Ask Ossus The Hawk-Dove Dilemma

[Rishe Vakren]

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Death enabled​

Good pilots were capable of thwarting all sorts of obstacles, Rishe was sure. If only she knew how any of them did it, or how any of the detection systems worked.

It wasn't a radar or even visual sight that had alerted her to that ship landing, but an interruption of her meditation. It had disturbed the twin-tailed vultures of Ossus in a way that the planet itself could no longer do. Like brief flares in the Force, little specks of light exploding in a sea of stars, the disturbance was minute and indistinguishable, even to most Jedi. But Rishe always liked observing the wildlife, and she was quickly starting to find that they served as an excellent source of information when technology and skill failed.

A small speeder had carried her near the field that served as a landing pad with a spherical droid removing their dataprod from the vehicle. She didn't like droids very much, and didn't enjoy entrusting her life to one at speeds of a hundred kilometers an hour, but she trusted her own ability to drive even less. So the droid it was.

Of course, this wasn't the first - or even the second landing on Ossus. With the temple yet to be finished, it lacked significant signs of habitation, and the galaxy at large had not been notified of the Jedi's intentions here, even if news was slowly spreading anyway. Sometimes, it would be pirates or scavengers, hoping that the temple ruins were still abandoned. Other times, people were seeking the Order out, as since the attacks on Ajan Kloss, the locations of their other temples and strongholds were held secret.

She rummaged beneath her cloak into her satchel, looking for the scanner Rin had loaned her as she crested the top of a rock ridge. She'd kept the change in her wardrobe since her injury, and even if her arm was slowly healing, the cloak was proving to have other benefits compared to her robes, even if the two articles weren't much different in color or length.

The scanner hummed to life as she looked through it, and the distant form of a red and orange ship came into a very clear view. It was a sleek, somewhat large ship, and she would never know the proper classifications or terms someone would use for them, it seemed to her like a ship clearly made for combat. This might actually be the Mandalorians again. But I can't see anyone?

She checked herself over - she was always lightly armed and armored, she was only a padawan after all, and even on Ossus, the Order didn't fear the Sith arriving, not to a nexus of the Light. She had her clothes, her Master's saber on her old arm holster, and the darts Vahn had given her, minus one holding her hair up in a bun.

And if technology fails? She extended her awareness outwards, searching for those same vultures who had been bothered by the ship's landing. It might be unlikely, but a group of raiders or similar could disturb them again.

@TikiTaku

 

[Ryker Arelth]

Fate Intertwined​

This was not the end...

At least, that's what Ryker wanted to believe. After spending weeks in the underbelly of Coronet City, he finally found a party interested in his services. The individual he met in a seedy sector of the city, whose identity was hidden behind robe and armor, requested a delivery from the planet Ossus. He sought a rare plant which grew in the planet's rich, volcanic soil. Ryker had never even heard of Ossus before, but the strange individual promised a substantial reward for his efforts. So here he was, emerging from hyperspace in the Adega System. The planet Ossus quickly filled the viewport of his Fury-Class Interceptor, Apostátis.

Behind him, sitting in his mainframe slot, Ryker's BB-10 astromech droid, whom he simply called Droid, gave out a series of blips and whistles.

Ryker rolled his eyes, replying, "Don't bust a socket. I'm sure it gets prettier the closer we get to the surface."

Droid didn't seem so convinced, responding with a quick, curt chirp.

Sighing, Ryker flipped several switches, hoping to get a readout on the planet. Droid was right, the place was pretty barren. Droid declared victory with a string of beeps.

"You think we were set up, don't you? Well I don't. The plant is here. We'll find it and grab a few more for ourselves. We just need to find a suitable place to land.

Droid worked quickly on that while they broke the atmosphere and glided over the rugged landscape. Soon, a small blip appeared on the navigation screen.

"What did you find? Some large, abandoned structure? Well... there's plenty of clearing around it anyway. We'll land a mile out, just in case anyone has decided to make home if the ruins... or anything..."

Opening the maneuvering foils, Ryker easily guided the Apostátis between tall spires of extrusive igneous formations, eventually settling amidst a cloud of dust which sent nearby creatures scurrying for cover.

Droid was detaching from the mainframe slot as Ryker left the cockpit to grab his equipment. In his personal quarters, he removed his dual vibro-swords from their wall-mounted frame. He kept these strapped to his back. He slipped his Python Blaster Pistol into its holster and grabbed the macrobinoculars from the small table. He didn't know what to expect on this seemingly desolate planet, but he knew better than to anticipate the best outcome.

As he stepped down the landing ramp, setting foot onto the cracked soil of Ossus, a strange feeling swept over him. He didn't know how to place it, but it seemed to draw him toward the distant ruins.

"Let's go to the abandoned structure," Ryker instructed Droid, who hovered behind him, "Good chance we'll find this plant growing within some damp corridor."

Droid's groan was telling... and maybe he was right. Maybe this was all a setup. The feeling stayed with Ryker as they set off for the ruins, and he was left hoping that this was simply a new beginning.

 

[Rishe Vakren]

A speeder offered the padawan many advantages, like traversing two kilometers in short minutes, but subtlety was unfortunately not part of the package.

And it wasn't like she needed it to catch up. This distant figure puzzled her as it stepped off it's ship, tailed by a floating droid. Did they think to walk to the ruins?

Perhaps it was Ossus' latent connection to the Force, but stranger and stranger pilgrims were starting to approach the temple before it was even fully restored. The Padawan couldn't deny that she felt smug about it - Laeonas rejected the will and influence of the Force, but she has seen nothing but proof with her endeavors on the rekindled planet.

"I'll walk for a little, Ralta. Keep the speeder at a distance unless you see trouble." Rishe said to the droid, nestled in the saddle of the machine. It was Vahn's pet project, so she didn't necessarily mistrust it, but she really only saw the thing as an emergency beacon or ride away.

It beeped something incomprehensible to her - she'd never bothered to learn the droid's binary, but it probably was an affirmation.

Then the Padawan faded into her surroundings with an unnaturally quiet pace. Her wide, featureless cloak made a fine tapestry to paint the environment upon, and she became nothing more than a blur as light bent around her. The vultures above paid her no more mind than the rocky ground below. Unaware of her approach, and without a speeder to outpace her, the traveler would need to scan over her directly with his binoculars, or his droid would need to look behind them.

Though she had no intention on ambushing them. She merely followed in the figure's footsteps, picking up the small threads of emotion he left behind, like sinewy breadcrumbs in the Force. Hope. Caution. It told her little, but at least there was not malice.

So she spoke, her voice carrying further than it normally would. "Welcome to Ossus."

The Padawan slid into view only a few hundred metres behind them, as if emerging from an oil painting with her cloak swaying in Ossus' wind and her features seemingly obscured by the heat radiating from the ground. Her signature in the Force was weak - nearly nonexistent, as she did not carry the serene aura of a Jedi master or the overwhelming malice of a Sith.

There were occasional benefits to weakness. And hopefully, she'd be just as enigmatic as her target. If he knew little about her, she might be able to glean more information. "You're the latest in a string of uncharacteristic visitors. Why have you come here?"

@TikiTaku