Chapter 31 – One month

Soon, one month gone by.

During this month, Ossus reconstruction progressed by leaps and bounds. The settlement started to take shape as all the houses were built, they now had to build the temple, the greenhouses, a solar power plant and hangars for the Siths fighters, only then would this anonymous town would be totally independent.

The first building built was at the center, all around it were built almost 100 houses of circular shape and two storey-high. Two roads were separating the town in two, diagonally and horizontally and intersecting near the center of the town.

As the stone blocks of the near ruins were used in the construction, theses near ruins almost disappeared. They would have to go far to fetch the stones necessary to the construction.

The water system was completed and supplied water in all the newly built houses. The landscaping droids even started to dig a sewer, later, it will be connected to the water system and collect rainwater, but Layan had to travel and buy an efficient water filtering device for such a population.

The three Netis found on the moon stayed with Ood most of the time to help him recover as the Neti constitution wasn't exactly well known except for their own members, thus Layan medical droid was useless.

After a three-week treatment with the help of his brethren, Ood was finally able to take his roots out of the ground and started to roam the planet. He took an appearance which looked more tree than humans, contrary to the three others.

With the help of three netis, the vicinity of the settlement became green again, even if it was just weed it was good to see the landscape change to become more hospitable.

The workforce considerably increased as Layan worked on the sentinel droids' reparations with the help of the maintenance droids. Now, they could be seen in the streets helping in the smallest tasks of constructions, it was a sub-routine that he adds, because their only programming was in a military purpose.

200 droids added to the workforce which sped up the construction even more and gave a basic defense against any outsider, or use as a police force to take care of the conflicts. None occurred until now, but they were a group composed of several tribes so clashes may occur.

As the old Jedi Master was now able to move, they could start to work on the renovation of the library as he knew everything about it and its content.

Layan got a basic understanding of Ood's nameless techniques as it was pretty complicated to train as it need to focus on your consciousness to attain a state similar to the empty meditation. Lyn, meanwhile started to train in lightsaber fighting, not just training the moves, but sparring fight with the droid built by Layan. For the time being, it was limited to Schii-Cho,, so she was fighting against a hologram of Kit Fisto almost every day.

The Ysannas became better and better and started to get a sense of discipline necessary to learn and create a new order as until now they acted still like tribesmen and following their old rules and their old leaders; it took time for them to accept Ood and Layan as their new leaders.

"So, how is it to step inside after almost 4,000 years?"

They were now standing in front of the ruins of the Great Jedi Library with a large group of sentinel droids and Ysannas as the task at hand would require an extremely long time without such a number.

"It's sad to see the building I had to protect ready to crumble at any given moment. At least, the library built by Master Odan-Urr is still standing after thousands of years and I can carry on his legacy."

After a short time of hesitation, the old master stepped inside and everyone followed suit. Ood stopped at the hallway where they stored the statues.

"Shaela… My apprentice."

When he saw the statue of Shaela Nurr broken in half, the old master stopped with a sorrowful expression on his face.

"She was the best apprentice I ever trained. I gave her the Solari Crystal as a proof of it. She participated during the great hunt and was claimed as one of the best of her generation. My regret is that I'll never know how my apprentice's life ended."

Shaela Nurr was of the Jedi which escaped before the cron supernova affected Ossus, but Ood learnt about the life of his apprentice from Layan's memories, but even now the end of Shaela Nurr stay a mystery. The only thing known was that she died while searching the traces of Terentateks.

"Master, what is the Great Hunt?"

Lyn asked in a whisper as she didn't want to break the solemn mood.

"The great hunt happened after the fall of the Sith empire 4,000 years ago, said roughly it was a series of events which purpose was to cleanse the galaxy of the last trace of the Sith and their creations, more particularly the creature they created using Sith alchemy."

Finally, they continued inside, in the rooms emptied previously. Using the force, they clear the stones blocking the corridors while being careful of the ceiling which may crumble on their heads.

They accessed to other rooms, but they were mostly empty as they must have been cleaned during the emergency evacuation, but everything left was in disorder or laying on the floor and covered in dust. Nonetheless, the sum of knowledge piled in these rooms was huge.

Everyone started to get to work, but Ood continued to walk toward one of the towers. Once the path cleared with the force, he headed inside and it was empty except for a few things laying here and here.

"I assume this is where you were storing the Sith's artifacts."

When he saw the emptiness of the room, he didn't had problems to identify it as the place which Exar Kun and his Massassis raided.

"Yes, Exar Kun took almost everything. Not only Sith artifacts but also Jedis artifacts. The betrayal of this man really was a heavy blow to the order."

"Yes, but like always the Jedi Order will rise…"

Layan wanted to reassure the old master but being in the ruins of what was such a rich library seems to affect his mood.

"And the Sith will disappear, then Siths will rise and the Order will disappear and so forth. This cycle repeats, again and again. Bloodshed after bloodshed."

On these joyous words, they got to work too. With 200 droids and the Ysannas able to use the force, the work was done in a few hours. Everything was stored inside the crates and brought back to the settlement like the other crates which were brought back from the crystal cave when the main building was completed.

"It will be longer to restore the building instead of building anew but it should be finished in less than two months. And a bit more time for the expansion you wanted and the decorations and reparations of the statues."

Layan was explaining to the old master as they were watching the now empty building from outside.

If Layan must have taken the decision, then he would have chosen to build a new Library near the temple and under the range of the future cloak device but Ood insisted to restore the old library as a legacy of the past which would necessitate a second cloaking device to hide it from prying eyes.

"After this, only the Temple will be left."

Ood sometimes forget about other things non-related to the jedis.

"And the hangars, the greenhouses, the power plant, and maybe a barn to bring back animals."

They walked back toward the settlement while discussing the future.

"From tomorrow on, I'll train Lyn and let you and Vima take care of the training of the members of the new order. I'll also borrow a few manuals to learn new skills as I want to improve further."

Layan was ready to train her and the little girl was waiting for it since a long time as she had to train with the Ysannas even though she was far more proficient as she didn't have to unlearn past tribal magic skills.

"Don't worry I can give you pieces of advice if you have problems to understand them. Don't forget to focus on your apprentice mindset. I've trained a lot of students. I can give you a few tips if you want."

He was appreciative, as he didn't have any experience in teaching an apprentice. He had skills in leadership but it wasn't the same thing.

"When will you tell her?"

He was surprised by the question but answered truthfully, even thought he didn't say what would happen if she wanted to oppose his goal.

"In one year, she will have understood the basics and my philosophy. After this, it's her choice to make either to follow me or not."

Layan headed toward the Phoenix landed at the end of the settlement. He could have chosen to build a house, but he was at ease in his ship, and he never had a real house after his childhood and his fall into slavery.