The First Steps

[Jedi Master Kabraka]

Merek sighed as he reviewed the message again in the lounge of the converted yacht that made up the Starslide. Fast little ship for sure, sporting all sorts of fun upgrades a smuggler, pirate, or other brigand would love. Emblazoned across the side was Daimon Empire diplomatic colors. That made Merek a little unhappy, but it got him through most places unmolested. The message had come to Ossus then had bounced its way across the holonet until it had disappeared in tight beam somewhere along the outer rim to an unknown rock to most. It didn't even have a name. Just a designation some survey team had given it a long time ago. There wouldn't have been anybody to listen to it, except for the Jedi. The same Jedi blamed for Altar, and the woes created for them by one Ashton Moonrider, or Phobos. That was years ago, but the galaxy still hadn't recovered from the marring scars of that war, or the loss of life and technology that had created cataclysmic results for many peoples and worlds across the galaxy.

Of course the Daimon had been willing to accept the Jedi and provide them somewhere to work, and provide them a frame to work within to help. And help they had, for the last few years, sending out Jedi to heal, and rebuild, and investigate. So it was that the message had come from one of the planets outside the Daimon, but loosely affiliated, up in the Pacanth Reach.

It had taken some travel time but they were closing in on the planet Bunduki, where the locals had discovered a temple of significance that seemed to date back thousands of years. It seemed to be Jedi in nature, or at the very least of interest to the Jedi, so Merek had been dispatched, along with three younger Jedi to observe the temple and begin an archaeological and anthropological study of it and it's contents to learn more about it.

Almost as if on cue one of the apprentices glided through the doorway to the lounge. "We'll be dropping out of hyperspace in a few minutes sir," the young man said to Merek. "Copy that. Thank you Leeson," the Knight murmured through his mustache and goatee. Slowly he stood up from the chair and picked up the cloak which he pulled over the green of his uniform. He didn't wear it often, but this was official business. The green he wore as he was Corellian by birth, and by living, and it was a side tradition of the Jedi, which he had come to enjoy. As the cloak settled around his shoulders, he couldn't help but feel a brush of cold run through him, making him shiver slightly. Idly he brushed it off, and headed for the cockpit.

Soon, the ship was winding it's way down through the atmosphere after gaining clearance to enter Bunduki airspace. The island the temple on was of decent size. They pulled a quick flyby then noted the landing site at the temple proper, and there had been some archaeological gear set up there from the previous dig that had been pretty much abandoned until the Jedi were to show.
Merek plodded down the ramp, flanked by Leeson and two other students, one was a female Nautolan and a male Keldor. Leeson himself was a young human male, in his late teens to early twenties. "Stick together," Merek said as he slowly approached the front of the temple. The temple doors stood forbiddingly shut, like silent sentinels that the unwashed should not pass.

The Jedi Knight dove into the Force, letting it fill him to the brim until he felt as though it would rip him to shreds, pouring from his eyes, ears, mouth and nose. The power of it lifted him to his toes as he rode the currents of life, filled until he was running over with it. It was then that he extended a net of tendrils out into the temple to the doors and past them, letting his senses stretch out and take in information as much as he could.

It was an old, ancient place, and there was no telling what secrets lurked behind those doors, things lost and forgotten by time.

[Gilkane]

The temple was built in the ancient design of the bunduki royalty. It contained a collected knowledge of force knowledge. Everything from holocrons, To written books. However deep withing the temple's first floor was Gilkane's tomb. In a chamber set in the back oblisk, centered so that the sun and the moons ran there eliptical over the black marble sub room that was 1200 square feet. There was writing on the walls however it was in the ancient sith tongue. The door could be opened, should one want to. They would simply need to pull open the doors. Around the room were weapons, mostly lightsabers. There were thousands of lightsabers around the room, set into the walls. Under each saber was the name of the owner. Apparently Gilkane liked his trophies. There was also lineage line on one wall. The last name was name of Gilkanes son, Killian Gilkane. There was a date of birth, but no date of death, one could assume this person was still alive. Inside the sealed room was Gilkane.

The Jedi who entered would not feel his presence, they would only know that the occupant was a force user by the collection of lightsabers. They could walk around and explore the over 75 stories in the oblisk, and 45 stories in the ziggurat. If they were fortunate and could find it, they could explore the 9 floors in the subterranian levels. This was a secret. However they would have no trouble exploring the rest. Discovering all sorts of things, from the holocrons, to the jedi and sith artifacts. There were weapons everywhere in some rooms, others were stark and empty, those were few. In one room were jars filled with various life forms. In another was a massive soul gem like the one on yavin IV if you looked closely you could barly make out the formsof the poor bastards that the souls belonged to.

[Jedi Master Kabraka]

Merek soon had the students spreading out with inertial mappers to help track where they'd been. The aerial view of the temple had shown it to be a massive structure, with laser precision construction. Time had seemed to wear gently on the place, and he couldn't help but feel the ancient nature of it. There was power there to be sure, and as he walked the temple halls, cataloging and recording, as much the younger Jedi were, he couldn't help but be taken in by the imagination as they explored the outer zones. Soon he stopped for a few moments and started a second recording.

"The temple propper we found to be open, as the archaeologists who were here before opened the place up nicely. It looks as though it has not been disturbed for over a thousand years, if not longer. It strangely feels like a tomb, but not. We are finding rooms full of weapons, and artifacts. Creatures. Many things. There's a written language similar to that seen in the temples on Yavin IV, as well as Aurebesh. It'll take some time to translate, of course. We have already uncovered books. Books! We dare not open them yet. As old as they are, they may disintegrate when we do. They need to be cared for properly. We've already discovered a few holocrons. Those in and of themselves are... incalculably valuable." Merek ran one hand through his hair before glancing around. "There are weapons here too, and we're barely scratching the surface. I recommend a much larger-scale investigation. I am going to have the students begin collecting the holocrons. Those at least can be moved and accessed. I'll have them loaded on the ship for return to URS-1138. We'll of course record and catalog everything." It was clear in the video that he was very excited,his steely gray eyes glittered with anticipation. "I think we're going to have to break out more equipment for this job, like the hovercams and the mapping scanners. I should have brought a scanning team too maybe. I mean we have the gear but... This is a massive find. Which, I need to get back to. Steele out, for now."

The recording ended there, before picking back up. "It's been... eighteen hours," Merek said, sitting down in front of the camera's pickup. "This place is huge. It's winding and bewildering too. It is almost like a maze that turns you about here and there. The shadows play tricks on your eyes and your mind. Maybe it's the construction. I can only guess it's designed to teach disciples to see through illusion and deception. The old adage... 'Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them.' It seems to be true here." Merek paused for a moment as he glanced over to the amber light that splayed across his face. There was the energetic hum of a lightsaber nearby. It seemed he was using his saber as a glow-rod. "We've pretty well got the place mapped out, by corridor and chamber. We've laser scanned them from ceiling to floor. For the most part we're just trying to catalogue everything still. We're still finding books, weapons, and holocrons."

The Jedi Knight paused as he took a bite of a ration bar and chewed on it thoughtfully. "I think I know why this place feels like a tomb. I haven't seen any living quarters, eating halls, meditation chambers, sparring chambers. Just... libraries, armories, and so on. I wonder if this place wasn't constructed during the Jedi Civil War or the Sith Wars. Now... we have found a number of empty rooms and chambers. They could be any number of these to serve as meditation rooms, sparring rooms, and all that I mentioned. I don't think so. We haven't found any refrigerated storage. No kitchens, no refreshers even. The amenities seem... sparse. There are benches and seats here and there. Alcoves and small rooms that I can only guess are reading rooms, and the like." He took another bite of his bar and chewed at it thoughtfully. "I'm debating on whether or not we should take a break and sleep, or keep pushing. Leeson and the others are just as excited as I am. I'm not sure I want to sleep in this place. ... I keep feeling as though I'm being watched. I don't know if there are Force Spirits here or not... and whether they would wish to come forward. I feel a disturbance, a ripple, faint. There is a sense of unease. Maybe it's my mind playing tricks again. I dunno. I'm sure I'll figure it out." The image froze before going black.

The video feed picked up again a moment later. "Okay..." Merek said then sighed. He looked tired, bedraggled. His hair was a mess and his green uniform was rumpled. "I can't sleep... so I'll talk. Something keeps waking me up. I don't like it. Maybe it's nerves. Anyway... we've located a central chamber. As near as we can tell it's big, so it's probably important. The doors are sealed, but I'm pretty sure we can get through them with enough leverage, probably through the Force. Here's something else that bothers me. There's almost thirty meters or more below the temple entrance that our maps don't account for. I'm fairly sure it's -not- solid stone." In the amber light his skin had an unusual pallor as he sat on the cold stone floor. "The obelisk bothers me. That's not typical of Jedi construction, that I've seen. Granted I haven't seen a whole lot, But when you start teaching, you get curious, and you start researching. And of course I did research when I was an apprentice too."

"I dunno. This place feels different from what I would expect. I --" he paused and shivered. "I'll be back." The recording went black, then resumed, from a hovering perspective near the Jedi, and behind. He was walking down a corridor, passing recessed lighting in the floor until he turned through a doorway. There stood one of the students, staring at a sphere set in the floor, perfectly smooth, swirling with energy inside. Merek glanced at it before walking over to the Nautolan girl and laid one hand on her shoulder. She startled quite hard then looked over at Merek. "Apologies Master... I couldn't sleep. I felt something nearby so I went looking and found ...this." The Knight nodded and murmured, "That's alright. Go back to sleep." She stopped to look at him. "Do you know what that is?" He nodded. "There was one like it on Yavin IV. It's a Sith artifact. Go back to bed." The apprentice nodded. "I'm gonna go back to bed now. I'm so tired," she said, yawning and stretching as she padded past the camera.

Merek slipped out of the room as well. "Sith artifacts, like that thing... here. I don't like it. I'm really starting to think this is -not- a Jedi temple, even though there's artwork here that hearkens back to the Hyperspace Wars." He shook his head. "I should follow my own advice. I think it's time I try to get some sleep. We should be safe for now. I'm gonna stick with the younger ones though."
With that the recording ended for the time being.

Merek sighed as he snapped off the glow pod that had shed light through the small encampment they'd made in one of the abandoned rooms. "I need some answers," he murmured to himself as he slipped off into sleep. It was a dark, bleak, blackness, restful but at the same time disturbing. It was different than his usual dreamless sleep. It was smothering almost. The Knight stirred fitfully in his sleep, fighting with the cloak he slept under, until he finally came awake. He glanced at his chrono. He'd been down for another four hours, but he felt exhausted, like he'd fought the entire time. Slowly he pushed himself up, groaning from stiff muscles and sore spots all over. He tossed his head, popping his neck before, slowly getting to his feet and stumbling his way outside. The light outside was brilliant to his eyes which had gotten used to the dim recesses of the temple. In the courtyard the apprentices were playing a few training games as they had been waiting on him to get up. They greeted him dutifully but he waved them off as he headed for the ship, to stumble into the refresher.

His body felt like he'd spent the night at a bar where the lights were dim, the music loud, the drinks weren't watered down and the first-aid kit consisted of a blaster to put himself out his misery. That of course was impossible. He distinctly remembered wandering around the temple last night and the nearest one was a few thousand kilometers away. Then again, it felt almost like he'd walked that far. He changed clothes and restored some semblance of normalcy to his hair then exited the ship. "Alright. Morning fun and games are over," Merek said. "Lets load up what we have. We'll take a laser scanner/mapper, and hovercam, hover holorecorder. We're not going to find out this temple's main purpose by beating around the bush. I want some answers, and I'm sure the Order does too. So we're going to open the main chamber."

Soon, all four were gathered at the doors. Merek stood stock still and raised one hand as he gathered the Force within. A moment later it was surging and roaring through him like a lion, but he rose above it, calm, serene as he took hold of the doors, guided by the Force and began working to open them, sliding them away from each other. At first, nothing happened. They were heavier than he thought. But to the Force, they were merely leaves on the wind, and so he kept at it. There was a groan... a pop. Then the sound of metal grating on metal as the doors began to open with a tortured squeal at first, but then they began to open more easily, sliding away. They'd broken loose in their tracks and the dry lubricants had begun to do their work again.

Merek slowly entered the central chamber as the recorders and scanners proceeded ahead, one of them projecting a tight fan of blue-white laser light against the walls, floor, and ceiling. "This is incredible," Merek murmured in awe at the sheer number of lightsabers on the walls. The sarcophagus in the middle looked foreboding, and it wasn't hard to make out the Sith inscriptions. He observed the lineages, then shook his head to regard the sarcophagus. "And now we know," he murmured to himself.

[Gilkane]

as the stone was moved Gilkane, still trapped in his 30 year old body stirred from his meditation. Ahh, they had finally made the calculated mistake he was counting on. he felt them in the force, and saw them with out opening his eyes. he shrouded himself in darkness and moved so fluidly it looked as if he were dancing. yet what left his hands were not nice or beautiful at all. 4 long thin crystralline needles left his hand guided by te force. there destination was for the hollow just above the brest bone, and to pin them to the wall. he focused his mind to the spot right behind the third jedi, and he was there. his sword plundged deep through the spine, severing it as the blade continued through, gilkane forcing the jedi to his kneesbefore shoving the blade into the stone floor. He looked back to the jedi knight.

"Merek." Gilkane walked to a stone table and drew a long broad sword made of crystalline. One versed in history might call this a sith sword. "I know what your thinking, this is a sith crystalline sword." he flourished it with one hand. "Partially correct. this particular blade is one of two. indeed it is crystalline, but it was given to me when i was a jedi. Long Long before lightsabers."
He wasled to the wall where the first jedi was screaming in pain. Gilkane slashed quickly as if scaring the jedi who was inistantly silenced. gilkane turned to Merek.

"Still as sharp as the day it were made." he replied the head falling to the floor. he walked to the second who tried to look defiant, yet the sith lord managed to get a scream before taking there head. that left the one on his knees.

"Funny, how the jedi never talk about there ancient roots, isint it?" he cut off the head and stabbed it, and the others so they were stuck to the end of the blade. He handed this to Merek.
"You can check any jedi archive, if you have the clearance and that blade will bear my name and my blood sample." he said using a small dagger to cut his hand and let it drip on the handle.
"so tell me Master Jedi, are you scared? have you figured out what this place is? a library? a repository of ancient force knowledge? a training facility?" He grinned and walked from the chambed, his hands extending outward as two sabers from the wall flew to his hands. looking back, he motioned his hand and the sabers from the dead three joined the others on the wall.
"it was all those things. Oh the wonders of this place. focused on the force, not some aspect of light or dark. in the end though it became a prison." he looked to the jedi, knowing he would let him live. but only after what he had in store.
"If you wish Jedi, you can join your friends. I will hold you in no disregard. however if you lose, your friends died in vain, you died in vain and your jedi friends never know im coming until im knocking on there front doors. So why dont you take a few minuets to think things over. id put those on your ship, wouldnt want them ruined."