Chương 24: Interlude: Temple Guard 117

If you begin enjoying this work, report immediately to your superior. –– Shadow Instructor to New Recruits ~*~*~*~ 59 BBY – 941 ARR – Alderaan John was cloaked in darkness so deep, not even the faint flickering of the three lit candles at the center of the chamber caught the faintest hint of his gold-and-white uniform. He was deep in the bowels of the Temple, at a level never seen by most of its inhabitants.

It was an ancient part of the Temple, which had remained unscathed after the Temple fell to the Sith over three millennia ago, as it had been hidden with powerful Magics the Jedi had long since forgotten. The darkness seemed to eat even the sound, leaving the large chamber that should have echoed oddly dull-sounding. Before him was a figure in black robes, a dark hood hiding their features: The Stranger, in Shadow parlance.

Purely symbolic, the figure represented the distillation of all the Shadows wished to become. Obscured, hidden from the rest of the Order, with none knowing their name, yet still a Jedi on the Path of Light.

"… we call ourselves Shadows, not because of what we are. We still believe in the Light, are children of Ashla. We are called Shadows for what we seek; we are those called to seek out the Dark, uncover the plots of the Sith and other children of Bogan, and to unveil their crimes." All true, John supposed. Though hearing these solemn words for the umpteenth time diminished their impact significantly, he couldn't help but be reminded of his own vows as a Temple Guard.

He was charged with the Temple's defense; Shadows, the destruction of its enemies.

"Do you swear yourselves to the defense of the Holy Order of the Jedi Knights?" Three Jedi, kneeling on the cold and unyielding stone in front of the dark-robed stranger who represented the Order within the Order, all murmured their assent. As they were being directed through several oaths, revolving around defending innocents, secrecy, and the elimination of the Dark Side, John meditated on the meaning of the Shadows' and the Guards' first lines of their vows being one and the same.

Anything to keep from shifting, drawing attention away from the ceremony in front of him.

"…and do you, fellow members of the Order of Shadows, bear witness to these new members?" John barely twitched and thumbed his lightstaff's activator but not depressing it. His part in this little play was due soon. Six more figures with dark robes and hoods slipped from the shadows surrounding John to answer the first's call.""We do,"" they answered as one. One of the kneeling Jedi twitched, as if to look behind his back to see where the new voices came from.

"Fellow Shadows, will you guide them in their journey through the twilight?"""We will,"" the six Shadows dutifully chorused.

"Then I present to you, the newest Shadows of our Order." With that, there was palpable relief as the three kneeling Jedi rose to their feet.

"Wait," commanded The Stranger forcefully. The three newly-minted Shadows paused.

"We have one more oath to hear." A beat of silence.

"Sentinels of the Temple Guard, if these Shadows Fall along the Path and turn away from the Light, will you bring them to face justice, or barring that, give them mercy?" At last. John and five other Temple Guards stepped forward from the shadows, depressing the activators of their lightstaffs.

The scorching light of their yellow blades revealed glorious, meters-high arches in the Old Republican style, along with the rest of the chamber and its occupants as all the Sentinels simultaneously unveiled themselves in the Force."" We will."" The three Shadows whirled, panic in their faces as they were caught entirely off-guard by their sudden appearance.

"Good," answered The Stranger.

"Then let it be known to these new Shadows as it is to us all; to Fall means becoming an enemy of the Holy Order of the Jedi Knights. To Fall as a Jedi means to be known as a betrayer of one's oaths. A Dark Jedi will be hunted by the Shadows and Guards both; you may flee to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, but you will not escape justice. Is this true?""" Their faces are known to us. In the Force, they are beacons,"" replied John and his colleagues.

When John had first been called upon to be one of the Temple Guards who participated in the Jedi Shadow initiation ritual, he had wondered why they were intimidating their fellow Jedi. But as he grew into his role, he began to understand. The Temple Guard were those who strove the hardest to find the Light, going so far as to give up their identities. They lived sparsely, spoke rarely, and spent most of their time pondering the Force or training. Jedi Shadows were their counterpoint.

They dipped their toes into the Dark, learning restricted and forbidden techniques to seek out and destroy the enemies of the Light. Sometimes, it did good to remind them that they were Jedi and had obligations to the Light. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. With their part in the play completed, John and his fellow guards deactivated their lightstaffs, casting the chamber back into darkness.

In the time it took the three new Shadow's eyes to adjust, they were already gone. Once they were far enough away to not disrupt the ceremony, John made sure to thank and congratulate each one of the guards with a nod and pulse of the Force. He felt that as a leader, it was important to acknowledge the successes of those under his command. Then, he waited.

"A good show you put on," purred a sibilant voice from the dark.

"Shadow Silver," he acknowledged.

"You were so silent and mysterious, John." A woman dressed in dark robes and face obscured with a hood stepped out of the shadows, sauntering her way towards him. John sighed low enough the vocoder wouldn't catch it.

"What do you want, An'ya?" Normally, a Guard's previous identity was sacrosanct, unknown to all those who weren't full-time members of the Temple Guard. But this was a special case. Temple Guard 117 and Shadow Silver had been sent on many, many missions together. It was inevitable that they knew each other behind their respective masks and cloaks.

"I just wanted to talk to my favorite guard. Share some gossip." She came to a stop before him and let her cowl down, revealing hair that had lightened into silver long before it should have. A coincidence, considering that her callsign was actually a reflection of her rank within the Order of Shadows. She was Shadow Gold's right hand lady. John dipped his head.

"You're no fun," she complained as she waved her hand.

"Remember the youngling that slipped past you?" John's ears began to burn underneath his mask.

"I thought he was a Padawan trying to complete his trials."

"Because there's so many nine-year-olds jumping to become a Shadow. Besides, you aren't supposed to let them past, they're supposed to actually sneak by."

"None of them would pass if I didn't."

"True." They weren't the most successful Guard/Shadow duo for nothing. Temple Guard 117 and Shadow Silver had earned their reputation. John, the vaunted Vornskr. An'ya Kuro, the Terentatek. Together they comprised the most successful Fallen retrieval team the Order had seen in a long, long time. Shadows being used to retrieve Fallen Jedi was logical, but many who heard that Temple Guards were part of those operations were usually surprised. Yet it was due to both practicality and a quirk of Republic law.

As Sentinels, all permanent Temple Guards were notable sensors, and thus able to detect Dark sider's influence. And they were the only organization within the Republic with the legal right to pursue a warrant against a Jedi in a non-emergency situation, which meant they were the only ones who could bring in their fallen Jedi brethren.

"Anyway, kid's gone and pissed off the Council." Amusement suffused her voice, along with a hint of apprehension.

"He managed to nab some important info on Alderaan and handed it over to the royalty there. Caused a diplomatic incident and everything. So, they've decided to give him to us." John wondered what she meant by that. An'ya rarely lied, and never to him. But she had a habit of twisting the truth.

"He's not even a Shadow yet," remarked John.

"I know!" she replied brightly.

"He'll fit right in."

"May the Force be with them," he replied seriously. An'ya laughed and laughed. ~*~*~ Soon, he found his way back to the barracks. He walked through the 'public' areas, where the part-time Guards slept and changed, to the mess hall. The quarters were barren, and at this time of night all but empty. A few other guards shuffled around silently. When he had begun his life as a full-time guard almost a decade ago, the sheer silence of the barracks had given him the impression of a silent holoplay.

After sliding into line and getting a midnight meal, he sat at a table with a few other full-time guards. They silently pulsed in the Force in acknowledgement but didn't speak. In these sacred halls, communication was reserved for either training or emergencies. He grabbed the bottom of his white and gold mask, which slid downward to reveal his mouth. Less than half an hour later, he was gone on patrol. As one of the Temple's best sensors, he was often required to perform outer patrols.

This consisted of him walking the lowest levels of the Temple and its exteriors. For his midnight to midday patrols, he preferred to cover the vast complex of the Temple's underbelly before ascending to watch the dawn's rays. Walking through corridors of the Temple that most Jedi would never see but that had become intimately familiar to him, he pondered what the similarities and differences of the Shadows and Guards meant. Shadows didn't have a uniform, not really.

They preferred dark robes and hooded cowls, but their missions required them to have a familiarity with all kinds of dress. Guards, though, wore one thing and one thing only for all occasions. White was the color of purity and death. It was also the primary color of their uniform and featureless mask. Gold, too, was a color associated with the Light. But they also represented the price a Guard might pay. Death, if careless. And vanity, if weak. White and Gold were also the colors of the old Army of Light.

The Temple Guard, as well as the Jedi Aces of the ExplorCorps, were the last vestiges of that past age. Yet while the Aces had largely evolved away from their original intent as a reserve of military prowess and instead become a pursuit of the vainest Jedi, the Temple Guard had not forgotten their purpose. The rest of the Order now regarded much of their martial history as an odd curio.

Some had gone so far as to say that bladework was inessential to becoming a Jedi, and that its practice should no longer be mandatory. The Guard did not. They were the defenders of the Temple and of their fellow Jedi, and would not –must not– forget it. Dawn drew near, which found Temple Guard 117 approaching the entrance of the Temple. The Changing of the Guard of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant was a slow, precise, and highly ornamental affair. One that represented the seriousness of their duties, to John's mind.

First, the Guards to relieve the standing Guards would pulse in the Force to alert them to their presence behind them. Then, the relieving Guards would exit the Temple with their lightstaffs clutched in both hands before them, arms bent at 45-degree angles. and walk slowly, precisely, to the standing Guard they were assigned to replace. They would circle once, twice, three times to inspect the perimeter of their assigned station before both the relieving and standing Guard stood before each other.

The relieving guard would then place their arms out, holding their lightstaff up for inspection for exactly fifteen seconds before flipping it over and repeating the process. Finally, they bowed to each other at a fifty-five-degree angle. The standing Guards, now relieved, would repeat the process in reverse order. All of this was executed four times a day in six-hour shifts, in complete harmony and total silence. Even the scuffing of a boot represented an aberration of the ceremony.

Crowds of tourists or bored locals tended to gather to watch from a distance, seeing but not understanding. Even among the Jedi, many did not see the importance of the ceremony. Yet any who had participated in it knew what it meant, to stand before the endless chaos of the Galaxy with the Temple at one's back with a silent vow: I will defend you, my people, to my dying breath.