Lessons of the Past

[Coren Starchaser]

Lothal

The New Jedi Order.

A shining beacon of hope in the face of the growing darkness in the galaxy. Yes, Omai Rhen knew what his order had done. The New Jedi, and the Fringers. They had pushed the Sith out of the Core, they had made it so that the Alliance, and her allies, were a Force to be reckoned with. Yes, the Jedi Order, and Silver Jedi were on their side, but each group had its own focus to bring to the effort. And that was what made the Light Side a good balance of everything. People who were more than willing to make the sacrifice to block the dark side from everyone around them.

What Omai had created here, and what had followed behind him and the Marshals that helped to lead the New Jedi Order, was a group focused on defending those who couldn’t help themselves, and work with those who didn’t claim to be a Jedi, to make a difference for the better. And here he was, leading the Jedi, and their collective allies, into a lesson. The area around them was host to many options, a former Jedi Temple that the archeologists had found.

“We know that not everyone is a Jedi, but there are lessons in these walls. This temple was kept up during the greatest times of strife in our galaxy. Following the Clone Wars, and into the Rebellion, Jedi, and the Force users were hunted, and this was one of the safety stops to run from the Dark Side. The Sith, and their Inquisitors had carried on a hunt for the light side, but this temple was defended by Sentinels and Guardians. We are looking for what has come before us.

“Feel it in the stone work, the world around you. The purpose, the fear, the preparedness. Explore these temple grounds. Find what calls to you. We are here as stewards of this land, but we must never forget the Dark Side is ever present and has encroached upon this very system, this very world. If it calls to you, seek it out, and quell that feeling. We are here. We are the New Jedi Order.”


-----


Coren Starchaser had made the trip out to Lothal, bringing several beings he had been learning with, and learning from, some he had pulled in from the Unknown Regions. Others had begun following him, and his battlegroup, since he came back to this world, the world of the Alliance.

The world of the New Jedi Order.

What he was doing now? He was looking, looking for worthy students, worthy comrades. The ones who echoed the Sentinels and the Shadows of lore. People understood, if they had been around, what Coren stood for. And if his reputation preceded him, it meant they knew he was here to enforce his beliefs. What he needed though, were people like him. And walking these stone halls, he grinned. He was feeling like this may be a place he could feel like he belonged. He kept his eyes on the younger members, as well as the ones who knew where they stood.

These were the people who would burn the First Order, and the Sith Empire down.

 

[Arahael]

The Jedi Temple on Lothal never ceased to amaze Cato. The structure seemed to indicate an age beyond many histories, making the feat even more impressive. He wouldn't be surprised if many hadn't seen this place, let alone Lothal. The planet was a sort of lesser known haven among the Galactic Alliance.

Slowing down to a stop in his speeder, Cato exited the vehicle and proceeded on foot. The ground surround the temple had an almost unnatural flatness, but nature seemed to stay ever present with the mist rolling onto the towering structure.

"Yeah. I wouldn't mind spending some time here."

As he got closer, it appeared some people were outside the temple admiring as he was. With the New Jedi Order, he could be sure that he was rarely out of friends nearby in Alliance space.

 

[Kataly'a]

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Cato Marek"]

Returning to the Jedi Temple was a whirlwind of emotions for the young Knight. The War had certainly taken its toll on the young woman, leaving her beliefs shattered to the core. Her experience with the Jedi and the Sith left her with an advantage not many had, the usage of both the Light and the Dark side of the Force. Though her parting from the Jedi hadn't been on good terms, her time spent with the Sith had made her realize that as much as she disagreed with the Jedi Order sometimes, she was to compassionate to others to belong anywhere else.

When the Jedi male had first approached her she had laughed in his face, if he knew who she was he certainly wouldn't want her among his new Jedi. However, his speech about burning down the First Order had reminded her of why she'd run from them after all. It was time for her to return home, to the Jedi.

Secrets are impossible to keep, especially among Force-users, but she hopes that she can keep her past a secret until she's gained her new companions trust. Maybe then they won't shun her as her first Jedi faction had. Truly, Kataly'a doesn't belong anywhere. She is too dark for the Jedi, and too light for the Sith. However, maybe her determination to destroy the First Order will mold her into the Jedi she's supposed to be.

Seeing the young hopefuls run around, eyes filled with wonder, makes her heart ache. Her apprentice had been barely older than them when he had been slaughtered, left for dead by the orders of the Jedi. She wonders if she'll be expected to train these young potentials, and she wonders if her heart can bare the pain.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Jedi temples were all vey unique, at least for Coren. They were places of learning, and teaching, and with some, they were places of remembrance. Of a time when the Jedi reached far and wide in the galaxy, before they were snuffed out, forced to become legends. Now, though, with so many different yet related Jedi Orders, the legend had returned to fulfill itself. The Jedi were here to defend, and protect, the worlds of the galaxy. The Alliance had their New Jedi Order, with their Grand Marshals, focused on learning by doing, a trait learned from the Jedi Guardians and Sentinels of the past, but with so much more in their ranks. The Silver Jedi Order, that group who was so related to the New Jedi Order, Starchaser had a hard time separating where one split from the other.

But the Jedi, they were here. They were watching.

A sentinel, Coren was walking through the grounds, listening to the younglings, and the older Jedi alike. It was a place of reflection. Everyone was going to take something from here, something they needed. A will to keep fighting, a focus for control during the fights ahead.

The Masters would be here to train the younglings. But what he was looking for, Coren himself, was anything connecting him back to the Sentinels and Shadows of old. Something to bring them back into the light.

[member="Kataly'a"]
[member="Cato Marek"]

 

[Zark San Tekka]

Images collide; collapse.

A swirling mass of near forgotten experience and half-formed intent.

The Light. The Dark. The Balance.

Footfalls echoed across ancient caverns before a shimmering azure form slowly coalesced into something partially tangible. It took all of the deceased Jedi Master's focus to hold himself separate from the unity of the Force, and even now he strained with all his might against a sense of emptiness, of an ineffable urge to reunite with a cosmic power what remained of his individuality still could not begin to fully grasp. It was the loneliness Zark hadn't truly anticipated, a truly overpowering sense of belonging elsewhere that none of the ancient, restricted texts in the New Jedi Order's vast collection could have begun to prepare him for.

He wanted to be free. He wanted to rest. But even though he had made peace in the end, with himself and with the Force, there was still some piece of him that could only think of his duty as an officer. To the Alliance, and to those he had left behind...

Lothal.

The Jedi's consciousness strained to focus on this one location. He had been here before twice in life, the first just before the war with the First Order. The first time he had refused to undergo the Ordeal, too afraid of what it might reveal about his own self and ultimately drawn away by the Knights of Ren. The second time, he had been dragged here against his will after the Battle of Skor by his first officer, forced through the Jedi Trial in a desperate attempt to rid his mind from extradimensional influences he had been experiencing ever since Atrisia.

Walking out of the Temple on that day, it was the first time Zark had really felt like a Jedi again in a long time. It made a strange sort of sense that this would be the first place he reclaimed a fragment of himself, a sensation not entirely like picking out a single instance in a series of infinite reflecting mirrors. For what seemed like forever, he had watched the life cycle of the planet from birth to death on a loop. But now, at last, it appeared he was beginning to understand how to manipulate the temporal aspect of the equation.

"I am," he whispered again and again, until at last the words caught in his mouth and echoed throughout the Temple's underground tunnel system. Smiling serenely, the spectral figure added, "Jedi."

[member="Coren Starchaser"] | [member="Cato Marek"] | [member="Kataly'a"]​