Gone for Good Chapter 27; Timing

Chapter 27

Timing  

Danika reached the door set into the hillside first and Bastila and I paused just behind her.  She reached out as if in a dream and ran her hands over the raised central portion.  “I think it’s opened by using the Force,” she said.   

“There’s no way to open it by hand?” I asked.  I didn’t like the prospect of going underground with a door that was only capable of being opened by the Force at my back.  It offended my abilities as an engineer; I’d opened jammed and locked doors before, but no amount of tinkering could open this one.  Both Danika and I were still new to this Force business and I didn’t know about her, but I certainly didn’t like to rely on it overmuch.    

“No,” Danika answered.  She sounded as if she was distracted and I could feel the Force pulse from her.  She stopped touching the door and took a half step away, moving her hand before the door as if she was waving it before a motion detector.  The Force moved again, and the door opened.  I took careful note of how she’d done it in case I needed to open it from the other side.   

Bastila tensed next to me as the door opened and I wondered if I’d have to shove her bodily inside.  Danika showed no such hesitation, stepping easily into the doorway as if we’d been here dozens of times before.  Bastila followed her only moments later and I felt a flicker of a thrill of sharp fear from her through the bond.  But it wasn’t a personal fear.  She wasn’t afraid for herself, she was afraid for Danika.   

I had to fight hard to suppress my reaction to that as I followed both women through the door.  I’d have to bring it up much later, when I was far enough away from Bastila that the subtleties of my thoughts wouldn’t leak to her through our bond. 

The first thing I noticed was that there was a slight breeze inside the antechamber beyond the door.  The hair on the back of my neck immediately stood on end because the first thing that told me was that piece of information told me was that there were ventilation systems here.  The structure looked to be way too old for any systems to be still functional, having sat without maintenance for untold decades, more likely centuries.  How would they even still have power?  I wondered.  There weren’t any sources for geothermal energy in the immediate area and I’d seen no evidence of solar harvesters.  Nothing else would have been able to maintain a useable energy source this long. 

“Do the two of you feel that?” Danika asked, pausing a healthy distance away from the only other door in the antechamber. Her body was slightly tense and yet calm at the same time, the exact same stance she used when she was searching for an enemy.  Most anyone would have thought such an observation strange, but Danika and I had pulled many a dangerous job as smugglers.  More times than I cared to think about that had led us into situations very similar to those faced on a battlefield; one small squad against another, seeking and being sought in return.   

“You are referring to the breeze?” Bastila asked.  “I do feel it.  Perhaps there is another entrance to this place.”  Her stance was unconcerned, even casual.  She didn’t have very much experience with these types of situations, I thought.  And that made sense.  She was usually at the back of a battle, using her Battle Meditation to reinforce the soldiers with her.  

“Or maybe there’s an active ventilation system,” I said.  “I doubt there’s another entrance.  There was nothing but grass on top of this hill.”  I had not taken a terribly good look at the terrain above where we now stood, but I still remembered the layout well.  A well trained engineer’s eye had caught information that might be pertinent, such as the unnatural lines of artificial construction.  I had seen none, merely the softly humped shape of a hill.  There was no possibility I had missed one on the opposite side of the hill because it had shifted smoothly into the flat plain in a curve too shallow to hide the hollow a door would form.  That didn’t necessarily mean that there were no ventilation shafts leading to the surface; any still uncovered by dirt would have been well hidden by the tall grass.   

“But these ruins are ancient,” Bastila protested, looking distinctly distraught by having her world view tilted so sharply.  “Surely nothing would have functioned for this long.”   

“That’s the point,” Danika said.  “No technology I know of could have held up.  That means that either someone is still here, or whoever built this place had some kind of miracle tech.”   

“You know I think I’d prefer the miracle tech,” I replied.  “I’d really like to be able to not kill anybody today.”  

“Heh,” Danika chuckled.  “That’s one of the worst sentences I’ve heard you string together.  Your childhood language instructor must be thrashing and wailing right about now.”   

“Hey, you aren’t exactly Miss Perfect Grammar over there,” I shot back. 

“Surely the two of you are joking?” Bastila asked, looking back and forth between us with wide, disbelieving eyes.  “We’re investigating ruins that may have given the two most powerful Sith Lords in history the secret to defeating the republic and you’re arguing about grammar?”  

“We’re not arguing,” I said with a falsely serious face and a much too cheerful tone.  “We’re bantering.”   

Danika rolled her eyes.  “Leave the poor girl alone,” she said.  “She does have a point.”   

I wrinkled my nose and strode past my ex-smuggling partner with the smell of old dust and stone thick in the back of my throat.  “Spoilsport,” I muttered.   

“I heard that, Smartass,” Danika said as she followed.  Behind her I could hear a strangled noise come from Bastila and couldn’t help but grin.  It was entirely too easy to antagonize her.   

And antagonizing Bastila took my mind off the creepy architecture of the ruins.  They barely lived up to the name, the dark smooth stone coated with only the thinnest layer of dust.  The walls were carved into intricate abstract designs and gave no clues as to the identity of the creators.  Normally the size and shape of any given building told of the general height and shape of the builders, but not so with this one.  The ceiling was tall enough to easily accommodate most humanoid species in the galaxy, and even more so.  It was tall enough to be opulent.  Unseen scones in the ceiling provided just enough light to see well, but not enough for a human to be comfortable.   

As I stepped up to the door leading out of the antechamber I thought I’d have to open it by hand, but before I could reach out to the Force to pull the energy I needed to do so it opened of its own accord.  My sensitive nose was immediately assaulted by the smell of decay, old blood and death, and I reached up to hold my nose closed with one hand while I hefted by rifle with the other.  I was perfectly capable of wielding it one-handed, at least for a little while.  I held it unnaturally steady, and I knew that it was due to strength beyond that of a typical human.  I kept focused on the smell of death, which caused slight rumbles of hunger and a heightened awareness of my surroundings, in order to suppress thoughts and emotions that might show up on Bastila’s radar.  I continued through the door tense and ready for a fight, checking all my corners and keeping alert for subtle movement in the shadows.   

The room was empty, save for a large cylindrical droid perched on four three jointed insect-like legs and a corpse dressed in the robes of a Jedi Knight sprawled a few meters to my right.  I scanned the entire area quickly, changing my eyes so that the room was bright enough to cast definition into the corners.  When Danika moved past me to examine the corpse I changed them back.  I let go of my nose as I focused on studying the droid.  I didn’t like smelling rotting flesh but knew I’d have to get used to it if we were going to spend any length of time here.   

Bastila moved with Danika, and I could sense the grim calm through the bond as she examined the corpse.  “It’s Nemo,” she said quietly.  “The Knight the Council sent to investigate these ruins before us.”   

“One mission objective down,” Danika said, but out of respect to Bastila kept her tone less than jovial.  We had both seen death enough that we dealt with it by making light of it in the moment, letting emotions spill over in quiet moments when we finally had time to heal.  Bastila had not learned this trick, so Danika avoided upsetting her by finishing her joke.   

A pointed part on the bottom of the droid oscillated constantly and from the soft puffs of air it emitted I worked out that it was some sort of primitive cooling unit.   A simple camera unit that must have served it as an optical interface flickered unsteady light as it swiveled to study all three of us, and mounted right next to it was a long tube that had the clear, sharp lines of a weapon.  It didn’t look functional, the angle was bent slightly and the metal looked worn and pockmarked.  I was amazed the material wasn’t fatigued.   

Parts of the droid’s main body moved constantly in a way that told me it wasn’t in full working order.  Damn close however, and I itched to take it apart to see how it worked.  I didn’t have more of a chance to think about it as the droid raised itself up slightly so that its optical interface was level with the average height of our heads and started emitting what sounded like a language, though none I readily recognized.  

“Oh well that’s just peachy,” Danika said, her voice dripping with disgust.  “The one thing we find in this place that might be able to tell us what’s going on and it can’t even speak Basic.”   

Seemingly as if it had understood her, the droid switched to a different language, also one I didn’t recognize.  “That’s not working either,” I told it.  Its optical interface swiveled to me and it immediately switched to yet another language. 

“It appears to be trying to communicate by cycling through multiple languages,” Bastila said, approaching the droid slowly as she spoke. “Every time it spoke it was using a very different dialect.  It probably understands us.”   

Danika snorted.  “Damn thing better be programmed with one we can understand.  Who builds a droid that can’t speak Basic?” She glared at the droid in disgust at its lack of practicality.   

“It might have been built before Basic got too widespread.  That would explain why it can understand Basic but isn’t programmed to speak it; the language wasn’t spoken by a majority of space faring beings yet,” I replied thoughtfully.  The droid cycled through yet another language and adjusted its sitting height with its legs several times in a gesture that seemed to indicate it was frustrated.   

“That’s impossible,” Bastila stated indignantly.  “Basic has been used as a common tongue since the very beginning of the Republic.  This droid cannot possibly be older than that.”   

“Stranger things have happened,” I replied, my words almost a mutter.  I could feel a sort of pull on my memory, like I was forgetting something very important.  Had I seen this droid before? 

“I can reproduce any of the languages spoken by the slaves of the builders,” the droid said, although it seemed weary, resigned to not being understood yet again.   

“Stop there, we understood that!”  I spoke quickly before the droid could cycle to another language.  The act of speaking broke off whatever memory had risen close to the surface of my mind and I had a quick moment of frustration before I managed to get myself under control.  Fortunately Bastila was distracted by the now-understandable droid.  Such seemed to be the story of my life lately, and I worried about the moment my luck ran out.  I hoped that it was as far away from the Dantooine Jedi Council as possible when it finally did.   

“It’s an archaic dialect of Selkath, spoken on Manaan,” Bastila said.  “But why would a droid on Dantooine be programmed with ancient Selkath?”  “How the hell can we even understand ancient Selkath?”

Danika asked, making a face.  “I don’t remember taking a learning annex on it, and I’m pretty sure that’s something I’d remember doing.”  

“The Force provides all understanding,” Bastila replied hurriedly.  She was saved from having to answer further questions as the droid spoke again.

“Communication was vital to ensure that the slaves constructed this temple according to the wishes of the builders,” it said.  My ears twitched at the rough sounds of ancient Selkath as well as at how the thing had lifted itself up so that I was a good couple of inches taller than we were.  It seemed to convey a smug satisfaction as if it had just done something genius.  My fingers twitched above the trigger of my slugthrower, held across my chest with the business end pointing only at stone.  That type of arrogance always pissed me off. 

Danika snorted again and chucked wryly.  “Looks like we found ourselves another Smartass,” she said.   

“Don’t count on it,” I said, hefting my rifle.  “Let me anywhere close to it and I’ll strip it down for parts.  Or shoot it.  It looks like it can move at a decent clip and it’s been too long since I had the opportunity for live target practice.”   

“Be quiet!” Bastila hissed, clearly annoyed with our bantering.  “Let it finish what it was saying.”   

“There was more?” Danika asked mock-incredulously.  Her efforts earned a fierce glare from the younger woman, which I admired.  A little more practice and the little brunette might make a respectable intimidating figure.  Of course she’d have to lose the peach-colored Jedi armor first.  Nobody was going to take her seriously dressed in that. 

As the droid continued to speak I studied it and saw that Bastila was right.  Danika had cut it off, and it was clearly upset about it.  It displayed its feelings on the subject by raising itself up on its legs and then bobbing down several times like an agitated bird.  “You are not of the slave species, but you are not the Builders either,” it said.  “You are like the ones before.”   

“It must mean Revan and Malak,” Bastila said.  “They must have encountered this droid when they explored these ruins.  She was no longer trying to be intimidating. Rather she looked uncertain and I could feel that she was once again afraid.  This time Danika and I stood apart from her, both physically and through the bond.   

“Wonderful,” Danika moaned.  I eyed her critically for the sheer level of disgust in her voice, and when I focused in on her face I could see how tightly the muscles there were held.  She was nervous about something, which made me take a mental note to sleep with her flask next to my hip that night.

“Well, that’s what we’re here for,” I said grimly.  I turned to the droid before speaking again.  “What information did you give the others that were here?” I asked the droid.   

A question that was promptly and brusquely ignored.  “I am the Overseer,” it said with a distinct note of pride.  “The Builders programmed me to enforce discipline among the slaves while this monument to the power of the Star Forge was constructed.  At project completion all slaves were executed.  I was programmed to serve should a Builder return in search of knowledge of the Star Forge.”   

“Star Forge,” Danika asked, bristling as if she’d been stuck with a pin.  “What’s the Star Forge?”  

“The Star Forge is the glory of the Builders, the apex of their glorious empire.  It is a machine of invincible might, a tool of unstoppable conquest.”  When it was done the droid paused and collected around itself an air of expectance, as if we should be immensely impressed by its pronouncement. 

“Uh huh,” I said.  Danika and Bastila both had looks of incredulity on their faces and I was frowning.  If the droid wanted a yes man, he wasn’t going to find one here.  “So what does this invincible machine do exactly?” I asked.   

The droid paused before it spoke as if it couldn’t believe we were actually asking it that kind of question.  “The… the Star Forge is the glory of the Builders, the apex of their glorious empire.  It is a machine of invincible might, a tool of unstoppable conquest.” When the droid stopped speaking it lowered itself slightly so that I was just beneath our average head height, as if it was confused.   

Danika sighed heavily next to me, and fought not to moan in frustration.  “You don’t actually know what the thing does, do you?” She asked.  

“It sounds as if this… Star Forge is some sort of weapon,” Bastila said.  “But it could be anything.”  

“Great,” I replied.  “So we’re back to square one.”   

“No,” Danika said.  The tone of her voice was odd, and when I looked at her she was staring into the middle distance as if she could see something we couldn’t.  A shiver ran down my spine at the sight, and the Force around us moved like a tide shifting in a sea.  “Maybe it’s a factory of sorts?  A shipyard?”   

“That would explain how the Sith amassed a fleet so quickly,” Bastila said slowly.   

“There has to be more to it than that,” I insisted.  The whole thing sat oddly with me, as if a piece of very important information was missing and just beyond my reach.  “I mean the Republic hasn’t gotten any word on this thing, otherwise we’d know about it, right Bastila?”  

“Yes,” she answered and I was somewhat relieved to see that she was troubled as well.  “There should have been something… anything, even a mere whisper through the spy network.  So whatever the Star Forge may be, the Sith are guarding its secrets to well for it to be insignificant.”   

“But what about the creators of the Star Forge?” I asked.  “The droid said someone called the Builders made it.  How come we haven’t heard of them before?”   

Danika focused in on the droid, coming out of her weird trance with a frown.  “Who are the Builders?” she asked it.   

“The Builders are the great masters of the galaxy, the conquerors of worlds,” the droid announced proudly, raising itself up above our average eye level once more.  “They are the rulers of the Infinite Empire and the creators of the Star Forge.”   

I wrinkled my nose in disgust.  “Why do I get the sinking feeling that’s all its going say on that subject?” I asked.   

Danika huffed softly.  “Because you’re probably right…” she answered, and then turned to the droid.  “How long have you been here?” 

“A good question,” Bastila said softly.  “These Builders are not mentioned anywhere that I know of.  Even the Jedi Archives are silent on the subject.  They must be an extinct people.”   

“And the droid’s making out like they ruled over half the galaxy,” I replied.  “I’m pretty sure I would have had heard of that.  The hutts control a lot of space, but they never formally founded an empire.”   

“My chronological circuits have marked over ten full revolutions of this system’s outermost planet around the sun since the Builders have left.”  

The answer was so casual, so matter of fact, and yet it caused a wave of shock in the Force around all of us.  “That’s impossible!” Bastila cried.  “Ten full revolutions would take more than twenty thousand years!  If this is true then this droid is nearly five thousand years older than the Republic itself!  There has to be a mistake!”   

Danika shook her head and gave a chuckle as she looked at me.  “See, miracle tech,” she said in a half disgusted, half sarcastic voice.   

“There is no mistake,” the droid growled out huffily.  “The Builders constructed my chronological circuitry using the technology of the Star Forge itself.  My calculations are infallible.”   

Danika made a disgusted face at the droid.  I understood where she was coming from; I’d never met a droid so haughty before!  I sighed.  “No point in arguing with it,” I said.  “It’ll only repeat itself again.  I doubt we’ll be able to learn anything specific about the Builders or the Star Forge.”   

“Tell us about Malak and Revan,” Danika said suddenly, her expression one of intense concentration.  “The ones who came before us.”   

“The ones who came before you,” the droid repeated, pushing the words through its vocabulator as if it was turning them over.  “They were not Builders, but not slaves.  They sought knowledge of the Star Forge and its origins.  I am programmed for this task, but all who seek knowledge and are not the Builders must prove themselves worthy of its legacy.  The ones who came before you proved themselves worthy.  They discovered the secrets locked beyond the sealed door behind me.  But there was another who failed to unlock the secrets and paid the ultimate price.”   

None of us looked at each other at the mention of Nemo.  We didn’t have to.  Bastila must have known him, for a small pang sounded from her and reverberated through the bond at the mention of the dead Jedi’s name.  “Revan and Malak were here,” Bastila said softly.  “They pursued knowledge of the Star Forge and succeeded, and now Malak is using it to wreak havoc on the Republic.”  She looked over at us, her powder blue eyes big and full of sadness and regret.  The same emotions came clearly through the bond.  “We have to find out more.  We must discover what they uncovered… the Republic is depending on us.”   

I glanced over at Danika, who was calm in the bond but to me, who knew her so well, I could see the resignation and the reluctance.  “Well,” she said just as softly, her voice echoing against the stone walls, “I’m not one for patriotism, never was really, but we can’t just let those Sith run loose now can we?  Malak’s definitely made a mess of things and anything we can do to help stop that is worth it.”   

I nodded in answer to the silent question in her words.  Is this really the right thing to do?  “Yes, it’s definitely worth it,” I said firmly.  It was odd, to see Danika so unsure of herself, but at the same time it was no surprise.  Ever since I had known her, ever since she had lost the original crew of the Urusai, she had seemed lost.  Maybe now, with the full crew of the Ebon Hawk, she could finally find her way again.  I already knew I would find my way; my fractured memories were proof enough of that.   

“Okay, droid,” Danika said, her voice gaining authority and volume, “tell us what we need to do to prove ourselves.”   

The droid lifted itself up again, full of purpose, and spoke.  “Enter the chambers to the left and right of me, and pass the tests given there, and you may be proven worthy.”  It remained lifted up, its oscillating parts as slow as they could go, and waited.   

I looked at Bastila and Danika in turn, lifted my blaster rifle and cocked my head with a small smile.  “Well then the only question is, who wants to go first?”   

* * *  

To Be Continued…