First Reply The Tomb of Maslovar Tiatiov

[Doctor Gill Klam]

"Gill, can you read me? Answer, Yatta!", the voice was barely to hear over the comlink. The adventurous Gill Klam was already too deep in the depth of the ancient ruin to have a clear radio connection. The primitive relay network of the planet Livien was not really helpful to establish stable communication.

"Loud and clear, mysterious masked but somehow sexy in a grim way bounty hunter. No need to worry, but cute you do." The lie came easily over the blue lips of the petite Zeltron woman with the red skin and dark blue, almost purple hair. Convincing Lies were a field of expertise of Doctor Klam, an ambivalent archaeologist of shady reputation.
She desperately wanted to believe the lie herself. She had seriously underestimated how many of the over 20 000 years old defenses of the tomb she was raiding were still operational.
The slender adventurer had already only nearly evaded pitfalls and automated weapon systems so far.

"Yatto, I do not worry about your stupid head attached to your shoulders, but about the money you own me for the last fiasco!", the grumpy, distorted voice of her more or less voluntary co-pilot answered. "Speaking of fiasco, I have sensor readings of someone approaching the coordinates of the tomb. I will fly your ship to some distance to avoid detection. Not sure, if the comlink connection would stay up and running. Try to survive, Doc! And bring something of worth back, should you do, Yatta, yatto! Over and out!"

Great! Over 20 000 years this tomb gathered dust and NOW a second treasure hunters appears? How are the odds of THAT? Or perhaps it was a law enforcer I have forgotten to bribe?
Gill Klam tried to focus on the task at hand and searched the surroundings of the shaft she was climbing down. Her hightech googles highlighted the myriads of traps the old monarch of the Livien League had installed in his last resting place to protect his riches. Most were gone out of power a long time ago, but some, especially the simply and mechanical ones, were still operational, as piles of bones on the bottom of the shaft below her silently testify for.

 

[Darth Vinaze]

This was one of the few tombs of non-Sith or Jedi origin he had ventured to, yet there was something here that called to him. Finding these nexuses and powerful artifacts that radiated with the force was a strong skill that Vinaze possessed. He had no idea what exactly he would find in a tomb from the time of Xim the Despot, but he prayed it would be worth his while.

His TIE fighter descended towards the tomb, and though he could see no other ships nearby he could tell someone had been here, and their faint presence in the force indicated they were still within.

He set the starfighter down and grabbed his black sword from beside his seat. With great pain he pulled his corpse-like body from the craft and used the dark side to float to the ground.

The halls of the tunnel were low and dark. But the dust had recently been disturbed, and defense system had been disabled, at least on this path. Perhaps someone was searching for the same thing as him? Regardless, they would not leave this place should the artifact he came for be of worth to him.

As he reached a lower part of the tomb, he came upon his contender. A small girl. Probably a tomb raider who cared nothing for the significance of the things she stole. She stood on the edge of a pit of death. If Vinaze had wanted to he could simply take her life with no warning, but he was intrigued as to what a little Zeltron such as this was doing here. Thus, he gave a dry, hacking cough to alert her to his presence. Would she be afraid of the monstrous Sith Lord and initiate combat, or was her resolve higher than most?

"What is your business, child?"

Doctor Gill Klam

 

[Doctor Gill Klam]

Doctor Gill Klam was seeing the creepy figure floating down the shaft with her gadgets, before he made himself known. Her Googles scanned the menacing man as he descended, and she pretended to be unaware of his presence.

No life signs, necrotic rot, alchemistic traces of unknown origin and bioelectric readings way out of the normal spectrum. This one was not really alive. Something an archaeologist was expecting IN a tomb and not entering it from the outside.

And the gear and trappings were of course anachronistic for a dead interred in the time of the Livian League.
Actually it was the outfit of a Sith. A powerful one too it seems.

Great, that was just her luck! Why was a Sith even searching a tomb of a not force sensitive ruler of times when Jedi were using lightsabers with cables attached to portable power generators?

The symbolic on the gear of the Sith. What rank did it indicate? Think, Gill, is this a "lord" or a "darth"? Your life depends on the correct first line to such a vain creature!

She was kneeling before the creepy Sith lord in her best imitation of old court mannerism of Dromund Kaas. "O great Darth, dark lord of the Sith, I am only a humble archaeologist exploring this ancient tomb for the sake of knowledge and artifacts. Gill Klam is the name. How may this humble servant address you, o mightiest of the mighty? I wish to help you in your important task here whatever that might be. My knowledge of old Tionese tombs may serve you well."

The good doctor was kneeling on a pressure plate connected with an old trap. Just in case the Sith would want to actually harm her...

Darth Vinaze

 

[Darth Vinaze]

"You mock me, girl. Or do you really wish to help a Sith Lord?" Vinaze asked, almost confused. Few he had encountered in his travels were inclined to help him, let alone kneel before him, even before he had been corrupted into the monster he was today. Regardless of what the Zeltron said, it mattered little in the long run. She would not be able to strike him down, even if she wished.

"If you truly care to help a fellow archaeologist, you may call me Darth Vinaze. Your knowledge may indeed prove useful, as I am not familiar with places like these. You see, something has called to me through the force. I rarely know what to expect when I answer such a call, but it's hardly ever... mundane. So tell me, Gill Klam: what is it that you seek?"

Doctor Gill Klam

 

[Doctor Gill Klam]

The Zeltron smiled a crooked smile and adjusted her googles. Good, the Sith was not a mindless killing machine but a fellow scientist. Good with the bad!

"I would never dare to mock you, Darth Vinaze, my lord!", she said meekly. Her friends and enemies alike always thought she would mock them. Strange!
Her roguish charisma would hopefully convince Darth Vinaze otherwise. Instinctively her body produced tons of pheromones, but the seemingly undead would perhaps be beyond this special Zeltronian appeal and immune to charming particles in the air. But like all Zeltrons she had no control of such things.

"Of course I will help a fellow archaeologist! Religion or philosophy should not stand in the way of science and progress. I like actually the Sith more than the Jedi who always hide away so called 'forbidden' knowledge.

Called by the force you say? That is a quite vague but interesting method of prospection. It means obviously that some object in tune with your mystical energy field is down below here.

This is the tomb of Maslovar Tiatiov as my research indicates. He was immensely rich and may have had trinkets of force users in his possession without knowing it.
As you surely know, my lord, the Tionese had no force traditions of their own in this time period. The ancestors of your order did not even exist and the Jedi were busy protecting the gore of the fledgling republic.
So it must be an artifact of an older force tradition, perhaps even of Kwa or Rakata origin."

She smiled again. "You see me interested. Of course only scientifically. Such artifacts are rightfully yours. But perhaps you let me study them, yes?
Oh, and more mundane artifacts should be no longer withdrawn from the public. Naturally you would get your rightful tithe of it.

Your mystical powers may be useful to reach the treasure chambers too. Do you see the great door of concentric stone parts? It is a puzzle. You could easily solve it with telekinetic powers or so."

Darth Vinaze

 

[Darth Vinaze]

Vinaze was still highly skeptical of the small, bubbly Zeltron. He had never understood their kind, but that was most likely since his own people, the Umbarans, were their exact opposites. She appeared to know what she was talking about, so he let his guard down.

"I do not know much regarding the Tionese, but if this ancient man of wealth held artifacts belonging to those elder races then I would see that they are recovered, before this entire sector is lost to those godless Bryn'adul."

"You have thus far been wise not to stand in my way Klam, perhaps if there is anything not of worth to my cause in this tomb I should let you have it. Too few people are so willing to help the Sith. The true Sith that is. And yes, I am indeed capable of solving this puzzle." he said with disdain for how trivial the task was.

Vinaze outstretched his bony fingers and manipulated the insides of the door. It was rudimentary at best. The stone parts moved at his will like it was nothing. He used the force to gently push the door open, and gestured for the doctor to enter ahead of him.

Doctor Gill Klam

 

[Doctor Gill Klam]

The doctor tipped as greeting to her googles and began an extended scan of the dusty area before the pair of so different explorers.
Suspicious readings popped up on her HUD.

With a slight adjustment of her gear she pinpointed dangerous spots for the Sith with red laser dots. These traps were dangerous even to the dark sider because no intentional will was behind their deadliness that he could predict by the force.

And so they easily entered the tunnels behind the bulky door. Old automatic defenses were today only useless piles of rust and corrosion.
It was disappointingly easy to make fast progress into the inner sanctum of the tomb.

Reliefs on the walls praised long forgotten battles and a realm of prosperity the Livian League was before and shortly after the conquest of Xim the despot.

Gill Klam almost squeaked in joy as she found two towering battle droid standing like statues at the sides of a doorway. "Droids of Xim! The backbone of his forces. They are nearly timeless in their robust construction. Should I try to activate them, Darth Vinaze? One for me, one for you? This kind of droids were an ideal bodyguard worthy of a mighty ruler like you. And they have surprisingly sophisticated heuristics for battle droids."

Darth Vinaze heard only halfhearted what the enthusiastic archaeologist said. Behind the doorway there were rows of sarcophagi. The bodyguards and slaves that had to follow the dead monarch to the grave - willingly or not. The barbaric ways of the Tion Hegemony in old times were so similar to the culture of the Sith. And from one of these graves he felt the call of the force....

Darth Vinaze

 

[Darth Vinaze]

"I have no need for such a thing. I prefer the company of a living bodyguard. If you wish to keep them, they are yours." the Sith Lord was skeptical of droids, preferring to use Sithspawn for his bidding. Easier to manipulate with the dark side. The girl could take the droids for all he cared, as they weren't what was calling to him. The calling of the tomb was stronger here, overpowering almost. It was tantalizing.

If these droids were activated there was a good chance they would try and defend the tomb, which meant they would have a fight on their hands. Nothing Vinaze could not handle of course. Nothing was getting between him and the calling of the force now.

"Activate them at your own risk, Doctor." He said taking a step backwards from them.

Doctor Gill Klam

 

[Doctor Gill Klam]

"O.k.", the doctor said and began cheerfully humming to open the head armor of one of the hulking war machines. She tinkered with tiny tools in the complicated droid brain and powered the depleted energy cells with a tiny fusion cell.

Some sparks and a little fire in the inside of the 20 000 years old machine indicated that it was beyond.
The Zeltron sighed with disappointment and scavenged useful spare parts from the useless junk and attempted the repair process with the second droid.
This time the humming of energy and the noise of ancient servos filled the silent tomb.

In the ancient language of the Xim-Empire the war droid bellowed a question.

Doctor Klam hastily read the translation on the display of her HUD glasses and scrolled with eye movement through the possible priority codes to the old emergency overwrite of the Janissary officers of Xim.
She hoped to spell the words correctly, because today it was a dead language with only some phrases like "alpha, beta, gamma" and "vigo" still in use.

διατάξατε! The machine roared with rusted voice modulator.

"Yes, yes, yes!", the doctor triumphed happily as the forearm weapons of the battle droid stopped short of her face. Smilingly the slightly mad scientist began uploading language packages in the heuristic core of the ancient machine.

In the meantime the Sith lord was drawn to the sarcophagus that radiated the power of the Dark Side. A stasis field that preserved the grave has long ago collapsed and left the entombed unprotected to the eternal might of the forces of corruption. The lid was lifted. Only a shriveled mummy in the rusted remains of an armored spacesuit remained as a memento mori to the undead sorcerer who himself was fighting his own fight against decay today.

And there on a pile of grave goods like gold and jewelry and weapons of alien design of races long ago exterminated by the racists of the first human empire it was: the dark beacon of the power of the Dark Side! Whipering promises of power and wisdom.

A pair of ancient scrolls, pristine as if they were made only years ago and bearing the crest of the Legions of Lettow! An unbelievable treasure to a sorcerer of the Sith!

The Zeltron occupied with her work on the war droid still noted the interest of the Sith for a seemingly random tomb.
"DO! NOT! TOUCH! ANYTHING!", she shouted alarmed. Was her warning too late? Did the typical impatience of the Sith had already gotten the better of the Lord?

Darth Vinaze

 

[Darth Vinaze]

As Vinaze reached for the scrolls, the very thing that called him here now within not only his site but his reach, Gill shouted for him to stop.

"You test my patience, little girl." he said with disdain, not even taking his eyes off the scrolls. "I thought we agreed on what you were getting from this tomb already. Are you already so eager for more?" he said not recognizing that the Doctor had yelled at him for likely his own good. He was so consumed with the thought of having this artifact that he was blinded. He believed the Zeltron was trying to swindle him.

"No! You will not take it!" He said reaching his bony fingers into the sarcophagus and curling them around the scrolls. As he did, the creaking of old machines came to life. Out of the dark corners of the chamber, 5 more war droids marched with large metal spears.

"What?! What did you do!?" he yelled, turning to look at Gill working on the machine, failing to release that it was his own hubris that had caused the war droids to attack.

Vinaze began to back away towards the path they had come from, clutching the scrolls. Betrayal was the nature of the dark side, even if he did not realize that he was the one doing the betrayal here.

Doctor Gill Klam

 

[Doctor Gill Klam]

"Too late! I tried to warn you, my lord. It is only a simple motion sensor trap as I suspected, linked with the weight of the treasure. You altered the weight! Luckily only 5 droids could activate. I try to draw away one or to two. Deal with the rest. AND. DO. NOT. TOUCH. ANYTHING. AGAIN. At least not till I've looked if it is rigged too."
Amateur!

As she spoke the doctor already dashed into the room and slid behind a sarcophagus for cover. She drew her pistol. A nasty heavy and tuned one with two barrels. Laser reflective armor plating she recognized on the droids and switched to slug thrower mode.

The Sith lord would hopefully see the plating too and aim with his fancy lightsaber, she expected him to have, for the joints. Primitive armor by modern standard, but very effective against primitive laser weapons like lightsabers actually were.

As she fired to distract one droid she and ordered "her" battle droid to engage the tomb guardians. The old machine brandished its forearm weapons and a shrieking pulse-wave hit the guard. Disruptorlike effects disintegrated large parts of the attacker.
Gill Klams gun punched fist sized holes into the armor of the other machine with explosive rounds.

Don't come to a firefight with a spear she thought grimly.

But the spears had their advantages. They were simple and depended not on power sources. The attack pattern programmed in the old machines were of ancient origin not unlike the ancient arts of Jedi and Sith swordplay. The expensive anti-laser plating of the droids were of course also on the spears.
The whirling of the weapons was like a deadly and still beautiful dance as the droids advanced.

The plating had a disadvantage a Sith could exploit: It was very conductive.

Darth Vinaze