The Unknown Regions: Valkaina.
"Dammit I don't want to hear it! Shore up the defences on the southern side of the temple. NOW!"
Suddenly, a man sprung up from the mattress which lie upon the stone floor within his grand quarters, a cold sweat dripping from his thick brow. With a deep sigh, he reached for a rag beside his bed and began to dry his face, removing the moisture from his greying black beard; which had become matted in his troubled sleep. It had been eight years since the sacking of Coruscant, which signalled the fall of the Galactic Republic. But even now as he and his comrades hid deep beneath the ice on the snow world of Valkaina, completely safe from harm, the screaming and panic of the final battle in the conflict which had become known as the Mandalorian Conquest, kept echoing within his head.
"Master Antilles?" Came a feminine voice from behind the double doors of his quarters, which led directly into the council chambers much like the other four rooms which encircled it. Luthor was almost confused at the voice's presence, as it was almost certainly belonged to his former apprentice Maria Arvenni. The only other potential candidate being her twin sister Alessia. Which he deemed unlikely.
Rising from his bed, the Jedi Master ran his hands across the blaster burn scar that marked the gap between his pectoral muscles before throwing on his tan robes. His bare feet pattering on the ground as he moved to answer the door. with a look of disgruntlement upon his face he pulled the two doors apart and took a step back, locking them into place and lo and behold the woman stood before him was the recently ascended Jedi knight he had presumed it to be.
"Maria? I thought you would have left by now." Luthor stated, almost groaning as he spoke. The Jedi master was many things, but a morning person was not one of them. Batting his eyelids a couple of times to clear his vision, Luthor then looked his former apprentice in her jade green eyes and awaited her response.
"We had begun to embark upon Valdis' vessel, the Amber Dragon, master. However as we were about to be granted take off privelleges we received new intelligence on the location of Harma Allyn." responded the woman, her smokey voice having a slight quiver to it as she spoke. This worried Luthor slightly, as he had never known Maria to be particularly daunted by any task she was given to perform, especially when it came to missions that involved returning closer to the galactic core. The uneasiness almost radiated from her body to his senses, though another would likely have been unable to tell it, Luthor had essentially raised the Arvenni twins and could tell the moment either of them felt uneasy.
"What is troubling you Maria?" He asked softly, yet as ever a notion of authority present, almost as though he were demanding the information from his former student rather than asking politely. "It's just...this Harma...she's doesn't stop moving. I fear that this will all end up being for nothing. That our agents could have spent the time it has been taking to track her down to locate Mandalore. That is our goal is it not?"
He scoffed slightly at the young Jedi's statement, motioning her to take a seat within his chambers and sitting upon a chair himself in order to put on his boots. "These thoughts you are having, there is nothing to fear. From what our spies have told us, this Allyn, she's quite the formidable warrior. Though she lacks some restraint and has rather strong feelings about the Mandalorians, I'm certain that she will be a valuable asset to our cause."
"As for finding Mandalore..." Luthor paused, fitting the straps on the back of his leather boots inbetween sentences. The statement had almost made him laugh, one so young, one whom would not even remember the horrors of the first conflict with Mandalore's people presuming that it would be so easy.
"Let me just remind you that I fought throughout the entirety of the Mandalorian Conquest. Alongside Revan, alongside great men and women such as Valdis and Merak, the former of whom will be leading you on your mission. Ask him about the first war with the Mandalorians, and why we call it the Conquest. I'm sure his words will bear as much weight as mine when we say that another war with them is not winnable unless we are ready in every sense of the word." Luthor continued, his voice becoming grave and heavy the longer he spoke, it was clear that the things the Jedi master had seen during the war would shake a lesser man to the core, fortunately for those under his council's care, Luthor was far from a lesser man.
Though he sometimes had his doubts.
"I will be sure to master. Now, I should go. Wouldn't want to miss the party." Maria replied with a faint smile as she stood to leave, it was a rare thing for the mind of the elder Arvenni twin to be introverted and troubled as her sister was. But sure enough the talk with her former master had seemed to set her mind at ease, at least a little bit. As she strolled through the council chambers Luthor accompanied her to the elevator at the entrance and spoke as they walked.
"Indeed. We shall speak more of this upon your return, but for now, remember my teachings and I am sure that the three of you shall return as four. May the force be with you."
"May the force be with you as well." She repeated, the elevator doors sliding to a close.
As the elevator made a rapid descent towards the ground level of the pyramid, where the hangar-esque hole in the side of the mountain that the enclave was situated beneath; she wondered if what Luthor had said to her about the Mandalorians was true, or if he was just exaggerating to instil a sense of respect for their enemy within her as he always had done. Maria would always remember that was his main point in all of his lessons, that if she didn't respect her foe's capabilities, it would be easy to become careless.
It did not take long for her to make it to what was referred to as 'The Port' by the surviving Republic pilots and those Jedi whom were also tasked with piloting. This thought brought a wider smile to her face as it reminded her of her sister, Alessia. She wondered how the raid on Dantooine was going, or whether it had begun yet at all. All that she knew, and it was all that really mattered to Maria, is that her sister was safe. That much she could sense within the force. Maria had begun her walk towards the Amber Dragon on a landing pad beside the grounded Stalwart Fury when she was taken aback in awe at the scale difference. For her, the Stalwart was one of the largest vessels she had ever seen, and she would always be startled by it's apparent grandeur. She hoped that she would see it fly again one day. It was as she became lost in her thoughts that she noticed Ana on her way back to the Dragon and called out to her.
"Hey wait up!"
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The Krayt Fang: Somewhere in hyperspace.
The deep humming of the Krayt Fang's hyperspace drive was somewhat soothing to Alessia's ears as she sat in the co-pilot's seat of Merak's ship. She felt at ease in the man's presence, something about his rogueish confidence and his knowledge of everything to do with fixing things made her feel safe for some reason. She knew it was foolish, but she placed a lot of trust in the Mirialan simply because she could learn so much from him. Perhaps it was something to do with her attachment to teacher-like figures, such as the almost parent-child relationship with her master Luthor. Sighing a little and not paying full attention to the things being said to her, the padawan obeyed and followed out any commands she was currently being given, but her attention was almost fully fixated on the well-being of her master and sister. Alessia could sense that something was troubling her sister even though they were light years away from each other.
The young woman had always found it strange, the way the force worked. No matter where she was in relation to her ever so slightly elder sister, she could always sense how she was feeling, even before they had been discovered by the Jedi order. She even remembered one incident when Maria had fallen and knocked herself unconscious, and Alessia herself fell unconscious too. Though such an occurence has not happened since, Alessia knew that they were deeply connected within the force. Coming back to her senses for a moment, Alessia heard a voice calling her name, or a shortened version of it; and so she snapped back to reality away from her mind-wandering and turned her attention to the caller.
"Yes, sorry, what?"
