NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: I will add an OOC thread when it is needed. For now, this is a closed RP between myself and CoreWorlds. I'll invite more participants later.

IC: A dark shadow crossed Jacob Whitfield's mind as he lay on his bed, for some reason unable to fall asleep. Something was seriously wrong...

...but what, he had not been able to figure out. Though he had retired from politics and acted quite hermetic, even for a Jedi, he still made it a point to keep up to date regarding current events. Yet, everything in the news seemed like a normal democracy at work...

Yet he knew the Dark Side had, within the last month, suddenly and inexplicably taken up residence in the White Diamond system. Normally, it seemed only in the background, but today its influence had become noticeably stronger...

The Dark Side grows stronger here, but why? Not in twenty-five years has it ever asserted a presence here, until now.

Questions swirled through Whitfield's mind. Questions that he could not answer, questions that bothered him.

He forced himself to clear his mind. Again. Finally, Whitfield found himself drifting off to sleep...

*one hour later*

Timber Wolves (http://www.forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=419235) roam the streets, firing on throngs of protesters chanting slogans and throwing Molotov cocktails...smoke rises from the city proper...

The terrifying flash image instantly awakened Whitfield and filled his mind with more questions, questions that could not be forced from his mind so easily.

He knew of one place where he might find answers. He quickly jumped out of bed, even though it was two in the morning, and donned his Jedi robes. His X-wing remained on the roof of his mansion...

He grabbed his commlink. "Artoo-Defour, prepare the X-wing for immediate departure." A few inquisitive warbles issued in reply. Whitfield, after grabbing a minimal amount of personal articles, made his way up to the helipad to find his craft ready to go.

The droid raised the cockpit canopy, and Whitfield climed in. He took off before flipping the switch to close the canopy. The twinkling lights of Great Woody City greeted him for a brief moment before he pulled up and ran the engines up to full throttle, blasting the small craft out of White Diamond Prime's atmosphere.

"Artoo, set a course for Jurai system." A few compliant beeps ensued as the X-wing overshot one of the orbital defence batteries.

As soon as Whitfield had his course, he engaged the hyperdrive.

When the ex-Prime Minister last left Jurai, it was nothing more than a large colony settled by refugees from Coreworlds and other places the Dark Lords of the Sith struck. But now, many years later, it was the most heavily defended system in the galaxy, perhaps rivalling that of Coruscant itself, and the new capital of the remnants of Coreworlds.

When he reenters the system, it would be clear that Coreworlds is in a state of war with its many and powerful enemies, for patrols were seemingly endless. Never again was the order of the day. Never again will Coreworlds lose a capital. And it showed.

Upon seeing the massive patrols, Whitfield did not wait to be hailed before transmitting his IFF codes. "This is Jedi Knight Jacob Whitfield requesting permission to land near the Jedi Temple..."

He had a vague knowledge that the Sith would just love to take this system, and thus the fortifications should not have surprised him, but he still doubted he had seen so many ships in one system...

even though his own nation usually had a fair amount of defenses orbiting White Diamond system.

"Knight Whitfield, you are granted entry to dock at the Temple. May the Force be with you." Came the reply of the Jedi traffic controller.

The Temple was carved out of the side of a mountain and built to withstand all but the most intensive of bombardments. Surrounding the temple was a town and a larger mix of forest and plains, making the scene look like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie, only futuristic. A large number of craft come and go, as the Temple was also the seat of the High Council, the de facto government of Coreworlds for the time being. Jedi, shinobi and other notable persons come here to debrief on completed missions, rest and relax, then pick up new missions from a member of the Council or other high-ranking official.

A side entrance, sent via transponder, opens up for the Jedi Knight entering the Temple. This was the very extensive Temple hangar bay, spec'ed to take a few Acclaimator heavy transports if needed. It is there that Whitfield would land and a Padawan be available to escort him to the Council Chambers if need be.

Whitfield acknowledged the response and broke from his holding pattern, setting course for the large jungle planet.

As he approached the planet's exosphere, he activated his shields, albeit at low power, to handle excess atmospheric entry heat. Although he also found this an oppurtunity for a bit of Force experimentation.

He closed his eyes, letting the autopilot guide the X-wing. Ever since his first days of training, he had focused his attention on manipulating the unseen...things such as molecules too small to be seen by the naked eye.

Over twenty-five years of practice, he had the ignition of hydrocarbons down to a fine art. But now, he saw trillions of diatomic gaseous molecules rushing by his craft, along with small amounts of ozone...

...He attempted to part these molecules in front of his oncoming craft, as certain minority religious sects back home believed Moses parted the Red Sea on Earth millenia ago, but succeeded only in diverting a small amount, barely enough to be noticed by the astromech indirectly, by method of ever-so-slightly reduced friction stress (in the area of about two percent less than what should have been) on the ship's shielding.

Whitfield broke his concentration to switch to repulsorlift power, thinking about how much more practice he would need to be able to pull this off. He had an uneasy feeling that he would need this ability in the not-so-far-off future. And he wondered if it had ever been done before.

He could meditate on this later. He saw a massive building looming in the distance, and manuevered towards it, and it did not take him long to find the docking bays. He set his craft down, popped the canopy open, and climed out.

A young apprentice walked up to Whitfield and bowed as ground crew went to service the ship. "Hello, Master. I'm Mike Hangel. The Council is expecting you."

Whitfield returned the padawan's bow. "Greetings, I'm Jacob Whitfield. Yes, I do not doubt for a minute that the Council senses my uneasiness, but did I get promoted to Master in absentia?"

He did not mention his former career in politics, because that would be an earful.

"Uh, I don't think so. You're a Knight, I'm an apprentice. That's uh, what's the word...uh...well, it's just respectful." The apprentice scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Anyway, follow me."

The Padawan led Whitfield down the halls of the Temple and to the Chambers, where the High Council was currently in session.

"They said to wait a little bit." The kid said before heading away.

Whitfield answered, "I'm not really a big fan of titles. As a former diplomat, I really should know better. Sorry about that."

Whitfield followed the padawan and waited before the Council chamber. It had been awhile since he had been here last, and apparently it showed...

Whitfield stood in the Council antechamber, waiting patiently for the Council to finish its business.

After a little more than a half hour had passed, he found a bench near the wall to sit on, for he did not want to stand in the middle of an empty room where he would draw undue attention to himself. He knew the members of the Council could sense his presence.

As a little more time passed, he decided to make more productive use of the time by meditating. Shortly thereafter, his thoughts turned to more premonitions.

A small child flees the capital along with his mother and father. His father is cut down by a flash of green light, along with other members of the large group attempting to flee, before the child's very eyes...

The refugees quickly find themselves surrounded by the same destruction they attempt to leave behind. Police surround the refugees, shooting some, arresting others...

The mother and the child are thrown into an enclosed police speeder, dazed and confused...

Then the large doors to the chambers opened and a Jedi and her apprentice came out, presumably having briefed the Council on a mission completed. Then Master Elendil came out and spotted Whitfield. "Knight Whitfield. Will you come in, please?"

Whitfield stood up to bow to Master Elendil. "Thank you, Master Elendil, for your hospitality." Whitfield followed Master Elendil through the doors into the Council chamber, and bowed to the members of the Council, the premonition fresh in his mind...

"You may speak, Knight Whitfield." Alexander Masaki said. "What brings you here?"

Whitfield stood in the middle of the Council chamber with a distressed countenance. He spoke with an urgent tone to his voice.

"In the past month or so, the Dark Side has carved out for itself a presence in my home system, White Diamond. For twenty years have I lived there, and only recently have I been able to detect any significant influence from the Dark Side where I live.

Yesterday, the influence of the Dark Side in my nation's capital spiked considerably and precipitously. I could not sleep last night, my sleep replaced with dark premonitions." Whitfield paused for a brief moment before continuing, "I had visions of fifty-foot walkers, machines of death, firing upon legions of protesters, who were throwing Molotov cocktails at police. These machines of war that I speak of already exist, and are employed in the same capacity that the Empire would deploy an AT-AT.

This vision was enough to send me scrambling to my X-wing to seek advice.

While I waited for the Council to finish its previous business, I had another disturbing vision, one of refugees fleeing the chaos of the capital city, only to get cut down by the military. A child I saw, and his parents, in the crowd; the father became nothing more than a plume of smoke in a flash of blinding green light. The child watched helplessly as police closed in and shot random refugees and arrested others. The child and his mother were arrested and shoved in a police vehicle...at this point, the vision cut off.

Exactly how these things would come to pass, I do not know. The government functions in the same way it did when I trained on this planet. But I do not know what to make of the Dark Side's new influence..."

Old Alex leaned on his cane, taking in the story. "It would appear to me that the Force is showing you what may come to pass. This troubling news can mean one thing, and one thing only. There is a nexus of the Dark Side, possibly a Sith Lord, somewhere in White Diamond. Needless to say, you know what lies before you. You must seek out and defeat the Dark Lord before he consumes your homeland in darkness."

"As for your second vision," Tsunade began. She is a ninja medical specialist and the intelligence head of the Council. "It would appear that this child will be special one day. Seek him out and protect him." She then smiled. "Perhaps you'll have a future apprentice if my suspicion is correct."

Whitfield bowed to the members of the Council. "So shall it be done." He waited a few seconds to give the Council the oppurtunity to leave further instructions, but its members remained silent. Whitfield turned around to leave for his X-wing.

Whitfield wasted no time in getting to his X-wing and preparing it for immediate departure. He had a job to do...

As he took off, he considered the ramifications of what the council had told him. So a Sith Lord is running around behind the scenes now, and I have no idea how he got there... This thought was quickly interrupted by a few bleeps by the astromech, indicating the ship was ready to enter hyperspace.

Later that night, after arriving at his residence, he could not sleep. He found himself meditating on where he might find a Sith Lord, especially because the sharp presence of the Dark Side had faded to the general sense of foreboding that had plagued Whitfield for the last month. Somewhere off system...

Whitfield, still unable to sleep, checked his holovid, only to see a news story about a "freak electrical accident" that killed four high-ranking military officers, who were not identified in the story. He found this highly suspicious, and placed an order for spare lightsaber components, rush delivery, on the holovid. He had a feeling he would need them.

At this point, he also knew that the Sith Lord would come to him if he patiently attended the Parliament meetings. Especially the ones where defence issues would be considered. At this point, he found himself thankful he was a former Prime Minister...