Ean takes a moment to compose his own reports, one for the New Republic and one for the Empire. He files his reports, packs his kit and slings his bag over his shoulder.
Once he is on the transport, he says, "I think we can say that we performed well on our first real mission. I wish the Jedi had turned over the prisoners to the Empire for them to be properly interrogated, tried, and executed. I wish that our first real challenge wasn't more dark force absurdity. These Sith lovers drive me mad."
"No rest quite yet. Still, I haven't actually been back home for a few years, which surprises me now that I think about it. Sort of a shame it's a business trip, but hey, sometimes you gotta take what you can get."
Temil readies himself in a fraction of a time, taking only extra clothing. Seeing Joran arrive at the same time, he nods. "You are from Coruscant as well, then?", he asks. "I'm looking forward to going back as well. There's bound to be time to see how things are going.", he comments.
As Ean makes his statement, Temil puts a hand on his chin. "The Dark Side of the Force is not an absurdity, Mister Flennic. But I agree, I would rather not have to deal with it, either. But if a Republic Force was caught infiltrating an important Imperial Installation, would you give them to the Republic to be tried, or would you handle them internally?", he asks with a small smile.
As you move near the hangar, you all hear a loud roar.
The roar is followed by the voice of a man.
"Are you kidding me? I just performed maintenance on it last week!"
Coming into the hangar, you see a large ship that must have arrived recently; it is being refueled. That is far less interesting to you than the ship itself, however.
It is clearly an older YT-1300 freighter, and it is far from mint; much of the outer armor has been replaced and you can see several modified weapon banks. All of you recognize the ship on sight, and if there was any doubt as to what exactly it was, that's swiftly laid to rest as a human male comes down the extended boarding ramp. He is in his middle years, but is ruggedly handsome, with small amounts of gray flecking the temples of his thick, sandy brown hair. He shoots your group a lopsided grin and waves you over.
"Well, at least you GUTF folks are punctual! Good to meet you; I'm Han Solo. The walking carpet on the inside is Chewbacca."
Another roar issues from the interior of the ship.
The Wookie roar is finished by a barking laugh, and Han self-consciously runs a hand through his hair.
"You're welcome to come aboard the Falcon. Should be ready for takeoff in a few minutes; just have a tiny, insignificant mechanical hiccup to fix and we'll be ready to go. Luke filled me in on some of what's going on...I wanted to take a couple of days and visit my kids, but this sounds pretty important. There'll be time when we get back. You guys ready?"
Kon inclines his head to Captain Solo. "At your leisure, Captain Solo," he says. "And we appreciate the assistance."
Flennic shudders as he enters the hangar. His time working with these Jedi had confronted him with many challenges, but few that he had had such a viceral reaction to. He had grown accustomed to being around Master Skywalker. To tell the truth, the man wasn't much at all like the villain of the stories told in the Empire. The same was probably true for Solo and the Wookie.
But it was hard not to look back in anger at the Falcon. He could clearly remember the ship at the Battle of Endor, leading the fighter attack, flying out of the Death Star before it was destroyed.
Ean simply nods at General Solo, unable to conjure words. It's not like he can say it is an honor to meet the smuggler turned terrorist.
He makes his way onto the freighter.
Temil's eyes glare in a sight of amazement as he looks at the most famous vessel in the galaxy. And I get to ride it? Hah. That's an Androti first., he quietly thinks to himself as he attempts to peek inside the famed ship. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Captain. I'll... attempt to restrain myself from too nosy a question, but I might not be able to.", he smiles politely, his eyes glancing at the blaster on the man's side. Don't ask if he really shot at Darth Vader, don't ask if he really shot at Darth Vader...
"Did you really shoot at Darth Vader?"
Thel quietly lugs his chest of technology into the ship.
Joran smiles. "Yep, Coruscanti born and raised. Don't know just how much time we'll have or where we might go to, but hopefully I'll be able to make a call or send a message home if nothing else."
---------
Upon entering, Joran can't helo but to smile even wider. Here was a pair he'd heard so many stories about, and a ship that had become a legend in its own right. Getting to actually meet these two and fly on that ship? This posting really does have its perks.
"A pleasure, Captain Solo. Joran Kallos, New Republic Special Forces. And GUTF, too, now that I think about it." He extends a hand to Han. "If even half the stories about the Falcon and her crew are true, we're in good hands."
Kon turns and offers to help Thel lift his large trunk of gear into storage. "Out of curiosity," he asks Thel, "Why aren't you using a grav lift? This case must weigh at least 30 kilos."
Thel responds in a melancholy tone, "I was told that carrying things that I can carry is a good way to stay fit."
IRina sees to her things being stowed smiling to herself at the patter between Chewbacca and Solo. She had hear her own fair share of stories about the General, who knew that the ones about him arguing with his co-pilot and friend like they were married were true?
Irina moves quietly, working toe ensure she is out of the way.
Draylin was definitely down. He had just been in his first real combat...he had just fought and hurt and killed for the first time. He knew that he would have to wrestle with-
Is that the Millenium freaking Falcon?
An almost childlike excitement bubbles up in Draylin and he excitedly goes to shake Han Solo's hand.
It's a real honor to meet you, sir! I'm Draylin Thul. My father, Istian, talked a lot about you and Chewbacca and the Falcon when I was growing up. She's...quite a ship, isn't she?"
Draylin is moving as he talks, not wanting to hold up the group.
Han grins, patting you on the shoulder, Draylin.
"Ah, I remember that ol' gearhead! Actually helped me with the Falcon once or twice. He picked a good spot to retire, too...we Corellians have to stick together, right?"
As soon as you all board the ship, Han starts making ready to leave. After perhaps fifteen minutes, Chewbacca comes in from the engine room, greeting you all personally. The Wookie then makes his way to the cockpit, and after a few more minutes, the Falcon lifts off.
The journey is brief, smooth and pleasant. Ean, Han even makes efforts to be friendly to you; he brings up his time at the Imperial Academy and remarks that he thinks it's good that the Remnant is making an effort to move forward with galactic unity.
After a few days, you all arrive at Coruscant. The city is a bustling hub of galactic activity, but Han has no difficulty finding a docking bay.
The GUTF has an operational account that you can use to do things like rent air or landspeeders for planetary travel. It's not enough to purchase a vehicle, but if it's a Republic-allied world, you can secure transport fairly easily. Destroyed vehicles making the GUTF pay out their cost might result in reprimands, however.
It's perhaps twenty minutes by airspeeder to the old Jedi Temple. What do you do?
Irina for her part will usher the others towards the speeder, moving to take the pilot seat if no one else insists, C'mon folks, lets get a move on. We don't know how much of a head start these fringe Imperials have on us and we best make our way with haste...
Thel mopes his way, following the group.
At Solo's words about galactic unity Ean says something about how the galaxy has been sunk in boiling madness for 20 years and how it would be good to get it back on track.
--------------------------
Once on Coruscant, with something to do, Ean seems happier. "If we encounter more of them, let's make an effort to prevent them from destroying their ship. I'm sure Thel would be able to recover navigation data from their hyperdrive, and it would be good to know where they are hiding."
On departing the ship, Joran takes a deep breath and exhales."Nothing quite like that Coruscant air. Nice to see the place hasn't changed much since I was last here." He proceeds with the rest of the group to procure a speeder. As they go, Joran goes to walk beside Thel. "Hey kid, before I forget, you got anything to use to protect yourself?" he asks. "I've got an extra blaster in my pack if you don't. You know how to use a blaster?"
Kon grips one end of Thel's heavy crate and helps him to load it onto the ship.
"Sometimes trying to carry something too heavy will just hurt you," he says. "Nothing wrong with a little help."
~~~~~~~~~~
Kon does his best not to attract too much notice. Nonhumans are still second-class citizens in some parts of the galaxy, after all.
Thel shakes his head vigorously, "No! No..no..no. I don't want to kill anymore."
Joran sighs. "I don't recall you doing any killing in the first place. Regardless, it doesn't sit right with me to bring you into a potentially dangerous situation without any protection. What are you planning to do if things get messy?"
"I have designed weapons for starships....and blasters.." Thel sits forcefully and wraps his face with his hands.
Draylin moves over to Thel, putting a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder.
"Thel, don't worry, my friend. You won't have to use a blaster if you aren't comfortable with it. No one is going to force you. I'll do everything I can to make sure you're safe. You did great last time; you stayed quiet and you were getting us intel. You can just keep doing that, okay? Just make sure to be careful and not get too far away from us. I do think that Joran has a point...we might want to get you some sort of weapon to defend yourself with, or have you start practicing a martial art. That's probably a good idea, but we can work on it slowly. Does that sound okay?"
Irina, you are able to find a speeder and it responds to your commands. The location of the Jedi Temple has been given to you, so it is not difficult to find. The journey, as mentioned, takes about twenty minutes.
You find...not quite a ruin. The Jedi Temple, according to what you know of the recent past, was badly damaged in the waning days of the Clone Wars. Many Jedi met their end at the hands of traitorous clones and the legendary Sith Lord Darth Vader. When the Empire held sway here, the Temple was simply closed off and left to fester. Once the Rebellion was victorious and formed the New Republic, the exterior had seen some repair, but not many incursions had been made inside. According to Republic officials, the Jedi were a religious group, and they did not want to intrude on their holy ground, a stance that has been criticized by some as a political move attempting to distance the Republic from the Jedi.
You can easily tell, however, that this was once a marvelous structure indeed. The entrance, open atop a set of what was surely once pristine marble stairs, beckons you.
What do you do?
Thel remains quiet for the trip to the temple though his demeanor is much less dour. Upon arriving at the temple he looks in awe at the ruins. After snapping himself out of his awe inspired trance, Thel gets out his special datapad and tunes it in to the frequency used by the previous stormtrooper extremists they faced....just in case. (With the audio going straight to his comlink headset.)
Kon spends much of the trip listening to whatever conversations go on. He rarely contributes, just... soaks up the dialog between people.
~~~~~~~~~~
When the speeder arrives at the temple, Kon disembarks, but stops after taking two steps. Then he kneels down and places one large hand on the ground. After a few seconds like that, he stands and turns back to his associates.
"Since I can't take in the air, I need a more tactile way to get a feel for a new place," he says. "I feel some sadness that such a beautiful structure has lain abandoned."
Temil remains silent for the most part of the journey, as he reclines in a chair, focused on absorbing as much of the intergalactic news as he possibly can. His only movements are the stopping to get food, and the occasional hum. Only when the topic of a blaster is brought up, he raises an eyebrow away from his datapad. "It depends, however. If he is uncomfortable with using a blaster, it might be wise to leave him without an obvious weapon. After all, nobody would shoot at those unarmed, when there's actual enemies attacking them.", he reasons. "But it is up to you, Thel."
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As the speeder flies past the towering buildings of Coruscant, Temil's eyes are drawn to the magnificent views of the city-planet below him, the rivers of speeders, coursing between islands of municipal buildings and archipelagos of warehouses and landing pads. "It truly is the centre of the galaxy, isn't it.", he mutters to himself.
-------------------------------------
Disembarking the speeder, the young padawan's eyes are drawn to the temple, as he attempts to reconcile what he's seen on old datapads with the scene in front of him. A sad sigh leaves his mouth, as he nods at Kon Laan. "It's not just the structure, my friend. It's also those who lived within it, and the teachings they had.", he says as he slowly begins making his way up the stairs. "The spiritual ancestor of our Jedi temple, a relic of a bygone era.", he smiles as he ascends the marble stairs towards the entrance.
"You can't always rely on your enemy's choice of targets, or on always being totally covered. Sometimes you're the only one standing between yourself and death," Joran comments matter-of-factly. "Hopefully he doesn't have to learn that the hard way." He goes quiet, instead turning to watch the sights of the city fly by as the speeder moves, losing himself in it for a time.
---------------------------
Upon arrival, Joran allows himself only a moment to take in the temple architecture in all its faded splendor. Seen it once or twice from far away. Never thought I'd see it up close like this.
Joran hops over the side of the speeder, landing lightly beside it. He readies his rifle, then proceeds forward with the rest of the group. "Don't get too caught up in sightseeing just yet, or we might end up relics of a bygone era too." He smirks. "I don't know about you, but I'm not quite ready to be a relic just yet."
Irina shoulders her supplies and passes a hand over her belt to make sure its there and stocked. Pulling her blaster the noble looks at Thel, Stay behind Joran. If he moves up to a fight find cover and out of trouble. But if it comes to it, better to fight and have a chance to live than run and die.
Irina gestures to the Jedi, Seem like it worked best last time to send you ahead...
Draylin nods at Irina, face tight. This place...it was giving him all sorts of mixed feelings. Here was the history of the Jedi...but such terrible things had happened here.
"Thel, get the layout of this place on your datapad. We'll probably be looking for archives or vaults or something of that nature. You find us a way and I'll lead us there with Temil. Kon, be on the lookout...I've got a bad feeling about this."
Draylin unclipped his lightsaber from his belt, wanting to be ready in case they faced any foes inside, then made his way into the temple.
" Yeah...Okay...,"" Thel say with melancholy as he begin tapping speedily on his unique datapad.
Ean remains tense as they approach the temple. In the holovids of his youth, the temples were the locations for terrible acts of depravity and betrayal. He had come to understand that some of the stories of the Jedi Uprising were exaggerated, but he still saw the temples as places of terror. He keeps his blaster in hand and a sharp eye out.
Thel, after spending a bit of time, you are actually able to dig up archived blueprints to the Jedi Temple, kept in some old server from the Republic era that is somehow still functioning. There was quite obviously once a large archive, that held untold amounts of information as well as housed objects of import to the Jedi Order. That seems like the most likely place to begin your search.
Kon glances up at the crumbling stone roof, then along the beams. He seems to be examining it not just for security reasons, but with an eye toward the art of the place - how it was built, why, to attract the mind and draw the viewer to certain directions...
He moves slowly into the old temple, cautious, yet at ease.
"So much wisdom in these old places... but also so much bloodshed. Always the balance swinging one way or the other."
With some more fidgeting on his datapad a real-time map appears on the other's datapads. Everyone's position is also notated on this map as well as an obvious objective locator. Thel then speaks up, "I found a starting spot. That room was the main archive or storage room in the temple."
Irina nods after the technician, Well gentleman? Shall we?
Joran nods as well. "All right, we've got a destination. Let's get moving."
Your walk to the archive room is uneventful but, in many ways, profoundly disturbing. There is little light, though some of the daylight filters through windows still open to the outside. Though thick layers of dust are layered all about the building, they do little to hide the telltale carbon scoring from blasters or the cuts in stone and metal that you know could only have been caused by a lightsaber. As much as any place, this is the grave of the old Jedi Order.
Eventually you come to an open door leading into a large archive. Going through it, you find what once have truly been a magnificent archive. Enormous shelves hold enormous amounts of datapads and other information devices. In the center of the room is a large circular device, one similar to devices you may have seen that created holos of tactical maps or other visuals. Nothing in this room, however, seems powered; clearly nothing has been activated in this room in a long time.
Thel looks a bit relieved through his general downcast demeanor. He begins systematically going to each section powering, reading, and observing the organizational system.
Thel, you are able to power up the systems. Strangely, it seems like despite this vast amount of storage capacity, it seems like all of the archival information was purged. It might be possible to find something, though...skilled as you are with computers, you know how difficult it is to truly delete something forever.
Draylin looks around the room, suppressing a sigh. This place was downright depressing, and they didn't even really know what they were looking for here. Still, Draylin knew that it was important, so he set his mind to the task.
He wasn't skilled with Computers or Mechanics, so he closed his eyes, concentrating on his connection to the Force, and attempting to see if he could sense anything about the area.
It's difficult, Draylin; once you open yourself up to the Force, you can feel the lingering echoes of the violence that was wrought here. More tellingly, however...you can sense the power of the Dark Side. Here, deep in the recesses of the Jedi Temple, that strikes you as profoundly wrong.
You feel a pull in a certain direction, and make your way to the back of the room. You are in a small alcove, but it seems to your eyes to be just a bare wall.
As the others stare in mixed horror and wonder, Ean takes a militant approach. What happened here? Blaster bolts deflected into walls. Clone trooper boots, not so different from storm troopers. Other boots of softer, more comfortable leather. But the invaders had a mission beyond killing Jedi. They were here not just to destroy the living Jedi, but to eradicate their past, their history, their collected knowledge. They would have had hard targets beyond the people. What was most important? Where did only the select few go, the ones with "special orders?" That is what we are looking for.
Kon hrrms for a second - audible even through his breather mask - then he starts slowly working his way across the shelves, looking at the data tapes and journals and other discarded bits of knowledge. He pauses every now and again to pick one up and glance at it, as if perusing the titles, though he seems to also be looking for something else.
Eventually it's clear that he's trying to establish some rough timeline - which things were left long ago, what might've been recently disturbed; what might have been picked up haphazardly by the unwelcome guests, giving some insight into which parts of the room they were working in.
Temil's hand pats his chin. Thel's information that the data was purged makes the young Jedi smile. "While there is no data of where things are, libraries and archives do tend to follow certain guidelines... And storing techniques.", he mutters to himself as he runs a finger on the wall, and grabs a datapad. "If that is here, relating to this...", he mutters to himself, before starting to move around the shelves, occasionally picking up a datapad.
"A-ha! I was right!", a triumphant, joyous cry echoes from deeper within the Archives.
Joran scratches his head, puzzling over what step to take next. Eventually he decides to take a look at terminals or other objects that appear to have been damaged years ago. If one can be coerced into working for even a short while, they might be able to access information He pries the panel off one, coughing as dust flies off it. "Ugh, this might be way above my pay grade. Never taught us how to fix something this complex, a speeder sure, but not this. Where do I even start..." His grumbling trails off as he begins poking around its inner workings, hoping to make some sense of what he's seeing.
@All-
Joran and Kon, your rolls this go around were not successful. Everyone else was. Irina, roll when you can.
Temil and Thel, between the two of you, you are able to power up the system, and pull up some of the information. After a bit of digging, you notice that there should be a section of the archive called the 'Restricted Section'. However, you cannot see it on the blueprints for the Jedi Temple.
Draylin, you know that the complex goes deeper from the wall that you stand in front of. You can feel it.
Ean, your study of the flow of the battle leads you to the same place that Draylin stands. There was definitely a scorched earth policy in effect here, though the signs of battle in the Archive are not the same; it seems as though some of the fighting in the Archives took place at a much later date than the battle of the Jedi Temple. That later fighting leads to the same alcove that Draylin stands in.
What do you all do?
Thel continues at the terminal seeming to be getting more enthusiastic, a smile beginning to creep onto his face. He is attempting to gather more information about the archive.
Irina watches the others investigate the scene, noticing that Draylin and Ean seem fixated on a specific location Irina pokes around to see if anything jumps out at her...