Tuesday, January 18, 2005

The Eve of Battle

It was a Sith encampment. I could feel it.

Nothing in the ordinary data waypoint storage device I had retrieved from the corpse of the dead Sith assailant told me this. It gave no indication of what destination it pointed toward, only a location somewhere in the desert several kilometers South of Mos Nox.

Yet I knew that whoever traveled to that location would be facing more of the same scum that had just attacked me. It was a feeling, a tingling throughout my body, yet detached from it at the same time. The Force was speaking to me, and it was telling me to be prepared.

The first three Sith had been dispatched almost without any trouble at all, but an encampment was sure to shelter more than just three. It was time to call in some support.

As I have mentioned before, since leaving Tatooine, Spiderwell had established a reputation for himself as a medical specialist that placed him clearly in the upper echelons of the profession. He was particularly skilled at crafting and applying combat medical enhancement preparations -- more commonly known as "buffs." Buffs are a medium-term enhancement that allow the patient to endure far more physical abuse than would normally be possible, by artificially enhancing the body's natural defenses and pain response. They also allowed a person to undertake physical activity for an abnormally extended period of time, due to their great enhancement of endurance and recovery. The only thing they didn't help was psychic stress and battle fatigue -- common side effects that professional soldiers often experienced after long-term battle, but not something I expected to encounter here.

Spiderwell was on the planet Talus when I reached him, inspecting his water collection installations that supplied his buff production facilities with precious, enhanced Talus spring water. I had been secretive about my Path with nearly everyone except Spiderwell, so there was no need to go into great details about my situation. I told him I needed him, and he came.

Luckily the hop from Talus to Tatooine was not particularly long, and he arrived in Bestine later that night. We made camp outside the northern border of Mos Nox, where we enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with each other and regale each other with stories of the old days. Finally, I explained what had happened to me recently -- about my encounter with the mysterious old man and the attack by the Sith. Spider didn't ask many questions. He just told me that whatever I needed, I had.

My plan, I told him, was to assault the camp at dawn. Under the cover of the early morning desert shadow and the lethargy of the chill in the air, I expected to be able to take them by surprise and dispatch them before they knew what was happening. Then I hoped to learn more about who they were, and what they were doing.

There was no question in my mind that they needed to be exterminated. Though their encampment was still kilometers away, I could feel their presence like a dagger in my back. They reeked with the Dark Side of the Force.

Spider agreed to apply his best buffs to me in the early morning, then stand by in Mos Nox in case I needed further assistance. He dabbled in handgun combat at that time, but was no expert. He could, however, apply more short-term medical enhancements during combat if needed.

Thus agreed, we retired for the night. For several long minutes I watched the stars of the galaxy drift slowly by overhead, and wondered what the next day would bring.