Part 3: Repentance
Rhyn suffered a deadly blow when confronted by a ghost from his past. He returns to the planet Glee Anselm seeking refuge.
Former Jedi turned Inquisitor, Syl Arkes, determined to extinguish the last remnants of her past, prepares to hunt down the bounty hunter and the one in hiding.
While the galaxy waits for an inevitable Rebellion against the Empire, personal wars are waged and past sins are rekindled.
Chapter 7
Glee Anselm: Outer Rim
It had been a week since Rhyn and B1-B6 returned to Glee Anselm. He had been nursed back to health by Mar-Saed Sunly, who also repaired the damages B6 had suffered. Once he stun her and had left with her lightsaber, she didn’t expect to see it, or him, again. Now she held her saber in her hands and a bounty hunter with a broken spirit on her couch.
Sensing that Rhyn was awake, she spoke. “So, Syl Arkes survived the Jedi Purge. That’s good.”
Rhyn sat on the sturdy furniture, bacta salves on his burned fingers and leg. “I don’t see it as good news and I don’t think there’s any good left in her.”
Mar-Saed smiled, “There is always good, Rhyn Pallas. The Force works in mysterious ways.” She clipped the lightsaber hilt to her waistband. “You’ll see once she comes to us.”
“No, she won’t come,” he said standing up, stretching his back and following her out the door. “She doesn’t know you are here. They hired me to find you because they didn’t know.”
Mar-Saed took in the sunlight, light breeze and the crashing waves. “She knows. She’s known for years. I’ve seen her scouting droids keeping tabs in case I ever decided to leave the planet.”
Rhyn shook his head remembering his encounters with Darth Vader, knowing now that they could have been avoided. “So why hire me instead of just coming for you herself?”
“We all have a past, Rhyn Pallas, and we are not always ready to revisit it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I knew her Master, Numa Briel.” Mar-Saed placed a hand on the chair that had always remained empty, facing the coast. “We were close…too close some would say.”
She drifted in thought but Rhyn didn’t break her away from it, instead letting her return when the time was right.
“We came up together in the Jedi Temple, Numa and me. Same Initiate clan, Star-Fox Clan. We got in trouble, covered for each other.”
Rhyn could see her eyes light up as she recalled their times together.
“She was a Twi’lek and me a Human. Only so much the Force can do to keep emotions at bay.”
Mar-Saed Sunly went on to tell Rhyn how during their Padawan days they were estranged due to their Master’s being appointed to separate outposts. They exchanged holo-messages sure, and their connection through the Force unique, but still.
Once they both passed their trials and became Jedi Knights, their connection was rekindled. Able to move more freely without the ever watchful eye of their Masters, Numa and Mar-Saed would meet up after completing their missions.
They had traveled the known galaxy acting on behalf of the Jedi and had settled on Glee Anselm as the place they would call home once their time in the Order came to an end.
Both loyal Jedi Knights, their views on the Order’s mandates and the call of the Force sometimes placed them at odds. With the passing of time, the Jedi had become more strict on what they considered forbidden and for Mar-Saed, that line had become all too blurry. If the Force brought her and Numa together, how could she negate that just because members of the Jedi Order had decided it was against their Code?
When did the Order become greater than the will of the Force?
Numa Briel was the epitome of a Jedi Master, always placing others above herself and serving at the will of the Council. She acknowledged her connection to Mar-Saed and acted on her emotions but knew that anything more could lead to attachments, temptation, and ultimately to jealousy and the dark side of the Force. Maybe one day, when her duties to the Jedi were complete, she could fully embrace her feelings for Mar-Saed and be together without the thought that what they were doing was wrong.
But Mar-Saed knew that a Jedi’s responsibilities, especially for a Jedi like Numa, would never come to an end.
“So the Jedi take you from your family when you are just a child, have you spend the forming years of your childhood locked in a temple with the same group of people. Grow up together. Fight together. Die together and expect you not to form a bond with them? A bond more than that of a teacher and a student?
“That’s a simplistic way of looking at it, Rhyn. We dedicate our lives to the Order and vow to follow it. It is when your views of the Force and the Order come into conflict that you must evaluate what feels right.”
“Well, I understand why you left.”
“I didn’t leave the Jedi. And I didn’t leave Numa.” Mar-Saed Sunly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The recollection of those times having an effect.
“I became a Wayseeker not just because I couldn’t shut my feelings away, I had become disillusioned with the Order and the road it was heading towards. I felt the Force calling to me in other ways, still serving the light but away from the constraints being placed on us,” she looked at the beach in front of her. “I also wanted to become a cook and learn to surf.”
Rhyn was now fully entranced by her story. “How did Numa react to your decision?”
She unhooked the lightsaber from her waist. “She used to call me her Sun.” Eyes now welling with tears. “That last night together, she gifted me this lightsaber. She designed the hilt, made the engravings on the pommel and molded the emitter,” she paused, gathering herself, “I was her Sun, this is my Bright Star.”
Rhyn wasn’t sure what to say next. It just came back to the reason he was there. “What happened with Syl Arkes? Why is she coming after you?”
Mar-Saed wiped a few tears from her eyes and the ones that had ran down her chin. “She is here. We can ask her together.”
B1-B6 came rolling in letting out a series of chirps.
“What are they saying?” Mar-Saed asked.
“They said a ship just entered the airspace and landed a few kilometers away.”
Chapter 8
Glee Anselm: Beach Front
The Third Sister exited her TIE Predator, the Emortuss, and followed the coordinates MN-T5 had provided her to reach Mar-Saed Sunly’s property. She didn’t need her droid for this.
She entered the clearing and saw Rhyn Pallas standing next to Mar-Saed. She was alive. Back on the Star Destroyer she had thought that maybe Rhyn completed his job and had killed the old Jedi. She always knew he had a soft heart. Now it was up to her to finish the task that she should have dealt with years ago.
Rhyn walked to stand between both women but was swept aside by a movement from the Inquisitors hand.
Mar-Saed took two steps forward. “Welcome, Syl. I’m glad to see you’re alive.”
She stopped walking at the sound of her old name. Her name.
No. That was the Jedi’s name, not hers. Not anymore.
“You can call me Third Sister, Jedi.”
She pushed forward with her hands sending a blast from the Force towards Mar-Saed who had to extend her own arms backwards and use the Force to stop her movement. The sand behind her rising from the clash of the exchange.
“Did you even knew she died?” The Third Sister barked.
“I did. I felt her die and become one with the Force. The only one I felt.”
For Mar-Saed Sunly, she felt the Force like a breeze, a gentle waft of air all the way to a raging storm, like a hurricane. On that day the gust of winds of the Force knocking her down to her knees.
“Master Briel was never the same after you left. Always wondering where you were, what adventure you had gotten yourself into. Her mind not in the moment, elsewhere.”
Rhyn couldn’t move. Not because he was in some sort of Force trance, he felt static. Consumed by what he was seeing. Was it his place to intervene? He had known Syl Arkes, but this was bigger than him.
“She lost focus. That’s why General Grievous was able to kill her. It was because of you! It’s your fault she’s dead!” The Third Sister paced side to side but not advancing forward.
“Lord Vader thinks you are dead, you know,” she said to Mar-Saed.
The Jedi noticed the tide changing. The sea becoming rougher since Syl Arkes’ arrival. “Why didn’t you tell him? Are you conflicted?”
“Conflicted?” A painful laugh emanated behind her mouthpiece. She pressed the button on the side, activating the design’s mechanisms, revealing her full face. Syl Arkes’ face.
“Where were you when Vader’s Inquisitors came for me? I was alone while you were hiding in paradise.”
“I’m here now, Syl. I am sorry for what you went through.”
It was like she didn’t hear the words. “Well, you can’t hide now.” She pressed the button activating her faceplate and visor. A red blade emanating from her lightsaber. A second one appearing on the other end.
Mar-Saed extended her arm towards her hut and a white and gold helmet flew to her hand.
“A Jedi Temple Guard’s helmet?” The Inquisitor asked rhetorically. “They devote their lives to the Order and cleanse themselves of all emotions. Is this your idea of a twisted joke?”
Mar-Saed placed the helmet over her head. The sensory deprivation it created helped her focus.
“Master Yoda gave this to me before I set out. Said to keep it close and the Jedi Order would be with me every step of my journey.”
Rhyn sensed the Force growing between both Syl and Mar-Saed. He felt himself growing in the Force or at least his perception of himself in the Force. The Force was all around them, and for once he could feel it, felt himself part of it.
Rhyn thought on what Syl Arkes, his friend, told him once. Breathe. Reach out and let the Force guide you. He pushed his arms forward and his own helmet came to him. He saw another object flying towards him and he grabbed it just in time. It was the lightsaber that Syl Arkes had left behind when she left Ord Mantell.
All three Force users stood in a circle. A Jedi Knight, now a Wayseeker. A former Jedi turned Inquisitor. A Force-sensitive bounty hunter awakening in the Force.
The Inquisitor dashed forward, followed by Mar-Saed whose white-bladed lightsaber met the red blade coming towards her from above. Rhyn ignited his own, a green glow illuminating his visor. He made a side strike but it was blocked by the second blade of the Third Sister’s weapon.
All three blades crackled as they created a colorful display of red, white and green sparks.
Mar-Saed and the Third Sister pushed against each other using the Force with their free hand. After about 5 seconds the energy bubbled up and ignited, sending the combatants reeling.
This time it was Rhyn who initiated the attack. Forgetting that the lightsaber technique he had been trained on worked better as a defensive form, his overhead strike was easily parried and followed by a side kick to the stomach.
The mechanical voice of Syl Arkes behind the modulator. “You remember nothing, Rhyn Pallas. Was I such a bad teacher?”
He removed his Westar blaster and let forward a couple of bolts that were deflected and send back to him. Luckily for him, this time he had his own lightsaber and was able to deflect them himself.
“I guess you do learn.” She used the Force to move at an incredible rate, she was almost over Rhyn, ready to strike him down, when she was pushed towards the ocean by Mar-Saed Sunly. The Third Sister extended her arms to break the Force Push and the waves crashed behind her, breaking and opening the sea before the wave of water came roaring back down.
“Are you ok, Rhyn?” asked Mar-Saed and Rhyn returned a Yes nod. They now stood next to each other.
The Third Sister kept the pressure on. Red blade clashing against white. Green against red. White against green when the Inquisitor spun out of the way.
For Rhyn, the extended battle was starting to take its toll as exhaustion was setting in. For the two Jedi, it looked like they had energy on reserve. The Third Sister noticed that he was struggling to keep up and saw an opening that she could exploit. With a flick of the wrist, she send Mar-Saed a few feet back. She then stretched both arms towards a jogan fruit tree and focused on the roots until she was able to lift it and send it towards the Jedi. Mar-Saed turned off her saber and stretched her own hands in order to catch the tree before it crushed her. Enough of a distraction for the Third Sister to focus on Rhyn.
She struck first with a slash from her right side, followed by a spin and forward thrust with the other end of the double-sided lightsaber. Both were blocked but pushed Rhyn further back.
Even with his newly awaken senses, he was no match for someone like Syl Arkes. They were too raw. She was trained in the Jedi arts and corrupted by the dark side of the Force. They served him well and helped him last longer than he should but the flurry of attacks started consuming him. He rolled backwards to gain some distance and removed his blaster from the holster. Before he could press the trigger, the weapon flew to the outstretched hand of his aggressor.
Finally he saw his opening. He remembered his first encounter with Mar-Saed and pressed the button on his gauntlet to activate the magnetized gripton.
The Third Sister felt a tug on her lightsaber but was able to tighten her grip before it flew away. She noticed what Rhyn was doing.
“Your bounty hunter tricks won’t work on me, Rhyn,” she said as she used her free hand to form an invisible grasp around Rhyn’s wrist. Tighter, tighter until the gauntlet started glitching and cracking. Rhyn heard, and felt, bones breaking underneath. No bacta salve would fix this.
With three steps she was on top of him. Lightsaber hummed to life ready to end his.
One last trick he thought.
The Inquisitor’s blade held high for a triumphant blow but it started flickering. On both ends. Until the blades retreated and the weapon shut off. She pressed the activation switch.
Nothing.
She looked down at Rhyn and saw he was holding a small device in his unbroken hand. A scanner of sorts. Pointed at her lightsaber
“What is that? What did you do?”
Rhyn managed a laugh. “Are you familiar with the works of Avon Starros?”
It worked! That device he had tricked General Lorramine all those years ago with a kohlen crystal did work on kyber crystals. And it had just saved his life. At least for the moment.
The Third Sister crushed the scanner with the Force and followed by guiding Rhyn’s lightsaber into her hands.
“I remember this blade. Left it behind on purpose to give you some guidance and hopefully send you down a better path. Now it will be your end.”
She ignited the green blade and for a moment relished in the color and what it meant. Green kyber crystals were usually wielded by Jedi Consular, those attuned to the Living Force and nature around them. They valued peace, harmony and meditated on the mysteries of the Force.
What had become of her? No time for that now, just a mission to complete.
She heard a crash behind her as Mar-Saed had guided the tree away from her and set it down harmlessly.
“We’re not done here,” she said to Rhyn before kicking him on the helmet making him pass out.
The Third Inquisitor approached Mar-Saed and as she did, removed her headgear and threw it into the ocean. “I want to look at you, with my own eyes, Mar-Saed Sunly, as I make you feel what I felt.”
The Jedi saw this as a crack in her interior. Her emotions showing. Not of anger but of disappointment. Fear. A young girl in fear of having been left alone.
She could get to her. Bring her back.
“Syl, this is between you and me. Leave Rhyn out of it.” She went to check on him as she circled Syl to get to him. She removed Rhyn’s helmet and placed her palm on his forehead. Transferring a bit of Force energy to him. He opened his eyes but was still pretty much out of it. Mar-Saed helped Rhyn up and set him down away from the battle area.
Mar-Saed and Syl were about five feet away from each other now. Slowly walking in circles, lightsabers clashing but no blow meant to kill.
“After the Jedi fell, the Grand Inquisitor found me on Chandrila. I was hiding there, trying to find any Jedi sympathizers but the Empire moved in too quickly.”
Blades clashed again, but this time Syl held the lock as to be close to Mar-Saed as she delivered her retort.
“I was taken to Darth Vader…Lord Vader. He tortured me. Not physically but mentally. Got in my head. Showed me visions of dead Jedi. Younglings being hunted down.”
Sparks of white and green flew as the blades separated before clashing together again.
“He saw my torment of losing my Master, the fear. But he showed me a way I could regain control. Use that pain. The path to the dark side of the Force.”
She kicked Mar-Saed in the stomach sending her reeling a few meters back. Stumbling but not falling. From her crouched position she turned off her lightsaber.
“Do you know why I didn’t come for you, Syl? For Numa Briel, your Master, my love,” she trailed off for just a moment. “For her I never came before you. You were like a daughter to her. When she died, I was afraid. Afraid that I wouldn’t be that for you. By not being there for you, I failed her. I failed you.” She dropped completely to her knees, head bowed. “Do what you must, but know that I am sorry.” She whispered, “I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.”
When I doubt, Syl Arkes, breath. Reach out and let the Force guide you. The words came to Syl. Not in thought or memory but a whisper, a murmur in the Force.
Mar-Saed heard the hum of the lightsaber fade as it turned off. Syl Arkes kneeled in front of her former Master’s companion. She placed her hand on Mar-Saed’s chin and lifted her head. She wanted to be able to look at her face. Her other hand still on the lightsaber hilt.
Mar-Saed saw that Rhyn had recuperated and had Syl under the scope of his blaster. She shook her head no to him. What ever happened next would be the will of the Force.
The saber fell from Syl’s grip and landed on the soft sand. Both Jedi embraced each other.
Chapter 9
Glee Anselm: Morning
Rhyn had walked the beach with Mar-Saed that morning. He couldn’t recall the last time he had spent some leisurely time on a stretch of sand.
“What will you do now?”
“There’s still much work to be done. Her bond to the dark side will not be so easily broken. To walk both paths is something some have tried but never accomplished. I now believe this is my task.”
“To seek a way to balance both the light side and the dark side of the Force?”
“We all have good and bad inside us, Rhyn. Is all light, good? Is all dark, bad? Too much detachment can make us forget why we became Jedi in the first place. Emotions, feelings, even love are a good thing, as long as they do not dominate our lives. The will of the Force is what we must follow.
I also have to make sure that her redemption is one of action and not just thought. The dark side had her do horrible things and she most atone for those actions. We will find a way.”
“But did you see what I did when I said seek a way? Because you’re a Wayseeker. You get it?”
“Oh, I got it. I just decided to ignore it in hopes it was not intentional. Now I know I was wrong.”
Syl Arkes exited the hut after sleeping more hours that night than in month’s priors. She joined them on the shore. She tapped Rhyn on the shoulder and gave Mar-Saed Sunly a hug.
“Can I speak to Rhyn for a moment?”
Mar-Saed looked at Rhyn who gestured with his head that it was okay. She bowed her head and walked towards her home. All that walking had made her hungry anyways. And she hadn’t had breakfast yet.
“I’m sorry, Rhyn. All those years ago, after Ord Mantell, I thought of you. Hoping you had made it out and were living a good life.”
He smiled, wanting to put her at ease. “It wasn’t all bad.”
She smiled back. “Good to know. But once I was turned to the dark side and needed someone for this job,” Syl motioned her open palm around them, “I only thought on how I could use and manipulate you, when what I needed was my friend. I’m sorry.”
“That wasn’t you, Syl. You hear me? You had no control over your actions.”
“The thing is, I did. Sometimes, at least. I could feel this anger growing inside me and I knew that if I meditated and focused on the Force, I could control it. However, there were times that I didn’t want to have any control over it. I wanted it to control me. It gave me freedom. Power. But now, now it’s only shame, and regret.” She let the sun kiss her forehead as it rose over a cloud.
“There is something called the Barash Vow. It’s something certain Jedi undertake when their connection to the light side of the Force has been shaken. A pilgrimage of sorts where we disconnect and wait for the will of the Force to call to us. Mar-Saed says I am not needing of this commitment at the moment and hopes that we can find answers together.”
“I am glad for you, Syl,” he grabbed her hand in his. “When I learned of Order 66 and the Jedi Purge, I hoped you had never made it to Coruscant and the Jedi Temple. I’m happy to have my friend back and wish the best for you on your next journey.”
They walked together back to the house. Syl noticed, just like Rhyn had all those years before, a backpack and supplies set aside for someone who was getting ready to leave. Their short time together had come to an end.
“What about you? Where are you going from here?” Syl asked.
“There’s something I need to finish. I finally have all I need.”
“Back to where it started, huh?”
Rhyn nodded and handed Syl back her lightsaber. The one she left him in Ord Mantell. “Green suits you better than red.”
“Thank you. Will we see each other again?”
Rhyn smiled before placing his helmet over his head. “What does your heart tell you?”
He grabbed his items and turned to her as he walked out. “May the Force be with you, Syl Arkes.”
“Where to?” B1-B6 asked as Rhyn boarded the Valkyr.
“Bardotta.”
Epilogue
Bardotta: Colonies Region
Rhyn gathered the items he needed. The Clone Trooper helmet he got from Kamino, two custom-made filters acquired by Chewbacca and Han Solo, and the breather hoses with Theophyll coating he bought on the space station. He assembled the items together. Meticulously going over every puzzle piece, opening and junction points.
The helmet design, used mostly by underwater dive troopers, had been recalled due to its inability to filter out microscopic water parasites. This wasn’t an issue for Rhyn’s needs but the dual-filter system was essential. The theophyll layering the inside of the breather hoses absorbed most of the toxins created by the dioxis, while the filters, customized to specifications, blocked the smallest particles from reaching his lungs.
“We are at the coordinates, Rhyn. Ready to deploy?” B1-B6 flew the Valkyr over the region where Lomas Megis fell and died. If not by the fall then by inhaling the poisonous fumes.
With no stable ground large enough nearby to support the Valkyr, Rhyn was taking the smaller shuttle to the surface. The astromech droid stayed on board the main ship just in case an emergency extraction was needed.
“Yes. Heading down now.” He slipped the Clone Trooper helmet over his head. The fit felt strange. This was probably only the second time he had worn a helmet that wasn’t his own.
He had been able to chart out the first two layers of the crater before the gas cloud rendered the mapping instruments useless. He had a good idea of where his friend might be and set the shuttle above the opening. He would have to do part of the search without any charts and the longer he was down there the probabilities of his new helmet malfunctioning increased substantially.
He attached a medium-size crate to a magna clamp hoist cable and started lowering it down. Rhyn secured his arm around a secondary cable and followed soon after.
_____
Rhyn Pallas had returned to the Valkyr but hadn’t gone to the cockpit or told B1-B6 there next destination. He had stayed in the cargo room for at least an hour, one hand over the crate containing the remains of his childhood best friend. Head down in the palm of his other hand.
It had taken him years to return to Bardotta and complete this task. He spoke to Lomas, told him the adventures he had gotten himself into since they last saw each other and could sense his friend laughing and making fun of him. Training with a Jedi. Running jobs for the Black Sun crime syndicate. Losing a Sabacc game to a Ewok. Being summoned to an Imperial Star Destroyer by Darth Vader.
After a moment of guilt for his friend not having been able to experience the life that he had, relief washed over him. Lomas would be able to rest. Rhyn would take him home.
“Beewuhn-Beesiks.”
A reply came back on the ships communication system. “Yes, Rhyn.”
“Take us to Mirial.”
_____
Lomas Megis was laid to rest in an open field where him and Rhyn used to sneak out after dinner and played until the sun had gone down and the coldness of Mirial’s night took over. Rhyn asked B1-B6 to gather the tools used and he would meet them back in the ship. He placed an ochre meat ration’s pack over the freshly packed soil and left.
Rhyn made it to the plaza where he first saw a Jedi, two actually, when he could have been selected to join them and be taken to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. How different would his life have been if those events transpired differently? Would it have been a better or worse life?
The Jedi. Keepers of peace across the galaxy. But taken away from his parents, his friends. Would that life had been better than the one he actually got to live?
Instinctively or not, he was now standing outside his childhood home. Was it the will of the Force that brought him there or just a coincidence? Who was living in it now? Could his parents still be inside? Could he face them? He half-turned to leave but faced the door again. He raised his hand to knock but that was as far as it would go. He felt frozen.
The decision was made as the door creaked open. A male Mirialan, maybe in his mid-to-late fifties stood in the crease between the partially opened door and the frame.
“May we help you with anything?” Said the elder Mirialan.
A moment passed with no words spoken and the homeowner looked Rhyn up and down waiting for a reply. He still wore his helmet.
“Sorry, sir,” Rhyn finally said. “Do you know if the Pallas still leave here?”
A voice came from inside the house. A woman’s voice. “Alestar, who is it?”
Alestar took a step out the door and called back inside. “Come here, Jamorie.”
“Hi there. I’m Jamorie Pallas.” She presented her hand for a shake but then pulled it back. A puzzled expression overtook her face. “Rhyn? Is that you?”
Alestar Pallas reached out with both hands towards Rhyn’s helmet and slowly removed it. Tears rolling down Rhyn’s cheeks.
“Son?”
“Mom. Dad. I’m sorry.” He grabbed his parent’s hands with his own. “I’m sorry I left. Sorry that I didn’t tell you where I was or even that I was alive. I couldn’t come back and face you after what happened. I don’t know why, I just couldn’t.”
He wanted to keep going but his parents embraced him and held him close. No explanation was needed. He was home.
THE END.
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