Star Wars: Knights Of The New Republic

Chapter Three: Following Ancient Footsteps

Chapter Three: Following Ancient Steps

Wallace was twenty-two now, a knight of the jedi order. He had exhausted all accounts of history in the jedi texts. He had adopted the hobby of exploring galactic travel routes, for reasons no one could figure out. He grew lost in his research and mapping. Many young students in the temple asked for his help, hearing of how much he had helped a young Kylar Zen. He turned them down, ignoring his want to be a teacher.

He was not a jedi master yet, so he had no authority to take the teachers' jobs. He continued to busy himself with studies of galactic maps. He searched for something in particular, but he began to realize something...

Parts of the map, just like certain parts of the histories, were missing. At first Wallace believed it to be just gaps in the knowledge, after many years of war the jedi had no doubt lost some of their archives. The missing parts in the star maps began to make him wonder... The missing sections seemed to line up with the missing texts. What if the jedi were hiding something? Wallace needed access to the council archives, the student texts would no longer suffice.

He approached his master one day in the halls of the jedi temple. "Master, I was wondering if you could grant me access to the council's archives?"

Taruk did not object at first, he was caught off guard by the question. "The council archives are for members of the council. What is it you wish to research that the student archives can't satisfy?"

Wallace hesitated. Would his master approve of his newfound interest? What Wallace was so curious about had so little in the student archives, but he had read enough to know that the ancient jedi had no love for this particular person. Wallace wished to know why.

"I would like to know more about the ancient jedi known as Revan, master." He told Taruk the truth.

Taruk considered this. The story of Revan was ancient, even before his time. Every jedi knew it all too well though. As generations passed and this new jedi order was founded, Revan was later learned to not have been as much a heretic as the ancient council believed. Still, the story of Revan was not a pretty one.

"What do you wish to know about him?' He asked his apprentice.

"It is said in the archives that he was an old master of the council, but later was banished. I wish to know more about why." Wallace said.

Taruk sighed, deciding to give the short history that he knew. "Revan was a powerful and influential jedi, until he went to war with the Mandalorians. In this war, he gained many followers from the jedi order and it is said that the power he gained caused him to fall to the dark side. He became Darth Revan and led a war once more. He came back to the light eventually but the jedi never saw him the same."

Wallace appreciated his master telling him this, but he could sense there was more to the story. Because Taruk had told Wallace tis, instead of letting him read it, he knew he wouldn't get access to the council archives. "Is there nothing more to it?"

Wallace could feel his master holding back when he said, "I'm afraid that's all you'll find in the old texts. If there was any more to it, it was lost in time after the fall of the old jedi order."

Frustrated with the half truth, Wallace began searching for ways to either get into the council archives or some other credible source on his own.

It was a late night and Wallace felt out of place. He was on the streets of a lower level of Coruscant on his way into a scummy cantina. He felt eyes following him, making him feel exposed. He had taken the precaution of wearing semi- casual clothing. Coruscant was a Republic controlled planet, but it didn't mean everyone on it was a fan of the Jedi. Wallace was smart though, hiding his lightsaber under a few layers of his clothing, just in case.

He entered the bar and squinted under the bright, scarlet lighting. There were more people than tables. The various species, human and alien alike, bustled and gambled and brawled about each other. Holotables and screens glew and entertained those who were silently drinking by themselves.

Wallace examined the busy cantina for his contact, a smuggler by the name of Zax. Wallace had gotten ahold of him a couple of weeks back and asked him to retrieve something important. When Zax made contact again, he told Wallace where to meet him and to look for the one with the black cloak. It wasn't much to go on, but it was all he had.

After several minutes of examining the crowd over and over, someone shifted and gave Wallace a view of a section of the bar he hadn't seen before. A figure in a black cloak had their back to him. Wallace made his way through the crowd and came up beside the figure.

"Are you Zax?" He asked in a low tone.The figure turned and Wallace froze in shock. The glowing red photoreceptors of an assassin droid were staring at him. "I'm sorry, I must be mistaken."

"Oh, I see. Since I'm a droid, I can't possibly be the smuggler you're looking for." The robotic voice ranted. "If an organic name doesn't work for you, then you can call me ZA-x8. You should know that I prefer Zax."

"Uh, sorry, I wasn't expecting a droid is all." Wallace immediately regretted the words. "I was just expecting a Duros or a Twi'lek..."

The droid let out a vibration that sounded somewhat like a laugh. "I see. Make up for the racist comment with another racist comment. Nice. Shall we get to business?"

Relief filled Wallace. He was sure that, if things went wrong, he could take on an assassin droid, but that could lead to an all out battle with the other drunkards. "Yeah, let's do it. Do you have what I asked for?"

"Do you have what I asked for?' The droid replied.

Wallace pulled out a pouch full of credits, standard currency of the galaxy, and handed it to him. "Five thousand credits, just as you asked. Getting that wasn't easy."

"Neither was this." The droid pulled out an object from its cloak and placed it in Wallace's hand. "I don't want to know what you need this for, jedi, but I hope it makes you want to contact me in the future if you need anything else."

"I'll be sure contact you if something else comes up." Wallace assured the surprisingly vocal assassin droid.

Wallace pocketed the security bypass chip and made his way to the exit. He still felt watched as he passed through the alleys and headed for his speeder. He flew back to the jedi temple and plugged in the chip to one of the terminals. Given the late hour, there weren't too many nosy students poking about.

He bypassed all security measures in the council archives and accessed all data on Revan. Before, he merely wanted to feed his curiosity on the old jedi master. Now he wanted to learn everything he could because he wanted to know what the council was hiding. What could Revan have done that made the jedi hide his history thousands of years later?

Everything he read pointed to places long forgotten. Places of power. Places he wished to go. Perhaps master Taruk would take him to some of these places.

The next morning Wallace approached his mentor and asked if they could venture to a few of the places that he had read about. Taruk did not want to know how Wallace had gotten his knowledge of these places. He just flat out rejected the request. Wallace resented his master, sensing fear in his tone. What was so bad about these places?

Wallace would not be stopped. He knew that the jedi feared Revan, even after he had renounced the dark side and saved them. Revan had power and knowledge that had been neglected for too long. And now it was lost. Wallace felt that it was the jedi's responsibility to find this knowledge and learn everything they could from it. But there was not much he could do about it now...