Rise Of The Old Republic: Revival

[Dasquian Belargic]

Long long ago, at a time touching on being centuries into the past, the Old Republic began a project to explore the further most reaches of the galaxy. There aim was to find life beyond what they knew, and set up relations with these new people. Whether or not they would accomplish this depended upon the Jedi Knights deployed. Locked into cryostasis chambers, these few brave peacekeepers were launched out into space. In all truth, there was little chance any of them would ever be seen again - however not all hope would be lost.

Though two hundred years may have past, the spirit of the Republic still lives on, as do two of it's Jedi Knights. Awoken from their frozen sleep, their transports have landed upon the surface of the planet Coruscant, only a short distance from where the old Jedi temple once stood. And so they return to their quest.

Jedi Knight Dasquian Belargic sat leant against the transport ship, looking upon into the mid-day sky and sighed softly as he turned to look towards his flight partner.

"Aaron?"

[Aaron Belargic]

"Brother... I could be wrong, but this looks a lot home. The navigational computer is nearly shorted out though, so I couldn’t confirm it. The others aren’t alive either.” Behind Dasquian and inside the ship, the other stasis tubes were filled with bones and ashen remains. The fluid inside the chambers kept the rotting flesh partially preserved... "I know this might sound strange... but I think this wasn't an accident. These seals were all broken... Even ours. I don't know if it was the Force that saved us Dasquian, but I don't think we were meant to survive the journey. Someone purposely sabotaged the mission."

Aaron pawed at the ships navigational computer, trying to get a clear answer about where they had landed. It was processing their entire journey, and it had been doing so for the last hour. The time had been welcomed: Aaron's hands and mind were not completely thawed yet, and his flesh being conquered by a burning sensation. It was probably mild hypothermia...



<center>. . . . Beep . . . .</center>


He focused his eyes back on the computer and raised a brow. "We are home! We're home!" He was excited. Only a few minutes ago (at least, it seemed like a few minutes to Aaron) when he had closed his eyes, he didn't expect to ever see Coruscant or anyone he knew ever again... and Yoda. He couldn't wait to tell master Yoda about - No, wait. "This can't be..." His eyes caught sight of the computer's estimated flight time. They had been in space for two-hundred years.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Someone had tampered with their mission? But who would do such a thing. Their intentions had been nothing but peaceful, and the trip posed no threat to any other faction in the galaxies. It was a sheer stroke of fate that he and his brother had remained alive whilst the other Jedi had perished; the Force had favored them for some divine reason, no doubt.

“Home?”

As Dasquian leapt up to his feet at the exciting prospect of being back home once more he felt the full effects of the frozen stasis once more, his knuckles almost buckling beneath him as the cold bit at them. He wobbled as he walked towards Aaron, grimacing as he felt the pain in him once more.

“What is it… what’s wrong?”

His brother sat staring down at the screen before him, eyes wide in some shock or surprise. Dasquian followed his suite quite quickly as he saw just what had caused his brother to act as he did, his own eyes bulging at the sight of the date on the panel.

“This cannot be correct! There must be some fault in the system!”

[Aaron Belargic]

"There's only one way to find out..." Aaron held back the two-century-old nutrient supplement in his stomach, standing up and walking outside the ship. He looked around, trying to see if he could recognize anything... The landing pad was just as he remembered it, though now many of the ships docked were not Old Republic military craft: This had been turned into a civilian landing zone. Most of the ships he could see were newer models. He hadn't seen them before in his life.

There! "Look! The Senate building!" The symbol that was emblazoned upon it was very similar to the original symbol used by the Old Republic, just a bit larger around. Instead of a broken circle going around it, there was a solid line. Even if this was two centuries later, it seemed that peace was still the dominating Force in the galaxy. At the edge of the landing pad a few white-armor clad men were discussing amongst themselves, pointing at Aaron who had just stepped outside of the ship.

"It's not a mistake Dasquian... but these people here must remember. Let's go talk to those men. They appear to be soldiers. If we explain to them that we are Jedi Knights of the Old Republic, they're likely to take us to the council."

[Dasquian Belargic]

The Senate building did look very similar, even if the area they now were in did not. Following his brother to step out into the open, Dasquian took in a deep breath of Coruscant air, a pleasant change from the stale dry oxygen in the ship. As Aaron spoke of the men in the white armor they began pointing back at him, talking amongst themselves presumably about the Jedi.

“Yes, that’s an excellent idea,” Dasquian laughed, his bouncy attitude returning to its former self as the two robed lightsiders stepped down from the craft towards the soldiers, soft smiles covering their faces, each like a mirror reflection of the other.

“Excuse me? Excuse me!” They began to jog towards the men as they turned away, Dasquian catching their attention once more by calling out to them.

[Aaron Belargic]

The men leveled their rifles at the brothers and pointed at them. "Identify yourselves." The troopers had already been tipped off to something being unusual about these two. The authorization codes were ancient... invalidated centuries ago.

This is a bit more extreme than I remember... "We are Dasquian and Aaron Belargic, Jedi Knights of The Republic. We need to speak with the council immediately." Even through the half-fugue state, he still knew something was wrong. The troopers were all the same. They seemed to think the same things, consider the same options.

"Brother, get out of the way." The two Jedi sped to opposite sides and took cover behind different ships as the storm troopers opened fire on them. Aaron could hear them calling for back up. This was definitely not right.

"Don't let them get away. They're New Republic spies!" The radio-quality voice came back them, echoing across the landing pad.

New Republic? Aaron reached down for his saber and held it ready, not wanting to activate it needlessly. "I'm sure we can discus this. Why are you shooting at us? Please, put down your weapons, we are on a scientific mission and need to speak with the council!" He tried yelling out to the troopers, but they weren't listening. Instead of some kind of verbal response, a volley of blaster fire came over Aaron's head. Then perhaps we can't discuss this after all...

[Dasquian Belargic]

"Don't let them get away. They're New Republic spies!"

Dasquian leant back against the ship quickly, his heart fluttering as he fumbled around his waist for the metallic cylinder he had grown to know and wield so well. Though he left the blade unignited, his thumb hovered in anticipation over the activation switch.

"We mean you no harm! We are on a mission of peace!" He leant his head around the bulky frame of the ship only to be greeted by a rapid barrage of blaster shots, some almost grazing against his cheek.

"Aaron! I think we should get out of here! Staying here will do us no good and we can locate the Council ourselves," he said through force communication to his brother, who stood some distance away from him mimicing his evasive position.

[Darth Viscera]

Darth Viscera sat in his command chair, contemplating the force in his nearly light-deprived throne room. Nearby, several holographic maps rested atop a solid black table. Some of the maps were of Imperial territories, others of Sith territories, yet still others of Sith and Imperial territories, with various icons projected throughout flightpaths. Planning for war was indeed difficult, especially one so large in scale as this.

I shall have to assign myself a staff.

His contemplations were brought to a halt when he sensed something out of the ordinary...Jedi. On Imperial Center. He shielded his mind quickly, and reached out to the Jedi, probing their thoughts.

200 years? By the Emperor, the height of naivety. The potential to manipulate them is astounding.

He acted quickly, sending a message through the force to TK4-I39, the local Stormtrooper squad Sergeant, instructing him to escort the two Jedi to the old Jedi Council building, and that the Diktat himself would meet them there.

He glanced at his Sith robes.

But first, a change of wardrobe would be prudent.

[Aaron Belargic]

"Then we run, on the count of three! One," Aaron braced himself up against the ship, his legs bent in readiness, "two," his green saber snapped to life in a flash, as functional as it had been two-hundred years ago, "three!" Both of the men leapt and back flipped into the squad of troopers, standing back to back and deflecting the blaster fire. Two of the armor clad goons fell immediately.

[Dasquian Belargic]

The orange beam of Dasquians saber flicked back and forth, crackling loudly as the blaster shots repelled against the firey blur. Though both men were aching from their trip, they performed with well attuned prowess, deflecting every shot the troopers could throw.

He looked to his side, glancing over his shoulder at his brother Aaron to see he was finding no difficulty at keeping the few soldiers at bay, and also that a couple had already fallen prey to their own weapons.

Soon the numbers descreased, the group of 6 or so winnowed down to a single lone man. How he managed to dodge all of the repelled shots was a wonder to Dasquian, however that was soon changed - as a fateful bolt struck him square in the center of his helmet.

"Well," Dasquian sighed, lowering down the humming beam, "...What a warm welcome."

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron lowered his green saber, nodding. "I think things have changed for the worse, but I could be wrong. What did they mean by 'New Republic?' Has the Republic gone into a state of civil war..?" He began to walk towards the exit, his saber still activated for a measure of added security. There didn't seem to be anymore troopers in the immediate vicinity, but that didn't mean they weren't on their way. The same strange alteration of the Old Republic insignia was emblazoned on several other buildings.

The two brothers began walking in the direction of the Senate building. Another fray of blaster fire nipped at their heels. "I think they're back." Aaron noticed a set of swoops at the far end of the landing pad and pointed them out. "I think we should borrow those... quickly." He broke into a jog, deactivating his saber and clipping it to his belt. The shots were barely missing his head and arms, the heat singing his robes.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Quickly, he span the saber downwards and sheathed it in a holster at his waist, the blade snapping away from view. He picked up his jogging speed with some encouragement from behind as a blaster shot almost pipped against his right leg.

As he ran he looked up towards the insignia emblazened upon the walls of the Senate building, his gaze only falling back to the ground as they reached the swoops. Dasquian swung himself up onto one of the pair, with his brother taking the other.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," he said as they started up the machines, the sound of gun fire wailing behind them. As they pulled off away from the pad Dasquian could see patrols of the white soldiers turning from their posts to head towards the two Jedi Knights.

"Scrap that, I've got a very bad feeling about this."

[Aaron Belargic]

"I think that's the last thing you said to me before we climbed into those stasis tubes." The sound of the swoop's engines drowned out the blaster fire as the two Jedi accelerated their swoops, zooming past a crowd of merchants and taking a sudden dip off the edge of the landing pad. They plummeted for about twenty stories, drawing the attention of hundreds of Imperial citizens and storm trooper patrol squads. A second pair of wailing speeders could be heard closing in behind them as the two swoops finally leveled off with the horizon. The air ways were crowded, making maneuvering a difficult task.

Aaron and Dasquian ducked below most of the ships, swoops, and bikes, narrowly avoiding collisions. High pitched shots struck passing civilian ships, deflecting off into the sky or lower levels of Coruscant. Some of the green bolts missed the two by mere inches. Aaron turned to get a quick look at the white-armored men riding the speeders behind them. Their helmets were different then the other soldiers they had encountered at the landing pad.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Their swoopers were making some head way against the speeders of the soldiers, but they couldn't outrun the blaster bolts so easily. Swerving from side to side sent both ducking under transports and narrowly missing scraping the top off of other riders heads. Not only were their lives in danger now, but those of the citizens of Coruscant also were.

"We've got to head for somewhere less densely populated! If we don't we could end up with hand fulls of innocent deaths."

Aaron and Dasquian quickly swerved their swoops inbetween the gap in two large buildings, and shot off along the tight road between them. Behind sheets of material lining the buildings shattered as a few of the white-armoured riders caught sight of were the two Jedi had gone and followed them, allowing for half of the tailing squadron to be lost amidst the Coruscant traffic.

Some distance infront of them the two skyscrapers joined together into one forming a towering blockage before them. Dasquian glanced over to his brother quickly and called out,

"Going up?"

[Aaron Belargic]

[OOC: Don't worry Visc, we'll be there anyway. Can a Mod please remove all the OOC comments in this thread so far, including the ones made here in this post by me?]



"...And down."

Aaron and Dasquian continued on a straight ahead course, their swoops growling like rabid lions. The troopers behind Aaron fired off another few spreads of the green bolts, one of them skimming his arm. "Ah!" Dasquian looked over to him for a second and notice the black and red gash in Aaron's arm. "Don't worry, I'm fine!" The tower in front of them was coming up fast. The two brothers nodded to each other and dipped in opposite directions, one going up and then the other one sharply diving downwards a few milliseconds later. The lead trooper behind them had decided to turn up, but as Aaron plummeted his swoop downwards, the man had a change of mind. The speeder scout angled his bike downwards, hoping to keep close behind Aaron.


<font size=5>BOOM!</font>


The scout trooper didn’t make it. His bike burst into a plume of flame which coated the two speeders behind him, causing one of the men to jump off his bike in a last ditch attempt to save himself, and the other one to veer sharply to the left and damage his speeder against the side of the building he was traveling along. The remaining four biker's each split off as they came up towards the tower, two of the following behind Dasquian and another two behind Aaron.

"I'll meet you at the Senate building," said Aaron to his brother through the Force, hoping that he would indeed see him there when this was all over.

[Darth Viscera]

Darth Viscera stood in the old Republic Senate building, clad in a brown Jedi robe, his greying hair uncovered by the robe's hood. This building had not been used in the better part of a century, and several attempts had been made to destroy it. The decision had been made to leave the carbon-scored and largely rubbled building be, as a sign of the decadence of the Republic. A small hologenerator had been mounted in the on the flooring of this old Senator's repulsorcarriage and was now active, displaying a status report of the situation. An entire stormtrooper squad was heavily stunned, and two scout troopers were dead. Nearly two hundred troops of various Imperial branches were en route to the site of the trouble, and the criminals were expected to be apprehended at any time.

So much for the peace-loving Jedi.

He lent determination to the Imperial troops present at the site of the trouble, empowering them beyond their nominal capacity towards his objective.


As Aaron Belargic raced down the main building of Victory Plaza in a stolen swoop bike, four Dark troopers inside the building worked feverishly, making slight adjustments to their personal shield generators and networking them together in order to provide a larger static shield bubble. It did not take them much time; they had been trained for this, the modifications and diagrams were still in the field manual.

Finished, they aligned two of the personal shield generators at opposite sides of the room, and used a grappling hook to extend the other two shield generators to another building 10 meters away. The trap set, they activated the small shield grid, and lowered the power to a setting which would not be dangerous to humans. It would simply act as a large, invisible barrier.

Aaron Belargic continued to speed down the side of Victory Tower 1, oblivious to the hidden trap which awaited him. Instantly, the front end of the swoop bike shattered in a haze of flying durasteel debris. The remainder of the wreck flipped to the side, its center of gravity altered, hurling Aaron out onto another part of the barrier grid.

The dark troopers shot the already-dazed Jedi, blue stun bolts screaming out towards him, rendering him unconscious. A recovery droid went out to the barrier and retrieved the unconscious Jedi for the Dark troopers. This would make a pleasant prize for the Diktat.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Dasquian pulled his swoop up hard, racing vertically up the side of the building, his robes and hair whipping as the air rush past him. The two troopers following the Jedi Knight swerved back and forth behind him, their shots shooting up into the air past Dasquian as he skidded from side to side to avoid them. Up above he could see the top of the building looming, and realised he had only moments to forumalte a plan.

Glancing down back over his shoulder he saw the scene being played out on the lower part of the building for a brief second - his brother had been caught, he was no longer conscious. He cursed inside his mind, snapping his head back around quickly to charge at the top of the building, swerving back onto the horizontal plain after a short mid-air dive.

From the high vantage point of the tower block he could see across the whole city, it's skyline a blur on all sides as he raced across the rooftop. The soldiers neared behind him closely, and before him the towering Senate building shrunk closer away from the horizon.

"Aaron, hold on.."

Dasquian gritted his teeth as the three warring swoops came to the edge of the building, and plummeted downwards. Or, at least the soldiers did. The two swoops shot downwards toppling their drivers off into mid-air. The Jedi, however, swerved upwards moments after clearing the edge of the roofing, landing himself back up on the semi-solid ground.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron had felt a rush of Dark presence... as if the soldiers chasing him were pawns in an immense chess game. The thought had come too late. Everything went white before he realized he was about to run into some kind of barrier. His instincts told him to pull up, and while he had complied, the bike had shattered and snapped below him, tossing him onto a net that sent tingling sensation rippling over his body.

The blue bolts came next. He attempted to roll away from them, but everything went black before he could think enough to stop them. His connection to Dasquian was all but gone. He knew he was being moved, and the first stirrings of his eye lids revealed he was closer to the senate building than he had been before. He could only hope Dasquian would have better luck... Maybe he was being taken to the Jedi Council after all.

[Darth Viscera]

The Dark Troopers escorted the Jedi-carrying hoversled down the halls of Victory Tower One and into a waiting combat airspeeder, which quickly transported its cargo to the nearby old Senate building. Once there, the Jedi and entourage were offloaded onto a Senator's repulsorcarriage, and the device floated and whirred its way to the center of the grand chamber, towards the dark knight.

Towards the masquerade.

Revive Him.

"Greetings, Jedi," Viscera began. "My name is Zaius Viscera, and my rank is...was, rather, that of a Jedi Master, for until today I had believed myself to be the last of the Jedi."

The Diktat studied the young Jedi, probing his mind for various recent thoughts.

"You are wondering about the galactic-political changes that were made during your absence. Simply put, the Republic is not what it once was. We find ourselves besieged by our violent neighbors, the Sith, who have allied themselves with a civil stryfe-oriented group calling itself the New Republic. They find strength in their large amounts of Fallen Jedi, and mercilessly slaughter our people."

The Diktat extended his hand outwords towards the Jedi, but the distance between the repulsorcarriages was too great.

"I beg of you...help us, young Jedi. You are our only hope. Call to your comrade, and ask that he cease his hostilities, and meet us here."

[Dasquian Belargic]

The Knight's swoop thudded down into the streets of Coruscant after a long breaking free fall from the top of the business block. Dasquian caught the handling quickly and began a slow, non-suspicious course along the road, mingling in with the traffic. His visible gashes from the blaster shots and rough ride gave him away as no normal citizen, but Jedi mind tricks made it so that no one questionned him for more than a couple of seconds.

He moved on steadily towards the senate building, watching it's towering figure on the horizon with an eager eye, all the while trying to contact his brother by means of the Force - with very little success.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron looked at Viscera's hand, then watched as everything blurred into focus. That man looked unfamiliar. Times had truly changed - the entire council room was ashen with soot. Had it been recently attacked? No. He sensed that there had been calm in this place for many years. Why then was it in this condition? "I will call to my brother..."

Dasquian, I'm safe. Let the soldiers bring you to the Senate building. They won't hurt you.

"Your soldiers believed me to be a New Republic spy. We need help Master Zaius. We need to understand what's changed during our absence. Everything is.... different. I do not know if for better or worse anymore. This planet has changed, but yet this council room lies in ruins. I sense something. Something that could mean the death of us all... And it lies upon this planet. Your men - I felt it in their hearts as they pursued us. Your people are being consumed by the will of the Dark Side. Who are these men?"

Aaron looked up at the storm troopers, climbing out of the seat he had been placed in and approaching one of them.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Dasquian, I'm safe. Let the soldiers bring you to the Senate building. They won't hurt you.

Dasquian slowed his swoop down a little and pulled it out of the mainstream of traffic into the side of the road. Behind he could see the white soldiers approaching fast, and so rose his hands into the air showing his submittion to their taking him away.

"I am most sorry for my actions. Please, take me to the Senate building."

The troops dismounted their swoops and began to escort Dasquian on the route to the building, eventually reaching it's tall structure. The group made their way up to the floor on which Aaron resided, and entered the room in which he and the other man stood.

Dasquian bowed, a slight smile crossing his face upon seeing his brother was well.

"Greetings."

[Darth Viscera]

Darth Viscera sighed, and struggled to contain his fury.

"There is a conflict within us all. You must sense it-our defense forces do not know if they will be alive tomorrow, or the day after that. They have resigned themselves to fear of the Sith, and there is little that I can do. Our defense soldiers are recruited from planets still under our jurisdiction, then sent to the training planet of Carida for up to four years. In rare cases, when planets miss their quota of troop contributions, cloning procedures take place to make up for the difference. The clones, too, are sent to Carida for training."

"This senate building was destroyed long ago. Thirty years ago, at the great stardocks of the planet Fondor, a monolothic star cruiser, the Barad-dûr, was commissioned. The cruiser was nearly fourteen kilometers in length and capable of atmospheric flight. The Sith who crewed it used the ship's cloaking abilities to circumvent Coruscant's defenses, and they soon began to raze the planet. The Manarai Mountains, once a scene of luxury of relaxation, were fired upon. Deeply disturbed, the fragile mountain erupted, killing thousands who had made their homes there. Scores more were eradicated in the pyroclastic flow. Unsatisfied, Barad-dûr made its way into the heart of Victory Plaza, razing all buildings in its path, including this one. Eventually, when it was sated, and nearly all of Coruscant destroyed, Barad-dûr left."

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron pulled his hand away from the trooper, who had remained perfectly still even as the Jedi had been tugging at his mask. He sensed the passion of this man's need. They had no time... and yet there was something still too dangerous there... and Aaron knew not what. Brother... Should be trust them?

[Dasquian Belargic]

We have no choice. We are stuck here now, and if we do not ally with the 'Jedi' here, our time here might just end a little too quickly.

Dasquian looked calmly towards the man before him as he spoke via the force to his brother, not letting on that he was contacting him. If the man was actually a Jedi, he would have been able to sense their thoughts, and so the Knight kept his quiet and masked.

[Aaron Belargic]

"Very well..." Aaron sighed and shook his head, confused and still unsure of what was going on around him. Nothing about this felt right, but Dasquian was right: They had little choice but to help this man. The Republic had truly fallen from grace. These were troubled times. "We will help you. It seems that is the only right thing to do. How can we assist you?"

[Darth Viscera]

"Go to the planet Fondor, and gather whatever intelligence you can. Learn the planet that serves as the headquarters for the Sith Empire, if you can, as well as its coordinates and any other data you deem pertinent to our cause. A ship will be provided to you, as well as data storage devices, and anything else you require for your mission-you need only to ask the sectional quartermaster. Quarters have been assigned to you, so sleep well."

I will hope that you do not fail, for that could mean an end to everything we have worked so hard to construct. May the force be with you, Jedi.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Dasquian nodded a firm, stern nod to the man before him. Seeking out information on the 'Sith Empire' would no doubt be a hard task, but if it would benefit the Jedi and the republic, it would be worth it. Even now after having only been here for a short time, Dasquian longed to see the time he was from.

"We will do all in that is in our power to aid you."

Perhaps if they helped enough, the true state of the galaxy could be restored, and all would be as it once was.

[Aaron Belargic]

Aaron cleared his throat and bowed to one knee, his head hung low to the ground. "As you wish, master. We will tr -" Do, or do not. There is no try.

The words of Yoda echoed in his head, and he stalled in his speech for a moment. "We shall accomplish that which you ask of us. Thank you for your help." He got to his feet and looked to Dasquian, nodding and following a few troopers that were leading them in the direction of their quarters. After they had traveled a far enough distance from the Jedi Master they had encountered, Aaron quietly spoke over into his brother's ear, hoping to be unheard by the soldiers leading them. "Dasquian... I hope that this is the right thing to do."

In his mind, he continued to visualize the burnt remains of the room that once served as the head quarters for the Jedi Council. Just below that was the senate building, were races met from all corners of the galaxy to discuss political matters. It was all in ruins now, as seemed to be the morale of the people who inhabited Coruscant. Did they fear the Sith?

That night Aaron slept, but his senses did not. He could not feel safe. Dasquian was asleep in the bed across from him, and he would wake up several times in the night to look over and notice that his brother had awoken as well. They had been in stasis for so long, that his eyes still unfocused themselves involuntarily, and his hands shook from time to time. Perhaps he needed more nutrition.

[Darth Viscera]

Several hours later
1100 hours, Tarkin Sector standard time

A spread of various breakfast foods had been sent down to the suite where the Jedi pair resided a few hours ago. Although the home planet of the duo was unknown, it seemed apparent that they were human, and so those in charge of food preparation were notified to make their breakfast more generic.

In addition, two plain khaki jumpsuits hung from a mini-closet built into a concealed space in the entranceway to the Jedi's quarters.

Second Lieutenant Verahss Dessan traveled the hallways towards the suite where the Jedi were quartered, the succinct sound of two pairs of Stormtroopers' jackboots slamming against the permacrete filling his ears as the duo of white-clad guards trailed behind him, blaster rifles lowered and powered down. At a distance of one meter from the entrance, the announcer activated, and he heard a low-volume reverberation of the chime through the door.

"Lieutenant Dessan, from the Office of External Affairs," Dessan began, and a one-way holograph of the person requesting entry was transmitted just inside the suite.

"We have a ship ready for you; a Corellian light freighter going by the name Destiny's Quandry."