Inquisitor Saber Vision

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That made Karr feel uneasy, but he said, “Yes, please.” The collector released the saber from his grasp. Cold and dead, its handle was in two pieces—both of which the merchant set down on the counter.

“This lightsaber belonged to an Inquisitor,” the woman said.

“Not a Jedi? What’s an Inquisitor?”

“The Inquisitors were the weapons of the Emperor, sent out into the galaxy after Order 66 to track down and kill any Jedi who remained.”

Karr’s mind reeled. He had never heard of these Inquisitors and had no idea the Jedi were hunted even after the Clone Wars ended. That would explain why they seemingly disappeared.

“When assembled,” Dok continued to explain through his translator, “this particular lightsaber could be used in one of two modes: crescent or disc. In crescent setting, it would produce a single blade. When used as a disc, a second blade would appear—and do tremendous damage if spun around at any speed. It was a terrifying weapon when it was intact.

“Here. Tell me what you think. How you feel. Is this perhaps within your price range?”

Before there was any chance of talking himself out of it, Karr touched the nearest chunk of the lightsaber’s handle.

Fireworks erupted in his head, but they were familiar fireworks and he ignored them. He pushed them out of the way and listened, and watched, and struggled to pay attention to the scene that flashed through his brain.

Then he jerked his hand back and stared wide-eyed at Dok-Ondar.

Quickly, he grabbed the other half of the saber and clutched it hard in his naked fingers.

He saw a figure. A Jedi? Perhaps, but different. Then another. This one was definitely a Jedi. The two faced off in battle. Lightsabers swinging, robes swooshing. Karr could feel the tension and the fear in the air. It reminded him of the scene he had just witnessed involving Skywalker. The vision hopped, skipped, and jumped. Fires burned. Men shouted. He saw the figure catch a break and cut the Jedi down. The knight fell to the ground, the light of his saber and the light of his soul both snuffed out in one blow. Karr’s vision darkened. All that remained was the glow of the survivor’s weapon. Was it Skywalker again? Karr focused on the lightsaber. Followed it down to the grip and up the arm of its wielder. He was getting better at this. No longer were the visions as blurry, and the crispness of the image allowed him to glide along the length of the figure until he came to focus on the face. But it was a face that struck fear into the young boy’s heart. Because the face—was his own!

Karr gasped. No, that couldn’t be him. But it was, wasn’t it? In a fraction of a second, a fragment of a vision. Karr was again wielding the lightsaber, again attacking the Jedi who swung his own in defense. But whose fate would remain the same no matter how many times Karr saw it. And no matter how many times it replayed in his mind, Karr saw himself slay the Jedi. The vision fizzled. It sparked. It jolted him back to the present.

Karr dropped the broken lightsaber, and he must’ve looked as grim as death itself, because Dok-Ondar stared at him like he’d just set himself on fire.

“Sir, are you quite all right?” RZ-7 asked. You don’t look like yourself at all.”

The merchant agreed with the droid. “You’re pale as a ghost. Does that mean you’ve found something you want—or something you wish to escape from?”

Karr struggled to find words, failed, then managed to nod. “I…how much do you want for this? I’ll buy this. I’ll…I’ll take it. This should come with us.” He pulled out his credits and dropped them on the counter like he didn’t care how many the shopkeeper took. He retrieved his gloves and wormed his fingers inside them.

Warily, Dok-Ondar looked at the payment. He pushed it back toward the boy and then looked Karr up and down with those bulbous eyes. “If this is so important to you,” the woman translated, “if you’re looking for more, or even looking to run from something—you might try a friend of mine. In exchange for this lightsaber, broken and worth very little, if I’m being honest with you…I would rather have a favor than your money.”

“A favor? What kind of favor?” Karr asked, his voice a little shaky.

“I have a package I’d like to send to a friend. On Takodana, you will find a pirate castle and its queen, Maz Kanata. Don’t look at me like that—like a frightened mouse. She’s no danger to you, so long as you appear before her with pure intentions. I have something for her, and I have not yet been able to send it. If you’ll serve as courier, you can have the lightsaber. Is that fair?”

RZ-7 saw that his master was still flustered and trying to gather his thoughts, so he answered for them both. “More than fair, good sir. We would be happy to deliver your package to your friend.”

Dok-Ondar nodded. “Very good. But you must go straight there. That is my one condition. No detours, no side trips. Can you promise me that?”

Karr wanted to speak for himself this time but was still reeling so only nodded.

“Good,” Dok-Ondar grunted. “Give me a moment, and I’ll prepare it for her. Stay here. There are many things in my shop that are dangerous, to those who aren’t paying attention.”

He and the woman disappeared back into his storeroom, and RZ-7 turned to Karr. “Sir, what did you see? What is it that’s rattled you so badly?”

“Arzee, I saw more Jedi fighting. One of them killed the other one—and the murderer…the murderer was me!”


- Force Collector, Chapter 14


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“But no less true, for being terrible. Here, let me show you something.” He put his can of tea on a tiny counter beside the bin he used for a sink. For a few seconds, he dug around in a box that he’d pulled down from a shelf. “It’s in here somewhere, I’m sure. I remember it so clearly, that day. I was at the Temple and—yes! Here it is.”

He retrieved a holoprojector the size of his palm and put the box away. He passed it to Karr.

When the hologram lit up, the boy gasped and slapped one hand over his mouth. He was holding a picture of a Jedi, a portrait on the steps of the temple he’d seen in his vision. The man was a bit older than Karr, maybe in his early twenties. Broad shoulders, flowing robes, lightsaber at his belt. And Karr’s own face, wide with a big smile.

He jumped to his feet, holding the holoprojector by two fingers—like it might bite him if he brought it any closer. “That’s…that’s…”

“That’s me,” the Jedi said. “Many years before you were born. I told you, yes? The family resemblance is really something.”

“No, but—you don’t understand! I saw this! I had a vision, when I touched…when I held…when I saw…” He stammered wildly, trying to sync up the scene in his vision with the image in his hand. “I saw myself fighting! I killed another Jedi!”

Naq Med held out his hands. “No, that’s not it. That’s not it at all.” He reclaimed the device from Karr before the boy could destroy it in his rage and confusion.

“I know what I saw!”

“What you saw might not be what occurred. The Force does not always work cleanly or clearly. What did you touch, when you had this vision of yourself murdering Jedi?”

“A lightsaber! A broken one. It was circular and in two pieces. It once belonged to an Inquisitor.” His voice was shaking, like everything else. His hands quivered, his knees knocked. “I know what I saw,” he said again. Then, with dawning realization he added, “I know what you did.”

“No, you don’t.” Naq Med paused to think. He shoved the holoprojector back into the box. “Let me try to explain. When we discovered that I was Force-sensitive, it was decided that I would become a Padawan and study the ways of the Jedi. I trained tirelessly with my master. Such joy I felt just being in the Temple. But it was outside of the Temple, in the shadow of politics, that I began to have my doubts. A Jedi stands strongest in the light. He has no place in a bureaucracy. Even when approached by those in need of his abilities. And I thought how the Jedi were dealing with it was the wrong path. Perhaps it sounds cowardly or misguided, but you were not there, and you cannot say. After much deliberation, I left the Order. I chose my own path—and once upon it, I met your great-grandmother. We had a daughter, who you knew and loved. I will not say that I made the wrong choice.”

Maize asked, “Where’d you go?”

“That’s not important, except that a few short years later, I learned of Order 66. I heard Palpatine speak about the Jedi uprising. I heard what they did, and I was horrified. It was exactly what I had feared! By then, the Jedi were disbanded and scattered. They’d risen up against the Republic—I heard all about it when Palpatine sent out his report.”

“Palpatine lied!” Karr insisted.

“No, young man. You may know what you saw, but I know what happened because I was there. In time, I was tracked down by the Grand Inquisitor, who pursued me as he pursued all who ever once were part of the Order. But I had a wife, you see? And a daughter. I was no longer any Jedi, and I refused to accept my fate—so I fought the Inquisitor. His lightsaber broke, I remember that much. That must be the one you found, the one you touched.”

“Maybe?”

“Yes, yes. That must be it—but your visions, they’re not perfect, are they? They’re not always clear, and you can’t always take them at face value.”

But Karr wasn’t sure. He repeated, “I know what I saw,” like a mantra.

His great-grandfather knew things, too. “You see the truth, my boy—but you see more than one truth at a time. Yes, I fought the Inquisitor, and the Inquisitor fought Jedi, killed them, in fact. But when you touched the lightsaber, you combined the two visions. You’re not lying and you’re not wrong, you’re just seeing too many things at once. In time, you might be able to tease them out and find more details, more clarity. Even though the Jedi turned on the Republic, I never harmed any of them.”

“But they didn’t turn on the Republic!” Now it was Karr’s turn to share some knowledge. His head was light and his ears were ringing, but he was right and he was righteous.

“Then why else would they execute Order 66? Why else would I flee my family? Why else would I live in a place so far, so remote, and so awful? It was only to protect them. I don’t have much longer to hide, for their safety. For your safety. My time is almost finished, and then you will all be free.”

When he stopped talking, the fine rain shrieked and scraped against the roof. The shack shuddered in the wind, and shallow waves crashed against the pilings that held it all above the water. All Naq Med’s questions had been the kind that didn’t really seek answers, but Karr had some for him anyway.

“The Jedi didn’t betray the Republic—the Republic betrayed them. It was all part of Palpatine’s propaganda.”

The old man whispered, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“But it’s true! I saw it,” Karr insisted. “I may not know enough about the Force to make me a Jedi, but thanks to my abilities I’ve seen some of their history. They were everything you once believed in—they were protectors, guardians, and helpers. They fought for the light, but the darkness won. I’m so sorry,” he said, tears filling his eyes. “I’m so sorry you didn’t know. I’m so sorry there was no one to tell you.”

“It isn’t possible.” He shook his head, unwilling to hear this.

Maize had Karr’s back. “It’s not just possible, it’s true. But the thing is, hardly anybody knows about it. Not anymore. The lie you knew became many people’s reality. The Emperor poisoned the well for the Jedi.”

RZ-7 agreed, as gently as he could. “Sir, you took such noble measures to protect your family—and those measures were successful. But there was no need to turn your back on the Jedi. They never turned their back on the Republic. Or you.”


- Force Collector, Chapter 25


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