Note: Now we get to the point where the real part of the story starts to appear. No spoilers.

Let's do this.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the clothes on my back.


Episode 3 - Lair of Darkness - Part 3/3


"Knock knock."

I smirk at the white-armored man's sense of humor as we walk through the first room. The baller was already dealt with. I didn't see Tree-Hugger and girly deal with the next hall, or the areas after that until they found a working terminal. I hold my lightsaber firmly to my side and keep along with the others.

"Looks like no one's home." The soldier continues on. He juggles a homemade grenade in his hand.

"Silence boys." Another soldier orders. His armor has color added to it. His rifle is lodged firmly under his chin, ready for the slightest movement. The slightest sign of a foe.

Is it a bad thing that I want to sneeze on purpose just to see how they react?

The next area is littered with the corpses of a dozen smoking ballers. Anakin does a hand signal, to which I have absolutely no earthly idea what it means, and everyone stops. I run into someone.

The 'clones' as I now know them to be called, get to position in every corner and crevice they can. Tree-Hugger goes to the corner at the end of the hall. The path leads to the left and right. Girly glances out.

"It looks clear."

"Alright!" Monner says cheerfully. He pulls out a coin. "Heads or tails."

"I'm about to shove your head up your tail." A clone retorts.

"We are going to split up." Tree-Hugger orders. "As planned. We aren't changing it."

Right. The plan where Anakin and his two squirts go one way, and Kota and all the dudes go the other. Three to thirty one, not very comforting odds. Who set that up? Oh yeah, him. About half of the clones are staying outside to hold camp, but still, I would rather be with those who are numbers on their side. Speaking of which, where's Falon?


This place is just downright creepy.

We split up with Ahsoka assuming the lead. We head right, the others take left. Ahsoka breaks into a silent run (how can she be so silent at it?) and stops at a door after a minute of weaving through empty hallways. She waves for us, and we come as well at a slower pace.

Tree-Hugger puts up three fingers…

There is just something about this place that throws me off. I can't explain why it's so creepy. It's not like the creepy form outside that is all dark and destroyed and dead. This place feels different.

Two fingers…

Its bright. Too bright. Why do droids need so much light? And clean… Do droids need clean? The place is devoid of everything. Even an empty warehouse for storage should have more than this in it. The walls have nothing on them except row after row after row of rods and there are nothing in the rooms.

One finger…

There is no flavor, no… symbolism for who might be here. It could be anyone from dirt farmers to veterinarians. Ok maybe not dirt farmers, but still, it could be anything here! It's just… empty of expression. The air is cold and empty. It is difficult to draw in air as though the air itself refuses to take up space in this room. The chill crawls up my spine and I fight back irrational fear of nothing in particular.

I'm stronger than this. I'll be fine. I got this.

Anakin presents a fist. Not sure what that means either, but there are no more fingers and Ahsoka is going for it.

The door opens and we burst in. I hear surprised squeaking of ballers and instantly two of them are cut down. Not by me, I miss mine. The remaining two ballers fly back away from us and pull rods in to form a pair of spider shapes. The spider-ballers both fall to the ground as gravity takes over. Around them are floating rods as well that are actually pointing at us like spears.

"Heh… that's new." Tree-Hugger smirks.

The floating rods in the air move at him and their ends sharpen down to a fine point. He cuts one, dodges the rest, and already my feet are moving me around the immediate fight to get to them. Ahsoka gets to one and the ballers both run away and fire at us.

I cannot explain the instinct. I didn't even know I had it until Psycho-Bunny went nuts and let loose on me. In my mind I see the bolt, I know the path it is going to take, I know its angle of direction, I move my saber into its path, and I know where the reflected bolt will send it. It's not slow motion, but it certainly feels like it.

The returned bolt hits the air just behind the ballers partner, and it stops running backwards to avoid getting hit. The moment's hesitation was all that was needed for Ahsoka to catch up and cut its legs. Before, she might have waited a moment, thinking it dead. This time she just went straight for the prize and pierced the exposed shell into the ballers core before it repaired its legs.

Seeing the death of its comrade, the final remaining baller charges.

That's new. I shouldn't be surprised… I should have expected something like that. But I don't.

Next thing I know it's latched onto my face and its core spins to look directly at me eye to eye. It's also heavy! I trip over my own two feet under the sudden weight.

"Varus!"

Unfortunately the "eye" in this case is the front end of a red blaster. I see it light up slightly as it fires, but it never goes through with it before I am plunging my saber up into it. It squeals in pain, a pain reflected in my head suddenly, and I push up harder into it. With so much plating around it, it takes a few seconds before I successfully pierce the armor into the core.

It falls off my face onto the floor and goes limp. The rods disperse from the ball and its parts roll across the floor in every direction.

Gah… my head hurts.

Ahsoka stops at my feet and grabs my head to inspect it. Her hands are gentle but urgent. My head feels like it's in a vice and my temple burns like my head is on fire.

Tree-Hugger puts his fingers to his ear and says, "Watch out, everyone. Spider forms latch onto your face in a desperate move to fire directly into your skull. They also can use rods as spears. Do not get too close! Keep a fair distance! I repeat: Keep a fair distance!" I hear the response in my own ear as a bunch of clones confirm the information.

Is that what happened to me? Pain shoots through my head as girly decides to poke my wound, literally. It's like she enjoys hurting my face.

"What happened?" I wince. The world is spinning slightly, but I can handle it. I just need to stop shaking and I'll be good.

"It almost shot your face off." She replies. "If you hadn't hit it when you did, you wouldn't be able to feel pain anymore." Hahaha… I wish I could laugh sarcastically on command right now. "The fact that you did caused it to change its aim at the last second. It scratched the side of your head."

Scratched… Ye, let's see you get shot in the face and walk it off.

Ahsoka lets my head go and I groan slightly and resist the urge to throw up. Ok, if that was just a scratch, I don't want to think about what a full bolt would do. She reaches into my bag and puts a small gooey bag in my hands.

I peer through wavy eyes at it and read 'med pack'. I grumble thanks and open it to apply the gooey stuff to my head. I had to endure a lecture on this stuff earlier. You can apply it directly, put it on bandages and apply it, drink it, eat it, and take it intravenously. It's like there is no possible way NOT to take it! I halfway wonder if you could take it up the nose or something obnoxious too. It also acts as a painkiller.

It doesn't sting near as much as I expected. That's a relief. The pain recedes and several symptoms as well except a little lightheadedness.

A firm hand grips my shoulder. "You alright there? Padawan?" Tree-Hugger asks. I nod shakily and stand just as badly. Worse actually.

I nearly fall, if he didn't catch me. I grumble thanks (I'm really bad at it.) and take a second to walk across the room and back before my feet stop shaking.

They watch my stride closely with those judging eyes and I feel my temper flare. Eyes that are looking for my weakness to expose it. They don't trust me! Why would they! They almost didn't have come! They think me weak, dangerous, and they are gonna hurt me and- No! They wouldn't do that.

"I'm good." I report firmly despite my raging thoughts.

They both nod. It isn't judging, it isn't disrespectful. I said I'm fine. They are taking it at my word.

No idea why I thought otherwise. Not sure where that thought came from, but it isn't right. I must have taken a worse blow than I thought.

A thousand points each. Oh, and minus a bunch, Tree-Hugger, for actually thinking of leaving me behind earlier. I can't forget that one.

Tree-Hugger and Ahsoka leave the room and wait for me a bit. I shake the kinks out of my legs and follow. I weave my way between dormant rods lying around.

*Crunch*

Whoops, stepped on one an- "Holy shit!"

I dash away from the skeletal bones on the floor and fall to the floor. I feel my hand land on something round. I pick it up to look at empty eye sockets.

"GAH!" I toss it aside. The skull crumbles to pieces on the wall.

Tree-Hugger runs in at my shout. His lightsaber is already up and ready. Ahsoka does the same. "Varus, what is… whoa." She stops.

Tree-Hugger walks to me and picks up a bone near where I land.

With fresh eyes we look around. A lot of the rods are not actually metal rods. There are piles of alien skeletons to the side on old mats.

"Whoa." Tree-Hugger mimics us.

"What do you think happened?" Ahsoka asks sadly. She peers at a skull closely. It isn't human, that's for sure. It has a long rectangular shape to it, where as a human would be more rounded. "Did… no, are these the people reported to have disappeared? I thought they were murdered, not vanishing!"

Tree-Hugger is amazingly quiet in all of this despite her ranting. He pulls out his datapad and after a moment a thin blue light scans the whole room. He then grabs one of the bones, breaks off a small edge, crushes it into powder, and puts it in a small belt compartment.

I just stare at the skulls. I can't say I'm curious, I'm not morbid, but neither am I fearful or scared or feeling much of anything negative. I was shocked to find them, sure, but beyond that I don't know what to think. I've never seen a skeleton before. I'm not sure what to make of it. All I know is that I am looking death in the face and its leaving me curious as to what I should be feeling to begin with. Should I be meditative on death? Should I be angry at their supposed murder?

I just don't know. I feel empty. Devoid of emotion.

In a way that feels worse than being morbid.

Ahsoka continues ranting. "Are these people who wandered in and died? Abducted and murd-"

"I doubt it." Tree-Hugger interrupts. "There is no blaster fire, well not before we came here. But just to be sure I will be returning some of this to the Temple for them to investigate." He looked heavily to us. "I know this… finding… is sudden. But remember what we are here for. Both of you. If we fail to capture the Dark Lord, or at the very least shut this place down, their deaths will be for nothing. Focus."

Ahsoka clears her throat and composes herself. "Yes, Master."

"Yeah, yeah." I stand.


Kota cut down a second baller clean through. It sputtered and fell to the ground. A third one tried to jump on him and he thrust it up the middle. The spider form droid died and hung on his lightsaber like a hanging corpse. The energy of the saber slowly gnawing at it.

"Bah…" He groaned in disappointed. The saber deactivated and the droid fell.

Anakin's advice about him not getting too close was the best advice he could have ignored. These things seemed to realize how desperate things were and were exposing themselves to his blade without second thought.

Around him a number of other droids fell to blaster fire.

Their aim wasn't half bad. Not at all. They could shoot with the best of 'em. The problem was in another matter.

The general didn't much like clones. It wasn't that he was a racist, but you couldn't 'breed' an army like this and expect loyalty. Loyalty came from the heart. Loyalty came from people who had something to lose, something worth defending, from attachments. Loyalty couldn't be programmed into a bunch of tube-grown people and expected to be kept intact.

For the moment their loyalty was intact. Rahm Kota knew he could trust them with this mission. But the next? Would they still be willing to lay down their lives for people they don't know and have no tie to a year from now? Clones have no money, no possessions. Their ties are to each other alone.

If a single grand clone general was to leave, it could cause a wave where they all leave as well. It was something he saw by his own eyes. He didn't know when it would be, but it was only a matter of time.

"General!" The Corporal said. "This corridor is secure!"

Ah… if only their loyalty could be ensured. Their punctuality and military firmness warmed his heart.

"So it is." The General responded. "Let us move on."

"Yes sir!" Before Kota could move, they were already marching down the hall.

In the next pass the droids were already waiting for them in their forms.

"Seems they've learned." The general observed coolly. The clones all sprung for cover wherever it could be found. The general laughed deep down and stood in the open.

"How unusual…" he mused. The droids had a new form set for them. Whereas the majority were 'spider' forms, and clung to the walls and ceiling to shoot from different angles, this new form was entirely different. It was like a tank.

Three ballers merged together into a head and two elbow joints, and used their combined set of rods to create something new. It walked on six legs like a slug on half of its body, and then the front part rose up as a metal shield. It had two thick arms with a baller in each to shoot from and the head rested in the center of the shield.

Kota lashed out with his saber at the first volley and felt the impact in his wrist. The combined ballers had increased power.

The clones let loose a volley of blue blaster rifle bolts into it, but it had little to no effect. The spiders fired from angles that pinned the clones down and the tank stood resolute. Kota couldn't get too much closer without exposing his sides to the spiders, and he didn't want to leave the clones unshielded.

The tank's bolts were punching holes in the walls. If it paid attention to the clones themselves then cover wouldn't be much use.

"Anakin!" The general yelled. He couldn't afford to pin the earpiece close to his mouth. He needed both of his hands to keep from having his saber thrown out of his grip from the impact of these bolts. They were practically minor explosions. They couldn't be reflected.

"What is it?" Anakin responded hastily. He sounded slightly out of breathe like he had been running a long time.

"Be warned! There is a new tank-like shape! It has combined ballers, increased durability, and increased firepower. I think they can combine their strength!"

"No kidding…" The young man said sarcastically. "I couldn't have guessed."

The general couldn't help smirking in amusement. "I take it you encountered one?"

"You could say that."


I stood frozen at the sight of the monumental… thing! It was like a snake but had ten ballers for eyes and a whole lot of them along its spine like a kind of external backbone, or turret placement oddly enough. In its mouth a million sharpened rods rotated like a drill, and it screeched.

"You could say that." Tree-Hugger said with his fingers against his earpiece.

Behind the snake was a huge door. Easily twenty feet in height and forty feet in length made of solid metal. It was probably magnetically sealed too.

"That the last room?" Ahsoka asked.

Tree-Hugger nodded. "According to the schematics, it is. General Kota is heading for where most of the power in this complex is directed. Not sure what its purpose is, but is probably where the scanners are, or at least what is doing the work around here."

"Like droid construction?" She suggested.

"Perhaps, but this way seems to be the most prized."

Right, like the big boss at the end of the creepy dungeon wasn't a dead giveaway. Am I the only one noticing the huge cliché?

Before I had time to speculate, the ten eye ballers open fire-

With a beam!

We scatter out of the way and spread out. The area the beams focused on was small, thankfully, and there was no explosion. Not as dangerous as it could be, but I doubt I could block all ten of them with my single blade. At least one of them would go past my defense if I tried.

"What's the plan?" I call out.

"Don't die!"

"Right! Why didn't I think of that!?" I scream.

The snake focused its attention on what was clearly the larger threat, being the larger one with more training, Tree-Hugger. Leaving its side exposed.

Ahsoka runs at it to cleave it in two, and the hair on my neck stands on end.

"Ahsoka!" I warn.

Whether It was my warning, or she already guessed, she dropped down into a roll just as the ballers on its back fire at her.

These ones are more normal. Random, explode-y, small bolts. I kinda prefer having something I can block.

Ahsoka grabs the flooring under the droid and does a lifting motion with the Force. A tile lifts up violently, throwing its head back just as it was about to fire at Tree-Hugger, and it shoots the ceiling. Metal rigging falls around us and I barely manage to not to get hit. Ahsoka is scratched and Tree-Hugger is nowhere to be seen. A large rigging falls directly on the droids head and throws it to the ground with a loud crash that knocks me to my knees.

Oh, crap! She got hit. "Girly!" I yell. Don't she dare pull this shit on me! I ain't letting her die before she apologizes for almost killing me just now!

I lower myself out of sight just as the droid raises itself up and peers around. I move along with cover searching for her. Ahsoka was just a few feet away a second ago.

Ah, found her. She coughs in the dust and smoke kicked up in the chaos. "It's Ahsoka! Stop calling me girly!" She whispers harshly.

I glance up to see the snakes tail move away, probably returning to go after Tree-Hugger. I put my wall to the obstacle and gasp for air. The dust is making my lungs hurt. I haven't done anything to exhaust myself and I'm already gasping for air…

"Until you can go a full day without nearly killing me or pissing me off, you don't get that right... You haven't earned enough points yet anyway."

"What?" She asked incredulously.

"Nothing, forget about it." I respond.

She rolls her eyes and peers up over our cover. While she looks around I inspect her out of the corner of my eye. Her leg is bleeding heavily but looks usable. She will have to treat it before she bleeds out. We can't exactly afford to sit here for forever treating scratches.

"You see it?" I ask.

"I think so." She whispers. She motions with her head in a direction and I look over to follow it.

The snake is knocking aside obstacles to get a clear shot at Tree-Hugger. I see glimpes of his lightsaber in the rubble as he runs out and evades its attention.

On second thought, she can afford to stop the bleeding. I say such out loud and she agrees. A few seconds where she applies medigel to her leg and I watch the snake in the distance, and we're good to go.

"Will that hold?" I ask. The wound is no longer gushing blood, but it doesn't look good.

"I'll probably open it up later, but I won't die in the next few minutes."

Good enough for me.


"Fire in the hole!"

Monner throws one of his homemade recipes across the hall and it explodes just behind the tank droid. The damage is catastrophic and it collapses. Its many rods skid across the floor in separate pieces.

That's the third one they've knocked out. Not to mention the twenty spider droids. There were just more and more of them coming.

The explosion from another part of the complex and the short shaking might have been a bit of a clue.

'It was like they were trying to get out,' the General reflected. "Corporal!"

"Sir!" The Corporal responded firmly while he fired. A spider form baller fell off the wall. After the baller's had run out of spare rods, they were much easier to take out. They were only repairing themselves with the rods they brought with them into the hall.

"I think General Skywalker awakened something! Or at the very least is getting close and they Do. Not. Like. That." He blocked a score of bolts back at the incoming spiders. Now the spiders were mixing with straight up floating ballers. The spiders had minor shielding in their shells, but the floating ballers had nothing at all. One shot was all that was needed.

A clone yelled, "They are getting desperate! Do not let a single one past! Hold firm!"

"WAAGH!" The rest yelled in unified war cry.

"Hold onto your butt!" Monner yelled and threw another of his recipes down the hall. It exploded in fiery glory and took out another group of spiders and ballers.

The tanks were no longer coming, as though the droids could not spare the parts to make the forms. But they just kept coming. Four clones had taken fatal blows and another two were too injured to be directly in the midst of things until the medigel kicked in fully.

Something about that number riled up the general. Most droids injured far more than they killed, and then they cleaned up afterwards. These ballers were more accurate at kill shots.

He heard another yell as a clone took a hit and he couldn't afford to stop blocking for a second to turn around and see if the man was going to make it.

"Get the injured to fall back! The rest of you give it two minutes and fall back as well! I'll give you all cover! Go go go!"


The snake droid stops its hunt for Tree-Hugger to gaze intently at the two Padawans trying to get to it from the side. We scatter as it fires and it decides to come after me.

If the way things are going is a sign that The Force hates me… well, the feelings mutual. Whatever girl is screaming had better be Ahsoka. I will stab anyone who claims it's me.

I jump over an obstacle and keep running. The snake just plows through like a bulldozer. My neck hairs stand on end and I roll to the side as another set of lasers skit the ground where I just was.

"Over here! Switch!"

I don't know who is saying that, but I don't care! I run for the voice and nearly plow into Tree-Hugger. He runs by me out of nowhere and swings up into the un-expecting snake's face. The saber cuts it's chin and the snake practically spins on a dime to go after him instead.

My legs give out and I stop a moment to catch my breathe.

The snake is just too much. It has strong enough reflexes that we can't get behind it, and going at its head on is a deathtrap. Our new improvised strategy of switching in order to get a few cuts in is just wearing us out.

I know Tree-Hugger is experienced enough to realize this already, but he doesn't seem to be coming up with anything fast enough.

"Snips!" Tree-hugger yells in horror.

The snake spins so fast in place that its tail snaps her in the head in midair (she was going after its head) and she falls to the ground. I don't need to be a rocket scientist to know she is knocked out cold. I could hear the crack from all the way over here.

Shit shit shit. Tree-Hugger yells some huttese that is probably stronger cursing than I know, but he keeps his cool and tries to deal with the snake himself. "Varus! Check on her!"

"Right!"

I get to her and drag her to the side to hide by some rubble. The ceiling is continuing to crumble since the initial blow to it and is adding to the number of spots we can hide behind and weave through; but in some ways it is only hindering us and slowing us down since the snake is just plowing through without being slowed down at all. Girly is out cold. Definitely a nice concussion. Her bruise is pulling off all colors of the rainbow.

Not a good sign.

I'm exhausted. Ahsoka's out. Tree-Hugger is barely holding. (Probably using the Force to fuel his muscles at this point.)

We need something to knock it out. Cutting it is just flesh wounds (so to speak), and we can't manage to get a good solid critical wound on it with it constantly thrashing around and moving. In fact the only thing that has managed to do anything to it was the force push Girly did.

Force push… really it's all we got.

Tree-Hugger can't hold still long enough to focus on a good one. He is doing small force pushes just to keep it from killing him. It might as well be a little girly swat in the face.

Well shit, it's all on me. I haven't even managed to pull the Force out at all! I can't possibly-

Tree-Hugger runs back into a protruding spear in the rubble and Ahsoka coughs up blood.


Anakin is not big on endings. He's seen enough of them in other people to not like how they go. Right now with his legs about to give out, he's covered in cuts and bruises, and he doesn't have the strength anymore to lift his saber. He would have collapsed a long time ago if he wasn't constantly pulling on the Force, but now things aren't looking so good.

The snake managed to pin him against a rubble. He had back stepped into a protruding metal spear and impaled himself. He couldn't move even if he tried.

'As if I'm going to stop…' He tells himself. One of the funny things his friends and wife keep telling him: He is too stubborn to die. He'll probably live forever.

He closes his eyes and pulls heavily on the force to fuel his body.

The snake hesitates and inches its way to him, expecting sudden movement, but is continuously rewarded with nothing. Anakin is firmly impaled. He isn't sure how bad it is, but he can clearly see it coming out of his side. It's probably rusted over. That's nice.

The snake opens its mouth and the innumerable drills inside spin wildly creating a loud rawring sound as it prepares to eat him.

Anakin holds very still. He subtly cuts the spear behind him with his saber, but otherwise makes no movements. If he is going to deal with it, he will need perfect timing to jump on its-

The snake is catapulted backwards out of the air in a massive burst of air and lightning.

-head.

The droid collides with the twelve foot metal door behind it and crumbles to the ground.

Anakin turns around in awe. Varus is beside him. The Padawan is shaking, gasping for breath, exhausted, about to fall to the ground at his very feet, but his eyes are determined and powerful and-

Red. His eyes are red on the rims of his iris.

Cold horror snakes down Anakin's back at the sight.

Varus yells angrily and brings his hands together. In the midst of them collects a tornado of air trapped within a bubble and electricity ripples through it. He aims it again at the snake. The snake shakes its head to recalibrate itself and looks up to aim at him to fire, too late.

A second burst explodes and the snake is throw back into the wall a second time. This time the door collapses back and the snake falls backwards to the ground dead. Its metal body ripples in electricity and is flattened in some areas like it had been hit with hammers.

Varus lowers his hands and looks to Anakin. Anakin continues to gaze at him in worry, and Varus clearly takes it like a child: As though he had done something wrong.

He lowers his head and the redness leaves his eyes.

Skywalker shakes himself. 'No.' he tells himself. 'He isn't a Sith again. He just… used it instinctively.' A Sith would have relied purely on power of lightning. There wasn't enough of it in that to be too noticeable. The lightning was subtle. It almost rode the wind. Varus probably doesn't even realize what he did.

He would need to work the use of lightning out of the young man, but right now, but that would be an objective for later.

Anakin puts a weary hand on Varus's shoulder, and the Padawan winces as though he had been slapped. "You did well, my Padawan." Anakin assures him with pride. "Very well."


"Let's get the Sith Lord." I say.

Tree-Hugger looks like he is trying to express stuff with his eyes, but right now I am too exhausted to pay attention much.

I know we should be waiting for the others, but I get the feeling they are having problems of their own. Ahsoka is out and needs medical care, and Tree-Hugger is worse than me. I'm just exhausted.

Using the Force felt like it left a party of me empty. A part of me that is exhausted of all life, empty and void and hollow. While I was using the Force, I felt exhilarated, but then the after affects were… worse. Like a sugar rush followed by a huge crash.

If this is what it's like to use the Force heavily, I can see why they like to refrain a bit. I feel wounded in a way that is deeper than flesh and muscle.

Despite how I feel, we can't afford to wait. The enemy may flee around us if we leave and wait, or at the very least hide in a new place with another snake and there is no chance in hell I'm dealing with another one. One was enough thank you very much.

This is a very bad idea, but Tree-Hugger nods and we walk slowly to the door. We both peer in and sigh in both relief and disappointment. There is no one, nor is there another passage.

Tree-Hugger inspects his wound and heals himself slightly to keep from bleeding out. Pulling the spike out will need a doctor. If he tried doing it to himself, he would probably pass out and bleed to death. I certainly don't know much about medicine beyond 'dab some medigel'. Which probably doesn't account for a massive hole in your side.

With the wound seals for the time being, he slowly walks to the dead snake droid and droops to his knees to inspect it.

"What about gir-Ahsoka?" I ask. I glance around the room and see a pedestal to the side. On top of it is some red glowy triangle thing. I can't make it out. Looks important.

"She is fine at the moment." Tree-Hugger assures me. "I can feel her life, it is intact. She will need to be seen at the hospital for several days to be monitored and to keep her brain from expanding from inflammation, but she should wake up with nothing more than a serious headache." He sounds like he is physically jerking on something. "Just. Give. Me. A. Moment!"

I stand at the pedestal and inspect the object on top of it. It is red, a triangle, covered in weird writing, and glowing… Yeah…

I got nothing.

Better take it for them to have a look at themselves.


Anakin jerks back harder on the hardware and nearly falls as it gives. He holds still a second and surveys himself. His wound wasn't made worse. He catches his breathe and looks at the device in his hand. It was a piece of hardware inside the snake, or rather from inside of the clustered ballers.

Movement to the side draws his attention.

He sees Varus.

He sees Varus reaching for something.

Not good.

"Varus!" Anakin jumps up and yells.

Too late.

Varus grabs the triangle firmly in his hands and his body jerks violently.

Varus falls to the ground. Anakin runs, as best he can while tripping and wincing in pain, to his Padawan and puts a hand on his head. Varus is still breathing, but his body is jerking like he is having a heart attack and his eyes are fluttering wildly under his eyelids.

Definitely not good. Anakin looks at the object Varus had grabbed. The triangle lies on the ground near his feet dormant and dead. Whatever power it had was gone, but that is the least of his worries.

It's a Sith Holocron.


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