Memento Mori

[Jiang Winters]

Tython
Jedi Temple
1345 Hours

[skip down a bit to get to the meat and potatoes. open to jedi. pm me with questions. thanks!]

"Memento mori, Master Delun. Memento mori."​

Delun's ears flattened to his skull as his AI spoke. Memento mori - 'You will die', or 'Remember your mortality', depending upon how you took it. A harsh, but necessary, reminder of Delun's vulnerability. Of the weakness of blood and flesh, and the terrible strength of fire and steel.

He sighed quietly, ran his gauntlet-clad paws over the top of his head. "I know, Dex."

"Oh really? Ordinarily I'd make a witty remark about your stereotypical feline curiosity, but as you seem genuinely determined to commit suicide by Jedi horde, I'm actually worried for once. Pray tell, master; why a trip to Tython? Why now? You don't need me to remind you that you just got done blowing a hole in the sodding temple walls!"

"You know why." The answer was unusually cryptic for Delun, perhaps even out of character! He typically went to great lengths to explain his reasoning. Dex picked up on the inconsistency almost instantly.

"No, I do not," the AI complained, "This has something to do with that Fuyu business, doesn't it? You've been obsessed with the Battlemaster ever since you were last here. Records pulled, data analyzed; you've searched for next of kin, for homeworld, and for what? Because a dinky Alliance computer mistook you for him?"

"It was a genetic scanner, Dex. A seventy percent match. Siblings. I know it. I feel it. His death - when he died, the day he died, I had nightmares. There's a connection there, I know it. I know it! And I need to know why. I need answers, Dex. I need answers, and the Jedi have them. One way or another, I'll get them."

"Even if it kills you?"​

Delun paused. "Yes," he replied, hesitantly. "Because I don't know who I am. Delun is just a name - I've been clinging to it because I have nothing else to cling to. It's who I am now, but not who I was. The person I used to be, the person who knew Daisuke... That's who I want to know. I want to find myself. I need to find myself. And this is the closest I've ever been to getting answers. It's an oppurtunity, Dex. A valuable one. I may never get this sort of chance again - I'd be an idiot to pass it up. It's worth the risk. It's worth any risk."

"A hollow life is a life not worth living," Dex murmured thoughtfully. "I, too, would not wish to lose my memory, though as an AI I'm incapable of understanding the psychological implications it must have for you. Now that I know your reasoning, you have my support. You could have taken it anyways, but... You have it, and that's that, Delun."

The feline finished suiting up in Exodus - a suit of power armor, which he had built himself. "Thanks."

"You can thank me by returning to me alive. I'd be grateful if I didn't have to find another new owner, and don't you dare think of giving me to that madman, Christian Noble! I might have to fly straight into a sun if he ends up in possession of me!"

The remark brightened Delun's mood, if only by a small degree. He chuckled softly and shook his head. "I'll do what I can, Dex," he replied with a soft purr. The feline pulled his helmet on and sealed it to the armored collar of his battledress, then brought all systems online and ran a quick check.

Spoiler: TechBluh.

For this particular venture, Delun had chosen to shed his shoulder weapons; bringing them screamed violence and aggression, and would send the wrong message entirely. Instead, he fitted Exodus out for defensive work; forearm gun pods only, no shoulder weapons, and backup heat sinks to allow him to push his suit's mobility systems to their outermost limit. He did place a cargo pod, identical to his forearm weapons pods, on his left shoulder; about the size of a small briefcase, with a change of clothes, some basic tools, and his datapad. On the right shoulder, a second pod held spare heat sinks and additional tools, along with his favorite pair of shoes and mechanic's gloves.

His left forearm pod contained no weapons, and instead held an extra power supply, a highly experimental omniforge system which had been created with no small amount of help, and magseal field generators to bolster his suit's defensive shield grid. It would allow him to project an immensely powerful 'tower shield' with his left arm, or to condense the shield down to a narrow strip and funnel drive plasma into it to create a cutting blade similar in effect to a lightsaber; that shield pod would give his suit the defensive abilities it'd need to spar with a lightsaber.

Applique armor, in the form of thin ultrachrome paneling, had also been installed to the shoulders, collar, helmet, and arms, while the gauntlets, previously plated with cortosis weave, had been upgraded since Mk II. Both were now plated with ultrachrome armor, with carbon nanotube-reinforced durasteel construction, boasted a thick ablative layer and ceramic paneling to disrupt energy weapons, and most importantly, a very thin, fragile, but extremely useful plating of pure cortosis. While only able to survive a few strikes from a saber, they were still capable of disabling a blade. Useful? Very. In addition to that, phased plasma blades had been built into the forearms, giving him a very useful foot-long 'dagger' of raw plasma to use as a melee weapon.

As for the right weapon pod, it held a gyrojet gun, some 25MM in caliber. Though ammunition was limited to 80 rounds in the pod, each round contained a small 'kick charge' in its casing to give it a lethal initial velocity, while the round's rocket motor accelerated it to great speeds. A proximity-fuzed explosive charge, contained in the tip, delivered a rather grisly death to any organic caught in its blast, as the explosive would deliver dozens of razor-sharp armor-defeating tungsten flechettes in a forward spray. In terms of destructive power, it matched a repeating blaster but had a fraction of the energy requirements... And a fraction of the ammo and a low rate of fire.

A back-up weapon was strapped to the right pod. A pulse rifle, with folding stock, bolted to the pod and linked into the suit's power grid. Short-ranged but powerful, with a good rate of fire, the weapon delivered about as much firepower as a blaster rifle, though as it fired a packet of plasma it had superior armor-defeating characteristics and slightly superior velocity, though its heat generation was much more severe. A few non-volatile energy packs were tucked into the stock, in the event he had to break the weapon free and use it the old-fashioned way if he ditched Exodus for any reason.

The check soothed his worries - the suit's armament was functional, the power grid was running at full tilt with no issues, the cooling systems were in place and operational, and the myriad subsystems of Exodus were all primed and ready to rock and roll.

An alarm blared, and the rear bay hatch of his ship, Faith, fell downwards and held at an angle to form a ramp. They were at the drop point - three kilometers above the Jedi Temple, and two kilometers away. It was the closest they'd get.

Delun approached the edge of the ramp, and paused just at the edge. "Hey, Dex? Go to ground as fast as you can. Try not to go too far, though, in case I need you."

"That I can do. Good luck, master. And, as you organics are so fond of saying; May the Force be with you."

The feline didn't speak further. He stepped over the edge of the ramp, and fell into the howling wind rolling about in the ship's wake. A navpoint popped into existence in his HUD, pointing out the location of the Jedi Temple; a simple twist of his body rotated him towards his target. He engaged the suit's flight mode; panels opened up along the back of his calves and shoulders, exposing powerful drive systems. Airbrakes and flaps popped forth from the surface of the armor, and the drives in his boots and palms came on-line, all in the blink of an eye.

He could feel the winds change as air was caught and redirected by the aerodynamic surfaces of Exodus, and his entire form shifted as the thrusters overcame his momentum and accelerated him towards the Temple. He had no doubt the defense force at the Temple had him on their scopes; objects falling out of passing vessels rarely went completely unnoticed, and the raw energy and heat output of his suit rivaled that of the average starfighter. Exodus, it seemed, possessed incredibly powerful drives for its size.

Del wasn't terribly worried, though. The suit was too small for most gunners to achieve a proper lock, and by the time they received clearance to frag his tail, he'd be groundside. He only needed a few seconds. A few seconds to close kilometers of distance - needless to say, he was dumping all unnecessary power into his thrusters for a hard burn. He'd even had to equip secondary heat sinks to enable himself to conduct the drop without slagging his suit's primary heat sinks.

A small warning appeared in the top center of his HUD; a little red box with blinking white letters inside. Warning! 15 seconds to impact! He grinned wickedly; he was in. The feline cut his palm thrusters and tilted his boots e'er so slightly, turning himself right-side up so that his feet were aimed squarely at the ground.

The plan had been to use his suit's boot thrusters to keep himself from smashing groundside at high velocity. Had being the operative word. But as he entered the Temple's airspace, some smuck Alliance trooper decided that the giant suit of power armor screaming through the air didn't quite belong, and in no time at all alarms were blaring in Del's helmet.

"Warning. Missile. Warning. Missile."​

A targeting lock had been achieved; if he had to venture a guess, it was either a stationary surface-to-air missile system, used to engage aerial targets outside the effective range of blaster cannons, or a man-portable surface-to-air missile. In either case, it was a SAM, and SAM's were bad for suits like Del's. Though they lacked the raw punch needed to tear apart the heavy suit's armor, and indeed frequently needed multiple hits just to down a starfighter, they had more than enough zip to knock him out of control. And if they managed that, they might as well have blown him in two.

He saw a streak of light rise up from the ground and rocket towards him, trailing behind it a pillar of white-gray smoke. He swore under his breath; there was no dodging it, not with only a few seconds between himself and his temple. "Flares!" Del barked; small rotary micro-flare launchers emerged from the outer edge of the suit's thigh armor, and rapidly emitted several dozen flares in a blaze of light, smoke, and fire. The flares not only emitted heat, they were interspersed with 'Smart' chaff modules; little bundles of ECM joy that duped missiles into targeting them.

It worked.
Sort of.​

As Del pulled out of his dive towards the temple and began to roll to the side, with the intent of taking himself out of the missile's flight path, the SAM dove underneath Exodus and right into the plume of red-orange flares and chaff burning beneath him, where it detonated courtesy of its proximity fuze. The feline didn't even have time to swear before the concussive thump of the detonation overtook him, a blast of fire and smoke rolling over his suit as the shockwave knocked him about.

The armor took most of the impact, as he'd predicted. SAM's weren't designed to defeat armor, and rarely had any sort of effect on even the most lightly armored of targets. Even primitive anti-tank rifles tended to fare better against armor than they. But they were absolutely unbeatable when it came to showering people with shrapnel and concussive force; even with a good distance between himself and the detonation, Del still received enough of a blow to lose control.

He lost altitude, and fast. He spun around and around, and the many courtyards and gardens of the temple rose up to greet him with their stony floors and duracrete roofs. Not a particularly soft welcoming. His suit's alarm chimed; three seconds to impact. The temple was so big now, so massive and omnipresent. Delun didn't have any choice in landing spots; his thrusters had only just come back online, and it was all he could do to brake his descent and shed speed.

In fact, he was so busy trying to slow down that he failed to notice the massive, hardwood gazebo rising up from the temple grounds as if bent on snatching him from the sky. His eyes went to dinner-plate size in a split second.

"Aw, balls."​

The roof splintered around him as he crashed through, shoulder-first. Wood shrieked and groaned as it met with the reinforced armor plate of his suit, which tore through unabated. A split second after bypassing the roof, he met the floor; wood, of course, raised a couple feet up off the stone ground. He barreled right through that as well, and crashed straight into the stonework laid out beneath.

Even stone didn't like him all that much. The surface of the ground crumbled beneath his suit, cracking and splintering into dust as it absorbed the shock of his landing. The gazebo caved in around him, too old to have taken the abuse that it had, leaving him buried in a pile of ancient lumber and roofing.

Del, annoyed to no end by the roughness of his landing, stuck one arm up through the rubble and promptly gave the sky a middle-finger salute. "**** you too, anti-air," he grumbled bitterly.

A quick check revealed that his suit was still fully operational, though some of the cosmetic paneling was dinged up and the paint was likely to be ruined in a few places. It was desperate to ditch the secondary heat sinks he'd fitted to it, too. He slowly pushed himself up out of the lovely crater he'd formed and shook off the wreckage laying across his suit.

He was able to extricate himself from what was left of the gazebo after a few seconds of struggling, and once free, he jettisoned his secondary heat sinks. The small, disc-shaped heat sinks, once intricate constructions of heat-absorbing alloys and micro-piping for liquid coolant, were little more than vaguely circular chunks of white-hot metal that deformed when they struck the ground. The glowing slots which they had been jettisoned from, on the back shoulders of his suit just above the main drives, sealed up again the moment they were clear of the suit.

He glanced around himself as his suit rid itself of the ruined sinks. He'd landed in a courtyard - not the main one, fortunately. It seemed deserted, and his suit's sensor package wasn't picking up any life forms in the immediate area. Needless to say, he was grateful for that, as his less than graceful landing had not only gone unseen, it hadn't injured anyone!

The cat sighed in relief, then glanced back at what was left of the gazebo. He half-expected it to be half-standing, at least. What he saw amounted to a bonfire, all piled up and ready to be lit! The supports had collapsed inwards, the roof was caved in, the floor was kindling; it was a real mess.

"...Oops."​

The feline shook his head and chuckled ruefully. Knowing that there was nothing he could do to fix it now, he simply stepped away from the wreckage and took a look around.

The courtyard was some sort of place of meditation, if he had to guess; rock gardens lined the outer walls, and well-kept fountains and flowerbeds lined the flagstone walkways. It was a gorgeous place, and he felt just the slightest twinge of guilt for invading it in such a horribly messy fashion. Somewhere out there, the gods of housekeeping were already preparing a horrible punishment for his crime.

Chuckling mirthfully at the thought, Del strode towards the center of the courtyard. The space was about fifty meters across and a perfect square, and its flagstone paths neatly divided the courtyard into four equal quadrants. At the center was an ancient willow, which the path formed a circle around; Delun approached the tree, and as he did so, lowered his defenses within the Force.

And as he did so, his presence in the Force became plainly obvious. Those alert to a change in the Force around them would find it hard to miss him; he was a flare, a bright light in the web of life surrounding Tython. Yet he was raw, undisciplined; whatever training he once had was long forgotten, and he had become primal and unrestrained, scarcely able to hide his ability at the best of times.

Perhaps needless to say, it felt good to shed his defenses. To feel life ebb and flow around him again was as refreshing as it was frightening - for all that life belonged to the Order, and he was tresspassing on their turf. He'd done so once before, helping Christian Noble to erase his presence from their archives, and now he was back again. This time, his intentions were not selfless; he had questions and a past locked away in the depths of his mind, and his gut instinct told him that the Jedi might, just might, have the tools to give him the answers he needed.

Whether he liked it or not, he needed them - but they neither knew nor needed him, and for his own sake, he had brought firepower and the means to extract himself from a sticky situation. He remembered a proverb that dealt with the situation nicely; "A soft voice and warm heart will solve most any problem - a sharp blade and show of claws will handle whatever's left."

The feline planted his gauntlets on the heavily reinforced hips of his armor, and stood just in front of the tree, on the single path facing the main body of the temple. A door was set into the wall there, but none of the other walls bore doors as far as he could tell; his 'welcome party' would come from there, if he had to venture a guess. And it was only a matter of time until they arrived, too! His arrival had not been subtle in the slightest, and he'd made certain every halfway powerful Jedi in the temple was aware of his presence by dropping his defenses. They'd come, and they'd no doubt be quick and on-guard; an intruder in the temple wasn't cause for them to come bearing tea and crumpets, after all!

[ooc: questions? pm me. :3]

 

[GABA]

Tython had offered Ebberla Daw too much excitement of the late. She had been spoiled by the calmness of Empress Teta. No one seemed to pick on the little planet and she was thankful for it too. With all the ruckus that was happening inside the temple and the meetings she had been in attendance to, she was ready to go home, home to Empress Teta. She had felt uneasy of the late and contributed it to perhaps being homesick, but for Ebberla something so common as homesickness seemed a little silly to her. It seemed so minimal with the galaxy split in war and with her responsibilities of the Jedi's Sage Master, she had felt there were more important things to attend to than just her fuss over missing her home.

However, Master Daw had seen this pattern in herself before on several occasions and it reminded her to take some time to herself and do what Jedi do best: meditate. It wouldn't be the first time she had taken so much of her time to help everyone else that she did occasionally forget about herself and her own well-being.

As she sat, her eyes closed, her mind circling her own thoughts, except she couldn't pick a thought to focus on and it was driving her nuts. The sun that was shinning through the window was even starting to bug her. She let out an annoyed sigh and breathed in deeply. But with that deep breath though, it was the deep breath she was looking for, and she could feel herself calm, and Tython's usually noisy voice not yelling in her ear any more. The Force begun washing through her, it peeled away her worries, her fatigue, her own frustrations and she let them go with the Force as it ebbed them away from her.

The calm she sat in wouldn't last long, she felt something stir, it was distant, but it rolled towards her quickly, she reached out into the Force to touch it, but was rudely interrupted by alarms sounding in the temple. The holo-comm system announced the warning code and Ebberla jumped to her feet, quickly rushing out of the meditation chambers. Jedi and civilians bumped into her as they begun herding out of the section of the temple that was on lock-down.

She was slightly disappointed some people fail to recognize how to walk in a line. She bumped shoulders as she pushed her way against the crowd and finally reaching the end she was greeted by five other Jedi Knights who were called onto duty for the hour. Their blades were gripped tightly in their hands and Ebberla could sense worry and confusion, but she couldn't blame them either. The code that was announce was for incoming projectiles, and for the Councilor, that translated into missile. However, there wasn't an explosion, and it was rather quiet against the blaring alarm system.

She cocked her head to the side without saying a word and the Knights followed her down the corridor with calm haste. She now gripped her own blade in her hand, welcoming the cold metal in her palm she gave her wrist a turn and suddenly paused. There was an interesting disturbance in the Force, heavy and sudden as though it was released on purpose, like an unwelcomed guest announcing their arrival without an invitation. Little did Ebberla know however, this would ironically be the situation she was about to face. She continued forward, leaving the Knights baffled, but then they too with a hop and skip to catch up followed Ebberla to the hall in which 10 temple guards now stood, their blasters ready.

The hall that they stood in, ended with a door leading to the garden, the blast door had already fallen over the garden's original door for security. The solider leading his men begun speaking to Ebberla, however, her mind wasn't focused on the solider as he begun into his military jargon of terms and practices to what they would do.

The Sage Master focused on the signature behind the door and her eyes narrowed with confusion, it wasn't familiar, but it wasn't dark. Her ears picked up the last few words signalling they were ready to enter. She acknowledged her readiness with the snap-hiss of her blade, the orange beam jutting from the hilt, she held it ready. The Knights with her also ignited their blades giving their acknowledgement they were ready also.

Ebberla sunk into the Force, feeling it pulse through her body, now two hands on her blade, ready for anything that would be waiting behind the door. The blast door retracted back into the wall and the garden door opened, temple guards followed Ebberla as she stepped into the garden cautiously. She was curious to what she then saw. By the willow tree stood a rather large cat in a suit like she'd seen in action-robot holo's. It was a very peculiar sight to her and not to mention the intense Force signature she was feeling off of him.

She took another step inside, allowing enough room for the guards to filter in with her as they took formation followed by the Knights that assisted her. Ebberla walked forward, the Knights flanked her sides; the guards formed an inverted 'V' as the Jedi progressed forward. A crackle of burning wood caught Ebberla's ear and her eyes quickly glanced over to the destroyed gazebo and she gave an obvious frown. Her eyes then fell back onto the cat and she spoke:

"I am Jedi Master Daw, you are to be detained for trespassing and vandalism." her eyes gave another quick glance to the smoldering gazebo, "You will remove any and all weapons, and the armor from yourself and set them on the ground. Failure to comply with this request will result in more aggressive action." her tone was stern and authoritative, and her Knights raised their blades in a battle ready position. Ebberla listened carefully to the Force as it radiated off the armored cat, listening for any hint of malicious intent, deceit, or trickery that could come with a bad situation.

 

[Jiang Winters]

There were soldiers.

A lot of soldiers.

They came in alongside a small group of Jedi, forming an inverted wedge as they moved. There were, from the looks of it, six Jedi in all. Despite wielding ignited sabers, he did not fear them. Their presence in the Force, it was... Warm. Familiar. Bright. Something about it seemed natural to him.

The soldiers they traveled with were another story. Blasters at the ready, uniforms clean and pressed; they incited panic. Delun tensed. He could feel his claws extending from their sheaths, poking at the shells of his gloves. His hackles attempted to raise in the confines of his bodysuit, and his heart beat a bit faster. Fear welled up in him, as glimmers of broken memories flitted through his mind. Split-second flashes of pain and death; war at its worst.

"Easy, Delun. They have done nothing to you. You are safe. Safe."

"Safe." He let the word roll off his tongue once, soft and barely audible. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves, then unsealed his helmet and removed it as his 'welcoming party' drew near. Using slow, cautious movements as so to avoid appearing hostile, he clipped the helmet to his belt.

Both soft-furred ears perked towards Ebberla as she spoke. "Aye, ma'am."

Though he was loathe to do so, he jettisoned the right gun pod of his armor, and both shoulder pods. The left gun pod he was a little more hesitant to jettison, but he did so anyways. He knew that being completely disarmed was a possibility, and it was one he had deemed acceptable.

Once all four pods had clattered to the ground, Delun took a step forward, distancing himself from the weaponry and cargo pods. It was there that he shed his armor, commanding individual sections to separate and clatter to the ground, piece by piece. More than a few chunks hit with a hearty thud, and the torso armor left a sizable dent in the ground! There was quite a bit of weight to his gear, certainly more than a human could even hope to move without heavy lift gear. Atop that, the technology within was black-boxed, and would prove quite impossible to replicate!

Ultimately, the feline was left clad in khaki cargo pants and a simple blue vest of armorweave construction, which hugged close to his body as so not to snag in his armor. He had no boots, however; couldn't fit them into the armor.

He held his white-furred hands out to his sides, palms turned up to the sky in a show of peace. He kept his defenses down, leaving them all but nonexistant. He wanted the Jedi to read him easily. Words would only get him so far, but if they could see and feel his emotions for themselves, then perhaps he'd make it out alive with the information he so desperately needed.

"My name is Delun. My name has no weight here, but I know one that may still carry some. Battlemaster Daisuke Fuyu, deceased in the Coruscant Temple bombing. He's my brother. Or, at least, that's what genetics say."

He slowly let his hands fall to his sides. "I'm here because I need answers. I need help, and I need refuge." He smiled thinly, and gestured over his shoulder at the smoldering gazebo. "But as you can tell, I'm not much good at asking politely. Spending most of your existence being chased about and shot at will do that to you."

 

[GABA]

A sudden spike of fear hit the Jedi Master, and she was more than sure it hit her Knights, as some of them tensed their muscles in response. However, the Cat had complied, and he begun removing and exposing weapon compartments and removing his armor. Each piece made a clank against the ground, she wished he would be more careful, by the sound of it, it all sounded really heavy and when he dropped the largest piece, the sound of a clank and a crush met Ebberla's ears. She let out a hopeless sigh to the thought of the accountants getting the bill for this one now.

The pathway will probably need repairs.

But the cat was complying and the guards relaxed as well as her Knights, but what their visitor would say next truly took Ebberla by surprise, he claimed to be related to the late Battlemaster, Daisuke Fuyu. The young woman had only met with him once before during her waning days as a Knight, but never had gotten to know the Battlemaster before his undesirable death at the temple bombing.

She listened quietly to the Force still searching for hints of deceit, except the Force told her to listen to Delun. Ebberla extinguished her lightsaber and clipped it back to her belt. The Knights followed her and did the same also.

Ebberla nodded her head to Delun acknowledging his request for help and took a step backwards, the head of the temple guards stepped next to the Sage Master, listening to what she had to say as she quietly spoke orders. The Guard nodded and shouted his orders, and lead them out of the temple garden. The Knights who stood with Master Daw also followed out except for two who took guard at the garden entrance.

Her attention turned back to Delun, "Thank you for complying, I'm sure there has been enough story to as why the Jedi may be pretty jumpy." she replied, "If you had not heard, I'm sure once you did, you would surely understand." she walked, stepping around the large pieces of armor and stood underneath the willow tree with Delun.

"So Delun, what type of help do you need?" she asked.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"I've heard. I'll be honest, I half-expected to be yoked and collared by now."

Delun's lips pulled back in a half-hearted smile. He'd relaxed since the soldiers had left, and the change in his posture and tone was noticeable. His voice, a bit deep, no longer held an edge of stress or worry. His musculature had relaxed, and there was even a comfortable slouch to his broad shoulders! The feline let his hands fall to his hips as he moved to the tree and sat down, placing his back against the willow's ancient trunk. The soil depressed slightly under his weight; he was a heavy cat, despite his seemingly fit form.

"I'm not entirely certain where to start, Master Daw. If I told you my story, I'm fairly certain you'd confine me to a mental ward. But I'll give you a piece - the thing that's giving me reason to worry. I've got some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder."

He tilted his head towards the exit, which the guards had recently used. "I panic when soldiers poke their heads out. The last time I was in a group that big, I went into a... Berserker rage, for lack of a better term. If Christian hadn't been there to stop me, to shout me down, I might've killed someone. As it is, I put probably a half-dozen or more mercenaries into the hospital."

His smile thinned and became forced. The feline's ears pinned back against his head, and his lengthy tail thumped lazily against the ground. "On top of that, I also have some latent force ability. I was trained once, I think, but I have severe amnesia. Stress-induced or caused by damage, or by some implant or... I don't know, all I really know is that the earliest coherent memory I have is waking up in a glass tube on Metellos. Before that, just shards. All of them painful."

Delun draped his paws across his knees. He'd adopted the seated stance to appear less threatening; his sheer size, 7'8" out of armor, frightened many people and he did not want to worry Ebberla. Getting on her bad side would only be counterproductive.

"I'm telling you this because these are my major problems. My relationship to Daisuke is troubling, but it's only given me a few nightmares. A few good dreams, as well, but those all stopped when he passed away. At least, I think he's the source. I didn't even know he existed until I bumped into..."

He cut himself off. He didn't exactly want to admit to breaking into the Temple once before and hacking the archives for Christian Noble! Though he would have to remember to try to get to the archives to make sure that pesky worm of his was gone, and to recover that little droid of his if it was still running around. He somehow doubted the Jedi would appreciate finding evidence of his handiwork years down the line.

But, on the other hand, Daw would know if he lied. Though he was powerful in the Force, she was magnificent in her own right. Far more refined, more capable; his presence was that of brute force and raw power, hers was one earned through years of experience. A night and day difference, in his own opinion.

Delun gave her a thin, albeit genuine, smile. "You'd know if I lied, so I'll be out with it, ma'am. I was at this temple once before, to help wipe someone from the archives. In the process, I palmed a genetic scanner and it identified me as Daisuke Fuyu. And, in the process, set off every alarm in the bloody place."

 

[GABA]

Ebberla had not realized how tall this cat was, she could tell from a distance he was pretty large in size, however, now that she stood next to him, well, he was massive. The only other individual that Ebberla had come across, who could match Delun's height was Master Ayva Starfall, however, Delun was still 10 times in width compared to the Kaminoan Master.

She felt a soothing calm in the Force, the tension settled as soon as the guards were fully cleared of the room. Even Ebberla felt herself relax some knowing their new guest wasn't a Sith assassin or an enemy missile.

She watched him lean against the tree and she swore she could hear the tree moan underneath his weight, she held up a hand waving it, gesturing he should not do that for that tree. As far as the Sage Master knew, that tree had been there for several generations and a lot of Jedi have take a fondness for the tree including the Corellian.

Delun begun to speak, explaining to her about his PTSD, which Ebberla was familiar with. Being in the Healing Halls, she had seen many GA soldiers return from battle with the syndrome. Not to mention, a good handful of her soldiers whom she fought alongside with on Saleucami also developed the disease. She understood perfectly and explained his sudden spike of fear she had felt only moments earlier when she and her guards entered the garden.

She actively listened to Delun, thinking about his words, her mind automatically taking in key words for her memory later and to help connect any missing pieces to Delun's puzzle if later called for it. However, he mentioned a very curious name, Christian, and her mind suddenly circled around the Master she had only spoken to early that day. She gave him an interesting look, but didn't say anything as he explained his Force sensitivity, which still radiated off of him with intensity.

But then he cut his sentence short and Ebberla gave Delun a puzzled look.

The cat took a seating position in front of the girl, which she appreciated, she was starting to get a crick in her neck from having to look up to the feline. He paused in his words, the Jedi could tell he was contemplating on something, but then he smiled and Ebberla's puzzled look still remained on her face.

Until he explained his involvement with Jedi Master Christian Noble. Her puzzled look turned into a wryly smile, it made sense now, she now knew who the droid was that appeared on the holovids. "Ah..." she nodded, "That makes sense now. You and Master Noble caused some good damage. I already talked with Master Noble this morning, I'm going to think of some things for you to do now too, Delun." she replied, "And hopefully you won't get fresh with me like he did."

"However, your story is interesting, and you sound lost Delun. While you carry out your consequence for earlier actions, I will be more than willing to help find whatever you are looking for to the best of my abilities."

"It sounds like many paths, many pieces to your past are lying around, you just need to find the other pieces to glue them all together." She explained, "But first, you and Christian caused a bit of a mess, what was your part exactly in Master Noble's quest to erase his name?" Ebberla asked, arms crossed across her chest.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Delun took a bit of weight off the tree, as the Corellian instructed. Though the tree could doubtless take his weight, being ancient and firmly rooted, he was still quick to tilt his body forward and shuffle away from the tree a half-foot or so. He leaned forward, elbows planted atop his knees, and listened closely to Ebberla's response.

It didn't sound like he'd be tossed into a dark, dank cell in some forelorn hellhole, which Delun was grateful for. He nodded slowly as she mentioned consequences, but he was optimistic by nature. He imagined he'd repair whatever damage he'd done, then he'd be off! Or he'd be stuck trying to 'find himself' under the tutelage of the Jedi, which was fine by him. A shudder coursed through his body as he remembered the most recent time he'd delved into violence - with the blades built into his cybernetic arms, he'd neatly bisected a group of slavers! Granted, they had been torturing him, but that was a tale for another time.

He ran a paw over his head, mussing the short, velvet-soft fur covering the top and back of his 'noggin. "I got us in, and deleted Christian from the Archives."

The feline glanced at his armor, and through the Force, pulled his helmet towards himself. He snatched the heavy piece out of the air and inverted it in his lap, and fished about inside for a moment until he'd produced a small data drive. "I built a Worm to do the job. It's a type of virus, it searched out files that mentioned Christian Noble and deleted them. Assuming your archives are redundant, I can design a crawler with the same search terms to restore the lost data. It's really similar to what major search engines for the Holonet does, just on a smaller scale."

He extended the drive to Daw. The white-cased device, a flat square in shape with copper terminals on one edge and about the size of both her thumbs combined, was microscopically tiny against the leathery black paw-pads of Del's palm. "This drive has a copy of the worm on it, and mission data from my last few escapades. Mostly mundane stuff. Flight tests, saving a girl from a crashing starliner with a crazy rapist twi'lek aboard after chasing corporate thugs, getting shot down here at the temple... But the mission recording for my favor to Christian is on there, and the template for the worm I used is there as well."

The cybernetically augmented feline offered a thin smile once more. "I should thank you, though. Not many people would offer to help me after my escapades here at the temple. I'm grateful, I really am. I'll do my best to make things right, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask them. I'll answer truthfully. You've got my word on that, for whatever that's worth."

 

[GABA]

The Sage Master was glad Delun was more cooperative than Christian, it made her job a whole lot easier, and she wasn't sure if she could handle two cheeky deviants in one day. She watched him reach for his helmet, using the Force, he pulled it to him, curious to what he was looking for, she watched him search his helmet carefully.

He had pulled out a drive he explained what was on it and as to how it was able to erase Christian Noble from the archives. Ebberla's mind seemed to shut itself off trying to understand how it would work, computers weren't her thing, she could surely break them but to fix them or change them...it was out of her league. She'd always thought that's what droids were for, they would figure out computers for her.

Ebberla extended her own hand to receive the data-drive from Delun. She held it up examining it, but still listening to Delun explain what else what one could find on it. Delun smiled at Ebberla, thanking her and she smiled back.

"You're just lucky, could have been a different situation if one of our Battlemasters came out here to greet you. Plus you're being more cooperative than Master Noble, which puts me in a better mood." she smirked, "Though, Christian will be glad he'll only have to help repair a wall and not have to re-enter his information too." she examined the drive again, "Come, lets take a walk." she suggested, which was more like an instruction for Delun to follow and not put up an argument. Ebberla begun walking to the door.

"So Delun," she started, her eyes floated to smoldering gazebo, "Are you good with any wood working?" she asked him.

 

[Jiang Winters]

At her suggestion, Delun hauled himself to his feet and fell into step to Ebberla's side, where he dwarfed her once again. It took some doing to match her pace, what with his legs being so much longer than hers, but he was able to slow his stride enough to stay with her.

His left ear perked towards Daw as she mentioned woodworking. The query sparked a memory; he could very vaguely remember using hand tools on a project of some sort, made entirely of wood. The details were wispy and incoherent, but he knew he could work with the stuff. It was much the same way he felt about technology - though he didn't understand how he knew, once he started in on a job his skills returned to him, and he could remember them quite permanently afterwards.

"I'm better with steel and technology, but I'm pretty sure I could rebuild that gazebo if that's what you're asking."

Delun's gaze flicked down to Daw, both ice-blue synthetic eyes fixed on her. "But I'd need oversized tools. Somehow doubt you have anything big enough for these hands," he remarked idly, holding his massive white-furred hands out in front of himself and wiggling his digits. He let his paws fall back to his sides, and idly shrugged. "If not, I could probably make some if I had access to a machine shop, a supply of tool steel and wood, and some basic equipment."

 

[GABA]

Delun's shadow caste over the Sage Master as he walked beside her down the flagstone path towards the pile of gazebo that now laid before them. He explained he would need some over-sized tools.

Ebberla glanced over to his hands, it wasn't something one would think of, and now that she thought about it, a normal hammer may prove frustrating in the long run. She humored herself to the thought of the feline pinching a nail and a hammer, trying to join two pieces of wood together.

"Over-sized tools..." she responded thinking, she wasn't sure if they were readily carried around, but she was positive they would probably have some lying around. Delun couldn't have been the first gigantic cat to have walked the temples and was in need of a hammer. Well, there was his supposed brother, Daisuke.

"I'm sure we may have some in storage. You'll have to ask. But yes, I am asking you to rebuild the gazebo, we'll get you supplies, unless you want to purchase the wood, it would make out accountants pleased, but nevertheless that will be your first task." she explained, "Your second task will be restoring Christian's files and to show our security how you were able to do all that computer stuff." she continued towards the door, she waved to the Knights still keeping guard dismissing them from their duty. They gave a respectful bow and entered into the temple. The young woman was silent for a moment thinking of what Delun's restrictions would be. The door slide open and she entered back inside the temple, Jedi had resumed their duties in this hall and it was crowded again once more.

"Until your tasks are done, you'll be required to stay here at the temple. We'll give you a room, I believe jail cells only encourage more problems. Your access around the temple will be limited, we'll be watching you. However if you wish to use the archives, you'll have to do it under supervision, most likely with a Councilor or another high ranking Jedi." Ebberla had explained, "Questions so far?" she asked him.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Delun lightly shook his head. "No serious questions. I will need some kind of wireless power transmitter, though. I'm cybernetically augmented. I'm usually good for a few weeks of just puttering around, but if I'm actually doing anything physically intensive, I'll need to... Well, recharge." He grinned. "Odd thought, I know. At any rate, if you don't want to move half a ton of dead weight to a wall outlet and plug me in, I'll need one of those gizmos. S'long as I sleep in close proximity, I'll be fine."

He glanced around at the throngs of Jedi moving this way and that through the busy temple, and chortled quietly. They were all so much smaller than he, and so busy. It was interesting, watching them go about their lives. He tilted his head back to Daw. "I would like access to files on Daisuke, though. Journals he may have kept, medical records, scans; anything. Maybe it'll spark some memory, help bring back my past. Maybe it won't. I'd like to try, though."

 

[GABA]

A wireless power transmitter?

Now Ebberla thought that was an odd request until he explained why he would need one. It still was odd to her, but of course she never had to be plugged in to recharge, normally she did that to droids. "I believe we can find you one." she stated before he continued speaking on matters about his alleged brother: Master Fuyu.

"We'll need to do a genetics test to confirm this for the records, we can do that today, its pretty fast. But gaining you access to his file -as long as you don't erase it- should not be a problem." the Sage Master explained turning down a new hall.

She directed Delun through the halls, the Jedi seemed to move quickly out of the Sage Master's way with her towering Cat guest walking by her side. Those who stopped to give her a respectful bow were quick about it once lying eyes upon Delun.

"I assume you arrived here by your own ship?" she asked him, "I don't believe a transport would have successfully carried you and your armor all the way here and allow you to jump out of it mid-air?"

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Good, thank you."

Delun sighed in relief. He'd sleep a little easier knowing that his body's onboard power supplies were being recharged. He'd woken up with low power once before, and that was not an experience he cared to relive.

He perked an ear towards Daw as she mentioned a genetics test, prompting Delun to look down at his hand once again. He made a mental note to inform Daw that both his arms were entirely cybernetic. The furry 'flesh' covering both limbs was little more than an extremely advanced, expesive bio-polymer replacement that might as well have been living tissue if it weren't for the fact that it was pitch black and tough as kevlar. The baffling bit was that his hands still set off the temple's genetic scanners - perhaps some sort of built-in genetics chip that falsified a response for the scanners? Or maybe a sampling of live tissue? He had no idea.

The feline's hand swung back to his side. He nodded once when questioned about his ship.

"I brought a ship, Faith. My AI, Dex, is flying her right now. Supposed to be hiding a short distance away from the Temple. Get me a datapad and a linkup cable and I can ping Dex and tell him to land the ship here at the temple, though I'd need your word that nobody will board it without my presence."

He smiled thinly. "Let's just say that I don't trust soldiers, and I don't want the GA, or anyone else, getting their mitts on the weapons I've designed. The tech in the yard is blackboxed - it'll smelt itself before anyone can so much as run a complete scan. The stuff on the ship isn't." Del paused, and chuckled quietly. "Besides, Dex would probably dump coolant over anyone who tried to enter without me, and use the maintenance bots to chuck them out the back once they were snap-frozen. He's a mean little bastard. I've been meaning to put him into a toaster, but he sets my tail on fire every time I try."

 

[GABA]

The Sage Master felt a wave of released anxiety come off the feline, his anxious state, now less slightly anxious. And for the Sage Master also, it made her less anxious too, even with the calm of the Force, it was always a nice relief not to rely on it when she didn't need to.

Delun explained about his ship, it was as she suspected that he did have a ship. It must have been out of reach of the temple's air space security or she was sure she would of heard arms going off to try to bring it down. She thought to what she had read over when Councilor Telun had made his security revisions to the temple. The young woman tapped her chin in thought, Delun was still explaining about his weapons on board and a fussy AI who was quite stingy about who would get on the ship and who wouldn't.

"Unfortunately Delun, once the ship lands it will be grounded here until you are able to leave, and that is when you finish repairing the damages you have done in the garden." she paused as a thought came to mind, but she decided to ask it later, "No one will touch your ship unless it becomes hostile, then someone will probably blow it up. I'm sorry you are not able to trust soldiers," she said, "They really aren't too bad once you get to know them. Cocky at times, but you must remember to put yourself in their shoes to understand..." she trailed off, stopping herself from rambling to her guest. They would take another turn down a hall, this time a medical hall where she held a small office.

"Your weapons will stay on your ship, they will not allowed be on temple grounds. But otherwise no one will touch it until you do when you are able to go. Aha! So you won't mind if we get you a quick genetics test do you?" she asked opening the door, arriving at her office.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Delun chortled softly as Daw opened the door to her office. "Sure, might as well get that done with," he remarked softly. The feline would follow Daw in, and would stand about idly in the middle of her office with his lengthy tail lazily swaying behind him. He was trying to stay as far away from her possessions as he could, as he was worried that he'd break something if he strayed near it! Nothing about him was small - from his broad shoulders to his lengthy tail, everything about him seemed built to wreak havoc.

Personality not included, of course! Del had a gentle soul! Most of the time, at any rate.

"So how does your genetic scanner... Thing work? Is it just a standard medical scanner? Handheld, probably. Just wand it over my torso or tail or something." He extended one arm to his side, being cautious to avoid smacking anything with his fingertips. "Because my arms are cybernetic. Not much tissue in them, as far as I'm aware. Mind you, I've never actually done a very comprehensive scan of them, except for when Christian had a mineral scanner and I wanted to look at the phased plasma blades in my..."

His voice trailed off, and the cat's ear flicked. "Er, nevermind that. Anways, uh. Genetics scan. Whenever you're ready."

 

[GABA]

She had walked inside her office, the desk was pushed aside to a corner of her room and the walls were covered with shelving lined. They were will with varies types of books and holobooks. The room wasn't too big and after leading Delun inside, she went to a cabinet, rummaging through it.

Ebberla could hear the curiosity in Delun's voice about how she would do the genetics test and she let out a laugh, "A scanner?" she questioned, "No, those don't work if you don't already have DNA signatures stored in them." she happily pulled out a filament-tiped applicator and stuffed everything she had moved around back into the cabinet and closed it quickly. She walked back over to Delun as he mentioned his cybernetic arms. Ebberla reached out, taking an arm gently and looked at them carefully, "Maybe a hair from your head fell out." she frowned thinking about what could have set off the genetics scanner.

She opened up the paper cover and pulled out the applicator and looked up to him, "No blood needed luckily, we just swab the inside of your cheeks; its a flawless process and fairly quick too." she said waiting for him to bend down to swap the inside of his mouth, "We'll get a complete make out of your genes and then we'll be able to compare it to Master Fuyu's and see what we get." she told him.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Del relaxed the synthetic muscles in his arm as Ebberla took his arm in hand. It was exceptionally heavy, obviously powerful, but covered with short and silky-soft fur. He moved with the motions of her hand, to make sure the Master was able to examine the limb as thoroughly as she wanted to without having to strain against artificial tissue and metal bone. Once she was satisfied, he let the limb fall back to his side. His ears perked as she pondered what might've set off the scanner. A strand of fur from his head seemed likely, as she'd suggested.

"It's possible a few hairs wound up on my gauntlet while I was putting my armor on that morning. It seems like a long shot, though. I don't shed, as long as I bathe halfway regularly. Why, I'm almost as hypoallergenic as a hairless cat!" He paused, frowning. "Just not as hideously ugly."

He shut himself up when he realized Ebberla was just waiting for him to bend down and let her swab his cheek. His ears pinned back in embarrassment and a sheepish grin materialized on his muzzle. "Er, sorry. I'm a chatterbox sometimes."

The feline moved to crouch, and in doing so, stepped on something. Whether it was carpet, a piece of paper, or just a lingering chunk of mud that'd clung to his bared feet, he'd never know. But whatever it was, it was slick, and Del went from vertical to horizontal in a second flat! With a startled, and most undignified, mewl of shock, the feline's legs zipped out behind him and he plunged face-first to the ground. He landed with quite the thud, though that wasn't terribly surprising given that he weighed an utterly ridiculous amount, courtesy of his cybernetics.

He took a shallow breath, and let it out in a sigh through his nostrils. "Welp. I don't suppose this is low enough for you to take a sample from, is it?" the giant feline queried, leaving his muzzle hanging open just enough for her to stick the swab in and take a sample - which, be necessity, left his rows of razor-sharp ivories plain to see, along with the wicked fangs dominating the front of his muzzle. Of course, he hardly looked intimidating, what with how he'd just landed flat on his face. A graceful kitty he was not.

 

[GABA]

There was startled alertness in the Force, it jerked Ebberla's movements before she even consciously reacted as the Cat fell with a loud thud before her. The floor vibrated with his weight, she could feel it beneath her boots and she stood startled herself seeing the eight foot cat lying on the floor. Ebberla felt her mouth slightly agape and she quickly shut it.

"Are you ok?" she asked, however, Delun's comment on being too low answered her question, "Perfect." she said crouching down as he opened his mouth. A worry itched her mind as she saw his large teeth, the idea of him biting down... but she shook it off quickly. She swabbed the inside of his cheeks and stood back up, placing the swap back inside its protective cover.

She felt a presence at her door, probably an aide who felt the fall too, but it was all in good timing. She handed the swab to a young Jedi aide and told her the instructions. They were off quicker than gundark on the hunt.

"The results will be back within the hour, so we'll know pretty quickly." she told him feeling into the Force around Delun, she never spent too much time around Battlemaster Fuyu, she had only met him on occasion, but it was so long ago, she had forgotten what his signature in the Force felt like as she tried to find some familiarity with Delun and Daisuke. Her face had a quizical look as she thought, "So why do you have so many cybernetics?" she asked him before thinking, it was a bit nosy for her to ask, and she didn't realize it until after the words left her lips. She blushed a little, "If you don't mind me asking." she added.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Bleck."

Del rolled onto his hip and 'sat' upright on his hip, using one arm to prop himself up. He probed at the inside of the swabbed cheek with his tongue. He expected to find a strange taste or stray fibers, but was pleasantly surprised to find no such thing. Satisfied, the feline finished sitting up and rolled onto his butt, tail stretched out behind him. He could dimly hear Daw giving instructions to someone, but didn't bother paying attention as he figured she was getting rid of the swab.

His ears perked e'er so slightly when she addressed him, and he felt her probe into the 'space' in the Force surrounding him. He didn't know what she was looking for - comparing him to Daisuke, perhaps? He didn't know what presence Daisuke had, but he knew his own. He was warm, gentle. Powerful, yes, but his inherent kindness overshadowed the strength that laid in him. He was light. It was as simple as that.

And, had she remembered Daisuke, she'd know he was not the same. Daisuke had the same strength, but he was calm, restrained, almost cold. He showed kindness from time to time, but he was neither as open nor as gentle-hearted as Delun. Del was not the warrior Daisuke was, but he had far more heart.

Del's ears lowered slightly as Daw commented on his cybernetics. "Well, I..." He paused, softly biting his lower lip as his ears fell back. "I don't know. I wish I did, Ebberla, but I just don't know. If I had to guess, I'd say that I was a research project of some kind. Judging from my nightmares, and that I woke up in a cryopod in a medical facility on Metellos. A facility full of highly paid mercs, and some freak who jammed this thing into my neck. An old Direct Neural Interface. Think big needles. Really big."

He dipped his head forward to expose the fur along the back of his neck to Daw's view, and with his right hand, touched his finger to a point just below a pair of small, off-colored dots of fur, right below the base of his skull. Above them, set into his skull itself, was a tiny interface port partially hidden by his pelt. "Scars are under the silver-y fur. Aside from that and my augments, which are all combat-based, I... Well, the only thing that makes sense is that I was a project of some kind. It also explains why I'm so young, when Daisuke was in the Order for... What, twenty, forty years? He's at least double my age. I'm not even thirty!" He paused, ears flattening completely. "At least, I think. Late twenties, early thirties. Somewhere in there I guess."

 

[GABA]

Delun had leaned forward for the Corellian to exam his scars and the interface scar that resided on the base of his head. Ebberla still need to stand on her tip toes to get a good look at the port and scars, his fingers directing her eye's attention to the location. She was curious about them, it wasn't something she had seen before, nor heard of until now. Delun's story and experience was a very peculiar case and she was certain if it had been her in his situation she would be curious for answers also.

"Your answers are out there. The galaxy isn't as big as we believe it to be." Ebberla responded having listened to Delun's explanation. His suspicions of being an experiment to explain his cybernetics made sense to the Sage Master. "Jedi are a good place to start, we hear things; but sometimes I get more information from the bellows of Nar Shaddaa's cantinas than I do from archives." she smiled. There was a beep from a datapad lying on her desk and the Sage Master already knew what it was.

"Far quicker than I had suspected." she said walking over to the small computer, "Instead of deciphering your entire genome, which they can do later, I had it ran against Daisuke's DNA." she read over the incoming information as it downloaded, "But we'll have every molecule of you in the system in a few more hours, that's what takes the longest." she begun to explain. The young woman pressed a few buttons carefully and plugged in a holo-projector.

Images of worded code and a DNA template popped up, floating leisurely before them. "Here, come look." she said and pointed to the four lines of worded code, "Here is yours," she pointed to one, and then to the other, "That is Daisuke's" Ebberla then pointed to blank spaces that resided in Delun's code as she scrolled down on the datapad screen, "Those spaces indicate there wasn't a match, there was damage, or it has yet to be deciphered, no big deal." she pressed another key and some of the worded code light up. "Those that just lighted up, are those that match, you have a 70% match here Delun." she explained then raised an eyebrow, "Most blood related species have about a 50% match. Something worth investigating, but it could be nothing also, taking in the fact we have quite a few empty spaces of code."

Her fingers continued to flick the screen going up and down as her own eyes studied the images before her, "You're more than welcome to access this." she said referring to his gene database, "We can even get you a copy easy." she replied, "I hope this begins to answer some of your questions on your journey."