Private Beyond the Last Tomorrow

[M'ra Thii]

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TAGS: Casaana

The world of Myrkr was not peaceful.

Something disturbed the trees. It hunted in the forests. It upset the balance of nature.

The wildlife cried out to be heard, even the Vornskr was subject to this menace. The menace of people. The menace of smuggler or pirate or whatever they were that hunted in the forest, taking vornskr and ysalimiri in order to sell them to whomever wanted them. It was a lucrative business, always had been. They usually got away with it, too, provided they hid their base well enough amongst the trees. It was almost impossible to scan the planet and pinpoint where bases were hidden. Only regular patrols could do that, and Myrkr didn't ever seem to warrant that because it lacked a civilized population. It was just a world full of things that were dangerous when used against the Jedi or Sith.

It was that reason that had led M'ra to choose it to go into self-isolation hundreds of years before. Here she could live in a state of meditation until it was safe to return to the galaxy, or she was needed. So far, neither had come to pass. This new disturbance, however, even reached the ancient living tree, perched on the edge of a large lake. It wasn't enough to shake her from meditation, not yet, but it was getting close to that point. Trouble was on the horizon.

Within her mind, she reached out, feeling across the stars, searching for one who could come investigate. She didn't know what state the galaxy was in anymore. Did the Empire still exist? Had the Sith succeeded in wiping out the Jedi? She didn't even know how long she'd been on the world. There could be no one left alive out there capable of feeling her call. Could all be a futile gesture, which would easily be made more futile if one of the ysalimiri decided to make a home in her branches. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. It hadn't happened so far. For some reason they kept their distance.

As her mind drifted across, she felt something, someone, and sent the single word Myrkr to their mind, hoping they would come and investigate, and she could know if it was time to return.

 

[Casaana]

A drop of sweat beaded and traced its way down her face, running past her eye as Casaana's shoulders heaved for breath. Across from her the training droid flourished its practice sabers and came at her again. Her one blade had to act twice as much as its pair to keep up the parry's and blocks. Ataru was a very energetic form, but she'd long since dropped the flourishes and wider maneuvers against the bot. They weren't needed to hold back another opponent, and she wasn't likely to fool the bot with blade work.

They circled, and started to comment on her footwork in its tinny voice. She'd not placed them properly for another step, but she'd been right for a leap forward. Her trike was met with a double block, but her foot sailed under and into the inside of the droid's thigh. It cried out and swung at her wildly as it fell, her downturned blade stopped one as it struck its metal chest on the way down, but the other caught her upper arm, causing her to yelp out painfully and flinch aside as she fell to her backside. "Hey! No fair!" She complained while knowing it had been a perfectly legitimate strike.
'You may have killed me Padawan Casaana, but you have lost your arm." The droid said, standing and putting away its sabers. "A most regrettable outcome."
She took its outstretched hand and used it to help herself to her feet. "Still, how did I do?" For the last month she'd been challenging the droid near daily for exercise, a survival challenge to push her limits of endurance after how quickly she'd fatigued on Tython's moon Bogan. Usually she'd have only struck out in defense, but something had her jittery today, out of focus, and she'd wanted to end it early.
"Eleven minutes and twenty-eight seconds. You were active for ninety-three percent of the duration. A decrease compared to your last four sessions. You are distracted." It accused her, and it wasn't wrong.

Leaving the droid, Casaana went to go clean up and shower before starting her day. She just let the water pour over her as her mind wandered. Trying to figure out what was wrong. Like many sentients, she found the warm water soothing as it blocked out other sound and made her eyes stay shut. Perfect for a wandering mind. She let herself drift, her consciousness poking at itself and her surroundings as it tried to figure out what was wrong. It wasn't until she was washing the soap out of her hair that she had an answer, or the beginnings of one. 'Myrkr.' The name turned over in her mind, unfamiliar and strange, but one she was sure she'd heard before. After drying and dressing, Casaana headed to the library.

That evening, she'd taken off in a ship she'd checked out of the Kattada Enclave's motor pool. One of the fast shuttles donated to the Order by a thankful businesswoman. Myrkr had turned out to be a planet on the edge of Alliance space and bordering the Neo Crusaders and Dark Empire. Surprisingly, not even that far from her new home on the Enclave's resort-like planet. It hadn't taken much convincing to get the trip authorized, Myrkr was the home of the lizard-like Ysalamir and played merry-hob on sensors, quite the challenge for any explorer corps trainee. She'd been asked to drop a relay off in orbit just in case, More a spy satellite to monitor any incursions by the hostile powers trying to take advantage of the planet's unique properties, but other than that she had free rein. Rescue in a week if she didn't check in.

Alone in the cockpit, Casaana let the overly comfortable chair lean back and pulled her jacket tight around her. Staring into the swirl of hyperspace, she contemplated what might be waiting for her on the unknown planet.
M'ra Thii

 

[M'ra Thii]

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TAGS: Casaana

Something was coming.

She could feel it in the wind.

The hunt was drawing closer to where she was, and soon she may have to awaken. She could feel them, but only on the periphery of her mind, the small place that still paid attention to her surroundings while she lay dormant for centuries. A few vornskr ran past, though one stopped to lie at her feet, obviously tired of running from whatever it sought to escape. She did nothing to stop it, and the creature appeared to feel safe beneath her branches as it took time to sleep.

Whatever hunted it was not close enough to threaten her yet, then, else the Vornskr would have kept running. But she still felt it. The vornskr slept for hours before rising and moving over to the waters edge to drink. Once it had satiated its thirst, it turned its attention back to her and stared at her. It could feel through the Force, and, as she knew, used the Force to hunt. It knew she was something more than just a tree, but it didn't know what. However, it seemed to acknowledge her with thanks for the shelter before it ran off once more.

She was happy to have provided somewhere for the creature to rest. She was also happy to feel that something else was coming. Not just the problem that threatened the creatures of Myrkr, someone was approaching the planet, someone that had heard her call. She hoped that someone could help the creatures here, and perhaps inform her of the state of the galaxy.

She also hoped they could get past whatever ships the threat might have had in orbit.

 

[Casaana]

As much as Casaana loved flying, hyperspace was the dullest. Stuck in a ship with nothing to do but monitor that everything was okay and nap. Fortunately everything was fine on the well-maintained shuttle, and it didn't take too long for the shuttle to transition back to real space. Following standard procedure for an unknown situation, she came out on the fringes of the system to give the scopes time to clear and scans to return. There wasn't much to see. A solitary planet orbiting a lone star.

Bringing the four ion thrusters up to full, Casaana let them power the shuttle in-system as more data came in. Looked like there were a few freighters orbiting the planet. A little unusual given this was supposed to be a backwater system. Maybe they were smugglers? There'd been a notation of them in the Enclave library. Checking her shields were at full, she triggered the feedback mode in case someone attacked her, and plotted a course that would spiral her in through the far side of the planet.

Casaana thought she'd gotten away with it until she was a few thousand klicks out. With Myrkr practically filling the vewscreen, the proximity alarm trilled. Those 'freighters' had launched fighters. "Dank Ferrik," she swore in a very un-Padawan like manner before the comm beeped and a male sounding voice she couldn't place filled the cockpit.
"Shuttle craft, power down now and prepare to be boarded. You and all you poses now belong to Pirate King Doren Shaak."
"Dank Ferrik," she repeated, cranking the control stick over to angle the Sojourner even further away from the approaching fighters. Pirates were supposed to be cool. She'd played at them most of her childhood (ignoring that she still was a child), now this was the second time they were trying to kill her. She hadn't even done anything.

Instead of responding to the hails, because she wasn't surrendering and turning away was all the reply they needed to know that, Casaana activated the underslung laser to descend from its concealing cover and set it to automatic. They fired first, a brace of red lasers that streaked across her flight path. Her own cannon responded to the hostile action, rotating around as Casaana dived for the planet below, the trio of pink bolts bracketed the pirate snub before the third slammed through the canopy, exploding it. If they had shields they didn't help. A single cannon didn't raise many suspicions on a civilian shuttle, but it wasn't much of a defense. Unless it could fire through most conventional shielding.

The other two pirate fighters went wild in response, veering off to come back in again from either side, laser cannons splashing over her own shields that warbled a warning before unleashing lightning that arced out across space to scorch the attacking fighters. One was left helpless as the computer targeted laser fired again to destroy it. The third verred off again and stayed away. Casaana made good her escape to the planet below. Hyperventilating as she checked over the shuttle's readouts. A lesser ship and she'd have been vaporized. Casaana sent whoever had designed it a silent thanks as she broke through the clouds.

M'ra Thii

 

[M'ra Thii]

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TAGS: Casaana

She felt death. Something was worse than normal. It wasn't death in her immediate vicinity. The trees did not speak of it as they did the hunters. The feeling came from beyond, from the skies above. A battle raged above the planet between several ships. People died. By her count at least three, and it was enough to start her coming out of her state of dormancy because it meant someone was in trouble. The same someone who she had felt when she had reached out across the galaxy. She was sure of it.

A ship breached the atmosphere and careened through the clouds. Her mind, unaffected by any nearby ysalimiri, reached out to the pilot of the ship, showing her a series of visions of somewhere safe she could land. Somewhere not far. She also showed her the lake by which she rested, the gentle tree home to several smaller creatures living amongst its branches, and where others chose to rest beneath its bows.

In the distance the hunters hunted, and it wouldn't be long before they reached the lake. They were also, it seemed, watching the skies, searching for the girl in the shuttle that descended towards them. She was a target now, and even when she landed she would be in danger, but as long as she made it to the tree at the edge of the lake, she would find safety. Should she fly off again, she would undoubtedly find worse than fighter craft waiting for her. Pirates didn't take too kindly to losing their ships.

Having faced the Nihil, she knew all too well how dangerous pirates and marauders could be.

 

[Casaana]

The close call with the fighters still had Casaana on edge as her shuttle screamed over the trees, leaving a disappearing trail of condensed vapor spiraling off its wings. In the cockpit, she fought to control her breathing as she held the ship steady, repeatedly checking the scanner for incoming. The glittering of a distant lake caught her attention and she shook the image from her mind, she had to focus, figure out why she was here and what she was going to do about those pirates.

Inhaling through the nose, back out through the mouth, she began centering herself when she again saw the lake, a clearing, little woodland critters? Casaana eased back on the throttle, pulling the drives' thrust down to something more economical that wouldn't be as obvious to every scanner in the system. She also shut down her own so its emissions wouldn't give her away. The Sojourner was a modified luxury shuttle, that was probably the closest she was going to get to a stealth mode without deactivating the shield, and she wasn't going to do that.

Banking in a wide arc, Casaana cruised to the spot whatever had brought her here seemed to want her to land in before coming in on repulsorlifts. As she went, she tried sending back a placating acknowledgement while hiding how on edge she was from the pirates and this situation in general. Telepathy was something she was still working on though, and without line of sight she wasn't sure if she was successful on either fronts. The outer wings lifted as the gear dropped, and the ship set down in the grass as easy as any landing pad. Just with a snapped branch or two, twigs really.

On her way out of the ship, Casaana stopped for a few things. This was a dangerous planet and she wanted to be prepared. Over her flightsuit went a gear harness with survival bits and bobs to which she added the blaster she usually carried, and her lightsaber relocated from her belt. Normally that would be it, she wasn't an expert with a rifle and hadn't used one off the range, but the wisdom of having one and not needing it over wanting one you didn't have won out. At least, she thought as she slung it over her shoulder, it was a lightweight model.

After one last quick gear check, she powered down the shuttle and locked it up behind her. Something about this place put her on edge, she'd go scout out the lake and get back. Maybe try to leave under cover of darkness. It felt like a mistake, but surely this was the Force guiding her, so she began walking while keeping a cautious eye out.

M'ra Thii

 

[M'ra Thii]

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TAGS: Casaana

The presence was drawing closer. Had she been more awake she likely would have been able to hear the engines of the shuttle as it descended, but she was still very dormant, only a small portion of her being concentrated on her surroundings and reaching out to the ships pilot. The was certainly something there to be felt, but with so small a portion of herself connected, she couldn't tell the intentions of the person on the inside. Even as the ship landed, she remained firmly rooted. The real problem was, when she landed, M'ra could no longer feel the person. Interference from Ysalimiri was blocking her senses. Must have been a few between their positions.

Meanwhile, the people that were hunting the planet had spotted her ship as she approached and were rushing towards it even as she climbed out and secured it.

"This way!" one of them shouted, loud enough that they would definitely be heard.

The sounds of crashing feet through the undergrowth would quickly reach her. There surely wasn't enough time for her to climb back into her ship and take off. Even if she did, they would have relayed the location of her ship to the pirates in orbit, which meant they would be descending upon her in a hurry. Unfortunately, she'd flown into quite the situation, which was not the intention of the person that had called her there by any means. Sure, she'd wanted help for the planet, but she had hoped they'd be able to sneak in.

A singular Vornskr ran across the clearing, glancing briefly at Casaana, before disappearing into the woods in the direction of the lake, opposite from the incoming combatants.

"There it is!"

"Radio it in and lets find the pilot!"

"First dibs on their gear!"

There were four of them, two with net guns (a rodian and a trandoshan), one with a shock lance (human), and the other armed with a blaster rifle (kaleesh). They were moving swiftly, and their eyes were now on her.

 

[Casaana]

Barely out of the clearing herself and she could already hear the sounds of pirates crashing through the brush. How was that fair? Weren't the trees supposed to block scanners or something? Either she'd picked a clearing right next to where they'd been camping, or she hadn't been as clear as she'd thought and they'd been dropped off. That scared her and made up her mind. Best to escape while they were distracted by the ship.

Keeping low and quiet, she'd made it maybe ten yards and was just feeling like there were enough trees between them and her to move a little faster when she ran into it. Or more accurately, into nothing. That's what it felt like, a sudden hollow blandness. Colors weren't as bright, sound more muted, even the smell of her sweat and the forest was muffled. It was like all the world and her senses had been dulled, and she froze in shock. For a moment she wondered if she'd been drugged or shot with a dart, such was her shock. Then she remembered the creatures, the warnings about the ysalamir and their Force negating powers. Swallowing her dry throat, she pressed on, trying to be even more cautious. She felt like her balance was off and fluff had been shoved into her ears.

Despite her best efforts, she felt like a blundering idiot until she stumbled out of the other side of the field. Ducking behind a tree, she placed her back to it and ran through several breathing exercises while hugging herself. It was the first time in her life she'd been sundered from it, and without a moment of preparation either. For as long as she could remember, it'd been a part of her life, there to comfort and guide her until it'd become an integral pat of her and her identity. Even now she could feel it enveloping her again, soothing her as the world returned to rights.

What would happen if the pirates came upon her in another field? Her hand went from her saber to the rifle's sling. Without the Force, she'd have to trust to other means. Blocking blaster shots would be much more difficult, a near improbability, making an already dangerous maneuver incredibly deadly.

Breathing, and emotions, under control. She set off again towards the pull of the lake. Rather than continue in a straight line, she began skirting around the bubbles of nullness caused by the tree lizards.
M'ra Thii

 

[M'ra Thii]

​

TAGS: Casaana

That feeling of emptiness created by the loss of the Force was not an easy one for most to deal with. She could remember the first time she'd felt it, and the sudden feeling of helplessness that had befallen her. She had learned, as most do, that even without the Force she was not helpless. She was still a Jedi. The ability to utilize the Force was not the sole aspect of what a Jedi was. Eventually, she'd been able to move through the bubbles of null without batting an eyelash because she'd developed an understanding of them and herself.

That had been a long time ago, though. The lizards kept their distance from her when she was a tree. They didn't like that they couldn't utilize her branches the way they could with a real tree.For the girls part, as she drew nearer, M'ra could feel feel her most of the time. She was skirting the bubbles of null that were created by the ysalimiri, still making her way towards the lake. That was good.

The people that were now following her, hunting her with the intention of capturing her, were not to be trifled with. They continued to crash through the undergrowth. Why did they care about the noise they were making? They weren't hunting vornskr any longer, as there was another, better prize to be had in the form of the girl who'd been piloting the ship. Pirates were nothing if not opportunists and they certainly could see things to be done with her. Pirates were scum, after all.

A stun shot rang out as one of them spotted her, though the shot was wild. They were closing on her. Hopefully she would reach the lake in time.