Chapter 61
The Belly of the Beast
Yuthara led the way through the more modern building of the Academy. Several hundred grey clad figures moving about. Not one of them had a force signature as far as they could sense. What they could sense was a pool of darkness further up ahead. Moving through yet another checkpoint they followed a winding twisting trail through the red stone wall lining the pathway
The trail started descending. A set of black walls became visible, the dark side pulsed from the building. Two guards stood in front of a thick steel door. Noticing Yuthara one picked up a large mallet and banged thrice on the door. The door lifted slowly and yellow light started showing as it lifted.
The door was barely halfway up before Yuthara led the way through. Moments after they stepped through, there was a rush of air as the door dropped. The heavy clanging it made contact with the ground, echoed ominously through the large hall they found themselves in. Yuthara led them to a side hall.
Several people sat behind terminals. Yuthara waved a careless hand at the different stations, boredom etched on her face
"This where you get registered. The clerks here will take care of your room assignments, registration, clothing and food ration allocations." Yuthara explained in a bored tone
She turned around to walk away before stopping herself
"I see all three of you already have your own lightsabers, deploy your blades." She ordered
Three red blades and one green lit the room. Yuthara stared Jolee down
"I would suggest changing your focus crystal to one more suitable for here, or be prepared to fight the entire academy on your own." She snapped
"Jolee." Terri called
She flipped a crystal to the old man. The crystal diverted its path and found itself in Yuthara's hand
"How curious. A natural red crystal. Where did you find it?" Yuthara asked
"Before going to Ithor, my master and I were on Agamar. The Council had heard of a crystal cave being found and wanted it investigated." Terri replied
"I have not heard of crystals being found on Agamar before." A new voice spoke
Yuthara spun around and bowed deeply
"Master Wynn." She spoke
A grey skinned Pau'an male stepped into the hall. He ignored his bowing underling and focused his stare on Terri. Several tribal tattoos adorned his face, his eyes a sickly yellow.
"You would not have heard of it as the cave was destroyed on the order of Vrook Lamar. The cave was dominated by red crystals like the one in Mistress Ban's hand." Terri explained
There was a notable tightening of the Pua'an's eyes on hearing the name, a pulse of anger radiated from him.
"That would explain it. A cave dedicated to dark side crystals would not be allowed to exist. Normally we will insist on students synthesizing their own crystals or dominating an adegan crystal. However it would be interesting to see how natural crystals compare to synthetic crystals." He stated in an academic tone
Wynn turned his attention to Yuthara
"Where did you find these three?" He demanded
"In the colony, Master. They took their medallions from three who could not hold on to theirs." Yuthara answered
Wynn stroked his chin in thought for a moment. He snapped his fingers at the nearest clerk. The birdlike Giffen female rushed over, a shock collar in place on her long neck
"You have an hour for your administration, I expect them to be fully ready and present for my address to the students." Wynn snapped
"Of course, Master Wynn." The Giffen woman bowed deep
Wynn turned around and walked away, Yuthara short on his heels. She carelessly tossed the crystal over her shoulder. Terri caught it and pressed it into Jolee's chest with a firm hand
"Next time I will not dig you out of the hole you dug yourself. Get with the program." Terri snapped at him
Terri turned around and approached the desk of a frantically waving clerk and sat down. Jolee looked down at the red crystal in disgust
"It is just not your life on the line here." Juhani said, walking past to another clerk
An hour later found them standing in the assembly square, despite being well lit, the space appeared gloomy asif the black stone was sucking the light from the room.
Terri tugged at the tight collar of her brand new grey uniform, having to get used to wearing uniform again was going to be a pain in the rear. She would admit that the thigh high boots were to her liking however. Looking to her side she saw Juhani was even more uncomfortable in her uniform, somehow Jolee managed to appear slovenly in a new uniform. Not for the first or the last time she was wishing to have overruled the decision to take Jolee instead of Melissa with her on this infiltration.
Looking away from the man lest she says something, she looked at the various groupings the other recruits were in, trying to discern the power structure that existed between them
They joined the other recruits as they scrambled into a parade formation as Wynn and Bann approached them. A recruit stepped forward and turned to face them. He slammed to attention
"Platoon, Attention." He barked out
Terri snapped to attention, Juhani following her movements closely. Terri kept a neutral face as she recognised the platoon leader. The Onasi genes showing through strongly in the babyfaced Dustill. Wynn slowly started strolling through the lines inspecting the recruits. A flicker of Force lightning struck Jolee, who grunted in pain and dropping to a knee.
"Straighten yourself up." Wynn ordered in passing
Terri kept herself immobile and her face neutral. She had noticed that Wynn had been looking straight at her when throwing the lightening. Wynn stopped in front of her and looked her up and down.
"Passable effort." He remarked.
He took a step away before stopping and turning to face Terri
"Recruit Starwind, answer me this. Your subordinate has lost a battle, do you kill him or show mercy?" Wynn asked
"It depends on the reason for the failure. If it was due to incompetence or arrogance I kill him in front of the rest of my officers, If it was due to circumstances beyond his control I find the reason and take appropriate measures." Terri replied
"Qualify your answer." Wynn demanded
"If it was because of bad intelligence and he faced opposition in numbers superior to his, I will find the intelligence officer and execute him for incompetence or being a double agent or Republic infitrator." Terri answered
"Do you not believe your forces should fight to the last for you?" Wynn asked
"Losing all my forces in a hopeless battle weakens me as I then have to find replacements in both men and material. Soldiers fight harder for a commander who is not willing to sacrifice them for lost battles. By saving their lives now I can demand more from them in the future." Terri continued
Wynn stroked his chin as he thought over the answer.
"Mekel. Same question." He snapped out
"I kill him, Master as well as those of his command staff as they are obviously incompetent." Mekel replied.
"How would the soldiers react?" Wynn asked Juhani
"They will lose morale and become ineffective as they will only do what is required of them to the letter, there is also the chance of mutiny and Mekel's head ending on a spike." Juhani answered
"No soldier is a match for a true Sith" Mekel replied angrily
"Are you so good that you can deflect fifty blaster bolts at once?" Juhani asked mockingly
Wynn started chuckling as Mekel's anger spiked, sycophantic laughter rippled through the ranks.
"Good, your anger will serve you well, young Mekel. It gives you power." He said.
"If you would indulge my curiosity, Master. Which was the correct answer?" Lashowe asked
"Starwind and Ubisi, a loyal soldier is more useful than one terrified of you." Wynn answered
Wynn finished his inspection and approached the front of the formation. He looked over the assembled recruits for a few minutes.
"This is a strong class with a lot of raw talent ready to be sculpted into what the Empire needs. I see anger, I see cruelty, I see naked ambition. Fan the flames of your desires. The dark side will give you what you need to succeed." Wynn stated
He paced in front of the lines again
"However only the strong will survive here, look to your left and your right, chances are two thirds of you will be dead in days from now." He said chuckling darkly
He stopped in front of a recruit. The Twi'lek male tried to mask his surprise
"This surprises you? We are not Jedi who will coddle you and tuck you into bed at night. The lessons here are hard and dangerous and if you do not learn them you will die, any student can challenge another, and yes any fight is to the death or dismemberment if you are feeling merciful. I do not care how you reduce your numbers but in the end there will be only one of you chosen to face the trail."
He turned and walked away
"You are dismissed, classes start early morning. As always the opportunity to achieve prestige exists." He said over his shoulder in passing.
A sand storm was raging as Melissa climbed into the hawk from the bottom docking hatch. HK lowered its rifle as he recognised her. The howling sound of the wind barely decreased as the hatch sealed below her feet
"Greeting: Welcome aboard, Mistress."
"Thank you, HK. Anything to report?" Melissa replied
"Bored Response: No Mistress, there is nothing to report."
Melissa pointed to the hatch
"Feel free to go scout a bit then for a few hours. Weapons free." She said
"Grateful Compliance: It will be my pleasure."
Melissa took of her helmet and wiped the visor with a cloth. The cloth barely removed a fraction of the red dust coating it. She looked down at her armour and sighed. She was looking to a long night of polishing her armour. She put her helmet back on and made her way to the loading bay.
Canderous was busy doing inventory from the crates delivered by the mechanic shop while scanning the items for tracking and listening devices. Melissa pulled the fire suppression hose from the cabinet.
"Buir, mind giving me a hose down?" She asked
Canderous took the hose and she made her way to the boarding ramp, before bracing herself for the stream of water. She turned around as Canderous kept playing the hose till she was as clean as she possibly could be. T3 was squeeling in indignation as it observed the pool of mud where she was standing.
"Shut it tin can." Canderous snapped, closing the hose down
Melissa took her helmet off and started chucking the rest of her armour pieces as well. Collecting her cleaning kit from a locker she sat down and started cleaning and checking her armour. She pointed with a polish cloth to the crates
"Find anything?" She asked
"Surprisingly, no. Though the quality of the parts and components could be better." Canderous answered
"This was a lot better than the osik that Czerka had in stock, believe me I checked all the places I could. Unfortunately I will have to buy their stuff to fix the comm system." Melissa stated shrugging
"And then we will have to redo the job when we get to a civilised planet." Canderous grumbled
"Tell me about it." Melissa said , rolloing her eyes
Carth made his way into the room carrying a six pack. He passed one to Melissa before giving Canderous another.
"Find anything useful about Dreshdae?" He asked Melissa
"Nothing really. The local populace is scared shitless of the Sith, but all are happy to take their credits at the same time." Melissa replied cracking open her can.
"Nothing we did not expect." Carth replied
"I did find a residential section being guarded by Sith troopers, I will see if I can find out what is going on there once this storm stops. May be HK will find something interesting on its patrol." Melissa continued
"Could be wives and girlfriends to the Sith here." Canderous pointed out
"Likely, I will have to raid Mission's stash for listening devices and cameras." Melissa replied
She took a deep swallow from her can
"I found something interesting about the Academy though. It seems that they are using the building mainly to train officers here, the amount of force sensitive Sith recruits are minimal." Melissa reported
"That is good news that their numbers are less than the Acadamy size suggests, anything else?" Carth replied
"The Sith are doing archeological exploration in something called the Valley of the Sith. Believe it or not there are students from the university of Coruscant in Dreshdae waiting on passes from the Sith administration to go in there." Melissa answered shaking her head
"How did you find that out?" Canderous asked
"They were bitching about the delay in the cantina once the Sith recruits cleared out. A spacer asked them if they realised they were committing treason by being here."
"How did they react?" Carth asked
"One said and I quote "Academic research is not constrained by pitiful reasons like loyalty to a planet or goverments" end quote."
Melissa produced a wallet and dropped it on the crate next to her.
"I decided that since academia is so powerful we can do an experiment to see if it will feed the fool as well." She said innocently
Canderous opened it and pulled a large amount of high denomination Sith and Republic credits chips out.
"I believe this should cover our currents expenses to point here and also for a few more days." He said after counting it
"Always good to turn a bit of profit, is there an ID in there?" Carth chuckled
Canderous flicked an ID card over to Carth. Carth looked at the name on the card
"Creevy, why does that surname sound so familiar?" He asked, tapping the card against his palm
"There is a Rear Admiral Creevy in charge of Green Sector for the Republic Fleet." Canderous replied
"I am not going to ask how you know that. Let us hope it is not a relation then. I do not want to even start the imagining the mess it will create if the Sith get their claws into a Rear Admiral's family." Carth said with a shudder
"Once we are off from this planet we will have to run this name up the chain to make certain though." Melissa pointed out
Melissa declined the second offered can and continued her task.
"Any sign of Dustill?" Carth asked
"Nothing, I am sorry." Melissa replied
Terri found someone waiting for her as she stepped from the sonic shower. Yuthara was seated on a bench looking into the cubicles. Terri raised an enquiring eyebrow before moving to her pile of clothing
"How can I be of assistance, Mistress Bann?" She asked
"It is more a question of how I can help you." Yuthura replied
"And the price for this help would be what? A night of passion perhaps?" Terri retorted
"Nothing like that, though there is a price." Yuthara sounded pleased with the question
"Go on." Terri invited
"A question first before I answer. What would you have said if I was looking for a kriff?" Yuthara asked
"If it helped my position, yes." Terri shrugged
"Even if it results in you being called a whore?" Yuthara pressed
"That means those calling me that are underestimating me and my drive to succeed. They will find that to their detriment." Terri replied coldly
"So you are willing to achieve power by any means?" Yuthara insisted
"Yes." Terri answered shortly
Yuthara shifted in her seat, seeming to become more relaxed after hearing the answer
"You are the most powerful student here by a far margin, However power alone is not enough to be allowed to graduate. For that you need prestige and I can tell you how to achieve that." She said invitingly
"Again what is the price?" Terri replied
"Once you complete your trail, you help me kill Uthar Wynn and take your place as my student as I take control." Yuthara replied, smiling
Terri thought the offer over. She sat down on the bench
"Tell me more about yourself first. I need to know your motivation before I agree. This offer could be a trap for all I know." She said
"You are cautious, I approve. Very well, what do you want to know?" Yuthara replied
Terri was looking thoughtful as she stepped back into cell she and the others were billeted in. Juhani was looking at the uniform cleaning kit, unsure as how to proceed. Terri pulled her own from the footlocker by her bed and gathered the items required
"Just follow my lead. Do what I do." Terri said
She started polishing her boots, Looking over at Jolee's bed she noticed he was lying down already, eyes closed. Ruthlessly she suppressed her irritation with the man. Putting the brush down, she reached into her satchel and produced a music player. Switching the device on, music started pumping in the room, an LED came on as the device ran through its second function, that of a surveillance suppresser.
"I got a few leads as how to improve our standing here." Terri reported, once the Led went from red to green
"And our standing matters, why?" Jolee asked
"The student with the highest standing will get to do the final test, a trail in the tomb of Tulak Hord, which is in the valley of the Sith where we need to get to." Terri answered shortly
"We can simply sneak out and leave." Jolee suggested
"You have obviously not taken notice of the amount of surveillance that is present here." Terri remarked
"I lost count of the motion detectors and cameras from the parade ground to the commissary and then to here." Juhani added
"You can add seven cameras to your tally for the refresher room alone." Terri remarked
"So what you are saying is that we need to play their games." Jolee grumbled
"Yes, and your attitude is drawing the wrong kind of attention to us," Terri stated firmly
"I will play my part as long as you do not forget why we are here." Jolee retorted, before turning his back on them
Juhani shook her head at Terri before she could retort. Terri nodded in acceptance and took a deep breath to calm herself. The two sat in silence preparing their uniform for the next day. Terri helping Juhani with the unfamiliar to her atrouncements. The lights dimmed twice overhead before slowly going dark.
"Get some sleep. I will take first watch." Juhani offered
Terri woke before Juhani could shake her shoulder. The woman's eye showed green in the dark of the room
"How many?" Terri whispered, kicking the blanket back
"I hear four." Juhani replied
"What do you sense?" Terri whispered back
"The dark side is masking them."
Terri reached under her pillow and pulled out a flashbang grenade and her lightsaber. She followed Juhani to the entrance off the cell. By now she could hear the approach as well, plus see the green tint of a nightvision visor. She leaned closer to Juhani to whisper in her ear.
"Flashbang in three."
Terri primed the grenade and knelt down, she rolled the grenade into the passage. It went of with a blinding flash. The harsh screech of an alarm went off as the security system detected the explosion. Red lights were strobing in the passage. Terri and Juhani stepped out of the room and went back to back, lighting their blades.
Minutes later they were standing over the bodies of six opponents. The alarm klaxon died down and regular lights were switched on. Terri and Juhani noted several heads poking out of their cells to see what the commotion had been. A burly Zabrak was strolling down the passage, his uniform had the tag marking him as an instructor on it.
Terri closed her blade down but kept it in a ready position. The Zabrak stopped in front of them.
"Is there a reason for waking me up this time of the morning." He snarled
"Just protecting our virtue. We are innocent maidens after all" Terri said innocently
The Zabrak stopped in surprise on the remark, before bursting out in laughter.
"Never heard that response here. Usually it is I defended myself or they had it coming. Good one, recruit. Though I seriously doubt I will find a virgin here." He chuckled
Terri pointed into her cell.
"I believe our third is one actually, I saw him turn down a Nar Shadaa whore who offered a discount." She stated
The Zabrak threw his head back and laughed again. Terri pointed to the bodies
"Are we allowed to turn over the bodies and their room? It is not like they are going to need their credits and personal effects any more." She asked
"Go ahead. To the victor goes the spoils." He waved a hand carelessly
He turned around and walked back the way he came.
"Do not wake me up like this again." He barked over his shoulder
The heads were pulling back into their cells, the mornings entertainment clearly done. A gaggle of astromech droids were appearing from both ends of the hallway, clearly there for cleaning duty. Terri and juhani shared a look before starting to go through the pockets of their defeated foes. Terri looked over her shoulder and saw one head that had not retracted. Lashowe was watching her, she gave Terri an approving nod before stepping into her cell.
Juhani had noticed the interaction and nudged Terri's shoulder
"Did she approve of your actions or was it the fact that you are in your underwear?" She asked teasingly
"Don't you mean we are in our underwear? Have to say purple is a good look on you" Terri replied.
Melissa was lying prone on a roof overlooking the checkpost to the academy. A lone figure made his way through the checkpoint. He was dressed in an impeccable Sith uniform. Belts and boots gleaming enough to see your reflection in it.
She zoomed in on the face and stiffened slightly. The boy stopped suddenly and looked over the buildings. Seeing nothing he continued on his path.
Melissa got to her feet and sprinted to the edge of the building before jumping to the next building, bending over to minimise her profile as she stalked her prey.
Dustill stopped a few times to scan his surroundings, the feeling of being under observation haunting him. He stepped into the doorway of a building and looked to the left and right of him to see if he could spot any pursuers. If he had looked up he would have seen a figure Force jumping to land on the roof of the building he was using
Seeing nothing he hastened his pace to get to his destination. He made his way to the Sith married quarters of Dreshdae.
Melissa dropped to one knee and zoomed in with her helmet as Dustill walked up to a door. The door opened and a three year old glomped his legs. A blond haired woman holding an infant appeared in the doorway.
Melissa unshouldered the air rifle she carried and fired a recording spike into the ground by the door.
Dustill picked up the toddler and had her wriggling in his arms as he tickled her sides
"How is my little sis doing today? You being a good girl for Racal and a good aunty for Juno?" He asked the giggling toddler
Melissa's response on hearing that was short crude and rude, but very much to the point.