In Search of Pilon Dopler

[Adar Bolner]

At the heart of the old Sith temple, Pilon Dopler was heading towards the "production facility". Inside, various people clothed in dark robes moved as fast as their bodies could handle. Various machines and machine parts were scattered along tables, the floor, and even the walls. Pilon silently approved of what they were doing, and headed towards the woman in charge of this operation. Before she noticed his presence, she could be seen confidently leading this group of 10 people into hastily finishing what appeared to be a mechanical device. But once she felt his presence, her power, stature and confidence disappeared. As if these things were in finite supply, and had now all been taken by Pilon.

"Master Pilon. You want a report?"
"I want results. We are running out of time. The Light and Dark are moving."
A small shiver gripped the female.
"The device is 90% complete. We just need to code a few functions and add a safety foil around it in order to..."
"Disregard all safety. Finish up and send it for delivery. Its loss would be irreplaceable. If it is unsafe for use, we will fix this later"
The hooded female knew deep down that this would be impossible. But to disregard Master Pilon's order is akin to suicide. She had come this far. She would not be stopped by her fears or concerns.
"Understood Master. It should be ready within 30 minutes."
A small, creepy but also relieving smile could be seen on Pilon's face for but the briefest of seconds. His cold exterior returned almost as quickly as it left.
"Good. Afterwards, get everyone to the armory. I assume we have at least 5 sabers, yes?"
"I believe so, my Master. But it is doubtful of how effective they will be. Or for how long."
"They will be enough. If the Force sends both Light and Dark, then we are destined to make a stand."

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Adar was carefully examining all the information that MC and Varn had gathered, occasionally tapping into the feed of the drone. He and Varn were leading most of the rangers towards the temple, with only a few watching the transport and keeping coms open. Until now, Adar had been quiet, trying to figure out how to approach this situation. He was intelligent, and had learnt a lot about tactics and strategy, but he was still a young padawan. His experience and knowledge was dwarfed when compared to even the lowest ranked member of the Rangers. So, before they moved further into the forest, Adar approached Varn. If anyone had a strategy ready already, it would be him.

"Varn, I must admit, I've looked over the intel so many times, yet I just can't understand what our approach should be. The temple is on the side of the mountain ahead, and despite being hidden, it has a clear view of all angles except the one we are at, which is covered by this red forest. I have to assume they are waiting for us. Perhaps we could scale from another side or..."

Adar unconsciously shifted his focus. His attention was now in the infinite sea of echoes, the Force. He was sensing something, and it was quite upsteting. Footsteps... Darkness... Sith... Pain... As he came back to his senses, he lost his balance and fell to his knees. He refused assistance, and instead checked the feed. The Seeker drone was showing a group exiting the temple. At least 5 people. Not only that, but he could feel something more familiar in the Force. The presence of Sith. The young padawan could not understand how many or where they were, but this was definitely not a good thing. As he got up, he looked at Varn. His expression was as always hard to read, but that did not matter right now. "Varn, we got a problem." Adar quickly explained the situation to the Dashade, and showed him the feed.

He was still in a bit of a shock from what the Force showed him, so he let Varn take the lead. After all, if they were going into battle, he would lead the Rangers, with the exception of Kilt Vindon, who was personally assigned to Adar Bolner.

[Aliclair Austjor]

Another fallen, with fall comes rise. But without rise comes darkness.

At first, there were no missions to be hard, so Aliclair decided to take the time to meditate. It was the best way to keep her mind from wondering, and centered. Focused. Allowing her Force to coil around her body. Any free time away from being tossed to and fro was always a plus in her eyes. But, as usual. She knew once she received these rations to return strength, endurance, a week in advanced, she knew she'd be casted out into a mission with her enemy. She complied, for the time being. No amount of time spent under the claws of the Sith would revert her.

Her normal wrangler, Kita Ikari, had left Ali with Silas Karn, someone mentioned to her ear before and now, got to meet in person. She didn't like this, she didn't like any of this. But, she wasn't allowed to think, or act without permission. To just listen and obey. She said nothing when She was left in his watchful eye. The duo boarded, in an ETA-2 of her own, with the enslaved Padawan daunting attire she would've never picked out for herself; a mere chest piece with only shelter for the importants, leaving her belly and back exposed. And a combat skirt with a trail. All colored in crimson and golden hues; the opposite colors of what she was raised on.

[ Exiting Hyperspace, and onto the Anzat Surface ]
The slaved Padawan navigated her ship behind Silas, and landing next to him. The hatch to her ship opened and she stood, giving her body a brief stretch before leaping down with a tender thud accompanying her landing. She continued to stay silent as she followed behind the larger male, and when Kita came into view, her eyebrows knitted abit, her arms crossing across her chest. After a while, her mind wondered... As did her opalescent eyes. They looked to the side, as if sensing someone she'd met on plenty fronts and occasions. But, she didn't want to raise suspicion, so she forward her eyes again. "Did he really drag me out here to just nosy in Silvanius' affairs? What a joke." she thought bitterly, her eyebrows knitting.

[Kita_Ikari]

Despite Kouldelka's look of excitement at the anticipation of a battle, sadness quickly clouded Silvanius' blue eyes at the mention of the late Warvanus name. It wasn't something she brought up to anyone...as her master and everyone else in the sith considered Lord Warvanus a traitor. However, despite him facing her master for the throne, she never saw him as such. If anything, Silvanius had begun to care for the War-Bringer as an older sibling and second mentor over the weeks he had trained her before his demise. And she couldn't shake it from her mind how much she missed him.

"Darth Warvanus…"
Her voice held a hint of grief as the young sith apprentice deactivated her lightspear, uncaring at the fact Warvanus previous student withheld her whip in hand ready for a fight.
"You don't know do you?"
Silvanius didn't leave a second for Koudelka to respond.
"He...has been deceased for awhile..."

Pushing back the memory and pain of his leaving to face her master Lord Tormentous for the throne, Silvanius sighed and began moving past Koudelka with a serious expression, not caring to fight the other adept at the moment as there were other things to focus on. In actuality, she figured Warvanus student would be following her to question what had happened.

"If you have questions, ask as we go." She said seriously. "There is no time to dawdle. I'm currently on a mission. And I thought you were my target until you mentioned the War-Bringer. " Striding forward with purpose, Silvanius kept her view ahead, blue gaze keeping her eyes peeled for the ruins in the distance.

"I have come across rumors of a signal picked up here…a fallen jedi. And I plan to bring them back to my master." She bit her lip in annoyance however as she mentioned this. Lord Tormentous was gone for a while on his own secret personal endeavors...leaving the sith apprentice to her own devices. To which...she found this quite irritating as she had been enjoying her time in training with her master.

"Why should you care? Not like Tormentous ever cared about you and your efforts really. Much less you. Like Jacobi said, your just there until your no longer needed, like every other person who has crossed your masters path."

Silvanius brow knitted in annoyance at herself. Once again her subconscious tortured her. But the sith apprentice quickly pushed the unusual thought aside with a smirk. For this also gave her the opportunity to set into motion her plans for the future. To plan and save Jacobi. Although there were many obstacles to succeeding...she wasn't going to give up in releasing the mandalorian from his hidden prison until it was accomplished. She wanted him to live a normal life once again, instead of following unwillingly in the shadow of a monster whom was created from the darkness itself.
"I can change your unfortunate destiny. she thought silently.

In the meantime, seeking out and bringing back potential force users to the fold of the sith covered her tracks of deception with her Master and the Priest. She found the distractions welcoming. As dwelling on the Mandolorians isolation only gnawed at her mind.

"I'm Silvanius by the way." She said, breaking the brief silence. "Lord Tormentous apprentice. And also a former student of Lord Warvanus."

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Quickening the pace, she hoped to reach the ruins by dark. It wasn't that much farther off. No more than 20 minutes away, Silvanius could sense someone ahead...and they seemed to carry the essence of the Lightside upon them. "...seems we got others interested as well in our target."

She gripped the hilt of her saber in preparation if someone decided to come skulking out from the foliage and attack. Really though, the sith apprentice wanted to avoid a battle today with the Jedi. If she could figure out a way to bring the target back without much of a fight, she would have been happy. If not, it was just another loss she would be kicking herself for at a later date.

Silvanius's mind wandered briefly in thought before feeling the familiar presence of Ali linger within the force upon the planet.
"What is she doing here?
Her brows knitted at the thought as she tried to figure out why the enslaved padawan wasn't back on moraband with the Priest.

[Silas Karn]

The swift venture from orbit had surprisingly not been spent alone. Nil had noted the presence of another vessel coming in behind the much faster A-Wing. A hanger on, owing its continued existence to Silvanius had been foolishly reassigned without the priest’s formal acknowledgment. Granted orders by Tormentous’s last remaining disciple bereft of the proper chain of command the hybrid navigated in behind Silas. Landing a good kilometer’s distance from his target the Sovereign noted as an oddity of bloodlines exited their own craft. However, the purpose of the High Priest’s exodus did not include this wayward soul and as such the Sovereign vanished from sight (Shadow Walk).

With orders outlining a rendezvous Nil then closed the cockpit and lifted the obsidian ship from its rest and swiftly made an exodus back to the planet’s orbit. To further obfuscate his presence the Sovereign calmly recalled the great breadth of his connection to the Force (Force Mask). This left the interloper attempting to follow the Sith Lord completely devoid of their bearings save for Silvanius’s own presence. Unfortunately in order to maintain such separation from the mundane Silas was unable to reach out and touch Aliclair’s mind. However, the venomous priest was resourceful and took to his com-link. “Your presence here truly is the blind leading the blind.”

It was a single statement and the com channel fell dead after the Sovereign granted his rebuke. The serpent then went to work. Closing the remaining distance to Silvanius in mere moments yet remaining at a ten meters distance from her position. With a wicked smile the High Priest stood waiting. If the apprentice’s departure could be used to sever the bond that was held between herself and her absent master then Silas would see it through.

[Emic Lai]

Luce stepped outside onto the balcony, calling down to the Kings below. “We’ve been redeployed to the Reach. Pack it up!”

Emic rose to her feet, stretching her arms free of the stiffness of standing in one place too long. “You heard the lieutenant, rally on the Quiet!” Within moments, the Kings were in flight, sailing away from the cultists, who now had to stand on their own against those who would kidnap the ex-Jedi.

[Varn Badaash]

The large Dashade marched along leading the troop and Jedi towards their destination. He’d walked this valley a dozen times now over the last week waiting for the rest of the team and knew the most discreet path to the temple. They were about half way there when Padawan Bolner approached the Ranger Captain.

“You are right the mountain would provide the most discreet path but it’s also leave us defenseless if…” the Dashade’s words fell off as soon as the Padawan dropped. Quickly he raised the signal for the rest of the Rangers to form a defensive perimeter and took a knee next to Adar.

Varn waited for his Jedi companion to recover and listened carefully to what he had felt. “This makes thing complicated and definitely means we don’t have the luxury of the climb.” The Ranger rose back to his feet. “We’ll need to move carefully, Rangers, keep perimeter, we have unknown threats in the area and the enemy seems to be aware we are coming.” Varn himself reached back and unhooked his rifle from its maglock. “Keep those senses of yours on alert,” he spoke once again to Adar. “With the thickness of the foliage here you might be our only warning.”