LOTF: Resurgence/Chapter 5

The white planet, covered in snow, did not seem to have changed much. Carlac was still marked by snowy hills as far as the eye could see, and its cold atmosphere still nipped at Yula's body in some relentless effort to drain the remaining heat from her body. The wind blew and howled as always, but not nearly as violently as the last time Yula had been here. She trudged through the deep snow, leaving a trail of footprints in her wake. She stopped briefly to turn back around and see the rest of the team; the same group that had been part of the meeting on Hans' ship, which Yula had learned was named the Fortune Destroyer.

"How much farther?" Hans called out.

Yula reached out into the Force, looking for Ganner's presence. He had been buried somewhere out here with his lightsaber, which had an unusually strong pull in the Force. She found it not too far ahead. Ganner's burial site had been unmarked for the very situation that now was occurring: Someone was looking for him. "Not much," she informed the group. She continued on slowly, until she was right on top of his presence, then stopped. She crouched down, pressing her hand to the ground, extending her senses to feel what had been buried. Her suspicious were washed away when she felt that Ganner's body and lightsaber were still there. "Right where I left you," she whispered.

...

Sitting in his customized shuttle, the Inquisitor watched the group from orbit. They had briefly stopped at a seemingly random location in the snow before moving towards the mountains. There was a village in the opposite direction, but the group seemed to ignore it, and thus, so did the Inquisitor. At the moment, he couldn't get a read in the Force of what exactly was occurring down there without revealing his presence to Yula and the man. However, he was no fool. This plain was nothing--practically barren. That meant they were looking for something under the ground, which, worst-case scenario, was Ganner. The Inquisitor hadn't until now considered the possibility that Ganner might not be alive, and this possibility caused him to have to run a thousand new plans through his head, a thorough consideration of each outcome that could result from the alteration of his next moves. There was one way he could attempt to get the information he needed without Ganner, but that plan would compromise his cover and remain an absolute last resort.

He pressed some buttons on his shuttle's console, and established a comm channel with Barak. "I'm going down to the surface," he said. "Await my orders." He fired up the engines. The ship plunged down towards Carlac, and towards the buried secrets of the Shadow Assassins.

...

The Inquisitor could feel Ganner's presence, or at least, what the journals had described it as (large, and intense, but seemingly unaligned, a focal point for either Dark and Light, or perhaps neither) in the Force long before he had arrived at the site. There was no doubt; he was here. The Inquisitor's worst fears were confirmed. He trudged through the snow, following the in the fading footsteps of the group that had come before him towards the source. Ganner Slarwalker. He felt a calling in the Force from the site, growing ever stronger with each step, urging him to break through the ice and the snow and pry out the secrets hidden from him. At last, he found himself standing directly over the center of the pull. He let go and dove into the Force, reaching out for the presence he now felt right beneath him. At last, he had it. He grabbed it as tight as he could with the Force and pulled upwards. It refused to move, pushing harder and harder against the ice under which it had been buried, until at last the ice on the surface cracked and he felt the ice under follow suit. He took a good few steps back and pulled harder.

The ice shattered, the noise coupling with a great outward explosion on the surface as an object burst forth from the ground. The Inquisitor maintained his grip on it until the dust had cleared and he could see more clearly what it was. It was a box, long and very plain, save for a removable, semi-circular top. It was made out of a metal, likely durasteel or another common element. Inside, the Inquisitor felt the calling. This was the coffin of Ganner Slarwalker.

He slowly dropped the coffin onto the snow in front of him. He could now see that the top was not entirely blank; directly over the center was a faded black handprint. The Inquisitor reached out in the Force again, extending his hands and raising the top of the coffin, then dropped it off to the side as he peered over into it.

Ganner was dressed in long white robes, giving way to polished armor in the chest and covering his eyes. His bearded face was relaxed, as if his death had been entirely peaceful. The Inquisitor doubted it had been. Ganner's arms were folded at roughly sixty-degree, with his left hand converging over his right, which held his lightsaber. Ganner's body itself seemed to be well preserved, and this gave the Inquisitor renewed hope, for this meant his plans would certainly succeed. Without thinking, the Inquisitor slowly used the Force to slide the lightsaber out from between Ganner's hands, and it landed squarely in his right palm. He activated it, and the silver blade quickly snapped to life, letting out the traditional hiss as though it had only been moments since it was last used. Holding it now, the Inquisitor could sense that the lightsaber, not Ganner's body, had been the source of the presence. Fascinating. He waved the lightsaber around a bit, getting a feel for the weapon. He felt the heat of the weapon on his skin as he tested it, then, as he deactivated it, the sudden return to coldness. Decien clipped the lightsaber to his belt next to his own.

Behind the Inquisitor, a small child's voice asked, "Are you Roh putih?"

The Inquisitor quickly spun and extended his hand to freeze the child as he raised his lightsaber before his rationale caught up with his instincts once more. He examined the child, a Pantoran boy around the age of nine or ten outfitted in a heavy white jacket with fur on the hood. The blue child had white streaks like lightning bolts on both his cheeks, and fear in his orange eyes. He looked closer, and he saw a trace of something else: courage. Deciding the boy was ultimately not a threat, the Inquisitor let him go and deactivated Ganner's lightsaber.

"Roh putih?" He asked the child.

"The-the white spirit. He protects us."

The Inquisitor dropped down to one knee, bringing his face on level with the child's. "No, I am not. But he is here."

"Where?" The boy quizzically responded. He seemed somewhat less afraid now, and more curious.

The Inquisitor pointed back towards the coffin. "In there, if you dare to look for him."

The boy unsurely and cautiously approached the coffin until he was just above it. The Inquisitor watched as he leaned over the edge and witnessed Ganner's body. The boy was silent as he took in the reality of Ganner's death. After a moment, he turned back to the Inquisitor, his eyes tearing up, and, sniffling, asked, "Is he....?"

"Yes. Roh putih was never a spirit. He was a man, like you and I." The Inquisitor met the boy's eyes, now widened with shock and sadness. "He was very powerful, yes, but there was a time where he was once in the same place as you, child. Remember that the next time anything stands in your way-- remember that you have that same power within you if you are willing to find it. Your passions will guide you."

"And his passions guided him?" The boy slowly questioned.

"Yes, they did."

The Inquisitor further evaluated the boy as he sat in silence for a minute in contemplation. It was unusual that the boy had been able to sneak up on him without altering him, and even now he felt nothing in the Force. However, he had already taken a bit of a liking to the child, and the child certainly wasn't going to be a threat. Perhaps, given time, he could even be an asset. Decien made a mental note to find a way to monitor the child.

He place his hand on the child's shoulder, watching the tears that had been built disappear. "What is your name?" He asked.

"Calland," the boy answered.

"I am Decien." the Inquisitor responded. "It's been an honor, Calland, but it's time for you to go now."

With the Force, Decien pushed the thought of leaving into Calland's mind. The child was surprisingly and seemingly unknowingly resistant, but he slowly turned and began trudging back in the snow the way he had come from.

"Inquisitor, this is Barak, do you copy?" Barak's voice suddenly rang out over Decien's comlink, returning his mind to the activities he had come here to carry out in the first place. "Yes, go ahead." He answered.

"The rebels have left the system. Their trajectories are currently plotted for Dathomir.'"

"Understood. I'll be done here shortly. In the meantime, prepare your forces."

Decien deactivated his comlink and returned his attention to Ganner's body. He didn't need it, but at the same time, he couldn't just leave it out there. After short deliberation, he decided he would take the body with him. After replacing the lid on Ganner's coffin, he picked it up with the Force and carried it alongside him down the path the rebels had taken, searching for more answers hidden on the frozen world.