The Followers
Chapter 1
The hologram flickered and the ghostly figures of Bant Eerin and her new Jedi Master Kit Fisto appeared in the Temple map room. Qui-Gon Jinn studied Bant's image carefully, looking directly at her silvery eyes. He was glad to see the sensitive Mon Calamarian Padawan again. Not only was she a good friend of his own eighteen-year-old apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, but ever since the death of her Master Tahl years ago, Qui-Gon found himself feeling protective of her.
Bant and Qui-Gon had both suffered when Tahl died, and both still felt the loss. Qui-Gon knew Bant had continued her training despite her grief.
But she still does not seem herself, Qui-Gon thought.
Looking closer, Qui-Gon saw that there was something in Bant's eyes that was not quite right. It wasn't the profound sadness he'd grown used to seeing when Bant mourned at the Temple, when the pain was still fresh. This was something else. It took Qui-Gon a second to recognize the emotion.
It was fear. Bant was afraid. The question was, of what?
"Hello Master Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan," Kit Fisto greeted the team, bowing slightly so that some of his yellow-green head tendrils fell forward around his shoulders. "I have heard much about you from my Padawan. I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak with you, though I am afraid what we will be discussing will not be pleasant"
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had been summoned by the Council the day before.
Nobody had told them why they were to meet Bant and Kit Fisto. Since Kit Fisto was contacting them from the largely deserted planet of Korriban, Qui-Gon had at first assumed that the task would be routine.
It only took one look at Bant's expression to know that this would not be so.
The Sith. Qui-Gon had heard stories about the Sith since he was a young boy. Every generation of initiates at the Temple knew Sith stories and legends. They thrilled in telling them to one another late at night when they should have been sleeping. Qui-Gon's generation had been no exception.
Although the stories were terrifying enough to have kept young Qui- Gon awake on more than a few nights, he had always felt that they were largely invented — myths designed to scare and not inform. Even after studying Sith history and learning that the Sith had existed and had been powerful, Qui-Gon remained skeptical.
But his recent conversation with Jedi Master Kit Fisto forced Qui-Gon to reexamine his beliefs about the Sith.
"Master, do you believe — " Obi-Wan hesitated.
"Do I believe in the Sith?" Qui-Gon finished his apprentice's question before answering it. Clearly Kit Fisto's report had opened up questions for Obi-Wan as well.
"Of course I do. You and I have both studied their history enough to know that the Sith threat was once very real. But we also know that they were a culture that could not survive. They killed themselves off long ago.
The question remaining is whether or not they pose a current threat." Now it was Qui-Gon who hesitated.
"How can they pose a threat if they no longer exist?" Obi-Wan asked.
"The danger lies not in the Sith themselves, but in their teachings, and the ability of those teachings to inspire others to evil. As long as the Sith teachings survive, there is a potential threat."
"And if someone is spreading those teachings…" Obi-Wan trailed off.
Qui-Gon knew he must be thinking about what Kit Fisto and Bant had found on Korriban. How could he forget the look of terror on Bant's face as she described the horrors she and her Master had seen in the valley? Or Kit Fisto's dark eyes as he told them about the dwelling they had found… and its chilling contents?
Inside the crude shack were tomes of Sith lore and models of ancient Sith weapons. It appeared that someone had been compiling every scrap of information to be found about the Sith, both truth and myth. And scrawled on one wall was a crude drawing of a Sith Holocron beside a message written in Sith code. Location known. Follow the leader.
A simple Holocron was not necessarily dangerous. The crystal information-storage devices were even used by the Jedi. Palm-sized and easy to transport, Holocrons were an excellent way to store vast amounts of knowledge.
But the Jedi Holocrons that Qui-Gon had seen were square. The Holocron drawing on Korriban was pyramid-shaped, a formation unique to the Sith. And the knowledge contained in a Sith Holocron was infinitely more dangerous. It focused on dark power and how to gain, use, and manipulate it.
If one existed, and if it fell into the wrong hands, a Sith Holocron could be more than deadly.
"We have knowledge of several Sith Sects operating in the galaxy,"
Jedi Archivist Jocasta Nu reported."We monitor them, but until now they have never given us much cause for alarm. They've never gained large followings, and their activities are not unlike those of other small criminal groups. They have always been more of a nuisance than a threat."
Though it had taken him a little while to get used to working with her, Jocasta Nu was beginning to grow on Qui-Gon. He generally did not like to use the usual channels for obtaining information. But he'd come to appreciate Jocasta's straightforward manner. She never failed to provide Qui-Gon with the information he needed.
"Lately there has been increased activity at one of the higher learning institutions right here on Coruscant," Jocasta said. "According to our sources, this is due to a professor named Murk Lundi." She flashed an image of the Quermian professor onto a screen.
It was not the first time Qui-Gon had heard of Professor Lundi. An infamous galaxy historian, Lundi was popular with students and admired by his colleagues. Qui-Gon had even heard him called one of the finest historians of the era. But he did not understand what Lundi had to do with the dwelling found on Korriban.
"For the past several years Lundi has been narrowing his focus,"
Jocasta explained. "Now all of his research and lectures revolve around the dark side of the Force. As his focus has narrowed, his student following has grown."
Jocasta pushed several student texts toward Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.
There were posters for Sith rallies and hand-drawn story strips showing Sith battles. "His classes are among the most popular on campus. His texts are so sought after they are difficult for students to obtain." She paused for a moment. "But there were several of them among the items found on Korriban."