Quite a Conundrum [Open]

"...Master? Master...?"

That voice... Ah, he'd recognise that voice anywhere. It was faint, almost distant, but the metallic grating was unmistakeable. Again Nox heard it, this time seemingly much clearer and closer. There was... a haze, a darkness, clouding his vision, that he only noticed when it began to subside. He opened his eyes, and for a moment had to remind himself that the reason everything was so faintly tinted a darker shade than normal was because he was viewing it from behind his mask.

"Nnngh..." With his consciousness came a sudden stabbing pain in the side of his head. He raised a hand to clutch at it and slumped backwards in his seat.

"Master! Oh, thank goodness you're alright!" That voice again.

"Toovee?" He turned his head to look around, and found his protocol droid, 2V-R8, standing over him, reached out as if he'd been trying to shake him awake. Another glance around reminded him of his surroundings - the cockpit of his ship. For some reason, he couldn't quite remember where he'd been going...

"You've been unresponsive for some time, Master," Toovee droned. Nox blinked.

"Unresponsive? What happened to me?"

"I'm not entirely sure. We were en route to Korriban, so that you could continue consolidating Darth Thanaton's holdings. When we made the hyperspace jump away from Dromund Kaas, an unusually bright light filled the cockpit, enough to overload my photoreceptors for a time. When I regained my sight, we were back in realspace, and everyone else was... gone."

Again, Nox blinked. Beneath his mask, a look of confusion crossed his face. He swivelled in his chair and unsteadily got to his feet, still fending off that pounding headache. Come to think of it... Toovee was right. Xalek, Zash, Ashara... at the very least, he ought to be able to sense their presences in the Force. Yet he felt nothing.

"I found you unconscious," Toovee continued. "I tried to rouse you, but you wouldn't come to until now, so I took the liberty of landing us on this planetoid." Nox turned sharply to look at the droid, a motion which Toovee apparently judged as angry. "Please don't deactivate me, Master."

Nox's gaze lingered on the droid for a few long seconds, before he turned again. He walked towards the front of the cockpit to peer outside through the viewports, and what he saw confused him further.

"Where are we?"

"I do not know. Initial topographical scans have been inconclusive, but there are signs of civilisation."

"And what of the others?"

"Even more confusing. They could not possibly have exited the ship, not while we were still in transit in deep space. It's as if they simply vanished."

Nox's brow furrowed. He and his droid were alone, on an unfamiliar planet, and every other member of his crew had somehow disappeared - all in the wake of some kind of event in the depths of space. None of this made the faintest bit of sense. "What should we do, Master?"

"I'm still deciding that..." Nox dropped himself back into his seat and sighed, swivelling forward to continue gazing out through the viewports. Had his hyperdrive somehow malfunctioned, and dropped him somewhere other than his destination? Unlikely; he knew he'd plotted a correct course to Korriban. And even if that were the case, it wouldn't begin to explain the disappearance of his crew... There was nothing else for it. He'd have to investigate this the old-fashioned way.

"Is the atmosphere breathable?"

"Yes, Master."

"Alright." He rose from his seat, his posture much firmer and more assured. The headache seemed to have subsided. "I'm going out there to take a look around and orient myself. While I'm gone, I want you to run a full topographical scan of the area and cross-reference it against every geographical survey you can access, Imperial and Republic. Get me a damage report as well, just in case."

"Yes, Master!" As usual, Toovee audibly perked up at the sound of new orders. "Please take care." Sparing just a nod of acknowledgement for the droid, Nox turned to pace from the cockpit and towards the airlock. Along the way, he patted himself down to check that everything on his utility belt was as it should be. Thankfully, he found that everything was in order, including his lightsaber. Not that it was entirely necessary - he had total trust in his strength in the Force - but as his dealings with Lord Paladius had taught him, it always paid to keep a more visceral tool to defend oneself.

He tapped a well-practiced command into the keypad beside the outer door, and as it slid open before him, the landing ramp began to descend with the usual mechanical hissing. It touched down against the rocky ground beneath the ship with a dull bump, and only when it had come to a stop did Nox step onto it and disembark from the ship. At the bottom, he took another look around. Toovee had put the ship down on the floor of what appeared to be a large ravine. Fortunate, and very clever on the droid's part; there were only so many landing zones one could use to hide a ship as big as the Fury. That being said, they surely hadn't gone unnoticed. With that in mind, Nox pulled his comlink from his belt and raised it to his mouth as he began pacing from the ship.

"Toovee, raise the landing ramp and lock the ship down. Contact me if there's any sign of someone or something coming to investigate."

"Understood, Master." The comlink only made the metallic crackling of the droid's voice more pronounced. The familiar hissing sound of the ramp retracting into the hull of the ship signaled compliance with Nox's order, and with his ship rendered about as safe as he could expect it to be, he continued on his way. In the distance, he could see what looked like a natural path leading out of the ravine...