Star Wars - Relics of the Sith
Chapter 5: Destroyer of Worlds
But to their big surprise when they emerged from hyperspace at the destination of their journey they found a planet whose sun had burned out over 4 millenia ago. The surface was buried under an ice-crust that was several kilometers thick, making it impossible to reach with the gear they had available. Furthermore, there were no signs of ruins under the ice. Frustrated they went over the hieroglyphs and the translations again and found the line: “They protect our borders.”
Captain Wesley uploaded the coordinates of all three Sith-planets into the navi-computer and then they tried to connect them with straight lines forming an irregular triangle. The navi-computer reported no star system in the center of that triangle, however, so they didn’t bother flying there at all.
Someone suddenly suggested that it didn’t have to be a triangle that connected the three planets and so they tried other geometric shapes to connect the three coordinates. Eventually they found out that the planets all lay on a circular line, and in the center of this circle the navi-computer indeed listed an existing, yet uncharted, star system.
Naturally the disappointment was huge when they indeed found a planetary system, but that was lacking one planet making the coordinates useless again. By scanning the gravitational interaction of all the objects in this planetary system and sensing with the force for a dark aura like in the first temple they finally realized the deception: the whole planet was hidden from sight by a powerful cloaking device.
Since there was no other way to break the illusion Captain Wesley steered the “Moon Goddess” closer to the location where the planed should have been, and shortly before reaching the atmosphere they broke through the illusion and saw that there was indeed a celestial object there. It was a barren rock with heavy, howling winds and just barely enough atmosphere to be able to breathe. Guided by the force and a few additional scans they found another ancient Sith-temple atop a mountain peak.
Veteran pilot Captain Wesley could easily maneuver the ship through strong turbulences and safely set it down on a small, rocky ledge below the structure that was protected from the raging storms by a spherical energy shield. Cautiously they climbed up the stairs to the top and entered the building. Everything was large, spacious and seemingly empty, although they could not shake the feeling that they were being watched.
Eventually the group entered a huge room, a hall, with a contraption at its center similar to the one from the first temple they had visited. This one had a control console attached that could only be accessed from solid ground by narrow catwalks that led out into the open shaft where the device hung suspended between a pool of molten lava deep in the mountain’s bowels all the way to the mountaintop above.
When the group decided to take a look at the apparatus two figures in black cloaks emerged from the opposite side – a Sith-Lord and his apprentice, who had lived in solitude according to the teachings of their codex and the rule of two. This way they had passed on the old knowledge of the Sith technology from master to student for centuries. But now that they had been discovered they simply asked that the visitors should go and keep silent about this place. T’Klurr, torn between the peaceful solution of a Jedi and the wish to destroy all Sith, hesitated when another group of visitors entered the hall: A detachment of imperial stormtroopers led by an officer who introduced himself as Admiral Frenn, commander of the star destroyer “Merciless” that had intercepted the “Moon Goddess” above the desert planet Tca-57y and now loomed in orbit of this planet.
Admiral Frenn then demanded that the Sith hand the new “planet killer” superweapon over to him. When they denied the stormtroopers trained their blaster carbines on them as well and the commander walked over to the control console in the center of the room. With words the Sith-Master tried to prevent him from using the console by telling him of the price a device of this magnitude would demand for its use – the destruction of the very planet they were standing upon. The current irradiated condition of the atmosphere was already a consequence of the device directing planetary energy into the cloaking mechanism. Activating the weapons function on top of that would cause a fatal collapse of the planet core. But the mad officer was beyond reasoning and activated the device.
An earthquake was the first portent of the raw powers that were now unleashed as the Sith-device tapped into the planetary energies to charge up. The quakes became stronger and the floor of the room began to break up. This marked the beginning of an epic fight as the heroes took their chance and opened fire on the stormtroopers while T’Klurr engaged the Sith-Master in lightsaber combat and Arckess took on the Sith-apprentice.
More and more cracks broke up the floor and hot lava splashed out of several of them as the device was further charged up. In the meantime Arckess had trouble and could barely hold her own against the apprentice. The stormtroopers were greatly decimated when the device reported that the charge was complete and ready to fire, so Admiral Frenn wasted no time and hit the button. One concentrated red energy beam was fired straight upwards, but through the sheer force of the backlash the suspension of the catwalks destabilized and collapsed, sending the device together with the admiral down into the fiery depths. The floor continued to break up or become flooded with lava, the stormtroopers were defeated and due to a lucky hit from Arckess the Sith-apprentice lay dying on the floor. The Sith-Master then deactivated his lightsaber, uttered the words “We have failed! This world will perish and all our knowledge will be lost!” and threw himself into the heart of the volcano.
Quickly the group ran back to their ship where a stream of red-hot lava threatened to reach it very soon. The imperial pilot was not so lucky and seemed to have set down too close to the stream so his ship was already being swallowed by the unforgiving molten mass. The group took off and prepared for the upcoming battle against dozens of TIE-fighters when they saw the star destroyer “Merciless” hanging motionless in the sky. At the center of the ship where the bridge tower and other important sections were supposed to be only a gigantic hole with glowing red borders was left. It seemed that the late admiral had crippled his own ship while testing his new superweapon.
Therefore no one was left to hinder their escape which proved perfect as the planed behind them exploded and the fiery burst of elemental forces engulfed and destroyed the warship. The “Moon Goddess” however was able to jump into hyperspace and escape the inferno. The galaxy was saved once more.
Bonus Chapter: Rescue on Nar Shaddaa
After Admiral Frenn and the Sith had been defeated and the Sith-device had been destroyed including the planet, only one thing was left to do: The group had overheard where Trance Killian had been taken and now they went out to rescue her from the clutches of crime lord Reelo Baruk. T’Klurr, Arckess, Captain Wesley, Selissa and Tolomei took the “Moon Goddess” to the rescue while Prayn’s mandate had ended with the elimination of the Sith-threat and so he moved on.
The group first gathered intel on the whereabouts of the crime lord. After consultation of certain contacts they found out that Reelo Baruk had taken up a portion of Jabba’s crime empire after the Hutt’s death and now controlled it from Nar Shaddaa, the smuggler’s moon, disguised as a legal garbage hauling and cleaning services company. So they set out on the “Moon Goddess” for Nar Shaddaa and landed on one of the neutral spaceports. At the “Blue Thunder Bar” on level 35 they went for more information and a “limited goods and special services” salesman named Jason Wing filed them in on the location of the “Nar Shaddaa Trash & Cleaning Corp.” headquarters – for a modest “consultation-fee”, of course.
The group took a hovertaxi there and told the lovely Twi’lek secretary Grace that they would like to speak to her boss. The guests were brought to a meeting room with free snacks and were told that the boss would be there any minute. Nobody touched any of the beverages since they suspected them to be poisoned, but then sleep gas was pumped into the room. T’Klurr and Arckess could control their breathing and the rest had their breath-masks with them so they remained conscious. The techs manipulated the environmental controls and vented the gas out by increasing the ventilation power.
Then the Jedi had enough of this game and they used their lightsabers to cut open the door. The same happened to the next door, then they stood in front of a durasteel death-tunnel with loopholes on both sides. Behind the walls were Weequay security personnel with blasters to shoot the intruders, but T’Klurr was able to not only deflect their shots, but also reflected them back at the guards so they shot themselves.
The group then came to Reelo Baruk’s elegant lounge where he normally resided, but the slippery gangster had already activated his personal escape tunnel and was gone before they even entered the room. They then searched the adjacent rooms and discovered a comfortable appartement with several bedrooms as well as a set of holding cells with blank durasteel floors.
There they found Trance lying on the floor of one of the cells. She was dressed in a typical pleasure slave bikini and adorned with lots of jewelry and accessories, but she had clearly been beaten up and mistreated before she had been thrown into the cell. With Reelo gone, his guards dead and part of his hideout demolished the group relinquished any more damage and instead wrapped the shivering Trance into a blanket and helped her walk out of there.
Outside the group hijacked the first parked speeder they came across and took it full throttle through the urban canyons back to the ship. There Trance finally came to again when she saw the “Moon Goddess” with all modifications the group had added. “What have you done to my ship?” she demanded, but since they had some pursuers hot on their tail they skipped the tour, boarded the ship and blasted out of the spaceport without waiting for the clearance to take off. So they left the smuggler’s moon behind and Trance not only regained her freedom, but also her – now upgraded – ship.
Epilogue: The Unfulfilled Prophecy
On the remote desert world of Tca-57y a lone figure approached the ruins half-buried under the sand. The wanderer wore a ragged black hooded cloak. He seemed to orientate himself by the alignment of the pillars and only rarely paused to listen to the whispers of the wind, as it would seem. When he arrived in the sanctum he seemed irritated at the open stone slab that led to the burial complex. Swiftly he moved through the winding hallways, stepped over the left behind corpses of stormtroopers and avoided all traps with intricate precision.
Inside the burial chamber he stepped straight to the sarcophagus whose lid was closed. He pulled back the hood and let his green lekku and a fairly young face show. The Twi’lek would be in his early twenties, but a wild and dangerous fire burned in his eyes.
Full of expectations he put his hand into the indentation on the sarcophagus and the lock opened. But as he found both recessions inside empty his face turned into a wrathful grimace. Someone had beaten him here and now the prophecy could no longer be fulfilled. The galaxy would plunge into imbalance and the ancient knowledge of the Sith about the secrets of the force that had been gathered over millennia and acquired with so many sacrifices was now lost. He had failed!
Even far away the few desert dwellers that had dared to crawl out of their hiding holes could hear his piercing cry of agony.