Overload
Posted on Sat Aug 1st, 2020 @ 5:55am by Jedi Knight Enchelei Dardana & Sage Hud Ubar
Mission:
Episode 1 - All Roads Lead to Nowhere
Location: Starship Shadowdancer / Capital of planet Benja-Rihn, Carthas
Timeline: following 'Precognition Fail' and 'Fade To Gray'
Previously on the Shadowdancer:
Alarms were going off in multiple systems, warnings flashing across the screens. Enchelei would normally be out of the seat by now troubleshooting and bypassing systems to isolate problems. This was not a normal situation. So, she prayed to the Force and to the Spirits that the Mirialans worshipped that the nav computer would be ready soon.
"Bleeeep!"
"Oh, thank the Force!" Enchelei reached over to the hyperdrive handle and pulled it down.
Inertia bound her to her seat as the stars elognated around her, then the hyperdrive kicked in, and the Shadowdancer jumped to Hyperspace.
Previously at the Baran Do Temple | Dor'shan, Dorin:
At the final threshold to the Temple, Hud paused a moment and stared up at the imposing white columns that stood out in stark relief from the pitch black walls. Once he left, there would be no turning back. His walking staff also carried his lone travel bag. Reaching into it, Hud removed the rebreather and goggles he had acquired after his first Force vision earlier that year. What before seemed a novelty now became a calling. This would be his face, from now until final victory.
Or death.
"I am the Force," Hud intoned. "The Force is with me."
The Force itself came alive within him, guiding his footsteps over the threshold of the Temple and to the spaceport where his pilot contact waited.
Enchelei didn't even know where to begin thinking about what had just transpired. Master Wu's worried rushing, the sudden betrayal of the clones, the mad fight to save their lives, the chaos of trying to break orbit of Nexus Ortai, the Mirialan felt her heart quicken.
Pain ripped through her mind with a vengeance, tearing through her on a physical level too. Images swam in her head, disjointed yet connected. The blue skinned Twi'lek Master Aayla Secura on Felucia, turned on and gunned down by her troops, Master Plo-Koon in a star fighter over Cato Nemoidia, shot by his troops, Master Depa Billaba dying in combat with her clones on Kaller, telling someone she'd be right behind them.
The Mirialan collapsed out of her seat to the narrow floor between the pilot and copilot's seats clutching her hands to her head, screaming. They were dying, the Jedi were dying! She fealt each of their presence disappear from the Force, leaving a hole in her soul that ached painfully. Then the children screamed. Trust turned to horror turned to terror. Then they too were gone.
The clearest picture of all, however was that of a tall, strong, Thyrsian/Echani hybrid, of long white hair and dark eyes, a blue and a green blade in hand, plowing through a slew of clone troopers before he was unable to keep up his defence anymore. Before blaster fire ripped through him, blades falling to the ground. Master Zhu-Shan Wu looked up at the sky and saw it clear. A smile crept into his paling lips as his presence in the Force faded from Enchelei's mind.
"Master...." Dardana wailed sadly, curling into the fetal position.
A sudden spurt of cold liquid sprayed her face, breaking the terrible vision. Enchelei spat and spurted the liquid out, heart beating wildly, arms raising up to defend herself.
"Bleep, chirp, chirp, beep!"
As she opened her tear and water stained eyes, Enche looked up at R4, who as if a humanoid, leaned sideways, looking down at her, in what she chose to interpret as concern.
Gasping for breath, grateful for the respite, she spoke finally. "I'm sorry I scared you R4, I...I had a vision..." she said as she pushed her hair out of her eyes and behind her ears. "The clones, they turned on all the Jedi, I think...I felt them die, R4....thousands of Jedi screaming in the Force before vanishing..."
Slowly she got up, shaky hands grasping the back of the seat.
"Bleep, chirp, beep?"
"I don't know..." Enchelei sighed as she sat back into her seat, tears still flowing. "I don't understand anything right now." She looked down into her hands, seeing her belt free of both her sabers, which made her feel even worse. A Jedi without a saber...was that even a Jedi at all?
"Beep, beep, whirr..."
"Plan?" She looked over at the astromech, "oh, the plan." Enche sighed, "if clones have indeed turned on the Jedi, it stands to reason they will be looking for any survivors they could find." She said, forcing herself back into battle mode. R4 was right, the danger was not yet passed, so they needed a plan, they needed a direction.
"Beep, bleep, beep."
"No, no distress call yet. Others will be trying that and it could lead the clones to zero in on them...we need to get to Benja-Rihn, I need to seal the Temple. Can't let whoever's directing the clones know of or worse have access to it." Enche leaned back in her seat and sighed. "We'll need to ditch the ship. They know to look for it."
"Brrp, whirr, bleep."
"Yeah, plot a random course and let it go. We'll have to find a different way off the planet once we get there." The yellow skinned woman nodded as she stood up. "Keep an eye out for any clone or Separatist troops in the area and let me know when we reach the planet. I need to take stock of what we have on the ship and what we can bring with us."
"Biip, blurp, brrp."
"Yes...." Enche sighed as she headed into the back of the ship, wiping her tear streaked face with the back of her hand.
The Temple was empty save for the incorporeal phantoms who did not have substance in this time or space. Hud found it an unusually powerful place to meditate, both invigorating and exhausting.
A flash from the present alerted Hud that his quarry had arrived in orbit. He smiled at the predicted outcome and returned to his meditation. This was going to require careful timing. The Force was clear on that.
"Alright, this altitude should be sufficient. Scrub the flight logs." Enchelei said as she brought the ship to a halt within Benja-Rihn's atmosphere. "Then input the next jump coordinates and program the computer to jump the ship once we're clear of it."
"Bip biip bip?"
"We can't risk a landing, traffic control will pick us up. I am not risking the locals being at the receiving end of a blaster fire because they helped us, or just know of our presence." Enchelei countered as she stood up and put on her back pack with supplies. "Now come on, we need to go. I'll meet you at the ramp."
"Whirr, brrp." She heard behind her as she traversed her small vessel. Enchelei put a hand on the bulkhead as she reached the ramp and sighed.
In the span of four hours, she'd lost so much, and now she was letting go of yet another part of her life. In her gut, she knew she had no choice. She had to distract her pursuers and regroup. She had to figure out what the fierfek happened. Duty first. The Temple needed to be protected.
She felt a gentle nudge of the chromium dome at her leg, and a sad bleep.
"Thank you." She patted R4's dome gently. "Open the door."
The forcefield behind them engaged as the ramp withdrew and the door opened, giving Enchelei and R4 a view of the colorful planet below. She'd never done an unprotected amospheric jump before. She'd never done never done any kind of atmospheric jump before. Silently, she hoped she could draw the Force around her enough to protect her against the elements and the planet's gravitational pull. Otherwise, this endeavor was going to be utterly fruitless.
"Ready?" She turned to look at R4, both hands grasping at the frame of the door/platform.
"Beep beep."
She gave the droid a wild grin before she pushed herself out, jumping into the vastness beneath them. Enchelei focused as best she could as she fell, feeling the Force coalescing around her, helping her hold her breath at the onslaught, out of the corner of her eye, now in the distance, she saw the tell tale blink of a ship going to hyperspace.
"Good luck, Shadowdancer." She thought to herself as she angled her trajectory to land a little away from the capital of Carthas, so as not to arouse too much suspicion.
Somewhere mid sail, she noticed R4 to her far left, the little droid struggling a bit with entry. She would need to make sure the droid landed safely. So, she adjusted her descent and increased her speed.
The land almost came too fast! Enchelei reached her hands out, pulling a desperate cushioning effect, to slow her descent and land. Her bones in her legs definitely felt the landing, creaking in pain. There wasn't time to reflect on it, R4 would be close any moment. Looking up and around, Dardana quickly oriented herself, seeing a droid shaped speck on the horizon. She made mad dash towards its location, reaching out through the Force again, to grab it and ensure a safe landing.
She was exhausted by this point, so what would normally have been an easy feat felt like the worst task in the world. Enche managed, with quite some struggle. R4 chirped gratefully as his struts finally made landfall.
"I know. I had my doubts for a moment." She gave R4 a relieved smile as she took off her backpack and rummaged through it. She pulled out a plain gray cloak, put it on, then closed the backpack and put that back on aswell.
"Beee eep?"
"This way, it's not far." Enchelei motioned.
Eventhough she desperately needed rest, she still kept her senses open, making sure to distract anyone whose attention she felt on herself and R4. This was Carthas, after all, where the Carthasian species was predominant. Whilst there were off worlders, they were few, so she needed to be careful. The locals might not recognize her, but the Archaeological Society, and some members of the Government were familiar with Enchelei Dardana, Jedi Watchman, charged with protecting Benja-Rihn among other planets of the Sevastol Sector.
It was fairly easy to reach the Temple, as most people would be doing their daily jobs, before breaking for lunch. Aside from the 'usual residents', Enchelei was relieved not to find anyone inside.
"Boop beep, whirr?"
"This way, the entry to the lower levels is over here." She motioned over to the droid as she stepped deeper into the Temple.
A pebble flicked across her path from a side passage. Faint residual Force energies dissipated around it after coming to rest.
Enche paused, brow furrowing. The Force echoes in the Temple didn't usually throw pebbles around, in fact they hardly interacted with anyone, save on special occasions. Resolved to keep moving, the more imminent task in her mind, Dardana continued on her path.
Another pebble, this time flying straight across her field of vision. It was followed by the distant, soft echoing of children's laughter.
Now on alert, Enchelei reached for her sabers on reflex. With pain, she remembered that one had been destroyed in the attack of the clones, and she'd given one to her Master.
"Karkin' hell..." she swore to herself quietly as she signalled for R4 to hide. For a moment, she thought the clones might have reached Benja-Rihn already. The clones didn't use the Force though, so...one of the survivors. Enchelei hugged the wall as she ducked into the side passage, trying to reach out with the Force, in hopes of a presence.
"Enchelei," called out a voice that echoed from everywhere. "I have been waiting for you. Do not be afraid."
The Mirialan paused, the hairs on the back of her neck standing straight. The Force coiled around her, ready to push. "I do not have time for guesswork. If you've been waiting for me, then you know what's happened." She bit out, feeling annoyance rise up within her, mixed with a heady dose of fear.
"I have foreseen it," the disembodied voice said with a tinge of grief. "Your watch does not end here, Sentinel, but we are short of time. Please, stay your hand...."
From out of the shadows stepped a robed figure whose hood whooshed with the sound of a respirator. "....for I stand unarmed as well."
"We both know we are not unarmed, Kel-Dor." Enchelei's fingers danced, her hands at her sides, ready to push, "do you know why I am here?"
The Kel Dor's respirator hissed with a chuckle. "There is only one reason a Jedi would come here. My purpose is for what comes after. Allow me to assist, so that we may discuss the future."
"Bleep, zoot, frrr?"
Enchelei looked down at the small droid, "I know. We'll have to risk it."
Then she turned to the Kel-Dor. "Come on." She motioned for him to follow her through the passageway ahead that lead down, into the belly of the Temple.
The underlevels were much the same and equally spartan in decor, though the presence of the Force was a lot clearer. A lot stronger. Ahead of them was a single chamber, containing a stone pedestal with an orb lying on a metal casing. To get to the chamber, however one needed to reach a deep level of meditation in the Force, as one needed to be at peace with oneself. Something Enchelei knew she would not be able to accomplish.
Since she couldn't take the Orb of Passage with them, she would need to make sure noone ever gets it.
"We need to make sure noone ever gets into that room." The Mirialan said.
Nodding in silent agreement, the Kel Dor collapsed into a well-practiced meditation position with his feet folded over his knees. At first his clawed hands merely rested on his thighs, but under relaxed focus he raised them ever so slowly. As his hands were lifted, so too was his body. By the time his hands were held aloft overhead, Hud was hovering over a meter off the ground.
A tremor passed through the temple's structure. Hud turned his head ever so slightly, to which it seemed the ground, walls, and ceiling shook in response. His respirator let out a prolonged exhalation. The Force penetrated him now, engulfing him like an ocean. Rather than strong-hand it to his will, he opened himself to its flow and positioned himself for the surge of immense channeling that swirled around him. Dust fell from the ceiling in whispering pebbles. The Temple itself trembled in anticipation of the building Force eddies.
And then, at the point of release, he clapped his hands over his head.
The Temple lurched like the yolk of a broken egg splattered onto a hot plate. Everything attached to the walls and floor was thrown about in violent upheaval. Hud, still levitating, released his hold on the Force.
"It is done," he said, his voice slightly strained.
Enchelei stood, watching the impressive display of power and prowess and understood how he came to know and be there, seemingly out of the blue. She'd heard of Kel-Dor with such mastery of the Force, only they were rarely seen off their homeworld of Dorin. So rarely in fact that most people thought them myth. This one, Dardana was convinced, was a Baran-Do member.
"I don't have a ship, had mine blind jump to mask my destination." She said, silently asking if he had one, or if they would have to make their own way off by civillian route, in disguise.
"Yes," Hud said wearily as he descended back to solid ground. "As I have foreseen. It will find its way to Port Nowhere, as shall we." He extended a clawed hand toward Enchelei. Though appearing empty, it held all of the intangible promise and risks of the new era in which they had found themselves. "The Jedi have fallen, and the Republic will soon follow. But that is not your fate. Join me, and together we will find others who will defend the galaxy against the rising tide of Darkness."
"Breep! Doo-wee!"
She wanted desperately to believe in the unabashed promise that his words held. She needed a direction, she needed hope, they all did. When your entire world and sense of self comes crashing down around you, you both crave that stability back, and fear opening up to hope, for fear of crashing down further.
So, Enchelei went for the middle route. She put her hand in his, "let's get off the planet first, then figure this out."
Hud nodded casually as if the response was expected. "I have secured transport on the south side of the Temple. We must hurry if we are to rendezvous with the freighter." Pausing a moment, he then added, "The captain will be under the belief we are looters, so while he will make every attempt to evade authorities, we must be wary of a double-cross." His respirator let out a deep sigh. "I beg your pardon, Jedi, for the dishonor."
"No apology needed." The question of whether or not she could trust him was moot at the moment. So, Enchelei gave a deep sigh and nodded, "Force be with us. Let's go."
