CHAPTER 17

At a splitting of corridors, Carletta parted ways with the two masters. It was not an emotional, nor a long departure, yet she knew full well how truly momentous the occasion was for herself and Matturn. It would be the last time their eyes met before she would commit treachery that had a horrible price if caught. Matturn had no clue though, so he only spoke with a brisk solemnity.

'This is where we part. Remember, head to the hangar and set off the alarm. After that, rendezvous with us near the vault entrance. Here, use this, but only when absolutely necessary.'

He handed Carletta a small comlink, but she grew with unease at the sight of it. The possibility of it double acting as a tracking device crossed her mind.

'I take it I'll find the vault-'

'When you feel it, yes. Now get moving. We cannot waste any more time.'

Jadus was already striding off down the corridor as Matturn lingered to send Carletta a curt nod. She returned it in earnest, yet her feet did not feel ready to move, bolted down by a need to say something more substantial, to ease, what she felt stupid in identifying as, her guilt. It would likely be the last time they met as master and apprentice, let alone meeting at all. In spite of the pain, the challenge and the continuous threat of death he had put her through, there remained a bizarre gratitude to the man. Without him, she would never have gotten to this point, nor have gained the confidence. Something had to be said.

'Matturn?' she called out while the Sith Lord moved away. His response seemed surprised, halting and peering over his shoulder curiously. He'd never heard his student address him beyond "My Lord" and "Master". Perhaps he thought it less disrespectful, but more refreshing, Carletta thought.

'As poor a time it is in saying it, I want to thank you.' she continued.

Not even his threatening mask could hide Matturn's utterly perplexed state of mind.

'Not long ago I never would have felt ready to do this kind of mission, but you trained me well. It took a lot of pain and misery, but you helped me fully trust my instincts and grant clarity to the Dark Side. For that, I will always be grateful to have had you as my guide.'

Considering the customs, traditions and typical behaviour drawn from the Sith, Carletta felt certain they were the nicest words Matturn had ever received. Being so alien to such kindness however must have explained why he stood in silence so long before he found himself.

'I only did the one thing Sith and Jedi do as one: pass on what I have learnt. One day you'll do the very same, Carletta. Assuming you get on with your mission and not mess it up.' he said mildly. Behind her mask, Carletta smiled, mostly in that her carefully chosen words raised seemingly no suspicion. The master and student gazed at each other one last time before they both roamed away along their separate paths. From that point on, Carletta would face a test beyond those of the trails on Korriban, one in which she would likely incur the wrath of an entire empire.

Reaching the hanger was only a short, lonely journey. The power remained out when Carletta got there, but it failed to stop her realising its impressive size. Larger than the one on Jadus' Star Destroyer, it boasted several shuttles and fighters, even a small cruiser. It was therefore unsurprising to Carletta that guards could be found in earnest numbers, patrolling their valuable spacecraft in spite of the all encompassing darkness. Fortunately, she entered well above them along the floor where service cranes stayed motionless. Yet Carletta wanted total safety, jumping silently onto the rafters. To her annoyance though, she felt certain she'd only put more distance between herself and the alarm. At least it gave her time to think of her approach on setting the plan further in motion, but the numerous guards left her intimidated. They were highly likely to be of superior skill to the soldiers she faced on the Star Destroyer, but it wasn't the reason for her unnerving. Being the citadel of the the Empire, Sith of frightening power were on call to assist at a moment's notice. Carletta would stand no chance and to make matters worse, they were now prepared to fight the intruders. She lacked a significant amount of surprise which was probably her advantage, leaving her at a tactical standstill. Yet an idea formed from her frustration.

Her utility belt hadn't come in handy until that very moment when Carletta finally bothered to remember its use besides keeping her robes from flailing. From one of its pockets, she produced a few small, back spheres. They weren't the most potent of explosives, but they would have to do. Acting fast would be the key. Any laboured pace would risk losing the remaining time in the dark before the power returned and Carletta couldn't afford to be that handicapped. She took aim at her target: an imperious looking shuttle and threw the small explosives on its windshield. A helpful nudge of the Force kept it straight and true. The blast wasn't fiery, nor flamboyant, but an echoing bang accompanied by a thick, jet black plume of smoke. Carletta doubted it so much as cracked the glass, yet it did the job in diverting attention.

In a flash of sweeping, silent movement, she ran along the rafter and leapt off, heart racing before clinging to a ledge on the wall. She let go and shortly dropped to the floor, making the slightest thud. A swift glance revealed the guards continuing to cautiously patrol after investigating the small blast. As dark as it was though, Calretta kept low, keeping aware of the dim emergency lighting and approached a control pad by the nearest door. Surely, an alarm could be set off here. She slipped out her lightsaber, but stopped herself with a jolt, realising her mistake in time. The less evidence, the better, even if it required more work, so she set about perusing the panel whilst shooting glances behind her at the guards. Impatience typically grew as she familiarised herself, but a couple calm breaths helped her understand what to do. Pressing a pair of buttons made a panel slide away to reveal its treasure. Carletta could have laughed at the glowing, blood red button. She expected the Empire to be less cliché, but they did have an affinity for red after all.

There was no hesitation when Carletta slammed her hand on the alarm. She knew what to do and had a plan already composed, yet it didn't quite prepare her for all the hell that broke loose. The chiming bellow made her ears ache, the flashing red lights almost disorientating and clattering of footsteps worryingly close. In her maddest dash, Carletta opened the door, spearing through corridor after corridor that glowed with the same red light before coming across a vent above her. She sliced it open and clambered in. A feeling of comforting safety eased her mind enough to try and focus on the vault's impressive energies, which she felt in a startlingly short time. It felt as though a non existent breeze was blowing her closer to it and as she did the breeze grew to a billowing wind that whispered with the voices of hundreds. Carletta wondered if this was what every Sith could feel, or hear. Maybe it was her thirsty curiosity and desire to blame, or she was, finally she thought, in the beginning throes of losing her mind. In the end she didn't really care, since it evidently got her closer to the vaults.

Few turns were taken inside the shafts. A few periodic lefts and rights were made, but Carletta's route stayed linear before she stopped, sitting above a vent that hovered over a red floor. Normally, she would be left with the debate as whether it were instinct, or the Force, but Carletta knew somehow the whispers told her to leave the safety of the shafts for the bounty of her quest. She held her lightsaber at the ready as she kicked down the vent and dropped below. To her continued luck, no soul could be found except for hers. A quick scan of the location left her gazing slightly at the sight. It was not an industrial looking corridor, but a grand, ambitious hall. Walls standing taller than her house held buttresses that leaned toward the centre of the ceiling, while hung up banners marking the Empire's insignia and long rugs coloured the place in bright, unapologetic red. The lighting was warm, almost welcoming in a bizarre way, but then Carletta held in a gasp. The lighting was on. Power had been restored, but how did she not notice? The ventilation system's whirring and vibrating would have told her. Turned out, she had to have been too overcome by the vault's enchantment. She cursed herself for it, but it wasn't going to stop her now, not when the entrance stared at her right in the face. It was a stone doorway, both ancient and stoic. A pair of red robed guards lay dead before it, clearly the casualties of Matturn and Jadus. Carletta duly noted she would likely end up just like them if they were to know what she was about to do.

The doors looked too challenging to even try and move with bare hands, indicating the Force as the obvious, and perhaps intentional, solution. Carletta held out her hands, urging the gargantuan pieces of stone to let her pass, but they proved stubborn. Greater use of the Dark Side was probably the answer, she reckoned. A flushing of rage, passion and fury surged through her, but her experience with the sensation let it feel more controlled, like a wild animal that understood who it bowed to. Nevertheless, it was still a wild animal, so she had to be careful and use it minimally. The show of power proved fruitful though as the doors opened slowly, rumbling as they did. Carletta wasted no time in slipping inside before they automatically closed again.

Once inside, she walked through a room coated in red and home to a number of giant, round, durasteel doors on either side. One of them was slightly ajar at the very end, a clear sign Matturn and Jadus had made it, but also a reminder that she had to act quick. Rendezvousing with them couldn't be an option.

The eerie calls of Sith holocrons continued to whisper, but Carletta paid them little notice. Instead she pondered how she would find the right door and if so, how to open it without any set off alarms. The Force would have to give her a hand in getting the first part right. As well as her ears, her mind opened itself to the dark, tormenting forces. She slowly walked across the room, letting the Force and her instincts ally as one in finding what she needed. For whatever reason, they seemed to tell her to stop and once her eyes opened, Carletta faced what she could only assume (hopefully) was the correct door.

The hard part had come at hand. Opening the door without any disruption seemed too hard to get around, but Carletta soon formed another plan. It wasn't the wisest move, since she had yet to fully master such an ability, but it had potential brilliance. She pressed a hand to the door, focusing, sensing, scanning for an image of the mechanism inside. The Force started to feed her an image, fuzzy and almost transparent, but possibly enough to succeed. She could feel some little wheel move slowly under her command. So far, it went better than any of the times Matturn tried to teach her the technique. It mostly ended in the two doing it together, but the solitude appeared to keep Carletta's mind sharp and open.

The wheel continued to move, faster and faster as it made click after click until the lock began to yield to Carletta when finally a thud from within told her of her small triumph. A satisfied grin grew longer on her face as she pulled it open and ventured inside the vault.

It was a vast collection of glows sitting upon piles of shelves. Almost all were red, yet some shined with that of a Jedi blue. The place practically breathed in the Dark Side as the quiet voices of Sith history grew louder. Carletta wanted to move slowly, get her bearings and maintain her as of yet unbroken calm, but if there was a time to act fast it was then and there. She jogged around the vault, glancing at any holocron that caught her suspicion, yet none felt correct. Perhaps she chose the wrong vault? She couldn't bare the thought of such a possibility, but it didn't leave her mind. It had to be in here, she just wasn't feeling the right wavelength, that was what she kept telling herself, but her mind began to be too frazzled to even think any more. The Dark Side leaking from the holocrons acted as though it were a poison. Ironic, Carletta thought bitterly, given one of them held the cure to a plague. Anyone would more expect that sort of knowledge to come from the Jedi.

'Jedi...' Carletta barely murmured, feeling the light turn on inside her as she spotted the nearest blue holocron and summoned it with the Force. Reaching out to it, she tried to read a taste of its contents, but the results left her doubtful, so she searched for another. The second was harder to find, despite the contrasting red making it stand out more, but eventually Carletta got her hands on it and she this time she was not disappointed. The small connection she had with the holocron brought about feelings of renewed energy, life and vitality. It was the one, the one she'd hunted for months. The sign that told her she could finally go home and made many nostalgic memories well up from in her. One last task remained however. An escape would have to be made.