The Witch of Malachor III

"Finding him was the will of the Force. I have no doubt about that." - Qui-Gon Jinn

"We both know there is no luck. There is only the Force." - Master Zhar

The Sun hung lazily in the sky as Kreia set her craft down in the valley, the wind throwing up a large cloud of dust in the air, a testament to the arid climate of the planet. The remains of stone pillars either leaned against one another or lay broken on the ground. And from the cockpit of her starfighter, she could see a pair of half-covered skeletons lying nearby.

Her sensors had detected a stone structure, as well as the highest concentration of life forms, at the far end of the valley, though when she attempted to stretch our her senses through the Force, she felt only the cold presence of the Dark Side. It was strong here, and it blocked her attempts to reach beyond what her physical senses offered. It was as though a veil had fallen before her eyes, and yet she knew that she need only draw upon the Dark Side and the veil would be lifted. No doubt younger students of the Force fell easily to its wiles. She had studied it from the sanctity of the Jedi Temple, scrutinizing such lore as was available on the Sith. She’d also heard the testimony of those few who fell to the Dark Side culminating in the meeting she’d had with her former student Kol Namr aboard the Sith warship. He’d shown her not only how easily it was to fall, but how far one could fall in short period of time.  But few truly understood the nature of the Dark Side, understood that it merely revealed what was already inside a person. Those who surrendered to its embrace were those who sought power, for good or for bad, and were willing to pay the ultimate price for it. She was not one of those.

So she climbed out of the cockpit, setting foot on the surface after a long hyperspace journey. She’d had more than ample time to sleep before the proximity alert from the navicomputer had stirred her to wakefulness, and she felt refreshed.  Kreia found herself standing amongst the ruins of a vast fortress. On either side of her, inset into the sides of two cliffs were openings. She perused the glyphs on the entrance of each one and was pleased to find that her studies of the ancient Sith language had not been in vain. The openings were entrances into the tombs of various ancient Sith lords. The glyphs around the doors gave a brief history of each one. The tombs, themselves, had already been plundered, a fact which did not wholly surprise Kreia. In her limited archaeological experience, the thieves almost always arrived before anyone else did, usually destroying or plundering relics of the past and items of historical importance. She spent, perhaps, longer than she realized studying the inscriptions on the tombs, so immersed had she become in the carvings. The Sun began to set as she finally pulled herself away, and  Kreia began to walk in the direction from which her sensors had detected life.

She walked amongst the broken pillars, past yet more skeletons and noted the remains of various archaeological digs along the way. Tools for digging lay strewn about, half buried, but preserved by the dry climate. The path led her finally to a narrow passageway between two low cliffs. The path wound its way around in a u shape, past a cave entrance and led up to a large stone door left open.

There, before the door stood to two four-legged animals, almost like scrawny Kath hounds. From her studies, Kreia knew these to be tuk'ata, an animal which the Sith had often used to guard important areas or for hunting, and they were known to be difficult to control. They immediately began to growl at her approach, though they appeared to be feral and not at all concerned with the structure. Cautiously, the two of them began to move towards her. So she stopped where she was, drawing on the Force and putting calm thoughts in their minds, yet she found it more difficult there than it normally would have been. They resisted initially, but their approach became gradually slower until they came to a stop less than a meter away. Their growling ceased and they began to whine, as the conflicting emotions stirred in their minds. Then all at once, they became silent. Only then did Kreia approach them, putting a reassuring hand on each of their heads.

“You wait for masters that shall not return. But you have nothing to fear from me", she told them.” With another nudge in the Force, the tuk'ata moved off down the path towards the valley.

She turned and looked up at the stone door leading into the structure. It too was carved with the markings of the Sith. After studying it for a moment, she passed between them into the darkness beyond.

She found herself in a large dimly lit chamber with a statue in each of the corners, a humanoid figure welding a large bladed weapon. The power systems apparently still functioned in this building, the lighting intact, albeit sputtering intermittently. A thick layer of dust covered everything, swirling around her feet as she moved. Here there were more corpses lying about, some in grey uniforms and others in black robes. As she looked closer, she could see the marks of lightsaber wounds across some of them intermixed with blaster bolt hits. On the walls there was evidence of blaster scoring. A great battle had taken place in this chamber, Kol's account of the events on Korriban becoming clearer now. Like on the Sith Warship, they had fought and killed themselves. Their weapons were missing, taken by those who had survived the conflict and those who had plundered this world.

She moved off down the corridor, moving slowly, once again attempting to reach out through the Force, but still she could not penetrate very far. Instead, she rested a hand on her lightsaber hilt, and eventually came into another large chamber. Like the other, this one also had statues, a total of six, though one of them had toppled of its base and shattered on the floor. There were more bodies here strewn about. A pair of tuk’ata were feeding on one and looked up at her approach. Once again she was forced to concentrate and found the task even more difficult inside the structure, but with a wave of her hand, they finally moved off down one of the darkened corridors.

Kreia, herself, headed down another corridor, soon finding herself in a small room with several computer terminals and lab stations, a small library of sorts. Many of the terminals were non-functional, neglect having taken its toll, but one of them did appear to be in working order. A thick layer of dust covered it which she wiped away revealing the control panel. Her fingers moved deftly over the keypad, the screen displaying various commands in the Sith language. Having spent most of her time in the archives, computers were one of the things she knew best.

There was entirely too much information to download into a data pad, so she was forced to browse through the various catalogs in the database. It consisted mostly of the basic subjects that students were allowed to access. Sifting through it quickly, she soon reached a section reserved for Masters that could not be accessed with the common user account. The encryption was such that it could not easily be sliced. Nor could the machine be re-wired to give up its secrets, so she left that room and continued her exploration.

Returning to the central chamber, she made her way down another passageway, and immediately began to sense strong sensations ahead. Pain, fear, death which did not derive from the skeletons that lay strewn about, but from somewhere up ahead. She came to a T-shaped junction, and the sensations came from right and left. To either side of her there were closed doors, and behind them strong emotions lingered.

Just then she felt it, a presence moving behind her, attempting to sneak past, but invisible to the eye. One of her hands flashed outwards in its general direction, sending a strong Force push at it. With her other, she drew her lightsaber. A figured in a grey uniform appeared, smashing into the wall from the Force push. He sprawled on the ground, quickly getting on to all fours, and crawling backwards away from her. He appeared to be malnourished, and there was a wild light in his eyes. He had blood stains on his uniform, and his terror was unmistakable.

Kreia regarded him thoughtfully for a moment, and then returned her lightsaber to its place on her belt. "You have nothing to fear. I shall not harm you," she said. "I am Jedi Master Kreia. What is your name?"

But he appeared to be unconvinced and continued crawling backwards down the passageway towards the central chamber. From behind him suddenly came a furious growling, and a pair of tuk'ata appeared out of the darkness sensing easy prey in him. He turned to face them and then shrank against the wall as they continued moving toward him. Which is why he barely noticed Kreia leaping over him, lightsaber drawn.

The creatures had not responded to her gentle suggestions through the Force this time, smelling the blood on him, and ignored her. Her leap had carried her directly into their path, and now they were coming at her, moving into a slow run. The lightsaber activated in her hand and with two fell swipes, the animals fell dead to the cold stone floor. For a brief moment irritation flared within her at the required use of violence, but then looking down at the frightened individual on the ground, it dissipated. She attempted to calm him through the Force, but again he resisted, now moving slowly back toward the T-junction. She tried a little harder, focusing deeper, but was rebuffed again. She found herself growing annoyed once more with this human, calmed herself and then with a great effort, she sensed she had finally broken through the veil. Her thoughts flowed into his mind, soothing him and dissipating his panic. His fear lifted and was gone. The effort had been taxing, and she took a moment to collect herself.

His expression became calmer, his breathing less labored and he sat up, leaning against the wall, and buried his face in his hands. He remained that way for a long while.

At last he spoke. "I am Embol Balloch,” he said, his voice wavering slightly. “I was a Sith archaeologist here. I failed out of the Sith academy and was sent to the digs to work there instead. I avoided the battle here with this stealth device that I found in one of them.” He held up a broken armband. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. There’s no food in the Academy, and I can’t get through to the Czerka complex. And there’s no way off this planet. Unless...” He looked up at Kreia finally. “Do you have a ship big enough for both of us?”

“It is a Sith fighter,” she said. “It will bear only one of us. But we may yet find a solution to our problem. Show me to the Czerka subdivision.”

With a heavy sigh, he forced himself to his feet and led the way down the corridor and back through the central chamber. She followed him to it and then down a corridor opposite to the one leading to the valley. About 50 meters down that passageway, they came to a section which was buried in rubble.

“Stand behind me. I shall clear the way,” she said. He did as she instructed, and she closed her eyes, clearing her mind. Extending a hand out toward the rocks, the Force gathered around her and then moved between her and them. Presently, they began to move, lifting into the air and moving past her, past Embol and arranging themselves in a neat line along the walls of the corridor. The dust swirled through air with the movement of the rocks, moving towards them. The deed was soon complete, and fresh air entered the stagnant Academy.

They passed through caved-in section, through a broken door and out to other side of the Sith Academy. The Sun had set beyond the horizon, and the stars shown brightly above. There was a short incline upwards in the path that led up to another structure. Off to either side of the path was a sharp drop off.  The night air carried a chill to it. A short walk brought them to the door of the other building.

"This is Dressedae," Embol said. "It was a formerly a trading post for the Czerka corporation. But when the trouble started, they cleared out. At least those who could make it out in time." He gestured to some bodies lying in the doorway. "Some weren't so fortunate when the frenzy came over the Sith."

They made their way inside the darkened building and soon found the cantina. Fortunately the power still functioned here as well, and they were able to find food still suitable to eat in the supply room. Embol, revealing one of his true talents, prepared a comparatively lavish meal in the cantina kitchen while Kreia quickly looked over the rest of the outpost. When the food was done, they moved to the cantina bar and sat down to eat. Kreia savored the food, the first really edible sustenance she'd had. She'd been living on the ready-to-eat food packets, that the Jedi were issued when on a mission. Now, a thick steak with Ithorian falupets on the side all slathered in some Talash gravy. Embol had outdone himself, apparently having learned to cook long before applying at the Sith Academy.

Embol appeared to be largely over his anxiety though in a bit of a state of shock, and so she prodded him for information.

"Tell me of Revan," Kreia said.

"Not much to tell. I was as far from the inner circle as you could be. Really, Bastila was the only one who had Revan's confidence. She came back after defeating Malak, spent some time here and then one day she just up and left. Nobody knew where, and Bastila wasn't telling. But if anybody did know, they sure weren't going to tell a lowly archaeologist like myself. You have to understand, I never actually spoke to her myself, didn't even warrant a glance when passing her in the Academy. "

Embol ate ravenously, then noticed the curious glance Kreia was giving him. “I’d been surviving on what meager food supplies were left in the Academy, those that hadn’t been eaten by the tuk’ata. I suppose it's the will of the Force, eh? That's what they say, that the Force has a will. Apparently it hasn't much use for me."

"Yes," Kreia said thoughtfully. "The Force does indeed have a will. There are no coincidences. Our meeting was not by chance, and you may take some comfort in knowing that. You may yet have some greater purpose."

"I hope it's a greater purpose than those that were killed here," he said.

For some reason his words resonated with Kreia. It suddenly seemed strange that the Force would will so many Force sensitives to be killed. On Korriban, in the Mandalorian War, at Malachor...the loss of life had been enormous all around. She had just told him there was no coincidence, in which case these things were meant to happen. But why? Why would the Force wish for so much death. It was a nagging question to which she could find no immediate answer. A question from which she found irritation arising within herself. His question had spawned a steady succession of others within her, and each dug into the core of her being, into the meanings of being a Jedi and of the Force, itself.

"Do you think that the Force wanted all these Sith to die? Is that how it balances things out?" he asked

Questions that she thought better to leave until she was able to center herself, find her serenity, he wanted the answers to now.

"I mean," he persisted, "I can see how it fits in with the Sith code, survival of the fittest and all, but I don't see why the Jedi would go along with it if it causes so much death. Guess I wouldn't have made a very good Sith or Jedi."

"I confess, I do not fully understand it either," she said. "Only in time will these questions be answered." But in truth, the questions disturbed her as well, and her own patience for them was limited. Why, indeed, did the Force ask these great sacrifices from those who were connected to it? For what purpose could all of this death be necessary, she wondered. It was not the sort of questions one heard at the Jedi Temple. They'd been taught to obey it, have faith in it. That all questions would be answered in time. But she'd been a Jedi for many years, and there remained a great many questions unanswered within her.

"Bastila didn't understand it either," Embol said, staring off in the distance.

 Kreia was drawn out of her thoughts by this comment. "You spoke to Bastila before she left? Do you know where she went?"

"No, I did not have her confidence, but we were both ostracized here, I for being a failure and she for being a former Jedi. Many of the Sith believed her to be nothing more than Revan's pet, but they found out otherwise."

"Did they?" Kreia queried. "What did she do to make them believe otherwise?"

"Well," Embol said, "as I was explaining, we were both outsiders here and found we had some things in common. I hesitate to call us friends, but we did have many occasions to talk. It so happened that in one of my digs, I found a Sith holocron. Normally we were required to deliver items found to the head of the Academy, who most recently was Kirax Draff.  I decided to show the holocron to Bastila first, but one of the other archaeologists reported me, no doubt, with the hopes of currying favor with Kirax. She was known to despise Bastila although not openly, of course. It may have been jealousy as all the Sith competed for Revan's attention when she was here. Kirax and a small group loyal to her came to Bastila's quarters where I was explaining to her some of the archaic symbols on the outside of it. They demanded the holocron. Bastila refused to give it up, and lightsabers were drawn. I was the only one without a weapon, but Bastila had no need for my help so I stayed out of the way. Never did I see a lightsaber wielded like that. It was over in moments. She had a lightsaber with twin blades, green as the Dxun moon.

Well, after that, the Sith plotted and schemed against each other to find a new leader. I asked Bastila to take the leadership. I told her there was no one better for the top spot than her, but she refused. She seemed distracted by the holocron which I'd left with her. I saw less and less of her after that. One day, I saw her walking toward the hangar and asked where she was going. She wouldn't tell me, only suggested I get offworld, return to Onderon where I'm from. Wouldn't tell me why. I asked if I could accompany her, but she became very cross with me and told me return to my duties. She hesitated before she said it, and there was almost a look of regret on her face momentarily. But it was gone just as quick. I was familiar with that tone. It was only used when she had an especially important point to make with no room for argument. I watched her climb into a Sith fighter and depart. That was the last time I saw her. How I wish she would have returned."

"Did she take the holocron with her?" Kreia pressed him.

"I don't know."

"And what sort of symbols did you find on the holocron that needed explaining?"

"Oh, the just references to the Sith who had made it. But there was a word I didn't recognize."

"And what was that?"

"Malachor. If it was the name of a Sith Lord, I was not familiar with him, and I should have been."

Kreia turned to look at him. "Malachor is not a person, it is the name of a world beyond the Outer Rim. I suspect now that it will be my next stop."

"And what of me? Am I to accompany you?"

"No. You asked for a greater role, and you shall have it," Kreia told him. "I must go on alone. You must go to Coruscant and inform the Jedi Council of our meeting here and of the things we discussed, particularly Bastila. You cannot help me where I'm going. Not directly, but deliver this message to the Jedi and you will have done a great service.  But for now, I wish to see Bastila's quarters."

"You cannot. They are sealed up."

"Show me," Kreia said, standing.

Embol also stood and led the way back to the Academy. Once there he took her to the end of the barracks section. Around a corner, they found a walled in section, secure enough to withstand anything but heavy explosives. "Like I said," Embol commented, "sealed up."

"I do not need to enter. I only need a moment of silence," Kreia, said and leaned up against the wall, closing her eyes.

 She struggled briefly to clear her mind and then found the necessary silence within her. Feeling the Force flowing through her, she felt the wall itself and then slipped through it. Beyond was a room of strong emotions...fear, doubt, uncertainty. The thoughts of the prior occupant of this room were scattered, but they dwelt on Revan. Again and again Revan's face appeared in Kreia's mind, but in her vision Revan walked in a dark place where shadowy figures stalked her. The urgency to follow her was overwhelming in Bastila's thoughts. Kreia could sense it, and she too felt the lure of it. Strange that Revan had not taken Bastila wherever she had gone. Perhaps, Kreia thought, Bastila had been left behind to point the way for others. But if that were so, then Bastila had cast aside that role in order to follow Revan. "Ah, Bastila," Kreia whispered, "you avoided the call of the Mandalorian War, but this call proved irresistable, did it not?"

Presently, Kreia pulled herself from her trance and opened her eyes. "And now, I would like to see Revan's quarters."

"That's a little more difficult," Embol said.

"And why is that?" Kreia asked.

"For that, we have to go into the cave which you would have passed to enter the Academy. It's full of shyracks."

"Then lead on..."