Last time: The Marshals found a communication center and another clue.

Now: The 19th stops at a familiar temple.

Chapter 9- Ghosts of the Past

"We're five minutes out, make sure your tray tables are in their upright and locked position. Thank you for flying Shades airways, we hope you enjoyed your flight and that we'll see you again real soon." Shades said over her shoulder to the cabin as she chewed her gum kind of noisily.

Cien sat next to Kyr, with Wynnie on her other side, and Scamp, Kelce and Nova sitting across from them. There were two other U-wings descending with them as they approached the temple on Morgual, or at least what remained of it. Despite the company she shared, she felt a deep sense of unease returning to this place, especially after what had happened last time.

"You okay?" Kyr asked her quietly.

"Yeah." She replied.

"So what happened last time you guys came here?" Kyr asked.

Cien wasn't sure how to answer, "Sasha and I landed, we went to the temple, and I… the temple's guard spirit possessed me and I attacked Sasha." She said quietly.

"Whoa," Nova breathed out.

"Are you sure this place is safe for you then?" Kelce asked, concerned. "Meaning, is it possible for you to get possessed again?"

"No." She said shaking her head, "Sasha destroyed the artifact he was tied to in order to free me, and the temple was destroyed. I'm not sensing anything on the planet." Cien finished.

Kyr looked at her worried. "Well, if you hear any ghosts make sure to tell us."

"Okay." Cien replied. "It's annoying, though. As the only Sith Lord in existence they should technically be under my command." She groused annoyedly.

Kyr smirked at that.

Scamp chuckled at that. "Well if I were in their shoes, I'd know not to mess with you."

"Well, see," Kyr started, "that might be the issue. If they're ghosts, they might not wear shoes in the usual sense."

Cien snorted in laughter at that, and Nova and Kelce snickered.

Scamp rolled his eyes. "Hardy har har."

"Landing in one minute." Shades said, as they felt the U-wing slowing somewhat. The three U-wings rotated and landed in formation. The two transports beside them started disgorging the platoon that Troy was leading. As the Copperheads left their U-wing, Kyr noted with some begrudging respect that the kid seemed to be deploying his marines well. Then he looked at the temple and blanched a little.

"You guys survived that?" Kyr asked a little incredulously, seeing the great pile of rubble before them.

"Yes." Cien said, "holocron explosions are oddly powerful." She noted.

"Okay, now I really need to get my hands on one of those if it can do that kind of damage," Nova said, admiring the destroyed ruins.

"You 'n me both Super." Kyr said. Cien rolled her eyes slightly in good natured annoyance at them.

"Alright, let's get a base set up and start scanning the perimeter for any sign of those raiders," Scamp ordered Troy.

"Yes sir," Troy said as he moved off to dispatch the orders to his troops and see to their deployment.

Kyr and Cien walked forward. Wynnie walked slightly behind them at a two meter spread along with Kelce, Nova and Scamp. Around them the marines were deployed in a perimeter at a wider spread.

"How will we know if the raiders have been here already?" Kyr asked.

"If they were looking at something in the temple, maybe they would have excavated the ruin somewhat?" Cien suggested.

"Well let's go take a look and see if we can find any sign of excavating or possibly a clue to the raiders having been here," Scamp suggested as he looked around the area from inside his bucket.

As they approached the mound of rubble, Cien came to a stop, looking at it.

"Credit for your thoughts?" Kyr asked her quietly after a moment.

"I remember coming here." Cien said, looking at the rubble with unease. "Back in my time. When Sasha and I came back it was just as it was when I was there. My workstation was even still there. It's just strange visiting these places again after so long, and after so much has happened." She said quietly. "And I'm curious why anyone would be visiting them again."

"Maybe for treasure and stuff." Kyr replied with a shrug.

She glanced up at him. "I've never heard rumors of Sith temples having treasure rooms."

"Not all treasure is gold and electrum." Kyr said at her side. "Artifacts can be incredibly valuable. You know what the street value would have been of your two sets of Mandalorian armor to the right collectors?" He asked.

"No?" She said with a quirked eyebrow.

"A lot." Kyr said dismissively. "A lot more than just the raw beskar from them, and that's worth a lot."

"Hey," Scamp's voice rang from further into the pile of rubble. "Wynnie, there's something glimmering over there. Go check it out." He was pointing at an item that was sticking up out of the rubble and was catching the sun at just the right angle to be visible.

"Okay." Wynnie replied, scrambling over the rubble to go inspect it.

"Here let me give you a hand," Troy said as he was also near the item in question. He climbed up onto the rubble and made his way over. He held a hand out to Wynnie to help her over the debris. With her stature she was having a little trouble getting over some of the larger remnants. As he held his hand out, she looked at it for a second, then glanced up at him with a furrowed brow before taking hold of it to scramble up to the top of the large broken block of rubble.

"Thanks." She said as she got her footing and quickly let go of his hand.

"No problem," Troy said, flashing a smile at her.

She gave him a weird look before continuing on and coming into view of the object that had caught Scamp's attention. She picked it up. "It looks like part of a mask of some kind." She yelled back. It looked like it had been shattered from some impact, and one part looked like it had been cleanly cut with something that had scorched it.

"What the hell? What could have made a cut like that?" Troy asked curiously as he stared at the piece in her hands.

"Mask?" Cien asked sharply, looking up at where Wynnie was.

Traitor Cien just barely heard as the faintest of whispers in the very back of her mind. She blanched and faltered back. "I need to go, now." She said, turning to head back to the U-Wings and taking off with a quick stride.

Kyr looked at her surprised and followed her. Worried about the possibility of anything that worried Cien, of all people, so much. She almost seemed… scared, and he had never seen that from her. "Everything okay?" He asked worriedly.

"I need to get away from this place." She stated as she continued with her quick stride, and Kyr lengthened his to keep up with her.

Kyr nodded, and spoke over his shoulder. "Scamp, we're heading back to the U-wings."

"Alright, we can handle things here," Scamp called back. A hint of worry in his tone about Cien.

Kelce, who was nearby watching, glanced over when they approached the U-Wing. "You guys okay?" he asked.

"I think so." Kyr said, as Cien didn't answer and just kept pressing forward back to the U-wing.

"I heard the voice of the spirit that possessed me." Cien said, into their private channel through their buy'ces. "And without Sasha here to help I don't want to mess with it. Especially with them here also." She said, worriedly.

"Got it." Kyr replied. He knew exactly which them she was referring to and agreed wholeheartedly, not only because of them but because of his concern for her as well.

Kelce approached from behind them, a look of worry on his face. "Are you sure everything is okay?" He asked.

Cien switched over to her exterior amp. "Yes," She said, answering Kelce. "I…" She hesitated, and then decided that there was no reason to not reveal it to him. "I felt the remnants of the presence that possessed me when I was here with Sasha last time." She admitted to him.

"Ah okay," Kelce said with an understanding nod. "So should they put that down before something happens?" He glanced over at Wynnie and Troy examining the mask.

"Probably." Cien said, after a moment, "I don't know how it could affect non-Force users." She said as they waited into the shadow of the U-Wing.

"Why are you guys back so soon?" Shades said as she was leaning against the exterior hatch.

"Ghosts." Kyr said. "Spooky ones."

"Oh, got it." Shades said, looking very confused.

"I'll let them know then," Kelce said as he started to turn and head back out to tell the others.

"Do you need to get up to orbit?" Kyr asked Cien worriedly.

"I don't know, I'm not sensing anything here that - " She stopped mid sentence as she faltered back slightly and put a hand up to her helmeted face.

"Cien?" Kyr asked in a slight panic as he stepped forward.

"I…" She stopped. "It's not from this temple. It's something else." She looked around, like she was trying to find something. "It's like… a warning, or a distress call." She stopped. It was like a harsh screeching sound in the Darkside. An image appeared in her mind, a sense of another temple. The temple of Barassina. "It's the next temple." Cien realized, looking up at Kyr. "They skipped Morgual and went to Barassina. And it sent out a warning that it was being raided."

"They skipped this place?" Kyr said.

"Yes." Cien answered.

Kyr put a finger to the side of his helmet. "Guys pack it up, this place is a dead end. The raiders are already at the next target."

"What? How is that possible? And how did you figure that out?" Scamp asked, bewildered.

"The next temple asked our resident Sith Lord for help." Kyr replied, as he and Cien started loading into the U-Wing.

"Okay, whatever you say," Scamp said. "I'll get the team wrapped up here. Have Shades get the engines warmed up and ready to head back."

Shades climbed up into the pilot's seat. "They're always warmed up." She grumbled under her breath.

"After Barassina, the next planet would be Braylore, then Abbiados." Cien said quietly to Kyr as they settled into the jump seats.

"Abbiados?" Kyr asked.

"Where my friends are." She said.

"Oh." Kyr said, "well maybe we'll stop them on this Barassina place." He said.

"Maybe." Cien replied a little worredly. She put her hand over her stomach without even realizing it.

Kelce came up the ramp and settled into his seat across from them. "They are packing it up right now. Might be another few minutes," he told them. He noticed her hand. "You feeling okay?" He asked Cien. "Sorry if I seem like a broken record, but it's my job after all."

"Yes." Cien replied, swallowing as she pulled her hand away. She glanced downwards. "Just anxious, I suppose." She said.

"Alright, if you need anything, just let me know," Kelce said as he gave a knowing look to Kyr.

Cien watched through the open hatchway as the Coppers approached, and the marine contingent went back to their own U-Wings. Another Sith, in a manner of speaking, had sent her all but running from this scene. This was the first time she could think of when she had walked away from a fight, the first time she had shown weakness like that. She sat there, anxiously awaiting their return to orbit, waiting to get away from the presence here who had possessed her last time. Not worried for herself, but worried for her children. She had her hand over her stomach again without even thinking of it as she worked to keep her mental barriers at full force in case the guardian spirit here tried to attack her. Or them. And she was afraid. When in the past she would have continued forward without a second thought and a snarl at this spirit that defied her status as a Sith Lord, she was leaving now, because, for the first time in her life, she was protecting her children. She was being a mother. It struck her suddenly that from this moment on, everything was different, in a way that she hadn't fully realized yet since she had found out about the twins before.

Kyr glanced down and took her free hand in his. And she glanced up at him. He cocked his head to the side a little, as if asking if she was okay, and she just nodded back, and waited for the others to board.

"Yo, Wynnie," Shades asked, calling over her shoulder as they settled in and Scamp closed the hatch. "The Eltee okay? I saw you guys sliding a bit on the rubble coming back down."

"Yes. There was a lot of loose rubble." Wynnie replied passively answering the question.

"Well it was real nice of him to help you," Nova teased as she sat down next to Kelce, who was now trying to keep a smile at bay. Scamp just rolled his eyes at them as he resumed his seat.

Wynnie glanced at her, and her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "He was the one who slipped." She stated. "I helped him."

Cien took her helmet off to breathe a little easier as next to her Kyr did the same. She glanced over at Wynnie with a hidden smirk, the banter easing her anxiety especially as Shades took off, taking them away from the planet. "That was kind of you, I'm sure he appreciated you giving him your hand."

"He seemed to." Wynnie said with a shrug.

Kyr looked between all of them, biting his tongue and looking quite disapproving.

"Well it's a good thing you were there to help him then," Nova said, smiling.

"Yeah, he almost slipped and fell into a big opening in the rubble that was pretty deep." Wynnie replied with another shrug, confused as to why they were talking so much about Troy.

"Oh wow. Well it's a good thing he didn't," Nova said. "I'm pretty sure the Admiral would have been peeved that her son fell into a hole."

"You know, I've heard of guys falling for girls before, but not like this," Kelce leaned over and said to Nova in a low enough voice, though Scamp actually heard it. The clone bit his tongue and was grateful to still be wearing his bucket to hide his smile and growing snicker.

Wynnie narrowed her eyes and looked at Kelce and Nova suspiciously. "Well he didn't fall." She said, annoyed with them.

Shades, who had heard the entire exchange through her intercom mic, including Kelce's comment, chuckled. "Well hopefully you'll be there in case our bumbling new Lieutenant slips again."

Wynnie shot a look at the back of her pilot's helmet. Then grumbled to herself. "He's not bumbling, the rocks were just loose."

Nova suppressed a giggle. "Whatever you say, Wynn."

Wynnie shot her a glare, outside the window they were breaking atmosphere. "Tro-" She stopped, "the lieutenant just slipped, a little." She said, "why's everyone making such a big deal of it?" She grumbled annoyed.

"Oh, yeah he definitely fell, a little." Shades said with a snicker.

"Just not from the rocks." Cien finished under her breath.

Kyr shot Cien a very annoyed look at that and she smirked. Shades was trying to stifle a chuckle. Nova took a shaky breath to keep from bursting into laughter. Kelce just smiled and looked out the window. Scamp just scratched the rim of his bucket as a quiet chuckle could be heard from under it. Wynnie just sat there confused trying to figure out what they meant and why they were talking about the lieutenant so much.

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