T'Aqol | Chapter 6: Contact

Chapter 6: Contact

We began prepping for hyperspace as we began to pinpoint the location of the distress signal. Everyone was to go to their battlestations upon entering hyperspace, we had no idea what to expect with this distress signal. Searching through Republic missions and records we were able to see some files that showed some useful information. It seemed that the Grand Army of The Republic sent out multiple groups of clones all over the galaxy shortly after the first battle of Geonosis. It was possible that this distress signal could be one of them, but that was nearly a year ago when they would've been sent out. This signal could have been active this whole time, maybe whoever activated wasn't even alive anymore.
It didn't take long before we reached the planet, we came out of hyperspace, there were no visible ships or fighters surrounding the planet. The signal was still active, the crewman was able to pinpoint the exact location on the planet. Master Ryx decided that he, Chūsei and I would go down to investigate. We made our way to the hangar as our fighters were prepared for takeoff.
Master Ryx led the way in his fighter down to the planet, Chūsei scanned for any possible lifesigns as we got closer,
"Master, I'm picking up ten lifesigns near the distress signal. Should we still proceed as is or alter our course?"
Master Ryx replied,
"My boys, I have strong beliefs that these lifesigns are not hostile. If it happens to be that they may be enemies to us then we will cross that bridge when we reach it."
We continued and landed a short distance away from the distress signal. This planet was covered in very thick forests, the large trees surrounding us almost dwarved our fighters. The signal was just ahead through the tree line, we had landed in a clearing close by. Master Ryx led us while carrying the scanner showing the position, as we got closer we could hear some talking. The trees started to thin and we were able to see what looked like a crashed ship. It looked incredibly old, and was stripped for parts and repurposed into what looked like living quarters.
Stopping just before the tree line we began looking to see if we could see anyone, we weren't able to hear voices anymore. The scanner still showed the lifesigns, but they seemed to be all over, and their positions were changing rapidly. Master Ryx whispered to us,
"It seems our scanner may have been jammed, and that whoever is here knows about our presence."
Right as he finished speaking we heard voice speak out,
"Hey! You seem to be invading our home, we don't get many visitors here. Why don't you walk out from the trees slowly and show us who you are, no sudden movements or reaching for weapons. We've got you well surrounded, and from the looks of it you've got no clue where any of us may be."
Master Ryx nodded to us and began walking slowly, holding his hands out so they could see he meant no harm. Chūsei and I followed and did the same. Master Ryx began to speak,
"We are here because our ship picked up a distress signal from this planet. What makes that more interesting is that it was a Republic distress signal. I am Jedi Master Ryx Orsossk-"
Before Master Ryx could finish talking he was interrupted,
"Wait a second, wait a second! First, how is that signal still active? That thing has been going since we crashed here. Second, you're telling me that it was actually heard, and that the Republic is here to finally save us?"
Master Ryx paused for a second, it seemed he was trying to contain some laughter,
"If I say yes will you come out and show us who we are saving?"
He chuckled nervously as he finished speaking. There was a slight pause, no sound seemed to come from the trees. Then the voice spoke again,
"Well boys, come on out, looks like we're getting outta here!"
We stood and waited to see what would come from the trees. It was quite the sight to see and hear ten clone troopers drop out of trees or come out of plain sight from being camouflaged. They really did blend in with the surroundings. These clones were different though, I was able to tell immediately. Their armor was different. They seemed to have altered it to survive in the wilderness. Lots of camouflage, extra armor plates made from their ship, custom blasters with makeshift attachments. Things they needed to do in order to survive. As they slowly gathered around us one of them came up from the group, he had a very unique, but simple appearance to his armor. Heavily camouflaged, he had a heavily modified helmet. Similar to Ox's with the top heavy plate, but his visor was separated into two separate lenses rather than one T shaped visor. He had a small shoulder cape as well attached to a heavy shoulder plate. He also carried a large staff that seemed to be customized,
"Well sirs, my name is Thumper, and these are my boys. Gator, Clamshell, Crackers, Sweet Tooth, Turtle, Walnut, Wolf and Snails. We are what survived this crash roughly a year ago. We were sent out here to establish a Republic command post, as you can see we obviously were unable to complete our mission."
Chūsei and I looked over the clones standing around us. They were all so diverse and seemed like separate individuals. The clones we usually were with had the exact same armor and markings. Master Ryx spoke again,
"Well Thumper, if you'd like you could repurpose yourself and your men and accompany us on our Venator. The Republic sent us to the Outer Rim to expand and find new allies, we have a battalion of our own, but we've got enough room for ten more."
Thumper looked at the rest of the clones and then back at Master Ryx,
"Sir, we'd be honored to reestablish our duty and join back with you."
He put his arm out, and Master Ryx grabbed his and they shook, this would be the start of one of our greatest and most elite clone squads during our time in the Outer Rim.
They gathered what little belongings they had, mostly just custom weapons and explosives. We called down a LAAT from the Venator and filled them in on the situation. As the clones were finished packing up the LAAT landed and they boarded. Master Ryx, Chūsei and I went back to our fighters and followed behind. As we landed in the main hangar we were greeted by Trex and the rest of the officers of 224th. We introduced Thumper and his men to them,
"Commander, it's an honor to be under your command. It's an honor to all of us to finally fight again."
Trex and Thumper shook hands, two brave leaders uniting their men, even if one only had a fraction of the other. They were given a living quarters and shown around the Venator. Thumper and his men wouldn't become a part of the 224th itself, but would be a part of special operations. Aboard the Venator among the clones was a group of Mandalorians that ran advanced training. They were once members of the Cuy'val Dar, training the first wave of clones for the first battle of Geonosis. They led the specialized division, which before Thumper and his men only consisted of the Mandalorians and a four man squad called Nightmare Squad. Four highly skilled and insanely deadly clones, trained in ARC and RC programs.
Over the next few weeks Thumper and his men trained with the Mandalorians. Combining Republic tactical training with their almost guerilla warfare style techniques. Very similar to ARC trooper training, being able to perform normal missions perfectly while using techniques and tactics that would be more different. Thinking outside the box, being able to adapt to your surroundings. These few weeks passing Master Ryx was given a separate mission to go on. He insisted he had to go alone and would return in after roughly a month. We had no idea what kind of mission he could be going on that would require him to go alone. As he was about to depart he warned us about other possible encounters with Carnage. He gave us an emergency distress beacon we could use incase we encountered him and needed his help.
During this time without Master Ryx we had a transmission come through, it was asking us to check on a listening post that had been set up out here. It hadn't responded in some time now according to the transmission. We set our course to the planet, called Norsis X.
We arrived in the system after a few days of hyperspace travel. We started scanning for lifesigns and for any electromagnetic activity that could be coming from the outpost. Scans showed some lifesigns but it was scattered, seemed to be some sort of life inhabiting the planet. As far as the activity of the outpost, it showed no power signals or electromagnetic waves. Thumper called for Chūsei and I to meet him in the hangar bay to set out. As Chūsei and I arrived we noticed Thumper in formation with his men. We both approached him at the same time, Chūsei spoke as we approached,
"Thumper, are you and your men going to be joining us?"
Thumper snapped to attention,
"Sir yes sir, the boys and I wanted to prove ourselves. What better way than being the main protectors for the Jedi? You can call us Guerilla Squad from now on. A branch of the Specialized Division."
As he finished speaking the rest of Guerilla Squad stood at attention and saluted as well. Chūsei spoke again,
"Well, shall we gear up for our mission then?"
"Sir yes sir!"
All the clones quickly fell out of formation and scattered to gather their gear. A few days ago a personal ship I had requested arrived, a ship similar to the Havoc Marauder, the personal ship of Clone Force 99. I called it The Gargoyle, I would later allow Guerilla Squad to customize it to their liking as we would frequently use this ship together.
We quickly loaded up onto The Gargoyle and departed from the venator down to the planet. The new ship flew very well, and in no time we were touching down on the planet. As we landed Guerilla Squad was already forming up to exit the ship. Right as we opened the hatch Thumper stood and spoke,
"Sirs, we'll be the first off always. We'll make sure the area is clear before you come out."
Chūsei and I nodded and he turned around to face the exit. Without missing a beat they quickly exited the ship and secured the perimeter of the ship. It was quite an impressive scene to witness, being around these clones made me feel incredibly safe. They had my back just as much as I had theirs. Chūsei and I exited once they said the area was clear. As we stepped onto land we began searching for the listening post. Chūsei performed another scan for any electromagnetic activity, still nothing. We attempted to pull up any possible coordinates for the last known check in. Searching through some data we were able to find rough coordinates, it was about a hundred yards away. It didn't take very long before we were able to see the base. There appeared to be no power on, and vegetation was beginning to take over the outside walls. After searching the perimeter we were able to find the entrance. It became obvious that there was no power, we began to think of a way to get inside. Before we could process any ideas Sweet Tooth spoke up,
"Don't worry sirs, I've got this taken care of."
He quickly pulled a thermal detonator off of his bandolier, at first I was concerned but what he did next was quite impressive. Using some makeshift connector cord he was able to use the powercell from the detonator to open the door and let us all in. While entering he spoke,
"You learn to use everything you've got to its full potential when you're stranded for almost a year."
We all chuckled and continued walking down the main hall. It was very dark even though it was midday still, no emergency lights were on. Getting this outpost up and running again was our main priority, we began searching for the main control room. It took some searching but we were able to find a room with a terminal in it that Sweet Tooth could access. He began working on getting the power back on, but it would take some time.
Ten minutes or so went by and slowly lights and generators were coming back to life. The intense silence was taken over by electrical hums, as well as loud and fast footsteps. Guerilla Squad quickly secured the area and prepared for whatever was making its way towards us. To our surprise it was six frantic clone troopers,
"What are you doing?! Turn it off! Turn it off!"
Everyone snapped their heads towards Sweet Tooth,
"What? Why? It's-"
Before he could finish what he was saying the clone interrupted,
"Just do it!"
Sweet Tooth quickly began shutting down the power, but was confused and frustrated. Thumper was just as confused,
"Trooper, why is this listening post shutdown? We were sent here to see what was going on and told that there hadn't been any signals sent from here recently."
Right away the clone began to ramble,
"W- w- w- w- we had no choice! This planet inhabits a race of large beetle-like creatures that feed off of electromagnetic waves. They came for the outpost in massive groups, feeding off the electricity. They killed all the other clones that were stationed here when we attempted to push them back. All that is left is us six. I'm Captain Kimble, the rest of the survivors here are Pubs, Gain, Byte, Data and reboot."
Chūsei spoke up after Kimble finished,
"So it's safe to say those creatures will be here any minute now? Even if the power was on for just a bit?"
Kimble sighed,
"Unfortunately yes, if you have a ship here I would recommend telling anyone back on it to get airborne to avoid the creatures."
Gator quickly told the pilot on The Gargoyle to get out of here for now and that we'd radio them when we were ready to escape. It became obvious we weren't going to get out of here right away when we started hearing the creatures. They were running into the walls outside trying to get in. Guerilla Squad started to come up with a plan to get us out of here. They knew that if The Gargoyle were to land to pick us up it would have to be close enough for us to run to. However we had to avoid the creatures. The beetle-like creatures had hard armored exoskeletons that were highly resistant to blaster fire. Clamshell, Crackers, Walnut, Dillo, Snails and Turtle would keep them at a distance with their Z6's. The fire rate of the rotary canons would be enough to barely overwhelm the creatures. While the heavies held them off, Sweet Tooth would take them out with explosives in order to open up our escape to the ship.
We felt as confident as we could about the plan, so we radioed to our pilot to meet us behind the outpost in five minutes to allow us to fend off the creatures. As we left Kimble turned the power back on to help distract the creatures from the ship when it would arrive. With the power back on we were able to run straight out without dealing with the door again. Right away the heavies spooled up their Z6's and started blasting the creatures near the exit. The other clones put down fire as best as they could, Sweet Tooth searched for a good opening to make for when the ship arrived. He was able to see an area not as occupied to the left of the exit,
"Boys! Let the heavies keep the main force off us, while they do that keep this area clear!"
He then threw a detonator in the middle of the main group, the explosion took out two of the five there. The heavies were able to push the remaining three off while they fled, redirecting their fire. Chūsei and I did our best to defend the clones, not letting the creatures break through the blaster fire. Our sabers did some damage to them, but the exoskeleton was incredibly durable. Our sabers seemed to only burn the outside. It took many hits to get through their armor, it more annoyed them than hurt them. The blaster fire reacted similarly, each blaster bolt fizzled away as it connected with the creatures. Multiple shots in the same area would quickly harm the creatures though.
Eventually we saw The Gargoyle begin to land behind us, the creatures didn't seem to take their attention off the base's power. Using this opportunity, Kimble and the other survivors quickly ran to the ship. Following behind was all of Guerilla Squad besides the heavies and Sweet Tooth. Chūsei yelled out,
"Sweet Tooth! Get yourself and these clones back to the ship! Break off one by one, Tak and I will cover you!"
Sweet Tooth hesitated at first, but responded,
"Alright sirs! If you get overwhelmed just call out!"
Him and Walnut broke off and made their way to The Gargoyle. Another opening was made and Crackers was able to run, then Clamshell and Turtle both broke off, the rest slowly followed behind as they could. Chūsei and I being the last ones we force pushed the remaining group of creatures away so we could escape. It was quite easy since they focused mainly on the listening post. We were barely on The Gargoyle when it took off.
Making our way back to the venator we made sure to contact Trex and the other officers to meet for debriefing. Once we landed we made our way to the bridge with Guerilla Squad, along with Kimble and the survivors. As we entered we were greeted by salutes. After gathering around the holotable Kimble began to explain the reasoning behind the radio silence from their listening post. It was a quick agreement that we destroy the base, preventing it from falling into CIS hands. As debriefing was dismissed we took some time to show Kimble and his men around the venator. It became apparent that these clones were highly skilled in technology and engineering. Chūsei and I spoke to the Mandalorians about having them become a squad in the specialized branch. They agreed, focusing on their skills and improving them, while teaching them some useful fighting skills.
Kimble and his men quickly decided on their name, Tech Force, upon becoming a group under the Mandalorians. They eventually would hold their own technology courses for clones who wished to specialize in those skills. Our new mission to destroy the base would start the next day. Chūsei and I called Tech Force and Guerilla Squad to the hangar to board The Gargoyle once again. The ship departed from the venator and we landed back on the planet. This time it was much easier to navigate now that we knew the exact location. Guerilla Squad was first off, then Tech Force. Chūsei and I would guard the rear, as we exited the pilot took off and would pick us up once we were ready.
Approaching the base we surprisingly saw no creatures, but the power seemed to still be on. As we neared the entrance I saw a dark figure in the doorway. At first I wasn't sure if it was the figure I had seen before, but then Chūsei seemed to see it as well. The clones could see it too, so it was something different. The shadowy figure seemed to morph and turn into four different shapes. They came closer, out of the darkness, and we saw the symbol. Four more Children of Carnage, somehow on this planet. One of them spoke,
"Foolish Jedi, you make it too obvious. We know you are here for the secrets in the temple."
Chūsei and I looked at each other, both of us equally as confused. Chūsei replied,
"We have no idea what you're talking about, but if it's true that there is a temple here we aren't going to allow you to enter it."
He ignited his saber, I quickly ignited mine after him, followed by the four crimson sabers of the Children. We could hear Guerilla Squad ready their blasters as well. We heard Thumper whisper to Kimble,
"We'll keep them off of you, as soon as there is an opening Sweet Tooth will get you in there to wipe the files and blow this place."
Kimble nodded, the Children lept towards us with incredible speed. I easily blocked the first hit towards me, it was difficult to keep up with two opponents wielding sabers. The blaster fire from Guerilla Squad was what kept me alive in that battle. While the two Children I faced were distracted by reflecting the blaster fire I made quick attacks where I could. Their attacks were just as heavy as the other Children we fought, they seemed more experienced than the previous ones we fought. They managed to get a few hits on me, nothing serious but it threw me off. There was so much going on around me, but I had to maintain focus. The duel did not go on very long, I was able to take down one of the Children on me with some very well timed strikes. I cut them down and continued to battle with the second. Chūsei seemed to be returning the heavy blows he was receiving from his opponents. At one point I looked over as he ran his saber through one of them. When I looked back over the remaining Child had fled, as did the remaining one by Chūsei.
Immediately we launched the beacon that Master Ryx had given us. Maybe Carnage wasn't here, but who knew if he would show up, or how many more Children of Carnage there may be. We just hoped Master would arrive, better to be safe than sorry. During that time we didn't even notice Sweet Tooth and Tech Force enter the listening post, they came out shortly after the two Children fled,
"Sirs, the outpost is good to go. Data is wiped and charges are placed."
Thumper nodded,
"Excellent work boys. Kimble, did you and your boys know of this temple that they spoke of?
They all looked at each other and Kimble replied,
"We had seen what looked like an ancient monument, or in this case an ancient temple. I'm pretty positive that's what they were talking about. We can head there now, it isn't too far out from the listening post."
Everyone quickly regathered themselves and we set out in a hurry. Everyone was double timing to get there before any of the Children could. As we came up on it Kimble called out letting us know we were close. It was hard to see at first due to all the vines and vegetation covering it. It was covered in ancient runes and symbols, but we were able to tell it was a Jedi temple at one point. I told the clones to stay out here, Chūsei and I would enter and explore it. I warned them we weren't certain of what we would see or find, but they could try to contact us over comms if they encountered the Children. Everyone nodded as they set up a perimeter. Chūsei and I slowly entered the temple and made our way into the darkness. It seemed like we were walking forever, I went to turn towards Chūsei and I noticed I was alone. I froze, my eyes started to search for the light from the exit. All I could see was darkness, endless darkness. I heard a voice come from behind me,
"T'Aqol."
I turned to see a dark figure, even in the darkness its silhouette still stood out. It walked closer to me and I was able to make out the figure. It was the same figure I had seen on Hoth and Tatooine. The same robes and hood that draped over their metal mask. In the visor of the mask I could see myself reflecting from it. This was the closest I had ever been to the figure, this time I could see two sabers attached to his waist. He spoke again,
"I sense great strength in you, strength not yet tapped into. You do not allow yourself to act on your warrior instincts. Such potential, waiting to be used. Why do you not allow yourself to use such strength?"
I found myself speaking, but I was not moving my mouth, as if my thoughts were being spoken out loud for me,
"I seek to resolve conflict without violence. If fighting is my only option then I do not rely on anger to do so. I am a Tusken, but I am also a Jedi. I will not allow my warrior instincts to blind my path and steer me away from the Jedi code."
The shadowy figure laughed,
"Ah, so sad. So very sad, blinded by the foolish ways of the Jedi. You do not understand what power you hold inside you. I can help you learn new ways to use that power, become stronger than you already are."
I didn't want to listen to his words anymore,
"I don't need your ways to be strong, I will not allow myself to fall to the dark side, my will is strong. I do not rely on hate or anger to be powerful, and that makes me stronger than you'll ever be."
He laughed again, but this time his laughter echoed and boomed off the nonexistent walls,
"T'Aqol, you have no clue just how foolish you really are. My power knows no limits, my powers are endless!"
A huge burst of lightning shot from his fingertips. I raised my hands to reflect the lightning, I tried to push it back using the force. It became too much, I quickly moved out of the way to dodge the remaining lightning. I turned to see him ignite his sabers, one red and one purple. I was confused whether he was Sith or not. Just as he began to charge at me I suddenly found myself being grabbed by Chūsei. We were suddenly back in the temple where we had entered. He tried to speak to me but I was distracted by the sound of blaster fire. I quickly got to my feet and ran outside.
The Children of Carnage we had encountered earlier had returned, but there were two more Children with them. As we jumped in to help, the clones killed one of them, firing directly into their chest. We engaged with the others and began dueling. We fought them off for a while, we thought we would be able to take them together with the clones assistance. Suddenly, we felt a great darkness, we looked beyond the Children and could see Carnage approaching the battle. He ignited his saber, the blaster fire seemed to bend around him as he grew closer. Lunging at us, Chūsei and I each took a hit from his saber. We dodged crimson sabers from every direction, there were no chances for us to attack. They seemed to be deflecting the blaster fire as well, nothing was going to stop them.
I wasn't ready to give up, but I knew it was inevitable that this would be our end. The clones were losing morale, and most of the blaster fire was being returned back at them. Just as we thought we were done for, we heard two more sabers ignite. Master Ryx appeared from the trees and quickly jumped into the battle. Carnage and the Children were caught off guard, Master Ryx quickly cut through one of the Children. While they were surprised, Chūsei and I picked ourselves back up and attacked. With the combined blaster fire and the attacks from our sabers we quickly took out the other Child. While Chūsei and I went for the remaining Child I heard Master Ryx call out,
"TAK!"
I turned to see Carnage, before I could deflect any attack I felt his saber run through my shoulder. I stood there shocked, all I could do was look down at my shoulder, the crimson saber humming and crackling loudly. Carnage quickly removed his saber, as I was falling to the ground I saw Master Ryx's lightsabers flurry and spin towards Carnage. The last thing I saw from the battle was Ryx destroying Carnage's saber
I woke up about ten minutes later when the ship had landed. They loaded me onto The Gargoyle as quickly as possible. Master made his way back to his fighter where he had landed. I slipped in and out of consciousness before finally waking up in the medbay. I awoke to see everyone from the mission, along with Commander Trex. It seemed we were holding debrief here, it seemed weird at first but it made sense, many of us were injured in the battle. I heard Master Ryx speak to Trex,
"It's great to be back with you again Trex. I'm pleased to inform you my mission went smoothly, I was done just in time to help out these fine men."
He looked towards Guerilla Squad and Tech Force, the clones saluted and Chūsei bowed. Trex then directed his attention to us,
"And your mission? I have seen no sign of the destruction of the listening-"
Right as he was about to finish, Sweet Tooth scrambled through his belt pouches and his bandolier. He then pulled out a remote and promptly pressed the button on it. The rest of Guerilla Squad was trying and failing to hold in their giggling as a crewman radioed in over comms,
"Commander Trex, we've detected multiple explosions on the surface, the outpost is completely gone."
Trex turned his head slowly back to Sweet Tooth,
"I stand corrected, congratulations on a successful mission troopers. Debrief is dismissed."
Trex exited the medbay. As our wounds were being tended to one of the medical officers entered and saluted,
"Sirs, we've found some interesting information during your visit in the medbay. While checking Tech Force and Guerilla Squad for wounds we discovered all of Guerilla Squad had the same scar on the side of their head. But no other clones have these scars."
From the next room over we could hear Thumper yell out before the medical officer could continue,
"We know exactly what you're talking about! While we were stranded we removed them ourselves! We weren't sure what they were but we didn't think we needed them!"
We were confused what Thumper meant, the medical officer went into the other room,
"Thumper, what do you mean? What exactly did you remove?"
Thumper paused for a moment, it seemed he thought all clones knew about it,
"They were like some sort of weird implant or a growth or something. They looked exactly the same in all ten of us though, so maybe it could be something genetic?
Wondering what these could be I asked the medical officer to run a test on what it may be. He said it would take some time but they could do it. About three days later we were called into the medical bay. I was still healing from my injury, it would be a few more days before I could begin training again. As we entered one of the medical officers greeted us,
"Sirs, it seems this implant is some sort of organic chip. Maybe it's something the Kaminoans implemented? Or maybe it's just some genetic flaw? We can have them all removed since it seems useless, just a safety measure in case it is something serious."
Master Ryx, Chūsei and I agreed, every clone currently onboard the venator would undergo a mandatory medical exam to have this possible flaw removed. Any future clone to board this venator would also be expected to undergo the medical exam.
Later that day I was heading to my quarters to get some sleep after some physical therapy. As I was about to enter my room Master Ryx stopped me,
"Tak, I wanted to tell you I'm so happy you're alright. Your recovery shows just how strong you are, and your will to better yourself and not let this be held over your head. You have no idea how proud I am of the Jedi you are becoming."
I thanked him and said if it weren't for my wrappings he would see me smiling. I asked him what happened to Carnage and the remaining Child,
"After you fell I quickly engaged with Carnage, I was able to overwhelm him and destroy his lightsaber in the process. Him and his final Child fled before being able to cause further damage."
I was shocked Master was able to overwhelm a Sith Lord in that way, it was probably the strongest I had ever seen him in combat. I thanked him for arriving and saving us, he spoke,
"Tak, you are an incredible Jedi, I know with your mind and strength combined you can overcome any obstacle or opponent. I want you to know though, there isn't always going to be that chance to call for me when you need help. You'll have to realize you're strong enough to fight without me. I'm not always going to be around to help you and Chūsei, I know you're strong enough to handle situations on your own. Someday you'll be stronger than me, I guarantee that."
I was happy to hear that he believed so strongly in me, and was proud of how far I've come. I thanked him for being my Master and that I wouldn't be who I was today without him. He gave me a hug before he went on his way. After entering my room I meditated briefly before I went to sleep. While I meditated I wondered if Master could still sense the future like Master Dyas could. Was he just preparing me for something he had seen coming in the future?