I read AoT 139. I'm not happy. Not like, coping seething malding rage, just… disappointed. Absolutely nothing mattered, fucking hell. If I ever pull that shit, someone please shoot me in the head.
Anyways, on to less infuriating things; remember how allll the way back in Chapter 1 I mentioned I would make light use of fanon stuff? I finally remembered why I put that little disclaimer in so far back when it was seemingly never relevant – the Pride of the Core was supposed to show up during this arc, which I always internally referred to as the Pulsar Station arc, due to Pulsar Company originally forming as a result of this arc's events in earlier drafts. Basically, the Pride of the Core (a Mandator II, for those who never played Republic at War) was going to be the ace in the hole against the Rakata (who were always planned) and whoever the predecessor to Dantinian would have been. In the two years it's taken me to get from chapter 1 to the actual Pulsar Station arc, I completely forgot about my plans for the Pride of the Core and ended up creating the Odynaro in its stead.
To CaesarKrest: Knockout's parts are all aftermarket stuff put on by the guy that Kelah killed. When he rolled off the production line in 22 BBY, he was a standard C-B3 Cortosis Battle Droid. Back then, Knockout and the rest of his line would be near the top of the CIS food chain for infantry. The Knockout of 3 BBY, though, is more in line with HK-47 and IG-88 than, say, the B2.
To misteryman526: I believe Dark Jedi cropping up is directly proportional to open Sith activity, not so much the size of any one Jedi order. For example, in KOTOR, the Sith (Revan/Malak and then Vitiate behind the scenes) were very much active in the galaxy and fucking things up for everyone. Then, in the Rise of the Empire era, you had a couple Dark Jedi crop up, but not mass defections like in the Old Republic era thanks to Palpatine being a puppetmaster and using Dooku as the public face of the Sith. Then, with Luke's NJO, there was basically a Dark Jedi fucking bi-weekly despite the order being relatively small in comparison to both the KOTOR Jedi and the OJO, meanwhile Sith wannabes were running amok in the galaxy for several years until the NR collapsed on itself either during or just after the biomechanical 90s death metal aliens showed up and had their war.
Anyways, read and review.
Nax had to admit – it was strange seeing clones and battle droids work side by side. Sure, the droids weren't the old CIS models, these were the new ones that Foreman had cooked up over Suns knows how many years in the scrapyard in orbit. It was just odd that the clones were so ready to trust a former enemy like that. Then again, they were facing a mutual threat, so maybe not so odd.
As it turned out, the B1A wasn't only limited to the infantry variant that Foreman had shown off. There were a plethora of specialized variants included with the initial production run. Naming only the non-combat models, there was the B1Cs, which were construction droids, and most of them were tasked with improving infrastructure around the settlement, including building roads, getting running water and power to whoever didn't have it, reinforcing the walls and adding additional turbolasers, anti-air batteries, and CIWS systems, and so on. Once the reinforcement was done, they'd be sent out in MTTs with a mixed complement of B1As and armored vehicles to establish FOBs and get a foothold in the door against the Rakata.
Then, there were the B1Ts – technician models. Whatever the Cs made, the Ts would keep in working order. As Nax had gradually learned over his time here, there was a shortage of people with adequate technical knowledge to keep the entire settlement at 100% efficiency all the time. The clones did have the softshells, but there were only enough of them to staff one Venator, not service an entire settlement of thousands of people.
Capping off the non-combat models was the B1D. Doctors and especially medical droids were in short supply. While pretty much everybody with any ounce of importance to the settlement had some degree of first aid training, either from the clones or somewhere else, actual surgical skill was a very rare thing and was highly valued, especially for things bacta or vitor couldn't heal. They were very much a welcome addition to the support staff the 52nd had already.
Sitting under the shade of the Knight, Nax stared at the dull underside of his ship, getting lost in thought again. Before he could do much, though, Lexi came out of the ship, carrying two cans of that fizz drink she liked. "Hey, catch." she called out, tossing the one in her right hand to Nax, who almost fumbled the catch and would have dropped it otherwise. Lexi took a seat next to him and nudged him in the shoulder. "I've got a gut feeling you're not happy about something. Care to tell me what it is?" she asked as she popped the tab on her can.
Nax hesitated, tightening his grip on the can unconsciously. "...It's about Kyra." he answered, lazily tracking a DSD2 that was patrolling nearby.
"You're not happy with her?" Lexi immediately assumed, and Nax just shook his head.
"...No, it's not that I'm not happy with her – I am, and I love her to bits." Nax replied, and Lexi suppressed a snicker at how sappy Nax sounded – she never took him for the lovey-dovey type. "...It's just..." he fumbled, trying to find his words. "...Did you know that Jedi aren't supposed to form attachments? It's some sort of old ruling the Jedi had to prevent falling to the dark side, whatever the hell that is." he revealed, finally popping his can and downing it. "I didn't, and neither did Kyra, but Sawei doesn't like us being together because of that."
Lexi paused, turning to look at Nax. "No attachments?" she questioned, wanting to know to what extent the rule applied. "How the hell does that work?"
"Uh," Nax fumbled momentarily. "'...There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.'" he quoted, trying to remember the whole thing. "That's the Jedi code that Sawei's been trying to drill into Kyra for the past few days. Probably as old as the Jedi themselves."
Lexi ran the Jedi code over and over and over in her mind, yet all she could come up with was that it was utterly incompatible with, well, anyone. Avoiding your emotions made you barely any different from a droid, same with being passionless. Without passion, one would have no drive in life. Even the line about there being no chaos or death was wrong – the galaxy was inherently chaotic and unpredictable, and unfortunately, death was very much a reality for everyone. "...I can't imagine living like that." Lexi eventually managed to spit out, setting her can aside.
"That's not my only worry, either." Nax admitted, cracking his fingers and sitting back. "Kyra was worried that Sawei would give her an ultimatum – either choose to continue her training, or stay with me." he revealed, sighing in exasperation. "I doubt Sawei would squander Kyra over something as petty as her being in love. Adhering to your doctrine doesn't mean you have to be stupid, but there's always the possibility that she is that stupid."
Lexi pulled her legs in and rested her head on them. "...What if there was an alternative to what Sawei was teaching her?" Lexi pondered, thumbing her can idly. "Something that would let her continue her training and stay with you."
Nax pursed his lips and bounced his head against the landing strut. "Lexi, I barely understand the Force as it is, and I really doubt there's an alternative." he opined, beginning to throw his can in the air and catch it, as if he were playing with a thermal detonator. "I'll just have to work with it as things happen."
Lexi huffed, half amused with how unwilling Nax was to throw caution to the wind and try and find something that could work for both him and Kyra. "Well, in that case," she said, picking her can up and finally popping the tab. "Here's to you two. Better make it last." she finished, giving a mock toast and downing her drink.
Nax gave off a light laugh, and then turned his attention towards the Dropstorm. A wing of Star Reavers had just taken off and were circling the air around the settlement in a V formation. "Those the new interceptors based on Hu'an and Mu'an?" Nax questioned, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah, can't wait to see them in action. I'd be surprised if Dantinian had anything that could fight them toe to toe in regards to space superiority – hell, even just air superiority." Lexi replied, sounding rather excited. "Things are supposed to be supermaneuverable, too." she continued.
Nax had to do a double take for a second. "They're super-what?" he questioned, having never heard that before in his life.
"Supermaneuverable." Lexi repeated, not surprised that Nax hadn't heard of it. "You know all those fancy tricks something like a TIE can do up in space?" she questioned, and Nax was vaguely following along. "Supermaneuverable means they can do those same tricks, but in atmosphere, just at slow speeds." Lexi went on, and as if she were commanding them herself, the interceptors did a full Kulbat to show off, before disappearing across the ring. "Like that." she commented. Nax was seemingly mesmerized by the little airshow trick the Star Reaver had pulled off, and she elbowed him. "You know, Foreman's got sim training pods set up to train people to fly the Star Reavers, just as organic oversight just in case something goes wrong with the flight AI."
Nax pulled back from his amazement and stood up, brushing some grass off his pants. "That's good to know, but I'm not really interested in being a snub-jockey." he answered honestly, looking up to the Knight. "Actually, I feel a lot more comfortable flying around this heavy bastard than I think I would be in a snub." he remarked, knocking his fist against the landing strut.
Shrugging, Lexi pulled out her datapad to check something. "Hey, fair enough. Just putting it out there for you." she said, before beginning to mess with her datapad. Nax, meanwhile, went back inside to check on something.
"Again." Sawei barked, and Kyra prepared herself to repeat the fight against the hologram. Combat pose, skirt the jab once, twice, and a third time, maneuver for multiple strikes, dart back, repeat. She'd been practicing Makashi's flow regularly for the past few days, and she felt much more comfortable performing it than she did when she had first started. A couple seconds later, and the hologram shattered to pieces, the epicenter of the damage coming from Kyra's blade, which had struck where the heart usually was in humanoids. "Very good." Sawei praised, nodding in approval of Kyra's progress. With a hiss, Kyra's lightsaber shut off, the white-green blade retreating into the hilt. "I believe that's enough combat practice for today, Kyra. We'll be moving on to meditation." Sawei said.
Kyra nodded politely and clipped her hilt to her belt. "Of course, Sawei." she replied, and began to follow her out of the training room. "...Do you remember how I said that the Force felt like a warm blanket?" she questioned, and Sawei nodded. "I think I've actually narrowed down the feeling with this meditation." Kyra continued, Sawei keeping an ear open for Kyra's discovery. "It's from when I first woke up in bed with Nax after confessing to him. I don't think I've ever felt happier or safer than I did that morning."
Sawei did not like what she had heard, and stopped in her tracks, turning her head to look at Kyra over her shoulder. "Kyra." she simply said, her voice stern and cold. "Is this a thinly veiled attempt at convincing me to let you stay with Strag?" she interrogated, clearly displeased. "I've already made my position on this matter clear, and the answer is no."
"But-" Kyra started.
"I have watched countless Jedi be exiled from the Order over this exact issue, Kyra. Any appeals to the council always turned out the same way – rejected. The Code is clear, the Council was clear, and it was this way for thousands of years. My verdict remains the same." Sawei immediately interjected, not giving Kyra an inch to work with.
Kyra narrowed her gaze at Sawei. "...Did that inflexibility save the Jedi when the Empire marched on the Temple?" she scathed, and Kyra knew she had struck a very strong nerve with Sawei. "Did it save the thousands of younglings and Padawans who were barely able to defend themselves? What about the exiles that were no doubt executed by the Empire for being threats to the state? Did it save them?" she pushed and pushed, not knowing when to quit.
"How dare you." Sawei replied, venom in her tone. She turned around fully to face Kyra, barely containing her anger. "How dare you?!" she echoed, the realization of what Kyra had said setting in fully. "The Code being absolute had nothing to do with the Empire taking power!" Sawei seethed.
Kyra crossed her arms, absolutely not willing to let this go. "I think it does." she said, and Sawei's fury only grew, tearing at the seams, trying to break out and have Sawei blow up in Kyra's face. "What you've taught me about the Jedi Order is that they were rigid in their doctrine. Absolute. Completely inflexible and unable to adapt. They had a thousand years of peace before the Clone Wars, got complacent, and then lost to a threat they couldn't adapt to." Kyra pushed, grossly oversimplifying events that she wasn't even conscious for. "Everything I've learned with Nax has taught me that if you don't adapt to your surroundings, you will die. Allo Lostur, the slaving scorchmark who stole my old life from me, failed to adapt to me growing a spine, and died when I slid his knife between his ribs on the bridge of his own ship." Kyra grimly said, her expression hardening. "The Path of Ludd failed to adapt to the Coru-Hivers and Transhuman Ascendancy working together to prevent a four way gang war on Coruscant, and they died when we torched their operations base and killed their leaders." she continued, stepping forward in defiance of Sawei. "And I'm telling you now, forcing me into a failed doctrine that goes against everything I have learned will have all of us dead at the end of this war."
Sawei glowered at Kyra, managing to keep from exploding, but only just. "You keep saying these things about the Jedi as if the Force gives us omnipotence." she replied, her voice slow and methodical, but still filled with an icy fury. "It doesn't – the Force is enlightening, but at the end of the day, we're still… people..." Sawei continued, slowing down towards the end, her tone growing softer, as if she were having a realization. Before the debate could go further and get more heated, a man in an old Republic naval uniform entered the training room, carrying a datapad and calling for Sawei. "...You are wrong about much, Kyra, and I will hear no more of this issue." Sawei finished, once again avoiding the topic, and she turned to the man. "Report."
The man turned the datapad to Sawei and Kyra. It looked like data on some sort of subsurface energy scan – there was a large 'hot spot' of sorts in the center of the display, marked bright red and orange, compared to the hues of blue surrounding it. "Scout Team Besh was out trying to identify potential FOB locations this morning and sent this readout to the bridge. There's a huge energy sig below the surface, and the Commander thinks it's one of those caches you mentioned were hidden around. He wants you two as backup for the techs in case the thing messes with the Force." he explained, and Sawei followed along. "Salvage team's assembling in the hangar right now, they'll give you a full briefing when you get there."
Sawei nodded. "Of course." she replied simply, and the man saluted, before leaving the training room. "Perhaps giving you first hand experience with Force artifacts would be better than meditation, Kyra." she stated, having calmed down, but she was clearly still upset.
Kyra said nothing.
The salvage team had driven out to the site in the 52nd's new MPLVs that Foreman had designed – the Multi Purpose Light Vehicle, which strangely, used wheels as opposed to more common repulsorlifts. The variants were split between a three seater scout vehicle, with the driver, a passenger, and a gunner manning the turret in the bed, and a transport model with an identical layout for the driver and passenger riding shotgun, but with seats in the bed to fit six men – nine if you were willing to squeeze.
Despite the overall apprehension towards basically prototyping the MPLVs, they certainly performed well enough offroad – they were fast, and easily tore through whatever brush they passed through. Really, the only complaint that could be leveled against the MPLV was that the suspension was exceptionally bouncy – Kyra had whacked her head against the roll cage in the bed a few times, as had a few members of the salvage team.
By the time they actually arrived at the site, it was starting to get late into the evening, and rain clouds were moving in quickly, alongside the distant sound of thunder. The site itself was a large cliff that dropped off into a lake, and a nearby river created a waterfall. The actual entrance to wherever the energy signature was, though, was nowhere to be found. "You sure this is the right place?" one of the technicians questioned. "Same mapgrid pal, this is the place." a driver replied, grabbing his bullpup rifle from the MPLV's gull-wing door and checking his ammo. "Then where the hell is Besh? Shouldn't they have been pulling perimeter duty?" he replied, and the driver shrugged.
Kyra looked to Sawei, and she had her eyes shut, running her hand around the area, feeling through the Force. She suddenly stopped moving her hand near the river, clenched it into a fist, and flicked her wrist up. A large bunker door that had been buried under the dirt shot out of the ground, sending chunks flying into the river and down the waterfall. "This is the entrance." she commented plainly, approaching the bunker with Kyra in tow.
Rising out from the newly revealed hole was a small group of soldiers and B1A droids – Scout Team Besh. "Sweet sunlight..." one of the younger women remarked as she crawled out, falling face-first onto the grass. The ones who weren't delirious paused, took notice of Sawei, and saluted. A couple B1As hauled other, unconscious scouts out.
"Where's your commanding officer?" Sawei questioned, and a clone raised his hand and took his helmet off, looking particularly shaken. "Give me a situation report – why were you all stuck down there?" she pushed.
The clone ran his hand down his wrinkled face in shock, evidently still processing whatever he had seen down there. "We… went down there, had two guys pulling security and covering the entrance for us. Dunno where they went." the clone started, taking deep breaths to calm himself. "All of a sudden, the bunker door just shuts behind us, and we all get locked in. Then, we start hearing whispering."
"Whispering?" Kyra echoed, wanting to know more.
"Like someone was always just behind you, whispering over your shoulder. Encouraging us to kill each other and driving us mad. One of my men took his own life over it, and the droids restrained anyone else who attempted the same." the clone explained, most certainly aware that he'd only been down there for a few hours at most, and then regained his resolve, staring directly into Sawei's eyes. "Ma'am, you and Master Ar'ai have led the Helljumpers through thick and thin during the war. I trust your judgement wholly, but never in my time serving with you did any one place feel as malicious as that damned bunker. Not Felucia, not Kashyyyk, not that iceball in Jangala." the clone continued. "I absolutely refuse to get back in that bunker."
Sawei said nothing to the clone, instead giving him a sympathetic nod. Then, she turned back to the armed men that had been brought with the salvage team. "I want two of you to go out and search for his missing men." she ordered, turning to the salvage techs. "Do what you can to tend to them – I'm going inside. I'll send the all clear once I've cleared the bunker." Sawei declared, reaching out to the bunker door with the Force, tearing it off completely, and throwing it off to the side with a swift gesture. Then, she unclipped her lightsaber from her belt, motioned for Kyra to follow her, and descended into the bunker.
Kyra and Sawei came to an airlock that separated the bunker from the outside world, and it automatically opened for them, letting them inside. Before the airlock closed behind her, Kyra glanced over her shoulder and caught more than a few concerned looks from the scout team, who were naturally worried about what would happen to the only trained Jedi they had.
The room the airlock led to was extremely spartan – painted a drab, gunmetal color with little furniture to speak of, and it was surprisingly well lit for having been abandoned. Along the walls were what looked to be nonfunctional holographic displays. The wall to the left of the airlock, however, was curved outwards, and had a window that stretched across the room. Taking a look inside, the pair found a large circular chamber, with windows marking other rooms all along the circumference of the chamber – observation windows. At the center was a large metal gazebo of some sort, and a circular black pad with a second gray pad inside of it. Barely covered power lines ran across the chamber from the gazebo in an X-shape, and in-between each set of lines was a large security door, bolted shut and covered in some hazard tape equivalent.
Just as a precaution, Sawei felt the area out with the Force. Her expression was briefly pained, and she pulled back. "That is not the source of the problem, although whatever is seems to be channeling the dark side of the Force into it." Sawei noted, pulling back from the observation window.
Kyra cocked her head out of interest. "That's possible?" she questioned, wondering why Sawei had never mentioned it before, and the pair moved to the next room, which was decidedly less utilitarian. There was what was ostensibly research equipment littering the work areas along the edges of the room as well as the central island – tools that Kyra couldn't even begin to describe aside from what might have been datapad equivalents – hard, metal slates with a reflective surface on one side.
"Oh, yes." Sawei answered, glancing over the equipment. "The Jedi sometimes did it to power certain functions of the Temple on Coruscant, but things like this," she said, gesturing to the central chamber. "...were mostly created by the ancient Sith for ritualistic purposes." she explained, continuing onwards with Kyra in tow.
Kaalu…
Kyra immediately spun around, hand reaching for her '44 in an instant. Sawei picked up on this, and looked back to her. "I heard it as well. Shield your mind with the Force, Kyra." she advised, keeping her finger near the lightsaber switch as a precaution. "There seem to be four nodes of dark side energy here – the whispering the scouts mentioned is likely a symptom of their presence. The dark side is incompatible with normal life – it corrupts and destroys, growing outward like a cancer until the source is destroyed."
They passed through multiple small labs, each one growing progressively dingier and less maintained from the last. The strange research equipment gradually disappeared, being replaced with things that looked more like they were made for torture rather than research. There were even empty tanks that likely contained vitor when operating that were tight, restrictive, and impeded the healing process.
At last, they came upon the first of the four nodes. All of the lab/torture equipment from the other rooms had been completely cleared out, and the room was barren, save for a large, round, black saucer bulging up in the center of the room. Examining it closer, Kyra noted indentations along the edge, meaning it was likely supposed to move. "Prepare yourself." Sawei warned, and with little hesitation, she grabbed whatever it was with the Force, and yanked it up.
It was another of those cramped vitor tubes, but this one was full of the red liquid. However, that wasn't the main concern – suspended inside the tube by flimsy chains that appeared to have rusted away was a living Rakata, very much still breathing. A rebreather was fitted to his mouth, and his gray skin was mottled and wrinkled. Attached all over his torso were tubes that fed into the bottom of the tank, probably the culmination of whatever research was conducted here. "...What in the hell…?" Kyra mumbled to herself, watching the alien float in the tank. Reaching out through the Force to touch its mind, Kyra immediately recoiled from the sensation of touching such a powerful conduit of dark side energy.
Quickly backing up and drawing the '44 on the creature, the only thing preventing her from pulling the trigger was Sawei, who pulled the blaster from her hands with the Force. "Do not destroy what you do not understand, Kyra." she reprimanded, rather carelessly holding the blaster towards herself, a mistake she immediately corrected.
Kyra, though, was confused. "Didn't you just say the dark side corrupts and destroys everything around it? Why not just shoot him and be done with it?" she questioneed.
"We will, Kyra, but destroying your enemy without understanding him first is a mistake." Sawei responded, turning her attention to the Rakata in the tube with the Force. "When interacting with an artificial conduit for the Force, regardless of which side of the Force that conduit channels, you must always be on guard for traps meant to harm you." she lectured, closing her eyes and focusing on the creature. "These traps always manifest themselves as an irregularity within the conduit's presence in the Force – carelessly treating it as one entity usually sets them off. Instead of rushing through, you stand back and observe, sorting the anomalies out from the host. Only when you are absolutely sure you've sorted the traps out from the host do you interact."
"What about this one? Are there any traps on him?" Kyra questioned.
"...Only one – had I tripped it, there was a very real possibility that it would have destroyed my mind." Sawei answered bluntly, disturbing Kyra slightly. "Jedi traps meant for training are usually just negative feedback from the Force, while the ones they actually put on things they didn't want you to touch would bind you. Sith traps tended to either try to corrupt or kill you." Sawei went on, feeling the creature's mind. "...That's strange." Sawei remarked, not getting specific about what she had found.
Kyra gently pulled her '44 from Sawei's grasp with the Force, and returned it to herself. "What is?"
Sawei opened her eyes and pulled back from the tube. "Whoever is in this tube – they don't have any memories. No conscious thoughts, not even as much as a feeling of pain from those tubes in its chest. Just… the feeling of vitor on its skin. I don't think he's even seen daylight before." Sawei listed off, sounding perturbed.
As the pair decided on what to make of this, the Rakata stirred in its tank, slowly opening its eyes and taking in what little it could see, between the sudden blinding of being taken from the darkness, and the blurring of the vitor. Once it registered Sawei and Kyra, however, the Rakata became agitated, trying to pull the tubes out of its body and tear the rebreather off. Clawing at its head, the Rakata let out an ear-piercing screech, unmuffled by the tank, instead sounding as if it was coming from inside their own heads.
Recoiling in pain from having their ears subjected to the Rakata's screech, Sawei struggled to activate her lightsaber and turn it on the tank. Kyra, however, quickly turned the '44 on the Rakata and pulled the trigger. The screaming only intensified, so she shot again, and again, and again, until the tank was spilling vitor all over the floor, and the Rakata had a nasty blaster mark in his head. Then, and only then, did quiet finally return.
Both of them let out a sigh of relief as the resulting tinnitus subsided, and Kyra stowed the blaster. "'Understand the enemy', huh?" she mocked, clearly not happy that she had to endure that. "Should've just shot him in the first place." she continued, checking her ears to make sure they weren't bleeding, which they weren't.
"That is the nature of hindsight, yes." Sawei replied, picking herself up and looking at the still dripping vitor tank, the Rakata's blueish-purple blood mixing with the vitor to create an ugly shade of brown. "I have sufficient reason to believe the other three will be identical, so we'll be taking them out the same way." she authorized, sounding surprisingly cold, and then she signaled for Kyra to continue following her.
They pushed through the labs, taking out the other three nodes with ease – Sawei, or Kyra, depending on who got in the room first, lifted the vitor tanks out of the ground, and then either ran them through with a lightsaber or shot them square in the head. Clean kills either way. With each node removed, the dark side presence seemed to shrink considerably, and within the hour, the facility had been cleared. Whatever the purpose of the place was, they thought it strange that there were no automated security systems – not even as much as a security camera.
Regardless, the pair emerged from the facility to find that night had fallen, and there was a light dribble of rain. Industrial floodlights had been set up by the work crews, and the casualties had been evacuated. One of the female troopers – a medic, judging by the white trim on her armor, took notice of their return and waved them over. "Evac came and took the casualties, ma'am." she informed Sawei, saluting her. "Also, the patrol you ordered to find the missing men just got back with the bodies, their whole team was KIA. Wild compdogs got 'em – crushed bones and internal bleeding from the sonicor blasts, then bite marks from the beaks. Not a pretty sight."
Kyra gagged slightly at the gruesome fate of the men, and Sawei dismissed the medic, heading over to the salvage techs to inform them that the facility had been cleared. They saluted, quickly assembled a team with analytical and disassembly gear strapped to their carryall bags, and descended into the lab. Sawei then went over to one of the parked transport MPLVs and jumped into the bed. "You might want to get comfortable, Kyra. We'll be here for a while." Sawei suggested, relaxing with her feet dangling over the side of the vehicle.
Kyra jumped in next to her and cracked her fingers. "How long do you think that'll be?" she questioned, watching the techs set up the rest of their equipment.
"Probably all night."
Avoiding openly showing her disappointment, Kyra stifled a sigh and shut herself out from the outside world, figuring it best to get some meditation in while she could. Sawei, evidently, had the same idea, and the pair would remain in the bed of that MPLV, occasionally being shown something of minor consequence in regards to Force usage by the salvage teams, but otherwise remaining undisturbed.
Two Rakata were perched at the top of a hill, shrouded in the thick brush. Around three hundred meters away, at ground level, was a dirt road leading from one of Noridar's distribution centers to the myriad towns and outposts spread across this portion of the ring. Buried under the dirt road were multiple anti-tank mines linked together. When one went, they all went, and whatever got caught in the blast would be sent to high hell. Hidden along the treeline was a full squad of Rakata, armed with autoslugs, stolen pike rifles, and salvaged blasters, the latter of which being something of a rarity among their ranks. Kitted out in a mishmash of shoddily manufactured armor vests and equipment that was incredibly poorly maintained, they would not last long in any actual firefight after blowing their element of surprise.
Back to the two Rakata on the hill, one had a bolt-action slugthrower that fired large slugs, strong enough to put a humanoid down in one shot. Despite its aged appearance, with its wooden stock and lack of comfort features like, say, a pistol grip or even a detachable magazine, its owner had grown quite fond of it. Said owner was about average height for a Rakata, and he carried with him an air of deathly seriousness, something only reinforced by the myriad burn marks, scars, and other battle damage pockmarking his rough, dark skin.
His partner was an entirely different story. He was much shorter than average – his eyestalks were about level with his partner's shoulders. His skin was much lighter, and much less damaged, with a blade scar going vertically across his head being the only sign of combat. Instead of a second rifle, however, this one carried a humble pair of tactical macrobinoculars, taken from an Imperial patrol corvette that crashed on the rings that had been modified to accommodate his eyestalks. He wasn't completely defenseless, however – a jury-rigged hand cannon of sorts that fired not slugs, but scattergun shells, was resting in a holster on his right hip.
"Hey, Tiro?" the spotter said to his partner. "You ever wonder why Dantinian did the things he did?" the spotter questioned, not waiting for Tiro to respond.
"Not particularly, Baval." Tiro replied, checking the zeroing on his rifle once, then twice, then a third time, just to be extra sure. "He might have access to the Nexus, but at the end of the day he's another warlord pining to be the next Daritha, same as the ones from when the Empire collapsed." Tiro dryly opined, not interested in Dantinian's motivations in the slightest. "He claims to want to restore the Empire, but all he's going to do is kill us all. The Overseer might just wake up and decide to self-destruct to prevent him from getting out, and even if it doesn't, he'll get swatted like a zapfly by whatever the ruling polity is out there. He's outmatched completely and utterly." Tiro finished, brushing some dirt that had gotten onto the scope off.
Baval took in his partner's words, and then perked up slightly at the sound of a distant rumbling that was fast approaching. "Convoy's coming." he declared, quickly reaching for the vox device on his wrist and pressing down on it. "Convoy's coming!" Baval hissed, and there was a round of acknowledgment from the ambush team. Through his macrobinoculars, he could see them making last minute preparations – checking and charging their weapons, performing brass checks, slinking further back into cover, and so on.
Tiro kept his finger hovering over the trigger, waiting for the convoy to get into his sightline. The hum of the repulsorlifts drew closer and closer, and soon enough, the lead vehicle – an IFV, judging by the light autocannon on the roof and thin looking armor, crossed the first mine, then the second, with two transport speeders following behind, their beds covered by a thick canvas that hid the cargo. When the IFV crossed the third mine, it tripped, and the daisy chain exploded, sending chunks of metal, shrapnel, and dirt flying high into the air.
The ambush team quickly began to unload their weapons into the convoy, and Tiro had to switch to thermals to see anything in the smoke. The IFV driver apparently survived, and was clambering out of the roof hatch. One shot from Tiro sent him tumbling back inside with a fresh hole in his head, blood and brains splattered across the hull of the vehicle. Turning his attention to the rear of the convoy, Baval got his attention. "Dismounts from the lead vehicle." he called out, and Tiro turned his attention back to the IFV. A group of soldiers in light patrol kit were on one side of the IFV, taking cover from the ambush team. They were injured, dazed, and suppressed, and most importantly, completely exposed. Taking aim at the one firing back at the ambush element, Tiro pulled the trigger, and a puff of dark blue blood shot out of his throat, and he slumped over, dead. Cycling the bolt, he took a shot at the one behind the first kill and missed, the slug sparking against the armor of the vehicle and impacting the dirt. Shot, cycle, shot, cycle, shot, cycle, reload. "Good kills, good kills." Baval remarked once the dismounts were either dead or dying.
Incidentally, that callout snapped Tiro from the battle trance he had been slipping into, and the sounds of battle were rapidly fading. "Ambush team, check in." Tiro ordered through his vox. There was a brief silence, and then a round of echoing 'check's over the vox. Two men had taken pike shots to their chest, but the team was otherwise unharmed. "Check the cargo and then prep for detonation." Tiro ordered, and then clicked the device off, letting the ambush team go to work while he provided overwatch.
"Smooth operation, just how we like it." Baval remarked, watching the team lug demolition charges onto the road. "Wonder what they were carrying?"
"What does it matter? It's all going to be blown to bits in five minutes." Tiro replied, patting down the ammo pouches attached to his chest rig. The vox clicked on, and Tiro saw the one trying to reach him standing behind one of the cargo transports, slackjawed. "Guess you'll get to find out." he said, giving Baval a slightly annoyed look, and then he clicked his end of the vox on. "What is it?"
"This transport I'm looking at, it's full of battlesuits. Not just the frames, they're all plated. Ammo's stored on the racks here, too. The one behind me has a stockpile of emplacement weapons, and the others are full of infantry equipment. No food or clothing, just guns. Do we proceed with demolition?" the soldier asked, causing great alarm to Tiro. The shipments from Noridar generally weren't this focused towards getting military equipment out of the city and into the hands of villagers. At most, there was maybe a couple cases of pike rifles and some emplacements to fend off the wildlife mixed in with the weekly shipments of food and other necessities, but an entire convoy transporting arms and armor was not something they'd seen in a long, long time.
"...Proceed with the demolition, we don't have the means to support the battlesuits, and we have enough guns as is." Tiro replied, and the soldier acknowledged, cutting the link. "Dantinian's up to something – I'll make note of this in the after-action report." he idly said, keeping watch over the men as they set the charges. Two minutes later, and the cargo had been detonated, creating additional billows of smoke that would surely signal any gunship to investigate. The ambush team had split up and would return to the base by nightfall, while Tiro and Baval slipped into one of the many, many maintenance shafts that ran through the ring like a hive, and although they were certain they weren't followed, neither of them could shake the feeling of something watching them at multiple points on the trip to the maintenance tunnels.
Traveling through the tunnels and following Baval's temporary markers, they returned to the subsurface transport hub they had come from. It was a giant series of tubes, wide enough to fit a corvette in, and there was a central ring around the main chamber to walk on. Maintenance drones occasionally buzzed through on to parts unknown, paying no mind to the two organics watching them. Heading across the ring to the opposite side, they went through a passageway and up a series of ramps, through a monitoring facility and, finally, heading back outside. The exterior of the facility was made up of three tiers to climb, and was built at the bottom of a large box canyon. Instead of climbing down the intended way, the pair just vaulted the railings along the path and slid down the smooth edges of the structure, heading into a cave on the left that had two softly glowing lights at the entrance, almost invisible in the thick brush. In the cave, they were effectively blind, guided only by a smattering of rocks that jutted out along the right side of the walls that Tiro knew just where to find, and Baval following the sound of his partner's footsteps. The cave came to a dead end, but Tiro and Baval knew that wasn't the end of their trip. Tiro took out a small hammer from his belt and tapped it against the wall ten times in a pattern that sounded almost like music. There was a tapping response on the other side, the sound of a lever being pulled, and the wall sunk into the ground, letting them through to the hidden enclave on the other side.
Greeting them was a heavily armed and armored guard, clad in thick plating and carrying a kinetic squad automatic weapon, and his face was concealed behind his environmentally sealed helmet, but he acknowledged them with a single nod, and let them through into the encampment. It was practically invisible from the air – dense tree cover over the encampment hid them from prying eyes, and the fortified position meant leading an assault would be costly at best, and a meatgrinder at worst for whoever would dare attack them. As the pair went further into the camp, there was a spray of automatic fire from the guard, his weapon light shining directly on a probe droid that had somehow gone undetected by the pair, which was worrying, to say the least. "You were followed. Careless." the guard said grimly, still staring at the hulk of the droid. A hole opened in the top of the construct, and out popped a small capsule, still sealed, and the guard took a step back from the entrance. "I need an EOD team to the east entrance – probe droid followed the sniper team back from the convoy hit and popped out a possible explosive after I shot it." he continued, pressing down on the side of his helmet.
Several minutes later, two Rakata in blast suits came out from one of the tents made of thicker canvas and carefully approached the probe, minding any pressure they put on the chassis. Carefully disassembling the main probe just on the off chance that it was rigged to blow, they gave a thumbs up once they found no explosive charge inside. Turning their attention to the capsule, one took it into his hands and ever so gently walked out into the box canyon with it. There, he worked and toyed with the device – barring an impractical application of an antimatter charge, any explosion wouldn't reach the base. Eventually, the EOD tech managed to open one end of the capsule, and a hologram of one of the Interlopers downspin appeared, clad in dark composite armor, his arms behind his back and speaking in what could only be the galactic standard language outside of the rings. The tech didn't understand a lick of what he was saying, but he closed it back up after making absolutely sure that it was safe, and returned to the camp, passing the capsule off to Tiro. "Take that back to the Tetrarch, Tiro." the tech advised, while his buddy hauled in the probe for disassembling and salvage.
Carefully balancing the capsule in his free hand while his other carried his rifle, Tiro went to the northern end of the camp with Baval and found the command tent, marked with a modified symbol of the Infinite Empire – instead of the simplified Star Forge as the symbol, it was marked with a comparatively crude drawing of the rings they lived on, with the head of a Rakata in the center. Pulling the flap aside and letting themselves in, the Tetrarch immediately looked to them from his desk, half buried in dataslates full of mission plans and strategic analytics. "Tiro, Baval." he greeted simply, his voice carrying little other than light surprise. "You're back from the convoy strike – I assume you have a report for me?" he questioned, gesturing for the pair to take a seat, which the pair took.
Tiro bit his lower lip unconsciously. "The operation was a complete success – all loyalist forces killed in action, tag one Ralend IFV and multiple cargo transports. Only two friendlies wounded." Tiro reported, and a smile grew upon the Tetrarch's aged face. "...However, I have some concerning news. The cargo transports were only carrying weapons and armor. No food or other necessities."
The Tetrarch's smile immediately disappeared, replaced with a perturbed frown. Changing his attention to the stack of dataslates, he ran his finger down the stack, stopping at one near the top of the pile, and carefully pulled it out. Turning it on, he flicked the screen to the right several times, stopped, and then read. "...That convoy was headed to Gaskoye, the village that attacked the Interloper outpost not too long ago." the Tetrarch noted, flicking across the slate to look at other reports. "Similar stories elsewhere in that region – villages and ops bases going after Interloper positions, and then requesting more weapons from Noridar. Strange." he continued, casting a glance at the capsule. "What is that?"
Tiro carefully unscrewed the capsule, and the hologram of the Interloper appeared. "A message, or at least it seems like one. One of the Interloper probes we've been seeing lately followed us back to base before one of the guards shot it, and it popped out this capsule." Tiro explained, and the Tetrarch chose to ignore this obvious breach of operational security in the name of gaining more information on what was previously an unknown quantity.
Listening to the message, the three of them didn't understand a word of what was being said, but then again, neither side had attempted communication before, so this was to be expected. However, going from the appearance of the Interloper, they judged he was a military leader of some kind – a general, perhaps, and going off of his body language and general tone, the Tetrarch had reason to believe this was a request for aid. Or, perhaps, a very calmly worded threat on their lives. The message finished, the hologram flickered, and then it looped. "Thank you, Tiro, I'll have Intelligence take a look at this to determine a course of action." he said, dismissing the pair. Once they left the tent, the Tetrarch let out an exasperated sigh.
For almost twenty cycles the Interlopers had been here. Nearly twenty cycles, and they've mostly kept to themselves, engaging in skirmishes with loyalists and rebels alike, but otherwise content to sit in their walled garden, under the watchful gaze of their voidship's cannons. Now, something has them trying to reach out to the rebels.
Pulling himself away from his desk, the Tetrarch headed to the back of the tent, towards a tall, metal coffin that was set vertically. Reaching his right hand towards the coffin, a hardlight scanner appeared with a place for him to set his hand. Doing so, the scanner went to work, and then flashed green, before disappearing. There was a hissing sound as the coffin unsealed, the side facing the Tetrarch splitting open and revealing a metallic humanoid inside. Its torso and lower body were separated, revealing exposed wiring that would otherwise be hidden behind its brass-colored plating. The construct's eyes then lit up into a golden yellow, and it perked up. "Tetrarch Avalos, a pleasure as always." the construct greeted in a polite tone, speaking in perfect Rakatan. "Is there something you require?"
"Very much so, Effex." Avalos replied, bringing the droid over to his desk and showing him the capsule. "I have received a message from the Interlopers that crashed downspin around twenty cycles ago. Naturally, I don't understand what he is saying, and require you to translate." Avalos explained, before moving aside and letting the droid listen to the message. While that was happening, Avalos snickered to himself – his advisors had scoffed at the idea of salvaging one of these 'protocol droids' and teaching it to speak Rakatan in the event that diplomacy was necessary. The looks on their faces when they hear that his pet project had finally borne fruit would truly be a sight to behold.
When the message was done, Effex turned to Avalos and translated the message into Rakatan. "I am Commander Blackwall of the 52nd Helljumper Legion of the Grand Army of the Republic." Effex started, his eyes going dim ever so slightly. "It has come to my attention that you are in opposition to the forces of Dantinian, who seek to destroy me, the men and women under my command, and the civilians under our protection. These rings will become an active warzone soon, and in the interest of coordinating our efforts to fight against Dantinian, I believe we could come to a mutually beneficial agreement." Effex continued, maintaining Avalos's attention. "I will make no emotional appeals, but instead ask that if the word Dreamer means anything to you, that you give my offer serious consideration. A lack of a response will be taken as a refusal, but if you are interested in negotiations, send an envoy to the Dropstorm, our main settlement, unarmed." the droid went on, and then its eyes went completely dark for but a moment, before returning to normalcy.
Avalos's eyes went wide at the mention of the Dreamer. The only way this 'Blackwall' person could know about the Dreamer is if he had them within his ranks. Regardless of any objections from his men or his advisors, contacting the Interlopers was now top priority, everything else be damned. Pulling out a fresh dataslate, Avalos got to work assembling terms, as well as anything that could be laid out on the negotiating table.
This was going to be a very, very interesting couple of weeks.
"Ma'am?" one of the technicians piped up from below, disturbing Sawei and Kyra's meditation atop a set of crates. "We've finished our preliminary analysis on the facility." the tech said, sounding a little discomforted with their findings. "It's, uh..." he stammered, not sure what to say.
Sawei and Kyra opened their eyes, looking down at the tech. He was scrawny and young, practically a kid. Suns only know how he ended up here. "Speak." Sawei ordered, and the tech snapped to attention.
"Well, ma'am, we think..." the tech started, swallowing in absolute disbelief at what he was about to say. "...We believe this facility is made to facilitate... teleportation, en masse." he eventually managed to get out, content to let his words hang in the air for a bit.
"Mass teleportation." Sawei echoed in disbelief. "Is this an attempt at a joke, technician?" she accused, and the tech stumbled back. "Telephysics, as I understand, was still a nascent field late into the Clone Wars. Purely hypothetical, and you mean to tell me that these Rakata figured out how to not only teleport, but do it on a massive scale?"
"Y-yes." was the technician's fumbled reply. "We don't know exactly how it works, but it seems like there's more of these facilities across the rings. We keep seeing energy signatures coming from the central chamber and going to specific parts of the rings every hour or so. Think along the lines of radio waves."
Kyra pursed her lips in doubt. "What makes you think it's a teleporter, and, say, not a chamber for mass execution?" she questioned, resting her chin on her fist.
"Well, every computer-analog in there is hooked up to that central gazebo, and so are the pods with the dead Rakata. Like I said, we think it's a teleporter – we only just started looking into it last night, and we don't know entirely for sure, but the evidence we've found points towards what I've just said." the tech responded, before reaching around in his bag for a datapad. "Here's the preliminary report on the facility, you can take this back to Blackwall for the debrief, ma'am." he finished, offering it to Sawei. "You can also tell him we'll be sending regular updates on our findings, provided he gives us clearance to establish a permanent presence here."
Sawei took the datapad and set it aside. "Thank you, technician." she simply said, dismissing the man. Breathing deep, she looked around for one of the MPLVs, signalled for a driver, and got up with Kyra to head back to the Dropstorm.
It was an odd trip back, knowing that teleportation, a field previously thought in the realm of fiction back in the Core, was likely just a stepping stone to something greater on these rings, which only led Kyra to wonder what else the rings were hiding from them.
That's that chapter done!
Had to cut it a little short due to me not being available on Friday as well as over the weekend, but overall I think I'm happy with this chapter.
Anyways, in case it wasn't glaringly fucking obvious – MPLVs are Warthogs. Really just going all in on Halo for the 52nd, aren't I?
Anyways, until next time!
-Tweak