Ilum

[Damon]

After being given his orders Damon was first to jump up and head to his ship. His orders were clear. He left the hangar area and headed to his new home away from home.

[Talon]

The time had come.

 

As soon as the Holonet message played, Talon linked with Zee via his ”˜chip, instructing him to get the ship ready fast. Aryian relayed orders, and Talon immediately burst into action. As he filed out of the room after their leader, he grimly nodded to each Jedi, relaying feelings of hope and determination through the Force.

 

When Talon reached the hangar, Zee had the Eta-2 ready. Talon allowed the droid a smile as he settled into the cockpit.

 

”œGood job, Zee.”

[Nom Anor's avenger]

Nom was quickly in motion as the holonet message dissipated. The room seemed to explode with anticipation as Aryian charged into the hanger without a look back. The Jedi Master soon followed, his silver hair flowing behind him. Why does everyone have to go after Coruscant? Nom thought as he found a particularly appealing fighter.

 

He turned to his apprentice before boarding, nodding encourgingly. "You can come if you want, met me over there.

 

Anorus pursed his eyes in thought as the canopy of his ship closed around him. Coruscant was his home. The towering buildings had implanted themselves in his mind forever. The image of them toppiling to the groud beneath Faust's hands proved quite the attitude adjuster, to put it lightly.

 

The Jedi Master, filled with new resolve, flushed his vehicle into the open arms of Ilum's sky. Particles of snow melted instantly as his ship passed, thrusting through the atmophere into gentle space. The stars streaked into a constant white slur as his vessel streaked into the realm of hyperspace. Nom closed his eyes again, his mind burning with the past.

[MSA]

"You know me Master Nom, i'll always go where i am needed. So, you can count on me being there." Scorpio quickly said to his Master as he went to leave for Coruscant. Turning to leave himself, he thought back to the day he landed upon Coruscant outside the Jedi Temple where he met that cryptic old man known as John Skywalker.

 

Scorpio shook the thought from his head as he continued on, soft mumbling the words "Need to stay in the here and now" to himself. Checking to make sure he hadn't left anything in the library, he exited the building to find the droid that had picked them up earlier that day. Finding him, Scorpio politely asked for him to be returned to ship.

 

The droid replied a droid's "sure" answer, and after Scorpio boarded the vessel, the droid took off towards his ship. When he arrived, Scorpio thanked the droid, and as the droid took off, Scorpio wondered why he had said thank you to a droid. Chuckling, Scorpio entered the LAF-250 and prepped it for take off.

 

Firing up the ship, Scorpio sat back and pondered some more on Coruscant. "Why Coruscant? Why not a place where the Jedi would be, like Gala?" Scorpio thought to himself. "Maybe it's because of the innocent civilians located on the planet." Thinking harder, it finally hit Scorpio, and a dazed look overcame his face as he spoke. "It's a game to the man... Of Course!" He said slapping himself in the head.

 

Realizing the ship was ready, Scorpio took off, watching the air of Ilum fade to the blackness of space before the stars streaked and the small fighter entered hyperspace. He was off to Coruscant, to help the other's find the bombs that were left there, and face this new threat.

[Seraphim]

A lone Jedi star fighter carrying one of the orders up and coming healers dropped out of hyperspace above the ice ball that was Ilum. He had never been here before, but he had heard a lot about it and read just as much. It was a sacred place to the Jedi, where many of the padawan's and even more experienced Jedi came to seek out a crystal that they would use in the construction of their lightsaber. A weapon that would be with them for a long time and become tied in with their soul.

 

It would be a marker in his career as a Jedi, one of those moments he would never forget. He was giddy with anticipation, yet at the same time he was uneasy as this was also said to be a very trying task. In the caves of Ilum the currents of the Dark side were strong and a persons past or future could be brought to the forefront of their mind, stripping them of their senses and dooming them to die in the vast and intricate cave system.

 

Seraphim carefully brought the ship down towards the surface; he wasn't a great pilot but he was good enough to get from point A to point B. His ship touched down and he began bundling up. The biting cold instantly made itself known as he opened the cock pit of the ship and hoped out. He grabbed his knapsack and made his way towards the mountains in the distance. It was there that he would find the proper cave; he knew this because he trusted in the force to guide and protect him on his journey.

 

It was a long walk, but the time seemed to fly by as he mentally reviewed the schematics of a lightsaber and how to properly align a crystal. It would be a difficult task, but if he took his time he knew it would be possible. Less then an hour later he arrived at the entrance of a grand cave. The weather had began to bite through his clothing, but with a minor application of the force he was able to draw in ambient heat and keep himself as warm as if he was enjoying a nice afternoon on Endor.

 

The cave shimmered with light and radiated with the force. It was a stunning sight and he was only at the entrance. The young Jedi couldn't help but wonder if the rest of the cave was just as stunning, or if it slowly devolved into something frightening. He licked his dry, cracked lips once then took his first step inwards”¦and so his adventure began.

[Seraphim]

Roughly a hundred meters into the cave, the ambient light from outside the cave faded away and left the young Jedi in complete darkness. He frowned for a moment, but then remembered he had packed a few glow sticks in his pack just in case. Pulling one out, he cracked it in the center and watched as light flooded into the tunnel once more. It still wouldn't be enough for him to travel into the depths of this cave, so he focused on the force around the small object.

 

He closed his eyes and let the soothing embrace of the force touch upon him, then travel down the length of his arm to the stick in his warm hands. Over the following seconds the light increased in intensity. When he opened his eyes he was glad to see that his idea had worked, brightening up the tunnel as if it was mid-day on Tatooine. Seraphim then continued onward, keeping alert as he did.

 

He could feel a dark taint at the edge of his senses and he knew that on this night he would be taken to his limits and beyond. The force would measure his devotion and skill here, and if he succeeded in finding his crystal and making it out he would be worthy of becoming a Jedi knight; at least according to the force. When it came to the Jedi, there would still me many tradition tasks set before him so that they could be sure he was worthy just as the force was.

 

The walls glittered with crystals of varying size, shape, and color presenting him with a dazzling display of colors as his glow rod reflected off of them. The crystals appeared to jut out in specific places, with the blue ones near the ceiling and various oranges and yellows at the bottom. Green ones stretched from the top to bottom though, out numbering those on the bottom but evening out with the blue.

 

”œSo that is why there are so few Jedi wielding yellow and orange blades”¦”

[Darex Trevelian]

A return comm came in on Seraphim's comlink. "Seraphim, I do not know what happened," Darex said. "I can tell it's coming from somewhere in the Core Worlds--probably Coruscant--but I can't tell what happened. I do know that Trowa Barton has had something to do with it...but do not despair, padawan. The Force still has hope lingering in it, a sign that, I believe, means that the Jedi have intervened in the situation. Reach out through the Force to embrace the encouragement it is offering."

 

The holo paused. "If you are finished with your task on Ilum, I encourage you to join me on the Gateway. We can talk more about it in person, if you wish. I hope to see you soon. May the Force be with you."

 

With that, the holo faded, leaving Seraphim once again alone in his cockpit.

[Ary the Grey]

Aryian's ship landed on the frigid surface of Ilum, in the valley south of the hidden mountain fortress. It was here he sensed the largest presence of the Force-sensitive crystals, and it was here he would attempt to recreate the immaculate masterpiece that so long ago had graced the planet.

 

He had been reading up on the history of Ilum on the space ride back, despite the obvious lack of description in the space thread that would lead one to believe I don't think it's necessary to drop a post there when traveling between planets, but apparently it is, so it's a moot point. The real point of the matter was that Aryian was here, now and he was ready to use the Force to create his masterpiece. Ilum crystal was notoriously strong, not at all fragile like other natural minerals, and the last temple had been very well made, up until the point that it was blown up. The Jedi Master Sly Stevensen had created a Temple similar to how Aryian was about to create this one, and not only would it serve as an anchor and magnifier for the light side, but it would be a tribute to something so dear to the Order and sadly lost long ago.

 

He strode down the landing ramp, trudging into the small snow drifts, the wind blowing through his silvery-reddish hair and making it sting his face. Though, to the Jedi Master, it was nothing. It was life. It was everything. If nothing and everything could be in two things, life was it. The Force pulsed with each of his footsteps, and as the seconds ticked by, he felt total peace, even in the midst of strong winds and snows. The winds tore at him as he continued onward, and still...he was at peace.

 

It was when he reached the exact center, the precise spot he would begin, that everything seemed to stop. The Force seemed to dance at his fingers, asking to be used, wondering how it could help him. And so he obliged it, opening his mind, allowing the ancient energies to flow into him and out of him like a large conduit, the ebb and flows gently cradling him as his eyes closed, his sensed reaching out and grasping everything.

 

He began first by rubbing the air molecules around himself, heating his body and absorbing the heat, beginning his self-made technique he had christened the Force Cycle, the one technique that when used not only allowed limitless power into the Force, but could also kill the user. Aryian, however, was the one who developed it, and he knew very intimately the dangers associated with it. Still, the Force slowly began to surge through him, and finally as it peaked he fell to his knees, slamming his palms against the ground.

 

At first, nothing happened. For several seconds, if a casual observer were to look at him, it might have appeared Aryian was sick, or simply deluded, but when the ground started to rumble slowly, everything would have made sense. Sharply, four spikes of living crystal shot from the ground around him, almost molten in nature as they began to slowly bend and form into a structure frame around him. He gritted his teeth and his brow furrowed, but he held firm, keeping the energy at an equilibrium. For every ounce of Force that he absorbed, that same energy poured out, shaping and forming the earth with massive invisible hands. In moments, most of the outer walls were complete, though nearly three feet thick, they were still a transparent blue, and the purest and hardest of the entire crystal crop, acting as large natural windows. After that, other internal things were formed, a grand audience chamber, a council gathering room, sleeping quarters, and two training rooms to either side of the temple, one a pit for spars, the other meant specifically for meditation and work with the Force.

 

Through the front center of the thing was the grand hall, leading to the audience chamber, and in that carved exquisitely in crystal (These were especially hard to create, and required the most amount of concentration to pay attention to detail), were statues, statues depicting the figures of previous Jedi Masters and Knights, as well as all the current ones Aryian knew of. ((Which was all of them, he's in Special Ops, it's his job to know)) These figures lines the hall to either side, and seemed almost lifelike in appearance, every Master and Knight shown in a different stance according to their nature. Whereas Master Skye looked calm and noble, her outstretched palm cradling what were a representation of Force tendrils, Master Talon stood very solemnly and righteously with a lightsaber in hand. Aryian himself was pictured in a common Soresu style stance, his twin blades defending some unseen innocent. Armiena was depicted with a lightsaber, standing true and tall, ready to do whaever was necessary to achieve whatever goal she might have.

 

The very floor beneath him was the last thing to form, and it bubbled up out of the ground to pool around him, lifting him up through it as it began to solidify, once again a natural piece of art. Exhausted, Aryian let go of the Force Cycle, not exactly unconscious, but severely drained of energy. As he lay there upon the floor of the giant temple he looked up, grinning.

 

Armiena is going to love this...

 

He accessed his comm on his ship through the implants, and began sending out invitations to the Jedi Order. It was finally time.

[Talon]

The Jedi Master Aryian was only lying on the ground for several moments before a quite familiar face broke into view. The face, as it turned out, belonged to that of his fellow Jedi Talon, and stretching from one ear to the other was a giant smile.

 

"Tired already? You hardly even did anything!"

 

Aryian, who felt surprisingly better at just the appearance of his companion (who was actually exuding surprisingly copious amounts of energy), sat up- about to indicate the very temple around them. However, in the blink of an eye, Talon had somehow managed to make his way from where Aryian was sitting to several dozen meters away, standing before the statue made in his semblance. Talon sensed confusion exuding from his commander. Before Aryian could speak, however, Talon continued.

 

"I mean, don't get me wrong, the statues are a nice touch..." He paused, and reached up towards the statues face. Before making it all the way, however, he stopped, and turned back towards Aryian. "But you really could have put a little more effort into it."

 

Aryian was about to speak once more, but in another blink of the eye, Talon had somehow moved back across the several dozen meters, and was now sitting cross legged and face to face.

 

Aryian only could think of one word.

 

"How..."

 

In response, Talon simply smiled again. "Think very very hard." He adopted a very serious tone, like a teacher trying to make a point for his pupil, but he could only hold the expression for a moment before he burst out in laughter.

 

Then he dissapeared.

 

Even stranger, Talon's voice continued, louder than ever. "Need a hint?"

 

At this point, however, the answer to the riddle was quite clear. Talon was a Force ghost...

[Ary the Grey]

You tricky bastard...

 

The one thought passed through Aryian's mind as Talon seemed to flicker around the room faster than anything could comprehend. It was amazing and majestic, Talon seemed free.

 

"I get the idea, we have your DNA in the databanks. I'll go activate the medlab at the Ops base, you'll be back with the living in no time."

 

Aryian rose, feeling some energy restored to him.

 

"You know, you still owe me a duel...and you try creating one of these. It gave me a freaking migrane the size of Coruscant. I still think I need some asprin."

 

He began walking out of the Temple, noting Talon's relative presence beginning to follow him. He couldn't see him, but he could definitely feel a...cloud...of him. It was as if Talon was Talon, only spread out with a butter knife.

 

"So they got you too. Oh well. It's over, you'll be glad to know, with a heavy price. Oh, and you'd better be staying for the wedding. That's why I made this place. Heck, you try making something like this, I dare you. Right next door. Put a big sign on it 'Talon's better than Aryian.' Go on..."

 

He chuckled a bit before continuing to walk, prepping his ship outside with his implant. He stopped, realizing he could simply have the ship do all the work, and began mentally writing a short program for the ship to carry out once it got to the secret facility. He heard engines engaging, and saw through the crystal the dim figure of his ship rising off the gorund outside, angling for the Ops base. Once there, it would begin the process in the Med bay, cloning Talon a new body to inhabit.

[Damon]

Above the planet of Illum Shadow Station sat in high orbit. In it a message was cast by Damon to the master on the planet requesting his pressence.

 

[Aryain I'm here with Shadow like you asked. So what can I do for ya?]

[Ary the Grey]

Aryian craned his head up to where he felt Damon's presence, puzzling. He had sent for a few Jedi, but the Shadow Station? Strange...he didn't remember that part of the message.

 

[Hey Damon...you might want to come planetside for a bit, my current location. I have something here you might want to see...]

 

Aryian chuckled, studying several of the statues that he had made unconsciously, the stoic faces almost lifelike as they stared back at him.

 

 

----------Meanwhile-----------

 

The Blur had executed its program Aryian had written, deleting it. The medical bay had started up, beginning the process of cloning a new body for Talon. However, that was not all it did...it had also executed a special program the AI itself had written, gathering a plethora of special supplies from the base, mostly construction grade, but also three or so crates of weaponry. It had plans of its own, unbeknownst to Aryian. In time...he would find out...but until then, he didn't need to know.

[Damon]

[Opps misread my bad.]

 

Not wanting to take mroe time thatn needed Damon flew through the holes and traps Aryain had put into the base on Illum till he arrived and found Aryain.

 

 

Looking around in the ops base Aryain was no where in site.

 

[Hey Aryain where are you at I can't find you?]

[Ary the Grey]

Aryian groaned, grinning to himself.

 

[use the Shadow's readouts to find me...I'm in the vally below, in the newest addition I've made to Ilum. Here...just get on the Blur, it'll take you down. We need to go pick up Armiena.]

 

He began walking outside, to the point where he knew the Blur would touch down.

[Damon]

Following the directions Damon made way to the Blurr and entered the ship.

 

"Cozy".

 

 

The ship flew Damon to Aryian and nearing the landing zone Damon's jaw dropped. After exiting the ship Damon spoke.

 

"What in the force did you do this for?"

[Ary the Grey]

"Isn't it obvious? The wedding. Anyways...We need to go pick up Armiena, and invite a few guests. The Blur can track her pretty much anywhere she is...mainly due to I programmed her ship."

 

He chuckled at this comment, glad to know the Blur could find the Ghost Breath no matter where it was in the galaxy by several easy methods.

 

"We can see it later...let's go. Talon should be coming along shortly, I hope."

 

Aryian entered the Blur, which flew them back to the Shadow Station, automatically slaving to the ship Damon had taken down from it and bringing it back. Once everything was aboard the station, it took off, heading for open space.

 

 

-------------------------------

 

 

Once aboard and alone, the Blur again enacted another part of it's programming, linking with the system computers and requesting several orders to be effected. Droids unloaded the precious supplies and brought them to the armor labs, where work began immediately on two specific things the Blur had in its memory banks for a long time. Nowhere near the sections of the station, the two occupants never knew what was going on.

[Scorso Redentore]

((Warning: The following post abstractly depicts a suicide and contains a crappy rhyme scheme. If someone finds this upsetting or is offended by it, please do not read.))

 

A weary wanderer traveled through frostbitten air

The wind sliced by his wings

From frigid ice caves where he ventured there

To the chaos that fate would bring

At the controls, grasping his friend

Weaving in and out of skies

Limitations reached their final end

Time to open up the eyes

 

Meditation had plunged into black

The Force began to take hold

The fragile world he knew began to crack

Shattered in the cold

Every taste became sweeter

Every sound now clear

Now man was a whole new creature

Every touch now sears

 

The galaxy is living

This is his revelation

This monster is unforgiving

This is his condemnation

He hears every scream meld in unified cry

His heart now bleeds with their pain

He swims through the ashes of another life

Their agony resting in his veins

 

Amethyst orbs gaze downward at his hands

Sallow fingers clenched to defy

In one moment he now understands

There is nothing... nothing but a lie

He stares into the eyes of his friend

Their hues no less ruthless

And through his gut he is an end

He is as it always was...

 

...Useless.

 

[ObliviousKnight]

"Surprise, Shawmus. The four letter word was 'Ilum.' I hope you remembered to pack your coat." Displaying her enormous fondness for understatement, Misal introduced the perfect ball of ice, snow, and mountain ranges that had appeared before the two. The planet's predominant mountains made it an ideal location for a Jedi to lose themselves on, but lacking the necessary equipment to survive, it was an ideal location to die a slow, frozen death. "Because even if you did, it's going to be a chore merely to survive on this world, much less accomplish any training."

 

Misal Draygo frowned as she plunged the borrowed shuttle into a buffeting wave of treacherous crosswinds through the mountains. A peculiar current ran through the Force, separate, but similar to the natural presence of the crystal caverns, a calm stream of disciplined strength. The Miraluka began to focus on its source, following the elusive strands of energy to its origin... but then a collision alarm interrupted her search, reminding Misal that her immediate responsibility was to get them down to the planet's snowy surface with their limbs all intact.

 

Whatever it was, it was the product of Jedi industry, and it bore the distinct signature of her daughter's lover.

 

"Sorry about the rough ride." Misal almost looked embarrassed by the difficulty she had in taking the Lambda-class shuttle through the mountains and setting it down on a bed of undisturbed snowy powder. At the very least, she was concentrating obsessively on her controls as she began the shuttle's power-down sequence.

 

Outside, Shawmus could see that she had chosen to land on a peninsula in the mountains, an outcropping with a commanding view of the foothills that lay below them. It was a mercifully calm day--freezing, as usual, but at least it wasn't snowing.

[ForceFusion]

Ilum was...cold. Pretty. But cold. "Ehhrrrhhh," Shawmus said, putting as much wit as he could. But that was difficult to do when you felt as though your face had frozen in place. "Nyyyrff." The Jedi apprentice decided that his coat, wool as it was, did not contain nearly enough of his bodily heat. "Hmph."

 

Instead of concentrating on the freezing cold, something he'd never experienced before, he focused himself in the Force, feeling life around him. Different life than he'd ever felt before. It was unique and powerful. This was interesting.

 

Even more interesting was the fact that when Shawmus was concentrating in the Force, he was slightly less cold. This would be useful.

 

"So," Shawmus finally managed, his voice quiver with the chill, his jaw only just functioning enough for him to speak, "what's first?"

[ObliviousKnight]

"Shawmus, how much do you know about telekinesis?" Before the apprentice had a chance of answering Misal's question, the Miraluka woman rose from her seat and flipped a prominent switch on the control boards, lowering the ship's boarding ramp. If it was cold in the ship before, it suddenly became frigid as a tide of freezing air seeped into the interior of the shuttle. Even Misal winced in apparent pain as the chilled air pierced her body to the bone and she unexpectedly revealed a heavy limp on her right leg, but her pained expression melted away from her face. Again, she stubbornly refused to show weakness in front of the apprentice.

 

"Meet me outside the ship. I'll be there in just a few--I need to find something a bit warmer than my robes."

 

Matching action to words, Misal departed for the shuttle's crew quarters and nearly turned the room over in search for a reasonably warm coat. Fortunately, the Jedi had stocked this shuttle well--she managed to scrounge a thick coat that would protect her from the elements, at least during the day...

 

...but her leg was killing her. She'd severed the entire limb off at the knee when she was pinned down by a hulk of rubble during Faust's macabre masterpiece on Coruscant, and since then, it had always bothered her at odd moments. She functioned well enough with a prosthetic shin and foot, but now that it was exposed to the frigid temperatures that dominated Ilum's atmosphere, the joint had transformed into something of a calcium-based block of pain.

 

There was no hiding the fact that she was in pain. All she could do was fight past it and achieve her goals, like Shawmus would have to do if he intended to learn something about the Force during their time on Ilum. Gritting her teeth and hating each thud of her limp, Misal returned to the boarding ramp and set foot in undisturbed, knee-high powder.

 

"TK is probably the best known of a Jedi's array of techniques, aside from the so-called Mind Trick." Misal didn't so much kneel as she did collapse to her knees, sinking nearly neck-high into the powder. "According to the most basic knowledge we have of the Force, everything--everything--has its own place in the Force. It doesn't matter if the object is a living creature or a steel beam, or even if it has the ability to block our perception of the Force..."

 

Misal suddenly fell silent, as though she was searching for words. However, after seconds stretched into minutes and the rise of her breast fell into a steady rythmn, it became obvious that she was meditating. And judging from the manner with which her sightless gaze seemed fixed on Shawmus, she seemed to be inviting him to join her.

[ForceFusion]

((Sorry for the longer-than-expected absence. Life went crazy.))

 

Shivering even more fiercely now, Shawmus was just getting used to the cold temperature. He was a fairly adaptable young man, but this was something quite new, this freezing cold weather. He suddenly missed Selt Island quite a bit.

 

But with some concentration and a touch of the Force he was able to keep his teeth from chattering loud enough to drown out Misal's words. Then she fell silent, and stared creepily into Shawmus' eyes. He gaped for a moment, wondering what had happened mid-sentence.

 

"Erm," he managed, "ma'am?" After a few seconds of no response, Shawmus gazed deeper into Misal's seemingly empty eyes and probed her in the Force. She was...deeply connected to the world, projecting a feeling Shawmus only felt in himself when he was highly concentrated on the Force swirling in and around him.

 

And suddenly her stare seemed to be beckoning to him. "Eh?" he said out loud. "Oh," he continued with realization, deciding that maybe this would be some odd meditation session. "Okay."

 

He closed his eyes for a few breif moments to tap into the intimidating power of the Force, heavy in strength yet light in spirit. The Force had become a familiar friend, a voice without words, an intimate part of Shawmus's life.

 

And there he was, warm in the freezing wind of Ilum, at peace in the violence of the galaxy, connected with the Force. "What now?" he muttered to no one and nothing in particular. He hadn't even heard himself. Though patience was not part of Shawmus' character, in the Force it was slightly extended for him. And in the Force he was.

[Joreel Ordo]

It had been a long time since Hartel was last brought to Ilum. Its cold recesses could be felt from the ship if one was unprepared for its blizzardous weather and fog like atmosphere. John remembered all too well his experiences here. Facing the disfigured members of the Dark Side, the reborn cadavers of Sith Lords who tried to steal from the Jedi.

 

"Xae, you might want to change into that Jumpsuit you received. Its going to be very chilly here."

 

While she left to get undressed, a thought John lingered on for a few precious moments, John landed the Corvette upon the frozen surface of Ilum reaching out with the force to find the crystal caves. He opened the door and stepped outside onto the planet and awaited Xae to join him.

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

Xae-Lin looked at the white ball of a planet as they approached the planet of Ilum.

 

After John set the corvette down on the planet's tundric surface, she gave him a quick kiss before she went to change into the white jump suit that she'd gotten on Concord Dawn a day or so earlier. As she passed R2 D6, she gave the droid a fond little pat as he rolled up to the front of the ship.

 

A few minutes later she, too, exited the ship. She'd taken the time to put her long hair up in a braided crown around her head, so that it wouldn't be whipped about by the blowing wind. She also had her training lightsaber and knife clipped to a brown leather belt around her waist.

 

”œSo what's here that's so important for training? Are there force abilities that you can only learn on ice?”

Edited June 26, 2007 by Guest

[Joreel Ordo]

"Not exactly Xae. Ilum is not a sacred ground for force training, its weather has proved to harsh for that, but it is the one place in this universe where the crystals used to power a lightsaber can be found. There is a cave nearby here, surely you can feel it too, pulsating with the force. That is where the crystals lie. It is a journey I cannot join you on unfortunately. You must face the darkness alone. There was a specter of a dead Sith last time I was there, possibly there will be one for you too.

 

"I will be there with you Xae, our force bond is too strong for me to not spiritually join you. Now is the time to go. I will wait for your return."

 

John stood there sadly, he did not want to part from his love but he had no choice in the matter. He faced this alone and so must she.

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

Xae-Lin stopped and considered for a moment. She could feel the vibrations of the cavern, almost as though it was calling her. She knew what she had to do. ”œR2, you take care of him, okay?”

[Joreel Ordo]

((NPC POSTING))

 

Meanwhile within the caverns a dark power brooded awaiting its next victim to fall within its recesses. Certainly his victim could feel his power and fall straight into his trap assuming it was the crystals they are looking for.

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

So far she'd encountered nothing that merited the caution and readiness to battle she was exhibiting as she moved deeper into the cave with the grace befitting a jungle cat. She could feel the call of the crystals and the pull of the force as she journeyed deeper in to the caverns.

 

As she continued on her trek, she knew that she was traveling downward. Finally she came across a side cavern that sparkled with crystals of various hues. The beauty of the cavern took her breath away, she'd never seen such beauty before.

 

Cautiously she reached out and touched a cluster of green and yellow crystals. She could feel the force thrumming through it; the feeling was almost over powering.

 

As she turned to her left she could see other caverns with more crystals, Xae-Lin wondered just how far the caves went. She closed her eyes and decided to let the force guide her.

 

She traveled to the next cavern and sat on the cold rock in the center, kneeling with her feet resting beneath her, ready to spring into action at the slightest moment, and began to settle into a meditative state.

[Joreel Ordo]

((NPC))

 

"You Jedi are pathetic wombling worms. Look at you dancing around 'Look i've got a crystal' who gives a damn. You are the superfluous slime of this universe, your do-gooder attitude and overly large go set you apart as an even more vile piece of work than the Sith Lords. At least the Sith can make a bloody decision and stick to it. You flamboyant Jedi are worthless and NOW! YOU ARE TO MEET YOUR DOOM!"

 

From out of the shadows came out a dark disfigured cadaver, gray in the skin and no eyes to speak of, how it could see and feel Xae was unbeknown. But his movements indicated he knew exactly where she was and whats he was going to do. A dark piece of metal, rusted after years of no use and inexplicit damage to collapsing rock, was held in his hands and extending from it was the deep red blade of a lightsaber. It illuminated his feature sin a sinister fashion.

 

His arms were nearly eaten through and many of his bones were clearly visible, their almond color utterly terrifying to behold. His chest cavity was cleaved open as well and his heart could be seen half rotten and still. This man was dead, but with his hatred and the power of the force around Xae has resurrected his mind. He was a specter of sorts and he would kill that Jedi to regain his body back.

 

he jumped high into the air showing off his frail and bony features to the woman below and with his lightsaber held overhead he cried out in agony and slashed it downwards at her chest.

[Xae-Lin Ardel]

Xae's eyes flew open as the grotesque creature began monologueing. It took her a moment to gather herself at the slightly unexpected intruder.

 

As he went through his tirade, she gently shifted her weight up from the kneeling position to the balls of her feet. She was still closely tied in with the force and was more than content to let it guide her.

 

She tried not to let her stomach turn at the sight of the abomination, as it launched forward in an attack. She back-flipped out of the range of his attack, drawing her saber and assuming a defensive stance as she landed.

 

Xae-Lin met the creatures eyes, or where they should be, ”œAnd the Sith are perverse, you are a prime example of that perversion. Your body decays but you are still a slave to the darkness,”

[Joreel Ordo]

((NPC))

 

"Always trying to reinvent us aren't you? Pathetic weaseling Jedi. I cannot be turned from the darkness it is all that powers my life. And if I am to get that jewel on your neck I will become whole again."

 

The demonic Sith moved quickly bringing his blade to waist length and swung it again at Xae making contact with her saber. The dastardly attempt would leave Xae unable to attack as long as he kept up with it an was in proximity to the Kaiburr on her neck.

 

"You must attack me to defeat me. Use your anger! DESTROY ME!"

 

((PC))

 

"Xae, you can defeat it. Use the force, channel it through you and use it to find his weaknesses, the flaws in his movements, his vulnerabilities"

 

((Back to NPC))

 

"You wench. Stop being so insignificant. Join the Sith and rise to greatness! I will make it worth your while Just give me the Kaiburr Crystal!"