Private Return to Dxun

[Aurelion Nova]

Aurelion's Lightsaber || Aurelion's Sith Armor

Aurelion gazed down at the jungle moon of Dxun from the pilot's seat of the vessel with a wide-eyed, mile-long stare. Almost gazing through the celestial body rather than truly at it as his throat constricted softly. Emotions that he couldn't at all place welling up inside him as he thought back to his first visit there. A time so long past he felt as if it had been a lifetime ago. Before he had even created his lightsaber he remembered meeting an eccentric woman here, scared out of his mind and little more than a youngling and now.... was anything really different? A hand came up to gingerly touch the cold, unfeeling mask that covered his face, his soft, mechanically assisted breathing echoing gently in his ears and he shook his head slightly. Blinking his singular eye Aurelion focused himself for a moment, bringing the ship in to the moon's shared atmosphere with Onderon, before allowing the on-board astromech droid to take over the landing. While he wasn't AS hopeless a pilot as he had once been he was still far, far from passable. This also allowed him to meditate for a bit as the droid focused on safely bringing the vessel to the surface, gathering his thoughts and emotions, before clipping his Lightsaber to his belt.

The dutiful little astromech had done well, bringing them down next to an old, abandoned outpost that was still weakly transmitting a garbled, incomprehensible signal of some alien language he did not recognize. Laying an armored hand upon upon the terminal to the boarding ramp Aurelion would calmly input the code to unlock and lower the ramp, the atmospheric scanner giving a soft, confirming beep as it confirmed Dxun's breathable atmosphere, and the soft hiss of the hydraulic release filled the air as the ramp softly thudded to the muddy, moss-covered ground of Dxun. Walking down the ramp Aurelion paused, looking around idly for a moment, before confirming his suspicions that this was not, in fact, the same part of Dxun where he had been before. True to the purpose of his mission Aurelion could feel he was closer to the goal set before him. To scour the ancient Sith structures on Dxun, those dedicated to the ancient Sith Lord Freedon Nadd, and return with his findings to Dromund Kaas.

What was not meant to be part of the mission was the tremor that reached out to Aurelion through the Force. A sharp, almost screeching tremor that made him want to cover his ears. To shut out the noise that seemed to swirl, envelop and compound around him. Lashing at his mind like a whirl of razor blades to his senses. A chorus of voices, signatures in the force mixing together like a choir of melodies to form a single discordant song, spoke to him. 'Welcome to Dxun, little Sith. To the resting place of Freedon Nadd, Dark Lord of the Sith and heir of Naga Sadow. For what purpose do you tread here?" Aurelion paused, wincing and ducking his head reflexively unsure of how to respond, and his attention flickered from the voices within his mind to the briefest tremor of the Force from the jungle surrounding him. Drawing his blade, Aurelion felt.... something just beyond his senses in the jungle. No. Not beyond his senses. Hiding themselves from them. Concealing their presence, almost successfully. He was still unsure of exactly where they were but he drew his Lightsaber just in case. The voices in his mind now distant, vaguely, attempting to further question him. To garner his attention.

In a moment of realization Aurelion understood what the Force meant to show him, why a hidden group of Sith would reveal themselves so vocally to him, to distract him. Quickly ducking behind a nearby bank Aurelion heard a sharp, almost electric-like noise as a blaster bolt whizzed by where his torso had previously been. Not realizing that in his heightened state he had accelerated his movement to the point that the backlash from the Force was more brutal than normal. A roiling, churning feeling seizing his gut and making him cough into his helmet, feeling wetness upon his lips. A grimace leaving him, unseen behind the mask, as he felt the chorus of voices once again push into his thoughts. His eye slamming shut as they insisted. "Do not worry, little Sith, and do not resist. Your essence will be used for a noble goal, the resurrection of our Master from his ancient slumber, to seize power untold from death itself. Although...."

Aurelion felt it a moment before the chorus of voices did, and his heart sunk into the pit of his stomach as he immediately recognized the feeling through the Force that reached him, an unnatural familiarity echoing through the Force out to the approaching form of Valery Noble as the voices hissed with delight. "It seems there is a much more worthy sacrifice coming to Dxun." Aurelion blinked once, twice, before he felt the chorus of voice pull away from his thoughts and hurl themselves through the Force up into the atmosphere. Up, up, up toward Valery as they attempt to assault her mind in a much more hostile manner than they Aurelion's own. Not seeking to distract her to kill in the mean-time, but seeking to make her crash to the planet's surface so they could pick her off. Aurelion, with a small piece of him almost wondering why, bristled with worry and began to move without a thought behind his actions. Hurrying as fast as his legs could carry him through the underbrush of Dxun to where he could feel Valery's ship approaching the moon's surface. Another short burst of blaster fire narrowly missing him as the underbrush proved useful in obscuring him at least. With any luck he would be able to reach her before it was too late. He highly doubted that whoever these Sith were that they would send one person to kill a Jedi Master like they had for him.


Valery Noble​

 

[Valery Noble]

Into the Jungle​

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Location: Enroute to Onderon
Tag: Aurelion Nova
Valery: Appearance


At this point, it had been months since Valery woke up in that scientist's lab on Onderon. She had worked hard to recover and traveled to many worlds to learn about the Galaxy in its current state. It wasn't surprising to learn that much like in the past, War was tearing much of it apart - History truly seemed to repeat itself. But it also meant the Jedi were as needed as they were back then, and so she felt it was important for her to get ready to help out as soon as possible. The next step on that path was to travel back to Onderon for some resources she had arranged - they would be useful for rebuilding the abandoned Dawn Temple.

Normally, she would have taken her own ship to travel but it was a one-seater with very little cargo space. So instead, she decided to take public transport and had arranged for a shipping company to wait for her on Onderon. They would be helping her transport the resources from Onderon to Spintir. Valery certainly didn't like this way of transport but it was her only option right now, so she'd have to make it work.

To prepare for the trip, Valery had assembled a backpack with some tools, food, water and she was wearing a set of brown robes around her clothing so she could keep herself concealed. With the hood drawn over her head, she boarded the shuttle at the pick-up point early in the morning and began her journey to the jungle world. The trip was largely uneventful - people were chatting, kids were wandering around and others kept to themselves for the most part, which she did as well.

But deep down, she had this strange feeling that all of it was about to change.

Dropping from hyperspace and into the system, the crew and people on-board would be able to see Onderon and the orbiting moon known as Dxun. She had been there once before on a training trip and still vividly remembers how dangerous the fauna and flora are. But nothing out of the ordinary to her - she had experience with dangerous jungle words from all the time she spent on New Cov. But today, the plan wasn't to go deep into dangerous jungles to train or explore. She was here with a more important goal in mind - the start of her rebuilding the Dawn Temple and creating a new home for many Jedi.

However, as the ship slowly moved towards the planet, the peacefulness on-board that she had enjoyed thus far ended abruptly, and seemingly just for her. Reaching out from the planet's moon, she felt darkness bombarding her mind. Whispers at first but the assault quickly became more violent. She looked around but the civilians acted as if nothing was happening at all. Was it just targeting her? She wasn't sure at first but as the ship began to suddenly shake increasingly more violently, she began to fear that this threat affected more than just herself. Whilst doing her best to shield her mind against it, Valery got up to her feet and tried to walk towards the front side of the ship as quickly as she could. She had to reach the cockpit and do something, but she wasn't quick enough and could hardly keep her balance with the ship shaking like this.

Looking through one of the windows, Valery was just barely able to see the direction of the ship changing - it had been caught in the moon's gravitational field and without resistance against it, the ship was accelerating towards it at an alarming rate. Her eyes widened and without hesitation, she'd begin to sprint towards the cockpit while the Force augmented her speed. Luckily, the people had strapped themselves into their seats so they wouldn't block her way, but it would still take a moment for her to reach the cockpit and bust her way through the door. Inside, she found the pilots knocked out by a mental strike they couldn't defend themselves against. But there was no time to help them.. they were going to crash to their deaths at this rate.

Using her knowledge as a pilot, Valery fired up all reverse thrusters and aerial brakes this ship had but with how fast it was going, there was no stopping it anymore. All she could do was slow it down and pull up its nose just enough to avoid a frontal collision that would certainly end them all instantly. But it was going to be a rough 'landing'. She made sure the pilots were strapped into their seats and moved into one herself before bracing for impact.

For a brief moment, she could see the green world grow larger through the window but in a similar flash, everything went to black soon after.

After the vessel had finally come to a stop, Valery's eyes would slowly open while the fresh air from outside found its way through the shattered glass and broken hull. Her head turned from one side to another but as senses returned to the woman, she became aware of a sharp pain in her lower right side that grew more intense with each passing second. She felt a warm liquid running down her forehead and fell back into her chair with an audible sigh. She had survived but this pain was almost crippling - she had likely broken some ribs on impact. Maybe something worse.

But at least she was alive, and she sensed a great deal of life energy within the ship as well, indicating most civilians had survived the crash too. However, there was something else too.. something darker. It was far away but it was coming straight for her.

"Great.. more trouble.." she grumbled and got up to her feet.

She knew whoever was out there was coming for her specifically. She figured these civilians were no threat or of any interest to Sith or Dark Siders while she was wandering around. But if she was close to them, she could potentially endanger them as well. So with that knowledge, Valery grabbed her backpack and decided to leave the ship.

A rescue crew would easily find this crashed ship and bring the civilians to safety. But she couldn't risk staying with them. The pain she felt would make it hard to fight or escape, but she was proficient in techniques to push through far worse than what she was experiencing now. So she felt confident enough that she could get out of this.

So without waiting for the pilots or civilians to wake up, Valery headed into the jungle and began to move away from the approaching darker presence. She'd have to lead them away from the crash site no matter what.

 

[Aurelion Nova]

Aurelion's Lightsaber || Aurelion's Sith Armor

As Aurelion tore through the underbrush of Dxun blood continued to drip from between his lips, bit by bit, As his ragged and exerted breathe caused it to fleck against the interior of the helmet. His legs carrying him as fast as they possibly could, pumping and heaving with adrenaline despite the fear that seized him from being pursued by a cold-blooded killer. Then again, if they thought he was a Sith, did they think of him any different? Shhaking his head as he ran his filtered, echoing breathe hitched as he broke through a patch of dense foliage. A surprise yelp leaving him, very un-Sith like, as he fell right into a massive ditch. Landing heavily on his side.

Groaning softly Aurelion pushed himself up onto his arms and legs before taking off at a much less steady sprint this time. That clenching, painful feeling still nestled in the pit of his stomach as he moved. Another blaster bolt whizzing by his legs as he rounded a particularly large tree, only to struggle to skid to a stop. A large Zakkeg wasnestled there, in the hollowed out insides of the massive tree, and from what Aurelion could tell was entirely responsible for digging out the large ditch he had fallen into in a frenzy. Wincing in pain and quietly biting his lip, Aurelion would back away and begin to quietly move away from the apex predator. Sgakily stumblning past toward Valery Noble even as the large beast lazily snorted, grumble, and opened an eye just as Aurelion vanished beyond the underbrush.

It was at this time that two Dark Sider acolytes would begin to approach Valery, wearing much more makeshift and tattered robed compared to the more modern accessories of the Sith or Jedi. Tribalistic totems and fetishes draped from their bodies ceremoniously as they ignited archaic-looking red lightsabers and, moving in sync with one-another, extended their hands and blew away the surrounding foliage with telekinetic force. Clawing up roots, dirt, rocks and nature itself from Dxun as they kicked up a cloud of choking dust in this makeshift arena for Valery. The two acolytes would await Valery with surprising patience, despite what their obvious bloodlust would imply, and the female acolyte would divert her attention just enough to comment to the other "It seems we have an unexpected guest brother." The brother snorted, spit and began to channel a low, burning Force Rage as he stared intently in the direction of Valery "Yes, dear sister, let us slaughter them both. Their blood will make a fine offering for the resurrection of our Master. Nadd shall rise again!" He seethed hatefully.

Meanwhile.....

Aurelion would arrive in the clearing at nearly the same moment as Valery, huffing, panting and sweating within his armor only to stumble at the sudden lack of foliage. His lightsaber being pulled from his side, only for the female acolyte to push him away. Slamming him into a tree with ease as she chuckled "Really now? Is this what the strength of the Sith has become?"


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