The auction began without any further ado, with the auctioneer's voice sounding like a charming melody, trying to hypnotize us to spend as much money as possible. She was clearly well-trained as she moved around, introducing a series of display fields that flickered on one by one as attendants presented each item under its own light, bringing them onto the stage.
The first thing that caught my eye was a necklace with a handful of scarlet gemstones, said to have come from the private vaults of a Core World dynasty. There was no mention of which dynasty, and as I tapped the display and interface at our booth to zoom in and bring up all the extra information we were given, there were no details about its actual origin either. Only that it was supposedly a 1,000-year-old item, immaculately designed and whatnot. While I was trying to find out more, someone two rows down bid a ridiculous sum before the auctioneer had even finished the introduction, causing Vila to elbow me.
"See? All you need is a shiny rock and a good story, and you can make tens of thousands of credits... Unbelievable..."
"I'll remember that if I ever need funding."
"And I will collect all the shiny rocks." She nodded, clearly uninterested in buying overpriced minerals.
The second item, being an armored gauntlet, was described as something that was recovered from an abandoned battlefield near the Outer Rim. Looking at it, Vila put in an offer, initiating the bidding, and a few others joined the game, but she never lost focus, holding back from going in too hard or bidding too high, upping the offer in reasonable increments until nobody else remained.
"Congratulations, honored guests," the auctioneer said, bowing towards our booth when no one else showed any further interest in it, "The gauntlet is yours."
"Well," Vila smiled at me as I watched the credits transfer over, which was... a lot. Not too much but... still. "We have to look invested in this show," she added, seeing me shrug. "Lando will understand."
I nodded, though the idea of facing him, after he got the notice that we spent more than he thought we would... Heh. I will deal with that when it happens. As for the rest of the first lot? Nothing else interesting was there, really. Trinkets, most of them, but in the next bunch, there was a curved ceremonial dagger that sparked a bidding war between two other VIP booths across us. It ended after a long, drawn-out battle and became way too expensive for me to want to butt into it... Yet... I felt something off. I spent most of my time discerning what it was while they were bidding, and when the display rotated toward our booth, something about the etchings on its hilt caught my attention. They were stylized lines, almost runes or rune-like from an ancient language, arranged around a sigil that looked like a twisted solar eclipse, with how it was painted black and red. Weird... And I could tell the feeling I was getting from the Force was related to those etchings... But there was no Dark Side residue on it.
No matter, I still made a note of it and of the booth that bought it, just in case. Reaching out via the Force, I tried probing the people sitting in there, but besides feeling elevated at snatching such a relic, there was nothing else. Whoever bought it was simply a hoarder of ancient and mysterious items... maybe a bit too obsessed. No... VERY obsessed.
It was then that an attendant delivered our previous purchase in a sealed container. After taking it and looking at it, I reached out through the Force before opening it, but there was no surge, no warmth or coldness at all. Nothing was sticking to it, not even in the way HK was dosed in the Dark Side's residue.
"Looks ordinary," Vila said, too, opening her eyes after scanning it, "Maybe too ordinary?"
"You think?" I asked, thinking there might be something that could mask its weirdness from us, so I began examining it even more. Inside the gauntlet's inner rim, half-hidden by the corrosion, I noticed thin markings that were traced along the metal. They were red lines filled with black dust, as I angled it toward the light, trying to see it more clearly. "These aren't decorative, I think."
"Language?" she asked, trying to look into it, too.
"Maybe. Old, though... Maybe the name of the owner?"
[Statement: I gained control over the inner camera system.] HK's voice entered our ears through the private channel. [Observation: Those are runic script patterns from the ancient Sith codices, variant three. Translation partial: names, titles, funerary designations. Meatbag Kael is right, those are ownership details. It has corroded away, so it only retains the designation as 'guardian' and nothing else.]
"Wait..." I blinked my eyes, almost crying out loudly, "You're sure?"
[Confirmation: Ninety-eight percent. The design matches relics catalogued from tomb worlds of ancient Sith enclaves. Desperate Realization: Oh my Creator... I am turning into a protocol droid. Please do terminate me.]
"Damn..." Vila exhaled, "We are looking at Sith items?! How are we missing the feeling?"
"Good question..." I asked, furrowing my brows, reaching out again, scanning the gauntlet... nothing. "They are like... they were washed clean."
"By who? Or what?" Vila asked, making me shake my head.
"No idea. HK, can you tell me anything else? Which possible planet are these from?"
[Short Answer: No. Addendum: The nearest, known tomb world is only a few jumps away, though.]
"Which is?" Vila whispered, her eyes becoming serious.
[Statement: Korriban.]
"If these are from there," Vila snorted, "Then we would be able to feel it... Plus, even I know that the system was deemed off-limits to everyone and its coordinates were deleted from all and every database!"
[Lecturing Statement: It just can't stay a secret in the Galaxy. Not long enough. I have the coordinates, too.]
"If nothing else, we have our next target..." I murmured. "We will have to relay this information to back home anyway... Let's see if more things appear from that place or not..."
I set the gauntlet down carefully, resealing it. My fingers tingled where they'd brushed the glass this time around, but... nothing really. It was more from the realization... If these were once a Sith's own possessions, he was either weaker than I thought or something purged them clean. Reaching out, I pulled up the holo-log of earlier lots, including the dagger, a bowl, a fragment of armor, and zoomed in on each display, rotating them around... Then, the same motifs repeated again and again: circles of crimson filigree, minor sigils shaped like hooks, spiral designs that twisted left or right... They all came from the same place. Someone found a Sith tomb or something... And managed to rob it clean...
[Addendum: Records indicate all known artifacts from that world were destroyed following the last excavation during the Old Republic's timeline. Conclusion: These are from a new source. Recent finds.]
Even if that is true... Something else was amiss with it all. Pushing it to the back of my mind, the auction continued, but no matter how hard I tried to keep focused, my attention was already divided. Vila kept our cover, raising bids now and then, even butting in, participating in some bidding wards, retreating when the price got too high. On the other hand, I leaned back, closed my eyes, and watched the stage through the Force, trying to sense anything through the noise and countless other feelings, slowly closing them out, only trying to concentrate on the items. Yet... No matter which lot it was... They were clean. Nothing. They weren't even having the slightest scent of being touched by the Force, be it either side of it.
[Warning: Something is about to happen.] HK's voice cut in, making me reopen my eyes. [Update: Encrypted transactions are spiking amongst the monitored channels. Several buyers are communicating with external nodes outside the city... Something is about to appear that made the patrons excited.]
"How many such patrons are there?" I asked, thinking that maybe one of them had to do something with the disappearance of Iowi and Jalo.
[Estimate: A dozen. Possibly more. Money is moving in quickly. Conclusion: Whatever is coming is going to be the main attraction.]
"Keep tracing," I whispered, "Find the ones who have the most money being put up. If you can, try to even block them, cause some malfunctions, or I don't know... We don't need the price to get raised to a ridiculous amount. And if we win... make sure to trace our money!"
[Confirmation: Leave it to me. I am proficient in stealing, subterfuge, and sabotage. This is just like my second nature.]
"Sure it is," Vila poured herself a drink, murmuring, "This is bad, isn't it?"
"Seems like it," I said, nodding, "Honestly, I am not worried about the buyers, they won't be the ones who we will need to worry about... It's the seller."
"Then let's make sure we find who's selling."
"And for now," The auctioneer's tone shifted, becoming a bit mysterious and reverent while the lights dimmed further, and the crowd leaned in. "Our distinguished guests," she continued after a dramatic pause, "the final lot of the evening."
Moving, her lekku swaying, I saw as an attendant approached the stage, carrying a case surrounded by a faint, security containment field... This time, I even felt it before the lid opened, before the field was dispersed. This item... was not clean. Oh, it wasn't! The Dark Side emanating from its surface struck me like a sharp, clawed, crimson hand, pressing against my chest, its black-tipped fingers singing into my skin, sending anger, grief, the echo of countless screams into my veins. My breath was caught for a moment, and if not for the experience I had gone through in the Rakatan world, I probably would have blacked out or at least screamed. Still... The room tilted slightly, making me lose focus with my eyes, but only for a moment, right until Vila's hand closed around my balled-up hand.
"Kael?"
"I'm fine," I said, shaking my head. "That's it." I refocused on the appearing, black, crimson, and silver lightsaber hilt, "That thing had killed a lot of people... Jedi and Sith alike, not to mention... the innocent."
"Yeah... I can feel that too." She nodded, still holding my hand, "It feels... oppressive."
"That it does."
As we spoke, the auctioneer gestured, and the case rotated, the stage's light scattering off its black surface, which was decorated with silver and crimson inlays. The weapon was long, so much so that it was evident that we were talking about a double-sided lightsaber staff.
"This one," the Twi'lek woman said, smiling, "Was recovered from an uncharted ruin beyond the Rim," she added, stopping for a minute, letting everyone realize what they were looking at. "This is an ancient relic, a weapon of history, preserved in perfect condition." Then, she lifted it, and to my surprise... activated the blade, letting its two bright crimson ends sputter to life, releasing all those screams I'd been feeling before. As long as the blades were on, their hum was more like a banshee wailing in your ears... For a Jedi, that is. That thing was... dangerous. It still had its owner's killing intent, baked into the weapon.
[Confirmation: That is a fine piece of work.] HK's voice broke through again, making me blink my eyes, resisting the aura of the Sith weapon, [Warning: Energy readings unstable. The object is not inert.]
"What do you mean?" Vila's eyes met mine. "That thing's alive...?"
[Correction: It's a tool. It is not organic. But its power output is above the readings of your weapons.]
"Well... Something may be attached to it... We know that could happen." I muttered, my brows furrowing, "If not the spirit of an ancient Sith, then their intent. Corruption... something that has to do with the Dark Side, a ritual, who knows? We can't let it get out, or it may corrupt someone... Or do whatever else!"
"No need to tell me twice," Vila snorted, shaking her head and also feeling the emanating darkness from the weapon, "we will buy it." And with that, she raised the first bid, throwing it in a price that was already... ridiculous.
Only for it to be doubled by the next...
"HK..." I groaned, while we were already offering six-digit credits for it.
[Confirmation: Don't worry. Their funds are soon to run dry, with no backup on the way. Addendum: Rerouting them to a private account.]
I don't know what he did, well, going by his words, stealing the money... but it worked... Soon, they quit, one by one, until only one booth remained, the one who bought the dagger before. But even they had to resign because Vila, once again, doubled the price, showing we wanted it more than anyone else.
"Sold!" The woman on the stage clapped happily, making Vila sink back in her chair, sweating a little.
"Damn right it is sold..." She grumbled, wiping her forehead, "Damn... Making me work so hard for it..."
"Dear winning guests!" The announcer continued, "As per the value of this item, please do collect it personally, as we will initiate the transaction then and there, to avoid chargebacks."
"..." I just signaled an acknowledgement, before looking at Vila, "Chargbacks...? Really? That's the excuse?"
"Fishy." She whispered as we exchanged a look.
Yes... This was... fishy.
"HK?"
[Statement: I can try and sneak in.]
"Kael?" Vila asked, looking at me, as our sabers were with him. We would go, partially unarmed. Still, we would have the Force.
"No..." I said in the end, shaking my head, "We can deal with this," I flexed my cortosis hand, "HK, keep monitoring. Make sure they won't rip us off. We will deal with the rest on our end..."