Space Wizard
or
Yer a Space Wizard, Harry!
13
"I need a fucking car with a roof. Self-contained. Air conditioning and heating." Once again, I was on Korriban. And once again, I was reminded of how much I hated deserts.
Putting my griping aside, I focused on the drone feeds piping into my eye as I watched them infiltrate the tomb of Naga Sadow. I whistled quietly at what I saw as the drones flew quickly along the ceiling and spread out through every passageway, scanning and mapping the place.
A pack of big, fuck ugly beasties had made the place their nest. Upto sent a data file over some minutes after spotting then. Apparently, they were a species called a terentatek, which hunted Force-sensitives and came from Kashyyyk—the home of the Wookies. They were a high-level threat—vicious, poisonous, and absurdly strong. But apparently dumb. There was some fame to be had for killing one, as apparently they were pretty tough to kill. And there was a kill order on them—they were to be killed wherever they were found and a reward was given for proof of the kill.
"I do like money," I mused as I considered the monsters, while the drones moved deeper into the tomb. I spotted several droids that all appeared to be inactive when I made it to the tomb proper—apparently ignoring the drone that passed overhead. I searched the room and found a sarcophagus, along with some kind of device in the center of the room. Sending in more drones, I had them open the sarcophagus, only to discover that there was no body. No holocrons, either.
There were a few things of interest, however. Namely, a silver and gold sword with a somewhat jagged blade, a second sword that sat in a sheath looking kind of like a katana, and a blue gemstone amulet of some sort attached to the remains of a right glove.
"Mine, now," I decided, and in the spirit of Sith and Jedi everywhere, I proceeded to engage in some grave robbing. I had the drones collect the things and fly them back through the tomb, while a couple remained behind and examined the device in the room. After a few moments, I managed to get it working, and a hologram popped up above the device.
What do we have here? I wondered as I studied it. It was clearly a map of the galaxy, but where it led, I didn't know. I had the drones circle it, taking video as they went, and reconstructed the map on my side. Looks incomplete.
It did, however, have worlds highlighted. Sending a request to Upto, a moment later he identified the worlds in question: Dantooine, Manaan, Kashyyyk, and Tatooine.
I grinned at what I found, a sense of adventure filling me at the thought of an actual quest. Piecing together a hidden map to some secret of Naga Sadow's scattered across five planets and finding whatever riches, treasures, or knowledge he left behind, secreted away behind this much security. This is going to be awesome!
Because I didn't want someone following me, I used the drones to destroy the map projector and recalled all but one of them. With the amulet and swords collected and safely stashed away, and most of the drones stored in the carrier/support drone's belly, I ordered the remaining drone to zap the biggest of the terentateks with its laser. The big fucker didn't like that at all, and immediately began running after the drone, leading it out of the tomb.
Standing up on top of the speeder drone, I levitated my scythe into my hand. Hiding myself within the Force and cloaking myself under an illusion, I waited—though not for long. The terentatek came storming up out of the tomb, bellowing a roar as it did. I led it across the open sand a bit further before stepping off of the speeder. Pulling the scythe back in both hands, I hit the ground near the creature and ran at it.
Contrary to popular belief or what movies, tv, and anime tell you leaping attacks with physical weapons don't actually do much and, in fact, can wind up doing less damage than hitting something while on solid ground. This is because all of your leverage and power comes from your legs and their placement on the ground, your lower body, and putting your entire body into a strike to best leverage as much muscle as possible.
So when I hit the terentatek under the jaw in a rising swing with as much Force assisted strength and leverage as I could manage, with a claw from a krayt dragon that was immensely strong given how much Force it contained, further enhanced with alchemy to add beskar and join everything and refine the shape to make it more ergonomic and practical, and poisoned with venom equally steeped in the Force… It would have been severely weakened just from a scratch, if not dead outright. Instead, skin that should have stopped a lightsaber cold for the first couple of blows without some serious force behind it or leaving it against the skin long enough to burn through, parted like water.
I caught the head with the Force as the body hit the ground. Bringing the speeder back down, I mounted up and carried the head and body back to town, where I found someone willing to mount the head for me and process the body into usable materials—that is, after I reported the kill for the bounty. Even with a few million credits in my pocket, a hundred thousand credits was nothing to turn my nose up at, so I happily pocketed the money.
Then, I went back out and hit the other tombs on the list.
Drones really do make this so much easier.
Did I feel bad about cheesing tombs that were supposed to be a potential death sentence to young Sith just starting out, and a serious threat to others? Fuck no. Those guys should have worked smarter, not harder. Sucks to suck.
In the tomb of Marka Ragnos, I encountered my first Force ghost. A drone spotted him pacing back and forth through the halls so I had them avoid him. Checking his burial chamber, I grinned as I found a sort of sword or something and a set of black, scaled gloves that glowed faintly. Those, I brought straight back to me and, after checking the gloves to make sure they were safe, took off the armored gloves I was wearing and used alchemy to move the beskar over to the new gloves once I'd adjusted them down to my size. Taking the mostly ruined glove from Naga Sadow's tomb, I pulled the gemstone out of it and set it in my new right glove.
I whistled quietly as I spent a moment testing out my new toys. Both increased general skill with the dark side, but the gloves felt like they had somehow been made to increase one's skill with a melee weapon—increased dexterity and some kind of Force-granted ability to learn better while using them. The gem, on the other hand, was heavily geared towards increasing one's ability with alchemy, acting as a sort of focus for the ability. That was good for me, because alchemy was quickly becoming my bread and butter skill.
Shortly after I finished determining what the improved gloves could now do, one of my drones sent back an image that had me sitting up in my seat and paying attention. Deep inside the tomb was a pyramid, and at the very top was a pyramidal, d4 shaped holocron. "Ooh, nice. Yoink!"
There was just one problem with that. The drone couldn't actually dislodge the holocron. Frowning, I sent in more, to see if it was a matter of weight, but no. Something, likely the Force, was keeping it there.
Fuck. How much of a bitch is it going to be to get down in there? Going back over my data, I frowned as I went over all the threats.
First, there were some kind of big fuckoff black things that looked like mutant cats cross-bred with dogs. Upto claimed they were Tuk'ata, otherwise known as Sith hounds. I didn't care what they were called, they were between me and my prize. If I couldn't sneak past them, they had to go.
The second big threat was an army of droids. None of them seemed active at the moment, but that could change at any time. Those, I was pretty sure I could sneak by. They hadn't reacted to my drones, after all.
And then there was the biggest unknown. The Force ghost of who was probably Marka Ragnos himself. I didn't want to deal with some undead Sith lord. I was unsure exactly how to deal with one. But if it was using the Force to sense, then there was a chance I could just slip on by.
If, if, if. Too many risks. But the reward…
I stowed my scythe on the speeder and maneuvered over to the entrance. Dropping down, I hid myself in the Force and illusions, then slipped inside, moving quickly. Using the drones out ahead of me, I maneuvered around potential threats and actually managed to make it all the way into the heart of the temple, to the pyramid hidden within. Climbing to the top, I examined the holocron there, taking in its presence in the Force and the Force around it.
Oh. It's stuck there with dark side energy. I supposed it was meant to make someone use the dark side of the Force to try to pry the thing off, but… Why bother?
Pulling my lightsaber, I aimed for an area below the holocron and used the red blade to burn straight through the stone. In my eye, the Sith hounds and Force ghost perked up and started heading my way, so apparently there was some means to detect if the holocron had been tampered with. I used the Force to cool the stone attached to it, then tucked it away into my bag and started running for the exit.
I met the Sith hounds in the hall and leapt over them as they ran the other way, only to pause, turn, and start following me out.
And of course they can smell me, I realized, but kept running. Up ahead, a group of droids walked into the hall looking to see what the commotion was about. It quickly became obvious that while they couldn't see me in the visible spectrum, their scanners had no trouble picking me up with whatever they were using.
I slid under the first volley of blaster shots, before pushing myself back to my feet. The hounds behind me were closing in and drones showed more droids pouring in behind the others. Close quarters, enclosed hallway, enemies coming from two directions…
I pulled my light staff and extended it fully, the orange blades turning on with the iconic snap-hiss! and buzz of an active lightsaber. Ahead of me, droids fell apart as I twirled that end in a quick circle, while behind me a Sith hound yelped and jumped back as its face caught the blade, the five behind it coming up short. Deciding that wasn't good enough, I took a sliding step towards them and thrust out, shifting my grip on the saber and sweeping it through the space they occupied. The three in the lead fell apart, stinking like burnt meat. Another step and a couple of jabs put the other two out of my misery, and then I was having to dodge blaster bolts.
Retracting the staff and shutting off one of the blades, I used the other to deflect incoming blaster bolts, some of them even going where I wanted and hitting enemy droids. Pulling my blaster pistol with the other hand, I ran towards the enemy droids, opening fire as I did. I felt the recoil of the big blaster pistol in my synthskin and arm, but my aim never wavered and shifted onto targets with the fluid grace of the Force, and mechanical precision. My bolts punched through two or three droids at a time where they were standing in lines, and I started keeping a running count of how many multi-headshots I could land as I went.
"There you are!" a voice called from behind me, and danger blared in the Force.
I had just a moment to react. Tossing my lightstaff like a spear into the group of droids, I grabbed one in the Force and yanked it behind me, where it caught a torrent of Force lightning. Yeeting it at the ghost of Marka Ragnos, I grabbed downed droids and a few of those standing and flung those his way as well, before grabbing my staff and running for it as more Force lightning blasted out.
I turned a corner, issuing the recall order to the drones as I went, cutting and blasting my way through more droids. Finally, after a marathon sprint and a near miss with Force lightning, I spotted light ahead. Pouring on the speed, I shut off my lightstaff and slung it onto my back, leapt into the air as soon as I cleared the entrance and grabbed the seat on the speeder drone as it zipped down to catch me before fleeing deeper into the valley. Making sure I was cloaked again, I gained altitude and pulled myself onto the seat. As soon as I was safe, I pulled out my prize and used the Force to pry the residual stone off before tossing it overboard and securing the holocron back in my pack.
Alright. One more, I think, I decided, scouting deeper into the valley. Looking around, I found a large concentration of dark side energy pouring into a tomb. "Upto, any idea who this is?" I radioed the droid back on the ship. After a moment, he beeped a response and sent a document to my eye. "Tulak Hord? Huh. Alright."
Sending in drones, I hopped off the speeder drone and dropped the ten feet to the entrance. Following the drones' progress with my eye, I moved through the tomb slowly, feeling danger all around. The source was revealed my by eye and the Force, as I spotted pressure plates, sensors, and other traps that the drones hadn't tripped. But being able to see them and maneuver like Force users do made it child's play to get through. I spotted a few critters, some kind of big slugs that had eaten their way into a wall from outside deeper in. Those, I killed just because they were gross, before moving on.
The drones came across something interesting about the same time as they found the tomb—some sort of obelisk or something, and some deposits of what looked to be lightsaber crystals. Humming to myself quietly, I made my way to the sarcophagus room first and checked it out in person. The room was filled with statues of an armored figure I assumed to be Tulak Hord, along with a sarcophagus in the center. Making my way over, I opened it up and whistled. The sarcophagus was actually separated into two sections—the part containing the desiccated corpse of Tulak Hord, and at his feet a small compartment containing several scrolls and a holocron.
Engaging in the time honored tradition of tomb raiding, I stuffed the scrolls and holocron into my bag. On the body was an entire set of heavy armor, which I took off of him with the Force to study later since it was clearly still enchanted with Sith sorcery, alchemy, and other techniques. Under the helmet was a mask, and that went into my bag as well. Carrying the armor out, I closed the sarcophagus behind me and made my way over to check out the other finds. The crystals were a quick grab—there were only three deposits. One that looked like amethyst, one glowing white crystal that Upto identified as firkrann, and a lighter crystal identified as bondar. Then, I made my way to the last room.
My senses recoiled as I beheld a large, red… machine stretching floor to ceiling, set off in a room of its own. The entire thing hungered for blood and screamed nothing but hate in the dark side. I honestly felt sick just standing next to it. Reacting instinctively, I dropped the armor and called Force lighting to my hands—channeling it specifically with the light side. Bright, emerald green lightning leapt from my fingers and rolled over the machine. I felt the dark side around it recoil and redoubled my efforts. Switching my lightning to just one hand, I grabbed hold of it with telekinesis with the other and squeezed, then grabbed every surface I could get the Force into and instead tried to pry it apart.
Sweat rolled down my back and my muscles shook at the strain, but after a few moments, there was an explosion of dark side energy and the machine came apart in a shower of sparks, lightning, and molten metal. The corrupted dark side energy mostly dissipated after that, though still clung to a few pieces tenaciously here and there—those, I blasted with another dose of lightning just to finish the cleansing.
Inspecting the remains of the machine, I found, buried in the junk, a holocron. "So all that crap was made to disguise this?" Picking it up, I slipped it into my bag and left. The armor I'd taken went into my speeder drone's storage compartment, along with my bag, and I took off.
It was dark by the time I made it back to town. Riding down the dark, dusty streets, I passed a few groups of Sith acolytes on their way to or from from the cantina—apparently, even Sith liked to unwind. I considered it for a moment before shrugging and deciding to give it a shot.
Parking in front of the cantina, I made my way inside. I felt the Force wash over me and simply roll off as every Sith trainee there tried to get a feel for everyone else in the place. That drew a few eyes in and of itself, but I ignored them as I made my way to a booth in the back with a view on the cute Twi'lek dancing on a pole set in a lighted table in the middle of the floor.
A few moments later, a human girl came and handed me a paper menu. "What'll you have?"
Looking it over, I asked, "What do you recommend for a human?"
"This one is good," she pointed at one entry in particular and I nodded.
As I sat waiting, I slowly gathered more attention from the other Sith in the cantina. That attention increased when my food arrived and I took my helmet off to eat. The food was… not bad. Not great either. I didn't like some of the spices used and the whole thing had a somewhat greasy mouth feel that reminded me why I tended to cook for myself. Even the drink was sub-par—too bitter and with a weird metallic tang aftertaste. If I hadn't scanned it with the Force, I'd think it was poisoned.
Giving the whole 'cantina' experience up as a bad job, at least here, I paid and left. Need to go see if he's finished with my head, I mused, getting onto my speeder and heading that way. Behind me, I noticed some people leave the cantina and start down the street after me. Figuring it was just some drunk kids being dumb, I ignored them and made my way to the taxidermy.
That turned out to be a mistake, when I paid for my mounted head and left, only to find three Sith trainees in robes gathered around my speeder. "Help you?"
"Ah, acolyte, there you are," the one in the lead—a male Sith 'pureblood' leered as his two friends, a human man and another 'pureblood' woman, tried to loom threateningly at his sides and projected their intent in the Force. "Thank you for fetching that for me. It'll make a fine trophy, when I show it to the headmaster."
I felt a tug on the terentatek head in my hand, but used my own Force telekinesis to counter it. The Sith frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "This is your one and only chance. Leave."
The man's eyes widened as he took on an affronted look. "Do you have any idea who I am—"
"Don't know, don't care. Now fuck off. I've got shit to do and don't have time to be playing with children."
Reaching under his robe, the Sith acolyte drew a training saber—not even a real lightsaber, basically just a sword with a few extra functions. A shitty version of a vibro-sword made for training purposes. Beside him, his bookends did the same. The man on the right came in with an overhead strike at my arm.
I reacted without thinking about it. My right hand pulled my dueling saber and ignited it, catching the practice sword and cutting the blade, followed by the man's hands at the wrist—which sent him dropping to the ground, cradling his stumps to his stomach. My left hand drew my blaster pistol and I fired to my left, taking the woman in the gut as she tried to intercept the bolt but failed, while swiping my lightsaber through Sith twat's own training sword.
"Y-you can't do this! My father is friends with the headmaster—"
I silenced him with a blast of green Force lightning that raked across all three of them, putting them all on the ground. "Shut up. You had your chance. Now tell me, who else knows you came after me?"
"Ev-everyone!" the woman yelled, but she couldn't hide her lying intent.
"So… no one actually knows it was me you tried to fuck with. Great." I considered the trio on the ground. They were Sith. Not just Sith, but utterly incompetent Sith. The leader here was everything Exal complained about, while the other two were clearly riding his coat tails.
What made my mind up about what to do with them was simple pragmatism, in the end. If I left them alive, they would likely report this to whatever authorities at the academy and the news would likely make it back to the one asshole's daddy, who might actually be someone somewhat powerful. Or, failing that, they would hold a grudge and could come for me again later, when I wasn't prepared and wouldn't have the upper hand. I didn't want to deal with that, at all. No, it was best if they just died here and now. I didn't like it, but… I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
Shutting off my lightsaber, I slipped it back onto my belt.
"I knew you were a weakling! Yes, just wait until my father—"
I cut him off with a flash of green and blaster bolt to the head, before turning the blaster on the man on the ground bawling his eyes out. Finally, I turned it on the woman on her knees, clutching her stomach. "Wait! I, I'll serve you! I'll do whatever you want, just spare me!"
"Uh huh. Quick question. What were you going to do, after that asshole took my things? Were you just going to let me go, or were you going to kill me and leave my body in a ditch. Probably that one right there," I pointed to their soon-to-be resting place.
The woman bit her lip. "We, that, it doesn't matter now! You've won! Please, you can take me and use me however you wish! I'll be your servant, your slave, I'll service you sexually whenever you like! Just let me—"
I shut her up and holstered my blaster. Grabbing the bodies with telekinesis, I tossed them in the ditch off to the side of the road exactly as I said I would, before mounting my speeder and heading back to the ship. I left the academy after getting clearance to leave as Upto began sending me information he'd collected.
So, Exal's a few times over great grandfather was shot down over Korriban. That… may be what I saw in that vision. And Naga Sadow was killed and buried on Yavin 4. That's probably where his holocron is, since it wasn't in his tomb. Guess that's my next stop.
Heading back to my room, I grabbed my orange meditation crystal and went back to the cockpit. Sitting down, I reached out and took the controls with one hand as I focused on the crystal and trying to find that random sand dune. Following the Force, I flew us across Korriban, on and on for thousands of miles, until suddenly, I reached out and cut the thrusters, leaving us hovering over a random section of desert. But just reaching out with the Force, I could feel something below.
Grinning, I fired up the ship's scanners. "Well, would you look at that," I muttered and Upto beeped beside me.
"Yeah, the Force is kind of bullshit, buddy."
Bringing the ship down, I landed near the wreck and made my way out onto the sand. Using the Force, I began heaving tons of sand away from the buried hulk. It took a while, but eventually, I uncovered an entrance—or at least, something good enough to work as an entrance. Making my way through the hole blasted in the hull of this part of the destroyed ship, I followed the Force deeper into the wreckage.
Eventually, I came upon a sealed door that looked like it led to someone's private quarters. Pulling out my dueling saber, I cut my way through the door and use the Force to yank it out of the doorway. Stepping inside, I found a chamber full of possessions scattered all over, along with the long dead body of a Sith.
Also, a Force ghost, glaring at me as lightning crackled between its fingers.
I caught the blast on a shield of Force and held it at bay as the ghost began screaming. "Thief! Grave robber! I'll feed you your own guts!"
"Wait!" I yelled back as I held off the blast. "Ludo Kressh!"
"So you do know whose grave you dare to desecrate!"
"Yeah, because I'm dating your granddaughter!"
That brought him up short. The ghost paused and the lightning tapered off. Narrowing his eyes, he asked, "Just who are you speaking of?"
"Exal Kressh. Your, oh, about a thousand years worth of 'greats' granddaughter."
Frowning, the ghost of Ludo Kressh began to pace back and forth. "So then, Elcho had children of his own before he passed. Good," he murmured. Turning his focus back on me, he asked, "What does she look like? Do you have something like a hologram…?"
Holding out my hand, I created an illusion of Exal. The Sith lord frowned briefly, before shaking his head as a smile pulled at his lips. "I suppose it was inevitable that some of us would lose the more traditionally Sith traits… but she is a beautiful young woman. And you, how do you know her?"
Reaching up, I pulled off my helmet, before attaching it to my belt. "Name's Harry. I'm her apprentice. She's become a Sith lord herself, now. Promoted by Sorzus Syn and named Darth Finis."
He raised an eyebrow at that. "Sorzus Syn is dead…"
"Trapped her spirit in an amulet, then used it to possess a woman of Exal's generation—one of her own many-times great granddaughters."
"I see," he murmured. "Why did you come here?"
Moving over to an old, metal chair, I flipped it over and sat down. "Well, you see, Exal hates what the Sith have become. She says they're weak. Syn agrees, and I'm sure you would as well. Not just weak, but lazy and stupid. She loathes the hereditary Sith, who abuse their position and social power to get access to things they haven't earned and are unfit to wield. I wanted to track down something from one of her ancestors to remind her that having familial ties to ancient Sith isn't something to be just disregarded. She doesn't have to flaunt it, but she can acknowledge it and where she came from."
His eyes narrowed as he looked down at my hand. "I recognize that jewel. It belonged to Naga Sadow."
With a grin, I nodded. "Yes it did. His was just one of many graves I've robbed recently. Sorzus Syn, Naga Sadow, Marka Ragnos, Tulak Hord. You were right about that, at least. I'm absolutely a grave robber and have no shame about desecrating old Sith graves and taking their shit. But, at least in your case, it's for a good cause. She can use all the help she can get, given that she's working with Syn now."
Ludo considered me for several moments before asking, "Do you love her?"
I opened my mouth, then paused. Thinking on it for a few moments, I eventually sighed. "Yeah. I just don't want to move too fast and have things fall apart."
Nodding, Ludo turned and walked towards his body. "Come." Getting up, I followed him over to his corpse. With a gesture, he levitated a sheathed sword into the air before passing it over to me. From the corner, a diamond shaped holocron floated over. "There is one last treasure I would bequeath to my descendant. It is a gauntlet composed of five linked black plates of enhanced phrik. Each plate has a red gem chased with gold embedded in it. This gauntlet, I made for my son, Elcho. While wearing it, nothing could touch the wearer without their consent, and anything that tried would be repelled by the Force. I know not what happened to him after my death—only that he himself died some time not long after. Track down his final resting place and claim the gauntlet for my descendant… and you'll have my blessing to take her to wife."
Not that we needed it, but okay, I mentally shrugged. "Alright. I'll see what I can track down. I'll uh, try not to disturb him too much when I claim it."
Ludo nodded. "Thank you. Go now and see to your task."
"Goodbye."
With that, I left the buried ship. I had Upto access the academy records and dig up what he could find on Elcho Kressh.
Grew up on Rhelg, which belonged to Ludo and is an agri-world. His father sent him into hiding during the Great Hyperspace War. After Ludo died, he gathered a bunch of forces and was going to attack the Republic to restore his father's honor, but died… of a ruptured stomach the night before. He was transported back to Rhelg for burial. What are the odds the gauntlet is there and wasn't stolen?
Taking up my orange meditation crystal, I took us off planet and put us into orbit for the moment. Then, focusing on the crystal, I sought out that connection to Exal…