Chapter 5: Botched Exchange And Dark Secrets

"Are You sure about this?" Ahsoka questioned. "Yes. Just wear these yellow contacts." Sigil said, handing Ahsoka a pair of yellow contact lenses. She put them on reluctantly. "Now let us go over the plan one more time. First, to be unconscious. Once i hand you over, let them walk to their ship before you "wake up". Once awake you will attack them seeing as the electric collar, will use static electric current to appear legit, it won't do much. Once the guards are taken care of, you'll take their ship and rendezvous on Ilum for our crystals." He finished.

"We are about to drop out of hyperspace." Revan announced. "Here goes nothing." Ahsoka said, taking a deep breath. "Yeah here goes nothing." Sigil said before he cuffed her hands and threw the electric collar around her neck.

Revan managed to guide the ship to a graceful landing with the help of 5cn. Sigil slung the "unconscious" Ahsoka over his shoulder and walked out.

There, out in the distance, two cloaked figures were waiting; one was holding a suitcase. The men heard footsteps coming in their direction. Turning around, they saw another figure heading towards them. He was shy of 2 meters in height by their estimation. 'Maybe 1.97' one of them thought to himself. But despite his size, he maintained a slender frame, an offsetting sight for many. Especially in the night, alone where their screams won't be heard by another soul.

Guarding politicians was one thing but having to deal with such unnerving individuals was another. As he got closer, the moonlight illuminated him, letting the two cloaked figures get a better look at the intimidating bounty hunter. A helmet shaped like a human skull with soulless blue scanners in its eye sockets and a simple black skin suit with metal talons protruding from the fingers on his left hand. His appearance made them shudder in fear. A fact which couldn't be seen on their cloaked faces. But sensed through the force by both Sigil and Ahsoka.

Their fear will serve as a distraction for Ahsoka's escape. Sigil finally stopped in front of them. "Do you have my payment?" He asked, his modulated voice, matching his appearance. "Not so fast. Hand her over first." One of the men demanded, his voice stuttering. Sigil in response just lowered Ahsoka upon the grass. One of them knelt down and opened her eyes, seeing that indeed they were yellow. He signaled to his partner to hand him the suitcase which he did. Sigil took the suitcase out of the man's hand and opened it. Rummaging and weighing the credits inside, he found that his payment was full. Without another word, he just walked off.

Revan looked out the cockpit window to see Sigil approaching. She notified 5cn who opened the boarding ramp in time for him to enter. He made his way to the cockpit upon entering the ship. "Okay Rev chart a course for Ilum." he said. Not so quick hot shot. Let us get out the atmosphere first." She said, initiating the take off procedure. "Where did you learn to be this sassy?" He asked. "From Ahsoka." Revan said with a smug grin. He sighed "Why am i even surprised.". Once in space, Revan punched in the coordinance given to them by Ahsoka. "Calculating hyperspace jump." She announced. "Now you are the hot shot." Sigil said with a wide grin. "Oh yeah we have to wait for Ahsoka." Revan said, slapping herself on the forehead. "We'll have to wait." Sigil said.

Seeing him walking off, they both sighed in relief. "Sick motherkriffer! Why does he dress like that?!" One of them thought out loud. "I don't know but it is effective. Now come on let's get out of here." The other one said unnerved.

His partner slung Ahsoka over his shoulder and they proceeded to walk back to the ship. Ahsoka entered their minds with the force and saw that the ship was now in full view, as such she sprung into action. She swung her legs away from her body and swung them forwards, slamming her knees into the back of the man carrying her.

He cried out in pain as he dropped forwards. Rolling forward, she got back onto her feet. The second man quickly lunged at her; in an attempt to tackle her. She rolled forward again to avoid him. The second man hit the ground with a thud. The two men got back to their feet and drew out their blasters; in response she force pulled their blasters before force pushing them away. She turned back and sprinted towards their ship.

Getting inside the ship, the pilot attempted to stun her but Ahsoka knocked him out with a force enhanced kick. Assuming control of the ship, she flew into the atmosphere and then into space. When the ship reached space, she loaded the pilot into the escape pod and launched him towards the surface.

Returning back to the cockpit, she spotted the void dragon and flew towards it. Getting close, she initiated the docking sequence. Docking with the void dragon she went over the docking tube and into the void dragon. Once inside she detached the shuttle from the void dragon.

"She's onboard." 5cn announced. "Now you may chart a course for Ilum." Sigil said with another grin. "I'll get you for this." She said. "If you can't handle the heat to go into the kitchen." He shot back. "Calculations are done. Estimated arrival time... what?" Revan yelled in surprise. "She did say that." He started, "Ilum is very far." Him and Ahsoka finished in unison as she entered the cockpit. Revan just pulled on the hyperdrive lever, sending the ship flying into hyperspace.

"Well i guess we need to get comfortable. It'll be a long flight." Sigil said yawning. "I'll go sleep." He announced heading off into his room. Both Ahsoka and Revan how ever could sense that he was lying. "Something doesn't feel right." Revan said. "Lying or truthful, he does have a right to privacy." She said. "And besides we have to get back to training." She finished. "Yay more meditation." Revan said sarcastically. Ahsoka just shook her head in response.

Inside his room, Sigil locked the door behind him. He went over to the bed and dropped to one knee. Fiddling under the bed for a bit, he fished out a box. Setting it on his bed, he sat on the bed as well and opened it. Inside was the red pyramid which he learned was a holocron, a lightsaber and a mask which he took from the jedi. Items which he learned used to belong to a sith by the name of 'Darth Nox'.

Taking out the holocron, he assumed a meditative state and began focusing. The holocron slowly began to open until its gatekeeper came into view. "Young acolyte." The avatar of Nox announced. "What help can i be to you?" The avatar announced.

"Lightsaber techniques." He ordered. "Of course." The gate keeper said. "The lightsaber. The chosen weapon of both the jedi and sith. A weapon made by channeling energy through a focusing crystal and directing that energy out of an emitter. The standard length of a lightsaber's blade is about 1.5 to 1.75 meters in length. That could be altered to the user's specifications of course. The lightsabers components, are housed within a hilt. There are many varieties when it comes to lightsaber hilts. The standard lightsaber hilt: a two handed design with a single emitter and blade. The lightsaber staff: a two handed design with two emitters and two blades. The long hilted lightsaber: a two handed design with and elongated handle for better leverage. The lightsaber shoto: a one handed lightsaber design usually used as a side arm in the off hand. The curved lightsaber: a standard lightsaber with a curved hilt. This design is favored by duelists as it off sets opponents and allows for better precision when cutting. These are the most popular lightsaber hilt designs but when it comes to lightsaber forms......". Sigil listened to the gatekeeper explain lightsabers for hours as it went through the different lightsaber forms and techniques. However he didn' attempt the techniques with Nox's lightsaber. Else he'd risk being exposed.

After he felt like he had taken enough information in, he closed the holocron, put it back in the box and put the box back in its safe space under the bed before using the force to unlock the door and going to sleep.

Revan decided to ignore Ahsoka's warning about respecting privacy and snuck into Sigil's room after making sure he was asleep.

She began searching his room. The closet, miniature armory and refresher were all checked before she moved the underside of his bed. She used her small frame to go under and began sliding her hands across it all until she heard a panel click open, revealing an antique box. Taking it out, she closed the panel and headed back to her room with the box.

Once inside her room, she locked her door and opened the box. Inside was a lightsaber, red pyramid and a skull mask. 'He really does have a thing for skull masks.' She thought to herself before being hit by an unnerving and eery feeling through the force coming from teh red pyramid.

She examined and attempted to open the seemingly movable corners of the pyramid before giving up and deciding to go to Ahsoka for advice. "Ahsoka?" Revan knocked on her door. "Come in." Ahsoka said. "Hello there." Revan said, entering. "Hello Revan." Ahsoka greeted warmly. "I need your help with something." Revan asked, nervous. "What is it?" Ahsoka questioned. "This is the matter." Revan said, pulling out the sith holocron. Just by seeing Ahsoka's eyes going wide, Revan knew she had stumbled upon something big.

"Where did you find this?" Ahsoka asked urgently. "Under Sigil's bed. In a hidden compartment." She replied. "What is it?" She asked. "A sith holocron." Ahsoka said, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. "Is that bad?" Revan asked innocently. "Very very bad." Ahsoka responded feeling sick to her stomach.

Suddenly the tension became so thick that it could be cut with a knife. They were alerted by the sound of footsteps coming towards them. Revan quickly tossed the holocron into Ahsoka's trash bin. The door opened revealing 5cn to their relief. "Hello there." They said in unison. "Hello. Oh my you both seem to be sweating profusely, i better turn down the heat. Anyways, I wanted to tell you that the food was ready." The droid announced before leaving.

"Close call." Revan said, continuing to sweat. "We'll have to confront him later on Ilum." Ahsoka said. "Why there?" Revan asked. "The color of his crystal will reveal his true allegiance. Until then we can't be sure if he has been using it or not." Ahsoka explained. "What do we do with this then?" Revan asked. "Keep it in behind an access panel in the gunners seat." Ahsoka ordered. "On it." Revan said, rushing to hide the holocron in said spot.

The days leading to Ilum were tense. Ahsoka and Revan distanced themselves from the ever paranoid Sigil. But at last, the beep echoed across the ship; indicating a hyperspace exit. Sigil rushed to the cockpit and made the necessary preparations as the void dragon exited hyperspace. He was visited in the cockpit by Ahsoka and Revan who sat down nervously next to him. Not a word was spoken yet many had to be. Sigil just guided the ship to the Jedi temple. Once the ship landed, they all headed out wearing heavy winter coats.

Ahsoka guided them inside the temple and began explaining. "Now is the morning you will both head in, guided by a crystal to its location. Once you have it you must return before the ice wall refreezes. Else you will be stuck until tomorrow.". Upon hearing the explanations they headed into the tunnels that made up the temple. "May the force be with you." Ahsoka said. They both simply nodded before continuing their trek across the ice cave.




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