Brushing away the cobwebs [Order of the Knights of Kal'shebbol]

[Yoru Shakou]

An eerie crunch echoed through the valley as a heavy boot pressed into the snow that had freshly fallen upon the main walk. The owner of which slowly turned and looked upon her surroundings, while quietly running her hand along an old burnt out remains of what could only possible be described as a landspeeder. It's husk covered in black scorch marks, though it had been apparent that whomever had piloted the former vehicle was either lucky enough to have gotten out in time, or the remains had already been removed from the old battlefield. Taking a moment to slowly look over the burnt out vehicle, a slender finger ran along the side and picked up some of the soot before her thumb and forefinger pressed together and rubbed the soot back and forth.

Quietly standing while letting out a soft sigh, she shifted quietly or as much as she could in the snow as it crunched beneath her boot again. Bringing her hands up, she began to rub her arms while cursing herself for having forgotten something warmer before she went off to find this forgotten place. The sight though was seemingly worth the trouble she had getting down the main road, which had since been covered by both rock slides and the remnants of the battle that had taken place.

Coming up the large gates, her eyes gazed over them for a moment. Taking a step forward she pressed her hand against the slightly closed gate before deeming that both hands would be necessary as the large gate creaked and groaned to life. As she stepped around the gate, she looked up the steps that separated the tiers of the fortress.

Slowly beginning to make her way up the steps, she looked around slowly, taking in the sight of the fortress. With a heavy sigh as she stepped upon the first tier, she closed her eyes. Taking a moment to take in the site, she looked up towards the main hall before her eyes fell upon the still intact memorial tower. For now the fortress was quiet, showing scars of battle, no longer the majestic sight that it had been a year prior.

Spoiler

• [member="Elanna Ak'lya"]
• [member="Kiyron"]
• [member="Kyla Verss"]
• [member="Triam Akovin"]

 

[Bubák]

This place was a mess.

Kyla found herself shivering despite wearing a warm coat that reached all the way down to her calves, showing her high combat boots. While her apparel certainly prevented the snow and cold weather from kissing the skin of her body, it could not save her from the weird feeling in her gut. Crossing her arms, as if she wanted to pull the coat closer to her body, the right hand instinctively touched the holster and checked if her pistol still rested in its place. It was not easy to feel the reassuring shape under the coat, especially since the young agent also wore a pair of leather gloves on her hands, but after the solid piece of metal came uder her fingers, she visibly calmed down. At least the trusty Prestige HP pistol remained warm, unlike the woman's head. Her red hair made her very easy to spot in this place. As she stopped in her pace and her blue eyes ran over the scene, she sighed softly, seeing her breath coming from under the collar of her coat. The cold bit her pale cheeks and she continued her walk towards the fortress that promised to shelter an interesting group of people.

Kyla disliked Force sensitives, particularly the trained ones. Jedi or Sith, it mattered little. Both sides claimed to be completely different than the other, both sides treated the 'lesser' beings as extremely expendable cannon fodder to achieve their own goals. Especially the Jedi, their hypocrisy was insufferable. Claiming how much they valued self sacrifice, never hesitated to give their life to save others and all life was sacred, yet apparently had no problems with sending billions to their deaths while sitting somewhere safe. And it was better that way, as whenever they decided to visit the battlefield, it often ended with them joining the enemy. Kyla was almost certain those had been planned actions covered by some high ranked Jedi, but unfortunately, had no solid proof in her hands yet. Hopefully her agents would be able to get something after infiltrating several different Jedi Orders. The sooner the Republic realized the Jedi only sapped its strength, the sooner it could recover and finally form an army powerful enough to destroy the Sith.

Approaching the open gate, the young woman noticed footprints in the snow, tha fact those had yet to be covered by the falling snowflakes indicating another being nearby. Kyla's gaze silently followed the marks as her right hand entered the coat, ready to pull out the customized slugthrower if needed. One did not need to have Jedi reflexes to do such thing in a second; appearances tended to be deceiving. She had absolved the training of special forces on Coruscant and also gone through several years of preparation as a spy and agent of the GIA. Kyla was an excellent marksman, long distance runner, fit and agile athlete, melee professional, simply a cold-blooded and intelligent killer with every inch of her body. She loved adventure and never feared death; people like her were born warriors, and if not serving on the front lines, they often became spies, mercenaries, assassins.

Her legs carried her up the steps and she could see a lone figure. Taking the gun in her right hand, leaving it hidden under the coat for now, it appeared she was simply warming one of her hands given her arms were crossed. Slowly, she walked behind the other woman, making sure not to get into her reach. "Greetings," she said and offered a warm smile, "[member="Idonia Devreaux"], I presume? I am Kyla Verss." Her smile grew wider. "It is nice to finally meet someone who won't bow to every Force user who demands it."

 

[Kiyron]

Kiyron studied the two women near the ruins through his binocs. They seemed to be the correct people for this rendezvous. Two of them, anyways. He didn't see any sign of the others yet. He slipped them back inside his pouch and stood where he had been doing recon for the past twelve hours and began walking towards them, rubbing his hands together to warm them up as he approached, rifle case slung over his shoulder. His personal rifle. The cost had been rather high, but so be it. With a One Sith threat, it didn't seem like the Mandalorians would be a threat any time soon.

The snow crunched beneath his boots as we walked up to them, and he nodded his head in greeting, hands now buried deep inside in fur-lined coat. He scuffed his feet, just listening to the snow crunch. It sounded different on every planet one visited. It was hardly noticeable, but it was there. He had a feeling it was because of the different atmospheric contents.

"Are we going to just stand around here or go further inside where it won't be quite as cold?"

[member="Kyla Verss"] [member="Idonia Devreaux"]

 

[Yoru Shakou]

In the moment upon hearing the voice directly behind her, she moved exactly in the fashion that others would have followed. With a quick spin she had drawn her blaster pistol, nothing overly flashy or special as she had a preference for the utilitarian things in life. The pistol was quickly leveled upon the source of the voice, only being lowered once it was clear that the person was not an enemy and was rather a friendly. Of course the addition of the second whom merely only nodded at his arrival still kept her on edge as her guard remained high, not only for those with her, yet for what could have been left beneath in the fortress or had found a new home within. Quietly holstering her weapon, she looked over her shoulder to the large looming memorial shrine, then returned her view upon those with her. With her own slight bow, she merely nodded at the question as to her identity.

"That I am. All things in due time. There is something more appropriate that must be handled first."

She spoke before turning, motioning for both of her guests to follow as she made her way up the second flight of steps. Quietly she seemed to begin counting each step to herself, wondering just how many there were with each step. Her boots pressed against the snow, crackling and crunching with each movement of the tread upon the sole as it pressed the snow against the stone steps. The fortress still showed its scars as she stepped to the side, avoiding a nasty drop into a chamber below. It was only a fleeting glance as she looked within, seeing the burned chamber, scorched black from the explosion of the shell that had torn in from above.

As she approached the large memorial spire she stopped, taking her time to admire its construction before she approached the heavy iron doors that remained sealed shut. With a heavy sigh she pressed her hands against them, and with a bit of effort, managed to break apart the rust that had grown along the seam between the two doors. The iron scraping and groaning to life as it slowly opened, the light from behind flooding into the dim tower. At the center the memorial flame flickered, near the end of its life. It was clear, there hadn't been a visitor in a long while and the flame was nearly out, giving its last moments of light to illuminate the many names that had been engraved upon the walls after the battle more than a year ago.

"We will follow their examples."

She spoke as she approached a name plate within the tower. Upon it was the name of a person whom had long since passed, and at the hands of the original founder of the Knights of Kal'Shebbol. For a moment she could feel the presence of the two whom had been the forerunners and reason for the order to exist. Looking at the name once more she turned back to her guests before she placed her hands on the round dais within the memorial tower.

[member="Kiyron"]
[member="Kyla Verss"]

 

[Bubák]

Kyla's hand continued to hold the gun under the coat, watching the woman she thought to be [member="Idonia Devreaux"] spin around, wielding a weapon of her own. A very nice display of reflexes and experience. Was she an agent as well, or simply a well trained soldier who had learned to take automatically aim at the voice with surprising precision? The discipline that could be felt from the woman only supported Kyla's guess of her being a veteran of some sort. On the other hand, she held a blaster pistol instead of a slugthrower. Guns firing bullets were far more suited for combating Force users, so it seemed for some reason she did not expect a Force user to show up. While the group claimed to fight Force users and thus it was logical no Jedi or Sith would come to this meeting, one could never be too cautious.

The crunch of snow revealed another, prompting Kyla to turn her head in the direction of the noise characteristic for walking in snow. This one was a male. The GIA agent realized she had read his dossier when going through some files concerning the Havoc squad. [member="Kiyron "]had also gone through the training of the special forces, much like Kyla, though the man remained in the army. The redhead simply nodded at him to acknowledge his presence and shifted her gaze back to Idonia, as the black haired woman confirmed Kyla's guess. As their host started moving, Kyla followed, ascending the stone steps covered in snow and ice, walking carefully to avoid a possible slip on the cold rocks.

Snow continued to fall, making the place appear even more dead. The freezing wind raced through the remains of the outpost, howling and carrying more snow. The scenery looked quite depressing, abandoned after some sort of battle. Kyla did not know what happened here, who fought against who and why, but the host probably understood the place much better given she knew exactly where to go. The trio ventured to what served as a memorial, a dying flame revealing many names engraved over the walls.

Stepping closer, the redhead gazed over the names, trying to find any familiar one that might give her an insight into this. Her efforts were in vain, the ones she looked at did not enlighten her as she recognized none of them. "What was this place? What happened to it and its inhabitans?" she asked, turning around to face Idonia. Her grip on the gun remained, the cold metal felt surprisingly warm after being held for a while.