Log:Jedi Order: Legacy of Palpatine
The Jedi find more than they bargain for on Jakku
OOC Date: October 20, 2020
Location: Jakku
Participants: Rey, Ben Solo, Jax Greystorm, Vhe Tenara, Elrych Cometburn, Yuun, Aryn Cole, Jedi Order
Jakku.
Rey doesn't like Jakku.
But something has drawn her back here, and that something was the memories of this place. She'd only seen it once, when she was in her early teens, traveling with a caravan of scavengers that were training her on how to BE a scavenger. They'd driven past this place, and they'd told stories about it.
"We don't go over there. Only death resides there."
The black shining mushroom-shaped building just loomed in the distance, and it gave Rey bad dreams at the time to think about it.
Now, years later, she believed there were answers to lingering questions that could be found there, and she believed she had the team that could go there, could get in and could find out what was inside.
Maybe nothing, maybe something. That's the nature of exploring.
The Millennium Falcon is resting silently in the Jakkuan deserts, yet again in its lifetime. This time though, it rests a fair distance from that black mushroom shaped facility. Outside of it, Rey stands in the sunlight, her clothing whipping about her body in the strong gusts of the world she knows most as 'home', even if its a home she hates.
She stares at the building, waiting for the others to arrive. At her side, Dio is recording all of this. He looks to the building, then up to her. "Rey." The droid says. "Rey." He says again, drawing her attention.
Rey looks down at him.
His coned head looks back up at her. "I don't like this place, Rey." His tinny vocalizer emits.
"Me either." Rey says back. "You can stay here." She tells him.
"I'm with you." He replies, which garners a smile from her.
Vhe for her part is not bothered by the sun but the wind is another thing entirely. The way it whips about and slaps at the face and drags at the strands of her wayward hair causes the Ysanna to adapt some of the cloth she wears. The sash usually about her middle has been drawn up and wrapped about the lower half of her face and secured to keep particles and bits of sand from causing her discomfort.
"Sand. Always sand," she mutters behind the colorful cloth as her gaze narrows and she shields it with her hand. She inspects the strangely shaped building in the middle of no where and it causes her to give a questioning look towards Rey.
"Should we be prepared for anything?" This quantity is unknown to her and it shows in the way she stands, a bit of tension gathered through her.
Aryn is crouched on the collapsed wing of the ETA-2b fighter speaking with her green and white BB-series astromech, Cedar. "No, stay here, my friend. I need trustworthy eyes on the ship. What looms ahead is still mystery, and our departure may be sudden." Aryn carefully slides off the wing to land softly on sandal feet. She straightens a moment later, adjusting her cape and taking a moment to draw on the Force to ward the excess heat away from her.
"Lock the canopy, Cedar. I will return soon." The droid warbles in response and Aryn steps after Rey to join her quietly.
"Huh..." Elrych says with his mouth hung open. His head tilts to the side, brows narrowing over eyes hidden by the shades he never usually gets around to wearing anymore. Sometimes you just out grow things... Or your space gyspsy girlfriend tells you she likes your eyes better... Either one right?
"I know, right?" The Corellian says to said Ysanna, "I keep telling them we need more water worlds. Though, I don't mind the dryness." He was standing right next to her, turning to look at Aryn as she approaches. His dark green cloak whips around in the desert breeze, hood down for now which means that growing mane of his was apt to end up as wild as Vhe's if they stayed outside any longer.
A Helix interceptor comes in for a landing,the wings fold up before, it comes to rest next to Aryn's ETA-2b. There's a tiny hiss from the landing struts as they off gas. Then the ramp of the ship extends and down comes Jax Greystorm. He turns back and calls out to Exine, "Stay on the ship, No pirates." The droid chirps something as Jax steps off onto the sand. He walks up to join the others, his features hidden by his hood. Then he looks at the dark building and practically can fill the darkness oozing off the place. It has nothing to do with his connection to the force. "I think I'm about to have a new least favorite trip to Jakku story." He looks around, "Lofty's not here right? He caused the last one."
A dark blue and black Raven Courier comes into view, not goign too fast but fast enough. It lands near where the Falcon is and the landing gears extend as the ship lands. The repulsor engines flare lightly and the ship sits down. After a moment it begins powering down and landing ramp extends from the side and Yuun comes walking down the ramp. After he walks away the landing ramp lifts back into the ship as it locks down. Dressed for the weather in long shorts and one of his tunic hoodies.
Yuun jogs over after a moment, "Sorry for beign late." he says. Yup, this is Yuun, the late one it seems. "Uhh...what's that." he points at the dark mushroom shaped thing out in the distance. "Hello everyone, he bows to the others."
Rey's eyes first go up and over to Vhe, she smiles softly at her and nods her head one time for her. "We should be ready for anything." She confirms, before she looks to the others approaching...
Dio rolls in a half circle around Rey's ankles to peer up at them from her right side now. "H-Hello." He says, nervously. Rey takes a steps forward then, causing the roller-droid to back up and roll a few feet up the Falcon's ramp before he just stops and watches them from that safe spot.
Turning around to put the black hued building behind her, Rey eyes her friends. "Lofty was on the Wheel. At least his ship was, I flew through there on my way here, actually." She'd seen the ship, it was hard not to see that ship, it stood out in a crowd, much like Lofty did.
"This place--" Rey hooks her left thumb over her shoulder. "Is dangerous. If you look there... you'll see the bones of a dead Steelpecker." One of Jakku's native animals, shuddup.
"Beyond that point, and the facility will open fire on you with blasters mounted over its entrances. There and there." She motions to the building's defenses. "I asked you not to fly over it, because it has four laser turrets on its roof that will supposedly open fire on you if you get close as well. The defenses all appear to be automated. I've never heard of anyone coming, or going, from this facility."
"Until now." Rey states. "I don't have a plan." She says, shaking her head lightly. "I'm just going to cross the danger zone, and start to make my way to the door. If they fire on me? Well... I'll defend myself."
"Got it, so murderous facility we know nothing about," the cloth about her face moves as Vhe responds to Rey. Her gze flits to that of Elrych and she reaches down to her saber before considering. The air itself is hot, arid and thankfully keeps her from outright sweating but her hot breath held close to her face is not helping. She tilts her head at the information and taking a step or two forward she flexes her hand at her side and spreads her fingers.
She reaches forward and makes contact with the electronic presence or programming or whatever it may be. There is a moment as her head turns, tilts and angles slightly as if she's found something but its not something that comes to anything of note. "We need to get closer perhaps. I can do nothing from here."
She says, her hand relaxing at her side, fingers curling slowly as her nails nick at the flesh of her palm.
Aryn's gaze is directed toward the dark building ahead and she feels a slight sense of dread. When Rey mentions walking closer to and drawing the ire of the turrets, Aryn makes a thoughtful expression. Like Vhe, Aryn calls upon the Force to marshal a power forward to alter the temperature around the facility to scramble sensors. Unfortunately, her result mirrors Vhe's success, and Aryn regards the Ysanna, nodding in agreement. "Then we move closer with Rey. I dare not let her face this alone." She unhooks the curved hilt of her lightsaber from her belt and takes in a deep breath; likely for courage.
"Man I could use a Fizzyglug..." Elrych intones yet loud enough for others to hear. It's his responce to the disussion about Lofty. He turns his head towards Rey, looking past her as she points out the turrets and the dead body before refoucsing on her once more. "Well... no matter. Most of the time, we make a plan and it goes to drek in the fire ten minutes anyways."
When Aryn and Vhe unclip their lightsabers, he does the same without ignighting it. The Corellian then moves in the wake of the Ysanna, keeping a keen eye on the facility in question. "Worst comes to worst... I can slag this place from orbit with the Mynock's Turbos."
"Well if I end up stranded on a pirate transport, It won't be his doing then." THen he pulls his hood back to offer the little droid a smile, "Hello little one." Then he pulls his hood back up to hide his face from the sun. He takes a deep breath and exhales, "I'll follow you." Jax says to Rey. His hand going to his saber's hilt. He takes up the saber as the others do. "We lightsabers, move together cover each others back and deflect the shots. There we got a plan. Its vague and will fall apart but it's enough to keep us alive."
Yuun hears what's to happen, "Uhh..ok." he says as he looks off in the distance. He then turns to face teh opposite side of where they are looking not seeing anyone else. He rolls his shoulders and take a deep breath. "I see that we're all going." he says as he looks towards Rey. "If you must face this, you will face it with all of us." he says to her. The words that were said to him during the remembrance of his family who have passed into the Force show in his face. He unclips his lightsaber, "I will cover the rear." he says simply.
"That might make it hard to get inside," a flat voice comments to Elrych from the periphery as Ben takes his place with the others, his dark clothing looking uncomfortably warm in the Jakku sun. Dio is given a suspicious glance, the little droid and its simplistic phrases hardly deserving of such scrutiny, but it's directed that way anyway. Like everyone else, he slides his saber from its clip on his belt, the cold metal's irregular edges and protrusions biting his hand uncomfortably. "Not that I've ever seen any particularly good reason to want to get inside anywhere on Jakku. The wrecks are picked bare and the locals, unsavory." A glance slides toward Rey, eyes narrowing almost playfully. Almost.
Rey looks to everyone as they settle in for this not-plan of hers. She nods once, then looks to Dio. "I appreciate your bravery, but I need you to stay with the Falcon. Be its guardian. If anyone comes, tell Artoo aboard, he'll know what to do."
"O-okay, Rey." Dio says, his conehead looking at all the other Jedi, his little wheel rolling forward, then backward back up the ramp. "Goo-good luck, friends. Don't d-die!"
Rey turns around toward the building and unclips her own saber from her belt, she looks to the others and then starts forward, in to the sun that is on its late afternoon descent toward the horizon beyond the building's edge in front of them, leaving the building in a state of shadowed darkness.
A faint smirk is offered to Ben's words, as she starts ahead, her boots crunching on the sand. Each step she starts to take a little faster, bringing upon the bones of that dead animal up ahead....
When they reach the bones, not yet entirely dried away by sun and weather, Rey ignites her lightsaber at her side!
The cross the distance and Vhe's eyes never quite leave the turrets that have left the bones to bleach in the sun. A grisly marker for all those approaching of what lies ahead - perhaps the proverbial line in the sand. Here Vhe stops and once more reaches out to try to pave their entrance with a little more easy and less more fire.
This time she finds herself lost in the circuitry and the Force escapes her intent, leaving her fingers flexed at her side and spread with no sort of result again. There is a mutter from beneath the colorful sash that has been made into a makeshift mask for the lower half of her face.
"Nothing here," she says and looks to Aryn, perhaps expecting her to try as well. The saber at her side is drawn and with a quick brush of her finger the pale blue blade near cyan flits to life and hums in a hushed whisper at her side.
Moving along with Vhe, Aryn catches her look and nods. "I'll try to mess with their sensors again." Aryn takes a deep breath and stretches her hand out. She can't tell from this distance, but her influence of the Force generated an overwhelming heat field that manifested like a wind at first, but it surrounded the entire turret, super heating the turret because that's all Aryn could see.
Sensors operating in thermal/IR/LIDAR tracking could no longer function properly because it lacked the capability to discern targets. "I.. I think I got one of them.." Aryn calls out to the others, her hilt still held in hand; she has not activated it yet.
"Well that was the joke, yeah?" Elrych sidelong's towards Ben as they enter they enter within fireing range of the turrets. When Vhe announces her second missed attempt at communicating with the turret, the Jedi turns his head over his shoulder as his mephite blade comes to life. Giving her that cocky self assured Corellian grin she no doubt has seen far too many times. "Try again, I'll dray the fire yeah? Give you all more time." He turns back towards the turrets and continues to walk forwards. His steps slow and deliberate. He takes a deep breath, letting the force flow through him like a raging river. His boots slide in the sand as he moves into position taking a Soresu stance.
When the shot comes, Elrych twists out of the way, his cloak flutting in his wake. "What's the matter, your progamming melting out in this desert?!"
As they moves closer to the cannons and one of them takes a shot at Elrych. Jax reaches out with the force then moments later a medium sized rock goes zipping towards the active turret. Jax eyes narrowed then relaxed as his saber returns to it's guard position.
Going quiet, Yuun just shrugs and let the others begin rushing off, he looks to Ben. He nods and chuckles a little, "We better catch up." he grins at Ben and starts running. Yuun is naturally fast but using the force to assist him, he starts picking up speed and his eyes start scanning the area where the laser turrets, his lightsaber doesn't ignite just yet, he sees Elrych dodging away from a shot, he's gotten better, he's probably better with a blade then Yuun is now, would have to spar with him soon, "Come on let's go!" he calls.
While the others cautiously approach, Ben walks forward towards the abandoned installation like he owns the place, his boots leaving shallow imprints in the compacted sandy dirt. His lightsaber activates in a burst of fiery orange, held loosely at his side and with no defensive posturing while he strides ahead, daring the turrets to take a shot at him while a bolt KA-KOOMs into the ground near Elrych. "The Empire's machinery is about as long-lived as the regime itself. I'm surprised these even function." An image of skeletal hands, fingers disintegrating as they reached toward him, flashes through his mind, but he shakes it off with a quick toss of his head. "First Order designs tried to keep the look but a lot of things cut so many corners they needed to be redesigned from the ground up. Or so I'm told."
As the group rushes forward, two more ports above the doorway snap open and two more blaster cannons pop out of hidden housings to backup the two malfunctioning ones that the Jedi just handled...
Only as they snap in to place the cannons detach and drop to the ground, leaving sparks shooting out of the metal arms left hanging from the building's open ports... This place... is not well maintained?
Aryn's quick wit handles one of the two functional turrets, while Elrych and Jax make short work of the second, but all in all, Ben's words ring true... as sparks fall from the metal awning above the blast doors... the Imperial tech wasn't holding up so well.
The distance is crossed, more bones are ran past by the group, animals that were torn apart over the years by the cannons that they just ruined in a matter of moments. When the group reaches the door, Rey stands still a moment as she looks for a door control panel.
"There's no access port." She says, a heavy sigh escaping her as she looks back to them. "We'll have to cut our way i---"
A sudden creaking of metal, grinding of gears and the doors spread apart, two layers of metal retracting into their four respective corners each. They spread open and reveal a cold black corridor, lined with white piping lights and the visible pattern of foot prints left in white sandy dust on the floor, foot prints running out of the building...
Rey's eyes are inside the facility, then cast back to her companions. "Or maybe not." She says about cutting their way, her saber is turned off for now and she starts forward, stepping in to the dark corridor, like a corridor ripped straight out of a Star Destroyer's interior.
Watching Elrych barrel his way forward, Vhe notes as the turret goes down and she sees the other two pop open and as the arms suddenly rush out and show just how badly they need maintenance by falling apart, she lowers her saber. Now with nothing to stand in their way the obvious comment of cutting their way in is cut short. A snort leaves her, "Convenient." She winks and lifts her blade horizontally above her head, shedding light upon her braided hair and colorful facemask as she steps inside and lets the Force flow from her and through the strange facility.
There is a moment as the Ysanna's amber colored eyes close and she searches, reaching and then stills, her voice a hushed whisper as her free hand lifts to pull the colorful woven fabric free of her mouth. "Something is alive...down below the ground level here. There should be a lift is my guess or a service shaft of some sort." Her eyes begin to adjust to the interior after the brilliant sun of Jakku.
Once inside, Aryn activate the light on her wrist, shining it around before orienting it ahead. Vhe's words made Aryn feel creeped out. What would be alive out in the middle of the desert, residing in a dark mushroom shaped building embedded with guns and surrounded by the skeletons of countless dead?
Let's find out!
She takes another deep breath; for courage again. "Mother save me.." She murmurs to herself.
Elrych relaxes a bit with disapointment as the turrets are either destroyed or fall apart and malfunction. "More like underwhelming." He adds to Vhe's comment with a slight whine to his voice, pulling himself forward through the sand and into the building with the others. "Right... let's find it then." his Lightsaber remains lowered in a low and relaxed guard. He reaches up and removes his shades, folding them and placing them on his belt. Blue eyes keep a hawkish look about them, bows knitted together in curiosity. "I wonder if it's triggered to you genes, Rey... you know." He clears his throat.
Jax shakes his head, "Alive or not, Imperial or not, something times hostile AI goes insane and can be just as tricky as anything alive." He says as he follows the others. He keeps his saber extended more to provide light once they stepped in. Elyrch comment about Rey's gene causes Jax to raise a brow but in the shadow of his hood it's unseen. He reaches out to the force to pull it around him as an armor.
Seeing as they are making good progress, they aren't taking fire anymore, but he does slow down a little so that Ben can catch up and then Yuun makes his way to the structure. "Is everyone ok?" he asks as he looks around to make sure no one was hit. Yuun does move near the entrance they just came in through making sure he's there to protect them as best he can.
Rey stands outside of the entrance to the dusty Imperial hallway, listening to the others as she just lets the Force guide her thoughts on all of this. She does glance over to Elrych though and shake her head softly. "I'd like to believe this building doesn't know me." She comments back to him before she starts inside with the others.
The corridor goes on for about 20 or 30 feet before it opens up into an intersection, with more light piping along the exterior facing wall, while the interior facing wall are all windows over looking a series of hangar bays down below. Most all of the hangar bays are entirely empty, save for two TIE racks that hold two long forgotten TIEs of a unique make and model...
"Life is below?" Rey asks, looking over to Vhe. "I guess we need to make our way down there."
In front of them, the archway to the catwalk that spans over the hangars leads to what looks like a lift door, in the central tower beneath the Hangar Control Room, which has no lights on within it any longer.
"There, a lift." Rey indicates, passing through the mezzanine area and out on to the catwalk to walk across it through the hangars, leading them all right between the two TIE Defenders that hang from their racks.
Rey approaches the lift, its light turns red, deny entrance. She looks up at the light, then at the panel beside it. She tentatively reaches out to touch the panel, and the light suddenly turns green.
A robot voice speaks up. "Welcome, your Highness."
Rey, shifts uncomfortably upon her feet and glances to the others, she clears her throat and shakes her head. "It's malfunctioning." She tries to tell everyone.
The lift doors open, and reveal two stormtroopers!
Only they're both dead, and they're both laying on the floor of the lift... a layer of dust covering their armor.
The comment on Rey's genes gets no notice from Vhe presently. That is up until Rey is cleared by the lift who names her highness.
Vhe coughs.
She glances aside and waits for Rey to enter and is about to step in after when they are haulted by the presence of troopers. For a moment she can not breathe and her amber eyes become slits in the presence of the white armored figures. But dead.
A breath leaves her and she looks to Rey but leans in to the lift to get a look. "May be more turrets but lets see." The saber in her hand hisses as the blade disappears and she glances back to the others.
She lowers to a knee and moves the figures around, lifting arms, checking the armor and finally rolls one with a soft grunt. There in the back there is the wound. She pauses and stares. "Something ran them through...huh...but no exit through the other side."
Aryn is taken by surprise at the acute architecture of the old Empire. She had never actually been in many old Empire locations, so the design felt foreign and utilitarian to her. She could appreciate the design though, and it was a testament to their engineers that such a structure could maintain its functionality for so long.
Glancing back, Aryn answers Yuun, "All good here, Yuun." Aryn stays closer to the back of the group now, taking her time to observe their surroundings. She was in no hurry.
"Ohhhh Mama..." Elrych said in a very excited tone. He was looking up, the tip of his blade pointing towards the TIE Defenders. "Look at that, Ben... Jax. They're PREISTINE." He pronounces almost every thingle sylable in that last adjective. "We should definiatly grab them and stick 'em at the temple. They might ocme in handy some day." A wild grin. His attentions turns back to Rey and then the droid... "Nah... I'm thinking it's what I said earlier Rey... keyed to your genes. How else did the door just open without any coersion?" He watches Vhe moves towards the dead troopers. He squats down next to Vhe, sharing a look with her. Possibly as if they were communicating silently. "Lightsaber..." He offers, "Maybe... too much damage to tell." He rises and looks towards the Lift controls. "No more turrets though... not that it matters."
Jax looks at the Tie Defenders on the platform, "There was a Tie Defender with a droid pilot running around Nar Shaddaa. Mom, Kael, and I tried taking it out with ions. Problem is we were using a skipray. Blew thing apart. We retreived a data core for the Resistance. Their slicer erased the data core trying to breach them. I'm with Elrych on this one. We probably should secure those things or blow them up. They're nasty. " Jax though asks at the mention of Rey being her highness, "Uhm...Skywalker genes? Shouldn't it be doing the same thing to Ben?"
Yuun smiles to Aryn, as she responds back to him. He can see the others are alright so he doesn't say anymore. He does take his time looking around, this was odd and he felt like they were taken back in time as he looks at the hall they are in. As they walk down the corridor and see the TIEs "Rey, where to?"
As they move through the entry towards the lift at the rear, Ben stares at the Defenders with naked interest, eyes running over those sharp foils, those powerful weapons arrays, mind already starting to churn on the possibilities of how they might handle, what speeds they might accomplish. It takes a noticeable effort for him to overcome the hitch in his stride and keep following the others.
When they reach the lift, and it pronounces her 'Your Highness,' he actually chuckles aloud, one fist resting on his hip. "I will never get tired of that." Before Rey and the others assume he's only referring to the chagrined expression Rey is making, he hurries to add, "We have the key, Rey. Anything he locked up thinking it would keep anyone else out. If you can get past this one, you can get past any of them. Probably." Stepping through into the lift with El, Vhe, and the dead troopers, he nods to the controls. "They're not hurting anyone. Let's go."
Ben Solo adds, "We're not related," to Jax, indicating Rey and shaking his head as if mildly insulted he would even assume it.
Rey boards the lift with the others, clutching her saber hilt in her right hand as she looks around, giving another glance to the stormtroopers. "We'll worry about the ships later, they could be armed to explode, or... who knows what."
Once everyone is on, the lift is sent on its way, uncomfortably having to ride the transport with the deceased trooper bodies laying on the floor, dead for who knows how long...
"There's life still here." Rey chimes in. "Vhe sensed it, and I sense it too now. It's faint, but it's there, and we're getting closer."
Another glance is given to the dead bodies before the lift slows and the doors open. They open up to a room filled with contrasting hues of Imperial Gray and bright... bright blue!
A wash of humidity rushes over the group as the lift doors open up on to what looks like a swimming pool? Even with bubbling, brewing, water? Only after just a few seconds, anyone familiar with the medical field, will know that that is not water.
It's Bacta. A swimming pool filled with fresh, churning, Bacta.
Rey glances to her companions, before stepping forward out of the lift and toward the pool. She steps up to its edge and stares down in to it. "There are pods." Rey announces. "With ... people inside of them." Unfortunately the pods are too hazed over to see any faces, only the rough silhouettes of humanoids within them.
At the very center of the pool, a glass bubble resides, with a visible humanoid within it as well, only it isn't stationary, in fact, its turning its bulbous head to look up at them from beneath the Bacta, two large black eyes peering up and out of the bubble beneath the flowing fluid!
The black eyed humanoid inside the glass bubble turns to face those entering its chamber and reaches one hand up toward them! A pressure blasts through the room, something surrounds itself around Rey's body and suddenly pulls her off of the ledge, pulling her IN to the Bacta!
A transparasteel plate snaps in to place over the pool in her wake as she's drawn down beneath the surface!
The blue light inside the pool suddenly turns red! The room is bathed in crimson red, and a set of double doors open across the way from the Jedi. A figure in dark steps out, holding the metal cylinder of a double bladed saber.
The cylinder snaps open and two red lightsaber blades activate! The figure steps in to the red hued bacta pool room now. "Don't be afraid..." The feminine voice speaks. Rey's voice."
The shock of what happens leaves Vhe speechless though the strange figure that joins them as Rey is gone leaves her even more shocked. The Ysanna glances to the bacta pool and pauses, but her blade suddenly snaps with life. The cyan blade leaps into the air with a tight hiss and a continued whispered presence like some guardian spirit.
She turns her head and thrusts her hand out quickly to reach for the blade. The Force wraps around it but something is wrong and it shows upon her face as she pulls and tugs but to no avail as she spreads her feet trying to pry the bladed weapon from the figure before them.
Cursing in her native tongue as she struggles still with no result.
"Rey! No!" Aryn searches around for a console, anything to bring their Paragon back from the trap set, eager to fix this. However, the arrival of a dark cloaked figure with Rey's voice and a double-bladed lightsaber draws Aryn's attention. The red of the blades reflect in Aryn's eyes, and she draws her weapon to go on the attack.
A fluid flurry from the young doctor proves ineffective as she's parried with ease every time. Aryn stumbles to one side, casting aside her cape to free herself from its weight so as to focus on the duel. She circles, waiting for the next opportunity to strike! HEEEEEYYYYAAAAHHH!
"Blow them up? Are you insain?" Elrych looks towards Jax. "I mean... just let me fly one for a little bit first... I mean maybe for a few weeks... or cycles. Just... let's just keep them at the temple with the Aethersprites yeah? It'll be a nice addition." A nod is given to Rey with her decision on the matter.
When the door opens, Elrych's brow knits together. Blue eyes look around. They lock with the ugly black eyes of the creature. "You're on ugly motherkri-" Rey is being dragged into the pool. He reaches out trying to catc hher but he's too late.
Elrych looks up, catching sight of Rey. There is a moment as he looks to the pool of Bacta then back to the Paragon's doppleganger. He listens to her words, leaving a breath of silence before. "HAh... HAHAHAHA. HAHAHAHA. See this is it right here Jax. Rey is actually Palpy's granddaughter. Ya dig. And I bet you this is the failsafe right here if she said no..." HE grins wide, "Afraid. Don't you know fear is the path to the dark side. Nah... I ant afraid of Drek." There's a breeze in the room as he pushes forward, his blade striking fast and hard. With much skill and percision as the red blade clashes with his own. "Yuun get over here and be useful! Someone do something about that pool."
All of a sudden Rey's gone and there's a evil double of Rey chooing sweetly about Don't be afraid, as she tries to take Jax's head. The Corellian jedi perrys the attack and tumbles back. "Remind me to stop complaining about Greystorm family reunions." He says coming up to his feet. The saber in his hand goes to the ground into the glass and he starts to cut a hole big enough to get a human out of the hole.
"Why are you so devious? Who made you think this way?" Ben questions Rey when she suggests the TIEs might be booby-trapped, like he didn't spend over a year playing games with her head. But then the lift stops, the doors open, and she's tugged out into the pool of bacta. More doors are opening, and he stops in his instinctive movement to follow her.
"I've felt this before."
The other Rey emerges, toting her twin sabers. The blades flash to life, red in parallel, and then snap open before she begins her attack. With so many targets to choose from, it's easy for him to sidestep her swipe before she turns those blades after the others.
Circling quickly around while the others engage her from the front, he moves with the precision and grace of a woodsman. The saber in his hand swings forcefully, sizzling through empty air. The backhand is slow and heavy as well, and Dark Rey catches it but can't stop it, the hot blades making brief contact with her clothing. He steps between her and the rest, twisting at the hips for another hard chop, battering her back the way she came.
Yuun is watching what's going on but he can't belive it and as he moves to try to stop Rey it's already too late. His weapon instinctively comes up and he doesn't initially attack, he moves to flank her and once Jax moves the dark skinned initate also moves one slash is blocked but on his second attack he is able to kick her hard in the chest and swing his lightsaber in a low arc to try to wound her not cut into her but again he misses.
The dark visage that is Rey Palpatine swept in to the room and targeted the Jedi nearest to her, she'd engaged them with fierce saber strikes, her crimson bladed weapon growling hungry for the feel of the Jedi's forms against their burning energy. She advances on them, strikes at three of them before defending herself from attacks!
When Ben steps forward, there's a small smile for him, a half-cocked smile that she gives him specifically. "You belong with me..." She tells him, her voice sweet and taunting after she blocks one of his incoming attacks, before the second and next push her back, causing her to hiss in response! "Don't deny who you were born to be!" The heir to the Emperor adds in a sharply more annoyed voice!
Yuun's attack finishes the job though, his saber strikes through her and the room falls black!
A single blue light comes on in the pool, as the Bacta starts to drain, rushing down, leaving the pods individual exposed, along with that glass sphere at its center. When the Bacta gets low enough, it leaves the glass sphere fully uncovered now, Rey is there, dripping wet with her hair plastered to her face, and just before her is an odd aliens species, long necked with beady eyes.
A Kaminoan.
It looks from Rey, to the others above the pool. Then back to Rey. "Byss." The Kaminoan says. "They're on Byss." Its skin starts to instantly dry up, as its eyes go from a slid black, to a smoky grey, before it starts to slump in its seat, dying from the lack of Bacta to keep it healthy.
Rey reaches out to touch the dying alien's shoulder, before she looks back up at the others, with dread on her face.
Every hair on the back of Vhe's neck stands on end as the dark figure is cut low and then darkness falls. Her most important sense stolen beside her link to the Force she goes still and turns her head, not truly turning away from where the other Rey had been fighting. The blue light reflects off her gaze and as the scene starts to unfold and the information imparted she lowers her hand slowly, her saber still in her grip. Brows furrow in her own obvious dislike of what is occuring.
"They?" She glances back to the others, her lips parting then closing as they press firm into a thin line and she shrugs off a shudder that washes over her from the uneasy feeling that that place leaves. "It looks like we are going to Byss."
Elrych's brows lower, barlly having time to relish the melee he entered with the dark doppleganger as Ben and Yuun strike her down. He's left awash in the blue glow of his blade, accented by the orange of Ben's near him. He glances around, noticing the blue light in the pool as it starts to drain. "Never doubt yourself, Yuun. Always know you're the best and you will never take another misstep." Some sage advice? Had he been feeling to the doubt from the initiate? It was hard to tell as he moves to Vhe. His hand goes to hers, leveling reassuring calm towards her before looking back to the pool. The Kaminoan is heard before they pass. He levels his gaze on Rey, shutting down his blade and replacing it to his belt. "Well ant that a Byss..."
Jax looks at the hole he'd cut and well Rey didn't need it escape. He turns off his saber and just stares at the dying Kaminoan. There's a glint of recognition as if he's trying to remember the lyrics of a song. "That's a Kaminoan. They're cloners. Ax, Kadi, Sesti, and I went to their planet. We found the way there." Then he shakes his head, "If Byss doesn't match up."
With the embodiment of Rey's dark potential pushed back into the eaves, Ben relaxes slightly, a troubled look on his face as he deactivates his weapon and slides it back onto the beltclip. "Kylo Ren did," he murmurs to the darkness she disappeared into. When the lights come back up, he appears to be lost in thought, staring back there for another moment longer before turning to see Rey in the shallow pool with the dying person. "There's always someone stronger than you are. Don't get cocky, or you'll be in for a rude awakening. Trust me."
Dark eyes turn around the room and its pods. "This ought to fill the rest of my afternoon."
Rey looks back to the Kaminoan in time to see its last breath leave its body before itslumps over in its rounded chair inside of the glass sphere that had opened up, presumably when it had yanked Rey down in to the Bacta... with the Force? Had it been Force sensitive, and trained?
It doesn't seem to matter now, either way, as it was not only dead but quickly drying up before their very eyes without the life giving water here to help preserve it. "Cloners." Rey repeats, having heard Jax say it through the hole he'd cut in the glass above her. She turns away from the Kaminoan and gives a look at the pods that were submerged in the fluid as well, none of their occupants seem to be alive any longer.
Rey walks beneath the hole that Jax had cut, and leaps upward, jumping straight up and out to rejoin the others, droplets of Bacta splashing off of her as she lands upon the glass with her feet on either sides of the hole that had been sliced open for her.
"It called me a name. Spoke to me like it knew me. It called me 'Solana'." Rey tells them all, her hand coming up to wipe at her face, pushing droplets away. "I asked them two questions. 'Who are you?' and 'What is this place?'." She shakes her head then. "I don't know where Byss is, but I think we should find out."
