Karvis
The Rebel Alliance => Independants => Topic started by: GM Craig on September 18, 2015, 08:41:47 AM
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[OOC: This first bit is Collan and Nightshade only.]
Collan, suddenly returned to his senses, finds himself standing in Nightshade's room soaked in sweat and wearing just his shorts and his weapon belt. He is facing a confused looking Nightshade dressed in black silk pyjamas.
For his part, Nightshade was awakened when his stateroom door opened. Nightshade sat up to see Collan, eyes wide and pupils dilated with terror. He was breathing heavily, as if he had just run a long distance at speed. He was obviously in a full panic. He seemed to be speaking to someone who was no present, as if in a dream. Nightshade got slowly out of bed and tried to say calming things as he approached Collan. Then, suddenly, Collan started to choke and his hands flew to his throat. A moment after that, Collan closed his eyes. He then collapsed on the floor, sucking air into his lungs in long shuddering gasps. Collan looks up, and appears to see Nigthshade for the first time.
[OOC: Collan and Nightshade, feel free to respond.]
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"Nightshade," Collan gasped, "Can you...call Ch'lana? He's either...been up to something...or we have...a real problem."
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Collan added, "Or...we have...problems...just don't know...how bad yet."
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"Of course." Going to the comm unit on the wall, he punches in Ch'lana's room and waits for him to answer, and them relays the message, "Collan needs one in my quarters, he appears to have been attacked by a seishin."
The incorporeal was definitely out of his realm of expertise, and while little frightened the warrior, he would be glad to leave this to Ch'lana's experience.
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Ch'lana's voice answers. "Niil as well - he is by the blast doors leading to the forward section. If you are able, please meet me there. If not, I will meet you at your quarters as soon as I am able. Be mindful - Niil thinks there may be an assassin on board."
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Collan stood, slowing and evening his breathing as well as organizing his thoughts.
"i'm good, "he said, "let's go meet them at the blast door."
The sense that the Darkside feelings he had experienced came from with in himself concerned Collan a little bit. It seemed strange that having only just now unlocked his connection to the Force would allow him to be attacked so strongly. It had left him shaken about the kinds of power that a Jedi or evil Jedi could wield. Was he worthy of such power?
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In a moment Nightshade had donned his kit and retrieved his weapons, before leading the way to meet Ch'lana and Niil. Any intruder on their path had better hope to be incorporeal or they would taste Shinobi steel.
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It takes all of twenty seconds for Nightshade to go from pajamas to fully kitted. Colan notes that his gear was all laid out and ready, as if he was expecting to need it.
You move forward and see Niil leaning against the bulkhead beside the open blast door. You both notice the door panel is open, and the screen is waiting at a prompt about emergency venting. He is dressed much the same as Collan - shorts, bare chest, weapon belt, training sabre and blaster. The blaster is in his hand.
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[OOC: Niil can join in. Nightshade is outfitted as he always is. Collan is covered in sweat, wearing his shorts and weapon belt.]
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"Niil! What happened?" Collan blurted a little too fast. It was clear he was somewhat agitated though his features weren't tense. He was worried about his friend; if there was an assassin to n board..
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Niil looked as if he'd tried running a marathon after going without sleep for three days. "Either someone or something is on board, and it's trained in the Dark Side. Messed with my head; I was seeing things that weren't there. Tried to turn me." Waving vaguely at the panel close by, he added, "I was facing a fire and a . . . Dark Jedi. I tried to purge the atmosphere to put out the fire and get rid of him. When the Force finally came back to me, all of it was gone, and I was standing over the panel here. I was one keystroke away from killing us all."
Niil straightened. "There's something here on this ship; for the past few days I've seen things move out of the corner of my eye, but when I turn to look, nothing's there. The I've had dreams about it. A shadowy figure that's been sabotaging ship systems." Pointing towards the engineering section, he said, "I think we should start there. That's where I saw the fire, and that's where the Dark Jedi came from."
OOC: How easy would it be to cancel the safety override? If it's easy enough, Niil will cancel it. And . . . I thought Jeremy came on board with us?
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Collan took a deep breath. Calm. Find the calm place. Let peace flow through you, Collan.
The experience...the vision had been intense but it was over now. Collan had found his center; tired and in need of rest he was but calm.
"Niil...I saw my father in a vision. As he was talking, he mentioned 'that witch was no longer hiding me.' Let's wait for Ch'lana to come and see what he has to say. The way the phrase was turned makes me think this was a test."
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Niil shook his head. "This was no test, Collan. Both of us could've been killed just by the fear alone, and I almost vented all the air from this ship. With what I've been seeing and feeling while awake and in my dreams . . . no, there's a presence here. I'd be foolish to ignore the signs. And you heard Master Ch'lana speaking with Nightshade to be mindful about the possibility of an assassin on board."
OOC: Should Ch'lana have gotten here by now? Or have we been speaking for only a few seconds?
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[Only a few seconds.]
Nill reaches out and, with and extremely careful touch, disables the overrides of the safety systems, and disarming the emergency venting.
As you wonder where he is, Ch'lana comes running up from the forward part of the ship. He looks concerned. "I took a moment to check - I do not sense anyone by the four of us on this ship. Tell me what happened."
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"It started about a week ago. There were a number of times that I swore I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned to look there was nothing there. And I was also having dreams about some shadowy figure sabotaging small systems on the ship. The damage was building up to something worse. I was also having dreams about senator Organa at the same time. Those were weird; in one instance he was an energy cell, in another he was being tortured on an inquisitor's table, and in another he was being killed by a shadowy figure. That set of dreams - the ones involving the senator - those left me with an increasingly strong feeling that there's somewhere I'm supposed to be. Those two sets of dreams - the saboteur and the senator - it was like they were competing with each other. Right before I went to bed tonight I made up my mind to tell you all about these things the next morning. I was actually able to sleep properly after I decided on that. At least until all of this happened." Niil gestured to the control panel and the rebreather mask on the floor.
"I woke uo to hear the ship's alarm. I left my room, and saw the corridor leading off to engineering on fire. I came running over here to get to the bridge, but the door was sealed, and the bridge was blown away. Collan was dead, floating in space. And fear was blasting through me; I couldn't control it. I grabbed a rebreather and started to override the airlock; I wanted to vent the atmosphere in this section to snuff out the fire."
Niil shuddered. "That's when I saw him coming for me through the flames with a red lightsaber. He said he was Master Dhoresh, but he was twisted and scarred, with bloodshot eyes. He told me that he'd been captured after I escaped, and was tortured for months. He said that the only thing that kept him going was that the hope that he'd find me again. he wanted me to come with him so I could complete my training with him. I refused, saying that he'd gone to the Dark Side." Niil let out a nervous laugh. "He tried to convince me that he'd been wrong in what he taught me; he told me peace was a lie, and strife was the natural order of things. All in a very calm, reasonable-sounding voice. Again, he asked me to join him. I tried arguing back, saying that peace was like perfection - you can't fully achieve it, but that it wasn't the reason why you pursued it. I told him that he was the very person that taught me this, and that he should renounce the Emperor and the Dark Side and come with me instead."
Niil shook his head. "He shifted tactics a bit. He said that all he asked is the chance to show me the other side of the 'issue'. He told me that he'd teach me what he knew, and that he wouldn't ask me to give myself to the Dark Side. If I still didn't like what I saw, then he'd accept that and listen to my advice." Niil's eyes narrowed. "I could already see the deception in his words, and knew he wasn't being sincere or truthful. It was the same tactic that the Bloodhounds used against me. Again, I refused him, saying history was full of horror stories about the Dark Jedi and the Sith. I told him that I wanted no part of the lessons he wanted to teach me."
Niil drew in a shaky breath. "The fear I was feeling . . . I've never had it that bad, ever. This is where Dhoresh . . . or whoever or whatever the hell it was . . . got ugly. He sneered at me, told me my mother was still alive, and was being tortured by the Empire. If I went with him, he said the two of us could free her. If I still refused to join him, he threatened to go and 'pay her a visit'." His hand briefly knotted into a fist. "I swore at him, called him a liar, told him that I'd rather die than learn anything that he was offering to teach me. I drew my blaster, intending to blow out the viewport and space the both of us. I don't know how it happened, but I suddenly felt the Force flow though me, and the fear went out of me like someone flipped a switch." Niil hesitated, then nodded. "I guess because I committed myself to die rather than take in the Dark Side. Anyway, the next thing I knew, I was standing here by the door panel, and one key-punch away from venting the entire ship. That's when I contacted you."
OOC: Ummm, aren't there five people on the ship? I thought Jeremy came with us.
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[OOC: No, Jeremy never came with you. Sorry if that wasn't clear earlier. He was very content to leave the mystical stuff behind and go his own way.]
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Collan's voice wavered a bit as he spoke, but it was strong and clear.
"That's a lot like what happened to me. I'd had sensations of things just out of the corner of my eye...shadows...noises where there shouldn't be any. I felt like there was someone on the ship as well. And then there was the unease and anxiety overlaid on it. It started almost immediately after our first training session, Ch'lana."
"I thought it was my imagination at first. Oh...and I've had an overwhelming sense all week of being in the wrong place...like I need to be somewhere other than where we are going. I still feel it even though my unease is gone."
"But I'm getting off point...I woke up hearing my name tonight. It sounded just outside my door and I was gripped by fear. I didn't know why I was afraid; just that I was and I couldn't shake it. I figure I was being manipulated somehow; that someone or something was in my head amplifying my natural feelings."
"Grabbed my weapons and followed the voice...which seemed familiar but I couldn't place it. It took me to Nightshade's room though I didn't know it but the figur that met me there was my father. I told him no; that I serve the Force, so he tried to kill me. In that moment I was somehow able to brrak through the fear and use the Force. It ended my vision but how it ended is important. The DarkSide shrivelled up into a wilted little kernel inside me."
Collan looked at Ch'lana and added, "The image of my father used the phrase 'that witch' so I was hoping you were behind my vision. But given that Dark Side flowed from me, I also wonder if the Dark Side was trying to tempt us."
"But all that aside...I know for certain now that my need to be somewhere else flows from the Force. I felt it strongly after the Dark Side was sent back inside me and it flowed from the peace of the Force in me."
He looked at Niil, "I wonder if your dreams about...this Organa being...are related. It seems odd we'd both have two dreams or visions."
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Niil nodded. "Yes, Viceroy Bail Organa of Alderaan. I had the honor of meeting him and his family in my younger years, even though it was briefly. He's one of the most loyal Imperial senators, and very well-liked. As for the dreams . . . I think the Force is trying to tell us something."
Niil turned to Ch'lana expectantly, waiting for the man's take on the matters at hand.
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Ch'lana looks very concerned.
"I assure you such things would never be part of any test I might give you. This is very troubling. The visions you describe - hallucinations might be more accurate - seemed to use things from your backgrounds and fears you hold. I do not think this would be any external threat. I would have sense any such manipulation of the Force, and I senses nothing until you both called upon the Force to free yourselves from the hallucination."
He turns to Nightshade. "Nightshade, I do not think there is anyone else on board, but it is possible my senses have been deceived. Would you please search the ship for evidence of anyone else? We have been in hyperspace now for a week - if someone else is here, they have been here since we left, and would leave signs.
"Collan and Niil, go to the cockpit and run a diagnostic on the main computer and internal sensors. If there is someone here, they must have tampered with both systems to avoid detection.
"For my part, I will meditate on this."
The three of you split up, Collan and Niil heading to the bridge while Nightshade begins a thorough search of the ship.
It takes a couple of hours, but by the end of it Nightshade has found no evidence of any other sentient being on this ship, and both the internal sensors and main computer check out. Nightshade joins Niil and Collan on the bridge, and you wait there together for perhaps a quarter of an hour before Ch'lana joins you.
"What have you found?" Each of you reports your findings, and Ch'lana's frown deepens. "It is as I feared then..."
Ch'lana takes a seat.
"I believe there are two things occurring here, as Collan had surmised, and I fear one of them is my fault. We will get to the second one in a moment.
"There is a bond that forms between student and teacher, and that is even more true when both are Force-sensitive. What one does can have an effect on the other. Normally the Jedi were concerned about students exposing masters to risk, and guarded against that. But I fear that I have placed the two of you at risk, and so all of us. I should have known better. Demaia tried to warn me, but I would not hear anything she had to say.
"I have..." He stops, and starts again after changing tacks. "In the past, I have had trouble following the Jedi code. At times, I have let my emotions rule my actions. This is highly dangerous, because doing so opens one up to the Dark Side of the Force. I carry such stains and, I fear, though our bond as student and teacher, I have exposed you to this. The Dark Side acts on you, through me. My past failures put you at risk."
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[ooc: is this a house rule?]
Collan looked puzzled. How could the Dark Side influence them through Ch'lana. It seemed strange...unless. Would prior failings make him a magnet for the Dark Side? And posibly have it attempt to influence him more?
"Ch'lana," Collan started, "How can the Dark Side attempt to ensnare us when we've barely learned anything about the Force?"
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Niil watched Ch'lana intently as he spoke, a concerned look on his face. Once he was finished, Nill spoke up. "Demaia may have tried to warn you, but she also saw it vital that Collan and I come with you. And I don't think it coincidence that Nightshade just happened to be in the Bladesea area when we went looking for you." Nill gave the shinobi a nod, and added, "I'm not suggesting that you had another motive for seeking me." Niil paudes, then shrugged. "This may sound odd, but I think you were meant to be here, with us - in particular, with Master Ch'lana."
He then looked at each person in turn. "I know that despite all I've been through, I'm still pretty well a kid and have a hell of a lot to learn. So I hope you won't take offense, Master Ch'lana, when I say that perhaps we can all be students and teachers to each other here. People can fail and make mistakes, but it takes someone with integrity to freely admit to them. Even more so to learn from them. I think I can speak for everyone else here when I say that I still put my faith in you."
OOC: Aaargh! Simultaneous post again! :P
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Collan smiled and then it faded. Another thought occurred. The Dark Side was trying to recruit Ch'lana, which is why all the deaths that happen around him. The Dark Side was manipulating others to commit the deeds and thus draw Ch'lana into a spiral of depression and anger.
"And Ch'lana...you may not like this, but I think the Dark Side is trying to find a way to push you over the edge. That would explain why all those deaths happen around you. It's not the Emperor, it's the Dark Side manipulating him to harm beings. It just happens to be where you are."
"So...we just have to figure out how to get the Dark Side's hooks out of you," Collan's youthful hope shown through at that last. All problems are solvable to the young and Collan was no different. He was confident there was a way to help Ch'lana.
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Nightshade looked askance at the Jedi and his two pupils. He was, of course no stranger to the concept of Unmei, or fate, as they would call it, and this Force of theirs seemed like it dealt strongly in such terms. However, like any man of action the concept that his future was foretold and set in stone did not sit well with him. Why act at all if everything is already decided.
But then how did one explain what had happened up to this point? Was it possible for this many coincidences to occur by chance? The Shinobi liked to think he had an open mind, and therefore had to have this philosophical struggle inside his head.
While this storm of ideas raged across the landscape of his consciousness, he externally kept his peace listening to see how their discussion would pan out.
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Ch'lana frowns. "We'll have to table this discussion for the moment, because there is something else we must address. There have been far too many co-incidences related to all of us. Some of it I can put down to Demaia's meddling, but not all. Too many things are lining up. It does seem that the Force is trying to arrange things in a certain way. Both Collan and Niil feel they need to be somewhere. That could be a message from the Force, but the two of you are not skilled enough to hear it. From the urgency you describe, we may not have time to teach you. So let us conduct an experiment, and give the Force opportunities to speak to you in ways you will understand."
Ch'lana turns and activates the navigation computer. "Collan, sit here and concentrate. I want you to look at planetary system records. Keep your mind open, and let your instincts guide you. Do not try to control the process, just let it happen. Niil, you will watch over his shoulder. Let your mind wander, and see if anything catches your eye. This may take a while, but the Force is sometimes subtle and often cannot be heard by those new to it."
Ch'lana gets up, and Collan sits down at the console. He starts absently flipping through the planetary records in the computer. Nill sits in the next chair, watching as well, and the two of you settle in for a long, boring slog as Collan starts flipping through system. He is on the third system when Niil quickly reaches out and grabs his hand.
Niil's brow furrows as he stares at the screen.
As Collan looks at the screen, a feeling of certainty grows in him as well. Both of you are certain that this is where you need to be.
Horuz.
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Niil tapped a finger against the screen. "There. Horuz. I'm as certain of it as if it jumped out and smacked me upside the head." Niil nodded to himself, and looked expectantly to Collan and Ch'lana.
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"I feel it too," Collan intoned, trying to keep his mind as clear as possible, hoing for additional information from the Force.
"We need to be there...but why? The Viceroy?"
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Niil shrugged, mystified.
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"Guess we'll find out," Collan said, "Ch'lana...it's your ship, but we need to go to the Horuz system. Can you take us?"
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He nods. It's the other side of the galaxy from here, but we're not far off a major trade route. We'll be close to twenty days in transit."
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Niil exhaled. "I suppose we'd best get to work on our training, then." Niil thought for a moment, then added. "What do we have on the database about the Horuz system? Anything that might stand out?"
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Niil pulls up the entry on the library computer.
Horuz System, Atrivis Sector, Outer Rim Territories
Orbits:
Horuz 1 (gas giant in star-skimming orbit)
Horuz II (habitable, moon Haroon)
Asteroid Belt
Horuz III (gas giant)
Asteroid Belt
The system lies in the Relgim Run trade route.
The entire Horuz system is under Imperial quarantine. Records show that Horuz II is an Imperial penal colony and labour camp.
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Niil rubbed at his jaw. "Well, this is just a thoroughly ugly-looking system," he said to anyone that was interested." Imperial quarantine and a prison planet in the same system? There's bound to be active patrols, then. We might have to come in at the fringes and take some scans first."
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Nightshade nodded his agreement. "It is always wise to have good intel, especially if we have been led here to get someone out of confinement."
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"If the Force is leading us there, there must be something important. Would the Viceroy perhaps be a prisoner?" Collan asked.
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"I . . . think so. The visions I saw of Viceroy Organa were linked with that strong urge from the Force for me to be elsewhere. And two of the three visions weren't pretty. In one, he was being tortured by an Imperial Inquisitor, and in another he was being assassinated by some shadowy figure." Niil paused to think, then his head snapped up. "By the Force! He's always been looked upon as the most loyal Imperial senators . . . what if that was all a sham to keep up appearances? Most pro-Imperials seem to breed to type, but Bail . . . Bail was far different from the rest of them. He's well-liked by damn near everyone on the senate. And by people other worlds, too."
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Collan puffed his cheeks and blew air, "Whew...that's a lot."
He sat back in the chair.
"Ch'lana...this is a big ship...we'd need a pretty big distraction to land. Got anything onboard that might do that?"
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He shakes his head. "Approach from the fringes of the system, and pick our way in. This vessel was not guilt for stealth. If there is a military presence, we're going to have trouble getting in and out."
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"There is an old adage about prisons, the hard part not in getting in, but in getting out. If we are truly here to rescue someone, can you ascertain more with the Force?"
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Niil shook his head. "Regretfully, no. I didn't even know that I was being drawn to the Horuz system until we called it up on the map . . ."
His eyes narrowed. "Ch'lana, could we bring up a larger scale display of the Horuz system? Maybe the Force could show me exactly where we're supposed to go within the system?"
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He waves a hand at the computer, indicating you are free to do as you wish. But looking around, scanning the system, nothing seems to twig for you.
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Niil stared at the display for a few minutes, but nothing in particular jumped out at him. "Nope, nothing right now. Best guess at this time is if Viceroy Organa has been arrested, then he'll be taken to Horuz II."
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Ch'lana nods. "We'll approach from the fringes, and see what there is to see. We have a couple of weeks, so put it out of your minds, and concentrate on preparing. We do not know what we will find when we get there, but it is clear it will not be a warm welcome."