Star Wars: A New Order: Dawn of Balance (Book 9)

Chapter Twelve: Sam's Message

Shain, Aria, and Josh spent another three days with Sam before leaving for the Jedi temple. Shain sat in the cockpit fingering the datachip his sister had given him. He tried his best to figure out what the message could possibly be.

He jumped as Josh slammed his hand down on the back of Shain's chair.

Shain half jumped out of his seat, dropping the datachip, "What are you doing!?" he said as he picked up the chip.

"I could ask you the same thing, you okay?"

"I'm fine," Shain lied.

Indeed, he wasn't fine: his sister wouldn't tell him anything more than she had been betrayed, and that she was going to set things right.

But betrayed by who? And why? What drove her away for three whole months and caused her to compile whatever was on the data chip?

And yet another question, just what did she have on that chip? And why couldn't he know before every--

"That chip is really bothering you ain't it bro?" Josh probed.

Shain looked up with a false look of innocence on his face, "What? No why?"

"Cause you haven't stopped staring at it since you sat down in that chair."

"Well, can you blame me?" Shain asked as Aria entered the cockpit. "She won't tell me crap!"

Aria raises an eyebrow, "Why don't you just take a look? It can't hurt anything."

"I already tried," Shain openly admitted. "The stupid thing has a set time release of four hours."

"And we'll be there in roughly two," Aria said.

"Raises a lot of questions, guess we'll have to just wait it out," Josh shrugged. "Not much we can do till we get there...

It was there, he made it into the beacon and keyed in his sister's message. Now, he waited. It was as Sam had described; comlinks began going off simultaneously throughout the Jedi temple. Shain almost slammed his hand on his com to answer the call at his desk.

Millions of Jedi throughout the galaxy received the call at once. Most had never even seen the youth woman before but listened to her message.

Shain sat at just outside one of the balconies of the outer temple walls, waiting for Sam's message. When it came, he jumped to his com unable to activate fast enough. He gave his sister his full attention, tuning out the background noise of the busy skyroutes of Coruscant.

"Greetings Jedi, Grey, Jedi, and Sith. For those of you who don't know, I am Samantha. This is my formal resignation from the Jedi order. You will find in this message the secrets of the Jedi. The world of Dromund Kaas has become a place of human sacrifice to an unknown being. I am one of three survivors of this world where the dead pray on the Living Force to feed its own darkness. On this world there is no use of the light side, and the Jedi Masters of our order have agreed to keep this demon at bay. I have not come to deceive you, and I will not hide information from you. If you wish to see it for yourself, you know where to find Dromund Kaas. From what I understand, there were attempts to destroy it, but each attempt was a failure, which is why they have chosen to sacrifice their own."

Shain's jaw tightened hearing this; his fist tightened till his knuckles turned white, and his gaze was almost hateful as he heard what his sister went through.

"During my time on Dromund Kaas, I found myself defenceless in the light and was forced to use the dark side to survive. Though I have not succumb to it, nor has Sinn. There have been countless others throughout our orders history who have used the dark side without succumbing to it. Revan, Luke Skywalker, Xendor, and many more have used its power, and it is my belief that the dark side can be used to defeat this. I'm going to open an academy on Alderaan to teach both the dark side, and the light. I will accept any who wish to join so long as they abide by the code of my order. The Force is both darkness and light. There is not one without the other. Life is the conduit of which the Force flows. Therefore it is my duty to protect it at the expense of myself."

Shain couldn't believe what he was hearing. His sister was planing on starting her own Jedi order. He went from being angered, to confused, to immensely proud of his sister. Sam wasn't nearly as angry as he was with the Jedi. He didn't understand how she could keep her cool so easily.

And yet she spoke with such confidence, as if she knew without a doubt that people would rally behind her. That made her all the more inspiring.

Sam continued to speak, though Shain's com flickered for a moment "In three days I will be coming to Alderaan. If you wish to join, make your way to Alderaan. In the meantime, I have uploaded the doctrine of what will be called The Knights of Equivalence, I await your arrival. May the Force be with you."

The transmission cut out; Shain stood and looked out over Coruscant for what he hoped would be his last time. He was going to Alderaan. He was joining his sister...  

To Be Continued...