Sashar
02-04-2006 08:37:53
Okay, this is the fiction i mentioned in the other topic that has a fair bit about Sukhar's catacombs, specifically a particular one which i'm sure we could modify for use in a RO or whatever.
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Thus far, the caverns beneath the Galeres Temple were mostly unexplored by most, however Sashar Kodiak Entar, faithful to his Mandalorian Training, had made it one of his highest priorities to spend many of his off-hours exploring and mapping out the vast network of caverns and tunnels. It was one of the core principals of the Mandalorians, especially the Kodiak Pride, to know your surroundings and use them to the best of your advantage, maximising the use of every single resource available.
Besides Sashar thought, It’s not like there’s much else to do while we’re stuck on the sun-side rotation. Sukhar was situated quite close to its star and as such it was impossible for even ships to go through the day-side without suffering extensive damage, which left the Galeres Temple isolated from the rest of the galaxy during that time.
The glass tunnels refracted the light beautifully in some of the closer-to-the-surface tunnels and caverns, however it was nothing compared to the vista that Sashar currently had spread before him: A large Cavern, easily big enough to house a Corellian Corvette or larger that had a natural breeze and the walls were almost glowing with the refracted light (mostly shades of blue and white). There were several open, flat areas dotted about, some mounted on perfect examples of naturally forming stalactites and stalagmites.
This is Perfect the Mandalorian thought to himself, and as he listened carefully, he heard the sound of running water. He swiftly crossed several platforms and found himself staring into a perfectly still reflective pool. The water was silver, almost like a mirror and showed in minute detail the ceiling high above him.
There was a flicker of movement and Sashar turned about just in time to dive out of the way as a crystal-like blur ravaged through the space he had just occupied.
He rolled about and scrabbled back to his feet in time to catch the creature as it turned about to face him. It was a nightmare, as large as he stood tall with 4 legs and a vicious-looking face dominated by a huge mouth over-stuffed with teeth. It’s entire body was coated with a camouflage-cover of crystals identical to the wall and it’s sturdy body was supplanted by 4 stocky legs, each ending in large paws holding 4 nasty-looking claws. Almost as an afterthought, two eyes were seated beneath a large brow on the monster’s face, glaring at the Archpriest hungrily.
Sashar knelt down before the creature and closed his eyes, opening himself fully to the force. Immediately he was overwhelmed by the cavern – it seemed to be a focusing point of the force and the creatures were manifestations.
He stretched out with as calm an influence he could find and touched the mind of the snarling quadruped before him, stroked it gentle, mentally caressing the creature and removed the thought of Sashar as a predator or indeed anything to be feared, instead instilling an image of him being part of the ‘pack’ into the crystal beasts’ head. Abruptly, the snarling stopped and the animal trotted over to the Mandalorian and nudged him with his head, a sign of greeting. More creatures appeared at the fringes of Sashar’s consciousness and he swiftly placed himself as pack leader in all the creatures’ minds. They were weak-minded, but these beasts would be a perfect layer of defence for what Sashar had in mind.
He stood up as the creatures herded about him and wove his way through the group, spying several subsidiary caverns that were much smaller around the fringe of the central cavern, and also several entrances. The ideas flitted about the cavern and Sashar’s mind like uneasy spirits as plans formed.
-=[]=-
Over the next several days Sashar meditated in the centre of the cavern with the Crystal hounds as he came to call them co-existing with him. He wasn’t meditating just to enjoy the Force nexus he’d found, but to create the first layer of defence for such a little getaway. Created wafer thin covers for all the entrances and exits to the cavern that had folds in them almost like curtains. Textured across the ‘curtains’ was the image of a blank stone wall totally indifferent from the rest. It took more than a week to fully cover all the entrances and Sashar was only able to produce the effect due to the increased force energy swirling about the cave, but it was worthwhile. When he was done, the entrances were completely invisible to the naked eye.
Sashar was far from done. Over the next month he altered the itineraries of the periodic supplies to the Galeres temple to include a few essential extras that wouldn’t be noticed tacked along with them such as several pieces of furniture (yet to be assembled) and a few specialty items such as large spot-lights and a wax generator. He then moved said items one at a time down to this cavern, which was no small feat considering some of their size and his wishes not to be seen by his house-mates.
He set himself up a small bed-chamber and adjoining refresher in one of the side-chambers, and in another he stowed away some emergency rations and drinking water. During the sun-side rotation of Sukhar lighting wasn’t at all necessary, however it’d be incredibly dark during the night-rotation. He set up literally thousands of large candles and dotted them all over the cavern, then finished by adding some emergency spotlights and a small generator.
In the largest plateau he arranged a series of large wax pillars at varying heights in a large circle, and atop each one mounted a small plastic orb the size of a shock-ball (8cm in diameter) atop each of them. These were essential tools for lightsaber instruction and practice in Sashar’s eyes.
Sashar also installed a rather large and complex mainframe computer and access terminal complete with a large Holoprojector unit. This would be essential for the next part of his plan.
-=[]=-
The Position of Battleteam Leader afforded its own quarters in the barracks section of the Temple, and the Quarters of the leader of Qel-Droma were currently unoccupied.
Sashar, having lifted the door code off SS’s mind just the night before, slipped in and got straight to work. He activated the console and applied the same code, grinning as the screen sprang to life. He slipped a datacard into the slot and uploaded the program which would record all of the consoles’ doings and transmit them in bursts down to his own console in the grotto once the console was de-activated. He then activated his lightsaber and made a small hole into the wall above the door with its tip. He slipped a miniscule camera and transmitter into the freshly made hole and placed his hand over the opening. There was a glow from beneath his palm and when he removed is hand there was a layer of wall there, just like there had been before the small incision. Only this thin covering was specially altered to be like one-way glass; only viewable from one side.
His reasons for spying on the Battleteam leader were simple: Ethran would be much harder to manipulate, plus he considered the Prelate an ally and was reluctant to burn that bridge so early on in his plans. SS would be much easier to blackmail – once Sashar had some suitable blackmail material, and from there he could use SS as cover for all sorts of fun things before eventually destroying him.
High on his list was gaining access to the restricted section of the Galeres computer network. He was no slicer and needed that access, but it was not based on a numeric code but biological signatures he couldn’t replicate – getting in would need the compliance of one of the BTLs or higher.
The duties of being a master to a pair of highly active and ambitious apprentices - one being his own brother from the Kodiak Pride of Mandalorians hidden in seclusion on the moon of Dxun – and the training of Soulfire Strike Team left him with little time to advance his plans much further until one night several weeks later when his computer sent him a notification of an anomalous communiqué originating from SS’s quarters – one to his teenage son.
Sashar couldn’t be happier: this would be perfect leverage. The only question would be how to best utilise it. The Mandalorian decided it’d be a good test for his pride-brother, Kieran, and dispatched the Protector to the hidden enclave on Pzob to capture the adolescent and move him to a location only Sashar and a few others knew about. All the Archpriest had to do now was wait.
-=[]=-
It took five days for his apprentice to secure Jandos’ son and send the holo of the boy being held with a knife at his throat back to Sashar. Sashar idly fiddled with the miniscule holo=projector, twirling it between his finger and his thumb as he decided how exactly he’d do this. He decided that completely blind-siding Jandos would be the best option, and checked on the live cam-feed to his office, making sure he wasn’t in there, and then let himself into the small quarters. He activated the holo and tossed it onto the desk, then sat down in the Battleteam leader’s chair, his feet up on the desk. It didn’t take long for the Krath to appear, and look suitably startled to find the Archpriest sitting behind his desk, and a picture of his son being held by an unseen assailant floating ominously between them.
“Yours, I presume?” Sashar queried mildly “This is your usual hostage situation; he’ll be released as long as you comply, and my demands are fairly simple. I want you to access the Galeres archives with your clearance and let me use the console. After that, you are to tell no-one of what has transpired here, or your son’s life is forfeit.”
Jandos glared “You’ll never get away with this, my clearance hardly grants anything you don’t already have.”
“Yet here I am, I wonder why?” the Mandalorian queried in an extremely relaxed manner. However, that all abruptly changed when Quejo stormed into the room and picked Sashar bodily up through the force, slamming him up against the back wall.
“What in the name of Qel-Droma’s corpse do you think you’re doing?” He hissed, keeping the Archpriest in place with a savage twist of his hand that manifested itself by a blast of telekinetic pressure spiking into Sashar’s mid-section, knocking the wind from him. Under normal circumstances, Sashar could have probably held his own against the Quaestor for a time, but they both knew that even then the Sith would eventually prevail.
Sashar tried to focus his energy into a telekinetic blast that’d send Quejo back a good few meters himself, but a backhand stopped any such thoughts of being able to fight this - he’d lost.
“Leave us.” The Xyler said over his shoulder, and the Jedi Hunter was only too happy to oblige.
“I know that Jandos is an idiot. I also know about the son on Pzob, but like it or not the House has to be united, especially now. We’re the pride of Arcona and we can’t have petty bickering and pathetic power-games. You had your chance for BTL, now pay the price.”
With that, Bandon let Sashar sag to the floor and stalked out of the office. Sashar swore viciously – a long stream of expletives directed at no-one in particular. He’d have to re-work his plans suitably. With as much dignity as he could muster, Sashar walked out.
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