The Council chamber felt emptier than it should have, especially compared to how it was when Vila and I became Jedi Knights. Still, it was expected as most of the Masters were away, trying to cover the Galaxy with our few numbers, looking for clues of the reemerging mechanical menace. The absence of so many Masters left a certain hollowness in the Force that I could pick up on now, and it felt like pillars were missing from a structure that still stood but... was less resistant to straining. Hopefully, those escaped Sith machines won't put too much pressure on us and make the whole thing buckle...
As for us, when we arrived to make our reports, Master Jaina Solo stood near the central table, her arms folded, in discussion with Master Katarn about something important. The latter, of course, looked just as relaxed as always as he leaned against the table, listening to her explanation, while Ben stood slightly apart, right next to Vestara, listening quietly. But, besides the group... the one who I couldn't help but keep looking at, was Grandmaster Luke Skywalker himself...
He was the only one who didn't look at us when we entered, but also was the one who spoke first, before Master Solo could ask why we were bothering them in the middle of a meeting.
"You found something," he said calmly, and finally, he pulled himself up straight, throwing a look at us with his calm, blue eyes. The moment he gazed at our group, Sareh's body stiffened beside me while Vila missed half a step but corrected it quickly, watching intently as I bowed slightly.
"Yes, Grandmaster," I answered, gulping down my nerves.
"Go on." He waved a hand, and by then, everybody else was also gazing at us, waiting for the big reveal, making me suddenly unsure if it was worth this type of attention.
Oh well, there was nothing else to do now, so... As Lando would say, it was time to go all in. With that, I stepped forward and began outlining everything as precisely as possible.
I started introducing Sareh, her data, the fragmented Sith commentaries, the translation layers, the mention of a three-way war, then the correlation that was... approximately 3,600 years old, along with the emergence of the name Zakuul, multiple times, bringing us to the discovery. Then, I laid out the hypothesis we had that the droids were developed by the Sith to counter an Empire that weaponized Force suppression against its people. To the best of my efforts, I kept it concise with as few guesses as possible.
"That war shattered the New Sith Empire," Vestara spoke up first after I finished our report. "Whatever was built in response to it would have been desperate and designed to survive against an enemy that toppled the Sith. I can see it happen..."
"Not just that," Katarn's brow furrowed, exchanging a glance with Luke, "From what I know and was recorded in the Valley of the Jedi, was that the Zakuul had used droids themselves as the bulk of their army. There is a high chance that the Sith not only tried to come up with a counter-measure, but also to capture and subvert their main army, turning their droids against their masters..."
"That's a Sith method if I have ever heard one." Master Jaina Solo agreed, one of her eyes constantly lingering on Vestara.
"Both possibilities are problematic." Ben exhaled slowly, shaking his head.
"Well, at least, that's one possible interpretation," Jaina continued, looking at us, nodding her head, "It gives us a new angle to study and try to look up possible places they may hide under, but we cannot shift our entire strategy toward a three-thousand-year-old conflict based on partial translations."
Well, at least, she wasn't dismissing us, and kept throwing a few glances at our Grandmaster, ready to adjust her stance if he had anything to say, but Luke still hadn't spoken again while I kept explaining. Instead, he was watching us, through the Force, and I could tell and feel it. I felt the vastness of his powers, the purity of it all as it touched every one of us. He was doing it to help us see clearly and speak calmly... It felt reassuring, warm, and... encouraging thoughts began swirling in my mind.
"They're closer to the truth than they realize," he said suddenly, as our eyes met, and I could swear he smiled a little.
"You're certain?" Jaina asked, turning to him fully.
"No," Luke replied, nodding at her, "We can't be certain, because there are too many other possibilities." His gaze then drifted back toward me. "But there's resonance in what our youngsters had discovered, and the pattern aligns well with what I know and what the Force tells me."
As he was enveloping us with his Force powers, Sareh didn't dare to move, and I even felt her pulse spike, making me smile. I knew why she was so nervous, because before the Grandmaster, it was as if we all stood there naked and he could read us like an open datacard, no encryptions, no failsafes... nothing.
"Even if that's true," Jaina said, crossing her arms, holding her chin, "we cannot afford to redirect our focus based solely on this... We are already stretched thin as it is..." She gestured toward the holodisplay on the desk, which lit up at her motion, and dozens of dots flared across the map of the Galaxy. "These are already our confirmed sites where the droids or their artifacts most likely made contact with people of high interest. If not for Talon Karrde's help, we wouldn't even know half of them! His eye and ear for irregularities is what keeps us in the chase... And we still have to go to each and every one of them, personally examine the rumors and clues, and determine whether it's valid or not. Grandmaster... we are unable to keep up with this."
She was right... This was... big. Our only possible method to deal with it and stop it from ruining us and everything was to find the source and deactivate it from there. The issue was that we didn't know where the source was, after that irregular droid seduced half of Vestara's people.
"If these constructs are left to operate and work on their plans for the next years and decades, we... Haaah..." Jaina couldn't really put it into words, shaking her head, "We can't afford to chase ancient ghosts while something active spreads in the present, even if the two tasks are related."
"She's right." Vestara agreed, "The immediate threat isn't theoretical, we have to follow up on the clues at hand, while the padawans and younger disciples of yours and mine can be sent to investigate those trails that are less... hot. Combine both training and searching."
Watching the two women be in agreement was an interesting scene, especially because I know that Master Solo greatly disliked and distrusted Vestara... But she held her tongue, mostly because Luke listened to them both without interruption. And then, the Grandmaster looked back at us again.
"First and foremost, Zakuul still exists," he said softly, dropping a bombshell that was probably something nobody expected, because I clearly felt Master Solo's presence in the Force to shudder at that revelation. "Most of what we know is restricted," Luke continued. "For a good reason. My travels had brought me there once when I was looking for old Jedi teachings... The planet itself is ruined, with no more way to pose a threat to anyone, and it was then that I learned about that war and how it destabilized the Galaxy. Entire regions collapsed... And when it was over, the decision was made by the Old Jedi Order to bury it, so it was already hard work to find anything relevant."
"Well," Jaina said in a half-sarcastic tone, "Apparently, no matter how deep you bury a Sith, they always crawl out of the ground.
"I think," Luke replied, ignoring her remark, "that if the Sith built weapons in response to that Empire… then understanding the enemy they feared may tell us what they built, and more importantly, how and where."
"Then you're proposing what, exactly?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow as his father met his gaze, thinking for a moment.
"I will go to Zakuul myself." The Grandmaster declared, prompting Ben to speak up again.
"Alone?"
"No," Luke said, shaking his head. "I will take R2 with me."
"Um..." Vestara tilted her head, expecting to also go there, but apparently, she quickly discarded that idea, knowing that we wouldn't let her.
"If you go," Ben added, noticing the feelings in her, "Vestara and I should follow the other leads. We can track several confirmed reports of individuals matching the profiles of those who left the Revani Order, and with Vestara, we will feel their presence if they really were there."
"Yeah..." Vestara nodded, still disappointed that she wouldn't go with the Grandmaster. "I can also send my people out to track caches we had, collect them, and set traps if the traitors go there. To be honest, I already did that the moment we were betrayed."
"We are back to where we were before the kids' report," Katarn pushed off the table, shrugging. "So, as I said, I will be tracking people through Mid Rim channels and black market contacts. I can visit some academic circles, maybe get in touch with anyone who seen similar fragments Vila and Kael had reported about."
"You do that," Jaina nodded. "And that leaves…" he added as her gaze moved to us.
"We are ready for any mission you may have for us," I answered before Vila could.
"You will continue tracing these threads," The Grandmaster himself continued, giving us his orders that overwrote anything else, "Look for archives, lost records, and any attempts at accessing sites where the Empire had once held a presence. If anything, Palpatine's fascination with old relics may be a clue to finding them. Look for anything that suggests caches he may have discovered or even manufacturing sites, while I will give you a list of where to start."
"Whoa..." Vila murmured, not expecting such a mission.
"Don't shame me," Katarn smirked at her faintly, "This is actual, highly valued Jedi responsibility."
"We can't be idle," Ben spoke to us with a smile, watching Vila show a V-sign towards her Master, "If these droids were designed to counter Force suppression from a specific enemy, there may be patterns in where those research efforts were concentrated."
"I will also send over the former Sith research enclaves' locations." Vestara chimed in, gazing at her own student, "And send you some coordinates for ruins that were overlooked because they weren't anything major or significant in the past, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
"And we are to go out and just... search?" I asked, with a half-smile, already tired of the travels ahead of us.
"Trust the Force." Luke said before anyone else could say anything else, "It will lead you to where you have to go."
"Yes... Grandmaster." I nodded at once, wiping off my smile, bowing solemnly.
"Also," Ben stepped closer to us. "Do not use our ships or Vestara's; they must, by now, recognize most models that we use. Especially after they took Jalo's and Iowi's... They must have logged all our vehicles, so you will need to find new ones."
"And... um... where?" Vila asked, raising her hand, "And who will pay for it?"
"Don't worry about the credits!" Master Katarn snorted, rolling his eyes at his disciple, "Just make sure you get a ship that won't spook these Sith bastards."
"If we want something like that..." I grimaced, suddenly having an idea, one that I wasn't very fond of, "I think I know where to get it..."
"Where?" Vila asked, nudging me.
"At home," I shrugged, "From my Father..."