( 31 BBY )
The Sith occupation of Serenno was something that Tan'ya had read extensively about, so it was exciting to get a chance at practicing some real archaeology.
The buried Sith outpost was almost as large as one of the guest mansions on her family's palace grounds, intended to host dozens of people at a time. The remnants of stones with signs of wind and rain erosion seemed to indicate this structure was built atop a hill or a mountain in the past, before the Tirra'taka had dragged it below the earth.
As they continued to reveal more of the structure, Tan'ya was gradually able to fill in a floor plan of what it would have looked like when it was standing. Though crushed and battered, what appeared to be the remnants of shield projectors surrounded the whole site in a rectangle, a wall of energy to resist intrusion. There were crumbled towers at each corner of the energy wall, and each had the remains of heavy blaster emplacements inside
The main building itself would have been as tall as her father's palace, with what seemed like a small shipyard built into the courtyard, and the wreck of a freighter that was buried as well. The site had a small barracks and an armory, a vehicle pool with multiple speeders, and each door on the interior had an emergency override to seal it shut. It was heavily fortified, despite its smaller size, with what seemed like an entire floor of prison cells with most occupants still inside. Interestingly, all the occupants were humans, and many of them had a strange procedure performed on them to graft metallic bulbs to their bones.
It was these little pieces of metal that solved the mystery of what this place was, and gave Tan'ya a minor migraine on realizing what they were.
This was a research outpost for potentially dangerous force alchemy. Using the rich catalog of local flora and fauna, as well the local humans, it seemed like the Sith here were trying to recreate the works of Belia Darzu.
Lord Darzu was an incredibly talented Sith Alchemist from around thirteen hundred years ago. She never claimed for herself the titles of Darth or Emperor, but her sinister genius was unrivaled for millennia before or since, and whose creations would usher in what was later called the Dark Age of the Republic.
The apex of her achievements was the Nanogene Spore, a virulent disease that caused the victim to grow metallic tumors inside their own body, leading to painful death from heavy metal poisoning that could only be treated, not cured. This horrific bioweapon killed billions, if not trillions of Imperial subjects and Republic citizens alike, racing down all the great hyperspace lanes, leaving only Hutt Space relatively unscathed.
Even worse, if one of the spore victims were to meet Darzu in person, she could manipulate her creations to completely take over the host body, turning entire colonies of victims into metal-skinned monstrosities that were loyal only to her. This self replicating army served as her soldiers during the Sictis Wars, which lasted twenty years and demonstrated Darzu's not inconsiderable military talents, as she crushed all her enemies, Jedi and Sith alike. While her military and alchemical skills were impressive, her political skills lacked subtlety or understanding. Eventually Darzu was betrayed and killed by trusted allies, afraid of her growing power and increasing disdain for her own oaths. Even after her death the effects of her nanogene spore lingered for decades.
If the Sith here were resurrecting her work it stood to reason that they came from after her death, dating this facility to approximately two hundred years before the Ruusan Reformation, and around three hundred years after the Sith first came to Serenno.
Before the coming of the Sith, Serenno was a primitive world of countless tribes and peoples with varying degrees of technology. The different tribes and nations of the coasts had mastered navigation, and were roving the seas as traders and raiders, while the nomads of the plains were focussed on developing their skills with crossbows and orbak riding. The most advanced peoples were of the jungles, who had invented steel and were capable of building impressive stone keeps along the rivers that connected their countless cities, mines and plantations. They had just begun to use black powder and bronze to create primitive cannons when they were rudely introduced to the larger Galaxy.
None of these burgeoning fields of technology helped at all when the Sith arrived. They demanded submission of the local peoples, and bombarded any from orbit who tried to resist. At first these strange men who came from the stars, who could practice great magic with their minds and calling burning fire from the heavens were received as gods by the locals. Eventually that faith in their new overlords faded from exposure to their constant infighting.
Finally, when Skere Kaan's Dark Brotherhood was tied down in its final futile war against the Republic, a local nobleman named Serenno was able to unite the people of his world, and drive out its oppressors. The planet and its ruling house had borne his name ever since.
In the present, the discovery of the remnants of the nanogene spore victims immediately caused all work on the dig to be stopped. Until it could be confirmed that disease wasn't active, a dicey proposition with Force Alchemy, all further excavation had to stop. It was frustrating, but unavoidable. The Serennoan work crews had complained about it, and Tan'ya had absolutely no doubt that they'd be more than willing to continue digging despite the danger, but it wasn't just their lives at risk. An outbreak of the disease on Serenno could have dire consequences for the planet, or possibly even the entire Galaxy.
Fortunately, the carbonite stasis room hadn't contained any spore samples, and they had already been breached before the crew learned of the deadly threat lurking in the basement. As the readout had promised, the stasis chamber had contained no human subjects, but a number of native flora and fauna that were worthless today, but appeared to be the focus of some research for the Sith. If only a copy of their research notes could be recovered.
In total there were seven different Tirra'taka eggs being kept in carbonite, and when she defrosted one it immediately started crying out in the Force for its mother. The panicking and confused child of the ancient beast started projecting feelings of fear and pain, and it wasn't until Tan'ya found somewhere warm for it to rest that it finally quieted, though it was still scared.
Luckily, there were several commercial incubators available on the market for large eggs, and one arrived the afternoon Tan'ya had ordered it. The egg would cry out in the force whenever it got uncomfortable, so it wasn't hard to find the right temperature on the incubator. Once that was done, Tan'ya expected the creature to be quite easy to manage until it finally hatched, but was quickly proven wrong.
Even while inside its egg, the tirra'taka proved to be a surprisingly moody creature. It started crying out for its mother whenever Tan'ya's mind drew near. Even worse, when it finally adapted to her presence, it started crying out for her attention if she ever went away as well! At best it would calm itself briefly if she returned to it after being away for a while.
It was almost impossible to get any work done with that voice calling out so loudly in her mind, regardless of her physical distance. Worse still, Tan'ya couldn't just assign someone to care for the egg either because only she and her family were force sensitive.
This was just one egg too! Tan'ya didn't even want to think about the patience a mother tirra'taka would need to look after an entire nest of these things! Any time the mother went out to hunt, it would feel the anxiety of constantly needing to return.
The noise was affecting the other children in the Palace as well. Vai bore through the racket with Mandalorian stoicism, not uttering a word of complaint, though Tan'ya noticed her eyeing the wing of the Palace where the egg was being kept with annoyance.
Her younger siblings were being more seriously affected though, particularly her newborn brother whose own outraged cries joined the tirra'taka's own. Only Sturn seemed unaffected, though he was curious about what the cause of the noise was.
...
Apparently, chapters write themselves faster when Power Stones are involved. Who knew? Feel free to test the theory go ahead, toss a few my way.
...
If you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my patreon :
patreon.com/Rimanovi