Jedi Expedition: Part 1 - The Hoth Adventure

So far things had not gone well, Rep Gordon had been able to secure the original base camp without incident, but they also found multiple trails heading away from the camp. A few of the trails went to some ice caves, a series of tunnels etched into the ice by combination's of cracking ice, wind erosion, and ice flows. But more shocking were the trails that led to the ancient ruins.

While most of the Jedi in Gordon's party felt the ruins held the key to the mystery of the first landing party's whereabouts, Nykon was convinced the caves were the priority. Rep's trust in his old friend was what lead them all to the place they were now. Deep in the ice, with the party scattered.

How did this happen? Nykon considered to himself. Who else could he talk to? He wasn't about to bring up these questions to Rep in front of the rest of the Jedi. Once more he found himself alone.

A sudden feeling of nausea rolling over all the Force sensitives in their group. Then came the roars, they seemed to come from everywhere and no where at once. Many of the younger Jedi seemed to snap, as though they lost all their composure, breaking rank they fled back the way they came.

The first Knight out of the chamber immediately sailed back in, only when he struck the ground his head kept going, leaving a spray of blood connecting his head to his body in a painted line. Gordon called out to the rest of the party. "We're under attack! Form up and assemble in the center of the chamber!"

Nykon shook his head, many of the younger Knights and Padawans didn't even hear Gordon's orders, they continued to scatter as the roars grew closer.

And then the beasts were on them, the attack was from almost every direction at once, Nykon recognized them immediately as Wampas. But there was something dark about these creatures, unlike the captive Wampas he'd seen in zoos along his travels. These Wampas seemed caught up in a blood lust, lashing at anything in their reach. Driven in a blind rage attacking everything even themselves if too close.

Lightsabers ignited all around the chamber, but many went out just as quickly as they lit up. Nykon reached up to his shoulder and unfastened his twin saber hilts. Igniting the blades he cast a dark silver-blue light across his features. Not hesitating he charged into the carnage.

Blades blurring, Rep Gordon, and Nykon Graves carved their way to the main part of the fray. The Wampas seemed to have no end to their numbers. Strange, Nykon thought, Wampas are typically loners or run in small packs. What's come over these creatures?

Before he could finish his ponder he saw Gordon go down with two of the savage beats on his back.

Before Nykon had a chance to spring to his friends aide, Rep's body flew to the top of the chamber carrying both creatures with it. Before the creatures knew what was going on, Rep managed to spin and continue his telekinetic 'push' against the Wampas. Now instead of pushing himself and the Wampas up, he pushed them up, and his own body back towards the cave floor. He hit the floor moments after the two Wampas split the ice with their bodies.

The last thing Nykon had seen of Rep and the rest of the Jedi, was Rep flipping up to his feet just as a ton of ice came crashing down, collapsing the chamber behind a wall of ice.

Graves didn't have time to think, he found himself cut off from the rest of the group, but not from all the Wampas. Who knew how many Wampas were on Rep's side of the wall? Nykon counted at least six with him.

Time to go to work, Nykon thought as he brought the hilts of his blades together and twisted, locking them together as a staff. The now double bladed saber made a wall of dark blue-silver light he was spinning it so fast. He went through his weapons master stances, and fell into his dance, he let the Force guide his body, become his body. Time slowed to a stand still, but Nykon wasn't aware of it, all he was aware of was the dance, him, the Force, and Hoth in all its glory. He poured himself in every direction as fast as he could, coming at the beasts from every direction himself.

Only he could now see that there was a stain on these creatures.

Some dark mark that was like a proof of their evil. He brought an end to these dark monsters one at a time with the light of his blades. When it was over he stood alone with the sound of his blades crackling in the corridor, and the crunch of ice under his feet as he moved from body to body making sure the creature were down.

He deactivated his blades and dropped to his knees feeling as though he had spent all his energy. Well he had. He had drawn hard on the Force, he had let the dance become everything, he had to, anything less was death. And how would his death serve the light here now? No something was happening on this planet and Nykon intended to get to the bottom of it. But before he could he had to replenish himself. He remained on his knees and drew on the Force sending himself into a healing trance to rejuvenate his body.

He had a feeling he would need all his strength to see this day through.
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-Bring on your thousands, one at a time or all in a rush. I don't give a damn. None shall pass.
-
-To become a Jedi, it is not the Force one must learn to control but oneself.
-
-Podcasts: Star Wars Beyond the Films, The Star Wars Report, & EUCast

"Do you hear that?" Truger looked back at Will, the two parties having joined back at the big ice chamber what seemed hours ago.

"Sounds like a cave in..."

Truger watched as Will stretched out his Force senses toward the noise.

"There are Jedi back there, perhaps a search party...I feel...conflict. I think they came across more of the dark wampas."

Truger wondered whether they should head back or carry on. Now that they were this far into the cave system, the ice walls had turned into carved stone, covered in ancient writing. Reaching out to the Force, Truger felt they should double back. If there was anyway that they could help, then it was their duty that they try.

"Let's head back to the chamber."

Will nodded, and the group turned around. Having already been this way once before, it took relatively little time to make their way back. But before they reached the ice chamber, they came across Nykon.
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Nykon Graves felt presences draw near in the Force, and pulled himself back to his present. Like dropping into clear waters his senses snapped back to the moment and took in everything. He remained seated as he allowed his Force senses to take in the ice floor and walls, and to the two Jedi who had entered this part of the cavern system awaking him from his healing trance.

His senses and training told him that the slightly shorter of the two was a marksman, his hands had the wear marks along the trigger knuckles, a tell tale sign of a true marksman.

The other Jedi Nykon had glimpsed wearing Enchani armor beneath his snow gear. The two had the look of members of the landing party gone missing. As well as Jedi who had seen something of the Galaxy. Nykon knew he's like them on sight.

Opening both eyes now as the two paced closer, Nykon used the Force to project his voice to their ears so as not to draw more of the dark wampas to their position.

"Greetings young ones," Nykon said lips barley moving past his smile, the Force carrying his whisper. He suddenly stood in a fluid motion and walked up to the two Jedi Knights extending his arm in greeting.
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-Bring on your thousands, one at a time or all in a rush. I don't give a damn. None shall pass.
-
-To become a Jedi, it is not the Force one must learn to control but oneself.
-
-Podcasts: Star Wars Beyond the Films, The Star Wars Report, & EUCast

Will had been relieved to see that the landing party's medic had survived with Truger's group and had give Padawan Sato over to the medic's care. With the wounded being properly cared for and nerves were calming down there was far less background static in the Force and Will had been able to finally start getting his bearings to create a mental map of the immediate tunnel system.

A minute before reaching Nykon's location Will could feel a presence in the Force, though the being clearly didn't want to broadcast its presence to every being on Hoth. While it seemed more light than dark, and more importantly, didn't seem to be trying to fully hide its presence from him, Will was nevertheless on guard and instinctively began masking his own presence in the Force until he heard Nykon's greetings. Greetings Master, you hide your presence well. Will returned through the Force, moving his hands away from his saber hilts and slowly returning his presence in the Force to normal.

"You've found what remains of the landing party, though I'm afraid the bean counters on Coruscant wouldn't find any comfort in your news given the amount of equipment that has been lost." Will whispered as Nykon stepped from his dark corner of the tunnel to join the group.
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Nykon held his smile in check, "I wish we had better news myself, unfortunately the situation is not so great for the 'rescue party' either. It appears they are now in need of rescue also. Whatever has twisted these wampas, it has turned them dark, savage. There is a definite stain on their Force imprint.

"Agreed Master...?" The slightly taller one with the brown hair and goatee said raising his voice a little more.

"Graves, Nykon Graves." the elder Jedi said. "I'd came with Rep Gordon, the rest of our group is on the other side of that wall." He gestured at the ice barricade from the ceiling collapse. "From what I can tell it appears the cave in drove the wampas back. Why don't you catch me up real quick while we have a moment."

Nykon leaned back against the wall as the shorter man crouched down. The brown haired Jedi began bringing him up to speed.
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-Bring on your thousands, one at a time or all in a rush. I don't give a damn. None shall pass.
-
-To become a Jedi, it is not the Force one must learn to control but oneself.
-
-Podcasts: Star Wars Beyond the Films, The Star Wars Report, & EUCast

Jayda felt the Jedi presence beginning to separate into several presences. She steered the Shadow Breaker toward the Jedi and decreased her speed, focusing. Yes, right about here. She brought the ship around and quickly did a sensor scan, checking for solid ground beneath the ship. The last thing she needed was to break through a layer of ice into a semi-frozen lake. That would end her day on just the right note. Her eyebrows dipped in annoyance at the thought. With her luck, that's exactly what would happen. But the sensors showed good solid ground, and she proceeded to let the ship down.

Donning her helmet, which had been seated beside her in the copilot's chair, she locked it into place. With her Mandalorian armor, she had no need of cold weather gear. Her suit had a built-in heater that would protect her even in these temperatures. That left her free to carry more gear, namely explosives. Her favorite. She hurried to the cargo compartment to stock up on ammo and explosives. She also grabbed a pack and began stuffing it with provisions. She tried not to move too quickly, attempting to gather the necessities, but time was of the essence. Satisfied, she dashed to the ship's ramp and descended into the blowing snow. Thankfully the weather wasn't so bad at the moment, but she was pretty sure it was going to get worse before it got better.

Sealing the ship behind her, Jayda took a moment to center herself in the Force and reach out for the Jedi presences she'd felt earlier. Odd...they felt like they were straight ahead, but...beneath the planet's surface. With a little shrug she moved forward. Her helmet was having trouble keeping its visor clear of the snow, and it was difficult to see where she was going. She had thought the built-in infrared sensor would work wonderfully on an ice planet, honing in only on live creatures, but she must still be too far away. After a few moment's travel, she finally stumbled, more by accident than purpose, into what appeared to be a cave. Or rather, the opening to a cave. This appeared to be a sentry post of some kind, a seat carved into the ice wall. The landing party had most certainly been here, and recently. Cautiously, she advanced around the corner and peered into the interior of the cave itself. With a sharp intake of breath, she took in the sight before her. Bodies lay strewn about the cavern, both those of Jedi and those of what appeared to be Wampas. She had read up on Wampas on the initial trip to Hoth. As far as she knew, they weren't blood-thirsty creatures. They were predatory like most, protecting their territory and hunting for food. But massacring several JedI? It seemed out of character for the creatures she'd studied.

She knelt beside the bodies of the Jedi and closed her eyes briefly, in honor of those slain here. She committed their spirits to the Force, then rose. A battle had taken place here, but not a planned one. This had been quick and dirty. She glanced at the jagged holes in the cavern walls, created by Jedi and Wampa alike as they crashed through the ice. Taking a deep breath, she settled herself into the Force and stretched out, feeling several Jedi presences, all in different directions. Some were angry, some were scared, some were determined, but most were hurt in one way or another. Glancing once more around the blood-washed cavern, Jayda nodded a final farewall to the fallen before setting off for the closest presence.
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"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

"...well that about sums it up." Will finished.

Truger was staring at the wall of ice. "I don't see how we can get through it. It would take hours to melt through it with lightsabers, and moving it with the Force would be to unstable...we could collapse more of the cave." He let out a long breath. "Besides, I feel whatever battle was happening on the other side has subsided." Open to the Force, he could sense the dark ripple of the wampas as they were withdrawing away.

More secret tunnels.

There was still life on the other side though, the familiar touch of Jedi.

Truger turned to the others. "Any ideas?"
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Truger let the question hang in silence for a moment.

"Someone's got to have an idea?" He said looking from Will to Nykon, "I mean we can't quite go back to the rest of our group with nothing."

"Well no one said 'nothing' was our plan Truger," Will said looking at the ice barrier, "I'm still thinking. But I agree we can't go back to the rest of our party with Nykon here and news that the rescue party is lost. We need a plan."

Nykon cleared his throat and stood to his full height. "If I may?"

The two Jedi Knights both made gestures of acceptance.

"Go on," said Truger.

"Please," said Will.

"Well if I was wanting to start anywhere it would be to gather everyone, tell them the situation, no matter how grim. Set your more talented telekinesis users in the group to finding weak points in that wall." He gestured to the fallen ice once more. "See if we can get through the barrier with use of the Force, the advantage here is that it will also keep the group busy while we explore that."

He pointed behind Truger and Will to the dark corner of the corridor, where the ice had broke free from the ceiling, huge rents were made in the ice wall across from the collapse. The unearthed stone behind the ice held more of the carvings that Will and Truger had noticed before.

"Woah" Will said, as Truger just whistled.

"I believe we might be able to find an alternative route to the rescue party through those ruins."
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-Bring on your thousands, one at a time or all in a rush. I don't give a damn. None shall pass.
-
-To become a Jedi, it is not the Force one must learn to control but oneself.
-
-Podcasts: Star Wars Beyond the Films, The Star Wars Report, & EUCast

After a brief discussion with the survivors Will and Truger returned to Nykon "As you suggested I've placed the most skilled telekinesis users to attempting to move the wall. The rest of the group is settling in far enough away that they won't be in danger should any attempts to move the ice cause another cave in. I've also asked the medic and while its not a sure bet it is possible that the life scanners in our med packs might be able to pick up any life readings on the other side of the ice or if anything starts coming down the tunnel. The medic and our Padawans are going to be busy setting them up and monitoring them" Truger reported and turned to Will.

"If those dark wampas try to ambush us through the walls or sneak up the tunnel those scanners might be our only chance of an advanced warning. Whatever has tainted them might have given them latent Force abilities, among which might be an ability to decrease their presence in the Force. That would explain how both the landing and rescue parties could have been ambushed so effectively and at least with one of the dark wampas I've seen was much more agile than what is typically possible in those creatures. I've also assigned Gnasp, that is Knight Al’adar, to assemble the few Knights who are experts in saber combat to guard the tunnel path leading up. With our backs to that ice cave in at least we know the most likely route any attack will come."

A howl echoed down the tunnel causing everyone to look down the tunnel, half expecting to see it filled with dark wampas. We can only hope that the dark wampas have had their fill of Jedi long enough for us to escape. Will thought.

"Well no time like the present to see if we can invent new ways for Jedi to die that don't involve a Sith's lightsaber." Will said lightly to Truger and Nykon, motioning with his left hand towards the gloom of the tunnel.
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Lightsaber in hand, Jayda advanced around a corner and came face to face with a rather impressive cave-in. Something had caused the ceiling to collapse quite completely, sealing this particular tunnel off from itself. However, she sensed Jedi on the other side. Switching on her infrared sensors, she detected several beings on the other side of the cave-in. She paused for a moment, trying to decide how to proceed. Quickly, she decided contact with those on the other side of the wall was best. Using her helmet's built-in amplification system, while also adding a touch of the Force to back it up, she projected her voice toward the wall of ice before her. "Hey! Jedi Knight Jayda Kha'dar here! Are you part of the initial landing party? What's the status of your group?" She cocked her head, listening for a response.
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"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Truger heard a muffled sound from one of the walls that oddly reverberated in the Force. It was almost like conversing with a drunk Ithorian. However, what was really strange was that the sound did not come from the other side where all the Jedi were trapped, but from yet another wall.

Perhaps the cave in cut off another section of the room.

Nykon and Will were already approaching the wall and the muffled, Force amplified voice.

"Hey...you know...that sounds like Jayda."

Will looked back. "But Jayda went back to Coruscant."

Just barely, they heard her repeat "...Jayda Kha'dar..."

In unison, "It is Jayda." Will and Truger looked at each other with a smile.

Nykon frowned. "Whose Jayda?"

"She was originally a member of our space mission, but she was recalled to Coruscant. It seems she has returned." Judging from the looks of it, this wall of rubble was much thinner than the others. "Let's see if we can't move this ice."

Together the three Jedi nudged, tugged, pulled, and lifted the chunks of ice, carefully avoiding a greater cave in. Before too long, they had created a whole, and Jayda took the opportunity to jump through.

"What took you so long?" She smiled and laughed.

"We stopped for caf. Trade union rules, you know." Truger flashed a grin.

Will stepped forward. "On a more serious note, most of our Jedi expedition team is trapped behind that wall. They're working on it now to try and get through, but that's not even the bad part: there's dark side wampas roaming around and we think they might be able to hide their presence."

"The good news is that we've found the beginnings of the ruins." Nykon pointed toward the tunnel. "That's where we were heading. Are we ready?"

Everyone nodded. Truger and Will filled Jayda in on other details as they entered the tunnels. Nykon also filled them in on his story. It wasn't long though before the ruins took on a change.

"What's that in the wall?"

Will took a closer look. "It's metal."

Along what was a stone wall stuck in the ice, there was now a slightly rounded patch of slightly scarred metal. In fact, it looked like it had broken through the stone wall.

"Hmph." Truger grunted, unable to figure out the change.

Regardless, they continued on. Interestingly, more and more of the tunnel seemed to be damaged, odd stones here and there fallen out of place.

Damage from the cave in perhaps.
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Ruins indeed Will thought as he looked at the collapsed portions of the walls. Though by the looks of it these weren't caused by careless demolition or explosives in combat. Yet not all of the collapsed sections look like they were caused by weight from the outside. Strange. It was then that he noticed a small section of the wall where some of the runes were well preserved. Motioning to the others Will ignited his short saber to get a little more light and kneeled to examin the runes more closely.

Well the characters are the same as the runes we saw earlier. The style is slightly different though, maybe a different scribe wrote this section. It doesn't look functionally different so it all probably dates to around the same time period. A lot of good that does though since by the looks of things the writers never got to the Core in time to write a holobook with full translations for us. Will stated with slight disappointment. Resting back on his heels Will continued looking at the runes Despite the age of the runes I can't help but feel that I've seen similar writing before. But then how come I can't even place the species that writes like that?

Jayda kneeled down, running her finger through the groves cut in the stone to form each rune Its so smooth, not a single one has a bump or flaw in the cut. That's nearly impossible to do without very high tech carving equipment or a...lightsaber She looked at Will and Truger, a reason for why the text might be unreadable dawning on them. Standing up they backed away from the runes, which now no longer looked flowing and elegant as they had first appeared to Will and had now taken on a sharp malevolent appearance.
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Nykon Graves looked at this 'Jayda' as she made her examination of the wall. She was a strange case indeed. She was clearly Mandalorian, from her armor Nykon recognized her immediately, well with the Mando'ade Graves knew that anyone could be beneath the armor. Perhaps he was mistaken, the color patterns were all right, but the Mando he knew of was a man. Proving that she couldn't be Vizla.

And then there was her presence in the Force, she blazed brightly a fiery golden red, and when she was serious her presence mimicked her change in temperament and would become a cool blue. It was strange, and the fact that a Mandalorian would be working with the Jedi threw him completely.

What was the council thinking?

Did they not understand how the Mandalorians operated? That Jayda was as Mandalorian as she would be Jedi.

He'd have to watch her closely. The fact that Truger and Will trusted her so profoundly spoke volumes about her character. But Nykon had been on the fringes for too long, he'd grown paranoid about too many things.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

The Ruins clearly had something to do with the Sith. If not directly then perhaps indirectly though a wanna be, some Sith pretenders. No, looking again at the detailed carvings it was clear these had to be Sith. There was a love to each stroke and the lines were flawless.

Only a Jedi could be so precise. A Jedi, or a Sith.

And this place reeked of the Dark Side.

The Wamps started to make sense to Nykon now. He moved ahead of the group then reached out an arm bringing the group to a halt.

"I need to go deeper into these ruins, I think what ever has shaped these Wampas into the monsters they are today has something to do with these ruins. Can you feel the dark well below us?" He gestured to the left and down towards the cave floor.

Will replied, "Yes, I can feel it too, like a black whole pulling at me."

Jayda raised her forearm and moved it along the wall, "He's right I read a large opening not far that direction. Perhaps two clicks most, but there are a number of body signatures in there too. I have no way of knowing how many though until we get closer."

Nykon knelt down in front of the group. A sparkle seemed to catch his eye, "So how should we do this?" he asked
_________________

-Bring on your thousands, one at a time or all in a rush. I don't give a damn. None shall pass.
-
-To become a Jedi, it is not the Force one must learn to control but oneself.
-
-Podcasts: Star Wars Beyond the Films, The Star Wars Report, & EUCast

Well we can't go in spacer-style with blasters blazing. The dark wampas have captured at least a few Jedi so we have to assume that we have a hostage situation on our hands. So no lethal explosives either, but if you brought any flash-bangs with you Jayda we could use those to disorient any dark wampas guarding the hostages. We also need to sync comms so that we can maintain our coordination if for some reason we are unable to do so using the Force. Will paused and looked at each of the group in turn before continuing

I know it is breaking with the code but our only real option is to strike first and use lethal force. We can't allow any dark wampas raise the alarm, we risk the lives of any hostages in the ruins if we do. To that end I recommend limiting our weapons knives, the Force, or any other quiet methods of attack at your disposal when initiating combat to minimize giving ourselves away. Lightsabers only after combat has been initiated and stealth is no longer a concern. I served as a scout in the Jedi Commandos so I'll take that role stay ahead of everyone by 30 meters as we move down the tunnel. We can plan a more detailed attack once we know precisely how many and where each dark wampa is in the group as well as the location of any hostages.
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Truger nodded and listened to Will and Nykon. He didn't much like the idea of having to be stealthy, using his blaster was more to his liking, but it would give him an opportunity to put his knife throwing skills to the test. Taking down a wampa with one clean shot was going to be difficult.

Reaching out with the Force, he could feel the dark tingle of power down in the caves. It's feeling in the Force was like the sour sweet smell of refuse.

"Well lets do it. Waiting around isn't going to make it any better." He pulled his throwing knife from its sheath and twirled it through his fingers, not so much to show off, but to burn some anxiety.
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