Jump to content

Leena Kil

Members
  • Posts

    261
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    26

Everything posted by Leena Kil

  1. Leena sat there in silence reaching out to touch the force. She could feel it. She focused in on @Basi. She felt his raw emotion as he dealt with his history. It was a peril of the less than classical approach to the Jedi Path. Of course, coming to the Jedi like she did, as an infant, presented other challenges and worldly temptations. It was something that she would need to monitor and address, help her new apprentice overcome, lest the tumult of these memories she could feel but not see opened up a path to the darkside. As quickly as they came though, Basi seemed to be able to mentally wrestle them back under his control, a sign of a strong mind, a trained mind. Militaries the galaxy over seemed good at imparting mental and physical strength on those who filled their ranks. The Togruta was no exception. He presented a strength born from training and battle. The strength would serve him well on the perilous journey to become a Jedi. She felt him reach out, felt his presence sweep over her aura and reach out to those around him. “Gooooood,” she coo’d, a smile cracking her lips. She continued with encouragement as he focused on the stone. “Yes. Focus on the crystal. A Jedi is part of the world around them. He is led by the force and does not bend it to his will. Feel the force around you. Let it flow around you, pass through you into the crystal, a natural conduit of growth and healing energy.” The blue stone began to glow faintly at first, a warm light radiating from the stone and warming Leena’s hand. Leena’s smile broadened from a smirk into a full faced smile as she tried to suppress a joyful giggle. “Excellent!” She congratulated him. “In your victory, do not lose your focus;” she warned, “for victory can be snatched away from the unprepared in a moment. Focus on the crystal,” she coached raising her hand higher in the air until the crystal was held over their heads. “Keep the stone afloat AND alight, if you are able. Let the force flow through you. Let its will become your own.” Slowly Leena began to lower her hand and she closed her eyes, feeling the stone; waiting to see if it would remain aloft, even if for a moment.
  2. The sun overhead beat down through the Y-Wing canopy of the cobbled together Ugly fighter. It warmed Leena’s salmon mottled skin as it played the shadows of overhead swaying trees across her closed eyes and face. The force pulsated in tidal currents outward and back inward, expounded as jt returned back to the world around her. As the holiness, the light of the world, grew around them all, it warmed the hearts and minds of everyone that the force touched. It washed over their pains and anguish, obscuring them like a salve as it drew the darkness upwards and washed them away. It drew the darkness back towards the Jedi. Even as it tumbled these dark memories into granulated nothingness, the waves of healing force power drew them back into Leena. Within her chest, the pulsating light obliterated the darkness, healing the rifts in the force itself, the darkness; but not before these memories brushed Leena’s consciousness. The last vestibule grasps of the dark side before it was extinguished. The world seemed to glow with a spring-like life. The air filled with the singing of small songbirds and the smell of growing plantlife. The force swirled with life and healing inside and out of the cockpit. Tears welled in the healer’s eyes, slipping from the creased corners and pitter-pattering on the thick cloak below. Fragments of pain and loss, foreign memories of the war, loss of family members and brothers-in-arms, grief, guilt, raw emotion, all of it, swept up in a healing surge of living energy. Not erased, not forgotten, but healed, cleansed by the nature of the world as it should be. That did not mean that the darkness did not cling to such memories like an evil little gremlin clawing at the edge of the precipice, spewing destruction before it met its own. The final claws of the fading darkness raked Leena’s mind burying visions of the front lines of a war she had so desperately sought to shelter herself from within the suites of the Alliance Mobile Surgical Hospitals and naval ships. Tears tumbled from Leena’s eyes. She could feel the fear of battle, the heat of explosions, see the life slip from the eyes of innumerable soldiers as it was stripped from their souls. None of the memories were hers, but they were all just as real. They played at Leena’s mind and then were swept away as the force extinguished the tears the darkness clawed through only to be replaced by others, carried from further away as the radiating healing power of the force reached further and further into the ragged and wartorn peoples that made up the base camp. The crystal within @Basi’s hand grew warmer and warmer the closer he grew to Leena’s position; drawn by the guidance of the force itself. The stone pulsated with healing power, taking in the healing power radiated outward by Leena and sensing it out exponentially again in wave after wave of soothing and calming energy. It was energy that would calm the Young sojourner’s mind until he was at peace with the world around him. Then, and only then, would he be drawn down the line of Ugly class fighters to the cobbled TIE and Y-amalgamation. Only when he was completely immersed, touching the living force with his mind, body and soul would Basi sense Leena’s presence in the cockpit of the ship. Pulling open the screen, he would find a smiling Leena Kil looking up at him. Taking his hand, Leena pulled herself up. She clamored out of the cockpit to the duracrete landing pad below. “Well done my new apprentice.” Leena smiled broadly. “You have taken your first steps into a greater world. When you are at peace, when you feel like you can almost reach out and touch the intangible goodness in the hearts of the world around you, even in the chaos, that is when the force will speak to you. Sometimes it will be in whispers on the back of the wind, right next to you but a million miles away calling across the cosmos. Sometimes the force calls to you in dreams, when your body is at rest, unhindered by the clamoring plots of selfishness and evil. Sometimes,” she paused as her mind played through the countless lives she had lost and those she had saved, “it is when life stands tall when death should have claimed it, when it had no right to carry on but something greater willed it to do so; to stand against all odds, in the face of eternity and defy it.” Leena placed a hand on the Togruta’s shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly, her eyes scanning the throngs of people happily working before looking the man in the eyes. “As soon as Master Sandy and Keenava arrive, we will head towards Falleen. Do you know of the world? I have heard tell that it was a home to a particularly brutal Sith lord, @Karys Narat iv-Adas. What may await us,” Leena shrugged. “Well, it could be anything. The only truth we do know is that we must trust the force completely. It will be the only way we succeed. When the world, the darkness assails you, my apprentice, you must cling to the force,” Leena wrapped her hands around Basi’s which encircled the still warm crystal within. “Nothing else will sustain you.” Leena looked about and still did not see @Sandy Sarna or @Keenava Dira . She waved Basi away from the landing pad to an area of soft grass and earth. She sat cross-legged on the ground, gesturing for the Togruta to do the same. Reaching into her cloak, Leena withdrew a stringed bag and tumbled a single blue crystal into her own hand. She held the stone up at eye level between she and Basi. “Take your stone. Clear your mind of all else. Put the hussle and bustle of the world around you aside. Feel their lives. Feel, but do not touch. Sense the goodness in their hears. Let the force flow around you. Keep your eyes on the stone. Allow the force to flow through you. The goodness, not the darkness,” which had been several tamped down by Leena’s powerful healing aura, “let it flow through you and into the stone. Let the stone glow with the warmth of the force itself. Let its warmth energize you from your head to your toes, ministering to your soul and nourishing your body.”
  3. Leena smiled as the realization of what she was saying seemed to dawn on the Alliance pilot. “It seems that the will of the force has brought our paths together my friend. It is up to you to accept it or deny it; but be warned,” Leena placed a knowing hand on @Basi’s hand staring into the Togruta’s fierce blue eyes with her soft golden ones, “to seek to circumvent the natural order of the force, to bend it to one’s own will; that is a path that leads to naught but suffering. It is a path most unnatural.” She removed her hand back to her own lap as @Sandy Sarna spoke, nodding her head as an aura of seriousness overcame her. This mission would be risky on all fronts; but still, it spoke to the Healer. She was not accustomed to being on the front lines. In truth, she despised it, preferring the chaos of a post-battlefield hospital to the horrors of combat itself. Yet here she was, called forth once again, not to fight, but to save and was that not her oath? To refuse would be to condemn the cancer of the Sith upon these people. That was unacceptable. ”You’re going to make me change out of my dress whites again aren’t you?” The Mon Cal jokingly teased, a hint of irritation at having to give up her usual roll and attire once again playing at the edge lf her voice. “Either way,” she continued as she stood. “I’m in.” Stepping free of her benched seat, Leena turned back to Basi. “Jedi or not, you are welcome to join us. Just two things of note. For this mission, you are a member of the Jedi Order, not the Alliance and you might want to tuck that away out of sight somewhere until you can be taught to use it properly.” She pointed at the lightsaber. If they were going in undercover, glowing blades of green, blue, and purple would be a dead giveaway. “Bring your blaster and go find some gruffy spacer garb. We’ll meet at the landing pad in an hour. If you are serious about training as a Jedi, you will receive your first lesson there.” Leena turned and began to walk away, stopping after several steps and turning to face Basi once more. She extended her right hand in a friendly handshake. “Healer Leena Kil, she offered by means of introduction with a warm smile before setting off once again. Quickly Leena retreated back into the small enclave of the camp that had become inhabited by those Jedi actively working in the area. Quickly she changed out of her traditional white healer’s robes, a mark of her position within the Circle of Jedi Healers and donned plain beige and browns topped by the ubiquitous brown oversized robe every Jedi intrinsically seemed to have access to but nobody ever recognized as Jedi attire. Picking the lightsaber hilt up from her small end table, Leena pondered the hilt. She felt the warm glow of the green crystal within. It was not her saber. It was simply one that had been passed to her from the troves of sabers reclaimed from the unknown fallen in the war. Her saber was lost, fallen on Lehon from the hands of the warrior she had entrusted it to. The pain of the battlefield flooded over her. So much loss that she had been unable to staunch even as she stood in that hole in the battlements, a vessel of the force against an unstoppable Sith onslaught. So many had died so needlessly that day. Leena quickly tucked the saber into the drawer of the table. She would not bring it. She did not need it. It was not her own. Was it even her place to take a life? Wiping a tear from her eye, the Jedi Master inhaled deeply allowing a sense of calm to overshadow the tumultuous emotions of the past, to offer a soothing tidal balm to her ragged soul. Mon Cal, Lehon, Byss, and so many more; such terrible evils suffered on the innocent and for what? A galaxy left in turmoil and an enemy that had seemed to all but fade beyond the Rim. Straightening her robe, Leena grabbed a single jeweled crystal from the drawer beside the hilt. It glowed warm with healing light side energies of the living force. She tucked it in her pocket before shutting the drawer and turning to leave her quarters, locking the door on her way out. Quickly she hurried towards the landing area. She did not know what ship they would be taking, neither did Basi. That was part of the test. Even if they found the others first, Basi would need to find Leena, to rely on his instincts, the guiding nature of the force itself and not his own reasoning. It was a simple task, one Leena had played as a youngling in the temples countless times. As she arrived, she noted a plethora of ships, and even more officers, dockworkers, Jedi, Rebels, Imperials, and more worming tirelessly. Quickly, Leena approached the foreman overseeing the vast array of shipments coming and going. She offered a brief introduction and explanation before pressing the warm healing crystal into his hands with the instructions to give it only to the Torguta who came asking for her with no other explanation. She hoped the draw of the natural light imbued in the gem would help her soon-to-be apprentice calm his mind, connect him to the living force, and afford him a chance to not anxiously overthink, trusting that the force would lead him to her hiding place. And it was a hiding place, most unnatural and unsuspecting. Hurrying over, Leena found an entire squadron of Ugly-class fighters that were docked to the far side, currently unused. They certainly lived up to their name, amalgamated components of no less than a dozen different types of craft readily identifiable. Locating an unsecured Y-TIE Leena scrambled into the cockpit, pulling the screen closed over top of her. There, she settled in to wait, closing her eyes to meditate on the force. She reached outwards. She could feel all around them, their pains and ailments and stressors of day to day work mingled with the joys of victory and the hope of a better tomorrow; and almost by instinct, Leena tapped into these positive auras and amplified them, drawing them inward and radiating them back out tenfold until everyone in the area seemed to have a pep in their step and a smile or a whistle on their lips as they set about their tasks with redoubled energy and hope.
  4. Leena pondered, nodding slowly as @Basi explained his actions. She knew, perhaps more than most, the importance to a warrior of dying a noble death. She also knew the fallacy such a notion presented in the real world. War was brutal and death was ugly. There was no dignity in dying with your innards shed from their rightful place or as one was consumed by the fogs of war, wear, and time itself. Yet, the notion was an honorable one, and one that she sought to preserve to the dying. Such a time was no place for philosophical differences. It was a time to offer peace. Taking the hilt in her hand, Leena twirled it about her fingers once as if to test it’s weight. She did not recognize it, nor it’s bearer; but that was not entirely unexpected given the circles she tended to run in. “We have all lost much.” She mused aloud. “The horrors of war are not lost on anyone. Every being has been touched by them.” She offered warmly as her eyes flowed from the hilt to the pilot. She stared at him, her bulbous fishy eyes unblinking as if she sought to read something beneath the surface. “Even we Jedi.” Leena stopped spinning the hilt to hold the base of it by it’s round end, the emitter pointing upwards. Her eyes stared up at it. “This tool is like war. It should be used rarely, only in times of greatest need. Even then,” she looked back at Basi and offered a warm reassuring smile. “Sparingly and with the lightest of touches.” ”To strike down another is a task that no Jedi should find pleasure in. It stains one’s soul to do so even if we have no other choice. Conversely, the healing arts are ones that seek to undo the damages wrought by this war. By righting the wrongs dealt to one, we light paths to right many more.” Leena spun the saber in her hand and offered the pommeled end to Basi. “I think it best if you hold onto this. To memorialize that Jedi and honor his legacy. Remember his face, what he died to protect. See to it that you strive to uphold the highest of expectations that will be placed on you. You were there with him when he died. It may just be the will of the for you to carry on in his place.” She placed a reassuring hand on the Togruta’s shoulder and smiled warmly at @Keenava Dira, her anxiousness to move well noted. “Soon my friend. We Jedi are a patient lot. We don’t even know where we are going.”
  5. Before @Keenava Dira could ponder and respond to Leena’s smiling query, a fourth presence materialized at their table. a Togruta about the same size as the white-robed healer stood close enough to be clear he was addressing their group. Leena smiled. He had made it. She had almost forgotten the comm she had sent out in the hubbub of the post-apocalyptic galaxy they found themselves in. His flight abilities had caught the Master Healer’s attention a while ago and as the force would have it, his skills would be useful for their upcoming operation, trained as a Jedi or not. It was not going to be every time she could rely on her more unscrupulous Squib friends, sometimes their greed and mouths got even her into trouble. When she and this muscled pilot had crossed paths, she had sensed the force about him, raw and untrained. She had watched from a distance, she had even patched up a few of the man’s comrades; although, she was not sure if he knew that or not. After Nar Shaddaa, she had sent for the man. It was time. If the darkness of that battle had not broken his spirit, he had already passed his first test. His arrival was most fortuitous. Winking at @Sandy Sarna, Leena turned to look up at the Alliance regaled red-skinned pilot, her face turned serious. “That you did airman.” She spoke with a tone of seriousness bordering on concern. “Your rapid response is noted. You have been reassigned to us for the duration.” The duration of what, she did not say. The paperwork would have been a nightmare, had she actually tried to file any. It had been easier to reach out to @Basi’s commanding officer. If he turned out to be an eligible Jedi candidate, he would be granted indefinite leave; if he didn’t and was deemed a good Alliance soldier, she would send him back to his unit. Leena nodded her head solemnly at the broken hilt hanging at the man’s belt, she asked, “Where did you come by that? Kill a Jedi perhaps? Maybe even a Sith Lord on Nar Shaddaa?” She turned back to look at Keenava and Sandy to ask, “but does he know how to use it? Master Sandy, might he be one of yours? To carry such a formidable tool is quite the burden. Not one undertaken lightly.” She turned back to Basi, “One I hope you understand if you are to accompany the Jedi on our next mission.” She scooted down the bench and patted the seat she had just vacated. “Sit down master Byleen,” Leena’s face broke into a warm smile. “You can fly something more bulky than an X-wing can’t you?”
  6. Having finished up with yet another task, this time relieving several exhausted orderlies and completing an inventory of a rather disorganized salvaged store of med supplies, Leena set off walking. Midway through her comm had dinged on her hip, a secure message; she would check it later. Well, it was later now and even as her muscled ached, she shuffled off. A Healer’s work was never done. Checking the message, she slowly nodded, off world work. The Jedi were back at it. Scrolling through a list of tasks, the councilwoman smiled. Time for a small respite. Making her was towards the mess hall, she grabbed a clean mug and filled it to near the brim with steaming caf. Turning, she surveyed the room. Seeing Sandy and the repentant Sith she had helped rescue, she shuffled over to them. Sliding down the bench, she heard Sandy’s final question and piped up, as per her usual fashion, “You got the same message too? I will admit, it might be nice for a change of scenery. Things seemed to have settled down here for the moment at least. So whatcha say friend,” she looked to @Keenava Dira, “feel like jumping back towards the stars and working a little goodness into the galaxy?”
  7. A mysterious and mystical organization that has existed in small sects across the galaxy for millennia, the most holy worshipers of the Luminous Mists, possess a unique force skill: the ability to craft the intangible into something tangible; the ethereal force into light airy strands of silk as strong as the essence of the galaxy itself. Followers of the Luminous Mist, acolytes, are referred to as Mist Weavers. It is because of this one sole ability above all other strange and foreign applications of the force that they may possess that defines them to the outsider. Plucked from the thin air by glowing fingers that shimmer between planes, the inherently good nature of the galaxy is woven and spun into something tangible. Light, almost weightless, luminescent, the force hung taught on specially crafted looms. Each strand painstakingly drawn into reality and bound there by mystic spells until it became one with the reality it was called unto. The delicacy and time that it took to craft anything of meaningful size, combined with the years it took to hone such a craft and the relatively few masters of it left in the galaxy made any mist woven garment an item of immeasurable value. A mist woven garment was intrinsically bound to the light side of the force. Darkness was too brittle to be craftable, not to mention that the patience needed to undertake such a creation, and even the act of creating something so pure stood in stark contrast to what the users of the dark side craved; the power they possessed, the power to destroy. Mechanically, any item crafted from the Luminous Mist is an item that is bound to the light side of the force. Its aura cannot be hidden and it’s bearer shines as a beacon within the force, a bearer of light unto the shadow. To corrupt such an item would seem impossible, but if one were to do so, the item would fade into dust, aged by millennia in an instant. To do such a vile thing, a sorcerer would have to manipulate the very essence of the galaxy, plucking at the very fabric of the universe, the fabric from which the mists themselves are woven. To cast it back from where it came would require tremendous effort and the vilest of sacrifices and rituals. Gloves, shirts, pants, socks, hats, even undergarments have been woven from the mists of the force. The most commonly crafted items; however, are cloaks and blankets. Flowing protective garments that billowed and yet clung to their owner, a thin veil of protective energy made manifest that divided the world about it, protecting its wearer from a wife variety of destructive fates. Specifically, applications of the force, seemed to all but dissipate against the cloth. Energy weapons fizzled as their energy was absorbed and channeled into the infinite. Lightsabers were not deactivated, merely reflected by the protective auras of the light side of the force. Blaster bolts on the other hands simply fizzled into nonexistence having no continual power source from which to draw from. Kinetic power could move the cloth, just as the wearer could move fluidly beneath it, leaving the bearer susceptible to physical blows with significant mass behind them. So a bullet would be dulled, but a war hammer swung by an angry Whipid would undoubtedly make contact, sending the bearer careening across the room, the cloak only offering the smallest of protections against actual piercing damage. Such a garment contained and regulated the temperatures that it contained, maintaining a cool comfortable temperature within. While it did not offer oxygenation or gas exchange of any sort, it could be used to craft a bubble of air and contain it against outside pressures deep underwater or the sucking void of space. This item exists as a means to provide light side force users with armor as allowed by their class. It’s protective nature can be light, medium, or heavy in terms of damage resistance with the most resisted damage being that caused by the force, followed by energy weapons, with kinetic attacks, save for bullets, being the least protected against. The more mass, the less protection is offered.
  8. Leena pale green blade illuminated the whispy plumes of smoke that rose throughout the ship. Moving through the wreckage, Leena wove amongst the debris until the group made their way to the sealed blast doors. It was there that a slight smile played across her face. Ruin and Fera set to work on the doors, but even as the doors began to grind and grumble against the bent framework of the ship, it was not fast enough. Ruin began to tear the doors apart, breaching the sealed room beyond. It was not fighting the Sith, but it was doing the right thing. The bouncing beams of flashlights illuminated the area as rescue personnel moved to get anyone who could walk out of the radiation leaking ship. Dousing her blade, Leena moved to help carry the unconscious from the craft. Once she was outside, Leena was able to deposit the badly injured crewman to a waiting stretcher. Seeing Ruin, she hurried over to him and placed her hand on his massive shoulder. “The Sith will need to be hunted; but for now they are running. Come my friend, help these. If there is nobody left to protect, hunting the enemy is a fool’s errand.” With that, Leena lifted her hand and turned to go back to aiding the injured moving them towards the medical wards. @TerrorBot
  9. The smoking wreckage of the freighter belched a gout of fire and smoke from one of it’s jagged wounds. The entire thing seemed to shudder. From the smoke and fire emerged a solitary figure cloaked in white, like an angelic guardian materializing from the night. On her right shoulder, the fishy Jedi supported a coughing Imperial officers. In her left arm, Leena more drug than pulled a limping Chadra Fan technician behind her. The large bump on the short one’s head had him seeing stars and chittering angrily between fits of coughing as he clawed at Leena’s helping hand. Seeing @TerrorBot, the weary soot-covered face of the Mon Cal burst into a smile. “Quickly my friend,” she jerked the volatile whiskered rebel forward and towards the hulking droid, “he got into something rather radioactive and needs decontaminating immediately. It seems to be addling his brain and he is less than cordial.” She held up her shredded healer’s sleeve that seemed to contain a mix of her own as well as his blood. Quickly a pair of medics approached and gingerly escorted the injured officer towards a nearby triage tent. Once he was off, Leena turned to Ruin seeing him quickly stash away his incredibly illegal bit of weaponry. She offered a knowing smile without saying a word. He had earned that much loyalty of her, even if she knew he would be dismantled on site if he was found with such a thing. “There is a hold that is blocked. Blast doors are closed and jammed. Sounds like people are trapped inside. Could use your help.” She offered, assuming he could easy wrangle the unruly Chadra Fan where he’d need to go in minutes. Turning, Leena dashed back towards the belching maw of the ship, slipping one of their purified sabers from her belt, a pale green erupted, illuminating the smoke as she charged back into the carnage.
  10. The battered Nubian freighter dropped from hyperspace to a hubbub of activity. The very skylanes of the usually out of the way world teamed with Remnant and Alliance craft alike, many in various states of disrepair. It was chaotic, even as order was gradually carved from it. Such a scene immediately drew the attention of their pilot as he began relaying authorization codes and flight plans even as a combined escort of X Wings and Tie Interceptors moved to guide them planetward. Sometimes there was an advantage to having a Jedi Council member aboard. It cut through the red tape. That was not what drew Leena’s attention however. What did was the amount of pain, suffering, and injury that seemed to radiate from the ships, the very world itself. This was the remains of a ferocious and bloody battle, even if it was fought far from here. Reaching out on the force, Leena searched for her comrades, the Jedi she knew, her Squibian friends. She felt few of them. And so as they touched down, Leena knew that there was work aplenty to be done. “Ruin,” @TerrorBot she directed the behemoth battle bot, “ensure that our new friend @Keenava Ootunavi is brought to Master Sarna @Sandy Sarna , she will know how to proceed. Fera, if you will come with me, there is much work to be done here. Repairs to be made and lives to save.” Leena turned to Keeneva and offered a tired smile. “Good luck and may the force be with you on your journey.”She knew the droid would keep any friendly forces from arresting or gunning down their once-Sith associate if or when someone recognized her. Tensions were high and with that came quickdraw blasters. Without much more ado, Leena scurried from the open bat door of the ship, slipping easily through the throngs of soldiers and personnel. Her white healer’s robes a stark contrast to the blues, blacks, and greens of military uniform. She was intent on her purpose, in the distance, a mangled monstrosity of a Rebel craft had ground to a crashing landing on a distant pad and rescue personnel were scrambling to free the victims, contain the radiation leaks, and evacuate the wounded.
  11. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    Leena was not sure what the little bleeping droid was saying. Ruin offered no clarification to it. She could only assume that the duo would be able to help get them off this world before they rusted solid. She was confident they could. The pair had shown a tenacity and resourcefulness she was unaccustomed to in regular droids within a medbay. As Keeneva spoke, Leena did her best to hide her disappointment. Another cloning facility, another cloner, nothing more. She sat silently as the girl offered her. They were hardly based in scientific fact, but Leena offered no correction knowing full well the benefit of such a belief in such gray waters. Yet the girl spoke some of her past, even without emotional connection, she acknowledged them. It was hopeful that their new associate could see through the lies of the Sith. Still, it would do them well to get off planet sooner than later for all of their sakes. The deserts of Tatooine were not for the untried and untested. When asked, Leena offered her name, making by sure to leave her position of Master Healer and member of the Jedi Council. As the sandstorm blew itself out, Leena happily offered bits of wisdom and conversation. She felt a fondness for the girl. She needed help and Leena could offer it. She did not have a comlink and was relying on the droids to find them passage offworld, assured that they had access to authorization codes and financial backing if needed. She had had enough of unknown smugglers for the time being; and where they were going, trusted, authorized, transport was a must. Once the storm had subsided, the group managed to reacquire their craft, some of which had taken to drifting and dune-ing during the storm. They took a bit of digging to get back. Heading into Mos Eisley, the group was easily able to bool passage coreward, Ylesia it seemed was quite happening these days. Leena grimaced, sure that Ruin would be disappointed having missed some sort of climactic battle with the armies of the Sith Empire. In truth, she was sad for him. He might have saved countless lives. Aboard the aged Nubian freighter the group blasted skyward and away from the burning sands of the most popular non-vacation destination in the galaxy.
  12. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    As the girl began to ramble, Leena managed to scrounge what amoubted to little more than a baggy poncho-esque robe and an emergency blanket from their immediate area. Both she offered to their newfound associate. After that, the Jedi was content to cautiously lean her shoulder against the wall and observe, a calming aura of healing and peace exuding from her every pore to fill the room as the Twi’lek continued to speak and work at preparing the meat. Leena contented herself with tearing into one of the crumbling ration bars and chewing heavily on the gritty contents. She paused at the mention of the girl coming back to life, but did not interrupt or speak until she was asked her and the droid’s business on such a world. Leena smiled. Everyone had heard the ubiquitous phrase ‘Jedi business’ thrown out almost like that was a standard line taught at the Academy. It would be a simple enough and 100% truthful answer that did little to answer anything. Still, what were they doing in Tatooine? Well, it was pretty simple, their ride had deposited them here, their agreement complete. What were they doing in the middle of the desert? Purifying dark side booby-trapped lightsabers. Why and where did they come from? Which in turn would lead to questions about Byss, the dark side, maybe even more Sith tie ins. A dizzying potential of conversation played out at the thought of how they might answer their new associate’s seemingly simple query. So with a tired smile, Leena looked at the girl and answered simply. “Jedi business. The force brought us here, to you even. Once this sand storm subsides perhaps our friend Fera can arrange for a ride off world,” she winked at the droids adding, “let the Council know we picked up another friend.” And by friend, clearly she hoped Fera might be able to convey the curiousness of their predicament. Such a story seemed all too well to be completely palatable, bit still the force worked in mysterious ways. As they waited for the food to cook, Leena turned the conversation back towards the Twi’lek. “What did you say your name was again? You have quite the remarkable story of survival and you seem to recognize the lies that you have been force fed. Do you remember anything about when you died or came back to life? If there is someone here on Tatooine with the power to resurrect the dead, I am sure that Ruin and I ought to meet them. Their help could be of great use in the war against the darkness.”
  13. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    Leena smiled as she helped their newfound associate slowly sit up listening quietly as the woman explained her situation. From behind the woman, Leena scowled. Straight from the heart of the Sith Empire to the sands of Tatooine… The woman was hungry. They’d continue to investigate this strange situation, but the mention of food made Leena realize how famished she too was. Turning to her pack, Leena dug out several ration packs, but as she turned, Ruin and Fera entered, the door slamming behind them against the billowing maelstrom that passed outside, bits of grit sneaking in wherever a crack might be found. Observing the carcasses, Leena smiled. She appreciated Ruin’s thoughtfulness. She offered a slight bow to the pair of droids, “Many thanks brothers, for not only thinking of our nourishment but for ensuring that these predators did not set upon us while trapped within the storm.” Truth be told, butchering an animal was not a skill Leena possessed in the least. As a healer and surgeon, Leena was intimately familiar with the bodily construct of the majority of the galaxy’s overall physiology. She could probably figure it out. She had long since forgone the consumption of flesh, in part due tk her oath as a healer, in part in her dedication to the Jedi way of life. She looked from the bodies to the Sithly woman. He did not know ablut her though. “I do not suppose either of your programming includes an idea how to butcher these uh things?” She asked the droids earnestly. “Our friend could use more nourishment than offered by these measly military ration packs.” Hearing the droid’s words and thoroughly not understanding the binary beeping of Fera, Leena thought she got the gist of Ruin’s rumblings. To hunt the slavers would save lives and in saving lives they might discover the link to the Sith that had brought the Twi’lek to them. A clever assessment to one’s primary programming. All that remained was the stranger. Turning to the woman, Leena spoke again in response to her pondering. “As for what to do, I believe you are stuck with us until this storm abates. Perhaps in that time we can eat and you can decide where you wish to go after. My associates would be interested in locating the slavers you seemed to have escaped from; but if you desire to be free of this life, we can arrange transport for you away from this place to a place where you can continue to heal in mind and body. Perhaps, one day, you will even remember the circumstances that led you here. Really, it is up to you.” Leena shot a knowing glance to Ruin. They both knew that there was danger present in this girl, whoever she was. They would need to be on their guard. They would help her as they could, but if she gave indications of betraying them to to Sith or of returning to their way of life Leena knew she could not stop Ruin; nor would she try.
  14. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    The unconscious form of @Keenava Ootunavi was carefully placed atop a stone table that jutted naturally from the rocky hovel that made up the outcropping of the desolate fort. A short and rather hotly contested debate between Leena and the scurrying trader’s caravan ended quickly when @TerrorBot materialized. In no time Leena had what she needed, several rolls of medicated bandages, a pair of scavenged first aid kits that were, to everyone’s surprise, still stocked, and at least two days worth of water. The water in the attached refresher unit was welcome, but it’s brown grainy texture was questionable at best. Not something Leena would be encouraging anyone to drink unless absolutely necessary. For the next several hours Leena poured over the downed woman, bandaging her wounds and drawing forth infection and foreign masses wherever they were found. She poured forth life-giving energies to encourage the natural healing possessed by all organic lifeforms. Before her very eyes, she watched as the woman healed. She could feel her patient’s body knitting itself back together beneath her guidance. Within a protective aura of soothing calm, Leena simultaneously sought to buffer the afflicted woman’s mind, to carry her consciousness back towards the light in a protective healing embrace. Mental trauma was often much more complex and deeply damaging than all but the most deadly physical wounds and infections; but with the help of the force, even the most fractured mind could be made whole once again. About the time that the woman’s eyes began to flutter open, Leena stopped her gentle babbling talk and smiled warmly down at the lost vagabond. At the same time, a burst of wind slammed the dry wooden door shut on it’s hinges, the herald of the sandstorm that was upon them as the subs set on the horizon. Leena hoped that the droids were alright outside and would return soon, scavenged supplies in hand.
  15. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    Leena stood like a sentinel even as Ruin growled his mechanized assessment of the situation. His assessment was not entirely off, repent or die. Even as the Jedi reached out on the force, she could not tell entirely who or what this being was. Vestibule traces of darkness, like smoke that lingered after a forest fire, seemed to waft from the twi’lek; and yet, her presence was not marked by that of a true dark sider. Was it a ruse? She had seen the Sith do such a thing before. Was this woman alone, so far away from everything? Logic seemed to indicate that was improbable in and of itself. Still, she did not feel anything or anyone else as her senses reached out beyond the dunes, attuned to any sign of life. Leena could see, moreover feel, the wounds inflicted on the young woman’s body, the ravages upon her mind. It called to her, for Leena was not just a Jedi. She was a healer, the antithesis to all that the Sith seemed to stand for. Where the Sith destroyed life, the Jedi preserved. She chanced a glance at Ruin and Fera; and yet, she had learned the hard way, sometimes a portion needed to be severed to preserve the whole. They stood for a moment. It was a moment that seemed to last for an eternity, but was mere seconds at most. Leena watched, assessing the situation and awaiting a reply. None came. The stranger seemed to be trying to access the force, and failing? Or was it the shadows of a cleverly laid snare? Suddenly the woman’s eyes seemed to roll and she waived, collapsing to the sandy dune before them in a heap. The woman twitched and spasmed there on the sand. Still Leena did not move but to lower the saber, pointing it to the ground in front of her, grasping it in both of her hands, sensing something amiss about the whole situation. And finally, as the twi’leki stranger’s body stopped spasming and Leena felt her consciousness release from the pangs of her own trapped mind into the sweet release of nothingness, she acted. She shot a glance towards Ruin, acknowledging that he had been crested by the Jedi, with a purpose, a noble albeit violent one, and she would be wise to heed it. “Fera,” she called to the smaller of the mechanical duo, “please go and collect our belongings. We ought to get out of the hot sands as soon as possible.” With a hiss, Leena deactivated her saber and hung it on her earth-toned belt. “Brother Ruin, I do not know what trickery may be afoot. Keep a watchful eye. I am trusting you to protect me should things go awry. Whoever and whatever this is, unless it is a clever trap, needs our help. Maybe even in spite of this being s trap. That lady needs our help. Watch AND hunt my friend.” Cautiously, Leena moved forward, toward the downed stranger. She drew on the living force. Across the miles, she could feel the life forces of the tough hidden lives that called this world home, moisture farmers, men and women of fortune, native tribesmen, flora and fauna. She drew from them, her life strengthened by their own and in turn offering refreshment of the body and soul in this parched land. The force itself seemed to hum about the young Jedi Master as she knelt in the sands alongside the fallen Twi’lek. Gingerly she rolled the woman over, pulling her face from the sand to make sure she was still breathing. Seeing that she was, Leena set to work. Outside a surgical suite, and with only the barest of medical supplies at her aid, Leena relied heavily on the force. Using her teeth to tear open a bacta patch, Leena reached out with her free hand, running it inches above the fallen woman’s form. She was feeing and assessing injuries with skill beyond the greatest diagnostic equipment in the galaxy. As her hand moved, healing energy seemed to radiate with a glow as it purified the wounds, driving infection and foreign material away. Chunks of sand and necropsied flesh fell to the ground as healing energies already began to take hold, nurturing and encouraging the woman’s own body to begin healing. She offered energy beyond the girl’s own to jumpstart the healing process. Already smaller wounds began to close as the bleeding ceased and the healing began. Finding the deepest laceration, Leena applied the largest of the patches, before tearing open a second, third and final patch, applying them with skill and knowledge. “What sort of torture chamber did you find yourself in? Were you a true Sith or just a pawn to advance the cause of someone who lied to you?” Looking up from the unconscious body, she called out to Ruin. “Bring the speeder around.” This woman would require more help than Leena could offer here, in the moment, with the twin suns bearing down overhead. Even now, Leena felt drained; the battle with the dark side spirit and snared sabers had siphoned her own energy. Leena was an aquatic being, to even survive in this harsh world, she relied on the force. “It is hot out here. We need to find some shelter or even better, a medbay.” She could feel her own flesh baking and beginning to dry and crack. They all needed to find shelter and soon. “A bacta bath; heck a regular bath would be great!” She added with a whisper as she worked to wrap the wounded form of the woman, securing her wounds and shrouding her from the hot sun.
  16. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    With explosive concussions that rippled the very air about them, Ruin brought his hammer down. It was an uncivilized weapon from a less civilized age, but it was just the ticket to solve the ever-expanding cloud of dark evil. Anything lesser may have fallen to the wiles of the broken and enraged spirit. As the spirit shrieked, drawn as if by an otherworldly force beyond the dimensions of this time and place, the wind howled as if caught in a vacuum. The hot winds grew cold in the moment as the very air was torn from Leena’s mouth. Even the remaining sabers that lay within the now scattered circle of healing light side energy had their dark taints swept away as if purged in a cleansing sandstorm. Everything, light, life, dark, and death were drawn into the maw of eternity beyond. And then suddenly, it was over. The warm still air of the desert hanging heavy over them all. An awkward natural silence stretching from horizon to horizon. A smile creased Leena’s worn face as Ruin spoke to her. “Still in one piece brother Ruin. Thanks to you and that Byssian hammer. Kinda glad you snagged that thing.” Leena looked up, her attention drawn to the battered woman on the approaching dune. What were the chances of someone else stumbling across them all the way out here, so far from civilization? And not a fabled Tusken or scrambling Jawa at that. Maybe a moisture farmer? She didn’t look like it though. She did not feel like it either. Leena reached out on the force to probe, gently caressing the aura of the woman before them. She put up no defenses, innate or intentional, all of her mind lay bare. Leena was a healer and the icy suffering and pain of the tortured twi’lek’s being, body, and soul were frigid beacons against the scorching backdrop of Tatooine. The Master Healer saw her pain, felt her wounds and scars. What she did not feel was the tortured festering darkness of the dark side gnawing with hunger at whatever it could grasp. The woman spoke and as she did, Leena drew in a sharp breath. A Sith? She said it. Even if she did not feel like one, even before she said so. A tortured soul; another victim of the Sith’s machinations for power, for their corrupt ideal of freedom at the suppression of others, desire at the expense of the weak. Still, she had said she was a Sith. Leena’s eyes leapt from the haggard girl to Ruin. She might not know who this woman was, but she knew her companion. He was singular in his focus. Their entire time together, he had yearned to follow his primary directive. Now, here, for the first time, he had a potential Sith in the crosshairs. She had a pretty good idea what he would do. Current or former Sith, could he tell the difference without feeing the change about her in the force. With a force-fueled lunge, Leena rolled from her kneeling position forward. She called one of the cleansed sabers to her and stood, igniting it’s sunny yellow blade in a singular motion holding it out st shoulder height and arm’s distance directly in from of Ruin, between the droid and the stranger. “She isn’t a Sith, Ruin. I don’t know what she is, but she needs our help.” Leena’s eyes drifted from Ruin to Keenava. “Are you armed? Do you need help?”
  17. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    Leena’s face wilted even as she strained under the flow of the force that surged through her and against the billows of rage and suppressed destructive power. Beneath the heated surge of blackened clouds the blown sand began to crystalize into glass. The Jedi had never seen a droid hesitate. Ruin might be singular in focus, but on Byss she never saw him falter. The mere fact that the droid did not charge into the melee woth his hammer would have given Leena hope, had she not been counting on his steeled singular focus to carry the day. The light continued to erupt from the Jedi. She buckled to her knees under the onslaught. “The sabers.” She cried out, exhaustion obvious in her strained voice. “Ruin. Smash!”
  18. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    Leena was doubled over as pain wracked her body. The spirit screamed through her core, the billowing swirls of darkness erupting as they passed before vanishing into the growing plumes of purple smoke. Ruin’s gun thundered nearby, it’s retort echoing the very sands. Yet the spirit surged unaffected, enraged and drunk on the mere taste of freedom. As the spirit whirled about for another pass, Ruin wrenched Leena to her feet, both sabers tumbling to the ground. Even as they lay deactivated in the sand. The spirit raged, it’s two cleft souls pluming together in a whirlwind deep within the desert. As her small form was hauled unceremoniously upwards by the steeled muscle of the assault droid, his words pierced the fog of the spirit that even now ravaged within the Jedi’s mind as it did about them. Opening her eyes, Leena called forth the deepest reserves of the force, a blast of light that erupted from hidden reserves to burn away the dark clouds that clawed at her heart and mind, blasting forth in righteous white light from her eyes and palms. It reflected off the billows of smoke as it cleft a hole in the hurricane that stormed about them. In the sky and the sand, on all sides, they were surrounded.
  19. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    There it was. In those five words, Leena knew the hulking brute of a machine was ready. It seemed to have a preoccupation with killing the Sith, no doubt a side effect of his programming. Simple and to the point. She had seen on Byss what he was capable of and was counting on that now with whatever they might be about to face. With a nod she whispered, “Blasting and bashing is right. At least I hope so. whatever’s in here is long past it’s expiration date.” With a focused sigh, Leena attuned herself to the still strong buzz of the force and flicked the activators on both weapons. A pair of crimson beams erupted with an evil hiss from each hilt. As the blades materialized though, the hiss it did not stop, it grew louder. Plumes of red gasses billowed out around the pulsating arcing blades covering the area in dense red shadows. Within moments the twin subs were all but blotted out as the dunes were engulfed by a pair of twisted evil-half lived presences. Deep wicked stereophonic laughter seemed to echo from the smokey air and dunes themselves. Instantly, Leena winced, her hands tightening instinctively to the weapons as her aura was assaulted by the overwhelming ambiguous clouds, wraiths of the netherworld bound unnaturally to this world, to the weapons in the Jedi Master’s hands. From within the smoke two pairs of glowing orange-red eyes seemed to materialize and vanish only to appear elsewhere before diving with screams of pain and anger towards the Jedi and droids. Even if they lacked a corporeal form, they could touch the physical world; their touch incapable of anything but destruction, suffering and death. Leena doubled over wrapping her left arm about her stomach as she clasped at her elongated forehead with the other as the spirit drove through her and vanishing into the smoke upon impact. The Jedi master cried out in pain. The cleft soul, hewn in two attacked relentlessly. Anyone or thing within the smoke they would seek to reduce to burning ash.
  20. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    The force flowed like a cool stream cutting through the hot desert. The hot winds beneath the desert suns ceased as the temperatures about the focal point dropped to a temperate coolness invigorating the Jedi as she was filled to the brim with life-giving energies. The Mon Cal’s bulbous eyes flickered open as she stared beyond the physical world before her. The first hilt that she had claimed from the Sith lair rose upwards in the midst of the circle. It’s inner core vibrated as it shook the darkness that clung to it’s core free. Black inky darkness, the dark side solidified into a corporeal toxic spore designed to quickly drive any who activated the weapon to madness, hung in the air. It was only for a moment though. Like flecks of algae broken free in the rush of purifying floodwaters, the darkness was washed away, overwhelmed and diluted by the overpowering natural light side of the force. In moments, the dark snare that clung within the barreled hilt was gone, replaced by an energized purity of purpose. Reaching up, Leena slowly grasped the purified weapon as it was released from the grasp of the force. Gently she placed it in the sands of the circle; yet another focal point for the light. Inmediately a pair of shotos rose upwards into the air, higher than the last. Electric energy crackled between the weapons, purple sparks of darkness lashing out against the embrace of truth. Leena furrowed her elongated brow as she turned her focus onto the pair of weapons as they resisted the purifying flow of the force. Drawing on the invisible life that was all about them, Leena renewed her cleansing assault of the shadowy grasp on the blades. Healing life force exponentially grew as it was channeled through the woman’s suckered hands flowing through the charged air to probe the evil within the shimmering weapons. Within the blades a dark presence lurked, a soul shorn in two and bound unnaturally half in the left and half in the right. To activate either would be to release half a tormented soul that would seek to overpower and destroy it’s would be savior. To activate both, a force-bound tortured beast of long ago, a wraith of myth and legend. Within the sabers the soul’s defenses were seamless. As much as she prod them in the force, Leena could not find a weakness. The soul shards desired a release, to seek an end to their torture. They were the spirit of a tortured and failed Sith prince, destroyed and desiccated beyond recognition. Fortunately, Leena knew she was not alone. Here in the vast wastelands of this desert world, she and her ally would face off against whatever monstrosity was born within with little worry for the devastation of livelihoods and lives beyond their own. Calling upon the force, Leena extended her hands outward. A surge of force energy rippled the sands as it took the encircling the focus of the healing crystals and sent them flying outwards to the edges of the flowing dunes. The hilts tumbled to the sands as Leena stood. She turned to Ruin. “Are you prepared to do battle with the Sith friend? A terrible beast has accompanied us from the bowels of Byss only to be purged here, in the sands of Tatooine.” Stooping, Leena grasped the hilts and lifted them. She could feel the faint tickles of the dark tortured souls as they bounced within in their agitated state. Her fingers moved to the activator switches, all she awaited was a sign that the Jedi-reborn guardian of steel was ready to do battle. @TerrorBot
  21. Leena Kil

    Tatooine

    The derelict speeder choked and sputtered as Leena slowed the antiquated vehicle amongst the dunes. Out here, there was nothing. Nothing but sand. She had left Mos Eisley beyond the horizon. The twin suns beat down hard. The wind blowed like a heater sucking the moisture from the Mon Cal’s skin. This was true desolation. The speeder coasted to a stop. Its grating idle echoing off the surrounding dunes until Leena turned the key killing the engine. Deep in her mind she hoped it would start again later. Hopping out of the open cockpit, Leena’s booted feet kicked up the coarse sand. Reaching to her belt, the Jedi carefully removed the bag of healing crystals and booby trapped lightsabers. Hiking up the dune, the suns reflected off her white healer’s robes. They shone like beacons across the sand. Atop the dune, Leena paused and stared out across the vast desert. It was truly endless, an ancient world devastated by greed, corruption, and the dark side. This was what was left in the wake of unchecked selfish ambition. She exhaled heavily. It was a stark realization and one that weighed heavily on her soul. Their foray into the dark world of Byss had given the Jedi pause. The girl was a healer, sworn to protect life. She had lost her lightsaber on Lehon and was in no hurry to replace it. She had not even been sure she would replace it, for what was a saber but a weapon of destruction? And yet on Byss, Leena had only survived but for the actions of those willing to engage in violence. The tree had been a manifestation of evil, poisoned before conception and brought up in the soils of sin and corruption, an irredeemable choking vine that would kill anything it overtook. She was a Jedi Healer and a Jedi Master. It was her responsibility to defend life as well, not to leave such a task to others. She had failed her oath on Byss and had it not been for the others, she would have paid for it with her life. Slowly, Leena lowered herself to a meditative seat atop the dune. Closing her eyes, she reached out on the hot midday air, letting the force flow over her, refreshing her spirit as the hot wind licked at her moist skin. Without opening her eyes, Leena reached into her satchel and carefully removed each glowing healing crystal. She nestled each into the sand in a circle that spread out from her sides and in front of her. The force seemed to glow with life-giving positive energy within the circle. Next, Leena gingerly removed each of the ten saber hilts and set them side by side in the circle. They seemed to radiate with grim warning, each containing a nefarious and deadly trap, explosive, poisonous, and other yet unknown lethal snares. With the scene set, Leena settled her wrists atop her criss-crossed knees, palms up. She inhaled and exhaled deeply allowing the force to sustain her against the barren life-sucking landscape. She opened her mind to the force, the deepest recesses of hidden secrets and pains and allowed it to wash over them, soothing her pains and cleansing her sins.
  22. Leena awoke as the ship broke the atmosphere of the dusty world. The glare of the twin suns cast a sharp line across her face through the port. She had slept heavily throughout the trip, the sleep of the victorious. The darkness that had plagued her mind was vanquished. As she stood and pulled on a fresh robe from her simple pack, Leena pondered what might be next and their eclectic group. Surely Zeris would be on her way, her contract completed. As for @TerrorBot and Fera, they had been Jedi bots originally. Perhaps, she pondered, they might join her wherever they went next. Feeling the weight of the sabers contained within the stasis of her healing crystals, she realized that such a crude presence would be of great defense in times of peril. As the ship settled into it’s aged berth, Leena found her way to the open door and hopped down to the gritty worn concrete pad. She saw @Zeris Mons already outside in the overwhelming heat. She smiled warmly. Tatooine may not have been her first choice; but it was well outside the purview of the Sith. A great place to recuperate before the force called her elsewhere. “Thank you Captain. Your skills were invaluable on our quest. I trust you were able to find something of value to make your trip worthwhile?” Reaching into the satchel at her waist, Leena gingerly removed a single healing gem. It glowed a soft yellow, a contrast to its angular crystalline structure. “Keep this close to your heart. May it guide you in your darkest hour. I hope that the Force wills that we will see one another again, but I fear it will not be under any more pleasant circumstances.” ”Where will you go from here?”
  23. With the booby-trapped sabers safely contained within a stasis field of the living force, Leena hurried after Zeris splashing back out into the main chamber before pausing to look back at the droids. The thunderous clap of Ruin’s hammer rang like a destructive bell signaling the end of the round. It was time to go. Leaping, Leena flipped once, twice, over the fallen tree, splashing down within sight of the flooded walkway. With an application of force speed, Leena chased after Zeris out the door as the cavern began to rumble and shake. She caught up and ran beside the pilot, scurrying aboard the battered craft. As the engines began to whine and power up, the ship shook. Leena kept watch the way they had come watching for Ruin and Fera. Minutes later, as the aged Republic craft began to alight they came into view; running towards the ship and leaping aboard with a crash just before Zeris angled the ship towards the sky. The landing ramp squeaked as the internal gesrs ground against the momentum, the ship accelerating upwards as the ground below began to fracture and fragment. The entire chambered forge and storerooms collapsed in on itself, the results of Ruin’s demolitions and the tumbling of the massive mother tree no longer supporting the main forge/altar chamber. Falling to the floor, Leena slid across the decking. The planet’s gravity pulled on the unsecured passengers as the vessel sought to break it’s grasp. Grabbing a cargo web Leena broke her plummet before she crashed into the aft wall. There was still plenty of danger ahead of them. They had to get away from the planet, the dark tendrils of the force willing to do anything to keep them from escaping. Beyond that, ever shifting black holes and changing hyper routes would put Zeris’ skills to the test yet again. Yet, Leena felt a sense of relief, the ragtag group having severed the darkness that had plagued her dreams. The warmth of the light side of the force radiated from the woman’s heart and soul enveloping the craft in a cocoon of protective energy to ward away the worst of the dark tendrils; even as she drifted off to sleep, a deep sleep, a sleep that had eluded her for weeks.
  24. As the healing trance came to a conclusion an aura of peace exuded outwards as the glowing crystals dimmed to a dull warmth. Slowly Leena stood up. She felt rejuvenated. The force itself had charged her on the cellular level to an overwhelming and joyous fullness. With a smile in her face, Leena moved about gathering her healing stones and bagging them. As she finished, Leena hung the sack on her belt. Even in the water, she had a bounce in her step, a natural rebuttal of the dark side as it tried to creep back in. The Jedi Master moved to rejoin her comrades just as the hulking phantom disappeared into the solid stone wall, vanishing as if it never was and so with it the reverberation of deception in the force. Stepping up beside Zeris, Leena smiled, “I guess it was good that Ruin and Fera went first. That could have gotten rather ugly. Shall we go check out what the Sith left in here that was so worthy of traps?” With the same jovial bounce in her step to keep the machinations of the dark side at bay, Leena moved up towards Ruin. She spoke loudly enough Zeris and the droids could hear her. “Whatever the Sith Lords kept back here was worth setting up a nice little gift for whoever might find their way here. Watch your step. The dark side still swirls all about us. Lets see what we’ve got and then can you fellows nuke it?” Slowing some, Leena followed Ruin and Fera to the end of the corridor and out into a small storage area. The walls were lined with shelves. A few older holocrons sat on them amongst the cracked and withered scrolls and random lightsaber hilts; some dismantled, some not, some clearly taken from fallen Jedi and others Sith in nature. Several swords from rapiers to broadswords hung from hooks about the room. The centerpiece of the room was a large worktable. Heavy and worn with gouges and scrapes amongst the dismantled holocron, lightsabers and bits of machinery. Pieces of evil dark metal poked up out of buckets beneath the table. Some of them had been forged into cybernetic components that dotted the table, a work in progress. Gingerly stepping around Ruin, Leena took the room in with a surgeon’s eye. “It seems like this is some sort of workshop. Dismantled sabers, stolen sabers, a holocron in progress, cybernetic bits. Someone left intending on returning. Wonder why whoever it was never returned? Ruin, could you grab the holocron on the table?” Leena began eyeballing the shelves, careful to avoid touching anything unsure of what Sith magics might be guarding them still. She moved along until she came to a stack of lightsabers in a pyramid along the top shelf. She was drawn to them. In part, she was missing her own saber, lost the the chaos of Lehon, in part because of the residual lightness of the force carried in their crystals, filled from their original owners. With her hand hovering over the stack of weapons, Leena could feel the dark side. It tingled like a spark, their residual presence a warning. Carefully, Leena’s fingers twitched. Grabbing her satchel that contained the still glowing healing stones, Leena scooped the entire stack of 21 sabers, each unique, some Jedi, some Sith, into the bag. The force pulsated as the darkness collided with the light. For the moment, at least, the traps were rendered inert until Leena could disarm the snares. Once the others were done, Leena met the rest of her traveling companions at the door. “This place needs to be destroyed. What do you have that might do that?” She looked from Ruin to Zeris and back. “The sooner we get off this planet the better. The rest of the galaxy is in turmoil as well.”
  25. As the last of the seedlings vanished from sight and earshot down the flooded entry pathway and out into the dark-tinged world and the statues settled into the water, the echoes of their impact fading into the deathly still dark waters, an unnerving calm and quiet overtook the chamber. The only thing that interrupted it, aside from our heroes breathing, was the occasional crackle and glow of the embers that burned within the confines of the fallen tree. Hearing her comrades comments, Leena pushed herself to a standing position. The muscles in her legs ached as they bore the Jedi’s weight, exhausted from the trial. Exhausted, yet invigorated by the smooth cleansing flow of the force as it washed over her. Yes, even here, even now that the great threat was vanquished, the force flowed like a cool and peaceful brook. It’s purity sparkled against the backdrop of darkness that this world clung to. Seeing the fallen Zeris, Leena motioned for Ruin to bring her to cracked and worn dias. She would have explained such a task in detail; but she was focused elsewhere. Channeling the force, Leena allowed it to flow over and through her, reaching out on it to take in their pilot and to feel her wounds. As Ruin set the biomechanical being before her, Leena settled down beside her. The Jedi’s legs were crossed in a lotus as her eyes closed and hands extended. She felt the broken bones, sensed the pain as the shattered edges tore at muscle they caught and grated against one another, pinching nerves and wracking the woman’s physical form. She felt the healed scars where the mechanical limbs had been attached, how they were wired into Zeris’ body a part of her, foreign and yet one and the same. The force washed over them both, Leena used it to try and soothe Zeris’ pain. Her hands gingerly hovered over the woman’s wounds inducing a numbness that spread outwards from the touch of her finger. With her free hand, Leena reached for her belt and removed a small satchel. It had been white at one point, but the battle, the mud, the waters, had soaked it and stained it dark browns and grays. She held it up towards Ruin. It was heavy with moisture and it’s contents, a dozen specialized crystals honed and refined with singular purpose. “Healing Crystals Master Droid. Please, position one atop each mount where a statue once stood. Let them encircle us and then,” she turned to look at the droid with a sudden and unexpected smile, “stand back.” As Ruin took the bag, Leena returned her focus to Zeris. She closed her eyes and drew upon the force, reaching out to the cosmos. She felt the Living Force. She drew on it, calling it towards herself like a wave of energy, of life itself. The crystals in Ruin’s hands glowed, each one a warm beacon of light as it was touched by the force. The force that flowed through the Jedi Healer echoed outward to the stones. As the force was multiplied in power within the Jedi Master, so too was it gathered and multiplied exponentially within each stone until it was full to overflowing. With the placement of the final stone, a web of energies seemed to envelope Leena, Zeris, the dias, and all within. An underwater like haze costed the area as the power of the force became manifest. Untainted by the darkness, it was pure and a white glow radiated to fill the room. At the center of the convergence of force enegies, Leena directed the healing power from the stones. She drew it back into herself before channeling it from her palms directly into Zeris’s wounds. On that force, Leena’s spirit moved as well, reducing her signature in the force and leaving her body a radiating conduit of pure flowing life energy. Leena’s very essence was reduced to that of a speck. Without form, she moved in the force. Finding Zeris’ wounds beneath the skin she moved with the speed of energy, with the skills of a surgeon. Cell by cell she induced each to begin the process of healing, reduced swelling and numbing pain. She did not stop until the entirety of the wound, the bone, the muscles, the nerves, were all acting in concert. As one they were empowered by the force and what would have taken weeks or months began to heal in moments. What would have taken days in a state-of-the-art bacta tank, followed by therapy and medication would be like new, like it had never happened within a matter of hours. Even now the swelling visibly was decreasing and the bone knitting itself back together. Withdrawing back to her own body, Leena continued to channel the growing healing energies into Zeris. With her other hand, Leena slid it about the mercenary’s shoulders and slowly helped her to a seated position. Leena offered Zeris a warm smile. “Careful my friend. You’ve had quite the day.” ”It looks like your mechanical limbs wrote a check your body was unwilling to cash. You may require further augmentation or external armor to avoid such an experience again. Even so, such a toll is not healthy on your body. Rest for a few minutes. You will still need time to heal, but if you are careful, you can probably get up. I’d avoid punching through any more wood for the day though.” Beyond the dome of healing energies, shrouded by the burning limbs of the great fallen tree was a single door, dark, heavy and ornate. It was opposite the entrance. The aura of death seemed to hang heavily about it. There was no telling what lay on the other side; but if one were to open the door and get past the snares set by the crypt’s prior owner, both mechanical and within the force itself, they might find dark and cursed treasures; things of legend.
×
×
  • Create New...