Private Healers of the New Order: Close Encounters

[Ascendant Resolve]

​

It was another dark day on Geonosis. The Queen, much beloved by her people, had expired. The Mourning had lasted well into the night, the hives filled with Geonosians observing the passing of another Queen. The citizens of Golbah City have fallen silent in observance of this solemn night. Today will be remembered as a day in which the Geonosians pass into a new era, the reign of one Queen to another.

Or so we thought.

The morning brought with it joy and jubilation. The Queen yet lived. The Geonosians howled with delight, and celebrations were plentiful. But it carried with it a much darker subtext. The Queen had been confirmed to be dead. How was it that the very same Queen lived once again? By order of the Lord Commander, a small team was dispatched from the ruins of the Citadel to investigate this. The nest in question was close to the city. Close enough that if this was in any way connected to the other strange happenings spreading throughout the Confederacy, it could spell trouble for the Citizens of Golbah. Proceed with caution, Knights. The Geonosians are very protective of their Hive Mothers. Any attempt to seek an audience with the Queen in her frail state may be met with...resistance.

Taramaz Arcturus || Ragalax Arcturus || Remin Garrington || Vyse de Valorous || Dreidi Xeraic​

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Did Dreidi have any real skills in healing or knowledge of a human's anatomy yet alone a Genosian Queen's? Nope, not the foggiest outside the basic bits and where they should be, Dreidi was ignorant as anything when it came to healing. So, why had the young Padawan signed up for a super important mission on investigating how someone came back to life after being confirmed dead? Well, she had questions, three questions really. Did the queen really come back to life? Were there any significant side effects or limitations to doing this? Could Dreidi do it herself? It was clear to anyone who knew even a little about Dreidi's background why she was on this mission, if there was a safe way to bring back her dad then she was in.

She was wearing a dark green cloak, which covered most of her body and hid her face while she sat on the transport. Her shoes were well-worn sneakers with loose laces and you could see the bottom of her black trousers. It wasn't the most suitable clothing for a desert in terms of not retaining the heat but Dreidi knew that they were going to be in the sun too much, she was sure that they would be in the catacombs of Genosis investigating things. It was curious how a being came back to life, Dreidi figured that there had been reports long ago of some sort of bug or worm that could make zombies of Genosians and other humanoids. If that was the case here then she would be disappointed but she doubted that things would just be that simple. Especially if the guy in charge of the Force Users was sending a team of healers to investigate.

Perhaps she was wrong though, she had studied a lot of Genosian history, as well as Naboo, since they were important worlds to the CIS. However, she couldn't remember much about the bug/worm thing and the weaknesses escaped her but she knew it could be a possibility straight away... Maybe not straight away and maybe she did have to go check her books to remind herself, but it definitely triggered a memory straight away!

Taramaz Arcturus Ragalax Arcturus Remin Garrington Vyse de Valorous

 

[Taramaz Arcturus]

I N V E S T I G A T E​

Location: Geonosis – E'Y-Akh Desert – Stalgasin Hive Airspace – Lance-Class Shuttle
Time: 0800 Hours
Mission: Establish Peaceful Contact with the Geonosian Queen & Develop Understanding of the Queen's Condition
Equipment: Fangs of Death, Sean-Olc Robes
Tag: | Ragalax Arcturus | Remin Garrington | Vyse de Valorous | Dreidi Xeraic |​

Many centuries had past since the Clone Wars, a conflict that saw the invasion of Geonosis twice over by the Galactic Republic. The second time bearing the fruit of the Republic's victory, with the capture of the Archduke, the proxy-leader of the Geonosians. It also saw the downfall of Queen Karina the Great, the last true Geonosian Queen.

That is, she was. The Geonosians were purged by the Galactic Empire during the following years, after the end of the Clone Wars. The Queen that succeeded Karina the Great bore the same name, yet produced no Geonosian children. Thus, the Geonosians died out. For a time, atleast.

As can be expected of any insectoid species, especially one whose home is underground, whose intellect is a hive-mind, not all were killed, as some believed. Indeed, they repopulated, a new Queen rose to power, and the Geonosians regained their status as the dominant lifeforms of Geonosis' Underground.

It really was nothing, simply evolution. The Natural Order of Things. The Circle of Life.

Yet, the present Queen defied that very Natural Order of Things, broke the Circle of Life. How? By coming back from the dead.

Now that simply wouldn't do. Particularly with the General State of Things at the moment in the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Particularly not so close to the former Capital, and by extension, the former Headquarters of the Knights Obsidian. The repercussions of such an event going unmonitored could be disastrous.

Particularly with events of catastrophic proportions so recent in History. The main event, of course, being Force-Initiated Disaster named as 'the Eye', which saw Force Users across Confederate Space struck down, and turned into freakish monsters from horror stories and apocalyptic movies which attacked anything in sight.

A Ball-Up of that scale could not be allowed to happen once more. Taramaz had openly accepted the mission, taking up a leadership role as the most senior of the Knights Obsidian on the mission.

With him came a Master of the Force from beyond the grave, Remin Garrington. Sith Lord and Patron Spirit of the Thorn Chapter. His first-hand expertise on the subject of the Force, and it's effects pre and post death would be invaluable.

Knight of the Thorn Chapter, Ragalax Arcturus. A healer by profession, again, a necessity for the mission's success.

Squire of the Thorn Chapter, Vyse Valorous. A politician in training, born to nobility and raised as a gang leader. His skills in diplomacy of many kinds would be too great to ignore, and the opportunity for him to learn first hand of inter-governmental politics would be too great for Taramaz to look past, as his Master.

Squire of the Lotus Chapter, Dreidi Xeraic. Serving mainly as an additional body for the worst-case scenario, the learning experience would, again, be far too great to ignore. In a time where there numbers dwindled, it was as important as ever for the youthful to learn quickly yet efficiently. The best way for this was through experience in a real scenario.

It provoked the mind to think. No Knight should be without reflex to respond to any scenario. Even if they were not his Apprentice, they would learn. This was an experience that Taramaz could say for certain that none of their number, save perhaps Lord Garrington, had ever encountered before.

Yet, the Lord Marshal looked forward to it. The duty he found himself taking up held many opportunities for progression, in politics and the Force, for all involved. If the Knights Obsidian could gain the secret to reanimating oneself, and thus maintaining a physical form with their full conscious, their power would be unrivalled.

And the Confederacy could only benefit from strengthened ties with the Geonosians. Their working spirit was unmatched, their working efficiency? Unmatched. They were truly greater workers than droids. For reasons that Taramaz could spend a whole day dreaming of.

It would, thus, be a false truth to say that the confidence and determination he held within his mind and soul was not present. The shuttle glided through the air above the Stalgasin Hives, the former Capital of the Geonosians. It was truly amazing to think that, in so few centuries, the Geonosians had already rebuilt the famed Progate Temple, and dug out it's Catacombs that had been collapsed during the Clone Wars.

 

[Ragalax Arcturus]

I N V E S T I G A T E​

Location: Geonosis – E'Y-Akh Desert – Stalgasin Hive Airspace – Lance-Class Shuttle
Time: 0800 Hours
Mission: Establish Peaceful Contact with the Geonosian Queen & Develop Understanding of the Queen's Condition
Equipment: Obsidian Lightsabre, Obsidian Shield, Travelling Cloak, Knights Obsidian Leathers
Tag: | Taramaz Arcturus | Remin Garrington | Vyse de Valorous | Dreidi Xeraic |​

It had not been long ago that his father had finally acknowledged his existence in more than adequate sums of money to support a basic lifestyle with room for great progress, should the determination be there, and above all, a firm doubt of the chance of death or poverty. Should the money be used wisely. It had only been a matter of months, infact, a few months after he had become an officially licensed doctor, and claimed full Knighthood within the Knights Obsidian.

It was, perhaps, one of the strangest moments of Ragalax's life. To finally meet the man who supported his life, even if he turned away the payments, forwarding them to the mother his father never visited. He had no disbelief in that his father knew of this. How could he not? Taramaz Arcturus was nothing, if not a man who could pay insane attention to the things that he, for whatever reason, was interested in.

It was for that reason that he had been filled with anxiety when he first found himself stepping foot within the Halls of the Knights Obsidian, not as a civilian, but as one of their number. A Squire, apprenticed to a Knight of little note. For what might happen if his father, the Lord Marshal, appeared? Would he be sent home? Would he be the subject of a large scandal? Many such scenarios worried the young Arcturus.

None of them had found base to turn a single worry to reality. His father, for the most part, ignored him. Even though there was, again, no doubt that he knew that his Son was a Squire.

Infact, he questioned whether he now found himself apprenticed to the man he never met simply to make amends, or if there was a darker, more sinister reasoning behind it. A grand plot that he knew nothing of. Whether it's motivation be good or bad, he accepted his place in it. He accepted that, regardless, he would know in good time why his father had so suddenly taken an interest in him.

It could not be mere coincidence that after his own master, the Knight of No Note, was killed in the Catastrophe of the Eye, that he was taken in by the one man in the Order whom he had any actual connection with.

He was not one to make friends. And if he did, it was only to better himself. It was simply the way the world worked.

Ragalax had, admittedly with some enthusiasm, joined his Master and Father on the latest mission of note. Diplomacy and Detective work. Solving the case of how the Geonosian Queen came back from death. It would be an experience of no small note on Ragalax' personnel file, no doubt. And while he may only be playing second-fiddle to the Force Spirit, Remin Garrington, he did not take the mission any less in stride.

So rarely had his Knightly Master ever considered giving Ragalax a role worthy of someone of his stature, it seemed almost suspicious. Perhaps his pairing had been an arrangement by the father who preferred to think he hadn't existed, and was just another Knight to take in as his own Apprentice.

Perhaps it was easier that way.

Regardless, the Knight could not help but feel the strangest tinge of remorse, and an untimely longing to take his father by the hand, and drag him back to his childhood. So that he may enjoy the benefits of a regular upbringing. He remorsed for the time he never had with the man, regretted the knowledge that he would die someday, and that Ragalax would then never have the opportunity to learn from him the things a Father would teach their Son.

But perhaps it was better to go without.

He was, no doubt, more powerful as a result of his upbringing. There could be no mistaking that his personality, his accomplishments, were a direct result of cause and effect. A Mother's eye can only watch for so long, it spends half it's time closed, half of that looking elsewhere, and the rest blind to the wrongness in her Child.

But he did not regret it.

 

[Remin Garrington]

I N V E S T I G A T E T O L E R A T E​

Location: Geonosis – E'Y-Akh Desert – Stalgasin Hive – Lance-Class Shuttle Far Too High – Metal Bird
Time: 0800 Hours Too Early
Mission: Establish Peaceful Contact with the Geonosian Queen Endure Unpleasantness
Equipment: Colonial Clothing
Tag: | Taramaz Arcturus | Ragalax Arcturus | Vyse de Valorous | Dreidi Xeraic |​

It was Mockery at it's finest. Disgrace done dirty. A Farce and an absolute Insult.

He was Darth Iglacies, Lord of Ice and Fire. Savant Slaughterer of the Searing Saber. Cold Killer of the Chilled Katana. He was a Dark Lord of the Sith. A Proprietor of Passion, Superior of Strength, the Prince of Power and Viscount of Victory. He was a Master of the Force.

He dethroned Death. He made Life leave. He was Remin Garrington.

Yet, he found himself subservient to a man still living. To say he was livid would do no justice to the wide vocabulary of words one could string together to describe his anger. Yet, he was a Lord of the Sith. He would use this anger to his advantage. He would arm himself with it, and fight through whatever challenge came at him.

He would break through the menial task assigned to him.

To assign one of his grand intelligence and power such a trivial task as investigating a literal insect dying and coming back to life... it was insulting. Had he the power to manifest physically, he would have strangled the Lord Marshal. The legacy the man carried on his shoulders could only protect him so much.

He was no fool. He knew the man who called himself Taramaz was the Apprentice of the Firelord. A man who would not even have his title if not for Iglacies. His mastery of Force Pyrokinesis was unchallenged. He was innovative, creative. He made a weapon that nobody expected. That deceived and was, by it's very nature, impossible to be controlled by the enemy.

Yet the fool that was the Firelord stole his ideas. He made pure fire. A weak construct by itself. No better than Force Electrokinesis. It was unoriginal. Boring and bland.

It was because of him and his trivial superiority that Remin Garrington found himself bound to such a pitiful Order of Force Users. Struggling to juggle the duties of a Law Enforcement Agency and a Mystic Strike Force. And making a right job of it too.

They couldn't even handle a dangerous artefact right. Killed off most of their Order from sheer carelessness.

At the very least they respected him enough to grant him the rank of Master in their order, and tie him to their Dark Side association.

That being, it did not mean he appreciated being commanded to join them on a mission, to use his knowledge for the 'Queen' of insects. It was, as he had already mentioned, extremely insulting. Yet he remained silent, the only sign of his anger a slight flaring in the flames that formed his flesh. They licked harmlessly against anything unless provoked, but that was not to say their heat was not present.

Good. Let them feel the humidity. Their fault for dragging him out into the middle of the sandy desert. Let them sweat from the Sun, let the sand blind them, let the wind dry their eyes and their thirst parch their lips. Let them be punished for their disrespect.

 

[Vyse de Valorous]

I N V E S T A G A T E​

Location: Geonosis – E'Y-Akh Desert – Stalgasin Hive Airspace – Lance-Class Shuttle
Time: 0800 Hours
Mission: Establish Peaceful Contact with the Geonosian Queen and Assess the Queen's Condition
Equipment: Lightsaber, Crushgaunts, Travelling Cloak, Knights Obsidian Leathers.
Tag: | Taramaz Arcturus | Remin Garrington | Ragalax Arcturus | Dreidi Xeraic |​

Vyse had enthusiastically looked forward to his first mission in some time. His training and the recent "event" he was thankfully spared had put a hold on on them. He was extra happy it was with his master and seemingly some squires. He felt more comfortable around fellow Squires, not a need to worry of breaking some unknown etiquette mostly. And it gave him a chance to perhaps build further connections later down the line.

Vyse had traveled in the shuttle with his master, surprised to find he had another Squire in the form of Ragalax Arcturus he was unaware of. As the ship prepared to take off, he went over and sat with his fellow learners Ragalax Arcturus and Dreidi Xeraic during the trip.

He had a slight smile as he looked across from his seat. "A pleasure to meet you both." He spoke in a polite and cordial. "Either of you had much experience with the natives here?" He said making small chat he said making small chat as the shuttle would in a moment arrive at their destination. His focus in time going to the literal force ghost near by Remin Garrington, his flames emanating off him, the orange fire licking at him that didn't cause any pain or seemly any damage. By far the strangest thing Vyse had ever seen, Vyse fighting off his intention clearly to intimidate everyone near by.

 

[Dreidi Xeraic]

Looking around, Dreidi noticed the others, two learners like herself and then two Masters in the Force though they were very different. With one being a literal flame spirit, it was clear that Dreidi was in some interesting company. She wasn't sure what was going on or how someone could return as a flame spirit but she knew that wasn't what she was looking for in her father's case. No, she wanted something solid, something she could hug and hold onto forever. She was thinking about all this when someone approached her and she looked up, her eyes focusing on the person, assessing who they were and what they wanted from her. From the Force that surrounded them, they were Sith but they seemed to be trying to be polite and friendly. Which was nice and she was glad not to have to fight verbally with someone.

"Hi. I am Dreidi, no experiences with Geonosians but have read up a little on them in the past. Figured it would be helpful to do some training when I signed up." Dreidi stated as she leaned against the chair, "How about you?" She asked with genuine curiosity, which was rare for Dreidi, she usually tried to feign it because she was told she had to but this guy seemed to be polite enough that she decided to be polite and genuine in return. She was thinking how much longer was it going to be with them stuck in the shuttle, looking at the flame spirit, it was warm in the confide space but Dreidi said nothing from the look of the spirit she was sure that it just wanted someone to complain about something. It was a look Dreidi often held when she was in a bad mood.

Hopefully this trip would be informative, she just had to endure time with these strangers.

Taramaz Arcturus Ragalax Arcturus Remin Garrington Vyse de Valorous