Chapter Twelve

The Fallen

Maverick aimed down the scope of his blaster, quickly bringing it around as he heard a noise behind him. He gulped, keeping his trigger finger ready at all times. In front of him stood the Jedi Knight, Aaryn Karsa. Aaryn also turned to peer down the long corridor where the noise seemingly came from.

"Well, this has to be one of the creepiest things I've ever done," Maverick muttered.

"Let's just keep moving," Aaryn said as they continued down the corridor. They were hoping to find Veed Primus, a man that knew important information about the Mandalorian war machine.

"We going to search the entire facility for this guy with this monster in here?" Maverick said out loud, more to himself than to Aaryn.

"I figured there has to be some sort of control center or something, so if we can find that we can find Veed." Aaryn said, moving slowly.

"Or what's left of him," Maverick said.

"Let's just find him, get what we need, and get out of here." He replied.

"Whatever you say Master Jedi," Maverick piped sarcastically. He held the blaster rifle close moving with caution as Aaryn did.

The two men continued down the long, empty hallways. The entire facility was dim, that is if the lights in a hallway were working. The ones that did not work, they blinked on and off. There was a small hum of the generators and sometimes the occasional sound that Aaryn or Maverick may have heard. Both of them slowly came upon something that lay still in the middle of the floor.

"What the krif is that?" Maverick gulped, having a dread feeling in the put of the stomach. He knew exactly what it was, but his mind didn't want to believe it.

Aaryn approached it first, looking down on it with a hint of mild curiosity and disgust. He bent down looking over it and then looked up at Maverick.

"It's a body," Aaryn whispered. Maverick came closer, still pointing his gun at the body.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked. The body itself was curled up as if it had died in a massive amount of pain. They couldn't tell wither or not it was a male or female, but the body still wore the mining uniform. The rest of the body appeared to be mummified a husk of a body.

"I don't know…" Aaryn shivered. "It's like the life was sucked right out of him,"

"Or her," Maverick provided.

"Right, let's just keep going." Aaryn stood up, unhooking his lightsaber from his belt. He held on tight the grip, but did not ignite the blade.

"Whatever you say Master Jedi, you're the expert." Maverick grinned. The two men continued down the long corridors. "Say, you and Jove seem awful close."

Aaryn raised his brow, wondering why he would be bringing this up now. He guessed it was either because Maverick was as nervous as he was, or he was just a son of a gundark. Aaryn figured it was the latter.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Aaryn muttered.

"Oh is that right? I guess that's just Vanuy and Belo giggling in the cockpit late at night. Wait, nope that would be you and Jove. So you are going to make a move anytime soon?" Maverick pressed.

"Shut up," Aaryn turned around glaring at Maverick.

"Whoa now, anger leads to the Dark Side. Remember? I was just wondering because if what you say is true and there is nothing going on between you too, I was going to move right on in." He smiled.

"You and Jove?" Aaryn sounded skeptical as he turned around and kept going down the empty facility.

"Yeah, I like the sound of that. She's perfect for me,"

Aaryn laughed. "Right, think whatever you want to."

"What? You don't think we'd make a good fit? I'm hurt, Jedi. Can I call you Jed for short? But you'd be surprised how much me and her have in common. I see the way she looks at me, we have a…connection." Maverick said. Aaryn didn't say anything in reply, just kept right on moving.

The two didn't speak to each other until Aaryn stopped midway in front of a locked door. He looked around his surroundings and then looked back at the door.

"I think this is the main operation room. This is the best way to find Veed," Aaryn glanced over at Maverick. He swung his rifle over his shoulder and began to try to slice the keypad for the door.

"You can slice this thing?" Aaryn questioned.

"One of many talents, Jed." He said as he fooled around with the wires. Quickly the doors slide open to reveal a haunting scene within the command center of the facility. Maverick gulped as he looked across the room filled with husks of bodies. There had to be at least seven or eight mummified remains of workers that were scattered on the floor.

Aaryn wondered how they would have died if they locked the doors then found his answer as he looked up at the ceiling. A large chunk of it was missing, debris skewed across the floor.

"What is this thing?" Aaryn said a loud. Maverick brought his rifle back up to bear, leaving his aim on the missing part of the ceiling.

"There, that terminal. Should have a list of everyone that has been at this facility, should even contain visitors names like Veed." Maverick nodded to the forward most terminal. Aaryn didn't waste any time to go and access its data. He pulled out his own datapad, connecting it with the terminal. He brought up the log in data and quickly found Veed Primus's name and room number. He copied the information to his datapad and then stumbled across the camera feeds for the entire facility.

"Maverick, come here." Aaryn nodded him in his direction. Maverick glanced back at Aaryn for a moment and then back at the missing part of the ceiling.

"Keep an eye out," Maverick said as he came before the terminal.

"That transmission that we picked up on the way has been looping for a week, see if you can go as far back as you can and try to find out when all of this happened." Aaryn said. Maverick continued to work his way through the data.

"While you're waiting for me to start the movie, little youngling, why don't you watch this," Maverick said as a life size holo recording popper up on the holo-pad.

The image of the facility administrator popped up in front of the con-man and Jedi. Aaryn could instantly tell from the man's composure something was wrong. He began speaking almost immediately.

"I am recording this holo now to make sure there is some sort of record to let people know what happened here." There was a slight pause as the man tried to figure out what to say. "It began when a small transport vessel docked with our orbital facility here on Taloraan. When the ship broke orbit, there was no contact from it. We escorted it in on my command, one which I now regret."

Aaryn glanced over at Maverick who paused to look up from the terminal.

"We sent a couple of security guards to investigate the ship, we thought perhaps the ship may have had another encounter with the native population, the Wind Raiders. The security guards never reported back. I sent two more to see the problem, and they reported that everyone on the ship was…dead. Mummified remains, is how they described the bodies. We soon began to get reports that of corpses in our facility…."

An eerie silence filled the room.

"Half of this mining platform is now dead as I speak. This…creature must have ridden in on the ship and began killing. I've seen it myself…it, uh, it seems to, um, suck the life out of its victims. This is why everyone appear to be husks of their former self. We are trying to destroy this…thing, but blasters just seem to slow it down. We will hold out as long as we can, Gyim out."

"Oh, krif." Maverick muttered. Aaryn looked back over at the man and noticed he was staring down at the monitor. He walked over at watched the video.

"This is not good,"

It showed the events that happened a little over a week ago on standard time. The video showed business as usual, miners walking in and out of this very room. Suddenly from the ceiling a figure, hooded in black came falling through. The miners seemed stunned at first, but the figure jumped towards the nearest miner and appeared to begin biting their neck. Quickly the life drained away from them, sucking away at their inner being. The body became a husk and the figure stood up, moving to its next victim.

"We have to get out of here as soon as we can, record this information and the information about Veed and let's find him quickly." Aaryn said, tightening his grip around his lightsaber. He looked down at the map to see where Veed Primus was staying and quickly headed out of the room. Maverick followed him out, and slung his blaster back over his shoulder.

"Maybe this guy will finally put me out of my misery," He grinned. Aaryn's hazel eyes glanced over at him.

"You aren't kidding," Aaryn raised his brow.

"Well, kid, after all the things I've been through sometimes I hope that I can have a death as quick as that." Maverick changed the tone of his voice to more seriously, staring right back at Aaryn. He clenched his jaw and walked past the Jedi towards Veed Primus's room, wondering if all of his many past sins have finally caught up with him.

***

Four Years Ago…

Maverick sipped the last of his Corellian whiskey, the amber liquid running down is throat with a slow burn. He decided that if he could find out all the time he has spent, and will spend in cantinas and bars it would be years of his life. He used the palm of his hands to rub his eye and then asked the droid waiter for another. He felt his blaster within his inside pocket, his mind racing about what he will do next time he ran into this Gotal named Rex…

"No sir, I have served you the legal amount on Taris." The droid said promptly.

"Kark it, just give me another. I won't tell,"

"I am sorry for your inconvenience sir," The droid said again.

"I will take some more, make it two," An Arkanian across from him said. The Arkanian stood up with his two glasses and came to sit beside Maverick.

"Here you go," He handed him the glass, Maverick accepted it willingly. The two of them took a sip of it slowly, savoring the flavor.

"Believe it or not," The Arkanian began. "I am a Jedi Master,"

Maverick began laughing as he sat the cup down, looking around the largely empty cantina. Then again, not many beings began drinking in the middle of the day.

"I am not joking, look here is my lightsaber." The Arkanian reached over to his belt, unclipping his saber and laying it on the table. Maverick eyed the weapon and looked back up at Arkanian who continued to drink.

"I didn't think you monks were allowed to drink," He said, giving another sip.

"It's frowned upon, but I blame them for pushing me to become a drinker." The Arkanian laughed to himself and then stuck out his four fingered hand. "The name is Cruuso,"

"Jass," Maverick lied as he shook Cruuso's hand.

"Well, Mr. Jass, now at least one person knows that I'm a Jedi drunk. But I can guess that I could trust you," He laughed, finishing of his glass. "So what brings you to Taris?"

"Business," Maverick muttered.

"Ah, yes. That brings me here as well." Cruuso motioned for the droid to and then asked to buy off an entire bottle of the Corellian whiskey. "Always business with the Jedi, yes, yes, have to rebuild our image to the galaxy. A lot don't trust us after Kun lost it and decided to become a Sith Lord,"

"Sounds like a good time," He muttered.

"I also have an apprentice," Cruuso nodded, thinking of his young Padawan Aaryn Karsa.

"He knows about your drinking problems?"

"He suspects it, but not because I don't hid it well. No, no, no. It's because out of all the Padawan learners that I have had, he is the best. And out of all my Padawan learners that I have had, I fear for him the most." Cruuso stared out.

Maverick said nothing, only listening to the passion within the Arkanian Jedi Master's voice. Whatever he was talking about, he could tell that he meant it.

"You see, some Jedi have visions. I've been a Jedi all my life, and I never had a vision of the future…until I came across my Padawan. I saw his future…and his future is terrifying. The power that he could wield…could destroy whole worlds just with the power of the Force. A couple of years ago, my apprentice got into a fight with a gang. When I talked to him about it…I told him 'You do not want to be the hero, you do not want to try and save everyone because when you fail...you just don't have what it takes'." Cruuso shook his head and laughed to himself.

"What he doesn't know is that I am extremely proud of him. Despite what I saw for his future, I am proud of the man he is today. He is even more of a Jedi then I will ever be. So why can't I just tell him this? Because I am weak…and I am scared of what he could become. One wrong choice could lead to death, Mr. Hess. Don't ever forget that."

***

Jove watched the stars begin to twinkle overhead as the last light from Taloraan's sun faded away. Aaryn and Maverick still had not reported back anything, and it had been almost two hours since the pair went into the mining platform. She keep taping her foot on the ground, tightening her grip on her blaster.

"Don't be stupid, Jove." She whispered to herself.

She stood up and begin to make her way out of the cockpit. She passed through the main passageway were Ta'sa seemed to be having a conversation with Vanuy and Belo. She began to unlock the ship and lower the ramp. Ta'sa turned around, his long and lanky arms swinging as he did.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm tired of waiting around, and they are taking too long. I'm going after them," Jove said, checking her blaster.

"Whoa, wait. By yourself?" Vanuy said.

"Yes, you guys just stay put and lock the ship. We'll be back soon," Jove lightly jogged off the ramp and headed towards the entrance.

Ta'sa smacked his hand against his head.

"I guess we better warn Aaryn that something bad is about to happen," Ta'sa said.

***

"This is it," Aaryn said, opening the door to the room where Veed Primus was staying. The room itself was small, with not many belongings within it. There was no hint that anyone was in the room, so it was a good bet that Veed was killed by whatever had happened. Maverick rested his rifle over his shoulder as he walked over to Veed's desk, eyeing the single datapad that sat on it.

"Found something," He called over to Aaryn. He handed it to Aaryn.

"Yeah, it's definitely Veed's datapad." Aaryn said, going through it. "Jackpot! He's got a ton of information on the Mandalorians. And wait, there looks like a list of some sort on here. A list of planets that could lead to more information about…you've got to be kidding me,"

"What?"

"The Greyon war machine the Mandalorians are building, Mesco wasn't lying."

"Put your hands up where we can see them!" A voice called from the hallway. Aaryn glanced over at the con man and did as he was told, raising his hands high in the air.

"You two come in on the Dynamic-class ship?" Another voice asked.

"Yeah, we are looking for a man named Veed Primus. But it looks like we've stumbled on a graveyard," Maverick said. A group of four men entered the room with Aaryn and Maverick, leaving a larger group of seven in the hallway.

"I'm afraid I did not know Primus, but we are all that's left of this mining facility. The name is Brahman," The leader stuck out his hand.

"You're the voice on the looped message," Aaryn nodded, taking his hand.

"That's right, so if you got the message why didn't you take the advice? If this thing escapes, there will be no stopping it." Brahman looked worn down, as well as the rest of the group.

"We needed to get information Veed had, but it looks like we have gotten it. If you all have survived this long, why haven't you fled on a transport yet?" Aaryn asked.

"Because he runs this place now, the way out is shut." A Rodian said from the group in the hallway.

Aaryn looked over at Maverick.

"We just walked right in," Maverick said.

"It's because he let you in, it's like he is playing some kind of game with us." Brahman shook his head.

Suddenly Aaryn's comlink beeped. He answered it quickly and almost immediately Ta'sa began talking.

"Aaryn! Jove left the ship, she said she is coming looking for you two!" Ta'sa frantically said.

Almost as soon as he finished his sentence, the lights in the facility went out. The emergency lights kicked on soon after. The intercom came on with a whining buzz and then a voice spoke through it.

"Hello there," It began. From the looks of Brahman and his companions faces, it as whatever was terrorizing them. "It's seems as if we have some new players in my little game. But no ordinary players, but a Jedi no less! I felt your presence through the Force, Jedi. I feel it even now, as you try to conceal it from me. No matter what you do, you cannot hide from me. I feed on the Force, so I will find you. And you will be mine. Oh, and don't try to leave just yet…it seems one of your female friends has made it into my company, Jedi. So if you want her, come and claim here."

"Aaryn!" Jove screamed over the intercom. There sounded like some kind of struggle and then nothing. Aaryn squeezed his lightsaber handle in anger.

"It's time to have fun," The voice said, and Aaryn could almost see the smug smile on his face. The intercom cut out, leaving the group shrouded in darkness.

To be continued!