Jaden wiped some blood away from a cut on her hand as she crawled up through the narrow vent space, always moving higher through the cracks that the machine's overload had caused. It wasn't bad, just a scratch, but it stung and she considered healing it since their medpack was long gone with Kyle… But she left it alone, for some reason glad to feel pain that wasn't on the inside, and she strangely liked it, embraced it, let it fuel her to keep moving, to stay alive.
She finally pulled herself up into a space occupied by broken power conduits that'd burst during the overload, avoiding the hot steam, her sights set on a bright light above her, coming from what she hoped was a room inside the Castle proper. She paused for a moment to catch her breath, hoping the room would be empty, which she figured if there were people in the space above, there'd be quite a bit of frantic sounds from people about the literal hole in the floor.
"Jaden, are you okay?" Goosebumps covered her flesh and her whole body started to shake at the voice coming from her comlink. She fought against sobs of relief as she held the com up.
"Yeah, I'm fine Kyle," she choked out, a stray tear falling over her dirty cheek, causing a streak. "Where are you?"
"I'm not really sure. I'll have to catch up with you. Go on ahead without me, you'll be fine, I believe in you kid." All these familiar words of his that she felt only moments ago she'd never hear again washed her with relief and she silently vowed to never take them for granted again. She nearly signed off when she heard voices from above. Whatever room it was, people were entering it to investigate what had happened.
"What's going on, Jaden?" She realized she never released the talk button.
"Nothing I can't handle," she spoke quietly.
"Good, I ran into some trouble, but I'm almost to the top of the core. I'll see you soon."
Jaden shoved her com in her pocket. With new resolve and revitalized energy thanks to Kyle still being alive, she leapt the final few feet inside a large, open room into which stormtroopers were quickly filing.
There were too many, even for her alone, so she did the only thing she could think of to even the odds. She threw forth her empty hands and lightning spewed from them, tackling at least half of the force before her. They went down screaming and she released more crackling blue and violet bolts at the rest of them. Once they were all down, she took stock of the room, round with four doors around the perimeter. Only one appeared unlocked and it was the one from which the troopers had come in from. She took it, thankfully not running into anyone else on the other side as she passed down a hallway.
She slowed halfway down however, at the sense of something, the dark presence of a cultist. As she neared the end of the hall where it turned a corner into another room, she heard him speak to someone, another cultist by what she could sense.
"Are you new here?" A soft, almost hypnotic voice asked.
"Yes," replied his companion.
"You made a wise choice. The Master will soon return to lead us to glory."
Master? Is he talking about Ragnos? Jaden wondered.
She took another step forward and a metal tile in the floor squeaked. Sithspit.
"Ahh, a little mouse has come to play," said the first voice who took a few steps in her direction. "Come out little mouse."
"First of all. Don't. Call. Me. Mouse! Or any other pet name. Creep." Jaden leapt out from behind the corner, brandishing her lightsaber. The two cultists smiled, she could see it in their eyes since their mouths were covered. But it was a dark, evil humor she saw there, not joy.
Dueling in a tight space was not preferable at all. She twisted around, Force pushing one cultist into the nearby wall and focusing on the one in front of her. She managed to grasp his saber hand, digging in her nails and wrenching it from him, striking him to the ground before returning to the other one who'd gotten up and was especially angry.
She now fought with two lightsabers in her hands, purple and red flashing back and forth, trying to gain the upper hand. She struggled with the feeling of using a new fighting style, something that only a few Jedi at the Academy knew how to use properly. She stepped back, stumbling on the dead cultist's body and began to stagger. Her opponent rushed forward, the anticipation of the kill blazing in his fiery eyes. She barely caught the blade with the red one she held, planting one foot behind her.
Before he knew it, Jaden swung her violet blade up, severing her opponent's saber and he was history. Though, as she stood over him, she recognized the feeling of satisfaction at killing someone who'd taunted her and called her a name she didn't particularly like and she felt cold all over. I struck him down in anger. That's not the Jedi way. What have I done?
She threw down the red lightsaber she'd been dueling with and cut it in half. She moved on, resolving to not kill an unarmed opponent again. Besides, fighting with two lightsabers was a new challenge all its own, even though Jaden rather liked the feel of another lightsaber and being able to block and gain advantage. On the other end it was difficult controlling two sabers and not having one hand free, but she decided that perhaps when she got back to the Academy, she'd request Kyle and Luke to let her start on the path towards making another lightsaber for combat.
She stepped onto a small, nearby lift and took it up. At the top was a door that led out onto a wraparound balcony that stretched half of the perimeter of the large room she'd come up into. She ran across it and found a door on the far side leading into some barracks belonging to stormtroopers who were very much present, but there weren't very many of them to deal with.
Jaden wondered exactly where she was going. They'd been sent to determine if the Disciples were here to drain Force energy and hoped She and Kyle wouldn't have to search the entire Castle. But by the looks of all the Imperials and cultists she was facing, they seemed to be leading her somewhere. At any rate all the lifts she encountered went up, so that's where she would keep going.
She exited the last barrack room and entered a short hallway that emptied out into a room with a wide, circular lift in the middle. She heard voices on the other side of it and stopped to listen.
"We're wanted up in the Throne Room," said one voice, strangely hypnotic, like the cultist from earlier. Did they all sound like that?
"For what?" Questioned a second one.
"I guess they're almost done up there. We'll be leaving soon."
"Too bad, I would've liked to stay a little longer. I hear there's a statue of him that I'd very much like to see."
Him? Throne Room? Jaden didn't know Vader had a Throne Room, but seeing as how this place was his Castle, it made sense, and even more importantly, she had a location to aim towards. It had to be where they were siphoning the Force energy! She just had to take out her opponents on the other side of the lift. She didn't want to be dueling enemies all day, she didn't have the strength for that, but she did have another secret weapon. Tiptoeing around the side of the lift as the cultists continued their conversation about Vader and the paraphernalia around the Castle, she saw that only one was armed, assuming that the other was wielding the Force as his weapon, just like the one in Racto's office building on Coruscant. She took a deep breath, she'd have to be quick.
She leapt out of hiding and struck them both with Force lightning, down they both went to the floor, convulsing as if in a seizure. She rushed back around the other side and took the lift up. It opened up onto a balcony above a small hangar where TIEs hung from the ceiling, with large windows along one wall that looked out onto the dismal landscape of Vjun. It was still raining and a weak light streamed in through the windows, but Jaden felt a strange happiness at seeing any daylight after being inside vents or in the underbelly of the Castle for hours on end.
She found a staircase leading down into the hangar and looked around. No one, good.
"Jaden," Kyle said and she quickly grabbed her com. "I just got into the castle. Looks like you took care of everything down here. Where are you now?"
"I'm in a hangar, but the lift I took to get up here still has a couple of cultists near it, this place is crawling with them so I had to go on the offensive to get through."
"Okay, that's alright, I'll take care of it. I'll catch up with you soon."
"And Kyle?"
"Yes?"
"I heard one of the cultists mention something about a Throne Room and that they,- I guess the cult leaders- were almost done up there."
"Good work! Alright, keep going and I'll be there as soon as possible, but do not engage whoever's up there okay? Try your best to stay out of sight and observe what's going on and wait for me to arrive, we have no idea what these cult higher ups are capable of."
"Will do, I'll see you soon."
Jaden did a sweep of the hangar, finding a corner that led into a maintenance repair room for TIE Fighters, various spare parts hanging everywhere or leaning against the walls. Another short lift brought her up to a small platform and a door that led into a droid repair room, pieces of protocol droid arms, assassin droids and astromechs littered the floor and workbenches. Past this was a hallway that opened up into a room lit with eerie red light and closed doors in the four corners. The door behind her suddenly shut and a button on a nearby control panel in the middle started to blink. I have a bad feeling about this.
With no other options, she pushed the button.
One of the corner doors opened and chaos broke loose. Two round shaped, hovering sentry droids burst out and started blasting a barrage of yellow bolts in her direction. Jaden somersaulted to the side to avoid being hit. Coming up on one knee, her lightsaber came out to block the next onslaught from the droid's corrected aim.
One sentry fell from a deflected bolt and Jaden launched herself at the remaining droid, slicing it perfectly down the center. She panted, glancing around, hoping to spot the exit.
Another corner door opened. But nothing came out of it, it was just an empty room. Jaden went to have a closer look, wondering if her way out was hidden within. Nothing. Then why-
A door set into the next corner down opened. Out stumbled something similar in design to Lannik Racto's assassin droids, but it looked old, like it hadn't had maintenance done on it in a very long time. It jerkily raised the blaster in its mechanical hand at Jaden and fired. She could've stayed standing perfectly still and even then the bolt wouldn't have hit her. She made quick work of the droid and happened to glance towards the control panel she'd pushed the button on. Three short pillars had risen out of the floor around it at the corners. Only three.
Oh Sithsp-
The last corner door opened and out stepped a singular lightsaber combat droid. It was like the ones Luke used at the Academy, but another outdated modal just like the previous droid. It all finally clicked for Jaden.
This was a training room—Darth Vader's training room!
The combat droid was now advancing swiftly toward her, she shook her head and braced herself, holding onto the thinnest hope that the blade it carried was set to training mode. When she blocked its first strike, she pushed against it and the droid stumbled back, the yellow blade cutting a deep rent in the metal wall nearby.
Okay, so that's a very real lightsaber!
Panic tried to root itself in her, flooding her mind with memories of her first day of training, of the dangerous prank Rosh had played on her. She could still remember Kyle's reprimand to him: "If that droid was set to Luke's training regimen, it would have killed Jaden. What were you thinking?"
Luke's training regimen. That's gotta be one of the toughest levels of lightsaber combat to face at the Academy. But what about this droid? What level was it set to if it was meant for Vader?
Panic wove more of its icy threads around Jaden's insides. But she knew giving into it would mean the death of her. Continuing to cross sabers with this droid wasn't an option. So she went on the defensive.
Backpedaling quickly, Jaden turned around once she was a safe distance from the swinging yellow blade and ran for her life. Once she'd gained as much distance between herself and the combat droid, she turned quickly on her heel and implemented her tried and true method of dispatching droids and blaster wielding enemies: She used her lightning.
The droid tried to parry at first, but it wasn't programmed for defense against this type of attack. The blue and purple bolts of high voltage energy crawled their way across the droid's limbs and body, overloading and eventually short circuiting it until it crumbled to the floor, now a pile of junk and scrap metal.
A silence fell over the room, broken only by the sound of that last short pillar rising into place at the corner of the control panel. The torture was over.
A door at the end opened and Jaden ran through, fearing the room would reset, vowing to never complain about Kyle's training methods ever again.
A lift took her down a short distance and she entered into a wide, open room with stairs on one side leading up to a walkway and a door. But what commanded her immediate attention was, up ahead, standing before a small dais of sorts, was a man clad exactly like her strange opponent from earlier. A Reborn.
He merely stared at her, red eyes glaring, as if they could set her ablaze.
"Umm, hello?" Jaden said, feeling very uncomfortable. The Reborn didn't respond. He ignited his lightsaber, whose hilt was very long for a normal saber, she thought. That is until he ignited the other end, revealing it to be a staff lightsaber. Jaden had only seen one person use such a saber and that was Master Tionne, but she'd never actually dueled her, just her students. I guess there's a time to learn and that time is now.
She had a feeling she could get the upper hand with this one because of her free range of motion and movement. But she wasn't about to underestimate his skill, remembering how tough the first one was.
She rushed him, turning to the right at the last second to avoid his saber moving to block a strike that never came. With his saber up he was exposed, but he side stepped her slash. He's smarter than he looks. She leapt into the air, expertly vaulting over him and landed on the other side, their blades crossing. It wasn't very hard to block him, but Kyle was right, she could not give him an inch or he would take the advantage. He was much bigger than her and she used this to her advantage, letting him make swings with entirely too much power behind them and side stepping at the last second with her opponent losing his balance. But again, he regained it before she could make a good slash at him. Suddenly, he started spinning his lightsaber, creating a shield of protection in front of him. Jaden took her chance. She jumped and flipped high into the air, landing softly and slashed her blade across the Reborn's back without a second to spare. He sucked in one final breath and fell to the floor.
Jaden breathed out slowly through her nostrils.
It's over, I did it, I killed my first Reborn and didn't need help doing it.
She glanced behind her at the huge window through which streamed weak light from outside, providing what would be a pleasant view of the canyons if the place hadn't been so dismal and coated with the presence of the dark side. In front of the window laying toppled on the dais, was the debris of a statue. Jaden stepped in for a closer look. From what she could make of the broken pieces, it was of a black, robed figure. She moved towards where the top of it had fallen and stopped short, her breath stopping with her feet. A black helmet, still shiny, made of the blackest obsidian, with even darker eye sockets that threatened to drown her, choke the life out of her. She imagined she heard its breathing and had to shake her head to keep from returning to that dark vision from her first day. Darth Vader's statue. She thought back to the conversation she'd heard from the cultists. It wasn't them who'd done it, or anyone else here for that matter, but someone else, some time before this, she could feel it.
Hm. Someone didn't like Vader much…
Kyle's words from earlier that morning filtered back through her mind. "I'd heard rumors that Luke had been to Vjun, but he never really talked about it…" Had Luke done this?
"Are you here as a curious pilgrim, an admirer of Lord Vader as well? Or are you just here to disturb my brethren while they do the work of the Master?" A cold voice from behind asked. Goosebumps formed on the back of Jaden's neck and she turned to face another Reborn, standing just at the top of the stairs, his approach had been deadly silent. She shivered at the thought that he could have snuck up right behind her. How many of these guys are there? She thought, I'll bet the Throne Room's right through there at the top of the stairs.
"You tell me," she said in answer to his question. "Do I look like a brainwashed Sith to you?"
The Reborn chuckled, but it wasn't a warm laugh with any humor in it. "Very funny, you look like a brainwashed little Jedi."
"Hurtful." Jaden and the Reborn's sabers were out a moment later, with her enemy bearing two of them. Jaden had a clever idea after having tried dueling with two lightsabers earlier. She was going to use the issues she knew she dealt with against him and hoped it worked, in all probability it might not, seeing as he was most likely highly trained. But this plan was all she possessed, and she had to try. Red met purple and the sound echoed within the large room. This Reborn was agile and seemed to enjoy using his athleticism and Force assisted acrobatics to try and overwhelm Jaden. This worked to her advantage. She was not impressed or intimidated in the slightest and searched for an opening whenever he would cartwheel or flip away to avoid her strikes. She set about pretending to come at him. As soon as he began a form of acrobatics, she pushed hard to trip him up, but he would easily recover as if it was his plan the entire time.
"Not going to work, Jedi. I know all your tricks!"
Okay then, time to switch tactics.
She let him come her way, ducked a slash that nearly took her head off and grabbed him violently from behind in a Force grip. He choked and sputtered, then pushed her off him. Jaden fought to regain her balance, and shot lightning towards him to distract as she reset herself. It hit him in an exposed part of his side and he cried out as he was shot backwards, toppling over the broken pieces of Vader's statue. Jaden leapt into the air, flipping once for extra flair but almost second guessed it knowing it was purely for showing off and brought her saber down on his crossed ones. He was half sitting, half lying on the floor and she saw an opportunity. She stomped her foot as hard as she could where it hurt him the most. His hands weakened their grip on their hold of his sabers and Jaden broke through, slicing him from head to groin.
She stood up straight and turned around so that she didn't have to see her gruesome work a second longer and looked up the stairs to the passage he was guarding.
The Throne Room.
She wasted no more time in running up the stairs and through the short passageway to the large door at the end of it. This was it, this was why they were here.
Jaden entered Vader's Throne Room, it was long and narrow with tall gray pillars lining either side leading up to the only interesting thing in it: a large, hexagonal pod that loomed tall, its gleaming black sides opened like crooked teeth to reveal an immaculate interior that so starkly contrasted the outside. The center of the chamber was just big enough for a person to sit comfortably inside of, an object more fit for meditation than as a functioning throne.
But Jaden didn't take all of this in until much later, because something much more pressing was happening in front of the throne-like meditation chamber. Up three short steps stood three people, two were identically dressed individuals in reddish-orange robes with their arms folded, facing the door and in the middle was the third, wielding the all too familiar shaped scepter at Vader's Throne…
"I sense your presence, Jaden," the figure holding the scepter said, turning slowly to face her.
Jaden came to a sudden stop, for the moment she saw nothing else in the room but him. "Rosh?!" So many emotions from relief to shock to confusion raced through Jaden's mind as well as a myriad of questions. "What are you doing here?"
Rosh stepped away from the throne and came right between the twins, for that was what Jaden realized they were, and lowered the scepter to his side.
"The Disciples of Ragnos brought me. At first, I thought they were going to kill me, but I was wrong about them." He glanced at each of the twins, sounding genuinely thankful much to Jaden's confusion and chagrin. "Do you realize how much power there is in the dark side? Kyle was holding us back, Jaden." He held the scepter out in front of him, grasping it in both hands. "You should feel the power. It's beyond anything you've ever imagined!" Jaden saw his eyes sparkle with something bordering on crazed drunkenness and it frightened her, it reminded her of their mission on Tatooine when he slaughtered the Sand People while protecting her.
"Rosh, what are you saying?!" She threw her arms out in disbelief. "You're a Jedi!"
Rosh hesitated, he looked overwhelmed and fell unexpectedly to his knees, placing the scepter on the floor and holding his head in his hands as if to shut out conflicting voices. That's it! Jaden felt it, she hadn't fully lost her friend to the dark side.
"No…" Rosh mumbled. "No, I…"
The twin on Rosh's left stepped forward. "Enough talk!" He growled. "Rosh! Destroy this puny Jedi so we can complete our task!"
Rosh slowly stood to his feet, pulling a lightsaber from his belt. Jaden noticed it wasn't his. A bitter resolve spread over his face. "Yes…" he said slowly, pointing his saber hilt towards her, "if you're too weak to join us, Jaden, then we can't let you stand in our way." This last word he growled out as the crimson blade in his hand illuminated his face, seemingly splitting it in two as he held it perfectly out in front of himself.
Jaden brandished her lightsaber, standing ready for Rosh's first attack.
"You ready for me?" He said playfully, the way he used to when they trained. It definitely pushed a button for her as all kinds of emotions bubbled up to the surface and she jumped into action. But rather than going for Rosh, she caught him and the twins off guard by going for the one on his left, the one who'd egged him into fighting her. She sliced him across the chest and he fell with a blood curdling cry, the smell of burnt flesh filling the air.
His twin screamed in rage, "You will pay for that Jedi!"
Jaden was knocked to her knees, but not by Rosh, he was nowhere near her she realized. She saw the living twin's eyes blazing red, he was the one who Force pushed her. As she started to get back up he did it again and she was thrown across the room, narrowly missing a pillar.
Woah, this guy is powerful! Jaden shook her head to clear it, then saw Rosh coming at her, full speed.
"Rosh…" she said but he didn't stop, he was resolved. She rolled quickly to her feet, barely avoiding his saber and ran for the other twin. If I can take the other one out, maybe I can reason with Rosh. She prepared to jump to avoid the twins' attempt at pushing her but he tumbled out of her way instead and shot a bolt of red lightning from his fingers. Jaden caught it on her saber, deflecting it back at him. But he didn't cry out in pain. Wait, where'd he go?
Rosh's blade came from behind and Jaden was forced to cross blades with him again. "Come on Jaden, Kyle is holding you back! What'll it take for you to finally see that?"
They exchanged several strikes, ending with Rosh catching Jaden's low to high slash. She tried to reason with him. "When are you going to see that this cult is lying to you! They're using your fear to control you!"
"No, they helped me use my fear to become more powerful than you and Kyle and anyone else at the Academy!"
"Then what about our friends?! Jas and Jacyyn, Arta-Mess and Kalil, Goran and Ral? They miss you. I miss you." She parried his next strike and they locked eyes.
"What friends? Last I checked, those were your friends who barely tolerated me!" His eyes wandered down to something that sparkled on her neck that'd caught his eye. His brows knit together, eyes narrowing.
"I see you finally started wearing it. How long did it take before you did? After I'd been missing a week? A month?"
"Rosh that's stupid of course I wore it before you went missing!" Jaden urged even as guilt filled her. She'd worn it once before he disappeared. Once.
"Liar!" He raged. "Oh you'll pay, you'll all pay for underestimating me and pushing me away!"
Jaden couldn't make any sense from what he was saying. "When did I ever push you-?"
"ALL. THE. TIME!" Rosh yelled with each strike. He struck at her so hard that it sent her backpedaling. There would be no reasoning with him even with the other twin dead. She had to figure out how to incapacitate him. "Remember when you told me to meet you on the roof?" He said, his voice lower, filled with pain and resentment. "I told you I never went up there, but I did." He shook his head sadly, forcing a bitter laugh. "I waited all night for you and you never came! I wanted to be your friend but you pushed me away!"
"No Rosh, I told you I was sorry! Why didn't you tell me? I didn't mean to-" Slash after slash which Jaden had to parry came her way, keeping her on her toes.
"As far as I can see, we're no longer 'friends,' we never were." Rosh spat after their lightsabers connected and lingered for a moment.
"Then you leave me no choice. I'm sorry Rosh." Jaden shot out her hand, willing power to release from her fingertips. The Force lightning struck an unprepared Rosh and he was thrown back, landing in a heap near the throne.
Jaden turned around, glancing wildly around the room, trying to find the remaining Sith twin before Rosh came to. A sound from behind brought her back and she whirled around. The twin stood near Rosh, arms outstretched, orange-yellow beams of energy passing from him into Rosh.
"By the Force…" Jaden whispered in horror, the purpose of the twins dawning on her. They weren't just escorts or bodyguards, they were here to ensure Rosh, who wasn't as powerful or fully trained as he boasted, didn't get hurt or killed. An idea came to her.
Sneaking around the side of Vader's meditation chamber, Jaden summoned as much will as she could into a powerful Force sprint as she rushed the twin to try and take him by surprise. The twin suddenly cartwheeled out of the way, dodging her attempt completely. Jaden was fed up at this point and didn't care if she was getting just a bit frustrated, or angry.
"I am unbeatable!" The twin cried, thrusting out a hand to try and trip her up, but Jaden had gotten used to this trick by now.
"You won't get away from me!" Rosh yelled from behind, fully revitalized. Jaden stretched out a hand in his direction, throwing him off balance and went for the twin.
Suddenly her saber wielding arm was grabbed, the twin was right there, his ugly face right next to hers. "You're no match for us, Jedi!" He squeezed her arm so hard she cried out in pain and dropped her saber. It clanged to the ground behind him.
Jaden felt herself lifted into the air, hovering above the floor, an invisible hand like a vice held her throat. She choked, sputtering a cough. The twin was laughing.
"Rosh! Come take care of your little friend!" He looked Jaden in the eye. "You are truly pathetic!"
"Dasariah… maybe we shouldn't…" Rosh's voice sounded like his again, trembling slightly, unsure.
"Prove your allegiance, or are you as weak as we thought? Avenge Vil, avenge my fallen brother, or I'll do it myself and leave you to pay for the consequences of your weakness!"
"No… I'll… I'll do it!" Jaden could hear the steely firmness of his voice, she was losing him. She was fighting unconsciousness and for breath, she was running out of time. Spotting her lightsaber laying on the floor, she made one last ditch effort, one more attempt.
"You are weak Jaden." Rosh's voice came from behind, a hint of sadness marking his tone.
The sound of a lightsaber turning on by itself made Rosh stop and stare in amazement, because one second Jaden's saber lay helpless on the ground, then before he could process what he was seeing, it flew with blinding speed past Dasariah and into Jaden's open palm. She was ready as the Sith twin fell to the floor, releasing his Force grip on her and she landed on her feet unharmed. Dasariah had been nearly cut in two through the chest, his arm lay on the floor, severed at the elbow. Rosh looked like he was going to be sick.
Jaden turned to face him. "This isn't you Rosh, this isn't who you are."
"And how would you know?! Huh! You never really bothered to get to know me!" Rosh shot back.
"Yes I did!" She exclaimed, her hazel eyes pleading. "I wanted to get to know you better, the real you, the you that you barely showed me when we were on Blenjeel together. That's the real you Rosh, not this, this cultist! You're better than that!"
"No." Rosh shook his head. "I was weak! But not anymore!"
"C'mon Rosh, it's over! You don't have to be afraid of them anymore. Kyle and I can take you back to the Academy and get you some help."
His eyebrows furrowed at the mention of Kyle, his blood clearly boiling beneath his red cheeks. Just one look in his eyes told Jaden everything: Going back to the Academy, with them, and his tail between his legs to face Luke and all their friends was the last thing Rosh wanted to do. He'd rather die, or so it seemed.
He came at Jaden so forcefully that it almost caught her unawares. Almost. She swung her saber and connected with his, continuing to dodge and parry his strikes and attacks. Something had snapped inside him, that much she could see, his eyes were rimmed with red, unhinged.
"OOooOoo!" He taunted when he struck so hard that it sent her spirling backwards, barely keeping her footing. "I'll show you! I'll show you all!" He struck again, but she was ready for it this time. Without the twins, Rosh wasn't exactly a match for her, but with blind rage, it did give him an edge and Jaden wasn't resigned to killing him, determined to somehow knock him out or disarm him.
"Come on Jaden, you might as well stop!" Their lightsabers were locked, faces so close, closer, Jaden noticed, than they'd ever been before on either side of their crossed lightsabers. Another memory, another duel, another time, sprang back unbidden to the forefront of her mind. But she pushed it aside, there was no time for distraction.
"Come to the dark side…" Rosh pleaded, his eyes softening a bit. Jaden held his gaze, he was right where she needed him. Her one hand held her saber and the other came up quickly. With a great exertion of Force power, she pushed Rosh back, sending him and his saber flying, stumbling onto the three small steps below Vader's Throne.
In the next second, Rosh was on the ground, his lightsaber lay several feet away from him. He frantically pulled it towards himself with the Force but was too late. Jaden's saber sliced through Rosh's as it flew through the air and the two halves dropped uselessly to the floor. Jaden turned her attention to Rosh and approached him, lightsaber held high in the strong stance Kyle had taught her.
"Jaden…" Rosh stretched out his left hand as a gesture of defenseless surrender. The heat of battle had worn off, his mind was seeing things more clearly. He fumbled for the right words to say, but nothing he could think of seemed to be the right thing. Their relationship could never be patched up with a simple apology.
Jaden wasn't sure herself of what to say or do for that matter, anger burned within her at his betrayal, whispering to strike him down right there, and that thought scared her. But whatever she was about to do, or even say, was lost in the next instant.
"Jaden!" Kyle ran into the room. Jaden felt relief as soon as she heard her master's voice, he would know what to do.
Inexplicable shame filled Rosh at the sight of Kyle. He was too embarrassed to even look his former master in the eyes.
"Kyle… I-" He began, but that explanation fell flat. There was an audible silence.
Out of nowhere, Jaden and Kyle fell to their knees in agony as veins of red lightning coursed through their bodies.
"Oh." The sound of a tongue clicking against teeth came out of the shadows of a hidden doorway and a tall woman clad in leather entered. Purple tattoos covered her arms, the top half of her face was painted the same color like war paint, her hair done up in a bun at the top of her head with green, yellow and orange feathers sticking out of it. She strode in with a swagger that exuded from her swaying hips and the sultry, cold smile on her lips.
"Did you really think I would give up my new apprentice so easily?" She pulled the scepter to herself. Suddenly the image before Jaden made it all clear. Her eyes widened.
She was the figure holding the scepter at the Massassi Temple! And those twins…
"Tavion!" Kyle exclaimed, shock and horror covering his face, causing Jaden to glance at him in confusion.
Kyle knows this woman? How?
"You should have killed me when you had the chance, Katarn. Your pathetic Jedi mercy is a weakness that shall cost you your life…" She casually raised her hand in Kyle's direction and the Jedi Master, who'd finally managed to stand to his feet, was violently thrown back against a nearby pillar. "...and the life of your Academy's students." She turned her attention to Rosh. "But not you, my dear Rosh. Come." Jaden thought she was going to be sick. The way Tavion looked at and spoke to Rosh as though he was her pet was unsettling and turned her stomach.
Rosh stood mechanically to his feet in response. "Yes, Tavion." His voice was eager and obedient as he walked over to her.
"Rosh, no!" Jaden begged.
"Fool!" Tavion looked at Jaden with venom in her eyes. "Your petty friendship cannot compare with the power of the dark side!" She laughed as she placed a hand possessively around Rosh's waist as Jaden watched in disgust. But she was able to catch the briefest of expressions on her friend's face, a tightening of the jaw muscles, a tension that spoke volumes of his not being fully comfortable or consensual to this… whatever this was between him and Tavion.
Kyle was standing now, brushing himself off. "So, is this what it's come to, Tavion? Stealing scraps of the Force like some sort of intergalactic parasite?"
"Spare me your self-righteous pity Katarn! You may have shamed me when you spared my life, but that was before I found THIS…" She thrust the scepter forward for them to see. The curve of the two prongs of the scepter suddenly lit up a nagging thought, a lingering memory in the back of Jaden's mind. The statue of Marka Ragnos from Racto's office! Its horns match the shape of the scepters!
Almost as if in further confirmation, Tavion said, "Now… I have a new Master, one who promised me the power to destroy you and all the Jedi!"
Kyle shook his head, "Ragnos? What can a dead Sith Lord give you?"
"Everything I have ever wanted…" Tavion's wicked smile returned, "not that you'll be around to see it!" Jaden suddenly felt her arm gripped by an invisible hand and yanked forward, her saber flying out of her palm unwillingly, igniting on its own and wheeling up towards the ceiling.
As her lightsaber cut into the roof, Tavion sent a blast of energy from the scepter, destroying Jaden's precious lightsaber and collapsing more parts of the ceiling over their heads. Jaden didn't have enough time to process the sinking feeling at the loss of her lightsaber or to take notice of where Tavion and Rosh ran off too. She threw up her hands as debris fell all around them, and Kyle didn't miss a beat either in joining her. Together they created a Force barrier similar to the one they used to protect themselves from the acid rain, but far stronger.
"We have to find a way out of this!" Kyle groaned. "I can't tell how much of this place she brought down on us!"
"Down?" An idea struck Jaden. "Kyle! It's down! Quick, give me your lightsaber, I'm gonna cut a hole in the floor, it's our only way out!"
"You're… gonna have to grab it yourself, it's taking all I have to hold this up!" Heavy beads of perspiration glistened on his forehead, Jaden reached for his belt and took his lightsaber, then set to work carving a sizable hole in the floor big enough for them to fit through, praying there was a space under them and that the floor wasn't too thick. It wasn't, but it took longer than she expected.
"I can't… keep this up for long!" Kyle's voice was strained from the amount of focus and exertion of Force power he had to wield.
"Look at how weak your master is. Use my knowledge and you will become more powerful than any Jedi. Including him." Tavion's voice filled her mind and she almost lost her concentration.
"Jaden!" Kyle's voice cut through the fog.
"Hold on," Jaden said, shaking her head. She was almost there! Suddenly, the circle was complete and fell through to the floor below. "Got it! Let's go!" She exclaimed, then jumped down through the hole. Kyle, still concentrating on holding up the heavy pieces of the roof, slowly rose to a half crouch, and moved towards the hole. He leapt through and rolled away from the opening as soon as he landed. Bits of heavy debris that were small enough to fit fell through the gap above them, master and apprentice stood facing each other, breathing heavily, exchanging nods of understanding and appreciation. Jaden lifted Kyle's lightsaber up, extinguishing it before handing it back to him. He took it gratefully, then looked down. Noticing something shining amongst the dust and debris, he bent down to pick it up.
"Hey, what's this now?"
Jaden had tried asking Kyle the questions burning in her mind on the way back to the Academy, but all he answered was, "Not now, later. It's a long, complicated story." But in the end, Jaden was glad of the silence, it gave her time to think and process things through, particularly regarding the Scepter of Ragnos. Soon enough, they were both standing in front of Luke in the empty Audience Chamber, filling him in on everything.
"We looked everywhere after getting free, but Tavion had already taken Rosh and fled." Kyle finished their story.
"So now we know who is leading this cult. But that doesn't explain why there are so many Dark Force users," Luke mused.
"Some of Desann's leftover Reborn were with her," Kyle answered grimly, Jaden cocked her head at this.
Who's Desann?
"As for the cultists, Jaden has a theory."
"I was thinking on our way back, if the scepter can store the Force, maybe it can release it too. Tavion could be using it to empower her followers."
Luke rubbed his chin. "Corrupting disciples with the dark side of the Force… that would explain a lot." He looked up at Kyle. "Did you get a good look at the scepter?"
"Yeah, I'd bet it belonged to Ragnos. We need to figure out what Tavion plans on doing with it if we're going to stop her."
Luke nodded. "Agreed." He then turned to Jaden. "You are going to need to build a new lightsaber to replace the one you lost."
"Already ahead of you sir," Jaden said as she produced a tiny object out of the small pocket of her vest and held it up for him to see. "Kyle spotted it in the rubble that fell through the hole of the Throne Room's floor!"
Luke smiled. "You're Kyber Crystal! Jaden, that's wonderful, it'll help put you a step ahead in the process for sure."
"I was devastated when Tavion destroyed my lightsaber, but having the Crystal back makes it a little less painful because I'll at least still have part of my old saber with me. I do have some great design ideas though that'll be a major improvement!" Jaden was almost giddy like a child, the thought of a new lightsaber the perfect distraction from thinking about Vjun and all that had happened there.
Luke chuckled, "I can't wait to see what you come up with. While we try to figure out what Tavion's next move is, I'd like you to take a more active role at the Academy."
"Sir?" Jaden looked up at him, confused.
"Jaden, you handled yourself exceptionally well on Vjun. To confront three Dark Jedi and defeat them took bravery and skill. For your efforts I feel you are ready to join our ranks as a Jedi Knight."
"Congratulations." Kyle lightly smacked the back of her shoulder blades affectionately.
Jaden could hardly contain the emotions bubbling up in her. "Me?! You think I'm ready?"
"We believe you're ready Jaden," Kyle said.
"That's right, we do," Luke agreed. "Now, normally from what I understand there'd be more ceremony to this, but since we're still rebuilding the Jedi Order and there's a cult out there that needs to be stopped soon, this will have to do. Kyle, step forward and present your lightsaber since Jaden is without hers."
Kyle removed his saber from his belt and stepped forward, then turned to Jaden, who was still in shock at this new promotion and had no idea how to act. "What should I do, Master?" She said without realizing she'd used his title.
"Just follow my lead and do as I say." Kyle winked. He turned to Luke and nodded. The Jedi Grandmaster bowed his head in consent. Kyle ignited his lightsaber and continued, "Jaden, step forward and kneel." She did so. "Jaden Korr, as your master and with Grandmaster Skywalker as witness," he lowered the saber to hover just inches above Jaden's right shoulder, "by the rite of this Order…" he moved the blade over her head to rest just above her left shoulder "...and the Will of the Force, I dub you, a Jedi Knight." He slowly raised his saber, its indigo blade returning to its source as he placed it back on his belt. "Rise, now Jaden," Luke said. "You did wonderful."
Jaden rose to her feet, feeling lighter and heavier all at once. "Yes, Master Skywalker. Thank you both."
Luke gave her a warm smile, turned and walked out of the room. Jaden moved to go, she wanted to get started on her design for a new lightsaber as soon as possible, but Kyle's hand on her shoulder held her back a moment:
"Jaden, after the battle, I felt the anger seething inside you. You may be a Jedi Knight now, but you still must beware of the dark side."
Jaden turned to look her master in the eye. "Yes, Kyle. I'll try not to fail you."
Kyle sighed. "You're alright kid. Here, come sit down for a moment, your new lightsaber can wait a little longer." He led her a few feet back to the steps of the chamber that went up to the dais where Luke often addressed the Academy. "You asked about how I knew Tavion, well, I figure now's as good a time to tell you."
Jaden sat, attentive and ready to listen, bursting with curiosity; she gave him a slight tilt of her head and he began.