Eye of the Storm
Location: [Redacted]
Equipment: Lightsaber, aquata breather, liquid cable launcher, comlink, datapad, backpack, expeditionary equipment, rations, basic lifesaving kit
Tags:
Riven Marr
Lia studied the pages of the ancient book resting in her lap. Its worn pages appearing cool white in the blue-white light filtering through the windows of cockpit.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see the timer ticking down for the last leg of this hyperspace jump. Out here in the black, far from most of the light of civilization, travel was slow and fraught with peril. But, like anything, there was money in the risk. Something Lia had grown quite accustomed to. For now, she wore the flag of the Cartographer's Guild. Though she was no member directly, her survey data and latest star charts for the region were invaluable for other survey teams and explorers coming out to this part of the void.
Money enough to keep her ship fueled and her fed. But more than that, the job paid for itself, at least when she was successful. Success wasn't always guaranteed. Not in her line of work. Lots of wild bantha chases. Working from information thousands of years old and out of date.
But then there were times where the work, the efforts paid off, and the secrets of the past once again opened to the light of day. Perhaps today would be such a day.
The book in her lap lead her here, as much as the Force did. Within it, pages spoke of a Jedi weapon laid to rest here, until the galaxy should have need of it again. Lia frowned. Not that the Jedi were great weapon builders. Still, when she'd stumbled across those passages, her hands trembled as the Force whispered in her ear. This was more than just supposition.
From the writings, she couldn't be for certain what lie in wait. On the one hand it spoke of the weapon as an armor. Another as a man. But clearly not a droid. There was talk of technology and imbuing with the Force. Using it to enhance objects and technology was nothing new. Lia patted the saber resting against one shapely thigh. The lightsaber was a keen example. And if the legends were true, and she assumed they were, even the remarkable hyperdrive was first an invention and artifact created through the Force and specifically usage of the Dark Side.
But the talk of the man, and the melding of the flesh, of symbiosis made her wonder if this weapon had in fact been a person. Or even a cyborg. But from what she knew, most cybernetics interfered with one's ability to use the Force. So if it were true, it raised many questions for the Sorceress.
Appearing from the console drew her attention. As Leah looked up, she saw it was from the hyperspace reversion alarm. Almost there. She watched as it scrolled down.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
The mottled sky of hyperspace shattered into thousands of pinprick thin streams of light before shrinking back into individual stars. Lia paid them little mind as she sat up. Both hands settling on the flight controls, a nudge of a hand sent the ship into a lazy roll. Her gaze focused up and out through the canopy, no sign of any immediate celestial bodies. Exactly how she wanted it.
One ball of light glowed fitfully but brighter and bigger than the surrounding stars. That was it, her destination. At least for the moment.
The trouble with traveling to such a system was that very few traveled to it. Meaning that the star charts available to the public were old and out of date. Traveling to places with such old data, minimal data, or no data was exceedingly risky. Like wandering a dangerous landscape blindfolded.
"Uncharted" and alternative safe routes were often worth a fortune. Mostly the purview of smugglers and pirates, many guarded their maps and charts rigorously. Including what they had for charts that got them into and out of dangerous and out-of-the-way places.
It also meant getting navigational and survey data of her own was worth a lot, and would be invaluable to the Cartographer's Guild. Though not many citizens and denizens of the galaxy had reason to travel to these truly backwater worlds. But it allowed for updated models. So even if mostly untraveled, it created less risk for others.
And the nav data was worth it for others, if she were to sell it. But no, she already had a fortune, and for now, all to herself. Paired with the writings, artifacts, an holocrons collected over time, they represented access to a great deal of knowledge and what had inadvertently become her life's work.
So it was that one such venture lay ahead.
Entering the starsystem blind was doable, but once again, risky. It was true the ship's systems would yank her out of hyperspace if they detected a gravity well ahead, such as a planet. But, again, early warning was easier with proper charts and astro-surveys.
So to solve the problem, Lia had a few solutions. Jump to the edge of where the systen was supposed to be. Safe enough. She could have jumped down near the core of the star system, next to it's heart. But that had plenty of it's own risks. If the charts were off, she could jump practically into the star.
The trick to plotting such a course wasn't just moving from point A to point B. Everything in space was in motion. Moving on the currents and tides of gravity and inertia. Every planet, every star, every rock, every particle of gas or dust.
And then there came the problem of light delay. The universal speed limit for most things. Jumping from one star system to the other, only a few light years away was problematic. Jumping to one fifty or a hundred light years away, even more so. Not only was it a like shooting one ronto rider from another while both were moving in different directions, but the delay meant you could only see where they were, however many years ago. Good stellar observation would show their course and speed. So you had to aim for where they were going to be when you arrived. And then you'd have to know how fast you were going to travel.
So doing it blind, or nearly blind, with only cursory data? A bloody frightening prospect. And worse, this far out.... no help was coming. It was one of the reasons space exploration lay in the hands of the most daring and intrepid.
Granted FTL communications meant that the more traveled a lane or system was, the more information available about it, and in real-time or close to real time. The best-traveled systems were so well-known that pilots could make jumps with incredible precision, or zip right through in hyperspace and never be in danger of hitting anything. The more travelled the lanes, the faster one could traverse them, like wide, well-maintained roads on the ground. Straighter, flatter, faster.
So what is a girl to do?
Data, data, data.
This jump placed Lia and her researcher vessel just inside the system's oort cloud. Electric and digital telescopes began slurping up data, pointed down the gravity well. The dedicated droid brains chewed on the skies and began to churn out what they could detect from the heavens ahead.
The charts she had were old, but new information filled in as a new layer, showing the easiest to see planets deeper in, reflecting solar radiation and heat against the cold cosmic background radiation.
It was enough to define the plane of the ecliptic. And give her a rough distance to the star. Courses and speeds of given bodies began to fill in based on doppler shift and angular momentum. The adjustment for light-delay was child-splay then.
She set a course for the golden zone, based on the star's size and temperature. Careful adjustments on the yolk lined her up. A moment later the vessel shot forward with the flicker of pseudomotion.
Even now, excitement built in her chest. Lia's heart almost wanted to race. The charts so far seemed to match up. But more than that, the feeling that she was close to her next find came to her through the Force. That she was nearing a finish line.
Soon.
Soon, she would solve this mystery and perhaps uncover something lost to the annals of time.
The mottled sky of hyperspace broke once more, resolving into stars. One star, however, did not stay a glittering diamond on black velvet. No it rushed forward to greet her, blazing bright and golden, but held still when it reached the size of a large coin.
Instantly, the viewscreens polarized, cutting the light, and in all that luminous glory, a smile spread across Lia's face.
Lia set the sensors to fan out, casting for the nearest planets and where they were expected to be. In moments, fresh data began to pour in. Temperature, atmosphere, masses, gravity.
Getting up, she let the ship and its systems do their jobs while she went to check on provisions, and eat what might be the last good meal she had for a while. Depending on how long it took to find this... weapon.
Over a pile of noodles and veggies with a creamy sauce, she studied the writings from earlier and maps, comparing against the data sets she had now. Most likely target acquired. She'd have to get close.
New course set. Another micro-jump. The floating mottled marble of a world largely undisturbed lay ahead big enough to fill half her viewport.
The touch of a few switches shifted the ship's mode and loaded probes into launchers. Adjusting the controls she fired one, two, three... more, until half a dozen were on their way in a long string spreading out into a cone, streaking down the well.
The first reported atmosphere, and within moments, high resolution scan information overlaid the planet in one large radius. Then another, then another. The courses she'd roughly projected for each probe landed easily within the margin of error she wanted. Any more than six was sloppy. Wasteful. And she'd done this many times now, so she could just eyeball it.
In a matter of minutes, she had the planet scanned, with the fuzzy edges of each scan overlapped enough to fill in the data missing for others, so that the they covered the entire planetary surface.
She focused most of her efforts on the northern continents, looking for the right geographical features. It took a few days, but she finally found what she was looking for.
Then... came the descent.
Lia found herself wishing for the sleek angles and lines of her personal ship, Silent Shadow. But it wasn't right for a job like this. That thing was meant to get in and out of places with little detection and IF detected, leave. Or punish whatever encroached in its domain.
The research ship had the aerodynamic profile of a brick. Still, she'd managed, between the shields, inertial dampers, and her steady hands, to take the ship streaking through the upper atmosphere, and bring it down, into thicker air.
Before long, she cruised between jagged peaks until, ahead she made out the features of an entry way, with a platform large enough to hold a ship from anything to a starfighter to a decent-sized transport. Plenty of room for her. Along the entry way were walkways and seating areas, with what had once been manicured bushes. But abandoned centuries ago they grew wild, even here a few thousand feet above the valley floor.
Drifting forward on repulsors, Lia sat the ship down gingerly in case the platform were less than stable. But as the weight of the ship settled it didn't budge. Killing the engines, she grabbed the book, her pack, and made her way to the main exit. Cold air flooded into the interior along with the fresh, pristine air of an almost primordial untouched planet.
Stepping down, Lia sealed the ship back up, braving the brisk air. As far as she could tell, the continent was in summer, but at this altitude and as far north as she was, the air here still had an arctic edge to it.
Long strides took her across ancient duracrete, closing the distance to main entry way. From what she recalled, this place had once belonged to the Jedi. It seemed they still knew how to build to stand the test of time. The exterior almost looked brand new, some of the edges still crisp.
The place had a pall over it, it's own kind of peace, even untended. Lia knew this was a place she would be reluctant to shout or raise her voice, something about it encouraged respect and reverence, rather than demanding or commanding it as the Sith might.
Her eyes raised to the graceful arches, the statues of Jedi figures guarding the doors, their faces serene and yet soft and open. She wanted nothing but to look up and marvel at the curves and lines, to bathe in the light and the artistry. Unlike a Sith temple where she might have to keep her eyes downcast, head bowed to even approach, her gaze upon the ground.
She could have stood just there, or sat on one of the benches for an hour and been content to soak up the air, the days rays, and watch the avians flitting about the mountains.
But she was not content to merely enjoy such simple comforts and beauty. No, she had other desires that, if this were the place, lay deeper within.
So it was, she drifted through the vaulted entry way and soon the light outside faded. Perhaps she could have walked in darkness with only the Force to guide her. But instead, she fetched her saber, igniting it with a familiar snap-hiss, it's deep resonant hum filling the descent. So too came it's golden light shining the way.
The interior proved less pristine than the facade. Collapsed corridors forced detours. A security door, long sealed, required careful cutting. Once, she disturbed automated defenses that sputtered to life before dying again, too degraded to pose real threat. But the facility's bones held true, and the Force guided her deeper, past meditation chambers and archives, until she found the vault.
With careful manipulation of the door's machinery, she finally convinced the lock to open. Sure she could have melted her way through with the saber, or conjured enough power in the Force to perhaps rip it from it's hinges and moorings where it stood anchored in granite.
But while she came to perhaps plunder and pilfer the confines of this place, such crass brute force felt out of place. It still deserved respect in a way she couldn't define. Perhaps, in some way, the brute force approach showed a lack of worthiness. Some Sith would have pounded in rage at such barriers, and yes would defeat them eventually. But that was a violation. Profane. Instead this felt... provincial.
Bars released and gears spun. Taking a deep breath, Lia expected the door, which was a meter thick and three meters across, made of durasteel to be heavy. And while it was, due to it's mass, it took little for her to haul it open with one arm and hardly a sound, so well-built and balanced it was on it's hinges.
Gold light spilled into a room built with a mixture of granite floor, but durasteel walls and ceiling. The metallic sheen bounced back beneath the thin layer of dust. She might have expected more, for a place so ancient. But she could make out vents, power connections, tables, and some ancient equipment.
Dominating the center of the room was a pod, sized to hold a fairly large humanoid. At least a meter long, a meter and a half wide, and rising an easy half meter from the floor, and angled forty-five degrees.
Lia's breath fogged in the chilly air of the room. It wasn't a place of threat or darkness, but rather preservation. The lines and design of the pod were familiar. Stasis, meant for long term storage of an individual. She blinked. The weapon weas ... a man?
A droid wouldn't need this kind of storage. Nor would just an armor system.
Taking a look around the doorframe with care, as well as above, below and just past to the walls on either side, Lia saw no evidence of traps, tripwires, or other sensors. With equal care, she scanned the flooring, but saw no seams in the granite. Hesitant she placed one foot over the threshold.
Nothing. No sounds, no clicks, no shift of the flooring.
Booth feet inside, she moved quietly, using her saber as a glowrod. Every step was cautious but her confidence grew that this place held no traps or dangers, at least to visit. Coming to the side, she saw the readout panels still had lights. Energy. A power source. Whoever was inside might still be alive. Well by the loosest definition, alive. Revivable.
Reaching out, she brushed one gloved hand against the transparisteel canopy, brushing off collected ice crystals, sending then tinkling to the floor. Glancing around, she spotted a tiny control panel on the wall. A touch of the force depressed one of the buttons, and a hum surged overhead. A glowpanel hummed faintly to life, but in the stillness, it seemed to fill the room. Warm white light filled the room but with only half intensity.
It was good enough to work by for now.
Lia closed down her saber, putting it back on her belt, then doffed her pack.
Wiping more crystals away, she peered inside. There was a figure, as expected. A man, hard to tell his age, but she would guess in his thirties. By the space he took up, she guessed he would tower over her, and looked to be in vital condition.
Closing her eyes she reached out with the Force, delving into the pod, feeling for the man. He shone brightly in the Force, though that brightness was somewhat muted, she suspected by his long stasis. But his life force was still there, strong. Perhaps he was some Jedi Knight or Master from olden times. Maybe a battlemaster, or one with a specific technique they wanted to preserve where a holocron would not suffice.
Any other Sith, she supposed, would have killed the man already. Plunged their saber into his chest and into the machinery and stirred to their satisfaction.
But no, that wasn't her.
Instead she walked around to the head end of the machine and cleared the small terminal screen. Under her care it flickered to life and went through a quick diagnostic. It dutifully reported the occupant's condition which was acceptable, though deteriorated. A warning flashed yellow in one corner. Pulling it up she saw the pod was running on secondary power. Estimated reserve time was maybe a few weeks.
Lia's gaze shifted toward the man. If she hadn't shown up, he might have been lost for forever. Perhaps... she had been lead here after all.
"Very well," she murmured, her voice bouncing off the walls softly.
A couple taps pulled up the information on the occupant. Name: Riven Marr. Some other biometric data on him. She retrieved her datapad from her pack and with a little fiddling, interfaced with the terminal, copied what data she could, then triggers the revival sequence. It would take a while.
In the meantime she began surveying the rest of the room. There were items on the tables, data crystals, other materials she didn't recognize. Anything that looked useful to this recovery, that ight hold informatino and clues went into the bag.
In her snooping, she found a wall panel. It opened after a little more fiddling, revealing a suit of armor, imbued with the Force. She glanced back toward Riven. "Maybe it's both. Man and armor go together. .... We'll see when you wake."
So it was, she found a workstation chair, testing it gingerly. It held her weight comfortably, so she sat, one leg crossed over the other, beginning to search the records and databases she had on her pad for the name Riven Marr. But without the holonet it proved fruitful. So she resigned herself to read, until something happened.
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