Public Discovery on Dantooine

[Abe Dougsel]

Dantooine
Edge of Sith Space
Atmospheric Music
It had been odd that Abe never thought to explore Dantooine in all his time spent adventuring across the galaxy. He had been to numerous planets near or on the edge of the Outer Rim, but never Dantooine. Maybe because it had been occupied by the forces of the Sith Empire for quite some time, but a good old fashioned occupation had never stopped him from exploring planets. Most occupying forces that would give other explorers a hard time as they passed through their checkpoints and security saw him as nothing more than a harmless old man looking to live out his dream of exploring the galaxy before he died, and had taken pity on him and let him through without trouble. It was almost as if Dantooine had completely fallen under his radar, which was also odd. He had explored planets so uncharted that many of the galactic superpowers hadn't even known they existed. These thoughts were purged from Abe's mind as he sped across the plains of Dantooine on a speeder-bike, the grass fluttering violently as the speeder passed over it with great speed. The old man felt great happiness when exploring a new planet, he lived for it. That sense of curiosity and never knowing what could be around the next corner. What adventures he could have. This brought a smile to his old, weathered face like nothing else did. Abe suddenly stopped his speeder, turning it to slow it down. The speeder's once howling engines slowly quieted until they were nothing more than a small hum. The emerald green grass which had been so violently shaking before came to a stop, as Abe stopped to gaze out upon a river, located down from the cliff he now found himself stopped feet away from the edge of, which cut through the plains like a vein, bringing life to all the creatures who drank from it's waters. Rolling hills stretched out far away in the horizon, mighty mountain ranges towering over the tranquil landscape in the distance. The view was beautiful.
"This'll be a great place to make camp." Abe thought as he stepped off his speeder, walking towards the edge of the cliff to get a better look at the landscape. As Abe was surveying the land, he noticed something that he could not notice before, but now he did that he was at a higher angle. A collection of stones and broken apart bricks. A ruin. Abe stood there for a moment, gazing at the once grand structure in the distance in sheer wonderment, puzzling over what it could have been. Then he wheeled around, and hopped on his speeder, flicking on the engines to full power, and sped off towards his new objective.

 

[Himalia Tavers]

Dantooine

​

Himalia was pretty excited, but also nervous and anxious. Her first mission. Yeah, it was a salvage and recover op, but she was glad to be out of the Jedi Temple. She didn't much are for trinkets or artifacts, besides the bracelet she wore on her wrist, that was different, but she was the one to be an archeologist, but yet she still took the mission. Why? Well she wanted to get out of the temple and see some of the galaxy. She also wanted to some actual field work, which she thought she was best suited for. Not sitting in the Temple listening to the holorecordings of Master Lystori, or being lectured on the nature of current galaxy. She was a fighter at heart, her parents had made she was polite and formal, but her father also taught her to never give up, no matter what it is your doing. Hard not to give up when boredom arrives while listening to another of Master Yaros's lectures on the Battle of Coruscant or Yuuzhan Vong War. The mission was to travel to Dantooine and recover old Jedi Artifacts hidden within the abandoned ruins of old Jedi Enclave, the Holocron & Journals of Vandar Tokare. The truth was she felt so much better out in galaxy, she had been so sheltered most of her life and this mission was almost a blessing.

Before the chaotic period that was ongoing at the time, she would have been sent with a large detachment of troops to help her, especially to a world technically in Sith Space, but the Council said she would fine without it and they didn't have resources anyway, her aid actually came from a Corellian Representative, who sent her with the Council's blessing to Dantooine with a squad of 10 Alliance Troopers, an Officer, and a small crew aboard a GS-77 Gunship. She and her party began there journey soon after.

Now she was aboard the ship as it exited Hyperspace at Dantooine. She looked out the view port and saw the beautiful planet scale before her. As they traveled to the surface, she prepared her men. "Major are your troops ready", asked Himalia. "Yes, we're ready Jedi, got lucky no Sith or Imp ships are here, too busy fighting elsewhere I guess", spoke the officer that was sent with her, Major Esko Polare. "Well there is still going to be troops on the surface", said the rough Sergeant, Tabor Wilks. "That's right Sergeant, we gotta be prepared to face anything, ok lets go over it one more time". "The ship will bring us to here", he pointed to the Holomap and a point of the region on Dantooine they were nearing. "This is about 4 clicks out from the supposed coordinates of the old Jedi Enclave". "We will drop off here, while the ship brings Tavers a click to the west so she can cover ground quicker". "We will take the high road along this ridge, to scout the area for checkpoints & patrols". All of the troops looked prepared and ready. "Alright boys, this is an easy salvage op, we've run these at least 40 times, and I know Wilks has run over 100". "Eh, a bit more than that Major", said Sergeant Wilks as he chuckled slightly. The troops prepared to land and Himalia prepared herself. "Ok guys, 30 seconds", said the pilot over the intercom. "Go go go, move it", said the Sergeant as the troops rushed off the ship as it barely landed and as soon as they were off it rose again. "Good Luck Tavers", said the female co-pilot. "I think ill need some, thanks, and don't leave without us Jurlens", Himalia said with a smile as the ship zoomed towards her drop point. As they reached it the ship lowered till it was about 30 feet above, and within seconds Himalia opened the doors and jumped immediately in a quick free fall. Boom, she landed hard on the ground, but easily, she had been practicing jumps like this for a while. She then checked her holocom, "Major do you read me". Oddly there was no response. Perhaps the Sith were jamming comms, but they had entered the atmosphere undetected. She quickly wondered about it, then refocused, "I'm sure they'll be fine, they are professionals anyway", she thought to herself with a smidge of fear behind her thoughts. Focusing on her mission, she started to make her way to the Enclave. Along her way she passed beautiful rolling hills and peaceful wildlife. As she reached a little overpass, she could see it. The Jedi Enclave, mere ruins now, but still noticeable. She made her way down the side of the bluff and began moving towards the Enclave along the bottom of a nearby cliff.

Abe Dougsel

 

[Abe Dougsel]

Abe looked through his scope, down at the ruins below him. The old structure appeared to be completely abandoned. "Good. No unnecessary conflict." turned his scope to face the cliff on the opposite side of the building, and froze. There was someone climbing down the cliff-face. Abe had no idea how someone could climb down cliffs that jagged. Certainly didn't look like the cliff-climbing type as well, the person was a young girl, probably around 17. "Person that young couldn't climb down a ladder without fallin' off." The old man chuckled to himself, remembering how one of his squad-mates had embarrassingly fallen off of a ladder and landed with a great crash back at the academy all those years ago. "Unless...." He zoomed in his scope to the girl's jacket, and turned it to face her side. There was a Lightsaber, clipped to her side. The old man reeled back in surprise, frozen in shock. "Sith!" Abe thought as his shock was swept away and replaced by anger. These were the people who had led the men that cut down so many of his comrades in cold blood during the Second Imperial Civil War. Abe had witnessed young men cut down by machine gun fire, dying screaming for their mothers, with only him around to comfort them as they slowly died. He had witnessed villages burned to the ground. He had witnessed the charred corpses of innocent villagers, burnt to a crisp. He had seen what awaited those who stood in the way of or were just caught in the crossfire of the Sith and their supporters. Death. Abe quickly raised his gun again, going into a prone position from the crouching position he was in. Aiming at the still climbing down the cliffside woman, aiming for her head. Then, all of the sudden, the anger was swept from his mind, and he began to think rationally again. "But what if... It's a Jedi?" Abe lowered his rifle again, and began to think. The Jedi. The benevolent peace-keepers he had heard so much about. Who saved innocent people, one had supposedly saved a fellow soldier from death according to the man's stories once he got back to base. Their stance on the Sith, he did not know, but he did know one thing: "The Jedi are not the same as the Sith." And that was good enough for him to not shoot the woman on the spot, who now landed on the ground and began walking towards the ruins. He was still cautious however, and looked down his scope again, not trained on the woman's head this time.

 

[Myles Davorak]

Checking the diagnostics on his main dashboard, the Tempest was alerting him that he was in fact reaching his destination. Dantooine was a planet that Myles did not visit often and he regretted that decision. Such beautiful vistas to be had here, and who knows what else could be on the planet? Looking down on the planet's surface, he could see many flora and fauna dotting the landscape.

Breathtaking.

He was headed to Dantooine to find work and possibly see what sort of employment he could seek here. As he crested over a nearby mountain, he saw bricks and debris littered across the surface. A sight that Davorak wasn't too familiar with. He didn't have any appointments, not yet. A little sight-seeing wouldn't hurt. He could use the break to take in the views. He could always head out tomorrow.

The Tempest's thunderous thrusters clapped as he disengaged his auto-pilot. He needed to find a reasonable place to land. The ruins were located on a precipice that was too small to land his craft on. Cruising down the slope, he found the base of the mountain and set his craft down with a graceful approach.

The ships thrusters cut off and his vertical-take off pads engaged themselves as he lowered his aging ship down to the surface. The AIAT/i got quieter and quieter as Myles left the bridge and headed down to the cargo bay. With his blaster carbine slung over his back and his slugthrower revolver strapped to his side, he would gather a day pack that was there for expeditions such as these. This would be one of the situations where he would rely somewhat on his speeder bike that was also aboard for surface reconnaissance.

Hearing metal on metal, the rollers for the cargo bay doors slowly opened; like a metallic monster that was yawning and yearning for rest. Unstrapping the speeder bike, he climbed aboard and glided the craft down the ramp before it started to close again. Opening his datapad he would engage his ship's locks and enable security protocols. He wouldn't be gone long.

He didn't see anyone else on the horizon, but Dantooine was a vast place. There would be no telling what he would encounter here.

Abe Dougsel
Himalia Tavers

 

[Himalia Tavers]

Dantooine
​

As she landed at the bottom of the cliff, she could see the Enclave, just less than a click away upwards along a hillside. She began walking, then she felt it. A sentient being, probably a human was nearby. She didn't make any movement psychically but just kept walking up the slanted hillside. She could feel his presence through the force, and she could sense he was a male, but that was pretty much it. Her sense powers were excellent for her age but they needed work, especially for long distance sensing. She thought to herself than he was at least a kilometer or two away from her. Not trying to panic or cause the man to panic himself, she continued walking calmly up the hill towards the Enclave.

After Darth Malak bombarded and destroyed the Enclave in 3956 BBY, it was ruined for a while until it was partially rebuilt around 3700 BBY, but was permanently abandoned shortly afterwards. Since then it has been a ruin and the structure had been eroding for over 4000 years. What was left was the collapsed temple ceiling with the lower floors somewhat intact. The interior was infested with wild roots and vines, with moss growing between the stones. The sublevel was still mostly intact with the vines and moss still spreading to most of it, but still accessible nonetheless. A Jedi Explorer reported in 261 ABY, that the sublevel was still infested with a few Laigreks, even though it was reported long ago that they had left. Himalia would have to be on guard for them just in case.

As she reached the top of the hill, she could see the ruins of the Enclave directly in front of her. She could still feel the man she had felt beforehand also approaching the temple from a different direction. With the first floor of the Enclave completed collapsed the only accessible level was the sublevel which could be accessed previously from the west entrance, but now you could just step down in through the debris. As Himalia entered a small passage way created by eroding stones along the west exterior corridor , she slipped through and entered the Enclave. She passed a couple of caved in rooms before reaching a downed pillar that was blocking her path. But before she could move it, she could sense that the man was close, and chose to confront him peacefully when he arrived instead, hoping to avoid any nasty conflict. As she heard his footsteps getting closer as she looked up through the gaping hole within the enclave, she prepared to meet him yet still remaining hidden until she revealed herself, as well as still keeping her saber at the ready along her belt and her commlink close.

Abe Dougsel