The exploration/science ship, Farseer exited Hyperspace with an ease born of long practice. The battered ship had been around since the Clone Wars, and though it wasn't a pretty sight, it got the job done.
Captain Heku examined the sensors as they scanned the surface of the planet, according to all their logs it should have been a lushly forest world with a thriving ecosystem and millions of species living in relative proximity, much like Kashyyk with a significant downturn in terms of peril. The sun was supposed to be warm and golden, in the prime of life so to speak, the continents to be large and separate and with many diverse animals and creatures. That was what should have been, Heku had never been a sentimental man, but even he was forced to chock out an oath when he saw the state of the world below.
It was dead. No forest, rivers, trees or animals. The sensors of the ship went over it again and again but they could find no reason for it to be this way. No sign of orbital bombardment, no traces of any kind.
His navigator, Kris let out a soft oath as she watched the read-outs, " Sithspit..."
" What the hell happened?" Heku wanted to demand, the sense of... of despair welling up within him was almost too much to contain, but he was holding it, holding it in check with red hot anger. What could have caused this? What kind of being would have done it? That at least, had an easy answer: the Empire would have done it, but why? What was the purpose? Heku had been here several times and the planet had never even rated a small garrison, the locals were primitive tool-users, what could they have possibly done to arose the anger of Palpatine so surely?
He shook his head slightly, at times like this, he was glad he had never joined the Imperial Academy. It was so hard to think of humans, fellow humans, doing this, killing an entire planet of beings they had never met. But for a twist of fate, it could have been him killing them, rather then him finding the dessicated corpse of what had once been a promising planet.
" No power signs?" He asked, his mind at last returning to the business at hand, even as he struggled to come to terms with what they had found.
" No," said Tanya who was working quickly at the sensors. Of all of them, she seemed the least effected, she was a cold one, Heku had known it when he hired her. She showed emotions rarely if at all and it was anyone's guess what she was feeling inside. " Nothing."
Good news then, thought Heku, but looking down at the corpse of a planet, it was hard to feel any real joy. At least we wont be chased home by Star Destroyers -- this time. It was over, this he could see, his whole reason for coming here -- to study the natural ecosystem of the planet and the natives in particular, the best thing they could possibly do would be to turn around now and head back as quickly as they could, pretend they never saw this. But still.... Heku had often mused that there was for every man in the universe, a perfect career, soldier, farmer, politician, leader, if this was true than Heku's perfect position was what he had the fortune to find himself in, Heku, alone of almost everyone he met, had the burning desire to learn, Heku wanted to understand the universe and while, on an intellectual level he knew he never could, on a far more basic level, he hungered for new information. It didn't matter what it was about, technology, biology, anything and everything held the captain's interest. So it was, than even looking down at the apocalyptic wasteland, he could not quench his desires to know what had caused it...
" Is there anything left?" He said at last as the quiet started to become unbearable.
" Yes, actually," said Tanya in a tone of mild surprise, " Something technological, I missed it at first, its running on a very low amount of power, still I've cleaned up the readings and there's no doubt, its some kind of monolith. Never seen anything like it before, I can't get a proper reading on it ether. Looks like it has some connection to the state of the planet."
The data was brought up for Heku to examine and he did, slowly, like a scientist, he looked through it all. It taught him very little, it was unpopulated, with no weapons or any kind of threat, it was made of an unknown metal. Now, he had to decide if he was to go down and investigate farther or if he should just bug out now.
"I'd like a chance to see it up close," announced Tanya, " I've studied several ancient cultures and seen depictions like this before."
Kris closed her eyes, her face was pale, sometimes Heku worried about her, she was so...naive sometimes. Kris always felt that deep down, if people could just talk something over, they would get along. Heku was much wiser in the ways of the world but he felt a sort of paternal instinct towards her, maybe it was because his own daughter had died before she reached adulthood but he watched over Kris like a parent.
" I want to see." She said at last, it was to Heku's mixed feelings. On one hand, he wanted to know what this thing was, but on the other, he had a very bad feeling about this.
The Farseer was small, easily able to slip through the atmosphere, or what was left of it, without any trouble at all. The weather was changed as much as the planet herself, harsh winds raged and moaned, it was sandy, here and there, bleached wood or bone. The ship moved through it like a fish in water, as she closed in on the monolith, Heku saw that it was many time their size. Like a temple, or a tomb, it dwarfed them.
They took the ship down in front of it, landing with only a slight bump.
Tanya explained, " The atmosphere is breathable -- mostly, but we don't wanna be out there for long, its cold too, but again its within tolerable limits."
" Right," nodded Heku reaching for his blasters, " weapons ready, got it? We wanna be in and out."
When he first stepped upon the brittle ground that had once been fertile soil, Heku could not help but think, I'm walking on a grave. indeed, it was exactly like that, the monolith gave off an unearthly feeling, not of evil exactly, more of...empty. Totally devoid of life.
The monolith loomed over them now, like small insects they made their way inside it, moving towards the faint power-source. Every now and then, Heku would stop and study the walls around them, these were carved with strange symbols but there was one that was always to be found A skeleton holding some kind of gun.
Tanya voiced the opinion that it may have represented a spirit or God to whoever built the monolith. This seemed confirmed for as the team moved deeper into the guts of the monolith, they found metal statues.
They looked to be human skeletons, but made of metal, they each cradled a weapon of some kind. Heku was starting to have doubts about this now but forced himself to press on, what could possibly go wrong?
The trio finally tracked down the power-source in the centre of the monolith. It was bitterly cold in here, Heku fancied he could see ice forming on the walls. Speaking of walls, they too were covered in strange carving but here, they seemed to move, to twist and writhe but of course, that was a trick of the light. And what light it was! Green and eerie, Heku didn't have to ask the source of the power, it was sitting in the centre of the room.
It was a a coffin of metal, ornate runes covered it, gems glinted in the light, the whole thing gave off the green illumination.
Heku walked over to it slowly, he almost didn't want to, it had a mesmerizing effect upon him, it seemed to call out to him, " All the answers you seek are here," It said. He reached out for it, it was cool to the touch. By the time he heard the warnings of the others, it was far too late. The lid of the coffin slid back slowly, darkness flowed out of it like a fog or a mist. Heku's breath caught in his throat but the thing that was in it was just another metal guardian, though this one was far more ornate.
It wore a graveshroud, it's hands clutched a staff of metal, ridged spines ran along its back and its shoulders were far more heavily armoured than the others he had seen. He turned back to the others and grinned, relief showing through, relief which was then frozen as he saw the look on their faces, slowly, he turned. The skeleton was moving, rising to its feet with a slow motion, panicking, he fired his blaster, striking it right in the head, the shot took the thing in the forehead, burning a hole in the head before fading away. The skeleton, mouth locked in an eternal grin, looked at Heku for the first time.
Heku screamed in agony, twin jets of green light striking him from across the room, horrified, Kris saw two of the skeletal warriors stalking towards them, weapons raised. Heku didn't stand a chance, he was pulled apart at the molecular level, screaming as he was flayed alive.
The others turned and rain, horror beating in their hearts, the Necron Lord Kuri watched them go, ageless hands clasping his staff once more. It had been so long since he last walked above, but now he could hear his master's call, the plague of life invested this galaxy, he could feel it even here... it was time, to harvest.
Through the power of the Necron Lord, the planet returned to what it had been before the dawn of the forests, a tombworld, legions of skeletal warriors pulled themselves from the earth monoliths rose from the sea of sand, the very planet split open as a ship tore its way out of the ground.
Kuri felt it all in his bones. The Necron Lord could not be said to have a memory, or emotions or even a soul, but if he did, he would probably have been grimly triumphant. After millions of years, the Necrons had returned to finish what they had started: the complete eradication of all life.