New Alderaan's Open Orbit

4156 BBY...

It was a slow day in the space above Alderaan.  Not a lot of traffic coming to or from the planet in any sense of the word "lot"; at most, two transports full of refugees from Onderon, where the "Beast Wars" (as the HoloNet had taken to calling them) started to really heat up once again.  The conflict had been going for over three centuries now, and refugees were still a common sight.  So common, in fact, that Alderaanian traffic controllers almost didn't take notice anymore.

But they were about to.

An arc of lightning flashed across space, with a sensory reading coinciding with it to prove without a doubt that it was not a trick of the eyes or faulty satellite equipment.  Another arc flashed, and then another, and before long several were appearing at once, all of them growing shorter in length and coming closer together, firing at far greater frequencies.  A bright sphere formed, blinding in its brilliance, shooting bolts of electricity left and right before finally racing towards the planet at breakneck speed without taking any time to accelerate.  It did, however, decelerate, quickly losing speed until it finally became no faster than any ship traveling at a cruising sublight speed.  The bright white sphere dissipated then, peeling away and fizzling out to reveal a ship that nobody on Alderaan had ever seen before.  On the face of it, the mystery vessel looked vaguely Corellian.  But it had three massive guns on three sides, and a strange, copper-colored vent on the underside.  Further, it had metal ribs lining the fuselage that certainly weren't part of the stock design.

The people on the ground were just about ready to scramble the fighters when it hailed them.  With no small amount of hesitation, they picked up.

Uh...hello.  This is Alderaan Air Control, who are you?

A voice answered back almost immediately.

"Hello!  I'm Professor Jecib Milnik, I'm supposed to meet with the university administrator today?"

The records were checked.  Sure enough, there was a ship scheduled to be in from Mon Calamari carrying one Jecib Milnik.  But that had been two days ago.

Professor Milnik, you're late.  Dac confirmed you had departed as scheduled not long ago, what happened?

A pause, followed by a chuckle.

"Oh, just a slight hiccup with the relativity shield. All is well."

And as the ship was given clearance to land at the University of Alderaan, Professor Milnik switched on the autopilot, closed his large red eyes, took a deep breath, and smiled.

All, at last, was well.

This post is a part of the Shard of Alderaan closed RP.

Space flickered a moment before a flash of light signalled the arrival of the small shuttle that transported a pair of Sith Lords in disguise. Alderaan was little more than an asteroid field now, shattered by the power of the Death Star some years prior, and the field still whispered with the screams of the billions that had been killed along with the planet. Here and there, a few ships could be seen jetting through the planet's remains for various reasons - some making the pilgrimage some Alderaanians sought to their homeworld, others acting as a safeguard against piracy or other desecrators of the planet's ghost.

Still others were mining vessels, having arranged a deal with the protectors of the planet to mine some of the precious metals and other valuables turned up in the remnants of the planet's crust, and it was to one of those mines that the shuttle was bound.

At the controls of the shuttle sat Darth Archais, changed from his usual attire to a simple combat jumpsuit that could easily serve as casualwear. His follower Kruor was also aboard the ship, and Archais had instructed him to see to his disguise. The call had come forth several standard days prior that some manner of distress call had come from one of the deeper mines, and that the foremen had thought the situation dire enough to warrant Jedi investigation. Their intelligence network had plucked the call first, though, and despite the lack of clarity on just what the situation was, Archais had felt an inescapable pull to the system. Now, they were to pose as those investigating Jedi.


There was a ping at the console, and Archais keyed the mic to respond.

"Alderaan Remnant mining outpost DX-1040, this is the Starbird, transport of Jedi Master Shedrak Garl and Jedi apprentice Dural. We have arrived at the orders of the Council to respond to your distress call."

There was a burst of static, but after a moment the signal cleared and a voice came through in response.

Ah, yes, thank you for your timely arrival. I don't have much I can say regarding the distress signal but from what I hear it's a strange situation at the least. We are having some difficulty verifying your signal, Starbird, any ideas why?

"Are you surprised, with all this debris? Probably just signal interference, we'll gladly provide our credentials in person."

Roger that, Starbird. Sending docking coordinates now. DX-1040 out.

Responding to the pinged coordinates, Archais piloted the shuttle to the assigned docking berth and set the ship to cooldown. He toggled a few settings to keep the ship prepped for a cold-fire getaway should the need arise, but felt confident such wouldn't be necessary.

At last, he rose from his seat and turned to face Kruor as he shouldered his bag and hung his lightsaber at his hip.

"Well then, Master Garl, shall we see to the commotion?"

This post is a part of the Shard of Alderaan closed RP.

For the entirety of the landing process, Kruor had been busy readying his disguise. In the long stretch of inactivity he'd suffered, the Kissai had almost forgotten that the appearance of a near-Pureblood Sith would be... problematic, to say the least. By the time the "Starbird" had landed, the Sith had donned an elaborate, if not restricting, facial apparatus that successfully emulated the appearance of a Kel'Dor's antiox breath mask. In place of his traditional black garb, this disguise called for the thick, brown robes of a respected Jedi Master. The disguised Sith was busy clipping a lightsaber to the underside of his robes when his master - for the moment, his apprentice - turned to face him.

"Well then, Master Garl, shall we see to the commotion?"

Kruor opened his mouth to reply before realizing that the faux breath mask was more restrictive than he or his master had anticipated. Unable to move his lips sufficiently, what emerged from the Sith's mouth was little more than a muffled grunt. With a sigh, the Kissai bowed his head, donned a pair of flight goggles, and raised the brown wool hood to cover his bare head.

Next time, I'm a Mandalorian.

Kruor moved to disengage the blast doors to the ship and disembark before being interrupted by a chirping on the center console. Static crackled for a moment before giving way to an unfamiliar voice:

This is Jedi Knight Altus Dux. Need a hand, friends?

Kruor turned his head to his master while his fist reflexively clenched at his side.

Alt was enthused at the fact that he was greeted so readily by the Jedi. It pointed to the fact that they were probably not going to be too annoyed of a Jedi showing up. The apprentice's short demand made him smile. He remembered when he was headstrong, thinking he could conquer the galaxy as a padawan. Ah, many years had passed since then and Altus felt like he was aging faster than one should. He snapped out of his reverie and R5 chirped an affirmative as they headed down towards the remains of the former planet. The location showed up on his map and he easily guided the craft towards its landing. The landing gear hissed out and he touched down without a hitch. He got out of the hatch of the X-Wing as there were ladders pushed towards him. He waved them off before jumping out of the cockpit and gracefully landing like a cat on the ground. Okay, so sometimes he liked to show off. It helped the whole Jedi routine. He fixed the lightsabers fixed to his belt as well as the lightwhip hanging there. Remnants of his past. Striding towards the two figures nearby, he hailed them with the wave of his hand.


"You must be Dural and his master. I am Jedi Knight Altus Dux." He bowed respectfully before he noticed the man heading in their direction. He was a portly grizzled human with a face that seemed stretched because of his size. The large administrator wiped his face with a cloth before clearing his throat.

"You must be the Jedi. Good, good. Finally having someone here to help clean up this mess is a relief. The last few weeks have been hell. Miners have been reported missing and at an increasing rate. We don't know what's going on down there but every rescue team we've attempted hasn't returned. There's noises deep in the mines and my men don't want to mine anymore. There's even reports of movement and people but every contact we've tried hasn't been replied to. We could use you on this one."

Altus watched the sweaty Administrator with some concern. "That is definitely a cause for worry, Administrator. Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this in no time. Trust the Force on this one." He smiled and the fat male seemed to be appeased by his statement. That's when he heard the strange inhuman howling coming from outside the hangar. The administator stiffened and Altus' lightsaber jumped to his hand. It ignited in a snap-hiss of silver and white hues. Something was out there and Altus was going to find out just what.

Archais listened as Dux introduced himself, then quickly lit his lightsaber. For a moment he had to fight inwardly to keep his alarm from leaking into the ambient pulse of the room, but his fear at the Jedi having so quickly found them out was ill-founded as it seemed to instead be a show of bravado and gusto. He settled into an easy smile and answered Kruor's gesture with a slight bow to the group before speaking.

"A pleasure, Knight Dux. This is Jedi Master Shedrak Garl, and I am his apprentice Dural. Pardon his gruffness - his style of teaching can seem rude outwardly, be he prefers to let his apprentice be the point of contact for others that I might learn what he refers to as 'proper diplomacy.'"

He listened too as the administrator explained the situation, carefully noting the measure of controlled fear that seeped from the man like an odor. He wasn't letting on everything he knew, that much was certain, though it was difficult to ascertain what that missing fact could be. A mine like this would house hundreds, or possibly a thousand, workers, and deaths in such a poorly-controlled environment were hardly worth a distress signal. Still, disappearances would make others uneasy, he supposed.

Archais nodded in time with Kruor, giving the impression the two were in concord, and spoke again as the faux master gestured deeper into the mine.

"Your trust is wise, Altus. You seem to be the best-versed in combat of the three of us - if you would, please, lead on."

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An hour later, the trio of Force-users had entered the mine proper. Gone were the lights and the barely-scrubbed breaths of air. Here, an occasional crack was heard in the distance as rock shifted, but otherwise the mine was deathly silent. Archais kept his senses sharp, his gaze darting around every corner as the group progressed.

After some time, he spotted a figure lying prone on the rough ground of the shaft, and summoned the other two to the body. Already he could feel in the Force that the fellow was dead, and upon grabbing his shoulder to flip him over he had to bite down on a reflexive wave of revulsion.

Gone were the being's eyes, cheeks, and lips. No visible energy-based damage, so this had done either by weapon or by hand, and given the ragged edges of flesh, he had to assume the latter. His face was covered in blood, and a quick look down at the gaping hole where his throat had been confirmed the cause of death. Whether it had happened prior to the fellow having his face ravaged was a matter of speculation, however.

The man's blood had pooled in the dirt, and based on the relative viscosity the attack had occurred scarcely twelve hours earlier - long enough for it to start drying, but a quick finger-tap on the ground brought a thin film of red and brown with it. Still liquid, no longer warm. A trail led into an adjoining shaft, a red smear that indicated either that he had dragged himself from that direction or that whomever - or whatever - had done this had left that way. He cast his gaze to Dux and Kruor, and for Dux's benefit, put on an air of mental anguish.

"I...I don't know what to make of this, but the trail leads into the next shaft. What do you make of this?"

Archais snapped his head to the right as the three mutiliated beings shambled towards them. They were grotesque in appearance - clearly human, but bearing injuries that would be debilitating to a normal, rational sentient. The three were covered in blood, the first moreso as Dux's lightsaber flashed through a bicep and removed the arm from the shoulder down. It growled and continued the fight undaunted, but his focus was shaken as the remaining two parted from their compatriot and started toward he and Kruor.

He knew he couldn't use his lightsaber, as its red blade would only arouse inconvenient questions from Dux. Instead, he drew his hip-holstered DL-44 with his left hand and fired a pair of bolts for the eyes of the trailing being, at least blinding it as it spun away with an inhuman shriek. The former, though, was nearly upon him, throwing a vicious slash with its clawed fingers with a scream to match its wounded partner. Archais let his hidden knife fall into his right hand in a reverse grip, swiping up and to the left to remove the offending hand and reversing the stroke to plunge the knife into the creature's throat. He released it, spinning past the monster's follow-up strike with its remaining hand, then continued his circle to bring him behind it. His same hand reached for the knife as he came back around, using Force-amplified strength to simply rip it out of the monster's neck and through half the creature's neck as the blade came free with a spray of gore, neatly beheading it and sending the body collapsing to the floor as his completed circle left him facing the blinded one with his blaster raised.

Five short blasts felled the raging monster with a surgeon's bolts to the throat, chest, two to the head, and a final one to the mouth to send the corpse flying backward and ensuring none of the foul liquid that came from its wounds sprayed toward the party.

He holstered the blaster neatly and tucked the knife back into his sleeve, before realizing with a start that he'd reflexively fallen into his training as an assassin and out of the expected prowess of a Jedi apprentice, who most likely wouldn't be trained in knife combat or precision small-arms fire. He turned to the group with a sheepish grin as he indicated they should move in the direction the creatures had come from.

"Master always says I need to work on my diplomacy, heh."