Forsaken Backwaters (Rafeesh)

[Grace Darkson]

Grace was silent for a while, studying [member="Rafeesh"]'s reactions to her words. The string of questions that came out of him told her he was surprised, but there was something more. Something deeper in him, blazing behind his defenses in the force. She couldn't quite pinpoint it while she was still focusing on driving. She stored the thought for now. She'd have to figure that out later. Giving the man a short glance, the Vahla accelerated into the open plain, where she sensed the pit of dark side energy. That would be their artifact. The problem was, once they were there, would he betray her? He had seemed almost meek before. Perhaps he was planning treachery? That was the way of the Sith, after all. She would need to be on her guard.

"The Empire was weakening from attacks on all sides. The Republic and the Mandos left a lot of pressure on the Sith. After the disastrous capture of Emperor Vorsknr by the Jedi Council, the Empire was all but gone." She veered to the right, barely missing a rock formation that had seemed to appear out of nowhere. "New ones appeared, everywhere at once, but none of them lasted long. All save one, of course." She turned again, running past a crater. It was probably safer to just go around it. After all, one never knew what would happen in there.

"The One Sith surprised the Galaxy when they entered the galactic stage. In one strike, they took Coruscant and sacked the Jedi Temple. Very little has slowed their advance yet."

 

[Rafeesh]

Rafeesh was quiet for a time. He mulled over the fact. He couldn't believe it. The Sith had lost Korriban. How could they call themselves Sith and not have Korriban under their control. That was the homeworld, that was their origin. They couldn't leave it to others.

"But, they don't have Korriban? Are they planning to take the planet back?" He could feel the presence of an artifact, relatively close. He still couldn't believe that the Sith were supposedly powerful but they didn't have their traditional planet. It was an outrage. The Sith needed Korriban, it was the world of their power and a sign of what the Dark Side could accomplish. Rafeesh felt more angry now, however his emotions were tempered with the fear that his current companion might feel it and mistake the emotion.

[member="Grace Darkson"]

 

[Grace Darkson]

"Korriban is a bit of a touchy subject. To get to it, they would have to go through the Republic, the Mandolorian clans, and attack one of their allies, the Primeval. And honestly, even with their might and success, I'm not sure they could do it. The campaign would lag out for months, if not years, and the cost would bankrupt them. I don't think the Dark Lord wants the Sith Homeworld that much." She slowed to a stop as the feeling of darkness swept over her. "We're here"

Stepping off and moving to the back of the speeder, she pulled out a small bundle of poles and wires before once again taking out the scanner. Still wasn't working. Too much interference. Cursing, she began to unwrap the wires from the three poles. Sticking one into the ground at her feet, she began to walk around the area, eventually sticking the second pole in the ground. Repeating the process until the wires were stretched into a triangle, she placed the scanner into the port on the top of the third stuck, then attached another loose wire to her datapad and began typing. The geological mapping equipment should show anything below the surface, as well as any possible dangers of a dig. Hopefully, nothing major would come up.

[member="Rafeesh"]

 

[Rafeesh]

Rafeesh listened and wondered why they wouldn't want Korriban. No matter the cost was not the land of their origin worth it all?

He stepped off the speeder and stretched, feeling his muscles complain about their stiffness and being kept in such a tight space for so long. He looked around, but saw nothing but wasteland. He then feels through the Force the presence of the dark artifact. He turned to [member="Grace Darkson"] as he said, "I can sense it."

He walked over to the equipment, staying a good meter back so as not to interfere with its scanning. He wondered what was held beneath the earth. Only a mere three meters under the ground with only a single large stone in the way, was buried a small artifact of empires past. He didn't know that yet of course, but it was so close.