The Jedi Temple, Coruscant, GFFA
Luke had disappeared up toward the Council Chambers immediately on landing the Jade Shadow at the Temple, leaving Ben, Jaina and Vestara to make their way toward the library on their own. Jaina had wanted to see Natua first thing to thank her for her hard work. After a few moments of watching Vestara take in the sights--mostly corridors and turbolifts, by design--Ben broke the silence. “So what do you think?”
She turned to him. “It’s … quite large.”
“Jedi have been on Coruscant for a very long time,” Ben reminded her.
“Sith have been on Kesh for a very long time as well, and yet our Temple is much smaller.”
Ben filed that away for further inquiry later. “Well, once we’re done in the library, we can go anywhere you’d like. I suggest the cafeteria.”
She gave him a little glare. "Very scenic, I'm sure."
The few beings who were here seemed engrossed in their research and didn't pause to stare as the three of them entered. Even, it seemed, Natua Wan, whom they finally found as Jaina peered behind several stacks of datapads. “I commed you about seventeen times,” Jaina greeted her.
Natua glanced up and did a double take. “Jaina!” she exclaimed. “Ben! Welcome back. I’m sorry … I had it turned off. I was completely lost in some research I’ve been doing.”
“So I see.” Jaina grinned. Natua had risen to greet them, and now turned to Vestara. “You must be Vestara Khai,” she said. Ben approved inwardly at the caution she was exuding, both in the Force and through her species’ natural release of pheromones. “I look forward to talking with you,” Natua said. “I didn’t know much about the Sith culture before I started doing research for you all. Now I find it fascinating.”
“I think I will like learning about Jedi,” Vestara offered. “Of course, I’ll tell you what I can to help.”
Jaina carefully moved a pile of ’pads from a chair and sat next to Natua. Ben and Vestara emulated her. “I wanted to come and thank you for all you’ve done,” Jaina said. “You’ve been extremely helpful.”
Natua grimaced a little. “Even if all you reached was a bunch of dead ends?”
“Even so. It’s hardly your fault the Sith have a lot of hidey-holes we need to investigate one by one.”
“Well,” she said, “the wild caranak chase just might be done. I was going to comm you myself shortly. I wanted to do a bit more research first, but since you’re here, you might as well know.”
“What have you found?” Jaina, Ben, and Vestara leaned forward eagerly.
“I’m not certain,” said Natua, “but … I might have found Ship.”
“What?” Jaina’s yelp was so loud that a few heads turned her way. Natua laughed. Ben, too, felt happy and excited, and didn’t care that the feeling largely flowed from the pheromones that Natua was emitting. He’d feel the same way regardless-if they really could find Ship. “I know that we wanted to focus on known Sith worlds, going on the idea that if we knew about it, the Lost Tribe would as well,” Natua said. Ben could sense that despite her pleasure and enthusiasm, Natua was going to present things in an orderly fashion. “But one night, I decided to just randomly start reading about worlds we knew very little about, or that didn’t really play a significant role. One of these worlds is called Upekzar.”
She touched a datapad, and a display of a rather nondescript planet appeared. Ben, Jaina, and Vestara rose, peering over Natua’s shoulder.
“Upekzar has been mostly forgotten,” Natua continued. “By and large, this seems to be a pleasant and temperate planet. There are polar ice caps, rain forests, oceans, plains, mountains, forested areas-most climates are represented here. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the unpleasant spots are where we need to target our investigation.”
She pointed at the image on the datapad. There was a chain of islands and coastlines clustered in one part of the world. “See this ring here?” Natua drew a finger along the chain, starting near Upekzar’s south pole, going up through its equator, toward the north pole, and then down again. “The ancient Sith called this Circle of Visions. The rest of the planet went undeveloped while they focused all their attention on five specific sites along this circle.”
“Why was that area so special?” Vestara asked. “The abundance of volcanoes,” Natua replied promptly. “More specifically, they valued what the volcanoes left behind. Volcanic caves, caverns, tubes-all formed when lava continued to flow beneath a top layer that cooled faster, forming a crust. The Sith thought these caves significant, and when they ventured to explore them, many Sith suffered hallucinations.”
“From various fumes contained in the caves?” asked Jaina.
“No.” Natua shook her head, her fingers tapping on the console to call up another holographic image. It was a sort of insect, with six legs, a multisectioned body, antennae, and what looked like a two-pronged tail extension.
Ben’s eyes widened. “I know what that is,” he said solemnly.
Vestara glanced at him. “You do?”
He nodded. “It’s … a bug!”
“Your sense of humor is almost as bad as Jacen’s was,” muttered Jaina. "What type of bug, Natua?” she continued.
“It’s a variety of diplura. A type of hexapod, which is a …” Natua looked at the blank expressions around her and smiled a little. “… a bug. Variations of diplurans are found on almost all habitable worlds. It’s this particular species that is interesting. During various parts of its life cycle, it excretes a certain fluid rich with pheromones. These pheromones happen to be a powerful hallucinogen for some mammalian species. From what records survive, the hallucinations were terrifying.”
“And of course, the Sith believed it was the work of the dark side,” said Vestara.
“Was it? In part?” asked Ben. Natua nodded.
“Yes to both. At first, the Sith had no idea what was going on. Later, once they understood, they deemed the volcanic caves special places, and conducted initiations and other rites of passage without protection from the pheromones. The caves were, if not a dark-side nexus precisely, definitely a site in which the dark side flourished. Centuries of rituals imbued with the power of fear and anguish induced by the pheromones only strengthened that. Also-while the Sith did not live in the lava tubes, their interactions with the bugs became the foundation of their culture. They dwelled close to the five major places where they performed their Mysteries. Each settlement was located near an elaborate lava cave system that had a specific focus.”
She indicated various areas on the image as she spoke. “The one located here, near its south pole, was for Cold Rites-presumably focusing on tempering emotions, hardening hearts, and so on. The one on the equator, for Rites of Fire. This might be where the Sith focused on their anger and passions, how to use them to serve the dark side. However, I believe that this one here, in a very temperate zone-the one that hosted what was called the High Rites-might be the most significant area to explore. Only the highest-ranking Sith-the ones strongest in the Force-conducted rituals here. And correspondingly, the most powerful Sith on Upekzar lived only a few kilometers away from this cave system, in a city that lies in the shadow of a dormant volcano.”
She touched the screen, and a map of the area replaced the image of the planet.
“Ben, you first found Ship on Ziost,” Natua said. “He was … docked, for a better word, below an abandoned citadel, in the ground. What remaining documents there are indicate that this site was ‘the nest of the future Sith.’ I thought it was a nursery or a school … until I saw this.”
She touched the ’pad again. The map disappeared, replaced by the image of an orange, pebbly-surfaced, too-familiar Ship. And even though everyone knew exactly why they were here, there was still a flicker of apprehension in the Force at the sight. “While it’s highly doubtful this is the same Ship we seek, considering how long he seemed to have been on Ziost,” Natua continued, “it is definitely a Sith training vessel. It’s not too much of a stretch to believe that Ship might decide to return to a known ‘nest’ to ‘roost.’ ”
“So, it sounds like we’ll have two goals,” Jaina mused, thinking aloud. “We’ll explore the city to see if we can find a trace of Ship in its, uh, hangar, and we’ll investigate the nearby volcanic caves to search for other information that could help us if he’s not there. Natua, what do we know about the rites that were conducted in the lava tubes?”
“Unfortunately, nothing,” said Natua. “They were secret-only for the initiated. Once the Sith started using the diplurans, or rather the pheromones they produced, the records go silent on what actually transpired.” She sounded a bit frustrated that she could not provide answers.
Ben realized that, like most of the formerly “mad Jedi,” Natua was trying to atone for the harm she had caused while under Abeloth’s influence.
Jaina, too, obviously saw what was going on and squeezed Natua’s arm in a friendly fashion. “Upekzar is a small and not very well-known bastion of the Sith to begin with,” Jaina said. “Add to that these … bugs … and secret rituals, and nobody’s going to find much information on them.”
“Rhak-skuri,” Natua said. “The Sith called them rhak-skuri.”
“Dream Singers,” Vestara translated.
“That’s an awfully nice name for bugs,” Ben said.
Vestara turned to him. “To the Sith, nightmares are really no different from ordinary dreams. They offer opportunities for growth. To be able to control the direction of your nightmare-to defeat it-means you are strong. So creatures that caused visions would be valued and respected for the challenges they brought.”
“Yeah, but they don’t sing,” Ben pointed out. He glanced at Natua. “Do they?”
The Falleen smiled. “Not as far as I have been able to determine.”
“It’s a metaphor,” Vestara said. “They could have been called dream makers, or weavers, or creators, or-”
“I get your point,” Ben said, holding up his hands in a mock-surrender gesture. “Are the rhak-skuri dangerous in any other way, Natua?”
“No,” Natua replied. “The secretion is nontoxic and they are otherwise harmless. Even their mandibles are too small to pierce skin.”
“You’re going to make the Grand Master of the Jedi very happy,” Jaina said. “And if you’d like-I’d love it if you’d come with us. Seems to me you’ve more than earned your right to participate in the hunt, and I’m going to tell Luke so.”
"Speaking of Luke," Ben said, smiling at Natua's obvious excitement about being included in the task force, "he's scheduled to be on the Perre Needmo Newshour in a few hours and if Ender--and Jag--don't hear why from us first, they're going to be kind of irritated..."
Jaina could take a hint. "Which sounds like the perfect cue to make sure no one has any reason to start frowning at us later before we forget."
Natua could also take a hint. "I'd love to poke your brain a bit about Sith lore, if you don't mind," she said, already looping an arm around Vestara and pulling her away from the Skywalker-Solos.
Ben grinned in relief. He was going to set a record for getting from the Temple to the Solos' apartment.
[OOC: Adapted from Christie Golden's Ascension.]
She turned to him. “It’s … quite large.”
“Jedi have been on Coruscant for a very long time,” Ben reminded her.
“Sith have been on Kesh for a very long time as well, and yet our Temple is much smaller.”
Ben filed that away for further inquiry later. “Well, once we’re done in the library, we can go anywhere you’d like. I suggest the cafeteria.”
She gave him a little glare. "Very scenic, I'm sure."
The few beings who were here seemed engrossed in their research and didn't pause to stare as the three of them entered. Even, it seemed, Natua Wan, whom they finally found as Jaina peered behind several stacks of datapads. “I commed you about seventeen times,” Jaina greeted her.
Natua glanced up and did a double take. “Jaina!” she exclaimed. “Ben! Welcome back. I’m sorry … I had it turned off. I was completely lost in some research I’ve been doing.”
“So I see.” Jaina grinned. Natua had risen to greet them, and now turned to Vestara. “You must be Vestara Khai,” she said. Ben approved inwardly at the caution she was exuding, both in the Force and through her species’ natural release of pheromones. “I look forward to talking with you,” Natua said. “I didn’t know much about the Sith culture before I started doing research for you all. Now I find it fascinating.”
“I think I will like learning about Jedi,” Vestara offered. “Of course, I’ll tell you what I can to help.”
Jaina carefully moved a pile of ’pads from a chair and sat next to Natua. Ben and Vestara emulated her. “I wanted to come and thank you for all you’ve done,” Jaina said. “You’ve been extremely helpful.”
Natua grimaced a little. “Even if all you reached was a bunch of dead ends?”
“Even so. It’s hardly your fault the Sith have a lot of hidey-holes we need to investigate one by one.”
“Well,” she said, “the wild caranak chase just might be done. I was going to comm you myself shortly. I wanted to do a bit more research first, but since you’re here, you might as well know.”
“What have you found?” Jaina, Ben, and Vestara leaned forward eagerly.
“I’m not certain,” said Natua, “but … I might have found Ship.”
“What?” Jaina’s yelp was so loud that a few heads turned her way. Natua laughed. Ben, too, felt happy and excited, and didn’t care that the feeling largely flowed from the pheromones that Natua was emitting. He’d feel the same way regardless-if they really could find Ship. “I know that we wanted to focus on known Sith worlds, going on the idea that if we knew about it, the Lost Tribe would as well,” Natua said. Ben could sense that despite her pleasure and enthusiasm, Natua was going to present things in an orderly fashion. “But one night, I decided to just randomly start reading about worlds we knew very little about, or that didn’t really play a significant role. One of these worlds is called Upekzar.”
She touched a datapad, and a display of a rather nondescript planet appeared. Ben, Jaina, and Vestara rose, peering over Natua’s shoulder.
“Upekzar has been mostly forgotten,” Natua continued. “By and large, this seems to be a pleasant and temperate planet. There are polar ice caps, rain forests, oceans, plains, mountains, forested areas-most climates are represented here. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the unpleasant spots are where we need to target our investigation.”
She pointed at the image on the datapad. There was a chain of islands and coastlines clustered in one part of the world. “See this ring here?” Natua drew a finger along the chain, starting near Upekzar’s south pole, going up through its equator, toward the north pole, and then down again. “The ancient Sith called this Circle of Visions. The rest of the planet went undeveloped while they focused all their attention on five specific sites along this circle.”
“Why was that area so special?” Vestara asked. “The abundance of volcanoes,” Natua replied promptly. “More specifically, they valued what the volcanoes left behind. Volcanic caves, caverns, tubes-all formed when lava continued to flow beneath a top layer that cooled faster, forming a crust. The Sith thought these caves significant, and when they ventured to explore them, many Sith suffered hallucinations.”
“From various fumes contained in the caves?” asked Jaina.
“No.” Natua shook her head, her fingers tapping on the console to call up another holographic image. It was a sort of insect, with six legs, a multisectioned body, antennae, and what looked like a two-pronged tail extension.
Ben’s eyes widened. “I know what that is,” he said solemnly.
Vestara glanced at him. “You do?”
He nodded. “It’s … a bug!”
“Your sense of humor is almost as bad as Jacen’s was,” muttered Jaina. "What type of bug, Natua?” she continued.
“It’s a variety of diplura. A type of hexapod, which is a …” Natua looked at the blank expressions around her and smiled a little. “… a bug. Variations of diplurans are found on almost all habitable worlds. It’s this particular species that is interesting. During various parts of its life cycle, it excretes a certain fluid rich with pheromones. These pheromones happen to be a powerful hallucinogen for some mammalian species. From what records survive, the hallucinations were terrifying.”
“And of course, the Sith believed it was the work of the dark side,” said Vestara.
“Was it? In part?” asked Ben. Natua nodded.
“Yes to both. At first, the Sith had no idea what was going on. Later, once they understood, they deemed the volcanic caves special places, and conducted initiations and other rites of passage without protection from the pheromones. The caves were, if not a dark-side nexus precisely, definitely a site in which the dark side flourished. Centuries of rituals imbued with the power of fear and anguish induced by the pheromones only strengthened that. Also-while the Sith did not live in the lava tubes, their interactions with the bugs became the foundation of their culture. They dwelled close to the five major places where they performed their Mysteries. Each settlement was located near an elaborate lava cave system that had a specific focus.”
She indicated various areas on the image as she spoke. “The one located here, near its south pole, was for Cold Rites-presumably focusing on tempering emotions, hardening hearts, and so on. The one on the equator, for Rites of Fire. This might be where the Sith focused on their anger and passions, how to use them to serve the dark side. However, I believe that this one here, in a very temperate zone-the one that hosted what was called the High Rites-might be the most significant area to explore. Only the highest-ranking Sith-the ones strongest in the Force-conducted rituals here. And correspondingly, the most powerful Sith on Upekzar lived only a few kilometers away from this cave system, in a city that lies in the shadow of a dormant volcano.”
She touched the screen, and a map of the area replaced the image of the planet.
“Ben, you first found Ship on Ziost,” Natua said. “He was … docked, for a better word, below an abandoned citadel, in the ground. What remaining documents there are indicate that this site was ‘the nest of the future Sith.’ I thought it was a nursery or a school … until I saw this.”
She touched the ’pad again. The map disappeared, replaced by the image of an orange, pebbly-surfaced, too-familiar Ship. And even though everyone knew exactly why they were here, there was still a flicker of apprehension in the Force at the sight. “While it’s highly doubtful this is the same Ship we seek, considering how long he seemed to have been on Ziost,” Natua continued, “it is definitely a Sith training vessel. It’s not too much of a stretch to believe that Ship might decide to return to a known ‘nest’ to ‘roost.’ ”
“So, it sounds like we’ll have two goals,” Jaina mused, thinking aloud. “We’ll explore the city to see if we can find a trace of Ship in its, uh, hangar, and we’ll investigate the nearby volcanic caves to search for other information that could help us if he’s not there. Natua, what do we know about the rites that were conducted in the lava tubes?”
“Unfortunately, nothing,” said Natua. “They were secret-only for the initiated. Once the Sith started using the diplurans, or rather the pheromones they produced, the records go silent on what actually transpired.” She sounded a bit frustrated that she could not provide answers.
Ben realized that, like most of the formerly “mad Jedi,” Natua was trying to atone for the harm she had caused while under Abeloth’s influence.
Jaina, too, obviously saw what was going on and squeezed Natua’s arm in a friendly fashion. “Upekzar is a small and not very well-known bastion of the Sith to begin with,” Jaina said. “Add to that these … bugs … and secret rituals, and nobody’s going to find much information on them.”
“Rhak-skuri,” Natua said. “The Sith called them rhak-skuri.”
“Dream Singers,” Vestara translated.
“That’s an awfully nice name for bugs,” Ben said.
Vestara turned to him. “To the Sith, nightmares are really no different from ordinary dreams. They offer opportunities for growth. To be able to control the direction of your nightmare-to defeat it-means you are strong. So creatures that caused visions would be valued and respected for the challenges they brought.”
“Yeah, but they don’t sing,” Ben pointed out. He glanced at Natua. “Do they?”
The Falleen smiled. “Not as far as I have been able to determine.”
“It’s a metaphor,” Vestara said. “They could have been called dream makers, or weavers, or creators, or-”
“I get your point,” Ben said, holding up his hands in a mock-surrender gesture. “Are the rhak-skuri dangerous in any other way, Natua?”
“No,” Natua replied. “The secretion is nontoxic and they are otherwise harmless. Even their mandibles are too small to pierce skin.”
“You’re going to make the Grand Master of the Jedi very happy,” Jaina said. “And if you’d like-I’d love it if you’d come with us. Seems to me you’ve more than earned your right to participate in the hunt, and I’m going to tell Luke so.”
"Speaking of Luke," Ben said, smiling at Natua's obvious excitement about being included in the task force, "he's scheduled to be on the Perre Needmo Newshour in a few hours and if Ender--and Jag--don't hear why from us first, they're going to be kind of irritated..."
Jaina could take a hint. "Which sounds like the perfect cue to make sure no one has any reason to start frowning at us later before we forget."
Natua could also take a hint. "I'd love to poke your brain a bit about Sith lore, if you don't mind," she said, already looping an arm around Vestara and pulling her away from the Skywalker-Solos.
Ben grinned in relief. He was going to set a record for getting from the Temple to the Solos' apartment.
[OOC: Adapted from Christie Golden's Ascension.]