They approached the eerily lit tomb of the Sith Lord cautiously. Buffy taking the lead and Obi-Wan in the rear, both alternately raking their lamps across the sides of the room and the stone structure in case something evil lay in wait for them hidden in the shadows.
Buffy was the first to look over the stone lid and down into the tomb below.

"Andrew! Andrew!" she shrieked, causing Obi-Wan to dart to her side and look down at the figure of the still boy lying in the coffin below them. Buffy reached out and prodded her young watcher, who opened both his eyes and looked up at them both.

"Oh, hi. Sorry I must have fell asleep. There was some ugly dead things milling about and I managed to give them the slip and came in here..." he looked up at their faces. Both the Slayer and the Jedi were staring at him with a mixture of horror and incredulously. "What's up?"

"You made Obi-Wan pee himself! That's what's up!" snarled Buffy. She'd thought Andrew had really gotten himself killed this time when she'd seen him lying there so still in that Sith coffin.

Obi-Wan gave her an offended look. "Indeed I did not! I may have had a small heart attack but I did not lose control of my bladder at any point!"

Buffy huffed. "Well I nearly peed myself! Andrew, I thought you were dead! Whatcha doing sleeping in that Sith coffin?"

Andrew sat up and Buffy helped him out the tomb. "It seemed the safest place to be, it being empty and those Sith zombies wouldn't come near here. You took ages, and I fell asleep as I got bored waiting and it was warm and cosy in there... What's that you've found, Obi-Wan?"

Buffy turned to look down to where Ubi-Doo was picking some metal object up off the floor.

"You were correct in your assumptions before, Buffy."Obi-Wan said. "This has been used to raise the stone lid on the tomb. I believe it to be part of a machine used mainly in excavation work, this part must have broken off yet it's still looks clean without signs of great age. The Sith Lord who was buried here was removed from his coffin very recently indeed. I wonder why..." Obi-Wan slipped the part into his pocket. "I shall ask Quinlan to look at it. Perhaps he will find it useful."

"Quin? Huh?" Buffy asked, looking confused at why Quin would have any interest in a broken part off a machine.

"He has retro-cognition," explained Obi-Wan.

"He's into the vintage stuff?" frowned Buffy, still trying to think why Quin would want an old piece of broken lever. Maybe it was a rare part or something and he wanted it for his collection? She'd thought Andrew was bad with his stupid action figure collection, but at least it wasn't old rusty stuff.

"What? No! Quin has the ability to pick up memories from an object of whoever has handled them. I cannot think of why anyone would wish to steal the body of a Sith but I suspect it was to try to attain some of the power or knowledge the creature may have had during his life and put it to evil use. Although what that could be, I have no way of knowing.."

Andrew, who was dusting himself down, stopped and said. "Bodies are often removed for spells and incantations. Either for harvesting body parts or reanimating the dead person or even creating a zombie from them in an attempt to use them or gain their secrets. Who is this Sith Lord? Can you read the name? I wasn't able to decipher it."

Obi-Wan walked around the tomb reading the hieroglyphs on all four sides.

"Darth Depressive," he said, doubtfully.

Buffy giggled, " Are you sure? I mean, who'd chose a name like Darth Depressive? What did he do? Talk people into committing suicide? Sit in his room listening to bad music? Create a reign of Terror by looking upset?"

Obi-Wan grinned. " Possibly I have the name wrong. I'm not exactly fluent in thousand year old Sith languages. However, I'm sure we have an expert at the Temple who is able to shed more light on who this Sith lord is. Whoever he was he must have been very powerful to have been buried here for his influence is still being felt throughout the force today. Even though his body has been removed, look how this room affected me when I first entered. The Council must be informed of this as it could have dire consequences for the Temple otherwise."

"Ugh, the Council. Councils everywhere are the bane of my existence." Buffy looked down at the empty tomb. "Let's hope your council have answers for us. And I still want to know why a cross was carved on the entrance to this place...

"My guess is it was to alert others in the know. Almost as if it was put there to alert you or another vampire hunter that there was a vamp down here, Buffy. " said Andrew. "I've been thinking about it all while I was waiting and I think it was put there for a purpose. "

"Well that Sith Lord's vanished. Unless, did someone break in and stake him? How dusty was it in there Andrew?" Buffy asked, shining her torch into the hollow.

"Not enough for a body Buffy." Andrew said and seeing the Jedi shoot a look of horror, added, " It would have been of the good if they'd staked him, Obi-Wan. We might be dealing with some type of Vampire Sith here and if someone brings him back to his undead life he could bring chaos to the galaxy."

"Going to need to keep our ear open for people being sucked dry, unusual bites to the neck, blood drainages, that type of thing." Buffy was looking thoughtful. "Another visit to Dex's to ask him to keep an ear out for dodgy deaths. Maybe bring Dracula in on this..."

Obi-Wan sighed, he felt a bit lost. "Count Dooku? Why would he know... Andrew, don't touch that!" he shouted as the young watcher caught a hidden lever on the side of the tomb with his foot causing a hidden compartment to roll out. Andrew stopped wide eyed, his hand stretched out in mid reach, to touch whatever was in the hidden drawer.

"Ohhh, SHINY!" said Buffy her eyes glowing with delight as she stared at the hilt of a wicked looking lightsaber that had been placed in the drawer a thousand or more years ago and still looked shiny and new. "I want it."

Obi-Wan darted forwards and placed himself between the Slayer and the weapon, causing Buffy to narrow her eyes at him. "It could be dangerous, Buffy."

Buffy rolled her eyes, "It's a weapon Ubi-Doo, that's what weapons are meant to be, Dangerous . You know for being of the stabby, and of the killing, and of the chopping off the heads and stuff..."

"Buffy! It's a Sith weapon and I can feel a powerful Dark Force rolling off it!" Buffy's delight in collecting weapons from dead Siths was completely unnerving to Obi-Wan, he'd always been taught to avoid contact with anything that could be tainted with the dark force for fear it could corrupt the next user. Didn't she realize he was only trying to protect her?

"Don't care, it's shiny and you said the same thing about Mr Sparkly, who says he wants a new Sithy friend."

"Let me at least translate the wording engraved into the hilt... " it states the wielder enters a murderous rage... Buffy I can't let you have this.."

"Whoa! Buffy that weapon is made for you!" Andrew crooned, causing Obi-Wan to glare at him. "Well it is! She is the Slayer, she kills things. Nothing wrong with that. No one wants to be over run by demons and stuff. "

Obi-Wan replied, " It also states that it turns the wielder into a 'Killing Machine', which sounds very ominous to me. Would Buffy like metal legs and arms? No, I am sure she would not. Better it is destroyed rather than take the risk."

There was a moment of silence before Buffy said cautiously "I don't want a mechanical breathing mask either or have to wear a phallic style helmet."

"Indeed you don't want a mechanical breathing mask nor a... phallic style helmet.." Obi-Wan's voice trailed off wondering why Buffy would even think to include a phallic style helmet in the equation.

The Slayer looked at the lightsaber longingly. "Yeah, suppose you'd best put it back and get someone to destroy it. I'm not happy though," she said and she sulked as he put lightsaber put back into its secret compartment.

"Might be better if you don't touch it" said Andrew. "You know what this galaxy is like for giving people metal parts and turning them all snorty. I'll build you another lightsaber, Buffy. I found a manual lying round the other day and can always grab you the parts needed to make one. I could make you some in different lengths and styles and even colors..."

Obi-Wan inwardly groaned at the casual way Andrew mentioned stealing parts and the manual to enable him to make lightsabers. It was all supposed to be a closely guarded secret of the Jedi temple. If the Council found out what he was planning he'd get into trouble.

"Oh, thanks Andrew. That would be Ace! Could you do them in colors to co-ordinate with my shoes and clothes do you think? Cos that would be so cool. Hey, why are there round plastic lids in in there with the lightsaber," said Buffy, looking at the plastic disks which had caught her eyes as they came in pretty pastel colors.

"Holocrons." replied Obi-Wan. "Possibly explaining this Sith Lord in more detail. Those we shall take with us and present to the Council... Buffy!" He exclaimed, shocked as Buffy grabbed the three holocrons and gave them to Andrew, who quickly pocketed them, grinning at Obi-Wan as he did so.

"Me and Andrew are watching these." she said. " Dratted council gets hold of them and we'll never get to see them. There might be something about crosses here and a clue to why the body's been snatched."

The Jedi gave a groan, aloud this time, but decided that was one battle that Yoda and Nick could fight out with Buffy, he wasn't going to get involved. Pushing back the secret compartment into the Sith tomb so it was out of sight, he said, " Can we please leave this room, quickly now we have found Andrew. I really don't feel comfortable in here, there is still a malignant dark force lingering." Which caused Buffy to look at him sharply and the three of them quickly hurried from the room.

As they made their way back though the temple Buffy tapped Obi-Wan's arm to get his attention and he flinched at her touch.

"Ooops Ubi-Doo, I keep forgetting you are a monk and not allowed to be touched. Was only going to ask if you were feeling okay after the Dark side tried to get you?" she asked him with a quick smile.

"I didn't flinch because you are not allowed to touch me. I caught a glancing blow from a zombie lightsaber and you accidentally put pressure on that exact spot. I am feeling fine though, thank you for asking and for helping me, when I needed it the most." He replied, pleased at her concern for his welfare.

"Why didn't you say something!" She took hold of his arm and could see the hole in his tunic but due to the light couldn't make out how deep the injury was. "You know, if you are going to be one of the gang and come out with us on future adventures you need to tell me straight away if you become injured. That's if you still want to be a Scooby?"

Obi-Wan gave her a smile that lit up his face and said, in his precise accent. "I am more than happy to act as one of your Scoobies and go on future adventures. In fact, I won't change my door code so that you will be able to break into my bedroom any time you need of me."
He paused, remembering how Buffy had stroked his back when they were hiding from the fireball and how much he'd enjoyed the sensation. "Also, I have no problem with being touched. Such as how you felt me up earlier. I really liked that, and if you should have the urge to repeat the process again sometime, I won't mind."
He gave her a shy smile before darting forwards and taking the lead through the temple feeling both equally embarrassed and pleased at his bravery.

Andrew, who'd been following directly behind them and listening to their conversation, hissed in Buffy's ear. "Buffy! What have you been doing to him? This is Obi-Wan Kenobi, he is supposed to be like..totally incorruptible.. and now he's just told you you're welcome to break into his bedroom - again! "

"It's not what it sounds like!" she whispered back, looking over at the young Jedi with a mixture of shock, and burgeoning interest. "Honestly, I've not done anything!"

Andrew sulked. "Yeah, it sounds like it...You are doing this on purpose. You are ruining Star Wars for me in revenge for me making that wish."

…...