FORSAKEN - Target: Zero

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

"From the dark side?"

"Step inside and learn the truth." He motioned her inside the chamber. "Your weapon, you won't need it—not inside this hall; for those waiting inside are your brothers and sisters."

Virra crossed the threshold. Several members of the Jedi Temple Guard stood in line, holding their unlit pikes in front of them with both hands. A pillar with a flame burning rose from the center of the chamber. Massive statues loomed over from the inscribed walls.

The guard dipped his hand in a dark liquid inside a basin by the entrance, and made an imprint over his heart, before he took his place in front of the others. "We gather in this ancient hall by the will of the Force to serve as its instrument. We're the few entrusted with the sacred duty to maintain the purity of the Jedi light, during the darkness that has fallen across the galaxy. This war threatens to defile the sacred Jedi principles on which the Order was founded."

Virra was confused by the surreal scene. Was the mysterious figure she had seen earlier one of these guards? "What are you doing here?"

"Our duty. We swore to protect the way of the Jedi, even against themselves. Our commitment is to the Order, not to their individual members. We hide our faces, for we're not important, only our mission. We hold the keys to its chambers, its secrets, because we're the ones strong enough to do so. The mark over our hearts represents those of us whom the Force within the temple itself have chosen to protect its ancient legacy from the corruption growing within its walls."

"Corruption? What are you talking about? The Jedi are fighting to protect the Republic."

"The Jedi are supposed to be peacekeepers, not warriors; diplomats, not generals; an independent body, not the tools of the Senate. And yet, they secretly commissioned a clone army and unleashed it on those who rebel against the corruption of the Republic."

"The Republic is far from perfect," Virra said. "But the Separatists fired the first shot by the illegal blockade of Naboo, and deploying their droid army."

"What about the Sith?" the guard said. "For years, the High Council have known of the existence of a Sith Master. But instead of rooting him out and destroying him, they chose to play politics.

"You yourself have guarded these walls from the crowds of angry citizens demanding the end of the war. You helped me arrest a Padawan who dared take action against the failings of the Order. We stood together when the High Council allowed outsiders to judge and condemn her. The same Masters that allowed a second Padawan—an innocent—be arrested, and then we both stood in silence as she was unfairly expelled from the Order and handed over to the military.

"We've all turned a blind eye to these disturbing events, letting our believe in what the Order was blind us to what it has become. The fact you heard the call of the Force inside the temple, means you know this to be true."

Virra too had been concerned with some of the choices the Jedi Order had made in the last decade. A trepidation shared by many Jedi. She couldn't ague with the plain truth that stared at her every day as the war dragged on. The principles of the Jedi had been the first casualty in the Clone Wars. Many were left to wonder what a cadre of hardened warriors distrustful of politicians would do once it ended.

"You're talking about sedition," she found the words hard to utter.

"No, commitment. Our path has always been clear. We're the defenders of the Jedi Temple. If the order is to survive this shameful chapter in its illustrious history, we have to be the guiding beacon that shepherds it through the dark. Take your place among the Brethren, sister."

The Temple Guards made a circle around the fire, leaving room for Virra. The guards faced the flame again, stomping their feet. They presented their pikes and lit them up, creating a ring of light in the heart of the dark chamber. Virra wet her hand in the basin to mark her chest and joined the ring. The Temple Guards lifted their lit pikes over the flame and recited together: