Star Wars: The Untold Stories

"Planet Of Betrayal, Master?" Sar asked with a curious look. Shaak Ti just nodded and said.

"Indeed that is what the archives refer to it as, though they did not state the reason why"

Sar sighed a little at his Master's words. Considering the sinister name of the planet it would probably have been in the Master, padawan duo's interest to actually know where its namesake came from.

"Why do I have a feeling we are going to find out for ourselves?"

Sar said with a little worry laced in his voice. Shaak Ti looked at her padawan and replied.

"Do not worry padawan whatever of the Sith remain on this planet will be more than a millennium old and will most likely not pose much of a threat to us"

Sar thought a bit about his Master's words, but could not quite believe that there would be no threat to them considering the earlier incident when his Master was meditating. Shaak Ti clearly sensed his doubt and began explaining a bit further.

"Young Sar there is a difference between no threat and no danger. There will most likely be Sith related traps and such but with our abilities, we should be able to overcome them relatively easily. The vision was most likely a method to seed doubt or concern in Jedi"

Hearing his Master's wise words Sar realized that he still had much to learn about combat and the force as a whole but he merely responded to his Master's words with a sincere thanks.

As their chat had gone on they had finally entered the atmosphere of Eoliv. The surroundings were just as bleak as the planet itself or at least they seemed to be as there wasn't really much to be seen because of the thick grey mist that seemed to be everywhere on the planet's surface.

Shaak Ti closed her eyes a bit to get a sense of where exactly they should be headed. She quite quickly sensed a place where the concentration of the dark side was stronger than the rest of the surrounding areas. She clicked some buttons on the console on the ship while addressing her padawan.

"We will land here and continue on foot"

Sar just nodded and began making his way towards the disembarking ramp.

"I understand Master"

***

The ship had landed and the hissing sound of the locks disengaging from the disembarking ramp sounded out in the mist covered area. Shaak Ti and her padawan stepped out of the ship and onto the planet's surface.

Sar immediately noticed that the surface of the planet had much in common with the so-called 'dust' planets like Tatooine except instead of desserts of sand there were desserts of gravel. The grey stones seemed to be everywhere one looked though admittedly that wouldn't really be saying much as the thick mist greatly hindered their vision.

Something that surprised both Sar and his Master was that there seemed to be quite a strong wind yet the mist never seemed to move almost as if something was keeping it in place. Shaak Ti removed her lightsaber from her waist and Sar followed suit. They did not ignite them but were ready to do so at any sign of danger.

"Keep your guard up padawan. This mist is unnatural and I feel that it is laced with dark powers" Shaak Ti addressed her padawan before beginning to slowly move towards the direction of the anomaly she had sensed.

Sar followed right beside his Master pushing his force sense to the limit. He would not allow himself to get overconfident and sloppy on this mission.

The closer they got to their destination the thicker the mist seemed to get. Sar felt like that at any moment the mist could become solid that was how thick it currently. He glanced up at his Master, who if she shared his worries, did not show it.

It felt like they had walked for hours when suddenly Shaak Ti stopped. Sar saw this and stopped as well but could not feel anything strange except the increase in the dark side's presence.

"Master?"

Shaak Ti did not answer her confused padawan she merely lifted both her arms palms facing in front of her. Sar could see the mist in front of her bend inwards slightly as if something heavy had slammed into it. Shaak Ti then changed her arm posture by turning them so that each of her palms was facing opposite directions. Then as if manually opening a sliding door she began to separate her two arms. It seemed as if she was struggling at first but just a second later she quickly separated both her arms fully in a fluid motion.

Just as the action finished Sar could hear the whooshing sound of the force passing through his ears and then he saw a huge chunk of the mist in front of him and his Master separate. Now with a clear line of sight Sar finally saw what had made his Master stop, though, from the surprised look on her face she didn't seem to have expected exactly what they saw.

In front of them stood a massive pyramid. It was made of some type of shiny black rock with vein-like streaks of glowing red crystal ruining all along the structure. It looked ancient as there were cracks and signs of decay all along the pyramids body and a huge chunk of the top seemed to have been blown off.

The pyramid practically pulsated with the dark side. The entrance seemed to be a huge ancient gate which depicted two lightsaber dualists fighting. All in all, it practically screamed 'Sith'.

"Master, is this a Sith temple?" Asked an on-guard Sar

Shaar Ti kept observing the pyramid while answering her padawan.

"No, I don't believe so. From what I can see the structure has more in common with an ancient Sith throne hall"

Sar looked confused at his Master.

"Hall? But Master look at the thing it's huge!"

Shaak Ti looked at her confused padawan before chuckling a bit.

"Yes the ancient Sith were said to be quite vain" She looked back to the pyramid "That statement would seem to be true"

Sar still found it quite strange considering the fact that there were no other buildings around. Who would build a throne hall in the middle of nowhere? But they had a mission so he would have to put his doubts aside for now and focus.

Shaak Ti, followed by her padawan, began moving toward the gate of the pyramid. Arriving right in front of it they began to study it. Shaak Ti uttered in a slightly impressed voice.

"This is a force door. It would seem that it was constructed in a way that made it only open for dark side users"

Sar also focused on the door and felt the distinct feeling of the dark side flowing in an intricate manner through the door.

"Well, then how are we supposed to get in? As far as I know, neither of us are Sith and I have no interest in becoming one"

Shaak Ti nodded before answering.

"You are correct if we had arrived a few millennia earlier we would probably have had no choice but to head back" Shaak Ti lifted her arm and pointed slightly at the door "Now, however? It would seem that the mechanism has decayed quite a bit since its construction"

Hearing what his Master had said Sar tried to examine the door again with his force sense and realized that she was right. It was as if the dark side that was present in the door was supposed to flow a certain way but there seemed to be something clogging most of the pathways making it impossible for the dark side to move.

"Master, are you saying we can overwhelm the dark side presence with our own force?"

Shaak Ti nodded at her padawans words.

"Very good Sar to be able to sense that shows that your mastery of the force is improving"

After praising her padawan Shaak Ti waved a lazy hand in front of the door. The doors trembled slightly before the eyes of the battling figures depicted on the door lit up in a sickly yellow light. There was a sound of something cl.i.c.k.i.n.g and moving past the door before the sound of stone grating against stone sounded out as the door slid open.

Sar and his Master both peered inside the now opened pyramid but could not see anything as the insides were completely dark. Shaak Ti looked at her padawan before gesturing for him to follow her.

As soon as they walked over the threshold of the door the sound of stone grating against stone once again sounded out from behind them. Quickly turning on their lightsabers they spun around facing the now closed entrance.

Seeing as nothing else was happening they once again turned their backs to the door keeping their lightsabers on so that they could navigate in the total darkness.

"What now Master we're trapped"

Whispered Sar to his Master.

"Yes, this is quite the unfortunate turn of events. Stay close to me Sar we will have to go further in"

Shaak Ti whispered back while slowly stalking ahead followed by Sar. They did not have to walk far because as soon as they had walked a few steps the room lit up. The quick change from complete darkness to bright light disoriented them a little and quickly fell into their positions getting ready for a fight.

But once again this proved unnecessary as except for the blinding light nothing else seemed to happen. Easing up a little while still keeping their guard up they began observing the room they were currently in.

There was only one room. Which they both found strange having constructed such a huge building for only one room but the ancients Sith love for power and status was well known so they guessed it wasn't that strange. The room's walls and the floor was made of the same black stone as the rest of the pyramid.

The room was rather barren with the exception of the torch holders along the walls of the entire room each torch held a bright white gem that brightly shined. The only other thing of note was in the middle of the huge hall. There on top of a small platform stood a huge black and red throne facing the door in which they entered the room.

The backrest was about 5 meters tall which made the throne look strange as the seat itself and the armrests seemed to be built like a normal throne. On each side of the throne stood two weird looking droids and seated in the throne itself was a robe-clad skeleton.

Sar examined the two droids standing at the side of the throne trying to see if he could remember something about them. They looked almost exactly like one of the Magna Guard droid he had once seen accompany one of the senators visiting the temple back when he was still an initiate.

Except these were much larger easily reaching about three and a half meters in height, and instead of the iron-plated body and the weird looking rag that they wore around their head, these droids were completely exposed. You could see all of their wiring and their circuitry. A further sign that these droids had been here for a long time.

They stood straight with two-hands on their weapons which looked like the electrostaffs that their younger brothers used except these did not have the electric charges instead each end had a sharp glaive-like blade. The weapons were pointed down and were located in front of their robotic faces making them look like two guardian statues.

Sar and his Master looked at each other before turning off their lightsabers. They currently sensed no danger and there was no need for light now that the room was so brightly lit, but they still kept their lightsaber hilt in hand ready to be used at any moment.

As they were walking up to the throne they suddenly sensed something once again igniting their lightsabers they quickly slipped into their stances and this time it paid off as shortly after they had ignited their blades the two droids came to life.

Their eyes lit up in a blood red light and the sound if rusted metallic joints filled the large room. They slowly removed one of their hands from the spear-like weapon they held having it dangle along their side. They then began moving towards the duo at a slow lumbering pace.

Sar could not help but make a quick quip at the current situation.

"So much for there not being anything that could be a threat to us, huh Master"

Shaak Ti kept glaring at the two droids approaching them while responding to her cheeky padawan.

"It would seem I have underestimated the technological abilities of the ancient Sith" She then shifted her sight slightly to glance at her padawan out of the corner of her eye "While the situation is unfortunate this might be a good time to test your combat skills. You will take the one on the right while I handle the one on the left"

"Yes, Master!"

Sar quickly replied to his Master before strengthening his legs with the force and at the same time as his Master shooting towards his metallic foe.

As soon as he was in the range of the droid he swung his lightsaber in a vertical manner trying to hit the droids right side. The droid responded immediately by meeting his weapon with its own. Sar was shocked to find out that his lightsaber could not cut through whatever the spear-like weapon was made of.

The droid made an unnatural motion making its wrist turn a full 360 degrees shaking off Sar's lightsaber and tried to stab him with one of the ends of its weapon. The strike was fast and Sar could hear the wind splitting around the blade as it came towards his c.h.e.s.t but Sar had sensed the attack coming and used the force to jump up into the air.

While in the air Sar maneuvered his body in such a way that when he landed he did not land on the ground but instead on the shaft of the spear-like weapon that the droid had stretched out in its attempt at stabbing him. Steadying himself with the force he struck down in an arc at the wrist of the robot. Using the fifth lightsaber form, Shien.

This time with the added power from the form, and the relatively thin metal protecting the wrists, Sar managed to separate both of its wrists from its body. Just before the weapon fell to the ground Sar made a backflip landing a few meters from the droid just as the weapon clattered to the ground.

The droid made a strange whirring noise its eyes also flickered slightly as if it was wincing because of having its wrist cut off. That fact did not seem to slow it down however as it immediately began charging at Sar.

Seeing this Sar once again used the force on his legs and began running at the charging droid. His lightsaber was held slightly sideways trailing behind him as he ran. When he sensed that he had closed the distance enough he once again force jumped into the air this time doing a front flip. At the end of his flip he brought his lightsaber into a two-handed grip over his head and right as he felt he was within striking distance of the droid, he used the force to force himself down in a quick manner while at the same time he brought down the lightsaber.

Sar had timed it perfectly as he soon felt the distinct feel of his lightsaber hitting something solid and the distinct sound of plasma melting metal filled his ears. He had hit the top of the three-meter tall droid's head and the momentum of the fall had made it possible to cleave right through the middle of the droid's whole body.

All this only took a few seconds and Sar soon felt the shock of hitting the stone floor travel through his legs yet he remained firm. The same could not be said for his foe as there was a clear bright orange line going through the middle of it. Its red eyes turning off and on before finally turning off completely. The two pieces of the droid then clattered to the floor.

Sar sensing that the droid had been destroyed turned off his lightsaber and attached it to his waist.

"Very well done my young padawan. You show great improvement in your combat abilities"

Sar turned to look at his Master who stood a few meters from him a proud smile on her face and her arms crossed over her c.h.e.s.t. At her feet lay what remained of her opponent though it looked more like a heap of scrap than anything else.

"Thank you Master" Sar replied before glancing at the pile of scrap at his Master's feet "What did you do to it? Put it through a trash compactor?"

Shaak Ti turned towards the throne and gestured for Sar to follow her before she replied.

"No, not quite. As I have said before the force is a powerful ally for those who know how to wield it" She then began walking towards the throne with Sar at her heels "But enough about that I still feel the strong pull of the dark side and I would venture a guess that the person who this throne belonged to has something to do with it"

They both walked up to the large throne and began examining it. Shaak Ti began examining the skeleton sitting on the throne while Sar circled around the back of it.

"Strange, these bones seem to belong to a human male but then what are these horns attached to the skull" Shaak Ti was brought out of her musing by the voice of her padawan

"Umm, Master? I think I might have found the reason as to why this planet is called the planet of betrayal"

Shaak Ti joined her padawan at the back of the throne and Sar showed her what he had found. At the back of the throne was a hole which seemed to have been made by a lightsaber. The hole was also a direct parallel to where the person sitting on the throne's heart would be on the other side of the backrest.

"Judging from the fact that there seem to be only one entrance it seems highly unlikely that whoever made that hole was an assassin" Shaak Ti circled back around now looking at the front of the throne looking at the hole from the front "Which makes me believe that whoever killed this Sith was someone he knew, probably his apprentice"

Sar circled around and joined his Master at the front of the throne before replying.

"So just Sith being Sith, then? That is pretty anti-climactic"

Shaak Ti frowned a little at hearing the dismissive way her padawan described the situation

"Betrayal is never simple Sar and while the Sith has a long history of it they are far from the only ones who have experienced it. Betrayal is one of the easiest ways to fall to the dark side it must nev-"

His Master's lecture got cut short as both of them sensed a disturbance in the force prompting them to ignite their lightsabers and get ready for a fight. The lights in the room went out and the room became completely dark.

Sar immediately noticed that something was wrong as the darkness was nothing like it had been when they had first entered the temple. First of all the light that his lightsaber gave out was absorbed by the darkness granting him no vision. Secondly, the darkness seemed to be moving around as if it was actually made of smoke.

Sar also couldn't sense his Master anywhere so he tried to call out.

"Master! Master where are you?!"

Sar received no response except the sound of his echo resounding through the darkness. Even though he did not know his Master's location Sar did not panic he steeled himself and gripped his lightsaber a little tighter before pushing his force sense to its limits.

Sar slowly spun around in place so that he did not leave his back open for too long. Suddenly sensing something he stopped spinning and slipped into Soresu for a firmer defense.

"I know you are there!"

Sar yelled into the shadows before pointing his blade forward towards the darkness.

"Show yourself!"

As if responding to his command the darkness seemed to part as if making way for something, or rather someone. A silhouette of a figure could be seen inside of the dark smoke-like shadows, two sickly yellow eyes also peered out of the shadows. The shadows parted a little more

and out stepped a dark robed figure.