If nothing unexpected happened, whatever was inside was extremely important to Hondo—and certainly worth a fortune.
Hondo had turned on an entire pirate gang just to get his hands on it. After that, even when escaping from the cruiser, he hadn't forgotten to retrieve it first. And even now, when there were safer ways to leave Hoth's frozen wasteland, he still chose to gamble everything on a sneak attack against Amir.
All of that proved one thing: he absolutely didn't want to lose this item.
Amir stepped into the escape pod and looked around. The space was cramped. He'd been wondering how a crate that big could possibly fit inside, but once he got closer, he realized the crate wasn't entirely in the pod anymore. Hondo had probably broken the contents into smaller parts to carry out—stuffed backpacks, lockboxes, and the like. There were also credits and metal ingots scattered directly across the pod's interior.
"Looks like it hit hard—what a mess. Shame the guy's still alive," Amir muttered. He picked up a bag. Everything here was valuable.
If he recognized it, if he didn't—either way, just pack it. Amir didn't open some of the cases yet. For the metal ingots that wouldn't fit, he simply shoved them into his own pack. These alone had to be worth at least a hundred thousand credits.
Loaded down with bags and bundles, Amir returned to the Traveler. No. 32 nodded to him, indicating everything was secured.
After dumping the pile in the main hall, Amir headed to the cockpit. The little incident was over. The Traveler lifted off again, heading for the foot of the ruin-mountain.
Same place as always. Ahsoka's ship was already waiting there. Amir set down smoothly nearby.
"Get on my ship. We'll go straight to the platform I found," Amir called out as he came down the ramp, shouting to Ahsoka as she waited in the snow.
"Alright. Coming," Ahsoka replied. She dragged an icebreaking hammer out of her ship and walked over, the tool scraping along the ground.
"Did Obi-Wan tell you anything useful?" Ahsoka asked as she boarded the Traveler, speaking to Amir as he returned to the cockpit.
"He gave me a holorecorder. It has some history and ruins material on it—Master Yoda's lectures."
"Ohh. I think I know which one," Ahsoka said, rolling her eyes. From the look of it, she probably hadn't listened very closely back then.
"We're taking off," Amir warned. The Traveler lifted again, slipping toward the black fissure.
"Hi, Millisyn. Mona told me to say hello to you," Ahsoka said.
"Really?" Millisyn looked delighted.
"Of course. She also asked me to bring you this." Ahsoka reached into the Evelyn and pulled out a palm-length white feather.
"This is…?! A Cloudwing feather?" Millisyn asked.
"Mona picked it up while taking care of Cloudwing. She said you'd definitely like it."
"Of course I like it!" Millisyn admired her gift from every angle, reluctant to let it go. Before long, she tucked the feather into the band of her felt hat.
Soon the ship set down on the ice platform. The group climbed out, and Millisyn showed off her new look to Amir.
It was obvious the two kids had completely made up—and their relationship would be even tighter than before.
"Last time I already dug out the passage. Let's go straight in," Amir said. He ignited his lightsaber, illuminating the clean platform. Charles's body had already been thrown into the fissure by him—an appropriate end, all things considered.
Ahsoka activated her lightsabers as well.
"Ahsoka! Why are your blades white?" Millisyn asked.
"They used to be red. The crystals were harmed. I used the Force to cleanse their wounds—after that, they became the purest white," Ahsoka said.
The lightsabers in her hands were taken years ago from an Imperial Inquisitor. Their crimson blades had been purified by her clear, luminous presence in the Force, becoming a white that was almost unheard of.
The kyber crystals in an Imperial Inquisitor's saber weren't the same as a Jedi's. A Jedi would bring younglings to crystal caverns rich with kyber and let them enter, complete their trial, and choose—be chosen by—the crystal. Like companions relying on each other. A lightsaber forged that way could draw out far greater power in its wielder's hands.
But Imperial Inquisitors and Sith would use the dark side—pressure, torment—to force a kyber crystal to submit. Their blades turned red, often called the "blood" of the kyber. And with the Empire's most advanced technology at their disposal, they also used synthetic kyber crystals. Compared to natural ones, these could offer higher performance and let a lightsaber hit harder—but as many Jedi would say, they felt… soulless.
"Can I do that too?" Millisyn asked. "Cleanse a red lightsaber. Amir never lets me use a red one. If it turns white, he won't stop me."
"Do you want to be a Jedi apprentice, Millisyn?" Ahsoka asked with a smile.
"A Jedi apprentice?" Millisyn thought for a moment. "Like Amir?"
"Of course. Amir is currently Master Obi-Wan's apprentice," Ahsoka replied.
"Yes! I want to be like Amir. Can I be Amir's apprentice?" Millisyn asked.
"That will have to wait until he graduates from Obi-Wan," Ahsoka said, looking toward Amir ahead of them. "Then he'll take you to build your first lightsaber."
"I've been an apprentice for less than a month and I'm already graduating?" Amir said, putting on an exaggeratedly shocked expression.
Ahsoka laughed. "Special times call for special measures. Besides, in the old days, masters and apprentices often went on missions together."
Ouch. That one hit close to home, Amir thought, silently pitying himself for a second. Then he said, "Soon. When we assault the main experimental base, Obi-Wan will join us."
"Really?" Ahsoka said, lighting up. "That's—this is great. With Master Obi-Wan's help, it'll go much more smoothly."
"Have you confirmed the location?" Amir asked.
"We've confirmed the planet where the target is. We've already sent people to recon. We need to move quickly—if we wait too long, they'll get suspicious. And you've just destroyed one of their cruisers. Their strength is at a low point right now," Ahsoka answered.
The true culprit, No. 32, adjusted his cap off to the side.
As they talked, they reached the end of the passage.
The same familiar hall. BD-4 once again served as their flashlight.
"Let's break the ice layer first," Ahsoka said, looking at the wall. "This temple really is extremely similar to the one on Gudrian. It was probably built by the Massassi civilization too. I just don't know whether the Jedi discovered it and rebuilt it into a Jedi temple."
"Or the Sith did," Amir added.
"The paintings on the wall are so pretty—like the stars in the sky!" Millisyn said, studying the murals beyond the ice by BD-4's light.
Amir was about to start breaking the ice. Following Millisyn's gaze, he looked over—and it really did resemble a starfield.
"Stars linked together into patterns… Did the Massassi believe in constellations?" Amir wondered.
Crack!
Ahsoka's icebreaking hammer slammed into the ice. With the sharp sound, a spiderweb of fractures radiated outward from the impact point.
Amir used the Force to pull. The bonded ice chunks scattered outward across the floor, revealing a rough stone wall beneath.
Amir increasingly felt that the central section of the wall was a door—not only because it was door-shaped, but because every surrounding pattern converged toward that center.
Like planets orbiting a radiant star.
"Let me try this one," Amir said.
He closed his eyes and reached out into the Force around them, spreading his senses forward.
Very quickly, a smile appeared on Amir's face.
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🌌 Star Wars: Relics of the Past
📢 The Force Calls! 📢
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