Chorlian Sector

It's been over an hour since Ben had stormed out of the cockpit. Jeyna is unsure what she should do, taking it as a sign he needs space. The astromech droid has parked itself in front of the instruments panel, scanning for the star system they need.

She tires of watching the blackness of space outside the window, and wanders out into the main hold. HK is waiting there, its red eyes alert and unblinking.

"Greetings, Master."

"Hello, HK. Did you see where Ben went?" she asks uncertainly, sitting down on a seat.

"The angry meatbag has gone to the garage bay, Master," the droid replies.

She winces. "Please don't call him an angry meatbag." The droid swivels its head towards her.

"Explanation: His biochemical signature indicated a stressed state most commonly associated with anger."

"Well maybe you could refrain from calling organics meatbags in general," Jeyna suggests. The droid makes a mechanical huff noise.

"Irritated Explanation: My previous Master delighted in the use of the phrase," the droid argues. "But for you Master, I will eliminate it from my vocabulator."

"What was he like, anyway? Revan?" she asks curiously after a few minutes of silence.

"I do not understand the question. Clarification is required," the droid replies.

"Never mind…" Jeyna lets silence take over the hold, wondering how long it will take them to find Nathema. She hopes it isn't too long, with only the homicidal robot to talk to. She wonders if Ben still wants to be alone. "Do you think I should go talk to him?" she asks, before rolling her eyes at herself.

"Suggestion: I would be delighted to handle negotiations for you, Master. However, I will require a blaster before commencing."

She jumps up. "I think I'll do it myself, HK. But thank you for the offer."

Garage Bay

Jeyna hesitates by the door, watching Ben by the workbench. He seems to be working on his lightsaber, an array of tools spread out in front of him. She doesn't speak up, content to observe him focused on his task. His lightsaber is interesting to her, for multiple reasons. She suspects he modified the design to accommodate the broken kyber crystal, but she wonders where he got the ideas. She doesn't recall seeing anything similar to it in the sketches she'd seen of ancient Sith or Jedi designs.

"I found the schematics for it, mixed in with materials scavenged off Malachor," he says suddenly, without looking up. He's using a small tool on what she thinks might be a focusing lens, and she is surprised by how dexterous his hands seem. "I don't like when you hold back from saying what you are thinking," he reminds her.

"I was trying to not be intrusive," she says quietly, walking forward to see more of what he's doing.

"You aren't intruding. I just needed something to focus on," he explains. "It was getting loud inside my head."

She frowns, wanting to ask more about the voices he hears, or about Luke Skywalker, but unsure if he wants to talk about it. He speaks again before she can ask, distracting her. "It was a design used by a Sith warrior who died during the great Scourge."

"The Scourge of Malachor was thousands of years ago," she remarks. "Were you researching it? Or just interested in Malachor?"

"Snoke had me looking into some of the dark side weapons used there. I couldn't find much about them. But I saw this design and thought it was interesting."

Jeyna smiles despite herself. He'd based his lightsaber off an ancient design because he'd thought it was neat. She finds the notion entirely too endearing.

He pauses his work to run a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face. When he glances over and sees the smile, he grumbles, "Stop smiling about that."

"I'm sorry," she says, not meaning it. "What else have you looked into for Snoke?"

"I studied a lot of topics. Not always for Snoke," Ben says. She watches as he reassembles the lightsaber quickly, his hands skilled with obvious practice.

"So you're also something of a scholar," she accuses softly. Affection is thrumming her heart at this new development, at the thought of him being just as comfortable with archives as he is with combat.

"I suppose. If it pleases you," he replies after a moment. He moves the finished saber, and begins putting the tools back.

"It does," she confirms. He flinches at something in her voice, finally focusing his eyes on her for more than a brief flicker. What he finds in her gaze seems to shift something in him, and she jerks with surprise as he sweeps the rest of the tools off the workbench. They land in a scattered mess on the garage floor.

He lifts her suddenly, settling her onto the counter in front of him. It is strange to be looking down at him for the first time, the bench lifting her high enough to be at a height advantage. She tries to read his face, but he seems lost in thought.

His hands gently push her hair back from her face, coming to a rest cradling either side of her head. She feels as he works to strengthen their connection, her lips parting with a strange sort of pleasure as he pours his energy into the bond between them. It is always there, lingering, but in moments like this it intensifies, surrounds her. The feeling of it is addictive, his power helping her feel the force more strongly.

His dark hair has fallen back down into his eyes as they flicker between hers. "I want you," he admits lowly. Pleasure twists deep inside her in response. "But it never seems to be the right time."

She knows immediately what he means. Their moments have been stolen, both overcome by their attraction and unable to stop themselves. But something was always interfering, getting in the way. She frowns, hesitating on a reply, before the telltale Dwoo-ing of an astromech droid interrupts her. She groans at the irony of yet another interference.

Ben's hands drop gently to her shoulders as he listens. When his eyes return to hers, they've become focused once more. "We've found the star system."

Approaching Nathema

They orbit the planet, and Jeyna feels a sensation like something cold and heavy pressing down on her skin. It looks like a grayish brown smear of a world, the colors blurring lifelessly together. She can't make out any water sources from this high up, nor the green of any plant life, as it is apparently barren.

Ben is monitoring several screens when he moves, pointing one out to her. "There," he says. "Ground scans show a large, central structure."

She peers around his shoulder to see what he is talking about. The place he points out looks massive, and it is surrounded by a walled city. The city itself looks to be a rough circle, smaller buildings filling the interior in a loop about the main structure. But she can tell nothing else by the image.

"I'll take us down," he says, sitting at the pilot's chair.

As they descend into the atmosphere, something strange happens to Jeyna's senses. Her head feels like thick, fuzzy fabric has been wrapped about her skull, her hearing suddenly dimmed. Her ears ring slightly as she experimentally calls out. "Do you feel that?" she asks him. Her voice is distant, softened. It sounds like it is travelling through something thicker than air.

She barely hears his response, and it is unpleasantly distorted. "Yes. Something is wrong here."

As they get nearer to ground level, she notices the tremor in his hands on the controls. The connection between them is stretched, pulled taut, as he withdraws. She fights the urge to protest it, horror creeping in quickly as her intuition flares. The city looms closer, as they approach just outside the span of its walls.

Beyond the window, the colors leech from existence. The world they are landing on seems muted, the waves of light somehow repressed. The ship sets down with a slight bump, and Jeyna feels the bond between them snap broken.

"Why?" she gasps at his sudden absence.

He pulls his shaking hands from the controls before rising from his chair to face her. She's struck by how pale his skin is, his pupils blown wide with what she suspects is fear. "You don't want to feel it the way I do," he says tersely.

Jeyna takes a shaking breath, goosebumps covering her skin underneath her clothes. "What do you feel?"

He staggers past her, hands clenching into fists as he leads them into the main hold. "The force is dead here."

Her mouth drops open as she trails behind him, watching as he grabs his lightsaber and datapad. "HK, bring a blaster," he orders.

The droid seems content to follow his order in this case, grabbing a weapon eagerly. "Of course, not-Master."

Ben slams his hand into the door panel, and the door opens as the ramp descends before them to dull, tan dirt. As soon as the atmosphere of Nathema hits her, she can feel it. Where her small awareness of the force should be, is vacant. It feels like a slight wound, aching, drawing her attention to the spot where something has been torn away.

She's terrified to imagine how it must feel to Ben. He is infinitely stronger with the force than her. "Are you going to make it? I can go alone," she tries to suggest, joining him in the doorway. She can see that he is unsteady, his eyes transmitting that he is in pain.

He shakes his head stubbornly. "No. I will be fine."

"It doesn't bother me as much," she tries to persuade him, wanting to spare him suffering. "I can take the droid-"

"I'm going with you," he interrupts sternly. Her mouth snaps closed at the finality of his tone, audible even through the strange muffling effect the planet has on sound. "HK, follow us."

"As you wish, organ sack," the droid confirms.

Jeyna creeps down the ramp behind Ben, hearing a slight dinging of HK's feet on the metal surface as he trails along. Her hands are shaking, her heart staggering as adrenaline surges through her veins. It is useless. There is nothing to fight, and nothing to flee from. Just the abandoned city before them, the tall gates left gaping open like a mouth.

The massive structure in the center looms above, its windows open and vacant like the eyes of a skull that's been picked clean. There is no wind on this planet. The air is thick and heavy, hanging unmoving. Moving through it makes Jeyna picture forcing her way through cobwebs, layered with dust. She cringes in disgust.

"It's completely deserted," she says needlessly. It is obvious the place hasn't been inhabited for a long time. It has the feeling of a crypt, an intended cradle of death, but even death had the good sense to abandon it.

She follows as he resolutely heads forward, his pace determined. She forces herself to trudge along towards the gates, trying to feel brave, as they walk between a double row of pillars lining their approach.

The memory of the vision sends out shockwaves within her mind, and she staggers momentarily as they pass through the opening to enter the city. The web, coming undone. Blinking from existence.

Ben is silent, and she doesn't need their connection to feel he's barely keeping it together. She can see his hand, fingers pale with how much pressure he's exerting onto the handle of his saber. They are walking down a large path that leads straight through the smaller buildings, to the center structure.

They don't make it far before Jeyna starts noticing the items left behind. Clothing lays in small clumps along the path, crumpled over shoes. Baskets and bags, occasionally a weapon or bit of jewelry, lay with the items.

"Where are the bodies?" she asks, confusion and fear mingling in her voice. These stacks of possessions look as if they lay where the people who held or wore them had once stood.

Whether Ben doesn't hear her, or doesn't want to answer her, she isn't sure. But the dream of the plant disintegrating replays in her mind, and she knows it has answered her question.

They had asked her about this place, during the interrogation. She remembers now what Snoke had been after. Ben stops his fast pace forward, pauses as he lets her catch up. His pained gaze finds her as she repeats their words, "The ritual of Nathema."

He nods slowly, confirming the memory. She swallows heavily as she understands. "Someone stripped this place of the force. It's what the dream was warning me about," she says. "Whoever did this...they want to do it to the entire galaxy."