STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Runaway

You are not seeing anything as Friste gives the order for everyone to get out of the freighters and move up to the rock wall. No one questions him, though Xorn really does not look pleased.

It is cold outside the ships, cold enough to rain. The light wind makes it colder. A lightning strike explodes nearby. It kicks up a cloud of hot ash and smoke. With nothing left to burn, the crater it leaves just fizzles out.

Friste is striding out ahead of the group, towards the rock wall.

Xavier will follow.

The closer you get, you realize what it is that Friste is approaching. Carved into the rock is a slot where a black control panel has been installed. It has a keyhole.

Xavier stands next Friste as they approach already having a hunch as to what is about to happen.

Everyone stays back, except you and Xorn. Friste steps up to the black panel and produces the Key of Mortez. Smiling smugly, he holds the key up before the keyhole. He savors the moment before smoothly sliding the key into the lock and twisting.

The ground starts the shake.

Xavier prepares for whatever comes next.

The rock wall before you begins to crack and shift. As the rocks split they rain debris and dust down on the area. Suddenly, the rock face gives way and collapses, revealing an enormous metal door emblazoned with the emblem of the Sith Empire of old. It slides backwards into the rock a short ways, then lowers down underground. It reveals a dark corridor beyond.

Xavier waits for Friste's lead.

Friste withdraws the key from the lock. He takes a chain from his jacket and strings it through the key's grip, then hangs it around his neck. He then draws his tremendous pistol and aims it at you.

"You first," Friste says.

"Very well," Xavier says heading in keeping his senses on hte ready.

As you progress down the corridor, Friste looks to Xorn.

"Scan for traps," he tells him. "Go with Xavier."

Xorn starts to protest, but Friste waves the pistol at him. "Come on, go ahead..."

Xorn fixes him with a glare, then follows you. He takes a scanner from his belt and begins searching.

How far behind his Friste, could Xavier whisper to Xorn without him hearing?

Friste is only a short distance behind. Xorn is between you and him.

The corridor is much colder than the surface of Zrik. It has been carved into the rock. The walls have been painted with images of battle, well preserved in the sealed tomb.

You feel cold and nervous for another reason... the Dark Side is very strong here. It is nearly overwhelming, and so you are distracted when Xorn warns you not to step through a sensor. You walk straight through it... but it only activates the light panels that flicker on after over a thousand years of inactivity.

Xavier watches as everything comes on.

The lights allow for better viewing of the paintings above you. The pathway you walk is very narrow, with banks of lighting aimed up at the paintings on either side of you.

"Extraordinary," Friste says, looking in awe upon the depictions.

"You seem pleased with everything happening."

"It can only get better from here on out..." Friste says, enthralled.

The paintings show the history of Sith involvement with Zrik, progressing through the timeline as you move down the corridor. The first paintings show the life of the Zrik people, human colonists. They are tending to their orchards and living in thriving cities. Then, dark ships appear in the sky above the cities, the people are panicked. Bombardment begins, ending the lives of many and destroying the cities. Sith soldiers march on Zrik, led by a man in fearsome armor wielding a heavy sword. Sith text is by him; Friste reveals that it says General Mortez. The Sith praise General Mortez for his invasion. And then the Jedi come, and the Republic. The Sith and Jedi are fighting in the orchards. The orchards burn in the heat of battle. Finally, the Sith pull their forces back and deploy their experimental weapon upon General Mortez suggestion. Zrik burns and dies as lightning consumes the surface. The Sith consider their options for the planet, and decide to use Mortez and his lethal army in an experiment of their own, putting the bodies into stasis to be revived when needed... and the paintings end as you reach the end of the corridor.

The room beyond is dark.

Xavier continues walking into the dark room, the voice in his head buzzing.

The room dimly lights as you step into it and the sound of running water meets your ears. The room is circular, but there is only a narrow bridge that crosses over an underground river. You take the stairs down into the room... and are staring into a great black hemisphere at the end of the bridge.

"No signs of... whoa," Xorn says, looking up from his scanner into the hemisphere. "What is that?"

"What is what?"