Beyond - Legends Saga Before - Legends Saga - PT Saga - OT Saga - ST Before the Saga Beyond the Saga Saga - Legends Tales from One Canon

Paxis, Judicar, Acharon...

You're making allusions to the alternative names that were developed for Jacen Solo's Sith name before they settled on Caedus. Very clever. Very clever indeed. Wondering how you'll fit Taral in.

I'm curious where the Canon characters like Sloane and Versio ended up between Endor and Onderon. Did they fall in line with Pestage? How did Pestage and Amedda work together after the Emperor's death? Did Amedda side with Isard? So many fun questions to consider.

 

Wizard... once again!

Small note - Sigit Ranth does not seem outright confirmed, as the Emperor's Physician? A physician or scientist, for sure - but maybe not the Personal one?

Given I referenced the character being in the Nightsaber RPG, set on Dathomir (back in "Delving Deep" a page or two back) his fate may not match up with Crimson Empire, too?

Could be someone else using the same name, I guess. Wookieepedia doesn't seem to feel he's the same guy either, I recall?

Meantime, Palpatine has gazed into the abyss - I now fear the abyss was the one who blinked first!
Whilst the fate of those Sith spirits - be they on Korriban, Exegol or even roaming near Tython - is going to have clear long term ramifications.

Forward - and backward... 'cross timeline.

 

The Pageantry and Theatricality of power is intoxicating...but divorced from pragmatism it is poison. The lesson Darth Sidious never learned.

This has been an absolutely marvelous tale.

 

Glorious!

 

It all fits.

 

yes yes yes the puzzle is falling into place

 

Short - but sweet. The only possible loose end concerns if Amedda shows up in future fiction, or is killed off somehow.

But that would just perfectly mirror Pestage's story too - would it not?

Also - this likely means, with Wyyrlok familiar with the Vong approaching, he also probably kept an eye on the Killiks too.
Perhaps sabotaging them or using a crucial proxy.

And that would also be nice to discuss/expand maybe... should my potential Jagged Fel prequel story get off the starting block?

 

Next tale, then... here we go (for those who thought Yoda counted as very old...)

The Old Republic: Imagine Dragons
(approved by Sinrebirth)

By Chrissonofpear2

(Thanks to Angela Phillips – for the character, and the idea…)


3630 BBY…

Jedi Master Gnost-Dural led the expedition, in the end.

The scholarly minded Kel Dor, masked and dark of eyes, flew a souped up D5 Mantis-class patrol gunship, which he manouevred artfully through the wispy Marasa Nebula. Two sharp nosed Liberator-class fighters, constructed by Corellia StarDrive, accompanied him as they together delved deeper into the reddish nebulae clouds.

“So your source indicated it was the planet Marasai itself we would be advised to search in particular?” Gnost asked one of his escorts.

“Yes, that’s what he told me,” replied Dazh Ramos. The young female Chiss was now a fully trained Jedi, ready to take on apprentices of her own, but had a chequered reputation already with the other surviving Jedi in the Order, at this juncture. Being very independent minded, she had already clashed with some of her instructors and contemporaries – and had also indicated growing sympathies for the Eternal Alliance that had recently formed as a new power. “Rumours had located our target roaming the nebula, and my source indicated he came to rest on the planet itself: so assuming he’s not on the move, that would be a great place to start.”

“I’ll take that advice, for now,” Gnost-Dural replied, watching the clouds slowly slip past, seeing the first signs of a major break ahead. “Stay close behind me, but do not land immediately. We do not want to frighten our… target, if that is the right word.
Comm units clicked in wordless acknowledgement with his own communications board. Their journey had been a fairly long one, taking them clean across the Slice region of the ailing Galactic Republic – now riven by repeated galactic wars, and those usually against the ascendant Sith Empire… and more recently, the rival Eternal Empire too. It was a particularly dangerous time to be a Jedi right now, after fifty years of ongoing conflict, only briefly interrupted by treaties and ceasefires. Even the famous Jedi temple on Coruscant was yet to be rebuilt, after so many years, following a direct Sith strike upon it – and Gnost-Dural had been forced to find quieter parts of space for his own recent Jedi colony.

Always a student of history, ever since his time as a Jedi Padawan, Gnost-Dural had found the planet Ossus to be far less inhospitable than he had believed it would be, from the records he had studied. The ancestral home of the Jedi had been abandoned for some three hundred and sixty plus years, and despite the severe environmental damage dealt by searing solar winds, he had seen clear signs of the rocky planet’s recovery. And so in one out of the way valley, he had begun work on his new home – and a new fallback position for Jedi to dwell within: those that had survived the recent and ruinous campaign by the Eternal Empire, and its dreaded legions. But the colony was still young, sparsely defended, and vulnerable – and so Gnost had favoured the idea of seeking out additional aides – even, champions perhaps.

Breaking through the thicker cloud layers, they discovered the planet, Marasai: from a distance a fairly wild looking place, closer in, sensors picked up all sorts of electronic signatures and data feedback. A secluded yet quite advanced civilization dwelt below – surrounded by gas clouds, tangles and briers of turbulence, and passing plasma fliers – a dangerous, predatory species often spotted within the nebula. Reportedly, they now had a newer, guest resident there – it was said, a protector, for quite some time now.

Gnost traded messages with space traffic control, and had to wait some time for clearance – the planet’s weather systems were also tightly controlled, and could feasibly have become hostile, tempestuous and a significant impediment to atmospheric flight at this stage. But finally he had clearance – as well as a fairly good idea his hosts knew the general purpose of his visit, by now. Descending through the mesosphere, he brought the gunship down over a shallow sea, and in towards a small mountain range, which he was pointedly assured, housed several caves.

Descending the small ramp of his borrowed Mantis gunship, Gnost finally set foot upon the planet, gazing briefly up at its swirling, orange clouds above, blotted and inked by the colours of the nebula all around.

“Master…?” He said, tenuously, then feeding the power of the Force into his words, magnifying and enhancing them, in both volume and impact, so they would be unmistakable for hundreds of metres around. “Master Lywin – I am Gnost-Dural: I am an emissary of the Jedi Order, and I have humbly come to seek an audience with you, if you are willing.”

No reply came immediately, beyond a faint swirling of wind. But before too long, a deep, resonant – and very slightly raspy – voice began to issue from within the shadows of one cave, about three times as far away as Gnost’s ship was long: “I greet you, Jedi – but I am not sure you will be satisfied with the outcome of your journey. I have come here to seek a quieter purpose, and I have become comfortable here: there are people who value my presence, and ships that pass near here, whom I am able to aid… even without fully exposing myself. I serve the galaxy in my own time… and in my own way, even now.”

“I hear all that your say, Master Lywin – but I do still beg that you hear me out: It is not just the galaxy that may benefit from your wisdom, power and aid: the Force itself may have need of you… as it repeatedly has of me, in these, desperate times,” Gnost replied, projecting as much assurance as he could, without making it all seem overbearing or presumptuous. “Since you have disappeared from among us, the Jedi Order has repeatedly faced turmoil, and even near extinction, these last three centuries. The galaxy also suffers from repeated strife – and repeated degradation too.”

“The old enemy… it is them,” rumbled the voice from the cave, as Gnost slowly drew closer. Within the shadows, a faint orange light briefly flared, throwing into relief, a long, sinous shadow within the gloom, very fleetingly. “It is – is it not? The Sith live still? And they hunt our kind?”

“They do – with great success. They hit Coruscant hard, and then their Emperor massed forces in secret for another devastating campaign: now even our holdings on Tython have been abandoned…”

“Tython?!” The voice thundered briefly, before regaining a controlled pitch and timbre. “They threaten the first world?”

“They do – or are capable of it: we do not believe they stayed long. They seek our leaders and our best and brightest, more than they do our old heritage. I have gathered various Jedi, and need elders, to both protect the young – and to pass on wisdom, to the new generation. Should all fall to ruin, a remnant must continue, and work towards the future… just as many once did on Ossus before; and on Teya,” Gnost finished – meaningfully dropping the name of a particular planet.

“Very well young Jedi – then I will hear more of your grim tale: give me space… as I extricate myself from here: age has been good to me, and I have only recently stopped growing.”

From out of the dingy cave, a great shape emerged – long, segmented, and many legged. It seemed like a giant insect at first, but the rough and calloused skin resembled scales far more than it did a chitinous shell; and the body curved and swelled in an impressive shape, building eventually towards pectoral like muscules, below a long, aquiline head. Two slightly webbed looking wings crested the top of the body, behind the great head, and far down the back. Great nostrils issued faint puffs of steam every few seconds, and great glaring eyes came into sharp focus above, withdrawn behind the long snout, and in a slightly bumpy, yet powerful forehead. In all he stood over twenty metres in length, perhaps twenty-five, with his tail still obscured in shadow.

“I am the one you seek then, young Jedi?” The great dragon rasped – sound echoing impressively for a moment before the great creature stepped almost fully into the daylight. “I am Willm Lywin – Jedi Knight and Master, teacher – and exile. I have been many things in my long life: explorer, curious child, servant of the Force, teacher of Jedi, and defender of the vulnerable. I have fought Sith, man, creature and terrible beast – and seen many Jedi fall, to my pain, in spite of it all. Tell me, do many still live?”

“They do, Master Lywin – they do still: though plenty have fallen, many still live… in hiding, or in missions around the galaxy, working to hold back the advance of the Sith. For fifty years we have struggled now, since their Empire reappeared in new strength. I am Gnost-Dural: teacher, scribe, scholar and protector… and I have heard many stories about you, thus far. I also have students – and they would, I suspect, benefit greatly from the lessons and wisdom you have accrued, across millennia.”

“Then you had better tell me more, Master Gnost-Dural, Kel Dor, scholar and Jedi,” Lywin replied portentously. “I am a relic of an earlier time – but one who can, I hope, aim to be of some more use. Lead me then… to your ship.”

* * *​

Gnost led his expedition back home, a long, and winding path – up the Trellen Trade Route, and then across the Perlemian Route, out towards the Ash Worlds… and finally back to the Jedi enclave on Ossus, bordering the ancient Tion Hegemony; one of the oldest rival powers of the Galactic Republic, many millennia ago. The planet had a storied, very long and celebrated history – and had also been one of the most prominent targets of the malicious Sith armies, across more recent centuries. A terrible catastrophe had destroyed entire stars – sending a wave of destruction towards Ossus, and scouring its surface, destroying most of the forests, and stripping back many oceans. Only by now were even the first signs of recovery emerging, blinking in the light, like the gaze of a newborn.

Gnost’s colony consisted of fairly small, compact buildings, plus a power plant, and some hangars. Off to the side, a quiet and discreet training temple – more of a dojo, in many respects – stood up, somewhat domed. His key lieutenants waited: his trusted chief of security, Tau Idair, a former student – and Nadia Grell, the dark-skinned young human woman who had sought out his teaching more recently. Dazh Ranos, with her distinctive powder blue skin, dark hair and red, luminescent eyes, strode close by, coming to join the circle.

“Come, students – let us go within: we have an honoured guest awaiting us,” Gnost told them. As they ventured into the threshold of the temple, he waited expectantly for the impressed gasps or murmurs of surprise… of those unaware of the nature of their guest, or simply awestruck at a creature formerly known only in legend to many. Willm Lywin stood within, almost the size of a passenger shuttle – and filling almost the entire room: special adjustments had been made to much of the original furniture, to ease his access even further. Willm was a Duinuogwuin – a huge, dragon-like being, whose species were ancient, powerful and wise, as many stories about them had colourfully expressed: once enemies of the Galactic Republic, they had developed into a much valued member, after initial misunderstandings… and yet they were rarely seen by most citizens; vanishingly rare, in common sight.

“We are honoured by your presence, great one,” Nadia Grell said reverently. Gnost was glad that his student was familiar with the importance of courtesy and deference among Duinuogwuin… especially the more elderly ones. If records were accurate, their guest exceeded five thousand years of age.

Gnost reflected upon that momentarily – the awe-inspiring nature of that simple fact: many species within the Jedi Order were long lived… two hundred and even three hundred years were common for many knights and masters, in terms of projected lifespan: Master Oteg, for one, was expected to live for eight hundred years or more, and was already pushing two hundred seventy, if he recalled correctly. But Duinuogwuin dwarfed pretty much all other examples – some being recorded to even live for six thousand years, or slightly above. Willm Lywin’s recorded date of birth, reconstructed from available data, was thought to have occurred no less than five thousand, three hundred and sixty-five years before the Treaty of Coruscant, which had ended one of the more recent wars… and also instigated a new calendar, for many of the players. During that time, the gnarly dragon had seen over six hundred Supreme Chancellors of the Republic come and go… including the famous Blotus the Hutt, who had been given an especially long tenure, due to his acumen and accomplishments. One probably never to be repeated… unless perhaps one of the Duinuogwuin themselves should ever ascend to that highest of political offices. Only they could eclipse a Hutt or some other rare species for longevity.

“Forgive me for my temerity, Master,” Tau Idair said, speaking up abruptly. “But records have you listed as having died three hundred and twenty-two years ago… during a great Jedi purge, that slew many of our numbers: may we learn more of how you survived that time… and where you have been since?”

Gnost thought about slapping his student down for his forwardness, but Lywin indicated no offence being taken, and stirring and undulating his segments slightly, he began to muster a response…

“Come then, Jedi – and hear the dragon’s tale: it is a long, dark, and often tragic one…”

* * *​

“My family has always been a quiet one, among our people, for the most part… but long ago… almost twelve thousand of your planet Coruscant’s years before… my grandfather joined in a great expedition against an upstart, two-legged race that was threatening our people, out near the world you now call Murkhana. This was the terrible conflict we now know as the Duinuogwuin Contention. One simple misunderstanding between my people and the Republic, led to a short, but for your kind… a most terrible conflict. Fire, hot as plasma, spitting from the sky… laying waste entire skyscrapers within the galaxy’s grandest city: my grandfather fought that day, and at first he was proud… but after the conflict ended, he came to see the great harm that had been inflicted, and the many lives extinguished. As your Chancellor Filorean brokered peace with our own philosopher, Borz’Mat’oh, he wished to show contrition, and offered his services in bringing relief supplies. During that time he also encountered Jedi, and I grew up with many tales of them, throughout my first century of life. That fired my curiosity… and when I was around three hundred years of age… in your own fleeting calendar… I set out into the stars, eager to see the galaxy.

“In time I came into luck, following stories of a Jedi academy starship – a praxeum vessel – and I offered my services as a guide and an escort across perilous stretches of space, to help navigate them through the worser spots. As the years passed, I began to get better and better at sensing peril, and also of opportunities… wonders, sights to see, and share with my new Jedi friends. In time I was assessed… measured for my potential, and then, I was taught – as a Jedi. It was one of my fondest dreams… brought to realization. I was among the first of my people ever assessed in such a manner… and the masters aboard the ship took it in turn to train me, and to avail me of their wisdom. For though I was older than most of them, in experience I was still greatly lacking. And so, after four hundred years of travel, I was an almost fully trained Jedi, who had participated in several missions… and then I travelled to the centre of the galaxy, to Coruscant… the world my grandfather had once assaulted. There I continued my training, and also out at distant Ossus, or visiting the grand record halls on Phateem. I began to train students of my own in time… and worked mainly as a mediator and an advisor, mostly avoiding combat. Great events did I witness over the next thirteen hundred years… the centuries long tenure of Chancellor Blotus, the Hutt who has been the truest friend to the Republic of all of his unpopular people… the assault by the Waymancy Storm… the short (by my people’s own reckoning) but still harrowing Tapani civil war, and more besides.

“And then one day, terrible strife and upheaval arose for the Jedi… but this time from within our very ranks: scholars unveiling old secrets on the fringes of the space controlled by the warlike Sith species, who were barely known to our Order back then. And other texts and teachings they say were smuggled back from remote places elsewhere on the rim of the galaxy. In time, some of our best and brightest turned towards grim new purposes and intentions… falling into the embrace of the Dark Side. Ajunta Pall… XoXaan… Sorzus Syn, and Dreypa… more besides: lost to us. It was a terrible blow for many… and disillusioning for me, for quite some time.

“Among my people, there is a dark and quite tragic secret all must sometimes face: our gestation as a species is complex, depending on many key genetic and chemical, even environmental factors, so that we may be born healthy, strong, and of sound mind. But periodically… some do not complete the process properly. Some are born… wrong: sick... unreasoning… and violent. For centuries we tried to help them, in the distant past… but in the end they invariably turned against their fellows, or lashed out, consumed by strong emotions and instincts, growing ever madder as they aged. In time our elders saw no choice… nor did their parents, generally… but in their elimination. But I had barely payed attention to such stories as a fledgling, and felt most of that terrible time was long in the past. I did not expect to see the same kind of horror unfold within my new family, too. But alas… that is what occurred, nevertheless,” Willm said, coming to a halt, and meditating for a few seconds, tamping down powerful regrets and emotions.

“The Hundred Year Darkness,” Nadia Grell said, ruefully. It was a story familiar to many Jedi students… the second great schism within the Jedi, and one often more detailed than the legendary first one. What had begun as a simple disagreement between Jedi alumni had blossomed into a terrible uprising, and then a war… which had ended in horrors being unleashed upon the galaxy.

“Yes, young human – that is what we called it, within a century or so of its conclusion: a terrible war, far more devastating than that fought against the Legions of Lettow, and Xendor, millennia ago. Ajunta Pall and his allies unleashed horrifying new powers against us… and then hordes of monsters too. For decades the Republic staggered back, weakened and uncertain, as chaos spread, and lawlessness, and new hordes of marauders filled the vacuum, to spread further misery. For a time, the Republic split into three or more parts, struggling to maintain order and peace within the inner systems, whilst unable to fully help the outlying ones. Ossus was cut off for a time. And horrifying monstrosities bore down upon vulnerable worlds… including the planet Balmorra. You have heard, perhaps, of the Leviathans…?”

“Yes – yes, I have… I read about them in the Temple, when very young. I had… nightmares about them once,” Nadia replied grimly. “Forged by Sith Alchemy, as ultimate weapons against the Jedi: able to withstand small armies sometimes… and to slay many, then to absorb their energies within themselves… trapped inside.”

“Within blisters, upon their great backs… yes. It was a dire time for the whole galaxy, but fortunately, the Jedi rose to the occasion: they would turn back the tide of the enemy advance, no matter the cost to themselves. And I went with them… joining Master Saba’ton and others, swooping in with their ships and fighter craft… and we met the enemy near Balmorra. There were five great Leviathans that day… and I personally fought one, lashing it with the fire of my breath, and melting slowly through its terrible, thick, obdurate hide. I heard it scream, bellow within my mind, but I dared not show mercy… and in time, it finally fell, drifting among meteors and dust clouds. Then I heard the other voices… the howls of the departed spirits, finally set free… and rejoining the Force. Those absorbed within the strange, terrible creature… victims, yes. But perhaps, I thought… not the only ones. Perhaps the creature too was tormented in its own way, and imprisoned. But finally… we won the day. After that time, I found myself unable to resume my duties, as I had before. In time… I headed back into the stars, recusing myself, and seeking peace: I could not continue to be a true Jedi until I had done so.

“And so I allowed the terrible war to conclude without me, and the rocky years of rebuilding and restoring of galactic order that followed, as leaders vied to pick up the pieces, and central authority slowly returned. In time I found the peace I sought, travelling among other space dwelling creatures… even with the great exogorths… the ‘space slugs’, and other strange life besides. I also saw purrgil, and longed to follow their pods and families on their great migrations… but I never went the whole way. I could feel the galaxy, the citizens I had abandoned… slowly calling me back. But I had been gone a long time: I needed to reconnect with the Jedi, who were now greatly changed from their conflict, and ordeal. In some ways more centred and resolved… but in others, more radicalized, I felt. They were more wary of the Dark Side than ever before. Far less talk now of Balance or of seeing shades of grey, or making space for certain emotions: far more adherence to code, and to discipline, and control. Far less mercy for those who began to go far astray too… for the cost was now known to be far too dear, not just for the Order, but for the galaxy. So I returned eventually to teaching, after refamiliarizing myself with the Jedi ways, and with the redefined Order. And I hoped that we would not see such terrible times again.

“Alas – it was not to be: other renegades arose from within the Jedi ranks, and Dark Side seemed to grow in influence, as harmony often retreated. Strife slowly and repeatedly engulfed the galaxy such had not been seen since the schism, and since the terrible crusades of Pius Dea, in my father’s time. The Sith invasion first… repelled by great Jedi of the past like Odan-Urr. Then Korriban and other worlds laid waste, just as my people once tried to do to Coruscant. Then… I thought it was over: the wars finally done… the Sith defeated. They had evolved from a simple tribal society of warriors into powerful magicians, and then further radicalized by our own exiled Jedi deviants – becoming the worst nightmares of many Jedi, realized: abusing their power, seeking conquest and domination… power over life itself. And every time we thought them defeated, another would arise – often from among our own Order. Exar Kun, young and arrogant… bringing ruin even to this very world, Ossus, the wellspring of the Order. Forcing us to leave and build temples elsewhere… and in time the curse of the Sith arose again. In the fires of the wars with the Mandalorians… two of our most promising Jedi became Darth Revan, and Darth Malak, and more and more it became too much for me to bear.

“During that era I had travelled to Teya and opened a Jedi academy there that taught many promising students. I swapped many tales with the human Simikarty, and we passed on our teachings to others besides… one I remember fondly, as always being interested in my stories… a small, green being, with large ears, who often spoke strangely…”

“Was that… Tokare? Master Vandar Tokare?” asked Dazh Ranos. “I have heard quite a few stories about him… he was there when Revan’s training began… Malak’s too.”

“Yes child… that was the one,” Willm Lywin replied sonorously. Meantime, if Dazh felt any umbrage over being called a child, she admirably concealed it, to her great credit. “Vandar… we spent many hours in discussion, about history, philosophy, and of the Force itself. And one day I was… greatly saddened to feel his light go out, extinguished. In the aftermath of Darth Malak’s defeat, new leaders took charge of the cult of fallen Jedi now referring to themselves as ‘Sith’. They began targeting Jedi, aided by mercenaries and assassins… and destroyed many of our enclaves. As Malak destroyed one on Dantooine, so did the gathering on Katarr also fall, and with it my friend Vandar. In time they came for my own academy on Teya, and we mustered an evacuation. I stayed behind… with some of the strongest of our number, and we fought a delaying action. Our sacrifice allowed several students and other inhabitants to flee the system safely… and we destroyed many of our attackers. In time I found myself the last one standing… and I felt nothing but regret, overshadowing whatever sparse victory we had. All had felt as if it had come to nothing… to ashes and defeat, to ruination. So I withdrew… again. I left everything behind, and I wandered the stars, as I had dreamed of doing since being a child. I kept going, far around the outer rim of the galaxy, and out to distant clusters and far separated stars, even to one of the dwarf galaxies. I did not know if any Jedi survived, for quite some time. When I returned, war was again ravaging the galaxy, in spite of all the Jedi had sacrificed… and so instead I came to the Marasai people, offering to protect them against threats within their nebula, including the plasma fliers. Whether this was solace or penance, I could not say… until, maybe, now, I suppose,” he said with great weight, allowing his breath to slow it’s almost furnace hot rasp through his twin, gigantic nostrils.

“Did you encounter any of your own people, in all that time?” Gnost asked softly.

“Yes, I did – and we spoke briefly for a time. But I had seen so much… and changed so much: my own siblings and cousins barely recognized me, and in time they feared I was being lost to some new madness, different in kind from the one that has befallen my people’s young, but no less alarming to them. So, after a short time… I departed, following purrgil, nebray mantises and other fauna that journey across the stars. Now you tell me three hundred years have passed… and I am finally ready to be among Jedi again. I cannot confess I truly wish to fight – indeed, I hope to avoid doing so, as long as possible: But if the Force wills it… I will contribute. I will train, teach, or advise… and defend this place, now that the light is finally returning to Ossus. As I hear, it has, to Tython… too. So tell me, Gnost-Dural… how did the Jedi find their ancient home? And what have they uncovered, from the old fountainhead of the Force?”

Gnost leaned back in his seat, sighing a little, and readied himself. He signaled to Tau Idair abruptly. “Tau, my friend – bring me tea… a nice, large and hot pot of it. I have a long story to tell… and I wish to sooth myself before I begin, so I may tell it the best…”

* * *​

3628 BBY…

About a year and a half passed, as the colony slowly grew, so far concealed from the gaze of the Sith, be it either of their Empire sprouted from the nearby world of Dromund Kaas, and venerable Korriban… or the new, Eternal Empire, in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, that had uexpectedly unleashed itself upon the unsuspecting settled galaxy a few years ago, attacking Republic, Jedi, civilian and even Sith alike, with barely any discriminating intent behind the action. Founded secretly by Emperor Valkorian, the fanatical legions of Zakuul and other terror troops seemed determined to enact a final sanction upon those seen as having failed their ruler only a few years before… or of bringing them at least, sharply to heel. In that time, Gnost had lost touch with many of his old friends, including Grand Master Satele Shan… who, as he had told Willm Lywin the day he brought him to Ossus, had led the expedition that finally located Tython, thought by many to be the lost birthplace of the Jedi religion.

There, precious secrets and knowledge, even relics… had finally come to light, over time. Remnants of the great temples of Kaleth and of Anil Kesh, the Martyrium of Frozen Tears, and the Seeing Stone, to name a few: whilst some had crumbled into sad piles and remnants, others still endured. Amazingly… the First Blade, a relic from the time of the early Je’daii, of Garon Jard, Cala Brin, and Rajivari, had also been discovered only a few years ago. In a terrible conflict called the Force Wars, Rajivari had stolen the blade and concealed it, whilst plotting to strike at his fellow council members, and eliminate them. The very first lightsaber ever crafted by Jedi hands had vanished utterly from sight… and within a few years, terrible storms had wracked Tython, eventually driving the surviving Force users away from the planet, over twenty millennia ago.

Since that time, the Je’daii – now known as Jedi – had lost so much of their past, but had gained a new home, and new friends, and a new purpose within the Galactic Republic that had arisen in the centuries that followed. The fragmentary stories unearthed by Gnost, by Satele Shan, Tol Braga and Yuon Par, had seemed fantastical at first… legendary, even farfetched: stories of ancient pyramidal spacecraft, Rakata warriors wielding dark powers of their own… flying rancors… it had overwhelmed many, for a time. And much had been left uncatalogued and unconfirmed when the Jedi had again fled the planet. Gnost hoped they would be able to return someday… soon, hopefully, once the Sith were defeated. Already, rumors were rife that Emperor Valkorian was slain… still, Gnost had heard that bit of good news before, and was skeptical it was an assured truth this time, either. Stories of the new Eternal Alliance continued to spread… an alliance, it was said, between a legendary Jedi figure known as the Outlander, and of others, even of some senior Sith, such as this Lana Beniko many now spoke of. Those who had helped turned some of Valkorian’s weapons and minions against him, and brought his onslaught to an end… at least for now.

Gnost was still greatly unsure what to make of all of that… but the possibility was becoming clear to him, over time: peace, some kind of reconciliation… with Sith. Was it possible? Was it now a valid outcome, that certain Jedi and Sith could come to trust each other, to some extent, and go forward in, if not true peace, then at least mutual coexistence? Personally, Gnost was far from sure it would last… all he had seen of the Dark Side suggested it dominated its servants and fed their rapacious desires quite utterly, spurring them on to greater conquests, greater anger, and greater cruelties. The Sith Empire had time and again enslaved people, conquered or bombarded worlds, seized riches – and then more often than not, had fought among themselves, before too long. Knight vs knight… warrior vs warrior, apprentices vying with one another, and Lord vs Lord, with ordinary people and vassals caught viciously in between, more often than not. Others had sought control over nature and life, even immortality itself… with Gnost’s own intensive reseaches into the history of the Sith confirming that, and even being confirmed by reports of Sith defectors, such as Sajar, and Praven… that the Emperor, variously known as Tenebrae, Vitiate and Valkorian, had succeeded, in many respects, in this arcane goal. Had lived for perhaps as long as fourteen, perhaps even fifteen centuries, before he had finally been slain (they now hoped)

Unless the Sith greatly changed, Gnost could not truly see peace ever dwelling within their hearts… only perhaps, a contentment for a time, to rule the worlds they already had. But even a hundred worlds in their grasp would be a price very steep to pay, for the freedoms and lives of many people. After the Treaty of Coruscant, almost twenty five years ago, it had seemed like half the galaxy had been about to fall into the clutches of the feuding dark lords and magicians. Peace had lasted barely more than a decade before terrible new battles began – superweapons, like the Desolator, unleashed… Taris devastated again. And more attacks upon the Jedi. Even the cult of Revan, returning… now… that was a story still to be properly catalogued, Gnost mused to himself, and quite a tale all by itself. For now, he preferred to consult with an old friend on the matter…

“And so what do you think, master Lywin? Can the Sith ever know peace? Or better yet, the Light again… restored to it?”

“Nothing has so far allowed this, for the most part,” Willm said, sighing, and huffing through his capacious nostrils. “Some have returned… many not living for long. Ulic Qel Droma… he returned, at great cost, and having lost nearly everything. He lived another ten years before passing from life… somewhat at peace, I heard, from Grand Master Sunrider. Revan also returned… but he practically had to become an entire new mind and personality in order to do so. And he too vanished, within a few years of his return… maybe he returned to the Dark, in that time?”

“They say he returned… and helped to defeat the Sith Emperor, Vitiate. The first time at least… the shavit keeps cheating the reaper, just when we think him finally laid to rest. That Revan again passed into the light, at the end… but I am not sure what to make of such stories. This is a time of legends… of tales meant to inspire hope, and raise spirits. Many are being told now – some even contrary to each other. New heroes, like the Barsen’thor, the Outlander… even my friend Satele is sometimes spoken of in such terms. Rumours reach me she is returning to Coruscant to teach, even now.”

“Stories can be powerful, my friend… and I would know. I have collected so many, over the years. I hear you have done the same… and begun to become a part of many yourself, these days. Still… there have been successes: Sith can be redeemed… something the Jedi of my day thought impossible. Sajar, Praven… prominent defectors, who returned to the embrace of the Light, and gave us much help and information. Even this Lord Scourge, briefly, for a time, I hear.”

“Yes – that is true. Tol Braga redeemed Sajar, and the Hero of Tython did so with Praven too. We learned many secrets from them – about the Emperor, his empire, the powers and the teachings… things we must guard carefully against, from now on. One troubles me in particular… this ‘Force walk’ or spirit-walk, that has been attributed to the Sith Lords Kallig and Nox: the harnessing of departed Sith spirits, as servants and sources of power, boosting the raw energy of the one who commands them. Such a power could rival that of Nihilus’ perhaps, if developed to its ultimate potential extent?”

“Alarming indeed – something known to the more ancient Sith, and perhaps taught at the Malachor Academy, maybe?” Willm asked somberly.

“Sajar confirmed some of those stories, and he did indeed say the technique had been studied there, as well as on Korriban. There are supposed to be many Sith spirits there… and sometimes they fight back, viciously. More worrying still was rumors that the technique had been perfected once on some planet called Ixigul, where the ‘dead often walk’… and that the Emperor was seeking out this power. Sajar did not know how successful he had been, however. It is secrets such as this that make me worry we will never be rid of that sorcerer,” Gnost said bitterly. “Or perhaps of some successor, in millennia to come, maybe, who could rise to such power. Ixigul – whatever it may be, must be found someday. Its threat eliminated, or contained.”

“I think even Darth Marr would have agreed with us there,” Willm replied steadfastly. “And perhaps this Lana Beniko would too – both have shown willingness to cooperate with the Jedi on some things. Both were also horrified by what Vitiate intended… the exploitation and draining of life on a vast scale, to feed his immortality and power. Such a danger is an existential threat even the more craven Sith lords can hopefully understand.”

“And hopefully not covet equally, too – hungry dragons, set on dark desires of their hearts,” Gnost replied darkly. “If you do not… mind that analogy, here,” he added mindfully.

“It fits well enough – my people have known darkness too,” Willm replied gloomily. “Although I find it harder to understand… a willing descent into unreasoning and covetous madness, as opposed to one stemming from mental derangement: the end result is also usually identical – but the Sith do still reason as well, and do greater harm as a result. Their minds remain somewhat flexible. That is what makes them the greatest threat to the Light we have known… one to dwarf even dragons like myself.”

“You do also seem quite tired, these days, my friend,” Gnost said softly. “Do you see yourself returning to Coruscant this year?”

“Perhaps… I am rather old now, and cannot see myself having many more years left to me. I am glad we have had this time together, and that I have been able to pass on my wisdom before my mind begins to slip from me. My grandfather also became a bit odd at the end… towards the last years of life, he began to wander the stars. And he never showed up at the burial ground… the great graveyard of dragons.”

“And where, old friend, is that…?” Gnost asked, almost teasingly.

“Ah, young friend – that is a secret! And an old, and sacred one, which is not mine to tell. As to my own fate, I have not chosen it yet. Although…” he said wistfully… “I have never seen where the purrgil ultimately go. It’s said by some they go far beyond the galaxy itself… and I have truly never seen that before. Do you know the story of the purrgil, and the old spacers who first studied them, Gnost-Dural?”

“Only parts,” Gnost said indulgently. “Perhaps you could regale me, before the midnight chimes?”

“Settle back, then friend – and let me think where to begin…”

* * *​

3618 BBY…

In the end, Willm Lywin did visit Coruscant again. He had not seen it in a very, very long time, by this point. Long ago, his family had chosen his name based on one of the people they had met there in that era, and he had borne it with distinction since, one of many new names, words and phonemes that had worked their way into the Duinugowuin culture over the last twelve thousand years. Their people had roamed the Ash Worlds for millennia, known to early spacers from the Tion kingdoms, and passed off as legends and fables for the most part… celebrated on Duinarbulon and other worlds, and then told in children’s stories long afterward, in and outside of the Republic.

So his return was feted for a time, in a year of what seemed like growing peace, as fewer and fewer assaults seemed to be mounted against the Republic. Perhaps the great galactic war had finally reached its terminus, after more than six decades now? The Sith Empire collapsed more into disarray every year it was said, with more and more civil wars, coup attempts and ousted leaders. Most of that had come from infighting rather than a genuine uprising of the wider populace, however, but their outlying worlds were increasingly being left under looser control, and looking more to their own affairs. Many of the figures of the past were no longer seen… even Sajar had disappeared, last Willm had heard. The Jedi Temple, once devastated on Coruscant, was now greatly restored, and new generations of Jedi students were growing in wisdom and power. It was hoped a golden age would soon be around the corner again… as it had been in the days of Blotus, and Fillorean… even back to the Jedi Chancellor Biel Ductavis.

Willm was a bit skeptical – but there was much cause for optimism. He did not speak to many of the Jedi Council these days, and was sure his mind was just beginning to go. At five thousand four hundred years (in trifling human terms at least) of age, he was now decidedly, venerable. Still, he had enjoyed a few fruitful discussions with Satele Shan, now entering her eighties he estimated, and Gnost had been even older. He had taught more students, and passed on his wisdom… from a time when the Sith had been barely a rumour to the Jedi, rather than their dark reflection, most ardent enemy, and greatest fear… twisting them often, into acts of great heroism, or of alarming desperation.

“Fear is the the most dangerous foe…” he had once told a student on Teya, many centuries ago. Now Willm was afraid too… but for different reasons. Afraid he would never know the peace he had known in those early days, whilst travelling with his praxeum training ship, when he had first explored the wonders of the Force, under the light of so many strange stars. Never feel so at one with the Force again… like the Jedi writer Trayos Toreggen had once written so vividly and beautifully about.

Within days he made his request of the Jedi Council – and asked to go away… out into the stars again. He expected he would not return… and although he did not openly state as such, he suspected several of them had understood his subtext well enough. The Jedi had survived… had prospered… and he had served them well, longer than any other of the Order, undoubtedly.

It was time for peace – if not in the whole galaxy, then within himself. Time to relinquish attachment to regrets, anxieties, failures of the past, and fears for the future: A time to be at one.

Out into the stars he roamed, seeing many of his favorite nebulas one last time – passing the Marasan one along the way. After a while he came to a distant, quiet world called Seatos – marked by the remains of some old civilization, apparently inclined towards the Force, in some mystically mannered way that Gnost-Dural would surely have found fascinating. So too… would Vandar. So too even… might Ajunta Pall, who he had once briefly known and seen so much potential in… but no. All that was past… and all that was now peace: no more attaching to regrets.

He was in orbit some time before he saw them… the great whales of space… the Purrgil: huge, bulbous bodies, trailing tendrils behind them, rear portions undulating as they propelled themselves by strange mixtures of chemistry, energy manipulation, pure will – and now, he suspected, the Force as well. Wiser than many suspected perhaps… back to the very early days, when primitive spacers had figured out some of the earliest clues to faster than light travel, by studying them, epochs ago. Jedi had also studied them, back in Willm’s youth, and prior – though he feared much was lost of that knowledge, now.

They were wary of him, sensing his raw intellect and energies – but he soothed them via the Force, touching their minds, inquiring of their plans. And finally they granted him his old wish.

Willm Lywin settled within the mouth of one the creatures, undigested, protected and safely embraced. Energy coarsed through the great creature’s bones, stomachs and organs, trailing into their rear tendrils… and they opened the heavens before them… leaping into the often unknowable realm called, somewhat reductively, ‘hyperspace’, by those who used it for profane commuting around the galaxy.

They travelled far, for what was surely weeks… and emerged in a new place. A new galaxy, Willm sensed, falling into orbit around a distant world.

And there, amidst the light of strange stars… Willm Lywin embraced his peace, and became fully one with the Light.

 

That was really beautiful.

 

Alright, so here I am catching up on the last few Tales.

First up Divided Empire and Politics in Black by @Sinrebirth

I want to say that these were some great explorations of the Imperial Minions in the era of Endor and beyond. And you clearly put a lot of work into the fleet movements and getting the different continuities to match up. I loved seeing Sloane and Rax, two of my favorite d-canon Imps. And Palpatine waking up on Byss was great. As HMTE noted it was cool to see the different names for Jacen mixed in here, as well as Sidious actually name-dropping Caedus as a concept. Your excellent Sidious POV here and in the Pellaeon Collection make me want to re-visit my I, Necromancer and just make sure it meshes well with what you've added since I first wrote that.

And it was also fun to see Mas shed his "ahh don't kill me" persona from Aftermath to lead us into his later Legends story. And also Borsk, a character I love to hate (and also wish that he, along with the Diversity Alliance, weren't veering close to the stereotypical "member of oppressed group goes to far in being angry at the oppressor group" trope)

I also appreciate how both here and in Power Struggle you expand on the party system in the Senate to help it make more sense. Tying characters like Mon and Daala to parties we never got connections for. And the teases for the Vong.

All these bits just make me excited to get to NJO...

I'll come back to TOR: Imagine Dragons later.

 

Sorry for falling behind on reviews for this thread! January-March is a busy time on the fanfic boards because we have this intense writing challenge called the Kessel Run that soaks up a lot of my time and energy; meanwhile, you One-Canoners have been busy little bees over here!

I'm going to jump back in time in-universe and review stories that belong to eras where I already left reviews, since I have the One Canon elements for those period relatively fresh in my mind, but I hope I can eventually catch up with the whole lot (famous last words!) So, without further ado...

Evasive Action: Turnabout of Doom by @Delpheas

I really enjoyed the fantastical dimension of this story and the fact that, even by the end, we cannot know how much of this happened in reality and how much was only in Barriss's head. At first I thought that the vision itself was Shaak Ti forcing Barriss to explore her alternate past, but, as Barriss finds out herself, it might have been far more than that. And I loved how you used it to explain the beginning of Barriss's change of heart, when she decides to give Zondor a chance to survive – she's still very much the Barriss we know, who believes that the Jedi were in the wrong about the war (and in particular about the use of clone troopers) but she's coming to realise that there is something bigger than her at work here, and that maybe not all deserve a death sentence.

(Also, a detail in the grand scheme of things, but a cute one: loved how you explained away Shaak Ti's multiple deaths!)

A Wrench In The Works by @HMTE

This was so, so good! You couldn't have thought of a nicest bunch of people to bring together in the same room and have stab each other in the back, and watching it was delightful – but the best part was the expanded role you have to Galen in his secret rebellion against the Empire. He's not just the man who gave the Death Star a crucial weakness and managed to communicate it to the Rebel Alliance, he actually managed to sabotage a number of other Imperial weapons projects by ensuring that they didn't receive funding. Like Lemelisk, I'm tempted to say that "I didn't think he had it in him", but it makes perfect sense – every word of the story makes sense, from Galen's thoughts about Qwi Xux to his silent snide comments about his fellow scientists, his arguments against the Dark Troopers and next-generation TIE fighters, and his clever shmoozing of Tarkin. I also really liked the little detail that he doesn't know where the meeting is being held, which is something you'd very much expect in a paranoid police state like the Empire. Very, very nicely done!

I'm stopping here for today because the next story on my list is a long one and I want to do it justice, but I'll do my best to be back soon.

 

Always a pleasure to see the gaps filled in. The One Sith as a piece of Palpatine's Grand Design is a fun way of reinforcing old Sheev as the ultimate big bad. It's funny that, in the long term, they will be his only lasting achievement in his post-Endor career. The Dark Empire, the Sith Eternal, the First Order and all its accoutrements. They all crumble like sandcastles hit by the rising tide.

The One Sith are the only thing that last. And even they are destined to be swept away, given enough time.

You can see that with Palpatine in this chapter. He is able to subdue Hett and bring him along side. But the exertion has done more damage to an already damaged body. But that's the darkside; short term gains at the expense of long term achievements. They win battles, but their actions ultimately cost them the war.

 

Yes!
Glorious. Simply Glorious.
Tying everything together.
Will we get a story about Darth Krayt in the ST era?

 

Man - that was a really good one, and maybe one of your best so far.

Seeing more of Krayt was very welcome, and Amedda is really growing into the role of Wyrrlok quite nicely.

Hopefully Disney will not kill him off any time soon too - but if Pestage can survive such a thing, then this is no real biggy.
Krayt being subordinate is obviously going to rankle him - but he also feels really reckless at this time. And rather overconfident.

On the other hand, Palpatine has never looked more (seemingly) weaker too - though with a mind generally as sharp as ever.
The story also makes a great bit of rhyming poetry with my last one - as we move from 'dragon of the Jedi' to 'dragon of the Sith'... and see the contrasts, including about being at peace vs being constantly at war, with one aspect of the universe, nature and the mind - or another.

Small headache with Tulak Hord maybe... but that's a long term niggle anyway (working out his timeline, plus that of Kallig and Ergast, being one of the more difficult feats these days; would make Hord nearly up in Vitiate terms of longevity by some analyses)

Overall though - really excellent work. And Legacy of Caedus also looks very promising.

Shout out also to Delpheas for managing so well so far, in a rather difficult shared writing experiment indeed... joining the ranks and precedent of Karen Traviss, Christie Golden and Allston, and more - and being very up to the challenge!

 

Approved by Sinre

The Mortis Quest: Episode I-Edge of the Abyss

Chrelythiumn System, New Territories, 40 ABY

The galaxy seemed to lurch from crisis to crisis.

The Clone Wars. The Reign of the Empire. The Galactic Civil War. The Yuuzhan Vong. Each catastrophe had attracted to its name heroes and villains of all stripes. The catalogue was vast, and as her Uulshos Justice Droid body reclined in the seat of her Stealth-X starfighter, Ilum pondered her own place in that catalogue.

Many initially mistook her as a mere droid. But the machinery she ensconced herself in was little more than a vehicle for her true form. Ilum was a Shard, a sentient crystal. On her homeworld of Orax, her fellow Shard were immobile, and spent the millennia of their lives in quiet contemplation. When offworlders had first arrived to their homeworld and revealed to their colonies the great scope of the galaxy, specially modified droids had been constructed for the Shard to inhabit. It was a radical change. To move, to come and go with but a thought, was an alien means of existing.

Ilum, and others, had joyously welcomed the opportunity. With their new machine bodies, she and the other Shard had traveled to the stars, learning and experiencing all there was to encounter. Eventually, many of them had returned to their homeworld, and had shared with their immobile brethren all that they had discovered.

Ilum had returned, but had not stayed. In her travels, she had encountered the Jedi Master Aqinos, an Altisian Jedi who had been expelled from the main Jedi Order for his theories regarding machinery and the Force. It was he who had opened her mind and soul to a wider universe. She, and some other shards, had proven strong in the Force.

Together, under the guidance of Master Aqinos, she and her fellow Force Sensitive Shards had formed the Iron Knights, a collection of Shard Jedi dedicated to the defense of the Old Republic and the advancement of the Jedi ideal. After assisting the Jedi Master Mace Windu in the Arkanian Revolution, Aqinos and the Iron Knights had gone to Coruscant, to seek approval and recognition as official Jedi.

When presented to the High Council, they had been met with suspicion. To many, the fusion of the Force with cold machinery was an abomination. Millennia had come and gone, but the Archives of the Jedi Order spoke with foreboding of the Ordu Aspectu and the Ascendant. The fusion of crystals, machinery, and the Force had been a path to Darkness in the past on two separate occasions. It was seen as madness for a third group to be encouraged when all precedents pointed to disaster.

Ilum and the other Iron Knights had been disheartened, but they had stood by Aqinos as he stood by them. Aqinos's status as a heretic was upheld, and the Iron Knights were not recognized as official Jedi, though they were allowed to depart in peace.

Rejected, but not discouraged, Aquinos and his Iron Knights had continued to work with the Altisian Jedi to maintain peace and justice where the Coruscant Jedi were not available. The work had been fulfilling, but Ilum had always regretted the disunity between the Jedi Order and its splinter sects. For a Shard community was all. Disunity was an appalling loss.

It had been a long and trying existence, Ilum reflected. But ultimately, the rewards had outweighed the tribulations. She and her Iron Knights had been embraced by Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Order. It had taken the near extinction of the Jedi, but in this day and age the Jedi tradition was whole, as it should have always been.

Ilum only wished the path to unity hadn't been so fraught with trouble. There had been times of peace after the fall of the Empire. The Galactic Concordance with the Imperial forces under Grand Vizier Mas Amedda and the later Bastion Accords with Pellaeon's Imperial Remnant had afforded some calm between the Galactic Civil War and the arrival of the Yuuzhan Vong. And, fortunately, the Dark Nest Crisis and so called Second Galactic Civil War had been more akin to regional conflicts than the full scale, galaxy spanning wars that she and her kin had lived through. Most of the galaxy had been calm while those struggles were waged.

But the intermittent stretches of peace had proven themselves to be brittle. Regional conflicts, mop up operations, and brushfire campaigns threatened to plunge the galaxy into chaos time and again. They never succeeded, never spread, but compared to the Great Peace of the Old Republic the current peace was turbulent. The danger refused to recede, no matter what some might have hoped.

The latest cause of this instability was the reason for Ilum's current mission.

Abeloth.

Ilum had been dismantling a cell of the Crymorah Syndicate operating in the Inner Rim when word had first come down from the Jedi Council.

Abeloth was an abomination of the Dark Side. A creature of power and influence on par with the long departed Celestials. A being of ravenous hunger and ambition that sought to bewitch the entire galaxy and bring its peoples into her thrall.

It was she who had been responsible for the pandemic of madness that had torn through the Knights of the Jedi Order. And while Master Skywalker had struck her down, he'd known that he hadn't truly killed her for good and all.

Abeloth was more than mere flesh. She was a wound in the Force, more energy than matter. A simple lightsaber could wound her for a time, but Luke Skywalker had foreseen that one day she would return.

And so Ilum and nine other Jedi Knights had been appointed to a great Quest. It was their duty to find the lost Dagger of Mortis, the only Force artifact strong enough to permanently kill Abeloth and prevent her from consuming the galaxy. They had spread out into the galaxy, tracking down as many clues about the mysterious One's and their connection to Abeloth.

Ilum's quest had taken her far and wide. She had studied all the records she could acquire of Mortis, the hidden realm said to be a conduit through which the Force of the universe flowed.

She'd read the reports written by Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano of their time spent in Mortis, and how they'd witnessed the Dagger's use to kill the Celestial called the Son.

Ilum vibrated at a frequency that could have been translated as a sigh. Skywalker, Kenobi, and Tano had been eager to write their experience on Mortis off as a vision. But it was real. Real enough to be the key to this entire puzzle.

And so Ilum had retraced their steps, back to the Chrelythiumn System where the Mortis monolith had first appeared to those three Jedi all those years ago.

The monolith had long since vanished. The trail was decades cold. But something in the Force told her that this was where she needed to be.

It had not been an easy sojourn.

Chrelythiumn was a lifeless system on the edge of the galaxy, but it lay to the far corner of the Galactic North; just beyond the territory of the former Imperial Remnant.

Ilum vibrated again, and commanded her droid body to recheck the Stealth-X's long range passive scanners. The droid's optics translated the data into a language matrix that the eyeless, lipless Shard could understand.

Nothing. She was alone.

But for how long? The recent revolution in the Remnant had been largely bloodless. Head of State Fel was said to be holed up on Bastion, surrounded on all sides with nothing but a part of the Imperial fleet standing between him and the usurper Snoke. This new Imperial state that had taken the Remnant's place, this First Order, was rattling its sabers loudly, denouncing the Galactic Alliance, the New Republic, and every peace treaty and act of cooperation going all the way back to Bakura. If she were caught so close to the First Order's territory, at a time when its border was in flux...

It could mean war.

Ilum centered herself. Like a stone, she allowed herself to sink into the deeper ocean of the Force. She was old, and her unity with the Cosmic Force was one cultivated using the mentality of her forebears. Millennia of contemplation had made the Shard infinitely patient, infinitely willing to receive knowledge.

She did not demand. Did not take.

She simply made herself available.

"You were here once." She said to the void. "My friends need your help. Will you be here, with me?"

Nothing happened. She didn't expect anything to happen.

Days came and went. She did not move. She simply made herself available.

And then...

There was a ripple.

A wave.

Something contracted, and then expanded.

The optics of the Justice droid flickered in recognition as the Stealth-X's sensor suite lit up.

Ilum looked up and out through the cockpit, and saw it.

Five kilometers tall. Five kilometers wide. It's obsidian surface was riddled with glowing red lines. It was ancient and sinister.

The Mortis monolith.

Cautiously, Ilum reached out her senses. There was so much about Mortis that they didn't know. Was this monolith a machine? Was there some hidden consciousness at work here? Some mechanism she could manipulate?

More time passed. Days. A week. As she studied the monolith, she found that there was no way she could open it. And yet, she felt that she'd established a link.

She needed reinforcements.

Ilum caused the droid to look at the comm unit. She paused.

Could she risk contacting the rest of the Jedi?

She sent her senses out to the monolith again. No, she definitely could not compel it to open on her own. And even if she could, there was no guarantee that she'd ever get out.

But she could not just leave, either. She had been able to summon the monolith. If she left, it was likely to disappear. And there was no guarantee that she could summon it back.

She had to stay, she realized as she considered the connection between herself and the monolith. She was the anchor tying it to this place, this time.

She needed other Jedi, strong in the Force, to help her open the monolith and gain access to what lay within.

A tinge of regret shrilled through her lattice as she commanded her droid body to activate the comm unit. She had to trust that the Stealth-X encryption systems were up to the task.

"Temple Control, this is Quest Knight-7." Ilum intoned. "I've found it."

The Unknown Regions

Far away, in two separate places unknown to most, two separate sets of eyes opened as a single mind pondered the great mystery.

"there is a disturbance in the Force." The puppet spoke his Master's words, and thought them his own all the while.

"My Leader?" Asked General Hux, arching an eyebrow in confusion.

"just beyond our newly acquired territory on the Outer Rim. the...Chrelythiumn system." The creature called Supreme Leader Snoke ran his hand over his chin in contemplation, and never wondered what force moved his hand, or caused him to contemplate.

Hux frowned, glancing down at a datapad in his left hand. "Some fleet movement by Fel's revisionists? The Resistance?"

"no." Snoke hissed. "Fel's forces are bottled up at Bastion. he stands alone. this is something...older. Greater. a conduit of immense power."

Hux pursed his lips, his eyes narrowing in contemplation. The Force was immaterial in the grand scheme of things to a man like him. But he'd known his Leader long enough to never doubt him. All of his premonitions had proven themselves correct.

"If it is great enough to attract your attention Supreme Leader, then it must be acquired for the glory of the First Order." Hux concluded.

Snoke leaned back in his throne. He waved a hand dismissively. "send a Maxima-A cruiser and a wing of TIE's. secure the Chrelythiumn system."

Hux's frown deepened. "If this entity is of such importance to you, Supreme Leader, why not send a Resurgent?"

Snoke slouched deeper into his throne. He interlaced his fingers. "our hold on the remnant's former space is still infirm. we are still accumulating centrist worlds that have seceded from the New Republic. if we display too much of our power too soon, the nations of the Galactic Alliance will rally against us. we are not ready."

Hux nodded. "It shall be done."

The General clicked his heels, saluted, turned smartly and left the Throne Room.

Snoke chuckled to himself as the doors closed. Hux was always testing him. The General knew that they could not expose their full power yet, or even hint at it. The galaxy had to think the First Order were a band of harmless radicals. Dangerous enough to sway popular opinion in the Imperial Remnant, but of no threat to the New Republic's fine fleet.

Hux knew this. But the General was always probing for a weakness, a failing, an oversight. He was loyal, but only to a point.

Snoke chuckled again, but the laugh did not emerge from his own will. If only Hux really understood.

Perhaps, one day, he would.

Farther away, on a shrouded world, a dying man pulled his puppet's strings and reflected on the power long denied to him. It was close. Closer than it had been even at Lothal, all those decades past. So close that he could taste it.

The power of gods.

Mortis would be his. At long, long last.

Up Next: The Sword of the Jedi and the son of the Grand Master embark on a critical mission.

 

Well we're really moving faster now...

Have to admit, I never expected to see the Iron Knights ever again - not that I had kept up with all the details about them, either.

Wild times may very soon be ahead.

What's next? Tho Yors turning into World Devastators... ?

As for the revolution on Bastion - that ought to be very interesting indeed.

(Not sure also if Snoke would remain in the shadows to all but an inner circle for a while, too...? )

 

Trying my best to bring back the minor D-tier characters @Chrissonofpear2 . First Ikrit and Marda Ro in my last story, now Ilum. Why? *Shrugs* I guess it's my way of averting the Main Characters Do Everything Trope. It's nice to bring in a minor character now and again to add a fresh perspective. It's not like they're doing anything. And the main characters are rather busy in this time period.

Wild times indeed are a'coming. And I'm going to do something controversial. Real controversial. So controversial that the characters in the story will debate it. But that probably won't be until Episode III.

Episode II of Mortis Quest will be coming out in a week. I've got part of it written out already. Hope to have finished writing Episode II in the next few days, and will then send the draft off to @Sinrebirth for approval.

We're in the super early days of the "public" First Order. We know that Snoke was a public figure known by the galactic population by the time of the Sequels, which is about a year and change after this story takes place. Right now the "First Order Revolution" (need to come up with a cooler name) is still happening. Planets are still in the process of leaving the NR to sign on with the FO. Everything's up in the air in what used to be the Imperial Remnant and no one's sure what's entirely going on. I'll be going into that a bit in Episode II.