Mysterious Lizard

Hell Squad cross the plateaus of Iktotch using their BARC Speeders. The vehicles were small, but very useful, so each CR90 Corvette had at least a few of them. They were mainly used for scouting, just what Hell Squad was doing at the moment.

Leading Hell Squad, Dageer was driving the speeder at the front of their triangle like formation. There were two other speeders, each with two Hell Squad members on them, and another one driven by Tech, and slightly modified to have a bigger carrying capacity.

"It is about three clicks to the west. We should be able to see it at any moment, whatever it is."

Brain had to say that using the comlink, because of the noise caused by the wind. Dageer checked his scanners and suddenly shuddered.

Ever since they had landed on Iktotch, Dageer had been feeling weird. Not in a bad way, though, but neither in an especially good. It was because of that feeling that he had left the ship as soon as they landed, and went after the big thing the scanners had captured.

"Sir... sir!"

He was pulled back from his thoughts by Cell, who had speed up his BARC Speeder, and was now by Dageer's side.

"Sorry, Cell. The wind is too strong, I couldn't hear you. What is it?"

"Just ahead of us, sir."

Cell stretched his arm and showed something in front of Dageer. When he looked up, he saw that a strange rocky formation had appeared. It was big, and quite conspicuous, because it looked like it was about to cut a hole into the sky.

Like a dagger, the rocks pointed to the sky above. Dageer wondered how he hasn't seen it before, since it towered over everything else in the plateau. But it judging from Dab's words, it seemed they also hadn't seen it before.

"It's weird. It is like we could see it all the time, but it suddenly got much bigger."

"The signal is coming from it. Sir, do you think there is something up there?"

"Let's go."

Dageer didn't answer Tech. He knew what they were looking for was in the rock spike. Although he himself did know what it was, he also knew it wasn't a bad thing.

...

When Hell Squad finally arrived at the bottom of the rock spike, they realized how big it was. When they entered its shadow, it encompassed the entire sky. Brain checked the scanners again, and sure enough, the signal was up the rock spike.

"What do we do now, sir? We didn't come prepared to climb a mountain."

"There is no need to climb. Get back on the speeders. Circle it."

The clones looked at each other. It seemed a little unusual for their usually cool-headed sub-commander to be so insistent at chasing what was most probably a flock of unintelligent creatures.

However, Dageer did as he said he would, and got back on the speeder. Lifting a cloud of dust, he started circling around the rock spike, and eventually found what he was looking for. At the exact opposite side of where they first arrived, there was a very steep cleavage on the rock spike, but they could use it to get to the top.

"How did you know this was going to be here, sir?"

"I... I don't know, Brain. I just... I knew it was here, for some reason."

"Sir, are you okay?"

"Yes. Quit talking, let's get up there."

Every clone shut up after Dageer ordered them to do so. Questioning a superior wasn't something they usually did.

Although they had to leave the BARC Speeders behind, it didn't take them much time to get to the top of the rock spike. What they found up there, however, surprised them more than anything else.

On top of the rock spike, in the middle of a rocky plateau, there was a house. Actually, it was more like a hut. It was shaped like a semi-circle, with a small chimney. The door was just a hole, and although it was day, and light should be shining inside the hut, Dageer could see nothing after the doorway.

For all reasons, that hut shouldn't be there. Iktotch was a planet that nobody ever colonized, so either the hut was property of some hermit, or the Republic archives were incomplete. Dageer was more inclined to think the first option was the correct one.

"Tech, Metal, Dab, stay here. Brain, Cell, come with me."

"Yes, sir."

The weird feeling was stronger, and it was telling Dageer he didn't need to worry, but he was more inclined to trust his experience. He would never enter a house with his guard down, especially when he wasn't in friendly territory.

His DC-15A loaded and ready, he crouched to enter the hut. The first thing he did, as soon as he crossed the doorway, was to aim his blaster at the immobile figure at the opposite end of the hut. Cell and Brain covered both his left and right.

After making sure there were no threats, Dageer finally turned to the figure. It was vaguely humanoid, but instead of the skin that humans had, it was more like a lizard. Its scales were so white that they seemed to shine. It had a short neck, but a big head, with small and sharp teeth appearing on the sides of its face, even with the mouth closed. Also, it had a big tail that coiled around itself.

"You... you are the same... and one..."

When the lizard spoke, it didn't open its mouth, but the sound reverberated inside the hut. Although it spoke slowly, Dageer could understand it.

"Who are you? This planet doesn't belong to any force."

"I... I am me... you... you are you... but you are also them... and they are you..."

The white lizard moved its tail, and pointed at Dageer, then Cell and Brain. Everything it was saying was confusing, but it was weirdly relaxing, to the point that the clones lowered their blasters.

"Are you a native of Iktotch?"

"Thyyrila... not Iktotch... Iktotch is the name you gave... my people... my planet... Thyyrila..."

"So you are a native. We didn't know there was an intelligent lifeform on this planet. Our ship is damaged. Is there anywhere we can repair it?"

"We left... and now we are back... maybe it is because of you... maybe it is not..."

"Sir, he isn't making any sense."

"Shhh!!! Let him talk. He is a native from Iktotch, he probably knows where we can fix the transmitter."

"Many, many years ago... we left Thyyrila to find peace... but war found us before... now we are back... are you this war?"

"Uhmmm? Are you talking about the Clone Wars? Yes, we are soldiers, on the Republic side."

"Republic... Separatist... all pieces in a scheme... the dark lord watches and controls... we left because we couldn't fight the dark lord... now we are back... yes... yes..."

"Who is this dark lord? What do you mean by pieces in a scheme?"

"You... I can feel the Force around you... not in you... around... following but never touching... watching but never moving... yes... you, you are important... but you will never change the future... you only moves towards it, another tool of the dark lord... but maybe... maybe..."