Premonition

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The force spoke to its followers in mysterious ways. Some had an open line of communication to its omnipotence, others were lucky enough to receive the barest shred of a sign at their darkest of hours. Cedric's senses had always lingered somewhere within the middle, but never to this degree. He had no been born a Seer, nor had he ever shown any aptitude for discerning visions of the future.

But Cedric knew this was no normal dream.

He stood upon his homeworld of Ession, the familiar skyline of the capital city alight with flame. The entire city looked to be on fire, with giant skyscrapers slacking in on themselves, and crashing violently into the streets below. The sounds of screaming men and women poured off the burning city in waves, filling the air with a sense of dread like no other.

Lines upon lines of Sith soldiers marched through the streets, slaughtering anyone foolish enough to allow themselves to be seen. Cedric saw the flashing of lightsabers, and watched as their wielders fell in bloody heaps, their bodies ruined by blaster fire.

"Explain this," his tone was steely. "Vicarion, explain it now!"

The specter did not respond. The city continued to burn. Disgruntled, Cedric turned from the wretched sight, only to find himself face to face with a man clad in what looked to be katarn armor. "I don't understand."

The figure shook his helmeted head. Cedric stared. "How do I prevent this?"

The soldier did not speak, but instead gave Cedric a traditional Republic salute. It was only then that Vicarion elected to appear.

The spirit of his fallen ancestor coalesced between the two of them. His wrinkled face was taut with worry, "We have made a mistake in ignoring the Silver Jedi."

"What do you mean? They need time to recover."

Vicarion gestured toward the flaming city. "We do not have time, Cedric Grayson. You must ask for their aid in this conflict, or this will come to pass."

The knight could only stare. "They won't listen to me!"

"No, they won't, but this one will." Vicarion pointed a gnarled finger toward the soldier. "[member="Valkren Calderon"]. It is a name your father knew."

Cedric breathed a heavy sigh, "One man isn't going to make that big of a difference Vicarion."

The specter laughed, "You underestimate the human spirit, my son. Even those without the force's gifts influence the very motions of the stars themselves. Calderon has a part to play in all of this, you must seek him out. We would not have been gifted with this vision otherwise."

Gifted was not the word Cedric would have used to describe the vision. "Alright,' another sigh, 'How do I find this Calderon?"

"I have no idea. Perhaps he's been gifted with a similar vision."

"Perfect."

Consciousness yanked Cedric from his dreams before Vicarion could offer a retort.

 

[Valkren Calderon]

The colonels eyes shot open, his body almost instinctively shooting up in a sitting position in his bunk in anticipation for some kind of hostile action. His pupils darted about the room, checking for any irregularities. After a brief scan, his muscles relaxed all at once, letting his body fall back onto the stiff bunk once more. This time, he was wide awake. Valkren stared at the alarm clock beside his bed.

-04:45-

Valkren cursed himself under his breath, there was still a solid two hours before he had to meet Konrad for their morning workout routine. Strange dreams plagued him this time. Something as simple as bad nightmares and memories had never kept him up before, having learned to suppress such thoughts from an early age.

Calderon had been fighting almost half of his life, enlisting in the Galactic Republic marines at the age of eighteen, then the special forces at only twenty-two. With so much fighting came the obvious risk at post-traumatic-stress-disorder. With only one supposed episode of it affecting Valk, he had taken it upon himself to suppress the demons that could haunt him at night. Now at the ripe age of thirty, he began to wonder if the combat was finally wearing down on him. He personally believed that he had done well in keeping the horrors at bay, but this restless nights sleep told a different story.

The skyline of Alderaan's capital ablaze was imprinted in his mind.

He pushed the thoughts away as he swung his legs off of his bunk, moving to start another day stationed at Kashyyyk.

Usually, the colonel would lead morning PT with the first ranger special tactics unit and any other units in rotation at Kashyyyk, but today was their off day. So instead, he'd be meeting his XO at the gym for some exercises.

They spent short time getting into it, as Valkren soon found himself in boxing gloves, delivering a hail of punches to a bag that Lieutenant Konrad Harris was standing imposingly behind. His blows to the punching bag were methodic at first, delivering two right jabs then a left, then repeating the process. His hits soon carried more force with each jab and swing, as his thoughts traveled from the workout at hand, to the nightmarish visions that were begging to come back to face Valkren. Harris could tell that something was off, mainly due to one of the colonel's punches that carried enough power to push the lieutenant off of the back of the bag.

"Sheesh, who was the karkwit' that made ya this mad this early?" Konrad blinked, approaching the bag again the lean on it just as Valkren backed off.

The colonel only shook his head, using his already-sweaty forearms to attempt to wipe the sweat from his brows. After failing to do so, he held out his hands so the lieutenant could assist in the removal of his boxing gloves.

"No one pissed me off, Konrad. Just a rough nights sleep I guess." After the gloves were successfully removed, he'd move to the other end of the 'pit,' the outdoor workout area for rangers on Kashyyyk, moving past other ranger personnel to retrieve his towel.

"Well you'd best stow whatever mood that is, brother. Command is sending us back to Alaris Prime, have to recon our previous mission area." Konrad explained this as he too went for a towel.

This confused Valkren, as their previous mission on Alaris Prime had his unit taking on a group of pirates hold out in a compound deep within the wooded areas of the location. It had been a routine snatch-and-grab mission, with their target being a Trandoshan named Kavarr. Kavarr met an untimely end during the firefight on Alaris Prime, but it still meant mission accomplished. So why were they given orders to return to the planet?

"Nevermind the reason for going back there, should just be a simple flyby. I'm sure they won't even put us on the ground." Konrad must have read the perplexed facial expression Valkren was making, and had insisted on reassuring their commanding officer of their orders.

Konrad had never seen Valkren quite like this, which obviously could be worrisome for any kind of military operation, no matter the situation.

Eventually, Lieutenant Harris would move on to prepare for the briefing and ready the team. Valkren would soon have to do the same, but for the moment he stood there, dabbing the towel against his face while he thought.

There was another image burned in his mind, one distinct figure against the flaming hills of Alderaan. A knight, facing the legions of black-armored troopers that moved along the streets and hillsides. The two-handed hilt..The blade extinguishing.

He had no idea what to make of it.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]

 

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He awoke with a gasp.

The knight's eyes fluttered open, and took in the gentle light of an early morning on Ruusan. His body was covered in sweat, the covers having been thrashed down onto the floor during the height of the vision that had been gifted to him by the empyrean. It had felt as if he were simply suffering a fever dream, but he knew what he had been shown was no dream. It was the real cold, hard, and unforgiving reality he knew so well, though it had not yet come to pass.

Perhaps it won't.

"Are you there Vicarion?" The specter did not answer. Cedric wasn;'t wholly surprised; his ancestor rarely stirred from his eternal slumber unless the situation truly called for his presence. He'd given Cedric a name, and that was enough to work off of. The knight wasted no time in pouring himself a cup of caf and heading over to the terminal at his bedside. The terminal had access to the entirety of the Graywall's records, as well as much of the information stored within the Black Library. There were few beings of status in the galaxy that Cedric did not have any information on. Calderon was not one of them.

"Antarian Ranger?" A brow was lofted curiously, "Never met one."

It occurred to Cedric that he would need to set aside whatever preconceptions of the Silver Jedi he might hold. In truth, the knight had often resented them, though his reasons for doing so were varied and of a myriad of origins. Perhaps this message was a means by which he should let go of that resentment.

He wasted little time in getting ready, donning his armor as he expected some form of conflict in the near future, and made his way toward his shuttle. The knight did not waste time looking for any companions; this was a trip he would need to undertake himself.

Alone, the Jedi Knight's ship made its jump toward Silver space. From there, Cedric was confident he could find this Calderon rather quickly.

[member="Valkren Calderon"]

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Location: Alaris Prime, Moon of Alaris​

Current Objective: Patrol​

Assets: First Ranger Special Tactics Unit​

The tall grass swayed as a gust of wind took a dive across the open field in-between the large trees of Alaris Prime. The same patch of grass would be crushed as Calderon's boot came down into it. His grey plated Katarn armor pushing through the flora quite easily as he moved toward the tree line ahead of his unit.

"Ohh I'm sure they won't even put us on the ground, it'll just be a flyby." Valkren's vocoded voice cut into the silence of his team's communications system, sarcastically making fun of the statement by his XO previously.

"Respectfully, kiss my ass, sir." Konrad spoke out, trudging through the grass on their way to their patrol's destination.

"I like it when the boss complains!" Specialist Jim Lowder, or 'Johnny' as his comrades like to refer to him as, spoke up in a rather happy tone. "Makes me feel less bad about coming back to this karkwit of a moon."

Twelve almost identically armed operatives from the rangers advanced across the field, keeping even spread in the case of a firefight breaking out. Valkren honestly didn't expect trouble after they cleared out the pirate compound harboring a high-value-target in a previous mission.

"When did tex' say he was coming back about again?" Corporal Reese Baker's voice came forward, asking about their pilot.

Meanwhile, while the twelve man group of operators from the first ranger special tactics unit moved along their patrol path, murmers among bounty hunters and pirates alike began to transmit within the Kashyyyk system. A leak had come out somehow, and knowledge of several 'marked' operators locations on Alaris Prime was now known.

The rangers would soon have problems.

[member="Cedric Grayson"]