Shae'an Vai Li
Character
Located deep in the Wild Space, the planet of Weik had gone unnoticed and unmolested for centuries. A backwards, feudal planet that clung to remnants of its advanced past it was far enough away from everything to have remained unexploited even as the galaxy reopened to itself in the wake of the Gulag Plague. Visitors were few and far between, seeking curiosities or simply reaching out to keep the place documented.
As usual, Shae didn't know why she had been led here, and also as usual she didn't care. The Force would reveal things to her if it wanted, or she made it, and either way the end result was the same. But even in orbit she could feel the energy within the planet and it called to her the same way Wayland had. A force nexus, the Sith had called it, or more accurately a vergence. Some flowed toward the light, some to the dark, but either way there was a resource here to be tapped.
The freighter set down in a secluded valley roughly half a days walk to the nearest settlement, a small fortified town. It wasn't precisely an ideal location, a bit too far away from the site of interest, but the captain had insisted on being close enough to some semblance of civilization in order to trade for supplies and goods. He had to turn a profit here after all, and while Shae's money had been good enough to convince him to fly all the way out to nowhere he wasn't exactly turning a profit.
"How'd you even hear about a place like this?"
The question came from one of the crew, this one a young human named Tebbo who had taken a fancy towards her on the trip. They'd talked regularly, with Shae using the opportunity to further build the idea that she was nothing more than a wandering xeno-archeologist with a bit too much money on her hands. Double the appeal for a spacer with nothing but spare time and idle thoughts.
"The great library on Naboo has great records, and there's a mention here and there of this planet, Weik, back in the days of the Galactic Civil War. Jedi used to come here, they say, though it never does say why. Sith too, I suppose. Probably after some sort of artifact or crystal, they use them for their lightsabers you know?"
His face had already taken on the glazed over look it did whenever she got to 'smart' for him, a fairly common occurrence with Teb. Keeping him fooled had required no skill or use of the force at all, just simple white lies and the occasional compliment.
"Why not just go to Coruscant, the archives there probably have a whole section on even this backwater."
That was Rier Nokav, a shistavanen woman who was the main pilot and first mate of the ship. Besides being a skilled navigator she also had some modicum of a formal education, and it was on this and their shared predatory instincts that her and Shae had bonded, somewhat. After a month long voyage, she was the closest thing to a friend that Shae had on the ship.
Assuming one treated even friends as expendable assets, of course. But even Shae doubted anything extreme would be necessary here. She never had understood the point with those Sith who seemed to exist to bring suffering to others. What good did it do them? What good did it do the Dark Side? Everyone, everything was a tool, you just needed the knowledge to use it right.
"I couldn't get close, not with the war and then how tightly the Alliance keeps things controlled there. The cost to grease some palms was too high, even for me."
She gave a sheepish shrug, as if embarrassed about her supposed wealth. Rier nodded, understanding without stating it outright, in the classic manner of smugglers.
The best lies are those you let others create for themselves. That had been a lesson Shae had learned early on, and tempered in her dealings with other Sith.
Seven left the ship and headed south towards the mountains, where preliminary scans had detected a an old construction nearly buried by millennia of tectonic movement. If the scans were right and it dated back to the original colonization of Weik, the potential for a good find was high enough that even the captain was interested. He and the remaining four of the crew stayed with the ship, planning on bartering for goods with the nearby town.
It was over a days hike to the site, and they spent the first night out beneath the stars, surrounded by trees. As the fire died down and the group drifted off to sleep, Shae couldn't help but be reminded of Wayland, and the dark side nexus that had existed there buried beneath Mount Tantiss. She opened her mind to the force and reached out, seeking something similar. But nothing answered, besides the normal tugging at the edge of her consciousness that let her know she was headed the right way.
Perhaps tomorrow would bring more revelations.
As usual, Shae didn't know why she had been led here, and also as usual she didn't care. The Force would reveal things to her if it wanted, or she made it, and either way the end result was the same. But even in orbit she could feel the energy within the planet and it called to her the same way Wayland had. A force nexus, the Sith had called it, or more accurately a vergence. Some flowed toward the light, some to the dark, but either way there was a resource here to be tapped.
The freighter set down in a secluded valley roughly half a days walk to the nearest settlement, a small fortified town. It wasn't precisely an ideal location, a bit too far away from the site of interest, but the captain had insisted on being close enough to some semblance of civilization in order to trade for supplies and goods. He had to turn a profit here after all, and while Shae's money had been good enough to convince him to fly all the way out to nowhere he wasn't exactly turning a profit.
"How'd you even hear about a place like this?"
The question came from one of the crew, this one a young human named Tebbo who had taken a fancy towards her on the trip. They'd talked regularly, with Shae using the opportunity to further build the idea that she was nothing more than a wandering xeno-archeologist with a bit too much money on her hands. Double the appeal for a spacer with nothing but spare time and idle thoughts.
"The great library on Naboo has great records, and there's a mention here and there of this planet, Weik, back in the days of the Galactic Civil War. Jedi used to come here, they say, though it never does say why. Sith too, I suppose. Probably after some sort of artifact or crystal, they use them for their lightsabers you know?"
His face had already taken on the glazed over look it did whenever she got to 'smart' for him, a fairly common occurrence with Teb. Keeping him fooled had required no skill or use of the force at all, just simple white lies and the occasional compliment.
"Why not just go to Coruscant, the archives there probably have a whole section on even this backwater."
That was Rier Nokav, a shistavanen woman who was the main pilot and first mate of the ship. Besides being a skilled navigator she also had some modicum of a formal education, and it was on this and their shared predatory instincts that her and Shae had bonded, somewhat. After a month long voyage, she was the closest thing to a friend that Shae had on the ship.
Assuming one treated even friends as expendable assets, of course. But even Shae doubted anything extreme would be necessary here. She never had understood the point with those Sith who seemed to exist to bring suffering to others. What good did it do them? What good did it do the Dark Side? Everyone, everything was a tool, you just needed the knowledge to use it right.
"I couldn't get close, not with the war and then how tightly the Alliance keeps things controlled there. The cost to grease some palms was too high, even for me."
She gave a sheepish shrug, as if embarrassed about her supposed wealth. Rier nodded, understanding without stating it outright, in the classic manner of smugglers.
The best lies are those you let others create for themselves. That had been a lesson Shae had learned early on, and tempered in her dealings with other Sith.
Seven left the ship and headed south towards the mountains, where preliminary scans had detected a an old construction nearly buried by millennia of tectonic movement. If the scans were right and it dated back to the original colonization of Weik, the potential for a good find was high enough that even the captain was interested. He and the remaining four of the crew stayed with the ship, planning on bartering for goods with the nearby town.
It was over a days hike to the site, and they spent the first night out beneath the stars, surrounded by trees. As the fire died down and the group drifted off to sleep, Shae couldn't help but be reminded of Wayland, and the dark side nexus that had existed there buried beneath Mount Tantiss. She opened her mind to the force and reached out, seeking something similar. But nothing answered, besides the normal tugging at the edge of her consciousness that let her know she was headed the right way.
Perhaps tomorrow would bring more revelations.
