Dev Shadows of Atrisia

[Junko Ike]

The woman shrugged and looked at her... it might have seemed a foreign idea not to kill for all the jedi master knew and she held the blade itself there as the snap hiss came. Her amber blade came from the curved saber, bleached bone ad aurodium plating over the synthweaved metal radiated with the force itself. The bone on it a hardened carapace from dathomirs gaping spider, the crystal that colored the blade from the legendary makashi swordsmen dooku himself that she had managed to recover and kept to use. A breath going out as she pulled the force into herself and reached out extending her senses to take in everything around herself. She tightened up her hair into a ponytail that wrapped up and was a tight braid.

Then she looked at the empress who was standing there across from her with a wicked looking katana.. crysteel made it look like a gleaming gem of a blade instead of steel and her outfit somehow left little to the imagination in terms of fighting but nothing was loose hanging that could be sliced off accidentally. That was a trick she couldn' believe when her hair was massive and draped around her shoulders and down to her ankles like its own cloak but it didn't look like she wold slice it easily as the hair was folded several times and she was moving to stretch herself out. Junko deactivated her blade and adjusted the settings at the stub before she was moving to a smaller circle they would be in and she was as prepared as she could be.

 

[Junko Ike]

The duel started quickly, the empress herself rushing with the blade and she fought more ferocious as Junko moved towards the side... her blade igniting with a snap hiss and she used it to keep distance between herself and the emrpess with a narrowing of her gaze. The empress was fast... faster then she had expected but she was also wearing little in terms of weight... muscled as opposed to fat... she might not be leading armies but she was a warrior empress who practiced... still as Junko moved and guided her blade along the length of the sword she created more distance and side stepped to out preform her more powerful slashes with grace and speed. Junko watched her though and she hacked like one would going after someone armored.

"Careful empress... this isn't just something that will go down easily." She said it and was moving kept the blade in one hand while the other remained at her back and she watched the footing of the empress herself where they went. She pushed back and directed her upwards towards part of it when Junko disconnected he blades and slashed for a moment taking the small pommel of the blade off as her saber sliced along the length of the womans hand and arm. That got a grunt of pain and she wasn't losing her arm at least and she could keep her attention while she didn't need to speak or would be getting to really distract her before backing away and her saber spun on the palm in her hand into a reverse grip.

 

[Junko Ike]

The blade streaked through the air as Junko twisted at the last moment to catch it along the blade and she spun. Rotating her hands to control the emrpess blade and spin it to build momentum... then her second hand gripped her blades hilt and she threw it to the side to send the katana into the stone with a metallic ting resonating all around them. Her blade coming up and being held just at the neck of the woman while Junko looked at her with no expression on her face. "You are beaten." The jedi master said it looking at her and she had her attention on what she might be able to do or fight. "Your attacks were strong but wild... I don't know what has been down here to fight but if ones come from the surface they have more skill then myself."

Junko remained there where she was looking at her and the empress checked her hand looking down. She was a little taller then Junko and her hair was like a curtain behind her with very little expression in her eyes while they narrowed to look upon her. "I see." She stepped forward and Junko stood her ground not backing away even when the woman got close to her and was almost pressed against her. "And what kind of threat would they be bringing to my kingdom little princess?" She said it while looking at them and Junko looked up at her as she smirked finally and watched. "THey would be coming likely for your resources or labor... atrisia doesn't believe in slaves this is true but they aren't always in charge with the state of the galaxy always changing."

 

[Junko Ike]

That seemed to bring something to them.. the empress wasn't angry... hell she most likely fought Junko on account she had to.. it seemed a passing fancy when it was all over and she embraced the petite jedi master. "Well then we will just have to make a united front when it comes to our people now won't we?" She laughed walking and bringing some others with her as they proceeded down a pathway spiraling as children came out and cheered. Others lined the streets near them and she saw others with pets. They weren't like her tiger or whatever she wanted to callit but more canine with flat noses and thick but fluffy fur. They looked excited from the procession and Junko took out some of the jerky holding it for them as they came close and ran around.

Junko was taking in more of it, while the ones who were royal seemed to be ornate and covered in the most expensive looking silks.... jewels. There was more to the people these ones looked like workers, smiths, cooks and all manner of labors where they produced and sold wares in the streets. Then she saw others, bald and tattooed servants carrying supplies to and from the market stalls. Where they looked and she spoke. "Who are those?" There was a look at it and the empress spoke. "The slave caste, in many ways but we have them trained to serve since birth. Others are the middle and the merchants... those who make everything for the benefit of Chitei." Junko listened and looking at the slaved who were standing there and they looked well fed.

 

[Junko Ike]

Junko was seeing more of it and she could hear music being played as the biwe's were impressive where she could check it all out. She streched though as the sounds and smells of the streets they were on came ot her and the massive temple they entered went down the length of the spire. From here she could see it in the distance now the massive crystal palace as well as the veins of crystals that resonated with the force itself. She touched one of the walls and it practically resonated with the force itself as the jedi master maintained herself in here... the weight of the crystal and force energy rebounding throughout was intense... wherever she looked it seemed like it wasn't going to slow down or stop for her to catch her breathe.

She was able to see so much more as well and all of the people standing around in the party with her well gasped in awe as massive creatures flew below. There were the sounds of trumpets or at least pachyderms with their massive trunks sounding it out as they tilled fields down below and moved through the mountains themselves. Junko could see more details and she was pulling out a small pair of electrobinoculars to check it now... observing the real treat of what they had and were doing here. There were more people looking up as it seemed news had spread in both events... visitors and that they had managed to survive and were being led around the world or at least the city if it could be called that. The lower in that it was she was curious how gravity or compasses might work.

 

[Junko Ike]

She was working on it, checking more information that came to their systems as they were being taken to one of the other entrances to the underworld. All accounts showed they they likely had several spread across the planet itself but she was going to have to see where they could come out as more ancient machinery was visible. From pumps like what they had to mining equipment that was being used to carve into the aurodium and kyber crystal hills all around them. To structurally make them sound to travel and work in but also not make damaged and broken pieces of crystal. The dust being collected into presses and workers were coated with it as they resonated with the force itself and Junko smiled.

"The brightest stars have hearts of kyber.." She said it and remembered it was a saying he Whills had.. they gave a lot of the information about what they had been doing and she heard a voice. "What was that?" Junko turned to look at Kirano as she walked and spoke offering a smile. "Just an old saying, the brightest stars have hearts of kyber... the crystal you are mining here... for a force user, for a jedi i is quite valuable... and still there doesn't seem to be an end to it as I see the workers are covered in the crystal dust itself." Kirano nodded and continued to walk with her. "Yes I could see that, though we haven't managed to get to the complete heart of what we have been doing... this is actually just a small mine of everything we have found."

 

[Junko Ike]

They continued deeper into the hollowed world... taking moments to look at some of the villages where they could head around. A smile on Junkos face though as they went through the mist all around them and she was trying to check out ruins that were within the mountains. Crystal ruins and parts that had been carved... similar to jedi temples and the remnants of a ship itself. "What is this?" She asked while looking at the strange statues and murals within the ship itself. "Do we know what or who it was?" She was checking out some parts of it and bringing a glow rod up and ships themselves were ancient she could tell but without someone able to use psychometry there wasn't something to use and see into the past itself.

"Not much, we know they wee advanced millions of years before us or any of the other beings in the galaxy. We have managed to get some fo their maps and reactors... so we know they had spread out across the galaxy but as to who they were we are uncertain. Talks about the life wind though have made things harder to understand but it might be something that the empress warriors have and what ou displayed." Kirano spoke as they were walking with looks over everything until she was bringing some attention to the statues and carved sections of the ship. THey had moved supplies and researchers into here to keep trying and get parts of the ship itself opened to them.

 

[Junko Ike]

Junko was looking at what the researchers had here... what these ancient atrisians had set p for themselves and what she could see wasn't telling her everything but it told her enough. They had carved thousand sof temples like this and it wasn't the interior of the planet but a pocket of it inside a massive geode that was deep in the planet... A little disappointing as it would mean she couldn't find any other texts as they had carved in sections of the wall the history. "I am seeing much but now it leads to so many more questions... like what you might have discovered here... it seems everytime we peel back a layer of Atrisias past several more mysteries await." Junko was looking at it and trying to figure out some parts of it but the life wind was a confusing notion.

"We have learned a few things from here... but the forest of glass was the most impressive. It was one fothe first things we discovered down this far and it continues to be here until this day." She said it and Kirano was leading them through it as the mists moved away from them and trees towered over them. Kyber crystal trees that looked beautiful and clear from the light but she raised an eyebrow seeing it. They had been shaped in ways that resembled trees and what looked like snowflakes were falling around them butthey were shards of crystal that hummed with the force itself. "The dorrangers move through the trees and their claws make small shaings, then the breeze swirls them around and makes it all fall around us."

 

[Junko Ike]

Junko kept looking at all of it.. the forest of glass was going to be beautiful to see... it reminded her so much but the feeling in the force was pure almost.. like affirming her stance in the lightside of the force where she went. "You look almost like you are glowing my princess." Phaidor was standing there and spoke with a smile on her face as she moved up and wrapped an arm around Junko... then the other just holding her. Junko grinned and even with their jackets on she had some space between them to look down at her. "Well this is a wonderful place, I don't know if you can feel the force here but it is radiating the force everywhere." She said it while she was moving around and could see the others who were there but Kirano spoke.

"Yes the force as you call it is strong here... the crystals resonate it and what we have learned is a way to appoint sages by testing each child who is brought born." Junko listened and she had a good idea now of how they do things and these sages were their force users... taken from all groups and classes within the underground world... quite a nice thing as it seemed you could be born and have a chance to improve your lot in life so not everyone would be a slave before she finished up and interlacing her hands with Phaidor came through the forest itself. She was lookinng at the entrance to a massive cave that Kirano spoke about. "This is the way back to the surface... well one of them... there are a few others but this used to be one of the main pathways a long time ago."

 

[Junko Ike]

Junko was listening and trying to think about all of it, from where they were she had no idea what there might be but she called as many of the mappers to come and help her as she could so that they would be able to move. Some had gone back to report about their movements and all of the location trackers were being set up as she checked. "Do we have all of our supplies here and ready for this. I don't know what there will be in the way of supplies this far down or where we are going to be coming out so we are going to awnt to stay in contact and supplied." She gave a nod of herself though while she was pulling out her kimono for traveling. After combat and well staying here for a little while she needed to be abel to walk around.

"We can send some guards with you for the moment to escort you as far as we have gone. A means of protection and the empress asked that I go with you to the surface to negotiate for Chitei's position as of now in the world." She stood there tall and at the ready with two fo the guards who were wearing plated armor. Gold encrusted with jewels and crystals where they were checking out their weapons. Gilded staffs that were fixed with crysteel blades sharpened and mirrored finish. Against lasers she could imagine it able to reflect but there was a lot of display while she questioned their abilities in combat with all of that extra weight. Her yovshin were standing there in their sleeker ebony armor when Junko started heading into the cave.

 

[Junko Ike]

The sounds of them all around her brought the jedi masters attention tot he cave itself. She saw them get everything into the cave and Thuria was standing there next to her as the two of them smiled. Jubei came up and interlaced her arm trying to steal some attention but she spoke. "Princess, so what is the plan, if we come out on the surface then there is going to have to be something right? We could be anywhere on Atrisia and I am not certain if we have enough things." She said it but was looking at the guards they still had and the party itself. The chiss admiral had stayed with them and quiet for the time she wasn't one for conversations but she always had a look of disapproval in most cases... Junko was imagining she knew why.

"Come now admiral, surely you have been a little impressed." Junko said it and moving she nudged her while looking at Kanna and smiling. "I am impressed with what we have found there is a lot here then first meets the eye and I imagine many more mysteries to still find... but I am also impressed in you being able to juggle all of these females princess... or am I mistaken." She said it and narrowed her eyes while turning to look at Junko an accusation or a question on her lips maybe but the jedi master shrugged while she was walking. "Well you are not wrong... I care about all of them and while I would prefer it... I can't though... I care for each of them and these weeks together have only reaffirmed that I want them all to stay around."

 

[Junko Ike]

The woman was looking at her and Junko had a small grin on her face when she was checking it all out and trying to show her. She moved towarss the chiss admiral as they were walking and breathed in and then out. "I know it sounds.... flighty or childish but I have been trying to find a way to factor all of it in and have some better ideas but I am not playing with them... and I am not just looking to have a harem back at my palace that I can get a bed warmer." She said it to the disapproving look from the admiral but she was a mother of one of the girls who was here... Kanna was wrapping her arms around Junkos and walking towards the areas of the cave where torch light was illuminating a cavern of it. Junko could se much more of it and there was a small chill in the air.

Her attention went to it... where she could see it... where she could check out the cavern and below them it seemed more like ice and snow then she would have expected. The temperature had dropped considerably but there was something else in the air andshe could almost taste it. The vines here had bulbs that glowed with a blue light from the inside and when she touched it the contents sloshed like wine. One hand holding it she tipped it and held it to her fingers but didn't taste it. More scenting it to see and slowly sticking her tongue out to taste it the contents sent a jolt through her system of interst. "It is warm... like heated sake." A grinned formed on her face though while she tasted the sweetness of it and they would have to look into this.

 

[Junko Ike]

"I don't know what this is." She said it but brought out a scanner... she wasn't tasting any toxins or something going against her bod... but that could just meanit made ou feel good before you died of some sort of poisoning. Really the test came from what she was looking at right now whileholding the bulb and finsihing the water itself when she drank it. Sort of like a sticky... sugary mess but oh it was sweet and near the bottom there were little grains. "They are like sugar.. only maybe sweeter." hmm she tapped her chi and still wasn't feeling anything... well maybe a little more thirsty but that could just be her mind playing with her... no she mostly felt good and the bulb itself she tested with a small nibble as it snapped in her mouth and tasted like a sugar snack.

Junko stayed with it and the others were working on parts of it... where they could check out the rest of it and she nodded her head to the others. They were setting up a small camp here and she crouched down finding a seat within the groove of the rock. Where she was looking and checking out a part of it now... Kirano had said they hadn' been in these tunnels for a long time and it showed... there wasn't much known about them but the small holodroids they had were going out and working on them. Where she could see it the jedi master was finding a center and place so she could mediate with the force itself... she wanted to work on it and reached out past the crystal forests and the sections of the world they had been and found a strong force presence.

 

[Junko Ike]

She could feel it all around herself, the pull of the force and at one moment this far down into the earth it was deeper. She was in three places at once... the back of her mind seeing her body there within the force and mediating... she was all around her companions feeling their emotions as several sat around a brazier talking about mundane topics they might have an interest in... asking questions of kirano who stood there starring down Miyoung in a sort of who is tougher. Then she was aroud the planet feeling it as the waters sprang eternal from under the grounds... the power coursed through the world and it was like a lifeforce unto itself.... Junko inhaled sharply and she could feel much much more all around herself.

She was feeling it and deeper as she was able to peer outwards and observe the system... Anshin station, Ao'tuin as it roamed around and the constructed hyperspace network... a series of stations that would be in their borders and interdict the system except on special approach vectors for trade routes and others. Where she wanted to look was inward once again feeling the world and there was something else... a ne flow to the planet as it seemed like a living thing. The force flowed through the world and she was able to see the lines of it. Meridians across Atrisia that were thick with power and slowly they were opening... some were blocked or damaged... some had shifted and moved around but all were there and she had an idea of what to do now.

 

[Junko Ike]

She pulled herself out of the force trance and it as revealed b the chrono she had been in it for several hours... it had only felt like the span of a few heartbeats but as the jedi master was breathing she moved over and looked at the others sitting around the brazier. Some had fallen asleep in the blind they had set up that would keep them concealed and warm this deep down where it was just colder and colder. The hardlight being shaped to have beds and some bunks that they could use to surround her and the brazier. "Welcome back." Jubei spoke as she was sitting there and having a drink with Tripitaka near them. She offered the rice wine to Junko and the princess took the bottle with a swig and a smile on her face seeing the others.

"Well it is nice to see you all have been doing well." Her tiger was there when they were moving around now. Her bedding was there and set up when she had some of the wine and smiled to herself. Those years in the Atrisian military had done marvels for her constitution compared to some when it came to alcohol in her family she she was a little glad for it and with Kirano and Mioung both there she was expecting one thing... anyone who tried to attack them would have a bad time as those two were built like wookiees in bodybuilding competitions. Junko snickered to herself and almost the warm wine was going to get to her... little food and she had just spent several hours in a meditative state... she was open to it more.

 

[Junko Ike]

With the food done the jedi master went to sleep finally with a few of the others. Miyoung and Kirano had taken positions with her area in the blind providing protection where they could be going around. The force would protect her but there was also more that went into it all... she could feel what they had to do or at least where they were and had an idea about the directions down here to find their way back through the honeycomb itself o tunnels below the planet that went through into other ancient places. Cities, bastions of defense and over looking frozen lakes. She knew there were may more mysteries down here under the earth and one could spend a lifetime trying to find all of them... hell she kew there was legends of some species that had.

The dreams though as she slept were not what she had expected... in anything it seemed more like she had bbeen transported and she knew it. Across the back of her eyes were swirls of color... starblasts and streaks... the sensation that something was moving all around her and then it pulled back to see... tigers, dragons, foxes and other creatures roaming around the stars. Everything that was here she wasn't certain about bu the force vision was telling her the place to go within the caves to investigate and there was more... a lot more as she was coming to understand about it... Junko woke up from the bed with a gasp as she felt herself drenched insweat and standing over her were her two pets that had looks on their faces.

 

[Junko Ike]

"it is okay." She was looking at them and offered a weak smile while she was going over some fo the other parts in her mind. The jedi master in her wanted to meditate and run through some calming exercises. She breathed in and then out allowing her mind to center and she could feel the pounding in her chest where she was looking around... breathing in and out... in and out before allowing the force itself to calm her body. She stood up with a look as she shook her hair loose standing up when she allowed herself to stretch and her body popped. The knuckles, spine and parts of it were there until she lifted a leg and held it backwards leaning forward to stretch her legs out one and then another before she was looking at Miyoung and Kirano who had remained there while she slept.

"You do are going to be alright yes? Staying up all night or day or whatever while I slept to watch over all of us here." She had a smile on her face though while they were moving around. The jedi princess stood up finally as they rose with her and Miyoung spoke looking at Kirano as she spoke. "We will be fine... seems we both are used to spending a few days awake at a time on the grounds that things shall be easier for the two of us to protect people." Junko listened to her with a nod of her head where she was going in the blind. Food had been prepared for the morning and fresh tea that she was able to use. "Thank you Phaidor." A smile on her face where she was looking over at it and the others who were eating now that she was awake and eating. They had their stuff ready to go.

 

[Junko Ike]

Junko finished up and stood there in the caves as she could see everything and led the way. With Miyoung there in front near Kirano and their glow rods the three were leading the party through the tunnels and her two pets were following. After what she had seen the direction from the one seemed to be almost force enhanced senses. She was allowing herself to reach out and sense along the lines of the force that she had been able to connect with. Where she was looking and where she was sensing with the force as they found another massive vain of crystal spires that went up and the massive kyber crystals themselves were pulsating with the force. As she stepped there she felt it. The gravity itself shifted with the force.

"It is a gravity chute that was developed." Kirano stayed there while she was going around with them and the jedi master was going up with the others that were there. She had wondered how long it would take to get to the surface when they were going itno the planet deeper but now she understood as Kirano raised an eyebrow looking upon her. A small look on her face though before she was checking it all out... layers and levels of the stone itself. Junko breathed in though as the air changed, the pressure changed and what was cool and damp started to become warm and they were all standing around one of the larger volcanos on atrisia... she knew where they were and this was. "We are in the Nhai mountains."

 

[Junko Ike]

Kirano just mostly looked at her. "I guess." She shrugged though as they were continuing forward and brought her attention around seeing the sun possibly for the first time. "The surface is different then I had expected. The few times we have gone to Sarnoi it has not been like this and we never left the cities underground areas." Junko was looking at her and the Sarnoi was oneof the most mysterious places on Atrisia.. which was saying something but it was massive and had room for millions but barely had a few hundred people living within it. Where they were now though she was trying to figure it out and in the distance gleaming was the white marble of the dead city. "Well I know we are several days from the ancient academy and fortress now."

She could lead them and they were all heading through the mountains as the air was cooler... and then cold. Snow capped mountains around them as she was heading through the path and down into the valley. She looked up and the carved stps where they were look beautiful still... carved into the rock and interlocking so they looked smooth and flawless. THey didn't seem to collection dirt or weeds. Just smooth marble stone that brought them all up to the massive gates of the city itself. The entrance with carved images of Atrisian animals and gods... the encrusted doors to show the mines they had been discovered she knew and deep within there was the city itself.... all white streets and buildings.

 

[Junko Ike]

She was looking at all of it, the white marble gleamed in the light itself where she was stood and the first thing she noticed was the silence that descended upon them. What was a city she knew had been thriving at several points... well i and the people within it disappeared. Eventually they stopped trying to settle it before more people vanished or died or whatever it was that might have happened to them. Given what she knew now.. they could have been taken by the people of Chitei in ancient times as a sort of slave class but it wasn't exactly something that would have been easy... just a theory given that if they had been taken underground then... they would have been tht much harder for them to find if they had gone looking for them.

Junko moved into one of the buildings and it was massive. "What was this?" She was curious as there were rows of seats like it was a senate building from coruscant and as good an idea as anything that she could check out for the moment. Where she went and started to climb up the sides of it into one of the rows as the others came up here to look at her and everything. Junko was checking it out and. "A stage maybe or a senate chamber... something for the locals to voice their opinions and have the floor to present to everyone." Phaidor spoke and Junko was looking at her but she wasn't certain. "Maybe a courtroom... the guilty could be here at the bttom and everyone would be able to look on."