Public Yavin 4: Echoes of the Enclave

[Voice of Light]

Yavin 4 on Wookieepedia
Yavin 4: Echoes of the Enclave
A frightened world calls for help! Deep within the jungles of Yavin 4, a revered Jedi enclave has fallen mysteriously silent. Whispers speak of spectral figures in the ancient Massassi temples and forbidden teachings resurfacing from the past. With no survivors found and the Force itself uneasy, a Jedi is sent to investigate—but not all echoes are of the living…

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[Katarine Ryiah]

Location: Aboard Jedi Vessel (others can be here too)
Objective: Travel to Yavin 4
Tags: Open to Jedi & Allies


Jedi Master Katarine Ryiah sat in quiet contemplation aboard the sleek Jedi vessel as it sped through hyperspace toward the distant jungle moon of Yavin 4. The journey should have felt like any other mission, but the unsettling disturbance in the Force gnawed at her senses, refusing to be ignored. A Jedi enclave had gone silent there, its once steady presence now swallowed by an eerie void. Katarine's sharp instincts and years of experience told her that something was terribly wrong. The balance of the Force, once so calm, now seemed clouded with an unfamiliar darkness. As the stars stretched into elongated lines around the vessel, she closed her eyes, reaching out to connect with the energy surrounding her. The feeling deepened—something was waiting. Something was about to unfold. She couldn't shake the foreboding sense that whatever had happened to the enclave was just the beginning of a far greater disturbance in the galaxy.

She opened her deep green eyes and searched the faces of the Jedi who were with her, wondering if they felt the same sensation as she did.

 

[Gem-in-Trash]

Gem-in-Trash had hoped for missions, training, and responsibilities, but she regretted a few of the obligations that came with them. First and foremost was the fact she had to wear her accursed robes all the time while putting her best paw forward. Sure, she had a reputation as a troublemaker, but she wanted to be known as a troublemaker that could be relied upon.

She'd never liked wearing robes, though. Worse, they were practicing meditation, which was a particularly difficult thing for her to do. Gem-in-Trash was constantly restless and playful, full of energy that made her want to run and Skimboard and climb and hunt, and they just wanted her to sit here and do nothing. The worst part was that she knew that they could tell she was restless, thinking about anything BUT the mission because she wore her emotions so close to the surface, and surely someone was thinking, 'Gee, that Padawan there is really letting these robes and meditation get to her right now, she needs to better control her emotions. Hey, Gem! Control your emotions!'

And then they'd proceed to not tell her how to do that.

Gem took a deep breath. Okay. She got that out of her system. Time to actually focus on meditating. Focus. On. The Force. The Mission. Something. About a Temple. Why did they bring her to an old Jedi Temple? Other than the fact she had volunteered for it?

Because Gem-in-Trash had spent much of her Younglinghood traveling the Galaxy with her mother, studying ancient Jedi ruins. That's why she was a good pick for this. Gem, without ever making it her focus, had ended up being remarkably well versed in the subject. That was why she'd been picked.

That, and she had volunteered.

Gem started thinking about all the things she knew about Yavin IV. Once a Sith Temple, then used by the Rebellion, then used as a Jedi Academy under the founder of the New Jedi Order, Luke Skywalker.

She started to think of all the things that she knew about the temple, and the things she would guess about the temple. Modifications, layout, history, clues, that sort of thing. Oh! She could compile a report to brief everyone about the temple ahead of time, to help prep everyone for the mission!

Are we still meditating?

Gem opened one eye and scanned the room. She saw Master Katarine Ryiah looking around the room, too, and Gem quickly shut her eyes, hoping that she hadn't been caught.

Dang robes are still too big...

Voice of Light

 

[Voice of Light]

The closer they came to Yavin 4, the more uneasy the Force became. It wasn't loud, but it pressed in slowly, like a rising chill beneath the skin. What had once felt like a ripple now felt like a tide, dark and growing. It didn't bode well.
Gem-in-Trash Katarine Ryiah

 

[Tilon Quill]

Tilon opened his eyes and found Katarine Ryiah — legendary Jedi Master — and Gem-in-Trash — Padawan archaeologist — already looking around the small group of Jedi who'd been meditating.

"For my part," he said, despite embarrassment, "I didn't get any clear sense of what's ahead."

Not the worst failing for a Jedi Knight, but then again he'd have liked to contribute more. At least Yavin Four would have that legendary biodiversity, thousands of plant species to experience. He'd been reading a Yavin System botany book before they started meditating. Come landfall, if their problem had a botanical component, then he'd have a contribution. That or translation. The rare skill to acquire or instil language had served him very well as a long expedition's comms officer, and Yavin was, after all, a place with many heritages, from the Massassi to the Rekalis to the first Rebel Alliance.

On the other hand, being poor or just behind at so many other Jedi skills, even traditional fundamentals like meditation — those were usually private embarrassments. This wasn't. He felt it maybe more keenly than he should have, he figured.

But on the other hand, maybe this...anxiety was instinct at work. Maybe the Force was trying to tell him something and he was just misinterpreting it through his own issues. If so, how could he tell one way or the other?

Unsettled, he stood and went over to the nearest porthole to watch hyperspace sizzle past. He had a touch of hyper-rapture, he figured, after spending so long in hyperspace on past voyages.

Voice of Light

 

[Voice of Light]

Once the small group of Jedi had arrived, they would find no grand welcome. No sweeping courtyards or pristine spires gleaming in the sun. Just the steady hush of the jungle, thick with mist and birdsong, and the looming shape of the ancient ziggurat rising from the greenery like a buried memory.

The steps were worn, slick with moss, the stone dark and sweating in the humidity. Roots crawled up its corners like fingers trying to pull it back into the earth. There were no lights, no banners, no outward sign that this place served as a Jedi temple at all, only the faint sense in the Force that something old was listening.

The main entrance was a narrow arch tucked into the base of the pyramid, half-shaded by ferns. Inside, the air was cool and still. Dust floated through beams of sunlight that pierced the high stone ceilings. Reliefs of long-forgotten battles lined the walls, some broken, some defaced, but none erased.

Simple woven mats marked a meditation area in one chamber. A low stone basin caught rainwater in another.

The floor of the old Massassi temple was littered with the dead. Jedi, mostly...robes torn, lightsabers extinguished at their sides or still clutched in lifeless hands. There was nothing elegant about their deaths. Just broken bodies sprawled like puppets with their strings cut.

And yet, they were not fully rotted. Skin clung waxy and pale to bone. Muscles hadn't fully collapsed. The air still held the sour edge of death, fresh enough to sting the throat. Whatever had killed them, it hadn't happened ages ago. This was recent.

The walls bore deep gouges, stone cracked as if under the weight of something massive. Not saber marks—blunt force. Something had torn through them. Something with power and no concern for form.

Katarine Ryiah Gem-in-Trash Tilon Quill

 

[Gem-in-Trash]

Gem's mind was, initially, on whether or not her report had been all-encompassing enough for the mission. She'd pulled together a brief and some reference materials for the team to use while they were on the mission. Doubt swirled in her mind, as she found herself wondering what was the most important things for them to know. She fought these feelings, trying to convince herself that she had done plenty, and that loading it with too much would just turn it into a burden.

As they'd gotten closer to Yavin IV, her thoughts became more focused on the mission as she felt the pain that they were about to encounter. Her mind slipped from her doubts, to fears of what she was feeling. Her excitement quickly turned to dread as they approached the temple, a massively historic site. Gem should be excited about the chance, but there was a horrible feeling in her gut that she couldn't shake.

And then they saw the bodies. Pulverized and beaten and left to die, all her thoughts about the possible faults in her report fled her mind. Instead, Gem hid behind Tilon Quill and looked away, grasping his hand as she looked away and tried not to retch at the site of the bodies. Her other hand went to her Lightsaber - still new, still unfamiliar to her. It hadn't done these Jedi any good. But to not have it ready would be foolhardy.

"Master Katarine Ryiah should we send a message back to the Council? They should know that we've found danger," Gem recommended. She knew she was losing control of her fear, but she was trying to fight through it. She couldn't control her emotions, but like swimming with the current when lost in a river, she went with her fear and grasped at whatever reason occurred to her. With her thoughts spoken, Gem took a few breaths, trying to gain control of her rushing mind, and hoping that whatever had killed these Jedi couldn't sense her loss of control.

 

[Tilon Quill]

Voice of Light Gem-in-Trash
OOC/ Looks like Katarine went on LOA for the near to medium future; I'm good to keep going.

IC/ "You're right, Gem," said Tilon, gathering up lightsabers as quickly as he could. It was a practical matter related to danger and resources and memorials; it was the bare minimum these dead Jedi deserved. He stuffed the sabers into his backpack or hung them beside his own at his belt.

Gem was right: a message needed to be sent. And they needed to regroup in the nearby ship, and this was no place for a Padawan of Gem's age, in Tilon's opinion. Not until he had a clearer sense of whether the threat remained.

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Once Master Ryiah had begun her business and Tilon had deposited the sabers in the ship, he went back to the airlock to look out at the Yavin jungle. He intended to take a closer look at the dead, bury them if safe to do so, and see what questions could be answered.