Objective: Gain entrance to the library
Location: The Great Sith Library (grounds)
Equipment: Gravity Hurts, Lightsaber, Vi'Dreya Crystal, Ianua Dagger, Chase Spymaster
Allies:
Jaeson Starchaser
Enemies:
AMCO
Elsewhere on Ossus: Alana Sunrider,
Kaia Starchaser
,
Yula Perl
,
Kaia Vullen
,
Jonu Zihtil
,
Darth Carnifex
The turbulent skies and dark clouds was appropriate for the turbulent thoughts of the ship's pilot. The small craft strained against the winds that buffeted its exterior, but inside it was eerily calm. It was an unwanted reprieve for the normally-stoic Jedi who sat in the pilot's seat, he would have preferred a distraction from his conflicted emotions right now. Every second of their descent brought him closer to a world he had once treasured, a world he had seen destroyed, a world he had felt helpless to save.
A world to which he now returned: Ossus.
Jerek should have felt joy or excitement, something to reflect the optimistic prospect made manifest by returning to what was nominally his homeworld. Though the Silver Jedi, with their allies in the Galactic Alliance and abroad, now stormed their former capital of Voss, it was inevitable that their forces would make its way to Ossus after that. That hour of liberation, which Jerek had craved for what seemed like decades —but was really only a handful of years— was now only days away. And yet he felt somber, a hollowness that resonated through the core of his being.
Perhaps it was simply the darkness of the planet laid out before him. An endless plain of twisted ruin, where once there had been life and happiness, receded into the black abyss at the edge of his vision out the viewport of the ship. A perversion wrought by the Sith, who had come to the world of his youth to desecrate it and to raise monuments to their blasphemy. The wretchedness and villainy, sown across the woods and fields he had once played in as a child, now pulsed with haunting echoes of screams and pain instead. Jerek could feel the wounds of the world as if they were his own, reaching out to him seeking note respite but vile corruption of his own mind and being.
Or perhaps it was that hollowness within himself, and the dark corruption of the world only resonated in harmony with his own.
An unsettled Jedi set the craft down in a secluded spot, far enough from their destination to avoid discovery by patrols. The Great Sith Library rose in the distance, one soon covered by the erstwhile padawan and his partner for the day's sojourn. Jerek still didn't know much about this particular Starchaser, and the resemblance Jaeson had to Damian Starchaser was still more than just uncanny. This was not the time to suss out the hows or whys of the young man's appearance, but the blond-haired Jedi couldn't deny that the mystery of it gave him pause.
"So where's the entrance?" Jerek asked. Jaeson had talked about knowing a secret entrance into the crypts beneath the main pyramid of the Sith Library.
"Is it covered in plant growth or a special lever in a room somewhere?"
Spending too much time with Damian Starchaser had lent Jerek a whimsical imagination of spycraft, allowing him to speculate broadly during their trek towards the Sith structures. That was a far healthier pastime than wallowing within his persistent melancholy. It was only now, that their destination loomed above the pair, that he asked about the particulars of this specific Starchaser's knowledge. Unlike Damian, there was a chance to get a straight answer from Jaeson.
"Nope its just a hole in the ground about two hundred yards off the property. Looks like a well."
That nearly stopped the Jedi in his tracks, leaving him staring wordlessly at the confident youth beside him. Damian's casual flippancy was on heavy display here, causing Jerek to wonder if the behavior was a genetic trait among Starchasers. Jaeson's answer seemed far too simple to be true.
"Really? Who would fall for that?"
"You lived here for so many years, you ever expect it?"
Jerek let out a breath, with a sound like half a laugh. It was furthest from his mind to consider himself an expert, and certainly not on Ossus by any stretch of the imagination. He had come to the planet as a child, and left as a youth, privy only to the relative safety of the Jedi facilities and what information the masters saw fit to pass down. Even Master Beck had barely taught him before they were forced to divide, leaving the boy's knowledge of the planet incomplete.
He shook his head, shaggy hair dislodged from his careful arrangements in the mirror, and some of it fell in front his face. Jerek gave his newfound bangs a glare from beneath.
"No, but I...I had higher expectations from the maniacal Sith conquerors."
"I mean, this would predate the Sith right?"
Jerek tossed his head a few times, before his hair finally flipped back in place before answering, again in the negative. If Jaeson was hoping to rely on his knowledge, the mysterious Starchaser was going to face disappointment.
"Not that I know of. This isn't where the Jedi Library was, the Sith moved a few kilometers to build their abomination."
He watched as the Starchaser boy shrugged and they kept on moving. His failure to offer much in terms of wisdom kept the Jedi youth ruminating on the subject, wracking his brain for answers. The existence of an obscure well entrance didn't quite bother him as much as how out of place it felt. Ossus was steeped in ancient history, naturally, and while Jerek's study of it had been incomplete, he was bothered at how easily he had been stumped.
Ordinarily, he would seek refuge in meditation, and hope to uncover the answers. Perhaps they even hid within himself, deep in memory clouded by time, pain, and loss. Yet the oppressive despair he'd felt on their descent had blossomed, openly flaunting its loyalty to the Darkside. These grounds were polluted with it, an insidious mixture of destruction and wanton violation that threatened to worm its way into Jerek's soul. It took effort to keep that evil at bay, effort he could not risk expending on meditation while they were vulnerable here on the surface.
Last time he had come with the Jedi, they had practically knocked on the front door. This time, he was determined not to raise so much suspicion.
His eyebrow raised as the boys arrived unceremoniously at the hole in the ground. Just as Jaeson said it, it looked no different than a well or another mundane piece of the utility infrastructure to support the Sith facility. The tapestry Jerek had woven of the maniacal conquerors frayed at the edges. He supposed it made sense, even the Sith needed sewage and ventilation, and the mechanics to support them. It simply felt wrong for his clever mission to be inaugurated from a simple hole in the ground.
"So that's the secret entrance?"
OOC: Permission obtained from
Jaeson Starchaser
for his dialogue.
Allyson Locke
)
Taeli Raaf
(Open to additional interactions.)
