Private Studies in Dark Magic

[Onith]

It was not a place known for excitement, a quiet agriworld on the limits of the Inner Core. Indeed, the inhabitants had enjoyed a simple peace undisturbed for many generations. It was a planet that had not known conflict or the suffering of war for perhaps millennia. Yet, that did not mean it was a location without mystery. As in any good farm world, the planet was covered in efficient and truly massive tracts of land preserved for produce. Beyond the limits of these incredible feats of agriculture lay the true environment of the world, at least that which had avoided the terraforming accomplished to accommodate the farmers. In these pockets of wilderness remained unknown and unexplored regions, the placid locals rarely venturing beyond the confines of their carefully prepared lands.

It was one of these wilds that had brought Onith here, a rumour of something ancient. As was all too common with these things, there was no definitive knowledge on what this something might be, or indeed what time it might have come from. This irked the traveller to no end, as she sought only those artefacts that came from a specific era, a time that seemed to have defied modern definition and she had come to refer to as: the Time Before.

The jungle-like region Onith now traversed was overgrown with a stinging vine that seemed to cover every possible space. Had she not been warned by the locals, and offered a covering robe, she had no doubt that this path would have been quite difficult to make any sort of progress. Even so, it was a wearying process, pushing through the draping vines and sturdy underbrush. What she had heard, there was some sort of crashed ship that had laid in the jungle for an age or more. If this were a vessel of her time, then it would be a key into another era, a different galaxy than what existed today. If so, then Onith hoped that there might lay a key to that remnant of her life that seemed trapped behind the untouchable barrier of time.

Tilly

 

[Tilly]

The nomadic witch was returning home one day, after doing her job as a local mechanic. Which now meant she had time to work on her own ship, The Vigil Phantom, a ship massed produced for the Sith army back during the Great Wars. The original ship model was that of the X-70B phantom, which use to be under the command's of Sith agent's due to their more advance technology during that time. Havin' gotten most of the ship to it's former glory, she begin working on more of it's tech side and other parts on it. The planet she had crash landed on a year or so back, was quiet and peaceful, which gave her time to get things done.

She was never one to sit and be still, she was always on the go. This was a small gossip between the old hens of the planet, wondering why this girl was always going, and how she ended up here. Most of their theories was that Tilly was a on the run criminal and the reason she was always on the go was so she could make a break for it, if officials' ever came to take her away.

Tilly didn't mind the rumors, the more in depth of how she got to be here, the less people that messed with her. Having been exploring for a few years now didn't mind being a topic of small talk, it made her feel important. Back on Dathomir, Tilly hadn't ever felt individuality due to all the sisters being pretty much raised the same, and how they were raised gave little time to develop a personality, or at least that's how it was having Sister Hu as a teacher anyways.

After eating and grabbing her tools, she went out back to the hangar she had built, she began to work on the ship, putting on her safety gear in case anything happened. The best thing about being a witch, she could do small magic to bring the tools to her if they were too far away. The radio in the hangar played whatever station had been turned on, which TIlly wasn't really listening to it, it was just on for background noise while she worked.

Onith

 

[Onith]

For a time, Onith had followed what appeared to be a path through the jungle, the bare earth suggesting that something or someone had passed through consistently in the past. The vines had grown less densely packed, and the Sith found she could lower the hood of her cloak to enjoy the dappled sunlight that filtered through the canopy.

Not an altogether unpleasant world. The thought came unbidden to her mind, disturbing her at the rather unfounded simpleness of such a belief. It was unbecoming of her, as a servant of the Infinite Empire, to consider a world such as this as homely or pleasant. This planet did not know the blessings of Rakatan rule; indeed it may not have even been colonized during their reign.

~I believe we are travelling in circles.~ BR-4, plodding through the undergrowth with the simplicity only an unfeeling droid could manage, spoke with a thoughtful pause. It proceeded, ~By my calculations, we have surpassed the geographic location of the supposed crash site.~

~No, we can't be. Don't you have some location system?~ Onith asked hopefully, finding it difficult to believe that they could have become lost in an area that barely covered a portion of a single continent.

~Unfortunately, I am not installed with survey hardware. ~

~Then are we lost?~

~Probably.~

Onith threw her hands up in frustration, lashing out at an overhanging branch, feeling the needling pain of the nettles wrapped tightly underneath the leaves.

Unfazed by the momentary outburst, BR provided a potential solution, ~I will endeavour to contact a local group to triangulate our location and work back. Perhaps hiring a fighter or speeder may be more effective.~

Onith had stopped listening by this point, falling into a flowing pile of cloth and anger; kneeling, the scarlet warrior closed her senses to focus inward. The niggling pain of stings became the focal point of her attention, drawing on that touch of sensation and expanding on it to tap into her power. The Force flowed, and she channelled it into herself, feeling it build like water behind a dam. She would need all that she could manage to cobble together.

The droid meanwhile turned its inhuman attention to the comm unit it carried. It manipulated the transmission spectrum to be as broad as possible, knowing that it might interfere with conventional transmissions and potentially garner attention that way. Boosting the little device's admittedly limited signal strength as far as it could go, knowing that it might make little difference, BR-4 switched his vocabulator's language setting to galactic basic as it started the message. "Emergency contact! Seeking contact, exploratory team lost in the wilderness around sector L-27. In need of contact location triangulation. Please respond. Repeat." And with that, the message would run on repeat for probably just a few minutes before the power supply on the little device would expire.

The artificial being's words went unheard by its master, the organic being focusing too greatly on keeping her touch of the Force while she had it. The pool of strength she contained began to waver and, in response, she reached out through the Force. Sending a telepathic message rippling through the field, Onith asked for aid. There were no words in this call; rather, it was a transference of thought and feeling. A sense of being lost and needing help, a fear of being alone. She hoped that these most personal feelings would be capable of engendering some response or action from another being out there if, indeed, there was anybody who could sense or respond to her Force-based calling.

Tilly

 

[Tilly]

Tilly kept repairing the ship, music blaring at this point. Half hanging out of the ship as she repaired different parts and mostly trying to get the hyperdrive to work once more. Looking over the work she was doing and sighing, carefully climbing out of the ship. As she stood on the ground looking up at it, wiping grease off her hands before grabbing some water sipping at it, as she looks at the hyperdrive wondering what else she needed.

Walking over to the tools she had still on the wall of the small hangar, she felt this weird feeling. Stopping she looked around trying to figure out what the feeling was. Shrugging before she felt the feeling. Looking around she knew that feeling, moving out of the hangar she went off running into the forest of the planet.

Carefully chanting a spell under her breath to help lead her to wherever this thing was. The green mist started lighting up under her feet leading her towards this distress call. As she kept muttering the spell the trail of mist kept rolling out in front of her. Hoping to find whatever it was.

 

[Onith]

Beads of sweat rolled down Onith's face, and deep creases of concentration funnelled the droplets towards her eyes. The call was exhausting to maintain, the Force dispelling swiftly with such a simple use. It might have lasted a few moments only, but she had no way of telling. All too soon, she felt the call slip, as her reservoir drained. In a flash she felt the Force slip from her, once more disappearing just out of reach. For the time being, all she could manage was to remain seated and try to recollect her physical strength.

Opening her eyes, the world seemed drained of colour, as if her eyes had been drained of even their energy to help support her call. She could make out the form of BR, watching with its plain faceplate. Perhaps it was concern, or maybe curiosity, Onith never could tell with the expressionless machine.

The droid noticed Onith's change in expression and spoke with its accompanying worry, ~I have set the message to repeat; however, I fear it may be some time before we are rescued; the channels don't appear to be well monitored here.~

With a dismissive wave of her hand, Onith consoled the droid, ~It's fine, we'll figure out something... Just give me a moment.~

~Of course master.~ BR retreated a step and turned its attention to the wilderness.

-----

Onith returned to consciousness, not realizing that sleep had overcome her. Awakening from a twisted pile of fabric, constricted by its deep and covering folds, she fought for a moment to regain her bearings. The jungle didn't seemed to have changed much, the droid was still standing in the same position as last she had seen it, suggesting her lapse of consciousness had been brief.

She realized a little too late that everything was not in fact the same. Where before the vibrant colours of the jungle had stood out in bright contrast, now there was a strange fuzziness to the detail. She recognized it as a thin mist hovering over the ground. Too late in the day for mist, even in a region with naturally high humidity, Onith's mind jumped to curiosity over the sudden and alien occurrence. Was it a creature or plant releasing the mist? Even as she watched, it seemed to crawl towards her, and she stepped out of the way to observe it pass. Instead, the fog shifted, and the warrior realized it might be moving to her in particular. Perhaps out of morbid curiosity, the pureblood allowed the glowing green mist to contact her. Maybe this was someone or something trying to find her after the call?

Tilly