The Archives

On his way into the archives, the smell of noxious burning fumes grew stronger. He shielded his face as he walked in.

"Blast!"

He exclaimed to himself as he witnessed the destruction before him. He tried to salvage as much of it as he could, beating out the flames to the best of his abilities with what he had with him, but wait... there was a presence in the room. Who else was in here? The Jedi cautioned himself as he moved forward, keeping his head low as to not breath in the remaining smoke.

"Who's there?"

Jair looked up to set his eyes on the intruder that was speaking to him. He shielded his eyes awkwardly from the smoke as he looked up, unable to get a proper glimpse. But despite what his eyes couldn't see, what he could now feel resonating from the intruder informed him of a lot. She was very strong with the Force. The Dark Side bubbled like dark magma within her signature but it felt neither tamed nor totally wild, indicating some experience, but not that of one who has practiced for a very long time. Jair deduced, therefore, that she was likely on the younger side. But he could be wrong. It wouldn't have been the first time he was wrong.

He called out, relatively calmly and casually, and without any Jedi bravado at all;

"I'm Jair. One of the Knights here. And your name?"

Jair was an odd Jedi. This type of casualty was normal for him these days, and if the intruder were to take offense or judge it as mocking, she would have completely missed the point. Jair tried to dispel confrontation, not create it. If she was able to get a good look at the Jedi, she would notice a few things. First would probably be the odd choice of a dark robe, despite having an unmistakable aura of Light. However, although his aura was Light, if one pressed into it enough, one could presumably get the picture that this one had certainly had his run ins with the darkness in the past. The next odd thing would probably be his youthful looks which would not quite match up to his Force signature pointing to a man who had gone through many experiences in this galaxy.

Jair allowed the intruder to explore his aura for the moment, seeing no harm in it. He turned his attention to creating a few small Force Waves to ripple from around him. It was nothing very strong or dangerous, but simply an attempt to snuff out the remainder of the flames. He could only hope that they were successful in doing so or not. As the intruder continued to explore his mind a bit more, he cautioned himself in order to protect his thoughts. However it also enabled him to realize that she was not yet completely taken by the darkness. His heart jumped a bit. Perhaps there could still be hope for this one. Perhaps she could be persuaded to turn away from the path of pain. But for now, Jair listened, and gave the best answer he could give.

"That depends. I haven't memorized all of the entries in these archives."

And that was a truthful statement. Jair would question the humanity of any Jedi who would claim to be able to do such a feat.

"What is it that you are looking for, Lady Nightshade?"

Jair could feel this ones allure, although it didn't pull at him. Make no mistake, the young Zabrak was quite beautiful, and oddly pleasant for one associating with the Sith. But Jair not only had his Jedi training to counter this, but, perhaps even more relevantly, there was someone else. Someone he cared so very deeply about, despite not quite being able to remember her whereabouts, or what had happened to her. But he held this information deep inside his mind. If Lady Nightshade wanted to know those juicy details, she would have to really dig and fight through his mental barriers. And there likely wasn't much time for that. Still, the Jedi returned a friendly smile, and motioned her to follow him.

"I might be able to help you with that. Follow me. I have been asked to recover as much of these archives as possible for evacuation, so, we might be able to help each other out here."

As Jair walked through the main archives he made sure to insert as many datapads as possible along the way to speed up the process of backing up as much could as he possibly could. They would eventually come to a door that was very secure. The written texts would be in the restricted area. Luckily, Jair had procurated access due to the extenuating circumstances of the evacuation, and opened the door with his key card.

He continued planting data pads to download everything that he could, before reaching the areas where the written texts were stored. There were several large self-transport storage bins in the area in case of situations like these. He securely opened each bin with his codes and books began to swiftly yet carefully and neatly fly off their shelves and stack themselves into these bins, the Jedi moving them with the Force. He filled up three bins, and then entered some values on their control surfaces. The bins then extended wheels and began to roll out of the archives entirely and away towards the balcony for evacuation.

Jair then led them to the next corridor... he felt a chill down his spine as he entered. He turned to Lady Nightshade, providing she had followed him this far. Somehow he had a feeling that what this one sought was near.

"If you could give me some more details, I might be able to help you find what you're looking for."

Jair slapped himself mentally. It would not have been a very big deal, as the refugees had already made it out of orbit by now. Still, it was not wise to mention it. And there were still the ships that would carry the cargo from the archives that needed to escape orbit. The Grandmaster would be rather irate if the written materials met an untimely demise due to Jair's little slip of the tongue. He too sent some codes to the ship that would be carrying out the materials, urging caution, before putting this in the back of his mind and addressing the situation at hand.

He began to fill more bins in the corridor they were in, and started to send them off, but after he got to the last been, Lady Nightshades change in countenance caused him to pause. At the ignition of her lightsaber, Jair instinctively reached for his but then softened, realizing she was looking for something in the walls. Odd... why would she be looking in the walls-but then Jair heard her mention it. The planet's not too distant history. The Chaos Wars. It was then that his countenance too changed, and a tone of seriousness was apparent in his voice. A tone that was not at all disparaging, but carried the wisdom of one who was, as she admitted just earlier, strong enough to endure said wars.

"I know now what it is that you seek. I will not try to stop you, but I must warn you. That tome... it is not even an ancient Sith artifact. It is a darkness unknown. You do not realize what it has unleashed."

Jair finished filling and sent the last three bins up to the balcony to be picked up as he watched Lady Nightshade go after the infamous tome that even he would not even willingly touch. Regardless, now that he had evacuated the remainder of the texts to the balcony, he followed her down into the catacombs, calling out to her from behind.

"I am not convinced that the Sith are even ready for what lies inside those pages. If you find it, know that I will not touch it. It's up to you to handle it, if you so desire such a thing."

Jair followed from behind, listening intently to what she had to say. She seemed cautious, yet unafraid. That she held some caution was notable. Again the Jedi was reminded that this one had not yet totally given in to the darkness. He followed her into a room where she finally paused. He felt it too. He watched the young Zabrak glue her gaze on the book. He already knew what it was. He recognized it immediately. He felt a sharp chill go down his spine and as he exhaled, he could have sworn he saw his breath in the air. Memories of that accursed book and possessed dagger flashed across his mind, along with images of an excruciated possessed Jedi Knight, Anna. Thank goodness she was alright now. She, too, survived the ordeal. He looked directly towards Lady Nightshade now, as she asked her question. His eyes stood wide in first hand knowledge of the dangers within.

"At the slightest mishandling of those pages... you risk opening yourself up to an aspect... a projection... a shadow... of Bogan itself being released..."

Jairs pupils fluttered slightly in horror of the memory.

"It will become sentient. Do not be decieved into thinking you can make it your pawn! Not even the most powerful Sith Lord of the ancient times can control this being. The being IS Bogan. It will take control. It cares not of your alignment."

Jair paused again as more memories of the ravaging war that took place right here on this planet.

"It named itself. It began to try to turn the very planet. The depth of its evil and power made our earlier conflicts with a fallen Whill seem like a training session."

Jair focused his gaze upon Lady Nightshade once again, a sense of urgency and warning apparent in his gaze that was piercing at this point. He could not be more serious about anything than this, right now.

"I have witnessed many great evils in my life. Long ago I saw the dark practices of the Sith while undercover, first hand. I saw a Sith cut the hand off an innocent youngling once, slowly. I have witnessed tortures. A great Whill fell and spread his darkness over this planet, trying to twist it. But none of that... absolutely none of that compares to the darkness that was unleashed from those pages."

Jair added one final word of caution.

"And do not assume this can be used as a weapon. No. This... shade... it ravages the ones who open the pages, first and foremost. I have witnessed this. Again, I will not touch it. It is your choice."

Lady Nightshade would find not even a hint of deception in his voice, for what use did he have of lying about such a thing?

Jair backed up to give some space between himself, the young Zabrak, and the book. He couldn't quite tell what she was doing, but she seemed very unsure, at the very least. And as far as Jair was concerned, any one with a lick of sense should have been, at the very least, unsure of this book. He was rather taken aback though when Lady Nightshade stepped back, as if to protect him from the book. Odd... Then the blinding light flashed, and a form appeared. Jair immediately grabbed his lightsaber hilt and poised himself to guard them both against whatever terror just manifested before them when he realized... wait... a being of Light? How was this possible? And he seemed so familiar... As Jair's eyes adjusted to the light, he immediately understood why this presence felt familiar.

"M... Master Gadriel...?"

Jair stammered, his mouth now properly agape.

Jair simply nodded slowly in response to Lady Nightshades quesion, his mouth still agape. Of all the people he had expected to see, the Bothan Jedi Master was certainly not one of them. This was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. The bigger question was, how had he managed to get back here after all these years, now? How did he manage to guard the book? Those questions, however, had to wait. There were more pressing matters. And now with the presence of a Jedi Master here, in his ethereal form, perhaps he had more of a chance to guide this young Zabrak to the light. He addressed Gadriel first.

"I do not think this one is a witch. At least, not yet. There is too much light lingering within her still."

Jair turned his head back to Lady Nightshade, completely ignoring the shade. The thing was trapped in a cage of light, so there was nothing it could really do. Perhaps this could be a lesson in the piercing power of Ashla.

"I know I am not the only one who senses it. I feel this could be a critical moment for you. You can shape the path of your destiny."

Jair looked at the apparition of the Jedi Master quizzically. What did he mean by a battle hard fought, yet won? Was this young Zabrak fighting the urge to fall to the dark side? Then it occurred to him. Lady Nightshade was much like himself when he first began as a Jedi. Trying to learn some of the secrets of the darkness, yet taming it. Over the years, and after many close calls, Jair had finally relented and simply strove to gravitate towards the light. There was simply more peace to be found in that journey than what he was doing before. Regardless, he could still relate.

He listened intently to the interaction between the two, but much of it went right over his head. What in the blazes was the Book of Law? He had never heard of such a thing before. He was most surprised when the young Zabrak finally relented. When Gadriel asked him the final question, he simply nodded, still rather astounded by all of this."

"Well... yes Master Gadriel, that... sounds good enough to me."