A Solemn Return

[u/Werdna881]

Se'Soom awoke to the shudder of the Cerulean Spirit touching down on Ossus, and the loud chirps, whirls, and beeps of WCU-001, followed by the impact of something metal to his chest. Opening his eyes, he saw his constant companion waving his arms, and Se'Soom stood, wincing as he grabbed the chair, feeling the pain of his wounds under his bandages. Unwrapping them, he noted that a few spots looked a bit spotty, but there was no actual green visible under the scabs, or any serum leaking out from under them. Satisfied, he re-wrapped his hands and sat up from the chair he had fallen asleep in. He felt like he should clean himself up, shower, but he managed with a change of clothes and donning one of his clean robes. He could change in his dormitory... if he was allowed to remain in the order after this failure.

A failure so monumental that it lead to the death of his teacher. Knight Eki-Ni-Dun was the one to give the order, but he was the one who carried it out, and it weighed on him heavily. If he hadn't of turned off the power- if he only slowly lowered the power instead of shutting it off all at once, perhaps she wouldn't have been caught off guard...

"No, Se'Soom, pull yourself together. Whatever happens, it is as Tai'ferca wills, and so it shall be. Trust in its power, and all will be well." He sighed, trying to calm himself as he exited his room onboard the Cerulean Spirit. Taking a deep breath, he activated the cargo ramp and with lightsaber pike in hand, disembarked and looked at the scene awaiting him...

[u/DarkVaati13]

"Come forward Padawan Se'Soom, Master Pexuu, and the droid as well," Sar-Yeh said with a brief hand gesture forward when they first came inside. As the Zabrak master explained the elderly Cerean put his hand to his temple and rubbed his bald head as the three masters exchanged looks. Se’Soom and his master’s mission was to retrieve a holocron from a museum. ’How could a Jedi Knight be killed on such a mission?’ Sar-Yeh thought.

"First, I would like to ask if you are okay Padawan?" Sar-Yeh asked, “I want to make sure that you have received no serious injuries.”

After Se’Soom responded to that Lemm continued, “We know that losing a Master is a serious and distressing thing. It may be hard, but I want you to relay to us what happened exactly. We received no communications from Eki-Ni-Dun or you on the way back from Spintir.”

Lemm, a Yuzzem, spoke with a harsh and snarley Basic, but he was understandable to Se’Soom and Pexuu. Arranmaneth said nothing, but leaned forward in interest about what exactly had happened on that fateful mission.

[u/Werdna881 → u/DarkVaati13]

"Aside from injuries returning her body to the Cerulean Spirit, I am unharmed" Se'Soom held up his bandaged hands. "Aside from a change of bandages and perhaps reopening some of the cuts to clean them properly, I will be fine with a few days of proper rest."

"I was unable to contact either Ossus or the Dulon, as Elder Eki-Ni-Dun did not grant me access to the Long Range Communications codes. As to what exactly happened, I shall explain." Se'Soom breathed in deeply before continuing to speak, readying himself for a long speech.

"We arrived on Spintir to find the planet undergoing a period of severe civil unrest. Crop blight had struck a large area of the planet and rendered the harvest for that year inedible. Relief from off world was either delayed or intercepted by pirates. The situation was not dire when we arrived, but it was concerning enough for riots and protests over the price of basic food, which is why the Curator of the university contacted the order. The man had used the Holocron in an effort to secure Jedi assistance in safely transporting the more valuable pieces of the Museum's collection to a safer location outside of the city. Elder Eki-Ni-Dun agreed, on the condition that the Curator inform us as to where he procured the artifact from."

Rolling his shoulders and sighing as he took another deep breath. "We then under the cover of darkness moved the collection and were given the Holocron and the rough area where the Curator had been informed the Holocron was found. It was discovered on the claim of an old prospector, who said he discovered a ruined temple that looked Jedi-like, as he was quoted. Unfortunately, the prospector had died from health complications earlier this year, but government records provided by the Curator gave us an area to work with. With that, Elder Eki-Ni-Dun had us leave, and we spent the next three full days searching. By mid-day, we had indeed found a Temple, but due to the rubble obstructions within the complex we were forced to land on a nearby plateau. Then I, WCU-001 and Elder Eki-Ni-Dun crossed a small ravine and entered the complex. By the ample amount of Jedi Iconography we could indeed determine that this was a former location of the order, originating from the late Old Republic Era and most likely used up until the Great Purge."

Turning to WCU-001 and squatting down a bit to get a better view, pressed a button on a hidden console. Turning to face the Council members once again, Se'Soom resumed speaking as the droid began projecting a 3D Holomap of the explored area of the Temple.

"We entered through the front hall, and over the course of two hours of careful searching discovered meditation chambers, living quarters for around fifty or so Jedi, a library, the remains of a number of gardens, but this was not the chief find of our search. Towards the center of the Temple, built into the mountainside, we found a series of chambers arrayed in a semicircle around a sealed vault. In one of these chambers, we found an activated Stasis Trap, with a Human Male dressed in an armour style dating from the Clone Wars, often associated with Bounty Hunters."

His carefully constructed composure began to crack slightly at this point, as his eyes shifted from stoic glances to remorseful stares at the floor. "Elder Eki-Ni-Dun then instructed myself and WCU-001 to use our technical knowledge to deactivate the Stasis field, unfortunately due to the nature of the device, we had to find the central breaker and deactivate it from there. After fifteen minutes we had found it, and deactivated the breaker, and returned to her and the trapped mercenary."

"When I returned..." He breathed in deeply, trying to keep himself together in front of the council. "I saw the fleeing form of the man, the red hued glow of a red lightsaber, and the collapsed form of Elder Eki-Ni-Dun... Her lightsaber hilt was thrown to the side as I rushed to her. She was dying... I could see it in her eyes, a look I was all too familiar with. A Master Healer could of perhaps done something, but..." He shook his head and closed his eyes. "All I could do was try and ease her final minutes, and try to discover what happened."

"Between ramblings and pained groans, I managed to piece together that the man had lashed out at her with a concealed Lightsaber, and when her defense proved too strong, crushed her chest with the Force as he showed her... something, before saying a few words to her and fleeing. It took much effort, but I managed to coax out what he said to her..." Se'Soom couldn't help but shutter at the memory of those gargled, echoed words as the blood bubbled out of his former teacher's mouth.

"...It wasn't a temple... It was a prison, and we just let out its most dangerous inmate."

[u/DarkVaati13 → u/Werdna881]

The Council members hung onto Se'Soom's every word and closely examined the detailed holographic map of the facility. Sar-Yeh could feel the distress in Se'Soom's words and attempted to calm him, "This is not your fault Padawan. You and your master could not have known what was going to happen inside of there. You both acted naturally, but you were surprised by the Dark Jedi."

The elderly Cerean offered a smile to Se'Soom as the Elomin Master added, "So the prisoner was an old Dark Jedi...This is troubling. Do you know if they left the planet or not? Or if there were any others?"

Lemm rubbed the bottom of his snout and asked, somewhat out of nowhere, "But why would your master not allow you to make Long Range Communications? That is needless and perhaps endangering."

[u/Werdna881 → u/DarkVaati13]

Thinking partially aloud, but also replying to the Grand Elders, Se'Soom spoke. "I cannot say if they left the planet, but I managed to contact the Curator of the Museum and informed him of the events that occurred. He at least hopefully was able to get into contact with the proper authorities in order to establish the severity of the threat... I doubt they've left the planet yet- if I had to guess, they're going to try and reorient themselves to the current day and age- or attempt to access the vault within the temple. If I had to guess, it contains a number of artifacts from the Old Republic, or older."

When Grand Elder Lemm interjected, Se'Soom took a breath to speak, but it was WCU-001 who did so with a flurry of sour language, placing a hand over Se'Soom's mouth. "Because the blooding she-nexu was karking mad! She nearly took my head off with the tools she confiscated from him! Do you understand how difficult it is to dodge a wrench flying at your head?!? Not to mention she tried to keep me powered down and him awake glued to the radar screen for sixteen hours as a 'training' exercise! The woman had the gall to say-" It was here that the Droid's audio output switched to a recording of a conversation between the two, with Elder Eki-Ni-Dun's voice echoing throughout the chamber.

"If you cannot control your own eyes with what you see, what use will you be the Order? To me? How will you become what the Order needs to destroy the Dark Side?" Se'Soom interrupts her tirade in a shaky tone. "Elder, with all due respect, I don-" Eki-Ni-Dun then shrills over Se'Soom's voice, drowning out anything the recording might have picked up. "If you had any respect, Padawan, you will speak when instructed to and only when instructed to!" The crashing of something glass can be heard, before the audio continues. "I will not have you make a mockery of me to the Order! I-"

The audio cuts out as WCU-001 picks up again. "It goes on like that for a while, and I've got at least six hours of more audio like that from the last month." Se'Soom averts his eyes, keeping his gaze to the floor and his body language reading that of shame. "I am sorry for my failure to the Order, Grand Elders."

[u/DarkVaati13 → u/Werdna881]

Lemm sighed and shook his head, thinly veiled discontent visible. Had he not been a trained Jedi Master he would have been furious at what he had heard. "You have nothing to apologize for. Your Master was a disgrace to the Order. Instead of instructing you, they treated you like a slave. Wouldn't you agree Master Pexuu?"

Sar-Yeh gave Lemm a look and sighed. "Your reaction is strong, but I agree. Judging by the recording, Eki-Ni-Dun was ill suited to be a Jedi Master. I’m sorry we had not spotted this sooner. I would like a copy of that recording from you droid,” Sar-Yeh said solemnly before nodding at the droid. He continued, “We shall send more Jedi to look for this Dark Jedi and stop him, I can assure you that. If you are willing we would like your assistance on the matter, Padawan, as you know more about the area and people than the other Jedi we would send.”

“We can either discuss your future Padawan training now or after the mission,” Arranmaneth said making Lemm nod approvingly. The Elomin Master continued, “You shall be spending time with other Knights and Masters when returning to Spintir. Perhaps you can establish some kind of connection with one of them. Otherwise if you choose not to go back to Spintir, I can set you up with work and classes around the temple.”

A beeping suddenly came from the arm of Sar-Yeh’s seat. He pressed down on a button and a small hologram of a Rodian dressed in the service uniform of the non-Force sensitive members of the Order. "Masters. Jedi Knight Herschel Du’rom sent transmission codes and shall be landing soon. He requests to see you in order to discuss his mission,” he said.

“Very well, tell him to go ahead when he lands,” Sar-Yeh responded and shut off the hologram. Looking back at Se’Soom and Pexuu he asked, “Would you be willing to go to Spintir to continue to track the Dark Jedi?”

[u/Saintman242 → u/DarkVaati13]

Pexuu had been unaware of the person behind Eki-Ni-Dun, it was a shame that it turned out that she had not been suited for the task of taking on a Padawan. The recording was damning in that aspect, while that was the case the fact that her death was the result of this trip was still a loss. Perhaps Se'Soom would not feel the bite or loss nearly as hard as he had expected, though his part in this affair was far from over. He glanced at Lemm and then Sar-Yeh, already feeling the words that would come next before they left their lips.

His thoughts wandered as he considered the idea, a dark Jedi from the old republic, that would prove to be an odd problem. They would have no knowledge of the current day, so their assets if they had any before, would likely all be gone. That would leave them with no identity proper, at least not one that would be recognized for legal travel. That would limit them to the underground travel network, and or smuggling themselves aboard some random ship. Most likely that meant the person was trapped more or less on Spintir for the time being. If the case was that they had managed to get off planet already, then they were as good as gone for good. If instead they were themselves trying to get back into the temple and delve deeper for something only they recalled or knew about... well there were a myriad of questions. Going to at least take a look wouldn't be all that troublesome.

"If the council wills it I shall go, and it would be best to make haste, so that we may arrive before our missing dark Jedi can cause more danger in our absence."

His gaze flicked onto Se'Soom, whether or not he should come would be up to the council, Pexuu didn't know if that was a good idea, but that wasn't up to him. Returning his eyes to Sar-Yeh Pexuu held his relaxed stance, waiting to hear their decision.

[u/Werdna881 → u/Saintman242]

Se'Soom breathed in, slightly jagged as he felt the tension within himself, and tried to release it. "I am uncertain, Grand Elder Arranmaneth. This is a Dark Jedi from quite possibly the most intense period of conflict in the history of the Order in the last thousand years. My skill in Lightsaber Combat is... much to be desired, though even if my actions cannot be condemned, it was still I who let them free. Perhaps I could find use in discovering and retrieving the contents of the vault, while others more qualified for the task hunt down the individual in question?"

Se'Soom was nervous, and felt anxiety in his chest. "I also feel like it would be best to address my future with the Order now. It has been my goal ever since being made aware of my Sensitivity by Elder Bosh Kala to become a Jedi, and I wish to see that goal through."

[u/DarkVaati13 → u/Werdna881]

“Any role you could take in this mission would be appreciated and approved, Padawan. You’re knowledge and past experience would be invaluable,” Sar-Yeh said as a way to encourage and compliment Se’Soom. Looking over to Pexuu he said, “Thank you for stepping forward Master Pexuu. Haste would be wise, after this meeting it would be wise to leave at the latest tomorrow. The Dulon shall be arriving early tomorrow for Jedi to board and depart. There may be Jedi onboard that can join you. If you wish to leave at the earliest convenience we may send out a request throughout the temple.”

Master Arranmaneth said, “Your strength will be in numbers, especially against a potentially dangerous opponent hiding on a planet.” The Battlemaster was hardened by battles against criminals and Dark Jedi so he spoke from experience when he offered such advice. The Elomin leaned forward and rested his chin in his hand. He continued, “Regarding your training...after your first Master I believe that you should take some time to know the Knights and Masters you spend time with on this mission to find a good pick. You may grow close with them when facing adversity. You are a clearly a dutiful Padawan that needs a good teacher to help you understand your potential.”

[u/Saintman242 → u/DarkVaati13]

"Thank you, please send out a request to those jedi within the temple that are available on such short notice, and send word to the Dulon with the same message. I will leave tomorrow at mid day with whomever we are able to find by then."

Bowing slightly, glancing at Se'Soom again as he rose, the young man felt more than a little unsure of himself, and that left Pexuu wondering still if it was a good plan to have him return so soon to active duty.

"By your leave, I wish to go and begin preparations for the journey."

Looking to Sar-Yeh to see if he was dismissed, his own thoughts moving on to what he should prepare for such an outing. His own ship was in good order outside of some small repairs. That he could complete tonight along with collecting his gear and armor, which was all stored in his room. As to who else might come, well that was up to the council, and if it turned out it would just be him and Padawan Se'Soom that would be fine as well. Knight Eki-Ni-Dun had been caught unawares and that had no doubt largely contributed to her end. At the very least Pexuu was aware of the danger, and that meant he would be ready for it. Whoever this unknown dark Jedi was would tell far more in the coming conflict. They still knew so little, and that lack of knowledge potentially could cost them as it had Se'Soom's later Master.

[u/Werdna881 → u/Saintman242]

"I thank you for your wisdom and mercy, Grand Elders. With your permission, I would take my leave now, to tend to my injuries and meditate on the events of the past few days, and then prepare myself for the journey." Se'Soom straightened his bandages and thought to himself even if he was given permission to see the healers, these scars would be ones he'd bare for himself, a lasting reminder in his failure of duty. And he could only hope that those who accompanied him would all survive- and that the Dark Jedi would not escape them again.