Private The Adventures of Snotface and Goofball: Over the Moon

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori didn't mean just physical strength, although that was obvious given Caedyn Arenais was bigger than she was. There was a lot more that she was considering in regards to her statement. He was far more superior than her in the Force, managing people, fighting and quite possibly even in piloting. Her own skills paled in comparison; and given that they were twins, compeition was high. At least from her standpoint. And she had more to compete with than just her brother. She had her parents as well, and their legacies.

But no matter. There were Ewoks to talk to and learn from! Just imagine the traps they could teach her to set and vice versa. The Eternal Empire wouldn't see it coming! And she'd probably gloat and die in laughter.

"Of course I would! That would be absolutely wicked!" Lori grinned in spite of herself.

However that jovial look on her face soon faded as she noticed no sign of movement up ahead. No cooking fires, no sounds of the Ewoks at all. Loti suddenly got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach as a chill made it's way down her spine as though someone had dumped a handful of snow down her back. "Cae..? Something's wrong..." The scent of old death hung in the air, growing thicker as the two began to approach the tree-top villiage. It was as though they were coming up to a ghost town.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Both of them had picked up on it at the same time, Caedyn's expression growing stoic as he held his gaze high upon the elevated village in the tree's and heard nothing, saw no movement, listened to only the wind as it moved through the tree's and brought with it the faint smell of the deceased. The Jedi Knight knew this feeling well, the way his stomach tightened into a knot when he was faced with the reality of such an experience, whether seeing it happen or arriving just too late to stop it, the loss of life was always devastating to him. This would be no simple walk in the woods after all.

"There's going to be nothing good to be found up there..." Caedyn replied, his words having run cold and quiet as he moved to press forward. Despite his remark, he knew that they needed to investigate the site further, to try and decipher what had happened to the former inhabitants. In such numbers, presumably the entire village, it had to have been slaughter and committed in cold blood. There was no just cause for someone to wipe out an entire village, no matter what species or people they were.

From tree to tree, rope-bridges linked each and every hut and platform, Caedyn walking through the foliage while following it until he finally spotted a way up, a bridge that swung low to the ground for which they could climb and enter the Ewok Village. Every platform had been fashioned out of rope and wood, everything that these creatures had built for themselves lacking the technology of the modern galaxy from what Caedyn had read in the archives, they weren't the type to bear firearms beyond the simplistic of weapons, bows and hand-thrown spears, primitive means...

"C'mon...-See if you can find any sign of what happened here" he encouraged his Sister, not wanting her to have to see what they already knew, yet needing another set of eyes to help him discover the truth of the massacre. It was his moral duty and obligation as a Jedi...-As a person.

Loreena Arenais-Valhoun

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori didn't like this. She was hoping for some fun times and laughing together with Caedyn Arenais and the Ewoks. She pictured them all sitting around fires and swapping stories, all the while eating away on some freshly cooked meat.

But no. It wasn't going to be that way.

With a nod to her brother she quietly made her way up to the the bridge, her eyes scanning everything around them for movement. Although from the smell it seemed as though whatever had attacked the furry villagers were long gone. Gingerly she walked by the first hut, pausing at the doorway in order to lift the flap and look in. A table and chair were tipped over, but that was it. No blood, no body, not even blaster marks. Yet there must have been some type of struggle. "This one's clear. Should we split up at the first fork? We'll cover more ground quickly that way."

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Caedyn followed his Sister, only moving passed her to check the second nearby hut as Loreena Arenais-Valhoun did the first; It wasn't a pretty sight. Immediately as he entered the room the scent of death reached him in greater strength and he faltered in his step at the share smell of the room. Thereupon the floor surrounded by toppled furniture were three bodies, presumably, a family of Ewoks as one of them appeared to be smaller and younger than the other two. Parents protecting their young perhaps?

"Lori?" Caedyn called to her while moving forward and carefully kneeling down to examine the bodies, as well as the clear signs of the fight that had taken place. Blaster marks scorched the floor and walls around him, while one of the adults had also been killed by some sort of blade, not a lightsaber but vibroblade perhaps. The other two had been shot.

Sighing under his breath, Caedyn closed his eyes in a moment of pause, wanting to steady himself emotionally before rising back up to his feet and turning back towards the entrance, no doubt where he would meet Loreena. "It's not good. Prepare yourself first" he advised her before stepping aside so that she could see as he had.

Clearly, they weren't alone on Endor. Ewoks were to be expected but the evidence before them suggested a presence far more sinister and clearly not afraid of getting their hands dirty in whatever objectives they held on the forest moon. "This may not be as safe an option for the Rebellion as I'd initially thought" he pointed out, as though the obvious needed to be stated.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

The way that Caedyn Arenais called out to her didn't sound good. No doubt he had seen something that blocked out her own question entirely. Either that or he just didn't hear her.

There wasn't much else for her to look at in the first hut, so she approached the second where her brother stepped just out of the doorway. Her brows furrowed with worry and concern as he warned her about what she was about to see within. Taking in a deep breath, Lori let it out slowly and walked inside.

The smell was awful, and the pit in her stomach grew heavier she saw the trio of bodies within. Lori knelt down beside them and examined what she could see, not just from the Ewoks but in the hut as well. Nothing appeared to be taken. It was as though they were ambushed or something. But by who? That was another question that needed answering.

Standing up again, Lori exited the hut and took in the fresh air. After a few seconds, she looked to her brother. "The other hut was empty, but some things were moved, as though there was a struggle. Could it be that the Ewoks had some kind of treasure that hunters could be after?" They'd need to investigate further in a bid to figure this out.

And yes, she didn't think that Endor was going to be a good place for the Rebels either. Yet the siblings couldn't just up and leave right now.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

"It's difficult to tell who this was".

Caedyn replied, studying the ground below in search of any sign that they might have been followed or were perhaps being watched. Having come across the site, he couldn't help but feel far more on edge than he had been beforehand, as though his instincts were echoing the state of the Ewok village and the atrocities committed there.

"This certainly wasn't a tribal dispute, if Ewoks have those...-From memory, they don't possess the kind of tech capable of the damage present here" he pointed out, though his Sister had probably arrived at the same conclusion already. Still, the question remained. Why would someone slaughter an entire village, and were they all dead or had others been captured, taken away from their homes or was this all that was left.

"The obvious question would be whether we believe Ingrid L'lerim could be capable of something like this. Would the Eternal Empire resort to this kind of bloodshed?" he asked, turning to look across to Loreena Arenais-Valhoun with a grim expression about him.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori stepped out of the hut, unable to stand the smell of rotting flesh for too long. She wasn't used to it.

Her thoughts dwelled on the comments and questions that Caedyn Arenais had posed. And of course she was thinking of all of the same things that he was and more. She highly doubted that this was some tribal war affair. As far as she could tell, there were very little signs of their primitive weapons in action. So they had to be ambushed by someone.

Lori leaned against the railing , looking down at the ground below for signs of Imperial war machines or transport vehicles. Given the debris from the trees that had fallen in the time that had passed, it was difficult to say what had come across the tree-top village. "I wouldn't put it past them. I'm not so sure that they'd see the Ewoks in the same way that we would. The Empire doesn't have slavery, but that doesn't mean that they couldn't have other uses for them...." Just what those other uses could be, she had no idea.

"Let's keep looking. I want to go through every hut. Whatever bodies we find, we should gather together and burn. Then maybe in the future this village could be used again." They did deserve a proper burial afterall.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Caedyn, unfortunately, agreed with this Sister, the fallen deserved a respectable send-off. Giving her a nod, he didn't have the words to speak, while he felt himself a little ill over the scene. Not the sight of the deceased alone, but the manner of the attack itself and the ruthlessness that had been wrought upon the small Ewok village.

He began to gather the dead, to clear them of the village itself and bring them to the ground level where he could build a make-shift pyre, enough to encourage the cremation of the afflicted.

This wasn't his first time in the scene of death, of course, Caedyn had been subjected to many a battlefield by now. As a Jedi, there was a need to grow desensitized to such things, just enough to guard your emotional and mental state, but not too much that you grow cold and lose sight of the importance in life. All living creatures.

In Caedyn's case, he found it difficult to distance himself from feeling, when standing before such travesties. He didn't ever want to come to a place in life where the killing of another, or the loss of life, held no sway over the Jedi Knight.

It took some time but gradually, he and Loreena Arenais-Valhoun had managed to remove the deceased from the silent village, bringing them to the pyre where Caedyn now stood in wait for his Sister. It was a sad sight, but he was also relieved that they could honor the dead by giving them the send-off that they deserved.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori hated this. She had witnessed massacres before, mostly by the Eternal Empire and even by the Sith back on Commenor. But this was different. It wasn't for an invasion or hostile takeover of the forest moon. This was for.....well, she didn't yet know what.

Just like Caedyn Arenais , she remained silent as they cleared the village of bodies, gathering them into a pile. Not every hut had them, yet every hut seemed to show the signs of struggle. Lori's mind was racing as she was trying to figure out just what it was that the Empire wanted with the Ewoks. There was no alter or anything with some missing idol or treasure. And it didn't even look as though the huts were ransacked for anything at all. The Ewoks were either taken away or killed. She had counted 21 bodies, and with the size of the village above them, it seemed as though at least double that number lived there. So where were they?

Once the pile was made, Lori started gathering some wood and twigs to it and then set it alight with a lighter. It took a bit for it to all catch, but a minute or two later, the pyre was in full bloom. Lori stood back, arms folded across her chest as she stared at it. This just wasn't right. It took a few moments before she was good enough to speak without a lump edging into her throat. "Maybe you should have your droid do a quick scan of the nearby villages and see if there are any signs of life. We need to find out if this is isolated or not...."

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Caedyn nodded in response to his sister's suggestion, the light of the pyre breathing a strong warmth across his face, a far cry from the feelings that he was having to keep buried at the sight of the deceased, the fire erasing all that once was, however, the atrocious act would be etched into his and Loreena Arenais-Valhoun ' heart for a long time to come.

Drawing his commlink from his belt, Caedyn dialled in on The Repertoire's frequency; "Lexas, can you hear me?" Caedyn spoke into the mic, his eyes glancing to his sister briefly wanting to gauge how she were holding up after what they'd seen and had to do for the village. She looked about as well as she could be expected to be, about as well as he himself felt about the whole situation. Grim and sad.

"Reading you loud and clear, sir!" Lexas droid-like voice came through over the Comm, his choice of words sounding all very clumsy as was typical for droids trying to appear professional at sentient tasks. It wasn't his fault, as far as droids went, Lexas was the best Caedyn had met.

"Thanks Lex, we need a quick favor. Can you lock in on our coordinates and scan for nearby signs of life within say....-Five miles?" Caedyn asked, glancing back to his Sister and giving a half shrug. Even if they had to walk a few miles, it'd probably do them some good after what they would need to process.

The sight of so many helplessly slaughtered wasn't something easily dismissed. Not for those alike the twins who cared the way they did.

His request was met with silence, Caedyn's gaze being drawn to the ground as he waited patiently, assuming his droid co-pilot was seeing out the task. True to expectation, the comm-line opened back up again once Lexas had something to report.

"I count two other strong readings that suggest multiple life signs, Sir" Lexas announced.

"The first is only within a click from your position, to the north-west. The other is....-Somewhat unusual Sir. I'm getting some interference that suggests a likelihood of advanced technology for the region. At least so for any Ewok in my database in any case".

"Copy that Lex, thanks. Send those coordinates through to my Commlink would you please. Caedyn out." Caedyn responded, concluding the call and for the time being keeping the device in hand for when the requested information would come through. "Frankly I don't think he's ever met an Ewok" Caedyn remarked, trying to lighten the mood with an ill-timed joke, a typical Caedyn trademark to mask his feelings in times such as these.

"I guess we're heading North-West" He informed Lori who had likely overheard the conversation, "One the Pyre's gone out".

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori could almost hear the dying cries of the Ewoks as their bodies burned. Yet she couldn't tell if it was just her imagination or not. Maybe she was personalizing it too much; the empathy for them messing with her mind.

Caedyn Arenais thankfully broke her of that as he spoke up, communicating with his droid. Lori listened quietly, furrowing her brows at the information that Lex could provide for them. Advanced technology? No doubt the twins should have scanned the area first before they had even made landfall. But hindsight is twenty-twenty, or so they say.

She nodded to her brother. "It shouldn't take us too long to get there. But we should be on guard. No doubt if there is anyone in the area, the smoke will draw their attention. So we should go now. There's not too much cover here if Imperial Scouts are in the area." The last thing that she needed was to find herself in another Imperial prison cell.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Caedyn agreed, moving to depart the grim scene alongside Loreena Arenais-Valhoun , the pair returning to the open forest once having descended from the Ewok village; The sight of burned wood and collapsed huts being replaced with the much more serene vision of green life that was the forest moon of Endor's natural splendour.

Their exploits so far hadn't been nearly as positive as either of them had hoped for, however, with what seemed to be a decent trek ahead of them, Caedyn figured now was as good a time as any to have a conversation with Lori that he had been avoiding for some time now. At the very least, it would take her mind off of the deceased that they'd laid to rest.

"There's something I need to tell you...-Just in case you hear anything, or wind up somehow getting involved but it concerns our father so you need to know" Caedyn started, almost sounding as though he were struggling to find the motivation to discuss the news.

"Some time back, my Padawan and I stumbled upon a Cultist outpost on Arcadia-N-30 and were forced to defend ourselves against what can only be described as followers of the Sith. There we found a prisoner, a young boy who had been enslaved. He turned out to be around the age of 17 or so..." Caedyn continued, though his voice trailing for a moment as he led up to the real kicker of the story; "Our medical staff back on Kashyyyk ran some tests on him, and not only was he extremely sensitive to the Force but...-His DNA was a complete match with Veiere's".

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori felt so very small as she walked through the giant trees of the famous Endor moon. It was no wonder that the Ewoks made their shelters there, for they were tall, strong and sturdy. They could see their enemies approaching easily.

If only that was enough to save them.

She raised a brow as Caedyn Arenais spoke, wanting to get something off his chest. There was a lot of aprehension in his voice, and of course that made her prepare to hear bad news.

Instead of butting in with questions this time, something that she used to do plenty of in their youth, Lori remained silent and allowed him to finish. Yet when he had, she was silent still, at least for a few seconds, with her jaw dropped open in utter shock. And not just that Caedyn spoke of their Dad by name instead of just as Dad or Father. But of the revelation that came with it.

Did he have an affair? That wasn't like him. Or did their parents have a secret kid that they hid away somewhere? No...no, that couldn't be it either. The mention of the DNA being a perfect match for their Dad's only meant....

"A clone? How did that happen? Did the Sith take his blood? Why would they make a clone of him? Is it to mess with us? Where is he now? Can I see him? Is he okay? When did this happen?" The questions just poured out of her now.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

"We've always known Dad put himself before the Sith in countless battles while we were on Commenor and Mom would have those restless nights..." Caedyn said, remembering so long ago where NPC Treasury would appear a recluse in the following morning, rings around her eyes and tired. At times she could be seen checking her commlink to ensure it was functioning accurately as if something might have kept their father from making contact.

"Truthfully, it could have been at any point over his lifetime fighting them...-But if I were to guess, I'd say it's most likely that they managed to recover his DNA back on Bimmisaari..." Caedyn answered his sister's question, naming the known world where Veiere had fallen to the Sith Lord Darth Prazutis.

"Although Concord Intelligence has confirmed that the Cult itself, going by the name of the Disciples of Typhojem, aren't in league with the Sith Empire anymore. They appear to have originated there, yet for some reason, they seem to have cut their ties", and they weren't alone in that. Both the New Imperial Order and the Sith Eternal had removed themselves from the Sith Empire, revolting against them instead.

"As for how he's doing...-Well, he's currently on Kashyyyk training with the Silver Jedi Order" Caedyn concluded with an answer to her following questions, "His first few months was a hard fought recovery but he had talented medics on station to help him through it. From there he's taken an interest in the Force, but I've neglected to tell him about the connection he shares with our family for the time being...".

"That hasn't stopped him from trying to convince anyone he talks to, to help him search for his family or where he's come from, mind you. He doesn't appear to have any recollection of any time before the last few months prior to our finding him. Oh and his name's Valen"

Loreena Arenais-Valhoun

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

"Well if it was from back when he died, then the clone must age quickly. If that's the case then it won't be long until he's Dad's age. That'll be...confusing...To see a version of Dad wandering around...." Lori wasn't sure of how she'd react if she ever saw him. But she'd certainly be a bit weirded out.

As Caedyn Arenais continued to relay more information, that only helped to give her even more questions. She had no intel on the Sith or their cults. They have all kept away from this region of space, which she was thankful for. It has enough to deal with the Eternal Empire. "Does he even know that he's a clone? Why haven't you told him about us? We've lost so many...why not open your arms to him and welcome him in?" Lori sure would have. She'd of blurted out the whole thing and dragged him along with her for her adventures. She was always used to being the youngest, and now that wasn't the case. Even though he was just a clone.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

"Hm" Caedyn frowned, offering a slightly hesitant nod to his Sister realizing she had a good point; "I hadn't considered that. Nothing unusual came back in his bloodwork aside from his midichlorian count...But then he is Dad's clone, after all, suppose we shouldn't be surprised it's unusually high" Caedyn spoke his mind as they walked. He couldn't explain the age of the boy.

The truth was that he didn't entirely understand the cloning process himself, but then there weren't any two ways about it right, it was either accelerated growth or natural..."Unless it has something to do with them being grown in vats?" Caedyn asked, voicing his thought aloud; "Perhaps it's in the creation process that their growth is driven to a point of preference?".

"It feels like someone's trying to play God, I don't like it" he added, shaking his head slowly in dissatisfaction. It wasn't just the fact that they'd used their fathers DNA, but the entire process in general. Life was meant to be the purest form of nature, not to be meddled with by sentient design.

"I didn't tell him because he had to spend the first three months recovering from what little of his life he could remember spent as a slave, beaten and abused by these fanatics of a Sith Lord. I hate to imagine how they treated him, he was malnourished and some of his ribs had mended funny, as though they'd been broken multiple times..." Caedyn explained in answer to Loreena Arenais-Valhoun question, "He wanted to find some purpose, some reason of it all and I couldn't tell him he was a clone, a tool of someone else's manipulation...-It'd have broken the poor boy".

"The fact is that he was created by the Sith, he's already so inherently connected to the Dark Side, I couldn't risk sending him back down that path..." Caedyn concluded, thinking back to the sessions that Valen had spent among the Silver Sage's being cleansed of the corruption that he had acquired through prolonged exposure to the Sith and their ways.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

"I don't like it either Cae. It's all so....wrong. But he's still....he's still family. He's a brother! He's OUR brother. Having him appear after both of our parents being gone is...well it's a good thing!"

Lori spoke out her own thoughts as Caedyn Arenais did. Whereas her brother wanted to deal with the matter under pure caution, she wanted to use her instincts, and those instincts screamed at her to find this clone and hug him tightly, for in some small way, it'd be like hugging her Dad.

"He's going to find out some day, you know. And if he's so connected to the Darkside like you say, then he's going to be mad. But that's when you tell him and make him see who's DNA that he was created from; one of the greatest Jedi Masters that ever lived. And if our Dad can return from the Darkside, than so could his flesh and blood." Lori swallowed a lump in her throat, being reminded of her own failings as a student. At least she got her lightsaber back, one that her Dad had helped her build. But it cost her vials of her own blood. She sighed a little. "Cae....pleaae don't get mad, but there might be clones of me popping up sometime too. One of the Empire's agents took my lightsaber and he wanted some of my blood in exchange. I know that it's stupid, but I took the deal. I didn't want my only connection with Dad to be destroyed....I'm sorry..."

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

Caedyn had taken to a moment of silent consideration following his Sister's words, first in thinking for Valen's sake and then the possibility of a clone of Loreena Arenais-Valhoun being out there somewhere. If the latter was actually true, then he himself could be susceptible to deceit at any time by the Eternal Empire just as Ingrid L'lerim had tricked him on Commenor.

"I had planned to tell Valen when I felt it was safe to do so, but he managed to leave the Silver Jedi Temple without alerting anyone as to where he was going..." Caedyn replied, a frown creasing his brow as they walked side by side through the forest of Endor. Valen was still young and impressionable and were he to fall in with the wrong crowd, he could wind up getting hurt or worse, falling in league with those of the Darkside of the Force. His midichlorian count had been off the charts, meaning that his presence in the Force would be easily sensed by most trained force sensitive he might meet out there.

"As for this potential clone of yours..." Caedyn glanced side-long at his Sister, concern clear in his gaze; "Do you know the name of the one who took your blood? Do we have any possible hope of deciphering whether or not there is actually a clone of yours out there somewhere?".

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

"Sounds like someone else can't handle the strict and sometimes dumb rules of Academy life. Must run in the family." Lori smirked, glad at least that there were others out there just like her that can't handle the restrictions. It was almost like being in a prison, but at least in prison, she wouldn't go into it willingly.

Valen Sounded impulsive like she was and she liked that. It was nice to know that she wasn't the only one. Though no Darksider had ever gone after her to try to push her in that direction. But maybe that was because she wasn't really known for being anything but a Rebel.

But then the conversation reverted back to her potential clone problem. At least Caedyn Arenais didn't seem mad at her for what she did. Still, it wasn't as though there wasn't going to be any consequences.

"His name was Essk. He seemed...kind of obsessed after I got away from him before. He used to work for the Empire, but I think he's on his own now. And what else would he be using the blood for? I asked him what he was planning, but he wouldn't tell me...I guess that I just have to wait and see..." Maybe he wanted the clone so that he could beat her up or something. It was hard to say.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

The name Essk didn't exactly ring any bells, although the image that came with the name struck him as trandoshan in origin. Perhaps it was wrong of him to assume as much straight off the mark like that but it wouldn't have surprised Caedyn much were he proven correct. "Can't say I'm familiar with the name..." Caedyn frowned, informing his Sister as the two continued to walk the forest in search of the coordinates that Lexas had passed them from the Repertoire.

"Let us hope that it was an idle threat and nothing actually came of it, otherwise I'm going to have a hard time dealing with two of you calling me snotface and what have you..." Caedyn smirked warily, trying to lighten the mood a little, saving face for how uncomfortable it felt to know that their family was being cloned. Their DNA being manipulated and abused like that.

"As for Valen, I'm still trying to track his movements. I've got several contacts within the Silver Jedi out there trying to piece together the details before I go off hunting him down" Caedyn elaborated on their father's clone. A mere boy with only a half year's worth of learning under the Silver Jedi. Caedyn's concern for him and the potential of Valen being led astray wasn't without reason, the boy was unusually susceptible to the Darkside of the Force, and according to the medics back on Kashyyyk there was a good chance his creation had been tampered with through Sith magicks.

Loreena Arenais-Valhoun