Bane of the Sith - Star Wars Gamer #3 Read online

  He encountered blind chambers and sealed rooms, three broken sarcophagi where tomb robbers had stolen bodies or jewels, though Bane suspected that any thief foolish enough to raid a Sith crypt had probably died a horrible death not long afterward...

  At corners in the winding passages, the ethereal specter of Lord Kaan led him onward, guiding him through the labyrinth. Bane did not question his former leader; he simply followed as anticipation swelled within him.

  At last, Kaan stood outside a small chamber, his eyes blazing with dreadful fire. The alcove walls seemed wet and reflective. On the floor, as if someone had carelessly tossed it there, lay a jagged

  pyramid with starlike protrusions and sinuous hieroglyphics.

  Bane pushed his lightsaber through the doorway so that the crackling glow of the energy blade illuminated the stone-walled room. "Is that a Sith holocron?" He looked in amazement at the shade of Lord Kaan.

  "That object contains all the answers you desire, all the training and instruction you will need to master the secrets of the Sith. A wealth of information."

  "It is all the wealth I need," Bane said, his voice no more than a cold breath.

  By the shimmering light of his weapon, he saw that the air inside the chamber was threaded with strands of silvery, sticky webs. Rounded encrustations like armored barnacles plated the low ceiling. The alcove had a claustrophobic and brooding aura, and Bane hesitated.

  "In there, you must take the holocron," Kaan's booming voice insisted.

  Pushing aside his doubts, Darth Bane entered the chamber, knocking aside the gossamer webs. He stood looking down at the vital holocron, awed.

  Above him, he heard a wet movement, a slurping sound, and looked up to see the rounded encrustations shifting about as if awakened by his presence. Gelid strands drooled down like thin droplets of saliva. He ducked as one of the barnacle-things released its grip on the ceiling and dropped onto him.

  He knocked the hard shell aside, then slapped at another falling barnacle with his Iightsaber. Amazingly, though it ricocheted away, the encrustation was not destroyed by the energy blade.

  The barnacle-things began to rain down from the ceiling in greater numbers. One struck him on the left shoulder blade, and instantly the shell fastened itself to his flesh, as if it were a gigantic sucker. It acid-burned through the fabric of Bane's thick garment and sealed itself to the meat of his back.

  The agony was indescribable.

  He screamed and thrashed, trying to claw the encrustation from his shoulder. He arched his back and looked up just in time to see a larger object fall to the center of his chest, instantly fastening there with an unbelievable grip.

  Bane shouted with the pain and wrenched at it, but the barnacle-creature had already eaten through his chestplate and seared into his pectorals, welding itself to his breastbone. He pulled and tugged, but the parasite stuck tight.

  The remaining creatures burbled and moved about on the ceiling, anticipating. Still holding his lightsaber in one hand. Bane yanked out the black-bladed dagger from his waist. The razor-sharp knife glinted in the sickly light of the bomb chamber. He stabbed at the barnacle-creature, but the blade bounced off the parasite's shell, making no mark.

  Gritting his teeth, Bane slashed at his own skin to peel away his flesh from the edges of the thick, living encrustation. Dark blood welled up, and he cut deeper, digging with the knife's black tip to pry the creature off.

  To his astonishment, though, as he made the incision, Bane watched the wound seal itself together, healing within moments. The pain remained, a stinging, throbbing sensation through his nerves.

  "You led me here!" he shouted, looking for the avatar of Lord Kaan. "You lured me into this chamber." He used his fist and the blunt hilt of his dagger to pound the armored creature, but he felt somewhat stronger now, rejuvenated - and betrayed. "What are these things?"

  Now Lord Qordis appeared within the tomb, his black avatar rippling beside the shadow of Kaan. "They are called orbalisks," Qordis said, his face twisting into a smirk. "In time, you will come to realize the advantages of such symbiotes."

  Lord Kaan spoke, his voice like iron, unsympathetic. "They are a small price, Bane - are you willing to pay nothing to achieve your destiny?"

  On the ceiling of the alcove, the orbalisks continued to simmer and move, but they left him alone now that he was infested. Fire burned through his skin from his chest and his shoulder where the parasitic barnacles increased their hold on his body, digging deeper, securing themselves.

  Darth Bane clenched his teeth and sneered at the specters of Kaan and Qordis. In their dark eyes he found the strength to suppress the pain. He picked up the Sith holocron. The ancient relic waited for him, calling out evil promises. There were no longer any obstacles in his way.

  He switched off his lightsaber blade, realizing that he could see and sense everything in the chamber. He knelt on the cold, slimy floor, ignoring the orbalisks above and everything else on Dxun. He hunched over the holocron and held it in his hands amid the dripping opalescent webs.

  He activated the holocron and felt as if he were falling into an unending pit of wonders, information...and opportunities.

  He sat all alone, lost in the amazing library of darkness...

  ***

  Entranced and inspired by the knowledge he drank from the Sith holocron, Darth Bane paid no heed to the time that passed while he huddled in the dank chamber of Freedon Nadd's tomb.

  Later, much later, he emerged, his body stiff and sore, his mind aching and overfilled with secrets. He made his way back through the narrow, claustrophobic passages of the crypt and stepped out into the rank air of the beast moon.

  The storm had passed, and the ground had dried. Many days must have gone by, but Bane felt neither weak nor hungry. He blinked. Even in the smoky, hazy light of Dxun, he had to hood his vision. He grasped the cold iron wall of the tomb to steady himself.

  Looking down at his chest, he saw that the puckered, scaly orbalisk had begun to bud, spreading out around the fringes in a larger area across his chest. No doubt the other one was also spreading on his back. Eventually, they would probably cover his body.

  Though the barnacle-like creatures were feeding on him, growing to cover more of his skin surface, the parasites were also pumping him with adrenaline and strength. This was a symbiotic relationship based on dark side energies, and now - after he had absorbed the knowledge within the Sith holocron - Darth Bane knew there would be enough dark side power for, them all.

  He stepped into the jungle clearing, away from the shadow of the ancient crypt. Bane thought of all he had learned and recalled the epic defeat of the Sith Lords at the Battle of Ruusan. No one had listened to him. The other Sith Brothers had fought among themselves rather than planning a strategic victory over their true foes. Bane realized the fundamental flaw in the old Brotherhood of Darkness. Now that he alone remained, now that he was the seed that would cause the new tree of evil to flourish, he decided that no longer would the Sith be composed of great armies attempting to overwhelm civilization through brute force. He had had enough of Lord Qordis's chest-pounding bravado or Lord Kaan's "rule by the strong." Such overt militarism against the Jedi Knights had failed miserably at Ruusan.

  From now on, the Sith would depend on secrecy, working behind the scenes to eat away at the foundation of the Republic's government. With the Sith nearly extinct, weakened to the point of ineffectuality, Bane decided that the study of dark lore must go underground. He would hide and work in the shadows of society, using all he had learned from the holocron.

  For now, he would also establish an unbreakable new rule to prevent the internecine feuds and civil wars that had stolen victory from the Sith grasp. There must be only two Sith at anyone time: a master and apprentice. The two of them would learn the dark side intimately, and they would become brilliant puppeteers to manipulate the fools in the Republic.

  But he was stranded here on Dxun. The giant planet Onderon rode high in the sk
y across the gulf of space, close yet impossibly far. The avatar of Lord Qordis had destroyed his ship, and now Bane was all alone, probably the only living human on the beast moon.

  Standing in the clearing, collecting his thoughts, Bane heard a shriek in the sky. A gigantic winged form swooped down from the smear of dark clouds, spotting him with the razor eye of a raptor sighting in on fresh prey.

  Bane instinctively grabbed his lightsaber, snugged the hooked handle against his wrist, and powered on the blade. The pterodactyl-like creature dove, its thin olive skin stretched taut along a bony framework, making its wings like jagged kites. The beast had a smashed-in face and a mouth full of protruding fangs. The black eyes were tiny and close-set, and the maw opened wide as its long, triangular wings flapped and maneuvered.

  Bane slashed with his lightsaber, but the flying creature raked sideways with its dangling talons, huge arced scythes at the ends of its feet. The claws scored across Darth Bane's chest, a move that would have torn any other victim to shreds. Though Bane was sent sprawling to the ground, the clustered orbalisks gave him enough strength and armor so that the flying monster caused him no harm.

  Feeling invincible, Bane stood, brushing the shreds of his uniform away, feeling the hard plate of the orbalisks. He squared his shoulders and held his lightsaber as the beast circled in for the kill. At first, Bane considered slaying the monster, smashing it to a pulp with his newfound Sith powers - but instead, he summoned his skills and stopped the beast in the air, driving it to the ground.

  It flapped its wings, extending hooked claws, grasping and thrashing with its taloned feet. But Bane dominated the monster, forcing it to the still-damp ground. He continued to exert dark side pressure, and finally, with a grunt and an explosion of foul-smelling breath, the flying beast submitted. It bent its knobby knees and bowed its long neck down in front of Freedon Nadd's tomb.

  Bane studied the creature for a moment. Then, like the fabled ancient beast-riders of Onderon, he climbed onto the flying monster's back, ready to ride off. This was a good omen, a sign for his future, and Darth Bane smiled.

  He yanked at the flying beast's neck, and it flapped its leathery wings, raising him into the heavy air. It spat and thrashed, but finally relented to the presence of the Sith Lord on its back. Bane rode his new mount.

  Now that he understood the depths of Sith powers, he thought he might even have control over worlds and moons, able to play with orbits and gravity like a child might play with colored balls.

  Long ago, Dxun had grazed the planet Onderon, close enough that it was possible for creatures to pass across the conjoined atmosphere. Perhaps Bane could nudge the beast moon close enough so that he could travel to the nearby planet that filled the sky.

  In bloodshed and chaos, Darth Bane would go to Onderon...and there he would find his apprentice.