Chapter 67
Into the Valley
Canderous waited till the boarding ramp sealed behind him before taking his cheap durasteel armour off. Dropping the dusty garments at the base of the ramp for the droid to clean he started making his way inside after shrugging of his boots adding them to the pile of clothing. The deck was rather cold under his stockinged feet as he moved deeper into the ship
Judging from the smell coming from the crew lounge he guessed Carth had managed to get back before him. He looked carefully around the loading hold to make sure everything was as he left it this morning when he left. Walking past the newly installed gun rack he placed his rotary rifle in its place next to Bastila's bowcaster, before making his way to the crew lounge. Carth was busy eating still holding on to the dark skinned appearance that the morph had given him, the slight fading indicating that Carth was letting it finish by itself instead of taking the counter for it. T3 bleeped at him before making its way to the galley to fetch his food
"Where is the Jetti?" Canderous asked
Carth pointed with his knife to the medical bay while busy chewing. He swallowed before speaking
"In there, meditating. Claims he is suppressing his force signature." Carth spoke
"So he is still sulking then." Canderous translated
"Pretty much." Carth shrugged
Being allowed to monitor his sons family had mellowed Carth considerably. Both men had taken a shift in the settlement today to allow HK to return to the ship to recharge his battery packs. The droid obviously had gone shopping before returning to the ship, judging by the fresh food Carth was consuming. Not having had the enthusiasm for another MRE, Canderous decided not to mention the fact that the droid had broken cover by buying food. He sat down next to Carth and reached into the cooler container standing between the chairs
"You still heading out with that university group tomorrow?" Carth asked
"Yes. They have been assigned a shuttle early morning. Though one of the group is raising some alarms for me." Canderous replied, opening a beer
"How so?" Carth asked
"Found her sneaking around the equipment pile, claimed she was looking for a misplaced datapad. Noticed my pack had been opened once she left." Canderous answered
"Anything else?"
"A lot of questions. She claims to be cross training between archaeology and anthropology. But none of her questions were in regards to either field." Canderous said, taking his tray from T3 coming from the kitchen
"Maybe she is trying to get to know you first before trying to study you. Very little is known about your people after all." Carth pointed out playing devils advocate
"Possible." Canderous shrugged
"But your gut is telling you something else." Carth completed
Canderous nodded as he chewed. He waved his fork to indicate the rest of the ship. Carth grimaced as understood the unasked question
"T3 is on schedule with prepping the ship. Jolee on the other hand did not even start on his list." He said
"Any reason he is not doing his part?" Canderous asked
"Apparently suppressing his force signature is very time consuming. And he claims he is not skilled enough to work on the ship" Carth snorted
"How skilled do you need to be to run a cleaning cloth over a terminal?" Canderous replied
"Apparently that is a skill Jedi do not learn." Carth snarked
"Even the princess did her part when we first got this ship." Canderous shook his head
"Yeah, I foresee a long talk in the future when we leave this dustbowl." Carth said in a mystical tone
Canderous lifted his beer can in acknowledgement before turning his attention back to his food. The conversation shifted to the latest griffball rankings and the odds on who would reach the final as T3 plugged into the holotable to start the game it has recorded while both men were out of the ship.
The trio stood at the top of the footpath leading down to the valley. With another two deaths Juhani had moved into the top ten and became eligible to enter the Valley of the Sith. A swarm of Shyrack were circling in the air trying to keep the rising sun behind them as they were trying to set up ambushes on the lifeforms on the ground, who in turn were hunting each other on the ground. An eerie sound came up the passage as the wind blew fine red dust up the passage to the valley
"So what do we have down there?" Terri asked
Juhani opened her datapad and looked up the relevant information
"Up above we have shyracks, attacks with sonic attacks, sharp beaks and claws, then we have Tukata large canine type hybrids, claws fangs and spikes, oh this is nice apparently some can shoot their spikes at you." Juhani deadpanned
"Anything else?" Terri asked
"In the ground we have squellbugs and Pelko bugs. The first is the preferred food of the Tukata and the last hunts everything but they love force sensitives."
"Let me guess, they prefer their prey alive as well?" Melissa remarked
"Of course, their spines contain a neurotoxin that causes pain, naturally the Academy pays very well for said spines."
"Why?" Terri asked
"Apparently they make the core reagent in the academy training sabers, the venom apparently lets you simulate how it feels to lose a limb."
"I am almost scared to ask if there is more." Terri stated
"Some serpents and that about covers it." Juhani shrugged
"Why can we not go to a planet with cute and cuddly creatures that just want to be petted." Melissa complained
"We will go Endor once we are done chasing maps. We will be up to our noses in cute critters there" Terri promised
"You do know that Ewok's practice canabilism?" Juhani remarked
Two heavy sighs followed that statement and Juhani was the recipient of two not amused glares
"There goes that dream." Terri said in disgust
A shadow fell over them as a shuttle went over them and approached the Valley at docking shyrack scattered as laser bolts cut through the air. One moved too late and dropped to the ground and was swarmed by a pack of Tukata. The Sith shuttle blew up a cloud of dust as it settled close to where a selection of field huts were set up. Melissa pulled out her datapad as she received a message update
"Seems Czerka is getting of the fence here. They are now acting as the bounty hunter station for Korriban." Melissa said reading the message
"Anything usefull?" Terri asked
"Just the usual bounties, smugglers, bail jumpers, oh wait" Melissa said absently reading the postings
"Wait?" Terri echoed
"Two listings here in the valley from the Academy. One for the destruction of a droid and proof of death for runaway students." Melissa read off
Juhani pointed to the field huts where a group was forming in front of the largest field hut. The crowd was a mixture of civilian clothing and grey Sith uniforms
"Seems they are about to start a morning briefing. We could learn something useful." She said
"Might as well go listen in." Terri shrugged
Force sprinting they made their way down and stood at the back of the group. A human male in a poorly fitting Sith uniform was heading the briefing, reading directly from a datapad in his hands, his tone suggesting that he could actually not be bothered to do his job. This impression was further reinforced by the longing glances he was throwing in the direction of the largest field hut, or more accurately the environmental unit attached to it. His uniform already being sweat stained despite the heat barely beginning to rise
"To those joining us from the Republic side please obey the following rules. The middle two tombs is off limits to all." He started
"Why?" Another human male dressed in civilian clothing asked, arrogance dominant in his tone
"The tomb of Marko Ragnos had been taken over by a renegade experimental droid, it overwrote the programming of the droid division sent in after it after its operators were killed trying to retrieve it. The tomb of Tulak Hord had been taken over by the previous academy head when he was overthrown. If you are a student he will torture you in the name of training. If you are not a student he will try to skin you alive to make parchment for his work."
Several shuffled and looked at the ground on hearing that. The interest in studying said tombs rapidly dropping to non existent. The speaker continued in a monotone
"Second rule do not challenge the students, they will kill you if you do. If they tell you to move you move."
The man pointed to a set of beacons around the field huts before looking down at his datapad
"The sonic barriers keeps the local wildlife out, once outside the barriers you are prey so keep a lookout. Don't expect the soldiers here to keep you safe. Last rule if you find anything it will be logged and recorded. The Academy will decide if you can keep the artefacts for your study after it has been examined. That is all" The man concluded
The gathering was starting to break up and the speaker was turning to return to the hut.
"What is the layout of the Valley?" Melissa asked from the back
The man looked up in annoyance from his pad, wondering who had the audacity to interrupt him and delay his return to the comfort of the field hut.
"The layout was added to the data package all of you received." He snapped
"Must not have been on the list because I did not get one" Melissa replied, dryly
The group split apart and the trio became visible. The speaker paled on seeing the uniform they were dressed in
"Sorry, my lady for my impertinent answer." The man spoke hurriedly
"I am still waiting." Melissa drawled
The man hurriedly looked at his pad
"To the east is the tombs of the major Lords, to the west is the tombs to their students and followers. Burial mounds belonging to their servants are scattered across the floor of the valley and between the tombs."
"I am guessing the tombs of the Lords are the ones most actively investigated." Terri remarked
"Correct, my lady." The man replied
"Any chance of getting a copy of this briefing you mentioned?" Juhani said, inspecting her nails
"Of course, my Lady, you can take mine and I will make more copies for your companions." The man said, rushing forward, pad held out
"One will do." Terri said taking the pad.
Melissa paused, looking over at a sand dune close to the nearest sonic barrier. She looked at the man and back again at the barrier pole
"How deeply are those poles buried?" She asked
"Two metres deep." The man replied confused
"And they are rated for close proximity ordinance detonation?" Melissa continued
"It is a military grade barrier." The man replied
"Good." Melissa smirked
A concussion grenade left her hand as she armed and threw it behind the dune. A barrage of bugs hit the barrier with blue flashes after the grenade exploded, a cloud of red dust rising in the air. A frag grenade finished of any that still moved. Several researchers were coughing as the dust drifted over them
"How did you know they were there?" A female researcher asked
She was hastily elbowed into silence by another two standing beside her. Juhani and Terri turned away from watching the flickering sonic barrier
"Why not use plasma? Make a real pretty explosion" Terri asked caustically
"Well apparently there is a market for the spines, weren't you listening this morning?" Melissa snarked back
"Of course the bounty hunter will consider the money first." Juhani stated acidly.
Melissa shrugged and turned to face an armoured figure standing close to an equipment pile
"Hey Merc, how would you like to make some credits?" She asked
"Not interested, already on a job." Canderous replied
"You sure? Easy money cutting the spines out of those dead bugs. You can watch your group and do both at the same time." Melissa offered
The head of the republic group stepped forward
"Of course he can do it for you free of charge. We will not be stepping beyond the barrier today till late afternoon." He said ingratiatingly
"Three credits a spine." Melissa said ignoring the man
"Five and you have a deal." Canderous replied.
"Deal, I will speak to you later then." Melissa said
Terri was speed reading through the datapad
"The first Tomb belongs to a so far unnamed Lord, possibly Ajunta Pall. Shall we go check it" She asked
"Start with a tomb to the west. Everybody is going to the big names first. As this guy said some of the tombs were students and followers. Sometimes the big guys give rewards to those." Melissa suggested
"And no one bothers to check if it is worth anything." Juhani finished
Terri looked unconvinced at the argument
"Also checking a smaller tomb will give us an idea of what type of traps the bigger tombs might hold." Melissa added
Terri shrugged and they made their way to the west. Once well out of sight and hearing Terri turned to her companions
"I wonder why Canderous is out here? He was supposed to be our contact in Dreshdae." She said
"Probably saw a chance to set up a second chain of communication and took it." Juhani replied
"Could be usefull to have some stuff smuggled in if we need it." Melissa pointed out
"Beside that being stuck on the ship must be beyond tedious and frustrating with Carth and Jolee stuck on it." Juhani remarked
"I can see that, Jolee alone must be insufferable." Terri conceded
"If he was not the Councils spy I would have dumped him somewhere else long ago." Melissa said
"No one can argue with that sentiment, I am guessing the com unit has been locked down properly." Juhani stated
"Only T3 has the access code." Terri affirmed
"And using a force persuasion won't work on it." Juhani nodded approvingly
"Nor would trying to slice a slicer droid." Terri added
Melissa was looking towards a cave with a frown
"Can you feel that?" She asked
The other two concentrated for a moment
"What the hell? There is a light side force power being used." Terri stated
"In all this darkness it is like a flare, what is that person thinking." Juhani added
"So of course, we are going to check on this idiot." Melissa added with a sigh
"Naturally." Terri replied
They paused at the side of the cave entrance to check with the force if they sense a trap.
"Four humanoid, one of which is the force user." Terri reported
"And all pointing their guns at the cave entrance." Melissa groaned
"Smoke?" Juhani suggested
" Do we really have a choice?" Terri asked
"Could use plasma." Juhani snarked
"Yeah, let us keep that as plan D." Terri drawled
Juhani armed the smoke grenade and chucked it underhand into the cave entrance. They sidled in using the walls of the cave to move. They saw a person sitting in a meditative position in the middle of the cave floor, dressed in the uniform of the Sith officer academy support staff. The Twi'lek was known to all three of them.
"Knight Veroth, funny meeting you here." Juhani remarked
Triss looked up sharply from her meditation, hand tightening on her lightsaber. Melissa sighed and rubbed her face
"Please tell me, the council did not decide to pull the send a Twi'lek in as servant routine." She said
"Makes more sense than what they have us doing." Terri pointed out
"Why are you dressed in Academy uniforms" Triss demanded suspiciously
"To complete the task given to us by the Council we had to infiltrate that vipers nest." Juhani asked
"Who on the Council gave your instructions?" Triss asked insistently
"Vandar, Vrook, Zhar, Atris, Kavar, Zess Kai Ell, Dorak and Hissk." Terri enumerated
"Why has the Enclave gone com silent?" Triss asked
Terri pulled her gloves of before running her hand through her hair, sighing deeply
"The Enclave is gone, the Sith attacked Dantooine. We have not been in contact with the Councill ourselves. Which is one of the reasons Bastila is not with us." Terri stated, tiredly
"The other reasons being?" Triss asked
"We could not risk her being captured by letting her come here. Secondly she did not want to risk being corrupted by this place. Right now she should be on Coruscant with Beleya." Terri answered
Triss relaxed her grip on her lightsaber and breathed out deeply. She motioned to a group of rocks to the side of the cave and three human females stepped out, their blasters kept unerringly on the trio
" Missing two." Melissa remarked
"What do you mean?" Triss asked sharply
Melissa pulled out her datapad and opened the bounty hunter application before handing it over to the knight. The three human women following her every move with their blasters
"There is a bounty on the heads five students and one support worker. Having your bodies attached to said heads is not required. And no there is no wanted alive portion attached to the bounty warrant" Melissa replied
Terri dropped her backpack and sat down on it, ignoring the blaster still being pointed in their direction, she looked consideringly at the kneeling knight
"I am going to take a wild guess here, you sensed they were wavering in their loyalty to the Empire and convinced them to leave. Something went wrong and you had to flee with them, leaving whatever means of communication you had behind. Also when you had to flee you could not get to Dreshdae." Terri stated
Triss nodded, indicating that Terri had been correct in her hypothesis. Melissa and Juhani dropped their backpacks and sat down as well
"How long have you been here?" Juhani asked
"Two days." Triss replied
"And you are probably out of food and water as well." Terri continued
Triss pointed behind her deeper into the cave
"There is a small water hole deeper in, so we do have access to water. Though you are correct we do not have access to rations beyond what we had in our pockets."
"And no way of testing if the water is actually safe to drink." Melissa concluded
Terri lifted a hand to stop Triss from replying
"Coming back to an earlier point, where is the other two?" She asked
Triss again pointed to the back of the cave
"We found a passage leading back to Dreshdae, the others are on watch to see if a sufficiently large freighter comes in on which we can hide ourselves." She replied
"There are a lot of abandoned ships on that field that you could have used already. So that means none of you know how to slice a terminal or how to fly." Terri stated
"That is correct." Triss replied
The trio looked at one another and had a silent conversation between themselves.
"You still remember the Hawk?" Terri asked
"I do." Triss replied
"Wait for nightfall and in the middle of the night make your way to the ship. We will let commander Onasi know to expect you." Terri instructed
Melissa pointed to the three women before pointing to Triss
"Once you are aboard they are your sole responsibility. And you will obey any instruction given by commander Onasi. More importantly none of you will go near the cockpit or coms room." She said sternly
"That is acceptable." Triss nodded her acceptance.
Terri turned to face the three women.
"Lastly we are going to need your id tags, your clothing and some blood from all of you." She said
"Why?" One asked
"We need to get your bounty lifted and we need something to proof you are dead. I am guessing we are going with Tukata attack." Melissa replied
"Yes. So I suggest you get your friends back here because we will need it from all six of you." Terri added
"How will you make it appear that we were attacked? Just ripping the clothes and dabbing it in blood will not be sufficient." Triss asked
"I am competent in Beast Domination, I can make it look like you were mauled to death." Juhani answered briskly
"That is not a light power." Triss stated
"No it is not. I learned it when I fell." Juhani replied, closing her eyes in pain
Melissa leaned over and gave Juhani a one armed hug. Terri placed a supportive hand over Juhani's shoulder and firmly clasped it. Terri let go a few moments later and turned to address the women
"Now get to it, we do not have a lot of time. I am almost certain we are being hunted by Academy students as we are sitting here. And if we picked up on Triss's force use they can too."
Melissa stood up from her pack and opened it. Pulling out a few bricks of explosive she looked towards the cave entrance.
"Once we leave, I am going to collapse the cave entrance to make sure no one sneaks up on you." She said
Juhani got up from her pack
"I will help you place the charges." She volunteered.
The sounds of rapid fire filled the air. The Sith patrol on the west cliff went to high alert. Moments later the sound of an explosion preceded the rumbling tremor as stones collapsed, a minor rockslide slid across the path they were walking on. Gingerly making their way over the loose stones they were met with the sight of three familiar females coughing harshly in the dust cloud of their explosion.
"Next time I say we do not go into a cave, we do not go into the cave." The Cathar woman snarled at her companions
The sergeant stepped forward and addressed the youngest
"Cadet Young, are you all right?" He asked
Melissa took a pull from her water bottle before spitting out a mouth full of discoloured water
"Just have dust everywhere, Sergeant Mercer." She replied with a cough
"What happened, Mam?" He asked
"Tukata nest. With the amount of Tukata in it I would say it is a communal nest for several packs." Terri replied
"And here I thought bringing explosives was useless." Melissa sniped at Terri
"Fine, you were right. Happy now?" Terri sniped back
Mercer stepped back and motioned for his patrol to silently move away, not wanting to be anywhere near should the three come to blows as was common with Academy students.
The trio waited till the patrol was well out of range of hearing and sight before dropping their belligerent poses.
"That should help selling the Tukata story. Mercer seems like the type to report everything he comes across." Melissa stated
"Not mentioning the rest of the troopers telling tales of nearly being mauled if not for a bunch of stupid students." Juhani added
"Might as well go east now. After that explosion I do not think hanging around on the west face is a good idea." Terri suggested
Hearing rocks sliding made them hurry up as they evacuated the area. Making their way back to the field camp they noticed Lashowe leaning against the side of one of the filed huts.
"Why do get the feeling she is waiting on us?" Terri asked
"A well developed crazy bitch sense?" Juhani suggested dryly
"Wow, I have never heard of that Force technique, how does it work?" Melissa asked teasingly
"For one you have to be female used to being among a lot of other bitchy and dominating women. The closer you get to your period the stronger the power gets." Terri replied deadpan.
Lashowe kicked of from the wall and approached them
"How would you like to earn a large amount of prestige?" She asked haughtily
"Depends on the method it is earned in." Terri replied
Lashowe pointed to a structure set at the far end of the valley
"My studies have revealed that that building was a temple once. However the place is filled with Tukata and a Matriarch." Lashowe said
"Sounds like a place to stay away from." Juhani remarked
"Normally I would agree with you, however my studies suggest there is a repository of knowledge in the temple." Lashowe stated
"What type of knowledge?" Terri demanded
"Most likely pictograms and ancient texts, maybe even a holocron or two." Lashowe stated
"How do you propose to share this?" Melissa asked sceptically
"Equal shares between the four of us." Lashowe stated
"Why would you offer us this? It is in your own best interest to keep all the prestige for yourself." Terri asked suspiciously
Lashowe glared at them for a moment before trying to apply a neutral face
"I cannot slay an entire pack of Tukata and a matriarch by myself. With you three with me the odds are more in my favour." She said
The trio noted the use of the singular term being used but decided not to point it out. All of them knew that the moment the threat was dealt with the backstabbing would commence. Terri nodded to Lashowe
"Fine, we are in." She said
Lashowe tried to hide her satisfied sadistic smile but failed to catch it in time. Looking to the trio she happily noted that they were seemingly staring at the temple site and that they missed her triumphant smile. As she turned her back on them, she missed the three giving each other significant glances.
The temple would have been an impressive sight in older times, now several broken columns laid in front of the building, the roof being held up by a few cracked columns. The air coming from within carried the stench of the carrion eaters inside. Lashowe looked questioningly as Melissa slipped a visor over her face
"What is that?" She demanded
"Something I took from a slicer on a job, it allows me to see clearly in the dark." Melissa replied.
"What do you see?" Terri demanded
Melissa studied the darkeness in front of her.
"An empty room and what looks like a staircase going down." Melissa reported
"Fits with what I have read. Most ancient Sith structures were traditionally underground." Lashowe said.
"The staircase should be a good place to lure the Tukata closer from as it would make a decent choke point, assuming there is no other access points for the animals." Juhani stated
The four made their way inside, Lashowe dropped her backpack and knelt down.
"I will use the force to call the Tukata to us, be ready to engage." She said
Melissa coughed into her hand
"Would that be the point where you slip away and trigger whatever is transmitting from your backpack? You know when we are busy fighting the Tukata." She stated innocently
Lashowe looked at her flabbergasted, paling rapidly. Melissa tapped the visor.
"Slicer equipment, picks up electronic emissions too." Melissa said
"Goodbye, Lashowe." Terri stated
A force push shoved the woman down the staircase. The snarling of many animals came shortly thereafter. The sound of a lightsaber being deployed was almost missed in the din. A scream of pain came moments later followed by triumphant howling. The three dropped to their knees, blasters extended, all holding a grenade in their off hands. Melissa had switched to thermal vision on the visor.
"That is one massive pack, and another massive heat signature." She reported.
" Tell us when they are massing." Terri ordered
"Wait for it. Wait for !" Melissa called
Three frag grenades rolled down the stairs into the oncoming pack. The grenades shredded the frontrunners and the rest bottlenecked at the bodies of their packmates.
"Thermal out." Terri called out.
The smell of singed fur and scales wafted up the stairs.
"Fall back, big signature is moving." Melissa called out
Terri dropped an item on the ground as she fell back. The tree split apart and lit their lightsabers. A massive head came into view, blood was dripping from its maw. They now knew what took Lashowe down. Yellow sulphuric eyes stared at them, it roared at them, the sound echoing in the temple alcove. The beast slowly stalked up the stairs, extending it claws it looked disdainfully at the three challengers to its powers.
Terri motioned with one hand arming the grenade she had dropped. The beast howled in pain as the devices sent shrapnel careening into it stomach at point blank range. Juhani moved first, her twin lightsabers causing deep furrows on the beasts scales as she flashed past. Terri was next with Force lightning being thrown into the wounds Juhani opened. The resulting roar was louder than the initial challenging roar.
Melissa dropped to one knee and lifted her hands into the air. The matriarch lifted slowly as she did so. She felt an immediate pushback from the dark side of the force surrounding the planets and the beast against her light side technique.
"Hurry, I can't hold her for long." Melissa said gasping as she strained
The other two flashed closer their lightsabers blurs of light as they attacked the now helplessly struggling super predator. Juhani struck the killing blow, separating the head from the body as she flipped over the beast.
"There is one more below." Melissa reported from her position kneeling on the ground."
Terri opened her backpack and pulled out the bundle of bloodied clothing they had gathered from the deserters. She looked towards Juhani
"Are you ready for this? We can find another way to do this." She asked
"This is the most efficient way, let us get it done." Juhani said shaking her head.
Uthar Wynn could with all honesty say that it took a lot to surprise him. He had taken position with Yuthara at the doors leading to the Valley to be able to scorn and berate the students falling back to the Academy once they realised the dangers of the Valley. The three women coming back were covered with blood and dust. The head of a Tukata matriarch floating behind the Cathar, the other two holding glass cubes in their hands.
The three stopped before him and gave deep bows.
"Master I know we are back a bit earlier than expected but we felt the need to come and get clean clothing." Terri stated straightening up
She and Melissa laid down the pyramid shaped cubes before them
"We also thought to bring these here as quickly as possible, though we are not sure if they can be reactivated, their power source seems to be depleted." Melissa added.
"We also wanted to place our new decoration in our room." Juhani indicated the head she was elevating
Yuthara and Wynn shared a glance
"You three took down a Tukata matriarch." Yuthara stated incredulously
"We were four till Lashowe tried to double cross us." Melissa shrugged
"I am assuming she paid the price." Wynn said
Terri gave a feral grin
"She volunteered to be the bait." She said loftily
"I guess that made her a master baiter," Melissa said innocently
Wynn started chuckling at the off colour comment
"Clever word play, young one." He told Melissa through his chuckles
Melissa dropped her backpack and produced a pile of bloodied clothing in a plastic bag
" Master would it be possible to make a quick trip to the Czerka station? I have proof of death for a bounty they posted." Melissa asked
Wynn took a moment to recover.
"Ah, yes. The deserters. You killed them as well?" He demanded
"No Master, they were a meal for the Tukata, I found the remains as we were checking if poor Lashowe needed medical attention." Melissa replied
" Granted, the three of you have earned a special pass for the rest of the day." Wynn was positively jovial at this time.
Wynn looked at Yuthara
"Issue them their passes. I will wait to see what else our students bring us." He ordered.
"As you wish, Master." Yuthara said with a bow.