Public Anomaly on Mimban

[Shath Kharole]

MIMBAN—

"Once a jungle, now largely mud. In my day this world was a paradise."

Vines and ground cover surged out from the mouth of an ancient Thrella well. Skeins of half-corporeal weave dragged them and gave them structure for their accelerated growth. Fresh life churned up the mud for hundreds of meters in all directions. The new jungle had limited depth — no tall trees, not yet — but was growing dense.

These were local plant and fungal species, native species...but not modern ones. Old seeds made new.

Beside Shath, an Ithorian gronked in quiet awe and knelt to open a series of live-transport canisters. Small Mimban-native creatures, pollinators, detritovores, scurried and buzzed away. Shath could have sworn he sensed excitement.

---

"—off the charts, sir. Subspace lensing too. We don't have the sensors to drill down to root cause, not on a ship like this, but—"

"If you had to guess?"

"Chronometric distortion. Haven't seen readings like this since the Tyus Cluster incident."

"Time travel?"

"No, that's science fiction, sir. But time distortion, localized acceleration, like the flip-side of a high-end stasis module...if I had to put money on it, something in that ballpark. Here's the visible-light shot."

"That's highly unusual greenery for Mimban."

"Yes, sir, a patch of dense new growth, roughly a thousand acres. Mimban is a muddy jungle, normally more mud than jungle. It wasn't always that way. This is downright primordial."

"...well, shavvit. Alright, let's keep our distance and, uh, pass this along."

"To who?"

"Fethed if I know."



OOC/ Anything can happen, go nuts. I won't DM the jungle but will happily engage as Shath and his people.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

T̷̗͒H̸̖̫̜̋̚Ỉ̵̮̗̩S̴͔̋ ̵̛̻ͅĪ̵̗̈́͐S̵̟̗̃̂̎ͅ ̵̠͕̣̓̓̕T̷̘̂̈́ͅH̸̡̏͒E̴̩̩͙̋̓̚ ̸̰͗͜P̶̤͚̀̊L̶͇̣̝͠͝Å̸̢͓̤C̴̰̪̼̆Ẻ̸̥̠
​

Amidst new-grown vines, the shape of a mound began to grow. Chittering came from within. Chittering of a frequency which had not been heard in eons.

 

[Auteme]

Shath Kharole @Gothoth | NJO, Jedi, Scientists/Explorers and Forerunners​

Chronometric distortion -- distortion. It wasn't the right word for what was going on here.

Stepping into the field felt more like swimming in the waters of Kattada. The algae there was unique, but the way the water had touched her skin at first had been grating; a sour taste, that soon gave way to something sweet, a soothing feeling. It took getting used to, but once one was familiar with it, it was unforgettable.

The air here felt richer, the world brighter. Everything felt bound together, like someone had pulled something ancient from the earth, and it took a liking to the new sunlight. The threads she felt reminded her of those of K'narik. Folded, things seemed compressed, pushed forward; Auteme felt compelled to search this place as quickly as she could. Distortion wasn't right. This was a primeval clarity.

"Okay- keep an eye on the time, and we'll check if there's an actual distortion effect once we're out, or if it changes based on where you are." She checked the few other scientific instruments she'd brought, but it was half-hearted. Curious as she was, the answer seemed to come more from the Force than anything else. "Spread out. I... don't think anything in particular will be dangerous, but it's possible that the local Coway could be around, so just keep an eye out.

"I'm gonna be heading towards the central well, and you're welcome to join me, but aside from that -- stay safe, everyone." The people she'd gathered for this particular expedition were mostly Jedi, so she was sure they'd be safe. She hoped instead that they found this worthwhile.

With that, she set out towards the central well -- or at least, where she thought it was.

 

[Shath Kharole]

The center of the fresh jungle was an ancient, nearly bottomless Thrella well. A simple little prefabricated facility overlooked the well. It had belonged to a prospecting company who found, shall we say, compelling reasons to prospect elsewhere.

Shath and his people — Awakeners; the Reclaimers had done their jobs and moved on — now occupied the facility. On the roof, Shath and a few apostate Ithorian nature priests urged the growth along through the Mist — the Force, as humans called it. If this area was to thrive, the roots needed to go deeper.

An Ithorian gronked a comment and pointed far off, where Auteme 's team had entered the fresh jungle. Shath squinted.

"'Jedi' — what is this word, my friend?"

 

[Auteme]

Shath Kharole ​

Despite the explosive growth of the jungle, the marks of a muddy marsh underneath were made clear after a bit of walking. Twice she'd walked into small pools of muck; the second time it'd taken a minute to get her boot un-stuck, after which she tied her laces a bit tighter. She started to become more careful, walking closer to the stable trees, which seemed to grow before her very eyes.

The Force did not seem to act alone here. Something pushed these plants to grow, excited the fauna, made the very earth seem alien and yet intensely familiar. To find the source, she needed to keep going, to-

She stepped a little off and was forced to catch herself, stumbling into what looked to be just another mud puddle, only the danger sense screamed out in the back of her mind. Her foot went in -- then her ankle, her knee. The quickclay seemed intent on consuming her, and the weight of it was suffocating. She struggled, only able to keep one arm above the surface.

That was enough. With an exhale the thread materialized, leaping from her hand to take hold of a nearby tree. She pulled hard, freeing her other arm, then soon the rest of herself. Once she was out, she rested against against the tree again for a good minute, suddenly and painfully aware of the toll not exercising enough took on her.

When she was ready again, she got up and started to walk. Her hand felt off -- like she'd just reached into a pond and touched something unexpected just under the surface.

Another Mist-Weaver?

She kept a closer eye on her footing -- and her surroundings.

 

[Shath Kharole]

With an exhale the thread materialized, leaping from her hand to take hold of a nearby tree. She pulled hard, freeing her other arm, then soon the rest of herself. Once she was out, she rested against against the tree again for a good minute, suddenly and painfully aware of the toll not exercising enough took on her.

When she was ready again, she got up and started to walk. Her hand felt off -- like she'd just reached into a pond and touched something unexpected just under the surface.

Another Mist-Weaver?

Shath's eyes tightened as he sensed something he very, very much did not expect to sense. Mist-weaving was far older than this 'Jedi' way, and like most pre-human triumphs it had passed into the silence of prehistory by now. A relative handful of the surviving Forerunners were mist-weavers. For one of these 'Jedi' to know the mist-weaver's art...

He could think of several possibilities, and each came with diverse emotions attached. Hope was one, and interest, curiosity. But he also held space for irritation and contempt. If the Ithorians were right, these Jedi had spent a few paltry thousand years assimilating dozens of species' ways of connecting to the Mist. This might be nothing more than a leftover appropriated shred.

Shath hopped off the edge of the small facility's roof. A pale mist-woven line snapped into corporeality for a split second, connected his hands and the roof's edge, blunted the force of the fall, and vanished again. Unarmed, he loped off into the jungle in Auteme 's direction.

 

[Rattick]

As the forerunner Shath Kharole followed behind, floating on what resembled a repulsorlift. As the Gree moved a melody echoed through the forest, announcing the Gree's location. Such was the way of Gree technology, it was artfully 'played' rather than crudely 'operated'. In days long past Rattick would have simply designed the instrument, given it to a crafter, who would have then given it to it's operator. Today however, Rattick has to maintain the full lifecycle. Soon however, Rattcik's own teraforming equipment would be designed, manufactured, and played, allowing the Forerunners more elegant means of bringing the Galaxy back to it's primordial glory.

A significant consequence of Rattick's travel however, is that people like Auteme and Tydeus of Tion would know where to find Rattick, should they get close enough to hear the tune.

 

[Auteme]

Shath Kharole | Rattick
​

Auteme didn't make it too far -- aside from trying to be more careful in her exploration, she was also occupied by needing to wipe the heavy clay off her clothes. It struck her that she probably didn't need to. Not like she wouldn't wash these when she was back, but still, she found herself having a need to be clean.

After a few minutes she found the largest tree she'd seen in the area, and decided to take a break to put on some new clothes. She started by taking off her boots. Once she was halfway through taking off her pants she heard a distant musical noise. With her attention briefly back to her surroundings, she realized there was someone just ahead -- a tall, strong-looking green-skinned humanoid, something like if a Coway was a touch larger and green rather than red.

He was closer than she'd expected. Being (almost) in a state of undress and otherwise quite surprised, she yelped and stumbled, slipping on a root and falling to the ground. A stroke of luck this time; she didn't fall into the quickclay to her right.

She scrambled back to her feet, and to undo her half-pantsless state. "Hi- hello. Sorry, I was just- er- who are you?"

Some stroke of insight made her realize he hadn't come from outside the bubble. She searched further, probing for anything, and hoping she didn't find danger.

 

[Shath Kharole]

"Shath Kharole of the Thrella, a mist-weaver and a rewilder of the Forerunners."

He ignored Auteme 's farcical gyrations and glanced back to get an eye on his sonorous old associate.

"This is Rattick of the Gree, a technologist. And you, human? Are you a 'Jedi?' What brings you to my homeworld?"

He wasn't yet sure that she was the mist-weaver he'd sensed. Several individuals were wandering the thickening jungle. Back at the facility, Ithorian nature priests continued to urge the new plants to greater and stable growth.

 

[Rattick]

Rattick hovered around a meter behind Shath Kharole, and ceased playing his repulsorlift. It hovered in place, keeping the cephalopod off the ground.

"<Greetings>" Rattick replied. The speech was in the Gree tongue, as the Gree couldn't actually speak Galactic Basic. It was unlikely Auteme understood him, but that was fine. Rattick would key into the girls response to try and figure out the likelihood of her understanding him, but would otherwise stay quiet for now. Shath was far better suited for negotiation.

As they spoke Rattick would play a solemn tune on his repulsorlift. A small screen would appear, allowing him to track movements around them. It was difficult to filter out what was really important in the jungle, but by filtering to the deltas perhaps Rattick could detect a coming ambush. The humans were not to be trusted after all.

 

[Auteme]

Shath Kharole Rattick
​

"You're a- and they're-" Auteme's jaw dropped. A million questions rose instantly in her mind, and it took a few seconds for her to get past them, enough to actually speak properly, and try to sort through her thoughts.

The doubt that this man could be lying went through her mind; the Thrella and Gree were supposed to be long extinct, and she admittedly knew only the basics about both. But if he was a Mist-Weaver... was that what she was sensing? The Mist-Weavers were old even to such ancient races, so how...

Finally the realization she was being rude kicked in, and she scrambled to answer his questions. "Yes, I'm- I'm Auteme. Denko-Durren. Sorry- yes, I'm a Jedi." They could clear up the specifics later, but the assumption was fine. "I'm here, er, investigating, sort of- all of this."

She waved at their surroundings.

"Anyways- nice to meet you, Shath, and Rattick." The Gree seemed to say something, but Auteme didn't understand. She smiled, but shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't quite... understand... well, I suppose- I'm really just surprised. Your people... I thought the Gree and Thrella were long extinct. Did you weave cocoons to keep people safe?" she asked Shath. "I've only encountered one other Mist-Weaver, I don't really know any of my- er, Jedi colleagues, who really understand it. And I've never tried affecting time like that myself."

 

[Shath Kharole]

"Yellow inflection," Shath said to Rattick over his shoulder, conscious that his Gree accent was terrible. He didn't look away from Auteme .

"You've met another master mist-weaver? Who?"

There were underlying questions — how, exactly, a young human aristo-warrior-priest had managed to pry the secrets of mist-weaving from someone like that...

Ah. They must have been dying. Cocoons could and did fail, especially the very oldest. And if the Forerunners hadn't awoken yet, the dying mist-weaver would have been terribly alone.

But perhaps retained enough hope to leave a message. Whether this Jedi knew it or not.

 

[Auteme]

Shath Kharole Rattick
​

"Er- her name was K'narik. Her cocoon was found, and she was dying, so she taught some of us what she knew, then passed away." She glanced between the two, a touch nervous as she wondered what they were saying to one another. Still, she decided it would be best to just answer their questions, and hopefully they'd answer some of hers in return.

 

[Rattick]

Rattick set up the sensor array and filtered out expected life forms for a forest planet, and put differing priorities based on the velocity of the movement. The human Auteme didn't understand his words, which meant he and Shath Kharole had a convenient means of hidden communication. Fortuitous to say the least.

"<Is finding old translucent spheres worth this purple vertex?>" Rattick asked the mist weaver. "<I find the prospect of finding another black bisector unlikely.>"

Rattick moved his eyes from his display to the humans. His eyes, his expression would be alien, perhaps unreadable to the human. In the Force however she might detect skepticism and haughtiness.

 

[Shath Kharole]

"Er- her name was K'narik. Her cocoon was found, and she was dying, so she taught some of us what she knew, then passed away."

"<Is finding old translucent spheres worth this purple vertex?>" Rattick asked the mist weaver. "<I find the prospect of finding another black bisector unlikely.>"

K'narik: a name of legend long before Shath had woven his cocoon. Her work had been fundamental to what became the Forerunner project.

"Ultraviolet asymptote," Shath gritted out — the harshest Gree profanity he knew. "So much for that. A cataclysmic loss, even if she likely viewed her final acts as a planting of seeds. I take it you're here to investigate us, Jedi?"

 

[Rattick]

Rattick didn't know the name Auteme spoke, but was unsurprised at the human's failure to keep her alive. Shath Kharole's curse indicated she could have been helpful to the Forerunner cause. A pity she had to be found by those with such primitive technology. Perhaps if the Forerunners had found her instead they could have helped her, but alas.

Rattick declined to comment on the matter, letting Shath speak and to a lesser degree, mourn. In Rattick's experience Shath wasn't one to let his emotions get the better of him, but Rattick preferred not test such things.

 

[Auteme]

Shath Kharole Rattick
​

"I guess. You're- well, you're the cause of this, right?"

She paused a moment.

"You can- you can just call me Auteme."

 

[Shath Kharole]

Shath looked around at the young but flourishing jungle. The Mist — 'transparent sphere,' as the Gree would say — had worked miracles here with the right preparation. Between his Ithorian associates' mastery of plants and his own mist-weaving to accelerate time's hold, thousands of acres of his homeworld were now just like he remembered them.

Before the dark times. Before the humans.

"We are," he said with deep satisfaction. "Mimban will be reborn valley by valley, forest by forest. I'm told that on a star map, this planet falls under the control and protection of a human-led coalition. Jedi-led, even. Do you represent this sector's current overlords?"

Rattick Auteme

 

[Auteme]

Shath Kharole Rattick
​

"I'm afraid not. But- if you're looking to set up a dialogue with the leaders of the Silver Jedi, I would be happy to help facilitate. I'm, ah, a Senator- a representative of the Galactic Alliance, whose space isn't too far from here. I mean- the fact that you're alive is more than enough reason to come seek you out. Which... I think many people will try to."

She paused a moment.

"The Forerunners -- your people. Are you many?"

 

[Thaddeus Wyse]

Rattick Shath Kharole Auteme

Another figure broke past the tree-line towards the trio.

The Ithorian mentioned a 'Jedi' arrived, but M'Edean didn't know the word and didn't feel the need to clarify. He assumed Jedi was some sort of new species, perhaps evolved after his people's long-sleep, if so they could perhaps draw some insight on Mimban's state from them. His surprise was layered then when instead of a Jedi he found a human.

Interacting with Shath and Rattick.

His rifle was already in his hands, if not aiming yet. "These ones are dangerous." M'Edean said by way of warning. Half his head burned still just looking at the human. Short flashes of scalpels and restraints, before his two remaining eyes (out of four) blinked and shook it off. "We shouldn't tell them anything."

His attention was solely on the other two, the human didn't seem to exist to him, except for the rifle that was resting in his hands.