Private The Next Generation

[Valery Noble]

The Bastion

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Aedric

"That's it," Valery said while she watched him go through every critical step. The engines powered up, the ramp was raised, and she saw the green lights of all necessary systems soon appearing as well. Of course, she checked a few gauges and instruments as well to be safe, but there wasn't anything she needed to do to correct what he was doing. It was all just about following a standard procedure, and he seemed to have no problem doing that.

He even relaxed a lot more into his chair, and Valery decided to take that moment to walk around the console in the center, and settle in the co-pilot seat. It was her usual place to sit as well, with her husband being the pilot more often than not, so she knew exactly how to control everything from where she was.

"I suggest a bit higher. It makes sure that you're never inclined to take off with the bottom of the ship still so low to the ground. If you do, and you pull up the nose, the rear of the ship could touch the ground. Not a problem here because I doubt you were going to do that inside a Hangar. But if you land on an open field, you want to be properly cleared as well before you take off." With that said, Valery waited for him to move up a little more, and soon heard the landing gear retracted. They were ready to go, got clearance over comms, and the Hangar Bay door of the Temple opened, allowing him to gently drift out.

At this point, Valery helped a little to guide the ship on the right course, but he was doing most of the work. "Course is already plotted, so take us out into space, and we'll make the jump to Hyperspace." She grinned a little his way, and waited for them to be safely away from the busy Coruscant traffic before talking again.

"We're going to be heading to Odacer-Faustin. Do you know anything about it?"

 

[Aedric]

"Okay." He nodded, continuing to raise them higher in the hangar, before he eventually retracted the landing gear. "That went well." He muttered, more to himself than anyone else. Now, he just had to do the bit which he would assume was the hard bit, actually getting them into space. He knew it would be impossible for him to massively mess up, as she would be able to take over the moment anything started to go wrong, but it still felt like quite a responsibility, which he was quite actually enjoying.

He began to very carefully drift out of the hangar, very much taking his sweet time as he got comfortable with manoeuvring. "Sure, hyperspace." He very briefly glanced back down at the interface and switches, as if looking for one that would very blatantly scream out 'HYPERSPACE' to him. He looked back only a moment later, that'd be a challenge for when they were ready to face it. For now, he simply continued to take them higher, avoiding as much of the traffic as he could, gradually seeming to grow more comfortable in the task, manoeuvring quicker and with more confidence.

"The name doesn't ring any bells, so I doubt I'll know anything about it." He shook his head.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

The Bastion

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Aedric

"Well, it's a very cold planet in the old Sith Worlds region. A long time ago, an experiment there went horribly wrong, and Acolytes at a Sith Academy there at the time were turned into undead Sithspawn," Valery said rather matter-of-factly. She then blinked, turned to him and offered a sheepish smile. "Of course, the Sith are no longer there, but a lot of those planets have remnants of what they built still hidden away, or sometimes even in clear sight."

At this point, the ship was breaking through the planet's atmosphere, and soon reached the dark vacuum of space. With enough distance from the planet, they'd find themselves outside the gravitational field, after which the navigational computer signaled a green light for Hyperspace.

Valery gestured at the lever, and waited for him to use it to jump them into Hyperspace.

"I'm quite sure I discovered something there related to the Sith. A structure that we haven't been able to find before." Her fiery gaze now turned to Aedric, and she began to smirk a little. "We're going to take a look together."

 

[Aedric]

"Sith spawn?" He glanced over towards her quickly, quite caught off guard by the momentary possibility of their being Sith spawn. "Are we going to fi- Oh right." He nodded as she explained that there was no longer any Sith there. The brief prospect of a fight had both excited him, but also bought about some nerves.

"Reckon I should be a pilot or something." He muttered as they finally reached space, glancing around for a few moments. "Quite dark." He noted, before reaching to pull the level, jumping them into hyperspace. After pulling it, he leant back into the seat, shifting around until he got comfortable. "Nothing more for me to until we land, right?"

"Exploring an old Sith structure sounds fun." He replied, a grin on his face.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

The Bastion

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Aedric

"While I don't expect Sith, you should still be ready for a fight or just... danger. Sith structures are dangerous even if you're the only living thing walking around." She decided not to list off every single thing she encountered during her days as a Jedi Shadow, knowing it usually made Padawans quite tense. He was Epicanthix and seemed more eager to fight than most others, but she still wanted to be careful.

Besides, he was about to find out for himself once they'd go in there.

"Nothing more to do now, no. It's on auto-pilot so we just wait and we'll arrive soon," she replied, before noticing the grin on his face when he mentioned the exploration sounding fun. "It can be thrilling, but never lose your focus. A lot of Sith Temples or structures are really strong in the Dark Side, so it'll try to breach your mind or show you things that aren't really there. Scare you into making the wrong decisions, and it has ways to punish as well."

"Your mind should be shielded, so it's going to be easier for you. But never assume yourself to be immune to anything, or you risk being taken by surprise."

 

[Aedric]

Her words about the danger were somewhat eerie, but did little to deter his excitement, only really feeling it and making him curious. "You mean danger like the roof might fall on us, or like ghosts or.. I dunno, undead creatures might still be there?" He wasn't even sure how you would fight something undead, how did you kill something that had already died? He'd have to try and figure that out pretty quickly if there was anything of that nature.

"Auto-pilots quite convenient, I bet it was a pain back in the day to have to manually fly all the way there. Does this ship have guns, and stuff?" He glanced over the controls for a moment, before once again relaxing in his seat.

"I should be fine from all that mental stuff though, no?" He started, before she mentioned his mental shielding. "I'll just be extra careful with being focused then, I guess."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Odacer Faustin

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Aedric

"Oh Sith spirits are possible, and so are undead creatures or other Sithspawn. It's hard to tell, but I'm sure we'll be alright. If it ends up being too much, we call in back-up or leave until we know more." As ambitious as he was, she wouldn't drag him into a Sithspawn infested structure. It'd be far too risky, and possibly for no real purpose beyond clearing a building of creatures twisted by the Dark Side.

On the topic of the ship, Valery grinned a little bit. It was exactly the type of question she'd have asked back when she was a Padawan. "It has some turrets, but its armament isn't the best. Its shielding and armor are very strong though, so we can take a lot of hits and get out of tight situations. With Jedi senses and the few weapons it does have, we make it work in combat as well." Most of all, though, it was a comfortable transport for them on missions, and when they traveled with the family.

There were just times when Valery was tempted to add some extra weapons to it.

"Yeah, you should be fine. Just stay focused, and let me know if anything does feel off." With that, Valery turned back to her instruments, and transferred control to herself. "Landing is something I'll handle because it's the most dangerous, and this environment is trickier," she said, and as soon as they dropped from hyperspace and pierced through the atmosphere, he'd be able to see why. Frigid winds, a frozen landscape and a very rocky terrain.

Not a place for a new pilot to land.

"See that structure over there?" Valery asked as something appeared not too far away. "That's where we're heading."

 

[Aedric]

"We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose."

"Turrets are good." He grinned, once again looking over at the controls. "If we have to retreat or anything, will I get to shoot the turrets? Or would be probably just want to run, and get away?" He asked, very much hoping that he would get the chance to shoot the guns. Although, he wasn't entierly sure how Jedi like it made him seem to be so eager to shoot the turrets.

"Right." He nodded as she took over controls for the landing, shifting around in his seat so that he could comfortably watch how she landed the ship. He only momentarily looked away to look down at the planet once it came into sight, very much in agreement that this was no terrain to learn to land in. "Yeah, I see it."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Odacer Faustin

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Aedric

While it wasn't the most Jedi of questions, Valery snickered just a little bit and nodded, "If we get attacked, it would be better if I handled the flying, so that puts you on the turrets," she told him, but as amusing as his eagerness was, Valery sincerely hoped that it wasn't going to be needed. Bringing a fairly fresh Padawan out to a planet with this much dangerous history was already a risk, so she didn't want it to escalate even further.

Even though he'd probably find it very exciting.

"Alright. While you won't feel anything trying to breach your mind, you can still reach out to it. If you try it now, you'll feel what I feel — a lingering darkness," she said, and as her own senses extended, she could tell that there was something inside there that wasn't natural at all. Whether it was an artifact, a creature or the structure itself was hard to tell, but it meant they both had to remain focused.

Together, the two Jedi began to walk forward through the icy winds that didn't seem to bother Valery, despite the fact that she wasn't dressed for the cold at all. What was far more chilling, were the statues lined up on each side of the path, depicting Sith long gone. But even now, perhaps thousands of years later, it still felt as if they were watching them.

"Have you every purely relied on the Force to guide you? Inside there, I want to find the source of what we're feeling, and I'd like you to try and guide us to it."

 

[Aedric]

"Cool." He muttered at the possible chance to use the turrets, rising out of his seat and following her out of the ship.

Aedric reached out with his mind as they set off, initially only looking confused before he felt something. "I think I feel it, yeah." He nodded, not lingering on the feeling too long and instead focusing on pushing his way through the winds. Compared to the older Jedi, Aedric did not seem to be taking well to the icy winds, hugging his arms close to his chest to try and best preserve his heat. "Bit cold here." He glanced around at the statues as they passed them, a small frown on his fcae.

"Not sure if I intentially have." He shrugged. "I think subconsciously probably, yeah. Like, I've had a really strong gut feeling or felt drawn towards doing something for a reason that I can't logically understand, and I've trusted that more than anything, if that makes sense?" He wasn't entierly sure if that was him following the force per say, or simply having good instincts. Mostly likely, a combination of the two.

As they got closer and closer, he once again reached out to focus on that lingering, dark feeling, this time fully focusing on it. "If I get any kind of feeling or something, then I guess we can try follow that."

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Odacer Faustin

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Aedric

"It is cold," Valery said with a chuckle, "We'll be inside soon, so no winds there. But maybe I'll have to teach you how to keep yourself warm with the Force before we head back later," she offered. It wasn't a terribly complicated thing to learn, but they were already close enough to the entrance to not really bother right now. As long as she didn't know exactly what was waiting for them inside, she also didn't want to risk slowing down for something that wasn't necessary.

"No, that makes sense. Sometimes it really is just gut instinct, but you can tell when it's something... more. Something more profound," she said with a dip of her head. "In those cases, it's often the Force trying to tell us something. From a warning to a hint that will guide us down the right path."

With that said the two Jedi reached the entrance that directly led into a long hallway, completely dark with torches on each side. Spotting them, Valery's eyes suddenly seemed to have a faint glow to them, before every single one of them lit up with a bright flame. "Better, hm?" she chuckled and stepped into the cold Temple. Everywhere around them were the faint sounds of melting ice dripping down on stone floors, and the rushing wind squealing underneath little cracks in the structure.

It wasn't a place for those easily scared.

But there was something more deeper inside — a tremor of Darkness they could both feel vividly and right as they focused on it, the two Jedi would hear a loud scream echoing through the ancient halls.

 

[Aedric]

"That'd be a convinent skill to have." He said, continuing to simply hug his arms close to himself for the time being.

"Exactly." He nodded, as she described the feeling of it being something more than just a gut feeling. "If that was the force guiding me, then I've been guided by it a couple of times." He explained, as they finally entered the structure. The relief from no longer having the cold winds blowing on him was immediate, and his arms relaxed to his sides. While it was still cold, it was bearable without the winds.

"Much better." He agreed, glancing around the hallway once the torches had flickered up.

"Pretty cool trick with the lights." He said with a small grin, before continuing down the hallway. That feeling of a lingering darkness was no longer faint, and Aedric was beginning to focus in on it's location when the scream broke his concentration. His hand immedietely jumped to the training saber on his hip, about to pull it free as his head flicked around. However, just as quickly, he caught himself and let out a small laugh.

"Playing tricks on us already, isn't it?" He asked, before setting off and following the pull of that darkness. "I doubt there's anything around to scream at us." Despite him having seemingly relaxed, his left hand continued to rest on the training sabers hilt, and his right hand was curled into a fist.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Odacer-Faustin

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsabers
Tag: Aedric

Valery chuckled when he referred to her trick as cool and quickly started walking forward. Without the icy winds, and with a little bit of heat from the torches, it was getting more pleasant inside. At least, it would have been if it wasn't for the intensity of the Dark Side growing with each step they took forward.

It sent a different kind of shiver down her spine.

A loud scream then drew Valery out of her thoughts, and her eyes quickly shifted to the Padawan, who was about to draw a training weapon. She smirked, held up a hand to tell him to stop moving, and removed one of her two lightsabers from her belt. "This will be a little more useful if we run into trouble," she said as she offered him the weapon. Then, unless he had anything to say, she followed him deeper into the structure. Slow and steady, despite the scream they had heard.

"I'm not sure if that was a trick," she said, her eyes scanning the dark hallways.

Several meters ahead, Valery stopped when she felt the stone beneath her feet shift a little. The sound of stone grinding over stone became increasingly louder, until the walls themselves were moving, cutting off their way back, and changing their direction to the left like a moving maze. Valery blinked, rubbed the back of her neck, and turned to Aedric, "Well, that's new. Do you feel anything up ahead?"

She knew the answer already — Something was waiting on the other side.

 

[Aedric]

"Much more helpful, thanks." He agreed with a grin, idly beginning to fiddle with the hilt of the real lightsaber as they continued. His finger almost seemed to be itching to ignite it, in part due to him still being slightly on edge after the scream, and partially just due to the excitement from getting the chance to wield a real light saber. You could tune up a training saber, but they would always fall short of the real deal.

Her doubting the scream as being a simple trick did not help Aedrics twitchiness. "Weird if it wasn't, I didn't think anything that would be screaming would be here with us." He said, before quickly adding. "I guess it could be unrealted to us, but I doubt that."

At the sound of a stone clicking, Aedric stopped dead, assuming it to be some kind of trap. As the walls shifted around, cutting off their possible retreat, he wasn't entierly sure whether it was a trap or not. "Interesting walls." He muttered, before nodding at the question. "Yeah, I still feel it. Much closer too."

He continued forward after a moments hesitation, his grip tightening around the sabers hilt, and his finger resting on the ignition button, ready to ignite it on a moments notice.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Odacer-Faustin

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsabers
Tag: Aedric

"Well, the doors were open, so something or someone could have made it inside, and gotten trapped," Valery said, and the sudden changing of the walls, and thereby the lay-out of the structure, only strengthened that thought. It would be easy for even an animal to go inside, and never make it back out. Turning back to Aedric, Valery noticed the way he held her lightsaber, and tilted her head a little while a gentle smirk appeared.

"Try not to point it at yourself if you fiddle with it so much," she said, and while it was a comment meant to tease, there was some truth to it as well. She didn't know just how much experience he had with a lightsaber, and it was easy enough to hurt yourself with one if you weren't trained.

He was Epicanthix though, so she expected him to have trained as much as he could.

"We should be getting cl-" Valery stopped, as yet another scream interrupted her. This one much louder, and it didn't sound human at all. Once the beast-like scream had stopped echoing through the halls, they'd be able to hear something moving up ahead, its nails ticking and scratching against the ground and even against the walls.

It was only when they got closer, and stepped into a larger room, that the bright eyes of the beast were visible, and they were staring down at the Jedi from atop a stone pillar.

"Careful..." Valery muttered, her hand shifting down to her own lightsaber now.

 

[Aedric]

"I guess so." He nodded, but he still found it very hard to believe much would come here, let alone stay here for an extended amount of time. Then again, he wasn't entierly sure how someone would leave with all the shifting walls. "Are we trapped? Or can we just smash down the walls until we get back in the right direction?"

"Oh, good point." He grinned, continuing to fiddle with it, but with more care, ensuring that the saber didn't actually point towards him. "That wouldn't of been the desired outcome of this mission." He muttered, imaging the shame of having to see his parents after having accidentally stabbing himself while playing with a lightsaber, or worse, dying by accidentally stabbing himself.

"That screamings starting to annoy me." He said, his tone very much holding that annoyed tone. The closer proximity of the scream, and audible moving of it did cause his grin to drop, his face setting in a serious, somewhat annoyed, expression.

As they stepped into the larger room, Aedric glanced around until his gaze fell onto the beast, making eye contact with it. "What eve-" He began to ask, before the warning to be careful came. As he noticed her hand shifting towards the lightsaber, his immediate reaction was to ignite his own, and his finger had begun to make the motion before he hesitated. It'd be pretty dumb of him to just ignite it and alert it, or even, as impossible as it seemed, attempt to attack something that had no intention of fighting them. Instead, he'd wait and base his actions off of what the older Jedi did.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Odacer-Faustin

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsabers
Tag: Aedric

"I could easily smash the walls..." Valery began with a grin. "But I'm not sure how strong this really old building is structurally, so I'd rather avoid it if we can." The last thing she wanted was to punch her way through the walls, only for the ceiling to fall down right on top of them. But with that said, the two Jedi continued to follow their senses, until the screaming grew louder. Aedric commented on it, but Valery was too focused to really register what he was saying.

Everything felt too wrong.

Soon enough, they entered the chamber and spotted what was likely the source of the scream they had heard moments earlier. Valery's hand reached for her weapon, and she could tell that Aedric was tense as well. Despite it, he kept his weapon disengaged, and watched the beast closely. Valery was hoping not to disturb it immediately, and maybe find a way to bypass it if possible. Not because she feared confronting it, but because it might not be alone.

But before the Jedi Master could even think about setting a first step, the beast's eyes snapped to the two Jedi. It showed its teeth, lowered its center of mass, and slowly began to crawl down towards them like a predator carefully approaching its prey. Danger in the Force spiked, and there was no question about what was coming next.

"Get ready!" Valery called out, her violet blade now igniting, right as the beast suddenly jumped towards them. Valery dashed aside to evade its attack, but then watched as it charged right at Aedric, its claws lashing out to tear him apart.

 

[Aedric]

"Smashing the walls down sounds like a good plan to me." He agreed. "Bit of a problem though if it falls on us, I suppose." He added with a grin.

As the creature began to crawl down the pillar, it's intent became all too clear. He would no longer have to wait to gauge a reaction, and could instead begin to move. His thumb immedietely slipped over the ignition key, the blade igniting in an instance. The colour was enough to distract him for a moment, as it was quite a shock, as he had been expecting a more standard blue or green.

The call for him to get ready stirred him from this distraction, and he fixed his gaze on the beast as it made it's leap. A moment after Valery dashed to the side, he did the same, only dashing in the other direction to her. However, just as quickly as he had dashed away, he turned on his heels, dashing back towards the beast as it reached the spot previously occupied by him, thrusting the saber forwards, intent on stabbing straight through it's side.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Odacer-Faustin

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Lightsabers
Tag: Aedric

The beast moved erratically as it charged at the Padawan, who dashed straight for it with his lightsaber drawn in return. The thrust of the weapon came, but a slight shift in trajectory from the beast resulted in the blade only grazing down its side. It hissed in pain, lashed out with its claws and jumped at a nearby pillar, which it used as a launching platform to jump into the air, and attack the student from above.

At this point, however, Valery was more than ready to assist, and aimed a telekinetic burst at the creature. It was sent flying back into the pillar, drawing a yelp of pain from it, but the battle was far from over. As it scrambled back to its feet and slowly began to walk closer to the Padawan, the two Jedi heard another scream.

And saw another beast.

Two more of the same creatures appeared from the dark tunnels that extended from this room, and moved to circle around the Jedi to trap them in between.

"Let them make a move, and strike fast," Valery whispered, a second or two before one beast jumped at Aedric, and another came for herself.

 

[Aedric]

Aedric scowled as the beast shifted away from his blade, he planted his feet hard and span, as if he was about to take a second swing, but it leapt away before he could complete the motion. The padawan seemed prepeared for the second attack, having shifted himself into a slighty more defensive stance that loosely resembled the Djem So variant of Form V. However, as it was flung off course by the Jedi master, Aedric looked over with a slightly suprised expression before he grinned. Any nerves that previously seemed like they'd hung to the boy had shed away, replaced by him seeming extremely comfortable, almost too confident, with the fight.

His head snapped around as he heard the second scream, watching as the two beasts made there way from the tunnel. As the beasts began to circle the pair, Aedric began to pace around a small circle, ensuring that, to the best of his ability, none of the beasts were ever directly behind him, and all of them remained within his peripheral vision.

He nodded as her words, patiently waiting for one of the beasts to make their move. The moment that it did, Aedric darted forwards to meet it, aiming to meet it before the jump could create much monentum. He first slashed his blade up, aiming to slash into one of the attacking claws, as to deter the attack, or parry it, before making a second slash, his true attack, aiming to cut straight across the beasts chest.

Valery Noble