Jaster's helmet display gave him the temperature of the torrid surface around him some hours later at a steady 85 degrees, which, Jakome told him, was an astonishingly low temperature even for the dark side of the planet. The high, cragged and heat-split mountains and the red, volcanic-scarred sky gave Sadomine Prime an eerily deadly look, but the readouts on the Academy cruiser as well as the Mandalorian's helmet and armor systems told the Jedi and his apprentice the atmosphere here was quite hospitable, and the air, though almost dangerously sulfuric, was breathable. Jaster thanked his armor's sophisticated assisted/filtered breathing system for filtering out a lot of the dangerous sulfur, as well as most of the putrid smell and even some of the heavy heat on the planet's surface, and he looked several times over to his Master to see how he was taking the uncomfortable atmosphere without the luxury of a life-sustaining suit.
Jakome seemed mostly unaffected by the adverse conditions, but he sweated freely by the time they'd crested the first of the treacherous red hills to set up a wide area life-force detection probe.
"Hope that suit comes with a coolant system, Jaster, or you're probably much worse off than me in these cotton fabrics." Jakome spoke for the first time since they'd landed.
"The armor's pretty sophisticated, but I've never been anywhere this naturally hot, so I've never really put the coolant system to a test." Jaster replied, hearing the eerily mechanic tang of his voice from his voice box, "I'm keeping a steady suit temperature of about 60 degrees, so I guess I'm probably pretty comfortable." Jakome nodded as he stood from the probe system he'd set up.
"We'll wait here for any readouts, then decide a course of action from what we get." He said, unnecessarily; the two had been over and over each aspect of the mission several times before they'd landed. A moment later the machine blinked and let out a series of sharp clicks followed by a low beep.
"That's not good," Jakome said absently, then turned to Jaster, "We've got a large group of life sign readings a few miles to the south of us, looks like near some of this region's larger caves on the maps …"
"That's them, I'll bet." Jaster's metallic voice cut in, a little too quickly; he'd seen the entrance to the caves in his visions, far below the volcanic chasm. "We should be careful." He added.
The Master eyed his apprentice carefully for a moment or two, but then nodded and looked off towards the south where the readouts indicated a mass of close together life forms.
"Right, apprentice; keep your mind clear as we move in on this; I sense a disturbance, as well, and we may have to make a hasty retreat."
"Sure." Jaster replied, setting off after his Master, "Stealth; my specialty."
"You are new to our group, right?" a voice asked the man from somewhere off to his left, he tried to look for the person who'd spoken, but saw only a shape in the darkness. The vehicle they were riding in hit a bump and the figure nearest him bumped limply into his shoulder.
"Yes, I am new here," The man replied, and the man next to him seemed to nod.
"I have not felt your presence before, yes." The vehicle seemed to slow down a fraction as the shadow continued, "Have you ever fought them before?" The man frowned at this.
"Fought who? The Master told me to dress and get into this transport; I don't know anything about fighting …" He said, and several of the men in the front of the transport started to laugh. The man next to him did not laugh, but put his hand on the man's shoulder in a brotherly way.
"The Jedi, my friend." He said as the transport stopped, "We are going to fight the Jedi; you are only newly born, as I am, but I have fought them once before, one of them."
"Jedi?" The man couldn't believe his ears, he knew about the Jedi; and he wondered who would be crazy enough to actually fight them, "Why the hell are we fighting Jedi?" The laughter reached a peak now, but it had a certain friendly, understanding tone to it as a man near the front of the compartment turned in the darkness to speak.
"Stay close to the back, newcomers, there are only two of them, and five of us; we will keep you alive." The man said helpfully, "The Master wants you only to observe for now; not get killed." The man behind the newcomer nodded anxiously.
"I've fought one before; he was fast, but alone on an old mining facility we raided." He recounted, "I still barely escaped with my head, keep your blade up and try to draw as much on your anger as possible if they engage you; they will not stand a chance." He said, but the newcomer was still confused.
"Blade? My lightsaber?" He asked anxiously, "I told the Master I don't know how to use one!" The laughter started again, but was drowned out by the heavy sounds of the transport's main doors clanking rapidly open, and the compartment was flooded with an eerie red light; the atmosphere outside was hot and alien to the man. As the men filed out rapidly, the leader again turned to face him, putting a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.
"Try and engage them at least once, and you will see soon that your skills you have greatly underestimated." And the man was gone, running fast up the nearest hill, the newcomer followed.
"Jaster …" Jakome's voice came softly at the apprentice's side.
"I sense them too, Jakome." Mereel replied, "I am ready."
"They know where we are, they have been planning this, apparently," Jakome said quickly, his form straightening out from their crouching position on top of the cliff overlooking a valley. "Perhaps their appearance on the Academy grounds was merely to set a trap …"
"Here they come …"
The man saw the two forms on top of the slight rise in front of his group, and a sudden explosion of feeling erupted inside his skull; he could feel them, the Jedi.
"Good luck to you, newcomer." The short man behind him told him, and leapt; incredibly high, into the air, his form seeming to float effortlessly through the atmosphere to land with a heavy thud on a rock jutting from the wall opposite the awaiting Jedi. The man scanned the two enemies again, and stopped suddenly as his eyes passed over the shorter one. He knew that armor from somewhere …
"You Jedi have underestimated our powers and unity!" The lead man shouted, his lightsaber blazing into a hateful red light, "And for this error you shall pay with your lives!" The man felt his whole body swell with an unexplainable power, and he looked up to the cliff high above him where the rest of his group crouched, sabers up and ready, facing the Jedi; he felt a sudden hate boil up in his chest, coursing throughout his whole body, strangely cooling his body and emotions; he knew that man up there, but he cared not from where, he would kill him for being here, and nothing else. His hands gripped the short, black metal lightsaber from his belt and brought it up with a last look at the Jedi in the armor. He jumped.
"Look out, Jaster!" Jakome shouted, but it was too late, the Sith had leapt high to land lightly next to Mereel, whose red lightsaber hissed to life just in time to parry the Sith's deadly blow, the apprentice toppled, his footing shaken from the cliff and rolled backwards with a metallic grunt down the hill, and the Sith followed.
"Damn!" Azekel exclaimed, and made to go after them, but the Sith across him had cheered loudly and leapt the short distance between them, four of them closing in around him …