The Infinite Empire

"Speech"

"Radio or calls"

'Thoughts'

Another Part of the Ruin

Allelujah and Setsuna groaned as they sat in the darkness. Setsuna groaned as he stood up and he offered a hand to Allelujah, who took it. Their eyes adjusted to the darkness, giving them a few feet of visibility, and then dim level lights began to light along the walls, letting them get a look at their surroundings. It didn't light up much, so they were still relatively left in the dark, each shadow stretching and blending into their surroundings.

Allelujah looked with concern at Setsuna, "Are you ok?"

The Kiffar nodded, "Nothing worse than a cuts and bruises. I'll be fine. You?" Allelujah nodded, feeling a little bit of pain, but shrugging it off. 'I've had worse.' Setsuna continued, "But where are the others?"

The Jedi, not having thought about that, turned his head back and forth. No one else seemed to be in sight and when he tried to scan for them through the force, the deeper darkness he had sensed before permeated his senses. But unlike above, this deeper darkness didn't feel overwhelming. It was empty, like there should be the force, but it was hollow, like a hole that swallowed the force. He tried their comms, but only got static.

Allelujah pursed his lips, and pulled out his lightsaber, activating it to give them some light, "I don't know, but this place is blocking my force senses. I followed the sounds of you. And there's no signal down here." Trying his comms again, only created static.

Setsuna grunted, "Then they are somewhere else in the ruin then. We have to move and find them. But first I have to find this call."

"Call?"

Setsuna simply nodded, "Ever since I landed, there was a growing call in my mind. Like someone or something was calling to me. And it's definitely coming from down here." He closed his eyes and could sense it almost like starship sensors. It was much more intense.

Being one of the few people that understood exactly what he meant, he nodded, "Alright. We have no direction to follow right now, so lead on. Just keep an eye out for enemies. We have no idea what is down here."

Setsuna pulled out his pistol, holding it as he used the light of Allelujah's lightsaber and the lights on the walls. There was something odd about this place that put him on edge. It was less overtly malevolent compared to the ruin above, the curved walls and more natural feel of the place wasn't much better.

There were symbols on the walls, but neither man had any idea what it was. The stone was cool to the touch, and the dust hung in the air. Setsuna was surprised the place was so intact, but he imagined being so deep underground kept nature from breaking it down, on top of whatever the dark side did to places. 'The tree on the surface didn't take well to touching the ruin.'

As the men walked through the empty hallways, closed doors popping up occasionally, Setsuna spoke casually, "So what happened with that agent? The one we keep running into."

"What do you mean?"

"Lyle said that the white-haired officer threw you both into a room as they were attacked. I missed that initial part, but you seem uninjured for having to have fought her." Setsuna didn't look at Allelujah, focusing on keeping his head a swivel.

Allelujah pondered how to answer, taking a breath. Setsuna was smart, and it was harder to lie to someone force sensitive than those who were not. 'Granted individual talents make it harder or easier.' The Jedi hummed under his breath, and spoke quietly, "I was able to get the edge on her, and knocked her into the wall with the force."

Setsuna's voice was even, "Then why do I sense some doubt in your words?" Over the past couple months, Setsuna and Feldt had been training and part of that had been letting the force feed them information. Part of that had been sensing people's intentions. 'Feldt's senses are a bit more tuned for that than me.' Predicting an opponent's moves was more comfortable for him than that, but he could definitely sense Allelujah was hiding something.

Allelujah groaned, before speaking again, "Because my relationship with that woman is more complex than I've told anyone." Setsuna didn't say anything, letting the Jedi continue, "In short terms, we used to be apprentices, and were…close. Closer than the order allowed."

"So like Feldt and I?"

Allelujah nodded, "We never reached the stage you did, but we had the same feelings. And beyond meeting her at our first mission, when I went off and got captured by that pirate, I ran into her. We talked and reconnected, and all of my feelings came surging back." His affection and love radiated from him, which Setsuna could detect even through the void.

Setsuna hummed, blushing at Feldt flooding into his thoughts, "So you have a hard time fighting the woman you care for, and she has a hard time fighting you?" Setsuna had questions about the fact she was part of the imperials, but those could wait. 'This should probably be explained to the group.'

"Yes, and now she's more in danger due to knowing who I am."

Setsuna stopped and turned around to look at him, "Unfortunately we can do nothing about this. The only thing we can do is figure out what Ribbons is doing and try to stop him. And if you want help trying to save this woman, you have my help. Probably Feldt too."

Allelujah couldn't help but smile at him, and he could feel the scowl coming deep within himself. Setsuna turned back around and followed his instincts as he was guided deeper, that call getting closer and closer.

With the others

"The Infinite Empire?" Lyle's voice echoed through the hall, looking at Anew with curiosity in his eyes.

She nodded, "Something Ribbons has been researching for as long as I have been alive, at the very least. And if Allelujah is sensing something about the darkside…"

"Then they must have used the force." Tieria finished her words, the thought coming naturally to him. There was a coldness down here that left him constantly on edge, and he could see Anew and Lyle were no different. He gripped his gun harder, and gestured to the hallway to the right, "We need to find Allelujah and Setsuna. Who knows where they are right now."

Lyle was too on edge to make a joke, and nodded, "Sounds like a good idea." He looked to Anew, "Is there something we should be looking for here, besides those two?"

Anew bit her lip, "I don't know for sure. But maybe some kind of device or computer? I think he was looking for some artifact, but I can't be entirely sure."

"Alright. If we find this device, we can decide what to do with it. We have to keep it out of the hands of this inquisitor." Lyle tried to sound confident, but there was a nervous tic in his voice. 'I'm so used to dealing with military bases or production facilities. Who knows what some ancient artifact can do?' Tieria took point, shining his flashlight ahead. Lyle and Anew walked side by side behind him, their eyes scanning the ruin. Lyle tried his comms, calling for Setsuna or Allelujah, but his signal was getting nothing.

"We aren't going to find them through comms, that's for sure." Tieria frowned at his words, his desire to look increasing.

The doors had strange symbols on them, and opening them mostly revealed simple chambers. There was some mess, but no signs of violence. No old blood stains. And the fact that nothing was here was only making it more uncomfortable. Tieria really wanted to know what happened down here, why it seemed to be abandoned. 'Yet the lights seem to work, even if it's low. What is powering this place?'

He missed the familiar wait of the minigun he normally used, feeling relatively naked with just a simple blaster rifle. He kept the pace slow and deliberate, not wanting to rush through the pace. Anew and Lyle seemed to agree, and were covering the angles he couldn't. Anew looked between the two men, "Do we think that Setsuna and Allelujah will be ok?"

Lyle nodded, though not with as much confidence as he wanted to have, "They are the force sensitive ones. And Allelujah has a lightsaber. I'm certain they can handle the enemies down here." Anew placed a hand on his arm, smiling at him.

"It's ok. We'll find them." Her words filled him with warmth and confidence, and he couldn't help but smile back at her, his heart beating a bit faster. Anew blushed back, realizing what she just did, but she slowly withdrew her hand, not hiding her expression.

Lyle wanted to comfort her, but there was a short, scraping, scuttling sound somewhere deeper in the darkness of the ruin. It echoed through the halls, fading back into the silence. Tieria did a sweep around them, not knowing if the sound came from behind them or in front or even from a hallway they had passed.

"What was that?" The sound didn't repeat, and the other two joined him looking around, not seeing anything.

Anew looked to the two, "Do you think that was Setsuna? Scraping his dagger against the walls?"

"No, Setsuna would never give his position away like this. He's too skilled to be so sloppy. Sure it could alert us, but it could also alert anyone or thing that is here." Tieria's voice was low and on edge. They were in the lair of something unknown, and they didn't even know how to escape.

Lyle nodded in agreement, and gestured to Tieria, "Pick up the pace. We need to either find somewhere to hide or find the other two." Tieria couldn't help but agree, and moved a bit faster, his eyes on the move. The hallway passed by them, rooms with closed doors that could contain something they didn't want to deal with. There were more scraping sounds, the group unable to determine if it was getting closer, but all of their heartrates were rising.

The first thing that drew their attention was a set of double doors, which hung ajar. It was hard to see inside, but something in Anew said this was important. She pushed open the door, the two men assisting her as they entered the room. While Tieria tried to close it like it was before, Anew and Lyle looked around the room they had entered.

The stone was the same, but inside the room was a oxyx-black object, three points jutting out with what looked like a small access port at the base of it, a black console connected to it nearby. There were chairs around it, and there was a low glow from the access port. Lyle looked at the purple-haired agent, "Do you think this is what we were looking for? Because if it is, it's not a very impressive looking device."

Anew took a few steps towards it, "Well it could do anything. And sometimes things are more than what they seem." She gave him a small smile, and that calmed down his racing heart. There were still scratching sounds coming from the hall, but they seemed to be moving away from them.

Anew moved close to the device, and without activating anything, a map suddenly appeared, a 3-D globe floating above the black object. Planets and stars glowed, filling the relatively dark room with light. It was familiar, yet not familiar at the same time. Lyle and Anew looked at the systems on display, not entirely sure what was what. There was a lot missing compared to modern maps, and one of the systems was surrounded by red lights, seemingly highlighting something important.

The markers were unreadable, whatever the symbols meaning lost on the two observers. Lyle reached out to touch through the map, waving through one of the planets, "So we found an ancient map. How does that help us?"

Anew focused on that planet in red, narrowing her eyes, "Maybe something about this world is important?" There was very little detail on it, the display too simple to get any details. Something in her stirred looking at it, like she was missing something. 'What could Ribbons possibly want with all this? This empire is long dead.'

Tieria walked over to join the two, "Are we going to talk or do something right now? Allelujah and Setsuna are still out there." He looked to Anew, "Can you copy over this data somehow? And is there a map of this place?"

Anew looked at the console, and pursed her lips, "Let me see."

The Surface

Regene shook her head at the ruins of the camp. The headquarters was on fire and being put out, their weapons cache and explosives were gone, a massive hole blown in the fence. Tents were blown over and bodies were being piled up. Three shuttles had been taken by some of the prisoners and slaves, and one had even managed to escape. Anew's ship had escaped in the chaos, and Regene silently looked at the horizon, wondering where it could have gone.

The only consolation was the main headquarters was intact, though damaged. It would certainly take a while for it to be fixed, but at this point Regene was unsure if that would even be necessary. Ground troops were being sent from the ship in orbit, and the camp was crawling with guards.

She was giving an order to some stormtroopers when Marie came limping up to her. Regene nodded and Marie spoke, breathing hard, "How bad are things?"

Regene just gave her a knowing look, the scenery around them saying everything that needed to be said, "Well it could be worse, but Ribbons will certainly not be happy. Did you catch the Anew and whoever was with her?" Regene nodded at the medics, who silently responded to her orders.

Marie shook her head, but what caught her attention was Regene didn't seem that put out by the news that her fellow agent was a traitor. The woman didn't even seem that offput by the chaos around them. 'But at the same time I'm not sure if she could have been aware or just always like this.' The Echani spoke causally, as medics began to look her over, "No. She and the rest of the rebels escaped further into the ruin. I heard over comms they have just disappeared, as the ritual chamber had no other ways out."

Regene hummed, looking over her datapad, "All of our searching has not found any other way in or out. If they managed to find a way out, then they might already be gone. But hopefully they didn't learn anything about what is happening."

Marie just nodded, "What is exactly the goal? I understand if it's classified, but what would learning about this ruin do? There's nothing practical about learning about the Sith that would help them."

Regene cracked a smile, which didn't put the Echani at ease, "I can't say for sure, but disrupting the Inquisition wouldn't be the worst thing for the rebels. I had assumed Anew had been sent on another mission, but it seems she has defected. And she might have a grudge I don't know about." Regene watched as the medics finished bandaging her up, and Regene gestured for them to help others.

With an almost conspiratorial tone, Regene moved close to Marie, whispering quietly, "And between you and me, Ribbons is digging for something else on this world. Something much deeper and more ancient. Looking for something to make himself more powerful. But I didn't tell you that." Regene took a few steps back, and smiled again.

Marie looked down at the ground. 'Something more ancient than the Sith? What could that mean? I know the dark side is all about your personal power, but what could he be looking for so extensively?' Her mind was racing and Regene just put a hand on her shoulder, "Listen, you should get back to your admiral. Report what you found here, as I'm pretty sure this is going to lose its secrecy."

Marie raised an eyebrow at the purple-haired agent, who just looked back at her, that annoying smirk on her face. Marie just nodded and sat down on a crate that was being used as a makeshift chair, "Alright. Just be aware Admiral Smirnov might ask for more detailed information." Regene heard a ringing on her comms and noticed it was Ribbons.

"I have to take this, but I will share what I am able to." She took several seconds to find a private corner, the droning noise of people moving and chattering becoming quiet. An image of Ribbons appeared, in his usual outfit, hands folded behind his back. Regene smiled as she looked at him, "Greetings master."

"Greetings Regene. I assume things are going well there?"

Regene just nodded, "Anew arrived just as you expected. Her group has disappeared somewhere in the ruin. Hopefully they are finding what you need."

A satisfied smirk crossed Ribbons's face, "Wonderful. Put out information that Anew is a defector and traitor, and I am offering a reward to any citizen who offers information on her location."

"Do you think she will find what she needs to down there?"

"Of course. My connection with her is as strong as ever. The right pull will have her doing exactly what my will demands. And she in none the wiser."

Regene looked at the tablet, showing the profile on it, "What about the prisoner and other force sensitive members of the crew?"

A scowled crossed the inquisitor's face for a split second, but disappeared just as fast, "They will be dealt with in time. And he is ignorant of his history. Keep up the pretense of looking for them, but allow them to escape. And I will deal with Tieria. He will learn the truth before the end."

"Understood. The Echani is heading back as well, just so you are aware. It should only be a day at most."

"Good. Once again your service and loyalty is not to be questioned." The call dropped and left Regene alone, looking down at the quietly humming comm unit. She smirked as she put the unit away.

"We'll see what happens next."

With Setsuna and Allelujah

Setsuna reached a door with a fairly fancy looking sign above it, pointing at it, "It's in here." The Kiffar pressed the button at the side of the door, and it groaned as it slid open, revealing a dark room with only a minimal level of lights on the ceiling. The two could hear the skittering in the hallway, but it seemed to not be near them.

Allelujah took a step in and took a look around. The room was fairly basic, with a raised dais that had a slightly curved sword on, a leather handle that was ratty and falling apart on it. It was a bronze color, and had what looked to be an empty slot on the bottom of it. Right in front of that was a glowing yellow pyramid that looked about the size of a human palm.

To the right of the dais was the skeleton of an Iktoch, its body covered in dust. The wear of ages had gotten to it, and not even its outfit remained, scraps covering the floor below it. Allelujah swallowed heavily, but Setsuna's eyes only went to the sword. It hummed in his mind, the pull of the force heavy on him. 'This is what called me. This simple blade.' It was unremarkable, but he walked towards the blade.

The Jedi called out to tell him to be careful, but he ignored it, his mind only being driven to pick it up. Gripping the handle, he felt a dull throb of power going through it. The sword was surprisingly light, and he ran his hand along the blade. There was no rust or bent metal, and the edge was still sharp. He hummed as he took a few practice swings, both hands on the handle.

A vision of combat, blood, and wide scale combat flashed in his head. A blood-soaked history filled this weapon, the sensation of grey fighting against red omnipresent. It was vivid, but nothing was clear, the images moving too fast to keep track of. Setsuna shook off the sensation, looking down at the bronze-colored blade. 'What was that?'

It was still heavier than his last weapon, but there was more power in the slice than his previous sword. He turned to look at Allelujah, ready to tell him this is what called him, but he was surprised when Allelujah was looking with wide eyes at the yellow pyramid. The force radiated off that object, and he kept his voice low, "What is that?"

Allelujah took a deep breath, "A holocron. It's way force users can list information or teach others, even after death. Many old Jedi masters would transfer their knowledge on force techniques, philosophies or lightsaber techniques in."

Setsuna looked at it curiously, wondering what that meant, "Is it an archive or something else?"

Allelujah looked back at bitter memories of the past, "Can be that, or can be an imprint of their look and personality that can talk to you, and respond to a limited set of questions. I never learned how they worked. That was something only certain people knew." Allelujah cupped the object in his palm, slipping it into a pouch, and looked over at the sword that Setsuna had in his hands.

"I've never seen a weapon like that. This is what was calling to you?" Setsuna nodded, looking around for any sort of sheath. As the younger man did that, Allelujah reached out through the force. The blade had a dull force presence, but it was missing something, like there was a hole in it.

Setsuna nodded, "Ever since I landed here. I didn't know it was a weapon." He looked at the skeleton next to the dais, "You think it belonged to this man?"

"Maybe? If it did, then they must have been a force user. And that these two objects were great prizes for whoever owned this place, otherwise why would they be on a raised platform." Allelujah was intrigued by the fact the blade had a force presence, when all he had known the Jedi to use was a lightsaber. 'Maybe it was an older force tradition? But who came before the Jedi?'

He wished he had paid more attention in history class, but that hadn't been his strength when he was a youngling and apprentice. For all he knew they talked about ancient Jedi history or older traditions. He looked around and spotted what looked like a worn, but intact sheath, resting on a wall. He grabbed it and handed it to Setsuna, "I think this is for the new blade."

Setsuna nodded, putting it in his belt and tying it to make sure it couldn't fall out. Sheathing the blade, "It looked like I might need to work on the leather in the handle, but we should-"

A blaster bolt echoed through the hallway, a few more following it as the two men could hear the sounds of scuttling in the hallways. Both men's eyes met, and they realized their group was the only people down here. Allelujah spoke in a low tone, "We need to help them." Setsuna agreed, and pulling the sword back out, the two men took off as fast as they could, moving towards the blaster sounds.

With Anew, Lyle and Tieria

The group didn't know how much time had passed since Anew began her download, but when she walked over to them, a half-smile on her face, "Well, I still can't read anything, but I have the star charts. And I also found a map of this ruin, so hopefully we should be able to find our way out of here."

She opened up a holographic map of the ruin, showing multiple hallways in a square grid system, with what looked to be two longer hallways. Lyle pointed to those hallways, "Could those be our way out?" They were still trapped, so any options were good.

Tieria hummed, "Possibly, but those might have been the surface exits, that are now covered by the Sith ruin above us." He looked in some of the rooms, and saw a small tunnel leading down then straight, "Maybe that could be our way out. Places often have secret ways to get that out in case of an emergency."

Using common sense to determine where they were, they quickly figured out the turns they needed to make, though the fact Setsuna and Allelujah were lost still weighed on them. But before they could do anything or start to move, the door was shoved open and a tall, thin droid walked in, towering a foot over them. It's three-part chassis sat on four spider legs, a yellow optic attached to the top part and a blaster on the lower part. It was grey, the Infinite empire symbol marked onto the middle section.

The group took a few steps back, speaking in a strange language, a harsh, mechanical tone. The gun tracked between the three of them and Lyle raised his hands, "Hey, we don't mean any harm. Just wanted some info."

Anew nodded in agreement, though Tieria just kept his blaster raised. The droid seemed to take that it, keeping his blaster aimed at Lyle, the strange language shifting to a stiff basic, "You are not the masters. Please move back to the slave quarters. The command center is only for the masters."

Anew looked at the droid, seeing just how heavily armored and armed it was, "We didn't mean to intrude. We will leave."

The droid swiveled to her, "You will be guided back to the slave room. Either submit or be killed." The voice was getting harsher, and it looked over at the map and systems, "Central archives have been accessed by unauthorized users. Until masters rescind the order, then intruders will be eliminated." His gun trained on Lyle, and Tieria tackled Lyle as a blaster bolt flew by his side, inches above his legs as the two men fell to the floor.

The floor was burned black from the hit, and Lyle let out a breath as he realized how bad that might have been if it hit him. The two men wordlessly exchanged thanks, and got up, looking for cover as the droid began to fire on the two, the heat of the blasts more uncomfortable than expected. Lyle drew his pistol as Anew and Tieria took potshots at the droid. But to their frustration and horror, the bolts seemed to bounce off the armor, doing no damage as the droid aimed between the three rebels.

"Guardian directive one: eliminate intruders." The cold voice matched the efficiency with which it shot at the rebels, forcing them to stay on their feel or behind cover. Every near hit just caused Lyle, Anew and Tieria to sweat a little more, their attacks seemingly doing nothing. Lyle swore under his breath. 'What the hell do we do?'

The droid was in front of the door, keeping them from advancing. It moved from side to side, dodging some attacks as it was more agile than a droid with that size and armor suggested. It wasn't graceful by any means, but the spider legs made it more graceful than any droid any of the three had seen. All three were crouched behind cover, though it was a bit thin for their liking.

Tieria looked at the droid, examining it. All of their bolts had uselessly hit the armor, and whatever it was made of required something a bit stronger. 'I wish I'd brought my weapon.' He looked to his belt, and remembered that stormtroopers had a frag grenade on them. 'But would that be enough?'

Anew glanced at Tieria, seeing the expression of someone putting a plan together. She called out, "Tieria, what do we do?" Anew had been told in private that Tieria was the battlefield guy, and she trusted Lyle's instincts enough.

Tieria's response was gruff, "Just keep your head down." He tossed the grenade, holding it for a second to cook down the timer. The grenade soared through the air, landing at the feet of the droid, exploding with a blast of shrapnel. The metal shards impacted the underside of the droid doing little damage. There was no call of pain or reaction, but Tieria quickly noticed its movements suddenly seemed slower and less smooth.

Metal shards covered the joints of the legs, and a slight groan could be heard with each movement. Tieria smirked as he looked back at the group, "Shoot at the joints! They are unarmored!" Lyle and Anew felt a surge of confidence as they did their best to aim at the legs and joints.

It was still hard, and the droid almost hit them a few times, forcing Lyle to move to Anew's cover, his own being destroyed by the powerful blaster on the guardian. It was still fast, and trying to hit the thin part of a leg wasn't the easiest. But with each blast that hit the legs, parts became looser and the droid slowed down.

The guardian never lost its cool, but they could see that it was getting a bit sloppier with its aim. And with the increasing damage, the group assumed it would fall back, or fight to the death. But to their surprise, it charged forward, rushing past them to the console Anew had downloaded the info from. The group was forced to move out of the way as it plugged into the console, "Activating remaining security."

A shiver went through the three, and Anew called out, "Kill it before it can do that!" Their blaster bolts still bounced off its armor, but their hits on the joints caused them to collapse, the droids blasters still turning to fire at them. Lyle got a lucky hit, breaking the sensor optic, but it was still frustrating as they couldn't break into the core of the armor.

But the hum of a lightsaber filled their senses as Allelujah and Setsuna came rushing in, moving towards the damaged droid. With a smooth dodge as a razor sharp tip passed over his head, his body a blur, Setsuna sliced through the damaged leg with his new sword, severing it as the droid toppled even further. He yelled to Allelujah, "Now!"

The Jedi came in with a stab, going through the top of the droid, and dragged his lightsaber till it cut into the central chassis of the guardian. The droid spluttered for a few seconds before collapsing with a thud, landing on top of the computer, crushing it. All of the rebels caught their breath as the immediate threat was dealt with. Anew, Tieria and Lyle looked at the two force users, Lyle smirking tiredly, "You know we were going to have to find you."

Setsuna just ignored the comment and spoke, "We need to move. More droids are waking up, and we have no idea how many there are. Do we have a way out?"

Anew nodded, "There should be a passage that will get us out."

"And then we can signal for the ship to find us." Tieria chimed in, looking at the door for any motion. There was definitely scuttling in the hallways, which if it was another one of those, they may be in trouble.

Lyle spoke, an even look on his face, "Anew, take point. We'll cover you." Anew nodded, taking one last look at the computer. Whatever else was on that computer was lost, and the data they now had was one of a kind. 'Hope it's useful, otherwise I risked their lives for nothing.'

Author Note

Only one chapter left on the ruins! But they aren't out of danger yet. I'll see you guys next time!