Carry On, My Wayward Son [Closed]

[Caulder Dune]

AXION SYSTEM, AXION
FORTRESS OF AXION

Although it pained him to admit it, Tyrin felt almost entirely vulnerable and powerless without a corporation's assets at his disposal. He governed the Hypori system and hat the arcane powers of the dark side at his fingertips, yet it all boiled down to whether or not he was actively engaged in the galactic economy. Strange how that worked. Maybe if he had his own large, megacorporation at his back he would feel like a more active contributor to the Hegemony. Perhaps it would even give him the spine he needed to stand up to that repulsive brute Cavill.

Even his very surname made Tyrin's skin itch. Not that he would admit it. That latex wearing hooligan would get what was his soon enough, be it by Tyrin's hand or someone else's. It made no difference.

Tyrin was not here in the Axion system so he could get back at Cavill. That would be putting the cart before the Ungulate. He was here because there was a very specific corpse in a very specific location on this planet that had something he needed. Then he would use that to get an audience with an upstart droid manufacturing company and subsequently take control of the whole affair.

Then he would find a way to make Cavill suffer.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Tyrin’s plan brought him to Axion, an innocuous world located within the Expansion Region. Aside from being the site of a Republic defeat in antiquity and once being owned by Colicoids, the world was rather innocuous. It had also been the location of a large fortress that doubled as a prison. A talented Colicoid engineer had been imprisoned here. Tyrin meant to find what remained of him.

From what records Tyrin could scrounge up, the scientist in question had perished of old age within the fortress. The date of his death also happened to coincide with the date of a prison riot and mutiny that saw the entire place reduced to rubble via orbital bombardment. A rather unfortunate turn of events, truly.

Nowadays, there were not many Colicoids on Axion. Humans had been the dominant species on the planet since the onset, but records showed that the Colicoid population had shrunk incredibly since the Plague. Or perhaps before. It was difficult to tell. What Colicoids did remain were little more than savage, cannibalistic tribes that squatted in the mountain range the fortress ruins were located in.

Given that they were savage, cannibalistic, and had been cut off from the galaxy for a great period of time, Tyrin suspected they were definitely open to negotiation.

 

[Caulder Dune]

The shuttle gently lowered itself to the ground. The pilot did not land completely, seeing as he was fully aware of what was lurking in this area. Staying too long would just get the Colicoids to rush the shuttle. The loading door lowered open, revealing the rubble-strewn courtyard of a once mighty-fortress.

“Thanks you. I shall contact you when I am ready for pick-up.”

Tyrin could feel that the man doubted he would be getting his call back. Tyrin had no such concerns. These Colicoids were nothing but rabble, whereas he was a well-groomed Sith Lord. With long, flowing hair that would make many green with envy. The pilot didn’t know Tyrin was a Sith Lord, however. He did know about the Umbaran’s luscious locks, though, but that would be of little help against Colicoids.

The pilot muttered something unintelligible as Tyrin stepped off the shuttle. Immediately, the door closed behind him and the shuttle shot up and away. A spear flew from an unknown location, harmlessly smacking the shuttle in its underbelly as it took off.

Already amused, Tyrin looked to where the spear had been thrown from. He was not disappointed, a half-dozen Colicoids had already arrived. To any unarmed traveler, they were a scary sight. To anyone else, they were a bunch of diminutive bugs armed with stone axes and rudimentary spears.

This was going to be fun.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Like the Droidekas they designed, the Colicoids rolled themselves up into balls so they could get to Tyrin’s position faster. Tyrin had no idea how they propelled themselves in this manner, but it was irrelevant. Two broke off from each side, moving to flank him, while the remaining two barreled straight for him.

It was unfortunate that their heads had been pressed into their crotches at this time, as Tyrin igniting a crimson lightsaber might have given them second thoughts. It was far too late for them to slow down now, however. Tyrin reached out with the Force, grabbing one of the rolling Colicoids heading towards him from the right. He flung it around, smacking its partner and causing it to unfurl enough to faceplant and cease moving. He then launched it towards the other two heading in on his flank. By then the Colicoid unfortunate enough to become a projectile had also unfurled itself, allowing it to crash into the two Colicoids intent on his left at once.

Presumably those four would live, but the two charging directly for Tyrin weren’t. Once they were close enough, they leapt out of their rolling form and attempted to hack at the Umbaran with their axes. A noble effort, but in one swift motion Tyrin lopped off the forearm of one Colicoid and halved the weapon of the other. While the one Colicoid fell backwards, screaming bloody murder over the loss of its arm, Tyrin finished off the second one with a swift decapitation.

 

[Caulder Dune]

After crushing the windpipe of the Colicoid with the now-missing arm (the screaming was rather tedious), Tyrin shut off his lightsaber and sauntered towards the entrance of the fortress. The remaining four, either still disoriented or unwilling to risk further assault, made no move to chase him. Such fast learners, Colicoids.

Tyrin entered the crumbling building, already noting that one hallway was blocked off by rubble. The other was being used as storage by the Colicoids, but otherwise as unobstructed. The Umbaran gingerly stepped over the rotting corpses of Colicoids and a few alien and human former explorers. Some of these looked more like farmers. Perhaps these Colicoids were venturing out of the mountains and raiding homesteads. It explained why the shuttle pilot had been so antsy.

It was irrelevant to Tyrin. He was not here to save the Axionese being terrorized by Colicoids. What would a bunch of dirt farmers do in return for him? Farm more dirt? Nonsense. Tyrin continued down the dark corridors, at one point reactivating his lightsaber to use as a source of illumination. He sensed no life-forms milling about and so moved on rather incautiously.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Eventually he found a map diagram that had been painted on the wall. It was faded, but otherwise legible. He identified the entrance and the hallway that had been sealed by rubble, as well as the hallways he had been down. The prison barracks were located further below ground. This was good, as it meant they would be mostly intact and hopefully not sealed by a cave in.

The sound of something shifting around in the darkness alerted Tyrin, and he whirled around, his magnificent platinum locks flinging around as he did so. He should probably consider a ponytail at some point. Tyrin held his lightsaber at the read and waited. He sensed nothing threatening, nor anything alive. It was probably just dirt falling from the ceiling or something.

Whatever it was, Tyrin ignored it and continued down the hallway. He had more important things to do than spend his time worrying over the “sudden sound was actually something irrelevant” cliche. He would be prepared to deal with it if it became apparent that it wasn’t the “sudden sound was actually something irrelevant” cliche and instead the “sudden sound just appeared to be irrelevant and was actually something important but you won’t know until later on” cliche.

Being genre-savvy as almost as painful as it was useful, Tyrin quickly found.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Before he could head down to the prison level, it would be more prudent to access the fortress’ mainframe and find out which cell the corpse he was looking for was locked in, or if it had been moved hours before the riot. Thankfully he also had an idea of where the mainframe of this Godforsaken fortress was.

Several times throughout his trek Tyrin heard that stupid shifting sound. Every time he sensed nothing. Even if he wasn’t the most perceptive when it came to Force Users, he would have been able to detect anything that was creeping about this place in such a manner. It was quite grating on his nerves. Either something dead to the Force was following him clumsily through this corridors or it was just nonsensical sounds.

Tyrin eventually found the mainframe, though by that time he was gritting his teeth in annoyance.

 

[Caulder Dune]

If nonsensical, distracting noises were enough to make the Umbaran grit his teeth, what happened next would see him grind them into dust. He would have to get dentures and eat food through a straw, such was his unmistakable fury. That he had come all this way only to be denied the information he needed to find this stupid, dead Colicoid. How insufferable.

Lucky enough was that the mainframe was still intact. Unfortunately, there was nothing powering it. Usually these held their own power modules or something and at least stayed in a low-power state when calamity struck. This one had no such thing. It was completely dead. With no power, there would be no accessing.

He heard that shifting noise again. Tyrin stood straight up from where he had been kneeling, stalking over to the source of the sound. He had had just about enough of this. Whatever was making that noise was going to get a righteous dose of Lightning right in its face.

The Umbaran stormed out of the room, coming face to face with the no-doubt malevolent entity that had been stalking him.

 

[Caulder Dune]

“Gonk.”

Tyrin stared at the rust-colored, boxy Gonk droid for a good long while. Of course he had been stalked by a droid. That was why he didn’t sense it. And of course he didn’t sense any impending danger. It was a fetching gonk droid. What a total waste of time. There truly was nothing to be found here. He would have to concoct some other scheme to get in contact with the droid manufacturer. Without power to the mainfr-

Wait.

Power droid.

He needed power to the mainframe.

Eureka.

“Can you provide power to this room?”

“Gonk.”

Tyrin assumed that was an affirmative. The Gonk droid shuffled forward, into the room. No more urgent than it had been in following Tyrin around in the first place. Tyrin attempted to usher the droid forward faster, but it did not seem to mindful of his urgings. Gonk droids were not exactly known for the staggering intellects. Tyrin should have simply been grateful that it was still functioning in the first place. The thing was probably centuries old by this point.

 

[Caulder Dune]

After plugging the droid into the mainframe, Tyrin could hear power rush back into the room. The overhead lights and several computer monitors in the room flickered to life. All was good in the galaxy once again. The mysterious shuffling noise had been resolved, power had been restored to the room, and Tyrin was once again a happy camper.

He forced his way into the terminal and found the prisoner manifest. The Colicoid engineer, Krezzek, was located in Cellblock B, Cell 5. Easy enough. There were no records of his death or the removal of his corpse. Presumably he was still in there. Tyrin sincerely hoped that was the case and that he had not come here and surmounted the power outage problem for nothing.

“That’s enough of that. Come along.” Tyrin said to the Gonk droid.

The droid pulled itself from the wall, power abruptly shunting from the room as it teetered off after its new best friend.

 

[Caulder Dune]

In the end, Tyrin ended up telekinetically carrying the droid to Cellblock B. Even though it had apparently managed to keep up previously, it was moving far too slowly for his tastes now. Tyrin eventually stood before Cell 5 and gingerly set down his newfound companion.

Gonk droids were not very useful droids for anything outside of menial power supply. But Tyrin liked this one. It was a highly convenient plot device (in terms of present goings-on) and thusly should be treasured for a good deal of time. Darth Plageius had a favorite droid he kept for many years as well, though the Telos Holocron had not been very specific about it.

Still, if having a pet droid was good enough for the most powerful Sith Lord to ever grace the galaxy, it was good enough for Tyrin. The Umbaran had yet to decide on a name, though. Perhaps he would just go by its serial number, or maybe just Gonk. It seemed fitting.

Tyrin cut through the cell door with his lightsaber, the durasteel slab falling down with a resounding and thoroughly satisfying smack. Sure enough, there was the Colicoid corpse he sought. It lay sprawled on its bed and the cell itself was torn up violently. It must have panicked shortly before the end there. Poor thing.

At least it wasn’t alive to see this.

The Sithling approached the corpse and deftly lopped off one of its arms. That was all he needed. He exited the cell, the Gonk droid waiting patiently for him where he had left it.

“Well. I suppose we're done here. Shall we?”
“Gonk.”
"...Right."

This would hopefully be the last time he needed to come back to Axion.