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Sealed behind the protection of thick stone walls, the war room allowed no outside illumination. Newly restored glowpanels in the corners made the place shine brightly, but also enhanced the shadows.

Cilghal looked at the group of Jedi trainees. A dozen of the best … but now they were gripped with fear and indecision, unprepared for the trial forced upon them.

Some—such as Kirana Ti, Kam Solusar, and, surprisingly, Streen—reacted with outrage to the long-dead Lord of the Sith. Others, particularly Dorsk 81, were filled with an unreasoning fear, afraid to challenge the dark power that had been sufficient to warp other students and defeat Master Skywalker. Cilghal herself did not look forward to the fight, but she vowed to do everything she could against their unwanted enemy.

“What if Exar Kun can hear our plans?” Dorsk 81 said, his large eyes shining in the harsh lights. “Even here he might be spying on us!” His voice rose, and his yellow-olive skin mottled with panic.

“The Dark Man can be everywhere,” Streen said, leaning across the cluttered table. His frizzy gray hair still looked windblown. He fidgeted as he glanced around the room, as if afraid someone were watching.

“There’s no other place we can go,” Cilghal said. “If Exar Kun can find us here, he can find us wherever we go. We must operate on the assumption that we can still fight him.” She gazed at the candidates. She had taken great pains to develop her oratory skills as ambassador for Calamari. She had used her voice and her wits to great success in the past, and now she took advantage of her gift. “We have enough real problems to confront—there’s no need to manufacture worse ones from our imagination.”

The others murmured in agreement.

“Tionne,” Cilghal said, “much of our plan depends on your knowledge of ancient Jedi lore. Tell us what you know about Exar Kun.”

Tionne sat up in a battered and uncomfortable chair beside one of the dilapidated tactical stations. Across her lap lay the double-boxed musical instrument on which she played old ballads to anyone who would listen.

Tionne had only a small amount of Jedi potential. Master Skywalker had made that clear to her, but she would not be swayed from her resolve to become one of the new Jedi Knights. She had become enamored of Jedi legends, traveling from system to system, digging through ancient writings and folktales, compiling tales of the Jedi from thousands of years before the Dark Times.

The Jedi Holocron had been a treasure trove, and Tionne had spent much of her time studying it, replaying forgotten legends, clarifying details. But the Holocron was destroyed when Master Skywalker had asked the simulated gatekeeper, the ancient Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas, to tell of his student Exar Kun, who had rebuilt the Brotherhood of the Sith.…

Tionne flicked molten-silver hair over her shoulders and looked at the other trainees with her eerie mother-of-pearl eyes. Her lips were thin and pale, bloodless with tension.

“It’s very difficult to find verifiable legends from the Great Sith War. That was four thousand years ago, and it was incredibly devastating—but apparently the old Jedi Knights were ashamed of how they had failed to protect the galaxy. Many of the records were distorted or destroyed, but I think I’ve pieced together enough.” She swallowed, then continued.

“Kun seems to have built his primary stronghold on this jungle moon. He enslaved the Massassi race to build all these temples as focal points for his power.”

She looked around, sizing up the Jedi trainees. “In fact, this gathering reminds me of the Great Council on the planet Deneba, when most of the old Jedi Knights met to discuss the dark tide rising through the galaxy. Master Vodo-Siosk Baas—who had trained Exar Kun—became a martyr when he tried to turn his student back to the light side. When Master Vodo did not succeed, the other Jedi banded together in a massive strike force such as had never before been gathered.

“Though Kun had enormous power,