Private What is Dead May Never Die

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Brandyn Sal-Soren
​

"Alright, we're docked. Let's see what we're working with here." Aveline said over the comms. She'd been the designated pilot on this one, a role she felt very comfortable in.

The small ship had originally been moving towards an entirely different destination, but on the way a distress signal had been picked up, and Aveline and Brandyn had been closest.

"I'm still getting a read on their distress signal, but no one's answering my hails" Same as last time. She wasn't sure why exactly, but she had thought that actually physically coming within view of the large bulk of metal would've given some more answers, but no such luck.

Aveline left the pilot's seat and headed over to meet up with Brandyn. It was her first time working with him. One of her first time working on behalf of the New Jedi Order too, it felt like. A lot of firsts. She missed the familiar feeling of the brown Jedi robes and tunics, though the sleeveless top and vest, beige and grey, were growing on her. "What do you reckon? We go in and give her a poke about? Nothing will happen if we just sit here." Not like there were any all-knowing masters about to tell them what to do. Just two paddies figuring things out on their own. What was that about blind leading blind?

Looking out through the transparisteel window where they were standing, she felt the urge to say something... Had to... Fight it... Couldn't... Hold... Too strong... "I have a bad feeling about this"

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Totally unacceptable.

At least, this is what Brandyn's summation was of his first excursion after basic flight training. It was clearly not his forte. It was a shame too. Adding flyboy to his resume would have done wonders for his luck in the dating game. That was the theory, anyways.

Ever since receiving the distress call, Aveline had taken back full control of the ship. It made sense, but it also stung a little. He was not experienced enough, or perhaps simply not competent enough to be trusted with this. He was reminded again of his mother's insistence that practice always made perfect. Perfect seemed out of reach. Brandyn would settle for adequate right now.

For the time being though, he needed to put aside his frustrations.

The ship jolted just slightly with the docking mechanisms latching on. Brandyn felt it strange, as he stared from the cockpit window, that the ship seemed so lifeless. Aside from a couple of emergency lights on the hull, there was no sign of life. But someone had to have sent that distress signal.

"Ship looks abandoned," he said, breaking his own silence.

Glancing over the scanners, he noted no other vessels showing up. "It doesn't...seem...to be bait? Or are the fishermen just waiting for us to walk on board before hooking their prey?"

For what it was worth, Brandyn had found Aveline to be a supremely competent instructor, and he was grateful for her time. This, however, was already starting to feel like it was going to get them both in over their heads.

"Poke around...yeah," he said as the bad feeling washed over him too.

"We can't just not...check?" He said, "right? It's a big ship though."

Pushing off from the console, he straightened his robes, and rested his hand on the lightsaber hilt that swung at his side. The quick reminder that he was indeed a part of the Jedi Order gave him a slight boost in confidence.

"Let's do it."

| Aveline Cuiléin |​

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Let's do it

Yeah, sure, cool. Not at all worried about that.

In the context of their little exercise, Aveline had fallen into the role of instructor. It had seemed natural enough, and as far as they went, Aveline was a fairly relaxed one. She had, once upon a time, been a lieutenant in the navy, yet here they were both Padawans. Neither held rank. And outside of the pilot's seat, her confidence quickly took a hit.

Ultimately, Brandyn was right. "We can't not check, yeah. Some Jedi we'd be" she said, trying to make light of the situation with a laugh that sounded far too hollow.

"I've told the ship's computer to give me a ping if any other vessels drop out of hyperspace. So, uh. That's something" It was always nice to get a heads up that they were about to die, rather than get a hammering out of nowhere before lights went out.

The pair made for a bundle of optimism.

Aveline moved through the dock, stepping over onto the unknown ship. It gave her goosebumps immediately, though she was probably just doing that to herself with the anticipation. "Do you like... Sense anything?" Aveline didn't. Brandyn definitely would've said if he did, making her question a bit redundant. But the silence of the ship was killing her

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

"Nothing," Brandyn muttered in reply.

His hand hesitated over the button to open the airlock, but not long. He was focusing on calming his nerves, keeping his imagination in check.

The door hissed open. Brandyn glanced at the button. Yes, he had pushed it. He had done so good calming himself that it had shocked him when he just went and pushed the button without hesitation. He tried to cover his surprise, not wanting to appear nervous.

Beyond the well lit interior of their own smaller vessel, the way ahead was dark, lit only with the occasional sparking panel. While Brandyn had a torch on him, he did not pull it out to provide light. Instead, he pulled out his lightsaber, which ignited with a snap-hiss. He glanced at Aveline, offered a shrug of a smile, and then took some steps forward.

It surprised Brandyn how quickly their surroundings grew dark, even with the backlighting of their own ship behind them.

"Best close the airlock...just...in case," he said to Aveline without daring to take his eyes off the path ahead.

The corridor was illuminated by the verdant light of his saber. It gave the bulkheads an eerie, almost sickly, appearance. Maybe the torch would have been better, at least for his imagination.

"So...you are new to the NJO, huh?" He said, small talk a distraction for the knot that was forming in his stomach, and the shiver that occasionally ran down his spine.

| Aveline Cuiléin |​

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Aveline's hand dropped. In an instant it had grasped the hilt of her lightsaber, ready to burst into action. Oh... Just the door. Feth, that thing's loud, she thought, and immediately rested her posture trying to act casual. He hadn't noticed that, had he?

"Yeah" Aveline replied, unable to shake the uneasy feeling she felt out of her voice. She shut the door behind them, and followed suit, illuminating her part of the hall with her own blue blade. She realized in this moment she much, much, preferred the opponent she could see charging against her than this uncertainty.

"Yeah" she replied, repeating herself. "Transferred over from the Silver Order" it was a topic she was still coming to terms with, and not one she broached with new people. However, in this case, seeing as the alternative was creepy silence she blurted on. "Came on over with my Master, Ammon Rane. Wanted to be a bit closer to the frontlines. Nothing against the Silvers, you know. Just felt like we could do more good here"

"Feth, I wish we had like a droid with us or something. Someone to just tap into a wall and turn all the lights on, you know?" Not that she was scared, of course. It was just immensely unnecessary for a ship to be this creepy.

"What about you? Always been an NJO kid?" she tried to sound casual, as if this was just another day at the office and she was making idle conversation. Aveline was anything but.

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

"A droid?" Brandyn said calmly, "yeah...remind me to ask for one for Life Day."

Humour to break the tension?

CLANG

He jumped, with a fright, moving his back to the wall, just missing Aveline's blade. He moved his saber down to see a small metal panel swinging freely. He took a moment to examine it and saw the space where it had been affixed to the wall had corroded significantly. It seemed to be just bad timing for it to finally come loose?

"Well welcome...to the team," Brandyn said, standing a little taller. Despite being nervous, he was still trying to impress her. Trying and failing.

He pushed further into the ship, he could see ahead that the corridor had a crossroads. For some reason, the sense of foreboding at their being a corner to peer around soon...that was an increase in heart rate for sure.

"Ah. Child of the Confederacy actually. Naboo. My parents...didn't exactly grant permission for my joining the Jedi Order. Kinda made the move on my own. When I was sixteen. A bit of a change from the man...sion..."

His voice trailed off as he stepped up to the intersection. For some reason, now he decided to be quiet about things. Pointing two fingers at his eyes, and then one Aveline, he finished with a point towards the corridor that lead away on her side of the intersection. He followed the same system of hand gestures to indicate he would look the opposite direction. Then began the physical countdown from three...two...one...

| Aveline Cuiléin |​

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Aveline jumped as well, quickly sliding backwards and throwing her blade into a guard position. She quickly tried to act casual, actually managing a light when she saw he had been startled as well. It was good that they were both on edge, and it wasn’t just her. Though the very notion of being this on edge was silly… or was it? Kark it, she could just not shake this feeling!

«Thanks! There are fewer leather jackets than I expected» she teased.

Aveline followed in behind him, at the ready, and very comfortable having him do the leading.

Her ears perked up when he spoke of Naboo, and at least three follow-up questions popped into her mind. She definitely would have to poke him about that mansion. What kind of background did he have? Though there was no time to ask questions…

Brandyn had heard something. That she hadn’t only served to make her more uneasy. She nodded with understanding to his hand gestures. At least she hoped she understood them. Taking a deep breath, she mouthed the countdown and then…

Aveline hopped out around the corner, lightsaber guard ready once more. But there was nothing. What had he sensed? She was getting an uneasy feeling herself, that was growing beyond that slight discomfort from before. She was becoming convinced this wasn’t just in her head, but there really was something afoot here. But what?

Aveline afforded herself a glance back to Brandyn. Was there something on her side? If not… Did they split up to search?

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

Even as Brandyn rounded the corner, he couldn't help but smile at the comment about the leather jackets. Many of the Jedi Order were a broody type, it was true. Perhaps they had seen too much? Perhaps they had always been that way. Either way, it made the silence a little less intimidating thinking about that rather than another empty corridor with flickering lights.

"I think the bridge is this way. If there are any recordings...we may be able to figure out what happened to the people on this ship," he said, pointing towards the door at the far end of the corridor.

Then the noise began again. In the distance, about half way down the long corridor. It was behind one of the support struts jutting out of the walls at intermittent periods.

Tentative steps were taken down towards the bridge. As he did, Brandyn felt a warm breeze flow past his face. It seemed to carry a voice along with it. The words just beyond his hearing, or heard but not understood. It was hard to tell. Forbidden words to the understanding of a Padawan's mind.

He paused, just as the noise from ahead came into view. A door was ajar, trying to close with a hiss, and crunch. Stepping closer, Brandyn grimaced.

"I guess we found our first crew member," he said in a rueful tone, and then pointed his blade at the leg that was sticking out of the room and obstructing the door.

| Aveline Cuiléin |​

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Brandyn Sal-Soren

"Right, good call" The relief of not being ambushed soon gave way to unease. This place was giving her the creeps. It was not made better by the sound. Aveline gave Brandyn a look. This time she heard it too.

"Soo... You grew up in a mansion?" She just couldn't let that part go. Living in a mansion sounded comfortable, only for Brandyn she imagined it wasn't. He ran away from home at sixteen after all. "I've never met anyone from the Confederacy before. I think..." Aveline wouldn't know much about the Confederacy to pick up on it anyway.

Coming upon the corpse killed the casual mood, at least for her. "I guess so" she said. It would have been weirder if there weren't any dead bodies, she told herself. "Wait" she turned in an instant, lightsaber pointing back to the hallway they'd come from. She'd heard a chittering, as if from a pack of mice crawling up behind them. Only the hallway was empty, and the sound... Well the sound was gone too, and she was questioning whether it had even been there in the first place. "Nevermind, it's probably nothing."

A bit embarrassed by how jittery she was coming off as, she helped get the body out of the way instead. "No obvious cause of death" she remarked, crouching down next to him. "No stab wounds, blaster wounds, anything like that.

Aveline fell backwards. The corpse's head stirred, falling down to the left. Then it remained still. "Corpses don't do that, right?" she asked Brandyn, not willing to take her eyes off him just yet. He was decidedly dead, but now that she focused, she thought she could hear something... A wheeze? A whisper? Was he not dead?

Aveline leaned in close, trying to make sense of the sound but it was incoherent. A muffled scratching sound, tsch tsch tsch. She wasn't sure what compelled her to do so, but she gave a light tap onto his chest. The head exhaled a light green mist, carrying with it a swarm of flying insects that surrounded Aveline's own head. Aveline's lightsaber switched off as she dropped it, swatting at her head frantically while screaming.

OOC note: doing a lil div experiment xD
​

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

"No...corpses do not..."

He was just about to suggest that the move away from the body, when Aveline leaned in towards it. "Ah...Aveline.....!"

Brandyn jumped back and away, his saber disengaged and clattered out of his hands. He came to his senses pretty quick, and moved forward with his hands - issuing a wave of Force energy to push away the green swarm from around his partner's head. His fingers curled and pulled on her clothes, tugging her in the opposite direction from the swarm.

The momentum he created saw him stumble back, heel landing atop his on saber hilt, and it rolled away. Before he knew it Brandyn was falling backwards and pulling Aveline with him. "Ah crap," he muttered.

A tangle of limbs and such, Brandyn landed with a thud and a crack sound coming from his head hitting the durasteel floor. His 'ouch' was muffled out by Aveline impacting his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Through the confusion, he managed to glance down the hallway and note the green swarm was no longer there. Whatever it was, it hadn't gone far. But right now he hurt pretty bad.

"That...could have gone better," he said, as the pain started to really kick in, accompanied by a profound sense of awkward embarassment.

| Aveline Cuiléin |​

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Aveline was stuck between screaming and passing out. In the end she wouldn't remember well which she had opted for.

A wave of the Force washed over her, with it blowing away the beasts that had been crawling all over her. They vanished behind into nothing. Her vision cleared, but everything was a blur.

She finally settled back into the real world, though her heart was still racing. Slowly, perhaps too slowly, she became aware of her surroundings. They were tangled together, with her on top of Brandyn. She placed a hand on his chest to push herself off. Even after deciding to do so, the action came delayed. Oh Force, why haven't you moved yet Aveline?

"Oh, I - wait, you're hurt!" Finally in motion, the realization of his injury interrupted what would no doubt have been only incoherent, awkward stammering. She sat up quick, leaning over him to examine his head. "How did you manage that?" she said, muttering a curse under her breath as she gently swept his hair to the side. Kark, she wasn't a healer.

"You'll live. I'm no healer, but" she sent waves of calming, soothing energy to him through the Force. She couldn't close his wound, at least she didn't think so, but she could ease his pain. "You should get that checked out when we get back"

Oh Force Aveline, you're still on him! Realization dawned, Aveline and her suddenly tomato-coloured face slid off him. Down girl. "Right, uh-yeah" if you have nothing to say, keep your trap shut.

"Thanks for saving me from... Whatever the feth that was" Better.

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

While he tried to move left and right, he found no way of getting out from underneath Aveline until she did the moving herself. It made for an awkward shuffle of bodies that just brought a deepening sense of 'will this moment never end'. When it finally did end, Brandyn pushed himself up slightly, his head felt hazy, eyes watery and just occasionally crossed. "Just...give me a moment."

Brandyn was no healer either, but he had spent some time focused on basic mind settling and pain reducing techniques. Propping himself up on the wall, he closed his eyes and started to breath quietly for a second. At first, it was just the visual that faded to black as his eyes closed, but then his sense of smell seemed to noticeably dull, then his hearing...the faint sound of sparking in the distance growing less and less. And then his mind went black entirely.

"Why...are...you here?"

Brandyn turned about but saw no one save a vast expanse of black, and the small pulled of water that lapped at his feet. He took a step forward, and though he felt the inertia of movement he felt no change in his location.

"Who are you? Show yourself!"

"Why...are...you...here?"

Brandyn felt something brush across the back of his neck and turned about. There was no one there.

"We came to help. The ship was in distress."

"Why are...you...here?" The voice was gravelly, feminine, but with a deep husk that sounded like it was being dragged across broken glass.

"I don't know how else to answer the question. I wanted to help."

"You want to help? I help you..."

"It's OK...really...Aveline is a great help..."

"You will help me...I will help you...your weakness is your mind. I can see a way in...I will help and you will help..."

Brandyn clutched his head as a piercing, searing heat ran like a dagger's blade from the base of his neck up through his left eye. He screamed silently, and collapsed to the ground.
​

His eyes opened, green tint fading into a deep red as he stood like a puppet pulled up by its strings. His shoulders rose, dragging his legs to somewhat of a standing position. Saber flew to hand, and the blade ignited as he swung straight for Aveline's head.

| Aveline Cuiléin |​

​

 

[Aveline Cuiléin]

Aveline, who had initially moved on to look in the way of the corpse, now found herself looking upon Brandyn again with concern. He might've hit his head a little harder than she had thought. He was slipping.

Her concern deepened when he began talking to himself

"Brandyn?"

"We came to help. The ship was in distress."

"I know we did. And we'll figure this out, you-"

"I don't know how else to answer the question. I wanted to help."

"What question? Are you feeling alright?"

Brandyn was not feeling alright. The swing had been so unexpected she had barely been preapred to block its incoming blow. Only in the last possible moment did she herself pull out her own lightsaber and block. She stumbled backwards, taken aback by the whole situation.

"Brandyn!"

Oh this meant trouble... But she wouldn't strike him. She couldn't. But clearly, this was more than just a little head injury... She pushed her awareness out with the Force, trying to see her surroundings with another light, as well as Brandyn. Had something taken a hold of him?

Brandyn Sal-Soren

 

[Brandyn Sal-Soren]

His left foot appeared limp, and yet the mysterious force, that held him aloft by the torso, dragged it forward. His arms swung again, a flail more than a strike. He missed Aveline easily, but the blade was already spinning about for a second more accurate flail at the Padawan.

"Stop. What are you doing?"

"Helping rid you of unnecessary burdens."

"Aveline is not...a burden."

"Killing her will take you closer to darkness. I will help you there."

"It won't be me doing it. It will be you...and it's not going to happen..."

"Silence child. It will be all over in a moment."

"No!"​

Brandyn's free hand haphazardly rose, and issued forth a burst of Force push energy towards Aveline.

| Aveline Cuiléin |​