Into The Valley [SJO Dominion of Ruusan Hex]

[Josh Dragovalor]

Objective: Pilgrimage, Shadow Mission (BYOO)

After stepping outside, Jyoti took in the sights of the valley. Right off the bat, she notice how lively it was in the area, a small settlement bustling with activity. Recalling old records of the place, she recognized the core structure as being an old fortress, seemingly repurposed by the locals.

She found it surprising, figuring that people would want to stay far from the Valley as it had always been a hotspot of activity between the Sith and Jedi throughout the ages. Not to mention a rift to the netherworld, which came with its own dangers. This curious development piqued her interest, and she decided she wanted to check out the reclaimed fortress before inspecting the rift.

Not too long after exiting the Tumbleweed, she was approached by Cassius, who passed along a datachip for her to review. She thanked him as he pulled away to return to the growing crowd for the expedition into the Valley proper.

While waiting for Leah and Josh to emerge from the freighter, she slipped the datachip into her tablet, glossing over the information gathered by Cassisus.

From there she was able to learn some basic information about the settlement. Vatsu, the foundations of the settlement set down by her predecessor Sorel.

She let out a small sigh then, reminded of a dear friend lost, one of many mistakes that had led her to this second life.

A few more pages into the report, and she came to the part about the rift. It was located beyond the walls of Vatsu, sealed up within its own structure. That was good, at least the locals were shielded, but she wouldn't feel totally comfortable until the rift was sealed once and for all.

She looked up from her datapad as she noticed a pair of Jedi entering the vicinity of the Tumbleweed. One she immediately recognized as Tanasaki, an androgynous male of delicate features, leading him to often be mistaken as female. One more attractive than many actual females...thoughts momentarily drifted to memories of old Atrisian cartoons she enjoyed in her youth.

The other was Junko. She had never met the woman in the flesh, but once you came across one Ike, the rest were pretty easy to pick out.

Expecting Josh and Leah to follow whenever they ready, she joined Kian in speaking with the pair.

"Hello there," she said, offering a small bow to her fellow Jedi Master. "I'm Jyoti Nooran. I'm not sure if you were informed, but I'm here with a small team of other masters looking to inspect and eventually close the rift. It is my fear that the Sith will eventually turn their sights back on Ruusan to fuel their war machine, and we're all well aware with their obsession with the netherworld."

She glanced over at Vatsu in the distance. "Before that, though, I'd be interested in touring this settlement. I'm surprised anyone would want to live so close to the rift willingly."

[member="Ashla Marlar"] [member="Junko Ike"] [member="Tanaski Yumi"] [member="Zavii"] [member="Jessica Med-Beq"] [member="Reggie Faayare"] [member="Jerit Kolomor"] [member="Valae Kitra"] [member="Solari"] [member="Cassius Droma"] [member="Pash Tafo"] [member="Kian Karr"]

The Jedi gingerly finished munching on the snack when the shuttle would land. Well, it looks like it was go time. He got a weird feeling of deja mustard from Master Nooran, but bugging her further would probably just make her think he was some kind of creep or something. He didn't know why he felt a sense of kinship from her, but it would probably pass. It was time to focus on the mission at hand. Josh would step out of the shuttle, and the HK droid would follow silently behind him as he would stare out at the landscapes for a moment.

Ruusan.

It had been so long.

Nostalgia indeed, it seemed. He wondered how the Jedi Temple that he'd helped build looked now... Not good, he would bet. He hoped that perhaps they could rebuild it. It was the least that he could do, after all. He remained quiet as Master Nooran would greet the ones who had arrived soon after, and he would continue to examine the landscapes, examine the settlements that had formed here... Would they be friendly to them? Or would they attack? And was there any tension, considering this had once been a Silver world? And a Republic world, too, at one point...

 

[Zavii]

Zavii looked around at the other Jedi as their guides wiggled through a hole in some rubble, and only took a moment of consideration. This was what they had been brought to see, and if Grandmaster Kitra trusted this Droma character, then who was Zavii to disagree? "Here goes nothing," she said before crawling in behind the human. Luckily she wasn't a huge person and had no trouble crawling through to the other side. As she righted herself and brushed off her clothes, the Zabrak looked up and around at the valley around her. This place was a lot bigger than she had expected, and the Force was intense here, even more than anything she'd felt in the dense biosphere of Kashyyyk. She found herself stunned into silence as she let the Song of this place wash over her senses, from the ancient statues to the dome itself that sealed this place off from the rest of the world. She had never seen something so beautiful in her life.

 

[Pash Tafo]

The Jedi separated, some heading towards the settlement, others, including himself, for the Valley itself with Cassius and the guide. A reverent hush seemed to have fallen over those around him. They had yet to enter the valley itself, but even Pash could sense the power of the place. The sensation he had began to experience as they disembarked the Tumbleweed, and drew nearer to the yet unseen valley, now made itself fully known as the Force. It coursed through him without meditation, without ritual or combat, as was usually necessary to amplify his weaker Force connection to a functional presence. Pash wondered if that constant hum of Force presence was what the Jedi felt all of the time.

Cassius and the guide lead them to an immense pile of stone, large rocks haphazardly stacked or fallen into a giant jumble. The small Ruusanian lead the jedi archeologist through a small opening between the rocks first, and the rest followed suite, including Pash.

On the other side, the Matukai warrior stood up straight and moved further in as the rest of the team assembled. He gazed up at the gargantuan statues, awed by the splendor of the sacred place, though it appeared ages old and covered in the dust of Ruusan. The power of the Force, the majesty of the awesome memorial impressed deeply in the Lothalian's spirit. He could only imagine what the Jedi were feeling, especially the masters, for whom it surely meant the most.

He turned as Zavii reverently stepped further from the entrance. The Zabrak padawan was wide-eyed as she too took in the legendary Valley of the Jedi. Pash reached a hand and placed it on the violet-haired woman's shoulder.

"What do you think, young jedi?" He asked, sincerely wondering what a student of the Temple felt in such a place.

 

[Reggie Faayare]

As Cassius went squeezed through a small hole in the rubble they encountered, the others followed his lead. Reggie was one of the last to crawl through the rubble, dusting himself off as he stood up and walked towards the group.

Reggie couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the intensity of the force and the ancient statues that held up the dome. He looked at the others around him, seeing that most of them were in awe of what was around them as well. As he watched the older Jedi, Reggie could see that Cassius was taking in the moment.

 

[Zavii]

As fascinated as she was, Zavii was surprised by the man's touch and on instinct she grabbed his wrist in preparation to spin around into a shoulder-lock, but she looked up at the same time and relaxed her grip with a small laugh. "It's so... impressive. I've always wanted to see one of the Old Jedi structures, something from before Luke Skywalker's time, but most of them have been destroyed and rebuilt too many times. This, though, these statues were built right after the Sith Wars, the Golden Age of the Old Jedi Order. Then again..." The young Zabrak paused and spoke softer, "When you think about the fact that the people who built these five thousand years ago probably lived with the same kinds of technology that we do now, only with one clear-cut enemy at a time... I wonder how much we've lost since then, and what we can even achieve before we die."

 

[Pash Tafo]

A wide grin spread across Pash's face as the young Zabrak began to spin, her hand wrapping around his wrist quick as lightning, her other prepared to set a joint lock. When the padawan realized it was the Matukai warrior, her grip released. It seemed Zavii had some skills in the martial arts, the technique already built into her muscle memory.

The young jedi with the vibrant hues fell into a pensive mood as she focused her attention again on the monuments of the valley. It had inspired not only a marvel of the ancient structures, but some introspection as well.

"Each age has their enemies, some as old as these stones, others new. The realities the Jedi before you faced faded with time, leaving only the heights of their achievements. Their daily struggles were not so different than our own. You and your generation will have your achievements as well, and those that come after you will remember only the glorious deeds the Jedi of this day accomplished." He offered.

Then Pash looked to Zavii. "And, if you ever wish to spar, you have the reflexes to be an impressive marial artist." The Matukai Adept added, turning to walk further into the valley.

 

[Audren Sykes]

Objective: Minutemen - Local Militia Training
Location: Ruusan Atmosphere
Post: 4

While the first team's target was chosen by the team leader, the second leader let his team choose. It really wasn't surprising when they chose the bank. After all, how often does one of the lawful team get to legitimately rob a bank? The dropship took the team to the street the building was on but was slightly too large to fit between buildings. Several civilians were easily visible on the cameras as the ersatz thieves fast-roped from the open hatches and forced their way into the doors.

Two of the soldiers stayed outside the main entrance while the drop ship retracted the lines and pulled slightly away to the intersection to await the retreat. As the first marine entered, the silent alarm was triggered. The team split into groups of four to gather credits from the tellers, pacify onlookers, and get into the vault. There they took bundles of hard credits, ingots, and other easily tradable items. The real money was in the credit chips of course, but those tended to be inactive until needed and would be a waste of space. No items were taken from those present; this had been planned beforehand due to the difficulty in returning them.

The instant the alarm had lit off at the spaceport, the comm channels for defenders had come alive. The patrolling militiaman had been on the opposite side of town and headed towards the spaceport, but when the silent alarm was tripped at the bank he made a minor course correction to head there instead. The other member also headed towards the bank, but not before sending a signal to the spaceport. That signal was an override for the systems that would automatically turn away oncoming ships operating by landing beacon and activate automated air defenses. Another two signal was sent while on the move, a request for assistance to the deployed Rangers and an emergency notice to all militia members. And more armor units started coming online.

The first responder was smart. Instead of rounding the corner at full speed, blaster blazing, he peeked around the corner to get a read on the situation. He commed in the dropship and two guards, lined up a shot, then started shooting from behind cover. Decent tactics, but they were undone by poor aim. The initial bolt merely grazed one of the sentries' legs and they reacted quickly, returning fire in controlled bursts. The second defender appeared from an alleyway across the way and started shooting himself, pinning the two sentries in place.

Four and a half minutes had passed since the first "robber's" feet had touched the ground, and the teams inside were wrapping up. They knew about the two militiamen outside pinning down their fellows, but they weren't aware - couldn't be aware - of the two approaching from the same direction as the first. When the "robbers" started piling out of the building, they were confronted not with two but four streams of blasterfire. In testament to their training they began moving towards the gunship at a measured pace, groups leapfrogging from cover to cover to keep up pressure up. Both sides took injuries during the exchange, with two marines being stunned entirely and a number of grazes being taken. One of the militia members took enough grazes to be dropped out of the fight altogether.

As the soldiers entered the intersection to board their transport, a fifth defender opened fire from behind the cover of a landspeeder. Either they had better aim or were just plain lucky, but they dropped two marines cold and 'injured' another two before the assault was responded to. Their position had been chosen well: the drop ship's guns couldn't shift enough to fire on them. The exchange continued until all the soldiers were on the transport, even the ones who'd needed to be carried on, and the transport began lifting off. Though one of the turrets on-board shifted to aim squarely at the frustrated defender, it didn't fire, for to do so would be to obliterate the landspeeder and defender, and do significant property damage to boot.

Once the ship was in the air and pulled away a large enough distance, Audren keyed in a command on his datapad. The keening alarm at the space station - along with the defenses - powered off and a comm channel was opened to all participants.

"Endex, end exercise. Repeat, endex. Authorization Dorn Osk Nern Esk. Militia, return to headquarters for debriefing. Pirates return to mothership."

Fun time was over, now came the hurt feelings and angry defenders.

 

[Zavii]

Listening closely to the older man's insights, Zavii nodded. History could be a funny thing, she supposed. She could have gone on to think about how the things that get remembered could give insight into the nature of sentient beings' minds, but then she was distracted by the compliment and offer from [member="Pash Tafo"]. She glanced up at him and smiled with a hint of intrigue even as she chuckled in half-hearted embarrassment. "Thanks, that sounds fun! But, now that we're here, what exactly are we doing?" She looked around the group until her eyes fell upon [member="Valae Kitra"], wondering what exactly was in store for the rest of the day.

 

[Pash Tafo]

Pash glanced to the Zabrak padawan as her attention was drawn back to the venerable valley, the purple-haired Jedi posing her question to the air. What next?

It was a good question. "We explore?" It seemed most everyone who slipped through the narrow crevice in the rock into the valley had momentarily paused in awe. Towering statues holding aloft heavy stones, all turned towards the pile of rocks where, as Pash understood it, a Force nexus one existed. His cerulean gaze followed Zavii's to the grandmaster and Cassius. Their part in the Silver's visit to Ruusan was more archeological in nature, though to them and the other Jedi that followed them into the valley, it was certainly a pilgrimage as well.

The Matukai Adept took several steps further, his boots crunching lightly in the dirt and dust of the valley floor. His hand reached to brush the solid surface of the nearest monolithic statue. the Force was a quiet buzz within him, a sensation he usually did not know without mediation and focus. But there, even his weak connection could sense the power of the Force that existed in the place.

Ashla Marlar Zavii Reggie Faayare Valae Kitra Cassius Droma