Private Your First Trial

[Valery Noble]

Caamas

​

Tag: Jonyna Si

Late at night, Jonyna had received a message with no explanation, but only a set of coordinates for the planet Caamas. They led deep into a remote area of Caamas' forests, where no known settlement was located. Valery had told her to expect something, but sharing information over messages wasn't always the most secure. She wanted to bring Jonyna somewhere for a first test of character, and this place had a lot of history that would help her cover the things she wanted to discuss. So, within the ruins of an old Temple, Valery waited.

This time not as her usual self, but as Aurora.

It had been a while since she assumed her old Shadow identity like this, but with a new war against the Sith on the horizon, perhaps this was meant to be. The Jedi Shadows had always been a source of conflict, but she felt like that with her training and guidance, they could handle what they were meant to do, but without falling from the path of a Jedi.

It was quite a balance to find.

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Normally, Jonyna would probably inform Ko or Rayia of her departure this late in the night. The Reaper was normally a ship that Jonyna would happily call home on a normal day.

Today was not a normal day.

Even with Valery's vagueness, Jonyna wasn't completely in the dark. She knew the Shadows would be up to some high level secrecy, and thus, she would as well. She didn't tell anyone as she hopped into her X-wing, flying out to the planet that she prepped to find lifeless, grabbing an envirofilter from her guardian armor, and prepping whatever else she could to survive the barren landscape. Part of her wondered why Val would pick a devestaed planet to meet her, remembering the stories of the bombardment from her own time. Caaras was a planet once filled with life, but the Imps spared no mercy for such a vibrant world. She thanked Sylvar that Cathar had been spared the same fate, until she exited hyperspace, right into the orbit of the planet. A green orb once more.

She blinked as she came down to the planet, not expecting any sort of life to have taken hold once more. The future she had found herself in still had the ability to take her by surprise it would seem. She hoped it wouldn't now. But forests were good. She was good in forests. Her eyes scanned the display, looking for a good place to land, finally setting down in a clearing a decent distance away from the objective. Her own intuition told her to be careful. Val wouldn't give her such vague instructions if she didn't mean for the Cathar to approach this with some level of weariness.

Her approach toward the temple was through the trees, leaping from one branch to another as she slowly got closer. Once she was in sight, she squinted, reaching out with her senses through the Force. She didn't wanna run straight into a trap...

Tag: Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Caamas

​

Tag: Jonyna Si

Jonyna's senses would feel clouded.

There was no sign of Valery's Force presence anywhere, though that alone meant very little. Skilled Jedi could hide their signature in the Force, and as a former Shadow, it was one of the most critical skills Valery had learned. But that wasn't all — the closer Jonyna got to the old ruins of the Temple, the weaker her senses would feel. Echoes of the past, whether she was overly sensitive to them or not, lingered here.

Death, pain and despair — traces of the final moments of so many.

Soon enough, the trees wouldn't be able to take her any further. The ruins of the Temple sat within a clearing, and while nature had reclaimed much of its territory, there were no trees within the ruins. Plants and vines were growing from the more exposed areas, while one section seemed fairly intact. There was still a roof, the walls were standing but there was no light inside, so she'd have to rely on her own source of it.

The chamber was calling to her.

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

As soon as she got to the edge of the treeline, Jonyna frowned. She could feel the Force calling out. Dulling her senses and leaving her without a lot of options. So, without an overhang to allow her to keep an aerial view, she grabbed a vine and slid down, just as she had done since before she could speak.

Part of her wondered if Val had sent her on some sort of mission to wipe out a sith temple. If that was the case, was it not better to just bring the whole place down? No, it wouldn't be that easy. It couldn't be. In that moment, she did miss Odfrex. He'd be able to bring this place down in a jiffy. But alright Val, she called to deal with this, she'd deal with it. Into the chamber the Cathar went, her ears flicking as she stepped into the ruined building, bringing a single finger up to create a small flame to light her way.

Even if the temple dulled her senses, there was one sense she knew it couldn't truly. Her sense of touch. Her tailed dragged along the walls, feeling her way down, already making a mental map of the place as she followed down the stairs. With all the echoes filling her mind, she couldn't let them distract her. Whatever lay ahead of her, she'd have one hand on her saber, ready to draw...

Tag: Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Caamas

​

Tag: Jonyna Si

The Temple itself looked like it had been abandoned for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Statues and decorations had largely decayed, the stone floors and walls had cracked, and even the air felt old. But what really stood out was the flow of the Force — for as dulled as it was, echoes of its ancient past remained. And even without a sensitivity to them, she could feel that something dark had happened here.

Then, as she made her way down into the next chamber, she'd see a lightsaber on the floor.

"Do not touch it."

Valery's voice, though altered by her mask, reached out to Jonyna from behind. The former Shadow had seemingly appeared from thin air, and while her appearance was hard to recognize, her presence in the Force made it clear who she was. Valery wanted her to know, so she could connect her presence to this new appearance she'd have to get used to.

"Do you know what this place is?"

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

"I can make an educated guess. A sith temple?"

It was her best bet, she figured. Otherwise, it wouldn't feel like this. "An old one. Abandoned and forgotten."

She looked down at the lightsaber, her eyes adjusting slowly to the dark. "Which would make that a sith saber, I would presume..."

Tag: Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Caamas

​

Tag: Jonyna Si

"Worse, it was a Jedi Temple." The statement perhaps seemed odd, but she was going to clarify. "What you're feeling isn't the Dark Side or remnants of a Sith Temple. You feel the death and decay caused by the Sith when they invaded a Jedi Temple." She looked around and hoped that the voices, the whispers and the pain Jonyna felt would become a lot more clear now. Similar things could be felt in a Sith Temple, especially when spirits lingered.

But these were innocent voices cut short.

"Within these walls, Jedi Knights and Masters lost their Padawans. Even younglings weren't spared, and many of those Knights and Masters who desperately tried to protect their students perished as well."

She turned to face Jonyna, the mask hiding her expression.

"Why do you think I brought you here?"

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Before answering, Jonyna paused, looking around at the room and the spirits within.

Right now, this had nothing to do with her training. It was a custom unique to her people. She walked over to a far wall, pulling what looked to be a small pouch off her belt and dipping a finger inside, before pulling it out and drawing with green ink on the wall. A symbol of death. A symbol of rebirth. If Valery Noble knew any cathar, it was a message.

'Rest well spirits of vengeance, of agony and sorrow. Your time came too soon, and your soul shall be avenged'

She then turned back to Val, letting out a sigh. "I assume there's some sort of sith artifact here, or...something. That lightsaber maybe? I'm still kinda in the dark on what being a Shadow is."

 

[Valery Noble]

Caamas

​

Tag: Jonyna Si

"Not quite," Aurora said after studying the writing on the wall. She couldn't understand the language, but she felt what it meant to Jonyna to add it there. So it didn't bother her at all to see it added to a rather important place to her. As long as nothing else was being tampered with.

She wouldn't allow the fallen here to be disrespected.

"It's a reminder," Aurora then added. "A Jedi Shadow dedicates much of their time and life to seeking out and confronting the Dark Side. It can involve scouting deep inside enemy territory, the purification of a location corrupted, the retrieval of an artifact capable of causing harm, and even the hunt for Sithspawn who will otherwise terrorize innocent people." She looked around once again before turning to Jonyna.

"All Jedi know it's important to resist the Dark Side, but this is what happens when we don't pay attention. These Jedi died in a surprise attack because they weren't ready and had no idea what was coming. As a Jedi Shadow, you're the first line of defense against this, and that's a very difficult responsibility to have."

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna frowned slightly at the thought, looking to Aurora, and speaking rather bluntly. "I don't mean to be rude Master but...I grew up in an era that was a constant reminder. The Death of the Republic, the Rise of the Empire. That's all the reminder I need."

She didn't mean to be rude. She just...she'd seen this all before. So many times, it was kinda hard to keep track. In her time training to become a knight, her and Giran had ventured out to many temples within the Outer Rim. Some were just deserted. Others...

Tag: Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Caamas

​

Tag: Jonyna Si

Aurora shook her head, "No, I don't think you quite understand," she countered and gestured around. "People commit atrocities across the Galaxy constantly, but very few sources of evil last thousands of years. The Sith were once created by exiled Jedi who were shown mercy after they fell to the Dark Side and started a war against the Jedi and Republic at the time."

"Thousands of years later, they returned for revenge. Once more, they were defeated and retreated away into parts of the Galaxy we couldn't see," she paused again and let out a soft sigh. "But eventually, even after thousands of years passed, they still came back for revenge."

"This cycle repeats, again and again," Aurora said with that distorted voice. "This reminder is not just personal. It's not just meant to make your heart pound faster over the idea of fighting Sith or cleansing their creations. It's a reminder of History, and how important it is what the Shadows do from a historic perspective."

"Jedi of most generations have seen horrible things related to the Sith, Knight Si. It doesn't mean that it's not necessary to see the reminders, and understand just how deep all of this goes."

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna went quiet at that. She'd seen so much before she went into the ice, and yet a true sith was not one of them. She thought back to her first encounter with Darth Wallgof, and his attempts to dominate her mentally. How he had turned friendly jedi against her, and how she had barely held her own, saved only by the ghost of her mother, held within the saber she had at her hip.

"...so how do we put an end to it? Break the cycle?...can we?"

Tag: Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Caamas

​

Tag: Jonyna Si

"That's the real question," Aurora said with a sigh. "Some will say that the Light and Dark are so closely connected that one will never truly exist without the other. I'm not sure if that's true, but history almost seems to support it." There were times of peace in the Galaxy, and sometimes they lasted very long. But the Sith or some type of follower of the Dark Side always emerged eventually, to throw everything back into chaos.

Even now, with many focused on the war against the Mandalorians, the Sith were out there and couldn't be ignored.

"What's important is that we keep up our fight with hope. If we give up or believe our struggle is futile, the Dark Side will defeat us, and many more atrocities like what we see here will follow."

"We'll end up in another dark age."

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Jonyna nodded, smiling a bit brighter now. "Then...we do that. We keep fighting."

She paused, looking Aurora up and down. "...am I gonna need a new look like you? I get serious helmet hair."

Tag: Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Caamas

​

Tag: Jonyna Si

Aurora smirked underneath her mask, then nodded, "I recommend you do get a mask or helmet to cover yourself up. Preferably something that covers the whole body. You don't need it for every mission, but it's important that your identity doesn't get revealed too much, or else you'll be a target."

"On top of that, if your face is well-known within the borders of our enemies, you'll never be able to slip into a crowd or be stealthy without the armor. That's already something that limits me, but you can perhaps avoid it." With time, even Jonyna's identity would be far more open to the enemy, but the more precaution they took, the better.

She didn't want assassination attempts to follow after each mission.

"Other than that, I believe you're ready for your trials. There's a lot more to being a Shadow than a will to fight the Dark Side, after all."

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

That got a smile from the cathar. "Where do we start?"

---

A young kit stood at the edge of a tree. No long than 3 or 4, the cathar couldn't help themselves. They longed for the adventure outside of their humble home carved into the tree.

"Jony, don't wander too far off." Cici warned.

"But mom! I wanna go play jedi!"

The elder woman sighed, smiling. "You want to be a jedi?"

"Yeah! Like Mommy!"

"Come here." The mother called, leaning down to meet her daughter's eye level. "When you do, you must be clever, yes? Always be ready for anything, and never forget that no matter what, you're the daughter of a shadow." She brushed her daughter's hair. "Someday you might become one too. I'm sure you'll give whatever grandmaster you train under quite the headache."

Tag: Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Caamas

​

Tag: Jonyna Si

Aurora dipped her head, "At the forefront of everything we do are two critical things — stealth and decisiveness. Shadows often work alone, so we can't afford to be detected or we'll likely end up dead. But there's more to stealth than learning how to hide your presence, Cloak yourself, or dressing up in a smart way."

"You have to be able to make decisions fast and commit to them. Hesitation means death," Aurora stressed. "There's little to no room for error, so it's something I have to test. Because while you can learn to be better at making decisions, a lot of it boils down to your personality as well."

The work of a Jedi Shadow wasn't really meant for the timid Jedi who felt uncertain about themselves.

"I want to give you an assignment and put this to the test. Your first trial."

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Decisiveness? She could do that. She was known for that. Back in her rebel days, she was always the first to say go. The first to act, to come up with a plan and put it in motion. Sometimes to her detriment.

Stealth? Not so much. She'd used it before, to great effect at times, but it wasn't her prefered tactic. Hiding always felt dishonorable to her. You face your opponent head on, with courage. That mentality had gotten her into trouble several times, but she always got out alive, mostly unscathed. As of now, she had no way to hide her force sensitivity. She didn't even know that was an option. Most of her life, she just ran. She always chalked it up to luck.

"...okay. What will you have me do? You're not gonna make me hide from you, are you?" There was a bit of nervousness in her voice. That's the kind of training she would put her padawans through. In fact, she made a mental note to do that. Survival training was a big thing for her, and she expected her padawans to be able to do so as well.

Tag: Valery Noble

 

[Valery Noble]

Caamas

​

Tag: Jonyna Si

Aurora tilted her head, "No, hiding from me isn't going to teach you much yet. You will first have to learn how to obscure your Force presence." From there, Valery could even teach her Force Cloak as well - a difficult skill but one crucial to the Jedi Shadows and their skillset.

But one thing at a time.

"I'm going to have you infiltrate a criminal group. They can't sense you, but stealth will still be important because they have captives we want to free. If you go in swinging, we'd have a problem."

 

[Jonyna Si]

​

Criminals? Jonyna raised an eyebrow at that. Her mind stirred with ideas of how to achieve such a mission, but she was sure that Val had a more detailed briefing than that. "Alright, tell me what I'm getting into. When, where, how, all that jazz."

She'd done infiltrations like that before. Sylvar forbid Val find out about their break into the Ryloth Cantina and her having to dress up as an...exotic dancer. The Cathar wondered if that costume was still sitting in her closet on the Tenacity. Or if the Tenacity was still...there, back on that ice planet.

Tag: Valery Noble