Part 8

Snotlout was still huffy when they had finally reached the downed ship where Huyang resided. The ship and it's musty corridors were just as they remembered them, cold, grey and lifeless. They made their way into the belly of the ship and to the room where they had crafted their lightsabers previously.

"Well now. What brings you lot back here?" They suddenly heard once they had stepped into the room. Turning towards the sound they saw the old droid approach them from behind the high shelves.

"Hello Huyang." They greeted. "It's........ Complicated." Hiccup said.

"I'm sure it can't be that complicated." Huyang mumbled as his parts creaked.

"The Darksaber was stolen." Eret said, wasting no time, while Hiccup added "And we need to know about Aries, Scorpio and the Eternal Empire."

Huyang looked a bit uncomfortable, at least from what Heather observed. "And why would you come to me about this?"

"You're kidding right?! You know every lightsaber crafted." Eret mumbled incredulously. "You said so yourself!"

"And a Force ghost named Vitiate told us to ask you." Hiccup stated. If it was possible for Huyang to turn as white as a ghost then the droid would have done so. He shook slightly as he approached Hiccup "I've witnessed many things, from the Battles of Rashfond, to the Peacekeeping of Parliock. I never thought to hear the name Vitiate uttered again."

"So you do know him." Astrid stated as she crossed her arms. Huyang nodded and indicated for the group to find places to sit. With a heavy sigh Huyang mumbled "These will be very long stories. They may look like they have nothing in common but they do."

"As I've said just now, I never thought the name Vitiate would ever have been uttered again. Not after the entire Eternal empire was erased from history. Only a few knew of its existence, almost none are alive now." Huyang sighed as he continued.

"So....... what happened?" Ruffnut asked.

"Vitiate was an ambitious man, a Sith living during the Old Republic era." Huyang stated. "His ambitions drove him to create a grand empire, rivaling those of the Old Republic and the Sith. He ruled with an iron fist and at the forefront of his empire stood the Eternal fleet."

"So..... this Eternal fleet is just a bunch of ships right?" Snotlout asked only to be glowered upon by the old droid.

"A bunch of ships! A bunch of ships you call them!" Huyang grumbled. "You wouldn't be saying that if you saw them extinguish entire star systems! Both the Republic and the Sith feared this fleet. It was Vitiate's ambition to reshape the galaxy that brought these three powers into war but it was after his death at the hands of his own son Arcann that things escalated. At some point Arcann got dethroned and his younger sister Vaylin took over. That's when Aries arrived on the scene."

"You know........." Astrid mumbled. "I was thinking, this all happened millennia ago. So how could anyone have the technology to destroy entire star systems? The Empire's Deathstar could only destroy a single planet at a time, and that technology was developed recently."

"You are absolutely right young lady." Huyang stated. "It was the time when the first lightsabers were being made. Neither the Republic nor the Sith possessed that level of technology, but I never stated that the Eternal fleet was created by Vitiate."

"You're suggesting that another power was responsible for these ships?" Fishlegs asked. "A civilization that was on par with the Celestials. Did such a civilization even exist at the time?"

"Hey, we might have been powerful" Meatlug mentally commented on Fishlegs' statement "But we hadn't explored all of this galaxy, even in all the millennia that we had settled here. You'd be surprised at what wonders and mysteries can be found in the Unknown Regions."

"So..... who were the ones who made this Eternal fleet?" Hiccup now asked.

"No one knows their true name." Huyang stated as Snotlout muttered "Isn't that convenient." The droid gave him his version of a glare for interrupting. "As I was saying, they were a very advanced civilization, composed almost entirely out of scientists and engineers who spend countless cycles designing weapons of mass destruction and testing it on many unsuspecting worlds."

"Why........ Would they do that?!" Fishlegs suddenly spoke up. "Didn't those worlds have sentient lifeforms?"

"Of course they did." Huyang stated solemnly. "They only cared about their experiments and were by no means thinking about conquering these worlds. Their homeworld was called Iokath, a massive sphere constructed around a star located in the Iokath system, which lies somewhere in the Unknown Regions. The story goes that they demolished every orbital body in the system down to the last asteroid, and salvaged them."

"You seem to know an awful lot about these people." Eret commented, earning him a light whack from Huyang's cane.

"OUCH!" Eret yelped as he covered his head. "Alright alright. We get it. No more interruptions!"

Huyang nodded before continuing his story. "Iokath was the birthplace of Aries, Scorpio, The Eternal fleet and the Gemini droids that commanded it. Now you may wonder, what ever happened to such an intelligent species?" The twins nodded, as did the others.

"Like all organic beings, conflict erupted and with their society the had countless weapons of mass destruction at the touch of a fingertip. Aries was one of their A.I.'s. I have often wondered if he had nothing to do with the escalating tensions between his builders. The fact remained that he was the sole survivor as the Iokathians killed themselves. Scorpio and the Eternal fleet were sent away before the last battle but they returned years later under the rule of Empress Vaylin. At that point Aries had become a xenophobic intelligence bent on eradicating all life in the galaxy."

"Sooooooo!!" Heather suddenly said. "Don't keep us in suspense! What happened!!"

"Heather you really need to lay off the Holodramas." Ruffnut could be heard whispering as Heather's cheeks tinged pink.

"The Eternal fleet could be controlled by devices called thrones. One of these devices ended up in Vitiate's hands. It was later destroyed on Odessen after Scorpio liberated the Gemini droids from Aries. Scorpio managed to defeat Aries on Iokath and became one with the mechanical planet afterwards. Not much is known about what happened afterwards. Both the Old Republic and the Sith decided that what had transpired there was too dangerous to ever be released and with Scorpio's help decided to erase both the Eternal Empire and Iokath from any official records. Scorpio herself made the planet and fleet disappear."

"Well that is understandable." Hiccup mumbled. "You wouldn't want such destructive power to come in the hands of someone unsuitable. But how does this Darksaber fit into this story?"

Huyang now looked directly at the two Mandalorians. "Tell me, what do your people say about the Darksaber." He asked. Both Snotlout and Eret looked at each other before Eret decided to speak. "The Darksaber was unlike normal lightsabers, then and now. I only know of Hiccup's blade which comes close in resembling it."

"It does?" Both Hiccup and Toothless asked surprised. Eret nodded before continuing. "Yes, I was surprised to see it when we first met. The Darksaber is said to have been crafted by the only Mandalorian ever to have become a Jedi, Tarre Vizsla. After his death it remained in the Jedi temple until the Mandalorians stole it. From that point on it had been passed down from members of the Vizsla clan for generations. The saber is seen as a symbol of authority for Mandalorians everywhere."

"So that is the tale the Jedi order spun." Huyang mumbled catching everyone's attention.

"Are you insinuating that Tarre Vizsla didn't craft the darksaber?!" Snotlout asked a bit heatedly.

"You two came here to know why the darksaber was taken. According to your own words I would know every lightsaber crafted. Haven't you ever wondered why the darksaber looked so different from other lightsabers. There are only theories of its power source. That blade holds many secrets, secrets that should have been taken to the grave." Huyang stated.

"Okay, what are you talking about?" Snotlout now asked as he looked at the old droid in complete bafflement.

"The Jedi order, then still called the Jedaii order, served the Old Republic during the time of the Eternal Empire. Many weapons of the Iokathians fell into the hands of other species. One of which was a Jedaii master known as the Weapons Master. It was he who crafted the first prototype lightsaber after getting his hands on the darksaber."

"So the Iokathians developed the darksaber, the Jedi reverse engineered it into the lightsaber and then used it for their Order." Fishlegs summarized."Yes, Tarre Vizsla was only the keeper of the blade." Huyang confirmed.

"But why would the Republic go to so much trouble to hide this saber. What does it have to do with Aries?" Several people asked at once.

"You would have to ask Scorpio that yourselves." Huyang stated before taking off a round object off his arm. "This will lead you to Iokath."

"Huyang,......." Hiccup hesitated when he took the object from the old droid. "Were you one of these Gemini droids?" He asked. It was one of the only things that made sense in his mind. All the old droid did as give Hiccup a wink and a laugh. Hiccup looked down at the object and saw that it was some type of portable holographic star chart.

Huyang left the group soon after and they headed back to the ship, intend on figuring out the device they were given.

Meanwhile in a familiar egg-shaped starship, Andeddu groaned in pain as his back hit the ship's hull. "You shouldn't try to fight." Dagur smirked wickedly as he towered over Mala's prone body.

"Don't think you've won yet!" Andeddu groaned as he tried to stand up. His Force powers were still being inhibited as Dagur lifted his host's body into the air.

"Will you stop playing with your food." Camicazi chastised as she leaned against the doorway that had just opened.

"Speak for yourself." Dagur said. "Did you get rid of that nuisance?"

"I did." Camicazi smirked as she held up a pouch for him to see. "I even made quite a bit of credits on him." She then looked at Andeddu. "He's still being tight-lipped?"

"Stubborn as a Rancor." Dagur grumbled.

"Maybe you aren't being persuasive enough." Camicazi suggested.

"Don't think I will tell you anything either." Andeddu hissed.

"Oh.... I won't be asking." Camicazi smirked as she raised her hand. Andeddu could feel her gathering the Force around her. "I will be taking."