Chapter 21
A rather catty interlude
Keira was sitting behind the shuttle pilot, she unbuckled her belt as the craft finished entering atmosphere. Two Tie fighters flanked on Port and Starboard and the heavily modified Tie Interceptor was well to stern of the shuttle. Another shuttle followed aft
"We have communications from the surface." The co pilot spoke
"Contact on scanners, six fighters closing fast, the communications/ navigator reported
"That will be the Harpies. Give me access to the Coms." Keira spoke
The pilot nodded and the navigator handed over an earpiece and microphone set. Keira tapped the microphone and winced slightly as she got feedback
"Harpie Patrol and Arkaxis Traffic Control. This is Shuttle Five Five Alpha from the Imperial Ship Executor with escorts, please respond."
"Imperial Shuttle state the nature of your business, Arkaxia is neutral and do not acknowledge Senate interference." A cold voice returned
"Fully acknowledged, Tie Interceptor and Shuttle Five Five Alpha has an appointment at the Catacombs, Shuttle Seven Nine Epsilon has an appointment with Arkaxis orbital. We are acting independently from the Senate on instructions from the Emperor." Keira replied
The six craft came into view and took up escort position well away from the formation. Looking at the scanner screen Keira noticed that the ships registered as blue icons.
"Shuttle Five Five Alpha and escorts maintain your course while we verify your statements." The voice returned
Minutes later the voice returned
"Shuttle five Five Alpha you are cleared to proceed to your destinations. Do not deviate from your flight paths."
"Acknowledged." Keira replied
She handed the earpiece back
"You can tell the second shuttle to divert to their destination."
Keira stood up and tapped the pilot on the shoulder
"I will take over for the rest of the trip, please inform Lord Vader to fall in behind us." She instructed
She settled in the chair and pushed the control down and dropped altitude. She levelled out above the tree lines and reduced speed. Checking the scanner she noticed the Interceptor was in position. She pushed towards a set of mountains visible in the distance.
The co pilot gasped as they approached their destination
"You have to be karking me." He said
An entire peak had been flattened and a figure of a cat seated on its haunches had been carved in what had remained of the peak. The centrepieces of this massive statue was two green eyes with a slit black pupil in the eyes
"The eyes are tinted glass, it took the Yuki's five hundred years to carve out the statue." Keira informed the silent crew on the shuttle
She approached a landing pad and touched down. Lowering the boarding ramp she dropped her gunbelt on the ramp before stepping out onto the gravel of the landing pad. Several cloaked figures were standing at the edge of the landing area. She waited till Vader had stepped from his fighter before making her way over to the largest cluster of figures.
She dropped to her knees before a figure in a purple cloak
"Revered Matriarch I come to seek the wisdom of an elder." Keira stated
"I see that you follow the custom, but your followers do not." The figure spoke
"I, Keira Wren Aliit Wren, seek passage under the old treaties. I will take full responsibility for their actions."
"I grant passage under the old treaties." The figure spoke
Keira got up and bowed to the figure. She turned to face Vader
"We have been granted passage, my life is now tied to the outcome of this meeting." She informed him
Vader motioned to the stormtroopers to return to the shuttle. The group of cloaked figures parted before them and Keira led the way to a staircase and started to descend. They entered the structure through an arch between the paws of the gigantic Cat statue. The inside structure was hollowed out, the area bathed in the light coming through the massive eyes above them. Two deep pools stood before another archway. Three figures cloaked in white robes approached. Keira bowed again
"We are here to seek the wisdom of Elder Ichuru." She addressed them
"He is awaiting you in the crypt. You may proceed"
Keira led the way down a wide spiral staircase, this area was lit by dim yellow lights. On each landing passages led of to the side and from a central area spread into further passages. Various niches had been carved into the passage walls, as they descended they started noticing that some of the niches were covered
"This is where the families of the colonists inter their dead. Each Pride has their own passage and the older the Pride the closer they are to the crypt of the First." Keira explained
She paused and took a deep breath
"Sorry I need a moment to center myself." She said
"The Force is strong here. Yet curiously the wielders I sense are very weak." Vader remarked
"It is. And I believe I mentioned before that this is the only planet where you can find force sensitive Yuki, weak as they are. It is beleieved should this colony move that they will become Force neutral again in a few generations." Keira replied
Keira breathed in and out for few times
"We are close to the Crypt."
The stairs ended at a final landing and a single passage led of from it. Two large doors made from Beskar lined the passage end. Light streamed from inside the passage. Keira took of her boots and left them at the door before leading the way inside.
The inside was well lit, several elder Yukis were seated around several sarcophagi. They were patiently touching up the paint and images on the stone structures with tiny brushes
A grey Tom put down his brushes and stood up before approaching the group. He ignored Keira and the other imperials and gave his fullattention to Vader
"You are the one hunting my kittens." He said firmly and fearlessly
"I am." Vader admitted
"Then you already know I will not aid you even if I could." He said
Vader nodded at the Elder
"You have met the one named NoName then recently?" Vader stated
"I did, I and my pride met our wayward kittens out in deep space before we parted our ways. By the prides decision we do not know where they went."
The ISB agent assigned to the group shuffled
"Are we supposed to believe that?" The man scoffed
"The elder speaks the truth, no falsehood may be uttered in the Crypt." Keira stated firmly
"The Force also confirms he speaks the truth." Vader said thoughtfully
The elder crossed his arms
"Why is the Emperor interested in my kittens? The Hutts I can understand, surely the Apprentice to the Sith Lord has better things to do than chase after a group hiding from the Hutts and bounty hunters."
"That does not concern you." Vader replied
The elder shrugged before turning to face Keira
"And you Ad'ika are you here to pursue you origins?" He asked
Keira was shocked. There was no way for the Elder to know her heritage. Her tattoos were covered by the non descript clothing she was wearing, her armour back on the Executor. The elder smiled at her confusion
"Your ancestor acknowledges your presence, young Wren." He said
He pointed to an open sarcophagus. Several crystals set in the edges of the lid was glowing
"Only direct descendents will activate the crystals." The Tom explained
"Why is the sarcophagus open?" Keira asked, transfixed by the crystals
"There was no body to inter nor is she within the Mausoleum of her people, your family. Where she is buried no one knows." He replied
"The Mausoleum is a myth." Keira snapped
"Just like it is a myth that Mandalorians can access the Presence, just a myth that several families had broken from the main clans and is maintaining the ancient ways of the Resol'Nare and their version of the path of the Presence."
The Tom motioned behind him and an younger female approached holding a wooden chest. She handed the chest to Keira. The lid was engraved with Mandalorian lettering and gilded in the dull silver of Beskar
"If what I said is all myth and kitty tales, that which is within is just a tourist trinket. If not you will learn a lot of who you are. Now we are done. Miko will show you to the turbolift."
The one named Miko led the way. She stepped underneath thestaircase and pressed on a segment of the wall. Light streamed out as the wall split apart. Two buttons stood out on the control panel. The woman waved them in and left the area
In the Crypt Shiro was approached by the rest of his pride. Lio looked at the retreating group
"I am almost scared to ask what those kittens did now. The apprentice to the Sith Lord. Imperials, bounty hunters and Hutts we expected, but him." Lio remarked shaking his head
Shiro waited till Miko had returned and joined the group. He stroked his ear deep in thought before grinning in delight
"That ones presence means Jaune has finally accessed his birthright, he must be stronger than we anticipated. You do not send your strongest hunters after the weakest of prey."
"The young girl is also surprising, we have had nothing but rumour and gossip about them for a century." Ashana said
"True, but like all things everything comes in cycles. The Great Feline teaches us all is an everlasting cycle. In the time of the First Ones the Jedi were being laid low by their enemy as it is now. Yukira was strong till we were laid low, it may very well be the time for us to rise again." Miko said thoughtfully
Lio clapped his hands to stop the debate before it began.
"Shall we contact the Choir and tell them it is time for us all to prepare to leave?"
"We might as well. The real Crypt has been sealed, our records are already gone and all that remain are the remains of the extinct prides." Shiro replied
"To be honest I am not looking forward to wandering in space till we hear from the kittens about a new planet." Kirei said
"I disagree, I have always wanted to fly in the colony ships our ancestors prepared in secret. You know my Grandfather was one of the workers on the last ship build." Shiro said eagerly
"We know. You constantly remind us." Lio replied, rolling his eyes
"First we tweak the Sith's noses, rebuilt our homes and then we get even with those damned Squids when they least expect it." Shiro said rubbing his hands gleefully
The Executor, orbit over Arkaxia
Keira was seated looking at the chest before her. She had been in quiet contemplation ever since leaving the Catacombs. She narely moved when the doors to the briefing room opened and Kallus and his group entered. She looked up as Vader rose from his seat. Kallus got to attention and turned to face Vader.
"We had some significant success on the planet, however we had minimal success in relation to the hunt for the fugitives." He reported
"Clarrify." Vader demanded
"We found that Arkaxia Orbital had supplied combat packages to the first generation Clone Headhunter fighter craft as well as the Athersprite class the Jedi used , prior to the destruction of the Yards. However the packages were not created at the Yars but at an on planet facility that was not targeted. The contract had gone dormant till recently. We found that close to a thousand units have been sold in the last months. Cross referencing the delivery address we found the coordinates to a station that had been reported as destroyed by separatist forces according tour databases. The person who logged the report was Garm Bel Iblis. The account used for payment was backtracked to Imperial central again to an account in use during the Clone Wars used by a sub committee of the senate. The authorised Senators to that account included Padme Naberie of Naboo, deceased. Bail Organa of Alderan, Mon Mothma of Chandrilla and Garm Bel Iblis of Correllia. All of whom were part of The Alliance to restore the Republic."
Vader breathed deeply in and out, chairs rattled as he reigned in his anger.
"You have done well, agent Kallus. What have you found on the target?" Vader spoke eventually
"No recent purchases, all of the recent ones for parts and components picked up at authorised dealers on Arkaxia. We have recovered an account number used for the transactions. The bank has been given an order to release the account details to the ISB and a monitor has been placed on it, should the fugitive access the account we will know when and where. We have also retrieved the account numbers of the fugitive's associates and are monitoring the accounts."
Vader made a gesture of dismissal and the group broke up.
"Wren." Vader spoke up
Keira paused and waited by her chair. Vader moved to the viewport and studied the planet in view
"What did you learn?" Vader asked
"That NoName has more support that we knew of before and that my guess regarding the Zygerrian ship was correct. The Elder was telling the truth that he did not know where they went, but he knewthey were going somewhere completely unknown, and from the way he said it, it was clear to me that he believed we would not find the place. I would suggest placing surveillance on the Elder, though I do not suspect anything will come of it. They are cautious and now know their family is being hunted by more than those they knew off." Keira said
"And what of the chest he passed to you?"
"I scanned it already. No biological or electronic traces found. Deep scanning has revealed a pyramid shape inside as well what looks like a datapad."
Vader made a gesture and the chest opened. A pyramid shape lifted from inside on his next gesture. The pyramid had no visible glow
"It appears that this holocron has depleted its power cell." Vader said
The datapad lifted up next, he took a look at the clearly ancient device before lowering it and the dead holocron back inside.
"Tourist trash indeed." He scoffed
Keira collected the case and left the room as Vader stared out in space again. Reaching her quarters or more accurately upscale holding area she placed the case down on her cot. Her two minders were not present in the room. She paused and opened the case.
She lifted the holocron up to eye level. The holocron was made from beskar and engraved with gold filigree, Like the case the lettering on it consisted of an archaic version of Mandalorian text. She nearly dropped it swearing a blue streak as it lit up from within with a deep purple glow. A fully armoured Mandalorian figure appeared above the device, the armour style something she had only seen in ancient records dating back to the time of Mandalore the Redeemer. The figure lifted her helmet revealing a red haired woman she would estimate to be in her twenties
"Welcome my descendant, what would you like to learn today?"
