Private Tales of the Jedi: Ashes of War

[Briana Sal-Soren]

Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Lightsaber
Location: Giaca
Tag: Vizion Trozky

Striding through the dense underbrush of the world of Giaca with a sense of purpose, Briana paused, her gaze turning to Vizion as the lingering essence of the Dark Side turned into a violent and surging vortex as a warning of what lie ahead. "Not bad," she told him, her grip tightening around the hilt of her un-lit lightsaber while mentally preparing for the eventuality of a confrontation and the reason behind why they'd been dispatched. "Your skills as a tracker are truly impressive," she complimented, her voice carrying the tone of a warrior who understood the value of a seasoned ally, "The Jedi Order should feel lucky to have you."

Giaca was a lush and wild world, largely unspoiled by civilization and dotted with settlements of sparse populations - the breeding ground of innumerable Mawite abominations that'd been left unchecked to terrorize the already few civilians after the Second Great Hyperspace War ended.

While the Jedi Order already took care of the majority of the Sithspawn creations, a few of the more elusive escaped them. Briana and Viz were the ones dispatched to finish the job and end the Maw's dark legacy on the world. Initially, Briana was apprehensive to work with him. Since their fight on Cato, the two of them had barely spoken. Even at her Knighting, the distance between them seemed palpable, using the valid excuse of being bombarded with congratulants to avoid a potentially awkward exchange.

But through the week that they'd spent delving deep into the heart of Giaca, Briana found herself letting go of her reservations. Vizion's skills were impressive, his knowledge of the terrain and the creatures they were hunting, unmatched. And despite their complicated history, he proved to be a reliable and focused partner, always watching her back and picking up on any sign of danger before she could even sense it.

Not too unlike many similar instances from when they were children.

She heaved a deep breath, the beat of her heart picking up in a rhythm of anticipation and fear, knowing the great risk of what laid in wait for the two of them - the Sithspawn they tracked was not to be underestimated, having claimed the lives of many innocents already. But, knowing that Vizion was by her side gave her a renewed sense of strength and determination, with a bone deep feeling telling her they'd be okay.

"Let's go," she said, igniting her lightsaber, surging forward towards the dark mouth of the cave with Vizion following close behind, hearing the sound of his blade humming to life as they made their way into the heart of darkness.

The hunt was on, and she was determined that they'd emerge victorious.

 

[Vizion Trozky]

THE HUNTER-KNIGHT
NEW JEDI ORDER
GIACA
Briana Sal-Soren

They’d come to a stop as the waning presence of Darkness in the air grew and sharply surged into something that might grab the attention of even the mildest sensitive within a fair number of clicks. For Vizion, so intently focused on picking up and following that trail, it was tantamount to getting smacked across the head. His teeth gritted behind closed lips in the moment, a faint grunt rising in his throat.

“That was a warning,” he’d said, the words blunt, even, and without his returning the look as Briana went to follow him up with that compliment, as he scanned ahead with his eyes. Nor did he have many words, “Thanks,” beyond that. After this many days, she knew well enough that his short answers and sometimes non-verbalised responses meant his attention was rightly elsewhere; that it meant nothing else, and he wasn’t about to split his attention unnecessarily.

Nor could he return the compliment to a similar degree. He had yet to see her in action here, and otherwise not since Cato, the landscape being largely permissive to their presence, apart from what lurked, until now, at the periphery. The thing that had put them into taking watches when the dark of night and need for rest halted their progress, and even then, work was often the topic of choice in any discussion. Part of that being explaining his process, how he saw and felt the details she did not that kept them on the right path, when she asked, before sleep took one or the other. This was simpler than wading through the trappings of their history, which he’d compartmentalised away from the task at hand, and he was glad to find that he could rely on her to be similarly focused, and mark her down alongside Jand Talo in that respect.

Almost as if it were second nature for how many times he'd performed the action, Vizion checked the sealed gaps of the lightweight, acid-resistant suits they’d been given, something he’d periodically done over the course of the week. A kind of body glove that the personnel stationed at the settlement they’d set out from had taken to wearing under their armor after losing some of their number to the preying of this thing, and having at least one that was hospitalised and under suicide watch after inadvertently coming into contact with the hallucinogenic compound this Sithspawn secreted, before they knew just what the creature was. 'Avoid skin contact with it or anything around it' had been the advisement.

He’d boxed away the thoughts those tales inspired as well. Outwitting a Sith was one thing; dealing with what would end up being a cornered, lightsaber-resistant, acid-spitting rhak-skuri (in the best case scenario) was something else entirely. Holographic evidence and catalogued knowledge of what kind of creature laid ahead could make the skin crawl, but being subjected to so much death over the course of the now-ended war granted a certain measure of resistance to many horrors.

It had become easier to block things out over time.

“Mm,” he agreed, plucking one of his two hilts from his belt, and thumbing the orange bar of light to life as she stepped off and he followed in the next moment, letting themselves be enveloped by the darkness of this entrance to a system of caves. It was her turn to lead, her place to be at the fore when they would encounter their quarry, their path lit only by the glow of their blades, their progress slowing to a measured, aware crawl as they delved further into the space.

“Can you see well enough?”

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Lightsaber
Location:
Tag: Vizion Trozky

To say that Briana was on high alert as they made their way into the cave, was a vast understatement.

Every sense was heightened, some of it born from the tendrils of her own anxieties, but primarily occurring from the employed use of the Force she offered, giving them both the strength necessary to see this through; reaching out to the remnants of the bond they'd once shared and wrapping it in a blanketed barrier of light that would increase their resolve and accuracy for the fight ahead.

The cave was dark and dank, the oppressive air thick with the stench of mildew and rotting left overs scattered about, adding a macabre touch to what was already a chilling atmosphere. The sole source of light emanated from their brilliantly glowing lightsabers, casting an array of eerie shadows along the walls, accentuating the jagged edges of the surrounding rocks that gleamed with some undiscernible substance.

Moving deeper into the cave, Briana used the utmost caution to navigate the unforgiving terrain, finding the ground to be both slick and uneven as it extend into an eternal labyrinth, meandering in countless directions with its convoluted passageways. If it wasn't for Vizion's tracking skills, they could easily get lost in this place and never see the light of day again. The somber thought led Briana to ponder how many unfortunate souls the Sithspawn had ensnared within these catacombs as their meal, unable to flee due to the intricate networking of tunnels.

The chilling notion sent a shudder cascading down her spine.

"I can see well enough," Briana confirmed, her voice hushed. "How much further do you think we have to go?" She asked, hoping for something of a distraction from her thoughts by casting a glance over her shoulder at Vizion, the orange light from his lightsaber casting a warm glow on his face.

FORCE VALOR EMPLOYED

 

[Vizion Trozky]

THE HUNTER-KNIGHT
NEW JEDI ORDER
GIACA
Briana Sal-Soren

The chilling notion may have given Briana a shudder, but for Viz there was a different kind of spine-unsettling feeling, a foreboding dread that seemed to cling to the air emanating from somewhere in the general area, extremely silent and rather close - or at least that was the feeling he got. He narrowed his eyes…

“There,” came the word in tandem with the lifting and straightening of his arm and blade as he continued to put one foot in front of the other, “we exit this cavern into what is likely a tunnel,” the glow of the extended citrine plasma just barely highlighted the egress in the otherwise abject darkness, “then we continue in this same di–”

A rapidly clicking chatter punctuated the nigh-cloying atmosphere, echoing as it ricocheted off of of the rocky build of the cavern network and softening bit by bit as it travelled, followed by nearly blunt taps and enormous, panic-inducing scrapes and thuds that all gave a very clear indication: it filled the space through which it was moving to the point that it was struggling just a little, causing vibrations to permeate throughout the rock, and causing it to groan…

“--or, it… comes to us,” the steel firming up in his voice despite the mildly surprised frankness of his tone, as Viz lowered his blade, set one foot back, then another and bent his knees, sparing a fleeting glance at Briana as the realisation hit him, “we’re going to have a much harder time than we have to, if that thing makes it out into the open.”

That was the impression he got between what information they had been given aside from its compound-based lethalities - it was big and it was fast and the increasing loudness of the sound became more and more grating to the ears, as it approached the entrance to this cavern.

“Particularly if it gets outside." An educated guess. "So, plan: anything we can do to at least slow it down as it tries to enter this space will help,” his gaze hardened as if he could see it through the stony walls, “and timing is everything - I’ll hold it back with telekinesis as much as I can, and you…?”

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Lightsaber
Location: Gacia
Tag: Vizion Trozky

Briana stared into the darkness, fingers tightening around the hilt of her ligthsaber as Vizion's words lingered in her mind. The echoing sound of the Sithspawn grew louder and louder, every ounce of her tingling with building anticipation. She knew the rumors hadn't exaggerated the creature's size - nor its potential deadliness, the sound of ticking and the scraping of its mandibles drawing closer and closer in testament to the many stories.

Cerulean eyes flicked to Vizion as he held his stance, preparing to slow down the beast while she mentally ran through their weapons and the strategies they'd discussed prior to this. "Alright," she said with a determined nod, "I'll focus on its legs, try to disable its movement while you're restraining it with the Force." she told him, holding up her blade as she prepared for the immanent confrontation, the air growing thick, damp, and heavy with the oppressive aura of the Sithspawn lurking just out of sight. "We don't let it escape—"

The words had barely left her lips when they heard it on them – a low growl echoing like the sound of thunder rumbling in the depths of a storm. Then, before either of them could move or react, it appeared, lurching into view with its hooked legs scuttling across the rocky cavern floors.

"Gods your ugly." Briana muttered under her breath, catching a glimpse of the Rhak-Skuri's chitin-clad form. A thing of nightmares— it stood at nearly three meters tall, bristling with leathery appendages tipped in razor-sharp barbs. With a mighty inhale, the creature reared back for an attack.

Now was their chance.

As Vizion launched his plan, Briana sprang forward, her cerulean blade striking out with deadly-precision at one of its pincer-tipped legs, scoring a shallow cut through one, then another, and another. The Rhak-Skuri snarled in pain and frustration, hurtling a stream of corrosive acid toward her and Vizion that she barely dodged in time, rolling across the ground as the cave wall sizzled and steamed where the acid struck it.

 

[Vizion Trozky]

THE HUNTER-KNIGHT
NEW JEDI ORDER
GIACA
Briana Sal-Soren

To call the thing ‘ugly’ felt like a bit of an understatement - it was hideous.

When the creature came into view, Vizion braced himself and reached out, grabbing onto the Rhak-Skuri with an invisible hand, enough to wrestle and temporarily restrain the massive bug while Briana moved in to strike. It was a bit of a strain - the Rhak-Skuri railed fervently against the Force-ful hold - but Vizion managed to restrain it in a long enough burst with his one free hand outstretched, to give his oldest friend a chance.

The speed and precision with which she moved spoke to how much she had grown, at least in her skills as a Jedi, since the last time they had worked together on Cato Neimoidia… but observing her wasn’t his focus. When the Rhak-Skuri howled pain in its chittering language, writhing, Vizion broke his hold on the creature, knowing that a counterattack was imminent; however, he also knew the bug wouldn’t be capable of retaliating and moving at the same time.

When the acidic spray came for them, he was already putting distance between himself and the gigantic, many-legged thing, and as soon as he was outside of that corrosive radius, he turned and resumed the assault, slamming his empyrean hold into the Rhak-Skuri again.

“Chipping away at it,” he grunted, “is a battle of attrition we might lose.” A realisation he came to quickly, on the relatively little damage his partner in this mission had been able to enact - not at all a skill issue on her part, as that chitin was terribly strong - but Briana had made enough of a mark to cause pain; how could they take advantage of that? Or… “But wait,” he implored as another avenue of possibility opened to him, “you heard it move through the corridor - how it scraped, how the whole mountain shook, yeah? Stressors like those create microscopic fractures.”

His mouth assumed a line as he hurriedly continued to explain - splitting his attention like this was a risk he didn’t wish to continue indulging in longer than necessary.

“All I can think of is to bring the mountain down on it, but finding the right place to push or pull? That would take too much time without a clear line of sight.”

Vizion gritted his teeth as the creature continued to put up an unholy struggle, spitting in futility as he and Briana remained just out of reach for the moment. and he redoubled his effort to keep the bug at bay, as if steeling his stance would help what he was doing with the Force at all.

 

[Briana Sal-Soren]

Wearing: XoXo
Equipment: Lightsaber
Location:
Tag: Vizion Trozky

Strands of loose hair hung limp, clinging to her face from sweat as her breath came in short bursts, gazing upon the grotesque Rhak-Skuri, its multitude of legs thrashing against the invisible bonds Vizion used to hold its armored body above the ground.

"All I can think of is to bring the mountain down on it, but finding the right place to push or pull? That would take too much time without a clear line of sight."

Vizion was right, of course. But... bringing down the entire mountain? It was a desperate gamble, and failure could mean a gruesome outcome. Not just for the Rhak-Skuri.

"I think I can do it," she told him after a quiet moment of consideration, though there was some obvious reservation in her voice. "It's still relatively new... but I can sense the weak points in this cave and potentially initiate a chain-reaction."

Cerulean eyes narrowed, flitting to the towering stalagmites and precarious ceiling that had been too easily disrupted by the creature's movements as she reached out with the Force, pouring her strength into the ability she'd been practicing and probing deeper for the strained weaknesses in the mountains very structure, sensing the strands of energy twisted together like rope—all connected but different. If one of those strands snapped...

The cave began to tremble in response to her focused attention.

"I'll need you to put up a shield around us on the way out, or we'll be buried along with it." Her eyes settled on him, silently asking if he fully understood the risk of what she was about to do, seeking his approval. Even now, after their years of separation and the distance between them, she trusted him implicitly. Did he trust her? "When I tell you to, run."

Closing her eyes, she focused her powers on the fractures she'd felt before, the cave groaning in response to her invisible ministrations. Cracks raced through the walls and ceiling like mad, elaborate spiderwebs, all of it perfectly silent save for the sharp and sudden vibrations rumbling beneath their feet.

Ceding no ground, she forced more power into her efforts as what had once seemed solid and immovable gave ragged cries of betrayal. "NOW!" she screamed, her voice barely audible above the cacophony of falling rocks, debris, and the high-pitched screeching of the Rhak-Skuri.

 

[Vizion Trozky]

THE HUNTER-KNIGHT
GIACA
Briana Sal-Soren

What she proposed was nothing he had ever seen done before, and the hesitance in her answer broached a level of lacking confidence, but she wouldn’t put forth such an idea if she couldn’t do it. He had long come to the realization that she would do things if she was sure she could do them, and that he hadn’t ever needed to worry.

Vizion held to his task, maintaining the Rhak-Skuri’s distance from them as Briana mapped out the weaknesses in this natural-born pyramid of stone, feeling his own strain of a different kind from that of the fractured mass of rock, above. The cave trembled, and so did he along with it, forcing a clenched-teeth low grunt out of him. He needed to improve his endurance with some of his abilities, for the nature of his usual work as a Jedi rarely called for sustained applications of the Force. Physical endurance had only so much impact.

When she gave her directive for shielding and to run on her cue, all the Brentaalan Knight could do was nod his understanding and approval, unable to tear his eyes away from the grotesque beast he was holding back. He trusted her as a Jedi, and with his life - that was all that mattered, here - but not with the far less tangible and equally far more vulnerable pieces of his core.

Then she went back to work, urging the structure of stone to fail, and the whole cave rumbled and cracked more violently in response to her invisible touch. Then it all began to buckle, and the landslide of rock developed and fell rapidly, creating a deafening roar of rock on rock, and the panicked screeching of the massive bug. He hardly heard her scream over the noise, but felt the sharp intent behind the invocation, and after another split-second, released the Rhak-Skuri to its fate.

That release was akin to a deflation, but he sucked in a sharp breath, and forced the shimmering field of protective energy over and behind them as he turned and scrambled with her out of the cave and out into the unassuming grasses of Giaca, disengaging his orange blade as daylight assaulted his vision.

By the time they were at a safe enough distance to turn and watch the mountain continue to reshape itself, he had dropped the shield, and once they stopped moving, dropped himself to sit in the tall grass with his legs outstretched.

“I… need… a few minutes.” Then Vizion flopped the rest of the way onto his back, while continuing to catch his breath. “After that--” he lifted his arm to check his chrono, and his brow lofted slightly at what he read, “--oh, it’s only about noon.” Viz dropped his arm back down, and turned his head to look at Briana, “Good thinking in there, by the way; who taught you that?”