Part 7 – Alderaan – Part 3
He awoke to the sound of the Abyssin language, he sat up to see the Abyssin had surrounded him, "He awakens," one of the Abyssin said in his native tongue.
Sasuke sat upwards, and scurried backwards against the wall, "What's going on," he asked, "Who are you?"
"My lord," the Elder Abyssin said as he bowed in front of Sasuke, "You have returned to us."
"You think I'm Darth Ragure?" Sasuke asked.
"You have changed," he said, "But we have awaited your return for so long."
"Where are my friends?" Sasuke asked.
"They're fine," the Abyssin said, "Resting."
"Are the riches safe?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes," the Abyssin said, "We have waited so long for your return."
"Bring my friends." Sasuke said.
The Abyssin walked into the darkness, and came back with Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata.
Sakura awoke first to see Sasuke kneeling over her, "Sasuke," she asked, "We're still in the tomb?"
"Yes," Sasuke said, "And we've made some new friends."
Sakura looked around to see the Abyssin had surrounded them, but they weren't attacking.
"They served your ancestor?" Sakura asked.
"Yes," Sasuke said as he helped Sakura to her feet, "They think I'm their master."
"Good to see your taste is still the same my lord," the Abyssin said, "This Twi'lek certainly is a tasty meal."
Sasuke ignited his lightsaber, and held it an inch from the Abyssin's face, "Never speak of her that way," he exclaimed, "While you work for me you will show those under my command the respect they deserve!"
"Of course master," the Abyssin said, "Please, forgive me."
"What'd he say?" Sakura asked.
"He said you were a tasty meal," Sasuke said as he hooked his lightsaber to his belt, "No one speaks to my friends like that."
Naruto awoke next to see the Abyssin standing around, "Sasuke," he said, "What's going on?"
"Don't worry," Sasuke said as he held his hand out to Naruto, "They've pledged their support."
"We can count on them?" Naruto asked.
"Yes," Sasuke said as he held his hand out to Naruto who was pulled to his feet.
When Hinata came around, Sasuke explained the situation to her, and made the Abyssin pick up his ancestor's riches.
As they walked out of the tomb, Sasuke looked up at the exit, then back towards the elder Abyssin, "You know a way to get up there?" He asked.
"Yes, my lord," he said, "The stairs."
The Abyssin walked over to one side of the cave where a staircase going upwards was located.
The Abyssin led Sasuke and his team up the stairs where they emerged from a small hole in the side of one of the mountains to see it was nighttime.
The Abyssin breathed in the atmosphere around them, it had been years since any of them had smelled anything so fresh.
They were free of the chasm, but there was another problem, they had many, many Abyssin carrying part of Sasuke's ancestor's fortune, and their speeder was destroyed.
"This wasn't part of the plan." Hinata said.
"No it isn't," Sasuke said as he heard a large amount of engines running, "But that is."
What set down were several assault ships bearing his family's symbol, and what stepped out were soldiers from his father's personal army who were dressed in armor that resembled Sith Soldier Armor with some signature touches of his father's.
The soldier that approached him was a Captain that had trained him in armed combat, "My lord," he said as he approached Sasuke, and held out his hand.
"Good to see you," Sasuke said as he shook the soldier's hand, "You got a situation on Castle Thul?"
"Yep," the Captain said as he noticed the Abyssin standing behind Sasuke and his group holding bags of gold coins and jewels, "Who are these aliens?"
"These are Darth Ragure's personal treasure protectors," Sasuke said, then leaned in, and whispered, "And they all think I'm Darth Ragure."
"They obey you?" The Captain asked.
"Yes," Sasuke said, "We have to get to Castle Thul, now."
"Yes my lord," the Captain said as he turned to his troops, "Drop your nuts and move your butts!"
"Captain," Sasuke said as he drew his attention to the Abyssin, "They're coming too."
"Can't we just take what they're holding, and run?" The Captain asked.
"They're loyal," Sasuke said, "We can use them."
The Captain then signaled his men to take the Abyssin in the other troop carrier, and Sasuke signaled the Abyssin to enter the troop carrier.
As the Abyssin entered the carrier, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata entered the smaller carrier.
As the carrier lifted, Sasuke looked at the Captain, "Has our insider given us anything about Castle Thul?" He asked.
"Yes," the Captain said, "Lady Thul has provided us with a layout for the castle. But we have another issue. Just before we landed she contacted us again, Darth Saber has sent one of his Dark Knights to conduct the ritual."
"Kriff," Sasuke cursed, "I knew that walking sack of flesh and wires would get involved!"
"We still have a plan in place my lord," the Captain said, "We were waiting to hear from you."
"Nothing has changed." Sasuke said.
The Captain walked up to the entrance to the cockpit, and spoke, "Set course for Castle Thul, and arm weapons." He said.
"Yes sir." The Pilot said.
"What's the plan my lord?" One of the soldiers asked.
"There's a secret entrance into Castle Thul through a series of tunnels that run underneath the castle," Sasuke said, "That's our entry point as it should be mostly unguarded."
"Mostly unguarded?" The soldier asked.
"We don't know what the opposition will be," Sasuke said, "We'll find out once we enter the tunnels."
"What about the Twi'lek and the Mandalorian sir?" The soldier asked.
"They can be trusted," Sasuke said, "Trust them as you would trust me. We're part of the same team here soldier."
"Yes sir." The soldier said.
Upon reaching the cliffs surrounding Castle Thul, the pilots dropped below the defensive line where the defensive cannons couldn't get them.
Landing in the valley below the castle, the troops departed to find four Thul soldiers guarding the entrance to the caves underneath the castle.
The Uchiha soldiers fired a barrage of lasers into the Thul soldiers, dropping them in no time, and clearing the way for them to charge in.
Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata charged in front of the soldiers with their weapons drawn. Sasuke and Naruto's lightsabers hued against the green light crystals created an interesting color as they ran through the tunnels.
They soon came across ten Thul soldiers planting explosives in the tunnel, possibly to bring the tunnels down on top of them.
"Contact," One of the Thul soldiers exclaimed as he saw Sasuke, his team, and the soldiers.
His blaster pistol left his holster as fast as he could draw it, and he let off six shots in Sasuke's direction.
Sasuke raised his lightsaber, blocked the first four shots, and sent the other two right back at the Thul soldier.
The first shot took the blaster clean out of the soldier's hand, and the second sent him flying backwards, knocking over one of his cohorts.
Another Thul soldier raised his rifle towards Naruto, and fired as fast as he could pull the trigger.
Swinging his lightsaber left and right, the rounds rebounded off Naruto's blade, and into the cave around him and the group.
After sustained fire, the soldier's weapon soon ran out of ammo, but as he went to reload, Naruto threw his blade as hard as he could at the Thul soldier.
The blade sliced deep into the soldier's chest, and nearly cleaved his torso in half.
As Sakura took cover behind the nearest pillar, she quickly shot out from behind cover, and fired at the first soldier that came into the view of her scope.
The shot impacted the soldier's chest plate, and dropped him like a rock.
One of the Uchiha soldiers ran around the corner, and was nearly hit by a speeding round if Sasuke hadn't used the force to push him backwards, causing him to narrowly miss the shot by less than half an inch.
The Captain came around the corner, and took cover behind a small rock-fall next to Sasuke.
His rifle swiftly tore through two Thul soldiers before a single laser-shot forced him to duck behind his cover.
Another shot was sent Sakura's way by one of the Thul soldiers, right as Sakura turned, she braced for the shot to hit her right before a strong arm wrapped around her waist, and pulled her out of the way so fast she swore she was in the same place, but when she opened her eyes, she was on the other side of Sasuke.
"Nice save," Hinata said as she dropped another Thul soldier.
"Thanks," Sasuke said before he threw his lightsaber at the ninth Thul soldier.
Naruto threw his at the last, and both Sasuke and Naruto pinned the Thul soldiers to the wall.
When they walked up to the remaining Thul soldiers, they found them both alive, the one that was pinned to the wall with Sasuke's lightsaber spoke up, and said, "I didn't want to do this my lord," he put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "Long live the Emperor."
Sasuke and Naruto deactivated their lightsabers, and let the soldiers fall to the ground.
Naruto looked at Sasuke who was looking at the soldier, "You ok?" He asked.
"Yea," Sasuke said as he holster his lightsaber, "Let's get to the throne room."
The forces charged up the stairs of the tunnels into the main hall of Castle Thul where they saw Lord Thul standing in the center of the hall with Darth Ragure's tablet in the center of a large circle made of black ink.
Lord Thul was kneeling in front of the tablet reciting in ancient Sith, his wife and daughter were chained at the front of the castle with the Sith that Darth Saber had sent, Sasuke knew the Sith well, Dark Knight Kakuzu.
Kakuzu was known as the Zombie Sith, he was originally a Mandalorian Bounty Hunter who went after Darth Saber to collect a bounty posted by an unknown contact. During his fight with Darth Saber he lost both his arms, and one of his legs. Saber however sensed the ability to become a great Sith Warrior, and gave him a choice, "Join me, I'll stitch you back together, and make you as powerful as you can possibly become. Or I'll leave you to bleed out and die."
When faced with that choice, Kakuzu was very quick to accept, and somehow through advanced surgical techniques, augmentations, and heavy metal wires Darth Saber had managed to restore Kakuzu's body to what it was.
He excelled in his training, and quickly mastered the curved lightsaber, eventually forging one that could, when need-be joined together with another curved saber to create a unique double-bladed lightsaber.
He although didn't use the standard red lightsaber that most Sith use, back when he was a bounty hunter, one of his obsessions was Saber Crystals, his prized crystal was a purple crystal with a dark indigo center.
"Sasuke Uchiha," Kakuzu said as he walked down the steps from the throne, the grin on his face obscured by the Darth-Malak-like metal jaw that nearly touched his nose, "I thought I'd never get the opportunity."
"I'm the one who has the opportunity," Sasuke said as he approached the Sith zombie, "The last time we met was in that duel at the Sith Academy on Korriban."
"Like I can forget," Kakuzu said as he removed the thick goggles he wore to reveal the bright green synthetic eyes Darth Saber gave him when he lost them in his duel with Sasuke, "Now I have the opportunity," Kakuzu drew his lightsaber, the blade ignited with a sharp 'whuzz' sound.
"I'll deal with you later," Sasuke said as he ignited his own lightsaber, and walked towards to Lord Thul, "First, I have something to deal with myself."
"I'm afraid not yet," Kakuzu said as he waved his hand towards a small control-box mounted to one of the pillars which caused the pillars to emit a purple-hued forcefield which surrounded the room, and around Lord Thul's small area, "This is our fight first," Kakuzu pointed the tip of his lightsaber towards Sasuke, being as it was a bent hilt, he held it a bit awkwardly, "I Dark Knight Kakuzu, Apprentice to the Sith Lord Darth Saber challenge you, Sasuke Uchiha, Apprentice to Dark Lord Kakashi Hatake to a duel. A no-holds-barred fight to the death, if you win, you get Darth Ragure's powers. When I win, your allies become my slaves, and Madame and Lady Thul die."
"I will not lose," Sasuke said, "To arms, you zombie freak."
Kakuzu charged at Sasuke who rolled out of the way of Kakuzu's charge, and prepared himself.
Kakuzu swiftly turned around, only to have Sasuke block the swing from Kakuzu's lightsaber, push it aside, and swing at Kakuzu once.
Kakuzu ducked underneath the swing, and kicked Sasuke on the jaw which allowed him to backflip over the next swing.
The next attack came from Sasuke's lightsaber as he brought both hands down in an over-hand chop towards Kakuzu. Unprepared, Kakuzu held his saber upwards to block it, but Sasuke's strength caused Kakuzu to just barely get the block.
Putting his foot into Kakuzu's chest, he pushed the Sith backwards, gathered a large amount of force in his hand, and hurled it towards his opponent.
The gathered force missed Kakuzu, but caught his hand, and tore his lightsaber from his grip.
Sasuke charged, but Kakuzu sent a bolt of lightning towards him which he had no choice but to block with his saber.
Kakuzu wasn't unprepared, he always kept his second saber at the ready, as he activated it, he saw that Lord Thul was getting nowhere with the ritual, even though his chanting was on point.
Kakuzu charged again, swinging low, Sasuke jumped over the blade, jumped off the ray shield that surrounded Lord Thul, and swung his saber towards Kakuzu who jumped backwards to avoid being cut.
Kakuzu landed right next to his second lightsaber, and found that while Sasuke hadn't landed a blow on him, the hanging cloth on his black robe had been cleaved in half.
Sasuke gave his opponent a small smirk, Kakuzu pulled his second lightsaber into his hand, and combined them at the hilt.
He walked up to Sasuke spinning his lightsaber around as fast as he could, as he was walking, it was if Kakuzu was wielding a fan of lightsabers that was running at high speed.
Coming in with the back blade, Sasuke blocked the swing by holding the blade over his shoulder, then as Kakuzu came in with the forward blade, he swung his saber down as hard as he could, but Kakuzu flipped into the momentum of his saber, and kicked Sasuke across the skull.
Sasuke landed against the shield Lord Thul was behind, and raised his hand to his temple, what was smeared on his hand was a thick splotch of blood.
Kakuzu smiled, and lightly chuckled, only to have Sasuke wipe the blood on his nose as a war-paint design.
Kakuzu charged again, spinning his saber wildly only to have Sasuke dodge the blow, and graze the edge of his saber across Kakuzu's calf.
Kakuzu knelt on the floor to check on his leg, the mark Sasuke left was deep, but his anger pushed him to his feet, generating lightning in his hand, he pressed the electric hand to his wound, cauterizing the wound.
Sasuke walked toward Kakuzu who swung at Sasuke with the back blade of his saber, Sasuke blocked the blow, and as Kakuzu tried to swing the blade around his shoulder, Sasuke blocked it, threw his elbow into Kakuzu's chest, then threw his elbow onto the joint between Kakuzu's lightsabers, breaking it in half, and one kick to the chest sent his opponent stumbling backwards.
The stumble sent Kakuzu against the shield, and as he pushed himself off, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, and looked down to see Sasuke had picked up one of his lightsabers, skewering him.
As Kakuzu fell dead against Lord Thul's shield, Sasuke waved his hand at the shield generator, shutting the shield down, and allowing Naruto and Hinata to free Madame and Lady Thul.
Lord Thul chanted faster, and faster, only to have Sasuke get a vice grip around his throat with the force.
"It seems you're choking on your own aspirations Lord Thul," Sasuke said, "And your own ego. Only a force-user can unlock the powers of my ancestor," as Naruto and Hinata walked up to them with Madame and Lady Thul, "Naruto, if you would."
Naruto used the force to throw Lord Thul into the nearest pillar, and hold him there.
"You were curious why the power didn't at least reveal itself to you," Sasuke asked as he walked over to retrieve Hinata's knife, "There's no trace of my blood in you," Sasuke placed the edge of the knife against the area where his palm underneath his knuckles, and dragged it across his hand, "Tak siin dom ra ba'e brit tak muo dom ra ba'e," he held his hand over the symbol engraved in the top of the tablet, and squeezed a few drops of blood onto the symbol.
The letters inscribed into the tablet started to glow red, when all the letters were illuminated, a flash of light revealed Darth Ragure appeared, "Blood of my blood," he said, "You have succeeded in finding my power," he walked up to Sasuke, and placed two fingers from his right hand against Sasuke's forehead, and pressed the thumb from his left on Sasuke's chin, "Ri ay nrisit a' ztete."
As he released Sasuke, Sasuke went to his knees, and as he stood up, he held his hands out towards the fire urns that surrounded the rooms, and manipulated the fire to form the Uchiha family symbol.
Twelve hours later…
Darth Tsunade arrived on Alderaan, when she arrived at Castle Thul, she found the Thul servants cleaning the floor of the castle's main hall.
Walking upstairs, she found Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, one other, and Madame and Lady Thul sitting, and having a few drinks.
"Darth Tsunade," Sasuke said when he saw her, "Welcome to Alderaan."
"Thanks for having me," Tsunade said as she took the first empty seat she could find, "Where is Lord Thul?"
"Enjoying his house's hospitality in the cells below us," Sasuke said, "The bastard was on Darth Saber's payroll."
"How can you tell that?" Tsunade asked.
Sasuke reached behind the couch to retrieve two curved-hilt lightsabers, and placed them on the table in front of Tsunade.
"The Zombie Sith's lightsabers," Tsunade said, "So Saber's involved."
"He must be stopped," Sasuke said as he leaned forward, "His influence is spreading like a cancer."
"I know," Tsunade said, "Not even the Emperor himself knows what he's planning."
"But someone did," Sasuke said as he looked at Tsunade.
"Lord Mascaraed." Darth Tsunade said.
"He killed her," Sasuke said, "Now he's trying to have me killed so I don't discover what he's planning."
"I'll consult with the Emperor, and the Dark Council," Tsunade said, "You keep up your search. Maybe we can find a way to defeat him."
"Maybe Sasuke can defeat him." Sakura said.
"Sakura," Sasuke said, "I appreciate the confidence, but I'm just an acolyte."
"You're gaining more power when we find these tablets," Sakura said, "Show her your new-found power."
Sasuke held out his hand, and a small ball of fire leaped from a nearby urn into his hand.
"Amazing," Tsunade said, "Your new-found powers might prove useful," she then stood up to leave, "Continue your search," before walking out she turned towards Sasuke, "By the way, I'm taking Lord Thul into custody, but there needs to be someone in charge of the house. The decision is yours Sasuke."
Madame Thul turned towards Sasuke, "So," she said, "Should I start calling myself Mistress Thul?"
"No," Sasuke said, "Your title is still Madame," he turned towards Melina Thul, "Melina put herself on the line for me when her father, your husband wanted me trapped. Melina will run House Thul."
"So it shall be," Darth Tsunade said as she walked over, and held out a small coin, "This is your Emperor's blessing. Carry this, and you shall be known as the head of House Thul."
Melina took the coin, and spoke, "I shall carry this with pride," she then turned toward her mother, "Mother, I would like to make you my Special Advisor."
"Advisor?" Madame Thul asked.
"I can think of no better person to help me run the house than you." Melina said.
"Very well." Madame Thul said.
Sasuke looked back toward where Tsunade was standing to see that she was gone, she probably already had Lord Thul being carted off to some Imperial Prison where he'd bleed until he relents. It's a fate Sasuke wished on nobody, but then again he was an agent of Darth Saber, and he didn't wish Mercy on any one of Saber's minions.
As Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were walking back to their ship when they were stopped by the new head of House Thul.
As Mistress Thul approached, Sasuke bowed towards her, "Mistress Thul," he said, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I want to send you with a little parting gift," Mistress Thul said as she stepped to the side to reveal Hinata who was standing there with a bag slung over her shoulder.
"You want to send your bodyguard with me," Sasuke asked, "Why?"
"You're going to need someone to act as our mediator," Mistress Thul said, "Are you saying no?"
"I can't refuse the head of House Thul." Sasuke said.
"Good then," Mistress Thul said, "I wish you luck on your journey."
"Thank you," Sasuke said as he ushered Hinata over to them, "Let's get going."
Guess what happens next…
Translate:
Tak siin dom ra ba'e brit tak muo dom ra ba'e – The blood of my fathers released the powers of my forefather.
Ri ay nrisit a' ztete – You will learn to be better.