Star Wars: Echoes of Yo'gand

Prison Barge Expedient

"Hey, Jedi slime!" Nico Sphitze woke to the raucous voice of a stormtrooper. "You're coming with us to a different cell. The murderer that Vladek told you about is taking this one." The trooper slammed the butt of his gun into Nico's back and Nico fell to the floor with a groan.                     

"Up you get!" Two more stormtroopers grabbed Nico's robe and hauled him to his feet. "Lord Spectre over-exaggerated how tough you were. I'd bet a thousand creds that you couldn't beat me in an unarmed fight!"
Nico grunted and sat up.

"That thousand's already in my pocket." He said.

The troopers escorted him down the halls, down a turbolift, and finally to his new cell. They forcefully threw him in. The door to the cell clanged shut and the energy bars sprung to life. Silence reigned for what seemed like hours. Suddenly he heard a voice.

"Nico."

He look to his right and saw a glowing cube. It registered a presence in the Force like no other.

"Nico," it said again, glowing a little more blue on each syllable. He reached out through the Force to the cube. A corner rose off as the light within the cube brightened, then another corner rose off, and another, and another, until the cube resembled a dodecahedron. The top opened and the image of a man with a fedora and a brown nerf-leather jacket appeared.

"It's a holocron!" Nico breathed excitedly.

The man nodded. "Yes. I might look like a hologram, but I am real. Perhaps on a different plane, but real nevertheless."

How can you be real but not?" Nico asked.

"It's complicated. Basically, I'm dead by this point. You're seeing a portion of my spirit that serves as gatekeeper for the holocron. But that's not what matters. I have a standard compendium of all the Jedi knowledge I learned at the Praxaeum." Then he mumbled something that sounded remotely like, "Ask and it shall be given."

Nico was speechless. "Well, first, I'd like to know how you died."

It was the Jedi's turn to be speechless. "Do you really want to know? It's not terribly interesting." Nico nodded, so the Jedi said, "Alright. It'll be easier if you can see this for yourself." He reached out his hand. "Do you mind if-"

Nico stroked his short, scraggly beard. "Nah, go on."

The glowing hand touched Nico's forehead and a blissful flood of unconsciousness washed over him. When his eyes opened, he (or rather, the Jedi) was running through a jungle, pursued by faces he had never believed he'd see again.