More Power is Necessary

[Laira Darkhold]

Phaegon was located far on the outer rim, lost amidst a jumble of nebulae, black holes, and set far enough away from most known hyperlanes that it had been lost a number of times throughout history. Naga Sadow had once had the planet colonized and mined so that he could benefit from it, but that was long, long ago. Now in more recent history a few people knew of its location, and it was visited by several people in recent years for its one special property. In fact I had been here before, but not for the reason I was here now. Now I was here to gather the one special thing about this planet whereas before I had been here to learn about the dark side. I understood the Dark Side now, better than most, less than some, but I knew what I needed to know about it as far as I was concerned. The armored warriors from clan Vereen and the black armored Darksteel Dragons sat in the back of the stealth ship that slowly made its way circling Phaegon III. I could feel the Force and its darkness on the moon below. Quick, simple, and done with.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The ship slipped into the atmosphere quietly, drifting in the air as it descended, taking sensor scans on its approach. I wasn’t worried about running into an army or defense fleet, not out here at least, but I did want to know of any animals that I might encounter here. Before I had encountered canine creatures that had some minor Force abilities that had been interesting. This time I had a guard, and was with warriors to clear an area before we would be mining the small amount of ore I needed from this expedition. “When we land, split into teams, shoot to kill, check in any contacts you have while we are here. The Force is strong here and its beasts have gained some of this from the planet. Be careful while we are here. Oya.”

“Oya,” came the response from the Mandalorians that were here. The one Aliit’Drahr nodded, melding with me, his concern evident through the Force. On a planet such as this, it was easy to lose track of your purpose and just go about your time immersed in the Dark Side of the Force, letting it feed your nightmares and darkest thoughts. Thoughts become words, words become actions.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

When ship landed with a hiss its boarding ramp opened dropping to the ground with a thud and armored boots clanked against the metal ramp as forty armored warriors disembarked setting up a perimeter around the corvette we had arrived on with teams at each direction. “Sir, perimeter secure, ready for further instructions.” Aten said strolling up, checking his gear as he did so. “We should leave half the boys here and take the other half with us.” Glancing over the two assorted groups of warriors and soldiers. “I also think we should leave the aruetiise here. We don’t need them.”

I nodded as I walked around the little area we had landed in. “They are Mandalorian trained, however, I agree, the Dragons can remain protecting the ship along with two teams of Aliit’Verd. That should be more than enough to keep the area secure.” The soldiers and warriors moved and took up defensive positions around the ship while the others gathered up around myself and Aten, ready to go find what we had come all this way for.

“Up and ready when you are then.” Came the reply from the senior warrior.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The Mandalorians spread out in a wedge around myself and Aten, keeping a fair distance between each group scanners on and eyes out, looking for anything dangerous on this planet. Surely there were numerous predators on Phaegon that were dangerous, but whether we would run into them or whether they would risk attacking a group of twenty six humanoid warriors in military formation was unknown. I suspected we would deal with small packs of canines and maybe a rancor or rancor sized monster once or twice for the simple fact that we were a large amount of prey moving through a small area into a valley known to possess Lignan ore.

I could feel the presence of the Dark Side weighing down on me. Control was a simple aspect of the Force, and one of the most important that many lost sight of. So many Sith lost control when they used the darkest parts of themselves, and until recently I had as well, however, control in battle was needed, was necessary to prevent mistakes from occurring. Sheer rage was only an ally to you if your opponent was a fool and couldn’t capitalize on it.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

“Keep tight formation. We aren’t here for much but it’s not the easiest thing to find. If you see something that looks like what we are here for, pick it up and bring it to Aten or myself.” I ordered as we entered the valley we were looking for, with all the darkness surrounding the area it might be difficult to detect incoming threats, but not impossible, and there was always technology to assist with that. The warriors spread out a little through the valley looking for caves or small deposits of the ore or crystals.

Most of the soldiers didn’t really know what they were looking for and most of the small rocks or crystals they brought to me were useless pieces of quartz or semi-precious gems. Even those I simply tossed on the ground and left, waiting to find enough of what we were looking for. It would take time, but eventually we would find enough Lignan crystals to make what I needed from them. Sense they were going to be matrixed with other.

Off in the distance I could feel eyes watching and beings taking an interest in our small group digging through the sand and dirt.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Off in the distance I could feel hunger and anger observing us. Whatever it was it had developed some way to reduce its presence in the Force or it was simply very small and beneath my passive sense’s notice. In the end it mattered little. It obviously wasn’t one of the more troublesome Sith creations I had seen in my many travels throughout the galaxy. Even still, I wasn’t happy that I couldn’t tell what it was without concentrating. That could mean a great many things in the grand scheme of things, but the not knowing for certain was troubling me.

“You four, go and get a decent reading of the being or beings on that cliff. Do so carefully, I don’t know what it is.” I said, waving four warriors to go and investigate the anamoly while the rest continued the search. I looked around, feeling out with the Force, keeping track of the four warriors making their ascent towards the unknown presence, while elsewhere I could feel darkness and power deep under the moon’s crust, it was just a matter of locating the cave system and using the Force to guide us to the source of the power.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I looked around, and began feeling the tunnels through the Force. “Get me an observer probe.” I barked over the comm channel. Quickly a warrior came over with his Observer probe ready to go and active. “Follow me, vod.” I lead him to a small opening in the ground, almost as though someone had dug a well in the middle of this valley and left it when the valley flooded in the spring. The hole was barely large enough for a man, but for the small probe, it was simple. The probe began exploring the tunnel, mapping out a significant area of the tunnel system and relaying the data back to control pack the warrior wore on his belt. “Seems to be a rather expansive tunnel system.” I said, turning to the rest of the warriors still moving around in the valley. “Secure the area, I need one team to come with me.” The rest of the warrior’s beside me team jogged up while the others moved into defensible positions, waiting on the report from the team sent up the cliff, whenever they found what I had sensed. It was possible I had sensed passing piranha beetles or the like and they had moved on, but the slight pressure in my mind suggested otherwise. I had learned to trust my instincts, but that did not mean I could lose sight of my objective.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The small shaft in the ground was a tight fit for the first several meters, maybe close to one hundred, but eventually it widened up and was comfortable to walk single file through. The probe buzzed on about five hundred meters ahead, giving sensor updates to the control pack. Occasionally it had to double back, but for the most part its sonar mapper was able to grab a major section of the tunnel system we were in, moving ever closer to the source of the power I could feel. The pressure was still there, in the back of my head, and my senses were expanded out, focused on detecting anything within these caves, intent on finding those crystals and any creatures that might be lurking within this tunnel. The tunnels winded and twisted beneath the valley taking us almost two kilometers before I knew we were close to my goal. The loyal warriors of Clan Vereen still close behind me, waiting. They could tell I was focused by my body language, and they dared not disturb me. Finally, one more bend and the probe sat still, hovering in place at the mouth of a large cavern. Inside I could feel the source of the power, but there was something else, something alive. The comm channel buzzed, “Nothing up here but a hole in the ground boss. Must have rabitted when it saw us coming up.” No, I thought, it saw us walk into its layer and decided it would meet us in its den.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The hunger and anger burst into the Force as the massive snake like creature lurched from the shadows at me and my warriors. Quickly I sprayed a gout of fire into the snake’s head, spraying the liquid flames for its open mouth. While the liquid struck its target, it did not seem to have any effect on the beast as it continued its strike forward catching me solid in the chest with great force, knocking me back into my men and leaving at least one of my ribs broken in the process. I thought quickly as I saw it rear back, its head still wreathed in fire, but seemingly having no effect on the beast. Swords. No, blunt force trauma was best. Gripping Taak’Shukur’s handle and drawing the long handled mace from its place on my back I readied myself, gaining my footing and bracing myself against the warrior behind me. As the beast struck again, this time I stepped forward and brought the mace in a sideways arc, hoping to catch the beast and smash it against the cave wall, literally catching it between a rock and a hard place if I could. The fangs extended and it moved like lightning, but I could see its movements through the Force and I caught the monster square in the head, and when its head impacted the cave wall, pieces of stone broke under the force of the blow. The beast thrashed and lashed with its whole body, as the muscles realized the brain was no longer working. After a moment the beast stopped and lay still.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I winced as I breathed in, my cracked ribs expanding just a little, letting the nerves pinch just a bit. Using the Force I set the bones of the two ribs that were fractured and began focusing on healing them. It seemed that when I wandered off without Chiasa, I was left injured. It was just something to remember next time I left without her.

But here we were, in the den of the beast, and the source of the Dark Side power I had sought was here. I could see the cluster of crystals I sought. We drew close to the simple looking stones and I spoke, “Take as much as we can carry with us back to the surface. I will need as much as we can take for what I have in store for them.” The warriors gathered up the crystals and ore into small sacks and tied them around their waists following me back to the surface, helping me when I stumbled and making sure I returned to the ship without any more injuries.

I looked out of the viewport watching Phaegon shrink as the ship pulled away from the planet, the four sacks at my feet filled with small crystals and chunks of Lignan ore.