Ahsoka

After a few months of hassling with bureaucracies of government change. and getting more involved in our ship repair and building corporation, and constantly being scrutinized by the Imperial interference it was obvious that the Empire was going to push us completely out of the assignment of supervising the dock and warehouse. 

So The Incorruptible crew were moving out. We all took shifts that were not obvious. different times on different days moving what we could into the ships that we salvaged and built to our new place on Kalevala. The other three only know about the building and yard. I have intentionally kept them out of the loop regarding what is under the building, after all as far as I knew it was just a big round room with nothing to it.

I was going to make one last sweep of the sealed area and take the last load. When something unexpected happened. 

As I approached the secretly locked doors just before I began to open it. I felt someone coming up behind me. 

"Hello Ahsoka, its good to see you again." I said as I turned around. 

She gave an inquisitive reply. "I've been better. How did you know it was me?"

"It has been a very busy year Ahsoka. It is good to see you." I responded. 

"I could use your help if you have some time." I mentioned as I turned, unlocked and opened the door with a wave of my hand. "Quick get in." 

After we got inside, I closed the door and faced her once again. Before she could reason out in her head and inquire I took the initiative. "After Darth Maul killed my Aunt / Mother .... " It took me about an hour of explaining and showing her my collection of light sabers how I can take them apart. I hurriedly explained what the four of us had tried to do to reduce corruption like she taught us and how we had to re locate because of the Empire. I was able to get all of this explaining done while loading all of my personal collections into the Reliable. Then I convinced her that she had to come along, which didn't take any time really. then we were off. 

It turned out that she was in hiding and on the run from her past. On the way to Kalevala she began explaining her plight. Choosing to leave the Jedi order after no one trusted her until she was vindicated after being falsely accused. She felt that the Order was not headed down the same path as she was and not a group to trust since they did not trust her. 

Needless to say she felt relieved to talk to someone since she left. It had been over a month of zig-zagging  from system to system so that no one not even Anakin would be able to figure out the route she took. 

As we approached the new place on Kalevala her demeanor had improved, and now became very focused on where we were headed. 

"What is this place?" she asked with some intensity. "The force is strong here."

"May be the force brought you here, so that we can find out together." the building's security system let us in and we landed not far from the doors  that covered the hole in the floor. 

As we got out, I asked if she was needing a drink, food or anything else or if she just wanted to jump in. she was already in the lift before she could answer so I guess that was the answer.

As we approached the engravings she turned to me and asked if I knew what they were.

I had spent more than a few hours staring at and meditating on the engravings. So I said "I believe that the symbols are for Knowledge for the top one, the second is the symbol for the force, and the third is the symbol for discipline, but so far the inscription has not revealed itself to me. Can you read it Ahsoka?"

"Your ability to use the force to interpret the environment around you is impressive for someone who has only been using it for a few months." she commended. "The text appears to be the same as it appears in the Jedi temple on Coruscant. Although the script is much older and the symbols are slightly different which is probably because they too are older. The text reads like a riddle. It says 'Knowledge, The force, and Discipline are attained through each other. You cannot gain knowledge of the force without discipline. You cannot learn the discipline of using the force without knowledge. Becoming disciplined in gaining knowledge shall lead to becoming more knowledgeable about being disciplined. The force is everywhere and is in everything.'"

"So, what does it mean?" I asked in a tone like a kid asks a parent why the sky is the color that it is.

"That is the riddle." she said. "Once you have that figured out, your knowledge of the force will be greater than many Jedi Masters."

"Who all knows about this place?" Ahsoka asked with sudden concern and intense sincerity.

"You are the only one that I have brought down here." I assured her. "Why? What is this place?"

"This, Korkie is a Jedi temple. a very old temple." she responded with awe in her voice. "Let's find out together what is inside."

"How do we do that?" I asked.

"First, you are going to have to get some training. I have read very little about how these temples can be accessed, and we cannot contact the order for help. SoI need to know what you can really do before we can take on such a task. But you were right earlier, the force brought me here, there is no doubt of that.?"

"How did this place come to be in your possession?" she asked. 

"Let's talk about that over dinner." I suggested. 

The rest of the night and the next day we talked Ahsoka, Ah-Zhna, and I. 

We learned quite a lot. The reason for the warring between the old Jedi order and the old Mandalorian warrior worlds, was because of this temple. Although the Mandalorians apparently never found out about the temple. 

Only when an old wise Jedi Master made piece with an old Mandalorian interested more in knowledge than becoming the most powerful warrior got together, a plan came together. 

For the knowledge contained within the temple had to be protected from the obsessions of both extremes. 

That knowledge has been passed on to a very select group of people for the last 3800 years.

"The temple had to be hidden until it was forgotten." Ah-Zhna outlined "So it was."

  

  

Kalevala

While visiting Satine's home world of Kalevala I began wondering why Satine would ever want to leave this place. To voluntarily call the desert engulfed world of Mandalore home instead of this planet I will never be able to say for sure. All I can come up with is that it was out of duty. The duty that had always been inside her to make the world a better place. 

Regardless of the reason or reasons why she chose not to reside here on Kalevala, I am finding this world easy to find myself at home. I have never felt that way on Mandalore even though I have spent most of my life there. 

Amis and I came here to move / change operations. The the work operating and supervising the government warehouse slowed down considerably after the initial clean up, and increased Imperial presence. So we began looking into the design and building of new smaller transport ships. The custom variety. This was in addition to what we have been doing, making custom modifications and repairs to ships, it first started out doing things like upgrading weapons systems, and installing containment facilities for a bounty hunter by the name of Hondo Ohnaka that was hired by the new Mandalorian government to nab and transport some unwanted types out of Enceri. Apparently Hondo gave our names to to one or two of his acquaintances and now we are looking for a new base of operations. 

While asking around the area that Satine was from, I noticed an individual skulking about. A short (0.7 meter tall) humanoid with dark brown skin. bald on top, with thin gray hair on the sides. After asking a couple of contacts that I was given about some property options, I quickly grabbed the creeping little guy and demanded him to explain his intentions. 

He started stammering a bit, tripping over his own tongue, when I noticed that he was staring at the spot on my shirt that displayed the crest of the house of Kryze.


After a few seconds, it was apparent that he was harmless, so I put him down. I started to ask him what he wanted, but he interrupted me by demanding, in a low gravely voice, that I explain by what right I had to wear that crest. 

I explained "I am Korkie Kryze of the house of Kryze." 

Then I inquired "Who is asking." 

He stared at me for a while, just as I was going to walk away, he decided to talk.

"Ah-Zhna" he responded slowly. "Ah-Zhna is my name. Me you will follow. Something for you I have." 

Then he started to walk away. 

Amis was laughing more out loud than to himself by this point, so I had him go ahead and follow up on the leads we had made earlier, while I entertained my curiosity with this odd fellow. 

I followed Ah-Zhna for about an hour on foot until we came to what I am going to call his office for a lack of a better term. It was set up like a store front. There was a lot of what I would categorize as junk laying around. He led me me through the junk to what appeared to be a medical room. There was an exam table in the middle of the room, and a smaller table with three chairs around it on the far side of the room. "A seat you take." he instructed. followed by an invitation to have a drink. "Some water would be good." I replied. "you said that you had something for me?" 

"Of course, yes, yes, something for you. Get it I will."  

He handed me a glass of water and left the room. 

I could hear the clanging and banging of things being tossed aside when suddenly, I was scanned from a node that had dropped down from above the exam table.   

"Hey!?! What did you just do?" I demanded.

"Apologize, I must." Ah-Zhna exclaimed. "To be sure I had to be." 

"'To be sure' of what" I insisted.

"You are, as you stated." He said with a much more calm voice, as he slowly re-entered the room holding a data pad. He looked at me a couple of times as he reviewed what I assume to be the results of his unauthorized medical scan. After a few minutes of waiting, he took notice of my look of disapproval. Then he focused his gaze on me and queried. "Know, do you, who your mother is?" 

"How did you...?" I began to ask

" All Kryze, I know about." Ah-Zhna interrupted. My job, it is. "A good friend Satine was. About her death, sad it was to hear."

"your father, have you known?" he asked to change the subject.

"I didn't know about Satine until after she was murdered." I exclaimed. "Bo-Katan would not tell me who my father is even though she claims to know who he is."

"Of the Mandalore system he is not." he responded and began to grin. "Helps little I know this does, but something more about him I know." 

"Yes, what is it." I eagerly inquired. 

"A wielder of the force he is. A Jedi perhaps..."  He trailed off as if he realized something. 

"Well, what is it?" I prodded. "And how did you know my father was a wielder of the force"

"High enough to tell about your father, your midi-chlorian count is." He said after looking down at the data once again. 

"A Jedi Padawan helped your mother, not long before you were born." He explained "Your Father he could have been. Right the timing is." 

I must have shown my keen interest in learning more because he began to look very nervous. His voice cracked as he turned the conversation to why he brought me here. 

"With me you will come. Something very important I have to give you." Ah-Zhna blurted as he stashed the data in his clothing. 

I followed him out a back entrance to a speeder. After contacting Amis to let him know that I was going to be a while. I got in and off we went, not knowing where it was that we were going. 

After about three and a half hours later of crossing all kinds of terrain we stopped at a structure that was, I would guess to be  500 meters square by 100 meters tall at the corner of a walled off area of 1500 meter squared off area. The wall was 50 meters tall. What ever this place it is impressive. It would be perfect for what we were looking for. As Ah-Zhna and I approached what I am guessing to be the front gate, he took out the data pad that he had in the office. There are now two new lights on the top edge that are lit up. This was easy to notice since it is dark outside this time at night. He began touching, typing, and swiping. After about ten minutes a node protruded from the wall. scanned us and the area around us including the speeder. A door just big enough for the speeder opened. and speeder and all, we went inside. 

As we started to walk around I noticed the air was stale and it somewhat dark as the lights began to come on.  

Be careful, Ah-Zhna alerted me. As the lighting began to get brighter, He triggered a switch that began a process of opening huge sealing door that sat upon the floor. As I begin to look around. This immense structure is set up on top of a huge jagged hole in the otherwise flat ground made of a deep purple quartz. I didn't see any cracks in the stone outside the apparently cut out hole.  It looked like this.
 
It is 200 meters across at the large points (point to point) and 100 meters across at the smaller ones, but that is at the top it get larger the further down it goes. Which looks to be about 500 meters.

"Okay Ah-Zhna" I began. " What is this place, and why did you bring me here?" 

"Go to the bottom first we will, then answer your questions I will" he replied.

"Down?!?"  I thought to myself. "To what"

A lift lowered from high above and came to rest at the top of the giant doors. 

After we got in it lowered down to the bottom. There were lights set up in what opened up into a round room some 350 to 360 meters in diameter. The apparently perfectly round walls go up some 50 Meters then become the enlarged version of the jagged opening that tapers up.

At one point in the round room, there was what appears to be a rectangular opening 30 meters across and 30 meters high. next to the rectangular opening were three engraved images with old text engraved along the side.




I cannot make out the old text for now. 

"For you to figure out, this place is" he began to speak after seeing that I was taking it all in. "To hand over possession of this place to you is why you are here."

Before I could escalate the questions, he continued. "To Garethe Kryze, ten generations ago of Kryze, a promise I have made. This place to look after. The Kryze Family to follow. For you to find, help and guide."

For the next few hours we discussed the what, who, how and why although, all I can say for certain is that I am more unclear about all of this than when I started. 

but one thing that I do know is, we got our place for our new ship building business. And I got more mysteries to unravel.

The Warehouse Hideout / Vault

One of the first assignments as government appointed supervisor of the government port as well as the government warehouse. I had to oversee the collection, cataloging, and confiscation of the Death Watch Items that belonged to the members who chose to become loyal to Maul after the execution of Pre Vizsla. 

Kar-Nah Wren, the now Prime Minister of Mandalore, and Aunt Bo-Katan aided in the identifying of the members that were faithful to Mandalore. Those Identified as such had their armor and belongings discretely returned to appropriate family members.

The rest came under my charge. I was given clear instructions to keep these Items out of the 'wrong hands.' Although the instructions on how this was to be accomplished was left up to me.

As such an entire hanger adjacent to the government warehouse became a vault. On the side of the hanger that was furthest from the warehouse was a walled off area that made an odd angle. It was always a kind of dead space. It was difficult to get things in and out of. It had access to a small landing platform with a very awkward approach. In order to get to this platform, you have to be a good pilot, and you have to know that it is there.

Among the contraband that we "watched over" was a Kom'rk class fighter. It had some recently acquired damage, but with parts from all of the wreckage after the battle, Sonnie had it back to perfect running order in no time.

There was a section of the hanger that was already set up with limited access, we just took a few steps to make it more secure. We walled over the larger cargo door in such a way that it could be opened again, but only from the inside. The outside access was set up so that any one of us could land inside with the right access code submitted from the craft. The only other way into the area from the outside was set up specifically for me. 

You see we first set up the door with four internal locking bolts, two on each side of the door going into the wall. Then I practiced for a week, using the force to slide each bolt to the right point where the door could be opened. Then after confidence was found by all, we welded an armored plate over the door in a way that it matched the wall plates. It was amazing, if you didn't know that the space was there, you would think that the space ended at the wall.

The down side was that I had to be there to open the door, but that was an upside too. 

Besides the fighter, that we named the Reliable. In the larger hanger we were working on a few different ships. We had enough parts that we thought that we would eventually have a second working Kom'rk, and may be a third. One of them was set up as a troop transport, which might come in handy at some point, if we ever needed to move a group of people. 

The Reliable was a well designed craft. It can be flown by a single pilot, but can maintain a crew of four, which was perfect for us. It had some cargo space. It was fast and capable of close combat. It was very maneuverable. 

There was also a Mandalorian shuttle for some reason in the inventory. After we took out most of the passenger seats and added some container restraints it is serving well as a cargo vessel.

We also maintain a large selection of armor, weapons, and other tech. 

While we use this cash of items, to do our job, we are making sure that it does not fall into the wrong hands. 

Sonnie

Sonnie was the most negatively impacted person, that I knew of, when Maul's goons took control of Death Watch by decapitating Pre Vizsla. In the fighting that followed, Sonnie's parents Kar-Nah and Ty-la'-el Wren were a part of Death Watch that stood with Aunt Bo-Katan. Ty-la'-el, Sonnie's mother was shot and killed in that fight. 

-

Aunt Bo-Katan gave Sonnie the helmet that her mother wore in the battle. Later after Sonnie made her own she passed that helmet onto Sabine. It was an heir loom that would not to be taken for granted. But, that is a story for someone else to tell.

-

After word got back to the Republic Senate that the Sith lord Darth Maul was behind the uprising on Mandalore, the Empire decided that it had the authority to restructure the Government, and so it did. 

Prime Minister Almec was forcibly relieved of his duties and replaced by Kar-Nah Wren. Kar-Nah was the Overseeing officer for the Royal Academy of Government prior to that. He was familiar with running a large institution, he was well liked by the people, and he was trust worthy, so he was a good fit for the job. Since his wife's death he was motivated to see to changes for the better, rooting out of corruption and instituting laws and regulations that were enforced by those he most trusted. 

Some within Death Watch did not take to this move well, but others embraced it. Among those that embraced it were ones vetted and selected to police the parts of government that had been the most corrupt in the past.   

All of this restructuring of the government, took most of Kar-Nah's time, which left  Sonnie with the task of raising her little sister Sabine who was only two years old at the time. She had help from droids and assistants of the family, but a lot of Sonnie's attention was given to poor sister.

I benefited from all of the changes as well. Since the 'Incorruptibles' were partialy responsible for the ousting of the traitorous Almec. I was given a job that served its purpose at the time. The 'incorruptibles' were charged with the Supervising the government port and warehouses here in Sundari, on Mandalore. Under the direction of our new Prime Minister Kar-Nah Wren.

Sonnie became even more engrossed in her tech. Especially when she was not tending to young Sabine. We spent a lot time studying the Night Owl helmet that Aunt Bo-Katan gave her. From that studying we started delving into making armor for ourselves. This endeavor would never be complete of course. After all there are always improvements to be made. 

With Sonnie on the task with us we were going to be the most technologically prepared team in the galaxy.  

We really began to understand the need to meet rule #2  that Aunt Bo-Katan outlined.

We had to find or create a safehouse, but where? 

A New Trick

I am a Mandalorian. As such I am expected to be good at certain things. 

In particular I am supposed to be good at understanding how armor and weapons function and are assembled.  Over the years my aunt Bo-Katan did what she could at instructing me in such tech. 

When a Mandalorian such as myself comes into contact with military types of technology it is in my nature to come to understand that technology. 

So when I started trying to understand the design of the light sabers that I was in possession of, my frustration grew until it became an obsession.  

How could something that could fit in one hand with a solitary function be so confoundedly enigmatic? 

There were no apparent fasteners anywhere keeping each of the pieces together. They were each seamless from pommel to the grip to the emitter. Yet I know by looking at the sabers that I possessed, and having seen Ahsoka 's (though from afar) that each one is entirely unique. This is a clue that they are individually designed and assembled. Not a task easily done by a machine, so it must be done by each owner. BUT HOW?

After a close study of each one under magnifying lenses, and some trial and error (emphasis on the error). I set the single bladed saber of Maul on the floor in front of me as I sat on the floor. I closed my eyes and tried to envision what the saber looked like on the inside. 

I mentally disassembled it. Imagining that the pommel came off, then the grip slid off of the internal components. I imagined the power cell (it must have one of some type in there.) I thought of the switch that connected to the power cell, some kind of crystal that focused that power and then a red lens. I imagined it all coming apart and lying itself out in a nice neat row. 

When I opened my eyes I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sight of everything, just how I imagined it. 

What just happened.

I could not conceive how this happened. 

I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyed, Nope still apart.

I don't really know how, but it did really happen.

Okay, so it really happened, could I put it back together again?!?

So, I calmed my mind, and closed my eyes. 

While calling to mind the reverse order that I imagined the dis-assembly, I envisioned the assembly. putting each piece back in it's place. 

I opened my eyes, but to my disappointment, it was only assembled up to the crystal.

I took it apart again. 

Again it was found as I intended. 

I attempted to put it back together paying close attention to how everything went together in my mind, but there it is. I see the problem. I could not mentally see the red lens. instead I see a dark blue one. 

I could not see it as red no matter how many times I tried. 

That must be why every light saber is unique. It is dependent on the one building it.

Intent on getting this saber back together, I decided to "borrow" the chemistry laboratory at the Royal Academy of Government.  No one would be there at this late hour, and I knew what I was doing, well kind of. I mean really the odds of burning the place down was minor. So off I went. 

I let myself in to the academy, I found the flame fusion machine. added the proper amount of iron and titanium to the corundum recipe. 

After a few hours I had the crystal that was the right color. 

I put everything back. Aside from the residual heat from the machine, no one should no that I was here.

After I made it home. I went to work on the shape of the crystal. carefully comparing it to the red one that I took out of the saber. It took a long time, but after a couple of days of painstakingly long hours of laser cut after laser cut, and then polishing, it was ready. 

I sat on the floor with all of the pieces right where they have been the since I first took it apart, except now there I have replaced a blue crystal where the red one had been.

I imagined the process of  all of the pieces coming together. 

I slowly opened my eyes.

It worked. Somehow I rebuilt the light saber into something new, something mine. It still needed some changes in color of the outside, but it was mine, and it worked beautifully

I wonder if I can do anything else by literally putting my mind to it? 

It would not take long to figure that out...

My Friends

When it comes to friends I do not have a lot of them. To me a friend is someone who shares the same values, someone who would stand up to fight the same wrong as me even if that person is not with me at the time. A real friend does not say just what I want to hear, but is honest, brutally honest if necessary. They can be brutally honest knowing that after the initial sting of telling me what I need to hear wears off I will only look to that person with more respect, for they are a person of true integrity, a real friend.

My friends are:

Soniee - She is the most technologically capable person that I know. I have never seen her unable to hack into something. She can build and program any piece of tech that she can imagine. She is always wearing her display visor which makes her stand out at times, but she is always in the know. She will be the first to jump into danger, the fasted to talk her way into trouble, but the first one to engineer us out of that trouble.

Amis -  I have probably known him the longest. He has a stronger flight than fight personality than the rest of us, but that personality trait has kept us out of serious trouble on more than one occasion. He is a bit clumsy. He is physically the strongest out of the four of us. He is loyal and honest. He has the highest score as a marksman. He is a fast study when it comes to fighting styles.

Lagos - She is the quickest to point out the risk, or to find fault with someone or something. She is the last to jump in, but dependable once she is in. She is the best pilot out of the four of us. 

Ahsoka Tano - What can I say she is a Jedi Padawan. She came to the Mandalore to instruct us at the Royal Academy of Government on the topic of corruption, which turned into a rescue of My Aunt Satine, or I guess my mother. [see Star Wars: the Clone Wars episode entitles The Academy]  
She is the only off worlder that I trust implicitly. She is epitome of integrity. Later in life she would become my instructor and would prove to be the closest and most trusted confidant that I have, and in some ways she would be more than just a friend.

After our rescuing Satine and exposing the corruption of Prime Minister Almec. We started calling ourselves 'The Incorruptible.'  It was not just a name, but it became our mission statement. Even though Ahsoka had to return to her Jedi training she will always be a part of our group. She made it clear that "It is the responsibility of every citizen to expose corruption."

And so it began. 

   

The Beginning of my Collection

The same night that Aunt Bo told me of Aunt Satine's murder, and after she calmed down some. I had to go for a walk. 

All sorts of things were going through my mind. However, my focus was on the evil monster held up in the palace... Maul

Before I knew it, and without giving any conscientious thought as to where my feet were taking me, I found myself at the entrance of the palace. 

Something was off though, the two guards that were posted at the front entrance, were laying crumpled and dead in their place.  What was noticeably odd, there were no marks on there armor, and their weapons did not show signs of being fired recently. 

I noticed flashes of light coming from inside the palace, flashes accompanied by the sound of arcing electricity. 

I proceeded cautiously, clinging to the walls and behind columns and furniture where I could. 

Suddenly there was the sound of smashing glass and a most sinister laugh. Which made me only slow my pursuit.    

When I arrived to the Great Room, I found two more guards much like the previous pair, and the source of the breaking glass sound. 

As I slowly and most cautiously made my way to windows, I began witnessing a most spectacular and bone chillingly frightening battle, which was occurring now outside in the back courtyard. Maul and his brother were fighting for their lives with someone I could not make out. They were all wielding light sabers. Every blade was a haunting blood red in color.  The figure in the dark robe was a master with a saber in each hand, while from time to time he was able to throw his opponents about without actually touching them. He threw Maul to the ground leaving him stunned while he focused his attention on the larger brother. After just a few minutes with little apparent effort the brother was stabbed through with both blades.

What came next was much more terrifying. The person in the dark robe approached Maul who had only awoke in time to see the end of his brother and began what appeared to be begging for his life. Then suddenly what looked like bright bolts of electrical current began pouring out of his hands. then the eerie laughing that I heard earlier began coming out of the dark robed individual. 
[See Star Wars: the Clone Wars episode entitled The Lawless.]

After what seemed like an hour the robed person stopped the attack, picked up the limp body of Maul and began to head out of the courtyard. 

I carefully stayed away from the direction he was heading, but once he was gone from my sight, I felt compelled, I had to retrieve the light sabers, I could not control myself. Looking back on this occasion now, I was completely out of my mind. I didn't know if it was to show proof that Maul was no longer around or what, but I had to have them.

This was not the first time that I wanted desperately to handle a light saber. That happened the first time that I met Ahsoka Tano. 
[See Star Wars: the Clone Wars episode entitled The Academy]

I acted quickly, I ran as fast as I could first to where Maul just got cooked. As I got closer the stench of burnt flesh flew up my nose. I grabbed both sabers that Maul was using, then I leaped towards the large mass that was Maul's brother. I snatched up the double bladed saber that he was using and didn't stop running until I got home.

When I came through the door Aunt Bo was greatly concerned because of the look on my face.

Then she noticed the armory that I was carrying. "What did you do" she demanded.

I held out the smaller blade that I picked up from where Maul was stopped from being able to wield it. Apparently she noticed it to be the blade that Pre Vizsla owned. She grabbed it from my hand, and intently requested as to what happened. 

After I relayed all that I saw, and what I did to take the weapons from the scene. She made two rules for me to always follow. 

Rule one. Don't ever let anyone see your face doing stupid things like I just did.

Rule two. You better have a place to store your collection that no-one will ever find.

Oddly enough I am supposed to figure out rule two before I figure out rule one. I guess that it will make sense later.

After the rules were established she said that I could have it back later, but she was going to keep Pre Vizsla's weapon for now. Then she instructed me to hide the other sabers in my room for now until I get my own more permanent weapons cash, which I did.

As I went to sleep that night I couldn't help but replay the night's activities. I also could not help but wonder who was the guy in the dark robe, and what did he do with Maul?