Private What Lurks Beneath

[Allyson Locke]

​

Undisclosed Location - Space
TTM: 26 hours

There was a calming feeling when hearing the slight beep and hum of the control panel of a starship. The stars outside of the bridge looked like long lines as they traveled through hyperspace. It was quieter than usual, and the navigation computer was silenced and turned off. Allyson decided to navigate this on her own, a choice made to avoid the apparent drop that an AI would calculate. Over the years, the Spacer turned Jedi had honed the astrogation skill to near perfect. She was usually only off when she was heavily distracted.

Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt​

Allyson’s eyes dropped towards the wrist comm she wore and shook it. The alarm that had caused the interruption popped up and gave a count down timer. “Hmm, little over a day, for the most part.” She spoke to no one in particular. A hand moved to gesture over the navigation computer and forced an override with coordinates. With the autopilot turned to how she wanted it, the Corellian stood and stretched. It had felt like ages that she was manually flying through the hyperspace tunnel, shifting and twisting at whim.

Heading to the middle of the bridge, she one more waved her hand to bring up a hologram of the system they were near, a lovely little spot between the Tingle Arm and Wild Space. Using her fingers, she pinched then widened the area where they had planned to drop out near, seeing the Kessel Sector in more detail.

“Seriously? Thought I’d never have to see this place again.” Once more, she spoke out loud, as she moved the hologram about a bit. Finding the right place of vision on the planet known as Sraeljoarsk, Allyson pressed a small notification towards her companion on board. “We got 26 hours till we gotta do this live, let’s go over things again. Sound good?” She waited for a response while opening up a small and short dossier of the planet.

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

Location: Iktomi (Customized Lightstealth-18 Recon Ship), in transit.

While Allyson worked the controls, Jyoti sat at one of the secondary terminals monitoring the health of the ship. Stealth components had been sourced from the Sowa recon drones, namely the specialized (and very expensive stealth drive) which would allow them to penetrate enemy space without detection. However, there hadn't been a lot of time to see how these components played with the LSR with extensive testing, so she found it prudent to keep a watchful eye on it all. She didn't want their mission to end before it even began.

Only when Allyson stirred from the pilot seat did she herself move, finding the brunette throwing up a holo display of their destination. Sraeljoarsk, a planet controlled by the Bryn'adul. From what little she knew of the enigmatic race, each planet under their control was set up much like a fortress world, so stealth was especially important to this endeavor.

"I wasn't sure I'd be leaving the farm anytime soon, either, but here we are," she quipped with a small shrug.

She made light of the situation being practically forced out of retirement by current events, but it really was the last place she wanted to be. It had been so tempting to just say blast it all and leave the galaxy to its own devices, but the call of duty was much too strong for the veteran Jedi to ignore.

"It never hurts to review," she agreed. "I've been out of it so long that everything about these creatures is alien to me. I should have paid more attention to them when they were still only pest buzzing around the battlefield."

Allyson Locke

 

[Allyson Locke]

Hearing Jyoti, Allyson couldn’t help but smile a little with a small laugh. Neither of them thought they’d be doing this. Allyson was okay with her low key life, enjoying the lack of explosions to her face. A hand brushed back stray strands of her chestnut hair as she looked towards the Echani. “We just suck at saying no.”

Musing, she shrugged and continued to let the data render from the drones that were scouting for them. “I don’t know how you do it. Everyone, well?” Allyson started organizing the data for presentation, it was nice to talk with one of her closest friends - even under these circumstances. “You know, I hope to settle down soon as well, I think it's time.” A soft beep, “Looks like its ready”

Shaking her head, a soft sigh escaped her thinned lips while eyes focused on what her small recon drones picked up. They shipped off ahead a few days before the Iktomi was to arrive on the destined planet; at least this would give the pair a heads up of what sort of monstrosity they were going to face. A wave of her hand she shifted the images to the one sent by the drones. On the screen, there was a massive citadel and evident remnants of terraforming.

“What…?” Allyson was left speechless, seeing the image pan over the structure. What they were dealing with was nothing primitive like she had assumed. The culture that was the Bryn’adul was about complete take over - leaving nothing of the former residents for the history books. A nervous laugh came from the Corellian as she looked over towards the Echani.

“Yeah, I wish we could have realized what they were going to become.” Allyson leaned forward, trying to get a better idea of the layout. “Place looks complicated. We’re going to have to use some of the drones to see if there’s any way inside.” Looking at Jyoti, she shrugged, “Any ideas wise old Jedi Master?”

Jyoti Nooran

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

She shook her head. "Don't get me wrong. I never planned going full hermit, but I thought I could put down the blade for a while. There's still a charity to run, and bills to pay."

Honestly, Jyoti could never really call it quits. Just as soon as her twins were old enough, she probably would have reentered the fray as a full time Jedi, just later rather than sooner. She wasn't only driven by a sense of responsibility (and guilt), but also excitement. Echani enjoyed fighting as the ultimate form of communication, art in motion.

"I don't think you're quite there, slick. Many people don't even reach full knighthood until they're around your age. Though everyone now seems quite...advanced for this era."

In this time, it wasn't exactly unusual to find teenagers and twenty somethings running around as Jedi Masters, or even Grandmasters of their own orders. With so many youths at the top, several still going through puberty (!!!), it was small wonder why friction had existed between various Jedi sects for so long.

Playful commentary came to an abrupt end as the first scans from the drones filtered through the ship's holodisplay. On projector, the planet was dominated by a continent spanning installation, teeming with millions of lifeforms. It reminded her of a hill of angry ants. The Echani had expected the world to be well guarded, but this was something else entirely.

"Hind sight is 20/20...." she muttered to herself as she began to think of the implications of what they were witnessing. "The place looks like the literal definition of a fortress world. Our Bryn'adul friends have been busy..."

They weren't going to be able to follow their original plan of ingress, the Echani was sure about that at least. With a mega structure like that, there was sure to be some kind of advanced early warning system that could even pick them up out of reversion.

"Instead of dropping us into the middle of the system, have us revert within the heliosphere of the system. The solar winds and EM radiation will swallow up our signature." She stood up from her console to approach the holodisplay and manipulate the projection, bringing the whole system up. "I'll take over from there. We'll fire up the hyperdrive at 20% impulse and slingshot our way there via realspace."

Her hands became a blur over the keyboard, inputting formulas and other commands. Several winding trajectories appeared as overlays across the entire system, lines looping around several celestial objects within the system to Sraeljoarsk.

"That maneuver will tack on several more hours to our flight, but it'll keep us from being shot out of the sky immediately upon reversion."

Allyson Locke

 

[Allyson Locke]

Allyson didn’t know if it comforted her that Jyoti was also surprised by what was happening on the planet, or if it was something that she should be worried. The Jedi explained what they were going to be doing to avoid detection.

A small smile spread across her face as she followed the woman towards the controls and watched her expertly control the ship manually. Nodding, she agreed with the plan as a whole, which was a rare moment for the Corellian. Faith in others waned, and Jyoti was an exception.

While Jyoti worked the controls, Allyson quickly commanded the recon drones to bury and camouflage themselves for retrieval. Having the drones getting caught would spell trouble for them and give the Bryn’adul a heads up of their arrival.

“Well, extra time gives us a chance to prepare. Feels like a while since we’ve done something like this.”

Returning to the feed of the building, Allyson adjusted the image, trying to find something that they could have missed on the initial pass over. “Did we bring any way of making a disguise? I’m wondering if we could mask ourselves like them and see if we can get some scouting done with our own eyes.”

The Corellian frowned and shook her head, “The only issue is, mind you it's a major issue - we don’t fully know what they look like and why they look the way they do. Any thoughts on that?”

Jyoti Nooran

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

Jyoti glanced over at the equipment locker in the back.

"We have stealth field generators, holo projectors, baffle suits, whatever you're packing in that nifty power armor of yours..."

In short, they were very well-equipped for this mission. No expense was spared for infiltration - she wasn't going to underestimate the Bryn again.

"If that doesn't do the trick, then nothing will. As for identifying the Bryn, if their reputation for complete xenocide is true, than any surviving being on that planet is probably one of them. You're right, though, we don't know much about their appearance or castes. After we conduct orbital scans of the planet, one of us needs to go down into that installation and set up a back door into their network. Then we can figure out where to go from there."

Allyson Locke

 

[Allyson Locke]

Allyson counted on her fingers quietly while Jyoti listed things off that they had. She added a few more fingers when the woman mentioned her power armor. Leaning against the large holoprojector, Allyson placed her hands in her jacket pockets.

“That’s good, and we’re going to be needing all of it.” The Corellian pushed herself off from the holoprojector and stretched her arms above her head. As they returned to her side, she responded: “Well, we already know who’s going to be the one going to the surface first.” The Corellian grinned the adrenaline already starting to flow.

“I’ll head down first, I can be the eyes on the ground. Will need you to help me navigate from the air.”

Jyoti Nooran

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

The way Jyoti had phrased things, it initially appeared like a coin flip on who would go down, but it really wasn't. Her Corellian counterpart loved to be in the thick of the spy action, while the Echani liked to sit above as taskmaster. Besides, the LSR was their only ticket out of the system if things went south.

Well not if, but when.

"No need to get crazy down there, just find yourself a node to crack and then be on your way. The entire planet is primed to kill us."

Weirdly, being terminated on site was favorable alternative to being captured as if they were trying to infiltrate a Sith world. Even years later, and Jyoti still thought about Allyson's abduction by the Sith.

Her lust for vengeance had chilled, but was hardly forgotten.

Someday, her time would come.

"I'll be your eyes in the sky. I should be able to track you through the complex, and point out any opposition with the lifeform scanners. So what weapons do you have for this? These Bryn are pretty hard to kill, even with a saber."

Allyson Locke

 

[Allyson Locke]

“A planet that wants to kill me. Onsight, no less.” Allyson tilted her head and nodded, “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” After that time in the SIS, being captured by the Sith and then the ordeal she went through. She didn’t plan on ever being captured again. Allyson made sure every mission she prepared herself to die and always had a way to end it all if she got caught. ​

It was pretty morbid when you thought about it all. ​

“Don’t plan on fighting, but if I do - eh, I don’t think I have anything beyond a saber, a shotgun.” Her head tilted side to side as she went through the small armory housed in her power armor. “I think my best bet is going to be using the repulsors in the suit to at least maybe hit them hard enough to get them off me. Got Bait and other tricks up my sleeve.” ​

Allyson opened up a screen on her comm, showing the schematics of the power armor.​

“I don’t plan on being caught. Just going to go down and get whatever I can get. I’ll be doing a quick upgrade on the spider slicers. Hopefully, they’ll be good enough to get through whatever the Bryn has.”​

Jyoti Nooran

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

"Hmm...."

Jyoti stood up for the locker, opening it to look over through its contents of tactical espionage gear. After a while, she tossed something that resembled a metallic bangle toward Allyson.

"The only thing better than not being seen is not being able to be touched at all. That's a special field projector that generates a dark energy field around your body that allows you to phase through matter."

Based off a similar prototype, she had devised for the Queen of Eshan, the bangle worked on a similar principal of using an exotic quintessence field to alter the properties of atomic bonds. However, instead of keeping the user from breaking apart, every atom was vibrated to to the point that phasing was possible.

"In a pinch, this will save your behind, but there are caveats. The field is still unstable, only working for bursts of about 30 seconds, and it will disrupt your other electronics and Force connection. Of course, you won't be able interact with your surroundings either."

Allyson Locke

 

[Allyson Locke]

Her Jedi companion always had an answer for any situation. It was something that she valued with the Echani woman, and she was a good friend and smart. Allyson examined the bangle and listened to what Jyoti described. The concept was something that didn’t feel real, but if Jyoti said it was, the Corellian was willing to believe it.

“Interesting. So basically, it turns me into a ghost almost…” Musing the though, she continued. “You said its unstable, does that mean that I could disintegrate myself?” As much as Allyson wasn’t one to believe in luck or odds - she did know her track record and wanted to make sure every point was covered.

“I enjoy what I look like Jyoti, I mean this face is still pretty cute. So I don’t want to go off and poof myself into oblivion.”

Jyoti Nooran

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

"Oh it's nothing like that," Jyoti quickly followed up, waving her hand dismissively. "The band has an auto shutdown sequence if the field became dangerous for you. It has more to do with the field duration. It's very short, so you're not going to be able to use this to apparate where you please. I'd recommend that you avoid taking hits from anything, especially energy weapons. It's dangerous to attempt to pass through any Force fields either."

Deciding to provide a small demonstration, she quickly slipped on the band over her right wrist, and gave it a partial activation with a mere mental command, the field only just enveloping her forearm. The quintessence field was completely invisible, but it would appear that Jyoti's forearm was slightly blurry, as if just out of focus. As the field enveloped every atom and sub particle that made up her forearm, she felt a wave of numbness from the affected area. She held up the hilt of her lightsaber with her free hand, then swiped the affected one clean through like a hologram. From her end, there was a small bit of pressure as her hand passed, like it had been hit with a gentle breeze. She repeated the move a few more times until she was satisfied.

"See nothing to worry about. Your face is safe with me."

She smirked as she clipped her hilt back on her belt and deactivated the band.

"Give it a try for yourself, but do not mess with the settings. Or else, you're liable to tumble right out of this ship and into hyperspace."

Allyson Locke

 

[Allyson Locke]

Lips pressed together while Allyson watched the demonstration. She knew to trust Jyoti and the technology the woman developed, but Allyson still had questions. It was comforting in a way to see that the lightsaber didn’t damage the woman’s arm. If she had that much faith in it, then it was safe to use, especially with her dashing Corellian good looks. Patting her cheeks, she smiled.​

“Good good, us Corellian are a rare breed nowadays - Corellia blowing up and stuff. We’re as rare as our whiskey.” Taking the device, Allyson examined it up close now. She could feel the electromagnetic pulses through the force, letting her know that it was technology. Wow, such a feat. Slipping it on, Allyson wiggled her fingers and activated the device.​

“Wow, this is pretty awesome.” Allyson would be lying if she didn’t have the urge to try and stick her arm through the wall of the ship. The warning just made it that much more tempting. She behaved and started to hold her hand through tables and the cockpit chair. Deactivating it, she felt a tingling sensation course through her hand. “Hopefully, I won’t have to use this. Thanks, Jyoti.” Patting the Echani on the shoulder, she moved passed her and returned towards the holo map.​

“We should be getting close; I’ll get suited up for landfall. Boy, oh boy, I’m so excited.” Sarcasm dripped from the last bit of her sentence, but they both knew she indeed was excited. It was just something exhilarating about landing on a planet that everything wanted to kill you and probably have you for dinner.​

“I’ll be in a drop pod or however you decide to drop me planetside. Just be gentle, please.” Allyson put her hands together, praying to the Echani, who held her fate in her hands.​

Jyoti Nooran

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

Like all Echani, Jyoti was a master at reading body language, so she could witness in real time the Corellian struggling between following her words of caution, or giving into her impulse to 'tinker'. Fortunately common sense won out, or it would have turned out to be a very short hyperflight.

"I hope not either, but you know how well crafted plans tend to go."

The answer was poodoo.

"No, I'm just going to land and drop you off. The Iktomi has the signature of a gnat, so unless they're alert and on the lookout for us specifically, they're going to have a hard time with detection.

Allyson Locke

 

[Allyson Locke]

“Perfect.” Allyson gave a thumbs up to her partner and then left to change into her power armor. Getting ready didn’t take as long, the suit felt like a second skin nowadays. Flicking her eyes back and forth, she adjusted the contact lenses. They acted as camera links and a HUD for her suit and her surroundings. Spy work had gotten a bit more fun now that she moved on her own.

They would soon fall out of hyperspace, and the guided Iktomi moved close enough for Allyson to make landfall. With the repulsors on the armor, she would be able to keep her signature small and undetected. Feet landing and her body coiling into a ball and absorbed the landing shock, then slowly stood up. The planet felt like a wasteland, and life didn’t bustle like she had expected it too. With her connection being complete, she could usually pick up life forms alongside the tech life that buzzed around her.

She stood a few miles away from a massive fortress; it was the same one she had picked up on her map readings before they had decided to fall towards the planet. With every blink of her eye, images were taken and sent back up to Jyoti in the Iktomi. A hand pressed against her ear as she opened the secure comms she shared with the Jedi Master.

‘Hey, are you seeing this? I didn’t think it was going to be this big...wonder what’s inside.’ Allyson paused and wondered if it was going to be a good idea to go inside. She got a visual of what was happening on the planet, that should have been enough. Before Jyoti could respond, Allyson quickly started to move.

‘I’m going to get a closer look; if I can get inside, I’m going to.”

Jyoti Nooran

 

[Jyoti Nooran]

The probes didn't do the installation justice. Once they had entered orbit, she could witness it with her own eyes, a continent spanning structure that stood out against the planet like scar tissue. While the hive buzzed with activity, the rest of the planet was quite desolate. This hellscape was the fate that every world faced under the maw of the Bryn.

"I am...there's no way that you're going to cover this on foot. Even with our ship it would take forever to survey this place. Right not it's best to breach the perimeter, establish a backdoor, and drop some probes. Then get back here."

Jyoti was still on the ground with the LSR, but her scanners still worked well enough from her current vantage. That was the good news.

The bad news was that Allyson was in the vicinity of thousands of lifeforms, probably all hostile. They had to tread carefully here.

Allyson Locke

 

[Allyson Locke]

Jyoti Nooran

Jyoti was right. There were too many possible hostiles in the area. It would be suicide to jump in and basically parade around unannounced. Allyson stood the few miles away from the fortress and watched it while the Bryn moved about their day. For the Bryn being a species that had plagued the galaxy for as long as it had, Allyson was surprised that there wasn't more information on them. Maybe it was the hubris of the Jedi and Sith, thinking that the aliens weren't worth the time. ​

​

Yet, left alone, the Bry n'adul had only expanded. Their reach growing and now encroaching onto the Silver Order territory. Allyson stood by using the contact lenses designed by her cousin. With a few blinks of her eye, she was able to zoom in and get a better look at the fortress in the distance. ​

​

A speeder would have been nice, but it would have called too much attention to her. Despite the lack of attempts on their destroyed worlds, the Bry n'adul was always on constant guard. Allyson groaned and began to move on foot. The lens kept her view open for the Echani handler. "As much as I'm all for scientific research, this feels like it's above my paygrade." The Corellian quipped playfully with a hint of nervousness. Drop her in the middle of a warzone. She's fine. Heck, she was fine being dropped into the middle of Sith territory, but to be dropped in with a bunch of aliens that seem to lack any empathy? Allyson was cool to be passed up on that mission. ​

​

Yet here she was. It didn't take her long to move the few miles up the path to the fortress. Quickly she faded into the Force, becoming invisible to the naked eye. She knew she could slip in and out of territories manned by humans and most aliens, but the Bryn was unknown as usual. Hands moved along the fortress walls as she searched, trying to figure out a back door into the defense. She stopped behind one of the large structures and released a few slicer spiders she brought with her. She whispered through the comms with Jyoti. "You should be able to take full command of the spiders, and their feeds should pop up in just a few moments." As she finished speaking, the Mechu Deru Jedi finished weaving the electromagnetic waves together, tying them to the ship and Jyoti. "There we go, you got a visual?" She waited for a moment and then sent the spiders up the wall. ​

​

The spiders moved along the wall unannounced; they seemed to find a small crack to work their way into the building. This part of the mission accomplished, Allyson could at least head back to safety for the time being. Stepping back, the Corellian began her trek back towards the drop zone. "So the spiders are in, heading back - let's hope nothing has smelled me out or whatever." ​

​

Again, the Bry n'adul was such an unknown it kind of scared Allyson.​