Ask Ashes on Wool

[Agialia Galenus]

Chainbreaker Sphyrna-class corvette in orbit over Saleucami




Agailia stared out the viewport at the planet below in contemplation. There were several in her order who had felt the presence of an artifact on the planet. There was not much to go on initially, having visions in the force was not like pulling up a holonet article, they were not always clear. They had been forced to briefly search a few other planets in the area because of this uncertainty. Agailia set in her chair looking over old databanks for mentions of the location of their prize on the surface hoping to avoid the same fate.

Agailia had narrowed their quarry down to two possible locations, an old temple and a bazaar which had the reputation for moving items from the planet’s past. She would go over the options when the team arrived at the map table. This would be an important move for the Jedi, gaining an artifact was always beneficial, and the ability to begin to create a light nexus for the network that the Order needed. Judging by the images that were being broadcast on the holonet they were running out of time, put simply The Jedi needed a win not just for the galaxy but for themselves.

Agailia flipped through hollow images of the surface and cross sections of the tunnel system below the temple, it was quite the labyrinth that under normal circumstances would take months to search. They didn’t have that kind of time, Agailia had to essentially use methods from past excavation of similar cultures to make an educated guess as to where they would store something so precious.

Agailia sighed as she rested her hands on the map table, Tapping her fingers on the metal rim she continued working. Today was going to be a long day one way or another, she just hoped they were up to the task, and that the Sith didn’t have an archaeologist as well if they had caught wind themselves. The race was on, and they had no way of knowing if they were winning, Agailia waited for Mako so they could go over their plan of action.

@Javier esschoolbus @Arcangel @Versok

 

[Mako Krim]

Mako sat in the quarters of his room aboard the Corvette, kneeling in meditation. Before him on the floor sat the cold black hilt of his lightsaber. There were several in the order who had beheld visions, signs of an artifact of some unknown purpose and importance. Mako too felt the pull, the tug of an urgent current that brought him to the orbit around Saleucami.

He breathed. Inhaled. Exhaled. He smelled dust and catacombs. He felt the sensation of a physical object, held in his hands. The encroaching presence of darkness, growing nearer. The insistent snap-hiss of a lightsaber. The sizzling clash of sabers... Echoes across time, portents of the future.

Mako opened his eyes. He wore a simple tunic and trousers, dark brown in color. His hands were gloved in the dueling gauntlets that he had picked up from the Jedi armory after his spar with Kane. He reached for his lightsaber where it sat in front of him. Picked it up, turning it over gently within his grasp. It would see action this day, of that he was certain. Gathering his center, gaining his footing, he clipped the saber to his belt and walked out of the room.

-----​

Mako strode into the command center of the Corvette, where his fellow Jedi waited for him, pouring over charts and data. He stepped beside her and examined what she had put together. An ancient temple, or a bustling bazaar. He closed his eyes and breathed in. Dust and decay.

"It will be here." He said with a certainty as he pointed to the ancient temple with a large three fingered hand. "The catacombs." He continued as he looked away from the image and at his fellow Jedi. A looming threat edged at the back of his mind as well.

"I sense an approaching darkness. We must make haste." His tone held an urgency as he turned to walk to the hangar.

-----​

The transport had set them down in a small forest clearing a ways away from the ancient temple, at Mako's insistence, so as not to alert their potential enemies. His eyes scanned the forest as he stepped off of the ship. The Saleucami sun hung in the air and the trees were not so tight as to block its light from filtering down through the canopy.

His eyes narrowed at the surroundings for a moment. The ship had scared away the animals for the time being and the forest lay in silence. A few moments ticked by and a bird chirped. Then another.

"We have a short hike ahead of us." He said quietly to Agialia, and started walking.

@Javier esschoolbus @Versok @Darius

 

[Anai Skhess]

While the jedi had decided to land a bit away from the temple, the sith had decided to do the opposite, having landed quite close to it, announcing their presence to anyone that would've been close to it. The reason for this was simple: While they too had been able to deduct that the artifact would be inside there, the jedi had an advantage when it came to locating it. The order's intel had been able to narrow it down to a part of the temple, but the jedi's own intel on a planet that their order had gone to multiple times was probably superior.

They could afford to take a long way, maybe try to grab it before the sith manage to find it themselves even if they went in after them, but Anai knew all too well that the only way they would be able to retrieve it...would be by eliminating the competition, which was fine by her, eliminating jedi was always a priority.

Because of this, the sith had decided to guard the temple's doors instead of entering it, waiting for jedi to either come enter the temple or leave it. For now, the Kaleesh simply guarded the place alongside her partner, Trael (@Javier esschoolbus). So far, the man had proved himself capable, so she had no complains with her partner this time. Not one for words, she wouldn't really say much to him either, not on duty at least.

 

[Trael Osso-Drast]

Trael had arrived with his fellow sith they opted to intercept the Jedi instead of hunting the artifact. The boredom of the situation had Trael once again playing with his knife. This time even doing some tricks and flips with it. The sith he was with was sure a talker hadn't made a peep the whole time waiting. He almost wondered if she had turned mute like Zorya was in hopes of gaining the rank of master. It didn't matter to him much he enjoyed the calm though a storm usually followed.

Kneeling down the sith began meditating. Setting all three of his sabers on the ground while doing so. After a few minuets all three were spinning around the sith the dark side swelling. He could sense that jedi where on the planet by a lightside presence. Though he couldn't tell where he knew they were here. He continued meditating delving into the darkness knowing a battle was coming.

@Versok @Arcangel @Darius

 

[Agialia Galenus]

Stepping off the transport Agailia scanned the area as the forest fell silent, She could feel the sun bearing down on them as a gentle wind took the dust of their arrival into the air. Even with the tree cover that would signal their location for miles, The Jedi would have a low chance of approaching unannounced. Agailia took one more look at the map on her holopads then tucked into her deep blue robes. As they moved forward to their destination Agailia reached out in the force to see what lay ahead of them. For a planet that was on the hotter side, there seemed to be a lot of activity at the temple, Agailia could feel so much life within it walls, and she concluded that this was due to it being a great place to get out of the sun. Just before Agailia let go of her connection she felt the Dark presence that Mako had pointed out earlier on the chain breaker. “They are here already...waiting for us no doubt.”(39)

It was extremely important for them to retrieve this artifact; it was paramount that they started to make LIght force nexuses of their own, and this would be a much-needed starting point in their efforts. The relative peace that went along with being an archeologist was long gone, Agailia's skills at research and retrieval would now be an important benefit to Jedi, which meant that she would also be running into Sith now more than ever. Knelt and took out her map, there had to be a better way than walking directly into the shadows. After ten minutes she motioned her fingers away from each other to zoom in on a location. “Here we can use these old workers' shafts, it looks large enough for us to get through, but we will have to cut our way through this section here.”(64) Agailia pointed to a solid wall reading as metallic that was at least 4 feet thick. “We would still have to search, but it would buy us more time than an all-out fight, What do you think Mako?” Agailia looked up at the Pyke hoping to get the green light to lead them to the proposed entrance, but it was also a chance to point out any issues she might have missed. “It is likely we won't get off this planet without seeing our friends, but this gives us the advantage of a different angle of egress and opens the opportunity to spring a trap of our own,” Agailia said with a smirk.

Agailia took off her outer robes to reveal an armless tunic of matching color, Stuffing her things into her pack she cinched it tight to her back to prepare for quick movement. Whatever Mako decided they were about to start moving quickly.

@Arcangel @Javier esschoolbus @Versok

 

[Mako Krim]

Mako let Agialia conduct her investigation with the datapad, but he could hardly shake the inexorable pull that urged him forwards.

Onward. The Force seemed to whisper to him as he waited. It was not an eagerness for the fight, nor an anxiety about the future. It was a simple sense of purpose that pushed him forwards, one that had to be heeded.

"This is not something that we can avoid." He said simply. The agents of the dark side were present, he could feel them even now as a dark presence bloomed somewhere in the direction of the temple. The thought of skulking through the darkness of tunnels, hiding from the light. It reminded him too much of Lorrd, the Sith he had faced there deep underground in the oppressive Dark of the tainted nexus. He shook his head.

"The darkness below will favor our enemy. Best to face them in the light of day, in the open." He decided and set off to continue forwards through the forest. Mako moved quietly, his eyes and ears open for any disturbances. His senses within the force were attuned to the nature around them, searching for any signs of their enemy that he might feel as they approached. The trees began to grow sparser as they approached the temple, and soon they were upon a gradually thinning tree line with the outer edge of the temple ruins merging visibly in front of them.

@Javier esschoolbus @Versok @Darius

 

[Anai Skhess]

And so, the Kaleesh kept waiting...For now, should the jedi take too long, however, she would start thinking about going for that artifact first after all. Either the jedi were too cowardly to confront them or they planned to go around them somehow, if she had to guess. Something she could not quite allow to happen

@Arcangel @Darius @Javier esschoolbus

 

[Trael Osso-Drast]

Trael also continued to meditate. He was confident if the Jedi were to approach to closely he would be able to sense it. Also not being the senior member here he relegated himself to a support role anyway.

@Arcangel @Darius @Versok

 

[Ninma Calma]

Ninma peeked out from the coverage, their gaze falling upon the temple. Tugging on their robes, they couldn’t help but feel out of sorts with this whole affair. “That is most certainly a temple.” They stated, hand brushing over the metal casing of their lightsaber, the item still feeling odd now, being firmly attached to their being. “I don’t suppose they’ll simply let us pass if we ask nicely?” Ninma asked, her tone already hinting towards the reality that loomed before the pair.

There was bound to be a fight. Their hands folded together, mind focused outwards towards that darkness that they had been told twice now lingered out near this temple, and kept to investigating it. Stepping forward, they weren’t entirely sure what to expect, aside from the fact that they need keep their senses up and prepared. They kept grabbing at their lightsaber, then leaving it be. Unsure if going out with saber at the ready may come off wrong.

But, eventually, reason won out. Now, Ninma kept the hilt of their saber, grasped tightly in their hands. “Be a shame if we get there, and they just left. I…suppose that would be lucky. These…people aren’t know for their patience though, right?” They inquired, just…trying to buy up some of the dead air as they continued their trek.

@Javier esschoolbus @Versok @Casmer

 

[R'ashtaro]

R'ashtaro shook his head at Ninma's question. "I doubt that they would," he said, his tone flat and serious. The two of them had come here hoping that the artifact hidden in that temple would be their only worry. The presence of two darksiders - likely Sith, if his senses didn't betray him - complicated things.

The red-coated Fiani unhooked his own lightsaber and held it so it was partially hidden within the sleeve of his robes. If there was a solution that did not require violence, then he would take it. But experience had shown him that it was best to expect the opposite when dealing with the Sith. "It would be a first time for me if we were that lucky," he said, smiling crookedly at Ninma. They held their lightsaber at the ready, too. They seemed on edge. R'ashtaro couldn't blame them. He was, too.

The Fiani Knight motioned for Ninma to follow him. He breathed deeply, exhaled long, and stepped out of their coverage and into the open space that led up to the temple. He kept his eyes on the two figures standing at the temple's entrance. They grew in size with every step he took towards them.

At a distance of about fifty meters from the figures, he stopped. There was a moment of silence. Then, he spoke: "I don't suppose you're here to make friends, no?"

@Alleria @Javier esschoolbus @Versok