"There your programming is complete," announced Narek as he finalized Lenovo. The droid then flickered and danced around the holographic projection from the small data-chip. Pleased Narek stood up and placed his hands on the table leaning over the reconstructed friend. As Lenovo appeared his usual box projection was replaced by a man, a bald headed man that glowed blue. It was impossible to tell what Lenovo wore, seeing as his new body was simply an outer shell of a person. His eyes were crystal white as he looked at his new construction.
"Well done master, this new program is quite fascinating!" assured Lenovo looking at the palm of his hand. He was a small holographic man that stood less than a few inches tall.
"Can you link with my HUD?" asked Narek. The program then disappeared and reanimated itself at Narek's height, he was floating in the air, and he was a small holographic man hovering above the ground while Robert walked into the conference room.
"Is that Lenovo?" asked Robert walking up to Narek. Lenovo turned around and looked at the newly painted soldier.
"Yes it is me, and Narek has completed my programing I can now jump from system to system without being destroyed by those pesky CIS droids," assured the program still looking at all of his new features. Robert smiled under his helmet and continued.
"We are approaching Korriban boss, we should be landing in a few minutes." Narek nodded and looked at Lenovo who disappeared into the Wildfire's computer. The two then walked to the front of the bridge where a small tannish red planet came into view. As they approached a Republic Battle station hailed them on the com-link. Lenovo answered and began to speak with the Admiral commanding while Narek explained the plan to Robert.
"There is only one civilized star port on this planet, but the good news is that it is close to the Valley of the Dark Lords, which is where we will find two major tombs I believe the next clue is in, either the tomb of Naga Sadow or Ludo Kressh."
"Why is that?" asked Robert looking through a nearby terminal to see the two Sith Lords that Narek was talking about.
"Because out of all the attempts that the Jedi have attempted only those two temples has no one ever returned from."
"So you want to try the most dangerous ones first?"
"Yes, why else would there be such an emphasis to guard something? I know that the key is in one of those tombs."
"Which one do you want to try first?"
"Probably Naga, seeing how his tomb is much closer than Ludo's."
"Alright then," replied Robert closing the terminal on the bridge. Lenovo then appeared with the usual calm and sophisticated look.
"We have clearance to land, but they have warned us that Korriban has grown more weary in the past month," stated Lenovo as the Wildfire began to descend into the atmosphere of the Sith planet.
"Probably because it has unwanted guests on it," answered Robert walking toward the unloading ramp in the back of the ship. Narek turned to Lenovo before he left.
"I want you to maintain contact with us at all times. Don't let anyone or anything on this ship, if you lose our signal don't move until we establish a link, also I want you to be able to jump to my HUD display at any time. Lock the ship if you join us," ordered Narek. Lenovo bowed his head slightly as his master walked out of the ship. The program then turned around and began looking at his inner workings again. He raised his arm into the air and examined it.
"Truly fascinating."
Robert walked out into the small camp that passed as a star port; it had a few cargo ships that weren't even as large as the Wildfire. It was a Pentagon that had only two exits from the camp, the rest were Durasteel plated walls with large turrets mounted on all the corners. As the Commando armored man walked out of the gunboat many of these poor individuals looked at him, they watched in somewhat of fear as he and Narek walked out into the open camp. Along the side of the walls were several small buildings that were closed off, one building in particular had two clones guarding the entrance. As the two soldiers walked out toward the northern exit a Jedi emerged from the clone guarded structure and intercepted them. He was a dark brown Zabrak, which were creatures that had natural tattoos all over their body along with a set of horns that grew on the top of their head. He had no hair with thick brown eyes. He wore the usual brown robes that all Jedi wore, his tattoos were black. As he approached Narek walked out in front and switched to the com channel.
"I'll handle this," stated Narek walking past his friend. The Jedi bowed his head slightly before starting; Narek returned the gesture with a light nod of his own.
"Welcome to Korriban, I am Jedi Knight Feral Kollam, main excavator of Korriban. The Admiral above told me that a Mandalorian was coming, but I did not know you brought a Clone Commando," admitted Feral looking at Robert.
"I'm not a clone, I took this armor from a fallen friend on Alderaan," claimed Robert not moving an inch.
"Oh, my mistake good sir, may I ask?" Feral turned to Nark before continuing, "What are you doing on Korriban?"
"We are here for some excavation of our own," stated Narek trying to end the conversation.
"Be forewarned, many Jedi have gone about these Valleys and haven't returned, be weary." Feral understood that Narek was trying to end the conversation and left the two soldiers. Narek and Robert then walked out the camp and onto a trail that went straight into the mountains.
The road was completely abandoned with no sentient beings in sight; many blood stains were located in various places along the sides of the trail. Robert looked high and low around the trail. It was barely after morning on Korriban, Robert had just woken up before they reached this barren wasteland of a planet, but the drowsiness had no hold on him, because Korriban was mysterious, any crack, crumble, or movement made you look with fear. The birthplace of the Sith was a strange world.
Narek continued his walk but glanced at Robert who was constantly looking around the trail, the uncertainty of Robert amused him. Though Robert was well trained he was still weary of dangers, this was both a good and bad thing. A man could become too overwhelmed with fear and panic, but you could see a potential enemy before they struck, Robert's weariness was a perfect fit for Narek's calmness. Before long the trail began to shoot up into the mountain, the pathway became smaller and smaller until the trail disappeared with only signs to guide the way. Many wild goat looking animals hopped by, large flying creatures swarmed overhead trying to look at the advancing machine looking men. Before long though while still being surrounded by the wildlife, the duo came across a large tomb opening, its entrance was slightly damaged but had a long cave that you could see into. On the top of this tomb read 'the tomb of Naga Sadow.' A large gust of wind came out of the tunnel and spooked the wildlife around Narek and Robert away. As the creatures fled Narek slowly examined the walls which were painted in blood, he entered the cave to find streaks of dragged bodies on the ground. As Robert followed he turned on a light near the top of his head, illuminating the dark cave. Narek went back to Lenovo's channel.
"Lenovo I want you to jump to my HUD display," ordered the Mandalorian raising his wrist weapons looking around. When the program appeared beside Narek's helmet he continued. "Scan this tomb I want you to find out anything that can be lit."
"Sir there is a hundred large life forms approaching from the back of the cave, they seem to be carnivores." Robert looked at the walls of the tomb, the ground began to rumble.
"You don't say?" said the soldier jokingly as he looked forward; a large gnashing of teeth could be heard down the tomb, and the ground shaking tremble of a hundred large crawls coming their way.
"Sir there is a small operating system that has oil powered lamps that shine all the way down this tomb, shall I activate them?" asked Lenovo.
"Do it," ordered Narek as the tunnel lit up with flames. At the end a large pile of worms came barreling down the corridors. The creatures had several legs with large talons on each end, their mouths were extremely large holes filled to the brim with teeth. As they came sprinting Narek yell "Light 'em up!" The worms were fleshy and practically exploded with green goo as Robert and Nark unloaded their weapons into the hall. The cries of falling creatures began to fill the tomb as Narek and Robert halted the advance of these creatures. The two began to walk forward slowly making their way down the corridor. Robert emptied a clip into the nearest worm and tossed a thermal detonator, the explosion burned up the last remaining worms into dust as he recharged his rifle. Narek then stood straight and let his guard down. The pile of dead worms looked disguising as Narek walked over the burning bodies. They entered the long hallway from where the worms came leaving the large round corridor from where they first entered.
"That wasn't so hard," stated Robert walking over a worm. As he said this though an even large quake began to shake the ground. The tomb's ceiling began to crumble and the rocks fell from the top covering the exit that Narek and Robert entered from. In addition the large corridor where they entered began to open up from the bottom. The sand and dust began to kick up before Lenovo spoke.
"Sir a massive creature is tunneling up from the ground in that location, I believe it is the queen." Narek immediately looked at Robert after this, the ground exploded sending massive chunks of rock piles into the air landing next to the fallen worms, the queen emerged from the wreckage, she had even more teeth, claws, and a massive body, what made it worse was that she had a bad attitude. The massive monstrosity looked down at the duo. The teeth in its mouth were tainted with blood, clothes, and armor from the Jedi and troopers who have tried to enter the tomb. "Sir, none of your weapons will be able to destroy this creature I suggest retreat."
"Run!" yelled Narek as the two sped down the long hallway. The queen fell over and began the high speed chase toward the soldiers. The worm scrapped the side of the walls making rocks fall from the ceiling as Robert and Narek ran for their lives. Jumping, Sprinting, and rolling over rocks the two ran for what seemed like an eternity, the queen never lost track of them as they sped around corners and over fallen statues along the massive hallway. There were several different hallways that Narek and Robert passed; Lenovo was calmly telling them to go right, left, another left, another right, right, and left as they sprinted.
Robert could feel the worm getting closer as a small well lit area began to come into light, the trooper increased his speed as he looked toward this light. They leapt over the fallen statues and ducked under the falling rocks that descended from the ceiling. Lenovo came onto the com channel again.
"You will reach the safe room in 5," Lenovo began to count down. Another statue fell.
"4" Narek leapt over the statue.
"3" Robert slid underneath a falling rock.
"2" the worm began to shriek as the teeth brushed Robert's heels.
"1" The duo leapt into the air and through the small open door, the walls crunched when the worm sped full force into it. The shriek of the worm stopped as Narek and Robert; both painting from exhaustion looked back. The worm somehow turned around and began to retreat.
"Can that worm get to us?" asked Narek looking at Lenovo, still breathing hard from the extremely long full sprint.
"No sir, this area's walls are much too thick, I believe it was designed to keep worms such as that out of Naga's tomb which is in the room behind us." Robert and Narek stood and looked back to see a large door with several marking of Sith slaughtering Jedi on it. The picture showed a war being fought between the two sides with Naga Sadow standing over them all. Narek walked forward and ran his hand across the large circle shape door. "Be warned sir, for some reason I can't see what is in that room, but the lever is on the two small lightsabers on the bottom of the picture here." Narek looked back at Robert and nodded, Robert nodded as well as he prepared his weapon. The Mandalorian grabbed the two lightsabers and slowly pulled the door back. Robert stepped forward and looked at the room, it was a large triangle that had one long flight of stairs on it, and several statues of Sith warriors lined the sides. On the top of the stairs were two large balls of blue flame, the tomb of Naga Sadow, and a figure that was on his knees meditating.
Narek and Robert pointed their weapons at this figure as they began the slow walk up the stairs. Lenovo had disappeared in Narek's HUD and was watching over, as the duo walked up, the figure spoke.
"I have foreseen you coming for a long time now Mandalorian," stated the man. He was a young man, with a calming voice. "I have been waiting patiently, I'm glad to see that you were able to get past the worms." The figure stood and removed his hood; it was a young, tan, brown haired man with one eye brown and the other blue. He was fairly skinny but stood very tall, he stood taller than Robert but not as tall as Narek. He had a dark undergarment that had streaks of both light and dark brown. He had a lightsaber on the right side of his hip, but the young man never drew it.
"They gave us a welcome, Sith, but I would have enjoyed a butler answering your door instead," answered Narek not lowering his weapons. The young man laughed and continued.
"I am not Sith, I am not Jedi either, and I am simply the Force."
"Explain yourself!" ordered Narek as he and Robert walked to the top.
"I am a Disciple of Revan and his teachings. Long ago he was able to harness both the Light side and the Dark side of the force; I intend to duplicate his teachings by becoming attuned to both spectrums as he did."
"How is that possible? The Jedi and the Sith are polar opposites," cut in Robert still pointing his gun at the Force user.
"The Jedi and Sith are much closer than they appear, though their perceptions on the Force are different in the terms of use, Sith use the Force to test their own power and will against enemies, Jedi respect the power and live with it rather than harness it. Can you not test your limits and respect power at the same time?" Narek let his guard down at this. The young man continued "I mean you no harm."
"How can we trust you?" asked Narek looking questionable. The young man grabbed his lightsaber and handed it to the Mandalorian.
"I have foreseen this event for the past ten years now, you are my salvation to revolutionize the teachings of Master Revan, and your hunt for his HK factory will lead me. I offer my lightsaber and service to you." The Mandalorian took the lightsaber and ignited it; it was a strange black light that had a rare purple glow. "That saber was forged here on Korriban by my mother after she was banished from the Jedi order, she taught me the ways of the Light side before her passing, and here the Sith spirits teach me the way of the Dark side, but to complete my trainings I must fine Master Revan's ancient Holocrons." Narek then gave the saber back to the young man.
"Do you have a name?" asked Narek.
"Drew Amon, I am nineteen years old, but I carry the wisdom of the Jedi and Sith," assured Drew looking blankly at Robert and Narek.
"Do you know what I came for?" asked Narek looking at the tomb.
"You will only find half of the key in Naga's tomb; the other half is in Lord Ludo's tomb on the opposite end of the valley." Narek reached in and pulled out half of a pyramid, it was red colored with a tear in the middle showing that there was another half. Ignoring everything else in the tomb Narek walked back to Drew and Robert. The soldier had already dropped his guard and was shaking hands with Drew as Narek came close.
"Welcome to the team!" announced Robert, as Lenovo appeared next to Narek's face; the program greeted the new ally.
"Yes welcome Force user." Narek however walked up to Drew and continued.
"You are still on thin ice with me, I won't trust a man who has studied the Dark side until I have no doubts left in my mind, you slip up once Drew and I will end you, do you understand?" asked Narek walking past the new acquaintance and turning around sharply.
"I expected as such, how can I gain your trust?"
"You can start by helping us get out of here that worm has us cornered with no way out, and the tomb's entrance has collapsed." Drew immediately looked back at the small hole in the other room Narek and Robert entered from, he walked down the flight of stairs and was quickly followed by Narek and Robert. As the trio came to the small opening in the wall where the two soldiers entered, Drew stepped into the long hallway they were chased in. Before long the massive queen worm came barreling down the hallway. As it neared Robert pulled up his weapon, to which Narek swatted it down. Drew stared straight at the monster as it approached and roared in his face causing his Jedi robes to flap in the wind. Drew raised his hand in front of his face making the worm quiet. The queen began to stumble, it fell over and began to twitch, and Drew walked forward and placed his hand on the creature's head.
"We will not harm you if you leave now, be thankful that these warriors only killed your workers let alone you, be on your way queen, and do not disturb my friends again," ordered drew, the worm complied by burrowing into the ground leaving Narek and Robert awe-struck at this feet. Drew smiled as he walked back to his new leader. "Have I gained your trust yet?"
"Not yet," stated Narek walking out of the room and into the hallway, Robert followed and the new trio began to walk down the series of hallways.
"Do not worry Mandalorian; I will gain it in time." Drew and Robert walked together as Narek stayed just a little bit in front of his new team. As they walked down the long corridors Drew and Robert talked.
"I understand that there are many styles of lightsaber combat how many have you studied?" asked Robert.
"I have studied all seven forms, but I am partial to a combination that takes the most advanced style Juyo to a new level, though most Jedi and Sith concentrate on either using the Force or lightsaber combat I have developed a system where I can use both during a fight," replied Drew looking at his lightsaber.
"Would you consider yourself a master?"
"I am well trained, but I am not a full master yet, balancing Light and Dark side forces takes much effort. If you lose yourself to one particular side it would throw off my sense of balance."
"In other words you have more power to draw from but it is hard to maintain."
"Precisely if it was easy, both Jedi and Sith would achieve this state."
"How did you end up here on Korriban?"
"My mother was expelled from the Jedi Order when they found her pregnant with me, my Father was killed before I was born, and my mother sought refuge here on Korriban, as a way to escape the Jedi, she did not last long here, as she was corrupted by the Sith spirits, though before she connected with the Force she taught me the ways of the Light side, I studied under her guidance for ten years, after I studied with the Sith spirits for seven."
"Do you miss your mother?" asked Lenovo looking back at the two.
"She is not completely gone; I can still find her in the netherworld of the Force."
"A spirit?" asked Robert.
"In a sense yes, many Jedi and Sith have lived on for thousands for years after they fall, though it takes an attuned Force user to find them."
"Very fascinating," stated Lenovo scratching his chin "I wonder how this achieved, perhaps if I could see your mother someday?" Drew smiled at this as he looked up at the program.
"I will make it my goal in life to make it so that you can see her. What is your name program?" asked Drew.
"Lenovo, that is what my master named me when we met, I am a 'jump' program meaning my inner circuits are extremely complex," assured Lenovo. Narek took note of Lenovo's voice change after his programming was complete, it was no longer a butler's voice, and it was a more tactical quite voice that had a lot of meaning in thought to his questions and answers. "Do you feel any hatred toward the Jedi since they exiled your mother?"
"No, I believe everything happens for a reason and that we need to make the best of it think of it as a destiny. If it had not been for my mother being exiled I would not be here, helping Narek find the master's teachings."
"Why haven't you gone to Ludo's tomb and retrieved the other half of Revan's key?" asked Robert.
"It is guarded by a creature that is immune to both lightsaber cuts and any Force I tried on it."
"Really?! That is a remarkable beast what does it look like?"
"It is actually a statue, this being though is made of solid Beskar, and it was created by Lord Ludo before he died, and it stands ten feet tall with four arms, and carries an extremely large Force Battle ax."
"How do we plan to attack that thing?" asked Robert looking at Narek. Lenovo looked at Robert, then at Drew, then back to his master.
"Master, theoretically even though its flesh is able to withstand lightsaber blows the overwhelming force of the materials in your Beskar plated gloves would be able to destroy this creature," stated the program looking at his master.
"Or we could just add him to the team," pointed Robert as the trio came to the mouth of the collapsed tomb. Drew then used the Force and levitated the rocks out of the way letting the sun shine into the room. The trio walked back onto Korriban's mountains. Drew however slashed that idea Robert suggested, after he placed the rocks down.
"Though it is a worthy advisory that beast is mindless, and it only lives to guard the tomb."
Narek began the walk down the mountain, the rocky paths once again transformed into a trail for the team to walk on. Narek then took a different path and came to a small hill, as the team walked up a large valley came into view; it was desolate with several hundreds of Sith statues crumbled around the wasteland. Drew was the last one to stop and look at the valley as he did he spoke "the Valley of the Dark Lords." Narek looked back at the Force user.
"His tomb is on the other side of this graveyard, I'm going to guess its uninhabited?" asked Narek looking at the valley.
"Yes but we cannot disturb the tombs, these Sith Lords are not cooperative, they are easily provoked and show no mercy." The team went into the wasteland checking every corner of every building that lay in ruin.
After thirty minutes of travel through the wasteland Drew sprinted up to a large opening in the ground, it had several flights of stairs that went incredibly far into the ground. Drew reached out to the tomb and opened it wider, allowing Robert to shine a flashlight into the flights of stairs, this caused several bat like animals to sweep out of the cave. Lenovo then spoke up.
"Sir now that those bats are gone I scanned the tomb, there are no remaining life forms near the entrance of the tomb, the rest is a series of corridors that had large installments of traps, though this cave is not even a quarter as large as Naga's," stated Lenovo calmly. Robert then walked up.
"What would we do without you Lenovo?" asked Robert jokingly.
"Die a horrible death through several scenarios of needles being threaded into your body." This left Robert stunned as Drew and Narek entered the tomb. The soldier then shook off the bland humor of the program and entered. At the bottom of the stairs was a small darkened hallway. You could only see a large door at the end of the black corridor that had ancient encryptions on it, it was yellow colored rock, but the thing guarding it was a massive statue that Drew described. It held a large Battle axe that was placed down so it could rest its hands on the weapon. Drew stopped a few meters away from this monstrosity, Narek and Robert halted with him. The statue then began to move, its large eyes began to glow red, the bones cracked, and the dust fell off its shoulders. It spoke a series of phrases that Robert couldn't understand, Lenovo appeared and translated.
"Translation, you have returned young Sith, and you have brought puny humans to die along with you." Narek stepped forward and smacked his Beskar plated gloves together; afterward he cracked his neck by leaning his ears to his shoulders.
"Come on you big dumb brute give me the best shot you have!" yelled Narek as the beast charged.
Before the battle began Robert looked at Drew for another question.
"If you couldn't defeat this guy, do you think Narek can?"
"Yes, just how you two weren't able to kill the worm yet I could make it leave, we are able to do things that maybe one of us cannot. That guard was placed here to combat a Jedi or Sith not a Mandalorian."
The statue swung at Narek who jumped over and grabbed the creature's neck trying to snap it, the statue's head spun like a top, but it merely shook the blow off. Charging again the metal warrior sliced at the Mandalorian three times. The much faster warrior easily side stepped the creature and slugged the face of the statue. As it fell Narek grabbed its legs and hurled it against the tomb's door. Furious the guard screamed, the force was able to knock Narek back, but the Mandalorian regained his footing and charged, as the creature swung again, Narek ducked and uppercut the monster sending it on its back.
Narek was incredibly strong for a man; he battered around the beast as if playing with a child. Drew was surprised to see the Mandalorian combat a Jedi slayer so easily. As the fight continued Drew saw several worms dig out of the ground to help the large statue, Robert and Drew took care of the swarming bugs as Narek fought the creature.
"Sir I cannot find any weaknesses in his skin, this creature is beyond the normal defense of Beskar I was mistaken, this is a fight you cannot win." As Lenovo said this the creature dropped his ax and scratched Narek's armor with its claw. The creature was fast without its ax, but not to the speed of a Mandalorian. Before the creature could react Narek flipped over the beast and grabbed the ax. The creature began to laugh and speak gibberish. "Translation sir, no mere human can wield the ax, you are a fool."
"Well, then eat this!" yelled Narek as he stepped hard into the ground and slowly pulled the ax from the ground. Stunned the statue did not move, letting the Mandalorian throw all his might into the ax and hurling it at the creature. The force knocked the guard down, causing Narek to sprint up and press the ax through the chest of the guard. The creature along with his weapon then toppled over, and the large glowing eyes faded as the guard returned to a normal statue, as Narek stood he looked at Lenovo. "We are going to keep this armor, Lenovo I want you to send something here for us to carry this thing out."
Robert and Drew finished off the last few worms as Narek walked up to them, he was painting, and his chest armor was scratched with three claw marks.
"Smooth move boss, that thing got pulverized!" announced Robert giving a thumbs up. Drew smiled and bowed before he turned to the tomb, reaching out to the Force he opened the door, it cracked then slowly started to turn. When it opened Lenovo appeared on Narek's shoulder.
"Each pathway you take will lead to three separate halls, take two lefts, middle, another left, and then a right. Ludo's tomb will be ahead." Narek, Robert, and Drew turned to the door and began the short walk to the final piece of Revan's key on Korriban.
Ludo's tomb was very similar to Naga's tomb, the only difference was that the fire lighting his room was red. As the trio passed the door to the tomb, they looked at the statues along the sides; they were cloak covered humans with real lightsabers in their hands. As Drew walked up to Ludo's tomb he froze in place. Unknown to Narek he looked at the tomb as a large ball of translucent red energy morphed over the grave. Confused Narek and Robert looked at the ball of energy; it had a strange texture to it, almost like a face, as it swirled around Drew yelled.
"That is Ludo Kressh we have disturbed his slumber!" As Drew said this the statues sprung to life and ignited the lightsabers. The stone warriors charged the trio and began to slash. Drew let out a massive bolt of Force lighting that shot all twenty of these rock warriors into the far wall; he sped forward to combat them activating his lightsaber. As he charged the stone Sith began to surround him, one of them swung toward his face, Drew then blocked the slash and blew the rock's face off with the Force. As he turned to the next, they began to step in circles, gathering force powers. They let out massive bolts of Dark energy to which Drew redirected them. It was simply a matter of time as the stone guards were destroyed one by one. Narek and Robert stood still as they watched Drew combat these forces.
"Should, we, help, him?" asked Robert smiling underneath his helmet. In each pause during Robert's question, another stone Sith was blown to pieces by Drew.
"I think he's got it handled," replied Narek jokingly as five stone warriors remained.
The statues halted their barrage of Force pulses and combated Drew, who still had his lightsaber out. As the first one approached he clashed sabers with the statue and with the other hand thrust an extremely large bolt of electricity, disintegrating the rock. Another one charged forward, but as it sliced Drew ducked and rolled slashing the rock's torso causing it to fall over. Then using the Force Drew overwhelmed two other statues and picked them up. As the only remaining statue charged, Drew smashed the other rock warriors into the charger. The result kicked up a large puff of dust into the air. Amon then looked back up at his friends and placed his lightsaber back in its resting place. He walked up the steps and smiled toward his new friends.
"Didn't want to help?" asked Drew walking on past them to the tomb, the ball of energy still hovering over it.
"Just making sure you could hold your own, didn't want to bring a weakling on the ship," replied Narek as he and Robert walked up on opposite sides of Drew. The trio stared at the tomb; the ball of energy began to pulse and flux. Amon then reached out and placed his hand in the ball of energy. Closing his eyes he repeated the phrase "rest now." Eventually the Spirit began to quiet and the ball disappeared. Breathing deeply Drew opened the tomb with the Force. Narek then reached in and grabbed the other half of the pyramid. The two pieces glowed as Narek held them together. He looked at Robert, then Drew, and then Lenovo who appeared just as the Mandalorian connected the key, the small structure glowed and lifted out of Narek's hands. It shined bright white as the trio backed away slightly. It rose into the air then slowly fell back down toward the ground; it hovered ever so slightly above the cold floor. The point of the pyramid opened up and a man appeared in the light, as he walked forward Drew looked in awe.
"Master Revan!" he announced looking at the figure. Revan had his custom Jedi robes on with the Mandalorian mask he wore; the rest of his head was covered in a hood. As the trio looked on the projection began to speak.
"Well done great warrior, you who have found my artifact, this is the first step into a larger world, and once you begin this journey you will never be able to leave. If you choose this path please step forward." Narek looked at his allies and stepped forward complying with Revan's orders. "You who have defeated the trials on Korriban must now take this key to the planet of Tatooine; there an heirloom to a Tusken family will be combined with this key. Be warned though, the key and the heirloom can only be combined in a place where only one being on the planet knows of. This trial is to test your strength, and faith. Take this key, and be ready to defend it from those who would wish to take it." As the last words came from Revan, his projection then sealed itself inside the pyramid and fell to the floor. Narek walked forward and picked it up. Robert and Drew looked at each other.
"Well we are going to Tatooine," announce Narek walking back to his friends.
"And we need to find a Tusken family that has a mystical heirloom, that is going to be hard," stated Robert shrugging his shoulders.
"Lenovo see if you can find any databases where Revan came into contact with any Tusken Raider villages," ordered Narek looking at his friend, the program raised his hand after the Mandalorian said this.
"Sir, before I do this, I had the armor picked up like you ordered. However I was unable to get the Jedi to leave, he and another Jedi and a few soldiers are waiting at the entrance of the cave, though you will be pleased to know the armor is on your ship!" assured Lenovo as he disappeared. Drew looked at his new friends.
"The Jedi won't allow me to live if they sense the Dark side in me," stated Drew looking back toward the cave.
"We can't kill them it would make us a target for the Republic, we wouldn't be able to get past that fleet in orbit," replied Narek looking at the pyramid. He then looked up at Robert. "We could offer a trade though for those Separatist codes, and plans we have back on the ship."
"Would the Jedi let us pass for that?" asked Robert. "Maybe Drew could suppress his powers, if they think that he is just a random citizen we will definitely be cleared."
"That might work, Jedi have been clouded in the recent months because of this War," assured Drew.
"We will need more to bargain with though, something the Jedi here have been trying to find," announced Robert. "We could tell them that we found a different key here, maybe another relic from Ludo's tomb?" Narek walked over to the tomb and found two other pieces of Sith knowledge, small fragments of different looking crystals.
"No, we can't take any more from Lord Ludo, he will become enraged again," assured Drew grabbing Narek's forearm. The trio then looked at one another as they began a slow walk out of the tomb.
"This is not going to be easy, hid your lightsaber Drew."
As Robert walked in the entrance he saw two Jedi waiting for them along with four clones on each side. As the team walked forward Robert saw that the Zabrak Feral was one of them. Alongside the Zabrak was an extremely large lizard humanoid known as Noghri, he stood several feet tall and had steel plated skin, on his side was a double-bladed lightsaber. Robert puzzled at the sight of this, this creature looked very menacing, but it had a smile on its face when Narek shook its hand.
Narek recognized the Jedi right away, it was the one who first visited his home on Mandalore, a good thing the creature didn't remember his name because he didn't react to Narek's greet, it would be terrible if he knew who Narek Pride really was.
"Narek Pride, I am here with my two friends Drew and Robert," announced Narek, Drew had his Jedi and Sith robes concealed by his over cloak, and so far nothing was going bad.
"My name is basic language is Edvir Soonel, I am a Jedi Master of the Jedi council, that was quit a stunt you pulled killing that statue guard, I have had so many good men lost to that monster."
"It was no problem; I always try to help the Republic."
"Is that so?" asked Edvir looking at Robert and then Drew. "Would you mind telling me what you found back in that tomb Mandalorian?"
"It was nothing, a real bust, just a bunch of Sith statues."
"Would you remain here while we look at these Sith statues?"
"I doubt that, I am in a rush." Narek's mood was extremely bland and showed no emotion, he seemed almost disguised as he talked to the Jedi Master.
"I'm sure that you will want to wait, I need to make sure you are not lying to me."
"I thought the Jedi were more trusting than that."
"These are difficult times with the Separatist movements around the planets."
"So you think I'm a Separatist?"
"You could be I will need to make sure."
"I'm sorry but I am not a Separatist, and I am in a hurry. I'm expected on Coruscant right now to give some stolen data to the Republic." Edvir walked forward as Narek showed him the information. Drew was being consciously stared down by Feral, who kept his eye on the Force user. Robert was weary, the Jedi wouldn't by such nonsense, and he prepared himself for combat looking at the best ways to escape the situation.
"If you stay here for an hour so I can check the data."
"I'm terribly sorry Master Jedi, but we already have a previous engagement on Coruscant, it is not polite to keep the Supreme Chancellor waiting." The Jedi Master was shocked by this and stepped back slightly.
"You are meeting with the Chancellor Palpatine?" asked Edvir scratching his scaly chin.
"I can bring him up on the communicator right now if you want to, I was supposed to give him those Separatists codes personally but I'm sure he would enjoy a Jedi taking it from me," stated Narek as he pulled up his arm about to press the hologram on his communicator.
"Yes, I would like to see him," replied Edvir with a smug on his face, as Narek activated his hologram though the smug transformed into respect. As the picture of Palpatine appeared the clones snapped to attention.
"Yes Narek, are you on your way?" asked Palpatine looking at the Mandalorian.
"No sir, I will give the codes to Master Edvir Soonel in order to make schedule with our meeting," replied Narek looking at the Jedi Master.
"I would appreciate you giving me the codes personally; I expect to have that data in the Republic system by tonight. You are still ordered to come to this meeting here immediately my commanders are becoming impatient."
"Can it wait a few more hours? The Master Jedi wants to keep me for another hour to clear my credentials and the tomb I just excavated."
"Is that so?" asked Palpatine turning around looking at Edvir; he had a great sense of restraint as the Chancellor continued. "Master Jedi do not waste the time of the Republic on such simple matters, let this man pass I need him on Coruscant now."
"Yes sir," replied the Jedi stepping out of the way letting the trio pass. As they did Palpatine turned back to Narek.
"I expect you to be on Coruscant in an hour do you understand?"
"As you will sir," replied Narek as the hologram disappeared from his wrists, as the trio walked out and passed the Valley of the Dark Lords Robert looked at Narek.
"How did you get Palpatine to make that Jedi wet his pants?" asked Robert looking at his leader. When the soldier finished Palpatine appeared next to Narek's face, the body of the Supreme Chancellor then morphed into Lenovo, who folded his hands behind his back.
"Master and I devised the plan while we walked out of the tomb, it is amusing to see a proud man like the Jedi succumb to a fake hologram," assured Lenovo as he looked back at his Master. Robert laughed as he patted his friend's back.
"His face was priceless when you appeared as Palpatine!" exclaimed Robert as the trio walked on the path of Korriban. Drew then continued,
"I sense that the Jedi have no knowledge of the trick, you are very well at the arts of deception," stated Drew as Robert continued to laugh underneath his breath.
"It's easy when you control the field of play," acknowledged Narek. The team continued their talk even as they entered the Republic base, came into the Wildfire, launched off the ground and shot into space.
"I do not enjoy being tricked," stated Edvir as he wiped the dust from the tomb. The now dead clones lay at the bottom of the stairs while Feral combated an extremely large statue. Edvir paid no attention to the ball of red energy that hovered above the tomb; he had the Admiral in orbit track the location of the Mandalorian's departure along with any possible connections to a message from Palpatine. The transmission was a fake, and the gunboat was headed toward Tatooine, but why the Mandalorian was headed there confused Edvir. He was boiling with anger, but he could not receive any direct help from other Jedi on the Council, the Mandalorian was extremely powerful, someone he could not take on in physical contact, he needed a subtle approach with tactics to prevail against the Mandalorian. The Jedi Master was sure that the Mandalorian was after the HK factory now seeing as he took only a small treasure out of Ludo's tomb. He needed a way to find out what the three adversaries had learned. Edvir looked up at the ball of red energy and began to reach out to it.
"That cloaked figure with the Mandalorian was a Dark Jedi I am sure of it!" yelled Feral as he combated the last Sith statue, as he cut it down he sprinted up to his Master. "That Force User has great power; it will take more than just us to defeat those three."
"You forget my old Padawan we have several friends in the Jedi Order along with millions of helpers around the Galaxy, it is only a matter of time until I find out who this man is, what he wants, and how to kill him," Edvir paused to look at his follower "The longer into this battle he goes, the more enemies he will create, contact the Jedi Council tell them of this Mandalorian is carrying a Dark Jedi, then contact a few of our Trade Federation allies, tell them to give Count Dooku a message of this HK factory, he will be my greatest pawn in this game. After you have done this return to Tatooine, and place an arrest of Narek Pride."
"Yes Master," humbled Feral as he turned and walked out of the room. Edvir then looked at the Sith Spirit who appeared in front of him. The Jedi Master then tortured the Spirit making it rive out in pain. As it fell to the ground Soonel picked it up with the Force.
"Now tell me all you know about what just happened here."
Narek had Lenovo check the ship for any tracking devices before they left, the program found none, he then checked out of Korriban and shot off into Hyperspace toward Tatooine. Drew came into the bridge where Narek was sitting and sat in the Co-pilot's chair. He had a worried expression on his face as he talked to his new leader.
"That Jedi Master Edvir is not through with us yet, I sense he will be perusing us and making traps for you along the way. He will definitely be using the Republic to his advantage."
"I know we will need to stick close to neutral planets, if we run into trouble though I will take the blame and responsibility."
"Why would you prepare to take the blame for something?"
"I know scum like Edvir, I just had uncensored data files decrypted, though there isn't much about him I can find his personality."
"Which is what exactly?"
"He is a coward, and doesn't like to deal directly with his opponents, he has kept a mysterious past in the Jedi Order and has brought himself to the highest power by stepping on the backs of others, and I expect he will abuse his authority."
"Are you nervous about dealing with that Jedi, I believe he will have many friends that will cause problems?"
"Not at all," Narek paused then changed the subject "where is that Beskar armor from the statue?"
"In the armory, what do you want to do with it?"
"If you can dismantle it with Lenovo's help, I will craft that armor into shielding and weapons for us to combat the Force users coming after us."
"You will need more than just lightsaber proof armor to beat Edvir," stated Drew as he stood and began to leave the bridge.
"I have a plan for that, when the time comes I will spring it," assured Narek not looking back at his partner, as Drew turned to leave though Narek continued. "Hey, thank you for helping us; we couldn't have completed the trials unless you were there. Robert has your new room go find him, get some rest." Drew smiled as he felt the bridge; he was now one step closer to Mastering Revan's teachings.
Narek looked at the Tatooine time is Mos Espa, it was night. Narek leaned his head back and fell asleep.