Part 6 – Alderaan – part 2
The next morning, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were preparing to leave when Lady Thul approached them.
"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked.
"To offer my help." Lady Thul said as she approached.
Sasuke drew his lightsaber, and activated it, the blade came just one inch from Lady Thul's chest.
"Your father seeks to steal the power and wealth my ancestor left for my family," Sasuke said, "How do I know you're not involved?"
"Because there is only one other person here," Lady Thul said as she focused her attention on the doorway to show Hinata enter, "My father ordered me to lock you here. I've been planning this since he killed my brother."
"Then you're on our side?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes," Lady Thul said, "What's your plan My Lord?"
Sasuke pondered, and spoke, "I have it," Sasuke said, "You have to follow my instructions to the T."
Two guards patrolled the shuttle-bay were having a conversation before they were simultaneously hit in the necks with sleeping-darts.
Hinata walked out of the darkness, the large box on her left arm smoking.
"Nice," Sasuke said as he, Sakura, and Naruto ran up to the guards, and tied their arms behind their backs.
"Thanks," Hinata said as she started up the speeder, "Get in."
Sasuke jumped in the back as Sakura jumped in next to him, and Naruto jumped in next to Hinata.
"Punch it." Sasuke said.
Hinata sent the speeder racing out the front, when they were flying away, Castle Thul's defense targeted their ship.
"Castle Defenses are targeting us," Hinata said as she adjusted the controls on the speeder, "Strap in and hold tight!"
As the four of them synched their straps as tight as they could go, Hinata jerked the controls to the side as Castle Thul's cannons fired two shots at them, missing the speeder by an inch.
"Think we should be clear as soon as we pass that mountain," Hinata said as she dodged another shot.
"Amazing flying," Sasuke said, "Where'd you learn to fly like this?"
"My time as a bodyguard," Hinata said, "I was once personal bodyguard to Mandalore herself."
"You're lying," Sasuke said as Hinata dodged another bolt, "If you were then why'd you quit?"
"She replaced me," Hinata said, "She found this new bitch out of Malacore V who was a master with a vibroblade and a gun," as soon as she passed right by one of the mountains, and was out of range of House Thul's defenses, everyone relaxed, "Mandalore booted me out, and I traveled the galaxy trying to find sustainable work, then I found my way into Lady Thul's graces, and I became her bodyguard."
"Nice career move," Sasuke said as he relaxed in his seat, "You get to live with a rich family, get paid tons, and live in a palace."
"Yes, no, and sort-of." Hinata said.
"Yes?" Sasuke asked.
"I get to live with a rich family." Hinata said.
"No?" Naruto asked.
"I barely get paid enough to stay in clothes," Hinata said, "Food and a place to live is part of my paycheck."
"And sort-of?" Sakura asked.
"I live in the palace," Hinata said, "But I live with the servants. They get fed the scraps while I get to eat with the family. They hate me for it, and they've tried to kill me over it on multiple occasions."
"Does Lady Thul know?" Sasuke asked.
"Lady Thul and I are very close," Hinata said, "I don't hide my feelings on the matter."
"And she allows it?" Naruto asked.
"She has little choice," Hinata said, "She's not the patriarch of the Thul household, she's the patriarch's daughter. She has very little say in any of these matters."
"Hopefully that'll change with this," Sasuke said as he opened the tracker he stole from House Thul, "This should give us a better idea of where to go."
"Then you'll need this," Sakura said as she reached over Sasuke's shoulder to hand him the disk they took from Ricard's ship.
"Thank you for remembering," Sasuke said as he took the disk, inserted it into the tracker, and turned it on, "Machine's working just fine."
"Then tell me where to go." Hinata said.
Sasuke pointed just off toward the Ice Caps, "That way."
"That's it?" Hinata asked, "Just, 'That way'?"
"That's all I got right about now," Sasuke said, "Right now it's just a ping on the locator off in that direction."
"Might as well get comfortable now." Naruto said.
After a few hours of flying, Sasuke noticed a chasm in the ice, "Set down over there," he said as he noticed that the signal that Ricard had planted was coming from almost a hundred feet below the ice.
As Hinata set the speeder down, and they disembarked, Hinata spoke up, "Is this the place?"
"Yes," Sasuke said as he dropped the locator on the ice, and smashed it underneath the sole of his boot, "I can feel it."
"I sense it too," Naruto said as he walked up next to Sasuke, "It's the same feeling we experienced in the Dark Temple."
"It's down there," Sasuke said as he walked up to the edge of the chasm, and looked down at the dark void.
Sakura walked up to Sasuke, "We going to get down there?" She asked.
"You're volunteering to go down there with me?" Sasuke asked.
"We went down when you created your lightsaber," Sakura said, "Why not down into a deep, dark hole?"
Sasuke turned towards Sakura, and hooked an arm around her waist.
Sakura hooked her arms around Sasuke's shoulders, "Hang on." He said.
Sasuke then fell sideways, carrying Sakura with him, Naruto and Hinata jogged up to the hole to see the two of them disappear into the darkness.
"How do you want to get down?" Naruto asked.
"How do you think," Hinata asked as she walked up to Naruto, and looped her arm around Naruto's neck.
As Naruto hooked his arm around Hinata's waist, the feel down into the chasm.
As they were falling, Naruto looked up at the darkness, but as soon as it got completely black, Naruto saw a glimmer of light which was bright green.
As soon as he could see the ground, Naruto's instincts snapped in, and in one quick move, he and Hinata flipped right-side-up, stopping abruptly just before touching the ground where Sasuke and Sakura were.
"Where are we?" Naruto asked.
"We've arrived," Sasuke said as he pointed off toward the darkness, "There it is."
"I don't see anything." Hinata said.
"Of course you can't," Sasuke said as he walked in the direction he pointed, "You're not force-sensitive."
Naruto followed close behind with Sakura in tow, and as they passed the crystals, the ones they were in the immediate vicinity of turned on, while the ones they walked away from went off.
As soon as they got a ways away, Hinata huffed, and jogged after them before catching up to them.
It didn't take too long for the crystals to illuminate a large structure in the wall which was surrounded by two large statues of Dashade warriors standing guard next to the entrance.
"This is way cool." Hinata said.
"Got that right." Sakura said.
"Come on," Sasuke said, "The answers we seek are inside."
As they entered, Sasuke could feel a lighter presence than what he expected, it was almost like standing inside a Grey Jedi temple.
"You sense that?" Naruto asked.
"Yea," Sasuke said, "It's very gray in here. Either this place has been tainted, or the Dark Force has been drained."
"Can you drain the Force from something?" Sakura asked.
"There have been some techniques known to exist," Sasuke said, "But such techniques would lead to long-term effects. Nobody would be dumb enough to attempt that unless they were crazy."
As they continued deeper into the cave, Sasuke and Naruto sensed something moving behind them, they swiftly turned around, and activated their lightsabers.
"What?" Hinata asked as she raised her rifle.
Sakura pulled out her own, and lined up back-to-back with Hinata while Naruto lined up back-to-back with Sasuke, the group formed a small square.
"We're not alone in here." Sasuke said.
A sudden shadow running towards them caused Hinata to fire her rifle into the darkness, a sudden shrieking sound pierced the air as a lifeless Abyssin shrouded from head-to-toe in black fell dead at Hinata's feet.
"Abyssin," Hinata said as she kicked the creature onto it's back, it was so pale it was obvious it hadn't seen the light of day in years, "What are they doing here?"
"My ancestor must have used them as guardians of this tomb," Sasuke said, "Keep your eyes open, and move slowly."
The Abyssin observed from the shadows as the strange creatures moved in an unusually formation towards their master's chambers.
They would have charged, and taken the opportunity to cut all of them down in one fatal strike, but they saw that two of them had what their ancestors called 'lightsabers', which they had been warned about.
They had been told by their mothers and fathers that they were extremely dangerous, and either meant that the descendent of their ancestor's master had returned, or the tomb was being ransacked by Jedi.
They needed to wait for their chance, but the older ones who had been there for almost two hundred years decided to sit back and wait.
It didn't take long for the team to arrive at a large door, Sasuke disabled his lightsaber, and walked up to the door. Really it was more of a wall than a door, as Sasuke reached out to touch the door, it felt cool to the touch.
With one swipe, he brushed a thick layer of dust off the door, the language was in ancient Sith, "Obey my law," Sasuke recited, "Fight with honor, for love, for the Empire, for family, and victory is always within reach."
The door suddenly shifted, and lifted, the Abyssin were in disbelief, no one had been able to open that door that since their ancestors.
As the team walked into the main room, Sasuke saw a small bazar to his left, activated his lightsaber, and lit it by placing the tip against the blackish powder inside the bazar.
As the flames ignited, the entire room was illuminated with bright blue fires which illuminated the room, showing the area they were a large statue of Darth Ragure, in his right hand was his lightsaber, and held in his left was a large chest.
"It's all yours boss." Naruto said.
Sasuke tucked his lightsaber into his belt, "I'll be right back." He said.
Sasuke gathered the force beneath his feet, and in one bound, leapt up to grab hold of the statue's right hand, and then used another bound to jump onto the statue's left.
As he stood in front of the chest, he used the force to break the seals on the inside of the box, and pushed the top to the side.
Sasuke reached inside, and what he pulled out made him laugh with joy, "What do you see up there?" Naruto asked.
"Oh it's beautiful," Sasuke said as he held up his hands to reveal fistfuls of gold and jewels, "WE'RE RICH! RICH!"
"What about the power?" Naruto asked.
"Take the riches first," Sasuke said, "It must be underneath it all."
As Sasuke lowered loads of his ancestor's riches, he found what he was looking for, at the very bottom of the chest was a stone tablet, he simply blew across the surface of the tablet to reveal ancient Sith writing which detailed an ancient ritual to unlock the ancient powers inside the tablet.
Sasuke jumped down to the floor with the tablet in his hands, "This is it?" Naruto asked.
"This is it," Sasuke said, "Come, we make for the ship."
Before they could, all four of them were hit with sleeping-darts which sent them to the floor.
House Thul's Captain of the Guard approached from the shadows, and retrieved the tablet, "We got it boys." He said.
"What do we do with them Captain?" One of the guards asked.
"Leave them with their riches," the Captain said, "They won't survive long with those monsters outside."
Sasuke finally slipped out of consciousness as he saw the Captain departing with his ancestor's tablet.
Guess what happens next…