[Solved] The Dark Relic Chapter I: Another Klatooinian Bites the Dust

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PREVIOUSLY

https://swfactions.net/community/main-forum/operation-needle-in-a-load-of-blue-milk/

STORY
The craggy outback, known as the Charyai to the natives, was the last patch of beauty on the blasted corpse of the planet Kayri III, sunset-coloured rock and thick, green pines turned to mud and decay. The temple embedded into this section of the massive rock structure was slowly crumbling like the outside world, its stone eroded and consumed by pioneer species, mosses and lichens. The clan Helachon, many of whom had been scattered to the far reaches of the galaxy in fear of the remnant, had asked the Relic Hunters to protect their ancestral treasures and heirlooms by transporting them offworld. 

Jal looked back over the vista behind them, where the sun was beginning to rise. He winced, they needed to hurry if they were to get into space when the patrols would arrive. He didn’t know how much stuff the Charons had stored away in the towering formation. There could be hours of work waiting before them, hidden in the towering formations, and the last thing they needed was to be caught halfway through the job. Before he could even finish his thought, he heard the faint sounds of propulsion. Jal quickly looked up, startled, his hand flying to his blaster as a figure clad in dark blue and a brimmed hat landed at the mouth of the temple. 

“This is imperial territory, get out,” the newcomer said with a voice muffled and their head towards the ground. 

The figure looked up, mouth covered with red cloth which explained the muffled speech, agitated eyes staring down the hooded Duro in front of him. 

Kedaam! Why am I always hindered by these Klatooinians? Jal thought to himself, his pure red eyes rolling, a human gesture that he could perfectly recreate. Then louder, he said, “Hey, zheigo hallad! Know a guy named Professor Quibbles? You look just like him.” 

The Klatooinian shifted his stance, his mind went back to the obnoxious imperial back home on Aesolian. The idea of doing the same to this insolent Duro was extremely tempting.

“No,” he replied flatly. “You’re just about as annoying as the bucketheads. How ‘bout you step aside so I can do my job.”

“If they irritate you so much, why work for them?” Jal replied impudently.  

The Klatooinian prepped his blaster then replied. “Well, glad you asked, it’s this, or the spice mines of Kessel. And, I don’t think I need to offer any more explanations.” 

Without warning, Jal’s head began to throb and his legs shook, he stumbled backwards. His vision of the orange rock and klatooinian replaced with that of slimy tentacles and a floating cube, bathed in darkness and the sharp red glow oozing out of its  ornately carved crevices. What was this? Wait, he had seen this before, in an ancient tome in the library at the old monastery! No, Jal still didn’t know, he had been called away by one of the monks before he could read the description, but he had an image. Suddenly, he was pulled back, his eyes filled with the soft blue sky of Kayri III and the rough klatooinian that towered over him. He sweated profusely and pulled his grey hood off. What did that box have to do with this temple? 

    Jal awoke again as he heard the pounding of feet. The Klatooinian simply stared at him, obviously irritated. Jal craned his head back from his prone position to see Tolli running up the hill. She had grabbed Jal’s blaster from where it had fallen and nervously pointed it at the brimmed hat alien, who in fact, had stowed both of his blasters. In turn, he laughed. 

    “You relic hunters are persistent,” the Klatooinian mused. “Perhaps you wouldn’t mind retrieving the treasure inside? For the Society of course.”

    He proffered his hand to the prone Duro who took it cautiously and motioned with a small blaster for Jal to move to the temple entrance. Quickly, the bounty hunter walked over to Tolli, his blaster casually pointed at her. He nodded with his head towards the ground and Tolli dropped the blaster that she’d picked up. Then, he grabbed Tolli and slammed her against the rugged crags, his blaster now firmly pointed at her head and his boot holding her from squirming. Jal moved to help her but was stopped. 

    “Stay where you are. Let’s make this simple, shall we?” he said sardonically. “Retrieve the treasure inside and she lives. Fail to do so, and well, I doubt I need to explain further.”

“Now get movin’ you monk,” he followed up sharply, kicking Jal into the temple mouth. “One hour, that’s it!”

Jal attempted to stand up but was greeted by a hard rock. Immediately, he fell back to the floor with a thud; his head throbbed again. He shook his head and began to crawl forward. Several minutes later, he saw a thin line of light ahead, an opening. He gave a slight smile, and quickly, but with care, scrambled out of the rocky tunnel. The Charon must be a shorter species, he thought to himself. He looked about.

Surprisingly, the room was quite bare, minus a few urns filled to the brim with golden ornaments and in the center of the room, a pedestal topped with a… an ornate cube? No, it was the one from his vision! Was this a premonition from the Force? A few of the older monks occasionally spoke of visions, but those were rare and often clouded. The line of light he’d seen earlier basked the relic with light which created a bubble around the darkness flowing out from it. Jal surveyed the room. Thankfully, unlike his vision, there were no tentacles. Strangely, the floating cube didn’t emit blood red light from the carvings on its surface. Jal pulled out a bag and placed the artifact into it. As soon as he grabbed it, a sharp hiss echoed from the pedestal which now had a deep crack in its otherwise smooth surface. He couldn’t stay here. He placed the bag in his leather jacket and grabbed the urns and turned towards the tunnel ingress. He looked back, had he heard something? He did not have any time to waste so he shrugged his shoulders and slowly crawled his way back to the surface, pushing the urns in front of him. 

Finally, he saw light, and not just a thin ray of it, a whole sky of it. The patrols would pass soon now that dawn had given way to day. Jal stretched his back and dusted off his jacket before grabbing the urns which he then put next to the klatooinian who nodded at him as he walked out of the temple. Thud! The temple had collapsed mere moments after Jal had exited it. 

“Just in time, your hour was almost up, seems the planet agreed with me. Would’ve been a shame if the planet killed you for me. Now the relics, if you will, all of them.”

Jal sighed and grabbed a bag from his jacket, but it wasn’t the one with the dark relic in it. Waiting a few seconds to feign reluctance, and for the wind to be on target, Jal opened the pouch, letting the wind blow the deigoks dust blow into the gap between the bounty hunter’s hat and bandana. He screamed as the dust burned his eyes, blaster shots flying wildly from him as he attempted to gun down the Duro. 

“Run!” Jal yelled to Tolli as he quickly grabbed the urns before sprinting down the hill to his ship. He scurried up the access ladder and went straight for the cockpit, promptly keying for the launch cycles. 

“Hope you’re onboard Tolli,” he murmured. The ship jolted as she jumped into the cargo bay at the last second before lift off. Jal hit another button which would seal the blast door. She joined him in the cockpit, panting heavily. 

“What was that?” she said, coughing. 

“That was a sacrifice,” Jal replied ruefully. “All of my deigoks dust, important for proper Leivaks brewing, gone.” 

“You, um, have the treasure?” she asked, ignoring Jal’s sadness over the loss of his precious ingredient.

“Of course. Also, there’s something I need to show you, found it in the temple.”

Jal guided the ship out of the planet’s atmosphere and hit the hyperdrive to take them back to Takodana before pulling the artifact out of his jacket. 

Tolli grabbed it from him, turning it round to investigate it. She shuddered. 

“Stuk ceill kadog?” Jal asked. 

“This is a sith relic, a uh, holocron,” she replied anxiously, her face filled with dread.