Star Wars: Beyond The Sky

[Aisling]

The catacombs of the temple had proven to be surprisingly easy to access. Somewhat unsurprising, in hindsight. So'duun had found a mounting sense of ominous, unfocused malice rising as she got lower into the temple. Several levels down she finally found what looked a lot like a vault door, although she knew it was not. She'd seen doors like it before, ones meant to seal a place from anybody not capable in the Force. It was a simple matter to move the bolt holding the door on the other side of it, then pull the vault doors aside once the bolt was in the floor.

It had taken her almost a day to work out where the catacombs were, then explore them well enough to find the vault door. Accessing the Sith temple directly would be impractical. The entire temple had apparently been built to house some kind of relic, which wasn't what interested her. What interested her was that the Temple of the Force had been built almost directly atop the ruins of the Sith temple that had lain there before, leaving most of the upper level of the temple intact where it had once been the outside door. The Jedi had built directly over the outer terrace of the Sith temple, turning what had once been exposed to sunlight into a deep, undergroup crypt.

Which interested her because it meant that it would be intact. The 'vault' proved to directly access this outer courtyard, the true door to the Sith temple on the other side of a rectangular chamber the size of a small hanger bay. It was some kind of black metal she didn't recognize, inlaid with red kyber. It wasn't natural kyber, but rather the synthetic variety, one of the two kinds that produced red lightsabers. The walls of the chamber were dense with inscription which So'duun almost ached to translate, but it would take time. She would have to settle for making holographic scans and then analyzing them later on the ship, at her own leisure.

Reaching into her belt bag, she pulled out a small sphere roughly four inches in diameter. Pointing her finger at it, she flicked a small switch under it's outer plating, bringing it to life and then tossing it lightly into the air. The sphere bobbled in the air, then shimmered blue and began taking scans of the room, following her lazily as she wandered the chamber.

The statue of some sith lord or another sat ruined at the center of the chamber. Only the statues feet remained in place at the base where it stood, the rest of it broken into pieces scattered around the chamber. The rest of the chamber was in fairly good shape so she could only guess that it had been done before the jedi temple was built and left that way symbolically. Reaching into the belt bag again she retrieved the holocron and activated it, setting it at the base of the statues feet.

"Ah, I see that you made it. Good." The projection of Darth Traya hovered just above the floor at the center of the chamber, facing So'duun. "Are you able to read the inscriptions?"

"No. The jedi don't exactly encourage the study of the ancient sith language. I know bits and pieces from archeology, but that's it. I intend to translate all this later."

"Ah. A pity. This temple is built to house a powerful artifact, a psychic weapon which was sealed here because it did not discriminate between Sith or Jedi. It simply slew everyone, including the one who invented it, to their credit. Their failure managed to wipe their own inadequacy from the face of the universe, at the very least."

"You make it sound like it's a good thing. You're not very good at selling this philosophy. I'm not at all convinced you have a point."

"On the contrary. If you truly thought that, you would pay me no mind at all and would not be here. The Sith philosophy revolves around the exaltation of the self. Selfishness and strength as the means to pursue their goals. This is why they become cruel above all else. Mistaking self-interest for a complete lack of any sort of moral imperitive, they wallow in cruelty and deny themselves avenues of progress that would otherwise be open to them simply by trying the candy rather than the stick."

"So why didn't they? Why is it every fallen jedi turns into that?"

"Why not? Such an extreme change in philosophy no doubt came with some extreme experience. One is confronted by the idea their entire world view is pointless and then they pivot. One who spends their life selflessly can think of nothing but appeasement of the self, since it's all they've ever wanted. But to indulge in your passions, to use them, you are not and will never be obligated to be cruel for the sake of it. A Sith draws strength from their feelings, uses them, where the Jedi push those feelings away."

"You're saying it's possible to use bogan simply through emotional extremes. Regardless of the emotion."

"Yes. The secret is control, the center of the self. To lose yourself to your passions can make you powerful but no better than any other Sith lord, a slave to their emotions under the delusion that the Force will set them free. Breaking their chains? Don't make me laugh. The Sith built an entire culture out of forging chains around themselves, chains of the Force. They become unable to control themselves. Keep the self at the center and you may yet use your passions, rather than your passions using you."

"I began this quest trying to find information on the origins of the Jedi Order. I want to access the holocrons we found on Korriban. But the truth of the matter is that I don't really have any leads."

"I can teach you how to use your passions to drive your use of the Force, but I cannot unravel the secrets of time for you. With that said, many secrets are known to me. Which do you seek?"

"The origin of the lightsaber."

"It was said that the first force-saber was taken from the Rakata, though it was unclear in my time just what the Rakata were." So'duun tilted her head, recognizing the word, but didn't interrupt. "It was the Sith who discovered the symbiotic use of kyber within the blades. It was the Sith who solved the power consumption issues in the design."

"What are the Rakata, I wonder." So'duun tapped her chin.

"All I know of them was that they were an ancient enemy of all who once controlled a vast interstellar empire without using a fleet. The method is unknown to me."

The little scanner sphere returned to So'duun, beeping at her. Plucking it out of the air, she pocketed it, turning to face the projection of Traya. "Why am I here? This feels like a waste of time."

"These walls are a history of the Sith, girl. Not a complete one, but history nonetheless. To find the answers you seek to the origins of the Jedi you must also seek the origins of the Sith. They are the same."

"You're talking about Tython."

"Yes. If the history of the jedi is lost and you have no leads to recover it, then it may be time to search somewhere else. There are many ancient places in the galaxy, after all."

"My ultimate goal is to find Tython."

"Why would that be, I wonder?"

"I want to find the Tho Yor. To... to get inside them, to find the secrets of our origins. The secrets of the Force."

"Aah, there it is." The projection was smiling. "This isn't about finding the origins of the Jedi at all. This is about finding ancient power. I can respect that."

So'duun shook her head. "No, that's not why I began doing this."

"Isn't it? As a child you sought power by mastering your sensory abilities in the Force. As a young adult you sought power by mastery of the Force through the jedi order and now, as a Jedi, you seek power from the origins of the Jedi Order itself. Ah, child, your ambition is worthy of a Sith!"

"That's not what I'm about at all."

"Oh, I disagree." The projection almost seemed to purr the words. "But let us put that aside for now. You need direction on your search, after all. To seek out the origins of the SIth, you will never find the answers on Korriban. Force wielders are far older than that. The oldest facility I know of associated with the Rakata is The Tomb on Belsavis. It is an ancient prison of the Rakata, full of ancient history... and great danger. Many Sith Lords were imprisoned there in stasis at once time. Sithspawn as well. Techno-beasts. Worse things."

"Belsavis is a habited world, why have I never heard of this place?"

"It would be difficult to find. Should be. You are not yet strong enough in the dark side to seek it out. To learn the secrets of bogan, you must indulge yourself, follow your passions. Surely there's somebody you don't mind killing."

So'duun thought about it, not answering. She walked the length of the chamber, looking over the inscriptions lazily before looking back at the projection. "Slavers, perhaps. I hate slavery."

"Ah, good. That's a beginning. Have you never thought of simply killing them? Wiping their stain from the galaxy?"

"It wouldn't be the first time."

"Oh? How did it make you feel to kill somebody you call evil?"

"I didn't feel anything about it. He was a threat and needed to be eliminated."

"Exactly the correct attitude. This, then, is my first lesson. The dark side is not about needless slaughter or death, it is not about cruelty for the sake of cruelty. The Sith lords who walked that path were broken before ever training in the Dark Side through the very culture they themselves constructed. The dark side is about self-indulgance. If killing slavers gratifies you, then it would seem you have some slavers to kill. Slay them without mercy, knowing that you are doing the galaxy a favor."

So'duun walked to the center of the chamber, watching Darth Traya smile benevolently at her before vanishing, the holocron pulling together for her to pick up. With the chamber shrouded in darkness again, she began to make her way to the surface with no concern for the need for light.

It was true that she hated slavers and they did deserve to die. She also knew that most jedi would disagree with that, holding the preservation of life above all else. But she'd seen quite a lot of the galaxy and knew better. High ideals didn't mean much when your family was killed in front of you and your body sold as property. If killing a bunch of filth like that would empower her to access the holocrons, she could live with that. But where to find them?

As she made her way out of the catacombs, she was careful to avoid the notice of the temple guards. When she did come across them, she merely nodded politely, another jedi out for a walk. By the time she got to the surface she was feeling impatient, tapping her ear.

"Fenet."

"Hi, So'duun. We were just wondering what you were up to."

"Just studying." She heh'd quietly to herself. "I want you to prep the ship. We're leaving in the morning."

"No problem. Where are we headed?"

"I have some personal business on Nar Shaddaa to handle."

 

[PoDevil]

Good chapter, hope you're doing well. Most stories by this point I have a pretty decent idea where the author is taking their story. Yeah on this I have no clue where you're going but it's been very entertaining. I mean sure I get that we're (re)searching for the origin, and I love the slice of life that you portrait.
I had thought that Mar would be the dark force user, but now you have So'duun seemingly pointing in that direction.
What's worrying is that So'duun has not even mentioned the research she is doing into the dark to her Padawan's. If she were to run into something she was not prepared for? Especially listening to Darth Traya, because we all know how honest and forthright the sith are... What is the council going to say when they find out what she has actually been researching? Ha! I can't wait! Keep up the good work.

 

[Aisling]

Good chapter, hope you're doing well. Most stories by this point I have a pretty decent idea where the author is taking their story. Yeah on this I have no clue where you're going but it's been very entertaining. I mean sure I get that we're (re)searching for the origin, and I love the slice of life that you portrait.
I had thought that Mar would be the dark force user, but now you have So'duun seemingly pointing in that direction.
What's worrying is that So'duun has not even mentioned the research she is doing into the dark to her Padawan's. If she were to run into something she was not prepared for? Especially listening to Darth Traya, because we all know how honest and forthright the sith are... What is the council going to say when they find out what she has actually been researching? Ha! I can't wait! Keep up the good work.

Click to shrink...

If she did, Fenet would report it, so she's keeping it to herself because she doesn't want to be stopped. Mar and So'duun both have their demons to face, just in different ways

 

[Aisling]

TEN YEARS PREVIOUSLY​

So'duun brought her saber up, deflecting the blaster bolts and sending them back down the corridor at her enemy. They struck the fine wood of its floor, scorching it, another bolt breaking one of the windows on the side overlooking the plateaus outside shrouded in mists and greenary. Behind her, the Prime Minister was being pulled towards the turbolift while she acted as a distraction to the assassin. Already two bodyguards had fallen. Bodyguards with years of experience and top of the line armor, vibroblades and the latest model of blaster rifle available on the civilian market that wasn't a fully automatic weapon. When she first met them, part of her suspected they'd been modified to fix that particular drawback. Later, she'd been proven correct.

It hadn't helped.

The assassin rushed her and she brought her blade down at an angle, cutting upwards at them, suspecting a parry. The parry came from the mandalorian blocking the blade with his forearm, the beskar sparking violently as it made contact with her blade but holding and allowing the man to bring his other arm up to punch her. She ducked and spun to the side, dropping to the floor on her hip and one hand, rolling and bringing herself back up on momentum while transferring her blade to her other hand to strike downwards from overhead. At the same time she was doing that, however, the mandalorian pushed into the missed punch and shoulder-rolled, moving out of the way of the blade coming down and coming up to one hand and his knees, the other arm pointed at So'duun.

Her world became heat and light as he fired his flamethrower and her first instinct was to push, a wall of Force diverting the flames to the side and back, forcing the mandalorian to stop before he cooked himself. Realizing he was on the other side of where he wanted to be, he tried to turn and run down the hallway, chasing after the retinue who were already making distance while So'duun slowed him down.

Suddenly the mandalorian tripped as So'duun gripped the man whole in the Force, yanking him violently to the side and smashing him into the window pane to defenstrate him. She walked up to the break in the glass, watching him freefall for a couple seconds before firing a grappling line and swinging down into the cliffside, landing hard. She hadn't finished him off, but he wouldn't be able to scale the cliffs faster than it would take the Prime Minister to reach his ship and bug out. She could take her time rounding the assassin up afterward.

When she got to the spot where she expected to find the man scaling up, she found him missing, vanished from the cliffside.

---

EIGHT YEARS PREVIOUSLY​

The prison cell was dark. It certainly wasn't So'duun's finest moment. She felt like a failure, an idiot who had let herself be stunned and disarmed. She was a jedi! They'd overwhelmed her, but she'd been unable to escape or fight her way out and now she was nothing but a prisoner, her lightsaber destroyed. There would be no rescue. She brooded on the fact she'd gone rushing in without a plan and hadn't reported where she was going.

It hadn't been a complicated plan. Break into the bunker, find the general, stop him and break the siege. She'd been so confident she could do it, so sure of herself. She'd paid for her hubris.

Every part of her hurt. The jedi robes she'd been wearing when captured were bloody and torn, where they were left. They hadn't left her much, humiliating her in every way possible. The constant pain from her broken arm was difficult not to focus on, but doing so made the pain worse. It was a different cadence of pain from the burns.

The prison cell opened, the light blinding her and forcing her to turn her head away. The silhouette entered the prison cell and when they spoke, the voice had a slightly electronic lilt to it. "I know you."

So'duun didn't answer, turning her head to try and look at whoever this person was. It wasn't a guard. They weren't hitting her enough. When she opened her mouth to speak she coughed, which only made everything hurt worse. "Know lots of people." Just speaking hurt.

"You threw me out of a window."

She was starting to make out details. She could see the outline of the armor, the helmet. A moment of recognition came to her and her heart sank as she realized this was the assassin she'd nearly killed on Aldaraan. "Nnn."

"Oh, don't worry. I don't have any hard feelings about it. You look like you've seen better days."

"Uh huh. Guards." She started trying to push herself to her feet, tensing up when the man approached her suddenly, expecting an attack. Instead, he knelt to help her up, one arm around her back.

"Dead. Jedi don't have much use for blasters, but sniper rifles and thermal detonators are handy to have."

"Lots o' guards." She grimaced, forced to lean on the man.

"Yeah. Lots of guards who all slept in the same barracks building, which is currently on fire, with most of the guards still in it. Trust me, they won't be an issue. Where's your lightsaber?"

"Destroyed. Why?"

"Why am I helping you?" The man slowly led her out of the cell. "I got what I came here for. Most mandalorians don't like jedi but you fought well and mostly you people are decent. It's part of why we end up fighting so much. Besides, having a jedi owe me a favor can be helpful."

She shook her head, allowing him to lead her down the corridor, past the bodies and bloodstains. She was in no condition to fight and expected to be ransomed. Two weeks later, he had endeared himself to her enough to give her cause to invite him to visit the jedi temple.

A month later she was traveling with him, the temple having established a contract with him as an auxiliary, hiring his ship and paying a wage simply to fly So'duun around in his ship, the Light Touch.

---

SEVEN YEARS PREVIOUSLY​

"You're kind of a pain in the ass, you know that?" Johena's voice sounded like honey poured over thunder to her. She preferred it like this, without the helmet messing up the cadence of how he sounded. Touch and sound were important to her in a way it wasn't to people who could see and his voice was as engraved in her memory as someones face might be if she had eyes.

"You like my ass, though." She was sleepy, leaning against him in bed, the blankets barely covering them at all. They'd been moving too much for that. She tilted her head, resting her chin on his chest. "What makes you say that?"

"I had a pretty good solo thing going. As a foundling I never really expected to have anyone, let alone a jedi. No clan, few friends, always traveling. The life of a nomad doesn't give you much chance to put down roots or establish ties. Always figured if I got involved with somebody it'd be another mandalorian. Then you show up in my life and spend a week with me and suddenly I find myself wanting you to stick around. I had all these defenses, you know? Distance from people, nice and safe. You walked right past all of that when you weren't even in a fit state to walk."

So'duun didn't answer right away, thinking it over. "You know, I never really planned to be a jedi. But once I began training with the Luka Sene I found I really liked learning how to use the Force. I joined the temple pretty late, I'd already graduated from the Luka Sene. I'm pretty sure I only count as half a jedi."

His hand slid down, resting on her hip. "I'd probably catch a lot of crap if I visited Mandalore now. Wandering around with a jedi. People will start to get the idea that we like each other."

She pushed herself up, leaning over him and kissing him slowly, drawing it out and savoring him, her sense of touch showing him in her minds eye. "What makes you think I like you?"

"Couldn't say. Why don't you convince me some more?"

---

FIVE YEARS PREVIOUSLY​

The ship bucked violently as the fighters chasing it hit the shields. The shaking spooked the freed slaves in the cargo hold, a chorus of startled screams ringing throughout the ship, audible from the cockpit. Ahead of them, the canyon walls zigged and zagged, Johena concentrating and weaving through the rock formations, trying to lose the pursuers. It wasn't working.

"We need a different plan, I think."

So'duun was moving at a frantic pace in the pilots seat as she used the newly built touch interface to help divert power around where the ship needed it. "I'm open to suggestions if you have any."

"Fenet can fly the ship while I engage them directly."

"What?" Fenet - still barely out of being a youngling - sounded startled at the sudden suggestion. "But I've only flown it once!"

"You've been simming flights for weeks, don't think I didn't notice you sneaking up here when you thought we were sleeping." He chuckled, then grimaced, interrupted by a jarring impact as the ship grazed the canyon wall. "We don't have time for this to be a debate. We can't fight back because of your damned Order's orders to strip down our weapons systems. This is why I argued against it!"

"We'll sneak a few back on and hide them later." So'duun gestured at Fenet, who hesitantly got up, quickly switching seats with Johena.

"More than a few, trust me. Don't bang my ship up too much." He darted in, kissed So'duun and then turned to leave the cockpit, pulling his helmet on. "I'll be back soon."

"You better be." So'duun muttered it quietly, almost inaudible over the sound of Fenet's frantic attempts to control the ship and the sounds of combat.

The smaller airlock opened and Johena jumped out, freefalling for a moment and letting the air drag him as the Light Touch zoomed ahead. Half a second later he kicked in the jetpace, the two dogfighters chasing them just ahead of him as he raced to match their speed. The fighters were a Corellian design he recognized, reliant on astromechs to assist their pilots. Each one was swerving side to side as it tried to match the evasive maneuvers that Light Touch was making as Fenet guided them sharply through the canyon.

Suddenly she pulled up, the ship rising and the two starfighters chasing it. Johena closed the gap, pulling a thermal detonator and slapping it to the top of the first astromechs head. He could hear its startled, electronic wail as he pulled away, followed by detonation, then secondary detonations as the life support systems pressurized gas tanks exploded and the pilot died.

He hit the second ship, his boots magnetic locks holding him to the hull as he slapped a detonator on the second astromech. The droid turned to face him at the same time he did it and as he slapped his forearm to break the magnetic lock, the droid dumped its arcspanner into him, the computer built into his suit disrupted in much the same way as an ion cannon hit might have.

He tried to pull his feet up but the locked stayed put, the computer interface snapping back into place a second later. He broke the maglock, kicked off the hull and got half a meter away when the thermal detonator exploded and the pressure wave slammed his brain against the inside of his skull, killing him instantly.

If Fenet hadn't been flying the ship, it might have crashed.

 

[Aisling]

"Pre-flight complete. The ship's all ready." Fenet sat in the pilots seat, leaning back slightly. She looked over to her right, at So'duuns seat. So'duun wasn't in it. Mar was instead, glancing at her friend and then double-taking.

"Oh! Right. Starting hyperspace calculations to Nar Shaddaa."

"Thanks. Let's go." Fenet didn't sound as enthusiastic as she usually did, the ships cruise up from the ground slow and methodical. The jump point was a little further out than usual, making for a bit of a wait as they cruised out to it on sublight engines.

"You okay?"

"I don't really like being bald." Fenet sighed. "I know it'll grow back in a couple weeks but still. I liked my hair. Also..."

"So'duun?"

"Yeah. It's not like her to be so reclusive."

Mar shrugged elaborately, then leaned forward and made a swiping motion to her left. "Calculations complete and sent over to your side. Redistributing power aaaaand... ready to jump." She leaned back in her seat, folding her arms under her (in her own opinion) sad excuse for a chest. "What would she want on Nar Shaddaa? I thought you said she avoids Hutt Space?"

"She does. This is really weird. She said it was a personal matter too. Makes me think it's something to do with Jo."

"Her husband?"

"Yeah. It was Nar Shaddaa where he died. We were in the middle of rescuing a bunch of slaves, the cargo hold was full of them. Left the ship to disrupt our attackers, never came home."

Mar tilted her head. "Is that how she got this ship?"

"Uh huh. Used to be Johena's. He called it the Light Touch, worked as a bounty hunter. After he died, So'duun renamed it. Jumping in three, two, one."

Realspace vanished in a smear of stars and hyperspace filled the viewport. Fenet took her hands off the controls, leaning back in her seat. "I don't really want to go back, but I do what the boss says, you know? It makes me uneasy. I think she's making reports in her office, but... What could she have found that she thinks she can't tell us?"

"I'unno. I just work here." That got a snort out of Fenet.

"Speaking of which, how do you want to pass the time on the way? This is gonna take awhile. It's not a one-shot jump, we'll have to stop and jump again a couple times."

"Ah. Actually, I wanted to ask if I could rebuild your old lightsaber."

"Rebuild it? What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing. I just want to build another lightsaber and we don't exactly have a bunch of crystals laying around."

"What for?"

"I'd like to practice dual-wielding. I know it had drawbacks, but if I don't, there might come a day where I have to grab your saber and fight with it, but not know how to do that. It would be nice to be able to return to Ilum at some point so I could build a staffsaber."

"What would you possibly need all those for?"

"I don't." Mar laughed. "But I've got to be honest, building my lightsaber was the most fun I've had in a long time. I love fighting, Fenet. I mean, I don't like fighting people, but our spars? Best part of my day. I wish I got to spar with So'duun more, but..." She shrugged.

"Really? So'duun isn't much of a fighter, to be honest. I'm more aggressive than she is. Someday, when we have the opportunity, you should spend some time at the temple on Coruscant. If you ask very very nicely one of the lightsaber combat masters might be willing to tutor you for a few months."

"Soooomething tells me we'll be busy for awhile." Mar grinned over at her friend. "Which means I get to bother you in the meantime. So, lightsaber construction hijinks?"

"Just... be careful. That crystal has been with me a long, long time. Kind of sentimental about it, you know? I'd probably keep using it if I didn't hate dual wielding."

"My gain." Mar stood up, stretching. "I'll head back to the cargo bay and start drafting designs for a shoto saber."

The work on drafting a new saber design proceeded slowly, mainly because Mar kept trying to tweak the design. With a blade only two-thirds the size of her regular saber, it was more of a really fancy lightdagger in her own mind. Something to use up close for a coup-de-grace. By the time she finalized the design they were in realspace, preparing for the second jump.

So'duun didn't make an appearance until almost dinner time. When she wandered into the tiny kitchen she looked like she hadn't slept in awhile. They ate quietly, both of them waiting for So'duun to say something. By the time they were finishing up it was looking like that wasn't gonna happen.

Fenet piped up while Mar loaded the dishes into the santizer unit. "You alright So'duun?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" So'duun was finishing her drink, leaning on the table on one elbow.

"We haven't seen much of you, you look really tired. You've been a little odd ever since Korriban, come to think of it."

"It wasn't really a fun experience." So'duun said it completely deadpan. "Suppose I don't have to tell you that. I spent a lot of time out on the surface. It shook me up a bit is all."

Fenet nodded slowly. "What've you been working on? We've been trying to let you be, mostly."

"Translations. I'm hoping to track down a lead on Nar Shaddaa. Lots of smugglers there."

Mar turned, wiping her hands off with a towel. "Yeah. Lots of hutts, too. Guessing we're going in pretending we're totally not jedi?"

So'duun nodded. "I've been checking over Jo's armor. Making sure it works and everything. Just in case."

"Whoa, really? You never take that out." Fenet furrowed her brow. "You planning on wearing it?"

"No. Just... making sure, you know? Just in case. This planet is cursed."

Fenet and Mar both nodded in agreement.

The rest of the trip went quietly. So'duun withdrew back into her quarters to work on her translations while Fenet and Mar handled the flying. When they dropped out of realspace they found the traffic around Nar Shadda dense and chaotic, ships moving in whatever direction they liked. Fenet began weaving around them, making her way towards the surface.

The voice of the ground flight controller came across as eletronically monotone as whatever ancient comm system they used translated from Huttese to Common based on the ships beacon frequency. "[Unidentified ship, you have entered Hutt space. Identify yourselves or you will be shot down and eaten.]"

"This is the Light Touch. We're smugglers looking for work. Since when did the Hutts give a damn about that?" Mar managed to sound indignant, even a little angry.

"[Sending an approach course to you now. You will land at the spaceport and pay your parking fee or be shot at.]" The commlink frequency cut out with a squelch and Fenet gave a look up at the ceiling, where the speaker was mounted.

"What a complete jerk."

"Hutts."

"Point taken."

The spaceport itself was a massive, multi-level affair of open balconies. Fenet followed the projected course to the third level up. The building was rounded, almost domelike, save for the fact it was made of a series of vertical shelves with floating balconies parked in the air around it. Bringing the ship in, Fenet landed it among a small fleet of freighters, fighters and hackjobs. Once they were on the ground, they weren't in much of a hurry to disembark, since that was when they'd have to pay the fee. Fenet knocked on So'duuns door a couple times on the way to the airlock.

She appeared as Mar and Fenet were checking over their stuff, then stopped and looked at them, sighing. "No."

Fenet and Mar glanced at each other. "No what?"

"No, you're not going out looking like that."

"...Why?" Mar sounded confused.

"You look like jedi. Go to the bunk room, pick the crappiest clothes you can find, make sure none of them match and go find a tool belt. Nobody is going to look twice as you for carrying basic tools around and this is the kind of place where having them might be useful. Finally, you very obviously have lightsabers. Don't clip them at your belt, put them in the holster you would use for a blaster and then cover part of it with a rag. No one looks twice at a blaster on a planet like this, especially if it looks weird. Lots of cobbled stuff floating around." She gestured at them. "Go."

By the time they got back, So'duun had paid the fee, told the droid attendent to go away and had enough time to get genuinely annoyed at the delay. When they finally reappeared she had to fight down the urge to chastize them, made easier by the fact that their apparently lax progress had been caused by the fact they had taken the time to work each other over with makeup. Fenet was now wearing heavy black eyeliner, stylized at the corners of her eyes. Mar had drawn a little made-up glyph on Fenet's forehead, then accented it up and over the top of her currently-bald head, giving Fenet a very exotic look.

Mar herself was the opposite. Where Fenet had a light complexion, Mars was far darker. A person from earth might have assumed Mar was middle-eastern, something which made her a little exotic insofar as humans went. Consequently, the eyeliner she'd used was white, a sharp contrast and opposite of Fenet. Instead of a glyph on her forehead, she'd painted part of her hair, adding a white streak to contrast against the black. Both of them had dressed in black and dark brown. Fenet was even wearing a couple pieces of metal scrap as part of her outfit. Mar simply wore heavy, baggy pants and a chest binder of black cloth. Both had the toolbelts, filled with what looked like Fenet's whole array of engineering implements.

So'duun nodded in approval. "Much better. Take these." She handed them a credits chit each. "Do. Not. Lose. These. This is all of the money you have. Guard it like they'll kill you for it, 'cuz they will. If we get split up, you make your way back here to the ship and wait for the others. Keep your heads down, just follow me."

They nodded, taking the time to close up the ship before they headed to the turbolift. It was a short trip down to the speeder parking level, where Fenet took her time to pick what 'the best looking one', much to So'duuns impatience.

Once they'd paid the rental fee, Fenet hopped in the drivers seat, flying them out of the terrace at a slow cruise. "So, where to?"

"The red light sector."

That made both Fenet and Mar turn to look at So'duun. "Really?"

"You heard me. Let's go."

Fenet checked the map, then plotted the GPS to guide them to it. "Okay, but I mean... we come all this way, to a planet you hate and now we're going to the brothels? I mean, we could just go spend some time on Coruscant if that's what-"

"No." So'duun said it a little more forcefully than she'd intended. "I'm not going there to spend money."

"So... why are we going, then?" Mar asked, tentatively.

"That's where the pimps are, too."

Understanding dawned in Mars eyes and when Fenet saw the predatory grin on her face, the sense of disquiet she felt only increased.

 

[Aisling]

The bass from the music in the room was strong enough to be felt. A contrast of darkness and bright light, the club was dimly lit but for neon strips and clothing with its own light systems being worn by a myriad of different species and body shapes. The club was laid out before them, the entrance at the top of a short set of stairs leading down inside directly to the circular bar in the middle of the room where twi'lek women whose clothing hid nothing served guests drinks. To one side was a large dance floor where the crowd seemed to be... well, they probably thought they were dancing, but the word that came to Mar's mind was flailing. Nobody ever told them that dancing while drunk lowers the quality of ones performance, apparently.

Along the walls were several booths with semi-transparent curtains. Some had tables, others didn't. Customers were smoking, drinking, arguing or just feeling each other up under whatever pretense they could come up with. It made her skin crawl. She didn't blame the girls - or the boys, not all of the 'servers' were women - but the sense of indignant rage that had hit her on Korriban was suddenly there again and she took a deep breath, pushing it down as best she could. Beside her, Fenet squeezed her shoulder.

So'duun was taking point with the two girls just behind her in a way that would cause others to simply assume they were property. Nobody cared about property. She immediately went to the bar, Fenet and Mar following her and looking around, watching the crowd. Facing outward, neither was watching So'duun herself as she waved one of the girls over.

"What do you want to taste, beautiful?" The servers voice was soft and she leaned over the counter, nose-to-nose with So'duun. "Not often we get girls in here. You want business or pleasure?"

"Why not both?" So'duun brushed the girls lips with hers, then leaned back. "I want information. The boys in charge, don't annoy me with peons and middle-men, please."

"Mmm, money talks. Do you have what it takes?"

So'duun placed a credits chip on the bar, keeping her finger pressed to it and letting the server girl look at it. Her eyes widened, lekku twitching as she saw the amount on the chit. "I see. Why don't you come with me?"

"Now we're getting somewhere." So'duun got up, followed by Fenet and Mar. When a rodian reached out at Mar, she didn't hesitate, turning her entire body to casually kick him in the face and send him sprawling, then going back to following So'duun like nothing happened. Fenet didn't say anything, but the callousness bothered her. She wasn't sure if it was an act or if Mar was not acting for once.

The twi'lek woman led them to a curtained entrance at the back of the room flanked by several thuggish looking guards, a mix of duro, human and notably, a wookiee. When they slipped into the back room they found the girl draping herself over a human man with one eye, the other clearly cybernetic, glowing a bright blue that reminded Mar of kyber. Several other girls were laid out around him, some of them paying a rather vigorous amount of attention to each other. Mar only realized she was staring when Fenet poked her. The entire room was essentially one huge couch, the floor covered in cushions and blankets save for where a single table sat in the middle of the room, holding a hookah and what had to be at least a half dozen different narcotics.

Fenet wasn't all that surprised by any of it, but the neon-purple color of the cushioned was something she found almost offensive. It was awful. Part of her wanted to leave the room just so she wouldn't have to look at it, nevermind the prostitution all around her.

"What brings a miraluka all the way to Nar Shaddaa?" The mans voice was rough, scratchy. "Hou'li tells me you got money. I got all kinds of things money can buy. What are you looking for? Girls? Boys?" He gestured idly around the room. "Goods? Weapons? What?"

"Slaves."

"Aaaaaaah." He pointed lazily, leaning back. "Now that makes sense. How many?"

"How many do you have?"

He snickered. "Enough. You opening a brothel or something?"

"Or something. Nothing here on Nar Shaddaa."

"Uh huh." He waved around the room, pointing with a finger. "None of these catch your eye? Age obviously doesn't bother you. Or are these your daughters?"

"They're none of your business is what they are." So'duun spoke with steel in her voice. "Do you have them or not?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't like twi'lek's? Alright. Cool. Everyone has their own tastes." He shrugged. "What do you want exactly?"

"I want to see your stock and make sure I'm not wasting my time here."

The man smiled, standing up. Mar looked away from him, annoyed at his nudity, tightening her fist when the first thing her eyes found was the kind of physical action she was trying not to think about. Fenet turned to her, leaning in and speaking into her ear.

"Are you alright?"

"I will be when we leave."

Fenet nodded to her, then squeezed her upper arm. So'duun was moving so they moved to follow her, ignoring the noises from all around them while Mar fought that anger down. She knew if she did anything right now, it'd just blow whatever plan So'duun had come up with, but she itched to pull out her weapon and remove some of these people from existence.

The man spread his arms out, one of the girls draping a bathrobe over him which he tied at the waist. Making a snck sound at the trio, her pointed and suddenly the entire section of floor they'd been standing on began to lower as the man tried not to look smug at their balance being thrown for a second.

The cushioned section of floor lowered into the central chamber of what was apparently a half dozen prison cells with a seventh partition that was very obviously a torture chamber of some kind. Mars stomach rolled at the sight of the people in the cells. Most of them showed injuries, bruises or minor cuts. There was blood on the table of the torture space.

"I know they're a little banged up, it's 'cuz they're fresh stock. Not broken yet, you know? It's why they're not up there." He pointed above them where, three meters above, the orgy was still in full swing. "You seem like you're in a bit of a hurry though. This is everyone I got in the club."

"You have more?"

"Yeah, sure. I own this whole block, girlie. This is just the stock room."

So'duun nodded. "Good." She walked towards him, then reached into the holster at her hip, ignited her lightsaber and bisected the man before he could react. The prisoners yelped in alarm at the same time Fenet and Mar sprung into action. Both of them pulled their lightsabers, cutting holes in the prison bars to break the prisoners free while So'duun leapt up.

Landing on the edge of the lifts pit, she was immediately met with weapons fire from the guards spilling into the room, redirecting the first blaster bolt back and catching one of them in the face. The others were distracted for a second as the gurgling death-scream of the man dropping took their attention and So'duun rushed them, cutting down the first and spinning on the spot to kill the one behind her, cutting vertically upward to cut the arm off another and then stabbing him in the face.

Then she rushed into the main room of the club, looking for anybody handling the 'product'. She didn't discriminate, cutting down anybody who looked to be in charge, had a weapon or was a customer. The girls behind the bar dropped down, one of them hitting an alarm as they took cover.

Down in the pit the girls were getting the last of the prisoners onto the lift. Fenet made the leap up, looking for the controls for it. It took a moment but she found it, raising the lift, almost thirty prisoners rising with it. The more enterprising ones rushed the dead guards, stripping them of weapons and moving out to help So'duun. The others hung back a little, letting Mar and Fenet take point.

When they got out to the club they found a massacre. A couple dozen bodies and So'duun was not inside. It wasn't hard to work out where she'd gone, though. They ran to the front door of the club, the freed slaves spreading out to gather more weapons. Suddenly So'duun ducked back inside, taking cover by the door. Mar leaned over, peeking out.

Dozens of security forces were flooding into the streets, along with several speeders and at least one gunship. They'd pissed somebody off.

"Okay." Mar leaned back, taking a deep breath. "This is all part of the plan, right?"

So'duun didn't say anything, walking away from them and gesturing at the bar. With the sparks of connections breaking, she ripped it out of the floor with the Force, then hurled it into the far wall of the club over the dance floor. The impact broke a hole through to the next building and she strode through while Fenet blinked and Mar shrug-nodded. "That works."

"This way!" One of the freed slaves, a duro, started herding the others through the hole. Mar and Fenet stayed to cover their retreat, but didn't have long to do it. A sudden blast in the next building knocked everybody over, the gunship opening fire. The building partially collapsed at the same time the guards began to rush the front door of the club.

Suddenly Fenet and Mar found themselves very outnumbered. So'duun was cut off, the hole in the wall collapsed. They'd have to rendezvous back at the ship, now. A tricky prospect with this much heat on them. There was no time to debate it though, the guards opening fire.

They retreated, a fighting retreat of blocking and defense as they pulled back to the back room they'd began in. Some idiot outside got the idea to throw a thermal detonator at them and Mar simply flung it back with the Force, the explosion shaking the entire building.

"Welp." Mar glanced out the door at the now burning room. "The first bunch of guards are dead, So'duun is missing, I think some of the slaves died, we're pinned down and the building is on fire. This is fine."

"Relax, we'll be okay." Fenet dropped the lift and Mar hopped on to join her. "The guards will rush the building in a moment, but we're not gonna be here."

"Uh, how do you plan on doing that?"

"Trust me." Stepping off the lift, she made a gesture, hitting the control above with the Force. The lift began to rise again, revealing a sewer grate in the floor as the hidden room became hidden again.

"How did you...?"

Fenet pointed at the torture space. "They would have had to hose it down to clean it up. Water had to run somewhere, right?" She knelt, then began cutting a hole in the grate of the drain.

"This is going to stink, isn't it?"

"O-o-o-oh, unbelievably." Fenet laughed as she said it. "But the life of a jedi isn't always glorious. C'mon, maybe we can find a way into the next building."

 

[PoDevil]

So'duun, you've got some 'splaining to do! Can't wait to see how she spins this.

 

[Aisling]

Elation.

The passage she'd smashed opened collapsed as part of the building fell in, the gunship outside opening fire. She knew she couldn't stop it, but that wasn't part of the plan. She also wasn't worried about Fenet and Mar, mainly because she wanted them to get split up. She knew the two of them would default to going back to the ship now, relatively out of danger.

The main problem was that Fenet was getting concerned. If she found out what So'duun had been doing she would report it to the Order immediately and the whole thing would be yanked out from under her. Fenet was a good kid in her opinion - wanted to be a good kid too - but the intricacies of moral gray areas often escaped her. Mar, she barely knew and had been against joining the crew in the first place. She didn't even consider M8.

No, if she was to continue her studies, she knew she needed to do it alone. Fenet was nearly ready for her trials anyways and had been doing the majority of Mars initial training. Objectively, she knew ducking out on them was pretty cold-hearted, but she needed to explore aspects of the Force and its past that they just weren't ready to handle and if she tried to hold them back it would only result in the whole thing being lost due to the Council's ignorance.

Most of this passed through her mind not as a coherent set of articulated mental speech but a lightning-flash of information as she ran across the room of the warehouse she'd smashed her way into. Walking with an aggressive, steady pace she cut down guard after guard, the stacked crates and boxes around them providing cover. Silently she moved between the stacks, hunting them down, letting the escaped slaves distract them. She knew she was supposed to feel bad about killing them, but these were pirates and slavers. Nar Shaddaa was full of the worst kind of scum. If she could blow the planet itself up, somehow, she would do it in a heartbeat.

As she made her way to the back of the warehouse she could hear boots as the forces outside rushed the building. She contemplated slipping away by stealth, as she might have done previously, rather than confronting them head-on. She hated these kinds of people. The drug-runners, the dregs of the galaxy that lived only to make it a little bit worse. All the resentment at how much suffering they brought, always held under tight control, was given free reign now. She focused it, harnassed it, demanded the Force wipe these enemies away.

As she clenched her fist, the main strut holding the roof up bent, creaked loudly and then snapped off its bolts, the guards yelling as the roof caved in on their heads.

If she was going to leave, she'd need a ship. It pained her to leave Light's Touch but it was the only way to make sure the two girls got offworld. That, at least, she could take care of. A quick swipe of her lightsaber destroyed the lock on the rear door and she stepped out into the street, melting into the crowd and pulling up her hood.

As best she could figure, it wasn't the planetary security forces. Just a local gang whose establishment she'd hit. She felt a little bad about the freed slaves, but most of them were scattering and she'd never intended to get them offworld. It was just too much trouble, she'd learned that lesson the last time.

Overhead a speeder passed by close enough to make people duck, the thrum of the repulsors pushing them down. Probably looking for her, but she was just one more hood in a crowd of strange faces and clothing. She walked with the current of people down the road, slipping into a door alcove and pulling her commlink. "Fenet."

"So'duun! Where are you?"

"Cut off from the ship. Get back there, I'm going to find another way offworld. There's always stuff at the docks."

"You're gonna steal a ship?"

"Think of it more like... liberating it for a higher purpose."

"Where do we meet then?"

Good question. She racked her brain for a place she knew of, relatively close by, but also mostly abandoned. "Go to the Yavin system. The fourth moon is habitable. Wait for me there. If I'm not back in a few days... assume I didn't make it out."

"We'll be coming back for you if that happens."

"Don't be stupid. Just meet me there. You're not fully trained yet, you can't take on Nar Shaddaa alone. Got it?"

"...Okay. We'll see you there."

So'duun closed the commlink, then tossed it in the air and cut it in half, leaving immediately before anybody tried to follow the signal back to her. The rented speeder wouldn't do much good now, it was surrounded by guards. Stupid of her to not anticipate it. If she was going to get out of this she'd have to do it alone, improvising.

As she passed down the metal street she came out to an open ledge where a speeder parking lot was sitting. Blade turned off, she crossed the street towards it, approaching the first speeder bike with a rider still sitting on it. It took the man a moment to notice her, getting up and hooking his thumbs in his belt. "Well ain't you something. How much for an hour with y-AAAAAAAAGH!"

She tossed him over the edge with the Force, throwing him bodily and stepping up to watch him fall... fall... and splat against a ledge below, though not quite enough to stop him. He just kept tumbling down, out of sight of the traffic. Turning around, she took a look at the half dozen other people scattered around, but no one seemed to care.

She hated this place.

He'd left his speeder bike on and it was simplicity itself to hop on, lift off and join the traffic lanes. She knew heading towards the spaceport would involve being near Mar and Fenet while they executed their part of things, but that wasn't what she wanted. Not yet. Stealing a ship probably wouldn't be much harder than getting the speeder had been, by her estimate. She felt like she could do anything.

No, she needed someplace isolated. Someplace quiet where she could meditate. Work with the holocrons. Every time she called on that indignant sense of rightous fury it got a little easier. She could see why the Sith could become so obsessed with it. It could be called up with almost no effort at all.

But she wanted to use her passions, all of her passions, not just the negative ones. She needed time to contemplate them. She wouldn't find it on Nar Shaddaa. But Nar Shaddaa didn't have all of it's ships confined to a single port.

Coming to a landing platform, she consulted a map, looking for the Bounty Hunters Guild. It didn't take long to find. They would have their own dedicated landing pad for individual hunters and taking a small, single-person ship was just the ticket for her. It would be cramped, but maybe she'd get lucky and find a small transport.

Slowing down at the cantinas the guild mostly operated out of, she parked the speeder in a lot, then simply got up and left it on. If somebody stole it again, all the better. It would make it harder to figure out where she had abandoned it.

In the back of her mind, she bitterly regretted not wearing the beskar armor Johena had left behind. She hadn't planned to actually ditch this soon. As she joined the foot traffic she sighed. Originally, she'd hoped to simply kill a few pimps, free some slaves and maybe cause a ruckus on the way out. She hadn't expected an entire gang to show up with every ounce of firepower they'd had. It could only be bad luck, they'd been expecting an attack somehow and she'd just shown up at the wrong time and place to make one.

She slipped into one of the bars, passing a couple of ithorians and moving her head like she were looking around the room. She felt outward, looking for a direction, guidance from the Force.

She felt nothing.

She drew on her annoyance at being unable to call it as she might normally do, demanding the guidance. This time it came, slower, fueled by her need to get a ship. The followed the current, walking to a table at the back and sitting down in front of a human man. He was old, grizzled, wearing a worn out flight suit with a large blaster on his hip.

"You want something?"

"Yes. Passage."

"Do I look like a damned taxi to you?"

"I know you're a pilot. I know for the right amount of credits that you'll fly me."

He gave her an appraising look. "And why would I do that?"

"Well, obviously, because I'll pay you." She lied. "I need to get offworld quietly, you understand?"

He heh'd, pulling his mug up and knocking back the last of whatever engine fuel he'd been drinking. "Got yourself on a spot o' trouble huh? Debts?"

"No. Killed some people."

"Oh, that kind of trouble. Heh." He shook his head. "What's your name?"

"Ikmari. You?"

"Grenn. Ten thousand credits."

"Five thousand."

"Nine."

"Seven."

"Deal." He stuck his hand out and she shook it slowly. "How fast you want this done?"

"How long have we been sitting here?"

He grunted, then got up and slapped the table. "Fine. Let's go."

She followed him outside the cantina, walking just to his left and slightly behind him. "You don't do passenger jobs often."

"Nope. Mostly just running stuff around."

"What kinda stuff?"

"The mind-your-own-business kind. The kind that gets the people already pissed at you, pissed at me."

"Mmm." Probably spice. Her estimate of the man dropped a little.

He led them down the street, through an alley between the bland duracrete structures and into a back walkway. The walkway led out to a large, open ledge that the locals had apparently taken to using as an impromptu landing platform. She smiled inwardly as he began to approach a small corvette. It had the familiar cigar-body configuration lots of fuselages ended up taking on, but the engine pods on the side and the hammer-like front of the ship screamed 'corellian'. Its armor plating was colored too, a dull red and black.

Grenn punched open the ramp, waiting for it to lower before entering the ship with So'duun behind him. She noticed the prisoner cages, but didn't say anything, simply watching quietly as he went through the ships pre-flight sequence.

"You move people?"

"Sometimes bounties, sometimes slaves. Whatever pays the contract. Speaking of whiiiiiich." Her lightsaber ignited in front of his face as he drew the last word out, leaning back in his flight seat. "Uh. So, you're a jedi."

"You could say that. I don't like slavers. Unlock the main computer."

"Hey, uhhhhhokayOKAYOKAY." He capitulated as the blade drew close and he began to feel the heat, then made a 'move away' gesture at it. So'duun moved it aside and he leaned forward, tapping in the commands to open the ship systems. "Okay, so, can we talk this through?"

"No." She decapitated him, the cauterized wound preventing any bloodspill, but the heavy thunk of the head hitting the console made her sigh. She picked it up, turning her blade off and grabbing the bodies shoulder to drag it out of the flight chair.

Flying without a touch interface would be a pain in the ass, but now she had a ship. The body wasn't a problem. After all, it had airlocks.

 

[carterhall]

It's really interesting to watch someone going from Light to Dark with intention.

 

[Aisling]

It's really interesting to watch someone going from Light to Dark with intention.

Click to shrink...

One does not simply resist the offer of cookies.

 

[Taijutsu_]

She forgot the first rule:
Kreia always lies

 

[carterhall]

She forgot the first rule:
Kreia always lies

Click to shrink...

She just states true facts from a certain point of view
Koans, to expand one's horizon!

 

[Aisling]

She just states true facts from a certain point of view
Koans, to expand one's horizon!

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Damnit, Obi-wan!

 

[Aisling]

Yavin, massive and orange, hung in front of Light's Touch, taking up most of the view out the front of the ship. They'd elected to stay in space rather than land, since they didn't need to and it gave them better scanning range. They'd been hanging there for three days, waiting.

The escape from Nar Shaddaa turned out to be easier than expected. They'd been able to take a straight line to the spaceport once they were topside again and back on the street, apparently unnoticed. It had taken quite awhile to get there on foot, but it was safer than trying to hire or commandeer a vehicle if they wanted to go unnoticed. No one cared if they came or went, just another pair of travelers passing through. The most attention they'd gotten was the Nar Shaddaa flight control's general rudeness on the way out.

Fenet was beside herself with worry but couldn't do anything about it. She was awake, alert, watching the scanners and waiting, waiting, waiting. In the chair next to her - So'duun's chair - Mar was asleep. The back of the chair had been tilted backwards and she was curled up in it in the fetal position. Neither had slept much in the bunks.

They had done some training on the first day, passing the time. When nothing had happened by the next morning, the concern caused both of them to begin hyperfocusing on the sensors. Every once in awhile they'd spend some time with Fenet teaching Mar the different controls of the ship and how to operate it.

Next to her, Mar stretched in the seat, taking a deep breath and sitting up, then crossing her legs in the seat and rubbing her eyes. "Anything?"

"No."

Mar blinked, looking over at her friend upon hearing the tone of the reply. Fenet looked tired and there was a sense of concern and sadness that Mar had never seen in her before. "What do you think we should do now?"

Fenet bit her lip, shaking her head. "I've been mulling over that for the last couple hours."

"Haven't you slept at all?"

"Not really."

"Fenet." Mar sighed. "You need to sleep. But before you do, I'm up and we should form a plan of some kind I can work on while you're resting."

"There isn't anything to be done." Fenet rubbed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "No. We should contact the Council, get instructions. Tell them everything we know."

"What do we know?"

"Not much." Fenet sighed. "She got so damned secretive. I don't understand."

"Maybe it's time we started prying. We can't really report what we don't know."

Fenet nodded and stood up. "She'll have locked the files. M8 can probably help you."

"Alright. Go sleep, I'll work on it." Fenet nodded to her and shambled her way out of the cockpit to the back of the ship, leaving Mar.

She sighed, looking over the scanner logs. Lots of nothing. "Dammit, So'duun." She grumbled to herself as she got up and headed to the cargo bay, resisting the urge to punch the door control in frustration.

As she walked in the lights flicked on and M8 whirred, turning its head. "Hello, Mar. Has there been any news?"

"No." She walked over to M8, gesturing. "It's time to get nosy. I need your help."

"What will we be doing?"

"Getting into So'duun's personal computer files. We need to find out what was such a big damn secret that she's gone missing. I don't like how this all played out, it feels too much like she was running from us. We got back to the ship too easily. She might have been captured or killed, but why go there in the first place? She didn't seem to have an overall goal, it was just, find the bad guy and kill them. I mean, I can get behind that logic, but it just doesn't seem her style."

"I understand. I will do what I can. This may be easier if I interface with the terminal in her quarters directly."

"Yeah, alright."

They clanked their way down there, Mar poking her head inside the one room of the ship she'd never been in before. She felt a little like an intruder. M8 followed her in afterwards, careful not to smack or bump off anything in what felt like a confined space with its larger body. While Mar sat down on the meditation couch, M8 moved over to kneel down next to the computer, plugging in a dial interface to access the terminal. It spun back and forth a few times while Mar watched quietly.

"Although So'duun's personal information storage has been encrypted, it was not done to keep droids out, I suspect. Merely you and Fenet. This is very basic."

"Can you get me the files?"

"Yes. Please stand by."

After another ten seconds or so, M8 unplugged itself from the interface and stood up. "You should now be able to access any file within the computer. I have elevated you and Fenet to administrator priviledges and redesignated Fenet as acting captain until So'duun's return. This will give her access to all navigational charts and logs."

"Excellent. Perfect. Want to stay and watch while I sift through it?"

"Indeed. But I will go into rest mode and become mostly inactive, please do not mind me." Taking a step to put its back to the wall so it would be out of the way, M8 pointed its face at her, then went completely still.

Mar nodded. "Oookay, sure." She got up, walking over to the compute terminal with M8 tracking her as she moved, then sat down. She took a look at So'duun's custom interface, then shook her head and flicked on the conventional screens, changing over the control panels priority so the visual one would take precedent for now.

"Alright, let's see..." She called up So'duun's personal info dump, looking through the directories.

- Personal logs
- Johena
- Ship logs
- Fenet's training regimen
- Mar
- Fenet
- Archeological research
- Image dump
- Navigational logs
- Navigational charts
- Dead hyperlane maps
- Je'daii Order

Assuming the marked-out menus were ones that M8 had unlocked access to, she browsed the list, wondering what to look at first. She was curious about what So'duun had written down about her. She flicked open the directory, finding dozens of files, mostly logs and observations.

Driven, learns quietly. It's very strange, as though she's received training and is remembering things. But it doesn't make sense, her age is all wrong. WIth the trauma she's experienced I'm concerned she'll turn. How many times did I go to sleep fantasizing about killing everybody in that prison Jo found me in? Had to be a month, at least. I've tried to let go of that but if that stuck with me, how must she feel about the betrayel of everyone she knew?

Mar sighed, then closed the file, backtracking. Instead she opened 'archeological research'. Inside she found what had to be hundreds of files, but the most prominantly displayed ones were indexes to the data tablets on the shelf on the other side of the room. That would take time to go through. She pulled up a few random files. Some were biographies, some historical events, some of them actual recordings of events happening. A few of the bigger files were holographic recreations of places. One of these was Mar's own scan from Ilum.

She backtracked again, opening the image dump. As she scrolled through she got pictures of places the ship had been, pictures of a man she didn't recognize, probably Johena. Then she hit the really private pictures and immediately backtracked, congratulating So'duun in her head for being so... self confident.

This time she opened 'Je'daii Order'.

- Holocron notes
- Bogan
- 'Dai Bendu'
- Great Sith War
- The Balance
- Ashla

The computer seemed to prioritize the list by most recently accessed, which suggested that not only had So'duun gotten the holocrons open and had been doing research with them, but that some of it had to do with the dark side. She got a sinking feeling in her belly that she wouldn't like this and opened 'holocron notes'.

Day 5 - The third holocron is clearly of some alternate design I have never seen before. It's a dodedahedron, rather than a pyramid or cube. I've had little luck accessing the paired holocrons but this third one intrigues me. Despite what the projection said it doesn't seem to be of Sith design and I can't help but wonder where Traya learned to create it.

Day 6 - It would seem I'm not going to have any luck finding a bogan user. If what the holocron says is true, I may not need to. Why do the jedi forsake the dark side? Besides the obvious answer of how much pain and chaos it can bring, as somebody who has studied the history of the Sith myself, I can't help but wonder how much of that was cultural momentum left over from the Ancient Lords of the Sith. What would Sith culture look like if it were isolated without a tradition of needless cruelty?

Day 8 - A minor breakthrough. If I can channel passions that aren't hate or rage, I may be able to access Bogan without falling to darker impulses. Must work on finding positive ones but a whole lifetime of suppressing and controlling my emotions is making it difficult. How do I let myself feel? Not doing so is almost reflexive now.

Day 10 - I think Fenet is beginning to wonder about me. Mar remains oblivious, focused on learning the basics. If I'm to continue this line of research I may need to find somebody to train them while I handle this alone, but I need to find a way to do it without questions being asked about why they can't stay on the ship. Better for everyone involved.

Day 11 - To access Bogan, I must revel in it. To skim the line between light and dark. How though? We kill criminals and enemies of the Republic and call it justice, but isn't that just a fancy word for revenge? It seems to me that Nar Shaddaa's slave pits owe me a debt, I think it's time they paid it. The resulting rush of that revenge may be enough to hurdle myself down the path to unlocking my ability to feel things again. Anything.

Mar leaned back in the seat and took a deep breath, covering her face with her hands. "Shit." She folded her arms across her belly, holding her own elbows and mulling over what she'd just read. She was going to have to be the one to explain this to Fenet. She was going to have to be the one to drag Fenet in here to look over these logs herself. She knew it was going to hurt her friend even more than she already had been, but she wasn't sure Fenet would believe her if she didn't.

She got up, patting M8's chest affectionately and slipping out of the quarters, towards the bunk room. It was dark and she could hear Fenet's snoring already. Slipping inside quietly, she sat down on her bunk, opposite Fenets, then folded her legs and began to wonder to herself how they were going to ever explain this to the Jedi Council. In fact, what would happen when they did? Would they be ordered back to the Temple?

Was this going to end the life she'd started to love?

She sat there mulling over the implications, her voice coming out as barely a whisper.

"Shit."

 

[VirtualFox]

Haven't put any likes on the chapters yet, but will now. Got too into the 'keep reading' mindset. Well done and thank you for the Nar Shadaa and Darth Treiya work…putting ideas in my brain…

Callera: "Please don't! My author already has given me enough on my plate because I accidentally saved Plagieus!"

 

[Aisling]

Callera: "Please don't! My author already has given me enough on my plate because I accidentally saved Plagieus!"

Click to shrink...

YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DANK SIDE

In all seriousness I'm really glad people are enjoying this story. It's gratifying to know the level of effort I'm throwing into it is paying off and because I have nothing but time on my hands it's going at a breakneck pace, it feels like.

 

[VirtualFox]

YOU DON'T KNOW THE POWER OF THE DANK SIDE

In all seriousness I'm really glad people are enjoying this story. It's gratifying to know the level of effort I'm throwing into it is paying off and because I have nothing but time on my hands it's going at a breakneck pace, it feels like.

Click to shrink...

It's a well written story and you've made your cast of characters relatable and understandable. You also do a good job of showing your work of how we're getting from point a to point b to point c. With enough little nuggets and hints for us to wonder where certain things will be used.

 

[Aisling]

"This is terrible news." Master Ada-li Carro sounded as tired as she looked. The holodisplay showed her only from the shoulders up, the bust hovering above the main console of the Light's Touch as the two girls sat in the flight seats. "But it's not a guarantee that So'duun has fallen to the dark side, either. We must not assume. There have been many Force-sensitive outcasts in the history of the order, those who leave us to pursue their own goals, whatever they may be. Although it's my first instinct to devote resources to finding her as soon as possible, I cannot do this."

"Why not?" Mar sounded baffled. "Everything I've seen of the Jedi Order says you - we - have a massive number of resources at our disposal."

"Many of those resources are subsidized by the Republic. Although we work to be as self-sustaining as possible, it's just not feasible for us to pay for our own fuel, or even our own ships a lot of the time. The jedi don't take payment. We're entirely reliant on the Republic when we need to send a ship out somewhere and right now the Republic has its hands full."

"What's going on?" Fenet furrowed her brow, concerned. "It can't be just a small border dispute or something if it's tying up this much."

"Starlight Beacon is under heavy attack even as we speak. A battle is raging between the Republic and the Nihil raiders who have been expanding on the edges of Wild Space. We're throwing everything we have into it, but there's no guarantee we'll be able to pacify the region and continue our mapping efforts on that side of the Unknown Territories."

"Damn." Fenet sighed. "The problem is that we don't know where she went. We looked through her personal files pretty extensively this morning." Something Fenet had not had a good time with. It had taken most of the morning despite the fact she woke up extremely early, having finally caught up on sleep. She hadn't wanted to believe it at first, even argued with Mar about it. Then she'd read the files for herself.

It had ended up with Mar and Fenet on the couch of the office, Mar keeping her company while her friend bawled her eyes out. So'duun hadn't meant as much to Mar as she had to Fenet. Fenet felt as though she'd lost the closest thing she'd ever had to a parental figure in her life. Mar could understand that sort of pain, but M8 didn't, so she stayed with Fenet until she was finally composed enough to clean herself up and contact the Jedi Council.

This isn't going the way I'd hoped. Mar thought to herself.

"You don't need to track her down, Fenet. You and Mar are both too close to this. You cannot be objective and this isn't the work of padawans. For now, I want you both to return to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Mar." The bust turned to face her. "Your training so far has been rather haphazard. This is partially our fault. Though I have no doubt Fenet taught you the basics, now that you know them, it's time for the next stage of your training. Which leads us to you, Fenet." The bust looked over at her. "It's time for you to face the trials."

"I... don't know. I don't exactly feel like myself right now."

"You have suffered a great loss, but this is the way of the jedi. Attachment can be dangerous, now you understand why and how. It's against my better judgement to assign Mar to you as a padawan should you pass your trials -"

Internally, Mar began to panic, worried that her fears from the night before were coming true. They're going to split us up!

"- and so, I will personally choose a master for her. Should you succeed, they will accompany both of you. We cannot condone you attempting to pursue So'duun at this time. You're just not ready."

Fenet looked crushed. "Yes, master."

"We'll see you when you arrive on Coruscant. Carro out." The holodisplay vanished and the two girls sat in the cockpit in complete silence for a moment, digesting what had just been said.

"I don't want to leave you." Mar spoke first, her voice steady. "This ship is my home in a way that the wreck never was. You're... you're my sister now. It's impossible. No." She shook her head.

"If you rail against it, it will only guarantee it happens." Fenet shook her head too. "But I don't think they're going to. Not forever. No, I'm going to... I'll do something. Don't worry. I'll convince them somehow."

"Look, I have to ask... what if we just said screw them and went after So'duun anyways?"

"You'd be able to forget ever completing your training. We'd probably both end up thrown out. That would mean losing all the help the temple can provide. I get it... I feel that way too." She sighed. "But it's just not possible. This is the only life I've ever known and... it's kind of the only one you've ever known, too. You grew up on a barren little rock, the Jedi Temple is your best chance at catching up on an education, on training."

"Okay." Mar said it quietly. "Don't worry, you don't have to convince me. I just wanted to know what-if."

Fenet exhaled, relieved. "Good. We'll find her, eventually. Together." She held her hand out and Mar took it, squeezing.

"Whatever it takes. Okay, I'll start the calculations to jump to Coruscant. Oh, joy, this is going to take at least three jumps."

"Lets get to work then. Send them over whenever you're ready."

A few minutes later, Fenet turned the ship, putting Yavin at their backs and orienting on a jump point to galactic south, towards the nearest hyperspace shipping lane. That would take them to the Parlemian Trade Route which would then take them directly to Coruscant. They hit the waypoint, punched the engines and the ship broke into hyperspace, leaving the great gas giant behind.

The jumps were somber. It felt as though they were on their way to a funeral. When they took the second jump, the question occurred to Mar.

"So... this ship is basically yours now, right?"

Fenet stopped in the middle of the logs she was reading through and turned the display off, leaning back and looking at Mar as though her friend had just struck her in the head. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, only to actually speak a few seconds later. "Shit. You're right. This is the first time I've ever owned anything, let alone a ship."

"M8 designated you as the acting captain. There's... also the beskar."

"Oh shit." Fenet gasped. "I forgot it was there. What do you think we should do with it?"

"Nothing. It doesn't fit you, right?"

"I have no idea. I have never tried it on. I never even contemplated trying to try it on. The mandalorians take their heritage pretty seriously."

"Well, it might be worth checking. We don't have to do anything with it, but it's just sitting there, being perfectly good and completely useless. I can't stand the idea of things being useless. It's like... like droid without a computer. Or a ship without engines. It's just lacking."

"I think I kind of get what you mean. Johena was important to me too. For a little while, it was almost like having a family, you know? Then he died." She dropped her eyes. "Now So'duun is gone too. I suppose the armor is all I have left of either of them now, besides the ship and my training."

"Don't let the masters hear you talk like that or they'll grumble about attachment." Mar grimaced. "I can't help but wonder who we'll end up with."

"I can't even guess. There are thousands of us in the Order. It could be anybody who doesn't have a padawan. I'm going to have my hands full though, you're the one that's gotta deal with them."

"What are the trials?"

"The Trials of Knighthood. The Trial of Skill, Trial of Courage, Trial of the Flesh, Trial of Insight and the Trial of Spirit."

"And you gotta finish them all to become a knight?"

"Yeah. They're not easy. Some of them are very dangerous." She closed her eyes. "I hope I can live up to them."

"I know you will. You and I have both gotten pretty good with a lightsaber by sparring. You won't have any trouble there, at least."

"That's just one of the trials. Not everything can be handled with fighting, Mar. It's the trial of the spirit I'm worried about. I've never faced the mirror."

"The mirror?"

Fenet nodded, slowly. "To face our inner darkness and conquer it. Sometimes there are places, concentrations in the Force. Like Korriban was. I think that if I hadn't been knocked out, something like that might have taken place. A reckoning against myself while there. Maybe I was lucky."

Mar had trouble disagreeing, all things considered. "What do you think happened to her out there on the surface?"

"I wish I knew." Fenet sounded like she wanted to cry when she said it, so Mar didn't continue the line of conversation, letting the silence reign in the cockpit for most of the flight.

When they finally arrived at Coruscant several hours later, Mar had just gotten out of the shower and was getting dressed. She felt the ship drop out into realspace. The thrumming, pulsing bass of the hyperdrive suddenly cut out, replaced by the sound of the sublight drives kicking in. She'd come to learn every sound the ship made now, hours and hours spent in her bunk meditating. She could track everybody's position in the ship just from hearing them walk around.

When she made her way to the cockpit she found Fenet was already flying in on approach to the surface, nearly darting between traffic lines. "That still feels a little like cheating, being able to just fly anywhere like this."

"It's only cheating if you lose, otherwise it's technical skill." That got a wry smile out of Mar, even though Fenet said it absentmindedly while concentrating on flying.

The approach to the temple was easy enough and when Fenet brought the ship in to land, Mar got up. She got halfway out of the cockpit when she realized Fenet hadn't gotten up after locking the landing gear. Turning around, she walked over to the pilots seat and put her hands on Fenet's shoulders, looking at her in the reflection of the two of them in the ships viewport.

"Hey."

"I'm okay." Fenet snapped out of it, patting Mars hand with hers. "I'm fine, really."

"No, you're not. I know you're not." She leaned forward and kissed the top of Fenet's head. "But you will be. Let's go face the music, huh?"

Fenet gave her a sad smile and got up, waving to M8 as it stood by the ships ramp.

"Are you feeling better, Fenet?"

"A little." She lied. "Thank you, M8. You want to come with us?"

"I believe that you wished to show me the Jedi Temple on Starlight Beacon at one time. When we last visited, this was not possible, but I am curious to see what a Jedi Temple is like."

"No problem. You wanna go with me or Mar?"

"You are not staying together?"

"Probably not for long, we have different things to do here right now."

M8 looked between the two of them. Despite the complete lack of body language, despite saying nothing, they could sense it was a bit torn about the decision. Mar patted its chest. "It's okay. I'm going to be doing all kinds of running around and training, you should keep Fenet company."

"Then I will do that."

 

[Aztez Fan]

Day 11 - To access Bogan, I must revel in it. To skim the line between light and dark. How though? We kill criminals and enemies of the Republic and call it justice, but isn't that just a fancy word for revenge? It seems to me that Nar Shaddaa's slave pits owe me a debt, I think it's time they paid it. The resulting rush of that revenge may be enough to hurdle myself down the path to unlocking my ability to feel things again. Anything.

Click to shrink...

Welp, this is going to be a unintended Blood bath thats for sure, and not just for any slavers involved, but also perhaps for the slaves if they dont restrain themselves. But at this point, i dread the fact that's most likely not a path to be chosen anymore. Good work on the story, even if it's saddening seeing a jedi of the High republic get pulled down however well intentioned like this.

When she made her way to the cockpit she found Fenet was already flying in on approach to the surface, nearly darting between traffic lines. "That still feels a little like cheating, being able to just fly anywhere like this."

"It's only cheating if you lose, otherwise it's technical skill." That got a wry smile out of Mar, even though Fenet said it absentmindedly while concentrating on flying.

The approach to the temple was easy enough and when Fenet brought the ship in to land, Mar got up. She got halfway out of the cockpit when she realized Fenet hadn't gotten up after locking the landing gear. Turning around, she walked over to the pilots seat and put her hands on Fenet's shoulders, looking at her in the reflection of the two of them in the ships viewport.

"Hey."

"I'm okay." Fenet snapped out of it, patting Mars hand with hers. "I'm fine, really."

"No, you're not. I know you're not." She leaned forward and kissed the top of Fenet's head. "But you will be. Let's go face the music, huh?"

Fenet gave her a sad smile and got up, waving to M8 as it stood by the ships ramp.

Click to shrink...

Despite the understandable concern from the Council, no doubt due to the situation surrounding So'duun, their making the best of it. And dearly hope theirs a happy ending for all of them despite uh, the current Crisis going on with the Nilith and their weird Force eating Weapon.

Side note, their is an interesting detail when it comes to canon and legends. Tython in legends was abandoned by those who would become the jedi in roughly 25,783 bby . And while in legends they went to Ossus to found their order proper....Canon has it seem that for some 500 years the Order contemplated everything that had happened to them up to that point in moderation in 25,025bby (Known as the Prime Jedi at that point) , before then returning to the galaxy in 24,500 on Ossus.

Granted history in this time no doubt doesn't remember these 500 years of meditation on the Light side, much like a lot of periods in history, but that's just a fun littler wrinkle you get when comparing legends and canon that i like. And also makes me a huge nerd for going through the trouble of dating every jedi temple and location in legends and canon lol.

 

[Aisling]

Side note, their is an interesting detail when it comes to canon and legends. Tython in legends was abandoned by those who would become the jedi in roughly 3647bby. And while in legends they went to Ossus to found their order proper....Canon has it seem that for some 500 years the Order contemplated everything that had happened to them up to that point in moderation in 25,025bby , before then returning to the galaxy in 24,500 on Ossus.

Granted history in this time no doubt doesn't remember these 500 years of meditation on the Light side, much like a lot of periods in history, but that's just a fun littler wrinkle you get when comparing legends and canon that i like. And also makes me a huge nerd for going through the trouble of dating every jedi temple and location in legends and canon lol.

Click to shrink...

Oh man, I can only image the wiki rabbit hole you must be going down looking up stuff I'm throwing into this story, hahahaha.

It's hard! There's no real story that kind of walks the reader through the history of the Jedi order in total. There's the comics, sure, but they're all peeks into time periods, not a singular ongoing story in which the reader learns of these things along the way. It's always a history one has to put together themselves by reading through extented universe works.

I'll be honest, I don't have much time for the sequels. This project very nearly ended up being a complete re-write of the Sequels movies just because the bad writing professionally offends me and I think I could do better if I tried. I don't mind taking bits of lore that are cool, like the crossguard saber, but mostly I just can't stand it and Legends is still canon in my head. I'm trying to keep this story within that canon as much as possible while still managing to go the direction I want to. It's kind of a self-challenge, how much I can scribble and stay inside the lines.

 

[Aztez Fan]

Oh man, I can only image the wiki rabbit hole you must be going down looking up stuff I'm throwing into this story, hahahaha.

It's hard! There's no real story that kind of walks the reader through the history of the Jedi order in total. There's the comics, sure, but they're all peeks into time periods, not a singular ongoing story in which the reader learns of these things along the way. It's always a history one has to put together themselves by reading through extented universe works.

I'll be honest, I don't have much time for the sequels. This project very nearly ended up being a complete re-write of the Sequels movies just because the bad writing professionally offends me and I think I could do better if I tried. I don't mind taking bits of lore that are cool, like the crossguard saber, but mostly I just can't stand it and Legends is still canon in my head. I'm trying to keep this story within that canon as much as possible while still managing to go the direction I want to. It's kind of a self-challenge, how much I can scribble and stay inside the lines.

Click to shrink...

Yeah thats certainly a problem i have with the sequel's as well. Although in the cese of High Republic, it slots itself into a time that in legends was, shorta just forgotten about not gunna lie (No prequal Characters to write about im guessing), so doesn't step on many toes. And i love it for that and the freedom and passion the writers of this era have put into it.

Also slight corrections for myself, Jedi on generational ships ended up on ossus in 25,053 bby, although no doubt would have taken time to build much. Mean while canon seems to have it be that the Prime jedi appeared on Ahch-to some 28 years after the Jedi in the generational ships landed. Which also explains why in canon theirs contention about which location held the first proper Jedi temple. Dear lord isnt history complicated.

And yeah, this story has me going down paths of history i only brushed over or barely remember on my quest to rationalize Legends and combine it with canon works. (As well as show how shockingly tolerate of separate Sects or deviations in their own order where. It's bizzar.) It's a struggle not gunna lie but i'll live.

 

[Aisling]

Yeah thats certainly a problem i have with the sequel's as well. Although in the cese of High Republic, it slots itself into a time that in legends was, shorta just forgotten about not gunna lie (No prequal Characters to write about im guessing), so doesn't step on many toes. And i love it for that and the freedom and passion the writers of this era have put into it.

Also slight corrections for myself, Jedi on generational ships ended up on ossus in 25,053 bby, although no doubt would have taken time to build much. Mean while canon seems to have it be that the Prime jedi appeared on Ahch-to some 28 years after the Jedi in the generational ships landed. Which also explains why in canon theirs contention about which location held the first proper Jedi temple. Dear lord isnt history complicated.

And yeah, this story has me going down paths of history i only brushed over or barely remember on my quest to rationalize Legends and combine it with canon works. (As well as show how shockingly tolerate of separate Sects or deviations in their own order where. It's bizzar.) It's a struggle not gunna lie but i'll live.

Click to shrink...

There are no sequels in Ba Sing S-

Wait, no. Wrong franchise.

I'll just see myself out, pay no attention to the wookiee behind the curtain.

 

[Aztez Fan]

There are no sequels in Ba Sing S-

Wait, no. Wrong franchise.

I'll just see myself out, pay no attention to the wookiee behind the curtain.

Click to shrink...

Heh, anyway, i'll just leave my own research into the topic of Jedi and force orders in general. And man going by legends and canon combined it seems post Nilith conflict the jedi started having lots of divisions internal and more compromises where being made. Like the amount of existing sects of jedi sky rocked post 200bby. Which is counting Almas because with all the differences they got going on they might as well be their own Sect. Here's my doc btw, criticism is welcome.

Spoiler: Comes with tree to.

Jedi Temples and Academies

Dates are Order 66 Planets: Temples/Academies: Creation Date Statuation Tanalorr Tanalorr Temple 500-200 bby Abandoned Lothal Lothal Temple Before 3277 bby Abandoned Tenno Tenoo Temple 500-200 bby Outpost/Unknown ilum Ilum temple 22,800 bby Active Outpost Tython Jedi ...

docs.google.com

Force Orders And Speices

Force orders Active Post Ruusan and before the Clone wars Order Name Locations Date of Founding Force Doctrine Continuity Situation Order of Sith Lords Ceremonially Korriban. 1000 bby Dark Side Both Active Blackguard Mustafar 1000 bby Dark Side Both Active Knights of ...

docs.google.com

 

[VirtualFox]

There are no sequels in Ba Sing S-

Wait, no. Wrong franchise.

I'll just see myself out, pay no attention to the wookiee behind the curtain.

Click to shrink...

Don't remind me, I did have a different fic with the same starting premise of a Force Vergence but instead of prequels and Vong survivor; it would have been a Legacy of the Force era landing in sequel…

Soren: "What do you mean I go from getting curb stomped by a Skywalker-Solo to being able to pretty much use one as a ping pong ball…and we survived the Vong and are yet in a better shape there

 

[Aztez Fan]

Soren: "What do you mean I go from getting curb stomped by a Skywalker-Solo to being able to pretty much use one as a ping pong ball…and we survived the Vong and are yet in a better shape there

Click to shrink...

To be fair, Kylos not bad, infact he's older than his AU siblings. It's just he has the Vader Problem of being controlled by his emotions leading to a weaker force ability in general when he's otherwise quite strong. Aka dear god does he have issues that while somehow are rival by Jacen in same respects, Ben really has little chill untill he ends up bettering himself later.

Huh now i want a Story of a conflicted Ben trying to prevent his legends siblings from making the mistakes he made in a more chaotic universe with a jedi order that's still alive. Becouse oh boy would Kylo have thoughts on Jacen and Jaina's choices later on in that timeline. God it still hurts thinking about it and the writers conflict that spawned from it out of universe.