Not Gone, Merely Marching Far Away

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Brent Warnel"]
Now that they were on the road, Atiniir was feeling it. That familiar surge of adrenaline, the drive and eagerness that was like a drug to a warrior. The thrill of battle, the thrill of the hunt; nothing was like it. He sat in the speeder, the wind whipping his hair, the rifle clutched in his hands. He was ready.

 

[Brent Warnel]

The jungles of Onderon were mostly void of life, other than the beast riders and where they made their turf. Brent had taken them deep into the jungle on a North by North-East route. It was dark by the time they got to the spot where they needed to be. The temple was somewhere in the jungle ahead of them, but it was so densely packed that they would have to make the last of the trip on foot, which would be dangerous.

"Alright, about a hundred meters ahead is where we need to go, keep on the lookout for anything. That temple is a monument to the dark-side and who knows what could be drawn to it," Brent told Atiniir as he checked his gear and rifle status.

[member="Atiniir Starrider"]

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Brent Warnel"]
Atiniir jumped out of the speeder, and with a quick sweep confirmed that the area was clear. Holding his rifle in the ready position he began to approach the temple. When the vegetation got really thick, he pulled out his vibrosword and began whacking the foliage aside. As he got closer to their destination, he felt a chill sweep over him.

"I feel cold," he said, raising his vibrosword in a guard position.

 

[Brent Warnel]

[member="Atiniir Starrider"]

"That's the darkside for you," Brent replied, "It seeps into your body and makes you lose the will to fight."

Brent also felt the chill, but he was ready for it this time. It wasn't nearly as strong as it had been when the Sith Lord had been here those years ago, which was probably a good sign. That most likely meant this place was abandoned, which was more than fine with him. He took up position behind Atiniir as the other cut through the foliage.

"I think we are alone," Brent told him, "Let's push forward, it's not much farther."

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Brent Warnel"]
Atiniir hacked through the last of the foliage and gazed upon the temple. It was small, made of stone, well-hidden by the foliage that surrounded it. It was covered by vines and moss, and looked completely abandoned.

"That it?" he asked.

 

[Brent Warnel]

[member="Atiniir Starrider"]

"That's it," Brent said, "Not much to look at. We never made it inside, so I have no idea what is in there. The last place I saw your father was engaged on the steps to the entrance of the temple. That's where the Sith cut him down, but after all these years something could have dragged him off...or inside."

Brent kept his guard up and moved out the thicker parts of the jungle and the less infested area that was in front of the temple. At one time it was probably formidable, but looking on it now, it was less than majestic, but it still felt evil.

 

[Titan]

Edit: Wrong topic, Sorry!

 

[Brent Warnel]

[member="Tel Ordo"]

All good brotha haha!

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Brent Warnel"]
Atiniir felt a sense of dread as he approached the temple. He walked forward and stood on the spot where, fifteen years ago, his father had been killed. There were no signs of it, but the feeling of pain and loss was still there. And, somewhere out here, was his father's body, or at least his armor. Atiniir hadn't known his father, couldn't even remember what he looked like, but the simple concept that the man who was his father had died here was somehow as bad as seeing it in person.

"We've got to find him," Atiniir said as a tear, which he didn't even know how appeared, trickled down his face, "I can't leave him in this vine and moss infested rot pile."

 

[Brent Warnel]

[member="Atiniir Starrider"]

"I saw the Sith deliver a blow that no man could have survived, but it doesn't mean he died immediately, he could have fought back. They may have entered the temple proper and fought inside, we should check just to be safe," Brent laid a hand on Atiniir's shoulder, "We'll find him, of that I have no doubt."

Brent gave the younger man a reassuring pat and he started up the temple steps into the arched doorway that led inside. The feeling of the dark side only grew stronger as he walked towards the entrance. He halted near the doorway, the roof of the temple hung out over him and it felt like it was drawing him inside. He shook off his doubt and moved inside, weapon raised and cautious.

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Brent Warnel"]
Atiniir felt the pat, and for some reason he didn't feel like a kid. He shook off the tear with a shake of his head and followed Brent. He moved inside the temple, but it was too dark to see.

"Got a light?" he asked, raising his weapon to a ready position.

 

[Brent Warnel]

[member="Atiniir Starrider"]

Brent's HUD had a multitude of tools and a few of them dealt with low light. He could see just find in the dark, but Atiniir didn't have that luxury, luckily Brent's own SAR-20 had a flashlight attached to the under-rail and he flicked it on. An ultra intense light pushed back the darkness and lit up the temple so they could both see.

They had walked into a main antechamber of some sorts, like a receiving room. There was remnants of old furniture and several different hallways and doorways led into various rooms within the temple. The one that got Brent's attention the most was directly in front of them along the back wall. In his HUD he could see it sloped downward, most likely towards some sort of basement or sub-structure. He knew immediately they would find what they needed down there, he didn't know how, but he just knew it.

"That back doorway leads down underground," Brent told Atiniir, pointing his light at the back of the chamber, "I think we'll find what we are looking for down there."

Brent didn't have to be a force user to feel the dark side that permeated up from that doorway. He felt the chill in his bones, something was down there, something wrong. He didn't have any other choice but to find out what.

"Let's go Atiniir, keep your guard up," Brent said as he made his way towards the doorway and descended downwards.

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Brent Warnel"]
Atiniir followed behind Brent, his rifle up and ready in a standard approach position. He followed Brent into the blackness, the chill creeping into his very bones.

"I have a very bad feeling about this," he said.

 

[Brent Warnel]

[member="Atiniir Starrider"]

"So do I," Brent replied, "Something feels...wrong."

Brent was breathing heavily, his helmet was having trouble filtering out the darkness. Brent thought it might be the darkside messing with his equipment so he turned off his HUD and just used his light from his rifle. He descended down the step with Atiniir close behind until he came to a landing, and stared in awe at what was in front him.

The room that they had stepped into was small, and all a washed out beige color of stone. In the middle of the room there was a raised pedestal and atop the pedestal was a small pyramid shaped piece of crystallized stone. The feeling of wrongness that was coursing through him was because of that, he had no doubt about it.

"That," Brent stumbled over his words, trying to catch his breath, "That...is a Sith holocron."

He had nothing else to say, he could only stare in awe at what was sitting in front of him. It caused his mind to falter and drew him in like a parasite, he finally tore his eyes away from the pedestal and the holocron. He swept his light over the pedestal and there he was, Kal Starrider.

Brent saw his old friend laying with his back against the pedestal, clearly dead, the sight pushed all thoughts of the holocron from his mind and Brent walked forward and dropped to a knee in front of his old mentor and touched the side of Kal's helmet, "I'm sorry old friend, I should never have left," Brent said as he slid his hand off Kal's helmet and stood to his full height and looked at Atiniir.

"I give to you your fathers resting place Atiniir. He sacrificed himself for me, and for that," Brent dropped to one knee and bowed his head, "I owe the Starrider blood all I have. From this point on, if you need me or anything I can provide, it's yours."

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Brent Warnel"]
When Atiniir walked into the room, the darkness nearly caused him to black out. The holocron was mesmerizing; he could feel it drawing him in. He started walking towards it, but then, in the shine of Brent's light, he saw him. He saw his father. The body was lying with its back against the pedestal, the black, empty visor of the helmet staring out the door. The armor was classic Mandalorian, a design so perfect that not even a thousand years had changed its design. The armor was steel grey, with the only decoration being a simplified version of the head of some great predator painted in blazing white on the helmet. The bodysuit was a steel blue that almost faded into the color of the armor. The whole set was rusted, the paint chipped, the bodysuit torn. It would need repairs, and serious ones at that.

Atiniir walked up and gazed down, then kneeled before the body of his father. He gazed into the black visor, and could have sworn he saw eyes staring back at him, the eyes of a man proud of what he saw.

"I found you, Dad," Atiniir said, more tears in his eyes, "You're not going to be stuck here anymore." Atiniir and Brent stood at the same time, but then Atiniir was looking down at Brent. He was half way from surprised to shocked.

"For the Force's sake, stand up," Atiniir said, "You may owe my father something, but not me. Without you, I wouldn't even be here." Atiniir held out his arm, slightly bent, elbow pointing down and had raised in a position to be clasped.

"Vode An, right?" he said, "Brothers all?" Whether the clasp was taken or not, Atiniir would turn and reach down, grabbing ahold of his father's body.

"Come on," he said, "This is no place for a Mandalorian. Lets get my father out of here. If you think we should take that holocron, grab it, but I for one want nothing to do with all that mumbo-jumbo." Atiniir picked up his father's body and slung it over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. It was surprisingly light, and that almost made Atiniir sick.

"Lets get out of this Force-forsaken place," he said, turning to the door.

 

[Brent Warnel]

[member="Atiniir Starrider"]

Brent watched Atiniir look over his fathers corpse with shock and awe in his eyes. Seeing someone you barely knew but had been so much to you was hard on the youth no doubt, but he took it in stride.

"For the Force's sake, stand up," Atiniir said, "You may owe my father something, but not me. Without you, I wouldn't even be here."

Brent stood and clasped Atiniir's hand as the man reached down to pick up his father. "You don't understand though Atiniir," Brent said as the younger man slung his fathers corpse across his shoulders. Brent reached forward and plucked a long silver cylinder from the depths of Kal's bodysuit. A large Amethyst adorned the bottom of the lightsaber, beneath where the wielder would place his hands. Where the blade of the saber itself sprung to life from, their was a cross guard that could protect the wearer's hands, infused with some sort of material that could defend against another lightsaber. Brent had only ever seen one lightsaber of this design, and he knew immediately it was the Sith's that he had been chasing for so long.

"I noticed it when i first saw Kal laying against the pedestal. This is the blade that cut him down, the one that killed my brother years ago. I can't ever see the Sith parting with it, your father must have killed him and taken the blade before he died. The holocron maybe drew him down to the depths of the temple, I can't be sure. All I know for sure is that your father has avenged my brother, and himself, and for that I will always be in your families debt," Brent said as he watched Atiniir start up the steps. He began to follow and then turned around and swept the holocron into a pouch on his side, careful to touch it only as long as needed.

"The saber is yours if you want it, one last memento of your father..."

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Brent Warnel"]
Atiniir took the saber in his off-hand, keeping a tight hold on his father with the other. He examined the weapon, one that had seen battle before, the one that had killed his father. It was now in his possession, a trophy and memento.

"I'll carry it proudly," he said. He walked up and out of the temple, shifting his father's weight every few feet. Eventually he made it out, and began walking back through the brush towards the speeder. When he reached it after a rather arduous hike, he dropped his father into the back and slid into the co-pilot's seat.

"Lets go," he said, "I have armor to repair and a father to bury."

OOC: I think this is as good a place as any to end this RP. I'll find someone who can repair my armor, then get a codex thing set up. Thanks for all your help and a great RP

 

[Brent Warnel]

Brent followed Atiniir up the steps and out into the Onderon jungle. Atiniir jumped in the speeder and made ready to leave. Brent took one last look around the temple and felt that a portion of his life had finally been closed. Now to get this holocron looked at and find out maybe something more of the Sith that he had been looking for for so long. Or maybe it had held other secrets, he would find out soon enough.

"Oya" Brent replied as he got into the speeder and headed off.

OOC: Sounds good enough to me, get that armor fixed and we'll see you on the battlefield soon enough!

[member="Atiniir Starrider"]