Rast was relieved that he managed to be able to get off the ship without too much explanation. The return will be simple enough. He'll just explain that his information was bad, there wasn't anything of interest and they'd be off to the next place.

The Force had been with him this far. Being captured by some opportunistic slavers on Malastare didn't seem like the best turn of events but then waking up on board a ship with two rather naive women in command was exactly where he needed to be to get to the First Temple.

The twi'lek was smart enough it seemed but she didn't know people. She had been apparently sheltered by her father on some backwater world, so she didn't know deception. The human woman was damaged, hurt by so many for so long, so eager for any warmth and affection. He had planted the seeds for a romantic entanglement and they'd be physically intimate soon he wagered. He couldn't have had a better pair of traveling partners.

Nezu Kazeri had told him the place was cold but he had not anticipated it would be like this. Nezu told him the atmosphere was breathable, but he failed to mention just how thin the air actually was. Walking in this sand would have been exhausting in any event, but he finds himself having to stop every few meters to catch his breath.

The entrance wasn't far but he could only see a thick fog of dust. This world was tidally locked to a small, orange, and ancient star. Though he was on the side of perpetual daylight, it seemed to do little to warm him. The dark side of the world had to be deadly cold.

Nezu gave him the coordinates as well as the last puzzle piece. Rast looks down at his tracker. The entrance was straight ahead. The tracker was honed in on a two-way communicator which, lucky for Rast, still had enough juice for him to pick up its location.

The entrance, a small opening in the sandy floor, lay ahead and Rast had to dig to access the spiral stone staircase that would lead to the temple. The temple had been rumored to have reached high into the sky eons ago, but has been worn down so that only the lower levels remain.

Rast slides into the opening and finds himself in a spiral staircase of black stone. He switches on his flashlight and can see strange runes carved into rock and they glow red, like hot metal when his light touches them.

When Rast finally reaches the bottom after over an hour of descending he walks out into a wide space of total blackness. He aims the beam of light ahead of him but it finds nothing but more space. He points the light at the ground to avoid falling off a ledge, but that is all it can help with. In the distance he sees what he is looking for, a point of red glow in the dark distance.