Ask Chandrila Korriban The Lost 43

[Alicia Drey]

The smell of bacta lingered in the air. A whir of hydraulics somewhere in the medical bay where one of the droids was attending to another injury. It had just finished applying treatment to the wounds that Alicia had inflicted upon herself during her espionage mission. The prognosis had been good: she would make a full recovery. During her initial assessment before gauges and bacta had been applied to the areas of her back that had been damaged via frostbite (as well as several other areas of the body) it had even gone into explanation that there would be little to no visible scarring leftover once she had completed her treatments.

She had been taken to the stations medical bay by the Chandrilese woman that Alicia had approached after exiting the hangar bay. The conversation had been brief. Whoever they were had taken one look at the blonde and had decided then and there that she required medical attention. Alicia had not fought her. During her early lessons into the dark side under Dyn she had learned that manipulation or coercion of a target was far easier when they were pliant to helping you. It had helped that Alicia was fluent in the language and looked Chandrilese in her own right.

The only thing out of the ordinary about her was her injuries and how they had happened. Gingerly Alicia re-dressed into the black garments she had been wearing before undergoing the treatment. The droid had indicated that she would need to undergo several more treatments to make a full recovery but this did not concern Alicia. Unbeknownst to the droid; the kiosk woman, who had brought her to the bay; and the staff that were treating other patients the blonde whom stood among them was an infiltrator.

Her focus was now getting off the station.

"Feeling better?" Alicia lifted her gaze to the woman before her as she exited the cubical she had been assigned too. "I see that you have dressed. I thought that you would be staying longer?"

"I do not want too," the Sith replied in fluent Chandrilese. "I still do not know your name. What is it?"

"Ah... yes. I am Sabine." Smiling for a moment, Sabine then said: "Before you leave they are going to want to scan your card. That way they can get your contact details and make arrangements for you to come back later on. They run a good ship here. When it's done I'll help you get back to your apartment and then you can tell me what the heck happened to you?"

Ignoring her question Alicia asked: "I am leaving the station, actually. I want to go back to land. Do you have a ship?"

Looking perplexed at the question Sabine replied: "No... If I ever want to go back to Chandrila I use the public transport. I live here. For some reason I assumed you did too?"

"No. I do not live here." Averting her gaze from Sabine Alicia looked around the medical bay. The nurses or doctors all wore white with purple or teal stripes which she assumed represented their jobs but at the end of the hall there was a stout man in black uniform. Even at this distance she could see that the man had a pistol and realized that he was a guard.

"I would need my card to board a transport, right?" Alicia asked Sabine.

"Yes... You didn't know that?" Alicia didn't need the Force to tell that the other woman was becoming suspicious of her. In her good nature Sabine had seen an injured woman and so all suspicions had been initially robbed by her via the assumption that Alicia had one out of the thousands of people who either came through the station daily or lived aboard it.

Her desire to get her medical attention had only served to aide Alicia in the fact that Sabine wouldn't ask questions... at least not at first. Feigning a smile Alicia begun to speak but as she did ever syllable she uttered was laced with the dark side. "Of course I knew that. I think I am still sick. You will give me your card, though, won't you?"

"My card?" Sabine frowned at another odd question. "Why would I give you my card?"

"So I can leave this station. You want me to leave, don't you?"

The pupil's in Sabines eyes begun to dilate. Her hesitation was beginning to lift. "Of course... I can lend you my card... If you lost yours?"

"I did lose mine," Alicia lied. Continuing to smile as she ensnared Sabine's mind she continued: "Pass me your card, Sabine, and we can leave together. The two of us can go to Chandrila together."

"I would really like that..." It was almost like a drunken stupor had taken her. Alicia can feel the parts of her that didn't understand. But the mind in which Sabine possessed was not as strong nor as talented as that of the Force-strong. Deceived through Alicia's machinations in the dark side the Chandrilese who had helped her would continue doing so. But not of her own violation.

Gesturing her palm to the exit Alicia continued to hold out her hand. Sabine slipped hers into her pocket and produced the card that she had been alluding too. Taking it from her Alicia observed it. It was a form of identification that had been given to Sabine as part of her employment on the station. "Chandrila DataTech," Alicia murmured the name of the company that Sabine worked for. Memorising it she turned and walked with Sabine to the exit.

"Ah? Back on your feet already?" said the Guard jokingly to Alicia. "You looked in bad shape a few hours ago. A miracle these doctors can work, yes?"

"Yes. I completely agree." Handing Sabine's card to the Guard he nodded (with a grin) and slid it into the the nearby terminal. As Sabine's information was produced on the screen the man looked between it and the two women before him. He looked confused.

"You seem to have handed me the wrong card." Taking it back out of the terminal he handed the card over to Sabine and then turned to Alicia. He was no longer grinning. "Where is your identification?"

"I just gave it to you." Again the dark side was laced in the question. The Guard shook his head.

"No... That belonged to this woman. Sabine, right?"

"I think you are incorrect," Alicia interrupted before Sabine could say anything. "I think there is something wrong with your terminal. Scan the card again. I am sure I gave you the right one."

"I can try one more time..." The Guard held out his hand for Sabine's card and the other woman obliged him. Slotting it back into the terminal the confused Guard watched her information load up for a second time. But as it was loading Alicia was speaking: "You are not looking at Sabine's identification. You are looking at mine."

"I am not looking at Sabine's information..." the Guard muttered to himself as he was compelled by Alicia's mind trick. "...I am looking at yours."

"You will let me pass and forget about all of this."

"I will let you pass and forget about all of this."

Alicia nodded and took Sabine's card from him this time. As an afterthought she added: "You will wipe your records that we were ever here."

"I will wipe my records. You were not here."

"Good. Let's go, Sabine."

Turning around Alicia exited the medical bay with Sabine. Turning her yellow eyes to look at her cohort she asked: "Now show me the way to the transports you spoke of. We are going to the planet."

@DonBongo

 

[Maru C'renic Tel Illo]

Hour by hour clicked by and a few times Maru had gotten his hopes up when he sensed a stable mass in the ever changing flow of the inner core. He came across one planet sized mass and thought this could be it, it wasn't much of course from the phantom trail his ship had been following and he hovered there in relative safety looking down at it. With a a smaller ship his scanning tech was limited in both range and power and so he had to make a slow low orbit flyby of it sweeping for ships or bases or anything that hinted someone had arrived there first. He sighed tiredly rubbing his face as he finished his scanning and pulled up. The world was barren, completely lacking even a functioning atmosphere. It might have mineral value and he had his ships logs make a note of its location he could give it to a mining group later after all.

"Alright, back to start" he said tiredly and he took the controls and expanded his senses once more, getting more used to it now and he had to admit this was great practice for something he hadn't had an excuse to use in awhile. Pushing down on the throttle he flew back towards his starting point waiting for the droid to beep and announce they were back at the start point. "Set a timer, gimme an hour" he said shortly and he let go of the controls and watched the timer appear on the screen. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes focusing both on resting his mind and feeling out the force again. In this more meditative state he could expand his range even further and he also needed just a bit to rest his body. It was tense flying through an area of space that constantly was trying to kill him, between stars going super nova and barely having time to escape their blast radius only to realize he was fleeing directly into the event horizon of a blackhole eager to devour all matter it was taking a toll on him and he needed just a bit of time to rest.

He allowed his mind to follow the paths in space and while he couldn't put his finger on it one of them stood out and he followed the imaginary trail further and further into space sensing......something. He reached his limit at the same time the alarm finally clicked down and his mind rushed back into his body with a jump. He took a few calming breaths and then brought up his navigational paths "Jump to the seventh path" he instructed and the droid beeped back making Maru roll his eyes "I am aware that skips a few others but humor me" he grumbled adjusting his seat and taking the controls again and once more the little ships engines flared to life as he followed the path had had just envisioned

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

H A N N A C I T Y ;

The spaceport was teaming with life. Even at night time. An assortment of groups, characters and roving masses made their way through the complex. In the shadow of a plinth (which was supporting some of the upper floors) stood Alicia and her new cohort: Sabine. Whereas the blonde looked sombre, calm and relaxed the other appeared confused, dazed and anxious. Sabine had been muttering something under her breath ever since the transport had left. Through the snippets she had managed to overhear Alicia deduced that she was talking to herself about going home. After a few minutes she had learned to tune her out and had stopped listening.

As she stood there taking it all in Alicia compared the Chandrilese ports to the one that she had gone through on Gwe'nee a few weeks ago. That had been at the beginning of her journey to the planet Chandrila. In that time she had coerced Sith and a Rodian to fly her towards the Core. She had murdered a Yinchorri and had taken his ship. Then she had almost killed herself in her attempt to sneak her way down to the planet itself. Now- as she stood there beside Sabine- it dawned upon her that at last she was where home should have been.

She thought of her parents and the other survivors who had died on Kalist. How each of them had spoken about Chandrila with a fondness that had been a source of comfort throughout those barren, tough years on that dead world. In the center of the port stood a Garren tree. It reminded her of the ones that they had grown together on Kalist. The last one had died just a few days before Dylus Syn had found her. As her memories flashed before her eyes she found herself standing in front of all the graves that had been dug and the lost buried in.

They had died without knowing why they had never been found. For Alicia it had been a fortitudinous discovery on the part of the man who had given her her early teachings in the dark side. Dylus had described it as if the Force had linked them. Alicia had never believed him. It was more then likely that the transmitter that had been transmitting their distress signal for twenty years had been picked up by his ship as he had made his way through the Deep Core. It was the last thing that they had all managed to keep going in the hopes that they would have been found.

In the end none of them had been.

Her eyes averted from the Garren tree toward Sabine. The other woman kept looking between her and the people in the spaceport. Alicia sensed that she wanted to leave. Eventually, with enough time, the effects of the dark side would wear off her mind and Sabine would be left with a strange tale of how she had helped a stranger down to the planet. Even the most amateur of investigators would find out (with enough inquiry) about how the stranger had used Sabine's card. It wouldn't be difficult to do the math that someone had got down to the planet without wanting to be discovered. Combine that with the strange discovery of the Rolf-Mangir and Alicia imagined that someone would be looking for her.

It was in that moment that Alicia realised her mistake. The guard that she had tricked with the dark side was still alive. He would warn his superiors about his encounter with Alicia when he too recovered from the effects of the Mind Trick.

I am on borrowed time.

Raising a hand to Sabine's shoulder Alicia got her attention and said: "Thank you for helping me, Sabine. You can go home now."

"I can?" Sabine replied worriedly. Already the dark side was wearing off her mind.

"Yes. Go home now." Sensing her trepidation to leave Alicia smiled and added: "It really is okay to leave. Just don't tell anyone about us."

"I won't. I promise." Before Alicia could respond Sabine had already begun walking away. Following Sabine with her eyes Alicia watched her go in the same direction that they had just exited just under an hour ago. It seemed Sabine was set to return to the station. She would not get far without her card which Alicia still possessed. Taking the card out of her pocket Alicia made her way through the spaceport. She read one of the signs leading towards the main streets of Hanna City and decided to go the way.

As she walked Alicia allowed Sabine's card to drop from her hand to the floor and left it there to be discovered. She no longer had any need for it. When she reached the high street she then turned left and begun walking into the city. Raising the cowl of her robe over her head Alicia disappeared into Hanna City to look for the truth.

@DonBongo

 

[Maru C'renic Tel Illo]

Maru was so focused on the space and the trail he hadnt even noticed the planet. He felt its pull and how the area around it were pulled in but compared to some of the other astral bodies its pull was gentle almost soothing. He had stayed to this path the longer now and the first alert he just assumed was the droid warning him that they would need to start the return trip. He grew worried when the droid beeps changed to a more alerting tone and he brought the ship to a slow stop anchoring it in the planets gravity and he turned to the read out.

The droid was alerting him that during a passing sweep of the planet the scanners had picked up an irregularity and Maru sat up in his seat looking at the information. Trace metals used in old starships, the radiation signal of an engine and then of course a faint signal broadcasted in the clear. A pleading pinging tone trying to alert a passerby ship but the beacon was so deep in treacherous space that its signal had gone unheard for years. His heart pounding he started to push on the controls to take his ship down but then just as quickly he pulled the controls back. Whatever happened below had overwhelmed a Jedi, a Padawan but a Jedi none the less. He tapped on the controls and making sure he and the droid isolated the current trail. The flight data would be able to guide other ships and he turned back flying back out of the danger zone until he could get a successful ping on a communication beacon.

He sent the doctor a message along with the data. "Found their trail, if you don't hear back from me DO NOT SEND ANYONE ELSE. The Temple will send someone to find me, I will make sure they tell you what happens but with luck I'll be sharing a cup of tea with you in the next few days and tell you all I found." To the Temple he sent a more simple message, outlining his mission and where he was going and then of course sending the data to them as well before he took the controls again darting his little ship back into the dark and flaring the engines to head back to the lost world.

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

K A L I S T V I ;

In the glare of a dying sun rests a planet that has no history for those who ever landed on those barren rocks were never heard from again. Debris- asteroids, meteorites, other stellar phenomena- encircled the planet like locusts to an open wound. A pale orange hue radiated from the surface revealing several continents of arid, dry Earth. Deserts laid between the land masses suggesting that there had once been vast oceans that had disappeared several millennia ago.

In the southern masses, within a peninsular of mountains, came the signal. Astronomical relays suggested that this was the most cool area of the planet in comparison to the other landing zones that the survey team could have designated for their outpost. In the shade of the largest mountain found in the peninsular (and where it was safe to land) laid the remnants of the Lost 43. A husk for a ship converted into makeshift shelter. The prefabricated garrison they had deployed (big enough for fifty adults) that had begun as their hub while they had conducted their survey and later converted into a greenhouse to grow the array of fauna that they had brought with them to test whether vegetation was possible.

On the outer edges of the colony- where only a few more steps would expose you to the sun- were the graves. 43 of them had been dug. One might come to the realisation that as each survivor perished in the perilous conditions that came with living on Kalist VI another would take their place to dig the grave that they would come to rest in. On and on the death march would go until there was only one left behind with no-one to dig their hole least certainly fill it and give it the proper respects that it deserved.

But someone had dug that 43rd hole. Someone had paid their respects to the dearly departed. They had spent enough time to itch in the names of each survivor and their last words.

Who?

C H A N D R I L A ;

Jorel was in an odd chipper mood. Ever since the Jedi had left to find his old colleagues and friends he had been morbidly happy. Of course, deep down, he expected bad news. There was no way that anyone from the Lost 43 would still be alive after all this time. He had made solace with that fact many years ago. But there was a difference between knowing that his friends had all passed away and then knowing how it had happened. He had no doubt that the Jedi who had answered his letter would find the answers he was looking for.

After all they were a Jedi.

Finding out how his friends had passed away and what had gone wrong with the survey mission only served to elevate his own responsibility for what had happened. If he were objective and rational about it all then he would come to the conclusion that his own responsibility for the deaths came from the very notion of the idea itself. If he had never made the plan to find Kalist VI and embark on the survey mission in the first place then nothing would have happened to those people.

Jorel had done his due diligence in getting the flight plan to the lost world. He had spent almost a year convincing the Institute to fund the project and it had consequentially been well funded. The transport they had used to embark on the mission had been state of the line at the time. It had been given all the necessary provisions and supplies for a three month mission. Nothing should have gone wrong.

But yet things had gone wrong. Worse yet he hadn't even been there to try and stop whatever had happened to them. All his friends, his colleagues and students had perished in a mission that he had been the architect of. It still didn't feel right. In his old age- in the twilight years of his long life- all Jorel had left to do was at least give them a story. To provide a reason for why 43 families had been deprived of their loved ones. So that they would be remembered as heroes rather then the mere tale of a ghost ship that had disappeared a few decades ago.

It had been two and a half weeks since Maru had left Chandrila. There had been no word in that time from the Jedi. In the first few days since he had departed Jorel had regularly checked his console to see if any messages had been left by the Jedi Knight. But there had been none. As days turned into a week and a week into two he had learned to simply wait. To continue normally until word came back from Maru.

Night time had befallen Chandrila. The only thing of interest that day had been on the news. Authorities were looking for a woman. Blonde, Chandrilese and skinny. They hadn't gone into detail as to why they were looking for this woman nor her name but that if she were seen then you were to contact them with her last known whereabouts. Jorel assumed that whoever they were was just some criminal and had paid it not much attention.

In the dead of night was when Jorel finally heard the sound he had been waiting for. The pinging sound echoing from his console in the next room over from his bedroom woke him up from his sleep. In his stupor he groggily climbed out of bed and made his way over. When he reached his computer Jorel lowered himself into his seat. Taking his glasses into his hand he wore them before bringing up the message file on screen.

A holotransmission, Jorel thought to himself as he studied the file. Unknown source. This might be him. Activating the file prompted the console to also activate the holotransmitter to play the message that had been sent to him. Leaning back in his chair he begun to listen to the short message.

"Found their trail..." It was Maru. Jorel's heart begun to pump fast as he felt some excitement. At long last some progress in the search. "...If you don't hear back from me DO NOT SEND TO ANYONE ELSE..." Was he in danger? Jorel frowned as the message continued to play. "...The Temple will send someone to find me, I will make sure they tell you what happens but with luck I'll be sharing a cup of tea with you in the next few days and tell you all I found."

The transmission faded out of view as the message being played ended. Leaning forward in his seat Jorel quickly programmed the transmitter to re-play the message. He did this several times to the point he lost count. After an hour of replays and listening to Maru talk- of analysis and thought- did Jorel finally shut down the transmitter and turn off his console. Returning to his bed he laid there in the dark thinking about Maru's message. He had heard it so many times at that point that he could hear it by memory.

Eventually sleep crept over him. He dreamed of the Jedi flying out there in the void searching for old friends long gone. Dreamed of a party where Maru and he had found them all alive and they were all home with their loved ones. When he woke the next day he cried at the thought of it knowing that not only had the Lost 43 all passed away a long time ago but so too had most of their relatives over the past thirty years.

They had all died without any answers, and to Jorel, that was just as sad as what had happened too.

@DonBongo

 

[Maru C'renic Tel Illo]

It took a great deal of focus for Maru to project his mind outwards as he flew back towards his goal. He couldn't help but feel the smallest sense of pride, he had found the needle and that had been no easy task.

It took a few sweeps to narrow down the signal but it grew stronger as he flew to the landing site. Taking control of the ship he brought it to a low hover using his scanners and the doids help to locate a flat area close to the converted ship. His engines threw a mighty cloud of dust before finally everything was allowed to settle. Then he sat there in his ship while it tested the atmosphere and it gave him time to prepare. He had no idea what had done in this attempted colony and this far into the Deep Core there were far too many variables to try and account for but he would do his best.

Even as the readouts declared that the air was breathable he hooked up breathing back and a rebreather from his travel kit. He attached a headband with a recording device to his head and made sure it was feeding back to the ship for recording. He was a Justicar after all, they were tasked with keeping such pristine records as they fulfilled their duties of monitoring their fellow Jedi.

"If for any reason I give the order for you to leave you will do so," Maru said calmly and clearly "You will follow the path back best you can and send all that had been recorded to the Temple, do you understand my instructions?" and after a confirmation beep, he hit the button to start recording.

"Alright, the video is good....Jedi Knight Maru recording" he said clearly he gave a brief synopsis of how he had gotten to such a desolate spot in space, it was still all part of the record keeping. Finally, with that done he turned his head showing the converted ship not too far away. "I believe I have found them, beginning my investigation into what happened and to locate the remains of Padwan Briali Jouril" then with a press and a button and a hiss the cockpit opened and he carefully worked his way onto the planets surface doing a slow sweep before setting his sites on the ship and began to march through the dust towards it

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

H A N N A C I T Y ;

It was a strange experience to see Chandrilese on every wall, sign or vehicle that passed Alicia as she navigated the streets of the city. She was fluent in the language, of course. It had one of the few things that her parents had passed onto her. But to see it everywhere she looked was odd to her and it was a reminder of what she had lost. If things had been very different then these streets would have been akin to home. As she passed by pedestrians Alicia imagined the figments of a childhood where she would know almost every building, shop and most of what it meant to be a member of Chandrilian society.

But everything was alien to her. Though she could read what was around her, and understand some of the things that were being said as she walked by this was a place that she did not know. When she had briefly stopped by on G'wenee it had been similar but at least then she held no ties to the place or it's people. To know so much and then so little simultaneously made her hateful. It stirred childhood memories of wondering what it would be like to be anywhere else then Kalist and placing herself into the memories that her parents (and the other Lost 43) had shared.

Alicia knew that other then the spaceport and governmental buildings that the Hanna Institute was the biggest complex in the city. The stories had described it as a place that would stand out and that it epitomized the best of Chandrila. When she had left the spaceport to begin looking for the Institute it hadn't taken long to find signs that indicated the way towards the building. It seemed that the ports that connected Chandrila to the rest of the Galaxy was located nearby.

It had begun to rain by the time that Alicia could see the Institute and the tales that she had heard about it were not overexaggerated. An oval dome connected to several walkways that were spiralled through parks made it look like paradise in comparison to where Alicia had come from. Her parents had first met each other here while walking through the parks during their breaks from the lessons that were held inside the building. It had been their fondest story to tell whenever their daughter had asked them to recount what it was like home.

Little did they know that their chance meeting- on that fateful day- would lead to catastrophe.

Beneath the terrace of another building situated across the roads that led into the Institute did Alicia take her place in the shadows. Water ran itself down along the cowl of her robes as she stood there in silence. Out of sight and mind from the nearby pedestrians going about their day. It was still day time (in spite of the dark clouds that rained overhead) and Alicia wanted to wait for night to come.

Hours passed by. In that time Alicia had elected to sit on the ledge of a small wall to rest. The injuries that she had picked up during her infiltration niggled at her and she longed to enter a dreamless, empty sleep that would last for days. Her lips were dry and her mouth felt parched from thirst. Exhaustion was beginning to settle in despite the medical aid Sabine had helped her to get during their time together.

In those hours of waiting for it to turn dark her mind had begun to race. Being on this world- so close to the answers that she sought- had stirred somethings that she had not thought about in many years. When she had entered her apprenticeship under Dylus Syn' there had been nights laying in the darkness of the room (that she had been allocated with the other students that lived in the Korriban Academy) that she had often thought about a name that had kept coming up.

The person responsible for creating the mission that her parents and the others had been recruited for that had ultimately led to their deaths.

A man with all the answers.

Jorel Ruffrits.

@DonBongo

 

[Maru C'renic Tel Illo]

The planet had no vegetation and so each step caused a soft crunch as he marched through dust and dirt he slowly panned his view around the camp and then he glanced down at the scanner he carried. The device was checking the air and aside from the high metallic content the air was breathable but he wasn't taking the mask off until he had removed any doubt what had happened here wasn't something airborne.

He looked around examining the landing site and with a few presses checked up on the other potential hazards and ran a check on radiation. From the readings the planet wasn't the best in terms of radiation and being in the Deep Core there were plenty of exposure that could occur but the colonists had picked a good spot the valley provided a small shield from the cosmic rays though from the study from orbit the open exposure wouldn't be too risky so long as a person was covered up.

He choose to check the settlement ship first and he walked up finding an entrance along the side and he walked up the ramp slowly and carefully arriving at the door and after a moment of searching he found the control panel and he pressed it a few times but the ship was sleeping, any power it had left it was conserving and he hunted a bit until he found the emergency release and tugged it. With a hiss the hydraulics released and the doors parted ever so slightly and he noted a small breeze from within.

"Ship was still pressurized" he commented for his records and he stepped up slipping his fingers into the split in the door and he channeled just a bit of the force into his body so that the task of pushing the doors open would be a smooth simple task. He frowned as he looked into the darkness and he reached up to turn on the light attached to the camera creating a clear beam of light that sliced into the shadows of the ship. Even the emergency lights had flicked out "The signal probably only had a few years left, looks like everything else is shut down just to send it" he muttered and then sighed "Scanner isn't reading any poisons or foreign particles, air is probably stale but clean, going to keep the mask on for awhile longer just in case" he narrates for his record and he glanced back over his shoulder towards his ship before he focused forward again.

As he walked he withdrew his short staff saber from his back his thumb hitting the ignition and the green light from his saber added to the light of his camera and he held the blade aloft and forward a prepped defensive stance his footsteps echoed into the darkness as he walked along slowly and cautiously each door he came across he would open and glance into preforming a practiced sweep as he went went towards the cockpit, figuring that once the ship had been converted it would still act as a command center

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

K A L I S T V I ;

The expedition's ship had been top of the line for it's day. It contained a cockpit that had two seats for a pilot and their co-pilot to navigate the stars; a bridge that connected to small corridors that led to the personal quarters or cargo bay that had contained all of their equipment, footstuffs and other belongings that they had taken with them for the expedition survey; and situated in the middle of the bridge was a ladder that led up into an oval-transparisteel view deck that was small enough for a person to sit in.

In the months following the realisation that they were never going to get off Kalist the expedition team had converted the ship into living quarters for all of them to inhabit. Whilst the prefabricated building (located near the ship inside the valley) had been converted into an area to grow food and create an ecosystem capable of generating water for consumption it was clear that the ship itself had been where all the survivors had lived.

As Maru navigated the corridors of the ship he would notice scattered belongings and layers of dust had settled across the floors or walls of the ship. Torn pages of books; shards of glass from broken equipment; and old pictures were all over the place. In the entryway that led into the bridge there was a dried handprint where someone had briefly grasped the wall before moving on. Upon closer inspection it was clear that whoever had left it there had been bleeding.

In the centre of the bridge- basked in the orange light that was fading in through the oval dome above it- rested a monument made out of the bark of a Garren tree. It had been carved by knife into a makeshift child holding a picture in it's hands. Whoever had created it must have spent weeks- perhaps even months- to create the piece. It was draped in jewellery, several watches and a pair of glass which rested upon the bridge of it's nose.

Upon closer inspection of the picture you could see that it was of a man and woman. Written in pen across the glass frame that hosted the picture read the following words:

Ghost of Kalist.

@DonBongo

 

[Maru C'renic Tel Illo]

Maru explored the ship thoroughly and cautiously. His light saber providing light in an area around him while the powerful light on the camera could reach beyond. He dared not turn on any devices for fear of killing off the little power the ship had left. He reached out with the force letting it roll ahead of him like radar but he felt nothing living stir, no ambushes or traps. Just the faint echoes of the people who had once called this place home. He made note of the handprint pausing to look before he made his way to the bridge and saw the monument.

He didn't disturb it he moved in close to examine it and the work that had gone into such a carving. Then his gaze looked down on the picture and he brushed aside the dust to read the writing. They had wanted this to be found and he would have to try and secure it, though he still hadn't found any traces of the Jedi among the effects left behind.

Moving past the carving he went to the bridge's control panel and after a moment to study the controls reached to start pressing dials along the control board. The last blinking light the ship had to give went out as he finally shut down its distress beacon. It had taken so long but its duty was at least finished help had arrived far too late. Kneeling down he pressed a few more dials until a panel opened and inside it was the ship's black box. The poor vessel didn't even have enough power left to display anything off it but he hoped the data would still be there.

After carefully removing it he brought the device back to his own ship giving a curt whistle to the droid for its attention. "Connect into this, I want everything on it copied transmit one copy to the Temple the other to the good doctor" he ordered.

He gave a small pause to allow the droid's processor, already taxed a bit with so many demands to power up the drive and then began going through the data stored on it. "Using the data we have as the time frame show me everything after the ship went missing" he ordered sitting on the wing of the ship focused on the holograms the droid would project. The device should hold the final records of the ship's captain if they had made regular recordings of their expedition.

"C'mon, show me what happened" Maru urged as the droid fast-forwarded through plenty of irrelevant recordings before arriving at the dates in question.

@Exulae

 

[Alicia Drey]

K A L I S T V I ;
24 years ago.

Stardate [incoherent] [static]-...we lost Nichola today. It took us a full day for us to get the body. We had to wait until it was dusk the next day after we realised what she had done to herself. It's the fifth suicide since we ended up here. I hate it here. But I would never have considered doing that to myself. I cannot believe she's gone. Isn't it awful that I kind of hate her now? I look at that kid now and somehow it's even worse for her then it is for the rest of us because at least know that our families are out there. They don't know that we're still here and they probably think that we're dead. But at least they aren't here. I can take some solace in that. But Alicia? To lose her Mother like that? To grow up here? I can't wrap my head around it. I'll never understand how someone can do that to themselves when they have children. But then again they aren't here, are they? Perhaps I shouldn't be so judgemental. One way or another we're going to end up in the dirt. It's only a matter of time before an accident, or something or another happens to the hydration system we've managed to piece together. Nobody wants to talk about it but we're all losing our minds. Take me for example. Here I am talking still to someone who is never ever going to hear these logs. We are never going to be found. But I make these logs because it is one of the only things I can do to help pass the time. All we can do is talk. No power to be spared for the little things. Can you imagine that the Institute thought of everything that we would need for the expedition except for the one thing that is going to kill us off? It's the boredom. Not the heat. Not the aridity of this place. Not the worry for water, food or when you're going to wake up to find out someone else has decided to kick it early. It's not the prospect that someone is going to lose it and bash your brains in for nothing although it's something that is playing on my mind. The way they look at each other now makes my skin crawl. No... It's the one thing nobody ever takes into account as a necessity for survival. The Institute thought of the things you know are necessary- enough rations to last for several months; back up systems for life support; the transponder we're using to send a distress signal; a life raft... so many things that are the basic requirements to sustain life until help comes. But we're under no illusion anymore. Nobody is coming for us, and the irony of that is nobody ever prepares for that circumstance, do they? If they had prepared for that eventuality you would have considered how boring it is to survive. You would bring a book, a board game- perhaps cards to play Subacc or Pazaak? We tried to make the cards ourselves until we realised that nobody had ever gambled before. We couldn't agree on the rules, what the numbers meant, or how to play so we gave it up. The sad thing about that is I wish somebody had started an argument. We don't even argue anymore. We barely talk to each other. All it is is depression, sleep, try to eat, shit, piss, make these logs- rinse and repeat. My sleep pattern is so messed up that a lot of the time I miss the one time of the day you can step outside without freezing or burning to death. It's dusk. Sometimes I force myself to stay up to make sure I can get outside for a bit. There is nothing to do out there. All it is is dry earth, rock and dust. No vegetation or fauna. No wildlife. The only things growing here is the longing to leave; the garden we've managed to cultivate; and a little girl who lost her Mother. I was fed up of this place a week into landing. I don't know what this is anymore. It's beyond feeling. Nightmare? I don't think the word does it justice. It's like purgatory. Perhaps I'll walk out into the desert when the sun is up. Now I don't feel like talking anymore. I can't even remember what I just said. It's all so hopeless. I am so HOPELESS. WE ARE HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS, HOPELESS-

For the next three minutes, and twenty two seconds, hopeless is screamed, yelled and muttered incoherently before the log ends. It is the only log on the ships black box suggesting that the others had been deleted. Records show that the recording had been played back excessively. There is no name left attached to the log (nor the stardate) suggesting that it had been altered by someone. All that there is left to tell it's voice belonged to a man who had abandoned all sense of hope and that this was the only record left out of the many that he had made before they had been sabotaged.

Significantly the last time that it had been played back was approximately three years ago.

@DonBongo

 

[Maru C'renic Tel Illo]

Maru listened to the entire recording until the audio gave out and then there was nothing but silence hanging in the air as he processed what he had heard. His heart went out to these poor explorers, he could only imagine the nightmare it had been and the raw length of time it took for this level of hopelessness and despair to settle in. The silence dragged on until the droid beeped out a question to check on the Jedi who finally spoke in a smooth calm manner taking the time to think his actions through.

"Edit it" he said softly and then took a breath "Remove the final section where he repeats himself and then send the edited version out to both the doctor and the Temple" he instructed. Then he turned back to the ship as the droid did as it was told. "Can you run a scan on their ship?" he asked and after a moment the droid announced the completion of the task. "What's wrong with it why couldn't they leave?" he asked turning to look at the data but the output frustrated him. "The reactor being dead cant be what happened, he said it himself they had food and water, the seals on the ship were still tight that vessel is space worthy" he pointed out as his eyes read across the information on the data pad.

Then it hit, the only reason this vessel was stranded was that it had lost the tool that had gotten them here in the first place. The navigator, the Padawan. "Without them they were stranded" he whispered and then nodded to the droid. "Continue recording I'm heading to the graveyard" he instructed with concern but even then he had a suspicion. "Forty three graves" he reported for his camera as he walked past each one slowly. "But the Padawan wasn't counted....and they only started dying when they realized they were trapped" he said looking around the camp again.

"The Jedi got lost....or worse" he muttered and then his camera swept the graves again "Or they're still here?" he asked since he realized that if all 43 colonists had perished there had to be a 44th person. He took time to examine the settlement again until he saw what looked to be an old path up and out of the valley and an idea came to mind. He checked the readings again but they were still green and so he finally took off his breathing mask.

"If they packed everything I bet they have a hazardous environment suits for longer walks" he explained as he walked back towards the ship moving at a brisk pace. "Rations and water too which means the Padawan might be out on the surface somewhere" recording his mindset as part of his effort to prevent another Jedi to go missing.

"With the gear I should be able to make a search of the local areas....I have to at least try to locate the Padawans remains before I declare them truly lost" In truth he didn't have high hopes for what might have happened to the young Jedi so much time had passed but he was a Templar and this responsibility fell onto his shoulders.

@Exulae