The caves were damp, dark, and cold. The only visible light came from the helmet light Delak had confiscated from one of the miners before heading into the cave system. He was looking for the kyber crystals that they had been sent to acquire. He needed new ones for his weapons and wanted to extract them before Xen sent the mining teams looking for them.

“This cave is huge,” Delak thought to himself. He continued the slow walk deeper into the underground wary of where he stepped. He had heard rumors of beasts that lived deep underground in these natural caverns. They were called Delkren Dogs. These dogs were said to have razor sharp teeth and giant claws. They could rip flesh from bone with one swipe. He hoped that he would never have to meet one.

The cavern opened up like the jaws of a rancor as he ventured ever further into the darkness. Stalactites and stalagmites hung from the ceiling and grew up from the floors like razor sharp teeth. The smell of sulfur could now be detected by his senses. The smell began to burn his nose as he pushed further and further after his objective.

Audible growls and a low howl could be heard from further into the cave opening. Delak slowly grabbed for his lightsaber. Feeling the cool metal cylinder in his hand he flipped to activation switch and watched as the purple blade of Shiny and Chrome sprang to life. The purple hue spread throughout the cavern and red eyes could be seen reflecting the glow back into Delak’s heart. He could feel it pounding ever faster. The day he dreaded had come. He could see three sets of eyes starting at him closely. They didn't move. They just sat there fixed on his own eyes. Out of the corner of his eye something else was reflecting his blade like a piece of glass. It was the kyber crystals. He had found what he was looking for but now it was a life or death mission.

The beasts stared into Delak’s very soul. Fear had gripped him and he almost didn't realize he was being surrounded. The Force was his ally, and his warning tool. The attack came swiftly from behind. The Delkren were pack hunters and had trained themselves to distract t the prey while they swung around from behind. Delak ducked underneath the lunge of one of the beasts and as soon as he had finished his roll another beast attacked him. Delak came out of his roll and pressed off with his feet into a huge leap from the ground. He flipped once in the air and landed on his feet. He flung bolts of lightning from his fingertips and landed a couple strikes against the beasts. They recovered and continued their attack. The beasts lunged again this time catching Delak in his mechanical arm leaving a huge gouge in the metal plating. He looked over the damage quickly and realizing that it was superficial attacked the beast with his lightsaber. He sliced through the skull of the first beast and watched it drop to the ground dead as a stump. The smell of roasted dog hair filled the cavern. He was invigorated after the kill and chased after another of the beasts. He jumped at the animal and landed a kick to its midsection knocking it off its feet. He landed and pounced onto it stabbing it through the heart. The final Delkren looked his direction and was about to run away. Delak threw his lightsaber with the precision of a Wookie Bowcaster. He watched as the purple blade hummed through the air and met it's target. The blade easily passed through the four legs of the animal dropping it quickly to the floor. The blade hit the ground and turned off quickly. Delak reached out for the lightsaber and within seconds felt the warm handle in his palm.

Delak once again ignited the lightsaber and felt it's warm presence. He looked towards the wall that held the kyber crystals he was seeking. Finding the crystals stuck solidly to the wall and realizing he lost his mining tools he took his saber. With his saber he cut three times in a triangular pattern to dislodge the crystals from the wall. They fell to the ground and he scooped them up quickly stowing them in his backpack. He began the long slow walk back out of the cavern system. Back towards daylight

Delak Krennel had received a sudden and strange plus one invitation from Seraphol in Clan Odan-Urr. Seraphol and he had become friends on a mission that went sideways. Even though one was Sith and one was Jedi, they had depended on each other to make it out of the situation they had become entangled in. Still, it was strange to receive a party invitation to join them. Delak decided he would make the most out of this situation.

Delak went through his closet and found old bounty hunter armor that he had claimed off of a dead mandalorian. The armor was grey with purple trim, and the belt was black with purple edges. The armor had been modified to stretch to the users size if the user was too big in the midriff. He threw on the armor in a hurry and put his lightsaber in the satchel that he hung over his shoulder. “One should never be too cautious,” he thought to himself.

A shuttle had arrived at the Shadow Guard landing platform near Big Daddies bar. Oh the fun party he was going to miss there this year. Delak passed Dante on the way to the landing pad and he just shook his head and laughed as he went. Delak knew this armor looked ridiculous with purple but what was a Sith to do. He hurried onto the shuttle knowing that he would not be going anywhere secure for the party because Odan-Urr was on the run from the Grandmaster. Since New Tython had been sacked Delak had heard rumors of the Jedi making camp at several different worlds and keeping most of their clan within their flagships.

The Odanite shuttle carried him out into the outer rim and headed for a desert planet which at first he thought was Tatooine. As they headed for the surface he could see many large, half blown up, Star Destroyers buried in the sand. “Jakku?” Delak thought to himself. The shuttle landed near the remains of what looked like a Super Star Destroyer. He wondered why they would be having a party here with all of the First Order activity as of late. He thought about it some more as he disembarked the shuttle and was greeted by a pair of Odanites. Seraphol, and Xantros met him at the shuttle entrance.

“Greetings Delak. It has been a very long time,” Seraphol greeted the Corulagian with a firm handshake.

“A very long time indeed Seraphol. And to you as well Xantros. Or I hear you go by Lithar these days?” Delak questioned.

“You know how things are with the Grandmaster. We all have to be hidden from the wrath of Pravus.” Xantros answered.

“Indeed. So why are we here?” Delak inquired.

“You are here to be a guest for our party. It’s the time of year when we just want to have fun and we haven't seen each other in a long time. So here you are. Just don't report on us. We won't be here after today anyways with all the First Order activity.” Seraphol said.

“Agreed. As long as you don't tell Xen where I have been. Your secret is safe with me.” Delak finished.

The three men walked into the direction of a giant hole in the superstructure of the Destroyer. It was a massive ship to be sure. It amazed Delak how the Empire could build and crew these things. It’s construction boggled the mind. The party was going to be on the old bridge and the Odanites had somehow gotten the old power systems running for the trams. They stepped onto the platform and were immediately off. It was a very long trip down the belly of the beast.

They had gone about a mile down the path when the hoversled suddenly jerked and all power was lost. Apparently they hadn't fully fixed the power systems.

“Well that was a short trip.” Delak chuckled.

“Until they get that running we aren't going to have much of a party.” Seraphol said. “This is a Super Star Destroyer, let's explore and see if the scavs left anything of value untouched.”

The three friends left the hoversled and took off into the heart of the ship. Doors were forced open every where. Decaying skeletons were sprawled on the floor of the massive ship. The benefit that these three had over the scavengers was the Force. All three stretched out with their minds looking for anything that might look interesting. Xantros sensed something further into the shop and motioned to Delak and Seraphol. They followed his lead and a few minutes later came go a bulkhead which had been undamaged. All three could now feel something from behind the wall. Delak watched as Seraphol and Xantros cut holes into the bulkhead with their sabers. His was still hidden from view. When the metal of the bulkhead was cut away and fell over it revealed a room completely sealed off from any access.

Within the room they could sense things strong in the Force. The items in the room were all in boxes. Delak walked up to a box and opened the lid while the others did similarly. The opened lid revealed something he didn't expect. A holocron. This was definitely a Sith holocron. It was said that the Emperor had several vaults like this hidden on his Star Destroyers for if he was ever caught off world. “The Emperor must have been gathering these artifacts for years,” Delak thought to himself. He picked up the holocron and stuff it into his satchel. Seraphol and Xantros found similar artifacts in their boxes. Lightsabers, holocron, ancient scrolls, this was the find of a lifetime.

“This is the best party ever.” Xantros exclaimed.

Delak melt to himself sticking as many items as he could into his satchel. He would try to get away without having any problems. He didn't want the Odanites to prevent him from keeping his spoils.

“What about you Del?” Seraphol asked.

“I have a bit of stuff I will be leaving with. I won't take yours if you don't take mine.” He demanded.

“That's fine. We don't want the sith artifacts anyways. There is a mass of knowledge here. We could all become the most powerful on either side of the Force.” Xantros said happily.

Suddenly the hoversled was humming again. The three men heard it from down the hall. They decided they had enough items for themselves. They headed to the sled and went back to where they had come from. Delak headed back to the shuttle he arrived on and placed his items in storage within a shielded and locked container. He exited back off of the shuttle to see Seraphol and Xantros burying theirs for later.

“Alright guys. It's time to party hard.” Delak exclaimed.

The three went back to the sled and headed to the party to see what they had been missing out on.

The mining planet was surprisingly devoid of security. Aesirus was a new mining hub for SoroSuub Corporation and had a workforce of ten thousand strong just waiting for new masters. Delak could taste the Kyber Crystals in the air of the mining facility. He had entered the cave looking to gain entry into the main hub for mining operations. SoroSuub would not have moved in this quickly if they hadn’t found something important. The Emperor had commissioned Delak for a stealth mission. The leader of Shadow Guard would not fail his Emperor.

The tunnels to the main building were barely wide enough for two men and a hover sled to pass through. Delak tried his best to maintain his stealth. He passed by a few miners and was able to successfully hide himself through the Force. Even if they did notice him, he would dispatch them before they could get a call out. These miners were weak, he could sense it. They were ripe for the picking. “The Emperor will approve of this intel.” Delak thought to himself. The mining headquarters was one hundred meters up ahead and there were groups of miners all about. He would not be able to keep up his cloak with all of these people. Delak had to think quickly about what to do.

Delak stretched out throughout the entire cavern. It took a lot of concentration to maintain the illusion but he knew he had to clear out these miners. The illusion of a two giant Acklay appeared in the minds of the miners. Delak concentrated on the illusions and could feel the miners running away out of the mines. It wasn’t long before the audible screams of the men and women workers were a distant hum. Delak headed quickly for the control room to locate his mission objective.

In the rush a few miners decided to lock themselves inside the control room. Delak sensed them and unclipped his saber Shiny and Chrome from his belt and ignited it. He sliced the locking mechanism to the door and watched as sparks flew from the damaged panel. The miners in the room screamed out in fear, clearly they were surprised by the Sith Battlemaster. He threw his saber into the back of one of the miners and then pushed the rest into the wall knocking a couple of them out cold. He reached out for his saber and it sprang back into his hand like a bolt of lightning. He sliced the remaining miners down quickly and moved onto his objective. The computer had been installed recently and all of the security protocols had not yet been installed. Delak flew through the memory banks and pulled out the location of the Kyber Crystals.

The crystals were located deep within the mine. There seemed to be a natural cavern which was big enough to hold an AT-AT Walker. The crystals in the cavern were of great size and were very valuable to Scholae. Delak loaded the data onto a datadisk and quickly left the building. He headed back out of the cavern the way he had come being careful to avoid anyone who chose the smaller path to come back to.

The traitorous move was big
So much for the group on the rig
The Black Hand gave the command
Naga Sadow would fall by demand

Feelings of hatred started to spread
Continue it must until they are dead
Scholae forces pummel them hard
They would beat them and take all the shards

Of the artifacts on the planet below
They would be the masters of all that they sow
Sith artifacts to make them all grow
The more they learn the more they know

Falling from the sky
We will catch them in a lie
Always moving into the future
Scholae Palatinae will be the stronger.

Manually added by Adept Xen'Mordin Vismorsus-Palpatine

Deserted

Delak awoke head down in the mud. He had been on a scouting mission with Shadow Guard when his ship had been shot down. He didn’t know how he had become ejected so far from the ship but it was in a fiery hulk behind him. He had his lightsaber but no rations. The trees and plants in this area were dying and brown. Something had happened to the vegetation in this area of the planet and that was part of what Shadow Guard had been dispatched for. It was to ascertain the cause of this death. Delak sat up and looked around as he heard howling creatures in the distance. He wasn’t sure how far away they were but he knew that he needed to keep his head about him because the sun was going down quickly in the sky. The oranges and purples of the setting sun were a bit relaxing until he realized how alone he was out here. He turned his attention to his surroundings and started to focus on the Force.

As Delak sat in meditation he could sense creatures moving upon him staying just out of eye sight but not out of sight of the Force. They seemed like mutated monsters. To him they moved as Tusk Cats moved but he couldn’t be sure unless he had the misfortune to come in contact with them. He sensed something in the background. It seemed like a cavern in the mountains somewhere. The cave seemed corrupted, like it was flowing with the Dark Side of the Force. Everything dying in the area proved that it could be some sort of Force corruption happening to the environment. Delak stood up and took off in the direction of the cave. He ignited his lightsaber for light as the sun continued to drop in the sky. The stars began to ignite like candles being lit in the night.
The cavern was very dark except for the faint green glow in the back of the cave. As Delak entered the cave he felt as if his life essence was being drained. He continued to enhance himself with the Force and moved further into the cavern. As he approached the back of the cave the entire room lit up with green glow from a crystal. The crystal seemed to be causing all of the issues in the area and the Force was very strong with it. As he approached his skin began to burn and he could smell burnt flesh. He looked down to see his skin singeing off. He decided against taking the crystal for himself and he instead flung his lightsaber at the crystal hitting and destroying it. The Force disappeared from the area and normalcy returned almost immediately. Delak decided to head back to his crash site to wait for Shadow Guards return. He would report his findings to the Emperor as soon as he returned to Judecca after he had also debriefed Lexiconus and Blade about the situation.