~| Strike Team Base, two days ATC, 13th to 14th hour |~
Astera had been meditating during most of the trip. It was easier for her not to start worrying about anything when she was sitting cross-legged on the floor of a shuttle, tucked in-between boxes of supplies meant for the team they were meeting up with on Feena. As the ship began to approach the planet, she could sense the abundance of life on the surface- and that every bit of it was tainted with the Dark side. The Sith's presence here was obvious, and powerful beyond a doubt.
As the craft landed she stood up and stretched for a minute while she waited for the doors to open, taking a moment to go over their mission once more in her mind. Master Halcorr and herself were there because the Sith had captured many younger Jedi during their attack on the temple. Hopefully, they could rescue them before the Sith could manage to do anything very horrible.
She heard the older Jedi remark about the scenery as they disembarked from the shuttle. Glancing around at the surrounding Jungle herself, she smiled lightly and replied before he could walk off. "It's not so bad, if you can ignore the feeling of the Dark side coming from everything at once." He didn't reply, and she hadn't expected he would, but she still continued quietly to herself as he continued to walk away. "At least there's sunlight though..."
The Soldiers around quickly covered and hid the ship as well as they could, moving on as soon as that task was done to do something else. As Gar began to approach a Tiss’shar who could only be Master Fa-Val-Kuul, Astera walked around the camp, greeting each soldier she passed as she observed the area. As the two masters disappeared into a cave, she allowed herself to wander past the edge of the camp and into the jungle in her exploration.
She wandered for a while, stepping carefully on roots and rocks so as not to leave tracks, while also keeping careful track of where she'd come from so she wouldn't get lost. She walked in one general direction, spiraling around the camp and gradually getting farther and farther away as she began to familiarize herself with the area. After a while, she came across something she hadn't expected. Footprints in the muddy floor of the jungle. She followed them, thinking that maybe they were just from some of the soldiers at the camp, but the path didn't actually go to the campsite at all. The tracks turned and went in another direction entirely.
She wasn't sure exactly how long she'd been out when she heard the blaster fire- but as soon it went off she dropped the investigation of the tracks and began to run back to the camp to see what was happening. She soon emerged from the foliage not far from where Gar and Fa were standing with a handful of soldiers. She nodded to the group in greeting as she then noticed the creatures strewn on the ground around them. The Dark side emanated from these bodies, even more than it did from the other life she'd encountered so far on this planet. Sithspawn.
"Sorry I'm late.." Astera waited for Fa to finish relaying orders to her soldiers before approaching the two Masters, a small frown on her face as she began to speak. "Hopefully I'm wrong about this but, it may already be too late to worry about being found by the Sith. Back the way I came, not even 30 meters away, I found some tracks that were not from any type of animal, and I doubt they were from any of your soldiers either."
"They didn't come very near to the camp at all, but close enough to make me worry." She paused for a moment, allowing the two of them to process before continuing, her tone holding a hint of optimism. "I feel I should also say that I couldn't tell exactly how fresh the tracks were. It could have been a patrol that came through before your team even arrived here."
After a minute or two, she'd speak up again. "Oh. Before I forget," She bowed her head to Fa, her usual calm smile coming back as she introduced herself. "I'm Astera Nalin, a Knight. It's good to meet you."
~| Prisoner Cells, two days ATC, 13th to 14th hour |~
When Zanna had taken her from the Temple and led her onto one of the Sith ships, Shiri was allowed to stay awake for about 2 seconds as she felt someone grab her and stick a needle in her neck as soon as she'd walked through the door. That's the last thing she could clearly remember as she came to now, lying on her back on what was, as far as she could tell, some kind of floor. Her brain felt like it was throbbing as she tried to make herself do anything even remotely resembling movement. It seemed like, even though her mind was waking up, she was still too drugged for her limbs to respond. She could just barely manage to open her uninjured eye enough to see the incredibly blurry ceiling above her. Her entire body was sore- She felt as if she hadn't moved at all for Days. As she slowly moved herself to sit upright, her back against the cell wall, she realized that most likely was the case.
Suddenly, a woman's voice filled the room, the words booming in Shiri's head as their captor identified themselves. Darth Nyiss, the highest power on the planet, was planning on turning them all into Sith. Shiri tried her best to focus on what was actually being said, but it wasn't until the announcement was nearly over that any of the words were able to find any footing in her groggy mind. “-And for the Jedi thinking of leaping the wall... The jungle outside has many dangers, and the only medical center on the planet is right here, within these walls, and free for use.” And with that the voice stopped, and a buzzing silence worked its way back into her mind.
Hearing that last bit, Shiri's first thought was to jump the wall, of course. She would have smiled to herself if her face didn't feel so heavy right now- but she did close her eye for a moment as the Hologram shut off to imagine how such a scenario might play out. A dangerous Jungle
had to be better than being "guests" of the Sith, tortured day and night into turning to the Dark side. She was confident that she could deal with the wild, but then, what about the other prisoners here? Depending on how many had been captured, surely they wouldn't all be able to jump the walls in the first place... and if the only medical bay was here in the Sith's compound, then that meant this was probably the only place on the planet with access to ships either. Getting off-planet would be next to impossible, unless someone came to their rescue.
At least they
are on a planet though. Rescue is possible, so long as someone noticed the missing bodies at the Temple, and the prisoners weren't moved around too much from here on out. Surely someone could track them down and help.
All they had to do was survive until then.
Shiri sighed and shook her head lightly as she started to pay attention to her surroundings again. There were more voices now, coming from beyond the cell's door. She thought she recognized some of them. She pushed herself against the wall in an attempt to get to her feet, but a wave of dizziness made her stop and pull her knees up to her chest instead, resting her forehead on them as she forced herself to take deep breaths until it passed.
After what felt like forever the nausea did clear up, but she didn't try to stand again just yet. Her vision was finally beginning to clear also- she could see the tiled floor and her shoes in front of her without them suddenly swimming, swaying, or blurring anymore at least. Her right eye was still closed, her tears mixed with the medicinal powder Zanna had put on it to have effectively glued it shut for now. She slowly raised her head to look around the cell now, taking in the desk, cubbies, and bunk bed with a small sense of relief. At least it wasn't a hole in the ground.
Gathering her will, and taking a deep breath, she decided to try and stand again now. She pushed herself up, leaning against the wall to steady herself until she was on her feet. The dizziness didn't return, and as she took a few steps towards the cell's door she began to feel better, more focused as she moved. She had expected it to be locked, but instead it just slid open as she approached it and she walked right on through.
I guess we're allowed in the common area for now.A few more steps and she was standing in the main area, just in time to see Nazca run across the room. She started to call out to the woman, until she saw where she'd run to. Xid was lying hurt on the floor, Talon and Nazca already trying to help him. "I guess I woke up after.. everyone, apparently." She muttered to herself as she too ran across the room to Xid's side, kneeling down just as Nazca called out for anyone who knew Force Healing.
"I know it, a little bit anyway. I don't know how much it'll help Xid though." She smiled at him as she took in his burnt skin and broken bones, trying to show only calm outwardly as her mind began to race with worries. Just what had happened? "Good morning by the way, guys. Glad to see you're around..." She looked around for a moment to see who else was "around", and her eyes fell on the Red Sith standing not too far away.
She hesitated only half a heartbeat before calling out to her. "Hey Zanna! The announcement earlier said there was a Medical Center somewhere, right? Mind telling us where it is?" Not wasting a second, Shiri turned back to look at Xid before speaking again. "We're probably gonna have to move you to somewhere we can actually help. How're you holding up?"
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