Republic Engineering
Artificial Intelligence
Begin Recording, Master Sunstrider...
They say every adventure begins with a happy accident. This one began whilst I was helping repair the legendary Millenium Falcon, yes - the very same vessel that made the Kessel run in twelve parsecs and fought against the Ancient Empire in ages past. I’m not going to lie, when I had asked my fellow Jedi if she needed a hand repairing some of the recent damage to her ship, I felt like a giddy youngling all over again. Now, before I get sidetracked on how poorly the regulator couplings were fused, this whole madness began when my droid and I were working on restoring the databanks. Once I replaced several of the connector housings and rebooted the terminal, the screen came alive with some curious details that spurred me into action. The Jedi within Trade Council space had been looking for something that would help them get their boots off the ground, and what scrolled across that terminal’s surface would - in my mind at least - do the trick.
So, without delay, I copied the information onto my datapad and met with my comrades in the courtyard of our crumbling abbey. We went back and forth for hours on what needed to be done with this new information. There was talk of handing it off to a larger order, as it would be too much for our fledgling conclave to handle. However, after convincing enough of the Jedi to form an exploratory team by old Republic standards, I was given leave chase after these supposed Sacred Texts. The information was nearly eight centuries old, and the texts themselves would have most likely crumbled to dust, but there was still a chance that they could be found. I mean, there were both Sith and Jedi running around with ancient relics, so it was more than possible to find dozens of venerable tomes and sealed scrolls.
All that mattered, in the end, was that they were legible. Eight hundred years doesn’t usually bode well for ink.
When the team and I were away from Centares and began our mission, we spent the journey towards the first marker in meditation. Seeking to divine the reasons behind why the Falcon and the Force thereafter had given us this task. One of my fellow Jedi believed that the Falcon itself was alive with all the memories and experiences it had garnered over the generations, so much so that it was able to bypass the restrictions of metallic flesh. While the Force worked in mysterious ways, something like that was a little too hard to believe. Nevertheless, it was an interesting concept that fueled myriad discussions for the duration of the journey.
The first marker was on the nearby world of Ossus, still burning from the First Order’s vengeful assault months prior. I had only heard stories of what prompted this attack, but seeing the damage first hand had filled my eyes with sorrow. There was so much destruction, and much of the Vong-formed world could never be restored. Entire species were doomed to live out the rest of their days, counting the solar rotations until they had met their tragic end. It was heartbreaking. Gathering our resolve and setting our course towards the cliffside ruins of the Great Jedi Library, the team and I were able to recover a small Holocron from the rubble that was authored during the first incarnation of the First Order’s rise to galactic dominance.
An ancient Jedi, who bore a striking resemblance to my teammate, [member="Kira Vaal"], had detailed a cache of supplies that she had hidden long ago. Something that would one day be recovered by the Jedi when they needed it the most. When the recording had finished playing, sadly the Holocron had served its purpose and crumbled to dust before more could be wrested from its crystalline lattice. It was a shame, really, as there could’ve been more than just a small recording hidden within that ancient device.
After obtaining the coordinates for the second marker, we left Ossus behind and vowed that one day we would return to remedy the planet’s torment.
Our team and I ended up trekking across several systems in the days after our visit to the Imperial-punished system, which had led us to the venerable world of Obroa-Skai. It was fitting that such a world shrouded in the mysteries of the past, and dotted by numerous academic institutions, that a relic of the Jedi’s past would found here. We split up as soon as we touched down outside of the Capitol, as the details from one of the many previous markers had been corrupted in its centuries-long slumber. So, we spent hours combing through the many archaeological ruins were abandoned since the plague, and discussing various clues with the local scholars. While I would’ve loved to be the all-knowing hero in this tale, it was Kira that had managed to coerce the answers we sought from one of the local ruins. She had found a hidden chamber that led to an expansive network of catacombs beneath one of the local academies.
Using our lightsabers as improvised torches, [member="Mathias Zaren"] had led the way as we stalked through the darkness and found ourselves gathered before a chest - one that had we would later find out contained the relics we sought after for so long. As we touched this sealed chest, each and every single one of us had been expecting some sort of trial or some sort of vision to test our worth. Something that would sate the ancient desires of some significant figure who sealed this chest in the first place, making sure that only the worthy would divine its secrets. However, as I had chosen to carry this newfound burden, nothing happened. Well, save the fact I was surprised by how light the container was when its appearances had led me to believe otherwise.
With the chest in hand, we returned to the surface and the Obroan Institute of Archaeology thereafter. They were the only ones within parsecs of the catacombs that had the technology, and sterile environment needed to safely extract the sealed contents. Paper was something that our ancestors used nearly twenty thousand years ago to record anything and everything, so when we were made aware of the Sacred Jedi Texts - well it was better to play it safe to ensure they’d remain intact. If only they had been transferred to a dataslate or something a little bit more modern, then we wouldn’t have to worry so much about destroying the relic. Anyways, after hours of carrying the chest and securing ourselves a chamber within the Institute, we began carefully extracting our recovered prize.
Sadly, the set was incomplete. As it turns out, one of the tome’s had evaporated into dust as soon as we released the seal. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, despite the clamour to have someone to blame. We would simply have to make do with the remaining books and scrolls that were found in the chest. The Obroans then managed to coat each and every single page in archival plastic, which allowed us to read the pages without fear of the paper vaporizing into ash when exposed to our touch. For that, I was thankful and made sure to see that they were well compensated for their work. It was the last of the credits I had earned from the time I was in service to the Republic, but they were more than happy to see such priceless relics returned to their rightful place. While the pages would be saved, the only thing that they couldn’t coat was the brittle bindings and the coverings that had once protected the pages. Something about their machine’s inability to process the tanned animal flesh.
Having acquired the set of Sacred Texts, our team began the journey home and sought to devour the knowledge hidden within the ink. I mention this, only for this recording, but it should be known that while one of the books were nothing more than ash - we had noted one tome was still missing. The information we had gathered from the various appendices had noted the lost text centred around the being known as the Prime Jedi. While inconsequential in regards to training a new generation in the ways of our ancestors - be they amended by legends or original text - it would prove to be an interesting piece of history, should it ever be found by inquisitive hands.
Nevertheless, with these sacred texts in hand, my companions and I will begin rebuilding what has since been despoiled by the hateful and led astray by the blind. We will not be the last Jedi, but the first of the new.
End Recording.