Only Awesome

Ashara glanced at her, squinted in the sun. "Greed? People freeze to death or get lost or trapped for trinkets that might be valuable?"

"Some." Erii reoriented herself; they'd drifted northwest of their goal. "But there are things vauable for reasons quite other than monetary." She swept a hand in the direction they were heading. "Our Reclamation team, for example. I highly doubt personal wealth or notariety drives them, apprentice."

"It still seems a big risk to take, and not enough reward," Ashara shivered. Warm robes and the Force could only do so much.

The heat of the ghosts' anger, impatience, hunger pulsed through her as an almost physical warmth. Erii shut out the steadily rising clamor of their voices in her head and pressed on. Just this one more. I need to certain I can beat Thanaton at his game.

And then she could be done with them. Release them, as she had promised on their bindings.

It's never enough, is it, little snake--

You think it will end so easily--

Always more, we need more, do you think--

"My lord?" Ashara's hesitant probing broke the cacophony in her mind.

"We're almost there," Erii said with a shake of her head. "Let's get this done."

---

The Reclamation Service camp sprawled back from their dig site; heated tents, large-scale digging equipment not currently in use, speeders parked out of the elements as much as possible.

Their approach was noticed and intercepted by a man with a blaster rifle in hand and large polarized goggles shielding his face. "Well met, m'lord. What brings you out here?"

"I need to speak to the man in charge," Erii said, arms folded but posture otherwise loose to put him at ease. "Lieutenant Drellik?"

"Ah. You'll find him inside." The guard tipped his head back toward the icy cavern at the camp's epicenter.

"Really?" She arched a brow, glanced toward the inviting warmth of the nearest tent. "Getting his hands dirty?"

"Always, m'lord," the guard nodded. "Lieutenant's not the type to lead from a desk when he could be in the thick of it. M'lord."

"My kind of archaeologist," Erii drawled. The team had been a means to an end when Loren pointed her out this way, but maybe she'd like this Drellik fellow. She waved a hand. "Back to it, soldier."

"Yes, m'lord. I'll let them know you're coming." The guard gave a truncated bow and headed back to the cluster of droids and archaeologists he'd been minding.

"How many do you think we'll need to help?" Ashara asked as they headed into the dig site proper.

"Hopefully not more than four or five...." Erii said. There were more working in the cavern; it was quite a large team. "I doubt we'll need them all."

The cavern was a different kind of cold--out of the elements, but a chill emanated from the icy walls. The noise was different, too, the echo of voices and clattering tools rather than howling wind. Erii examined the metal support arches, the supply crates, the careful work being done to chisel into the bored walls. It was efficiently run, the service members relaxed and absorbed in their work. Most barely glanced up at their visitors before returning to task.

As they approached the nadir of the dig, a voice rose above the background clamor. "...we're close, I can feel it! We'll find that temple yet" A final curve rounded, and the speaker came into view--a wiry man in a dark purple parka, goggles tugged down around his neck, standing halfway up stair-stepped ice and stone. One hand grasped a guide wire as he directed those around him. "No cutting corners! Rogers, don't forget the salt." He pointed to a particularly icy patch near the far wall, carvings visible through the ice. "It may not be the best solution, but solid footing is a must."

"Yes, sir!" one of the workers called back, hauling a bucket of coarse salt to the indicated area.

Erii stopped a safe distance back from the excavation and pitched her voice loud enough to be heard over the bustle. "Lieutenant Talos Drellik?"

The man in the parka swiveled her direction and blinked a couple times before recognition set in. "My lord!" He carefully--but rapidly--descended to approach her. "To what do I owe the honor?" he asked with a bow.

"No need for that," Erii said, biting back a laugh and noting he was barely taller than her. Eye level was a nice change.

"Well, then." Drellik straightened, enthusiasm snapping in his green eyes. "I heard you single-handedly unearthed several Tulak Hord artifacts?" she nodded when he paused and a grin blossomed across his face. "Superb! I'm a Naga Sadow man myself, but I'd love to compare notes at some point."

"Certainly." Erii matched his grin. "Though in the interest of honesty, I tracked those artifacts at the behest of my former master. Given the choice, I'm far more interested in Ajunta Pall."

His brows arched. "Dual specialty? Fascinating."

This time she did laugh. "By necessity, yes." And ancestry, she added to herself, thinking of Kallig.

"I'll look forward to that conversation, my lord, but in the meantime, what brings you here?" Drellik gestured to his dig site. "Seeking me? How may I be of service?"

"I need your team's help to locate a ship called the Starrunner...." Erii told him the whole story of her goal, gambling a man so keen about ancient Sith Lords would be incentivized rather than repulsed by rumors of a ghost.

She was correct. "My team and I are at your disposal, my lord. Artifacts and a ghost!" His fingers tapped a random beat against his thigh as he thought. "Do you think they would show on a holo? A ghost, I mean. I've heard how the dead talk in Korriban's tombs, but to see one, that would be worthy of preservation...."

"We'll have to find out, I've never thought to try," Erii admitted with amusement.

"Yes, I suppose you've had other things on your mind," he chuckled. "Let's see what we can do to assist."

It was a credit to both his leadership and his team that they shifted gears from their excavation to her search so quickly and smoothly. One of the engineers prepped a probe sturdy enough for the weather while another worked with Drellik to mark good triangulation points for the distress beacon that would have been launched prior to the crash.

Thus prepared with a plan, warnings to mind the cold, and an update Drellik's team would shift camp for better comms, Erii and Ashara headed out to find a ghost. Or at least the trail of one.

---

They tracked the ship's distress beacon--notably nowhere near the Starruner itself. Tracked the Ortolans who had scavenged what little was here of use with Lieutenant Drellik's assistance.

A tracker on top of an archaeologist? Erii made a note to get her hands on the man's dossier if she got a chance. She was intensely curious about her new--albeit temporary--help, and knew nothing of his abilities beyond Sergeant Loren calling him 'odd' but skilled, and their brief conversations.

They found the ghost when they found the Ortolan camp. Horak-Mul. Or, part of him. Arrogant, as one would expect from the right hand of Ludo Kressh--and stars, didn't she have adjacency to enough ancient Sith?

"I know what you are, Force Caller," he sneered through the Ortolan chief. "But I will not be bound as the other victims writhing in your mind."

He thinks himself our better?! Kalatosh seethed.

Erii ignored his indignance, instead meeting the burning crimson gaze of the possessed Ortolan to negotiate with Horak-Mul. But this latest spirit was as stubborn as he was arrogant.

"I hold my freedom dear, Sith. I'll need more than words if you wish to bind me."

A lot more: the destruction and desecration of his assassins' final resting place. Just to consider telling her where to find him.

They would need some help with that, and Erii knew just where to find it--settling in at the next outpost in this frozen wasteland. "This is right up the Reclmation Service's alley," she explained to Ashara, "I'm sure he'll help."

---

What an understatement that proved. She rendezvoused with Lieutenant Drellik at Thesh outpost, in an office still frigid enough the lieutenant hadn't fully removed his coat. His eyes lit up as she relayed the ghost's demands, and while she wouldn't call it gloating, his glee was near-palpable.

"I knew it! It is on Hoth, then!" Drellik pushed to his feet and leaned over the datapad-strewn desk. "The others in the service scoffed at the thought, but I was correct!" Half-muttering to himself, he nudged through the datapads. "Ludo Kressh's right hand.... killed by Naga Sadow's assassins... Ah!" He found the one he sought and punched up what looked like a map. "My lord, do you realize what you've done?"

His enthusiasm was contagious, and Erii couldn't resist teasing through her grin as she leaned closer to examine the map, "You know, you're cute when you're excited."

He went bright pink from the roots of his sandy brown hair to the collar of the Imperial uniform jacket visible under his parka. "Oh, thank you." He cleared his throat, shifted his weight. "That's, ah, kind of you to say."

"Apologies, lieutenant," she chuckled, surprised at just how much she seemed to have flustered him. Have you never received a compliment? "I didn't intend to distract."

"No, it's... you're quite alright, my lord." Drellik cleared his throat once more and projected the map over the desk. "Where did the, ah, ghost say to find this temple?"

Erii studied the map, then indicated a spot in a nearby glacial valley. "Here."

"As I thought!" the adorable enthusiasm was back, but Erii refrained from commenting; she supposed she would be equally giddy to have a niche theory borne out. "Ice likely formed over the entrance, thicker with the passing years... This would be the Sadow'een--Naga Sadow's personal assassins, so secret most believed they never existed. Even for their time they were myth made real." He skirted the desk to an equipment locker mounted on the wall.

"However frozen over it may be, I need to get inside," Erii said, perching half on the edge of the desk.

"Oh, I can get you inside, my lord, never fear," Drellik promised. "I've been circumventing the security of ancient tombs since I was old enough to hold a dataspike and pair of pliers."

"Truly?" She arched a bow. "Good to know."

"There are much better tools to avail ourselves of now, of course," he said, picking necessities out of the locker and tucking them in the pockets and pouches of his gear. "Ready to depart?"

"Yes, by all means," Erii gestured toward the door, "lead on."

----

The journey to the cavern that concealed the Sadow'een temple-tomb wasn't long, though they did have to carefully pick their way through a survivalist cult's territory to reach it. A faint aura of menace hung over the icy tunnel, just barely enough to tickle the back of Erii's thoughts. But Ashara shuddered and she could see why the cult and local pirates had all steered away from using this cavern for anything.

Drellik seemed unfazed, which made her arch a brow. A single shift of his shoulders was the only indication he'd even noticed the change. But, then, the man was brimming with enough enhusiasm to choke an icetromper. Perhaps he'd just missed it.

"So if I understand correctly," Erii began, exmining the walls, "from you and our friendly ghost, this is where Naga Sadow's assassins lived and trained--and died, once they were... to that point. Seems a harsh place to call home."

Perfect for honing youself to survive anything, Darth Andru chuckled darkly in her head. You could learn from them, little snake.

She didn't deign to reply.

"Indeed, my lord! And I doubt it would have been encrusted under so thick a layer of ice in its day. Look there" --Drellik point toward the upper reaches of the cavern--"and you can see traces of decoration."

She could, perhaps even better than he expected, thanks to her implants; crenellations where walls met ceiling before ice smoothed over, red and purple crystals accenting, hanging crystal lights. Perhaps this wouldn't have been so bad a base.

Drellik continued chattering about the Sadow'een as they walked, and Erii was all too happy to encourage him. It had been a while since she last met a kindred spirit regarding the ancient Sith. And that had been Zash. Who tried to steal her body. Shame this acquaintence would be so short; she suspected it would end much better than her (literally) possessive former master--

A harsh jolt of electricity shot through her from the hanging crystal she'd just passed beneath.

Trap-- Erii thought, fighting the convulsions to reach for her dualsaber as guardian droids lurched to life. Ashara and Drellik had dispatched them by the time Erii was free of the trap she'd triggered.

"Are you alright?" Ashara asked, overlapping with Drellik's profuse apologies he'd not noted the active trap.

"I"m fine, and it's alright." The ancient trap packed more punch than Lord Orlon's guards but less than the poison she'd drunk for Erghast's ritual. She'd survive.

"I still should have been more alert--"

"Lieutenant," she cut him off with a wave back down the tunnel, "we've passed at least two similar ornamentations with no such reaction. I don't require prescience from those assisting me."

"Most gracious of you, my lord." Drellik shuffled his feet in the snow. "But perhaps a bit more attention is warranted, now that we know some of the security remains active?"

"That does sound wise," Erii agreed. She shook her head to clear the lingering staticky clamor. The ghosts were loud enough, she didn't need neurons yelling at her on top of it.

They proceeded with more caution, and did manage to dodge a couple more traps. The disarming mechanisms, Lieutenant Drellik pointed out, were located too high to be reached without climbing gear they hadn't deemed necessary. Still, it was easy enough to avoid the electrical surge, fight the droids it activated, and continue on. Erii didn't consider it a mortal oversight, not when traveling light allowed them to move much more swiftly.

The tomb door, when they finally reached it, was ominously clear of ice. As if even Hoth's unrelenting nature dared not trespass on the specter of Sadow's assassins. The large lavender crystal mounted at the peak of the diamond-shaped door glowed as they approached.

"Master--" Ashara began, and Erii reached for her lightsaber at the sight of the crackling electrical buildup. This looked to be more directed than the other traps they'd dodged. A final, lethal treat for any who trespassed the hallowed places of the Sadow'een.

"Excuse me, my lord." Drellik stepped past her even as the lightning began to spark off in jagged streaks, pulling a compact metal cylinder from his belt. It extended with the press of a button and he held it aloft to catch one of the writhing bolts before it hit them, then redirected the bolt back at the crystal mechanism to overwhelm it.

Erii eyed the shattered and smoking result with interest. "Clever."

"Oh, thank you." Drellik closed down and stowed the tool. "It is a handy little thing. Designed based on the lightning spires of Kaas City. It's proven invaluable with the ancient Sith's fondness for lightning."

She chuckled. "Oh, the current ones are quite fond of that still." Small bolts danced over her gauntlet. She nodded toward the tomb door. "Can we get in?"

"Oh, yes." Drellik examined the door. "Shouldn't be difficult. Simple pulley job will do the trick."

Erii bit back a smile watching him work. "Will you require assistance, lieutenant?"

"Hm? Oh, no. I've long mastered rigging this myself, my lord." He was already digging in pockets and pouches for the components.

"Really?" How much would the service miss you if I stole you for my crew? It was in her rights as a Sith, and he seemed incredibly useful to have around. "In that case, we shall keep an eye out for any additional trouble."

"Excellent idea, my lord. Who knows how many more of these droid guardians prowl the halls." With that, he turned back to his work, and Erii and Ashara to guarding his back.

It was good they did; several more droids attacked. Whether their alertness was happenstance or an alarm triggering somewhere, Erii couldn't say. It didn't really matter.

"You seem to be hitting it off with our guide," Ashara commented, lightsabers crackling as she bisected a droid.

"And this surprises you, apprentice?" The pale pink blade of Erii's dualsaber pierced another droid's chassis.

"I was under the impression Sith saw non-Force users as beneath them."

"Most do." The newest arrival stood half a meter taller than her, wielding a heavy magna staff she was forced to dodge. "I've met too many who are skilled, clever, or both to write them off."

She slashed, taking off the droid's leg, and Ashara drove both 'sabers into its head when it fell.

"How goes it, lieutenant?" Erii asked, turning back to the tomb door.

"Almost..." the was a grunt, a small crack from the ice, and he stepped back to survey his handiwork. "There! Allow me to double check the stability. No excuse for cutting corners this close."

"Of course." Erii ran an appraising look over the arrangement in tandem, impressed by the thin, tensile rope and small pulleys that would allow easy transport without being bulky.

"All set, my lord," Drellik said, rubbing his hands together. It may have been the cold, but...

"Excited, lieutenant?" she drawled with a chuckle.

"Oh, yes!" He didn't seem the least bit abashed or embarrassed about it. "There are so many wonders to be found with a new tomb, like watching a flower blossom."

"An apt analogy," Erii said, watching the pulleys prise open the door it by bit. Very much like the unfurling petals of some large, strange flower.

Once fully open, she and Drellik both eyed the entrance with anticipation, Ashara with trepidation.

"Master, do you want me to wait out here?" she asked. "I can keep an eye for any stragglers of the droids, or wandering pirates."

"Uncomfortable entering a Sith tomb, apprentice?" Erii arched a brow.

"A bit," Ashara said with a shrug. "I'm not afraid, I'll do it if you want, but..." She flicked a glance into the doorway. "It doesn't feel right."

"Very well. A rearguard can't hurt, and I'm sure Lieutenant Drellik will be suffcient assistance."

He was already shuffling toward the tomb door, torn between his excitement and deference to let her go first.

Erii bit back a smile and put him out of his misery. "Let's go, lieutenant."

"Right behind you, my lord." He followed with alacrity as she brushed past.

A harsher, heavy wave of cold hit as they stepped through onto yet more ice. Erii blinked at the sting of it as she examined their new surroundings.

"Catacombs," Drellik surmised, even as she came to the same conclusion. "Unbelievable! Look how extensive..."

"So the halls back there are... the basement?" Erii gestured toward where Ashara waited.

"Or a lower level of some sort, yes. Most of the temple would have been built in the elements and worn down over the centuries." His breath frosted the air as he looked around in wonder. "This would have been underground and thus protected from such a fate. Fascinating! The last resting place of the Sadow'een..."

"How many of them would be here, do you think?" she asked, looking for signs of burial urns or scattered bones or anything of the sort.

"I couldn't be sure, my lord," Drellik shrugged apologetically. "There are no records how extensive their membership might have been. Indeed, there's barely any record of them at all that's credible beyond rumor."

"I see..." That did make a sort of sense, for an order of secret assassins. Erii strode toward a small cluster of relics, Horak-Mul's edict ringing in her mind. Now that she was here, she was even more reluctant to carry out his terms. "Seems a shame to destroy so much history, especially when there isn't much recorded in the first place..." She brushed ice off a decorative display meant to house a lightsaber. It's what he requires for cooperation and I need--

You really think adding another will tame us? Erghast chuckled sardonically.

I think it will give me power to defeat Thanaton and I can be done with all of you, she retorted.

"My lord?" Drellik began, capturing her attention. He tugged at the goggles hanging around his neck. "Might I take some holorecordings before you... begin? I know you said the ghost wishes it destroyed, but this much history..." He swept one hand in a gesture at the crypt, "to obliterate it would be to orphan ourselves. Cultures need the hand of the past as a guide, even as they move forward."

"Be thorough," Erii nodded. She appreciated his passion and happened to agree. "In fact, if you've got an extra, I'll help."

He blinked, as if caught off-guard by her agreement, or at least its speed. "Thank you, my lord. And yes, I do."

Erii watched as he dug two compact holorecorders from his belt, further impressed by just how much fit in there. She accepted the one he offered, glanced over the controls, and the two of them set about documenting everything they could about the catacombs. It was good she'd offered to help; even with two of them it took the better part of two hours, complicted by a smattering of more guardian droids to defeat. She hoped Ashara didn't freeze waiting for them.

Finally when both recorders' memories were full, and the last relics documented, Erii handed hers back and ignited her dualsaber.

She caught Drellik's wince before she turned away and couldn't blame him for not wanting to watch. It turned her stomach as well, but it had to be done. So she told herself. Didn't make it easier.

The final relic--a large statue of Naga Sadow himself which Drellik had gushed over while taking extremely detailed holos--was too large for a mere lightsaber to suffice for its destruction. Several seconds of sustained lightning left Erii's fingertips and implants tingling and an ozone taste in her mouth, but the statue did crumble.

In nearly the same moment it fell, one of the defeated droids was suffused with a familiar red glow. Horak-Mul was pleased with the revenge she'd enacted. Satisfied to tell her where he could be found.

The belly of a superdreadnaught, deep in pirate territory. Of course.

Power never comes easily, little snake.

She studiously ignored Andru and watched Drellik examine the now-collapsed droid. "Never seen spirit possession before, lieutenant?"

"Not of a droid," he said, so off-hand the implication gave her pause. "Fascinating..."

"If you're looking for a souvenir, I think the three of us can get that out of here," Erii drawled with a nod at the droid.

"No, no. I'll have plenty to do with cataloguing these recordings." He patted he pocket that held the fruits of their labor. "Zerek outpost has better equipment for analysis, and it's en route to the Starship Graveyard. I can show you the way if you like."

"That would be lovely, thank you." They could discuss the tomb on the way. Which they did.

And Ashara was gracious enough to let her chatter away with her new friend. Erii appreciated her silence all the more since they were drawing near an end to their time here--and thus working with Lieutenant Drellik. She mulled over the merits of conscripting him again, but watching him animatedly discuss what these findings meant for researchers, she tamped down the temptation. Far be it from her to pull the man from a career he clearly loved. Even if her selfish impulses clamored to do exactly that.

They said their farewells at the outpost, Drellik thanking her profusely for allow allowing records of the Sadow'een catacombs, Erii thanking him for all his help.

She shivered against a particularly cutting wind as she and Ashara made their way down the path toward the dreadnaught and tried not to sulk that this was likely the last she'd see of Talos Drellik.

---

Her hand stung from the newest blood pact, a fresh gash crossing the half-healed one from Taris, and the cacophony of four ghosts in her head had replaced the cacophony of the wind. Erii did her best to ignore both on the shuttle ride to Hoth's orbital station. She was glad to be done with the cold, and the wound on her palm would be easily treated in the Mercurial's medbay.

She was so lost in thought of how best to confront Thanaton, she almost missed the wiry figure trying to flag her down. Might have, if Ashara hadn't dug an elbow into her ribs.

"He's like a puppy," her apprentice whispered with a a tilt of her head, and Erii pivoted.

Her brows shot up. "Lieutenant?" She'd figured he would be neck deep in those holos for another few hours. Yet here he was, sans parka and goggles, tugging straight a uniform jacket rumpled by persistant wear under further layers.

"No longer, my lord." He smoothed a hand over his hair. "I, um, resigned the service."

Her brows arched higher. "Oh? And why would that be?"

"I feel my talents are no longer best used in the military." He shuffled his feet on the scuffed durasteel floor. "I could put them to far better use, ah, helping you, I believe. If you'll have me."

Erii restrained the urge to whoop and punch the air, but did let herself grin. "I can always use another lover of the strange. I'm honored you wish to assist me."

Drellik opened his mouth as if to further argue his case, stopped, then lit up like a child on Life Day. "Excellent! You won't regret it! I have a--"

She held up a hand. "Credentials can come later, lieutenant. Our work today is all the evidence I need this is the right call."

"You honor me, my lord." He put a hand to his chest and bowed. "But since it's no longer lieutnant, Talos will do."

The face-splitting grin was back. Finally someone who would appreciate the history as much as she did without trying to kill her. "Very well, Talos, let's see what weird and wonderful discoveries await." Soon as I deal with the Dark Council member who keeps trying to kill me.

Talos matched her grin. "Right behind you, my lord."