The cost overruns of the Valley of the Jedi

[Varindar Asyt]

Location: Silver Rest

After all these Force-lessons, after flying several combat sorties against Sith factions, such as the last one in the Roche asteroid field, Varindar came to a bleak realization: she still hasn't crafted her lightsaber. She couldn't call herself a Jedi with only a practice lightsaber, she had to get her real one at some point, before she could become a full-fledged knight. Then again, she'd rather not go get the crystal on her own, not even with a 10mm ripper, or her two drums of 120 bullets, so she asked among the padawans who would be willing to get their hands on Ruusan crystals on the eponymous planet. Thus far only [member="Vennic Graves"] answered. Regardless of that, she not only brought in her backpack her 10mm ripper, its corresponding bullets, and provisions, she also brought lightsaber components. The one extra feature she knew was a must was the bifurcating cyclical-ignition pulse given its underwater properties. She meets with Vennic before she takes the helm of the Neimoidian Yacht that was to bring in transfer personnel and their equipment to Ruusan, in addition to these two padawans and supplies for the garrison already there.

"Are you ready to get your lightsaber crystal and your lightsaber assembled? And also possibly learn a few extras at the Valley of the Jedi?" Varindar asked Vennic before proceeding to takeoff.

 

[Vennic]

Vennic had been sitting silently with a leg raised across and dangling over the armrest of his seat as the Apprentice he'd agreed to take this little trip with prepped the ship for takeoff. He was sitting a little lopsided, leaning back across his seat as his right leg swung back and forth, dangling from it's perch while he read over the files displayed on his datapad that he was holding down in his lap. As he kept mostly to himself, though, the ship trembled and began to rise after the engines ignited, despite his being unphased by the motion or the noise. What did interrupt his silent study of the files, which he flicked through with the practiced swipe of his index finger, was the comment made by the young woman who was bringing him along.

His messy, blonde head raised up from what he was reading on the datapad when she'd asked him about whether or not he was ready to get his first saber built, though he needed no time to contemplate how he might respond. He'd always been rather quick witted, after all, and spoke in such a way that he could be understood, yet respected for a broader level of understanding. "Oh, I've already built the hilt... or rather, the pair of them.", he said as he laid the datapad down in his lap so that he could reach over to the opened seat next to him that he'd laid his satchel in. "I decided to go with a rather exhausted yin and yang kind of thing with the black and the white colors for the cylinders, but other than that I think they'll work out just fine.", he told her as he pinched the pair of finished hilts between his thumb, index and middle fingers in order to pull them from the bag. He then raised his hand and put them on display right in front of his own, golden brown eyes that scoured the items that had still managed to pique even his own interests.

"If we get into any trouble before hand I'll have my DL-18 with me. I expect our only resistance to be some various wild life, however, of which I am studying up on as we speak so that I know what to expect.", he told her as he lowered the hilts he had been holding up back down to his back so that he could slip them back inside.

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

That girl that trained tutaminis with her, Jessica (which bore no resemblance to the Jessica that once used the Immobilizer 419 in battle), was out on patrol with the Immobilizer 419, piloting it, and hence couldn't be on this trip to collect Ruusan crystals. Of course, she had an idea of the hilt design once the lightsaber was completed, and the outer hilt being made of rubberized quadranium was the stuff for her. With Varindar at the controls, as soon as they broke orbit, she punched the hyperdrive to the rather short flight to Ruusan. And yet, the other padawan on this trip, [member="Vennic Graves"], already assembled his lightsabers, so she knew he came prepared. Once the Yacht reverted over Ruusan, she had to initiate the landing sequence so that she could land on the outskirts of Olmondo, while ensuring the safety of the cargo onboard. And also making sure that her own belongings were secured, so that she could make the pilgrimage to the Valley of the Jedi, near which she could expect some cave tunnels leading to the Ruusan crystals. Once the landing occurred around Olmondo, she just rented a speeder to get to the Valley of the Jedi, one of those speeders that were popular among those making their pilgrimages to the Valley of the Jedi.

"I just rented a speeder to get to the Valley of the Jedi; near the Valley, there ought to be some caves where we could find some crystals. From what I've heard there are many varieties of crystals and also a wide variety of Force-knowledge"

 

[Vennic]

"There are indeed.", he suggested as he gathered his things and got his legs moving so that he could establish an equal pace with his young, peer Jedi. "Different colors, different types, each of them unique from every other crystal that came before and after it, making them quite special, each one.", he suggested as he glanced over and offered her a small smile as they approached the speeder, which he swung his satchel into before he hopped over the door into the passenger side seat.

"I've been doing my research on them the last few days, and on our short trip I studied up a bit more so that we could be prepared. So, we should at least half a wealth of knowledge to work with when he venture down into those caves to see what they hold.", he told her as he waited for her to get in along side him and pilot them right where they needed to go. "It seems there is only one type of crystal that Ruusan can offer us, though the different colors from which to choose are vast. Despite that, the color doesn't seem to matter nearly as much as your connection to it, because some Jedi have claimed that their crystals have actually reached out to them in the force as to draw them in like moths to a flickering flame."


[member="Varindar Asyt"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"In those caves you can also feel the depth of Force-knowledge the participants of the Ruusan campaign collectively held, or so I've heard about them. You can pretty much touch that knowledge in the Force"

And even literally do so if one is using psychometry, she thought. The Valley of the Jedi. One of the big pilgrimage locations for history buffs from across the galaxy, and also people who wanted to become Force-users, or re-commune with it after trauma, so unsurprisingly the Valley would be a crowded area, and, in fact, the local authorities pretty much milk whatever they can from it. [member="Vennic Graves"] would realize that, while admission to the Valley proper is free, what brought in the money for the local authorities was other services consumed by tourists: transportation, hospitality, and all that jazz. It was, in a sense, a tourist trap, one of the largest such traps in the galaxy. Wearing some cooler shirts and a skirt, to the extent her big shoulders could influence her clothing decisions, they walk under the heat, in search for the entrance to the crystal caves. Yet she could feel that, underneath her, she was closing in on the thought bomb's detonation point. And also the cost overrun scandal related to the Valley's memorial expenses for some reason, one of the lesser-known episodes of the Valley's history.

"Just getting to the caves will probably take an hour or two in that crowded place. Oh and for some reason I keep getting the memories of the memorial's cost overrun scandal when I use psychometry around these parts, and not just the detonation of the thought bomb"