Hunter folded his arms uneasily and watched as Quinlan frowned, turning in a slow circle. The Jedi's eyes were closed, but it was apparent that he couldn't find what he was looking for.

"Quinlan?" Vythia asked after a long moment. "What is wrong?"

He shook his head and looked up. "The artifact isn't – I don't think it's actually in this labyrinth. Every time I move, it feels like it's in a different place."

"Hmm." She frowned and rested a finger against her lips. "This is something I have no knowledge of."

Oh, great. Hunter looked at Crosshair, who was standing stiffly with his back to the nearest wall. Tech had moved forward a few paces and started typing – probably in an attempt to see if he could locate the artifact with his scans – and Wrecker was still by himself outside the labyrinth.

"Okay . . ." Hunter turned to Vythia. "How many people will you need with you? I don't see much point in our staying here."

"I agree." She glanced around the group. "A few of us could try finding our way through the labyrinth. Perhaps the artifact will only be traceable once we reach the exit, or the center."

Tech blinked and opened his mouth, so Hunter stepped forward before he could say anything about that not making sense. "Right," he said. "Crosshair – head back to Wrecker and let him know."

Crosshair straightened and turned to leave as Vythia spoke again. "I will stay here, with Tech and Hunter. Quinlan, what if you were to take Crosshair and Wrecker and explore the town itself?"

"Uh . . ." The Jedi tilted his head. "Works for me, but won't you want me back down here to find the artifact?"

"I suspect there is another entrance," she said. "There is a possibility that there are safeguards, meant to protect the artifact, that were activated when we entered the labyrinth."

"Wait a minute. You think I'll be able to locate it if I just walk through a different door?"

"Perhaps," she said. "I have read of such things."

"Sounds farfetched, but okay," he said, glancing at Hunter.

Hunter shrugged. It sounded farfetched to him, too, but no more so than huge monsters that had lived for thousands of years on a desolate planet on which no other lifeforms had survived. "Hey, Tech," he said. "Can you give them any leads?"

Tech didn't answer for several seconds. Finally, his datapad beeped, indicating that a scan had finished compiling, and he looked up. "As a matter of fact, I can," he said, holding the screen out toward Quinlan and Crosshair, who moved closer to see it. "From down here, I can obtain readings that I could not when we were above ground, and by running –"

"Get to the point, Tech," Hunter said.

Tech blinked, his train of thought broken, then nodded. "Ah. Yes. Scans indicate that there is only one other shaft in the city. If my calculations are correct, that shaft is in a building directly in front of the northern gate."

"Gotcha." Quinlan studied the schematics a moment longer before nodding. "Let's get going, Crosshair."

A faint beep sounded in Hunter's ear, indicating a successful comm check, and then Quinlan and Crosshair hurried back down the tunnel. Hunter raised an eyebrow after them when he realized that the sniper was hanging back, allowing the Jedi to take the lead, and that Vos was automatically keeping to one side, out of Crosshair's line of fire.

Feeling amused by their cooperation, the sergeant activated his transmitter. When the two of them were out of sight, and Vythia some ten meters away, he said, "Hey. Quinlan."

"Yeah?"

"No 'cruel and unusual punishment' line from you this time?"

Tech glanced up at him with a smirk, and Hunter grinned at Quinlan's outraged spluttering and Wrecker's laughter.

"Come on, Hunter," grumbled the Jedi. "I thought Crosshair was the only one who liked to remember things and use them against people."

Before Hunter could answer, Crosshair cut in. "Where do you think I learned it?"

The sergeant huffed. "Pretty sure I never taught you that."

"No, he didn't!" Wrecker joined in. "It just kind of happened on its own."

"We all do it," Tech agreed unhelpfully, watching the ground as he walked. "Wrecker frequently quotes – or misquotes, as the case may be – words one of us has used. Hunter and Crosshair have a particular affinity for quoting things people have said in the past in order to help prove whichever particular point is under question at any given moment, and I generally repeat people's words in order to put a stop to arguments – or to cause them."

There was a short silence.

"Wow," said the Jedi. "I didn't realize it was that deliberate on your part."

"Of course," said Tech. "I am always deliberate."

Hunter rolled his eyes at the mischievous tone that had entered his youngest brother's voice. Half the time, when Tech talked, it was because someone, somehow, had said something that set the gears in his head turning. There was no forethought put into at all, and Tech knew it.

"Uh, right," said Wrecker with heavy sarcasm. "Just like the time we heard you talking about monkey-lizards."

Tech straightened a bit stiffly and increased his pace.

"Oh, that was good," Crosshair commented idly.

The Jedi gave an inquisitive hum.

Crosshair continued, pointedly keeping the comm channel open. "Tech was by himself when we heard him start going on about the eating habits of Kowakian monkey-lizards. Turns out, the pirates he was eavesdropping on had been cursing them out."

"Yeah," said Hunter. "They couldn't even hear him, but that didn't matter, I guess."

Quinlan snickered, and Tech huffed. But he was saved from any further teasing when Vythia gestured to them from up ahead.

"Which way do you think we should take?" she called.

Hunter ran the last few steps and took a moment to observe the corridors. One continued north while the other turned west. There was nothing special about either that he could see. "I don't suppose it matters. Tech?"

"The northern corridor continues for quite a distance," Tech said. "Perhaps this is the escape tunnel – it would make sense for there to be more than one entrance, as I mentioned previously."

"You think it's the exit to the labyrinth?"

"Most likely."

"I agree," said Vythia. "Let's head west. It may be that the artifact is at the center of the labyrinth."

"Right," said Hunter, drawing his knife. He dragged it down the wall of the west corridor, and it left a satisfactorily white scratch in the black stone. "I'm marking every corridor we take, though, so I hope you didn't want this preserved as it is."

"No." Vythia smiled and raised an eyebrow. "In this case, I think it prudent to deface the walls just a little."

It took Crosshair and the others several minutes to walk across the small city and reach the northern gate, where the three of them halted simultaneously in front of the building Tech had indicated. It looked the same as most of the other buildings in Lothal, except for one important detail – it had a polished silver skull on the door, identical to the one that decorated the mansion.

"This is the right place," said Quinlan, frowning. He checked that his comm was off, then added, "It feels darker than the mansion."

"Maybe the artifact's here instead, like Vythia thought," said Wrecker.

Crosshair commed Hunter, switching to their private frequency to avoid any chance of Vythia overhearing him.

"We're at the building," he said. "Vos says it feels darker than the mansion."

"Anything unusual about it?"

"Just a silver skull."

"Right,." Hunter said uncertainly. "We're headed into the labyrinth. Be careful."

"Got it." The sniper was about to sign off when there was a rustling sound and Tech's voice cut in.

"Crosshair, is there writing above the door?"

"Yeah."

"Send me an image. Vythia might be able to tell you something relevant."

Crosshair reached over one shoulder for his pack and barely repressed a jolt when he realized that Quinlan was directly next to him, listening in to the conversation. He turned to face him and glared.

The Jedi smirked and held up a datapad.

"What?" Wrecker felt the top of his own pack, which was open. "Hey! How'd you do that?"

"I'm a Shadow, remember?" Quinlan took a couple images before tossing the datapad to Wrecker. "Send that to Tech, would you?"

"How'd you get by the passcode?" Wrecker asked, sounding delighted.

Quinlan replied with a bland smile.

Crosshair sniffed. The Jedi had probably watched one of the commandos punch it in earlier in the mission. It was the general datapad, used whenever one of the squad apart from Tech wanted to make a scan or send information. Tech, for his part, refused to use anything except his own specially upgraded and updated one . . . Except for the time I hid it, he remembered, with a smirk. Suddenly, the team datapad had increased drastically in value, and Tech had used it to find his own datapad. Then he'd locked Crosshair's rifle up, of course, but it had been well worth it.

The comms clicked again on the main channel, and Vythia spoke. "The runes indicate that the building is the 'high place of Lord Lothal'."

"High place?" asked Wrecker.

"Lord Lothal?" Quinlan repeated.

"Lord Lothal must have founded and ruled the city," she said. "That building is most likely a temple to him."

Quinlan frowned and folded his arms with a grimace, but said nothing.

"There is no further information of use," Vythia added. "Be sure to exercise caution."

"Right." Crosshair shut off the comms, then shot a wary look at the Jedi. "A temple to a dead Sith."

"Yeah . . ." Quinlan grimaced. "I'm pretty sure I hate this idea."

"Makes two of us."

They stared at the door for a moment longer.

"Ahh, we'll be fine!" Wrecker slammed his fists together, then applied his uniquely 'Wrecker' method of opening doors. The wide slab of stone swung open with a loud creak, which lowered in pitch as it slowed down.

"The mansion door didn't make a sound," the Jedi observed. "But both doors look exactly the same. What would cause the difference, I wonder?"

"Moisture in the air," Crosshair suggested, eyeing the dark aperture with distaste.

"No. I mean, yeah . . . but if it were from the atmosphere, the mansion door would have made just as much noise."

"So maybe they never bothered oiling it," Wrecker said, shrugging carelessly. "What's it matter, anyway? Let's just get inside and find the labyrinth."

He stumped through the door and up a short flight of stairs, and the other two dragged behind him. When they got to the top, Vos put his hands on his waist, staring around at the little that was revealed by the daylight that managed to filter inside. "Man, I hate this stupid place already," he announced. "Wrecker, you still got your lantern, right?"

"Sure." Wrecker twisted the lantern open, and harsh white light spilled out over their surroundings.

Quinlan drew a slow, audible breath just as Crosshair let his own out in a hiss.

The temple may have appeared plain and unassuming from the outside, but there was nothing ordinary about the inside. The room had three walls – the outside wall that reached out on either side of the stair landing, and two walls that angled toward each other, creating a triangular room that led farther into the temple.

Humanoid skulls in various stages of preservation decorated the perimeter of the ceiling. Some had only a portion of bone remaining, held to the wall by the spikes that had been pushed through each skull's forehead and out through the back. Others, farther from the entrance, had only their lower jaws missing, while those farthest away were weirdly intact. Two skulls above the door had been coated in a silver metal, but areas of metal had worn through at the teeth and eye sockets, revealing polished bone.

Nothing we haven't seen before, Crosshair thought to himself, untruthfully. Death was familiar, but a room decorated with skulls was not. How had all these people died? And who had permanently fastened their skulls – or their heads – to the wall?

"Wow . . ." said Wrecker, sounding dejected. "I'm guessing I don't want to know what happened here."

"Guess it's kind of obvious," sighed Quinlan. "They were probably enemies who got executed and their heads were kept for trophies."

"I'm not so sure," Crosshair said, eyeing the two silver skulls. They were definitely Zabrak. Judging by the length and position of the horns, one had belonged to a male, and the other, to a female. The next two skulls were human, as far as he could tell, and the next two were Devaronian – again, they were set with the male on the right side and the female on the left.

The Jedi stood next to him and followed his gaze. "Oh . . . They're all in pairs."

"Uh." Wrecker looked from Quinlan to Crosshair. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know for sure," said Quinlan. "It might mean they're not likely to be executed enemies. Too neat and orderly and convenient . . . Unless they were hunted down for a collection. I know Trandoshans do that sometimes – there was this one guy who had to have five of any species he hunted, all hanging in neat rows . . ." He headed across the room.

With a final suspicious look at the skulls, Wrecker followed, holding the lantern over his head. Crosshair rested the barrel of his rifle across one arm and wandered after him, trying to ignore how the walls literally closed in around him. It was still better than being in that labyrinth, though – the door was right behind them, and if the way forward was blocked, there was more than enough space to turn and get back to the entrance.

"Oh, kriffin' heck," muttered Vos, stopping as he entered the next room. "I am so telling Tech to knock off five points for this place."

Wrecker lowered the lantern. "Is that . . . blood?"

Crosshair stepped around him and studied the darkly crimson streaks that spattered the walls of the large room from floor to ceiling. "Yep."

"Looks like a slaughterhouse," grumbled Wrecker.

"Just be grateful it doesn't smell like one," said the Jedi, and moved forward once again.

As the lantern light shifted, a towering figure appeared in the corner of Crosshair's vision – he jerked around, lifting his rifle, then froze. A statue. . .?

"It's okay," said Quinlan, drifting over to join him. "It's just – a statue."

"Just a statue?" Crosshair muttered, lowering his gun.

"Two statues." Wrecker walked over to the low platform that held them. "Whoa, that's weird."

The larger statue was a horned and hooded entity that stood approximately three meters in height. It was all one color – a deep ebony – and stood leaning slightly forward. Two long, thin arms were raised over its head and two more reached out and downward. It had a skull instead of a face. At this point, Crosshair would honestly have been surprised if it did have a face. The eye sockets were filled with a gleaming gold metal that glinted whenever the light changed.

The smaller statue, which looked vaguely humanoid, was the same black, but where the first statue was painstakingly designed, the second had almost no features. It hung by its wrists from the robed statue's first set of hands, while its ankles were held by the lower set of hands.

The three of them stood silently for a moment, and then Quinlan said, "Okay, I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting a little weirded out."

"What's it for?" Wrecker asked in a loud whisper.

"No idea." The Jedi sounded as though he were talking to himself. "Why hang a statue from a statue? It would make more sense for a skeleton to be there, but – Wait, actually, no it wouldn't. No way would the bones hold together that long . . ."

Crosshair and Wrecker turned to stare at him.

"What?" he asked defensively. "Just thinking out loud."

"Never mind," said Crosshair. "Let's get out of here."

"Right. Next door's that way."

They walked past the statue, and just as it vanished from Crosshair's peripheral vision, something – he wasn't sure if it was a sound or a motion – made him spin, at exactly the same moment as the Jedi whirled around.

The long-fingered hands of the first statue sprang open and released the hanging figure, which dropped to the stone floor and splintered. Ebony shards scattered in all directions, skittering across the floor and bouncing off Wrecker's and Crosshair's armor.

Quinlan jumped back, shielding his head with his arms too late as a black fragment sliced open the right side of his face.

Crosshair kept his focus on the tall statue. It didn't move again, but . . . Maybe it was a trick of the light, but it felt as though the solid golden eyes were looking at him. Crosshair took a step back, and the statue's gaze followed.

Gritting his teeth, he turned deliberately away from the statue. Ridiculous. That thing's not alive. It can't see anything.

"What happened?" Wrecker sounded unnerved. "Quinlan, you okay?"

The Jedi gave a distracted hum in response, covering the gash on his face with one hand as he glanced in all directions. "Guys?" His voice was oddly subdued. "Did – anyone else hear a door closing?"

Hunter had expected the center of the labyrinth to be unusual, but the only thing that set it apart from the rest of the surrounding rooms and corridors was the fact that one wall was lined with small, half-open vaults. Vythia opened them eagerly and searched them, but they were completely empty.

The sergeant reached for the last door, hoping they'd find the artifact so they could get out . . . but there was nothing. He double-checked every corner of the empty vault, then closed the door and turned to Vythia. "No luck here, either."

"Hm." Vythia rested a hand on her hip. "You're sure that was the last one, Tech?"

"As sure as I can be," he replied. "It is possible, of course, that there are vaults incapable of being detected by my scanners."

She shook her head slowly, a dissatisfied expression crossing her face. "We may be looking in the wrong place."

"You think the artifact isn't in the labyrinth at all?" asked Hunter.

"I'm not sure what to think." Vythia lifted the lantern higher and studied the perimeter of the ceiling, which was carved here and there with Sith runes. "There is nothing here to indicate where the artifact may be kept . . . And yet Quinlan did sense it."

"He could have been wrong." Tech walked to the end of the corridor. "Based on the little I've learned about psychometry, it appears that it is an inexact skill. Even skilled pscyhometrics do not always get accurate 'readings'."

"That is true, but Quinlan Vos must have sensed something," she said. "It's unlikely he would have received so inaccurate an impression as to be convinced that something was here when there was nothing."

Hunter exchanged a quick look with Tech. "Why is that?"

"He's a powerful psychometric with an unusual level of ability," Vythia answered, leading the way back to the corridor leading north. "When I first met him, he recognized the presence of this crystal I wear before he ever saw me."

"I take it that is unusual," said Tech skeptically.

"It is all but unheard of." She glanced back at them over one shoulder. "Perhaps he has mentioned something to you about his particular level of talent?"

"He's complained about having to use it," Hunter said thoughtfully. Crosshair and Quinlan had been right – she was suspicious of the Jedi for some reason. And Hunter had no idea how to throw her off the scent.

"That is definitely true," agreed Tech. "In general, he seems to consider it an inconvenience, rather than a useful tool."

For a long, quiet minute Vythia did not answer. As they kept walking, Hunter noticed that Vythia was moving almost soundlessly despite the stone floor. For some reason, it made him uneasy.

Tech gestured with his datapad. "We are now beneath the city, rather than the mansion. I wonder if the others have found their way –"

"I believe Quinlan is hiding something," Vythia said, turning to face them. She didn't seem to have even heard Tech's words.

Hunter froze briefly, then recovered. "I wouldn't be surprised," he said slowly. "He is a bounty hunter . . ."

Her black eyes narrowed as she studied him for a long moment, and Hunter stared back, grateful for his helmet. He had no idea how much she could read from expressions, and he didn't really want to find out.

Tech, now behind Vythia, narrowed his eyes in concern – then he brightened and stepped between Hunter and the Nautolan. "Wait!" he said, clearly interested. "You think that Quinlan is deliberately hiding the position of this artifact from us?"

The Nautolan woman gave him a faint smile, almost seeming to relax, and Hunter blinked at the sudden change in expression and focus.

"Perhaps," she said, resuming her path forward. "This and other things have made me wonder if he has a use for Sith artifacts himself."

Hunter frowned and turned to Tech, who shrugged and followed her. They were silent for a couple minutes, while Hunter wondered just how far he could push his own questions before Vythia became suspicious of him and his squad – if she wasn't suspicious already.

A beep alerted him to an incoming call, and he pressed his comm. Tech slowed his pace, falling back to walk beside him as Wrecker spoke.

"Hey, Hunter? Just checkin' in."

"Good," said Hunter. "Where are you guys?"

"We're in the temple," said Wrecker. "This weird statue kind of attacked us."

"What?" Tech almost missed a step. "Wrecker, did you just say a statue attacked you?"

Vythia turned around at his outburst and watched them.

"Yeah." Wrecker sounded a bit unnerved, but his voice was steady. "It was holding this other statue, and when we walked past, it dropped and broke it."

"On its own?" Hunter demanded, trying to visualize how a statue could possibly drop anything. "Wrecker, are you sure you didn't just knock it off a shelf or something?"

"No, he didn't," cut in the Jedi tautly. "The first statue opened its hands when we walked past and dropped the second. I'm lucky I didn't lose an eye. Tech, I'm sending you a picture. Ask Vythia about it."

"One moment," said Tech, flicking through screens and pulling up the picture. He paused, finger still resting on the screen, and glanced up at Hunter.

The sergeant leaned closer to see. Wrecker and the statue were both in the picture, and Wrecker was shorter than it by almost a meter. Scattered pieces of black metal or stone littered the ground around its feet, and the tall statue's four, long-fingered hands were stretched threateningly outward.

He took the datapad from Tech and held it out toward Vythia. "Vos wants to ask you about this . . . statue. He says it dropped another statue when they walked past it."

She examined the image for a long moment, then activated her own commlink and broke into a hurried walk. "Quinlan? I have seen this statue before, or at least one identical to it. My guess would be that your walking past it triggered the ancient defenses meant to keep thieves from the temple."

"It sure triggered something," he answered wryly. "A stone slab's blocking the entrance now. Our only way out is forward, and we haven't even located the shaft yet."

Hunter shook his head. No wonder Crosshair hadn't said anything yet. Exchanging a quick look with Tech, he asked, "Can't you blow the door, Wrecker?"

". . . Maybe. I'd probably bring down the temple on our heads, though, with the amount I'd have to use."

"Never mind, then," Hunter said. "We're on our way. You guys find the shaft and tell us when you do, got that?"

"Right," said Quinlan.

Hunter waited until Vythia disconnected her comm, then jerked his head at Tech, who shut off his own comm and hurried forward to ask her some question or other about the statue.

When Hunter was assured that she was distracted, he asked, "Everyone okay?"

"Yep," replied Wrecker. "Quinlan got cut, but nothing too bad."

"Yeah, we're good," added the Jedi. "I'm, uh, going to keep our channel open, though."

"Good idea," said Hunter. "I'll keep you updated on our progress."

"Hunter," snapped Crosshair, suddenly entering the conversation. "Are you sure nothing closed off behind you?"

"Yeah." Hunter kept his voice calm. "I haven't felt or heard a thing. We checked out the whole labyrinth, but no luck finding the artifact. Vos – are you sure you sensed it?"

He felt, rather than saw, Vythia's attention turn back to him, but he ignored her.

"I'm sure I sensed four artifacts," said the Jedi. "And before that, I was sure I sensed three artifacts, and before that, I was –"

"Okay, I get it." Hunter rolled his eyes, smirking a little. "In other words, you're sure something was there."

"Definitely sure of that."

"Hey!" interrupted Wrecker. "I – Oh, boy. Hunter? I think I found the shaft. . ."

"Can you head down?'

"Guess we'll have to . . ." said Quinlan.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing drastic," said Crosshair coolly, but his voice was tight. "Problem is, there aren't any stairs. The shaft goes straight down, and I can't see where it ends."