Dominion Cubed | GA Dominion of Janara III

[Rakaan Horne]

JANARA III - Korvan Toldreyn

​

His answer was little more than a nod, a slow nod both subtle and continous. Korvan never needed to finish his sentence, Rakaan understood and revealed as much with the shift in his features sewn onto his face. The two Jedi that Master Tolderyn mentioned had been fine allies of Rakaan, albeit older and of some influence over a once much more impressionable Jedi Padawan. Even now, such remained even if to a lesser extent. Both had been militant, martial, fast into battle -- it seemed. Rakaan favoured said methods, even while met with dissapointment from his former master.

Rakaan huffed with a touch of amusement from the remark that followed.

The Jedi turned across to the identical soldiers, able to note one from his armour above the rest. "Commander," Rakaan called to the same man that seemed to have rushed across to his beck and call, "It's time to move on." He ordered with a nod.

In the jungles of Janara III, the Jedi and soldiers continued on their march in search of the inhabitants of the system that had been rumoured to have fled their homes in the desolation. Rakaan and Korvan found no such people, not even a trail. Still, Rakaan left them with more than what he entered with. Troublesome times, indeed.

​

 

[Dagon Kaze]

​

There was no surprise Bernard held strongly the same notions as Dagon did. The Arkanian knew all too well, perhaps more than anyone else, the necessary divide between the Jedi and the government. The raven-haired Knight was certain Master Tafo held similar concerns.

He merely eyed the SIA agent, reluctant to give him a response, but still acknowledging his ruminations. Traversing the treacherous stars and routes of the Unknown Regions straight to the 'deepest pit of the Chaos' led to two names lighting up as bulbs in the murk of the Wayfinder's mystery. Thalia Senn and Atlas Drake . The first had recently redeemed herself from her fall to the Dark Side in service to the New Sith Order while the second knew, perhaps more than anyone else, the intricacies of navigating through the maze that was the Unknown Regions.

Both, at face value, seemed to hold the knowledge that may aid them should the Jedi uncover at least some of the secrets of the Sith Wayfinder.

In here? Among the den of wolves that was the SIA? Dagon kept that knowledge to himself.

"The Wayfinder stays with us after this." he plainly stated. The tone was clear -- it was non-negotiable.

And here they were, once more, three of the last surviving Jedi since it all began, on yet another journey against the Sith. One that might be their last.

Dagon closed his eyes as his senses opened up to the ethereal, warily prodding the corrupted object with his mind. In the physical world, it began to levitate but in the fathomless realm of the Force, darkness lashed out at their cautious reach.

Stay vigilant, Jasper, he uttered telepathically to the padawan among them. The investigator's mind circled around the apprentince's presence within the Force, prepared to fend off the Dark Side from the boy, while Aaran and Bernard dove into the object.

Aaran Tafo Bernard Jasper Kai'el Aeson Keel
​

 

[Aeson Keel]

Dagon Kaze | Aaran Tafo | Bernard | Jasper Kai'el

​

"The Wayfinder stays with us after this."

"Now now, Kaze. You know the Jedi have no real jurisdiction on anything we collect. You and the MIssus will have to work that out later. Once my fine Blind Cousin over there finishes with his mystical Jedi scan we'll be taking it back to headquarters and comparing notes with what we found." What they found was nothing, but the Jedi didn't need to know that.

"You all just got back to Coruscant. It would be real nice if you didn't have to leave again, at least for a while." Aeson took out his flask and took a swig. Then he started to shake. He gasped, grasping Jasper's shoulder to steady himself.

"Oh no, what's happening? The Darkness- The darkness I think its-"

 

[Dagon Kaze]

​

Once my fine Blind Cousin over there finishes with his mystical Jedi scan we'll be taking it back to headquarters--

"No." he managed to cut the agent off before refocusing on the insurmountable task ahead.

The darkness was stirring wildly like an inevitable tempest.

Aaran?

Aaran Tafo Bernard Jasper Kai'el Aeson Keel
​

 

[Kara Jade]

Location: Janara III
Objective 1: Search for Survivors, hopefully
Tags: Valery Noble | Zhea Nox | Yenna | Dhalinar Greystar | Gotto Sorendu | Miri Nimdok | Jasper Kai'el | Jand Talo | Ayra Lowe
​

Kara let out a sigh of relief when she saw the others arrive. The first had been Miri, immediately grabbing the attention of some of the villagers. Wasn’t even a vocal call, but the corrupted people seemed like they could ‘smell’ the newcomer, and they turned towards her.

Knight Zhea followed after, quite literally charging through the streets towards the market square. The woman used the Force to swipe a number of the corrupted villagers away, drawing their attention and giving the Padawan an opening to jump down.

But the words of another drew Kara’s attention. She turned to see Ayra Lowe calling her with a grenade in hand.

A shotgun, a grenade…she hoped they were non-lethal. They weren’t here to kill anyone.

Kara went to jump down, only for the market stall beneath her to start wobbling. Its structural integrity finally buckled under the weight and constant shoving of the corrupted villagers. The Padawan leaped just as the wood snapped under her feet, landing on the ground but almost stumbling in the process.

She made a dash towards the Echani Padawan, assisted through the help of Yenna lifting her up off the ground and flying towards Ayra. Kara landed on her feet, just barely, and grabbed the grenade the teenager was holding out. The blonde took a moment to notice it was indeed non-lethal, before she hit the button and tossed it into a crowd of the villagers.

Not stopping for too long, Kara dashed over towards Yenna. She drew her vibroblade, smashing the butt of it into a villager that had tried to get a bit too close to the Jedi Master.

“Careful Master Yenna, there’s something off with the Force, or our connection with it.”

She glanced over to Gotto, listening to what the Knight had to say. It made sense, whatever had happened in this place had twisted the population's mental state. Could the Force be that damaging to those without a connection?

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Janara III
Tags: Aaran Tafo , Dagon Kaze , Bernard , Aeson Keel ​

Stay vigilant, Jasper,

As Master Kaze spoke these words into Jasper's mind, a chill ran down his spine. No, not a chill. It was comparable to a hand raking it's fingernails lightly over the ridges of his back. The hairs on his back stood up in succession, as if there was something physically present behind him. Yet, there was nothing when he glanced over his shoulder. In spite of this, Jasper fixated on Dagon's words... Stay vigilant. He had encountered strange and twisted things since returning to the Jedi Order. If he could survive through that, he could make it through this too. He just needed to focus.

The hand of the SIA agent on his shoulder made Jasper jump a little, in no short part due to the raking sensation down his back. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face, but he maintained his focus, keeping his Force Light up. If anything, the agent would need it as well.

"Oh no, what's happening? The Darkness- The darkness I think its-"

"Don't panic," Jasper told the man as calmly as he could. "I-I'm doing my best to protect us, but I need you to try to stay calm."

This was the most he had ever used Force Light before. Already, Jasper could feel a slight strain. If the SIA agent ended up doing something reckless and breaking his focus, the padawan was sure he wouldn't be able to get the light up again. Weak or not, one less buffer against whatever malicious thing was left in that wayfinder could dictate how the rest of the operation proceeds. Jasper couldn't let that happen.

He was in this for the long haul.

 

[Aeson Keel]

Dagon Kaze | Aaran Tafo | Bernard | Jasper Kai'el

​

Aeson paused in his unbidden trembling and gave the Padawan a side-eyed glance, a mischievous smirk snaking its way over his once terrified features. Now his eyes shone with amusement. He started trembling again but this time he burst out laughing instead of carrying on like a terrified sheepo. He slapped the padawan on the back, wiping a tear from his eye and took another swig from his flask.

"I was just busting your sail lad," he said, his laughs slowing to a mere chuckle. "Good laugh you gave me, though your friend Dagon is ruining the mood." He didn't whisper.

 

[Jand Talo]

UNLIGHT OF JANARA III

The Padawan accepted the non-lethal decision on behalf of the Jedi Masters with regard to the village populace, however the more aggressive fauna in the region were a problem, regardless of corrupted state or not. Roaming packs of wolf-like beasts (or worse) were not an uncommon report, the planet of Janara III was harsh and dangerous, and removing the Force-induced darkness from a territorial hunter didn't alter what it was. And there was little doubt in Jand's mind that the pack, which rapidly approached him, was to blame for the carcasses and remains scattered throughout the region - some not animals, either.

Merely touching the bones had shown glimpses of the ravenous pack.

Jand narrowed his gray eyes and closed the distance. He knew from experience on his own planet that packs operated in particular ways. Many believed the leader to be at the front, that was inaccurate, and it was usually the oldest animal that held the lead. Not because of strength or position, but because of age and being the one to draw attention from the real threats - the flanks and rear, the latter where the leader remained.

A burst of the Force, enough to reinforce Jand's already impressive dexterity, saw the Padawan flip through the air above the pack. The beasts snapped and snarled, but he had changed direction and elevation suddenly, which left the animals flatfooted; they had likely expected to pounce as their prey attacked the lead elderly beast.

"You," Jand muttered, as his dark gaze zeroed in on one particular beast in the rear. "The alpha."

Jand landed in a roll, the dust kicked up around him, before he dove forward and slashed with his blue blade. There was a subtle indication of weight against the energy blade, before it passed, and a howl from the corrupted beast that slathered with ichor and shadowy mist from its very form. The lightsaber had struck true, yet the dark side had given the beasts unexpected attributes - namely resilience, as the alpha wasn't felled, but rather was slashed and left with swirling smokiness from the wound.

"I see... this will be more challenging. Very well."

Valery Noble | Yenna | Zhea Nox | Dhalinar Greystar | Kara Jade | Gotto Sorendu | Ayra Lowe | Miri Nimdok​

 

[Cordé Sabo]

D U L C E T
E M P R E S S T E T A | A T M O S P H E R E
______________________________________________________________

O B J E C T I V E III | G I H E N N O M I I
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Orange, yellow and molten, one of the walls she’d counted that kept them closed in started to melt and peel away in the shape of a circle. More like a bling oval, but Cordé let out a subtle exhale and shudder of relief regardless. Claustrophobia’s cloud still hung over her, but it was less intense.

Sion mentioned kyber, and it was something she’d been briefed on.

“They’re combustible in clusters.” She repeated from the briefing, and brought her blaster up to shoulder height.

“Probably used to power some of this station. That’s what they did for Csilla.” She kept her back to Sion, covering him while he carved. Her HUD still returned nothing in her scopes. No readings of heat in their tiny, shared space.

She shivered again, remembering the unlikelihood that the ceiling closed because of protocol.

“Be careful.”

Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. It was very likely she was deluding herself, piling on the discomforts in the closed space, so she chocked it up to traditional security cams and kept her scope facing the darkness.

Distantly, she heard a noise above the murmur of metal melting beneath Sion’s blade. Maybe she imagined it. But maybe she didn’t.

“You hear that?”

______________________________________________________________
Sion Lorray
______________________________________________________________​

 

[Sion Lorray]

Cordé Sabo

"When am I ever not careful?" Murmured amused over his shoulder as he set his jaw. This thick-plated wall was stiffer competition than the training floors of the Jedi temple. The saber didn't run through it like butter. Unless the butter was cold, frigid and unrelenting. Then it was exactly like butter. "Well, there was the time I solo'd that Sith Master..." Sion answered his own rhetorical question.

Just to keep talking.

Because those corrupted kyber crystals? It hurt listening to them. They were broken, but hopefully... he could fix them or at least end their pain.

"Hear what?"

It couldn't be the crystals. Cordé wasn't force sensitive. Was there something else beyond those keening noises in the Force? Sion frowned and tried to listen closer.

Just that moment the saber completed its trajectory and seared through the metal. A large spherical plate of metal dropped down backwards into the obscured room. The sound it made boomed through the corridors. Sion cringed and kept his saber at a ready... but... nothing. Just the Kybers. "I think we are in the clear."

Famous last words.

Sion stepped on through the artificial hole. Raising his saber he illuminated the grounds beyond. And immediately took a step back, bumping into Cordé, while stiffling a gasp.

"There are dead here." Muttered quickly. "Must have... suffocated when the station lost its power and atmosphere."

Did... one of them move? No, that was just his imagination playing tricks on him, certainly.

"Let's go. The sooner we get to the crystals... sooner we can get out of here."

 

[Cordé Sabo]

"If you're referring to Teta, that wasn't solo." She smirked, still keeping her back to him and providing cover.

He asked what she heard, and she couldn't answer. She just shrugged, which he couldn't see.

"Maybe it was nothing, then."

Eventually, he succeeded. The ring of the metal oval falling through bounced around from wall one, to wall two, to wall three, to wall four. And bounced. And bounced.

If that hatch were open, the sound would have ended much sooner than the seemingly endless ricocheting of the closed off space.

Cordé exhaled to calm her nerves. Her eyes closed and snapped open just when Sion bumped into her.

"Dead?" Cordé repeated, and relaxed her diligence covering his back, siding with him and peering at the stillness of fallen Maw shipmen. She hmmm'd out her consideration, and reached up to tap on infrared to her HUD. The bodies were blue. No heat exuded from them.

The idea of suffocating tapped into her original claustrophobic reaction to being sealed into the chamber, and she visibly shuddered. Still, for good measure, something told her to point her scope at the bodies while the readings confirmed their percentage of accuracy. The blue settled at a strong 90%, but still loaded.

Eerie.

"Couldn't agree more." One hand freed, and leveled to point down one of the open corridors straight ahead. The vambrace on her arm glowed a light blue, multidimensional map they'd been issued. White marks indicated plausible routes from the assumed schematics, and red areas indicated places of interest. One being the supposed Kyber chamber.

"Straight ahead, looks like."

All too eager, she swapped places with Sion to take the lead and seek both their location and, hopefully, an exit.

Sion Lorray

 

[Sion Lorray]

Cordé Sabo

He smiled absently and nodded.

"I will give you that. Couldn't have done it without you." The tone colouring his voice would be familiar to Kovacs at this point. It often accompanied him when he checked her hip in jest.

This time Sion checked his feelings instead. Not the time. Not. The time. "Dead." Sion repeated to confirm her question. "Very... very dead." And yet... they didn't feel... completely dead. Which was strange to him. As they walked deeper into the corridor? It was almost like he felt something off of them. An echo of self.

"Creepy..." Sion murmured as he picked his way through it. There were gaps on the floor between the bodies. Careful steps necessary. "Bad way to go." He shook his head there.

They were cultists- the same ones that had burned his face, killed his Master, and yet?

Sion couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for them.

"I think- wait." A little movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his saber towards it. No, just a corpse. "Heh. I think my mind is playing tricks with me. Almost looked like the corpse was twitching."

About to say more Sion was interrupted by a sound in the distance.

It almost sounded like a human voice, but... bad.

"Kriff. You seeing something on your HUD? Can someone still be alive?" It would be zero-signed. No life signals besides the two of them. Scary.

 

[Cordé Sabo]

Cordé's claustrophobic anxiety came out in a defensive snap "This is the only way to go.." she heard herself, and checked herself "So says the map anyway."

Stopped at 90%, the HUD's numbers jittered. Another line connected between the bottom and top of the nine, making it look like an 8 for half a second.

"It's uh.." The eight shuddered, and lost it's left side. Now it looked like a digital 6.

"Somethings wrong with the readings.." The agent murmured, and frowned deeply. "Hold on, let me see if I can…" in a space free of the fallen, she pressed her back to the wall and crouched, slipped off her helm, and fidgeted with something on the inside ear. Her blaster rested against her kneel.

"Nothing's physically wrong with the connection…" Cordé mused aloud, and flipped the gear over once-twice between her hands.

"I don't…"

While distracted, Cordé missed the twitch of a leg. More animated than someone should be when lifeless.

She did not miss, however, the gutteral sound of a groan that filled their tiny tunnel a half-instant before something wound its way around her ankle.

Surprised, she yawped and shoved firmer back against the wall— dropping her HUD in favour of her blaster and kicking at the hand that clutched her boot.

Sion Lorray

 

[Sion Lorray]

Cordé Sabo

He was going to point out that wasn't what he meant, but.

Cordé seemed rather upset. Strange to think that. She was so put-together and in control in the other situations they had been in. But these tight corridors really seemed to bring something out of her. While she was redoing her readings Sion resolved himself to be more reassuring. At least one of them needed to get a grip.

That way the other could draw strength from it.

"That... yeah, that's weird." And as Sion waited? That feeling of wrongness continued. There were no more odd noises from the distance. Maybe it was just the station groaning?

The hulking metal compressing and decompressing.

Yes, that was probably it!

"Well, it might be the-" Another groan interrupted Sion. He whirred around just in time to see Cordé grapple with... an... arm. Of the CORPSE. Which was currently clawing at Kovacs. "OH- KARK." Without a second thought Sion brought his saber down and cut the arm off at the elbow. The hand kept gripping at Cordé's feet.

The rest of the body?

It was now distracted by Sion.

Sion on the other hand?

Was distracted by the other corpses starting to rise up, moaning, and CERTAINLY not as dead.

 

[Cordé Sabo]

There should have only been vacant, sucked-out silence in these halls, but now there was moaning and groaning of inhuman standard. Deep, belly-set growls that scratched at her ears. They all sounded strangled and agonised.

And now that she had her helmet off, there was the smell she was now acutely aware of too.

The panic was unprofessional and blinding. Small, tight spaces, filled with the dead-not-dead, was causing black dots to line her peripherals. The grip around her ankle was impressively strong, and the impossibility of reanimation was almost too much to come to terms with in the instant of the attack.

Blinding blue seared through the inches between herself and the jaw-stretched corpse, swollen and discoloured, of the ritualist. The superheated blade, and brilliant light, was enough for her to snap out of her temporary terror.

This was so unnatural it couldn’t have been science. It had to be the Force.

Deep within, Cordé felt the affirmation settle. The emotional schism of unease folded to re-seal. Any progress she’d made, mentally, toward acceptance, was doused and replaced with intense focus. She felt the pressure loosen from her chest, and she drew in a sharp breath that flooded her senses with the reality they were faced with.

She kicked again, forcibly, and the lingering appendage let go. Falling unceremoniously to the ground while Cordé scrambled back to her feet, blaster held at eye level. Several haunting eyes stared back as she rotated to get a sense of their new surroundings.

“This just got a lot more complicated.” Cordé muttered, just as one of the taller, more brutish-sized undead lumbered into a lunge at the living pair. It was down quicker than it had risen, with a fresh hole smoking through its forehead.

“We have to keep going forward. If we try to get back through the hatch we came in, they’ll get us from below.”

She flashed a glance to Sion Lorray , risking the eye contact to see if she could get a read on his agreement or otherwise.

 

[Sion Lorray]

Cordé Sabo

"Complication is one way of describing it...."

He parried another lunge from a third zombie on the scene. The lightsaber seared right through the arm. It had the same effect as the first time he chopped however. The arm gained its own sentience, trying to get to his feet, and the body stumbled backwards... and then began to climb back onto his knees.

"Yeah, good call." Sion gasped out there, already he was starting to feel suffocated by the sudden surge in the Darkside. It was all-consuming, overwhelming, it made him feel things he did not want to feel.

Fear, pain... anger.

His hand lashed out and from him ripped a whirlwind of air. It ripped through the zombies. Ripped was a strong word. They sustained no damage at all, but slung them to the walls, paving a quick way for them.

"Quick, before they get up again." Instinct told Sion to grab Cordé's arm and haul her with. Experience told him that would earn him a punch in the face the moment this was over. Instead he set out, keeping his lightsaber at ready, and his eyes focused on the path forward. Trusting that Kovacs would have his back.

The trust came easy.

In the moment anyway.

 

[Cordé Sabo]

Hearing about The Force's power was not the same as witnessing it. Each time, as much as she wanted to be unimpressed, she felt the opposite. A twinge of awe flickered where there should have been disdain. It was quickly doused with the dogmatic reminders of her upbringing, and how power was so easily abused. How unnatural it was.

And, of course, the stress of the situation commanded most of her focus.

Tight spaces. Reanimated bodies. An incomplete objective at the end of a corridor.

She adjusted so she could walk backward while Sion Lorray walked forward, keep her blaster at eye-line, and check the schematics of the downloaded blueprint of the massive starship. The other teams never registered on the map since they descended, she was just a little lone dot in a multidimensional map.

“Maybe when we reach the end of this hallway it’ll just be us and the crystals.” She suggested, feigning optimism. Her voice sounded thinner than she would have liked.

 

[Sion Lorray]

Cordé Sabo

Awe that was ripped away and replaced by... something else.

Even while Sion was trying to bat away the influence of the Darkside he couldn't help but sense Cordé behind him. Maybe it was a testament to the many times they had worked together. Maybe he was an idiot who didn't pay close enough attention to the things that mattered. Like the actual fething zombies around them.

"Wow, Cordé. You? Optimism? You feeling sick over there?" He called out over his shoulder. It was meant to be a joke, jesting to reassert control over the situation, but his voice was higher than usual.

A panicked thread curled through its quality.

They were about to enter the larger room at the end of the corridor. That's when Sion saw it, stopping dead in his tracks, and presumably causing Cordé to stumble into him. "Uuuuh, about that optimism... feth." The room beyond them was FILLED with zombies. They were already moaning, trying to get up, and they looked all kinds of karked up.

The kyber crystals? Some of them were glowing on their mantels, but some of them? Were somehow fused with the corpses.

"Can't go that way.... feth feth feth. Cover my back." He whirled around, looking, trying to find anything- there. On the ceiling there was a vent. He immediately reached out with the Force, yanked the grating off and dropping it on the head of one of the zombies getting too close.

"You got anything? A jetpack, booster boots?" Sion could use the Force, but... he'd have to throw Cordé, wouldn't he?

 

[Cordé Sabo]

She had no indication that Sion Lorray would be stopping — why would he? There were zombies chasing them! If he wasn't moving forward, they'd be in trouble. So, rightfully, she bumped into him. Back to back, and faltered.

It was a necessary pause for her to take in the reality of their worsening situation. She peered over his shoulder, about to question what had made him stop, when dread filled her from the toes to the nose.

“This is so unnatural.” Cordé heard herself whisper. Her own voice sounded far away. Like it belonged to someone else and she was overhearing it.

Tension rewound itself through her chest, clenching at the base of her throat. Helplessly, her gaze followed Sion’s efforts and she felt herself wilt.

“N-no, I..” She checked herself, slapping her palm uselessly against her hip as though she might activate some unknown or forgotten component to her basic armour weave that had some level of propulsion.

She was wearing the wrong outfit for this mission. This mission that was supposed to be exploring an abandoned ship and supporting a Jedi Padawan with some mystic hullabaloo over some easily-combustible, stupid Force-connected, superpowered crystals.

Honestly, it was a lot.

“We can’t go up there.” Crispness forced itself back into her voice, and she felt it this time. “This room, the cryst—” one of the corpses unfortunate enough to have a chin made of kyber snarled in their direction and picked up speed. Cordé felt the word die on her tongue.

“We’re so close, we’re here, we can take them. I mean, they're already dead.” She insisted, and then, as if to prove her point, picked off in quick succession a pair that made it dangerously close to encroaching on Sion’s personal space.

 

[Sion Lorray]

Cordé Sabo

He nodded in gratitude as she took down two zombies that had come close to him without realizing.

"That's the issue, Cordé." The two she took down? They were already scrambling up again. It was terrifying to watch. The others were already coming closer and closer, recovering from his initial blast. The kyber ones? They were... strange. Their non-kyber siblings seemed to respond to their snarls, listening keenly and reacting.

"We take 'em down, they get back up, there are too many-"

Sion realized this wasn't a moment where they had the time to discuss. Their position was about to be overrun, while they were arguing if they could handle a whole crowd of them.

Before Cordé could get another word in? He seized her around her waist, "Sorry about this, you can hit me in the face if we get out alive." He muttered in her ear and stepped closer beneath the vent. Part of him was already tired. The blast had taken a lot from him. But this was crucial or they would definitely not live to see the next day.

With a great leap Sion pulled them both into the vent and crashed into the pipeline. From the initial angle it hadn't been clear that the vent was bending into a slide.... so instead of respite? The Jedi felt himself be pulled downward... towards... unknown places.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.