Bogan
Posted on Sat Jan 26th, 2013 @ 2:22am by Thane & Bomoor Thort & Berry & Kip Hoddai & Sev Rezer & Morgo Le'Shaad
3,434 words; about a 17 minute read
Chapter:
Chapter III: Relics
Location: Ancient Temple, Tython
Timeline: Day Eleven
OLD
"Bogan?" He asked, pointing towards the image as the group now stood beneath the massive and crumbling arch of the entrance to the temple. Although he looked briefly to Bomoor, he found himself directing the question to Morgo more. As his eyes passed to the Human woman, Thane noticed that one of the crumbling pillars had what looked to be fresh marks on it - clean cuts.
Lightsaber cuts.
NEW
"Yes", whispered Sev appearing from the shadows of the Temple. "They're recent. A week, two, at most. We're not alone. I found tracks of at least two different humanoids. They disappear further inside the temple". The Mandalorian was know holding his rifle in attack position, finger on the trigger. "I don't like this. Better ambushes were made in much open spaces", he said, his face hidden behind the helmet, but his eyes scanning the area constantly.
Studying the wall ancient wall relief, and estimating its age, Morgo crossed her arms, eyes roaming the image “Yes, it does seem like this depicts Bogan and her sister moon, Ashla. Bogan’s a lovely place for dark siders, I hear.” And turning her head to look at Thane, “Maybe you’ll vacation there.”
"Might get some peace and quiet," Thane simply muttered to himself, not looking at the woman.
Bomoor ran a hand along the carvings, "In the ancient times, those too full of darkness were exiled to Bogon. The ancient Jed'aii feared the great disharmony that came from straying to far from balance. This storm itself is evidence that the dark side has indeed touched the planet recently. I fear you may be right about this place being inhabited. We should remain cautious as we go inside."
And warm , Berry thought to herself as she peeled off her blanket while staring at Mr. Rezer's helmet. She wished she had one, it would make her warm AND cool. Funny how that worked.
A great set of stone steps led up to the temple. As the odd party climbed them, they could see the strange effect the temple had on the weather ever more clearly. The clouds wrapped themselves around the temple, swirling violently as if in warning but fearful to touch the construction itself. The wind and rain had petered out leaving an odd sensation of calm broken only by the occasional rumble of thunder.
A small vestibule greeted them as they entered the temple. Again, the walls of the small chamber were scared and charred as if some mighty beast had been sealed inside. From this entrance chamber led several other paths into the temple proper. Each one shrouded in too much darkness to see down.
Bomoor approached the passage dead ahead and ignited his silvery-green blade to illuminate the passage. His Force sensation was beginning to sharpen after coming out from the storm and he hoped it could give him some sense of direction in what could turn out to be a maze of passages and corridors, "Can you get any kind of readout of this place, Sev?" he questioned, "Do you have any of those mapping probes?"
The Mandalorian opened one of his several pockets in his belt and took out two spheres with several small cameras attached. "They will not go too far, but they can give us a reading of the maze." He threw the globes up in the air and they started floating. Sev brought his arm up and typed commands into his armor bracelet, which also had the spheres' controls. The machines moved fast and disappeared, each to one side. "They'll warn us if they find anything moving", he said, still looking around.
Morgo stopped and just stared unblinkingly at the armored man... because Sith hell , the man was prepared.
Berry leaned over and whispered quite loudly to the Shady Lady, "I bet it shoots lasers." She grinned at Armor Guy behind a hand.
"When one doesn't have the Force," Thane stepped up beside Berry and Morgo, his eyes searching their surroundings with great interest, "one has to find alternative ways to make up for it; to even compete against that power, Sev Rezer Jedi Killer has to resort to ingenious methods." He gave a half-grin to his informal apprentice, now looking to her. "And he's succeeded. It's a pity more non-Force sensitives don't." As he made the comment, he had a suspicion it would evoke some sort of reaction from Morgo, but he wasn't entirely sure if she would make it obvious to him.
Prim and proper and all that, after all.
Shrugging off Thane's small jab, Morgo hummed thoughtfully, "Yes, it's a pity more of us non-Force sensitives don't come armed and ready to hunt and kill Jedi, dark or light. The galaxy would be such a happier place." And turning to Thane, Morgo smiled pleasantly "Perhaps we should all branch out."
"You wouldn't be the first to have tried," Thane returned with a smile, facing Morgo, "and you wouldn't be the first to fail miserably, either. Anyway," he said, stopping before one of their enjoyable fencing matches began, nodding forward, "we should go down this way." As well as noting Sev's mapping probes indicated it as a clear way ahead, his own senses seemed to indicate it was the right direction.
As they moved on, Thane lit some of the torches that marked the corridors. Given their condition, he assumed they must be thanks to the recent visitors the temple had housed, but it did not mean he would not take advantage of them. Although, when he considered it, it was probably only Morgo and Berry that truly needed the assistance; Kip, Thane and Bomoor had their natural talents, and Sev had his helmet - Berry's sense weren't yet so practised, and Morgo was... Well, she was Human.
Nevertheless, he had an undying respect for her intelligence and wit. In truth, it was why she was here, helping them, and not awaiting imprisonment or some other fate back on Coruscant or Dromache.
After another few minutes of almost-silent advancing, each wary of whatever may still be here (or merely captivated by the temple itself), the group came upon an antechamber where one of Sev's probes had come to a stop, hovering impatiently in front of a large set of double doors. In the centre of the chamber, a crumbling well-like piece sat, a great hole that went down for an unknown distance in its middle. Off to the left and right of the well, two corridors branched off into other areas of the temple, but this room itself was impressive.
The ceiling went up high, perhaps into one of the spires of the temple, and a great - but age-damaged - mural encircled the curved wall of the spire's interior. Closer to the ground and around the Red Raptor group were broken shelves and stands, presumably once displays or something akin to bookshelves. Indeed, there looked to be broken tablets scattered about the floor, but most seemed illegible after so many thousands of years.
The most interesting thing, however, were the two skeletal remains near each other, both of which had withered and dry skin still attached to them. One's remains indicated it was a Devaronean, whereas the other simply appeared humanoid - but both had lightsaber hilts by them and missing limbs (which were also in the room).
"It looks like they killed each other," Thane remarked, picking up one of the coral-styled hilts, igniting a red blade that cast an eerie glow across the antechamber. His eyes looked up to the sealed doors, where numerous light grooves showed where lightsaber had tried to cut into it.
"Light sticks," Berry said wearily with a groan before squatting and picking up a decayed arm from the floor, examining it. "These can't be the people who made those tracks outside, can they??" She frowned and turned the arm, then waved the hand at the group. "I mean, these are old-looking." As if to prove a point the hand fell off with a clatter, and Berry tried not to smile.
Morgo tilted her head, stepping forward to better inspect the bodies, "Based on the level dessication of both corpses and the degree of decay, I'd say they're old. They're well preserved thanks to this temple, which has saved them from carrion beasts and the elements. Yet they've still dried out. Very old then." Morgo said, eyes taking in the dismembered limbs, voice dropping to a low whisper, "Killed each other then, did they? Magnificent."
"I don't think they're as old as you do," Thane said as he deactivated the hilt, kneeling down by one of the corpses, his grimace thick with thought. He prodded one of the corpses with the end of the weapon. He glanced up to the others, mainly Bomoor and Morgo. "Ever seen the prolonged effects of Force lightning?" Extremely aggressive and prolonged, he added to himself grimly before looking back down at the corpse. "Or even other powerful and highly emotional dark powers."
Sev didn't even give a glance to the bodies. "Thane's right. They've been dead for a few weeks tops. I have seen bodies this way before and the best way to know how old they are is from the bones. There," he said, signaling with the barrel of his rifle. "Still white, only getting slightly yellowish. They didn't make those cuts on the column in the entrance." With that he picked up the small sphere and returned to his pocket. "If there's any doubt about people living here, it's gone. Look at those energy cables over there", he said, now pointing his rifle to a large black cable going through one of the crevices on the wall near the mural.
The group wandered over to the thick cables attached around the base of the antechamber. The cables were clearly not part of the original design as the thick rubber wires were casually draped around the room as if only thrown down recently. The group's gaze followed the cables path to an electromagnetic clamp that was placed onto one of the towering double doors.
"Looks like someone wanted to get through these doors..." Bomoor's low voice echoed around the chamber, "Must have been very important too for these people to die fighting over it."
The Ithorian walked over to the doors and placed a hand against them. He reached out with the force to try to see past them into the next room. An odd sensation came over him.
He is truly pathetic, isn't he? a hushed voice spoke from behind the consular, No friend of mine.
"What?" Bomoor span around and faced his comrades, "Did somebody say something?" he asked, directing his gaze towards Thane.
"No one said a thing, Boomor", replied Sev. "Your mind is playing tricks on you."
"Yeah we're all still far more interested in the crispy corpses," Thane said half-jokingly to his friend, although a hint of concern crossed both his face and mind as he regarded the Ithorian, having learnt to detect some of the more subtle alterations in the alien's body language.
"Now," Sev went on, "what do you sense on the other side of the door?"
Frowning at the large sealed doors, Thane finally properly rose to focus his sense on what lay beyond, knowing full well that Bomoor would be doing much the same, and likely having more luck. Where his own abilities lay more in the kinetic and physical side of the Force, the Ithorian had always been far more in-tune with such things than he. Nevertheless, odd things happened, and two Jedi - unless Berry jumped in - were better than one. He closed his eyes as he stretched out.
A mere whisper slithered past his ears for a fleeting second. They don't trust you. Thane's eyes shot open, not entirely sure if he had heard something or not. Given the the storm outside and the age of the temple, it was obvious there was going to be the odd whistle of wind. Once more, he closed his eyes. They don't trust you. Again, the voice, only this time it was slightly clearer: it was a man's voice.
Thane did not pay any attention to it, though. Not only had he been sleeping poorly of late, but they were in an ancient temple entrenched in the dark side, surrounded by decaying bodies in an utterly eerie setting - his mind was not impervious to odd thoughts, and given all that had been going on lately, trust was certainly something that was difficult for those in the group.
"Darkness," the human finally said to the others, eager to ignore whatever else his subconscious felt like pushing his way, "but nothing other than what we would expect, but there's definitely some sort of power here." He rested a flat palm upon the ancient doorway, feeling something akin to warmth radiating from it. "Maybe there's a way of unsealing the door elsewhere in the temple, or we may even find something else useful," he wagered to the others.
"There're always explosives", Sev said, pointing to the two thermal detonators he had attached to his armor. "Instead of walking around looking for some switch, let's blow the door."
"Don't you think there's a reason why they used this electrical clamp?" Bomoor warned, "An explosion here would probably do terrible damage to the building's structure. I'd rather go looking for some switch than get buried under a pile of rubble."
With that response, the mandalorian simply turned around to look to the other side. The Jedi will betray you, like they did with your parents, came a whisper in his mind. They made you lose your home, your clan and your spirit. They will kill you next. Sev turned around, in total attention. "Whoever said this, shut up or I'll shut for you", he said very slowly, focusing his commentary to Thane and Boomor. "I don't like when you use your force power to slither into my mind."
Bomoor squinted at the strange accusation, "I'm not manipulating you, Mandalorian. No mind tricks, just common sense. Anyway, we're not going to get anything done here. If there is a way into this room, we may find it faster if we divide our forces. We can keep in contact to report any findings."
Kip, who had trailed them some distance and kept silent the entire time observing them, stiffened slightly in the shadows. Kip had barely perceived small impulses, like tiny claws seeking purchase to climb a wall or dig through rock only to clutch at vapor and shadow. These tiny hooks had found no purchase on him yet as he maintained his awareness to the flows, stepping into them and hiding in them like swirling fog and smoke.
Whatever it was found no purchase on him and found the shifting swirling presence of the Flamewalker more difficult to focus on than the others, especially the J'tai. His skills were too new, too underdeveloped to do more than remain cloaked in the flows, blending into them and hiding from what was clearly an attack of some sort. And to do so, he had to keep from calling attention to himself physically as well.
Morgo eyed the crew with some amount of annoyance. It had taken an effort not to turn and glare at Sev when he’d boorishly suggested blowing up the sealed door. And now everyone was acting strangely. Turning her eyes to Sev, Morgo crossed her arms.
“If you could stand to not to be so utterly uncivilized for once, I’d be eternally grateful. Violence and brute force is probably your first response to everything, so I’ll put it simply for you—do you want to die? Because, just as Bomoor said, it’s likely an explosion will bring down the temple around our ears.” Morgo scoffed, eyes narrowing a fraction, “So put away your explosives. There are other, more practical ways to deal with this problem of the sealed door.”
Morgo turned, shifting the weight of the pack on her back, eyes scanning over the crew, “I’d advise you to be patient, Mr. Rezer, but you already know that. The prey does not always come to you, does it? So if you don’t mind, perhaps we should go and hunt it.The switch must be here somewhere.”
Morgo’s gaze lingered on Sev a moment longer than necessary before looking to Berry, still shuffling around near the corpses, “Berry, come with me. You won’t do anyone good if you get lost. If anyone wishes to join our party, you’re welcome to.” She said, reaching to her side and unhooking her cortosis stave, extending it to its full length. In a moment, its white spearhead emerged and blazed with a clean, pure light—bright enough to walk by.
Berry's eyes widened. "Whoa, what's that??" She scampered over to the woman. "Hey, I got a light stick, too, although I'll try not to slice up walls..."
"Bomoor should go with you," Thane said, turning to them and giving his close friend a quick glance. "This is a Je'daii temple, after all; you may well need an adept Force user about to get through some of the mechanisms." He threw a thumb towards the Kip and Sev. "I'll go with the gruesome twosome down the opposite way and see if we can find anything." The light deadpan humour on his face became slightly sterner. "But we definitely stay in contact. Every ten minutes, at least. If we can't get a hold of each other, we come straight back here."
As he glanced over Berry, he hoped to Tython's Asha and Bogan that she was able to use his old lightsaber when needed. After what they had already seen and how his senses were still hopping about in his mind, she might be just as necessary to getting through this as the others. In preparation, he unclasped his own hilt from his belt and ignited the violet blade, lighting the antechamber up a lot more.
"Are we all agreed?" He finally asked, for some reason feeling as though he needed to double check the others' commitment to his plan.
Kip stepped behind a pillar into deep darkness and whispered, his voice oddly enhanced so it was heard but the volume still very low. "Yes."
"Yeah, sure," Berry replied as she kicked at the ground. Hopefully she wouldn't get yelled at some more...but Boomy was pretty cool.
Wordlessly, Morgo nodded, blonde strands of her hair falling into her, pale colorless eyes.
So full of life. Disgusting, irritating, putrid and hilarious life... so deliciously full of fears... of paranoia and ridiculous delusions. It tasted so good... but they were always so loud. They were always so loud - always laughing.
At first, they were his friends, sharing the sumptuous banquet... but only too soon did they become greedy... only too soon did they become too rude - too horrible - to poor K'Errekh.
By the One he hated them, even if they tasted so good. If only they would shut up for a few moments... so he could just savour their fruits.
"Argh!" He roared as the whispering began again, interrupting the thirty-three second break it had given him. That infernal and lovely box never stopped muttering at him, promising fantastic secrets and beautiful death... he wanted nothing more than to cherish and destroy the damnable thing. No, he told himself happily, glowering at it, that honour is Lord Valtris'!
He scurried over to the keeper of the box, smelling the rancid and appetising stench of his brother-in-arms, who looked a little worse for wear. K'Errekh stroked Valtris' bony head with affection, hating the man with every fibre of his being. But at least he was quiet!
Unlike that damn box sitting in his lap!
And those others who had arrived! What right did they have to offer him such tempting damnation and breach his loathed silence? Even now, he could taste their infernal noise, of condescending Ithorians... and great scores of red saber-wielding armies, all marching on one deliciously frightened morsel. Waters lapped at his taste buds as the sky fell down and all existence fell apart.
He would feast!
And then..
...then they would be silenced!
The box whispered its agreement.
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