Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 02_ Dark Apprentice - Kevin J. Anderson [25]
At the podium Luke tried to stand tall. He found the core of peace inside him that allowed him to speak with a firm voice. “I have brought you here to study and to learn, but I myself am still learning. Every living thing must continue to learn until it dies. Those who cease to learn, die that much sooner.
“Perhaps it was misleading when I called this an ‘academy’ for Jedi. Though I will teach you everything I know, I don’t want you merely to listen to me lecture.
“Your training will be a landscape of self-discovery. Learn new things and share what you have learned with others. I will call this place a praxeum. This word, made up of ancient roots, was first used by the Jedi scholar Karena, distilling the concepts of learning combined with action. Our praxeum, then, is a place for the learning of action. A Jedi is aware, but he does not waste time in mindless contemplation. When action is required, a Jedi acts.”
Luke repositioned a small translucent cube on the raised dais behind him. He ran his fingers over the cool surface of the ancient knowledge repository Leia had stolen from the resurrected Emperor. The Jedi Holocron.
“We will invoke a past Jedi Master from the Holocron,” Luke said. “We have used this device to learn the ways of the old Jedi Knights. Let us see what stories it has for us this morning.”
He activated the precious artifact. In the distant past it had been traditional for each Jedi Master to compile his life’s knowledge and store it within a great repository such as this, which was then passed to one of his students. Luke had only begun to fathom its depths.
An image formed both inside and outside the cube, a half-tangible projection that was more than just a stored bit of data; it was an interactive representation of the Jedi Master—a stubby alien, part insectile, part crustacean. It seemed to be bent with age or too much gravity. Its head extended into a long funnel, like a beak from which dangled whiskery protuberances. Close-set, glassy eyes stared like glittering pinpoints of knowledge.
The creature leaned on a long wooden staff, its legs spindly and knobby as it swiveled its funnellike face to contemplate the new audience. Tattered rags covered its body, sticking out in odd directions like clothing or external skin. Its voice came out in a reedy melody, like high-pitched music played under fast running water.
“I am Master Vodo-Siosk Baas.”
“Master Vodo,” Luke said, “I am Master Skywalker, and these are my apprentices. You have seen many things and recorded many thoughts. We’d be honored if you would tell us something we should know.”
The image of Master Vodo-Siosk Baas hung his beaklike head on a jointed elbow of neck, as if in contemplation. Luke knew that the Holocron was simply uploading and sifting through reams of data, choosing an appropriate story through a personality algorithm stored with the Jedi Master’s image.
“I must tell you of the Great Sith War that occurred—” Here the image paused as the Holocron assessed the current situation. “Four thousand years before your time.
“This war was caused by a student of mine, Exar Kun, who found forbidden teachings of the ancient Sith. He imitated the ways of the long-fallen Sith and used them to form his own philosophy of the Jedi Code, a distortion of all we know to be true and right. With this knowledge Exar Kun established a vast and powerful brotherhood and claimed the title of the first Dark Lord of the Sith.”
Luke stiffened. “Others have claimed that title,” he said, “even to this time.” Including Darth Vader.
Master Vodo-Siosk Baas seemed to lean more heavily on his walking stick. “I had hoped Exar Kun and his kind were defeated once and for all. Exar Kun joined forces with another powerful Jedi and great warlord, Ulic Qel-Droma. Exar Kun worked his invisible threads into the fabric of the Old Republic, bringing downfall through treachery and his distorted abilities