Power and Betrayal: Chapter 11

"We're clear of the debris field. Now we just need a place to land." Kari announced.

Kinnan was also in the cockpit with her, manning the navigation system--which was now being augmented by the Gree White Parallel computer. "Okay, this nav-point is our target. According to the regression simulation, there's an 81.3% chance that the old Trayus Academy is within 4 miles of this location. Hopefully we can narrow it down further with some aerial reconnaissance of the area before we set down."

"So . . . that's a one in five chance that this place is actually on the opposite side of the planet?" Kari asked with more than a little sarcasm in her voice.

"Well, not exactly." he responded. "And there's really no call for pessimism yet. We just need to make more detailed topographical scans of this particular area and heuristically map out the best and least matching features."

"So . . . look for a spot that resembles the 300-year-old coordinates?"

"Well, not exactly." he responded again, to Kari's visible frustration. "But to oversimplify it, yes." he added with a grin.

"Okay, we'll start at your nav-point and spiral out. If your little box shouts 'Eureka!', then we'll set down nearby."

"That would be perfect."

--

After 20 minutes or so of flying a pattern around the planet's surface, everyone was startled to hear Dianiss shout out "STOP!" while running up to the cockpit.

Kari quickly brought the ship to a hover and spun her chair around to see what was going on.

"I just . . . felt something." Dianiss said. "There was a presence. Someone or something very powerful in the Force . . . maybe more than one."

Kinnan began typing some commands into the navigation system and looking at the mapping data of the area they'd just passed over in more detail. "There is something like a valley there. The original location was said to be built into the side of a cliff, so it's possible that we've found it."

"If Annie says she felt something, then that's good enough for me." Kari responded. "Let's locate a suitable L.Z. nearby and set down."

--

The surface of Malachor V was gray, rocky, and jagged. From time to time, pockets of ultra-hot yellow gas would spew from cracks in the rock, of which there were many. Every few seconds, the ground would shake, and the spewing gasses would erupt from a dozen cracks within sight at once.

There was some vegetation, mostly simple moss in the areas where moisture could form pools and what was probably a form of algae with a bright orange color around the edges of the gas-spewing cracks. Both types of pockets had insects crawling around them, though the ones near the algae would scramble away whenever the gas eruptions happened.

At least those areas were easy to spot and avoid, thanks to the orange discoloration.

The air--in addition to being foul-smelling--had a palpable feeling of static electricity, like in the moments just before a fierce thunderstorm was about to cast its first lightning strike. In fact, thunder was audible from all directions, but the air was too dry to produce any accompanying rain.

The best landing spot they could find was almost half a kilometer from the 'valley' that they were planning to investigate. Due to the quakes, Kari left the ship's engines active in a struts-on-the-ground auto-hover, for fear of the landing spot shifting or collapsing with the ship resting on it. "I am NOT gonna be that pilot whose tombstone says 'She picked a REALLY bad parking spot' on it." Kari had insisted. Instead, she brought along a simple remote control device on her wrist that she could use to move the ship if they got cut off from it--or worse.

As the foursome made their way on foot, Dianiss was laser-focused on the presence she felt from the ship as they passed by. Dina could sense it too, and was leading the way. Kinnan, on the other hand, was looking all around, distracted.

"I don't understand it." he finally blurted out.

"What?" Kari responded. "You mean how I can be so smart AND sexy all the time? It just comes naturally I guess."

"Well, in addition to the mysteries of the great Captain Kari'arra," he began, preferring not to argue, "...I don't see any Storm Beasts here, even though the signs are all around us that they have been here."

"Are they sensitive to the Force?" Galadina asked.

"We're not sure, but it's possible that they use the Force directly like another physical sense, just the way you and your people do."

"So they could be nearby but hiding in fear from a bunch of Jedi and their beautiful, yet modest Twi'lek pilot?" Kari asked.

"Doubtful." Kinnan answered. "These are apex predators that we're talking about. They've never shown fear before. On my first surface expedition here, they were the reason we couldn't stay long. But now..." Kinnan knelt down to examine a mossy area more closely, dipping his finger in the liquid and observing it in detail with his implants. "...it looks like something else is hunting THEM for food. There's blood in this water."

"Well, it's probably whatever this presence is that I'm feeling. Let's hope that WE'RE still the most dangerous creatures on this planet." Dianiss said.

"I'll settle for the worst-tasting." Kari added, with just a note of worry in her voice.

--

The hike evolved into something more like two to three kilometers due to the circuitous route they had to take to climb down into the valley AND avoid all the orange areas that could erupt into dangerous death-traps at any moment. Under normal circumstances, the climb would have been easy--but when the ground keeps randomly shaking, one has to take it slowly and be extra-sure of the footing.

As they rounded a sharp bend in the trench they were following, . . . there it was.

Carved right into the gray rock wall on their left side, the front of the structure was clearly discernible. Six tall curved support spires were carved out of the rock behind them, but cut smooth and evidently hardened by some unknown process, as they still retained their shape and smoothness--and showed no significant signs of erosion. The two spires in the middle were the tallest at over 50 meters from the base (at least for the left one--the right one had broken off near the top and only rose to about 40 meters), and about 15 meters apart from each other, bending slightly outward so that they were a bit farther apart as they rose. Between them, the rock face had a relatively smooth concave surface with much of it also having been hardened like the spires. The parts that were not cut smooth were clearly left that way deliberately, as they formed a large pattern that probably served as some sort of symbol or insignia. The other spires were shorter, with the closer ones rising up about 40 meters and the two outer-most ones rising about 20 meters.

The whole thing was mostly intact, with the second biggest flaw being the broken right-hand spire. The bigger flaw, though, was that the rock face had shifted and tilted in such a way that the whole thing was no longer vertical (assuming it had been that way before). Instead, the top edge of the structure was tipped forward so that it rose at about a ten-degree angle, and cast a long shadow on the cascade of rocks from the both cliff sides that had evidently broken away and rolled into the place where the entrance should have been. There were signs that a carved bridge had been there connecting the right side of the valley to the left, but it was long-since broken in half and covered over by the fallen rocks.

"Well, that explains why it wasn't visible from orbit." Kinnan said. "But there was definitely some severe seismic activity here to shift the whole outer structure like that."

"But it does look like you were right, Kinnan." Dianiss said with a smile. "The Trayus Academy DID survive . . . well, mostly. Congratulations."

"We'll still have to get inside and find Darth Traya's holocron. When we find THAT, you can congratulate me."

"So, about getting inside...?" Kari said. "I didn't think to bring a jackhammer." She twisted her mouth into a devilish grin. "I don't suppose any of you Jedi here have had any training in . . . oh, I don't know . . . using the Force to move rocks? Anyone?"

...at which point Dianiss used the Force to pick up a small one and toss it right at Kari, who dodged the projectile easily.

--

The excavation went reasonably quickly. Dianiss and Galadina both used their telekinetic abilities to move the rocks out of the way, while Kinnan used his implants to scan the area carefully and advise the both of them on which rocks to move, to make sure that one of the frequent quakes would not cause a rock slide as they worked. Kari, when she wasn't making inappropriate jokes about throwing one of the largest rocks into the upper atmosphere, kept watch for Storm Beasts. Fortunately, they never came.

The actual entrance to the Academy, once they'd dug it out, was surprisingly intact.

"This is your discovery, Kinnan. You should have the honors." Dianiss said, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without your help." he responded. "Let's hope we can find the holocron now."

As he entered, the others followed behind him. All three Jedi ignited their lightsabers to provide light sources. Kari lit a flashlight and gave Dianiss a wink, which brought out a smile from both of them. But as they entered, Dianiss' smile quickly melted away against the increasing certainty that the presence she was feeling--and it was definitely powerful--was also inside.

--

The interior of the Trayus Academy was mostly the same gray color of the outside rock, but cut and polished to an almost shiny finish and inlaid with some other stone that had a contrasting red hue. If not for the numerous cracks in the structure, or the areas where a section of finished wall had broken away, it could pass for newly carved.

Kinnan was scanning it all, taking high-resolution pictures, and occasionally stopping to stare at something in front of him that no one but him could see. "This matches up very well with the sketches from the archives." He said to no one in particular.

At the back of the large room just inside the entry, there were corridors leading left and right. "The whole complex should be laid out in a large circle, with the core at the far end." he said, facing the rest of the group. "This way." he stated confidently, while heading down the left corridor.

"Am I the only one creeped out by this place?" Kari commented as they walked. "Because I take back what I said about being immune. This place is creepy."

"It reminds me of a place I once visited as a Padawan on Ilum--the ruin of a very old Jedi temple." Kinnan answered. "It had been taken by the ancient Sith and was strong with the Dark Side. My master sent me inside to prepare me for the Trial of Spirit. That's the trial wh--"

"So what WAS that single greatest fear that you had to face?" Kari interrupted, smirking. When Kinnan looked back at her in surprise, she added, "Hello? I'm from Tython, too. I might have been from the other side of the river, but a girl can still pick up a few things. I'm sorry, did I interrupt you while you were being pompous and condescending? How rude of me. You were saying...?"

"Well..." he answered, "I found myself trapped inside, and slowly running out of air. The door had a complicated locking mechanism, and I couldn't figure it out no matter how hard I wracked by brain. Eventually, as I was starting to suffocate and had to rely more and more on the Force to stay alive without oxygen, I found that I was able to open the door simply by *willing* it to open, and trusting the Force work out the details. It was a powerful lesson."

"I remember my first Trial of Spirit, too. I failed it." Dianiss offered. "Master Casei sent me to help an Akk Dog mother that had become injured while protecting her pups from predators. She was so close to death that in a panic I used . . . you-know-what . . . to heal her. THAT was a mistake."

"How so?" Kinnan asked.

"Akk Dogs are sensitive to the Force themselves, and form strong bonds with those they spend time with. So when I used dark power on her . . . it overwhelmed her and turned her into a creature of the Dark Side. She healed up, all right, but also became vicious and tried to attack her own pups. Master Casei had to intervene."

"So what about you, Dina?" Kari asked.

"Hmm . . . I don't really remember mine." Dina answered.

Kinnan stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to look at Galadina. "What?" Even in the dim blue light of his lightsaber, his face made it obvious that he was completely dumbfounded. "How . . . is that even possible?"

Dianiss was also surprised. "Dina, I was there with you and Master Nora on Balmorra when--"

The sound of Kari's laughter cut her off. "Oh, you Jedi! I *love* you guys, I really do. But sometimes you . . . just . . . don't . . . get it."

"...get WHAT?" Kinnan asked.

"The great Jedi Master Galadina here never really HAD a Trial of Spirit. What she had was a Test of Sacrifice, Sith style, courtesy of 'Padawan' Zedemm. Duh! And *I* was there when it happened. So were you, Annie, though you were unconscious for most of it." Kari turned to face Galadina directly. "I'll bet you still remember THAT, don't you?"

"Touche, Captain." Dina answered, smiling. "I suppose a LOT of people remember that, considering what a stir we caused at the time. But we should keep going. The sooner we're out of this place and off this planet, the better."

"Well," Kinnan said, pointing ahead in the direction they were walking, "this way should lead to an outer hallway, and beyond that should be a series of storage rooms. I think that's the best place to start. If we can't find it there, then probably the Academy core--or what's left of it, anyway--just beyond."

"Lead the way...." Dianiss answered.

--

Further along, they came into a corridor that was lined on the left side with open "windows" to the outside, which allowed some fresh air and natural light to enter, at least enough that Dianiss and Kari could could see even without the glow of the lightsabers. Outside those windows was a sheer cliff face, and the bottom was far enough down that it simply disappeared into shadows.

As they entered the first storage room, the putrid smell of dead, rotting flesh hit them like a military turbolaser. All around the room were the bones and decaying corpses of some kind of large humanoid creature. The resulting smell was absolutely nauseating, despite the fact that this room also featured large open "windows" to the outside air.

"I think we found your Storm Beasts, Kinnan." Kari said slowly, holding her hand over her mouth and nose.

"Indeed." he answered, and pointed to the door to the next room.

The following rooms were much the same, except with far fewer rotting creatures and more of what would best be described as garbage: empty containers, broken furniture and other equipment, chunks of gray and red stone. There was nothing that looked like a holocron.

There was also very little dust.

"The core should be ahead." Kinnan said. "The writings indicate that some of it collapsed or imploded in the second activation of the Mass Shadow Generator, but it's uncertain how extensive the damage was. The writer was busy leaving the scene when it was happening."

The entry foyer to the Trayus Core was a large room, larger than any they'd encountered in the facility except the main entry, and large enough to feature six support columns that ran down the center of it, spaced out in a two-by-three pattern.

Behind one of the columns, they saw him.

He was a Pureblood Sith, dressed in ratty, torn clothes and half-broken armor. He was dirty, smelly, and curled up on top of a pile of blankets, sleeping. All three Jedi could sense that HE was the presence they'd been feeling.

"He's injured." Dianiss suddenly spoke aloud, and pointed to his arms. His left hand was severed at the middle of his forearm--a clean cut of the sort that was typical of a lightsaber wound. His right arm, while intact, was shriveled, burned, and black--the kind of burns that are usually made by electrical discharges if not treated. Besides the burns, his arm had become weak and frail from apparent disuse. In his withered right hand, he clutched a metal object of some sort. It was hard to see what exactly it was from the way he was lying on top of it, as if to protect it.

"We have to help him." Dina said as she approached cautiously, and sat down next to him.

"Be careful." Kinnan warned. "He's clearly a Sith, and a powerful one. He may not want our help."

"Sith or not, this is no place for anyone to have to live." Dina answered. "Besides, he might be able to help US in return. Sir...?"

At Dina's very gentle touch, he suddenly awoke and looked up at her. His eyes were vacant, and the look on his face made it clear that he was confused at what he was seeing.

"Not us . . . not you either." he said.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." Dina said. "I'm Galadina. What is your name?"

He turned away from her a moment, as if he was having trouble remembering his own name, and started to become agitated. "NO! You are NOT Darth Iocus! NO! NO! NO!"

"You're right." she said, trying to help calm him down. "I'm not. I'm Galadina. Who is Darth Iocus?"

"STOP!!!" he screamed out right in her face, almost crying.

Dina decided to change the subject in the hopes that he'd calm down. "Okay. Can you tell me how you got here?"

He looked down at the floor with a sullen expression, going instantly from angry and hysterical to depressed. "Things went wrong." he said, and started softly repeating that phrase like a chant. "Things went wrong . . . Things went wrong . . . ."

Dianiss was sitting down across the room, using the Force to examine the Sith. He had several other injuries that were not as obvious as the ones to his arms, including a significant puncture in his right shoulder and a few areas where cuts and scrapes (or were they scratches and bites?) had become infected. Looking deeper into his system, she also noticed an oddly large amount of poisonous substances throughout all his organs. Clearly he had been here for at least a few years, and had been hunting the Storm Beasts for food--the likely source of the toxins in his bloodstream. The only thing keeping him alive now was the fact that he was a VERY powerful Force-sensitive, and he was relying heavily on the Force to continue clinging to life. Dianiss tried to heal some of the infections and cleanse the poisons from his system, but found that she had to do it slowly and carefully so as not to oppose his own use of the dark side to do the same.

"Would you like to leave?" Dina continued. "We can take you away from here."

He looked back up at her with a hopeful expression, which quickly melted back into depression, shaking his head as he spoke. "No. No. We cannot leave. We are fallen. We remain here for eternity. You cannot return either. You must prove yourself worthy first." Suddenly his face lit up as if he'd just had an idea. "Maybe the others can test us. Maybe the Teacher will be pleased."

At the mention of You cannot return either, Kari reflexively checked the control device on her wrist just in case something had gone wrong with the ship. It still showed condition green.

"Teacher?" Dina asked. "Is there someone else here? Someone besides you?"

A smile came across his face. "Yes! Others understand. The teacher speaks. We listen. We learn. We want to be worthy."

"Where is the teacher?"

"The teacher speaks. No peace. No peace for you. Power. Freedom. Make you strong again. Make you the Lord of Blades. Make you strong enough to..." He stopped speaking suddenly and a look of fear came over his face, as if the thought of whatever he needed to be strong enough to do still scared him.

"Can I speak to the teacher, too? Would the teacher like to leave?"

His excitement became confusion. He said nothing for a moment, then offered "The teacher is fallen." He then bowed his head reverently.

Kinnan had been doing full-spectrum scans of the entire area while they spoke, but just then had detected something that piqued his interest. "Galadina?" he interjected. "I think that . . . the thing we came here to find . . . it's just in the next room." He nodded his head in the direction of the entrance to the Trayus Academy Core.

Dina continued trying to engage the Sith. "We're here looking for a holocron. It's very important that we find it. It's the holocron of Darth Traya. Have you seen it?"

The Sith continued to keep his eyes to the floor until Dina had said the name 'Darth Traya'. The moment he heard that name, he suddenly appeared frightened.

"No No No No No...." he began repeating as he bolted upright and ran into the next room.

As he did, Dianiss finally caught a good look at the metal object he'd been clutching in his right hand, and found it strange.

It was a lightsaber, but that wasn't the strange part.

The strange part was that she was certain that she'd seen it before.

Continue to Next Chapter . . . .