Isis Steele spoke first, as direct as she had been in her youth, Anakin mildly noted. He smiled at her as she spoke. “Why didn’t the Celestials need those scanners? And, what did you say about the Sith? When has a Sith ever been on Shadow?” "This may seem mildly strange, Isis, Driggs, but I don't think the Celestials were corporeal. I think that at some point they entirely stopped to be, or perhaps never were. It would explain why no remains have been found, for one, even before Corellia joined the Republic. I've been guessing that the Celestials interacted with our plane via gravity - as their technology is largely based on technology. I've even found evidence that they stored data in gelatinous blobs, which confuses me. I encountered one not long after I awoke." "To the Sith..." Anakin scowled. "Something awoke during the bombing, whoever was responsible for that. And it converged on the Control Room, which had became active a day or so after. The blob I encountered depicted a red-skinned humanoid making an attempt on Centerpoint, strangely, in what I think was a Sith meditation sphere." "I have only two questions to add, for the moment, and yes I will help you most likely either way. One, is there a way the knowledge of this technology could be downloaded usably into my brain or a pad that I could carry? Two, who is this we you mentioned about before we came?" "Well, yes. We'd need to find another, um, blob. I can show you the one I found, if that helps. There are quite a few near the core, but I daren't go down there. To the latter..." Anakin considered. "I did say 'we', didn't I? Can we, um, not go there?" Anakin shook his head. "We need to get going, anyway. The Control Room is this way." Anakin began to lead the three of them down a corridor, gesturing them to follow. "There are a lot of Killiks in the Control Room, guys. The majority of them. I haven't been able to get into there since the bombing shifted things around and they chased us, um, me, away." Anakin fell silent. "What happened after I died, guys? Is... is Tahiri okay?"
Mal Judder emerged from the labyrinth into a chamber near the top of the mountain, but still several dozen meters away from the crest. It was, in short, directly above where he had been, almost half an hour ago. The chamber almost immediately drew several things to Mal's attention. The ground was still denuded, still as it had been directly chewed through the walls, like all the tunnels from before. His lamp, however, illuminated metal. Old metal. It was difficult to tell, what with such a small lamp available, and only two eyes available to work out what it was. It was wedged against the walls of the chamber, probably continuing beyond them, and there remained cracks in places, a few running from the ship and transforming into tunnels - stress points. The amount of debris strung around the room was also mildly confusing. There were pieces of metal driven into the floor, denuded around so that he hadn't noticed them. Then the room exploded with light, as a blob of brilliant energy that was currently floating its way from one side of the chamber to the other. About the size of his torso, it was quite beautifully bobbing its way towards him, a watery ripple effect emerging through it. From it. Within it? The exact effect was difficult to explain from the perspective Mal had. Secondly, the illumination provided by the blob revealed the ships hold, spilled open. It was cavernous, and not all that inviting. But going back the way he'd came was less likely to achieve much. The blob, for its part, continued to float towards Mal, a semblance of intelligence directing it in a direction of sorts. It was serene, and, mildly terrifying, especially in the context of Shadow; tentacled-plants, Killik swarms, and, now, floating blobs of energy... What the kriff was Shadow?
The Nest Seth landed in seemed to have widened the cavern he'd dropped in as they reached the bottom - not that he could tell, surrounded by purple-black insects, all surging around the walls, squashed together and buzzing angrily. The cavern widened, dozens if not hundreds of Gorog running around. They paid Seth no heed, so he was able to nudge his way down through the masses of bodies, all clicking around him in a roar. Suddenly, he found the floor, but the way he thumped onto it made it clear it was metal. The Killiks shifted as a bulk, pushing Seth in one particular direction. A few clawed at his weapons, trying to pull them away from him. The next moment he was ejected from the mass and shoved over an edge, depositing him in a room filled with ceiling-high computers. He'd just been pushed through the ceiling. The room was circular, and all the displays were deactivated - only emergency lights illuminated the darkness. A door was evident, a metal bulkhead which had dropped from the ceiling and had sealed the room. The Killiks looked down at him from the hole they'd carved and chittered aggressively, a Chiss-sized Gorog dropping down and snapping its pincers at him, standing between Seth and the doorway. It was massive, and anyone could see its carapace was hard. It advanced on Seth, spreading its four arms to cut off any escape.
Luke turned away from Zey to look to the others, Hob Bob breaking in to volunteer to man the comms, and stream data back to the fleets. Admiral Delpin of the Confederation spoke to that. "We expect that there will be difficulties streaming to the fleet the deeper you get in, but anything you can send us will be appreciated, Hob Bob." Delpin's mouth wrinkled around such an uncouth name. "Remember, this is Centerpoint technology, potentially, so you may be jammed before you realise it." Maltrix Booly chimed up next, and Luke turned away, not particularly interested in military protocol, instead focusing on Raxle Bisthto, the nervous scientist who hadn't said anything since the initial greetings. Luke subtly reached into the Force, instilling a little more confidence in Bisthto. He'd need it, down there. Luke wished, again, that he could go with them - but Daala had been clear that Luke was not to go down, nor were any of the Jedi Council. Zey, for his part, was still smoldering in his thoughts. "That brings up another point. Are there overriding Rules of Engagement for this mission or will it be up to on-ground operator discretion?" Luke felt Zadann MaRanna agree with the statement mentally, looking at the officers for their response. "Discretion of the commanding officer," responded Miat Temm. "Killiks are difficult to anticipate, and it's possible that they may attempt to influence your team. You mustn't allow that, and, recall, Seth is likely to go for your team if he encounters them. Stun him, capture him, kill him; whatever the situation dictates." "As Second in Command I would just like to commend that we actually put our hindrances aside and get along. If we can't, we'll be down there to our own dooms." MaRanna continued, looking at Zey quite hard, and Luke raised a hand to forestall a commentary. "We've spent enough time discussing things as it is. Your blastboat has been prepped, and time is of the essence, Zey. If you could pilot the ship down, Zey, I expect that a Force user will be necessary to avoid the storms and gusts, as we've chosen not to bring a droid with us this time." Luke looked to the five of them. "May the Force be with you, my friends. You will undoubtedly succeed, of that I have no doubt."
Finn was the leader of his party. Five members of them, all grizzled veterans of various missions for the Empire and Rebel Alliance. One had even been on hire at Endor, which was an interesting tale to hear over the bonfire. Another, once an experiment of the Empire, heightening his senses to levels unparalleled by any other of his species. Finn was a Devaronian, and prided himself on being difficult to kill - his time within Freedom Sons fighting the Droid Army having taught him a lot about warfare, and even a little about Dark Jedi - Finn had fought the Bpfasshi Uprising, defeating a legion of Dark Jedi beside the other Sons and Daughters and Master Yoda himself. The others were Clar and Troepf, human friends who had experience as lawyers first, and then as mercs second, by virtue of surviving an attempt by Emperor Palpatine upon their law firm over a decade earlier - civil rights were hardly something loved by the Imperial Court. Both were equipped with assault rifles, usually set to stun. They weren't doing this out of principles, but money - the poor duo, Finn reflecting, recalling his time as a Judiciary. He wasn't actually older than Troepf, but he was often mistaken as being so. As they entered the grove, they trained their rifles on the hills which were surrounding them. Finn idly picked out the bushes, trees and rocks which could be used for cover, assuring himself that nobody was behind them. Draco the modified Barabel followed, bounding forward at point, sniffing. He had an over-sized blaster in one hand, and a wicked-looking vibroblade in the other, following Callat's trail. Last came Melsith, the Zabrak woman, equipped with enough armour and personal shield packs to hold off a small army, and enough guns to shoot them all, a trail of blaster and shield packs criss-crossing her chest, a wicked smile often attached to her lips. They'd barely survived the engagement with the Blood Carver, and only thanks to Finn's expert direction. Finn reflected on the difficulty of the duel, with the Blood Carver hiring a squad of Thalassian mercs to assist him. The Kintan Deathstrider had taken a lot of blaster shots to bring down. He himself had a grenade launcher leaning on his shoulder, a flechette pistol in his free hand. Less messy and bouncy blaster bolts, then. Bpfassh had taught him that. Draco paused as they entered the clearing, clawing dirt from the ground and sniffing at it. "This one can tell that Callat waz here. With... another." Draco prodded an area of softened grass. "A heavily armoured brute, pozzibly a zSun Guard... maybe even a Mandalorian, thiz one thinkz." The Barabel sniffed the latters tracks. "He went off in that direction." Draco pointed towards the hill where Alec had headed off, even now. "Callat has gone towardz the swampz... this one iz not sure in which direction, yet. It'z difficult to work out with the swampz smell as well..." Clar nodded. "It sounds as if Callat hired some more help." "He must have known that the Blood Carver wouldn't have stopped us," agreed Troepf. "So where has our Mandalorian buddy gone?" Finn paused, going through strategies. "Melsith, I need you to go and deal with our new opponent. If he is a Mandalorian, then you should be able to outlast him with your personal shield. The rest of us will go and track down Callat. Keep your comm. channels open." He nodded at her, and the Zabrak, grinning again, turned. Draco wrinkled his nose. "Thiz one agreez." "Nice to know," said Finn, dryly. "Time to go."
Cara's brother could only frown, the features of Elsander, and the skin of Trayus. "What is wrong with you, sister?" His tone had less sympathy in it, as she took down the cup's content. "Poison? Why would I poison my sister? The Shadow Hand has been defeated, my dear! There is no need for this paranoia!" And then the convulsions hit Cara. Hard. Her stomach felt as if a spear had been jabbed through it, and then her throat burnt, the pain cresting on her lips and a fountain of blood bursting from it. Her extremities fell numb, and she flopped in the throne, falling forward, her head slamming on the floor, sparks exploding behind her eyes. Her eyes were pointed towards the entrance flap, and from it came Lord Farsk, grinning beneath his teeth, clearly not about to be shot into orbit. He kneeled on the balls of his feet, moving her hair away from her eyes and mouth. "Little Gorog, you do so little, but you do it foolishly nonetheless. This civil war is over. I am the King of Korriban. There will be no Queen here. And now I offer my own fate to you." He clapped his hands together, and two more hulking Massassi entered, grabbing her roughly and carrying her towards the waiting space device. It was shaped like a sphere, with an impossible eye staring down at her - the silly though grabbed her mid-convulsion, as an explosion blossomed behind her eyelids. Roughly she was thrown into the capsule, and the King of Korriban crowed, loudly. "The Night Herald is no more!" Applause rang out, and then the ramp sealed. Moments later, the meditation sphere shook, and shot into orbit. Cara, for her part, was still aflame in her pain. There was no anger more potent than betrayal - and that anger could not afford to be tempered by madness. The poison of the past mingled in her mind, and in the present, the venom of Gorog filled her veins, neatly avoiding the rest of her brain and pouring into the top of her spine, lightning arching around her body down those bones. The Dark Side was the only way she would survive this - in both worlds. ...Gorog was teaching her?
After a relatively long walk through a maze Mal made it to the summit, and the room that had been waiting for him there. As with every tunnel he had just worked his way through the room looked like it had come straight from the rock wall, and could almost have been a natural formation with a bit of artificial help to round things out. Other than the metal that was sticking up out of the floor, the walls and the ceiling in varied places. Not to mention the debris. What is this place? Some kind of control room or something? Of course after the blob was noticed everything else kinda went to the wayside since there appeared to be no other threats. The thing seemed to be less than solid, since he could see through it. Mal figured it was some sort of fluid or something, maybe a gas being that had a very translucent skin of some sort. Although how it managed to control it's height was something he certainly could not figure out. Suffice to say there was nothing in his experience that he could really connect to this thing so it seemed wise to keep an eye on it. Although how he could actually fail to do so was somewhat questionable, given the fact that it was now providing a nearly blinding light. Then it moved. Oh great, some living floating thing... Drawing his blaster rifle, Mal pointed it at the blob and was ready for pretty much anything, balancing on the toes of his feet, trying to be ready to move in any direction depending on what the thing did. However what the extra light provided was detail. Now Mal could see that this was the hold of a ship. A ship that had somehow found itself underground and in some pretty pathetic shape going by the appearance of things. There were a few doors elsewhere, but having no particular point of reference he had no idea where they might lead. But they were certainly better than going backwards at this point. All that lay that way was killiks, monsters and death. Not to mention a thermal detonator that might be who knows where and could go off at any moment. Not precisely something he wanted to be walking into. Sighing softly, highly displeased with his choices, Mal moved forward. Making sure to skirt the ball of energy, which had continued in a direction, he headed towards the nearest doorway.
Time passed. Cara was dumped on the spherical Sith ship that shot into orbit, testing the first Sith hyperdrive. It plunged coreward, feeding information to the new rulers of Korriban. Time passed. And then the sphere was torn from hyperspace, a visceral scream in her mind. Poisoned, her mind was rent with the mental pain of the sphere as it was yanked into orbit of a blue-green planet. The atmosphere battered and bruised the sphere and Cara herself, tossing her around the flame-coloured innards of the ship, completely unable to affect it. Cara felt the ground approach, more than saw it, and there was a terrible ripping sound, as a spire drove through the eye of the sphere, tearing it apart and stabbing at her. A sickening crunch resounded, and then a rip. Cara found herself falling hundreds of meters, bereft of her right arm, falling… Falling… Falling… A glimpse, and a world is revealed. Survival simply had to follow. For Cara was Sith. Even if she didn’t have a choice in it. --- This reality played out in her minds eye, but it became clear that her eyes were returning to her mind, too. The Gorog had carried somewhere deep down into Shadow, somewhere so deep that only darkness surrounded her, and they'd just dropped her. She hit the stone ground, hard. There was nothing for her to see. And then... Light. An orange-red glow, spreading out, and out. Then a ripple behind her, in the Gorog mind – in her mind – And behind them stood a dark man, engulfed in a dark cloak. A lightsaber was in his hand, and it was crimson - another hanging from his belt. But that wasn’t the worrying thing. Cara suddenly sensed that life was missing from around her, that the hive of Killiks that had been carrying her was considerably thinner. They’d conveyed her through a cavern, and had dropped her off the other side. Though she could not see down into the cavern, she could certainly see what the man was standing upon. A tentacle was holding him up, placing him within the tunnel that she now stood in. A gargling roar rang out, from behind her. “Cara! Your opponent is revealed! It is this man that poisoned you!” The man pointed a gloved finger forward. “Gorog! Tell me what the Sith you have done!” He plunged forward, cutting at one of Cara’s escorts, the pain reverberating through her mind, and it became clear what pain she had been feeling – was feeling – from the hallucination. Then the ground beneath her feet exploded, tentacle-plants driving from beneath her feet and propelling her forward – towards the man, towards the edge – Power crackled around her – she was Gorog. And she was Cara. And all their potential was hers.
As Alec Nephrite retreated, he caused a ripple in the area as creatures scattered and scents nudged. Melsith readied her blasters, and started off on a jog in the approximate direction that their Barabel companion had pointed her. Because she had elected to wear a personal shield, as opposed to armour, she was light on her feet, and rushed after the armoured man, making sure her twin blaster rifles were fully armed. Alec’s helmet comlink rang out; it was Callat. “Shysa! Get your backside here – new orders, whatever you military imbeciles want to call it. Before -” The line was cut by an inarticulate screaming.
"A question if I may," Momentum was building behind the team, but Raxle had one last question. Luke managed not to sigh visibly, and simply smiled in amusement, reminded of other geniuses like Ghent; completely brilliant, but social conventions were quite beyond them. Admiral Delpin, less polite, simply glared at the scientist. “Being a scientist and all, I am always looking for opportunities to further my research. I have been fascinated by Centerpoint and its tech for decades...back into my childhood, even," he paused here to offer a short chuckle, and Delpin’s stare hardened, if at all possible. "If the ruling council allows, would I be permitted to collect samples from the surface of Shadow to bring back and study in my laboratories? Any, uh...any discoveries would be reported to this council immediately, of course." Delpin looked like she was about to say something disparaging, to say the least, but Temm chimed in, nodding. “He’s harmless, Genna. Calm yourself.” The Imperial liason looked back to Raxle. “Of course. Just report everything to everyone, and we’ll be perfectly fine.” Luke gave Zazarine Zey one last look, before nodding to the other crew. Hob Bob – who Luke could tell was having trouble keeping his emotions in check behind his helmet - Zadann MaRanna, and of course Maltrix Booly. They were an intriguing team. Less smooth than the last one, and Luke for some reason anticipated that would enable them to become a true team, much like Han, Leia and himself had been a completely hodgepodge group when they’d met – but had since evolved into a team which complimented themselves. “May the Force be with you, my friends.” The blastboat awaited. --- Shadow, Control Room Seth was gone - he'd leapt into a denured hole and vanished, like a rather large and blue ranat. The smoke and debris obscured that fact, but Mal could only check by moving forward - moving backwards would see him killed, most likely, by the flailing tentacle-roots. For Seth's part, he had tumbled down the hull, which opened suddenly and deposited him into another cavern - one filled with a Killik nest. His fall was broken by the carapace of a Gorog. The Nest Seth landed in seemed to have widened the cavern he'd dropped in as they reached the bottom - not that he could tell, surrounded by purple-black insects, all surging around the walls, squashed together and buzzing angrily. The cavern widened, dozens if not hundreds of Gorog running around. They paid Seth no heed, so he was able to nudge his way down through the masses of bodies, all clicking around him in a roar. Suddenly, he found the floor, but the way he thumped onto it made it clear it was metal. The Killiks shifted as a bulk, pushing Seth in one particular direction. A few clawed at his weapons, trying to pull them away from him. The next moment he was ejected from the mass and shoved over an edge, depositing him in a room filled with ceiling-high computers. He'd just been pushed through the ceiling. The room was circular, and all the displays were deactivated - only emergency lights illuminated the darkness. A door was evident, a metal bulkhead which had dropped from the ceiling and had sealed the room. The Killiks looked down at him from the hole they'd carved and chittered aggressively, a Chiss-sized Gorog dropping down and snapping its pincers at him, standing between Seth and the doorway. It was massive, and anyone could see its carapace was hard. It advanced on Seth, spreading its four arms to cut off any escape – pushing him back, and his hand brushed one of the consoles – And they activated. --- Shadow Depths Driggs and Isis Steele suddenly seemed as if they didn’t want to talk, but they had to. Anakin slowed, sensing their pain. "Lad, you deserve the truth. I left the order for the same reasons that will cause you heart ache, great heart ache. You see...your brother turned and became a Sith. Why? Not even Luke the Grand Master knows that, but what we do know is that he took Tahiri down that path after he failed to succeed with your nephew Ben." Anakin blinked, his eyes wide, his throat tightening in horror. “Jacen… a Sith? Tahiri…” He completely stopped, surprised beyond belief – heart broken. "She was devastated by your death, and...he used that against her. As the reports go he used a technique to allow her to see you in the past almost like ahh, a dealer gives an addict just enough spice to leave them edgy enough to do anything for more. She is broken Anakin." He fell to his knees, feeling them scrape the ground, his eyes staring into space. “Tahiri…” “She was devastated by your death, and your brother preyed upon her. He weakened her and then gave her the power to drown her pain. But, Jacen was stopped and Tahiri was… redeemed, in a sense. She has left the Order. She is alive, and she is healing.” Anakin felt the hand of Isis on his shoulder, and reached out, holding it, closing his eyes, and tears falling down them. He looked back at her, and, feeling something flicker in his heart, felt an overwhelming surge of guilt and broke away. “We… we have to go.” There was a rumble, and the lights surged all around them. Anakin started running forward, his eyes wild with worry, still red from the tears streaming down his cheeks. “No… no!” He ran around the corner, as the roof collapsed down on them, depositing a swarm of Gorog and a throng of metal and rubble. Anakin gasped. “NO!” The dark side sang with strength, enough strength to encompass them all... And, at the far end of the tunnel, a chorus of snap-hisses sounded out. --- Solar systems across the galaxy suddenly went through a massive and mildly unpleasant shift. What Shadow was… well that was something to be discussed by academics and historians later. But the reality was quite clear to anyone in the Corellian system, the Chiss Redoubt, or on Kessel. It was Centerpoint’s back-up. Primed by the destruction of the main battle station, and now activated by Seth, it was setting out a series of changes throughout the galaxy. Hyperlanes between the Unknown Regions and the Galactic Alliance that had been painfully etched out in the past century suddenly collapsed, the gravitic anomaly splitting the two increasing tenfold. The multiple and overlapping gravity wells that formed the Chiss Redoubt intensified, and the Chiss colonists that had yet to emerge from back into the Ascendancy could only watch as intense fields began crushing planets in the Redoubt, working from the fringes of the systems and moving inward. It would take hours for those far-flung worlds to break up, but it was expected that the gravitational fields being activated throughout the Redoubt would continue to intensify, destroying all the systems inside the Redoubt, and millions of Chiss. On Kessel, a world already plagued by increased disturbances since the destruction of Centerpoint suddenly found that gravitational fields were increasing around the system. The atmosphere was beginning to strip from Kessel; the only Force-send, as far as Lando Calrissian could tell, was that there was nobody in the Maw to die; the Maw Installation had been destroyed three decades earlier, and Shelter abandoned some time ago. It was being postulated that the Maw and the Chiss Redoubt had been created to trap the enemies of the Celestials within these intense gravitational fields and destroy them. Centerpoint had been the crown of a defence iniative that would have annihilated billions; and now the program had been activated. The reality was going to be much worse. Communications were disrupted in the Corellian system, and a solar flare reached out, touching observation satellites and incinerating them in an eyeblink; the ripple caused Star Destroyers to be nudged mildly off-course, and for frigates to yaw hard to port. Smaller shuttles, for example the blastboat currently making its way from the blockade line to Shadow itself, were completely buffeted, turned end for end in the calamity. --- En route to Shadow Barely a minute into the four-minute flight from the Gilad Pellaeon to the atmosphere of Shadow, the shuttle was tossed from end to end, the five team members thrown from their seats if they hadn’t the foresight to strap in, and even those strapped down would be tossed about. The blastboat rolled, spinning away from its original target; the mouth of the cave the first team had taken, and instead flying towards the mountain top, to crash into nothingness. The team had to get control of the ship, and quickly. But when Zazarine Zey turned to look at his team-mates, he suddenly, inexplicably, realised that they were all imposters, and, worse of all, this was all an elaborate scheme to kill him; Zey suddenly knew very well what had happened to the first team. And now he would deal with all of them.
Mal's direction didn't perturb the blob. It continued to bob along, slowly making its way into the hold of the broken ship, after the soldier. The blob had never really noticed the ship before, in its millionth journey around the ship. Or maybe it had seen it? Either way, it was curious about the ship. Oh, and Mal. Mal's journey into the ship rapidly revealed that it was quite a massive vessel. It was egg-shaped, reflecting the fact it was created by an insect raise. The ship slowly relighted itself, but a sensor in Mal's helmet clicked on to indicate that radiation levels were rising; a logical point, as Killiks didn't live for many years, and thus they didn't need to worry about such human concerns. His armour would protect him, for a spell, but it wouldn't be a good idea to stay in the ship. The ship had almost as many winding tunnels as the caves, adding more evidence that the tunnels had been denuded by the Killiks as well. A crash rang out, and Mal's sensors picked up a energy reading, very different to the shimmering the lights and sputtering reactor. It was a small pyramidal ornament, sitting in the center of a room off the main tunnel. A piece of debris was laying upon it, seemingly having been nudged by the activation of power causing a vibration in the bulkheads. The metal had activated the Holocron and an alien that Mal might be able to recognise. Jittering to life came a creature. It's head turned as Mal entered, its voice muttering something indecipherable. It stank of the dark side, nonetheless, something more palpable for the narrow confines. The eyes of the creature narrowed, though not notably, even as the blob merrily bounded after Mal, though slowly as ever. The creature uttered something again, just as completely unclear. It finally seemed to work out something. "Finally! Someone other than a Killik!"