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« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2017, 03:39:19 PM » |
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Chapter 2: Allies
I approached the council chambers with more than a little apprehension. Two weeks ago the current crop of padawans who had passed their trials had been formally inducted into the Order and assigned as Teidowans to their mentoring Koawans. Kenneniah had joined his peers in the front ranks of the remaining padawans, faces shining as they anticipated their own trials commencing soon. His sister and younger brother had also been in the ranks behind him. I had been able to feel each of them pulsing in the force, their songs bright in the greater melody of the Clan and the universe as a whole. Ken and I had grown closer these last few months, which was good since I fully intended to take him as my Teidowan next year. Arnor and I had both stayed closely involved in our children’s lives and progress since they became padawans. Training the younglings and padawans in the art of the saber was especially rewarding, and I enjoyed it immensely. It also kept me on my toes. That and teaching history were the things I missed when on mission. This had been the real temptation of accepting the Council seat: becoming a full-time teacher. But if I had done so I would have been planet-bound, and training Ken would have fallen to another of necessity.
No, I had other things to accomplish, and I would see my children trained. Then, perhaps, the Council could impose on my time and efforts. But not before!
Arnor chuckled next to me, sensing the tenor of my emotions and guessing the content of my thoughts. “Karm, no one is going to impose on you today! We’re here to get our next mission, not defend our fitness to be assigned to it!”
I looked down at her smiling eyes and smiled back. “You are right, as ever.” I took a deep breath and steadied my body’s rhythms. “OK. Let’s go find out what the Council has for us.”
“Like you don’t already know.” Arnor fired back.
“Only in general. And as you know, the devil is in the details.” I replied. I ran my hand down my robe one last time, unconsciously verifying that everything was straight, and pushed open the door.
The chamber where the Mak’Tor Council of Balance met was round and hewn from the cool stone native to the planet. The granite was a dark gray flecked liberally with red, green, blue and purple crystals. It was rumored the crystals were the reason we were here, that they had called to the Founders that this was the place to settle when the Sith overran the Spire on Coruscant. Then, as ever, we had been the Mak’Tor: followers of the Maker, singers of the Maker’s Song. While the language and terms of the Jedi had long infused our systems and syntax the core beliefs were far different. We were, however, defenders of the Light and Good, and so considered ourselves natural allies of the Jedi and natural enemies of the Sith. The Sith agreed with our assessment whole-heartedly. The Jedi … were not as clearly in agreement.
I noticed the visitors immediately, and came to sudden halt. Arnor bounced lightly off my shoulder, but she was also staring at the central chamber. It took us far too long to recover our mental balance and resume our slow and purposeful walk to the center of the chamber. The pause was ample proof that our outward calm was nothing but a sham.
Our different view of the force and isolation along the Outer Rim made visitors rare. Finding not one but three visitors in the Chamber when we arrived was something of a shock. As we walked down the stone aisle to the central circle where the Council sat I took a moment to observe these newcomers.
All three were wearing Jedi garb similar to our own, variations on silver and gray interspersed with color and covering belts that carried various gadgets and the ever-present light sabers. The leader of the delegation was a small, delicate woman, a Hapan, striking in both appearance and bearing. She was conversing quietly with Master Chillum while her second, a formidable looking warrior with a cybernetic hand hung on the words of Kage Silman. From the markings of their robes I could see that the warrior was a member of the Water Warriors Sect, a group that Kage Silman was also affiliated with. Kage Silman had spent some years on Zonama Sekot studying the ways of the Water Warriors, as had Master Chillum, before the Purge had driven us all into hiding. It was obvious that the warrior was thrilled to meet someone of high rank from his own order and was clearly taking the opportunity to converse with him while it lasted. Behind him, also a knight but clearly the junior member of the delegation, was a strikingly marked Togrutan. She felt … light in the force. Not that she didn’t have a presence, she was simply without worry. It was a striking contrast to her mentor, who was quite serious and grounded despite his obvious fascination with Kage Silman.
My time for observation, however, had run out as we reached the edge of the circle and bowed, announcing ourselves. “Members of the Council, Sage of Song Master Gray Karmack and Silver Koawan Arnor beg your audience.”
Kage Silman paused his conversation and returned the bow. “Master Karmack! Knight Arnor! Welcome. Join the circle and enter balance.” His voice was light and I could sense that this would not be a formal briefing or form-fettered meeting. I shot a quick side-glance at Arnor and caught a glint of humor in her eye as she met it with one of her own before we both advanced into the circle and joined the conversation there.
“Master Karmack, Lady Arnor, let me introduce you to our friends, Gray Jedi of the Vhal’Dan Order based on Zenoma Sekot.” I found myself face-to-face with a petite and strikingly beautiful woman with equally striking blue lips. “May I present Master Gray D’Aylanna Vih’Torr of the Vhal’Dan.”
I dipped my head to D’Aylanna in a greeting of equals and evaluated her quickly. Her song was strong, I could hear it clearly ringing around me, and the clarity of it was more striking than the power. This was a formidable woman indeed. Like most Hapan women she was physically beautiful but like Arnor it was also easy to sense that she was quite deadly – when she chose to be. Not a woman to be trifled with. “I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Master Vih’Torr.”
“Please, call me D’Aylanna.” She replied. It will make things easier. You’ll understand in a moment.” I chuckled at the twinkle in her eye as she turned her attention to Arnor – and I met the eyes of the man who had seemingly teleported to D’Aylanna’s left shoulder.
Well, eye, actually, as the left had been replaced with a cybernetic implant. Kage Silman continued the introductions. “Master Karmack, Lady Arnor, I present Maenowan Zearic Vih’Torr of the Vhal’Dan. Zearic is also a fellow Water Warrior, having attained the Waterfall of Balance.”
I again bobbed my head, noting that Zearic returned the courtesy with ease and self-assurance. At closer range I could see that his cybernetic hand mated with the organic at mid-forearm, typical of someone who had been dismembered in light saber combat. His cybernetic eye and hand both appeared to be very good Hapan replacements, and from the eddies in the force around him I thought his left leg might be at least partially cybernetic as well, though I wasn’t sure. Here was a man who had been through a very hard trial indeed! Nor had only his body been scarred. His eye was just as friendly as his wife’s eyes had been, but there was a certain veiled guardedness to them that I instantly recognized. I reached out my own right hand in a clasp of friendship and he took it with a slight clash of the cybernetics. The sound caused an instant break in the ongoing buzz of conversation around us, and we both grinned slightly at it.
Yes. I think I like this man…
“Meanowan Zearic. It is good to meet another of Kage Silman’s Sect. We have few Water Warriors here, unfortunately.” I glanced at the Kage’s smiling face. “We prefer singing to gargling.”
I was rewarded by the Kage’s laughter. He was famous among the Mak’Tor for his inability to sing. As he put it during social gatherings, he “couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.” Ironic, considering his more than modest ability to sing the Song of the Maker, though by his own admission he didn’t perceive it exactly as we apparently did. The differences did nothing to diminish his skill, however, nor could they be adequately explained. They simply were – and no one really cared anyway.
Zearic looked slightly stunned for a moment, his eyes widened slightly but he instantly relaxed, perceiving that he was not being mocked. As he relaxed his grin widened. “Well, perhaps in the future we may return and … persuade you of the error of your ways. In the mean time, I must say I am honored to meet you all. Your healers are unmatched. I have experienced their aid myself on more than one occasion. And please, call me Zearic.”
I nodded “As you wish, Zearic. My friends call me Karm, a play on my family name, which I won’t pronounce here.” I let my grin widen. “I don’t like to gargle, after all.”
“Ha! Your clan names are worse than gargling!” Silvan said. “These humans brought their clan culture to M’Tzigon with them from ancient Coruscant. Even their writing was some kind of primitive runic symbols. Barbaric! Fortunately in the last century the influence of your Order has at least brought them into step with the rest of the Universe in regards to terminology and language! Karmack, please let me present Koawan Jorya Fah. Zearic is her mentor.”
I turned to the tall Togruta female tagging along behind Zearic, just taking it all in with a twinkle in her eyes. She was outwardly calm but her presence in the force simply boiled with pent-up humor and playfulness. I bowed to her politely and shook her hand as well before turning my attention back to the Kage.
“Kage Silman, thank you for the introductions, but am I right in assuming that this delegation from Zenoma Sekot isn’t here just for a social visit?”
“Lad, you’re killin’ me!” Boomed Master Chillum’s voice. “Do you always have to cut right to the chase?”
I turned and bowed to my mentor and friend. “Always, Master. Always.”
The bright eyes laughed at me from his wrinkled face. “And so you do. So you do.” He bowed to Kage Silman “With your permission then?”
“Let the Council be convened.” The Kage replied, gesturing to the circle of chairs. As we settled into them, the Council in their widely spaced outer ring of nine with Arnor, myself and the visitors in two curved lines facing the center, Master Chillum stepped down into the small stage area in the center and activated a hidden holographic system. Instantly the air was filled with an image of a crystal, slowly tumbling along all three axes. “Some time ago we intercepted a cache of Kyber crystals, modified in a way no one in our order had encounter in millennia. We traced them and managed to destroy most of them before they could be used for ill, but the end of that mission did not lead us to the source as we had hoped. While Master Karmack and his team returned and recovered I received a … troubling report from one of our healers operating along the Outer Rim. With the permission of Kage Silman I reached out to Kage Oyuna for help and advice. We go back a long way, the lass and I, and I was perplexed by how to respond to what we had learned. What I was NOT expecting was what she shared with me, and which she has sent this delegation to share with us in detail. Lady D’Aylanna?”
I watched as Master Chillum sat and D’Aylanna stood. The holograph shifted, the Kyber crystal joined by another one, subtly different than the first. “Thank you, Master Chillum. Some time ago a team of our own, in the course of investigating an attack on our own people, penetrated and downloaded the Imperial database from Kuat Drive Yards.”
There was no outright gasp from anyone on the council but I could sense the ripple of shock that flowed through the room. Kuat? They hit Kuat?!? That was … audacious. I stole a glance at Zearic and saw a look I recognized: vivid and painful memories playing unbidden across the mind. So, a costly trip…
D’Aylanna paused to let us collect ourselves and continued. “As you can imagine we’ve spent years combing through that data. Only recently did we discover an indication of activity that oddly matched what you describe. The key difference: the crystals themselves. Instead of Kyber, we’re looking for Adegan Pontite crystals. These crystals, unlike Illum or even Kyber, are potent and have a naturally occurring strong connection to the force. If someone were able to pre-set that connection…” D’Aylanna let her voice trail off. She hit one more key and the crystals disappeared, replaced by a fuzzy image of a partially constructed Death Star. “The super-laser on the second Death Star was far faster to recharge and easier to aim than the first one. That advancement we believe came from the programming of the crystals used in it’s construction. They ‘knew’ what to do and so were only partially dependent on their hardware support to make the laser function. What someone with the engineering knowledge to build that weapon could do with these crystals does not bear contemplation. We know that there were two “programming” sites, one in Kuat and a second at Sallust, the staging area for nearly all of the materials shipped to Endor for the final construction of the second Death Star. What we don’t know, or didn’t rather,” D’Aylanna tossed a nod to Master Chillum, “was who was doing the programming. Sir?”
I sat up a little straighter as D’Aylanna sat down and Master Chillum returned to the floor. “Thank you Lass. As you can imagine, I was stunned when I learned this from Kage Oyuna. Lady D’Aylanna has brought all of the details of this intelligence with her, and she now has a copy of everything we have on the “who” side. You see, I didn’t know the “what”, just the “who”, which is…” the crystals disappeared, replaced by two pale faces. “Julwynn and Jennira Hri, Night Sisters from the Spider Clan of Dathomir.” Master Chillum turned a quick grin at Kage Silman. “No relation, I am sure.” He turned back to the hologram. “We don’t really know that much about these two, just that one was operating on Sallust and the other on Kuat. Reports from Sallust indicate that the Sister there, Julwynn, had a small group of Sith Shadow warriors at her command and was seen in company with one Namman Cha, a Dark Jedi in service to the Emperor. Cha is apparently the mastermind behind whatever is going on, and has a history of recruiting among the Dathomirian Night Sisters. There were also reports of possible Inquisitorius activity, including a shadowy figure some IDed as Darth Vader, but we have confirmed reports that Vader was already at Endor at that time, so the identity of this Inquisitor is considered unknown. All we know for sure is that they were equipped with similar cybernetics and apparently carried a red or orange bladed light saber.”
I sensed another ripple through the force at that last detail, this time emanating from Zearic, and to a lesser extent D’Aylanna. So… They knew who this mysterious Inquisitor might be. Someone with history… Perhaps something to do with Zearic’s cybernetics, considering how he was suddenly flexing the right hand. Interesting…
Master Chillum continued. “Considering the two targets Kage Oyuna and Kage Silman agreed that we should split our effort. D’Aylanna’s team is headed to Kuat to follow up on the lead there. Karmack, you and Arnor will go to Sallust and track down Julwynn. Our primary objective is to stop whatever devices or weapons these enhanced crystals are being prepared for. If we can recover the crystals as well and liberate them that would be a bonus.”
I nodded, reaching out to the flow of the song. What had been still and deep, the essence of “rest, wait, and see” had suddenly become urgent and full of movement. And there was a third thread…
Someone else would be coming with us. Not Illian, he was immersed in training with Master Kovren. But another thread, familiar…
Who?
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