First Reply Antique Dealers

[Pal Veda]

“There’s nothin’ here,” Pal reported through his wrist comm. He looked around the desolate peak as the cold wind cut across his face.

Skrrrrrr…”Wh—-“ Skrrr….

“I said there’s nothin’ here!” Pal repeated.

Skrrrrr. Just more static.

“It ain’t here!” He yelled back over his shoulder, foregoing the comm to shout at his companion approaching from the path below. Of course it wasn’t here. These Jedi and Sith are all the same, sending him on wild goose chases, promising big pay days, then their old maps turn out to be completely useless. Or worse, they lead straight into some half-assed trap set decades earlier. And this time, it required him hiking almost ten kilometers up a mountain in temperatures that barely rose above zero at midday.

Pal cursed and kicked the side of the frozen rock jutting up in front of him in frustration. Snow and broken ice fell to the ground, revealing a large symbol on the stone beneath. “Well now,” he said under his breath, bending over to examine the carving, quickly clearing the remaining slush with his gloved hand, “what do we have here?”

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

ANTIQUE DEALERS

​

"You don't have to yell." Voice raised so it carried in the icy wind. Much lower, she added in. "My ears ain't broken."

With her bodyguard droid in tow, the pair was slowly approaching the peak with Pal Veda .This wasn't the first bounty hunter Persephone had worked with. Drifter - Darryl had been her last and despite his smart-ass attitude they had gotten the job done. Raked in a very healthy amount of credits as well - most had gone to Darryl. Yet it was all worth it to the teenager, gaining experience while also having her back watched.

A shiver ran through her as she approached where Veda was knelt down. Head tilted to look at the logo, a small frown. It was hard to tell as it was half broken and cracked. Not a surprise given their location.

"Symbol of the Dagoyan Order? It would track. Mountain. Quiet. Would give all the Jedi all the time in the 'verse to come up here and pretend they were solvin' the problems of the universe..."

A small pause.

"We may be getting closer."

 

[Pal Veda]

The kid was smart, but a bit spicy. He wouldn’t expect anything less from a Dashiell.

“Bunch of borin’ ole monks sittin’ around in circles, freezin’ their butts off. Yep, that tracks.” Pal slid off his pack and dug out a data pad. The mark looked familiar, but he wasn’t exactly the expert when it came to ancient languages and symbols. He did a quick scan of the cracked emblem and ran it through the database. “Looks like a partial match to what we found in Halsoun.” She was right. Of course she was right.

Pal held up the data pad and did a quick 180 degree scan of the area in front of him. Not a ton to glean from it other than no hot spots or obvious signs of life. They would have to do this the hard way. He estimated the plateau-like peak to be no more than 250 square meters. Divide and conquer.

“Let’s take a look around. See if we can find what we’re lookin’ for.” As the words left his mouth, an ear-piercing screech caught his attention. Pal’s hand instinctively gripped his holstered blaster as he scanned the skies to identify the origin — a large raptor circling overhead. They were a little too big to be prey, or at least he was. “Head on a swivel, kid” he reminded his young companion, loosening his hold and lowering his gaze to meet Persephone Dashiell . She may be out here on her own volition, but he was sure ole Judah would come for his head if anything happened to her.

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"If I were a pompous Jedi wanting to sit around in quiet, where would I hide the entrance."

Persephone had already surmised the entrance to any underground in-mountain tunnels was hidden. Designed to keep those from entering and disturbing the meeting of the minds so to speak. It was almost like one of those spiritual quests people took where they were searching for enlightenment. In this case, Persephone had zero idea what the Jedi would be doing but imagined it was of a similar process.

Carefully navigating on the ice, she moved to her patch to search. Slipping and falling wouldn't be wise at this point.

Yet the call from Pal Veda startled her a little, causing her to lose some purchase and go tumbling into a small rock formation. Above them was some large bird, obviously thinking they may be its next meal. She wave off the concern about the raptor as Veda looked over to her as she braced herself back to a better standing position against the rocks.

"Zee, shoot the bird down."

[ With pleasure Miss Persephone. ]

It wasn't often the bodyguard droid got to actually shoot at things.

 

[Pal Veda]

Come on, where are you? There had to be some sort of trigger mechanism somewhere. Some old cairn that needed to be pushed down, some rock face that needed to be pressed in. Something.

PEW! Pal snapped back to reality at the sound of the blaster, immediately drawing his own DL-44 and taking stock of his surroundings. PLOP! The raptor’s body smacked the ground a few feet away, now lifeless. He angrily turned to the shooter. “What the hell, droid?!” He then eyed Persephone Dashiell and shook his head in frustration, knowing her bodyguard was almost certainly acting at her command.

Suddenly, the earth beneath his feet began to vibrate, gently at first, then a little more violently. The dang bird landed on the trigger. Pal struggled to keep his balance as the rocks around him shook apart, swallowing the lifeless raptor and revealing an opening large enough that even Jabba the Hutt could squeeze through — well, maybe before the third helping of Klatooine paddy frogs. Regaining his composure, Pal cautiously walked over to see stairs leading down into the mountain’s interior.

“Well, that was lucky,” he smirked, visions of credits dancing through his head as he peered into the dark tunnel.

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"Sorry - did you want to tame it or something?"

Could be one of those guys into falconry or rare birds. Persephone found the older someone got - and Pal Veda looked old - the more they liked to sit on the porch and watch birds. Looks as if herself and Zee had interrupted those plans. Yet it had been a great mishap with activation and causing this entrance to open. She had been worried at first, thinking it required the Force to open. Lucky for regular folks it wasn't the case.

As she descended down after Mister Veda, warmth was starting to creep back in her bones. Out of the wind she was able to focus again, pulling out a flashlight to look around. Zee activated his optical sensors, flooding the space with as much light as possible. The stairs down were steep. As if they were a test themselves. Persephone would be taking them down very carefully.

"Think Jedi put booby-traps in? I mean...it seems childish to me, but we're talking about Force users here. Could easily take out any intruder but probably think its still fun to have a trip wire in place. I'm going to be amused though if we reach the bottom and find a whole bunch of nothing...."

Her voice trailed off, breath puffing in front of her. They weren't down far enough yet for temperature to be more regulated.

"...yet they seem to leave all their valuables lying about so chances feel good to me."

 

[Pal Veda]

Did I want to tame it? Maybe I just don’t want you and your metal friend firing off blaster shots in my ear for no reason! But Pal didn’t bother to say any of this. There was no point. Instead, he headed down the stairway that had revealed itself moments earlier.

As he stepped over the dead bird near the top, Pal noticed something interesting and motioned toward it with his flashlight. “See that?” There was another small symbol under the raptor’s body, a set of circles with a line through them and what looked line a tiny hole at the bottom. It wasn’t the weight of the bird on the trigger, but rather the blood that drained from the corpse after impact. He’d had the same fear as his companion — that maybe they would need to Force to open the passage. Nope, it required a blood sacrifice. That wasn’t exactly in line with the Dagoyan Order he was familiar with.

This discovery also made Persephone Dashiell ‘s question all the more poignant. “In my experience, the Jedi and Sith ain’t too different from each other when it comes to protecting their secrets.” While he typically rolled with the self-proclaimed good guys, he had run a few jobs for the other side over the years. The missteps of the Jedi were usually due to their superiority complex rather than ill intention, but the same could be said for several sects of the Sith. They weren’t all outright evil. They just all seemed to think they were better than everyone else, and they went to great lengths over the centuries to keep the sources of their power and knowledge hidden from the uninitiated. That included this trio.

Like his partner, Pal took his time descending, moving his light back and forth from the next few steps of the spiral staircase to the walls on either side, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Nothing he could see was cause for alarm, which was cause for alarm in itself. These places were always boobytrapped. It shouldn’t be this easy. It was never this easy.

About 50 meters down, the stairs came to a stop and the path opened into a rectangular room. An empty rectangular room. Pal stepped to the side to allow for Persephone and Zee to join him in the chamber. “Well, kid, what do you make of this? I don’t see those ‘valuables’ lyin‘ around in here.”

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"No, I agree...Jedi, Sith, anything in between. I've met and interacted with both of them. There isn't much of a difference in my eyes - seems the war crimes come from each side. Folks trying to lead a normal life away from their religious cult war are always caught in the middle."

Since leaving Taris she had seen it with her own eyes repeatedly. Yet they weren't here to debate religious fanatics. They were here to find a way to profit off such religious fanatics. After their little talk about the Force it was just the sound of the trio's clanking as they descended the stairs, Persephone knew Zee was listening for anything unusual, along with Pal Veda himself. She wasn't quite that experienced yet.

Flashlight bounced off the large, empty chamber along with Zee's optical sensors. It was plain, rather nondescript. Now they may have come to the part where they needed the Force to open something up. Considering the Order met here to meditate, this implied an entire underground maze. Places to sleep and eat. More places to sit on cushions and be pompous.

"Well, no, I doubt anyone would make valuables this easy to find. Gotta remember they holed themselves up here....there has to be other rooms. Can't imagine all of them right here, I don't even see a privy...or bucket. So maybe this is the room where the Force is required. The steps were just false hope. Or a trap."

 

[Pal Veda]

Pal shined his light around the room, then intentionally flashed it in Persephone’s eyes as he turned to address her. “Unless you’ve been hidin’ the fact that you’re a secret space wizard, we better hope you’re wrong.” Blasted Jedi. If they did need the Force to proceed, this was going to be a very disappointing trip.

“Take a look around. Use your hands and your eyes. Maybe there’s another trigger like the one that opened the stairs.” He took the left slide and scanned the wall, feeling the stone with his free hand, looking for any odd cracks and crevices. After a minute or so, he came across an oddity worth checking out. Pal retrieved utility axe attached to his pack and tried digging in with the blade, seeing if he could pry apart the stones joined in that spot. No luck. Just a natural joint.

“What about that droid of yours? Can he do anything besides shoot birds out of the sky?”


Persephone Dashiell

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"No need to get snippy."

Persephone wasn't quite sure what to do next but it didn't involve giving up. Her mind went through the possibilities ; purposeful dead end, root cellar for vegetables or fuel, an alternative entrance somewhere and this was merely a distraction. Pal Veda was busy prying up bricks. Not a horrible idea but she wasn't going to be joining him just quite yet.

"Zee can do quite a bit. In fact he's doing stuff now, he just hasn't spoken up about it. I'm not going to harass the guy while he's busy working."

Partially true. Persephone wasn't going to get any answers by harassing Zee for answers. As annoying as it was, being patient was about the only thing she could do in this situation. It also meant trying to figure out ideas on her own before relying on the droid. As advanced piece of technology he was, Zee could still be taken out by EMPs or disaster.

[ The left wall has a hollow portion dead center. It is covered by stone. Unknown in length. ]

"See? Just had to give him time. Bring the axe on over."

 

[Pal Veda]

Not gonna harass the guy? He’s a kriffin’ bodyguard droid! Whatever.

The left wall has a hollow portion dead center. It is covered by stone. Unknown in length.

“Never doubted him for a second,” Pal lied through a grin. He made his way to the spot Zee identified as hollow and shined his light on the stones, simultaneously feeling around for any oddities on the wall. They sure don’t make this easy.

His fingers identified a groove about waist level, and Pal knelt down to examine it. “I think it’s here,” he commented as he took a closer look. “If I can just get some leverage . . .” The explorer used the blade of his axe to pry the rock out of place, revealing a small hole about six inches in diameter.

Now, chances were that there was some sort of triggering mechanism inside. But there was also a chance this was trap. There were always traps. He first explored the opening with the handle of his tool, poking it around inside to make sure nothing chopped it in half. Deeming it safe enough, he withdrew the axe and set it on the ground.

Pal looked over at Persephone and Zee from his crouched position. “Here goes nothin’.” He stuck his hand into the hole, making it about halfway down his forearm, when . . . “AHHH!” he yelled, yanking his arm back in an attempt to withdraw, but appearing to be stuck inside!

But he wasn’t. After a couple of seconds, he burst out laughing, indicating to his companions it was just a joke. Instead, he felt a small lever inside and manipulated it with his fingers, then successfully pulled out, waiting to see what happened next.


Persephone Dashiell

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

Persephone had a dead-pan expression on her face as Pal Veda got "caught" inside the wall. Bored, she waited for him to finish his little joke. Childish for someone so old. It didn't give her hope that boys outgrew this phase - Mister Veda being the case-in-point example.

"Funny, I'm sixteen not si-"

Words were cut off abruptly. The floor beneath them opened, causing them to fall on a well polished surface that was like a slide in a child's playground. It was slick and they immediately were being propelled downwards. As they fell, Persephone couldn't believe their luck. A trap door? Seriously? A trap door? From Jedi?

It seemed they were falling forever until being deposited into yet another dark room. Persephone with a big 'oopmh' and hit the floor hard. She scraped her hand trying to catch herself and her mood instantly soured. As if she needed another reason to find Jedi insufferable. Standing up, she grumbled, stumbling around in the dark, trying not to move too far.

[ By my estimates we fell three stories. ]

"Lovely." She paused. "Did you make it Mister Veda? I know your bones are probably brittle..."

Trying to help out, Zee flicked his optical sensors back on, illuminating the room.

 

[Pal Veda]

Pal could have broken every single bone in his body, but there was no way in hell he’d ever admit it to this snarky kid. Mister Veda, Mister Veda! Luckily, he was fine except for the usual bumps and bruises. The high-grav workouts kept him in shape, and the Corellian ale kept him from feeling the pain from the thousand times he’d fallen down shafts, been blown up, been shot at — or just plain shot. An infinite cycle of perfection.

“It’s Captain,” he responded dryly without looking her direction, “Captain Veda. You know, Captain of the kriffin’ Rubicon?”

The bodyguard droid partially lit up the room, and Pal searched along the floor, finding his flashlight to aid his own vision. “Three stories, huh?” That put them quite a ways into the mountain given the initial stairway descent before the fall. How deep could they possibly go?

He finally turned to Persephone, noticing her hand seemed a little bloodied. “All this talk of my brittle bones, you okay there, Percy?”


——
Persephone Dashiell

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

Brushing her hands off gently on her pants, Persephone wondered what had gotten into Pal Veda . Maybe he was just grumpy from the lack of answers. Or a lack of sitting back and relaxing. It was clear he wasn't as young as he used to be, despite trying to prove to her otherwise. Just sad really.

"Whats the Rubicon Mister Veda?"

Wait...should she knew what the Rubicon is? or was? She searched her memory, trying to find anything of importance to such a name or thing. It couldn't be that important then. If it was Mister Veda would be certain to tell her. Not a strong, silent type that one. Very vocal for a spacer.

"I'm fine, thank you." Even if she wasn't Zee would be her first go-to, not Mister Veda. Taking a deep breath, she looked around the area they just fell through. Much to her surprise and delight, there was a door. Almost a reward for falling three stories. If it had been a carnival ride it would have been fun, not when they were trying to find these items.

"Zee, go ahead and open the fancy door first. You're armored while the rest of us are not."

[ Of course Miss Persephone. Do stand back. ]

The droid advanced forward, pushing the massive, ornate door open with ease as if it weighed nothing.

 

[Pal Veda]

“What’s the Rubicon?!” He stared in utter disbelief. The Rubicon was the fastest damn ship in the galaxy. How could she not know this? She had to know it. Obviously she was screwing with him. Persephone Dashiell just wasn’t hugged enough as a child. That had to be it.

They could argue about this later. For now, his attention was drawn to the giant, beautiful, and quite unexpected door in the chamber. “Holy Sith,” he murmured to himself. “We found it.”

Pal didn’t object to Zee going first given their last little test had turned into a three-story drop through the floor. He stood back, staring cautiously, hand ready to draw his blaster at a moment’s notice. But no tricks this time. When the droid pushed the doors forward, a bright light flooded the room, requiring a a few seconds for his tired eyes to adjust.

Now less concerned with his safety, Pal quickly walked toward the doorway and stepped inside. The large room was supported by a circle of intricately carved stoned pillars, each one styled in the form of a different mystical figure. While the species and dress of each individual was different, it was obvious that these represented various leaders or masters of this particular order.

In the center of the sanctuary stood a stone platform with a perfectly squared top. The sides were engraved with writing in a script he did not recognize. And atop the table sat an ornate metal box, crimson in color but decorated with golden accents.

“We found it!” He repeated, this time with more excitement than surprise. Pal’s instinct was to rush to the prize and open it immediately, but he held sure and gathered himself. “Any chance you can read . . . Well, whatever that says?”

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

With the light flooding the room, Persephone blinked. It was in stark contrast to the dark they had been stumbling through. Head craned up a bit, looking at the statues in a semi-circle around the room. Persephone did appreciate the flair for the dramatic and it seemed the Jedi who had lived in this little hideaway did too.

Oddly it seemed only one space for a holocron in the center. Perhaps they collaborated on it? Or it was forbidden knowledge? She needed Balun Dashiell here for insight but it would probably lead to chastising about not raiding Jedi sacred spaces. No matter.

Drawing closer, Mister Veda asked if she could read the writing. Skeptical look went his way, confused he would even ask such a thing of her. The fall must have took more out of him than expected.

"No. What do I look like, a nerd?"

Pal Veda ​

 

[Pal Veda]

“I’ve heard sarcasm is a sign of insecurity,” Veda jeered, glancing Persephone Dashiell ’s direction as he said it. But it was hard to keep his eyes off of the treasure box for long.

Nothing had shot them, crushed them, poisoned them, or possessed them yet. So he took a half a chance and walked toward the center of the room, double checking each step to make sure there wasn’t some random trigger in the stone floor. “Well, that didn’t kill me,” he called over his shoulder confidently, his cockiness hiding some of his reservation about this whole ordeal.

Still, he didn’t grab the box yet. Instead, he knelt down to examine the foreign script carved into the block. Veda could read exactly zero of the words. But there were a few pictures along the borders, so he focused on those. “Come see what you think about this.”

On the right side, there was an illustration of what appeared to be a figure falling through the floor. He assumed that was a graphic representation of their fun ride to get here in the first place. On the left, annother image of what could only be mountains, signifying the peak they had summited earlier. Those didn’t concern him as much. What did concern him was the third picture above the writing, glaring ominously back at him.

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

"I wasn't being sarcastic."

Persephone kept back. The room was imposing and quite impressive, which gave her pause. Someone or something had built this for a reason and that reason wasn't to be robbed from or stolen from by the likes of themselves. Head craned up, looking around as Pal Veda poked around the box itself. Not touching but perhaps seeing if breathing on it would bring some insight to the situation.

Mister Veda called her over, pointing to the ornately carved image on the side of the box. Standing at a good distance, Persephone squinted and stopped to observe the image from two different sides. She was quiet a long time. Persie was unsure what Mister Veda was after. Was she supposed to reassure him? Was it supposed to trigger a memory for herself?

"Well....I would say it looks like a dragon." Obvious but just in case. "If you're looking to history, dragons are products of rational pre-scientific phenomena. Or a product of folk tales in order to scare children and the uneducated into compliance. This may be the latter of the two. Maybe uh, this is some Jedi hooey meant to scare off the unaware."

Beyond that she had zero idea beyond looking pretty.

 

[Pal Veda]

“Try tellin’ that to the Tuskens on Tatooine. They may disagree.” Having seen a Kraft dragon in the flesh, Veda knew they weren’t all pre-scientific phenomena and kids stories.

After a few moments pondering their predicament, Veda made up his mind. “We didn’t come all the way here to leave empty handed,” he declared. Of course he chose the option that got them paid, even though he still had no idea what the keepers of the secrets were trying to warn him of. Without further delay, he opened the treasure box and looked inside.

Despite the light in the room, he was nearly blinded by the contents. A glowing orb of crimson covered in an intricate golden overlay. Upon inspection, this appeared to be one large Kyber crystal, somehow carved into a perfect sphere. The precious yellow metal wrapped over it was in the shape of a serpent. No. A dragon. His mouth hung open for a second, then he looked to Persephone Dashiell . “Do you know how much this thing is worth?”

But there was more. Something under it, something else emitting the light causing the red stone to shine. A holocron. Veda slung off his pack and opened it up, making room for the new additions. He wished he could stuff the entire box inside, but he knew it was way too big and way too heavy for their trek out of here. So he plucked the orb and holocron from their home and gently dropped them in.

Now you’ve been reading the Legend of Pal Veda for a while now. Doesn’t this seem a little easy, even for our handsome, charming, heroic protagonist? If you said yes, then you’d be right.

A grinding noise began underneath their feet, and the table on which the treasure box sat began to descend into the stone floor below. Then more grinding and rumbling. Uh-oh.

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

Persephone shrugged at the mention of dragons being real. Was the Kryat dragon really a dragon or some overgrown snake slithering across the dunes? Large lizards were a thing across the 'verse so it wouldn't surprise her that massive lizards were mistaken as actual dragons by the uneducated or inebriated.

Of course Pal Veda was the first one to pluck the holocron and ask her how much it was worth. Quite a bit, if it worked correctly. From her research, Persephone noted those who weren't Jedi tended to bit the most. Sith and wealthy business types were always willing to drop big credits on the items. Made her wonder if Jedi merely had copies of all their holocrons elsewhere.

"You going to sell it yourself or use a third party broker?"

Third party brokers were safer but they took a cut of the final profits. Mister Veda acted as if he was invincible, so Persephone was quite certain he would sell it himself and most likely get beat up and robbed. Probably ruin his ego and psyche. Yet she didn't have time to ruminate on this. Since Mister Veda took the holocron the rumbling had started, not a surprise.

[ Time to go Miss Persephone ]

"Great idea Zee. Lets go Mister Veda, don't need to you dead somewhere. How would I ever explain this to your local lot lizard fan club?"

Persephone went to leave the way they came, through the bricks and back through the corridor. Granted they had fallen through that one portion but it was better than whatever rumbling was going on in this room.