Star Wars CLOSED Star Wars: Episode V: Twilight of the Force II: A Father’s Fate

IC Renn, Vhardia, and Shara
En route to Coruscant

After leaving the bridge Renn returned to his cabin, sitting and concentrating on the feeling of Bnar, stretching out his senses to be able to send him the message through the Force. He could feel it weakly in the distance so he composed the message and broadcast it to him.

*Bnar, we have been approached in a very aggressive manner by a Hutt named Jabba, saying he represented the collective clans of the Hutts. He refused to allow us to pass, instead demanding that we retrieve a separate criminal he named Ike, before he would allow us to pass to track down Han Solo. The options we had were to allow the Council to do so but give Knight Vhardia as hostage or we do so ourselves. Therefore we too are headed toward Coruscant as the intelligence he gave us was that that criminal was in the vicinity or upon that world. We were able to send BB-8 ahead to scout a way for us once we retrieve this Ike and deliver him to Jabba, although knowing the Hutts of the past Jabba will betray the agreement. The situation can be discussed further after you receive this message. Renn*

He cleared his mind again and then returned to the cargo hold just moments before Shara joined he and Vhardia. Listening to Shara discuss the data she’d retrieved about this Ike he digested it as he looked over the three images. This was going to be an interesting pursuit. He doubted their quarry could stay hidden long if he even chose to hide himself, but then again a three meter tall tree wasn’t all that usual even with Ood Bnar alive and leading the Jedi.

Vhardia listened to Shara and giggled at the third image.
“Less hermit and more like an intergalactic pop star. Dreamy!”
She pulled off her cloak and tried to avert her gaze from the abs, but they seemed to demand a lot of attention. She switched the holo emitter back to the view of the assault ship, lest she lose focus.

"I don't get this guy; he controls Black Sun, one of the most nefarious criminal groups in history, yet ekes out a life as a hermit on Nouane? Surely he could have bought a planet, or held one hostage, in the Outer Rim? Nouane is an Inner Rim world, sure, but it's not important. Was it just for the location?"

“Nouane… philosophers and libraries right? Maybe it’s a good platform for fanatics who want to get known. Or maybe he just really likes books? ... maybe they have really good parties after dark!” Vardi offered several suggestions but wasn’t particularly convinced by any of them.

"Oh, Vhardia, Master Bnar set me an alarm to make sure you keep up with your training."


A smile spread across Renn's face, ”Would you like a live training target to spar with as you train? It would give us time to think and discuss this, as well as keep skills sharp.”

Vhardia was slightly vexed by the training message, particularly the way it was relayed to her, but Renn's suggestion cheered her up immensely.

"Ohh yes! Its been too long since I had a good duel!"

She ran ahead to the cargo bay, where there was more space and an unremarkable lightsaber hilt jumped to her hand, its green blade igniting with a snap.

Renn followed her, shifting slightly, letting his bark harden, knowing it was training and most that should happen would be little touches of power when a blade hit but still preferred to keep it as he would when truly dueling someone. He was smiling as he joined her, her enthusiasm continuing the resonation that Bnar had reminded him of as he took his position.

”Been a very long time since I’ve gotten to duel. And lets me see how well I healed while I hibernated.”

Another smile and he held out his left hand. A hilt leapt from his belt and as it’s gnarled hilt nestled into his palm a deep purple blade ignited. He swung his arm in a few sweeps, getting a feel for the blade and it’s movements before he brought it up into a fencers salute to the Knight.

Dropping it he slid his left foot forward, turning his right. The blades tip rose unto the blade was vertical, tip out from his body and his right arm low to his side. ”Let’s dance, my new little friend.”

Vardi took a moment to consider, as her own stance reflected his. It was strange to think that the positions they both took had remained nearly unchanged for so many thousands of years, between Renn’s time and now.

She stepped forward and with a swing to the left, began a series of basic strikes for Renn to parry, suddenly finding herself a little shy, in awe of the strange neti who was so interested in her.

Renn grinned as she fell into the same stance as his. He watched her, waiting for her movement and his grin broadened as he saw her foot move. Sliding backward a half step, his saber hand was already in motion as her swing came in.

He felt his movements and knew he was still a little jerky in his movements, due to the long sleep and the poisons that had finally fled his body, from Anoat. Still, he managed to get his blade moved in time to block the first strike. As he parried the basic series of attacks he felt fluidity begin to return to his movements, as muscle memory took over and responded.

As the series ended he parried her blade lightly, outward to his left and then extended his arm in a thrust toward her elbow, a disabling strike. Before it could connect he pulled it back, then moved his blade toward the low line and began a series of low thrusts and sweeps. His right arm bent and for a time folded behind his back as he moved, a counterbalance of sorts to the movement of his saber arm.

He laughed as they moved, joy in the movement, thrust, and parry of training. In this there was the dance, the emotions of both as they strove to push each other, beginning with basic movements, attack, to determine the others abilities in the duel and then advancing.

Vhardia was not fooled by his feint, stepping back to give her space to move her own blade round to counter. Her confidence and spirits rose as she found her groove, and his grin was infectious.

Her movement became more agile as her steps shifted from drilled sequences to her trust in the force and she began to wonder if she could figure out a way of using the neti's height against him. She finished parrying his lower strokes, quickly crouched and swung her blade low out at his legs, probing him.

Renn laughed, happily, feet shifting quickly as they began to flow, moving through the routine. And then she changed the game, just a bit. He lifted his leg quickly as his saber swung down in a reverse arc, catching her blade just before it hit the inside of his other leg. Spinning in a circle, he kept his blade down as he spun in a circle, moving so the tie of blades was to the outside.

Laughing again, he leapt over her, his saber held outward as he flipped his body over, aiming to tag her shoulder as he passed. He landed on his feet behind her, still smiling, and snapped his saber back to a guard position.

Vhardia raised an eyebrow and grinned, sliding herself back, away from his twirl. The jump took her by surprise though, and she dodged to the side to avoid his tag, swinging around to face him again.
Renn's playfulness was drawing out her own, something she often felt she had to hold back when around the senior members of the Jedi order. She was quickly getting a better picture of him, and felt she could tease a bit more.
"You're more agile than you look, you know for a four thousand year old tree."

A huge smile split Renn’s face, seeing the matching joy in her expression, ”Age is a number if you let it be one, and I’ve just had a very long nap so I’m certainly enjoying the play, little miss cheerful.”

”And it helps to have someone who can play just as much, but I do have a surprised for you, you see I’m not left handed, or right handed for that matter.” With that he began rapidly flicking his saber back and forth between his hands until it appeared that there were two sabers.

And then he stepped forward, and the appearance became reality, as he’d palmed a second saber while he was shifting his first. The first came in as a thrust just above her abdomen and the second in a sweep across her legs, him ducking low to accomplish the dual strike.

Vardi squeaked in surprise and used a force push, not to push him away, but to push herself away from him and the two blades.
"Not fair!" she managed to gasp, feigning left and then slicing high to the right, before pulling back and thrusting forward to his chest.

Renn chuckled, knowing he’d pulled a fast one on her, as he swayed to the right, feeling the air of the passage of her saber as it flashed by his head. As he returned upright, his sabers came up in an X in front, catching her saber in the middle.

All three blades hissed and squealed as he continued the motion then his right hand saber dropped away and the left swung in an arc as he stepped to the right, deflecting her blade away from his body. The right hand one continued its drop then flashed up in a cut angled from her knee to hip.

Vardi brought her blade up to meet it, but not to parry but rather just push it away slightly.
Suddenly, she dived straight forward in the opening she had created and tried to slide herself with the force straight between his legs to swing at Renn's ankles. If it worked, she would end up on the floor, on her stomach, behind him.
It was foolish perhaps, but her curiosity as to whether she could actually do it outweighed her need to win or lose.

Renn felt his blade get pushed out of line just as he saw Vhardia’s head duck and she launch herself forward. He felt her diving through the gap between his legs and moved to block her. His legs snapped together, trying to trap her between them.

However it didn’t go exactly as planned, his heel caught hers as she flashed through, knocking his leg to the side and spinning him. Off balance, he spun and hit the mat, laughing as he fell. His sabers snapped off before he hit and before he sat up he clipped them back to his belt for a moment, which took a few tries as he was laughing so hard. ”Round two?”

Vardi turned herself over in time to see Renn tipped over and burst out laughing.
"I guess I won't be able to get away with that one again."
She pushed herself up to sit on the floor but couldn't get any further up because she was in fits of giggles, clutching her sides.
Finally she wiped away a tear on her sleeve and struggled to her feet.
"Round two but hang on.." another fit of laughter threatened to overtake her. She took some deep breaths and managed to calm herself enough to ignite her blade again. She tried a new stance this time, more defensive.
"Right, this time you start."

Renn lay on the floor as Vhardia struggled to get up. He had his own problems getting up as he too was laughing, deeply. As he regained composure, slowly, he sat up, shaking his head, not having had such fun in a very long time.

He heard her speak and looked up to see her in position again. ”Right, I start.”

Shaking his head he shifted, his form compressing to about two meters in height to take away the disparity to a degree. Doing so compressed his mass as well and he shifted here it was distributed in his body, his bark becoming denser, almost armor like. Taking out both sabers, he hefted them, deciding, smiled, then put away the one in his left hand.

The one in his right burst to life, in a salute, then dropped, blade out from his body, to his right. Taking a step forward the blade whipped up into a two handed grip, the curved, gnarled handle feeling even more comfortable in his hands now. As the handle settled into the two handed grip he slashed it down quickly drawing the blade toward him as he did, then spinning and releasing with his left hand as he did, slashing horizontally toward her back, just above her hips.

Vhardia noted his new approach, and smiled thoughtfully. She got the impression that this was Renn's most often used grip. She'd have to be careful, he would now be in his element.

He made his move and she jumped back and over his blade, swinging out to keep him away from her. She slid to the left and slashed down low at his knees.

Renn chuckled, seeing the fluidity of her movements. As she jumped over his blade he brought it down, toward his side and was glad that he did. Her blade came in low toward his right side, at his knees. Stiffening his arm he swept his saber out and before him slightly, taking the brunt of the slash against his blade.

As the sabers collided he lifted his right foot and let the tension of the two sabers colliding begin a spin. Sweeping his up and pushing again against the floor, he spun faster and as he spun back toward facing her.

As he came back around he swept his saber up and around, in a slash toward her shoulders and his lead foot snapped out in a kick toward her near knee.

Vhardia was taken aback once again by the neti's agility. She brought her saber up to meet his and got a kick in the shin for her troubles.
"Oooof. Ooww." she grumbled and slid herself back and away from him, rubbing her leg. "We're not all made of wood, you know."
She began a series of manoeuvres similar to those she had opened with in their first match, but faster and with more feeling, trying to probe Renn's defences.

Renn sensed her attacks coming in and, shifting his saber from hand to hand, he blocked each out of line as they came in. Her fast pace had him slowly stepping back a pace at a time, smelling the ozone of her blade coming closer and closer. And then, just to distract her, "Miss cheerful, ready to show Master Bnar you’ve learned a few things about dueling Neti?”

As he finished he grinned broadly, lightly blocked her next, and dropped almost flat to the floor, his saber spinning in a sweep across her hips.

Vhardia pushed forward, forward, forward. Renn parried and made it look effortless, which irritated her and her focus began to falter, even as he spoke.

She was completely unprepared for him to move so low, tall though he was. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes. Completely out of position to block, she could only watch as his purple blade stung across her hips. She snapped her blade off and held her side, rubbing it.

"Alright, you win. But I don't think it was a completely fair fight, you've got several years experience over me." She chuckled. Her annoyance at loosing was quick to dissipate. "In regards to what I have learnt: I have learnt that neti are painful to punch and give a good duel."

Tag: @Sinrebirth

 

Ka'rta
Mandalore

It was heartening to see her friend finally rise, to take her place as the leader of the people she swore to protect. Now this monster was in trouble, he had the most powerful military, even scattered, even broken unified against him. With Madelyn leading the charge, there was nothing that could stop them.

Moving up to the front of the ship taking her place as pilot, though she would easily admit that Jerrod was a better pilot.

"All ships you hear her, let's form up and go after this monster." As the fleet began to move, to mobilize against their foe something in the distance shimmered, then grew larger and larger. Ka'rta's stomach turned. She might not have been in tune with the force but she knew when something bad was coming.

"All ships evasive action now." She quickly dove her home, the only scrap of it she had left down and hopefully out of the storm that was approaching. "Everyone get clear now."

Her only hope was that fast action would save lives.

TAG: @Sinrebirth @LordTroepfchen @TheSilentInfluence

 

Han Solo
Eravana, Durace

Han cursed that the ship had made it into their open hangar. Normally he would have simply have floated the hangar and killed the boarding party, but with the falcon coming in that was probably not an option. He also saw the ship defending them against the third fighter had taken damage. „Solo to unknown ally, whoever you are get to our hangar before your life support fails. He regroup on board and probably all got a story to tell. Oh you might find a Sith has joined the party uninvited, maybe you could help us out there?“ He locked the hangar, but probably that would not take long for a lightsaber wielding force user to get by. „Xav, get the others and guard the doors. If we can‘t get help, we might need to handle that one ourselves.“ He turned on the internal comlink. „Okay, killer, one more to go. Get rid of her and we can all have a coffee and share the prize, alright?“

He pulled the ship over and if the Falcon did not come to him, he would come to the Falcon. Activating the tractor beam he would pull the ship in. No way he would leave without the Falcon.

Galen Marek
Rogue Shadow

Galen cursed silently and checked the power. Yes, it was going down. They had a problem. From his comlink the voice of the pilot of the bulk freighter came and he was not a fan of the plan, especially considering how precious his cargo was. Yet, he needed to do repairs and maybe it was indeed the force that brought him to the freighter. Or it was another trap. He was ready to accept both instead of dying, now that he was so close to actually making it.

„Huey.“ He addressed Huyang. „Take us into the ship.“ He opened a channel. „Invitation accepted, captain. I will take care of your Sith problem. Sith are my specialty.“ He said and took his lightsaber from his belt, walking past the crying child and dead body of it‘s mother towards the ramp. He prepared to open it and come out charging the second they were inside the hangar. Best he took care of the Sith quickly, before she could do any substantial damage.

Tag: @Sinrebirth, @DarkLordoftheFins, @BobaMatt

 

Mace Windu

Everything was hissing sparks and smoke as Mace Windu wheeled the ship around towards the hangar of the huge freighter, having risen up up up past her and dove down on the other side, only to roll and climb again. Alarms blared - was this ship even flight-ready? - when the comms crackled to life: "Solo to unknown ally, whoever you are get to our hangar before your life support fails. He regroup on board and probably all got a story to tell. Oh you might find a Sith has joined the party uninvited, maybe you could help us out there?" It didn't sound like this Solo realized how right he was.

And that's when Windu felt a shudder and heard new alerts - the freighter had him locked in a tractor beam and was bringing him in. All the more easy. Windu grinned, feeling the fight rise in him. He keyed the landing gear and, no longer needed in the pilot seat, went to stand by the landing ramp, ready to open it as soon as the ship put down. He lit his saber.

TAG: @Sinrebirth @Lawbreaker

 

OOC: A combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: Qwi Xux, Arb, Beaumont Kin, Jyn Erso
Location: Home One, Anaxes

It was good to get some food and drink down. Qwi took a couple of sandwiches and a drink and settled down to wait. It was a lot better than prison food and it seemed the New Republic was as good as the Empire at putting on a spread. Firenze was secure and Pascale's datapad was in her hands.

Qwi sighed as Arb and Jyn argued again. Before Qwi could intervene again Beaumont luckily brought things back on track. And it seemed they had found something regarding the Maw.

Qwi looked around to the others "The Maw is a dangerous place. Stray one parsec too far and you could end up in oblivion. Nobody knows how it was constructed, scientists are still baffled at the fact it actually exists"

She bit into her sandwich " The Imperial installation was rumoured to be the place where the Death Star was constructed. Where the best scientific minds were taken to help construct it. If Thrawn were to create a superweapon, he could do it there if the station is still intact"

"Also speaking of those routes…" she thumbed through the information on Pascale's datapad and then projected the images using the holoprojector "These are the pictures Pascale took of the ancient routes, no doubt Beaumont gave him permission" she nodded at him " But who knows if these routes are still open, or even if they exist any more…."

Arb smirked. "You have a better idea? In a galaxy in the midst of a double-infiltration, from Thrawn and these Yuuzhan Vong, don't you find it unlikely you'll invent a hidey-hole? We can't exactly head into the Unknown Regions being as Thrawn is from there... we're down to Mandalore, Nouane, and Hutt Space as non aligned states thanks to Feyna's all-encompassing New Republic, and none of them are safe anymore."

Looking from the holo-routes, Jyn fixed him with a glare. "That's Chancellor Organa to you."

"I'm sorry," Arb said,looking entirely not. "Unless Qwi wants to try our luck in Imperial Space? Where I bet at least some of Thrawn's crewers came from?" He sipped a drink as Beaumont watched. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't, because, well, Arb's personality was definitely a forceful one.

Qwi narrowed her eyes at Arb "Maybe perhaps you can drop the argumentative attitude, or perhaps I could ask the nice guards outside to escort you to the brig. See if you can have a cool down. If you cannot be constructive here, leave the room now. I'd rather listen to Beaumont rather than you as he seems to have a rather nicer attitude"

She looked at the holoprojector "We would have to rely on good old scientific know how and possibly blind luck here. I don't know if we could find any modern plans of these routes to see if they are still open to us. The Maw seems like our best bet right now, the perfect hidey hole. I just hope there are not a lot of terrors lurking in there"

She gestured to Beaumont "Take the floor, you did some research on these routes which you showed Pascale. Your voice deserves to be heard".

Sure, why not," Arb said, yielding the floor.

Beaumont stepped up,tapping through the projected screens. "Maw Nebulae, Kessel Run, Kessel Corridor Pabol Sleheyron." He pointed at the various locations, drawing a square around Kessel and pulling it up. "There's the Maw."

"This is how it appears under an amalgamation of spectrums," Beaumont shrugged. "Though there the black holes are clearly much larger than most spectrum's can define. I did feed in the routes to the data..." The historian did a bit of functionality work, and it revealed a route heading into the Maw, which split in two places before going deeper into the cluster of black holes.

"There would appear to be two stable zones that the route branches off to," he continued. "If the maths is correct and the black hole cluster is held in a state of complete equilibrium and balance, it would never change. What is true about the cluster thirty millennia ago would remain true now."

Jyn spoke up. "Why does the route split off in two but continues deeper?"

Arb narrowed an eye. Beaumont stuttered. "I couldn't say. The rest of the documents are in a very obscure dialect. Neither Gree nor Kwa... I cannot ascertain if there is a route through, which of course would be very valuable to..."he looked at Arb again. "Certain parties."

Beaumont was looking nervous around Arb, she could see it clearly on his face. She had had her talk with Arb, maybe hopefully she would get one with Beaumont before they left. Find out why Arb affected him so much…

"Fascinating" she responded "It would be amazing to see these black holes in a state of balance, to not swallow each other as it were and not affect the route itself. A route through the Maw would be very valuable to anyone, especially maybe if this war does kick off a safe route for refugees or for people to escape. Thrawn must not get this route, he could find us or block the exit routes if they do exist. The Vong could do the samet".

She nodded at Beaumont giving him a smile appreciating his knowledge and insight. She looked at Arb again "This information will not be given to smugglers, pirates or mercenaries unless it needs to be used as an emergency corridor. We need to make sure we stay hidden from prying eyes so our research can be conducted"

She looked at all of them "People are counting on us to find answers. And speaking of answers, Arb I saw you look at Beaumont there when Jyn mentioned about the route splitting in two. Anything you want to share with the class? Because we aren't going anywhere…."

Arb raised his hands. "I owe Pascale. That means keeping you safe and sound, Qwi. You're the genius who can make complete superweapons." He gestured to the route. "As to my frown... I find it a little odd that the route carries on deeper into the Maw, is all."

He tapped his chin. "Three zones? Gree and Kwa text for the first two, something else for the third... and we don't have any info on the third. I mean, nothing has ever come out the Maw, but it's just odd, to me, that there are multiple routes at all." Arb shrugged. "It's almost as if it's, well, constructed."

Beaumont spoke up. "There Is a running theory that most of the unexplained creations in the galaxy were built by an older more advanced species..."

"Oh Force please don't," Jyn said. "If it was, then so what? Whoever made it is long dead. On Yavin during the war, the Rebels used the five thousand year old Sith pyramids there as a base. They had been abandoned for something like two thousand years."

She bit into a gourd, and shrugged. "It sounds perfect to me, Qwi."

Qwi nearly chuckled but stopped herself, but she did smile. Jyn wasn't interested in the science of tales of civilizations past. She wanted cold hard facts.

She took a sip of her drink "If an ancient civilisation constructed these lanes then it would be interesting scientifically to see how they were created and even kept open. It must have taken someone with monumental knowledge to do this." She waved her hand "Ancient civilisations were more Pascale's forte than mine".

He probably would be rubbing his hands with glee upstairs…

"Now like the Unknown Regions, who knows what lurks there. Let's hope that whatever is there does not cause us trouble. I would rather not have something else to worry about. Hopefully this third zone we might find something about too, that's more your department Beaumont".

She then looked at Arb "You may owe Pascale but what concerns me is the fact that like any typical pirate, if someone offers the right price you might sell us out. As Jyn pointed out, you worked with Crimson Dawn, what's to say you won't go back if the price is right?. Plus the fact you were supposedly dead fourteen years ago. I need to know you are fully with us on our mission".

Beaumont wanted to chime in with one of the more outlandish theories that the same ancients who constructed the Maw, the Cron, and other stellar impossibilities were also the ones who constructed Centerpoint Station, and an ancient and improbably massive artefact in the Corellian system, which might pertain to her expertise as a super weapon designer -

"I can say with absolute certainty that it is essential to me that you live, Qwi. I've spent fourteen years trying to find any rhyme or reason to the events of then, and there was none. There is no maniacal genius design I can decipher. I've dedicated my entire life to fulfilling both my role and finding that Truth, but it's just chaos."

Arb released a breath, impassioned. "I've lost a lot of good friends along the way, and I've outlived a lot of enemies. I know you don't want to trust me, and I understand that." He paused. "If it helps, I'll accept whatever incarceration the New Republic suggests if you'd rather I not come."

Beaumont looked like he was bursting to say something but Qwi mouthed "later" to him. If it was about more tales of ancient civilizations Jyn would no doubt tell him to shut up. Or just simply stun him to keep him quiet.

Qwi looked back to Arb, was he being honest? Hard to tell.

"As I said we need a bit of muscle on this trip and we need someone who can handle himself if Thrawn's thugs come calling. But if I spot any hint of betrayal I will have you spaced just like that" she snapped her fingers. "I don't know what truth you are after but maybe we can find it together".

She nodded "It's settled then. We are heading into the Maw. And let's hope it's not a bumpy ride…."

Beaumont nodded reluctantly. Jyn, who had caught the exchange, mouthed ‘thank you’ to her. Arb simply nodded, and sketched a salute. “Fine by me,ma’am.”

He waved her to the table. “Now dig in; it may be awhile before we get to eat like this again!”

Qwi nodded and smiled. She had seemed to have taken on leadership of this mission, perhaps it was the Imperial and the lecturer coming back out. She felt generally nervous about the whole thing, and she would have to find a solution fast.

Because the galaxy was counting on the group to save them from total annihalation…

And this time Pascale would not be around to help.

First off though, time to feast. Before the real work began…

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

IC: Madelyn Linnett
Clawing for orbit

Madelyn heard Jaing Skirata's plea, and hesitated. Was he right? She had never relied on his advice before. She could tell that he didn't respect her; that he thought an outsider, a former Jedi shouldn't be ruling Mandalore. At least, that was the impression she had gotten before. But what if he is right? I'm not even a real Jedi anymore. How can I take on Zorn? At the very least I should be protecting what is left of my people first.

She took a deep breath and centred herself with the force, before grabbing Ka'tra by the shoulders and moving her aside. "Get everyone out of here Vode." Madelyn ordered quickly. "You need to leave before Darth Zorn finds you and destroys you. We have lost enough here today, and for that I am sorry. But I know what I have to do. I hope one day I can be forgiven." Madelyn turned away and looked at Ka'tra. "I know what I have to do." She unhooked the darksaber and held it out to Jerrod, to Ka'tra. "Darth Zorn must never get his hands on this. If I don't make it, you must give this to Leia. She is the only hope Mandalore has."

"Mandalore may be lost, but I am not going down without a fight. I have enough training to last against Zorn, but we need to find a way to take him on. If you do not wish to join me, you can leave with the others." Madelyn looked seriously at Ka'tra. One of her oldest friends. Her sister. "Tell Leia I'm sorry. Tell my parents I'm sorry and that I love them."

Tag: @Sinrebirth @LordTroepfchen @galactic-vagabond422

IC: Leia Skirata-Linnett
Another room of the Home One

Leia felt a pang of worry and something else through the force, and she frowned. Had something happened? She looked between Master Bnar and Master Katarn, knowing that her Mother would like to have a say in whether or not Leia should train to be a Jedi. But her mother wasn't here and she had always encouraged Leia to make her own decisions. She gave them a serious look, and nodded. "I would like to train to become a Jedi Master. Whether Master Katarn or another Jedi is chosen to train me. Please sir. I'll work very hard to earn this."

@Sinrebirth

 

IC: Nola Deidder
Nubian Quarters, Senate tower, Coruscant

"We could switch jobs?" Jaka suggested.

Nola tilted her head. "I don't think that's wise; the Senator gave you this task. I'm not even supposed to know about it, otherwise he would have told me himself.

"You don't really want to go and explain why you're there when he expects me, or that I'm doing the job he assigned to you, do you?" Norin had left in a bad mood, and though he'd seemed better after a successful trip, finding out that Jaka had shared information with Nola that perhaps he shouldn't have, might rouse his temper again. Not only that, but Norin wasn't really expecting her.

There was another message from Delan, but Nola didn't want to check it until she was clear of Jaka; she didn't need him nosing into things. She headed for one of the larger speeders, with a closed top that allowed for more discreet travel. "You'll figure something out," she reassured him. He'd asked her for advice and she'd given some; the longer he waited to act, the greater the chances that CSF would find the bounty hunters.

"Now I've got to go."

She climbed into the speeder, not waiting for him to object.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

Joren Sole
Aboard the Erwana

Joren had jumped into the turret and had taken out the first of the two. There was another and Solo was yelling he needed to take care of it. Oh really?

He did not aim, was he felt there was no shot the ships would not predictor. Instead he fired randomly into the direction of the ship.

Then he heard through the still open channel the warning of Solo. „Did you just say a SITH?!“ What had he gotten into? This was meant to be a damned cargo run!

Tag: @Lawbreaker, @BobaMatt, @Sinrebirth



And . . .

Anakin Skywalker
Outside his hut on Dagobah

The two events happened so close he could hardly distinguish him. He felt this incredible pain, the billions of voices screaming and then not growing silent as they grew one with the force . . . No . . . The screams were sucked into something that was a laughter, a triumphant laughter. Through the most terrible act of sacrifice thinkable, the complete absorption of all the force of one planet . . . a dark god was born. Anakin gasped out and closed his eyes, before shaking his head. The echo of violence was painfully absent from the force. Luke had not absorbed them, had not made them become one with the force . . . He had done something more profound. He had killed the Force itself! He had stripped the place from the force and taken the power instead, like a reactor absorbing the reaction of split atoms.

„Oh Luke, what have you become . . .“

Then there was this other feeling, this urgency, as something was revealed. The Child! Luke had fathered a son and he had not known. The rage of Luke burned in the force as he let new atrocities follow his greatest of all. But for all his rage, he did not have the boy. Someone else had the child. Someone powerful. A new Chosen One?

Anakin smiled, as he felt this new player enter the picture. Had the force picked a new champion to face his son?

He let the wooden spoon fall back into his stew and tried to shut himself from the force, as it forced itself into his perception. There was yet hope, Luke or whatever his name now was had a weakness. That was all it needed to defeat him probably.

But his power had become beyond comparison. Anakin felt his new eternal flesh and how he ripped apart space and time with a thought. Would this new champion be Abel to overcome such power? Would anyone?

Tag: @Sinrebirth, @LordTroepfchen

 

OOC: Combo w/ Sinre

IC: Chancellor Feyna Organa, Prince Isolder, et al.
Ready room, Aboard the Home One, Anaxes sector

Feyna couldn't relax; there was still too much going on, too much to do.

She still had the single villip they'd brought off of Anor's shuttle, and though she was aware that using it might help to discover another of the Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators, she preferred to leave it alone. If the Yuuzhan Vong learned that the Republic had intercepted--and killed--one of their spies, it might trigger an early attack, before the Republic had any chance to prepare. She wanted to hear Drayson's opinion on it before any contact was initiated.

Isolder was on his comm with some researchers, going over the specifics of the Katana fleet. Feyna felt like they'd caught a break there; if Thrawn was using the Katana ships, the differences from other Imperial ships might make it easier to keep a lookout for him, if they put out an alert based on those differences. Plus the Chimaera was pretty distinctive on its own.

A scout had been sent to Mandalore, but Feyna would wait for Agate to check in, rather than make herself a bother. As anxious as she was about the situation, Mandalore was still a neutral system, as were Nouane and Metellos, and there were plenty of issues within the Republic that she ought to be focusing on.

She felt like she'd been away from Coruscant for too long, and as soon as Drayson and the think tank team headed off, she fully intended to head back. The press was already hounding her and Isolder for comment, and no doubt she had a lot of criticism coming, for her continued absence, and for putting Piett in command during Thrawn's attack. The double shields were still up, as well, causing a back-up in traffic. She wasn't especially in the mood to deal with Kre'frey, but if she could get the situation on Coruscant back to normal, it was one less thing.

She punched Kre'frey's codes into her comlink.

The comlink hummed into life, projecting the small image of Laryn Kre'frey.



"Chancellor," the Bothan said, with little aplomb. An arrogant man even by Bothan standards, he was the highest ranking of his species in the New Republic military as a General, though much of that was due to politicking on his behalf by Senator Fey'lya, who was not adverse to cutting corners to get results. As such he lorded over Coruscant as his personal fiefdom, which could grate notwithstanding that he was actually a quite competent administrator, even if he was highly reliant upon the Intelligence the Bothan Spynet passed him directly... and not on the CSF or even Drayson's Intel sources. With control of the orbital shields and defences, as well as direct command of the individual Golan NovaGun stations, he was a layer of bureaucracy that was by definition overruled by the war room when the battle began.

"Thank you for taking my call in the midst of undoubtedly the so very many issues vying for your attention. But we do have a traffic backstop forming, and my staff are receiving legal threats from various companies with time-sensitive deliveries... produce which can rot or go stale, for example." He spoke as if the details were beneath Feyna and himself, over-enunciating his sentences.

"Might I lower the shields to allow the every day work of Coruscant to continue?" He sniffed. "I don't need anymore Senators demanding I allow them through. The three openings I have done so far are only causing me more complaints from ships who can see us letting in and out ships."

He growled, his ears flattening. But his fur wasn't raised; he was pretending to be stressed.

Feyna didn't say anything to his comment about the very many other issues, but the thought ran through her mind: You have no idea.

She knew enough about Bothan body language to recognize that he wasn't as riled up as he wanted her to think. Nevertheless--

"With Thrawn having retreated and our fleet in place, I think we can lower the shields at this point, and allow normal operation to resume." Owen and Tor had managed to slip past, so unless another assault soon followed, there didn't seem much point in holding up traffic any longer.

Her brows knit together--probably she'd made this face a lot today, it seemed. "Who else bullied their way past? I only authorized one opening, but you mentioned three."

The Hapan Prince was listening from half an ear, and agreed that it was time to drop the shields; they had a fleet in-system now, and Thrawn's first force was outmatched by it - and hadn't been designed to take Coruscant at all, clearly. But Isolder saw that frown, and had the same thought - not her first, and not her last. What a day.

"Admirals Drayson and Pietts convoys are authorised to depart, Chancellor," Kre'frey said, now bristling in irritation. "The third was Senator Graul, who was returning to the system; he arrived at the other side of the planet so pulled rank. There's no danger here, and never was. Don't make me speak to Senator Treen and the rest of the Defence Committee. Fey'lya won't protect you against her and you know it." He was quoting the man, clearly.

He was referencing the six-member committee in charge of the application of the military budget and various appointments, as an oversight group upon Supreme Commander Raddus and the Defence Force. It usually included Senators with a vested interest in where the military brought ships from. Presently Treen of Kuat and three other former Imperial worlds' representatives; Bilbringi, Gyndine and Eriadu, while Mon Calamari and Sluis Van held the other seats.

Feyna nodded dismissively when he brought up Drayson and Piett; of course they were allowed past.

The Grauls, however, both seemed set on making her day even more difficult. Norin had thrown his weight around to get back in--when had he left? And what was he doing on the far side? Just avoiding the battle?

"Don't worry about him, I think the Defense Committee has more important things to do than dealing with a complaint from Norin Graul, just because he was slightly inconvenienced."

"Thank you, Chancellor," Kre'frey said, his ears wagging appreciatively. "I thought you would understand. But as I say, the convoy with the Admirals is en route and I believe will pass the orbital defences shortly. I will have the shields lowered as you request and normal life can resume." He sketched a small bow. "If you require anything else, please do not hesitate to call upon me."

At that, the line cut, and Isolder wrapped up his call. "What next Fey?"

She set down the comm and leaned back in her chair for a moment. That had gone better than she'd expected, though the day's events were definitely bringing out her pessimistic side. And it was turning into a very long day.

With the shield matter settled, no word from Agate or Winter yet, and Drayson and Piett not here yet, it was either time to deal with the complaint from the Hutts--no, she'd wait for Master Bnar on that. There were still a couple of other things she wanted to ask him about, that had popped into her head since the groups had separated.

So the only thing left was to check in on the other Graul situation. "Call Shevu in here, let's find out if they found Aryan yet, or tracked down Owen and Tor's ship."

Shevu appeared as soon as Isolder opened his comlink to him, clearly having been waiting by the door to be summoned. Isolder still had his comlink open, and arched an eyebrow. "Aryan?" He said, without much else to add.

"I've confirmed that he met with Senator Treen, actually, so at least we know he's safe. I'm surreptitiously tracking him now he's returning to the Bakuran apartments..." Shevu expected Feyna to react to that, and replied quickly. "As to Owen and Tor, the YT-2400 entered the undercity with the Slave I following it, and we've lost them both."

"Fett's ship?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Isolder didn't like that. Not that he liked being called 'Your Highness' or 'Vice Chancellor' or even 'Prince'. He was Isolder; that was plenty enough for him... though he would also rip someone apart for being disrespectful to Feyna so what could he say. The Hapan looked back at Feyna.

Very long day.

Aryan had been located, and CSF was keeping an eye on him. "Keep a guard on him, explain the situation if he asks. If he argues, tell him I gave a direct order that CSF guard him until the threat has been nullified.

"I would like for security to continue screening anyone that enters the building, since we still don't have descriptions for Owen or Tor--we have something on Fett, though, don't we?" She looked to Isolder for confirmation. "No ID, no entrance."

Isolder nodded. "Boba Fett? Yeah, we can track him - though we basically track any Mandalorian nowadays. Owen and Tor we should be able to pick out from some diplomatic function in the last fourteen years, right?" He looked to Shevu, who nodded at that.

"Their descriptions have been passed to all Senate guards, so they won't get in the normal way. I will have a guard posted to Senator Graul as soon as he arrives at the Bakuran Embassy - I wanted to do it anyway, but without direct confirmation I couldn't see Graul listening." Shevu pulled out a comlink and gave the order for Sergeant Lekauf to personally look into it.

The comlink chimed, and Winter was on next. Agate still wasn't, but there was a communications void to contend with. "Chancellor," she said, softly. "Can you speak?"

Shevu looked at Feyna as to whether she wanted him to leave or not. Isolder noted how haggard Winter suddenly looked, and he worried for the news she had about Metellos and Nouane.

Feyna tensed when she saw how rattled Winter looked--this did not bode well.

She shooed Shevu out; he had his task, and she could fill in the others later--or not.

"What is it, Winter?" She managed to sound much calmer than she felt.

Shevu saluted and left, not-quite-slowly closing the door, but Isolder nonetheless stepped over and ensured it clicked shut. Winter carried on. "I have good news, and I have bad news. Which would you rather here first?"

Isolder winced again, and stepped close to Feyna to place a hand on her shoulder. It was as much for him as anyone else, and to be honest Winter was the only person he was willing to show affection to Feyna in-front of.

Feyna's hand reached up to grasp Isolder's. She was slightly surprised that Winter had found some good news in all this, but, "Might as well get the bad over with."

"Metellos is... well, it's gone - it's been attacked by someone, or something. The ships we sent have found wreckage we don't recognise, and enough Cronau radiation for two fleets. We're going to be digging through for survivors - we believe there are some beneath the plates that have dropped. The only reason it wasn't discovered earlier in the day is because, well, nobody travels to the Negs."

Winter was using the parlance for the Core Worlds which were negative coordinates, because Coruscant was 0,0,0 - in the X,Y, and Z grids - though it very clearly was not, cartographically, the centre of the galaxy. But it meant any world galactic west of Coruscant in the Core had a negative coordinate... and because of a myriad of anomalies, the western Core hadn't been as fully colonised anyway. Arguably, beyond Metellos was part of the Unknown Regions.

Isolder was in shock. "That's nine hundred billion people, Winter."

"I know," she said, her voice small.

There had only been two billion on Alderaan.

'Only'.

Feyna went very still, the longer she listened, her hand tightening on Isolder's.

Metellos was gone.

Nine hundred billion lives.

Alderaan, hundreds of times over.

She had to swallow a few times before she was able to speak. "The welfare of the survivors is obviously priority, but let's..let's try to get statements from any they find who are fit to give one, and any of the wreckage that can be collected, see that it is. Pull HoloNet records if we can, anything. We need to find out how this happened, as quickly as possible."

Unfamiliar debris, Cronau radiation--a lot of ships had jumped into hyperspace, perhaps after devastating Metellos. What did this? Who did this?

"What's the good news?" As much as some good news would be appreciated at this point, she now just wanted it out of the way, then they'd get back to Metellos.

Winter gathered herself. “Nouane has requested membership to the New Republic. After the attacks by the Acolytes of the Beyond on one of their most ancient monuments, and discovering war criminals and a Black Sun nest on-world, they clearly can’t manage their own security.”

“Apparently all 212 worlds are in agreement that the galaxy is entering into a new wave of violence...”

“... but they’re denying they knew about the war criminals they had in their midst,” Isolder said, finishing her sentence.

“You got it,” Winter said. “Pascale Rouser and Qwi Xux.“

Isolder squeezed Feyna’s hand. “It would give us a win, what with Bakura having not panned out as well as we could have hoped...” That was one way of saying ‘disaster’.

With their membership only the Mandalorians and Hutts would be left as independent states.

Feyna thought it a little convenient that Nouane had petitioned for membership just after the capture of Qwi Xux and the death of Pascale Rouser.

But she did agree with Nouane on one thing, the swell in attacks and violence in just the last hours was worrying, even without taking Metellos into account. And if Nouane's security was as weak as it seemed, they were more vulnerable to another attack; now was probably not a good time to turn them down.

"All right. Whenever they're ready to send a representative, we will welcome them.

"No secret elections this time."

She was still trying to absorb the news about Metellos, trying to wrap her head around the sheer enormity of it. How had this happened, and how had it happened so quietly? The entire galaxy had seen the destruction of Alderaan, broadcast live as it had happened, but this...

"Do we have a time-frame for when Metellos was attacked?"

When was the earliest possible time of the attack? The presence of Cronau radiation seemed to suggest a very recent event. And Metellos wasn't in an oft-travelled part of the galaxy; its residents were actually usually content to be mostly ignored by their neighbors. It wasn't even unusual for the HoloNet relays to be down there, so a sudden loss in communication, by itself, wasn't much of a red flag.

“Initial information suggests it coincided with the attacks on Coruscant and Nouane by the Acolytes... but if the Acolytes could do that to a world...“ Winter said.

“Is this what Thrawn was hinting at?” Isolder said, pulling up a transcript of his speech. “This ‘Shadow War’?“

Winter mooted aloud. “The main Cronau radiation comes from three points - the hyperlane to Coruscant of course, one further around the Core, and then which doesn’t match any known route - heading into the Unknowns.”

Isolder frowned. “That isn’t Thrawn’s style.”

“Though he did try to level Lothal,” Winter said. “I remember Hera telling how close a thing it was; they barely took control of the Imperial shield generator before the 7th Fleet opened fire.”

“Wasn’t Emperor Amedda personally supervising that?”

Winters eyes unfocused as she thought. “Hera mentioned that he was digging for some kind of Portal there. Pretty crazy stuff - a World Between Worlds. Sabine Wren didn’t know a lot about it, and she vanished a few years back - NRI suspect she was looking for Jedi Knight Ezra Bridger - who was known to have gone missing with Thrawn.”

Feyna tried to keep up. The Cronau radiation suggested two fleets, but three paths. The timing matched up with the Acolyte attacks this morning--but why would they pull something so big on Metellos, compared to the relatively smaller incidents on Coruscant and Nouane?

Why would anyone destroy Metellos in the first place? It wasn't a particularly important world, what was there to gain from it besides the pure shock and horror?

They knew that Thrawn was kidnapping Death Star scientists; he was trying to recreate that superweapon technology. If it was plausible for him to have been at Metellos before the assault on Coruscant--could Metellos have been a test for whatever he was making?

Of course, that raised the question of why he hadn't used it at Coruscant--but perhaps he hadn't taken it to Coruscant.

The would-be kidnapper who had attacked Xux and Girdun that morning had arrived on an unusually designed ship that Xux had connected to Thrawn, but none of those ships had been seen during his siege of the capital; he'd only used purely Imperial ships. And the ships at Metellos had split off in different directions.

"What's the jump time from Metellos to Coruscant? Is it even plausible that Thrawn could have been at Metellos, and still arrived at Coruscant when he did?"

Of course, he might have taken a different route; someone had taken a wider path out of Metellos into the Core. Perhaps he wasn't even involved--his earlier comment about his abhorrence of superweapons didn't seem to support it; Metellos seemed like a wasteful use of such power. She'd still like to be sure, though.

Isolder answered that one. “Thrawn could easily have hit Metellos before he arrived here. But wouldn’t he have demanded our surrender if he had a weapon like that? Unless it‘s not perfect... so that’s why he needs Xux... to finish it?”

They were entering heavy theorising at this point, and that was without much data. The wall comm chimed; an internal message, the Prince took it. “Isolder here.”

“Admirals Piett and Drayson are about to dock in the private hangar, your Highnesses,” came Raddus. Isolder looked to Feyna before he answered.

“We’ll be there shortly.”

There was still no update from Agate, of course.

Feyna was not ready to face Piett and Drayson, or the others, with this news, but this couldn't be kept secret.

Thrawn was at best a person of interest at this point, they had nothing definitive to connect him to the attack. Everything right now was just speculation and conjecture, until further details emerged.

"Keep an eye on it," she instructed Winter. "Let me know of any updates, if they find any survivors, any clues, anything.

"I might comm you again, once we get Drayson and Piett up to speed here." If Winter didn't call her again first.

TAG: @Sinrebirth also @HanSolo29 @galactic-vagabond422 @Jerjerrod-Lennox for mentions

 

IC Renn and Vhardia and Shara combo
Coruscant

As they decanted from hyper, Renn winced, almost having to close his eyes. The sheer force of the emotions that swirled around Coruscant was blinding. The Force swirled as though schools of predator fish had just swum through a large swarm of bait fish. ”Yes, great chaos just happened here.”he almost whispered through the pain of the volume of the system.

He closed his mind, as much as he could, to the noise and opened his eyes again. Seeing the escort he knew they’d have to figure out how to get clearance even more rapidly. With this noise he couldn’t do much to reach through to Bnar in the Force and he didn’t have the Jedi’s comm code so he’d have to rely on Vhardia or Shara. Turning toward the women, holding back another wince, ”Do either of you have Bnar’s comm code. We either need him to expedite our clearance or get Ike’s Stinger taken out of the queue right now. Or we’ll lose the man.”

Vhardia saw the ship, and her eyes narrowed. She tapped into the jedi communicator on her wrist a code that she had 'acquired' through watching a master use it back on Yavin-4.

"Master Bnar? It’s Vhardia. Please don't be mad at me contacting you but we need your help. As part of our investigation into Solo, we’re tracking a Black Sun operative and need to get a tracker on his ship. Could you delay ships leaving the system somehow?”

The message didn't immediately get through, but what did happen was essentially what they really didn't want to; the first set of inner shields were dropped, and almost immediately a thrill of anticipation roared through the entire traffic line.

The comms crackled. "All ships please stay in position - do not jump the queue. I repeat, please do not jump the queue." It was the handler from before, but even on the scopes, they could see every single freighter or transport edging forward - and their target was also shifting not to jump the queue but move higher above the ship in-front of it, about a hundred ships away.

Shara winced. "If we jump the queue, everyone jumps, and it will be chaos. Can a Jedi with Force reflexes please get up here to take the controls as soon as possible?"
Vhardia sighed. Ever since she'd taken the modules in piloting and spacecraft maintenance, her life had become a whole lot less lazy. She would have gone for something like battle meditation, but hadn't meet the prerequisites- not seeing the course as an excuse to fall asleep sitting up.

She rolled up her sleeves.
"Shove over then. And make sure you strap yourselves in, I will not be responsible for injuries related to sudden acceleration or flipping."

Renn arrived at the flight deck just moments after Vhardia had so stayed out of the way as she took the controls. He slipped his feet under the pilot and copilot seats and let his body shift a small fraction wedging them in place. He wedged his hands into spots he knew would not affect the craft should he be tossed around during her flying. ”I’m good, punch it my little friend.”

And then the outer shield was down -

Ike's ship gunned his engines, as much as a hundred other ships did -

"Here we go!" Shara shouted, quickly clipping in.

"AYEYIYIYIYIYIYI!"
Vhardia yelled a war cry and shoved the flight controls away from her. The controls were more responsive than she was expecting and there was an almighty jolt as the ship accelerated. Naught to sixty, and then beyond in the time you would take to flip a pancake.

The ship began to weave, spin, doge, dive and duck through the discord. Shipping horns blared angry protest, engines screeched in ire and floodlights flashed complaint. She ignored it.
Somehow, the utter chaos was rather fun. She immediately felt guilty for enjoying it and tried to quash her emotional response- only to almost collide with a tug-ship towing a mid-size cruiser.
Well that decided it. She'd rather enjoy this and get out alive than control herself and end up killing the three of them.

The only problem was she felt this would be a lot easier if she closed her eyes, but also recognised she might quickly loose the confidence of her companions, who were trusting her with their ongoing longevity.

Renn hung on in the back, laughing and thoroughly enjoying the ride as Vhardia flung the ship through various maneuvers. He felt the G forces flinging him this way and that as she piloted the ship like a madwoman. And her piloting brought up the resonance in his rings once more. There was something extremely familiar about her and he saw it more and more the more they interacted. But now was not the time to delve into it, the thought of which caused its own resonance in his rings.

”I take it back, not little miss cheerful, I hereby dub thee little Craziness.” The joy and enjoyment of their current situation was evident in his voice as he called it out over the sounds of various warning and caution buzzers going off as they ducked and weaved.

He looked around and found a control panel, an appendage grew from his side and he half concentrated on it, finding a listing for a tracker launcher. ”Ohhh nice, get us close enough and even if he jumps before us, if I can get a tracker on him we can follow him as long as it’s attached.”

Shara actually covered her eyes; she needed to. "I didn't think this was going to kill us. Renn, do you fly?"

The Stringer advanced into the City, a dozen freighters and small private ships between them and it. Shara leaned forward and plotted a course through it - but the Force would warn them that the entire collection of ships was about to shift, as a trio of CSF gunships were arriving to cut them off.

Vhardia would need to get through the ships before the CSF cut them off from Ike -

All they needed was a line-of-sight for someone to shoot a tracer, and then -

All ships return to the marshalling area immediately or your piloting licences will be revoked!

That was not a comm message but a reverberating voice sent by projector atop one of the CSF's, shaking them all and Shara winced. "I'm sure Grandmaster Bnar will vouch for us, right?"

Renn continued laughing as he replied to Shara, ”What? You don’t like her flying? I think she’s great, a little rough around the edges, too much sim time and not enough stick time, but a lot of fun to fly with.”

As he spoke he kept an eye on the plotter, waiting for that instant he’d get to fire the tracker so it would connect with Ike’s ship. The screen spun wildly as Vhardia maneuvered but ship after ship was crossing it, making her have to avoid them and that instant hadn’t exposed itself yet.

"Marshalling area huh..." Vhardia muttered more to herself than the other two.

She continued their trajectory but moved below the other ships jockeying for position, weaving like a demon snake. She lowered the speed very gradually, as though she was trying to 'safely' slow down, all the while creeping forward... forward... forward...

She cut out the stabilisers and their ship dropped down suddenly, intending to drop low enough that there'd be a clear line of sight between their own ship and Stringer. If the gunships were was watching, it would hopefully look like a manoeuvering-thruster misfire.

"As soon as you get a clear shot Renn, fire!"

She prepared to re-engage the thrusters and swing back to the marshalling area as soon as the trace left their ship.[/QUOTE]

As soon as the ship dropped Renn was watching the screen even more intently than he had been. Seconds passed and he was sure they were going to get fired upon, but luckily no fire came their way. And then the tone chimed showing a lock-on. His finger tapped the fire button and he watched the tracer launch, track and embed itself in the Stingers hull.

”All good, he’d tagged, let’s get back in line.”

Vhardia deliberately flooded the thrusters with fuel so they sputtered and struggled to pull the ship out of its drop, adding credibility to the 'misfire'. After several tentative seconds they properly fired, first left then right with a terrific jolt.

A black exhaust smoke trailed from them as the fuel burned inefficiently, and Vhardia worked to starve them a little bit to clear it. She then had the ship turn and slowly 'limp' back to the marshalling line, as the smoke gradually faded. She didn't let herself speed up, she wanted to appear every bit the sheepish, embarrassed pilot who has just struggled with engine troubles.

Renn grinned at her flying, even now. She was certainly a talented pilot, and he knew if he was one of the escort ships it would appear that there was a mechanical issue to him, if he couldn’t feel the intentions of the crew. He did keep an eye on the plotter though and as they moved away he could tell that the tracer was working as it should, at least for now.

”Well we should be able to track him, at least for a time, now. I’m sure Bnar is going to know that this was the one thing we could do not to lose the man just so we can finish our other mission.”

TAG: @Sinrebirth @darthbernael

 

Ka'rta
Mandalore

Her home was dead, her people scattered and her daughter lost to the black. She was looking into the eyes of her friend, her family and was being asked to walk away, to see that the next generation sees another day. Her loyalty was torn. These were orders from her Mandalor, they should be followed without question. On the other hand this was her friend marching to face the embodiment of evil all on her own with only a lightsaber. She didn't want to do it, she didn't want to choose between following orders and helping her friend.

Though she was never one for following orders. She was a merc plain and simple. Orders could be altered at a moment's notice and all that mattered was getting the job done. And the job this time was making sure this monster was dead. Ka'rta handed the darksaber off to Jerrod.

"Get out of here as quick as you can," She said to the woman she considered an Aunt. "Take the Oisk and find Owen, when you do give him a good smack for me." With that taken care of she marched to the large safe near the entrance ramp. Punching in a code only close family knew the large cabinet opened. Her 'Toybox" as Mirdala called it. Inside was every sort of handheld weapon one could think of and in generous amounts. She grabbed a bandoleer slapping it across her chest. She clipped a few fragmentation, incendiary, and glop grenades, things with a wide area of effect, making them a little more difficult to just deflect. Along with that a few high explosive mini rocket warheads, well more than a few. A two thermal detonators joined the warheads on her belt. Stuffing the bandoleer with powercells and gas canisters she took a heavy blaster rifle off the door and slung it over her shoulder.

Her hands reached for her pistols, the pair of blasters that had been on her hips since she had her armor. These twin fangs has seen her through a lot of things, many lives where taken by these blasters. They had been her constant companions. She thought of Madelyn and the Darksaber, of leaving something for Tor, a memento to recall her burir. Slowly she drew them feeling the weight of them, light but not too light, perfectly balanced with a quick trigger and power besides. They were the perfect weapons, handcrafted by a mandalorian weaponsmith. They were a final gift from her parents before they disappeared. With a deep breath she put them back in their holster and removed her gun belt, which was separate from her explosive's belt. With the battered nerf hide strap off she coiled it and placed it lovingly on the middle shelf, right in the eye line should someone open it. These would be her final gifts to Tor.

Grabbing another gunbelt with a pair of heavy pistols she strapped up ready to fight by her sister's side.

"We got into this together, we go out together Vode." She moved towards the back, to the small shuttle she had installed in the Oisk. "Jerrod, I mean it get out of here."

TAG: @TheSilentInfluence @Sinrebirth

Tor
Courscant

"What am I supposed to say?" Tor said turning around in the gunner's seat. "Oh hi Mister Fett I'm just starting out do you think you could help me?" She threw her hands up into the air slotting Owen's extra pistol into a holster and throwing her rifle over her back. " While she might not of had any idea of what to say damned if she wasn't going to try. "And you better find Leia." The young woman paused looking back to the older man. "And tell me when you do...I need to know she's ok." her voice was quieter, filled with the regret she was keeping buried deep down inside. She just wanted to have fun, to finally be the Mandalorian her mother was training her to be. She wanted to show off to Leia how adult she could be. All she ended up doing was driving her away.

Taking a breath Tor found that anger that ran deep in her soul, the fiery determination that served her mother so well throughout her life. Though there was still fear in her as she marched right up to Fett. Taking a confident pose, her hands on her hips she lifted her head.

"Well, if you don't follow the code, then fine. I'm coming with you. I took the job, I'm going to see it through. We can help each other or we can get in each other's way. And believe me, I can get in the way really well."

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

Darth Zorn
Above Mandalore

Darth Zorn returned his gaze to the fleets outside. The Mandalorians wanted their stupid man-to-man combat and as much as the thought of accidentally becoming Mandalore amused him, he would not allow his goals to suffer for his amusement. He was daring to do something that had never been done before. All of this did not serve his purpose.

Mandalore had been a test and he had used it well.

Leaving the force storm to kill a few more thousand and completely ignoring the Republic fleet he waved his hand and the Sith Intruder entered hyperspace. The course had been preprogrammed.

He had planned to go into the heart of darkness, but that plan was not working anymore. No he needed to go back to the Sith Temple on Durace and pick up the lead to find his son. He had not foreseen his son. He had to understand what he meant, what that changed with regards to his destiny and ... if he had to ... he had to consume his destiny. He hesitated at the thought and closed his first, angry with himself. This was weakness. A weakness his enemies would exploit.

Galen Marek.

Whoever this boy was, Zorn felt the powerful urge to hear him scream while killing him.

Tag: @Sinrebirth, @galactic-vagabond422, @TheSilentInfluence, @Lawbreaker

 

Han Solo
Cockpit above Durace

Han saw the new arrival and turned his bulky large ship away from it and activated the hyperdrive to make a micro-jump away from the planet. He was quite happy he had not yet entered the atmosphere. The last thing he wanted to do is have another fight with another warship he had no idea who it belonged too.

Opening a channel to Xav he grinned what people would probably consider his Han Solo grin.

„You wanted to go into pirating, my dear. What did you get us. A little Beskar. What did I get us? The Falcon, two fighters and two more ships.“ He laughed. „Dunno, but those fighters are probably worth a lot more than a little Beskar.“ He leaned back and activated the internal sensors. He really hoped his new arrivals would be able to deal with the Sith. „Sole, please come to the cockpit. Good shooting, by the way.“


Galen Marek
Hangar of the Eravana

Galen came out of his ship with his lightsaber ignited and if the Sith hoped to do some talking or provoking, they had picked the wrong day and the wrong man to do so. There was another man with a purple lightsaber, but he felt no threat of him. He reminded him of the old Mace Windu, a Jedi Master who had long vanished from the galaxy. It could hardly be him,but even if it was . . . He could sort these things out once the Sith were dead.

Taking his lightsaber into a reverse grip he leaped over one of the starfighters and landed right next to the Twi‘lek woman. Without a single moment of hesitation he attacked with a high and low attack and gathered the force to unleash a push against the second woman who looked a bit like a Coruscant punk. If the old man did not intervene in time, that would buy him time to finish of the first, before taking care of the second. He was feeling the adrenaline again and unlike Tempara this time he showed no caution, but unleashed the force and his lightsaber hurled and slashed out with only one purpose: Ending his enemy.

Tag: @DarkLordoftheFins, @BobaMatt, @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: Another combo w/ Sinre

IC: Chancellor Feyna Organa, Prince Isolder, Admirals Drayson and Raddus, and Imperial Chief of State Firmus Piett
Ready room, Aboard the Home One, Anaxes

Feyna was mildly annoyed to find out about the HoloNet back-log; it would take even longer to get any more news of Mandalore or Metellos. But it also meant fewer interruptions while she and Isolder got the Admirals caught up. Or she could hope, at least.

While Isolder greeted Piett and Drayson, expertly soothing the latter's bruised ego, Feyna brought up a projection of the galaxy, pin-pointing their various points of interest: Metellos, Mandalore, Nouane, Coruscant, Hesperidium, and Criton's Point. The villip sat on the tabletop, out of the way for the moment.

The Prince handed the floor over to her, and Feyna dove right in.

"Good news first," she began--since there isn't much of it. "You might have heard before you left Coruscant, but if not: Pascale Rouser has turned up dead." She looked to Drayson. "I don't have the exact details as to how, but we can cross him off the List.

"Secondly"—she highlighted Nouane on the holo-map—"Nouane has petitioned the New Republic for membership; only the Hutt territories and Mandalore now stand as neutral states."

If Mandalore is still there, she wondered anxiously.

She paused, leaning forward against the table. "I'm not even sure where to start with the bad news..." It seemed simpler to just nutshell it all together, get it over with and then go back over each one in turn, but she didn't know how to say it all without sounding snappish. But stringing them out one by one, dragging it out, felt so wrong.

"Shall we wade in slowly, or shall I put it all out there now, then we can review them one by one?"

Drayson looked at Piett, and he looked at Drayson. That was good news about Rouser and Nouane, at very least, but not necessarily having a direct bearing on their present day conundrums.

"Presumably it involves Qwi Xux, a breakout attempt that wrecked Armand Isard with more of Thrawn's people turning up dead, and now we need to know what to do with her, if Thrawn needs a superweapon to stop this MacGuffin threat he has invented to justify his behaviour," said Drayson, clearly unaware of Nom Anor or Yomin Carr.

"Unless it is more than just Thrawn and this 'shadow war' we need to worry about? I am aware of a skirmish at Criton's Point and a man matching the description of Pascale Rouser breaching the blockade there... we suspect a mind trick was involved, which delayed identification as were unaware of his Force sensitivity." Piett supplied, responding slowly.

"Presumably Nouane joined us after the Acolyte attack there," Drayson said, glumly. "Not the best reason but an acceptable one."

"The Acolytes of the Beyond? I thought they were a group of fake prophets - are you telling me they sincerely believe they can reach for Skywalker - either one?" Piett snorted.

Isolder held up a hand before Drayson bit back at Piett's genuine disbelief. They both paused. "I'd like the Chancellor to have the ability to frame this as she wishes, as I say. We have a lot to get through."

Feyna quietly balled one hand into a fist, holding tight to what little patience she had left; if they kept bickering with each other, they weren't going to accomplish anything, and might make things worse.

"Metellos is gone," she revealed, hopefully getting their attention and putting an end to their petty arguing.

"We've also lost contact with Mandalore; Mandalorian bounty hunters slipped through Coruscant's shields and are targeting Senator Graul, and we may be facing a galactic invasion from a hostile alien race, that has possibly already infiltrated both our governments."

She didn't say it out loud, but perhaps they could see it in her face: Now would the two of you please knock it off?

The two of them blinked, and Raddus watched as the two men both took a step forward, almost in unison. They weren't all that different, really, it was just that Piett was a much better tactician - having lost more than once, he understood how to win better than Drayson, who hadn't lost in a long time.

They were paying attention, utterly and completely.

Drayson spoke first. "What do you need from me, Chancellor."

"The Imperial Remnant is dedicated to upholding its treaty of mutual assistance, as well - in whatever way I can assist," Piett said, though his brow was already beetling with the thought of both of their governments being at risk, but he wanted to let her speak first.

Raddus slightly chuckled to himself, but kept it quiet.

Feyna let herself relax, if just a bit. Drayson and Piett putting differences aside for now would at least remove a little of the tension in the room.

"I've sent a scout to Mandalore, but with the HoloNet backed up here and whatever's caused the blackout there, it may be a bit before we hear anything.

"Metellos went down around the same time as the Acolyte attacks on Nouane and Coruscant. Cronau radiation on three paths suggests there were two fleets that split off there. We're looking for survivors beneath the plates, and they've noticed some strange wreckage that I've asked them to pick up for investigation. That is all we know, at this point; Winter is following that situation for me.

"For Graul, I had CSF assign an agent to him, they have descriptions of the bounty hunters, and they're checking ID on everyone entering the Senate."

She stopped for a moment, her gaze traveling over each of them in turn, from Drayson, to Piett, to Raddus. "If you have suggestions for any of these issues, please feel free, but the main reason I asked you here is because of this possible invasion."

She explained everything they currently had regarding the Yuuzhan Vong incidents: the attack by Anor on Hesperidium; her conversation with Thrawn and his assertion that it would take a superweapon to defeat them; the accusation against Ambassador Yarmond; Yomin Carr and the incident on Criton's Point; Arb's suggested think-tank plan.

"I was hoping you would oversee this think-tank," she said to Drayson as she finished up. "You can also choose a few NRI agents to take with you if you wish--this Beaumont Kin seems legit, but we definitely need someone keeping an eye on Xux and Skyxnex."

She wanted to suggest that Piett also send an Imperial Intelligence agent, to more easily keep him in the loop, but until they could confirm Yarmond's identity...

Drayson and Piett absorbed all of this with aplomb, and pretty quickly at that. They looked at each other, and Piett bid Drayson to speak first. "I'll sort the NRI side of things. I'll call in one of my agents to look into - I have someone in mind who is used to babysitting safehouses."

"And I'll arrange a visit with Yarmond, with Stormtroopers to hand. If he is an infiltrator - which of course he might not be, and it's Thrawn being Thrawn - it would be useful to capture him, no doubt," Piett said. "I'll need to handle that, to avoid the Moffs thinking that you've taken him hostage or something equally ludicrous."

Raddus cleared his throat. "I would like to take the fleet at Anaxes to Metellos and scout the area, ma'am, maybe try a back-track or two. Coruscant has the other half of the First Fleet so it'll be well defended in the meantime."

"The sooner we get a hold of that bio-material, the sooner we can start security scans for it," Drayson said. "I'll see if I can find a biotech expert who can get us started... quietly, though, as we can't start a panic. Permission to begin enquiries? It may be an idea to bring the samples to the safe-house we have with Qwi, though it'll be insanely difficult to find one that hasn't been found by Thrawn orthe Yuuzhan Vong...?"

Isolder replied. "Arb seemed to think he had somewhere useful, I understand. Connected to whatever Rouser was hunting for on Criton's Point - a secret route somewhere."

Drayson nodded. "That would be perfect, assuming its not a trap."

"A bit of an elaborate one that ended with Yomin Carr dead," Isolder said, though Piett looked like he wanted to say it. The Hapan Prince looked back to Feyna as Drayson nodded. "I think we have a few plans here, at least. We're not sitting on our hands at least?"

"Certainly we're not," Feyna replied.

She had no objection to Piett handling Yarmond; she agreed that Thrawn was not a trustworthy source, but if Yarmond was indeed a Yuuzhan Vong spy, the confrontation needed to be done carefully, lest they spook him.

Nor did she have any problem with Raddus taking the rest of Home fleet to assist in the search and investigation at Metellos. She'd planned on asking him anyway.

And Drayson seemed ready to hit the ground running. "Anor's ship is in the hangar, ready to go for you. We didn't pick up whatever he placed on our shuttle, the bugs, or his staff, but his body and armor are on board. And take this, too." She pushed the villip toward him. "There are more on his ship; if Thrawn is to be believed, they use them to communicate. My guess is that each one only connects to a specific being--otherwise why would he need multiples?" One extra, for backup, was understandable, but Anor had more.

"I'm not so sure whether we should attempt using them, though."

Drayson looked at it. "If it is biotech, then, just like an enemy code we discover, I imagine it won't be long before the Yuuzhan Vong discover Nom Anor is dead - simply by him not reporting in during the allotted window. Yarmond, if he is indeed a spy, may even connect the dots to him being dead and report to their superiors not to use these particular... villips, was it?" His eyes cut to Piett, who nodded, and began to use the comlink to make inquiries of Yarmond's location, and to arrange a meeting, ostensibly to discuss Imperial relations with the New Republic now Thrawn had co-opted part of the Remnant to strike Coruscant.

Drayson was clearly running his counter-intelligence strategies through biotech filters, exposing a spy was still just that, alien or not. "So actually I think we should use it, Chancellor. All of them, actually, but ideally while Yarmond is occupied. If we're really lucky, we won't speak to Yarmond and we'll maybe speak to someone in the command structure."

Raddus pulled out a comlink. "I'll call a Protocol droid in."

"Do you think that will help? If they are that alien?" Isolder said. "The Jedi may have had a run-in with the Yuuzhan Vong, before the Clone Wars, again, according to Thrawn..."

"A Protocol droid will have a head-start on translating them with a sample, at least." Raddus looked to Feyna for confirmation again, and Drayson stared at the villip.

"It should be you, Chancellor. This is our first official contact with these Yuuzhan Vong, assassination attempt notwithstanding. We don't need Aryan Graul grandstanding, we need an experienced diplomat to make the first step." Isolder looked alarmed, but didn't speak. Drayson was looking straight at her, now.

Her eyebrows furrowed; she was still a bit dubious of this idea, and Isolder didn't seem to like it, either, but she could see Drayson's point. They had a limited window of time until Anor and Carr's superiors discovered their deaths, and no doubt they would tip off the other spies, who could then disappear before the Republic or the Remnant could find them.

She nodded to Raddus. "Send for a droid, and have one of the guards from the hangar bring the remaining villips from Anor's ship. Make sure they lock it up again after."

Raddus nodded, half-bowing. "It will be done." He stepped free.

Piett finished his call. "I have located Yarmond; he was apparently snooping around the Kuati Embassy, and we picked him up on his way back, oddly, to the Bakuran Embassy. I'm not sure as to the connection there."

"Ha," snorted Drayson. "I think we can guess who he was spying on."

"Treen and Aryan Graul," Isolder surmised.

The Imperial Head of State frowned. "That's not good?"

"Probably not," Isolder said. "Yarmond is definitely a suspect, so the sooner you meet with him the better - and maybe he knows more about what Aryan is up to than we do."

"And be careful," said Drayson, firmly. Piett smiled back at him, appreciatively. Clearly, they had all found a way to work together.

Feyna nodded to Piett. She didn't want to hold him up further; they needed to move quickly here. "Go, and good luck." They definitely needed some, and soon. "I'll send you updates on our other situations as we get them."

She turned back to Isolder and Drayson. "While we wait for Admiral Raddus to come back, let's see if I can get through to Winter, and we'll find out if there's been any development at Metellos."

There was still no word from Agate yet, either.

TAG: @Sinrebirth also @HanSolo29 and @Jerjerrod-Lennox for mentions

 

Mace Windu,
The hangar of the Eravana

As the Falcon settled onto her struts, Windu could feel the violence of the Force in the hangar beyond the ramp hissed open, and he was already moving down in it, where he could see a young man - a brilliant and powerful conduit of the Force - battling two Sith. There were echoes radiating from him of other realities and possibilities, but Windu would have to investigate those later. Right now he saw one of the Sith go sailing past him into a bulkhead so that the young man could deal with the other Sith one on one. Smart. But the sheer power and effortlessness of that push...what was this young man capable of?

For now, it was helpful. Windu rushed to place himself between the flying Sith and the young man. Now it was a fair fight.

TAG: @Sinrebirth @Lawbreaker @DarkLordoftheFins

 

Joren Sole
The Eravana

„On my way.“ Joren felt like he had suddenly been adopted by this crew instead of being their prisoner.

But what had he got himself into?

A legendary smuggler with whom he had a stand off, Jedi, Sith, Lightsabers, dogfights and space battles . . . He had not signed up for this much adventure. This was probably the way these things worked, he admitted. You asked for adventure and then you got a lot more of it than anybody expected.

Running through the corridors he entered the cockpit and took the co-pilot chair. „What shall I do?“ He asked and looked at Solo.

Tag: @Lawbreaker

 

Another fab @Sinrebirth and @darthbernael combo
IC Renn, Vhardia, Shara
Choices, choices

Renn laughed, ”I’m not exactly a Jedi, Shara, just the poor fool the Light chose, for whatever inscrutable purpose it has for me. But,” he reached out his senses to the two ships, tasting the emotions of those inside, the surface ones at least. ”The people on board that craft do not seem the dangerous fugitives the bulletins seem to hint they may be. The Firespray however, no idea who that is, is one dangerous man.”

He thought deeply, touching the presence inside him, consulting it. ”Maybe Vhardia has more insight, but I believe the sooner we retrieve the criminal Ike, the better.”

Vhardia couldn't help but immediately agree with Renn. While she should probably check what he had felt in the force and confirm it, her laziness was getting the better of her. Plus they had already been sidetracked from their original mission once by the Hutts, now this?

"Solo is the original mission, and Ike is a step to him. That would just delay us further from Solo. Not to mention the disturbance that BB-8 is investigating."

She directed the ship towards the trace that they had placed and sighed. There just were not enough Jedi in the galaxy these days.

The YT-2400 merged with the traffic stream, and Shara sighed a little. "If that's your call, Master, then so be it."
Vhardia shook her head at Shara's words.
"I'm not a master, just a knight. Call me Vardi, most of my friends do."

Meanwhile, Shara compiled a quick note, and sent it to the CSF. "Can you sense Ike from here? I mean, we don't have a lot of data but surely that ego projects a fair amount?"

Renn watched the YT-2400 begin to move off and he did agree with both Vhardia and Shara, if it had been possible to go after both targets they should have but he doubted the Hutts would be impressed if they all did not return to Hutt Space with the prisoner in tow.

At Shara’s question, he reached out, wincing slightly at the high volume of ‘noise’ in the Force. He did what he could to filter the noise and sent his senses out toward the volume of space where the tracer said Ike’s ship should be. Shara was correct, the man’s ego was tangible even from this distance. ”Yes I can feel him and Vhardia is on the right track still, following the tracer. It feels as though he and it are in the same place.”

Now the trace was working well, as confirmed by Renn, Vhardia lent back in the seat and attempted to adjust it for her smaller height. The chair was stiff and uncooperative, having been stuck in one position for so long and she only managed to lift it slightly.

Finally, she directed the ship into the belly of The Works, leaning out of her seat to watch out for sticking out obstacles and stray speeder bikes that seemed intent on trying to splatter themselves against their ship's sides. The space narrowed to uncomfortably small quicker than she was expecting, and they were forced to a snail's pace as they continued through the maze of industrial pipes and heavy manufacturing machinery.

Tags: @Sinrebirth @darthbernael
Mentions: @galactic-vagabond422

 

OOC: Combo w/ the GM and HanSolo29

IC: Nola Deidder, Norin Graul and Arek Graul
The Works district, Coruscant

Once she was far enough away from the Senate district, Nola briefly set down the speeder to read Delan's second message. He thinks he has found the Senator's son.

Nola read the message over a couple of times, before deleting it, still wondering if they ought to be concerned about Norin's sanity. Aryan Graul had only one son, and it was a cold hard fact that Arek had died at the end of the Galactic Civil War. Nola's understanding, from Norin, was that the boy had died in suspicious circumstances on Ach-To, and it wasn't clear who had done the deed, Q'ira Ananke, or Aryan himself. And regardless of who had actually killed Arek, Norin seemed to blame Aryan either way.

Perhaps it wasn't Arek. It was also well-known that Aryan had not been the most faithful husband, either, though the only confirmed affair had been with the late Mon Mothma. If Norin had found some illegitimate love-child, he could very easily use that against Aryan, but it didn't seem likely.

Arriving at the arranged landing site in the abandoned Works district, Nola didn't disrupt her husband at his post, except to let her hand brush over his as she walked by. Norin seemed pleased by her arrival, so she wouldn't need to explain her presence--in fact, she wasn't sure he'd even pay attention if she did; she'd never seen him so excited.

He gestured to a figure at the top of the ramp. "My grandson, Arek Graul."

Despite the message from Del, Nola was still surprised by the sight of the young man--he was definitely Aryan's son; there was a notable resemblance.

She tentatively held out her hand. "Hello, Arek. I'm Nola."

She had no idea what else to say, though she had many questions.

What did Arek have to do with the multiverse theory? Was that how Norin had gotten him here? How much had Norin told him, did he even understand where he was?

Norin apparently wasn't losing his mind--what level of madness had their reality fallen into, then, that people were coming back from the dead?

As Arek staggered free from the ship’s interior, he inwardly winced at the way his grandfather heralded his arrival as if he was some sort of savior. That wasn’t how this was supposed to work – at least, that’s not how he had envisioned it. He had only wanted to escape from Typhojem’s clutches and live to see another day. That had been Insipid’s promise to him.

Besides, he had never felt special; it didn’t seem appropriate for him to receive preferential treatment when so much uncertainty still remained about this timeline. He wanted to find answers more than anything else.

But that goal became momentarily sidelined as he stepped off the ramp and took note of the sprawling cityscape looming on the horizon, barely visible through the smoke and smog of the industrialized zone. He couldn’t help his eyes growing wide with wonder. Even from this distance, he would recognize Coruscant’s pinnacle skyscrapers anywhere.

And they were still intact – the entire planet seemingly whole, never ravaged by the horrors unleashed by a vengeful Sith god and His armies of darkness.

That thought brought a crooked grin to his face as he finally turned to acknowledge the young woman standing before him. He shuffled his feet uneasily, still clearly distracted by what he was experiencing, though he accepted her proffered hand all the same. He had to maintain his manners, after all.

“Hi,” Arek replied simply, his smile widening so that it reached his eyes.


Arek Graul

“I have to admit, this is kinda awkward. I didn’t expect a welcoming committee.” His gaze shifted to give his grandfather a sidelong stare, silently berating him for placing him in this uncomfortable position. Nevertheless, he vowed not to say too much; he wasn’t sure how much this Nola knew, so it was better to play it safe.

“I assume that you work for my Grandpa?” He lifted his brow and scoffed softly, his words adopting a more playful lilt. “I’m so sorry.”

Nola chuckled softly; Arek seemed to have meant it lightly. Norin could be difficult to work for at times, but with the things he'd gone through, the things he'd lost, Nola couldn't blame him for sometimes being a grouch.

"I'm his primary aide, yes," she replied to the first part. "He's glad to have you back, I don't think I've ever seen him more cheerful."

She glanced to Norin, wondering if he was going to elaborate on how he'd gotten Arek here, what his plan was, how she fit into it.

Norin grinned. "I always suspected that there was something afoot. Events moved far too fast fourteen years ago for there not to be a larger hand at play, Nola." He laughed to himself, slightly. "Not only do I have my grandson back, we have the perfect tool to destroy his father - Arek will be more than capable to explain just how awful Aryan Graul is - by simply speaking the truth."

He gestured to Nola. "What I need from you is to be his guide in this world, Nola. He's somewhat dislocated, and he needs some pointers on what has happened here. His knowledge of our history is likely sketchy, after all."

The man looked from her to Arek. "I am entrusting you to my most trusted aide - my most competent, at that, too. I will need to match wits with your father in the Senate, and prepare the ground for your return." He seemed to have a thought. "You can take him back to my home - he should see just what Aryan did to his grandmother."

She was, of course, still bedridden, on the verge of death, the stroke which crippled her still impacting her to this very day. Nola would know this; but she had never met her - she collapsed from the shock of Aryan's rise as Emperor fourteen years ago now, after all.

Nola was still a little confused as to just how Norin had managed to get Arek back in the first place, but from his instructions, it seemed safe to assume that he hadn't yet filled him in on the years he'd missed.

That was now Nola's job. Take Arek back to Nubia, and get him up to speed.

"Will it just be the two of us going?"

Probably Norin wanted to keep Arek's return as quiet as possible until the time was right, so they couldn't have too many people around.

Pursing his lips, Arek exhaled heavily through his nose as he watched the exchange between his grandfather and Nola. None of this felt right to him. It wasn’t just a consequence of the divergent timelines; it was something that existed on a more fundamental level...a moral level. His grandfather wanted to use him as a pawn to enact vengeance upon Aryan Graul.

While he wasn’t about to refute the terrible things his father had done over the years, it was never his goal to actively seek him out for revenge. It certainly hadn’t been on his mind when he had agreed to follow Insipid’s advice by jumping through the gateway. His plan had been to avoid him, as he had done for the past five years, so he could stake out a new life and move on. Even if he did happen to confront him here, he knew it wouldn’t be the same. The Aryan Graul of this timeline was not the same man – his true father, who had caused so much heartache for him and his mother. In fact, it felt wrong to upend this man’s life simply because he shared the same face.

Of course, he wasn’t privy to all the details; he had no idea what this version of Aryan Graul had done to earn so much disdain from Norin, but for the moment, it failed to shake his resolve. He still didn’t want to stoop to his father’s level of cunning and play the same twisted games. He was better than that.

But despite his hesitation, Arek did not dare voice his reservations in front of his grandfather. Nola was right about one thing – he had never seen the old man so giddy, even when he was still alive in his own timeline. It would be shameful for him to shatter his joyful mood by expressing his misgivings. He would have to ease into this one slowly…

Besides, he clearly found himself preoccupied with the ominous news about his grandmother. He was willing to momentarily overlook his concerns about his grandfather’s motivations if it meant seeing her again.

Adopting a gentle smile, Arek stepped closer to Nola and offered a slight nod, relinquishing himself to her guidance. “I don’t think there’s a need to bother anyone else,” he answered softly, his gaze drifting toward his grandfather before returning to Nola’s face. “If you’re worried about security, I have some formal training with NuSec – I served right up until The End, so we should be safe.”

He shrugged somewhat awkwardly. “I’m just eager to learn.”

Norin didn't contradict, so Nola only nodded--she'd had personal motives for asking, wondering if he would send Delan with them. But she knew better than to expect it; as Norin's head of security, Del had responsibilities here. At least if he stayed, he'd be able to keep her updated on what was happening on Coruscant.

"We should probably get going then." She looked to Norin, to see if he had anything else to add.

TAG: @Sinrebirth @HanSolo29