Private Followers of The Hidden Truth

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Wearing: Interceptor Gear

Armed with: Nathan's Lightsaber

Equipment: Medkit

Flew to Susevfi in: Lysandra-1


Nathan sighed as he resealed the panels to the security terminal to the fighter hangar aboard a run down, totally derelict Luxury Station, that he and Moya Virtu had been desperately trying to repair from whatever could be scavenged from seemingly endless battlefields.

He sighed.

"Well, no question now...we need a Slicer. And a damn good one..." Nathan remarked grimly, putting away the tools as Moya sat nearby.

"I have been to Denon. I know a few people..." Moya replied, the bronze skinned Biot with chocolate hair in a black dress. I'll see if I can't call in a favor."

Nathan nodded. They left the abandoned deck and headed back to the main office, which had been restored to habitable condition. Large and spacious, they had set up cheap beds on opposite corners of one another, with a small, makeshift cooking area. Nathan ate some cheap children's cereal with little colored marshmallow bits while Moya read a poetry book in silence.

"How much you think the Slicer will charge?" Nathan asked.

"Hard to say. They're a treacherous little bunch. I keep contact to a minimum with them, personally..." Moya answered. "We have no choice though. The security may not be functioning everywhere on this station, but where it does function, it's military grade."

"I did manage to open one hangar..." Nathan added. "Found some kinda retrofitted TIE. Gonna inspect everything of course but it looks ready to go. And I cleared out that old holotennis court we found aboard."

"Roomy enough for sparring..." Moya noted, turning the page on her book.

"With you?" Nathan muttered.

"Why not? Lightsaber duels don't grow on trees. You need to practice."

"Did you do the same with Julia?" Nathan asked.

Moya nodded. "Training was the only thing that could keep her calm most times."

Nathan thought about it, then went over to the Pizza Box and ate a slice of mushroom topped pizza.

"I'll think about it..."

Moya looked up from her poetry book.

"May I at least show you one tiny thing?" Moya requested.

Nathan sighed, eating another slice.

"Sure." he finally said.

Fifteen minutes later...

Nathan was stock still in the gutted tennis court as Moya walked in.

"What do you know of Electric Judgement?"

"Light Side Lightning. Capable of killing Dark Siders, or severely weakening their connection to the Dark Side. Stuns almost everyone else. Your creator, my...master knew it."

"Did you ever learn it?" Moya asked.

"Using the Force offensively is dangerous. But yes. The situation...back then was that desperate. I... forgot how."

Moya blinked. "Close your eyes."

Nathan's ever present frown deepened. But he did as she asked.

"Hold out your hand, and clear your mind..." Moya instructed.

Nathan closed his eyes.

"Feel the flow of the Force, Nathan..." Moya said quietly. Let it gather in your mind, and travel through your limbs. Let it become a bright spot, surging..."

Nathan's skin felt tingly as he tried to focus.

Flashes of his wife being dismembered, Phyre's laughter echoing in his head made him flinch, jolting back at the raw pain of it.

"Nathan?!" Moya called out.

"This was a mistake..." Nathan hissed, his post traumatic stress deeply affecting him in that instant. "I'm not ready..."

He staggered away, clutching his head, hyperventilating. "I gotta get out of here. I'll be back..."

"Nathan, wait!" Moya called out.

"I'll be back..." he repeated sternly.

"Nathan..." Moya called out, trying to approach him, but he had already left...

Present...

Nathan had only heard tales from his Mother, Natalya, about Susevfi before being revived in this era.

She had been trained as a Jensaarai before she had met his father, Angus, whose stoic mindset (imparted on Nathan) befitted that of a man raised by a former Jedi Temple Guard.

He regretted that he had never visited during the plague. He might have still been able to be moved by the great savannahs and sunrise glare, great trees of many colors dotting the grasslands, boulders occasionally spotted. Now it was just molecules to him.

Nathan felt the whispers of the Force around him as he walked the grass, barely calming down from the episode earlier.

Nathan found a hill not far from where he had landed his Aurek, and just stood there, stock still like a statue, it not even being clear if he was breathing, cold green gaze watching the plains, the grim expression still not leaving his face.

A cry for help carrying over the grass caught his attention and he began walking off the hill and towards the source, beginning to run, his black biker leathers marking him out from the natural colors of the wild.

He found a bleeding Civilian, looked like a farmer, a knife, sticking out in his leg. He saw Nathan, and winced at the cold, impassive stare from him.

"Who did this?" Nathan asked in a stoic, unfeeling tone as he knealt, grabbing his medkit. But there wasn't much he could do. Removing the knife required a skilled surgeon, which he wasn't. The best he could do was laser suture the other slash wounds the man had received and slap his remaining Bacta patches on him, disinfecting the wounds before he did.

"Bacta shipment...headed for Jensaarai enclave..." the man hissed in agony as Nathan attended to what wounds he could treat. "Bastard was waiting. Put a damn jagged Rodian Death Blade in me."

Death Blades. Serrated edge. Yeah, he definitely didn't have the skill to treat that wound...

"Stay calm. I'll get you to a doctor." Nathan promised.

"No...you have to get the Bacta."

"The Bacta isn't worth your life. The blade will kill you if it's not removed, and soon." Nathan responded clinically as he tensed to him.

"Distress beacon...it's keyed to the enclave. Lost it a few dozen meters behind me. Should still be in my satchel."

Nathan got up and went running, searching, he found a damaged repulsor truck hit by blaster shots and the satchel on the ground and pulled out the distress beacon walking back over to the wounded man to wait for assistance...

Veino Garn

 

[Veino Garn]

Nathan Bloodscrawl

Veino had his hands clasped behind his back, pacing slowly around the control room of the Enclave. There was too much going on. A war with the Sith, the fading of many of the governments, and a new generation of Jensaarai to prepare for the inevitable war.

He had a decision to make. He had been doing too much for too long. A chime pinged on an alarm and he turned, frowning at the display readout.

"Bacta shipment-" one of the apprentices watching the displays read out. The youth gave him a look. "It's the distress signal. Not far away."

That was more concerning. Nobody had been supposed to know about the shipments, let alone ambush them so close to the Enclave.

He pulled his helmet down, clicking the respirator into place and double checking the lightsaber magnetically clipped to his leg.

"Have two Defenders waiting at the entrance with swoop bikes. I'll go investigate."

He strode through the corridors, up the levels towards the surface, until he came to the main gate. The Defender at the gate nodded and closed her eyes, letting the Force flow through her as she opened the main entrance. Two other Defenders, armored, appeared with swoop bikes, and Veino slung a leg over the one in the middle.

"We have a position lock on the distress signal. Already plotted out a course," the one on his right said. Veino nodded.

"Lead on," he said at last, and they twisted the throttles, sending the swoops hurtling forward. The beacon appeared on his display and he followed behind the others, ears focusing on any updates coming in from the enclave.

It was a brief journey at max speed. "Two life signs detected," Veino called out, eyes half-closed. "One in pain. One...well, also in pain," he admitted, but it was an icy, colder pain from what he could guess. Likely not the attacker.

Soon, the distinct shape of the damaged speeder appeared and the three swung sideways and slid to a stop.

"Secure the area," Veino said, and the other two sped off in concentric circles around the ambush site. Veino left his swoop engine idling and slid off, stalking over to the two beings.

"What happened here?"

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Who...who are you?" the injured man asked.

"Nathan..." Nathan answered calmly, gaze mirthless, non-reassuring.

There were no further words as Nathan did his best to treat the last of the wounds he was capable of, doing everything he could to stop the bleeding.

He heard the road of repulsor vehicles in the distance. He sensed no danger, and so did not move from treating the injured.

A powerful presence among the group did catch his attention, however, so he remained on guard.

"What happened here?" Veino Garn asked walking up.

Nathan's head swiveled in a quick, smooth, and unnatural motion to look at Veino.

"This man was attacked by someone. I found him like this. He has a serrated knife in his leg. Multiple other slash wounds. He needs surgery, and soon."

"Saarai-Kaar..." The man called out. "Thieves. In purple cloaks...Rodian Death Blades, like he said. If this man hadn't found me, I'd be dead by now..."

"I did what I could but I'm no doctor. He is messed up." Nathan added, grim expression frozen on his face.. "Said they also nabbed some kinda Bacta shipment. I saw blaster marks and tracks heading south when I went to get the distress beacon." Nathan explained in a stoic, unfeeling fashion.

"I'd say whoever did this probably has a half hour head start at the very least."

 

[Veino Garn]

Nathan Bloodscrawl

"Hmm," Veino replied noncommittally to the stranger's explanation, but moved to kneel beside the wounded transport driver. "Thank you, my friend. We will handle it from here." His voice was soft, despite the artificial grating of the rebreather in his helmet. "You are safe now."

It was a bold promise. Rodian death blades were cruel, vicious weapons. Molecularly sized poisons bonded to the blade, it was a horrific concept. He never quite understood how Rodians had thought of it and wished they hadn't. Veino closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the earliest teachings in healing he had had from one of his mentors.

She had snapped her finger and then healed it as a demonstration. In turn, he had pricked himself with a thorn and done much the same. There was no similar method he could think of for molecular poison.

"Where's Tiland when you need him," Veino finally muttered as he removed a glove, resting that hand across the injured man's eyes. "Breathe, my friend, through the pain. It is a temporary sensation and will pass." As he spoke, he let the Force curl up through his body and out his hand, flowing into the injured man. He could help with the slashing wounds, but the poison was beyond him. After a moment, he looked up.

"Leave the bacta. It's replaceable and easily tracked. I need your help moving him," Veino paused and grimaced at the thought, but pulled a small medkit from his utility belt, doing what he could with it, although he was not convinced it would be beneficial. "Let's get him onto the swoop."

His mind raced through the possibilities as he cradled his arms beneath the man's arms. "Take his legs, if you can, and we'll move in sync."

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan's frozen grimace didn't change at the responses Veino Garn gave to him. He only rose and complied with his instructions wordlessly, carefully taking the injured man's legs, ever mindful of the knife wound.

He moved very slowly and cautiously to the swoop, carefully moving only as Veino did and they eventually got the man aboard the swoop.

"Mind if I go with you?" Nathan asked. "Don't have a swoop of my own. I arrived by Starfighter. Member of the Wild Knight's under the command of Roth Tillian . My name is Nathan." Nathan explained, tone not rude or impolite, but still lacking in warmth. He was clearly no stranger to violence given his lack of panic and reaction to such grisly injuries.

Nathan took out his Lightsaber, offering it to Garn.

"In case you are worried about me." Nathan explained.

 

[Veino Garn]

Nathan Bloodscrawl

Veino took a pause to catch his breath, helping secure the man to the back of the swoop, applying bacta cream to the smallest of the injuries and applying pressure-bandages to the main ones.

"So you're the new Wild Knight then," Veino replied, glancing up with a nod. "If Roth trusts you, so will I. Keep your saber."

"Perimeter secure, tracks located," the reply came back over the comm and Veino paused to listen.

"Roger that, return to me. We're taking two passengers back. One of you head to the enclave and prep the medical wing. Have a ship on stand-by if we need to evacuate to a proper hospital."

The engine sounds of two swoops grew louder, one racing past them back towards the enclave and the other one slowing to a stop in front of Nathan.

Veino slung himself back over the saddle of the swoop, glancing back over his shoulder at his passenger, before pushing the throttle forward. The engine screamed as they hurtled forward, racing across the rolling plains, until the familiar hill emerged from the landscape.

The door slid open as they approached and Veino squeezed the brake, coasting to a stop deep inside the corridor. A team of other Jensaarai were standing by, along with a medical droid.

"Rodian death sword," Veino said briefly, removing his helmet. "Bad wounds. Molecularly bonded poison."

There was nods and the droid gave the injured man an injection of painkiller while the Jensaarai applied oxygen, rushing down the corridors on a hover-gurney.

Veino finally let his breath out and his shoulders relax, turning behind him to face the second passenger. "Thank you. We might be able to save him still."

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Nathan said nothing during the trip to the enclave, letting Veino Garn do the talking as he got in the passenger seat. His unsmiling expression remained the same as it was when he first arrived.

When they finally reached the Enclave, he watched as the injured man was basically carted off.

"You're welcome..." he replied, voice bereft of warmth, but never rude.

He got off the swoop and walked around, movements stiff. Mechanical almost, observing the surroundings. He spotted an old stone mural of the Jensaarai defending Susevfi during the Plague.

"We should probably get started on locating that man's attackers. If they were sadistic enough to leave a serrated knife in someone, just to steal Bacta, it stands to reason it's not just about simple theft. It was about intimidation also..." Nathan theorized.

The whispers of long dead Jensaarai echoed in his mind. He blinked, shaking his head slightly.

"Jensaarai seem to be doing well these days..." he remarked. "It's regrettable I never visited this world until now. I was...occupied..."

 

[Veino Garn]

Nathan Bloodscrawl

Veino tilted his head, studying the man before him. There was something odd about the man that he couldn't place his finger on. Perhaps it was the lack of affect, the flatness in the voice, the utter lack of emotion. As an empath, it felt... unnatural. Like a void that did not belong where it was.

"Perhaps," Veino replied, measuring the words the man spoke. "I'm more impressed that you know who we are and that you're familiar enough with us that you would regret not visiting us before. I assume you have some connection?"

He doubted the man was related to the Tillians-- he lacked the characteristic spark and spunk that seemed to define them, but that didn't mean he wasn't tied to some of the other Jensaarai families.

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"One of my parents was a Jensaarai." Nathan answered. Though he didn't specify which. "Deceased. Long ago."

"They'd talk much of the plains of Susevfi, of how The Followers of The Hidden Truth stood vigil in a large enclave against Chaos." Nathan added stoically. "I didn't follow in their footsteps. I was called to a separate path. It did not end well. But it wasn't the reason I came here. I wasn't even looking for the Jensaarai. I came here more to clear my head. But the Job follows me, if the past half hour's events are any indicator."

Nathan's unsmiling expression fixed on Veino Garn . His green eyes still, breathing almost shallow. He could have been a statue in that instant.

"What I know says the Jensaarai are honorable, and I do not doubt the honor of the one who explained them to me..." he finished. "As long as I am here...I might as well experience what you're all like up close..."

 

[Veino Garn]

Nathan Bloodscrawl

Veino considered, studying the man, with eyes slightly narrowed, but then he relaxed and nodded. "Very well. I can respect that. We all have our paths to walk."

He had spent more than his fair share of time walking a lonely path far from the enclave. "I spent quite a few years walking abroad in the galaxy."

He gestured down a side corridor, "Let us talk in a situation room. We're beginning the search for the thieves and we can keep you informed of what is happening. You may have some insight."

A door slid open in the corridor, and Veino strode in, leaning against the back of a chair as maps of the planet appeared. Red dots indicated the ambush site and the tracks, with projections running to potential destinations.

"What else did they tell you about the Jensaarai?"

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Founded by the Anzat Nikkos Tyris, who discovered a Sith Manuscript that claimed the Jedi had learned all their powers from the Sith Lords. Hid away a gathering of his students along with his wife. Jedi found him, killed him with his strongest apprentices, but never found the others. Started a feud and misunderstanding between Jedi and Jensaarai that lasted decades..."

As they walked into the map room Nathan elaborated more.

"You're mostly Light Side, but some of your approach was based on a melding of Sith and Jedi thought. You serve the public trust, protect the innocent, and uphold the will of the Force. You wear Armor, and make them based off some aspects of Sith armor forging. The Armor is as important to you as the forging of a Lightsaber is to a Jedi."

He glanced at the map, trying to analyze the possible places to hide.

"There's a canyon..." Nathan noted. "Lot of cave networks...was this attack the first of its kind?" he asked Veino Garn .

 

[Veino Garn]

Nathan Bloodscrawl

"Clearly very well informed," Veino replied, head tilted slightly before nodding. "Your general history is correct, as is your assessment of our philosophy. We've developed it and honed it much further over the last century or so, but your info is still essentially correct."

He pulled up the sector of the map and focused it on the network Nathan had indicated. "It has been, yes-- have you seen similar patterns before?"

It was only lightly probing. It was a good hunch, at least, to look at the canyons. And on a highly developed and booming moon, canyons would be much easier to hide in than many of the open plains or coastal regions.

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Yes. They probably were watching that courier for days, weeks maybe before they struck..." Nathan mentioned looking at the map closely, examining the landscape.

"There...that cave mouth. It's deeper in, but from what I can tell it's got a perfect view of the route the Bacta transporter took." Nathan mused. "It's not the only place they could have planned this from, but if I wanted the view...that is where I would watch..."

He thought some more.

"As for why they'd go so far with the courier. They could be just trying to throw you off...make you think it was psychos...then again...Rodian Death Blade for a Bacta Courier..."

He looked at Veino Garn .

"Scum like this I find especially irksome. They will be easy prosecutions, I think. But we should go in silent first to see what we are up against. If they're bold enough to agitate an entire enclave of Force Users, it stands to reason they must have prepared something in case we found them."

 

[Veino Garn]

Nathan Bloodscrawl

Veino nodded, listening, less to the tactical analysis and more to how the man spoke, why, and how. Detail oriented enough to notice the cave and flexible enough to put himself in the perspective of the scouts.

"Excellent analysis," Veino said after a moment, adding a marker to the cave and highlighting its location. "I never expect psychos, as you say, or some sort of scum."

He crossed his arms and considered the view. "I always anticipate professionals with a plan and extensive resources. I'm hardly a good person, by any stretch of the imagination."

Veino tapped one finger on the console. "But let's scout out the cave and pick out the evidence that might have been left behind."

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

The trek to the valley where the cave waited was a deeply quiet one, and Nathan did not say anything as he rode on the speeder bike to the Valley. His focus was stone like as the bike came to a halt and he got off, taking the lead, his Lightsaber in hand as he checked for booby-traps along the path. He found three in the form of mines concealed in shrubs and promptly teleported them to one side one at a time, where he carefully marked with twigs to point out their position.

Then he went into the cave itself, keeping as quiet as possible, pointing out the rune etching on the cave walls depicting the Jensaarai of the Gulag Era, fighting various deadly foes, seemingly overwhelmed. He didn't know what to make of any of it.

But he was finding signs of movement. Track ahead. He didn't dare activate his Lightsaber, knowing the sound of its hum would carry.

The whole place was strangely cold as well.

"I'm already not liking this. They're on Jensaarai property, attacking Jensaarai resources...why choose here? Do you know what the etchings are?' he asked Veino Garn quietly.

 

[Veino Garn]

Nathan Bloodscrawl

Veino went swiftly, moving with deliberate intent, letting Nathan take the lead, watching his actions and movements. The response to the mines was interesting, generally flashier than Veino would have gone for, but so be it.

"It looks like an old Jensaarai shelter," Veino said after a moment, snapping images of the etchings on a small camera and recording them. "We can check with the enclave archives and see if there's anything still there that is reminiscent of these."

But he could feel the chill in the air that brought a deep frown to his face. It was... a bit unnatural. It was unfortunate he'd killed the Anzai council member who had tried to stage a Sith-aligned coup, but there was nothing else to be done at the time.

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

As they went further, Nathan began to see more statues of Jensaarai in full armor lining the walls, each statue slowly getting bigger as the cave tunnels grew larger, until they finally came to a large cave chamber., Each wall having a massive statue of a Jensaarai in front of it. It was poorly lit but had multiple levels, blue and green kyber Crystals growing out of the support columns.

Nathan slowed down as he began to hear voices.

"I'm telling you, Kerung, Vitali has lost it. He's gonna kill himself trying to open that lock." said the voice of a woman on the lower level.

"But think of the reward! All it requires is Bacta converted into the substance the lock wants." replied the voice of a man.

"He barely even knows how to work that weird converter thing. Those BX droids we brought will only buy us so much time."

"More than enough for us to get that lock open and escape." the man called Kerung acknowledged. "Don't worry so much. We got this."

"You better hope that courier is dead! Because if the Jensaarai learn we found The Codex of Tyris, we're finished!"

Nathan listened, watched from the shadows as the pair left the stone chamber. No sense in alerting everyone that they were there.

Nathan looked at the old statues, noting the black stone they were composed of. He spotted a table made of stone that had a rifle and an ammo belt of armor piercing ammo. He spotted these weapons a lot. There were more knockoffs than there were originals. He didn't know where they came from. He went over and picked it up along with the ammo belt.

He turned to Veino Garn

"Codex of Tyrus?" Nathan questioned, confused.

 

[Veino Garn]

Nathan Bloodscrawl

"Nikkos Tyris," Veino whispered back, answering the question as he used the HUD in his armor to save images of the statues and caverns. They were old, certainly, but he couldn't guess how old.

"Jedi Knight who found a Sith codex and formed the Jensaarai before falling to the Dark Side and being killed by Jedi during the Clone Wars."

The founder of the Jensaarai. He hadn't been known to have a codex, but it was always possible it had been hidden somewhere early on. And BX droids were concerning- they were very tough and quite dangerous.

"I don't know what they want for the codex," Veino added after a moment with a shrug. "I'm not convinced it would have anything beneficial. Tyris was... many things, but a genius he was not."

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

"Whatever this Codex seems to be they think it's more than a dusty old book that could get them killed. Let's scout some more, try to avoid the Droids." Nathan said quietly.

Nathan found an exit into another stone chamber. Signs of habitation. Trash, strewn about carelessly.

Nathan spotted a lone sentry warming his hands by a lot torch. Nathan teleported behind him, holding a Lightsaber to his neck. The sentry, a red skinned Twi'lek man went stiff, holding his hands up

"How many?" Nathan asked coldly.

"Seventy Seven."

"Weaponry?"

"Dude, we ain't no military outfit. We got whatever we could get our hands on. Tell you what...if you're so curious, find out for yourself."

"Flippancy will do you no favors in your present circumstance." Nathan replied back in that same icy manner. He was unnaturally still as he held his his prisoner.

"Ah, c'mon, gimme a break. Like you guys need one more enclave." The Sentry muttered.

"I'll be sure to remember your dry wit in my court testimony." Nathan replied, stone faced and unblinking. "Perhaps the Judge will find you more amusing."

"Alright, alright, you win. Sheesh." The sentry muttered.

"How many BX Droids?"

"Somebody blabbed about those? Great...just great...we have fifty. All armed with Sonic Rifles. Solid ammo shotguns. Slugthrowers. Enough for a good action film scene, I wager."

"What about traps?"

"Sonic mines in the lower parts. We put a lot of anti-handling devices in them. Slightest jostle...say goodbye to your eardrums."

"What's this vault your boss is trying to get into?"

"Mate, would you believe me if I told you I been here four weeks, and I still ain't never seen the vault door Kerung is so obsessed with? But I know where the Vault is. Catacombs beneath this place, full of Jensaarai dead from the Gulag Era. There's some sort of ancient machine down there. A machine that needs Bacta for some heathen purpose which presently escapes me."

"It's purpose better get un-escaped for you fast, or the League's gonna have fun deciding how many years you're gonna wake up to force fields and plastic meal trays." Nathan snapped back quietly.

"The machine needs massive amounts of Bacta to convert it to a single pint of Kolcta. But I don't understand why Kolcta would serve as a chemical key. Kolcta by itself...a single pint of it could set us all up combined for life." the sentry admitted. "Could the vault treasure truly be so valuable?"

"Enough speculation. Anything about the catacombs I should know?"

"Yeah. Stay out of the eastern chapel in the sub level. We found a Force Spawn there. Trapped in a circle of runes. Old woman in skintight armor, built like an athlete."

"You didn't kill it. Why?"

"It was trapped when we got here. Who knows how long? We couldn't be sure killing it wouldn't trigger some sort of failsafe. Something else wrong in those catacombs too."

"Like what?"

"Disappearances. But that's the extent of what I know, I swear. Have fun surviving all of it."

"Charming, to the last." Nathan muttered icily, putting him in a sleeper hold that rendered the man unconscious.

"That freak in the chapel might know more. But be wary. Force Spawn are extremely dangerous..."

Nathan gestured for him to follow him down a long spiral staircase...



So sorry, Veino Garn , thought I had tagged you