The longer that Calen watched, and he did watch for quite a bit of time (and how couldn't he?), the more he was convinced that this man was indeed Jedi Master Karras Toph, the man who had been imprinted upon the holocron that he and Niyasa had discovered on Gesaril. He was certainly older, much older than the artificial intelligence that had been created from him, but it was definitely him. Even if Zobek hadn't made his grand announcement, Calen would have seen it.
The man fought like a demon, too. The krayt dragon had charged at him the moment it had seen him and Toph had leaped over it, onto its back and began slashing at its plated hide. It thrashed around, trying to throw him off as Zobek laughed heartily and the crowd was in an uproar. The speed, the precision, the sheer power behind the man's blows... it was all more intense than Calen had been expecting. When the krayt dragon finally managed to buck the man off, Toph managed to land on his feet while only dropping one of the axes.
The creature was roaring in rage, its teeth bared as it galloped toward him, its maw opening wide in an attempt to swallow him whole. Toph brought the axe to slice into its mouth, sparing his arm from the piercing of the teeth as he carved through said mouth. The dragon's tail whipped around and knocked him back the arena wall. The crowd was in a fever-pitch as the beast managed to circle around and then began charging for said wall. Toph didn't move, Calen's heart caught in his chest as the dragon galloped closer and closer and closer...
Toph rolled out of the way at the exact last second, the momentum that the krayt had picked up meaning it was unable to stop as it crashed right into the shield generator lining the wall. Sparks flew and the beast was electrocuted in the same instance that the impact likely cracked its skull, killing it as the crowd cheered wildly.
"Oh ho ho!" The Hutt gave a deep, rumbling belly laugh. "<Another fine victory for my Grand Champion!>" The crowd was going nuts. "<Prepare yourselves! My Tournament of Champions has begun!>"
"Okay, so explain it to me. Please." Calen had been returned to his cell and was once more in the company of Ziv Haako.
"Zobek every so often collects too many Champions and so decides to have a little fun with them." The Nemoidian explained. "Whittling them down until only a handful remain. Then, he starts the process all over again."
"So, full on death matches like you said before?" Calen asked.
"Basically." Ziv nodded. "Not all matches are to the death, but most are. In particular the early matches. A way of weeding out the weak and all."
"Great." Calen sighed. "I need to figure out a way to get out of here and finish my mission."
"There is no way out!" Ziv insisted, a bit too loudly. He quieted himself as he noticed a Gamorrean guard shuffling by the cells. Once he was sure the pigman was out of earshot, he continued, in a lower tone once more, "There is no way out. Anyone who has tried has died."
"There has to be a way." Calen said. "First thing would be getting whatever this shock node taken out is. Or disabled. Or something."
"Trust me, I've tried." Ziv shook his head. "Even if I can find the things, each one has its own randomly generated code to lock out hacking attempts. The only way to break it would be to get a cipher randomizer and even then, it would take someone with some of the best slicing skills in the galaxy to pull it off." Calen grimaced at that. If Glin were here, he could definitely pull it off, no sweat. He was back on Bogden, though, if that was still where their little Rebel cell was based and Calen had no way to get a message out to him either way.
Unwilling to be defeated, Calen sat on that dirty floor and thought over it all. Given everything else, it wouldn't be long before the real Empire showed up to see Zobek's product. He'd have to destroy it well beforehand, but overcoming this hurdle was going to be... quite the problem.
"There he is... there he is..."
Corrin watched the holonet broadcast and couldn't really believe what it was he was seeing. Not the old man taking on a juvenile krayt dragon as though it were nothing, but instead the image of one particular man in a crowd of prisoners.
"How old is this footage?"
"Only a few hours, sir." Corrin reported to the flickering form of Admiral Darkhaven. "We have every belief that Calen is still there."
"Why was he there to begin with?"
"Intelligence reports are that the Rebels attempted an infiltration mission." Corrin reported. "Imperial Inspector Vanyard did not make her rendezvous with Captain Tyrellius and the Sixth Fleet as scheduled and her shuttle's tracking beacon is either inactive or has been scuttled entirely."
"I see." Thadddeus Darkhaven's image appeared thoughtful for a moment, crackling and distorting a bit in the projector's light blue light. "Captain Dax, your new orders are to journey to Rorak 4 and inquire about what became of the Inspector. Imagine your endeavor will be... very beneficial to our cause."
"Yes, sir." Corrin nodded, tapping his booted feet together. "Shall I send a detachment into the Bogden system?"
"No. The root can wait its turn." Darkhaven intoned. "Take some time trimming the branches, Captain."
"Very good, sir." Corrin replied just before the image of his superior winked out of view.
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