[Odan-Urr] Knights of Allusis - Mission 1 - “War Games”

Welcome to the first mission in the Knights of Allusis continuous run on. Each month will have a new mission with a new thread and sub-competition.

This month’s mission is “War Games,” a large scale military exercise with the K.U.D.F.

General Ground Rules:

1. No Out-of-Universe Profanity. Star Wars has its own curse words; use them.
2. No Nudity or Pornographic post content; any such posts will be removed and reported.
3. Post count is minimum 250 words; no top or bottom post count limits. Clusters of Ice will be awarded based on the Voice guidelines. The monthly competition will be judged based on quality of writing, story development, number of posts, and post length.
4. You cannot post consecutively; get a friend involved, or encourage another.
5. This month’s mission is supposed to be a military exercise so there injuries should be minimal and deaths are to be avoided. That being said accidents do happen. It goes without saying not to kill or maim anyone else’s character without their permission.
6. Try to avoid curve-balls; you’re not going to round a corner and run into Muz Ashen, or find the ghost of Jango Fett. Use what you’ve got.

Mission Specific Rules of Engagement:

1. Both the Red and Blue teams are comprised of squad and platoon sized elements from all the units of the K.U.D.F. This means that your character can lead a small element of any unit, for example Jedi on both sides could have squads of Wookie berserkers from “The Chosen.” Keep in mind that established NPCs (such as unit commanders) can only be in one place and on one side so keep track of what has transpired in the run-on before you introduce an established NPC.

2. This a military exercise, so your units will be using non-lethal munitions (stun blasters, lightsabers on training setting, etc.), any fire support will be simulated. That being said, training accidents do happen. It goes without saying, don’t maim or kill anyone’s character without their permission.

3. There will be “reinforcements” throughout the exercise, so if you wish to join after the start of the run-on please let Turel know and he’ll work with you on inserting your character into the story.

4. Above all this is for fun, character development and training for future Brotherhood competitions.

5. If you have any questions contact Turel or Edgar.

Have fun and create a great story!

LAAT/i on approach to 1st AAC Training Area
Central Mountain Region, Owyhyee, New Tython
24 Hours to Mission Start

“So how long is this little field trip supposed to last anyway?” Edgar inquired.

Turel answered his friends’ question without breaking eye contact with his own datapad. “A few weeks, maybe less.”

“Well I hope we get supply runs with certain ‘comfort items’ if you know what I mean.” Edgar nudged Turel on the shoulder. “Eh, eh.”

The Knight-Commander remained unphased and focused on his datapad. “I’ll have a bottle of the finest Corellian ale waiting on us.” Turel paused long enough for Edgar’s eyes to light up. “When we capture the red team’s flag and not before.”

A familiar deep voice emanated from the back of the shuttle, “Make that two bottles, and they’d better go ahead and put them on ice. This won’t take long.” The Titan of New Tython rose to his feet and moved to the front of the shuttle with a slight grin on his face.

“Now that’s the spirit!” Edgar exclaimed as the rest of the team chuckled.

The LAAT/i crew chief came in over the intercom, “30 seconds to landing.” The shuttle came to a smooth landing within a small outpost located in a lush, forested valley. The base itself was a standard small outpost, large fabricated walls, guard towers evenly spaced with crew served weapons positions, an entrance gate and hardened structures containing command, billeting and logistical areas. The shuttle was met on the landing pad by Quaestor Liam, Aedile A’lora and V’yr Vorsa.

Liam was the first to greet the team as they exited the shuttle. “Welcome to Outpost Alpha. The barracks are those set of buildings on along the eastern wall. Go ahead and off load your equipment, the briefing starts in one hour in the hanger.” The elderly quaestor gestured toward the single hanger on the north side of the base.

Inside Hangar One
Outpost Alpha, 1st AAC Training Area, Owyhyee, New Tython
22 Hours to Mission Start

As time ticked closer to the scheduled briefing time, the Jedi of the Knights of Allusis and the ranking K.U.D.F. officers of the units assigned to blue team filed into the hanger. The center of the hanger was filled with a holoprojection of the 1st AAC training area, which encompassed the valley Outpost Alpha was in and several hundred square kilometers of forest and mountainous terrain. The holoprojection displayed the location of outpost Alpha along with the assigned defensive positions of various units around the valley. The projection also included notional intelligence of possible locations for the opposing red team. At the end of the hanger opposite the entrance stood a Torgruta female in traditional jedi attire, standing next to an older Bothan in a crisp military uniform. The two were instantly recognizable to anyone in the room as Aedile A’lora of the Odanites and Colonel Caer Dall’ra of the K.U.D.F.

A’lora eyed the various officers and Jedi entering the hangar, mentally checking off a list of all the unit representatives that were supposed to attend the briefing. Once the Aedile was satisfied all the required attendees were present she began the briefing. “If everyone would please move where they can see the projection.” She paused for a moment while the various representatives in the hangar shuffled around. “Excellent. Welcome to our first major exercise of the K.U.D.F. since the liberation, Operation Crucible. As you all know this is a force on force exercise designed to validate units platoon and below and train new leaders. You are the blue team, many of your unit mates are assigned to the red team. This is by design, so neither side has an inherent advantage based on unit capabilities.”

The projection zoomed in on Outpost Alpha and A’lora continued, “Your mission is to defend Outpost Alpha and your flag located on the roof of the commander center. Your secondary objective is to locate the red team’s base of operations and capture their flag or their commander.”

Lu’aisha Gresee raised her hand to ask a question. A’lora stopped to acknowledge the Padawan’s question, “Who is the red team commander?”

“You will have to piece that together using intelligence you collect from the battlefield.” Nearly the entire room nodded with understanding. “Senior Jedi General V’yr Vorsa will serve as the blue team commander." The Neti Jedi raised her hand, though everyone in the room knew who she was. A’lora continued, “The red team will operate out of a hasty rallying point and will simulate a One Sith or Brotherhood invasion. Liam, Colonel Dall’ra and myself will serve as the external evaluators, validating the subunits of both teams. You will receive fragmentary orders as the exercise progresses. If there are no questions on your mission for the exercise, Colonel Dall’ra will brief you on the rules of engagement. Colonel.”

The veteran Bothan soldier stepped forward, “As my esteemed Jedi colleague has noted, this is a training exercise, at no time should your blasters or lightsabers be taken off the stun setting. You have been issued explosive simulators which I have been told will leave a brightly colored, yet biodegradable paint to simulate a blast area. It will wash off after a fixed period of time. Because we are simulating a Sith invasion, Jedi on Jedi engagements are encouraged, I will let the Jedi commanders cover those rules in greater depth.” The Bothan produced a remote and pressed a button. A floating probe-type droid appeared from behind him. “This is an observer-controller droid. They are out of play. Solari and Nathan Decarius were kind enough to assist us in putting these together. These droids will record and relay major engagements to the observer controller command center located outside the training area. They are capable of audio and holo projection. If an observer controller says you are dead or an engagement went a certain way, please follow their instructions. This is training, do not let egos stifle the training value of this exercise.”

The Bothan Colonel glared at the Jedi side of the room for a moment before continuing, “if you are detained by the opposing force you will be taken to a hasty holding area where your team will have a chance to rescue you. If you are notionally killed in the exercise you will be transported from the battlefield to a staging area and possibly reintroduced to the exercise as ‘reinforcements.’ The exercise will end when one side captures the other’s flag or commander. Are there any questions on the rules of engagement?”

A’lora stepped forward again, “One final note on Jedi vs Jedi engagements. We want this training to be realistic, but don’t kill each other. Lightsabers on the training setting and standard sparring rules apply. If you are beaten and a controller says you are out, swallow your pride and play by the rules. We are all professionals here. Also, don’t injure the non-Force users with wanton use of your powers.”

Turel raised his hand and waited for A’lora to acknowledge him, “So, if I were to gather enough of that paint substance and rig up a paint bomb with…”

A’lora cut him off mid-sentence, “I know where you’re going with this and the answer is no. No paint bombs, paint booby traps or whatever variation of paint based explosive you’re thinking of.”

“But if it’s just paint-”

“No!”

“Way to take the fun out of it.”

“Just use the ordinance you were issued, ok? This is a military exercise not some elaborate prank.”

Turel nodded in reluctant agreement, suddenly remembering why it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Though if this were a real Sith invasion he’d be pulling out every dirty, dishonorable, guerilla tactic in the book if it meant survival and victory.

Undaunted A’lora moved to conclude the briefing, “If there are no further questions I leave it to Vorsa to give out the Jedi unit assignments and remaining orders. The exercise begins in exactly 22 hours, use that time to link up with your units and establish defensive positions.” The Aedile dismissed the briefing and the participants scattered to begin preparations.

Red Team staging area
1st AAC Training Area, Owyhyee, New Tython

“You aren’t paying me enough to live in a cave for weeks on end.” Izanami Kurai noted with extreme dissatisfaction with her new surroundings.

Three human male figures in robes followed the Cathar pirate into the cave that formed the base of operations for Red Team. The entire group stopped for a moment to observe the flurry of activity as soldiers off loaded and set up complex communication equipment inside the cave. One of the robed male figures, a young man with black and purple robes and matching purple hair took a more optimistic tone regarding the situation, “I don’t think we’ll be spending much time here anyway, we snag the blue flag and this will be over before you know it.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate our opponents just yet, Jason.” Sanguinius Tsucyra remarked coldly as he studied a map display hastily mounted on the cave wall, the metal on his dark armor reflecting the bright colors from the monitor.

Liam Torun emerged from within the cave to greet the new arrivals, “Welcome to the Red team’s base. I assume you’ve been briefed on the rules of engagement?”

Adeodatus nodded at the Quaestor’s inquiry, “Yes we have, though our forces here seem a bit light compared to what we are going up against.”

“You will get a steady stream of reinforcements as the exercise progresses. This is meant to simulate a Sith invasion. The forces you have at the onset are the advanced guard. Use them wisely.”

Izanami smiled, “oh we will. You’ll get your credit’s worth, I assure you of that.”

Liam stroked his beard for a moment. “Good to hear. Remember this is supposed to be training, let’s make it a good one.”

Inside Hangar One
Outpost Alpha, 1st AAC Training Area, Owyhyee, New Tython
21 Hours to Mission Start

“Oh, you sneaky…” Edgar commented as Vorsa pointed at one of the sectors in the training grounds.

“You’re seriously considering this?” Turel added with no small amount of surprise “It’s bold and it’ll leave you open like a gutted Mynock, but I like it.” he finished. Vorsa’s eyebrow rose on that remark, not sure if that was a good thing or not.

“Hah! Didn’ I tell you she’s a badass?! Didn’ I?” Major Sarat said cheerfully, slapping one of his men on the back. He had requested to be on Blue Team. No questions asked and no “no’s” for an answer. Vorsa allowed herself a shy smile at the Major’s remark.

“This plan, however “badass” it may appear to be, is still nowhere near a complete victory. Remember who we are facing. This enemy has the same tactics as we do, knows the same tricks. We must outsmart ourselves before outsmarting the enemy.”

“We need new tricks.” Turel added, matter-of-factly.

“Yes. And you absolutely do not have my permission to use any dirty trick in your book. Especially that one trick you did in Purity Rock.” Vorsa ordered, almost giggling at the thought of Turel reigning utter chaos on Red team.

“Think on the move. Improvise. Outsmart them. Jedi, keep close watch on your military subordinates, they will need help against the toughest Red team can throw at them. Soldiers, watch your sectors, keep them clear and cover each other. Always on the move.” she ordered “If you see a Foxtrot Uniform, report it immediately. Two double clicks on the comms will do if you cannot speak.”

All the commanders nodded in unison “Make no mistake, gentlemen. This may be an exercise but it’s total war out there. Don’t worry about your comrades on the other side. As long as you keep your rifles on stun, they won’t be seriously hurt. Give them hell just as you would another Thuron or any other Sith. Any questions?” she finally finished.

Most of the commanders were already jittery, itching for a fight. Vorsa’s short speech gave them even more incentive. No hands were raised, no questions asked, only action would suffice. “Get to your positions and prepare for war. Dismissed!” as one all of them saluted, even some of the younger Jedi, and exited the room leaving only Turel, Edgar and Vorsa.

“Charming.” Edgar spoke first. “Rousing, intentionally aggressive…but charming.”

“I gave it my best. Or at least I tried.” she exhaled, bending over the holotable with maps, strategic waypoints, assets and enemy positions dotted about.

“So, I can make something with all that paint.” Turel asked, puzzled.

Vorsa giggled “What I meant, my dear Turel, is that we could use some form of distraction to capture their attention. Not an actual colorful thermal detonator…or worse.”

“Mesa thinka sumtin’.” he replied, imitating their Gungan comrade, Kah Manet. While he and Edgar laughed, Vorsa seemed too distracted to notice his nod to their former Rollmaster. “What’s bugging you, V’yr?”

At the mention of her name she turned to face her young protege. Her expression was mixed, so much so Turel could not decipher her emotions.

“Nothing. I’m just -” she said biting her lower lip, as if to prevent something from spilling out. It wasn’t the time. “It’s nothing. Go, get to your posts. I still have more units to coordinate and I need to meditate for a while.” she said turning to the holotable again. Turel and Edgar knew better than to prod at the issue. When the time can - if it came - Vorsa would tell them on her own, and there’s nothing they could do about it at a time like this. With an informal salute both men exited the war room, their boots leaving an echo from the hallway.

Red Team Staging
21 hours until Mission Start

Izanami looked around the cave at her cohort, slightly offended that only three other people were there. Sang was part of her crew and someone she’d worked with and against in their sordid history, but he was capable. Jason and Adeodatus were wild cards. She’d never heard of them or seen them in past. The Cathar checked her equipment almost idly, ensuring that none of her actual rounds were loaded into her slugthrowers. She watched as the ancient Quaestor left the cave, leaving them to their own devices.

She moved to sit quietly on a large rock near the entrance of their makeshift cave. “Sang, go see how far back this cave goes. If there’s an opening they can get into from behind us, close it off. Any means necessary, you understand. Just make sure I don’t have things falling on me.”

The man shook his head and stalked off muttering, “Why did I agree to work with her again?”

She watched him leave with a slight grin. She loved needling the human almost as much as she loved fine wines, boarding parties and other things she’d grown accustomed to since she left Odan-Urr so many years ago.

She looked at her sabers and grunted. “Training setting? They won’t learn properly if it’s just on the training setting. Let’s crank it up a bit. Pain is a wonderful motivating force.”

“Hunter,” she called softly. “See if you can field strip some of these excess rounds and make low-level explosives from them. There aren’t enough of us to leave people behind to watch the flag, so we’ll simply fix that problem.”

The Warden looked at her, confusion clear on his face. “That’s against the rules of this engagement.”

The pirate simply smirked at the man. “Do you expect your enemies to play by the rules? I don’t and neither should you. All those rules they set out to make sure we understood? Break them. The only thing we won’t do is maim or kill. Hurt them. Humiliate them. Otherwise, how will those sorry sacks learn how to become better? You’re running with a pirate, kid. Get used to the idea that I don’t do rules.”

Jason and Adeodatus looked at each other warily. Izanami looked at them coldly and snapped at them. “You were given a job, now do it!”

Hunter took a step back and began rummaging through the gear storage. “Adeodatus, help him.”

As the man moved to help his cohort, the pirate looked out of the mouth of the cave. She surveyed the terrain just outside of it, a light forest and hills. Not ideal, but she could work with that. “I wish Kairus and the others were here. It would make this even more fun.”

“Captain!”

Izanami looked over her shoulder and saw Sang approaching. “Yes?” she responded.

“The cave ends in a sheer wall as far as I can tell.” Sang glanced over at the diligently working Jason and Adeodatus. “What are they doing?”

“Breaking the rules. How uncouth of them, don’t you agree, Sanguinius?” the Cathar said with a smirk.

“Of course, Captain. We’ll have to punish them once this is all over.”

The Peacekeeper nodded absently, dismissing the conversation almost immediately. “Won’t be long now, Tsucyra. Soon this tiny forest will explode with activity. Just us against a whole mess of Jedi and soldiers.”

“Worried, Captain?” the human asked, needling the cathar in return for earlier.

“Worried? Me? How hard can this be?”

Sang shook his head and laughed. “Where have I heard that before?”

From just outside the cave, Izanami heard the sound of slightly labored breathing. “We have a late comer, I think. Kel Dor by the sounds of it.”

Sa approached the entrance of the cave, his voice gravelly and his basic very accented. “I’ve come to see Izanami. Where can I find her?”

The pirate laughed lightly, her tone amused and more than a little quirky. “I’m right here, Knight. Come to cast your lot with us, I take it?”

The Kel Dor nodded once. “If you will take me, I think I would find great happiness in being a thorn for Turel.”

Izanami and Sang looked at each other for a moment, eyebrows raised. “Well, I didn’t see anything against it. Tweaking Turel’s nose with one of his own with us? That is just too rich! Welcome, Sa!”

The Kel Dor nodded once again and moved into the cave. “What can I do?”

The Cathar shrugged. “Whatever you like for now. We still have a little while before things get more interesting.”

Red Team Staging
21 hours until Mission Start

Nodding to the teams leader the only male alien so far turned around and walked back out the caves
entrance to act as some form of watch while the others set up what needs to be done before the fun starts. Taking a glance of the area his team is in Sa noticed the cave is in a decent size hill that is
surrounded by forest. Sa slowly took of his outer clock and threw away lazily onto a rock thinking it is going to get into the way.

To kill some time the Knight started to fling some stones up at some passing by birds through the use of the force. Izanami the only other alien and team leader came out of the cave and stood by watching Sa flinging stones. Noticing him hitting some birds with the stones she thought now would be a good time to interrupt him for a bit.

“Report anything out there?”

“Yes there is, there is birds out there and who knows what else is out there. Oh yeah no sign of the
enemy team.”

Not seeing the nod from the female cathar, Sa went back to tossing stones only for after a while the
lone female started to throw some stones too. Between the two force users it turned into a competition of seeing who would hit the most birds. Sang looked out the caves entrance only to shake his head when
he noticed what the two local aliens was doing.

After a while of throwing some stones at the birds not knowing who was ahead the two heard a loud pop
coming from behind them. Both running back into the cave with Sa activating his purple bladed lightsaber. Once in the cave they noticed that Sang and Adeodatus was bent over laughing while Jason
face was covered in black soot with a shock looking face.

“What happened in here guys?”

“I am not sure one second Jason and I was working on setting some of the ammo to be explosives and then one Jason was working on went pop.” Adeodatus responded

Jason took the sleeve of his robes and wiped as much soot off of his face. Wiping the soot off of his made
everyone started to laugh even harder. Asking what was even funnier then his blacken face and he was told that he is missing one and a half of his eyebrows. After the good laugh the kel dor went back out
side to continue watch until it was time for this training mission to start.

1.5 km outside Outpost Alpha
1st AAC Training Area, Owyhyee, New Tython
Zero Hour

“Look alive, we could receive contact any point after zero hour!” Shar’Nin Lac’Til barked at his men. The gruff commander of 1st Platoon of the Tanduran and Dac Unified Commandos was a native son of New Tython. Raised a farmer, he joined the militia to fight the Brotherhood invasion in 35 ABY and accepted a commission in the K.U.D.F. Shar had been with the Tanduran and Dac Unified Commandos, commonly known as “T(he) DUC(k)s”, ever since. The Ducks saw action against Thuron Monarchy forces in the liberation of Dac and Menat Ombo.

Most of Shar’s men in 1st Platoon were hardened veterans of the war against the Thuron Monarchy. Within the Ducks each of the four platoons specialized in a different form of irregular warfare. 1st Platoon were the experts in wooded environments making them uniquely suited for the forests which dominated the exercise area. Despite the expertise of his platoon, Shar recognized the value in training exercises such as this. Also, 1st Platoon’s rivals in 2nd Platoon were on the Red Team. Shar hoped they’d run into their 2nd Platoon brethren so he could knock his friend Arkols down a peg or two.

Turel chaffed in his borrowed camouflaged ranger armor, he was unaccustomed to wearing that much gear. Woodland warfare was not his forte, so the Knight was more than happy to let Shar take the lead. Vorsa had suggested that he go with 1st Platoon to get outside of his comfort zone. This was training for Turel as much as it was for the soldiers. The Knight-Commander struggled to stay alert and reach out with the Force to sense enemy positions, but his thoughts kept wondering back to his briefing with Vorsa. Something was deeply troubling his mentor and Turel couldn’t help but worry himself. She was more than his predecessor, the Neti Seer was like a spiritual mother to Turel. Vorsa usually exhibited such calm, anything that broke that calm had to be serious. He tried to banish the thought from his mind, there was nothing he could do now.

The Platoon came upon a large pond and Shar give the hand signal to halt and pull security while he and Turel consulted the map of the area. With their objective rally point secure, Shar and Turel began planning the particulars of their area reconnaissance mission. Commando teams would disperse from the central point in a classic fan pattern to recon the area. A squad would be held in reserve to react to any contact.

Everything was going well so except…Turel felt a very peculiar, yet familiar shift in the Force, “Hold up Shar, someone is approaching.”

Shar, Turel and Shar’s Mon Calamari radio operator began visually scanning their surroundings. Before any of them knew what was going on a grey blur swooped down from a nearby tree knocking Shar and his radio operator aside. Turel had sensed the attack coming but was unable to move fast enough to avoid his unknown assailant. The Knight found himself on his back with two familiar femur knives firmly pressed against his throat and a very intense looking Gungan on his chest.

“Kah!” Turel struggled to speak with the knives at his throat. “You’re supposed to be on my team.” The Gungan ranger maintained a very unnerving unblinking eye contact with his former apprentice.

The sound of a squad’s worth of blaster rifles trained on him caused Kah to stand up. He quickly sheathed his femur knives and extended a hand to help Turel up. “Yousa very very loud. Missa taught yousa bombad than da.”

The Knight Commander felt very much like a Padawan again, “That you did Master. Why are you here?”

“Vorsa sent missa to scout ahead and help yousa out.”

Shar stepped forward, relieved he wasn’t going to have to subdue a rouge Gungan, “I’ll take it, did you happen to see anything on your way here master Jedi?” Kah moved closer to examine the map on the datapad and report what he saw.

War Room, NSD Fey’lya’s Last Stand
Geostationary Orbit above AAC Training Grounds, New Tython
Zero hour

A’lora stood in front of the map display which showed a series of red and blue dots dispersed throughout the training area. The long-serving Aedile was stepping down but agreed to stay on to help run this exercise. Also, it gave Mirus one last chance to go out and get his hands dirty before assuming the Aedile duties himself. Zero hour had arrived and units were scattered across the map searching for one another. It was only a matter of time now until the first engagement.

Liam entered the war room, his traditional brown Jedi robes seeming very out of place in a high tech command center. “What’s the status of the exercise?”

A’lora zoomed the map out to show the entire training area, “Both teams are in position and executing missions, Blue team is tasked with identifying and capturing the Red Commander while defending Outpost Alpha. Red Team is tasked with seizing Outpost Alpha by any means necessary. Within the rules of engagement of course.”

The elderly Quaestor nodded, “So Vorsa and blue team have no idea we hired Izanami to serve as Red Commander?”

“No clue. We were very careful to protect that information.”

“Though should make for a very nice surprise later on.”

“I was just about to send the first wave of reinforcements for Red Team.”

“Go ahead, and let me know when the shooting starts. This should provide us with some great feedback on our defensive battle plans.”

Lu`aisha Gresee, a female Padawan stood before the gate of Outpost Alpha, the entry of Blue Team headquarters. She had not received an order from the Leader of the Blue Team yet regarding this particular exercise mission as she had seen group by group assigned in different directions after the briefing. The female Jedi looked at her mini datapad and found no alert of receiving order. She wondered if she was finally assigned as the guard of the blue flag.

The Padawan was about to walk to the nearby forest for a patrol until a call from her fellow member of Knight of Allusis halt her.

“Lu`,” Edgar, the Sergeant of Knight of Allusis said,” We received some orders.”

“I don’t think…,” Lu`aisha instantly looked at her datapad. It was blinking, gave the Padawan an alert of receiving a message.

“We are supposed to work in a team and go to the specific coordinate,” Edgar pointed at the datapad,” Let’s go!”

“Yeah, you’re right, Edgar. But wait. You said that we were supposed to work in a team? Where are the other soldiers?” Lu`aisha asked.

“That team means you and I. Now, let’s go!” Edgar ran to the south, entering the darkish forest.

Lu`aisha quickly put her mini datapad into a standby mode, securing it on to her right arm under her sleeve, and ran after her Sergeant. The way Edgar chose to go was not an easy road, thus she should jump and duck several times along her run. After twenty minutes run, they stopped at a point in the middle of the forest.

Jedi Knight Edgar Drachen, the Sergeant of Knight of Allusis looked at a big tree before him. He observed quietly as if there was a message behind the tree. Lu`aisha grabbed her mini datapad, and switched on the torch mode. The area was bright instantly.

“Switch it off! You’ve made our spot as a direct target!” Edgar ordered in a whisper.

Lu`aisha quickly turned off the torch mode and approached Edgar quietly.
“Sorry, I made a silly action. We are still in our perimeter, why do we act like we are in stealth mode?” the Padawan said in a low voice.

“Our intel did not make his way to deliver the message. This was the last spot we could identify. He mentioned about veg. We interpreted as a message behind the vegetation.” Edgar explained, still in a whisper.

“We should use Force Sight then…this place is quite darkish,” Lu`aisha replied in a very soft tone.

They both stood still quietly, their eyes closed for a moment to reach the subsequent connection to the Force. When they opened their eyes, their sight would try to trace something that was not able to see with such plain vision. They hoped that the Force would guide them to find the objective.
“Nothing on this tree…,” Edgar whispered.

Lu`aisha shifted her sight on left of the tree. The grass was not in common natural shape of growth. She squatted and took a deep breath, trying to render if the grass was formed to send a message.

“Edgar,” Lu`aisha summoned in a whisper,” I think we got something interesting here.”

“Grass cipher?” Edgar asked.

“Sort of…” the Padawan scanned the grass with her mini datapad and quickly processed the decipherment.

“We only got the letter “C”, “A”, “V”, and “E”. and this side… we only got “I", and “Z”. The last letter was corrupted. Someone or something perhaps has ruined the last shape of the grass," Lu`aisha explained.

“Send it to this address: BL01SRN, hope Turel will see it,” Edgar ordered.

“Done,” the female Jedi replied.

“Now, we should go to the HQ as soon as possible,” Edgar said, ready to have another run.

“It’s not that easy, my friend,” a man spoke, “I am afraid your journey will end here.”

The two members of Knight of Allusis were surprised. There was another sentient in the forest other than them, and he was apparently not civil.

“Who are you?” Edgar asked.

The man did not answer; instead he switched on his weapon that looked like a lightsaber. Both Knight of Allusis members instantly switched on their lightsaber, but that event triggered a series of the sound of cocked weapons.

“We have intruders here, Gresee,” Edgar concluded.