Time had been kind to the forests, but not to what remained of the castle. It wasn't much more than rubble now, with some semblance of a foundation still visible, although much of it had been buried in stone and slowly reclaimed by the forest over the last four decades. It hadn't been forgotten, however; scavengers and fortune-seekers had descended on the castle intermittently over the years. Their presence, too, had become part of the history of this place; some of the debris had obviously been cleared aside, and there were old, rusted scaffolds around the site, apparently abandoned. There was more, as Drasek would see upon closer inspection--the remains of a camp, complete with pots and pans and even an old, worn pair of boots. There were some bricks that had been arranged to sit on around the remains of a camp fire. And there were other implements--tools, and a container of rations that had long since been picked clean by the whisper birds who inhabited the planet and nested in the ruins.

It was, in fact, rather suspicious the amount of implements, tools, even personal belongings and effects that had been left abandoned. For instance, a rusted landspeeder was nestled in the bushes nearby, and on its dashboard sat an old, inoperable datapad. These are presumably not things that would be left behind deliberately. But it wasn't until Cale explored farther into the ruins that he would find the first undeniably bad omen; an assortment of rifles and carbines had been staked into the ground, with Mandalorian helmets sitting solemnly atop. These were far more recent, and were arrayed around what appeared to be an excavation site--rubble had been cleared away from an opening in the ground which revealed an old, stone corridor beneath that led into the darkness beneath the castle.

Clearly, there was something valuable there; something that the Mandalorians had died looking for.

Throughout his canvassing of the ruins, Cale would undoubtedly be haunted by the feeling that he was being watched. Indeed he was, through macrobinoculars (and from a sufficient distance that it would be difficult to locate his observer through the Force). But somewhere on the mountains overlooking the ruins, the macrobinoculars were lowered, a wrist control panel was raised, and a series of buttons pressed. Just as Cale would likely sense that something was amiss, there would be a sudden whirring of gears and servos as one of two L2 labor droids which had stood watch over the excavation site came to life abruptly. Its head swivelled to regard Cale, and it began to lumber in his direction with surprising speed for its formidable height and weight. A panel on the L2 droid opened, from which was extended a circular saw. There was no doubt, the droid meant business.

This might have gone on for some time, if not for the other droid—also an L2 model, designated L2-S12-G—which came to life as well. Its photoreceptors came online and caught their first glimpse of Cale from behind him (placing him roughly between the two droids). Over the sound of his blaster and the grinding of L2-B's treads on the dirt and rubble, it was possible the former Jedi might not even hear L2-G as it rolled toward him. He would undoubtedly sense the danger, however, as its bulky arms reached for him with durasteel "hands" clamping in anticipation as it drew near.

The entire spectacle, meanwhile, was being watched intently through the macrobinoculars.

Cale was quite right to keep his attention focused on L2-G, which had been confused when the former Jedi eluded its grasp but had since regained its bearings. As expected, it rolled directly at the awaiting Cale once again with its powerful hands clamping in anticipation—its utility panel opened also, like L2-B's had a moment ago, and predictably out came the droid's circular saw. Its hands were held before it, intending to clasp onto Cale's arms, while the circular saw was held about as high as the man's head. The droid would connect with its target in a matter of seconds if Cale was unable to stop it.

As Cale would, no doubt, glance about the excavation site once more to assure himself that there were no further droids or other dangers in waiting, his gaze would inevitably come to rest, again, upon the corridor that had been unearthed beneath the ruins of the castle. Having been hewn from the mountain beneath the once proud structure, the corridor was made of stone, its walls lined with old power conduits and glow lamps—inoperable, with no power to light them. The floor was covered in a series of simple, durasteel planks. It was, of course, dreadfully dark inside as it progressed deeper beneath the ruins, but Cale's lightsabers would be more than equal to the task of lighting the way.

As he would follow the corridor further (if, indeed, he did go inside), he would first hear and, a moment later, see a fan that had been set up with a small, portable generator, quite recently, which was circulating air from outside into the recesses of the corridor. A few moments later, he would likely be struck by a very sudden and very acute sense of foreboding—he would, more likely than not, have stepped on a particular durasteel plank and, thus, depressed the firing pin on a fragmentation grenade that had been placed strategically beneath it. If not for his faculty in the Force, he'd likely not have noticed it at all. As it happened, it would be only his body weight on the plank, now, preventing an explosion that could well collapse the entire corridor upon him.

Illuminated now in the glow of its two, red lightsabers, an IG-110 combat droid stood before Cale, resembling a combination of a B1 security droid and the more fearsome MagnaGuard design. It seemed intent that the intruder shall advance no further, and as it advanced slowly toward Cale, the former Jedi would no doubt recognize the insignia of the Confederacy of Independent Systems on the its chest plate. The droid held its left lightsaber close to its frame and tilted moderately downward, meaning to use it to defend against the intruder's blows. Its right lightsaber was held away from it, in Cale's direction, and angled moderately upward. With the complex, swivelling joints in its "hands" and "wrists" capable of nearly any range of motion, it would be difficult to predict exactly how it would choose to strike. But as the IG droid processed Cale's form and assessed his points of vulnerability, it would be he who was likely to make the first move.

IG-110 swung his left lightsaber—pointed at Cale—down into the precise center of Cale's "X" formation, which would effectively halt his maneuver. With its right lightsaber—perpendicular to Cale and his "X" formation—the droid pressed against both of Cale's lightsabers below the crux of the "X," seeking to effectively paralyze any of his movements except one; to fall back.

He could press forth and lower his sabers to destroy the droid, but he would die as well. He could, alternatively, raise his lightsabers to press the droid's weapon safely over Cale's head, but the droid now had an advantage that Cale didn't; a free hand, the fingers of which snapped back into place in an almost morbid fashion as the droid scanned Cale's form for imperfections.