Star Wars: I, Jedi

by Michael A. Stackpole

  I stood again. Gantoris’ body lay between us like a wall. “Who would have done that to him?”

  Luke shook his head. “None of you. Shock and surprise and horror radiates off everyone else very openly. They were not involved.”

  “And me?”

  “Some surprise, certainly, but also a determination to solve this puzzle.” Luke regarded me through half-lidded eyes. “If you were to kill him, you would have goaded him into a duel or used an illusion to make him have a fatal accident. You wouldn’t have been this clumsy or left this sort of evidence, you would have been subtle.”

  “Thanks, I think.” I folded my arms across my chest. “So if we didn’t do it, who did?”

  “I don’t know.” Luke’s face darkened. “Gantoris did have premonitions of disaster, however. Even when I first met him, he wondered if I were the ‘dark man’ who would bring him to ruin. He said ‘If I go with you, I am lost.’ At the time I thought he was just afraid of what would happen to his people if he left them. Then, last evening, as he was leaving the grotto he told me that I was not the dark man.”

  I chewed my lower lip for a moment. “So Gantoris positively identified his dark man. You told me that Gantoris also mentioned to you that you were not the only teacher of the Jedi way. I don’t think it’s a stretch to think this dark man might be the other instructor. The fact that you can’t feel this other individual here is not a good sign.”

  “He cannot remain hidden forever.”

  “I don’t think he intends to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I glanced down at Gantoris’ body. “You said that if I wanted to kill Gantoris, I’d have been subtle. This death is anything but subtle. We have someone dead by means that are impossible, and he was killed right here in the heart of the academy. You can see by that one diagonal cut on the wall there that Gantoris apparently tried to strike at his attacker, but that did no good.

  “In my time with CorSec I helped track a sociopathic killer or two. Leaving a body out in the open like this was a taunt. It was the killer saying that he’s smarter than we are, more powerful and more cunning. Gantoris tried to kill him with a lightsaber and failed. That means the rest of us have little chance of hurting him. He is challenging us and challenging you. He obviously won one of your students over to the dark side, then left him here like a discarded plaything to show his contempt for you.”

  Luke hugged his arms around himself. “I think he may have been even more direct.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not tracking here.”

  “Tonight I had a nightmare. I stood with my father on top of this temple, but it was back when the Massassi people still lived. It must have been millennia ago. My father tried to explain to me how it was Obi-Wan’s fault that he had been corrupted by his studies of Sith material. What he told me seemed to make sense for the most part, but then he invited me to follow him down that path, which I knew my father never would do. I accused him of not being my father. The image then shifted into that of a shadow that swallowed everything. At that point Artoo awakened me, so I don’t know what else would have happened.”

  “He became a shadow?” I shivered. “Gantoris’ dark man?”

  “Obi-Wan suggested there was no such thing as coincidence. I would have to suppose that all this is related.” Luke’s expression hardened. “I have to decide very carefully how to proceed from here.”

  “If you will, let me suggest two things.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “First, this dark man apparently managed to convince Gantoris that he could offer him things you could not or would not. Gantoris’ knowledge of and control of the Force was insufficient to allow him to avoid such seductive ideas. I think you need to use the Holocron as a way to instill in us a sense of history and purpose for what we’re doing, so we have even more incentive to help rebuild the Jedi.”

  “And avoid the easy solutions offered by the dark side.”

  “Exactly.”

  The Jedi Master thought for a moment, then nodded. “And the other thing?”

  “In this dream you said you saw the Massassi and the pyramids the way they were millennia ago. I think we might want to do some investigating to see what we can learn about Yavin 4 and the Temples. The Holocron might well be able to give us information. If we can put a face and name to this dark man, or figure out what he’s after here, we’ll have a better chance of stopping him.”

  “Both plans seem to make sense.” Luke smiled at me grimly. “I shall work on the first. Tionne is spending a lot of time pulling legends from the Holocron, so she can help me. With your background as an investigator, you should handle the gathering of information about our dark man.”

  “I’ll build a profile on him. If we can figure out what he wants and how he thinks, we have him.”

  “Good.” Luke glanced back down at Gantoris’ body, then up at me. “If the New Republic is to thrive, we can’t allow the Jedi to be destroyed.”

  There was no returning to sleep that night, so I made my way to the small library where we studied the Jedi Holocron. I really didn’t feel up to beginning any investigation at the moment, but playing around with the Holocron and learning how it worked seemed to be something I could handle. The greenish glow making its way out into the corridor told me someone else was using the device, and my curiosity carried me right into the room.

  There, bathed in the green glow from Bodo Baas, sat Tionne. She looked long and lean and lovely, with the greenish tint the light gave her hair looking far better on her than it ever did on me. She would have been unarguably gorgeous, except that her hands covered her face and her shoulders shook with sobs.

  Bodo Baas’ image reached a clawed limb toward her. “For a Jedi, there is no emotion, there is only peace.”

  Tionne looked up, her face wet with tears. “It was more horrible than you could imagine.”

  The Jedi simulacrum bobbed its head. “But are the tears for your fallen comrade, or for you?”

  “What?” Shock rode through her voice. She swiped at her tears and pointed a finger at the hologram, then caught sight of me in the corner of her eye. My presence cut off whatever she would have said to him. Instead of replying, she bowed her head toward me and shivered. “How could anyone do that to Gantoris?”

  I nodded toward Bodo Baas, then knelt by Tionne’s side. I gathered her into my arms and held her, letting her tears stain my emerald tunic. She clung to me fiercely at first, burying her head against my neck. I stroked her hair and resisted the impulse to kiss the crown of her head.

  “Take it easy, Tionne. What happened to Gantoris was hideous, but it’s not going to happen to anyone else.”

  Bodo Baas’ inhuman gaze caught and held my own. “You speak of certainties, Jedi, where there are many unknowns.”

  I quoted back a piece of the Jedi Code. “There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.”

  “Yes,” the gatekeeper hissed. “Do you have a question for me?”

  “One moment.” I eased my hands down onto Tionne’s shoulders and pulled back away from her a bit. “Can you help me with the Holocron? You know more about it than I do.”

  She sniffed and wiped tears away with delicately long fingers. “How can you be so calm after what you have seen?”

  For just a second I wasn’t holding her in my arms, but holding my father’s lifeless body. “The past prepares us for the present. I hate to say it, but I’ve seen other bodies that were just as horrible. What I saw in Gantoris’ room was awful. It scares me, too, but I’m doing my best to keep things under control.”

  Tionne sniffed again and sat back against the cold stone wall of the small room. She folded her arms across her chest and stared forward at the base of the pedestal on which the Holocron rested. “You must think me weak.”

  “Not at all.”

  “Don’t lie. You had to rescue me last night, and now you find me here, like this.” She looked at me accusingly. “How you keep your contempt for me hidden I don’t
know.”

  “You can believe it’s hidden, or you can believe it doesn’t exist.” I forced myself to remain calm. “The second choice is right.”

  She reached out to me and I took her hand in mine. Tionne closed her eyes and I could feel her consciousness drifting toward me. The touch of her mind was but a faint whisper of what I’d felt from Luke, yet she managed to infuse herself into my surface thoughts. I consciously left them open to her, and beneath them hardened the layer that was Keiran Halcyon. Even though I tried to keep her away from plunging deeper, she managed to twist down through my thoughts about her and stabbed deep into my heart.

  She jerked back sharply, breaking our contact, and stared at me with wild wide eyes. “You’ve been hurt, very hurt.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve survived.”

  “But there is so much of you that is hidden.” She blinked at me. “Master Skywalker has told us his father was Darth Vader. What secrets could you have that would be more dangerous than that to share?”

  “Not more dangerous, just boring. They would distract you and training here is hard enough without distractions.”

  Tionne smiled and it felt good to see animation return to her face. “They might distract others, but not me. I plan to sing of the exploits of the Jedi, so I need to know about Keiran Halcyon.”

  Before I could deny I was worth knowing about, Bodo Baas spoke. “Keiran Halcyon was a famed Corellian Jedi. He successfully put an end to the Selonian Afarathu sect and its marauding within the Corellian system.” As he spoke, the Holocron presented an image of a man built more solidly than I was, but who wore the same sort of moustache and goatee I had chosen to grow. His long, dark hair had been gathered back into a loose tail and the lightsaber he held had a silver blade.

  A smile unconsciously rose to my lips. Luke said Keiran Halcyon was the name of one of my ancestors. The Afarathu problem had taken place four centuries back and had all but been forgotten until Imperial officials used the spectre of it to incite xenophobia among the human populations in the Corellian system. Fortunately for the Selonians, they had not been warlike for so long, few of us saw them as a true threat.

  Tionne’s eyes sparkled with absolute delight. “Is that your secret? Are you this Keiran Halcyon come back to us?”

  “I don’t think even carbonite freezing would have preserved me that long.” I laughed gently. “I was named for him. I have a lot to live up to.”

  “Well, we can learn all about him, if you want. I can even compose a ballad about him.”

  I winced. “Might put some of the others off, though I would love to learn more about him. Actually, what I had hoped to study through the Holocron was any information it had about this world and the Massassi. Will you help me with that?”

  “Gladly.” Her hair shimmered with green highlights as she nodded. “It would be my pleasure and will be a way to repay you for saving me in the grotto.”

  “You don’t need to repay me for that.” Extending my right hand, I gave her left shoulder a squeeze. “And I want you to know I don’t think you are weak. Your nature is to be far more emotionally open and receptive than I am. This is why you have clearer access to the Force than I do. It may make it difficult for you to concentrate sometimes, but it is easier to learn to concentrate than it is to learn to open up.”

  “I would hate to think you are right, Keiran, because I would hate to think you could not open up your emotions.” Her friendly smile warmed me. “You have friends here with whom you can be open. You can trust us as we trust you.”

  “I know.” I gave her a brave smile, but I also knew I could not share my true identity with her or anyone else. Luke Skywalker, in suggesting I adopt another name, was right to think I might be a distraction to the others. He also had another purpose—one rooted in his understanding of fighter pilots and Corellians. By having me be someone else, he made it unnecessary for me to be the legend I had become. As much as I had seen my self-conception insulating me from the Force, Luke had seen it even more and had taken steps to solve the problem before I even realized I had it.

  I nodded to Tionne. “Believe me, when I can open up, you’ll be the first to know. If there is to be a ballad of this Keiran Halcyon, I want you to compose and sing it.”

  “Gladly, Keiran.” She lifted her head toward Bodo Baas. “Now let’s see what we can find out about this world and our predecessors here. This planet has as many secrets as you do, if not more, and I have the feeling puzzling them out will provide a basis for a very important ballad.”

  FIFTEEN

  The tragedy of Gantoris’ death did bring the remaining apprentices together. No one did so much as whisper anything bad about Gantoris, but we all tried to be nicer and more supportive of each other. Any victory for one—size mattered not—became a victory for all. We became not so much a team as a union of equals, united in our quests to become Jedi Knights.

  As part of my investigation, I suggested that Jedi Knights needed to be very observant. Toward this end I organized scouting missions throughout the surrounding area. We started with data collected by a Rebel scout, a Sullustan named Dr’uun Unnh, back when he surveyed the moon as the Rebels prepared to use it as their headquarters. Using his information, we surveyed the immediate area, taking detailed notes on the flora, fauna, natural outcroppings of stone and various Massassimade structures.

  Right from the start Luke made a decision not to tell the other students about the dark man or his dream. I agreed with the decision primarily because panic would only help a creature of the dark side. To fight panic, Luke had us practice calming and concentration techniques, and worked on having us feel the Force more fully. He took great pains to praise us for our successes. In providing us such feedback, we all felt we were making great progress, even though our actual gains were hard to measure.

  My progress in certain areas almost seemed negative. While others were able to levitate rocks while standing on their hands, or braid branches of Massassi trees together through the Force, I had no strength and no endurance when it came to telekinesis. Unfortunately for me this inability also manifested itself in my failure to levitate myself or make the sort of prodigious leap that carried Luke clear of Gantoris’ blade in their duel.

  Worse yet, Tionne discovered that this lack seemed to be a hallmark of the Halcyon line. As a result we were known for stubbornly standing our ground in various dangerous situations. A couple of times this had resulted in a rally of the forces on our side, driving the enemy back and defeating them. Most of the time, however, it meant a Halcyon bravely volunteered to act as the rear guard and valiantly trade his life for those of his comrades.

  Tionne thought this idea made for great ballad material.

  Knowing that some very powerful individual with a taste for apprentices was out there, I found the stories of my family tradition a little more ominous.

  But, in keeping with Halcyon tradition, I didn’t let that stop me in my search for whoever had killed Gantoris. After a hard morning of trying to move pebbles the length of my shadow, and succeeding only as noon approached, I grabbed some field rations and water, then prepared to head out on a survey of the Blueleaf Temple. Unnh’s survey notes reported some weird anomalies there—weird enough that General Jan Dodonna had ordered the Temple sealed and placed off limits to all personnel.

  I had intended on going alone, but Kam Solusar and Brakiss joined me at the last moment. “It’s probably still sealed up tight, guys. Could be very boring.”

  Kam smiled and pointed to the lightsaber clipped to my belt. “I have the distinct feeling you are planning to reopen the Temple.”

  “Not really what I had in mind, but if circumstances demanded.” I shrugged easily. “C’mon, let’s go.”

  I started us off at a fairly good clip, then slowed my pace a bit as Brakiss struggled to keep up. Being as tall as he was, the orchid roots were giving him trouble. Kam, though middle-aged, was in better shape than Brakiss, but he, too, seemed to prefer a more leisurely pa
ce.

  We crossed the river separating the Great Temple from the Blueleaf Temple by walking along the trunk of a Massassi tree that had been uprooted by the river. The river itself was actually shallow enough at a nearby ford that I usually just splashed my way across when running, but Brakiss didn’t really look like he wanted to get his feet wet. Kam and I kidded him, asking him if he wanted us to use our lightsabers to cut him some steps and level off the bumpy parts of the tree, but he just blushed and told us to walk on.

  The Great Temple dwarfed the Blueleaf Temple, but the latter building had a great deal of elegance to its construction. It rose only half as high as the Great Temple, but proportionally had a bigger footprint. A lot of brush and scrub shrubs had grown up around it, but not enough to stop us from getting to it.

  Brakiss led the way around to the eastern side of the structure. “The Sullustan’s survey said the main entrance faced east so the orange light from the gas giant could fill the lower chamber in the evening.”

  We reached the entrance and could see where the Rebels had indeed sealed the doorway with large stone blocks. Clearly they had intended no one ever be able to get into it again. And just as clearly, the Imperial survey team that had studied Yavin 4 after the Rebels abandoned it was just as determined to get in. They’d melted a hole straight through the plug to do so.

  Kam ignited his lightsaber and swept some cobwebs from the hole. “The webs aren’t as thick as might be expected. Gantoris may have been in here and the spiders just busy since.”

  I unhooked a glowrod from my belt and handed it to him. “Assuming you want to go first.”

  “Sure.” Kam snapped it on, then ducked his head and worked his way in. Being smaller and somewhat thinner, I slipped sideways through the hole pretty easily after him. Brakiss brought up the rear and joined us, brushing dust from his robe’s shoulders.

  The green light from Kam’s lightsaber and the glowrod’s golden beam didn’t penetrate very far. We found ourselves on a landing with stairs before us going down. Stretching out to fill the foundation of the Temple was one huge chamber with little alcoves built into the walls. We could only dimly see the ones closest to our position, but they looked smaller and slightly more cramped than the rooms we had in the Great Temple.