Open Ajan Kloss Why We Fight

[Algus Doll]

Having arrived to Ajan Kloss just moments prior, he found himself in a clearing of jungle, lost in the shadows of large branches and thick foliage. His world was spinning, he felt uneasy and he had spent all his credits booking his passage here. He had arrived on but a word, and already he could hear Master Silla's voice echoing in his head, in all its rasp.

Go to Ajan Kloss. The Force will lead you where you need to be.

The moon was a furnace compared to Fort Ypso, it's air thick with moisture and already rivulets of sweat cascaded down his forehead in beads. The jungle was almost suffocating, its very leaves so teeming with life that the cry of insects was deafening; it was a sea of viridian stolen from his wildest dreams of what lay beyond the icy mountains of Vandor. He had never been so surrounded by life, yet felt so alone and lost.

He didn't like it.

Before the tides of Ajan Kloss would drown him however, he regained his composure and shed the top layer of his poncho, draping it over his shoulder. Reassuring himself, he let his fingers trace over the cold surface of his lightsaber hilt, tucked away and hidden neatly at his side. He hoped he wouldn't have to make use of it, but still, knowing it was there brought him some comfort. It reminded him that he was a Jedi, that he should be vigilant and brave. In the back of his head, he had hoped Master Silla would have came with him. This was his first time without his protective wing hovering over him.

Grass protested under his feet, his footfall barely audible against the leaf-cushioned ground as he began to finally make his way through ferns and vines, brushing them aside, mustering what courage he had to carry onward, without any idea of where he was going. The Force would lead him? The very concept of the phrase brought nothing but doubt; as long as he had studied to be a Jedi Knight, he always had trouble putting his full faith in The Force. He always imagined it was more of a tool than a guide of destinies. Was a Jedi temple supposed to appear out of the aether, hidden betwixt and between all this green?

Maybe he wasn't the prodigy his father wanted after all. But prodigy or not, he had nowhere else to go.

 

[Kegari]

Moments later after Kegari found out that she is Force sensitive, she decided to explore the planet of Ajan Kloss a little more. To meditate, to meet other students, and the such. She decided to take a stroll within the jungle, when she sensed another presence.

She sighed and quietly made her way around “Hello”? Kegari asked unsure of whatever presence she felt although she wasn’t trained in the Force, just yet she was still getting Force-type senses.

A newly appointed Jedi Knight, still unsure of his way, still unsure of himself, and alone and afraid. Although he’s been trained in the Force and is officially a Jedi he still had his doubts. Kegari felt for him, she knew exactly what he needed, he needed guidance he needed help is what Kegari could sense.

But being untrained in the Force, Kegari wasn’t sure that she was the one who could help him.“Is everything okay”? Kegari asked in a whisper hoping she didn’t interrupt him just in case he was in a meditation state.

 

[Lorne Feng]

Whoever the frak had decided that the jungles of Ajan frakking Kloss was a good place to place a smuggler's cache was certifiably out of their mind. Electronics were a definite no-go. Nobody was storing them out in the jungle for any period of time. The humidity would kill them. Same for anything that could possibly corrode, like weapons. Truth be told Lorne didn't really care what it was, the job was paying well enough as it was.

The extra-strength antiperspirant was meeting its match as he shouldered his way through a cluster of vines, holding on to one bunch as he cut his way through with the other. He could see the rough structure of a crumbled, ancient building ahead through the foliage. Good. The instructions given to him had told him to head a kilometre and a half West of town, and look for a ruined building. The stuff would be in a hollowed out cavity underneath a large stone next to a bunch of purple pitcher plants.

As Lorne slapped an insect that had decided to see if the sweat on Lorne's brow was something worth drinking, he considered the possibility that whoever sent him out this way had seen too many holovids, or it was some stupid set-up. Normally you just included whatever contraband you wanted smuggled in with the regular goods. Like normal freaking people did. Dead drops weren't unheard of for small things, but getting to them wasn't usually a pain in the lekku. He stopped to take a couple gulps of water from his canteen. Out here he was pretty much sweating out water as fast as he put it in.

Just before reaching the edge of the clearing with the building, Lorne came to a halt and crouch low to survey the terrain. If it was a set-up, he din't really want to walk blindly into it. The far edge of the clearing was, well, difficult to make anything out. The very plants that concealed most of Lorne's frame could also be used to hide others. All it would take was modest effort into some camouflage and a whole team of Back Sun or whoever could wait for someone to walk into view. He didn't see any scout drones circling above or perched on the fragmented walls. But...there were two people in the clearing.

This Lorne did not like. Two people were one more than one, and Lorne was on his own. He didn't know who these folk were or what they were doing here. He did know that they were at the spot where he was supposed to pick up some illegal goodies. Rummaging around a random rock and shoving a package into his pack would be an suspicious sight, even if he was lucky enough that these two were just some love-birds on a romantic date to some humid, sweltering ruins. Hmph. Lorne quietly considered his options, and decided to sit and wait. Maybe the strangers would be leaving soon.

 

[Kegari]

Kegari had heard footsteps, she wonders who else could have been here, besides herself. She sighed and turned to find herself with an unfamiliar face. Perhaps he was lost, or he was a new student she thought to herself as she walked toward him.

“What brings you here”? Kegari asked unsure of this man’s motives or even why he was on Ajan Kloss to begin with. He didn’t appear to be a Jedi by any means, although she knew they came in all shapes and sizes. She sensed this one was an uninvited guest. Although she didn’t want to cause trouble, she still had her guard up just in case this man was up to no good.

“Is everything alright”? Kegari asked nicely although this may have not been a good idea. Rookie mistake she thought to herself as she began to second guess herself. She had hoped that he knew that the jungle of Ajan Kloss wasn’t too much for him, but by the looks of it. He was already worn out and parched.

 

[Lorne Feng]

Well...damn. But, truth be told, what did Lorne expect? He was a big, red twi'lek wearing a blue duster jacket and wide-brimmed hat. How stealthy did he expect to be? If he could see people, they probably could see him. No, they could see him. That's why the blue chick spotted him almost immediately. What was she...Chiss? No, her eyes weren't all creepy red. Pantoran? Lorne hadn't met many of them.

Lorne sighed and stood up. She didn't look like a thug. Granted, looks could be deceiving, but Lorne doubted that anyone looking to disrupt a simple pickup from a dead-drop would go to the trouble of anything more than a pair of muscle-for-brains types. He coughed, mind racing to come up with some excuse for being here that would satisfy the nosy Pantoran. "I was told that the ruins were worth checking out. But uh...I don't think I'm really dressed for the jungle. Not that I have any better clothes to wear out here," he said, which was pretty close to the truth.

He looked past Kegari at the ruins, trying to find some sort of appeal in them, and failing. "I'm not convinced though. What about you?" Hell, why was anyone on this moon? Unless they were part salamander or something. And how was he supposed to get the goods now that Kegari decided to strike up a chat with him? Maybe he could just happen to "find" them? Hmm. It was going to be a problem he'd have to work out as he went along, most likely.

 

[Kegari]

Kegari eyes the Twi’lek and sighed. “As a matter of fact, I’m glad you asked I’m here for my training, a better question is why you are here on this planet”? Kegari asked before the Twi’lek that looked nothing like a Jedi or a Sith, but rather someone that isn’t loyal to anyone well other than getting paid.

She sensed that he wanted to go, he hated the humid weather here. Even untrained Force users didn’t need training to figure that out. “Well I better let you go”. Kegari added before she loses her balance and trips on the wretched vines of the jungle. “Ouch”. Kegari said before she got back up. The only thing that was keeping her from completely freaking out was that the Twi’lek looked somewhat interesting. Not that she knew much about Twi’leks or Twi’lek culture, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t find out.

 

[Lorne Feng]

Training, eh? Well, that very probably put this blue lady in the service of the Jedi, given the planet and its history. Which meant that she was a goody-two-shoes and wasn't going to intentionally dick him over for some loot. However, he couldn't exactly straight-out lie. Jedi were supposed to be pretty good at knowing when people were lying. A trait they seemed to share with Lorne's mother. She always seemed to know. Having a metric crapload of children was good practice.

And then, as if by magic, a fully-formed idea entered into his brain. It was such a brilliant idea and cover for him that Lorne was surprised he'd never thought of it before. How many years had his sister been doing that sport, and he'd never though to assume it as an explanation for being in out-of-the way spots? "I was on my way to Mygeeto," he said, which was true, that was his ultimate destination, "and I stopped here. So, hey, you ever hear of geocaching?" he asked. "Well, yeah probably, you Jedi types know a little about a lot, right? Anyway," he said excitedly, heart swelling with a boyish excitement, and a wide grin appeared on his face. "There's supposed to be something here and I want to find it," he continued. People said the most believable lies had a grain of truth to them. Well, by all the stars in the galaxy nothing he was saying was a lie. It just happened to not be a geocache he was looking for. But he never actually said it was a geocache, just that it was something.

 

[Kegari]

Kegari looked into the Twi’lek’s eyes as he was talking. Kegari isn’t a Jedi at least not yet, but he put to two and two together and considering that the only reason I was here was for training, but if this Twi’lek isn’t a Jedi than what was he here for? Kegari began to sense that something was up with this one. “Yeah sure keep talking. I’m aware that I’m the goody Jedi type. But I’m not a Jedi, at least not officially. But I can sense that you are lying. At least be honest about it”. Kegari crosses her arms and sighed, she turned her back on the Twi’lek and allowed herself to regain her composure.

You’ll never find it. Kegari said to herself as she turned back around. Only to find that he may have disappeared. “Whatever”. Kegari sighed and looked around, although he was out of sight she still sensed his presence and his stench body odor. Kegari gagged, perhaps a shower was in order and some deodorant.

Kegari didn’t drop her guard just yet, just in case he was still around. She stayed in the close premises.