Log:Temples and Revelations

Temples and Revelations

Location: Jedi Ruins, D'Qar
Participants: Jax Greystorm, Ax, Leia Organa, Rey, Sesti Greystorm, Dreman Bryce, Chewbacca, The Force, Some slime, Oh and Syrus was there too

MID CORE! Leia and the Skywalkers make their way to D'Qar on the Millennium Falcon in search of Jedi relics and tomes. Despite complaints from Chewbacca, the five individuals dig deep into the past. What they find might be too much for the group to bare!

D'Qar has fallen on hard times since the Resistance evacuated. The entire city was built around the Base being there and without the soldiers to drive economy so it has definitely felt the strain over the last month. Landing isn't difficult, but it isn't exactly as safe as is was only a few short weeks ago.

So they don't land at the city starport, but rather right at the ruins of the Jedi Academy that once stood here. The codes were in Artoo's databank so Leia leads them off their ships towards the battered gates of the once mighty temple with her hood up to keep the sun out of her eyes. "Search for an entrance..." She tells them, holding up a hand to Threepio to stall him from woddling down.

Meanwhile, Chewie busy's himself with one of the Porg. Mumbling something about being a glorified taxi service.

~ Ax follows along. This was his first trip to D'qar, but he'd heard a bit about it from Jax. "So, this is where the Resistance was stationed and they didn't bother to search this temple in their search for Luke? I mean, if you're looking for the first temple, wouldn't it be a good idea to search known ones to see if they had clues leading to it?" He carried a duffel on his back, though it was mostly empty. Just a water canteen and a bit of roap, just in case. One never knew when you needed rope. Also, it was a good place to stow anything that they might find worth taking. ~

Rey is aboard the Falcon with Chewbacca, she's finishing up what she was working on (scans of the planet). "No sign of any First Order recon probes are showing up." She tells Chewbacca, as she stands behind his chair in the Falcon's cockpit. "I think we're safe. At least for now."

Rey looks back toward the corridor, then forward out of the viewport. She admired D'Qar, it was one of the more lovely planet's she'd visited so far.

Rey picks up her satchel off of the chair beside her legs and she puts it on over her shoulders then reaches for her hooded cape and makes for the exit of the Falcon, she's just behind the others, walking to catch up.

Jax had met up with the other Skywalkers coming from Naboo, so Sesti was with him. Jax pulls the hood up of his armor as he starts to walk down the ramp of the Falcon. He looks around for a moment searchng for the entrance. He chuckles at Ax's quesiton, "You'd have to ask a general. I was just a lowly Lieutant most of my time here. I didn't do much searching for Luke. I tried to stop the First Order and gather Intel. I wonder the same thing but yeah."

Also along for the ride Iro'syrus Volo, the large Kiffar who serves as the new face among the group. He's traded in his hulking rucksack for a much smaller messenger bag containing a handful of select texts, most notably a transcript of the translations that he's been working on. Tugging the bag onto his shoulder.

"You think he might have painted a mural here pointing to where he was, then?" he asks Ax, looking over to the Echani man. "You're right. How foolish of them."

"Call me crazy, but I think if my brother were on the same planet as I was, I'd have felt it." Leia says quietly as she inspects the partially collapsed doors that lead into the hangar, "This place has been destroyed since before the Rebellion. Anything we find here is over thirty years old and of little use in locating someone who doesn't want to be found." She finishes.

She lays her hand against the aged, warped durasteel, searching as she does for a plate that might act as controls. "I know this because we did search it. Turns out I wasn't half bad as a General. Who knew."

Glancing back slightly over her shoulder at Syrus. "See if you can get this open."

Walking just behind and to the left of Jax, with her hood down and her helmet currently in her hand, Sesti has her usual Nar Shadaa gear on, plus her medical kit. The knives are in easier reach than the kit, though, and her armor is underneath a heavy leather split tunic. She's walking quietly, and says nothing at the moment, letting Jax and Ax discuss among themselves.

~ Ax looks to the Kiffar, "Never said there's be a mural, but who knows? I've been in a couple of ruined temples but on more known planets. They were all so picked over centuries past that there was nothing left. Here though, if the planet isn't on the star charts, it might have something more to find."

Then, he's looking to Leia, and just sighs. "I didn't say he'd be in there, just that maybe there were clues that could lead to the place he was. By the gods, you people need more booze in your lives."

Looking at the doors, he takes a breath, then looks back to Jax and Sesti, offering a shrug. While they were paused, he takes a moment to pull out a pocket flask and takes a small sip from it before holding it out towards the Greystorms. ~

Rey catches up with the rest of them in time to hear some of the conversation and it mildly amuses her, Leia's words at the least. She spends a moment looking around at everyone and then at the temple itself. Rey's left hand raises up out of her steel-blue cape and she holds a apple that she slides in half... one of the Resistance pilot's had introduced her to this commonplace fruit in the galaxy and she'd gotten more than a little addicted to them.

The young teenager glances over to Sesti and offers her the other half of the apple with a friendly smile.

"Not saying you didn't. I'm just saying I wasn't assigned that type of thing." He says waving off the flask, "Nah. Not now." He though looks around for a moment, "Can we do this another time? You remember the bugs on Dantooine." He turns to catch Rey offering Sesti an apple and grins.

"Of course," Syrus answers Leia, slipping out from behind the group and turning his dark eyes to task. "Then we can be foolish /and/ drunk," remarks Syrus with a ghost of a smirk towards the Echani.

The large man begins sliding overgrowth from the wall of them temple, in search of anything that can help them keep moving. Pulling back at space kudzu, Syrus spies some wiring and says, "There's something here. Let's see..." It must be said that Syrus is a great archaeologist. Electrician? Not so much. There's a spark and he pulls his hand back. Shaking it and flexing his fingers, the man looks back toward the group, "That didn't work."

There's a flask to the right, apple to the left, here she is, stuck in the middle with Jax. Sesti gives Ax a little smile of appreciation for the offer and takes the flask in her free hand before she looks to Rey, a bit of surprise for the offer, but then she nods once. "Thank you. Rey? Is it?" she asks, seeing if her memory serves. After a swig she hands the flask back to Ax, then tucks her helmet under her other arm so she can take the offered apple half.

"Ach-To wasn't widely known even during the height of the Jedi Order." Leia points out with a frown, watching her archaelogical apprentice do his thing with her arms crossed, "I'm not really sure where Luke found it... but the only known charts to it were stored in Artoos memory." With Syrus' discovery, Leia steps over to the plate just as he's yanking his hand away from the electrical shock. Her hand rests upon his shoulder and angles him back just enough to get a go at the plate, but it seems the machinary is either very old or very particular because she too has to pull her hand away when it zaps her fingers.

"Alright, time to get some practice in on our mundane skill challenge." She steps back waving her hand, "This is for Immunity."

~ Ax pockets the flask after Sesti takes a sip, smiling to the woman. He then turns to Jax. "Yeah, I still have a nasty scar from those damned things." Then, he watches as Syrus fiddles with the wiring, then Leia.

"Not only am I good at drinking, I'm actually not a bad smuggler. Some might even consider me above average," Ax adds. "I've been known to get past security measures or locked doors from time to time. I've even been known to disable alarms and traps that people set up. Of course, I might be a bit rusty, and I didn't bring my multi-tool." He pauses, "And, should all else fail, we could just cut our way in. I don't think I've found anything yet a lightsaber can't cut through, given enough time. I'm sure there are things out there, but I just haven't found any." ~

"Its like a drink, that you eat." Rey says to Sesti with a little grin before she looks away toward the door and the struggles behind had there-in.

Rey starts toward it, reaching up to put her half of the apple between her lips and bite down on it with her teeth. She steps up to the mechanism and places a small silver tool against it that she'd just pulled from her satchel on her hip.

A second later and the mechanism clicks and unlocks and the tool is put back into her satchel.

Rey turns and looks at the others. "A Hydrikken Doxon Mark Four unit. They're standard on Imperial era warships." She says with a soft smile, and then she takes a bite out of her apple half with a little crunch.

Jax looks around and says, "Alright let me try. I have smuggled a time or twl.." Then it sparks on him, "Alright I'm really a fighter pilot playing at a smuggler. I should have brought Exine with me. He could have done it maybe." He steps and looks back at Sesti, "What is it? That looks good."

The doors move, but they do not do so with any alacrity. D'Qar is a world of great jungles and one in particular has set out to reclaim the Jedi ruins. Behind the barrier, great vines have snarled up the mechanisms and rust has only compound the issue. So when those doors slide apart, it is with the sound a dying Kryat Dragon might issue.

Part of the inner most durasteel is warpped and it doesn't open fully, but it should be a big enough gap for them to enter. Leia is passing through into the darkness just as those great doors shudder a third time in their attempts to open completely.

A small hovering torch is lit and released just over her right shoulder. Inside is every bit the jungle as out. Vines criss-cross to create natural barrier that are easily cut away with the sweep of a lightsaber and the air is thick with dust and particulates.

Nobodies been in here in decades. "Well... this'll be fun."

Sesti listens to the click when Rey fiddles with the door, and holds up a hand before anyone else can move forward. She takes out one of her little throwing knives, and inserts it into a crack, then she works it downwards, before she looks back to the keypad. She toggles something else, frowns, then hits the panel, and toggles it again. This time there's a click against the knife, and then the doors begin to slide open. "Safety lock," she grins to Rey, catching her knife before it falls to the ground.

~ Ax hangs back, letting the ladies go first. Always the gentleman and all that. "I don't think the Jedi were all about traps, but my knowledge of them is far from complete," Ax says. "But, traps aren't likely the only dangers in such an old decrepit building, so keep your eyes and ears perked." Not that he really needed to say such, following along with the group, though keeping back towards the rear. ~

Rey watches Sesti step forward and deal with a security measure that she'd forgotten. "Oh... dear. Right, good catch." She tells the other with a nod of appreciation and a glance back at the lock at her carelessness for not thinking of that. She takes another bite of her apple and watches Leia proaceed on inside, Rey moves along after her on her right side, a few steps behind. She glances back toward Ax. "The Jedi wouldn't put any traps inside one of their temples. But thats not to say that someone who -has- been in here since then hasn't."

She looks ahead then. "There's a lot of mean spirited people out there afterall..." She quietly adds while letting her brown eyes roam about.

Syrus Volo rubs at the palm of his tingling hand and watches Rey work on the console. Once there's the satisfying click sound, Syrus smiles and nods his head to the woman, "Well done." Flexing his fingers a few more times, his hand reaches up to grab the strap of his bag and he turns to regard the door. This place is like heaven for him.

Once the doors unclose, Syrus moves inside, saying, "If memory serves correct, this place use to serve as a training temple for young Jedi. Though it was bombarded by Vader himself shortly after the end of the Clone Wars." He looks over to Leia, likely apologetic at the bit of information he's just shared about her father.

Sesti takes another bite from her apple, then when Jax asks, she hands it to him so he can take a bite. "It is good. Juicy." Her violet gaze searches into the darkness. "I thought you were just being nice and leaving something for me to do," her smile is directed to Rey as she puts on her helmet and then steps in, drawing a blade to have at the ready. Sesti Greystorm draws her Vibrosword - Sesti.

Jax doesn't have a torch himself so he stays close to Leia, "Great, Vader. Well bombing from Orbit means he didn't set traps." He looks to the others, "Can you feel anything? Search your feeling and the like." He takes the apple and takes a bite. "This is good."

Leia brushes aside some loose hanging vines and grabs for the saber hanging at her belt once they're into the thicker fare. She doesn't ignite it until she has to, until the coverage is too thick for them to squeeze through it without making more room, but once she does everything is lit with that erie green glow on an already creepy interior.

Parts of the celing have caved in, either from the Bombardment Syrus mentioned or the weight of roots, mostly likely it's a combination of both. "I knew he was a horrible man, don't let it bother you much." She assures Syrus, at least as far as her own feelings on it are concerned. Everyone should be mindful of how easily the Darkside corrupts and none are more obvious an example as Darth Vader.

"Be careful ahead, it looks like there's some moss.. or algae or something.. it's slimy."

~ "Well, before he went bad, he was a hero of the Republic, right? Just goes to show we're all just one bad decision from being a real bastard," Ax says. He pulls his own lightsaber out, though doesn't ignite the blade. He wasn't sure if he'd need it or not, but better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. "Anyway, who knows what we'll find, if anything," Ax says. ~

Jax's hands goe to his own saber and he brings it hitting the trigger on the saber to provide more light. "What is it your stepping in?" He calls out to Leia, "This place might be worse than a Nar Shaddaa streets." He doesn't address thoughts on Vader or history, "The question is though is if the First Order's been to D'Qar. DId they come visit after the Resistance left?" He says letting his saber shine out in the darkness. Jax Greystorm depresses the button on his cylindrical lightsaber and with an electric snap-hiss a brilliant blue energy beam rises forth! Ax depresses the button on his lightsaber's curved hilt and with an electric snap-hiss a brilliant green energy beam bursts forth!

Rey'd given Sesti a sly grin before she started to look forward again and just walk quietly while listening and munching on apple bits. Her eyes go toward Leia with the emerald lightsaber blade is ignited, she doesn't reach for any tool or item, merely follows along behind and keeps the observations going on.

"Remarkable place though." She does quietly comment at least that much... until she slips on some of the goo on the ground, yelps softly and flails her hands out to the sides, but she ultimately does keep her balance and doesn't fall... so close though!

As Leia approaches the algae moss, Sesti blinks once, and then steps forward. Taking out her little throwing knife again, she lifts up a strand of it. "I do not believe it," she murmurs. "Carignan." Her eyes lift to note the extent of which it has covered the walls. "This is not native to D'Qar, someone brought it here, before it was bombarded, I am sure." She shifts around underneath her tunic and pulls a vial out of her medic kit and fills it, before she tucks it back into place and straightens. "Perhaps this was... some kind of medical training temple?" She catches up to the others, cleaning her knife on her tunic and tucking it away.

Nearby, racing over the treetops and terrain, is the CRV Ferrata. It wasn't as nimble as a shuttle or as fast as a TIE, but, it carried it's own compliment of dangerous individuals. One such, clinging tightly to a boarding ramp strut, is Storm Commander Bryce. Behind him, a dozen black-armored Shadow Troopers await his descent. The Corvette twists slowly and comes to a stop, resting in a clearing opposite the Falcon. They weren't as small as the ship, and had a trickier landing vector. Bryce is the first to touch dirt, already running. Far above them, in the upper portion of D'qar's atmosphere, a series of ships begin to appear. Lead by a large, wedge-shaped Star Destroyer that first appears, the attack group falls into formation around it quickly. Too small to see from the ground, squadrons of TIE Fighters lance outward away from the ships, screeching towards the planet. It's the First Order!

Syrus Volo doesn't have a lightsaber, but he does have a small lantern. He pulls the thing from his bag and turns a dial on it. It hums to life and helps illuminate the gross, overgrown temple. "Vader is an exercise in the duality of man. His faults do not erase his triumphs. The reverse is also true."

Then there's that feeling. It happens every now and then to the man. He gulps and rubs at the back of his neck, looking toward the door, "Something is wrong. Very, very wrong."

Leia is looking at the bottom of her boot, having to grab hold of a vine so as not to fall on her butt on the slick substance underfoot. "I don't know, but it's slippery..." She groans, until Sesti explains what it is, kind of. "Huh..." She'd heard of it, "Don't they use that in medisprays or something?"

She'd love to have this conversation with Sesti, but just as she's about to get into it... something bleeps on her internal Radar. "They found us... I don't know how but they found us..." RUN FOR IT MARTY! Do they have time to make it to the Falcon?

Leia grabs for her comlink and tries to tap in to Chewie, "Chewie, something's going on out there... somebody's coming..." A pause, "Chewie?" but there's only static on the other end. Too much interference from the plants.. one of these vines has a natural metalic-like core that breaks up comms transmission beyond it. Jedi might not have laid traps, but they knew how to hide...

~ "Sithspit!" Ax exclaims. "They've probably been watching this place since the attack." Now, he was glad he had lightsaber in hand. "They're probably jamming communications as well. It's what I'd do were I them," he says, already moving back the way they'd come in. He mutters a few curses under his breath. ~

Jax's head snaps around just after Leia's comment. "Yeah we best get going." He forms up with Sesti and Ax. They were the ones he was most use to fighting with. "So what the plan other than run for it and be ready for a fight." His half hidden expression reveals he feels a bit dumb weilding a saber and wanting to go for his blaster. Then he remembers something, "Does the new guy have a way to protect himself?"

Rey's head shakes back and forth softly at what Ax had to say. "No, we scanned for them..." She says softly. "There were no droid signals or any known devices active around athe wreckage of the base." What they hadn't scanned for were tracking devices on the hull of the Falcon...

Rey doesn't reach for her weapons, she just turns toward the others and back toward athe exit. "Chewie will take off... he won't let them get close to the Falcon."

After looking around, Rey points further into the old Academy. "We should get into the woods around the compound, and find a place for Chewbacca to meet us!"

Sesti is glad to have her blade in hand, and with Leia's warning, the little throwing knife in her hand ready to loose if needed. She doesn't say anything, but she stands poised to go whichever direction is chosen.

Bryce is distracted in his run, as he takes a glance upward to eye the attack group forming above them. His jaw sets angrily as he counts one ship less than he should have. "Form up, remember your training," he demands, the cold, digital voice of the vocoder echoing orders to the troops that followed him. These troops were different, somehow. They were trained for this. For this sort of fight. A comms device is brought to his mask. "Tell Captain Geril he'll be personally responsible to the Supreme Leader if he misses his mark," the cold words echoed. It seemed Bryce was missing a key piece to his puzzle. Distracted by that, he falls into rearguard as they set up for ingress.

"I'll be fine," is Syrus's answer to Jax. He's going to hide behind the rest of them, after all. The strap of his bag is gripped tight and he waits for any further instruction.

Leia agrees with Rey with a brisk nod and starts slashing her way through the vines in the direction they'd been headed, "We have to keep going. If we're having trouble getting through, so are they, and we'll lose them in the treeline." The footing is terrible and several times she's got to grab hold of a vine to keep from slipping, which is making progress slow.

If it weren't for the ease with which her blade cuts down the limbs, they'd be completely trapped. "Stay close to me, Syrus." She says in a quieter voice, "And watch your footing..." Because she almost slips again. "If we find a defensiable position, we'll hold out, but otherwise only fire if you have a shot!"

~ "Good call," Ax says to Rey. He centers himself, willing his body to move swifter, to make himself more agile. "Remember, blaster fire will tell whoever you're shooting at your exact position. Same goes for lightsabers, if you want to be stealthy, keep the damned things off unless necessary." ~

"You sure? I got a hold out knife if you need it." He turns off his saber and clips it to his belt. His hand going for his blaster pistol, "Sure thing. I'll line up and take shots as needed. If I can." He says knowing the pistol would be more use at the moment. "If we can get off planet without enganging the better." He looks to Sesti, "It's least more intresting than Naboo?" Then moves to follow the path. Jax Greystorm presses the button on his metalic lightsaber handle causing the shining blue energy beam to slide back down with an electric squeal. Jax Greystorm slides his Modified DL-30 Pistol - 9460 out of its holster, bringing the weapon to bear.

"General, if I may," Sesti steps forward as Leia hacks through a branch. She points off the to the side a little where the moss hangs thick across the hallways. "It is a little slippery, but it is an aggressive regeneration plant. A couple minutes after we cut through, it will grow back and look as if no one has been there." She walks over to the 'wall' of moss that she indicated, and slashes through with her vibroblade, parting the curtain. The edges of it are already starting to regrow as she steps through.

Rey spins around as the others move past her and she reaches both of her hands out toward athe entrance to the temple. She starts to concentrate and within a moment she's pulling a statue down from beside the doorway to drop it in front of the passage into the Temple... to block the way in/out through the main doorway that they'd unlocked minutes ago.

Oh, right; Leia gave him a blaster. Syrus reaches into his bag and pulls the small pistol from it. Now it's just a matter of figuring out what to do with it. He does as he's told, however, and sticks close to the General.

Bryce is quick to approach, the crimson saber snapping to life as he reaches out to sense them. Could they sense him? Could they feel how close he was to them? He was dangerous. Dangerous because he didn't care about them. He didn't want prisoners, he wanted power. And their power set upon him like a sickness, as if to prevent him from his own greatness. He would kill them, because it meant there were fewer to stand in his way. TIEs scream closer overhead as Bryce steps inward, where Leia had been minutes before. He could almost feel her. That is, until Bryce senses something. Only a second later and he would have been crushed beneath the statue. Only, now, he was alone, resting on a knee on the ground as dust swirls around them. The red saber casts an eerie glow on the man's mask, as, in the darkness he whispers. "Clever girl."

Leia glances backwards at Sesti and is about to nod when Rey just pulls a house down ontop of the entrance, "That works... we're not out of this yet..." She motions with her unlit saber in the direction she's leading them, squeezing through a small break in the vine coverage and breaking out into something of a clearing beyond. "Can anyone see how many there are?"

She jogs forward a bit and glances around for a direction to go. Her hair is slick with sweat from the hot cavelike interior of the temple. "Syrus..." She grabs hold of his shoulder and points towards a side tunnel, "That way, Ax you're with him. Keep him safe.." She explains, "Artoo's diagram said there's another way out that way." She doesn't have time to argue, "If troopers head after you, hide.. we'll head in the oposite direction as load as possible." It's quick, it's dirty, but when people have to go!

~ Ax nods to the General. "Get off planet," Ax tells her. "They'll give chase. If they catch one of us that's bad, they catch all of us, that's a lot worse." Looking up, not really able to see anything, but maybe there's something he can see in another fashion. "I'm willing to bet that their trap isn't complete, not yet. I... I'm pretty sure there's no interdiction field going. Don't ask me how I know, I just kind do."

Ax looks to Syrus. "Stick with me. We'll be fine." Glancing to Jax. "You'll know how to find me. If you can get off this rock and away, do so. We'll be fine for a couple of days." And, with that, the Echani is off, leading Syrus away. ~

"I'll be back for you. Stay safe There's a lake not far from here and a town. Though stay off the plains. May the Force be with you." He though keeps his blaster ready, "No I haven't seen anyone yet." The Corellian says hs blaster covering the remaining group.

Rey was at the back of the pack, the one closest to Dreman when he enters the room only to be blocked off from going back the way he'd come without the counter use of the Force to clear it back out.

She stares right at him... about twenty feet away from him. "You're not--" that was evidently clear. He didn't have the same 'feeling', but more so... when the dust settled nothing about him was the same but the colors of his clothes and a more properly formed appearnace to his red lightsaber.

Rey stares, curious by this person, who WAS he? What was his story? Was he one of Luke's students?

She couldn't wait around to ask though, she turned to make her way in the direction of Leia, she had to keep up with the Princess.

Sesti makes another slash at the veil of moss to keep it open for the others, standing there uncertainly for a minute. "Are we not going this way?" she asks, looking to her husband and the general. "Where is..." but then Rey shows up and she nods.

Bryce had only scant information to go off regarding Rey. Kylo's dealings with the scavenger were all while Bryce was keeping their strength elsewhere, but, confronted with her for only the briefest of moments, he's given pause. "You..." He says, quietly, eyeing her from behind the half-mask. Immediately, he tries to jump to his feet, but the statue's arm makes that an impossibility. By the time the red saber arcs low to sever the statue with a scattering of sparks, she had vanished. The commlink is raised again. "Find another way out. They're moving!" Bryce demands, before empty air is all that returns. Outside, the troopers had already slipped away to do just that, but within the temple he had no way of knowing what was happening outside. There's no growl of anger as Bryce rises to follow after them, no flaring of emotion like Rey or Leia may have been used to. Bryce was simply ... cold, and calculating. And he was coming after them.

"No, we're not. We cannot all be captured together and we don't stand anymore of a chance fighting them... so we're going to split up. Hope the Force is with us.. and get the hell off this planet." Leia says to Sesti, heading down a different path once she spies Rey coming into the clearing with them, "Shake a leg, Rey..." Smirking, just faintly, as she disappears into said tunnel.

Her blade remains unlit now and she's not rushing in her motions so as to keep from tumbling on her butt in the slick algae. Every once in a while she glances back and frowns deeper at whatever it is she's sensing from behind them. "This is the Commander from Hound base..." She finally manages, but only Rey would even know what she means. "I guess he got out... everyone will be thrilled to hear it."

"That and so many force senstives together. He could detect us. It's a sound plan though if he wasn't trained." You would be surpised what Jax and Sesti would know about Hound base. "He led the raid on Nar? Lovely. Well lets not stick around and chat. Jax says making his way of heading into the tunnel. He turns to make sure Sesti makes it into the tunnel.

Rey is moving fast to catch up with Leia, she hops over some of the foilage and the vines in her way and she leaps a small fallen over pillar before she slides forward. "He's different from, from Kylo." She tells Leia as they come together again and she follows along with her. "He doesn't feel as a'angry' as Kylo did. He feels, colder... more resolute." She's breathing heavily now and glancing back over her shoulder.

Rey reaches for her holster and pulls her blaster pistol out of its holster, the one that Han had given her and she'd pilfered back from Starkiller Base before abandoning it.

Bryce may have had a giant mental spotlight on the pair of girls, so much that he entirely misses the others lights breaking away, but that didn't help him navigate the building any better. They had the advantage in that they were going any direction--He was chasing them. "The system is ours," Bryce calls, the digital voice firm and matter-of-fact, "You can't escape. It's only a matter of time before the Falcon loses something you can't fix." Bryce calls after them, harrying them vocally.

"The Hound Base on Nar?" Sesti asks as she steps out to let the moss close behind her and protect the two they left. She steps up next to Leia with her vibro blade to help her cut through and reaches down to the floor to pick up some of the moss and toss it at the limbs behind them after they are cut. Some may splatter on them, some might not, but now that Rey has caught up, she moves faster.

Leia can hear the echos of Bryce's voice carrying down the halls towards them, "I've heard that before." She shouts back, throwing her voice by dropping the sound from her throat rather her diaphram. It gives it a much deeper, hollow sound. "I appreciate your regard for our Ships well being, but I assure you that there's very little to resemble the Freighter it use to be..."

She's throwing her voice.

Quieter, still leading the group, it dawns on her how he's following them. "Rey..." She says to her and glances back, blade dangling unlit at her side. "We're not going to make it out of here like this.." Eyeing Sesti, smiling her appreciation. "I'm sorry we got you into this..."

Jax frowns, "We turn and fight. I say we need to find a way to cheat out of ths one." He says taking several deep breaths and trying to center himself. "If we're going to fight. How are we going to do this?" He says reaching out to the force to let it fill him. He looks to Sesti, "I'm not. Always glad to have you at my side."

Rey listens to the voices as they're exchanged in an ominous sort of way throughout the corridors and she nods once to what Leia says, and then toward Jax. "We have to confront him.

Suddenly the young woman stops and clenches that blaster pistol in her right hand, she looks back down the hallway, then back toward Leia, Jax and Sesti. She grits her teeth for a second. "All four of us?""

A headshake is given and she turns in the direction she believes Bryce is in, her blaster pistol comes up, she flips the safety off and then keeps it aimed, ready to fire at him the moment she sees him.

"Do not be," Sesti tells Leia. "I go where Jax goes." Pause, then "Always," she adds after Jax's words to her, and she sets herself with the longer blade in front of her, her other arm cocked back to throw her little knife.

"It's been some time since I saw her fly," Bryce admits, "I'll give you that. Fresh paint never was his way, though, was it? It's about the heart, isn't it?" He asks, as he takes a minute to focus. The voice trick seems to work for a moment, sending him down the wrong path for a moment, and giving them more time. He was still dangerously close. "You know I can't hurt you, of course. Imagine what the Supreme Leader will do to the man that struck his mother," Bryce says, realizing he was out of place. "Coming with me is a better deal than you'll get from Admiral Karn's assault group," he adds.

"No, not all of us." Leia says without looking at Rey, "Get them out of here." She tells her over her shoulder as she starts towards the sound of Bryce's voice. As she comes within view she reaches up to slide her hood back off her head. "I don't recognize your voice." She's quiet, serene really. Something gnawing at her guts, but she's not sure what it is except that she's not afraid of it. "But I've felt your presence before. Who are you?" Standing in the shadow of the old Jedi Academy with an unlit saber hanging from her hand. He'd recognize Han's golden dice attached to the hilt as well. It's clearly more decorative than something she really knows how to use.

"Whait What? Mother?" Jax has the blaster trained on Bryce. Well he just realized he might won Resistnce General sone of the year award due to his competition. "Uhm... Rey, Sesti, we really going to let her do that? I mean."

Rey clutches her blaster pistol held out, but she lowers it and looks back at Leia. "What?" She says upon hearing the older woman tell her to go. Sure, it kind of made sense... in a weird way, but it could be horribly bad too. "He could be lying to you. He's here to kill you, to end this... not to preserve any part of it!"

With a defiant shake of her head, Rey lowers her blaster pistol and puts it away back into the holster on her right hip, then her hands shift toward her left side and she pulls back a slip of cloth there to reveal the restored saber of Anakin Skywalker, its main body being refurbished with carved grip for one's hand now which it never had before.

Apparnetly Rey wasn't up for listening to Leia's orders, she'd need more convincing.

Bryce half-turns when Leia appears from the way he came. His visible eye narrows slightly, before his hand reaches up to activate the mask's fastens. With a hiss, it slips from his face and he holds it in the hand not holding the lightsaber. He was much younger when Leia saw him last, in a rare trip to see Luke. When they weren't busy travelling the galaxy.

"I suppose we can't all be Princesses," Bryce says, touching upon her own fame and his lack of notoriety. "I remember you being taller," he adds quietly, before noticing her friends. He smirks, coldly. The lightsaber levels, waiting for them to try their luck with a blaster. "But, then, I was only a boy when we met," he offers her, to let her piece together the shy, sad child from Coruscant.

Sesti narrows her eyes as Leia starts to move out, reaching out too slow to try and stop Leia from stepping out. "I do not think we can leave her, or that we..." she lets out a breath and a swear in Zabrak. "We should be running, we do not have time for this. If we do not get out to the Falcon, then Chewie is as good as dead, too." Another coupld swears drop from her lips, and she hangs back watching them.

Leia is set on this now, her collision course programmed in and all weapons set to fire. There's a clam about it, even. She glances back at her friends and gives them a smile, "I'll be okay." She assures, lifting her hand to stall any further debate on the matter. Then her fingers slowly close and the hallway collapses between them. "Run." She says to Rey just as the rocks and vines sepearte her from them.

Now alone with the Knight, Leia turns back towards him and frowns. Her mind going backwards through time to the moment he spoke of and draws out the young child who has now become a man. "Dreman Bryce." She says his name with a nod, "To a child I'm sure I was." She is not tall, by anyone's standards.

Jax lowers his blaster as Leia drops debris between them and the epic fight. He reaches out to grab Rey's arm and tugs, "Come on Kid, we got to live to fight another day. Sesti's right, Chewie and the others need us. If you fall here the galaxy is lost. He won't kill her. He's afraid todo, we'll just have to get her back before they get her to Fuck Stick Ren." You can blame Ax for the name. Then Jax takes off trying to drag Rey along with him and Sesti.

Bryce felt compelled to believe Leia wouldn't run from their destiny, now. And as the barrier is forged between them, Bryce is denied both prizes in favor of one. His lips thin slightly as silence falls between them, and Bryce is almost taken back all those years to being a small, sad child. "The Jedi filled the void left by my family, but all he wanted was you," Bryce says, "And now I must take you to him."

Sesti backs up a step or two as the debris comes down, and puts away her throwing knife. As Jax reaches out for Rey, she turns and begins to hack through the vegetation that bars their way to go down the hallway. She's fallen silent, now, intent on her work, and listening to what's in front of her, now, trying to choose a path that will lead out.

Rey's ready to draw her lightsaber and rush to help Leia, but the words from Leia, then Sesti... She snarls and glares at Bryce, but the pull to join with the others and flee is stronger now. Chewbacca needed them, the droids, the porgs. THE PORGS!

When her arm is tugged she looks back to Jax and then she steps onward. With one last look back to Leia she lowers her saber's hilt and turns to go with Sesti and Jax.

She felt sick to her stomach doing this, Leia was more than a little important to her, she felt like the woman was some kind of last grasp on her connection to her cause to what started her on this journey since leaving Jakku. Even if that was mispalced or misguided, Leia was important, she was apart of Han and Luke...

"I have to come back, once we get things... straightened." She tells the other two. Then, Rey points further down the corridor. "This way, I think."

"It doesn't have to be like this, Bryce." Leia doesn't know any other name to call him by, but it's unlikely she would if she did. She can still see that boy in him now, despite the dark, cold exterior he's errected as a mask. "I know that you will say it does, but you're wrong. You do not have to let your past dictate your future." She's not surrendered yet, but neither is she igniting her lightsaber. Whatever she is, she is most certainly not foolish enough to believe she can physically combat him. Rather, she stands there like a cold, stark reminder of something besides darkness. Calm. Confident.

With the need no longer present, Leia Skywalker yet again depresses the silver button upon the lightsaber's metalic hilt. her actions causing the bright green mysterious power beam to slide back into the emitter shroud with an electric squeal.

Bryce's facade shifts momentarily, as frustration suddenly washes over the damn. "Don't lecture me on how it needs to be," he demands coldly. The mask is slipped onto his belt, a cold reminder of what the Darkside had made in him. "As though I chose this. I didn't make him, and I certainly didn't betray him," Bryce offers coldly. He falls silent, as the emotion washes away and the coldness returns. "I did as I was told. I followed the code, and I walked the path. Luke promised us Peace if we chose the way of the Jedi--He betrayed that!" Bryce shakes his head, calmly. "I found her dying, and I killed the child that killed her," he adds.

Leia's brow furrows at Bryce's exclaimated explanation of the path he's walked, "Her." Again searching backwards with her eyes cast down just slightly as if this aids in sorting through the merade of faces she's seen over the years. "Camie.. You found her." Understanding ignites up her spine, "The code didn't betray you, Bryce." She steps foward, eyes returning to him, "Luke was only a man. Only as old as you are now when he tried to establish the school.. He made mistakes. He brought her there and.." She still doesn't know what happened with Ben. Her expression drops, "I am sorry you had to do that. I am sorry that you did, as well."

"I'm sorry, too," Bryce says, resolved. His hand twists around the saber hilt for a moment. "But here we are, General," Bryce begins. The lightsaber rises slightly. "You made the monster. You can answer to it," Bryce says, before nodding to her lightsaber. "I'm going to need your weapon," he says.

Leia watches Bryce with only a hint of sympathy in her eyes. He knew the bed he'd made and laid in it anyways, but she still feels the twist of guilt that comes with her hand in the matter. Specifically, Ben. She raises her hand, Lightsaber held out to him, "I won't fight." The point is moot, she knows he'll take it anyways. "I think it's time I see my son."

Bryce wasn't unreasonable. He didn't believe in hating one's enemies. It clouded your judgment. As the Lightsaber is taken, Bryce takes a moment to examin eit. He'd seen it before. He pauses before slipping it out of her hand, but, that's not where it ends. His own is slipped away, clipped to his belt, before he tugs on the golden dice to pull them from the weapon. They're held out for her. "The way we came in," Bryce offers.

Leia watches Bryce remove the dice from Luke's saber and holds out her hand to accept them when they're offer. "Thank you." She says genuinely, then points in another direction, "That way will be quicker." She's in a quiet tone, following along behind the black clad Knight with her hands clasped around the golden ornament between them. To the outside viewer she might not even look like a prisoner as calmly as she walks with him.

"I'd rather not risk your impetuous friends getting in the way of your heroic risk," Bryce reminds her, "I'm certain they're very eager to double back and rescue you. I'm not so foolish to think I'm out of this yet, but, in honor of your prudence, I'm willing to pull my teams off of D'qar entirely. Yours can find their way home without interference," Bryce offers.

Leia cedes with a bow of her head, "They likely will, yes." She admits with a grin, keeping step despite her smaller stature and age. She spry for an older gal, afterall. "You found us by tracker on the Falcon, right?" She'd almost had Chewie gover over the hull of the ship, but it's likely the will of the Force that she didn't. "Seems rather foolish to have not checked in hindsight." Will or not.

"You'll learn," Bryce offers pragmatically. One way or another, that was true. "I have a strange feeling this isn't where your Destiny ends," Bryce says after a moment. It was hard to tell what Kylo would do, but, Bryce didn't expect that everything was going to be so cut and dry. As they walk, he tries to sense whether the others had left. Whether it was his own troops ahead.

Leia inclines her head slightly as they go, far easier getting out than the otherway at the reduced speed, "Me either." She says honestly as she ducks beneath some vines. That feeling in her gut told her as much, but she had no idea what to expect when she saw Ben again. It had been so long and he'd done so much... She wanted to be angry. It would have been easier to be angry, but she couldn't. As they near where the statue falls Leia shakes her head with a grin, thinking of Rey. She hoped they'd made good on their escape, but she held out to no hope that they'd circle back so soon with the Troopers still on planet.

"Another moment and she would have had me. Ky--" Bryce pauses a moment at the name, "--Ben, didn't provide an accurate analysis of her strength." He didn't know if it made any difference by name, but, he afforded her the courtesy. Reaching out, Bryce takes the time to remove the statue from their path. "Will she kill him?" Bryce asks, of Rey.

Leia nods, her hands folded in the sleeves of her robes, "She is unique in that way." It's almost frieghtening, to be honest: The sheer power that Rey wields without any formal, robust training. A prodigal. She turns to Bryce when he shifts to her sons name and raises a brow, "I don't know." There's an answer she hopes for and there's what's likely to happen. "It depends, I guess." Turning then to eye the huge statue laying across their path. "If I have a say in the matter, she wont. If he does... she probably will. It won't end the way he thinks it will."

"It never does," Bryce says, "After all. I expected to fight." The admission comes as the statue is slipped away. Troops were beyond, scouring the countryside for the others. Bryce was sure by now the Falcon had slipped away, unless by some miracle his Interdictor showed up. When he steps out into the light, though, he isn't pleased to not see it. "When we've taken off, I'll order the stand-down. Everyone lives to kill each other another day," he says, before pulling his commlink from his belt. The Ferrata was where they left it, but all hands were currently working. Only a deck officer awaited at the ramp to spot Leia.

"What good would that have done either of us?" Leia asks with a humorless laugh. She might be in any immediate danger, but she's not stupid enough to believe she's put the worst of what's to come behind her. "I've come to understand a great deal about the Force in a very short time.. and while I'm by no means a master at any of it, I believe entirely that this war between our opposing factions, regardless of the mantle we bestow onto them, is at the center of the Galaxy's ultimate downfall." She continues along out into the sun and shields her eyes with one hand as it first blurs her vision. Once she's adjusted she looks to the ship where a single officer awaits them. "We could have fought each other and the galaxy would have just one more dead Force User to lay at the feet of another fight.. and so on. Because this, what we've been doing for centuries? That's the definition of insanity. Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results."

"You're not wrong there, but, like I said. I didn't make the monster," Bryce retorts quietly. His path lead him towards the Ferrata, and he expected her to remain beside him as they walked. To the deck officer, Bryce offers only, "Prisoner coming aboard. General," Bryce pauses, looking back to Leia, "Is it Solo or Skywalker?" Bryce asks of her.

"Then why do you continue to follow him?" The question is honest rather than spiteful. This may be her son they're talking about, but she's keenly aware of the man he's become and is unafraid to admit she's disappointed. "Both, but Skywalker will be fine." Leia regards the Officer with a bow of her head. This is not her first trip to a detention center, but with each she has to hope it will be her last. The robes aren't as nice this time around either.

"Prisoner Leia Skywalker," Bryce regards the deck officer, who makes her notations and offers Bryce a salute. Rather than return it, Bryce leads Leia up the ramp. "Because, the wheel must stop. The only way to cast ourselves off from the wheel is to be strong enough to ignore it. What do the powerless of the galaxy want? The power to be free from powerful people. That is the only power useful to them," he explains.

"And there's no other way?" Leia asks with a raised brow as they ascend the ramp onto the Farata, "There are other paths that lead to what you're trying to achieve. Ones that don't involve the execution of Queens or the subjugation of the entire populace." She regards the interior of the ship, but mostly keeps her attention focused on Bryce, "Being strong enough to stop the wheel does not have to begin and end with destruction of everything around it."

"I tried the other way," Bryce admits, "Ben was my brother. My family. Luke declared he deserved to die. Ben took it very personally. What do you expect someone to do in response to that?" Bryce regards her for a moment with a risen brow. "Was he supposed to keep following the path? Keep up the lie? Snoke set him up with a new Empire, and now, he kills anyone that threatens that, because it's easier than being powerless," he says.

"Is it?" Leia asks with her brow raised just a little, "Snoke handed him the keys to all of his designs and all he had to do was kill his father." She knows in her heart that he hadn't fired the blaster that nearly killed her, so she doesn't say that, but it's hard not to see how close he'd come to it. "A wise man once said; There are two sides to every story. If you aren't willing or able to listen to both, don't be so quick to make judgements based on what you haven't heard." She regards Bryce evenly, "I don't know what possessed Luke to try and kill him, but that is no excuse for what Ben has done since then. Snoke took advantage of a weak child, but he didn't make him strong, he just gave power to a child."

"You may well be right, there," Bryce offers her. As they walk, he seems to be leading her along the spine of the ship. They were heading away from the engines, away from the Darkest parts of the ship. "Have you considered that perhaps it is the Jedi that are confused? What sort of power would abandon those who rejected the idea of killing a boy?" Bryce asks her. "Is this wisdom?"

"I have considered that." Leia says with a nod, following through the ship with a deeper serenity settling over her. There's a comfort that comes with knowing the order of things, she doesn't have to think about where she'll be next in this situation. It's the first time she's been able to really focus in weeks, "The Jedi were a novel concept with poor practical application. I foolishly believed those old documents to be scripture when Luke suggested Ben come to train... that I should let my son be raised by someone else, even if that someone was his Uncle." She blows out a long sigh, "It was folly on my part. I should have been there. Luke had great power and he was wise.. but he still hung too tightly to the idea of the Jedi and saw too clearly the fall of our father. It was a mistake I wont make."

When Bryce finally stops, it isn't in the bowels of the ship or some heavily monitored location. The CRV Ferrata was small, and usually had people coming and going without issue. What Stormtroopers were seen were special, clad in black armor and trained against tricks the Jedi could use on them. Bryce lifts an arm to press a code cylinder into place on a small insert. It twists rapidly a few times, before the door to the suite opens. Where one may have expected hard metal benches was a simple bed. There was a semiprivate wash station, an area to store clothing, and amenities of comfort that any officer onboard a starship might enjoy. "Your quarters," he instructs her, quietly.

Leia regards Bryce with that same level stare. One she'd had when she was younger, but has only gotten more focused as she's aged that denotes when she's trying to figure something out that's eluding her. "I'm not sure what I expected, Derman Bryce, but you have so far subverted it." This she says with a smile and then slips into the quarters as if she were in a hotel and not a prisoner of the First Order. It's fair to say that she would have worn that same expression regardless, she is a confoundingly irritating human being, but the limited luxury certainly made it easier.

"I've found that the garrish and cruel displays made by the Empire are as ineffective as they are dated. Torture rarely works, and making prisoners uncomfortable proves to be a means of encouraging them to change their locations. As you have shown me courtesy, I feel we have at least a mutual understanding. This war isn't doing either of us any favors. But since we cannot yet find our way out of it," Bryce says, letting the point drift off. "We're going to be in deep space for some time until we make contact with the Supreme Leader. As a precaution, all ships will be drained of fuel until we are relieved as your Prison escort. naturally, we cannot allow you anything that could send a signal, but, we do have a number of books. I suggest you get comfortable, and read. Further requests will be handled by comm, and I'll see to them myself," Bryce explains.

"Hm." Leia regards her accomodations with a slow turn that leaves her facing the hatch, "These vessels and those soldiers.. they're trained to hunt Jedi." She inquires, putting small details together through their short trip through the ship. Her hands fix in her robes sleeves and she nods once to the situation as it is explained to her. "I'll meditate. As far as conversations go, I believe I have the hardest one of my life ahead of me. What little good it'll do, I believe it best to be prepared for it." That her son is somewhere out there and that she is on her way to see him after years of seperation should feel better than this. "Thank you for your hospitality, Dreman. As well as the conversation. Should you wish to speak further, I believe you know where to find me and I would welcome the company." Truth be told, Leia is very rarely alone, at least it's been that way for a long time.

"They're trained to manage the threat of those sensitive to the Force, like us," Bryce admits. "I prefer to prepare my crew for the war they're going to be fighting. I don't like new faces, and casualties mean new faces," he admits with a nod. "I don't envy the choices that are before you, or the discussions that will come," he says, "I can only imagine. But, I'll check back in a few hours to make sure everything has settled."

Leia closes her eyes at the mention of discussion and choices, "I don't either." She says honestly, opening her eyes as she settles onto the small bed, "But there has to be a reason for all of this, perhaps an end to it." There's always the possibility she could die, that hangs like a black cloud just out of her mind. She wont acknowledge it, however. "Until then, Dreman Bryce, and baring the unfortunate future which it leads to, it is good to see you again." It might be something of surprise to hear how genuinely she means that.

"Until then," Bryce offers, before he turns to leave. The door slides shut behind him, with her on the other side. Despite his pleasantries, there is still a lock that engages when Bryce leaves. It's quiet, but, he knew she could feel it anyway. It was what he expected anyway.

Leia's grin did not disappear as the door slide closed, in truth, it grew wider as she just made out the near silent click of the lock engaging. She looked down at her hands laid upon her lap and then fished the dice from one of the pockets of her robes to hold out infront of her like they could gleem the future if she'd just rollt hem. When they don't, she shifts off the edge of the bed and slips her legs beneath herself, settling into a comfortable position with those dice still held in her lap. Her consciousness began to drift slightly as the minutes worn on and, if she's being viewed through any security devices, she becomes so still as to appear as if she's not even breathing.