Carving out a Legacy

[Laira Darkhold]

A lot happened on Alderaan when Ijaat showed back up. The first of which was that Draco's desire to continue creating his own legacy was born a new, refreshed. For a long time he had been content with his expertise in Beskarsmithing his old mentor had provided him with. While he wasn't the best, he was damn good at working the metal in the old ways. For custom projects, he often mined the ore himself with an old pick and shovel, cart and hammer. He would toil in his mines for hours to pull out the beskar ore from the rock and bring it in for his forge. He would heat the forge himself with his own power and strength in the Force, and he would craft the metal in the old ways, eliminating as much technology as possible without reverting to primitive metal working.

There were something that required technology in order to maximize the strength of the metal, but power hammers, liquid-state electroforming, welding, those things could be skipped over or replaced with ancient techniques his master had taught him. And the personal touches, with his abilities in the Force had made him an exceptional craftsman. While his abilities with Force Imbuement and Alchemy weren't the most prolific, nor was he exceptionally skilled, combined with his abilities as a mundane smith and his vast knowledge of metallurgy and how to work rare materials left him on the upper end of the bell curve.

With Ijaat returned and having Force abilities of his own, not only did it provide Draco with the opportunity to teach his master something, but it also drove his competitive and cooperative spirit. Whatever he could learn about the Force and the rare arts of crafting, he wanted to. Whatever he learned would be shared with his mentor, and then eventually, they would compete and Draco would have the opportunity to surpass his master on even playing field. It wasn't petty, if anything it was the spirit of the Manda to do so.

Ijaat had told him of something he had found within an abandoned ship, something old. He would be bringing that along with him, while Draco had the book the pair had found hidden in the basements of New Aldera's palace. By rights it belonged to Faith, and he had every intention of returning it to his princess in short order, she even knew he had borrowed the book, an actual hardback, leather bound, book when he went to Concordia to meet with Ijaat. He was protective of it, knowing what it meant to Faith to have something written by Leia Organa, even if it was little more than an autobiography, an account of her travels.

The Mandalorian warrior waited for his compatriot in an old home, down the slope from the fortress his Clan operated from. Even being a small clan there were still vassals and allied warriors within the keep at all times, and this was something Draco considered very private. A matter to be kept quiet.

[member="Ijaat Mereel"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

As he approached the agreed meeting place, he hefted the rucksack he had chosen for transporting what was likely a limitless fortune of instruction and data really. The Varanin holocron was set in a little box of veshok wood, not even polished to his absurdly high standards, with simple black iron banding to keep it reinforced. Just the minimum so he didn't damage the thing carting it around. Draco was taking him in a bit, helping him be trained with the Force and learn his own talents better. The cloning process of Ocmar and being shoved into a body not made for him, had complicated things a slight bit, but regardless, his abilities were manifesting.

The chest he still carried under one arm, despite the bulk of the scarlet and grey armor with yellow diamond blazed on the chest. The mask was left at home for the moment, and he merely grinned as he strode forward, confident behind the T-Visor that he was on the path the Manda and the Force had set for him. Adventure beckoned, and like in his younger days he was finally again following the yearning and wanderlust. But with much, much less contraptions. Today, other than armor, he carried only his quickly becoming favorite keldabe cannon from Draco, the beskar gun an absolute terror to behold, and his sword and the energy shield from [member="Arrbi Betna"].

Approaching the house, he swished his red cape to pull his arm from it, the other still curled around the chest, but not enough to hide the image carved into the ankarres wood. Ignorance made him unaware of the Order it symbolized, what it likely contained, or anything about it really. But he had faith, despite his inability to open or understand it, that Draco and he would be able to puzzle out both it, and that book from the Empire Era. Plus, he would offer to let Draco study the holocron he had, as a sign of partnership and equality. Their two minds together could surely puzzle out whatever was needed. With that, he rapped his fist soundly on the door even as guards recognized the armor of Mereel and politely withdrew to let him. Distinction had some good to it.

Today is the day I put aside the murderer and become who I want to be.. Not what vengeance forges me into...

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The two guards were older friends and clansmen of Draco's. People he trusted to have watch him when he needed it. A lot of times he forwent having any escort, but as Alor and having survived five or six assassination attempts since the Death Watch had been reformed, he was often unable to completely convince his people their protection was unnecessary. He didn't mind having a small group or a pair follow him around, so long as they were friends, not silent bodyguards. This time it was two, one human man who looked to be in his mid forties, and one barabel warrior who was probably still in his prime. Once they recongized Ijaat and got out of his way, they simply went back to playing sabacc with a couple of friends on holocall.

When he heard the rap on the door, the tall Mandalorian opened the door with a grin. "Welcome to my home away from my home away from home. I almost called you to Aldera, but I didn't know if we would be working with any Dark Side things. I try to keep those things away from where Faith sleeps." This house was smallish, for someone who had as much money as Draco had. A couple of bedrooms, kitchen, living room and study. That was about it other than a refresher. Nothing too fancy, not like his homestead on Aldera where he and Faith lived together. This was a simple place not far from the Clan Hall where he could get away for a few hours if he needed to, and it fit perfectly for what they were up to.

"Trip wasn't too bad?" Draco asked, making way for Ijaat to wander inside and make himself comfortable. Four bedrooms, one for each person so living arrangments were simple. There weren't any real differences in the rooms so it didn't much matter who stayed where in the house for the next day or so. Much longer and Draco would get antsy and bail to go back to Alderaan or Aldera to spend time with Faith while she suffered through her pregnancy. He liked to stay close and only take short trips away from her.

"Go ahead and get settled in and comfortable. We may be hear a little while working on deciphering some of this stuff since its not like we're experts at reading." Truthfully, with Princess Organa's book it was more a matter of digging through the tome and finding anything of value. It had been hidden in the wall of the palace, placed there by someone centuries after her death. It had to have something important in it for it to warrant that level of secrecy. And Leia Organa's first hand tales of her adventures would be interesting, but hardly something that hadn't been seen or heard of before. Her tales were known far and wide.

And then there was whatever Ijaat had found. Whatever he had was old, and that was about all they knew about it. About all that mattered about it. Something old enough was always important. Even the Vectivus and Bane Holocrons on his bed were basically proof enough of that.

[member="Ijaat Mereel"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Almost, Ijaat cracked a joke about a black dress and white apron to Draco. But he was conscious he was a guest in what was likely a very private and select haven for the other. And so he restrained his humor, just for the moment, and nodded to Draco as he sat down the rucksack with all his various works he had been compiling. Time spent in the Archives on Voss of the Silver Jedi. Treatises in his own life. When he had copied down his sum total metallurgical knowledge and given it to Isley, he had been ignorant of the Force and it's influence and ability when involved in metallurgy. Now however, he was growing more and more aware of it at a stupendously rapid pace. A quick access to the recently reinstalled Clarity implant showed him that the synch and restore would take a while, and his vision swam a bit as he put down the helmet he had taken off too.

"The trip wasn't really too terribly bad... I need something better than that goramn patrol craft I'm putzing about in, but it will do for now. Thinking of maybe buying something from silk. I've saved quite a bit of money, bought some invetments little company called ArmaTechs' operations and even sold my beskar operation, so I have the funds... This new life, being able to use the Force... I perfected war my last life... I want to perfect my mind now... I'll go get out of this armor, feel free to look at things..."

Setting the rucksack down, he drew out the holocron, and a few dozen dataslates labeled in a rough, angular script for their contents. Properties of various types of metal, data on specific metals, alloys, construction and smithing traditions of the Galaxies cultures, more and more. Each one, without reservation, was laid out in piles for Draco to read. In the center he placed the crude box for the holocron, and then he gingerly sat down the chest he carried under his arm and walked in to change, leaving it symbol bared in the midst of the table for the Dragon of Mandalore to evaluate. All he said over his shoulder as he was walking away was that it was old, but new at the same time, and nothing his vision showed from it made any sense of any kind. He saw a rancor in the clouds, for crying out loud!

"So this book" Came the voice as he pulled off armor, "Is it like, just her dear diary stuff or is it something important you think? Odd place to find it if it wasn't. right? But what else would that one know of such importance?"

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Good to hear about the trip. You should have decent money sitting around. I don't know if you've been cashing your dividend checks, but its a large company, even a small number of shares offers a lot of income where it is needed." Draco said quietly, kicking up his feet as he sat down. "Silk is one of my favorites, though Mandal Hypernautics makes good warships, easy to tinker with and turn into personal vessels. I've gotten to where I like to use a Rekali-class or Abatoir-class as my personal ship if I'm not travelling on something a bit too grand." A Kandosii-class had become his ship that ferried him around as of late, though he would likely be shifting around something smaller and quieter.

Draco looked at the things on the table and nodded quietly. "I brought some information on the Order of the Sith Lords and Brotherhood of Darkness to compare to just in case, but I must warn you. The holocrons I have are dark and dangerous. Their guardians are protective of the information they hold and you are new and inexperienced with the Force. They won't reveal much to you without the assistance of someone a bit stronger and more experienced for the time being." The big Mandalorian quietly retrieved the two ancient holocrons, Darth Bane's and Darth Vectivus's creations, the wellsprings of all their life's knowledge. Draco's warning wasn't an insult, it was the truth. Darth Bane's Holocron had within it an account of the Thought Bomb, though it lacked the ritual itself since he and Carach had purged the information from it. Darth Vectivus's holocron held the rituals for creating Force Phantoms for now, though that was something Draco intended to purge from it before long. Some things shouldn't exist, and that was one of those things.

"But, I've studied these two pretty extensively and I can't say I recognize these symbols or markings. Never been a linguist, but I'd think I'd remember something." That was probably the only problem with treasure hunting without an anthropologist or experienced archaeologist. Without them, it required pouring through books and dataslates for information. He pushed a few of the dataslates around but didn't really delve into them just yet.

"The book is written by her. And she was on the New Jedi Order's High Council and the Grandmaster's sister. Plus, she was a Skywalker and mother of two prodigies. I'm not sure how much insight there is, but from the one chapter I read of it, its less philosophy about the Force, more just a recounting of information. I haven't seen her mention anything beyond being able to sense someone but with no explanation as to how or why. It was obviously not intended to be an instructional, but maybe just a memoir. Still, she has to have learned something worth knowing about. And Faith loves the fact that it exists, so worst case scenario I use it to score points with the missus." Draco grinned from ear to ear at his old friend. "But I think we need to swap. If you've looked at that with no avail so far, trade and look through the book. She has the chapters laid out in years of her life, and she didn't even start to become a Jedi until she was fifty something."

Draco mirrored Ijaat's care and gingerness with the small box, slowly opening it up to see the small holocron within. Obviously Ijaat put great faith and stock into whoever had created it given his carefulness with the device, and out of respect Draco would as well. "Whose Holocron is this?"

[member="Ijaat Mereel"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

"Her name is Ashin Varanin... I only met her a few times... I worked for her as an operative of Ke'dem.... I was a last resort type of employee. They called me when they had heard of any news on certain Sith Lords, or had high priority targets. Apparently blowing up the Sith Temple on Coruscant on my own caught her eye. I suspect it was her doing that when the Death Watch razed my house and killed my retainers and myself, I was somehow saved and reborn. I can't confirm it... But the woman who did was cloaked and masked, and gave me that holocron."

Sitting, the habits of old age were there, and he eased into the chair with hardly the grave his body indicated it possessed in form by function. A deep breath in, and he let it out. Fingers drubbed along the table as he spoke next, though there was a pause to think in utter silence. Grey-green orbs seemed to star at the holocron, lost in thought or something of the like. Ashin... He wished he had knew her better, the woman seemed utterly implacable and unstoppable, but rumor had it across the right circles in the Galaxy that she was dead and gone, and a few connected Draco to it, though mostly those seemed wild tales of fancy and intrigue. Nodding to the blade propped by the door, he half-smiled.

"Her instruction, and Masamanues, and Marasun... Coci... I have been busy... Art of the Small, Force Imbuement, a sort of Gray Alchemy without innocent blood... It's not Jatharesa that I plucked from the Netheworld, but it's effective... I've learned to use the emotions of others to assuage the fears of a person or a small group... There is much and more in that than I would really ever think.. She is cold, Ashin is. Some of my questions she refuses to tell me the answers of, outright. Like what the symbol on that chest means. She didn't seem to regard it as something that was bad. Just not what I was ready for. But I can't just leave it alone, it's like something within it is calling to me, but.... Echoing and muted... Distorted..."

Stopping, he eyed the holocron and nodded to Draco before speaking again.

"Regardless... Maybe you can get things out of it I could not. Feel free to study it while we meet here, I have a feeling it may be a few minutes anyhow. The dataslates are your copies. Everything I could gather from Voss and my new studies, and my old thesis's and the like. Even some notations there on Alchemy without innocent blood, substituting your own... Theories on things... Copies, of course, but who knows what I may have stumbled on... "

Here he tapped the side of his head, smiling knowingly at the obvious, but not quite grotesque cybernetic implant. They had been with him since Selvaris, when he had pushed his mind to the limit and really began to do more than just be a warrior. They allowed him a margin of memory, storage, and such that... Coupled with a near perfect recall already... There were few alive who would have so complete a record of their lives and studies. But he would, he definitely would. Now the question became, as he realized the potential in the choices that lay before him... Could he actualize that potential? Could he become what Fate and the Force would will him to be?



[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"I've heard of Ashin, though I don't remember meeting her to my knowledge." Draco murmured. There were many famous Force sensitives he didn't know or hadn't met, and there always would be roaming around the galaxy. Ashin he had heard rumors of, mutterings among some of the Clans. Supposedly she would be a distant cousin once he married Faith, with the woman's relationship with Clan Ordo. But he didn't remember meeting her or seeing her. He heard rumors she died, but he wasn't close enough to anyone that knew Ashin personally to be able to say for certain.

"I must admit some of those things interest me, but not as many as you might think. I'm not as studious as I should be with the Force because I've never really cared about it. To me its always been just a tool, a weapon, or a power source." For someone who had fought an embodiement of the Dark Side, and seen the Planet of the Five Priestesses, he wasn't sold on the Force as an entity, and he probably never would be. But Draco did have a trust in it, an understanding of it to a degree. "The things like the Gray alchemy and Force Imbuement catch my eye. I'm not one to delve into things that don't quickly interest me, you know." It was the truth, but for now they were looking for obscure references to the symbols and markings on the other object Ijaat had in his possession.

Seeing as he didn't understand what he was looking at with the ancient thing, he decide to focus on the Holocron of Ashin Varanin. He began with simple questions to the hologram about the contents of the holocron, beginning with the two subjects that actually interested him, taking notes by hand and recording, listening and contemplating on the information being divuldged. For now he only asked the basics, the concepts and thought process behind Force Imbuement and this Alchemical process that lacked the requirement of Innocent blood. That intrigued him more than anything, as he was searching now for a way to move beyond Sith Alchemy and its bloody, terrifying mess. Something he could do in a forge near his home. Something he would be proud to teach his son or daughter.

Then the warrior moved to other subjects, skipping over many of the Force abilities or teachings within. They didn't appeal to him right now, his focus on the much older object he didn't understand or have knowledge on. As he moved through piece after piece of data he kept looking for what he was after, anything that resembled those symbols on the thing Ijaat had brought. Perhaps the Dark Holocron would have a little more guiding light?

The small object opened and he began tracking notes from both. It appeared that much of the information in the Dark Holocron had to be translated through by the information Ashin's Holocron provided on the Blackguard. Most of it was useless philosophical opinions of Naga Sadow, and the ancient Dark Lord's thoughts on ongoing matters in the galaxy. What Sith Magic instructions stored within the Dark Holocron weren't heavily recorded by the accounts Ashin had of the Blackguard. "Hmmm. You know, maybe we need to add a step to the process. Maybe the Dark Holocron can provide some insight in ancient Sith about these symbols, and the Ashin Holocron could translate it back for us into something we can understand. This would be a lot easier if we had a bookworm, or an archivist to help with these crap." The Mandalorian warrior set down both devices and sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose and the corners of his eyes with his forefinger and thumb.

"How about you?"

[member="Ijaat Mereel"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Rather suddenly, the Mandalorians eyes went glazed and unfocused. Nothing untoward like a seizure, he was merely searching the extensive databanks from his clarity implant. Draco might remember that Ijaat may have put down the quill for the sword young in life, but however he was stupendously intellectual. It was just an unseemly quality in a warrior in some of his trainers' eyes, so he had abandoned cultivating it. Or, rather than abandoning it, he had made it a secondary ability he was less focused on that empowerment and skill in battle and the like. Whatever it was he was thinking of, it took him a while, and finally he eyed Draco as he seemed to slowly begin to waken from his trance. Even dressed down, he still had a small eating/skinning knife, and he grabbed it furiously, scratching out on the wood in crude aurabesh a singular word his mind could associate with the symbol really:

"TYTHON"

With that he sat back and stabbed the curved little knife into the wood next to the words with a shrug to Draco, and nodded to it, with a knife-hand like gesture to the wood. That was followed by tapping the implant on the back of his head and smiling ruefully before blinking a little to clear his eyes and shake his head as if trying to orient himself to the world again. It wasn't as bad as the vong-shaping implant and the like, but he was still adjusting to a new body and now the new implants. It was working, but it was a lot to take in at once, and often usage of it disoriented it. Clearing his throat and sighing deep he nodded.

"I read something about that symbol and that world... Not sure of the connection.... Maybe it can help the search?"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Tython. Draco knew the place well, having been there during his time as a mercenary with the One Sith. The world was changed irrepairably, parts of it steeped in the Dark Side now, and a palace for the former Voice of the Dark Lord. Now, the planet didn't really have stewardship, but the Mandalorian still had some access codes and new about the One Sith's defenses and monitoring of Deep Core hyperspace regions.

"Something about Tython huh?" It boded well about the device. "Well, lets see if Princess Organa knows anything about it." Draco said, picking up the book again, and leaving the array of Holocrons on the table for the beskarsmith to peruse at his leisure.

The book was more of a tome, complied with a chapter for each year of her life. The early chapters were smaller, and there were some that were short summaries of her experiences during a year. She rarely went in to deep detail about her life unless it was effecting a major galactic event. The Mandalorian was uneducated, or lacked higher education, but he did enjoy reading. Especially reading about Faith's ancestors. Part of him believed it brought him closer to his beloved, part of him just wanted to understand her better, and she was very similar to her ancestor Leia Organa Solo.

The warrior laid back on a couch and started flipping through pages starting further in her life, after she took an interest in being a Jedi in her fifties. She spoke about her missing son, who saved the galaxy. Her daughter who was a master lightsaber duelist. Luke, the best of both worlds. But, he was Luke Skywalker. No one could really compare to the Heir to the Jedi, the First of the New Jedi order following the Galactic Empire's purge of the Order. The Last of the Old Jedi. Draco could only imagine what it must have been like back then with pillars such as Kyle Katarn, Saba Sebatyne, Kenth Hamner, Corran Horn. But she didn't speak much about them, other than her Master-Apprentice relationship with Saba. Mostly she wrote about her family and what they did.

"Well, if this thing has to do with Tython, there are a couple of things we could look for to help us translate it. The Dark Holocron isn't helping much, but I've been able to piece together small pieces from it. We need older information." The warlord had some ideas, some thoughts about how to go about translating the device Ijaat had brought them, but they needed some direction.

@Ijaat Akun

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Again Ijaat gathered his thoughts, finding peace in the ring from his father, the Adasca family crest gleaming slightly. The body may be different, but still he wore the ring with pride. He might never know his heritage and ancestors, and didn't feel a burning need to really... But he was proud of [member="Gabriel Sionoma"] and his family he hadn't been raised by. They were ideal men and women to emulate and become like, and as he thought on that and his fathers ability to remain calm, focused, and able, he smiled. Now he was ready to turn his mind to the chest before him, and as he began to speak to Draco he ran his hands over the banded box. Senses, Force-Enhanced, poured over it. And thought he was mostly raw and self-taught, his power roiled out wildly, collecting in on the chest.

"I am not sure I really know much about it.. I assume it is a crest of some sort.... A Force Users, or maybe an Order of some kind... Who knows... All I know is... Ahhhh... Right there, flaw in the lock..."

Taking his knife up in his hand he ran the butt of it, capped in electrum and bronzium mokume gane and hit the lock rather like an orchestra major might use a tuning fork to check his pitch. There was an audible hum, low and almost atonal, as if several pitches at once, and Ijaat dropped the knife as if stung. Shock spread across the stubble covered face, and even registered in his blue-grey eyes for a moment, as if maybe something had stung him. Second later, a grinding noise would greet them and the lock would just simply begin to fall apart, the external plating dropping off, and even the internal mechanisms falling out. Springs rolled out and bounced, pins as well, and it cracked opened, a shine of pearlescent light beaming forth.

The lock cracked, and the unknown shielding broken, he could feel the sheer power roiling forth from it. Along with that came a sense of wisdom, or knowledge almost. The same kind of feeling one gets when they approach a venerable master of their craft, like Ijaat might have gotten had a legendary smith of Mandalore suddenly appeared and offered to teach him. Or if Jaina Solo herself had offered to tutor him in the ways of the lightsaber and combat. Whatever was in this, countless minds had contributed to it, and countless more had touched it and left their imprint, and even without physical contact the psychometric gifts of his family fairly hummed and yelled with the impressions and visions. Certainly this was a venerable object, and he held out a hand towards it, almost hypnotized as he reached for it.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco smiled as he watched Ijaat break open the lock to the crate. There was always more than one way to crack a lock, though Draco had been assuming that breaking it might be a bad thing, especially considering the knowledge they were pouring through in the four Holocrons and Leia's book. Normally when this much ancient knowledge was needed and you were still coming up short, caution was the most important thing to exercise. On the flipside, Ijaat was a smith and knowledgeable in Art of the Small and somewhat with Shatterpoint. It was entirely possible that the smith had been more cautious and careful than actually unlocking it would have been. Probable actually.

What sat inside was interesting. Not something Draco had ever laid eyes upon, but something that contained the influence of many Force Users. It shined neither light nor dark in the Force, though it leaned towards light in the spectrum. It was certainly closer to being a Jedi artifact than anything else from what he could tell. However, Draco had dealt with ancient things enough to know that didn't imply they were free and clear. He turned his attention back towards the book in his hands for a moment, flipping through, skimming, and speed reading. Did it tell anything about Tython or the thing in front of them?

He knew a great many things and was aware of a lot that happened in his life, but this was beyond him. There were many wiser people than he, or Ijaat for that matter, in this book. Tionne Solusar for starters. The Jedi Archivist of the New Jedi Order would have been a very helpful person in this endeavor, but she was gone, and Draco didn't know where to begin to look for her datalogs. He heard rumors she kept all her findings in the Great Holocron, which would have been highly sought after. If it was out there in the Galaxy, they would have to be willing to take on an entire Jedi Cult. And they wouldn't know which Jedi Cult.

Draco flipped a page and looked up at Ijaat, seeing him reaching towards the ancient holocron. The Mandalorian reached out like a viper in the grass and grasped Ijaat's wrist just before his fingers touched the device glowing with subtle blue energy. The old leather bound book fell to the floor, falling open on its pages as Draco emptied his hands to restrain Ijaat. "Not all that is old is safe my friend. We should find out more about it before delving to deep." Lessons learned from all three of the Holocrons he had sitting on the table. Darth Bane's Holocron, Darth Vectivus, the Dark Holocron. All of them were old, all of them were dark, all of them held knowledge no sane being would want revealed to them without proper preparations and understanding. "You are still young in the Force, and there are some Holocrons that can kill those not strong enough to handle their guardians."

[member="Ijaat Mereel"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

The grasp seemed to shock him out of something, a trance maybe. Still calling him now, he knew that Draco spoke the truth, and shook his head in confusion, attempting to clear it. There was a pulsing in his mind and heart, a feeling he had come to associate with the Force and its' will. But Draco knew these things better than the former super-commando, and so he shrugged off the feeling with a roll of his shoulders, and a sheepish but true grin at his former student. The irony of the situation and role reversal did not escape Ijaat, and he nodded in consent before he spoke, voice heavy with both regret and a tinge of confusion and longing still.

"Aye... I suppose there are dangers I hadn't put to it in my mind yet. There was just a feeling of belonging, a pull, as if there was a meaning behind things somehow. Like I was meant to be here, in this moment, with whatever that thing is. It's important to me, somehow.... I'm not sure exactly how, but it is..."

Sighing, he stood and thought about the trance he had been in. There were many things he had seen, besides just the visions of a venerable Cathar working a metal he had never quite seen. Somehow in his minds eye it fairly shone in the Force, as if brimming with potential and possibility. But he had also seen Draco's face in a spiral of lightning and madness, combined with another face. It was a confusing experience to see his old friends face warp and morph in such a way. Bending to grab the book and hand it to Draco, he was half-way to handing it over when the vision of Draco's face morphing and changing again came over him. From numb hands, the book thudded to the table, and he stared, palms out and eyes vacant as he seemed to loose focus on what was happening in the physical world.. Later, he could be quoted as saying mysticism came with its' own price.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco nodded to his mentor, keeping his face passive. Often the Force acted in mysterious ways, ways that could not be understood or explained and that was just how it was. But that didn't mean there was no reason to exercise caution in a situation like this. The two men had four holocrons from four of the more prolific, and knowledge beings to have walked the galaxy and were still unsure what it was they were looking at. Coupled with the pull Ijaat felt towards the ancient object, it made Draco more than just wary.

"Visions aren't exactly common. I've very rarely had them, and when I have, I was in places of great power and ancient wisdom. Its understandable to be drawn to the thing. I am as well, it intrigues me. I just know there are things out there that call out to beings, appearing benevolent but meaning the greatest of evils, and I want to be sure we can handle whatever it conceals before we crack it open. I've made enough mistakes to risk another." There were dark things in the galaxy, and while it wasn't cause to be afraid and fearful of everything, suspicious artifacts found on abandoned ghost ships had call to be examined before they were unlocked and whatever inside released.

The Mandalorian listened to his friend as he spoke the short words about the visions his friend had seen weren't troubling, but he was unsure. Having poured through the Holocrons of Ashin Varanin and Darth Bane and yet to find solid information about the device lead him to believe it was very, very old. And so far the only things he had found that were old like that, were beyond evil. It was call to take it slow, and register everything before proceeding.

When Ijaat stooped to pick up the book, Draco immediately registered the change in his aura, the alteration of his consciousness. It was hard to miss. Steadying Ijaat, the mandalorian eased the man into his chair, hearing muttering and half completed sentences, writing down as much as he could while Ijaat stammered through his vision. This type of Force Visions made Draco glad he received them so rarely, despite his battle precognitive abilities.

<I don't believe the training of a true Jedi comes from ... lectures. I want to teach you how to learn action, how to do things, not just think about them.>

Draco jotted down what he could, as best as he could, missing some whole sentences, missing words here and there as he wrote what Ijaat was muttering, some of it was purely inaudible, some of it was just ramblings, half finished sentences before he began others, but he did have a number of words spoken that weren't his own. Enough that Draco knew something was amiss with the beskarsmith.

<I fell, barely on the dark side of…of the balance point. Everything started to slide. Everything. Do we have the right to use this…magnificent, terrifying light…as if we were in charge of the universe?>

Draco looked over the paper, filling in what he could, using context to finish what he might have been able to while he watched to make sure Ijaat didn't have a seizure or bite his tongue off.

<Perhaps it's not the Force that needs to be bigger. Maybe what needs to be bigger are our ideas about the Force.>

These were quotes from someone or something, and how it had been triggered was beyond Draco while he saw to his friend, who still stared off into space. "Damn visions like this make me glad I don't get them." He sighed and sat back down at the table, looking at the thing in the chest. Someone out there would know what it was, but they may not like letting the pair keep it, or knowing the pair of them had it at all. Breathing deeply, Draco picked back up the book and looked it over.

The words on the page spoke to him, echoed in his mind as he read the page the book had been opened to when Ijaat touched the page.

[member="Ijaat Mereel"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

The visions were odd... Like watching a highlight reel or ticker tape from outside his body. Psychometry was, from what he could gather, tied in an odd way to Farsight, and this was an intersection in the two who had gathered here and in their lives. Wherever they went from this point would irreparably alter and change them. He knew that for a certain, and though he would learn it only later as he learned more what he had done to the chest lock, they were at what prescient types called a nexus, and others might call a 'shatterpoint'... A moment on which all other subsequent moments hinged and depended upon. Realization not entirely lost, he looked at Draco as his eyes slowly opened and became less fogged and glassy.

"Been happening more often since I found that damn thing, just not sure what they mean. Or what happens to me during it. Usually I just feel incredibly sleepy, and then I wake up minutes or seconds or hours later. Sort of like my psychometric trances, but a lot more pronounced. Did I do or say anything while I was.... Gone....?"

Shaking his head, he reached to his hip and pulled a leather wrapped silver flask from his belt there and unscrewed the cap. The floral and fruit aroma of tihaar wafted out and across the room, bracing and yet sweet. A long, deep pull followed as he swigged the flask and then thudded it to the table with a satisfied sigh and wiped his mouth, just to be sure. Gesturing to it in offer if his friend wished, he nodded as well to indicate his welcome of it. It was from his private stock from the Mad Strill cantina that he still had a controlling interest in. They followed his receipes for netra'gal and tihaar and other items on the menu religiously. Though he owed them to grandfathers and mothers more than his own genius or ability, if he were being entirely honest and forthcoming.

"Take a swig... I have a feeling we might need more... I feel like something sucked my marrow out... What is that book anyway, just a diary?"

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Aye, you spoke. I missed a good bit of it, but I got some written down. You weren't exactly making it easy to take notes on." Draco slid the sheet of flimsi he had jotted the smith's muttered phrases onto and returned his attention to the book. Something about this passage intrigued him more than he had originally realized.

"I would say you might want to seal the artifact in something lined with grade three nullification resin when we aren't studying it. Especially if it seems to be the catalyst for receiving Force Visions." Draco had a trio of boxes lined in the resin here with him for transporting the three holocrons he had with him. Normally those boxes sat in a room with dual layer of the resin to ensure they remained concealed and not corrupting anything around them with their presence. But this was not like those. This artifact radiated neither darkness nor evil, nor did it look like a stereotypical Sith Holocron.

"I do think we should follow up on your visions though. We may not understand the thing, but that doesn't mean your visions don't mean anything." Quite the opposite actually. They had found something mysterious and that had sparked visions from the Force in Ijaat. The circumstances almost necessitated action on their part. "If you can remember anything about your vision you can relay, that might help us figure out the actions we are supposed to take."

The Mandalorian squinted reading the passage again as he took the offered drink from the flask. They were seeking knowledge, and the Force was offering them some level of convoluted guidance through Ijaat they were just not in tuned enough to the Force to fully understand, but it also seemed to offer them a little clearer message.

"Um... one of the phrases you muttered is in this book. Well, not exactly, but pretty close." Draco turned the handwritten book over to face Ijaat and put his fingers on a line that read

<He was convinced that the Force was bigger than anyone understood, that our ideas and understanding of the Force needed to expand beyond the traditions Luke was teaching. In many ways, I knew he was right, but I worried about him.>

"I know its not an exact quote, but that's a bit too close for me to ignore." It wasn't like Ijaat had read this far into the book. He could have glanced at it and his subconscious stored it away, repeating it when he was having his episode. But those were coincidences, and too many coincidences at once tended to point to a connected issue. This seemed to be one too many random happenstances as far as Draco was concerned.

[member="Ijaat Mereel"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

"I saw a Cathar, a male with a rather stocky physique... Forging.... Some sort of metal that seemed to glow and.... Almost be alive as I looked at it... If I were there i'd say it was a rather powerful thing... It didn't glow, like songsteel does in your visual spectrum, but more.... An aura.... There was no sound at first, but right before I woke I could hear someone speaking, talking about some moon, Boogen, Bogahn, something...And the place he was in was ancient by the looks of the tools and surroundings... He had an anvil with a sort of symbol on it, looked like this..."

Here he took his finger and traced on the table something vaguely like the Empire symbol of old, but only in the most distant of terms really. Nodding, as if it confirmed, he took a piece of the flimsi Draco had, and grasped a stylus on the table, pondering for a moment before his hand began with broad strokes across the flimsi. Now, he was no painter or artist, but he could draw a mean blue-print, and so he did what he could with his menial skill and began to draw at first just random lines. As he sketched, he spoke further on what he had saw besides the scene of the other smith, clearly less interested in it but also more confused by it as well.

"I saw faces of people I do not remember or know... A young woman worrying, fighting a man in Protector colors, but without hatred or grievance. Almost with an eager air, if not resignation in her eyes. A young man with kind eyes, whose gaze began to turn to amber, then his face turned to yours, but harder and with a sort of set to the jaw. Something deadly in the gaze. Somehow, when your faces were blended, I didn't see it... But... He gave you himself, as if you became another version of him... Last, a venerable matron, worry knitting her facade, looking on at the two with sadness. The rest.... The rest already is cloudy."

As he finished speaking, he wiped the drawing and presented it to Draco with a casual air. It was an anvil, with a symbol graven on the waist, similar to what he had line-drawn with the tip of his finger on the table earlier. There was a rather unique looking set of hammers, tongs, and other things. It was perhaps less useful for seeing the surroundings and gaining clues to location, but it did show the shape and form of the anvil brilliantly, as well as the symbol gracing the anvils waist, and the rather unique shape of the hammers and tong jaws. Indeed, on some of them, Ijaat had even drawn out little bits of measurements and the like.

"See if we can figure it out what that is.... And maybe that book has more information on the other three figures?"

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Draco listened carefully, trying to piece together the how the phrases meshed with the visions he was describing. An old Cathar forging wasn't so unique that it could be easily tracked or discovered in books. There were probably thousands of Cathar smiths to go through, probably each century having a 'greatest cathar smith' that would need to be studied in order to accurately determine the identity of the one Ijaat saw. It was helpful, having species and profession, and the profession fit with Ijaat well. It meant something, they would just have to buckle down some to figure out what it was.

The other part, about Draco's face merging with another, the other handing a piece of himself over was intriguing. It was something to look into, and given the nature of the vision and the phrases Ijaat had spoken, as well as the presence and importance of the book and the pages it had fallen open to. Lots of coincidences that could not be overlooked.

Ijaat passed him the picture of the symbol he had drawn, and Draco frowned. "I have seen that symbol before. On Tython in an old temple. I took an anvil that bore that symbol from that temple a couple of years ago now. I have it at my home. Its made of a metal I had never seen before, that takes to channeling the Force easier than other metals, and is more durable than normal materials. Not quite beskar, but not as degraded as euk'gar either." Draco clicked a few buttons on his datapad and pulled up a picture of the ancient anvil, seated in a workshop.

"If you saw this, the word you heard was Bogan. And it puts a lot of this into perspective for me." He shrugged, the Mandalorian having been to Tython more than once, and having been interested in the planets history knew the moon, but he wasn't aware of much history of the place. "Its one of the moons of Tython, and likely means this artifact is related to the Je'daii in some way."

Draco sighed, flipping through other pictures until he found the image of the Solo-Organa family that hung in the Palace on Aldera. "Was this the face you saw?" He said, sliding an image of a painting of the Solo-Organa Family, all five of them with a Wookiee standing behind them.

The book had given him suspicion, Ijaat could confirm his suspicions or deny them. But it would make sense to the Mandalorian.

[member="Ijaat Mereel"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Tython... Je'daii... Bogan... The words seemed to race through his mind, causing an inexplicable excitement and readiness that was far from any sort of negative descriptor. When Draco mentioned that the anvil in his mind could be in his possession, the master smith barely controlled his excitement. Doing so was only achieved by intently focusing on the other who continued to speak. The boy had learned well, assessing the metal and having the sense to not just try to quantify in numbers, but in comparative strength and analogy and weakness. Whatever this anvil was made of, Ijaat would give his left arm to get a chance to study it.

Finally, Draco flipped to a picture of some family, or group of people. And right away Ijaat nodded without hesitancy. His finger shot to the younger man in the picture, though not the youngest. That was the morphing face, the facade of the one who had turned into Draco. Who had given Draco a part of himself, and whose eyes had stayed the same even when the faces had morphed and changed. Who they were, what they were, and why Draco had a picture of a painting of them was beyond his ken. But suspicion was such that he was willing to be that they were connected to Alderaan and the book. One of the Organa's or Solo's or some such.

Finally, he spoke.

"The metal, could I see it? Study it? Such properties are unheard of without alchemy or imbuement, and to alter it the way you describe... I can scarce dream of the ability and power it must have taken to figure out the process. Let alone make it. But I digress, the trio in my last vision were the middling man, the woman of his age, and the older woman there. Thankfully, the wookie was not involved. Wookies make me nervous..."

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"Aye, you can inspect it. Replicating it is beyond my skill or I would have made more using that metal. Its on Alderaa in my workshop. I travel with it on occasion, but normally I keep it at my house. Its not tainted or radiating Dark Side energy, and proximity to my Ankarres trees makes it easier to calm and focus on it, channel my energy into the anvil. Thing is a mystery to me, but it works and its not evil, so I make use of it." His voice was level, trying, and failing to hide his excitement that the newly empowered master Beskarsmith would be able to replicate the material using his new found abilities. It wasn't an all powerful metal, but it took to Force Imbuement a little easier, made channeling his power into it easier than any other Force Imbued weapon he'd ever made.

"I thought as much. That's Jacen Solo. It kind of makes sense that you would have a vision of him when you touched the book, especially considering the artifact on the table. He's one of Faith's ancestors, and there is a painting of the Solo clan in the Aldera Royal Palace. She is a lot more interested in her family history than I am, but those were the original heroes, you know. The ones that took down the Empire and the Yuuzhan Vong. That clan interests me." Draco didn't read a lot, but he enjoyed the stories about that era more than he enjoyed the other myths and legends. One family formed the fulcrum of the Galaxy for the better part of a century.

"The reason it doesn't surprise me is because he was renowned, at least in the legends I've read and been told, as one of the most knowledgeable Jedi of his era. The era some of the mysteries of Tython were rediscovered. If anyone new about it in the modern era, it would be someone like him. Though personally I was hoping Leia would have written a passage about how Grandmaster Skywalker revealed all of the Force's secrets to her, but alas, he didn't. Either he didn't know, or he couldn't explain them." Draco shrugged, putting the book down, and closing his eyes. Sighing deeply he cleared his mind of all the clutter and stray thoughts.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb, and say Jacen probably knew or had some idea what this thing is, based on your visions that you've had, and what you have seen and said."

[member="Ijaat Mereel"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

"Netted yourself an actual, factual Princess then with that sort of ancestry, eh? Fierfek... Well you beat me, I only ever got to Countess.... But in all honesty.... Helpful to know Jacen might have known all this.... But... How do we figure out what the connections are? It's not exactly the HoloNet in my brain sadly, I can't press 'next' and we go on to the film after. So does this Jacen have a book or journal? Or an old academy or temple? Something where we can find out what he knew so we can find out what you need to know of him? And... I guess in my own journey.... What he knows that could help? Or some such?"

With the question asked, Ijaat turned and eyed the chest again, eyes wistful and almost thoughtful. He had heard vague notions of one of the Solo children in his travels. He knew the names, but not faces, of the whole family in vague ways. Only Jaina did he know much of the exploits of, due to her training under Fett, and her quest to kill her brother. It was something of a legend on Concord Dawn, an example of being mando'karla, or 'having the right stuff'. That much grit and determination was a feat even hardened people like the Mandalorians appreciated and remembered. Plus, growing in a Clan so tightly connected to the Fett legacy, and the Protectors and True Mandalorians, he knew almost all the lore there was to know on Boba and the like. So finally he spoke.

"We are going to need a good ship.... And you might be away from home for a minute.... But first.... We need to get to reading that book and finding whatever ties you to Jacen... Then we work on figuring out what this box holds.... And if we can trust anyone to tell them about it... Something this ancient, as you imply it is... Well... It won't very well be without jealousy and covetous desire... So who do we trust, or do we trust at all?"

[member="Draco Vereen"]