Call of the Tombworld

Posted on Thu Aug 23rd, 2018 @ 8:00pm by Thane & Bomoor Thort & Amare
Edited on on Fri Aug 24th, 2018 @ 3:48pm

3,099 words; about a 15 minute read

Chapter: Chapter V: Unbound
Location: Red Raptor
Timeline: 1700 Hours (Raptor/Coruscant time), Mission "Day One" (Shortly after the events on Yavin IV)

Once again, that eerie orange-red light of the holocron clung to the surfaces in Bomoor's room, as well as the Ithorian himself. That which was not lit was cast into a deathly darkness. At the centre of that light, the imposing figure of Darth Krayt gave a stern nod before flickering away into nothingness as he did every time their conversations came to an end, whether they be in agreement or not about the topic discussed.

This time, however, Bomoor had not summoned the gatekeeper to discuss techniques of power or debate moral philosophy, but to query a small reference he had found while poring over the texts that Coda and Thane had retrieved from Vaa. The dusty tomes had been difficult to read at first; they were slower to read through than a datapad and the language used was ancient and, at times, defied a literal translation.

He had made notes on several techniques that Darth Cabal had written on such as channelling Spirit ichor to alter the body or the environment and imbuing talismans with one's own Force essence. He had elected not to copy down the many notes on the processes by which Cabal created the Thaalda Sithspawn, for the sickening memory of their existence still clawed at the Ithorian.

However, while Cabal had chosen Caanus and its moons as his domain, he made several references to the historic birthplace of the Sith Order: Korriban. To the Jedi of the modern era, this planet was a forbidden place because of its deep connection to the Sith and their teachings. More tombs and temples than could ever be demolished by the Reborn Order were littered across the planet and there was a growing fear that the Force-users that did venture there were being corrupted by the Dark Side. Therefore, the Jedi had elected to restrict visitation to the planet's surface to only select non-Force sensitives, who could not be swayed by the powers that lay there.

Cabal's writings, however, talked about the early Sith sorcerers who created great artefacts of power, which they used to rule over their lesser acolytes. The ancient Sith Lord of Caanus had spoken of his desire to return to the planet in search of these artefacts to bolster his own essence and influence. It made Bomoor wonder whether any Sith Lord had acquired a Kaiburr shard during their reign, which might still be on the forbidden world.

Speaking to Krayt's gatekeeper had been enlightening: there were many tales of Sith that had claimed to possess the Kaiburr crystal or, at least a fragment of it. While the holographic interface was not aware of the most recent history on Korriban, the holocron's time with the decaying remnants of the One Sith allowed him some knowledge of the final days of the great XoXaan's Temple and the talismans and artefacts the remaining would-be Sith had collected to desperately try and recapture the essence of Krayt's order. Among these artefacts was a shard of the Kaiburr crystal; as far as his databanks were aware, that shard would still be buried along with the great Temple of the One Sith.

It was the best lead they had acquired on their mission in a long time. With the arrival of Coda and their increased need to evade the eyes of the Jedi Order, it had seemed as though their focus to dismantle the Cult of Axion had been placed to one side. Bomoor had been the only one yet to experience the raw power that the Kaiburr crystal could imbue, given his acquisition of the shard on Jericho and he knew full well what a continuing threat Axion was to the galaxy. It was still startling to see how blind the council was to this one Dark-sider's influence in the galaxy.

Standing up from his desk, Bomoor closed the tome he had been reading and collected the rest of the books, along with the holocron to return to the vault. As he got to the door he pulled a long arm from beneath the items he was holding and pressed the ship wide intercom button by the exit and spoke into the receiver, "Would everyone meet me in the strategy room in a moment? I have a proposition for our next destination."

---

Thane's trusty old Jedi lightsaber was in a scattered disassembled array of its many intricate parts hovering before Coda. She levitated a couple of feet from the floor of the training room in a seated lotus position and made delicate gestures with her slender blue fingers whilst whispering in an arcane tongue with strange words that came easily to her. The incantations were an indirect gift from the dark herald of the Lorrdian desert whom had tormented her greatly. She committed the old Sith words to memory as the entity uttered them while demonstrating his power to the detriment of her health, but did not completely understand their meaning, only that they improved her focus when calling upon the Force to do her bidding.

It was astonishing to her that only a couple of weeks ago it seemed virtually impossible to do what she was doing now for casual amusement and practice. So much happened in such a short time.

When the lightsaber reconstituted, she unseated herself from her levitated position, put feet to the floor, ignited the pale amber blade and began a basic Shii-cho attack kata. She then spun around, reached out with her free left hand to where she had placed her shoto from across the room and pulled it with the Force, but did not catch it. It stopped short a few feet in front of her, and while she held her main saber vertically at center-chest level, she sent a gentle push with her other hand to activate the floating shoto and start practicing her "dancing sword" trick. She was starting to make it wave and fan in front of her as a kind of hovering shield intended to deflect blaster fire when she heard Bomoor's call. A sigh softly escaped her lips with a huff as she retrieved the shoto and put the weapons on safe to leave and heed the Ithorian's summoning.

She nearly bumped into Thane in the hallway near the strategy room. "Do you know what this is about, master?" she asked him having made her peace with the grievous punishment he dealt her on Yavin 4. While extraordinarily painful and bordered on a risk of death, she understood the reasoning behind his passionate wrath, and it did provide her some time and rest to center herself and restore some of the mental stability she lost on Lorrd.

"Bomoor has been working ever more tirelessly to divine a likely location of a Kaiburr shard from our pilfered records and tomes," Thane replied simply, his relationship with his apprentice having seemingly settled into something new and more comfortable, even if conflict remained at the core of their overall enterprise. They fell into step with one another as they arrived at the strategy room. "I presume our Ithorian friend has had some measure of success."

Bomoor had yet to arrive at the room, its chairs and consoles devoid of the once-Jedi Consular's presence. The lighting of the chamber sprung to life with a speed and precision not often found on the Raptor, owing to its newer construction and modern technology - all bought, of course, at the expense of the enigmatic Serus, or so the many discreet and largely-untraceable accounts used to gather the equipment said.

Thane allowed himself a small measure of self-satisfaction at that reality. Although he placed the utmost of importance on their quest to end Axion's machinations and to safeguard the Kaiburr shards, he also could not help but find a degree of pride in himself at effectively using his birthright for something beneficial for them, and at having an underworld alter ego for his own machinations.

It was an almost childish indulgence, but one he felt permitted to have.

"How exactly are these shards supposed to help us," Coda asked with piqued curiosity, "and how do we use them?" She was still relatively new to the subject, and, while having first heard about the Kaiburr Crystal from Bomoor shortly before their visit to Irrikut, was ashamed with herself for having never bothered to ask about it until now.

“Ah, good, you’re together,” came the echoic voice of Bomoor, announcing his presence behind them before Thane could respond, “Sit down a moment; I just want to see whether we have a map in our databanks.”

He ushered the pair over to the modern, padded seats, which, unlike some others on the ship, had no inner stuffing lurching out though tears in the fabric. Bomoor brought up the shimmering map of the galaxy in the centre of the room and began typing in some details on the linked terminal. After a few moments, he gave an exhale of frustration.

“Of course there are no surface maps...” he grumbled to himself, continuing to type, “…and no text entries either. Perhaps there are some archeological references but that will take some time to find.”

Looking over his shoulder at Thane and Coda who were patiently awaiting his information, he clicked a few more buttons to send the galactic map zooming in on a largely empty star system, with a lone dusty orange planet in orbit around the sun in the centre.

Thane leaned forward, his interest more deeply, darkly piqued, recognition flashing across his face, half-covered as it was by a black gloved hand.

“Korriban: the infamous birthplace of the Sith, where the first Dark Jedi gathered after fracturing from an ancient and largely-forgotten Jedi Order,” Bomoor stepped forward towards the projection, which began to further focus on the planet itself, allowing them to see many moons in orbit as well as a space station, “In more recent times, the so-called One Sith, who Thane and I encountered remnants of on Tython, had a great temple on the planet. It is my understanding that, should this temple have remained undisturbed, there is a chance a shard of the Kaiburr crystal might still be found deep within.”

"You learnt this from Lord Krayt's holocron?" Thane asked flatly, his eyes not shifting from the slowly-rotating globe before them. Its simple desert appearance, coupled with the alphanumeric readouts dotted about it, belied the true nature of the historic world, concealing its true menace and former galactic importance.

Aside from the large aurebesh lettering emblazoned above and beneath the planet that declared Korriban strictly off-limits to the average spacefarer (with the Reborn Jedi Order's own watermark neatly detailed beside it), there was nothing to indicate that this world had spawned so many threats to the First Republic. There was nothing to decry that it had once, frequently and terribly, launched great armadas that brought governments and civilisations to their knees.

“Indeed,” Bomoor replied, “Although I was turned onto the idea from the writings of Darth Cabal. It should be of no surprise that Krayt’s holocron was one of the many artefacts that were held by his lingering followers after his death. The gatekeeper recalls a Kaiburr shard being stored in the temple at some point, although he can far from guarantee it is still there after all this time.”

Growing up together with the same teachings, Bomoor knew his friend was as aware as he was that the Jedi’s Orbital station was the only way in and out of the planet. No person or object touched by the Force, Dark or Light, was given passage through.

“I know that dealing with the Order is the last thing we want right now,” Bomoor addressed Thane, knowingly, “But Axion will have thought about visiting Korriban too and eventually will find a way to get down to there. This could be another opportunity for us to beat him to a shard…”

Bomoor looked towards Coda, not wanting to ignore her but still uneasy with her strange new vigour since her mission on Lorrd, “I think you were asking about the Kaiburr shards when I arrived? They are the source of power for the Dark Jedi Axion we are facing. With these shards, a Force-user’s powers are intensely magnified; I have experienced this power myself and it is like taking a step into a whole new plane of Force potential. Axion is desperately seeking to acquire the shards to accumulate power and, presumably at some point, use that power to carve out a piece of the galaxy for himself.”

"Alright," Coda said with an understanding nod. "But do we know how many shards Axion has by now? Can we even kill him if he has more than we do?"

“The Force has never been a game of numbers,” Bomoor spoke, being made to think again about the trial of the five rocks, “But we do know that, whatever power he has, it currently surpasses ours by a considerable margin. However, Axion’s power does not come purely from these crystals, but also from the cult of followers he possesses and his deep-rooted connections throughout the galaxy.”

Bomoor started to consider that, by learning of their true purpose in leaving the Order and roaming the galaxy, it might aid in the Nautolan Force-user’s focus, which still had a long way to go, even if she could now construct her own lightsaber.

“Axion is not, however, unbeatable.” He continued with conviction, “We have proven ourselves against his followers in our last conflict and gained a powerful ally in the united Mandalorian clans now under our own Sev Rezer’s leadership. I say, perhaps, we put our own connections to use and find a way past that orbital station. If Axion can be fallible, then a few Reborn Jedi on guard duty certainly will be.”

"I'm afraid my friend on the HoloNet, 'Contrarian', won't be able to help us again this time," Coda said with a look of concern. "I spoke with him on my way to Yavin. He was the one who helped us with the comm channel codes for Vaa, and he's helping me find my brother. He said things got pretty unstable on Nar Shaddaa after I left. Some high-ranking guy named Seven-Gill and his men were killed by assassins. The Hutts got very paranoid and some of Contrarian's best contacts in the Cartels disappeared along with their families. It forced him to go into hiding for now."

“Perhaps that is for the best for now,” Bomoor acknowledged, “While your contact has proven useful, it may be better not to entrust our fate to an unknown on the HoloNet this time. This will require more than a hacked clearance code, more like a hacked Force presence...”

Coda was going to speak again, but she kept silent about her past with the Contrarian who was anything but unknown to her. The up-and-coming infamous Rodian HoloNet slicer was a close friend who frequented the club. Everything Coda knew about slicing, and all the nerdy aspects of computers and networks was due almost entirely to Contrarian. He taught her the ropes, took her along on a smash n' grab job on Saucy's behalf, and even came close to being intimate with him. She remembered the kiss, but it was very awkward, and they agreed to simply remain good friends. She hoped that Rodian cutie was somewhere safe and sound.

A thought occurred to the Ithorian, “The ysalamiri… They could be just what we need to avoid detection. Of course, we wouldn’t be able to show our faces either but it might be just enough to hide during an inspection.”

He turned back to Thane, with a glint of hope in his eyes, “What do you think? Do you think one of Sev’s Exiles might be able to acquire a couple more for us?”

Thane thought for a moment before speaking again. Even the briefest consideration of those creatures unsettled him, reminding of him of that dreadful sense of vulnerability and defeat that so deeply struck at his core. He had thought hard on whether the death of Loren had been as a result of an actual decision by his rational mind, or one born of his tortured spirit.

"It is worthwhile asking," he replied, having crossed his arms in thought. "Whilst I have no desire to experience nullification of the Force again, it might work to help us get past the checkpoint, so long as they do not board and find themselves afflicted, and by the time we are planetside, the natural dark side presence of Korriban itself will conceal our presence."

Thane stepped over to the holoprojector and entered some commands into the console, directly drawing information from the live link to the HoloNet they enjoyed. "Huh," he allowed a half-huff of bemused surprise escape him. "It seems a Dromachean archaeological team were recently on Korriban." An idea struck him, and he looked back to Coda and Bomoor with a wry expression. "Perhaps it would not be beyond doubt for Caanus to do something similar?"

"Archaeology?" Coda wondered, having only heard about it in a documentary she once saw. "Is that where you have to wear a fancy hat, carry a whip, and use a make-up brush to dust off rocks?"

"Indeed," Bomoor answered with a lighter tone of voice, "Although I can't quite picture any Dromacheans getting down on their hands and knees in the dirt. Korriban is a world of tombs and temples from practically every era of history so there are discoveries there that appeal to more than just Force-users."

Coda's old-fashioned interpretation of the rugged archaeologist was an interesting one, but Thane's idea was sound, "A Caanan expedition seems highly plausible. It seems we have the beginnings of a plan here. Are we all agreed to this then? It will be dangerous and, as is becoming the norm these days, highly illegal."

At that, Thane actually smiled. It was partly at what Bomoor had said, and a large part was a private excitement at making for the ancient Sith world - the nation that spawned the religion he now found himself delving into with Zaracoda. It was a feeling he was not used to, and he was certain that he would have no fortune hiding such a spark in enthusiasm from Bomoor.

"If I did not know better, my old friend," he said, placing a comradely hand on each of his two companions' shoulders, "I would say you're starting to enjoy it."

 

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