Horuset System
Korriban Orbit
The feelings one single person could have while staring at a planet of stark red sands and burning soil was incomprehensible. Though the good Commander was by no means a Force-sensitive person, both she and, surprisingly, the Spartans were visibly tense when staring at the sole planet of the Horuset System.
Korriban. The Homeworld of the Sith. The place of birth for Rhasits and the place where Kyra was remade into the Apprentice she was today. She saw the man staring at the planet with a certain kind of longing, eyes glowing auburn behind his helmet, while Kyra simply smiled, hand on her hip as she stared at home.
"No coms traffic, no signals, no lifesigns… Nothing," Cortana mumbled to herself as she and EDI scanned the planet, "It's a dead world alright. A tomb…" then she hummed and said, "No, wait… Detecting one energy source, though it's so tiny, it might as well just be interference…" all while not dismissing it. She made a mental note to check it later.
Jack and Samara both seemed terrified, going by the wide eyes, but Samara's face was relatively impassive in comparison. The rest of the team seemed to share the feelings felt by Shepard and almost everyone else sans the two Sith. Ahsoka, meanwhile, gripped Joker's chair very visibly, bending the leather and part of the metal.
"We shouldn't be here…" She muttered, looking at Rhasits and Kyra. He nodded in understanding.
"I, Kyra and the Commander can land alone," The man offered, crossing his arms to his chest, "It will be a quick in and out. The items we have to retrieve should be relatively easy to acquire, provided they're not buried under the sands of time," all while he eyed the planet below. The attraction of their world was strong as ever…
"Ya fuckin' kidding?" Jack raised a brow, though her voice cracked, "Nah. We'll be fine…" but the chills she felt told differently. Her skin felt like it was being pricked by a hundred ice-cold needles all over. The world ahead wasn't normal anymore. She paused as a sudden chill ran up her back, before whispering, "Okay, why'd you just do that?"
"What?" Kyra asked.
"You're serious? Nobody else felt that? At least nobody else with Force powers?" She asked, visibly scared. When she got shakes from everyone, she breathed a sigh and said, "Great, I'm actually going crazy…" before looking at Shepard. The Commander gave one shake of the head, which caused Jack to immediately deflate.
Samara sighed and bowed, then said, "I will remain aboard, too… For now," before looking outward. She spoke, "Take care. That world's evil touch reaches very far…" to Shepard. The Commander understood. She could feel it, the howling, biting chill of a Necropolis World, once teeming with the life of what this Galaxy must've considered fallen angels going by the historical treaties both Ahsoka and Rhas had given her to read.
"Korriban's call is strong, but it is the Call of the Dead," quoted Rhasits, crossing his arms to his chest as he stared at his old home with a certain stillness. His amber eyes glowed as he, too, could now hear the whispers Jack was hearing. Indeed, the Dead sang to them, a song of ire. A warning, perhaps, or worse.
She ordered, "Alright… Everyone who's coming with, head to the hangar. Joker, EDI, keep us updated on any possible Republic or Confederate fleets from up here. Stay in Stealth," before she walked off. Joker gave a nod, then paused as he saw a faint signal appear on his screen. The same signal Cortana had seen, probably.
Was Korriban suddenly inhabited again?
Shepard led the way down, noticing that Blue and Jester were both gonna be joining them down below, while Karl and 'Athena', as she'd been nicknamed recently, stood guard by the Raptor. The team gave quick nods to them. Cortana's voice echoed over the com as she warned, "Commander, Chief, General and Sith, all be advised:We've detected an energy signature on the planet below. And it's consistent with a Republic ship."
That made the job much more tense, Shepard thought. She replied, "Thanks for the warning, Cortana. Hope you're ready to help us down there, too," before looking over her Mattock. Chief and the other Spartans gave quick nods as they prepared their own gear and stowed it on the Kodiak, while Rhasits, Kyra and the General sat down.
The Clones were gonna be following them in on their advanced LAAT, meaning they'd have at least some form of heavy fire support going in. Shepard thought that was gonna be a good bit of help, provided any of the local defenses still remained online. Rhasits said, "It is possible someone violated the Quarantine order. And came here to look for ancient artifacts."
"A Graverobber," Kyra mumbled, her voice turning harsh. The Sith must've really disliked those kinds of people, if for nothing else than the fact the planet below was a tomb world. Shepard gave a wave to the pilot of the shuttle and then chopped her hand forward twice, a signal for him to take off. He replied affirmatively, the door shutting as soon as everyone else was aboard.
The dropship then took off from the bay, followed down onto the planet below by the LAAT Gunship carrying their clone escort. As they broke through the atmosphere, the faint feelings of unease from before began to grow within their hearts like a parasite of some kind. Whispers of darkness, of the anger of the sleeping dead, all manifested in their minds.
The Spartans, to their credit, remained steadfast, even as their hearts slightly raced. Though they weren't Force Sensitive by any means, they were still living beings, which meant the Force would inadvertently touch them in some way, shape or form. Unlike most of this Galaxy, however, they were not directly linked to it. Very few outside of it would be.
The bay remained silent, the two Sith sitting calmly beside each-other while Ahsoka clenched and unclenched her fists and jaw, eyes closed. Shepard wanted to ask what was wrong, but couldn't muster the words. The weight pressing down upon them grew the closer they were to the surface. She watched the altitude counter tick down to only a few hundred meters before both ships angled their noses up and began travelling parallel to the rocky, orange ground.
Tall spires and statues still rose in the distance. Plateaus and cliff faces were marked by the touch of sentient beings, carvings of the Ancients visible from here. It was when the ships went straight that Rhasits stood up and walked to the pilot, beginning to guide him toward their intended target:The Valley of the Dark Lords.
Shepard forced herself to her feet. She walked into the cockpit, too, then gazed at the destination. Dug within a valley, as the name suggested, dozens of tombs lay. Statues portraying the Dark Lords, each guarded the entrance to a tomb down below. Drawing closer, they saw four statues sitting on guard, beings with their heads bowed down and arms crossed.
Below, the Valley showed visible signs of ancient excavations, with dug-out areas showing remnants of ancient plazas and familiarly alien architecture. The two Dropships swung in gently, powering their engines and repulsors to touch down, dust clouds kicking up around them. Shepard still stared ahead, at the rising pyramid in the center of the Valley.
"The Old Sith Academy," Kyra whispered, "Home…" and she approached, leaning onto the vehicle's dashboard, "I can sense its echoes… Fellow Apprentices and their Masters still wander those halls," then paused as she heard the door open. The Spartans, Commander, Republic Knight and Clones all jumped out.
Rhas spoke, "Be ready, then," toward his Apprentice. He grabbed the hilt of his Lightsaber and slid his mask back on, to which the young woman nodded. The two left the ship, setting foot for the first time in millennia onto the shifting sands of their Old Home. The imposing figures of the Ancient Sith's statues stared down upon the crowd as the two Dropships lifted off.
Shepard told them, "They're gonna be circling us and waiting for a sign to get us out," and lifted her rifle. She paused upon looking at a horned figure with a strange goatee. The statue's gaze seemed to bore right through them like a drill, which sent a chill up the Commander's spine. She sighed, looking away from it and the writing on the walls of the tombs, then toward Rhasits.
He said, "Follow us… Stay close," before igniting his lightsaber with little flourish. The others did as ordered while the gunships circled overhead, with Shepard and Chief moving close to the pair. As they marched through. They eyed each tomb, each rock with hieroglyphics on them and each bone poking out of the sand with suspicion, while Rhasits spoke, "Naga Sadow, Ludo Kreesh, Marka Ragnos and Tulak Hord… Their touch still lingers."
"Many a great Sith Lord lay here," Kyra replied softly, "Yet we're lucky you haven't joined them, yet, master."
"I'm nowhere near their strength," Rhas spoke with incredible reverence, which surprised Ahsoka and Shepard. The two women exchanged quick glances of concern as they walked by the collapsed entrance of the Tomb of Ragnos. He told them, "I can sense your concern, General… I understand it, too… Do not disturb the dead here, lest we cause more trouble than it is worth."
The sky burned red for a moment, before returning to normalcy. Ahsoka said, "Surprised you haven't mentioned Ajunta Pall, considering what we know about him and Revan," before tilting her head to a specific, collapsed tomb whose statue depicted a human, strange blade in hand and staring out into the vastness of Korriban's wastes.
"I believe it was another ancient Sith who said that 'Redemption is merely a form of spiritual collapse. A fall few can recover from'," Rhasits replied to Ahsoka as they strode the place. Although, using that quote felt wrong. The Betrayer's views on the Force had always been strange, almost entirely based on a holistic view of the Force being nothing but a pitiless God who loved to repeat cycles for its own amusement.
"Yeah, well… I can see why a Sith would think that," Ahsoka sighed deeply. She was well aware of the person the man was referring to and her views. Of course, she wasn't one to subscribe to what was basically a general galactic omnicide in the form of a religious agnosticism bordering on insanity.
"Don't misunderstand. I didn't wish to omit Lord Ajunta Pall. His redemption is certainly far more interesting than the aforementioned Dark Lord's Quote would have you believe, but there are a few far more concerning Sith still in this valley," Rhasits replied rather poignantly to the former Jedi. He added, "He was redeemed. They were not."
"... Y'know what, that's a fair point," Ahsoka admitted, to which Kyra chuckled as she held her own lightsaber close. The darkness of this place was making her worried. Whose hand was reaching out to them from their respective tomb, she had no idea. It could have been one, or all of the Sith around them.
"Wait, time the hell out. They're still HERE," Shepard demanded, voice cracking. A low, transcendent whisper echoed in her ear, causing her spine to lock up, face turning white as bone. She looked back in the exact direction she'd heard the whisper from and saw Chief and Blue Team all turn their guns toward it, too. The Tomb of Naga Sadow…
"Yes," The three Force users replied quickly, Ahsoka being visibly tense while the two Sith showed no fear.
"... Oh. Great. Just great," Shepard mumbled sarcastically as she scanned the walls of the valley, noticing some glowing symbols here and there. She whispered to herself, "I don't wanna deal with Force Ghosts today…"
But was a bit too close to the Rhasits. Having heard that, he reassured her, "We will be going into the central ruin, so unless someone wanders off to explore a Tomb, I doubt we'll be touched by the Dark Lords…" only to stop as the sun began to set, the sky glowing a bright gold. Being caught in the middle of the night outside was probably not going to be good for anyone, so he told Shepard, "Come. We should go inside before the predators come out…"
"Noted. Let's get moving then… Blues, Jesters, stay close," The good Commander replied uneasily.
"Aye aye, ma'am," Jesse sighed as the teams moved toward the monolithic building in the distance, the Grand Temple and Academy of the Sith. The black basalt pyramid was caked in a layer of red sand from the planet's surface, probably blown over it by the multitude of sandstorms and millennia of disuse. They could see ancient blaster marks and humanoid remains poking through the sands themselves as small gusts of wind shifted them about…
Fives mumbled, "Why do we always get the fun missions?" as he activated his flashlight. He looked toward Blue Team.
"You're asking the wrong team for an answer to that," Cortana replied over the com, to which the Clone trooper laughed nervously. They scanned the walls of the central ruin of the valley, flashlights peering through each and every crevice and hole as they approached the entrance:A blown-out central door, its various pieces scattered to the wind by whatever had blown it out of its frame.
… A gust of wind blew from within, stirring the grains of sand ahead of them. A ghostly warning followed, unintelligible to anyone but those who wielded the Force. Everyone looked upon the three powered individuals in the platoon, all of whom froze. Ahsoka seemed to actually turn a brighter shade of her usual tangerine orange, almost like she was going pale from the fear.
Shepard breathed in, sighed, chopped a hand forward, activating the flashlight on her rifle and pushing forward. They needed to get in there and retrieve whatever it was the pair wanted to retrieve. Rhasits and Kyra approved, following in behind her, scarlet lightsabers burning bright as each took one of the woman's flanks.
The Clones surrounded Ahsoka, who ignited her own lightsabers, while the Spartans brought up the rear, each with their flashlights pointed out and covering each angle. A dome of light now surrounded them, shining through the dust and layers of grime left behind by the Sith's own failure to retain their home planet…
They advanced deep within, Shepard sneezing once as the clouds of dust that they were kicking up floated around them. She activated her helmet and its filtering system, then mumbled, "This place has certainly seen better days-" only to pause as he heard a somewhat cutesy sneeze to her left. She turned and looked at Kyra, who huffed and lifted a mask over her face, too.
The whispers grew louder… An ancient language, long forgotten by the Galaxy and only recognized by its two surviving speakers. Both the Master and the Apprentice listened to their forebears whispering, while Shepard spoke to herself, "Could really use a Sith Cypher about now," while she peered around with her flashlight.
The beam of white light passed over various statues of seated kings and Lords of the Sith, from Ragnos to Ajunta Pall to so many others whose names were enshrined on the stone pedestals where their thrones lay. Caked with layers of dust, missing chunks courtesy of what must have been a firefight that had occurred millennia ago, the statues remained imposing figures.
The scarlet conflicted with the light as the two Sith held up their lightsabers like glowsticks, eyes passing over the various symbols. The two stopped in front of the Commander, who damn near hit the larger Sith male in the back. She looked at him and was about to ask what he was doing, only to gasp as he snapped his finger.
Row after row, torches placed upon the weight-bearing columns of the place, marble-like, carved and beautiful, though bearing headache-inducing Sith iconography, effigy-like torches lit, bathing the place in reddish, flickering lights. Shadows danced in the fire, making it seem as if the statues of the Old Sith moved.
The troops turned off their flashlights, while Cortana commented, "Okay, totally not creepy… Care to enlighten us on what you're looking for, folks?"
"... A pair of items that linked us," The man replied as they walked forward, "Items we were forced to leave behind while we worked with Nox," and he mumbled, "I hope they're still where we left them," before stopping. He sighed as, ahead of them, two pillars had collapsed over one of the doors they needed to take in order to reach the habitation area.
"We can go around," Kyra suggested.
He shook his head, then turned to Ahsoka and asked, "If you can help us lift them…" to which the Knight of the Republic, though she was still tense, nodded. The trio walked over toward the fallen-over pillars while the Blues, Shepard and Jesters covered their rear, with the Commander herself glancing back at them.
Something moved in the corner of her eye, but she chose to ignore it, watching as the trio stretched out their hands, closing their eyes in the case of the two people who had eyes, obviously. Moments later, a small rumble filled the air, followed by the sound of stone scraping against stone. The pillars ahead, cracked and broken, crackled as they were slowly lifted.
The three Force Users visibly strained themselves, hands twitching and sweat beads dripping on their faces. However, the heavy stone items were soon lifted clear off the ground, then moved off to the side, with Ahsoka tossing hers and near-enough hitting one of the thrones. Rhas stopped it, then cast a quick glare at the girl.
She stopped, however. The throne was empty, but inscriptions lay at the bottom, the same as every other statue in the Great Halls. As she approached it, she nervously asked, "This one yours, Rhasits? Or is it Nox's…?" more as a joke. As she lifted her hand to try and wipe the layers of sand and dust on it, she saw a flash.
Darkness…
Coruscant's orbit. The fighting there. The ships clashing, the chancellor, seized from the planet and held prisoner. A duel aboard the warship to free him, master Kenobi and master Skywalker. Dooku's death and the approaching end of the Clone Wars. Darkness wrapped its fingers around her heart as more and more vivid images flashed of the Outer Rim Sieges…
… Then, one phrase…
EXECUTE ORDER SIXTY-SIX
Disjointed imagery. Dying Jedi Masters, dying warriors. Dying friends… A Legion of soldiers led by a dark figure marching to the Jedi Temple. A crashing starfighter and the slaughter within the temple, azure bolts clashing with lightsabers and bodies. The dark figure looming over a room of younglings, a familiar dark-blue saber igniting…
A duel on a world of fire. Blue against blue. Jedi against Jedi. The screams of a young woman. The pain of searing heat and the scent of burning flesh. A scream filled with such anger that it felt like a stab to her heart.
"You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!"
I HATE YOU!
… Then one strained breath, followed by the hiss of a rebreather.
That breath took her out of the vision, causing her to stagger back into the arms of the Clone Troopers and Shepard. The Commander asked worriedly, "You alright, general!?" as wide eyes and a mouth agape, fear gripping her heart even now. As if by magic, a wind, or the Force, blew the muck and grime away from the symbols in ancient Sith.
One was a drawing. A strange helmet, a pair of burning black eyes and a triangular rebreather grill. She breathed, then asked, "What the hell was that…?" fear seeping out of every word. She slowly staggered to her feet, looking at the Clone Troopers around her with some noticeable concern. They all made various gestures to try and calm her down, while the Spartans stared.
"Sights of a future that will never come," Rhasits spoke, crossing his arms to his chest, "The choices made in our Galaxy leading up to this very moment seem to have avoided it," before noticing the young woman staring at him. He continued, "That is to say whatever you saw shall never happen here. Ever."
"It'd be remiss to occur with the current changes," Spoke Kyra. She approached the empty tomb and chair, then placed a hand on the sculpted writing. With one quick flick of her wrist, the writing was carved out and removed. She took a step back next and smiled at the (former) Jedi, who stared at the pair in confusion.
"Alright… Well… Thanks," She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling her heart still rushing.
Rhasits replied kindly, "Any time. Now, shall we go?" before looking at Shepard. The woman, though she was a bit tense from this little occurrence and understandably so, gave a nod of approval. Rallying the squad and marching toward the doorway they had opened, into a weirdly angular set of hallways that resembled the tomb on Tuchanka.
"Deja vu," Kelly whispered as they scanned the walls of black basalt, "Just like the complex we found you all in, minus some of the hallucinations," only to scan the ground for any stone that looked out of place, or like a trap. They let the Sith lead them over to their rooms, marching past a collapsed door and several skeletons crushed by nearby debris.
The destruction here seemed far less widespread than it did on the Tuchanka tomb, but, then again, that was understandable. This place probably hadn't been orbitally bombarded and/or visited in a while by anyone. They saw movement, however, pausing only just enough for the Sith, Republic Knight and Clones to push forward.
A giant, crocodile-like monster skittered forward, its flat face, like that of a pug, layered with dark-green scales that looked like armor. The three lightsaber-toting warriors dodged a headbutt from the monster as it closed in, then plunged their blades into its body in sync, killing it. The flap of wings, however, followed, with Rhas commenting, "Some kind of Tuk'ata and now, Shyracks?!"
The creatures, a swarm of batlike monsters with glistening razor-sharp teeth, swooped in, chirping, wailing and crying like demons as the Clones, Spartans and Commander lifted their rifles. Shepard barked, "FIRE AT WILL!" before the entire hallway lit up in azure and red tracers. The swarms swung in, arm-mounted blades leaving marks on the Clones' armor as they ducked to avoid being grabbed.
Shepard roared, throwing forward a Biotic shockwave that staggered the flying monsters, killing several due to the sheer pressure change while Ahsoka, Rhas and Kyra cut the creatures down with poise and grace, taking some slashes and strikes that drew blood in Ahsoka's case. The Jedi-trained young woman did a cartwheel and swung her arms forward, throwing her blades.
Three Syracks were bisected diagonally by the blades, while a fourth lost whatever stood for a head and fell to the ground. The Spartans, meanwhile, ever the most accurate members of the platoon, fired their weapons in bursts, taking down members of the swarm in accurate volleys. Linda stacked the most bodies through the use of her rifle's AP rounds, watching them pile around them, blood seeping into the ground.
Rhas scowled, then visibly tensed. Kyra pushed everyone back gently, taking a step back herself, before smiling as she saw her master fold his arms in. They shot outward and the burst of energy that struck caused the very ground to shudder. Directed down the hallway from them, it ripped asunder the various beasts, breaking bones and snapping necks. The closest to the blast, however, did not even have the luck of that kind of death, simply vaporizing into clouds of ashes upon impact.
Before long, the beasts were dead, while Ahsoka whispered, "Force Maelstrom…" as she walked up to Rhasits. He nodded, to which the girl looked a bit mortified. Turning around and seeing Shepard and the rest of the team were feeling the same, she explained, "It's an old Force Power. We haven't used it in… I don't know how long."
"Shows that your Order never taught you all that much," Kyra quipped, smiling.
Shepard observed, "You're certainly a bit more talkative than usual…"
"We're home. I'd be remiss not to be a little more jovial about it," The Miraluka chuckled, "That and it's fun to see you people be so afraid of the Dark. Reassuring you that all is well and perhaps teasing the Jedi is a way to bond, I suppose" then she looked at her Master, who nodded. Ahsoka rolled her eyes, still feeling the pressing weight of both what she had seen and the Dark Side here.
Marching deeper in, past a few more clearly visible destroyed rooms, collapsed roofs through which the night sky of Korriban could be seen and past dozens of skeletons now visible in the evening's moonlight, the troops soon came upon what was another hallway:One filled with rooms that had signs of former habitation. The walls were marred by sharp cuts from lightsabers, molten stone pooled at the bottom of the walls and cooled into glass that reflected the flashlights and lightsabers back at them.
"This is it…" Rhasits spoke as they delved into the rooms, walking past busted doors, ancient and broken Sith combat droids and even more signs of battle. Blaster scars traced high patterns on the walls, stretched by the points of impact being at an angle. They could see a few dead Sith Troopers nearby, still clad in their rusting armors, blaster rifles damaged, dented and long disintegrated.
A Sith Civil War must've occurred, Shepard thought, something that matched with some of the stuff in Nox's databases and the intel Halsey had been sending their way. She mumbled, "This is awesome… How many Force Ghosts?" sarcastically. Rhas snorted, but understood the concern. He drew closer to one specific door…
The two Sith paused in front of the room, noting a little something carved into the right side of the wall. As they approached, they noticed seven separate layers of dust caked over the door itself, covering the door's own damage, its various moving pieces held together by thick cobwebs. However, on the opening switch mechanism for the door, a single handprint remained, too fresh.
Both Kyra and Rhasits tensed. A trail of footsteps led from within the room out to the left, toward a distant light source. The man scoffed and hit the door's switch. The ancient mechanism groaned and growled as stone and steel scraped against each-other. The layers of the door peeled apart like rows of sharp teeth in an opening mouth. Some teeth were missing, or molten, courtesy of blaster fire…
Inside, the same dust hovered in the air now, disturbed. Overturned, half-destroyed bedding and an ancient footlocker lay in the middle, open. The man knelt, finding several pieces of cloth that had once been their outfits, then looked up and around at the broken terminal. He scoffed, stood up when he didn't find what he was looking for, then murmured, "It seems our Graverobbers were here. C'mon," before he used Force Speed, boosting himself forward.
Kyra followed, surprising everyone as the dust around them seemed to jump up in wide gusts. The two stopped as they reached the exit point, where they saw a single man clad in glistening silver armor holding a blaster pistol in one hand and a bag of items over his left shoulder. He spoke over the com in what was clearly the language of a specific group of warriors known to this Galaxy.
Mando'a.
A Mandalorian. The silver armor, ornate and detailed with emblems of his clan, flashed in front of them as he turned around. His T-shaped visor locked onto them and he staggered back, then spoke over com, "Oh, Kriff me! SIS! WE HAVE A SITCH!" before aiming his blaster. The two Sith immediately ignited their lightsabers, which caused the young man to yelp and call out, "OH, GREAT!"
He aimed and fired his blaster, activating his jetpack to try and get away. Bolts of energy struck around the Sith, several of which they deflected back toward the thief just as the rest of the squad caught up to them. Bullets and blaster bolts rang out in reply toward the man as he took cover beside a wall, dropping the items.
"A Mandalorian graverobber," Kyra hissed, "I thought they'd learned their lesson."
"Damn it, I forgot to switch to stun," Mumbled the Mando. He flipped a switch on his blaster and started firing toward them, bolts of arcing electricity striking around the team as they scrambled into cover. Kyra scoffed as she deflected several bolts, more-so causing them to dissipate. She looked at her master, who nodded, before both heard the young man call out, "Yeah, well, I'M IN A BIT OF A BIND HERE, SIS!"
He poked out, grabbed the items and fired a suppressive barrage of stun rounds toward the team, striking one of Jesse's men and knocking him out. The Spartans' shields, meanwhile, tanked several hits. Shepard barked, "DON'T SHOOT TO KILL!" before aiming her rifle toward the man's Jetpack. She fired, the needle-like shot skimming the plate and ricocheting into a wall, but causing the man to fall to the ground across from them.
The group just noticed the open room they'd walked out in was an old battle arena, a sparring area, filled with debris and broken chunks of stone, not to mention a relatively massive chasm separating them from their target. The young man scrambled for the cover of a broken statue as the Clones' own stun rounds skimmed over his head.
A volley of bolts struck from above, forcing another Clone down as the roar of a jetpack's engines filled their ears. A female Mandalorian landed across from them, blaster rifle raised as she said, "Move it, vod! We gotta get this stuff back to our ship now-" then, she noticed the red lightsabers and called out, "HoooLLY SHIT THOSE ARE ACTUAL SITH!"
"I know!" The brother spoke, surprisingly excited and scared. Both of them stood up and started firing bursts of stun rounds toward the team, which the Spartans, Sith and Knight of the Republic proceeded to block. The Spartans' shields flared as they aimed their rifles and three bursts rang out, shots narrowly missing the kids' heads…
… Which seemed to stun them just enough for the Sith to make a jump across and pin both of them to the wall with the Force, both of them feeling the air knocked out of their lungs, weapons clattering to the floor. Shepard followed, utilizing her Biotics to jump across, before stating, "Rhas, Kyra, don't… Maybe they didn't know."
"Not an excuse…" Rhasits nearly snarled, clearly looking for something specific these two would have stolen from them. Something very important. He warned them, "Looting the tombs and rooms of the Old Lords carries with it a penalty, Mandalorians. We hope you know that," mild venom in his voice. Kyra beside him had the look of an angry cat, though. That was to say, trying to seem menacing, but more-so kind of adorable.
"L-Look, we didn't know there'd be people here!" The young man excused himself, taking his helmet off to reveal a dark-haired boy with gentle, dark eyes and a few scars. He then beamed at them and began, "Especially not living Sith… Which come to think of it… Oh, Force, I have so many questions!" as he grew actually excited instead of scared.
"Del…" Chuckled the female, removing her own helmet and tossing it aside to show a blonde with the same color eyes and a more smug demeantor. She told him, "Chill out, brother… We're both excited, though… It's not always you get to see people you thought were extinct," and then looked at the two Sith with an awkward smile.
"Hm… Speak," Rhas ordered after a moment's pause, while Kyra still stared at them angrily. The rest of the team formed up with the Sith, weapons drawn and pointed at the pair as if they'd committed some sort of atrocious crime.
"W-We're Saosh and Del, children of Clan Vurku on Mandalore," Saosh spoke, stuttering a little as she stared at them, "We're a clan of historians, in a way. We upkeep the records of the Mandalorian people's and, now, the Galaxy's history. We were here retrieving items belonging to the Sith in the hope we could store them somewhere safe. So they didn't get lost to the sands of time, or plundered…"
"Yep. That's what we usually do. We're Archaeologists!" Del added excitedly.
"Graverobbers by any other name," Kyra replied with mild annoyance, though the hostility seemed to drop as she heard them speak. Now, she just looked mildly miffed, or so Shepard thought as they approached. The Spartans and Clones lowered their weapons, one of them carrying Bold of all people, who'd been hit by one of the stun rounds.
"N-No, seriously!" Del defended himself, then tilted his head toward his sister and said, "If we knew there were still Sith, we probably would've come to you first! I'm guessing the room I entered was yours…?"
"Yes," Rhasits sighed deeply, then pulled his hood down and took off his mask, revealing his face to the two youngster Mandalorians ahead of him and causing pure shock to streak across their faces. Shepard soon realized that, oh, yeah, Pureblood Sith probably weren't that common of a sight anymore, considering what Korriban currently looked at.
"Holy shit… Del, that's…" Saosh's smile grew tenfold, her excitement almost palpable.
"A PUREBLOOD!" Del yelled, cracking an ear-to-ear smile. He spoke, "Holy Kriff! From what we read, the last of you guys died out millennia ago!"
Rhasits and Kyra quickly exchanged one look, that of sheer confusion and pity, before sighing. Lowering their hands slowly, they allowed the two Mandalorians to not be pinned to an orange rock wall from which the Arena's chairs were carved. They were slowly placed onto their feet, allowing them to breathe sighs of relief and stow their weapons.
"Thanks! D'you mind if we ask you a few questions!? I'd like some stuff for my personal records!" Del started, having suddenly dashed right in front of the team, to the point he surprised even Shepard. The kid was speedy, if nothing else. Especially when it came to his and his sister's specific interests, as it seemed.
"... Sorry, but that's not gonna be possible," Shepard intervened, sadly for the pair. They still had a mission and had to return to the Milky Way to solve certain problems. Like the god-damn Collectors. She looked back, watching Chief and his team secure a perimeter and make sure no other alien beasts would fall upon them, then looked at the young man ahead, watching him deflate in real-time.
"O-Oh… Alright. Sure," He sighed.
His sister, Saosh, looked a little less convinced. Furrowing her brows, she asked, "What're you, though? Like, I get you're human, but…" before motioning to Ahsoka, the Clones and Spartans and stating, "You've got a Jedi, a platoon of Clones and four very scary-looking soldiers in power armor, not to mention the Sith. How'd you get Sith and Jedi to work together?"
"Long story," Ahsoka, who'd also joined them there, replied.
"... Alright. So?" Saosh asked, unconvinced.
"She answered it. It's a long, kind of classified story, kid," Shepard replied, then watched the girl put her hands on her hips. In order to avoid that, she looked upon her two Sith compadres and raised a brow, "We need to get rolling, though. Rhas, Kyra?" which caused both of them to remember that, yes, they were here for something.
"Right…" Rhas spoke, sighed, then crossed his arms and asked them, "When you entered that room and opened the footlocker at the base of the bed, you might have found a box made out of wood. It has a lock," before noticing Kyra was glaring poisoned daggers at the siblings. Saosh took a step back and looked at her brother.
"O-Oh… oh, shoot, right, yeah!" He jumped, then nodded and lifted his bag, "You want it back?"
"Yes," The Sith replied.
"Sure! Man, if I knew we'd be encountering and giving back millennia old items to the Sith-" Del spoke, only pausing to realize what he had just said as he was pulling the box out. Saosh seemed to pause, too, realizing that, yes, they were wearing ancient Sith armor. The kind of stuff one would usually see the Old Republic/Galactic Cold War era types wear.
"Yes. We are four Millennia old. It is a long story," The Lord sighed.
"... You guys need to swing by Concordia or Mandalore at some point and let us interview you. I'm sure lady Kryze's gonna be interested," Saosh chuckled, while Del managed to finally, fully retrieve the worn-looking wooden box, noticing some of the grain was chipping off. The lock, however, had remained untouched.
"Oh, Bo-Katan… Might not be as welcoming, considering what another Sith did to her sister," Ahsoka winced, which caused the pair of Mandalorians to do the same.
They replied, "Fair…"
"Anyways… Here it is. Sorry again," Del sighed, handing the box over to the Sith. Kyra's expression visibly softened at that and she gave the kid(Who was somehow taller than her), a pat on the shoulder. He smiled and nodded, before taking a step back to join his sister in the middle of the place. They grabbed their helmets.
"... Thank you. And it is no problem," Rhas spoke, his voice uncharacteristically soft. He stared at the box with Kyra, before the girl set a hand on it and wiped the dust away, revealing a crest that Shepard had now noticed lay on the left side of the man's armored breastplate. He quickly undid the seal and lock, revealing a pair of perfectly preserved golden bracelets bearing inscriptions in Ancient Sith Language on a thicker part.
"Alright, well… Thanks for not prolonging the shootout more than it was needed, kids. Do you have names?" Shepard spoke, raising a brow.
"Oh, right! I'm Del. This is Saosh," Del waved. Saosh grinned and gave a thumbs up.
"Good to meet you. I'm Shepard. These are Rhasits and Kyra and those back there are Blue Team, General Ahsoka Tano and Jester Squad," The Commander introduced everyone, pointing out each member of the team specifically. She paused, watching the pair of Sith put on the bracelets, causing them to light up as the Force flowed through them. Kyra smiled brightly.
"Nice to meet you all. And thanks for not killing us," Del chuckled, then nodded.
"We'll be out of here now… I think we've had enough Sith-related encounters for a day," Saosh added, tilting her head back toward their ship, which Shepard had just now noticed was parked relatively close. An odd Mandalorian design for a starfighter, the commander thought as she looked up. But, then again, what wasn't odd about the Mandos.
"Good plan. See you," The Commander replied. Each gave her a quick salute, then powered on their jetpacks and jumped away to their ship. She then looked at the pair of Sith, raising a brow and asking them, "Are those…?" with a small smile. She could swear she saw Rhasits blush before he put his mask back on.
"... Bands signifying a bond with a person important to us. I bought them," Kyra replied, smiling awkwardly at the Commander while the others finished setting up their new landing zone. Even Ahsoka had to pause and register just how adorable that was, considering the way she viewed Sith was still a bit… Biased against them.
"Aw. Sweet…" Shepard smiled, then sighed and said, "I'll call us a ride. Area seems open enough," as she lifted her Omni-Tool and connected to the Normandy.