Festival of the Lost | CIS Dominion of Krant (Y,44)

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Location: In her ship Castan LCX-L3
Wearing: Casual red shirt and jeans
Interacting: Was open to anyone... could have had great sex...Oh well....
Post: 6





The water lapped in her face. She had been treading water for sometime....only she had no clue or reason to guess at why she was in the middle of the ocean..no,lake. It was a lake for the water was sweet. Sweet in the sense of purity, fresh, satisfying if one were driking it. Only that she somehow was struggling for some reason. She was inhaling water as her legs seemed to be treading in gelatine, she could harly keep them moving. And she was sinking deeper and deeper...
Karlie held her breath hoping to surface again...only she was slowly descending...the surface above her seemingly getting further and further distant.
At first, the sweetness of the water she tasted again, before it filled her lungs, driving her deeper and deeper below. Somehow or other, she wasn't convulsing as one would while drowning. As a matter of fact, she was feeling her very old self...the surge of currents ran through her veins. Clarity...a sense of supremacy...power.
She kept her eyes open as the fading surface light on the water was nothing more than a distant star in the void of darkness that surrounded her...

"Gasp!...Oh wow..." Karlie opened her eyes to the starry night outside her clear canopy.

The fading dream was quickly diminishing, even getting lost to memory. But some imagery lingered, like the haunts of the past.
Karlie looked around her. She was sitting upright on her bed in the cockpit...yes, in a unique ship she herself designed. And of course there was the comp...not her design, but her father's. It had been a surprise to Karlie when she first got her ship from the builders that her father had infused an Ai in the clockworks. It had been daunting at first, with Karlie contemplating scuttling her ship in a nearby star while she escaped in one of the pods. But soon enough, she realized it had its good points. Besides, she really had no one to connect with and the Ai proved to be quite a companion...much like some asto-mech droids are to some geeky pilots. Although, Karlie would never admit to being one of those...a geek.

"Revelation?" The Ai asked. It somehow picked up that Karlie had awakened with some..clarity in what had been disturbing her a few hours ago. In a way, it had been the AI to suggest Karlie get some rest and something about what had been bothering her would either pass or be resolved.

"Er....what?...what are you talk-" Karlie then took a deep breath, as her thoughts caught up.
"...Oh...Oh right. Yes..." She thought about it some more before swinging her legs over to the side and plant them on the floor.

She looked over to the crono...it was just one past midnight. Still quite early. The festival and whatever hocus-pocus was still going on. But she had some ideas..or at least some questions before she'd jump to conclusions.

"The analysis report...bring it up again." Karlie then said sliding over to the foot of the bed where the console was. She could of used the one at the head of her bed, but the one at the pilot seat included a full HUD and at a much larger resolution. She had certainly missed something...maybe the key as to why that haunting voice came and went. It had been hours since she was caught off guard in the shower and she had even fallen asleep. In the past, her mother's ghost had been able to easily enter her dreams. Only now, while still here on Krant, her mother had not entered her dreams.

The analysis were projected in front of her, but the elements she was seeking were not there...or had not been recorded.
"The midi counts...what of the midiclorean?" Karlie asked.

"Midiclorean counts along with other irrelevant organics were not included in the analysis, Karlie. They are common waste products of your unique system...." Her Ai replied as it then included the midi count graft.

"Holy fraken krat dragons!" She gasped, looking at the high midi counts in the water.
"And you omit this in the analysis?!... look at that spike!" Karlie pointed to the midi parts per million that had been present in her urine.

"But the midicloreans deciphered were of no relevance as they were 98% expired. The remaining active 2% were still within your normal system waste, although they were at a 74% concentration compared to your normal single digit expulsion rate." The Ai pointed out.

"Yea, but look at the 98% of the dead midi's...they are over...1200 something percent of any thing I've ever peed out. That only means I've had to have ingested 1200 times more midis than I ever normally consume." And that was true. Karli's midi counts weren't hers anymore, as her immune system eradicated midicloreans.

That ongoing eradication was due to her Sebrix-9 project at doing away with the virus by which all living creatures in the galaxy had adapted into having a symbiotic relationship with..other wise- Well, otherwise they or the other would be dead. And Karlie had opted to de-revolutionize herself and do away with that co-existence. It had caused her many griefs...it had once put her on a destructive road to not only become her sith mother's apprentice, but the very fact that her mother had no intention of passing on her crown to Karlie, but to one day take possession of her daughters body as a vessel to eternal life. And it had been discovered that her mother had done this for centuries.
Karlie had been nothing more than a new vessel that her mother would step into when the time was right.

"But those midicloreans, were inactive...they had been eradicated by your immune system and would not have caused you that distress."

"On the contrary...they did. That initial amount within my system could have caused my hallucination...or to my fear, a connection."

"What connection are you referring to, Karlie? I do not compute how any connection could have been made to cause your hysteria"

"Pft!....hysteria.... never heard that one.
The force you rusty clockwork. It reconnected me to the force." Karlie had finally figured it out. The beer. The beer was made with the waters of the lake. And she had connected when drinking the beer. Then the water she brought on board. Again, it had been lake water. And the vendor had stated that the lake was mostly fed from underground springs.

"The force is an unknown factor by which I cannot measure, nor confirm."

"Yea, yea, yea....look, I'm going to have to go back to the lake....
Take samples..water samples and then-..." Karlie was talking to herself, as she knew what she was going to do and what game plan she had. She then shut down the HUD and got out of her chair, heading to the exit. She got to the console, punching in to unlock the ship's door and lower the ramp.

"Uhm...what's with the door?" Karlie asked, punching in her command again.

"Perhaps it would be a good idea to get dressed again, Karlie?" Her comp then made her realize she was in her delicates...her underwear.

"Er...yea, good thinking."

 

[Crocell]

Alengside | Krant​

Post: 1​

Mention: [member="Ivory Stroud"]​

​

Why am I here...

Because the drinks are endless and you're not paying. A short nod accompanied the musing in her head and Luna smiled wryly, "Reserve, double. No ice." The pirate drew back in her seat at the bar,brown toes of her boots tucked just under to keep the lass from falling. This had not been a time where Luna Vega had seen better days- in fact, her strange blue hair had been recently touched up and fixed into a mass of braids- braids that were now banded and strung into a mid-ponytail hitting just past her shoulders. She was clean, the only grit was the black coal smudged around her pale gray pools. It was a drastic change-in-pace for the corsair. There were far too many ways and too many words to drone on about slavery and the conditions. Instead, she simply marveled in her new found freedom and snaked her inked fingers about the fresh tumbler of whiskey.

With a sigh, Luna pulled the free drink to her lips, allowing only a swallow to savor as she drank in the room. Lights were of a similar hue to her poison and a soft violet... so soft it could almost be white and strung from high metal rafters to dance in the air. Were there more glass, it would have appeared an underwater grotto with the moonlight splashing the various trinkets. A sound near the bar roused her from her imagination and she tilted the short, clear glass back letting the remainder of contents burn a sweet line from her throat to her belly. A slow drop of her arm and the empty container tapped against the slick wooden top.

Stormy grays met with the tender's blues and before she could begin to speak, the refreshing sound of liquid dropping into glass tickled her senses. Luna pointed on finger while the others dressed the recently filled tumbler- I see you and many thanks. Her nails tapped idly, while her other hand pilfered a thin cigarra from the confines of a leather vest and slipped it betwixt two fingers, then her bare lips. Vega held it there, nipping the tip with her teeth and those same digits delved into a different pocket for a light.

With one flick, the immediate area about her filled with light plumes of iridescent smoke, near glittering in the alien light.

The front door of the bar swung open, and Ivory stepped inside. She stood for a moment, surveying the beautiful decor - her eyes seemed slightly puffy, but her appearance could have been easily overlooked in the dim, ethereal lighting. She loved bars like this... Places with an atmosphere all their own. Only the best people frequented these places.

Weaving through the crowd who'd come to the area for the Festival, Ivory took in the atmosphere - everyone seemed to be letting go of their past and enjoying the sacred power of nearby Lake Aleng; the booze was flowing and every emotion was on display; tears and laughter in equal portions.

Booted feet traced an uneven path through the throng to find herself at the bar... Immediately beside [member="Luna Vega"]. Ivory offered the blue-haired pirate a sly grin and nudged the beauty with an elbow - then, she flagged the bartender down with a wave and a shout: "Hey! Two drinks! Best ya got!" And slapped down a credit chit.

She had let out some sorrow, and was now ready to drink.

 

[Luna Vega]

Alengside | Krant​

Post 2​

Mention: [member="Ivory Stroud"]​

The voice of the stranger lingered past the soft puff of smoke-- it was as if it came through a tunnel and then amplified into the pirate's ears. Having been used to occasions such as these alone, it had taken a moment to reply. Gray pools blinked a near dozen times before deciding it was confusion and the sultry setting of the room that took her unawares and not the woman before her. Many folk swiped a seat at the bar... though admittedly, it was to better be served than for the conversation of surrounding patrons.

With a fan of her hand, Luna cleared the air between them, albeit though with the same one that held the lit cigarra. The pirate hinted a smile before it played full on upon her lips. She'd swiped the chit and slid it back to [member="Ivory Stroud"]. "...'parently ss'on th'boss." Her thin shoulders shrugged under the vest buttoned about her, "B'sides, the best company is alwa-" the blue-haired lass looked sheepish and hid the words in her glass, swallowing a sip of warm amber, "alwaays freee."

Shifting in the stool, her lilt deepened, "Luna Vega...an...'y'arr?" Two more fingers winked at the tender and moments passed before both orders slid cleanly across the dark polished wood.

 

[Karlie Lynn Destat]

Location: Heading back to the lake
Wearing: Casual red shirt and jeans
Interacting: Was open to anyone... we could have had great sex... Oh well....
Post: 7


The cooler night air, accented by the stars above lit Karlie's way from her vessel back to the lake.
It were only an hour past midnight and for most whom were still at the festival grounds and such, the night had just begun. But Karlie had her experiences already and whether or not the folk lore had come to be real or a figment of her imagination, it had certainly been brought on by the lake's waters. The mineral contents making the water sweet and along with the heightened midis which it contained in parts per million made it extraordinary and the prime suspect by her account. But she need facts....substantial evidence.
That came with her taking samples of the waters and analyse it. What she wanted to know was how could water contain and sustain that amount of midi concentrations.
This was a first. The first time an inanimate compound had more parts per million of midicloreans than a living entity...or some beings for that matter.

Karlie reached the village, passing quite a few people and beings who for the most part had in some way experienced what she had...or similar. But no doubt they had been near the lake or had consumed the water in some form and then gone to the lake. Whatever the means, the connection between their midi and that of the lake had caused them to see or believe they had seen or communicated with loved ones...or the deceased anyway.

"Well, you cleaned up pretty well..." Karlie had not realized she was passing the same vendor as before.

"Oh..
Oh, hello. .." She stopped for a moment. Yea, she kind of knew him now in a manner, she supposed when she took to realizing it was his voice.
"Yes...needed a good shower.." She nodded, approaching his stand. She did clean up well.

"Well, I have to say it's nice to see you got over what spooked you." he then said, motioning to her a drink.

Karlie smiled shaking her head.
"No..no thanks. That water is...is a bit too rich for my taste." She replied.

Well, she didn't wish to insult the man, as his beers were tasty. just that she herself could not handle the rich contents of midi's that would flood her system. Sure, her body immune system got right down and busy tagging and eliminating the virus, but in that quantity, her old nervous system lit up like a decorative pine tree. And in such concentrations, while they remained alive the midi's reconnected like that of her own past midis. And that was what she now had come to assume reconnected her to the force. It were in some minute form, but the midis did connect and open the doorway for her mother's spirit to once more connect with her.
Thank the gods, her immune system had come around to recognize and destroy midis even in that amount of concentration. otherwise, she feared she'd have spiraled back down to the darkest dept she had once been trapped in. And no way in this universe was she going back to that dark stage in her life again. Her mother may have been sith and had passed on her genes and imposed her will on to her in the past; but Karlie was no sith...not now, or ever again.

"Hahaha... I can respect that. Not many who try our beer here can abstain like that. Have to tip my hat to you...if iIhad a hat...hahaha.."

"Yea, yea...hehe...funny. " She replied in same fashion. No, she didn't take offense She figured his good nature. he was quite sociable and if he had tended bar...an excellent bar tender to shoot the hay with.

"But say..." She looked over the various taps.
"Can you bottle a few samples for me? I mean, like seal up the freshness of the beers for me to take back home." She then asked.

"You want to take some beer home to your friends? Hmm...can't really re-bottle the crafts. Once poured...the air... " He waved his hand around.
"It works to spoil it in a few hours. Even if you chill it, it not that good the next day and so.."

"Oh...wish I could take some home..." Karlie's voice dropped in disappointment.

"Give you a good price on the kegs" he then said.

"Huh?..what do you mean?"

"The kegs." He pointed out.
"The beer in the kegs last for quite sometime....months even. I got some untapped kegs still. They'll make the trip."

"I'll take it all!" Karlie beamed.
Then...
"Oh wait...how much you got? My ship's hold kinda...packed already." No, she wasn't going to confess she had her ship stocked with mostly wardrobes and such. But she did have some room.

"Well, those three on the side there. Kind of brought more than i thought I'd sell. better have enough than not, is my motto...hahaha.."

Karlie looked over to the kegs and smiled. "Three...I can do three."

In no time, she laid down what he asked and then some. She informed him it was what she called a tip. With a little explanation of what it meant and why someone would pay more without bartering, he agreed and happily shook her hand. he then explained it was how they concluded a deal on Krant. Well, she quite understood that and both had a good laugh. As it was, Karlie then offered to pay him extra if he could get the kegs on over to her ship. She was on her way to collect some lake water, she explained and would return.
he would still be here and would get an associate of his to get the kegs to her ship.

A few minutes later, Karlie was once again lake side. She looked over the glistening lake, the reflections of the festival lights on one of the nearby banks. She could feel nothing. The lake waters had no power or any means of connecting with her for she were at most, midiclorean free. She was however breathing the air. But that minimal amount barely made it to her bloodstream, her immune system was that keen.

"You almost got me, mother. Almost nabbed me again. ..sigh.." She found herself talking to the lake.

"I'm going to find out who exactly you were and why...why you'd do what you'd set out to do to your own daughter. I curse you, you know. I curse you almost every day i come to remember you.
Damn you. damn you to eternal hell..." Karlie nearly lost it as a whimper escaped her.

She wiped what little tear had formed, before she keeled by the water's edge and filled a sample flask. She capped it and moved on toward the other bank. She were aiming on taking various samples from a few location around the perimeter. maybe the lake was indeed supplied from several underground springs, but maybe not all were responsible for the composition of the waters. maybe there was one unique source and the samples would or could indicate such. If anything, she knew she'd return regardless. This lake had some unique composition and qualities. She was a scientist in her bureau. And besides, she now had a quest. To find out who and what her deceased mother was and how she came to be.

Karlie had a score to settle.