Jaa Pavan had a simple dream, a long time ago, in a galaxy oh so far away.
You see, Jaa wanted to be a Jedi Knight. Like all the other younglings that grew up in the Temple. He wanted to go out into the galaxy and help people. Use the gift he had been given for some good. It wouldn't be easy. Because that was the thing about dreams, they weren't easy to obtain. And the life of a Jedi was a hard one. Full of self-sacrifice and empathy.
But that was okay. Jaa was willing to do that. It was all he had known, after all. So he went in hard with his studies. Researched the history books. The survival skills. How to cook, treat wounds, fly a starship. All the little necessities that went into making a Jedi. He attuned himself with the Force, as his teachers wanted. Learning how to swing a practice saber as best he could.
He wasn't the best student. But he wasn't the worst, either. And he never gave up. Because he wanted to be a Jedi Knight. He wanted to help people. And, eventually, it paid off. One day, the time came for Knights to choose their padawans. He was so nervous he could barely sleep. Tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling until eventually one of his friends put his mind at ease. When he woke, he was still nervous. But it was a focused kind of nervous.
The kind that wouldn't interfere as much as it wished. And so he went. Demonstrated his skills to all the watching Knights alongside all the other younglings. Controlled his emotions as best he could, yet didn't bother to hide them. These were Knights, he wasn't even a Padawan. There would be little point. So it continued for some time. And when it ended he was tired. Both physically, and emotionally.
But it had paid off.
For by the end he had caught the notice of one of the Knights. Sera Tor, a Torguta Knight, was impressed by his emotional control and practical knowledge. She visited him after the viewing was complete, and spoke with him for an hour on many things. Mundane and significant. Remorselessly logical and emotionally nonsensical. But, by the end of her impromptu quiz whatever misgivings she had were satisfied.
On that day, Jaa became a padawan. On the road to becoming a true Jedi.
He slept well that night.
And for years onward, he traveled the galaxy with Sera. Learning much from his new master, as much as she learned from him. The finer points of diplomacy. The tweaking of his bladework. The intricacies of the Force. But perhaps more crucially than that, how to interact with the people of the galaxy. Having lived in the Temple for most of his life he was thoroughly unused to those without the Force. Their motivations and beliefs: baffling. But, as a Jedi, he had a duty. One he took seriously.
He was happy, and content. Life, for Jaa, was good.
But the life of a Jedi is a hard one.
It all came to an end on some mining world. He and Master Sera had been called there to investigate misdeeds by a failing corporation, desperate for cash. From the reports, they had been severely mistreating their workers and the local populace. Brutalizing the world in search of precious ore. A mission like any other, really. They arrived and began their investigation. Stonewalling from the corporation, as was expected.
But the local populace had proven more fruitful. They were pointed to a cave out in the wilds. One that used to be surrounded by forest before the trees were all chopped down. Were they in a lighter age, perhaps they would've felt the fear and intentions of the shaking, worn man who told them. But the dark had been pulling a steady shroud over the Force. One that had so far gone unnoticed. And so, they simply felt his fear as an innocent one, and left for the cave.
It was to be their doom. The corporation, rendered desperate by Jedi involvement, had laid a trap. One they walked right into. Explosives placed at the entrance of the cave separated the two. Jaa being sent flying in deeper, his lightsaber and communicator being destroyed by the falling rock. While Sera was left dazed and distressed by the apparent loss of her padawan, surrounded by all the forces the corporation could muster.
She gave a good fight, but was cut down. Jaa felt her die in the Force, and felt something break within him. Even as he screamed and banged on the rocks the thugs left, satisfied by their work. He lay there for eternity. Trying to force his way through the rocks. But nothing he did budged them. Not even the Force itself. But he could feel his hunger. The sting of his wounds. So with nothing at the entrance, he went deeper with only the Force to guide his way.
He was there for a month.
Draped in the dark and filth. Subsisting on whatever mangled creature he could find. His Jedi training saw him through it, in terms of the practical skills it gave him. But he could not gain the control he once had. His emotions roiled within him. And each day he remembered his master. The kind word she always had for him. Her excellent, if minimalist cooking. So many things were gone. Because of what, exactly? Because some slimy scum wanted more than they should? Money?
And he was trapped down there, in this hell, because of that? It angered him but he kept that at bay, for a time. He was a Jedi, after all. But this was his first, true test with the Dark. it whispered and coiled around him. Freezing his skin, his bones, in a cold chill. It hurt, at first. So he shied away. But it kept coming back. And the Light was so, so far away. It's shine had faded to a faint hum. And, eventually, nothing.
The Dark--at some point, one he couldn't remember--stopped hurting and became comforting. It wrapped him in its embrace and slowly, oh so slowly, guided him to the entrance. Using the Light, he had not been able to lift those rocks, to save his master. To save Sera. But with the Dark? With the Dark he would be free.
After so long underground, away from those he cared for, he saw no reason why that wouldn't be true. He sunk into its embrace, and lifted his hand. Going against everything he had been taught he reached within himself and grasped tightly. The roiling emotions he felt swirled and swirled like frothing, freezing water--until he let it loose. He broke, moved, and shifted just enough of the rocks that he could walk comfortably through. He had freed himself, using only what was within him.
Outside, he found only night. Sera's body was gone. But there were footsteps leading somewhere. He followed them, kept on the right track by the full moons light. He stumbled upon a small town, startling the folk living there. As he ate some real food for the first time in a month he learned that two more Jedi had come after him and Sera. How they had collected her body and left. Just like that.
Suddenly he couldn't eat anymore.
And on that night, the Jaa everyone knew joined the one they thought died a month ago. Disappearing into the night. He escaped the planet on a stolen ship and roamed the galaxy, growing older and more immersed in the Dark as time went on.Growing more bitter as well. For the Jedi had molded him into their soldier, then abandoned him. The Republic–nay, the Jedi had sent him and his master to do its bidding, then stabbed them both in the back. And in the depths of his hatred and despair, a power altogether more dark and terrible then he could imagine cast its eye upon him. And so Darth Sidious found himself a disciple, disposable if vaguely useful as a tool. His life was nothing more than Lord Sidious' to do with as he willed.
But now Sidious is gone. The Sith are gone. Yet the edifice they built remains, and Jaa intends to use it for his own ends.
He will bring the Jedi into the mists of history. All he needs is...time.
