for soresumaster

[morally_cryptic]

[ooc: continuing from this thread]

Anakin frowns and crouches down by the device, running the fingertips of his recently re-attached prosthetic over it (he didn't bother putting the glove back on).

"I didn't mean actual cracking, Obi-Wan. But...the construction is strange. A lightsaber's overkill but some kind of blowtorch might work."

Comments

[morally_cryptic]

Anakin wrinkles his nose. He'd prefer to have his hands on a device he's working on even if he can see how that'd be problematic in this case.

"Shields are a good start. Still wish we knew were it came from..." not that knowing would change what they had to do but it might help them in neutralizing the probe's contents.

Then, "Artoo, connect in to the Temple's records and see if you can find anything similar."

[soresumaster]

"Good idea. I'll update the Council, Anakin, you get the shields up," Obi-Wan says. "Ah, and, Artoo? Start with the oldest records you can access; this thing is very old."

WOULDN'T change. oops

[morally_cryptic]

Artoo gives an affirmative beep as the droid rolls away to find a dataport to jack into and Anakin just throws Obi-Wan a salute as he moves to deal with the shielding. "Maybe Master Yoda will have some ideas."

Since he's quite old himself.

no worries

[soresumaster]

"I'll send him a personal message as well as the rest of the Council," he says. Good thinking he doesn't say, but it's entirely possible that the Force might carry the sentiment to Anakin anyway.

obi-wan you really have to quit with that habit of not saying praise when you mean it

[morally_cryptic]

[ooc: it's gonna come back to bite you]

Anakin nods distractedly as he continues setting up their equipment, keeping one mental 'eye' on the probe in case anything there changes before they're ready.

he already complimented Anakin once today isn't that enough??????

[soresumaster]

[ooc: no. it's not. it's not enough. (.-.) ]

Obi-Wan sends an update, and everything they have so far learned to the Council, marked as urgent. Though of course, hopefully, the full quarantine of the hangar would have already clued them in that something is wrong.

Hopefully.

/facepalm

[morally_cryptic]

"Okay," Anakin glances back over at Artoo but the droid is still apparently in discussions with the Archives or whatever it is droids do when it comes to this kind of research, "guess we should go ahead and get started."

They can always change tacks if Artoo or the Council suddenly show up to give advice, right?

he is Obi-Wan's Most Important Person but does he ever say so? No.

[soresumaster]

Right.

In the meantime, in cases like this 'tis better to beg forgiveness than to wait on permission.

The low tone indicating establishment of vacuum and low temperature sounds, and the probe hangs in the magnetic shields holding it away from everything else - and hopefully keeping its contents from activating.

"So." Obi-Wan frowns at it, and starts to slowly pace around. "You're more the expert than I in these matters; where should we start?" Not that he's bad at machines, but as he has often observed, Anakin has a gift.

[morally_cryptic]

Somewhere in there, Anakin had had Artoo transfer the data about the probe onto a datachip he could use with a small holoprojector so they could use it while they worked and the droid researched. He clicks it on and sets it where it can be easily seen then waves in the direction of the data. "The problem is so far we've only figured out what opens it." He pauses. "Or what started to open it, anyway. I haven't sensed any real change coming from it so I don't think we've actually begun a real activation sequence. It could be waiting for some other conditional signal...it's possible whatever mechanism controls that portion of the probe is degraded from age." But with their luck? Not so much. Not that Jedi were supposed to believe in luck.

"I think we still need a better idea of what we're looking at. Since we got it to start opening itself, we've got seams to work with on which are the weak points to remove the exterior shell. I suspect," though he could be wrong, "that doing that shouldn't activate it as long as we take care not to disturb the contents too much."

[soresumaster]

Obi-Wan nods.

"That makes sense. All right, Anakin, I'm following your lead here; do you want me to help disassemble, or do you want me guarding your back again?"

[morally_cryptic]

Anakin flashes him a smile, "you can't multitask, Master?"

[soresumaster]

"Of course I can," Obi-Wan says, affecting more affront than he actually feels. "Can you keep yourself from getting so absorbed in the mechanics that you forget to keep watch as well?"

[morally_cryptic]

"Maybe getting absorbed is keeping watch," Anakin retorts. But touché, Obi-Wan.

Though really, the distance afforded by their current method should help with that particular problem. "But...I could use your help with managing the tools."

[soresumaster]

Obi-Wan nods. "You have it."

time for things to get hairy? :)

[morally_cryptic]

Anakin smiles a more genuine and less teasing smile then and sets to work.

The mechanics of how the thing is put together are intriguing, revealing something of the minds that had built the probe in the first place. It's difficult to stay on the task of just dismantling the shell but he manages well enough right up until Artoo whistles sharply that he's found something and breaks Anakin's concentration.

The wrench and clang of a piece of the outer shell coming free and dropping to the floor more forcefully than he intended is far louder in the now-empty hangar than it would have been otherwise and Anakin winces. Forgive the rather colorful curse he mutters, Obi-Wan.

My thoughts exactly. 8D

[soresumaster]

The piece falls right through the vacuum, and right through the magnetic shields like they aren't. Even. There. Obi-Wan gets a very sudden, very bad feeling-- almost a real precognition, and he lets it roll through him, because it might be the only real warning they have that will let them survive this, because it's bad--

--moss, or something like it, vividly green, eating away at the deck and sides of the hangar bay--

--a chittering like insects--

--the vast, indomitable cityscape of Coruscant overrun with green, and fluttering, iridescent wings--

--he has his lightsaber in his hand in the next breath, reaching mentally for Anakin, for their easy synchronisation--

Re: My thoughts exactly. 8D

[morally_cryptic]

[ooc: dumb me forgot about the shields keeping it from touching the floor. oh well, it still works!]

Artoo rolls over to them, burbling simultaneous apologies along with trying to convey what he found out but too quickly for even Anakin to follow. "Slow down," Anakin says sharply, "start over." At the same time he's backing a little away from the pod and settling into that shared connection with Obi-Wan.

The droid projects another holo for them, showing an ancient rendering of a probe eerily similar to the device before them. The information is sketchy but it seems to corroborate Obi-Wan's vision.

Anakin swears once more as the probe starts unfolding itself again. The motions are still a little jerky but it's moving.

[soresumaster]

[It worked with what I was thinking of anyway, so no big. :3]

"Damn," Obi-Wan breathes, eyes quickly taking in the details of the holo. "Damn, damn--" He bites off something that would have been much worse, and gives a little shake of his head.

"I was hoping that we could keep the pieces intact for study," he says. "I am beginning to think that that would be inadvisable."

[morally_cryptic]

"I'm beginning to think I should have just suggested we pack it away into a shuttle and send it into the sun," Anakin says.

Something, Anakin realizes, has awakened. He can feel the sense of it flickering through the Force. Surely they could just smother it out here and now?

Not a very Jedi-like thing for him to think and yet...

[soresumaster]

And yet, he is not the only one thinking it; for all his dedication to the ideals of the Jedi, Obi-Wan can be ruthless and practical when the need calls, capable of drawing back and performing the cold calculus of loss and gain, of life and death and everything in between, and what it comes down to is the fact that there are billions of sentients, and trillions of other life-forms, of Coruscant, and while some could be evacuated, if the contents of the probe escaped, most would be trapped here, to be consumed and transformed, and that, he could not abide.

He doesn't glance at Anakin, only because he doesn't need to.

"I'm afraid that that would have been by far the wiser course of action," he admits.

[morally_cryptic]

They don't actually have a lot of options. There definitely isn't time now to do the 'send it off to the sun' plan. It already appears the magcon shields aren't as effective as they'd hoped so there's no moving it to anywhere else secure (and again with the not really having time). Any sort of explosion or fire here would likely just serve to help spread it in ways they couldn't predict.

Smothering it is.

Gritting his teeth, Anakin reaches out with one hand (and the Force) to squeeze out the life they'd sensed before it could gain a foothold.

[soresumaster]

Here. The thought comes with Obi-Wan's skill and power joined to Anakin's, and it hurts a little to do something like this, but he knows enough of healing, and thanks to growing up as Qui-Gon's Padawan, the Living Force, to be able to direct them--

He hopes.

[morally_cryptic]

It's a little like trying to figure out unfamiliar circuitry, trying to find the right way to bring the Force to bear even with Obi-Wan's help.

No, Anakin thinks, a more apt comparison might be trying to keep up with a rapidly morphing automated piece of malicious code. The thing was definitely aware enough, somehow, to resist going out this easily.

For a moment an image flashes in his mind of 500 Republica covered in greenery and vines creeping through Padme's apartment. His lips twist in a grimace as he reaches more deeply into the Force and draws on more power to wipe the contagion out.

[ooc: I feel like if Anakin had ever really learned how to properly harness what he had access to along with his emotions and insecurities, etc, Palpatine would've been obliterated. Probably just as well Obi-Wan's there to temper what he's pulling in though if Anakin had his way it'd probably end up a little like a rather localized supernova there in the hangar.]

[soresumaster]

And just like that, Obi-Wan shifts to focus on containment, holding it in, holding what Anakin is doing in. He, too, can feel that odd almost-awareness working to overcome--

A moment later, his breath catches, as it surges, and Obi-Wan contains it-- everything-- as hard and tight as he can, and frees Anakin to whatever he needs to do to make it stop.

[Oh yeah no fucking doubt. *sigh* We can but dream.]

[morally_cryptic]

Anakin snarls. Oh no you don't. And he clenches his fist tight and the whole world seems to fold inward a moment before that intense pressure centers on the probe and its contents trying so desperately to escape.

Explosion might have been a bad idea but an implosion that destroys the probe's mechanisms and literally smothers its payload will do well enough for the moment. When Anakin is done the hunk of metal in front of them looks nothing like the probe Obi-Wan had brought him here to see. It looks, in fact, like a solid piece of misshapen ore taking up far less volume of space than it had previously. Not one speck of material that had been removed is still lying around, presumably it's mashed in with all the rest along with a few of the tools Anakin had been using on it.

"There."

If the Force weren't still flowing so strongly through him, Anakin would likely be rather unsteady at the moment but at least for now he can stand.

"Back to that shuttle-into-the-sun idea..."