1 - A New Dawn

"What happened, is anyone there?" I fall onto my knees feeling around on the floor for anything near me to tell me where I am.

The world was dark.

And he was cold.

There had been heat before, he was sure of it. He could almost remember it, but it was so distant now. Had it only been a moment earlier? Just before the blunt pain of something crashing into his body and then the dark and the cold. It engulfed him.

Then he could see.

He knew it wasn't real, just his mind filling in the gaps left by the darkness.

But it wasn't a dream.

It was a memory.

A yell of warning and the flash of robes and blaster fire as Master Tanau lept from the carbon freeze unit into a group of clone soldiers. He caught a brief glimpse of his cloak as it billowed off of his shoulders, his lightsaber springing to life with a sharp hiss. Then nothing but a blast of white. And the darkness.

Keirso felt himself coughing, hard, his lungs apparently having lost the knack of breathing. Then, faintly and with a heralding low ringing tone, he could hear himself as well, gasping for breath.

His mind finally began to string thoughts together coherently, leaving him with a million burning questions. But one bubbled dominantly to the surface.

Where... am I?

"Guys any idea what happened Master Redarr are you around?" Kellin feels a bit better knowing that his friends are with him even though the situation is not the best. "Anyone have any idea of where we are and what happened?"

"This is definitely not good," Venzo says quietly to the group, "I've got a bad feeling about this." Venzo assumes the worst; he doesn't hear any medical droids or other similar machinery that would be used in a hospital environment, just silence and the moaning of what he assumes are his companions. Whatever happened to them, wherever they are, it couldn't be good.

"Can anyone see at all?"

Getting his bearings, he instinctively feels for his lightsaber, reassured by it's presence on his utility belt and the weight of the backpack still on his back.

Realizing it may take the others awhile to recover, Venzo cautiously probes around in the darkness, hands first, carefully feeling the floor and the space ahead of him, all the while listening intently, using all of the senses at his disposal.

"...Venzo? Kellin?"

Keirso's mind snapped back into focus, clearing as he recognized the voices of his companions. He quickly took stock of his body, moving each of his fingers and toes and reaching up to feel his face. It was all there, so far as he could tell. Cautiously he poked himself in the eye, just to make sure it was open. He flinched. It was.

"I think... I think there's something wrong with my eyes."

Keriso wiped some of the sweat from his face and blinked furiously.

"Were we... carbon frozen?"

"Does anyone know anything about carbon freezing and the side effects," Kellin says a bit paniced, "Also since we are all apparently blind can anyone sense anything with the Force?"

Davro shakes his head trying to look around and starts feeling around. "I'm really not okay with this not seeing thing. Where is everyone and where are we?"

I'm Here
Zara speaks quietly and reaches out with her mind attempting to perceive her surroundings.

Zara is very matter of fact in relaying this information to the group.

"Alright. We can't assume anything about where we are. I think if we were in a good situation though, a medical droid or someone would be helping us by now, not to mention we all seemed to have just been haphazardly strewn on the floor, which can't be a good sign either. If most people are sleeping as Zara said, then its fairly safe to assume it is nighttime."

Venzo injected one of his stimpacks, hoping the cocktail of bacta and other meds would help his vision improve more quickly. Better than nothing, he thought.

"Hey Davro, maybe you could use the force and spread some healing around? Maybe that will help with the blindness. Maybe if we give it a minute we'll be able to make out something. Anything."

Given that, Venzo wondered exactly how much of the darkness was blindness, and how much was actual darkness. With that in mind, he took out his glow rod and placed it in front of himself vertically, glow side down on the floor, then switched it on.

Maybe, just maybe, I'll see something.

Slowly, he lifted the glow rod ever so slightly to see if he could see any of the light shining on the floor.

"If I can get my vision back I can scout around the area and see what the situation is and what we need to do."

"Yeah, we were frozen Keirso. Kellin, I'm not sure going off by yourself is a good idea. Stealth, however, is a great idea."

Venzo was a natural at sneaking about, keeping footsteps silent, and minimizing his exposure to the senses of others. As such, he had a great appreciation for the advantages that could be gained using stealth. He didn't having any special skills for gaining entry like Kellin with his knack for dealing with locks and security, or Davro's computer skills, but, when it came to remaining undetected, he excelled.

"I think what we should do is stay together, and, until we know more about our situation, staying undetected is a great idea. I'd hate for anyone to get seriously injured if there's a threat, and staying together working as a team gives us a more diverse set of skills to use. Zara's got the best senses out of anyone here and will likely notice anything before the rest of us do, Kellin's good with security systems, Davro's our guy for everything tech, not to mention fixing us when we're broken, and Keirso was always good at talking his way into and out of anything. If we're talking stealth, that's something I'm pretty good at."

Venzo paused a moment, considering options.

"As far as a plan goes, first and foremost, I think we stick together. We lead with stealth. I've always been good at staying unseen and unheard, so I can go first, and I think it would be good for Zara and Kellin to stay a few meters behind, followed by Davro and Keirso. Davro's our healer, we have to keep him safe so he can fix us when we're broken; perhaps Keirso could focus on guarding our rear. If we proceed this way, I think it gives us a lot of tactical flexibility and the best chance to get the drop on any opposition we might encounter."

Wow, Venzo thought, where did that come from? I guess I actually was listening to some of Master Redarr's endless lecturing...

"Of course, a lot of that plan makes assumptions about who can and can't see. If we're lucky Davro can get all of us in working shape. What do you guys think?"

"I'm all for getting into working shape," Keirso answered, patting the lightsaber which swung comfortably at his side. "I won't be much of an anything guard if I can't see."

Keirso stood up and started to take a few cautious steps forward, sweeping the ground in front of him with his toe to detect any obstacles that might be in his way.

"Is anyone else concerned about the person being led away?" Keirso asked, his toe catching something soft which grunted in protest. "I know we're not exactly in the best shape here but 'resigned to their fate' feels awfully ominous. I mean, we are still Jedi, right? Shouldn't we help?"