Last time: Sasha discovered Dracul is with Oppie in the World Between Worlds which means he is in danger.

Now: The Jedi and Kyr arrive to the planet with four suns.

Chapter 2- The Old Man

They came out of hyperspace several hours later. Kyr had taken the opportunity to rest in his cabin. Viran had fallen back asleep in the copilots chair as Sasha had woken him suddenly before and he was still exhausted. Sasha, on the other hand, didn't get a wink of sleep. She had instead gone through the medpack in her bag to make sure she truly did have enough bacta, stabilizers, bandages, gauze and so forth for Oppie. She did so about three times before she realized that she did have enough. She had then just ended up playing a game with Tac on the holotable to pass the time. Now they all sat back in the cockpit, watching the swirls of stars disappear to reveal the planet.

It was a dusty brown desert world, a sizable ocean was visible around the horizon, but what they saw of the surface was dry, with only a few lush ravines around rivers that lead from mountains down to the ocean and a few lakes.

"This usually takes a day or two for the sensors to find the temple, so don't get your hopes up." Kyr warned, starting the familiar routine of scanning the surface of the planet for the temple.

"Here, allow me," Sasha offered. She then closed her eyes and reached out with the force.

Kyr sat silent for a second, pondering in silence. "I was wondering how you guys found so many temples so fast." He said with some annoyance.

"Sorry," Viran said with a chuckle. "We just thought it would be easier as the scanner always took so long."

Kyr said nothing, letting the routine run in the hope that it might, magically, work faster this time.

Sasha opened her eyes several minutes later. "Found it."

"Osik." Kyr said, flipping a switch to cancel the routine with great annoyance.

"Head north towards those mountains," Sasha said as she pointed out the viewport. "It should be just on the other side of it."

"Okay." Kyr said, diving into the atmosphere. Soon the mountain range took shape, as they got closer.

"I'm not seeing a temple…" Kyr said in a questioning tone, as he started flying through the low desert peaks.

Sasha placed a hand to her head as if that would help her focus on the source. "No, I sense it down there." She then loomed over the two of them, looking out the viewport. "There! That house is where it is coming from." She pointed past them again towards a small hut tucked neatly away in a garden at the base of one of the mountains, near a river stream.

"Huh, okay." Kyr said, not quite seeing it, but trusting Sasha. "Let me find a place to land and we can go see what this is about."

Above, Cien dropped out of hyperspace. She had been able to track the girl this far, and she could sense them down towards the planet. A few seconds later her ship picked up the drive emissions from the ship they were using. She cut power and waited to see where they would go. Down on the planet, she felt a familiar feeling in the force, it reminded her of Chikara. Could they have found another way to bring back their master? More importantly, would it bring back her own master? If so, she had to kill them before they could accomplish their goal. She closed her eyes to concentrate, trying to pinpoint where she needed to go on the planet.

Kyr took point, leading the party down the path, his rifle slung before him. Around them, the desert riverbed provided a lush oasis compared to the rest of the surface. The foliage was so thick in some areas they could hardly see through it. What worried Kyr was that they were walking down a well worn path that looked like it had been here a long, long time.

"What do you guys make of this?" He said to the Jedi behind him.

"Aside from creepy, I'd sense this place isn't abandoned like the other temples," Viran guessed. "I think someone lives here."

"I don't sense any dangers, but you never know," Sasha said looking around.

Viran nodded in agreement with her statement.

"It looks like a lot more people used to live here at some point." Kyr observed. "A path doesn't get packed down like this unless a lot of people regularly use it. This place is kind of peaceful, it feels like a monastery."

Sasha and Viran shared a nod.

"Well if there is still someone living here, let's hope they are peaceful too," Viran stated.

They turned the corner and the foliage changed. The path was lined with fruit trees, around them the walls of the canyon towered.

"Are these meiloorun plants?" Kyr said, stopping to look at the fruit bushes.

Sasha and Viran stopped too. Viran leaned closer to examine one. Sasha gently reached up and held one in her hands, but didn't pluck it from the tree.

"I think they are," Sasha observed.

"I don't think I've seen fresh meiloorun since the Jedi Temple," Viran commented. "They seem to be so hard to find on most worlds."

"Hey! Leave those alone!" A voice yelled at them from down the path. All three looked up, Kyr grabbed his blaster rifle but didn't bring it up.

Sasha released the plant and slowly moved forward with her hands raised slightly.

"Our apologies," she said. "We were just observing them. Are you the one who has been taking care of them?"

"Taking care of 'em? I planted 'em! Buncha offworlders think they can just barge in here and grab my fruit." He harumphed at them, slamming his cane into the ground. Then he squinted at them, and gasped. "Oh! It's you three. Finally come have ye?"

The three of them exchanged a confused glance.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?' Viran asked.

"Vance. Well, good of you to come. Right on time I suppose. Want some tea?" He asked in a curmudgeonly way. "Just put a pot on."

'Thank you, but we don't exactly have time," Sasha tried to explain.

"Course ya do." He interrupted, already shuffling down the trail. "Everyone's got time for tea."

Sasha stood there as if she had more to say, but was just caught off guard. She looked at Kyr and Viran.

"Well, I could use a cup." Kyr shrugged, and started following after the old hermit.

Sighing in defeat, Sasha dropped her shoulders. "Alright, let's go."

Viran grabbed her arm and whispered into her ear. "Don't worry. We still have time. It will be okay."

Sasha nodded. "You're right. I'm just… nervous is all."

"So am I," Viran reassured her. "Now come on."

Sasha and Viran followed Kyr who was following the elderly gentleman.

"Random thought." Kyr broke the silence as they walked. "We've been doing this assuming Op was the figure coming out of the portal, what if it's this Draco guy?"

"You mean Dracul?" Sasha corrected. She then went silent for a moment as she thought about it. "I guess I hadn't considered it. I always assumed it would be Oppie."

"I was thinking the same thing as Kyr," Viran spoke up. "If both are there, it's possible that Dracul could be the one to come out."

Sasha shuddered at the thought.

"Well, I guess then we get some target practice." Kyr responded.

Up ahead the old man turned off the path and into a small but well cultivated garden that ran up to the rock face of the ravine. It was a sight, so many flowers and herbs packed into one small area. Off to the side, a small lean-to was built into the rock face as well. The old man was disappearing into it. "Now don't wander off, I'll be back." He said as he stepped through the doorway.

"He seems nice." Kyr commented.

"Yeah," Viran agreed.

There wasn't much to say as they waited for him to return. Kyr stepped over to inspect some roses bushes that looked like they were from Naboo. Viran walked over to a very old looking sundial that was carved from stone. Sasha examined the herbs he had growing in his garden. She recognized a few from some of her healing lessons at the Temple.

"Tea's on!" The old man said, coming out of the hut with four simple clay cups on a little tray. He headed towards Sasha first.

"You said you were expecting us?" Kyr asked, ignoring the tea.

"Oh yes, for a long time." He answered, offering the tea to Sasha.

"Thank you," Sasha said, taking the cup in her hands. It was warm and she could smell the soothing herbs brewing in it. "How did you know to expect us?"

"Oh, my mentor told me, and her mentor before her. It's also on the mural down in the catacombs, along with some instructions for ya." He answered, moving off to serve Viran.

"Wait, are you… a Jedi?" Viran asked.

"Oh by the Force no. We study the Force but we're not Jedi." He said, with a smile, holding the tray before Viran.

Viran took one of the cups, nodding his head in thanks. "Then, what are you?" Viran asked as he raised the cup to his lips. He took a whiff of the tea before considering if he should drink it or not.

"Oh...hmmm… I don't know if we ever had a name. There used to be many of us, but fewer now. Just me, I guess." He shuffled off to Kyr, who took the cup, and was trying to decide if he should trust it, and also how to drink without removing his buy'ce.

"So do you guard the temple here?" Sasha asked, still just holding her drink. "Or I guess, the catacombs?"

"Guard is a strong word, missy." He said, taking the fourth cup and sipping from it. "More of a caretaker I suppose. It's been a long time." He finished with a far away look. "But now you're here and I guess my vigil is complete." He said, raising a toast and taking a long drink.

He lowered the cup and considered them for a moment. "I ain't a Sith or your enemy or some such." He added. "Here, come see this." He said gesturing. He led them around a corner, and they saw a stela, like the others at the temples, but standing alone in the middle of some brush. It only had two scenes on it, all the others were blank. The top one showed the four of them, standing before the stela, drinking tea, their figures clearly carved. The second scene was a repeat of the one they had seen on Chikara, that showed Kyr standing above facing the wedges in the sky, and down below the two saber wielders fighting, the third in the pose, and the fourth coming out of the portal.

Sasha stared at the second scene with furrowed brows. She primarily stared at the fourth being. It didn't look like it could be Dracul, but there were two with sabers in a fight… so maybe it was him. Viran squeezed her shoulder in comfort. She really hoped their theory of it being Dracul was wrong.

"A long, long time ago, a Jedi, Master Stynrose was her name, she founded our little group." He said, taking a sip of tea. "There were many of us back then, building a map across the stars, so that one day an evil that could threaten the entire galaxy could be defeated." He took another sip. "She knew that someday there would be some dang fool heroes that would step forward to save it, and they had to bring someone back in order for the whole mess to work out."

"Oppie," Sasha mumbled under her breath. She then turned to face the man. "That is why we are here. We need to save our friend."

"Well of course ya are." He said, taking one last swig of the tea. "I recognized all three of ya from the mural. Him especially." He used his cup to gesture at Kyr.

Kyr was taken aback and shifted a little uncomfortably.

"Then will you help us?" Viran asked.

"Well yeah, that's what we been waitin' for." He said. He walked away from the stela, and the other three figured they should follow him. "Up that path and down that trail some, there's a rock shelf and a cave. Pretty well hidden from the shelf, but if you go on the trail you'll see it. Insides the catacombs, that's where that circle thing the one guy is coming out of is."

Cien brought her fighter in low, under the horizon from where the Jedi had landed. Unknowingly, she was repeating what the others had done for their approach to the garrison just days before. She didn't want to let them know she was here, and was considering her options.

As confident as she was, she felt like she needed more forces to back her up for this. Last time she and Sasha had fought to a stalemate, and this time she had Viran there to back her up without Kopesh to keep him busy, plus whoever the owner of the ship was. The Bloodstorm was days away, its obsolete hyperdrive from a bygone age was one of the systems they hadn't been able to upgrade, lest they basically rebuild the ship from scratch.

But Moff Jiardon would have forces nearby, especially after the attack at the research garrison, all his forces in this sector would be on high alert. She landed her ship in the mountains, away from where the Jedi ship was, but she could still sense their presence off in the hills and down the ravine. She would make her way overland to them, but not before she started up her holonet transceiver.

"Moff Jiardon." She said, a moment later when he connected, kneeling before her.

"How may I be of service, my lady?" He asked.

An evil smirk spread across her face.

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