)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Grievous stirred awake groggily, blinking with pained slowness as his eyes cleared the white blur filling his vision. The distortion was quickly replaced by the dim glow of green and black illuminating his surroundings. He winced from the rough pain of a throbbing ache encompassing his duranium shielded head. Instinctively, he tried bringing a hand to his face to ease the discomfort.
Only when he tried to move his arm to feel a sense of ease, Grievous felt no responsive motion. He tried again but his arm remained still. With an incensed growl he tried yanking his right arm up to no avail. The previous lethargic sluggishness ebbed away into rapidly growing ire at the non responsive limb disobeying his command. When Grievous turned to his stubborn limb to find the reasoning behind its refusal to budge, the Kaleeshi cyborg's annoyance switched immediately to surprise and anger seeing his arm frozen in place with a faint viridian hue covering it. This followed with the discovery that, apart from his head and neck, the entirety of his body couldn't move under the force field, keeping him in near complete stationary confinement.
Not only did Grievous see his shackling by this mysterious energy field was keeping him rooted motionlessly, he glanced down and found he was standing planted atop an obsidian cubed stone plinth. The dark surface was brightened by a small dotted silvery light in the centre beaming up just beneath him. Immediately, Grievous's thoughts digressed being locked up as a prisoner of the foul, corrupted Galactic Republic and their wretched Jedi lapdogs. It enraged him momentarily until remembering he hadn't been in battle with the Jedi nor the Republic before regaining his consciousness back. In fact, Grievous recalled being on Dathomir inspecting ruins close by the recently destroyed fortress of the now eradicated Nightsisters witch clan. It was a laborious task, one best left to archaeologists and droids to rummage the remains of the witch planet's first inhabitants.
He was a warrior, the bane of the Republic and slayer of Jedi, not some dirt digger pilfering the crumbled carcasses of long dead civilisations. But even the head of the Separatist Droid Army couldn't disobey direct orders from Count Dooku. It didn't take long for Boredom to settle in and many of the dawdling B1 technician droids faced his ire for disturbing his brooding with status reports over the progress of a some kind of device uncovered in the remains of what used to be a throne room deep in the former temple once inhabited by the extinct Kwa. The device in question was a marble archway standing alone, out of place for such a structure meant for an entrance point to a room. It was in remarkable condition for an object built less than a hundred millennium or so ago by Dathomir's former masters.
There were wires, pieces of tech laying around and several generators hooked up to the archway as a group of Aqualish and Quarren engineers fussed around with the syncing the power units into the structure. The lead archaeologist, a human by the title and name of Doctor Howurd Karter had been enthusiastically giving his report to Count Dooku over what he believed was something called an 'Infinity Gate'. Grievous paid little attention to the human's ramblings, feeling ever more contentious his time was wasted guarding fools and dull witted droids over some supposed breakthrough discovery when he should be out there destroying the Republic and Jedi Order's influence on the galaxy.
All was set up for a demonstration of reawakening the supposed ancient technological marvel promised to offer the Confederacy of Independent Systems a much needed advantage over the Republic military many in the Confederacy have searched high and low for. Grievous couldn't fathom how a dusty relic shaped like a fanciful oversized door frame could offer tactical superiority over their enemies. Whatever Doctor Karter wanted to showcase to Dooku and the rest of the spectators in attendance was set off prematurely when a bumbling B1 tripped over one of the generator conduits laying on the cracked rubble floor then landed on the power controls, sending a large surge of energy into this Infinity Gate.
The doorway of the arch crackled with a humming jolt of electricity, startling everyone to its stirring after such a long slumber. A dense crystalline light of white and gold slowly morphed into a cross sectioned pattern running down the empty space of the 'Gate'. It took a little over a minute for the entire archway to brighten up in the mysterious solar glow, drawing expressions of awe and trepidation. Grievous remembered losing his temper at the droid as it stood up again, only to backhand the stupid skinny machine's elongated head straight off its shoulders.
Everyone's attention was on the reactivated Infinite Gate, marvelling at the awoken derelict with jaw dropping reverence. Grievous' own interest was tempered by the so-called Gate for a brief time until he suddenly felt a strange numbness tingle through what was left of his organic flesh. A sheen of translucent gold covered his duranium armoured body and with it the odd sensation increased into a rippling pulse. It was picked up by the others too, who called out to him but Grievous felt an invisible force pull at his being, drawing him over to the Gate. He dug his clawed feet in, however, it did little to deter the unseen power from releasing him from its grasp.
Grievous ignored the calls from the archaeologists offering much needed assistance as the arch boosted its strength to drag him to its clutches. He drew his lightsabers and stabbed the azure blades into the ground's masonry in a desperate effort to stave off the unknown force determined to suck him into the maws of the energy field. The MagnaGuards security detail attempted to assist but even with their added strength it only intensified the Gate's will. Orders were barked in panic to shut the generators off and cut all the couplings feeding into the Gate's mainframe.
Despite all attempts to fight the Gate's apparent refusal to let go, Grievous began to grow confused and fearful this unexpected tug of war was adamantly in favour of the Gate's unrelenting might. Noise became a static muffle and his vision became encompassed by a blinding flare of pearlish light. The last thing he remembered was incoherent shouting and the crushing pressure tightening on his body, blocking out the scream of terror he let loose before the darkness quelled him.
Reality roused Grievous back to the landscape around him which was a differing contrast to the Dathomirian geography, apart from the same essence of gloom and caution heavy set in the air. Faint dull mists lingered over the terrain, covering great distances across mounds and pillars in the distance. Blinking his eyes for a clearer look, Grievous found those mounds and pillars were in actual fact ziggurat or pyramid shaped structures, and the pillars an assortment of obelisks and plinths. Great octahedron monoliths floated in stationary orbit above the various buildings in the distance, reigning silent domain over their ground based cousins. All had a common 'decoration' trend of onyx with a line of luminated green running through the centre, which it then diverted into a cropped circular shape symbol travelling down into a ridged patterned line.
The biggest shock of them all about his restricted confinement was the row of different sized plinths running in front and beside him. Above each one held something different whether it be an assortment of alien technologies, weapons, artworks, creatures he had never seen before or small box devices that rotated on their axis in slow motion. But most disturbing out of all these 'displays' of all was many of them possessed sentient beings.
Grievous recognised a fair few were human, or at least he thought they were given their easily identifiable features covered in battle armour and clothing he had never seen before. One plinth showcased a pair of giant green humanoids with thick muscular builds but ugly, tusked faces frozen in mid bellow, covered in dirty ramshackle armour plating and in a stance holding onto ridiculously large blasters in their meaty hands. Beside the two hulking aliens was another alien belonging to species at first Grievous mistook for a Duro until noticing the long fire red ponytail drifting down its left shoulder and the indent slit in the middle of its face. The blue alien wore extravagant crimson robes and held out a hand in a universally accepted gesture of peace.
The previous opinion Grievous had of the green skin aliens being ugly changed exponentially when staring at the creature standing in a mid stride pose atop the plinth opposite to him. It was without a doubt one of the most vile living 'beings' he ever laid eyes upon. It had foul greyish skin covered in slime coated scales and a body made up mostly of rawboned limbs leading into a small torso. Its deep bulbous insectoid like eyes held a blank expressionless glare and it possessed gnashing sharp teeth with bits of salvia still clinging to its lipless mouth. A sneer escaped Grievous' throat at the grotesque creature he was certain couldn't possibly be an intelligent species.
Grievous tried fruitlessly again to break himself free from his binds but nothing gave way. His growing ire was interrupted when his audio receptors picked up what sounded like incoming insect chittering. Glancing around to find where the noise was coming from, he saw a beetle-like creature flutter over to the plinth he was perched on against his will. When it came into close range he saw the oversized beetle was not a natural critter, but one made of metal. The bug droid hovered over him and peered its single oculus green eye at him, tracing a wide beam across his face
A reflexed wince twitched at Grievous' face at the beam's intrusive scan. In response he released an aggressive throaty growl in a defiant attempt at intimidating the flying parasite. The droid, however, didn't at all care at his reaction as it calmly carried on with the scan without interruption. After ten more seconds it simply fluttered away down the walkway to carry out whatever task it had been assigned. Grievous watched it fly off, enraged at the insolence of the little machine's lack of acknowledgment.
The singe of fury he had for the bug droid took a momentary pause when he heard slow paced footsteps coming up from the otherside of the walkway. Snapping his head in the direction of the footsteps, he saw a figure emerge out from the overlaying green tinted mist. Grievous' Kaleeshi eyes squinted at the emerging ominous silhouette revealing not a sentient being of flesh and blood, but a Force thrice damned droid.
Its design was nothing like Grievous had ever seen before. In the haze he thought its appearance at first to resemble a rather tall BX series commando droid, until the mist cleared completely to unveil the droid was more prevalently shaped into a humanoid skeleton form. In its right hand was a bronze staff a foot taller in height with a crackling green ball centred in the middle of the oversized cosmic black pincer tip tainted in a shade of darker green. It was becoming quite apparent green and black were the favoured colour schemes of this deathly atmospheric giant prison. A metal hood was draped over its head, stopping just above its metallic cranium and not once making any kind of movement as the droid continued on its walk. A gold and silver steel pleated sash hung down its waist running between its thin armoured legs swaying from each step it took. Hanging down behind its hollow silver husk frame was a long cloak matching the same patterned arrangement as the sash, stopping just enough for it to brush the floor in small sweeps.
The staff it carried tapped on the ground in an echoing in sync with the droid's footsteps. It did little to orchestrate anything to allay the morbid silence of this hellish incarceration Grievous found himself trapped in.
"Ah, I see you are finally awake, my unexpected honoured guest." The droid's spoke in an oddly cheerful tone, considering the atmosphere of their surroundings evidently didn't conjure any emotion remotely of that nature. Its accented flanging voice sounded eerily organic, much more so when compared to all other droid models out in the galaxy with a masculine personality.
Grievous said nothing at first as the droid came to a halt directly in front of the plinth he was kept invisibly chained to. Its face was gaunt, almost human shaped and would've been mistaken as such if not for its longer horizontal mouth and like the rest of its body, boney in nature. The eyes staring up at him were baleful, lifeless emerald flickers of light, flashing in matching coordination to its fixed open mouth. It stood roughly over two metres tall and had running up its exposed metal ribcage translucent intestine shaped tubes flowing lime-ish fluid. Suffice to say, Grievous already could feel himself developing a distaste for this thing lording before him.
"I trust you had a restful sleep, considering you have been inert for three days." It said in a tone of provocative mockery.
"Where am I? Release me at once, droid!" Grievous barked, trying to shift his arms again to no avail.
"Droid? You should speak for yourself, my destructive cybernetic intruder." It stated, sounding vaguely insulted but was hard to tell with it lacking facial muscles.
"You foolish scrap pile. You have no idea who you are dealing with."
"You've got me there." It pointed at him. "I've never come across a species of your kind before, let alone the cybernetics used to keep your frail, mortal flesh intact. Impressive I admit and no doubt expensive. Not quite as good as a necrodermis mind you, but better than what those machine god worshipping primitives in the Imperium augment themselves with." It babbled on, flexing its skeletal fingers on the lofty staff. "That being said, is it common practice for your kind to make such spontaneously damaging shows of yourselves when turning up to someone's home uninvited?"
"Only to those who freely support the Republic and Jedi scum."
"I can't say I'm familiar with either of these entities." It tapped a finger on one of its metal teeth, mimicking the common humanoid action when dwelling deep in thought. "My allegiance I can very much assure you is and always will be to the Nihilakh Dynasty." It stated in what Grievous perceived as a prideful declaration. "The last I checked the Dynasty doesn't ally itself with lesser beings. Not for long anyway."
Grievous frowned at the machine. Was this thing's core matrix faulty? And what in all the galaxy was the Nihilakh Dynasty?
"Holding me prisoner will bring the full might of the Separatist Alliance upon your world. Release me now and I may consider sparing your planet and civilisation, so long as you surrender to my authority." Grievous offered, glaring down at the droid. He frowned when its response was a mere nerve grating chuckle.
"My friend, worse than you have come to Solemnace and almost all are currently residing in one exhibit or another. Those who did manage to escape, well, they haven't been eager to return to my galleries. A pity really. The last visitor, now she was quite the imaginative scoundrel." It reminisced in humour, staring off into space.
"I don't care-"
"Oh yes, back to the topic at hand. Let's start with an easy question for the last vestiges of grey matter you have in that reinforced protected skull of yours. What is your name?" It asked condescendingly.
"I am General Grievous, Supreme Commander of the Separatist Droid Army." Grievous spat out, hoping the machine finally got into its head some level of danger it was in.
"Simple and tone lacking. Certainly less fanciful in grand titles mortals bestow themselves in your position. Still, not everything needs an eccentric name. And judging by your mannerisms it fits you perfectly." Never in his life had Grievous wanted to pull apart and smash an object into dust repeatedly like this pretentious droid as it began pacing. "Species?"
Grievous didn't answer right away, opting instead to bore his hate filled eyes at his captor.
"I see. The very unoriginal tact of the silent treatment game. If you're incapable of at least pretending to be a civilised elder then I will just come up with a name for your kind. I can promise you it will be a less flattering label for when guests come to view your records and read it for themselves." It threatened in clear amusement at the prospect of desecrating his species name for its own twisted sense of humour.
"I am Kaleesh." Grievous said proudly.
"I presume not all Kaleesh turn themselves into multi limbed, ill tempered cyborgs?" It queried on.
The rageful spark building up in Grievous was boiling over into a full furnace at the jab. Already ideas began to manifest in Grievous' mind on modifications to his body that could prove most useful if he ever found himself in the precarious role as prisoner to vexatious parties like this pile of metal bones. That is, when he could figure out a way of escaping from this grungy nightmarish place.
"I will not be subjected to your tiresome roundabout of questions, droid!"
"Again with the insults. Repetitive too. Even an Ork has a wider vocabulary when it comes to profanities and slander." It sighed, like a teacher disappointed with a youngling's lack of fulfilling answers to a straightforward question.
"Why don't you lower me down and we'll settle this face to face." Grievous challenged, forming a vindictive grin on what was left of his shielded mouth.
"I rather not have to recall the scarabs to repair the damage you already wrought on this gallery. Your arrival destroyed thirty two exhibits, seven of which were priceless artefacts from a time your kind would've been scurrying rodents on the plains of your world that can never be recovered! Furthermore, you deactivated the containment field of a Lictor once in service of Hive Fleet Leviathan. Do you have any idea how taxing it is recapturing one of those monstrosities? That further destroyed five other exhibits, but luckily those are easy to obtain again. I do enjoy visiting my dear friends on the Craftworlds. It would be a shame to disassemble a unique individual such as yourself only after having opened a dialogue." The droid mocked. "Besides, what exactly would you fight me with if I am in possession of this."
The skeleton droid unclasped a familiar looking cylinder shaped object from within the back of his cloak covered back then held it out for his viewing. A new flash of anger crossed Grievous as the droid flipped the lightsaber between its bone fingers as if it were performing a circus act. It stopped with its toying of the weapon then gripped the hilt pressing a thumb on the sabre's button, unremarked by the renown snap hiss of the Jedi's traditional choice of blade's unsheathing.
"Not bad, for a cutting tool." It said, waving the blade in half effort swing. "I think I may keep hold of this. Never know when it may come in handy in my travels."
"Give that back!" Grievous yelled, watching as his captor continued to admire the blade.
"Think of it as a small offering on your part as compensation for destroying several irreplaceable pieces of history. " The droid said, deactivating the blade. "Which is far less amicable compared to the wondrous gift I have bestowed upon you."
"That being?" Grievous glared.
"Why immortality of course. Instead of being a temporary spec of importance tied to a singular era locked in conflicts soon to be forgotten in the memories of countless future generations, you'll be around forever for all to see." The droid extended out both his arms in a gesture symbolising an incredible achievement birthed successfully into reality. "Those being predominantly Necron, but as past experiences have shown members of other races have a nasty habit, as you've demonstrated, of stumbling into my galleries regardless."
All willpower and burning rage was funnelled into his LX-44 prosthetic arms and legs to break out from his imprisonment now more than ever. Grievous let out a cry of indignation staring hopelessly at his arms and hands never so much as budging in reply to his desperation.
"It appears I'll gain nothing more from this conversation as you've resorted to snarling like a feral Althak." It sighed disapprovingly. "Perhaps a time out will allow you to calm your synthetic nerves, General. Besides, I've other business to attend to that doesn't involve talking to a supposed sentient being like a ill disciplined child."
The droid made to leave and turned back to the direction from where it came down the walkway.
"Wait right there!" Grievous called out to it. The droid looked back up at him, green eyed projections staring up with curiosity. "What are you?"
"Ah, In my scolding of your poor mannerisms it appears I have forgotten my own." The droid shook his head and slapped a robotic hand in exaggerated chastisement before straightening himself up."I am Trazyn, Overlord and Archaeovist of the Solemnace Galleries. Now that introductions are out of the way I must get going. Have no fear, I shall return in due time. We have much to discuss and records in need of colouring in the details for the databanks."
"Let. Me. Go!" Grievous roared as 'Trazyn' dismissed itself from his presence.
"Oh I'm afraid I can't do that, General. Afterall," Trazyn tapped his staff on the ground once with an audible loud clang. The numbness that affected his body soon travelled over Grievous' face, muting the string of curses and promises of death he would deliver to the droid. "You make a fine addition to my collection."
)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))