You stand on the Sith World of Krayiss II, a harsh, brutal land of deserts and mountainous terrain. During the battle for control of the planet, one of the deserts received a name from the Dark Jedi who fought there: the Desolation... and it was named with good reason. You've heard the stories about the desert. Heard about the sand traps, the pitfalls, and the quick sands that are scattered throughout the Desolation. Jagged, obsidian formations—hidden by the natural black sands—are a health hazard for those who do not mind their step.

Darkness sweeps across the desert leaving the hazards nearly invisible. The black of night causes the temperature to plummet and the bone-shattering cold sweeping over the barren sands saps you of your stamina. But the hostile environment is not your only concern. Somewhere in the middle of the darkness, in the vast emptiness of the desert, your opponent lies in wait. You begin to move slowly across the black sands, narrowly avoiding a fall into a dark abyss, and force yourself to continue. Nothing is going to stop you. And by either nature or blade, another victim is going to succumb to the Desolation.

Kordath was lying in his bunk when a small whisper alerted him to several intruders that were once again sneaking into his room in the middle of the night. "Not again..." was all the poor Ryn had to murmur to himself before a black bag was thrown over his furry face and then a heavy blow sent his world fading into darkness.

Groaning groggily to himself he rolled over to a kneeling position and muttered to himself petulantly "This is becoming far too much of a recurring event..." while he waited for whomever it was that had brought him here to show themselves.

Obligingly coarse hands gripped the silken bag, and with surprising grace for such a strong grip slipped the hood off the kneeling furry Ryn. Projecting an almost casual indifference to his treatment, the only real indication of his nervousness was the slightly twitching tail and the almost silent swish that it sounded.

Slowly forcing his vision to a semblance of coherence, the two dark tunnels slowly convulsed into a blurry whole and showed him the dark hall that he was in. The uniform dark grey walls and the almost militarily precise angles showed him that this was some sort of military installation, and the Arcona banners celebrating various different war zones hanging from the walls confirmed his guess.

Pulling his gaze back from the outer sections of the room, he gazed at the rows upon rows of data screens, vast banks of computer nodes and glowing holographic readings floating in the air.

The bustle and murmur of all the sentients gathered in the room suddenly hit him like a hammer and Kordath blinked with sudden disorientation as the audio assault overwhelmed him momentarily. And with sudden clarity the annoying hum that had so puzzled him since his awakening resolved itself - he was in a spaceship!

Beautifully shaped long legs slowly made their way across his vision and the by now familiarly dreaded laugh slowly chimed across the room "Kordath, Kordath, Kordath… We seem to find ourselves in this situation far too much these days".

Her rolling laughter once more erupted across the room and even the impassive face of Nikola Valtiere split into a grin, before vanishing as quickly as it came. Arms folded and with a the usual grim visage that earned her the moniker - the Ice Queen - the former commander of the Nighthawk didn't bat an eyelash at that and just arched her eyebrow at Uji.

Kordath looked up at Nikola with surprise "What brings you to the Nighthawk, pray tell me?" he then looked to the Shadow Lady and with a question "This is the Nighthawk, am I right? This is a new one, even for you". Atiryu laughed once more with delight and clapped her hands with glee "Good guess! This is indeed the Nighthawk, and we have borrowed you for a small little experiment. I know you'll love it!"

She motioned towards Arcia and the woman clicked a button on the small remote in her hand. Immediately a hologram of a burnt and desolate planet swam into being in front of them “Krayiss II, a barren world battered and broken during the various conflicts fought throughout history. Its deserted plateau's and harsh mountains providing the Brotherhood with a perfect testing ground for experimental weapons; one such experiment has gone awry and we need you to go and retrieve it for us”.

She motioned with her hands and with a low electronic purr the holographic representation of the world zoomed in, and then expanded into a three dimensional representation of a small area. Various streams of data scrolled down the sides of the image, denoting different statistics and measurements on the area and with a flourish one of the glowing red dots expanded into a close up image of a droid.

“This is a Juggernaut War Droid, that was being remodeled and repurposed, as well as upgraded to modern specs, for usage by the Arcona military but something interfered and it has gone rogue.” The Miralukan female gestured uncannily towards the screen, and waved her hand at Kordath “Since you're so curious for things to study and need some more material for your writing habits –“ here the Shadow Lady smiled at him sweetly “- I thought you’d appreciate the little outing we have planned for you. Oh, and there’s some sort of ancient Library somewhere on this planet – feel free to search for it, after you bring in the droid of course. Lucky for you they are both located in the Desolation, so be extremely careful”

Waving her hand imperiously the silken bag descended over the poor Ryn’s face for the second time and he once more felt his world slide into darkness.

Two days earlier…

Kaiburr walked into his Master’s study and waited motionlessly for his Master to acknowledge him. Most people found his movements eerily uncanny and somewhat unsettling to watch, as they expected his movements to match his organic visage, but the truth was far more strange then that.

The Clawdite body that adorned Kaiburr was in fact a droid exoskeleton that was covered in synthflesh and coupled with extensive cybernetics lent him his current identity. Most of the Brotherhood's members new the secretive Krath as Mordamen Bast, a Clawdite warrior who turned from the Republic during the Yuzhaan Vong wars and the wary Shard was happy to keep it that way.

This seemingly conflicting core was the cause for the others unease - while most expected organics to fidget or move from time to time, shifting their weight or changing their stance; Kaiburr was a Shard and a silicon based sentient much like the droid he occupied. This meant that when he wasn't interacting with others he stood stock still, unmoving and unresponsive.

As Kaiburr's Master, the Sith was long used to this behavior and took no notice of it as he slowly finished reading through the daily reports and shut down the data node he had accessed.

Powering down the mainframe he didn't even look up as he rose from the chair and clasped his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth without even thinking about it, as he called up the image of a giant obelisk on the holographic projector.

The small thump of his boots echoed slightly in the study as his ghostly blue eye suddenly flared with activity and the image shifted slightly to zoom out. "What you see before you is an ancient Temple of the old Sith, long thought buried and forgotten from lore. Built on the desolate world of Krayiss II it has suffered long from the wars that were waged on its surface and only now through a recent technological breakthrough have we unearthed its location".

Anticipation surged through Kaiburr as he listened to his Master and his mind raced ahead to the dark secrets that he might uncover therein. He was brought sharply back to the present as his Master continued speaking "Inside the Temple is a library that holds a specific item that I want. You will retrieve it for me. Do not fail."

As Nikola finished speaking Kaiburr knew that his audience was over, and without any further action he turned about smartly and left his Master's study for the Arcona lore halls.

Spending some time learning all he could about the planet and its dangers he then made his way towards the Spaceport, where he knew that a spacecraft awaited him courtesy of his Master. Thumbing his commlink on he sent an order for his special container to be loaded onto the freighter as well as an astromech and piloting droid and then went off in search of the armory.

Sometime later, the Juggernaut War Droid stepped out of the loading bay and grasped the now lifeless husk that was the Clawdite body. Placing it gently inside the container he then closed the durasteel doors and locked them in place before engaging the electronic alarms and security measures.

Moving with eager strides towards the cockpit trained his photoreceptors on the ship around him and smiled with anticipation. This was going to be an easier test then he had thought, and surveying the veritable armory that he had brought with him he would have smirked if his droid face could.

Integrating his consciousness into the starship he sent orders for the ship to be prepped and launched, alongside the coordinates for his destination.

Kordath awoke this time inside a circular metal shell that was screaming down towards the planet - at least according to the readouts on the screen in front of him. Thankfully there were no viewports inside the small assault landing pod and shivering slightly at the thought of all that open space around him, he looked around the small confines of his craft.

The interior of the landing pod was bare of anything that was not a necessity, and was crammed with four basic seats that could hold soldiers in relative comfort. To his left was a long rack that would have contained weapons and armor for the warriors to stow, but only contained two familiar looking knives and a special sash.

Eyebrow rising with confusion he looked closer at the items and realized with a flash that they were his own. Smiling ruefully at the tiny weapons and wished for something a little bigger as he recalled his target and the metallic body bristling with weapons. A small note was tucked inside the folds of the sash, and as he wound the sash around his body it fluttered to the floor with barely a sound.

Picking it up with a sigh he raised it to his eyes and read:

"I know how fond you are of those knives and that sash just really complements your fur today so I thought I'd take the liberty of bringing them here for you. I know a man of your talents needs nothing else to bring us this small little droid. Cheers! - Atiryu"

Cursing soundly in all of the languages he knew, the Ryn muttered gloomily to himself and prepared for the coming encounter. "Little droid my ass…. Brings out my fur, eh?... I'll show her…."

The crash of the landing sent him reeling into one of the seats and sprawling on the floor in an undignified heap he picked himself up and waited for the pods access hatch to pop open. With a small whine that signaled the access gears sliding out the hatch split into four different sections and unfolded outwards to form a ramp.

Looking around at the terrain he saw the giant tip of the Obelisk loom over the horizon, and quickly orienting himself he started walking briskly. Carefully making his way through the treacherous grounds, he managed to avoid pitfalls and dodge the occasional fiery geyser until he reached a small dune overlooking the base of the pyramidal structure.

Inching his way slowly forward so as to not be seen, he crawled up to the top and surveyed the grounds below him. A low beeping sound coming from his commlink alerted him to the fact that he was nearing his target, and calling up the small map of the area he connected to the Nighthawk and downloaded their sensor readings to his device.

Searching for the red blinking dot on the small screen he found it a half kilometer from his position to the west and armed with that information he shut off the commlink, lest it inadvertedly warn his target of his presence.

Calling forth on the Force, the Ryn summoned all his fear of the dark void, called forth his anger at being manhandled and kidnapped time and again to serve the whims of a blind woman and fed them to the white hot star that burned inside his soul. Terrible power slowly enveloped the Krath and his unassuming and bumbling persona melted into the predatory gaze of an assassin.

Reaching out with his gathered power he wove a web of spiraling energy around himself, cloaking his power and hiding his presence. He then sent out questing tendrils of dark energy ahead, sensing the area around his quarry and attempting to divine the true nature of his target.

The area around him was awash in energy, and the Dark Side pulsed strongly here confirming the presence of the Sith Temple. Its blindingly powerful presence nearly masked everything else, but Kordath bent the Force to his will and refined his control. Slowly little bits of information streamed into his mind, as his power swept the area and revealed nothing aside from the small local wildlife and the immobile droid that seemed to be staring at the Obelisk with fascination.

Slowly getting up from his prone position, Kordath was about to slide down the dune when a sudden flickering of power jerked his attention back towards the droid and then faded as if it never was. The Ryn froze and with infinite patience eased back down and searched again for that hidden presence.

His search brought him nothing, and after five tense minutes he slowly slid down the dune, moving stealthily towards the now wandering droid. Shaping the air around him with a minute expenditure of his power, Kordath bent the particles around him to reflect light and suddenly vanished from the optical spectrum...

The Ryn picked his way through the rubble strewn field of rock and ash as quietly as he could, which was pretty easy for him. One of the few things the Krath considered himself good at was being a right sneaky little rat.

An itch was forming in the back of his mind, a sign of Bad Things to come, and he couldn’t help but be bothered by what he’d sensed before. Droids didn’t generally project anything in the Force, which meant he should consider having found it already to be a windfall.

But that didn’t explain why he had felt it; that shouldn’t have happened. Lacking other explanations, the Ryn rationalized it away as Sith magics having been used to tamper with it, some attempt by an alchemist to improve or modify the Juggernaut.

Seems like the sort of thing one of those twisted idiots would do. ‘Oh yes, let’s take this incredibly dangerous, heavily armed and armored war droid, and put some Sithy runes on it so that it’s even more dangerous. Nevermind that it might make the bloody thing go off its programming and wander off or decide to start killing whomever it wants.’

The Ryn’s internal grumble continued as he worked his way towards where he’d last seen the droid standing, trying to ignore the background sensations coming off the nearby Sith temple.

Perfect place for it, really. Wonder if this place looked any better before it got all blown to hell

A glance around the area suggested it probably hadn’t been any nicer as the Priest crept up behind an outcropping covered in Sith runes, an old pillar or obelisk, most likely. He knew he was invisible to the naked eye, but the Ryn had been creeping around where he didn’t belong long before he’d learned to control the Force. Besides, until he knew if the droid could see in another wavelengths, it was better to play it safe.

Just what I need, that thing to open up on me because it sees a bloody heat signature. Gods, but this place is droll. ‘Oh yes, perfect place to set up a temple to the Dark Side,’ he mocked within his own head, taking on a nasally, Courscanti tone. ‘We can put the courtyard here in black stone, and the garden over here filled with black roses and bushes. Lots of gibberish runes all over the walls, of course, to scare off the locals. And oh yes, a lovely fountain in the middle with mind-breaking imagery and blood rather than water, oh yes.

Distracting himself with the overbearing sense of darkness radiating off the temple, the Ryn peeked around the side of the old obelisk. The droid was no longer facing the temple as it had been, looking as if it had been studying the ancient structure. Rather, its glowing optical receptors seemed to be fixed on the rocks and general area that Kordath was lurking about in.

Oh, poodoo. Alright, alright, they want this thing back intact, calm yourself, Bleu.

With a hefty sigh, the Ryn dropped his cloak — the droid knew whereabouts he was already and hiding wouldn’t get the job done. Stepping out slowly from cover, hands empty and out to show he wasn’t intent on aggression, he watched the droid’s head twitch as it locked on to him.

“Well, that’s bloody unnerving,” muttered the Krath, slowly walking towards the droid. “Umm, ‘ello there mate,” he started, wondering if he’d thought this through enough. “Lookin’ a bit lost. Uhh, Command sent me to help ya get back to where you belong, alright?”

The droid’s optics tracked him as he moved up slowly, coming within a few feet of it. The Ryn looked up at the taller droid — the thing had a third of a meter on him, making the already small Krath feel even tinier.

“So, yeah, how’s about we call in a shuttle, and we get off this depressing, charred rock? No reason to be hanging about here, eh?”

After a few moments of apparent...what was perhaps hesitation or thought, the droid replied with a high pitched whistle of binary, causing Kordath to narrow his eyes at the machine.

“Don’t you start that nonsense, they put vocabulators in you lot so you can report on battle conditions and the like, don’t act like ya don’t know what I’m say—” The Ryn was cut off as a metal hand reached out to gather the front of his robes, lifting him off the ground.

Feet dangling a good foot or more off the ground, the Krath was stock still. Partially out of fear, but also morbid fascination as the droid brought him up to face level. The disc-like head of the Juggernaut slid forward on silent servos, cocking slightly to the side before an audible click was heard of a speaker switching on. Kordath waited in bated silence, hoping the droid would give him some kind of response he could reason with to convince it to come back with him.

“Beep. Boop.”

“Wait, wha—?” The Ryn’s question was again cut off, this time turning to a surprised scream as the droid cocked back its arm and threw him. Sputtering as he pushed himself out of the dirt and ash he’d landed face first in, the Priest rubbed his eyes clear, wishing that one of the sadistic women back on the Nighthawk who’d given him this mission had thought to leave his flasks in his robes.

“Really!? Now what’d I do to deserve that, eh?” the Ryn was shouting as he got to his feet, stalking back towards the droid in anger. Waving a finger at the droid in admonishment, part of the Priest’s brain was screaming caution. He was angry enough to ignore his more rational side, just this once he felt a desire to scrap a droid. “I was sent here to bring ya back to the fold, droid, never said you had to be workin’ at the end of it all!”

The droid’s discus head cocked sideways again, and the Ryn almost felt a sense of...amusement radiate from the machine. He almost missed a step when he realized he wasn’t certain that this had been conveyed through the droid’s body language, or the Force.

Losing my bloody mind, can’t read a droid through the Force. Why is is always me? I write one bloody...okay one MORE bloody bit of fiction for a bit of credits and the Shadow Lady has me chasing war droids.

“My apologies.”

Kordath stopped as he reached the droid, brows raised as he finally heard the machine speak. “Oh? So ya can talk, eh?”

“Indeed. My apologies, I made a mistake.”

“Oh, I’d say ya did, you metal bast…what are you doing? Stop that,” growled the Ryn as the droid lifted him up again.

“My mistake was not throwing you far enough.”

With a nervous lick of lips, the Ryn gave the droid a trembling smile. “Might we talk about this, mate?”

“Of course, we are both beings of reason. Question: does your tail aid in flight?”

“I...have no idea mate, I suppose it could be helpful in bal—”

The droid reared back, using both arms to propel the Ryn into the sky, tracking the Priest as he arced through the air. Studying the telemetry showed that the tail, in fact, did aid in flight, as it provided a counter balance, causing the Ryn to spiral tightly through the air.

Kordath felt his scream ripped from him as he sped through the sky, spinning at a speed that allowed him to get flashes of ground, sky, ground, sky, rock, sky, rock before coming to a stop as he slammed into another fallen obelisk. For a bare moment it seemed as if the Ryn would stay upon the mostly vertical surface, before he slowly slid to the ground in a crumpled heap.

-x-

The holo image panned smoothly to document the arc of Kordath’s flight, and the watchers couldn’t help but suffer from a collective wince as his body smacked into the rock.

“Well, that was quick,” spoke Valtiere, just a touch of smugness to be heard in his bland tone.

“Mmmhmm, sensors show he’s alive still, Nikola,” replied the Quaestor of Galeres from her seat. “Unconscious, but alive.”

The Rollmaster grunted indifferently, munching on the fried foodstuffs that had been brought up for the viewers of the so-called mission.

“Your Apprentice, he thinks he’s on a mission, yes?” This from the Consul who had her head tilted a bit sideways, not able to rely on the screen showing transmissions from the spy drone which was observing the skirmish. She instead was keeping track of things with the Force, and had very nearly felt the impact that the Priest down on the planet had suffered from because of it.

“Yes, My Lady, he believes he’s recovering an item, a scroll that I...left...there when you requested this demonstration of his ability. I thought you intended to reactivate the traps and defenses of the temple, not send another agent in,” Nikola paused for a moment, glancing at the screen. “Not that the Bleu-runt could stop Kaiburr, but I have to ask...why him?”

“Because he ticked her off again,” said Arcia, before the Consul could reply.

Atyiru sent as withering of a glare as was possible with a blindfold towards her subordinate before addressing Valtiere, “Anyone else sent down on that world from Arcona told to ‘stop the rogue droid’ would have simply tried to cut it in half. That is not Kordath’s way. Besides, if there was ever to be a test of counter intelligence or, for that matter, theft, what better gauge to put your student against than the Ryn?”

“He is a slippery one,” admitted the Rollmaster, grudgingly.

“In more ways than you know,” murmured the Consul.

Arcia glanced over at the Shadow Lady, Lord of all Arconans and the Dajorra system. “So it’s not because he ticked you off? I heard he was writing again.”

The Consul sighed, rubbing at her temples. “Yes, we’ve tried to encourage Kordath to stop that nonsense, but without an outright order I fear he won’t stop.”

Valtiere looked from one woman to the other in confusion before the Quaestor smirked at him.

“He likes to write these...little novels starring a female Miraluka, not unlike our dear Shadow Lady here. And they tend to sell pretty well around Estle City, though I’m debating making ownership of them a lashing offense in Galeres. So...a new draft cross your desk, my Lady?”

Atyiru trembled with uncharacteristic anger for a moment, before calming down. “He was overheard in the cantina the other night dropping hints about the most recent...plot,” she nearly spat the last word out in contempt, suddenly desiring a drink of her own. “Our heroine was having to recover a stolen artifact while fending off a drunken and over-amorous Neti. I understand it gets quite...graphic. Tendrils...and...the like.”

Silence filled the room for a moment. “So, that’s why she sent the Ryn, huh?”

“Be a dear, Nikola, and find Arcia and myself some beverages. Of the alcoholic variety. And do make sure they have the camera system online within the temple. We would hate to miss any of this.”

“Y...yes my Lady.”

-x-

Blinking his eyes a few times, the Ryn came to with several worrying things presenting themselves. One, his mouth had a horrible taste in it, and a smell permeated the area suggesting he’d lost what was left of his dinner. Most of it had been alcohol, but he suspected there were a few nuts and pretzels within it as well. Secondly, the sky was the ground and the ground was the sky, until he tried to move his legs and fell over.

“Ow…ow…” muttered the Ryn, wondering how long he’d been sitting on his own head and rolling to get his hands underneath his body. Pushing up, he noted the smell growing worse, and sighed, scooping up ash and dirt to try and soak up some of the vomitus puddle his robes had managed to pick up.

Stretching and working his head back and forth to get the stiffness out of his neck, the Priest glanced at the rock he’d hit as he landed, feeling pain throughout his body. ’Nothing seems broken,’ he decided as he tried to judge the angle he’d hit the obelisk at. Backtracking, he climbed atop the first large rock he could find, sighting in on the Sith Temple while looking for that bloody droid.

“Looks like it went...inside? Probably, looked like it was tryin’ to find a way in.” The Krath looked back at the rock he’d hit, almost certain he saw a slight Ryn-shaped imprint on it. “This, this of course…means war,” he growled to the open air.

Thud … thud … thud …

Kaiburr's footsteps echoed loudly in the small and confined hallway as he mechanically trudged down the sloping pathway. Mentally querying his internal systems for information regarding the dark tunnels ahead, Kaiburr continued his relentless pace into the shadowy temple. Soon enough, internal gyroscopes let him know that after entering the Library-Temple through the Dark Side portal at the base of the giant obelisk he was descending at a steady sixty degree angle. Cerulean beams of light played out from his outstretched palm, accompanied by an electronic warble. The light raced down the tunnel and mapped out its contours in three dimensions, creating a constantly updated map of his surroundings as he walked forwards.

Sound waves burst from his cranial dish and emitted a sonic screech that would have been nearly soundless to those not attuned to the right frequencies. It dissipated across the area before bouncing back and painting a picture of his surroundings. Receiving the complex data, assembling it to form a coherent picture, and then viewing the ever changing and constantly updating visual took less than a nanosecond. Absorbing the data into his own body took even less time thanks to the electromagnetic pulses that were his natural way of interaction.

After digesting the information and emitting another low pulse of electromagnetic energy in response, the droid data-core interpreted the command and switched on the visual sensors that were installed inside his photoreceptors. Instantly, new data streamed through the droid host and added to the already impressive collection of data he had gathered. Thermal, ultraviolet, kinetic and other spectrum's of light soon added their own colors to the already chaotic looking datastream. Knowing that his toughest challenges were ahead of him, he filed away his earlier encounter with the Ryn in his data-banks marked as "later" and promptly forgot about the whole thing as he cautiously explored the temple, continuing his search for the scroll.

Meanwhile...

Small dust devils spun across the desert terrain, blowing sand and dust down the Ryn's robes as he cursed and muttered to himself through the hot and hard climb up the dune. Finally reaching the base of the obelisk, he eyed the faint tracks in the sand with distaste and crossed his arms as he stared at the enigma standing before him. The heavy footsteps - what could only be the tread of a massive or heavy set being, such as a droid - ended at the base of the obelisk and then vanished without a trace.

Scanning the area with a practiced eye, Kordath methodically searched through the surrounding area, looking for any clue All he found were the deep footsteps that ended at the ancient spire. Reaching out with the Force this time, Kordath closed his eyes and focused his will, sending out his consciousness into the void and seeking a trace of his quarry.

Opening his eyes and peering about him with his mystically-attuned senses, the area in front of him seemed to blaze with infernal energy as the Dark Side nexus swirled up through the temple and out of the obelisk. The red energy and swirling obsidian almost blinded him with its glow and then nearly drained him of his vitality as the red flares and obsidian sigils blazed with chaotic abandon.

As the Ryn sent his vision racing forward into the great whirlpool of power, the Krath felt something undeniably alien gaze back at him. Shivering slightly at the insidious mental touch, he pushed a little farther and the stone erupted with sizzling lightning. Great purple bolts slammed into him again and again, rising in a pentagram around him from hitherto unseen pylons that ringed the obelisk in a powerful and ancient Sith spell circle.

Channeling the risen power that flowed into him from the ancient ritual circle, he forced out his hands and let the energy that was raging inside him pour forth into the obelisk in a mighty blast of pure Dark Side power. Looking up at his handiwork with no small measure of trepidation, Kordath beheld a shimmering portal where earlier there was stone. With mounting awe, he stepped into the doorway. A dizzying vertigo and a powerful sense of being forcibly moved by great power swept over him in a blinding rush and the world turned dark again.

Finding himself in a sloping tunnel that raced downwards in a spiral, the Ryn rolled over and jumpd to his feet with liquid grace. As he leaned on the wall for a moment to clear the cobwebs from his mind and to catch his breath, he listened intently for any movement ahead of him and then sprinted on ahead.

The ruined room the two of them were currently in looked to be some sort of ancient library or archive with dark malignant looking sigils and hieroglyphs etched on the walls, wooden shelves that were alchemically preserved overflowing with rotting scrolls and ancient books, while different artifacts littered the area like so many discarded toys.

Kordath's already considerable sense of unease grew with each moment that he watched his target. Ostensibly a malfunctioning droid, it should never have managed to enter the temple or even summon the gateway. Even if that "little" fact could be explained somehow, its current behavior was mighty strange and eerily sentient.

It’s almost like the droid was sentient, not some mechanized being designed for warfare. Kordath shook the idea away as simply ludicrous and attempted to think of another explanation for the strange phenomena. It must be some highly advanced form of artificial intelligence or behavioral software, he mused to himself as he continued to skulk behind the droid.

Mentally cursing fate for bringing him into confrontation with an advanced battle droid with only his two knives and his sash, he took stock of his surroundings and attempted to think of a stratagem that would enable him to return alive from this godforsaken planet and bring with him the target in once piece. Kordath knew that his knives would be of little use against a metal shod being and that it would be up to his intellect and cunning rather than straight out hand to hand combat. Remembering his Jeswandi training he unwrapped his sash from around his waist, folded it into as large a square as he could and then inched his way ever so slowly forward.

Rolling forward with ethereal nimbleness on the balls of his feet, he made no sound as he maneuvered into position behind the droid. Reaching out to the Force, he greedily drank in its dark power and then suffused his body with its might. Skin tingling with risen power, the Ryn perceived his senses evolve and grow exponentially with each second and he could almost feel the darkness caress his skin as the cool air swirled gently through the chamber.

Awareness expanding alongside his senses, he could almost feel the droid’s next move, as if there was a faint mirror image of the droid that started the droids moves a second earlier than the actual one did. The familiar feeling of his sight expanding to encompass the entire area around him comforted him, and he exhaled slightly as he watched the droid continue its bizarre tinkering and searching throughout the room. Calling once more on the Dark Side, Kordath drew even more energy into his body until he was nearly overloaded with pure energy, and changing his perceptions slightly he sped up his sense of time with a mental switch. As if in slow motion, he saw the droid move with sluggish speed and, with a smirk, he let the remaining energy pent up inside him flood out into a bright flash aimed at his opponent.

Watching as the droid’s photoreceptors winked out momentarily, he filled the room with darkness. Immediately, the explosion of Dark Side energy blew away the light particles inside the room with an angry burst and plunged the chamber into blackness. Kordath gazed with satisfaction as his Force enhanced eyes easily penetrated the void, Kordath thoughtfully whipped out one of his knives and sent it spinning into the malevolent glow that indicated where the droids sensors were. The muted thunk of steel hitting glass rang out across the room as the too slow moving droid failed to dodge the flashing missile and it sank up to his hilt into its photoreceptor.

With no thought for stealth, Kordath sprinted at the droid and, running full tilt, he spun underneath the defensive flailing of the droid’s fist and flung the sash high above the circular dome, bringing it down as he regained his footing behind the machine. Covering the entire expanse of the droid’s head he twirled outside the warbots reach and spun behind its back, watching as the sash knotted into a makeshift garrote that would have choked any organic into submission.

The garrote, though, wasn't his primary objective. With a sudden wrench, the Ryn jerked the sash down and pulled the droid to the floor with a mighty crash. Not waiting for the droid to respond, the Ryn quickly kicked it’s rifle away from it and then stomped on the metal tube that in an organic would correspond to the neck, hoping to damage something. Not stopping to assess the damage he may or may not have incurred Kordath leaped away from the droid in the direction he had kicked the pulse-wave rifle and with a thought summoned it to his waiting hands.

Grinning at his much more improved chances the ran stealthily disappeared around the corner of a bookshelf and waited for his opponents next move

Metallic thrashes could be heard back in the chamber where the war droid struggled to remove the offending piece of clothing. Kordath’s grin faded a bit as he studied the weapon he’d retrieved while on the move. The Ryn’s knowledge of weaponry pretty much ended with, ‘this end of the knife is sharp, it goes in the other guy.’ More advanced things, such as anything that fired bursts of plasma, tended to be outside his range of expertise. The Krath considered himself a scholar above all other things though, so natural curiosity demanded he look over this new item.

-x-

Aboard the Nighthawk, Atyiru cocked her head sideways, picking up a sense of sudden unease from her Rollmaster.

“Something the matter, Nikola?” asked the Consul, swirling a bit of burgundy wine about. The Rollmaster and Arcia were both keeping an eye on the holo screen, which was swapping between various points of view from hidden cameras installed throughout the old temple. It was safe enough, as old Sith temples went: the Clan had cleared it after the events that brought them to Krayiss II in the first place.

Valtiere gritted his teeth, hand clenching on the glass of brandy he was holding, “The Ryn took one of Kaiburr’s weapons. I’m honestly surprised that the little Priest was capable.”

Atyiru didn’t respond for a few moments before following up with another question, “What...kind of weapon?”

“Some form of rifle, shorter range pulse weapon, I think. Bloody antique is what it is.”

Another long pause came from the Consul. “Are you saying that Bleu has a gun?”

Arcia finally joined the conversation, a blush having worked into her cheeks at this point from her own alcohol intake. “How long do you figure before he blows his own head off?”

The Consul let out a long sigh, holding her glass up for the Rollmaster to refill. “Five minutes, ten at the most. And it was getting so entertaining.”

Nikola smiled at this prospect, debating making a side bet with the Quaestor on whether or not his student would succeed in his mission.

-x-

Kordath was muttering quietly to himself as he fiddled with the gun, temporarily tuning out the frustrated sounds of the nearby droid.

“Stock, right...obviously, that end has a wee hole in it, so that’s gotta be the...the...barrel? Think they got another word for it...whatever. Trigger? Where’s the bleeding trigger then? This is a powerpack, I know that one at least...don’t see a release for it though so I guess I’m not unloading….what’s that noise?” The Ryn looked up to see one burning ‘eye’ peering at him, the Juggernaut’s remaining photoreceptor alight in the near darkness.

“Oh poodoo,” he managed to spit out before scrambling sideways, narrowly avoiding a crushing blow from the droid’s metal foot. Getting to his feet, the Ryn began to back away from the machine. Mind racing for options, he found himself pushing the stock of the rifle into his shoulder and pointing the weapon at the war droid, who seemed to hesitate. Kordath felt a rush of adrenaline pouring through him, and couldn’t help but wonder if this is how the Obelisk running about always felt.

“Alright, droid, power down before..I..umm, blast you!”

The Juggernaut stood still for a moment as it appeared to analyze its available options. Kordath noted a small flash as the droid’s remaining optic unit focused on the weapon the Ryn was holding before it shifted back to his face. Suddenly the Priest was feeling...uncomfortably exposed within the hall of the temple.

“Negative. You do not have the skill or courage to use that weapon, fleshy one. Return it and I will not have to take drastic measures.” With that the war droid advanced on the Krath, who let out a little whimper as his bluff failed. A sigh of resignation followed this as he lowered the weapon from his shoulder before deftly flipping it over and grabbing it by the barrel assembly with both hands. Ducking as the Juggernaut reached for him, the Ryn spun under the droid’s arm and swung the rifle upwards. The stock struck the machine squarely under the head with enough force to both push the droid back a step and shake the rifle from Kordath’s hands.

As the weapon clattered to the ancient stone floor, it began to discharge, as if in protest of such treatment. Waves of energy blasted out from the rifle as it bounced across the pitted surface, causing both the droid and the Ryn to run for cover as it shattered rocks. Kordath ducked around another bend in the corridor, stumbling through an archway into a vast room full of dusty tomes. Flashes of light from the pulse rifle threw shadows across the library room for a few more seconds before the power pack was completely diminished. Bleu breathed a little easier as he sidled in between a few rows of shelves, crouching as he debated his next move.

Kaiburr fumed at the indignity of being disarmed by a rat, albeit a humanoid rat at that, and ducking away from the uncontrolled barrage of plasma energy he vowed not to underestimate the humanoid again. Dodging through an archway, Kaiburr faintly heard the last splattering of the pulse wave rifle finish it’s discharge and fall silent as the power pack ran dry. Walking forward cautiously Kaiburr silently scanned the room for threats and then with mounting elation strode boldly into the enormous hall.

The hall itself was of giant proportions, boasting a humongous statue of a Sith Lord with his arms raised and palms face up as if drinking in the Dark Side energies that permeated the area, rising nearly fifty feet into the air. Large columns paved a path forward to the menacing figure, and hanging from the balustrades were tattered banners sporting ancient sigils and symbols. Ancient looking sculptures of humanoids lined the pathway, heads bowed and arms folded in a submissive posture, and a deep eldritch purple glow permeated the magnificent chamber.

As Kaiburr came closer to the great effigy he sensed a pulsating power within it that called to him with a strange and eerily quiet susurration. Reaching the base of the giant bust Kaiburr placed a metal palm on the rough granite that composed the figure and sent his awareness deep into the stone. Dark whispers. Eerie visions. Half-glimpsed truths. All crowded his mind and rushed past his mental defenses. A mind that screamed as blue-violet lightning danced across his body. Lightning that pulsed through him and raced across to the statue from his outstretched hand.

Soon the area around Kaiburr was crackling with dark power, as amethyst lightning crawled and sparked throughout the statue and a deep crimson glow emanated from the mechanical body. As the seething energy in the room slammed into Kaiburr with almost lethal force, and then drained into the statue, the last thing that he felt was a terrible wrenching feeling in his chest as the last of his power was siphoned off and discharged into the stone figure. An almost soundless flutter as something that felt like parchment brushed his hand and two long legs alongside a twitching tail filled his sight before a helpless feeling of vertigo enveloped him and he blacked out.

A while later…

Kaiburr clawed his way through the darkness and forced his mind back to the world of the living. As his awareness returned to his crystalline body, he struggled to maintain any semblance of control and abruptly relinquished his connection to the droid body temporarily. Reaching out to the Force within his weakened shell he grasped the tattered shreds of energy that were left in his soul and gathered his rage and hate to him and fed it to his depleted core. As more and more power gathered inside him Kaiburr felt a new vitality course through his core, revitalizing his mind and refreshing his spent body with new virility.

As he slowly connected his senses back into the droid host, he felt his awareness expand as the electrical nodes that were connected to his natural body slowly came online and discharged their information. Keeping still and not sending any commands to his body, Kaiburr reached down into the burning core of all the energy he had just sucked in and then drew in a little of it. Sending out his awareness in front of him, Kaiburr surveyed his surroundings and found that he was alone and lying on the floor inside some sort of cargo hold. Withdrawing his consciousness and getting to his feet, he slowly moved forward and peeked outside the door - the hallway on the small freighter seemed to be empty and gathering his courage Kaiburr stepped outside. Automatically, Kaiburr activated the self-diagnostics software in his chassis and as it ran he looked at himself with surprise. It seemed that once he had been knocked unconscious by the sensory overload his enemy had thought that he was incapacitated and thus neglected to disarm him.

Deciding to end this fight once and for all, Kaiburr powered up the ABC scrambler and walked forward towards where he sensed the Ryn. As he stumbled into the room, the surprised look on the humanoids face was all the more rewarding when the small projectile hit him full on in the stomach and caused him to fold over in pain. Blindly reacting with instinctual reflexes, Kordath flung out his hand and a wave of energy slammed into Kaiburr and sent him crashing into the bulkheads. But Kaiburr new that the fight was already over, and he didn’t even try to defend himself from the Ryn’s follow up roundhouse kick that sent him crashing to the floor.

Staggering upright once more, a humming noise heralded a lightsaber crackling to life and Kaiburr stood up just in time to receive a slash to his hand. Luckily for him, it was his own armory saber and while it damaged the appendage it did no real damage to Kaiburr himself. Another slash struck him, this time on the shoulders but there was no real strength behind the blow and it barely melted through.

This time, Kaiburr suddenly reacted with blinding speed and Kordath’s overhead blow was stopped a centimeter from Kaiburr’s head. Holding the lightsaber with a telekinetic hold, a low rasping and electronic chuckle emerged from the droid’s vocabulator and with that Kordath collapsed to the floor unconscious...

The day was taking it’s toll on the Ryn. Between being tossed like a Hutt ball earlier and scrambling to avoid getting smashed by the war droid he was feeling pretty sore. The Juggernaut hadn’t found him yet, he wasn’t even certain the blasted thing was looking for him. He knew that if he didn’t get moving again he’d start getting too stiff to evade the bloody droid next time they ran into one another. Gingerly standing up from the cold stone floor, Kordath craned his neck over the shelf he was behind to check for any angry metal wrecking machines.

Seeing nothing, he turned to look around the library he’d found, spotting a raised dais in the center. Shelves ran off from the center like the spokes of a wheel, radiating from the middle. On the dais was a podium, on the podium was a scroll.

“Well that just screams bloody ominous,” muttered the Ryn, certain that the item had to be a trap. It was compelling though, sitting out in the open like that. He felt his palms start to itch as the craving for knowledge that had lead him to the Brotherhood in the first place rose within him.

Licking his lips and checking for the Juggernaut again, he crept towards the podium. A noise made him jump, the sound of metal scraping across stone. Whipping his head around, the Priest chastised himself for being so cowardly. He placed a hand on the scroll, gently lifting what looked like ancient parchment from its resting place. It seemed heavier than it should, and the paper like material had almost no give to it. Hefting it in hand, he was almost certain it was…

“You will hand over the scroll. Now.”

Kordath slumped his shoulders as he turned to face the war droid. It was looming above him, it’s one good photoreceptor glowing. Despite the nearness and apparent ill intent of the hulking metal monstrosity, Bleu saw something out of place past its head.

Is that a holo cam up there? he thought, distracting himself long enough for the Juggernaut to grab him by the front of his robes again.

“Oh come on, we are not doing this AGAIN are we!?”

-x-

“Oh, look at that,” murmured Arcia with a grin, sipping her drink.

The Consul turned her head slightly towards the other woman, “What now? I just sensed an incredible streak of apathetic annoyance from Kordath.”

“Looks like he spotted one of the cameras,” spoke Valtiere, smiling.

Atyiru chuckled, focusing her senses on the altercation going on down in the Temple, “Well, it was fun while it lasted. Get the medbay ready. And send down a bottle of whiskey, he deserves something for entertaining us this long. And prepare to congratulate your Apprentice, Nikola, he did well catching the Ryn.”

Valtiere just smiled, watching the screens as the droid’s right arm raised high, hand clenched in a fist.

-x-

“Release the scroll.”

“Bite me, metal man,” growled the Ryn as he tried to swing the item in question at the droid’s head. It rebounded with a sound of metal upon metal, confirming the Krath’s suspicion that the scroll was fake. Between that and the holocam he’d spotted…the Ryn could just barely sense his Consul’s amusement even from orbit.

The droid’s fist came crashing down on the Priest’s head with a sickening thud, causing Kordath to go limp. Dropping the Ryn, the droid retrieved the scroll and checked it over for any damage.

“Appears to be a reproduction. Not genuine. A test then, I see.”

It stood in silent reflection for several moments, holding the scroll in one hand and staring off at nothing. After this the droid reached down and grabbed the Ryn by the back of his neck and dragged him along as he sought an exit. His Master would be pleased, he’d retrieved the scroll after all.