Star Wars_ Darth Bane 02_ Rule of Two - Drew Karpyshyn [96]
“You saw a Sith named Lord Bane?” Johun pressed eagerly, looking for greater confirmation. “How do you know it was him?”
“For a time I was part of Kaan’s army,” the hermit whispered softly. “We all knew who Bane was.”
“This … this is unbelievable!” Johun stammered, all thoughts of the monument and the vandalism that had led him to the hermit gone from his mind. “We have to tell the Jedi Council! We need to go to Coruscant as soon as possible!”
“No.”
The refusal was delivered with such simple finality, it stopped Johun cold. “But … the Sith are still out there. The Council must be warned.”
The hermit shrugged. “So warn them. My place is here on Ruusan.”
“They won’t believe me,” Johun admitted. “They’ll want to question you themselves.”
“I’ve seen what happens when the Jedi and Sith go to war. I won’t be part of it again. I won’t go to Coruscant.”
“You were vandalizing Republic property,” Johun reminded him. “I could arrest you and bring you there to face charges.”
The hermit laughed again. “And then what, Jedi? Torture me until I confess what I saw? Use your powers to twist my mind and make me say the words you want to hear? I’m sure the Council will believe you then.”
Johun frowned. The hermit was right; the only way the Council would believe him was if his testimony was freely given.
“Don’t you see what’s at stake?” Johun said, changing tactics. “You saw what happens when the Sith raise an army and go to war. If you come with me now, the Council will listen to your warning. We can seek out this Lord Bane and stop him before he has a chance to lure others to his cause.”
As he spoke he reached out to touch the hermit’s mind with the Force. He didn’t compel him to agree to the request; that wouldn’t serve his purpose here. Force persuasion was a temporary measure, and by the time they got back to Coruscant, the effects would have worn off and the hermit would know he had been manipulated, making him even more intractable. Instead Johun simply tried to make the man more willing to listen to reason, casting a veil of calm and tranquillity over his thoughts. He gently swept the other man’s bitterness and resentment to the side, allowing him to weigh the logic of his arguments unclouded by passion and emotion.
“Bane has gone into hiding,” he continued. “If we do not find him, he will reveal himself only when he has rebuilt the armies of the Sith, and the galaxy will be plunged once again into war. But if you come with me now, we can convince the Council to seek him out. Help me stop him, and we will prevent another war.”
The hermit stared at him for a long time before finally nodding his agreement. “If it means stopping another war, I will go with you to Coruscant.”
The chief librarian of the Jedi Archives was a venerable Cerean named Master Barra-Rona-Ban.
“Welcome to Coruscant, Padawan Nalia,” he said, rising from his seat to greet Zannah with a smile as she entered his room. “How was your trip from Polus?”
Master Barra’s private quarters looked much as she had expected: a great number of journals, handwritten notes and datacards covered his small desk, organized into neat little piles. There was also a small viewscreen and a terminal that she suspected was linked to the main index catalog of the Archives, allowing Master Barra to reference it at will.
“The journey was long but uneventful,” she replied.
Her voice was calm and relaxed, though inside her heart was pounding. The illusion she projected of being an apprentice of the light side had served her well so far, but now she was face-to-face with a Jedi Master. If she made even the slightest mistake, all was lost.
“It was good to get away from the cold,” she added. Nalia, unlike her Master, had not been born on Polus: She had originally come from the tropical regions of Corsin.
The Cerean laughed, creasing up the wrinkles on his tall, cone-shaped forehead. “Master Anno would disagree with you, I suspect.”
She replied with a gentle laugh of her own. “My Master sends his regards,” she said, recalling