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far from nowhere
"the trees rustle in the evening when we stand uneasy before our own thoughts."
With the events of Del Pascia behind the Moira, things are only now beginning to settle—and not very well. Through the combined efforts of some of the crew, D-E-L and her permanent residents were incinerated into the dust of space. While it’s not the most peaceful end, it is one, and not many are going to be thinking back on how nice Del Pascia’s facilities were for quite some time. Repairing what they could of the ship’s interior and putting as much distance between the Moira and the prison as possible, those aboard are informed by Navigation that they are approaching another planet. This means, of course, the potential for better supplies, as some things are beginning to dwindle, and the Captains elect to dock so long as the crew follows protocol. WELCOME TO AMISSIS-RE
Amissis-Re is an unregistered planet with no documented histories or signs of life. The Moira’s Navigation crew have scanned the planet for any usable resources and have discovered a faint signal emitting from beneath the surface of Amissi-Re. Using the transporters and any other crafts located in the Cargo Bay, the crew are able to travel to the source of the signal. Upon arriving in its exact location, they’ll find a small series of lakes that lead to a tower-like structure that appears to be in use. Crew must cross a poorly assembled bridge system that sways and dips when weight is applied to it in order to gain access to the entrance. Once there, a woman comes out to greet them and explains, excitedly, that she is so very happy that they have come to Amissis-Re.
Everyone can go home.
Their host insists that she has done the impossible and has somewhat fixed the Ingress that’s been built on Amissis-Re a long time ago, and what’s more, she can send crew home for short bursts of time. Upon following this woman inside, crew will find that the planet is not, in fact, barren at all. Diving deep into the underbelly of Amissis-Re, it’s like an eternal factory of machines, and while vast, for whatever reason, it also seems incredibly welcoming...
☄ LEAP OF FAITH ( 05.01 and on ) The barren planet of Amissis-Re is devoid of vegetation and organic life except for a lone woman, and the planet itself is an intricate honeycomb of machines that go for miles below the surface. Yet, that seems insignificant and unimportant in comparison to the news that the crew has just received. After Thán has looked at the Ingress, he tells the crew that he cannot say for certain that it is properly functioning, but Emiri native, Ben Link, will volunteer to test it out.
An elevator takes crew down to a glass platform that overlooks an inverted Ingress portal. In order to return home, the Moirans will have to take a leap of faith and jump in. Ben, in order to show his commitment to the crew and willingness to help get them home, takes that jump with Captain Thán seconds behind him. Jumping feels like dropping through wind; lights swirl, it’s warm, and a soft buzzing encompasses you as you fall. You don’t feel the landing. One moment you’re falling, and the next, you’re in a new world.
A few hours pass before a similar elevator rises from below and to the left of the Ingress, stopping beside the platform. Ben and Thán step out unharmed.
It works, and everyone can temporarily go home. Will you jump? ☄ COMBINE THE EXTREMES ( 05.01 and on ) The woman that greeted the crew and led them to the platform will allow anyone that wants to go home the opportunity to go. There’s only one catch: it’s not permanent. She’s worked for years to fix the Ingress so that she can return to her own home but hasn’t been able to make the trip an everlasting one. Everyone always comes back. Always. They go for a few hours, at first, but that amount of time increases with each visit.
The one guideline, she says, is that you can’t go alone. Each trip requires a partner, or it becomes too much for the mind to bear. These rules are simple: the world takes shape depending on who jumps first, but if crew go hand-in-hand and leap at the same time, the worlds combine. This new world will be populated with people that existed in both and may appear to be a jarring combination of both worlds. It may seem unusual, but if the woman is asked, she’ll explain that the combined world does exist as there are more universes than can be imagined. The Ingress tries to take the person to their own home, their original home, but when jumping together, it finds the closest possible match and deposits them there instead.
From that point on, you can travel the world together or split up, but remember, this world is a living, functioning world. It doesn’t matter if it’s the home of one crew member or a combination. You meet other people. You can get hurt. You influence and are influenced by others.
Be cautious, and enjoy your visit “home”. ☄ LINGER ON ( 05.05 and on ) The more times the Amissis-Re Ingress is visited, the more it seems that your trips last longer and the experience becomes even more vivid. More real and harder to distinguish from the current reality that you know. It’s difficult to explain why, but you get the feeling that maybe if you went without the aid of the host, that perhaps you’d be able to stay. Forever. It takes some subterfuge, but in time, you see your chance: she’s nowhere in sight, and you take it.
The world you are in now is completely your own, whether another crew member accompanied you or not. The people you know are there, everything around you is exactly as you remember. A few hours pass, and you don’t feel that familiar tug, that invisible hook at the base of your spine that signals that your visit is over. Even more time goes by, and you’re still in that world, your home. When the first day has passed, you begin to question if you’ll ever go back, or if life on the Moira was all a dream. The person with you won’t be able to convince you otherwise, and they’ll start to feel less real, a stranger that you used to know.
There’s only one way to go back to the Moira. Someone from the other side has to come in and retrieve you both. Once in, contact with a third will jump-start a link through the Ingress, and it will pull all crew back to the platform.
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thisavrou_log2016-05-01 09:04 pm
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But it had been a hypothetical, not a reality. Not something that hits close to home. He doesn't want to ask. Doesn't really need to. And yet...]
What, like clones?
[Don't say it. Say it's a new type of battle droid, something that means the Separatists won, something that means some part of the war made sense, even if it was lost.]
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[There's a crash, and two stormtroopers stumble in. One speaks into his comm, we found them, and they open fire.]
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...What if Fives had been right?
He doesn't take long to try and answer them, instead pulling out his lightsaber to deflect the incoming blaster bolts. He doesn't spare a look sideways, but still asks between deflections:]
How's it coming?
[Everything else can wait.]
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[Luke would say that was luck, or the Force, but he knows the truth. You can never see anything in those helmets.]
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First time for everything.
Another blast bolt deflected, and he force-shoves the second trooper into the wall...with considerable force. Enough to leave the trooper dazed and sliding down to the floor.]
They can't be clones anymore [he muses aloud, now that the worst of it is passed], they'd never go down like that.
[Or, untrained, sure they might. Not his.]
You think anyone heard that?
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False alarm, sir. Just- just some Ugnaught technicians making a mess. Yes, uh- aliens, right? [Luke can't quite manage the correct amount of gusto for casual xenophobia.] We'll meet you at... rendezvous point.
[Message finished, Luke quickly begins stripping the troopers of their armor. He looks up to Anakin.] C'mon; they might've called for backup.
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As the armor comes off, his assumption about the troopers is confirmed; after three years of a million of the same face, it's instantly recognizable when that's not the same. It's not so strange in that the growth acceleration would have aged the original clone army out by now, if this is truly Luke's time, nor that they couldn't make more reliable ones with the host long-gone. But what is strange is how similar the armor is, right down to the shape and color.]
Time was, you had to be born into this armor.
[It's a casual, off-hand observation while he works, following Luke's (oddly practiced) lead. That part of the clones he had understood: being born for some supposed higher purpose, something greater, and the duty that comes inherent in that.
Here, all that sentiment no longer makes sense.]
...Have you done this before?
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Uh, yes. A few times. The first time was when I met Leia. [He thinks that might be relevant to Anakin, who clearly gets along with her far, far better than Luke does. Luke doesn't let himself think about why that is; it just fills him with guilt.]
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[He can follow a lead perfectly well--like now, even if this is not armor he ever imagined himself in--when the situation calls for it, but this doesn't seem like something that would be a terribly common situation.
But then, he's an agent of his acting government, not trying to get rid of it. There's plenty in this distinction he doesn't understand. But when offered the barest hint at how his children met through years of unexplained separation, it's one he can't refuse, however strange the circumstances.]
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[Suddenly, the crackling static of the helmets rises in pitch, transforming into a voice-] We can't find Lord Vader. Does anyone know where the Lord Vader is?
[Another voice,] Last I heard, he was in the Carbonite chamber with the bounty hunter.
[Perhaps, through the Force, Anakin can feel the spike of fear in Luke. He certainly can't see his expression through the helmet Luke's now wearing.] We need to go.
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Hold on, who is Vader?
[It's not a name that's ever come up before, but even the speaking of it leaves him with a vaguely nauseous unease. That must be the problem here, the troopers hadn't proven to be much more than an annoying obstacle; they're something to be avoided, not dreaded.]
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Their leader. [That's all he can think to say.] The last time I faced him... it was down here.
[Luke isn't sure what to do. He's left momentarily paralyzed with indecision-- go looking for him? Run and hide? Neither seems like a good option, and the latter is unworthy of a Jedi. But Luke can't let the two meet.]
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[Took your hand. He remembers that conversation keenly. "Their leader" pales in comparison to the far larger reality of it. He's a Sith, and the title, like Dooku's it seems, is largely a front.
A Sith with clo--no. No, they're not clones. Not anymore. The design has to be a mockery. The war is lost--somehow--and what was once the Republic's line of defense is copied and twisted until it's lost the original point.
That has to be it. His resolve on this and the matter of what to do in terms of justice for Luke, hardens.]
We need to find him. End this.
[Because that's well thought out and tactically sound.]
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[Luke shakes his head. No, he's deluding himself. He tries, mostly unsuccessfully, to shove that worry aside.]
[His father. If he isn't careful, he's at risk of losing them both.]
There's a way to escape, I used it last time. [Time to try his luck in the ventilation tubes. He runs off without explaining, expecting Anakin to follow.]
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[He follows, because he doesn't see any other choice, but it wouldn't have been his first, and the idea of running away still doesn't sit well with him at all. He tries to remind himself that this war now isn't the same he's used to, and what Luke has seen may very well be worse than the best Dooku had thrown at him through the Clone War's long stretch.
It doesn't ease the shame of it much.]
Luke, how am I even supposed to know what we're avoiding?
[Other than the fact that "something" will feel "wrong." Unfortunately, the Force isn't always a clear indicator, and when everything feels wrong--like how much he shouldn't even be here--it doesn't help.]
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You'll know him when you see him. He's a seven foot tall metal monster. [Anger spikes in him.] He tortured my friends, killed- [Ben, Owen, Beru, Bail Organa-] so many people.
[He realizes he's stopped walking. He's just standing there, staring at Anakin. Staring at the man who will be Darth Vader.]
Come on, let's go. [He turns away.]
sorry buddy
[He figures this isn't quite what Luke means, but he can't shake the thought, even as Luke turns briskly back around starts again, despite stopping suddenly like he's seen a ghost.
Maybe he has, and not for the first time, either. Obi--Ben's journal had spoken to that in what Anakin considers inarguable terms. The Order is gone. He is gone. Padmé presumably too, if the twins had been separated so cleanly, and for so long.
But whatever has happened to him isn't the point here. Not now. Luke's fear, on the other hand, is. Unfortunately, for a man who has seemingly been fighting droids and various technological terrors for a good half of his life, "metal monster" doesn't narrow it at all. Multiple droids. Grievous. By Obi-Wan's account, Darth Maul even falls into the same category to a degree. The only exception on the the Separatist side of the war, it seems, is Dooku himself.]
You might want to be a little more specific.
:(
[And he's here.]
[Luke takes off his helmet. He's not sure why. Maybe all this thinking of Vader makes the idea of helmets distasteful in general.] He's- huge. And all black. And the mask, it has these... eyes. [No, the look doesn't matter. What's the feeling?]
Fighting him is like fighting a wall. He never stops, never gets tired. Everything becomes so cold, and it doesn't even phase him.
[He puts his helmet back on.] You'll know him when you see him, I swear. [So he hopes he never sees him.]
welp!
He's seen it.
He's seen it and hadn't known at the time just why the burned husk of a broken respirator could resonate so harshly, so deeply, so evil. He'd never put it together before, the pull he'd felt then to an encroaching pitch black void and the idea of the Sith that's maimed his son. Killed others, unsurprisingly it seems, beside.
Throwing it away, in retrospect, seems now like a concession, letting that darkness linger and creep until new hands reach it instead. They should have burned it again. He can only hope Obi-Wan did the right--the logical--thing and destroyed it.
Anakin is thankful that Luke can't see the shock etched in his face and too-wide eyes, though the stall in his breathing, the sudden lurch in his step, both are indicators he can't suppress behind a helmet.]
Alright, fine. Maybe you're right.
[In the face of that, running away doesn't seem quite so foolish.]
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[If he concentrates, he can feel the echoes of strife through the Force. It's not more dark than light, or vice versa-- it feels like... a clash of the two, refusing to mix even now.]
[Luke shivers.]
It's this way. You're not gonna like it. [Maybe if he doesn't mention the feel of the place, the obvious chaos, it won't be brought up. He It feels like an obvious deception to him, especially with Anakin on one side, and Vader lurking in every shadow.]
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[Usually it's the kind of question that he thinks rather than actually vocalizes, but here in this place that has only been tinged with poor memory after poor memory and worse beside, it seems more apropos than usual.
So much for not remarking on the obvious weight of anger lingering in the room as he follows. That's more of an indicator than the physical remnants of the fight that's occurred here ever could be.
But there is one question he still doesn't vocalize, albeit the more important one: Is this where you faced him?]
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[He sees that, now. It's almost like the Force wants to remind him... something. Luke isn't sure what, but whatever it is, the Force isn't doing it in a gentle voice.]
[They keep walking, and the negative imprint on the station only increases. Finally, they end up on a long outstretched platform. The guard railings have clearly been sliced and melted by a lightsaber's dazzling blade. Luke ignores all of that, until he comes to the end of the platform. He stares down, off the side, into the echoing emptiness.]
I've got something else you won't like.
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Let me guess. We jump?