An Assassin's Return : Part I

"Life is going forth; Death is returning home." -Laozi


[Planet Hoth]

Clone troopers crossed the frozen wastelands of Hoth, in tight formation no more than a meter apart, and eyes peeled for any hostile wildlife. At least, should there be any hostile wildlife beyond the solitary wampas that roamed the tundras of the planet. The was little sound beyond the howling winds that rushed past and between them, and little to look at besides the frozen ground. Good thing the ground was what they were supposed to look at, more specifically what was potentially underneath it.

"Anything on the scanners Dent?"

"Nothing captain," The trooper with a notable dent in his shoulder-plate replied calmly through the comm-link. "Nothing out here for kilometers so far."

"Joker, anything on the EMI?"

"Nothing yet sir. The ground is just as empty as when we started."

Captain Marx sighed lightly. His team had been out here for a few hours today, the ninth sector of this valley out of the grid presented during the official briefing of the team. It had been seven days now since the start of their mission, and there had been zero results.

"Hey captain," Joker buzzed on the comm-link, "What are we supposed to find out here again?"

The captain sighed. "We are supposed to find a tomb."

"I still don't believe that. Why would anyone have a tomb on Hoth of all places?"

"So whoever's inside wouldn't be found genius." Techie chimed in, "There are a lot of things that can be put into a tomb too, not just a body. Tombs are meant to be hidden, that way things don't get stolen by tomb raiders."

"So what do you think we'll find in this tomb that General Plo Koon is sure is here?" Blaster asked, and the response from Captain Marx was solemn.

"That's exactly why we're looking for it, but if you ask me… Sith artifacts."

There were several deep moments of long silence between the clones as they crossed more of the frozen valley.

"You're not serious are you?" Joker said disbelievingly. "Why would there be Sith knick-knacks on Hoth? There's nothing here for them!"

"And there won't be," The captain said sternly, "Because we are going to find them first. We can't let the Seppies get ahold of them if they are here. The General is sure that something is here, and we should trust him."

"Yes, captain," and "Yes, sir," responded through the comm-link and they continued to trudge through the snow. A few minutes later, the EMI device in Joker's hands started beeping.

"We've got something!"

A rush of excitement and caution washed through the team, and the captain took control of the situation with absolute professionalism.

"How deep?"

"Thirty meters to what looks to be an entrance, following a staircase leading another ten meters down into a large chamber. And also…" Joker moved further left of the team several meters, "What looks to be an antechamber, about half the size of the main chamber."

"Alright boys, you know what to do. Start marking out the perimeter while I contact the General."

They did just that, Dent, Joker, and Techie set up the gear they brought from their packs while the captain walked a meter away and commed the General.

[The Triumphant]

Jedi Master Plo Koon, aboard the Venator-Class Star Destroyer Triumphant that was hovering just out of Hoth's gravitational pull, was on the bridge when the holo-communication request came through.

"General Plo Koon."

The Kel-Dor Jedi Master folded his arms across his chest, his usual stance as he replied, "Captain Marx, I trust you have some good news?"

"Yes sir, we just found an underground complex. Two chambers and easy to access with the equipment we have with us."

Commander Wolffe looked to the General. "Sounds like the tomb you're looking for."

"Indeed," Plo Koon agreed, and then replied to the captain, "Breach the tomb, and I advise heavy caution captain. There is no way to predict what can lie within a tomb, Sith or not. Report back every half hour."

The captain took a military standing rest, and replied, "Yes, General!" before ending the communication. General Plo Koon and Commander Wolffe exchanged glances.

"Do we really have no idea what could be in there?"

"Unfortunately the details were difficult to obtain in my search. No one has ever found this tomb before now, so no one how old it can be."

"Forgive my prying General, but what does that mean exactly?"

Plo Koon sighed, conveying a deep concern. "It means, Commander, that the longer the Sith are left alone, the stronger they become. As is the same with their artifacts, so we must be prepared for anything once the tomb has been breached."

[Planet Hoth]

The team, after digging through the many meters of snow, now broke open the door of the tomb. Dent scanned into the darkness of the stairs for a moment, then activated his helm-light. "Everything scans clean boys!"

"So let's keep it clean," Said Captain Marx, "Standard protocol, extra caution. Dent, you take point. Myself after you, followed by Techie and Joker. Blaster, you have the rear."

"Yes, sir!" They called in, and in that order they entered the mysterious tomb in the earth of the frozen planet. Down they traveled until they hit a part of the stairway in which they had to slip through sideways to continue, as a part of the tomb had collapsed some time ago.

"This is ridiculous, you'd think they'd build a tomb with better structure than this!" Joker complained, and Techie responded, "We don't know how old this place is, so maybe back then the people who made this had a different idea of structure!"

"Calm down boys," The captain said in a stern tone to both of them, "We're almost through."

And they were, and once everyone was through they all took a good look at the main chamber. There were shelves lining the walls, each cubical holding something strange and foreign. Most looked like holocrons, something the team had seen before but these holocrons were shaped like pyramids. Nothing like Jedi holocrons. Strange writing also lined the walls, floors and even the ceiling in neat rows, indecipherable to the clones.

"Alright boys, set up and scan everything!" Ordered Captain Marx, and the troopers automatically went through the motions. Standard protocol. Once everything was set up and scanning, the clones themselves carefully walked through the entirety of the main chamber. Joker inspected a section of the left wall that was blank of shelving, though equally covered in the strange language. He took out a tool and tapped the wall in a few places before exclaiming, "Found a door! This has to lead into the antechamber!"

"Good work, now let's get it open. Set the low-level charges Blaster, they should open up the wall nicely."

"On it sir!"

Charges were set, and once the team was behind cover the charges were blown and ancient rock crumbled to the ground leaving a fog of dust. After waiting a moment, the captain waved them forward and Dent scanned the entryway again.

"Main structural supports are holding steady," He confirmed, "We're good to go in."

The captain entered first, followed closely by Blaster and Techie. This antechamber was indeed smaller than the main one, and there were fewer things in it. However, there was a reason for that and it dominated the room. The three clones froze at the sight of a piece of equipment that looked to be an ancient model of some sort of sealed chamber. It was coated in a thick layer of dust, so they could not see what was within.

"What the hell is that?!" Blaster said in shock, and Techie was no better. "I would say a cryo-chamber, but I'm not seeing the components to make that kind of equipment work…"

Techie whipped out the scanner built into his left gauntlet and typed in a few things. He then held the scanner in front of him and his tone was even more shocked that Blaster's. "Whatever it is, something is definitely alive in there."

"Are you certain?" The captain demanded, and Techie nodded. "Yes sir, the scanner isn't lying!"

Captain Marx looked around the room and spotted something on the wall above the sealed chamber. It was a plaque, a larger single piece of stone barely jutting out from the wall behind it. It had a different language on it than the ones everywhere else, and the captain recognized it.

"That's Mando'a… what do Mandalorians have to do with this place?"

Techie had now moved closer to the sealed chamber, and with a hand wiped away a large swath of the dust to get a glimpse inside.

"Sir… It's a woman."

"A woman?!"

Captain Marx also moved to the sealed chamber and also saw a lithe figure within. She was clothed in grey, padding to provide protection from Hoth's cold weather, straps holding together hard armor, sleek gauntlets, a belt with large pouches, and a wide lighter-grey hood. What truly caught their attention was the full face mask, though it could easily be a full-on helmet as well. It was in white and grey tones, matching the rest of her chosen outfit, the covered mouthpiece a darker grey, and the rectangular indentations with rounded edges made for eyes. They were dark, practically black and it looked as though no one was home.

Techie then lightly tapped the hard material of the sealed chamber, and Blaster scolded him. "Don't do that, we don't know what could happen if we mess with it!"

"She may be alive, but she's certainly not going to-"

The top part of the sealed chamber suddenly flew from its hinges, knocking all three clones to the ground. Stunned, the troopers took a few seconds to regain their senses and when they did they saw the lithe woman in grey stumble from the formerly sealed chamber, and then collapse to her knees once clear of the chamber. There was heavy breathing from her, almost a true gasping for breath and her body was shaking though not terribly so.

The clones didn't know what to do, and so hands went to blasters. Joker and Dent rushed into the room, blasters already drawn and trained on the woman. In the next few moments the air was thick and still, and when the woman finally looked up the formerly dark eyes were now a bright, shining white. In the next moment, her hands went to her thighs and the sound of lightsabers activating was heard.

The primary excavation team didn't stand a chance as she somehow moved with incredible speed. In the next moment, Captain Marx was dead and there was a burning hole where his heart should be.

In the next one, Techie and Blaster were thrown by an invisible force into the main room of the tomb, where Dent and Joker stared at them dumbfounded as the woman walked through the antechamber entryway. At this, they then pulled their own blasters and shot off a few rounds at her. She deflected them with a wave of her hand and then pulled Blaster to her, killing him with a deep strike to the chest before dropping him and dashing to Joker. He died with the same wound, and turning around in a whirl Techie was pulled and killed, leaving Dent left alone on the ground and gasping for breath. The lithe woman in grey pounced on him and simply stabbed him through the chest.

All this, and in less than two minutes.

It was then she abandoned the bodies, her eyes beneath her helm scanning the room before alighting on the few holocrons that were there in the chamber. Noticing a satchel limp on a shelf, she grabbed it and stuffed the holocrons inside, as well as a few other supplies. Then without looking back, she fled the tomb and vanished into the icy tundra.