Barriss was currently within the Palace of the Woolamander.
She was sent here, at random, and has come to discover that this place is actually not as scary as it seemed it would be. This place was after all, as Anakin had explained to Shaak and herself, a place of Sith creation and horrible experiments being done.
Sacrifices and all.
'I wonder what Ani is doing right now.' She couldn't help but let her thoughts wonder to her lover, now husband and she reminisced her insecurities. 'How silly of me.'
The temples name, the palace was named after a pack of Woolamander's by someone that had come to the moon before. Well, it was supposed to be named as such by someone within the future, but Anakin just decided to keep the name.
There was no need to confused himself and it wasn't like the palace had absolutely no relation to Woolamander's at all.
Looking around the ruins, Barriss is contemplating many things but right now she had a mission to do. A desire to help her beloved in his search just as he had helped her with her own lightsabers development, their materials and crystal.
How could she not feel the way she does, she had been doing so for what felt like at least half of her life, and it was true. Ever since he had appeared, she had been taken, her mind, body and soul without her realizing that what she wanted was him, needed is Anakin.
Ok, maybe she didn't NEED him, but that is how she felt and she wouldn't have it any other way.
A scurrying of feet was heard by Barriss as she became aware that she was being watched, it wasn't something that called out to her as danger. But it certainly wasn't something that could be considered all that friendly, and she would have to wait for this person, or being to reveal itself.
It is entirely possible for it to be some sort of wildlife that was living within the palace.
She activated her lightsaber, and continued her way into the palace. There was silence, and all she could make out is the noise from outside of the palace, of the beasts and alien creatures native to Yavin 4.
Sooner or later, she would come across something strange, strange enough to pull her in, not in a trance like state, but in a way that it was horrific.
The dark side energies of this planet, it was extremely potent and the energies she felt coming from this object in particular was bad. Like, really bad.
She saw a dilapidated ruins with decaying infrastructure, and it was in absolute shambles, only a shadow of its previous self. A great palace, with horrific and terrible origins. reduced to a waste, due to the passage of time.
"What is this?" Barriss practically gasped as she came across the object.
Barriss' attention was drawn to an exert that was carved into a stone tablet, near this large glowing golden orb.
'Peace to all. We are the Massassi. Our children have been imprisoned by the evil Jedi Knight Exar Kun. Locked deep within this palace, hidden in the glittering sands of a golden globe, they await. The crystal that holds them prisoner can only be unlocked by children, strong in the Force and dedicated to the battle of good over evil.'
'If you are the ones, enter the globe and lead our children to freedom.' The exert finished.
'Wouldn't this mean that the people meant to free the children are meant to be more then me?' Barriss thought to herself as she was reading this exert carved into a stone tablet.
The Golden Globe was a massive spherical device created by the Sith Lord Exar Kun during his reign over the Massassi on Yavin 4, around four thousand years prior to now.
The Golden Globe resembled a massive, glowing, golden crystal sphere. As with many other dark side devices, it emitted a dark presence in the Force.
Though no more than four meters when measured from the outside, its size within was infinite, allowing it to hold a large amount of captives. Within the Golden Globe was a realm filled with sand and dust.
The Golden Globe was protected by a powerful energy shield which threw back anyone who attempted to touch it.
The only way to break through this field was to weaken it with the Force. The Globe was also haunted by manifestations of the followers of Exar Kun who tried to dissuade visitors from going near the Globe and freeing the captives.
The Golden Globe was bound by Sith magic that could only be destroyed by Force-sensitive children.
If an adult tried to do so, the Golden Globe would shatter into dust along with the captives. Once inside, the only way to break the Golden Globe was to use the Force to weaken the field from within, allowing the captives to escape and shattering the Globe into sand.
It was such an insidious device, that Barriss also had no way to enter because she is technically not a child anymore. She is an adult and she is unsure by which definition holds true for this globe.
One might question where she had gotten this information, well, all she had to do is make abundant use of psychometry through touching the stone tablet. In doing so she could view the past, and her Force abilities were strong enough to do so.
"Are you the one, child?" A voice spoke and it startled her from her thinking, because she was trying to think up of a solution.
"Who is there?" She looked around but all she could see was an animal of some sort. "What are you doing here?" She went towards this small, white furry creature and tried to approach it while sending calming emotions through the Force.
"Would you stop that!?" The voice echoed out again, and this time she is easily able to identify the person, no the animal was the cause of the sound.
"W-What?" Barriss was confused as she was now dumbfounded at the fact, a creature that looked like some sort of pet could communicate with her.
"Don't worry child, I am a Jedi Master."
"J-Jedi!?" Barriss was even more confused, having never seen a Jedi that looked, well, looked like a mixture between a common house cat, lemur and rat all at the same time...
"That is right, and from what I can sense, you are at the very least Force-sensitive and look young enough to be a child. You are a child, right?"
Barriss was offended, because she did feel some of her features were less than, womanly... "I am 19 years of age, thank you very much." She practically harrumphed at the weird hybrid creature that proclaimed itself to be a Jedi Master.
"Don't worry child, it is fine to admit your real age. My name is Ikrit, a Jedi Master that was trained under Master Yoda four hundred years ago."
"You were trained under Master Yoda? But look at you..." Barriss doesn't mean to be offensive here, but the creature had already started up with calling her someone that looks like a child.
"I have been awaked from my slumber as it would seem that I have found the person that is meant to help me in dismantling this despicable marvel of the dark side." Ikrit said.
Ikrit was born on the Outer Rim world of Kushibah. Like many other Kushibans, he was a farmer and a weaver; however, unlike most Kushiban, he was not skilled at weaving. At a young age, his village was visited by Jedi Master Yoda, who had come to seek a Padawan.
During this visit, Ikrit offered to assist Yoda in any way he could. However, the Jedi Master told him that he was the Padawan he had been searching for. Though his fellow Kushibans and even Ikrit himself found it absurd at first, Ikrit left Kushibah with Yoda and began training as a Jedi.
"I am sure that I could be of some assistance, but can you tell me exactly why you are here?" Barriss was still confused and was looking for some answers.
"Well, where do I begin?" Ikrit when then go on to explain many things before the two would begin to work on destroying the Golden Globe while also releasing all of the trapped children's souls.
[]
An insectoid, large enough to overshadow Shaak was making its way towards her. It resembled a praying mantis from Anakin's previous life and no doubt whatever other species it could be compared to in this new life as well.
One went directly towards her, but her instincts and natural training within the Force enabled her to easily defeat her foes. They were great hunters themselves, but compared to her, they were no match given her experience, while they were locked up within the Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster.
Her lightsaber was being put to good use and her skills that she had not been tested with as time passed was slowly getting back upto standards. She has had training and practice with either Anakin or any of the others, but that doesn't mean it would be to the life and death.
Something which her instincts as the carnivore, the predator demanded of her, not that she is ruled by her biological desires, but it helps her in the heat of moments like this. No matter how calm looking she is, she actually had quite alot of feelings that she could draw upon to empower herself.
Something that she had also been working on, with the aid of Anakin was exactly those emotions and feelings that helped her. It didn't mean she was turning to the dark side but instead was fueled and empowered, just as Anakin is when he directs his emotions.
The Klikniks were annoying her, because they continued nonstop. They seemed to be limitless despite only having lived in this temple, closed off from the rest of the moon at large.
The Kliknik was a dangerous insectoid species native to the jungles of Yavin 4. These voracious carnivores lived in large underground hives and reported only to their queen who oversaw every last Kliknik. Hive members carried out specialized tasks, dividing them into workers, hunters, warriors and defenders.
This meant that it was entirely possible these things would not end and in contrast to Anakin, whom has unlimited stamina, she does not have the same capacity to continue.
'I doubt that the crystals are in here anyway.' Shaak gave herself some calming thoughts as there was truly no way for her to know whether or not the things Anakin was looking for were further in.
'I need to retreat.' She had been taught that retreating was cowardly, yes, but that didn't mean it was to be avoided. Sometimes, it is the right tactical decision to do so and in this moment it should count for something that she was outnumbered and quite literally having little time to recuperate some energy.
She had killed a decent amount of these creatures, which would no doubt have the Queen of this mantis-ant like hive a chance to reconsider going after her.
Having gotten outside of the temple, she is once again alerted within the Force and her own natural senses to the presence of another.
"Show yourself!" Shaak called out, which only lead to silence.
Silence within a forested area, where animals are likely was very telling to her that someone else or something else was within the same area as her. Her lightsaber still ignited, ready for when that someone or something shows itself.
There was silence of course, until it was revealed to be none other than Asajj Ventress in the flesh. A person that Anakin half suspected would be coming, but was still unsure of where she would end up.
"Who are you?" Shaak asked the pale woman, that was steeped in dark side energies. Before, as a Jedi, she may have had something against those of the dark side, but that didn't mean she wasn't incapable of seeing things through the point of view from another person.
"Me? Why, I am Asajj Ventress, of course... I wonder, what could a Jedi possibly be doing here."
"I am no Jedi." Shaak stated having already come to terms with this fact long ago.
"Oh? Then what are you Sith? You do not seem to be as such." The bald female Dathomirian Zabrak questioned.
Asajj Ventress was a female Dathomirian Dark Jedi and a valuable Dark Acolyte to Count Dooku. Originally a Nightsister from Dathomir, Ventress was taken as a slave to Rattatak and trained as a Jedi Padawan by Jedi Knight Ky Narec.
However, after Narec was slain, Ventress gave into her anger and began walking the path of the dark side; taking up the lightsaber of her dead master, she trained herself in the Jar'Kai style of lightsaber combat, before slaying all the warlords on Rattatak and installing herself as its ruler.
Ventress would certainly be something the Nightsisters would be proud of.
"That is because I am not a Sith, but am something else." Shaak wanted the woman to properly identify herself. "Who are you exactly, where do you come from and who do you affiliate yourself with?"
"C.I.S." Ventress stated simply.
"You are a part of the independence faction?" Shaak continued to question.
"You could say that yes..." Ventress continued.
"What are you here for?"
"I am just making my escape, thats what." Ventress replied.
"I am aware of the conflict, and it would seem that you and I have no business with each other, so I am confused as to why you are here..." Shaak questioned Ventress.
"Of course, I was just passing through before I head on my way."
"It would seem that you failed." Shaak said all of a sudden.
"Failed?" Ventress had gotten a little irritated because she had failed, failed to defeat the Jedi Knight known as Obi-Wan Kenobi. A task that she had been given by her new Sith master, Count Dooku, otherwise known as Darth Tyranus.
"I see that you have failed to assassinate someone..." Shaak wasn't just getting her information from out of nowhere but was being provided information from Anakin. Whom had also acquired his own information on what is going on from within the C.I.S. and the Republic because his spies had been placed within both governmental systems.
Ventress didn't say anything anymore and just straight away started to attack Shaak with her own dual lightsaber form. Her red sabers blaring to life as they started to engage in combat that Shaak was easily able to fend off her attacker.
"Much to learn the assassin has." Shaak said as she taunted her opponent.
A flurry of blows were exchanged between the two as they would continue their combat for a while with Ventress discovering that maybe she shouldn't have engaged with this opponent in particular. She wasn't even a part of the Jedi and there was no need to go after her.
"Whatever, I will make your fall be my rise as a Sith!" Ventress said aloud, making her intentions clear.