Private An Infallible Empire Bygone

[Efret Farr]

Efret had grown accustomed like the other Jedi who lived in the Coruscant Temple with existing at the precipice of disaster, of another invasion attempted by the Dark Empire. Still, as much didn't make it any less strange of an experience to be in the Temple Archives as it was to be in the Temple Museum at a time like this.

She had always enjoyed study, but now, under the near-constant demand and threat of a three-front war, it was more important than ever to savor each and every opportunity to crack open a tome or discuss a problem with a librarian, to peruse a datalog or learn from a holocron. At least it was in her mind and she hoped that that approach was being assimilated by the padawans that yet walked the halls. Admittedly, it was a classic consular's outlook to focus on cerebral rather than martial skills, but guardians and sentinels either declared or not quite could also benefit from adopting it as well.

With her archeology team, she had finished packing up the last of the Temple Museum artifacts and loading them into a transport early this morning. Its bittersweetness struck her as she paged through her leather-bound field journal, looking for some specific notes she had taken when she had been following the rumor of a megastructure in the Unknown Regions. She was glad, mostly, that the NJO's historic collection was on its way out of the Core, guarded by a very serious escort of armed freighters and a detachment of X-wings just in case. And also just in case, they had orders to give the Dark Empire's Deep Core state a large berth. Such a flight plan was on one hand ineffective but on the other highly necessary.

The bitter part was how empty the Temple felt to her now. It would perhaps be a silly sentiment to some, but Efret had grown to think of herself as the mother of those artifacts, though she had not made them, and now they were gone from the place in which she had gotten used to nurturing them.

In any case, she wasn't ready to likewise leave just yet. She had asked for a temporary research assistant after all.

"There she is," a librarian told a padawan he was leading through the aisles on the Archive's upper levels. "She's Deaf, did you know that?" Shan might have mentioned it to Ben if they had spoken about Master Farr; at least, the knight had recommended a meeting with Ben to her. "Let me show you how to get her attention." He walked up to the table she sat at, reached over, and drummed his fingers at the top of one page of the spread her journal was opened to.

The movement caught the attention of the convor perched on the table in front and to one side of the Jedi master. Efret looked up too, out of habit though she didn't have to; she saw what Nirrah did, which right now was the friendly face of a known archivist.

"Hello, Knight Rica," a computerized, feminine voice coming from a small piece of technology clipped on her tunic's neckline greeted. Efret herself was moving her hands, eyebrows, and mouth in silent nonwords. Beams of green light emitted from the small clip onto her hands, assumedly as some sort of recognition mechanism that then fed into the verbal interpretation projecting through its speaker. "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing for me but much, I imagine, for young Padawan Khal." Rica motioned to the padawan.

A warm smile came to Efret's face as she and Nirrah both looked Ben's way. "I hope so. It's nice to meet you, my dear."

Ben Khal​

 

[Ben Khal]

Ben was looking forward to meeting Efret. Of the people whom Shan had recommended, he seemed the most enthusiastic about her. The fact that Master Farr apparently needed a research assistant made their meeting all the more serendipitous.

"There she is. She's Deaf, did you know that?"

Ben froze, glancing with uncertainty from the librarian back to the woman seated at the desk. Shan hadn't mentioned that. How was he going to communicate with her if she couldn't hear him? He didn't know sign language. Were they going to have to pass notes?...

The librarian appeared clueless as to the Padawan's sudden distress, sauntering forth to get the woman's attention. Ben hung back for a moment or two before joining them, doing his best to hide his reluctance. He was afraid that her deafness might be caused by a deformity or malformation—to have such physical imperfections was considered a fate worse than death among the Hapans. Much to his relief, Master Efret Farr looked like anyone else—in fact, she was quite beautiful.

And she could speak, with the aid of an electronic device clipped to her collar. Ben's eyes locked onto the gadget, wondering how it worked. On one hand, he was grateful that there were measures in place to make communication easier. On the other... Well, he didn't know how to feel. He had never met anyone with a disability. Medical science had done away with all but the poorest cases, he thought.

"I hope so. It's nice to meet you, my dear."

Ben hesitated, then realized that she must be able to understand them if she could respond to the librarian. "It's nice to meet you too, ma'am," he said, bowing respectfully. "Knight Pavond told me you were an archaeologist. I... I like history, too." Force, he sounded doltish. "I heard you were looking for an assistant?" he prompted, hoping to get past the awkwardness as quickly as possible.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

"That's good," she replied to his assurance that he liked history. He might have seemed doltish to himself, but Efret made no such judgement. "And yes, that's right. Thank you for your response to my assignment request."

The librarian interjected softly, "Excuse me." Efret turned her head look at him too late to see what he had said, but through body language was able to assume. He rocked back on his feet, a hint that he was considering how to best leave to attend to his other duties. "Good luck."

Efret smiled widely. "Thank you. Goodbye." As the librarian strode away, she focused back on Ben. She motioned at the chair across the table from her. "Before the Dark Empire came to the Deep Core, I was touring around the Rims, visiting cultures and building bridges."

That reminded her of something she meant to say even before she had entered the Archives today. Now seemed like a good time to do so.

"Speaking of. You don't need to call me ma'am unless you want to. You're Hapan, yes?" She asked even though she knew the answer. Shortly after Shan had put in a good work for Ben, she had looked up the padawan's membership dossier. "I respect that your culture has certain gender-based social expectations. I only want you to know that I don't and will accept whatever you'd choose for yourself to call me." She'd answer to Efret if first-name basis was his preference, though she didn't expect it to be. That concept between a woman and a man who had a substantial gap between them in an organizational hierarchy, and barely knew each other to boot, was probably quite foreign to him.

When she was a padawan, she went through a period where she wrestled with whether or not she was comfortable with calling her betters in the Order master. To a Lorrdian, that word represented generational trauma, but, to a Jedi, all there was in that title was respect for material achievements and religious enlightenment by those striving for both. She had finally decided that, for her, the New Jedi Order was a safe context for her call and eventually be called master without invoking painful memories in her cultural heritage, but it had taken research, meditation, and time, plus understanding from her first teacher who had allowed her to call him by his given name until she came to a decision.

If she could give a similar experience to Ben, she would.

Ben Khal​

 

[Ben Khal]

Ben nodded as she thanked him, glad to be of service. The other librarian excused himself, and Ben sat in the chair Efret indicated. He listened as she began to speak about a trip she took around the Rims, immediately intrigued, but then...

"Speaking of. You don't need to call me ma'am unless you want to. You're Hapan, yes?"

Ben blinked. "Yes..."

"I respect that your culture has certain gender-based social expectations. I only want you to know that I don't and will accept whatever you'd choose for yourself to call me."

Her explanation only left him even more confused. "Do... you not want me to call you 'ma'am'?" he asked carefully, a little concerned. This was not how he expected their first introduction to go, and he didn't want to offend her.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

"I don't have a preference. My only intent is to ensure you don't feel obligated to speak one way or the other with me." She flashed another warm smile, then segued as gracefully as possible back into recounting her archeological tour. She could feel disquiet growing within him and didn't want to linger on this aspect of their conversation. "But enough about that. During my travels, I heard stories here and there about some kind of megastructure in the Unknown Regions. Deep space mythos can be a tricky thing to understand, only partly because there's sometimes no truth to it. I believe the stories I heard are different."

She took a brief pause before asking, "Tell me, do you know anything about the Rakata and their Infinite Empire?"

Ben Khal​

 

[Ben Khal]

"I don't have a preference. My only intent is to ensure you don't feel obligated to speak one way or the other with me."

"Oh." Ben began to understand her perspective better. "I know that men and women in the Jedi Order are treated the same. But you are still of higher rank than me, and I was taught to show respect."

He wondered if she was being a bit overzealous in her desire to be inclusive. It did not occur to him that she was uncomfortable with the iniquities of his Hapan culture. At any rate, they were already moving on.

"But enough about that. During my travels, I heard stories here and there about some kind of megastructure in the Unknown Regions. Deep space mythos can be a tricky thing to understand, only partly because there's sometimes no truth to it. I believe the stories I heard are different."

She took a brief pause before asking, "Tell me, do you know anything about the Rakata and their Infinite Empire?"

"Ah... Not much," he admitted, then smiled. "I know their empire wasn't infinite."

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

"Right. A name history would prove ironic," agreed Efret with a solemn nod. "About 500 worlds across the galaxy were conquered in total over five thousand years. That's not...a great tactical feat." Five hundred worlds was nothing to scoff at, but a world per millennium or so was slower than a space slug's pace. "It wasn't for lack of bloodlust. Instead, their hyperdrives could only find and transport them to planets that were either highly productive ecosystems or connected to the Force.

"They built their civilization off the Dark side, which they then used to power their advanced technologies. It kept their slaves in line, terrified, until it didn't. A mysterious plague struck and the entire species lost their Force sensitivity." Efret's brow knit. "Some historians speculate that a slave population made the disease, but I imagine the Force itself did in reaction to sustained abuse. In either case, it prevented the Rakata from using the technology, which allowed for rebellions across the Empire." She gave a bittersweet smile. "I feel for the villains sometimes. They're not villains to themselves. Only victims of tragedy. Who am I to deny them that?" The master shrugged smally. "It's true."

Ben Khal​

 

[Ben Khal]

Ben's smile quickly faded, replaced by a focused expression as she gave him a quick rundown on the Not-So-Infinite Empire. Five hundred planets in five thousand years was indeed tame in comparison to the conquests of today, but it made sense given the limited technology of the time. The Padawan was admittedly intrigued by the idea of using the Dark Side to power technology—he had heard that such things were possible, though he didn't really understand how they worked. After all, the Force was in living things, not machines.

In the end, the Rakatans lost their Force sensitivity due to a plague. Efret posited a theory that the Force itself actually cut them off in reaction to "sustained abuse". It sounded similar to what had allegedly happened to the Yuuzhan Vong. Ben found this explanation doubtful, but he didn't know enough about the subject to really object. So he just nodded along quietly, until she said something that stuck out to him as rather strange.

"I feel for the villains sometimes. They're not villains to themselves. Only victims of tragedy. Who am I to deny them that? It's true."

"... Are we still talking about the Infinite Empire?" Ben asked awkwardly. He certainly didn't feel sorry for an ancient race that had enslaved five hundred planets and powered their tech with the Dark Side. But he wasn't about to oppose a woman, let alone a Jedi Master, so he hoped he had simply misunderstood her. "What is the nature of your research?" he asked instead, hoping to move on.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

Efret's smile gained a very slight dimension of shyness. "Yes," she confirmed when he sought clarification. "You think me strange. That's alright. I feel compelled to love those others don't, and empathy is a core component of love. I can feel those without approving of what they did."

Then she let that go too and happily moved the conversation along by addressing his second question. "The nature of my research," she repeated before answering. "Generally, I'm interested in galactic pre-history of Force use. Specifically, I want to find this mysterious megastructure. The two are probably not related, but I found an interesting thread and I'd like to continue pulling on it. I thought I'd start with searching the Archives."

Ben Khal​

 

[Ben Khal]

"I-I didn't say that—" Ben's protest broke off abruptly as Efret merely smiled at him, talking about empathy for those she did not agree with. Even if she was trying to be kind, he felt exposed. Like she had been reading his mind. Had she read his mind?...

Force, this was not off to a good start. But all he could do was shut up and do his job, which was to be her research assistant.

"Generally, I'm interested in galactic pre-history of Force use. Specifically, I want to find this mysterious megastructure. The two are probably not related, but I found an interesting thread and I'd like to continue pulling on it. I thought I'd start with searching the Archives."

"Megastructure?" She had alluded to ancient technologies before, but not to a specific thing. "If you could be more specific, I think I can help with that," he said, feeling a little more sure of himself now that they were treading on familiar ground. "I mean—I know the Chief Librarian pretty well."

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

"I've heard that it's in the Unknown Regions," she repeated. "If we identify known planets which have either a high gross primary productivity or connection to the Force, or both, that would be a good start. We can cross-reference those with known Rakatan worlds, though our records may be incomplete. Either way, a megastructure wouldn't be far away from their old territories." She reached over the table towards the holoprojector embedded in the middle and flipped a small, nearby switch. A translucent blue map of the known galaxy flickered into view above between and above them. "I'll work northeast of Sh'shuun," she pointed at Lao-Mon, then traced an upwards arc over the holoprojection to another planetary marker, "towards Esfandia, if you work southwest towards Batuu."

As Efret spoke, Nirrah's talons clicked over the table as she walked, then she flew onto the master's shoulder.

Ben Khal​

 

[Ben Khal]

Ben's gaze followed the trails she dictated on the map. He nodded. "I can do that." The boy wasn't entirely sure how he was going to determine something as ephemeral as Force activity in a planet so far away from Coruscant, but he supposed there might be ways to research that. If nothing else, he could always ask a librarian for help narrowing down the search...

---

A few hours later, Ben found Efret again, carrying a datapad.

"I think I may have triangulated your megastructure, ma'am. Between Giaca, Odessen, and GH-531." Using the notes he had written on his datapad, he pointed out each system on the map, effectively drawing a triangle. "If it's in the region, it would be somewhere between these three."

He didn't go into detail about how he had figured it out, as it was a frankly exhausted story. What was important was that he was confident in his conclusion.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

As young Ben conducted his half of the archival search, Efret found herself somewhat distracted by a curiosity she hadn't anticipated encountering, as it had nothing to do with the mystery megastructure. Many of the documented planets on the side of the Unknown Regions she had assigned to herself were former, colony worlds of the Chiss Ascendancy. More than once as she cross-referenced survey data with known Rakatan history she caught her thoughts wondering to Dr. Aaaine .

Where was she?

How was she?

Each time, the questions slipped into the master's head before she could gently refocus herself on the task at hand by closing her eyes and drawing a couple of deep breaths. Though her mind seemed determined to wander, Efret managed to complete her list. Most of the planets northeast of Sh'shuun were temperate to one degree or another—even possibly Csilla, if one put stock in Chiss oral history that told of the planet once being warm and tropical, as she did. Trouble was, none of them were known to have fallen to the Infinite Empire.

Nirrah glanced up at Ben as he approached the table again first, then so did Efret. They both watched as he drew a triangle on the projected galaxy map, the light of its edges reflecting in their eyes. Efret straightened once Ben was finished, mulling over the finding silently before unfolded her arms that were crossed on the tabletop. Her forearms hinged up and the elbows to sign. "Good work," she said. The computerized voice that came out of her interpretation unit was somewhat monotoned, but Efret's warm smile hopefully left no uncertainty about her sincerity.

Her smile shifted just so to show excitement in the next moment. "Would you like to go with me to investigate?" she asked. "I know my advertisement wasn't for a field trip, but I want to offer."

Ben Khal​

 

[Ben Khal]

"Good work."

Ben nodded his head dutifully. "My pleasure, ma'am."

What Efret said next took him by surprise. He figured this project would lead to a field investigation of some kind, but he hadn't expected her to invite him along. The Padawan hesitated. "I would have to ask my master," he said. "But I would like to go."

Master Oukranos would say yes, he was fairly certain. Nervous excitement coiled in Ben's belly at the thought of traveling so far away, visiting strange new worlds and encountering all sorts of beings. He kept his feelings to himself, but his blue eyes seemed a bit more lively, shining bright.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

She noticed the excitement in his eyes.

"Of course." It was a very reasonable response on Ben's part. He struck her as a very responsible young man. Regardless of other potential cultural influences that worried her somewhat though she tried not to let them, responsibility as an almost-universally good quality to have. "Please." She glanced at the chronometer widget on her wristpad's tablet screen, then back at the Hapan teen. It was nearing early dinnertime. "I've been working since early this morning. I should stop for the day. I'll be in the Temple Hangar at, say, 0830 tomorrow, preparing my ship for departure. Come tell me what your master says then." Efret reckoned that was enough time to ask for permission, as they would likely be checking in with each other this evening anyway.

"Ben figured our megastructure's somewhere between Giaca, Odessen, and GH-531," Efret mused, half to herself and half to the astromech, Tewy, that sat in its compartment behind the cockpit.

Behind the transparisteel canopy standing perpendicular to the high ceiling above the starfighters, Tewy whirled. A blinking light on his dome went off in tandem.

Though she could neither hear nor see him, she expressed a similar sentiment. "That's still a lot of space." She tapped her fingers on the side of her navicomputer before taking them away to sign again. "Where to drop in...?" Picking the wrong coordinates would be at best a massive inconvenience and at worst a disaster. Efret's piloting skills were good but that wouldn't matter much or at all if her X-wing came back into realspace danger close to a space structure.

Ben Khal​

 

[Ben Khal]

Ben found Master Oukranos and his wife Kassogtha just outside the library. The two stood in the hallway as Ben told them about Efret's mission, his arms gesticulating excitedly.

Afterwards, Oukranos turned to Kass. "I've not had many interactions with Master Farr, but I imagine you know her better than I do."

"Not exactly," Kass replied. "She is an excellent scholar. It sounds like a good opportunity for you, Padawan."

Ben turned to his master. Oukranos had his arms folded across his chest, thinking. "Very well," he said. "You have my permission to go, as long as you are careful."

Careful of what? Ben wanted to ask. They would be visiting the ruins of a long-dead civilization. Surely there was little that might threaten them there. "Thank you, master," he said, bowing respectfully. "I will do as you ask."

The next day, Ben arrived at the hangar exactly on time. Spotting the starfighters, his pace slowed down slightly. "I've never piloted one of those," he said, only to remember that she was deaf and couldn't hear him. Moving in front of her, he tapped the front of her starfighter as the librarian had shown him, then asked, "Can I ride with you?"

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

That got both Efret and Nirrah's attention.

"Of course, my dear," the master said. Unlike some of the other fighters in the bay, her model was a tandem. "Come, get in the back seat. There's a ladder in the hull on this side." She leaned over, reached an arm outside of the cockpit, and tapped the hull. As Ben hopefully walked around the X-wing, Efret pointed to her droid. "This is Tewy. He'll be helping us navigate and, if we find the structure, helping us investigate. Speaking of, this might be a long trip. To ensure we don't accidently jump through anything, we'll need to arrive on the edge of one of the three systems you identified. I thought we'd fly around manually for a bit, do some scanning, and decide what to do from there. Sound good to you?"

She gave him a chance to answer, then added. "Oh. And I have speech-to-text captioning software on my dashboard." She smiled, hoping to put him at ease. Sometimes, and ironically, communication barriers caused others more unsurety than they did her. "I can understand you while you're back there. Don't worry."

Ben Khal​

 

[Ben Khal]

"Of course, my dear. Come, get in the back seat. There's a ladder in the hull on this side."

Ben looked up where she tapped. "Oh." He hadn't been able to see the ladder from there. He walked around the fighter and climbed into the cockpit.

"This is Tewy. He'll be helping us navigate and, if we find the structure, helping us investigate. Speaking of, this might be a long trip. To ensure we don't accidentally jump through anything, we'll need to arrive on the edge of one of the three systems you identified. I thought we'd fly around manually for a bit, do some scanning, and decide what to do from there. Sound good to you?"

Fastening his crash webbing, Ben opened his mouth to reply, then frowned, once again remembering her disability.

"Oh. And I have speech-to-text captioning software on my dashboard. I can understand you while you're back there. Don't worry."

"Okay," he said. "Yeah. Sounds good."

A beat passed as they prepared for takeoff. There was a nagging question on Ben's mind, though he hesitated to voice it for fear of offending Efret. Eventually his curiosity won out over his reluctance, and he cautiously asked, "Ma'am, have you ever... considered having your hearing fixed?"

Ben Khal​