The Day Before The Stars Burned

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Cedric stared out at the maw from his place on the Acerbitas's bridge. He stood alone, arms folded behind the small of his back as he observed the twisting nebulae and star matter that congealed before him. Beyond that place was death, and death was their destination. The Sons of Ession had no other options to turn to, and desperation had cast aside any doubts that might have slowed their liege lord's hand.

The millions dead weighed heavily upon the Archlord's shoulders. He bore their loss in his body language; he no longer stood tall and proud, but rather with a slight hunch and a tension to his muscles. The Jedi Master had not known true peace since his planet's fall, and the violence that followed its catastrophic end had only furthered his desire to see the conflict end.

The measures didn't matter. It just needed to stop.

"Do you think this is wise?" Cedric asked of his sole companion. "Leading my armies into the Netherworld like this? Am I acting too rash? Does the situation not call for this?"

 

[Dak]

Several heavy steps clang against the bridge floor as the Jedi's mechanical companion approaches and takes a position at his right. Now faced with the void, the droid's photo-receptors take in the swirling miasma of colour before the two of them with a lack of worry or fear that any organic would envy in a moment like this.

"I believe you are asking the wrong questions, Master Cedric," Dak pauses briefly, as if showing hesitance toward his chosen response "we both know that if I answer them honestly it would only serve to demotivate you." He falls silent, his concentration breaking from the distant maw to focus on their reflections in the transparisteel. With some consideration, he shifts and turns his head slightly in Cedric's direction.

"But I will say this;" he gives the robed Master a once-over from the corner of his receptor sockets, then looks back out to the endless "it is the same choice that any Grayson before you would have made in your position. And I would have stood here with them."

 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbxgYlcNxE8​

"I appreciate that," Cedric spoke honestly. "I appreciate everything you have done for my family, Dak. I know your memory banks have trouble recalling much of your past deeds, but your service to my people has been timeless, and commendable." The Jedi Master turned his head fully toward the droid, and he gave his metal companion a single nod in solidarity. He spoke with a grievance that implied he fully believed this to be his final journey.

Perhaps it would be.

"There have been times when my arrogance has guided me. It is my greatest weakness: my pride in myself and in my family's past deeds. Part of me worries that it is that very same arrogance that has brought me here," he continued as he turned to regard to swirling sea of color arrayed before them.

"But this feels right. I can't explain it Dak. I know it in my bones." An audible sigh fell from his masked lips. "A shame I didn't get to tell Aes'ona how I felt properly. That's my only regret. Can't live with any others."

[member="Dak"]

 

[Dak]

Dak looks from Cedric to the window, unsure how to respond to the gratitude. He had indeed served many generations of House Grayson, whether he remembered all of them or not. The few whose memories remained he treasured to the capacity he was able. Each one uniquely gifted and flawed, but all bound by the very same pride Cedric spoke of.

However, the droid struggled with such subject matter; pride and other such emotions were not exactly something he could sympathize with in any meaningful way. The situation at hand was heavy. Dak's social programming and developed consciousness granted him enough of an understanding of sapient nature to realize this, at the very least. But he did not understand the natural instinct of these decisions and couldn't possibly hope to understand what it was like to be guided by arrogance. It even crossed his mind when mentioned that he couldn't even imagine the feeling of having bones, let alone having them discern right or wrong. Of course, that consideration only solidified his acceptance of just how incomprehensible these organic struggles were to him.

A few moments pass without words before pneumatic whirring breaks the silence as the droid turns his body to face his masked companion.

"I may not always understand, but I do stand with your decisions. Whatever they may be and for whatever reason you make them." His gaze wanders to behind them, across the bridge to the various naval crew at the posts "I do this regardless of any estimated odds and despite the better judgement of my few remaining fail-safes and self-preservation protocols." At that, he turns back to stare out into the swirling colours ahead.

"She was a nice woman, Master Cedric."

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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The roar of the ship's engines coming to life shook the bridge for a few moments. In the time that the two of them had been speaking, the flight crew had seemingly finished their calculations. The route into the Maw's ethereal depths was open, and the Acerbitas would be the first to pioneer the way through. Cedric was both excited and terrified by that fact: eager to see what he might learn, horrified to meet the horrors of the beyond face to face. He did well to hide his fear, locking it away in the darkest corners of his mind to be forgotten, to wither and die. He did not have the luxury of exercising such debased and human emotions; his warriors needed to see naught but grim confidence from the lord apparent.

"I'm glad that you do. Most others excuse them for madness and delusion," Cedric gestured out toward the swirling nebulae. "My family has often looked into the depths of the Great Ocean to divine what steps fate has set out for us. We see a thousand possible futures, and we must decide which of them to claim for ourselves. Normal people cannot understand our reasons - even my fellow Jedi seem to have trouble comprehending the old prophecies." There was a disdain in his voice, a deep-seated bitterness that was rarely allowed to show its fangs.

"I'm certain that she was," he replied after a few moments of pregnant silence. "Most of our women are. They are our heart. My sister was always the compassionate loving soul. It is our men that tend to bring us toward darker paths," he added with a quiet regret. Many of the Grayson men had strayed, be it in their intentions or by falling to the Dark Side. Cedric imagined himself immune to such lower, base, animal vices, but he could not speak for his progenitors.

"What is your concept of death like? What is it to you?" He asked suddenly, curiosity brimming in his voice.

[member="Dak"]

 

[Dak]

The mention of the women of House Grayson takes the droid's memories to his time with Delara Grayson -- a Jedi lore keeper and distant relative off Cedric's who Dak had served before and during the ancient Clone Wars. He recalls her kind, soft spoken nature paired with a determination difficult to match. He had admired her decision making prowess. No matter how difficult things became, especially during the darker days of the war, she held on to the faintest ember of hope. The news and nature of her unfortunate end had disappointed him.

The Jedi Master's question pulls Dak's focus back to the present and catches him off guard. He turns his head to observe Cedric, taking a few seconds to formulate a proper answer to the profound query.

"It is... undesirable," he finally replies "if I cease to be it would be difficult to complete my directives. It's something I would prefer to avoid." His head swivels back to look ahead, the visible stars now moving slowly against the backdrop of space as the vessel presses forward "Unlike you organics, I am well aware of what awaits me after my consciousness is discontinued. I have no false pretense of an afterlife and no curiosity over whether or not I possess some form of soul. I have known and accepted this since the moment I was first activated. I consider it a convenience, really."

Dak's receptors break away from the window once more and he lowers his head to stare at the reinforced lining of the windowsill "I simply hope to have a choice in the matter when the time comes, and that it serves a purpose."

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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Cedric listened in respectful silence as Dak explained his views on the afterlife. It was interesting to hear a droid's perspective on the matter. For one so deeply steeped in spirituality as Cedric was, the words Dak spoke were almost anathema. The Jedi Master welcomed the divergent view - it distracted him from the impending sense of doom that had otherwise occupied his mind at all hours of the day.

"You are my greatest friend Dak," Cedric was smiling beneath his mask, "And I appreciate your view. Perhaps things are just that simple, really," the Jedi was comforted somewhat by the thought, though in his heart of hearts he knew it to be untrue. A tale of the Old Republic passed through his mind, one that related quite well to the conversation at hand. He turned once again to look at the droid, the amusement in his voice quite obvious.

"Did you know that there are some droids with the ability to command the Force? It is almost unheard of, but there are reports of it." Cedric mused, "If that is possible, then perhaps we will meet one another again in the afterlife, machine or organic differences having been proven to be somewhat irrelevant in the end."

[member="Dak"]

 

[Dak]

"And you, mine." Dak replies, his tone certain and to-the-point. "But respectfully," his focus locks on the center of the maw they were approaching -- a gateway to the Mist-Beyond itself "I do hope you're wrong, Master Cedric."

While Dak appreciated the sentiment behind Cedric's words, he had no desire for a continued existence after his eventual shutdown. It was something he believed he'd be unable to explain, at least to a human. He did not long for eternal life and was complacent, or at least accepting, of the finite nature of his consciousness. He did not need a 'soul' to feel purpose. As far as the droid was concerned, a secondary existence post-termination would only result in him reevaluating decisions he had made and dwelling on their flawed execution. Regret, in organic terms.

Still, Dak welcomed the fact that other beings in the galaxy had such an opportunity, but mostly he was thankful his friend was one of them.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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"I can't really blame you for that. Certainty is generally far more comforting than its counterpart," Cedric mused as the rumble of the ship's engines grew louder. The deck vibrated as its massive sub-light engines fired to full life. Slowly, the Acerbitas and her armies crept her way toward the maw. As it drew closer, the power of the empyrean reached out to caress the ancient vessel. Cedric felt it as a buzzing in the center of his forehead - they drew close to a place of power, and this was their warning.

"We're certainly in the right place," Cedric mused resolutely. His doubts were paramount now, but his disciplined mind still managed to cast such hesitations aside. There was no other option available to them. Their people had been slaughtered, their worlds burned. The Sith needed to be stopped before their evil could spread even further, and Cedric had arrived to the conclusion that almost any means were acceptable if they could stop the Jedi's age-old enemy.

Almost any.

"We're on the approach," the helmsman reported.

"Status?" Cedric asked.

"Shields holding. The men are ready m'lord."

The Archlord exchanged a last glance with his droid companion before speaking. "Then take us through helmsman."

[member="Dak"]

 

[Dak]

Dak looks over his shoulder in the vague direction the helmsman's voice had called out from. With his vision capable of piercing the shadows of the dimly lit bridge, he can clearly see the masked worry on the faces of the officers and crewmen. Each person on the ship came with their own fears and personal struggles to toil with as they watch the Acerbitas grow closer to the inevitable crossing, already beyond the point of no return. Everyone knew the risk they were taking on this journey;

And yet, despite this, here they were. They held their terror close to their chest with no weakness showing on their faces. Some muttered prayers or fidgeted with items of significance to them in their hands, while others stared stoically at their holo-displays to immerse themselves completely in their duty and distract from the worry lingering at the back of their minds. These were strong men and women, loyal to the core.

At Cedric's command for entry, Dak looks back to the massive, swirling gateway that now occupied most of their view. Raw energy stretched from beyond, reaching out to caress the hull of the dreadnought. The wailing echoes of straining metal pair with the roaring of the engines like Sirens calling them from the Mist.

Dak finds himself at a loss for words, completely entranced by wonder at what is to come.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]