Last time: Kyr teased Scamp about how he asked Sulam out as they arrive.

Now: The Coppers meet the archiologists.

Chapter 19- Doctor Jahq'sun

Doctor Jahq'sun wiped the sweat off his brow, and he looked at his glasses, frowning at the dust that had collected on the lenses. The red dust of this planet got everywhere, and it was rich in clay, so it stuck to everything. He took out a handkerchief and wiped the lenses down as he considered the far away view of the now dormant volcano. Nearly 2,700 years ago, it had erupted, blanketing this plain in meters of ash and soot. The temple they were excavating had been caught in the wake, and only the very top of the decorative spires stuck out from what was now the ground. As far as they could tell the inhabitants had been able to get away, but they'd had to evacuate in a hurry. He could easily imagine them flying overhead in the various Sith vessels they might have had in the hangar, looking down upon their temple as ash and pyroclastic flows blanketed their temple, sealing it away in the waning days of their empire.

The Sith were an interesting culture, to him at least. They had risen to power, and there was a great deal known about them from the Republic history banks, and the various cultures in the galaxy that had dealt with them in their time. But he was curious to learn more from their side. Painted as the villains, and rightly so, he had to admit, all of the known history of their culture was from the view point of those who fought them, or been conquered by them. And that was enough for most people to know. But he had read a paper about ten years ago when he was just starting his career, fresh out of college, reading about another archeologist, like him, who had found a Sith cookbook of all things. He had even tried making a few of the recipes, and even if they were far too spicy for his palate, it made him fascinated to learn about that other side of their lives. The mundane part of their lives that the war records never recorded. They were a terrible people, by all accounts, but in the end they were just people. And it was fascinating to learn what made them tick, and to try to understand what made them see the galaxy the way they did.

He looked up from wiping his glasses. His vision was blurred so he couldn't see very far at all, only the vague outline of the volcano that dominated the skyline. There was a glint in the sky that pierced even his poor vision though. He slipped his glasses on, and instantly his vision sharpened so he could see some kind of Corellian freighter and some other craft he didn't really recognize. His eyes widened, he knew about the raids that had happened at the other sites, were these the raiders?

"Doctor Jahq'sun!" One of the other archeologists, Mariss, said loudly as she ran up. "We've got ships, they say they're with the Republic."

He turned to look at Mariss. "Why are they here? Did they say?"

"They're part of the team investigating the attacks, they came here to see if we were in trouble."

"Well we're not-" He was interrupted by a sneeze, luckily he still had his handkerchief in hand. He looked back at the ships still coming in for a landing. "Last thing we need are a bunch of soldiers picking over the site." He groused as he snorted into his blanket.

"The guy on the com sounded kinda gruff, and wouldn't listen when I said all was well." She said, as they started hurrying back to the site. "He called me… kid." She stated with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Well hopefully they'll be on their way after they see there's nothing here to be worried about." Jahq'sun said.

"Did it look like this when you were here?" Kyr asked as they settled into their landing spot next to the craft that was here as part of the expedition.

"No." Cien replied. "There was a volcanic eruption that buried it after I visited. What you're seeing is just the top spires, it's a complex of pyramids. Those are just the spires sticking out from the main archive temple."

"Oh, neat." Kyr said, genuinely interested, looking at it and trying to imagine what might be underground.

"Well let's go meet up with the archeologists and then maybe do a little exploring," Scamp suggested as he rose from his seat, bucket at hand. "It looks like we may have beaten the raiders here."

"Yes." Cien said, grabbing her buy'ce and getting up from her seat as Kyr did the same.

Scamp nodded and headed out of the cockpit towards the ramp of the ship.

Kyr followed Cien out behind Scamp. "You know these people very well?" He asked.

"No, not really. Just simple correspondence and some brief messages." She admitted.

"Well, I'll try to make a good impression." He said pleasantly, putting his helmet on.

She shot him a wry glance before she did the same as they came into the lounge from the cockpit outrigger.

"Hey kids, we're here." Kyr said to Nova, Kelce and Wynnie. Wynnie was slouching on the sofa, though she moved to grab her rifle and rotary cannon where she had left them on the floor of the lounge.

"Cool," Nova said as she got up. Kelce shrugged on his pack and followed after her and the others towards the ramp.

Kyr stepped around Cien as they got to the ramp, she glanced up at him with a slight frown but didn't say anything as they stepped on it as it lowered, walking down from behind the gush of the roiling gasses that shot out from the nozzles around the ramp.

Scamp followed after them as he slipped on his bucket and glanced around the terrain then at his boots. "Well so much for my white armor staying white," he joked as he walked across the red dirt landscape.

Cien glanced down at her own armor. "You and me both Scamp." She grimaced, thinking of having to clean her highly polished Beskar again.

"See." Kyr said, "my stuff will look fine after this." He said with a chuckle.

"Well aren't you special," Scamp snarled with an eye roll that was obvious in his voice.

"That's what mom always said." Kyr smirked back over his shoulder. "Let me handle the introductions. These look like my kind of people." Kyr said assuredly. From behind him, Kelce and Nova exchanged a bemused glance at that.

Doctor Jahq'sun balked as he looked through the electrobinoculars to see who was walking down the ramp. They said they were Republic military, but he saw two Mandalorians and some others that looked more like raiders than soldiers. "Stay here." He told his colleagues as they hunkered in the ruins. He tried to sound confident but the worried tone came through. As he walked away he heard footsteps beside him, and he glanced over at Mariss.

"What? You thought you were going to meet them alone?" Mariss asked with a quirked brow. "How often do you get to meet Mandalorians?"

He sneezed unto the handkerchief, "never, really," he replied, "unless you have a bounty on your head." He grumbled thoughtfully. "Do you think these guys might be the raiders?" He asked her.

"I doubt it," Mariss said, shrugging. "That tall one in the back has a New Republic medic patch on his jacket. Plus they haven't started threatening us."

"Fair." he said as he blew his nose. "Next site we go to needs to be someplace less dusty.

"I've already made a note of it," She smirked.

"Thanks." He said with a smirk.

"Meg'laam." The copper-plated Mandalorian said as they came within hailing distance, "you folks seen any raiders 'round these parts?"

Jahq'sun could have sworn he could see the shorter, silver plated Mandalorian rolling her eyes. "No?" He replied, "who are you?"

"We are with the New Republic," Scamp spoke up.

"Well I'm Mariss and this Dr. Jahq'sun," Mariss introduced with a smile.

"Nice to meet you." The copper Mando said. "You got a first name?" He asked the bespectacled doctor.

"Danyir, but -" he was interrupted.

"Nice to meet you Dan, can I call you Dan?"

"No -"

"Okay Danny, nice to meet you. I'm Kyr, retired Colonel, this is my wife Cien, this is Scamp, Nova, Kelce and Wynnie."

"Nice to meet all of you." Doctor Jahq'sun said, a little bewildered, especially meeting someone whose name meant Death. "Why are you here? Are you expecting an attack?" He asked.

"We were following the raiders in the hope of stopping them," Scamp explained. "Cien, however, figured out the order the raiders were attacking. So we came here in the hope of stopping them, that is if the rest of the 19th isn't able to stop them before this world."

"How did you figure out that they had a pattern?" He asked.

Cien stepped forward. "I recognized the path they were taking." She hesitated for a second, then removed her helmet. She looked up at Doctor Jahq'sun. "It is nice to meet you finally, Doctor. I'm Spirit3000 on the archeology board." Kyr glanced down at her with a hidden smirk at her username.

He looked at her in surprise for a moment. This wasn't who he had pictured in his mind.

"No way," Mariss said, shocked. "It's so nice to finally meet you!"

"And you as well?" Cien said, looking to Mariss them, "you are on the board?"

"Yes! I'm Languagebuff55, the one who wanted to learn more Ancient Sith," Marris answered.

"Oh, yes!" Cien said excitedly, "your translations are the best I've read of ancient Sith." She said as a compliment. Mariss beamed at that.

"Wait, you're Spirit3000? Why didn't you ever respond to my message about how you knew about the library?" Danyir finally asked. "We had no idea about it until you mentioned it!"

"It's uh, complicated." Cien said, glancing between them.

"Oh? Why? Your knowledge of the Sith is incredible. More than we have ever seen," Mariss complimented. "We would love to learn more from you."

Cien looked between them, and Kyr stepped into the conversation for her. "It's been a long trip, mind if we continue this conversation elsewhere?" He suggested, trying to buy her a little space.

"Oh sure," Mariss said. "You can follow us. We have a base camp set up."

"Thank you." Cien said.

Kyr turned back to Nova and Wynnie. "Can you go make sure the Eltee sets up a proper perimeter?"

"On it," Nova said, smirking. She grabbed Wynnie's arm and started leading her away towards Lieutenant Troy and the rest of their men. "Let's go, Wynnie."

"So got anything to drink, Danny?" Kyr asked him good naturedly as they started walking.

"Umm… no? Unless you like tea or caf." He replied.

"Caf will be fine, thank you." Cien said, shooting Kyr a reproachful glance.

"I'll also take one. Thank you," Kelce said.

"How much of the temple have you excavated?" Cien asked as they walked.

"Not much beyond the library." Danyir started, excited to be able to talk about it. "The doorways are sealed and we - "

"You tried blasting through? I brought some breaching charges." Kyr offered.

"No." Doctor Jahq'sun said, shooting a glance at him, "we're opting for less destructive methods. And the stone the temple is made of absorbs our sensors so we don't have a solid reading on any of the rest of the structure."

"I'd be curious to see the site, if I may." Cien said, glancing at the exposed spires of the temple, and remembering the many other structures that were below their feet beneath meters of dried lava. It sounded like they weren't aware of the full complex that was here.

"We would be glad to show you," Mariss said, smiling.

"Thank you." Cien said, "How are your translations coming from the books you found?" Cien asked curiously.

"Yeah, here let me show you," Mariss said, gesturing for Cien to follow her over to a table stacked with datapads and ancient texts.

"She reminds me of Sasha," Kelce commented to Kyr and Scamp with a smirk.

Scamp chuckled at that.

Kyr stood next to Scamp, looking on as Cien stood beside Mariss, starting to look at the datapads. He had to admit she looked very cute, and she seemed to be enjoying herself as she finally got to spend time with these people she had only met from such a long distance.

"These texts are from the library? Do you know what section they were from?" Cien asked, starting to read the ancient Sith writing that was on the rolled documents.

"The south end of the library," Mariss said. "The science section I think. My translation might be a little off. But everything does match that of a science textbook."

"South end." Cien said, trying to remember, she had spent all of her time in the sections devoted to study of the Force and the Darkside. "This is a discussion about hyperspace physics?" She said, reading the byline and the first few sentences.

"Yeah," Mariss confirmed.

"What caught your interest with these?" Cien asked, curious.

"Aside from it being written in ancient Sith, I was curious of what the Sith learned," Mariss explained. "I was the same way with the Mandalorian culture too. But this is just the start. At some point I will go through every book in that library." She smirked.

"You studied Mandalorians?" Cien asked, looking at her.

"Yep. Mandalorian, Twi'lek, Rodian, and the Jedi," Mariss said beaming. "I was a linguistics major and so I became curious to learn many languages and cultures. Sith is just my current interest."

"What's this?" She said, picking up a book. An old one, that she remembered, had been locked away from her since she was only an Acolyte at the time. The pages were worn, as was the cover, but the cover translated to something like 'Lessons of the Ancient Lords.'

"I'm not sure," Mariss said. "I haven't started on that one yet, but it was just found under some rubble."

She opened the book, scanning through the contents. After a moment she stopped abruptly and closed the book. "I am sure you will find it very interesting." She said as she carefully placed it down. "Would you mind if I went to see the temple?" She asked, looking up at Mariss and Doctor Jhaq'sun.

"Not at all." He said as he came over with some caf, as promised after it had finally finished brewing.

"Yeah we can show you guys the way in," Mariss said, a little confused as to why Cien just reacted to the book like that. She made a mental note to start studying it later.

"What is your background?" Doctor Jahq'sun asked Cien as he started leading them off to the excavation entrance. "Are you an archeologist as well?"

"Not quite. I just know a lot about the Sith and their history." Cien said, slightly uneasily and evasively. "It is a topic of interest for me." She finished as she walked next to him and Mariss.

He glanced over at her, "like a hobby? Usually people who are in this as a hobby don't know as much as you do about the sites. Nor read ancient, dead languages as fluently as you seem to." He prodded.

"Well, it's not a dead language if someone speaks it, is it?" Cien mused back.

"I suppose not." Doctor Jahq'sun agreed. "But a dead language isn't one that isn't spoken, just one that has no native speakers?" He suggested with a slight humor.

"True." Cien agreed. The Doctor glanced at her, slightly confused at the tone with which she agreed. Not a tone of conceding a point, just the tone of someone agreeing with a statement. Kyr smirked under his helmet as he walked along behind them in silence.

Even Mariss was curious by that. "Where did you first learn about the Sith?" She asked, curiously. "Or become interested?"

"When I was a child." Cien answered a little distantly. "It was something I grew up with." Cien said, trying to evade telling them that she was a three millennia old relic since she had no idea how they would react to finding out that she was a contemporary of their excavation site.

"I see," Mariss said, unsure what else to ask.

"So the temple?" Scamp butted in feeling the awkward air building.

"Yes." Doctor Jahq'sun said as they kept walking, and falling into a lecture mode. "We found these four sites based on a reference from an archive, an old Republic military intelligence briefing that was declassified. The Empire reclassified it, for some reason, but copies still remained out there. The other three sites seem relatively small, but we have reason to believe this was a bigger site." He continued. "Though the construction materials, as I said, block the scans of the sensors we have access to. We were hoping to get a neutrino tunneling scanner out here to try to map it, but we have limited funding for that kind of device. It was a fluke that there was some cave in damage that created a sensor echo that we dug down into that study room. And while we were debating whether it was a study room or a meditation space, Cien, here," he gestured to her walking beside him, "commented that it was a study room for the library." He explained. "All the doors we have found appear to be meant to be controlled by the Force, and are sealed flush against the wall so they just look like more wall panels. We didn't realize it was a door until we started looking for the library based on what she said." He glanced at Cien, still desperately curious to find out what resource she had to know that the Library had been there, it was a find of the century, at least in his circle.

Cien just looked sheepishly ahead while they kept walking.

"How'd you figure out which wall was the door if you aren't blasting your way through?" Kyr asked curiously.

"Scuff marks, on the floor." The Doctor answered. "It's quite heavy so we assume some of the Sith just dragged it across instead of lifting it properly.

Cien smirked a little, while suppressing a shudder. During her time of study she had heard the awful sound of the multi-ton 'doors' being moved in and out of place when a careless acolyte had forgotten or disdained decorum. They weren't allowed back in the library after such a transgression.

"It makes finding the doors very difficult, though, since they just look like additional wall panels. We're not entirely sure of all the door ways to and from the library." Jahq'sun admitted. "We figure it was a security measure, and that anyone that was there in study would have been told of them."

"Or it was a test." Cien suggested. It had been a disdainful test, this temple was one of the main archives of the Sith and all sorts of Lords and Acolytes had come seeking this or that. Whatever mischievous Sith Lord had been responsible for designing the temple had deliberately made it a bit of a maze, both physically and mentally, mainly to trip up the Sith that disdained study. Studious Sith, bound to books as she had been for a time, were looked down upon by the more warrior based Sith. It was a passive rebuke of that mentality, that they would either be stymied by the temple itself, or need to abase themselves to the book bound Sith to find their way around. Some thought it quite clever, others thought of it with disgust, and it was quite obvious which group fell into which category.

"Perhaps?" The Doctor said, eyeing her sideways, wondering if it was some other mysterious insight he should take note of.

"Well now that you are here, maybe we can find out," Mariss said, hopefully.

They arrived at the site, there was a crude framework setup around a deep hole, and a grated gantry lift with enough space for six or so people that was supported by the framework. They were at the base of a small hill, where above the decorative spires towered tens of meters above them, poking out of the top of the hill like the fingers of some buried giant reaching for the sky. Doctor Jhaq'sun opened the small gate that formed part of the railing around the lift, and gestured for everyone to climb in.

Scamp placed one foot on the platform and held a hand out to help people aboard while also simultaneously scanning the area to make sure the troops were in place in case an attack happened while they were under.

"How deep is this?" Kyr asked, delicately taking Scamps hand and helping himself aboard, before turning around to offer his hand out to Cien.

"Roughly a hundred meters," Mariss answered.

As the party finished loading the Doctor closed the gate and hit a button, starting their slow crawl downwards. Scamp and Kelce watched as they slowly descended.

"This must have been a hell of an explosion for this much lava to cover such a large temple," Kelce observed as they passed meters and meters of lava.

"Yeah." Cien said, seeing the layers of material they were passing as evidence of the time that had passed since she had been here.

"We have a geologist on the team," Doctor Jahq'sun started, "they said that on most other planets that caldera off on the horizon would be considered a supervolcano, but here it's just a regular volcano." He said with a shrug.

"Have you found any remains?" Cien asked, she would have thought they would mention it on the board, but she felt a need to ask.

"Only one," Mariss answered. "They were at the entrance of the library and were decapitated. It looked like it was a clean cut, so we assumed a lightsaber."

"That sounds like an interesting story." Kyr commented.

"Yeah, but we still found it strange there was only one. We assumed there might be way more," Mariss added.

"So they were able to evacuate?" Cien asked.

"More than likely. Though we haven't found evidence of a landing field?" Doctor Jahq'sun asked, hoping jokingly to try to tease more information out of her. But she just shrugged and stayed silent.

They arrived at the opening, a set of gantry steps led from where the lift platform stopped and led down through a hole in the ceiling. Kyr looked at it quizzically, it certainly looked destructive, and recent.

The two archeologists led the way, with Cien following behind them, Scamp, Kelce and Kyr bringing up the rear. Cien smirked when she saw all the heavy lift webbing that was still around the door panel, and imagined what they had to go through to lift it out of the place in this small space that opened out into the library proper.

"Whoa…" Scamp and Kelce breathed out as they looked around. It was a vast hall, stacked with rows upon rows of dark, cathedral columns that oppressively hung over the space like they were in the middle of a dead forest. They entered into a central space that housed various work stations and reading desks, for reading that required less privacy than a study room, and everything was covered in years of ash and dust that had snuck in over the millenia. Beyond this central reading space, between the various columns, were high shelves that extended several stories up, each with defunct electronic holodisks that might have stored vast archives of knowledge if someone could figure out how to read them. The lighting in the space was muted, what lights there may have been no longer worked, and the immediate area they were in was only illuminated by work lights that were brought in by the team, powered from cables that ran down beside the lift.

"Man this is cool." Kyr said, looking around.

"Yeah." Doctor Jahq'sun agreed. Every time he entered the space he was still in awe of it.

"It's definitely different than the Jedi Temple," Scamp observed with an impressed brow.

"It's kind of creepy," Kelce said, also amazed.

"Oh yeah, but it so cool," Mariss said ecstatically.

"The lighting is better now, at least." Cien joked, before suppressing a reflex to clamp her hand over her mouth after realizing what she had said.

Kelce and Scamp held back a chuckle. Mariss looked her, incredulously. "Wait what?" She asked.

"I…" Cien started, not sure what to say.

"Were you in here before?" Doctor Jahq'sun asked, "Were you part of some other team that discovered this before us?" He asked, voicing a suspicion he'd had.

"Well, no…" Cien started. She'd been struck with such a strong sense of ironic amusement from leading a party of Republic soldiers into the temple as they stepped into the space the joke had just come out of her mouth, she didn't know why. Probably another mood swing she thought annoyedly.

"She's just very learned." Kyr said, stepping in.

"I came here to study." Cien admitted, grimacing a little.

"No one has been here to study in twenty-seven hundred years." Doctor Jhaq'son said skeptically.

"There's no way you could have studied here unless you're -" Mariss said before realizing what Cien was saying. "Are you from here?" She exclaimed, unbelieving what she was assuming.

Cien hesitated for a moment. "I'm not from here." She started, realizing she had to explain. "But I came here to research something about three thousand years ago, as a Sith acolyte. A few years later I was trapped near the event horizon of a black hole before emerging into this time, about twelve years ago."

Doctor Jhaq'sun stared at her in stunned silence for a moment before looking over to Mariss. Mariss was staring at Cien with her jaw to the floor in shock. Her mouth trying to form words as she was definitely freaking out.

"You're a Sith?" Mariss asked, stunned.

"Yes." Cien said, looking between them.

"But…" Jhaq'sun started, then thought the better of it. "Really?" He finally asked.

"Yes." Cien said, a hint of amusement returning to her voice. "When I came here, that was the station I preferred to use." She said, gesturing to one of the more private stations. "An acolyte used to stand there, guarding the reliquary. The library staff would come in and out of the door panel there." She said, pointing as appropriate, "and that, if you think it is an entrance," they had a set of lights pointing at the wall for no apparent reason, "is what led into the service rooms and the other public spaces. That panel is how you get out into the suites and sleeping quarters." She said pointing. She looked over to Mariss, "shieff mackdatore Sithan va ralek." She said in Ancient Sith, as a compliment.

Mariss was speechless. It took her nearly a whole minute before she spoke again. "So why do you wear Mandalorian armor? Sorry if that's rude of me to ask, but I am freaking out right now that I am talking to an actual Sith and I was now confused by the armor," she rambled in a very energized and thrilled manner.

"I met Kyr and we eventually got married, and I am a Mandalorian now as well." She answered. Kyr smiled under his buy'ce.

"I have so many questions." Jhaq'sun said, trying to think of what to ask first as he stared at her, agog. Having a three thousand year old Sith before him should have been a terrifying prospect, but all he could think about was how incredible a boon it was. The value of the library they stood in paled in comparison to having someone from that actual time here to talk to.

"Me too!" Mariss squealed. She was practically jumping up and down.

"What else do you know of this site? Wait, can you use the Force?" Jhaq'sun asked quickly. "You said you were an acolyte? How did that place you in the hierarchy? What was the hierarchy?"

Cien couldn't help but smile slightly at their reactions. She had been so worried that they would be terrified of her, as anyone who was actually familiar with the Sith should be. "I know quite a bit about this temple and the surrounding complex. I was an acolyte when I came here, I would be a Sith Lord now if the order was still alive. And yes, I can use the Force." She said, looking at the panel that was inset into the floor, where the acolyte had stood. She had been so curious about what was in the reliquaries of all the temples she visited, but had never been allowed to step foot in them. All of this technically belonged to her, though, as the most powerful Sith alive, she would be the Lord. She took perverse pleasure in lifting up the panel inset into the floor, picking it up, with some difficulty since it was an incredibly heavy slab of solid stone, and exposing it to the world for all of them to see. There were stairs leading down into the darkness. And, thankfully, no sort of guardian spirit here to pester her or otherwise attack her. She set the capstone down with a thunderous sound, and looked back at the two archeologists with curious amusement.

Jhaq'sun just stared at the opening and, after a moment, sneezed into his elbow, never taking his eyes off the new and completely unknown space that was now before them. He must have walked over that slab a thousand times as they went back and forth in the library. The events of this day, meeting a living Sith, accessing a reliquary that was untouched, was beyond even his wildest dreams as an archeologist. He started moving over to look at the stairs.

"That was incredible…," Mariss said, stunned as she followed Jahq'sun.

Kyr affectionately patted Cien on the shoulder as she stepped forward to the reliquary entrance as well.

"Got a light on you?" Jhaq'sun asked Mariss, he just had a small penlight. He hadn't grabbed his full kit of gear that he would have otherwise brought for actually exploring something new.

"Allow me." Cien said with a slight smirk, she pulled her lightsaber hilt from its hidden scabbard at her hip and ignited it above her head as a light source. Kyr smirked, seeing her show off, now that she had admitted to them what she was. She seemed to be having fun.

Mariss jumped back as the saber came to life. "Oh wow! It's so red!" She squeaked then blushed. "Sorry, this is so cool."

Scamp chuckled. "You get used to it. Trust me."

"You're not off the hook either. I've always wanted to learn more about the clones," Mariss said, smirking at him.

Kelce patted Scamp on the shoulder. "Looks like you've got a fan," the doctor whispered to him.

"Buzz off," Scamp said, swatting his hand away.

"You hearing anything?" Kyr asked quietly, coming to Cien's side.

"No, this temple seems completely dead." She replied.

"So can we go take a look inside?" Mariss asked as she peered into the opening eagerly, not hearing what they said.

"Yes." Cien said, heading down the steps with Kyr at her side. He gripped his carbine a little tighter as they went downward, flicking the light that hung off its barrel on, and she held her saber up above her head, bathing the stairway in blood red light.

Scamp flipped on his head lamp on his bucket and took up the rear as Kelce descended down the stairs behind the others.

"Whatever we find down here, let me inspect it first to make sure it's safe before you take it away." Cien said over her shoulder, in a slightly subdued tone as they wound their way down.

"That seems reasonable." Jhaq'sun said quietly as he gulped. A sense of excited trepidation came over him as they descended further.

They went down several stories, into the heart of the pyramid, probably underneath it considering how far down they went. When they finally reached the foot of the stairs they entered into a large room, not so large as the library, but large enough that the play of Cien's saber blade reflected from what seemed like a far distance in the gloom. Around them were various pedestals and shelves. Some artifacts on display, others hidden behind cabinets and some -

Cien heard a whisper, like a dead voice calling out that sent a shiver down her spine. But the presence wasn't menacing, it wasn't threatening like on Morgaul. More like it was just curious to see another Sith after so long.

Welcome… sister…

She cast her eyes around, looking for what the source might be, as she shored up her mental defenses

Welcome... back…

Who are you? She asked into the void.

The one… who waited. And you are… here.

Leave us. Cien thought with a snarl. Trouble me no more.

There was a rasping sound, like blades being drawn across coarse ground. The Spirit laughing. I will… I have no wish to harm…. You… or the future of our order…

Cien narrowed her eyes as she looked for the artifact.

The gauntlet… free me.

Another of you wished me great harm. She snarled back, not quite trusting this guardian.

I have waited... a long time… for you to return, The voice rasped. He waited... for a different purpose... Free me and end this.

Cien stepped forward.

"Everything okay?" Kyr asked, worried, seeing that she was looking around the room with a more predatory look.

"There's a voice." She said quietly.

"Do we need to go? Do we need Sasha?" Kyr asked, tensing as he looked around.

"No." Cien stated. She felt no pressure on her mind, no force trying to ooze in like last time. But she wouldn't take any chances.

As she pressed forward cautiously, she saw a raised platform, with two metal plate contact points like those that had hidden the holocron on Morgaul. On the wall they were pressed into was a crude mural above it, depicting lighting coming out from the top of the spires above them.

Soon… You will need it… but not… yet. The… Gauntlet.

Cien stepped forward. Mariss looked around like a child in a candy store, but she remained with the others as she looked at all the items in the room. Scamp tightened the grip on his pistols.

"Man this room is creepy," he observed as he looked around, his head lamp illuminating certain areas in white light.

Cien suddenly swung her saber down on one of the artifacts, startling everyone in the room as she sliced through it. An armored gauntlet that looked like it had seen ancient use.

"What did you do?" Doctor Jhaq'sun said, aghast after a moment. "That artifact was priceless.

"It was a prison." Cien said, "The sith trapped spirits of disappointing Acolytes in temples like this as guardians." She said, looking back at him, "and now she's gone."

"Oh." Doctor Jhaq'sun said. He looked around a little pensively, and then nodded, disappearing into the gloom to go look at this new treasure trove.

"Oh… so are all of them prisons or was it just that one?" Mariss asked as she produced a notepad out of nowhere and started taking notes.

Cien looked at her for a moment in slight confusion before reply. "No, my understanding is that the guardians were very rare and very hard to make. There's usually just one artifact that ties them to the place. Some bit of themselves that survived whatever their transgression was."

"Are we okay now?" Kyr asked her in a serious tone.

"Yes." Cien said a little distantly. What few words the spirit had said weighed on her though as she considered them.

"So can we start looking at the artifacts in the room or are booby traps still possible?" Mariss asked.

Cien looked at her. "These are relics from the Sith. Some of them were saved because they were items from powerful Sith Lords, some of them because they're artifacts powerful in the Force. But the Sith locked them all away, keeping them away from all but the Lords that were the only ones allowed to access rooms like these. Look as much as you want, but let me inspect anything before you interact with it." She said, not entirely sure what might be down here. But as she looked around the space she heard and felt echoes from every artifact. Like she could read off of items with powerful memories attached to them, but every item in the room was like that, casting off its own historical aura. She wasn't sure what down here were just mementos and keepsakes, and what artifacts might be powerful weapons in the wrong hands.

"Okay, thank you," Mariss said as she rushed over to take notes of the relics in the room.

Suddenly, Scamp's commline went off. He placed two fingers to his earpiece on his bucket.

"Scamp here," He answered.

"We… a… rai... Fif… nee… hel…" a voice that sounded like Nova's came through.

"What? I can't hear you. Our connection is too weak down here," Scamp said as he turned back to the stairs.

"Help… raiders… too… many," Those words came in clearly this time and then were followed by the sounds of muffled explosions in the distance. Dust cascaded down from the ceiling above.

"Kriff, the raiders are here," Scamp said, dropping his hand. "I'm going back up to help the others. Kelce, let's go."

"Right," The medic said as he grabbed his own pistol before following the clone up the steps.

"I'm going up." Kyr said as he moved to follow.

"Me too." Cien said, reaching over her shoulder for her bucket.

Kyr hesitated, "we should get the rest of the expedition down here to safety. If we can, could you keep them safe?" Kyr asked.

Cien looked at him for a moment as she held her bucket in her hand, about to put it on. She furrowed her brow at him. "I am going to go up and help." She stated.

Kyr looked at her for a moment, not sure what to do, not sure what to say. And scared. "Okay." He said, "I'm taking point." He said as he moved to leave.

Cien looked at him for a moment longer before putting her bucket on. She glanced over her shoulder where Danyir and Mariss looked like they were also getting ready to head up with them.

"You should stay here." Cien ordered.

"We need to go help our crew." Doctora Jhaq'sun stated.

"We have heard the raiders are dangerous. I know you can protect us from them, but we want to make sure they are safe," Mariss said, determined.

"Fine." Cien said as she went to hurry after Kyr.

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