Public Weekend Treasure Hunt 34: Eaters of the Holocrons (OPEN)

[Dani Stellaris]

The White Current was a beautiful thing. It was peaceful, it was warm on a cold day, and cool on a scorching day. It protected and bound the followers, and could be used to trick and fool those who opposed it. Dani had seen it from many vantage points. Back home in Firefist, it was looked at one way, here in this galaxy? Another. But it was not a type of Force use that could shape the world.

Just make others believe it.

And it was a centering force, a way to improve her reflexes and physical prowess, to a small degree.

Casting herself forward, not her actual body but the illusion of herself, Dani smiled at Gwen. “I’m kind of here…” She nodded, looking. “Seeds… I think we will need to move them to the ship… Can you meet me there? I’ll go on ahead and prep it?” A simple drop of the focus would send Dani out of there, once she got a positive from Gwen.

Then it was to the Pick Up. And back home.

Gweneth Zarari

 

[Valery Noble]

Sorgan

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Jared Starchaser

"Well, then a heads up would be nice." She wasn't actually offended that he had teleported away from her, likely because she knew that he knew her to be capable enough to defend herself. Still, it was amusing to poke a little bit of fun, while they chased after dangerous cultists and continued their mission.

Once inside, Valery took the lead, mostly to act as a shield. The few they encountered now didn't even seem to be holocron eaters, so she wasn't interested in taking them down nearly as much. Jared flicked the weapons from their hands with Telekinesis, and Valery followed up by slamming them into the walls or ceiling to knock them out for a little while.

It didn't feel necessary to kill, so she wouldn't.

"Cultist up ahead." She felt his presence, and as soon as she burst from the hallway into an open room, the cloaked figure was ready to attack. It held its hand like it was carrying a spear, but in reality it was something darker and sinister. The invisible weapon flashed towards the Jedi Master, but feeling the danger, Valery stopped and raised her hand to project a barrier. On impact, she was knocked back several feet, and yelped as a sharp pain spiked in her shoulder.

She had stopped the attack he had been fueling with energy for far longer than she would have liked, but she hadn't gotten out of the encounter completely unscathed.

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Working together was something a little foreign to Jared. Not since his days with his sister in the Warbird Wing, well before his coming of age in the former Levantine Sanctum and Outer Rim Coalition. Telling others his moves before he made them? That was very foreign. Kaia and the Ardellian children could predict his movements before he made them, the perks of being raised together. But with Valery? It was different. He could feel the need to make his name known, to prove himself to her.

Just like his father.

Still, if they were helping the Holocron Eaters, they were his foes, but the challenge was to not get the Raskava to hunt him down after he was done here. But even if he and Valery succeeded, who knew what was going to go down.

Though, he hadn’t expected that use of the dark side. Jared felt the bolt lance out to Valery, moving with a bit of speed that was unlike how a Jedi worked, lightning arcing off of Jared with each step. Moving to her side, he pulled the Force to him, in a barrier, very familiar for the young Starchaser. But the next move was even more so.

Calling on the Force, Jared threw his hand out, and the room lit up like a flash-bang had gone off, a blast of the Force turned into light to stun and mesmerize the ones in the room. “Lets move.” He said to Valery. “Can you sense the holocron?”

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Sorgan

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Jared Starchaser

Blood dripped down from her shoulder over her chest, and her left arm fell by her side. She could still use it and flex the muscles on that side of her body, but the clenched jaw signaled some of the pain she felt. It lasted only a moment, however, as she tapped into the Force to push herself through the physical strain, but she was still injured.

A problem to address later.

"I'm good to go," Valery said after she had watched him blind the room to cover them. Still, as they passed, she hurled those still standing into the walls, just to make sure they wouldn't catch up later. The last thing they could afford was to be caught between several groups in these tighter spaces.

"I can now that we're closer. We need to take the next hallway right, and then we're close." She briefly glanced down at her chest, noting the blood, but forced out a breath and kept running.

"There are more of the actual cultists there, too. So be ready for a fight."

 

[Jared Starchaser]

One of the problems Jared had with himself was that he couldn’t master those ‘absolute’ powers. The ones of either side or tradition. Jedi could heal and absorb attacks, Sith could absolutely end a life with just he Force. Jared was a wanderer of the Force, he existed somewhere in the middle, straying to one side or another. Finding himself in the middle meant he could definitely protect others, and definitely harm the ones he was protecting against, but it left some to be desired.

A wanderer, a journeyman, a student of the Force but not one tradition.

It was why he hadn’t stayed around in the Jensaarai for very long. His father always said he was proud of the path his son was taking, but Jared felt he hurt himself by not diving fully into one discipline.

“Always ready. Let me go in first, draw their fire. They seem to favor blasters over sabers. May even be able to keep them on me, you get he holocron and we get moving out of here?” These were the types of beings his father dealt with, those who were hoarding knowledge for the wrong purpose. He had his saber in hand, ready to move and run in, grab the attention and throw up a barrier for Valery.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Sorgan

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Jared Starchaser

Valery could do a lot with the Force, but healing wasn't one of those things. She could accelerate her body's natural healing, but that wouldn't really close her wound all that fast. And with adrenaline from that last fight fading out, she was starting to feel her shoulder and chest aching more and more.

Not enough to bring her down, as she turned into the Force to sustain herself instead, but perhaps she'd have to find out if Jared could patch her up later. Either with the Force, or simple first aid.

"Alright, sounds like a plan." Normally, she wouldn't have agreed to let anybody go in ahead of her — that was her thing — but she was injured and he seemed more than capable to protect himself. So, she set her stubborness aside, raised her hand and blasted open the next door on their path.

Several cultists were already waiting.

"Now!" she exclaimed, while she ran straight for the holocron she felt. One cultist picked up on this, and raised his hands to send arcs of lightning from his fingertips towards her.

 

[Jared Starchaser]

It was always good to have varying skills. He had known military units to go into a conflict lacking one set of doubling up on the wrong set of skills and the unit to have survived on luck and grit alone. His skills lay probably closer to Valery's than they realize. Avoidance. Protection. Illusion. With some new skills coming in every time he travels.

He had bacta patches in his kit. And would be able to get them ready when they weren't raiding an enemy's encampment. As she agreed to the plan, he nodded. A good feeling about this.

Moving when she said now, he stepped in and his lightsaber lit up. Green and familiar. As he moved forward through the door way. Deflecting the first round of bolts with his saber. Moving his hand to tug their aim off. However he was focused on all but the lightning user

"No!" He called out trying to pull the energy to him, like a lightning rod in the Force.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Sorgan

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Jared Starchaser

Valery clenched her jaw when she felt the danger of an imminent lightning strike. But before it could reach her, the arcs seemed to bend away, back towards Jared. She blinked at that, but decided not to linger on her thoughts, as she looked his way to see him stand his ground against so many.

There was something there that made it hard to look away, but she forced herself to.

A hand stretched out towards the holocron positioned on a small pedestal, and with the Force, she summoned it into her good hand. The artifact was cradled against her body, and her head quickly snapped back around to see how Jared was faring, "I've got it, Jared!" Valery called out to him, hoping that he was still okay.

"We gotta move!"

If only he could teleport them out now.

 

[Jared Starchaser]

As much as he didn’t want to become his father, there were so many parts of Jared that were exactly the same. The desire to protect others, to be the one to make the hard call so others didn’t need to, and that meant being the hero. Sometimes foolishly. Most of the time, this didn’t show as he was working solo, or on a for-pay job, but when there were others around? He wasn’t going to let them fall to get ahead.

The lightning came to her and then to him. He pulled it towards himself, catching it on his lightsaber as his other hand threw a barrier between him and another one of the cultists. The blaster bolts stopped dead against it, energy dissipating around.

Watching the beings, he was turning to take the energy from the lightning and hurl it back, but that was when Valery called to him and pulled him from the attack.

“Get going!” He responded over the blaster fire, moving his hand to launch the lightning in the general direction of the cultists, but not with the aim of someone looking to do a hard hit. He was backing up towards her, letting the focus remain on him.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Sorgan

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Jared Starchaser

Valery wasn't exactly fond of the current situation — she hadn't become the Jedi she was today by having others take the heat for her. She led the Jedi from the front, from the tip of the spear, and had ended a huge war that way. But she knew better than to be stubborn when she was already injured, and slowly but surely, she felt herself weakening. More blood dripped down from her shoulder and chest, now leaving a small trail along the floor.

She paid no attention to it, beyond feeling a need to get out quickly.

Having handled the lightning, Jared returned their own attack against them, and followed after Valery to start heading back out. She waited for them at the heavy doors she had forced open, and pulled it shut. Her hand clenched, and the metal deformed to not just lock the door, but bend it within the frame to keep it stuck.

"That should slow them down..." she said, knowing the lightning had likely done the same. Valery's eyes then flicked back to Jared, and the brightness in them seemed to have dimmed. She looked paler too, and her lips had lost their rosy color from before — she was losing blood.

"The way back should be easier. Your ship or mine?" she asked while she started to rush back.

 

[Jared Starchaser]

As a loner it meant he was more than comfortable being the one taking the brunt of a fight. The Outer Rim had enough people who needed help, most were capable of supporting him in the fights. Others weren’t. He knew of Valery by reputation alone and he had the idea she was not used to someone else taking point.

Following Valery, he was glad that there was someone who had powers to match his. Probably exceeded his abilities. Lack of focus. Better to explore and get a finger in everything.

“Good idea. And I’ve got an E Wing. So… maybe your ship?”

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Sorgan

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Jared Starchaser

"An X-wing but... I just need to sit down and get patched up," she said through a heavier exhale. She then grabbed his sleeve and pulled him along towards the section of the spaceport where her fighter had been parked. It was going to be hard for her to help herself out, especially if she lost more blood, so she'd drag him along for it.

Out here, she didn't trust anybody else.

"Do you know some first aid?" She asked, but it'd be strange if he didn't. He seemed like the type to roam around alone, and if he did, she was certain that he had learned to take care of himself. "I don't think it's too bad, but the tip of that darkshear punctured flesh between breast and shoulder." It wasn't that hard to see where the blood came from, but she figured she'd tell him just to be safe.

"I don't sense anybody following us either, so I think we're in the clear."

 

[Jared Starchaser]

“Yeah, X-Wing nor E-Wing will be good, we’ll have to split from here.” He gave her an appraising look as she spoke about getting patched up. Blaster bolt to the shoulder, wasn’t it? He had been focused on the fight. Feeling his arm tugged on, the man followed Valery towards her fighter, in what satisfied Sorgan as a spaceport. A Rim world and not much for technology, it was a small place. His was off the beaten path.

“I know a bit, mostly to keep myself going until I can get to a bacta tank. Are you heading back towards the Core or is there a ship in waiting out here?” Jared tried to not let a judgemental tone enter his voice. He was born on Corellia, but he didn’t call the Core home. As they got into the port, the Force User found them a small alcove to perform triage. He grabbed some bacta patches from his bag.

“Its not bad, these Rim worlds, small groups of people, but I think the Raksava will pursue if we don’t get off world soon.”

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Sorgan

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Jared Starchaser

"We can split later," Valery said as she pulled him along towards her X-wing. Only when she felt certain that he was coming, she let go and just kept walking. Being wounded on its own wasn't the end of the world. It wasn't easy to patch yourself up, but if she had needed to, she would have made it work.

No, she was more concerned about lingering cultists or people coming after them. If any of them caught her while she was injured and trying to patch herself up, she'd potentially be in trouble.

He confirmed as much, when he said the Raksava are likely to pursue.

"Then we best get off this planet quick," Valery said. "I don't have specific plans to go anywhere. Probably heading back to the Temple, but I can go wherever I need to be." She finally reached the Hangar area that contained her dark Stealth-X, and slowed down as she walked towards it. Her legs were almost moving off their own accord now, forced to by sheer will power. But during those last steps, her knees began to buckle, and Valery dropped herself down to the ground.

She managed, at least, to sit up straight, her back resting against the landing gear, and her pale face now covered in cold sweat, "There's a... first aid kid... in the ship," she said through heavier breaths, before she unlocked the fighter. "Can you get it?"

 

[Jared Starchaser]

While his mind was on making sure that Valery was fine and able to get of this rock, but they did have the situation of the holocron to consider. He hadn’t seen where she had placed it, or there was a chance the wanderer may have tried to lift it and get it to someone in the Selab. His father, probably. Didn’t always matter what it was, but they’d be the people he would trust most with it.

With the door closed the way she did it, and a bit of an direct route, it was a fifty-fifty on if they were being followed. Looking at her wounds, the patches weren’t going to do much, it was more a situation for a full medkit.

“Yeah, we need to move.” He looked at her. “We should figure out the what of that holocron. See if we know where it needs to go, or should go.” For safe keeping. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the Jedi Order, it was that sometimes they didn’t have the galaxy’s welfare in the forefront of their mind.

As she dropped, he was already heading to the X-Wing, getting the kit as she instructed. “Lets see the wound then…” He said as he crouched besides her.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Sorgan

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Jared Starchaser

"Can we please figure that out once I'm no longer bleeding?" Valery laughed a little, but stopped when the rise and fall of her chest from laughing caused her pain. She winced, then looked up to see him already climbing up into the cockpit to fetch the medical kit she kept there. They'd soon need to head out and actually figure out where to bring it. A Jedi vault seemed like a good place for safekeeping, though she wasn't sure who owned this particular holocron.

Perhaps finding the people who had it before, and letting them decide would be best. Which meant... she'd have to travel with Jared until the holocron was safely dropped off somewhere.

Well, more time with the younger Starchaser wasn't exactly a bad thing.

"Shouldn't be hard to find," Valery grumbled when he crouched down next to her. She tilted her head away, further exposing the deep cut the tip of the spear of midnight black had left behind, just above her right breast, but at least safely away from her collarbone. "Cut the tunic open. Then we can clean the wound and wrap it up," she said, as if he didn't know that himself.

"Just... make sure you only cut the tunic, please." And not what she was wearing underneath.

"...So," Valery then said with a sheepish smile. "At least we completed the mission, hm?"

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Right, Jared, priorities. The mission was one thing, but there were others involved this time. It wasn’t just get paid and go home. Wherever home was today. His ship was actually in a dead drop locaation, dark of space. The one trick all Starchasers had, plus it kept the ship safe. And with the pilot droid aboard now, he could summon it, when he really needed it.

Well Hopper could, during certain circumstances. Serious injury and that sort of thing. A catch all to keep Jared alive. The challenge of being a loner, but droids and some smartly placed tech helped. Especially if he was out on his own, in the E-Wing.

His mind was still on the holocron as he got over to her with the medkit. He knew how to do triage, and how to find a wound. Some skills were just picked up over time. But there were things that just were challenging for him. She didn’t seem like she was in a life threatening shot, with it being Force energy, but Jared hadn’t seen a use of the Force quite like this yet. He grabbed the pair of shears in the kit and a hand safely on her tunic cutting it.

“What did they hit you with?” He’d seem some weird powers but nothing like that. “And yeah, got that out of there. The Raksava will probably abandon this covert now. Been following them for a little bit. Interesting in a terrifying way, them.”

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Sorgan

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Jared Starchaser

"It's called the Spear of Midnight black, or Darkshear," Valery said after Jared returned with the medkit. "It's an invisible spear made of the Dark Sid. I managed to disperse and absorb most of its energy, but the tip caught me." Luckily, it meant a rather clean cut and no shrapnel or anything stuck inside her that'd need to be removed. It was just a matter of making sure that it wouldn't get infected, and applying bandages with enough pressure.

Nothing too complicated, she imagined.

Still, there was something a little awkward to him cutting open the tunic there, and leaving one shoulder and the surrounding area exposed. Blood oozed from the wound, and Valery pulled her eyes away from it, so he could patch it up without her having to see much of it.

Valery then placed the holocron she had snatched on the ground next to her and smiled at him while she searched for eye contact, as he worked on her wound, "I also wanted to thank you for covering me back there."

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Spear of Midnight Black was a bit much, but then again, so were the Sith in their effort to be more edgy than anything the Light Side could create. Darkshear? That name was a bit more suiting and was going to be the one Jared would opt to use going forward. A spear made of dark side, could be used as a weapon of sorts, rather than an energy type blast, like he’d seen his father use, or some of the dark side contemporaries he’d researched in his travels. He got to tending, getting out bacta spray and bandages.

“Every day I think I have a grasp on whats out there. Then someone comes in and blows that out of the water.” He looked to her, keeping an eye on hers, gold? Orange? But not corrupted. Interesting. Just as he applied bacta to the wound.

“All in a days work, really. I may not adhere to the Jedi dogma, but doesn’t mean I’m fighting on the dark side. Can’t throw someone away like fodder.” A true, probably more true, statement than the first. He reached for the bandages and got to work dressing the wound.

Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Sorgan

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Jared Starchaser

Valery snickered, "I've seen a lot myself, and run into new things almost every day." She looked at him and smiled a little, especially after she felt the bacta patch against the wound. It offered some quick relief of pain and discomfort, and her entire body seemed to relax as a result. Her eyes shifted, focusing on his.

He was really doing his best not to look, and she appreciated it.

"Well, unless you mind, I think we should work together just a little more. First we get out of here, then we determine what to do with the Holocron, hm? Do you have a ship nearby?" She doubted that he was moving around in just an E-wing, so he surely had something bigger somewhere in range.

All bandaged up, Valery rose to her feet and patted the side of her X-wing, "I'll wait for you to reach your fighter. Then we can head out of here together."