A/N: May the Fourth be with you! Beware the Revenge of the Fifth! Happy Star Wars Day!
The primary entrance of the tomb split into a crossroads almost immediately. To the left and right were hallways that stretched on and were filled with a shadowy power; before the group was a door made of stone and decorated in ancient, evil hieroglyphics that, to Theron's Force perception, seemed to glow with the intense Dark Side power that was contained behind it.
Theron's mask zoomed in on the symbols adorning the door and analyzed them. With a beep so imperceptible that Theron almost felt he had imagined it, the symbols were translated at the bottom of his vision. "This is the Gateway to the Tomb of Freedon Nadd, eternal Lord of the Dark Side. His power will judge you worthy of entrance to his temple of power – only those who can fulfill the calling of the Dark Side can ever hope to bask in our Lord's glory. Go, sit at his right and left hand, pilgrims of the Dark Side."
Theron narrowed his eyes and the translation of the glowing glyphs that burned through the wall faded away. He walked up to the door and pushed on it lightly. "It's locked," he said. He walked back to the group and looked down both hallways. "The mask translated the glyphs – there is some kind of test down either hall. Ana and I will go down that one -" Theron pointed to one hallway, where the path was flanked by steam and, most likely, bottomless pits " – Rhen and Van, you go the other way."
"Oh, I get stuck with the Nerf Herder?" Rhen joked.
Van glared at Rhen for a moment, then sighed in annoyance. "Well, at least no one thinks I'm scruffy looking."
"Well, now that you mention it..." Ana began.
"Don't. Just don't," Van said, his face serious but his eyes joking. He pulled his twin blasters from the holsters on his hips. "Meet back here?"
Theron nodded. "See you guys soon," he said. He pulled his saber from his hip and walked with Ana away from Rhen and Van. As he and Ana crossed the threshold into the hallway in earnest, a shudder of darkness rushed through the air.
"Did you feel that?" Ana asked. She looked over at Theron, worry in her eyes.
"Yeah. We'll just have to be careful – this is too important to stop moving," Theron said. His grip on his lightsaber tightened.
"I never said I was scared," Ana retorted.
"Yeah – I suppose you didn't say it," Theron replied. He thumbed a button on his blade's handle and the white saber ignited into being before him, slicing through the shadows around him. "Of course, neither did I."
With that, the two continued down the hallway towards the source of the shadowy power.
SWSWSWSWSW
Rhen twisted between the twin blaster bolts of the Sith troopers attacking him. He brought his dual bladed saber parallel to his body in the air as he spiraled towards the gray and black armored pawns of the Dark Side. As he landed on the ground, he twisted his entire body towards the troopers and unleashed a massive blast of telekinetic energy at them. The soldiers' tinted plasteel visors shattered from the blow and the two were flung across the room in a heap – dead or dazed, Rhen was not entirely sure.
The twi'lek turned as quickly as he could to the sound of blaster fire on the other side of the room and rushed around a small, circular alcove in the center of the room. He twirled his viridian blades at his side as he ran, until he saw Van crouched behind a box while three soldiers blasted volley after volley at him. While they reloaded, Van glanced quickly over the box and launched two, precise bolts of blaster fire towards the soldiers. Two of the gray-clad enemy fell to the ground with smoking holes in their heads.
"This isn't going fast enough," Rhen murmured to himself. He glanced at the alcove and smiled to himself. He sprinted towards the wall and tossed his saber to his left hand. He changed his trajectory slightly so he would rush in a path tangential to the alcove, then jumped. He collided with the wall halfway between Van and the soldiers, then used the Force to propel himself again. He flew through the air until he was above the soldiers, and twirled his blade below him. The soldiers fired uselessly up at him, their lasers ricocheting off his saber and wounding them. The blades collided with the two soldiers, running through their bodies and reducing most of them to ash.
"Show off."
"Schutta," Rhen shot back at Van. The two friends grinned and walked side by side into the alcove. Inside, there was an ancient computer with a single huge switch to the side of many buttons. "So this will unlock the door?"
Van shrugged and tried to shove the switch. When it didn't budge he struggled to pull it. Again, no movement. "Then it must be broken," the pilot finally said, defeated.
"Hmph, let me try. I've actually got muscles," Rhen shot.
"Ha ha," Van said as Rhen's hand approached the switch. "Real -"
SWSWSWSWSW
Rhen stood before a pale figure in a room of Darkness. Rhen glanced around, and saw the two of them were alone. "Hm... you have great power in you, young one," the pale figure said.
Rhen returned his attention to the pale being. He struggled to make out features on the figure's face, but the other being was just far enough away that Rhen could really only guess at the figure's gender. The voice was even insidiously androgynous, as if the figure did not want Rhen to know anything about it. "Great power indeed. Ah, and a Liar. That's good, but you're still too bright, even with that shade."
Rhen found himself unable to respond to the being, and felt fear begin to ooze from his skin. He had the sense that the pale figure was advancing on Rhen, but the figure at the opposite end of the emptiness showed no signs of movement. "And that won't do. Not for your destiny – not the one I see. Oh, there is great suffering in your future. Great power. And with my blessing you will achieve that power. Oh, yes. You will free yourself from the Jedi, soon."
SWSWSWSWSW
" – funny."
"What?" Rhen asked, looking wildly around. He looked down at the switch, and saw that it had moved. "I – I moved it."
"Yeah – why were you able to move it?"
"I don't..." Rhen's mind flashed with the memory of a memory – a pale figure with burning eyes plunging into his mind. He shivered. "I don't know."
"Oooookay," Van said. "I'll chalk it up to Jedi weirdness."
The two approached the entrance. "Do you ever think what we did, with the mission reports... it might not be -" Rhen was forced to be quiet as he heard Theron and Ana approaching from the other end of the hallway. His orders were to remain quiet – the same as the rest – around Theron. He would question those orders later.
SWSWSWSWSW
Theron's saber slashed through the last of the Sith troopers that advanced on him, and he deactivated the blade. Theron immediately gripped his head and groaned – something was trying to get in his head. "What's going on?"
"Oh, do not fear Gray One," a voice said to Theron's right. He turned while igniting his lightsaber, and pointed it at a man. The man was dressed in a form fitting black robe, a silvery-gray and inhuman mask covered his face to give him an almost robotic facade. "I'm not here to harm you."
"Who are you?" Theron asked. The figure was quiet. "Sith, who are you!?" Theron glanced around, hoping Ana would have heard him – she was just on the other side of the room, after all.
"Your weakness cannot hear you," the black clad man said, his accent tinged with the same ancient twang as Revan's. Theron turned back to the Sith. "Before you ask, I did nothing to her. You see, I'm not here. This is your hyper-accelerated mind. We're talking in your head. I have to say it's a bit more crowded in here than in your blue friend's."
"What did you do to Rhen?" Theron snarled. He waved his saber at the figure and entered an attack stance.
"Oh, nothing. He won't even remember. Neither will you, but that's not the point. I find you worthy."
"Nadd?" Theron asked. His saber grip faltered for a moment, then he held it tightly once more.
"Oh, you flatter me. No, I was never on that level. I am but a nameless Sith who never conquered the galaxy or tried to devour it. In fact, I died here without even a battle. My brothers sacrificed me to try and stop three Jedi that invaded to prevent us from aiding our master. My brothers failed, from the looks of your weakness."
"Don't call her that!" Theron snapped. He lunged at the Sith, but the figure disappeared.
Behind Theron, the voice came again, "So you know she is your weakness. Good. You'll remember it, this, one day. But on to other matters. Your feel was similar to that of my ancient master, it's what drew me to you. The other Sith here, they passed my test – the test I created as the new guardian of the Dark power within this place. Enough to conquer a god. But only in the hands of true Sith. These other Sith – save one – do not know how to use it. To deserve it. But he lets them toy with it and study it – the one who took my master's name. He is here. He waits for you, the one with my master's power. The ability to devour the Force whole – unseen in so long. I judge you more worthy than even Nihl. One day, you shall remember that call within you to be more worthy than him, and you will conquer a galaxy."
"Shut -" Theron began, then shook his head. He looked at his deactivated saber on his belt, then back at the two soldiers on the ground. "Deja vu."
SWSWSWSWSW
When Theron and Ana approached the junction, they saw Rhen and Van approaching from the other side of the tomb. "Looks like that worked," Theron said over communications. He gestured with his head where the huge, stone door had once blocked their path.
Ana followed Theron's gaze, and remarked, "Well, that wasn't too bad."
"Oh, she can say stuff like that?" Van asked indignantly. "I say 'That was too easy' and I get yelled at for ten minutes!"
"Well, she didn't say that. She said what we did to open the doors," Theron said as the group met at the junction, "wasn't too bad. Not that it was too easy, just not too bad. You've probably jinxed us by bringing that up, though."
"W-wha – Oh, kark it," Van said, giving up the argument. "There's no point."
Theron snickered at the pilot for a moment, then gestured to his crew with one arm. "Let's see what we can find," he ordered. He turned from them and the four instinctively took a diamond formation with Theron at the head and Van watching their backs. The darkness in the air grew with every step, smothering the senses and reflexes of the group until the air seemed to resist their every step like the water in a bog would. Of the whole group, Theron seemed the least affected.
"This is terrible," Van said irritably.
"Just a little further down this hallway," Theron said. He pointed towards a cavernous room just a few meters ahead. Van grumbled in response, but followed diligently. When they finally entered the huge room... the path was still continuing. There was a fifty meter stretch of pathway downhill to another, more important area – Nadd's tomb.
"Oh, kark this!" Van shouted. He threw his blasters on the ground and fell into a sitting position. "I'm done with this stupid Jedi slag."
"What?" Theron asked.
"Well, no one karking asked you, you schutta!" Rhen shouted at the pilot. He pulled Van to his feet and shoved the man.
"Both of you shut up!" Ana hissed. "Unless you idiots want the Sith attacking us!"
"Oh, you shut up! We don't know anything about you!" Van shouted. "Especially what Gann said to you at the Senate debriefing!"
"Guys, you -"
"Shut it, Theron!" Rhen said. He walked up to his friend and shoved him. "You don't get to talk – thief."
"Um, Rhen, we already did this whole thing. Chill," Theron said. He raised his open hands non-aggressively. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be okay once I get that mask back from you, you kriffing nutjob!" the twi'lek growled. He lunged at Theron's face to take the mask.
"What the kark is going on!?" Theron shouted as he dodged his buddy's attack. The twi'lek screamed a battle cry and ignited his lightsaber to attack his friend. Theron barely raised his saber in time to deflect his incoming death.
"What is going on with you three?" Theron asked as he parried another powerful attack from his friend's saber. Theron shoved his friend away and entered a more ready defensive stance. "Rhen – what's going on?"
The Dark Side is powerful here, Revan said. They aren't used to it. Not as much as you are – it's hurting them. Breaking them. You have to snap them out of it.
Theron gritted his teeth and raised his left hand. "Snap out of it," he demanded threateningly. He shifted his feet and stood aggressively, ready to strike at his friends.
Ana, Van, and Rhen all stared at Theron's attempt in intimidation technique... and laughed. "Oh, yeah, you'll hurt us. Karking do it, coward," Rhen spat.
Theron narrowed his eyes and shoved his hand forward. He felt Rhen and Ana prepare telekinetic barriers in an attempt to deflect an incoming blow from the Force, but no such blow came. Theron grinned and felt that the mental barriers around each of his crewmates' minds were down. He assaulted each of them with the images of his nightmares, the terrible dreams of their utter destruction at his hands. The two Knights dropped their weapons and writhed on the floor with Van as a compressed layer of Theron's fear, regret, and compassion ran through their minds. A thousand times in a single moment. "A dark side inoculation," Theron said as they continued to see that of which he was so afraid. If his friends could overcome his fear, as he had, they would be fine. If not...
Theron waited for a few moments as his friends began to sob, and then lowered his hand to cut the connection. He deactivated his saber and took the mask off of his face. He crouched down as his friends stopped crying and began to shiver on the ground. "Now snap out of it," he said firmly, but kindly. "We have a job to do."
He turned from his three friends and began walking down the path, slowly. Eventually, he heard the quick pounding of their feet as they ran to catch up with him. "Is that what it was like... with Vash?" Rhen asked as he caught up.
Theron looked over his shoulder at his friend, and the twi'lek could see the fear in Theron's eyes. Rhen had his answer without a single word. Theron turned away from Rhen and slid the mask back onto his face while the group entered the final resting place of Freedon Nadd, onetime Lord of the Sith.
The room was a magnificent testament to the architecture of both ancient Onderon and the ancient Sith. The tomb was stripped nearly bare of its former glory by millenia of looting, but the sheer size of the room and the detailed carvings that ran from the ceiling and onto the floor spoke of the power Nadd once held in the Onderon system. The room was devoid of life, save the crew... and a single Sith. "I was wondering when I would see you again," the dry voice of an old man said simply. The voice was filled with both amusement and cold, ancient hatred. Theron looked across an ancient, still reflection pool at an old man standing in a shroud of Dark energy. "I see my apprentice did little to prevent your victory."
"Who – oh, you're the Sith that escaped," Theron said. He looked over at Rhen. "This is that Togruta's master. Meet Darth Coward, Lord of Running Away."
"Indeed. Perhaps Lord of the tactical retreat. I was a... scout, after all," The old man explained. "Is that what you would say, My Lord?"
"Indeed," a deep voice full of hatred came from behind the crew. Theron turned as quickly as he could, and his eyes met those of Darth Nihl. The man stood with his oddly shaped saber deactivated, but ready, at his side. He smiled grimly as Theron glanced between him and the old man. "Ha... You did well in your duties, Strahk. Did you not know how you had been brought to my attention, Gray Jedi? How the stories of the white blade found their way to my ear? Hm... Revan?"
Theron's blood froze, but he did not show his fear. He pulled his saber from his belt and the white blade sprang into existence, pointed at Nihl. The old Sith and Nihl's blades both sprang into existence, followed by Ana's and Rhen's.
"Ugh, I feel useless and anticlimactic," Van groaned as he unceremoniously pulled his blasters from his belt. He heard the patter of boots and saw a squad of Sith troops appear behind Nihl. "Oh, thank the Force, people I have the ability to fight. I'll just scoot... over... here." The pilot shoved a totem onto its side and crouched behind it.
The Sith and Theron's crew all stared at Van as he did this. "Oh, don't mind me," the pilot said. He fired a bolt of energy into the Sith squad, and one of them – the squad's leader – fell dead. "Fight begin?"
The room broke out into the hellish sound of blaster bolts and saber clashes. Theron leaped through the air to do battle with Nihl alone as Ana and Rhen attacked the older Sith together. "I think you'll find that I have the advantage here, boy," Nihl said as he shoved Theron away from the saber lock. The two men circled each other threateningly. "No surprise mask to call on – the Force here serves me."
The Sith unleashed a barrage of lightning at Theron, who was barely able to sidestep the incoming energy. The purple, arcing electricity ran across the room and collided with the wall of the tomb. Slabs of stone from the walls and ceiling fell with deafening crashes; stone fragments erupted from the crash sites and embedded themselves in the flesh and armor of all the parties involved in the fight. "Wow – I'm almost impressed," Theron said with as much false arrogance as he could muster.
Don't let him know you're scared. Sith feed on that, Revan said.
"Thank you," Theron mumbled through his teeth as he circled Nihl again. The Sith's power was increased tenfold by the miasma of Dark Side energy running through the air, while Theron's... well, Theron's energy level was about the same. To Nihl, "So, what crazy plans did you have for the masks? I mean, you obviously want what I have – Revan and Nihilus. Must suck, huh? Me succeeding where you failed all these years?"
The Sith was unperturbed by Theron's attempts to rile him. If anything, he was bored. "I dealt enough with the foolishness of immature children when I crossed blades with Cade Skywalker. I have no desire to deal with such again. Instead, I offer you power."
"Wow, you have the wrong idea about me," Theron said. He lunged forward with his saber, which was deftly deflected by the Lord of the Sith. Theron was shoved to the side and stumbled to stay on his feet.
"Do I?" Nihl responded simply, unnerving Theron.
Theron sneered. This was not going the way he had hoped – Nihl had Theron contending with his own emotions, and usually Theron was the puppeteer in that regard. "Oh, another head of state who underestimates me."
"On the contrary, I believe I perfectly estimate you," Nihl said, laying his words – and plan – carefully. He knew the truth of the boy, and he also knew how Horn, Soon, and Gann would react to the boy's anger. The trap would be laid for them to deftly stumble into. And the boy... well, the girl wouldn't hold him forever. "I know everything Gann, Horn, and Soon know – including where the last of the Fel Dynasty is."
Theron's eyes widened behind the mask. Nihl knew. He knew about Theron. And so did Gann. Which meant... "Gann killed my family..."
Nihl did not answer. "Join me..." Nihl said again.
Theron looked up into the Sith's eyes. The offer appealed to him, yet... Theron glanced over his shoulder for a brief moment at the crimson-clad woman fighting next to his blue-skinned friend. "No."
"A pity," Nihl said. He launched forward with his saber moving at a speed Theron could barely comprehend – yet Nihl could have gone faster. It was as much a test for the boy as a farce. Theron's survival despite the savagery, however muted, of the attacks unleashed towards him would show he was worthy of being Nihl's Sith Apprentice.
Revan's heir deflected each incoming strike with great difficulty. He was pushing his ability to deflect people's strikes using telepathy and telekinesis to its full extent; were Nihl any faster, Theron would be dead. He felt frustration rising in his gut as his arms were rocked again and again by the strikes of the Sith before him. "Do you wish to die, child? Surrender."
"Do." Theron deflected a blow. "Not." Theron deflected another blow and turned right into a slash at Nihl's head. One of the Sith's eyebrows inched upward in interest. "Call." Theron's saber was suddenly charged with lightning and Nihl stumbled backwards, electricity arcing through his body. The Sith's eyebrow was firmly raised. "Me." Theron advanced on the Sith, purple lightning arcing through his saber. "A child." Theron raised his saber and the world seemed to grow more clear. The mask hummed with energy and the electricity running through Theron's saber grew more powerful. With a jolt, Theron felt the Force lightning rush from his saber and crash into the ceiling. He looked up at the ceiling, where the stones, huge and deadly, began to crash around the tomb.
"Interesting," Nihl said. Theron turned to the Sith, who shrugged. "Retreat."
The remaining Sith troopers did as their master commanded, and ran from the tomb. Theron looked away and from them and saw Rhen and Ana narrowly dive out of the way of a falling rock. Strahk, however, was not so lucky. "We need to get out of here," Van shouted.
Theron nodded. "Yeah, we need to run," he said. He ran over to Ana and Rhen to help them to their feet, and the three ran from the crumbling home of the Dark Side. Theron glanced over his shoulder at the falling rocks, and thought, Gann knows. He did not know of the red that flashed through his normally gray eyes, nor did he notice that the energy in the tomb only served to make him faster for that brief moment. He did not notice his pure hate.
This isn't good, Revan said, barely noticed by Theron. Revan had noticed. To himself, the dead Sith thought, History repeats itself, doesn't it?