Dark Forces_ Jedi Knight Part 7

The answer was far from satisfying - and the words echoed long after the wind had erased them.

Yun had kicked the covers off his bunk. They lay bunched on the deck. His limbs twitched in reaction to the horror of what he was about to do. The rain splashed onto the already saturated ground. A layer of what looked like mist or ectoplasm hovered over the well-churned mud. Twenty men and women knelt before an open grave. They were guilty of something - he couldn't remember what. A few prisoners had tears streaming down their cheeks, others snarled their defiance, but most bore no expressions at all. They simply stared into the trench and awaited their fates.

Yun hefted the lightsaber over his head, felt it grow heavier, and realized it had been transformed into an old-fas.h.i.+oned sword. The curved blade had a razor-sharp edge. That's when the Jedi remembered that he had dreamed this dream many times before. He struggled to wake himself, was unable to do so, and knew what would happen.

For perhaps the thousandth time, the face of Nij Por Ral, a somewhat portly professor of linguistics looked up at him and begged for mercy.

"Please! I beg of you, spare us!"

One aspect of Yun's personality felt no particular animosity toward the man and wanted to grant his request, but another part, the shadow that dwelt within, hungered for status and recognition. Status and recognition that could and would be granted by Jerec and Sariss if he lived up to their expectations. Gleaming steel began its downward course. Yun regretted the blow even as it fell. Not because of the injury it would cause, but because it was flawed, and everyone would know it. He winced as the blade sank into Por Ral's shoulder. Metal grated on bone as the linguist bellowed in pain and Yun struggled to pull his weapon free.

Finally, having wiggled the sword back and forth, the sword came loose. Sick with shame, the Jedi put an end to the prisoner's anguished screams. But the horror wasn't over - not by a long shot. Yun moved down the row. His mother, father, and sister knelt before him. They beseeched him with their eyes, but to no avail. He had already cut them down, if not with steel, then with words. But no matter how many times he killed them, they always came back. The blade rose and fell. Heads rolled, tumbled into the ditch, and were followed by the bodies to which they belonged.

The rain, combined with the blood of his victims, had soaked through the Jedi's clothes.

He s.h.i.+vered, struggled to raise the sword, and was surprised by its weight. It was heavy, too heavy, as if each life had somehow added to its ma.s.s...

Light flooded the compartment, and Yun jerked in response. The Jedi rolled off the bed, activated his lightsaber, and rose ready to fight.

Boc, who stood in the hatch, laughed mockingly.

"What's the matter, boy? A little nervous, are we? Well, pull yourself together. It seems Jerec has need of your scrawny presence." Yun took a step forward, lightsaber in hand, but the other Jedi laughed.

"Save your energy, boy... it's my guess you're going to need it."

The already Spartan cabin looked even more bare as Jerec placed the last of his meager belongings into the case. While the Jedi had no interest in quant.i.ty, he was choosy about the possessions he had and didn't like others to touch them. There was a knock at the door.

The way each person interacted with the Force was unique, and this disturbance was typical of Yun.

A promising student - but filled with self-doubt. Ah well, Jerec thought to himself, a bit of seasoning will fix that.

"Enter." Yun entered cautiously, wondered what the older Jedi had in store for him, and hoped the Master was in a good mood. Jerec nodded to acknowledge Yuri s presence.

"Thank you for coming... I need your a.s.sistance."

Jerec needed his help! The younger Jedi felt his heart swell to at least twice its normal size. He couldn't wait to tell Sariss. "Yes, my lord, how can I help?"

"Phase two of the survey is now complete. The tower is in the final stages of construction. That being the case, the real work can begin. I leave for the surface in an hour."

Yun nodded.

"Yes, my lord."

The two men ran into each other in the main corridor - and walked shoulder to shoulder toward the launch bay. Stormtroopers jumped to get out of the way, officers came to attention, while Yun basked in the reflected glory. It was at moments like this that his doubts disappeared and the price seemed worth paying.

The shuttle was waiting, the bay door opened, and a pair of TIE fighters escorted them down. The trip to the surface was uneventful, for which Yun was thankful. Jerec had many unpleasant qualities, but there were exceptions - he could be very charming when he chose to be. The Master regaled Yun with amusing stories, the younger Jedi laughed in all the right places, and the trip was soon over.

Jerec made a point of saying good-bye - and the resulting sense of significance followed Yun all the way to his quarters.

The alarm buzzed and wouldn't stop. Yun reached for the bedside console and discovered that the room's recently installed heating module was on the blink. The Jedi was still in bed when a droid entered the room, announced itself in loud, cheery tones, and placed a tray on the table.

"Good morning, sir. Here's your breakfast... Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yeah, pump some heat in here," Yun growled as he rolled out of bed. "It's freezing."

"Of course, sir, right away, sir," the droid said, making for the door. "I'll send a maintenance droid."

Yun slipped into the fresher and treated himself to a hot, steamy shower. After that, it was a simple matter to slip into some fresh clothes, consume his lukewarm breakfast, and head for work.

A stormtrooper had been a.s.signed to guide him and stood at the tower's base.

"Good morning, sir. Major Vig sent me... I'll lead the way."

The stormtrooper set off, and Yun followed. The ground in front of the tower was crisscrossed with tread marks, supplies sat piled on floater pallets, and security was tight. Even more noticeable, to him at least, was the way the place felt. Each Jedi perceived the Force in his or her own slightly subjective manner. For Yun, it manifested as an eternal hum - a gentle vibration that never went away.

But this place was different. The Force felt more intense here, as if it had been amplified, and growled like a ravenous beast. In fact, the activity was so strong it could be perceived by those with little or no talent. They had just entered a ravine and started down a flight of water - eroded stairs, when a banshee-like ent.i.ty screamed by the stormtrooper's head.

The soldier flinched, managed to retain his composure, and turned toward Yun.

"They're starting early today, sir. Looks like a rough one."

Given the fact that the Force was more concentrated than usual, Yun found that it was easy to shape a thought and hurl it at the obnoxious spirit. The results were dramatic, to say the least. Angered rather than frightened, the ent.i.ty summoned even more spirits to the site and sent them howling around the Jedi's head. The trooper, his mind reeling under the a.s.sault, broke and ran. Yun, relying on his training, stood his ground.

A voice spoke within his head.

"Pain means nothing to such as these. They have suffered for thousands of years. Imagine their plight, understand the horror of it, and communicate that understanding."

The personality a.s.sociated with the voice seemed familiar somehow, and the Jedi struggled to place it.

"Who are you?" Yun demanded. "One of them?"

"No, not really," the voice answered. "I gave you the key... try it."

Knowing that both Jerec and Sariss expected him to succeed, not to mention the troopers in the chamber below, Yun followed the instructions. He thought about the spirits who wailed around him, about the extent to which they had suffered, and his anger melted away. He felt a sense of empathy, of understanding, and extended it to those around him.

The change was almost instantaneous. The moaning stopped, the ent.i.ties slipped away, and the Force grew more tranquil. Pleased with the results and confident of his ability to deal with similar situations, Yun sent a message of appreciation.

"Thank you." There was no answer from his invisible benefactor - just a momentary sense of warmth. The stormtrooper had yet to reappear, but Yun had no difficulty following the path downward, past awall inscribed with ancient hieroglyphics and a spot where a deactivated droid stared into a looted alcove.

One of the machine's arms hadbeen converted to a directional sign. Yun took a right. The side corridor was relatively short and opened into a large chamber. Stand-mounted floods threw light onto the walls, cargo modules stood in untidy piles, and a confrontation was underway.

Major Vig was a big man, with short red hair and a handlebar mustache. It was nonreg, and a constant source of frustration to his superiors, but ultimately tolerated because of his courage and almost legendary competence. Competence that translated to respect - and explained why the stormtroopers were hesitant to ignore both his orders and the blaster in his hand. The officer's voice boomed through the cavern.

"Hold it right there... the first man to move dies."

There was a moment of silence while the troopers absorbed the officer's words and considered the consequences of what they were about to do. That's when a group of three screamers entered the chamber through the rear wall, pa.s.sed through the middle of a trooper's chest, and dove through the floor.

It was too much. Eyes bulged in their sockets, heads swiveled in every direction, and the mob moved forward.

That's when Yun spoke. "Good morning, gentlemen. I see you're already hard at work! Lord Jerec will be pleased. Sorry about the somewhat unusual working conditions... perhaps I can help."

In spite of the fact that very few of the soldiers had ever seen Jerec, much less met him, they were well aware of who he was and the much exaggerated powers ascribed not only to him, but to the coterie of Jedi who attended him. That being the case, the sudden and unheralded appearance of one such exalted creature took on seemingly mystical qualities. The upshot was that when Yun said he could help, the troopers believed him.

Sensing the change, and correctly interpreting the embarra.s.sed looks that had appeared on his subordinates' faces, Major Vig holstered his side arm. He started to say something, realized Yun was distracted, and waited for the Jedi to take notice. It didn't take very long. Yun completed his interaction with some unseen spirits and smiled.

"I think the matter is resolved - for the moment anyway. Inform your men that while such incidents will no doubt continue, I'll be here to deal with them. That means they can return to work. Lord Jerec has a personal interest in this effort - and there's no time to waste."

Major Vig spoke to his officers, who soon had the troops back at work. Most of his peers would have pressed charges on the theory that a few highly visible executions were a boon to discipline, but Vig didn't blame the troops for being frightened and decided to ignore what they had done. A strategy Yun found interesting.

Sariss, like her mentor, had taught Yun that the sort of leaders.h.i.+p Vig demonstrated was a sign of weakness and that respect flows from fear. Fear born of power, which was the point of the entire exercise on Ruusan. The major interrupted his thoughts.

"Thank you, sir. The screamers have been a constant problem." Yun shrugged. "Glad I could help. In fact, it looks as if you're stuck with me."

Vig's mustache twitched over what might have been a smile. He knew Yun would be in command but saw that as a plus. The Jedi was welcome to the screamers and Jerec, as far as the officer was concerned.

"Welcome aboard, sir. Would you like a tour?"

Yun indicated that he would and followed the officer across the main chamber and into one of the many storerooms that branched off from it. The narration had a canned quality suggesting that Vig had given the tour before.

"The main chamber is a natural phenomenon, formed by an ancient river, but the storerooms, while still very old, are a good deal more recent. They were carved from solid rock."

The officer paused and pointed at a wall.

"Look, you can still see the tool marks."

Yun looked, confirmed Vig's observation, and followed the officer into a half-empty room. A droid was hard at work stripping goo off a wall.

"Looks weird, doesn't it?" the officer inquired. "Still, the ancients knew what they were doing. They brought down supplies, stacked them along the walls, and sprayed preservative on them. Interestingly enough, the sealer is so much better than what we use for the same purpose that it might be worth duplicating. Here, look at this... "

Vig sidestepped the droid, took one of the recently freed packages, and placed it in the Jedi's hands. Yun accepted the object, peeled the last bits of malleable gel off the bottom of the box, and turned it over. It was made of plastic or something very similar. The top featured a single cl.u.s.ter of hieroglyphics and a slightly raised panel.

"What is it?"

"Press the panel three times," the officer said mischievously. "Place it on the floor and watch."

Yun did as instructed and stepped back. Ten seconds pa.s.sed before anything happened. Then, just as the Jedi was about to lose interest, the lid popped open, steam billowed into the room, and a yeasty odor filled the air.

"Lunch!" Vig said delightedly, "or breakfast or dinner as the case may be. Look inside."

The Jedi looked. The box contained fifteen or twenty grub-like things. They wiggled and squirmed with such vigor that the thick, brown sauce lapped the edges of the container.

"We aren't sure which species these meals were prepared for," the officer continued, "and it doesn't really matter. Self-heating rations have been around for a long time - but not ones in which the seemingly inert contents are somehow brought back to life. And what about the heat source? The heat mods in our field rations have a shelf life of about twenty years. These have been sitting around for a thousand or more."

Yun saw the value and understood the means by which Jerec had secured a small fleet with which to pursue his personal ambitions. It was wonderful or horrible, depending on how you chose to view it.

"And that's not all," Vig continued. "Come on... wait till you see the rest!"

The Jedi followed the officer into a succession of storerooms where even more treasures were revealed. There was a tractor beam projector no bigger than a wand, healing machines only slightly less effective than bacta tanks, and a fusion reactor so small it could be carried in a backpack. All of which would endear Jerec to his corporate sponsors. A political dynamic that Yun had never considered before. It was a relatively pleasant morning, interrupted by no more than three screamers, none of whom presented much of a problem. Yun had lunch with Major Vig, a captain, and two lieutenants in a recently cleared storeroom. They sat at a table complete with white linen, regimental silver, and a freshly prepared meal. A droid served as waiter. Everything went well until the plates were cleared and the atmosphere inexplicably changed.

The first sign that something was wrong was when Lieutenant Hab said something unintelligible, grabbed his throat, and toppled over backward. A split second pa.s.sed while the Jedi wondered if Hab had choked on a piece of meat - followed by the realization that the problem was even more serious. Yun struggled to remain calm, fought the temptation to meet force with force, and attempted to reach out. The ent.i.ty sensed the movement and released Hab in order to refocus its energies.

The spirit seized the tendril of being that linked Yun to his physical body. The Jedi felt a tug - followed by sustained pressure. The ent.i.ty was trying to pull him out!

The Jedi attempted to withdraw and discovered that he wasn't able to do so. The other ent.i.ty's hold was too strong. Fear clutched his belly, his mouth opened, and nothing emerged. It was at the very height of his fear that the voice spoke within.

"Don't surrender to doubt, my son. Use the same technique you learned earlier. He's stronger, that's all. Even Jedi Masters can lose their sanity after a thousand years of confinement. Anchor your mind, reach out, and understand. The Force will protect you."

Yun swallowed, was glad to discover that he had that much control, and took the risk.

Rather than continue his efforts to withdraw, he pushed outward. The ent.i.ty sensed victory and rushed in. Yun welcomed the spirit, not into his body, but into the warmth of his understanding and the hope of freedom. The ancient was too far gone to be healed, not by a mind so junior, but allowed itself to be soothed.

"Good," the voice said. "You did all anyone could do. He returns to his tomb."

"Who are you?" Yun demanded. "Should I know you?"

"Yes," the voice replied calmly. "You should. For you partic.i.p.ated in my murder, and I inhabit your dreams."

"Nij Por Ral?"

"No, though my death followed his."

"Rahn!"

Yun remembered him well. A Jedi who had heard of the Valley and dedicated his life to finding it. Rahn and a group of his a.s.sociates had been intercepted before they could locate the Valley, and it was Yun's partic.i.p.ation in the murders that followed, mixed with other aspects of his life, that still haunted his dreams. The voice was matter-of-fact.

"So, you remember."

"Yes."

"Good."

"Why? Why help me?"

"The light within you flickers," the voice answered calmly, "but it continues to burn. The fate of billions upon billions of beings rests on what will happen here. You will play a part."

"A part?" Yun asked, "What kind of part?"

"That," Rahn responded, "is entirely up to you."

Yun felt the connection break, opened his eyes to a room filled with staring faces, and felt very much alone. Yun wandered the subterranean pa.s.sageways for the next couple of days, dealt with the occasional screamer, and wished something interesting would happen. It wasn't long before his wish came true.

The Jedi had just left the main corridor, sidestepped a train of heavily laden gray pallets, and was about to enter the third chamber when everything started to shake. Little bits of rock rained down on his head, the dust made him cough, and the floor shook as something heavy hit it. The screams started just as the shaking stopped. The Jedi could have headed for the surface and knew it was the smart thing to do, but he discovered that his feet had minds of their own.

They carried Yun into the chamber and a scene of ma.s.s pandemonium. A large, pancake-shaped section of the ceiling had collapsed, trapping a man beneath. His name was Jaru, and he was known for three things: the size of his nose, the fact that he could spit farther than anyone else in his unit, and his skill with a grenade launcher.

Jaru was alive because he had been bending over at the moment when the roof caved in and a nearby cargo module had absorbed the initial impact. Though half-crushed, it still served to hold the slab aloft. The trooper's boots extended out into the chamber and beat a tattoo on the floor. Orders were shouted, bodies moved through the dusty murk, and troopers grabbed hold.

Two droids, both designed for heavy-duty construction work, followed the humans into position. An officer counted to three, muscles strained, eyes bulged, and hydraulics whined, but nothing happened.