NationStates Jolt Archive

"... After getting the ship repaired and giving those who repaired it the information they wanted, we took a course that took us to the third planet of the system. Even when our instruments were severely damaged, they indicated that the planet had the largest concentration of lifeforms within this system. When they were repaired...

Let me say this... The readings we got from the planet caught us completely offguard. It seemed massive. Yet its gravitational pull was oddly weak, at least for a planet of its size. It seemed to be able to sustain immense amounts of lifeforms with weird ease. Nothing in the databanks of the Majestic could even try to match it. It seemed impossible... But yet it was there. Yes, it seemed like a perfect place to begin in.

Now, we are in orbit of the planet, searching tirelessly for a place that would not be inhabited. Well, at least by the sentients that crawl upon it. It is odd, but the great majority of them seem... Human. It seems that on certain types of planets, primates thrive, creating species oddly similar to each other.

An island would do. That is all we need."

"... We were able to find an island on the planet. An island that was uninhabited, and far enough from those that could meddle with our affairs. The first transportations by the few remaining shuttles we still have were made several hours ago. One of the other Masters, Master Terkel I think, went there with a group of apprentices and... What were they called? "Stormtroopers"? Yes, I think that was what they were.

I was told that the island has... Ruins within it. Of some ancient, fallen civilization, perhaps? Some apprentices are going through them as I am making this entry, hoping to find anything of value and to rid it of any beasts that might lurk within them, as they strive to become true Dark Jedi. Could we find something of use on this strange planet? Nevertheless, the ruins can be used to establish the Academy, as we agreed with the rest of the Masters. New blood is needed if we are to survive."


The Master raised his eyes from the datapad, and looked out of the windows of the bridge that were before him. All was calm... For now. He could see many ships in front of him, in the distance, but none of them were making any hostile moves. No one had made any overt actions against them, which was always a good sign. The Force had served them well.

The Imperial Star Destroyer just sat there, in orbit of Earth, fixing its position constantly so it would not stray away from the island.

(OOC: I will control this, to a point. Please TG me if you're going to do something that would affect them before actually *posting* something. Saying that you're looking at the ship or sending something to investigate it that doesn't require much reaction from me is A-OK without telegramming anything.

And yes, there's some of that fluid time stuff involved. I grew somewhat impatient and wanted to continue on while waiting for Rhinara, so I'm just assuming that everything went as planned. Click here (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=344434) for the thread where the ship gets its important bits repaired.)

"... Odd reports have started coming from the surface. There were the usual killings of local beasts, which was normal enough, yes... But finding a small number of oddly well preserved, although still broken lightsabers was not what we expected. The crystals in them shall be, apparently, awarded to the apprentices who found them later on.

No skeletal corpses were found. It was concluded that they were taken by the local beasts or... Maybe anyone who was there left that place still alive. Or maybe they were buried somewhere, we have not dug too deep as of yet.

But oddly enough, that was not all. They also found several datapads which, unfortunately, are not working. As far as I can tell, they are now within this ship, and those engineer-types who know something about those things are working on them. I am not too optimistic about them ever getting those things to work."

"... The ruins seem to be secure now, and they are beginning to place equipment within them. It is unknown of what origin the ruins are, that is one of the things that require more research, but the finding of the lightsabers and of the datapads would suggest that it was, at some point, used by Force users. It is almost impossible for the moment to say whether they were just visiting the place or were the ones that built those ruins. It should not take all that long until we can resume training our apprentices."

The Master again raised his head from his personal datapad. There wasn't much else to do, he was the "captain" of the ship and was to stay on it while almost all of the other Dark Jedi were on the ground. He was sitting on some chair he had brought to the bridge from somewhere. No one had objected, he was a Dark Jedi Master after all. Not many would dare to whine about such petty things.

Standing all the time gets... Tiresome, after you've done it for long enough.

"The training facilities seem to be coming along just fine, although I heard they're forced to make some... Adjustments due to the surroundings, which of course was to be expected. But it shouldn't take all that long until everything is ready. I just hope those incompetents really explored the area thoroughly enough, the last thing we need now is some wildcard that'll halt our progress. But other than that, soon training the apprentices shall become much less arduous than it has been for generations. Training on a tranquil, controlled area like this ship is always worse than on land that is somewhat dynamic.

I was told that they captured some of the more predatory local fauna for purposes of training, which was a good idea. As far as I can tell, they already 'tamed' the ones they will use with the Force, so the apprentices don't accidentally get themselves killed by those beasts. Always better to injure and kill beasts than those of our own, anyway. No matter how much I hate to admit it, but we need them in order to survive... There can be only so many of us, but we can have, in theory, an infinite number of those animals. I just hope they were smart enough to take both sexes. Never underestimate the power of stupidity.

All I can say that is we have had an oddly good start on this planet. But the fact that we found these ruins cannot be simply coincidence. There's something about them... But I can't really put my finger on what it is. I hope it won't backfire upon us."

"I just got an update on the attempts to retrieve whatever it was that was on those datapads the apprentices found on the planet. They have been able to get bits and pieces here and there, and it all seems quite promising. The current hypothesis is that they tell locations of ancient sites Force users have been in, which is information that would be of great value to us. I am beginning to think that us finding those ruins had more to do with our ability to use the Force than with the superior skills on finding places we can inhabit of our crew."

The Master sighed, and leaned backwards on his chair, making contact with the back of the chair. All he could do was make new entries to his log. He couldn't leave the bridge or anything, and nothing was happening. Absolutely nothing. He was looking up rather... Absentmindedly.

"The Majestic has reached Earth orbit and has already started sending scouting parties down."

"Any indications of what they are planning to do?"

"Aside from possibly staking claim on that land, no."

"They're of little threat to us at this point. If they try anything, we still have a massive advantage over them - especially with our knowledge of their ship. Keep an eye on them, though. Report if anything interesting occurs."

"Yes, sir."

(OOC: Sorry about the delay. RL catching up to me.)

"Interesting new twist in the data retrieval. It is becoming more and more apparent that three out of the five of them simply show locations of temples like this one, all around this galaxy. So, in theory, we could find more crystals for our lightsabers and datapads from those who were here before us. The fourth one tells about the history of those who were here, and it has been concluded that they were, in fact, Dark Jedi. What happened to them and why this temple is in ruins remains unknown.

But the fifth... The fifth datapad, as far as the engineers could tell us, has coordinates to ancient Sith ships, scattered around this galaxy much like those temples are. Considering how far they have come, they must be quite large. Unlike we did, they actually had a small fleet of ships as they came here. Too bad we would never have enough people to actually crew them. Maybe one of them, but not all of them. And first we would have to find out their coordinates, but it might be that we'll have to first find more temples to get their precise locations. It seems possible that the datapad is just simply too badly damaged.

Oh right, the preliminary analysis to discern the age of those datapads... Told that they are many millennia old. Apparently they were at least four thousand years old even at the time this ship left the Galaxy. It could be that back in those days, they used something that was... Even faster than Hyperspace. Who knows. Sith ships weren't kept around after the wars ended due to them being ships of the "Dark Side" or somesuch idiotic reason."

"Update on the progress of the Academy. It appears to be on schedule even if we did not have one, or at least I was not told of the existence of one. So did the Master on site tell me. Soon will the rest of the Masters - except me, of course - go there and continue training their lowly apprentices. Lucky for them that we are not Sith, or I would have struck them down years ago... How dare they assign me to do a job a non-Force user could do?!"

The Master was tapping his foot impatiently, while he looked around him, looking at his apprentices control the ship. This is no work for Dark Jedi...

The Master's mind was overflowing with hatred. He growled as he rose up from his chair, took it into his hands and threw it into the platform's floor, causing the chair to break.

"Come, my apprentices. We're leaving for the ruins. Go to the docking bays, I shall meet you there."

All the Dark Jedi in the bridge rose up and began to walk towards the exit from it. All but one, who stood next to his post, being kind of uncertain of what to do.

"... But what about our orders, Master?"

"TO HELL with the other Masters! We're going there no matter how much they object! It is our right as well as it is theirs to be there! Do as I tell you or I'll punish you, apprentice!"

"V-Very well, Master..."

The Master stood there, alone in the bridge now, as the last of his apprentices had left. There were too few Masters, they did not have the luxury of getting to teach only one apprentice at a time.

He took this time alone to calm himself down a bit, and to write to his datapad again.

"We're going to the planet now, me and my group of apprentices. I don't CARE what the others say. If they thought that I'd stay here much longer they're more foolish than I thought."

He walked out of the bridge. A group of people ran to him, non-Force users, all of them, all of them looking rather startled by this turn of events.

One of them spoke to the Master.

"What're you doing? Why are you all leaving the bridge?"

The Master seemed as calm as ever.

"Because I'm leaving it to you now. It's all yours."

The man was starting to show visible signs of frustration as the Master answered to him. It was apparent that he did not like this at all.

"Hey, that's unfair! Our shift was supposed to starts hours from now!"

The Master grinned, but no one saw it due to the black cloth that covered most of his face.

"Shut your mouth, fool. Or do you want me to do it for you?"

The man took a few steps backwards. His fear for what the Dark Jedi could do was far greater than his courage.

"Uh, of course we'll do what you say. Anything you say, Master Dark Jedi."

"Good, by all means, start your shift now if you want to," the Master said, and stepped out of the doorway.

Without saying a word anymore, the men rushed into the bridge and the door went shut. The Master laughed as he continued to walk further away from the bridge and towards the docking bays.

He had met his apprentices as they were getting close to the docking bays and had told them to follow him. There was just one problem in the picture. Master Yldarek had not taken into account that maybe some people were left there to load things into the shuttles as they came and went back to the planet.

And that was exactly the case. They ran to another Master with his apprentices. The apprentices were loading crates into the shuttles whilst the Master was... Overlooking their work. It did not take long for the Master to see Yldarek's group wandering around the docking bay. You could say that seeing them did not exactly please him. He walked to confront Yldarek.

"What the hell are you doing here?! Who's controlling the ship if you're here?!"

"Try to calm down, Master Dizorak. We changed shifts with the non-Force users and left them to worry about the ship. Can we... Help you, somehow?"

Master Dizorak growled. The other Master came just in time...

"Well... Actually, you could. We're running behind schedule, my apprentices are simply just too slow. Those fools thought they could disobey me, so I had to punish them. That just took too much precious time. So yes, you can help us. Just put those crates into the shuttles as they return."

"Very well, I'll tell my apprentices to help yours... If you'd excuse me..."

He walked to his apprentices, and spoke.

"There's a slight change in plans. It appears that we can't get to the surface quite yet, so you'll have to help Master Dizorak's apprentices to fill those shuttles up. I won't listen to any whining, so get to it."

He followed his apprentices, and watched that they actually did what they were told... Which they did. Excellent. They show the right kind of potential... Yldarek thought. Then he walked next to Dizorak, but they did not speak to each other.

It would take some more time to get to the planet for them, after all...

"... It is settled, then. The lower Dark Jedi shall explore this world for the benefit of our Order, not to mention that it is important for their training to see other places. Simply reveling in the Dark Side is not enough, and it shall do wonders to their creativity."

While the other Masters had not been too happy to see Yldarek disobeying the rest of them, being the lowest Master in the hierarchy after all, his presence would've been necessary to make this decision, so it did not matter all that much.

It had been decided that Dark Jedi and Dark Jedi Knights would be allowed to leave the Academy even alone if they wanted to, to explore the world at large. Apprentices would be allowed to do this in at least pairs, preferably with a higher ranking Dark Jedi with them, but even another apprentice would suffice. Unlike with the Jedi, this is not to ensure them from not straying from the path, but simply for their own continued survival. The Dark Side can intoxicate the unwary, and lead to his or her premature extermination.

If times were different, it would not matter whether the apprentices lived or not, but now... There are so few of them amongst the rest. Each and every apprentice is important.

But that is not required, not of the apprentices anyway. On the other hand, the full-fledged Dark Jedi are strongly suggested to do so. The Masters even came to the conclusion that they would themselves be allowed to go explore the world, but only when there are no apprentices in crucial stages of their training under them.

But after having that conversation, all of them returned to train their apprentices. Some in the ways of the lightsaber, some in the usage of the Force - how to wield it through hatred, such things. Except Yldarek, who was ordered to return back to the ship with his apprentices without seeing the ruins. He could see that the island was a lush one, and that the ruins did not look too much from the outside...

But that was all he saw for now, as he and his apprentices went back into the shuttle and waited for it to return to the ship.

"... And after a long and exhausting debate with the others, me and my apprentices returned to the ship, and are now back in the bridge. I still think it is our right to be there as much as it is theirs, but they see things... Differently. Not only do they think that they can order around other Masters, but they also seem to think that absolute secrecy is the key to our survival, whilst I think that only takes us to our doom. We NEED outsiders to augment our numbers if we are to survive.

In that way, the fact that they agreed to let the lesser ones to explore this world was a great victory for me, and apparently for at least one other Master, who just prefers staying silent unlike me. That is odd, though. What do those who remain silent think they can accomplish by being passive?! As far as I can tell, that is the way of the Jedi, not that of ours! We don't serve the Force, we use it for our own benefit! It is those fools who do so! Not us."

"... The datapads seem damaged even worse than first anticipated. Although it is obvious that most of them tell locations of temples, and that the one other tells of ship locations, our people have been able to only pinpoint on ONE temple accurately, and that is quite far from here. We'd first have to be 100% sure that it is the right place, and make arrangements so that the Academy would be fully self sufficient. Which, it will soon enough be. If we are to get those Sith weapons... We will have to do a lot of work to do it."

The Master looked around him. They were again in the bridge, and now he was sitting on the floor. He rose up and watched the expanse of space through the windows. Again. He put his datapad into one of his pockets, and sighed. He turned and looked at one of his apprentices on the consoles.

"What's the status?"

"The same as it was before, Master. Everything is working at 100% capacity."

The Master nodded and turned again to look the space.

To hell with it all...

Finally, the sun had set. The oppressive heat of the daytime sun on the vast ocean was amplified by the color of his scales: Charcoal black. Atlas Destrin was a Dark Argonian, one of three currently stranded in a small boat adrift in the seemingly endless expanses of some unknown ocean. The trio where assassins, like many of the Dark Argonians who left the Black Marsh.

Atlas' group was simply unfortunate. They'd done a small job on some corporate leader, funded by his own vice-president, then vanished into the night. Jekel, the other male of the group, had procured a small Kodiak raft for their aquatic escape. Unfortunately, a close encounter with a patrol boat had driven them far out to sea...

Atlas' attention began to wander, as did his eyes. They fell on something curious, his amplified vision enhancing the low levels of light. Land. The assassin leader shook Jekel awake, awakening Teltina, the female member of the group in the process. Jekel steered the small boat towards the small, distant island. Hopefully, then would reach it before the sun came up again. Atlas wasn't looking forward to another hot day, with less drinking water than the day before.

Silently, as the small motor pushed the raft towards the island, the group took a quick inventory of their equipment...

Atlas was armed with an MP5A4, with a single spare clip & detachable surperssor & mini-scope. In addition, he carried a SIG P228 .357 semi-automatic & a mini-Pentagon knife. He had four magazines for his sidearm.

Jekel carried an M4A1 Carbine, with two spare magazines & a removeable surpressor. His sidearm was a USP, chambered for a .40 caliber round. A small Gerber Survival/Explorer knife was sheathed on his right ankle. Jekel carried three spare magazines for his USP.

Teltina wielded a PSG-1 snipers' rifle, equipped with a surpressor & a thermal sight. A Glock 17 clung to her hip in a tactical holster. She carried no knife, but had two magazines for her rifle & three for her pistol.

The group was confident in their ability to deal with any threat. Little did they know what they would encounter on the island, or how powerless they would be against it...

Unlike, as said in the databanks of the Majestic, the Dark Jedi do not have "padawan learners" the Jedi have, only apprentices that are, when they are ready, initiated fully to the Order. There are only few ranks within the order of the Dark Jedi, those being the High Master - or Lord Master, as some prefer to call the one who holds this rank -, Master, Dark Jedi Knight, Dark Jedi and the apprentice. Although, the apprentices are not yet truly Dark Jedi.

--

It was night, and most of the Dark Jedi were either back at the ship, all the Masters preferred being there instead of the ruins, or sleeping within the ruins, what they had told the apprentices to do. But some others would not sleep at this time. Those would be the guards.

There were two Dark Jedi Knights there, ones that were truly members of the Order, guarding the very entrance to the ruins from any possible beasts that might hunt in the darkness of the night that the apprentices could be unable to defeat. If the apprentices would be caught offguard and killed, it would cause a dramatic drop in the numbers of the Order, so keeping them alive was paramount. It did not mean that the Dark Jedi ordered to guard them would like doing it, most of the time quite the opposite.

Although they would much prefer doing whatever they themselves would want, they still had some strange, corrupt respect for the Masters who they had challenged so many times to no avail. There is only one rank one can gain through besting the higher-up, and that was the rank of Master. That, or if the Master would die of natural causes, the Dark Jedi Knights would have to fight each other to gain the rank. There are rules for this that prevent random killings.

But these two, bored, as one would expect, were dueling with each other, trying to keep their lightsaber skills as high as possible. There, in the darkness, one could only see the red light emitted by the sabers, the sparkles they made as they hit each other, hear the sounds of lightsabers slashing through air, humming, causing crackling noises as they met each other.

But then they suddenly stopped their duel, shutting down their lightsabers. The surroundings became completely dark.

"Do you feel that?"

"Yes... I do. It is like... A faint wind..."

"Is this not something we should investigate?"

"Yes... We must go and see what it is."

The other one simply nodded, and the two began to walk towards the source of this... Minor disturbance.

This is a small island. It shouldn't take long to reach whatever it is that is causing this... Feeling.

The small Kodiak raft landed quietly on the beach, with Atlas & Jekel nimbly leaping off of the craft to either side, scanning the darkness while Teltina shut the engine down...

The trio dragged the raft into the dense underbrush of the island, covering it with leaf litter & branches to break up its outline.

Atlas took point, moving slowly forward, with Jekel with his M4 to his left & Teltina with her Glock drawn to Atlas' right. The assassin team moved in a small wedge formation, taught to them by the capable staff at the Mercenary Soldiers training grounds long ago.

Atlas brought his left hand up, clenching it into a fist. The group stopped. Atlas made a vertical, circular motion with his hand, then pointed left & right. Teltina nimbly scaled a small tree while Jekel concealed himself in the bushes. Atlas concealed himself opposite of Jekel, but covering a different sector so their fields of fire would no cross...

There was a slight rustle as Teltina unslung her PSG-1. There was something up ahead, Atlas' keen sense of smell had detected something unusual. While there was little ambient light for her slit-pupil eyes to enhance, Teltina engaged her thermal-sight attatchment...

The two Dark Jedi walked in the forest towards the source of the disturbance. They were not really trying to conceal themselves, as they thought that it would be nothing. Maybe some odd nocturnal animals were just hunting for their prey. Until...

They both stopped, as if something had suddenly struck them. One of the two went down to hide in the underbrush. Crouching, actually. Soon the other one followed.

The one who had crouched first whispered to the other.

"I sense them... A group of sentients. They do not seem too strong in the Force, they are evidently non-Force users, although..."

"There seems to be three or four of them. Should not be a problem if they wish to fight. They... Seem to be using very rudimentary tactics. I would guess that they do not live here. We have unwanted guests here."

"You are right... Let's get up and activate our lightsabers. I'll try to talk with them first... There's something odd about them..."

"Alright... And if they do anything suspicious, we will simply kill them."

The two got up, wielded their sabers and activated them. The red light illuminated the surroundings, and some of the foliage caught on fire. One of the Dark Jedi instinctively waved his hand and extinguished the fire with a great gust of wind, which caused the untouched foliage in front of the two to flutter violently.

... After which the other Dark Jedi shouted towards the unknown group they now knew to be sentients. His voice had been somewhat twisted by the corruption of the Dark Side, causing him to sound more evil than he had sounded before he had become a Dark Jedi.

"We know you are there! Show yourselves!"

Teltina remained perched in her tree, her thermal vision system blinded by the intense heat of the lightsabers. Jekel zeroed in on the right man, while Teltina struggled to cover the left. Atlas rose from his concealment, his large frame rising like a cloud of thick smoke...

"I am shown..."

Atlas kept his surpressed MP5 leveled, his right reptillian eye glaring down the barrel...

'Odd... They carry only torches... Foolish of them...'



"Tell me where I am & I will allow you to walk away with your life..."

Atlas' tone was extremely low, more of a growl than any sort of intelligible language, although he spoke fluent English...

"Fool. Do not think that we do not know of your friends."

The left Dark Jedi, the one who had also spoken, simply waved his free hand and odd blue light engulfed Atlas' friends, causing them to stop completely into an odd, localized stasis (OOC: I hope you do not mind me stating this for you), after which he waved his lightsaber around for no reason at all, other than it was the force of habit.

The two walked towards Atlas, showing no fear, feeling no fear. The two felt nothing but contempt, but also... Strangely lucky, in a twisted and sinister way. These... Reptilians could bring about a new chapter in the survival of the Order.

As they walked towards him, the Dark Jedi who had spoken to him and entrapped his friends spoke again, not caring whether or not Atlas would hear his words.

"I was right... The Force runs like a wild stream through these three. Even if it is not that powerful, I can feel it."

The other one just nodded, glaring at Atlas with nothing but scorn and hatred in his mind. Did this non-Force user really think that he and his friends even had a chance? If it wasn't for their obvious sensitivity towards the Force, they would have killed the three to that spot.

Then the two came to a stop, just a few meters before Atlas, still with their lightsabers on. They both wielded their sabers in their right hands, but right now their hands were on their sides. The humming of the sabers would now be quite audible, so that Atlas should hear it.

"I have a counter proposal for you. Join us and you shall live, and learn the ways of the Dark Side. Reject us, and you shall die. Those are your options. Now, choose."

Atlas considered the proposal...

'Who does this softskin think he is? Very well... We shall follow, and perhaps steal a ride...'


"Indeed. Lead on."

Atlas lowered his weapon, kicking Jekel slightly to see if he could rouse him from stasis...


OOC: Indeed you are correct. The Dark Argonian people have the anger & hatred nessecary for Dark-Side training.

OOC: OotDJ, check your TGs.

"Very good. Follow me. The encampent is not far from here."

He turned around and waved his free hand as to tell Atlas to follow. The other Dark Jedi just looked at him and whispered,

"I felt he did not mean what he said."

The one who was obviously acting more as the more dominant of the two just nodded and grinned, although no one could see it. Not to mention that it was still dark.

After taking a few steps, he looked around him and shrugged.

"Oh, I almost forgot your friends."

He waved his left hand, and the stasis bubbles around the two disappeared. He said, "Follow me, if you will," and glanced at the two on his both sides. Then he continued to walk, assuming that the reptilians were following him.

"How can you trust them like this?"

"... Trust them? If they try anything, we can still kill them easily. It is a win-win situation for us anyway."

"..."

Atlas, Jekel & Teltina followed the two dark jedi, somewhat dazed by the effect of the temporary stasis...

"How are you called, softskin?"

Inquired Jekel, shifting his M4 to a more comfortable position...

Softskin?! These beings do not know what's best for them.

He turned his head to his left side, never slowing down.

"We're getting close to the encampment. You'll learn that in due time."

And he was right. The ruins were already visible, although barely. It was quite dark and the foliage didn't exactly make seeing it easier, but it was there.

The time for departure had come, the Academy was now independent enough, and any small repairs needed for the ship had been done. Most of the Dark Jedi would stay upon Earth within the ruins they had found, keep the Academy up and running and train their apprentices, with the exception of few. Master Yldarek and his apprentices would stay on the ship as it leaves this planet, to seek the temples that hide secrets of ancient knowledge that would lead them to Sith technology.

But they had only one lead... And they would follow it to the end. The ship left Earth's orbit with the Dark Jedi leading it and plotted a course they hoped to be safe enough to the planet where this second temple would be.

w00t, I finally get a chance to be in this.
IC
On board the AISS- 22062, a Nighthawk, alarm bells began ringing.
"What's going on?"
"Sir, sensors have picked up a large ship in hyperspace- estimated to be over a mile in length - and the computer says its on a direct course for Nonistan."
"What? HOW?!? That isn't possible, nobody knows where Nonistan is, I barely know . . . Let's follow it at a safe distance, hopefully it'll turn off onto a trading route somewhere."
"Will do sir."

With that the stealthy Nighthawk slipped into FTL, tracking the signature of the Star Destroyer as it sped through hyperspace.

(OOC: Al-Imvadjah, made a new thread for the exploration of those temples. It is right here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=357329). I'm wantin' to keep the two threads separate, the ship and the Academy are now separate entities, so to speak.)

Softskin?! These beings do not know what's best for them.

He turned his head to his left side, never slowing down.

"We're getting close to the encampment. You'll learn that in due time."

And he was right. The ruins were already visible, although barely. It was quite dark and the foliage didn't exactly make seeing it easier, but it was there.

"Indeed..."

Atlas grunted, flipping the selector switch on his MP5 from full-auto to safe with a clawed thumb... Jekel followed suit, going a step further by slinging his weapon over his shoulder. Teltina simply removed her finger from the trigger... She was not fond of arrogant lesser-creatures, she wanted nothing more to put a round in each's head... Much like her father's warriors had done to her Argonian husband, Artek Landtiller, several years ago...

Anger had become a familiar emotion to her, and she had fallen in with Jekel & Atlas, working as a sniper for their assassin outfit.

Jekel had been something of an outcast, after killing three of his comrades in the Dark Argonian village over a female. He'd simply been driven out of the village & into the vast ocean. A year later, he'd met Atlas in a bar in New York, and became the second member of the assassin outfit.

Atlas' story was far simpler than the others... He liked to kill things, in as violent a fashion as possible... He'd left the village of his own accord, none where able to compete with his strength & ferocity... He'd gone into the assassin field as a lucrative way of doing what he enjoyed most...

"There it is," one of them said, as they walked into the clearing. There was a red light in the encampment... Coming closer to them. The two Dark Jedi stopped, and signaled to the three reptilians to stop as well.

Suddenly, someone spoke from the general direction of the light. Now he was more or less visible, a man with a robe very similar to that of the two Dark Jedi the Argonians had followed, with the difference that he had a long, black cloak. Which was pretty much not seeable in the darkness.

"You two... I should've known. Who are those?"

The two bowed their heads down. One of them spoke, it was hard to discern which.

"They are intruders..."

"You were ordered to kill any intruders, were you not? You two do know what failure to follow your orders means, yes?"

"... But I can feel the Force within them. We both could."

"And what does that change, foolish children?"

"Nothing in itself, Master... But they are on the Dark Side, and it was destiny that brought them here! They did accept the invitation, as well."

"Hmph. Let me see them."

The two made way for the Master.

"Hmmh. I can feel it too. You two are right. This might work out just fine for you, after all. You can go and continue your guard duty."

The two just bowed further down, and silently walked away.

The Master was left alone with the three.

"So, you three are to become Dark Jedi? Yes... I can feel the hatred... The darkness. Good. But I can also feel that you do not like being here. Your thoughts betray you. Too bad we do not have any forms of transport you could steal from us."

"I will give you two choices. You can test your skills against me right now, right here, and if you win, you can walk away, and none of us will stop you. If you lose, you will become my apprentices. Or you accept your place in the Order without a fight. Those are the only options."

OOC: Ooh! Another Jedi-oriented nation! Tag! May come in later, if I'm bored, that is.

Atlas, the largest of the band, set aside his sub-machinegun & drew apon his kinfe...

Jekel seated himself on the sidelines, awaiting his turn...

Teltina simply went to stand behind the Master, she did not feel any need to prove he fighting abilities...

"Begin when you are ready, Master Softskin..."

Atlas stood at around 6'5", his massive frame weighing at about 282 lbs. He was not someone a normal human would trifle with under most circumstances... The Master was no normal human, nor where these normal circumstances...

He laughed.

"That's the spirit! But unless that knife has a cortosis weave, you've already lost."

He changed his stance into one more suited for combat. He grinned wryly, although the black cloth in front of his mouth concealed it.

"Prepare yourself!"

He plunged forward with inhuman speed, making a horizontal slash at Atlas from left to right, targetting his knife for the hell of it, just to show him that a lightsaber can't be bested with simple melee weapons made of steel.

The large reptillian being moved backwards a step, bringing his knife upwards in time to avoid the attack, more of luck than preparation...

He spun to the left, slashing horizontally at the inner elbow of the jedi...

'This one is fast... Very fast... I will have to be very wary...'

The Dark Jedi cackled gleefully, he could read his opponent like a book. He was going to make a slash. Right about...

"Your thoughts betray you!"

Now.

He took a few extremely quick steps backwards and slashed the air with his lightsaber to parry the opponent's slash with his lightsaber just for the hell of it. He was quite certain that the knife wouldn't be able to withstand the immense heat of the lightsaber's blade and would be cut in half.

The small knife was bisected by the laser-blade, Atlas countering with a spinning backfist aimed at the back of the jedi's head as he came around from his disarming slash...

He grinned evilly as he had cut the knife into half, even if the melee was far from over. At least he knew what Atlas was going to do next. Counter with a blow into his exposed back. Obviously it was more powerful than a human, so trying to parry it was out of the question. Plus there wasn't any time for such a move.

So he jumped a few meters away from his opponent just a split second before the hit would have connected with his back. He turned to face Atlas, spun his saber a few times and tauntingly waved him to come closer with his free hand.

Atlas' manner was a mixture of awe & frustration... He was no novice in the ways of knife-fighting or hand-fighting...

"How is it I cannot strike you? What are you? You are no normal softskin..."

"Ah, so now you wish to speak?"

He laughed for a few seconds in a rather sinister fashion as he lowered his saber, though he did not deactivate it.

"I am a Force user, unlike you. Although you have the obvious affinity towards the Force. As do your friends. We call ourselves the Dark Jedi."

He took a few steps towards Atlas.

"The offer still stands. Join us, and live. Reject us, and die."

Atlas takes a step forward...

"I would be a fool to reject such power... Jekel, put your weapon away. We have more pressing matters than to squabble with this softskin..."

The assassin draws himself up a bit taller, standing at his full height...

"I am Atlas Thunderscale, I place myself & my companion, Jekel Slipstream, at your command. Teltina, it seems, has already made her decision..."

"Good. I knew you would see things our way. The Dark Side of the Force flows through you like a wild stream, after all. Quite unusual that is."

He deactivated his lightsaber and darkness surrounded him. It didn't really matter, he could still sense the three in front of him, and the other Dark Jedi behind him. And it wouldn't be all that hard to navigate with Force alone. And they needed fresh recruits, so he didn't care of their slight... deceitfulness. It was a good trait, after all, as long as they don't go doing it to the Order itself. One does not betray the Order and live.

"My name is Dizorak. Just Dizorak. I'm a Dark Jedi Master, and you haven't seen practically anything our Order has to... Offer quite yet. Just a small display of it. Just follow me to the camp... I'll tell you more there."

He turned, and begun to walk towards the encampment, showing a degree of trust towards the newcomers, as he wasn't exactly protecting his back. Nonetheless, he was still cautious, ready to act if they tried something.

The Dark Argonian trio follow behind the Jedi Master, conversing between themselves in their native tongue, occasionally with a lightsaber-like gesture & Atlas' reaction to having his favorite knife ruined...

As they went into the encampment, the Dark Argonians would only notice the two other Dark Jedi they already met before there. They had continued their duel, which they promptly ended as they realized that the Master had already come back.

"Looks like you did it, Master."

"...Yes. It rarely takes much convincing when any sentient beings see power they could wield themselves being used against themselves."

"You are right, Master, as always."

"Continue on whatever you were doing. I have... Other things to attend to."

"As you wish, Master."

The two Dark Jedi simply continued their duel, and the Master walked to the three Dark Argonians.

"I will begin your training in the morning. I am tired myself. Do whatever you please until then," he began to grin, "as long as it doesn't involve random killings of other members of the Order. I would suggest that you would sleep too, though."

(OOC: Do you wish to RP the training itself, or will we simply just claim that some time passes and they have trained this and that and blah blah blah?)

OOC: I will leave it to your discretion, as this is your roleplay.

Time had passed, and Master Dizorak thought it would be now time to unleash the three to the unsuspecting world. Although they would have to make the choice willingly. The three had progressed quite magnificiently, although their dependence on each other was a source of minor concern for the Master, even if it did not surprise him all that much. They were a group, after all. Had been since they arrived. Those three complemented each other quite well.

And so, he was talking to them.

"... And I have come to the conclusion that your abilities are now adequate. You can choose: Will you continue, end your apprenticeship and become true Dark Jedi, or will you leave and search for challenges that would make you stronger before you do so? Will you go and seek to master what you now know, seek your own boundaries and find what you can do? That is all up to you. If you choose to continue... You can do so. But if you choose to leave... There is but one thing you must remember. Survival is key. We are not Sith. We do not seek power over all overtly. No. That is the path to self destruction. Our Order has survived many millennia of chaos and strife with this simple rule. Do whatever you wish with the Force. Just you make sure that your enemies never know your true potential."

The Master grinned at the three.

"Unless... Of course... You know you can get away with it."

He looked at the three. So well they had progressed... But still, they were nowhere near what they could become.

"So, how shall it be? Will you stay, or will you go and do what you see fit? Of course, you would have to return one day to finish your training, but... It depends on you how you get there."

Atlas, quite content with his newfound talents, resolved to be transported elsewhere, where he would wreak havoc on those who opposed him...

Jekel, always less brash & hard-headed as Atlas, chose to remain. He would contine his training, perhaps becoming one of the instructors at the acadamy itself...

Teltina, still boiling with anger over her husband's murder, chose to leave with Atlas... Their first target would be her own family, a final act of revenge...