Private Invaluable Field Experience (Auteme)

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Auteme

Auteme-

I've stumbled on something and I could use your help on Mustafar.

The OPA and the Jedi took a fine-toothed comb to Fortress Vader and every other site with any connection to the Knights of Ren. Someone named Shira Varanin - we met on Hoth, if you recall - found a different site that's been undisturbed since Vader's time. It's an aspect of Mustafarian history that the First Order never found, and it centres on the Force.

If you're on Peace, could you bring me the blue plastic container from my quarters? The room is locked but I'm sure you can get in - in part because the Force can whisper passwords through our intuition.

Quill

 

[Auteme]

M U S T A F A R
Tag: Jend-Ro Quill ​

---

The surface of Mustafar was blisteringly hot, but for whatever reason Auteme found herself shivering.

Master Quill's instructions had been simple enough; before she'd even gotten to the door of his room she'd thought of a dozen ways to enter. She could've manipulated the lock mechanism with the Force to unlock it, or used the Suerton probability manipulation she'd learned with Quill to just guess the passcode. Auteme eventually settled on pushing the unlock button on the other side of the door with her telekinesis.

The padawan carried the blue box she'd found in his room from the shuttle towards the imposing structure that was Vader's Castle. She was trying her best to use Tapas, the power she'd so proudly said she'd mastered, to regulate her body temperature, but for whatever reason it wasn't working in the least. The Force here felt like it was draining her; the darkness so deep, dark, and suffocating that if she lost focus she might drown. Yes, she was losing focus, but she managed to stumble her way to the fortress. The blast doors opened for her and she went inside. The temperature here was much more regulated, but that feeling of the cold darkness seemed to intensify as she entered.

The time of the Empire had been an era she'd generally chosen to avoid in her studies -- aside from the following resurgence of the Jedi, the acts of the Rebellion, and the myriad of scientific discoveries and cultural changes that would shape the galaxy for years to come, it had been a time of darkness and ignorance. Emperor Palpatine had ruled the galaxy and had practiced evil Sith magics that she did not wish to research. With all the military activity as well, the amount of recorded events hinged less on the cultural or scientific discoveries than the major battles. Perhaps she shouldn't be so hard on it all; there had been good people fighting for what was right. But what had been wrong was so sickening that she rarely touched the subject.

She knew about Vader, though. Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side had been tragic, and from what she'd read, almost entirely predictable. Once he'd fallen under the 'tutelage' of Palpatine, he'd done terrible things to the galaxy. For so long it'd felt so far away, but setting foot inside his castle -- his residence, a place where he had committed all kinds of horrible acts -- suddenly the padawan felt transported to a time when things had been darker.

Auteme shook her head vigorously. "Not now," she muttered to herself, forging on ahead. She could sense Quill here, and eventually found him in one of the earlier empty rooms.

"Hi, um, Master Quill," she said, squatting to put down the box. Her arms hurt just from carrying it. "I brought what you asked. So, what are we looking at? I've only studied Fortress Vader sparingly. Mustafar as well." There was great evil here, but surely that wouldn't stop the padawan from learning a few things... right?

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Quill took off a specialized headset and tore his gaze off a large holodisplay. It took up a whole wall, and right now it held the face of Darth Vader - recognizable even after a millennium and a dark age.

"Ah, excellent. Thanks for bringing all that, Auteme."

He set aside an unusual lightsaber with an exposed crystal - the Kalos Windspeaker saber, a visionary and oracular artifact. The headset had tapped the visual and auditory centres of his brain and turned his visions into footage.

"Here, watch this and tell me what you think. It's remarkable."


Auteme

 

[Auteme]

M U S T A F A R
Tag: Jend-Ro Quill ​

---

The face of Darth Vader could still inspire fear even all these years later... Auteme was scared of Emperor Carnifex and many other dangerous Sith, but she couldn't imagine living in a time where a single Galactic Empire reigned supreme. Still, it really was incredible how the son of such a man could grow to become one of the greatest heroes of all time. Strength of a bloodline, perhaps?

She watched and listened closely to the footage cast by Jend-Ro's headset -- it didn't take her long to realize it was some kind of vision or simulation of such. "Is this real?" No, this seemed real enough. Auteme hadn't exactly had many visions. "You saw this? When?" Even before the footage had finished her mind was a buzz with questions for Master Quill -- and reasons to explore and study Mustafar further.

"Lord and Lady Corvax are from Mustafarian folklore, I'd never thought... do we know where the Bright Star is now? Was that a vision of the castle itself? The man in black was sustained by the Bright Star somehow? It must have a unique Force signature. Is he still alive? Could we speak to him?" Master Quill had put up with a great many questions of hers before now; hopefully he wasn't getting too annoyed by her just yet.