Into the Void: Star Wars (Dawn of the Jedi) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Tython’s atmosphere, and this
     gave her time to look down upon the planet thathad once been her home. To reach escape velocity they passed over Tython’s largest
     continent, Talss, and even from this distance she could see the vast wound in the
     land that was the Rift. Six hundred kilometers east of the Rift was Anil Kesh Temple,
     and it was here, on her Great Journey, that she had truly found her peace with the
     Force for the first time. It was also here that her brother’s doom had been sealed.
    But she wished she could look down upon Masara, home to Bodhi, the Temple of the Arts.
     There, her parents still lived and taught. They mourned the son they had believed
     dead, but who now seemed to have become an enemy of the Je’daii and a danger to everyone.
     Her parents now knew that he yet lived, of that she was certain—Master Xiang’s comments
     about their understanding the circumstances made that obvious. But she would have
     liked to speak to them and tell them to continue mourning their son. Whatever the
     outcome of her mission, the Dalien Brock they had known and loved was no more.
    He had shunned his family, and let them continue for nine years believing he was dead.
Not everyone is lucky enough to finish their Great Journey
, her mother had said to her at Dalien’s memorial ritual. It seemed now that luck
     had little to do with it.
    “Little shak,” Lanoree said. She laughed bitterly. She’d used the term before to describe
     Dal, but only to herself, when he got his own way with their parents or infuriated
     her so much.
    The ship shuddered with its efforts to tear itself from Tython’s pull, and she wondered
     why leaving did not trouble her equally. She’d spent four years believing it was because
     she was a wanderer, a seeker of knowledge and enlightenment, and the farther she went,
     the more she knew. A large part of that was true; her passion in the Force made it
     so.
    But she also suspected that in ranging beyond Tython, she had left behind the lingering
     guilt that Dal’s death had been her fault.
    Where could such feelings reside now?
    She withdrew the message pod from her pocket and slipped it into the ship’s computer.
     The flatscreen snowed and then a picture faded in from the darkness. Master Dam-Powl’s
     face, though this time she seemed more tense than before.
    “Lanoree, I’ll be brief. By the time you view this message you’ll have stood before
     me and other Je’daii Masters and been given a mission.What I offer you now—privately, the reason for which I’m sure you will understand—is
     help. Your ship’s computer now contains all we know of your errant brother and his
     intentions, though, as you will see, that’s precious little. A rumor, a warning, a
     few words of worry from our Rangers and spies out in the system. On Kalimahr you should
     proceed to the city-state of Rhol Yan, where you will meet a Twi’lek called Tre Sana
     in Susco’s Tavern. He lives close by, just ask the tavern’s owner. Tre will tell you
     more. He’s not a Je’daii. Indeed, many of his interests are on Shikaakwa, and on any
     other occasion you might seek to arrest him rather than take his advice. But he’s
     served me well several times before. Greed drives him, and I pay.”
    She sighed, and looked for a moment incredibly sad. “I hate to go behind the backs
     of the other Je’daii Masters in this, because no one on the Council wanted a non-Je’daii
     involved. But I justify doing so in the knowledge that it will help. You’ll know more
     than most that some on the settled worlds don’t trust the Je’daii, even though perhaps
     they hold us in awe. Some actively dislike us. A few harbor hate, still nurtured and
     fresh following the Despot War twelve years ago, and I suspect it is these levels
     of society where your investigation will take you. Tre might help you past this mistrust.
     He
knows
those levels. But … be wary of him. Stay alert. He has his own