Private Held in the Currents of the Force

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra visibly relaxed at that, some of the tension leaving her shoulders as she wrapped her hands around the anchor line and glanced up toward him.

"Well that's reassuring," she said, relief threading openly through her voice. "After everything we've run into today, I was preparing myself for another conversation that ended with the words giant spider."

Carefully testing her footing, she began climbing toward the opening, trusting both the anchor and the Jedi who had attached it. Even so, her eyes continued darting upward every so often as though she expected something unpleasant to suddenly emerge from the shadows.

"I think this mountain may have permanently altered my definition of reasonable caution."

A faint smile tugged at her lips as she continued upward.

"And I know the galaxy is full of mysteries," she continued, glancing toward him once she was closer, "but most of mine used to involve strange hyperspace readings, malfunctioning sensors, or figuring out why an engine was making a noise it definitely shouldn't have been making."

Her hand found the edge of the opening, and she pulled herself up the last stretch.

"Now apparently I'm exploring hidden ruins inside spider mountains with a Jedi Master who keeps finding secret passages."

There was warmth in the observation rather than complaint.

"It's certainly been more interesting than my usual maintenance schedule."

Once she reached the upper level, her gaze swept the area automatically before settling on Syn again.

"Still," she admitted, "I'm very grateful that this particular mystery doesn't currently include something trying to eat us."

As she pulled herself up, Lyra glanced back down toward the workshop below, momentarily checking that their tiny guide hadn't disappeared into another vent while they weren't looking.

His continued stream of annoyed commentary drifted up from below, which at least confirmed he hadn't abandoned them yet. For all his complaints, the little mechanic seemed just as invested in solving the mystery as they were.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He looked down at her while she was coming up and offered a hand with a nod of his head. "It is refreshing for the moment. This valley is strange but knowing it is accessible from the galaxy itself is making it easier to bare and think. If I can get above the interference and the force energies then I can channel and reach out to Alema." He said it as she was able to get up and moved around leading towards the window or vent... he wasn't certain but the slats letting light filter through and down into lines on the floor were what he had. The jedi masters hand touching them. "It is steel and reinforced but that could be for the weather as much as for possibly mechanical parts to automate it."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra accepted the offered hand and pulled herself the rest of the way up, taking a moment to brush dust from her palms before looking around the chamber. The filtered light spilling through the slats painted pale lines across the floor, giving the room an oddly peaceful feeling despite everything they had climbed through to reach it.

"I'll admit, knowing we're not trapped in some impossible pocket of the galaxy makes me feel better too," she said, following him toward the opening. "Getting stranded is one thing. Getting stranded somewhere that shouldn't exist is an entirely different category of problem."

She reached out and rested her fingers against one of the metal slats, testing it lightly before peering through the gaps toward the outside.

"Reinforced steel makes sense if this place gets storms," she mused. "Especially if whoever built it wanted airflow without exposing the interior. Though considering everything else we've found, I wouldn't be surprised if it opened and closed automatically at some point."

Her eyes followed the frame, studying the joints and mounting points with a mechanic's curiosity.

"Honestly, that's becoming a theme around here. Every time we find something strange, it turns out somebody engineered it for a reason."

A faint smile tugged at her lips as she glanced over at him.

"Which is considerably less stressful than discovering it's another species of giant spider."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"Isn't that the purpose of building. to have a reason?" He said it while looking at her but he turned to look back at it as he was moving and the reinforced steel of the window with its slats as the light was coming through was heavy but he was checking it for the moment. ONly testing it a little where he would be able to use it and hold it steady. "If it helps, the oxygen here on the world is not high enough for multiple giant species of spider. Their lack of internal organs means they can't get as much with the low oxygen. Even with the forests here, they are mostly concealing the mines that they had as well as this place. SOmeone or something once wanted to have this hidden away. LIke an observatory."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra followed his gaze toward the reinforced slats, watching the filtered sunlight spill across the floor in pale bands while she considered his explanation.

"How do you even figure something like that out?" she asked, genuine curiosity slipping into her voice. "Most people look at giant spiders and stop at the giant spider part. You somehow end up calculating oxygen density and biological limitations."

A faint smile tugged at her lips.

"I swear, your version of 'having a look around' involves solving three mysteries and writing a research paper before the rest of us catch up."

Her attention drifted beyond the slats for a moment, taking in the hidden valley and the structures concealed within it. The observatory theory certainly fit better than most of the alternatives she'd imagined.

Then another thought occurred to her.

Lyra glanced back toward the opening they had climbed through.

"Actually..."

Her brow furrowed slightly.

"Should we go get the little guy?"

The question sounded entirely reasonable to her.

"Because leaving our guide behind while we wander into another unexplored section of a mysterious facility feels like the sort of decision people regret later."

She folded her arms loosely and looked down toward where the Anzellan had last been seen.

"Besides, he's been living here longer than we have. Which admittedly isn't difficult, but it's still more experience than we've got."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"Creature gigantism is a dangerous aspect, the risk of running into something is always real and under water it is much worse but traveling means knowing what the risks will be in many more situations." He said it as the explanation but was moving now when he could check over a few other parts. He was moving though and looked at Lyra. "Whatever there is though we'll fight it, we have each other and we have motivation." He said it while there at the window frame but was testing it to push it out. If they could make it a hole rather then a window then automatic closing wouldn't matter nearly as much he was hoping at least.

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra watched him test the reinforced frame while she remained nearby, one hand resting lightly against the steel slats as she peered through them toward the hidden valley beyond. The filtered light and cool air made the place feel strangely peaceful, considering how many times she had nearly died getting here.

At his explanation, a faint smile crossed her face.

"You know, most pilots spend their travel time worrying about fuel consumption, hostile patrols, or whether the hyperdrive is about to explode," she observed warmly. "Meanwhile, you're apparently cataloging the biological limitations of giant predators and calculating the survivability of ecosystems."

Her tone carried more admiration than teasing now.

The reassurance that followed settled somewhere deeper than she expected. She glanced toward him for a moment, watching the calm certainty with which he spoke about whatever might be waiting ahead of them.

"Having motivation is good," she murmured softly. "Though I'd personally prefer if our motivation didn't eventually need to fight something enormous."

Still, she stepped closer to help him brace the frame as he tested the window.

"But you're right," she admitted after a moment. "We've survived hidden ruins, spice spiders, mysterious Force visions, and an angry mechanic living in the walls. At this point, I'm starting to think the mountain itself is running out of ways to scare us."

A faint grin tugged at her lips then.

"Which probably means it's about to try harder."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave her a look. "I think about those as well but I don't know how much of a mix in in each. I don't know how to read the screen." He said it while he was looking at her and offered a look as she helped and the frame came away from the window. He held it steady and looked out for a moment. "You want to go and grab the engineer? If we stick together it will be safer for him." He said it and was moving out onto the roof as the domes of the towers were large and he could trace them with the force. He was checking on more though before he crouched in the window. "We will be able to reassure many other things with this though."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra glanced out through the newly opened gap, taking in the rooftops and domed structures beyond before looking back toward the opening they had climbed through.

That decision, at least, was easy.

"I think bringing him along is probably the smarter option," she agreed. "If this place has been running all this time, he's the closest thing we've got to a local expert."

There was also the small matter that she didn't particularly like the idea of leaving their tiny guide alone while they wandered off to explore another section of the facility.

Not after he had actually started helping.

"Besides," she added with a faint smile, "if we leave him behind, he'll either disappear into another vent or find a way to get himself into trouble while we're gone."

With that, she turned and headed back toward the opening.

The climb down was considerably easier than the climb up had been, mostly because she knew where she was going this time. As her boots touched the floor of the workshop once more, the familiar sounds of machinery and the Anzellan's ongoing commentary immediately greeted her.

"Good news," she called as she approached the little mechanic. "We've found another mysterious section of the facility, which means it's time for you to come with us and explain why it's not as dangerous as it looks."

She crouched beside him, gesturing toward the opening above.

"And before you answer, I should mention that absolutely nobody believes that anymore."

The warmth in her voice made it clear she was joking.

Mostly.

She waited for the inevitable stream of complaints, curses, and objections before encouraging him toward the route back up. Whatever mysteries waited on the roof, she had a feeling their tiny engineer was going to be far more useful beside them than left behind in the workshop.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

The small engineer was there and going up the cable as she suggested muttering as Syn spoke with his voice carrying. "I can hear you." He said it less as a threat then as a matter of fact moment when he was going. He looked down at the guy climbing up but remained for a moment to get Lyra up and they could pull up the cable. Setting it with a small line able to be reached at and pulled from below with the force if they needed it to be. THe jedi master was checking on more of it so that he could go through the open window with a look around, he was checking the roof and the domes though as the jungle below was there with overgrown trees and vines.

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra was halfway through pulling herself back onto the roof when Syn's voice drifted down from above.

She paused just long enough to glance upward.

"I know," she called back with absolutely no remorse whatsoever. "That's why I said it where you could hear it."

A faint grin tugged at her lips as she climbed the last stretch.

The Anzellan was already making his way up the cable, muttering continuously under his breath in a language she only partly understood. Judging by the tone, however, she suspected very little of it was complimentary.

Once she reached the roof, Lyra accepted Syn's help and stepped clear of the opening while he secured the line. The cool air immediately greeted her, carrying the scent of damp vegetation from the valley below. From up here, the scale of the hidden complex became easier to appreciate. Domes rose above the canopy while vines and trees reclaimed whatever portions of the structure had been left untended.

For a few moments, she simply stood there, turning slowly as she took it all in.

"You know," she said quietly, "if someone told me a week ago I'd be standing on the roof of a hidden observatory in the middle of a spider-infested valley, I'd have assumed they were trying to sell me something."

Her gaze drifted toward the domes.

Whatever this place had once been, somebody had invested an incredible amount of effort into hiding it.

"An observatory still makes sense," she mused. "The domes, the communications equipment, the isolation... none of this feels accidental."

Then she glanced toward their tiny engineer.

"Which means our friend here probably knows more than he's telling us."

The observation wasn't accusatory so much as inevitable.

Everyone on this mountain seemed to know more than they were saying.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"Agreed." He said it and the idea of an observatory was something. It wasn't one made by Palpatine for force secrets, those were imperial facilities. This was more like the Ky'rmm's. An old jedi ally who used it to find lost planets that had fallen into places. "Places like this, there was another made on a moon. It was used to chart the galaxy and find worlds in myth. The creator use a shifting sky to all triangulation in an extreme prospect. I never saw it in use though but the possibility of things being made for such actions is always here. Another was used to track force points like the Cularin system and its artifacts trapped within."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra slowly turned in place, taking in the endless sea of green jungle swallowing the ancient structures.

"You say things like that so casually," she observed with a mix of warmth and fascination. "Lost worlds, Force nexuses...Meanwhile, I'm just happy to find a hyperdrive component that isn't triple the market price."

She turned her attention back toward the domes.

"Though it makes sense. If you're studying things people consider myths, you'd want complete isolation. No traffic, no interference. Building a facility somewhere everyone else dismisses as impossible is a perfect way to keep it private."

Her gaze drifted to the tiny engineer, her arms folding loosely.

"Which raises the question of how our little mechanic ended up here. If this place was meant to stay hidden, he either got very lost...or very lucky."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave a nod of his head to that... the world was a good place to study and research myths. THat he could see better form here though helped him a lot more when he was reaching out with the force. His breathing allowing the jedi master to find more of it... the planet and then there was everything beyond for a brief moment he expanded his thought. 'Alema' The call went out like a beacon in the force itself. "The location is far but not unheard of." He said it while looking up into the sky. "We are near the expanse. The croke are annoying things." He said it while he was looking at more of it and outwards. "But it would explain more. Their abilities are with the force andtheir illusions can be physical in some cases."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra's attention immediately shifted from the domes to Syn when he mentioned the Expanse.

That, at least, was something she understood.

A pilot spent enough time around navigation charts, trade routes, and hyperspace corridors to learn which regions earned reputations and why.

"The Expanse?" she repeated, surprise slipping into her voice as she glanced toward the sky. "That explains a lot, actually."

Her gaze drifted outward, imagining the surrounding sector map.

"Most captains avoid large sections of it if they can help it. Unstable routes, strange readings, missing survey data, ships reporting things that don't make sense..."

A faint smile tugged at her lips.

"Pilots usually blame bad charts. Jedi apparently blame Force-sensitive illusionists."

The observation was warm rather than skeptical.

After everything she had seen on this planet, she wasn't particularly inclined to dismiss either explanation.

Her eyes returned to the jungle below.

"Physical illusions would explain why this place stayed hidden for so long," she admitted thoughtfully. "A hidden valley is one thing. A hidden valley that actively convinces people they're seeing something else is a completely different problem."

She folded her arms loosely and leaned against a part of the dome.

"Though now I'm wondering how many pilots have passed nearby, looked right at this place, and never realized it was here."

The thought lingered for a moment before she glanced back toward him.

"And if we're close enough to the Expanse that you'd recognize it..."

A faint spark of hope entered her expression.

"Then reaching the Alema suddenly sounds a lot less impossible than it did yesterday."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"A skilled illusionist could make it worse in this case. I have not learned the full extent of the crokes abilities but the Fallenassi could cloak this valley and make it appear like a lake or even just massive area of dead trees. ANything but what is here." He was looking up though and had some ideas prepared for what else he would be able to do. "Though Alema will be able to find us faster and the location does explain why a lot is here." He smirked to himself even for a smallerr moment. With interest in some of it though before he was walking over and looking at the jungle. "ANd it might explain out friend here, if they were a scout or survey ship then all of the data he collected could be valuable to some fo the other companies."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra considered that as she looked out across the hidden valley. The idea that an entire landscape could be disguised so completely still felt strange to her, but after everything they had seen since arriving, she was long past the point of dismissing impossible things.

"That would certainly explain why nobody's turned this place into a tourist attraction," she said dryly.

Her gaze drifted toward the Anzellan, who was still muttering to himself while keeping close to them.

"And honestly, if he was part of a survey crew, I can see why somebody would pay for the data. Hidden valleys, old facilities, Force nexuses, unexplored routes..."

She shook her head slightly.

"Half the corporations in the galaxy would probably trip over themselves trying to get their hands on information like that."

A faint smile crossed her face as she glanced back toward Syn.

"Though I have to admit, I'm starting to like our odds a lot more now. We know where we are, we have a way out, and apparently, our tiny mechanic may have accidentally stumbled onto something valuable enough to make people interested in him."

Her eyes swept across the valley one more time.

"That's still not normal, but it's at least the kind of not normal I understand."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"Yes." He said it with a look though as he was checking on it... his head looking down though as he debated a few things. "The biggest danger will be the croke if we are near them.. they are dangerous and annoying more then anything. Even if you do not crush them." He said it while he was looking and his thoughts about the engineer they had found was more... questionable when he thought about it. A smaller look but the engineer was standing there and pointing while Syn looked in the direction with his senses. He looked up at Lyra with a small look on his face though while he stood tall. "We'll be able to get you home or to the ship."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra followed the direction the Anzellan was pointing, trying to see whatever had caught his attention before eventually giving up. She would just have to trust that either the little engineer or the Jedi beside her actually knew what they were looking at—probably. The mention of the Croke, however, drew a small sigh from her. "I feel like every new thing I learn about this region comes with the warning that it's dangerous, annoying, or both," she observed, a faint smile touching her lips. "Honestly, the annoying part might be worse. Dangerous things usually make up their minds quickly."

Her attention shifted back to Syn when he spoke of getting her home, and for a moment, she fell quiet. The thought of the Starling, open space, familiar hyperspace lanes, and the simple comfort of knowing exactly where she was going sounded surprisingly appealing after everything they had been through.

"I know," she said softly, any lingering doubt entirely gone from her voice. "A few days ago, I probably would've been worrying about how impossible that sounded. Now I'm mostly wondering how many strange things we're going to find before we leave."

Her gaze drifted back toward the valley, sweeping over the hidden structures scattered among the dense jungle. "Though I won't complain about seeing the Starling again," she added, the unmistakable warmth in her voice making it clear that was a massive understatement.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"It is a strangely comforting place." He said it while he stood there before turning his attention back to where the engineer had been pointing and he crouched down lower. "Are you ready?" He said it and looked outwards while preparing himself to leap and jump towards parts of it as he offered his back for a moment. "THe jump is far but we can make it in stride. Do not forget our engineer companion for your pocket." THe jedi master said it as the engineer was speaking with muttering sounds and curses that were there and the jedi knew a few of the words as under the sash his eyebrow rose before he was looking at towards Lyra.