Chapter 54: 55. Chapter

From the perspective of Nizzal.

After I managed to catch up with the others "we" by which I meant me, Laora, Anakin and Ahsoka, were sent out to look around the cave. We were searching for any signs of dangerous, possibly human eating, cave-dwelling monsters. Luckily, we didn't encounter anything except a few big rats. Since we didn't find anything dangerous, we decided to head back to the ship, where the others stayed behind and began to pack out some sort of survival gear, and camping equipment.

Yes, we decided to stay here for a while, since the Ebon Hawk's detectors were constantly picking up series of heavy tremors through the ground; those tremors were originating from the surface. We figured that a planet-wide bombardment had begun. I guess, Dooku didn't like our attempt to put him out of misery. It's good that he didn't realize that we were the ones who tried to kill him. Not that it made any difference, since he wanted to kill me even before that...

Anyway, our main goal, as Aomi stated, had been reached. We managed to create infighting between the Separatist worlds. Seeing the cruel ways of Count Dooku bombarding the whole world of Zygerria after he assassinated their queen will send the desired message to anyone who thinks that allying themselves with the Separatists will save their world from suffering and possible destruction.

While we were tracing back our steps to the ship. I had the opportunity to listen into the general banter of Anakin, and Ahsoka. Now that I think of it, they are not arguing for about three whole minutes.

I turned around, trying to figure out what was going on.

The moment I looked at Ahsoka, I realized that she looked troubled. They must have fought while I was ignoring them. Unfortunately, that means that I have no idea what could have caused this deep frown to appear on her face. Maybe, I am not too late to figure out what was going on between them?

Ahsoka stopped suddenly, she turned towards her master and asked a question from him.

I was quite curious at this moment, so I also stopped and listened carefully.

Anakin stopped too, and looked at his padawan, waiting for her question.

-By the way, master, you didn't tell me what is the other thing you hate....

Anakin seemed confused, as he asked.

-What do you mean?

Ahsoka pouted slightly, she realized that her master had already forgotten their earlier banter.

-You said that there are two things you hate and both of them are present here! How could you forget it already... Are you starting to get senile?

-Shut it Snips. I am worried about Obi-Wan. We were unable to make a connection, since we are too deep underground for the signals to reach the surface. I hope he is alright.

-Have faith Master, Obi-Wan will be alright and Rex is also with him to save his hind quarters in case his diplomatic approach fails to achieve its desired effect.

Anakin seemed to think about this. After a few seconds, he said with an even more worried expression.

-Now that you mention it, I don't seem to recall a single mission when he managed to solve any quarrel with actual diplomacy.

Ahsoka's mouth slightly opened, but she doesn't seem to find the words she was evidently looking for... Then she helplessly shut her mouth and after releasing a long sigh, she directed the conversation back to its origin.

-So, anyway... What is the other thing you hate, Master?

She asked her question again.

Anakin, seemed to have awoken from his own worries as he looked up and began to speak finally.

-Oh, well. If you really want to know, who she is...

His eyes widened for a second, as if he had just remembered something very important. Then he looked at me with clear discomfort mirrored in his eyes.

-So she is a person? Do I know her? Wait, where are you looking at?

Asked Ahsoka as she turned around and looked at me. She seemed confused for a while, then her eyes widened with realization, as she turned back to her master.

-You can't be serious! Are you hating Nizzy, when there are people like Ventress running around the galaxy?!

-What? You asked the question, would you rather hear me lie about it?

-How can you be this insensitive, you jerk! Why don't you hate Ventress more, she tried to kill us multiple times!

-Because I don't have to live with her under the same roof!

-You are, you are... hopeless...

Okay, my worries were totally unfounded. It is time to continue my walk back to the ship. Before, Laora leaves us here! She didn't even stop to wait for us. That woman's attitude is beyond shameless.

So yeah, where was I? Oh, that is it. This cave is actually at the bottom of a partially dried out lake. There is still water in the lake, but it is very little, compared to what it must have looked like in the past. It's size must have been quite big, since there are still visible walls of the old channel reaching as high as thirty meters at certain places. Those walls once served as the water bed for giant quantities of water.

You are reading story Star Wars: The Way of the Grey at novel35.com

Although, it is clear that this had been changed decades ago. But where did the water go? Since there is still water in this place just a lot less, it means that this place still continues to get water from a river. So where does the water end up?

With only using your eyes, you will never realize, that at the bottom of the current lake there is a giant underwater cave. The cave is in fact is so big, that our ship could easily descend into it, even if it was ten times bigger. Yes, the cave is the answer. The shear mass of the water that was held in the lake, must have weighted so much, that the underground cave system simply caved in. After that, the water began to press itself into the newly created opening in the earth, filling up the underground caves, creating a giant opening that in the end connected the caves with the lake's water. Slowly refill the lake with water until it has reached its original depth.

Or at least this should have happened; but it is clear, that the caves are not entirely filled with water, as it still continues to pour into it. That means the water must flow into some underground river, or lake. It is a pretty interesting phenomenon, to be honest. Create a somewhat unique underground living environment.

Because of Aomi ensuring us that it was in fact safe, as they have made the necessary adjustments on the ship to work underwater and in highly pressurized environments.

My ship simply plopped into the water after Equ turned off the engines slightly above water levels. Then, after Aomi hit a few new buttons on the control panel, a pair of propellers extended out into the water from a hidden slot, and we slowly began to head deeper down into uncharted territory.

Well, at least most of us felt like that, Aomi was different, though, she had been down in these caves many times before. We traveled about half an hour with the ship this way. That was the time when the cave tunnel suddenly extended outward. The light rays that we used to light the cave walls in front of us had been lost in the complete darkness of the water. We were unable to see the end of this giant underground watershaft.

Aomi was completely relaxed, so I decided to trust her. She simply followed the water currents, as she entered into different tunnels, while controlling the ship as if it were a walk in a park. I had long lost count of how many different tunnels we entered and which shaft we just left behind, when suddenly our ship broke through the water's surface; that very moment a ghostly blue light appeared around the ship.

We were still in the caves, in parts where the cave had not been flooded. It was a colossal air pocket, to be more precise. There was a blueish hue coloring the whole place, as fluorescing giant blue flowers were lighting up the shores of the at least one kilometer wide and few hundred meters tall chamber.

A lot of questions popped into my mind about this place, and I wanted to ask them from Aomi immediately.

I didn't manage to do that. She hushed me, and ordered me, Ahsoka, Anakin, and Laora, to look around the side tunnels for any dangerous creature that may or may not have been lurking around. We were supposed to chase it away, or kill it while she and the others erect and activate an energy fence around the camp.

She at last parked the ship in shallow water, near the shore. We decided to leave it at that, since it would be unwise to activate the jet engines in a cave kilometers below ground only to attempt to park the ship on solid ground... or more like sand... since that was what covered everything around here. Fine white sand.

I will have to ask her about this cave when we reach the camp. It is close now. I looked down to see where I should place my feet. A happy smile unintentionally appeared on my face as I saw my legs. The sleek black boots and black sturdy trousers with a lot of pockets were about to make me emotional. I was back on my ship. My gear that I brought from Hoth was still here. Therefore, all my clothes were here. I was finally wearing clothes that were practical, and not mentally challenging to put them on every time. I never thought that I would miss normal clothes this much. Well, I also gave Ahsoka a pair of my clothes, since I didn't want her to experience cave dwelling in an overly complicated and otherwise useless handmaiden dress.

Well, she looked a bit funny in my clothes as they were a bit small for her. My long trouser only reached a bit under her knee. She was always taller than me, but now that difference had reached an uncomfortable level.

She sent me a mocking glare, when she realized how much taller she is than I am... So I pointed it out to her, in a cheery voice, that she is so lucky, to be this extremely flat and thin that my clothes, even when they are much smaller in size, miraculously manage to fit her.

Her smug expression melted immediately and turned into a glare. What?

In the meantime, I also decided to stop slowing down my aging, for now. It is definitely not because of Ahsoka continuously annoying me for my small size.

At times like this, I feel sad that no one in our order has ever created a technique that could actually do the opposite thing, hasten the users growth speed.

You would think, that if you can do one, you can do the other as well. That is a very faulty conclusion. Think about this: the fact that you can push down a five ton mass of rock from the top of a mountain doesn't mean that you can also push it up to that same mountain.

The distance you need to travel is the same, but the way, the approach you need to take and the effort to spend is completely different. Also, it is not like I can just make up a technique out of nowhere. These techniques are the fruits of hundreds of years of constant research. It often took generations to finally create a single one of these extremely powerful and potent force techniques.

It is much easier, to simply wait for me to grow naturally, at least until I hit seventeen or eighteen... I am not going to suffer Ahsoka's smirks any longer... Wait... am... am I being manipulated by her? I looked at my current body with scrutiny... Well, even if I am manipulated... I at least will be able to visit any pub and drink what I want... hehe... So I don't give a damn... I think?

We closed on the large hall of the cave where we left the others, as the weird blue colored flowers began to appear more and more frequently. The flowers were pretty nice. Sadly, they didn't have a scent. Their size varied from a few centimeters to a ten and even 15 meters big. Some seemed to be more like a tree than a flower. I only saw flora like this on Felucia before, but they were not exactly the same as these ones. I have made a bunch of pictures of them. I may try to figure out if there is any documentation on them later.

I followed Laora as she walked in the direction of the camp. She was just as uninterested as usually, well, she probably had been here already.

I don't really know, how this flora is able to grow this big underground and stay alive. They obviously didn't convert energy from sunlight... Then where did they get the energy instead? I wonder... The air here is very moist, and there is plenty of water. The water is quite warm. There must be an underground spring nearby too... I don't know... Maybe I will ask Aomi...

We walked back into the camp at last, there were eight pillars raised around the containers placed in the middle of the pillars. Those pillars will connect and redirect the pure energy lines when it is activated, but it was still dormant so we walked through between them.

Laora walked to the pile of boxes that were brought here from the ship while we were away. She simply plopped down on top of a large chest, leaned her back to another one while releasing a tired sigh. She at last lifted her legs up and placed them on another metal box in front of her. Then she closed her eyes and completely ignored us.

Well, she must be tired... Best to leave her be than. I turned away from her and looked around the camp. There was not really that much of an actual camp yet... There was this pile of unopened metal containers, in the middle of it. The only thing that was about to be functional was the energy fence. I doubt that we will even need it, although, Aomi doesn't seem to be the type who does unnecessary things... Maybe we were simply lucky to not run into any beast while patrolling.

-Oh!

Suddenly a deep humming noise appeared around us, as the energy fence activated. It formed an octagon formation around us and the  containers next to us. The energy beams that connected the eight pillars were gray-colored.

I looked at the others. They seemed to be content, for now. Ahsoka sat down on another container, while she continued to fidgetting with her hands and feet. She must think, that I am angry at them for that previous matter... Well, I don't really care. I also hate Anakin's guts. He is self-centered, and annoying at the best of times. Also, he never listens to anyone, besides his own ego, I mean. Am I jealous, because he has about fifteen times the talent to channel raw force energies than I have? Probably, but that doesn't necessarily have to turn you into an obnoxious jerk.

Now he is glaring at me, because I stared at him for too long... I turned away, and pulled out my lightsaber, while standing nearby, waiting for the others to appear.

This saber hilt was made for me by my master. It was a standard one-bladed lightsaber hilt. As standard as you can get. The hilt was made from dark gray durasteel. It was covered by black-colored leather straps at the bottom, to provide an easier grip on it for the wielder. There were only two black buttons on it. One was the activator, which also functioned as a deactivator when the blade was already ignited. The other was the none-lethal mode. This button was covered with a thin metal plate that needed to be opened before the button could be pushed. This was for the reason of avoiding any accidental change in blade functions in the middle of a battle.

And that was it. There were no extra additions to it. It was as simple as possible. A minimalist design that shuns everything that is unnecessary, a manifestation of a reliable and practical killing weapon. Let there be no doubt, about it. This weapon was created with a single intention. And that is to destroy its wielder's enemies.

You can find story with these keywords: Star Wars: The Way of the Grey, Read Star Wars: The Way of the Grey, Star Wars: The Way of the Grey novel, Star Wars: The Way of the Grey book, Star Wars: The Way of the Grey story, Star Wars: The Way of the Grey full, Star Wars: The Way of the Grey Latest Chapter