Star Wars: Secret of The Force

Chapter 20

I awoke in a cold sweat, panting, trying to ignore all of the nightmares. Sleep hadn't come easy since I had escaped Raxxaann. Deciding that I may as well remain awake, I headed into the common room and sat down, looking at my Lightsaber. I heard Kara walk in. "The nightmares have gotten worse haven't they?" she asked, sitting down beside me. I shrugged. "You know they have..." I said. She nodded. "I won't pretend that I know what its like, but that's not all that's bothering you is it?" she asked. I shook my head. "I'm having doubts, even before the purge I was questioning if I was meant to be a jedi, I had been questioning it for years... now my master has left me a near impossible task, one that I'm not sure I can complete!" I said. Kara considered this. "We don't have to do it, no one is forcing you" she answered. I nodded. "True enough..." I said. Kara sighed. "Czar, I know that its in your nature to help people, but you can only do as much as you think you're capable of" she said. I shrugged. "I wish I could go into this 'World Between Worlds' and see the future, to see what will happen... even if I did, that's not the Jedi way, so what does that say about me as a Jedi?" I asked. Kara shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not a Jedi, so I can't even pretend to give you an answer." I accepted that logic. "this makes things worse... The Eleventh Sister and I have a history, and I'd bet The Eighth Brother and I have history too" I said. Kara didn't answer, didn't sigh, she just waited for a few moments. "Do you know who The Eighth Brother is?" she finally asked. I considered my answer. I had listened to his voice through the helmet during our encounters. "I have my suspicions..." I said. Kara nodded, and I decided to continue. "I think he was a jedi named Joga Maarego, a Terrellian Jengo jumper, they were quite rare in the Jedi Order, and Maraego was someone who was always against the council's traditions. It was speculated that he studied dark Side texts before being found out. Normal Jedi Procedure was to try and rehabilitate him, and so they thought they had..." I said. Kara frowned. "So how come you both have history?" she asked. I sighed. "Because it was me who found out what he had been doing, I gave him up to the Council and it helped Orion make the decision to choose me as his apprentice. Maraego was a skilled Jedi Knight, and we ended up in a duel, but it was brief... I thought we were training until we weren't!" I explained. Kara looked like she wasn't sure what else could possibly go wrong. "And he killed your master?" she asked. I nodded. "I'm almost certain, Maraego was always a fanatic, and the jedi Council kept the entire thing quiet. I couldn't beat him then and he still has years more experience than me!" I answered. Kara gave me a silent look asking me to go on. "Maraego tried to kill me, I wouldn't have survived if not for a Jedi named Bala Ropal... he saved my life, and now Maraego no doubt wants to finish the job!" I said. The story finished, Kara stayed silent, considering her next words. "Czar, its your decision, no one will force you to see this through if you don't want to; just make sure that you think your decision is the right one..." she said. I didn't answer, there was no need, and kara got up and returned to her Cabin, going back to sleep. I saw the holocron infront of me, and decided that opening it would be harmless. I summoned it to me with the force, and assumed a meditation position. I looked at my master's findings and all other information stored inside the holocron. Inside it, I found a map of places my master had visited. There was a world he hadn't visited that was strong in the force. I tried to determine from an updated holomap if the Empire had arrived there or not. I had no way to be sure. As I studied the map, I realised that Orion had documented where he had gone, and I had travelled to most of the worlds he had visited. There were a few that I hadn't. I looked over the list. Ziost, Jedha; to name a couple. I opened my eyes, but allowed the holocron to stay open. I looked over the map. There was one world thast Orion had wanted to visit, but from what few notes I had found there didn't seem to be much there. I wasn't surprised, I had considered going to Lothal before. The planet was mostly occupied by farmers, but it did have a few small cities. I momentarily considered the worlds I knew the Sith had lived. Korriban, Malechor. The latter was forbidden to jedi, I had heard the stories as a youngling. There were other worlds I could visit, but none were on my master's map. Instead, I studied it for a place to hide the holocron. There were some options. I could even destroy it. I felt like I was running out of options. I ended the meditation and closed the holocron. I floated it back to where it stood. I refused to let it in my cabin, the last thing I wanted were more nightmares. Even as a youngling I'd had them. Normally though, they were visions, visions that frightened me as a child because I didn't know what they meant. As I sat contemplating the memories, I realised I was forming a theory. I summoned the holocron back to me and opened it. Throughout my intense search, I realised that there could only be one of two options. The first, was that my master hadn't come to the same conclusion as me. It was possible; midway through his research the Clone Wars had started. Orion had made me his apprentice a year before the war started, but his research, while sanctioned, was secondary to our peacekeeping duties as Jedi. In order to try and quell my curiosity, Orion had taken me to a few planets where he believed clues might lay. The second option was he hadn't recorded all of his notes into the holocron. Orion had always been incredibly careful. If the notes weren't in the holocron, I tried to speculate on where they could be. It seemed that The Inquisitors already knew a little bit at least about what they had been sent to find. That hinted at the very likely possibility that Orion's notes had been stolen or found by the Empire. I thought back over every place we had visited. I tried to recall the memories of the visions I used to have. Orion had said that he felt the visions likely came from somewhere, as if the force used a conduit, but the minds of most beings among the Jedi could only make out bits and pieces. I linked that theory to mine, and pieces finally started to fit together. If this World between Worlds was the link, I could be on to a massive discovery. I also knew why the Inquisitors and the Empire would want such a power. If this did grant the Jedi their visions of the future and the ability to influence it; the Empire would use it to make sure their Empire lasted forever. They could do much more than that. They could erase the jedi from ever existing, make its leaders invincible or immortal. My mind shuddered at the possibilities. I kept searching through. As I did, I kept realising that my Master had been making notes, and I put the code he left for me into the holocron. I didn't find much, evidently most of the notes he'd made were separate. I quickly went through everything. I had become obsessed. My master didn't share my theory about this world between worlds, but I didn't need him to. His notes told me that he saw this world as having much more power than just time manipulation. It was very clear he had never found out anyway, if one even existed, to access this world. The pieces had finally fit together. The Inquisitors, and the Empire had been searching for this for some time. Although it had been maybe two or three standard weeks the investigation had been going on, I tried piecing together the trail. I allowed my mind to travel back to his death. I had no way to confirm that he had died on Christophsis. The logical part of my brain knew they would keep him alive until he had told them everything, even force him to continue his research. I couldn't sense him, I had tried when I was certain that no one was around, wondering what I was doing. Where his light had been there was a dark shadow, but that didn't mean he was alive, nor did it mean he was dead. His sacrifice had been for more than just my life, likely he'd rather take his secrets to the grave. If he had though, how could the Empire have found his notes? It seemed likely that he could have a research base, but if there was one, I didn't know where. It also wouldn't be mentioned in the holocron. Orion would have something like that locked away in his mind. I took everything into consideration. The Empire wasn't just hunting me because I was a Jedi, but because I held answers to one of the biggest mysteries they were trying to solve. All I could do was keep working. A few hours later, I had the answers. Orion had died, I thought through all scenarios. If they did have him, and his notes, they'd have found the holocron and somehow opened it before I had broken into the temple to retrieve it. I also knew that they had some idea of what was there, but Orion would have made some notes or message to the Council to keep them up to date. All this though, and I didn't have a destination. I knew I could hide the Holocron, disappear, however, I also knew both of those were temporary at best. At the very least, Kara, Lena and I needed rest. I studied the ship's holomap and the one stored in the holocron. I scanned it briefly, and then found somewhere we could hide. It was nowhere near perfect, but I knew it would help. Some time on Bracca would be helpful to us all. At the very least, enough new people came and went consistently we wouldn't attract too much attention. I would just have to be careful how much Lena trained herself. I decided to try and sleep, I needed it.