So NV RPG Epilogue: Vanguard of a New Era (conclusion)

"Well done, Kal." axia says turning her attention to the droid-treee-thing. "Hello there, my name is Axia."

 

The mouse droid beeps a few times, and on the screen, it says, "I am glad you are well."

 

Axia smiles. "Thank you. Why dont you continue with your story Kal?"

 

"Once my friend here was mobile and could talk" he gestures to the mouse droid, "the time passed a bit more quickly. In fact, you have him to thank for some of the repairs I've already done. Apparently, part of the Jedi Master Tech's knowledge is combined with the droid brain and the primary housing."

The mouse droid beeps. The screen says "His Holocron."

"Yeah, that thing," Kal continues. "So, with his help, I was able to fix some systems, but not all. Days passed. Everyone seems to be breathing and to be fine, just unconsious. After a couple more days, Axia, you started convulsing. You looked like you were going to choke yourself on your seat straps, so I unhooked you and lay you down. The convulsing would come and go. After about several hours of this, the blue lighting came back with a vengeance. It arced through the whole brige, and I saw smoke rising from people, like they were being burned from the inside out. I sent him away," he looks at the mouse droid "because I didn't want to get fried. Then, Axia, you started to convulse again, but this time combined with the lightning. I tried to help you, but it was hard to even touch you. You started to bleed, and then it seemed like your vitals were going. That's when I ran out to get the syringe. I figured I would try anything rather than lose someone on this ship. I guess it worked."

"After that, it seemed like the blue lightning stopped, and people started to come to. That brings us to being here, in this room. Our ship barely has power, we have no hyperspace capability, many of our defenses and offenses are down, our comm is mostly fried... but the good news is we are alive, have rations for a few weeks, and we are actually, as best as I can figure, back in known space. Towards the edge, but back.


So, what happened from your perpective?"

 

"I'm curious, from your perspective I may have been having an unconscious seisure. What makes you think more was going on?" Axia asks

 

bumpity

 

I wasn't sure, but where before, you were just convulsing and your vitals were kinda holding steady, now, you had this blue lighting thing going, and you seemed to be really dying. You were sort of gasping, and your breathing was becoming really shallow. You really seemed like you were going to die. Is that what you were talking about?

 

"well, you're right there was definitely more going on. Things I need time to digest before talking about them. Right now Im more concerned with the ship's condition. Your'e telling me we are dead in the water as you humans say with no way of calling for help? what about all those supplies we brought along in the cargo bay?"

 

OOG: please kindly remind your GM what, to your knowledge, is in the cargo bay.

 

Other than stasis chambers and a bacta tank I don't believe it was ever said. Just a lot of "equipment"

 

"I have searched through all the equipment, and basically, yes, we are dead in the water."


Kal gets a slightly faraway look in his eyes for a moment, then when he looks back at you, he seems different. His posture is different, the look on his face, even (you think you might be imagining this part) the set of his jaw seems different. He exudes a sort of calm determination and confidence.

"As for having no way to call for help, I'm not quite done working on that one yet," he says with a twinkle in his eye. "If you all will excuse me, I am going to go see about solving that particular problem." He gets up and walks to the door. You notice that even his walk is slightly different. Whatever happened to him this last week, he is no longer just an extraordinary tech. He pauses in the door way and looks back at you all. "After all," he says with that same twinkle and hint of a smile, "It would be a shame to deprive the galaxy of all of us, wouldn't it?" He walks out.

The 'all of us' comment leaves you all looking at each other. Truly an amazing group assembled here, you realize, ranging from the last Mandalorian to the some of the last Jedi...

 

Axia stands up shortly after Kal leaves. It's true that certain memebrs of this group are amazing but part of Axia is having trouble with one of them. The Mandalorian, the one that killed her master. If Depa had not come to Axia in spirit form and asked for her to take him Axia would have left the Mandalorian on the dying world.

Axia brushes the thought away and realizes she has very few engineering skills and would be of no use to Kal. She turns to her mother. "Mother, although I have obtained the rank of Jedi Knight I am sure there are things that you could still teach me..."

 

Bumpity and AHEM! even

 

"Yes, there probably are... a jedi never stops learning." She smiles at you.

Kal returns to the room, bearing something in his hand.

He holds it up for all of you to see, and let's it dangle from the chain it's attached to. It is an necklace made of auridium, and the pendant that is on it is the symbol of the crimson dawn.

He has a triumphant look on his face.

 

"You the leader of the Crimson Dawn now?" Axia asks with a laugh.

 

His triumphant look changes into a sort of mock incredulousness, as if he were hurt by your laughter (you know he isn't).

"Heyyy, now! That cuts deep, when jedi laugh at you... no wonder you guys aren't supposed to be all emotional..."

That last part brings out a smile from even Tira.

"Seriously, though," he continues, his face growing more somber. "Earlier you had made me the offer of becoming Kleff's co-pilot for you and your ship,"

he pauses, to let you remember.

"...and I declined, because I told you that my father told me that if I ever made it back to the known Galaxy in one piece, he wanted me to take over his business... and that I intended to do that.

You then told me that continuing the family business was a noble pursuit, and that you hoped I would prosper despite the Empire. I told you I planned on it."

Once again, Kal looks different. As if he is standing with an easy confidence- straigher, prouder, not in an arrogant way, but as if he had moved from being a boy into being a man, as if he had slipped into his destiny and it fit him like a glove.

"I didn't have to search the galaxy for my family, Axia. I had him all along. Rykel Crimson, may he finally rest in peace, was my father."

 

Axia's face grows solumn. "I apologise if my remarks inadvertently offended you or caused you pain. I would be the last one to make a flippant remark about one's family.

But In all seriousness now, does that medallion give you symbolic control of the Crimson Dawn? If so will Kurtrin honor it?"

 

"No offense taken. Rykel... I mean, my father, told me that he left an encoded message from him within the Crimson Dawn computer system. He told me this medallion would be the key to unlocking it, and that message would prove not only prove my identity, but also appoint me as his successor. He also told me that there was something else that was special about this medallion, which is why I have brought it here now. He had the best techs money could buy craft this thing..."

The medallion that he holds up is about 2 inches in diameter, and is depicts a blood red star rising over part of the partial circumference of a black planet, with the part of the planet closest to the star turning red as well.

"...and when he was here on the planet, I know he had talked with my Master Tech Jedi friend. I suspect that he had the Master Tech Jedi modify and augment this as well. Built into this medallion is a transmitter. A very, very powerful transmitter on an encrypted frequency that is monitored by my father's personal security force. If he was ever in trouble, which seemed to find him, he had this device. He would activate it, and sooner or later him people would arrive to get him. Extract him. Whatever they needed to do. It is one of the ways he has stayed alive doing what he does for so long, making the enemies that he has. The signal is designed to passively adapt and piggy back on any communications transceiver, spreading as far as it can go. If the jedi did what I think they did, this thing is now more powerful than ever."

Kal takes a moment and smiles at everyone in the room. "So, we're not dead in space in the middle of nowhere yet." He gathers the chain in his hand, and holds the device, preparing to press it.

"Well, unless anyone has any better ideas, here goes nothing..."

 

Axia puts her hands into her jacket pockets. "May the Force be with us."

 

He presses a hidden button on the amulet.

Nothing happens. You see no change in the amulet, nothing lights up, no sounds are made.


"Hmmm... well, I hope it's working," Kal Crimson says. He hangs the medallion around his neck, and tucks it into his shirt. "Now I guess it's a matter of time. We had enough food and supplies for our voyage, but I suggest we ration them out to last as long as possible, in the event that were are here for a while. Our life support and secondary systems should hold out longer than our food will, so I'm not worried about those things. Someone want to come with me to inventory our food and divide it up?"

Dyson resonds. "I will. I will be glad to have something to occupy my time."

Kastor also says "As will I. Doing something is better than doing nothing."


The three men get up and leave.

Kleff says, "I will head to the cockpit, and see if there is anything I can do there. Maybe Kal missed something when he fixed the console... or something." Kleff exits.

After everyone is gone. You are left alone with your mother. "Out of danger, but not out of the woods, mmmm?" she says to you. Something seems to be preoccupying her.

 

"Mother?... Something on your mind?"

 

"It seems like a long chapter of my life has finally ended. I have been running on a combination of stubborness, adrenaline, and a desire for revenge for so long that now... now that things seem to be over and we are just waiting for Kal's people to show up...


I suddenly feel quite old. Old, and tired, very tired. No wonder Master Yoda kept up the front that he did."

"Maybe I'll get myself a cane."

She gets a slight smile on her face like she just heard some sort of inside joke.

 

"Those feelings are to be expected. I wasnt at it nearly as long as you but I found that my journey on the dark path was exhausting as well. And if you need something...or someone to lean on. I am here.
"

 

"Thank you, Axia. I am glad you understand. Most of my life has been tough, but now that the worst seems to be over, I am looking forward to living in peace."



OOG: My next post will wrap this up. If there is anything you wish to do or say as a finish to your active participation, do it now.


IG: You mother looks at you and smiles. "You however... I am sure the Force is not done with you yet."

 

Axia's face loses all the warmth she felt while talking to her mother and she starts to look at something that is not with them in the room, something beyond the bulkheads of the crippled ship. "No mother. The force is not done with me yet. I have, I have lots to atone for."

Axia's face suddnely focuses on her mother. "I thought you said you were coming with me. Have you changed your mind?"