Star Wars: 30 Years Later The Real Story - Chapter 44

Two months earlier

Mandalore Sector – Phindar System – Planet Phindar.

A native Phindian who seemed to have been beaten to almost unconciousness was being dragged by two stormtroopers through the rainforest leaving a track in the mud. After what felt like ages for him, he was finally thrown like a sack of potatoes on the feet of a tall and strong man who wore a black robe which covered his body completely and this only accentuated the terrifying helmet which hid his face. The man stood so still that one would doubt if he was alive of if he was an idol of ancient times.

– “Mi… milord”- said the Phindian whose throat was so dry that the mere attempt of gesticulate anything would hurt- “this is just a misunderstanding… I… I was on my way to contact you…”

The dark figure turned around and that mere movement provoked the Phindian to shut up and feel as if he was being pressed by something gigantic which prevented him to move at all. He started to sweat and shiver uncontrollably. He could not see the eyes of the person behind that mask but the Phindian knew that he could not hide anything from this… he did not know if person was a valid description for whatever this monster was. He felt as if the thing in front of him could see every single secret and even thought he had.

– “I see…”- said the dark figure with a robotic voice and even though it sounded relaxed and some would even say amicable, the Phindian felt as if he had heard the executioner repeating his sentence- “a misunderstanding… indeed.”

– “Yes… yes, milord”- said the Phindian knowing that he had to negotiate his way out.

– “Then that means you have the information we asked”- said the masked figure taking a step forward to the phindian who started to feel that breathing was extremely difficult.

– “I… do… but… it… is… in another… place…”- said the Phindian feeling that he was drowning- “I’ll give it… to you… as soon… as I’m paid…”

– “You’re lying…”- said the dark masked person and he extended his hand and the Phindian started to feel a terrible headache that was increasing in intensity by the second- “Phindians have a remarkable skill in memory which allow them to keep their secrets safe while avoiding the risk of discovery or so I heard…”

– “What… what is th… Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!”- the Phindian screamed in terror as he felt his skull being broken and open by the person in front of him and then he felt that he was reading everything he had inside as an open book.

Since Phindians took great pride in their mental fortitude, the feeling was their minds being scanned or even checked was that of utter denigration and defilement. For Phindians, one’s mind was the last sacred bastion that none could trespass, they could kill you or torture you but their minds were the last refuge were they could find peace and hope. However, this meant nothing for the monster in front of him and he felt how he penetrated and searched for everything he needed without any care forhis feelings and the Phindian found to his horror that he had no chance to stop him from doing so. The terrible experience continued for what it seemed like an eternity until the dark figure seemed to be satisfied and just let him go. The Phindian fell to the floor covulsing and whimpering feeling like a piece of garbage that had no more use or meaning at all.

– “I see…”- said Kylo Ren after putting the information he had obtained in order- “that explains why nobody had found it until now.”

– “You won’t be able to get the key to the forbidden sector”- said the phindian in a hiss full of hatred- “you will never…”

However, he could not finish his sentence as Kylo Ren lifted his hand and showed an object made of a crystal like material who seemed to be solid and liquid at the same time.

– “That… how… how did you…”- said the Phindian in shock but immediately felt his throat being crushed and soon after he had passed from this world.

– “Your collaboration is appreciated”- said Kylo Ren while looking at the object in his hand and then turning in the direction he had to go.

He had succesfully accomplished the first part of the mission that his master had given to him, the Phindian had been a useful tool and now he had to start the next part after tying up some loose ends.

– “Have you taken care of all the people who had knowledge of this matter”- asked Kylo Ren to the stormtrropers behind him.

– “Yes Milord”- said one of the stormtroopers with a proud voice coming from his helmet- “all direct and indirect people with knowledge of this have been dealt with and will not be a problem.”

– “I hope you did not attract any kind of unwanted attention to this matter”- said Kylo Ren with a severe voice which made the stormtroopers flinch a little- “this mission is just too important for mistakes.”

– “I made sure there were no loose ends, Milord”- said the stormtrooper with a reassured voice which transmitted no doubt whatsoever and Kylo Ren knew he was being honest.

– “Well done”- said Kylo Ren and immediately ignited his lightsaber and moved in such speed that the two stormtroopers had the impression he had vanished in the air. The two stormtroopers had no time to react before their heads flew many meters on the air and their inert bodies fell to the floor.

Kylo Ren did not even saw the corpses of his former companions and without any sign of distress, he grabbed a device that showed the map of the area and he introduced the coordinates of the places that the Phindian had shown him in his mind. Soon after, the system made the calculations and showed to calculate the shortest route. Meanwhile, Kylo Ren got closer to his 74-Z speeder bike variant on black color and took a DX-2 disruptor pistol and cleaned the corpses of the witnesses of his presences in the planet. The corpses were destroyed atom by atom and soon they vanished as if they hadnever existed. Once he made sure the scene was clean, he mounted the speeder and departed at full speed into the jungle. The speed was such that anyone would think it was suicidal and that the person was controlled by madness, but the speed and maneuraveibility he was able to get was something only a force user would be capable of. He easily traversed throught the thick jungle in such a way that many would believe he was a phantom created by their imagination.

– “Arrived to destination: Sector 234, 665”- informed a robotic female voice and Kylo Ren immediately got off the bike while watching the area where he was and got closer to the edge of a ridge looking down.

It was a very profound abyss that had an area full of green and tall trees in the deepest part. None would have seen any reason to go down especially after seeing the steep fall which would make any climber sweat. However, Kylo Ren knew his objective was down there and without doubt he jumped into the deep valley while using the rock formations to break his fall and slide through the best route possible. Any person watching would have been in shock due to the agility of his movements, but for the dark lord it was just like going down the stairs of any building.

– “Approaching second point of interest”- informed the female ȧssitant in his helmet as Kylo Ren landed violently on the ground which cracked due to the tremendous power of the fall.

As if nothing had happened he continued walking towards the place he had to find. He could feel many beasts lurking around him but he just activated his dark aura and immediately these beasts knew that it was better to keep their distance from this dangerous predator. After an hour of walking into the deepest parts of the thick mass of trees and plants, he reached a part in which the foliage was so dense that the light was blocked and all seemed to be covered in absolute darkness. Kylo Ren activated his night vision and followed the path that had been almost erased by the pass of maybe thousands of years but that had endured stubbornly until today.

– “Arrived at the final destination”- informed the female voice and Kylo Ren just started to look at the big rocky formation that was in front of him. It just seemed like any other wall of rock covered with plants and foliage which could be found in any other part of this area, and if he had not gotten the information from the mind of the Phindian, he would have thought just so.

– “Let’s do this…”- said Kylo Ren as he ignited his red light saber and started to pass it all over the rocky wall and after a while the red light revealed some pictograms and symbols which Kylo Ren recognised as the Old Tongue of the Sith.

He immediately started to clean the foliage and soon found a place which looked just like another cracked, but Kylo Ren immediately grabbed the key which looked like a crystal and inserted it into the hole. There was a sound and soon after the rocky formation opened to reveal and tunnel which was darker than the place he was and which made even the night vision fail to distinguish anything. He could only use the lightsaber to illuminate the dark and humid tunnel until he found another obstacle but this time he had no key to open this one. He put his hand on the wall and focus using the force.

– “Ajak?”- said a voice which sounded like a demonic whisper capable of bring shivers to anyone and at the same time made one doubt that had really ocurred. Kylo Ren did not flinch and just understood he had to use a kind of password since Ajak meant “doctrine” in the Old Tongue.

– “Dzworokka yun; nyâshqûwai, nwiqûwai. Wotok tsawakmidwanottoi, yuntok hyarutmidwanottoi”- said Kylo Ren loud enough to be heard.

– “Qotsisajak?”- asked again the eerie whisper.

– “Nwûl tash. Dzwol shâsotkun. Shâsotjontû châtsatul nu tyûk. Tyûkjontû châtsatul nu midwan. Midwanjontû châtsatul nu asha. Ashajontû kotswinot itsu nuyak. Wonoksh Qyâsik nun.”- delivered Kylo Ren.

– “Ashaaaa!”- said the voice and immediately the wall disappeared and allowed Kylo Ren to enter.

What received Kylo Ren was a magnificent temple decorated with pristine walls of a metallic rock which shone without the need of any electric system. If one were an architect, he would have loved to analyze the unparallel triangular and mathematical perfection of something that was normal in sith temples. This Sith temple was one of the most secretive ones in the galaxy and apart from having ancient information had a especialized training center which dated back to the intergalactic wars thousands of years previous dated to the Great Galactic War.

– “Finally…”- said Kylo Ren as he felt elation due to the succcess of a mission that had cost him almost a year of time and much materials and credits to find.

The installations were silent and out of power but Kylo Ren had gone to other sith buildings before and knew how to activate the temple. However, his mission now was not to make the temple operative but to manage two places. He followed his instincts and previous knowledge to guide him and after an hour of search, he finally found the main chamber which controlled the temple. He entered the place after a careful lookout and after making sure there were no traps, he brought out a power core which had been adapted to old buildings like the one he was in now. He immediately placed the power core in the socket where it belonged and the energy immediately activated all the place. The systems needed a moment to reboot since he could not imagine how long had it been the last time the temple had been operative.

– “Energy insuficient. Some systems lost. Capacity to the 78%”- informed the system to Kylo Ren who showed no surprise and just started to look for something on the system- “Training facilities operational at 40%”

Kylo Ren deviated the power from other unnecesary places and rerouted to the training facilities until it was at the 100%. He also started to copy all the data stored in the system. It would take a long time, but Kylo had prepared himself for a long mission and he had bussiness in the training facilities.

– “Training facilities operating”- said a voice in the Old Tongue- “choose the type of training you dėsɨrė…”

There were a lot of types of training from political and plotting kind dedicated towards Sith Inquisitors to hell-like physical and combat for Sith Warriors. Kylo Ren remembered the time when his master talked to him about the types of Sith Lords there were.

– “Since the immemorial times, there have been many types and variants of Sith Lords but you could also separate them into two main categories”- had said his master while talking with a deep and majestic voice which was able to hypnotize anyone hearing around- “Can you tell which are thse, apprentice?”

– “Sith Warriors…”- Had Kylo Ren replied while remembering what he had studied previously- “and Sith Inquisitors… however, I don’t see how Imperial Inquisitors are part of this.”

– “The Sith Inquisitors from the Empire were just a joke…”_ said his master while sneering- “they were at best Sith warriors in training and at worst pathetic children that knew how to move things with the Force… they were just tools for Sidious. Loyal pawns whose fate was to be destroyed for the furthering of his plans.”

Kylo Ren heard this with great attention since he had read the records and the inquisitors were considered a dangerous and secretive force which caused terror and heavy damage to the rebels before the battle of Yavin. For normal people they were just monsters, but for his master, they were just weak cannon fodder never to be considered of importance.

– “The title was the only thing they had of Inquisitors”- continued his master- “Inquisitors are a class of powerful Force-wielders which focus on political circles using a manipulative operating style, being masters of exploiting both enemies and allies to further their own agendas. Sidious would be a clear example of this type.”

Kylo Ren remembered all he had studied about Palpatine A.K.A. Darth Sidious and he could not deny his mastery of political intrigue which had caused not only his ascension to power but also the decimation of the Jedi which were all powerful in that moment. He wondered how much more would have done had not been for the Rebel Alliance and his ex-mentor Luke Skywalker.

– ” Sith Inquisitors specialized in Force abilities as opposed to martial might”- continued his master after a moment- “However, you would be a fool to believe they were bad fighters, since they were a spectacle to behold on the battlefield, channeling vast amounts of Dark side Force energy to create massive storms of Force lightning, or draining the life force of enemies to feed themselves and their allies…. A so called Imperial Inquisitor would not last even a second against a real Sith Inquisitor.”

Kylo Ren saw the panel on Sith Inquisitor and saw that there were also some especializations like “sorcerer” or “assassin” and some others but he just ignored this branch and immediately looked to the other type which was “Sith Warrior.”

– “Even though a Sith Inquisitor was a powerful Sith Lord, the counterpart of this type was just as much or maybe believe more powerful…”- had said Snoke as if trying to minimize the power of Inquisitors- “Sith Warriors were described as ‘an unstoppable force of darkness’, fully combat oriented specialists with the task of destroying anyone on their way. They trained to rely on the emotions of fear, anger, and hatred to improve their connection to the dark side channeling its power through their bodies and purged weakness from themselves.”

– “Wouldn’t that make them just tools as the Imperial Inquisitors?”- asked Kylo Ren thinking that they would be just slaves of their emotions. Sith Warriors had gained the fame of having little patience for careful planning, and wasted no time with such manipulations. Instead, they demanded absolute obedience from their followers, relying on power and intimidation to attain their ends which gave the opportunity for more plotting oriented masters to just use Sith Warriors.

– “It’s true that many Sith Warriors were just tools for their masters just like Darth Vader or Darth Maul”- said Snoke appreciating the questioning of his apprentice- “However, the blunt methods you mentioned, did not reduce them to single-minded tools, and Sith Warriors had been known to go renegade in order to pursue their own agendas… just as Maul and Vader did.”

Kylo Ren looked at Snoke’s eyes and he noticed that he was looking down at him with a challenging look as if telling him to attack him if he believed ready to take that step. Kylo Ren considered his chances and knew very well that he was still way below the power necessary to take down his master and take his place a fully-pledged Sith Lord.

– “Remember my apprentice”- said Snoke grinning at him- “a Sith Lord must destroy anything in his way for power and that includes me… if you want the power you need, you will have to strike me down… and to do so, you will need to take down Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker. Otherwise, not in a hundred years willl you get there… care to try?”

He got close to Kylo Ren and opened his arms as if inviting him to attack. Kylo Ren felt tempted and put his hand on his lightsaber hilt but then he just lowered his head and just gave respect to his master.

– “You are allowed to try any time”- Snoke said with a hint of dissapointment in his eyes- “so which path do you think is more suited for you?”

– “Sith warrior”- had said Kylo Ren without any doubt- “I prefer the direct way and I had no time for political schemes. However, I know that strategy and intriguing are still a vital part of my path for power. So I’ll be a Sith warrior but I’ll never let myself to be a stupid one.”

After stopping his memory, he passed the many especializations for Sith Warrior and pressed the buŧŧon that indicated “Juggernaut” which Kylo Ren believed would be the best for him and listened to the explanation of the system about this espcialization.

– “These Sith specialized in combat endurance and were known for wearing armor that provided them special protection in battle. Relying on the Force to boost their stamina, Juggernauts were capable of shrugging off damage that would destroy others. Charging into the thick of combat, Juggernauts take the brunt of the damage, all the while using the Force to cause terror and despair in enemy combatants. Juggernauts were even capable of draining the energy of their opponents to further strengthen themselves and their resolve.”

– “Take off any armor and unnecesary equipment before starting”- indicated the robotic voice- “only a powerful body will bring you closer to real power…”

Kylo Ren took off his helmet and armor and then, he also took off his upper body clothing leaving only his pair of pants on him. His hair was long and wild and you could see that under his armor, he had a very muscular and extremely well trained body full of scars and without a single speck of unnecesary fat. His body was that of a person who spent all his life in the battlefield and that used his body as a weapon at every second.

– “Juggernaut training starting”- said the voice who had a tone of expecting anyone who entered to fail- “use only the force, your body and lightsaber to survvive for the next 24 hours”

Kylo Ren found himself surrounded by battle droids which seemed to be specialized in short dstance and being supported by long distance one and they immediately attacked looking for his blind spots. Kylo Ren focused and immediately thought in his enemies…

– “AHHHHHHHHHH!”- a furious yell which was more like a roar was heard and even the droids which were supposed not have emotions seemed to stop in their tracks for a moment.

Kylo Ren threw himself to his enemies without any fear and one could even see a tint of anticipation He was delight in battle since he knew it was the shortest path for power and a closer step to his goals. The door closed and inside many sounds of destruction and battle could be heard in combination with the joy roars of a beast doing battle.