Jouques
Alliance Frontier
Skye Alliance
332ABY
February 20th
Parting ways with Connor Solo and passing a smirking Galatea Terah and a nervous looking Helene Marshall, Alexa Wolf made her way up the boarding ramp of the Wolf and into the ships interior.
Inside, she wasn’t particularly surprised to see the Quarran Notha Wel sat on a crate cleaning a blaster rifle. With his burning red cybernetic eye, mutilated facial tentacles and prosthetic arm, some of the younger Jedi Padawans had found him more than a little intimidating. As a result he was opting to stay aboard the ship more than not, but remained in the cargo bay to scare off any of the younger ones who might decide to explore the Wolf.
“Hey Cap” Notha said, looking up briefly, before returning his attention to cleaning the rifle.
“Hey Notha” Alexa replied, “Everything okay?”
“Yeah” The Quarran shrugged, “Just bored. No Samson, No Scooter and no Royce” He said, describing his best friend and his two compatriots for finding trouble.
Alexa nodded, “Yeah, not exactly a lot of activities here on Jouques. Apparently, there isn’t even something worth hunting in this region. Most of the big game is further south”
Notha shrugged, “I prefer my game to shoot back, or at least be a bit more dangerous than a few herding animals”
Alexa grinned, “According to Lucas Horn, some of the reptiles down there are as big as this ship”
Notha suddenly looked very interested, “Really? I may have to borrow Leeza and the shuttlepod and go check them out”
Alexa laughed as she turned to walk away, “Just be careful if you do. I don’t think you can spare to lose any more body parts”
“I’ll take that under advisement, Captain” Notha laughed in return.
Leaving him to his work, Alexa headed through the left most hatchway from the cargo-bay and up the first set of stairs to the deck that the crew had long since termed ‘The Guest Quarters’. Though smaller than the the crew quarters -it was rare for the Wolf to actually have passenger- the guest quarters were still somewhat comfortable enough for a short term trip.
They were also relatively private, close enough to the main decks of the ship that the passenger didn’t feel they were shoved out the way, but off the main corridors that they weren’t bothered by the crew moving back and forth through the ship.
Of course, other than sleeping and occasional meditations, Diana Senn had spent little time on this deck, preferring to spend time observing and interacting with the Ghosts. Senn struck Alexa as something of a social creature, displaying a need to interact and be in the company of other people.
“Well, up until a few days ago” Alexa sighed.
Since learning the details of her ancestors actions, Diana Senn had retreated to her quarters for much of the last few days, emerging only for meals which she took back to the guest cabin.
With another sigh, Alexa stepped up to the door to Senn’s cabin and reached for the buzzer, but paused as a frown rose to her face. She couldn’t help but think that there was something they were missing about the actions of Murielle Senn and the other Masters on the ship that had brought a group of Jedi here to Jouques over three centuries ago.
Something about it bothered Alexa. Despite her words to Masters Vaughn and Horn about desperate people resorting to desperate courses of action, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to the picture.
Some key point that that would explain why three masters and a dozen Knights would commit acts that were out of line with Jedi philosophy and then almost all of them would then end up dead.
Maybe she was just being her usual paranoid, overly suspicious self, but the little factoid that all those that fell to the Dark Side ended up dead just seemed too convenient.
“Come in, Captain” Diana Senn’s voice was muffled, but audible through the door.
Alexa grimaced, Senn had obviously sensed her outside the cabin. With a sigh, she tapped the door control and once the hatch hissed open stepped through into the small cabin beyond.
The small cabin given over to the Jedi Master was as Spartan as ever, but was at least well furnished. The bed and couch had come from a stock of furniture Sacul had sourced from a Monopole Star Liner that was being refurbished and were still comfortable and functional, despite some wear and tear.
The small fresher/shower unit was usable, if a little confined, and storage space was limited, but it was fairly serviceable considering the Wolf rarely had passengers for long trips.
As expected from Alexa’s experience of Jedi other than Connor. ie: Jedi who were more conservative than him, Senn had done little to add her own character to the cabin. In fact, were it not for the slightly ruffled nature of the bed, the single datapad on the table or Senn’s own presence, Alexa would have said no one had been in the cabin for a while.
Diana Senn waved Alexa towards on of the empty spaces on the couch, “Please sit, Captain” The elder woman said as she settled in the other space.
“You wanted to see me?” Alexa nodded as she sat.
“Yes” Senn answered, somewhat apprehensively. She sighed, “I want to apologise, Captain Wolf”
“Please, call me Alexa” She shook her head, “And apologise for what?”
“My behaviour of the last few days” Senn grimaced, “To have learnt my ancestors sister had done such acts, had fallen to the dark Side…”
“It was a shock” Alexa nodded, “I understand completely. Been there myself”
“Yes, Anya Tarn” Senn half smiled, “I guess you can understand”
“I also understand that you can’t change the past” Alexa smiled. She glanced down for a moment, “I think you also need to try and look at how things would have been for Murielle Senn. Forget emotion, forget Jedi teachings, look at it the same way that someone finding herself trying to protect innocents from a hostile galaxy would have”
“But the Dark side…” The older woman started to say.
Alexa shook her head and interrupted, “Was probably a secondary consideration to keeping those children and padawan’s safe. They were desperate, scared, possibly even dealing with PTSD from the battles of the Clone Wars. In hindsight, looking back over three centuries, yes, what they did was heinous. But at the time, it was the only option they had”
“But to just execute those men?” Diana frowned.
Alexa hesitated, “Under the same circumstances, I can’t say if I wouldn’t have done the same” She looked at Senn, “Can you?”
Senn winced, “Under the same circumstances, I’m not sure I could” She sighed, “You made your point”
“Look” Alexa held her hands up, “I’m not condoning what she and those others did. But I do understand the why. I also understand that for a Jedi, there’s a fine line to walk and they crossed it. But they did it for the right reasons, even if the methods were ethically wrong”
Diana snorted and waved in the general direction of the viewport and the wrecked ship just visible beyond it, “And they came here where they died one by one, at least those who survived this far”
“Those who survived at least had a better life than if they hadn’t made their escape” Alexa pointed out, “Had the Empire caught them, they’d have been killed or conscripted into the Imperial Inquisitors”
Senn sighed, “And what of the price they paid?” She asked, “Some of the senior members of the group fallen to the Dark Side, the rest potentially tainted”
“And you can’t change that” Alexa said, “I think you’re more upset that Murielle Senn turned out to not be the hero you had built her up to be”
Senn’s sharp look almost gave Alexa pause, but just as quickly the angry look slipped from the elder woman’s face. She snorted with amusement, “You have terrible tact, Captain. But you are right. I had this image of Murielle in my head and I admit, anticipation of solving a mystery in my family history meant that I may have built that image up too much”
Alexa shrugged, “I think we’ve all been guilty of that” She opened her mouth to say more, but the trill of her comlink interrupted her. Rolling her eyes, she flicked the switch on it, “Wolf, this better be important”
“Hey Boss, it’s Leeza” The voice of the pilot emerged from the comlink.
Alexa sighed, “Just tell me what you’ve done”
“Excuse me?” Leeza sounded indignant, “I haven’t even done anything”
“Forgive me” Alexa grimaced, “It’s just the last time we spoke on the comlink, I had to ask you to let the hostages go” Seeing Senn’s quizzical look, she mouthed, “Don’t ask”
“Yes, well I was a different person then” Leeza answered defensively.
“Yes, you could be reasoned with” Alexa sighed, “Look, just tell me what’s happened”
“Well, me Kitten and Dan were taking a walk and Dan found something” The pilot explained.
Alexa shared a confused look with Senn, “Found what?”
“Well…….”
———————————————————————————————–
Skye Royal Palace.
Nashira
Skye
Jacob Tarn, First Prince of the Skye Alliance, made his way through the corridors of the Royal Palace and tried to force himself to listen to his aide Naaz Basa. The Quermian had been one of many to be newly appointed to key positions and had so far seemed to settle in well.
Jacob was glad Naaz was settling into the position, though he still had a note of regret that his father’s long term aide Constantine Freed had chosen to retire, but he hadn’t been alone in doing so. With his father’s death many key ministers, aides and officials had opted to retire and transfer elsewhere to allow for new blood to take over to go with the new First Prince.
He couldn’t fault their reasoning, but he also felt their experience would have been more useful in the short term until he was fully bedded into the role. That said, some such as Arden Sortek were staying around for a little while longer to oversee their replacements.
With a sigh, he glanced at his aide, who sensing he had something to say immediately ceased his litany of the days planned appointments, the Quermian’s mall head rotated on his tall thin neck to look expectantly at him.
Jacob hid his smile, for all his inexperience, Naaz was slipping into the role perfectly. He nodded and asked, “Has Grace Campion sent an update yet?”
Naaz glanced at the datapad he held, “Yes, sire. Colonel Grace Ferdinand y Olay de Campion has sent word that she has completed transfer of the command of her Battalion in the Tarn Heavy guards and will soon be on route to Skye. She expects to be here by the 23rd”
“Good” Jacob nodded.
Grace Campion was his new selection for Prince’s Champion and had surprised many as she had been a fierce rival of his at the Skye Military Academy. In fact, severely antagonistic would be the best way to describe their relationship during their time on the officers track at the Academy. A native of Bastion, Grace came from a line of nobility that had fared badly after the Alliance Civil War and had been pushed to the border worlds for generations and while she had no personal dislike of the Tarns, constant comparisons between her and Jacob as ‘blue bloods’ had angered her to the point that she refused to work with him in exercises and even refused to be in the same room as him, in the process earning herself several demerits.
In the end, he solved the issue by moving into naval operations as she continued on the planetary operations command track and they both graduated at the top of their respective classes.
He had no animosity towards her and her career after the academy had been impressive with immediate assignment to the Heavy guards where she quickly rose through the ranks to Battalion Command shortly before the war with the Republic. She’d acquitted herself well in that conflict as the heavy Guards took part in much of the heaviest fighting across multiple worlds and under her command, her battalion was credited with turning the tide during the fighting on Neimodia when the Republic Seventh Brigade made a surprise counter attack that caught General Eth Ssur off balance. She herself had earned a citation and had a medal pinned to her chest by Harrison himself for her masterminding the flanking operation that relived Ssur’s position and allowed his Second Tarn Grenadiers to break free of the attacking forces.
His reasons for choosing her were important. Traditionally, the Prince’s – or Princess’s- Champion acted as an advisor to the ruler, providing a soldiers level view of a situation. But they also could be deployed as their representative as well as their eyes and ears. Good champions also had to be willing to stand up to the Prince or Princess and tell them what they may not necessarily want to hear.
His Great Uncle Alessendro Tarn had infamously sacked his cousin Frederick Tarn as Champion and stripped him of rank and command because he had dared criticise Alessendro’s cock-eyed and doomed to fail plan of Concentrated Weakness. When she unseated Alessendro Katrina Tarn had reinstated Frederick to his rank and position counting on his dislike of her to motivate him to be just as disagreeable with her plans if he felt they were wrong for the Alliance.
Jacob’s own father made his best friend Arden Sortek Prince’s Champion as he knew that not only was Arden loyal, he was also not afraid to stand up and argue with him if he felt he was in the wrong.
That was the sort of Champion he wanted, someone willing to argue with him and tell him when he was wrong. And he knew Grace Campion would do that. He knew he was likely setting himself up for some major headaches in the future, but he also knew that they would be the results of her doing her job.
He looked at Basa again, “Make a note to ensure there’s some fresh Alti fruit in her quarters when she arrives and some Vendurian Brandy” Seeing the Quermian’s curious look, he explained, “She has a fondness for both. Also go through he list of candidates for an aide and have a short list drawn up, she’ll prefer to select her own”
“Of course, highness” Basa nodded his head on his tall spindly neck. He glanced ahead, “Ah, it would seem you have a surprise appointment”
Jacob looked ahead and saw both his wife and his uncle, Duke Edward Tarn, waiting outside his office. He smiled and then glanced at Basa, “The Ambassador from Cassia?”
“I will apologise for the delay” Basa nodded, “And will enquire if he would like to make a brief tour of the Royal museum”
“Thank you” Jacob nodded.
The Quermian nodded in return then moved off to deal with the ambassador.
Giving Hanna a quick hug and kiss, followed by a handshake with the hulking man still known as the Great Bear, he led the two into his office, “What brings the two of you here?”
Hanna shrugged, “I found Edward wandering the garden, felt it was better to bring him here”
Jacob frowned, “Uncle Eddie, what’s wrong?”
Duke Edward Tarn gave a shrug of his broad shoulders, “I was just doing some thinking. Trying to justify how I’m not a failure”
Jacob shook his head and leaned against his desk, “A failure. You’re not a failure. Is this about Brendan?”
Edward dropped bonelessly into the rooms sofa, his weight causing it to bump back a little. Hanna sat somewhat more sedately next to him and put a reassuring arm around is shoulder as he glanced at his hands, “Brendan, Melissa, Maria. I failed each of them. One I failed to set right when he strayed, one I failed to help through her grief and one I failed to protect”
“You did nothing of the sort”Jacob sighed, “Brendan made his own choices, you could no more have steered him on the right course as you could move a star”
Hanna shook her head, “If you’d tried to exert any kind of control on him, even with the best intentions of helping him, you’d likely have just made him lash out”
“Maybe” The Duke nodded, “But I should have tried regardless”
“As any father would” Jacob gave his own nod, “But you certainly didn’t fail Melissa or Maria. Both earned distinctions in combat, were passionate about their beliefs and not afraid to work hard”
“And Maria is interred in the Tarn crypt and Melissa is planning on leaving Skye” Edward grimaced.
That caught Jacob’s attention, “Melissa’s leaving Skye?”
The Duke nodded, “She says there’s too many bad memories here now. She has also found problems getting a new assignment away from the Royal guard because of what happened and a belief that she’s too easy to manipulate”
Jacob leaned forwards, “What are her plans? She planning on shipping out with Alexa and her crew?” He added the last part jokingly but Edwards expression showed how close to the mark he was, “Oh, she is?”
Edward nodded, “She’s become quite close to that Giant of Wolf’s crew, Samson? And it seems she’s struck up quite the friendship with Natasha Loran. She’s entertaining the idea of going with them when they leave. Though she wants to talk it out with Alexa first”
Hanna frowned, “Would Alex accept Melissa onto her ship? They haven’t had the friendliest of relationships recently”
“Maybe not” Jacob shrugged, “But I think Alexa will still give Melissa a fair chance” He looked at Edward, “Can you let her go, if it came to it?”
After a moments, hesitation the Duke nodded, “I think I can. If she’ll be happier to leave, it’s not my place to prevent her doing so/ At least I can do right by one of my children” A sad look crossed his face, “They transferred Brendan to Grindcore this morning”
Jacob nodded, “I know. At least he’ll be in the secure areas. Just him and a handful of others. He’ll be a lot safer than in general population”
“A lot of prisoners in Grindcore that would love the chance to get revenge on a Tarn” Edward sighed, “Even someone such as Brendan, And we know how good he is at protecting himself. He wouldn’t last a minute”
“He’s looking at a lonely sentence of….How long was it?” Hanna asked.
“Twenty-five years minimum” Edward grunted, “He’s lucky that he didn’t get more, but the judge accepted that he hasn’t intended for Maria to die when Francisco Vorn tried to grab her” He sighed, “Brendan’s assigned defender tried to have the case thrown out based on the ‘unprovoked assault by the disgraced mercenary Alexa Wolf’”
Hanna snorted, “Alexa hit him with a door and pushed him against a wall from what I heard. But it was Melissa who punched him in the face and Dan Halcyon who stunned him”
Edward nodded, “The judge also pointed out that Brendan was on a recording killing Vorn and he also pulled a blaster on myself and confessed in front of five witnesses” He added, “The prosecution would have preferred if Alexa and Dan could have given statements in court, but their video statements were sufficient alongside the courtroom statements of myself, Melissa and Samson”
“I’m sorry that it came to this, Uncle Eddie” Jacob sighed, “Let’s hope prison gives Brendan a big shake up”
“Maybe” Edward said after a few moments, “Maybe”
—————————————————————————–
Jouques
Skye Alliance Frontier
The hole in the clearing was about five feet across and as Alexa got closer she could see that over the years soil, grass and roots had formed a thin roof across a shaft cored down through the harder ground and rock. It wouldn’t have taken much weight before the ‘cap’ collapsed, but it had evidently stayed intact until someone walked over it. Which was exactly what happened.
Kneeling by the edge of the hole, she leaned out over the darkness, “You okay Dan?”
Dan Halcyon’s voice emerged from below, “I’m okay, bruised my butt and elbow at worst. Could do with a flash-light or two”
“One sec” Alexa took one of the heavy duty lights she’d brought from the Wolf with her and estimating the depth of the hole, thought better of just dropping it. She could just about see Dan and guess he was about eight or nine feet down, not too deep, but enough to break the light if it hit the wrong bit of rock. Pulling a length of cord from her belt she tied it to the lights handle than after switching the light on, began to lower it down, “On it’s way”
“Thanks” Dan’s voice moved around as he positioned himself to catch the descending light, “How long till I’m out?”
“Not long hopefully” Alexa answered, “Kitten is arranging with Notha and a few of the Jedi to get the winch equipment up here. Just sit tight for a few minutes”
“I’m not going anywhere” Dan said dryly as the torch reached where he could get at it and he began to untie the cord, “Tell them to hurry up, I’m hungry”
Alexa laughed and began to wind the cord back up, “Won’t be long”
“Didn’t bring a sandwich at least, did you?” Dan asked, and below Alex could see the torch beam sweeping around what she could now see appeared to be a sizeable cave, “I’d settle for a………..”
“Dan?” Alexa frowned leaning back over the hole and seeing that he’d stopped moving and was now focusing the torch beam on one wall, “What’s up?”
“You need to see this Boss, and bring some Jedi with you” Dan answered.
“What? What is it?”
“You need to see for yourself” He answered.
Alexa frowned, then stood, “I’ll tell them to hurry up, sit tight” As she turned and headed back towards the Jedi camp and the Wolf, she passed Leeza who was making her way back to the hole.
Leeza peered over the edge of the hole and grinned, “It rubs the lotion on it’s skin, or else it gets the hose again” She said in a sing-song voice.
“Shut up Leeza” Dan’s voice answered
————————————————————
Peace Park
Nashira
Skye
Melissa Tarn smiled and enjoyed the walk through the tranquil atmosphere of Nashira’s peace park. The carefully landscaped and cultivated parts of the park blended seamlessly with the more natural sections and helped to instil a sense of tranquillity and calmness into her mind. It didn’t ease the turmoil completely though, her testimony earlier this week in court had left her conflicted.
Despite her brothers actions, testifying against Brendan had felt like a betrayal. For several months after Maria’s death, he’d seemed like he was the only person she could trust and rely on, but the revelation of his actions had shown that had been a lie and that there were far more people she could trust and Brendan was the one she couldn’t.
Even so, it had hurt to stand up in court and give her testimony, yet she knew it had to be done.
Brendan’s assigned defender had tried to poke holes in her testimony and even tried to imply she had been behind everything. His efforts were half hearted though as previous testimony had already undermined that implication.
Still, when she’d done and had left the courtroom, it had been a tremendous relief. Learning that Brendan had been transferred to the Grindcore prison this morning for a twenty-five year sentence had brought back the regret and second thoughts about testifying again.
To his credit, Samson had done as he had done all week. Talked about anything other than Brendan and the court case, kept her mind elsewhere and when he’d seen her reaction to the news this morning, he’d immediately suggested a walk through the park.
She appreciated that from him, that he knew how to calm her, whether she be burning with anger or distraught with grief. Even now, as they walked hand in hand through the park, he said little and just allowed her to drink in the tranquillity.
They’d drawn a few looks from some other people in the park, but that was hardly a surprise. Not when an over eight foot tall man was in the company of an only slightly shorter woman, especially when that woman was a member of House Tarn.
She looked out over the park. Snow still covered the landscape and was still deep in some places. In other places some of the snow had been utilized to build many of the snowmen that populated the park, leaving patches of grass visible through the snow. The main pathways through the park had been kept almost obsessively cleared and salted, whilst the smaller side paths were only cleared when needed.
Looking out over one of the lakes that dotted the park, she noted that the ice still appeared quite thick for the most part, but the recently erected warning signs and a few clearly visible thinner patches in the ice suggested that the chance for ice skating had passed.
“Never mind that only the thickest ice can take my weight” She thought to herself. She looked up at Samson, “Thank you”
He smiled down to her, “For what?”
“Everything” She returned the smile, “For caring. For knowing the right thing to say and do”
“Anytime” He tilted his head down and kissed the top of her head on the exposed skin just below the brim of her furred hat.”Do you feel like something to drink?” He nodded towards the small cafe that sat nestled in amongst the trees.
Melissa smiled, a hot drink would be nice about now, “They also do some lovely hot apple pies here too, if you fancy a quick bite?
“Why not?” Samson grinned.
She thought for a moment, “Actually, we should see if we can get some extra to take away for the others. I think Natasha might appreciate a nice apple pie. She’s seemed down the last few days”
“Yes” Samson sighed, “The doctors weren’t happy about her left leg and she had to have more surgery. It’s put her efforts in get walking again back and she’s not taken it well”
Melissa sighed, “She misses Alexa. Being confined to the hospital doesn’t help” She was silent for a few moments as they approached the cafe, “Do you think she’d like to get out of the hospital for a trip somewhere? Even though it’s still cold, the fresh air might do her good”
Samson nodded thoughtfully as he held the cafe door open, “Agreed. We will have to check with Shepard Sims and her doctors first, but I can’t see why they wouldn’t allow it”
“Great” Melissa grinned as she passed through the doorway, “First though, some hot chocolate and a slice of apple pie would go down perfect”
————————————————————
Jouques
Alliance Frontier
Alexa tried to relax in the harness and avoid any movements that could send her swinging around as she descended slowly into the cave. The operation of the winch that Galatea Terah and Esm Silar had set up with the assistance of Notha Well and several of the Jedi was smooth, but slow and the more she could do to ease it’s operation, the better.
Below her, the cave was now a little better lit by a series of larger lights that had been lowered down for Dan to set up, but darkness still hid the walls of the chamber. She could also see the beams of light from the torches held by Dan, Lucas horn and Diana Senn, both of whom had insisted of coming down into the cave.
As her feet came into contact with the floor. She released the descent control button on the small set of controls attached to the cable and set to work, unbuckling the harness.
“You down Boss?” Galatea’s voice called from above.
“Yeah, Red, I’m down” Alexa shouted back up to the engineer.
“Okay, Give us a shout when you guys are ready to come back up” Galatea answered.
“Will do” Alexa said, then turning on her own torch, made her way to where the others were gathered near the cave wall. “Okay, what’s so interesting we’re in this hole in the ground?”
“Well” Lucas Horn turned to explain, or at least the shadowed form that sounded like Horn did, “The survivors weren’t aware of this cave as far as we know”
“How do you know?” Dan asked, though he’d helpfully stood in one of the areas lit by the big lights.
Horn seemed to shrug, “The surviving Jedi logged and recorded every cave they explored in the area. Presumably so they had somewhere to hide if the Emperor’s hunters tracked them here” He quickly added, “They were very diligent. I suspect it was a way of keeping the younger ones busy”
Alexa nodded, “I mean it’s not impossible that this cave went unnoticed, but that cap was just waiting for someone to step on it before it collapsed” She glanced at the hole in the cave roof. From this angle she could see a pair of hands -possibly Galatea’s- working on one of the tripod legs of the winch, “It’s unlikely this cave went unnoticed. Especially as we’re so close to where they set up their little camp”
“Exactly” Horn said, “And then there’s this” He brought his torch to a point on the wall, “This is what Halcyon found that was so interesting”
On the previously dark wall Alexa saw a symbol. Round and seemingly carved into the rock, it consisted of a central circle from which sprouted eight spokes which reached out for but didn’t quite touch the outer circle. Between the ends of the spokes and the outer ring, were eight notches arranged in a ring with cut outs at end of the spokes.
She remembered the symbol from her history lessons at the Nagelring, but it took a few seconds to dredge up the memory, “Galactic Empire?”
“Close” Diana Senn shook her head, “Galactic Republic. Specifically, from during the waning days of the Old Republic. The Imperial symbol dropped one of the pairs of spokes, and was almost a negative of this symbol”
“Okay” Alexa frowned, “So, the Jedi survivors did find this cave?”
“Apparently so” Horn replied.
“So, why was it unrecorded?” Dan asked.
“That’s the question” Senn said, running her fingers over the symbol, “It’s eroded a little over the centuries, but the edges still have a sharpness to them. We’d need specialised scanners to look close enough to be sure, but this is precise enough that I think a lightsaber was used”
Alexa tried to visualise someone using a lightsaber to carve the symbol with such precision, “Why not use a laser etcher or even a dialled down blaster?”
It was Dan who answered, “Maybe the person who did this didn’t have those things?” He frowned, “Bigger question is why it was carved here?”
Alexa swung her own light around, “Maybe something down there?” She indicated a passageway that led off from the cave. It’s edges hard and angular, like it was carved or at least widened with a lightsaber too.
The others swept their lights around the cave. There were other exits from the cave, but most were small, almost like crevices and the few larger ones lacked the ‘cut’ appearance of the first one.
Hearing no arguments in favour on the other passages, Alexa quickly headed down the passage.
“Captain?” She heard Horn’s voice called out.
“Calm Lucas” Diana Senn’s voice replied, “She’s just living up to her nature and being impulsive”
Dan was the first to catch up with Alexa in the passageway, dropping into step behind her as she eased around a corner, “Always have to be the first one in, haven’t you?”
“C’mon Dan, you know I’d never ask anyone to do something I wouldn’t be willing to do myself” Alexa shot back.
“I know” And she got the impression he was grinning at the back of his head, “It’s one of the things I’ve always respected about you, even when we’ve argued over it. But you don’t have a personal stake in this little mystery, the Jedi do”
“Maybe it’s just my natural curiosity” Alexa laughed. Her laugh cut off halfway as her foot caught on something and she stumbled, “The hell?” Something rattled around her feet.
“Watch them rocks, boss” Dan admonished.
“No, there’s something down here” She quickly shone her torch around her feet seeking what it was she’d tripped on, “Where is it? There?” Her light found something and she stooped down to pick it up
“What is it?” Dan asked over her shoulder.
Alexa held the object in her hand as Dan directed his light over it, “I’ve no idea” The object was cylindrical and appeared to be made of transparisteel -though it was fogged and tarnished- and capped at each end with metal. A band of the metal ran up one side and had a series of buttons and a cracked and useless display. One end had what appeared to be a hole for something to plug into, but whatever went in it was long gone.
“I’m not sure” Dan said, “But I think it’s a really old model of medical injector, or part of one. Probably late Clone Wars, Early Empire if I had to take a guess”
“Found something?” Lucas Horn’s voice emerged from behind them.
“Maybe” Alexa said, passing the object to Dan who passed it to Horn, “Looks like an old model injector, apparently”
After a few moments of studying the object, Lucas said, “Yeah, it’s Clone Wars vintage. They were phased out in 19ABY in favour of models that could be mounted in trigger units or in place of medical droid hands. They had a very simple memory unit. Might be able to pull something off it with the right gear”
“Have a talk with Sacul” Alexa grinned, “If she doesn’t have the right equipment to do that, she’ll improvise something just as good”
“I’ll ask her” Lucas nodded, and slipped the injector into a pocket on his tunic as Alexa began to continue up the passageway.
“Looks like it opens up again ahead of us” Alexa said.
The passage did indeed widen up again, opening up into another cave, this one smaller than the first, but still fair sized. Strangely, there were piles of detritus and trash in small piles in the cave. Plasteel containers, rusted metal tins and some pieces of rust that might have been tools at one point, but the light from her torch was insufficient to really recognise them without getting closer.
At first she assumed that they’d been washed from the wreck of the Tempest, until Diana Senn pointed something out she’d missed.
“Someone lived here” The Jedi Master said quietly, her torch illuminating a bed and what appeared to be seats that had been salvaged from the stricken Star Destroyer. The padding and anything bio-de-gradable had rotted away over the centuries or been chewed away by whatever it was that could be heard skittering in the cave, but the metal and plasteel frames were relatively intact, if somewhat rusty and looking like they’d fall apart if someone touched them.
Alexa swept her torch around the cave, the concept that someone had lived here giving new perspective to the piles of what she had taken to be rubbish. Some of it was still just rubbish, but now she could easily suppose that some of the piles had been something else and the centuries, combined with the damp conditions of the cave system had reduced it to it’s current state.
“Why did they live here?” Dan asked kneeling and poking at what looked like ration tins, “And not at the camp with the other survivors?”
“An exile?” Horn mused poking at the bed frame with one foot setting off a dangerous wobble in the rusty structure, “Not someone from the camp itself, the diary’s we’ve recovered so far don’t mention anyone being cast out”
“Not true” Alexa said looking pointedly at Horn, “There was one survivor who was cast out right after they established the camp, wasn’t there?”
“I…..” Horn hesitated.
“Master Horn, Lucas?” Senn said, “What haven’t I been told?”
Horn looked guiltily between Senn and Alexa, though the look her shot Alexa was somewhat more irritated.
“Master Horn” Alexa said quietly, “She deserves to know”
Horn sighed, “Master Senn, Diana, I’m sorry but Master Vaughn very pointedly asked me not to tell you until we knew more. But Murielle Senn did survive the crash, but the other survivors exiled her completely. The reason she’s not mentioned in the surviving records is because they chose to pretend she wasn’t out there”
“I see” Senn sighed, “I guess I’d suspected as much. She fell completely to the Dark Side didn’t she?”
“She did” Horn nodded slowly, “And as a result, the other survivors refused to allow her to be part of the settlement”
Senn let out a pained breath, “They couldn’t live with her, knowing what she’d become”
Dan’s voice emerged from the far end of the room, “Neither could she in the end”
The three of them moved to where Dan was standing, his flash-light illuminating a form on the floor. Age weathered and tarnished with damp, the skeleton was almost indistinguishable from the equally worn armour it still wore. A cylinder Alexa recognised as a lightsaber was partially embedded in the chest plate of the armour, seated in a hole that had been melted into the Plasteel.
“Placed her lightsaber against her chest and switched it on” Dan said somewhat uneasily. “Blade likely hit the heart, caught both lungs, severed the spine. She was probably dead before she hit the floor. Lightsaber probably switched off when her hand came off the activator”
“Not necessarily” Diana shook her head, “Every lightsaber was unique. Some Jedi chose to have dead-man’s switches on their’s so the blade switched off if they dropped it. Others had a control that also let them lock the blade on. Others still built their’s to require a double press of the activator to switch it off”
“So which one was this?” Alexa said, crouching and grasping the saber which came free of the hole in the armour, revealing a band of untarnished metal around the sabers top where it had been in the hole. To her surprise a gem still glittered brightly in the blade end of the lightsaber.
For a moment, her thumb hovered over the activation stud, but Senn’s hand settled over her wrist, “I wouldn’t Captain. After three centuries down here it’s as likely to blow your hand off as it is to actually work”
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained” Alexa grinned, but to show she was joking, moved her thumb away from the activator and let the lightsaber hang from her fingers by the pommel end.
“She was here for a while judging by the trash” Horn frowned, “They had to have known she was here. Were they hoping she’d return to the light?”
“Maybe” Alexa shrugged, “I doubt she’d have brought all this furniture here alone. Even with the Force, getting them out of the ship and bringing them here and into the caves would have been a major task”
“Maybe this might shed some light on the situation” Dan said, crouching to pick up and object and hand it to Senn.
Alexa looked at the object in the Jedi Master’s hands. A solid looking cube with seams at various places that hinted at it being made up of multiple parts. It was covered in grime and dirt, but under the upper layers of filth, the object looked to still be pristine.
“A holocron” Senn frowned.
“Holocron?” Alexa frowned, “You don’t see many of them outside the order. I think I’ve seen two in my lifetime”
“That’s still more than most non-Jedi see” Senn raised an eyebrow.
“There’s one in the Royal Museum on Skye” Alexa explained, “The other one, we had a job a few years back to retrieve some item for a guy on….where was it Dan, Telos?”
Dan nodded, “Yeah, Telos. The Houk with the big collection. Wanted us to recover that old Droideka. He had a holocron in his collection”
“Whether it was authentic or not, no idea” Alexa shrugged, “Sacul pointed out half his collection were fakes, though not to his face” She laughed.
“Real or not, it’s unlikely he’d have had a way to access the contents” Senn shook her head.
“Isn’t there some sort of trigger inside that has to be triggered?” Dan asked, “Using the force?”
“Depends on the model” Horn explained, “Some are keyed to respond to a certain touch pattern on the outer surfaces. Some are capable of sensing when a Jedi is close by. The most common are the ones with an internal trigger” He then added, “More important ones had more complicated triggers so that only fully trained masters could access them”
Senn frowned as she concentrated on the Holocron. For a few moments, she said nothing as she focused on the holocron and then for a brief heartbeat it emitted a soft glow, which quickly faded.
She sighed and seemed exhausted, “It’s definitely a holocron, it seems to work, despite it’s condition. But it’s going to take quite a bit of effort to activate it. And these surroundings are not conductive to that”
Alexa knelt back down next to the skeleton, “So is this Murielle Senn?”
“Looks like it just might be” Horn nodded. “She is the only person unaccounted for. I’ll organise an effort to retrieve her body from here and bury her with the others. After all this time, I’m sure they won’t mind a reunion”
Fractured Galaxy 