Empire and Rebellion

by Snake Staff

41: Dark Cargo

Even as data flooded in around her, Luna closed her eyes. Even as a dozen chimes from as many screens called for her attention, she tuned them out. Even as she shut down her body, she opened her mind.

Why hadn’t she thought of this before? The Force was an infinite field of energy that rose from, and connected, all living things. Time and space were malleable concepts where it was concerned. One could, with effort, trace the infinite skeins of possible futures out to their furthest depths, granting potentially unlimited knowledge of what is, what was, and what might yet. But such affairs were inconsistent at best, dangerous at worst. The future was undecided and always in motion, and one could easily go mad trying to gaze millennia into the future, oblivious as one’s own neglected body withered and died.

The princess had no such grand ambitions – at least not yet. All she sought was knowledge of more immediately relevant. Days, or perhaps even hours from now, the treasure trove would arrive. All Luna needed was to find its thread of fate, and follow it to its most likely destination. Even that was daunting, the swirling matrices of ten thousand possibilities swirling about her even as she cast her mind into the maelstrom. Before her spiritual eyes the future around her grew clouded and dark.

But darkness was her ally.

While in the mundane world the Sith relics were quite well-hidden, in the luminous world it was not so simple. These were ancient things of darkness and hatred, forged across centuries by dark lords long crumbled to dust, that their legacies might endure forever. And as ever, like called to like. They wanted to be found.

Luna’s soul roared her bitterness, her hatred, and her rage into the unending abyss that was the dark side of the Force. Ripples swept out, a hundred futures destroyed forever and just as many called into being. Black threads enveloped her deep blue spirit in a tangled web, pulling the princess this way and that, threatening to drag her off into a realm of wailing and madness, the torment of those too weak to master it. Whatever else she might have been, Luna was not weak.

“I am no puppet! I am your mistress!” came the silent shout, as her soul blazed with a deep blue fire. “Submit, or suffer.”

The threads of possibility adjusted once again, several burned away to so many cinders, still more rising from the infinite inky depths. One, thin and delicate as the slight strand of silk, fell across the princess’ eyes.

---

An instant and eternity later, yellow eyes shot open.

The data around the princess had changed considerable, the holographic projections now unrecognizable from what they had been. Her legs felt stiff and her neck was sore. Luna’s stomach rumbled. Whether it had been an hour or a week, the princess could not tell. But neither did she care. With the flick of an excited thought, she reached for her holoprojector.

“Major,” she said the instant that the man appeared. “Assemble your best squad and contact the Invulnerable. We have our heading.”

The man didn’t even blink. “May I enquire as to what it is, my lady?”

“As a matter of fact, you may not. But fear not, you will see soon enough. Because I want you by my side on that Star Destroyer within the hour. I’ve decided it’s time for you to get out from behind your desk and stretch your legs. I’d advise you to wear armor.”

“Your concern for my welfare is appreciated,” he said in that same irritatingly emotionless tone. “Is there anything else I should be aware of?”

“Tell the Invulnerable to clear one of its ventral hangers and prepare all tractor beams,” Luna ordered. “Scramble a squadron of fighters, just in case. Actually, better make it two.”

“As you will.”

---

Exactly twenty-three minutes later, the princess stood in one of the many sub-hangers of the Venator-class Star Destroyer Invulnerable’s immense dorsal flight deck. Semitransparent blue shields protected her, Sargent Crest, and the remainder of her depleted Stormtrooper compliment from the vacuum of space as a Nu-class attack shuttle slipped in through the vast opened doors. Without ceremony, the ISB craft slipped through the field and touched down, the clang of metal on metal echoing loudly in the cavernous space.

A boarding ramp descended a moment later, and down came eleven humans in perfect lock-step. Major Celebraine took the lead, grey armor plates fitted over his white uniform, forgettable face as seemingly flat as ever. Behind him marched two rows of five men each dress in grey armor over a black body glove. Luna noted the unusually-sized rifles the ten of them carried on their backs, the grenades on their utility belts, the long knives sheathed on their hips, and the iron in their minds. These were men trained to resist the mental effects of the Force, of that she had no doubt. The Major himself, by contrast, had a simple blaster pistol on his hip and a utility belt full of pouches.

“Imperial Security Bureau, Enforcement branch, reporting for duty,” he announced to an utterly unimpressed audience.

“Your arrival is timely,” Luna answered. “But your choice of weaponry seems a bit of overkill.”

“You asked for the best. I brought our Jedi-killers.”

“Might I ask why?”

He stared flatly down at her. “It seemed prudent.”

---

When the HWK-290 light freighter Silver Sky broke hyperspace, its singularly unfortunate crew had just enough to blink before their ship shuddered roughly, then lurched hard away from Corulag. Hanging overhead, blocking out the system’s star like a executioner’s axe, was the massive bulk of a mighty Imperial warship. As the sheer force of the tractor beam pulled them in despite a truly heroic effort by the ship’s engines, they just barely had time to whimper.

---

There they sat, tucked away in a corner of a small cargo bay, as far from the cockpit as was physically possible. An ancient suit of glossy spiked armor, the color of tarnish brass and with a sheen like insect chitin. A half a dozen moldering tomes, wrapped in cracking leather of unknown origin, affixed with fading glyphs, and sealed with rusting chains. There was a small pile of crumbling scrolls, carefully sealed in an airtight container and still looking as though they might fall apart at any moment. An ancient metal sword was sheathed in black reptilian skin, a golden dragon’s head pommel with dark rubies for eyes sat alongside a black iron spear in a transparisteel case, tattered war pendants still carrying some ancient and unknowable boast. A beaten bronze lightsaber hilt, lovingly engraved with glyphs and with a broken cord dangling from the bottom, lay alongside it. There were a trio of bejeweled pendants, each carved into the shape of snarling terentatek or coiled war wyrm.

And there, in center of the hoard, rested two small pyramids. They weren’t much to look at – carved from a dull black material and with only a faint red glow near capstone to show that they were more than simple decoration – but Luna could sense ancient malevolence seeping from the dusty old things. To a ordinary being, it was a creeping sense of unease, a whisper on the wind, a shadow that shouldn’t be cast. To a Force-sensitive, it was a wellspring and a maw, offering the succulent lure of knowledge and power long forgotten, waiting and eager to drain the life and soul from the unwary.

The Inquisitor and her men stood there for a moment, simply staring. She could sense the disquiet in their minds, the creeping suspicion that something was wrong with this picture. Even for hardened veterans or heartless secret police, there were things that caused even their calloused souls discomfort. They instinctively recognized the menace, even if they couldn’t put a name to it. Some instincts were too primal to be removed, even by the Empire.

“Evil…” Celebraine’s whisper broke the spell.

Luna glanced up at him. For the first time that she could remember, the Major’s face was openly displaying emotion. He had a snarl writ large across him, one of his hands was close to his blaster.

“Those… those…” he struggled to find a word “things are poisonous, we can all sense it.”

There was a general murmur of agreement, neither the Stormtroopers nor ISB agents liking the look of the relics one little bit.

“They ought to be flown into the nearest star without delay. Nothing good can come from this.”

“Strangulation will come from this if you think to lay one finger on Lord Vader’s property,” Luna reminded him. “And in very short order.”

The man let out a slight hiss. A ripple of Force energy ran gently across his neck. The Major hesitated, then slowly withdrew his hand from the vicinity of his gun. He took a step back, clearly attempting to reassert his lost composure.

“Prepare to move out!” Luna barked. “We have a rendezvous to attend to!”

“Should we remove the relics, ma’am?” Sargent Crest asked. “We have a place on the ship prepared for their arrival.”

“No,” Luna shook her head. “If they aren’t on board to conceal it Maul will sense my presence and flee. And if neither of us is aboard then he’ll sense the absence and undoubtedly vanish back into the shadows. That’s unacceptable.”

“As you wish.” Crest nodded.

“Fire up the engines and make ready to be underway!” The princess commanded once more. “We have a loose end to tie up.”

Comments

[Totally_Original]

The man let out a slight hiss. A ripple of Force energy ran gently across his neck. The Major hesitated, then slowly withdrew his hand from the vicinity of his gum. He took a step back, clearly attempting to reassert his lost composure.

Supposed to be gun.

[zimmerwald1915]

"Timey" should be "timely."

[the other sans]

Huh, so she sensed some Sith holocrons but not the Jedi one that our intrepid trio has. Interesting, very interesting...

[Snake Staff]

8662872
As the chapter says, like calls to like, especially in this time of dark side ascendant. Holocrons are intelligent enough to reveal - or conceal - themselves at appropriate junctures, at least to some extent.

[Black Hoof]

8662886
Something tells me that the Inquisitor and her team, waiting for Maul, will also have unexpected guests as well, and that the situation will deteriorate swiftly...

[Dustchu]

Another well done chapter! Man, this is updating fast!