Private Cold Requiem

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Hoth

Equipment:
Winter Gear | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Acier had never felt cold like this before. The kind that felt like it was biting you, coiling around your entire body and infiltrating to your muscles and bones. Even with all the layers and warm clothing he had on, he could still feel it.

Every breath he took made his lungs ache. Bonadan had humid air, smog, and rain. Even the worst nights there didn't feel like this. This, though? This was hell... and yes, the irony wasn't lost on him.

Never coming back here he thought to himself.

He'd only been here a short few hours since the Flickerfox had dropped out of hyperspace above Hoth. Ace was chasing the source of a mysterious distress beacon. It was an Old Republic signature with a Jedi encryption. Well, he thought it was. Maybe he'd find something useful here, either for himself or the Hidden Path.

But now he was regretting every decision he'd ever made that led to this moment. He was freezing, alone, and extremely pissed off - at himself. Still, there was something ahead. A jagged mound in the distance, partially buried in ice and weathered durasteel. It was just visible enough through the flurry. It seemed to be the remains of a structure… or maybe a hangar.

Whatever it was, whatever he was responding to. He wasn't expecting to find anything worthwhile. And yet, he still carried on.

Iandre Athlea​

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Destination Hoth. Why? Because Iandre had been monitoring the ancient coms from her old shuttle. It should have gone into a museum, but it belonged to her. A part of her first life, even though she had done her best to leave it behind. When it had started lighting up, she began to translate the encryption. It didn't make sense to the former Jedi, but she knew she needed to answer this plea. Even if all she found were a corpse, she would have an answer to who was sending the call.

The planet wasn't entirely unknown in her time, but it was closer to a smuggler's hideaway than anything significant. After her time, it had become something far more critical, and Iandre had learned about Hoth on her way there. Making sure to pack for the extreme cold, she would be relying on her armor to help keep her warm.

With a bit of extra research, she decided on what supplies to bring along. Hooks, pitons, and rope for sure. With all the ice in this world, she felt the stability these items could bring would be a welcome balm to her frazzled nerves. This was located in the heart of Sith territory. Granted, Iandre wasn't a Jedi anymore; she certainly was no Sith.

Packing the items into a backpack, she locked her helmet in place and started to bring her ship down for a landing. Honing in on where the beacon was coming from, her radar picked up another lifeform. Growling under her breath, she had high hopes it wasn't a Sith but had the feeling it might be.

Almost flying low enough to buzz Acier Moonbound , her arrival would certainly be noticed by him. She also hoped she came in low and fast enough that any planetary forces didn't pick her up. As she had not tried to fire on the stranger, she climbed out of her ship without being threatening.

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Hoth

Equipment:
Winter Gear | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Ace heard it before he saw it, the sound of a ship's engine descending overhead. Lifting his head, he watched as it passed over and docked not too far from where he was approaching. Unsure of what to expect, Ace unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and cautiously made his way toward.​

​

It ignited with a snap-hiss, its blue glow illuminating on the white snow's surface. Eyes set on the woman who had just emerged from the ship, she didn't appear hostile. But that didn't mean anything, not really.​

​

Ace's eyes narrowed on the woman as he drew near, the hum of his blade cutting through the silence. Reaching out with the Force, he didn't sense any hostility from her, both on the surface or deep within. As well as this, he could not feel any danger either.​

​

He stopped, just a few feet away from her - gaze lingering on her a few moments longer. Ultimately, he extinguished his blade and clipped it back to his belt. His posture naturally straightened and his shoulders pushed back before he finally spoke, cutting the tension.​

​

"You here about the distress signal too?" he asked, pausing briefly "I mean, obviously, right? Why else would you be on this ice box." ​

​

Since joining the Hidden Path. Involving himself in something bigger than just him, he was slowly trying to overcome his 'lone wolf' tendencies. Become more willing to offer help and accept it too. Ace glanced toward the structure in the distance before falling back on the woman. Maybe he'd offer an olive branch for once.​

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"Assuming you don't try and kill me, wanna check that out together?" Ace awkwardly held his hand out "I'm Ace." ​

​

Iandre Athlea​

 

[Iandre Athlea]

The sight of a blue blade caused Iandre to slow down in her movements. Once he turned off his lightsaber, she relaxed as much as she could on this frozen rock of a world. Matching his stance, she lifted her helmet off and shook out her braids. Placing it under one of her arms, she held out her other hand to offer it to shake.

"I am."

Giving him a simple nod, her answer was just as simple.

"I'm Iandre Athlea, and yes, I feel it's wise to travel this together."

One hip held her lightsaber hilt, and the other a blaster that was unique to the Lilaste Order—a weapon created to deal with Force users.

Pointing in the direction of the ruins, she wondered what had happened all those years ago.

"My pleasure to meet you, Ace."

Replacing her helmet, she resealed it with a satisfying hiss. Her voice was now modulated as she spoke.

"Have you noticed any other life? Hopefully, we can disable the beacon before it gets any additional attention."

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Hoth

Equipment:
Winter Gear | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Well, she shook his hand. That was a start at least. The woman introduced herself as Iandre and agreed to travel together. Ace blinked, more to himself, taken aback by how easy it was to partner up.

His bronze eyes lowered, he spotted the lightsaber and the blaster. Was she a Jedi? Or, maybe more like him? Ace was certain she wasn't a member of the Hidden Path, as he'd never seen her. But then... the network was slowly growing so maybe she very well could be.

"My pleasure to meet you, Ace."

"Yeah. Mine too." Ace responded, unsure of how to be respectful.

Ace's gaze followed to where Iandrea was pointing, before glancing back to see her put her helmet back on. He wondered if that kept her warm, and if it did, he was regretting not procuring some sort of thermal headwar for himself. Because this hat? It wasn't doing enough.

He began walking toward the structure, it shouldn't be too long a walk now. As he started off, Iandre asked him if he'd noticed any other signs of life on the planet. A low chuckle left his lips.

"Haven't seen or sensed any other lifeforms here. Can't imagine anyone would willingly come here anyway." he answered, staring ahead.

The walk toward the ruins was a little too quiet for comfort. At first, the howling wind battered their backs, attacking all senses. But the closer they got to the structure, the more the storm seemed to hush. It wasn't calm... it was wrong. The kind of silence that made your instincts twitch.

Ace slowed his pace instinctively, eyes narrowing as he scanned the terrain. Something was off. Then, he saw something half-buried in the snow, slumped against a chunk of shattered durasteel. It was a clone trooper. Or what was left of one.

The white armor was chipped and dulled with frost, the blue paint of his unit designation barely visible. His helmet had been torn off, and the face beneath it was frozen in place, mouth agape, like he'd died mid-scream. Ace stared at it for a moment, jaw tightening.

"Horrible way to go..." he muttered.

Just ahead, the jagged wreck of the ship loomed larger. Its torn hull was half-buried in ice and snowdrift.

Iandre Athlea​

 

[Iandre Athlea]

The introductions done, and both of them agreeing to travel together, worked out well as she fell into step with her new companion. If he were to ask about her helmet and armor, she would give him the answers he wanted. As he hadn't asked yet, she didn't provide them.

A little further along, her hair rose on her arms. A tingling of a trap, seeing the corpses of the clones brought very little relief to the former Jedi. At least, she knew they weren't going to be shooting at her this time. The frozen rigor mortis of the centuries cast shadows across the visage of somebody she might have once called an ally.

"Lack of life might be both a blessing and a curse here. Granted, there are two of us, but if we both fall, there will be no rescue, and we'll end up looking like him in the end."

The modulator kept her tone neutral, but the look on her face under it was far from stoic. Fear wasn't something Iandre felt normally. Seeing the familiar face of an ancient clone brought fear to the surface. Why did she fear the dead? They could do nothing to her now.

"A horrible way to go, indeed. Do you think he made the death of his Jedi easy?"

Wanting to stop for a moment, she hovered over the lone trooper and almost seemed to forgive him. That would be what Ace might feel through the Force if he were reading her. A heartbeat later, she was moving again and turned away from the agent of death for her Order.

"What do you think brought the ship down?"

From their distance, it looked like it might have been a transport of some kind.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Hoth

Equipment:
Winter Gear | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

Right... Order 66. Iandre had made a comment, pondering if the Clone had made his Jedi's death 'easy'. Ace had remembered Aadihr talking about that back on Denon, when the Clone Troopers turned on the Jedi. Ace glanced at Iandre, brown eyes searching her body language.​

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"Hope so." he answered, scanning the frozen corpse.​

​

Ace observed Iandre's next movement, she just stood there for a moment... watching the long dead trooper. A slight probe through the Force, the young rebel sensed a speck of forgiveness ripple from her. But he couldn't be too sure. When she was ready, he would begin to resume the trek to the jagged shipwreck just ahead. She asked him what he thought could have brought the ship down.​

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Gaze still ahead, he spoke "I don't know... maybe a battle up above?" it was the most plausible answer in his mind.​

​

After a few moments, he turned to look at her. Eyes tracing over the contents of her helmet, he was curious about it. Which prompted him to ask:​

​

"What's with the helmet? Is it to keep you warm?"​

​

Just ahead, the jagged wreck of the ship loomed larger. Its torn hull was half-buried in ice and snowdrift. As they drew closer, a shattered floodlight mounted to a broken strut sparked to life with a twitching flicker, casting jittery shadows across the wreckage.​

​

No way this thing still had power. Ace instinctively took a step back. Something was screwing with the circuits. They reached what looked like the side of the main hull. He spotted the remnants of a Republic insignia just barely visible beneath frost and scorch marks. Most of the entry systems were entombed in ice, but a fractured access terminal stuck out from the wreck.​

​

Ace knelt beside it, brushing snow off the screen. It was cracked, barely holding on, but still blinking faintly. Corrupted code danced across the display in sluggish pulses. He squinted, pulled a slicing spike from his belt, and slotted it into the port with a soft click. ​

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"Give me a second… might be able to do something with this."​

​

As Ace squinted at the corrupted code on the terminal, the spike blinked amber - stuck in a loop. Whatever language this was, it predated every operating system he'd worked with. Suddenly, a whirring click echoed from somewhere within the wreckage behind them. Ace snapped upright, hand already halfway to his lightsaber. Snow shifted. Ice cracked.​

​

From beneath a warped bulkhead, something small and domed emerged... moving on shaky legs. It was a BD unit... old, scorched, one of its optical lenses flickered weakly, and a long crack split its casing. It paused a few feet from Ace, scanned him… and let out a glitched, stuttering chirp.​

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"…What the hell?"​

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The droid gave another weak beep, then projected a faint, jittering holoframe - a recording corrupted beyond recognition. Just static, shapes, the hum of clone armor, and a Jedi's voice trying to scream through distortion. The image blinked out and Ace glanced at Ian, then back to the droid.​

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"Well," he said, voice low. "Looks like someone wants to talk."​

​

Iandre Athlea ​

​

 

[Iandre Athlea]

"Me too."

That was all she said on the matter. It had happened so long ago that it didn't matter now, and she needed to remember that.

"In m...that time, Hoth was hardly anything more than a smuggler's hideout. It was only when the rebellion was using it as a military base several decades later that it became important."

Looking up at the sky for a moment before they continued the walk, the former Jedi shrugged. It wasn't that she was trying to keep her past secret from Ace. She wasn't sure how he would react to learning she was a Jedi from the Clone Wars.

Stopping again when he asked about her armor, she took the helmet off again and held it out for him to examine.

"The helmet by itself doesn't keep me warm; the entire ensemble does. I belong to the Lilaste Order, and this is my armor."

Stating it as something straightforward, she had learned that some people distrusted the Diarchy, but the Order might be less known. Nothing was a lie in what she'd said, just not everything had been mentioned. Once his curiosity had been satisfied, she placed it back on her head and sealed it in place.

Turning away from Ace as he messed with the malfunctioning access terminal, she decided to take her place as a guard. Even if nothing, other than them, had moved, the feeling of being watched surfaced. Her intuition told her they weren't alone anymore, if they ever had been. Maybe with the pad coming alive, they had triggered a warning system set up by the entity waiting for them.

As he spoke, she glanced at him over her shoulder before looking back at the bleak horizon from where they had come. When the ship started to shudder, her hand moved to her hilt, but she didn't sense any life coming for them. A droid emerged, though, and scanned her companion. It left her alone, which was probably a good thing. While it wasn't a Confederacy droid, she didn't recognize it as one she was familiar with.

"Talk? From the past?"

The data of the recording was too corrupted for her to recognise the Jedi it belonged to, but she was positive it wasn't anybody she had known.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Hoth

Equipment:
Winter Gear | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

It was quiet at first, its mechanical limbs tried to move after centuries of stillness. Then, the droid let out a glitched stutter of Binary - attempting to tell them its designation.​

​

Ace blinked "…That was a name once, huh?"​

​

Another stream of Binary followed, uncertain, clipped, almost bashful.​

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Ace tilted his head "No, I'm not a Jedi. And yeah, I can understand you. Lucky break, right?"​

​

The droid chirped again, a bit more confident this time, then projected a jittery holoframe. A Jedi, or something close, flickered into the snow. They stood amid rubble, their voice broken by time and static.​

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"—protect the archive… if you're hearing this… then it's too late—Order is gone—don't let it—"

​

The image collapsed in on itself. The BD unit's photoreceptor dimmed with a faint static, as if the playback drained what little strength it had. Ace crouched beside the droid. Warmth radiated faintly from under its scorched plating, and beneath the rusted seams, he caught the dim pulse of a fractured kyber crystal, embedded right in its chassis.​

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His brow furrowed "That's… a kyber shard, right?" he asked Iandre.​

​

He ran a thumb lightly along the edge of the casing, careful not to crack it further. These didn't normally show up in droids... unless someone put it there. Ace shook his head, it wasn't just a power source. Kyber was attuned to the Force and they were alive. Someone wanted this BD unit to remember. The Jedi this kyber fragment belonged to, they must have rebuilt him after they knew they weren't making it out alive.​

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Ace smiled at the droid, it immediately tried to hop but slipped. He caught him by reflex and placed the droid on his shoulder. He stood up, glancing at Iandre, then at her armor again - recalling what she had said earlier.​

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"You said you're with the Lilaste Order? Don't think I've ever heard of them. You guys Jedi, or something else?"​

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He left the question hanging as his gaze turned toward the wreck again. A low clang rang out from somewhere deep inside. Then another. Ace froze, and the hairs on his arms rose. The BD unit stiffened.He emitted a rapid staccato burst of Binary. Urgent. Warning. Ace turned slowly toward the open passage into the wreck.​

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Something was moving inside. Ace stepped forward, squinting into the half-frozen corridor ahead. Deep in the shadows, something massive shifted between broken beams - slow and deliberate.​

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Finally, it stepped into view. Towering, skeletal under its patchy white fur, the creature's limbs moved with a sick, deliberate slowness.. Its eyes burned faint orange, not from natural light, but from something deeper.. Ace didn't just see it, he felt it and maybe Iandre would too. The same sensation that had gnawed at him when the wind went still outside. That silence hadn't been calm. It had been a warning. Whatever this thing used to be… the Dark side had twisted it into something else.​

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Ace unclipped his lightsaber, igniting the blue blade with a snap-hiss.​

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Iandre Athlea​

 

[Iandre Athlea]

The former Jedi had never taken the time to learn how to understand binary or any other droid speech. Probably because of who her old enemies were. Even though they were in a slightly sheltered area, she continued to remain vigilant about what was going on around them.

Hearing the quiet conversation between Ace and the droid, she turned her head a little when he said he wasn't a Jedi. She certainly hadn't sensed he was dark, but maybe he was good at masking his alignment. No, it wasn't that. He hadn't attacked her the many times he had the chance. So neither of them was a Jedi, but what did that make them?

A question Iandre had been pondering for a while. It led her to take a hiatus from duty and her budding relationship with the Diarch. She no longer thought she was in the wrong place or time, but she still didn't know what she was. This was all part of her journey, and it had brought her to Hoth, where she met the young man talking to the small droid.

Turning her attention to the droid when Ace asked her about it, she placed her hand above the cracked surface and nodded.

"Definitely.

When he asked about her Order, she shook her head.

"No, it's the military Order of the Diarchy. Not Force users like Jedi or Sith. In fact, there aren't very many of us who can use the Force. My master, myself, and Zinayn. He's a friend of mine."

That was when heavier noises started emerging from the shattered hull of the crashed starship. Her answer would have to wait...Drawing her lightsaber at the same time he did, the emerald blade was pointed at the emerging beast.

"That is nothing natural."

Whatever it was let out a massive roar and advanced in their direction.

Acier Moonbound

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Hoth

Equipment:
Winter Gear | Lightsaber | Modified DL-27

The Diarchy? Ace's eyes flicked toward her but his face remained calm, not betraying his shock. She was a member of the Diarchy? Ace didn't know much, but he knew that they were having disputes with the Mandalorian Empire. With his brother. But Iandre seemed different, well, she wasn't hostile at least.

Besides, he wasn't going to attack some stranger over a sense of loyalty to the Mandalorians. Even if they were, technically, his people. But he'd keep an eye on her. A close one.

---

The roar hit them like a shockwave, bouncing off the metal walls of the ruined ship and bleeding into the storm outside. Ace barely had time to widen his stance before the corrupted wampa charged. It was fast, too fast for something that size.

"I've got nothing natural in my top three guesses either." He muttered.

The beast barreled toward them, claws dragging deep gouges in the snow-covered durasteel. Its orange-glowing eyes locked onto them with something more than animal rage, it was focused. Aware.

Ace didn't wait. He surged forward with a burst of speed, blue blade slashing in a horizontal arc aimed at the creature's midsection. The hit landed, but the wampa barely flinched. Its flesh split and sizzled, but there was no cry of pain, just another guttural snarl. It retaliated with a massive swipe. Ace ducked under it, barely, the force of the swing throwing a sheet of snow into the air.

He couldn't tell if Iandre had moved to flank or hold back, he didn't have time to look again. The beast surged forward again, no growling, no breathing. Just movement and malice.

Ace caught the next swipe with his blade, sparks flaring as it skidded off the lightsaber's edge. He ducked under a second strike and spun out of range, boots slipping in the churned snow.

How were they going to take this thing out?

Iandre Athlea​

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre's hand rested lightly on her hilt, emerald blade already humming, casting a steady glow across the churned snow and metal around them. She felt the wampa through the Force, its corrupted malice, the intent behind every swing, every bound. Not just brute strength, but awareness, cunning.

"Stay with me, Ace," she called, voice low but firm. "It's not about overpowering it, try to anticipate, redirect, and stay in rhythm."</color>

She dropped to the side as the beast lunged, rolling under its claw and springing back to her feet. Her strikes were precise, calculated, aiming at its momentum rather than its bulk. Sparks flared as her lightsaber grazed the wampa's side, and for a fraction of a second, it staggered hopefully enough to create an opening.

"There!" she called, pointing toward the gap in its guard. "Use it! Work with its weight, not against it. Move with me!"

She flowed around the creature, a practiced dance of defense and controlled strikes, feeling Ace adapt beside her. Every step, every swing, every pivot synchronized in silent understanding. The storm of claw and roar pressed in around them, but they moved with the Force as their guide.

"Timing," she murmured to the Force, "precision. Patience. That's how we end this."

Acier Moonbound