STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Holocron

"Hard to be stealthy when there are shardiks around..." Rianna comments.

"Your welcome captain," Xavier says to him while walking around the beasts.

"What can you tell us about these natives?"

"They're savage and deadly," the Captain says, "though no match for the likes of you, it seems! Maybe you could strike a contract with the Governor to wipe 'em out, make this world safer for us..."

"Er," Rand says, "that's... not the Jedi way."

"Whatever," the Captain says.

"I know much of their culture," Useld says. "I have studied it extensively. They are not simple savages."

He picks up one of their guns- rough and ugly pieces of equipment, but certainly hi-tech.

"They made these," Useld says, running a hand along the barrel.

Xavier walks over to examine it, "Yes these are not simple barbarians. What can you tell us about them Useld?"

"The natives call themselves the Nokros-An," Useld says, still examining the needle gun. "They have been here for a very long time. Longer than the ruins that dot the planet. They have a simple language, no writing system or alphabet, though they do have numbers. They weren't always a warrior people... but if my theories are correct, the Jedi and the Sith fought here once. I do not know which side they joined, but it prompted them to become fighters. The colony has been here for some time and their warrior ways were rekindled then."

"So the ruins are not theirs?" Rand asks.

"No," Useld says. "The ruins were built by the Jedi, or the Republic. Possibly with help from the Nokros-An."

"Well, that would probably explain how you found a lightsaber there..." Rianna comments. "So what happened to the Jedi that were here?"

"I don't know," says Useld. "From what I can tell, they made base here. An outpost."

"I do not recall hearing anything of this," Rand says. "Do you? Xavier? Rianna?"

Neither of you do. It must have been a rather unimportant chapter of Jedi history.

"Not a clue," Rianna says, shrugging. "Couldn't have been that big of a deal, I guess."

"Hmm," Rand says. "How do you know these things, Useld?"

"Some of the ruins I found were equipped with security systems typically found in military outposts of that era," Useld says. "That does not explain why the Jedi were here, though. Do you agree?"

Rand nods, reluctantly. "The Jedi were stretched thin at that time, having suffered many casualties in the Wars. Vorkuta must have had some importance."

"Maybe what we came here for is more important than we realize," Galder pipes up.

"Maybe, but if this place was important, why wouldn't any of us had known before?" Rianna asks. "Unless whatever importance there was they wanted to keep hidden."

"The Council does have their secrets," Rand snarls bitterly.

"Zeiton was just one," Galder says. "Why not Vorkuta?"

"Hardly comparable," Rand says. "But I understand your meaning."

"Huh?" Useld says.

"Yes, that I'm aware of..." Rianna responds to Rand.

"Nothing. Long story, Jedi stuff, hard to explain," she says to Useld.

"Maybe another time," Useld says. "I can only imagine what stories a Jedi could tell."

"Indeed," Rand says.

The Captain has squished a homing beacon into one of the shardik and returns now. The Lieutenant is syncing up a datapad to the homing beacon, so they can find it later.

"We are going to head back to the colony," the Captain says. "Anyone joining us?"

"We've got more stuff to do out here in the jungle..." Rianna says.

Xavier continues to talk with Useld, "Useld do you know if any has ever talked to the natives, or are they completely secluded from the world?"

"I figured," the Captain says, Rianna. "Thanks for your help, anyway. We'll see you back in the colony!"

"No," Useld says. "They keep to themselves unless provoked."

"How did you sneak past them to get to the ruins?

"What provoked them, then? It certainly wasn't us, unless they see us as simply being here as reason to attack."

"One man is harder to find than many," Useld says, "and we weren't exactly subtle here, were we?

"Being here is reason enough," Useld says. "That and we just killed a family of shardiks and a variety of other wildlife."

"It's one of the reasons hunting is so dangerous on Vorkuta," the Lieutenant adds. "If the wildlife doesn't kill you, the natives might."

"Lovely. I've always hated jungles..." Rianna mutters quietly.