Hide and Seek

[Karmack]

I sat on the balcony and tried to meditate.  According to the clock it was just before sunset.  The orange-red glow of the sliver of sky barely visible directly above matched that assessment, but all that was really visible were the myriad of lights from the towers all around.  I closed my eyes, but concentration would not come.  Instead of the melody of the force all I could hear was the cacophony of worries rattling around in my head.  You've been played, Karm.  Played from the first moment you arrived.  Perhaps still...

And that was the rub.  The real worry. 

Master Chillum's voice came to my mind unbidden: "The song of the force is a faithful guide, a powerful ally, but never mistake it for the Will of the Maker.  Even the strongest, most sensitive seer can be drawn away by a false path or deceptive melody.  Always test the song against the Singer."

I closed my eyes and surrendered my struggle to hear the song.  Yes, the threads were there, the familiar melodies of our small group.  Yes, the nearly blinding background harmony of the lives of millions of people in close proximity were also there, forming a wide and broad harmony and rhythm for our own melodies to play against.  Yes, there were even other threads of dark hammering rhythm and chaotic counter-melody, some stronger, some faint.  But none of them were coming into focus.  All were elusive and distant.  So I let them go.

Instead, I did something I had not done in far to long:  I prayed.

I opened my soul and poured out my bitter grief at the death of Master Jothan.  My disappointment in myself and even my fear at my own willingness to kill.  I confessed the selfishness and impatience that led me to often to direct action instead of a more circumspect way that might be harder and longer - but less deadly.   With tears in my eyes I repented of the spike of pure rage and hatred that had flooded through me when I saw my wife Arnor nearly killed before my eyes.  The desire I'd had in that moment to destroy the one responsible.  And the relief when I realized that a boy, a Teidowan, had learned and exercised a restraint and respect for life - all life - that I had set aside far to often.

All my faults and deficiencies I laid before my Maker, trusting in his Goodness and Forgiveness.  And then, humble, on my face before Him, I opened myself to the Song...

The symphony of the Universe surrounded me.  Awesome complexity and yet ... simple.  Clean.  Perfect...   My perception swooped and dove, tunnelling through layer upon layer, section by section.  Parts became familiar.  The melody of my Master, Chillum.  Kage M'Tagget, Master Chillum's teacher and friend.  Master Jothan...

Arnor's melody entered my perception and wrapped around me, merging itself with my own.  Illian and Talia...

Now I was swooping away from them, following another thread.  This one was dark, forboding...  There was chaos and the rapid, hammering rhythm of evil, but always at its very core was the pure melody of the Song.  It was wrapped in violence and choked in chaos, but always the Song...

The darkness came from another place.  I turned again, following that darkness deeper.  I was clinging to the Song now, humming melody to myself as I left all that I held dear behind and spiraled ever deeper into horror and hammering evil.  I was nearing its core, when I saw another thread merging with the twin threads I had been following.

Light exploded around me.  The Song, submerged in the subordinate thread of the two burst forth and merged with the song of the light.  Together the two destroyed the darkness, but at the cost of the one.  It was a final sacrifice, a final redemption, making right a very old, very deep wrong.

The other thread soared away, and I was left alone.  Alone in the darkness, surrounded by...

What?  What was here?  The hammer of evil was gone.  What remained?

"Oh..."

My eyes opened.  They were here.  On the planet.  Something was coming, something distant.  But they were here....

Here.  In the dark.  Deep underground.

Eyes open but unseeing, I dove back into the song, following the threads of melody, the shards of harmony..   Where?

... there ...

No!

oh no....

I came back to myself again, drawing ragged breath.   I composed myself and rose, returning to the common room.

"Anything?" Arnor asked, a flicker of concern in her eyes.  My meditations had been less than fruitful for nearly a month now.  We'd needed the time to heal, to mend.  Arnor and I had both spent considerable time with Talia, probing for any residual effects of her possession by Palpatine.  We'd found nothing, but none of us, including Talia, were confident that we would even if it were there.  So we waited, trained, and did our best to search for any new leads without tripping any alarms that might give our location away to the wrong people.  The stress of it was starting to wear on everyone's nerves.

This was not going to help.   I nodded.  "Yes."

I poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the table.  "I know where they are.  Most of them are gone now, taken away for whatever Palpatine has use of them, but the original ones, the progenitors, are still there.  We need to prepare ourselves to go down to Level One.  Perhaps below."

"Level one?  that's not habitable."

I nodded.  "I know.  But that's not the worst of it."  I looked at Talia.  "Something is coming.  Soon.  We'll know when it happens.  That will signal that it is time to move.  Until then, we must continue to lay low."

"Know?  How?  What will happen?"  Arnor asked.  "How will we know?"

My eyes were still locked on Talia.  "Talia will tell us."

[TheDutchman]

Talia will tell us.

No, no, NO!  The end came too quickly! And who's thread is sacrificed for the Light?!  Excellent Karm 

Oh BTW, "Kage M'Tagget:" canon or yours?  I would ask for... er, reasons 

Until next installment friends 

[Karmack]

Talia will tell us.

No, no, NO!  The end came too quickly! And who's thread is sacrificed for the Light?!  Excellent Karm 

Oh BTW, "Kage M'Tagget:" canon or yours?  I would ask for... er, reasons 

Until next installment friends 

Kage M'Tagget is mine.  He is Master Chillum's teacher and mentor.  Master Chillum is the senior member of their Clan - a branch of their overall order.  The Kage is the top dog, and in a different location.  :-)

[Karmack]

And who said anything about the end being here? 

;-)

[Taegin Roan]

"Together the two destroyed the darkness, but at the cost of the one."

I understand.   More references to canon, but I understand. Your story is fantastic. Your incorporation of canon is awesome, and you left it on a cliffhanger.

Uhhgg. I hate good stories.

[Lord_S_Gray]

Have to say Karmacks repentance is very interesting and well written, a painful moment of introspection. Perhaps he didn't stop to think of alternate ways, but what other options did he have given the needs of the situations he found himself in?  Yet there is something unsettling that he's seeking some kind of external validation and forgiveness.

Anyway one of the more interesting things I find about you're story is how often the spectre of Master Chillum, the reverence with which Karmack seems to hold him is...intriguing.

[Karmack]

Thanks guys!  I appreciate the encouragement.  LSG, your comments are always insightful.  Thank you.  You're right about the painful introspection.  In many ways Karmack is a reflection of myself.  It wasn't all that long ago that I went through a painful time of introspection and my personal Faith was rebuilt into something far more vital and real than it had been before.  I wouldn't say Karmack is going through something quite so profound, but he is a man who has fought his own impatience and impetuousity his whole life.  Realizing that perhaps his failings led to others dying, even enemies, when it might not have been necessary would be painful to him indeed.  Kage M'Tagget, the head of his Order of Gray Knights, eschews violence in nearly every instance.  Master Chillum, Karmack's personal teacher and mentor, also follows this path.  Karmack holds these men in VERY high esteem, and sees them as the standard of correct behavior, yet he is far more violent than either of them.

And that bothers him.

OK, I feel the muse moving.  And I have some time before my cut begins so here we go!

[Karmack]

I was out of the bed and in a combat stance before conscious thought could register.  My blade was alive in my left hand, my right flexing into its cybernetic glove as it finally registered.

A scream.  A scream filled with pain, fear, anger, rage, horror...  Almost inhuman in its knife-edged, raw emotion.

Almost.

I had time for two steps toward the door of our room, Arnor immediately behind me, her own blade also glowing bright, when the wave-front hit.  It was like a shock-wave, a pure wall of energy smashing out. 

Force energy...

It slammed us back across the room.  I felt the heat of Arnor's blade as I ducked and twisted, pulling my own blade down and away, instinctively following the force queues around me.  Arnor and I ended up tangled together, rolled up against the far wall of our room.  There were saber burns in the floor and a neat round hole through the dresser and the wall behind it, but we were intact and breathless as we disengaged from each other and got back to our feet.

"What was that?" Arnor asked the air as she called her saber back to her hand.

I held up a hand.  "Listen..."

We heard it then.  Sobbing.  From across the apartment.

I led the way out the door of our room and let myself glide across the living space of the apartment.  Arnor came behind, moving into a support position.  Again, our sabers ignited in unison and I reached out with the force, yanking the door to Illian and Talia's room open....

The room was in a shambles.  Whatever had hit us had been centered here.  Talia sat on the bed, crumpled furniture and fixtures around her.  She was weeping, uncontrolled, the way a child weeps when they awake from a nightmare.  She was mumbling something, but her eyes were blank, seeing only whatever horror filled her mind.

Arnor's saber blade disappeared again and she went to Talia, cradling her and soothing her.  I found Illian crumpled up against the wall under a pile of debris and helped him up. 

"ow...  What happened?"  He asked, rubbing his head.

"I'm not sure..."  I looked at Arnor.  "Is she OK?"

Arnor was still rocking Talia, who was beginning to calm down.  "Yes, I think so.  You were right, he was still in there, buried deep."

I nodded.  "And he didn't want to leave.  I wonder what happened..."  I walked over and leaned in, capturing Talia's eyes.  "Talia, its Karm. What happened?  Do you know?"

Horror flooded her eyes again, and she shuddered.  "He's dead." Talia gasped.  "Vader killed him....  Falling..."  She buried her head back against Arnor's shoulder. 

I rocked back on my heels.  "Vader?  Why would Vader kill the Emperor..."

Illian sat on the bed and reached out to stroke his wife's back.  She reacted to the touch by letting go of Arnor and clinging to him instead. 

"Maybe he was trying to take over, and they killed each other?" Arnor offered

"No.  I heard this the other day...  At his core Vader still had the Song woven into him.  Someone or something finally released it, and that release led to both his death and the death of his Master at his hand.  But a good death.  A death of sacrifice, not vengeance."  I looked at Talia again.  "And his death finally freed Talia completely of his control."

Illian gave me a very level look over Talia's head.  "You mean he wasn't gone?"

"No.  And before you ask, no, I didn't know he was there.  But I suspected.  That's why I didn't want to go after the crystals again, not until we knew one way or the other whether Talia was truly free of his possession.  Now we know."

Arnor stood and moved toward me.  "You saw something else in that vision, didn't you?"

I nodded.  "Yes.   I know where they are.  Its all the way down, on the ancient surface of the planet.  Level One.  And as I said, Talia has told us when to go."

Illian looked grim.  "Now?  Right this moment?"

"No, we can wait a bit for Talia to recover first.  But its time.  Sleep, food, and we're off."

"Where?  You're not going to tell us even now, are you?" Talia said, getting right in my face.

I just grinned at her.  "Sleep.  Food.  Go."  I repeated.

Her answer was a hard punch to the gut.  I grinned some more.

Foreplay...

[Taegin Roan]

Sidious definitely went out with a bang.   A nice short burst of epicness, full of exciting action and story. I am starting now to wonder if Karm ever meets Luke. It would be cool to see, but of course, that is up to you. Anyways, great job. Can't wait for this coming post. It's gonna be good.

[TheDutchman]

Sidious definitely went out with a bang.   A nice short burst of epicness, full of exciting action and story. I am starting now to wonder if Karm ever meets Luke. It would be cool to see, but of course, that is up to you. Anyways, great job. Can't wait for this coming post. It's gonna be good.

My thoughts exactly  . I like how you incorporated the Emperor's death as well as the subsequent release of Dark-Side energies; AWESOME detail Karm!  I never would have thought of that 

Now I have to wonder who will step into the power vacuum that Palpatine's death has left vacant 

Until next installment friends 

[Karmack]

It had taken far longer than I had anticipated to reach the lowest levels of Coruscant.  No one came down here, ever.  The air was toxic.  The water contaminated.  It was hot and very humid.

Essentially we were walking through hell.

Fortunately our attire was designed for this "habitat".  It had started life as something very akin to the armor worn by Clone Troopers during the Clone War, but had been adapted for use by individuals tasked with construction or repair in the lower levels.  Generally, anything below level 1000 had an atmosphere that was ... questionable.  Much below 400-500 and the heat, humidity and toxicity became dangerous to exposed personnel.  Even much higher up the air quality was bad enough that people visiting the lower levels often brought their own air supply.  To come all the way down required full coverage, and armor had been added to the suit to protect it from hard use and jagged edges.  The biggest difference from trooper armor was the helmet, which was essentially a clear armorplast bubble with low-vision gear and radio links built in for communications. 

I checked my guages and noted that my air supply was down 20%.  The power gauge was a little better, showing 18% depletion, but power wasn't as much of an issue anyway.  I had no doubt we could find a power port to plug into and recharge if necessary.  Air, though...

"How much farther?" Arnor asked over a private link.  It was meant as a joke, but I called up the schematic I'd downloaded before we left anyway.  We were close...

"Close."

"What the..." Illian muttered on the general frequency.  "That's really odd."

Illian was currently walking point and he was paused at the entrance to a new set of tunnels.   "What's wrong, Illian?"

"I'm not sure."  He turned and stepped back.  "Very strange..."

I stepped up to join him.  Talia and Arnor were several yards behind us, and they also stopped to avoid bunching up.  Illian, I saw, was checking his suit's controls.  "Problem?"

"Not sure.  I was fine, and I stretched out in the force to probe that new area, and I suddenly felt ice-cold.  Its gone now, the environmental controls seem good."  He looked up at me.  "And ideas?"

I looked into the dark portal ahead of us.  "Maybe...  We may be here."

I stepped up to the doorway.  Nothing.  Until I opened myself to the song, listening to the melody...

...it wasn't what I was expecting.  There was a song here.  Powerful, strong.  Even balanced.  But the twisting melody, the haunting harmonies, the asynchronous rhythm...  They were all highly disturbing.
A chill went down my spine.  It was cold.  Like stepping into a blast freezer.  But it wasn't physical... 

It was this ... song.

I hesitated to call it that.  I had spent my life listening to the song, learning about the Singer from its form and function.  I had taken comfort in its guidance and predictability.  I had been filled by and healed with it's beauty and peace and joy.  Evil, when it came, was always chaotic, a jumble of fragmented voices, or simply the all-consuming drumbeat of hatred and rage overpowering and burying all else.  But this....

This was different.  This was the song of Evil....

Nausea washed over me.  "We are here."  I stepped back and beckoned Arnor and Talia to join me.  "Steel yourselves.  This will not be easy."

"What is this place?" Talia asked.  She was uneasy, sensing something was amiss but without the training the rest of us had to parse it out.  Her hand worked on the blaster holstered at her waist unconsciously as her eyes darted around, always returning to the black doorway.

"We're directly below the Jedi Temple.   Again."  I said.  "Only we're FAR deeper this time.  The temple itself was built over a large pre-existing complex which was also built over another pre-existing complex.  Historically all of these complexes were essentially Jedi centers, until the Emperor made his last modification and turned the temple into his Imperial Palace.  But way down, far below, there's always been this secret place.  The original structure, and the reason for it's existence."  I nodded toward the doorway.  "This is the door to the first Jedi complex built here.  It wasn't a a temple.  It was a containment structure.  Inside is a Sith Monument, a Sith "High Place".

Four pairs of eyes now probed the doorway, as if to reveal its dark secrets.  "What's inside?"

I looked at Arnor, Illian and Talia in turn.  "Only what you bring with you." 

Arnor looked at Talia and Illian.  Illian was doing his best to suppress his own fear and anxiety.  Talia wasn't even trying.  "Um...  Do I...?"

I closed my eyes, concentrated...  That evil song was still there, but now it's melody was wrapping around my own, a cruel parody of a fugue...  But still in fugue...  There was ... an odd harmony to it.  The songs were warring with each other.  Fighting for supremacy...

Only one melody.

"No, Talia. Stay here with Illian and Arnor.  I must go in alone."

I felt the shock from my wife.  "Karm..."  Her hand gripped my arm. 

I turned and smiled at her.  In that moment I wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but that was impossible.  "Here, hold this for me until I get back." 

Arnor took my proffered saber.  "Just as long as you promise to come back!" she snapped.

"Yes, ma'am."  I replied.  "I love you."

"And I you, you crazy man.  Go!"

I turned away, settled myself, and before I could lose my nerve, I plunged into the void.

[TheDutchman]

I feel like a constant underlying minor chord (I think that's the correct term?  I should ask my wife; she's a musician like you and TR  ) is droning, just above the perceptible level of hearing.  Karm&Co. are walking into some BAD situation.... NO not the end yet!?!

The part that I really found excellent: the Song has its diametric opposite.  I never considered that a Sith (or Dark-sider) would have access to the Evil version (although now that I think about it, I vaguely recall that either TR or LSG had brought that up tangentially..?).  Sorry; my point is: nice twist!
Now that is an encounter that I am eager to see!  Heh, I' m reminded of a scene that I read about a long time ago between a priest and a vampire.  The priest held up a cross to ward off the vampire but the creature kept advancing.  When he grabbed the man, the shocked priest asked "How?" The vampire calmly replied "My faith in evil is greater than your faith in good." Obviously it stuck with me  Of course the difference here is that Karm is a man of conviction; I wonder what happens when he meets his diametric opponent 

Again Karm: you've set the stage wonderfully!

Until next installment friends 

[Lord_S_Gray]

"Only what you bring with you"  A recurring theme in Jedi testing themselves, not just to become knights but at other times as well, the test to throw a mirror in your face and see what you are rather than what you believe yourself to be.  I like he's going in alone, feels like this is going to be continuing the theme from Karmacks earlier introspection.  Looking forward to what happens, and what it means...

"It's a quiet thing to fall, much more terrible is to admit it" - Kreia

[Karmack]

Thanks guys.  I have to admit, I stole the essence of the portal from the Cave on Daghobah, where Yoda sends Luke into the cave.  Luke asks what's in the cave and Yoda replies "Only what you take with you."

In Empire we get a look into Luke - as he does himself.  The question I'm sure that's burning bright right now is "what did Karmack take in there with him?"

That is, of course, assuming that he was right....  ;-)

[Karmack]

I advanced along a corridor...  The air was thick, but ... different.  As I moved deeper into the inky black my lamp revealed whisps of...

...incense?  How am I smelling incense?  

I looked down and checked my environmental controls.  All green.  Plenty of air.  Filters good.  

But I can still smell it...

I stopped.  There was a flicker of light ahead, wreathed in smoke.  I toggled a control on my chest panel and killed all of my suite lights - lamp as well as tell-tales and readouts.  The darkness of the room enveloped me, but the flicker of light brightened.  I waited a bit, letting my eyes adjust fully, then slowly proceeded.  I opened my senses, listening, feeling, probing...

Two songs ... as if two massive choirs were facing each other, singing discordant and very different songs.  One was full of good and light.  The other twisted with evil and darkness.  And I walked where they clashed...

I shook my head, drawing back in, reverting more to my physical senses and muting my connection to the force...  Or I tried to....

Waves over waves...  The competing songs rolled over me, opposed and out of tune...  I could feel the waves of energy hammering through my body, driving me this way and that...

"No..."  I croaked.   "To much...."  I fell to my knees and closed my eyes, concentrating....

Somewhere in the crashing waves of song I found the thread.  Our thread...   Arnor's melody, mine, and the Third, intertwined.  Embedded with our songs, the Singer sang, making something greater from the sum of our parts.  With difficulty I hummed, barely able to form the notes against the competing tides of energy at first, but then slowly the new Song built and returned.  It was familiar.  It was Us.  Our song, twisted together in fugue since our Joining over a decade before.  As I sang it again, the competing songs receded.  They were still there, but their power faded...

I took a shuddering breath and slowly regained my feet as the power receded from me.  I moved forward, closing with the pale, flickering light.  Slowly the features before me resolved to reveal a railing around a circular depression.  The light was coming up from below.  I headed toward the only opening in the rail, which proved to be the head of a very steep stone stairway.  There was nothing below me but some form of cask or monolith flanked by a pair of lamps, apparently fed from a fuel source internally.  The two lamps were free-standing pillars on either side of the monolith at any rate with an open flame burning on a flame-holder.  There were no visible controls, electronic or mechanical, on anything.

I stepped down into the pit ... and felt the cold.  Bitter cold.  Absolute cold.  For long seconds I was gripped by the irrational urge to simply turn and run, could think of nothing but escape.

Get a grip, Karm.  Go down.  Look.  Listen!

I gathered my nerve again and stepped down the stairs, the chill deepening with each step.  It felt like diving into a pool of ice water.  My joints ached.  My right hand burned as if on fire, while the interface itself in my right forearm simply felt like a lump of liquid helium within my flesh.  I sang a healing song, gathering light to myself and pressed on.  What am I doing here?

I stepped up to the monolith.  Look.  Listen!

With a cringe, I opened myself again, expecting the waves of hammering tonal energy again....

The competing songs were gone.  There was nothing but a banshee-like scream of discordant notes.  Like something or someone in pain...   Movement caught my eye and I looked up.  There were robed figures standing around the pit.  Former guardians of this place.   A few Sith.  Most Jedi.  The leaders of the competing choirs, silent now.  Observing.  Watching.  Waiting....

I blinked, and they were gone.  Just empty blackness...

I looked again at the monolith.    No visible controls...  I reached out with the force, probing...  There!  

I pulled the lever hidden inside the stone and the outer shell rose silently.  The pit was suddenly filled with light.

Angry, red light...

The banshee discord was suddenly focused, controlled.  Like a weapon...  The sound ripped through my body, driving me to my knees.... Knocking the wind out of my lungs...  Muscles turned to jelly and simple though became hard.  I gasped and reached for the song, but it slipped away.  I tried to raise a force shield, deaden the sound, but I couldn't form even the simplest melody.  Only the tearing snarl of death remained.   Only....   death....   cold.....    alone......

I collapsed, felt my head hit the floor.  ALONE ....  ALONE .... ALONE ALONE ALONE ALONEALONEALONEALONEALONE....  The scream resolved into the one word, ripping through me.  Destroying me....

not alone    ....      not alone     ....      NOT ALONE   ...    NOT ALONE    NOT ALONE

I lifted my head from the floor.  There was a soft glow around me.  The chant was driven back, now.  The new words replaced by soft chiming.  Not music, just a simple, major chord, like a massive crystal wind-chime.  

Crystal!  

I reached into my belt pouch and pulled out the crystal I had carried for months.  Since the saber I had built with it was destroyed on Naboo, I had carried it.  Somehow putting that crystal into a new saber had not been right, but like my other companions its pathway was bound to mine.  Its song intertwined with my own.

No longer.  I suddenly heard its melody, loud and clear, for the first time.  It was counter-point to the red crystal before me in the monolith.

Red and Yellow.  Dark and Light.  Balance...

I gripped the crystal in hand and struggled to my knees.  For the first time I noticed that there were three spots in the ... alter?  Shelter?  Container?  Habitat?  Whatever it was, the red crystal was in the slot on the right.  I considered for a moment ... and settled my crystal into the open slot across from the red one.

Nothing happened.

I felt myself sinking again.  The attack was still ongoing.  I was still in grave danger.  What was wrong?  Why didn't the crystal's song change...

Change!  It had to be free to change!  That first contact had been so brief...  I found the crystal in the force and I reached out, brushed up against it...  And in an instant, no longer than the time it had taken to bond the crystal to myself, I let it go.  Be free...

Light burst into the room, bright yellow, then pure white.  It blinded me, and I closed my eyes, raising a hand to shield my face...

The light faded.  The monolith was closed again... and the hammering, cutting energy that had been attacking me was gone.

I rose shakily to my feet, steadying myself by leaning on the wall.  My legs were rubbery as I very slowly climbed the stairs, back up to the main level.  

When I reached the top and looked around my breath caught in my throat.  What had been simply blackness before now twinkled with dim light.

It was a crystal cave, with perhaps millions of crystals embedded in the rocks...

Then the light shifted again, and they were gone.  Hidden.  I stumbled over to the wall and ran my hand over it.  There was no evidence of the crystals.  Just smooth stone facing.  Ancient, polished, worked stone.  There was no evidence of any kyber of any kind.  

but I hear them...  

The hum was there, in the background.  Like the crate we found, only louder, stronger, and no longer unformed.  Now it was purposeful.  The Harmony was real.

Go.  NOW!

The urgency came from nowhere, and I moved my abused body as quickly as I could toward the doorway I had entered.  At the portal I tripped, tumbled, fell...  I heard Arnor's concerned cry and then Talia's startled scream a moment later.

The portal was gone.

Goodbye my friend....  Thank you.... We are whole again....

I smiled and relaxed.  Darkness - the warm, friendly darkness of simple unconsciousness - enveloped me.

hummmmmmm