Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back(My version)

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Only one, the largest, remained on Tython. As it hovered over Akar Kesh, Lanoree could feel its strange whispers in the Force. For millennia the Tho Yor had been inscrutably silent, but that had all changed at the end of the Rakatan invasion, when Hawk Ryo's niece Tasha, a young Je'daii seer, had sacrificed her body and infused all nine Tho Yor with her Force-essence. In doing so she'd awakened them; first they'd become weapons that ravaged the Rakata and drove them to retreat. Now the Tho Yor, with pieces of Tasha Ryo inside, stood poised to become guides.

Over the past year all the Je'daii training on this expedition had spent days meditating atop this butte, attuning themselves to the Tho Yor so they might be better guided by it in the journey to come. For Hawk Ryo, communing with the essence of his niece had been easiest, but was also painfully personal.

Hawk took a breath and turned his eyes back to the Masters. "I am determined to see this through. When the Tho Yor left Tython I felt Tasha reach out and beckon me. We were meant to follow. I strongly believe this is the next step the creators of the Tho Yor have planned for us."

"I do as well," added Quan-Jang.

"The mysterious creators," sighed the Cathar Dam-Powl. She'd been Lanoree's teacher and closest friend among the Masters for many years. With Quan-Jang leaving she stood ready to take over research on Anil Kesh. She fixed knowing eyes on Lanoree and said, "You were the second Je'daii after Ranger Hawk to request to join the expedition. Can you speak to your reasons, Ranger Brock?"

Dam-Powl knew Lanoree's reasons and how intensely personal they were. Lanoree's brother Dalien had abandoned his Je'daii training out of an obsession with reaching beyond the Tythan system. Just before the Rakatan invasion, Lanoree had been forced to kill him to prevent him from using an ancient Gree device he believed would activate a hypergate in the ruins of Tython's Old City.

Because Dal couldn't, and because she hoped to understand why he'd died, Lanoree needed to see what lay in the stars beyond.

Just thinking on that was painful. She told the Masters, "Exploring outside the Tythan system will not only tell us about the Rakata and other enemies that might come for us again. It could also lead us to the truth behind our origins. I think the Tho Yor are continuing the next phase of whatever mission they were designed for. We were meant to follow them as much as we were meant to be on Tython."

"Do you think it's the fate of all Je'daii to follow them to the stars?" asked Rajivari, another human Master.

"One day, I think it will be. But for now, the least we can do is mount an exploratory expedition." She added gravity to her tone. "Whatever we learn there could be essential for holding the Je'daii together."

That drew uncomfortable emotions from the Masters. Though they wouldn't say so in a formal setting like this, they all knew the Order was fracturing.

"Another question," said Rajivari, turning his eyes to Quan-Jang. "We know the Rakatan vessels were originally powered by harnessing the darker aspects of the Force. Prisoners were enslaved and tortured, and their agony was used to propel Rakatan warships across the stars."