revivalproject | Jedi Lost

Entry tags:

Jedi Lost

WHO: Obi-Wan Kenobi and YOU
WHERE: Throughout Tembra
WHAT: A new arrival!
WHEN: Beginning of December
WARNINGS: None - Will update if needed.

It was a strange experience.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had recently moved into the little hut that he found abandoned near the Dune Sea on Tatooine. His Eopie had been munching on feed nearby while he fiddled with the broken down vaporator, trying to get it running again so that he would have a source of water. The twin suns beating down on him as he worked. It was miserable work, but it was necessary. The hood of his cloak pulled over his head to protect him from the suns and the blowing sand.

He had just put in a new part and was hooking it up when things suddenly changed. He found himself waking up in a strange place, surrounded by old crumbling buildings covered in overgrowth. A far cry for the beak desert planet he had just been on. In alarm he tried to get his bearings, confusion overwhelming and threatening panic which is managed to quell by releasing his feelings into the Force. It was then that he caught sight of a glowing orb, finding himself drawn to it.

After getting the mental download, things were clearer, but he was no more happy for it. He shouldn't be here. This wasn't his place. His destiny and purpose was to be on that force forsaken planet, looking after a young boy who was no more than a baby. Not in this strange place called Agra 10. He had to get back, yet he didn't know the first clue on how to do so. If he could just find out where he was exactly, find a ship, something, he could get back to Luke.

Not trusting the device that he found himself with, he tucked it away in his robe and began exploring the dilapidated city. His hood still pulled over his head as he snuck about and rummaged around. His senses on the alert for anything that might be perceived as a threat. Any sudden movement likely resulting in him whirling around and taking the defensive with lightsaber in hand or a force push for anything that got too close. He was on edge, suspicious of everything, expecting to be attacked.

In his explorations he eventually comes upon the hangar, hope filling him as he sees the grounded ships. Finally, something that looked promising! The Jedi making a dash for them, and finding that he could only access one which happened to open up for him when he came near. It was the Twin Roses. With the utmost caution he carefully stepped onto the ship, hoping not to run into anyone, and making his way to the cockpit.

((OOC: Feel free to run into him just about anywhere in the city! If you want to continue off a TDM thread I'm cool with that too!))

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Listening quietly, Obi-Wan let the young man speak without interruption. An appraising look given to the little droid before he focused his attention on Cal. His expression remaining impassive, yet his mind was racing as he took all of it in. Once he had finished, the older Jedi nodded slowly in understanding.

"Five years," he said softly, as if in quiet disbelief. Jon had warned him of time difference between people. Yet it was still hard to swallow. Though he had no reason not to believe the Padawan.

"I am familiar with those names. Eno Cordova, I believe he may have collaborated with my old master a time or two." They had both shared an interest in ancient civilizations, Obi-Wan remembering quite well the long assignments his master gave him. Much to his chagrin at the time.

"And Jaro Tapal, he was a fellow general in the Grand Army of the Republic. I am sorry to hear of his death." But he didn't sound at all surprised. So many Jedi had perished, and Obi-Wan doesn't know how many have survived or would continue to. The future looked bleak for their kind, despite the message of hope that he had broadcast.

"For me, it's only been about a month since that day."

Cal glances down with the slightest of nods. He doesn't feel like he needs to go into details of what had happened, and after having discovered the ruins of an old Venator on Zeffo, he's sure that what had happened to him and his master had been echoed across the galaxy wherever the Jedi and their troops had been in that dreadful moment.

A month. "...that's still closer than the times I've learned others here were from," he admits, his eyes flicking a glance back towards Obi-Wan. "...I saw your message. But only recently." No wonder the man hadn't looked all that different, and the memory of the betrayal would be all the fresher in his mind. Cal doesn't speak an apology, but the regret of having to bring up everything is quite evident in his posture.

"I've been in hiding until now. Was working as a scrapper on Bracca." He shrugs, reaching up to run his hand through his hair. "So yeah. Things happened. I've been running around trying to avoid the Empire and the Inquisitors. I was found by a former Jedi- she used to be Cordova's padawan. And now we're...trying to restore the Order, I guess."

No he doesn't, and Obi-Wan isn't going to ask either. They've both experienced it, and have likely seen many of the same things. It was something he didn't like to talk about, and he certainly wouldn't press a fellow survivor to either. If there was something he wanted to say, he would say it.

"Well, I'm glad it at least reached someone, even if its a few years late," he said with as light a tone as he could muster. He had hoped it would spare a few from returning to the temple and subsequent slaughter. Knowing there was at least a couple out there who had managed to survive, gave him a bit of hope that there were still others.

"I've gone into hiding as well. Nothing so illustrious as a scrapper though," he said with faint amusement. "Instead I've taken up a life of seclusion on Tatooine, and with my own plan of helping to restore the Order." So they were like minded in some regard. "But here it seems to be just you and me."

It had been long enough that Cal couldn't even be bitter about receiving the news. His hopes of hearing from the Council, thinking that maybe they'd regroup and...do something had long faded. The news of the Jedi being called traitors in the wake of the war's end and the rise of an Empire had just driven him further into a distrustful state, surviving by keeping to himself, not daring to reach out through the Force.

He snorts lightly at the other Jedi's comment. "Wouldn't call it illustrious," he says, smiling crookedly. Although he's not so sure he'd have chosen Tatooine as his destination, from what he'd heard of the place it might be an ideal place for one trying to hide from the Empire. But that was if he'd had a choice at all.

"...yeah. Just us." It's a sad reminder, but there's also some relief to know that there's another Jedi here at all. Cal straightens in his seat a bit. "There used to be a couple of other Force users. Sith," he says, although he feels uncertain about it. Sith were only heard about and he'd never before encountered any. The Inquisitors used the Dark Side, but neither Sister he had faced had claimed to be Sith. "One was from hundreds of years in the past, although he acted more like a Jedi. I'd only ever seen him lose his temper once, and he'd taken it out on buildings rather than directly upon anyone. The other... He was pretty standoffish. Had a crackling red saber. I didn't get to know him very well. Both are gone now."

The way the boy smiled, it reminded him a bit of himself at that age. Stirring up memories of a better time. A time when the future seemed bright, and the Jedi were secure. But it was only a memory. Those times were long since gone.

"It's better that way," Obi-Wan says quietly. He'd heard mention of these Sith, and he was glad they were no longer here. No matter how much of a Jedi one supposedly acted. He's seen plenty of deception to not believe it in the slightest.

"They are not to be trusted. The Sith are responsible for the Purge, and orchestrated the war." If another ever came here, Obi-Wan was certain he would have nothing to do with them. They had stolen his former Padawan and best friend. And while Jedi were not about revenge, he didn't have to like or trust them.

There's something there, definitely. It makes Cal wonder what sort of experience Obi-Wan has had with Sith, but he doesn't ask. He doesn't feel it's his place to do so anyway. But to hear that Sith were behind everything that had happened makes him uneasy, and the confusion of how such could happen without them being aware of it is evident on his face.

"...so everyone was being used after all." It makes him feel no better, and there's still nothing to be done about what's already happened. He shakes his head, reaching out to pat BD-1 when the droid beeps sadly at them.

"There's an ARC Trooper here," the padawan says after a moment, glancing up again. "He's from even earlier than we are. It was still difficult confronting him, but I felt like I had to. He's been updated on what's happened." He hesitates. "His name's Echo. ARC-Fourteen-Oh-Nine."

He has quite a history with them. Obi-Wan had become famous among his peers as being the first Jedi to battle and defeat a Sith in thousands of years. Fame which he could have done without since it had cost the life of his own master. There was certainly a lot to tell, but not now. Perhaps one day when they were both ready for it.

“Yes,” he confirms with a soft sorrow. “They fooled even the best of us, and I am sorry we did not catch it in time.” They as a council had failed the Order, and Obi-Wan had failed in more than that regard. He’d had his suspicions, not never had he imagined it would come to this.

Though as Cal mentions the clone that Jon had already made him aware of, the Jedi Master’s eyes widened slightly. “Echo? ... I know him. He was part of the 501st, Anakin Skywalker’s battalion.”

What's he supposed to say to that? It seems hardly fair to blame anyone, and Cal would much rather have everything back the way it had been. Besides, he knows he's got plenty of his own regrets. He still feels he's a failure of a Jedi. Perhaps they wouldn't have turned the tide of what had happened, but maybe...at least there would be one more Jedi yet alive. He sighs. That path of guilt is a well-worn one too easily revisited. Instead he grasps for the switch of subject.

"That would explain the colors." Cal nods. "He's around. Helped me out not too long ago. It was...just like old times." He laughs weakly at that. It still aches, thinking about how easily those troops he had gotten along with aboard the ship had turned. No question, no warning. Still, he'd felt that they'd been victims as well, used just as much as everyone else. "Jon and I were trying to figure out what might have triggered them to turn on us."

Obi-Wan gave Cal an equally weak smile, for he knew exactly what he meant. The clones had been their allies, but they had also been friends. So eager and willing to follow them into battle, loyal and rarely complaining. That is until everything had suddenly changed. He had trusted his troops with his life, then they had wanted to take it.

The smile fades in the next moment though and Obi-Wan turns his gaze in another direction. Staring distantly at nothing in particular. “Yes, so he told me.” There was a moment of hesitation, wondering if there would be any good of mentioning what he knew. Yet would it be right to keep it from them?

“I know what caused it.”

That certainly gets Cal's attention. It's his turn to stare, eyes widening at that reply.

"You do?" he asks, and even BD-1 swivels his rectangular head to look at Obi-Wan, his borble echoing the padawan's question. "What is it? Would..." He hates to ask it. "...would he be a threat to us?" The last thing he wants is to have a new friend turned against them and without his knowing why.

As the questions start coming, Obi-Wan turns his gaze back to Cal. His expression solemn but serious as he tilts his head in a half nod. Then he lifted his hand and pointed at his head.

“It’s up here. A chip implanted in his brain. In all of them.”

He hadn’t wanted to speak of it to Jon, but knowing Cal was a Jedi, he trusted him with the information. It had taken some time and reflection, but Obi-Wan had figured it out.

“He could be, yes. Should it be triggered or malfunction.”

The revelation makes him wonder if that had been something picked up by the medical scans they'd done aboard the Agrii's ship. Still, the thought makes his stomach turn, and he's not sure how to label what he feels then, so much of a mix as it is.

"...they had no choice," he says quietly. They'd been engineered from the start, and given this new perspective that Sith had orchestrated the war, it's sickening to think that the troops who had been made to fight alongside them were essentially meant to kill them all. Cal closes his eyes as he lowers his head.

BD-1 hoots his concern, especially at Obi-Wan's confirmation that the possibility of that chip being activated is still there.

"BeeDee's right. We have to help him."

Breathing out a sigh, Obi-Wan nodded in agreement that the clones had no choice. It was true, and it had been hard. He had killed some of them in order to get into the Temple. It hadn’t been their fault but there hadn’t been a choice.

The declaration that something needed to be done though made the Jedi pause with uncertainty. “That would be difficult, especially in the situation we find ourselves in.” Which was a bit of an understatement.

“I was briefed on the chips, and could likely find it. However, unless there is someone here trained in brain surgery, I’m not certain how we could remove it safely.”

He doesn't want to have to go through that again. He and his master had had to escape their own troops, and Tapal had struck down many who had suddenly and without offering explanation turned their blasters upon them. They'd killed his master. They almost killed him too.

Obi-Wan's caution is understandable as much as it's disappointing to hear that uncertainty. Cal holds back another sigh, running his hands across his face. He hadn't expected it to be easy. But he doesn't think it should be impossible either.

"...we'll figure something out." He hopes they can. They have to. "But in the meantime we need to at least tell Echo." It's his head, after all.

Obi-Wan is right there with Cal. He doesn't want to go through that again either. There had been no warning whatsoever. One moment his commander was passing him his lightsaber, the next he was having him shot down. He had lost a lot as well.

"Yes, you're right. He should certainly know. Can you... take me to him?" Even then he sounds reluctant to meet a clone. It wasn't an entirely rational thing, and he knew it. If Cal trusted him it should be fine, and yet, being in the presence of a clone was not the easiest thing for him now.

If anyone can relate, it's certainly Cal. He'd had his own anxiety about hearing there was a clone present, but given how few the number of those gathered to Temba are, he decided it was best not to put it off.

The padawan nods. "Yeah. I can do that." The look he gives Obi-Wan is pure understanding. "Want me to contact him now, or do you want some time?"

A Jedi should not have anxiety. It was fear. Fear which could lead one down a dark path. Yet, even Obi-Wan had not survived the purge without being marred. It left him with struggles that he endeavored to keep under the surface. Especially now that he was no longer in total seclusion. Seeing a clone would be facing some of those struggles.

He appreciates Cal’s thoughtful question. Knowing well that there would be no one here who would understand better. Yet, hesitation was not an option.

“I believe the sooner the better. Thanks to you, and your friend Jon, I am as prepared as I’m going to be.” Having had a few moments of meditation before Cal arrived had helped as well.

Fear's another thing Cal's had to deal with altogether. His fear stems from failure, the guilt and regret of not being able to do more when his master had needed him to. Such is his belief, and still something he struggles with.

It's ironically from a clone that Cal has started to work at that struggle, and the clone in question is the very one that he taps about his tablet to find the correct contact information. "Jon had told me about when Echo had arrived as well," he says with a crooked smile. "I guess he remembered... Well, there was a strange incident some time ago. We were in each other's heads, witnessed past events, some...better than others."

Shaking his head, he begins to type out his message. "So Jon was looking out for me. Has been." He'd even been cautious about notifying Cal when a Ben Kenobi had appeared, after all.

Obi-Wan meanwhile has seen what fear can do. Even to the best of Jedi. It was something he could not allow himself, and yet he was still human. His feelings regarding what had happened only a month ago for him, is something he has only begun to touch on, and without the ability to rely on anyone. So hearing that Cal has had the support he needs brings a small smile to his face.

“Yes, I could tell. It is a good thing to have such allies and friends.”

He could not blame Jon one bit for being protective over the Padawan. Obi-Wan is certain he would be much the same. Such experiences are even harder for the young.

“Have they all treated you as well?”

His smile is easier at that, more genuine as he nods then. "Yeah. It's...been a while. One of the nice things about here." He'd made little friends on Bracca, and the only one he could truly call such was gone, in a way because of him. It's another sacrifice Cal won't let go to waste.

"The people here have been good. No one that I've come across has tried to cause any trouble, and everyone looks out for each other. I guess it also helps that we mostly have a common interest in trying to figure out things around here too."

When his tablet pings, Cal looks back at it and taps out a reply. "He says he's not busy. We can meet him by the hotel. It's back that way."

"I'm glad to hear that. Nothing hurts one's survival more than animosity with those around them." If they were going to get through this, everyone needed to work together. So it's good to know that the others here already have come to that conclusion.

Hearing that Echo is willing to meet with them though, Obi-Wan nods. The Jedi mentally preparing himself for the encounter and straightening up. "All right, lead the way my young friend."

Getting to his feet, Cal stretches an arm out towards BD-1, the little droid hopping up to pick his way back up to his customary place behind the padawan. After tucking away his communicator, he nods at Obi-Wan.

"Let's get going then." He looks around briefly to get himself situated, then points off in the direction they're going to be headed. "It'll be back that way," he says as he begins to lead on.

Rising to his feet, the Jedi shakes out his cloak and then folds his hands before following after Cal and his little droid friend. Trying to sort out his thoughts as he went while not allowing things to lapse into total silence between them.

"How long have you been here, exactly? From what I can tell, others have been here for quite some time."

It will be a short while before the party of two (or three, counting BD-1) is joined by one more.

Habits remain and Echo walks the path away from the abandoned Target, slipping the communication device back into one of his pouches so that he doesn't keep Cal and whoever else is in his company waiting.

That's the thing, though. Who is the person who wants to meet him?

Under the helmet, his brow knits as he goes through several possibilities. Yet he does his best not to keep his hopes up. Each step still has a purpose, however, and his eventual arrival will be apparent once he gets to the hotel.

"Not as long as some. It's kind of hard to keep track though. The day cycles here are longer. Still, I'd say at least several months," Cal says as he walks. Behind him BD-1 glances every now and then at the Jedi following them, sometimes dangling off of one of the padawan's harness straps by a foot. "For some who've been here, it's not their first experience being brought in from the world they know."

The walk isn't too long but it is slightly winding for the buildings and ruins they have to make their way around before they finally reach the next main street that passes between. Cal points out the hotel itself once it's in clearer view.

"There's plenty of serviceable rooms to stay in, here. You can always find another place later on too. I've made something of a salvage and repair place in the northwestern quarter of the city."

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