Strange happenings in the underground, sabotage in the Ducleron System and illegal trade in archeological artifacts as the Jedi face a new foe.

(( while not having much to offer the mission at hand, save maybe first aid, scarlet is available to attend and would volunteer if asked ))

Kial had suspected something was going on in the Ducleron System a little while ago. The testimony provided by Ellevyn'tarra had confirmed her suspicion something was going on, though Kial didn't know what exactly.

Having been involved in both missions in the Ducleron System and suspecting some very dangerous equipment having gone missing from a mining operation in the system. Kial signed up the moment she took notice of the mission.

She had been planning to ask for permission to investigate the matter. But the mission had popped up before she had the chance to.

Even though Mira had no idea what she signed up for, she did it anyway. She has been settling in the temple for a while now and felt this to be the best way to give her training a real boost.

Also, making the galaxy a safer place sounds nice too.

Once rumors of a possible excursion into the greater galaxy had reached her in her training, Scarlet jumped at the chance to step out of the temple grounds. The fact that it would be both helping those in need and putting some of the lessons she had learned into practice, made the deal particularly appealing in her mind.

(( Heh, just realized if I was trying to get on this, I had to make an actual post attempting to join in ))

As Denari had been helping the Union Archeologists study materials recovered from under the temple and Piraus-3, she knew a thing or two about archeological artifacts. Since that knowledge could come in handy during this mission, Denari volunteered.

With four Padawans ready to go, Master Crular gathered everyone in one of the temple chambers.

"We have some new faces here for this mission" he noted, giving a nod to Mira and Scarlet in welcome "So perhaps it is good that I summarize some of the things that have been going on."

"As you may already know, the Ducleron system is located not far from Unity, and is an important mining area. Recently, the system has been suffering from various accidents and acts of sabotage, which the Jedi have helped to resolve. I am sure Padawan Kial can explain about the most recent mission there in a moment."

"More recently, we've discovered an underground trade deal which may have involved a nuclear weapon changing hands. We have a very strong suspicion the weapon may in fact have been a demolition charge from the Ducleron system."

"Aside from the above, we have also been working with some Union Archeologists, to study materials discovered at recent sites of exploration, including beneath the Jedi Temple." he nodded to Denari, who had been involved in that.

"We've been putting out some requests for anyone in the archeological community with knowledge about an ancient Jedi named Master Fellok and his apprentice Master Delskae, who were on some sort of quest visiting different locations related to the Force.

Recently I learned that another party is also following this trail, and has been looking for the same information." he explained "And that this other party has been taking certain... shortcuts."

Before continuing, the Jedi master paused in case any of the Jedi had questions about the summary so far, or wanted to share their own insights.

"Excuse me, Master." Kial said. "Is this other party connected to the incidents in the Ducleron system as well? Or is there some other connection between these two?"

Scarlet considered the masters words for a moment, tapping a fingertip on her bicep. "What could this other party want with force knowledge?"

Her features twisting in equal parts confusion and concern. "Do we have any sort of clues as to who these matters were or what they were looking for?"

At Kial's questing, a curious glance would be posed between matter and get fellow padawan. "There is that to consider as well. The idea these 'shortcuts' portray, could lead to a possible connection between the two events. Someone covering the trail a bit, or even giving us a false one. "

“What kind of shortcuts, Master? Anything we can prepare for?”

Mira looked ad Scarlet: "Why people want force knowledge? Force knowledge is important. Knowledge of force is knowledge of world, of self. Of course people want to look for this."

Regarding the summary, since everything is still pretty new for Mira, she has no questions yet.

"I'm aware of the reason we as jedi desire knowledge of the force." she would reply to Mira. "My question, was more in regards to the common man on the street? Or, perhaps our possible tracking group for these archeologic masters." crossing her arms over her chest. "What would they hope to gain?"

Turning her question towards Master Crular, "Is it even possible for people not having force potential, to even benefit from studying the force?"

"You seem to know a lot about this other party that the rest of us know nothing of, Padawan Vohuk."

Kial interrupted without so much as looking at Scarlet. Turning her head towards the Twi'lek girl, she asked in the most innocent tone: "Care to share how you know these things?"

With a tone that became a little more stern, Kial answered her own question without waiting for Scarlet.

"It is dangerous to make assumptions when going to investigate something. Jedi are not the only Force users. Besides the fact that knowledge is power."

"I'm certain things will be clearer after Master Crular finishes his explanation. The Force will guide us beyond that."

Mira shares Kial's idea that a lot would be cleared up after Master Crular his explanation and patiently waits for him to answer the questions and continue

"It appears whatever party is on the same track has no trouble using the underworld to get what they want." Master Crular explained. "While searching for more information about the journeys of Master Fellok and Master Delskae, I was contacted by Professor Wal'ton, an expert in archeology. Professor Wal'ton explained that he has found a connection between several museum roberies in different parts of the galaxy, in which items related to the time period and to Master Fellok and Delskae in particular, may have been taken."

He smiled "In fact, Professor Wal'ton was at first trying to ascertain if we were this other party, though he was polite enough not to make a direct accusation. I believe I was able to reassure him."

"The museum robberies were performed by different groups - so no direct connections were found by investigative agencies, but Professor Wal'ton was able to make a connection due to the nature of the stolen artefacts. He concluded that it is likely whomever is hunting for the artefacts is paying local crews to rob the museums." Using criminals to acquire artefacts would certainly seem like a shortcut.

"Which leaves your question as to how this may be connected to the Ducleron system." he observed

"Professor Wal'ton mentioned one of the crews trying to rob a Rodian museum failed in their efforts and were caught. I contacted the investigator in charge, Captain Tsaa'lu. He informed me that one of the suspects was able to detail to him where they were to take the artefact to receive payment. So he sent two of his men, under cover, to make the exchange and arrest the buyer."

Master Crular looked around at the Jedi a moment.

"Unfortunately, that mission suffered several setbacks. First the suspect who had provided the information was killed in prison. Then his men turned out to not be quite prepared for the gravitational situation there and became ill... and then the station where the meeting was supposed to take place... was sabotaged."

He gave a knowing look to Kial.

"Does that sound familiar?"

"It does, Master." Kial nodded. "The two rodians we rescued from the station, after an explosion tore it apart. I suppose we were lucky to get out as many people as we got."

Kial suddenly frowned. Looking at Master Crular, she asked:

"Master, are you suggesting the station was targetted because these rodian officers were there? That's a lot of collateral for just two people... whomever did that wouldn't just stop after one failed attempt. Do we know if they are still alive, Master?"

"So somebody is stealing artifacts and preventing anyone from finding out? They must have good connections to know of these officers."

“And Master, are there concrete leads from which we can continue the investigation? Or can we contact Professor Wal’ton or Captain Tsaa’lu for this?”

"I have arranged for you to be able to meet both Professor Wal'ton and Captain Tsaa'lu, should you decide it prudent." Master Crular explained

"Captain Tsaa'lu has an interesting theory regarding the station, and the death of his men may not have been the primary goal of the events there. He will explain it himself, no doubt. I do not know the details about the Rodians, though the captain did not mention they had been killed, so I presume they are still alive. It turned out the Captain is currently on Unity, so reaching him should not be too hard.

Professor Wal'ton has also traveled here at my request, so he should also be available for questioning." he noted.

"I would suggest you split into two groups to interview the men and then come together to share what you learned and come up with the next step of your plan. Four Jedi talking to a single person may be a bit much." Master Crular suggested.

Denari volunteered to interview Professor Wal’ton. She had heard his name from time to time during her recent studies so she was vaguely familiar with his name and his reputation.

"I'll go talk to the Captain."

Kial expected the man to be more willing to be candid with her, considering she had helped save his men.

"I want to talk with the professor"

After Mira had expressed her preference, Denari suggested Padawan Scarlet join Padawan Kial and headed off with Padawan Mira to find the professor.

With the plan decided, the Padawans left the temple to talk to their respective targets, Denari and Mira moving to see Professor Wal'ton, while Kial and Scarlet took off to meet with Captain Tsaa'lu. While they would be separated, they would have com links available should they need to share information.

Denari and Mira met Professor Wal'ton at one of the local museums - the Professor had no doubt taken the opportunity of the visit to have a look at the work being done on Unity. After greeting the two Jedi, the professor began a casual walk with them through the museum and the archeological pieces being displayed, stopping occasionally to admire or give his opinion on the displays.

"At first the robberies just seemed like a new trend, thieves breaking into museums to get valuables are not exactly unheard of." the professor explained "Not that such trends would be welcomed, of course, it is just a reality that museums and other places that store art and artifacts need to take into account. But my attention was drawn once I realized the artifacts stolen from colleagues were all from the same period as the ones stolen from our own collection."

"When I took a closer look, I found it was more than merely the same time period. All of them appear to be related to the Miriali Route, also known as the Merian Odyssey to the Rodians and the Path of Mairil to the Highmonians. All from before the Times of Chaos."

"Naturally I contacted the authorities, but they could not find a corroborating connection between the thefts - each one was managed in a different way, some by brute force, others by infiltration and there was even a cat burglar dropping in from the roof on a rope. None of the crews were connected. But all of them offloaded the stolen items in short succession, so they had a buyer ready." he continued "These kinds of items are not something sold on the market regularly, they usually go for auction and are bought by museums or private collectors."

"Given the nature of the artifacts, I am torn between an obsessed collector who believes he has discovered something and is trying to beat everyone else to the punch or perhaps a religious fanatic being behind it all, though that is pure speculation."

Not everything the professor was saying was entirely coherent, but it was clear he knew a lot more and wasn't able to fit everything in one sentence - despite some effort on his part. The man was certainly convinced of his base thesis that there was more to this than met the eye.

Kial and Scarlet meanwhile found Captain Tsaa'lu at a decent but not too expensive hotel in Unity City, the Troig behind the desk directing them to room 418 upon their request.

Despite the nature of the hotel, room 418 seemed to be well equipped with alarm systems and security systems, though neither had the security specialist training to determine their exact nature. Regardless, the captain seemed to take his security quite seriously and had a sidearm ready should the need arise.

It did not seem the captain was worried about either of the Padawan though, instead offering his hand to Kial. "You were the one who saved my men. I am in your debt." he noted. It was clear the man held the safety of his men in high regard.

"When I first started this investigation, I did not realize how deep the rabbit hole went" he indicated towards the security systems "So since then I'm taking extra precautions."

He moved to sit at a table in the hotel room, offering some water to the Jedi before continuing.

"My current working theory is that blowing up the station was not a planned operation, but rather a panic move. And I do not think my men were made" he explained, referring in security lingo to people discovering his men were not there to sell artifacts but to investigate.

"I suspecting a woman who goes by the alias 'Tooka' is a high level operative for the true person behind these thefts. Tooka appears to have gotten word about us turning an informant and she had them killed in prison. But because the Ducleron system is difficult to communicate with, she had to go there herself to intercept the sting." a sting was a covert operation to arrest people, Kial would know.

"Since my men had a head start, it was merely the misfortune of their maladjustment to the stations gravity conditions that delayed the meeting and prevented an arrest. And either Tooka, or her employer, panicked by the close call, caused the destruction of the station to destroy records of whom had come and gone, deal with witnesses and possibly my men as well."

The man clearly had taken time to think about this theory, and there was probably more to it - they just had to ask.

"Just doing my job, captain, but you're welcome regardless." Kial answered as she shook the captains hand.

Politely refusing the offered water, she listened intently.

"What do you know about this 'Tooka' woman? And do you think she may have had something to do with the massacre at the XR-17-E mining operation, a short time later in the Ducleron system?"

Kial asked after the captain was finished.

When the professor was talking, his mentioning of the Miriali Route grabbed the attention of Mira. The way he made is sound, this route had some mayor historical significance.

"Professor, can you tell me some more about this Odyssey route? Why is it so well known?"

After his explanation, there was also another thing Mira wanted to know:

"You said that goods were sold quickly. How do you know this?"

“And does Piraus-3 happen to be on the route as well?” Denari added to Mira’s first question to the professor.

If he wondered why she asked, she would explain briefly how things learned from the Jedi’s recent explorations had led them to that planet.

The captain nodded "I believe she has been part of that, yes. I can at least confirm she was in the Ducleron system around that time." he explained

"I suspect that she did not do it alone, however. The MO appears to be to hire local crews to carry out operations, keeping some distance from the acts itself. But her being physically present is a distinction without a difference in my mind - if you ordered it and paid for it, you carry equal responsibility for it."

The man clearly had no love for the party behind this.

"I prepared records on what I collected about Tooka for you" he noted, handing over a datapad to Kial. At a glance, the datapad contained basic information. Tooka was apparently a Togruta female, and well connected in the underworld, several of the known contacts being Hutt crimelords. She held several fake identities on different planets.

One interesting detail was that the data included the drive signature of her ship, which was registered under half a douzen different names in different systems.

"Well known is perhaps slightly inaccurate. Knowledge about the route is rare and time tends to distort stories. Rather, its story or rather variations thereof is known in different places. As you know, it is difficult to get good definitive data from before the Times of Chaos, so you'll need to forgive me some speculation.

It is my theory the route is actually one of religious significance. Unfortunately, since multiple religions have different tales, it is difficult to say what the exact nature of the route is. Most stories though speak of some sort of 'awakening' though, for pilgrims that travel the route. As to what sort of awakening, the stories strongly vary on that."

The professor explained, but seemed hesitatant to make statements of fact about history which he couldn't back up with research. It seemed he knew much about it regardless.

"It is not easy to find a buyer for stolen historic artifacts. There is a market, but it takes time to arrange, let parties verify authenticity and so on. Since the artifacts were never found once authorities figured out who was behind the theft, I must conclude the items were already sold - or at least once of them would have been recovered."

In the area of investigation, the professor seemed far less hesitant to draw conclusions - reasonable ones, fortunately.

The professor paused a moment when Denari asked about Piraus-3

"Actually yes...!" he noted "Though there are differences of opinion on the exact route and destinations, Piraus-3 is an important one, mentioned in one way or another in most of the sources!" he noted excitedly "Did you know it once housed a much larger civilization? It is a shame it is not given more attention by academic research!"

"Are there other artifacts left in Musea related to the Odyssey route? We must warn them!" Mira exclaimed, completely foregoing that the professor had done this already most likely.

Then Mira continued:

"Professor, do you know anything about Master Fellok and Master Delskae? They were old jedi masters, Master Crular told us. And these old masters were following this route."

"Couldn't agree more, captain." Kial responded at the comment about the one hiring a criminal was equally guilty of the crime.

She checked if Leba the Hutt was one of this Tooka's exalted contacts. She then quickly looked over the ship drive signature and the various registries.

"Have you checked if any ship matching this is here on Unity? And was any data of use recovered from the station wreckage?"

Kial didn't expect a lot from either but being thorough was drilled into her at a very young age.

"Indeed" the professor agreed with Padawan Mira's astute observation about warning other musea. "Word has been spread around museum curators about the threat. Though to be honest, there are some limits as to what can be done. It is a hard balance between locking away the artifacts and making them available to the public and for study purposes. I mean, if they get stolen, nobody benefits, but try explaining that to a museum director trying to keep the income from tickets up." he sighed a bit exasperated.

He paused, eyes changing when Mira mentioned Master Fellok and Master Delskae, as if he was pondering. "That sounds very familiar. Let me check my notes a moment"

He retrieved a datapad, searching through it for several minutes.

"Fay'lok, Aron Deon and Del'ska" he cited "They are mentioned in a Highmonian text regarding Queen Zuggtmoy." he continued checking his notes. "I am afraid I cannot remember exactly what their role was, but the text concerned her being overthrown and her kingdom becoming a republic..."

"The text is stored in the Pandemonium Museum on Highmons. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy"

Leba the Hutt indeed appeared to be one of Tooka's contacts, listed somewhere in the middle of the list in an unassuming position. Likely the two were not actively working together, but he seemed like a good avenue.

Unfortunately, there was no centralized database for Kial to check the drive signature against, but she was able to ascertain that the ship was not currently on Unity or the immediately surrounding space. Likely someone with access - say, someone with political influence or contacts - would be able to send word to different Union worlds to get the last known location of the ship. It would take a little time regardless due to possible distances involved, but if the ship was in Union controlled space, it would eventually have to dock at a port and get registered.

"Unfortunately, the stations records were completely destroyed" Captain Tsaa'lu explained once they had determined the ship was not currently on Unity. "The destruction of the security footage was pretty thorough" he quipped, as if that had been the only target, and the entire station had been collateral damage. That wasn't even out of the realm of possibility to be fair...

"I assume your world has an active arrest warrant for her and her ship?" Kial asked, realising she had absolutely no idea where the captain was from. She assumed his reason for being on Unity was its central location, which was beneficial when tracking a target.

"If so, I would like to send it to the UPT senator along with this information. Let him pass it around to other Union worlds. We might get a last known location from that."

Kial paused for a moment before adding something.

"That would probably take some time."

If the captain agreed, she would send a message to Colonel Streth explaining the situation. With the relevant information attached.

"So we should go to Pandemonium Museum on Highmons. Where is this?" Apparently, Mira thought the museum to be about the topic 'pandemonium on several Highmons', rather than the pandemonium museum located on 'Highmons'.

Mira looked at her companion, Padawan Denari: "I think I have one last question. Professor: Do you have a list? A list of Odyssey route locations? Or do you have a map with this route?"

As Mira looked at her, Denari was nodding thoughtfully. The text would definitely be worth studying, if not for clues on the objective of the thieves, then for the history of the order.

After Mira had asked her question, Denari’s final question sprang to mind, before regrouping with the others:

“Professor, did the thieves steal something on Highmons yet?”

"Naturally there is an outstanding arrest warrant." the captain confirmed "Rodia hasn't seen them since."

Kial sent the request to the UPT Senator, but her estimation that it would take some time to process was accurate, and there was no immediate response. No doubt there would be though.

"There was an attempted breakin at the Highmonian museum some time back, but it was unsuccessful. Highmonian crime families are... their own special breed. It is hard as an outsider to get a foothold, or good contacts there."

He looked the heroes over a moment "If you are going to visit Highmons, I can send word ahead to the Museum of your arrival, they will have someone to show you around. I think I can put in a good word and get you an expert on the Path of Mairil as well." he offered

He paused a moment on the question about the route.

"There are maps, yes... unfortunately, there are many of them, and they don't all agree. I can give you a general route and map, but it may not be completely accurate in the details, if that makes sense."

The professor would take a bit of time to generate a map with key points marked, sending a copy to Mira's datapad.

"I've also listed the key locations on the route, in particular the ones we are sure were part of it. I've marked several speculative sites with an asterix as not all the texts agree on those."

Hopefully that would still be useful to them though.

"Oh one more thing, Captain." Kial noted as she prepared to leave. "How were your men supposed to recognise the buyer when they went undercover? Any description, symbols or phrases?"

She would wait for the answer and then head back to the Jedi Temple. Thanking the Captain as she left and assuring him he would be kept in the loop in terms of the investigation into this Tooka woman.

As she travelled back to the Temple, Kial couldn't shake the feeling this was bigger then it seemed at first glance. The apparent competence of this Tooka, the tactics employed to conceal the efforts, the trade of nuclear weapons ON Unity...

In Kials mind these weren't the acts of a criminal or even a criminal organisation. They were the acts of a covert operative. Though the artefacts seemed to be the primary objective, the WMD trade was likely a means to destabilise and weaken the Union as a secondary objective.

Kial did as Military Caste standard protocol dictated if anyone had a hunch or suspicion of a foreign operative in friendly territory: send a coded message to UPT Counter-Intelligence. A few carefully constructed sentences that would seem innocent to anyone that didn't know the code.

Once she arrived at the Temple, Kial looked for Maester d'Dac. Once she had found him she would ask if he had seen anyone matching Tooka's description near the Palace. Before the Jedi had come there.

“Could you send us list of the thefts as well? Then we can combine that with the map and any information our fellow Padawans might have uncovered.

“If they have other leads than Highmons, we might have to split up, or go somewhere else first, so would it be alright if we check in with them first and let you know about sending word ahead to Highmons?”

She checked with Mira if she had any other final ideas or question, before thanking the Professor one last time and heading back to the temple.

The text they had found under the temple had been on her mind on the way back, so when they got back to the temple, she said to Mira:

“There was a text carved in to a wall in the tunnels under the temple. It was probably left by Master Follok or Deskae. I should be able to make something of that now, so I’m going to check it again before we regroup with the others.”

A big smile appeared on her face and her eyes were twinkling. “Wanna come? It’s really cool down there.”

(( Denari intends to use her Linguistics skill and recent experience helping the Archeological Union to interpret the text found during the Ancient Exploration mission ))

Mira checked the datapad to see that she had properly received the data. When she confirmed that was the case, she hugged the datapad like it was a treasure and made a little giggely hop in the air: "Thank you professor!" She exclaimed happily.

After professor Wal'ton was done answering Denari's inquiry, Mira looked at Denari: "I have no other questions."

On their way back Mira was surprised to hear about Denari's proposal to check the tunnels: "W.. we can do that? Of course I wanna come! I did not know that there where tunnels under the temple." She had a clear mix of uncertainty and excitement, like when children sneak around somewhere where they are not supposed to be.

"Their contact would bear a mark of two parallel lines with a circle at one end, and some crossing lines. I'll draw it for you" the captain explained.

With that, they said their goodbyes and Kial headed back to the temple.

"Of course, I will transfer the list as well. Though keep in mind, many museum pieces traded hands a few times before getting to their current locations." he noted - fortunately, the list also contained information about the particular items stolen, which made it easier to link them to the map. Still, it would take a bit of crosschecking to get everything sorted.

"I will send word to Highmons once I hear from you." the professor reassured Denari, and once they were done saying their goodbyes, the padawans returned to the temple as well.

Before meeting up with the other Padawans, Kial went to visit Maester d'Dac at the temple. The Maester was meditating, but looked up when Kial entered, listening quietly to the inquiry.

"Hmm, I did see a tough looking Togruta whippersnapper diving around the palace at one point. She was wearing one of those monofin things the less aquatically oriented bipeds sometimes use. I had my droids chase her off."

Master d'Dac had more information that could be useful though:

"The thing about Togruta is, they have a sensory organ in their horns, called Montrals. They use them to sense objects around them. But not only do they not work under water, the pressure differences often causes them issues when diving. So I knew it wouldn't take much to drive them off."

Denari and Mira too had alternative plans before meeting up at the temple, excitedly sneaking down into the tunnels under the temple.

Knowing what was there, Denari and Mira found the sliding staircase, the rope of their climb out still safely secured around the pedestal at the top. However, there was one big change to allow much easier access: at the bottom of the slide, instead of a pile of sand and rubble, there was now an airfilled pillow to catch anyone who happened to slip.

After heading down - and possibly some cries of "Wheeee!" - Denari was able to find the pile of stones and the inscription. Unbeknownst to Mira, that pile of stones had at one point contained the remains of someone, but Denari and Macuy had at the time made sure the remains were recovered in a respectful manner and given a proper burial, so right now all that remained was the inscription and the pile of stones.

With her newfound knowlegde of Linguistics and her recent experience with Archeology, this time, Denari was able to decipher the writing:

"Here Master Fellok waits. May the Force be with him"

It was an epitath. R1-D1 had mentioned Master Felloks death in the crash on Unity and it seemed that in lue of a tombstone, Padawan Delskae had left the carving in the wall with his lightsaber after covering his masters body with stones.

However, there was an additionally line and Denari was reasonaby sure that it wasn't part of the epitath. R1-D1 had mentioned Master Felloks last words: 'Wait for them...'. The Jedi Master had known that one day his droid would be found, and thus his Padawan would have known as well. This message was for them!

"I will continue to follow the path of the Atavi towards the Core. The Chalice awaits."

With it, were a set of stellar coordinates - Denari already knew these would need to be recalculated due to stellar drift since there was quite a bit of time passed, but those coordinates looked like they offered something they did not have a clue to before: the location that Padawan, and later Master Delskae travelled to next!

After all was said and done, the heroes finally met up again in the Jedi Temple

Kial did not recognise the symbol, but something about it gave her a bad feeling. She made sure to attach the image to her message for Counter-Intelligence.

She listened carefully to what Master d'Dac had to say. "Thank you, Maester." She bowed and left.

Meeting back up with the others, Kial told them what she had found out. She explained she had sent a message to Colonel Streth. She failed to mention she had also informed UPT Counter-Intelligence of a possible foreign operative.

She did show the others the symbol and explained it might be a way to identify anyone or anything connected to this 'Tooka' woman. She asked Mira and Denari what they had found out next.

Denari listened attentively to Kials account, and in turn shared what information they had gathered from the professor and underground. She gave Mira plenty of space to share the data she had received and to complete Denari’s account from her own perspective.

“I’ve seem that symbol before” Denari finished. “It was on an ancient datapad that we found in the tunnels under the temple. I don’t really know if anyone managed to get any other useful information off of it…”

"Sounds like we have three options." Kial said after listening to Denari's account. "We can go to Highmons as you suggest. We go to the corrected coordinates you found and hopefully find this 'Chalice'. Or we could wait here and guard the tunnels under the temple."

She explained a little further.

"It seems this Tooka is following the path of Master Fellok and Master Delskae. That should lead her here eventually. Patience has my preference, but I will defer if the group has a different opinion."

“If some of us are waiting here, it has my preference to split up and gather more information in the mean time. Otherwise we blind ourselves to our surroundings.”

“The Professor said Master Follok and Deskae were with another Jedi by the name of Aron Deon at Highmons, but as far as we know, they arrived here with just the two of them. Perhaps the third split off and left legacies Tooka is following. The such similar symbols appearing simply seems too much of a coincidence to me…”

"That name sounds a lot like the name of that old droid you found. What was it again? Ar One Dee One? You sure time didn't change the pronunciation to Aron Deon?"

Kial asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Or did the professor specify it was another jedi?"

“Ah, original names lost to time. That solves that mystery.”

“Well then, for now I’ll get R1D1 to recalculate these coordinates and browse through the stories we have of the ancient Masters. Perhaps we can match those events to the lists on Mira’s datapad.”

(( Sorry for the silence, it has been a little chaotic at work ))

"I think we do not need to wait here. Master Crular is here to guard the temple. And here are more jedi too! I think we should go to the co-ordinations. From the droid."

"After the co-ordination, we can go to Highmons and see why that is important, and then we can go to the next location of the Odyssey route. The professor gave me a list." Mira still seemed pretty satisfied with herself that she got a general description of the Miriali Route, also known as the Merian Odyssey. Although she seems to regard the information a little too much as definitive truth.

"But I don't think we will find a chalice at the co-ordinations of R1D1. This is a route right? That means that you must go the next location and the next, until you reach the core, right? The text said: path of Atavi, is that the same as the Odessey route? The professor had many names, but they were al like Miriali, or Meril or so, not Atavi, so maybe this is a different route."

Kial gave a curious look to Mira.

"From what I understood from earlier mission reports, Atavi was the goal of Master Fellok and Master Delskae. Not the route. Considering the time-frame it's not unreasonable to think the route got a different name later."

She looked to Denari.

"Are we sure the tunnels have no entrance then the Temple? And might I suggest getting something with more processing power then an ancient astromech droid?"

Kial folded her hands behind her back.

"Calculating stellar drift over a period of hundreds or, more likely, thousands of years is not an easy task. You have to calculate not just the movement of the target object, but that of your own point of reference as well. Now that of itself is rather easy, until you factor in that there is no absolute reference point in space. Which means you will have to calculate the change of your reference point in reference to other objects that have also changed position and so on and on. And it has to be done in three dimensions."

She gave a sympathetic smile.

"I had a course on this back on Thanda. The general consensus on calculating stellar drift was that it was easier to calculate and print all decimals of pi."

Denari listened with interest to Padawan Valian’s explanation of the complications of calculating stellar drift. She nodded at the end of the account. “Since you have expertise in this field, I’ll gladly let you handle this, or follow your instructions, if possible.”

“As for alternative entrances, we do not know for sure yet. After the carvings, there is one passage that is flooded, and the other has an airduct leading up to somewhere with light, which I haven’t climbed up yet. The tomb room did not seem to have any other entrances or exits, but there could always be hidden doors.”

While R1D1 would be capable of the job, Kial made other arrangements to get the calculation started, her Systems Operator skills proving useful. It still took several hours to finish, but eventually the proper new location was determined, or at least within a narrow enough zone that you should be able to figure out the details from there.

Mapping these new coordinates on a star chart though offered a serendipitous benefit: the indicated location was in the same general direction as Highmons, and even a direct route would pass within a douzen light-years of Highmons. Since they would need to stop for supplies and refueling anyway, visiting Highmons along the route would not slow them down significantly.

Discussing the matter a moment with Master Crular, the Padawans could arrange to take the Alula for the trip, while also offering to keep an eye on the tunnels in case any Tookas showed up.

This would leave one minor issue though: none of the Padawans appeared to be trained as a pilot.

"Yeey, lets go to Highmons!"

"How do we get a pilot" Mira asked, once it became clear that none of the Padawan were qualified to fly a ship. "Maybe we can go to outside and ask someone to fly us?"

Denari smiled broadly at Mira’s enthusiastic response. “Padawan Macuy has piloting skills, if I remember correctly. Let’s go ask if he can make the time.”

"That seems like the best option, yes." Kial answered when Denari suggested to ask Macuy.

She then turned to Mira.

"Padawan Mira, it's good to be enthusiastic. But you should keep that enthusiasm in check. We're heading to a world outside the Union. We have no authority there. Not to mention the danger this Tooka woman may pose. Be careful, be patient and try to feel the guidance of the Force."

(( Does anyone have the information and opportunity to ask them OOC of they’re up for it? ))

"Or we can buy a pilot at the market?"

Listening to Padawan Kial her advice, Mira looked quite puzzled: "What do you mean? We are Jedi, everybody listens to jedi. They were wise and strong and knew everything!" Mira exclaimed in pure naïvety. It looks like her world view needed to mature quite a bit.

Kial couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her expression couldn't be more shocked if Mira had struck her in the face. Kial did recover quickly though.

"Slavery is in direct violation of the Jedi Code. If you support such a repulsive practice, Padawan Mira, I will remove you from this mission. The Council can decide what to do with you afterward."

Her voice carried a very stern warning tone and with Kials hand hovering over her lightsaber, it was clear she would not yield on this point.

Denari readied herself subtly as Padawan Valian reached for her lightsaber. Denari shared the rejection of the concept of slavery, but surely the threat of a light saber was unnecessary in this situation.

In a somewhat milder tone she also adressed Mira:

“We could perhaps pay someone for their service as a pilot, if they are willing to take the risk of taking us. But ‘buying someone on the market’ sounds like you are proposing to obtain a slave with the intend of keeping them in that position. I agree with Padawan Valian that that is not something we can support.”

Now it was Mira who was shocked, or better, perplexed by the unfolding situation. Her stance was completely open, like she did not even notice the motion to the lightsabers, or did not care. She started to speak a little fast which was not helpful for her common galactic: "Y-Yes, it is you say Denari. We go to Marke... - the Market, give maney to pilot and let him fly."

Mira was looking somewhat guilty and scared to the two padawan, like how a child looks when he is scolded at after being caught doing something bad.

"Is giving maney bad? I did not know. Is flying dangrous? I did not know. I se flying al-lot. W-W-When I look out, ships flying all there." As she pointed outside where there was the usual business of spaceships, taxis and other vehicles moving around in the sky.

As the heroes were discussing the Mira's plan, Padawan Aava entered the room, taken aback a moment by the tenseness in the air as she observed what was happening.

"Master Crular asked me to fly you guys to Highmons since he realized you did not have a pilot..." she noted to see if that calmed the situation down. It took her a moment to figure out what was going on.

"You do not have to buy me, I will gladly accept you guys taking my kitchen duties next week instead" she reassured the others, making a wink to Mira. Clearly Mira had not intended to actually buy a slave to be their pilot, she had simply struggled with the grammar of the common galactic tongue.

"I will have to focus on my meditations while we remain on Highmons though, so I will not be able to join you on the mission." she noted "Oh, and Padawan Scarlet probably will not be joining the trip either, she has other business to attend to as well."

With that, Aava seemed to have at least cleared up the party composition and travel arrangements, though there would be plenty of time to discuss the correct semantics of 'paying' versus 'buying'.

With the travel arrangements made, Padawan Aava flew the heroes to Highmons in the Alula.

Highmons was a feudal theocratic republic, originally a feudal theocracy that had since changed its systems and institutions to be a republic, though the Highmonian religion was still prominent among the population and echoes of its historic past everywhere.

Tourist guides would note that droids were not allowed on Highmons without a permit for religious reasons, though navigation droids and such were allowed on ships and dockyards. It meant if they wanted to bring R1D1, they should get clearance at the docks, though it was probably safe to leave it behind on the Alula.

As they flew in to land, they found the dock was a converted old castle on the peak of a mountain, no doubt one of those echoes of the past still present on the world.

From here, a cart traveled to the city center every fifteen to twenty minutes over a very tall bridge, which would put them not too far from the museum district.

Realizing her misunderstanding, Kial relaxed. "Padawan Mira, you should focus on learning proper Galactic basic. It will help you avoid such misunderstandings as this. Not to mention miscommunication can be fatal to you and others in battle. I strongly suggest you focus on this before you move on to other training."

With that Kial considered the matter finished.

Stepping off the Alula onto Highmons, Kial proposed to let R1D1 stay on the ship. She took a moment to appreciate the castle.

Getting back to the task at hand, she looked for someone who worked at the dock.

"Excuse me. Could you tell me where I can find the Dockmaster, please?"

This being the first time properly flying for her, Mira fully enjoyed the whole experience. Looking out the windows and asking all kinds of stuff like: "what's this?... what is that?... what is this button for?... why is space all glowing cloudy blue and white when you travel but just small stars when you stand still?" (A sentence which took her quite some effort to construct.)

She took care not to actually touch anything or disturb the flight though. And she did not press on if she noticed her companions were getting annoyed by her questions.

On the dock, Mira her first impulse was simply walk away from the ship and to take a cart. Apparently not aware that locking your ship and checking in and other spacedock protocols were a thing. But seeing that Kial had business to do with someone, Mira waited patiently for Kial to do her thing.

R1D1 happily stayed on the ship while Kial moved to find the Dockmaster. She would soon find a large Highmonian who could help them with any paperwork, refuelling, and so on.

Mira meanwhile noticed a Zabrak woman tending to several large two legged reptilian birds which appeared to have saddles strapped to them. More interestingly, these birds were accompanied by baby ones, still covered in their baby plumage, making them excessively fluffy and cute.

Denari was patiently waiting with Mira, while Padawan Valian made arrangements with the Dockmaster.

While waiting she tried to listen to the local language and eventually spotted the fluffy reptilian baby birds, and the cool big ones of course.

As she had little better to do at the moment, she decided to walk over to take a closer look, and maybe even ask the Zabrak woman about caring for such a herd. She didn’t want to impose, however, so until invited closer she kept a safe and respectful distance.

Kial handled the appropriate paperwork and bureaucracy with her usual efficiency and skill. As she finished that, she broached why she actually had wanted to speak to the Dockmaster.

"I'm here on official Union business." Kial started, making sure to show her lightsaber as proof she was a Jedi. Thinking that the Union and the Highmonians where on relatively friendly terms, or at least not on unfriendly terms. "And I was hoping you could check your records to see if any ship with this drive signature has landed here recently. It possibly registered under one of these names."

Kial showed, or transferred depending on what was appropriate, the relevant data on Tooka's ship to the Dockmaster.

Though interested in the beasts, Mira at first thought to be wary of big birds when they have babies. Mothers tend to be protective of their flock. But them having saddles implied they were tame. So while Kial was handling her business, Mira approached the birds.

Using her skills of handling (wild) animals, Mira tried to see if she could pet some of the birds and their babies.

Kial found the dockmaster did not care too much about what Kials reason for being there was, but at least he was cooperative, registering their landing and dealing with the various fees and paperwork quickly and efficiently.

"Hmm, not on this landing area, but I will check with the capital to see if your ship landed anywhere else. It will take a few hours to cross check everything though." he warned "Best go about your business, I will send word if I hear anything."

Meanwhile, Mira found that she could indeed pet the birds, and they even seemed to take a liking to her.

"You seem pretty good with them" the woman observed, complementing Mira as the animals responded quite positively to her. "Since they like you, you can rent them if you need transportation?" the Zabrak woman noted "They are quite willing mounts, perhaps not as fast as a speeder bike on open ground, but very agile in the mountainous terrain we have here. And it would mean you are not dependent on the cart times."

The animals came in a pack so even if the Jedi took three to ride into town with, the others would be able to tend to the babies.

"That would be very much appreciated. Thank you." Kial said as she made a small bow. Leaving her contact information with the dockmaster before she excused herself and returned to the others.

As she approached her fellow Jedi, she noticed the birds for the first time. She looked at them in amazement. It was one thing knowing animals existed that were large enough to ride. Seeing their size up close was quite another.

Kial cautiously came closer. She nodded to Mira and Denari, but kept an eye on the birds. She kept some distance from the birds. Having heard the last part of the conversation she asked:

"Are they real?"

There was some hesitation in Kials voice.

"Thank you," Mira answered the Zabrak lady when she complimented her, "they are nice."

In response to Kial's question whether the animals are real or not Mira said: "Of course they are. And we can ride them!

This lady says that the birds are for hire. I say we do so. It will be faster than cart and it will be fun." Her eyes were gleaming with the prospects of riding through the mountain terrain on one of these creatures

Denari was also all for riding. Growing up she occasionally traveled on beasts, where the terrain or exploration demanded it, and she kind of missed it.

More importantly though, it would offer them flexibility to react to changing circumstances.

Whatever doubts Kial might still have about riding these birds, the other two Padawan were clearly in favour and soon the heroes had arranged three strong looking birds to carry them on their way.

Denari and Mira were both familiar with Wilderness Survival so they had less trouble than Kial with the birds, though even the latter had no significant issues. The animals were quite willing to take a rider.

As soon as the Padawans had mounted, the trio shot off and once they reached the high bridge, the birds started racing across at speed, apparently taking some joy in racing across, the wind running through hair and feathers.

A map, kindly provided by the woman renting the birds, provided navigation though the birds already knew the way to the city and since they were as much interested in not falling into a ravine during the trip as their riders, the journey was quite safe even for those less familiar with riding, despite going through some questionable mountain passes.

--

After a 15 minute trip, the heroes entered the walled city. The stonework was quite amazing, some buildings being centuries old, but all of them well maintained and clean despite the lack of droids. It seemed the people taking care of the menial tasks normally assigned to them were quite proud of their work and they had every right to be.

The Pandemonium Museum was huge, made out of ominous but beautifully crafted red stone, lit on the outside by fire braziers that cast flickering shadows on the stonework. The doors to the museum were open and there did not appear to be a ticket station - since this was a cultural institution paid for from public taxes, it was likely free entrance for the public.

Through the open door, they could already see several display cases set up with various historic pieces, and the walls were lined with paintings and images accompanied by explanatory texts.

Amongst the various displays were two old Highmonian men, each at least three meters tall, discussing one of the pieces. It was clear from their garb that they worked for the museum.

Denari thoroughly enjoyed the trip and the views. She wouldn’t have minded if the city had been further away, but it was what it was.

Once they entered the museum she took a quick look over the room and the approached the Highmonians that worked there.

“Excuse me, sirs, I’m Padawan Denari Merelle from the Jedi Order of Unity. We”, she made a gesture to her fellow Padawan, “are interested in studying a text that regarding Queen Zuggtmoy that mentions ancient Jedi, and an attempted break-in here a while ago, as we have reason to believe they are related. Professor Wal'ton sent word ahead of our arrival, I believe…”

After some awkward first movement, Kial seemed to get at least a little more comfortable on the back of the bird.

"Just like a speeder." Kial said, more to herself then anyone else.

She followed her fellow Jedi, the birds movement still a little uneven because of her inexperience.

As the birds with their riders stepped out of the spaceport and the open became visible, Kials jaw dropped. Starring in amazement at the grass, moss and bushes they could see from their route.

After about ten minutes she managed to regain some composure. "This is amazing. Were do you think they got all this?" Kial asked the other two, gesturing at the vegetation.

Most people probably wouldn't find the natural greenery anywhere near as impressive as Kial seemed to find it.

--

Kial was back to her usual composure by the time they arrived in the city, though as they passed through the gate she cast one last look over her shoulder.

Entering the museum, Kial immediately let her eyes get a good look around. Identifying any security systems she could see. When Denari addressed the two Highmonians, Kial bowed her head as a greeting.

Kial decided not to say anything about how Denaris assertion that the attempted theft of a precious historical artefact and said precious historical artefact being related was moot. Instead she elaborated as to their actual purpose here.

"Several similar artefacts from the same period have been stolen from musea on other worlds. Evidence suggests these thefts, along with the attempted theft here, were masterminded by the same person. Is there anyone here that might be able to tell us something about the artefact my college mentioned and the attempted theft? They should be expecting us."

When riding away from the spaceport. Mira took the rear position. She trusted that Denari would have no troubles handling herself, but she saw how Kial had some troubles mounting the ride and Mira wanted to keep an eye on her. Also this position gave a nice view for observing the birds and Mira took great joy in watching how the animals made their way through the terrain.

When Kial was asking how the vegetation got here, Mira went riding next to her: "This?" Mira looked at Kial, not understanding what she meant at first, "you mean plants? They grow here. At my planet we have big trees. As Biiiiig as a mountain.

They got there just like this grass here, you spread seeds and then it grows. And then it grows new seeds. And then it spreads."

--

At the museum, Mira was happy to let the other padawan have the word as she had nothing to add.

"You have come to the right place" one of the men noted, motioning for the Jedi to follow them. "Professor Wal'ton sent word of your arrival. I will take you to the Archivist."

The Archivist was even bigger than the two men who guided them to one of the back rooms of the museum, standing almost four meters tall and made of a mix of pure muscle, horns and spikes. If this was the guy doing the bookkeeping, it was no wonder why the attempt to rob the museum had failed.

Regardless of his impressive and somewhat terrifying appearance, the Archivist seemed friendly when the heroes approached, introducing himself when they arrived.

"Ah, Jedi!" he stated pleasantly "I am Archivist Mag'Drath. Professor Wal'ton said you were interested in the tale of Queen Zuggtmoy, so I took the historic text out of storage for you."

The Archivist turned around, casually lifting up an enormous rock easily bigger than any of the Jedi, setting it upon his desk as if it was some sort of enormous paperweight.

"Though upon reflection, perhaps I should have made a transcript." he noted, thinking a moment

"Perhaps you could tell me what it is you are looking for?"

As the Jedi spoke, a much smaller Highmonian woman came in carrying a datapad, which was already displaying the text 'Security Report' - no doubt the information related to the investigation of the break in.

Kial seemed sceptical about Misas explanation of wild growth and mountain trees. Though that was probably more because Thanda, where Kial was born and grew up, was a cold radioactive dust-ball utterly incapable of supporting life of any kind. She had never seen nature just do its thing and grow.

Though Unity had more greenery than the cities on Thanda, it wasn't that different. As the birds they rode here were Kials first encounter with any large animal, so was this her first encounter with naturally grown vegetation.

--

Despite the size and strength of the Archivist, Kial was not intimidated. She made a small bow to greet the Highmonian.

"I am Padawan Kial Valian. These are my fellow padawans."

She gave the other two a chance to introduce themselves.

"According to Professor Wal'ton the text mentions two ancient Jedi Masters and their friend. They were following something called the 'path of Atavi', or At-a'vi, possibly with some mention of a 'chalice'. Can you confirm that these three are mentioned in the text? And if so, what were they doing here?"

Kial turned to the other two jedi.

"What were the names Professor Wal'ton said they were called in the Highmonian text?"

“My name is Padawan Denari Merelle,” Denari introduced herself in the space Kial provided, “I’ve been working with archeologists on Union to study artifacts and texts found underneath the current Jedi Temple.”

When prompted, she added: “The Professor mentioned the names Fay’lok, Del’ska and Aron Deon. If we could learn more from their travels and objective, perhaps we can learn something of the motives behind these thefts. Though that is what we are looking for specifically, one never knows how knowledge from the past can help us in the present or future.”

"Ah, yes" the Archivist nodded when Denari mentioned the names, seeming to recognize them. He opened the large stone, which had apparently been cut into slabs that still perfectly fit together. Flipping - if it could be called that, as each page was still a rather large and heavy piece of stone - through the stone slabs, he eventually halted and showed some of the symbols. The writing was in an old Highmonian dialect that was probably not familiar to the Padawans, though it depicted a drawing of two robed figures and an astromech droid visiting a horned woman on a rather oversized throne.

"Fay'lok, Del'ska and Aron Deon visited Queen Zuggtmoy while on a spiritual journey known as the Path of Mairil. She received them as her guests and asked them to help her deal with a group of 'terrorists' who were causing trouble in her Kingdom." he explained, turning the page, though the next one did not have any images. It was clear he was summarizing rather than translating the text directly, though his account seemed both honest and accurate.

"During their efforts to capture the terrorists, the visitors discovered that it was in fact the Queen herself who used terror against her own people, killing any who spoke out against her reign and even placing the blame for such attacks on the 'rebels' that opposed her. Seeing the injustice of her oppression, they turned against the Queen, leading the people to the palace and ending her tyranny."

He looked at the Jedi "The text does not say whether the Queen was killed, imprisoned or simply driven away, though it does note that to prevent another tyrant from taking her place, they stayed behind for some time to introduce a new form of government. Legend is that it is how the first republic was formed on our world, though there is some debate on that topic."

Regardless, he showed another image carved into the stone, this time of a council seated together, gifting a star shaped object to the two robed figures and the droid as a reward or symbol of honor of some sort.

"Afterwards, they continued on their journey, making their way to the Golden Temple where they ascended. Though I think that last part is speculation on the part of the author, since I doubt the author went after them."

As the Archivist was telling the tale, Kial got a message on her communicator. It was from the dockmaster. Apparently, a match had been found on the drive signature that she had requested a check of!

Denari was in awe of the slabs and the Archivists ability to handle them so easily. Being huge certainly did have it’s advantages…

She listened attentively to the tale the Archivist told, and as leafed though the slabs, she tried to make some sense of the script using het linguistics skills.

“I take it that this Golden Temple is not on Highmons then?” Denari inquired, after Mag’Drath finished speaking. “And are you aware of other references to the path of Mairil in your legends?”

If possible she would like to obtain transcripts of this and any other relevant texts. Perhaps to study on their journey forward, or to pick up on the way back.

(( Sorry, was on vacation and forgot to mention ))

Mira was visibly careful at first around the Archivist, but quickly relaxed after seeing the giant muscles with horns and spikes was friendly.

While Mag'Drath was telling the story, Mira listened intensely, enjoying the little story. Then after Mag'Drath was done, the questions came:

"What is that star?" Mira inquired pointing at the image of the council where the robed figures received a star shaped object. Though she was careful not to touch the stone tablet.

"If Fay'lok and Del'ska removed the queen and created a republic, how can there be debate? They clearly formed the first one here. I mean, the first republic of this world."

"Professor Wal'ton gave me a list of important locations. They are from the Odyssey route, or path of Mairil. Where is this golden temple?" Mira asked while showing the significant locations she received from the professor on her datapad. Somehow convinced that the golden temple must be one the locations Wal'ton identified.

Immediately upon receiving the message, Kial checked the details. She first and foremost wanted to know if the ship was still on Highmons, or how long ago it left. Second she compared the registry with the list of registries she had, was this a known ship name or a new one? She sent a thank you note to the dockmaster, if the ship was still on Highmons she would also ask if the Highmon authorities could ground the ship.

Kial just caught what Mira said after being distracted by the message. "History isn't always so straightforward, Padawan Mira. Especially when conflict is involved."

Noticing the Highmonian woman, she asked.

"Is that the security report from the attempted theft? Might I take a look?"

Mag'Drath shook his head at Denari's question. "Indeed - the Golden Temple is a legendary location at the end of the Path of Mairil, supposedly a sacred place of great power." he looked over Miras datapad "It would have to be somewhere in this region" he noted, indicating the galactic core area - though that was still many star systems. It did narrow down the search somewhat, combined with Professor Wal'ton's information, but not sufficient to know for sure. "There are some descriptions of the Golden Temple in the Hidden Holy Texts, but I fear I do not have access to those. They are kept in the Blue Cathedral of Chr'aal and the monks there take the 'hidden' part seriously, so unfortunately, we do not have access." he explained, indicating the museum probably did not have access to those records. By the tone of his voice, he wasn't pleased about that.

When Mira asked about the star the Archivist nodded "Ah, yes, the star has been debated amongst scholars. It is a Kilnus-Crystal, a rare gemstone capable of focussing light in a unique way. Very valuable, and a symbol of heroism or knighthood. The act of giving it in its raw form, rather than forged into a bracelet, to Fay'lok, Del'ska and Aron Deon represents both honouring them as important people, without making them part of the noble caste that was recently overthrown. Some also interpret it as them receiving royalty and taking it away from our world." the Archivist explained

"As for the debate, well, scholars are scholars, they enjoy disagreeing with one another and then debating their different theories. Our planet is large and old with different cultures at different times. It is hard to know exactly for certain what did and did not happen so long ago. Even those who record history have their own purposes and it is not always clear what those purposes are." he noted "And scholars also are not always neutral. Stemming from this or that piece of land and feeling connected to it, they are prone to look at the history of that land and interpret it in certain ways, so some might feel it was in fact their ancestors who introduced the concept of a republic, even if the evidence for that is... inconclusive." he noted to Mira, clearly of the same mind as she was about the legends, but not about to start a long debate about which ancient faction was in fact the one who invented X or Y.

As they discussed, the woman gave the security report to Kial. She also had a copy of the ancient texts on a datapad for Denari. Though she couldn't quite read the script outright, she recognised the style of characters - making a translation matrix would not be too difficult once she had some time to sit down for the task.

When Kial checked the details of the message she found there weren't too many details, but all the important data was there: the ship was a smaller personal vessel about the size of the Alula. The name it used to identify was 'Polecat', which was not that uncommon and there were probably thousands of ships flying by that name, quite possibly a deliberate choice to help obscure it, though the drive signature definitely matched. Finally and perhaps most importantly, the ship had landed just a few hours ago at the Cathedral city of Chr'aal. It was, according to the report, likely still there.

"It seems we're not the only ones with interest in the Golden Temple. I just got word our targets ship landed at the Cathedral city of Chr'aal. I suggest we head there immediately."

If the other two agreed, Kial would hand the security report back. Otherwise she would read it properly.

Regardless of what the others decided she would ask the Archivist:

"Sir, is it possible for you to contact those monks at the Blue Cathedral? I would like to warn them that someone may try to steal the Hidden Holy Texts."

Denari gratefully took the datapad with the transcript, as she was scrolling through the text she still tried to listen with half an ear to Mag’Draths answer to Mira. After a while she came to the conclusion that it wasn’t working, so she stored the datapad to work on it later.

As Kial shared the information she just received, Denari ageed to go check it out. She felt like it was their obligation to protect the heritage of Highmons and it was probably the best chance they were going to get to catch the culprit.

In addition to Kial’s final question, Denari asked: “Are there any names we should know before we head to Chr’aal?”

Mira looked like she wanted to say more about the topics discussed, but when Kial shared her new information, Mira visibly changed her mind: "If bad guys are here, we must stop them. It is fated."

She turned on the spot to walk away, changed her mind and turned back, as she realized that this would be rude. They also needed some information as Mira had no idea how to get to Chr'aal.

"How far is Chr'aal? We have a space ship and birds. Are animals faster or is ship faster?"

"The monks do not use communicator technology" the Archivist noted "But I will send word to a friend of mine who lives near the Blue Cathedral." he added "She will be able to reach them before you arrive. Her name is Vath'Teman, she is an expert in Ornithology."

Mag'Drath thought a moment at Denari's question regarding names "Maester Uzzalor, an expert in preservation and I think in charge of the library, though the last time we spoke was when I was still a student some twenty-five years ago"

Checking the map, the Jedi soon discovered that going by bird would definitely be faster. Between the trip back, take-off, landing and then traveling from the Cathedral city spaceport to the cathedral, they would be wasting more time than riding directly to the city from here.

There was a major road taken by most larger traffic, though the fastest route would be a direct path over smaller roads through the mountains - given how well the birds did getting them here, it should be no problem for them.

"Tell her to be on the lookout for a Togruta female. And to avoid confronting them. She is extremely dangerous."

Kial, of course, had no idea if Tooka was actually dangerous. But that was what Kials feelings told her. She would rather be safe then sorry.

Seeing the mounts would be faster then flying, Kial made a face that said: 'oh well...'

"Well it seems that bird is the word."

Kial thanked the Archivist for his help, before heading back to the birds. On their way Kial would try to get the bird to move as fast as possible. Swallowing her own discomfort around the creature for the mission.

For a second, Mira forgot that they were in a hurry to go to the Blue Cathedral: "Ornithology, what is that?

Oh wait, we are in hurry, tel me next time."

She then turned to her comrades: "Let us go!" And started to walk away, changed her mind again and turned around back to the Archivist: "Thank you for your help. And thank you for your story, it was very nice." She said while making a bow.

While on their way on the birds, Mira helped Kial as much as possible with the bird.

Denari thanked the Archivist for taking the time for them and sharing his knowledge.

As she followed her fellow Padawan to the birds, her eyes were shining brightly and tail swaying happily. She was genuinely looking forward to making a serious trek again. For as long as she could remember, she had loved the way traveling trough terrain made her feel alive and connected.

Somewhere along the way, on a stretch that allowed for a short conversation, Denari seized the chance to chat with Mira.

“Ornithology is the study of birds if I remember correctly.” She started, raising her voice just enough for Mira to hear her over the wind. “My aunt dated an ornithologist for a while, he was… very interested in birds. Knew a lot about them too!”

With Mira's help, Kial found her way onto the bird, which did not seem to have nearly as much discomfort with its rider as the other way around.

Soon the Jedi were riding out of the city and onto the smaller roads. It had been the right choice, as not only was the route faster, but it had less traffic as well, allowing the birds full freedom to race along the narrow path.

The mounts seemed to know what they were doing, and though perhaps not as fast as speeder bikes, they were quite adept at preventing anyone from falling into the various ravines they passed. That would have taken an expert driver to manage, and even then there'd be risks, but the birds seemed to do it quite casually.

The most rewarding piece of this trip was not the wind running through hair and feathers alike - though that was certainly fun - but the view. At regular intervals, the heroes were greeted by the beautiful vistas of Highmons, and the route passed by a mountain lake that looked absolutely pristine.

If they had had more time, they might have been able to stay a while, but for now there was some level of time pressure as their target was already at their destination. However, the heroes would be able to return here later should they want to.

As they continued along their route though, the weather slowly began to turn, clouds coming in. They would probably reach the Cathedral City before any rain could fall, but it was important to keep an eye on such things.

Before they could complete their trip though, there was one more obstacle to overcome.

As it turned out, the 'bridge' marked on the map over which they had planned their route was somewhat less up to par than one might have hoped. In fact, it seemed downright rickety.

Going across would definitely be the fastest route, but though the birds seemed quite willing to cross, would the Jedi be willing to risk it for the sake of speed?

The alternative though would be to double back a bit and take one of the other routes through the mountain. That would cost them about 15 minutes, not that long but was it time they could afford to spare?

Crossing the river below the bridge by going through the water was out of the question, Denari knew - the water was too deep and fast flowing, the birds would never go for it, and worst of all, even if they managed to cross, they'd risk freezing to death getting soaked.

“Hmmm,” Denari started a little puzzled and then relaxed, “I’m used to animals finding things more scary than their minders and riders… I’m for trying the bridge. I don’t mind going first. If it doesn’t hold, I’ll be able to survive in this environment, and hopefully be able to save the bird too. You two can go round to continue. If everything goes right, you can follow and it’ll save us precious time.”

"The birds are... where crossing this bridge with no riders. That is why the birds are not scared. I am sure." Though Mira had of course no evidence of her conviction that the birds were used to cross this bridge on their own.

"Denari, you go first without bird. I and Kial hold eye on you. Then I send bird after you.

If it goes wrong, we use the force to catch you.

Then you go ahaid. I and Kial will take detour. It is only 15 minutes.

All of us going over bridge one by one is longer. And you can warn Vath'Teman faster if you do not wait for us."

As her fellow jedi argued, Kial managed to get off her mount. She walked towards the bridge and gave it a closer inspection.

She was by no means an expert in either bridges, construction or materials. But there were always things even laymen could identify.

Kial looked at the ropes. Trying to get some idea of what kind of material they were made of: metal, fabric-like material or organic fibers. She also looked for any fraying of the ropes.

Based on what she could see, the main ropes going across seemed reasonably sturdy. (( Based on the image provided )) The rest of the bridges structure wasn't pretty, but to Kials untrained eyes didn't seem structurally unsound either.

"Doesn't seem that bad to me. But I'm no expert so going one by one might be safer."

Kial told the others.

Kial inspected the bridge as Mira and Denari planned out the best way to proceed. Lacking any experience in engineering left her with precious little to go on though. The ropes of the bridge, made of some sort of fibers she could not identify, seemed to at least not be damaged or fraying, so as far as a visual inspection went, it seemed at least to be in the condition it was intended to be in. What that meant in terms of what it could hold was unclear though.

Since Mira and Denari agreed on the plan, and Kial was okay with the bridge, Denari was the first to attempt the crossing. It had been a good idea to go one by one and not bring the birds immediately, as the creaking of the old rope bridge did not fill one with confidence as to its capacity - if they had gone together, it likely would have caused something to snap or break. Fortunately however, Denari was light and with her acrobatic experience had little difficulty making her way across. From the other side, the heroes could see the brightly coloured Jedi wave that she had made it safely across.

Following the plan, Mira sent Denari's bird across next. Mira's own skill in wilderness survival served her well here as she easily goaded the bird to make the crossing. The bridge creaked and swayed under the birds weight, but the animal itself seemed to care very little about that, easily stepping between each sport on the rope bridge - these birds really were at home in rough terrain, climbing even at heights - this was their native terrain after all. Even so, it had probably been a good idea to dismount, as the way the ropes strained suggested that the combined weight of bird and rider might have caused some issues.

Following the same process, the other two birds were sent across the bridge, one at a time, and finally Mira and Kial each crossed the bridge. Neither was as nimble as Denari, but Mira had experience as a dancer which oddly enough helped her put her feet in just the right places. Kial was the only one who struggled, setting her weight on a wrong plank along the bridge which caused her to break through it, though she was fortunately able to hold on to the ropes and find better footing. Still, it had been a close call.

With the heroes gathered on the other side, even though crossing one by one had taken a bit of time, they had still shaved a decent amount off of going around, and were back en route to the Cathedral City!

Thanks to the birds, and being able to cross the rickety bridge effectively, the heroes soon found the Cathedral city.

The name "Cathedral City" was no joke: Chr'aal seemed to be almost entirely built in gothic style, with countless spires and beautiful architecture. It was reasonably clear that not all of these buildings were actually temples, most of them serving much more mundane functions such as workshops, trading halls, and living quarters, but the architectural style was clearly quite popular. Unfortunately, none of the cathedrals they saw appeared to be blue and if there were any information signs, the chaotic gothic architecture seemed to keep it hidden.

In this case though, the Jedi were not forced to start asking around. Instead, it was the birds that guided them towards a building where a woman waved at them.

"You are Jedi, yes?" she inquired, her accented galactic basic somewhat reminiscient of the way Mira spoke "I am Vath'Teman. Follow me, there is trouble! Someone is causing, how you say, havic at the Blue Cathedral"

As the heroes dismounted it became clear how the woman had managed to find them as the birds quickly scurried towards a large feeder hidden between two buttresses. Unlike the Jedi, the birds had known exactly where they were going: the place with food. And the Ornithologist had figured that out as well and had waited for them there.

"Show us the way" Mira said, without confirming that they are, indeed, the Jedi. It seems that for her the question is rhetorical since they obviously are the Jedi here.

Upon dismounting she noticed how the birds hurried towards a feeder. This made her shift her attention back to the birds and she started to take care for the birds. After all, she has learned to take care of your mounts. Therefore she wants to ensure that the party are leaving the birds behind with them in good health and security.

"We are." Kial confirmed they were the jedi she was looking for.

Listening while she dismounted the bird, Kial seemed quite calm and unrushed. Looking at her fellow jedi she spoke.

"Havoc at the Blue Cathedral? Sounds more like a distraction then anything else. Our target is probably inside already."

She looked towards the Highmonian woman. "Any chance the people at the Cathedral will let us in to go after a trespasser?"

Turning back to the jedi: "It might be more prudent to go to the spaceport and wait for her at her ship.

Or we could split up. The two of you go to the Cathedral while I wait at the ship."

“Splitting up would have my preference.” Denari answered at Kial’s suggestion. “If we can’t catch her at the cathedral anymore, that might be our last chance. However, there is also a chance that we can stop her from hurting people and stealing things here, so splitting up allows us to prepare for both scenario’s.”

Mira found the bird feeder was put there specifically for mounts like theirs.

"They will be fine, birds love feed here, they will stay" their ornithologically inclined friend noted to Mira, giving her a smile as she had taken notice Mira shared her own care for the animals.

As they made their way, discussing whether to split up or not, she answered Kial's query "I do not think they object." she explained "Though maybe Church Guard will." the Church Guard were essentially police on Highmons, and quite secular despite their name.

With Denari agreeing with Kials suggestion to split up, the Jedi soon found themselves going in different directions. The two of them would be able to communicate via their comms anyway, so should one party need the aid of the other or spot the target, they could summon the others.

Even better, their guide had one as well, she'd be able to guide Kial so she would not get lost and get to (and from) the space port quickly should it be required.

--

With Vath'Teman's help, Kial quickly made her way to the space port, using the information she was sent to quickly find the bay where the Polecat was parked. Rushing through the port, she found the vessel was still there, which was a good sign, and nobody appeared to be in or near it, though it was likely there would at least be an astromech inside.

The Polecat was definitely smaller than the Alula, and looked like a personal vessel for a single person on the road a lot. Being a military commander and having had military training, Kial also recognized the vessel had been modded, with ship blasters added on the wing tips and an auto turret on the bottom of the ship, set between the landing gear. The hyperdrive had not had significant modifications, so in a pinch they could give chase with the Alula.

--

Meanwhile, Mira and Denari made their way with Vath'Teman to the Blue Cathedral, through a small alley and around two large gothic buildings - fortunately, Vath'Teman knew the way.

The Blue Cathedral was a magnificent building, standing out amongst the rest of the buildings despite the similar architectural style. The entire building was lit up in blue, with magnificent patterns of color on the outside to illuminate the building like a medieval manuscript, elegantly curved lines of gold around sapphire blue stone.

Outside the building though, several Church Guard officers were activating a holographic police line to cordon off the area. They could see two medics taking care of someone behind a hover-ambulance though it was hard to see from here exactly what the injuries were.

"No entry, the perpetrator is still in there, wait until security forces arrive." one of the officers told a curious bystander.

Havic indeed.

Kial slowly approached the Polecat from the side, weary of the auto turret. Other then that she wasn't very impressed by the ships armament. Sure the ship might be more heavily armed then most vessels this size, but Kial was used to warships and starfighters.

Once she got closer she looked for a way to enter the ship. If the ship was locked, Kial would try to climb on top of the vessel and use her lightsaber there to force entry.

*Kial found that the Polecat had an entry hatch at the back which could raise or lower to allow people or cargo to get in. Currently it was closed in the up position, and it could be opened by a remote control that was unlikely to be anywhere near here - the owner probably had it with them.

Climbing on top would not be too hard. Though Kial lacked the power to Force Jump, she was nimble enough to grab the edge of the wing, climb up and make her way to the top, or alternatively she could use the second story balcony - used for disembarking by certain larger vessels - and jump down on top of the Polecat.

As she approached though, she noticed lights on the outside and a soft beep coming from the vessel - much like a car alarm, it appeared the vessel had taken notice it was being approached and it was bleeping to warn any would be vandals or thieves that it had alarms set.

If she continued to approach, the vessels alarm system would likely trigger, alerting the owner, but also risking activation of the vessels automated defenses.*

Denari approached the officer that had said the culprit was still inside.

“Excuse me, we are from the Jedi order on Unity,” indicating herself and Mira, “and we are investigating thefts of ancient artifacts and related murders. We believe the culprit inside is the person we are looking for. She is very dangerous. How can we assist in catching her?”

The officer seemed unsure a moment, neither Denari nor Mira had the appearance of old and wise Jedi sages, but they did seem to carry lightsabers, the most notable attribute of the Jedi.

"Is true" Vath'Teman confirmed "They are Jedi, here to stop the bad people"

The officer hesitated a moment longer but then nodded.

"If you want to go in after them, I won't stand in your way. But be weary, whomever is in there cut off someone's arm and may have done worse." he warned. "Also, there may still be clergy and such hiding in there, so check your targets."

Clearly the man had some military experience which echoed into the lingo, though since that was Kial's expertise, it did not help Denari or Mira

(( This time it seems it is I who has lost a frequent posting schedule T.T But I'm back ))

A thousand questions were starting to rise up in Mira, but this time she managed to keep focused on the task at hand, which is getting inside and stop the person from doing harm.

"?? Check your...?... wait no, let us go inside."

"Denari, do we have a plan?"

"The irony of thieves." Kial commented to herself after she noticed the alarm system. She backed off slowly.

Anyone that thought that this meant Kial had given up, clearly neither knew the Chiss woman nor had any understanding of her personality. The Military Caste did not teach surrender in any form and Kial was a good student.

She headed for the balcony. The turret being under the Polecat, it would not be able to shoot above the ship.

From the balcony Kial jumped on top of the Polecat. As soon as her feet were on the ships topside, she would grab her handy doormaker. More commonly known as a lightsaber. And try to cut a hole in the ships hull large enough for her to enter through.

Denari was not entirely sure what the officer’s words meant, but she guessed he meant not to hurt people indiscriminately, as not everyone had been evacuated. Not that attacking first and asking questions later was her style anyhow.

“Plan? Well, let’s find the intruder first, then catch her, or at least make sure she won’t hurt anyone else, and see what we do from there.”

She then turned back to the officer. “Do you know where the intruder is in the building or was last sighted, approximately? Or can you point us to someone who knows?”

If no-one knew Denari intended to just go in and let the Force, or the blood trail, guide her.

"I am unsure, but she went in through the front door, attacking the guards when they wanted to check her for weapons." he pointed. That wasn't very helpful, but Denari's plan of following the Force - or blood trails - was a decent enough plan.

As the heroes headed inside, they found the building was quite beautiful, and very, very blue. No doubt there were some subtleties in the hues which were more apparent to the frequencies of light Highmonians were used to as well, though that detail was lost on the heroes, if it was there. Even so, the combination of the cyan and cerulean stone and white and blue lighting made it seem almost magical, like water rippling over the walls.

The blue also made a sharp contrast with the red splattering of blood that occasionally showed up, sometimes accompanied with the body of a dead Highmonian.

Denari and Mira also took note of an important detail when they found the body of a particularly large Highmonian priest - his right arm had been cut clean off, and the injury was still glowing where his flesh had been scorched. Though neither hero had medical training, both of them recognized the injury: this looked remarkably like a lightsaber cut.

As the heroes took note, they heard screaming and movement coming from up ahead. A large pair of doors had been opened in that direction, one of them swung open while the other had been lifted off the hinges. Above the door, a sign indicated this was the Cathedral Library, though the large hall of books, data carriers and scribes tables made that reasonably obvious.

Within, they could hear movement, and a zooming sound as something was swung through the air. It was likely whomever was breaking in here was there now, and if they were swinging a lightsaber around, then they were attacking someone, or something!

Meanwhile, Kial was able to jump onto the Polecat, breaking through the ships hull by pushing her lightsaber into the metal. The hull of the vessel was reinforced for space travel, so it took her a bit to cut a hole big enough to jump through, but eventually she made her way inside the ship.

With a klunk, the round hole cut into the roof dropped into the ship, which Kial found to be an absolute pigsty. Papers, clothing and other junk were scattered around the place, half-eaten meal containers, some of which had been sitting there for weeks, cables hanging from the roof. It would take hours to sort out what was and was not important amongst the various junk, though Kial was reasonably sure that was the case for the owner of the vessel as much as herself. How could anyone live like this?

There was indeed a droid inside here, but it was a partially disassembled astronav droid that looked like it could collapse in on itself at any moment. It certainly couldn't move around in this clutter even if it had been fully operational, but with half of its lower gears missing, that wouldn't have been an option even in a clean vessel.

The ships computer and control system were at least in the expected positions, though the computer was covered in a thin layer of grime and a partially turned over box of old electronic parts, while the ships control system was covered in dirty clothes, including a boot and robes on the pilots chair and underwear on the control panel.

Seeing the body with the still glowing wound Padawan Mira suddenly felt nauseous. Sure she had hunted and killed an animal before. But that was out of necessity, for food to survive. This... This was different. How could somebody do such a thing. The young girl suddenly felt like becoming a vegetarian.

Seeing the blood, hearing the lightsaber, the urge to double back or hide somewhere started to creep up. Sure Mira had the mandatory lightsaber training, but going through the motions in an exercise with a controlled and most of al, a safe environment is nothing compared to the realization of facing an actual dangerous fight. She looked nervously around, to crawl under a table and focus on safe and easy force training, yes, that seems very attractive now.

"No..." Mira shook her head, as to get rid of the thoughts. She is a Jedi. A keeper of the peace and the light side. "I am a Jedi." She had to say it to herself!

Mira looked at Denari to see if she was okay. Somehow Mira expected her to be a bastion of serenity and compassion: "Let's go. Somebody is in danger." Mira said to Denari. But deep inside it was more for herself and she hoped that Denari was ready to go before Mira lost her courage.

Kial reserved any judgement about whomever lived here, knowing operatives used any number of methods to seem inconspicuous. Or it could just be a messy person. Whichever it was, was of little concern to Kial right now. She had neither the time nor the equipment to determine it anyway.

Regardless, Kial was quietly grateful she didn't have to touch anything directly, given that she always wore gloves. The smell didn't seem to phase her.

Moving carefully, as to not disturb the scene, she moved to the main control panel. She carefully removed any objects blocking her ability to operate the panel, leaving anything that didn't in its place.

Without sitting down, Kial tried to access the controls. First she tried to disable the security system and/or the weapons. Next she would try to access the ships navigational data and copy it to her datapad. If the navigational data wasn't on the ships computer she would try to access the droid with her datapad.

While Denari could probably not fully appreciate the colors of the Cathedral, she could definitely appreciate the effort the Highmonians had put into making the place beautiful.

As if answering the call for blue, the blue radiant pigment on her cheek sparkled merrily.

For any normal person, it would be quite annoying to have such a light source directly under an eye, but Denari’s connection to the Force had helped her to see for as long as she could remember.

Like Mira, Denari was not very comfortable with the dead bodies either, but they made her even more determined to stop the culprit as soon as she could. Or die trying. At the moment, she

considered the latter to be as likely as the first, in the absence of water and Padawan Valian.

In the library that determination, and the calm that came with it, came in handy. She noticed some of Mira’s internal conflict, from wanting to find a place to hide, to deciding now was not the time for it.

She nodded approvingly. “Let’s do this together.” While keeping eye contact with Mira, she briefly informed Kial over what they had encountered so far, and that they were going to confront their suspect now.

She then turned, lightsaber ready but not activated yet, and started to approach the sound they were hearing. She had enough confidence in her reflexes, to try and see the situation first and then react accordingly.

Mira and Denari moved forward together towards the sound. As they approached, they found a side passage leading towards an alcove where several ancient looking documents were on display.

In the alcove at the end of the passage, so still some distance away, they could see a figure wearing a black cloak wielding a red bladed lightsaber, slashing it into a display cabinet to cut it open and access the artefacts displayed inside. The red light of the blade clashed strongly with the blue from both the Cathedral and Denari's radiant pigment, but they could see only the outline of the figure underneath the cloak.

Apparently, the material from which the display cabinet was made was designed to be sturdy and did not immediately yield its contents to the saber, but the figure was using a technique neither Jedi had seen before to slice an opening using repeated slashes. Jedi were usually taught to push the saber through the material and then cut out the shape, allowing for a more controlled cut, and this new technique seemed much more aggressive.

The cloaked figure wasn't the only person they saw though. Huddled behind a book case near the entrance of the alcove was an older Highmonian woman holding a long cast iron candelabra, apparently waiting for an opportunity to whack the cloaked figure once they came out of the alcove, as her position of cover left her out of the figures view.

Kial found the security system was password protected and though she was a systems operator, she had not had training in slicing into computers, so she was unable to deactivate the systems. That meant the defenses would remain active, and she'd have to be on her guard to exit safely.

However, accessing the navigation data held no such protection, so copying it to her datapad was a much simpler task. A quick cross check revealed that the vessels travels matched up with at least some of the information provided by Captain Tsaa'lu, though Kial would have to go through the logs later to get all the details.

While accessing the system, Kial also found that the same lack of cleanliness applied inside the computers systems, with folders scattered all over the place, and various information remaining accessible, including such things as browser histories, bills from various fast food places and a scattering of cheap match-three and bubble shooter games. The only exception were the holo-communications, the records of which seemed to have been meticulously cleaned. Odd.

The fact that the communications logs had been erased didn't strike Kial as odd at all. To Kial it merely confirmed her suspicions her target was a foreign operative. UPT operative standard procedure was to erase comm data after every communication, then overwrite junk data and erase it again several times. As such she didn't expect to be able to retrieve anything useful from the comms data.

While the confirmation of the Rodian Captains information was nice, it wasn't Kials main goal for looking into the nav data. She was after locations the that weren't in his information. Particularly any points of origin or repeatedly visited locations. But that was something she would look at later.

Right now disabling the external security was her priority... Scratch that, Kial contacted Denari instead.

"Valian to Merelle. Be advised, use extreme caution when engaging the target. Your and Padawan Miras safety takes priority over capture. If she gets away I'll intercept her here. Valian out."

Now her priority was disabling the security system. Seeing as the easy way was out Kial would disable it slightly more permanent. Carefully she moved towards where she was right above the auto turret, or as close to it as possible. She grabbed her lightsaber and stuck it as deep as possible into the floor. Moving it around a bit to do as much damage to the turret below her as possible.

After that she would climb back out through the hole she made in the top. From there she would slice off or through the blasters on the wing tips and any other weapons she could find.

Seeing the Highmonian, the technique the cloaked figure used and keepink Padawan Valian’s instructions in mind, Denari concluded distraction and defense were her top priorities.

At all costs, she wanted to prevent death or injury of the Highmonian woman. Being perceived as a threat to the cloaked figure seemed like an effective method to keep the figure occupied, and the Highmonian at a distance.

Perhaps that would also be enough to make them flee.

She dropped into a defensive stance, activated her lightsaber and shouted: “Hey thief! Stop that!”

The Piraus Crystal in her lightsaber seemed to like the colours of the Cathedral as well, letting the saber manifest itself in a deep blue to purple. Very pretty, but it did not exactly offer much contrast to the surroundings.

It took some time and effort to cut first through the floor, then the cable compartment, and finally the hull of the ship. Kial after all wasn't a Weapons Engineer, let alone a Ships Weapons Engineer, so other then trying to melt her way through and damage the turret, she had no short cuts.

Eventually she'd cut her way through sufficiently - doing a lot of damage to the ship in the process - but it kept her busy for some time, though at least she was able to communicate a message to Denari and Mira in the meanwhile.

Denari meanwhile activated her lightsaber to confront the cloaked figure, with the subtle underlying plan of distracting so as to protect the Highmonian woman.

The figure finished the final slash to open the cabinet, reaching in to take out several items and depositing them in a shoulder bag before turning around and moving towards the heroes. Upon facing the heroes the figure lowered her hood and tossed her cloak behind her, revealing a Togrutan woman with dark red skin and not just the one, but two lightsabers, the second switching on once the cloak was behind her.

With the red light of the two sabers, there almost seemed to be an aura of malice around the figure, as if to mark out the area of danger around her. Denari's blade powered, by the Piraus crystal, and her natural radiant pigments, seemed to fit far better in the surroundings.

Seeing the clash between good and evil made manifest in front of her, the Highmonian woman backed away slightly, holding on to her improvised weapon but seemingly clear that it was probably not a good idea to get in between what was coming.

The whole red aura was very intimidating to Mira, but the idea of using violence was appalling to the young padawan and so, she did not activate her lightsaber yet. Though she had heard enough of the stories of old, of clashes between the light and the dark side, to know that she had to be on the ready. Should her live depend on it, Mira was confident that she could dodge an attack and draw her weapon in time.

Seeing the Woman putting the items in a shoulder bag, Mira felt her objective was clear: get the bag.

"Any bad... force... will only lead to regret." Mira said, hoping she sounded at least a little bit confident. The word aggression was maybe a bit too difficult to think of at the moment.

Though Mira had no intentions to abandon her partner, she stepped a bit to the side to give Denari a bit more space for maneuvering. It incidentally also limited the Tugrota woman her own space of movement without the risk of getting flanked by either padawan, should she choose to attack.

"Don't do stupid... Please."

Content to let Mira do the talking this time, Denari took the space her partner provided and readied herself for defence.

She intended to keep herself and Mira alive, and let the Togrutan woman pass with some, but not too much, resistance.

Her intuition told her to put up some display of a fight, to make sure her opponent would not suspect a trap at the space port, or at least to make her underestimate them. She would however need to be carefull to make sure this did not put her out of the fight entirely.

With Kial having performed a manual override (very technical) of the ships security system, it was time to wait.

Either Denari and Mira would be able to apprehend Tooka on their own, or she would get past them. In which case this was the most likely destination.

Kial wondered if her fellow padawans would chase after Tooka or stay at the temple to help any injured people. The thought crossed her mind the two might not be able to do anything after their encounter. She looked forward to see if they survived. She might have even been a little excited at the thought of testing her skills in a one on one.

Kial sat down on the front of the ship. Tooka was a criminal and needed to answer for her crimes, that much was clear to her. HOW Tooka would answer was less clear to Kial. Killing Tooka was the easiest solution, but it didn't sit right with Kial. Whether it was her time spent with the Jedi or the fact they could get information from Tooka was anyone's guess.

Pondering the question of how to handle Tooka, Kial closed her eyes and started meditating...

Denari stood in the way of woman with Mira off to the side, backing her friend and ready to step in at the right moment.

Suddenly, the Togruta woman darted forward at high speed, lightsabers on either side of her which came in swinging on Denari, who only barely managed to block the blades with her own. There was a surprising amount of force behind the weapons, though the block managed to hold just barely.

The attack was followed up by several wild swings towards Denari from different angles. It was an overwhelming assault, and only by tumbling and flipping backwards was she able to avoid getting sliced up. It was a good thing her tail gave her the maneuverability she needed or this battle would have already been over.

Pushing her back did change the tactical position though, allowing Mira to get into a flanking position behind the woman. It seemed the Togruta thief had completely ignored the risk of that in her attacks, which did little to resemble a planned charge by a skilled combatant as the heroes had seen from the Jedi Masters during training. Rather, the attacks were more like a burst of rage and anger by someone who cared for nothing but to inflict as much damage as possible in as little time as possible. It made her a very dangerous opponent, but also one that could be manipulated.

Even so, Denari was overwhelmed by the burst of aggression, and within moments, the Togruta woman managed to get her foot under her defenses, kicking her with full force in the chest and sending the Opaali Theelin flying backwards, sliding across the smooth stone floor of the library and into a desk.

Only now that her target had been sent backwards did the Togruta woman even seem to take note of Mira, who had swiftly moved in from behind to defend her friend, lightsaber now active to ensure Denari would not get killed.

Seeing that she was now in between two Jedi, and that this was probably not a good tactical position, the Togruta woman took stock of her options. A moment later, she turned towards one of the side exits before Denari could recover and get back up.

Mira didn't hesitate a moment, for as the woman turned around she swung her saber at the fleeing Togruta - or rather, the band of her shoulder bag, slicing clean through it without inflicting injury. It was a surprisingly accurate cut, and Mira was probably glad for the training she had received at the temple.

For a moment, the entire bag seemed to slip, but the Togruta woman grabbed it just in time before it could fall entirely and continued to run. Even so, two decorated metal plates slipped from the bag as she continued to run, leaving the plates behind. Likely, that was part of the the loot from the display case.

Before giving chase though, Mira ensured that Denari was alright, the kick having been quite severe, causing some serious bruising, but the slide over the floor had allowed part of the impact to dissipate, so she could still fight.

Together, the two Padawans could see the woman exiting the Blue Cathedral to the streets outside, easily using a Force Jump to get over a barricade set up by security forces. As per Denari's plan, it seemed she was heading for the space port!

"Denari!" as Mira rushed to her friend, "You okay?" she checked if Denari was okay using what little knowledge she has of Opaali Theelin, or first aid for that matter. Which means, Mira had to go for common sense.

After confirming that Denari is okay, Mira uttered: "Sorry, I failed you."

Mira walked to the two fallen plates on the ground and fetched them from the ground. She looks at it for a moment, quickly studying it, turning it around in her hands, while walking back to the Highmonian woman. "Here, take care of these. We must go. Chase the bad woman."

Meditating calmed Kials excitement. She had come up with an idea as to how to deal with Tooka.

Kial would disarm Tooka. Her lightsaber would immediately cauterise the wound, making it non lethal. The pain and lack of arms would significantly reduce the treat Tooka posed. And prosthetics could replace the lost limbs at a later time if deemed appropriate.

But there was more... Kial could not shake the feeling Tooka was in fact a force user. Considering Tooka's exploits, likely the dark side. This complicated the matter. Kial wasn't sure how the council would react if she brought a dark side user before them. What if Kial offered to bring Tooka back to the light side? Was that even possible?

The longer she meditated on the question the more her resolve crystallized. She would do it. She would bring Tooka before the jedi council and she would convince them she could do it. Though Kial suspected she would need to spend some time to prove she would be able to without being corrupted.

Denari stayed patiently on the floor untill Mira came to check on her. It gave her time to catch her breath and process what had happened.

With a “Thanks” and a few “ouch”es from Denari, Mira was able to confirm she was relatively OK. Apparently Opaali Theelin were quite similar to most other humanoids, bruising a lot and bleeding a little when kicked in the chect by someone stronger and larger.

“I think you did well actually.” Denari countered Mira’s apology. “Thanks to you, she did flee, rather than kill me, we recovered those two,” pointing at the plates in the floor, “and she’ll probably still have that bag in her hand when she runs into Padawan Valian. Not ideal for a two-handed style, I think.”

As Mira went to hand back the items, Denari contacted Kial:

“Be advised, our opponent is a Togrutan woman and is headed towards the space port. She uses two light sabers, her style is swift and aggressive, not very tactical, but more than sufficient to keep me on the defensive. From the jump she made, definitely a Force user. Items she stole are in a shoulder bag with a cut shoulder band.

“We need to check on a witness real quick and then we’re on our way to support you.”

Before they left, she quickly wanted to ask what the items were that were stolen, and if the rest was useful without the two here.

"Acknowledged."

The calm sounding, single word reply was all Denari got from Kial.

"I cannot say how important or useful they are to her, though they are valued artifacts for us" the Highmonian woman noted "She seemed to have known what items to look for, as she did not take everything, nor did she take the most valuable ones." the woman noted. "That suggests this wasn't just a robbery for money and that she knew what she was taking, so I am guessing maybe she works for a collector."

After explaining her insights, the woman looked between the two Jedi "Go now, I am alright, and your friend will need your help"

Kial meanwhile heard footsteps approaching. Opening her eyes from her meditation, she saw the Togruta woman entering the landing area of her vessel, some foul cursing plainly audible as the woman noticed the damage that had been done to her ship. Like most vessels, it would not get very far with a large hole in the hull, though it seemed that it was less the change in strategy that would be required and more the audacity of the act that had set her off.

As Kial stepped in to confront her, the woman roared in anger, her fury so overpowering her reason that rather than make a coherent sentence, it was more of a scream incorporating several curses and insults as well as an accusation of vandalism.

"Frackingbitchvandalstupidfrack!"

Clearly a debate would not be a viable strategy and instead the Togruta woman grabbed a lightsaber with her free hand and charged towards Kial. Within moments, she let the bag slip from her grasp, the other hand joining the blade for a very powerful strike intended to cut the target of her rancor in half!

Kial remained her usual calm self under the outburst of her opponent. Her lightsaber already in hand and active when the Togruta woman started her charge.

She simply stood there. Unmoving. Unflinching. Unyieldingly staring down her opponent as she was being charged in seemingly blind rage.

It wasn't until the Togruta woman was only a few steps away from Kial that the Chiss woman moved. Rather than block or try to dodge, Kial stepped forward. Stabbing forward with her arm stretched. Her full weight behind the purple glowing tip of her lightsaber. Her timing precise so her opponent wouldn't have any choice but break the charge or be impaled.

Kial would then close in further and launch a flurry of quick precise attacks trying to keep her opponent on the back foot. Her offence was her defence. This wasn't something she could hold for long. If she found an opening Kial would immediately strike. Aiming at the Togruta woman's shoulders to remove her arms...

Seeing that Padawan Valian seemed to know what she was doing, Denari went for the bag instead. It seemed Tooka’s primary objective on Highmons, so it could probably be used to trick or distract her, if need be.

Denari planned to hide it somewhere just out of sight, or if it could not be done quickly, drop it somewhere where Denari or Mira would be in between Tooka and the bag.

If time allowed, she wanted to take a quick look or feel inside, and grab something that felt particularly wrong or right, or else something random, to hide on her person. She let the force guide her hand.

All this had to be done quickly and preferably before Tooka could strike her in two, so she could help her fellow Padawan with their opponent.

Mira realized that, when it comes to fighting power, she stood no chance. However she had other talents and it was time for her to utilize her strong suit.

When she and Denari reached the ship, the situation appeared pretty clear: The woman attacking Kial, Kial holding her own... kinda... and the bag a little distance away on the ground. But it looked like Kial couldn't hold on forever.

Given the blind fury of the Togruta woman, Mira most likely had a chance of a surprise attack. So this was her plan: Most liveforms based a lot of their vision on movement. That is way prey tried to stay as till as possible, and hunters try to make their pray move. If Denari would go for the bag, then this new movement would most likely attract the attention of the togruta. Therefore, Mira had to distract the togruta before Denari could make her move. Jumping in the fight would therefore not work. Instead Mira tried something else:

Staying in cover, Using the force, Mira lifted a nice medium sized throw-able object, a stone, wrench, spare part or something, opposite from where the bag was lying. Then the young padawan threw it towards the togruta woman, letting the force guide her timing and aim. Immediately She force-grabbed the next item, throwing object after object, giving the attacker a constant extra danger to look out for.

Kial put her full weight behind her saber, setting it against the charge to force the Togruta woman to break off, though she found to her shock that the woman appeared to have almost no care at all for her own safety and continued her attack regardless.

Tooka angrily slashed to shift the awaiting purple blade to the side and continue on, and though that was exactly what Kial had set against, she was surprised by the amount of power behind the strike, which shifted it enough to the side to not impale the woman completely.

Despite of that, the purple blade still sliced through the womans clothing and singed her flesh, burning part of her flank as the scent of sizzling flesh filled the air. The counter had had enough force so the woman wasn't impaled through her chest, but she had still been injured.

In exchange for the wound, the woman managed to slam her full body weight into Kial, ramming her shoulder into her opponent, slamming the air out of her and forcing her back. Even so, Kial did not flinch or yield, sliding back from the blow but keeping control and swiftly retaliating with a series of quick precise attacks before her opponent could recover from the crash between them.

Denari and Mira entered just then to a battle between order and chaos - Kial standing tall, perfectly in control of herself, each motion a finely choreographed display of elegant precision and speed, battling against an opponent overcome by rancor but clearly of superior physical strength. The Togruta woman's raw power and aggression was terrifying to behold, and Kial was forced to continuously shift position to avoid being overwhelmed.

Mira immediately acted, using Telekinesis to launch whatever was available at the woman. The Khawchaxlk's skill with the Force Power allowing her to throw them in such a way that it would disrupt the Togruta without risking harm to Kial. First the contents of a crate, then the remnants of she ship which Kial had cut off flying towards the Togruta, anything she could get her hands, or rather, the Force on.

The Togruta woman had to dodge incoming projectiles left and right, sent in from all directions some of them managing to hit her, others dodged or deflected. It was certainly adding to the chaos on her side.

Denari in the meanwhile had moved for the bag, taking the opportunity Mira was providing to not immediately be noticed by Tooka, so she was able to sneak one of the items, a crystal with tiny inscribings, and slip it onto her person. It felt like that was the correct item to take.

With all the added chaos, Kial was able to gain a bit more control of where she was shifting to, eventually maneuvering herself to a spot where Mira and Denari could aid her more directly. Here the Jedi training showed true, each shift to dodge by Kial, each flying object from Mira and Denari moving the objective all coordinating to set a trap for the Togruta woman, who in her rage, while she had now noticed Denari, seemed unaware of the higher level tactical maneuvering that the Jedi were performing.

Soon, the trap was sprung, as all Jedi activated their sabers - for as far as they hadn't been already - cornering the woman. Behind her there was now only a wall, the plaform above it extending out too far to jump up to it, as the three Jedi blocked the way out. Even the objective was out of reach now.

Then suddenly the woman pushed forward, as Kial moved to strike to her shoulder, impaling herself on Kials blade as it came out through her scapula on the other side, slicing off the arm. It hadn't been a failed defense, the woman had deliberately let herself be impaled, it seemed, as she fell to the ground from the massive trauma of the attack... yet despite her injury she had a look on her face as if she had just been victorious.

It soon became clear why, for the disabling of the Togruta woman had not come without cost. As she collapsed to the ground from her injury, the red lightsaber withdrew from Kial's right leg, which had been pierced through to the other side, causing the Chiss woman to collapse as well!

Willing to take a hit to make a hit. The similarities between Tooka and herself were shocking to Kial. So much so, that it took until her legs gave out that she noticed the pain.

Her lightsaber fell as she clutched at her leg. A long, pained grunt escaped between her clenched teeth. The hole in her leg setting her nerves ablaze, blocking out everything else from her mind. At least..., it would have. Had Kial and pain not been old friends.

She opened her clenched eyes. A hardened look focussed on a point in front of her. Sharp, deep breaths could be heard from her as her face became damp with sweat. Adrenaline pumping through her veins. Pain was good. Pain meant she was alive.

"Mira, grab my sabre and police her for weapons." The orders came through clenched teeth, but didn't allow any questioning.

"Denari, go get someone to give her medical attention." At 'her' Kial pointed at Tooka.

"NOW!"

Whether it was the pain talking or her mind falling back on the military training from her childhood was anyone's guess.

Denari’s medical training didn’t go much further than applying band aids on finger cuts and in case of severe bleeding: make them put pressure on the wound and go get help and do as the doctor says.

‘Help’ and ‘doctor’ had been her family and father more than once growing up, so she was already moving at ‘go’.

In absence of her family, someone else would have to do however. As she darted off, she took note of any sign to indicate the location of the patients, other than the ships name. ‘Pole cat’ was it?

Denari if she could not find anyone who looked like they could be familiar in the area, she would follow signs that indicated a first aid post, or a place where people worked.

As soon as she found someone, she explained there were 2 severely injured women and asked where she could find medical help for them quickly.

Obviously, she would not politely wait for that person to finish what they were doing at the moment she encountered them…

Though Mira had no idea what 'policing for weapons' meant, her survival skills in the wilderness were kicking in: First secure your own safety, then secure the environment, then secure your friends. For if you nor your environment are not safe, you cannot help your friends.

Therefore, noticing how Kial could speak, her condition should not as bad as the one from the togrutan woman. "Kial, keep talking to me," Mira said, so she could hear changes in Kial her situation. It was something she heard back in her home village, wounded people had to keep talking. "Talk about food, I don't care. Keep talking."

Mira walked to Tooka. First she removed the lightsabers and any other visible weapons the collapsed opponent could use. Then Mira quickly checked for a pulse but didn't bother too much, for she had no idea if she could find one. Then Mira looked for a rope or something to tie Tooka's legs and she lied something on top of the legs that should make a noise if the woman should move.

Not hearing cries for help from Denari, Mira started to shout for help herself while seeing if she could do something for Kial: "HELP! A DOCTOR PLEASE!"

As the adrenaline started numbing the pain slightly, Kial afforded herself a glance at the wound. Her eyes quickly shot back to their previous point of focus. They had, however, seen enough...

Tooka's lightsaber had vaporised the volume of tissue it had occupied. It had instantly cauterized the surrounding wound. This prevented bleeding out and infection to a point. The great advantage of a lightsaber from a jedi's point of view. At least when used to cut. This was not a cut.

The charring around the hole, the cooked flesh and bone around that. The heat damage around that. Kial was more familiar with burns then most, courtesy of her accident on the Mother of Invention, and what she knew told her only one thing...

"Fuck..."

The curse was quiet, more regretful then anything else. With both her jedi and military training, Kial had enough mental fortitude to pull her mind past the pain, now that it was subsiding a little. Not that the wound itself hurt. There weren't any nerves left to send pain signals to her brain the surrounding nerves, however, were keenly aware of both the burn and the missing tissue.

"I'll be fine, Mira" Kial responded to the girl, no longer sounding strained, but rather having a an almost sad, resigned tone. As if to demonstrate her point Kial slowly and carefully sat up. Making an effort to move her leg as little as possible.

Once she was upright, Kial would try to meditate in an attempt to brace herself for when the adrenaline would stop numbing the pain.

Denari darted off, rushing out of the hangar bay and noting the bay number - that would also help her find her way back quicker.

As it turned out, the space port had a first aid station which was manned by a Hutt wearing a nurse cap - at first she seemed rather disinterested in Denari, but 'severely injured' seemed to be magic words, and the Hutt pressed a button on its control panel.

Within moments, a medical droid came out of a storage cabinet.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency"

The droid inquired.

"Go with this one, she brought two injured people on her ship" the Hutt nurse explained, obviously not having listened to Denari's explanation up until the magic words. Fortunately, that didn't matter as the droid moved to follow Denari back to the landing bay.

Mira meanwhile had secured the scene, taking control of the weapons while ensuring Tooka would not be able to escape unnoticed. Not that she was likely able to do much with her missing arm.

As Mira secured the scene, the Chiss woman found it quite difficult to focus, and while sitting up was an option, moving her right leg was just way too painful to manage, even under the adrenaline, so her meditation form was... awkward at best which did not help.

Even so, Kial was a tough one and kept her wits about her, talking to Mira a welcome distraction from the pain of her injury and after securing and Mira was able to help her find a better position once the scene had been secured. By that point though, Kial found herself slowly slipping out of consciousness, as sounds seemed more distant. She was reasonably sure that was just the pain though and she wasn't actually dying right then.

At that point, and following Mira's call though, Denari and the medical droid returned. The droid immediately began assessing the situation, starting with stabilizing the patients.

"These injuries are serious. Please remain calm." the droid informed them "Once I have stabilized you, you will require treatment in a Bacta tank." it added to Kial, not bothering to explain treatment options to Tooka since she was unconscious.

Fortunately, the medical droid at least appeared to know what it was doing and the Hutt nurse had sent word to the local hospital to prepare to receive patients. It would take a moment for an ambulance to arrive as many were occupied with the mess left at the Blue Cathedral, but with the droid here to stabilize things, they would be able to hold out that long.

“How are you holding up?” Denari asked Kial after the drone had stabilized the situation. “Do we need to call anyone else for you?”

After that, and while waiting for the ambulance, Denari picked up the bag, lightsabers and anything else that seemed unwise to leave laying around when they left.

She wanted to search the ship for the other stolen artifacts, but that would have to wait. The ship didn’t seem like it was going anywhere anytime soon, and hopefully Tooka hadn’t called anyone to secure them in case something happened to her. Denari did not want a repetition of the Blue Cathedral in terms of people getting in harms way, so she did not ask for anyone to guard the ship.

Once they were at the hospital, with both patients safely in Bacta tanks, Denari would call Vath’Teman and ask her to tell the officers at the Blue Cathedral that they had been able to apprehend the culprit and recover the stolen artifacts.

Despite the haze of starting to lose consciousness, Kial managed to hear the droid and Denari. She needed to respond, but her vision was fading. She had to fight it. She had to stay awake, to inform them...

A new wave of pain brought her back from the edge of unconsciousness. Her hand squeezing the wound.

"No bacta." As strained as her voice was, it could clearly be heard. "Call Thanda."

"Left pocket. Show droid, medics."

Kial's voice was getting more strained. She managed to pull the top of a card of some kind out of her left chest pocket.

That exertion was the last drop. With one last thing escaping her lips, Kial toppled over and slipped into unconsciousness.

"No bacta."

The card in her pocket would tell the droid and any other medical personnel that she was military personnel. It would specify that any medical treatment, with the sole exception being emergency treatment, had to be done at an appropriate military facility. It also said how to contact an appropriate military facility.

Given the urgency with which Kial communicated her last request, and having seen the extent of Kial’s previous ‘repairs’, Denari knew she had better do as told.

She followed the contact instructions and explained Kials identity, their location and the current situation -Padawan Valian unconscious from heavily bleeding from a leg wound- as clearly and quickly as possible.

After finding out what kind of emergency treatment was allowed, she would do everything in her power to make sure the medical personnel here understood and applied that and not the Bacta Tank.

Kial wasn't bleeding at all. The person on the other side of Denari's call did not know this.

Regardless, the person explained that local civilian medical personnel were allowed to perform whatever treatment was needed to stop Kial from dying. Beyond that, aside from necessary painkillers, nothing other then monitoring and basic care was allowed. The matter of fact tone of the person seemed to indicate this wasn't specifically for Kial. Nothing was specified about bacta.

Denari was told a medical shuttle would be dispatched to pickup Kial, but that it would take some time for it to get there. She could just show the card she had gotten the contact information from to the local medical personnel and they would understand. (( The card is like a medical passport. ))

Vath'Teman followed Denari's instructions to inform the authorities about the captive while the medical droid stabilized Kial, and soon additional aid arrived, a local hospital taking Kial in temporarily. The doctors there seemed to think it odd that Kial did not want to be taken to a Bacta tank, but since Denari was absolutely adamant that her wishes be respected, they refrained from putting the blue girl in a tank. Even so, they had to keep her sedated to ensure she did not suffer too badly and her injuries did not worsen.

After contacting Thanda, it was soon determined that there was a problem: there were no appropriate military vessels in the area, and Thanda itself was pretty far, so transporting Kial there was out of the question.

Fortunately, there was a solution.

Kial awoke on board a strange vessel, the scent of cleaning agents in the air.

"You're finally awake."

Much to Kials relief, she was not floating in a bacta tank, but was instead being treated by a Chiss doctor. Denari and Mira were already there.

"I am doctor Ralof. You are on the hospital ship 'Heart of Unity'. We were in the area for a test flight when the call came and are equipped by the latest Thandan standards. And since the ship hasn't officially been launched yet, it is still under Thandan Military command." he explained, giving a knowing look to Kial, given what she had likely been concerned about.

"Though you will have to forgive the infestation of Caelaran nurses. We picked up a whole contingent of them and they are uh... still settling in." he shrugged "At least they've stopped using the food dispensers as a place to set up their shrines. They are a superstitious lot."

Tooka had been brought up as well, with a contingent of extra guards and security and was being treated in a different part of the ship.

(( This is going a little too fast for me. What happened to Tooka’s ship? Or how much time has passed? When transfer to appropriate facilities has been initiated, Denari trusts the patients were getting appropriate care and would prioritize searching the ship for the stolen artifacts over waiting for Kial to wake up. ))

Kial visibly relaxed, both from hearing she was in a military hospital and being on the, for her, familiar environment of a starship.

"Special Operative Commander Kial Valian, Unity Defence Detachment."

The neutral tone of Kials introduction belied the bombshell she just dropped. The UDD was made up of some of the best and brightest the Military Caste had to offer. On top of that being one of fewer than fifteen SOs, who report directly to Senior Staff, in the UPT. Though she didn't consider herself anything special, Kial was quite high in status within the UPT.

If any of her fellow jedi, or anyone else, were present Kial would politely ask them to leave so she could talk to the doctor in private.

"I don't suppose there's a chance I get to keep my leg..."

Considering the doctor hadn't mentioned his rank and civilian doctors were practically non-existent on Thanda, Kial kept her tone more resigned then anything else.

(( Apologies, I got a bit overexcited and skipped ahead too fast! Let me scroll back and see if I can stitch things back together ^_^ ))

*Denari stayed with Kial while the Medical droid stabilized, two hover-ambulances eventually arriving to take both Kial and Tooka to a nearby medical facility before they'd be transferred to the hospital ship, arrangements made while they waited.

Within an hour, Denari was sure the arrangements had been made and the medical staff would respect Kial's wishes, so she was able to check out the now rather damaged ship Tooka had arrived in.

The ship was a mess, and not just from the damage Kial had done, so trying to find anything was a Herculian task - and there was some argument to be made that it was a biohazard, considering the decaying leftovers in various places, though in reality it was mostly just disgusting.

Besides the artifacts that Tooka had taken from the Blue Cathedral - which had already been secured - Denari was able to find several other objects that were clearly historic artifacts amongst the junk. It definitely wasn't all of the stolen artifacts, but mostly ones that were recently taken. And quite possibly one or two that Tooka had lost amongst the junk. The archeologist in her would likely cringe at the way they had been tossed into a corner, some with other junk piled on top.

The lack in organization and care for the artifacts themselves seemed to contrast sharply with the level of interest that was taken in the information from the artifacts themselves. Amongst the mess, Denari found collections of images and data, scattered about on datapads and other physical media, which covered the entirety of the set of stolen artifacts, plus a decent number more which she hadn't been aware of had disappeared. While Tooka clearly had very little care for the preservation of the artifacts themselves, she had detailed, if chaotic record keeping.

Tooka's efforts seemed focused on the information they contained, as evidenced by the images. Though it wasn't said explicitly, Denari was reasonably sure that Tooka had been looking for something specific amongst the artifacts, besides merely putting the path of the Miriali Route together (though that had also been part of the efforts it seemed).

The datapads contained an additional important fact: apparently, there was a place known as 'stash' which was where Tooka had been storing the artifacts in between runs - likely cross referencing with Kial's download of the ships navigation data would be helpful.

Before Denari could get that done though, she would be contacted by the hospital ship that Kial had been cared for and would soon be waking up. They hadn't wasted any time it seemed - UPT military efficiency no doubt.

After discussing with Highmonian security - which was very accommodating now that the culprit of the Blue Cathedral attack had been apprehended by the Jedi - she was able to catch a ride to the hospital ship. Highmonian security agreed to keep the damaged vessel secured, in case the Jedi wanted to do more research. And if Denari agreed, they would also send the artifacts recovered so far to their rightful owner in a proper way.

(( That should put things back together, I think? If not, don't hesitate to speak up and let me know! ))

(( Sorry for my inactivity, due to business I was stuck in an 'I will post tomorrow' loop ))

Mira did not understand Kial at all regarding her wish for no bacta, but a wish is a wish so she honored it.

Mira ensured that she could do something to help with the aftermath. Undoubtedly she couldn´t do much, not the slightest because of the language barriers.

Once she was no longer of help to the authorities, Mira studied the artefacts Tooka was interested in and took notes.

She wanted to be able to pursue the Merian Odyssey at a later time.

As soon as Kial was awake and ready for transport again. It seemed time to return to the Jedi Temple. They had stopped and even captured Tooka, secured the artefacts and got some clues on the Merian Odyssey. In Mira's eyes, the three padawan did what they could.

(( Thanks for stitching it back together! Also apologies for the slow reply. Life has has a habit of getting very hectic for a while, without much warning. ))

Denari wasn’t too concerned over falling ill because of the mess, her health was generally pretty good and she knew how to take care of herself, so she would recover swiftly if she got sick.

She therefore persevered in thoroughly combing the ship for the artifacts and data carriers.

Denari was impressed at the research Tooka had done. She seemed to have some innate talent for it. It seemed to be in sharp contrast to her fighting style, so Denari wondered what kind of guidance Tooka had had in her life so far.

With the data carriers in the care of Mira, Denari made the arrangements with Highmonian security to return the artifacts. She also made a list of the recovered items to give to Professor Wal’ton when they returned to Unity.

Just before leaving to regroup on the hospital ship, Denari remembered the crystal she had separated from the rest of the Highmonian loot. While she did feel like studying it, she had promised, at least to herself, to make sure all stolen artifacts were returned. So she did.

After they arrived on the ship and heard Padawan Valian was still talking to the doctor in private, Denari went to check on Tooka.

Despite, or perhaps also because, of her injuries and knowledge of what Tooka had done, she wanted to understand who Tooka was. Perhaps their shared interest in the past would offer an opening.

If Tooka was conscious, or came too, Denari would say: “I’m seriously impressed by the quality of your research of the artifacts. Not many people are capable of that…”

"The Heart of Unity is equiped with state of the art medical equipment. It offers the best chance you could have, and we will do what can be done to save your leg. Though you should prepare yourself for a bad outcome, Special Operative Commander" Doctor Ralof noted to Kial. "You are in good hands and we will do all we can."

Mira was able to study the artefacts they had found, and the data about them that had been recovered. Once they had returned to the temple, she'd have time to put it all together, and maybe even trace the Merian Odyssey herself!

Denari made arrangements for the artifacts, including the crystal, and the lists to be sent to the proper people, including Professor Wal'ton. Once she had, she moved to meet with Tooka, who was quite seriously injured.

Unlike Kial, Tooka had made no protestations against Bacta, and was floating in a tank with a breathing mask over her face, though she could be spoken to through the transmitter at the panel. The doctors had noted that Denari could only talk with her for a short while, and not aggravate her too much.

"If those idiots had just done as I asked, I would have already been gone and none of this would have happened" she noted, giving a sneer at the mention of no doubt a group of criminals who had either refused or failed to do this mission on her behalf, forcing her to go in on her own and run into the Jedi.

"Master will come for me!" she warned "The Malachor Kilnus will never be yours!" she slammed her fist against the glass, hissing at Denari angrily

The panel at the base of the Bacta tank began beeping, protesting against Tooka moving around so angrily and getting worked up. It was probably best not to push too much at this time.

Even so, in those few sentences, Denari had gotten a decent amount of information. Clearly Tooka had had guidance from this figure whom she referred to as her master. And from this interaction and the previous ones, she was very quick to jump to rancorish anger. If that had been the guidance her master had offered, combined with the fact that she had wielded lightsabers and used the Force... It gave a very unsettling feeling to Denari.

Even so, Denari could sense that there was more to the girl than just the facade of anger she used as her mask to try and keep her true self hidden. And the call that 'her master would come for her' seemed less of a warning to Denari and much more of an attempt to reassure herself.

Denari was, in conclusion, reasonably sure that she could get Tooka to talk. She just needed to give her a bit of time to accept the new reality of her situation. Perhaps it was wise to talk to the Jedi Masters first.

Kial gave the doctor a curious look at the strange method he used to address her. However she decided to remain quiet about it.

"Just make it quick, doc. I would like to be back to operational status as soon as possible."

She left the rest to the doctors. She made peace with her situation long ago. Her feelings told her she would lose the leg. Regardless of what the doctors said. Only time would tell which was right.

As Tooka grew upset, Denari took a step back, cocked her head and made a face that expressed wonder, as if Tooka’s reaction was the weirdest thing ever.

“I just wanted to give you the compliment, not upset or offend…

I think I’d better leave for now, so that you can rest and heal.”

Before she went out through the door, she turned to Tooka a final time, saying: “I sincerely hope you have someone that cares enough for you to come. Everyone deserves someone like that.”

After that, Denari regrouped with the others and agreed to return to Unity to report to the Masters as soon as Padawan Valian’s condition would allow.

As they left Highmons, Denari noticed a pang of sadness inside herself. To leave a planet which was so wild and alive again, was not easy for her. She’d have to talk to the Masters about that.

(( I have not really anything to roleplay at the moment. Moving back to the jedi Temple suits me. ))

After finishing their affairs on and near Highmons, the heroes made their way back towards Unity, conveniently being able to travel with the Heart of Unity, its test flight taking it past there anyway.

During the flight, care for Kial continued, though once all was said and done, Doctor Ralof had some bad news, which he explained to Mira and Denari after discussing it with Kial:

"We have managed to save Padawan Kial from her injuries. Without Bacta, however, there were some limits as to what we were able to do, and in the end, unfortunately, we were unable to save her leg." he explained. "With cybernetic prosthetics though, she'll be able to return to her regular duties. The field has become quite advanced, so while it will take some getting used to, we are confident she will not suffer too greatly as a result."

Kial seemed to have taken the news quite well, having already expected it, it seemed.

Once they had arrived in the Unity system, the Alula disembarked from the Heart of Unity and returned to the Jedi temple.

"Welcome back, young Padawans" Master Crular greeted them once they had had a chance to disembark. There was some concern in his voice, seeing as what happened. He looked at the heroes "Much healing to be done, after this mission."

That was both in reference to Kial, and to Tooka, who had been brought to Unity as well.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?"

Kial was limping along with the help of a crutch. Though her new prosthetic leg was working fine, she was still getting used to it. Even so her recovery was proceeding very fast.

She told Master Crular what had happened, what she didn't mention was her own injuries.

After giving her fellow padawans a chance to add anything, Kial hesitated. It was clear she wanted to say something. After a long silence, she finally did.

"Master, I would like to request Tooka be held here at the Temple. I would also like to talk to her, if possible."

Padawan Mira also had a request of her own: "Master, The Merill Odysee looks important for old Jedi. I like to study this route. I have collected many sources. So one day I will follow the old Masters maybe. See why this route was important."

Padawan Denari backed up Padawan Valians request to be held at the Temple. “From the words I exchanged with her on the Heart of Unity, I suspect the lack of caring guidance played a large role in the behavioural patterns she developed. It might not be too late to teach her other ways to interact with the world.”

After the briefing had finished, Denari stayed a little longer to talk to Master Crular.

“Our travels over Highmons reminded me how I used to live before Unity, the connection to nature that has always been so obvious I hardly realised it was there. Initialy I thought it was distant or absent on Unity, but thinking about our previous missions, I realized it is not. It is different. More volatile perhaps, but life is still connected and will converge to something. I’m considering to declare the Living Force as my philosophy…”

Master Crular nodded at Kial and Denari's request to have Tooka stay at the Temple. "It seems that the Force guides both of you independently to suggest we take her in. Perhaps there is something you have felt in the Force that suggests the Temple may be able to offer some level of spiritual healing...?" he pondered "I will discuss your request with the rest of the Jedi Council."

He then took some time to consider Denari's realization that she was considering the Living Force.

"It seems to me a natural connection" he smiled warmly to Denari "I recognize much of Master Dhahlee in you... when she was younger." he pondered a moment "I will ask her to speak with you." he noted, giving her a nod of encouragement.

Finally, he turned to Mira. "This route does seem to come up. Perhaps the Force is trying to tell us something. I think it may soon be time that we put this all together and find out why..."