Indiana Jones and the Sith Stone
Posted by: Darth Danno 05.21.08 12:01am

Indy was still trying to get the hang of space travel, let alone flying through hyperspace. At least bouts of blackouts were now replaced with moments of mild queasiness, and dizziness that disappeared shortly after takeoff.

"I must commend you," Honj stated. "You appear to be getting more accustomed to space travel. You haven't passed out after take-off in quite some time."

Indy didn't appreciate the sarcasm, but took it in stride. "Thanks... "

Honj laughed. "Just a little humor to pass the time. If I offended you, then I do apologize."

"Forget it. How soon before we reach Korriban?"

Just then, a light lit up on the console. "What a coincidence you should ask. Hold on, I'm cutting the sub-light engines."

Master Tenuto threw a switch, and suddenly all the neighboring planets and systems came into view.

Honj nodded with his head. "Korriban is just ahead. There are three points of interest to us down there. One of course, is the Valley of the Dark Lords. There we'll find the tombs of Marko Ragnos, Ajunta Pall, Tulak Hord, and Naga Sadow. I think we'll land there first. If we don't find anything, we can head into the abandoned Sith academy. If that turns out to be a dead end, we can always head into Dreshdae."

"Dreshdae?"

"Yes, now it's abandoned like everything else down there. But in the time of Malek, it was the only colony on the planet. Many Sith hopefuls would hang out there and hope to garner favor from any of the academy teachers that may come ino town to visit the cantina, or to pick up supplies, and try to gain acceptance into the school. Most were simply ridiculed, or forced to perform ridiculous tests for the teacher's amusement. Very few were actually accepted, and of those that were, even fewer survived the tests the instructors put them through. This place was truly a blight on the galaxy, that is, until Revan showed up."

"And what did he do exactly?"

"He came to the Academy under the guise of becoming a student, passed all the tests the instructors threw at him, then proceeded to eradicate the entire Sith staff and student body."

Indy rolled his eyes. "Lovely."

The craft entered the atmosphere and headed in the direction of the Valley of the Sith Lords. Upon first glimpse of the pyramids from the air, Indy was reminded of his adventures back on Earth; excavating mysterious tombs, uncovering discoveries long thought lost. It was hard to believe that on the world with quite possibly the most evil history, he started to feel the most at home.

Tenuto landed their craft right in the center of the Valley. Figuring TC-10 would just get in the way, they had her stay on the ship and keep watch from there. They gave her a comlink in case they needed to contact her for any reason, and then grabbed their gear and headed out.

Entering the nearest tomb, the Jedi and the archaeologist went about their work. Fortunately for them, these tombs had been ransacked so many times since Revan and Malek's time by grave robbers, treasure seekers, and Sith acolytes, all possible booby traps had already been sprung. Making their way along the dark and dusty corridors, they eventually came to the chamber that contained the actual tomb. Honj quickly went to work translating the writing on the sarcophagus, while Indy set up lamps around the perimeter; giving their work area some much needed light. The glow from the lamps cast eerie shadows along the walls and ceiling.

"We're in luck!" Honj exclaimed after examining the sarcophagus lid. "It appears we're in the tomb of Ajunta Pall."

"And how is that lucky?" Indy wanted to know.

"You see, if I recall my history correctly, when Revan opened Pall's sarcophagus, there were three swords inside. Part of his test was determining which of the three was truly the deceased Sith's sword. He was then to take the correct one, and insert it into a Sith statue, possibly the one there at the back of the tomb."

"How did he know which one was the right one?"

I'm not sure how much of this is true, and how much has been blown out of proportion over time. But what has been passed down is that while here, Revan was visited by the ghost of Ajunta Pall himself, and he gave him a clue as to which was the real sword."

Indy crossed to the far alcove that contained the statue and examined it closely. "From what I can see, it looks like there is a place to insert something like a sword, but there's nothing in here now. Do you think the sword was stolen?"

"If my memory serves me correctly, once Revan passed the test, he was allowed to take the blade back with him, to present to the Master of the Academy to earn prestige. I believe the Master at the time was... Uthar Wynn, not like that has any bearing on our present search."

"Not that I'm not enjoying the history lesson, but you still haven't explained why you think it's lucky we picked this tomb to start with?"

"Oh, yes!" Well, considering Revan's quest involved locating Ajunta's sword, what better place to start looking for part for a Sith lightsaber!"

Indy couldn't argue with that logic, mostly because he didn't have any better suggestions. So the duo began the arduous task of trying to find the next clue Malek had left them. Minutes turned into hours, which in turn turned to days, and after the third day of searching, they were just about to give up and go to another tomb, when Indy decided to give the Sith statue at the back of the room one last look.

"You're looking there again? "Honj queried. "We've already been over that statue at least three times."

"I know, but I've been thinking about what you told me about Pall's sword and this statue. I was wondering what would happen it we stuck something into the slot."

"You think it might open a secret compartment? It's worth a try. What have we got to lose?"

Indy started looking around. "The only problem is, we don't have a sword, or anything sword-like, to insert in there."

Honj rubbed his chin. "Hmmmmm. Wait a minute! Maybe our Trandoshan comrades left something on the ship we can use! They're known for using blades, hopefully one of them will do the trick!"

The two quickly exited the tomb and headed back to their waiting craft. Upon rushing up the boarding ramp, they were greeted by a very excited TC-10, who apparently wasn't used to remaining quiet, or by herself, for this length of time. She assailed them with questions about what they had found, did they encounter any nasty creatures while in the tomb, and how much longer they needed to stay in this evil place. Finally, the Jedi had to switch the droid off, just so they could get what they had come aboard for and be on their way. They each grabbed four edged weapons of varying sizes from the ship's armory and headed back into the tomb.

Upon arriving at the statue, Honj grabbed a blood knife and inserted it into it, nothing. He removed the blade, and Indy inserted a vibrosword into the slot, again, nothing happened. Master Tenuto tried a long sword and a short sword; Indy tried a war blade and a vibroblade, still nothing. The Jedi even tried to figure out a way to make a Gamorrean battleaxe fit, but to no avail. Having only one weapon left that hadn't been tried, Indy decided to see if inserting the double bladed sword into the statue would do anything. It slid in quite easily, then there was a whirring sound, and the base of the statue slid open, revealing a small pedestal holding a black lightsaber handle.

"Look!" Honj exclaimed as he bent down and removed the hilt from its resting place. Holding it up in the dim light, he attempted to examine it from every angle. "Will you look at the craftsmanship of this piece. I've never seen anything like it!"

Indy asked to see the piece, and Master Tenuto handed it over to him. Looking at it, he commented, "Doesn't it seem rather... fat, to you?"

The Jedi looked at him questioningly. "Fat? What do you mean?"

Indy held it up for him to see. "Well look at it. Whatever Jedi, or Sith welds this would have to have really large hands."

Honj took the hilt, and for the first time, held it as if he were going to use it as a weapon, and sure enough, he could barely wrap his hand around it. "You're right! This hilt would be incredibly unwieldy. Why would Malek craft a handle so large?"

"Maybe it's not Malek's handle?"

"If that were the case, why was it hidden so well? Another thing, these tombs each had something within them that kept most Sith hopefuls at bay: Jorak Uln, Uthar Wynn's old master, inhabited the tomb of Tulak Hord. He captured and tortured any that dared venture too close to his lair. A renegade droid built numerous war droids within the tomb of Marko Ragnos to keep trespassers away. This one had the spirit of Ajunta Pall himself keeping watch over things. Master Wynn could have removed these obstacles himself, but instead opted to keep them around as tests for the students. The only tomb Wynn had control over was that of Naga Sadow. He kept it, and the dangers within, as a final test for those lucky enough to get past all the other obstacles. Revan was the only one to get that far."

"Please don't take offense," Indy began, "but you're beginning to sound like TC-10."

"I'm simply making sure you understand the full scope of what's going on. Anyway, if no one had access to these tombs before Revan came along, how did Malek get in here to set this up and hide this? He was killed not too long after Revan left Korriban."

"I have no idea", Indy replied as he took the hilt from Honj once again and re-examined it. "Let's take this thing outside, I could use some better light."

"What are you hoping to find?" the Jedi queried.

"I don't know. Something, anything! Plus I'm starting to get claustrophobic from spending all this time in this tomb."

"Good point. Perhaps clear air will bring forth clearer ideas." Then he followed Indy back out into the valley. Once outside, they both attempted to determine the reason for the hilt's considerable girth. Realizing then that they had done quite a bit of excavating, examining, digging, and searching, they had neglected the necessities such as eating and sleeping. So they sat down aboard their ship and had a nice meal, compliments of the Wookies. Before leaving Kashyyk, the Wookies wanted to give the heroes something to show their appreciation for all they had done, so they left with their hold full of Wookie rations. Some of the entrees would have to be killed before consuming, of course. But one thing Indy and Honj didn't have to worry themselves with was finding something to eat. After their meal, they each retired for some much needed slumber. Upon waking late the next morning, they renewed their study of the lightsaber handle.

"Look!" Indy said as he examined the item. "There looks to be a seam running lengthwise down the hilt!" He then attempted to pry it open.

"Probably the unit was made as two halves, and then forged into one piece." Tenuto replied.

"I don't think so. If you look here, you can see come notches in the metal. It looks to me as if it's hinged on one side. The hinges are very well concealed. You really have to be looking for them to actually see them."

The Jedi Master took the handle and examined it. "You're right! Now we just have to get it open!"

"I tried," Indy commented. "I couldn't get it to budge. Maybe there's a secret key hidden in one of these tombs that will open it."

"I don't think so. You forget that a man strong with the Force created this. It wasn't meant to be found, or opened by just anyone. This was meant for someone who is Force-sensitive." With that, he set it on the table, closed his eyes, and began clearing his mind, thinking only about the hilt, focusing all of his concentration on the inner workings of the ancient handle. Attempting to open the artifact from the inside, with the aid of the Force. The hilt sat on the table, unmoving. Then, it began to rock back and forth slightly, then it shook, then, a "click" was heard, and the handle cracked open. Honj opened his eyes, reached out and grasped the item, and opened it completely. Indy was right, the hilt was hinged on one side, and the interior of the handle was hollow."

"How big is this... Sith stone supposed to be?" Indy asked. "It's got to be pretty big to take up as much space as there is in there."

Honj interjected. "Or perhaps this is just meant to be the outer shell, and there is another piece, that is meant to fit inside it.

Indy caught onto his line of thinking. "So what you're saying is, what we have here is the sheath, we still have to find the handle of the blade!"

"Exactly, and the stone itself IS the blade. I'll bet what we have here was designed to hold the workings and of the saber, the inner piece is meant to hold the Sith crystal itself."

Indy got up and crossed to look out the viewport at the tomb of Ajunta Pall. "So we've got to go back in there to find this other piece?"

The Jedi Master rose to join him. "I don't think so. I'm thinking the second piece is hidden in one of the other tombs."

Jones simply rolled his eyes. "I'll bet it'll be just our luck that our next clue as to where to go after here will be hidden in yet a third tomb."

"You know my friend, I wouldn't doubt it in the least. Let's retrieve our gear and get started."

"Which tomb should we tackle next?"

Well, right across from this tomb is the tomb of Naga Sadow, I suggest we continue our search there."

Indy felt both at home among the ruins, and yet uncomfortable on this world itself. It always seemed as if there was some malevolent force around him, waiting to strike. There was a constant uneasiness that he felt even when he was aboard their ship. He'd like nothing better than to leave this world behind for good, now they were going to have to stay even longer... oh, joy.

Darth Danno