Shadows and Dust

[kaosoe 7,573]

One-by-one his fellow companions were starting to stir. Tok was the first one to arise, and immediately he looked panicked. The Gotal was speaking feverishly, but Garon managed to understand the long-and-short of his concerns. He was about to respond when Ren-Do had approached and began to administer medical treatment to his damaged arm.

 

Hey you could at least ask first before you go and poke and prod a beings extremities like that. Not that I'm not grateful or anything.

 

Ren-Do didn't seem as concerned about what had happened in the vision as Tok had feared.

 

I think everyone gathered as much.

 

He nodded to the Holocron sitting on the table. When I came to. The blasted thing was glowing red. The thing felt.. cold. If you hadn't of done him in, I would have. There was some sort of sickness within the Holocron.

Edited October 19, 2016 by kaosoe

[Ulric dOrien 108]

Sonya somehow manages to appear graceful standing up from where she had collapsed. "This is the first Force vision that has not been a complete disaster," she thinks, "for me, anyway." Looking at the inert holocron, "it is probably best to just dispose of all of that."

Turning to the others she asks, "Micc'm had us systematically destroy the corrupted holocron rather than restore it?"

"Tok, you were shouting about your family when we were in the cryotubes. Are they in some kind of trouble?"

She realizes there was probably a better way to ask that, but talking to people is one of the Jedi skills she has always struggled with. A clear goal of helping innocents would provide some clarity to the chaos of waking up after four millennia and almost immediately going into a Force vision loosely based on the events that led to their hibernation.

Edited October 19, 2016 by Ulric dOrien

[Jedi Ronin 1,588]

Kellen rubbed his eyes.  He had a bit of a headache now and there was a ringing in his ears.

And he could feel the Force more strongly.  With his eyes closed he could sense the exact location and pose of those in the room with  him.  A small improvement, but an improvement.

 

Kellen stood up and looked around.  His companions were tending to each other and Kellen's thoughts turned to what had just happened inside the holocron.  Kellen walked up to the holocron and examined it.  Kellen frowned. 

 

"We have failed our test.  So much lost, again..." Kellen's words trailed off.

 

Why did Tok kill Micc'm?  He shouldn't have taken such a drastic measure without knowing what he was doing...Tok was in conversation with Sonya and Kellen could wait to discuss the matter with him.

Edited October 19, 2016 by Jedi Ronin

[sonovabith 936]

Relief slowly starts to replace desperation as more of the Jedi wake and take no action against Tok.

He turns to Sonya, initially surprised she could hear him in her cryo chamber, but then he realizes Micc'm likely let everyone see and hear what they needed to and apparently he felt Sonya should know some bit.

"Yes, they are. I didn't realize how grave the situation was until we went through that," he says, pointing to the holocron. Remembering Micc'm's final request, Tok pulls his vibroknife from his boot and brings its pommel crashing down on the relic. Instead of shattering, however, it simply disintegrates, leaving a pile of ash on the table.

Looking up he sees a few of the Jedi staring at him in horror.

"I had to, just like I had to kill him in the vision. It's for all of your safety and it's what he wanted."

Tok paces about the hold, trying to find the right way to tell the rest.

"Even though he's gone, his fate and ours remains intertwined. It appears his descendant hired me for this job, to find your tubes and escort them back to him. He doesn't know you're awake — that wasn't part of the plan. Now he's with my family and he's made it clear he'll kill them if I don't finish the job, and soon.

"It was easier when you were just cargo. Now…," he pauses and shakes his head, letting out a deep sigh.

"I won't turn you over to a Sith, but I've got to get my family away from him. They're not safe and I can't let this go on much longer."

Exhausted from emotion, he slumps into a chair at stares up at the ceiling.

[Kymrel 1,505]

Ren-Do is busy putting away his medkit when Tok destroys the holocron. “What the? What in the name of the Force made you do that?”

 

He listens as Tok explains about his family and his real role on the ship with the cryo-tubes. “No, truthfully I am sorry about the situation your family finds itself in. Truly I am. But that gives you no right to destroy this ancient artifact of the Jedi Order.”

 

He seems as if he’s done, but then continues. “The holocron was partially corrupted, that much was apparent, but with care I belief such dark side taint could have been purged. You had no right to do this without asking the rest of us. What the guardian of the holocron wanted has nothing to do with this. If he asked you to do this, perhaps he was motivated by the fear he felt, an emotion which clearly stemmed from the dark side of the Force. Perhaps he wanted to deny us the resources such a holocron would leave in our hands, once the taint of the dark side had been removed. And now we will never know, thanks to your rash action.”

 

The tall Jedi Knight sits heavily down on a chair. “What’s done is done,” he says softly. “You might have done us a disservice, but that should not influence our decision on how to proceed. I belief we need to take action to get your family free of the clutches of this descendant. Which makes no sense to me, as a Jedi Master he would not have fathered children. Only we Cereans had special disposition to have offspring due to our diminished numbers.”

 

Ren-Do thinks for a moment. “We do have two distinct advantages. Firstly, we know where this descendent will be at a certain point in time, namely when he is supposed to take possession of the cryo-tubes. And he doesn’t know we are awake. That might give us an edge in any confrontation. But, truthfully, I belief we should try subterfuge rather than confrontation, given the state of my weapon. Our weapons. We dearly need to be armed with lightsabers before confronting what might be a powerful user of the dark side of the Force.”

 

The Cerean looks at Rin with a hopeful glint in his eye. “You wouldn’t happen to know if suitable crystals might be found at a planet not too far off our course? Oh, and speaking of courses, are we now heading towards a rendezvous with this kidnapper? If so, we need to stop and think about how to proceed before going any further.”

[sonovabith 936]

Tok turns his attention to Ren-Do, but stays seated.

"It spent the past 4,000 years being corrupted by the dark side," he says. "Your inability to comprehend why it needed to be destroyed is exactly why Micc'm knew he had to ask me to do it. None of you would have.

"As for my employer, he's a great-many-times-over nephew of your former master. Micc'm's sister is the direct link. At least, that's what Micc'm thought."

The Gotal tips his head side to side, thinking.

"I don't know anything about your crystals, but maybe this can help us," he says, pulling the datastick Micc'm slipped him from his coat. "Let's see what we have here."

[Jedi Ronin 1,588]

Kellen stared at Tok, trying not to show any anger.

 

"I hope you do not act so rashly in the future.  Blindly trusting a being steeped in the dark side is not wise," Kellen stopped to think for a moment. 

 

"Though that also means we would have had difficulty making use of the Holocron.  It seems we've failed two tests now.  As for your family - I will help you any way I can.  I agree with Ren-Do that we would be of much greater help to you if we could repair our lightsabers."

[Richardbuxton 7,319]

Ren comes to, slumped across the table where his tall body collapsed. With a groan he stands looking around the room, his companions have all stirred and are beginning to discuss this situation. Before having time to react Tok slams the pommel of his blade down on the remaining holocron crystal, destroying it entirely.

"Bloody Sith! What'd you do that for?" Rin growls, but his before Tok can respond Rins much more eloquent friend Ren-Do began a much longer tirade.

[so that vision of Tok having trouble with his family was actually real! We wake up from Millennia of cryosleep having lost our friends and family, but his are still alive and hostage... this guy needs finding]

Addressing the group, Rin joins the conversation "I don't know of many places crystals can be found, in the gutt of a number of very large beasts, the caves of Illum. Hand me that data stick, I found some information on interesting Jedi planets in that Holocron and hopefully that data stick holds the information we need. It's possible one of them is a world lost to the current era, hiding useful relics we could procure." [At least I hope that's what we find...]

"We will get your family back Tok" Rin says in what he hopes is a friendly manor, before adding quietly with a little more snark "even without the teachings of a Master"

Edited October 19, 2016 by Richardbuxton

[Prophyt 776]

When Tok pulls the data chip from his pocket, a soft, leatherlike object brushes against his fingers.

[LastAbys 62]

Iskander stares at the keypad, looking for an answer.  "This is a standard airlock keypad.  Shouldn't there be a way for someone to talk to the crew from here, and not just resort to-"  With a slap to his forehead Iskander exclaims, "I'm an idiot.  There should be a intercom button just on the bottom right of this thing and I can ping up whoever might be here." 

 

Just as he said, there was a button with some faded lettering of Intercom.  Iskander reaches out to press it, but stops about an inch away.  In his head, the thought occurs that the crew of this ship might not be welcoming to a human, or that they might be Imperials that ISB had sent.  Without weapons, Iskander is basically helpless.  "But, risk nothing, gain nothing.  Time to cast the die and see what it lands."

 

He pushes the button, "Umm, hello.  Can anyone hear me?  I'm stuck in an escape pod connected to the airlock."

[sonovabith 936]

Tok is standing upright, guns drawn, unnaturally fast as soon as the announcement peals through the hold.

[Richardbuxton 7,319]

Rin dashes toward the airlock, blood pumping as he reaches instinctively for the Force.

[Kymrel 1,505]

Ren-Do stands up, bumping his knee on the edge of the table. "We appear to have a stowaway. Or we might be about to get boarded."

 

He hurries with the others to the airlock and pauses, reaching out with the Force. He can feel the single being inside the escape pod and feel his fear and apprehension, or even sadness."There is only one being in that escape pod. I think it is more afraid of us than we are of it," he says as he pushes the button to open the airlock. 

 

"Come on out of there, and show no hostility or weapons and you will not be harmed. If you come with hostile intent that will end badly for you," he says in a loud tone, his ancient accent making it hard for the stowaway to understand him well.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Kymrel

[Jedi Ronin 1,588]

Kellen walked more calmly toward the airlock, his lightsaber in hand just in case.

They were starting to collect quite the motley crew...

[ColonelCommissar 1,243]

Xaramis was shocked by this train of revelations. Of course, there'd always been something off about Tok - how he'd been the most distant of the whole crew, how he'd been so insistent on the need to safeguard first the cryotubes, then their cargo - but he'd never expected it to be anything like this. The poor man - Xaramis had parents, siblings, but neither a wife nor child, and he could only imagine what Tok's tortured soul must be feeling, but he pitied the Gotal his suffering, the wrenching feeling of being forced to do the dirty work of a tyrant in exchange only for their continued living. He is attempting to frame the words to respond to him when a new element enters the fray. At the sound of the voice speaking from behind the boarding airlock, he rapidly moves towards the access port.

 

"Anybody know how to open this thing?" he asks. "I'm not exactly familiar with spacecraft that are quite this," he pauses, considering how to phrase his opinion of the dingy, decrepit freighter. "...quaint," he settles on. "On second thoughts, before we open the hatch has anyone checked the external scanners? If it's just an escape pod we can probably take our chances with cracking it open, but if it's an Imperial cruiser assuming we were blinded, we may want to get out while we still can," he pauses in the hall towards the hatch, addressing the others as they move. "Let's not be too hasty in opening up either, one being could still kill us all if your Force is anything as powerful as you say. And it only takes one Imperial to give us all away."

[Richardbuxton 7,319]

Rin's heart pumped, the adrenalin from the Force Vision they all just experienced had barely died down when this new voice rang out through the ships intercom system. Somehow someone was on the outside of the airlock, in a remote part of the galaxy, far from any hyper-lane, nowhere near civilisation... Did someone follow us? A bounty hunter?

 

Ren-Do opened the airlock door, a Human of solid build stood before them, posing little threat to the crew But who could trust this person? Instinctively Rin steeled himself, reaching for the Force to try and wrap it around the newcomer What am i doing? I don't remember this, but it feels like something I have done before. 

"

Before Rin could speak himself Ren-Do took the words right out of his mouth, if a little more polite "Come on out of there, and show no hostility or weapons and you will not be harmed. If you come with hostile intent that will end badly for you"

 

Just as the Force came to Rin he twisted it and began to force it around this Human, Rin was going to tie him up and stop him from harming any of them, his vision blured...

 

....

 

"Doorintta Bahh! You must think more. Never rush to act, always question, always plan. Sith act in haste, with emotion, it is a trait of a Dark Side user. Now continue practising, catching up with a mark is only the beginning, you must be able to stop them as well. Your ability to hold them will prevent harm, it will allow capture for them to undergo trial. We must honour the Laws, even where we know guilt"

 

Rins master was providing another 'practical' lesson. They where chasing another rogue beast, a feline this time, through the jungles of Talus in the Corellian system. This particular specimen had begun hunting villagers for sport and now needed to be subdued for relocation. "A Perfect opportunity to practice your ability to Bind your foe" had been Tun'Liaks remark upon hearing of the creature. But Rin was struggling, the adrenaline rush of the chase was making concentrating on the Force difficult, he keeps lashing out instead of carefully placing the bindings. Sure the creature was getting tired from the hunt, but so was Rin.

 

"There it is Master, I'll catch it this time, I'm sure" came the quiet whispers of a young Dressellian, he crept up on the beast getting as close as he dared. It was crouched low next to a small stream, ears alert to danger while it had a quick drink. Reaching out with the force Rin grabbed at the  animal, it struggled against his Will, but he crushed it, forcing it down to the ground, holding it from escape. He had power over this other being and it felt good.

 

"STOP! RIN you must stop now, or it will die. Your emotions are still in control of you, you allow the Dark Side to control your actions... You have a lot to learn yet young one."

 

RIn let go of the Force and the animal bolted into the dense underbrush "We lost it, and I'm sorry master, i just couldn't keep the inner calm"

 

.....

 

Snapping back to the present, Rin released his grip on the Force immediately, that memory of controlling another made him feel sick, he had been so young, with so much to learn I must not allow her lessons to go forgotten, i owe her that in the least.

[LastAbys 62]

Iskander heard voices and footsteps approach the airlock door, some faster than others.  Finally someone is coming in help him, right?  In an instant, the door cycles open and there stands his "saviors".  The first one he notices is the Gotal with dual pistols drawn, anger in his face.  Iskander almost said something, but his attention turned to the Cerean who said something in a heavy accent.  Something about coming out with no hostility, which then was reinforced by the Dressilian.  Definitely not the rescue Iskander was hoping for, but these last few days weren't what he was hoping for.

 

"Alright, I'm coming out," He says, stepping forward slowly with his hands in the air.  Looking at the Gotal, "Could you kindly put those down? I have no weapons on me."

 

Passing through the doorway, "My name is Iskander Yates, medic from Alderraan."

[sonovabith 936]

"How about this," Tok says, guns still trained on the interloper, "you answer some questions and every answer I like will drop them down a little bit. Lets start with what are you doing here, how did you dock up with us and why are you in an escape pod?"

 

His eyes narrow. 

 

"Answer carefully."

[ColonelCommissar 1,243]

"Now, Tok, let's not be too hasty," Xaramis whispers his guidance to Tok, but he's conscious that his grip on his sword is noticeably tightening. This is not the situation he expected at all.

[Kymrel 1,505]

With tensions rising over the surprising entrance of the Alderaanian, Ren-Do is afraid Tok might just start shooting if anyone missteps. “Now now, my good being, there is no need for this. Mr. Yates here clearly poses no threat to us and surely trying to raid shipping lines in an escape pod is not common practice around here?”

 

The tall Cerean slowly but surely steps between the Gotal and his blasters and puts one hand on Iskander’s shoulder, leading him into the ship. “Lower your blasters, you will not need them today,” Ren-Do says gently to Tok as they pass him by.

 

“Now, Mr. Yates. I’m sure you have a fascinating tale to tell us about how you came to be in an escape pod in the middle of nowhere. Let me offer you some refreshments while we listen to your tale.” For Iskander his accent is quite thick and his dialect strange, but Tok and Xaramis have gotten used to the strange speech patterns of the Cerean.

Edited October 24, 2016 by Kymrel

[sonovabith 936]

Tok spits out a Gotal curse and holsters Janna and Morra, not trying in the least to hide being perturbed by Ren-Do's interference. 

 

He looks to Xaramis and whispers back, "We just narrowly got away from a Star Destroyer tasked with finding all of them and now we wake up to discover we've fallen out of hyperspace with an escape pod inexplicably attached to us? What are the odds? How do we know he didn't attach to us in the escape? I'm willing to listen to him, but I'm having a tough time buying this as a coincidence."

 

The Gotal's irritation with Ren-Do is replaced with disbelief when the Cerean offers Yates refreshments.

 

"And now he's asking if this guy wants a snack?!?," he says to no one in particular.

Edited October 24, 2016 by sonovabith

[Prophyt 776]

Because the ship is a derelict several hundred years old and has not been used in flight for nearly that long, there are no Refreshments to be found.

[LastAbys 62]

Iskander shrugs off the Ren's hand.  "That sounds nice, I think, but I might suggest that we pull anything useful off of the escape pod, jettison it, and jump to another system."  He takes a deep breath before continuing, trying to understand the turn of events.  "I just jumped from one freighter being destroyed by the Empire, I'd rather not see that happen to this one." 

 

With that, Iskander heads back to the escape pod to grab his med kit and the crash survival kit. 

[Jedi Ronin 1,588]

Kellen finally arrived at the docking port.

 

"Did someone say snacks?"

[ColonelCommissar 1,243]

"Yes, well in case you hadn't noticed, he's not even armed. If this is an Imperial attempt at recapturing us it's either terribly planned or was put together on the fly; either way, I doubt it's going to be much of a risk if we sit him down and have a little chat. Besides," Xaramis now raises his voice to be heard throughout the compartment.

 

"I think our friend here may be telling the truth. Why don't you come this way - Iskander?" he gestures back towards the cargo bay in the centre of the ship. "And tell us how you got here," he reaches out with the Force, in a manner that he's very practiced in but only now understands, and gently nudges the man's mind towards his own line of thinking. It's not really mind control - more, a certain application of his empathic nature...