Open Coruscant Tattered Paths

[Alexandria Voran]

A century was a long time to live. Even for one who expected to last several more. Your perspective changed across those years, as time stretched. Small decisions seemed less important. The ebb of the galaxy more clearly visible. Change occurred not in days, months, or years…but decades. Change in the galaxy…change in the Jedi…and change in yourself. Alex was hardly the woman she’d once been. A wandered pulled back into the Order by a man desperate for a life line. She’d been Grandmaster far longer than Oren ever called himself a Councilor. She’d fought alongside Max as they each espoused their refusal to take lives. Alex had outlived both him and that philosophy. Countless friends…students…come and gone. Yavain, Indy, Drow, Talak, Hans, Izel, the list was long and growing longer. Knights, Masters, and Councilors came and went, but she remained. Her time growing longer than even Oota.

The Morellian Jedi was not old for her people. The Force would even further extend her life, but she was growing tired. Thin. When she looked into the mirror there was no denying scars left by the war. She had fought hard to regain who she was. That balance that precipitated her long years leading the Order. Change was coming. She was uncertain another existed within herself, but the Force had pulled her to Coruscant and she was going to find out.

Alex stepped off the shuttle into the space port. She did not wear Jedi robes. Her armor was beneath a green cloak, her sabers concealed, and a dark mask covering half of her face. The Force just barely altering the contours of what could be seen. She could feel the turmoil burning on Coruscant. The fire of emotion rippling across her sense. She was right. Something was terribly wrong. Alex turned to Maura. “Can you feel it?” Emotions were high but being pushed higher. “There is corruption in the city.” But where? There was only one way to find out.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura was sixteen years old and just a handful of months away from turning seventeen. She didn't even have a fraction of the experience her master had. So to say the padawan was apprehensive was a bit of an understatement, but she trusted Alex. Whatever she would face in the following hours, she would gather up all her training and experience and do her best.

Like Alex, Maura was not in her robes. She wore the armor and mask her master had provided for her, covering them and the two sabers at her disposal with a dark brown cloak. The girl stopped at Alex's side when she began to speak and took a second to see if she could feel the corruption in the air. It was hard not to.

"Yeah," she answered, shifting her weight back and forth. She was antsy. She wanted to get moving. "Are we heading for it?"

tag: @Valen Pelora

 

[Hit Bug]

Chaos was the perfect cover.

Nisk didn't know much about anything other than shooting and stabbing things, but he did know that when the shit hit the fan, the powers that be did what they could to move up the ladder of power. It had always been the way. Coruscant had always been a terrible place to be, especially on the lower levels, but with the abject carnage that filled its lower levels these days, it had become even worse.

However, he knew what was in store when he accepted this job. It was why he had demanded half of the payment upfront. It was like his late mother had always said, "Never Skin an Ewok unless the credits are on the table.". She always did give the best advice.

Arriving on Coruscant last night, Nisk had got to work quickly. Heading to the lower levels, he had spent the early hours keeping tabs on his target - some lesser boss from the Lorsoni Family. Yet, it seemed fate was destined to get in his way again. As he rounded the corner, wearing a nice brown robe to cover the fact he was armed and armoured, he walked directly into two similarly hooded people and fell over.

He snarled and chittered at the two figures "Hey, I'm walking here!" he emoted in his best Corellian accent as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Jeez. You folks need to watch where you going." he reprimanded them, despite the fact that he had walked into them. "Anyway. No harm done; where you headed?" he extended a chitinous claw to shake on of their hands, understanding that to be the common form of polite greeting for the mammal population.

 

[The Storyteller]

"Somebody... anybody, please!"

Ahead of the two disguised Jedi and the Verpine man, the mass of sentient life that was Coruscant pushed onward. Washing past obstacles and those in need alike in a movement akin to the waters of a river washing past a particularly stubborn stone. Eventually, the stone would be ground down for daring to stand in the way of the rushing waters. In that same way, the woman calling out, trying desperately to gain the attention of people within the perpetual crowd, would one day give up.

"By the Force...! Someone must care, please?"

The unfeeling, unflinching, tide of the stream of people that was Coruscant... it would wear her down but not today. Today she caught sight of the two disguised Jedi and the Verpine man. They didn't immediately look like they would care any more than the rest of Coruscant but it was worth a shot because they, unlike everyone else, seemed to have stopped.

Desperate, the woman crossed the distance, pushing herself in front of the trio and interrupting their conversation without hesitation as she clasped her hands in front of her.

"I know you don't know me and I know you have no right to care but... my children... the orphanage's children... they've gone missing in the tunnels below the old Imperial Palace! Please, I need your help! Please!"

She sobbed openly.

"The Rangers can't spare the numbers and... and no one else has even stopped... please help the children!"

@Valen Pelora @lizziie @Nor'baal

 

[Alexandria Voran]

She nodded in response to Maura. The severity of the moment settling around them. Alex had prepared herself for the worst. What she felt now went beyond that. There was simply no time to waste. She could feel the Force pushing her onward. Every second that ticked the challenge became all the greater. Taking one last breath, she led Maura forward. Her mind searching ahead of them. Unfortunately, that resulted in a man careening into them. They were in the lower city. She hadn’t forgotten her roots in the Corellian slums. Alex quickly checked herself to ensure nothing was stolen. All her possessions remained. Her mind shooting to Maura. “Check your pockets.” Her voice was harsh as she spoke. Her eyes staying locked on the Verpine.

“None of your business.” The Force pushing threats into her tone. “Keep moving.” Her eyes hard. Alex took a step back to walk around the Verpine when the cry rang out. It cut through the mass of people. Ringing clearly in her ears. The Force a gong in her mind. The Temple. The desperation in her woman’s voice was real…sincere. Alex’s eyes reflectively shifted towards the direction of the abandoned Jedi Temple. It couldn’t be. The Morellian Jedi’s voice softened.

“Show us where they went missing, the last place they were seen.” She smiled under her mask. “There are still people in this galaxy who want and can help.” She looked back at the Verpine. “3 is a crowd.” She did not know who that man was or what he wanted. Whatever waited for them would require her full focus and strength. She could not afford any distractions. Her head titled towards Maura for a second. Was it a mistake to bring her? No. She would be a Knight soon enough, and she could handle herself. She could not worry about the girl. “Come on, show us.”

@lizziie @Nefieslab @Nor'baal

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Alex addressed the rude stranger, so Maura just switched sides and stood opposite of the bug-man. She listened while Alex spoke to the hysterical woman, ears attentive under the shade of her hood.

She would follow wherever the woman led the two of them.

tags: @Valen Pelora @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

"Oh by the Force and all the stars I'd almost given up hope... thank you! Thank you so much, please - it's this way!"

The matron of the orphanage grasped at the hands of both Maura and Alexandra but only to squeeze their hands as if to reassure herself that they were real - but also to try and impress upon them just how much their assistance actually meant to the woman. With their assistance, she felt hope that flared through the Force as she quickly led them away from the main streets they had been on, down a series of long stairwells.

Each one seemed to be both fully lit and dark at the same time, though only those with Force Sensitivity would be able to tell that it was largely because of the growing presence of the Dark Side as they went down several layers before reaching a turbolift. Stepping inside, the matron would wait for the two Jedi before pushing one of the buttons for a very low floor.

"They went down to explore the tunnels underneath the old Imperial Palace. They said that they could..." she eyed the two women she didn't actually know were Jedi before admitting, "'sense' something down there that was keeping them awake at night. They said they needed to try and stop it..."

She sighed.

"I know that probably sounds crazy - what could a bunch of kids 'sense' down there?"

The matron sighed as the doors to the turbolift opened, leading to a single staircase that went down, into a huge canyon of metal and wires that surrounded half a dozen pipes the size of buildings. They were old but they were universally solid, with only one of them having any signs of damage - towards the middle of the cluster of colossal pipes, one had been broken. Water trickled out like a stream from the hole the size of a starfighter.

"Can you help them? I have a picture of them..."

Spoiler: Kid One - Tayla & Mr Kitty

Spoiler: Kid Two - Sessa

Spoiler: Kid Three - Krikur

Spoiler: Kid Four - Issen

@Valen Pelora @lizziie @Nor'baal

 

[Alexandria Voran]

Hope. The unmistakable feeling flooded the Force. Alex never let her eyes leave the woman’s face. Her own hand squeezing back. They would find them. They would bring them home safe. Her hope was not misplaced. Even when surrounded by darkness, there was always a glimmer of light. The Jedi followed the matron. Their steps carrying them ever further into the depth of Coruscant. She simply shook her head. The corrupt was now obvious. What she had only suspected was too easily confirmed. The Darkside had taken root beneath the ancient home of the Jedi. Tython was where they came from. Coruscant was an entirely different beast in their history.

The Force Nexus beneath the Temple had lost its way before…and it was powerful. Powerful enough to explain why Coruscant descended into madness. Powerful enough to disrupt the very balance of the galaxy. Alex’s eyes shifted sideways to Maura. The girl was ready. The life of a Jedi was sacrifice. A sacrifice of your childhood, your innocence. A growing list. Alex met the matron’s eyes again. She reached out to take the photos. Her voice gentle. “They are special.” There was no doubting the children were Force Sensitive. It made finding them even more important. Finding them before the Darkness crept in. “And we will find them. I promise.” If she was going to do this, she was going as herself.

Alex took her mask off. Letting the illusion of the Force fade away. The green robe fell to the ground to revel her armor, her lightsaber hilt snapping into her hand. “I told you. There are good people in this world still…people who can and will help.” She reached out and squeezed the matron’s shoulder. With a deep breath, Alex began to head down the stairs. The Force filled every cell in her body. Her sense searching for danger. The grip on the saber hilt loose. The nexus was powerful…the danger great…but the Grandmaster would not be denied and she wielded a power all her own.

@lizziie @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

There was a flash of recognition from the matron as Alexandria decided to shed her illusions, to reveal herself as they very picture of a serene Jedi Master.

For a moment, there was silence as the matron just seemed to take in the revealed reality of the situation... until she smiled a little bit and bowed her head towards both Alexandria and Maura, tears beginning to prickle at the edge of her eyes as she bowed further to stare right at her own feet.

"Thank you, Masters Jedi... thank you for still being able to stand up for us, even when we turn our backs on you. I place my trust in you... and their lives in your hands."

Even the matron held little doubt; there was something afoot here.

Something evil that lived within the shadows of the underground layers and levels of the Imperial Palace, formerly the old Jedi Temple of Coruscant. Beyond the trickling waters, the darkness within the depths of the former temple seemed to seep out into the underbelly of the city-planet.

With their sense of the Force and their observational skills, both Jedi would be able to tell something was off about the darkness as it appeared near the gap in the huge tunnel/pipe - specifically because it appeared solid. As though the darkness had formed a wall through which no light or sound could escape.

Instead it stood there, like a veil awaiting something to take the first, brave, step and push through it into what lay beyond.

@Valen Pelora @lizziie @Nor'baal

 

[Alexandria Voran]

The Dark side did not all feel the same. It was as varied as the Force itself. In some, that darkness manifested as intense rage or hate. Others, greed, and selfishness. There was no uniformity in corruption. One constant did remain the same. That cold shiver creeping up her spine when it was near. As they neared the pipe, Alex might as well have been on Hoth.

They could not see past the wall of darkness. It was if the light simply ceased to exist. A truly alien feeling in the Force invading her senses. Alex looked at Maura and shrugged. There was nothing to do but to do it. Nothing got easier by waiting. She took a deep breath, awash in the Light side of the Force, and stepped through.

@Nefieslab @lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura was nervous, and she could feel the tendrils of the Dark Side weighing like smoke in the air - or maybe that was just Coruscant's heavy pollution. As straight as the little hairs stood up on the back of her neck, she couldn't pull herself away. She was stronger now than she was back at that station, and she was here with her master. So despite her apprehension and the fear that tickled the back of her neck, she stepped forward to follow her master.

She attempted to copy her master as she stepped through the veil of darkness, inhaling the Light into her core and holding it closely as her freckled hand breached the barrier.

@Valen Pelora @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

Stepping through the Darkness was not difficult.

It felt both solid and not at the same time but yielded happily to them when the two Jedi tried to step on through. Like a sticky tar, it tugged at them without ensnaring them, trying its best to stick to them and stay with them as they passed through. Practitioners of the Light as they were, the shadows found little purchase. Every time it tried to cling to Alex it was almost burned clean off, whereas when it tried to cling to Maura it found purchase for a second before sliding off of the Padawan.

But it was not the main defense - it was the gateway.

As both Jedi stepped through, the darkness receded and they were no longer standing in some massive pipe used to ferry the waters of the city-planet. Instead they had been moved, no longer at the edge of the old Jedi Temple but instead deep under the most surface levels to the centre of what had once been the foundation of the Temple. Ahead of them was a large hall with three passageways leading off from it.

The floor beneath their feet was uneven, natural stone that had never known the touch of chisel or any other form of tool. It was a natural outcropping of rock on a planet that had long since abandoned the natural for the artificial. Ahead of them, in the centre of the barren hall, the four children were arrayed. One of them, the human boy known as Krikur, was laid out on the ground on his back, surrounded by his fellow children who were kneeling, each of them with their back to one of the three passages that led off from the hall.

Behind each other the kneeling children, a shadowy figure stood with hands atop the heads of the children. Krikur didn't have a shadowy figure anywhere near him but from the way his skin was bulging and pulsing, it was clear that something wasn't quite right at all. All four children seemed to be in some form of trance, their eyes open and pleading but seeing nothing, reacting to nothing.

Throughout the hall, the Force throbbed painfully, like an open wound with salt being actively rubbed into it by an uncaring hand. The Dark Side swirled around the apparent ritual and the very stone they stood on almost seemed to be screaming into the Force as it's own presence in the Force was drawn out, mutilated and assimilated into the ritual.

"The Line Of Bane Will Be Without End."​

@Valen Pelora @lizziie

 

[Alexandria Voran]

She walked through mud. The shadows grabbing at her as they passed. They found no toeholds on the Grandmaster. Though the sinking feeling in her stomach only grew. She had felt such darkness like this before. The curse on Ajan Kloss…before Max died. A darkness left behind by the Sith when they tore the Temple apart. A feeling she would never forget.

They came through the other side and the undercity of Coruscant was gone. She had never been this deep within the old Temple, but she knew what to look for well enough. Old stone and older memories stretching up all around them. The ancient Temple beneath the monolith built by the old Order. The very center of the ancient Jedi. Alex’s eyes swept around the room. The throbbing of the Force beating behind her eyes. A wound. Ajan Kloss and New Alderaan sprung into her mind. The curse left behind and the cult ripping into the Force. The feeling was the same. A horrible ripping, devouring, mutilation of the Force. It all rang horribly unnatural. It grated against her very soul.

A younger Alex may have waited, may have investigated the scene. They did not yet seem to be noticed. A younger version may have preached caution to Maura. Maybe she should have but those were children. Already, something horrible was latching onto Krikur. His skin moving with utterly wrong undulation. Alex knew darkness when she saw it. She knew evil when it walked…and she knew that name. Bane. No, that legend would remain where it was meant to be. Dead and buried. The Force already pulsed through the Grandmaster. An undammed river of the Light. Her arm struck out, that same Light bursting forward. A manifestation of the Force in its purest form. She would burn that evil from this world.

“Enough.” Her words cut through the silence. Echoing in the chamber.

@lizziie @Nefieslab

 

[Maura Starwalk]

'The line... of Bane... will be without end... maaaan.' Maura's eyes settled on the science before her. She knew it was going to be some creepy shit, but this? Her gaze flickered over to her master, looking for any indication of what she should do, but the woman had already spoken, already sent a burst of the Light forward toward the group.

Shit. Maybe she should.... help?

Maura didn't know how to do whatever Alex was doing, but she drew on the strength of the Light that her master brought with her and concentrated on the area around them. If something came tumbling back at them, whether it be an attack or a wave of the Force, she hoped to try and catch it, forming a weak barrier the moment she noticed something amiss.

@Nefieslab @Valen Pelora

 

[The Storyteller]

The Light burned forth from Alex, bolstered by the way that same Light lived and grew with Maura. It lanced out, brightening the room they were all in, even if it did very little to pull the feeling of Wrongness from the air.

But the shadows had moved.

As though the shadows were men, they turned to regard the intruding Jedi before turning their attention back to the centre, back to Kirkur lay. They paused, deferential, as the human boy groaned in agony as his flesh bulged and began to deform, as if melting, as if more skin was being grown that was too much for his body.

The Champions Of The Light Return - Pitiful As Always. Dispatch Them.​

Two of the shadows broke away from the trio of children, removing their ghost-like hands from the heads of their victims, allowing them a moment of peace. As the two shadows walked, they seemed to grow more solid than they had been before. Before they appeared as shadows in the vague shape of men, of humanoids, but now they began to firm up, becoming more defined, like stark black silhouettes of men rather than the parodies they had been before.

One of them was tall and broad, the other just as tall but slighter.

As they moved, they seemed to grow in confidence and in character. The slighter figure pushed back a veil of shadow, like a short cape attached to his back, before pulling a hand away from his side. Forming from his hand itself, rather than any kind of lightsaber hilt, a crackling blade of violently unstable red energy burst forth... followed a second later by the ignition of two, smaller, blades to form a crossguard, the lightsaber-like energy held to the right side, the guard open and wide.

The broader, larger, shadow stepped towards Alex while the slighter one faced off against Maura. Each step felt heavier, weightier than any shadow ever had any right to be, as a solid red lightsaber blade ignited from the shadowy monster's right hand. But as it approached, it wasn't the lightsaber that would catch their attention.

Instead it was a sound.

A labored intake of breath and a mechanical exhale.

Ktchhhh... Hurrrrr...

@Valen Pelora @lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Black on black - Maura's onyx eyes following the shadows as they turned to 'regard' the two of them with their featureless faces. She grit her teeth - her nose crinkling as her brows furrowed - and immediately pulled her sabers to her hands. 'Dispatch them.' If that wasn't indicative of a fight to come, she didn't know what was.

"I think its pretty pitiful that you stole a bunch of kids for this," she retorted, her lightsabers igniting to throw a wash of white and violet against her tanned olive skin. She glanced over at Alex, hoping to glean confidence from her master. 'It's okay to be afraid,' she reminded herself as she looked back. 'Fear is just an emotion. It doesn't have to control me.' She would be stronger than it.

That was a little harder to stick to when she saw who those shadows solidified into. 'Sith!' She tightened her grip on her lightsaber, her lips pulling back to reveal fanged teeth, and pushed her foot back to steady her position.

"I thought only Jedi could become Force ghosts?" she half-whispered over to Alex while she prepared for them to advance. She was nervous. Surely those weren't actually who she thought they were.... right?

@Nefieslab @Valen Pelora

 

[Alexandria Voran]

Light filled the room, but distortion remained. They delt with a power equal…perhaps greater…to her strength. Alex’s eyes drifted to Maura for but a moment. She had chosen to come here. She was ready and they needed to move quickly. The sounds of Kirku torture filled the room. His body twisting in impossible ways. She did not know if he could be saved. The Grandmaster was prepared to try, and she would not leave the others. Her gaze focusing on the shadows again.

That voice filled the room. Two of the shadows moving towards them. Form suddenly giving them a greater life. Her saber hilt snapped into her hand as they approached. The closer they came. The more real they appeared. Alex’s white blade hissed to life. Eldritch blades sprang from the shadows. An unmistakable sound echoing in the chamber. She could feel Maura looking at her. Sense the apprehension in the Force bond. Alex was the port in the storm. Her only emotion, unwavering determination. “Vader is dead…as is Kylo Ren. They died the moment Anakin Skywalker and Ben Solo joined the Force. Not as Sith, but as Jedi.” Alex was old. She knew her history.

She had been witnessed the rise and fall of the First Order. Her Master had been among the first Jedi trained by Rey. “Cheap imitations. Dark magic and shadows of greater power.” Nothing to fear. The truth was a bit different. Vader and Kylo Ren had been among the most powerful force users to walk the galaxy. Even a hint of the former Sith was a dangerous foe. They fought literal legends from a time almost forgotten. Well, she had written a few stories herself. Alex lashed out with the Force. Whipping at shadow Vader to send him tumbling into shade Kylo. It was time to see just exactly what they faced.

@Nefieslab @lizziie

 

[The Storyteller]

Unfortunately for Maura, neither of the Shadow Monsters in the shape of Sith long-since dead could actually respond to her quip and the voice that had thundered through the hall previously didn't seem inclined to reply either. The pair of faux-Sith separated from each other, the one with the crossguard moving towards Maura while the other continued to stalk toward Alex.

The words of the Grandmaster of the Jedi were, by and large, true.

Darth Vader had died as Anakin Skywalker.

Kylo Ren had died as Ben Solo.

These moments in their past had a weight, a weight that had stripped the Shadows of some of their sheer power in the Force. The people they were imitating had died as Jedi but they had lived as Sith for long enough that, even diminished, they were still powerful. Their very presence rang through the Force like a harsh intake of breath, like their very existing caused the Force physical pain.

Alex lashed out with the Force, intending to slam Vader into Ren and found her Push slamming into the equivalent of a spray of water - or like a hand passing through the smoke of a fire. It distorted the torsos of both Vader and Ren, turning the solid-looking mass into a swirl of barely contained smokey shadows, but their legs kept moving even as their torsos only reformed once the Push was through them. They were made from shadows and smoke and, aside from their lightsaber blades, they appeared to be almost ethereal in how they interacted with the world.

Vader's shade marched the last of the distance between himself and Alex, launching a one-handed horizontal slash at her from her left. The deceptively 'light' attack would move with the unyielding mechanical power that Vader was known for. It was something that Alex could be faster than but there was little doubt that she would not be able to match it in terms of strength.

True to form, Kylo Ren immediately started to rush ahead of the shade of his Grandfather, rushing at Maura with eagerness. His crossguard lightsaber trailed along the floor as he ran before he brought it up towards Maura's torso from his right side, as though to cut her in half diagonally. Along with the lightsaber attack, however, the molten rock made by his lightsaber came along as well - spots of hot, molten, rock flew at Maura ahead of the lightsaber by a second, intending to make it harder for her to focus on her defence.

@Valen Pelora @lizziie

 

[Alexandria Voran]

The shapes wavered but were unyielding. Alex’s strength in the Force doing little but rustling the shadows. The slightest downturn of her lips was all that displayed her displeasure. She had meant to discover what effect the Force might have on the shades. She could hardly complain when the answered didn’t suit her. Yet…there was some piece of them in the physical world.

Alex could sense them in the Force. Crude twins of what they had been in life. The parts of dark souls left behind. They were real. Both parts of the Force and this world. She knew they could be stopped. She simply wasn’t sure how. They needed time. Time she was not sure they had. Vader and Ren had been among the most powerful Force users to ever live. She could claim to match their strength…but Maura…her apprentice could not. The Grandmaster had to trust in her student and find a way to end this.

Vader marched forward with the tenacity she expected. He was taller and stronger. Of that there was no doubt. She knew enough of his history to know how he fought. She could not match him stroke for strike. Alex poured the Force into her body. Bringing her own physical strength as close to Vader’s as she could. She was not there when he swung.

She danced backward with impossible speed. The full power she could muster at her command. Moving swiftly to her left after moving backward, then darting in as Vader swung his blade through air she formerly occupied. Her own white saber moving vertically to cut his shadow arm in two.

@Nefieslab @lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Unfortunately, even a cheap imitation would prove a challenge for the padawan. She had little time in between Alex's explanation and Kylo Ren's attack. Fortunately, Ren's attack was, despite its speed and force of it, quite telegraphed.

Maura made two assumptions as she moved to counter Ren's attack: one, the lightsaber would function as such, and two, her own saber would not do any damage to the shadow person. One of these, namely the first, was not something she was willing to test. The second... well, she'd try.

Rather than attempting to counter the attack, Maura drew the Force into her body - using Alex's Light as her rock in the Dark - and pushed it into her feet to create a greater distance between her and Ren as his crossguard saber came swinging upward. She threw her left leg back to catch her landing and steady herself, and as she did, her twin sabers came up to her front to defend against any flying debris.

'Fuck, what do I do?' Maura made a third assumption after seeing the force behind Ren's swing: this dude was strong. Normally she'd think to keep quick and light and attempt to tire her enemy out, but a shadow?? How did one wait out a shadow??

Maura decided to wait for Ren to attack first again, drawing the Force into her body as she waited, ready.

@Nefieslab @Valen Pelora