[20 BBY]

[Base Camp Alpha, Abandoned Commerice Guild Base, Groundside, Moraband-that-was-Korriban, Horuset System, Esstran Sector, Stygian Caldera, Outer Rim Territories]

Obi-wan Kenobi was growing...concerned...as he rubbed at his beard, maintain a calm and confident facade for the Clone squad under Rex that Anakin had left behind to secure this abandoned base. All while Anakin went about adventuring or some such with Ahsoka in tow upon the dead Sith homeworld of all places. Doubly concerning as the ever problematic Daron Stormcrow very obviously took the situation, very, very, seriously; landing with nearly a company of droids and a squad of Troopers to secure the current site...and with Ventress in tow of course.

How, exactly, he was going to explain this to Council, after so many 'team ups' with the dark-sider, Obi-wan did not know, but it was unlikely to be pleasant in conversation. First and foremost though was dealing with what had gotten into his old Padawan, and why neither he nor Ahsoka was responding to the message he'd sent telling them get back here right this minute. Answers Rex might have he hoped as he dismounted the LAAT, walking straight over to the familiar Clone as Stormcrow landed nearby with his reinforcements; Obi-wan was almost used to the sight of allied droids by now.

"General..." Rex stated with a salute that Obi-wan matched as the Clone squad back in the LAAT dismounted, unloading their support weapons "...you have questions?"

"I'm afraid so Rex, what has Anakin gone and got himself into?" he queried in that weary tone that he almost felt the clone give a mental shrug too "...and why didn't he answer his comms while he was here, or since he's departed?"

"Sorry Sir, but we didn't have any communications..." Rex apologised "...we've had difficulty maintaining contact once we descended through the atmo"

Obi-wan frowned at him "Anakin's orders or actual troubles?"

Rex shook his head "No Sir, actual troubles. First knew there were problems when your LAAT came on approach and General Stormcrow's clankers commed us"

"We brought a signal booster with us..." the armoured form of Daron Stormcrow stated striding over to them with two of his four droid guards, Ventress waiting back with the others as they unloaded their trio of LAAT's and gunships "...so that should help with that Commander. Though, I'm more concerned what brought Anakin down here, beyond a desire to stress me out maybe, so, did he explain his reasoning to you Commander?"

"Yes General..." Obi-wan paused, ignoring the generally uncomfortable feeling of this terrible world in the Force, and noting Rex's mild surprise "...he received a call from the base and he decided to investigate. He seemed certain one of the shuttles from the slave groups we freed had been forced to land, and we would follow him to the location after rounding up the few that had made to head for the base here"

That was concerning "Rex...I have no record of such a call, Cody, Daron?"

The senior Clone he'd grown used to working with shook his head "No Sir"

Daron Stormcrow though pushed a button on wrist, silently speaking before a faint grimace barely concealed by the Mandalorian style heavy body armour "No, we've no record of any transmissions from the planet Commander, nor of any shuttle missing...I...think someone is messing with minds General Kenobi, or attempting so with certain people in this case"

'Oh kriff, it's Mortis all over again' Obi-wan wanted to swear, but kept his calm, merely and resting his hand on his chin "That is a possibility, a concerning one...do we know where Anakin and Ahsoka were head?"

"Sir, they left by speeder three minutes after landing, moving westward..." Rex replied with a gesture into the arid wastes, up into the hills "...tried to raise them on the comms just before you arrived General, but neither General Skywalker or Commander Tano have replied back yet"

"Thank you Rex, can you and Cody give myself and General Stormcrow a moment to discuss?"

"Sir!" the clone Troopers replied with an easy yet precise salute before moving away to coordinate the unloading of the LAAT's to secure this base camp. The Aegis Guard Troopers were doing similar, and tension between them, their droids, and the Clone Troopers not visible on the surface thankfully; fighting together at Zygerria and Kadavo easing tensions somewhat to his surprise. With some fraction of privacy, he turned towards the armoured former padawan turned General, and still Force User disturbingly enough, with a dislike of the Order.

"I'm sure your former Master covered the problems present with such?"

The faintly synthesised voice gave a snort, arms folded across his armoured chest "Yes, very much, and I'm having my ship try pinpoint where we might be, and where they might be headed, based upon any known maps from the historical archives, or Commercial Guild recordings pre-war. And, yes, I'm aware the concern about Ventress, but, to be frank, we might need the Force user because of where we are, and whatever is luring Anakin to wherever he's going"

Obi-wan nodded idly "Yes, and it's effecting others mildly...Rex didn't think the situation through, the shuttle-walk makes limited sense, but he followed through on Anakin's orders, not thinking beyond them as he usually does. And, yes, I do have concerns over someone who claims to be a Sith being with us upon a former Sith world that reeks so strongly of the Dark Side I struggle to sense anything"

"Korriban, Moraband, whatever we want call it...Sith homeworld, dead sprits of Sith Lords, I've read the entries in the Temple Library..." Daron Stormcrow replied looking around, then back at Obi-wan "...and frankly I'm more concerned about Jedi, ones with strong emotions and Force powers getting secret invitations through the Force on one of the few places I suspect the Council will agree with my Not Trusting in the Force talk"

'Ah, that troubled thinking. Poor Stass, such a struggle she must have had' Obi-wan thought but giving a polite nod...

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[20 BBY]

[Aegis Guard Gunship, Airborne, Travelling towards Valley of the Dark Lords, Moraband-that-was-Korriban, Horuset System, Esstran Sector, Stygian Caldera, Outer Rim Territories]

'Dammit Anakin, don't be so gung-ho about Dark side things' I mentally complained for maybe the hundredth time as the gunship accelerated through the beautiful Korriban skies towards what I suspected was the Valley of the Dark Lords. And it was beautiful to my surprise; deadly, merciless, but the skies sparked in shimmering orange, and red, and gold as the sunlight stuck the dust in the atmosphere. A nice touch when the Dark Side softly blanketed everything, the mountains below silently drenched in invisible blood from ancient slaughters and helpless hate.

We'd secure a base camp, and as loath as I was to bring organics down the Clones presence indicated it best to do so; though I'd picked my personal squad for Mental Resistance as much as loyalty and pure skill, so they should endure. That and machines were immune in a place like this either, so it was back to dual-check protocols with monitoring from orbit – once we'd got the signal booster set up anyway. Even now the mountain range, and The Force I suspected, was interfering with communications back to the base.

'No wonder we can't get in touch with them' I thought watching the ground fly by as my gunship and Kenobi's LAAT flew in a slow forward motion, sensors, eyes, and Force senses watching out along this valley. Ruins, so many ruins, hidden under that arid ground, shifting sand, and dark mountains; almost impossible to tell as I kept my 'touch' light and nimble, in case certain things lived...or undead unlived. Something was obviously there, many things, calling out in the Force, Whispers in the Dark that I shut out as best I could, and I wouldn't put it beyond Sidious to reach here...somehow.

More worrying was the Anakin and Kenobi had never been here, dredged up memories of times never gone had hinted they had been in another...reality?...timeline?...but not here. Good and Bad, and potentially due to me; but I should have expected it with my efforts to stop Anakin getting unbalanced into Darth Vader by avoid Shmi dying and the Tusken murder-spree he committed afterwards. In fairness...this place unnerved me, and I was self-hypnotising to be not afraid, as fear was the mind killer here; an actual killer in truth, as even with full strength abominations likely still lurked, waiting to be woken.

"Coming up Grid-04/X2 General..." the droid at the controls "...energy pattern detected consistent with speeders"

"Good, move to track, contact General Kenobi's transport and update"

"Roger, Roger, General, by your command"

Ventress was quiet, which was good, merely scanning the terrain with her eyes and her Force Senses, and I'd brought a small number of B-1R's and Droidekas in addition to Aaron and Abigail. I'd left Bob and Betty back at the Base Camp along with T-E/R4225, or Captain Trevor, to help with site security should...things happen there without a Jedi present. While I'd like them all with me, the fact of the Clones meant some degree of 'if everyone goes insane' defences needed to be in place at the abandoned camp – and I still wasn't sure why it had been abandoned prior to the war either.

The gunship bucked again, fighting the turbulence of the winds that seemed to pervade the higher altitudes of the valleys. I brought up the holo-grid of the area below us, blinking indicating energy spikes further ahead, but still no response to communication attempts by Kenobi. We hadn't been in the air searching long, but the two seemed to have gotten pretty far despite that, though we'd had to do a slow search pattern to avoid just missing them in the shifting sands and dangerous terrain. I frowned, still unable to feel anything more than the surging and roiling of the darkness all around.

"Sorry General, turbulence is increasing in frequency..." the droid pilot announced as the gunship bucked again, then again after that a little less "...descending two hundred metres, increasing power to anti-grav systems requested?"

"Acceptable pilot"

"Roger, Roger, General"

"At least you've made them a little less stupid"

I shrugged faintly in response, at least as much as being in armour and having on my jump-buckle on allowed anyway "Eh, we value quality, especially since we don't have a limitless supply. Minor upgrades, improved programming, and they'll specific jobs very well..."

The gunship bucked again "...usually"

"Sorry General, repulsors at maximum, response...power surge..."

Those were the last words I heard out of the droid as the gunship sudden...staggered mid air, bounced backwards almost...

The Force howled around us as I felt the engines die...though emergency backups kicked in immediately, and we fell into a wild, spinning, descent, as alarms flashed and rang, thrumming across my helmet's HUD notifying me we'd impacted Kenobi's LAAT for a second as well. He was alive, but I felt him spin away, out of my senses, as my hand gripped the jump handles for balance. For now I focused on us, reaching out with the Force as the ground surged towards us, managing the fall I pushed us away from the jagged rocks, but unable to do more as the ship slammed into the ground, and me through the door as I shielded myself with my power...

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