Horror and the Wilderness (Week 6)

My inner conflict did not diminish as the distance between ourselves and Corescant widened, and the words of the Sage Veda do nothing to assist my state of mind. Of all the things he said, two stick in my thoughts. We do now know why the pirates are after us; this is the most troubling. This means it is neither the reason I was convinced of, nor what the others insist on thinking. The Blight Queen very well may desire a new vessel, but this is not why we are pursued. Neither is it the gems. What, then, is left? And how can I obtain the information necessary to save myself? Perhaps the Jedi can be of help after all. I learned on Corescant that they were involved with a mercenary army called Redemption, and the thought occurred to me that they might have some resources they would be willing to share. If only to get a dangerous fugitive off their hands, even. How depressing these thoughts are!

The only other option I can think of is to attempt to capture one of the pirates for interrogation. This seems highly unlikely to succeed, and even if it does the low level pirates may not even know their employer.

The less troubling, but still unhappy, element of Veda's information is that we may be safe on Sanctuary, but not for long. The question, then, is how to best make use of our time there.

My brother, as usual, is sequestered in his quarters, probably working on his still-paltry levitation abilities. I have not changed my opinion that his recent obsession is excessive and bordering on useless. But it does bring an important question to the fore. The voice of darkness - the power that was so eager for me to join with it - could it be that I was capable of using this Force? Could that be the reason my mother was so eager for me to take the throne? Was it the reason my thoughts were breached so when I was most vulnerable? It is a disturbing thought, but one I am forced to consider.

If I am able to use this power, however, there is the chance I can learn to defend myself from such attacks in the future. There is only one person aboard this ship that can tell me anything about these matters, and so I sought him out. It did not take long for me to find the Jedi Nondo in one of the cargo holds instructing Gorrix about some form of meditation. He answered my questions in a cryptic manner, saying that to use the Force for my own gain would only lead to the dark side, and that he could not be a part of another's journey to oblivion. It made no sense - I am convinced that the spirit that contacted me was of the dark side itself. Am I to conclude that an effort to protect myself from this "dark side" will lead me straight into its clutches? I express my confusion to the Jedi, and he tells me I should meditate on my intentions. To do so would be pointless, in my view. I have never done anything in my life with any intention other than my own benefit, and do not believe anyone is different. But I hold my tongue and attempt to quiet my mind as instructed. Apparently the Force is not a tool for the Jedi, but a guide for them. I should have known there wold be no simple solution to my perilous situation.

After a while, I began to gain a measure of clarity in my thoughts. While I do not believe in a stony inevitability of fate, there are things that will happen in a certain flow. If I am to use the Force, I am confident I will learn. It was not long after this that Devon Jr. summoned us to the main area. He'd intercepted a message from the Devon System. It was meant for his father, and there was a video attached.

It is difficult for me to express the dismay I felt upon seeing it, nothing I write seems to suffice. The video was relayed from the Triumph, obviously on the losing side of a fierce battle. It seems the pirates attacked after all. After expressing the dire nature of the situation, the video cuts to an exterior view of the system, where moments later a horde of Imperial vessels appear to materialize out of the void! Cloaking technology? My knowledge of the great powers in this area is limited, but do know how rare this technology is. My planet does not possess it - the scientists on Charubah developed it and gave it only to the Royal Family of Hapes itself! A shudder ran through my body then - these could not be mere pirates.

I was unfortunately correct. The cloaked Star Destroyers belonged to the Pentastar Alignment, a rogue branch of the Empire. At the end of the video they had taken complete control of the Devon System. I was agog. First pirates, and now this alignment? What in the seven hells was going on?

After the video finished, Regis emerged from the refresher to a stunned silence. His brow was creased with agitation, but he seemed confident that his father had gotten out of the system in time. After all, the message was addressed to him, which should not have been necessary if he had been aboard the Triumph when it was sent. He did however, send an accusing glance towards me and Xan, bitterly stating that this only happened because of us. I felt for him, but I had to point out that it was necessarily our presence that invoked this vicious attack. After all, we were not there, and a search would take much too long if the seekers stopped to destroy every place their quarry had been. My words seemed to ring hollow, though, and so I subsided as worried as before. In the end, we decided not to alter our course. Turning back would be a futile and suicidal measure, and so we continued to Sanctuary.

Upon arrival, we were contacted by the planetary authorities, giving us permission to land in one of three places - the Jedi Home, and orbital station, and the main city of Starbrand. The pilot chose the city, in hopes that those not involved with the Jedi would have something to do. The only hitch in that plan was that once we landed in the city, no one seemed to know where we could find the Jedi Home. Apparently we would not have been given landing coordinates, but a beacon to lead us in to the location. But now that we were on the ground, we were stuck. Feeling restless, I set off to do the only thing that made sense - try to find a guide.

As we were landing, I recall, a feeling of great peace came over me and continued to persist as I left the ship to explore. It felt as though a weight had been lifted from me, that after all the running of the past weeks, I was finally safe. It was a strong feeling, one that affected me deeply. But I had to remind myself that this feeling of safety could not, and would not last. I had to find out what fate was overtaking me, and quickly.

I wandered the streets of Starbrand for a few hours, but no one seemed to know where the Jedi had set up their base. Frustrating as it was, I had to admit it made sense. One of the best defensive strategies in existence is to hide, something I had been attempting but was growing weary with. Unable to produce any results, I decided to spend some time just walking aimlessly. It was then I received a comm from Bleez, telling everyone to meet him at the ship and that he knew where to go. Odd. Nonetheless, I had nothing else to offer so I complied. The Jedi, myself, Xan, and Gorrix set off in a rented speeder Tiki had acquired towards what we hoped was the Jedi home.

A few hours later, I began to doubt the older man's guiding talents. It seemed we had been traveling in the same damp wilderness for days, and we did not appear to be getting anywhere. But I held my tongue since I didn't have a better idea and contented myself with watching the gigantic trees. More hours passed until we came across an insurmountable obstacle. It was a chasm, too wide to cross and extending to the horizon in either direction. Getting out of the vehicle to stretch my legs, I tried to find the bottom of this canyon. It did not appear to have one, but as I strained my eyes I felt my senses extend for a moment further than they normally would. Still I had no luck seeing how far down this chasm went, and so turned back to the speeder. I still cannot explain what happened next, so I will simply relate it. I felt a crippling urgency, a pressing need to throw myself to the ground. It was only for a split second, but I obeyed, and as I did so a shimmering shape passed over my body and fell into the chasm with a piercing howl. It was a predator of some kind, and it was not alone. There were more shapes clustering around the speeder, but I could barely make them out. They must have had some kind of natural camouflage. I rolled away from the edge and drew my pistol. My companions had the same reaction - I saw the brilliant blade of a lightsaber appear within the speeder and Xan drew both his blasters. He released a blazing torrent of fire at one of the shapes, wounding it critically. I admit I was relieved his skills were not diminished by our time on the run and his new enthusiasm for using the Force, especially since my own effort to defend myself failed in a most frustrating manner. I had not used my target blaster in so long the power pack was drained! Cursing myself for my carelessness, I barely escaped one of the creatures' claws. It tore at my clothes as I rolled away from it, but did not draw blood. Not long after, the remaining creatures fled, one wounded by Bleez's lightsaber. The Gamera came to collect us immediately and I went to my quarters to clean up and calm myself while the Jedi directed Regis to where he believed the Jedi to be.

He was correct in his instincts, and we landed some time later. The sun was bright and welcoming as I descended the ramp - I fear I will never get used to this darkness that persistently occurs every evening. There were a couple of ships alongside ours, but I was more interested in the figures who were approaching to greet us. So these were the Jedi.