The killiks disgusted him and not just because of the barbary of their attacks and the appearance of the creatures, but because of how they moved as one; an ocean of scuttling bodies. He was disgusted but not afraid. The moment Seth was dropped into the room he knew this was meant as a challenge or battle for the killiks could easily swarm him and kill him. Instead, one giant insect emerged from the crowd, staff in hand, challenging the Chiss. Drawing his pistol and standing hunched over in defense, Seth watched as the creature approached, swinging its appendages wildly, pressing console controls and blocking off any exit. The moment came when the only way to go was through his opponent and the Chiss pulled himself onto the control panel before firing at the killik's head and jumping from the panel into the killik's carapace, attempting to shove him back or knock the creature off one of his many legs. If he could get one leg up, he would pick the creature up and fire on the underside. When the killik had first appeared, Seth mentally weighed the killik to clock in at approximately 450 to 500 lbs, based on its humanoid size. A trained soldier would be able to lift that much given the right incentive. Seth's being his life.
After everything else that had happened that day, there were still surprises. Planets that seemed to talk, plant creatures that try to crush you into paste, killiks where there very definitely should not be any. Then there is the blob. Apparently sentient in some capacity, as it was now following Mal, albeit slowly. He hoped that it remained slowly as how to kill a sentient energy ball had not been covered in any of his training or experiences that followed. Hopefully it couldn't go through walls or something, as that would just be plain evil. And so Mal entered the ship, an apparently still somewhat operable ship as the lights came on. Well, some of the lights. And some of them flickered, casting odd random shadows throughout the corridor entrances and the hold that the Trooper found himself in. Taking the direction that should lead to the engineering bay, and hopefully somewhere he could shut down the drive so that he could kill the radiation increase that would eventually kill him, he learned that this ship was vastly larger than he'd expected. Corridor after corridor stretched before him, and crisscrossed wrapping around the hull like an onion. The resemblance to a bugs nest was astounding, and made him feel slightly claustrophobic while exploring the vessel. Coming upon a room that seemed like it might have some operable controls, Mal moved over to a somewhat lighted terminal with a pretty cracked screen to see if he could make any sense of the controls. That turned out to be a somewhat hopeless endeavor, as the language used was not basic, or any of the other languages he had picked up over the years. Sighing to himself in frustration, he headed back out into the corridors continuing to head aft and making sure to keep note of the rising radiation levels. A noise echoed throughout the corridors as Mal entered the engineering bay. A sputtering reactor made the radiation levels spike drastically, but still barely within the safe zone. Definitely give myself an anti-rad shot when I get out of here. It never paid to take chances like that with ones health. Growing a third arm was not on his topmost list of things to do. It was only after coming to that conclusion that the sensors in his helmet picked up a different energy reading, coming from a small pyramid that lay on one of it's sides. There was something about it that made him very uneasy, almost as if it emanated darkness in some fashion. Something told him it would be trouble, but curiosity one out and as he approached a hologram sprang into life above it. It's bulbous eyes residing on either side of a head that rose in a rather conical shape was slightly unnerving. This was a creature from the distant path, long thought to be extinct after what happened millennia ago. Going over to pick it up, Mal decided this was something better looked at outside of the ship. Of course getting back out would take several moments, but standing around in the radiation was something he just was not interested in. As he walked the thing spoke to him, in some language he'd never even caught a whiff of as he went on his missions. Over the course of the next few minutes it tried several other languages and only just found one that worked as Mal entered into the hangar bay that he had entered the ship through. The blob, being abominably slow, had not gone terribly far into the ship, but it was directly in front of Mal. The words spoken by the Rakatan took his attention however. Apparently it was quite tired of killiks, a feeling that Mal could definitely understand. Being slightly unsure how to proceed with a thing that came from a slightly glowy pyramid he decided to ignore it for the moment, at least until he got out of the ship again... which took all of thirty seconds. Setting the pyramid down on the ground, a little distance away from the ship, Mal started going through his medkit looking for the rad medicine he needed to take. "What'd the killiks do to you? Find out you weren't terribly digestible or something?" The comment came out in a slightly disparaging voice, partially because he didn't expect the thing to reply like a sentient. No AI could fit inside something that small. Keeping an eye on the ever following blob, Mal gave himself the shot.
The scream rang out into the Force, ripping into the surrounding Killiks and shredding them, ripping apart the tentacle the cloaked man was standing upon. He dropped, his hands opening and leaving his crimson lightsaber behind, the red illuminating the shadows and showing the depths of the cavern which the Killiks had, during Cara’s visions, carried her over. Behind her, the orange-red glow still shone, and mutterings in some archaic language flowed into her head – evidently the voice – Gorog? – had used the Force to keep the tunnel mostly intact, and now had redirected his attention to restoring his control of his pet. Her will began to slip, and she felt a pressing need to turn down the tunnel behind her and continue the way the Killiks had been carrying her, little cuts down on her shoulders and arms showing where the little creatures had nipped her clothes and skin to convey her through the depths. The little mantra was broken by a roar of pain – echoing from the cavern, and then a blaze of illumination as the walls around the base of the pit seemed to reveal themselves – allowing Cara to finally see the demon which had been harrying them. It’s tentacles where shorter than one would have expected, but the little head was clear, snarling and snapping. A Sarlacc. The man was nowhere to be seen, presumably vanished into the Sarlacc’s mouth, but then a tug in the Force, incredibly powerful, pulled her off the ledge and down towards the monstrosity, its flailing arms reaching to ensnare her and tug her into the creatures maw. Gorog, for his part, snarled in anger at this development. “You weren’t supposed to have woken!”
Anakin was on his knees, feeling pain throbbing in his temples as the Force sung with pain. A roar was filling the tunnels, an echo of a scream which still had his eardrums ringing. Isis had launched forward, a flurry of violence in the Gorog. Hooley was talking to those half a dozen individuals at the end of the tunnel – those crimson blade wielders who had appeared a moment after the Gorog had landed in their midst. The Killiks were between them and the Sith, but Hooley’s voice carried nonetheless. When the tallest of the black-clad pointed down to them, it became evident that this wasn’t going to be pleasant. “Jedi! Kill them!” Four of the Sith lurched down the tunnel, two wielding dual lightsabers, the other holding some kind of glass knife with the lightsaber. They stank of the dark side, and one of them reached Isis first, while the rest cut apart the Killik swarm. The one she faced had two blades, his handsome face marred with black tattoo’s on purposely white skin. His eyes glowed hard, the yellow that Darth Caedus’ had taken in his final weeks. The man slashed backhanded at her neck, and then the other blade came up to stab her waist. By the Force he was fast.
The blastboat computer had very little understanding of what was happening to it. The galaxy was shifting, gravity yanking them down and up and around, and the computer felt like it was going to be ripped in half. ‘Felt’ being a relative word for a computer who could sense things only via sensors and by the missing parts of itself. Its attention was only vaguely distracted by the events of the five individuals that were aboard itself. Two of them had just succumbed to death by lightsaber, and then the Armoured One – Hob Bob - launched himself at the Insane One – Zey – while the Bespectacled One – Raxle – quivered in the corner. Zey slashed his lightsaber down at Bob, the blow deflecting off the Mandalorian Iron and this moment of surprise from Zey allowed Bob to grab the Jedi and promptly bash his helmet into the Jedi Master’s face. Zey misinterpreted the Mandalorians intent as designed to knock his mask off and thus kill the Kel Dor by oxygen poisoning, but in-fact Bob just intended to keep hitting the man – as the blastboat computer noticed when Zey, with a bloodied head, slumped into unconsciousness. The blastboat computer didn’t really notice any of this – it was out of its parameters to conclude anything from the interactions of flesh and blood, anyway – because it was focused on the fact that it was crashing. It hit atmosphere exactly 2.3 seconds after Zey was knocked out, and then internal gravity cut, tossing around the bodies – alive or otherwise – as it rolled end-over-end not towards the entrance of the mountain marked out by the first team – which, incidently, the blastboat noted had a tall Weequay standing in-front of somehow – but instead towards the mountain peak. The blastboat dutifully filled its habitable areas with a foam which would act to soften the fall, approximately 3.7 seconds before they hit the mountain top, sheered through, snapping off the rear manoeuvring fins, and the two guns turrets, and then bursting through the wall into a cavern that was completely lacking illumination. And then the computer promptly vanished as the front of the ship crumpled as the blastboat hit the metal of an old, old, old ship, and died. The shockwave of the hit, and the noise of the crash, didn’t pass much beyond the mountain itself, but it threw a certain soldier off his feet. -- A few moments earlier The Holocron, as it identified itself while it was unceremoniously carried from its pedestal, bobbed its head at Mal Judders wit, and gestured at the little pitted dents in the pyramid. “Worked that out, I see. Yes, they did attempt to eat me, while he was in stasis. Quite discomforting, it could be said.” “You can call me Ennac, Enslaved One. Pay the data no heed, little man. It has only grown curious with time. As have I.” Mal’s mind stirred, slightly, and he felt as if someone was trickling water into his head. He’d never encountered a Holocron – and certainly never encountered one which had spent thirty five millennia inside a dark side nexus and had thus crossed the line from simple technology into full-blown spirit – but it was very evident that something was going wrong in his mind. Then the blastboat hit the mountain – and Mal was flung back, into Blob – And into a battle. 30,000 BBY He dropped, his armour protecting him from his roll, but the surrounding area was filled with violence and dismay. Men and women, humans and what appeared to be wooden humanoids, all wielding swords and wearing armour and chainmail against what was definitely Killiks of all manner of sizes. The ground was broken with corpses – insect and otherwise – and behind them soldiers – humans, Drall and Selonians – were pumping fire from ancient concussion rifles and slugthrowers into the enemy line. Catapults threw rocks and masses of plastic explosives, showering Mal with dust. And then, all of a sudden a call rang out from one of the nearby men. “Bogan! Retreat! Kolosolok!” Several fighters pulled back where they could, but more than half a dozen of the Knights were stuck in combat, and retreating would have seen them killed. One or two flailed out with the Force, but the Killiks were too innumerous, a swarm of creatures from the size of Mal’s thumb to double his height, and they pressed down on the Bogan line. And then the Kolosolok became evident. There were half a dozen of them, but they were clearly enough to turn the tide. Massive creatures, they were generally fifty meters long and ten meters tall, and bullets burst off their thick carapaces, and rocks bounced away, the creatures lumbering forward and crushing everyone in their path. One eyed Mal in his armour, and turned, plodding towards the soldier. This was not good.
Seth’s shot caught the creature in the forehead, slapping it back even though its hard carapace seemed to survive the blow. When Seth bowled into it, it’s legs flailed up, thrown off balance entirely. It clawed out with its extra hands on the doorframe, rebalancing, and then lashed down with its club with its additional arms down at the Chiss’ head. But now the consoles were active, it seemed as if the Killiks had less need for him, and they began to flow into the room, small thumb sized Killiks dropping down onto him to discover the seams in his battle garb and paralyse him from within. He really had to get out of this room, and now.
Finn heard the scream just as well as Alec; but clearer, as he was deep in the swamps that Callat was apparently digging. Mel was busy with their pursuer, hopefully, but clearly they were in for their own problems – there was an Imperial shuttle sitting next to the open tomb, and easily thirty black-armoured Stormtroopers had surrounded the dig. But that wasn’t why Callat was screaming. No, it was the man in sparkling robes, holding out his hands and pumping what appeared to be lightning into the ignoble doctor, who writhed on the floor. Finn was looking through macrobinoculars at the man, keeping a somewhat safe distance between them and what appeared to be a darksider. But then the sparkly robed man pointed a free hand in Finns direction, and half the Stormtroopers started marching their way. “Oh… Sith Lords,” Finn swore. Draco sniffed. “Yezzz… a Prophet of the Dark Side…” Clar and Troepf muttered something, and Finn threw her a wonderful grin. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve dealt with darksiders before. No problem.” “Great,” said Clar neutrally, seeing through his smile like she always did. “Always nice to know.” And then blaster fire rang out behind them, and Finn pressed his lips into a crease. It seemed Mel had found their opponent – but a bit closer than expected. The Prophet took another look around and then vanished into the ground, leaving five troopers behind and a smoking Callat there. -- It was an unpleasant moment. One second Alec was jogging towards the swamp, and was in-fact sloshing in it, and the next a stream of blasters hit him in his back, denting his Mandalorian armour and sending him sprawling into the water and reeds, obscuring him from view. “I know you survived that,” came a sing-song Devaronian voice. “Nice trick – running away and doubling back. Oldest in the book, even – but I lost you on your way back, and so came back here – and, as luck would have it, you did too!” She was evident by the glow around her – a personal shield – and in each of her hands was a rifle, flipped over to full-automatic. Lovely. Her knocking him forward did, however, nudge him to the point that his sensors detected the Imperial shuttle and the forty or so individuals in front of him. But he had plenty to deal with yet.
Expectations rather changed with the reply of the glowing thing. Apparently the little pyramid didn't like trying to be eaten. Not that Mal knew anyone that did find it terribly pleasant. It was the comment following that which made him even more surprised. Enslaved one? "Look pa-" but it talked over him, so he just grimaced and listened. Ennac. And the Data, which could only be the blob. Maybe it was a little too sentient. Looking non-plussed, not that Ennac could know that, Mal replied. "Think you've got a few screws loose or something. I'm not enslaved, nor is my species. Not sure what would make you think that." That was as far as he got before a very odd feeling started. It was like a stream had suddenly been let loose in his mind, and it was carrying with it... what? Information? Feelings? A sense of the world around him? A premonition? Ah hell. With that thought the world exploded into sound and light as the incoming whatever it was literally pulverized the ancient ship. Somehow Mal knew it was another blastboat. There was really no legit reason to come to that conclusion. After all, it could just be an asteroid or something like that. Not that there had been any in orbit... Regardless, the Stormtrooper found himself flailing through the air and into the energy sphere that he'd been dancing around. Judder fell through the light of the thing, and his whole body got a jolt as it made contact. And then he wasn't in the cavern anymore. Instincts taking over Mal rolled from his shoulder, and looked around. The sounds were a little different, but still consistent with what he had obviously landed in the middle of. A battlefield. Looking around he saw varied shades of humans and some... wooden... droids? Everyone of them had a sword in their hands and many of them were screaming in defiance, orders or some combination of the two against killiks. Lots and lots of killiks. Didn't I leave this party like two hours ago? Sighing as he rolled to his feet Mal quickly made his personal blaster rifle ready, but wasn't a hundred percent sure who to shoot at given the situation. This was quickly remedied as call rang out over the ancient projectile weapons and screams of the dieing. "Bogan! Retreat! Kolosolok!" Mal didn't know what any of those were, but somehow none of them really sounded all that friendly. Didn't look too friendly either, as he saw this rather large insectoid creature coming straight at him. Ah hell. Realizing that trying to outrun the beast, which could rather easily cover several of his steps in just one of it's own, was a somewhat worthless idea, Mal started blasting it in the face as he started straffing to the left. With his unoccupied hand he started feeling for a concussion grenade... of which he only had one left on him.
Mel exploded into flame, and the swamp surrounding her area promptly burst alight. It was overkill - but it was the Mandalorian way. You don't leave someone at your rear, no matter how much you wanted to. Of course, however, that meant attention was shifted from the band of motley mercs to this new explosion - and of course Finn took advantage of it and opened fire. The entire swamp was aflame with blaster fire, fifteen Stormtroopers pouring fire into Alec's approximate position, and Finn's team scattering into the undergrowth and opening up with blaster rifles, grenades and all manner of weapons. From a bevy of blaster fire came Draco, the Barabel missing the skin on his left shoulder and bounding towards Alec, shooting from the undergrowth and bowling the Mandalorian teen over. Draco hissed, blood leaking from his mouth as he batted Alec's blaster from his hands. "Thiz one needz your armour!"
The shuttle calmed, until the transparisteel screen finally gave way, opening up the shattered tomb up to the dusty air. There was a light suddenly evident, thankfully just as the emergency lights within the gunboat finally gave out. Hob Bob and Raxle were alive, just about, though Zey was unconscious, and slightly submerged in his own blood. The others were still dead, their cuts still cooling down in the air. It was a horrific scene, but then, when a little tiny pyramid floated itself into the gap where the window had been and a hologram of an alien species that hadn't been scene for four thousand years gestured, grabbing at Zey's body and yanking it out of the cockpit, while using the other hand to throw around the eviscerated remains of Zadann and Hooley at the two survivors - it was about to get worse. The Holocron hissed, releasing a vexed sigh that was all bile. "He is mine!" In the main cavern, within the blob of energy which was providing all the light, was Mal Judder. Of course, he was unaware of that. His concerns were focused thirty millennia earlier, though he would never understand the time scale. The mountain of Kolosolok began to slowly ponder towards Mal, especially because the troopers weapon was hurting him most. The Killik was covering distance a great deal quicker than Mal could, and it was very clear things were about to get unpleasant. To make things more difficult, Mal tripped. The hilt of one of those shining blades, wielded by these 'Bogan' was protruding from a crevasse where it was jammed. As he caught it, the blade ripped free of the rocks, slicing them apart as if they were butter. The blade rolled down next to him, even as the Kolosolok caught up to him, its shadow overflowing across Mal's armour. A man screamed, behind Mal, and above his head a stream of smaller thumb sized Killiks were preying upon the retreating forces. Around Mal, Killks were eating humans, Drall and Selonians alive, even as the latter were killing their injured to save them from such a fate. And, of course, Mal dropped his concussion grenade as he fell, it rolling away from him. He'd need to reach out with hands he had never used, invisible hands, if he was to recover it. But that would take time - and time was something he didn't have.
The tentacle exploded, pouring all manner of mass into the depths - and instantly showing out that this creature that had been plaguing them all day. The sarlacc roared out, its tentacles reaching out and grabbing Cara. Her voice turned up, towards the ceiling, but that refused to give way - someone was blocking her, with just as much power as her - using the Killiks potential against her. Gorog snapped out. "You are mine! You will not die!" Cara's arms were bound to her side, and the sarlacc began to tug her down to the depths, towards the sarlacc's mouth. This was not going to be pleasant. And then the Sith was back, again, running up the tentacle and batting aside attacking limbs with his crimson blade. Both of them were in his hands, now, though he didn't seem to be able to use both at the same time. The man was glaring at Cara. "A thousand years of death is too long. You have to die here, and now!" "So swears Darth Insipid!"
As Isis exposed herself to death, Anakin saw what he had to do. His hands reached out, and the crimson blade yanked from the Sith's hand and into his. This meant that Isis' blade bit into the Sith, and promptly through him. The Killiks leaped atop the corpse, and began to consume it as if they'd not eaten flesh for millennia. Anakin moved forward, highlighted behind the red lightsaber and looking like some horrible incarnation of Darth Caedus and Luke Skywalker. His eyes, however, sparkled blue, and he cut down a Killik and grinned at her. "Please don't do that again." And then Driggs voice exploded over the combat, actually bowling over a few Gorog. "One Jedi, One Clone, and one scientist not of that order! They need to kill the Killiks, you need to find a world you can survive on more than a brief fiery instant, and I need to study some amazing Celestial Tech. Now either work with us by killing the Killiks without killing us and I'll see about getting you safe passage through a blockade ready to bomb this world to ashes or you can get out of our way or die! Now decide." The remaining five Sith paused, four of them looking at one of them. A blaster shot took out a Killik, and it was becoming clear that the distraction of the Gorog was running out. And thus there would be five Sith - and three Jedi, or, as Driggs put it, one Jedi, one clone and a scientist with so little logic in him. From the roof there tumbled a blue-skinned hands, and Anakin looked away from it. It was Seth's. Missing the rest of his body. But it turned out Anakin wasn't looking away from the Chiss limb, but at something. Down the ceiling hole was coming the largest Killik he'd ever seen. Brandishing a staff which looked as if it had, impossibly, lightsaber cuts in it, the Gorog was coming down the hole directly for the trio, blood dribbling from its mouth. Of course, the Sith were obscured from view from the Gorog - because it wouldn't be a crisis without some more bad luck. -- The leader of the Sith battalion narrowed his crimson eyes as he watched the three Force users resist them. One, practically nude, the other, incredibly suicidal, and the last more interested in the technology of the 'Celestials'. He did not know them under that name, of course - the Keshri had a very different name for them. But he had no way of linking the two of them. He was High Lord Workan, and he was a member of what would become known as the Lost Tribe of the Sith. He and his five - now four - Sabers, had come to Shadow to discover the heart of this new darkness - and whether it could be turned to their ends.
The time since the Battle of Endor had not been a war between the renewed forces of democracy and the weakened forces of the dictator. Nor had it been a war between the reborn Jedi Order and the crippled Sith and Dark Jedi. Not at all. It had, by and large, been a war over the legacy of the dark side. The death of Palpatine shattered a fragile alliance of the Dark Jedi, Prophets and Inquisitors that had made the Dark Side nearly omnipotent. While Darth Sidious and Darth Vader had made the darkness all but invincible, these smaller toys and pawns of the Empire had increased their reach far beyond anything two single individuals could have made. And so these pawns made their own efforts to command the darkness, or withdrew into the shadows to survive - and in the shadows they discovered their Sith legacy. Groups of Sith began to form when there had only been a few dozen within the sects of Bane and Millennial, and these groups took the soil that worlds such as Ziost, Korriban and Lehon offered them and rooted themselves, building in the shadows and preparing for their own time to succeed. The Dark Jedi became Sith, and others still became One Sith. The darkness began to build, and to grow, in numbers equivalent to if not more than the Jedi. But they were not unified. Luke Skywalker could focus a hundred of his spawn upon any enemy - and defeat it soundly. The reign of Darth Caedus was not a single effort by a pair of Sith dedicated to victory, but a delicate balancing act between the survivor of the Dark Nest and the One Sith, all three groups determined to make use of the other, all three unable to trust the next. Even as Lumiya used Alema Rar as a target, she manipulated the One Sith into assisting Caedus and thus giving him even more time to wreck havoc across the galaxy. And then the One Sith killed Alema, to be sure that their secret would be safe. No more than forty Sith, acting at once, and nearly bringing the Empire back to the galaxy... And so when the energies of Shadow stirred following the destruction of the worlds surface, Sith and dark side groups across the galaxy writhed. The Nightsisters stared into the Heartshadow, unable to do anything beyond cower in the mountains of Dathomir. The Mecrosa, terrified that they were being lured from hiding after having only recently recovered from their destruction, buried deeper into the shadows of the Tapani sector. Yu'Dor, deep in the Unknown Regions hiding from Kyle Katarn, knew she could not act, for she was alone. But it was here where her fidelity to the Rule of Two was finally broken. The Malevolence on Prakith writhed, wishing they could depart their world but too fearful of their master, Darth Andeddu, to depart for Shadow. The Acolytes of Darkness, still concealed on Ziost, so close to discovery again as Ben Skywalker walked their world. The One Sith, sensing this new power, and this new technology, and foreseeing that something terrible had shifted in the darkness, dispatched a lone agent to discover the truth - a maverick, someone that Darth Krayt could do without. On Lehon, the Dominion of Darkness found that a Holocron belonging to Gorog was at last willing to share its knowledge, the first Sith Holocron in their collection to do so. They knew what was coming. On Kesh, the Lost Tribe of the Sith, with a Sith Meditation Sphere named 'Ship' bringing them back to the galaxy after five millennia, suddenly, in the midst of a teaching session with one of the Circle of High Lords, and so that mission became one of scouting as well. However, one creature had also made his way there. Lured back from the depths of his own darkness by the re-emergence of the Killiks, and the possibilities they offered for him, his name was one which had reverberated through the ages - among those few who knew of him. Not because of his power, or skill - of which he had ample amount, enough to threaten everyone on Shadow - but because he held the key to the mysteries of a species known as Xenly... And his name was Hoole.