X Never Marks The Spot

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus fell into line. The subject was closed...for now.

As they filed up to the shuttle, she bowed to those present and followed Kana onto the ship.

 

[Phylis Alince]

[member="Kian Karr"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Kana Truden"], [member="Corvus Raaf"], [member="Meeristali Peradun"], [member="Spike Arrel"], [member="Uther Weiss"], [member="Jannik Morlandt"], [member="Veino Garn"]

This writer has left things long enough, they suspect, so that they are not ‘rushing’ the RP along. If any latecomers want to participate, they need only quantum tunnel aboard the transport ship.

Meanwhile, Phylis Alince greeted each of those coming on board.

To Siobhan she peered suspiciously. She was about to say ‘I didn’t invite you,’ but thought better. The other woman was coming along, so she might as well accept it.

To the Kel Dor she frowned. “Aren’t I? Oh, good. I suppose I’m not. Hmm, never liked trifle much though.”

“Ah, Knight Truden, yes, welcome. Nice to meet you too!” She had no idea who most of these young people were. Still, at least there were young Jedi around these days. It was for the best.

“Right, all aboard! Get yourselves comfortable and we’ll have a briefing in the main room. Try not to, hmm, trip over anything.”

The ship was quite spacious inside, but was a bit of a mess. Discarded items lay around, and the large central area where the briefing would be held was littered with discarded datapads and other items the Jedi Master had been too busy or absent minded to collect.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Siobhan gave [member="Phylis Alince"] a very broad smile. "Excellent. We'll have such fun together. Just like in the old days!" No, she was trolling at all. Well, actually she was. Anyhow, she followed her favourite Jedi librarian onto the spacious but slightly disordered ship. Presumably Phylis' notes would be as confusing to read through as last time so she did not bother.


Instead she flopped down on a chair, assuming the ship had any chairs, and retrieved a magazine from her backpack. The magazine in question was called Ashira's Angels. Naturally Siobhan only read it for the highly educational articles. Unfortunately she had still been unsuccessful in persuading Mirien Valdier to pose for it!

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus filed on board. Master Alince’s reputation preceded her – she seemed to be known by some Jedi as ‘The Librarian’ but she didn’t know if any called her that to her face.

But the prospect of travelling with her excited Corvus. For Librarians mean datapads and datapads mean information. Lots and lots of information.

Corvus wondered what filing system the Master used. Chronological? Topical? Lore and non-lore? Perhaps her own unique data coding? Maybe even Corvus’ own preference – Essential Reading, Even More Essential Reading and Must Read Now.

And the preferred choice was? A mess…

Corvus scanned it for some sort of really clever approach. Perhaps a hexadecimal classification based upon the concepts of relative location and relative index?

No, it appeared to be…a mess. Corvus resisted the urge to start tidying and placing things in a more structured way – but couldn’t resist scanning the numerous piles for anything that really caught her fancy.

But what actually drew her eye was the woman she hadn’t seen before – sitting opposite her and reading a magazine. Corvus half-smiled by way of an introduction and waited to see what the formal greetings would reveal about the woman.

[member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Kian Karr"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Kana Truden"] | [member="Meeristali Peradun"] | [member="Spike Arrel"] | [member="Uther Weiss"] | [member="Jannik Morlandt"] | [member="Veino Garn"]

 

[Kana Truden]

Boarding the ship was the easy part. Coping with the lack of space, or rather the lack of lack of space was another thing. Ships had always been Kana's thing, except she liked them small and cramped like the HWK-290. Still, Kana was not here to comment on the ship even if she really wanted to.

Entering one of the big rooms Kana let her eyes dart around to get a better sense for it. This must be where they were going to have the brief-

"WOAH!" Kana tripped and stumbled on a discarded datapad. "What the-...?"

Kana picked the pad up with a frustrated sigh. Maybe 'not tripping' would have been too much to ask for after the Master's warning.

[member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Kian Karr"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Corvus Raaf"] | [member="Meeristali Peradun"] | [member="Spike Arrel"] | [member="Uther Weiss"] | [member="Jannik Morlandt"] | [member="Veino Garn"]​

 

[Spike Arrel]

Spike boarded the ship and found an empty seat. The only thought running through his mind was how damn packed this ship was getting. It was almost as if they were about to invade the place they were travelling to. After getting comfy in his seat he took out his datapad and began reading again, as there wasn't much to do otherwise then wait for everyone to board.

 

[Phylis Alince]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Spike Arrel"], [member="Kana Truden"], [member="Corvus Raaf"], [member="Kian Karr"]

Soon the ship was lifting off, displacing and sliding around more of the loose objects in the cabin. Soon they were through the atmosphere and in deep space, jumping into hyperspace.
Phylis emerged from the cockpit, having left her rather eccentric astromech to monitor the ship in hyperspace.

"Ah, good, we're all here," Phylis commented. Where anyone would have vanished to on board a ship in hyperspace was a mystery.

She picked up the datapad which Kana Truden had tripped over. "Ah, well done that Jedi, just the one I needed!"

It had been suspected that her 'absent-minded professor' persona was a bit of a put on. But it was true that she was pretty absent-minded even in private, so who she was deceiving there was anyone's guess!

"Hmm, so yes. We are going to the planet Arkus. It's not a very noteworthy planet, but it does have a lot of rain, and swamps...and more importantly for our purposes...some ancient ruins. This planet was fought over during the Great Sith War, during the time of the Army of Light just before Ruusan. Hmm, everyone know what that is?" she asked, looking around the group.

Whilst she waited for answers she gestured with one hand, and the various detritus and objects formed themselves into neat(er) piles for the moment. A Jedi might not be supposed to use the Force for mundane tasks, but it certainly helped!

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Corvus had to sit on her hands. This was normally the point that everyone groaned as she trotted out the correct answer. But the Padawan that wanted to share her knowledge was now the Knight that wanted others to voice what they knew.

But of all the questions she could have been asked! Darth Bane was a particularly favourite subject of hers. In studying Jedi Lore she’d had to consider the role of the Sith. She’d previously mused that although entirely evil, many of the Sith Lords had been great – both in their use of the Force and, more importantly, their thirst for knowledge. Darth Bane in particular. And of course, there were the political ramifications of the aftermath of the war – especially for the Jedi.

So she waited and was pleased to be distracted by Master Alince ‘tidying’ the piles of datapads et al. What was an unclassified mess was now a number of neater piles of even less well classified information. Corvus bit her lip. Hard. Twice.

[member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Spike Arrel"] | [member="Kana Truden"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Kian Karr"]

 

[Kana Truden]

Kana remained still as the datapad was quickly taken from her hands. She couldn’t help blinking for a few seconds. Was that her excuse for the mess or was she actually looking for that datapad? Kana turned around to listen to the briefing. Apparently it was the pad she was looking for. Funny how something work out, huh?

The excitement inside of Kana grew for each word coming out of Master Alince’s mouth. That is, until she asked the group a question. Kana had no idea what the ‘Army of Light’ was though she had an idea who had. Kana had to hold herself from laughing as she turned ever so slightly to look at Corvus. Judging by the way she was practically eating her own face there was no doubt that she did in fact know about it.

Kana gently nudged Corvus on the shoulder and tipped her head towards Master Alince.

“Just go already.”

​

[ [member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Kian Karr"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Corvus Raaf"] | [member="Meeristali Peradun"] | [member="Spike Arrel"] | [member="Uther Weiss"] | [member="Jannik Morlandt"] | [member="Veino Garn"] ]​

 

[Veino Garn]

Veino took a seat in a corner, leaning against the bulkhead with his bag as a headrest. He may not be a librarian or too much of a researcher, but he was an expert hitchhiker. Even though this was more organized than most hitchhiking, it was still relatively similar. Travel somewhere new with some people he knew and others he didn't. Fortunately, iy was unlikely that any of these people would try to rob him. That had been a concern in a few places.

Now the mention of the Army of Light was interesting. Although it seemed to be a different one. It wasn't like the one he'd been a part of had been ancient history, by any means, and he certainly couldn't remember being on a swamp planet.

"I'll assume the obvious and that it was a different Army of Light than the one I was a part of. I'm not old enough to be part of ancient history." He gave a half smile and pulled one of the durasteel spheres from his pocket, running it through his fingers absentmindedly.

 

[Phylis Alince]

[member="Veino Garn"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Spike Arrel"], [member="Kana Truden"], [member="Corvus Raaf"], [member="Kian Karr"]

"Hmmph, the same names get endlessly repeated in time, Knight Garn. There's mainly two reasons for that. The first is that, hmm, some of them aptly describe a situation. The second is that most people either have no imagination or don't know enough about the past to judge."

She looked around the gathering, finally to Corvus Raaf. The girl was virtually jumping out of her skin to answer. Nervousness? Hmm, curious.
"Do not keep us in suspense, Jedi Raaf. This isn't a lecture hall."

 

[Kian Karr]

Kian couldn't hold back the laugh as he watched [member="Corvus Raaf"] struggle to hold back from answering the question. The sound was sharp and static as it came out of his anti-ox mask. Putting a hand to his head, he quickly got a hold of the laugh and sat back, putting a stern look on his face once more.

Turning toward his apprentices [member="Uther Weiss"] and [member="Spike Arrel"], Kian tilted his head to the side and said "Do you suppose Knight Raaf has the answer?"

[member="Veino Garn"] - [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] - [member="Kana Truden"] - Phylis Alince​

 

[Spike Arrel]

Phylis Alince / Siobhan Kerrigan / Corvus Raaf / Meeristali Peradun / Uther Weiss / Jannik Morlandt / Veino Garn

===========================================================================================

Spike leaned in towards [member="Kian Karr"] to give his response.

"I suppose she does, but I fear she will burst if she doesn't answer."

He gave off a smile after answering.

 

[Corvus Raaf]

Finally Corvus couldn't take the good-natured ribbing any more - but was shocked that they couldn't all answer what was an obvious question. It was basic Jedi Lore if you'd spent half of your life in the library.

"Where to start? The war and it's outcome defined the way the Sith operated for so many years. It created the Rule of Two after all - but I'm getting ahead of myself. Although known as the Battle of Rusaan, it was actually the Seventh between the Army of the Light and the Sith. The conflict was also known as the New Sith Wars. The battle ended with the Sith detonating a thought bomb that killed almost of the Sith amd Jedi on the planet - except for Darth Bane and Darth Zannah that would be and..."

Corvus trailed off as she realised she was talking at 100 kilometres an hour and was in danger of rambling.

"The em...Army of Light was an army of Jedi - that were disbanded by Chancellor Valorum immediately after the Sith were vanquished. Of course everyone thought they'd all been wiped out on Ruusan but Darth Bane and his apprentice still lived. And...I think that answer your question, Master."

Corvus made a mental note to tell Kana the full story when she got the chance. Not to educate her, but to get her own back!

 

[Phylis Alince]

[member="Veino Garn"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Spike Arrel"], [member="Kana Truden"], [member="Corvus Raaf"], [member="Kian Karr"]

Phylis smiled warmly at Corvus.
"Excellent, excellent! Well done, Corvus, you've learned something, I see." She turned to the other Jedi, looking as stern as she could. "There is no need to mock or belittle someone because they know things. Knowledge is key to being a Jedi," she admonished, probably embarrassing the poor girl too.
"Siobhan, I'm sure that...magazine...is fascinating, but can you please pay attention? Hmmph."

"Either way, Jedi Raaf is quite correct. However, the thousand years or so before that final battle was one of intermittent war between the Republic and Sith. In that period of war, the planet of Arkus changed hands several times, and there were some notable struggles for the world as it held a key strategic position. We will be excavating the ruins from that time period. What we will find is anyone's guess. I hope you brought your, hmm, waterproof robes!"

 

[Kana Truden]

Well, the woman had a point. To Kana's great shame she turned to Corvus once more and bowed.

"I'm sorry, Corvus." Even if it had been a joke. On her behalf. Both of the times. "No excuses, just an apology. I should have known better and I'm sorry."

She got back in line as Master Alince finished talking to 'Siobhan'. The plan was getting better and better. Ruins, rain and good friends - it was either a recipe for a horror movie or a comedy. Which of them it was remained to be seen but she hoped for the latter, obviously. Kana checked herself at the mention of waterproof robes. Just as always she was wearing one of her jumpsuits, a black one as always and underneath it was a bla-... Oh, a white tank top. Oh that was no good. Her wardrobe had certainly not had the same variety since she dropped civilian life but the trade-off had needless to say been worth it.

Getting her mind back to the matter at hand Kana zipped her suit shut once more.

"I feel as if I should ask." Kana scratched the back of her head as she tried to make herself sound not-stupid. "Do we know anything of the wildlife of the planet? Any potential hazards?"

[ [member="Phylis Alince"] | [member="Kian Karr"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Corvus Raaf"] | [member="Meeristali Peradun"] | [member="Spike Arrel"] | [member="Uther Weiss"] | [member="Jannik Morlandt"] | [member="Veino Garn"] ]​

 

[Kian Karr]

Kian turned his head quizzically to the side as [member="Phylis Alince"] scolded them for their behavior. It wasn't belittling, but rather friendly banter between a group that was well known to each other. Kian had been away from the Baran Do and Dorin for quite some time now but he was still finding it difficult to understand human interactions.....especially when it came to humor.

Stretching out, Kian prodded [member="Corvus Raaf"]'s mind through the telepathic connection they had established in their lesson together, hoping to sense whether or not they had hurt her feelings. Kian was going to apologize....but couldn't resist the urge for more humor and believed she would appreciate it.

Know-it-all. Kian said via the connection between their minds, but flooded his thoughts with enjoyment and humor so that Corvus would see he wasn't being malicious.

[member="Kana Truden"] - [member="Phylis Alince"] - [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] - [member="Meeristali Peradun"] - [member="Spike Arrel"] -​

[member="Uther Weiss"] - [member="Jannik Morlandt"] - [member="Veino Garn"]​

 

[Corvus Raaf]

In response to Kian, Corvus responded, 'Not a know-it-all, I've never, ever heard of the planet. But a chance to find something from that era? It's like a dream come true.'

[member="Kian Karr"]

 

[Kian Karr]

Kian smiled and felt excitement race through him. While his time among the Jedi had been spent on the battlefield and training others, he wasn't always like that. The Baran Do were a far less martial organization than the Jedi. His time there had been spent in contemplation and research. Since coming to the Jedi, Kian's readings had always been task specific. Reading up on a specific event or a specific threat in order to assess the way to deal with it.

This occasion was different. Here Kian wasn't learning about something in order to evaluate a weakness or a vulnerability, but rather had the objective to learn. It was thrilling and a much needed break from the grimness all around.

Actually...now that you mention it. It does sound like a rather good time! Kian communicated to Corvus and turned his attention to the others.

[member="Corvus Raaf"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Phylis Alince"], [member="Corvus Raaf"], [member="Kian Karr"], [member="Kana Truden"],


"Yes, Phylis. Of course, Phylis. You know I always pay attention to you." Apparently Phylis was in lecturer mode again, which was no surprise but Siobhan did not mind because she was especially hot then. Personally Siobhan believed that the Jedi had turned into whimps after the Battle of Ruusan when they disbanded their armies and did what the Senate told them. The Knights Templar style Jedi of the Army of Light had had the right idea when it came to purging Sith, even though simply bombing Ruusan from orbit would have neatly avoided the whole issue of being wiped out by a thought bomb, but perhaps fleeting had been background noise back then as well. One could easily imagine her taking a great deal of joy in setting herself up as a 'Jedi Lord' - as in Jedi in name only - on a primitive planet and demanding the worship of her subjects.


Then again, the Knights Templar style Jedi would have almost certainly purged her as a darksider because, well, she was one, and for Paddy poking. So ironically enough she was probably better off with them being an order of non-religious monks. Oh, and it seemed everyone on the ship had a telepathy-tuned radio for onstant communication. As a matter of fact, Siobhan did not have telepathy.