In Search of Guidance

[Levi Regan]

Wile landed his N-51 in the verdant and ancient forest. It reeked of age. The lush scent was from centuries of snapping branches crashing to the floor and rotting silently. It was rumored that New Holstice was home to a rare species known as Memory Moths, and those rumors were too good for Wile to pass up. Wile continued to walk through the forest, every watchful tree Wile passed reminded him of the Jedi that once dwelled here, and who continued to live on in the Force. Wile headed deep into the tangled maze that made up the ancient jungle, the further he went, the thicker it became. Huge roots spread along the dense forest floor, and the foliage became thick and lush; forming an arch over Wile's head. The path stayed narrow for a few hours as Wile continued down the dense track, his location was coming up soon. Continuing down the path, Wile found his target. An ancient door stood in front of him, untouched for a millennia.

 

[Jaime]

The Grim Harvest came out of lightspeed mere moments after Adsulun had entered the coordinates for New Holstice. Sitting alone and silent in the cockpit, the young Sith Warrior gazed upon the forested surface of the long-abandoned planet before him, already wondering what lay in store for him there. Would he find what he was looking for? If they even existed?

And, perhaps of more importance, were there others searching for them as well? He would soon find out.

After a rather long and tiring exodus into the libraries of the academy on Korriban, Adsulun had stumbled across an intriguing document; recorded on it was a verse that spoke of a species of moths in which lay the fragmented memories of ancient Jedi. After further research, Vardem discovered that these so-called "memory moths" were native to the newly-rediscovered planet of New Holstice. And the moths weren't the only thing that interested him; rumors of an ancient and long-forgotten civilization of humanoids also piqued his curiosity, and in the end of his research he couldn't help himself, deciding to make the journey here.

Just as he was about to boost his thrusters, his sensor array bleeped. He didn't need to reference it to see the newly arrived spacecraft coming in at speed to his right, towards the atmosphere. Apparently the crew didn't see him, as the ship continued on to the surface without acknowledgment of his presence. Adsulun's eyes narrowed... and then he grinned, the scorched skin on the side of his face stretching like leather.

This was going to be a much more enjoyable trip than he thought. Adsulun accelerated as soon as the ship was close enough to the atmosphere to have its sensors disjointed, and followed along its trajectory.​

 

[Levi Regan]

The great stone door towered over Wile, showing the wear of time although not giving Wile an easy entrance. He put his pack down, and sat on a nearby rock. Taking a meditative stance, Wile began to channel the force. Focusing his concentration onto the door, Wile put all his energy into opening the stone monolith that stood before him. "The force will guide my journey through this door", Wile repeated to himself. An hour must have passed, though Wile didn't know as he was heavily focused on his Force Mantra, but there was still no movement from the door.

It was only once Wile heard a rustle coming down the track did he exit his force mantra. Turning around, Wile saw a younger man travelling down the path towards him. He stepped back and drew his lightsaber, releasing the beam towards the figure, "What brings you out here stranger?". Wile kept his blade pointed towards the man, waiting for an answer.

 

[Jaime]

The Harvest hovered for some time over the spot where the other craft had landed. A simple N-51 starfighter; perhaps it was a rogue member of the GAR, come to claim his fortune within the great green forest. How boring. Adsulun was hoping for a Jedi, but it seemed he would have to sate his bloodthirst on a small-time treasure hunter. Pity.

Adsulun set the Harvest down in a clearing not far from where the N-51's pilot had landed. From there, he made his way to the treasure hunter's path, which he found easily enough; with sheer concentration, he could see the man's footsteps in the scattered leaves and branches and roots beneath him. Plus, the man couldn't have been louder on the way to wherever he was going. How ignorant, he thought to himself. Or perhaps he was purposely making himself heard to bait Adsulun into a trap. The warrior grinned at the prospect.

Despite having the utmost confidence in his own abilities, Vardem did his best to obscure himself from the potentially-aware treasure hunter's eyes and ears, and it wasn't too long before he finally caught up to him, silently stalking through the foliage like a predator hunting the prey. The man was sitting on a rock before a massive door, the entrance to some ancient, forgotten ruin. The swordsman frowned in confusion at the man's meditative position; perhaps he was dealing with a Force-user after all.

Adsulun made no move; the "treasure hunter" did not seem to notice him yet. On the off-chance that he did, Adsulun made a conscious effort to mask his presence with the Force, camouflaging his form to make it look as if he was a part of the wilderness around them. After around an hour of no action whatsoever and the mysterious treasure hunter repeating his mantra over and over(which also confirmed his status as a Force-user), Adsulun had finally had enough. The Sith slowly raised his arm, closed his eyes, focused. He twitched his hand ever so slightly; heard a faint rustling noise on the path that lead to the door; and grinned as the man at the door ignited his lightsaber and turned toward the disturbance.

Swift as the wind, Adsulun Vardem leaped from his cover out into the open, saber ignited, and stood before the stone door behind the man. Normally he would've offed the poor chap there and then, but he thought he'd at least give the wanna-be Jedi a fighting chance. After all, it might be amusing to see the fool squirm. His heavy robes, obscuring the top part of his face from view, rippled as he extended to his full height, bringing his blade up in a Makashi salute. Adsulun was taunting the man. "I could ask the same of you."

 

[Levi Regan]

Wile eyed the lightsaber that the man had pulled on him, the red shimmered with uncertainty. "Didn't expect to see a Sith out here" Wile said firmly. Keeping a watchful eye on the man in front of him Wile continued to talk, "I've come to investigate the local memory moth species, they are each said to hold a single Jedi's memoir, or something along those lines".

Wile kept his lightsaber pointed at the figure in front of him. He didn't want to shed blood, but if the Sith tried anything, he wouldn't hesitate. "Now then, I have explained why I am here, why don't you do the same?".

 

[Darasuum]

Man things were boring around here. Probably didn't help that he had been in his space ship for days now. He needed to get out, needed to kill. Maybe he could do something debaucherous or equally destructive. the Axion assault ship flew in high orbit over New Holstice as he lazily circled. Maybe he would see to those memory moths. Geir had taken and interest in them awhile back as had one of the other sith moffs who was also dead.

They each contained the name of a jedi. He wondered what would happen if he incinerated the area. his thumb rubbing the weapons activation switch thoughtfully before taking the ship in for a landing. his astromech whirring deeply at the sudden change of course. "Yeah I think i'll just do it by hand." he said knowing that he the droid probably hadn't commented on his prospective plans but rather his earlier actions.

 

[Jaime]

Adsulun cocked his head, his lightsaber lightly caressing the fallen leaves. He could smell them before he saw the smoke rising from beneath him. He ran the blade in a half-moon in front of him, his eyes never leaving the mysterious man on the rock. Smoke began to rise, partially obscuring the Sith from view, every inch the saber covered conjuring more and more tendrils of burnt foliage to rise into the branches above. "Are you now? Interesting. They are in here, then? Beyond this door?" His positioning could not have been more perfect; he had landed right in front of the door, an obstacle in this wanna-be Jedi's way.

Wanting to see his reaction, he stepped into form: his fencing stance was succinct, pronounced. He suddenly brought the blade up, completing the puzzle, the final piece to his elegant posture. He hoped to make the wanna-be jump with the quickness of his reflexes. "Open it."

 

[Levi Regan]

Wile laughed, the Sith reeked of arrogance. "You think if I could open this door I would wait? This is not something I can do alone" Wile smirked, "if there is one thing the Jedi Order had right, it is that all Sith's are arrogant". Wile walked towards the rock he had rested on before, taking a meditative posture, "If you want this door to open, you will need to be part of the process".

Wile entered his Force Mantra, though he stayed precautions of the Sith's actions. "Don't let your arrogance stand in the way of knowledge, Sith".

 

[Redmerc]

Emerging from hyperspace would be an old, bunged up and rusty, halo-class transport.

It waited in place for a few moments, drifting along with the gravitational pull of the planet as the beings inside of it calculated their next course of action. If one did not have their scanners operating or had not previously arrived on the planet, it would appear to be little more than a derelict ship, floating adrift.

Suddenly, the familiar burst of thrusters sounding off would be heard, the ship propelling itself to the surface as soon as it was able, flying over temple once, the inhabitant(s) would seemingly have done a flyby. It would then come back around, the hulking, falling apart, rusty waste of a ship would set down as close to the temple as it was able, a part of one of the thrusters falling apart and impacting the ground with a loud *SMASH* being heard as he did so.

The ship's cargo bay door would be facing the temple. After a few moments, the whooshing sound of oxygen escaping could be heard, if one were to look they would see it was the door opening, laying down on the ground in order to provide a neat little ramp for whomever was about to exit.

Interestingly enough, the figure of a Hutt with the sigil of the Imperial Legion emblazoned on his belly would emerge from the ship. Vibroaxe in hand as he looked out towards the temple. His newly acquired cybernetic legs would be whirring heavily in the background, supporting his weight. A slimy smile forms over his maw as his suspicions were confirmed, company was indeed here.

 

[Darasuum]

The ship landed near the alleged location of the Memory Moths. Inside Zeff secured his gear and had a small flaw thrower as well. it was disposable for him really but for others it would probably be something more. he wondered if the force related moths would burn like normal moths. A few flit about as he got closer to their central location. Zeff could feel the presence of others but he wasn't paying them any mind. if any jedi were present maybe he'd get to fight them too.

With flame thrower primed he activated it doing a little test gout of burning substance. it lit up the face of his armour. not his preferred color, maybe he would have to look into the science of flame color. it would be interesting to see green flames spout from one of his creations. he let loose a following torrent of flame towards a cluster of the moths, setting them alight.