Aleho knew this was not the type of archaeological site she typically visited, but there was something about delving into the recent past to uncover truths. Ashura had taught her a great deal about the Galactic Empire and its various activities. Mount Tantiss was one such activity, as it housed Palpatine's secret storehouse, and due to that, the locals believed it to be cursed.

She mused all this over as she piloted the Joben T-85 speeder bike to the location, her mountain destination growing larger as she approached. The Sith knew she had to be wary because this was a hotbed of scavengers and wildlife lying in wait. Aleho wasn't too concerned as she believed she'd have it handled if anything did pop up in her way.

Finally, after several hours of travelling, she arrived at the base, and it was clear that she wasn't alone, as a team of three guards stood outside on watch. Aleho realised that they were lookouts to alert the people inside if someone was coming. This was troublesome and not what she wanted. Her master had chastised her for lacking passion apart from just archaeology, and that she'd reach a bottleneck on how much she could grow as a Sith, but the Knight was confident in her skills.

Deciding to have a little fun with these goons, Aleho used her necromanctic Force powers to create a wraith from where she was undercover. The ghastly, gruesome entity looked at her, and she then pointed over to the three guards while whispering.

"Go say hello to them."

The wraith nodded her head and moved off while Aleho used her teleportation ability to "blink step" (as she liked to call it) another spot to watch the fun. The three guards were chatting and taking it easy rather than actually working, so when the wraith appeared and said, "Hello," they all screamed like five-year-old girls while firing their blasters at it. The wraith fraigle, having been hit with blaster bolts, quickly fell apart. However, the distraction was enough for her to "blink step" up to them. The last thing they heard was the sound of a lightsaber ignited and being swung.

Aleho didn't want to pat herself on the back too much, as the likelihood of those inside coming out to investigate was high. So, she decided to go on the offensive and entered the complex. It wasn't hard to track down the others as they were making quite a noise, and the concept of stealth seemed like a foreign concept to them. The question was how best to mess with them.

Then she decided not to bother and rushed out to attack. Her stamina, her mastery of her lightsaber form, her strength and of course the ability to amplify herself through the Force. All of this combined proved to be enough to handle the remaining peons standing in her way. The sounds of blaster bolts, swearing, lightsaber cutting through people and whatever else was in its path dominated. Aleho made sure to end each one of them in the most efficient way possible without getting too cocky.

Until it was just her standing in the room, along with corpses littered about the floor. Honestly, it hadn't been hard, and likely these people were not the best out there; otherwise, she would have had a bit more challenge. Still, she had time now to investigate and see what she could find.

Who said history was boring? Aleho certainly didn't, but she was one of the few who could go into dangerous places and uncover the secrets there.

**Mount Tantiss Expedition**

The mission was seemingly simple. Head to an old secret Imperial research facility on the planet Wayland, proceed down to the base that was built into the side of a mountain, and retrieve a device in a laboratory.

Karracca warned Kalen about the endless dangers they might face on the planet and within the base, but Kalen appeared unfazed by the warnings. A contract was a contract, and this one had a nice price tag on it. So they were going to at least try. As they approached the planet even D three in a cryptic warning.

“Uh, Master Joss, I should have you know, that 2 of my previous Masters both attempted to enter the base we are now heading for. Neither returned.”

“Really? So what happened to you after your Master didn't return D.” Kalen replied.

“Well Master. Each of those times led to brief periods of me functioning as an autonomous cybernetic being. Truly disturbing and terrifying times that I'd rather not talk about. Suffice to say I found a new Master quite quickly each time. I found that I'm temperamentally ill suited to enjoying freedom and liberty, how you humanoids deal with the constant choices and countless potentialities will forever escape me.” the protocol droid said, sounding almost poetic.

“Wow…so how long did you have you’re freedom each time?”

“Less than 72 hours on each occasion sir. The second I nearly turned myself in for scrapping…”

“Fooooof…well I'm glad you didn't buddy. But the 3 of us are together now. So if we don't return, at least we'll die together.”

“My apologies Master, but that isn't very reassuring.” The droid said before gazing out the cockpit window, eyes flickering with light, as if remembering something.

After they landed in a clearing about 800 yards away from the mountain base and suited the trio walked down the ramp amd stared into the dark jungle around them. It was only mid afternoon by the eery blackness loomed in the large TRIPLE canopy jungle. Various sounds of random jungle creatures could be heard all around them. D informed them that several were notable dangerous predatory species that would like stalking and hunt him and Master Karracca.

“Thanks D, but we got blasters and lightsabers. We'll be alright.” Kalen said he stepped off, walking towards the treeline as the wookie and droid tentatively began following him.

Before they got to the edge of the clearing an raspy and evil sounding voice rang on both Kalem and Karra's ears.

‘Those who enter, never exit.’

Kalen stopped and turned to hos companion “Did you guys hear that?” The first signs of apprehension entered his voice.

“Hear what Master?” D said.

“I heard it kid. Sounded like the Emperor to me.” Karracca growled. He had heard the voice of the long dead Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious before, many times. It was unmistakable.

“Emperor of wha…oh, you mean that Emperor.” The holovids about the fall of the Empire and the events of nearly a decade before often referenced or hinted at the Dark Sith Lord, and Kalen quickly clued in.

“Yeah, that one. I'm telling you kid, this is a bad idea.” Karracca growled.

“Hmm, spooky.” He took a few more steps towards the mountain and heard the insidious disembodied voice again.

‘Yes Jedi, come to my lair.’

“Alright then…uh, everyone back on the ship, lets get the kark outta here. No reward is worth this kinna Sithy weirdness.nope, nope, that's a whole bucket of nope.” Kalen said as he felt a corkscrew of goosebumps rush up his spine. He wasn't a coward, but he also wasn't suicidal. The trio got back on the Corra IV and beat feet, heading out of the system and away of this infernal place.

Tivran belongs to Rasilvenaira.