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[IC] Star Wars: Tales of the Old Republic
Super Namicchi
Orange County, CARegistered User regular
Orange County, CARegistered User regular
A long time ago, in a galaxy far,
far away...
Three hundred years have passed since the last war between the Jedi and the Sith. The Jedi Knights, custodians of peace and justice in the Republic, have established Jedi training praxeums all over the galaxy.
To establish better relations with the Wookiees of Kashyyyk, a new Jedi academy has been built on the nearby moon of Alaris Prime.
From the outset, the small training enclave has been beset by problems of limited resources and morale, and most recently, the disappearance of one of its Jedi Knights...
far away...
Three hundred years have passed since the last war between the Jedi and the Sith. The Jedi Knights, custodians of peace and justice in the Republic, have established Jedi training praxeums all over the galaxy.
To establish better relations with the Wookiees of Kashyyyk, a new Jedi academy has been built on the nearby moon of Alaris Prime.
From the outset, the small training enclave has been beset by problems of limited resources and morale, and most recently, the disappearance of one of its Jedi Knights...
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"Acknowledged."
The freighter, Zellian Sunset, angled downwards toward the dark green planetoid. The interior of the ship was silent save for the rumbling of the hull as it broke atmosphere and the occasional tweetle of an astromech droid.
After a few moments the pilot, a Kel Dor, nodded satisfactorily as the turbulence became more regular. "We have entered atmo. Everything's in the green," he called back through the ship.
"Take us in," said a female voice from somewhere deeper in the vessel. After a moment, the Zeltron the voice belonged to stepped forward, clipping on her utility belt.
"Yes sir," said the Kel Dor quietly as he dipped the ship down toward the light green plains that seemed to be carved out from the verdant wroshyr canopy. Soon, a building topped with a tall spire came into view, surrounded by a large compound. The ship dipped lower as it searched and soon found its landing pad.
"Careful. Don't scratch the paint."
"Wouldn't dream of it, master."
The ship set down gracefully, the hydraulics of the landing gear sighing as the steam released from the joints. The astromech droid tootled happily as the landing ramp lowered. Sharing a look, the Kel Dor rose from his seat to join the Zeltron woman at the top of the ramp.
"Welcome to Alaris Prime. It has been too long, my old padawan," said Master Linth.
"Though I have never met you, Fen Raan, I know you very well. Mardos Colsan was a good Jedi and an even greater friend to me," the human Jedi master continued, this time for everyone to hear. "Let us not tarry here. Come, I will show you to your quarters."
Karia Linth escorted them through the modest double doors of the praxeum, through the temple proper and into the dormitory wing, where she stopped at one of the many small rooms. "It is not spacious, but it is suitable for meditation. Once you are settled in, the council wishes to speak with you about your assignment."
With that, Master Linth bid them farewell, leaving them standing outside the doorway to a small room that contained two cots, a meditation mat in the center, and an adjacent refresher.
"Well, what do you think it will be this time, Master? Ambassadorial, searching, or hunting?"
She hadn't returned to the issue since then.
She discarded the long cloak of her Jedi attire, resting instead onto her cot in the loose-fitting slacks and vest that made up the rest of her 'uniform.' If there was something Eri had never come to appreciate, it was Jedi aesthetics.
"Let's hope the former," she said, eventually. "More 'hunting' is the last thing we need to teach you," she said, but the smile on her face suggested she meant it in jest.
He took a piece of the lightsaber and held it up. "You see how this piece is beveled at the end? For a long while, I wondered why he did that. Recently I realized that this shape conducts power more efficiently, but only slightly, the total effect is probably less than two percent. But it's so precise, it probably took him a long time to do it. Just for that little boost on a simple lightsaber..."
He sighed, and reassembled the lightsaber. "Well, I'm ready to go when you are."
"You need to focus more on your exercises," she said. "This thing with the lightsaber - it's not healthy." She left it at that, though; she didn't want to preach too much to her padawan.
"If you're set," she said, "We might as well speak to the Masters."
It was a long moment before the zabrak on the right broke the silence. "It pleases me to meet you, Eri Esprith and Fen Raan. You both shine well on your respective masters," Master Qera Dorn said, looking first to the Zeltron and then the Kel Dor.
"Our ranks are thin," said Master Tureedo, cutting straight to the point. "Even thinner with the disappearance of Nen Var."
Though she was unable to see it through his mask, he glanced knowingly at his Master.
"What information have you for us to go on?"
Eri always put on these airs of pretense when in formal gatherings - as a child of nobility (of a sort), she had a knack for these sterile communications.
Tureedo interrupted. "Disappearances on Kashyyyk. People, mostly off-worlders, have been going missing and it perturbs the Wookiees greatly. Nen Var intended to discover the source and put a stop to it."
Master Linth pressed a button on the side of her chair. "He had been making headway from our understanding, but Nen Var is a guarded individual and his details were, perhaps necessarily, rather vague." As she spoke, the lights dimmed and a holodisplay kicked on, showing a translucent blue image of a Twi'lek.
"Masters, I believe this mystery goes deeper than I had initially surmised. There is a more insidious force at work. Nen Var out."
The lights once again brightened and the three Masters were silent for a moment before Qera Dorn spoke up. "He sent periodic reports every five standard days. That last transmission was received a little over two weeks ago."
He moved in between the kneeling figures, his black robes swishing quietly, the weight of his lightsaber heavy on his belt. He wanted to pull it free, hear it ignite with the fierce snap-hiss that was so recognizable across the galaxy. He wanted them to know fear... and then he wanted them to die.
Soon, the voice in his mind rumbled. "Soon," he echoed as he moved past them, reaching out with the Force to open the door beyond the small temple that led to his private chamber. His footsteps echoed loudly on the exquisite marble floor. Light filtered through the viscous liquid in the vast containers anchored to the wall, casting the room in a fetid glow... most of it, anyway.
He ascended the durasteel stairs toward his prize. Shackled to the wall, he could tell the Twi'lek was almost broken. Almost. He could feel him in the Force, faint but still distinct. The small black pyramid on the pedestal in front of him was pulsing and humming, and began to emit red light as Rath drew closer.
The tip of the pyramid lit up and a holographic image of a man's face appeared, sculpted and elegant but with an unmistakable veneer of anger and malevolence.
"What is thy bidding, my master?"
"They are coming, my apprentice... I feel them. They come for this one."
"Yes. I hear them, echoes in the Force."
"It is time for you and your students to demonstrate what you have learned from me, my apprentice. Turn them. If they cannot be turned, destroy them."
"Yes Master."
"We are prepared to leave for Kashyyyk as soon as possible, Masters, barring any further information you feel we should have?"
"May the Force be with you," the two other female masters echoed.
Then a thought occurred to him. "I don't know the first thing about Wookie mannerisms. Do you, Master?"
"I don't think it matters. I'm sure we'll get along fine."
"Fine," she agreed. "Find us a droid. Charge it to my account, and take it to the ship. I'm going to meditate - and you should do the same after you've procured an automaton."
"And not with the lightsaber," she added.
He dutifully did as he was told, and asked around for where he could procure a protocol droid suitably equipped to deal with the local Wookies. He found one that was rented out specifically for these kinds of purposes, D1-C4. He brought it on board the Sunset and ordered it to remain there until further notice, then returned to the academy.
He returned to find Master Eri deep within meditation already, and sat back to back with her to meditate himself. "Long, deep breaths." he thought to himself as he sunk into the calmed, familiar state of mind. He slowly became increasingly aware of his surroundings as the time passed. First the room , then the hall, then the entire building. Slowly but surely he could detect all that was happening throughout; the radiant presence of the Masters, the ever growing younglings as they played and learned, the tiny oscillations of power running through the droids and machinery. All of them moving, working together as they went about their business. He looked upon other meditating Jedi, just as they surely looked upon him. And on the edge of his senses he could detect tiny mammals around the building, scurrying about to find and hide food. The ancient wroshyr trees as their wood quietly groaned under their own size, ever growing and absorbing the light of the sun.
And just as he began to let his focus grow even more, there was an intrusion on his mind. Like a sharp, sudden pain. All but his own breathing became dark and silent to him, as if trapped in his own mind, and he could hear a scream growing ever louder. And the louder it became, the more painful it was to his senses - to his heart - until he could bare it no longer and awoke back into the world, his breath and his heart both racing. His mind still weary.
He stood up and left the room, not wanting to interrupt his Master's peace.
The next morning brought rainstorms to Alaris Prime, an inauspicious beginning to a mission to those who held such superstitions. Eri, given her strong connection to others, was trying very hard to keep her apprentice optimistic.
"This is a good droid," she remarked, looking D1 over. He was a lanky droid covered in a dull gray shell that, while worn, had been kept in good condition. "You should have bought him."
Fen Raan's apology was cut off by the droid's powering up from hibernation, its unblinking eyes turning to Eri. "Greetings, Mistress. I apologize on Master Fen's behalf - I am D1-C4, human-cyborg relations. I am a protocol droid in service to the Jedi Order and am not available for purchase. I am, however, proficient in over five million forms of communication, and, more importantly, am at your service."
"A pleasure to meet you, D1. Do you know why you're here?"
"Yes, Mistress. I am well-versed in Wookiee customs and traditions, and would be most glad to serve you as an interpreter."
"Excellent."
--
The Zellian Sunset did not have far to travel from Alaris Prime to Kashyyyk, and the data on Alaris Prime was correct. Kashyyyk was simply a much larger version of the small moon, a great green ball contrasting with the star-speckled blackness of space.
After a half-hour of orbiting the planet, the ship received a hailing and a coded message directing them down onto the planet. The settlement they approached rested on the coast and the public comm was flooded with the traffic of traders. The city itself was a bizarre mesh of technology and tribal construction that was distinctly Wookiee.
Eri guided the ship down to the landing pad they had been directed to and proceeded to run through the post-flight checklist. Once that was complete she joined Fen and D1 at the exit hatch as the hydraulic ramp hit the ground.
The droid D1 immediately stepped off the ship in front of the Jedi where two Wookiees wearing bandoliers and carrying the famous bow-like blaster weapons waited.
The taller of the two Wookiees churred and rrrumphed at the two Jedi as the droid translated. "I am Tchukthkorroror and this is Akkittiruk. We welcome you to Kashyyyk, Jedi Knights, and are done great honor by having you here. How may we be of service?"
"It's been suggested to us that you're dealing with something of a missing persons problem. We're here to help in any way we can," Eri explained. For the moment, she felt it was prudent not to mention that they were also on Kashyyyk to deal with their own missing person.
"I understand. Tchuk will serve as my name to you. We should discuss this with our chieftain Daranfful further. We will accompany you to his home where you will be made comfortable and we will discuss our plight in private."
Akkittiruk, for his part, simply nodded and added an affirmative rumph.
"We are also here searching for our own lost Jedi, a male Twi'lek by the name of Nen Var."
D1 too lowered his voice. "Master Tchuk says that they may know a great deal of information regarding our investigation," the droid said.
"Perhaps then, we will have an exchange of services."
Tchuk began to speak as though he was a tour guide, gesturing with a big furry hand at this and that while uttering appreciative hnarrghs and lurrrmphs.
"Master Tchuk welcomes us to Rwookrrorro, the capital of Kashyyyk. You'll notice that over here, he says, is a very stunning view of the..." translated the droid, and the two Jedi listened patiently as they were drawn through the city.
--
Roughly an hour later Eri and Fen were sitting upon very comfortable cushions facing a great bear of a Wookiee whose fur had run grey, though his eyes were no less sharp for his age. His bandolier was ornamented and great tribal beads and feathers were woven into the fur all over his body.
"Chieftain Daranfful welcomes you great Jedi to Kashyyyk, and is very glad you have come. The disappearances have disturbed the people of Rwookrrorro greatly, and despite increasing the security people have still been vanishing," said D1 as he stood off to the side, between the two parties.
He thought for a moment, and then asked through the droid, "Have you any idea where they were taken, or any commonalities between the people who were taken?"
"What the Chieftain's security forces have been able to ascertain," D1-C4 said, "is that they are all off-worlders of less-than-prestine reputation."
At the translation, Daranfful hands Eri Esprith the datapad filled with names. Most of them were indeed people who lived on the edge of society. Drug pushers, gamblers, a few smugglers... and Nen Var.
Daranfful began speaking again, his rumbling voice deep and resonant. "Your missing Nen Var, he says, had come here to investigate these disappearances and had compiled that list. The last the Wookiees had seen of him was a little over one standard week ago."
She returned her focus quickly to the wookiees. "It worries you that drug dealers are going missing? Nevermind. Do you have any of the data gathered by Nen Var himself? The data he provided to us was ... scarce."
"I'm sorry," Eri commented. "Something urgent has come up, so if there's anything further you can offer, we'll need to know now."
"He says no; Nen Var did not discuss the details of his search. And, of course, if you have any pressing business..."
It was a long chase, with Fen Raan constantly at the figure's heels, the crowds of off-worlders and Wookiees allowing the dark-robed man to keep ahead of him, though just barely. At least, until the figure abruptly broke from the crowd and disappeared through a doorway.
"Apologies, sirs," she said. "My ward ... I have to attend to him. He's not terribly ... polite, you see." She bowed to the wookiees, and turned quickly on her heel out into the night, to pursue her padawan.