The Waking Past: Sanctuary Lost

[Acacius Blade]

OOC: Please check out this (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20960) thread before posting, so you know what the general plot is. Thanks, and enjoy!

They had left the rendezvous point three hours ago. The exchange of the Holocron had gone ahead as planned. By now their sister ship, Hope, was in hyperspace on it's way to it's next destination. Unfortunately, the Sanctuary was now caught in a gravity well generated by the imposing cruiser that had jumped in only moments ago. A burst of ion cannon fire had caused disruptions in, amongst other things, the stasis field system. While all of the Jedi onboard had returned to stasis an hour ago, not all of them had reanimated as the system was experiencing intermittent power issues. Those who had re-entered what they referred to as the Galactic Temporal Constant were quickly working to fix the problem, knowing full well that a boarding action was imminent. The ship itself was completely unarmed. While the shields were powerful, they could not hope to hold against prolonged fire concentration from an Interdictor-class Sith Destroyer. The droid crew on the bridge were programed with combat subroutines and could possibly be victorious against a standard boarding party. They would be reduced to molten metal once the Sith arrived. Three emergency transmission pods had been launched the instant the Sith ship came out of hyperspace, with the intention of sending a distress call to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. But the pods were disabled before they could activate their communications array by the ion cannon fire. Although capable of limited self-repair, there was no hope of sending an SOS before the Sith had completed whatever despicable objectives they had.

Master Baern stood silently on the bridge amongst the clanking and servo-strained wheezing of droid activity. His eyes were closed as he relaxed and let his mind wander free. Free from the confines of the bridge and indeed the ship itself. Out across the void to the now-open landing bay of the ship two kilometres off their starboard side. As expected, two shuttles had just emerged and were now on a direct course for the Sanctuary. They were devoid of an aerodynamic nose. Long and narrow with large, powerful engines on port and starboar pylons, with a flat hatch on the bow and stern. It took a moment but he soon realised what they were - boarding shuttles. They were designed to latch onto the hull of a ship and burn right through, allowing troops to enter and attempt to take over the vessel.

As he concentrated on the shuttles, he could sense a strong presence. Several of them in fact. In each shuttle. They were not just the usual sith troops with blaster rifles and gattling lasers. They were erratic, more violent. And the Force was very strong with them. He suddenly opened his eyes and left the bridge. A number of Knights were assembled in the Med Annex.

"Prepare yourselves my friends..."

There was a loud, muffled thud, followed by a high-pitched scorching sound.

"Our dark brothers have come to violate our sanctuary."

[Acacius Blade]

The fleet was crawling through space, as usual. Apart from a few malfunctions on the Valiant, it had been an uneventful day. The Jedi were training and sparring with each other. The fighter escorts patrolled the flank, spiralling around each other out of boredom. Shuttles darted from ship to ship, ferrying passengers around the fleet for official as well as other business. One such shuttle was carrying several Jedi from the Whaledon over to the Valiant. They were interested in seeing what the star cruiser looked like from the inside and Captain Vorega had promised them a tour. She insisted the outing go ahead despite the malfunctions, which themselves were only the result of several tests regarding the various sub-systems in an effort to improve power efficiency.

At the time the shuttle touched down in the Valiants hanger, long range sensors were still offline, and passive sensors were flakey at best. For now, the active focal sensor array was the best pair of eyes the ship had. And although Acacius had been the first one to jump at the chance to explore the Valiant, he had experience with sensory equipment and so offered to take a look at the console, believing he could widen those eyes temporarily until systems were back up and running.

The group left the small shuttle and were greeted by one of the deck officers.

"Captain Vorega is busy on the bridge but insisted your group head straight there, Master Blade" announced the young officer.

"Thank you very much, ensign. And please - call me Acacius. Tell the Captain we're on our way." he replied, shaking his hand before turning to his group.

"Okay gang, make sure not to leave anything on the shuttle - it's not staying. Once you're ready, we're heading over to the forward personnel elevator on the aft side of the hanger..."

Acacius had brought nothing with him aside from his lightsaber and so broke into a run towards the elevator.

"Last one there's a silly but unoffensive undesireable!"

[Inyos Aamoran]

Inyos was on a quest for knowledge.

Ever since he'd come onboard the Wheel, he'd been searching for new ways to broaden his knowledge and understanding. That was nothing knew - he had always been the kind of Jedi to devour his way through the Archives at any opportunity - but after so many years spent in lonely isolation, the oportunity to interact, study, and catch up on all those missed years and knowledge was intoxicating, for lack of a less suspect and un-Jedi term.

For the most part, he was not the kind of individual to indulge in these sorts of guided tours - he was not a tourist, and knew far more could be discovered if one travelled at one's own pace, following the will of the Force to whatever discoveries were relevant. Unfortunately, the military nature of the Valiant provided him with scant alternatives; and despite his reluctance to join Master Blade's expedition, the opportunity to wander around inside a Mon Calamari Star Cruiser - a ship he hadn't even heard of until he'd arrived on the Wheel, let alone set foot aboard - and the potential chance to have a closer look at one of those aledgedly Aethersprite-descended A-Wings that the pilots of Valkyrie Squadron were flying, was too enticing to ignore.

Even so, he was quite determined not to run anywhere; such an act would be foolish, immature, and -

He percieved a surge of activity, passengers who were less caught up in their own stigmas enthusiastically joining in with the Master's game. Inyos eyes narrowed, glancing about him in concern that he might be last after all -

- with a leap, he sprung into the air, the Force aiding his flight through the air of the hanger, long coat billowing behind him in a poor approximation of the Jedi robes he didn't yet feel qualified to wear again. He landed in a crouch, one foot flat while the other bent low on his toes; he hadn't even realised that he'd summoned his lightsaber to his hand through reflex, though presence of mind had prevented him from activating it.

Rising calmly, he brushed a hand down the front of his clothes to smooth out imaginary creases and, with a curt nod to Master Blade, stepped into the elevator beside him.

[Abarai Loki]

When the turbolift doors parted Loki was greeted by the sight of Acacius Blade running full sprint towards him, Inyos Aamoran soaring majestically through the air, and an entire train of overly-enthusiastic off-duty personnel following in their wake. His expression steeled; an immovable object to Blade's unstoppable force.

"Acacius Blade," he began loftily, "Do you purposely seek to undermine order or is madness simply your bedfellow?"

[Acacius Blade]

Acacius planted his feet solidly beneath him - the momentum sliding him dramatically along the smooth, glossy deck floor, with his arms high above his head. A draught from above in the lift shaft caught his open robe, causing it to billow wildly behind him. He was always wearing a jolly smile, but when dealing with Loki, it morphed into a mischievous grin with one corner of his mouth sharper than the other.

"Loki...Loki...Loki Loki Loki..."

He knelt down before the boy and folded his arm.

"Loki."

He stood up again, making room for the others.

"There's nothing to worry about. There are no errands to run or missions to complete. It's a normal day and as usual we're cooped up on the Whaledon. We need to get out. We all need to get out once in a while. It's a simple trip to the Valiant with a guided tour, nothing has to be done - there are no rules to follow. No protocol. We're guests. Lighten up - have a little fun once in a while!"

[Tionne Thanewulf]

Brawls were always refreshing, perfect means for some of that built-up frustration from living a life void of any bodily pleasures to dissipate. Tionne enjoyed them more than it was appropriate, resembling her grandfather a great deal in that regard; like him, she often emerged from bar fights without a single scratch. Whether it was luck or fast reflexes, it did not matter as long as blood pumped faster and adrenaline roused the senses.

''You certainly are fast for a boy.'' said the Knight upon seeing Loki disappear behind a corner. The boy surely kept up a pace very few could follow. As she walked through the corridor, Thanewulf tried to make herself look more presentable. With the seam of her tanktop partially ripped and dangling underneath the jacket and pants literally hanging, threatening to expose her behind due to a loosened belt, Tionne looked quite dishevelled, as if just having enjoyed a few minutes of broom closet action. Her hair was messy, ginger locks pointing in every possible direction. Taking a sharp turn left, she almost walked into a closed door; in a blink of an eye, it opened with a distinctive hiss.

Her eyes first fell on Loki whilst sporting an amused, slightly mischievous smile.
''You trying to run away from me now?'' she asked softly, before noticing they were no longer alone. Gaze drifted to another familiar face, her smile widening.
''Inyos.'' the redhead greeted simply, then attempted to tuck the remnant of her tank top into her pants after pulling them up a bit. Hair was blown out of her eyes to reveal a symmetrical, pale face, a few freckles sprayed across a snub nose. Finally, the Jedi turned to the man who stood next to Loki.

''I don't believe we met. Tionne Thanewulf. Jedi Knight.'' said the Coruscanti-born Sentinel, offering a hand, the smug expression persisting on her face.

[Acacius Blade]

Acacius accepted her right hand with his. Her grip was strong; confident.

"Quite a handshake!". He smiled. Then a shouting deckhand came running to the elevator.

"Going down?" he pleaded? He looked as if he was late for something. Acacius twisted to the right, his head pushing forward slightly into the ensigns.

"Going up, UP!". And with that, the elevator started climbing all the way up to the command deck. Acacius knew full-well that Loki was leaving but it was just too much fun to resist. He turned back to the vixen before him.

"Acacius Blade at your service. Jedi Master, technician, grade seven starship engineer, bronze swimmer and part-time lounge singer..."

Still holding her hand firmly in his, he turned the other way to Inyos and pointed at him intensely; his eyes slightly narrower, relaxed, cool.

"Check me out in the bar on deck nine every Saturday night!" He winked and cocked his thumb like an obsolete mechanical pistol. He returned to Tionne.

"I also cook a mean Corellian Courgette!" He pulled her hand up and kissed it lightly before bowing in a gentlemanly way. "I have to say I recognise your voice - you train very loudly." He returned to an upright standing position and smiled. "I've passed the Whaledon's cargo hold on occasion and heard someone running and jumping, diving and tumbling. The small size of the training area must be agony for someone with such energy. I admit that it wouldn't appear proper for a dignified gentleman such as myself to behave in such a manner..."

The elevator stopped and the doors parted, revealing a long corridor - at the end of which was the closed security door to the bridge. Acacius let go of her hand, which he had been holding for the entire ascent, sprung out of the elevator sideways and began cartwheeling down the corridor.

"...but Loki would be the first one to say I seldom act properly. Come on gang!"

He wooshed between a pair of repair technicians wearing awe-struck grins. They giggled before leaving the corridor via a maintenence service-hatch.

[Eragon_Dushall]

He had left his ship in the hands of some very capable engineers while he decided to catch up to the Jedi party on the Valiant. Being a new arrival to the Wheel he felt it would have been better to start some much needed repairs on the Wildfire. As he started to walk away he felt the bump of his R9 unit against his right leg. Turning he knelt and put his left hand on top of his friend and spoke, "Buck, I'll take you with me next time. I need you to make sure they do a good job and i'll be back in a couple hours." Once again he made his way to the turbolift.

When he entered he turned and saw Buck still looking at him. Holding the doors open he waved for his friend to join him. A series of high whistles and beeps followed as the R9 unit made it's way to the turbolift. When they were both inside Dushall removed his hands and stepped back. I'm going to actually meet other Jedi for the first time. He tought as he gripped his stomach lightly. "Must be the elevator." He said as Buck noticed his uneasiness.

When the elevator opened he found that he was in the starboard side of the ship just outside the bridge. "This was the first stop on the list that the Liaison officer gave me." Buck beeped and whizzed. "Well if they aren't there then I look like a idiot." Chuckling as he stepped out of the turbolift he walked down the corridor to the security hatch that would give them access to the bridge. Pausing he took a second to brush off any dirt or dust that might have accumulated on his black clothes and dark green corellian cloak.

[Abarai Loki]

Once Acacius had made his typically theatrical depature from the turbolift he'd seen fit to hijack, Loki simply glanced at Tionne and, in reference to the balding lunatic's quest to drag them to the bridge, he simply folded his arms and said:

"I'd sooner be blasted out an airlock."

[Garen Thane]

"Our dark brothers have come to violate our sanctuary."

Garen Diniz found the smooth cylinder of his lightsaber in his hand, and he looked at Rin Tua beside him. The Nautulan Jedi Knight blinked her obsidian eyes, and he could feel the fear building inside her. He put a hand on her shoulder, and murmured, "Fear is the mind killer."

She nodded, taking a few deep breaths as the Jedi gathered in the Med Annex began to talk, some wanting to go protect the artifacts that Sanctuary had been gathering, and others making a case for their brothers and sisters that remained in stasis. Master Baern quickly took charge again, and groups of knights were dispatched to repel the boarding Sith and protect the sleeping Jedi.

Rin's emotions abated, evening out to more what Garen was used to sensing from her. He squeezed her shoulder a final time, and then Baern was speaking to them. "The prisoner. Garen, Rin - please make sure he is kept secure."

Garen nodded, "And you, Master?"

"I will protect our most precious cargo. It is best if no one knows where, so the Sith cannot take the knowledge of its whereabouts from your mind."

The screeching of the boarding shuttles halted, and Garen suddenly realized that the invading Sith were now pouring out of their ships. A brother fell and became one with the Force somewhere in Sanctuary, and the Jedi knight found that he was gripping his lightsaber pommel too tightly.

"Come on," he said, leading Rin out of the Annex as Master Baern left in another direction. She was trembling a bit as they picked up speed, her head tresses no doubt picking up the exacerbated emotional states of their brothers.

"Passion, but serenity," Garen reminded her. The passageways seemed smaller than normal as they ran, but the layout of the ship had not been changed by foul magics, it was merely his perception of it. Claustrophobia brought on by impending attack in a metal ship surrounded by the blackness of vacuum.

A dark presence loomed in front of them in a junction, and Rin's lightsaber snapped to life just as he thumbed his on. Blue and green blades illuminated the hall as the overhead lights flickered. Sanctuary had jumped into hyperspace.

Red light greeted them, and the two Jedi sprang into motion. Rin's Makashi met the Sith's Ataru, her precise footwork and feints drawing in the other's more aggressive style. Niman joined the fight as Garen took advantage of an opening, his blue blade slashing at the Sith's red lightsaber. The Jedi Knight threw up his free hand, blasting the Sith back with the Force until it smashed against the bulkhead.

Rin cried out, altering her attack to accommodate another opponent as a second Sith appeared. She ducked under a wild swing, the bells on her head tresses tinkling as she redirected the Sith's aggression back on itself. Garen could have watched her elegant style all day, but had more pressing matters to attend to. The Sith he had sent into the bulkhead regained its feet quickly, jumping towards him and spinning dramatically as Ataru practitioners were wont to do. Garen thought, calculated, and deflected the attacking blade while rolling back and out of the way of the other's more wild pressure. As the Jedi melted away, the Sith pressed forward only to be met with fierce defense.

Out of the corner of his eye Garen saw Rin slice the lightsaber arm off of her opponent, and follow up with a decapitating blow. Momentarily distracted, the Jedi Knight was nearly incapacitated himself, and just managed to lock his blade with the Sith's. He found himself at an impasse, face to face with the dark enemy. The Sith was a female, and she had painted her face black to match her dark robes. Yellow eyes gleamed hate at him, and she grinned to reveal sharp and serrated teeth, like a shark's.

She snapped at him, and ran a too red tongue over those bizarre teeth. "You cannot sssstop ussss, Jedi."

Garen threw her back, and she laughed, a deep gurgling sound that originated deep in her throat. The Sith spun towards him again as Rin joined them, shoving aside the precision of the Nauntulan's attack as if Rin had been a leaf, and charging straight for Garen. He batted aside her blade with a wide, sweeping slash, and followed through with the backstroke, opening up a long cut on her stomach.

The Sith shrieked, continuing to batter at his defenses as though her intestines weren't spilling out, and Garen was finding it hard to use Niman to overpower her. He used the Force to lift the head of the other Sith, throwing it right at his attacker. She sliced at it instinctively, arms high and leaving herself open. Garen took advantage and caught her in the armpit with a powerful blow that took his lightsaber all the way to her solar plexus. The Sith exhaled through her sharp teeth, arms falling loosely and her lightsaber dropping to the ground and turning off.

Garen tugged at his weapon to get it free, the Sith sliding off and collapsing in a heap. Rin Tua was panting, but adrenaline and the Force was keeping her fear at bay. She rarely dueled with the other Jedi, and to be honest Garen was surprised that she had acquitted herself so well in the fight.

"Chaos, yet harmony," she said, managing a smile over the sounds of fighting from other parts of Sanctuary.

"Come on Rin," said Garen, adjusting the thick headband he had tied over his long hair. "Have to make sure our stowaway Seyuki Dervish is comfortable."

"Don't remind me," she pouted, but followed him gamely. The Dervish's purpose was unknown, as he had yet to be questioned, but as a member of a known group of Force wielding assassins the Jedi had erred on the side of caution and locked him up.

Garen tried to remember what he'd been doing before they'd entered stasis the last time, before it had malfunctioned and brought him out of artificial sleep early. Cataloging ancient pots from Arcan IV? It seemed like a million years ago. He slapped the door control for one of the large meditation chambers and for some reason it took a moment for the doors to open as the ship was buffeted by the Force alone knew what. When the doors finally opened Garen belatedly felt the dark presences on the other side. The two Jedi found themselves facing seven of the Sith intruders, including one who immediately raised its hands and shot tentacles of Force Lightning at them.

Rin was blasted out of the doorway by the attack, her cream colored robes smoking as she hit the bulkhead behind them. The doors began to close with her on the outside, and Garen shouted, "Find the Dervish!"

The lights flickered out and the room was lit only by lightsabers, red surrounding blue.

[Mithras]

Rin Tau hesitated - but only for a beat. With a quick glance left then right, she turned left and broke into a sprint. The sound of lightsaber crashing against lightsaber faded behind her, but elsewhere in the ship she heard the many harrowing sounds of combat – the sizzle of blaster-fire, the grunts and cries of the blood-thirsty and the wounded. Her own blade hummed insistently at her side, a reminder that she was not done with it yet.

A short while passed and Rin slowed to a jog, outside of the blast door to the Sanctuary's tertiary cargo bay. Intended to house shuttles and additional ground transports, should a planet-side stop be necessary, the hangar was rarely used and thus had been the Master's first choice when presented with the necessity for a holding cell on board a ship that lacked a purpose built prison. Her hand went to the access panel but stalled before she could key the entry codes, as her senses quested beyond the blast door to the cavernous cargo bay.

She could feel at least two lifeforms, perhaps more, though they were faint. Her hope buoyed by the possibility that there were other Jedi inside, the Nautolan quickly keyed the entry panel – though took the precaution of side-stepping into cover until she was certain that no volley of blaster-fire or arc of Sith lightning was going to spring out at her.

Her mind raced ahead of her as she moved into the doorway, trying in the space of seconds to map and evaluate the entire hangar bay. Her gaze darted from surface to surface, mindful of the many places that an interloper could hide within the hangar. There was no sign of forced entry and none of the ravages of battle that surely were scarring the rest of the ship – but there was a worryingly familiar scent in the air: o-zone.

It took a matter of moments to find the body. Rin felt her heart sank as she recognized the face of the Zabrak Master Jothrami, her face contorted in a frown that spoke more of confusion than any great pain. She clutched one frail hand to her chest, her fingertips curling weakly into the edge of the cauterized hole that had been driven straight through her larynx. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. Only the noise of a fish gasping helplessly for air.

Rin stared down into Jothrami's eyes as the old Master teetered upon the edge of unconsciousness. She felt no sorrow, no tears came to her eyes, and yet she could not help but feel her spirits sink. Pressing her lips into a hard-line, the Nautolan crouched by the Zabrak's side and passed her hand over the woman's eyes. “There is no death, there is the Force.”

The Dervish paused a moment longer, waiting until she had muttered whatever words of farewell were custom for moments such as these. Then, as Rin Tau righted herself with a deep breath and began to turn to examine the rest of the cargo hold, he surged forward and with a single strike, engaged the dazzling green beam of Master Jothrami's lightsaber and punched the tip of the blade through Rin Tau's ribcage. She gasped and in her surprise dropped her weapon, the blade automatically shrinking away into its hilt as it clattered to the ground. With narrowed eyes, the Dervish rolled the 'saber hilt between his palms and the stench of burning flesh and boiling blood grew stronger in the air. Then, grasping firm on the cylinder with one hand, he yanked the blade free and kicked Rin Tau to the ground, her body half-thrown over her fallen comrades.

[Acacius Blade]

When the group finally entered the bridge, Acacius was already sat at the communications console, explaining to Captain Vorega about the re-configurations and adjustments he was making to the sensor array.

"...so you see - by unlocking the entire housing and using the cleaning jets as a set of thrusters, you have a lot more movement for on-the-fly scans without having to change course at all. Like this it's still pretty limited but if an engineering team can make the proposed modifications to the external sensor structure, what you essentially have is a narrow-focused, highly sophisticated photonic telescope. And you still have access to all the other modes and functions of the normal sensor array by re-routing the imaging and data processing sub-routines through here..."

He looked up, sensing new arrivals.

"Ah, gang! I won't be a moment. Just let me give the good Captain a demonstration of the new sensors and we can get on with the tour. Thank you again, by the way, Captain. It's nice to get out and about."

"Don't mention it, Master Blade. I'm just glad we'll have a set of eyes while the overhaul is carried out. So show me how it works. Lets take a look at that asteroid field in section twelve-gamma..."

"Alrighty. So what you do is re-align along the two axes, and gradually zoom in. It could be more automated if you wish, but you'd need to give the engineers some specifications to work with when they modify the external motors and whatnot. But for now if you just manually adjust the focal point as you zoom in for accuracy and then..."

A high-pitched ping sounded across the bridge. And again. And again - every three seconds. An astromech droid chirped in with an assortment of squawks, bleeps and whistles. Acacius read the transcript on his console.

"Metallic, and vast. Well if that's true then perhaps we should take a closer look. Visually there's too much debris obscuring it, but there's definitely something very large buried amongst the rock and debris out there. Captain Vorega, with your permission I'd like to lead a recon team to see what exactly it is that's out there."

"I'll have a shuttle preped within the hour, Acacius."

"Thank you Captain."

An hour and fifteen minutes later...

The shuttle came around one of the larger asteroids in the cluster nearest the object. Several faint power signatures suggested a ship of some sort, but there was still too much interference from the debris and rock composites to make an accurate determination. As the small ship swung below the shadowy gut of the asteroid, the first full view of it was captured by everyone aboard. It was magnificent. There were one or two gasps of shock and awe just as the scans came in.

"Twelve hundred metres in length. Four-hundred tall. Two-hundred wide. She's huge!" exclaimed the pilot.

"Big girl!" retorted Acacius, smiling.

Then the co-pilot chimed in, looking at another readout screen: "Power signatures dotted around the ship - looks like certain parts still have a bit of power, sir! We should dock at section Nine-Bravo. I'm reading sufficient oxygen levels, temperature and power, and it's the closest feasible drop-off from the bridge.

"Excellent. Take us in!"

The shuttle revved up the engines up to two-thirds and suddenly the ship became much larger in a hurry. The ship turned on it's centre to look aft along the hull. A hiss to the left sounded the docking clamp engaging and negotiating with the external airlock of the large ship. As they waited, Acacius found himself thinking back through his mind while studying the hull of the ship through the forward shuttle windows.

"I recognise this design. It's old, and I have seen it before. I just can't place it..."

That's when he noticed it. Less than a hundred metres down the ship from their position, and about two hundred metres above them, locked onto the side of the hull like a Drellian Limpet on a coastal rock. He still couldn't identify the ship, but he knew what that object was. A Sith Assault Shuttle. He was about to point it out when a large whoosh of air signalled the opening of the airlock, and the team were already filing out of the shuttle. Just as Acacius stepped out, the pilot called to him.

"Master Blade - according to the readouts there should be a landing platform some ways below our current position. If you can get the bay doors open we could land the shuttle and take some in-depth internal scans and try to map her out."

"I'll make it a priority, my friend. For now, this shuttle of yours is our lifeline. And with all these asteroids flying about, I'd prefer it to be inside where it's safer. Hold here for now, and don't hesitate to disengage and come back for us later if a collision looks imminent. I'll contact you once we've got those doors open."

The shuttle hatch sealed behind Acacius and he jogged through the narrow airlock tube to join the others. When he got there, they were all gathered in a large dust-laden room, stood around a pair of skeletons lying on the floor.