Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy A Fan Novelization

Chapter Twenty-Five - The Tomb of Ragnos

Jacyyn removed his old, worn brown leather jacket and draped it over Kalil's body as a makeshift burial shroud until it could be properly recovered. Goran was silent and refused to speak, grief hung over them like a cloud and the bright warm sun of Korriban mocked them as they forced themselves to stand up and move on through the valley.

"Tavion's mission will not wait for us to grieve." Tionne's voice was heavy, but she willed herself to stay strong as she led them down the sandstone staircase to the sandy floor of the valley.

Jaden was tired of crying. She thought of how, only several hours ago she cried in Kyle's arms as he held her like she was his own child. That had felt good, safe. It'd been her first time ever fully letting her guard down and letting someone see her for her, for who she really was. Then she'd let herself be vulnerable for Rosh's sake and that'd felt good too. All the tears she'd cried until now had been authentic, happy ones. And now, she was experiencing something even harder than the losses she'd experienced in the months since joining the Academy. Even more so than watching an innocent, reformed cultist being executed before her eyes on a Corellian tram. More so than even watching her best friend, the man she'd come to feel maybe a little something more about, betray her and try to kill her. One of her friends she'd known since day one at the Academy, was dead and absolutely no one could've saved her.

And then there was Arta-Mess. Oh Stars, how was she ever going to tell Arta-Mess that her best friend, her training buddy, was gone? How was she going to tell her what her friend's last words were?

Jaden knew it wasn't her fault, but that didn't stop her from searching endlessly for a solution. As if in answer to her grief filled thoughts, the dark, mechanical voice of Darth Vader came unbidden into her mind: "The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... unnatural."

"No," replied the gentle voice of Anakin. "No. I tried that. I turned to the dark side to save the one I loved. It was all a lie and I lost her. I almost lost my son, my daughter because of my foolishness. Don't lose the rest of what you have now, Jaden. Hold on..."

Jaden clenched her fist, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. Her eyes burned from all the tears and the mix of dirt and hot desert air that had gotten into them. I will find Tavion. And I will make her pay.

"Then the dark side will have already won. Revenge is not the Jedi way, Jaden. Don't forget that. Hold on..."

To what?! Hold on to what?

"Jaden?" She opened her eyes and looked beside her. Goran's ashen blue hand was on her shoulder, his eyes reflected her own, and her anger evaporated into the valley's dry air. She took his hand, squeezed it, and held it as they continued across the sand.

*

They'd been walking for almost half an hour. Nothing in the valley had changed much except for a few times they'd come upon deep pits in the sand where debris from nearby tombs had fallen into. In the first of these pits they'd found a relatively safe way down and discovered a hidden tunnel that took them up, seemingly leading to the other side.

"Kalil was right about the cult being here much earlier," Jaden said as they passed through the tunnel, indicating the same electric lights strung along the walls.

"They must have been searching for Ragnos' tomb as they went and setting guards so that Tavion's plan would be undisturbed," Tionne commented.

They traveled along even ground after coming out of the tunnel and found another pit. The only way across was either a thin ledge of hard packed sand and stone that hugged the shear wall along the side, or the risk of a long jump across.