Mission The Catalyst [ TJO vs TSO ]

[Briana Sal-Soren]

A year had passed since the planetshift event erased entire worlds from the Republic’s astrogation maps and hyperlane charts. Hurled into the vast corners of unknown space, even the most exhaustive surveys had failed to locate them. All their cities, histories, and vast populations, simply… gone. As though they’d never existed at all.

Other worlds, they’d found, were uncomfortably close. Close enough that, Briana occasionally wondered whether the High Republic had forgotten about their people trapped behind the Sith’s Blackwall, or if they’d been written off as an acceptable loss after other efforts to recover them fell through. It wasn’t a charitable thought, and it never lingered longer than a parsec before logic and reason dispelled the notion.

The truth of the matter was that there was already far too much effort spent, and lives lost. Indifference wasn't the explanation and assigning blame unnecessarily wouldn't help anyone. No, the problem was a lack of capability. In the early days of the Blackwalls inception, multiple teams had been sent into hell, time and time again, to probe the wall’s limits and try to find a way through. Most of those men and women never made it back, and the ones who did... well, what she saw from their files was near unmentionable. Afterwards, future attempts to interact with the wall directly were put on the back burner, until a more viable solution was found.

Eventually, they’d managed a small work around through Hoth’s hypergate, establishing Outpost Andor beneath the surface of the Icefall Plains. It’d been useful for reconnaissance missions, helping them understand the grander scope of what they were facing, and limited extraction operations under the cover of night, but it’d never been designed to evacuate the millions still trapped behind enemy lines. Attempting to do so would have been reckless, if not entirely suicidal, both for the people they needed to help and the ones trying to help them.

And it was precisely why Briana had come, and why she'd asked Lossa Aureus to accompany her, specifically.

If their people were ever going to be brought home, threading needles and exploiting gaps would never be enough. They needed to take immediate action. The wall needed to come down in its entirety, to stop the Sith from trapping their citizens behind it like penned in cattle.

Over time, an idea had overtaken her. One that demanded patience, a good deal of preparation, and the willingness to commit long before any results could be seen or enacted... and in her satchel, Briana carried a powerfully charged crystal attuned to the Force.

Briana, Kyric, and Pari had landed on Quesaya an hour earlier, one of several border worlds that had been reinforced with neutral exclusion zones, creating a perimeter that made the wall otherwise inaccessible to the average civilian without proper authorization. It’d taken an additional half an hour of bureaucracy at work, checking and rechecking that they had the correct permits and codes, before Briana and her team were finally ushered through.

The ride to the wall was mostly quiet, with the view from their transport passing a succession of empty ground and dormant structures, all what remained of the original encampment that'd been established too close to the wall's most volatile edge. They'd had to abandon it months ago when the risk calculations finally outweighed whatever strategic value it once carried.

A sudden jolt, and the world slowing down, signaled that they'd come to a full stop, the engines of the T2-B Repulsor tank easing down.

The uniformed officer that'd been assigned to escort them, rose from the forward seat and opened up the door where they were sitting, thumbing behind him. “This is your drop point,” he grunted, unapologetically. “The wall isn't too much further, but from here on, the exclusion zone protocols apply. We don’t cross them, so you’ll have to continue on foot. Extraction window remains open for six hours, but after that, you’re on your own.”

Briana simply nodded. They'd been briefed before they ever set out, but a reminder was always welcome. "Well. Let's not waste our time, then."

Allies: Lossa Aureus , Pari Sylune | Foes: Gerwald Lechner , Irina Jesart , Varin Mortifer

​

 

[Pari Sylune]

Pari stayed where she was, just behind the line, letting the others move while she remained still.

The Blackwall made her chest feel tight, not with fear exactly, but with something heavier, like standing in a room where an argument had ended long ago and the anger never quite left. The Force around it felt bruised. Tired. As if it had been bent into a shape it never wanted to hold.

She focused on her breathing the way she'd been taught. Slow. Even. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Each breath anchored her a little more firmly to the ground beneath her boots, to the here and now. To being present rather than overwhelmed.

Pari didn't reach for the Force. Not fully. She let it brush against her awareness instead, the way you might trail your fingers through cold water without submerging your hand. Even that was enough to make her shiver. The wall wasn't loud or violent but it was patient. Waiting. And that, somehow, frightened her more.

She thought about lessons in the Temple: about listening without attachment, about courage not being the absence of fear but the choice to move gently through it. She held onto those words now, turning them over like a smooth stone in her thoughts.

If this was how the Force felt near the wound, then the worlds beyond it must feel so very far away.

Pari shifted her weight, grounding herself, silently promising that she would stay attentive, that she would be careful. She might not understand what was being attempted here she could bear witness. She could remain calm. She could be steady.

And for a Padawan who still felt small in the shadow of what loomed ahead she hoped that would be enough.

Allies: Briana Sal-Soren Kyric | Foes: Gerwald Lechner Irina Jesart Varin Mortifer

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

WEARING: This
WEAPONS: Ferrum Solus | Blodmåne | Strømafbryder
SHIP: Vigfjall
TAG: Irina Jesart | Varin Mortifer | Briana Sal-Soren | Kyric | Pari Sylune

A year had passed since the Blackwall settled into permanence, and the quiet that followed spoke more clearly than any declaration made in its defense. From the outside, the barrier was framed as containment born of necessity and justified as protection. Within the Order, it was discussed as strategy and treated as an accomplished fact. Gerwald Lechner had never found either explanation convincing. Isolation had always struck him as a failure of imagination rather than a demonstration of strength, but he had learned that disagreement did not require a public audience to remain intact. Some judgments carried more weight when they were held in reserve rather than announced.

From this side of the barrier, absence carried measurable consequence. Trade routes fell silent, markets contracted, and entire regions lost relevance as if they had been quietly erased. The Republic named the outcome loss and spoke of recovery as though the concept alone might bridge the distance. The Sith named it order and adjusted their priorities accordingly. Gerwald had watched both powers reduce living populations to margins that could be justified on paper, and the Blackwall endured as the physical expression of that shared impulse. He did not dispute its effectiveness, but he questioned the long reach of its consequences. Walls did more than deny passage. They arrested movement, suppressed pressure, and allowed conflicts to stagnate rather than resolve.

The Blackwall made itself known long before it appeared, as its presence pressed against the senses with an insistence that could not be ignored. It existed as a distortion in both space and the Force, sustained by intent rather than elegance. Gerwald understood what it represented to those who maintained it, because fear had always been easier to organize than trust. Early Republic incursions had reinforced that reality, as every attempt to test the barrier ended in loss severe enough to discourage repetition. The decision to halt further probing did not come from compassion, but from the recognition that persistence no longer promised progress.

Quesaya stretched ahead beneath a muted sky, its exclusion zones imposed with careful precision across the terrain. Abandoned installations marked the approach, remnants of plans that had assumed proximity could be managed without consequence. Gerwald observed them as the transport slowed, noting how decisively they had been vacated once risk outweighed utility. Irina Jesart stood nearby, attentive in the way she always was when observation mattered more than display, and he did not need to turn to know that she was recording the same details and learning from them. Varin Mortifer occupied the opposite side of the compartment, his presence steady and deliberate, and Gerwald had brought him along because judgment required a witness who understood consequence as more than theory.

The engines powered down, and the shift in the Force signaled intent rather than aggression from those awaiting them. Someone beyond the protocols believed that patience alone would no longer suffice, and that belief carried weight. Gerwald inclined his head slightly as the transport came to rest, acknowledging the inevitability of the moment. If the Republic had finally accepted that exploiting gaps would never dismantle the wall, then this meeting would not concern access or concessions. It would concern commitment, and Gerwald had long suspected that the true cost of the Blackwall had been postponed rather than paid.

Gerwald stopped short of the exclusion markers and let the moment settle before he spoke.

“Irina, you will keep your attention on the perimeter and the ground between us and the wall. They are watching, even if they have not decided how to respond yet. I want you ready to identify the shift when observation becomes coordination.”

He turned slightly toward Varin without raising his voice.

“Varin, take a wider line and keep your presence plain. If their response escalates from monitoring to movement, I want to know what triggers it and who authorizes it. No one acts unless I give the word.”

His gaze returned to the barrier ahead. He was curious if they would attempt to cross it. Either way, they would know more when the next phase occurred.

 

[Irina Jesart]

Tension coiled in Quesaya's atmosphere, a certain pressure that only a no man's land could birth. Tall sentry points rose between borders, manned with machines rather than men waiting for the scarce few that dared to try and cross the line. Irina took it all in with a calm, almost bored expression.

She was far from bored. In fact the idea that someone might be foolish enough to push past with any sort of success filled her with a thrill of excitement. Part of her wanted them to succeed, not because she wanted to see the failure, but because she wanted to correct it. And if they happened to be Jedi? Memories flickered of the first time she had faced a Jedi Master, how she had worked with her fellow acolytes to bring them down with nothing but the force and their environment to aid them. That was the day she had claimed her lightsaber.

And now? Now she had so much more on her side.

Her eyes shifted to Gerwald when he spoke, he was focused as always, but she knew well enough that there was more working behind her Master's eyes than ever fell from his lips. She nodded and moved away, she knew her role there was no need to ask him anything else.

Finger clenched and unclenched at her side once, the only outward sign of the energy building within her, the itch to cleanse everything as she moved for higher ground.


Varin Mortifer Gerwald Lechner Briana Sal-Soren Kyric Pari Sylune

 

[Varin Mortifer]

Varin watched the front window, the red glare of his visor slightly brightening the room. The silence of the wall was deafening, maddening almost. A construction of pure patience and restraint. Varin never agreed that the wall was the smartest option. Walls create comfort and complacency. Sith Lords would boast over conquered land within the walls, it was always uninteresting. Fighting over one another's scraps and gnawing at the bones left over from repeat take overs. Then there was the stagnation. Deteriorating the Sith from within. A rot that he could smell.

The Sith were not meant to be caged in one place, they were meant to travel and conquer. The wall stood against everything in that.

Naturally there was always a curious bug that would fly too close to the wall. That's why Varin came.

The silence of the chamber was cut as Lord Lechner spoke his orders. First to Irina who instantly fell to position, then to Varin. He remained silent but gently nodded his head towards the Sith Lord and turned to make his way to his position. Though the urge to fight was ready to burst out of him, he had come a long way from letting that control him. He now held its reins and steered it to where the energy was needed most.

He was ready, itching for them to come through. He would practically beg for it. But Varin never begged, not even within an inch of his life, he never begged.

Varin watched, studied and learned of any pattern the enemy committed to. His blood boiling deep inside.

Gerwald Lechner | Irina Jesart | Briana Sal-Soren | Kyric | Pari Sylune​