Serendipity [Joon]

[Darth Ayra]

Serendipity​

​

| [member="Joon"] |

Darth Ayra's involvement with the Imperial Remnant had been minuscule, at best. Through an alias, she had attempted to start an weapons and vehicle corporation on Crina, colloquially named Imperial Arm Incorporated, after brokering a deal where the IR picked up the costs and she would make the profits. But much like the New Order, the IR had died, I.A.I came to nothing and Crina would later become annexed by the One Sith, who Ayra was eager to avoid serving.

It was thus a happy circumstance- her very own serendipity- that the Sith Lord learned that a secret IR operation had been revealed on Duro. It warranted a trip. After all, the science behind cloning was a secret that Ayra intended to collect and add to the many sciences, technologies and arcane arts that her Order had collected in the intervening years, since she had entered the apprenticeship of the late Darth Pandeima.

Thus, the Initium arrived on Duro thirty minutes away from which her intelligence suggested to be the location in which she would discover what the IR had been hiding from her. Her lightsaber a comfortable weight beneath her dark robes, Ayra exited the modified Star Courier and set off to walk towards the base. She noted the signs of battle and destruction that had transpired as she made her way forward, but was yet to feel any signs of life nearby...

​

 

[Connor Harrison]

The two dog tags rubbed together between her fingers. Eyes looked diagonally across the partially-collapsed room to the cracked ceiling that let JN-4 see the stars above. She wanted to sleep, laying on the solid steel table and wrapped in a large maroon flag of the Imperial Remnant for warmth, but she couldn’t. The traveller had stoked the embers in her brain and they were trying to ignite as she was trying to sleep.

Maybe he would come back, maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe she should have gone with him, maybe she shouldn’t. Truth be told, the clone didn’t know what to do, and for the first time, that worried her. She always knew what to do – she was told what to do and did it. The fact that Asemir, former Colonel of a mighty army, had given her choices, was puzzling.

Duro was quiet again, and so was her makeshift hovel in the lower floor of the Imperial facility. It was sheltered enough, not totally devoid of light and tucked away in the corner of the establishment which made her feel safe. The useless E11 was tucked neatly besides her dusty boots, her trousers acting as a basic pillow upon the table, but her dog-tags and vest remained on.

JN-4 turned slightly on her side to look out and wonder where he was going now. She could have been with him, ready to learn so much and maybe find others who could lead her to the Imperial Remnant again. But, maybe they would find her? They wouldn't leave her here. When it was safe, they would return.

For the first time in her short life of not being plugged into a network, JN-4 started to feel...she flicked her eyes around in thought - what was that feeling? Being devoid of company, lack of stimulation with another…? That was it.

Alone.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1lQ6E1a_-I​

​

Before the Jedi Order had made their pact with the Yuuzhan Vong, in the centuries before the Four Hundred Year Darkness, Duro was a world of pollution, filled with a populace it was neither designed to hold nor could it support. Now, in the modern day, the stars could be seen overhead and the air was breathable. In a callous way, the Gulag plague had solved a problem that had plagued Duro for centuries; and only those with the understanding of the dark side could see beyond the death, for it was the ally of the Sith.

The orbital cities above twinkled, still so full of life. It made sense that the IR would settle a base here. In the decades since the dissipation of the Gulag plague, the inhabitants of those floating cities had never once made the intention of reclaiming the surface they had lost during the Mandalorian Wars. Perhaps they lacked the will or the insight to probe beyond their floating skyscrapers and see beyond them into the wider Galaxy. It was the greatest sacrifice the Duros had made. The Galaxies earliest space-farers trapped, without guidance. Ayra decided then that they would receive her guidance, when it was her time to rule.

Lowering her head, the Sith Lord surveyed the base. There was little to nothing left. She lifted a hand to her face, frustrated. It had all been lost. The base was gone. It's inhabitants had fled or died during the attack. All of it's data destroyed with it's walls. Pressing her fingers against her forehead, Ayra felt the beast within stirring itself, almost tempted to raise it's snout; and whenever it did, rage overcame her, revealing all her conceit and hate. Had the dark side never been so prevalent in one such as she?

Suddenly she shuddered. Goosebumps erupted along her arms and her hairs stood on end. Stretching her hand forward, it almost strained against an invisible barrier- an encompassing Force. Ayra bowed her head, almost to listen. Her hand weaved and bobbed through the air, as she felt a lonesome feeling nearby.

"So... Alone," murmured the Sith Lord, sensing JN-4 nearby.

 

[Connor Harrison]

It usually worked – counting stars would send anyone off to sleep as you lost track as soon as you blinked. JN-4 hadn’t moved her head since she turned, and had drifted off eventually with nothing but the diegetic noise of the hollowed out institute and grotty planet as her soother.

Alone

A gentle twitch as the clone slept. Voices inside her head.

Voices?

Eyes snapped open. The girl sat bolt upright, the flag draping off her, half covering the table. What voices in her head? She didn’t hear voices unless she was awake, and she hadn’t been. Her heart thumped erratically inside her chest and her skin crept with icy cold pinpricks. This was fear, and she knew it.

JN-4 pushed herself back off the table, dragging the flag under her and down to the floor to reach for her E11. As she often did, when faced with danger, she hid and hugged the back of the table, knees once again up to her chest, hands gripping the weapon and breathing staggered.

Now she didn’t want to blink, because who was talking to her? She couldn’t hear anything, but now wished she had made her hovel deeper inside the base because right now she felt exposed, and it had nothing to do with the fact she was half-dressed for bed or the gaping hole in the ceiling – she felt exposed to something she didn’t know or couldn’t see, and that wasn’t right.

Taking a second to calm her racing pulse, the swirling genetic imbalance fuelling her with adrenalin, JN-4 kept her head back to the table and wondered if Asemir had come back for her or the Imperials had arrived? But why would they talk to her like this? Her abilities had been severed with the Force power and now she was just flesh and bone and blood.

"Colonel Asemir, is that you?" She spoke softly to nothing in the room, but instantly wished she hadn’t said anything at all.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

Ayra relaxed. Her head lifted, eyes became focused and her hand lowered slowly back to her side. The soft tones of JN-4 came from the left, laced with fear and tension. The Sith Lord surveyed the base, focusing on where the voice had come from, walking forward with purpose as she did. Her vornskr like eyes found a crevice, with a pair of eyes finding her own and barely above the cold breeze, was the soft flattering of material, that reminded her of a cape or flag.

"No..." Stopping, Ayra knelt down three yards from where JN-4 crouched. "I am not Colonel Asemir. Will he be returning?"

Resting her left hand on her knee, she knew that it would only take seconds to draw her lightsaber and use it on whoever it was hiding in front of her, or the Colonel Asemir they had mentioned. The eyes were the windows to the soul and Ayra's yelled malevolence. Yet, a pretty smile accompanied a beautiful face, as the woman who crouched before JN-4 tried to come across as nonthreatening. But who could believe such a facade, with eyes such as those?

 

[Connor Harrison]

JN-4 didn’t dare move a muscle after she spoke, but she felt someone in the base, towards where her room was. And they were coming this way. Pushing her head back to the table further, as if she wanted to flatten herself against it, she had the feeling where if she didn’t breathe, or blink, or move an inch, she would be invisible.

Her eyes froze as she moved around to see everything she could, and found another pair of eyes looking back at her. Eyes like that of an animal hunting on Duro – but it was a human, who spoke.

"He will," JN-4 said firmly.

The voice, a woman, was soft seemed to want to understand the situation? Nervous fingers flexed on the E11 against her chest. It was time to assert herself, and find out who the woman was, and quickly assess the situation.

"Identify yourself. Name and rank."

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

"My name is Ayra... And I have no rank."

Who was this woman? A survivor from the attack? Ayra contemplated the person she found and decided that, perhaps, not all had been lost. Perhaps this woman knew what happened at the base, and more importantly, could lead her to the research that she had ventured all this way for?

"And who might you be?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

With the introduction, JN-4 started to calm down. Just like the Colonel had done, this Ayra had made her name and status clear, which was good. That was all she had to do, and she had done it. Still, the E11 was held tight, but now dropped to her lap.

"Ayra. I am JN-4, named Joon. I’m a project of the Imperial Remnant and waiting for their return."

Her eyes seemed to fixate on this Ayra woman. She couldn’t look away, but felt this was what predators and prey did in the wild, to gauge each other and find their immediate hierarchy. JN-4 was scared, but not worried for her life. However, Ayra was very blunt, but again that didn’t totally bother the clone.

"Are you here with the Imperial Remnant or another?"

This was when she had to be ready to do what she did best if it all went wrong – run.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

Ayra learned three things. That JN-4 was a clone, based on what she said and the rumors Ayra had heard prior to coming to Duro; that the woman across from her was unaware that the Imperial Remnant had folded, following the events at Crina; and that she was rather child like, given her mannerisms and how quickly she had lowered the blaster, once she learned Ayra's name.

"I have some unfortunate news, Joon." Ayra took a few, hesitant steps forward. She wasn't sure if that blaster was loaded. "The Imperial Remnant is gone. I supplied them before they folded. That is how I knew about this place."

It was a white lie. Ayra had supplied the Imperial Remnant, from her corporation on Chandrila and her shares in Emeritus Industries, so technically she was telling the truth. But it was mere coincidence that the Sith Lord had found the base in the first place. It was lucky.

"Is that loaded?" Ayra nodded to the blaster, feigning concern.

 

[Connor Harrison]

The words she never expected to hear – the Remnant was gone. As Ayra slowly came forward, JN-4 stood up to meet her, never breaking eye contact. And like some bizarre metaphor, the red flag covering her slipped down to the floor as she stood, the E11 hanging loosely in her hand by her side.

"Gone. I knew they wouldn’t come back for me,” she said, doe-eyed, "so it makes so much sense now. And, er, no it’s not.”

She shook her head at the irrelevant question about the blaster she didn’t care for now, dropping it with a loud clang that echoed around the room as she finally looked around, trying to piece together what could have happened- why they had gone, where they had gone?

"Ayra, you helped them,” JN-4 looked up, "so you must know what happened to them? Why are you here if they are gone?”

Her voice had a sliver of that strange loud urgency to it she had shown with Asemir once her emotional level was challenged.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

The truth was, Ayra did not know what happened to the Imperial Remnant, after the One Sith occupied Crina. She heard rumors that several Imperials had decided to work with the Republic in an effort to stem the One Sith's invasion, but hadn't paid much attention too it, with what the murder of Pandeima and the conference of the mantle between the two transferring over to her.

"You didn't need it anyway," Ayra said, speaking about the E11. "I mean you no harm. As for the Remnant, the truth is I don't know what happened after Crina. The Remnant had enemies and they won."

Bowing her head, almost to choose her next works carefully, Ayra responded to her next question. "I came here... For you."

Which was the truth as well. The Sith Lord had come to Duro to uncover the cloning project that the Imperial Remnant begun in secret, and sat in front of her was- presumably- the last clone from the project. "Tell me Joon. What happened?" Ayra took to look around the remnant of the base, derelict as it was. She then turned back to listen.

 

[Connor Harrison]

She was going to be free - someone had come for HER, for the project. JN-4 walked forward, not caring about how she looked, and reached her hands out towards Ayra's arms to hold.

"I don't know what Crina is, but that doesn't matter because you are here, and that is what matters. You have come for me and that means you are part of the Remnant. Thank you, Ayra.”

Turning her head , releasing her apparent savior, JN-4 glanced around the ruined room, light breaking through from the waxing moon above them on Duro.

"The Republic attacked us, men and women like our Stormtroopers came and destroyed the institute. Looking for us; looking for secrets. They came from above in warships and didn't stop - weapons and all sorts of explosives. Even the Jedi warriors came,”

She locked eyes with Ayra at that point, and continued.

"I and 5 other projects were released to fight, as we were trained to do, and to flee as far away as possible. I think I was the last to escape, but the troopers who helped me flee were soon destroyed and I had to wander the wilderness alone out there and find my way back to...this.”

JN-4 pointed around them both with a swirl of the hands. She nodded to the ruins before them.

"They destroyed the facility and I came back to this. Nothing. Nobody here. And so I wait for the...I waited...for the Imperial Remnant to come back and find me, but...you have instead? What do you want from me, if the Imperial Remnant are...gone?”

She walked back before Ayra, a slight look of intrigue and total confusion in her big eyes.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

Ayra nodded, understanding. The Galactic Republic were responsible for the attack. But then that didn't make sense to her. The IR agreed to help the GR, so why would they attack their allies? Unless her intelligence was old.

"I want you too..." She thought carefully as to how to phrase it. "...To finish the project. You were made for a purpose, Joon. You can find it with me. You have a power, don't you? I too have that power."

Lifting a hand, Ayra pointed behind JN-4, indicating for her to look at where she was pointing. If she did, she would see a floating, swirling piece of duracrete suspended in the air, held up by the Force of which Ayra was exerting her will over.

"I can teach you how to control this power, Joon. Then, together, we can finish what the Imperial Remnant started. Then the project would be finished and the imperative set to us can be completed. All you need to do is come with me."

 

[Connor Harrison]

Turning curiously, JN-4's jaw dropped in wonder. She had seen such a power before; the whole JN programme had touched upon the Force. Her development from Jedi and Sith genetics had granted her such power, and it was this that was key to the professors, captains and Lords of the Imperial Remnant who aided and pushed her. It seemed Ayra was just as capable to lead, aid and push her too.

"I see it,” she said, "but I'm...scared.” She turned to Ayra. "I don't remember much about how I used it, but I know it's there, and it's dangerous.”

Running her hands over her face, pulling her loose ponytail a little tighter, the clone snapped herself out of this unnatural act of over-analysis. Nodding, she crouched down and took her boots and E11 to the table, and pulled her trousers off and swiftly up her legs and fastened tight. Then, she hopped on the table and flashed Ayra a smile.

"You're right. I'm here to serve a purpose and you can help me find it.” She put her boots on and tied them. "We can re-ignite the programme. I can finish what they started and we can get the Remnant back to basics, and I can contact Colonel Asemir and he will help us.” She jumped down, dressed, useless E11 in hand which acted as a comfort. "You'd like him. He's a warrior, too.”

JN-4 was babbling, and feeling excited and in control - but if anything she was sounding more and more naive by the second.

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

"Hold on. Slow down."

Ayra raised a hand. JN-4's enthusiasm was good. She would need that energy, if the woman in front of her was going to become her apprentice. However, she needed to gauge and learn the extent to which JN-4 could be molded. Was she capable of such an apprenticeship? Could she take her position? Did she have the resolve to carry forward the imperative after her death? Could she kill? Such questions need to be answered first, but above all else, JN-4 needed to learn that everything they would do together was a secret, that only they could know for the rest of their lives.

"I am a business woman. I didn't serve the Remnant, I only did business with them. It was probably because of me that this base was supplied with foodstuffs. That's all I did for the Remnant." Ayra gestured to the sky with her eyes. "What I meant by continuing the program is for you to leave this place, with me. There are other worlds- other places- that we must go too, Joon."

The Sith Lord lowered her gaze back to JN-4. "Our powers are incredibly rare. We have the ability to use the Force, and I intend to use my powers to change the Galaxy. You and I have the ability to shape and bend our environment to our will, but only through me can you learn how too. That is precisely what the Imperial Remnant wanted you to do and is the reason for why you were created. You were supposed to be a weapon, Joon. But you could be so much more, if you were to join me."

Ayra thought about this Colonel Asemir. Who was he? How did he know about this base? Was he aware of the significance of JN-4?

"Our powers must be kept secret, if we are to learn the ways of the dark side of the Force. Only through the dark side can you achieve a power to not only change the Galaxy, but to avenge the people that died here."

It was a subtle manipulation. Ayra sensed that the clone felt the loss of the other clones, especially since she regarded them as her sisters. Even though she was young too experience the wider spectrum that surrounded her, this woman knew loss and that would be the key to making her join Ayra in these early stages of their relationship.

"You must understand then that we must remain a closely guarded secret, Joon. This Colonel Asemir... Can you arrange for the three of us to meet?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

Doing what she did best, JN-4 listened attentively to the wealth of information she was being presented with and instantly linked the key words to her programming and what she knew of. Certain words stuck out – Remnant. Programme. Force. Weapon. Dark Side.

She didn’t move as Ayra talked, but her attention was fully on her, even when she looked up to the heavens. This master of the Force power also seemed to understand what JN-4 was here for and what her training encompassed. The JN project could have been something great and decisive, but now it fell upon #4 of the line to carry it through.

While Asemir had offered travel and exploration and contact with the, now gone, Remnant, Ayra was offering truth and understanding, and a hand to help. It was people like her that JN-4 was made to serve, and she had a job to do and would do it.

"The JN project is a secret. I am a secret until you deem it necessary I am not one. If you want this to remain a secret, it will remain. I have nobody – no one. I am seeking my purpose and I am, I think, it’s excitement and apprehension to find it again.” She smiled a little at the embarrassing expression of feelings that were new to her.

But her face fell again to be serious. It was safe to say her emotional state and independence as a clone was now being challenged and slowly bending towards words she believed if delivered with a masked truth.

"I’ll finish this with you if you can help me, Ayra. Colonel Asemir left here but he gave me a code and signal to contact him if I needed to so I will if you wish. I think he’s a clone too and was a soldier. He said he knew of my circumstances and was willing to help me.”

Of course she didn’t know what Asemir had with the Remnant, or with a woman like Ayra, but everyone could work together for the greater good in her eyes.

Couldn’t they?

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

Ayra saw Colonel Asemir as a factor that required dealing with, and so she saw it differently from JN-4. The rank Colonel suggested that the man had some skill, and for a Sith Lord, someone with skills were always useful. But weighing up the pros and cons, as she often did, Ayra had decided that Asemir becoming aware of JN-4's existence was problematic. Whether or not that problem was small or large remained to be seen. It appeared this Asemir was long gone, and whilst he had given JN-4 his code for help, that call was entirely dependent on whether or not it was made. It became clear what would happen next.

"To me, it seems this Asemir wasn't a good man. It could even be said that he could have been involved in the destruction of this base." Ayra was lying now and she was lying well. She couldn't know that Asemir was Republic, and it appeared that JN-4 had turned down his offer to help, instead content to wait for the return of the Imperial Remnant. But there were ways to twist events to suit her needs, something that Pandeima had instructed her well in.

"Think about it, Joon." The Sith Lord begun to pace around the clone, head bowed, eyes averted from her as she walked and spoke. "He finds you here, alone, with a weapon that can't be used. He says he will help you, but leaves, only leaving you with the means to contact him. It suggests to me that he wanted to use you to discover more about this base, and by extension, the project that gave birth to you and your late sisters."

Ayra stopped, lifting a hand to JN-4's shoulder, offering sympathy. "I believe he knew that someone from the Remnant would return here one day, and so he wanted to use you, so that when that person returned- so that when I came here- you would contact him, so he knew when to come back. And when he did come back and find us both, he would have killed us, Joon, so as to finish the job that he and his people started here."

"If I were in his position at the time- as I am now- I would have offered you more than a mere means to communicate with me. I would have offered you warmth." Ayra withdrew her hand away from JN-4's shoulder, so that she could slip her arm through the sleeves of the Sith robe she wore. Pulling the garment off herself, the Sith Lord placed it around JN-4's body, helping her keep it around her frame before letting go. She was left in the comfortable, yet stylish clothes native to Chandrila that she had worn beneath the robe.

"And protection." Ayra lifted her arm back around JN-4's shoulder, pulling her into an embrace, standing over her protectively. "I would have offered meaning, guidance and answers to your questions." She had done this already. The clone knew the Imperial Remnant was gone, and so there was nothing else for her to stay here for.

"But before we leave this place, Joon, we have to put all of this to rest. To safeguard ourselves from our enemies and those that would mean to hurt us. Will you let me help you do this?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw_Je0SSHzg&index=37&list=PL97801D2C6EB55B55

As Ayra began to speak, that alluring calmness and comforting tone in her voice, JN-4 immediately reached up to her dog-tags over her vest and held them between her fingers. They were all she had of the past, and all that reminded her who she was. Now, the seeds of doubt were being planted.

She turned her head gently left and then right to watch Ayra walk around her explaining a very valid reason why Asemir wasn’t to be trusted. It made so much sense! A man appearing out of nowhere with no apparent reason to be on Duro at the site of an old institute, and then offering to take the last surviving clone away.

Her fingers pushed against the metal tags harder. How could she have been so reckless as to nearly leave everything for that man; that liar. A deep breath rumbled up through body and out her nose in quiet anger. The soldiers of the Republic were everywhere it seemed, out to destroy everything.

She meekly let Ayra cover her with the warm robe, looking at the decorative clothing the outlander wore; her mind racing with thoughts and worries and frustrations. And then, she was being held and reassured. She had seen this once before with other clones, but never experienced being held. The woman was gentle and made her feel safe, and like she could be the continuation of JN-4’s journey to be what she was meant to be; a fighter.

"I will,” she spoke softly. She was looking at nothing ahead. "I will help you do what you need to protect us from them out there. They’re hunting me, and they will find us soon.”

JN-4 twisted and looked up at Ayra.

"I’m sorry I didn’t think.”

[member="Darth Ayra"]

 

[Darth Ayra]

| [member="Joon"] |

"I forgive you."

Ayra let go, stepping forwards for room. Now it was her turn for questions. "Whilst the Republic did a number on this base, it still remains relatively intact, given the fact that we are standing in it. If we are to ensure our tracks are covered, then we must destroy this place once and for all."

"First, we should recover any data from the project, so that we have it for later use. Do you know if any of the terminals, or something capable of holding records, are still intact? And does this base have a self destruct mechanism?"

 

[Connor Harrison]

Hand still entwined in her dog-tags, JN-4 walked beside Ayra, the discarded E11 staying on the floor beside her makeshift bed she doubted would ever be used again.

"The laboratories and pods were under the institute, terminals and networks linked from there to the surface. Follow me.”

Overtaking Ayra, JN-4 pulled the cloak in a little so she didn’t lose it as she left the half destroyed room and began to traverse the route to the inner core of the facility which was broken up thanks to fallen masonry, collapsed walkways and eroded materials from the cracks and gaping holes in the ceilings.

"I was never told about a self-destructing mechanism, I’m sorry, but we were always advised if we were ever in danger they would take care of us and make sure the project wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. The polluted lake behind the institute, we thought, was behind the sealed blast doors behind the chamber where we grew and could be opened to wash away everything. The water would flood the lower levels and destroy us while we slept.”

It took minutes, and with lack of general power, certain areas were un-accessible with the turbolifts so they walked down on foot, carefully and free from obstruction the further down they went. While the orbital strike took care of the upper half, the lower half was all down to what soldiers on foot could do.

Through two hexagonal corridors, JN-4 pointed to the chamber where she had slept and woke daily. The chamber housed the pods, all smashed now and just glass and wire on the floor. A heavy sigh left her lips, and she turned and indicated to a viewing terminal up above.

"The Remnant officers talked to us from up there, and helped us sleep. We were not allowed to enter the room. Everything we needed was on this level, through there,” she pointed, “and there.”

She looked at Ayra and gestured with her hand upwards.

“JN-4 is my name, and only I and the creator knew the codename Joon. If you want to find the programme and data on me, search that name up in the terminals if they are still operational. The soldiers wouldn’t know that name and wouldn’t be able to get into the plans for the JN project any other way.”

[member="Darth Ayra"]