Private The Silence of Brindle's Reach

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia laughed quietly at his version of the story.

"I suppose every good story does need a satisfying ending," she admitted. "Though I think you're forgetting that sometimes the hero only wins because someone else noticed the clue they almost stepped over."

She offered him a teasing smile before returning her attention to the tracks. They continued at an easy pace, the tiny paw prints weaving confidently through the settlement. Every so often she paused, kneeling briefly to confirm she hadn't lost them where the dust had been disturbed by wind.

"They're fresher here," she observed softly. "And more frequent."

A few steps farther on, she stopped again. The tracks multiplied, overlapping in places where the cat had apparently lingered before continuing onward. They crossed a narrow lane and disappeared beneath the partially raised loading door of an old warehouse.

Talia remained outside, studying the entrance rather than rushing in.

"Well..." she murmured, looking toward Kade. "You were right about one thing." Her eyes moved to the faded lettering above the doorway before slipping back to the paw prints. "A warehouse."

She crouched once more, noticing several torn ration wrappers caught against the edge of the loading ramp and a few empty water containers stacked neatly just inside the shadowed entrance.

"It looks like supplies," she said quietly. "Enough to keep a cat fed..." Her voice trailed off as she peered into the dim interior. "...but I don't think the cat stocked the shelves."

Slowly, she rose to her feet.

"Someone's been here."

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade snickered. "Sure." He nodded as though conceding an obvious point. "Somebody else finds the clue." A beat. "They hand it to the hero." His grin widened. "The hero saves the day."

He spread his hands. "Everybody contributes." Another beat. "I'm perfectly happy with you being an integral part of the story." The wink that followed left little doubt where this was going. "So long as I get most of the glory at the end." The comment was delivered with enough confidence that it was impossible to tell whether he was joking. The answer, as usual, was somewhere in the middle.

As they continued, Kade stayed a half-step behind Talia. His hand hovered near Twin Verdict's hilt, never quite settling, never quite leaving. Now that he knew what to look for, he found himself following the paw prints as well. He wasn't nearly as practiced as Talia, but they were becoming easier to spot.

When she pointed out that the tracks were fresher, he leaned down for a better look and gave a slow nod. "I see it." Then the tracks multiplied. His brow furrowed. "Think that's more than one cat..."

His eyes followed the overlapping prints. "...or just one really busy one?" He glanced toward Talia. She probably knew. Or at least had a theory. Kade wasn't about to interrupt her process.

When she said he had been right, his grin immediately spread from ear to ear. "Of course I was." The response came before she even finished speaking. Then she mentioned the warehouse. His smile somehow grew even wider. "I was right twice." He looked entirely too pleased with himself.

That satisfaction evaporated the instant Talia's voice changed. Someone's been here. Kade straightened immediately. His posture lost every trace of playful swagger. His attention locked onto the dark opening beneath the loading door. Every sense sharpened. His thumb brushed the emitter of Twin Verdict. Not activating it. Ready.

"If someone's inside..." His voice dropped. "...then they're either our witness..." A brief pause. "...or our problem."

Without another word, Kade took several slow, measured steps toward the warehouse entrance. For once, there was no charge. No sprint. No reckless dive into the unknown. Each step was deliberate, careful enough that Talia could stop him with a word if she had a better idea.

He glanced back over one shoulder. "I should probably go first." A confident grin flickered back for just a moment. "If it's dangerous, that's my department." Then his expression settled once more as his attention returned to the shadowed interior, waiting to see if Talia's instincts would send them in together—or send them in another direction entirely.

​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia couldn't help but laugh as Kade claimed the glory for himself.

"I suppose I can live with that," she said, shaking her head with an amused smile. "Though if anyone asks, I'll be sure to mention the hero would've walked straight past the clues without his archaeologist."

The teasing faded as they approached the warehouse. She watched Kade's posture change almost instantly, the easy humor giving way to the quiet focus of someone who had spent years preparing for moments exactly like this. It was a side of him she respected. They approached uncertainty differently, but they approached it well together.

When he suggested taking the lead, she gave a small nod.

"I think that's reasonable." Her voice remained low. "I'll stay just behind you." She rested a hand lightly against the satchel at her side before glancing once more at the tracks disappearing beneath the door. "Whatever's in there... let's try to understand it before we decide what it is."

The warehouse smelled stale the moment they stepped inside. Dust hung almost motionless in the shafts of light filtering through skylights. Rows of shelving still stood where workers had abandoned them, many stacked with ration crates, bottled water, medical supplies, and other emergency provisions. Enough to keep someone alive for months. The cat's tracks wandered confidently between the aisles, weaving through the supplies as though it had made the building its home.

Then Talia stopped.

"Kade..."

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Near the far wall, slumped against a collapsed stack of crates, sat the unmistakable remains of a person. The uniform was unfamiliar, military in design but bearing no insignia she recognized from Brindle's Reach. The body itself was wrong. Not decomposed as she would have expected after only a few weeks, but unnaturally desiccated. Skin clung tightly to bone, clothing hanging loosely from a frame that looked as though years rather than weeks had passed since death.

Slowly, she crouched several meters away, careful not to disturb the scene.

"No..." she murmured, studying the remains with growing unease. "This shouldn't be possible." Her eyes moved over the corpse, then around the warehouse itself. Nothing else appeared aged beyond its time. Only the body.

She looked up at Kade, concern replacing curiosity.

"This person didn't die a few weeks ago." A pause. "Or... if they did..." Her voice grew quieter still. "...something made them look decades older."

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade gave an exaggerated shrug. "Maybe." He flashed Talia a sideways grin. "But history doesn't usually remember who found the clue." A beat. "It remembers who solved the problem."

The grin lingered, though not quite as confidently as before. He didn't mind the teasing. Mostly. Still, he wasn't about to let her think he needed constant supervision.

As they approached the warehouse entrance, he nodded once. "I might be an action-first Jedi..." His hand settled firmly around Twin Verdict's hilt. "...but I'm still a Jedi." He glanced back over one shoulder. "I'm not in the habit of hitting things just because they're there." Another crooked smile. "I like to be pretty sure something deserves it first."

With that, he slipped beneath the partially raised loading door. The warehouse swallowed them in stale silence. Kade's dark eyes swept from shelf to shelf. Ration crates. Water. Medical supplies. Dust. Nothing immediately threatened them. Nothing appeared disturbed beyond the wandering trails of feline paws. It almost looked...

Normal. Which somehow made the place even more unsettling. His gaze moved constantly, lingering on the shadows between the shelving, the rafters overhead, every possible place something could be hiding.

Then Talia spoke his name. Quietly. He followed her gaze. His expression hardened. The body sat motionless against the fallen crates. Instinctively, Kade reached out through the Force. Not with Talia's careful examination. Not searching for history. Simply feeling. Listening. Waiting for...something. Anything.

Nothing answered. No lingering spirit. No echo that his instincts could grasp. Just silence. An empty silence. His fingers tightened around the saberstaff. The weapon came free from his belt with a soft metallic click. Still inactive. Still lowered.

His attention never left the warehouse as Talia moved closer to examine the corpse. He trusted her with the body. His job was everything else. Every aisle. Every doorway. Every shadow.

When Talia explained what she was seeing, Kade finally looked from the room to the corpse again. His jaw tightened. A faint shiver worked its way across his shoulders. "...That's wrong." Not merely strange. Wrong.

His eyes drifted toward the stocked shelves. Then toward the trail of paw prints weaving between them. "The cat can't be living off food that's decades old." He shook his head slowly. "The supplies aren't aged….

"The warehouse isn't aged." His gaze settled once more on the desiccated corpse. "But that is."

Silence filled the space for a heartbeat. Kade lowered his voice instinctively. "Something unnatural happened here." For the first time since arriving on Brindle's Reach, he found himself wishing the answer had been a Sith.

At least Sith made sense. This...This didn't. His grip tightened imperceptibly on Twin Verdict as his eyes resumed their slow sweep of the warehouse. Whatever had done this...

He couldn't shake the feeling it might still be close.

​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia frowned as she studied the shelves, her eyes moving slowly from crate to crate before returning to the body. Something about the scene refused to fit together.

"The rations aren't aged," she said quietly. "Not fresh...just well preserved." She gestured toward one of the sealed containers. "Most emergency supplies are packaged to last for years. Decades, sometimes."

Her gaze drifted toward the wandering paw prints.

"And the cat..." She shook her head thoughtfully. "Or cats. They aren't exactly sentient. They wouldn't understand expiration dates or the significance of abandoned supplies. They'd simply find food where food exists."

The corpse drew her attention once more, and an uneasy feeling settled over her. Instinctively, she took two careful steps backward, increasing the distance between herself and the remains. Her expression tightened.

"I don't want to get any closer."

She couldn't explain why. Perhaps it was simple caution. Perhaps years spent working among ancient tombs had taught her to respect the unknown. Or perhaps it was something subtler, an instinct whispering that whatever had happened to this person might not be entirely finished.

"We don't know what caused this," she murmured. "Disease... some kind of environmental exposure... the Force..." She slowly shook her head. "Until we know more, I'd rather assume touching the body is a bad idea."

As if the warehouse itself had decided to answer, a sudden gust of wind swept through the loft above. Dust spiraled into the air as loose tarps fluttered against their restraints. Somewhere deeper in the building came the sharp metallic crash of something heavy striking the floor.

The sound echoed through the warehouse before silence reclaimed it.

Talia's head snapped toward the darkness beyond the shelves.

"...Kade."

She didn't need to say anything else. Whatever had made that noise hadn't sounded like a settling building.

Kadeon Virell

 

[Kadeon Virell]

Objective: Make some noise on Brindle Reach
Location: Jedi Transport, arrival in Brindle Reach space
Outfit: Combat Ready
Equipment: Double-bladed lightsaber - Twin Verdict
Tag: Talia Larkin Swift

Kade's eyes flicked from the corpse to the shelves again. "I think you might be right about the rations." The admission came easier than most. "They're made to last."

His brow furrowed. "But the colony wasn't cut off decades ago." His gaze settled once more on the desiccated remains. "We know people were living here weeks ago."

He gestured toward the shelves. "And cats don't know what expiration dates are..." A slight shrug. "...but their stomachs do."

He wasn't an archaeologist. He wasn't a biologist. He wasn't even particularly interested in either subject. Still, the pieces refused to fit. The cat looked healthy. The warehouse looked untouched. The body looked impossibly old. None of it belonged together.

When Talia backed away from the corpse, Kade mirrored the movement without complaint. He trusted instincts. Especially now. "Works for me." His grip remained firm on Twin Verdict. "Touching the creepy corpse wasn't exactly at the top of my to-do list."

His eyes never stopped moving. The aisles. The rafters. The loading door. The shadows between stacked crates. Then—

The gust. Dust erupted into the air. Tarps snapped overhead. The metallic crash echoed through the warehouse like a blaster shot. Kade moved before the sound had fully died. One smooth step carried him directly between Talia and the source of the noise. Twin Verdict came up in both hands, still unlit, the staff held diagonally across his body. Protective. Ready. Every muscle tensed.

His breathing stopped instinctively as the cloud of dust rolled toward them. He held it. One second. Two. Three. The warehouse settled back into silence. His lungs began to burn. Finally he exhaled sharply through pursed lips.

"...Kriff." A quick, shallow breath. Then he held that one too. His voice came out quieter than before. "Mystery or tactical retreat?"

His eyes remained locked on the darkness beyond the shelving. "I can work with either." Another few seconds passed before the pressure in his chest forced another restrained exhale. He didn't dare take a full breath. Not with an unexplained corpse and whatever had just disturbed the warehouse.

Without looking away from the shadows, he spoke again. "Your call, Brain." A faint smirk tugged at one corner of his mouth despite the tension. "I'm ready to investigate."

A tiny inhale. Held. "...or run." The second option clearly offended him on a personal level. "But if we're running..." His grip tightened around Twin Verdict. "...I'm running backward."

​

 

[Talia Larkin Swift]

Talia's pulse quickened as Kade instinctively stepped in front of her, placing himself between her and the unseen source of the sound. She didn't argue. At that moment, she was grateful he was exactly the sort of Jedi who thought that way.

She took one careful step backward, her eyes never leaving the dark aisle.

"The wind..." she said quietly, listening as the loose tarps above continued to flutter for another second before settling. "...that's normal. Broken skylights, changing air pressure." She shook her head. "That wasn't what made the noise."

The warehouse fell silent again, the kind of silence that pressed in on the ears and made every breath feel too loud. Then came the unmistakable sound of claws scrambling across concrete, sharp and frantic, echoing between the towering shelves. Talia's eyes widened as she turned toward the noise, her voice catching in her throat. "Kade..."

From somewhere deep within the maze of stacked crates and rusted racks, another cat burst into view. It wasn't stalking or prowling with cautious intent—it was fleeing. Its movements were erratic, desperate, as it sprinted forward without hesitation. It was running.

Its ears were pinned flat against its head. Every hair along its back stood on end, making the already lean animal appear almost twice its size. Its pupils were so dilated that little of its eye color remained visible. It never once looked toward the two Jedi.

It sprinted directly at them.

At the last possible moment it veered sharply around Kade's legs, nearly skidding across the dusty floor before disappearing beneath the partially opened loading door and vanishing into the daylight beyond.

Talia remained frozen for a heartbeat, watching the doorway long after the animal had disappeared.

"...That wasn't running from us."

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

She slowly turned her attention back toward the warehouse interior. The darkness between the shelves looked no different than it had a moment ago. Quiet. Empty.

Yet every instinct she possessed told her something had changed.

"I don't think..." she said carefully, "...we're the reason the cats are leaving."

Without realizing it, she had lowered her own voice almost to a whisper, as though speaking any louder might attract the attention of whatever the frightened animal had fled from.

Kadeon Virell