CHAPTER FOUR
Capt. Verlund stands on the top of a hill. Through his binoculars, he scans the valley below. The feeling of disbelief has him slightly shake his head at what he sees. He looks over at 1st Sgt. Weglarz.
"Looks like she's right on the money. If we ever get off this rock, I owe Sgt. Olyone a bottle of single malt whisky."
Weglarz quickly looks down at the valley below where a mining facility sits. "So noted, sir," replies Weglarz.
Verlund orders a few scouts and a couple squads out to the facility. As they slowly move throughout the mining facility, all they see is a place that time forgot. Piles of dirt-covered junk are scattered all over the ground. The strong winds blowing against the buildings create an eerie creaking noise. Each building that is searched yields nothing, except more questions. The troops eventually make their way to the mine shaft. Verlund is still on top of the hill, walking back and forth; he already "feels" the Emperor breathing down his neck when his commlink begins to chime.
"Talk to me," says Verlund quickly. The stormtrooper gives the all- clear but informs the Captain that the search throughout the compound is fruitless. Verlund detects a pause from the stormtrooper. "Anything else?"
"W-Well, you have to see it for yourself, sir," says the stormtrooper. Verlund and the rest of the troops quickly descend down the hill and head toward the mine shaft. Soon as Verlund gets close enough, he quickly understands why that stormtrooper said what he said. The mouth of the shaft is boarded up…or it was. Verlund approaches the stormtrooper.
"My God. Soldier…what the hell happened here?"
The soldier looks back at the mouth of the shaft, then back at the Captain. "Whoever was working here placed a metal plug that, from what I can tell, is at least several inches thick. In addition, a heavy excavator was placed on top of it. But as you can see…it didn't hold."
Verlund looks at the flipped-over the excavator and the metal plug…what's left of it. 'Whatever the colonists tried to keep in got out…with ease,' thinks Verlund. As he gets a closer look at the metal plug, he wonders what could have had the strength to do this?
A call comes in: The Emperor wishes to speak to him…at once. "Great," Verlund says under his breath. He quickly makes it over to Palpatine, who's standing right outside of the shaft, and quickly informs Palpatine of the situation. He is surprised that the Emperor hasn't reacted to the underwhelming info in one way or the other.
"My lord, I think it best if you head back to the colony while we head down and search the mine." Verlund sees a smile quickly appear on the Emperor's face.
"Your concerns for my safety are commendable, but not needed. I am very interested to discover the treasures the colonists tried so hard to keep buried. Wouldn't you agree, Captain?" The Emperor smiles once again.
Verlund sees under the smile and gets the hint: Do as I say, or things will get quite unpleasant for you. Verlund does his best to not let disappointment appear on his face. He quickly shouts out three names.
"Dzukya, Olyone, Tapalo: get over here!" The three sergeants make it over to the Captain, quick. His orders are simple and straight to the point.
"Take your teams down that shaft and perform a sweep of the sub-levels. Tapalo will take sub-level one, Dzukya, you have level two, and since Sgt. Olyone's team was were the ones who found that marker at the colony…sub-level three.
'Gee, thanks,' Olyone thinks. She thinks of few expletives for Verlund as all three teams quickly head over to the mouth of the shaft. The elevator easily fits every person. They wait as a couple of stormtroopers tinker with the elevator control console just a few feet away. The power quickly comes on like it was just shut off yesterday.
"Hang on; it may be a bit bumpy!" shouts one of the stormtroopers. As the lever is pulled, Olyone hears Dzukya make a short sound.
"What?" asks Olyone.
"Oh, nothing. It's just that on prior missions, you weren't shy on disagreeing with officers' orders. Now all of a sudden, not a peep? What would our CO think?" Olyone hears the slight snickering of the other stormtroopers. Even Tapalo can't help but crack a smile underneath his helmet.
"Oh, shut up!" says Olyone. Just then the elevator gives a slight jolt and starts to go down. The snickering stops and immediately every person's focus is on the objective at hand. Everyone looks at the elevator panel as the dial goes from main floor to sub-level one. It becomes almost pitch black as the elevator stops.
"Lights," calls out Tapalo. Everyone clicks on their glowrods that are affixed to their E-11 blasters. Narrow beams of light pierce the darkness of the cavernous tunnel. The same thing happens for Olyone's and Dzukya's teams when they get off the elevator and search their assigned sub-levels. Everyone on Olyone's team does their best to keep their cool. The dead silence around them is disturbed by the occasional crunching of someone stepping on some loose gravel. Some slowly sweep their light across the floor, while others do the opposite. Sasko and another stormtrooper are standing guard at the mouth of sub-level three, watch as their comrades get further away from them.
"I don't know about you, Sasko, but the sooner we're back topside, the better. This place creeps me out." Just then, a couple calls come into everyone's helmets. Tapalo and Dzukya reporting in: All clear.
Sasko walks up to the stormtrooper and casually slaps his hand on the other's chest piece. "You see? Almost done. Take a deep breath and relax. Once the sarge –". Sasko trips over a pronounced mark on the ground as he backs up, landing hard on his butt. The other stormtrooper quickly comes over.
"Hey you okay. Anything hurt?"
"Aside from my pride? No," says Sasko through winced teeth. With help from the other stormtrooper, Sasko is almost standing when he slips on a small loose rock. The stormtrooper's body immediately stiffens, which confuses Sasko.
"Gee, thanks—".
"Shhhh, Sasko, shut up!"
Sasko stops talking and listens. He can hear the rock skipping off the side of the main shaft almost like a rock that skips of the surface of a lake. Just then it dawns on Sasko. "It hasn't stopped."
The two stormtroopers get as close to the edge of the shaft and look down. They both call out one word in unison. "Sergeant!"
It seems like Olyone arrives immediately. She sees Sasko looking down into the shaft and follows suit. With the help of the glowrods' light, they see it plain as day: a hole at the bottom of the shaft.
"Hmmm…looks like the colonists found something more than just ore," says Olyone. She gives both stormtroopers a pat on their backs and quickly contacts Dzukya, Tapalo and Verlund on this discovery. Olyone does her best to keep the eagerness suppressed as she asks permission from the Captain to head down the hole.
Verlund thinks for a moment. "Permission granted, but keep your eyes peeled, Sergeant!"
It takes Olyone's team a short time to rappel down the hole, bringing them into another huge tunnel. They form into a circle, scanning the lights into the darkness and discover that the tunnel goes two directions. One stormtrooper checks their sensor for hostiles: no movement. As Dzuyka's and Tapalo's teams rappel down, Olyone decides to get a head start and splits her team to take both directions of the tunnel. Dzukya sees what's happening as soon as his feet touches the ground.
"Goddammit, Olyone, couldn't you have waited?" Olyone hears the frustration in Dzukya's voice but she doesn't let that stop her. This isn't the first time she has pulled this stunt.
Olyone and part of her team walk down the cave at a steady pace. Their motion sensors remain silent, but the blasters stand charged and ready with each step they take. She calls the other half of her team for anything new.
"That's a negative, ma'am," says Sasko plainly. "However, the ground feels like it's going—". The communication is now flooded with static. Olyone tries to call to Sasko but the static continues on. Olyone is about to call Verlund, declaring an emergency when she sees a white light come on at the end of the tunnel, like if someone just flipped on a light switch.
Just then the static ends and Sasko's voice can be heard once again. "Ma'am, can you hear me?"
"Yes. Is everything alright? The hell just happened?" says Olyone. She can hear Sasko breathe a sigh of relief.
"Oh, we're good. Just follow the light… You have to see this, ma'am."
Olyone and her troopers immediately start running. With every stride, they're getting closer and closer. Though the ground underneath the stormtroopers is uneven, no one trips or falls. Finally, they reach the opening and walk in.
"My God," Olyone breathes in awe. Before her is a circular chamber. The white light is a sphere that illuminates the whole area. As she looks about the immense room, Sasko calls out. She looks up, over her shoulder. She sees Sasko and the rest of her team standing there on a ledge that circles the entire cavity.
"Looks like this hunk of rock had more to offer than we thought, huh, ma'am?" says Sasko. "I've already contacted Capt. Verlund. He and everyone else will be here soon."
Sasko notices something that he didn't see initially. "Uhmm, ma'am? What are those?"
Olyone quickly turns, looking down at the ground. She sees what looks like to be markings. Sasko takes a quick look around.
"I count nine more - all in a circle, ma'am. What is this place?" asks Sasko.
Olyone walks about room. Hmmm…the markings are spaced out evenly, she thinks. Five on one side, five on the other. While old, the entire space definitely shows a somewhat pristineness to it. Olyone looks at one of markings again. However, these were placed. Respect was behind it.
She looks up and sees both Tapalo and Dzukya have now arrived, and are taking in the space. She gets their attention.
"You're now standing in a tomb," says Olyone. She waits as both of them finishes looking about the area. Dzukya is a bit awe-struck when Tapalo speaks.
"While all this is nice, I have just one question."
"Which is, sir?"
"How did whomever built this get in or out?" asks Tapalo.
Dammit! is the term that flashes up in Olyone's mind upon hearing that question. She wants to kick herself hard for getting so focused on the markings on the floor.
Tapalo is about to give out a search order but is interrupted when Verlund and the rest of 332nd arrive. Everyone parts when the Emperor walks in last. The chatter goes silent and all movement comes to a halt as all eyes focus on the cloaked ruler. Palpatine slightly leans on his cane as he slowly looks about.
"Well, well. So, I came out all this way for a tomb. Am I correct Capt. Verlund, or is there more?"
While the tone in Palpatine's voice is calm, for the Captain it was a dagger plunged straight into his heart. To have the ruler of the known galaxy taking subtle shots to one's abilities can eventually lead one's career into a screeching halt. Verlund immediately orders a search to find any indication of a way out of the tomb.
Thirty minutes have passed, no progress has been made. With each second, Verlund's heart rate goes up little by little. He watches groups of stormtroopers on the ground floor and ledge scour every inch of the tomb. Just then Weglarz comes up to him, with a low tone, wondering if he's alright. As Verlund thinks of how respond, Olyone is on the ground level just standing there looking about when Dzukya walks up to her.
"Jana, what are you doing? Just standing there with your arms folded is not helping us!" whispers Dzukya. While Olyone continues to stand there, Dzukya's words goes in one ear and comes out the other. She does this not out of disrespect but because two things are occupying her mind: one in the present, one in the past. As her eyes been affixed to the untethered ball of light, she replays a memory in her mind.
When they were kids, her brother wanted some glow bugs. However, with every clumsy attempt, he could never get them. After her brother quit trying, he told Jana. She spent a couple hours the next night observing the bugs, discovering that they have a certain "sweet tooth" for a particular fruit. Olyone goes up to a fruit tree, grabs one of the branches and shakes it, a few pieces of the fruit lands on the ground. She comes back and shows to her parents and brother a closed jar of glowbugs feeding on some fruit. Their mother comes over and takes the jar and gives it her brother, praising him for his effort as she rubs his head.
When it came to her daughter something different was said: "About time you were useful for once."
Hearing those words then and right now still burn for Olyone. 'Useful', huh? I'll show you who's useful, you—'. Olyone's thoughts come to a full stop when it hits her. She immediately looks up at the light and asks Dzukya for the electrobinoculars.
He hands them over, with a puzzled look on his face. "What are you looking for?" Once again Olyone doesn't respond. Dzukya watches as she takes a few steps back, looking at the light through the electrobinoculars. He sees her stop immediately. She quickly motions him to come over and take a look.
"Ok. So, I'm looking at a ball of light at the ceiling." Dzukya slowly lowers the binoculars from his face, looks over at Olyone.
"That's untethered. Which means that it can come down…possibly," replies Olyone.
Dzukya looks back at the light. "How?"
She looks down at those floor markings again. "Just call it a hunch." says Olyone. She calls over eight other stormtroopers and tells each of them to stand in front of the markings. She and Dzukya are to stand at the last two markings.
Verlund, who's watched this unfold, gets on his transmitter. "You better be right."
Just then, a rumble can be felt throughout the chamber. Those not standing at the markers quickly look around for possible falling debris while the Royal Red Guards form around Palpatine. As the rumble continues, the ball of light begins to lower from the ceiling at a steady pace. The rumble comes to a halt as the bottom part of the light forms into a point. It then touches the ground gently. As everyone waits to see what else will happen, on the wall nearby Dzukya two black lines come from the ground and draw out a large rectangle. The area inside the rectangle becomes dust and disappears, unveiling a large tunnel that descends into further darkness. Olyone turns, looking up at Verlund. She sees the look of shock on his face.
"I am right, Captain," she says, and to her credit she keeps the sass out of her voice. She turns around to look at the unearthed opening. Just then Tapalo walks by and gives her a "gentle" nudge in her side.
"When we get back to Coruscant…then you can gloat," he whispers.
Everyone quickly assembles nearby the mouth of the opening; Verlund gives the order to enter. However, before any stormtrooper takes a step a new feeling inhabits them. It's as if the discovery of this path released something thick just like a fog that settles on top of the tall skyscrapers of Coruscant.
Without any cue, everyone's grip on their blaster becomes just a little tighter. As they walk in, Dzukya notices that the light given off by the ball only goes for just a distance, then stops. Soon everyone is encased in darkness as they head along the path before them; instead, the light from their activated glowrods illuminating the way once again.
Continuing down this pitch-black route, the temperature gets warmer and warmer, and communications between the stormtroopers gains more static.
Verlund notices that Palpatine steadily moves from the back of the pack towards the middle but doesn't say anything. He calls to Tapalo via commlink. "Any changes?" he asks.
"That's a negative, sir. Status unchanged," replies Tapalo.
"Copy that, Sergeant. Continue on. Keep your eyes on the prize."
As soon the communication ends, Tapalo can see Olyone shaking her head. He easily knows what that means.
"Problem, Sergeant?"
"'Eyes on the prize'? What the hell does he mean? He doesn't even know what the prize looks like! I swear, these Imperial officers—". Tapalo cuts off Olyone before she can continue any further.
"Did my former commander talk to you and Dzukya before you guys left the Pestilence? Maybe talked about you having the potential of being an officer yourself?"
Olyone doesn't answer his question. She just turns away from Tapalo as they continue walking.
Tapalo continues on. "Commander wasn't lying. You do have it in you but…".
"But what," asks Olyone.
Tapalo pauses for a moment to make sure his words aren't misinterpreted. "Whatever that drives you into being a good soldier on the battlefield, also makes you a bad one off of it."
The words spoken by Tapalo almost stop Olyone dead in her tracks - but she can't deny it. She knows that he's witnessed several of her missteps in the past, but before she can utter a word, Tapalo just stops walking.
"What the hell?" she says. Olyone sees that he's looking down at the ground, so she follows suit.
Right before their feet isn't the same ground they've been walking on; it's something completely different. This substance is thick and strong, lining the sides and ceiling of the cave. Olyone, Tapalo and the rest of the rest of stormtroopers with them look on with a mix of amazement and cluelessness. As they shine their lights all over, this material has transformed the look of the cave in front of them.
A stormtrooper takes a closer look. "It has the composition of some sort of resin, but…"
"But what?" asks Olyone. She does her best not letting her nervousness show in her voice.
The stormtrooper peers at the wall. "Looks like this wasn't applied on like a paint brush. More like…a secretion."
Dzukya then chimes in. "I don't care how this stuff got on here…no one touches this, understood?" He looks around and sees everyone looking at him, nodding to his last command.
They slowly continue forward. For the next few minutes, not a word is spoken. All eyes are peeled, looking for any type of movement coming at them. Olyone does her best keeping the heart from beating out of her chest with every deliberate step. However, the more they seemingly inch along, the faster Olyone's heart beats.
'Goddammit!' Olyone wants to take her fist and slam it into her chest plate to get her stubborn heart to listen. She knows doing that while among soldiers, especially in an already increasingly stressful atmosphere isn't a wise decision.
Olyone takes a couple of deep breaths; her heart slowly acquiesces to her request somewhat: she'll take what she can get. She quickly checks her motion sensor: no movement aside from the troops. Olyone then takes a step and hears a squelching sound. She immediately looks down, shining her light onto her foot.
"What the hell?" Olyone slowly lifts her foot and sees this unknown substance stretch the more she raises her foot. Seeing this reminds her of field training back in basic training, slogging through yards of muck that made anyone puke their guts out. Olyone is about to disregard Dzukya's warning and slowly reaches down to touch the substance when she's interrupted by someone uttering a phrase.
"Oh…my…God."
Olyone looks up and sees the stormtrooper taking a few steps back, stunned. She quickly heads over to her. As soon as Olyone gets there, she understands why. There in front of them, the cave opens up into another massive chamber, and what looks to be the ruins of an underground city. As Tapalo contacts Verlund, another stormtrooper shoots off a couple flares. Everyone watches as the bright flare lights slowly descend onto the city ruins, illuminating it. Everyone sees that same unknown substance they just encountered in the cave has covered the city like overgrown ivy.
As a few more flares fall down into the city, everyone stands there waiting due to Verlund's order to hold position until he arrives. Not one person has lowered their weapon, nor let up on their razor-sharp focus - which is understandable. While the meaning of a hostile environment may differ from one stormtrooper to another, they all know it when they see it.
Palpatine arrives with another wave of stormtroopers. Without hesitation, he makes it over to where he can see the city ruins. Olyone watches as the Emperor slowly scan the area. She can't figure out if Palpatine is disappointed or pleased with what he sees. All of a sudden, he taps the ground with his walking cane a couple times.
"This material that we're standing on…I want samples. Is that understood, Captain?" Everyone turns around and sees Verlund standing there.
"Yes, my lord," is Verlund's immediate reply to Palpatine's "simple" request. As he heads over to Palpatine, Verlund takes in the view of the city as Tapalo briefs him.
"Understood, Sergeant. Keep your eyes peeled..." The Captain takes a quick look at the ruins. "...And I want no surprises." He reaches Palpatine and his Royal Guard and once again requests for Palpatine to fall back to the rear for his safety.
The Emperor slowly turns to the officer. He can see small smile appear on Palpatine's face, which throws him off. "You need not worry about me, Captain. I sense the end is not near." Palpatine orders him to make way through the city.
Verlund does what he told, but with the feeling of reluctance running through his body. The captain has been an Imperial officer since graduating from the Royal Academy in Coruscant. He knows that the decisions are made by people way above his current pay grade far away from the battlefield, then handed to other people that go through the meat grinder to get it done, keeping the mechanism of the Imperial war-machine turning. However, this mission gives him a different vibe: the vibe of one's personal gain than that of the Empire's. Palpatine's action so far have confirmed Verlund's theory more and more, but what can he do? He just focuses on finishing the mission and getting his troops - and himself - back alive.
