Flight of the Sword

[Sena]

The night on Won Shasot was dark. Nightfall on any planet was dark because of the nature of it. But this was a particularly dark planet. Beneath her the city was in sleep. Having slept two hours, Sena was fully awake, her day beginning. Virtually all other creatures she knew slept for many hours, and she had grown accustomed to this. She spent the early hours of the day often in solitude; meditating on the Force. After she had risen, she found her way to the top of the temple Dax had brought her to. The night was serene. But even more so when there was a view to behold.

Having meditated for a time, Sena leaned back, putting her hands out flat behind her. White hair, almost seeming to glow in the dark from the contrast, a soft breeze carrying it lightly in the air. Her legs were extended out, knees bent, bracing herself. Sena's mind was still in a shock. Her whole life had changed in a matter of hours. The term hours was loose to her. Many days could be described as hours in her mind. And days it had been since she had met Dax.

Following her grim arrival to the planet, Dax had shown her how to use the lightsaber she inherited. Sena's skills with the weapon were limited, but coming along. At the very least, she had learned how to control it and not let it be the master of her. It was not quite an extension of the arm, as some would say that it should be, but she had still a ways to go.

Sighing, Sena leaned her head back, looking to the sky. Sena had always loved flying and being beyond the reach of the ground. On her face there was a smile, but it seemed not as if she were happy despite this. There was a sadness in her eyes. "Oh, how I wish I was there now," she said softly, looking to the heavens.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

"You will be...soon." the Rogue Master said to his ward, announcing his silent approach. "Its a big place out there. A whole galaxy." The man stood beside the taller woman and gazed up at the stars, all pulsing with their own lights, their own heart beats. Ever since Dax was a child, space always held such wonders for him. He had always wondered what the vast galaxy could hold, what wonders and beauties. He'd seen quite a few since those long ago days. "Even for someone who could live as long as you, I'm not sure you could see it all, all the mysteries hidden." A few moments longer, and Dax broke his gaze with the ageless void, turning to look at the pale woman, "You've learned a lot since you started your training. But, there's something you haven't really experienced yet, something this planet, and few others, have to offer. I think its time you felt it for yourself."

That was the thing about Won Shasot. As much as it keened to those who'd listen, it always kept its secrets. Hidden beneath the ancient earth, something else was always there, listening, waiting, hoping for someone to come and find it. What, Dax still didn't know. But he felt it. And soon, [member="Sena"] would feel it to. Whatever it was, like another blood vessel in a body, it was part of the planet, and in turn, a part of the nature of the Force.

 

[Sena]

Suppressing her startle from Dax appearing behind her, Sena looked up to him, and watched. He gazed at the stars with the same sort of longing that Sena herself felt. It was not uncommon that people in this galaxy longed for flight, considering the depth at which the heavens could be explored, few could deny its beauty. But at some level, Sena seemed to feel as if Dax had much more than a longing to be there. It wasn't a passion, no. It was the desire for knowledge, needing to know just what is out there. Knowledge had a power. The power of knowing could be far greater than any other if played right. Knowledge, on the same hand, could lead to downfall.

Perceiving the move of muscles before they happened, Sena averted her eyes from Dax, looking now to the city. "This world holds much, I do agree," she said softly. It seemed that each planet she spent time on ended up captivating her. Everywhere she visited had its own beauty and its own flaws. But through the eyes of one who had seen some of the worst flaws the galaxy had to offer, she often saw flaws as beauty too. They added more depth. Nothing could be perfect. "But," Sena began, rising to her feet. "What is it that you wish to show me?" Curiosity was something that Sena had, but not much of. She wanted to know what Dax was speaking of, but never finding out would not upset her. Dax's teachings though, had all been worthwhile to present, so it would do no harm in seeking his next.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

"The end of a people. And the start of my journey." he answered her. "Come on, now's a good a time as any."

As the two humanoids exited the temple, Athena came up from behind and walked alongside Sena. Surprisingly, the canine had taken a quick liking to the pale woman. The kuskuri typically was quite wary of anyone except her handler, but for Sena, the creature was just as comfortable with her as her master. The three quietly left the confines of the massive crater that had become home to them, leaving the silent stones behind for the whisper of the trees in the winds. The tree's trunks were marred by weapons, some burned from more modern weapons, others splintered and broken from the swords and spears still common among the Shasoti.

"When I first arrived here, the Shasoti had tried to kill me and my friend. These scars on the trees. That was all we left behind." he told the woman as his fingers brushed along one of the deep gouges in the wood as the man passed by the tree. "It had been a rival tribe at the time. They didn't know who the wanderers from the stars had been at the time," he let out a sigh, "but these days, I wonder that even if they had known who we were, would it have really stopped them?" The Reaper didn't tell her about what he'd done to some of those attackers, what power he and Nate had unleashed on them. In their time together, Dax still had not told Sena the nature of the curse he carried. He wasn't quite sure if he ever would.

 

[Sena]

Athena still caused a feeling of unease to pass over Sena. This was purely because of her first introduction to the species of Dax's companion. But the creature had grown an attachment to Sena, and in turn Sena had given it care and attention. By the time the three had set out, day light was not far off. Feeling refreshed from the night time, Sena walked with a slight smile, barely visible, but still full of sadness. As they reached a number of trees that were torn up, Dax explained why they were so.

Reaching out, Sena placed her hand on a tree with particularly gruesome marks. It had lived through the events that passed, but was in constant pain. She reached deeper into the tree, the Force revealing...something dark. Sena recoiled from the tree, almost as if in pain. There was no physical pain though. But the Force had shown her a darkness that she dare not stay connected to. "I think..." Sena paused. "Let's keep going," she finally said. The smile had completely vanished from her face.

Sena continued along the journey with Dax. The sun slowly rose, casting the little amount of pale light it could offer. Sena followed Dax more than she was at his side. She looked at him strangely. What had I felt just there? What was that? And just who is he?

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax had stopped as the woman touched the tree. Even the trees here had seen the tragedies of war and the kind of hell the Dark Side could bring on a being. He wasn't surprised when the woman recoiled from the tree.

As the pair proceeded through the forest, the air grew colder, heavier, just a little more suffocating in its nature than it was before. Soon enough the ruins of ancient stone structures could be seen peeking through the treeline, hints at a destroyed civilization. "These ruins are a Dark Side Force Nexus," the Rogue said as he pushed aside the branches and leaves in the clearing, continuing on to the ruined pieces of stone wedged into the earth. "A long time ago, before us, the New Republic, or even the Galactic Empire, this is the place that Qoritan Clan was wiped off the face of the planet by the Derriphani. The Shasoti call this place the Weeping Cliffs." The pair three went deeper into the ruined city, Dax vaulting over a piece of waylaid rubble, Athena clambering over it just beside him, "The Qoritan were warriors just as the rest of the Shasoti, but, they'd suffered too many losses to carry on in the war. And the Derriphani knew it. The Qoritan retreated here, hoping that because they could only be attacked from one side, they'd be safe. Ironically that's exactly what caused their downfall." Pieces of weapons, lay scattered across the ground, the only parts left of them, the stone blades or the occasional rusted bit of steel, eroded beyond recognition. "With nowhere to go, they were pushed to the edge of the cliffs and thrown off it. Down into the deep." They'd come to the edge of the cliff, a single tree growing up out of the ground, leafless, dead. The water beneath them violently crashed into the rock wall of the cliff, the crashes replacing the usual thundering of the skies.

"Take a deep breath a reach out with the Force. Can you feel their fear. Their suffering. Hear their cries?"

[member="Sena"]

 

[Sena]

Before too long there was a shift. It was unmistakable. The very air around her moved differently. In Sena's chest, her hearts quickened, as if her body was growing tense. The forest shifted in her mind. The trees seemed more ominous, towering over her with a sort of menace. Sena quietly took a deep breath in, calming herself. Her keen eyesight started picking up shapes of ruins in the far distance. They were headed straight toward them. Then Dax explained where they were.

With knowledge comes power. Knowing where they were and what surrounded them, the trees seemed to back down; the air became breathable once more. Sena followed Dax through the ruins, working her way around with grace and long legs. Sena looked out over the water. The air pushed her long hair back in the wind. Dropping to her knees Sena, tentatively, reached out to the nexus. The source of power that held this land. Quickly she was swept into it. The Force grew in strength like Sena had never before imagined. Dark thoughts touched her mind, but she staved them off. A whisper came to her. It was almost like the whisper was speaking to her. I cannot hear you, she whispered back to the void.

DIE! The whisper became a scream and Sena's eyes opened violently, not realizing she had closed them. The earth cracked around her, and before she knew what was happening, the ground around her began falling, crumbling toward the water below her. The tree cracked and splintered, sending small shards towards Sena. Getting to her feet from being on her knees took a half a second to long and the earth was sliding fast beneath her. "DAX!" she yelled, summoning the Force to her legs, jumping with all of her might to the edge of earth that had not fallen, she reached her hand out to him.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

As the woman meditated Dax returned to the edge of the ruins and sat down, leaning against the cold stone for support. It could be some time that [member="Sena"] would be there. The man had meditated the Nexus a few times before, and whenever he had, time had seemed to pass much quicker than he'd thought. Athena curled up beside him, likely to take a nap, and Dax softly stroked her pet in the manner which he knew she liked.

It wasn't too long before Dax's eyes shot open. He'd closed them for rest, but the loud crack of shattering earth jolted him into awareness. The ground before him began to fall away, Sena with it. The Rogue sprang to his feet and rushed forward hoping to get to her before the sea claimed her. But the earth was falling into the sea quicker than either of them could run. It claimed the tree next, it's roots coming up out of the ground before plunging into the depths. Miraculously, the girl shot forward, Force propelling her into the air, barely catching onto the last edge of the rock. "DAX!" The man forced himself to run faster, but he could feel the earth still crumbling. Mere feet away, and the bit of rock the girl was clinging to broke. A hand reached out and caught her. Dax had dove forward, just in time to catch the woman by the wrist. The Marshall heaved with all his strength to pull the woman up onto the ledge. Finally he'd succeeded and the woman clambered onto the solid ground.

"What. The feth. Just happened?" the man panted as he got back onto his and peered over the edge, pieces of rock still splashing into the ground. "Damn...long way down..." he muttered to himself. Dax was about to turn back when he spotted something strange. The dark waters that had previously crashed against the resolute stones now seemed to be sucked into the walls of the cliff, as they were being thirstily drunk up. Listening, there was indeed no thunderous crash of water on rock. But listening closer, he could hear the lapping of a shore, echoing through a cave.

The man turned back to Sena, who was now being circled by Athena, protectively watching the woman, "I think there's something down there!"

 

[Sena]

While Dax was looking over the edge, Sena sat, panting still. The shock of crumbling earth that rattled her. When she had finally caught her breath, getting over the shock, she realized that there was a pain in her right arm. A large shard of wood had stuck into her. The tree had sort of exploded when everything happened. With a hiss of pain, she removed the massive splinter. There was an open wound, but nothing that needed immediate attention. She tore off some of the cloth from the clothing it had punched a hole in, applying a makeshift bandage so that blood would not spill everywhere.

After this was all done, Sena joined Dax, examining what was left of the cliff down below. After discussing a plann of action, they decided to walk back to the temple and get plenty of supplies for whatever lay below the earth. At the temple, Sena properly dressed her wound. Then they proceded to gather many different supplies: light sources such as flares, some food for snacking if need be, some minor explosives, and a few other minor things. They boarded a small ship with all of their cargo.

Back at the cliffs, Sena tied off some rappel points with sturdy stakes in the ground. When she had finished, she looked to Dax. "You ready?" she asked, a true glint of curiosity had come into her face. But it was only a hint of excitement. For all I know it could just be a bubble of no earth, she thought to herself.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

After having collected gear and supplies, the group loaded everything onto the Revenant Dawn. The Azalea was still a good ship, but she wasn't meant to hover next to a cliff face with stormy seas threatening to blow her into the wall and bring her crashing into the ocean. The Dawn on the other hand, well, still not quite meant for that. But smaller, and meant to navigate well in atmosphere, she was clearly the better choice for the insane idea Dax and [member="Sena"] were about to attempt.

And 'insane' was exactly what Dax was thinking to himself as he wrapped the rope around his body, preparing to rappel an easy hundred and fifty feet down a cliff with wind that could easily blow him into next year. Yeah...he was thinking to himself he may have relapsed back into insanity.

"All set," he told her as he gave the rope a few solid tugs to ensure that it was holding strong. "I'll go down first, make sure I don't...you know...die." The man gripped the rope with two hands one in front of his waist and one at his tailbone, to serve as his break. He just hoped, should he start a fall, he could stop himself and that the rope wouldn't burn straight through the gloves he wore. Dax eased himself over the edge of the cliff, taking one tentative step at a time. When finally horizontal he gave the one one last mock salute before beginning his descent.

 

[Sena]

Watching Dax slowly slip down the side of the cliff, Sena laughed quietly to herself, with her right hand she gripped the rope tightly with a gloved hand. The other she needed free to use. Seconds after Dax had slipped down the edge of the cliff, Sena, at the top of her lungs yelled "CANNON BALL!" Screeching as she went, she got a running start and jumped off of the cliff. As she started to fall, she contorted her body to be facing the cliff. Almost instantly she passed Dax who was still slowly working his way down.

The rope slipped through her fingers as she kept her grip light.When she was nearing the hole in the cliff she grabbed on tight and the rope caught, swiftly bringing her to the face of the cliff. Her legs and free hand slammed into the cliff side with force. She then looked up and yelled to Dax "You humans have such weak bones!" she yelled. "See ya in there!"

Slightly loosening her grip on the rope, she started sliding down some more, slipping inside the hole, she grabbed a flare from the pack on her back, lighting it she tossed it to what looked like a dry enough spot. Now that she could see where to land, she lowered herself and then stood up, looking into the black. Despite it being a cave Sena could see all that she needed to. Her jaw dropped.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

"CANNONBALL!" Was all Dax heard before seeing the woman suddenly plunging downwards towards the see. Taunting him, he shook his head, smile on his face. The Rogue hadn't seen this kind of joy from the woman yet. "Aw hell naw! You are not showing me up!" The man began to take longer leaps before braking, using the Force to cushion his contact with the rock face. When he was roughly fifty from the bottom, Dax untangled himself from the rope, and gave one more powerful push from the wall, allowing the rope to slip through his fingers. He flipped through the air, completing a full backflip before suddenly tightening his grip on the rope, stopping himself from going any further. As he swung downwards into the cave, the rope caught itself on the lip, allowing the man to swing forward. The Rogue let go and performed yet another flip through the air before landing beside the woman. "Alright, so whadda we got?" the Dax asked as he dusted himself off. A quiet "Oh," was all he managed to get out as he gazed up at the same thing [member="Sena"] gaped at.

 

[Sena]

From some distant land, Sena heard Dax's reaction to the cave. The cave was massive. Easily stretching five kilometers back, they had landed on what seemed to be a stone outcropping towards the top of the cave, for below them there was another three kilometers of distance. The width of the cave stretched roughly two kilometers. The most interesting fact about this discovery was the shape of it all. Save for a few ledges here and there, the cave was almost perfectly rectangular.

These dimensions and features could only be seen by the pale light that managed to find its way in. Below them not much could be seen. Taking the pack off of her back, Sena rummaged through it to find the flare gun she had packed. Loading the device she looked down, trying to find a good direction to shoot. In the shadow Sena could see a faint shape. She aimed to the side, letting the flare loose. The size of the cave had been jaw dropping, but what was illuminated was even more surprising.

Sena had aimed as parallel with the floor as possible and as the flare traveled quickly it revealed a massive ship, dormant and sleeping. "Dax...what is this place?" Sena said, her voice quiet in shock and awe of their discovery.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax didn't have an answer for the woman as he stared at the briefly illuminated...well he wasn't quite sure what to call it. A hangar? One would guess so, judging from the massive ship that lay before them. "I...don't really know..." he said as he took a step forward and extracted on of his sabers from the inside of his jacket. Igniting it, he raised the blade above his head as he searched for a way to get a closer look. He finally found in the form of what seemed to be steps, carved out of the stones themselves.

Some of the steps crumbled beneath Dax's feet as he navigated the hap-hazardous 'pathway' to get a closer look. To the man's astonishment, the vessel looked to be brand new, aside from the centuries of dust that had caked themselves to the hull. "The Qoritan wouldn't have been able to pilot her, even if they'd known it was here." the Rogue said, staring at the ship, "They lost space capabilities long before they were wiped out. Even if they found this damn thing, they wouldn't have known what to do with it."

[member="Sena"]

 

[Sena]

They walked down the stairs, all the while Sena glanced at the ship. It took some time for them to reach the bottom of the nearly three kilometer stair. Each step had to be taken carefully. Sena kept a handheld flare lit to guide their journey. "That means this ship has been sitting from the times that they traveled," awe struck Sena as she drew this conclusion. Over the past couple of days, she had been studying the history of the planet and its denizens between her lessons with Dax. "So that would also mean," she continued, "that this comes frrom an era where they were putting their all into combating the Sith. This ship will have heavy weaponry."

At the bottom, Sena began walking to the far side of the room that held the rear end of the ship. All underneath and around the ship lay parts and tools as if they were outfitting it to go to war, but gave up. There were nearly enough supplies to build a corvette from scratch, if not something larger. The other end of the hangar held the key to it all. There was a terminal that a great mass of cords from the ship ran to. Likely it would be what could turn the ship "on" and even get them access to the inside of the ship.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax traced the path of the cords in his mind, and, like [member="Sena"], found that they connected to some large computer terminal. The man approached the ancient technology and tentatively wiped away the layers of dust from the screen and controls, coughing slightly as the particles filled the air around him. "Thank the Force I don't have asthma..." he muttered to himself as he examined the terminal searching for some kind of power button. After a couple minutes of fumbling around he finally found it and the terminal's screen blinked on and off a few times, attempting to sustain itself. Finally it found the energy to miraculously boot up. The began to pull up blueprints, only the most basic Shasoti being read. Not even the modern Shasoti/Sith hybrid that the man had become accustomed to. Dax's brows furrowed as he attempted to decipher the dead language, grabbing only bits and pieces of the text.
"They called it the 'Talavara Project'." he finally said, pulling himself away from the screen. "It looks like it outfitted pretty damn well. Rivals even our tech...If I had to take a guess, I'd be willing to bet that the Shasoti poured all of their resources into this last ditch effort to take out the Sith. Doesn't seem like they got it off the ground though." With a few more commands and a hiss sounded from behind the man, centuries of stale air escaping from within the ship. "Well at least the doors still work..."
Inside the vessel remained pristine, not even dust existing within its spartan interior. The Rogue navigated his way up to the bridge first, and straight to the command consoles, conjuring a small flame into his hand as a light source. Hopefully the ship still had enough juice to get primary systems up. Or at least the lights...On his first attempt, nothing. The screens remained dead and black. Carefully removing the protective covering that hid the internals of the computer system however, Dax managed to find a way to reroute a small amount of power from whatever had allowed the doors to open into the computer consoles. Those too blinked to life. "Alright, looks like everything is functional to some degree." he said as the lights flickered on. "Engines are down though. I'll go try to get those working. Uh, fiddle around in here I guess, try to see what else is actually working?"

 

[Sena]

Left to her own devices, Sena began going around to different systems on the bridge. Everything was in ancient Shasoti. This wasn't a huge problem though it was difficult. In the city Sena had learned some basic Shasoti. At least she had learned enough to figure out some of the main console which was accessible from the captain's seat. To the relief of Sena the computer systems weren't so outdated that a new language could not be put into the system. Bringing out a datapad from her pack she began working through the screens of the main console, slowly figuring out the process. It took time but she did it.

It took the ship's computers some time to translate and place words correctly, but as soon as it had finished, the real work began. "Auxiliary power unit..." she read softly aloud. "This ship has to have enough power to get this going," she said with resolution in her words. Tapping a few more options, Sena attempted to start the power unit. If she could get this going, the ship's power would fully restore instead of running the backup systems. She tapped her earpiece. "Dax, stay clear of any engine components." With that Sena tapped the APU power switch.

Within seconds, all consoles and lighting turned on, the ship had life. That would provide far more light for Dax to work by. Now that all of the systems were running, Sena began digging through the schematics of the ship. "Turbolasers...ion cannons...mass drivers...PDLs...warhead launchers..." The weapon systems all seemed like basic weapons, but in great numbers. "Oh, what's this?"

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax had just opened the door to access the main engines when [member="Sena"]'s message came through, "Sorry come again?" And with that the engines before him began to hum, threatening to slam him into the far wall of the engineer room. The man frantically started to push the 'close' button, the doors sliding shut just in time as the engines roared to life. "Could you do a countdown or something first next time? Please?" Well, at least they new the sublight thrusters worked. Next would have to be the hyperdrive.

With more light, Dax had no issues making his way over to the hyperdrive core. A quick look at the system's readings revealed that it was currently non-functional. "Son of a...alright, lets see what we got..." the man muttered to himself as he knelt down besides core. After much fiddling and going back and forth between the readings and what the physical core, the Rogue finally got the green light from the systems readings. "Well that was a lot more painless than I thought it would be." he said to himself as he wiped away some grease on his pants. "Alright Sena, looks like the hyperdrive is functioning. Not quite sure that I trust it yet though, Shasoti drives were pretty sketchy way back when. If we test it, lets use droids." Moving over to the emergency systems and life support, the man was pleasantly surprised to find that one thing in this rust bucket actually worked without any issues. "Well, it looks like everything's good on my end. Find anything?"

 

[Sena]

"Uh, yeah. I definitely found something," Sena had gathered her belongings and was moving toward her target. "It turns out there is a reason they gave this ship a 'project' name. I don't know how much of old history you know, but back many centuries ago there was this thing called the Death Star. You've probably heard of it. Pretty major thing in history. But anyways, the death star used a weapon called a proton beam cannon. In that specific case, it destroyed entire planets."

"Well, this ship has a proton beam cannon. Albeit, not on the scale of the Death Star. But this one, if a ships shields are down or very low, will destroy the ship. No questions asked." She had arrived at the location they were installing the cannon. It looked like a workshop. A workshop that had the sole focus of working on the massive weapon in the center of the room. It was huge and Sena was only seeing the main piece of it. At this point Sena had sent Dax the location of the weapon which was at the front of the ship. She began looking through the files of the nearby console. They had nearly finished installing it. And all of the tools they needed to finish were nearby. "I hope you know something about fixing weapons," she said over the comms.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax didn't interrupt the woman as she told him about the Death Star. People tended to remember super weapons. Dax quickly got the gist of what the woman wanted to do, and he began to make his way towards where he suspected a line of sight weapon would be mounted, somewhere near the front of the vessel. Eventually finding it, his voice would come over the comms, "So I got a question for ya. Were you there when the whole Death Star thing went down. Both times?" the man gathered tools scattered around the deck and stared up at the massive cannon. From what he could tell lenses were misaligned and the power source was non-functioning for one reason or another. First thing was first, fix the lenses so they don't accidentally blow themselves up...

[member="Sena"]