Private To Hell and Back

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
Tryana looked like the rabbit facing a snake, not sure whether staying still or moving would provoke a furious reaction. In the end the two feuding Eldorai walked past her and she was able to head the opposite direction.

She eventually came across Eyrecae who was readying weapons. If she was grumpy before she seemed to have regained her jovial attitude and was humming off-key to herself.
“Ah, the gallant Tryana. How fares the others?”
“Umm, a little frosty.” She coughed at the poor choice of words.
“I see. Stern Kaida with her sister, this fact she disputes with the Harbinger?”
“Yes. We do all need to work together. It’ll be no good if we all start fighting each other,” she added piously.
Eyrecae gave a shrug which could indicate almost anything. “The nature of people is to dispute. Government, laws, order, all concepts to conceal and deny this. The Shadows keep order by the focus of their dispute against others. Of course, most of them don’t like each other either! They do, in truth, like others more however.”
“That’s…very dysfunctional,” Tryana said with a frown.
Eyrecae put an arm around her shoulders. “That is life, brave Tryana. Now, carry these grenades down. Drop them not…unless you wish to be in myriad chunks.”

Time passed, and eventually they came up to reversion. Yohara headed to the bridge to resume command and take them on her allocated path.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

And so the moment had come. The ship jerked and emerged into realspace. The vast bulk of the planet could be already seen as they advanced forward. An univiting looking orb loomed before them. As the scanners would detect...it was Kaeshana. Even its moons had come along. The detritus of the great battle that had been fought here a few years ago floated in space. One could make out wrecks of Galactic Alliance, Firemane, Eldorai and First Order ships. But something was...off about the place.

Telara's mouth hung open. She looked like she had trouble processing what she saw with her eyes. Her face was very pale. Finally she found her voice. "So much for drugs." She took a deep breath.
"Telara, what do you sense?" Kaida demanded.
"Emptiness...," Telara said after a moment, stretching out with the Force. "It's...it's like a void, swallowing anything that gets close." She looked troubled.
"Stay focused. Scanning for life signs, and sending message to the Defiance." As the ship got closer, the occupants might be overcome by a feeling of nausea. All save for the resident Harbinger. Moreover, the vessel might start experiencing...turbulences.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
Eyrecae stared out at the world below her. It had seen better days, to put it very lightly. The landscape was uniformly brown and grey, and the great wound where the asteroid hit seemed still to be an ugly rent in the surface. Even the great ocean was an unhealthy, muddy brown/green.

“Changed…changed to death,” she whispered. She could not reach the Force, but something about it made her feel sick. She slumped down in her seat.

Yohara meanwhile managed to keep her features composed despite the very real nausea she felt.
“No reply. We will go in for a high orbit scan. Taldir, you have the yoke, I will perform scans.”
It was likely an unspoken admission that the former Angelii was a better pilot for passing through the wreckage and beyond…just without actually admitting it.

The scans were…troubling. There was very little life down there. Where Kaeshana had once been thronged with sea and animal life, covered in plants and stocked with people, it was now a husk. However, worse still was that there were flickers on the scanners.
“I am reading a concentration of life signs…no, that can’t be right. It’s gone again,” Yohara said, knitting her brows. “Something is interfering with the instruments.”

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

Someone else might have used the chance to rub it into Yohara. But while Kaida's generally stoic nature made her very hard to get along, it also made her too disciplined to be petty most of the times. So without a further word she settled into the pilot seat. Taking the yoke, she steered them closer, dodging the debris that littered the void.

Sadly, what the scans picked up was less than pleasant. Tryana looked shocked as she took in the ruined planet. "A land that was once verdant with life, is now consumed by death. Who - what - could have done this?" she said sadly. "Spirits, deliver those who died here to a better world."
"They're not all dead," Siona said a bit harshly. The shock might have gotten to her. "You heard her. There's life signs. We have to go planetside and find them."
"And die as well. Kaeshana's a lot cause. Whatever happened here...it's best to stay away," Telara cut in. All her snark and apathy had vanished, being revealed as a shield.
"Shut up. All of you," Kaida commanded icily. "Get me the coordinates of the life signs you detected," she addressed Yohara.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
Yohara seemed to have morphed into a mini Kaida because she had lost of her pompous intellectualism.
“Largest concentration of life readings and the only technology readings are coming from an area just north of…Santaissa.”
She let out a profound sigh and directed the co-ordinates to Kaida’s navi-computer.
“Severe turbulence and magnetic field distortions in the atmosphere. Suggest…propose…careful descent.”

Ashana had made no comment on what she had seen. She was simply staring at a bulkhead stonily.
When Eyrecae came past she looked at her. “Have you seen?”
“I don’t need to. It’s bad, but I’ve seen hell, literally. I don’t care.”
Eyrecae raised an eyebrow but did not challenge her. “Fair. Well, perhaps it may restore some memories-,”
“Just shut it. I don’t want any more of your meddling. I don’t want any more of this Angelii trying to trick me. I don’t want any of it. I just want to be left alone!”
Her sudden explosion of anger made even Eyrecae step back. Ashana went back to staring at the bulkhead.
Eyrecae left her to it.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

The ship shook violently. "The anomalies are causing some kind of disruption field," Kaida surmised over the din of beeping alerts and flashing red lights, while she fought with the controls.

She swung the ship about while following the coordinates for an atmospheric entry. Soon they were buffeted by the outer layer of the atmosphere. The hull glowed. The heat rose inside the cabin as Kaida forced the yoke forward. She drew upon her Sciia to increase her strength and Yohara helped, as much as the scientist could.

A sudden jolt threw items in the air and she could year yelps coming from behind her. However, she did not know or care about their source. They managed to lower the nose. Inertial compensators screamed in anger, for gravity had vacated the interior of the vessel. If Kaida had bothered to look back, she would have seen a floating Tryana waving frantically.

"I've got it under control," she said after a few moments. "We're still coming in hard. Transfer full power to the shields." Their ship broke through the atmosphere and fell like a boulder.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
As Tryana hung terrified in air and was beginning to sail back towards the rear of the ship a hand flew out and seized her arm tight.
Ashana pulled the astonished Vash with one hand, clung to a handrail with another.
“Buckle yourself, Vash,” she growled.
Terrified to silence, Tryana did so, eventually being released as Ashana sat herself back down.
“T…thank you,” the Vash said softly.
“Don’t thank me, use your head so it doesn’t end up smeared on the wall. Now silence.”

They came in heavy and hard. Yohara angled the shields and fired the retro-thrusters to slow down. Their wings were burning – hopefully they would not melt.
“Angle too steep, pull up,” the ‘helpful’ computer voice said placidly.
Eventually though, through the efforts of both pilots, they managed to bottom out their dive.
“Sixteen degrees west, five clicks, there’s a clear area,” Yohara said.

The landing could be charitably described as ‘rough’ or more realistically as ‘crash’…though given the turbulence they were lucky they were still intact at the end.
Yohara looked at the flashing lights and klaxons on the control panel. “Serious damage to wings, landing gears and lower weapon mount. Hull unbreached, reactor functioning. Catastrophic damage avoided. Well piloted, Taldir.”
That was high praise from her for Kaida.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

Miraculously they had survived. "Won't do us a lot of good if the disruption makes us crash again as soon as we take off," Telara spoke up, just after Yohara had complimented Kaida's piloting skills. "Same applies if we do find survivors and the Shadows send ships." Bit of a downer, but realistic.
"I'm aware," Kaida responded flatly. "Then we'll find the source and deal with it. Send a transmission to the Defiance. Tell the fleet to stay away from orbit. Until we've dealt with this, we're on our own." It was a grim prospect.

Siona looked at the scans. For the time being, she had other things to focus on than her antagonism with the former Angelii. "We need intel if we want to remove the distortions, and the best way to acquire is to get in touch with survivors. We should be north of the of the old Cathedral. During my last trip, there was a cell holed up in the nearby ruins. Squatters sought shelter there."
Kaida nodded curtly. It tallied with what their scans had shown. "Then that'll be our first destination. I want an assessment of how long repairs will take. Sealed suits and extra air tanks for everyone."
"Look outside," Tryana said, shock evident in her expression and tone. "The sky...it is blood-red." They found themselves staring out at a literal hellscape.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
They found themselves facing a vista of unimaginable horror. Many of them had seen Kaeshana before or even after the cataclysm, the war, the occupation. This was something else though.

The sky was a blood red, roiling and twisting with lightning and strange air movements. It was worse on the ground. They could see part of the city. Ruin was everywhere, the plants dead or twisted, the buildings crumbled and the walls shattered.

Once this had been a prosperous land, growing crops for the nearby city of Santaissa. The people had once toiled on the land or commuted to jobs in the capital. The Churches of Ashira had stood as a comforting beacon over the faithful whilst the Star Queen ruled a mostly united people who believed they were alone in the galaxy.

That was only twenty-five years ago.

Now, there was not a living thing to be seen. A cloying smell filled the noses of the women as they descended. A staleness, a sour scent to the air.

Much had fallen from grace, but there was one thing which had been added to this; the crystals. Everywhere they sprouted like obscene purple and blue spikes. To those with the Force the taint of wild energy surrounded them. Some were broken, but most were unhindered. They were knew, and in places they had grown through stone and houses and walls like they were nothing.

As the group exited the sheer totality of the horror assailed them. Tryana seemed close to tears, for though she had never seen this place before she might have imagined what it had once been like. Even Eyrecae was rendered silent; a rare thing indeed!

Yohara was the first to snap them back to reality.
“Signal to the Defiance is being interrupted by the disruption. They should get the message not to approach, but nothing else can be guaranteed. You, Tryana, stop gawping and get some of the equipment from the hold. Euridice, you go with her.”
Eyrecae did not even react to the mispronunciation of her name and wandered into the hold.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

The party faced a hellscape as they exited the craft. The sky was blood red, thunder boomed and lightning flashed. There were ruins everywhere. Skeletons littered the the ground. And there were crystals. Lots of crystals.
"What in Illyria's name are these?" Siona stated, pointing at one of them that happened to be close to their landing spot. Obscene spikes sprouted from it.
Telara strained her senses as she approached it, looking wary. "I can see Sciia emanating from it," she said while she concentrated.
"It doesn't look like those crystals you lot use for your light-swords."
"No, it's not. It's...," Telara winced, as if in pain. Trying to probe the crystal had caused a backlash.
"You alright"
"Fine." She did not look it. The young Eldorai breathed in deeply. She felt a strong migraine coming up. "It's people. They're trapped. I can hear their screams. They're in pain."
"Better to die than to...exist like this."
"Yes, now let's get a move on if you don't want to end like this," Kaida interjected gruffly. "Have a look around." However, they did not get far. For beasts prowled the land. They were small, but fast and deadly. Being trapped in hell had had a strange effect on many beings. In the case of the Jesters, it had made them aggressive and given them a taste for flesh. Suddenly they were everywhere. Meanwhile, in the ruins, camouflaged figures watched...

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
Jesters, those goofy, hungry little herbivores who had been so prevalent and so common on old Kaeshana. It had often been joked that it was just as well they didn’t eat meat or they might eat all the Eldorai.

It wasn’t as funny now.

Mutations and sheer natural selection had turned the hapless little furballs into ravenous beasts. It had also made them more cunning, so that they did not rush out and attack healthy victims except in numbers, but could pick the flesh from a dead or dying victim like a swarm of land piranhas.

And so suddenly, bursting from a pit there came a tide of furry beasts, swarming forward to bite and gnaw at their enemies.
Eyrecae was at first puzzled by them, even picking one up until it started trying to rapidly bite her, causing her to toss it away.
“Dispatch the beasts!” she called. It felt oddly wrong to stab or crush the little furry creatures – but Tryana received some nasty lacerations to the legs when she was too slow to stop a pair of them latching on….

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

Jester attacks! It would have been almost funny, but it was not. Being trapped in hell had transformed them into ravenous, furious little beasts. The tide of beasts burst forth from the pit, wreckage and garbage.Their teeth were very sharp. A large number of them went for Kaida. The frost elf was a bit puzzled at first, but this changed when they started biting and gnawing at her. They were smart enough to go for the more exposed joint areas instead of trying to bite into the rigid armour plating.

Kaida grabbed one that jumped her. Even in her grip, it tried to gnaw at her joints. Her grip tightened and it turned to ice, then she threw it away. Little beasts raced up her body, biting and gnawing. Some lacerated her thighs, one bit into her neck. Feeling irritated, she hacked at them with her lightsabre, blasted them with ice and stomped on them.

Seeing the swarm approach her, Siona grabbed her amphistaff. When mutated Jesters charged her, she swung the weapon about like a normal staff weapon, exploiting the reach to knock them away. The snake spat poison at those who got close. One she sliced with her talons. "We've found the perfect pet for you, ma'am," Telara commented grimly to Kaida. The young Eldorai was firing her blaster pistol.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
Eyrecae’s puzzlement was been forced to become grim resolve as the beasties tried to bite and claw her. Therefore, she devoted herself to dispatching the furry creatures efficiently, without compassion.

However, the swarm was drawing off, with so many of their number dead. However, there was the sudden blaring of a noise so low pitched as to be nearly inaudible.
The remaining feral Jesters squealed and fled, escaping back to their holes and crevasses, leaving many furry corpses behind.

In the shadows and from behind cover shapes and shadows could be seen. Several of them were pointing weapons at the party, but they hadn’t opened fire…yet!

Perhaps this was the survivors of Kaeshana come to see the new intruders.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

((Some people who would be living in the hellscape: Morwen, Harrowed, Sicarii).

Many Jester were slain on this day. Finally, after a score of them were roasted by Ashana's fire, the creatures backed off. But the party was not left alone. The source of the nearly inaudible noise soon became clear, for figures lurked in the shadows.

They were well-concealed, hidden behind wreckage and in the dark corners of the ruins. However, they had a variety of weapons aimed at the interlopers, ranging from the primitive to more sophisticated designs stolen from former Firemane or First Order military installations.

"Hold fire," Kaida grunted to her crew. There was something off about these figures. She could hear them and in a few cases even roughly make them out...but she could not sense them. "Identity yourselves. I'm Kaida Taldir of the Shadow Knights. We're here to help."

"Siona Vaerum of the Harbingers of Twilight," the resident Harbinger added...just in case anyone in the shadows wanted to shoot a former royalist enforcer. Normally she would not mind. Her eyes searched the ruins, as if trying to see if any comrades she knew were hiding among them. "Only in darkness can we find the brightest light. Who stands in the dark with me?" she added, using a common Illyrian phrase.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
A mocking voice sounded from the rocks and broken ruins around them.
“They’re here to help. Lovely. You’re about twenty years too late,” it said scornfully. It was a female Eldorai, that much was obvious, but nothing more could be discerned.
“We are, in truth, here now,” Eyrecae said. “So perhaps it might be that we can work together.”
“That’s worked so well in the past. You just need help fixing your ship you just crashed so you can leave. Just like you people always leave,” the bitterness was rank and sharp.
Eyrecae took another step forward and a blaster bolt spat out and hit the ground in front of her. She folded her arms and stepped forward once more, over the melted spot on the ground.
“I am sure much has happened, and you are angry, but we can at the last work together now I hope.”

There was no response to this, however, the voice did address Siona.
“And you, Harbinger, you at least might understand what’s going on here. What is your purpose here?”
Eyrecae was irritated at being ignored but said nothing more…yet.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

"Do you want to get off this hellhole or rot on it?" Telara demanded impatiently, feeling irritated. "Because I don't see anyone else lining up to help you. Otherwise we can just go, repair our ship and..."
"Shut up," Kaida ordered coldly, cutting her off, even though Telara had said what she'd really wanted to say. She was a bit irritated about being brushed off by the people in the shadows. She hated diplomacy. She kept her hand on her lightsabre, but she did not ignite it...yet.

Siona looked in thought. Then realisation dawned upon her. Kaeshana's sudden change in location, the hellish landscape, the soul-sucking crystals and the mutation of the Jesters...it added up. "I think I know what happened here," she muttered. "You were in the underworld. Like me, after I was grabbed by the demons. Both of us," her eyes briefly darted to Ashana, then back to where the figures were hiding in the ruins. "All of Kaeshana was pulled with you."

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
“Someone gets it. Well done, congratulations, Harbinger of the bleeding obvious,” came a voice from above. There was a snort which might have been a laugh though.

There was a pause, and then one figure dressed in black appeared at the top of the rise. When they looked closer they saw the figure was clad fully from head to toe, but the outfit was an eclectic mix of civilian and military, tattered and requisitioned.
“Alright, we can have a truce, but we got some conditions. Don’t preach to us, don’t try and trick us, and do as we say when it comes to this planet’s dangers. This isn’t happy and shiny Kaeshana, or even the monkeigh occupied hole, this is hell. We know what we’re doing because we learned by watching those around us die. And if we keep you lushars alive to fix your ship, we want off this place…for good. Do we have a deal?”
Lushar being a particularly derogatory term for a ‘newbie’ or inexperienced fumbler.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

Someone else might have preached and affirmed their good intentions. Or, conversely, gotten angry and blustered. In such situations, Kaida's icy stoicism came in handy. "Yes," she said laconically. "And if you screw me over, I'll kill you."

Not a threat, a promise. She could not shake off the impression that black-clothed woman in the tattered outfit was familiar to her somehow. However, she could not quite place her. Her own Force senses felt impaired. "Let's go inside. Fill me in on the situation." She beckoned her party to follow. Remember, you must gather your party before venturing forth.

I'll kill you, Angelii, if you frak this up, Siona thought. But if the Forsaken betrayed them, she'd gut them. "You're not the only ones who were trapped in hell, though it was different for me. So let's get the posturing out of the way, shall we?" she said firmly. "There is a disruption field that must be taken out before any evacuation. And how many sisters and brothers are we talking?" The Harbingers were more egalitarian than many Eldorai groups, so she counted the malelings, too. Their high priestess still had to be a woman, even if the current Fatebringer was a male.

The rest of the party had heard the discussion. Tryana seemed relieved by the fact that the confrontation had been resolved without bloodshed. "We are both the same people and trapped here. We should not slaughter each other in this hell. It is just that we aid them."
"Keep an eye on them. And make sure they don't steal the ship once it can fly again," Telara retorted cynically. She eyed the Forsaken warily. "People do desperate things in desperate circumstances," she muttered.

 

[Eyrecae Alzari]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
The watcher merely gave an ironic salute to Kaida. “Funny, I was about to say the same thing. Follow me.”

They were led a short distance to some ruined buildings. One larger structure which had once been a hotel was partially collapsed. The entire eastern wing was rubble, but old rubble now, marked with faded blaster bolts and shrapnel strikes. As they approached they came to a stockade around the building manned by a handful of Eldorai and Kar’zun. They stopped to stare at the newcomers with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.

Once inside a room larger than most, perhaps once a ballroom or conference hall, the leader turned.
“I’m Morwen, I’m the leader of this outpost. The situation? One day the sky started going weird. The monkeigh upped and left along with their collaborators. They promised there’d be transports to evacuate us. Once bitten, twice shy, we didn’t believe them, and rightly so. The sky went dark, no stars. Then crazy stuff started happening. Any of us who were Sciians felt it, and then it slowly stripped from our bodies. As best we could tell it was nearly five years before we came out the other side, completely different side of the galaxy. So what’s the situation? It’s shit. But, you’re here now, so we might be able to get out of here. Do you have other ships coming?”

Next she looked to Siona.
“There is a disruption field, but getting to it is…difficult. We’ve not had a need to try yet as we have no operating craft. However, with you here it’s worth attempting. How many? There’s 30 in this encampment. There’s other encampments around, but it’s not big numbers. A few thousand at most. Quite a lot of Kar’zun though. They weathered the storm easier than us, and they’re easier to feed. Kaeshana has a lot of bare stone after all….”

Tryana meanwhile walked with Telera, looking at the bleak lands. “I fear you are right, Telera. Desperation will make people do anything…especially if there is a prospect of escaping it.”

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Eyrecae Alzari"]

((You still writing Ashana?))

Now Kaida rememberd why the figure had seemed familiar. Morwen. Born as Tarith Vintoli. "What a reunion," she muttered caustically. Their mutual history was poor. Whatever. "Shadow Knight fleet knows there's survivors. We sent our last transmission before crashing. Can't evac anyone tilll the disruption field's dealt with," she said frankly. The prospects were not the best. She was not one for motivational speeches.

"The Kar'zun are a tough lot. The spirits won't corrupt them easily," Siona acknowledged. The Harbingers kind of liked Kar'zun. It helped that radical Illyrians had good reason not to be fond of Ariane. "So what kind of nastiness are we up against?"
"Excuse me," Yohara interrupted. She had been fiddling with some type of scanning device. "You say your Sciia was stripped from you. Fascinating. Those crystals that dot the landscape outside seem to attract Sciiac energies. They resonate with them," She glanced to Siona. "Your hell goddess must find this terribly amusing. If she existed, that is."

"Don't speak of the Harbinger, since you clearly do not understand her," Siona said icily.
"I'm only taking your 'scriptures' by the word." Yohara held her scanner in front of Kaida and Ashana, then looked at Telara and Tryana. "Hmm. Sciiac energy levels stable, but something is...odd. You may experience trouble drawing upon your Sciia as time passes. I would recommend not doing anything...flamboyant."
Kaida was an abrasive woman at the best of times, and the situation was trying her patience. "Disruption field. Locate the source." Someone a bit nicer would have at least pretended to make it seem like a request. Kaida was neither nice nor polite and saw no point in faking either.
"I am in the process of doing so..."