While Kanan flew the Phantom with Ezra at his shoulder, Anakin was transmitting to Rex. "Once we drop out of hyperspace, we'll be going dark."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

"Sir, you don't have to go to Malachor alone," Rex reasoned. "I could be there in two rotations."

Anakin shook his head, glancing at the others. "I'm not alone, Commander. We're going to keep an eye on each other, all of us." He made eye contact with him, lowering his voice. "This isn't a suicide run, Rex. We plan to make it out alive."

Of course, Skywalker knew what Rex was actually thinking. He nodded, trusting his general. "May the Force be with you."

He smiled, appreciating the gesture. Rex's image disappeared, and Anakin stood up, joining the others at the front of the ship.

Ezra looked at the Jedi Master. "Why is Rex so worried? What does he know that I don't?"

"Malachor has always been off-limits to Jedi," Kanan explained.

"Why?"

"Old legends. Stories told to us as Younglings in the temple."

Staring out the front of the ship, Anakin agreed, "There's always a bit of truth in legends."

Well, that didn't make sense. "If Malachor is off-limits, why would Master Yoda send us here?"

And that is the question of the day, Anakin thought, but he didn't say anything. He already didn't like this commission and not just because it was Malachor. Kanan seemed to be on the same page.

They dropped out of hyperspace, and Kanan finally answered his apprentice. "I don't know, but hopefully, there's something here for us."

"Yeah, something to stop the Inquisitors," Ezra said, looking to Anakin.

He gave his best guess as to what that was. "Knowledge."

Kanan flew the ship toward the dark planet, the atmosphere clouding their vision the further in they went. After a few minutes, Chopper beeped from above them.

"A ship? What kind?" Ezra asked, but he didn't like the response he got. "He can't tell."

"Track it," Kanan instructed. "Let's see who else is interested in this place."

Well, this is off to a great start. Still, Anakin tried to be optimistic. It was okay to have suspicions, but he couldn't let that distract him. He was here, so he needed to address the current situation as best as possible, no matter how much he didn't like it.

A break in the clouds came up, and Ezra leaned forward. "Woah. Look, up ahead. What is that?"

'That' was a huge crater on the surface of the planet, inside of which they could see spikes. The spikes could have been anything. They were too far away to see it properly. "I don't know," Kanan responded, "but the ship we're tracking went there. I'm gonna set her down."

A minute or so later, the Phantom was resting on the ground inside the crater. It seemed empty and quiet to the Jedi once they stepped outside. "I don't see any ship."

"It's gotta be around here somewhere," Kanan reasoned. "Chopper, try to get a fix on its location."

Chopper saluted from his position in the Phantom as the Jedi walked away toward the spikes.

Actually, now that they were closer, the spikes looked more like obelisks. They only seemed that way from so high up. They were tall and dark and rather intimidating. Eight of them stood pointing toward the center of the circle they formed, which wasn't concerning... at all...

They stopped near the closest one, and Ezra asked, "What are these things?"

"This writing..." Anakin said, lifting a hand to the stone but not touching it. "It's an ancient language."

"Can you read it?" Kanan asked, and he kneeled.

"Barely," he confessed. "I've seen it in textbooks before, but I can only pick out a few words at a time." He tried translating, and he could feel Ahsoka staring at him, probably a little frustrated. You know, if you were here to translate, I wouldn't have this problem, he thought before focusing.

Maybe he focused a little too hard. Ezra reached out to touch the obelisk, and though Anakin called out to stop him, it was too late. The spot where Ezra touched glowed red, quickly sending a crack into the ground. The next thing the Jedi knew, they were falling fast.

Anakin managed to land on his feet, but the others weren't so lucky. It took them a minute to gather their bearings, but Anakin looked around before they did.

To be completely fair, it was incredible and very impressive. Little holes in the surface shone above, giving the impression of a black sky with stars. Huge architecture surrounded them, among other things, but the obvious centerpiece of the underground hall was clear.

"What is that?"

He didn't have to ask what Ezra was referring to. "A Sith temple."

~

They walked for a few minutes, toward the temple, of course. Anakin led the way, keeping his eyes peeled for sudden movement. He didn't know what or who else was waiting for them there.

Finally, Chopper made contact with the Jedi. Ezra rolled his eyes as he answered. "Oh, we might fall through the surface. Thanks for the warning, Chop."

"Any fix on that ship yet?" Kanan asked, and Chopper gave them directions. "He's picked up the trail. This way."

As it was, the ship had also been drawn toward the temple. As they walked, they passed by stone structures that towered far above their heads and statues surrounding them. Still, nothing really held a candle to the red pyramid in front of them. "I bet whatever we're looking for is inside that temple," Ezra suggested.

"Seems likely," Kanan agreed, climbing on top of a stone. "Just remember: if there's a ship, we're not alone down here."

"Master, you said we're here to find knowledge," he remembered. "What kind of knowledge?"

The kind I'd rather not know. "Forbidden knowledge. To defeat your enemy, you have to understand them," Anakin explained, continuing to walk forward.

Kanan looked back at his apprentice. "No better place to learn about the Sith, I guess," he reasoned, following Anakin. Ezra was a little startled, but he jumped over the stone and caught up with the other two. It was clear that neither of the older Jedi was comfortable here. No wonder this place had been off-limits.

Something shuffled around above Ezra. He looked but saw nothing, and he dismissed it. He needed to stay focused.

As the three of them kept walking, they came across a field of statues, all of them in seemingly random positions. Anakin might have guessed that something had caught them off guard.

"The ground looks scorched," Ezra pointed out, his eyes scanning the ground before he found something that interested him. "Woah! Kanan! Look, a lightsaber. And another," he realized, picking up the first one he saw. It was brittle in his hands, but it still ignited. In fact, two little sabers pointed out of the side until it deactivated. The weapon was too old, too rusty. It couldn't support the green blade anymore.

Kanan kneeled in front of a statue, staring closely at the hooded face. The longer he stared, the more he came to realize: "This was a battlefield."

The Jedi looked around, suddenly becoming hyper-aware of the bodies that had become stone. Dead men surrounded them, and if they listened long enough, they could have sworn that they heard voices.

Ezra looked to Anakin. "What happened here?"

"A battle, but not a recent one," Anakin predicted. "It had to have been thousands of years ago before Jedi were forbidden from coming here. They were probably attacking the temple."

"And the Jedi won, right?"

"I don't think anyone did."

Well, that's not terrifying at all, Kanan thought. "I hate to break up this history lesson, but we should keep moving."

They walked a few paces further before Ezra spoke his mind. "Well, if you ask me, this whole planet is a riddle."

"So if it's a riddle, what's the question?" Kanan wondered aloud.

"Why is Kanan such a-"

The sound of a lightsaber igniting cut him short. "Get down!" Ezra pushed his master out of the way, barely bringing his own weapon up in time to block a strike from an Inquisitor. Another Inquisitor. He retreated a few steps while Anakin and Kanan pulled out their weapons. They definitely hadn't seen this guy yet. None of the Inquisitors they had met were Twi'leks.

The Inquisitor looked as surprised to see them as they did. "Three Jedi?"

"An Inquisitor!" Ezra announced, rushing to attack him.

For once, this guy didn't seem to want to fight them. He jumped backward, sending red-hot projectiles toward the Jedi. Anakin pulled Kanan down, shouting, "Take cover!"

Ezra wasn't so lucky. He hid behind a statue that protected him from the explosion, but the ground beneath him broke. For the second time that day, Ezra was falling through the floor. "Kanan!"

"Ezra!!!" he shouted, but he couldn't get to him without following him down. "Ezra, can you hear me?"

The Padawan groaned, but at least he was moving. "I'm okay."

Not wasting any time, the Inquisitor was already on the move. "He's getting away. We gotta move!" Anakin called back to the others.

"Don't worry about me! I'll catch up!" Ezra told his master, who then followed Anakin in a chase. Kanan hoped he would catch up sooner rather than later, but he needed to focus on this Inquisitor first, who was making pretty good time.

The two Jedi chased him over the battle terrain, trying not to lose him despite the head start he had. While they were running, Kanan noted, "I've never had an Inquisitor run from me before."

"We've never outnumbered an Inquisitor before," Anakin pointed out, but the Inquisitor had disappeared behind one of the many structures. They couldn't see his red lightsaber anymore.

"He did seem surprised," he remembered. "I don't think he was looking for us."

"Then who is he tracking?"

Both Jedi stopped, looking at each other with their lightsabers deactivated. Was there another player in this game they didn't know about yet?

Chopper called in at the perfect time. Kanan held his communicator up and listened. "You found the ship? Where?"

He said it was close by and sent coordinates, but Kanan shot down that idea. "No, no. Forget it, no time! Get over there and find that ship. Do not let him take off!!" Igniting his lightsaber again, he and Anakin resumed their chase. "We'll follow your signal."

The astromech objected. "No, disobeying me is going to be dangerous! Now get going!"

He complained again but did as told. At Kanan's bidding, Chopper flew through the underground graveyard. Just like he said, the ship was exactly where he had scanned it. Chopper landed on top of the TIE and started doing his victory cheer. Started but never got to finish. A spinning red lightsaber nearly turned him to scrap as it flew past him, flying around as it returned to its owner. It was an Inquisitor, but Chopper was pretty sure they hadn't seen this one before.

Hopping in the TIE fighter for cover, he watched as the Inquisitor stared at him through the windshield. "Filthy droid!"

Thankfully, the Jedi weren't too far behind. They came up behind the Inquisitor and distracted him. As for Chopper, there wasn't a port for him to plug into, but that didn't matter. Extending his arms, he activated the person controls and started flying the aircraft. He got why Mom liked it so much. It was a lot of fun.

He decided to test out the guns next. Pressing the triggers, he aimed at the Inquisitor and managed to knock him off his feet. The Inquisitor's lightsaber flew out of his hands as he hit the hard ground.

Just as he reached to grab it back, a large boot stepped on it, and two blue lightsabers pointed down at him. The Inquisitor looked up, seeing none other than Anakin Skywalker and Kanan Jarrus, just as Lady Jadis had feared.

There was something about the Jarrus guy, though. Something familiar. Jarrus must have felt it too because he looked a little hesitant as he held the Inquisitor at bladepoint.

It took Kanan a second, but he did figure it out. This Inquisitor was a blue Twi'lek and probably about Kanan's age. Not only that, but his Force signature was hauntingly familiar. He almost didn't recognize him, but Kanan's eyes went wide when he finally put his finger on the name he was looking for.

"Jinx?"