The statues shuddered as they closed behind Seku and me, and she turned to look at me as we faced the altar at the center of the room. "We're trapped down here, aren't we?" She asked the question without inflection, but I could almost sense her hiding a growing dread that I knew we were both feeling.

"Maybe... Let's take a look around before we go full doom and gloom," I suggested, and it seemed to calm her down a bit.

The room was faintly lit by the glowing Isotope-5 veined throughout crumbling statues. I examined the walls through the visor of my helmet and saw the strange creatures kneeling before the altar and presenting strange items to it. They appeared to be crystals of some sort, and something in my mind told me to take out Talen's kyber crystal. I held it in the palm of my hand from where I had stored it in one of my cartridge pouches and held it up to the mural. The crystal had the same shape, the same design, and something clicked. I turned back to the altar and stood before it holding the crystal in my hand. In the center was a small receptacle just big enough for the small crystal I held. I leaned forward and dropped it in.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence throughout the room, and I heard Seku give a sigh behind me. "Kando, it's useless. We're going to be trapped down here."

"Give it a moment," I replied as Talen's words rang loud in my ears. I pulled off my helmet and glared at the thing like I could intimidate it into giving it orders. "The kid told me once in his chattering that you were a living thing," I hissed at it like it was a person, "so listen up. He gave you to me to help me here. Do me a favor and do your karking job."

It was almost as if the crystal heard me. The altar illuminated a blue, and the runes that surrounded the receptacle lit up in a brilliant cyan that lit up the whole center of the room before a figure appeared, projected from the crystal to stand before myself and a bewildered Seku. It looked like one of the guardians we came across before, only sentient and far less stylized. It was some AI, that much was apparent, and it watched us with uninterested eyes and spoke again in the guttural language from before. Seku and I exchanged a glance as I shook my head, "We can't understand you."

The projection ceased to talk and began again in another language. Still, it wasn't anything either of us recognized. Our silence prompted it to do the same again and again. Time and again, we didn't recognize the language until it finally hit basic, "Why have you come to the shrine?"

Seku replied, "We have come to find what our enemy was seeking and prevent them from taking it. They plan to use the fuel here in this shrine to power weapons of war. We have come to stop them."

The projection considered for a moment before it replied, "What enemies do you seek to thwart? The Massassi? The Yuuzhan Vong? The Esh-kha? Or perhaps you flee from the Rakata as many before you have?" None of the names rang a bell, and the projection frowned at our silence, "If you seek aid for another enemy, you will find no help here. This shrine is a peaceful place for those who are one with the Power of Cosmos. Neither of you has walked this path. Leave."

"What path?" I asked.

"Many of your kind call it different things. A Great Sage from an order he called the Je'daii called it The Force. Perhaps this is more familiar to you."

Seku and I both realized at once that he meant that we were not Force-sensitive. "We're not, but you have to help us. We're trapped in here and we need-!" Seku protested, but the projection held up a hand.

"You and your kind have come and will bring the war to Zeffo and to all of the galaxy. This is known to us. We will not aid you," as it spoke, the projection pointed to me. "The Power has shown it to be so." Its eyes turned to the crystal and then back to me, "You have already stolen one of the kaiburr from a practitioner of our ways."

"It wasn't stolen! It was given to me by a Jedi," I shot back. I was a lot of things, but I was no thief. "By a friend."

The projection watched me carefully before it inclined its head, "You speak a half-truth, but this person is no friend. What is this wayward je'daii to you, outsider?"

There was something about that question that made me realize that it was inside of my head, and I snapped those doors shut hard enough to make the projection blink in surprise. I don't think it was used to being denied answers. "I'll tell you on my own. His name is Talen Jall and he's..." I stopped. I wasn't even sure what Talen was to me until I thought about it long and hard and decided finally on the words. "He's family. My family - the one I chose."

"And to you?" The projection turned to Seku.

Seku stopped a moment before she slightly bowed her head, "Ma a'kei." My translator did what it needed to in my display.

My son.

"You see yourselves as parents to one who was taken to walk the Path. This is... unexpected."

"You know that he's here?" Seku asked her head snapping up. "Were you the one he saw in the upper room?"

The Projection seemed surprised and folded its long hands before it with a slow nod, "I am a Sage of the Zeffo. My name is Ahrysham. I was once a storyteller, a peacekeeper. My shrine sits in the shadow of Miktrull. When your je'daii touched my stones, he woke me and let me enter his mind. I saw what was to come, what he would do."

"Why did he pass out?" Seku asked as she stepped towards him, "Will he be alright?"

"He will be. His response to what I showed him was strong. He is an Empath, and that was unexpected. What we performed was an exchange. I regret any unnecessary pain that was caused by it. My intent was not so."

Seku and I exchanged a glance. Knowing that the kid was okay was my top priority second to getting the hell out of this bizarre shrine, and with that knowledge, the two of us decided that we needed to ask a few questions of our own. "What did you show him, exactly?" Seku asked, narrowing her eyes upon hearing that Talen was hurt.

The projection shook its head, "It is not for me to say. I simply showed him what was shown to me. His coming has long been foretold. His, and the coming of many of those before." Ahrysham gestured behind him and we saw the massive mural for the first time. There were rows upon rows of people, aliens and humans alike. Some of them I could recognize as familiar species, but there were others so foreign that I couldn't even begin to guess what they were or where they were from. There were Jedi, what seemed to be Sith, and even, if their armor was correct, Mandalorians among the many who had come to see this sage.

"They all sought you out?" I asked as Seku and I walked past the projection to examine the mural more closely.

"No. The Power brought them here," the projection followed us and stood between us. We followed the figures down to find one final one seated alone, kneeling with a blue crystal suspended before him. It was Talen. There was no mistaking him. "My insight is not sought. My insight is ordained. It is the boon I give for passing my trials. None will follow this je'daii. His visions are my last - just as the one who came before him was my last for over a thousand years."

It was almost as if he knew what Seku and I were thinking, but he simply turned to us with a knowing look. He knew what we were going to ask before we asked it.

"What about us?" I finally spoke as he closed his eyes with a slow knowing nod. "Last I checked, we couldn't get visions."

"You cannot," Ahrysham turned away from us and began to walk back to the kyber crystal. He reached out one hand, and the ghostly tips of his fingers brushed over and through the crystal with a fond smile. "A saber crafted in elation; a crystal found after years of waiting - uncertainty brushed aside for purpose. To be trusted with such an item is a gift, outsiders." As he finished, he turned back to us, "My boon will be different. You sought an exit. And exit I shall grant you."

"What will you do about the droids?" I asked as the projection made his way back to the wall and traced the lines of several of the kyber crystals with his fingers. The wall with the knowledge seekers slowly parted to reveal what seemed to be a lift, ancient as it was. "What if they come back?"

"My guardians destroyed the droids which came to defile my sanctuary. When you have gone, I will collapse my shrine. You will not need to worry about them returning here."

Seku stepped forward, "What about the stories here? You'd destroy them?"

Ahrysham shook his head, "I would rather see them lost than defiled. Perhaps someday someone with their heart in the right place will find them again. I have not been granted sight so far ahead. Now go," he gestured to our exit before he floated the crystal into my hands with a final nod, "and return the kaiburr. It is a gift that should be returned." Almost before he finished, the projection faded away.

Seku reached out and pressed one tile on the elevator floor with her toe, and before we knew it, we were shooting up through the mine. The designs on the walls moved so fast past us that it seemed like they were moving in one endless wave-like motion. It was kriffing close to being absolutely mesmerizing. When we hit the end, we stepped off just as the entirety of the shrine below us was pulled under a mountain of rubble in a massive explosion of sorts. I had no idea how the sage had rigged it to happen. Maybe he knew, maybe he guessed, but no Seppie would be getting their hands on any of the Isotope-5 in that mine ever again.

The orange light began to fade away, and soon the long hallway we had found ourselves in was pitch black. Without my helmet, I couldn't see a single thing, but Seku reached for my pouch, "What are you doing?"

"The crystal," she replied as she produced it in her hand. It had begun to shimmer with that faint light, and before long, we understood why.

We found ourselves surrounded in the light of the glowing blue crystals as she turned to look at me with a laugh, "This is beautiful." She was speaking with barely a whisper as she took a step ahead of me, her hand still firmly clasped around mine as she did. "We made it..." She turned back to me as she laughed and actually hugged me.

"Yeah," I smiled and put an arm tentatively around her, "I guess we did."

We wound up standing together like that for longer than I think either of us realized before she stepped back, her arms still on my sides, before she stretched herself up on her tiptoes and planted a quick kiss on my lips. "Thank you."

I'll be frank. I had never been kissed before by anyone. I wasn't like some of my brothers who took every chance to go out and socialize at clubs or bars. It... It's not my thing. I never got along well talking to people or being friendly. It wasn't exactly what I was good at. I could talk to other Clones all day long, other soldiers, but civilians? Women, especially?

Absolutely not.

I didn't know what Seku saw in me, but the smile she gave me afterward as she pulled me down along the dark tunnel made me smile quietly to myself as we made our way through the illuminated expanse.

*

We managed to hobble our way back to base. As soon as we hit the perimeter, Red, Grek, and Tor were all but sprinting from the base to come to our aid. "Kando, are you alright?" Tor asked with his voice and face laced with an uncharacteristic worry.

"Never been better. Just a bit banged up." That seemed to put him a bit at ease as he began taking my vital signs while Red and Tor took my guns and pack from me and Seku. "How's the kid?"

"Talen is... alright, I guess. He's been out of it for the day you've been gone, and even now that he's up, he's been bothered by something he saw in the cave. He won't talk to anyone about it," Red supplied as he slung my pack onto his shoulder. "Once you've rested up, see if you can talk to him. Not even his boys have made him open up."

Seku and I hung back as they made their way ahead of us, and she looked up at me with a smile, "I wanted to thank you. For everything."

"I think the kiss was sufficient."

"Will I get you in trouble for that?"

"Not so long as I don't say anything," I smiled down at her and she smiled back. They weren't smug know it all smiles like we usually found ourselves exchanging with one another. They were warm, gentle, and I had to admit that I kinda liked them. My only mission on that front was to keep the boys from noticing, which was easier said than done considering how well we read one another.

When we finally made it inside, Seku's gang had all but swarmed her and chattered questions to her as I made my way to Talen's room to check on him. Going to medical was the last thing on my mind as I hit the button and made his door slide open. He was sitting cross-legged on his bed with a rather strange looking stuffed loth-cat lying in his lap. It was a worn old thing, and judging from the way he absently petted the bluish stuffed animal's head, it had been his emotional support for quite some time. He was staring absently ahead at the wall, not even seeming to realize that I had arrived in the room until I shut the door and sat down beside him. Ge finally looked over at me and threw his arms around my neck, "You okay, kid?"

He slowly released me and sat back on the bed, still clutching the loth-cat. "Ahrysham showed me things... He said that they were visions for me that he was supposed to show me. The Clones... they attacked Jedi..." He shook his head and clutched the loth-cat tighter before he looked at me, "I haven't told anyone else yet. Not even Master Kolar. I don't even know if what I saw was real or..."

"What do you think you should do?" I asked him as he once again shook his head.

"I don't know. The Force can sometimes show us things we can't explain. Sometimes the visions come to pass as we see them, sometimes it's one part of a whole. I... I'll meditate on them. Maybe get a clearer picture... I don't want to make a mountain out of a molehill."

"Whatever you decide, kid," I placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know you'll make the right choice."

"At least one of us thinks so." Talen smiled at me as Trill walked into the room and glanced between the two of us. Talen shoved the loth-cat aside and then stood up to nod at Trill, "Captain?"

Trill cleared his throat, "We've got the Beroyas asking for you, Tal. Sounds urgent."

Talen narrowed his eyes before he turned to me with another small smile, "Get to the medbay, Kando. You've earned some rest."

*

I ignored that and followed after a moment to find Kote and Orar crowded in front of Talen and speaking rather heatedly. "I'm telling you, we need to help them! You need to help them! You Jedi are the reason Mandalore is in the mess, to begin with!"

"I can't just run off, Kote. I'm still only a Padawan. I would need permission-"

"Then get permission!" Kote snarled as he stepped closer to Talen, and when he did, I saw Cobalt shove him back.

"Step back, Mando."

Red looked ready to fight someone before he looked to Talen, "Kid, come on! The Beroyas are our friends. We need to do something!"

Tor was ready to bust a fuse when he spun to Red, "Remember your place, Red! Our first duty is to the Republic, not the Mandalorians!"

"To hell with the Republic!" Red finally shouted, and I could tell from the look on Tor's face that he wasn't expecting it. "Our friends need us! They risked their lives and livelihoods to let us hunt Sota'ven! We should do the same for them!"

"Can your personal feelings!" Trill snapped, and it made Red click his jaw shut. "Mind your place, soldier, or I'll make you mind it!" When there was relative silence, Trill finally looked to Talen, "Sir, what are your orders? Would you like us to contact Master Kolar?"

Talen hesitated for a second before he looked away for a long while and finally sighed, "No, captain. I'll contact him myself. I... I need to discuss a few things with him before this all happens anyway."

The group dispersed, and I stormed my way over to Red and caught him by the rim of his chest plate, "If I ever hear you talk to him like that again, I will personally see you reprimanded myself and set on sanitation duty for a month. Do I make myself clear?"

Tor got a smug look on his face as Red looked away from me. He was clearly upset with himself just from the look on his face alone. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. It won't happen again."

I released him with a sigh and shook my head, "I understand why we all want to help them, but right now, we are at the mercy of the Jedi. We go where Talen goes. Nowhere else. Is that clear?" Even Grek managed out a reluctant "Yes, sir", as I finally decided to break for the medbay.

Still, there was a part of me that silently hoped that whatever needed doing on Concordia would get Agen Kolar's approval. The last thing I wanted to do was leave the Beroyas behind.