PART

II

THE MYSTERIES OF DRAGUS

Chapter Seven: Flames

Koon, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Nya took a couple of taxi speeders to Quizaak's docking bays. There stood the Amber Crow. It was much more shiny that usual, and looked as if someone had just given it a very good polishing and cleaning. "Wow!" Anakin said. "I guess Quizaak threw in a free cleaning." "No, I didn't ask the Ithorian to do a cleaning." Obi-Wan said. "He only would've done that if I paid extra. Unless—" He turned to Nya. "You did it, didn't you?" Nya smiled. "Uh…yeah." She said. "Nya, you need to stop. Really." Koon said. "Ok, that was the last thing, I promise. That ship looked like a clump of crap! It needed a little shine. Even the hyperdrive was broken, so I had a newer, advanced one put in." "Thanks…again." Anakin said. "No problem." Nya replied. "I'm here to help, right?" "Exactly." Koon said. "Not to buy things for us." "Ok, slimeball, it was just a little gift for setting me free." Koon was about to turn on her but Obi-Wan held her back. "Leave her alone, Master." Koon said. Koon had a disgruntled look on his face, but he understood Obi-Wan and stepped back. "Let's go." He mumbled. "Everyone onboard." The three Jedi and their Twi'Lek friend boarded the Amber Crow. Koon, was a very good pilot, sat down in the pilot's chair. Anakin threw himself into the captain's chair. Nya and Obi-Wan stood behind them. "All systems are go." Obi-Wan said. "Good." Koon replied. "I don't have time for repairs."

The four of them were soon flying away from Tatooine, and were in space. "Which way is Korriban, Nya?" Koon asked. "I've never been there." "Mmm…" Nya said, considering. "It's been awhile since I've been there. Its not a planet people go for vacationing. But since Tatooine is in the Outer Rim, I'd say set a course for Manaan, then head west from Manaan. From what I remember that's where Korriban is." "Manaan it is, then." Koon said, activating some controls. "Prepare for the jump to lightspeed." Koon and Anakin strapped themselves in. Nya and Obi-Wan took a seat in the crew's compartment, in the back of the ship. Five minutes later Koon and Anakin came into the crew's compartment. "We'll be in the Manaan area in about 45 minutes to an hour. "Good." Nya said. "This ship is faster than I expected. I mean, if I was judging this ship by who was selling it, I'd say we'd be dead in about fifteen minutes." Koon went back with Anakin to the cockpit. "Pazaak?" Obi-Wan asked Nya, holding out a deck of Pazaak cards. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Obi-Wan." Nya said. "I'm much better than you." "We'll see." Obi-Wan said. Nya got her own deck out and they began. Nya won the set 3-0. Obi-Wan was amazed at how good she was. "Play again?" She asked. "How about something else?" Obi-Wan asked, laughing.

Meanwhile, Anakin and Koon were playing a podracing game on a screen in the cockpit. Suddenly, a blast hit the ship. "What the hell was that?" Anakin asked. "Someone's gotta get on those gun turrets!" Koon yelled. "I'm on it!" Anakin said quickly, rushing to the gun turrets. Sith warships were flying at the Amber Crow. "Die, Sith scum!" Anakin yelled, blasting a Sith warship to pieces. Anakin panned his turret to the right and saw a Sith warship flying full speed towards him. "Holy shit—" Anakin said, but he was cut off as the ship shot lasers at the Amber Crow. After firing, the Sith ship flew upwards. Anakin leaned back, making his turret point up. "Haha!" Anakin yelled, blasting the ship. The ship exploded into fire. About five buzz droids came out of the explosion and hooked onto the Amber Crow. "Damn!" Anakin exclaimed. "I hate these stupid buzz droids." The droids were actually not too hard to destroy; Anakin blasted them all in about 30 seconds. Anakin stopped, breathing hard. All the enemies were gone. Then he realized something terrible.

He rushed back down to the cockpit. "What's the matter, Anakin?" Koon asked. "How did those ships manage to find us while we were going through hyperspace?" Koon's eyes grew wide. "This has something to do with our mystery Sith, no doubt!" He exclaimed. "That's…unbelievable!" "He's using his Force Keylogger again, Koon." Anakin said. "It's not called Force Keylogger, Anakin." Koon replied. "But whatever it's called, its dangerous. I really hope the Sith is on Korriban so we can destroy him when we get there." "Fat chance." Anakin retorted. "He's probably somewhere on Raxus Prime or somewhere billions of miles away from Korriban." "We'll worry about that when the time is right." Koon said.

Soon, the Amber Crow was hovering over the ocean planet of Manaan. "East did you say, Nya?" Koon asked. "East." Nya confirmed. "How far?" "Not far." Nya said. "About four or five parsecs away." "Then there's no need to go into hyperspace again." Koon said. "The juice is probably drained away. We'll just fly there." "That could take a day." Nya warned. "Then a day we'll take."

The four of them slept on the Amber Crow that night. The journey from Tatooine to Korriban sure was long. Everyone was relieved when they woke up and saw the Amber Crow was hovering over the rocky brown world of Korriban. Koon was the first to wake. He stumbled his way to the cockpit and saw Korriban. He thought it was going to be a pretty sight. He was wrong. It was nothing but a ball of soil and rock. Suddenly, Koon saw tongues of fire erupt from a building on Korriban. The flames were gargantuan, they seemed to reach up beyond the atmosphere! Koon watched as the flames grew taller and taller. They weren't really that thick, but soon they reached all the way up to the Amber Crow! Koon jumped in the pilot's chair and steered clear of the flames. The flames didn't follow him. They stayed still like a fountain for a bit, then started its descent. Soon, the flames disappeared. "Well, we now know where to land." Koon muttered, jerking the ship into motion. He piloted the Amber Crow down to the building that erupted in fire. As he got closer to the ground, he saw there was a landing pad about 1/3rd of a mile from the Building of Fire. Suddenly, the intercom on the Amber Crow crackled and a voice said, "This is Port Official 309. We have you on our scopes. Please identify." "Uh…" Koon said. He had no clue what to say. "…Bartending service for Czerka offices arriving for duty." Koon made up. He then smacked himself. Bartending services? What was he thinking? "Czerka did not call for bartenders." The port official said. "You will be terminated immediately." "Wait!" Koon yelled. "What is it?" The port official snapped. "Did I say Czerka? I meant the Sith, I'm sorry, I get the two mixed up." Koon lied. The port official paused. "The Sith do not usually tell their requests to the port officials." He said. "They usually keep them private and only tell the actual crew bringing them the service. You may land." "Thank you, kind sir." Koon said. The intercom went dead. Koon rolled his eyes. "Moron." He said.

"I can't believe he fell for that." Anakin said to Koon, on his lie. "The Sith don't even have their academy on Korriban anymore." "What!" Koon yelled. "No, they moved to some strange planet hundreds of years ago." Anakin replied. "Why wasn't I informed?" Koon demanded. "I wasn't informed either!" Obi-Wan said. Anakin started to laugh. "Masters—you're not over 300 years old, are you?" They shook their heads. "Then there was no need for you to be informed. Everyone thought you knew they weren't on Korriban anymore." "But how did you find out?" Obi-Wan asked. "Checked it out in the Archives, Master." Anakin answered. "Boy, that Jocasta Nu is a freak. Every time I walk into the Archives Library, she runs up at me and screams, 'ARE YOU HAVING A PROBLEM, MASTER SKYWALKER!'" "Jocasta Nu is not a freak!" Koon yelled. "Yes she is!" Anakin said, laughing. "And her counterpart is even stranger—what's his name? I think Arthur…what's his last name?" "I think it begins with a W." Obi-Wan answered. "Not much is known about him. But he's very disgruntled and likes looking at pictures of watusi cows." "What the hell is a watusi cow?" Anakin asked, confused. "I looked it up in the Archives." Obi-Wan answered. "HA!" "Did Jocasta Poo help you?" Anakin asked sarcastically. "SILENCE! Can we please get back to the task at hand?" Koon yelled. "Hey, don't look at me." Nya said. "I'm not doing anything."

"Where do you think we should start?" Anakin asked, looking around. Korriban was a dump. "The Building of Fire, of course." Koon replied. "We'll see what we can find there."

The four of them walked to the mysterious Building of Fire. When they got there, they instantly hid behind large boulders because five guards in red uniforms were standing outside. They carried gigantic Mandalorian carbine blasters. "We should try to kill them." Nya said. "Then we can get inside." "Even if we do kill them, there's probably some code on the door that we won't be able to decipher or figure out." "We can break in." Nya said. "You guys have lightsabers! Just plunge them into the door and kick it down!" "Sounds like a plan!" Obi-Wan yelled. He jumped up and lit his lightsaber. "Over there!" A guard yelled. He aimed his Mandalorian blaster at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan blocked it and flipped towards the guard, chopping him in half. "It's a Jedi!" Another guard said. Koon and Anakin lit their lightsabers also and went to help Obi-Wan. Nya got out her vibrosword and charged forward. The guards weren't very tough at all. Within seconds they were all dead on the ground, now bloody corpses. "Hey, no code!" Anakin yelled. "Alright!" He opened the door. When the four of them were inside, the door slammed shut. "We shouldn't be here." Anakin said suddenly. He had a very serious look on his face. "I'm getting a major disturbance in the Force. Wait—It's coming to me…AHHH! Jocasta Nu just took a poo!" Obi-Wan flipped Anakin over and brought him crashing to the ground using the Force. "Hey!" Anakin yelled. "Quiet!" Obi-Wan yelled. "I am receiving a disturbance in the Force." Obi-Wan said. His expression was grim and serious. "I feel it too." Koon said. Except he didn't have that weird wide-eyed serious expression Obi-Wan had. Anakin turned around and tried to pry the door open. "It won't budge!" He yelled. "Let me try." Nya said, knocking Anakin out of the way. She tried to use her security skills to open the door. She failed. "Crap!" She yelled. "There is officially no way out. Not by this door, at least…" Koon lit his lightsaber and plunged it into the door. Well, he tried to. Instantly, a pink forcefield surrounded the door, and knocked Koon's lightsaber out of his hand. It clattered to the ground. Koon's hand was smoking. "Ow." He said. "Don't try it." He picked up his lightsaber and hooked it back on his belt. "So…" Anakin said. "Where do we go?" The building was relatively small. There were old gray fading walls, probably once splashed with color. The wallpaper was peeling, and there were no lamps except for a few dim bulbs hanging by old wires. There was a spiral staircase in front of them. "This place sure is a dump." Nya commented. "Let's go up the stairway since there's nothing down here." The four of them went up the stairway. The stairway seemed to stretch on into eternity. It was like walking on a treadmill, going somewhere that doesn't even exist. They finally reached two wooden doors. The wood was rotten and falling off of the doors, and one had a black biohazard symbol on it. "What's that?" Anakin suddenly asked, pointing at Obi-Wan's pocket.