prerogative. Despite what Erakas had said a minute ago, Talyak was a Jedi Master, and they weren't.

"I can ask Xim for Loreac's full report." Essan said. "If we give him enough Jedi, he'll probably let us have it."

"Then we had better start mustering." Erakas said. "Ashar, Vediah, can you start gathering everyone up? I want to address everyone and tell them what we're getting into."

The two Jedi immediately sprung up and left the room. As they left Erakas told Essan, "You should send a message to that polyreme, in case they're getting impatient."

"I will," she said, but looked around those remaining. They were exactly the ones she wanted to talk to. "First, I want to explain what I've been doing the past few weeks. I could use your perspectives. I'll try to be quick."

They shuffled crates and chairs closer and listened to her talk about Pesegam. She explained what it was like meeting other Sith, the remnant of a civilization she'd found, and most of all she talked about King Adas.

"I'm inclined to believe what the holocron said," she told them, "Even the most incredible parts. Master Talyak, have you ever heard of an essence transferring from body to body?"

The Talid shook his head. "Much of the old Je'daii lore is lost… but no, I've never heard such. It is a frightening ability."

"Pure Bogan," Erakas said.

He was right. Essan wasn't convinced the Force was neatly divided into light and dark sides, but claiming another's body and extinguishing the soul inside was plain murder. The Force might not have clear sides, but some actions did.

Still, she felt she should play advocate. "Adas claimed he was justified, because his power saved his people from Rakata."

"There are other ways to fight evil," said Talyak.

But were they as effective? It was the big question, but it was hard to come out and say it.

"A fearsome power this was," said Gedor, "but where did it get Adas in the end? Slain he was. For all his power, gain immortality he did not."

"But he pushed back an unstoppable enemy, one even the Je'daii barely survived." Essan added, "I'm sorry, but I can't get the question out of my mind. The Hutts are willing to shatter entire planets for defying them. How extreme might we have to be to stop them?"

"The worms are one thing," Erakas said, "The galaxy would be better off without them. But their servants—their slaves—are victims too. Some of them are fighting back. Vaatus was at Moralan, to sabotage one of their ships."

It had been years since Essan had seen Vaatus, even longer since meeting Reina or Kroller. She wanted to ask Erakas about his former wife, but that wasn't the topic at hand.

Shen said thoughtfully, "My mother collected stories of our people… Histories or legends, we could never be sure. One spoke of an enemy who could die and die again."

"Then Adas left his mark," Erakas said dryly. "I'm sorry, but right now this talk is theoretical. We don't have the power to steal souls or make storms in the Force or whatever else Adas did. We are what we are. Jedi. And—" he nodded to Gedor—"an old man who's ready to get off his mountain. And we've got a lot of things to do."

How stern he'd become, but he was right. Essan rose from her seat. "Perhaps we can discuss it more at another time."

"I would like that," said Talyak.

"But for now," Erakas stressed, "duty calls."

He was right. He strode from the chamber, heading for the exit ramp to the surrounding plain, where Essan could feel almost forty Jedi gathered. Crowds were not for her, though, and never had been. She had a message to send, a despot to appease. Dead Sith kings, like dead Tythan arks, were only history.

-{}-

The Jedi lifted off an hour before dawn. Buffeted by repulsors and hot air, their ships rose nimbly into the sky, each packed with Jedi and Iduxian volunteers. First to rise was the Hand of Light, with Erakas at the helm. Following that, the freshly-come Ashla's Dream. Last was the Dawnchaser, which had been Master Talyak's ship these last six years.

Before leaving, the Talid spoke with Shen on the dark plain. The Rakata had learned much from Gedor and the Jedi here, but Talyak was still his greatest teacher, a rival only to his mother in shaping him into the man he was now.

"I wish our reunion could last longer," he told Talyak. "There is much I would like to show you on the Star Forge… or are you unhappy with that as well?"

"I'm not unhappy," the Master insisted. "But be careful, Shen. What you've all made here is incredible, but you've been heaping responsibilities on yourself."

"Because we must."

"Perhaps." Talyak spread his lower hands. "I have no answers. That's why I go searching."

"But why the ark?"

"It brought us together, didn't it?"

Shen considered his next words carefully. He knew Talyak's greatest fear: that the galaxy was an emptiness the Force could not fill. He wondered if his teacher wasn't trying too hard to believe otherwise.

Talyak sighed. "You think I'm grasping, don't you? Seeking meaning when it's not there? Perhaps I am, but I felt the Force calling us back to the Tion and I was right. I believe I'm meant to investigate the ark too."

"Please be careful, Master."

"I will." He placed upper hands on Shen's shoulders. "Take care of that beast you've awakened."

"I could come with you," Shen offered.

"You could," Talyak allowed, "but I believe your place is with the Star Forge."

"Kayn is the engineer. I merely… intuit it."

"Then it sounds like your talents are complimentary. I'm glad you've found a place here."

Talyak knew he sought more than a place. He'd been raised to believe he was special, that the Force had returned to him for a reason. He was supposed to have a destiny.

"Master," he ventured, "do you believe what I have done is right?"

"You mean, does the Force mean for you to resurrect the Star Forge? I'm sorry… I don't know."

They parted afterward. Talyak boarded the Dawnchaser and, minutes later, it ascended into the sky, chasing the glow of two other Tythan ships. Further up, one could spot the faint light of Essan's rocket, which had launched early to clear the way.

The crowd of remaining Iduxians slowly dispersed, Shen remained at the departure zone, watching the lights as they grew fainter and the eastern sky brighter. Before daylight devoured them completely, Gedor joined him on the plain.

"Miss them, will you?"

"Yes."

"Gone they are not. Merely… fulfilling their destinies."

Shen looked down at the little creature. "And mine is at the Star Forge?"

"Perhaps." His long ears tilted back.

"Have you seen something in the Force?"

"Only a coming trial, like your Master Talyak. A wise one, he is."

"Then you think he's right to chase the colony ship?"

Gedor shrugged. "See his future, I cannot. Worry about your own, you must."

"I do plenty of that already."

He smirked. "Look forward to seeing your Star Forge, I do."

"What made you decide to leave Idux, after all this time?"

"Places to be, we all have. For many years, the mountain was mine. Now, I believe, it is the Forge."

"But why?"

"A time there is to contemplate in a cave… another, to act." He lifted eyes to those tiny lights, just as they were eclipsed by day. "Arrived, that time has."

-{}-

The Hutts had once mined nickel and iron from the Dirha system's asteroid belt, but they'd judged its deposits depleted a century ago and abandoned operations. It hadn't taken much for the Morgukai to rehabilitate one of the old miner's bases: new oxygen cyclers, new sealant on outer bulkheads, a small hydroponics area. Docking equipment and loading machinery had been left intact.

When Vaatus arrived at Dirha, there were twelve other Nikto manning the base. He knew only one of them, a Glus'ssa named Shennek. They'd raided a Hutt storehouse on Kintan once and hadn't seen each other in three years. They asked no personal questions and shared no pleasantries. They were both here to work.

The Empire's envoy was late. Vaatus arrived four hours ahead of schedule. Eight hours later, he was still waiting. He knew the procedure: he was to keep waiting and not send any messages to Ulmatra. The Dirha base didn't have a translight comm anyway, and he'd have to wait days for a response.

Then, finally, it arrived.

The base's sensors couldn't determine the make of the ship. It's thrust signature marked it as Tionese, but its size and movements matched no known class. A custom job, or a rarity. It wasn't large either; sensors marked it as only forty meters long and a quarter the mass of the Gravity Scorned. Few ships that small even had hyperdrives, but it transmitted the key-code they'd expected.

Vaatus was getting curious. He waited at the airlock with Shennek and two guards while the starship coupled with the base. Seals cycled, air pressures matched, and finally the portal opened.

In walked a rat. Vaatus had met this T'iin T'iin years before, after they'd stolen a translight communicator for the Empire. Oziaf, just a meter tall, looked up at the assembled Nikto, whiskers twitching curiously. He didn't expect the Emperor's rodent to recognize him, so Vaatus cleared his throat.

"Welcome to Dirha base," he said in Tionese. "My name is Vaatus, and—"

"Yes, I remember you from Tialvai," Oziaf flipped a paw. "It's been a while, hasn't it? So much has changed, and nothing at all."

"I'm impressed."

"And I'm running a little behind schedule, which means there's no time to chat. I believe you have something for me."

Morguk had given Vaatus some verbal signs and counter-signs to exchange with the Imperial agent, just to make sure he was legitimate, but there seemed no point to it now. He bent slightly and placed the datacard in Oziaf's outstretched paw.

"Excellent. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll check the contents and get back to you."

He turned his tail and walked back into his ship. The Nikto remained outside, frozen, uncertain. Shennek looked at him for guidance; Vaatus looked away. Five minutes passed. Still nothing. Vaatus was tempted to call into the open portal. Then Shennek's comm buzzed, and the Gluss'sa plucked it out.

He listened and replied, "Are you certain? Is it inbound? Wait. I'll be there in a minute."

"The freighter we're expecting?" Vaatus asked hopefully.

Shennek made a fist around his comm. "A batil."

"What?" Vaatus gasped. A Supremacy gunship wasn't much, but this asteroid base had no defenses.

"Hope it's just a scout. We've had them before." He waved at Oziaf's airlock. "We've got to go dark. Tell him to shut down all systems on his ship."

As Shennek and his men hurried to the base's command center, Vaatus crept through the airlock. Hesitation hit him like a wall, freezing him for a moment before he pushed ahead.

Judging by its low ceiling and cramped corridor, this ship had been made specially for the T'iin T'iin. Vaatus had to simultaneously crouch and shimmy sideways to move forward. He called, "Sir! There's a Hutt ship incoming! You need to power down!"

"What was that?" a voice chirped from ahead.

"I said power down!" Vaatus repeated. Space opened just a little at the cockpit; he was able to wedge head, shoulders, and torso in the cabin, right behind the T'iin T'iin's seat.

Oziaf's paws worked the controls, switching off systems. The console lights dimmed but residual power still ran through the ship, lighting consoles, bathing them both in a soft glow. Through the forward porthole, Vaatus could see only stars and the jagged exterior of the asteroid.

"Will this be enough?" asked Oziaf.

Vaatus craned his neck to see the consoles. "Your engines are on stand-by. You should shut them down entirely."

"If I let them go cold, we'll never be able to run."

"We won't have to run. It's just a scout out there, poking around."

"Are you certain?"

Vaatus wasn't. He asked, "Do you think they're after you?"

"I have no idea what they're after, though I admit the timing is… unsettling..."

Oziaf's tail, which snaked out of a hole in the seat-bucket, flipped up to twitch in Vaatus' face. He jerked back, smacking skull to bulkhead, and cursed aloud.

Oziaf ignored him. The T'iin T'iin bent over his sensor screen. "That batil is coming closer."

"Then kill your engines."

"No."

"You're endangering—"

"They're coming straight for us," Oziaf snapped. "Look."

Vaatus peered over his shoulder. Yes, barring minor adjust-ments around navigational hazards, that batil was coming right for them.

"Unlock the docking clamp," Oziaf said. "I'm getting out of here."

"You'll give us away!"

"They already know we're here." Oziaf began tapping his consoles, powering up systems. "Now unlock the docking clamp. Now."

He was right. Vaatus needed to break the lock. Once it did, Oziaf would fly away safely. Shennek and the others would have no chance but how much did their lives matter compared to the Special Plenipotentiary's? How much did his? The answer, of course, was not much.

Vaatus hurried out of this ship as quickly as its tiny corridor would allow. When he got outside he worked the airlock's exterior controls, removing the pressure seal. He shouted into the ship, "You're clear! Go now!"

That was when the first missile hit.

It was a good hit too, not just rocking their asteroid but the base itself. Alarms sounded, wind roared, signifying an exterior breech. The corridor shook violently around him. That batil had known exactly where to shoot.

Vaatus less jumped and more fell into the airlock as the double-doors started to seal. The base and the ship trembled as he planted face-down inside the tiny hallway. The heavy doors clipped his calves and he would have lost everything below both knees, but he snapped legs out of the way just in time.

The airlock closed, sealing him inside. The ship kept shaking. Then there was one final, terrible wrench, and the trembling stopped.

Next, acceleration. They'd broken off from the base and were gunning clear. Vaatus, still on his stomach, crawled toward the cockpit. Oziaf was doing evasive maneuvers; if he weren't wedged between walls Vaatus would have been dashed back and forth.

"What happened?" He called. "Did they destroy the base?"

"Why are you still aboard?" Oziaf snapped angrily.

Vaatus didn't bother to answer. He rose to elbows and knees and shuffled all the way to the cockpit, just in time to half-rise, peer over Oziaf's shoulder, looked through the porthole and see—

—the flare of a missile one second from impact. He cried out. Oziaf squeaked in terror and wrenched the controls. Vaatus didn't know what collided next: his skull to the bulkhead, or the missile to the ship. Everything exploded into black.