The walk back to Spindrall's chamber was a quiet one. Without the queen to direct them, the remaining k'lor'slugs had started turning on each other and allowing mindless hunger to take over. The few groups we encountered were too busy tearing each other apart to notice us.
Considering it was entirely possible that the beasts were made with Sith Alchemy, it's likely that they had a sort of hive mind. Killing the queen must have thrown them into disarray and caused the rest to default to "feed."
All in all, it was a good day. While we did lose my rifle and Gaarurra's blaster cannon, neither of us were seriously hurt. Even if Gaarurra did stink to high heaven.
Spindrall was exactly where we left him, meditating in front of the sarcophagus.
"It's done, Lord Spindrall," I stated as I approached, stopping just outside of arm and weapons reach. Not that it would stop him if he wanted to murder me.
"Finally," His aged voice cracked, "At last there will be quiet."
The Sith Lord then went silent long enough that I was starting to wonder if he'd dropped back into meditation. I had to force myself to keep still. Walking away at the wrong moment might get me fried.
"Impressive. Both of you yet survive," the old man commented. Though his face was turned away, I saw the edge of a smirk, "Truly, I wonder how that came about. A lack of proper Sith attitude…or the presence of one," He paused again, "Nevertheless, you have performed adequately and your Masters will be satisfied."
I waited.
One red eye turned in my direction, "You may leave."
And leave I did, though not without a feeling of frustration brewing in my gut. No words of wisdom? No reward?
This adventure sucked. At least there was loot.
...
Gaarurra and I found the looters' speeders hidden nearby. After loading up Cormun and our gear, I had Gaarurra wrap himself up in the dead men's clothing.
We followed our former prisoner's directions and quickly found their escape ship, a modest sized light freighter. Disguised as the looters, we had no problems getting on board and quickly subduing the smuggler. A fast interrogation showed that he didn't know much other than an interesting little hole in Korriban's defenses.
After getting the access codes to the ship, we executed him, despite his begging. While it may have been smarter to leave him alive, I had no way of ensuring his loyalty.
As neither Gaarurra nor I knew how to fly a ship, we decided to hide it until either of us acquired a reputable pilot, along with our stock of blasters. After closing up every hatch and covering all intakes, I used the Force to cover the vessel with sand. I then placed a distinctive rock on top, then shot it twice with my pistol to make it more distinctive.
There was a possibility that the wind would uncover the ship, but even if it did it would not be connected to me.
After that, we loaded back up on the speeders.
...
As we sped across the desert, I noticed a splotch of black standing out from the endless sea of sand. Upon maneuvering closing, I saw that it was the Quarren from earlier, collapsed on the ground and half-buried. The sun had not been kind to him, causing his skin to blister and crack from the heat and dryness. Leaning over him, I could see that he was still breathing, if only barely.
I looked to Gaarurra to see what he thought. The Wookiee shrugged.
"Fat lot of help you are," I muttered unkindly.
In the end, I overturned one of our many canteens of water over the Quarren's head and telekinetically dumped him in the back of the speeder.
At my companion's questioning look, I replied, "If he completed his task, he's one more body between us and Iren. If he didn't…well, he'll die anyways."
The squid probably wasn't going to last long, regardless of our help. Callous, yes. But callousness had helped me survive the past year.
...
Unlike our hours long trek to the Valley of the Dark Lords, getting to the academy only took ten minutes rather than the two day walk we had been looking forward to. Then again, we were probably clocking in somewhere around one hundred and fifty mph. But hey, we got there intact.
We dropped Cormun off with some soldiers and dumped the Quarren out on the ground before heading inside.
This complex was supposed to house and train thousands of potential Sith, as well as serve as the headquarters of the Dark Council itself. And it showed. Despite its dust-covered exterior, the academy itself was impressive with how expansive it was, extending far beyond sight.
I'm certain there were areas never shown in the game, like the soldiers' barracks and various storage rooms. While most of the occupants were humans and red-skinned Sith, there were a few aliens scattered throughout.
A pair of guardsmen stopped us at the front door, but a quick show of the Force had us inside faster than any key. Only stopping long enough to get directions to Iren, I ignored the glances and sneers on the faces of the other acolytes we passed.
I could honestly care less about their opinions. Right now, I just wanted to find a bed and sleep until next week.
Overseer Iren merely raised an eyebrow ridge at the sight of the grav-sled full of artifacts we were dragging behind us. He leaned forward in his chair, setting aside the datapad he was working on. Thin red fingers clasped together under his chin.
"I trust that your respective tasks are complete?" He asked. If he was surprised to see Gaarurra, he didn't show it.
"The looters are dead," I reported, gesturing to the grav-sled, "This is everything they collected. I also brought along the leader's footlocker, though I couldn't get it open without potentially damaging the contents. Might be something incriminating in there."
The Sith nodded approvingly at my forward thinking before pressing, "How many looters were there? Their level of organization?"
"Thirty total. Solid tactics if they weren't dealing with Sith. They had several patrols of three to four keeping the k'lor'slugs at bay while they took everything not nailed to the ground," I stated, my arms instinctively clasping behind my back as I spoke, "Either they or their backers had access to military grade gear.
Four of them had blaster cannons. However, their gear was better than their training. They were terrible shots and broke quickly."
"And the k'lor'slugs?"
I looked to Gaarurra, who opened his mouth to reply.
Iren held up a hand to interrupt us, "It is already blindingly obvious that you two worked together. I would prefer to hear it from the mouth of the one I can actually understand."
Oddly, it didn't seem like he disapproved.
Shrugging, I took up the task of reporting, "The squad sent in before us managed to set up several bombs in the egg chamber, but wasn't able to detonate them before being overwhelmed. Gaarurra armed them while I held off the k'lor'slugs. After setting the timer, he managed to kill the queen before we withdrew from the chamber."
"You managed this…with swords?" The Overseer gave a pointed look to the sword strapped to my belt.
"We scavenged some ordinance from the looters," I replied.
"I see," Iren responded simply.
Seconds ticked by as his yellow eyes examined us. Neither Gaarurra nor I moved or looked away.
"I will admit, I was not expecting to see any of you for at least another two days. And yet here you two are on the very first day," He finally spoke, "Credit where credit is due for using your brains and showing incredible amounts of restraint."
I felt like "for a Sith" should have been added at the end there.
"Despite my misgivings of your species, beast," Gaarurra growled at the name, though Iren continued unperturbed, "You both have done well, despite an inability to communicate and being encouraged to murder each other.
While most Overseers would be displeased to see both of you come back alive, I find myself…pleased. While my job is to weed out the weak, that does not mean we should seek out opportunities to waste Force Sensitives. They are rather rare, after all."
Gaarurra and I glanced at each other with matching perplexed expressions. Holy shit, was this a Sith with common sense?!
"As you have completed your respective tasks several days early, you may do with the remaining time as you wish until the others return. Quarters in the dormitories have been prepared and stocked for your use," Iren explained, "When the others have arrived, you shall be contacted via the datapads waiting for you in your quarters. You are dismissed."
As we turned to leave, the Overseer stopped me, but gestured for Gaarurra to go. Once the Wookiee had left, he continued.
"Lord Spindrall sent a message that arrived shortly before you did, requesting a package be delivered to you specifically. I do not know what you did to gain his attention, but it will be waiting in your room."
...
Our "rooms" were organized in pairs. I wasn't assigned to a room with Gaarurra, but I picked up my stuff and moved into his. No way was I risking getting put with the yellow-eyed chick. I'd rather deal with the Wookiee stink over getting my throat slit in the middle of the night.
When the factotum droid complained, I told it where it could stuff it. In hindsight, probably not a good idea.
I immediately claimed the top bunk. Gaarurra may be friendly, but I wasn't comfortable with three hundred pounds of Wookiee hanging over my head.
When I set my bag down on my bed, I heard a sound that wasn't metal shifting around. After digging around, I pulled out a slightly crumpled stack of papers covered in nigh-unintelligible writing.
That wasn't something that was…
I blinked and glanced at the package from Lord Spindrall, still unopened. I immediately unwrapped it to find an ancient-looking tome. Carefully opening it, I saw both basic and the same unintelligible writing. It took a moment before I realized that it was a primer for learning Sith Runes.
There was a note tucked away behind the cover:
"While Ajunta Pal started as but one among equals, he came to rule them all in the end. Perhaps you will follow his path, perhaps not. This is but a step, though I look forward to seeing where your path leads, Traveller."
Despite the chill that went down my spine at that last word, I grinned.
I changed my mind. This adventure was awesome!
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The first book has been completed on Patreon, alongside the second book. You can visit Patreon if you want to read in Advance.
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