The Grand Temple
"Speech"
"Radio or calls"
'Thoughts'
Bridge of the Vagabond
Lyle rested his hand on the controls to the hyperdrive. The weight of it lay on his mind as the ship drifted through space. He took a deep breath, the weight of all their choices now sitting on them. The coordinates were in place, and everyone was in their places, Feldt in engineering with Haro and Setsuna, and Allelujah and Tieria in the gunner seats. Sergei, Marie and Anew all sat in the remaining seats, focusing on sensors and other important tasks.
The bridge was quiet, only broken by the beeps and boops of the consoles, and the crew checking in on things or calling out that systems were all clear. The Corellian took a deep breath, comforted by the familiar lights of the hyperspace. If there was one thing his people could find something to fall back on, it was the hum of a starship as it travelled the galaxy.
The ship shook as they fought to get to their destination. Despite it being close to known hyperspace routes, the route was not mapped, so he had to keep focused as he steadied the ship. It was frustrating as he had to avoid large masses, but a part of him was excited by the limited exploratory nature of this trip.
The sensors weren't happy about any of this, but the bulkheads were holding, and as space filled the space around them, a large shudder went through the ship as they slipped back into real space. In front of them was a small planet, mostly brown and black with a small green sea. It was sickly all around, and he was about to speak when a noise drew his attention.
An alarm went off from the engines, a sound he never liked to hear. He called out to Feldt, "What is going on?"
"Stealth drive is down. The shaking must have jammed up some of the circuits."
Lyle swore under his breath as eyes were on him, "Can you fix it?" He looked to Christina, mouthing to scan the planet. She nodded as he waited for Feldt's response. Worryingly, he could see a Tartan on patrol at the edges of their sensors, though hopefully they hadn't been detected.
"Give me a minute." The whole bridge seemed to hold their breath as the Miraluka did her job, no sounds coming from her until a grim voice came through, "It's going to take at least an hour. More if I'm honest. Sorry."
Lyle let out a breath as Anew spoke up, "It should be fine. We can make a run past the Tartan's patrol if need be." She gave Lyle a confident smile, and he was bolstered as he nodded.
"Anew is right. Get Haro on patching issues and keep our shields strong."
"Understood!"
Lyle gripped the controls and looked at Sergei, "Coordinate gunnery with the Tieria and Allelujah." The man gave him an imperial salute out of instinct, and Lyle looked to the Zeltron, "Status report on the planet."
Christina looked up at him, her voice a bit shaky, "It's mostly dead, except for a small part of the planet. Unusually dead. No plant life, no animals. Just dead." Marie nodded at that. This world was something that she had learned, but never saw. A wound in the force. 'You'll know it when you feel it. It's something one cannot mistake.' The words that were told to her so long ago, and the way that teacher had spoken of it, it was like she had sensed it before.
Marie stayed silent, not wanting to add to the stress of the moment. And it's not like non-force users could understand what it meant to be connected to everything. She took a deep breath as she expected all the other force users on the ship to have understood the bone chilling implications. Lyle looked to Christina, "Give me the coordinates. I'll plot us a course."
She nodded as the data was sent over to his display, and Anew smiled as she helped him lay out the location. It wasn't a straight line, but they would have to curve around the planet, and that meant that the enemy could chase them. If any ship was good at dealing with fighters and bombers, it was the Tartan's.
He nodded as he smiled, his blood pumping as he gripped the controls, "All crew, prepare for battle!" He pushed the controls forward, diving towards the planet as tried to stay as far from the ship as possible. Lyle skirted the edge to the sensors, kept his eyes narrowed as they closed in on the planet.
Lyle held his breath as he hoped to avoid contact, but warnings of torpedo lock-on filled the cockpit as he could see the guided ordinance closing in on them. 'Well, there goes the element of surprise.' He engaged in evasive maneuvers as he banks steeply, one of the torpedoes narrowly missing them. Laser fire filled the space as the heavy laser cannons reduced the space the ship had to maneuver.
A few blasts hit the shield as more of the torpedoes closed in. Lyle threw up some chaff as the distance to the planet seemed so close, yet so far away. Normally he would consider attacking the ship, but that was not their objective as they faced the full broadside of the corvette, "Try to take out those torpedoes!"
Sergei corrected and worked with the data, guiding the gunners as laser fire from the ship impacted at least one of them. The shields were taking a battering, and he reduced power to all systems not needed for combat and survival. The volume of laser blasts lowered as the Tartan strangely didn't move closer, staying in place as Lyle could see the last torpedo on a collision course. Anew called out to the ship, "All hands, prepare for impact!"
An explosion rocked the hull as the torpedo slammed into the aft of the ship. Damage reports echoed. The shield was down on the aft, and Christina called out with worry lacing her tone, "Feldt! Setsuna! Are you ok?!"
A crackling response came from the engine room as the sounds of spraying foam joined with voices, "Light damage…stealth drive needs docking…fire contained." It was a mix of Setsuna and Feldt, and presumably Haro, "We can…out…Need repairs…" As the ship moved out of range of the Tartan, curving around the planet, Sergei looked at Lyle.
"Should we be worried about that? Normal doctrine is to pursue the enemy." He hummed under his breath, "I wouldn't allow an enemy to escape unless I was ordered to allow it."
Lyle grunted, "Then we are walking into an enemy trap if they are letting us past with relatively little damage."
Tieria balked at that, "You call damage to our engines like that light?"
"Well, I call us not getting chased by a corvette mildly suspicious. I've seen what damage one of those has done to an X-Wing squadron."
"Then why are we walking into it so blindly? This just gives him time to prepare for us."
"You have a better idea? It's not like it's the first time we walked into an ambush." Christina chuckled at the banter, which drained out some of the tension as the ship moved at a slower pace to the engine room. They moved around the planet, passing over dead continents, until they found that strange patch of green. It was a radiating circle in a sea of death, and as the ship entered the atmosphere, a grand building came into view.
It stood tall, a wide circle at the base as rings moved up the side. Darkened stone, formerly white as made obvious by the spots on it, was the base color as what could have decorated it could have flaked off over the tens of thousands of years since anyone had been here. Collapsed towers surrounded it, and the highest tower on the grand complex came to a point at the top, with a member of the conquering species they saw in the ruin pointing a spear into the sky in glory.
Allelujah and Tieria, having left the gunnery station, looked at the sight. Allelujah shuddered. It was not just a wound in the force, but it was empty. Nothing. Even the dark side tingled with the force. Even the deadest planets had the strands of the force flowing in and on it. But this was a void, like all the force had been taken and nothing was left. Imperial shuttles were closer to the building, but there was no movement as the ship moved in.
And it only got worse as they reached the clearing and landed, the tall grasses almost failing to grow, like death would take it if it did. They all had seen worlds with long grasses, but the lack of it just made the place feel more alien. Another call came from the engines, Feldt's voice clearer, "I've done what we can, but we will need to head to a dock to fix everything. The stealth system is shot, and our main hyperdrive will need to be taken apart to get anywhere. We will have to rely on our secondary one for now."
Lyle wiped his brow, "Good. Head to the boarding ramp and get ready to head out." He stood up and looked at Christina, "Keep the ship warm, and hide the best you can if that Tartan shows up again." Christina nodded and watched the people walk down the stairs to the boarding ramp. Everyone was armored as best they could, the crew in their normal armor.
Sergei wore a set of stormtrooper armor, and while not the best fit, would be better than nothing. An imperial blaster was in his arms as he looked like a grunt. Marie looked at her father, and wondered if he didn't imagine doing this when he was younger. 'Probably looked a bit less refined than he is now.'
She wore a simple set of Feldt's clothes, along with a light set of armor that both Setsuna and Allelujah wore. Her hair was in a long ponytail. In her hands was an electrostaff, juiced up a bit to help her deal with the droids they might be facing. She had no idea where they found this, but she wasn't going to turn down a weapon suited to her. She also had a blaster pistol at her side and a vibroblade.
Feldt was collecting herself as the crew gathered at the base of the ramp. She still hadn't trained extensively but had a blaster at her side and a kit containing her engineering tools on her back, including a blowtorch. It was moderately heavy, but she had no idea what was going to be needed. She huffed as she reached the bottom of the ramp.
In front of them was a clear walk to this giant structure. Imperial shuttles were to the right of it, but they were specks at this distance. But at ground zero, it was a mess with her eyes. All force connections made organic and natural looking webs, but all the force was like a thin like out here, all draw towards a knot at the temple. She shook silently as death surrounded them and looked up as Lyle looked over the group.
"Let's get going then. If we make it out of here, I'm paying for a round of drinks." Anew nodded with a smile and Seregi let out a grunt, but the rest stayed silent. The group trudged through the grass that reached their ankles, the dry plants barely clinging to life as broken stones revealed something ancient leading up to the temple.
The group stumbled a bit up the steps, nothing standing in their way. There were a few crates and other supplies left behind by the imperials, but they were just left here unguarded. Marie frowned as she looked at the sight, "Why aren't there any guards?"
Setsuna spoke curiously, "They could have been called in to fight security." Marie wasn't sure if that was true, but either the answer was going to be obvious, or Ribbons was going to have to tell them. But her gut says it was nothing good.
Lyle paused to look over the supplies and found nothing. Just basic food and other tech that wouldn't help them now. Atmospheric data, list of supplies, but no orders. He sighed, and nodded at the group, who continued to the great stone doors that stood ajar, giving them just enough room to go in two by two.
Sunlight spilled into the insides from openings above, the dark stone matching the exterior of the outside. There was nothing blocking the openings, and Anew assumed it must have had some form of glass or clear barrier there thousands of years ago. Great columns held up a grand ceiling, but rubble choked the ground as a few of the columns had seemingly collapsed. Several doorways were blocked by large piles of rubble, and a smaller set of double doors sat at the end of the hall, also blocked by piles of quarried, now broken, stones. A raised platform rose near the end of the room, looking out on the rest of the room, with a broken crystal in the center of it.
The group took in this ancient sight, the power radiating from the room. The force users shuddered at the sight, that emptiness telling a story about what these people must have been like. What light side civilization would ever leave such a forceless husk? Feldt held her arm close to her as she couldn't help but want to leave this place. 'No one should have to come to such a cursed place as this.' Setsuna put a hand on her shoulder, and she smiled as Allelujah and Marie gave her a nod.
The Miraluka collected herself and followed the group as they spread around the room. There was an open hallway on the east wall. Lyle whistled at how impressive the room was, while Sergei, Anew and Tieria kept their eyes open. The rock piles seemed too big to clear away with any haste, and as Anew walked around the stone throne, her eyes went wide. A pile of dead stormtroopers and those small security droids were in front of the door, hidden by the raised platform the throne was on. The imperials were surrounded by three to four times the number of droids.
"Lyle! It seems the imperials ran into the same issue that we did before." Dried blood soaked the floor as holes filled the soldiers. It was no more than a handful of soldiers, but limbs were removed, and the armor of the imperials had stood no chance against the sharpened blades of the ancient empire. She winced as she heard Lyle and Tieria come beside her.
"Well, that solves that mystery." Tieria was blunt as kicked over one of the droids, "Good call on bringing ion weapons." He looked at the raised platform, before walking down it. He was about to touch the stones of the blocked door, when a cry from Feldt came from the only open doorway. The group rushed forward and understood why Feldt let that out.
They were facing a long hallway with several closed doors. The only light that filtered in was from the room they came from, their eyes adjusting to the dark hallway. Scattered in the hallway were scores of stormtroopers, all covered in puncture wounds, along with burnt spots on their armor. Those familiar with the last ruin grimly realized that meant there were some of the larger droids. Marie looked away for a second, while Sergei took a deep breath. Regardless of the fact they served the Empire, they had been led by an inquisitor to a place only he understood and had died for his selfish and traitorous goals.
Sergei growled under his breath, and Marie just nodded at him. He looked at the bodies, "He will pay for all these soldiers." Marie just continued walking. 'It may be wrong, but I wish it didn't have to be that way.' With her settling back more into herself before she joined the Empire, her healer instincts were more coming to the fore.
But none of the rebels noticed this, too focused on moving forward. They walked around the bodies, doing their best to try not to step on them. The way the bodies were laid out reminded them of an assault, the men clearly pushing forward against resistance. There were even more defenders around them, with one of the larger bots just around the corner. Feldt was especially not trying to look at the sight, but it was hard to, especially with some of her senses being messed with by the deadening of the force here.
Feldt tried a few of the doors, but without power, they refused to budge. She sighed as she heard the crack of a piece of armor under her feet and looked down to see a broken imperial helmet with part of a head in it. She pushed back a wave of nausea and followed the team as her tools jangled in her pack. They weren't light, and as they turned the L at the end of the hallway, they were faced with another open door.
Lyle gestured for Allelujah to take point, with Feldt in the middle for her protection and Setsuna at the end. As the group entered the room, they were presented with a large chamber. Two massive horizontal objects were installed into the ground next to each other, a rusted metal frame around them. On a wall was a black console, shaped like the partial inside of a sphere. Wires from it crossed along the wall as they disappeared into holes. It was dead silent, only the sounds of their breath and footsteps echoing around the empty room. There were no dead bodies in here, but there was a trail of blood moving through the room to a door on the far end of it.
Feldt put her hand on one of the large objects and scanned the object. The dark side tore at her senses, but she stayed focus as she instinctively found what they were, "Power generators!" They weren't like ones she had seen before, but with the way the wires spread from them, it was the only thing that would make sense. None was flowing through it, but as she looked away, Tieria moved towards the panel on the wall.
"Do you think this turns it on?" He turned to touch it, but it didn't seem to do anything. No display came up, and he tapped on the metal, frustrated, "Why won't it work?"
Feldt touched the generator again, "Power seems limited, though someone has messed with this recently." There were signs of dust being disturbed, but her powers still didn't tell her who messed with it, "This place might be on emergency power. Who knows what tech these ancients had?" A part of her really wanted to know, but she took her hand off the generator.
Anew looked at the hallway and open door that led into another light filled room leading out of the generator room, "Well if the defenses got Ribbons, then we need to make sure. I won't leave until I see proof of his death." She took point, peeking around the door to take in the next room.
It was flooded by light, just like the first room they entered. A stone and metal throne sat near the end of the room, on a raised platform with a few steps rising on one side. A familiar set of double doors was at one end of the room, slightly pushed in by something. Pillars were carved with scenes of conquest and submission, an alien figure with two stalk eyes coming out of the side of its head standing above others of its own race, along with other familiar and unfamiliar aliens. Behind the throne was another wide hallway, leading into dim light and more stonework.
While the symbols on the pillars were lost to her, she could recognize the story. 'They remind me too much of Ribbons.' It was strange to see such a primitive record of the dark side, but that just explained why Ribbons was so obsessed with this civilization. The others soon followed her into the room, Feldt and Setsuna coming out last. Tieria and Lyle kept their eyes out for these droids, while Anew and Marie looked at the carvings.
Marie touched her hand to them and did her best to put together some degree of order, but it was lost on her as she just didn't have enough context to work with, "Whoever these people were, I am happy we don't have to live with them. The Sith are bad enough as it is."
Setsuna approached the throne, and he could feel a strand of the force leaking off it. Closing his eyes, he reached out for it and was tugged into something he had scarcely come to understand.
Alarms blared as the large droids walked around the room, energy fields blocking the exposed holes in the ceiling. It was more grand than Setsuna had seen it before, looking well maintained and colored. Explosions rocked the building as a well-dressed and decorated version of the alien Setsuna had seen yelled orders in an unfamiliar language from the throne he touched. He wore some sort of crown, and purple and grey robes, trimmed with gold. It did not cover him completely, tapering down to show off the center of his chest till it reached his pants. The stone was pristine, marble white and the pillars covered in color.
Others wore grey armor as they wielded energy staves of some kind, running down the hallway into the large gathering room. Shackled other aliens of different planets were being pushed down the dark hallway with guards with some sort of shock staff, all of these slaves or prisoners in rags. An alien ran into the room, and pointed to the roof, saying something urgent. The man on the throne growled and let out a stream of anger as he lifted the man in the air with the force, the soldier clawing at his throat. This went on for a minute, before a crack echoed through the room, and the body dropped to the floor.
The remaining aliens looked at him and rushed out the room as the leader stood up and walked down the stairs to the base, giving some sort of orders before walking to the hallway, a large stone door closing behind them as soldiers moved out of the room and into the bigger chamber.
Setsuna took a deep breath as he felt a hand on his shoulder, "Are you ok?" He nearly sliced Allelujah's head off as the Jedi took a step back, barely avoiding the blow.
"Don't do that." Setsuna collected himself, and took a step back from the throne, "I'm ok. I can… sense things off objects. Whoever owned this throne was cruel and destructive."
"I've heard of that ability. Some Kiffar in the Jedi order could use their powers to see the history of an object." Allelujah looked at him curiously, "What did you see?"
Setsuna looked at him with piqued curiosity, "You can't help me, can you?" The Jedi shook his head, and Setsuna focused on his question, "Whoever owned this place was under attack by someone. I couldn't understand a word they said."
"So, nothing useful from it?"
"No. I wish I could tell you more. The only other thing I could tell you is they were herding people down the tunnel."
Allelujah shrugged, "Don't worry about it." Setsuna didn't react, and Lyle gestured for the team to form up on the tunnel. They were about to move in formation, when a voice echoed through the room. One Tieria, Anew and Allelujah knew deep in their bones.
"Well, it seems that my rebel prey has shown up. I congratulate you for finding me. Feel free to follow down this hallway. I'll be there at the end." Smugness filled the voice of their enemy, and Tieria growled under his helmet.
The air was still as no one responded, "Nothing to say? I can't say I'm surprised. Most people don't have the honor of basking in my presence."
The words echoed around the room, and everyone raised their weapons as they looked around the room and down the hallway. Whirring echoed from the generator room, and lights began to fill the room as power flowed into the building. Those openings filled with a see-through barrier, and the sounds of clinking came from all around them, "Welcome to my new home."
Author Note
Welcome back! This chapter took a long while for me, though mostly because I was caught up playing Kotor 1 and 2. They were fun, but we now reach the final chapters. I hope you guys are excited as things come to a head! Hope you guys enjoy it, and I'll see you guys' next time!