Private Post Apocalypse

[Eloise Dinn]

CHALDEA​

Eloise stood in the cockpit of a shuttle, gazing out through the viewing window. They had just come out of hyperspace, and were now rapidly approaching a familiar blue-green globe: Chaldea, the planet where she had been born.

She hadn't so much as visited her birthworld since she was whisked away by her Sith parents at the age of seven. In the ten years that had passed since then, Chaldea had suffered what could only be called an apocalypse. The native dragons had attacked the inhabitants en masse, destroying every settlement and killing every sentient they could find. Eloise could remember feeling the loss in the Force even across a vast distance of billions of light years. But to see the ruins up close with her own two eyes was going to be a very different experience.

"Landing in T-minus ten minutes," the voice of Master Starlin Rand interrupted her thoughts. He was sitting in the pilot's chair, operating the shuttle. "Do you know where Vera is?"

"No," Eloise replied, sinking into the co-pilot's chair to indicate that she would not be willing to go look for the other girl.

Starlin, Eloise, and Vera Noble had been assigned to investigate reports of a Dark Side cult operating near Pirivena, a long abandoned coastal city that was partially underwater. The reports had come from one of the few surviving remnants of Chaldean civilization, the Mer. Normally isolationist, the fact that they had felt compelled to ask the Jedi Order for help indicated that they were taking the threat posed by the cult seriously. Eloise wasn't happy about there being Dark Siders on her childhood homeworld—nor was she pleased about the stuck-up Vera coming along, or dumbass Starlin being the Master who was chosen to lead their team. But she supposed not every mission could double as a relaxing retreat...

Vera Noble​

 

[Vera Noble]

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Tag: Eloise Dinn

Vera stepped into the cockpit just as Eloise was sinking into the co-pilot's seat. Her hair was slightly tousled from where she'd hastily tied it back, and she was still drying her hands with a small towel that had clearly come from the refresher.

"Sorry," she said casually, tossing the towel aside as she slid in behind the pilot's chair. "Bathroom break. You guys started without me?" But the moment her gaze lifted to the viewport, all trace of nonchalance vanished. The shuttle was about to drop from Hyperspace, and Vera's multi-colored eyes fixated on the planet ahead.

"Oh..." Her breath hitched, and her eyes widened. "Is that Chaldea?"

Even from orbit, Vera could see the scars — the unnatural gouges in the landscape, the remnants of long-fallen cities, the silent echoes of a tragedy that had reshaped an entire world.

"I've read about it," she said, more to herself than anyone else. "But seeing it like this... it's different."

After a moment, she turned her attention to Starlin, her usual bright energy beginning to return. "Where are we landing? We probably shouldn't get too close. If there's a cult operating near Pirivena, it's not going to be friendly territory." Then, she glanced at Eloise and offered a quick nod of acknowledgment. Serious, for once, knowing what this mission entailed.

Still, Vera couldn't help the way her fingers twitched near her lightsaber.

Adventure was waiting down there!

​

 

[Eloise Dinn]

Vera stepped into the cockpit a moment later, having just come from the ‘fresher. Eloise rested her cheek on her hand, watching as Starlin chuckled at her complaint that they had started without her. “Well, whaddya want me to do? Call you up on the intercom and tell you to shit faster?”

It was hard to believe sometimes that Starlin had made it to the rank of Master. He was such an unserious person, completely unlike any other Jedi Master she had met. Moreover, he was well-regarded enough by the Dinns—a Sith family—that one of Eloise’s brothers was named after him. His goofiness made him universally charming, apparently.

"Oh... Is that Chaldea?"

“Yeah,” Starlin answered, his tone considerably more subdued.

Eloise’s attention was brought back to her homeworld, which had grown larger and more detailed as they came steadily closer. She could see the destruction from orbit, even five years after the apocalypse. Nobody seemed to have a definitive answer as to why the dragons had burned the world down. But it had brought an end to everything.

Her grandparents were among the dead. They had raised her for the first part of her life. She missed them.

"Where are we landing? We probably shouldn't get too close. If there's a cult operating near Pirivena, it's not going to be friendly territory."

“And where does our contact want to meet exactly?” Eloise asked, as Starlin pulled up the report…

---

Starlin parked the shuttle slightly outside Pirivena, shielded by a tunnel. Though Eloise assured him that the dragons should be hibernating at this time of year, he figured better to be safe than sorry. They took a speeder into the city, passing by ruins that were abandoned long before the dragons rained fire down from above.

Eloise was silent for much of the ride, gazing out the window. Now that she thought about it, there had always been something apocalyptic about life on Chaldea. Their civilization was in economic and social freefall, succumbing to a slow death as the values and prosperity of the past steadily declined. Even if the dragons hadn’t come, she always would’ve returned to find a ghost town.

“We should be coming up on the embassy now,” Starlin said as they turned a corner.

Despite their closed-off society, the Mer had long ago claimed an abandoned opera house as the site of their embassy. Upon arrival, it was easy to see why they had chosen it. The building had been intentionally constructed half on land and half on water; it resisted the damage associated with the rising tides, and was suitably symbolic as a bridge between worlds.

Eloise climbed out of the speeder, looking around. Her brow furrowed as she spotted another speeder parked nearby. “We’re not the only ones here.”

“Well, yeah. The Mer are gonna meet us,” Starlin said.

“The Mer don’t use speeders,” she pointed out. “They’ll just come straight from the sea. I used to live here, remember? I know how they do things.”

Starlin shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t sense anything…”

“They could be hiding their presence in the Force.” Eloise started walking toward the building, determined to find out what was inside.

Vera Noble​

 

[Vera Noble]

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Tag: Eloise Dinn

Vera sat quietly during most of the ride, arms loosely crossed as she gazed out the window of the speeder. The closer they got to the ruins, the less she found herself wanting to speak. The city — or what was left of it — wasn't just eerie. It felt… heavy. Like the Force itself hadn't fully healed from what had happened here. The destruction, the death... it was intense.

She glanced at Eloise a few times but said nothing. Not because she didn't want to — but because she didn't want to say the wrong thing. Chaldea meant something to her, that much was clear. And even if Vera didn't know all the details, she didn't need to. She could feel just how much it all had affected her fellow Padawan.

So Vera stayed quiet.

Even when part of her — a very quiet, very guilty part — kept thinking how incredibly awesome it would be to see a dragon up close. She'd read about them and seen them in shows, so the mere idea of watching one breathe fire was cool. But that fascination had no place here. Not with what the dragons had done.

When the speeder finally rolled to a stop, Vera slipped out behind the others, her gaze flicking to the opera house ahead. The sight of the other speeder made her frown. She listened to Eloise and Starlin's exchange in silence, but when Eloise started walking, Vera caught up with her and murmured low enough that it wouldn't echo past their group.

"Who else could have come?" Her voice was soft but steady, her eyes scanning the ruins as they moved. "If the Mer didn't bring that speeder, then…" A pause. "Do you think it could be the cult?"

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[Eloise Dinn]

Vera Noble
​

Eloise expected the others to follow. She didn't expect Vera to chase after her and start whispering in her ear.

"Who else could have come? If the Mer didn't bring that speeder, then… Do you think it could be the cult?"

"How should I know?" she asked with a shrug. "I've never encountered them before."

"It's not them." Eloise glanced over her shoulder at Starlin, who was following at a slight distance behind them. He continued, "The Dark radiates off them like an overwhelming stench. They can't hide their evil. If it was them, you'd feel it."

Brow furrowed, Eloise pushed open the entrance to what had once been the opera house's lobby. Starlin had indicated all the way back during the mission debriefing on Coruscant that he was quite familiar with this particular cult. Eloise wondered just how he knew so much about them and what the history between them was, but her mind had been preoccupied with other thoughts for the majority of the journey. Not just because it was Chaldea, but because she had... well...

"Halt!"

Her train of thought was interrupted by a voice which echoed through the building, along with the sounds of blasters being leveled. They were indeed surrounded by a squad of armed and armored troops. Directly ahead of them, a beautiful woman stood. She was older, perhaps in her forties, and wore a suit of gleaming golden armor. She spoke in a dignified manner, with the distinct accent of an Essonian noblewoman.

"You are surrounded," she said. "State your business or—" Her eyes widened as she got a closer look at them. "Starlin?"

Eloise glanced at the Jedi Master. His expression was stricken, but there was another emotion in his gaze, which was utterly transfixed on the woman. It was a deep and abiding yearning. "Isolda," he said her name, not as a question, but like a call across time and space.

Holy shit, Eloise thought to herself. Is she his star-crossed ex or something? What a place to meet again...

With a gesture of her hand, the woman ordered her soldiers to stand down. "By Ashla, is it really you? It's been so long..."

"Twenty years, give or take a few."

"You've grown a beard..."

"Your hair's going gray," he said with a faint smile.

For a moment she looked wistful. But then her gaze hardened again. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm here on Jedi business," Starlin answered. "The Mer requested our help dealing with a Dark Side cult."

"They also requested our help. We arrived here half an hour ago. I apologize for the... poor welcome." She finally turned her attention to the Padawans. "Who are your companions?"

"Padawans Vera and Eloise," he introduced them. "This is Dame Isolda of Ession. She and I were... allies, once."