Private A Rising Sun

[Iandre Athlea]

Location: Chiron
Objective: Locate, investigate, rescue
Tag: Pel Grennin Ragnar Vátligr Zinayn

In an era long ago, an escape pod crashed onto this planet. Time had covered its location, and time had once again brought it to the surface. A lone woman had long ago gone into a deep meditation and remained slumbering in the cold depths of space. She never knew her pod had been pulled from the hyperlane or crash-landed on this grassy world. She didn't realize that time had forgotten her and that anybody she had known was long dead.
Perhaps her pod was part of an excavation, or treasure hunters or scavengers would find it. Either way, it was time for the Padawan to awaken and get a second chance at life. Still, she remained cold, quiet, lost, alone, and entirely oblivious to what was going on around her.

 

[Gem-in-Trash]

Aboard the GANV Gault Rennow, a Bel Iblis class Corvette, Captain Anchat Anura of the 76th Pathfinders was in command of a special mission far outside the Galactic Alliance's borders on behalf of the New Jedi Order. Normally, such an operation wouldn't call for more than some armed freighter and a couple of troops, but this was an unusual situation. And so the GADF had sent one of their most unusual soldiers: A Zilkin.

Now, it's easy to dismiss a species that averages about a third of a meter, but Captain Anura was, in fact, a battlefield veteran, using a special Mech Conversion kit. The process to convert a Droid was not particularly difficult, necessitating the removal of the Droid's memory circuit and a few cognitive systems that were easily re-installed. Anchat had served in a number of Droid bodies, but his current one was a rare treat: A Jedi Securitron. Anchat had little knowledge of Lightsaber combat, however, and so he'd brought a Blaster Pistol for the Droid.

The mission to Chiron was to escort a Jedi Padawan to what was believed to be a shrine to a local Jedi Knight who had fought and died in the Yuuzhan Vong. Unfortunately, Chiron was in territory previously secured by the Empire of the Lost...Which had recently suffered the collapse of its economy and government. And so what could have been a light diplomatic request for some archaeology had been upped to a Corvette escort for what turned out to be the most infuriating Padawan Anchat had ever met.

And her mother.

Anchat hadn't even known Jedi were allowed to have mothers, much less send them on missions, but here they were.

Not that he'd met many Padawans, of course.

But on their first day after he'd picked her up, the girl had stalked him in the hallways, before ambushing him, snatching him up, and stashing him in a bowl and presented him as a prize to her mother, who was rightfully appalled at what her daughter had done. The girl, named Gem-in-Trash, tried to insist it was all in good fun, but her mother, Digs-in-Sands, had pointed out that they were in a dangerous part of the Galaxy, and had to work together. By pranking Anchat like that, Gem had shown that she couldn't be trusted, and it would be much harder for not only the Captain to trust her, but anyone else in the future.

"I-I hadn't thought of it like that," Gem admitted.

"How did you think of it?" Anchat demanded.

"Like you were a Special Forces badass veteran who could handle a prank?" she offered. Her ears fell back, "I'm sorry, that was mean way of saying that. Uh, sir...I guess I'm used to this kind of thing not being a big deal so long as nobody is ever in danger."

"Gem, you don't know Captain Anura. And he's not a Jedi Knight who is used to humoring Padawans with a mischievous streak. This isn't a slap on the wrist for pranks in the Temple. This is a real mission, where people can get hurt, and he needs to be able to trust you," Digs-in-Sands said. Anchat crossed his arms, wondering how a Padawan got this unruly, much less a Padawan with a mother with a level head like hers.

"I'm sorry, sir," Gem said to him. There was something in the way she said it that he believed she meant it.

"Look me in the eye-stalk and tell me," Anchat insisted. She paused, and looked him in the eye.

"I'm sorry, Captain Anura."

"We'll see if you mean it. I understand you've earned your Lightsaber recently?" Anchat asked. Gem showed it to him, dangling from her belt. Anchat nodded, "Good. Starting today, you and I are going to spar. I was given a Securitron Droid with a Vibrosword, and I need to understand how it works, and I'm sure you need plenty of practice with the real thing. By the time we arrive at Chiron, I'll know whether or not I can trust you."

Gem nodded, "I understand, sir."

"We'll see if you do. Now, we have a briefing about the mission soon, and I expect you to be there."

"Of course."

"And you'll be in your robes," Digs said.

"Awww, do I have to?"

---

Over the next couple of days, Anchat and Gem sparred using the Securitron Droid, helping him get used to using the unusual weapons, and giving her some practice with her new, and very real, Lightsaber. She was quick and inventive whenever she got it in her head to do something unusual, but he insisted that they stick to more basic forms, and she obliged him. She had a lot of pent up energy and a strong sense of play, but Gem seemed intent on earning Anchat's trust after their initial meeting.

He had to admit, she had gotten the drop on him, and Gem had only taken him to her mother. Now that he was no longer in the anger of the moment, it was rather funny in hindsight. He'd even saved a copy of the footage.

And also had it erased from the ship logs.

The real problem was when they'd arrived at Chiron, and the comms officer reported that they were receiving a distress signal. A Republic distress signal, and an old one at that.

"Chiron is an inhabited world, sir. Some of the locals will attend to it. There's no need for us to get involved," the ship's captain insisted.

"Our mission is just to investigate the shrine," Anchat said, "But I'd rather not leave one of our own people at the possible risk of mercenaries. There are a lot of former Imperials turning brigands in this part of space."

Gem gave a shrug, "We brought this whole ship, plus Fighters, and troops, and stuff. If there's someone who actually needs help, we should do what we can. And if it's some old signal, then we're here to do archaeology anyway. I think we should at least take a look."

Gem looked at the ground, realizing she'd spoken out of turn. She caught herself, and looked Anchat in the eye, "That's...Just my thoughts, sir. You're in charge of the mission. I trust you."

Anchat smiled, "We'll see. Captain, I'll take Padawan Gem down to take a look. Keep us posted if anything comes along to surprise us."

With the decision made, Anchat and Gem flew down with a couple of troopers down to the surface in a shuttle to see what the signal was all about.

Tags Ragnar Vátligr Zinayn

 

[Ragnar Vátligr]

A Rising Sun

OUTFIT: HERE

TAG: Gem-in-Trash | Iandre Athlea

On Chiron trying to learn of the past that has happened here in Galactic History. He spent the last few days here exploring the planet, but now he sat on his knees on the grassy plains of a hill just meditating. He was listening to the wind, it was small, but it was there, he could feel through the force the wild animals in the distance, he could sense everything around him, feeling the living force. But then his meditation was interrupted by a pop or an explosion type sound. He opened his eyes and looked around and didn't see anything but then looked up and saw something diving towards the surface. He watched it fall and crash down not far from his location. Ragnar tried to figure out what it could possibly be, he tried to sense it through the force, but wasn't sure what he felt.

Ragnar got to his feet and started making his way to the object. After what seemed like a long few moments of walking, he arrived on a skid crater meeting at an end with what looked like an escape pod. Ragnar used the force to rip open the escape pod door to see a young woman inside meditating. Ragnar jumped down into the crater and approached the entrance keeping his eye on the woman reaching out with the force to sense for any hostility. He then spoke, his tone due to Sith Alchemy was dark, cold deep and felt dead.

"Excuse me, are you alright miss?"

Ragnar took a look around to see if anyone else was coming but saw nor heard anyone. He then turned his focus back to the woman watching her awaiting a response if any.

 

[Zinayn]

The small shuttle exited hyperspace over the grassy planet Chiron. He noticed little orbital traffic, and the small amount that existed was headed away from his destination. Zinayn typed some coordinates into his navcomputer, and the shuttle's autopilot took him down to the surface. Laphisto had sent him here to investigate the source of a very old distress signal. It had been dormant until recently, and the locals had just chalked it up to some old Republic equipment malfunctioning after years of not being used. But Laphisto thought otherwise. The dragon himself had been preserved from the times of old, and thought that this situation was eerily similar.

The shuttle shook, jostling the Chiss against his crash webbing as the transport knifed through the clouds. Below was a vibrant grassy plain, the average biome of Chiron. However, out of the corner of his eye, he could see a gray blip on his sensors. His brow furrowed as he pulled up some info on the approaching vessel.

Registered with the Galactic Alliance?

Zinayn sighed. No mission he ever went on was easy. The shuttle set itself down on vast green expanse and the shuttle ramp unfolded before him with a hiss. Bright golden sunlight streamed into the main hold as the Gray Jedi stepped onto the soil. He turned to a relatively empty spot amid the tall grasses and approached. From his pocket he drew a handheld scanner, who's incessant beeping told him that the source of the signal was right here.

A high pitched whine suddenly became known to his ears, and he shut off the annoying device, looking up to see a shuttle emblazoned with the GA logo on the side.

Zinayn took his hand away from the Harbinger of Balance to appear nonthreatening and clasped his hands before him to await whoever decided to look into this distress signal at the exact same time as him.

Gem-in-Trash Iandre Athlea

 

[Gem-in-Trash]

"We're not the only ones here," Anchat declared, stepping out of the shuttle with Gem a little bit behind her. His eyes were on the ridge where the other ship had landed. Anchat wiggled his fingers on the controls of his Droid as the Chiss approached them, with his weapon visible but stashed. Anchat looked at the symbols on the shuttle, "The Lilaste Order."

"Who are they?" Gem asked. She fought to keep her cloak's sleeves from riding up on her - she was starting in on a growth spurt, and so her new cloak was a little too big. Not that she cared for wearing the cloak in the first place.

"They're affiliated with the Diarchy. They claim the Jedi and the Sith are equally extremist. One of those groups who think the middle ground is the correct position, but really they're just another group of Imperial cultists. If they didn't clash with the Sith more often than the Alliance does, I wouldn't give them much of a thought," Anchat said.

"Well he doesn't look like he's gonna try to kill us, if he wanted that he wouldn't have landed," Gem insisted.

"True. And he wouldn't be able to handle me and my troops, anyway, isn't that right troopers?" Anchat said to the two troopers with them.

"Hoo hah, sir."

Gem raised a hand to Zinayn , beckoning him to get closer as she and Anchat started to approach the source of the signal, "I'm guessing you aren't some kind of pirate looking for a quick score or you would have just started shooting at us. Or maybe you're looking to trick us into giving you the contents of that escape pod, convincing us you're an all right guy while we're on the way there, only to betray us at the last second! Making away with the contents, and leaving me with a valuable lesson about being too eager to trust strangers. But we won't have seen the last of yoooou!"

Anchat rubbed his eyestalk, "Padawan, you watch too many holovids."

"Yeah I was binging a bit on the way here."

"Listen, I'm sure you know as much about this pod as we do. We can sort out the details once we know more, I'm sure your superiors aren't expecting anything more than a report of 'That was weird but nothing to worry about.' That's what I'm expecting to do. I'm Captain Anchat Anura, of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force, 76th Pathfinders. This is Padawan Gem."

"-In-Trash," she added.

"Right. And you are?"

 

[Zinayn]

Zinayn began walking towards the GA entourage, eyeing them closely. Two non-humans and several soldiers of varying dimensions. One was a young Cathar, and the other was...he didn't know. The Chiss wasn't really well versed in all the species around the galaxy, but this one was only about 3 feet, and was currently piloting a droid. Judging based off of the Cathar's age and Force presence, Zinayn could infer that she was a Padawan learner. She was too old to be a Youngling and far too young to be a Knight. As she spoke to him, his lip turned slightly up into a small smile.

"Rest assured that I am no pirate," Zinayn said, inclining his head towards the Padawan and other alien. He turned his attention to the droid when the man within spoke. "Nice to meet you, Captain Anura. And you, Ms. Gem...In Trash. You may call me Zinayn."

A rather odd name "Gem In Trash" was, and Zinayn had to resist the urge to comment on it. He tuned out for a second, thinking of the name. Did the parent give her that name to remind her that, no matter what bad situation she was in, she still had value and worth? Hence the name Gem in Trash? He blinked and returned to the situation at hand.

"As for my goals here, we can certainly discuss more once we uncover the source of this signal. Shall we?" Zinayn asked, gesturing towards the unnatural clearing in the plain. Glancing back at the soldiers and their equipment, he realized that he wasn't sure if he'd brought any excavation equipment in his shuttle. How embarrassing it would be to arrive here without tools and have to travel all the way back to Bastion or Aurora Station to pick up a shovel, then fly all the way back. What a blessing that some prepared individuals descended upon this signal at the same time as he.

Gem-in-Trash Iandre Athlea

 

[Gem-in-Trash]

Surprisingly to Zinayn the GA soldiers has not only brought excavation equipment, but seemed overprepared for such an extraction, given the tools they had brought with them. Shovels, ropes, hammers, pitons, and pulleys.

"The signal is definitely coming from here," Anchat said, pointing both with his real arm and his Droid's. In the clearing was a crevasse which would have been difficult to spot through the grasses, as there were few landmarks around it. One soldier set up a light, while another pounded a piton and rope into the ground.

"So. What do you know about this signal?" Anchat asked the Chiss.

"It IS a little weird we got here at the same time," Gem admitted, "But they say the Force makes weird stuff happen."

"Is that what they say?"

"I mean, I'm paraphrasing," Gem was standing next to the soldier installing the pitons, looking down into the hole, "It looks like it goes straight down. Might be an old sinkhole created by the impact that's just been dug more and more from drainage and the rain. Then the dirt just closed up around it except for this hole here. This is old."

"I'll go down first, then our new friend here. Gem, don't come down until I call for you," Anchat instructed.

"I'll stay up here and pout about how you never let me do anything fun," Gem promised. Anchat rolled his eyes, and started sliding down the rope. Gem looked at the Chiss.

"There is something down there, though. Be careful."

 

[Iandre Athlea]

As the careful excavation started and the dirt, debris, and ground were removed from around the shuttle, the day progressed through the morning. The distress signal would fade and then return, but for the most part, it was active. Anchat did not have too far to climb down as the shuttle had started to resurface on its own. That likely is what caused the distress beacon to fire off. The Republic symbol was emblazoned on the exterior, but it looked Imperial, as it was what the Empire turned into after the Clone Wars.
The viewport was too dirty to see through, and what light did reach into the hole could not penetrate the interior of the shuttle.
Eventually, the beacon fell silent; the only sounds heard were those of the unexpected companions.

Zinayn Gem-in-Trash

 

[Zinayn]

As they walked the short distance to the excavation site, the GA troopers rushed ahead and began the process. Zinayn fell into step alongside the captain and said, "I know little about this situation. I was informed that one of our routine patrols around this area had picked up a signal, and my superior, High Commander Laphisto , thought it was worth checking out."

He didn't exactly lie, but he certainly didn't divulge all the information he had. Laphisto definitely thought this signal was worth investigating, even important enough to send one of his best warriors to this relatively insignificant world. The reason was the dragon's ongoing relic hunt. Quite the admirable cause, Zinayn believed. The poor fellow was one of, if not the last of his species in the galaxy, having been frozen in carbonite for thousands of years (thus his atrocious vision test results). As such, he wanted rather desperately to find any artifacts or relics that could give him any information about his people.

Zinayn turned his gaze to the excavation site. The soldiers had made astonishing progress, a hole already opened in the ground and leading into darkness. A glint from below caught his eye as the sun rose overhead. Already he could make out something in the depths. The earth must have naturally started to bring whatever was down there to light. He looked at the Padawan and nodded at her warning.

He stepped closer to the rope and the hole, watching the captain test the strength of the rope, and begin sliding down. A soft thump signaled the captain's safe landing below, and Zinayn followed. It wasn't a long way down, and he found himself standing next to the droid in a cramped space.

"Captain, do you have a glowrod? Or a light source built into your droid?" Zinayn asked, squinting and taking cautious steps forward. He could see...something. A symbol perhaps? Another step forward, and he could see the same glint he saw before. A viewport? It was caked with mud and debris, and possibly even shattered in places. Putting the pieces together, Zinayn concluded that this was a crashed transport. Given the position of it, he guessed that it must have crashed at least a century ago. Most likely much longer.

His heartrate quickened in his chest. Laphisto did well to send him out here. Another step and he could almost touch the metal. The symbol...he didn't know it. It was definitely not from any recent empire or faction, further confirming his initial belief. "Captain...I believe we have stumbled upon something truly fascinating. I am no archaeologist, but even I know a rare find when I see one. This is beyond rare," the Chiss breathed in awe.

Gem-in-Trash Iandre Athlea

 

[Gem-in-Trash]

Anchat turned on the flashlight on his Droid at the Chiss's request, and looked around the chamber.

"Looks solid enough to me. Come on down, Padawan," he called out, and the Cathar girl joined them a moment later. Anchat approached the pod just a few steps behind Zinayn , keeping one eye-stalk on the pod and one eye-stalk on their mysterious companion. He hoped that the Padawan's cartoon-inspired ramblings were not some kind of prophecy. He didn't like the minions of the Diarchy, but he had no reason to distrust them.

"Looks like some kind of old Imperial pod," Anchat said.

"Well it's a good thing I'm here because I am an archaeologist. Apprentice. My mom is an archaeologist, and I help her out a bunch," Gem explained, "That's the symbol of the Grand Republic. Clone War era stuff, too. It looks kind of like old Imperial stuff because they used the same technology."

She walked up to the pod and stood on her toes to look in through the door, "It's weird that it's in such good shape and still broadcasting. It was all mass manufactured, meant to serve in the war but not really expected to survive. Because, you know. They kept blowing each other up. If it was High Republic then that would make sense. They built stuff to last."

Gem climbed up onto the pod, against Anchat's protestations, to get a closer look into the pod, and she tapped on the glass, "It's too dirty to see inside. But if its beacon is working, then there should be enough power for it to do a scan of itself."

"That I can do," Anchat declared, sticking a scomp link into the pod, "According to this...No known pathogens. Thruster systems offline. Severe damage, the door's jammed, oxygen low, but life support online...And one inhabitant..."

Gem's ears perked up at this, and she looked at Zinayn, "There's no way. Do you want to help me open it? I think you might be stronger than me at this sort of thing, so I could use your help."

Gem slid off the pod and took a few steps back, and held out her hand towards it, ready to join him in trying to open the pod with the Force.

 

[Zinayn]

As Gem-in-Trash descended the rope, Zinayn continued inspecting the forgotten vessel. The light from Captain Anura’s droid made things much easier. Undoubtedly, this was a very old shuttle. The Chiss walked alongside the hull and came to a stop before the viewport. The mud had hardened on the windshield over the years, preventing him from looking inside.

His heart skipped a beat. Through the Force he could feel something within, a faint presence. Very faint. Like it was dormant. Zinayn went back to the main pod entrance when Gem-In-Trash approached it, examining the symbol with her. “Grand Republic…I suppose I am not well versed in history. Good work, Ms. Gem. “

He watched the captain perform some technical feat and nodded grimly at the news confirming what he felt through the Force. Zinayn resisted the urge to call Laphisto immediately to inform him of this multi-century old discovery, and stepped back. “Yes, I will assist,” he said, standing by her side and extending a hand towards the hatch. Exerting his will alongside Gem, he heard the locking system disengage, and the door creaked loudly as it practically fell open. A wave of musty, old air swept over them.

Zinayn crept towards the opening, waving at Captain Anura for the light. Hopefully whatever was inside didn’t wake up to fight.

 

[Iandre Athlea]

The Force was on Iandre's side. It had kept her alive all this time, and it still flowed through her. As the fresh air caressed her currently pale skin, the very gaunt, almost skeletal figure opened her bright green eyes.

Thankfully, she was still strapped into the escape pod's seat, and she was entirely unable to move physically on her own. Her muscles atrophied, and though the Force had kept her alive, it had not provided her with sustenance. Thus, the Padawan was quite dehydrated and starving.

Attempting to move an arm to hide her eyes from the bright light, she could only twitch a finger. The eyes looked down at her figure, and she let out a silent scream of almost horror.

What had she become? Where was she? Those were her thoughts, and she looked again at her rescuers. Two whispered words came out of the husk of a woman from over 900 years ago.

"Where? When?"

That was all, and her eyes drifted closed again as weakness took over, and she could not remain coherent.

Zinayn Gem-in-Trash

 

[Gem-in-Trash]

"Shyuuk'ah," Gem swore at the sight of a barely-living Iandre Athlea in the pod, "Is this who I was sensing?"

"Corporal, prep the Rennow's medical bay, we have someone in need of medical attention down here," Captain Anura said over the com to the soldier at the mouth of the crevasse, "Have them send down a medic with supplies to prep her to be moved."

"Aye, sir."

A preliminary scan revealed no serious injuries of the young woman, and so Gem and Anchat hooked her up to a saline drip; it wasn't much, but it would at least get some fluids in her system and sustain her long enough for the medic to arrive. Her chair was designed to accommodate passengers in much more dire physical situations than hers, so Anchat saw no reason to take her out of the pod quite yet.

"She must have been aboard some derelict that had been wandering in deep space for hundreds of years and found a still-working pod when something went wrong," said Captain Anura. Gem looked to Zinayn with a glance that wasn't nearly so sure.

"We'll have to study the crevasse to know more," Gem said, trying to avoid a discussion about her real thoughts on the matter.

 

[Zinayn]

Zinayn was not taken aback at the sight in the pod seat. The Force had already told him of her condition even before the hatch had been unlocked. She was barely hanging onto life, her meditation a slowly but surely deflating life vest keeping her from sinking into death. The woman's clothing reminded him of the Jedi; her presence through the Force pretty much confirmed that. He didn't say a word as the captain and the Padawan set up some medical equipment to help before the medics arrived.

The Chiss caught Gem's glance in his direction, sensing uncertainty in Anura's attempt at an explanation. His lips thinned, suppressing an urge to share his opinion. The sound of gloves on rope sounded behind them, and multiple pairs of boots approached. Zinayn stepped back from the pod to allow the team to do their jobs, and pulled out a secure holocomm. Right about now, Laphisto would be in battle on Mimban with his troops and the ever-dangerous Elghaseki special forces. But this development probably couldn't wait. After wrestling with himself in his head for a bit, he pressed the call button.

As soon as the dragon commander picked up, Zinayn reported, "High Commander, we've just discovered the source of the disturbance. It is a...relic that would be of extreme interest to you."

The sound of explosions and blasterfire came through the holocomm, and the Chiss dialed down the noise a bit. He hoped the dragon would understand what he meant, the combination of relic and extreme interest hinting at a Force user from long ago, just like him.

Gem-in-Trash Iandre Athlea