-2.74 minutes elapsed-

"I sense a trap," commented Emeth.

"So…?"

"Spring it," replied the apprentice with a sly grin.

Carefully but quickly, the two Jedi strode down the pitch-black tunnel, using the Force to see any obstacles.

Bzeew! Bzeew! Bzeew! Suddenly, a barrage of laserbolts fired from several droids. From a crevice in the tunnel, a score of silvery orbs flew out, firing lasers as they came at the Master/Padawan pair.

Vwoom! Buzz, Kssshhh! The duo quickly annihilated the droids, deactivated their sabers, and began running down the remaining length of the tunnel before the final droid hit the ground and crackled its last.

-3.92 minutes elapsed-

"Master… super-thick, solid door laced with alarm triggers, Sith artifacts just on the other side… do we have a plan?" The Padawan, looking a bit sick from the Dark energy radiating from the other side of the door, looked to his Master in question.

In answer, the Master, looking a smidge queasy himself, re-ignited his lightsaber, and quickly reduced each of the 18 alarms before his Padawan had time to blink.

"Happy?"

"Yes, Master."

With that, the two gritted their teeth against the Dark Side of the Force and began busily carving a hole through the 3-meter-thick door.

-5.18 minutes elapsed-

"Aargh!" with a final grunt and a push, the two Jedi burst into the center of a small pyramid. In the center of the room was a black table with a black, shiny box sitting in its center—the obvious source of the concentrated Dark Side. Surrounding the table and box was a myriad of cultish symbols, each carved into the floor and laced with synthetic Sith lightsaber crystals.

"Lets get this over with," panted Emeth.

"Good idea." Ry-Gaul panted back.

The Dark Side was present so much inside the pyramid that it had tightened the Jedi's lungs, making it hard for them to breathe. Of course, the slight mustiness and the limited supply of air in the dome didn't help them much, either.

Breathing as deeply as he could to get enough oxygen, Ry-Gaul deliberately marched to the table, took another deep breath, and grabbed the box.

"Let's go."

-7.30 minutes elapsed-

"Wow, glad that's over," sighed the Padawan.

"Not yet," reminded Ry-Gaul. "We must take the artifacts to the Temple."

"Great." Emeth spoke with more disappointment than expected.

Ry-Gaul smothered a laugh. On top of taking an unpleasant amount of artifacts back to the Temple, his Padawan had to also clean the Master's airspeeder.

"I can't believe this," complained the Padawan, "I lost a bet!"

"You mean 'investment,'" teased the Master.

"Aww…"

"Cheer up. We did a good job."

And it was true. They'd made it through the warring line of ships, broken into a Sith stronghold, taken the box of artifacts, gone through the warring ships again, and now were on their merry way back to the Temple… all in seven-point-three minutes. To top it off, the only "downside" was a smelly vehicle—thanks to Emeth puking all over it.

He'll have fun cleaning that up.

"Would you like to fly us?"

"Nah… you can."

With a laugh, Ry-Gaul fired up the ship, and they were off.