NationStates Jolt Archive

Jr looked out toward toward hyperspace. "Well in the meantime enjoy your book," he said. "We still have a few hours to go."

"Thanks." Taylor replied.

"I wonder if I should have someone keep an eye on Daniel," Jr then wondered. "I know Kurt said he's fine but he isn't here and I wonder."

Taylor shrugged and kept reading.

A few hours later, Jr watched as the ship exited hyperspace. The large desert planet was directly ahead.

"I'll go get Daniel, meet us down in the docking bay."

"At last, my book is finished!" Taylor grinned and headed down to the docking bay.

Jr just rolled his eyes and headed out to find Daniel. Kimiko headed down to the docking bay with Taylor.

"You and that book," she remarked.

"Then you see two aura's," Wolfram explained.

"But you don't because the illusion are masking one another so that when attempting to discern whether it is an illusion or not, the keys that would identify it to you are hidden by another illusion..."

"Illusion auras cannot be masked," Wolfram repeated.

Jr just rolled his eyes and headed out to find Daniel. Kimiko headed down to the docking bay with Taylor.

"You and that book," she remarked.
"It's good. Couldn't put it down." Taylor chuckled. "Want to read it?"

"Illusion auras cannot be masked," Wolfram repeated.

"Right..." Titan replied in disbelief.

"It's good. Couldn't put it down." Taylor chuckled. "Want to read it?"

"Not particularly," Kimiko replied.

Down in the docking bay, Kimiko heading inside the shuttle to wait.

"Right..." Titan replied in disbelief.

"Just unseen to the untrained eye," Wolfram replied.

Satisfied, he began to walk off once more with Gorgron in tow.

"Was that even Basic?" Titan questioned about the nonsensical statement Wolfram had just replied with.

"Was that even Basic?" Titan questioned about the nonsensical statement Wolfram had just replied with.

"Basic? Draconian actually," Wolfram replied.

"Not particularly," Kimiko replied.

Down in the docking bay, Kimiko heading inside the shuttle to wait.
Taylor headed in the shuttle and strapped in.

After a few moments Jr and Daniel appeared. While Daniel quietly took a seat at the back of the shuttle, Jr went and sat down in the pilots seat. A quick systems check and he started the shuttles engines before taking off.

"Basic? Draconian actually," Wolfram replied.

ooc: Titan doesn't speak Draconian... he wouldn't have understood anything that has been said to him over the past week.

OOC: Draconian is proper English ;)

OOC: Draconian is proper English

ooc: ...So essentially Basic or Common.

OOC: No basic is American English.

OOC: No basic is American English.

ooc: I said essentially... not to mention that it makes his reply all the more unnecessary.

IC:

"Well was that even Draconian," Titan replied.

"Yes it is," Wolfram replied.

"Yes it does," Wolfram replied.

"Can you even speak properly?" Titan wondered as Wolfram uttered another error stricken phrase.

The effect of the shuttle landing sent up a cloud of sand. The shuttle was purposely pointing away from the damaged ship so that Daniel didn't see it. Jr thought that neither the ship nor the camp were the first things he saw.

"Well we're here now," he said, climing out into the glaring sun. "Hot, good job I brought sunglasses, best to cover up as well."

"Yeah." Taylor put on his shades. "Well, let's get going..."

Jr passed out pairs to the other two before putting on his own pair and heading to the long abandoned camp. With the sunglasses on, Daniel looked even more like his brother Eamonn. The tents were long gone but the small makeshift buildings were still there.

"Kind of eiree isn't it?" Jr mentioned.

"Yeah. Like a ghost town." Taylor replied.

"Somewhere buried under the desert is the civilisation to which the tomb came from," Jr mentioned.

"It's what they were looking for," Daniel said and pointed off into the distance. "They were digging in that area over there, there imiging pointed toward possible buried walls."

"Somewhere buried under the desert is the civilisation to which the tomb came from," Jr mentioned.

"It's what they were looking for," Daniel said and pointed off into the distance. "They were digging in that area over there, there imiging pointed toward possible buried walls."
"Oh. Sounds mildly interesting." Taylor rarely gives much thought to the 'static sciences' as he calls them.

"As usual, over his head," Daniel remarked rolling his eyes.

"We should head out that way," Jr said. "How far did they get?"

Daniel thought for a moment. "Just before they were all killed they mentioned hitting what appeared to be a wall."

"A wall?" Taylor asked.

"Yes, it was buried in the sand," Daniel explained.

"And has probably been reburied by now," Kimiko mentioned.

"Hmm. I wonder if the wall hides something."

Jr nodded in agreement. "Lead the way."

As Daniel led them past the disabled ship, Jr looked above as a shadow passed them. It was nothing more than a vulture looking for scraps.

"Hopefully it's a wall into a lost city," he told Taylor.

"Could be. That's the only interesting part about archeology." Taylor said.

Daniel glared at him before running a large sand dune.

"Don't think he took that kindly," Jr remarked. "He might be more of an archeologist then we think, he might not like you being a treasure hunter."

He looked up at Daniel as he neared the top of the dune.

"Treasure hunters have a tendancy to destroy archeologically evidence."

"Hey, I'm no treasure hunter." Taylor held up his hands innocently. "I'm just interested, is all."

Jr just smirked at him as they arrived at the top of the dune. Spread out in front of them was miles and miles of desert, no sign of life for as far as the eye could see, save for the vulture circling above them of course.

"There it is down there," Daniel said.

Where he pointed was a large temporary building half covered in sand.

"Looks intact, perhaps it has kept most of the sand from reburying the wall," Jr mentioned.

Inside the makesfift building, they found the scaffolding intact. That led into a large deep hole.

"It's thirty feet deep," Daniel explained as he walked over to the edge.

"Wasn't expecting it to be that deep dowm," Jr said peering over the edge.

Whilst he wasn't afraid of heights, it did unnerve him somewhat. It was dark down there and who knew what was waiting.

"Who first?"

"Oh ye of little faith..." Taylor smirked and jumped down, slowing his fall with the Force, which incidently made his cloak billow like some fire lord. He kneed to absorb the shock and looked up. "I'll catch you guys!"

"Show off," Daniel remarked and headed for the nearby makeshift steps that led down into the darkness below.

The others decided to follow.

"Not that we don't trust you," Jr said as they reached the bottom. "I just didn't want to jump off when there's steps nearby."

Daniel took a touch and lit it up Instead of the usual sand colour, he was stood beside a wall grey in colour.

"Here it is," he said.

"Well...?" Titan remarked after many minutes of wandering.

"Show off," Daniel remarked and headed for the nearby makeshift steps that led down into the darkness below.

The others decided to follow.

"Not that we don't trust you," Jr said as they reached the bottom. "I just didn't want to jump off when there's steps nearby."

Daniel took a touch and lit it up Instead of the usual sand colour, he was stood beside a wall grey in colour.

"Here it is," he said.
"Hmm. Not sandstone for sure." Taylor said, running a hand along the wall. He then began reaching into the Force, aiming his considerable senses through the wall, looking for weaknesses or perhaps a cavity...

Jr walked up and ran his hand along it. "Definitely man made," he said. "I don't think the stone is even local."

There were a few cavities in the wall, large enough to perhaps be rooms.

"Yeah. The chemistry is different from the local rock. Hold on." Taylor clapped his hands, feeling the Force and chakra run simultaneously through his veins and pressed them, palms-down, on the wall. Instantly, energy crackled all over the wall. Where there are cavities, there are now doors. "Heh. I bet you thought firestarting was my only alchemic skill. My brother's better than me at it though."

Jr raised an eyebrow.

"The tomb had a minotaur protecting it," Daniel then said. "Who knows what could be protecting whatever is on the otherside."

"True best be on our guard," Jr agreed. "Now let's see what is behind these doors, your first pick Taylor."

"Let's try...Door number 1!" Taylor said, opening one of the doors. And inside that door was...

...several mummified skeletons. The desert sand had obviously dried their bodies up after death. Jr walked over and knelt beside them.

"I suspect they died during or after whatever buried the city," he said. "I don't believe this is another tomb."

"Unlucky." Taylor shook his head. "Let's try Door number 2!"

With that, he opened the next door...

Jr quickly looked to see if there was anything else. "It's a basement," he mentioned, pointing up to trapdoor.

Kimiko had opened another couple of doors that showed nothing but the usual basement junk. "Must be the residential district."

"We're surrounded up there," Daniel then said rather coldly.

Kimiko closed her eyes and looked up. "He's right, Dark Jedi."

"Mother," Daniel scowled.

"Oh, great. So now they decide to show up." Taylor grumbled.

"Once we're trapped yes," Daniel said in a cold tone. "They've probably been lying in wait until we came down here where they could easily trap us."

Jr looked at the others grim-faced. "And Durandal's not responding," he said numbingly. "Seems we're on our own down here."

Taylor reached out, trying to sense how many Dark Jedi there are.

Daniel closed his eyes. "I can feel at least twenty above us," he said. "Theres more can you feel them?"

"So what do we do?" Jr asked. "I'm worried by the fact I can't contact the Durandal and it appears that we're rather outnumbered."

"I can feel twenty more occupying the camp," Daniel then mentioned.

"Forty Dark Jedi." Taylor groaned. "Not even my fire powers can take them all out at once!"

Jr shook his head. "Even if we did manage it, there may be more waiting in orbit," said. "That might explain what has happened to the Durandal."

"So we're trapped?" Kimiko sighed. "Great, trapped in a dark hole by Dark Jedi."

Jr looked down at his communicator. "If it's a communications blackout we're in trouble, if not then we may have a chance."

"Try it." Taylor nodded. I would give my right arm for Shikamaru. Oh, wait, my arm's already given...heh.

"Now which ship might be closest to us," Jr wondered. He tapped into his communicator. "Sending a distress signal to the Elsa, we'll know in a few minutes if it got through."

Taylor nodded. "Let's try it then."

Jr's communicator beeped. "Captain Mathews here."

Jr breathed a sigh of relief, but it dawned on him that those aboard the Durandal were really in trouble."

He typed in the planets co-ordinates and sent them.

"How far are you from there?"

"About three hours apparently, I'll let other ships know. We're coming to rescue you."

Jr gave the others an uneasy smile.

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Kimiko asked.

"I don't know," Jr admitted. "We're stuck down here until help arrives."

The Dark Jedi that surrounded them seemed reluctant to come down and attack them, it seemed that they were waiting for something. The orders of Lady Nocturne or Lady Dedlock maybe? The silence worried Jr, no contact had been made with the Durandal and the Elsa had been silent ever since. Kimiko was silently meditating, something that Jr wondered about doing himself, better then waiting for the Elsa to arrive. Daniel meanwhile had been standing looking up at the hole above them, Jr wasn’t sure what the strange young boy was doing. He’d heard about Daniel’s forcefield back at the academy and wondered if he were doing the same here, it would be useful if he was.

There was a sudden explosion and the area shuddered, dust and rocks along with some of the scaffolding fell from above. Daniel didn’t even move, the debris never seemed to go near him. The shouts from above led Jr to believe that the Dark Jedi were being attacked.

“Sounds like the cavalry is he,” he mentioned, sighing with relief.

All the noise and the shaking ground had woken Kimiko from her meditation. She was quick to want to get into battle.

“So know we can fight them?” she asked.

Jr nodded.

"Well, let's get going." Taylor said, unsheathing his lightsaber. His other hand got to work, snapping fingers and blowing up the area above them to clear a pathway.

Daniel looked upwards, he seemed to briefly glow red before leaping upwards.

"Should do the same," Kimiko smirked and began running up the walls.

Jr sighed to himself, unlike them he could only walk up the 'normal' way.

Above them, the Dark Jedi were already fighting against ground fighters. Several Kukai liveried wing fighters were flying around trying to pick off the Dark Jedi without harming their own men.

"Now this is what you call the cavalry," Jr remarked with a grin.

Taylor wall-jumped up to the surface and launched a series of assaults that slayed several Dark Jedi coming up to him. He noticed the army that had come to assist. "Heh. Yeah, that's the cavalry all right..."

Red lightning shot past Taylor and hit a Dark Jedi coming at him. Daniel briefly looked at him before heading off to fight more Dark Jedi. Kimiko found herself surrounded but as they came at here she started a huge tornado that sucked the Dark Jedi up and threw them down.

Jr came up alongside Taylor. "Looks like they had more Dark Jedi then we thought," he told him.

There were maybe a hundred more heading down the dunes towards them.

"Hmm..." Taylor's mind ran through options. "Kimiko! Form the biggest tornado you can make, now!"

Taylor prepared the seals for Katon: Fire Dragon Blast no Jutsu...

More red lightning struck random Dark Jedi.

Nothing was heard from Kimiko, instead the tornado grew, it grew until it was as large as she could possibly make it and with her experience it had only grown sixfold. She awaited Taylor's plan.

Taylor, sticking his feet against the wind, took a very deep breath and then expelled a huge stream of fire into the tornado long and hard. The tornado caught fire, swirling to create a great and terrible firestorm that moved towards the Dark Jedi. Now not only wind damage would be caused but great fire damage as well...

Kimiko new what to do when she saw the flames and moved the tornado over to where the Dark Jedi were coming from. They were hit with a blast of sand and flame most were instantly burnt to a crisp. Kimiko continued to attack with the tornado and the Dark Jedi numbers began to dwindle. However they did not retreat.

"Looks like they'll fight to the death," Jr remarked.

"Yeah. I guess we'll oblige them." Taylor said, his Form V stance bashing away at enemy Dark Jedi.

"We need to get to the Durandal," Jr then said. "Leave the rest of them to the Kukai fighters, head back to the shuttle."

"All right!" Taylor was beginning to feel tired after all the battling, but he snapped several times in quick succession to form a cascading explosion to slow down the Dark Jedi. "I'm almost out of chakra! Let's go while the fire's still going!"

Kimiko allowed the Tornado to die down as the Kukai Foundation fighters took over. She and Daniel ran over to them.

"We'll find out if my crew are alright," he said, the worry clearly heard in his voice. "Come on."

Without waiting for the others, he ran back to the shuttle, avoiding the fighting. Once there he sat down in the pilots seated and waited for the others.

What began to really worry Jr was that even now he couldn't contact the Durandal. There was no answer when he tried with his wrist computer, nor was there a reply when he used the shuttles communicator.

"Still no luck?" Kimiko asked.

Jr shook his head. "The Elsa reported that the Durandal looked silent," he said. "Belt up, we have to hurry."

"Not a good sign." Taylor said as he strapped in.

Jr shook his head and before long the shuttle was heading back to the Durandal. Once into obit, they could see the Elsa dealing with the Dark Jedi ship.

"They're boarding it," Jr said and turned in the direction of the Durandal.

The ship appeared lifeless, just floating aimlessly in front of them. From the outside they could see that the lights of the bridge were off.

"Now that certainly doesn't look good," Jr sighed, his face looking rather worried.

Slowly he moved the shuttle towards it.

"Is there still air?" Taylor asked.

Jr quietly tapped into the shuttles controls. "Life support reads as normal," he said. "It'll be safe to go aboard."

"all right." Taylor said. He didn't relish fighting in an airless environment. After all, his fire powers would be useless. not that he is, of course.

Jr checked the docking bay, no life signs in there so it was Ok to seal it off in order for them to land there. Once inside Jr began tapping into his wrist computer.

"There's no signs of life at all," he said.