Chapter Three: Nap'aun Unta
1
"Halt!" The guard commanded in Galactic Basic. They had came upon a scouting party of native Pau'ans. The natives had offered to bring them back to the city with them. They kept to themselves, but spoke Basic well enough. After following their party for a short time, they came upon the light at the end of the tunnel. The guards in the sentry booth stopped them there though.
"Worst comes to worst, you can speak to them in their own language, right Master?" Darth Kilvaari asked. Darth Ryl nodded. The scouts and the sentries finally finished conversing, so they waved them in. Darth Ryl did not fail to notice that the two sentries were holding Sith-Issue blaster rifles. How would they have those if I didn't conquer this planet yet?
As they left the darkness of the cave behind them, the brightness blinded them. This sinkhole was smaller than the one Darth Ryl had known, but it was still huge. Instead of a circle of platforms and buildings along the edges of the sinkhole, this area had a city built directly into the center of it. There were metal platforms holding the city in place that doubled as bridges. Down below there was greenish blue water that was being fed by waterfalls all around the sinkhole. The bridges were in the only locations that the waterfalls weren't dumping water.
"My friend, my brother owns an Inn if you need a place to stay. There's also a small spaceport at the top layer of the city. We wish you the best of luck, and for your safety please do well to avoid these caverns again." The tall white skinned creature was much nicer than he had looked, Kilvaari thought.
"You have my thanks," Darth Ryl said, and handed him five hundred credits.
"Welcome to Nap'aun Unta," the scout said, before taking the credits and heading back to his comrades.
"Wow, will you look at this city. I didn't think this planet could be beautiful. The climate down here is a lot nicer too." Darien said. The group walked down the bridge slowly taking in the sights. The multi-layered city seemed much larger than it really was. Zero estimated its population to be a little smaller than a million.
While the two brothers were chatting, Darth Animosity slowed down so that he was closer to Darth Ryl. "What's going on old friend? You don't look so hot." Darth Ryl had big bags under his eyes. He had reactivated his hologram disguise to hide his tattoos, but he still looked twenty years older than he was. "You been sleeping ok?"
"I'm fine. Worry about yourself," Darth Ryl said, and pushed past Darth Animosity to catch up with the others.
R1L1 caught up to him, so Animosity patted his droid on the head. "At least you like me," he said.
"Like you? I've always wanted to kill you," the droid replied with a recording of his own voice. Darth Animosity rolled his eyes.
They reached the end of the walkway and entered the city. The city was filled with Utai and Pau'uns, so their group stood out quite well. The locals were busy selling food, bartering for parts, taking pictures, or sitting down on rooftops. It didn't matter what they were doing, they all found time to glance at the mixed species group walking down the main street. It didn't matter what they did, everyone knew they were warriors. The gear they had, their outfits, and Darth Animosity's armor gave off that impression pretty much immediately. So the locals instinctually cleared a path for them as if they had a disease.
"Darth Kilvaari, you and R1L1 figure out where we can keep our equipment for now so we don't have to drag it any longer. Me and Darth Animosity will acquire a ship. The shorter time we spend in the city, the better."
"What about us?" Darien asked.
"I don't care. You've got your credits don't you? You're free to do whatever you want." Darth Ryl scanned the city with his eyes, and traced a path to the center where you could take elevators or lifts to the next level. Zero and Darien looked at each other.
"We're gonna stick with you guys until we're off world. I don't know how many Sith followed us, but we're as good as dead if they find us. They know who I am."
"I agree," Zero added. "We could still be of use."
Darth Ryl considered it for a moment. "Fine. Decide who you're going with right now."
Darien considered his options and knew which was the safer choice, so him and Zero accompanied R1L1 and Darth Kilvaari to find a temporary storage room for their load of equipment and gear. Unfortunately, the safest route, also had them carrying all of their possessions, so it wasn't exactly the easier choice.
"Well, we're all still alive, so we should be thankful for that much," Darth Kilvaari said, after a while. Darien had to pay fifty thousand credits to rent a small transport to carry all of their stuff. It hovered slowly behind them and followed the beacon that Darien put in his pocket.
"These aliens definitely ripped me off because I'm a human," he muttered. Even without the Mandalorian in full combat armor and blue-skinned Twi'lek they were still getting queer looks from the natives.
"Perhaps you just have the look of a wealthy tourist," Kilvaari offered with a smile. "Anyway, I'm sorry that my master has all of our credits at the moment."
"Maybe they know a sucker when they see one," Zero teased. Zero took out his blaster rifle immediately to point it at a Pau'un that didn't shy away from them.
"Please! Hear this one out," the white skinned humanoid begged. "I sense something special of you travellers."
Zero lowered his weapon. Darien was about to say something when Kilvaari stopped him. "Let's hear what the man has to say," he said and then smiled ear to ear.
"Thank you, thank you," the Pau'un said. "This one is called Wizyck Nor'err. I have great powers in the arts of seeing and feeling. You two have been chosen!" Then the native called Wizyck Nor'err gestured to Zero and R1L1 as well. "It seems you two have been chosen as much as the rest, this one thinks," he said chuckling. "Please follow to my stand for a great prize."
Darien rolled his eyes. "Listen Kil, can I call you that for short? Eh I'm gonna call you that anyway. So Kil I don't know if you're aware, but these people are called scam artists. There were plenty on Taris. You can't trust their kind. They just want credits. Let's keep moving before your master gets mad." He proceeded past the fortune teller who had already begun walking to his meager stand.
Darth Kilvaari smiled. "We've got time. Let's go," then he left to join Wizyck. Darien begrudgingly turned around to join him. After all, if anyone was the leader of their group, it would probably be Darth Kilvaari. Darien began cringing when he arrived at the stand filled with crystals, gems, and other stones.
Wizyck took out a chest big enough to fit a head in it, and said, "If this one can guess three things about you, this one will give you what's in this chest."
"And why would you do that?" Darien asked.
"Because you will pay a fee of five thousand credits for the seeing and the prize." Wizyck Nor'err smiled, displaying his sharp teeth.
"Okay seer, we accept."
"What?!" Darien squeaked. "How is that a good deal? I'm not giving him a single credit 'till we know what's in the chest."
"Something that is calling for you," Wizyck said. "It whispers your truths to me."
"Enough," Zero chimed in to his companions surprise. "Put your credits where your mouth is and show us that your words are as real as the chest you offer." The fortune teller closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"For the first truth, this one knows you have not been to our splendid city of Nap'aun Unta before, but you have been on this world before." Kilvaari pursed his lips and nodded.
"Oh come on, anyone could have guessed that. We clearly weren't born here." Darien protested. Or born yesterday.
"This one will have his fee before more truths are revealed." Darth Kilvaari turned toward Darien and nudged him to give the seer credits. Darien snarled, but when Zero also nodded, he forfeited another five thousand credits after an eye roll.
"If you really can see the truth, then know that if you run with my creds I'll plant a blaster bolt in your back so fast you'll wish you were a custodian instead."
Wizyck counted the credits then smiled again, matching Kilvaari's smile. "This one does not fear you. This one knows you are here today because you lost someone close, and you lost your way. You are not unlike the one you follow, yet you do not think of things this way."
All of their eyes were on him, and Darien couldn't take it. Even Zero was staring at him waiting to hear what his response would be. He opened his mouth to speak, then the hacker turned around and left them. Zero looked at his brother, then back at the fortune teller. "Tell me what's in the chest," he said to the Sith and then left Kilvaari and R1L1 at the booth. I wonder which one of us is the one 'he follows', Kilvaari thought.
"The truth isn't always what we want, is it? No need to answer, this one can feel that you already know that, young one." Wizyck tapped his sharp fingernails together. "Yes, you are more interesting, and yet your truth bores all."
"I'll hear it anyway," Darth Kilvaari said with a fading smile.
"You do all you do for love. A love you are forbidden to display. A secret love."
Darth Kilvaari stared at the fortune teller for a moment. When he finally spoke, he was beginning to loathe the smile on Wizyck's face. "Wizyck Nor'err is well gifted. You are guided by the force. It has made you fearless. I wonder if it means you can foresee your own demise." Darth Kilvaari patted his lightsaber under his cloak.
"Easy now, Wizyck Nor'err only does as he is asked. This one knows nothing of your force, lest that be the name the Gods have given my abilities. Can you handle the final revelation? Your prize awaits."
Darth Kilvaari was tempted to behead the force sensitive fortune teller, and take their credits back. He could swipe the mysterious chest while he was at it too. I haven't had a dark side thought like this in a while… it'd just be so easy…
"You and your friends are in the wrong place and the wrong time. You will go to a planet of cities, a planet of garbage, and a planet of trees. If you do not go to these places, you will be trapped here. Now take your prize and leave this one and don't turn back." The seer opened the chest before Kilvaari could respond, and then closed his booth down. Darth Kilvaari almost stopped him for fear that he was fleeing, but he was captivated by a silver and gold hue coming from the chest. Inside was a large egg, and it was shining.
2
"You've got a problem. You know you do," Darth Animosity said. They were in a large elevator with several other locals. It was rising slowly, bringing them to the top floor where the landing pads and hangars were. The locals kept as much distance as they could in an elevator that would probably fit a full size bantha.
"If I already know, then why bother bringing it up?" Darth Ryl spat. Sometimes he thought he was the only one who wasn't intimidated by the muscular Mandalorian. Darth Ryl didn't fear anyone. Anyone except maybe himself...
Darth Animosity turned to face him. "Because, you don't do anything about it. You're getting worse every time I see you. Lay off the stims. Stop boozing. Stop trying to kill yourself. Only I deserve the honor of ending your pitiful blue existence," he boasted.
"You wish." The glass doors of the elevator slid open. "Let's go." All of the other passengers waited for them to get off first before exiting. On the top floor you could actually see the sky. On most of the lower levels you can't see the sky or outside the sinkhole unless you go to the outer edges, but up here there were tons of ships. Some were being maintenanced, taken apart, or taking off.
"So where do we go from here, mighty Lord of Utapau?"
"That building over there looks to have the biggest hangar and landing pad. Perhaps it will be the best place to buy or rent a ship from."
Darth Animosity agreed, so they began walking down the street toward the massive building on the other side of the city. The only houses on this level seemingly belonged to the Pau'un elite. Many of the civilians here had bodyguards. That made them a little less worried about throwing scornful looks their way. Darth Ryl bought them some food to eat on the way, when a bold merchant stopped them.
"It is known that you are tourists to our great city Nap'aun Unta, yes?"
"Leave us. We don't want to buy anything," Darth Ryl said.
"Not even entry to our great museum of history?" Darth Ryl beckoned for Animosity and they began walking around the local. "Wait! Our databases and collections go back all the way to war between the Pau'uns and the Utai! The rule of the Sith Lord Darth Ryl and his successor Darth Trayorus. The Local uprising! Thousands of years of local and worldwide history for a cheap price! We even have holologs from Jedi and Republic forces that liberated our planet!"
At that, he turned and walked back to the Pau'un so quickly that the man thought he was going to get attacked. "What did you just say?" Darth Ryl asked with an intensity in his voice.
"I'm sorry if I have displeased you good traveler, I swear I'll let you be on your way!" The white skinned alien began whimpering at the look Darth Ryl gave him.
"Tell me more of this, Darth Ryl." The Pau'un looked uncertain and confused. "And then I will hear of this Darth Trayorus."
Darth Animosity crossed his arms and watched with great interest as the local calmed himself and gathered his words. "Well. Darth Ryl or Ryl the Conqueror as he was known locally, was the first person to unite all or most of Utapau under one common cause. Unfortunately it was done so with lots of bloodshed. Hundreds if not thousands were said to of perished as he crushed the local militias. He burned one city to the ground for treason. Darth Ryl was a Twi'lek like yourself. Most historians agree his skin was blue like yours too, but with tattoos. Some say he was green skinned or red. Does this please you, my friend?"
Darth Ryl looked at his associate, and knew Darth Animosity was grinning under his helmet. "What happened to this ruler?"
"That is where the stories clash. Since it was many millennia ago. One source says-"
"Wait," Darth Animosity interrupted. "You're saying he ruled thousands upon thousands of years ago? When was Utapau liberated?"
"Yes. The liberation was many millennia as well. The Sith are long gone now. Many in the galaxy have forgotten them. But Utapau does not. They say Darth Trayorus was even crueler than his predecessor. Thousands of indigenous people were exported off-world to become slaves. Trayorus was well known to have boasted of killing Ryl in a space battle that took place in the atmosphere. An entire village made their home out of the wreckage many years too, before the Sith destroyed that as well."
These people have no love of me, or the Sith. How could we have went forward in time? And thousands of years too? How is that possible? "But you are unsure?"
"Journals and logs have been recovered by many noble Pau'uns who claim Ryl abandoned the planet. Some of them have asserted that they personally worked with him during his reign." The Sith are gone and forgotten. How could the Empire have lost to the Jedi? "I hope I have pleased you. For more intricate knowledge and visual and audio learning, please visit our Museum, two turns that way."
"You have my thanks," Darth Ryl said, but he suddenly felt ill. His knees felt weak. The whole city began spiralling around him.
"That was most interesting indeed," Darth Animosity said, and handed the local five hundred credits. "For your time. Now shoo." He grabbed Darth Ryl's elbow and helped him walk to a nearby bench. They sat down. "So I'm guessing this changes some things, huh?"
"It changes everything." Darth Ryl looked crushed. "I just trapped us all in a foreign time. Nothing about the galaxy is the same. We might be the only Sith left!" And worse, my plans… my redemption…
"It doesn't change everything, we still need to get off-world before Kren wipes us from existence. C'mon, let's go." He stood up from the bench, and then ducked just in time to dodge a sniper shot. Darth Ryl jumped to his feet before Animosity could even tell him to duck.
"We've found you, you little worms," Darth Decimus called out from across the street. He was flanked by two other Sith apprentices.
3
"Do you think they've acquired a ship yet?"
"I don't know Zero. I'm sure they'll be super impressed when they found out we got an egg though. Real impressed indeed. Probably jealous too!" Darien couldn't wait to get off this planet. He hated the dry heat. The locals creeped him out, and it was too...open. Taris was plagued with skyscrapers. Darien never would have guessed that he'd miss it.
"I was able to detect a heat signature in the egg. It is definitely going to be a living creature. Perhaps we will be able to sell it."
Darien shrugged. "Or eat it. Either way I can't wait to be off this rock." Darien took out his last death stick, and lit it. "You're bein' awfully quiet back there."
"That seer said we were at the 'wrong time'. Do you think he meant we aren't where we were supposed to go?" Darth Kilvaari was looking at the ceiling of the next upper level. There were small glass rooms and buildings clinging to the bottoms of the next level up. These locals certainly make good use of the little space they have in the sink holes. But something about this planet does feel different than the last time I was here. His head tails twitched.
"The blasted seer should have been called a talker instead 'cuz that's all he was good for. That and scamming you!" Darien muttered something considerably unkind on the topic to himself. "Look at these savages," he said while pointing to three Utai riding on the back of a large reptile with a bird-like head. Seconds later, there was a sinking noise as he stepped in droppings. "Blast it all, I hate animals."
Darth Kilvaari was smiling, but then he suddenly felt the mood shift in the force. On his homeworld of Glee Anselm his species was able to sense subtle vibrations through their head tails. It worked even better underwater, but on land his sensory skills were still proficient. Something was going to happen, and certain individuals had a vague idea. He sensed fear, confusion, and anxiety. He quickly looked around, but everyone near him was in a normal state. They were all acting casual.
"What's wrong?" Zero asked. He took out his blaster rifle. Some of the locals noticed. It caused some to blatantly stare while others decided they had things to do in the opposite direction.
Kilvaari pointed to a place that looked like a tavern or an inn of sorts. "Get in there with R1L1 now!" Zero apparently trusted Kilvaari's intuition enough, because he grabbed his so-called brother and pulled him towards the inn. A group of Pau'un ran past him a lines of two, weapons ready. Darth Kilvaari jogged after the last two. "What's going on?"
"Find shelter tourist, the city is under attack!" His companion added something else in the native language that Kilvaari couldn't understand. He needed to analyze the situation and then decide if they should wait things out and hide, or attempt to regroup. Then he could see at the edge of the city, a drop ship hovered, and a door slid open. There were Sith markings on the ship, and a microchip sigil. It was filled with modified scrap droids. Darth Syntheon's forces.
The droids were painted a sleek black color, but that was just about the only uniform thing about them. The droids were made entirely by recycling metal and electronics. This caused them all to have different variations in design. No two droids looked exactly alike. It was said that Darth Syntheon has a factory on his flagship that can collect ruined ships, tanks, even buildings, and turn them all into combat droids that serve him. Some rumors even said that there were no non-robotic humans allowed on board.
The Pau'un militia immediately opened fire on the droids, which told Kilvaari that there have been other droids elsewhere that have already attacked. That or communications with the drop ships were ignored and taken to be hostile. The droids were cheaply created, and used cheap blasters. Some fired handheld blasters, while others attacked from wrist blasters. The ten militia men and women were quickly overrun by the thirty or so droid attackers. The scrap droids kept charging forward fearlessly.
Darth Kilvaari bent his legs, and then fired off from the ground and somersaulted through the air to land in-between the two groups. He had to duck a laser from one of the militia, and then sidestep another, but by then he was in the ebb and flow of deflecting the scrap droid's attacks back at them. The last one had gotten close enough for him to defeat it with a quick slash. The three surviving militia members cheered. Kilvaari looked at the pieces of scorched metal and wondered if Syntheon would reuse these parts once more. Somethings cannot be helped, his Master had said before. Then more blaster fire broke out elsewhere. The troops thanked him and left.
He shut himself off from everything but the force. He heard more drop ships on the upper levels of the city. He felt the pitter patter of marching troops all over. He sensed the cowering residents. If we try to regroup with the others, the enemy is thicker where they are. If we wait here, the enemy will only continue to tear apart the city until we're found, and then we'll face endless waves. Darth Kilvaari opened his eyes. Zero was peeking out of the door of the inn. He went to him.
"Let's go. We're going to fight our way to a ship before it's too late."
"I understand. Dar tried contacting the others. They didn't answer." Zero waved for his brother and the astromech to join them. The droid went back to the transport carrying all their gear. "You go ahead R1, no one will think much of a droid."
Darth Kilvaari ignored the irony of Zero's suggestion, and started off to lead his friends to one of the dozens of stairwells or roads that circled the support pillars of the next platform. Darth Kilvaari didn't trust the main central elevators to be free of enemies. There was also a good chance they were simply on lockdown. Suddenly, Zero broke off from the group. Darien yelled at him. A moment later Zero emerged from a shop sporting a grenade launcher attachment on his favored assault rifle.
"Okay, now I'm ready."
4
Darth Ryl gracefully deflected some of the sniper fire, while Darth Animosity rushed to meet the three Sith Apprentices. He never cared too much for standing around, Darth Ryl thought. As he got closer to them, he gathered up force energy, then he released it all at once. The massive surge sent the two lower padawans flying into a building behind them. Darth Decimus had a force shield up in time, so he stood his ground and looked angry.
"So your pets may have survived that sandstorm, but they still need a lot of training. I took them out like week old garbage, HA." Darth Animosity's darksaber met with Decimus' lightsaber. Ryl continued to look for the sniper. He knew Animosity would fret if he tried to help him, and that annoyed him, because the sooner they took out Decimus the better. But he saw Animosity push him back towards the building his team was lying unconscious against.
Darth Ryl purposely let his lightsaber drop to his side to lure out the sniper. He walked casually and let the force flow throughout him. At the last possible second, he brought the double-bladed saber in time to intercept a shot. Now he had more than a general idea of where the attacker was. "I'll be right back," he called casually to Mektar Kelborn. Then he jumped onto an abandoned food stand using it as a step to launch himself into the air with a force enhanced jump.
Ryl gave the sniper credit, he stood his ground and tried to pick him out of the air. Ryl activated one side of his saber to deflect the shot mid-air, and then landed in a roll on a bridge. The sniper was in a window in an adjacent building. He abandoned the weapon completely and made a break for it. Darth Ryl cut him down before he got far, taking note of the fact that he was a local.
When he returned, he saw the Apprentice who called herself Darth Sniper had awakened and was helping Decimus. Animosity was struggling to block both lightsabers, specifically since Darth Sniper attacked irregularly with her hovering saber. Darth Ryl jumped down with his saber pointed towards the ground. He would have landed on Darth Sniper, but she dodged with a back handspring and called her saber back to her hand. "Do you really think you can stand against a Sith Lord?" Darth Ryl asked her.
She shrugged. "I guess I'll find out." Her saber flew through the air like a spear and he swatted it aside, only to sense it heading for his back. He twirled and blocked it again, and again. He let her think she had the advantage, and then he blocked it and reached out with his other hand and began strangling her with the force. Her saber dropped to the floor and deactivated as all of her attention diverted to getting away from his telekinetic grasp.
Then, the drop ships came.
"Damnit, I told him I could handle things," Decimus growled.
"Clearly you couldn't," Animosity goaded. Decimus broke out into a scream and Animosity got a cut into his arm. He was about to wound Decimus once more when the Apprentice backed off. He grabbed the other unconscious fool, and jumped onto a passing drop ship. The drop ship soon turned and raced back towards them. Darth Ryl had to release his opponent to block laser bolts. Rubbing her neck, she dashed to join her fleeing partners. The lightsaber she dropped shot towards the drop ship deactivated, like a magnet.
Darth Ryl considered sending all of his energy into a force lightning strike strong enough to destroy the fleeting drop ship, but ignored the urge. They're not as important as getting off this world is. Especially if it's under siege from Darth Syntheon. He looked up and saw the dozens of dropships in the sky. Moments later, the sounds of battle were prevalent. It brought him back to when he took Utapau under control. The local Pau'uns fought back then too, but he crushed them easily enough. Hopefully they'll put up a better fight this time. But deep down he knew that Syntheon wasn't the only Sith Lord out there who would crush this world. Kren had to of made it through too.
"We need to get off this world," Darth Animosity repeated.
5
"Please take me with you, I can fight!" The Twi'lek said in basic. He was green-skinned and alone. He looked to be around the same age as Darien.
Darth Kilvaari looked at the rest of his group. "I don't know, but I guess you can stick with us for right now since you're not local."
"Great, now we have an egg and an extra person to protect. Great." Darien Garr lived for danger, but of a different variety. His hacking skills couldn't do squat against a rogue blaster shot or a grenade, or a lightsaber, for that matter. Nonetheless, he was wearing his brother's helmet and had his sidearm ready.
It wasn't quite night yet, but darkness fell early in the city of Nap'aun Unta because of it's geographical location. The days were thirty-two hours, but for the city in the sinkhole, there was only about ten hours of daylight. The result was a bright orange sky, but dark city. The lights all came on at once, some on the ceilings of platforms, others on buildings.
"Thank you, thank you!" The Twi'lek took out a blaster pistol and followed them. One of the building lights flashed on and blinded him temporarily. He scurried after them.
"Watch your back around this one," Darth Kilvaari said in a quiet tone, (mostly to Zero). "Just in case."
They came across another raiding party of scrap droids. Kilvaari went in close to draw their fire, while the other three plastered them with bolts of their own. "That was easier than I thought it'd be! This road here will take us to the top platform where R1L1 is heading to the meet up point with the other two scary guys," Darien said. When they reached the top platform of the city, they saw that the destruction was the worst up here. It's where most of the drop ships had landed, and some small aircraft were strafing buildings and firing on them.
"You were saying?" Zero said sarcastically.
Why did I need to program him with sarcasm, why oh why? Darien wondered. Then their newest party member, the Twi'lek, screamed and said something was behind them. They all turned to find more scrap droids, but this time a small tank was in front of them.
"GO! I'll catch up!" Darth Kilvaari yelled. He tossed Darien the bag that had the egg in it, and then he was already darting towards the droids. He sent out a force push and some of the scrap droids towards the front fell backwards.
"You're gonna fight a TANK?" Darien called back. He was already backpedaling and lining up shots on the droids as they began getting back up.
"It's a light tank. I can handle it." Darien barely heard him. Zero was already pulling him away from the action. When Darien glanced back one last time, he saw Kilvaari dancing atop the tank, dodging and swatting at lasers from all directions. He picked up two droids with his mind and flung them off the ramp. I kind of hope that isn't the last I see of you, Kil.
Down the way a little, three of the local militia threw their weapons down and surrendered. The squad of droids stood there, almost as if frozen for a moment. Then two moments later they gunned them down. Zero pushed him into an alleyway. "Dar, I can feel the signals. Those droids operate under a hive mind. They needed to process what to do with surrendering militia. There's a chain of command kind of like a real army."
"That sucks for those police guys."
"Don't you see, I'm saying you should be able to break that chain of command and intercept the signal. I think you could potentially control a squad if you can hack the signal and adjust the commands."
"Wow, you're a pretty neat droid," the Twi'lek said timidly.
"I'm not a droid! I'm a human with special cybernetic powers." The Twi'lek looked at Darien who only shrugged. Then the droids saw Zero and opened fire. He ducked behind the alley with them, and leaned out to fire a grenade from his new launcher attachment. The shot collided with them and tore all of them except two apart. They returned fire and one hit impacted Zero's shields.
Darien was typing frantically into his comlink channel. He had to manually hack into the signal being sent down. First he traced it back to the capital ship sending it, apparently called Apparatus, then he tried to see if he could hack into the entire signal and control the entire droid force. He quickly realized that would be next to impossible to do in under a day, especially with his limited equipment and tech. A small rotating dish appeared on his wrist so he could strengthen his signal. "I should be able to control about a squad worth of troops at a time. So long as they're local. I've found the algorithm I need, now I just need to pass or break some firewalls and reissue local commands."
"Watch out!" The Twi'lek fired his blaster and headshotted two droids that entered the alley from a different entrance. He put the blaster away and went to the corner. As soon as three more droids rounded it, he took out a vibroblade and jumped at them.
"Wow, not half-bad!" Darien said as the green-skinned alien stood over the scrap metal. "Now check this," then a red holopad appeared before him. His left arm with the datapad glowed a bright blue. He swiped his hand across it and they both turned green. Zero finished off the two scrap droids and turned to face them.
"You did this?" he asked.
"Yup, my vibroblade is ionized. Super effective against droids."
"Shhhhh. Don't let my new friends hear that," Darien said, as more scrap droids spilled into the alleyway from both directions with their weapons put away. After two minutes they had seven of them. Their eyes were flashing green. "Well Zero, bro, looks like I got us a nice little escort so we can be like all those rich folk back home on Taris." He was grinning.
6
Their fleet was perfectly organized. The ships were lined up around the capital ships, and Lord Kren thought it was the most beautiful sight he had seen since the time that he was elected to the council of High Sith Lords. Back then they had a million Sith gather to pay tribute and respect to their new leader. One day soon he would not just have an army and loyal citizens showing their support, but the entire galaxy. All for him too. He wouldn't have to share the glory or the power. He might even go on to be known as the greatest Sith of all time.
I will carve my mark on this galaxy. I will be feared and loved. I'll make it all mine.
Paxar Kren was satisfied. The communications division had succeeded in blocking all communications from the city called Nap'aun Unta. All escaping ships had been destroyed or captured. Darth Raven had advised him that it might be wise to board and capture even civilian ships. Their resources were limited, but they could make anything into a transport or a weapon if they wanted too. Worst comes to worst, he said, that monster Darth Syntheon could reconstruct it in the factory in his ship.
Admiral Motley walked up to Lord Kren, who was sitting in the command chair on the bridge. When Kren wasn't present, Admiral Motley had the pleasure of sitting there. "My lord, would you like me to contact Darth Syntheon for an update?"
Kren considered it for a moment. "Sure. We don't want to give the Republic time to try to intervene." After a few minutes, the cybernetic creature finally answered. Paxar Kren loathed waiting.
The hologram that presented Darth Syntheon was a disturbing one. He wasn't on a command bridge, nor a typical holoroom where important councils are typically had or where crucial messages are exchanged. Instead he was in a small room filled with consoles and screens. He was in a meditative position with his eyes (if you could even call them eyes,), shut. There were dozens of wires attached to him and plugged into him in all directions. He looked like a sentient battery.
Kren saw the disgust on Admiral Motley who made no move to hide it. Perhaps that was because Syntheon's closed eyes. "Hello Admiral. My Lord."
"How is the siege going?" Are the locals putting up a fight? He almost asked, but he didn't care if they did. "Have you located the traitors?" The two of them stood and watched the hologram uneasily for almost three minutes. "Syntheon?" he said in an agitated tone after his meager patience wore out.
"Forgive me my lord. I am quite busy at the moment. I'm overseeing my entire army. The scrap droids operate fifty-nine percent more efficiently when I assist them." Lord Kren couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Yes, several of my droids have encountered them thus far. They have split into two groups."
"And you thought mere scrap droids would be enough to subdue two Sith Lords?" I thought he would be smarter than that.
"Never. The scrap droids are a simple distraction. I have more sophisticated ways of taking down other Sith. If things become more complicated, I'll simply go see to things myself."
Lord Kren got a slight chill from the way he said that. "I can't suffer any more failures from my subordinates. Skip whatever steps you were planning, and see to it yourself." If not, I have a very special plan of my own. And with that, he couldn't help but smile. Darth Syntheon wasted no time. He ended the transmission. Kren presumed he would follow orders.
Once the wretched Ryl was captured and interrogated, he would execute him and his pathetic apprentice. Then they would demolish Utapau, the very world that Ryl chose to rule. It would be the ultimate statement. Then he thought Darth Animosity could be turned to join his cause, if not, he too would die. Even more sure, was that the cowardly hacker from Taris would serve him. He'd keep him close, on his very own ship, and make good use of the kid's talent. Finally, he would use Utapau as an example for those who oppose him, and he would continue to gather strength and support until he could crush the Republic and the so-called Separatists they were fighting too.
7
"We're going to need your best ship. One big enough to carry passengers."
"Can't you see the city is under attack? I can't make any transactions right now! And even if I did they would just shoot you down!"
Darth Ryl and Darth Animosity exchanged a glance. "I'm afraid we weren't asking." Realization dawned on the Utai's face and he muttered in his native language. Then he barked orders in the language. Two droid bodyguards were activated and took out their weapons. Darth Animosity quickly force pulled the small alien into his arms and then activated his darksaber.
"Tell them to stand down. We don't want to hurt you or your droids. You may have need of them if the invaders decide to come here." The small alien squirmed and muttered some more words. The droids shut themselves down. Animosity dropped him, and he jumped away. He looked at them angrily, but then defeat surfaced on his face.
"Follow me. Downstairs there's a ship that can run a blockade if you're crazy enough." Then the doors slid open. Ryl activated his lightsaber and spun on his heel, but it was only an astromech droid. It was Animosity's astromech droid. R1L1 came rolling in and then it spoke up in its master's voice.
"What're you lookin' at fishface?"
Darth Ryl rolled his eyes and deactivated his lightsabers while resuming a normal stance. Animosity jogged up to his astromech and gave it a metallic pat on the head. "Good to see you too buddy. C'mon, we're being introduced to our new ship."
They descended several flights of stairs together. R1L1 made a loud thwump thump thwump thump as his wheels rolled off of each step and hit each metallic step one after another.
Down in the sublevel, there was a private hangar which was currently closed, and three extra ships on platforms. There were more deactivated security droids down on this level too, Darth Ryl noted. Back when he was known as Ulon Belamish, he had been quite fascinated with ship designs and engineering specifications. He loved upgrading and improving technology, even if he wasn't the best by any means. That's why it hurt so much to lose Ryloth Spear after all of this time. That ship was his, and he spent hours upon hours tampering with it and trying to improve as much as he could. He had dumped thousands of credits to make the ship reach it's top potential, and it had always proved worth it. It saddened Ryl to think he increased the ship's original worth tenfold, and yet it was rotting in the Utapau sun, no new owners awaiting it. Ryloth Spear deserved better.
"Ah, here's what the Mandalorians call the 'sharpest of all the blades'. Your best stock." He rubbed his hand on a shuttle as they passed it. The Utai gave him a look that said Don't touch, but that was the best he warning he could offer to a Mandalorian in full body armor.
"We'll be taking this one." Darth Ryl said, pointing to the ship in the middle of the three. He could see it was even bigger than Ryloth Spear, almost thrice it's size. It looked like a piece of clay that was meant to be sculpted. It was a ship created so it could be modified. By the look of the sleek design, it could be turned into a powerful weapon and a fast escape vehicle. It could transport, drop off, fight, and run. All the things Ryl liked in a ship.
The Utai shifted uncomfortably. "That's the biggest ship this one has! It's also the most expensive. It would have trouble running a blockade. This one urges you to reconsider! Perhaps something smaller?"
Darth Ryl opened up the alien's small hand and gave him a pile of credits. The Utai looked dumbfounded. "I know that won't cover the cost, but it's all we can spare. Consider it the 'we could kill you and take it if we wanted to' discount. It should be over three hundred thousand credits." The alien looked dumbfounded. "I'm going to need you to upload all of the specifications of the ship onto my datapad, fuel it up completely, and bring me any and all spare parts you have lying around." The two were locked in each other's glare, but the Sith Lord won. The Utai scurried off.
"R1L1, go with Darth Ryl and follow his instructions. Let's get this ship running. I'm gonna go retrieve our other friends." The droid beeped it's acknowledgement to it's master and then followed after Ryl who was examining the outside of the ship, area by area. Darth Ryl couldn't help himself. For the first time since they crash landed on Utapau, he was excited.
8
Darth Syntheon's ship was one of the fastest in the entire Sith fleet. It didn't take him long to exit his flagship Apparatus and get planetside. Utilizing feeds from the optical sensors on all of the scrap droids, Syntheon was able to cross reference the scrap droids that saw his targets, and at specific frames before they got destroyed. Thus, he could erect the most likely paths that his targets were travelling and eliminate less likely possibilities. He called it his hunting algorithm.
"So which targets are our best bet?" Darth Terminus asked. She was in the co-pilot seat facing the opposite direction of her master. Her violet colored skin was tinted orange from the fading Utapau sun.
"My scrap droids haven't seen the HPT Darth Ryl or Darth Animosity in a while, which means they have probably found shelter. All we know is they're on the top floor." She nodded quietly, knowing he would have more to say after double checking his data. Syntheon almost never made assumptions or guesses that couldn't be backed up by statistical data or other forms of logistics. "However, his apprentice Darth Kilvaari, the hacker, Darien Garr, and the droid MAD-008 and one other currently unknown, have been detected fighting their way towards the top floor. They are likely trying to regroup."
"Therefore they're our best bet."
"Precisely," his voice said, sounding almost a little pleased.
"So do we follow them or take them out before their strength is unified?"
"Both," Darth Syntheon answered immediately. Then he sent out a command for all top level scrap droids not in combat, to converge on his location.
They landed the ship on the highest building in the city. The high platform was most likely used to mass transit goods from Nap'aun Unta to other cities but it was currently vacant. Syntheon and his Twi'lek apprentice exited the ship and planted a mobile shield generator to protect his prized ship from burglary or bombs or anything else hazardous.
Syntheon force jumped to a lower building about forty feet away, leaving a mark on the rooftop where he landed. Darth Terminus used a grapple to get to the building, sliding down the metallic wire until she reached the same point. She looked down at the streets below and saw the scrap droids marching towards their building. "It seems some of my units are still intact, but refuse to respond to my orders. I'll have to re-hack them just to find out their locations. Then that will lead us to them even faster, I suspect." Unless someone else is interfering with my signals, but I doubt that. The odds are stacked against that possibility considering we are hunting a hacker after all.
His faithful apprentice waited patiently, just like his scrap army dozens of feet below them, until he finally found a lock on their position. "Visual confirmation. They hacked some of my droids and are using them to fight. I have a location too. Let's move."
9
It didn't take long for Darth Kilvaari to catch back up with the others. He cut through a scrap droid that was behind them, but was surprised when Darien was yelling at him to stop.
"What? Why?" Then he realized the scrap droids were walking with them. Even though they weren't alive, he could still see from their body language that they were on their side. Before Darien could tell him, Kilvaari spoke. "You hacked them, good job!"
"Damn straight I did," Darien said returning the Nautolan's grin. "And we have a new companion. His name is, uh,"
"Canji Lozarine," the green Twi'lek interjected. "A pleasure to meet you." He walked over and stuck his hand out at Darth Kilvaari.
Darth Kilvaari's smile faded. He gave the newcomer a suspicious look. He shook his hand almost awkwardly. Then gave Darien an inquisitive look.
"Don't worry Kil, he's cool. I told him if he helps us escape, we'll get him off world. He offered to pay us if we can help too."
"That wasn't your promise to make," Darth Kilvaari said almost coldly. "But as long as he can handle himself, I guess it's alright. We need to get going." They left, and Darth Kilvaari couldn't help but shake all of the different feelings he had. He couldn't pin any of them down, so he just kept his guard up the whole time. They fought their way through some scrap droids, but their seemed to be less and less.
The city on the top floor was filled with scorch marks, burning buildings, and rubble from former structures. Darien wondered what protocol for civilian evacuation was, because it seemed to him like there was none. Locals just hid in whatever building was still standing.
They turned onto the biggest road that bisected the top floor of the pale city, and saw Darth Animosity fighting a bunch of scrap droids. Some of the ones he was fighting were specially made to fight melee combatants. They had personal arm shields and vibroswords. Some had shields and sharp claws.
Darien called out to Darth Animosity, the same time that their scrap droid escort in the rear began opening fire. A force of roughly fifty scrap droids poured out from alleyways into the main road cutting off their retreat. They took cover behind some crates and a destroyed metal cart.
Two figures landed behind them again, and cut them off from Animosity once more. Darien's scrap droids were already fighting their electronic brethren when Kilvaari turned around in time to block two short red lightsaber slashes aimed at Zero.
"Darth Syntheon," Kilvaari whispered, looking past his apprentice. He was suddenly frightened. He wished that Darth Ryl were here.
10
Darth Animosity saw his comrades get trapped in by numerous scrap droid reinforcements, and the leader of their army. He wasn't sure if Darth Kilvaari could even defeat Darth Terminus, let alone her master. Especially because of the wear of constant motion and battle since they had crashed.
He summoned all of the force energy he could, and exploded it out in a shockwave knocking back the melee droids. He used the force to enhance his sprint, and then his somersaulting jump. Syntheon must have anticipated his intervention, because he turned and force pushed Animosity mid-air. Animosity landed on his feet, but as he looked up Syntheon was already rushing him.
Syntheon's left hand opened up at the palm and a lightsaber protruded out, seeking Animosity's chest. He responded by slapping it away with his darksaber. He usually didn't like to use his sidearm pistols in one on one combat, he felt it was dishonorable. But in this case he had to put his honor aside, because if he didn't give this Sith Lord his all, the others would die.
His six pistols shot out of his holsters telekinetically and opened fire simultaneously. Syntheon stood his ground, and projected a barrier around him. It absorbed all of Animosity's attacks with no sign of faltering. At first, he thought it was a force power, but then he realized that Darth Syntheon actually had a small personal shield generator built into his chest.
In the background he noticed Zero and Kilvaari were attacking Darth Terminus together, while some strange Twi'lek fought alongside Darien. Some of the scrap droids were fighting each other too, Darth Animosity noted with simple amusement.
Then he rushed Syntheon to test his blade against the shield, but the shield deactivated and Syntheon flipped away. "I can do the same trick as you," he said arrogantly. From under his cloak, his broad shoulders rolled down the lengths of his arms and the hovered away. They opened fire with uncommon ballistic weaponry. Animosity did not have a shield, and his darksaber wasn't meant for reflecting, let alone bullets instead of lasers.
During his strafe, he used his force grip, to turn one towards the other and it shot the other hovering drone to pieces. He was about to slam it on the ground when wires wrapped around his legs and tripped him. Syntheon dragged him across the ground the wires that came from his wrists, and then flung him twenty meters into a solid wall. Content, Syntheon turned his attention back to the others. But his drone flew to where Animosity was, and opened fire. Mektar Kelborn reflected most of the bullets with the force alone, the rest pelting his thick armor. When he stood up, it used a flamethrower that doused him in reddish orange flames. He summoned two pistols to his hands and shot down the drone, and then pushed the fire off of him with the force.
His armor was badly singed, and his body was bruised and aching but he still ran back to the others.
Darth Kilvaari couldn't even summon up enough force power to block the Sith Marauder's force attack. It sent Kilvaari crashing into a nearby building's window. Darth Terminus was quick, and she had already kicked him twice since they had begun their engagement. Zero didn't fight like a Jedi or a Sith, so Kilvaari thought that helped keep her off of balance. He quickly jumped back into the fray so that Zero wouldn't get overwhelmed.
Zero fired a grenade from his launcher attachment and Darth Terminus put up her forcefield up just in time to prevent getting shredded, but the blast still tore through her invisible defenses sending her tumbling backwards. Darth Kilvaari used this change to jump up and impale her, except he was met with a swift kick to the ribs in his descent that stifled his blow. Zero fired on her as she rolled back to her feet, but she was too quick.
Darth Syntheon managed to sneak up on Zero and put his hand on his back. Wires seeped out of his wrist like hungry snakes and dug into Zero's hard durasteel outer casing. Zero froze as if someone shut him off, but his optical sensors were still activated.
"CANJI! HELP!" Darien called out when he saw what Syntheon was up to. He opened fire and two blasts hit Syntheon square in the back before he moved out of the way. Canji the Twi'lek didn't turn around. Instead he was still firing upon the scrap droids ahead of them. "That's it," Darien muttered. "I've been saving this for a while." He took out a plain silver orb, it was a special grenade prototype he had been working on. He typed rapidly into his keypad on his left arm. A blue beam shot from his data tool to the silver orb and it beeped signalling that it was primed. He threw it.
When it detonated there was no explosion. At least no physical one. The invisible shockwave transmitted data directly into anything that could receive signals in the detonation zone. Darien's hack violated almost twenty scrap droids, immediately reprogramming them with his orders and directives. Thus, even more chaos ensued as even more scrap droids joined his side and fought for him.
This allowed him to run to Zero's side. Zero flinched at his touch, but then he went back to normal when he looked at his human brother. Before they could say any words to each other, they broke off to go help Kilvaari who was fighting tooth and nail against Darth Syntheon and his apprentice.
Darth Animosity joined just in time to force push Kilvaari out of the way of a slash that would have killed him.
Darth Syntheon was using a double-sided lightsaber now. "Fools. I have downloaded, recorded, and studied thousands of different duelists of all styles. I cannot be beaten in a fight."
"We'll see about that," Darth Animosity said. He lurched forward with amazing speed. Darth Terminus got in his way to stop him, but her force shield was still weak from being broken before. Animosity sent out a momentous force push launching her into a nearby wall. Inspired, Kilvaari and Zero moved in towards Syntheon too. Darien lined up a shot.
Darth Syntheon hovered a foot off the ground and spread out his arms before bringing them back forward like a stretch. Wires shot out of both of his arms and wrapped around all four of them. The wires split into more wires and then more.
They squeezed Kilvaari so hard, he dropped his lightsaber and his head went limp. Zero was starting to spark, although from the pressure or some other subtle technological reason, no one new. Darien grunted in pain, and then even more so when the ends of the wires began to dig into his flesh like mechanical roots. Animosity's armor protected him from all of this, so he struggled to bring his darksaber down onto the wires, but to no avail.
Syntheon laughed a sinister robotic laugh. Then he sent electrical charges through all of the wires. At this point, the scrap droids had surrounded Canji and brought him over to watch. All of Darien's reprogrammed ones were destroyed.
The electrocution short circuited Zero and knocked Darth Kilvaari and Darien Garr unconscious, but not before they screamed in agony. Darth Animosity was suffering too, but he was too focused to let pain deter him. He used the force to levitate his blaster pistol, feeling the handle and the trigger with his mind. Then he charged up a blaster and fired it full-power into Darth Syntheon's head. It blew apart a fragment of his skull. The wires instantly receded back to Syntheon, who started falling backwards.
"NO!" Darth Terminus called. She ran to her master. Darth Animosity already fell face first on the ground like the others, but he force gripped a second of his blasters and opened fire rapidly with both of them. Several shots hit Darth Syntheon's limp chest before Terminus appeared in front of him to deflect the rest of the shots. There was a loud smash as Syntheon's scorching body hit the hard ground behind her.
Worried that she might try to enact revenge on his unconscious comrades, Darth Animosity let the blasters fall to the ground, then he stood up with his Darksaber in hand. She looked at him, a fellow Sith Marauder, with white-hot hate. Then she deactivated her weapons and grabbed her master and fled. The scrap droids followed as well. It was a good thing too, because Darth Animosity used the absolute last of his strength and stamina to stand up. He collapsed immediately after she was out of sight.
11
A large ship almost big enough to be considered a freighter or corvette landed on the rooftop of a nearby building. It was roughly about the size of a suburban house. The landing gear crushed a table when it set down. Darth Ryl ran down the landing pad and force gripped a Twi'lek who was standing over his friends.
Darth Ryl jumped off of the roof while still maintaining his telekinetic grip on the stranger's neck. The green skinned Twi'lek tried talking. "Begging won't save you," Darth Ryl said coldly.
"He's with us," Darien said, rubbing his temple. He tried to sit up, but his body was numb all over. Darth Ryl looked at Darien, then the Twi'lek. He dropped his hand and then Twi'lek fell to his knees gasping for breath.
"What happened to you guys?" he asked as he picked up both Darth Kilvaari and Darth Animosity, noticeably struggling with the latter.
"I don't know his name, but he's the leader of these scrap droids. I don't know how we're alive right now to be honest," Darien chuckled, and then held his ribs and grimaced in pain. He had multiple tears in his jumpsuit that were red and bronze with blood.
"Syntheon," Ryl spat, bemused as well that they had lived. "I got us a ship. There's no time to waste. We need to leave." He bent his knees and force jumped to the rooftop. He dropped both of them up there because of the strain. "Wake up you freeloaders."
Darien managed to get up and he walked over to Zero. "Zero? Zero? ZERO!"
"What's wrong down there?"
"I'm not sure, but it's nothing good. I don't want to reboot or reactivate him, it could be dangerous. He could lose memory, or be the equivalent of robot brain dead."
"That sucks. Bring him up or leave him, we need to bug out now." Ryl replied coldly.
"Screw you," Darien said hurt. He was typing frantically away at his datapad trying to figure out what to do.
Darth Ryl sighed. He looked at his apprentice who was beginning to move around. "Just bring him on the ship, R1L2 can probably help." A light shone in Darien's eyes.
"Uhm," he said, looking embarrassed. "I'm not strong enough to carry him." Ulon Belamish rolled his eyes and jumped back down.
The green skinned Twi'lek went over to him. "Here, let me help."
Darth Animosity awoke in a bed. All of his armor was still on him except his helmet. It only took him a few seconds of disorientation to realize he was on a ship. He knew the interior of a ship anywhere. He pushed off the light sheet, and slid his feet off the bed.
His body ached quite a lot. It was what his people sometimes referred to as a good old fashioned Mandalorian Hangover, just barely surviving a fight, but feeling the effects the next day. But was it actually the next day?
He was quite clearly in a Medbay. Darth Kilvaari was sleeping nearby in a similar bed hooked up to equipment. Darth Animosity didn't know what the information on a nearby screen meant, but he guessed it meant it was pretty serious if Kilvaari was hooked up to that and he wasn't. Duraglass doors automatically slid open to let him walk out of the Medbay. This brought him to a hallway. There was another glass door across from him with a visible room that appeared to be the eating area. There were two tables that could sit four, and an array of storage and cooking equipment.
To his left was the end of the hallway and another door. To his right was a staircase and a ladder. Both went up a floor, and down a floor. Also to his right, were two stations at either side of the ship and two more doors. Darth Animosity guessed one of the stations was for manually operating weapon systems, and the other an emergency terminal for secondary systems in case the cockpit, or bridge was damaged. There were several duraglass windows scattered on this floor, and Darth Animosity could see they were indeed in space. No lightspeed though, it seemed more like they were… drifting.
Darth Animosity decided to try the other doors first. He found a bathroom, and the other was the the hyperdrive and armory. There was also a safe in that room and Zero's inanimate body. Darth Animosity left the room and limped up the stairs to the second floor. He saw it was less spacious up there and there was only two rooms. The rest of the second floor was a cross between a cockpit and a small bridge. There three consoles and a captain's seat. The consoles were likely nav, pilot and co-pilot. Possibly one operated weapon systems too. The viewport was considerably bigger on this floor, allowing 360 degree vision. You could see anything unless it was below you, but Mek was certain radar and possibly even cameras accommodated for that.
Since the bridge was empty, Mektar tried the door on the back right. He saw it was the Captain's Quarters, and noted that it was quite luxurious, and that his old rival's equipment was already on the floor. When he exited the room, the other door opened and Darien walked out. He looked angry.
"Oh you're finally up. How do you like the new ship?" he asked, but clearly didn't really care, because he walked right past the Mandalorian Sith.
He ignored the hacker and entered the room. It was a conference slash communications room. Darth Ryl was sitting at the head chair. His hands were covering his face. At first, Mektar Kelbourn thought he might have been weeping. The other Twi'lek was at the table, reading something on his datapad.
"I'm glad you're finally awake. As you probably figured out, we made it off-world. This ship has better cloaking capabilities than any stealth ship from our century." Darth Ryl let that idea sink in once more. They were essentially trapped in the future.
"It seems like quite the nice ship. Makes me miss mine. Where are we gonna go next?"
Darth Ryl sighed his infamous sigh. "Darien said he thinks he knows what Darth Kilvaari would suggest. Apparently a force sensitive seer told them something about going to a planet of cities, garbage, and massive trees or something like that." He began cleaning the dirt and grime out of his double-sided lightsaber. If it ever got jammed up it could be potentially dangerous to him.
"All on one world?" Animosity asked stupidly.
"No. Three. The same amount of Force Shards we would hypothetically need to travel through time once again. That's the only reason why I'm even considering it. It's still vague though. Any of those descriptions could apply to a hundred worlds each."
Animosity put a hand on his chin. "Could be Coruscant, or Taris. Maybe one of the Yavin moons again. Or Kashyyyk. As for a garbage planet, maybe Nal Hutta? Nar Shaada? No clue, really."
"If the Sith are really extinct, every moment we even exist in this timeline is dangerous. Our good old friend Kren decided to bomb the city while we were leaving. I'm surprised you slept through a good old fashioned orbital bombardment. Nap'aun Unta sank even deeper into the sinkhole. Now it's a pile of ashes and rubble. Galactic politics will hear of this eventually, and once the Jedi Order hears the Sith aren't extinct,"
"We're gonna be hunted down like a bunch of tourists on Trandosha," Animosity said.
"Exactly. So we don't have time to check a planet until we know more. Darien wanted us to go to Taris. I refuse to let any petty nostalgia determine where we head."
Darth Animosity put a hand on his chin, thinking hard and tactfully. "You seem to be different than the rest of us. You're basically our leader, like it or not." Darth Ryl opened his mouth to protest but Animosity stopped him. "You should meditate on this and see if the the Force will guide you to where we should be going."
Darth Ryl didn't have much to say back to that, so he simply nodded. The door to the meeting room slid open and Darth Kilvaari was standing there.
"Darth Kilvaari!" Mektar Kelborn exclaimed.
"What in the stars is that thing?" Darth Ryl asked.
Darth Kilvaari had a small blue reptile in his hands. It was armored in thick leathery skin and glared at them through golden eyes. It had a tail that was as long as the creature was, and four small but wide legs. Small spikes lined it's spine and spots of dark blue hair were starting to grow among the spikes. It's face had a sharp beak at the end. There were tiny fragments of an egg shell littered across it's body.
Darth Kilvaari smiled. "This is Zarp. The newest member of our crew."
