[Pre-TL] Lost, But Not Forgotten

[Wit]

Felisin "Stormblessed", Matukai Monk​

"Go explore the haunted base Felisin!" The young woman walking down the halls of the abandoned base muttered to herself as she held up an archaic lamp to illuminate her path. The thing had an actual flame burning within it, that was a new even for her. Or really really old, depending on how you wanted to look at it. "You're a monk, punch the ghosts or something!" She let out a exasperated sigh which immediately turned into a curse as she almost blew out the lone flame that was her only source of illumination. Punch ghosts, yeah right, she could totally do that.

She had been stuck on Christophsis for some time now, well she wan't technically stuck. She simply hadn't found a reason to leave. Things had been going alright so far, she hadn't been chased away so she must be doing something right. Not like Jain had given her much in the ways of instruction on how to do her job. He had taken her in, patched her up, trained her, and them one fine day he had up and vanished. He had always said he was only putting up with her till she was able to walk without tripping over her own feet, so she took his disappearance to mean her training was complete. She had more or less promoted herself, but she wasn't going to tell that to anyone.

When people saw her clothing they assumed she was one of the Matukai, and they asked for help. What was she gonna do, tell them she wasn't sure if her internship had resulted in a permanent position and ask them to wait for someone else to come along? No, Jain had taught her all this shit for a reason and she was going to put it to use to help who she could.

Which brought her to this current predicament. The locals thought this facility was haunted, and they had begged her to take a look, scare away the spirts if she could. She hadn't had the heart to tell them that exorcisms weren't really part of her job description, so here she was. Truth be told she wasn't entirely sure if exorcisms actually were something she was supposed to handle. What if she really could punch ghosts and Jain had just never gotten around to teaching her that bit?

This doubt wasn't new to her, but it might be that the spookiness of the base was getting to her and making her fixate on it more than she normally would. Thankfully she found a distraction in the form of a door at the end of the passageway she had been walking down. Come to think of it, had she actually been walking down? She was sure she was a few levels lower than she had been when she had entered this part of the base. Wondering what this base had been used for in its heyday, she pushed against the door, only for it to budge not an inch. Muttering a curse or two under her breath, she opened herself to the Force, letting it flow through her body before pushing against the door with a strength much greater than what she had wielded moments earlier.

The door gave way, but it didn't simply open, it crashed inwards, sending her tumbling into the chamber beyond, only barely managing to avoid breaking the lamp as she stumbled to a stop. She found herself in a lab of some sort, dry, dusty, and creepy as hell. She could spot screens and consoles dotting the sides of the chamber, along with a number of pods and medical bays. What was this place? She walked towards one of the consoles and placed her lamp on it, not noticing some buttons depress under its weight as she tried to make sense of the markings on the console. Something starting whirring nearby, probably in reaction to the buttons she didn't know she had pressed, and she spun around at the sound. But in doing so she clipped the lamp, sending it crashing to the floor, leaving her in complete darkness as the room started coming to life around her. She slipped into a defensive stance, waiting for her eyes to get accustomed to the darkness.

Jain you bald bastard, if I die to a ghost because you didn't teach me how to punch ghosts then I'm going to haunt you to the Galaxy's edge.

@Rom @Logan

 

[Rom]

The fighting on Felucia had been fiercer than Command had expected, the Seppies landing more and more clankers to meet the GAR offensive and the Republic responding in kind. The fungal forests were a graveyard of machine and clone alike, and now it was time for the 104th Battalion to water the soil with trooper blood.

Lieutenant CT-6423, or Tripp as he was known among his brothers, stood on a rise overlooking the valley the droids had setup as their forward base on the continent, the sound of rain tinkling off his armor and the Z-6 rotary slung across his back grounding his nerves as he surveyed the perimeter of the base. General Koon and Commander Wolffe had led the bulk of the Battalion around from the east, intending to draw the clankers attention and allow his platoon to flank them with heavy weapons. Once the artillery opened fire they'd move in for the kill and be one step closer to taking Felucia for the Republic.

A hand coming down on his cauldron and a quiet laugh shook Tripp from his musings, eyes rolling fondly behind the transparisteel T-visor of his helmet as his batchmate and fellow ARC Trooper pulled him back towards the fallen mushroom they were using as cover. "Careful on the ledge there, Lt, we'd hate to see you trip and go rolling down the cliff."

A chorus of groans and a few tossed clods of mud rained down on the trooper as Fang Company made their displeasure at the pun known. Waving for them to settle down, Tripp lifted his wolf marked helmet off and swept his eyes over the gathered troopers.

"Jester, save it for the clankers; that joke stopped being funny back on Mygeeto. Men, I want your kits double checked and to be ready to move out in half an hour. General Koon will be starting the attack at midday and I dont want to keep our brothers waiting! Remember," and stopped short as a chorus of voices just like his own cut him off.

"The Pack hunts together."

Snorting at the singsong response called out by Jester, Tripp turned to help a newer recruit tighten the strap on his ammo pack when the clearing exploded with light and sound as a patrol of SBDs marched out of the mushroom forest and opened fire with wrist rockets and blaster cannons. Cursing enough to make a Hutt blush, Tripp threw the Shiny down behind cover and ripped a pistol from his thigh holster, stitching a line of fire up one of the droids chassis and leaving it to collapse in a smoking ruin.

Blue and red light zipped across the clearing as the ambushed clones fought back against their attackers, and Tripp had only a moment to call out on the comms that they were under attack when a sparking silver ball came flying out of the gloom and rolled to a stop at his feet. Electricity arced over he and three other brothers bodies, and the last thing Tripp saw was Jester falling in a corona of electricity before everything went black.

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

Tripp came to groggy awareness at the feeling of metal hands strapping him to a gurney, instinctively struggling against his bonds only to have a heavy limb strike him across the face. The prick of a needle in his neck seemed to leech the strength from body, and all he could do was listen as they were loaded into a ship bound for a Laboratory. Every movement resulted in another punch and dose from the needle, and the last thing he consciously felt was an intense surge of cold before everything became dark.

And he dreamed.

-------------------‐----

The first thing Tripp felt was the sensation of falling, followed immediately by pain as he hit the ground in a jumble of limbs and armor. His eyes burned fiercely and he gasped in breaths of stale air like a man drowning. He could not hear the oily tones of a Nemoidian, nor the chattering of a Genosian or even the creaking of metal limbs raising a weapon primed to fire. All he could hear was the sound of his own heart thundering in his ears and an unnatural silence.

"...Hello?"

 

[Logan]

______________

Sometimes Xanthippe really didn't understand how exactly she ended up in most of the random ass situations she'd find herself in. This was one such time. Kicking about in the lower cities of Taris came with certain perks. One of those perks was, if you did your best to eavesdrop, was overhearing interesting conversations between people much to drunk to be blabbering on about most of the things the blabbered on about.

Xan had recently decided she was in the market for some kind of personal guard droid, but lacking in sufficient funds she didn't really have an avenue in acquiring one. Luckily a few days ago she'd stumbled into some fortune and overheard some bounty hunters talking about an old CIS facility on Christophsis ripe for looting. Figuring she could get a jump on the drunkards, Xan had sought out the first ride of Taris and headed straight for the source of the rumors.

She figured since buying a droid might have been out of the question, salvaging one and fixing it up might work. As she skulked through the abandoned factory, eyes darting to the sides at every random shadow, Xan was starting to think selling death sticks might have been a better route. Turning a corner, Xan almost leapt out of her own skin the visage of someone up ahead seemingly.. forced a door of its hinges.

Unable to stifle a small yelp, Xan figured that approaching the person was probably safer than just running and making it seem like she'd been stalking them or something. Plus, if whoever that was had the strength to do that to a giant door, they probably already knew Xan was there. That's how super powers worked, right?

"You got some kind of grudge against doors?" Xan asked, trying to start off with a bit of humor as she approached Felisin. She noticed that the room they were in was alive and well as far as power was concerned, which seemed positive all things considered.

Before Xan could further their conversation, an echoing "Hello?", coming from a man's voice, hit her ears which caused her to raise an eyebrow in surprise. Looking at Felisin, she shrugged her shoulders a bit. "Uhh... he with you?"

@Wit @Rom

 

[Wit]

Felisin whirled around on hearing Xanthippe's voice behind her. Despite what she might have thought, Felisin had no superpowers beyond knowing how to punch things. That bit she was pretty good at. But sensing things around her, not letting get a jump on her, or not jumping in scared shock at someone suddenly showing up behind her was not one of them.

She instinctively reached for her staff, having set it down on the counter a moment earlier. But in her haste she only managed to whack it off the counter and onto the ground. So she just stood her ground and faced the new arrival with a confused look on her face. The sudden appearance of the woman, the room starting to light up, and the voice that had spring up from somewhere within the room had managed to spook her just a little. For just a moment or two she had sundered if the villagers had been right about this place being haunted.

"Wha??" She finally spoke up, trying to decide if she should focus on the woman or the voice that had emerged from behind them. "No, I don't, I mean..who are you?" She stumbled over the words before stopping and taking in a breath, remembering Jain's teachings and forcing herself to calm down. She finally bent down to pick up her staff and glanced at San before turning towards the voice. She had come down the path Felisin, so she was probably here from outside. But the voice had come from within. It was the more curious of the two, so potentially more dangerous. Made sense to focus on that as the bigger threat.

"No, he's not with me." She gripped her staff in both hands and spread her legs oh so slightly, preparing herself to spring into action. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

She stood at an angle, trying to keep the woman and the direction the voice had come from in her line of sight. She had let Xan scare her once, she wasn't going to let that happen again.

@Rom @Logan

 

[Rom]

Pushing himself up off the floor with a pained grunt, Tripp scooted backwards on his hands and feet and wedged himself into a corner, blindly groping around for a weapon until his hand closed around a length of cool metal; judging by the weight at the end probably some sort of IV stand. Pulling it in close the ARC Trooper held the stand across his body defensively and stared defiantly in the direction of the two women's voices. He was a prisoner here, and he refused to cooperate with Separatists scum.

"CT-6423, Lieutenant, Batch number 58461."

He listened carefully for any sound of movement hinting at the location of the two voices and the layout of the room, ready to lash out with his makeshift staff should they approach him. Until he heard the voice of a brother, Tripp would regard himself as a captive in enemy territory.

 

[Logan]

______________

It seemed that Xan had surprised the other woman as much as she'd surprised her. Whoever this stranger was, at least they didn't seem overtly hostile which was a huge stroke of luck as far as Xan was concerned. In her experience, strangers usually pulled blasters first and asked questions later.

"I'm Xan. Who're you?" She asked, though with the man starting to talk again her interest turned swiftly from Felisin to the other stranger.

Xan approached him slowly, taking the obvious precautions of not getting too close and keeping her wits on edge. "Batch number? What does that mean?" She asked, looking towards Felisin. Xan's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment before they popped open with that eureka moment. Looking at the strange man, Xan spoke again, doing her best to seem non-threatening, her voice soft and friendly. "What year do you think it is?"

Xan had recalled her schooling back when her parents still lived on the Tarisian surface. She remembered a portion of their history class being on an event called The Clone Wars. She didn't remember much about it to be honest - Xan wasn't exactly a "school person" - but she did remember that many of the soldiers who fought were clones.. born in batches. She'd also seen a few pictures of them, and although this guy seemed a little worse for wear, his face seemed somewhat familiar.

"I think this guy has been frozen for awhile.." Xan whispered under her breath towards Felisin, an "I'm not really sure what to do here" look painted across her face.

@Wit @Rom

 

[Wit]

Felisin was even more confused than Xan, her limited education showing as she had no idea what connections Xan was making after hearing the man's introduction. Jain had been the only teacher she had ever had, and history hadn't really been one of the major points of interest. It had been relegated to stories he would tell her around camp fires and putting her to sleep when she had been young. The man had been as much father to her as he had been teacher. He had told her about the Clone Wars, and how it had brought about the near demise of the Jedi, but she had never made the connection about the origin of the name.

So she wasn't sure how Xan came to the conclusion that the man had been sleeping for a long time, but seeing as she seemed to have a better grasp on the situation that her Felisin decided to go with her inference. If he was indeed waking up after a long time then they probably ought to be kind to him. Great, another opportunity to put her atrocious people skills to use.

"My name is Felisin," she said, as much to the trooper as to Xan, "What's the last thing you remember Lieutenant? CT-6423 was it? Wait, is that your name?" She bit down even as she asked the question. People were sensitive about their names, and she should know, she grew up without one till Jain had found her. She glanced towards Xan and shrugged apologetically, hoping the other woman have something to add to cover her faux pas.

@Rom @Logan

 

[Rom]

Still struggling to draw breath and unable to see Tripp swung his head from side to side as both women spoke, snippets of thought jumping at lightspeed across his mind from one train to the next without ever forming a cohesive whole. What's a batch number? Karking hells, what backwater had the clankers brought him too that these civvies didnt recognize a clone when they saw one? Some of Torrent Company had told him about places where locals didnt even know who the Chancellor was, let alone that there was a War going on, but he never thought he'd meet any; never mind that it was just his luck he'd be saddled with them while blind and trapped in a Separatist base!

"CT-6423 is my designation but you, miss, can call me Lieutenant or sir. I need information and we don't have much time; what system are we in and do either of you have access to long-range comms? I need to contact GAR Command to bring the cavalry down on this installation... and how did you two even get past the Seppie droids in the first place?"

He was already running a mental inventory over his gear, feeling for the shift of filled holsters on his hips and the weight of power packs hidden beneath his kama, when everything ground to a halt.

"What... did you seriously ask what year it is? Worse than shinies..." Snorting, Tripp turned his head toward the first womans voice and regarded her with sightless eyes. "We must really be out on the Rim; it's 979 Ruus. I don't know how you two ended up in a clanker base, but welcome to the Clone Wars."

 

[Wit]

Felisin was dumbfounded when she heard the man speak. Dots were finally beginning to connect in her head, helloing her come to conclusions Xan had already beaten her to. By the stars but he really was lost, wasn't he? How was she supposed to deal with this situation, how was anyone? She glanced at Xan with concern and confusion mixed on her face. Slowly the true implications of where he was from was starting to settle on her. If he really had been asleep since the Clone Wars then everything he had known and everyone he had cared for was gone. How was someone supposed to deal with that.

"You're on Christophsis," she finally spoke up, her voice as calm and soothing as she could make it, she wasn't really good at this though she wasn't sure if it would help, "The war is over, has been for a long time now. The Republic, the Separatists, they're all gone now." She observed his face as she spoke, trying to gauge how he would react to the revelations. A few simple words, but they would turn his world upside down. And then another realization hit her, he had fought with the Jedi. He had been there to see them at the height of their power. He had known Jedi, the realization shook her, finally the true magnitude of his displacement hitting her. He might have been friends with them. Her heart broke as she spoke almost without realizing that the words were escaping her lips.

"The Jedi are gone."

@Rom @Logan

 

[Logan]

______________

Xan stayed quiet and let Felisin do the talking, finding it hard to grasp the words that would help the poor man in front of them come to grips with his new reality. She couldn't even imagine what it must feel like to wake up one day and suddenly have everything you'd known vanish into the void of time. And not only that, but to have the news broken to you by two complete strangers in some dilapidated and dingy factory in the middle of nowhere.

Instincts taking over the action center of Xan's brain, she slowly, cautiously, and doing her utmost to make it not a surprise, approached CT-6423. If he allowed her, Xan would place a comforting hand on the man's shoulder before embracing him in a hug, one intended for comfort, compassion.. maybe a little bit of pity. It wouldn't last long, but hopefully it could mean something.

"Your blindness will likely wear off wear off in a few hours," Xan said, finally. The only reason she knew that was because she'd heard it in passing from some patrons in one of the lower city cantinas, talking about a friend of theirs who'd been picked up on bounty for some hutt thugs who'd frozen him for awhile. If useful for nothing else, living in the lower city was at least good for picking up random facts about unfortunate circumstances from loud drunks.

"Do you have a name other than CT-6423?" She asked, taking a few steps back to stand near Felisin again. "It's a bit of a mouthful, to be honest," A little bit of humor to hopefully soften an otherwise terrible situation. "I still want to do a little looking around this place, but you're free to come with me when I leave. My ship has plenty of room, and well.." Xan paused for a moment, unsure of how to word this next part. "I don't just want to leave you in the galaxy alone, with no place to go."

Xan would understand if CT-6423 didn't want to go, but she couldn't with good conscience not offer. Hopefully he'd take her up.

@Wit @Rom

 

[Rom]

Tripp shook his head in disbelief at Felisin's words, the pain in his eyes fading in exchange for a surge of pressure behind his temples. He was on Christophsis? That was impossible, they'd cracked the Crystal less than a year ago - Tripp would know, having fought there back before he'd been transferred from the 212th under General Kenobi to help rebuild the 104th - he would have heard if the planet had fallen to the Separatists again. His protests died on his lips as the woman kept talking, each word hammering into him like a turbolaser blast.

The war was over? The Republic was gone? He couldn't believe it, refused to; the Republic had existed for a thousand years, it couldnt just be gone! The GAR would never allow it, the Jedi would never allo...

The metal rod dropped from his nerveless fingers with a clatter as Tripp rocked back on his heels as if struck, bonelessly slumping against a workbench. The familiar hiss of a rebreather and the phantom sensation of a three fingered hand clasping his shoulder in almost fatherly affection drifted across his mind with a flash of desperate pain, chased by memories of a crisp Coruscanti accent urging them to follow - always from the front in the thick of things, never from behind the rising tide of white plastoid alloy and flesh. The Clones were made for their Jedi, it was a fact every Brother knew from their earliest memories, and if the Jedi were gone...

The sound that tore from his chest was more animal than human, a keening wail of impotent rage and grief that echoed through the darkened medbay. Tripp was vaguely aware of the other woman wrapping him into a hug but could not reciprocate, struck dumb by the sea of identical faces replacing the blackness, all bearing matching expressions of disappointment and the rictus of death. Biting his lip hard enough to taste the coppery tang of blood, the clone pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes as if to push back the tears he could feel wetting his cheeks and took a shallow, shuddering breath.

"Tripp... my name is Tripp."

@Logan @Wit