Secret mission to rebuild the Jedi Order

The secret mission to rebuild the Jedi Order, also known as the Hunt for the Holocron, was carried out during the Great Jedi Purge by former Jedi Knight Cere Junda and Padawan Cal Kestis. The Jedi Order had been largely destroyed by Order 66 and driven into hiding. Junda and Kestis' efforts to rebuild the Jedi Order brought them into conflict with the Galactic Empire's Inquisitorius, an agency of dark-side adherents tasked with hunting down any surviving Jedi. During the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Eno Cordova, who was once Junda's master, had a Force vision foretelling the doom of the Jedi Order. Cordova sought to safeguard the Order's future by warning the Jedi High Council, but most of his warnings fell on deaf ears. Jedi Chief Librarian Jocasta Nu, however, heeded Cordova's warnings, providing the Jedi Master with a holocron containing the locations of the known Force-sensitive children of the galaxy, who could be trained as Jedi Initiates to rebuild the Order. Cordova locked his holocron in a Vault on the remote Outer Rim world of Bogano, which could only be opened by a Force user with an artifact known as an astrium.

In 14 BBY, Kestis outed himself as a Force user by using telekinesis to save his friend Prauf from falling to death on Bracca. An Imperial viper probe droid recorded Kestis' usage of the Force, which led the Inquisitorius to track the former Padawan down. The Inquisitorius dispatched the Inquisitors Second Sister and Ninth Sister to Bracca. Junda and her Lateron captain Greez Dritus monitored Inquisitorius communications, and were thus led to Cal as well. Cere and Greez rescued Kestis from the Second Sister aboard the Stinger Mantis. Cere recruited Kestis to their secret mission, hoping the young Padawan could succeed her former master. Unbeknownst to Kestis at the time, the Second Sister had once been Junda's Padawan named Trilla Suduri.

Over the course of the mission, Kestis befriended Eno Cordova's droid companion BD-1 and eventually the Nightsister Merrin, one of the last survivors of the Nightsister massacre by Separatist forces during the Clone Wars. Together, the Stinger Mantis crew traveled much of the galaxy, seeking to find an astrium to open the Bogano Vault and retrieve Cordova's holocron, with which they planned to rebuild the Jedi Order. Over the course of the mission, Kestis deepened both his friendships with the Mantis crew and his estranged connection to the Force, regaining confidence and abilities as a Jedi. Cordova had sealed many of BD-1's memories, and the droid's holographic records were progressively unlocked as Kestis progressed in his journey. The Bogano Vault, the astriums, and ancient tombs of sages were relics of an ancient, technologically advanced, space-faring, and extinct species known as the Zeffonians studied by Cordova. The Zeffo originated on the planet Zeffo and worshipped the Force as the "Life Wind." During the mission, Kestis had Force visions, amplified and complimented through his rare power of psychometry, about the Zeffo, their wisdom, and their folly; which helped strengthen his connection to the Force. The Mantis crew sought to prevent the Empire from using Zeffo artifacts as part of Project Auger, fearing the destructive power the Empire could bring to bear based on Zeffo technology and mastery of the Force. Cal battled many Imperial stormtroopers, Purge Troopers, and even AT-ST walkers during the mission. The Mantis crew also came into conflict with the Haxion Brood gang and the Nightsisters and Nightbrothers of Dathomir over the course of the mission.

After exploring two tombs of Zeffo sages, Kestis was kidnapped by bounty hunters of the Haxion Brood gang. Greez owed the Haxion Brood great sums of money for his gambling addiction, and the gang took Kestis captive to fight in an arena as collateral on the Lateron's unpaid debts. Kestis had to free himself, rescue BD-1, and fight his way out of an arena on Ordo Eris to escape the Brood's clutches and return to the mission. After Kestis' escape, the Brood continued to pursue the Mantis crew across the galaxy, and Kestis fought more Haxion Brood bounty hunters during the remainder of the mission. Outside a Zeffo tomb on Dathomir, Kestis was overcome by survivor's guilt and his lightsaber's kyber crystal was destroyed when Kestis was confronted by a vision of his former master Jaro Tapal. The Mantis crew undertook a mission to Ilum so Cal could find a kyber crystal to build a new lightsaber with which they could complete their mission. Upon building his second lightsaber, Kestis returned to the tomb on Dathomir, where Tapal's specter once again confronted the Padawan. This time, Cal accepted the past and let it go, and thus dispelled the angry vision of Tapal from his path. Kestis entered the tomb, where former Jedi Master Taron Malicos sought to turn him to the dark side of the Force. Cal refused, so Malicos attacked him, but Merrin joined forces with Kestis and the pair were able to defeat the fallen Jedi and escape.

Upon successfully acquiring the holocron on Bogano, Kestis' psychometry caused him to have a Force vision that disabled him long enough for the Second Sister to steal the holocron. After her theft of the holocron, the Second Sister brought it to the Fortress Inquisitorius on the aquatic moon of Nur in the Mustafar system. Although Kestis felt dejected at the loss of the holocron, Cere saw his valor up to that point as demonstrative of passing his Jedi Trials, and thus bestowed on Cal the rank of Jedi Knight. The Mantis crew then journeyed to the Fortress Inquisitorius to rescue the holocron from the Empire's clutches.

At the Fortress Inquisitorius, the newly knighted Cal Kestis defeated the Second Sister in a final lightsaber duel before retrieving Cordova's holocron. Kestis unsuccessfully appealed to the Sister to let go of her hatred, when Junda appealed to Trilla for forgiveness. Just as Trilla came to terms with her past and became ready to forgive Cere, Darth Vader appeared behind her, executing her for her failure. Vader pursued the new and former Jedi Knights, who narrowly escaped with Cordova's holocron. Back aboard the Mantis, Kestis realized that if he contacted the younglings listed in the holocron, he would risk their death and torture at the hands of the Empire. He thus decided to destroy the holocron rather than endangering the younglings, trusting their fate to the will of the Force.

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