STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION - Desecration

Hmm...

Galder is going to ask Rand if the Mecrossans could maybe lend him one of those stealthy probes that they use.

Other than that... Galder's going to meditate and use Dreams to see if he can sneak any peeks at what he is getting himself into by following Rand's orders.

Rand says that even if they were willing to do so, there isn't the time to get one from them. You get the feeling that he's just not willing to share anything like that with you.

With that, you retreat to the room that you've claimed to be your own, and sit down to meditate. You are not surprised when you don't see anything at first, though it can be mildly frustrating. When you drift off to sleep, though...

--

Everything is wrong. The feeling of death - it's overwhelming, choking you. No matter where you go, it's all you can feel. Death. Darkness. Wrong.

You are alone. Abandoned in this wasteland, with no options but to press on. You continue, walking across a cold plain of ash and stone.

Lightsabers clash. The sky is red, burning, on fire. You are suddenly in a dense jungle on a plateau, but all around you, fire is raining down, setting the forest alight. The death shrieks of living things surround you. At first, it is not bothersome. You deal in death yourself. You are used to such a thing.

But all around you, there are larger pockets of sudden death. You run through the burning forest towards the fortress you can see. It's not far now. As you get closer, though, you feel colder. This confuses you, but the closer you get, the colder it becomes.

You reach the fortress, and lay your hand upon the door...

The feeling of death, of evil, is overwhelming. With a flash, the burning forests and fire falling from the sky, thrown up from the mountains, are gone, and all that is left is a cold rocky wasteland. But the sense of darkness, of wrongness, the icyness that grips your heart, does not leave you.

You can sense others, suddenly. But you also sense their madness. You still press on, forcing yourself to enter the fortress. You think you see what it was you were looking for. Before you can reach it, though, it explodes with a flash of red light, and you can see no more...

--

You jolt awake, breathing fast. It's the middle of the night.

Galder shakes himself once he awakes, realizing that he has had a vision. And not a good one.

"If only I could consult Kuylen," he mutters to himself before getting up to take a walk. He thinks about taking this to Rand for the briefest second, then thinks better of it; he has someone far more powerful in his corner.

Can Galder try talking to Takuan about his vision?

It seems that most everyone is asleep; you can sense someone outside but your sense aren't finely tuned enough to tell who it is. Just that it's one of Rand's group.

Luck or the Force are on your side, though, and Takuan is awake and in the common room. He seems to be meditating lightly, but snaps out of it when you approach.

"Galder. What are you doing awake?"

"I had a vision," Galder explains. "I thought you could help me interpret it since it's not something I'm used to."

Galder will relay what he knows to the more powerful, older man.

Takuan frowns slightly as you explain what you saw.

"It sounds like you're seeing bits of what had happened in the past. There is a possibility that the disaster that scoured the planet before was not entirely natural. I would be careful," he says. He pauses for a moment. "Rand isn't sending you on this alone, is he?"

"No. Which makes me worried about that part where I'm walking alone in the wasteland. Rand is sending Rianna with me. We're also meeting a smuggler and I called up Rura."

"Yes, that is worrisome...it could mean nothing, but the Force rarely gives visions that are meaningless. Be on your guard, Galder. There's more to this than we know, it seems."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks Takuan."

Galder will head out to see who is up to no good outside the caverns, worrying that one of Rand's flunkies have decided to mess with his ship. He has a theory that one of them has been messing with it in secret.

When you step outside, you can see that there's no one near your ship.

However, a figure drops down off of a small cliff over the cavern entrance with a flash of purple.

"Oh. It's you," the person says. Between the purple lightsaber and the quiet Coruscanti accent, you recognize Rianna immediately.

Galder turns and slips one of his lightsabers out of its compartment in his arm, the red blade cutting through the dark of Arbra's night when Rianna startles him. He doesn't put it away when he realizes who it is.

"Yes, me," Galder says in his gruff Outer Rim accent. "What are you doing?"

"What I always do," she simply replies. She also keeps her lightsaber out and lit, but held away from you. "I don't sleep much, and I much prefer it out here to inside. What are you doing?"

"Sensed someone out here, thought maybe someone was messing with my ship," Galder explains. He neglects to mention the vision. "Did you do any prep for the misson?"

"Why would I mess with your ship?" Rianna asks, making a face at you. She goes to sit on a small rock outcropping. "What prep could I need to do? I know nothing of this place and Rand hasn't told me anymore than he told you."

"Hmph, alright, suit yourself," Galder says. "It always pays to be prepared. I gathered supplies for molotov cocktails and put in a call to an ally."

"I don't have any allies or contacts," she says, shrugging. "I don't use anything but my lightsaber. Just...I really don't trust Rand."

"Me neither. He's manipulative and creepy. Hence my preparations. I don't want to be unprepared for anything that he may be throwng us into."

"You don't even know the half of it..." Rianna says. She stands up and puts away her lightsaber. "I'm going to try and sleep. See you in the morning."

And with that, she disappears inside, and you're alone again. Anything else you want to do right now?

Galder watches her go, then decides that he is just going to sleep in his ship. He pops the hatch and climbs in, deactivating his lightsaber and squirreling it away in his arm.

Comfy.

With that, you wake up not long after sunrise, with the sun shining in your eyes, small birds singing in the trees, and a bit of a cramp in your neck from the position you were sleeping in. No more dreams or visions haunted your sleep.

There's a response from Rura, saying that he'll be waiting for you on Tatooine.