The three of us eventually fetched up in front of two great double-doors. Each elaborately carved with symbols which seemed to mean something to Dark Woman, but were all just nonsense to me.
Opening the rightmost door, our guide saw us through the portal, then closed it behind us as he departed.
...
The room was essentially a large, tastefully appointed office. Very much in line with the living and natural meets the constructed and planned vibe the rest of the Middle Distance embraced.
The far and leftmost walls had long planters containing small trees or large bushes put together in aesthetically pleasing patterns that seemed based on a theme of uniting the plants in growth.
While the rightmost wall of the chamber was actually entirely covered in some kind of blue-green climbing ivy that was itself covered in little, round, electric blue blossoms each the size of my fingertips.
Only the wall just behind us was reasonably free of plant life, as it had a large display monitor of some kind that showed the city in overview. Slowly panning left, right, back and forth to focus on different elements of the community.
It was the figure in the center of the room my attention quickly returned to after this glance around, however. Ostensibly, the figure gave a convincing impression of being a tall, fit, fair skinned human man in his late thirties or mid forties.
One with straight brown hair stopping at the collar of his simple white tunic, whose light blue eyes were alert and focused on the two Jedi that had just entered.
"You're an illusion of some sort!" I blurted abruptly to the figure whose gaze had fixed on me as soon as I'd begun to speak.
Feeling my Master's confusion, subsequent surprise, then her irritation at being gulled by the artifice as she gave me a pointed look before returning her attention to the supposed Magister.
"Leor taught me much in the process of shaping me to be his Potentium. Enough I should have had no problem convincing one as young as you I was his son. Who are you?"
The phantom's statements and subsequent question were delivered directly to my mind, and for one brief instant I once again had that sense of something incomprehensibly vast digging about. Trying to penetrate my mind and see what was in there.
"My name is Anakin Skywalker, Padawan learner of Jedi Master Dark Woman. It's she you should be engaging in telepathic dialog, Mysteriously Vast Psychic Presence" I replied with a bit of irritable sass in my voice.
I didn't care for anyone trying to end-run my Master because they thought the twelve year old an easier conversational mark, and it genuinely offended me to see her disrespected. It might be grating to never be the primary focus of a conversation, but damn it, she was my Master!
The illusion of a man turned his attention to the older Jedi then. Offering a slight bow with his counterfeit form, then replying in a silent voice we both could hear.
"Forgive me, Master Dark Woman. There was no disrespect intended. I was simply surprised to be discovered by one so young.
Though now that I find myself unable to penetrate his mind short of using force that would damage him, I cannot tell you why I should have found it so surprising. I am Sekot, you see. What you would call the mind of the world you are standing upon."
I stood bolt upright as the words made sense of the immensity which had touched me. Feeling my Master's shock and surprise being brought expertly under control, as she responded in a tone as curious as it was courteous.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sekot. Though I'm understandably curious why you felt the need to meet with us under false pretenses.
If we have said or done anything to give you cause for worry, I would be happy to discuss the matter and demonstrate we have no ulterior motives you might find objectionable."
The "man's" face took on a somber cast, as what was apparently a sentient planet replied "Leor assured me there was no evil in the universe. Simply broken and misguided people perpetuating a cycle of suffering they themselves had been born into.
He convinced me I was the guardian the Force needed, and for a time, I believed him. When he passed, I was saddened, of course, but his son seemed as if he would grow to become an able enough Magister."
"Then the Far Outsiders came and tried to take what the Ferroans, Jhentari, and Langhesi would not have me give. I was told it would be good, if I raised up my ships and lashed at the Outsiders as they lashed me and killed my new Magister, but it wasn't good.
It might have been necessary, but it wasn't right, and it accomplished nothing besides. The invaders would have swept all opposition I could offer them aside, but Vergere persuaded them to withdraw.
Although I cannot say how she might have managed it. Beware those who so scarred me. They are cruelly unreal, savage, and cunning as the offspring of the mutant bora are cunning" Sekot continued in an increasingly heavy, careworn manner.
I felt Dark Woman's attention focus like a laser on Sekot's mention of the missing Jedi Knight we were here to find, but held my peace. It was difficult to simply stand here and listen as things played out, but I worked my way through a mental exercise to center and ground myself while I continued to listen.
"You say Knight Vergere persuaded the invaders to withdraw, but that you've no idea how she managed it. What happened after she went to the attackers?" Dark Woman asked simply. Obviously wanting to let Sekot go at his/her/it's pace.
"Vergere had implied some sort of deception might avail where force would not. Once she took one of my ships to reach their great-ship, the invaders withdrew in short order. Their fleet vanished from this system no more than an hour after she left me.
I cannot tell you anymore about the circumstances surrounding our deliverance, but Vergere did leave a number of messages with me for different eventualities. I gave my word I would display the appropriate one to anyone who came after her."
I could feel the momentary flash of disappointment in the tall, lean, silver haired woman beside me, but her voice was calm as she inquired "Could you show us the messages Knight Vergere left with you, Sekot? They might give us a clue as to her whereabouts, or provide some insight as to your attackers.
I'm sure there are details we might be aware of that you aren't, and vice versa. Details which might provide additional context for statements Vergere made."
The illusory image of the middle aged man suddenly disappeared. Replaced by a tall red and blue feathered alien with a pronounced raptor's beak and unnerving blood-red eyes. Her voice was surprisingly soft and cultured for such a fierce-looking being, as her image addressed the room.
I couldn't help noticing how worn the alien Jedi seemed. She reminded me of a stag I'd once seen brought to bay in a box canyon by a pack of hounds in my old life, though I couldn't say why.
"If you are watching this message, then the Order has sent you to ascertain my fate and determine what happened here.
I do not have much time, as I still need to prepare other messages for other eventualities, so I will need to keep this brief. The aliens who attacked Zonama Sekot possess a level of technology superior to the Republic's on a number of levels.
I realize extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so I will refer you to Sekot. There is ample photographic evidence to conclusively prove only a handful of ships caused all of the terrible damage to the planet's northern hemisphere.
During a horrifyingly brief period of hostilities, no less. I intend to do everything in my power to prevent the attackers from continuing to press their still-ongoing assault, and fear that will involve methods Master Cho Leem most definitely would not approve of.
I suppose I must have found success in this endeavor, if Sekot is in any position to convey my words to you."
Vergere paused, the plumage covering her head and neck growing gray as the Jedi Knight continued in an even more serious tone. It was as if she were a magistrate handing down a death sentence.
"I regret my being the bearer of such grave tidings, but if there is one thing of which I am absolutely certain, it is this.
Provided the vessels I have witnessed attacking Zonama Sekot are not simply the final remnants of an otherwise extinct civilization, our present-day Republic is in no condition to contest with these savages in a galaxy-spanning conflict.
Their grasp of biological technology similar in some respects to the extraordinary ship-building here on Zonama Sekot is something the Republic simply has no answer for.
Pray that the Far Outsiders leave our galaxy behind, for they must originate beyond the Great Barrier, so alien they are in every respect. I cannot stress this final bit of counsel enough.
If you have seen no sign of the Far Outsiders since my disappearance, they must not be sought out! I would advise you to warn the Republic of the danger, but I'm sure the Order realizes by now that there is a much more immediate and equally existential threat to the survival of the Jedi Order and Republic both."
The words she spoke froze my blood, because I finally knew why all of this seemed so familiar. Vergere was talking about the thrice-damned Yuuzhan Vong! One of the most sadistic and vile species of demons ever to people an all too real nightmare, the Vong were pain and death worshiping locust-orcs.
Xenophobes who sought to destroy all conventional technology so no one could effectively resist their terrifying mastery of biotech. The Vong were so horrible, their very existence created a justification for the existence and use of super-weapons like the Death Star, Starkiller Base, or Centerpoint Station.
Lacking any presence in the Force, these death-cultists were a Jedi's bane and a Dark Siders natural allies. Gleeful war-criminals of the highest order, the Yuuzhan Vong saw nothing wrong with atrocities like germ warfare and the total annihilation of planetary biomes.
My hands tightened into fists as cold fury welled up in me like the icy gusts which stripped away a body's warmth in mere minutes during a whiteout. Even before this new life, I had always ascribed to the view that the only morally acceptable target of genocide was a species mainly comprised of genocidal war-criminals.
If there were a big red button labeled: Kill All Yuuzhan Vong Everywhere, I would press it and then sleep the sleep of the virtuous afterwards. Any species who had literally enshrined conquest and genocide specifically as joined tenets of their damnable True Way was not in point of fact a sentient species any longer.
They were nothing but a plague upon any galaxy with the misfortune to be infested by such monsters. I didn't care they had the potential to change. I only cared about the unspeakable destruction and carnage they were certain to cause in the grip of what amounted to their racial insanity.
I felt Dark Woman's regard then, so I struggled to wrestle down my wrath as her concern pointedly washed over me. I reminded myself again and again and then again that the Yuuzhan Vong weren't slated to return in any force for more than fifty years. This was the angriest I'd been since being reborn, but ever so slowly I regained my equilibrium, and finally my calm.
Vergere's message had continued. Forcing my Master's attention from me in the process. Something I didn't need the Force to recognize, as my memory sharpened and brought into sharp relief details which had remained beneath my attention until now.
"I have made a number of mistakes. Some of them quite recent, and one in particular quite bitter. It is this grave misjudgement which prevents my simply naming the threat you should be focused on.
Were I to point and declaim There, there is the Sith, I would make others answerable for my folly, and thereby doom the hunt before it even began. Instead, all I can offer is this.
I have the strongest of all reasons to believe that the darkest shadows of tomb-worlds or near-nameless points throughout the Outer Rim are no longer where one should anticipate picking up the enemy's trail. Quite the opposite, in point of fact.
The galaxy is changing, and some are changing with it more effectively than others. Not the most immediately applicable bit of advice, I recognize, but keep it in mind, or face the consequences of disregarding my counsel."
The image of the Jedi Knight fell silent for several moments. A speculative expression somehow communicated even by her alien visage, before she replied with some urgency.
"I'm all but out of time, so you may tell my old Master this in repayment for all that she did for me.
The shroud of the Dark Side has indeed grown to become an obscuring veil, but I know for sure and certain where there's a blade sharp enough to part it. Look for the solution on Circarpous V.
There, I was supposed to find the prize within the Temple of Pomojema, but I pass my discovery along to you. Seek, and you shall find the clarity required to unmask the foe. Now, I go to do what I must. May the Force be with you all, because you're going to need all the help you can get."
Despite having remembered that this "Jedi Knight" was the enigmatic and unscrupulous former Sith Apprentice responsible for unleashing Darth Caedus on an unsuspecting galaxy decades from now, Vergere's words surprised me thoroughly.
I knew my Master wouldn't understand why the Fosh couldn't name the Sith Lord if she knew his identity, but it was obvious to me. Immediately prior to journeying here, Vergere had tried and failed to kill Palpatine.
She was more than clever enough to realize the likely consequence of that failure, however. There was no way for her to know that Sidious didn't have evidence of her attempted assassination, so she'd remained silent due to the disastrous consequences if she'd guessed wrong about that.
It really would have been just like Sidious to sit on such footage against the day of such an accusation. No, the Fosh had correctly recognized the Jedi needed more than the word of a fallen Knight. Even if they didn't know about her fall.
Something like The Kaiburr Crystal of Mimban. A relic capable of multiplying the power of any Force-user by a thousand! If anything in this galaxy could permit a master of the Light Side to pierce the Dark Side shroud that Sidious and Plagueis had engineered to blind Jedi precognition, it was the Kaiburr Crystal.
It was a clever plan Vergere suggested. I would be the one to know, because it had been a key component of my plan to prevent the victory of the Sith and the destruction of the Jedi. A plan I'd concocted long before finding myself a resident of the Galaxy Far Far Away.
Vergere's image vanished, and was immediately replaced by the image of the man we'd first seen. Dark Woman opened her mouth to request Sekot show us the other messages Vergere had alluded to, but the world-sentience cut across her in a regretful manner before she could ask.
"I gave Vergere my promise that I would only play the message most appropriate to the listeners and their circumstances. Please, do not ask me to betray the confidence of the one responsible for protecting my people as I could not.
Keeping my word is all that I can do for Vergere now, so keep my word I shall." Sekot's silent voice was just as courteous as it had been, but there was an underlying note of firmness that hadn't been there before.
...
I'll appreciate if you guys can throw some power stones to keep the story going.
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if you want to read ahead of the public release you can go to p@treon :
p@treon.com/Rage_moon