Star Wars: Advent of The Hellwalker (Ahsoka x M! Reader)

Chapter X - Ripping Off The Bandage

(A few years ago, Jedi Temple, Ahsoka's point of View)

"Do you have anything to add to Master Kenobi's description of the Felucia battle?" Master Windu asked me with a critical gaze that many of the other council members held as they sat in their seats in the circular chamber.

"No, master." I said. "Nothing to add, his recollection of the battle is accurate."

"Any words to say for your actions, do you have?" Master Yoda asked.

"I have no reason to excuse myself. I understand after looking back that I was wrong, that I was irresponsible to refuse my masters' orders to retreat." I said while struggling to maintain eye contact, "I was so sure of myself that I could win the fight, I was confident in my abilities, but, I guess I disregarded the abilities of my troopers as a whole."

"There is more to it than that." Master Mundi said from behind me.

I let out a sigh and continued. "I failed to see the battle as a whole as well. I was only focused on my victory and not the victory and survival of the rest of the troopers spread out across the field. It was selfish. Masters, I have been careless."

"I take rightful responsibility for this incident." Master Anakin said. "I see now that I have been far too easy going on my young padawan. Ahsoka has great abilities and potential, she is a good soldier and a loyal Jedi, but she still lets her emotions get the better of her from time to time, and I have underestimated that." He placed his hand over my shoulder. "Her overconfidence is due to my reckless and swift approval and enabling of her to take up responsibilities that she isn't quite ready to hold up."

"The greatest form of carelessness, overconfidence is." Master Yoda said.

"I agree." Master Windu said, "And that is something that young Ahsoka must learn, even despite your claims, Skywalker. We shall have her restricted to the jedi temple so that she can learn from her mistakes." I faced the floor in defeat after he said this.

"Archive security, a peaceful environment you will have. Understand and and reflect on your actions, you may." Master Yoda said with a soft smile.

My jaw dropped. "Guard duty??" I exclaimed. But Master Anakin sharply glanced down on me and silently signaled for me to just go with it. "...For how long?" I asked.

"Longer now." Master Windu said.

A few hours later, I was still being given the tour of the Jedi Archives in the first hall when it was cut short.

"Do not treat this assignment as a chore of punishment," Madame Jocasta said as she walked me through the tour of the archives, "The truth is, most others would see it as a privilege. I cannot tell you in short detail how many people of the Republic would give so much to spend but a few minutes among these shelves. The Jedi archives are the grandest and most fullest source of knowledge in the entire galaxy, to have authority in these halls is a great honor."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Madame Jocasta." I said with the most painful straight face.

"Very good. I'm afraid, unfortunately," She said and stopped walking, "that I must leave you for now. My attention is needed at the central rotunda. For now, please keep close eye on the archives. I will return to you soon to see how you are feeling. Farewell Padawan Tano."

"You as well, Madame." I said. She smiled and gave a polite bow before walking away. I spent several minutes walking through the halls and shelves, keeping an eye out for anyone who might need help, but the archives were uniquely empty today. I let out a yawn and scratched my back. It already feels like weeks ago I was slicing clankers and deflecting blaster bolts, now the only challenge is trying to keep my eyes open while walking. What I wouldn't do to hear a good gag from Corric right now.

I walked along the shelves and looked into all the holographic storage. Pretty lights, I must say. It probably looks like such a view at night. They should really open the temple to the public more often. Several minutes later and the time was starting to take its toll. I'm feeling a bit edgy, but that's just boredom. Nevertheless, I walked into one of the shelves and poked my finger along one of the data sticks. I scratched at them and pressed on them lightly just before any of them would pop out. Madame Jocasta said that as a padawan, I still need her approval to take anything from the archives, but she didn't say I couldn't fiddle around with them. Pressing on the datasticks and withdrawing my fingers just before they could pop out and let the madame know was mildly thrilling. I kept doing it several more times until I heard footsteps that made my heart skip a beat. I stopped and quickly looked casual when Master Falon Grey passed by and looked at my tense awkward posture with a puzzled expression on his face. I breathed a sigh of relief and went back to circling the hall another time, this time I looked through all of the study rooms to see if there was anyone in need of assistance. I'm starting to get desperate for social interaction. Isn't that how this works? I talk my mistakes over with someone? What am I supposed to learn exactly from walking in circles? If they wanted me to learn responsibility, couldn't they at LEAST put me in a position that had, you know, more RESPONSIBILITY? Gosh. I took a look at the chronometer on my wrist comm.

I hope the meal break is coming soon.

ARE YOU SERIOUS? IT'S ONLY BEEN A MINUTE?

"Wow." A voice said from behind me and made my eyes widen.

"That's rich." He said, making my eyelids sink down again so that I could roll my eyeballs.

I sighed in annoyance.

"I could probably feel your frustration from outside." he said

"There's no way you could." I said

"What, through the force?" he asked. "No Ahsoka, audibly. I could hear your grunts and sighs from down the halls."

"Stop. Don't say a word (Y/n)." I said, starting to get red.

"I'll say one word." He said before landing a soft jab at the side of my arm. "Idiot."

I turned to look at (Y/n) and his smug grin. I sighed again and noticed he wasn't covered in bandages anymore. He had also gotten noticeably taller, a bit closer to my height. It had been a little over a month since I last saw him. "How's the face wound feeling?" I asked. It had healed up a good deal and was now a lot smaller than how it looked when he first received that lightsaber slash across the face. It was still a little red though.

He rubbed the mark over the side of his nose and said, "better. It doesn't hurt that much anymore, but it's still just a little sore. I've been able to eat without problems for a while now though. By the way, did you catch the Wolfpack out there on Felucia?"

"I'd prefer not to talk about what happened on Felucia, (Y/n)." I said. "Can we just keep it on the here and now?" I asked.

"Alright. So anyway, guard duty." He said sarcastically.

"Ugh." I skoffed and faced up.

"Ouch." He responded playfully.

"Give it a rest." I said. "This job is painful enough as it is."

"You've only been here for a few minutes." he said. "I thought you were stronger than that."

"I didn't say I couldn't do it!" I said.

"Well you didn't say it... but you did imply it." he said. I rolled my eyes and looked over the railing at the floor below. He patted my back. "You'll do fine."

"What about you?" I asked, "Aren't you supposed to be in training right now?" I asked "Actually, what duty do they have you on? Padawans? Training droids? Meditating? Study?"

"Master Koth sent me here to grab a datastick report that he'll have me study to teach me some evasive maneuvers."

"You don't know how good you have it at all." I said. "That sounds like one heck of a ride compared to what I have to do here for who knows how long."

"Oh I know how good I have it." He said, leaning up against the railing next to me. "I gotta say, I was a bit upset after they told me to come here, but you know what? It's not so bad here after all." I turned to him with a puzzled expression. "I actually didn't realize how much I missed being here full time. Maybe I'm just a solitary boy, but all this quiet, this time away from the war, it does wonders to help ease the stress."

"Get out of here." I said, "Easy for you to say when you get multiple different activities to improve your combat during your stay. Meanwhile I'm stuck, gotta learn how to 'take responsibility'. I'm completely responsible!"

"You refused to have your troopers retreat, because you didn't want that blow to your ego." (Y/n) said.

"UUGHHHHHHH." I let out a loud moan of frustration and embarrassment that echoed through the empty first hall. "Who told you?" I asked.

"Who do you think?" (Y/n) asked.

"... Master Plo." I said.

"Well actually, Master Plo told me after Barris told me. Half points for that answer." He said.

I let my chin sit over the railing and looked depressed. "This place is going to put me to absolute death, I miss the battlefield so much." I said.

"Do you have any idea how much of an oxymoron that sentence is?" He said.

"Padawan Tano, is there a problem up here?" The voice of madame Jocasta said from the corner of the walkway, making us both turn to her. "I could have sworn I just heard the dying cry of a wounded Kowakian monkey-lizard." After she said this, I became agitated and (Y/n) buried his mouth in his hand and barely managed to stifle his laughter. I darted my eyes between him and Madame Jocasta, who smiled comfortingly at his enjoyment.

"Padawan (L/n)" Madame Jocasta said as she walked to him while carrying a data stick. "The report you requested." She handed it over to (Y/n) who took it and put it in his pocket.

"I appreciate your help Madame." (Y/n) said with a bow. He looked over at me. "I gotta go, maybe we can spar some time later."

I smiled awkwardly. "It'd be a nice change of pace, but I don't know if I'll be able to, I've got the night shift here."

"You'll get through this. If I can, then you can." He said.

"You got the easy job, (Y/n)." I said, "This is gonna be a pain."

"Just think about Master Skywalker." He said and turned to walk away. I remembered the feeling of Master Anakin's eyes burning through me after I questioned the council's decision to stick me here.

"That doesn't help!" I said to him.

(Hell, Your point of View)

After entering through the hell portal, I stepped down and immediately heard the gross sound of moist squishy organs under my boot. The ground I stood on consisted of dark stone that had creepy bits of flesh forming in several areas and spreading like a fungus. The rest of the environment was like this, with stone lining the walls and floors of the structure I was standing in, but pieces of bone, teeth, talons, and muscle leaked out and formed everywhere. I heard a thunderous boom in the distance and looked in front of me to see that it came from the activation of the tower of Nekravol far away along the horizon. The skyscraping spire sent its glowing beam of argent energy into the clouds. Even from thousands of miles away it could be seen clearly through the dark red, sunless sky of hell.

The portal had dropped me over some sort of dungeon-like structure. I could see various body parts, but no demons. I stepped forward before VEGA said to me, "The Betrayer is located beyond the battlefield ahead. Marking his position for you now."

I was in some messed up ruins in the hellscape. There were walls of flesh and stone surrounding me, blocking me from pressing forward, but nearby, I could make out, was that... It was a giant metal hand, with receptors like my praetor suit... It was the arm of a Sentinel atlan, almost buried in the ground. I made my way over to it. It was inactive, but there were Sentinel power cores around us. I grabbed one and inserted it into the giant hand. The atlan roared to life and glowed with wraith energy, and in moments I connected with it. The atlan lifted its hand up and charged up its palm blasters, before firing a blue beam of plasma into the wall, shattering it and spraying blood and sediments everywhere.

I continued through the hole in the wall, arriving in the middle of a large cavern with a river of magma far below. I leapt forward and grabbed the slides of the cavern tightly, before jumping off to the other side and grabbing a large bone sticking out of a fleshy biomass to swing off of. I kept leaping between the stone and flesh walls in the cavern until I found an opening and jumped out of it, landing on the surface once again and continuing forward up a staircase. Several bony unwilling hellspawn were alerted to my attention. The unwilling former mortals, who had been possessed previously and were now fully assimilated into hell, turned their deformed heads which were covered in a natural bone armor-like hide, which now covered the rest of their bodies, and started limping towards me while moaning and hissing. I blasted them out of the way as I ran up to the end of the path, which was showing more signs of gothic metal construction and led to two massive metal doors rich with rust, and displayed many human skulls and featured a large pentagram in the center between the two doors. One unwilling attempted to bite me but I grabbed his lower jaw and tore it off, before dropping the unwilling into a lava crack in the ground. Another one who was way out of his league clearly, jumped at me from over a short ridge and tried to claw at my helmet, before I grabbed his abdomen and legs, yanked him off and broke his back against my knee.

As I walked closer to the giant metal doors, the pentagram started to glow green. As it did so, I could hear metal pounding sounds far out in the distance, which ere accompanied by agonizing screaming, as if the closer the doors got to opening, the more vigorous the torture of hell's victims became.When I reached the doors, the pentagram became complete. The demonic symbols on the doors glowed green, a fiery line was drawn in the center between the doors, and with an aged metallic screech accompanied by agonizing screams all around me, the doors slowly slid open, revealing two more sets of doors behind that followed suit.

In front of me was a mess of hell biomass covering rock, situated above a magma reservoir. At the very bottom, various demons were battling with each other and I could see a few gargoyles flying off with fresh victims from the mortal planes. Farther out in the distance I could see more inactive Sentinel Atlans strewn about the environment, while simultaneously being assimilated by it with fleshy bony biomasses growing on various points of the massive war machines. Having perished in battle, the former Sentinel pilots of the atlans left the mechs in combat positions, aiming their spears and swords at massive demonic titans which now lay deceased in positions of the atlans' mercy.

I heard a strange snorting noise behind me and turned around. That was when I was pushed off by a squealing giant demon and went plummeting below to where I face planted on the rock. I heard more squealing coming down on me and quickly rolled out of the way. The demon stomped down hard on the ground, creating a respectable crack before I got in a kneeling position, pulled out my combat shotgun and blasted the demon in the face with an explosive round, to absolutely no effect.

The demon was hunched over almost completely horizontally, yet still stood bipedal, and turned around at me without changing its posture. The demon's entire front and sides were covered in thick, natural crimson armor lined with tan spikes, save for its thick tail and the sides of its giant jaws with wide and long fangs which it snapped at me while snorting like a monstrous swine. The demon kept its thick arms held out and it sweeped its flat feet back, kicking up dust and blood while keeping its furious yellow glowing eyes at me like a bull ready to charge, fitting with its small horns which were positioned at the sides of its head and stained with blood. Then without much warning, the pinky ran at me full speed while squealing wildly. Before I could react, the pinky demon caught me in its grip and we both plummeted over the ledge down to the bottom of the enclosure, where I landed hard on my back and my wraith energy reserves lost a full quarter of their supply. I heard screeches and roars all around me.

I quickly pushed myself up when I heard the pinky land hard on the ground in front of me and roar loudly again as it charged at me. I dashed out of its way, causing the pinky to bash its face on a large stone, obliterating it to smithereens... the stone, I mean. Before the pinky could turn around, I landed an explosive shot on its large unarmored tail. The bomb exploded, causing the pinky to stumble forward and squeal in pain. I unloaded three more shotgun rounds onto it as it stiffly turned itself around and snapped its jaws at me. I dashed out of the way and as the pinky prepped itself to charge at me again, I landed a grenade right below it, which went off right as the pinky started rushing at me. The pinky staggered forward heavily after the grenade detonated right under its tail. I heard snarling right behind me and jumped up, dodging the clawed attack of an unwilling. I dashed forward through the air and landed behind the pinky before I lit up its tail with a dose from my flame belch, causing the pinky to squeal in pain and run forward full force, flattening a few unwilling stragglers before the pinky ran its head into a wall and staggered in place, dazed.

More demons were screeching and calling out to each other after they realized I was here. I ran over to the dazed pinky and pulled up its tale with my right hand, before unsheathing my wrist blade and stabbing into the tail several times. The pinky squealed in agony and tried to wiggle and pull free but I kept a strong grip until I finished up and let the demon limp away for the few seconds it took to bleed to death.

I heard thumping and cracking all around me accompanied by demonic screeches and took a moment to look around at all the demons coming down to surround me before I quickly drew out my heavy assault rifle and landed a precision shot at an arachnotron positioned on a floating stone connected to the lava by strong chains. The arachnotron's plasma cannon was destroyed and it roared at me before opening up its side cartridges to launch large grenades at me. The rest of the demons started charging at me and I rushed, plowing through them with my chaingun before I jumped up and stomped my foot into the face of a mancubus and leapt up to the arachnotron, leaving a grenade behind to explode near the mancubus and various other demons. I swapped to my shotgun and unloaded two explosive rounds on the arachnotron before switching to the rocket launcher and landing a missile on it, dazing it and allowing me to smash my feet on its organic talons, holding it down so I could thrust my wrist blade into its forehead and end its life.

I heard a loud ghostly shriek and turned around in time to see a revenant fly up to me. I jumped out of the way as the revenant targeted the stone I was standing on and destroyed it with a rocket barrage. While I was in the air I dashed over to the revenant and delivered a strong blood punch, decimating the revenant's rocket launchers and sending it spiraling downwards until it hit the ground and exploded, destroying many imps, gargoyles, and unwilling, as well as putting the mancubus that I jumped off of into a daze. I landed on the ground and ran over to the mancubus so I could grab its tusk and rip it off before stabbing it a few times in its eye. I then dug my hand into its chest chamber and ripped out its heart, which I tossed at an oncoming trove of hell knights, prowlers, and barons. I pulled out my heavy assault rifle and aimed down at the heart, and shot it midair. The heart exploded and destroyed a few of the smaller demons while dazing some of the hell knights.

When I jumped off the mancubus to finish off the other demons, I was suddenly blown out of the air by a rocket barrage. I rolled onto the floor, smoke coming off of me, and looked up to see a revenant staggering over to me quickly while shrieking insanely. I got up and landed two quick precision bolts on the revenant's rocket launchers. The revenant staggered back before running over to me to slam its skinny arm on the ground, which I dashed out of the way of. I pulled out my chainsaw and ran it through the revenant's legs, causing it to slam both of its fists onto the ground to support its weight before I jumped onto its back and ran my chainsaw through the middle of its head, cutting its skull in half.

Imps and unwilling started surrounding me so I switched to my rocket launcher and started blasting. I created explosions of fire and gore al around me to eliminate the weaker demons before I bright red beam blasted through the smoke and grazed my firing hand. From over the dead bodies jumped a human-sized demon that had natural rocky armor covering it's dark flesh like the unwilling, the difference was that this guy was way bulkier and clearly stronger and more mobile, not to mention better armed. The demon's right arm ended in a large, thick appendage that ended in several large spikes that glowed bright red, it wasn't an arm, it was an arm cannon. Additionally, the demon had a single large slit eye that glowed bright red. Its scalp was tall but split down the middle to form a sort of "crown" of two large horns, signifying its status as a hell razer, the foot soldiers among the damned.

The hell razer aimed its arm cannon at me and blasted another beam of pure hell energy which burned my armor. I jumped over to it and blasted it with my combat shotgun a few times, dazing it easily so I could catch it off guard and snap its right arm, before bashing my fist into its face hard, shattering a few bits of that natural armor over its face and letting it bleed out. More hell razors roared out and joined the fray. I swapped to my chaingun and got into a good position where I could project its energy shield and let it build up in power while I plowed down many demons from my spot, before sending the shield hurling into the demons, decimating a few.

A hell knight jumped at me from the hoard and I dashed out of the way of its flaming grounded pound before sending several shotgun rounds into the demon's face. I reared my fist back to punch the hell knight hard, but he was faster and had the same idea, smacking me directly at my visor and causing me to flip over and tumble onto the ground. I shook it off and opened my eyes, and quickly realized the hell knight had cracked my visor, almost reducing the entire thing to shards. I held my hand under my face and let the small glass shards fall onto it in shock. I picked my head back up at the hell knight. It strolled over to me confidently but then hesitated when I furiously widened my eyes at it and slanted my brows sharply.

I squeezed my fist tightly, crushing the glass shards and as I did, the scarlet energy started coursing through my fists and quickly spread throughout my entire body.

"HRAAAAAHH!" I lunged at the hell knight just as it turned tail to run, and tackled it to the ground before grabbing the back of its head and lifting it up. The hell knight growled in pain and fear from the feeling of my fingers digging into the back of its skull.

"GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!!!" I yelled furiously and slammed its head onto the stone floor, obliterating it. My visor was regenerated from absorbing the wraith fire from the hell knight's argent energy.

I leapt off the hell knight's back and landed hard on a prowler, crushing it instantly. A ballsy imp threw an orb of hell energy at me, causing me to turn to it while growling furiously. I jumped at the imp and kicked it to the ground, before yanking my helmet off and bashing it over the imp's head. I slammed my helmet onto him over and over and over again before tossing my helmet at an arachnotron nearby. The helmet hit his mouth, breaking many of the demon's teeth before it spit it out. I ran over to the arachnotron and kneed it in the face, before ripping out its grenade pods from its side.

"EAT SHIT HELLSPAWN!!!!" I yelled before shoving the entire pod down the screaming arachnotron's throat, from which a large explosion that decimated many fodder demons around me came forth only a few seconds later. I ran around the place, ripping apart everything in sight. A hell razer blasted its beam on me only to turn tail and run when it had no effect on me. I caught up to the hell razer with ease and grabbed both of its arms from behind. I yanked its arms backwards and shoved my leg against its back. Before the hell razer could audibly express the pain it was in, I tore both of its arms off in a motion that also exposed its ribcage up front. I grabbed a nearby imp and thrust my hand through its chest, the imp froze in shock before I flung its corpse away. A hell knight came rushing at me for a punch along with some fodder demons and a baron backing it up. When the hell knight thrust its fist forward for a flaming punch, I grabbed its arm and tore it clean off before grabbing its lower and upper jaws, and tearing them apart, ripping it in half. The baron swung its blades at me, sending waves of demonic flame my way. I jumped up and kicked it in the face, dislocating its neck before I grabbed its horns in midair and yanked them apart, tearing its whole head in half, the baron fell on most of the imps. I grabbed one that was sticking out and tore its arm off before going to another one and impaling it with the arm. Another imp jumped on my back and started to scratch at my face.

"RRAHHHH!" I roared in anger and caught its arm in my teeth. With my jaws clenched down tight over the imp's arm, I swung the demons off me and clenched my teeth harder, snapping its arm in half. The imp clutched its bleeding elbow stump before I grabbed it by the head and tossed it at a nearby biomass of demonic flesh along a wall. The imp was impaled by a large spike and died. A revenant let out a rocket barrage at me from nearby. It hovered in the air above where more hell razors, a mancubus, and a tyrant were firing at me with more fodder demons. I reached out my hands, held them close to each other, and closed my fist. The revenant suddenly stopped moving and fidgeted in place. I moved my hands apart in a tearing motion, and the revenant was torn in half from the torso to the crotch. The jet pack spiraled out of control until it hit the area where the other demons were positioned. It exploded on impact and sent guts and blood flying past me as I ran over to them. A hellrazer pushed itself up and aimed its lazer at me before I grabbed its face and tore its whole head off. I reached out my hands and grabbed two imps out of the air with the power of the divinity machine. I clenched my fists, crushing them into balls and smashed them together into a bludgeoning mess. The massive tyrant started pushing itself off the ground before I grabbed its leg telekinetically and let it dangle in the air upside down. I then grabbed its arm telekinetically and pulled it from both sides until its arm popped off, spraying the rest of the demons with blood. Then I slammed it back on the ground, made a swinging motion with my arm to tear off its leg, and then slammed both its arm and its leg onto its body. The tyrant was silent.

A malicious grin forced its way over my face, and a light chuckle escaped my lips. I FORGOT HOW ENJOYABLE THIS WAS!

"RIP AND TEAR!!" I shouted. "RIP AND TEAR AND RIP AND TEAR AND RIP IN TEAR!!!"

I thrust my hands forward, sending a hell knight flying backwards with a strong telekinetic shove. The hell knight bludgeoned several smaller demons before bashing the back of its head on a rock. I lifted its head up with my power only to shove it back down on the stone harder, shattering its skull. I picked up its body with my telekinesis and tore it and half so I could smash the two halves over some hell razors, imps, and unwilling. From behind me, I heard the cannon of another tyrant charging up. I stopped playing with the hell knight's corpse and reached out to wrap my telekinetic grip around the tyrant's cannon. The tyrant winced and struggled to regain control of its arm, but I remained persistent. I aimed the hell knight's cannon at the rest of the demons to my right and held it still so that the hell knight blasted them all to smoldering bits. Then I tore the hell knight's arm in half and slammed it into the demon's face. Then I lifted it up entirely telekinetically, and with a psychotic grin, slammed it into the ground over a collection of exhausted fodder demons and hell knights. I waved my hand around in circles, sending the groaning tyrant grinding around the entire area, flattening every demon that still remained alive and intact. The tyrant cried out in pain as it was driven through the rough terrain, as well as the lave streams, spikes, teeth, and other hard bones. After looking around and seeing that the area was only full of torn apart corpses and spilled guts, I released my grip on the tyrant, which had been beaten and battered so bad. The tyrant's horns had been broken off, much of its cybernetic endoskeleton had been exposed, along with its intestines under its ripped abdomen.

"Guts." I said through a wide grin of gritted teeth splattered with foreign blood. The thrill, the passion, it all felt soooo good as I stared at the weak, whimpering tyrant who was too broken and beaten to stand up. It lifted its head up at me and tried to scoot away with painful motions.

The tyrant spit out a large wad of blood and dirt. "... M-... Mercy..." The tyrant groaned through broken teeth and bleeding eyes. It tried to pull itself away from me as I approached it menacingly, with my grin growing wider the closer I got, and the clearer all it's insides became.

"Guts... Huge guts... RIP AND TEAR!!!" I exclaimed and jumped on the tyrant's torso before I sank my teeth into its chest and yanked out its sternum with my jaws. The tyrant let out an agonizingly satisfying howl of pain. I spit out its sternum and dug my hands into its lungs, before furiously ripping them out. along with loads of muscle and cybernetic wiring. I then moved on to the liver which I yanked out and at the same time I grabbed the tyrant's large intestine in my teeth and pulled it out of the demon's abdomen. I crushed its liver, brushed off all the bile that spilled on me and spat the large intestine on the floor. The helpless tyrant continued screaming and writhing in utter pain as I continued ripping out its internal organs and torso muscles, also digging through some wires and cables. "WRRAAAAH" I roared as I kicked the tyrant's ribs in and grabbed them in my hands, using them like large scalpels to keep digging out all of the tyrant's organs, the berserk predatory instincts had completely taken over, AND I LOVED IT. I yanked my head up, with its heart in my jaws but the organ was still connected strongly by some cybernetic arteries. I chomped down on the beating organ and thrust my head backwards, snapping the arteries off before I chomped down harder and crushed the heart between my jaws, splattering loads of blood on my face and on the tyrant's already bloody skin. I saw that it was completely empty, the inside of the demon's torso was a hollow shell like a tub of blood. It had stopped moving a minute ago.

"HRRRRRGHRAH!" I growled at the mutilated tyrant, clenching my fingers around the edges of its skin in a fit of lunacy; the insane barbaric instincts of my berserk rage still remained. My bloodthirsty grin stayed on my face as I looked around at all of my prey. I felt a tickle in my stomach begin to rise from the excitement. "RRRAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" With only staring at the dead prey as an option, I couldn't help but exhaust so much of my tension in the form of suffocating and mindless laughter at their weakness. "But one man" he says. "No longer your crusade to avenge" he says.

"RAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The words only made the punchline even more effective. The foolishness! My king, forgive me. In all my millennia I have never heard something so laughably ridiculous escape the lips of an intelligent being! What happened to you? When did you go from a king to a jester?

It brings me fulfillment. I am predatorial, I need kill, I need blood!

I felt myself exhausting the rest of my tension and at the same time, I heard a howl nearby and turned around quickly with my fists clenched. I relaxed them after seeing that the source was on top of a ledge above, glowing with green essence and carrying my helmet in its mouth. My wolf.

At the sight of my loyal companion, the malicious grin from my face disappeared and my berserk rage gradually sank away.

My wolf dropped my helmet onto the bloody ground and howled again, inviting me to follow him. I wiped the blood off my face and spit a few clumps of it out of my mouth before going over to pick up my helmet. I could feel that most of the blood had already dried onto my face. It wasn't coming off so easily and as much as I love the sight of demon blood, the smell after a while is a whole other story. So I walked over to one of the lava streams and bent down, before taking a handful and burying my face in it. It stung a bit but after I withdrew my face from my hand, all of the blood had burned off, my skin was fine, only a bit charred but in a second it healed up nicely. I put my helmet back on and jumped up to follow my wolf.

As I followed my wolf through the hellscape, VEGA spoke up in my helmet radio. "The betrayer's life signal is nearby. He will have a power unit for the celestial locator component. Marking him now." A marker was placed below me. I continued onward to the large cracks in the ground that led to a massive underground cavern full of lava. I hopped down and landed on a stone platform held up by massive chains and sorcery. Several more of these platforms lined the way to a cave entrance below. My wolf appeared at the end in front of a massive cave entrance where VEGA had placed the marker. The wolf howled in its spot. I jumped and dashed over to the cave and landed with a hard pound that cracked the ground. My wolf stood by me as I walked through the cave entrance, where a large door stood and projected the glowing emblem of the chief commander before opening up the large cave beyond to me. As soon as I entered in, a field of red motion beams dispersed and two gigantic Sentinel Atlan turrets positioned on a staircase aimed themselves at me. My wolf growled defensively.

"There are motion sensors and artillery everywhere." VEGA alerted me.

Really? What was your first clue?

To the right, a gigantic Sentinel Atlan knelt down in the lava pit and stared at me, it was active with its glowing large visor on its face, but it didn't move an inch. To the left of me were several dusty empty barrels. Against the wall in the corner was a table with Sentinel power cores, armor parts, and a few other necessities tossed about sloppily. And in the middle of it all, sitting on a stone bench in front of a bonfire and looking into it with practically soulless eyes, with his Sentinel warhammer set against the bench next to him, the betrayer.

There he was, reveling in his misery wearing the same armor from that day, now covered with rust and scratches but somehow still alive and operational. My training instructor and tutor who taught me the ways of Sentinel combat and Argenta belief when I first became a Night Sentinel, and who commanded me on the battlefields, who fought at my side as my brother in arms, who stood by myself and the other rebels when our gods betrayed us, Valen, Commander Valen, who doomed us all. Chief Commander of the Sentinel forces on the front lines, before he had his downfall and dragged us all with him.

Here you are, sulking to this day.

"I will not go back." Valen said in a dead tone, without daring to place his unworthy gaze on me, "I say it again, this is what I deserve."

This is going soft on you, actually.

I set the locator component on the bench next to him, finally causing him to look up at the component and at me. I glared at him through my visor.

Stop looking at me. Just be quick with it already.

He took the component and carried it over to his bench in the corner. As he walked over there he said without looking back at me, "Pursuing our dead crusade does nothing to rebuild your honor. In our multiversal empire, honor no longer holds existence." As the Betrayer opened up a chest on the table and took out a metal orb glowing with Argenta characters, I clenched my fist and stared daggers through the back of his head.

And who do we have to thank for that?

A minute later, he walked back over and handed the component to me, it was now active with the indentions and symbols glowing a bright blue. But as I tugged it away, he maintained his grip on the handle and finally garnered up the gall to look me in the eyes. His scarred face and dead right eye looked like they might fall apart from all the anguish that weighed him down, now along with the pressure of having to look at me. "Yet now after you have exited your milenia long slumber, you still fight your one-man war? Against the Khan Maykr herself?" he paused for a moment as if to let me absorb his words. "It is a new multiversal order Slayer. Misery takes permanent root in reality. Do you think I say this because I have exhausted my grief?... Even from here I am tormented by the dark spirits of hell with what you and the rest of the exiles think of me. That I was bound to my son, I was too weak to move on... yet here you are. Centuries after our empire had fallen, blessed by divinity, still enacting your dead crusade against divinity itself which will not bother to acknowledge you." I yanked it out of his hands. And started walking away.

Refusing to move on is just the cap of the iceberg. You led us to suffer with you. You conspired with them, you gave them the keys to our only hope... killed our only hope for victory. You brought us all down to your level, after we followed you faithfully. Trusted you wholly! All because you were stupid and gullible enough to think they'd really give back what you had lost!

You won't move on, I won't give up. There's a clear difference.

"Then please..." He said in a beggar's tone after I snatched the component away. I stopped and turned around to face him again. "I cannot continue, I shall never see him again... but you..." His voice became more strained, he seemed on the verge of tears. He pulled out a small retractable dagger with a small dose of wratihfire powering it and looked at it with utmost attention. "I swore I would end his suffering, but I know I am not worthy of leaving these fires behind." he said as he looked around his self-imposed prison, and then he looked back at me. "If you continue, you will surely find him. For all that I did in the early years of your ascension, please endow me with one final act of appreciation, to give fulfillment to a condemned man's soul." He tossed me the dagger, which I caught and observed as he finished speaking. "When his heart is laid to rest, then his soul will finally be at peace... and so will mine." I turned my gaze back up to him.

... You think I owe you?

After all that you've done? Leading our mortal enemies to our only source of hope and letting them snuff it out. ABANDONING your own kin, letting them be deceived into suffering without uttering a word, and all for what, promises of the dead? Whispers from the ultimate liars?? Your pathetic son??? Some nerve to think that what you've done for me far exceeds what curses you've committed on me, my comrades, your own son who you did all this for in vain.

I don't owe you a thing, scum.

I tossed the dagger into the sand at my feet. He had desperation in his face, and the shaking in his legs made it clear he was on the verge of falling to his knees and letting loose with the tears and the begging, but I could sense he knew well that there was no use. No one would help him after what he did. And after reluctantly accepting that, he hung his head low and weakly walked back over to his bench and sat down, resuming his dead stare at the bonfire, the only source of comforting light in his eternal exile of mental torture. I started walking toward the stairs past him leading up and out of the cave, stepping past my wolf who squealed depressingly while looking up at me before he obediently started following right at my heels.

But as I started up the stairs the Betrayer called to me again, "There is one more thing." I stopped and tilted my head toward the betrayer as he said this. "The Wretch requests an audience with you. She awaits your arrival in the Kadingir Sanctum." I looked forward and resumed my ascent up the stairs with my wolf at my side, continuing on past the massive Atlan turrets that aimed themselves at their own former gunner to keep him from escaping his own dark torment.

As I exited the Betrayer's residence, VEGA spoke to me in my helmet radio again, "Attempting to acquire the Wretch's signal. I have acquired the waypoint to the Kadingir Sanctum. Marking it for you now."

The Kadingir Sanctum is far away from here. It's going to be a long walk.

(Gyndine, ARC Compound, Plo's point of view)

My heart skipped several beats in that moment. My mind went blank at that moment. I could feel a tremendous shift in that moment, I thought I sensed something in the force, but I realized quickly that it was really just my body taking in so much stress at once. My muscles tensed up, my bowels tightened and I felt somewhat nauseous. It was pure fear. She uttered those words, I couldn't quite decide if they were too good or too terrifying to hear. I would have never in a million years been prepared to even begin to fathom her statement. As my head slowly stopped spinning, I wanted to believe, and logically should have believed that she was lying, but my senses told me otherwise. I could feel deep internal and emotional conflict within her, she knew him well. And I could sense without a doubt, she believed the entirety of the heavy sentence she just spoke with great hesitation. She didn't want to believe it as well, but it was true to her. Something as significant as this couldn't be denied nor questioned. It was either absolutely true or absolutely false and to her, it was the former.

"The Marine... Master, I saw his face. He looked like... like (Y/n)." Ahsoka said through her shaking voice.

After almost a minute of pure shocked silence, Ahsoka brought me back to reality. "Master?" she said through troubled eyes.

"What are you saying?" I forced the words out of my mouth, even though I heard her crystal clear. That was all I could think of saying in response.

"The scar... his scar..." Ahsoka said.

My heart began beating through my chest after she said this. I struggled to keep the composure I had a minute ago. It was one thing for her to say something so outlandish and truly believe it, but the scar... with that, she could clearly back her belief up. But... it doesn't make sense! The legends. The destruction in Gyndine's orbit. His power. ".... The council... Ahsoka, come with me!" I said as I stood up.

I rushed out of the hangar with her following me. I bolted through the hallways and up the staircases, faster than I'd ever moved in my life. I forgot to even check if young Ahsoka could keep up with me. There was only one thing on my mind: (y/n). I was ready to pry them open myself when I arrived at the doors to the war room, luckily for them, they opened themselves up to my presence leaving nothing to test my patience, except master Windu and Kota discussing something I was far too overcome with stress to hear about.

"Master Plo?" Kota said. "Is something the matter?"

"Get the council on the transmission." I said.

"What?" Windu said, confused.

"You heard me!" I said, "Get them on the holofeed! We can't wait anymore, we need to start the council report now!"

"Master Plo, we're still waiting on a few mem-" Windu said before I cut him off.

"Tell them to stop what they are doing! Whatever it is, it is not as important as what she has to say!" I said, gesturing to Ahsoka behind me.

"What's gotten into you?" Kota said. "Master Plo, you're losing your composure. You're clearly under stress"

"it's not about me." I said and gestured to Ahsoka, "It's about her, and what she has to say

"If Padawan Tano stepped out of line, that is hardly any reason to make it the council's priority" Windu said.

Kota crossed his arms and said, "Master Plo, you do know that as a member of the Jedi high council, you have authoritative powers that are only dwarfed by Grandmaster Yoda himself."

"She did nothing wrong." I said. "It's not what she did... It's what she saw... the marine, his identity has been revealed." The jedi master and council member both reflexed after I said this and looked at each other. "We need to start the council meeting immediately. We need to tell every Jedi in the compound and on the council to cease their current activity immediately, this takes absolute priority."

Kota looked at Windu for his response.

"... Very well then." Windu said.

I spent the next several minutes pacing the room hundreds of times while speaking through my wrist communicator for the rest of the Jedi in the compound to join them in the war room immediately. What took minutes felt like hours to me, and the possibilities kept running through my head. The scenario was like a mental whirlwind that threw my priorities all over the place. It was a few minutes before I remembered that nausea from the tether sickness still remained. That sick feeling had been overshadowed by my rapidly beating heart.

When she walked in, Padawan Offee was initially puzzled as to why she was needed for the council report.

"Masters, I am pleased to be a part of the council report this time." She said.

Luminara looked at her and said, "Master Plo was adamant that we include you in this." Padawan Offee looked at me.

"Every Jedi who can, must hear what Ahsoka has to say." I said to her

Masters Kota, Windu and I spent the rest of the time contacting the rest of the council members and requesting that they drop whatever they were currently doing and prepare to hold the council meeting sooner than expected before recovery efforts at the ARC compound could be kick-started. Eventually, after Skywalker, Masters Ferroda and Luminara had made it up to the war room, curious to know the reason for all this rush, the large holo-projector in the middle of the war room alerted us all that a transmission was incoming.

I activated the holo-projector, and once again the Jedi council members were projected above the device.

"Report is a go then, I suppose." Fisto said.

"Master Plo, you insisted that this report be held before you and the others on the Gyndine compound analyze the intel. This must be important." Eeth said.

"Yes," Stass said, "You sounded very troubled when you contacted us."

I looked at Ahsoka silently for a moment, before Master Yoda said "Much inner conflict, I sense in you. Within your spirit, much fear, much sadness, I sense. Far different from our last transmission, very much indeed, yes. Visited a world of ruin, affected you in many ways, a depressing experience can... But such deep... personal conflict, I feel within you."

"Master Plo, are you well?" Shaak asked, her eyes sympathetic to me.

"I will be fine." I said. "But I'm not what's at stake here. We have learned something very shocking."

"Let us begin with the mission report." Saesee said and addressed myself, Ahsoka, Skywalker, Barris, and Ferroda. "Away team, you entered the alien dimension. Were you able to complete the objective safely?"

"No, we weren't." Skywalker said. "We were interrupted." He said as he and the rest of us four turned our heads toward Ahsoka.

Shaak took notice of their gaze. "I see your shift in attention. Has Padawan Tano made a mistake?"

"No, she didn't." Ferroda said. Skywalker put his hand on his padawan's shoulder, "In fact, she probably deserves some commemoration for surviving what she encountered." Ferroda said. He looked at her and motioned with his head to let them hear it.

Ahsoka breathed a heavy sigh and looked up at her masters. For a few seconds, her mouth hung open out of her lack of sureness on how best to say it to them.

"You are afraid, Padawan Tano." Fisto said.

"Speak your mind, Ahsoka." Kenobi said. "There is no need to hold fear in front of us."

"... I made direct contact with the Marine." Ahsoka finally forced it out.

The eyes of the council members on the projection widened. They stood silent for a few moments as they exchanged astonished looks with each other.

"The Marine?" Fisto asked.

"Well... This is certainly unexpected." Stass said as she looked at her fellow masters.

"What happened? Tell us what you saw down there." Saesee said.

"What did he do?" Ki-Adi asked

"Did he save you?" Eeth asked

"Was he a threat to you?" master Kenobi asked

"Silence." master Yoda finally said, authoritatively. He raised his hand up to silence the masters of the council, before looking back at Ahsoka and nodding for her to continue.

"Once again, start from the beginning," Mace said. "You had the component in your hand, that was when you were captured and carried away by the demonic gargoyles. What happened then?"

"Were you hurt?" Eeth asked.

"Not so much." Ahsoka said. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I held the locator component with my life while they flew me over the city until I was able to yank one of my hands from their talons, grab my lightsaber and break free."

"Good job on remaining resilient." Master Ti complimented

Ahsoka continued, "I fell down and landed in a domed structure of the castle, close by I could see the hell portal that we had been informed about in the briefing. I think... I think the demons were going to harvest me." The members of the council looked at her in shock and then looked at each other.

"Unbelievable..." Ki-Adi said

"That couldn't have been a comfortable experience, but we're glad you're ok." Kenobi said.

Eeth spoke up, "And though it must have been unnerving, we commend your bravery, padawan Tano. Being able to escape from such a terrible position on your own is certainly the mark of a coming Jedi Knight."

"Thank you, Master Koth." Ahsoka said, "... But I didn't get myself out of there." I looked at her sharply. there was a split second of confusion before I caught on to what she was saying and paid closer attention to her.

"Go on." Eeth said, attentively.

"I was immediately surrounded." Ahsoka said. "There were demons, probably almost a hundred of them... far too many to count. They were all around me, closing in on all sides of the room." "I couldn't lie to any of you, my masters, even if I tried... I was terrified. I tried to suppress it, but the feeling of my impending death was just far too overwhelming. They were gigantic, towering over me, crawling along the ground with their eyes stuck on me soullessly." I slightly reached out my hand to her. I was mortified at what she experienced. Then I clenched my hand shut.

Those... monsters. They have not a shred of mercy. I could picture it now and it almost brought tears to my eyes. The scenario she described, surrounded by blood-lusting monsters. Is it as terrifying for her as it is terrifying for me to picture her in a such helpless predicament? I looked up at Skywalker. His distressed facial expression meant that he felt the same way toward his young padawan.

"Then one of the hell knights was tossed through the hoard and nearly crushed me." Ahsoka said. The council in the holograms was almost leaning toward her at this point. "The next minute or so was a chaotic blur. Explosives detonated all around me and knocked me around on the floor like a ragdoll. My ears were ringing loudly from all the noise, and I couldn't see anything in all the smoke and fire. Blinding lights and chaos surrounded me and deafened my natural senses. It was all so fast, like being in the center of a tornado. I felt like I might have a heart attack if whatever was doing this didn't kill me first." Now Skywalker's face began to slowly shift towards anger. I didn't need to ask why.

"When the smoke cleared, when the ringing in my ears finally went out, when I realized I was still alive, I opened my eyes, and all around me was... gore. The demons were all torn apart, mutilated. It was awful. It was like someone put a grenade in each and every one of them. Or like, like something had devoured them and spat them back out." Ahsoka said, "There were limbs and heads, all tossed about the place. Bodies lay on the floor split wide open, and their insides spilled onto the floor. The entire floor was covered with a thin layer of blood.

"They didn't even stand a chance." Ferroda said as he looked at her.

Ahsoka continued. "And there he was... standing in the midst of it all."

"The Doom Slayer..." Fisto said.

"He killed them?" Kenobi asked.

"He killed them. All of them." Ahsoka said. "I obviously couldn't see him do it, but to be honest, I don't know if I ever want to."

"Incredible." Ferroda said.

"Th-then what?" Padawan Offee asked.

"Did he speak?" Kota asked.

Ahsoka looked down for a moment. "He didn't say anything. Not a single word, not even a sound. I could barely hear the sound of him breathing, even though he was clearly doing it heavily like he was in a rush." she said.

The council was puzzled. "Nothing?" Master Fisto asked, "Not a single word at all?"

"No, master. I'm afraid not." Ahsoka said.

The council members looked at each other. "This doesn't sound too good." Master Windu said."

"Let her finish first." Master Kota said.

Ahsoka nodded in appreciation. "At first I was terrified. he just stood there, silently gazing at me. I don't know if he was analyzing me or something, but it was really intimidating. I felt like a bantha in headlights. I felt like he would charge at me if I moved a muscle. He was still clearly hyper respirating with a killer's rush... but, after a few seconds, he seemed to calm down. His breath steadied. He didn't break his gaze, but he seemed to become less hostile. So... I tried talking to him." This garnered some concerned looks from a few of the council members.

"Not the worst choice one could have made. As I stated before, if we wish to pacfy him, we must communicate." Stass said, "So, Padawan Tano. You are the first of anyone to talk to the Slayer, tell us what came out of it."

"To be frank, negotiations were short. No, they were barely existant at all. He didn't acknowledge me or anything, it's like I wasn't even there... I.. tried to... I tried to ask him to assist us."

"Padawan Tano!" Saesee said with a shocked face.

"Why in the galaxy would you do that? We still don't know enough about him to-." Ki-Adi asked.

"Please, masters. In a situation like that, there was nothing better she could have done." Luminara said in the girl's defense.

"She's right." Shaak said. "It would be better to have him assist her than try to harm her, and no doubt young Ahsoka had the same thought in mind. Trying to gain his favor was the best choice Padawan Tano could have made in under her circumstances. Please, continue, young Ahsoka." She waved her hand for Ahsoka to keep speaking.

"He ignored me continuously. Before he grabbed the component and turned to leave." Ahsoka said

Some of the council members over hologram looked at each other puzzled. There was an air of hostility beginning to sweep the room. Some of the masters and knights furrowed their brows in disbelief and even offense.

"Why would he do that?" Kenobi asked.

"If we remember what he did over Gyndine, then we don't need to ask that question." Ki-Adi said before looking at Ahsoka, "What do you think, padawan Tano?"

"I don't know, I tried to stop him. I tried explaining why we need it; he didn't seem to care at all. He certainly didn't respond verbally." Ahsoka said.

"We suspected this all along." Master Windu said. "He's not on our side. He can't possibly be after doing this."

"Wait." I said sternly. "There's more."

"By all logic, Master Windu is right." Saesee said. "First the Gyndine defense cruiser, now this. How much more convincing do we need? His hostility is uncontrollable and not only reserved for the demons."

"Let Padawan Tano finish her report." Fisto said, "We can assess this after we know the details." said. "He may not be strictly on our side, but after slaughtering those demons and thereby rescuing Padawan Tano, it's still possible that our goals may align, even if coincidentally. There must be some reason for him to take the component."

"Master Fisto has a point." Stass said, "He may have another agenda in mind, but that doesn't mean it's an agenda strictly against the Republic. I still believe it'd be in our best interest to keep the window of alliance open."

"Precautions need to be taken." Skywalker said. Ahsoka turned to him with a confused face before he continued. "What if he hinders us or puts one of us in danger like he did today? We shouldn't take that chance."

I slammed my fist on the edge of the holoprojector. "Let the girl finish!" I shouted.

Some of the masters looked at me shocked, before Grandmaster Yoda said "Very well. No more interruptions, there will be. No more discussion, not until, the full report and recounting of Padawan Tano's close call, we have." and gestured with a reassuring smile for Ahsoka to continue.

"This wasn't the best idea in hindsight but... I tried to take the component back by force... I attacked him." Ahsoka said. I looked at her terrified after she said this. Skywalker looked at her the same way as well.

"No, that was not the best decision. Even if you had reason to do so, not agai-" Ki-Adi said before Master Yoda held a hand up to silence him.

"We had a short, pretty one-sided duel. He-..." Ahsoka said. She started to lose grip of her words again. "He was fast, and strong. And he was relentless. His strength and abilities... it was unlike anything I'd ever seen. He slid along the ground like a flash, it was like he could run faster than light without even moving a muscle. And every time he slammed his lightsabers into mine, I felt like my arms were about to dislocate. His attacks had so much weight to them, he had strength that would put even a bantha, even a rancor to shame! I don't know how. It's... unnatural. Every time I parried his attacks, he was able to effortlessly push me back across the room like a punching bag. A-And then-" Ferroda darted his head toward her suddenly

"Hold on, parry?" He asked. "You parried his attacks?" the others caught on to this as well.

"A strange choice of wording. Elaborate please, padawan Tano." Stass said.

"The Marine..." Ahsoka said with a tense pause. "He had.. padawan (Y/n)'s lightsabers... and his facial scar." she finally blurted out.

The loudest gasps filled the room and with each one, I felt my heart skip another beat. Hearing it for a second time didn't make it any easier to comprehend. The Jedi council members looked at each other and at the girl frantically and speechless, with wide and concerned eyes. It took them a while to fully absorb little 'Soka's statement before one of them finally spoke up

"Th- that's... not possible." Mace said, leaning towards her.

"That can't be true... a padawan?" Eeth said.

"(Y/n)?... (Y/n) (L/n)? But, he's deceased." Saesee said.

"Padawan (L/n)?" Kenobi asked, almost cupping his mouth with his hand He furrowed a shaky brow at Ahsoka. "Ahsoka... do not lie to us."

"That's not- that can't be true." Skywalker said. "(Y/n), he... he was killed a long time ago, he was..." He looked up at his padawan and his eyes. "He was harvested."

I looked at the stressed girl with an emotion that I couldn't figure out the name for. Sympathy for her after what she had been through. Her head was clearly spinning as much as mine, maybe even more. Yet a new feeling of grief washed through my mind at the behest of the memory that Skywalker had brought up. Even almost two years later, the burden of my apprentice's death never became any easier to bear. But the most predominant emotion, the one that made my skin crawl and put me on edge, making me glance around the dark room lightly, it was fear. Fear for the future. Fear for my young and vulnerable apprentice who I never forgave myself for his death. Clearly, no, as much as it pained me to acknowledge, I think hopefully was the right word, hopefully, it was only his apparent death. But if he truly lived, if he somehow against all odds and beyond my wildest hopes, had, by the will of the force, lived to see past that day and bested hell itself... what would happen now? And why would he attack his people, his kin, and make off with what WE needed to survive? The impending unknown dispersed this dread throughout my mind. But in the center of it all, very far below, deep down in my emotions, I could feel a faint glistening spark glowing in the darkness. A comforting feeling that urged me to hold out on someone and give them time to recuperate...

(Y/n)... I want to believe that holding out for you will be worth it. But I am struggling to resist the fear, fear that your other masters will not be so willing.

Ferroda looked at the girl in astonishment. "She isn't lying." he said.

"He's right. She isn't." Mace said in defense.

Their stares kept transitioning between each other and Ahsoka who was equally baffled that she even said something so incredible. Even she looked down at the floor in her struggle to believe the words slipped past her own tongue. I could feel her mental turmoil, as well as the confusion of the council members still taking it in. But no matter how much the girl tried to believe it wasn't possible, and it wasn't logical, the understanding that she knew what she saw, clear as day, was taking permanent root in her mind. And her masters around her could sense it clearly as well as I could, that everything she said was one hundred percent true to her experience.

"How can that be?" Eeth asked. "Ahsoka, are you absolutely sure it was him?"

"I... I don't know. It's like I said master Koth, I saw clearly he had (Y/n)'s lightsabers and the scar across his face. But... His helmet still covered the rest of his head." Ahsoka said, "Yet I'd know that scar and those lightsabers anywhere." The girl had a deathly look on her face as she recounted the experience. "The Slayer looked so much like him, but he didn't seem to acknowledge me at all until I attacked him. He just wanted the component, it's like I wasn't even there. Believe me, he had SO much time to say anything, greet me after so long, explain where he had been and why he destroyed those starfighters in the last battle, anything to let me know he was (Y/n), but... it's like he didn't even care who I was. And shortly after I saw his scar, I panicked. It was like seeing a ghost. He started shooting at me with one of his guns, at that point I retreated from the area and the Slayer left Exultia through the hell portal."

"A ghost..." Kenobi said. "Well, we are dealing with the afterlife, aren't we?"

"But the Doom Slayer, bane of hell, unchained predator of demonic and multiversal legend... a padawan??" Luminara said. "I can't believe it."

"It can't be true." Shaak said. "It can't be. There must be some mistake, or maybe an illusion."

"What if it is true?" Kenobi asked, "What could possibly have caused Ahsoka to just, SEE something like that out of reality?"

"But the Doom Slayer, the scourge of hell, fighting for an immeasurable amount of decades against the demons non-stop... and a mere padawan? Of our very own Jedi order? Just coincidentally??" Shaak said. "How could THAT be true?"

"Maybe there is something else to this." Ferroda said, "Padawan (L/n) was taken by the demons, he was among the first of their victims in our galaxy."

"It could stand as evidence. He is the vengeful warrior fighting against them. It sounds like the Slayer to me, it doesn't much sound like the (Y/n) that I knew. But if he became broken by hell..." I pointed out.

"We all know what happened on that day." Mace said, "Padawan (L/n) fought to save the Wookies and clone troopers and in the process, was brutally injured and harvested by the demons."

I clenched my fists for a second before exercising restraint. "You don't need to remind me what happened that day, Master Windu. I remember it clearer than anyone here!" I said, "And I can never forget the final look he gave us as he was carried away by the devil, with a broken body, bloodied garments, yet a very living, breathing face, staring back at me with helplessness and pain in his eyes."

I went over to the holoprojector and allowed an image of my padawan to project in the middle of the gathered Jedi transmissions. There he was, at age sixteen, only a few months before that terrible day. (Y/n) was clad in his usual attire: traditional navy-blue Jedi garments with pieces of Wolfpack clone armor provided by Sinker fitted over his arms and legs, now much more form-fitting than when he first received them at a younger age. In addition to the arm, shoulder, and leg guards, he wore a modified clone chest plate armor piece that was common with us these days and which he had acquired a little over half a year before he was taken. He was clutching his weapon in his right hand: his twin lightsabers connected by the butt ends into an unignited lightsaber staff that he pointed downward at his side. His head for once was uncovered by his hood, displaying clearly his young but mature and calm face with its distinctive diagonal scar that had largely healed up after a couple of years and only stretched from his right eyebrow to just over his nose, His (y/h/c) hair was exposed and his thin padawan braid fell over his right shoulder. I looked at Ahsoka. "That's what you saw?"

"That scar, there's no mistaking it. I knew him, I'd know that scar anywhere. I got a clear view of it up close during our scuffle." Ahsoka said and pointed two fingers at her eyes, "I was just inches away from his face! So close that if he didn't have his helmet on I'd be able to feel his breath, and I got a good look at that scar for several seconds. And the lightsaber staff... I'm even more sure that was it." Ahsoka responded while pointing to his lightsaber in the still holographic projection.

"Aren't we going to address how he looks a little light compared to the juggernaut that actually faced Ahsoka back there?" Skywalker said.

"As if we didn't have enough of a lack of knowledge already." Ki-Adi said.

"What do you mean?" Ferroda asked. "This is good news, we know who the Marine is, or at least we have a lead.

"And yet, things just got a lot more complicated." Luminara said.

"Complicated or not, we have to try and find him." I spoke. "We need to speak to him, try to find a mutual understanding."

"Master Plo, he may be your deceased padawan, but do not let that distract you from the bigger picture." Shaak said.

"This IS the bigger picture!" I said. "He may be much more than just a killing machine, he may be our greatest hope for emerging victorious from this war. And if there is even a 1% chance that he is alive, as his master, I must put in 100% of the effort to get him back safely, as I always have before... before I failed."

"Address this, we may not. Address HIM, we must." Grandmaster Yoda said, inviting attentive silence into the room to stop everyone's mental clashing. "If a long lost jedi, and a council member's padawan who in his final moments committed the ultimate sacrifice to save innocent lives, the Slayer is... Find him, bring him home, ensure his well-being, our duty is."

"Master Yoda is right." Ferroda said. "(Y/n) was one of us. As his masters, shouldn't we ensure his safety? Who knows what he went through on the other side? We have to help him, give him solace."

"The thing is-" Mace said before Ferroda continued.

"With all due respect, Master, there's more to it. If it really is the long lost padawan of Master Plo, this will make things complicated, but also easier. Think about it. If we get padawan (L/n) back on our side, we'll have the only organism in the ARC's collected history of the multiverse that can possibly stand a chance at ending the demonic threat for good. We need this!"

"Can you not hear yourself?" Ki-Adi said. "(Y/n) (L/n) was a padawan. The Slayer is a figure of mythological proportions, it is absurd."

"An illusion? A specter? A ghost?" Grandmaster said. "True to her eyes and soul, whatever padawan Tano witnessed, is. On loose suspicions of disbelief and poor reception, risk this opportunity to gain the Slayer's support and save a doomed padawan, we cannot."

"That is correct." Fisto said. "The Marine could be a jedi. We cannot afford to let this opportunity slide away. The only way to know for sure is to make every effort to get in contact with him as soon as he is sighted again. If he will not come to us, we must go to him. This ghost cannot be summoned, we'll have to seek him out on our own."

"That's just the thing though." Mace said. "If he truly is padawan (Y/n) (L/n), then why hasn't he made any attempt to reach out to us?" I was about to open my mouth to speak but my vocal cords froze. The question he asked us all seemed to bring a blank sheet in my mind. (Y/n), if this was really him which I hoped against all hope in the multiverse that it was, why had he not tried to report back to us after whatever he experienced on the other side? He had clearly changed a lot in terms of physics, but I still believed it was him. So why did he not come back to us... to me?

"He seems to have a wide range of movement in our galaxy that negates the need for a starship." Master Windu continued, "He is clearly able to overcome any opposition that might keep us apart, yet we've received no attempted means of contact, be it physical or remote. Just for a second, forget the fact that he killed republic men and nearly decimated a cruiser at the battle of Gyndine. He was present for it, as well as the battle of Coruscant, right under our noses. Republic troopers and starfighters were in the air and the on ground throughout the battles, but not a single word from him, nor any direct effort to assist us in the struggle. It doesn't sound right to receive a blind eye from a fellow Jedi, let alone a double-crossing!"

"I believe it is worth acknowledging that he was spotted in the Jedi temple executing demons before we arrived. And we all know he showed up on the doorstep of the priests with one of their heads." I said. "He may still have the well-being of the Jedi in mind."

"It seems to me that we have more evidence suggesting the opposite. (Y/n)... The Slayer, still attacked Padawan Tano with little to no remorse and made off with our objective." Mace said, "He could have killed her, and it seems to me that that was the intention. And sure, he went to the priests and intimidated them, but he certainly made no attempt to capture them, potentially ending them as a threat there." Skywalker briefly turned to Ahsoka after Master Windu pointed that one first bit out.

Ki-Adi said, "Based on his hostile treatment towards young Ahsoka and the deadly treatment to our troops, the possibility that he may be an ally of the demons grows more likely. His successful carnage runs through them, merely a facade to trick us. This 'Khan Maykr,' that was mentioned during the strange encounter on Coruscant, it clearly knew the Jedi were observing them, they may have orchestrated that display of intimidation to further sell the lie."

"Then how do you explain who killed the hell priest?" I asked "We have the witness, a sergeant of the 417th clearly recalls a figure who fits the Slayer's description leaving the hell barge before it was abandoned. He killed the priest."

"And he escaped through the hell portal, with our objective."Saesee said.

"We cannot deduce his allegiance, nor his nature from just that." Stass said.

"We can factor in everything else, Master Stass. When we do so, the likelihood that he is secretly a servant of hell grows greater." Shaak said

Kota spoke out, "Who the Marine is, does not matter strictly at the moment."

"What else could possibly matter more, Master Kota?" Eeth asked. "Than the identity of the Slayer, who is still out there uncontrollable, and clearly not with us... but not with them either in my judgement."

"We need to address the outcome of this mission and our next move." Kota said. "We lost the component. It's reassuring to know that we didn't lose Commander Tano with it, but this 'celestial locator' was going to be our first step at getting an edge in the conflict. Now it's a lost cause. We're back at square one."

"Maybe not." Ahsoka said, grabbing all of our attention again.

"Why is that?" Kota asked.

"You didn't think I'd let him snag us dry like that, did you?" Ahsoka said. "No, I was thinking fast, I kept us one step ahead of him." She then pulled out a small portable monitor displaying the Circarpous Sector of the galaxy with Gyndine highlighted as the device's position. It had a glowing point that rapidly blinked in and out at various points of the sector. It was a homing beacon tracker.

I leaned in towards her and asked, "What did you do?" I was intrigued.

Ahsoka allowed a confident smirk to form from her lips as she looked at me and said, "I was able to toss a homing beacon onto him before he got away."

The Jedi masters looked at each other with satisfied grins for a second.

"Woah. Really?" Skywalker asked.

"Amazing." Padawan Offee said.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense." Kenobi said, "What does the tracker say?"

Ashoka's expression became grim again. "Not anything useful, his position keeps blinking in and out by the seconds and at various different points across the entire galaxy." she said.

"That would make sense considering he jumped into hell after confronting you." Luminara said. "Homing beacons aren't designed to track objects or people outside the galaxy."

"Much less in another dimension." Kota said. "Yet I applaud your resourcefulness and quick intuitiveness." he said respectably. "Good effort, Commander."

"Your intelligent thinking and great resilience, the council as a whole applauds." Grandmaster Yoda said. "An edge in the conflict, we may have acquired after all."

"That's right. You've gone above and beyond by exploiting such a dangerous individual. Not only were you able to escape unscathed, you outsmarted him, and your wit will benefit us all when we were afraid moments ago that all hope had been lost." Mace said. "The force guides you well."

"I appreciate it, masters." Ahsoka said with a light bow.

"So now what?" Skywalker asked. Mace spoke up first.

"Now we need to mobilize and prepare." Mace said. "Get ourselves as many ships on the line as we can. Get this information to them, have a full force on stand by and make sure they're ready to make the jump on the double if need be."

"Why is that?" Kenobi asked.

"Because we need to be ready for his return." Windu said

"I am not so willing to risk that many Jedi over this ghost when we are in a crisis" Ki-Adi said, "How many ships are we thinking?"

"Any that are already within range of the central cluster of demon-controlled space. Any that aren't packed with refugees. This'll be too dangerous to have civilians close by," Mace said.

"What is the meaning of this?" Saesee asked, "Why should we rush out to meet him if we know he could be a danger to us?"

"Yes. You said it yourself," Shaak said, "The chances of him being our ally are still not clear."

"I know, but now that he can be tracked anywhere in the galaxy, our only move from here on out is to follow him and find out for ourselves where his allegiance really lies." Mace looked at all of them with a determined look in his eyes. "Who knows? He could be fighting for hell, he could be against hell and unwilling to let anything or anyone stand in his way, he could be possessed and soulless, acting against his will, or even if it's a small chance with little evidence, he could be the same padawan that once learned under Master Plo's guidance and still sympathize for us, but with a hidden agenda, or excusable reasons, or knowledge that we don't have, and that would justify him resisting us thus far. Only time will tell now, and I don't want it to be a lot of time."

"And what of this call to arms?" Ferroda asked. "I don't suppose it's a job that could need more than just several knights or masters."

"Because there's more to it than that." Mace looked at Ahsoka. "Padawan Tano, I want you to keep your eye on that tracker and alert us as soon as you've got a stable lock on his position."

"You're so sure he'll even come back?" Stass asked.

"I am." Mace responded. "He will come back, with the completed celestial locator in possession. There's no question about it, because the demons are here, invading our galaxy. I doubt there's any other place the Slayer would rather be. And when he does come back, the celestial locator will lead him right to the hell priests." I raised my head at him, finally understanding what he was getting at. "And we're going to be ready, as many of us as we can! This... Slayer, whoever, whatever he is, he is going to lead us right to that priest. We'll use him as a beacon. HE will be our celestial locator."

Grandmaster Yoda spoke up, "Potentially dangerous and high-risk, your proposed strategy is. And yet... bear great fruits for our efforts, it may." He addressed the rest of the group. "Alert the order, inform them of this discovery, we must. Prepare an emergency fleet of cruisers, have them stand by to utilize our combined strength, and prepare for battle. The light of the ghost of padawan (Y/n), follow it, we must."

"Sounds like another first battle of Geonosis in the making." Skywalker quipped.

"Anakin," Master Kenobi snapped.

"He's not wrong though." Mace said. "If we're going to pull this off, we'll need even more strength and numbers than we used on that day. We know how deadly the demons are, but we can't risk losing the opportunity of eliminating the priest. Our fellow Jedi will be key in pulling this off. We must be ready for the fight of our lives."

"Are you sure about that?" Luminara asked.

Eeth spoke up, "It may be a small price to pay for bringing this terrible conflict to a quicker end.

"Only through strength in numbers, can we prevail, if intend to pull off a task such as this, we do." Grandmaster Yoda said.

"Very well then, master. We'll start notifying the rest of the GAR from right here immediately." Kota said.

"Another first battle of Geonosis..." Luminara said, a bit concerned. Master Ferroda placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"It won't be the same." Ferroda said. "We have the clones now to assist us throughout the entire fight."

"We have had them throughout this conflict, it didn't make much of a difference." Ki-Adi said.

"Well, hopefully," Ahsoka spoke up. "When the time comes for us to face the priest, we'll have a Slayer on our side for that extra muscle."

"Extra muscle is putting it lightly." Skywalker said, "With that guy on our side, we could probably end this whole war in a matter of weeks, days even. Maybe hours."

"I'd say report is adjourned." Mace said. He looked at Ahsoka. "Padawan Tano, we will be awaiting your cue."

"I'll notify you if his location stays stable for so much as half a minute master." Ahsoka said.

"Then let's get ready, ready to face a hell priest. We'll need to review the codex that the ARC provided to us. After all this time, we're finally going to make a move against them." Mace said.

"May the force guide and protect us." Grandmaster Yoda said before disconnecting, followed by everyone else over the holo-projector.

(Later, Ahsoka's point of view)

I was walking through the halls of the compound. The place was starting to finally become complete from the construction efforts. The air was becoming more filtered and smelled less like ash and burning trees from the skirmish with the UAC. I pulled out the tracking monitor and locked in on his current location. It pointed to him being in the Japrael system, but not even half a minute later and the beacon disappeared. I locked in on it again, now it said he was in the Teth system.

I looked out through a glass pane at the night sky. The stars above Gyndine offered adequate illumination over the planet and in the hallway that still didn't have stable power running through it. But I was only focused on outside rather than in.

Out there beyond the stars... Is it really you (Y/n)?

"I'm here now, so you can stop worrying."

His words, they echoed through my head as my mind drifted. I closed my mind and reached out with the force as much as I could.

I wanted to believe, I really did. I wanted to hope that you somehow survived, and that we would somehow save you. Though I had to move on. But now... why haven't you come back to us? Why did you try to hurt me? (Y/n), are you really out there? Fighting for us?

I couldn't feel his presence, and that reminded me how I never felt a familiar life force any time I was close to the Slayer... but his face, it has to be him. Or perhaps I'm being wishful. Master Windu brought up the possibility that he may be possessed in a unique way.

I don't want that to be true. (Y/n), please... don't make that the reality. Don't force me to act against you like that. I need to know, are you really there?

My focus on the force was interrupted by the sound of steps coming down the hall. I turned around to see Commander Wolffe approaching me.

"Commander Tano." He said.

"Wolffe." I responded. "How are you doing?"

"Hmph. You've been asking me that question every time we meet ever since... since he was taken." Wolffe said.

"I know, it's part of how I find closure." I said. "Is there something you need?" I asked.

"Commander... is it true?" Wolffe asked with a bit of a shaky voice which was unbecoming of a clone unless in very tense situations. "About the Marine? About... (Y/n)?"

"It is." I said. "I can't even believe it myself, but that memory is crystal clear. His face, his scar, behind that visor... It's an image I can't get out of my head, for better or worse."

Wolffe stared at me for a few seconds before lowering his head to the side in contemplation.

(Years ago, Juma 9 incident, Your point of View)

An explosion from a vulture droid shot occurred nearby and almost threw me off course, but with my jetpack, it was easy to get back in formation with the rest of the Wolfpack.

"Whoah, WHOAH CRUD!" I said, flailing my arms.

"(Y/n)! You alright?" Wolffe asked.

"I'm fine." I said, spinning back into position. "That was close though."

R3 beeped directions to us behind me. Comet looked at the station ahead and spotted it, and pointed to it so that the others would see it.

"There it is." Comet said. "The airlock."

"Wolfpack, destination set, let's move quickly before any more clankers catch us." Wolffe said.

"Let's go, General Kenobi could be in a tight spot right now." Comet said.

The sounds of my heavy breath inside my sealed helmet almost overshadowed the abundance of blaster fire and explosions around us. The furious battle between the Separatists invading Juma 9 and the Republic forces, including those of our new flagship the "Phalanx", raged on around us. Republic starfighters and gunships flew out into the fray and were met with heavy resistance from vulture droids, tri-fighters, and other flightworthy units. We had attempted to board the station with reinforcements, only to notice that the main hangars were sealed off from the inside by the droids. In the rush, Master Plo had gone ahead to breach the station with as many men as he could muster through an airlock on the other side, to keep the separatists off us. As for us, he ordered the Wolfpack to move in under the cover of the chaos and infiltrate the station silently, and release the barriers on the docking bays so that the fleeing crew of Juma 9 could evacuate to the Phalanx safely, and we could finally send in reinforcements to retake the station.

I looked around at the raging battle that was enveloping my senses. The station was ginormous and growing even more so the closer we got. It towered over us like a monster, with the light of the Ryloth system star casting its long shadow over us.

"Ominous." I said as we got closer to the airlock.

"Doesn't look like too much." Boost said. "We could probably wreck this entire station single handedly."

"Please." Sinker said, "You'll be 'single-handed' by the time we're done with this, hot shot."

"Ha, as if." Boost said.

We used our jet packs to slow down our velocity as we arrived in front of the sealed airlock doors. Wolffe traced his hand along the side of the station's hull until he found a highlighted square in the side.

"The access panel's covered." He said.

I dug into the pockets of my EVA suit and pulled out one of my lightsabers. I ignited the blade and brushed it over the top edge of the panel. It slid off and I grabbed it with the force before tossing it out into space. "R3." I called.

R3 beeped affirmatively and boosted himself over to float in front of the access panel. He opened up his right frontal compartment and inserted his scomp link into the computer terminal. R3 beeped a few seconds later and the airlock opened immediately. We felt the air from inside being sucked out.

"Good work buddy." I said. R3 squeaked and retracted his scomp link. An explosion went off nearby and made us all shield our eyes. We heard more fire nearby and two vulture droids and a tri-fighter zoomed past us many yards away, chasing down a torrent starfighter.

"I don't think either of them will take too kindly to visitors in a time like this." Sinker said.

"True. Let's get in there." I said.

"Moving." Comet responded. We activated our jetpacks and pushed through the air-sucking vacuum to get inside the airlock. Once we were in, I tapped the control panel on the side and the airlock doors behind us closed, leaving us in a small chamber. Vents in the ceiling and on the walls opened up and let out some air to depressurized the room. They stopped after a few seconds, and the doors opposite to us opened into the hallways of the station.

I took off my helmet and brought my wrist comm close to my mouth. "Master Plo?" asked. The others leaned in.

"(Y/n), what is your status? Did you all make it safely?" Master Plo answered a second later.

"Yes." I said. "We're inside the station."

"Good." Master Plo said. "You all know what to do: secure the docking bays, gather the crewmates, and lower the shields. Once the reinforcements arrive, we'll be able to move on from here, but we're counting on you right now to clear the way to make our counterattack."

R3 squeaked and went over to another computer terminal to plug his scump link into.

"What the droid said." Wolffe said to Master Plo in response to R3, "a cakewalk."

"Be careful." Master Plo said. "I am searching for Master Kenobi as we speak. The droids have the majority of the station under their control and they outnumber us by many. Stealth will be paramount to completing your objective. Do not engage the enemy unless as a last resort. Keep yourselves hidden. Once the reinforcements are allowed to arrive, we can focus on taking back Juma 9."

"No fun." Boost said

R3 came back to us and let out a series of beeps and clicks.

"R3-S7 has the schematics of the station now." Comet said. "He says we're not too far from the docking bays, but the surveillance software shows them to be filled to the brim with clankers."

"And it looks like they've got some hostages too." I said.

"I assume that means we get to smash some heads after all?" Boost said.

"Alright, I take it back, the hostages take priority." Master Plo said. Get to the hangar bays, clear them of all hostels, secure the landing zone and the hostages."

"Master, consider it done." I said.

"Those bays will be clear before the Phalanx crew can give Cobert another seizure." Sinker said

"Good. Take care of each other, and may the force be with you all."

"You as well, Master." I said before I disconnected from the comms channel.

"R3." Wolffe called, making the droid spin his dome towards him. "Lead us to the bays through the deserted halls."

R3 squealed affirmatively and led us through. The hallways of the station were had several deceased crewmates of the station along with droids from the battles.

"Look at this. These tread marks and footprints." Wolffe said and pointed out to the inhumanly small footprints that we passed by as we followed R3. "Too small to be humans, and too numerous to have stopped moving. The clankers won the fight here."

"Now that's messed up." I said after seeing a deceased crewmate in a dirty jumpsuit with a sweeper nearby. "Who kills a janitor? That poor janitor didn't do a thing."

"Always the janitors." Boost said.

"We really could've used him, the guy on the Phalanx isn't so up to par." Sinker said.

"This is why we need to have these places more heavily guarded. No one ever expects a backwater support station to be a target, no one but me!" Comet said. "I've always said it, since day one!"

"Keep it down!" Wolffe said. "Do you want the whole station to hear you? Sheesh, you don't understand stealth at all."

"I've always said it, since day one." Sinker said.

"Cut it out." Comet said.

"You gotta wonder, why did they attack a pointless support station like this?" I asked.

"Probably to cut off support to Ryloth." Comet said.

"Doubt it." I responded. "Ryloth is a pretty small operation for the Separatists right now, from what I hear, their hold on the planet has been a lost cause for months, the droids down there have been all but abandoned."

"Hopefully if we get a chance, we can beat it out of them." Boost said. "And if we see any droideka-"

"DIBS." I interrupted him.

"Oh come on!" Boost said.

Wolffe got on his wrist comm while we continued walking. "Warthog, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, commander." Warthog responded back.

"Weve made it into the station and are making our way to the ship bays. Stand by to launch."

"Will do sir, good luck." Warthog said before Wolffe disconnected.

We continued down the hall, right on R3's tail.

I think I'm going to choose only one of these flashback plots to focus on pursuing alongside the main plot in the next few chapters. I think I'm gonna let y'all decide. I won't abandon the other one, I'll just do it after I'm done with whichever one y'all choose. let me know in the comments which flashback plot y'all want to see written first, Jedi temple or Juma 9?