CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Darkknell
Governor Gavrik had just been about to enjoy his afternoon snack when another one of his aides interrupted.
“Sir, there is an ongoing incident in the Tengo District.”
Gavrik frowned as he looked over to his nervous Bimm aide. “What kind of incident? Are those insurgents back for more?”
“We don’t know, sir. Some witnesses report seeing or hearing lightsabers being activated.”
“Lightsabers?!” Gavrik wasn’t sure whether he should be scared or excited by this news. “What are Jedi doing here? Or, wait, was one of the terrorists we spotted a Jedi?”
The Bimm shook his head, long furry ears drooping down. “Again, I don’t know, sir. We have alerted all security, including the Tandoon Clan, but—”
“But what? You don’t end a sentence like that with a ‘but.’ Send the security and let them deal with it.”
The Bimm swallowed hard. “The Gaar of the Tandoon Clan would like to have a word with you.”
Without waiting for a response, the aide placed a small holoprojector on the floor and turned it on. The holographic image of a burly Sanyassan materialized in front of Gavrik.”
“Governor Gavrik,” said Gaar Dranjat, current leader of the Tandoon Clan. “I would like to renegotiate the terms of our agreement.”
“What?” Gavrik exclaimed incredulously. “Now? But we still have insurgents to deal with!”
“We’ll deal with them.” Dranjet crossed his huge arms over his chest. “Provided that you agree to our conditions.”
Gavrik grabbed his head, nearly pulling his toupee off. “Fine, fine, fine. What are your conditions?”
“Some of my pirates are waiting outside your building. They are here to perform an inspection.”
“An inspection? What for?”
“To see if your building would serve as an adequate headquarters for our operations.”
Gavrik gawked at the hologram. He then waved his hands frantically. “Fine, whatever. Janseera, open the doors and—”
“Oh, no need. We already let ourselves in.”
Gavrik nearly jumped out of his polished boots as he turned to see a group of five pirates barge into his office. All of them were wearing mismatched pieces of armor, with the leader wearing a dirty and broken stormtrooper helmet. The rest of his party was comprised of a tattooed Zabrak woman, a red-garbed Lorrdian with an electrostaff, a pirate wearing the armor of a Milvayne law enforcer, and someone wearing the battered remains of a scout trooper helmet.
The leader of the group with the battered stormtrooper helmet stepped up to Gavrik. “Name’s Kes Shara,” the pirate growled. “I’m in charge of the inspection.”
“Of course.” Gavrik bowed his head. “I shall help you whatever way I can.”
“You can start by telling us anything we should probably need to know before we start. Like if there’s anyone important in the building to keep an eye out for.”
“Well….” Gavrik cleared his throat. “The Chief of State is on one of the sub-levels. Of course, I’m not sure if he’s still there, but—”
“We’ll keep an eye out for him.” Kes gestured to his companions. “Come on, guys. Let’s get this over with.”
The pirates were about to leave when Janseera suddenly spoke up, looking at her datapad. “Governor,” Gavrik’s Qiraash aide said, “a YT-1930 Corellian freighter is requesting to land on platform five.”
Gavrik stared at her. “Is it anyone we know? Are they transmitting a clearance code or anything?”
“No, sir. Shall I—”
“Ah,” said Kes. “That would be the rest of the inspection crew. Let them land, Governor.”
Gavrik chewed on his lip. “Fine.” He turned back to Janseera. “Go ahead and give them clearance. I just want this whole ordeal to be over with.”
“Ah, don’t worry, Governor,” Kes Shara said. “This will all be over before you know it. Mark me words.”
With that, the pirates took their leave. The hologram of Gaar Dranjat had already dissolved during the conversation. Gavrik stared at the holoprojector on the floor before stomping on it with his foot, startling his Bimm aide.
“Get me some ale,” the governor muttered. “I’m going to need something to wash my food down.”
* * *
“I can’t believe that worked.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Poe said to Jessika as they hurried down a corridor to meet up with the Renegade that had just landed on one of the platforms. He had to admit that he had been impressed by the Imperial technicians that had managed to create a holographic replication of the Tandoon Clan leader, with Commander Jokar speaking remotely as Dranjat. It certainly helped that Governor Gavrik was clearly a clueless fool, which was probably why he had gotten the position in the first place. He was easily manipulated by not only his benefactors but his foes as well.
Poe had no idea why the Renegades had come to Darkknell, but their arrival was certainly convenient. He opened the door that led out to the platform they had landed on and saw that Kyla Kishanti was already approaching along with most of her crew, save for her Bothan co-pilot and that one nervous Ortolan navigator. When she saw Poe and his disguised companions, she started to raise her blaster until Poe lifted his helmet to reveal his face.
“Fancy seeing you here,” he said with a wry grin. “Come on. The Chief of State is on one of the sub-levels. Let’s go.”
Kyla nodded and the Renegades followed him and the others through the governor’s building. Along the way they passed by several aides and even a few guards, but none of them stopped them, likely too scared to interfere with whatever they were doing.
They eventually made it to the turbolifts and Poe hit the control panel to summon a lift. All nine of them managed to fit into the lift as it took them all the way down to the sub-level. When the doors opened, they were immediately greeted with the sight of several Galactic Alliance guards standing around some sort of bacta tank. Upon noticing them, the guards raised their blasters only for a sharply-dressed man to step around the tank and motion for them to stand down.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon,” said Chief of State Tyron Valrisa.
Poe tilted his head. “Don’t tell me this was all some sort of elaborate trap….”
Tyron Valrisa shook his head. “I wasn’t talking to you.” He nodded to the young dark-haired woman standing with Kyla’s crew, a woman Poe knew as Sare Valrisa. “I was talking to her.”
Sare glared at the man whom Poe could only guess was her brother. “I figured the location didn’t really matter.”
Tyron sighed. “I was hoping for something a bit more symbolic. Sedratis was as much your home as it was mine… even if my bloodline started here.”
“Brace yourselves, guys,” Poe muttered to his teammates. “I think we’re about to get a long, winding speech.”
“Poe,” Jessika said under her breath. “Do you see what’s in the tank?”
Poe frowned beneath his helmet as he inclined his head to get a better look at the bacta tank behind the guards. Floating within the liquid seemed to be some sort of organic form, and it took a moment for him to realize that it was actually human. A very deformed human, looking almost like an infant but with a face that looked adult.
Sare seemed to have been staring at the being as well as Tyron stepped aside to gesture at the bacta tank. “I would like to introduce you to Daiman Valrisa. The true seventh heir… and my brother.”
“Why did you want my help in finding the seventh heir if you already knew where he was?” Sare asked, still gawking at the occupant in the bacta tank.
“I was simply hoping the prospect alone would be enough to goad you into coming to Sedratis,” Tyron replied. “My plan was to capture and gather all of the remaining heirs—including Vynda and Varla—and have you do the honors of killing them. I would have then held up my end of the deal and given you a presidential pardon.”
“You would have had me kill your baby brother?”
“Despite appearances, Daiman is actually the same age as you are. That was why my mother had chosen you to be abducted; she had obtained a registry of human infants born in the year 7992 C.R.C. and sent her agents to capture you after deeming you to be a sufficient candidate.”
Sare shook her head. “But why? Why was she so desperate to have seven heirs?”
“The Charge Matrica is something of a family tradition,” Tyron explained. “My mother was a direct descendant of the Sith Lord Daiman himself, whose sole heir was hidden on a remote world located in this sector. After the war’s end, that heir was raised in seclusion to continue the Calimondra bloodline and perhaps one day rebuild the Sith dynasty that had nearly been established. Unfortunately, none of Lord Daiman’s descendants—including Lady Sareth herself—had the gift of the Force. Neither did I or my half-siblings.”
“But I did,” Sare murmured.
“Yes. But she did not know that, at least not at the time. She just needed a child who was… healthy and able to function in society.” Tyron glanced back at the bacta tank containing his brother. “She did not realize that the last of her children already had the gift she so desperately sought.”
“That thing has the Force?” Wiskin asked.
“He is not a thing,” Tyron said defensively. “He is my brother. But yes, he has the Force. It is difficult for him to demonstrate it, but he does have it.”
Poe grimaced as he stared at the human floating in the bacta tank. “I almost hate to ask, but who is the father? Don’t you guys all have wealthy parents?”
Tyron nodded. “Indeed we do. But as for Daiman… I must confess that I am unaware of his father’s identity. My mother had simply left on one of her business trips and returned having already been impregnated. Usually she would be accompanied by her newest suitor, whether it be a Serennian noble or a Praji heir… but that day, she had returned alone. I had asked her once, but all she told me was that I would find out when the time was right.” He sighed wistfully. “I suppose now I will never know.”
Sare took a step forward, causing some of Tyron’s guards to flinch. “He doesn’t need to die,” she said, her voice surprisingly soft. “No one needs to die. I think enough people have died these past few months.”
Tyron shook his head. “I am sorry, Cera Jarsan, but the path you have chosen will only ensure more death. I had hoped that, by accepting my offer, you would avoid your own… but I am afraid that is no longer an option.”
Poe tensed and did a quick headcount of the Chief of State’s guards. There were six of them in total, meaning that there were less of them than there were in Poe’s group. But injuring any of them, let alone the Chief of State, would be an instant death-sentence for not only them but the rest of the Resistance, which had already lost so much of its support. Their only option was to make a break for the turbolifts and get out of here.
He was about to signal as much to Jessika and the others when Tyron suddenly whirled around to the bacta tank. “What did you say?”
The human floating in the tank said nothing, his mouth covered by a breathing respirator. However, his eyes—which Poe realized now were heterochromatic—were locked on the Chief of State’s. Tyron seemed to gawk at his brother, bewilderment etched onto his face.
“What do you mean let them go? I don’t understand….”
Poe didn’t understand what was going on either as he watched on in complete incredulity as the Chief of State had a silent conversation with his brother. After a few moments, Tyron started to slowly nod his head, rubbing his chin in contemplation.
“Yes, I suppose you make a good point.” He turned to face Poe and the others. “My brother has convinced me to be merciful today. You are free to leave and return whence you came… provided you never step foot on Darkknell ever again.”
“You’re listening to your brother that you’re going to kill anyway?” Kyla asked.
Tyron ignored her, instead looking over to Sare—whom Poe guessed now went by Cera. “My offer is still open to you, if you wish to visit me on Sedratis. You only need to contact me through my family’s droid.”
Cera opened her mouth as if to speak, only to close it after changing her mind. Instead, she simply nodded.
Poe sighed heavily. “All right then. Let’s go.”
“What?” Shyra gave him an incredulous look. “But the Chief of State is right there! This is our chance! Why else did we go through all this trouble?”
“Yeah, well, that was before I knew about the little guy in the bacta tank.” Poe hit the control panel behind him to open the lift. “Things like that can throw a spanner in the works.”
* * *
Aboard the Renegade, Toah was filled with dread.
Even before they had arrived at Darkknell, he had felt a disturbance in the Force. At first he thought it had been from the image Vorath had flashed in his mind of Rey killing Zarin Kal. But the feeling had lingered even after they had landed and Kyla and the others had departed to meet up with Poe and his group, leaving him behind to watch over the Sendors with Ace and Bedo.
He was starting to wonder whether the vision he had received was actually a premonition for the future… and not something that had already happened.
Sitting across from him, Varon Sendor started to keel over, clutching his bandaged wound. Lysira grabbed his shoulders in concern while their son simply sat there, looking scared and confused as he had been since they had left the Errant Venture.
“Love,” Lysira said in a hushed tone. “What’s wrong?”
Varon clenched his teeth in pain. Rather than answer her, he instead opened his eyes to look at Toah. “There is another….”
Toah frowned at him in confusion. “What?”
“I thought I was the only one. That’s why he was able to possess me and my son. Otherwise he would have used you….”
Toah started to rise to his feet. “Varon, what are you talking about? What’s going on?”
“He can only possess people of his direct bloodline. Otherwise he would have—” Varon started to cough violently and nearly collapsed onto the table, supported only by Lysira with her arms around him. “I should have let them kill me…. All of this is my fault….”
“Varon.” Lysira stared at her husband with teary eyes. “Speak to me. What is happening?”
Varon turned to look at her, a move that seemed to exert a great amount of energy as he continued to wince in pain. He met her eyes and offered her a weak smile. His mouth opened as if to speak… but no words came out.
His body went still.
At that moment, Kalon started to cry and Lysira grabbed her son as tears streamed from her own eyes. Toah collapsed back down into his seat, rubbing his temple as he tried to comprehend what had just happened.
Bedo poked his head into the main hold. Upon seeing Varon’s motionless body, his snout wrinkled up. “Oh no. Should I… go get something for him, or…?”
Before Toah could answer him, he heard Ace shouted from the cockpit. “They’re back! And they’ve brought friends!”
“The good kind or the bad kind?” Bedo called back.
His answer came as Kyla, Cera and the others came running up the boarding ramp, followed closely by Poe, Finn, and other Resistance members. Kyla and Poe pushed past Bedo, nearly knocking the Ortolan over, as they rushed towards the cockpit.
“Rey and Agent Gray are still in the city!” Toah heard Poe say. “I’ve signaled them to meet us at the rendezvous point.”
“You’re sure they won’t follow us or shoot us down for not immediately leaving the planet?” Kyla asked.
“Only one way to find out, right?”
As the ship’s engines started up, Cera and the others made their way into the main hold. Upon seeing Varon’s body and the sobbing Lysira and Kalen, they all stopped in their tracks, staring in shock.
“What happened?” Cera asked.
Toah had no answer for her, closing his eyes as he tried to calm the dread building up in his mind.
* * *
Rey groaned as she slowly returned to consciousness. The world was still blurry around her, but she could tell that she was no longer outside but rather in some sort of facility. Groggy, she instinctively tried to sit up only for a hand to gently push her back down.
“Easy,” she heard Kalen say. “You need to rest. You are safe now.”
“Where… where are we?” Rey asked.
“We are back in the Imperial settlement. Their medics were able to extract the toxin from your systems and have administered an antidote. It will be a while until you are fully capable of your body’s functions, however.”
“What about the others? Was the mission successful?”
“They will be joining us shortly. We will hear from them ourselves.”
Rey closed her eyes as her memories of everything leading up to her being stabbed came back to her. “Our attackers… what about them?”
“The one who stabbed you is in Imperial custody. The Twi’lek managed to escape.” Kalen paused meaningfully. “The Kiffar, of course, you already dealt with.”
Rey’s eyes snapped back open. “I killed him,” she croaked. “I… I wasn’t sure what I was thinking….”
“You gave into your instincts,” Kalen said matter-of-factly. “You let the Force carried you as it willed.”
“His name was Zarin,” Rey went on. “I met him on Corellia. Toah seemed to know him. I… I didn’t think he was a bad person. I know he used to be a Jedi but then left after the attack on Ossus. But he was still an ally. I don’t know why he would have attacked us. I… I should have stopped myself.”
“If you didn’t, he probably would have succeeded in either killing you or besting you,” Kalen said. “By not holding back, you were able to defend yourself and prove the better warrior.”
“But… I didn’t need to kill him, did I?”
“If the Force wanted him alive, would he not still be so? The Force allowed you to kill him, and he allowed himself to be killed. Your intentions aligned with his, and the outcome was the most natural one.”
Rey shifted her head so she could get a better look at Kalen sitting beside her. “It still doesn’t feel right, though.”
Kalen nodded. “That’s because the Jedi have taught you that their way is the only way. But they do not speak for the Force. The Force speaks for itself.”
Rey frowned. “Is it natural then for me to have given in to the dark side? To let my anger consume me and kill Zarin?”
“Of course it is. The nature of the Force is a balancing act, Rey. Like acrobats, we must walk the tightrope between the light and dark sides. If we let one overtake the other, then we become lost in either its burning glow or blinding darkness.”
She turned her head to stare at the ceiling again, processing Kalen’s words. The more she thought about them, the more she realized how much sense they made. She had never understood why the Jedi had insisted on restraining their emotions, why Toah had reprimanded her every time she lashed out emotionally. Wasn’t it human to be emotional? Why would the Jedi deny a trait that helped define them as living beings? And if the dark side was forbidden, then why was it so easy to tap into? If it was unnatural, then shouldn’t it have been a struggle for her to call upon it?
As these questions ran through her mind, she heard a door open. She adjusted herself to see Toah standing there, along with the woman known as Sare Valrisa. The former stared at Rey, while the other stared at Kalen..
“You,” the two of them said in unison.
Kalen bowed his head in acknowledgment. “Master Jarsan,” he said thinly. “Sare. It has been too long.”
“It’s Cera now,” said the dark-haired woman. “What in the nine Corellian hells are you doing here?”
“Is there something about this location that precludes my presence on it?”
Cera closed her eyes as she clenched her fists. “Stars, I’d forgotten how insufferable you are….”
Toah walked past her as he stepped inside, his attention now on Rey. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, his tone heavy. “We need to leave. Now.”
“The mission was a failure, I take it?” Kalen asked.
“I don’t know whether it was a success or not. But it won’t do us any good by staying here. Can you help us load her onto the Renegade?”
Kalen shrugged. “I have my own ship.”
Toah gave him a look. “What does that have to do with anything? The Renegade has a functioning medical bay. We can help her onto the ship and treat her wounds from there.”
“You could do that,” Kalen said. “Or you could let her choose.”
Toah’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked from Kalen to Rey. To his apprentice, he said, “What did he tell you?”
Disregarding what Kalen had told her earlier, Rey sat up from her berth, supporting herself with her arm. “Master,” she said, “there is more to the Force than what the Jedi teach.”
Toah regarded her carefully. “I mean, there are certainly other practices, yes. But many of them have gone into seclusion, or have a very select membership.”
“I would argue that that is a narrow-minded perspective,” Kalen interjected.
“Kalen tells me that there is another way of following the Force,” Rey continued. “That it is better to follow the Force in its natural state rather than to only follow its light side.”
Toah frowned. “The light side is the natural state of the Force. It is the presence of the dark side that imbalances it. It is a malignant force, like a tumor.”
“Tumors are developed,” Kalen said. “But the dark side has been a natural part of the Force since the beginning.”
Toah looked at the former Jedi as if he was speaking nonsense. “Is this what you preach now? Is this why you left the Order, because of this… new perspective of yours?”
Kalen met his gaze evenly. “It is better then leaving the Order only to disappear and let some invaders terrorize the galaxy.”
Those words seemed to have intended impact as Toah took a slight step back, staring at Kalen with umbrage. He took a moment to recompose himself, taking in a deep breath before looking back over at Rey.
“Is that it, then?” he asked, his tone quiet yet tense. “You’re leaving with him?”
Rey returned his gaze with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Toah, but this is where the Force is guiding me. I thank you for everything you have taught me… but it is time for me to learn from a new teacher.”
“You realize that there will be no turning back for you now, right? Leaving the Jedi Order is not a decision made lightly.”
“I understand.”
Toah squared his shoulders and nodded curtly. “In that case, I suppose this is farewell. May the Force be with you, Rey.”
“And with you, Toah.”
Without another word, Toah turned and left the room. Cera lingered for only a second, giving one last glance at Kalen, before taking her leave as well. Once they were alone once more, Kalen looked down at Rey and offered her a small smile.
“Well done, Rey. You have taken your next step into a larger world. I promise you that I will teach you everything I can.”
Rey nodded to him. “I am ready to learn, Master.”
No comments:
Post a Comment