The Aftermath of Katarr (PM TO JOIN)

[Michael Ryder]

​Before I use the ladder I turned to Celiana and said ​"Sam is attached to me through an implant in my head, He's like a child in a sense as one of his directives is to understand the world around him along with human behaviour, and without me that cant happen. There is some added benefits however, as for a brief period of time he can enhance my physical and mental capabilities, as well as the ability to keep me alive though debilitating injuries for a short period of time. He's the only one that was created as the public was afraid of the prospect of super soldiers or an Artificial Intelligence controlling a human, and also as you heard me say he can kill me if he has to."

​​I didn't know what this procedure would entail, but getting my memories back would be worth it. It was the best choice, as when I got to the Archive Station I'd have a clearer head and thus be able to think things through more efficiently. The one thing I hadn't thought of however, I what I will do if it works. If I do get my memories back what then? It's not like I'll be able to charge into the heart of the empire and save them all. Because I can't, it would be suicide, and I'm back to square one.

​​At that point an idea came to mind, since all the other members of my team had the same implants that I did wouldn't Sam be able to either detect that they were still alive? Even if he couldn't at least I'd know that I'd tried everything before I went through with this.
​"Sam, considering the rest of the team had the same implants that I do then are you able to tell whether they're alive? Even if they're dead I need to know." ​"All implants from the members of the pathfinder team are showing zero vital signs. Although there is only one which I cannot determine at this time, but the data is corrupted, and as I result I cannot intonate their identity." ​

They're all... Dead? I didn't even know how to react I just felt numb. Although there was one left, and I couldn't give up until I found them.
Taking a deep breath I said ​"Okay Celiana, lets do this."

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Already in the star deck I waved on the lights that were powered by collected solar energy. They came to life in a soft glow and I walked over towards the center of the room and sat on a small padded meditation mat. Gesturing for Ryder to sit opposite me I lowered the lights to where they were barely on. I watched him sit and he seemed more curious and anxious than anything. "Ryder just so you're aware of what's about to happen to you let me be explicitly clear. I'm going to need to hold your right hand as you are sitting opposite me. I'm also going to be placing my left hand along your jawline and your temple. This is going to be more or less a melding of minds so that I can undo whatever The Sith did in your melon. It will be an intimate experience as the fact that I'm going to be removing mental barriers in your mind will in turn give you access to view my memories. I have nothing to hide so feel free to look if you're interested. Just keep in mind that not everything about me is shall we say glamorous."

I knew there was a chance that he'd not go looking but in all honesty it was better that he did look at some of my memories while I removed these mental blocks he had. Even if his crew had the same neural implants as him I knew that deaths and vitals could be faked. It was only a matter of applying electrical current to the implant while keeping the subject stable. Then you simply removed the implant and it would show that they were dead. Odds were The Sith had killed some of his crew, the odds were higher though that they'd faked the deaths of most of the crew in order to sow pain and suffering in the survivors like Ryder. The Sith were known for such methods...

"Ryder, I'm serious about looking at my memories while I remove these mental blocks. It's highly likely that you'll remember some very unpleasant things and while I can't protect you from them fully, I can grant you some temporary shelter through some of my memories. I'll be here when you return to your body, it's going to be a very out of body experience for you so follow my voice and hold onto it while we're doing this okay?"

[member="Michael Ryder"]

 

[Michael Ryder]

It felt weird at first, like the feeling that you get when you're just about to fall asleep but you're still awake. I didn't see her memories, it just didn't feel right seeing as she had helped me so much that I just couldn't do that.

When I was regaining my memories they exceeded my expectations. I knew that they would be unpleasant but this was almost too much. I followed Celiana's voice through it all but it offered little comfort from what I was about to witness.
I saw my friends being cut down in droves, next was a hooded man with a lightsaber standing over me, and then nothing but darkness. It didnt end there however, as what i saw next made my blood run cold.
We were in a dark room, there were extrememly loud noises and the sound of people screaming, what was left of my crew were taken into some sort of room, but when they came out they were different. They swore allegience to the Empire and proceeded to try to break down the minds and bodies of the others so that the same thing would happen to them, my sister voluntarily went into that room- wait, sister? she died didn't she? evidently not as she went through the same sadistic prodecure that the other defectors went through except there seemed to be a sort of glee in her eyes when she inflicted suffering on the others. Over time me and my father were the only ones left, but he wouldn't break. He was always stubborn that way.

She killed him without a hint of hesitation. I didn't know what they did to her but person who I once knew was gone, replaced by this hollow gimmmic which stood before me. My father was dead, and i was going to be next.

I still dont understand how i escaped. My best guess was that i had inside help, but that may also be incorrect.
After the memory procedure ended, my head was spinning. I couldn't accept what i had just saw. My head was spinning, it was like my brain was being turned inside out.
Everything around me was growing dark, i heard Sam say something about countermeasures and Celiana talking to me but it was all just a blur, everything around me went dark and i collapsed onto the floor.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

As I'd melded with his consciousness I could sense anxiety, then I began removing the mental barriers The Sith had placed. What I felt next from Ryder was a mixture of several emotions none of which were good. Panic, fear, despair, and loss. Before I had the chance to speak to him Ryder blacked out. I'd heard a voice inside his consciousness saying something about countermeasures before he passed out and now that he was out I spoke to the AI. "Sam, whatever he told you about counter-measures please ignore for the moment. He fought the memories instead of taking cover in mine. He's not going to turn into anything he doesn't want to." With that I withdrew from his mind and began channeling Force energies through my hand against his temple and jawline.

Odds were he'd be out for a bit so I simply picked him up using The Force and brought him back down through the hatch into my cabin. Laying him back down on my bed I dimmed the lights and began heating some water in a mobile teapot to pour him some tea. The hatch above us had auto-sealed upon my having left the room. Now all I could do was wait as water boiled for tea and he came back to consciousness...

[member="Michael Ryder"]

 

[Michael Ryder]

​​"Ugh, that wasn't pleasant. What the hell happened?"

I felt like I'd just been hit by a starship, I knew that I wouldn't see anything good but... Damn, nothing could've prepared me for that.
Did Celiana see what I saw? Hopefully she did because I have no idea how I can explain that.
​Hey, just so you know my sister Is a homicidal maniac who tortured me and most of my crew then killed my dad.
​Well, I guess that's how you would explain that, but I cant say it like that.

And what was Sam saying about countermeasures anyway?
Who cares right now, I need to talk to Celiana about this. Looks like there's tea, well at least some good came from all this.

Turning to Celiana nervously I said ​"So...Eh, I guess you're gonna want an explanation for all that huh?"

​[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Smiling at Ryder's comment I simply pulled a sharpening block from my belt and ejected one of the blades in my beskar gauntlets. "I don't need you to explain anything nor do I want you to unless you feel it would benefit your mental state. The Sith aren't known for their ability to mass-brainwash unless there's a technological way of doing so. From what I saw a large part of your crew suddenly just turned on their morals... Quite difficult to do that without implanting some type of chip that would override someone's normal behavior, my bet is they implanted quite a few of those control chips into your crew then set your crew against each other. The one's who wouldn't do what was asked or had the chip placed but overrode the chip's programming for instance."

I could only speculate but the thing is that someone with a strong enough willpower or even medical knowledge could bypass the programming or outright remove the chips. Just as I began to lose myself in thought Ares appeared in holoprojection form "Excuse me m'lady, I saw that you were no longer in the star deck meditation room. Shall I continue the jump towards the Silver Archive station?"
Looking towards Ares' projection I simply nodded to her. Then winking back out of my cabin I felt the ship enter a FTL jump again, odds were we'd be there in another two hours maximum, probably sooner though I'd been toying around with the engines and hyperdrive recently so odds were we'd be making excellent time.

[member="Michael Ryder"]

 

[Michael Ryder]

Control chips? That makes sense, and would explain most of their behaviour. Hopefully the Silver Archive station would have more information on the matter.

Then again, if they weren't in their right minds then this becomes a whole lot more complicated, because if they weren't them per say is it really their fault what happened? It's not easy to fight your own people in that sense.
It would be much better if they did it of their own free will, i know that sounds a bit sadistic but that way I'd at least be able to fight them.

Looks like we're in FTL again. Good, I'd been getting a bit stir crazy going from ship to ship for this long.

Thinking back to recent events my perspective has changed so much, from barely remembering a single thing to remembing more or less everything. It was jarring. At least i know what to look for now. This is going to be the longest two hours of my life.

[member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

As we entered FTL I looked towards Ryder and said "You can either stay here in my cabin or follow me to the workshop. I still have a bit of work to do on the parts for my sabers, so you might get to see at least some of the process of building a saber." Checking to make sure all of the saber parts were in the small tool kit on my waist I got up and after waving the doors of my cabin open with The Force I walked out the door towards the workshop on the main command deck. The beskar tubes would need to be filed and while I wanted the sabers I'd had to be incorporated into the design of the new Beskar hilts somehow, I'd also need to consider how to protect the crystal chambers against being crushed with The Force.

As it was I'd have to figure out what to do with the crushed bits of saber crystal...perhaps I could store them in a necklace where they'd float in some sort of water solution. Speaking as I walked I said "Ares once we've exited the jump to the Silver Archive Station begin the traditional boarding sequence. I'm going to do what I can with materials here on The Valkyrie before we land." As I entered the workshop and waved the lights on Ares responded "Aye M'lady it will be done." That was another thing, I needed to find out what could be done about Ares having an actual physical body. Cloning was possible I supposed but I'd need to do research on that topic after re-forging my sabers.

[member="Michael Ryder"]

 

[Celiana]

I waited for the exit of hyperspace and as I did I finished making my way to the workshop. Heading inside I transferred the designs for my saber hilts to the milling machines. Pulling the beskar tubes from my bag I also pulled several small pieces of Terantatek leather to begin processing. I'd be using them to line the crystal chambers of my sabers to prevent the crystals inside being crushed. Then after setting the pieces to be processed I pulled the segments of saber crystal from my bag and after selecting several I began to meditate. Imbuing them not only with my spirit but attuning them to only me. Held by anyone else they'd be useless, I sat and meditated and waited to arrive at the Silver Jedi Archive Station. Something told me that I'd be heading to Nar Shadaa though soon just a flicker of someone I'd met before but nothing concrete. Always in motion indeed....

[member="Michael Ryder"]