The Anchorage
Lower Corridors
Esstran Sector
Deep Space
39 ABY

Dracaryis wrinkled his nose. There was no other way to say it, the Tarenti smelled funny. Since the delegation arrived on the Anchorage, Dracaryis had noticed a lingering scent of death and decay permeating the corridors of the station. Like a stain that simply wouldn’t come out of a shirt, the scent simply would not go away. To try and escape the smell, Dracaryis had opted for a solo patrol into the depths of the station in order to continue the massive search for the renegade Xander Drax. Today’s patrol would take him further into the bowels of the ancient station than he had ever been. Normally, the Warrior would have patrolled in robes, armed only with his lightsabers. Today, he opted for armor. The helmet gave a readout of the known corridors of the station, and as he moved, the map in his HUD would update newly discovered rooms and access pathways. Even if he didn’t find his quarry, he would at least provide valuable intelligence to the Clan Summit. Dracaryis took a deep breath of filtered air. Even through the helmet’s air scrubbers, the stench of decay was ever-present.

*I am going to throw up at some point.*

Dracaryis eyed his display. He was now patrolling a previously un-traveled corridor. The lights flickered and sputtered, casting shadows along the dark durasteel bulkheads. Doors, currently unpowered and partially opened, revealed rooms and chambers that had not seen a living presence in hundreds of years. How anyone (or anything) could survive in this part of the station was unfathomable. Dracaryis continued down the hallway, monitoring his display and twirling his deactivated lightsaber in his hands. Suddenly, he noticed a small blip on his HUD that denoted another moving object. He froze, listening intently for any sign of movement. Through the flickering din of the lights, Dracaryis heard a strange scuttling noise. Carefully, Dracaryis closed his eyes and cast his thoughts ahead of him, searching for the source of the odd sound. His disembodied thoughts traveled along the corridors and filled the empty chambers in search of what made the sound. Around a far corner, his mind touched the unmistakable field of another living being. Concentrating, Dracaryis attempted to bring the alien entity into focus, when everything around him went black. His thoughts, as well as the lights in the corridor suddenly went out.

*Whatever or whomever that is, they know I’m here.*

Backtracking a few steps, Dracaryis ignited one of his lightsabers. The red glow from the blade illuminated the hallway, casting flickering shadows all around him. Eyeing the HUD in his helmet, he continued to watch for the telltale blip that betrayed the movements of the creature or individual moving a few meters ahead of him. He watched as the blip rounded the corner of the corridor and came to a halt. Whatever was at the end of the hall was now watching him. The darkness and silence pressed in on the Sith from all sides. Through the silence, Dracaryis waited for any sign of movement. Slowly, he switched on his commlink.

“Anchorage control, Dracaryis, over.”

“Anchorage control, go ahead.”

“Control, are you reading my position?”

“We are.”

“And are you seeing what I am seeing? That blip at the end of the hall?”

A brief silence, and then: “We are seeing it. Make your way back to the nearest safe zone.”

Dracaryis was puzzled. Return to the safe zone after encountering a single entity? What if it was Drax? “Control, confirm order please.”

Suddenly, the unmistakable voice of Teylas came through Dracaryis’ headset.

“Drac, get back here now. Run. We’ve lost two teams to whatever it is that you are seeing down there.”

Teylas telling him to run? Like a frightened child? Something was terribly wrong.

“Teylas, what if this is Drax?”

“It isn’t Drax…”

The Anchorage
Main Control
Esstran Sector

“Call them all back. Get everyone out of the lower corridors now!” Teylas barked to the other control teams.

The Dread Lord looked up at the large screen in the control room that showed the layout of the corridors and the location on the teams exploring the station. He watched in horror as one by one, small red blips began appearing on the screen. More and more began to fill the map until the corridors were nothing but bright red bands.

“Seal off the main decks. Do it now!”

“But sir, our teams are still out there!”

“They’re on their own for now.”

The chamber doors hiss open as I approach. My hand strays to the back of my neck as I rub and knead it, trying in vain to release the knots of tension that have built up in the muscles. The meeting went as well as it could, considering the team I have to work with. Two members of Tarentum have been assigned to my team along with one person who I resent to even breathe the same air as me. Brimstone, my former master has also been picked to accompany us on our mission.

I cross to my desk and walk around to the back, casting my gaze over the items placed upon it. The paperwork builds up quickly when you are the leader of a battle team, even though it is certainly less that when you have the position of Aedile. The desk is strewn with requisition forms, tables of varying kinds and lists of names. The battle team will be expecting me to send them a communique trying to keep up their spirits for the task ahead. I pull my chair from under the desk, scraping it along the floor and generating a noise that sets my teeth on edge. High pitched squeals do that to me sometimes; I suppose it’s always been that way.

Seating myself slowly, I sink into the upholstered chair and lean back. Folding my hands behind my head, my gaze wanders to the ceiling as I contemplate the orders I have. The mission itself sounds almost impossible: capture and/or kill Xander Drax. This itself is no mean feat and I find myself pondering what the outcome may be. The scale of the matter scares me. I have bested many jedi, bested many other sith, but Xander is another matter entirely. Even Solus Gar once commented that he didn’t think he could best him so what chance do I have?

I have beaten my Master, Brimstone. It was a difficult task, but I accomplished what i set out to achieve and he paid for the things he did to my family and I. Left to rot in the Codei prison, he found a way to escape and still plagues me with his presence. My blood boils as I reminisce and I glance at my lightsaber on the table across the room as it rises from its resting place and hangs in the air, shuddering as I seethe. Concentrating, I bring it to rest once again on the table and sit forwards, reaching for my datapad. It’s cold case cools my fingers and calms me further and I breathe deeply. I have to concentrate and work out a plan of action. My team must survive, even though the loss of one Chiss would not go amiss in my opinion. On the other hand, our alliance with Tarentum needs to hold, at least until our mission is through.

I switch on the datapad and raise my hand, rubbing at my temples as I glare at the screen, as if wanting it to give me different information from what I know. I want this quest to never have to happen; the alliance makes me uneasy, and I can’t help but dwell upon the fact that Tarentum may have their own goals that may not include a couple of Plagueians staying alive to the end of them.

Solas and Caesar of House Tarentum. I’ve heard of them, but nothing of how they work or their demeanours. I must find out more information on our allies before meeting with them I think. At least I know all I need about Brimstone. We both hate each other and would probably kill each other at the slightest chance, but this time we do actually need to work together which fills me with dread. I will always be watching my back with him, and our allies should do the same.

Wait, it says here that Brimstone is a former Tarenti? Now this really does mean trouble. It seems that I am not being sent into a warzone this time, I am merely a walking warzone. The Anchorage will tell as will time. We may see this through and come out of the other side as unsung heroes, or we may kill each other as we delve into the depths. But one thing is for sure; we are in danger before our group even gets to the Anchorage. Tempers are high, old scores need settling, and I believe this far outweighs the danger that Xander will pose to us.

I sigh and rise to my feet, flicking off the datapad as my knee joints ache. Standing listening to briefings do that to them sometimes. Crossing the room, I pick up my lightsaber and place it into its place on my belt before throwing my cloak over it for concealment; an old habit of mine. I pick up the dual DL-44 blasters from beside the table and holster them. This should be interesting. The door hisses as I leave to meet my team and it closes behind me as I make my way to the meeting point.

Caesar Entry Pin 10484
Caesar looked across from his quarters the rain come down heavily, the Grey Jedi knew that he was going on an important mission for the Clan finding deep within the Space station some archives from the Xander Drax days and teachings of necromancy.

Caesars bones began to shiver with fear with the thought of going down the anchorage of the space station to find more archives and he was not looking forward to this the Grey Jedi had no idea what would be lying ahead and his made more nervous than ever.
Caesar had a look of worry and thoughtfulness in his eyes, the thought of going in deep the space station was not a pleasant one to me but he had to go on and find more evidence of How What and Who this Xander was and what the threat to the Clan was.
He had come this far and it would not be fair to ask and come back now, the option could be take his time and say he had looked into it and found nothing but the Consul would realise and sense he had not done the job, or he could run and not come back and no one would know they think he was dead, Caesar was not like that and he would not do such a thing his honour and pride were at sake he would not fail the Consul now, he had come this far and would not stop.
Sitting on his bed in the darkness, with a candle alit the Grey kept his breathing steady and even he closed his eyes and began to reach out to the Force sensing the way ahead, and trying to see any dangers that he could stop.
As the Grey Jedi closed his eyes he saw his Parents and they were happy, smiling and watching the floor, Caesar was a child a child of six, playing with his toy tanks, and cars on the floor he could see, his brothers four and ten watching him and joining the fun Caesar was always in command and would lead his brothers in any adventure they had inside or outside, but this time he sensed that his elder brother was in-charge and he was in the lead, the child of six had learned to share and help were he could at an early age, and it showed.
This took Cesar away for a while at least from the dangers he faced from the space station and it made him feel he could carry on and nothing would stop him, he opened his eyes very slowly and looked at his bag of tricks, to take with him he checked the bombs the snacks the weapons the blade of his sharp knife a foot long.
Lastly he checked his Custom Saber new and not hardly used, well not hardly used in anger mostly used to break up fights between the Clan from the Darkside and the Greyside of the Force.