Dempsey stood amidst the devastated rubble that had once been a major city, the capital of Hathrox III. And not only that, but it had been the seat of power for the Hathren. She didn't know much of them, but what she knew made her thankful they were dead. Their cruelty was surpussed only by their desire to rule the universe. They had ruled a vast part of the universe for millenia, and their empire had been expanding steadily.
Until they came across a lone man, who virtually on his own had destroyed their race.
Never cross a Sith Lord, especially one named Darth Bane, Dempsey thought to herself.
She walked through the debris. Somewhere here was the object of her travels. She looked up. The burning sun had come up less than an hour ago, but already it was so hot she could hardly keep breathing. She had to find cover, and soon.
She walked on, trying to keep to the shadows as much as possible, but even in the shadows the temperature was starting to rise far above that of her own body.
Suddenly she froze. There was a small building directly ahead. Contrary to everything else here, it seemed to be somewhat intact. She moved quickly, and walked up to the door. As she grabbed her lightsaber and snapped it on, hearing the familiar hiss as the blade formed, she kicked in the door.
Inside, there was nothing but a table. There was a staircase that appeared to be leading to a second level, but it was blocked by a large piece of debris. The room was empty. She turned off the lightsaber, clipped it back on her belt, and walked towards the table.
On the table stood a small, cubical box. She had never seen one before, but she knew what it was.
A Jedi holocron.
She walked towards the object and picked it up slowly. She wondered what exactly it held within. She looked at it, playing with it, turning it over, studying each side. The she put it back down, and carefully removed her left glove, exposing her hand to the atmosphere. immediately, it started burning away at her flesh. The pain shot through her and nearly knocked her out, but she gathered her strength and used her unshielded hand to grab the holocron again.
As soon as her hand closed around it, it buzzed, and a beam of light shot out, engulfed her, and drove the atmosphere away. Then a small image appeared above the holocron. It quickly coalesced into a humanoid shape, albeit small, green and with pointy ears.
"Greetings," the holographic projection said. "Welcome to Hathrox II, you are."
"Led here by the Dark Side, you were," the figure continued. "Seen it, I have."
Dempsey stood there, looking at the figure. It's broken basic sounded funny. But it also appeared the figure was very serious. Is this a Jedi? She wondered.
"Good it is, that you are here," the figure continued. "Many things I need to say. Many things you need to learn. Save your friends, you must."
If anything, that got Dempsey's attention.
"Save my friends?"
"Prisoner of evil, he is. A trap has been set."
Dempsey listened intently. Part of her was extremely curious, and part of her was wondering how it was possible this Jedi knew what was happening now, when he had recorded the message so many hundreds of years ago.
"Remember always, fear, anger and hatred, of the Dark Side they are. Into your heart, you must let them not." And with that, the image faded, and she was alone again.
Mare Arturus.
That was the name the image had given her, where she could find her friends. Maybe the Jedi knew who they were, she didn't. Maybe the message wasn't even meant for her, but she didn't believe in coincedence like this. She put her glove back on, and as soon as she did, she saw the bubble around her fade away. In an instant, the atmospheric gasses of the planet started seeping into her flightsuit again, and she concentrated to drive them out. Then, she stepped out and walked towards the building the Jedi had told her to go to.
As she entered the building, her mouth fell open. In the building stood a perfectly preserved one man starfighter. Although it had been standing there for hundreds of years, not a speck of dust covered its shining metal finish.
She stepped up, and jumped in the cockpit. It had a familiar feel, and it took her seconds to get the engines started. Incredible, it still works, flashed through her mind.
Two minutes later, a silvery streak of light shot from the planet surface through the upper atmosphere. Then it seemed to disappear as Dempsey enabled the cloaking device. Inside the cockpit, she pulled the hyperdrive yoke, and the fighter made the jump to lightspeed, on its way to Mare Arturus.
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