Indiana Jones and the Sith Stone
Posted by: Darth Danno 05.28.08 12:01am

It was another couple of long, arduous days as Indy and Honj went through Naga Sadow's tomb, looking for the inner piece of Malek's hilt, but to no avail. No secret chambers that remained to be discovered, no clues as to where to journey next, it was becoming apparent that whatever they were meant to find, wasn't in this particular tomb.

Indy had decided to give the burial chamber a final once over before moving on to explore one of the remaining two tombs. He activated the lamps they had set up around the room, and tried to locate any place or space that had somehow avoided their scrutiny. Deciding to start with the sarcophagus itself, Indy bent over the final resting place of the Sith Lord, and ran his hand over every inch of the stone coffin, looking for anything that would indicate a false wall, secret chamber, and the like. He was right in the middle of his search when he thought he heard a noise coming from behind him, from the entrance to the chamber. He turned around quickly, but saw nothing. He paused for a few additional moments, waiting to see if the noise would return. Not hearing anything, he continued his examination of the sarcophagus. Then he heard the noise again, it sounded like footsteps. Slowly he reached down to where he had rested his blaster, grasping it quickly, he whirled around and leveled the weapon at... nothing but blackness.

"Honj?" Indy called out, but received no reply. "Honj, are you out there?"

Receiving no reply, Indy relaxed somewhat, and laid the blaster down. "All this time spent in the tombs of these Sith Lords is wearing on my nerves. The sooner we find what Malek hid here, the sooner we can leave."

"You should never have come here in the first place!" A voice called out from behind him.

Indy reached for his blaster once again, only to watch it sail out of his reach and go crashing into the far wall, breaking into numerous pieces. Indy spun and backed around the stone coffin, trying to put something, anything, between him and the ominous voice. Stopping at the head of the casket, he slowly wrapped his hand around the handle of his bullwhip, currently resting at his waist. It wasn't much, but it had saved his skin on numerous occasions before, hopefully it would be enough now.

The mysterious figure that had just spoken, was now standing at the entrance to the burial chamber with his hands behind his back, glaring at Indy. Dr Jones had never met him before, but from his studies on Coruscant, he knew that this being, with his baldhead, maroon outfit, and metal plate where his lower jaw should be, could only be one person.

"You... you're D... Darth Malek!" Indy stammered.

Malek gave a slight bow, then entered the room and stopped at the foot of the sarcophagus. "Correct, and you're moments away from your demise." With that, he brought his hands out from behind him, and in his right hand was his lightsaber.

Gesturing toward the weapon, Indy asked, "is that what we're supposed to be looking for?"

Malek glanced down at the hilt. "This? No. It is a formidable weapon in its own right, but this one is not powered by the Sith crystal created in the Star Forge." With that, he activated the weapon, and a thin crimson blade emerged. With obvious style, grace, and elegance, he spun and twirled the weapon over his head, behind his back, and off to his side.

Indy wasn't amused. "If you're trying to impress me, it's not working."

"Oh, I'm not trying to impress you, I'm trying to show that you are clearly outmatched. Turn over the pieces you've already collected and I will kill you quickly."

"But you're already dead!"

"Revan may have struck me down on the Star Forge, but I am far from deceased. Death has given me more power than you could possibly imagine! I can now see the future! This... Sidious that brought you here, he has grand plans for the galaxy, and the Sith! I have foreseen the fall of the Jedi Order and the rise of a new order, or should I say, a new Empire!"

Indy shrugged. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because you're not going to live long enough to tell anyone!" Malek then started advancing on Indy, and Jones started to move around the sarcophagus, trying to keep it between himself and the Sith Lord.

"I did not create this crystal, this weapon, to have it fall into the hands of the Jedi! They would have no idea how to truly harness its power, nor do they deserve to! If I thought that once you had found all the pieces and assembled the saber, you would do the right thing, betray the Jedi, and turn it over to Lord Sidious, the rightful owner, I might let you live. But I can see that will not happen. So my only recourse is to end your life here and now!" With that, Malek vaulted over the stone casket, putting him within a few feet of the archaeologist.

Indy brought his bullwhip to bear, and cracked it around Malek's wrist, attempting to get him to release his hold on the blade. The Dark Lord did release the hilt, but instead of dropping it, he flipped it into the air and caught it in his left hand, then brought the blade down on Indy's whip, severing it in two. Indy dropped the handle of the now useless weapon, turned, and ran for the exit to the chamber. He almost made it when he felt an invisible force grip his body, pick him up, and fling him into the wall right next to the entrance. Jones tried to shake the cobwebs out of his head and regain his focus, but it was too late. Malek was upon him. The Sith spun his blade around and raised it high over his head, preparing to bring the point of it straight down through Indy's heart.

Completely out of other options, Indy simply brought his foot up and kicked Malek square in the gut. It wasn't much, but it gave Jones time to get to his feet. Indy tried punching the Sith in the face, but a human fist versus a metal jaw? Indy's throbbing hand told him that was a bad idea. The Dark Lord grabbed Indy by the collar, picked him up off the ground, and flung him on top of the open sarcophagus. Literally coming face to face with the skull of Naga Sadow was more than Indy could bear. Quickly climbing out of the casket, he grabbed the closest thing within arms reach to use as a weapon, as Malek charged in for the kill. Suddenly, the Dark Lord stopped his advance, lowered his lightsaber, and stared wide eyed at Jones' newfound weapon.

Indy sat up with a start and looked around. He was back on board their ship. He rubbed his eyes and stood up, trying to get his bearings. He groggily ran up into the cockpit and stared out the viewport. It was still nighttime, but the first rays of sunlight were beginning to appear in the distance. Collapsing into the pilot's chair, he said to himself, "It was all a dream. That's a relief."

Honj suddenly appeared behind him, looking at his disheveled appearance, it appeared Indy's commotion had awoken him as well.

"What's the problem? Are we under attack?"

Indy shook his head. "No, just a very bad dream. But get dressed. I'm betting I know where the inner piece of the saber is!"

The Jedi probed the Professor for more info, but Indy didn't want to say any more as his recent revelation was for now, just a hunch, something out of a dream. He'd feel very stupid if this all turned out to be a cruel joke the sandman had played on him. As Indy dressed, he breathed a sigh of relief when he went to get his whip and saw it still remained in one piece. He slung it over his shoulder, then reached down for his blaster that had been given to him back on Kashyyk, and realized it had not been smashed against the tomb wall, in fact, it was right where he had left it the night before, also in one piece. He grabbed it along with his fedora, and exited the ship to meet up with a very anxious Jedi Master, who was currently waiting for him in front of the entrance to Naga Sadow's tomb.

Darth Danno