Private Where Silence Has Lease

[Shoma Ike]

E Z O
COLONIES REGION

[ attack on moonlight sonata ]​

Captain's Log, supplemental.

The Xiaolang has diverted from our course back to Atrisia. During a routine nav-check from hyperspace, we detected what appeared to be an uncharted system. Initial survey found an old mining platform in order of one of the gas giants, which in turn led us to a moon that appears to have an atmosphere capable of sustaining life. Our probe droids mapped what appears to be a large network of ruins across a large area, suggesting that there was a city or settlement here. Microorganism and floral growth are both abundant, but there are no life signs.

I've contacted Captain Beifong. The Shenzou is investigating a stellar nursery in the Deep Core, so I think the plan is for the Corps to dispatch the Kitel Phard from Atrisia to support our survey here, but I won't expect them for at least a week.

Looks like our return home is going to be delayed for a bit. Supplies are starting to dwindle, but I think we'll be able to manage. This is the sort of mystery we're out here to find, after all.

First Officer V'on is leading a small team to the orbital platform. Meanwhile, I'm taking an away team down in a shuttle to take a look at the ruins more closely.

The Atrisian leaned close to the transparisteel as the shuttle descended below the clouds.

Buildings. Streets. All the signs of life.

Thick with vegetation. Roofs of houses collapsed, while others seemed to be disintegrating as trees and thickets spread from out of the ruins.

Someone had clearly built something here. So where were they now? Had something triggered a planetary evacuation? Or was there something that they weren't seeing? With that thought in mind, the man turned to regard the trio in the shuttle with him. "Strict containment protocol, until we know more of what happened here," Shoma remarked, even as he reached up to check the collar of the enviro-suit that he wore.

Almost as an afterthought, the former senator checked the condition of the small blaster that was the standard issue sidearm for the Royal Navy.

As the shuttle landed, Shoma stepped out into what seemed like a place that time forgot.

"Spread out... but don't wander too far," the prince warned, activating a small scanner and turning to regard the people around him.

"No telling what we'll find here."

Darth Malum of House Marr​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

Malum kicked debris to the side, as he walked alongside the edge of some ruined building. It likely should have bothered him more, that another planet he had been to was like this, seemingly brimming with life at some point, and then seemingly having all that life disappear entirely. He had encountered it before, Qi-Ko had been like it, Zodasia too, yet it did not make his nerves any less nervous. He idly wished that Sibby and Motus were with him, instead, he had left them on the Lochris, having no idea what this planet would have in store for him, and certainly not wanting to need to protect those that could not protect themselves.

It was another mystery to be solved, certainly, yet he was not certain if he was the one to solve it. Many planets had fallen during the turmoil of the Gulag Plague, it was simple enough to say this was yet another victim of it. Yet as his red eyes, stared at two cups on a cafe table, once to be drunk by loyal patrons, yet now just abandoned, apparently never moved, as if life would restart in an instant if only the people returned. He wondered if it would not be too reductive to claim that this was just the Gulag Plague.

Just like Qi-Ko, it seemed that nature had reclaimed the land long abandoned by sentient life. He approached a vine and looked at it closely, the green foliage had been here for decades, that much was clear. Never having had interacted with sentient life, never having what sentient life would do to nature done to it.

His ears perked as the sound of engines alerted him to the presence of that sentient life. He scrambled for cover, as his red eyes made out a dropship falling from the sky, watching its controlled descent, as it landed nearby, watching it curiously as it delivered its cargo, men in enviro-suits, not soldiers than by the looks. Scientists?

Malum went invisible to the world, Force stealth activating, as he watched closely, wondering if he should approach.

Shoma Ike

 

[Shoma Ike]

Glancing over the readings, the Atrisian raised his eyes as they took in the scenery.

Based on the rate of structural decay and vegetative growth, he'd ballpark that the settlement had been vacant for centuries. Two at the very least. But further would have put whatever happened here close in time to the Gulag Plague.

Mortality had been high, but complete loss of life? That seemed unheard of.

"Looks like this was the main road through town," the prince remarked, tucking his scanner away for a moment. Gesturing at the broken bits that peeked through the brush at their feet, he used one hand to indicate the path of the road.

There were ruins of a large building at either end of the avenue. Probably having marked the major points of the town."That looks like it might have been the spaceport," Shoma noted, gesturing to the one that lay at a northeastern cardinal point.

"Could be a good place to start investigating for information about what this place was."

Darth Malum of House Marr​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

The attractive one had a scanner and seemed very interested in whatever results he was gaining from them, discussing whatever he saw with his compatriot. He at the very least now confirmed they were not armed... or at the very least not armed with heavy munitions, so that much at the very least was a good sign for him. It would make approaching far simpler if that was the course he wished to take, though of course there was another matter that made an approach, that made itself evident as the scientists moved closer to him.

It seemed the lead was a Jedi.

Well, he could not confirm that from here, and he certainly did not see a lightsaber.

What was more accurate to say was that the lead seemed to be a lightsider, Consume Essence's invisible shadowy tendrils latched onto each of the Scientists, most seemed rather normal and unremarkable, feeling what he would expect, trepidation, and nervousness, but the lead... he oozed the presence of the Light, a confident and calm essence and posture.

That was generally a bad sign, still, there is what they said about judging books by their cover. It was not as if the Ashlan Crusaders he had fought back on Dromund Kaas had exactly been the representatives of Ashla as they had claimed, most had been grey, some even downright dark.

Malum continued to await in silence, resolving to move to make himself known as they entered the town, it would allow him an easier time to retreat, and a harder time for them to chase, if they proved to be hostile.

Plus, appearing at their flank rather than their front would put him in a position to surprise them... and everyone loved surprises in abandoned towns...

Right...?

Shoma Ike

 

[Shoma Ike]

It was so overgrown with moss and vines that he'd first approached the object thinking it an unusually large tree.

"Look," the prince uttered, as realization set in. Using one hand, he guided the eyes of the person beside him to where a satellite dish could be see protruding from out of the foliage.

"That must have been a com-scan antennae," Shoma rationalized aloud, glancing back as he used his eyes to give a rough measure of the distance from the tower to the structure he believed to be a spaceport.

The triangulation seemed to fit the theory. "Probably provided the sensors for the aerospace..."

The Dark Side.

The Atrisian trailed off. Pivoting on the back foot, the prince glanced around. It had been tenuous. A shadow. And now he was chasing shadows, with about as much effect.

Whatever it was that he'd sensed, it seemed gone now. Mysterious and elusive.

"Something the matter?" the Atrisian near him asked.

"Just a passing feeling," Shoma answered in a neutral tone, turning back to regard the tower.

"Sir," the third called, motioning the two over toward the base of the tower. Having pulled aside some of the vines, a faded symbol was visible against the rusting frame.

"The Federation," Shoma remarked, as recognition sank in. "So this wasn't just some moon. It's a lost world."

The importance of the survey just ticked up a notch in his mind.

Darth Malum of House Marr​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

The scientists continued into the town, surveying varied structures with interest, with what they called out, Malum was pleased to hear that his rather limited and contextless theories had been at least somewhat correct. This land had truly been left uninterrupted for years, decades even. Now what was interesting was the fact that no one else had come to reclaim the place, neither the original inhabitants, if they still lived, nor some other alien species. It was one thing to colonise a whole brand new world, one which had never seen technology and civilisation, but quite another to colonise a planet that already had all the infrastructure in place, even if it was old and rusting.

Admittedly this planet was hard to reach, perhaps that had something to do with it.

Malum continued to silently and invisibly approach the scientists, eyes widening at a particular moment, as the lead, the lightsider quickly turned and stared right at him.

"Had he been found? How could he see him?" He had frozen in place, completely taken aback by that chestnut brown gaze.

Then the gaze left him, and Malum breathed a sigh of relief. He had not been seen... at least not fully, if the man was lying, bluffing here, he had to be very good not to raise the alarm when a Sith was approaching.

Indeed, it was not that he had seen him.

It was that he had sensed him, even if only for a second.

Troubling.

Malum continued to follow as the lightsider was led away by one of his subordinates, his ears perked up when he heard the most important word.

"The Federation."

Malum's eyes widened. Was he talking of the Galactic Federation? The one ruled by Darth Caedus, the one destroyed by Darth Krayt?

That would place this far beyond decades of age, it would be centuries, near a millenia.

There went Malum's plan to peak out as some civilian who still somehow lived here. By this discovery, no one would have lived here for near nine centuries.

He considered his options, waiting nearby, he likely should reveal himself sooner rather than later, there was no reason to attack exactly, Malum had a feeling the scientists were not exactly warriors, thus if it did come to blows, he should be fine.

That was at least the plan.

Shoma Ike

 

[Shoma Ike]

The Atrisian had his arms crossed, one hand tapping against the side of his envirosuit's helmet as he pondered the new information.

This was an area of history with a lot of contradictions. And the texts tended to grossly oversimplify or categorize broad swaths of historical events, likely because of the inevitable fog created by the Four Hundred Years Darkness and the collapse of information sharing or even galactic society.

There was a lot he didn't know about this period of history. And what he did know felt too vague for the task at hand. Finally, the man drew his comlink. "Ike to Xiaolang," he announced.

He paused there, waiting for the ship in orbit to respond.

"Xiaolang. Woo here, Commander."

"Establish a connection with the Royal Library and download everything on the Galactic Federation," Shoma remarked. Pausing again as he waited for that request to be processed.

A rather tall order. He could just imagine the expression on Woo's face.

"You did say everything, Highness?"

Ambitious, he knew. Just combing through that was likely to occupy them until reinforcements arrived. Let alone doing an actual survey down here. "Prioritize anything relevant to this sector, but yes," the Atrisian affirmed, before he added "Ike out," and tucked the comlink away again.

"Wasn't the Federation just another name for the Alliance in those days, sir?" one of the crew with him asked.

"A revival of sorts, but also a merger of several political factions to unite the galaxy in a way that it hadn't been since the Old Republic. If I recall correctly," the prince answered absently, as his mind continued to mull over what he knew.

The spectre of the Dark Side still gnawed at him. "There was a war," he mused aloud. With who? Imperials? The Sith? "Or several," he added, now that he thought about it.

He probably didn't want to ask which side Atrisia had been on. Their Imperial roots ran deep.

"We must be cautious," Shoma opined finally, glancing at either of the crew and then setting his sights on the spaceport.

It was time to venture further.

Darth Malum of House Marr​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

As his hands crept into his robes and pulled out the blue contacts which he had worn for deception after deception, he pondered what he overheard from the Jedi. This would be another time from times innumerable that he would be interacting with a Jedi, and those interactions rarely, if ever went well. He should have expected that after all, shouldn't he? They were his Order's perennial foe, the monsters under the bed and in his closet, in his childhood, those whose presence upon Jutrand after his birth, made them a constant, ultimate threat to his family.

Yet, it was not for those reasons somehow, that his interactions with Jedi always seemed to end in far from amicable terms. It was not because they were evil, it was not because they were some beast, unfathomable and incomprehensible. It was because...

They were all too human.

All too understandable.

He bit his lip at that thought, a realisation he had long since ago had, but a realisation he had never verbalised, even to himself. Heh, even now he resisted that urge he supposed.

They were cousins, brothers, and sisters, split across space and time, across the galaxy from each other, feuding for millennia, those members of the single coin with two faces, light and dark. They had done terrible things to each other, but they had a reason for everything they did.

Which meant in the end... they were capable of reason, of logic, of consideration.

Maybe that is why his curiosity won out over sense, each and every time. Slowly wiping away what he had been taught since childhood, realising his foe, his greatest foe, even those amongst them who had been raised as he, to hate him and all his kind, were as sane and real as him. That they warranted... something.

Even if it was a comforting presence as they passed on.

Passed on from his hand, if necessary.

He owed that enough to his kin, from thousands of years ago.

The cloak fell off, while the concealment remained in place, it would do no good for the Jedi or his compatriots to be spooked into an overreaction, wearing the contacts which turned his eyes against the crimson glow of their nature, he moved forward, with words at his lips.

"Excuse me, who are you, and what are you doing on my world?" A robed figure, with raven black hair, and ocean blue eyes asked as he came into the clearing.

Shoma Ike

(OOC: I'm so sorry for the wait, been an extremely busy few months).