Public The Danger of Silence

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

"Yeah, it's me. Oh, and I found my family. Both of my parents are Grey Jedi in the SJC. Turns out my name is Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri." Kuxirra grinned. "It's so good to see you again!" She ran towards him, almost tackling him in a hug. "Hey, Alpha! How's it going?" Her attention quickly flitted to the balls. "What are these?" She asked, getting out of the hug and walking over to one of the balls, lifting it up with the Force.

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Mauve Vayern wouldn't find any survivors at the bar she was in. Instead she would only find the dead; all of them seeming to have dropped dead. The power was out there as well. Only silence met them.

Willow and Ivy merely smiled as they held BB-610 in their arms. He was always a joy to be around and it seemed that even Vyn Daldoure accepted the little astromech as someone that could be trusted. And as their little friend turned and threatened Argos Xalen to stay away from them, the twins stood up in shock. They didn't expect him to be so protective, but they were happy about it all the same.

"I'm Willow, and this is Ivy. The tall one here is Vyn."

As Vyn suggested that they go outside to try to determine what happened and the twins nodded in agreement. "Let's be careful. If we need to we'll use our gifts to see what information we could find."

"I don't want to touch the dead. I can smell it from here."

"Don't worry, we won't." The twins always had to be careful around the dead. It was far too dangerous for them to use their gifts around them.

Meanwhile at the edge of town, Ashin Cardé Varanin would find no vehicle markings or tracks that were out of the ordinary for the settlement. The metal spheres themselves were half covered in dirt that seemed to have been blown by the winds. Yet it didn't appear as though they had been there for longer than a couple of months. But how they had gotten there was the million credit question.

As for what both her and the droid would sense about the spheres was merely their mechanics inside. There were no explosives within, nor any chemical compounds. They were just devices encased in a sphere with no edges or seams. Their purpose was yet to be determined, however.

Much further from the settlements, a countdown continued from a source that lay hidden in wait. That source knew what had transpired there and was counting down to the next stage.....

Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri

 

[Mauve Vayern]

"Alright Jethro," Mauve said to her droid after checking several of the bodies. "I think we're going back to the ship."

There was no one left alive here. Mauve was starting to feel sick. The kind of sick she felt when Griff had been beating her, right before the thing happened. She had hoped to never feel this way again.

Mauve and Jethro walked back outside the bar.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

EDGE OF TOWN

Kardek Alpha Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri

Ashin straightened up from her examination of the half-buried sphere. She watched the Togruta Padawan handle one without ill effect - but then again, if these machines had killed the town, they'd been inert for months first.

Or, more disconcertingly, maybe they were just the fence or targeting markers that constrained whatever had killed the town. Which meant this could be a small-scale test for something significantly bigger.

"Just passing through," she said evenly. She gestured and the sphere levitated out of the earth.

"My ship has scanning gear. I'm going to go find out what this is. Come along if you're interested."

She started walking for a nearby gully, a dusty, low-sloped canyon that concealed her small ship. The bounty hunter might have seen it on his way down. The sphere hovered along behind her.

""As to how I survived," she said over her shoulder, "I took the throne of the Sith around the time you were born. I have the means to protect myself."

 

[Kardek Alpha]

EDGE OF TOWN
Ashin Cardé Varanin Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri

Kardek smiled big as Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri ran over to him and gave him a big hug. He embraced her and spoke in her ear "Kuxirra huh? Well that's a million times better than Subject 643! So glad you found what you were lookin' for!"

As Mini inspected the sphere, Kardek responded, "No idea what it is. I just got here myself." He looked at Mini and realized she had somehow survived all of this... "Mini, how did you live through this attack? do you know what's going on? Are there any other survivors?"

Kardek Nodded at Ashin Cardé Varanin 's response. He considered following her to her ship, but felt like he might be more useful in figuring out what was going on from The Harbinger.

"You go on ahead." He answered back to Ashin Cardé Varanin regarding whether or not he would follow, "I think I'll head back to my ship to begin a scan of the colony, see if I can find something..." He reached into his bag and quickly grabbed a comm link, "Why don't you take this so we can contact each other if either of us gets a lead, yeah?" He tossed the comm link over to Ashin Cardé Varanin as she walked back towards her ship.

When the woman mentioned that she was a Sith, Kardek immediately felt his mental defenses going up. He had taken many jobs for the Sith in his past life... He knew exactly what they were capable of, and he wanted nothing to do with them. But... For now... They were united by something much bigger than any of his own personal bias.

"I'm Kardek... Whats your name, Sith?" He raised his voice as she was getting further away by now. As he said "Sith", he recognized it had come out with an edge of condescension. Whoops.

He turned to Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri again and smiled, "Still good to see you kid, even under these circumstances. I'm going to head to The Harbinger to scan the colony, see what I can find... would you like to tag along?"

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

Kuxirra set the sphere down and stood. "Sure! I wonder if anything's changed since I left." She says, smiling. "Oh, and as to how I survived, I sensed it coming—" Kuxirra shuddered. "And I used the Force to create a bubble of sorts around me."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

EDGE OF TOWN
Kardek Alpha Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri

Ashin turned and snagged the thrown comlink with a nod of thanks. "Ashin Varanin," she called back, then continued on her way.

***

Back at her ship, she placed the sphere in a blocky analysis unit the size of a Gonk droid. As the scanning gear did its work, mapping the electronics and hopefully divining their purpose, she checked the ship's sensor logs for anything out of the ordinary. She focused on the moment when 99% of the settlement dropped dead and a good portion of their electronics did too.

"Dog with a bone," she mumbled to herself, cycling through sensor modes.

 

[BB-610]

​

While BB-610 makes no effort to engage in combat, his optic never leaves sight of Argos Xalen , cautious of the creature. While his comment and subsequent confusion seemed genuine, the droid wasn't easy on trusting strangers in a situation like this. There was nothing stopping this creature from shrugging his shoulders and lying to them. Having said that, it is still within an astromech's primary protocols to remain obedient, and as Vyn Daldoure commands him to calm down, BB-610 finally retracts his shock prod and rolls back with grumbling binary.

Things had seemingly calmed down. With one last glance at Willow & Ivy , BB-610 figured he may as well do some quick analysing while this newfound group of misfits chit-chat. Rolling back to the port beside the elevator, the astromech sockets his data probe inside, and begins a scan of the settlement's layout.

The astromech droid's head twirls back in order to face the group, and his holoprojector displays a flickering hologram of the settlement. All of the rooms have been darkened, and much to the droid's frustration, the lack of power is resulting in less data collected.

' All power systems are out cold. I'm having difficulty analysing the settlement. ' BB-610 chirps, followed by a series of clicking, and an area displayed in the hologram is highlighted. ' Here's the nearest exit. Systems say the door has been jammed, however. There's a data port beside it, so I'll be able to open it. '

With another click, the hologram disappears, and BB-610 retracts his data probe and rolls closer to the group.

 

[Vyn Daldoure]

The man made of sand gave his introduction, Argos, a bounty hunter, here to kill a slave driver, that would have been an interesting turn of events had this massacre not taken place, it seemed Argos Xalen wasn't harmful, Vyn was still cautious, but Six Ten seemed to have scarred him enough.

Having suspicions about why he and the girls still drew breath into their lungs, he wanted to be absolutely sure before he jumped to conclusions, though he suspected the durasteel coffin might have been more of saving grace. He watced the little BB unit rollover to the socket and plug in, he was glad they had someone with the capabilites to do so, astromechs would make this whole thing alot easier, BB-610 started chirping away it seemed he had mapped a way out of the facility.

Vyn stood by as Willow & Ivy gave their introduction's and he offered a gentle nod to Argos. It seemed the twins didn't like the dead or at least needed to be cautious when it came to their power, which he had yet to see in action, but that was fine, Vyn had no such reservations and was willing to do what little examination he could.

"Well then, since we're all a bit more familiar with eachother how about we be on our way." Vyn waited for the girl's to proceed before he took a step, wondering what or who else they would find.

 

[Argos Xalen]

Argos looked at the BB unit, then at the others as he gave them all a nod.

"Willow, Ivy, Vyn, and... Six Ten?" He seemed to be calm, but it was odd for anyone who couldn't sense the Force to listen to him. He sounded almost robotic, but it was simply how his kind spoke. But he focused one the twins ad Six Ten.

"I assuming these gifts are what you call the Force." He looked around, then towards the door.

"You... say the power is out droid? And the organics outside are gone...." Argos decided to be quiet for now, but he did decide to check his blaster, and make sure it wasn't affected. He had stripped it down to store it in himself, so if it was what he was thinking.... He may be relying a lot more on his shapeshifting if something went wrong.

Willow & Ivy BB-610 Vyn Daldoure

 

[Kardek Alpha]

THE HARBINGER - HIGH ABOVE THE COLONY
Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri

"Nah, she's pretty much just like the last time you saw her." Kardek commented as they made their way to The Harbinger. "Sounds like your really good at that Jedi stuff... glad it saved your life Mini." Yeah, that nickname was gonna be hard to let go of.

They made their way to the cockpit. Alpha began takeoff procedures and Kardek motioned for Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri to take a seat. He sat down himself at a system Access station and began to boot up the scanners. "Theres gotta be some clues as to what is going on... we just need to look in the right place..." He said as his voice trailed off, studying the first analysis that came across the screen.

He put another comm link in his ear and activated it, "Check check... Receiving me Ashin Cardé Varanin ?" He said over the comm.

As they climbed in altitude, Kardek kept hitting a command on the console to widen the area of focus, scanning the broadening map for any signals, beacons... anything. Eventually his scanners were scanning a large part of the planet's surface. Kardek studied the data, looking for anything that might stick out of the ordinary. "Well, looks like there is something alive down there." He commented as the screen detected more life forms from within the colony. He activated his comm again, "Looks like we're not the only ones alive here... might want to keep a look out." He said, informing Ashin Cardé Varanin of his discovery.

"So kid..." He said to Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri without taking his eyes off the display. "Hows your new life?"

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

"It's working out fine. Red, Slip, and Algo are part of the SJC. And Red is my Master." Kuxirra grinned at the familiar ship. "You're right, Kardek. She hasn't changed." It looked as if she'd hug the ship if she could. "How's it been going for you?"

 

[Kardek Alpha]

Kardek's eyebrows raised, "Master?! Dang girl, I'm wired SO differently than you." He said, joking with her. He smiled at her fondness towards the ship. "Yeah... She missed you." Speaking of the ship. Of coarse Kardek had missed her as well, but that might be a little too vulnerable for him to admit out loud.

He shrugged slightly at her question directed at him, "You know, just doing what I do." He said. He knew killing wasn't really her thing... even if it was for justice. That much was clear from their tussle with the Mercs back when they first met. And well... that's mostly what Kardek did. He was a killer. Nothing would ever change that.

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

Kuxirra laughed at Kardek's response, then nodded at his statement. "I missed her, too." She said. "And I missed both of you."

 

[Kardek Alpha]

Kardek smiled.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Kardek Alpha Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri

Ashin's ship was a Scion Tech luxury boat, basically a light freighter-scale starliner: the Pomojema. Circumstances kept it in an ongoing state of renovation - plenty of exposed wires and missing bulkhead plates. She patched the comlink into the ship's comm systems as she ran through preflight.

"Thanks for the updates. I've plugged one of the spheres into a serious analysis unit. Will let you know what I find." Ashin grimaced. "My gut says there's more to this, real risk right here to all of us that're left. So I'm happy to keep sharing information. Once I finish preflight I'm taking off, going airborne for an extra level of safety."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Note from Willow & Ivy : "When analyzed one would find electrical components, fuel cells and a tuning fork like what a radar gun would have to detect speeds...One could guess they are to detect incoming or outgoing traffic. Or some shield device. Or some nefarious laser weapon. Or some art deco pieces that light up at night like Christmas lights. Or....oh the list goes on...lol."

By now the Pomojema was hovering half a kilometer off the ground. Fresh from checking the scan gear, Ashin settled back into the pilot's seat and toggled the comms.

"Bad news. My gear couldn't figure out what the sphere is. Nothing exotic, though. Electronics, fuel cell, some kind of tuning fork structure, maybe for resonance. Anything interesting at your end?"

Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri Kardek Alpha

 

[Kardek Alpha]

"Copy that." Kardek replied to Ashin Cardé Varanin 's impression of the danger of the situation and to her flight plans. As he studied the town, he saw that the spheres encircled the entire settlement. "What do you make of that?" He said to Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri as he tapped on the screen and the placement of the spheres.

About that time, Ashin was on the comm again giving her latest insight into the sphere. From everything she mentioned, the biggest thing to stand out to Kardek was the tuning fork element. Strange.

Kardek furrowed his brow and activated comms, "It looks like those sphere's have been placed as a perimeter around the whole town. Could be a part of what's going on." Kardek leaned back in his chair, puzzling over the new information. Then he activated the comm again, "Tuning fork? Could this have been some kind of frequency weapon?"

Kardek looked over to Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri and sighed, "I'm afraid that this might be all we're going to learn from up here. We might need to head back down to the surface and check on those other life forms... see if they're survivors like you."

 

[Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri]

Kuxirra thought for a bit. "They might be what caused this..." After a moment, she gave up trying to think of a word. "Well, this. I agree that it might be a frequency thing." At the mention of looking for survivors, Kuxirra nodded. "Good idea."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

THE POMOJEMA
AIRBORNE NEAR SETTLEMENT
ON COMMS WITH Kardek Alpha and Kuxirra Tano-Bonteri

"Possible. That's a pretty broad category, but I could see the sphere perimeter defining an area of constructive interference - maybe radiation, maybe sonic. Something that could kill organics and take out electronics. But hard radiation would show up in any number of ways..." Ashin sucked her teeth in thought. "I seem to recall an ancient superweapon that worked similarly, but that thing flash-froze anything in the middle. For the moment, I'm stumped. You say you're heading back into town? Do me a favor and carry a camera of some kind, send me a live feed. I'll keep overwatch up here. Something about this doesn't sit well with me, and I've seen any number of weapons tests."