Still struggling, Shard catches Haarmon's question.

It's a valid question.  And from what Jalt said, that's one heck of a piece of debris to push around.  She has neither seen nor heard of anyone affecting that size of object with the Force.

And yet.  And yet.

"I would say it's a tad bit of a coincidence to just disregard as a possibility!" she cries back, still hoping to get the cursed box under control.  With her foot, not her hands.

Rhijans scowled.  "Would that chunk of debris be large enough to wreck those ships we saw downed on the asteroid?" he asked.  It was unfamiliar territory...in every way...yet instinct made him look for connections between highly unlikely events in such close proximity.

The rumor had said the ship that disappeared carried something the Republic (or what had remained of it, those who'd seceded before Palpatine declared what was left to be the Galactic Empire) had hoped might prove to be useful against the rising waves of Imperial forces.  What that might be, he couldn't imagine...he thought on small-scale, tactical terms, and didn't understand enough about the grand scale of interstellar warfare to have any notion what might swing the balance.  But something with that kind of power could, conceivably, still be operational after all this time...
This message was last edited by the player at 07:11, Thu 26 Oct 2017.

Jalt still remains at the controls, and does some quick estimates, "Easily."  Then another idea strikes him, "Or whatever was strong enough to move that could have just nudged them into a collision course with the rock.  That'd explain why there were so many wrecks down there."

"I'm going to take us out of the system, out of range.  Then I really think somebody needs to wake Kourene."

"Don't bother, I'm already awake.  What in the Void is going on?"

The Colonel is standing in the doorway, glaring pointedly at the box pinned under Shard's foot.  "And what's that thing?"

Rhijans turned with a crisp, not-military turn.  "We picked up a distress beacon and followed it into this asteroid field, which we're now leaving.  Couldn't find the particular vessel that was sending the beacon, because the signal was coming from an asteroid that was covered with wreckage, looked like multiple ships.  We had the astromech droid go out and retrieve what we thought was the transmitter..." He gestured down at the box.

"It was something else...Shard can explain it a lot better than I can...I don't know Force stuff..."  It was a credit to how far his attitude about the Force had shifted that he managed to not sound the least bit skeptical in his reference to it.

Juragga did his best to right himself, and leaning on the archway, pry himself to his feet.  He glanced to the Sith Holocron, and leaned down to pick it up... unless Shard stopped him.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgh?" he gruffed. What the hell's going on?

Pleased that the box is now under SLIGHTLY better control, Shard shoves it up against the bulkhead and pins it there.  "Juragga, I think we'd better leave this thing sitting where it is," she cautions.  "At least until we get out of here.  I think...we've gotten into it pretty deep, now."

How do they get rid of something with that kind of power, when it objects - strenuously - to its disposal?

Kourene arrives, Rhijans explains, tossing her the ball.  Shard fields it.  "It's a holocron.  A...memory unit, something the Jedi and Sith used to make.  This one seems to contain a mind.  A memory overlay, if you want to go that route.  It's Sith, it's awake, and it's void-cursed pissed off."

Her lips twist in something that isn't quite a smile.  "It gets worse, as well.  Seems it can affect the area around it, and has strong objections to disposal."  An idea comes to her, and she holds up a cautioning hand. "Let's not think about shooting it before it knows what's happening."

Potential disaster, there.

The ship lurches suddenly, as Jalt triggers the hyperdrive.  "Right, we're clear of Cadruc.  I calculated a jump that'll drop us in interstellar space, far enough from any systems that we'll be impossible to find."

"I had to do it fast, though, so hopefully we won't hit anything on the way there."

Kourene scowls, "Captain Jalt.  Can you join us, if you have a little time."

The Colonel closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb.

"I know about the Sith.  I fought alongside Jedi during the fall of the Republic, and I... I heard some really nasty stories.  I don't want that thing anywhere near Mothessh.  So, any ideas for disposing of it?  For that matter, is it safe for us to be talking about it like this?"

And then he smiles a rueful smile, "I suppose it's a bit late to be asking if it's safe."

Rhijans shrugged.  For all the fear being expressed, it was, still, just a box (to him).  How much trouble could it cause, actually, if no one opened it?

"A close fly-by of a star and jettison it like refuse...let the star's gravity and fusion do the job."  He looked around, adding, "Even if it is, somehow, strong enough to resist destruction from the gravity, heat, and fusion, how would anyone manage to retrieve it?"

Juragga hooted his support of Rhihans' idea!

"I can't think of anything that could survive falling into a sun." Khourene agrees, "Even something that's potentially been around for a long time."

He looks at the pinned container for a long moment, "The box doesn't look that old though.  Where did you find it again?"

There is another jolt, as the Bantha drops out of hyperspace, and Jalt's voice comes over the internal comms, "We should be fine here.  We're outside the system, and there's nothing bigger than a grain of dirt for at least a million kilometres in any direction."

"I'll be right there Colonel."

Rhijans explained, more carefully, "Jalt's hyperspace jump after your rescue put us at the edge of that asteroid field, and we picked up a distress beacon.  So we went looking for it.  The beacon led us to a particular asteroid that was covered with wreckage...looked like it could have been multiple ships.  The Artoo unit locked onto the signal, went out...and brought this back."  He shrugged.  "Beyond that, we don't know much..."

He gave a curt nod to himself, recalling something.  "The ship's name, on the beacon, was Phoenix Ascendant.  It sounds familiar, somehow...something I heard somewhere, about an old ship...but I don't recall any specifics."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:39, Fri 03 Nov 2017.

Khourene pales, and leans against the bulkhead.

"That's a name I've not heard in a long time."

"Twenty years, give or take."  The Colonel pushes away from the wall, and moves unsteadily to where he can take a seat.

"It was during the Clone Wars.  The Separatists got wind of something they could use to fight the Republic - a lost weapon or tool of some sort - and they put a considerable effort into searching for it.  Naturally the Republic tried to find it first.  The Republic had an advantage though - records showed that it had been placed aboard a ship about a couple of hundred years ago, to be transported to a secret location."

"That ship was Phoenix Ascendant, and somewhere on its mission it just vanished.  Following the planned course turned up no sign of it.  Everyone just assumed that the ship had exploded, or a nav error had taken it into a star, or something."

"So it's a Separatist space wizard? Politics is complicated."

Haarmon was keeping a close eye on the box too.

Juragga huffed.  He remembered those days, and said as much.  In Wookiee.

Then he suggested, warbling in a hooting tongue, that if the Rebellion had more Wookiee warriors like himself, they could stand better.  He mentions the loss of his family, and the others taken by the Empire.

Finally he deflates and adds simply that he'll do whatever he can.  No matter the cost.

Rhijans shrugged slightly at the news.  His world had been largely unaffected by the conflict between Separatists and the Republic...no strategic or economic value to speak of, so the war had been Somebody Else's Problem that only marginally impacted life in any way...aside from being the catalyst for the rise of the Empire.  That had impacted life significantly...

He'd spent enough time overhearing conversations to know that the Alliance had sprung from the last elements of the Republic...and a little mental math led to...

"Well...if this is what the Separatists were looking for, sounds like a pretty good reason to destroy it.  The Empire's already done a pretty hefty number of the Republic as it is...leaving them additional weapons to finish the job faster just seems...well...suicidal, really."

Kourene smiles, "The Separatists weren't the real enemy, as it turned out.  They were a diversion, drawing attention away from the true enemy that was growing in the heart of the Republic.  Oh, I've no doubt that they believed in themselves, but while the Republic was fighting them, the Empire grew inside the Republic."

"But you're right... this thing needs to be destroyed.  Or put were the Empire can't find it.  Preferably where nobody can."

Jalt enters the room, "The good thing is that it looks like closing the box seals the thing in, at least that's how it seems.  It was trying to do something to Haarmon, but it stopped as soon as I kicked the lid shut.  I think we're safe as long as the lid's closed."

Rhijans nodded.  "Then I say we keep it closed, and set course for a really hot star that's off the common space lanes.  Dump it when we get there and let gravity and fusion do the job for us."  He shrugged.

"Pretty sure we can keep it closed long enough to accomplish that."

"Then that's what we'll do.  Drop it where nobody will find it."

"Flis" Jalt says, "Hot star, not prone to flares, so anything we throw in won't get blown out again.  That the sort of thing you want?"

"No, not Flis." Kourene responds.  "It's an Imperial world.  Got a garrison stationed there that outnumbers the civilian population."

The Colonel ponders briefly, then, "Yakusant.  Hardly anybody in the system, and it's not usual for Imperials to go there.  And it's Tfalta Dawl's home.  She can keep an eye on things for us."

Jalt nods.  "I'll go and run the course calculations for Yakusant then.  Shouldn't take long."

As he leaves, Kourene's face falls into a thoughtful frown.  "The tricky part will be getting this thing into the star.  Any suggestions for delivering it from a safe distance?"

Rhijans shrugged.  "Strap it on a rocket or something?  Don't know if Jalt's got any kind of missile launcher on board.  I figure if we fly in as close as possible to the gravity well and eject the refuse...take a vector that sends the refuse toward the star...even if someone else happens to realize what we're doing, by the time they could get there, it would be far enough into the gravity well that they couldn't get in to retrieve it, and make it back out again."  His face quirked in something that could, maybe, be construed to be a hint of a grin.

"But nobody should have any idea that we're there, much less what we're doing."

"That... could work." the Colonel says, with a thoughtful nod.  "And I honestly don't think anybody will see us.  Jalt's a smuggler, an expert at avoiding detection.  Plus Yakusant... well, it's not exactly the Galaxy's busiest system.  The chances of our being spotted are minimal, in my opinion."

More thinking, then, "Even if the Bantha can't launch missiles, we can put the box into the trash, get close to the star and jettison the trash in that general direction, and on a vector that will carry it in.  Slower than a missile, but it should work well enough.  Plus it would look more like garbage disposal, rather than trying to hide something."

Haarmon listened and did his best to follow along. He was mildly interested in the political history of the Empire, and very interested in the ultimate fate of the box, but all the same he found his focus slipping away from him more often than not. He wasn't the most focused guy most of the time anyway, but this was different.

And then he realized something. And was worried. And that was when he realized he was toying with the idea of somehow pretending to destroy it, but really keeping it for himself, keeping it secret, keeping it safe.

And he couldn't tell if it was his own thoughts, or.... you know... not.

"The faster we're rid of it the better," he said, "Tell me how I can help."

Juragga hooted his agreement. Destroy it quickly, he urged.  The longer it remains, the greater the danger.

"Agreed" Kourene nods grimly, "We don't keep this thing hanging about.  If it can do what Shard says, then it's just too dangerous.  And we can't afford to hold onto it on the off-chance that she might be wrong."

He glances at Shard apologetically, "Not that I think you are."

"We take this thing to Yakusant and drop it into the sun.  Use a missile if we can, otherwise just momentum and gravity if we can't.  And we don't let anybody stop it from happening.  Are we clear?"

"Perfectly," Rhijans replied.  Even if I have to strap on that vac-suit again and throw it from the hull...  He didn't say it...but between his tone of voice and expression, it wasn't hard to pick up the general sentiment, if not the exact words...