The Ghost of Jedi Past (Dev Thread; PM to join.)

[Aster Jen'allé]

:uring the Netherworld incident::

Primary characters in play:
[member="Destiny"]
@Jareth Holst
-Jado Wulk

*story* This will be a story with showing many different points of time through flashbacks all leading to the discovery of a Holocron by [member="Destiny"] . If you want to control one of the characters for a flash back or other part, feel free to PM me and I will see what I can do.

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Destiny landed on the planet Dantooine toward the beginning of the Primeval attack upon the planet. She was alone during this battle, travelling more to accomplish her own goals than to help the Primeval; however, she would be assisting the Primeval regardless. She was one of the many who jumped on the opportunity to attack the Jedi enclave on Dantooine, more for the things she would possibly be able to retrieve. Lightsabers, holocrons that would fetch ludicrous prices, and many other objects of worth from the Jedi within. As the groups that were to attack the enclave arrived, something was off... The enclave seemed to be empty: no signs of life and no Jedi defending it. Surely not all of the Jedi had disappeared, but upon walking within the enclave any looters were immediately disappointed to find it empty. No Jedi, and no artifacts to be found at first glance. This caused many of the "soldiers" to turn around immediately; however, Destiny would remain for the full search of the abandoned enclave.*

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

::3 Days prior::

*Illian, a Neimoidan from Cato Neimoidia had contacted the Pre-Gulag Historical society about the Holocron found in his families possession, asking them to meet him planetside. They had been waiting for hours.*

Jalung: *to his compatriot, Leon* "I don't think he will show up. This was a pointless venture to begin with, and a hoax in poor taste. Even IF, and thats a big if, he shows up, who is to say the Holocron is even real?"

Leon: "He will show: I know it. Whether the Holocron is real or not is another matter; however, with the asking price I am confident he will allow us to verify it off world with the Jedi. This is a golden opportunity to retrieve and protect a valuable piece of history! something that no-one else would have, and something that would shed light on so many secrets of a society that crumbled sometime within the dark period of the plague. How can we NOT at least investigate this?"

*Moments later, the Neimoidian entered the room, sitting down across from the two men. They began discussing the artifact, and the evidence for it.*

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

::Some 900 years before the Battle of Yavin::

*The star fighter had crashed not far away. Rubble everywhere. The husk of a small starfighter sat in part here. The main pile of rubble from a fighter in thousands of tiny pieces. The Neimoidian walked by the rubble, spotting a small object within it's midst. He casually moved over to retrieve it, thinking it might be of some worth. After placing it within his robes, he returned to his place of residence. This would be an interesting piece for his collection of wealth.*

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Destiny was nearly alone at this point, most had left, given up. She was not a biological though, she knew there was a vast space to continue searching, and she would search every inch of the building until she found something of value. No matter the time investment she could wait for the crystal caves.*

Destiny: *to herself* "Damn, how could they possibly disappear with everything? Something had to have been left. It is statistically implausible that an emergency evacuation stripped this location of all potentially valuable artifacts."

*Destiny moved into the personal areas, where the Jedi slept. Many of the doors were closed, and the rooms laid in various states of disorder. It would take hours to enter and search every room, but she would search every single crevice in the building.*

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

::not long before the Primeval invasion of Dantooine::

*Leon and Jalung land on Dantooine with the Neimoidian. The Neimoidian is holding the mysterious Holocron in a small protective box.*

Leon: "I believe the Jedi Enclave isn't far from here. I believe we are supposed to go that way."

Jalung: "By foot?"

Leon: "Yes. Don't worry, I've hired a bodyguard."

Jalung: "Leon! That's money we can't afford to spend! We don't even know this Holocron is real."

Leon: "Buying a speeder and transporting it would be just as costly. This way we will have protection and can still make it to the Enclave without much work. Besides, I believe that is a real Holocron. It looks similar enough to the ones I've seen in other studies."

Jalung: "I dislike this, but I feel I have no choice..."

*The two meet up with the body guard and head toward the Enclave. It wouldn't be long before they arrived.*

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Destiny had to get through the closed doors. She had no explosives leaving the only option as brute force. She stepped back as far as she could in the hall way. She pushed off of the wall opposite the door, barreling into it. The metal bent against her own metal frame. Close but she needed more focused strength. She pulled back one hand and made her hand into a fist. Using the power of her hips rotation, she launched her arm forward with very high momentum causing it to slam into the metal. Shredding, tearing, both metal and heated synthetic flesh ripped. Her hand had made it through the door, and Destiny pressed her other hand through the hole made by the right hand. She pulled and tore small parts of the metal off weakening the structure before ramming it again. The door was ripped from its frame and she now had entry.

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*The historians were no longer in the Enclave. They were walking through the small colony on Dantooine, trying to occupy time. A young Jedi Knight had met them at the Enclave,. This was a Jedi adamant to learn about the history of the Jedi order, so he agreed to evaluate the Holocron at no cost: so long as he could examine and study it's contents first. Here they sat, waiting for the Comlink to go off telling them that the Jedi was ready for them to retrieve the mysterious object. They did hear a noise, but the sound was coming from far above them...*


::In the enclave::

*The Jedi who was examining the Holocron had to leave it in his room while he went to a short discussion elsewhere in the building. He filed through with the rest of the Jedi, but why so many? They all met in a large room where one of the Masters stood with an alarmed look on his face.*

Master: "I am afraid there isn't much time. There is a great threat baring down on this planet, and we have to leave immediately."

*Commotion in the chamber. Was this a joke? Where would they go? But it was no false alarm... Soon the Masters organized all of the Jedi to begin hurriedly grabbing anything of value, starting with the most important training equipment for the Order and other precious historical objects. The Jedi who once had the Holocron was tasked to help the younglings get out in a fast and orderly manner. Hundreds of Jedi were to leave, and in his hurry, the young Jedi Knight forgot two key things. The Holocron was the first thing, and he also forgot about the two historians who had given it to him...*

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Destiny had searched the room. Nothing to be found. Just a room left disheveled from the speedy exit. The HRD sat down on the bed to consider her next move. Most of her external functions turned off and her sensory functions kicked into high gear, assisting into her thought process. There was a strange signature coming from somewhere within this room! She reactivated and began to ransack the room until she found it. A small false panel on the bottom of the Jedi's bed contained several objects. Most of these were useless, but the strange signature was coming from a small cube. She searched her mind... A Holocron! A Jedi holocron. This was worth a huge sum of money on certain markets. She picked this up and stored it safe within her clothes: something like this was exactly what she needed.*

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*The sound of hundreds of starships thundering from the atmosphere. Dropships landing with soldiers streaming out of them. Zealots, hired guns, droids, the various combatants weren't there to befriend the populace. This would be a bloodbath, and both Leon and Jalung were caught in the middle of it. The hired bodyguard was the first to go down, fighting back through a hail of gunfire. Next was Jalung, some might call him a coward, he ran from the fight hoping Leon might catch enough attention with his heroic attempt to fight with the downed body guards weapon. The Primeval called him dead, and his smoking corpse landed amidst the rubble behind him. Leon was the last to go down, firing wildly into the marching horde, he was surrounded. Except his fall was not into the embrace of death. He was spared, and made a slave who would die some months later from exhaustion. Perhaps death was a better fate, or maybe the last period of his life was a chance to make peace with his past as death was certainty.*

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

"I am sorry."

*Jado sat across from the female mercenary.*

Jado: "This is a business, and you can't afford the transaction. I would be glad to design a weapon fitting your specifications once you are able to afford it. For now I suggest purchasing our 34 series blaster pistol. An excellent design and much closer to your price range."

*The woman across from him furrowed her brow in... Frustration? That was what the action implied, but it felt more like calculation. Jado liked the sound of the weapon she wanted. He WANTED to sell it to her, but her asking price was just below what he could accept for such a difficult weapon. It wasn't so much the design, or even most of the materials. It was one material in particular that Jado lacked. Regardless, this transaction was over. She would have to move on and make more money before coming back. He watched as the HRD stood up and began walking out. A small thud was heard beneath the table and Jado peered down.*

Jado: "Wait! What is that?" *Pointing to the object on the floor."

Destiny: "That is a keepsake I found on the planet Dantooine."

*Jado picked the item up and examined it.*

Destiny: "I haven't been able to sell it. A Jedi artifact worth grand amounts of credits amounts to nothing when you can't find a buyer."

*Jado looked once more at the object. This looked like a real Holocron, the value to him as a collector was easily more than the difference between what she could pay and the cost of the weapon she wanted.*

Jado: "Would you part with this to finish the payment of your weapon?"

*The woman seemed perplexed once more. Calculating with that furrowed brow, and Jado was afraid she would turn the offer down.*

Destiny: "The weapon is of more value to me than this artifact. We have a deal."

*Jado was inwardly relieved and they signed the contract. He had this Holocron. Who knew what secrets could be found within?*

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

Accident, please delete.

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

Accident, please delete.

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

Accident, please delete.

 

[Raien Keth]

Sometime Later....

Spoiler

After this:

Returning to Dantooine
Neutral Desert Location
Morning

Dust's rebirth was cause for a ripple in the force, the bodies they had left behind markings of it, seeds for the future. Enough to draw the betrayer to what his apprentice held most dear, a holocron. Raien Keth had built several of his own, with such information that would burn an unprepared mind, locating them since his crystal sleep would be difficult, but they would still exist, he was certain of it.

"What do you know of Holocrons my apprentice?" Surtr's gritty voice stated. Did he know how to access one, how to read one, how to control one, how to stop it from controlling him? There were many traits and pitfalls associated with opening the wrong information too early. Such things Sith needed to face head on, not cower like a Jedi would from the potential they offered, but still they must know of them before accessing such data to prepare themselves.

So stood the black form of his master, masked now and perhaps forever so, artificial red glare from his eyes observing and demanding answers, the runes on his robes the history of his own holocrons he had built, carved into his armor and by definition his force aura from the experience of literally living those holocrons.

"Have you yet opened it?" It was unlikely a novice could merely open it on command, not impossible but unlikely with such a strong relic, and this one radiated power, potential and history. It was like a magnet to Surtr's eyes, history and purpose in the making. He breathed deep of the darkside, reaching his hand out to the device, and allowing the connection to the past to ingrain itself in his aura.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust stood with the object in his hand: it was one of few things that he had recovered from Jado now that the company was his. In the office now sat Jado's pistols, and the jagged metal piece that had been run through him, but here in the unassuming desert he stood with the Holocron that Jado had somehow collected.*

Dust: "On my knowledge of Holocrons: I have heard of them and their use. As a way to store knowledge, but I do not know much about them. I have not yet opened it either. I don't even understand how I would open it. It feels strange to me though, like it's trying to change something about me. I feel like a storm is brewing within that thing, grand knowledge forbidden to most, and... something else that is peculiar..."

*It was true, he felt the strange power of the Holocron. He did not understand the uneasiness that he felt, the unsettling feeling of being judged.*

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

Judgement…

Ah…. here it was, the potential in Dust’s hand, another pressure point to increase Dust's connection to the darkside, one more step further along his path. The weak and foolish thought the connecting points of the force lay only in larger temples or planetary bodies, no they were in the smallest details just as easily. Pin point pricks of accurate pressure to shape events. He would twist that here, to his, and his apprentice’s benefit.

“A traditional holocron’s gatekeeper will not deny you access on their flawed moral or emotional grounds, they carry no such true adaptive representation of those who made them. They will make a judgement of you as a student, of your ability to handle the information they offer you, from a copy or echo of what and who they were.” Centering himself in the darkside, the air around them became as shadow, cold and fear, chilling to touch or be touched by. Force Cold and Fear Aura, a staple of his force arts. “You my apprentice will need to match this one in a battle of wills, fail, and you may never know its secrets,” failure was no option for a Sith of worth to tolerate. The fear of failure he punctuated into his student, was meant to be heightened, to force him to fight through it.

After a time, Darth Surtr let that pronounced fear ebb away from the moment, the aura settled, and he focused on the holocron in Dust's hands. Through the force the holocron was touched, accessed, its outer edged probed, and the inner one called forth to greet the surface.

Every single holocron was different. This one radiated decisiveness, a clear distinction between right and wrong… absolutes, Raien's concentration deepened, a presence that could have made a strong Sith had he had the right instruction, never reaching his true potential without it.

A test, “open it. Look beyond what you see on its surface, the mechanisms in the force underneath, to the crystal grid at its core/ Find the hidden potential and bring it to the surface through them. Your will made real."

Plo Koon’s Gatekeeper, a programmed hologram of the master waited underneath, waiting in consideration of those before him.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

Spoiler

I wanted to take this OOC moment for anyone who believes Jedi Holocrons cannot be accessed by Dark side force users. While it may be true that certain Holocrons could in fact be gated to some degree, as is proven in this article (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tedryn_Holocron) where this clearly light side Holocron is said to, " sense the affiliation of the Force-user to the light side,[9] though any Force-talented user could activate the holocron by touching the design on its side.[1] The holocron produced a primitive green-tinted hologram of its primary gatekeeper.[1]
The knowledge contained in the holocron could be accessed by anyone to a certain extent. On the most superficial level the holocron was merely a recording device, a collection of records with interactive holograms of the authors.[9] The basic knowledge in the holocron could be accessed directly, like a computer encyclopedia, or by interfacing with the current gatekeeper."
This proves, without a doubt, that even Jedi Holocrons could be accessed by sith and dark jedi. It was even said of the Holocron of Satele Shan that, "Satele's holocron can also serve as a "come back to the light side" device." Also, the Dark Jedi Namman Cha was known to have pillaged a Jedi holocron for its secrets before destroying it. So, without a doubt even the most important of Jedi Holocrons could be accessed by Dark-side force sensitives.

*Dust focused, clearing his mind as he reached out, deep into the holocron. The crystal grid resonated with the pattern of a force user. It... It was rejecting him... No, it was resonating with something inside of him. The power of the force within him was causing this Holocron to open revealing the form of its gatekeeper.*

Koon: "I am Jedi Master Plo Koon. Contained within this is some part of my notes regarding the force. Why is it that you have sought out my knowledge?"

*Dust stood for a moment, amazed at what had just transpired. He looked over to Darth Sutr, his master, with a question in his eyes. Curious what to do next.*

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

There was no challenge to great to face or grow from. Let the weak cower worrying about why or how, while the strong rose, and acted as they always did. Dust was no longer weak, ~do not cower, face him and speak your mind.~ If Dust responded to the betrayers mindspeak for the first time, he would feel the gravity of Raien’s focus on this task, that gravity is what caused the pressure and forward motion from to occur.

Raien’s metal boots strode forward not hiding who he was from the holocron, or making any futile attempt to. “I am a Sith, but this potential before you seeks your knowledge of right of wrong, your decisiveness to aid him on his journey.” Surtr was nothing if not a Master of manipulating events, former Dark Jedi training and years lived behind their masks had seen to that. He was up here against the echo of another, but an echo for which most would be no match.

The Golden image of the Kel Dor regarded Raien with clearheaded judgement of being who he said he was, but the young man was here as well, still able to be saved? That was the window into the world of the ancient Jedi Master, leveraging his apprentice to gain the insights from so long ago. Dust would of course benefit as well, gaining the holocron, but material objects were never what Darth Surtr sort.

“Are you able to offer him your insight and training, to put Jedi ideals against a Sith’s ideals in reasoned debate? He is yet to choose a path.” The wounded, rebuilt voice of Darth Surtr was like an open wound that never healed, poison to all that heard it twisting their ideals and minds. Such things were not possible to a machine. Yes, but the machine was once a direct copy of a man’s mind, and carried their force signature through its crystal circuits and long history.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*The Gatekeeper thought on this for a moment. Yes, though the Jedi Master was only a copy contained within a Holocron, he could sense the force, and though there was a strong dark side presence within the young man, there was also an influence of the light side buried within the boy. The twisted Echani may be beyond saving, or so it seemed, but this youth was still flesh and blood. An entire lifetime awaited him and it could be spent in the light, or shrouded in the dark influence of the Sith. There was a chance, though small, that Plo Koon could save him from this dark path, and though he risked creating a stronger enemy of the Jedi he knew that if there was any chance of salvation he needed to put the effort forward. Had he believed in the good of Little Soka... Perhaps she would not have turned away from the Jedi... He could not make the same mistake twice. He would, though he was only a copy of the Jedi he once was, try to make amends and right what he had done wrong.*

Plo Koon: "You speak twisted words, and I know your intent; however, you are right about something: if there is any chance that I might be able to turn him from the darkness through the teachings of the light, I must believe in the good within him. I will train him with what he is ready for, and allow him to see the force through the eyes of one who walks the path of the Jedi. Perhaps then he will see the truth of the dark side and weaken your grip on his mind."

*Dust watched the exchange with the words spoken by Surtr ringing in his mind. He turned to the image of the great Kel Dor Jedi and sized up what represented the mind of a powerful force user of the past. That same judgment, everything black and white, no anger or fear or emotion. He wanted to hear what the Jedi had to teach him. He wanted to gain the knowledge and power which this Jedi used during his time in this galaxy.*

Dust: "So you will yield your secrets to me?"

Plo Koon: "Only so much as you are ready to receive."

[member="Raien Keth"]