20220507 Two weeks Later

After saving Chausid Station, we (surprisingly) had a full two weeks of routine, assisting the various governmental functions at Port Etmar and calculating DeJoy's next probable move. I took the time to train myself with several canned courses in Droid Repair and basic and advanced Shield Operation. It was practically a vacation.
 
Erenn Baize at the Stiydear Estate to the far northwest of Port Etmar sent, well, not exactly a distress call, but a note of "energetic" interest, regarding a large number of Jedi Artifacts he "found" in his basement. There has been a shortage of such things in the local galactic space recently.
 
We joined the two Jedi and flew in the Captain's X-wing. alleged-Vor Baize greeted us and took us to the unearthed room below the monastery, (probably a room of the original monastery or perhaps a rough channel to a mine that might predate it, judging from the similar tile flooring), and showed us his find.
 
In the center of the room stood a recently-defaced statue of Shal Artak, a famous Jedi battle tactician / strategist from the middle era of the Old Republic.
 
My Medical Scanner Glove picked up nothing in the way of modern technology except a distant signal perhaps 200 meters past the sandstone walls of this room, which Davish Tam consulted with me to determine was typical of an extra-galactic civilization which could be found only through the warp in space uncomfortably close to this planet.
 
Vanya meditated a moment and told us she had aft-seen (which is the opposite of "fore-seen") that a few months ago Black Hat pirates entered the room from a secret door in the NorthEast wall and deposited the stolen Jedi artifacts, old rare scrolls, Jedi Temple Guardian Lightsabers, holocron crystals, etc. Clan Tilles Pirates entered next, surveyed the loot, and paid the Black Hat pirates ... with blaster fire until they were dead. Next entered four odd spidery BT-16 robotic bodies carrying B'omaar Monk's brains around, who thanked the Tilles Clan Pirates, similarly shot them dead, and discussed how to remove their brains for experiments before they went too long without oxygen. Then, she said, Almon DeJoy entered, and paid the B'omaar monks with a plasticene data flimsie page of a dark book, saying, "Happy Reading!". And no one got shot that time. Vanya said her vision also included many days later when DeJoy was insane with rage, smashing the artifacts and the statue, shouting that he still had not found what he was seeking, something like, "He fought him! It has to be recorded! WHERE!?!"
 
I openly wondered what was it that DeJoy sought and clearly, the Jedi Battle Strategist, Shal Artak, had moved away from where all historical records said it had been. And, what was "it"? The Tenocron Codex? Or Darth Tenock’s lab and his Sith forge which created the Codex, and presumably could create a duplicate or destroy the original? Or perhaps a particularly dreaded page of the Codex?
 
I recognized that smell from so many years ago. Almon DeJoy's favorite cologne, Eau de Cyanide de Lilac, which smells like cyanide, which smells like almonds. I programmed my medical scanner glove (It has a great deal of sentimental value.) to detect the chemical traces of his scent. It showed me that within the last few months, he had spent an amount of time close to one wall and close to a particular tile. I pulled a pen out of my breast pocket and pushed the tile.
 
The secret door opened. So'Zen lead the way. The lightless hallway bore a faint scent of old sapho juice and DeJoy's madness. I took a swig of Sapho to help me concentrate. The General took a swig of whiskey to help him concentrate. We all crept forward. Two skeletons lay on the floor. Minotaur-like with long curly horns.
 
In the next large cold dark room were several medical stasis beds. So'Zen and I examined them and found the bodies of three Tillian Pirates, bodies without brains, and several empty such beds lacking occupants.
 
Spider-like robots descended on us from the ceiling. They looked like B'omaar monks, but visibly, there were no brains in their attached glass jars. They were just attack droids.
 
I found I could electrocute them using the high voltage power cables from the medical stasis beds. Our droids confounded their optical sensors with flashes of the ordinary lighting system of the room. The Jedi and the General fought them handily. But most impressive were the flamer units of our Captain Koleen and one of the Sisters of Battle who decided to join us rather than simply guard our retreat path.
 
Soon we had them all deactivated or in pieces. But the B'omaar monks, and perhaps DeJoy in the unlikely event that he were still here after all those months still searching, knew that we were on to them.