Korriban, climax

Tomb

A few hours later, I arose, and prepared myself. Master Uthar was still in the central room, and I walked over, dropping to my knees.

'What do you want?' He asked. I held out the items I had gotten from Thalia May and her companions. He took them, looking them over. 'Where did you get these?'

'I took them from Thalia May and her traitors.' I said. It wasn't even a lie.

'Ah, I didn't even know you had heard of them.' He held up the shield generator. 'Here, a gift in return for your service.'

I took the generator, attaching it to my own sleeve, then I extended the sword of Ajunta Pall.

'What is this?'

'The sword of Ajunta Pall which Shaardan tried to steal from me.' I replied.

He stood, drawing the blade from its sheath. He looked at it for a long moment. Then roared. 'Assemble the students!'

I stayed kneeling as everyone came as ordered. He held up the sword. 'Look upon Ajunta Pall's Sword!' He roared. Then he pointed toward me. 'Look at she who gained it for us!' He reached out, and helped me to my feet. He led me to a door off the central chamber, and it opened. Within was a large room filled with artifacts of the Sith. He took the sword to a statue similar to that which had once been within Pall's tomb, and inserted the sword into the statue's hand. 'Blessed is she that returns such an artifact. Can she do more to prove her worth?'

'I know the Code of the Sith.' I replied.

He led me back to the Central chamber. 'Answer well. Peace is a lie, there is only...'

'Passion.

'Through passion I gain...'

'Strength.'

'Through strength I gain...

'Power.'

'Through power I gain...'

'Victory.'

'Through victory...'

'My chains are broken.'

'The Force shall free me.' He finished with a satisfied smile. 'Tell me, young one, knowing the words, and what they mean are two different things. Would you agree?'

'Yes.'

'Then answer true or false, Mercy is for us to decide.'

'False. There is no mercy.'

Excellent.' He clapped me on the shoulder. 'You have proven yourself worthy of being the newest pupil. You have bested them, and only one thing remains. If you fail, another will take your place. If you succeed, Mekel and Lashowe will be sent away today.

'The tomb of Naga Sadow.' I said.

'Ah, you have heard of the test. Does it frighten you?'

'No, Master. I have done more dangerous things.'

'Well spoken if brash. When you are ready-'

'I am ready now, Master Uthar.'

He looked at me for a long moment. 'Then to death or glory. Come.'

We waited long enough for Yuthura to be called. Then we started down into the valley of the Dark Lords. Uthar led us, with Yuthura pacing me and ignoring me.

We reached the tomb, and my own memory remembered how the tomb was opened. Uthar reached out, touching the panels of stone in a simple pattern, and the vault door opened. We walked in, and he stopped, sealing the door behind us.

'Here, young student, we separate out the true Sith from those pallid ones who only aspire without true worth. You have earned this chance.'

'Indeed you have.' Yuthura purred.

Uthar looked at her with loathing. 'I don't like your tone, Yuthura. What are you up to this time?'

'Why nothing, Master.' She lied smoothly. 'I am merely agreeing with your assessment.'

'Indeed.' Uthar looked back to me. 'You must go on from here alone, as did Revan and Malak so many years ago. When you reach the ancient Star Map. There you will find a lightsaber among other things. The Lightsaber is your initiation present. Return to us when you have it, for that is not all you have to do.'

'Be cautious.' Yuthura said. 'Like all the tombs of this valley, this one has it's own defenses. They have been left intact for this test.'

'Yes, indeed.' Uthar added sourly. 'You understand what you must do?'

'Find the star map, pick up the lightsaber, return.' I replied.

'Good. Yuthura and I will await your return.'

I turned, facing the inner door. I walked up to it, and pressed the button. A dark hall stretched forward, and as I walked through the door, I felt it close behind me. Ahead was an intersection, and beyond that a ramp. I started to step forward, then stopped myself ten meters back. A small piece of debris lay on the floor, and I flipped it into the center. As it came down a flash of energy ripped across the stone, and the debris bounded into the air, smoking. It hop scotched across the intersection, barely half of it reaching the other side. Yet down that ramp it also skittered as energy blasted it again and again. Finally the discharge died because, I noted sourly, the rock had been destroyed. I flipped another piece to land near where the first had finally been destroyed, but this time there was no discharge. The system only activated that far because it had started in the intersection.

Other pieces proved the all of the other sections including the entry way for ten meters were the same. If it started in the intersection, the sections were activated. I stepped back tight against the left wall, and focused on the wall of the east section. Then I sprinted forward. Before my foot hit the center block, I leaped, and rebounded from the inner wall to land sprawling on the floor past it. There was another downward ramp, and I paced down it. Ahead was a door, and outside the door a corpse. I checked the walls, and found where a poison needle gun was installed. A handful of dust into the air revealed a light trip at knee level. By breaking the beam I would have caught a burst of needles. I stepped over it, and with dust in the air, verified that there were no more between the door and me.

The door hissed open, and I smelled a rank stench. Leaning forward, I looked around the corner. Terentateks, a pair. They wandered around at the opposite end of the room, snuffling at a few corpses that were on the floor. I stared to back up, and found that the door I had just passed through had closed silently behind me. There was a latch to press, but the door didn't move. Again I looked at the Terentateks. Beyond the one to my right, was what looked like a lever. Beside it was also a door. I considered what I would have to do. Get past them, through the opposite door. I had discovered in dealing with the Terentatek on Kashyyyk, and the one in the caverns that while powerful and well-equipped for slaughter, they weren't fast except in a straight run. Maybe I could use that to my favor. I stepped out, and whistled sharply. They spun in place, then began a lumbering run in my direction. As the first came close enough to strike, I leaped up onto its back, then leaped again before it could react, landing on the second one. I was on the ground running toward the lever as I heard the collision of the first Terentatek with the wall. I flipped the lever, then punched the door control frantically. The second Terentatek had turned, and was coming back, a screeching bellow cutting through my brain. The door opened, and I leaped inside as it slammed into the lintel. The door was too small for it to pass, something it figured out rather quickly, and I frantically crabbed back away from the door as it tried to reach inside. A claw scratched across my boot, but the fingers of that monstrous hand were too short to catch it.

I stood, backing away from the monster glaring at me from the doorway. A pair of stone pillars stood in the center of the room, and after some probing on one, I found a small niche. A golden key lay there, and I picked it up. On the key a Sith Rune read FIRE. In the second pillar I found another identical key, marked with the rune ICE. There was no way out of the room except back past the now furious Terentateks. Another problem I faced was the door I had entered through was easily large enough for a Terentatek to come through. The Terentatek near the door had moved back, glaring at me sullenly. It knew I would have to get past it, and I found they were a patient species. I discovered by thinking about it that I could deal with the problem, but I first had to get out of this room, across the next, and up that ramp.

I needed some space to get a run up, and I moved as far back as the room allowed. The Terentatek hissed, watching my preparations. I took a deep breath, found that calm center so necessary to a Jedi, and became one with it. Then suddenly I leaped forward. I ducked under the swing of the first Terentatek, rolling between the legs of the second, and was up running toward the door as they turned around. The door hissed open, and I was through it before the claws could rip me apart, leaping to pass over the light trip running up the ramp as fast as I could. Behind me the needle gun stuttered, and there was a crash as the offending equipment was ripped the from the wall. Ahead of me I could see the intersection, and just before my foot would have landed on the floor, I leaped, putting every muscle and all of the force into it. I flew over the floor of the intersection, and behind me the first Terentatek stepped on it. I rolled frantically as I hit the floor, and sprawled out just past the section of hot floor. Behind me I heard keening screams. Unable to stop in time, the first Terentatek staggered around less than ten meters from me, still trying to charge me. I watched it's legs fry off, and its torso slammed to the blazing stones. Behind it, I could see the second Terentatek. It had skidded to a stop just short of the hot region on that side, and stood growling at me as it's partner was slowly fried away.

It took a long time. Terentatek are big, and the machinery only fried it a centimeter at a time. When it's agonized screaming died, the one that remained hissed, trying to come up with a way to reach me without entering that hell. I watched it as the dead Terentatek was reduced to ash, then even the ash was blown away.

It snarled. Claws closing and opening. 'Well!' I shouted. 'Come on!' I picked up a pair of stones, and flung one to land in the now quiescent hot spot on that side. It stopped, looking at the stone, then screamed, charging. As it did, I dropped the other stone on the center plate.

Instantly the process started again. The creature actually made it far enough to take a swipe at me before its legs were gone. It scrabbled forward using its forelegs. But only the arms and torso reached the safe area where I was. I skipped up onto its back, and my lightsaber punched down into its brain ending its misery. I leaped off it past the hot section to the north, and ran down the ramp. At the bottom was a door. I opened it, gasping at the acrid stench in the air. A pool of acid lay before me, covering the floor from a meter or so from where I stood, to the door on the opposite wall. To my right was a pillar with the sigil for fire on it, to my left, another pillar marked ice. I looked at the two keys, and walked over to the pillar marked fire, then paused. Fire would cause the acid to boil, releasing dangerous possibly lethal fumes into the air. But Ice would chill it. I walked to the other pillar, and inserted the key.

A bridge rose, the acid flowing through channels. I gingerly crossed it, and opened the door. It led to yet another ramp, this one climbing steeply. I ran up it, and opened a door. Before me was the pintel of the Star Map. It opened as I approached, and the glory of their creation glowed in mid-air. I scanned it, and immediately crossed past it to a kneeling statue. On the outstretched palm of the statue's hand, was an ornate lightsaber. I flicked it on, grunting at the red beam. All this works for something this pathetic.

I looked around the room. On the walls were carvings of the alien builders. One of them caught my eye, and I moved closer. A shape that looked like a short lightsaber pommel floated above a star, exactly like the Star Forge in my vision.

I turned, retracing my steps. At the base of the ramp, standing on the bridge, were Master Uthar and Yuthura.

'You return with your new weapon in hand, as I foresaw.' Uthar purred.

'The Force has served you well, young one.' Yuthura agreed.

'You took great risks gaining your prize, young student. You had to use all of your skills, and much more. No peaceful meditation, no pacifism, all adrenaline and hatred.

'Sometimes you must fight and kill in order to achieve your goals. This uses your passion, it makes you stronger, and in the end, it makes you superior. This is the lesson we teach with this final entry test.'

'Are you saying a Jedi could not have gained this?' I flipped the lightsaber.

'When a Jedi acts, it is with skill and courage, true.' Uthar admitted. 'But the Jedi teaches that passion for anything is counterproductive. That only in achieving peace can you find true strength. But think.

'Did you not feel the excitement of entering a place that might lead to your death? Did you passions not flow when you faced the Terentatek? Didn't you feel more alive than you have ever been just passing over the acid? What real purpose is served by denying any of this? I would tell you that the Jedi have their own purposes for denying such, and since you have fled them to come here, you must know it. They restrict because they want to. To keep the passions of youth from overriding the so-called wisdom of age. They don't want excellence; they want plodders like themselves.'

'The Sith are not the only ones who strive and risk their lives.'

'True. But the Jedi deny their passion. They claim they fight only when they must, but is that really true? Doesn't each of them have their own causes they will fight to attain? Revan when she was among us claimed she was going to reconcile the Sith and Jedi, find a weapon so powerful that peace would last a millennium. Yet she came to us because the Jedi could not do it alone. We never deny a part of our struggle, or our strength in fighting it. We are superior because we do not lie to ourselves.'

'I can't believe that.' I growled. 'I don't feel superior, even to those the Sith would call weak. I bleed and die as they do.'

'If you came to the Academy, you must have felt that yearning as every one of the weak do. To give yourself to the dark side, to become more powerful than anyone can imagine. All any of our Masters here can do is show you the path, we cannot put your feet on it. You have followed it this far, caused the death of another student to stand here. It is up to you to decide if you will continue.'

'And if I would not?'

'Your can continue on the way of the Sith, or you can die here. Someone with such power cannot be allowed to escape.'

There it was. The steel fist in the velvet glove. I nodded slowly. 'I think I am beginning to understand.'

'Good.' Uthar slapped his hands together, rubbing them sharply. Now for the last of this test. You have learned some lessons in competition, and arranging for me to kill Shaardan was well done. But do you have it within you to kill directly?

'All things compete in life. Even the smallest organism knows it must kill or deprive another of the necessities of survival to succeed. To stand still is to die, now or the near future. Even societies face this. So it is among us. Compete for honor. Win or die. No other options exist. Mercy is a thing created by the weak to stay the hand of the strong, so it is irrelevant.

'So your final test is to strike down another for no other reason than to deny this mercy the weak claim. Normally, I would have arranged to have a student here that you might have feelings for. But there were none. However I find that Yuthura and you have become friends, and she is perfect. Kill her, and prove your worth.''

Yuthura leaped back, drawing her lightsaber. 'So this is what you planned all along! To have me killed!'

'My dear apprentice, I told you your compassion was a weakness. Do you think I didn't see it in action when you met this one? Why would someone protecting a weak fool from slavers get into the Academy otherwise? You have ambition without the skill to make that ambition fact. That is your weakness, and I am going to exploit it!'

'No, my dear master.' Yuthura hissed. 'It is time for you to die! My pupil stands with me.'

'Is this true, young one?' As he asked, Uthar moved so that we were standing like a triangle with mutually opposing points. 'You wish to stand with this compassionate fool against me?'

'Compassion is not a weakness, regardless of what you say, Uthar. I stand with her.'

'Do you hear that, my master!' Yuthura caroled. 'That is the sound of a new wind blowing through the Academy! Of a new master taking her place!'

'Then face a Sith master and die!' He screamed. As his lightsaber ignited, I pushed with the Force, throwing Yuthura aside. Uthar paused, confused, and then blocked as I cut at him. He struck back, and I leaped over the blade, striking down on his head. He blocked, but the blade cut through the haft of his lightsaber, and into his chest at the shoulder. I spun, the blade punching through his chest.

Yuthura stood, looking at me oddly. 'You stopped me from fighting. Why?'

'Because you're not lost to the light yet, Yuthura.' I shut down the lightsaber, reaching out toward her. 'Yuthura, come back to us.'

She sneered. 'Betrayer! A Jedi pretending to be my friend! I really liked you, Danika. But I share power with no one.' She lit her lightsaber, the blade blocked by my own.

'I don't want power.'

'I wish I could believe that. I will try to be quick.' She rained a flurry of blows on me, my lightsaber blocking each. Then I reached out, and she caught at her face, the lightsaber falling as I squeezed her head. She screamed, falling to her knees. 'Pl-lease! Mercy!'

I released the grip. My lightsaber pointed at her. 'A Sith begging for mercy? Something they deny everyone else? Are you really a Sith?'

She looked away, then sighed. 'I suppose I am not.' She answered looking up at me. 'Any other student would have struck me down, taken my place. But you are not like the other students somehow. I don't know why that is, but it is the truth. I was right when we first met, wasn't I? You're different. Something we have not faced in a long time.'

I pulled out the datapad, and the Star Map glowed in mid air. 'I have what I came for. Not to be a Sith, not to kill you. Just this.'

'You're too good for me to believe that you had to train when you came here. I should have realized it sooner. So, what now? Do I gain mercy? Will you just let me live?'

'Tell my why you tried to kill me first.'

'You reminded me too much of what I was like when I first came to the Sith. I didn't want to think about that.'

'Maybe you do need to think about it.' I said. 'Has becoming a Sith assured the end of your quest? Has one slave been freed by your actions?'

'You're right.' She whispered. 'In my search for power, I have forgotten those who are enslaved as I had been. All the things I wanted to do all the wrongs that I wanted to right. None of them have been accomplished. I have moved farther away from that idealist I was every day, and allowed myself to be blinded to that fact.'

'Maybe you need to change that.' I shut off my lightsaber, holding out a hand. 'Maybe you need to find peace within before you can find it out there.'

'The Jedi tried to show me that. I don't think I can make up for what I have done since.'

'No one is beyond redemption, Yuthura. Only their own unwillingness to accept it makes them unrecoverable.'

'But I don't think I belong among the Jedi. I know I no longer belong here. I have you to thank for showing me that.' She took my hand, and stood again.

'Don't write off the Jedi so easily. It is said that even Revan was redeemed.'

'I will believe that when I meet her.' She replied.

'Go to Coruscant. I will see what I can arrange in time. But when you leave, go through the caves. I helped the students Uthar had condemned through there already. The way is clear.'

'No. I owe you a life, and you can't get through the Academy alone.'

'What do you mean?'

'Every Master of the Academy puts his mental stamp on the students and others gathered there. On the very use of the force by us. It is the same throughout the Sith, everyone is linked to those above, and bereft without that anchor. There is no other way to explain it really. With Uthar dead, they are scattered, unguided but still dangerous. Until a new master steps forward and takes his place, there will be madness you cannot imagine.

'If I had stayed among the Sith, I would have been that new mold. But you saved me from it.'

'Is there no one who could take control?'

She laughed harshly. 'Who wouldn't try! As long as I live, I am an obstacle to whoever tries to become the Master. Without that one target the teachers will be fighting amongst themselves.' She considered. 'The saber master Adrenas would probably become the winner. In this environment wisdom is less important than a good hand with a blade.' She clenched her fist around the lightsaber. 'He is better than I shall ever be. Perhaps you are his equal, but even that I doubt.'

I suddenly remember my- I mean Danika's memories of the battle of Zanebra. Did the Sith withdraw merely because of such confusion?

'Then we can go through the Shyrack caves-'

'No.' She shook her head. 'It brings you up in the desert at least ten kilometers from Dreshdae. In the time it would take for us to run even half that distance someone will have regained control, and we will be hunted into death by them. Count on it.'

'Then it is straight up the middle.' I gripped her hand tightly then ran out of the tomb. At the entrance, I waited until she was out, then with my 'Sith' lightsaber I slashed the entire stone face of the door down it's center, sealing the door. No more students would die trying to walk that hellish path

Gauntlet

As we approached the entryway to the Academy, I saw three students standing guard. One of them, a woman saw us coming. 'You! You went into the tomb of Naga Sadow with Master Uthar. Where is he?'

'He is dead. I killed him.'

'We felt his death, but no one stepped forward to claim his title!' She tore at her hair. 'What manner of monster would slay our leader and not take his place? Yuthura why did you not come! The others are fighting over who shall be master in their place. You caused this! What kind of Sith are you?'

'I am Sith no longer.' Yuthura snapped. 'I am a Jedi!'

'Traitor! Spy! Kill her!' The woman screamed.

'But if she is the new Master, and that one killed Uthar! what chance do we have?' One of the others whined.

'Spineless coward! Kill them!' She lit her lightsaber, charging at me.

I waved Yuthura back, and met the girl's rush. I dodged aside, my second blade cutting across her spine, and dropping her.

'Don't make me kill you.' I said to the others. They lit their lightsabers, and charged. I caught the first one with the Force, throwing him against his friend. The lightsaber in the second man's hand punching into the first man's chest, and he screamed, collapsing. The other dropped his lightsaber in horror, falling to kneel beside the body. 'Stay here, and you might live.' I told him, running on into the Academy.

It was a madhouse. Students, apprentices, Sith teachers stood around the dueling area. In the center, a large man was cutting a woman in half, then spun to face the others. 'Does anyone else challenge me?' He screamed.

'Yuthura!' Someone gasped, and the crowd moved away to reveal us.

The man laughed, roared, his lightsaber spinning. 'Come on, bitch! Face your master!'

'Adrenas?' I asked. Yuthura nodded. She started forward. 'No.' I motioned for Yuthura to stand. 'When he dies, fight your way through.' I whispered.

'Don't you mean if?' she whispered back.

'You will see why I said it.' I said. Then I stalked forward.

'Ah, the new hopeful. Haven't even gone through my class, yet you can best me, eh?' There was a polite giggle from someone in the crowd. 'Do we have a name for the new 'master' that faces me?'

I stopped a few meters from him. 'I am Danika Wordweaver. But once you knew me by another name.'

'And what would that name be?'

'Revan Chandar Bai Echana, Daughter of Coroli, prefect of Echana.' I replied.

'Revan!' someone gasped. The name filtered through the crowd, and everyone was watching me.

Adrenas stared at me, then laughed. 'A bold jest, fool. But can your words match my skill?'

We struck at each other, sabers igniting and impacting in almost the same instant. I blocked as he cut at me. He was good, I would grant. I was pushed back by his attacks, the crowd giving way to avoid us. I felt the wall behind me, and struck at him, then spun, running toward the wall with every erg of my own strength plus the force. I hit the wall at chest level, running up it for four meters, then spun, my double saber spinning to block his thrusts as I dropped on him like a bomb. I passed him, landing on the floor with my hands, and springing to my feet past him.

The body fell, head, chest and legs landing separately.

'Revan.' someone whispered.

'Revan is dead!' I shouted. 'I am Danika Wordweaver, Jedi!'

If I had distilled madness and served it to them I could have done no more damage. With the true master a Jedi rather than Sith, nothing held them back anymore. With one voice they screamed, and attacked.

I waded into the fray, killing only when someone stood between the entrance and me. Behind me I could feel Yuthura running in my wake. Lashowe came running down from the central chamber screaming, and I cut her legs from under her, then turned to give her the coup de grace. I turned, snatching a thrown lightsaber from the air, glaring up at Mekel.

'If you want to fight, I will kill you.' I growled. He turned, running away. I tossed the lightsaber contemptuously aside, and entered the central chamber. I went to the museum, and inside found the sword of Ajunta Pall. I had promised to remove it, and I felt that he wanted it as far from this planet as possible.

As I stepped out Yuthura screamed.

'Danika!' I spun, and saw four Sith running at me. Then suddenly Yuthura had thrust herself between me and them, screaming as the lightsaber blades pierced her. I screamed, and leaped past her. The last of them died, and I spun, picking her head up from the ground.

She looked up at me, and caught my shoulder. 'Run.'

'I must-'

'No.' She held up a device. I had seen permacrete detonators before, but never that close. As I stared at it, she flicked the arming stud. 'Run.'

I ran out of the Academy, dealing with the guards that tried to stop me, and ran on. As I reached the colony door there was a thump as the detonator literally converted every scrap of permacrete and the mortar in the building into explosives. The building exploded outward, slamming me to the ground. When I stood only a pit remained.

It was chaos inside the colony as well. Every hopeful had felt the death of the Master, and had gone just as mad as the Academy.

A hand waved, and I dived out of the maelstrom into the Cantina.

'You're doing, no doubt.' Mika Dorin commented, hooking a thumb at the madhouse the colony had become.

'Things happen.' I agreed.

'I heard a rumor, tell me it isn't true.'

'What was it?'

'That you faced off against a Krayt Dragon and fed Calo Nord the bounty hunter to it?'

'That I did.' I agreed.

'Try to be more careful in the future.' He admonished. He went to the bar, and began dumping items into a bag. 'If you die, who will defeat Malak?'

'Someone will eventually, even if I die today.' I told him.

'Yeah, but eventually could really mess up my profit margin.' He closed the bag, mounting it on his belt. 'Right now I think it is time to get out of the business of a Publican and get into what I do better. Sales from a ship on the Star-road.'

We pushed our way through the crowds of madmen toward the docking bays. Dorin broke away, tossing me a jaunty wave to head toward his own ship. I laughed like a maniac as I pushed my way through toward the Ebon Hawk. I had never felt so alive in my life!

I came up the ramp past the blast door, and suddenly stopped. The intruder lights of Ebon Hawk were activated.

I gulped. So this is what they had done. Rigged whatever they planned into the intruder system itself. I bowed my head, and knelt, setting down my lightsaber and the precious data pad. Whatever happened, the data pad had to survive. As for the lightsaber, I had been trained to deflect blaster bolts, but the defensive guns and main guns of the Ebon Hawk would make mincemeat of me if I even tried.

I stood, then moved to the side to avoid having my blood splatter over the data pad. I looked at the ship, knowing that I was about to die, and felt...

At peace. If I had to die, it was a good time.

'Danika, listen very carefully.' Carth's voice bellowed.

'We...' Juhani

'Trust...' Jolee

'You...' Canderous

'Danika...' Mission.

'Welcome back.' Carth said.

I reached out, picking up my lightsaber and the data pad with the force. I walked to the ramp, and HK47 stood there.

'You know, Master, I really hate being ordered to kill you.' He said.

'How many times has this happened?' I laughed manically.

'Don't get me started.' HK replied. I passed him, and the little homing missile named Sasha hit me. I hugged her, carrying her into the mess hall. Carth stood there, looking a little less haunted. I tossed the data pad to him. 'Get us out of here. Take us to Yavin. We need some space before the final hurdle.'

'Yes, Danika.' He said running toward the cockpit. I sat at the table, feeling my friends around me, Sasha hugging me as if she had been afraid I would never come back. I had never felt so content in my life.