Jon-Tow Conspiracy: Mission to Beris

[Romi Jade]

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F E I H U I S E C T O R​

B E R I S S Y S T E M​

B E R I S ​

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Spoiler

[youtube]https://youtu.be/jrp4cafBL-I[/youtube]

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Her eyes twitched, the front side of her body being shrouded in shadows as the sun beat against her back. While her knuckles gently dug into her side, she escaped her trance and her cerulean eyes bounded off their original target and across the massive compound. When the breeze picked up, it took her golden mane with it. After flailing in the air behind her it began to cuddle the length of her shoulders and back again.

"Theres got to be some sort of answers here..." she spoke under her breath, before her head beckoned upward, her chin rising to look down upon the complex once again. "It seems largely unbothered...but you can tell this thing is massive. Who knows how far that thing goes down..." she mentioned to her apprentice [member="Cassius Droma"]

"You about ready to head out?" she asked, ceasing to make eye contact initially before her gaze later fell on him.

After the peace talks between the Jon-Tow Commercial Combine and the Redu Freeholders spiraled out of control she was later left with a curiosity she couldn't quite shake. The entire situation seemed...questionable. With the Jedi Orders name attached to it...it was possible that this could develop into something with detrimental affects.

She needed to investigate further...and approach cautiously as one wrong move could spark a series of unfortunate events. After doing some digging, what little clues she found led them here to Beris...

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(Working on a smaller piece connected to TJO, ask first)​

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius was squatting on the ground, inspecting some of the stone work of the compound. He always believed the devil was in the details – meaning, that he could discern a lot from a little. There was a Force power he had heard about, psychometry, that he was interested in learning. Unfortunately, it was quite rare, so not many people were available to teach it to him. Still, it would help in his budding archaeological interest, as well as their current mission.

At Master Jade’s comment of how sprawling the compound was, he nodded. “True… but the outside could just be for appearances. There’s no telling how much activity is lying beneath the surface.” He stood to full height, the wind catching his robes, which was getting more comfortable wearing. His belt was kitted out for anything they might need for their mission – multi-tools, a rebreather, some food rations, and of course, his lightsaber, another item he was getting more accustomed to. His A-180 blaster pistol still sat in its holster on his thigh, but he’d been into a few scuffles now where he hadn’t reached for it, and using the lightsaber had been almost second nature.

“Always,” Cassius said in response to her asking his state of readiness. He hadn’t been too heavily involved in Master Jade’s investigation after Deneba – he had gone on a few adventures himself in the meantime, but he was sure that he would be spending a lot more time with [member="Romi Jade"] now that she had officially chosen him as her apprentice.

 

[RC 212]

[member="Romi Jade"] [member="Cassius Droma"]

Meanwhile... On Yutan.....

She wasn't up to much. Between missions once again, except this time she'd caught wind of Knight Jade and Padawan Droma's mission to an unexplored ruin. What it was they were hoping to uncover she was not entirely certain, nor was she in a position to invite herself along. She wanted to go out into the field again, but the Council had determined it was best for her to sit put.

Too many combative encounters were starting to drive her into a more aggressive state then they would have liked.

When the Masters weren't looking she slipped away, taking a personal day.

Well that's what she said anyways. She found herself tailing the duo, hands tucked into her belt. Romi was a new face in her world. though a well established Knight she had only met her recently. Cassius on the other hand shared the pleasure of having met her during some aggressive negotiations on a Starliner headed for Tython.

It was late and she glanced around, beginning a rhythmic breathing exercise to bolster her connection to the force. Her role here was to support. The other two would take point.

Armed with her Saber and the force, clad in a stern look and her normal brown robes she trudged behind them, halting just a bit back to get a better look at the room.

 

[Romi Jade]

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F E I H U I S E C T O R​

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Her nostrils flared, inhaling the stale air; it was thick. She'd soon emerge from the shadows of the corridor. An echo, after each of her steps followed by those who had been with her. "First I'd like to mention that I am honored to be your teacher. I’ll throw a lot at you, everything I learned from master…and from my own experiences." She began after turning and looking at all the debris. Her chest then rose but would fall sooner as the air was unpleasant and not something she hoped to inhale much of.

She'd never considered she'd be teaching one day, at least, not in this capacity. Her patience wasn't like her Masters, and their styles were different. Lately, she was challenging herself to go beyond the standards everyone had set for her. While Cassius was her formal apprentice, she would approach Karren in the same manner on this mission.

Her hand caressed the length of her upper thigh before sliding towards cylindrical hilt hanging from her waist. On her own time, she gripped it before extending her arm out and above her head. With a flick of her thumb, the scarlet blade sprung to life and gave a reddish glow to offset the dark abyss they'd descended into.

Her skin absorbed the light, presenting the red shadow as she pondered their next move. "This facility was under the ownership of the Jon-Tow...one of the larger ones to produce most of their foodstuff."

Her eyes partly closed "As you can see...it's empty. I'm suspecting something else is at play here."

She thought about the Director' account...and Phets reaction when he killed him. The entire situation was...suspicious.

(Gonna move this along, Karren I'll let you just edit your post or do your next post so you're actually with us )

[member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Karren Trask"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Romi Jade"] [member="Cassius Droma"]

OOC: Edited Accordingly

The light was enough for her to inspect the dark caverns. She pushed forwards just a bit, training her eyes on the slopes and walls of the facility. the red light bathed the rocks a strange color and she felt a general feeling of unease descend upon her. Places like this usually had some kind of slaughtering facility. Which meant souls had perished into the force down here.

Some of them still wailed in their death throes, casting a pall over her.

"This place is tainted. You said Jon Tow owned this? Why would they just abandon it?"

Folks usually had a motive for everything. That was her mission as a Sentinel. Find the crime, and trace the motive to the suspect or aggressor party. Apprehend or if necessary neutralize.

"Folks that are making money off a Corporate Empire do not usually abandon places like these. A Spice miner doesn't up and walk from his mine unless Energy spiders attack."

Then another thought occurred to her.

"This place could probably feed a small army. Or maybe.... it's a decoy and we are being set up."

The last word of her sentence triggered her to expand her force senses. She closed her eyes, blasting out as far as she could reach, trying to drive her senses into every crack and crevice. Her lightsaber flicked from her belt to her palm and the hilt met with a meaty smack. She did not ignite it, but simply searched.

 

[Cassius Droma]

As they made their way inside, Cassius tried to keep his eye out for any clues as to why the facility had been abandoned. As far as he could tell, there weren’t any clear signs of a hasty exit – everything seemed clean, removed. In cases like this, there was usually some type of small items left behind… but not here.

“And I’m honored to be your student,” Cassius said, sincere. Being picked by a member of the Jedi Council had certainly been flattering, and somewhat surprising. Cassius didn’t think of himself as much as having the potential to be a great Jedi – but maybe Romi saw him differently. “You shouldn’t have to worry about me picking things up; I’m a fast learner.” At least, that’s what his pilot trainer told him, and most of his teachers back in school. The Force, however… was something completely different. He knew that it would take a lot of his time and concentration to learn. Perhaps that was why he was becoming so interested in archaeology – it allowed him to add more of a physical element to the ethereal.

Romi ignited her lightsaber, and Cassius followed suit, his blue blade slowly hissing to life. The blue light mixed with the deep red, allowing for shades of purple when the two blades were in proximity. He’d never asked Romi about why her saber was the color of a Sith’s… it was a question for another time. As they continued along, Romi gave some more background on the facility, and Karren made a good point about a lack of motive for the Jon-Tow to abandon it.

“Well… it’s always about money,” Cassius said, slowly scanning his lightsaber over the walls for him to see the fine cracks and dents. “Maybe something made it not profitable anymore. You’d think that with all of the pirate attacks, they would want to make sure that they kept as many operations going as possible to hedge their bets.” Unless they were losing so much money that they couldn’t afford to keep it operational.

Cassius could feel Karren’s sudden apprehension, and the younger Jedi did a light upwards spin with his saber, bringing it up to bear and putting both hands on the hilt. He tried to keep a level head, like he always did – apparently it was ideal for reaching out with the Force. Like the winds on a mountaintop, he tried to feel the currents of the Force and where they were emanating from.

[member="Romi Jade"] | [member="Karren Trask"]

 

[Romi Jade]

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"Trust that instinct Karren...there's yet to be evidence to prove were not being set up." She mentioned, hearing how hallow the place was as her echo came back to her. She turned back to look upon them both as she continued, "Don't ever underestimate your instinct...worry about reason later." She turned back around as the shadow were then cast from her face again, being dissolved by the scarlet light of her blade.

"Because I suspect the same..." she spoke under her breath. It took her quite some time to come across this location, almost as if someone tried to remove it's memory from the Alliance records; difficult address to obtain.

She sought to hear the words of Cassius, "One would think..." she said in quick succession, neither of them were wrong. "First we'd have to prove if the pirates were actually responsible for that damage...we should always be looking for what's behind the words."

Uhn...

A breath of air escaped between her lips, she could see something ahead but it was blurry for her. She continued at a hastened pace and her eyebrows rose in curiosity when she came across a large hole in the floor that went down a few stories ending in a pitch black abyss, but also extended upward to where they could see the sky from outside.

She withdrew her lightsaber, clipping it back onto her belt before kneeling down to run her hand along the edge of the massive hole in the center of the facility. "Seems like some sort of explosion happened...the perimeter is scorched." She rubbed her fingers together and stood back up before her eyes drifted off into thought.

"Oren Phet looked...shocked that he killed the director..." she turned to look upon the two Padawan, placing her hands on her hips. "It was almost as if...it was an accident. The turbulence caused it..."

"There's got to be some sort of logs this place kept. Possibly some surveillance footage....lets find a terminal.

[member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Karren Trask"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Cassius Droma"] [member="Romi Jade"]

The crater did reek of explosives. It was a small odd egg smell of sulphur. She guessed maybe a chemical reaction then? Archaic rather than an energy based proton charge. As Romi faced them and server her instructions Karren nodded, keeping her saber loose in her grip. there was never any telling what lurked in abandoned places.

"Terminals look scarce here. I saw a slagged one back near the entrance, which means they are definitely here."

Her force sense began to dwindle, back to its normal radius, still feeling, tentacles searching for anything that was not a normal pattern for this place. She'd need much more time to establish what was normal, but she could guess at this point.

"Maybe further down? what do you think?" She said, shooting a glance at Cassius.

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius found the hole… strange. It was straight down, and went straight up to the sky… “Orbital bombardment?” he theorized, leaning to look down into the abyss where the hole led. Normal explosion would’ve been outwards, but this goes straight down...

“This was no accident,” Cassius said. “Looks like they probably dropped some sort of bunker-buster-type ordinance on top of it. Whatever they wanted to get rid of, it was deep.” He nodded as Romi mentioned Phet killing the director, remembering the look of shock on his face. It was certainly an accident, but the pirates were keen on killing the rest of them as well… maybe to cover up their tracks? Or perhaps, take advantage of an opportunity.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if all the archives were down there,” Cassius said, gesturing to the hole. “That doesn’t mean there could be a redundant archiving system somewhere that they didn’t think to hit… we’d just have to find it.” This was starting to reek more and more of a cover-up. Why abandon a facility and then blow a big hole in it? Perhaps the intent was to make it appear as if the facility was abandoned because it was attacked, but something told Cassius that his former theory was correct. Maybe it was his instincts – the thing that Romi had told him to trust.

The young Jedi nodded as Karren looked to him. “Whatever we need to find, it’s down there,” he said. “Deep.”

If they could find a power cell and maybe a terminal to hook it into, they could perhaps generate enough energy to check some type of logs. Or, they needed to find some type of data disk they could plug into their own datapads.

[member="Romi Jade"] | [member="Karren Trask"]

 

[Romi Jade]

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Spoiler

[youtube]https://youtu.be/WtDHnBh3ikE[/youtube]

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F E I H U I S E C T O R​

B E R I S S Y S T E M​

B E R I S ​

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"Hmm, that sounds more plausible..." She said biting down on her lip, before whipping back around and assessing it again. "Especially as it seems there was some aim involved...I saw no damage to the rest of the facility from when we were outside." She revealed after releasing a stream of air from her nostrils.

She reached onto her belt, and after fiddling around a bit she held out her each of her hands to both apprentices. "Takes these...we'll have to go down. I'll go first..." She provided them with grappling hooks.

She pulled a glow stick from her utility belt as well, cracking it on her knee before she released it and dropped it down the hole. She failed to hear it collide with the ground but she could still see the orange hue from where she was albeit slightly blurry.

Pointing her arm out, she flicked her finger of the activation stud, propelling the hook upward until it wrapped and secure itself on a sturdy piece of durasteel. Flexing, she tugged on the string to make sure it was secure before she descended. Attach it to her belt again, she planted her feet and pushed off backwards and began to descend in increments.

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She detached herself from the cable, and walked towards the glow stick. She could feel the hollowness, and so she ignited her lightsaber to add to the light. The area reeked, the air was thicker and humid. She could smell the ozone; definitely a sign of something going off down here.

She looked up, "You guys alright?" She asked out of concern, "Be careful. We'll have to move quick...the air is toxic down here, let's get in and out." She mentioned as she waited for them.

[member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Karren Trask"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Cassius Droma"] [member="Romi Jade"]

Karren nodded, following the two down. As soon as they hit the air she flet the toxicity as well. A pungent reek of gasses and leftover explosives residue. The place was not only toxic, but hazardous as well.

"Watch your Sabers. Not all of this ignited, there could be secondary cluster munitions down here."

She fell in behind Romi, scanning the room. The floor, the ceiling, the walls. It was annihilated, burned to husk. She almost thought she could make out the shape of charred bodies into the bulkheads, before they were disintegrated into nothing by the inferno that had been unleashed here. And her danger sense still prickled, an uncomfortable itch behind her stomach she could not scratch, nor place.

Echoes of the Darkside were strong here...

"Some one went to great lengths to destroy all of this."

She erected a little force bubble around her head, trying to seal in as much uncontaminated air as possible, and prolong her life.

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius rappelled down with them, having fired his grappling hook into a piece of duracrete. Once his boots hit the ground, he unhooked the grapple line and let it hang there for the time being. If they needed to get back out, this would be the way to go. He nodded to Master Jade as she asked if they were alright. The air was indeed toxic, he could smell it. It almost reminded him of Vjun. At least there was no acid rain here.

Reaching into his belt, he found his aquatic rebreather – while mostly suited to help with underwater operations, it could also work to help filter toxins as well. Biting down on it, he started to breathe in clean air. It would prevent him from speaking, but for the time being, he didn’t feel like he was going to pass out.

Karren made a good point about the unexploded ordinance that might still be present, so Cassius’s hand stopped over his lightsaber and instead went to go grab a small flashlight from his belt. Clicking it on, he scanned the area, looking at the absolute carnage that had been rained down. His previous sentiment about wanting to learn the power of psychometry was tempered by what he saw here. To experience the terror and fear that anyone here might have experienced… it wouldn’t be good for him, psychologically.

“You’re right,” Cassius said through clenched teeth, keeping the rebreather in his mouth. “The question is… who and why?”

Just down an adjoining hallway, he could have sworn he saw something spark. Sparks meant power – something over there had power.

“This way,” he said, stepping over to the hallway, his flashlight eventually illuminating a terminal. The screen was cracked, but lo and behold, there was a glitching display. It had power. It was possible to use it. On the floor, there were some data disks as well. Some of them look charred beyond repair… but it wouldn’t hurt to take them to see if there was anything salvageable.

“Disks,” he pointed out as he began to tap away at the terminal. The system seemed to glitch constantly in protest, but at least it was responsive.

[member="Romi Jade"] | [member="Karren Trask"]

 

[Romi Jade]

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Spoiler

[youtube]https://youtu.be/dt_a8BWrWRY[/youtube]

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F E I H U I S E C T O R​

B E R I S S Y S T E M​

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"I think we'll soon find out..."

With her free hand she managed to snatch another glow stick from her belt and crack it on her leg to get it lit. She decided it would be much safer than using her lightsaber as a source of light. Better than taking that chance. In thought, her attention was soon taken by her apprentice when he pointed them towards a terminal, or what was left of it.

"You think you could pull up some sort of log of what happened here?" She questioned, before being directed towards the disk on the ground. "Lets gather those up...possibly try and salvage what we can from them when we get back to the Enclave." She mentioned before the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Her eyes drifted off for a second before returning.

She started to ponder the situation further given what they've already come across.

"Lets not linger...the fumes here makes this place unstable." She turned back to look over the shoulder of Cassius and into the Terminal.

[member="Cassius Droma"] | [member="Karren Trask"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Cassius Droma"] [member="Romi Jade"]

With Cassius busy and Romi lighting the way she nodded. There was indeed a hazard creeping in. The young woman could feel it emanating in the very air. Hazes of red began to wisp around them, toxic vapors and some kind of unspent propellent.

"The Unexploded ordinance might be leaking. We gotta hurry this up and bounce."

She knelt down, keeping her saber parallel above her head to illuminate the ground better. With the opposite hand she clawed at the air, willing the disks her way. They clattered and scraped like so many pots and pans dropped down concrete stairs, and met her palm with a tiny slap.

"Got em."

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius was no slicer, that’s for sure, but he knew just a few tricks. Tapping away and moving around the barely-working interface, there wasn’t anything to find, which was odd. There was a random file here and there, but other than that… wait. He went to the memory wipe logs, and through that, he was able to make a single conclusion:

“They tried to do a memory core wipe here,” he said. “Looks like it was made a little hastily, though. It was done…” he looked up to Romi. “Right before the Freeholders started to get more aggressive.” Maybe the Freeholders hadn’t been so wrong, and their claim of fighting for the poor wasn’t completely unfounded. The way they went about it wasn’t exactly the most moral, but still.

Karren managed to scoop up the disks from the ground, most of them burnt and chipping away, but it looked like it might be possible for a more advanced computer or droid to glean something from it. “Yeah, let’s get out of here,” Cassius said, the fumes still making him slightly woozy, even with his rebreather in.

In minutes, they were out of the hole, back on their ship, and heading off of Beris, hopefully one step closer to solving this mystery.

[member="Romi Jade"] | [member="Karren Trask"]

 

[Romi Jade]

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[member="Karren Trask"] | [member="Cassius Droma"]​