Best Ye Go

Posted on Mon Aug 10th, 2020 @ 1:07am by Jedi Knight Enchelei Dardana & Sage Hud Ubar

Mission: Episode 1 - All Roads Lead to Nowhere
Location: Ubar's Secured Transport
Timeline: Sometime after 'Overload'

The quick duck and hide after they had torn the Temple of Tet-Ami apart went by in a daze for Enchelei. The transport didn't ask questions, at least not any that Dardana was able to register as the day's events began catching up to her. The small part of her brain wanted to rebel and demand answers out of the Kel-Dor, wanted to question his motives for seemingly helping her. The larger part of her brain couldn't fight through the images behind her eyes.

It wasn't until they met up with the freighter in orbit that she managed to collect herself a little, hazy blue eyes turning to the masked ones of her unusual companion.

"How safe are we here?" She asked.

"Safe enough," Hud said. "Not even the wise can see through the veil of hyperspace." He paused for a moment to glance at the locked door of their guest quarters, as if he did not fully trust it. "You may ask your questions."

Enchelei opened her mouth to speak, then closed it. So many questions had whirled in her head since it all happened, yet now, when she could voice them, she found herself choking up. Where would one start even trying to unravel what had seemingly transpired to all the Jedi? How did one even form a frame of mind to set themselves a direction in which to look?

"Um..." She began finally, "I felt so many disappear, in the Force. My Master, Master Secura, Master Plo...clones turned on them, on me...on us. Why?"

"Have you not felt it?" Hud asked rhetorically. "The Jedi would call it the shroud of the Dark Side. It has fallen over the galaxy ever since the war began. Nothing has been as it seems. Future generations shall refer to the present time as the revenge of the Sith. It has been eons since they last arose from the shadows, but the Baran Do sages maintain a long memory."

He paused to let the information he shared sink in. It was imperative for Enchelei to arrive at the desired conclusions on her own.

Enchelei began pacing the small room, "we knew that the Sith had returned, especially after Master Kenobi defeated the Zabrak apprentice and his subsequent re-emergence on Mandalore. We knew there was a Master to look for and Jedi more trained and more experienced than I have been..." a look of horrified realization appeared in her features, "the Dark Lord has emerged..."

"Yes..." Hud said, perhaps more ominously than intended thanks to his respirator. "He is the one behind the extermination of your brother and sister Jedi." And then he simply stared at her, his thoughts unknowable through his obsidian colored goggles yet the expectation was clear. He was waiting for her to connect more dots.

"But how did we not feel it? How could shadows and sentinels and guardians fail to find a Dark Lord of the Sith?" The Mirialan wondered quietly, "there are over ten thousand..." were over ten thousand Jedi in the Republic. "Spirits..." her eyes sought Hud's goggled ones, "the Clones...they were a part of it, weren't they? We never really knew why the Army was really commissioned nor who funded it after Master Syfo died."

Hud nodded. "And who controls the Clone Army?"

Enchelei raised a hand to stop him, stalling to collect her thoughts. "I see what connection you are trying to make me see, Baran-Do, but how could you possibly know that, unless you've seen it?"

"I foresaw where to find you," Hud said plainly. "The Baran Do do not view the Force as the Jedi do. The rising tide of passion and hatred was not hidden from us in the least." He paused a moment in regret of the truth he was about to reveal. "I alone acted. My brother sages have made other arrangements. Defensive arrangements. The Jedi Order is all but gone now, and the Baran Do excel at weathering storms by knowing when they will form."

Tension arose in Hud's heart, but he pushed it down. "The numbers and overall import of the Baran Do have dwindled over the centuries as the Jedi claimed the bulk of Force Sensitive Kel Dors for their Younglings." That word clearly left a bitter taste in his mouth. "What I propose will defy that ancient rivalry, but survival demands no less. Your Republic and your Order are fallen before the reincarnation of a Sith Empire. Accept it, that we might safeguard hope for the galaxy."

Whether by the will of the Force, a plain old accident, or some crafty planning, Enchelei's angry eyes were deterred from the Kel-Dor when she felt the chromium dome of her little friend, R4 bump her leg.

"Dee doo..."

The Mirialan looked down at the Astromech, "what message? Play it, on low."

"Beep."

The droid rolled back a little, before a holographic image formed from its projector.

"This is Master Obi Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic, have fallen with a dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi. Trust in The Force. Do not return to the Temple…that time has passed. And our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged. Our trust. Our faith. Our friendships. But we must persevere. And in time, a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you, always. The somewhat broken image of Obi-Wan Kenobi spoke to them.

Even in a catastrophic event such as this, Master Kenobi remained steady, calm, and hopeful. Enchelei could only wish to have at least half of such stability. Right now she was angry, she was afraid of the same anger all at once.

As the message ended and R4 stopped projecting, she gave a deep sigh, her eyes watering.

"So...Nowhere, you said?" She asked, her voice cracking under the weight of the emotion she now barely kept at bay.

Hud nodded again. "I have associates there waiting for us," he said. "Both old and new."

"May the Force be with us...." Enchelei sighed, placing a yellow hand on R4's dome.

"Bee doo..."