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Post by Cy Skywalker on Nov 10, 2009 18:20:46 GMT -5
Yavin IV, a habitable moon orbiting the gas giant Yavin in the Outer Rim, has been home to Force-users since before Exar Kun had the great stone temples raised in his honor. The jungles, to one sensitive to the singing of the universe, echo with the melodies and dissonances of the Force, and teem with life forms. The Great Temple, home of the Jedi Praxeum, served as the Alliance staging area during the Battle of Yavin. Now it is the heir of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. It is equipped with living quarters, training salles, docking bays--anything Jedi in training could need. The jungles outside are riddled with ruins of smaller temples, as well as with much newer running trails. ________________________________________________ Thud.Ka-Du-Roan let out a whispered "Yes!" of approval as her bo staff smacked into the vaguely humanoid target's head. Some, but not much, enthusiasm was dampened by the fact that she wasn't sure she was even using the staff properly, but nevertheless, acting like a Jedi was pretty cool... And it wasn't like her classes so far had been anything like she had expected. There was enough math and astronavigation to make her queasy, for instance, as well as history and ancient literature, all things that she thought she could learn at the high school at home. But she had also seen how, on the list of classes available for older, more experienced students, there had also been classes like 'Advanced Meditation' and "Hot-Wiring". That was more like it. She turned and slashed the staff through the air again.
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Post by Demarion on Nov 12, 2009 0:22:27 GMT -5
Kono'Vus was not happy. In fact, he was quite *upset*ed. Not just mildly, but a full-blown rip-the-head-off-a-bantha-with-his-fists *upset*ed. He had discovered halfway through his flight that his X-Wing had been tampered with. Not just the on board computers, but his astromech droid as well. Now he was on a crash course to some moon in the Yavin system. The Twi'lek pulled back on the throttle, trying to ease the speed of the out-of-control starfighter. He burned through the atmosphere, grimacing from the pressure, his R3 unit screaming away in protest. He had to get away from any large inhabited areas lest they search his crashed ship. Something told Kon that he wouldn't get off the rock if they found the small supply of glitterstim he was transporting. "Aw, kriff." The ship broke through the trees, almost literally. Kon managed to dodge any larger flora, but took out the younger trees. The ship landed ungracefully with a few bounces and slid a long way before ramming into a thick tree. Kon was lurched forward, held in place by the restraints. Unfortunately those same restraints caused him to hit the back of the seat, and the smuggler promptly blacked out.
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Post by surfersquid on Nov 12, 2009 15:18:23 GMT -5
"Oh, do be careful, Mistress Kyla!" a pewter-hued protocol droid called out in synthesized alarm as the transport ship's gangplank lowered slowly, and a young Human girl scrambled outside, bursting with exuberance.
"I'll be okay, Aythree!" the girl called back, even as she was in the process of recovering from nearly tripping over her own feet--the plank had been steeper than she was anticipating. Kyla couldn't help herself; she had to get off the ship and sense Yavin IV in all its glory.
The jungle blazed bright in her mind's eye, a treasure trove of energies and feelings and colors she couldn't even begin to describe because they looked nothing like what vague snatches of color she could remember from before she had lost her eyesight. She drank it all in, delicious and refreshing after having been in the ship for long days, with nothing to sense outside the durasteel walls except for thin and streamy filaments of ever-shifting connections and dim, far-off nests of life glimmering over countless light-years. While they were in realspace, anyway. Hyperspace had the tendency to blur her vision of anything outside the ship, perhaps because there was nothing there to sense except for the very workings of spacetime itself, which perhaps did not lend their secrets so easily to those attuned to the pulse of the universe. Her brother, Eliade, had tried to explain hyperspace to her before, but she still didn't quite understand it. It was difficult, at any rate, for her to understand something she couldn't sense.
"Wow..." she breathed, searching around with her mind, examining and feeling and looking at the strange new foliage and the things flying in the sky and crawling and burrowing in the soft, wet soil beneath her shoes, all while standing still, centering herself, sensing the world constantly in motion around her. There were, of course, people to sense as well--a few walking around her, performing maintenance checks on the ship and unloading cargo, and a large mass of them in front of her and a way off. That must have been the Praxeum, she thought excitedly.
"Mistress Kyla," the droid intoned again, shuffling stiffly down the gangplank to catch up with her, "your luggage has been unloaded. Please follow me to retrieve it."
Kyla nodded and followed the machine obediently. He glowed more faintly than an organic and had no life-spark, but the small amount of energy powering him was enough so that she could make him out fairly distinctly. As she was handed her bags, she extended her vision back to the Praxeum, to her new home. It was too bad her parents and Eliade couldn't come, but at least they had seen her off at the spaceport. And she would talk to them soon, to tell them she had arrived lately.
She was barely able to contain herself as she set off toward the oscillating mass of life, yearning to begin her proper Force training. This place was amazing, lush, wondrous. No matter how far she cast her sight, there was no end to the diverse and intertwining energies. A physical-sight analogy might be that of looking into a field of stars, and seeing more and more stars as one's vision was augmented, no matter how far one peered, until one felt truly lost in the universal sea.
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Post by Cy Skywalker on Nov 15, 2009 15:07:12 GMT -5
I can do this, Ka thought. I can be a Jedi. Laser sword and all. "Swoosh!" She laughed at her own attempt at making a lightsaber sound, but the dream was in her head now--herself at the head of an army, brown cape swirling, sun-bright blade in her hand and just like this--she spun the wooden staff fast enough that it blurred in front of her eyes. She stepped forward into range of her imaginary opponent--
and hopped and hissed as she smacked herself in the shin with the end of the staff.
Giving a sheepish smile, she tipped the staff onto its end and bent to rub her aching ]shin. Maybe she wasn't quite ready for Jedi training yet! The lull in her daydreams reminded her to check the time, and she moved over to where she had placed her messenger bag and thermos of water to check her chrono.
The time reminded her that she had been supposed to be somewhere ten minutes ago.
Blast! Her first mission from Grand Master Skywalker--to show a new student around the academy--and she was late! She hurriedly gathered up her things into a pile and lapped up some water, then dashed out of the training room for the lift.
The new initiate was, Master Skywalker had said, a human girl from Kuat--Ka seriously hoped she wouldn't go up to the wrong human. They all looked the same some times.
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Post by Morndakiél on Nov 15, 2009 16:11:46 GMT -5
Tranner could sense the Force users in the distance, feel them pull like a target pulled an arrow. He had never sensed so many at one time before, but the Force was incapable of being astonished; he, though, marveled at the melange of presences and powers, blending together to form one nebulous but strong impression of Jedi.
The Togruta dug his fingers into the crumbling edge of the rock ledge in front of him and began to climb. This was one of the smaller temples, but when he reached the top of the step-sided pyramid and sat there, he could see the residence of the Jedi in the distance, rising above the forest and the surrounding ruins.
He couldn't take out all of them. These kills would have to be done quietly, with subterfuge, and carefully; surely someone would sense his presence if he did not concentrate utterly. But he could manage that, after meditation--he had seen his father sneak up on supposedly astute Jedi Masters. The heady sense of power curved his lips into a smile. Now was not the time to wonder what could be, but rather, to plan for what would be.
And he would be in there by dusk.
But then he turned around as the screaming sound of a starship coming in far too quickly hit his ears, and the vibrations shivered his montrals at the same time as he saw the X-Wing crash in a haze of smoke. What was that?
Fluidly and quickly he jumped down the steps of the pyramid and made his way toward the ship. The being within wasn't a Force-user--what was it doing here? And did it have anything--equipment or information-- Tranner could find useful? A mantra of assassins--always know and use your surroundings. Be ignorant of nothing, because ignorance is death.
He approached the X-Wing quietly and from the side, heat washing across his skin from the trail the crash had left through the forest. The occupant of the ship was knocked out, lekkued head lolling against the crash straps. Tranner peered in, deciding whether to just loot the compartment underneath the X-Wing or go inside for what were more likely valuable items on the Twi'lek's person. The man looked strong, but also...unconscious. And without the Force, he would always be at a disadvantage.
Tranner activated one red pair of lightsabers and began to carve away the cockpit seals.
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Post by surfersquid on Nov 17, 2009 12:25:28 GMT -5
Kyla's steps slowed, faltered as she neared the glot of fellow Force-sensitives, glowing brightly against the background noise of nonsentient life as the Force resounded and amplified within their bodies. She was excited, yes. But she had run face-first into walls too many times to count. It took greater concentration to be able to see not just the Force, but the negative spaces around it where its flow was little more than a trickle, only barely visible if she strained. The Force was all-pervasive, yes, but not in equal measure throughout the universe. Things that did not live, or did not emit appreciable energy, such as stone and metal, were as gaps in the Force, and rendered themselves dangerously invisible to her unless she remembered to give them conscious consideration. Hence, she could see with clarity the sentients moving about ahead of her, but the fact that many of their life-signatures seemed to be floating tens to hundreds of meters in the air obviously signified that they were in a multi-story structure of some sort.
Taking a deep breath, she began to walk forward with purpose, hearing her shoes thud damply on the soft jungle soil, and focusing her sight toward the Praxeum. Gradually, the general shape of the temple began to be discernible to her, more by observing where the Force was not than where it was. It was a curious and cumbersome deficiency of Force sight, but she was merely grateful to be able to see anything. The speeder accident could have done much worse than taken her physical vision.
She remembered that she had been told that someone would come to show her around, and she wondered where they were, if they were coming out to meet her, what they would think of her clouded-over eyes and different way of seeing. She knew others could use the Force, but she was curious to find out how they used it, if they could perceive it like she could, or if it manifested itself to them in another way. Perhaps Luke himself would come out to greet her. The thought of that made her grin with enthusiasm. She had never met him, but she thought perhaps her parents had spoken with him over holocomm once or twice, when they were discussing her admission to the Praxeum.
She would have liked to get to know him, for he was her favorite hero of the Galactic Civil War, and at times she wished she'd been born earlier so she could have experienced those thrilling days of the brave Rebels going up against the powerful Empire. Instead, she'd had to be content about learning about it in school. Perhaps, though, she would be the hero of a war some day, bringing peace and justice to the galaxy. How amazing that would be. It nearly made her forget that her own planet had been under control of the Empire until just before she had started going to school. Her memories of that time, back when her eyes still worked, were few and faint, but one stuck out so clearly that she temporarily averted her concentration, let the Force fade into the background of her consciousness, to remember what seeing matter instead of energy looked like.
She was three years old--it couldn't have been that long before the accident. She and Eliade were out on the balcony of their family's penthouse, playing some long-forgotten game. Suddenly, the air grew cold and the sky dark. She had looked up to see an enormous black arrowhead blocking out the sun, hovering overhead. It was easily bigger than the entire city in terms of the area it covered. She was astounded by it.
That was where the memory ended, but Kyla treasured it, kept it fresh in her mind. She didn't want to forget how she had felt, seeing in person what she would later learn was an Executor-class Star Destroyer. The sheer size and power of the thing had awed her.
As she started back on her way to the Praxeum, she wondered if there was some way that she would ever be able to captain something like that. How thrilling it must be to stand on the bridge of a ship that huge, an island of life, its own tiny world.
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Post by Demarion on Nov 17, 2009 19:33:22 GMT -5
Kon had feverish visions of dancing Twi'lek wielding lightsabers as he slowly came to. His lekku twitched and he shook his head, the cloud of unconsciousness finally leaving him. What had happened? Oh yeah. The red-skinned smuggler rubbed his eyes. Crashed. Fun. The cockpit appeared to be damaged, so how was he to get ou-
He realized someone was trying to get in. Kono'vus undid his restraints and peered out of the leaf-streaked glass.
He had lightsabers.
Kriff.
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Post by Cy Skywalker on Nov 18, 2009 8:56:25 GMT -5
Ka bounded down the honeycombed-metal stairs that led into the ground floor hanger of the Praxeum, careful to grip the steps with her clawed feet as she sometimes felt herself losing balance as her tail waved behind her. She hoped the sensation of lack of control would pass soon. She was already about the height of humans a few years older than her.
Sometimes she felt self-conscious around them, admired how steamlined they were without long muzzles and tails. Not that there weren't beautiful Tiss'shar, with their shining scales. But...here, where so many people didn't look like her...it felt capricious, but she wanted to be a bit more like the others. At home, she didn't feel that way at all. Wasn't a Jedi supposed to be immune to confidence issues?
She moved through the hanger, past X-Wings and Y-Wings, cables snaking across the floor, R2 units whirring by under their own power. The room smelled of years of fuel oils sinking into the rock.
The sun shone yellow outside as Ka padded beneath the lip of the great stone edifice. The air out here smelled clearer, but also more complicated, full of living and breathing plants and animals. It wasn't unlike Tiss'sharl in that respect, although Ka was far from knowing what all the creatures of this world were. She just knew the dangerous ones that had been pointed out on her first day of class, the swarming beetles and creeping snakes. All life, Master Tionne had said, has a purpose.
Ka was relieved to see a humanoid figure moving across the greensward toward the Temple. Was that the right one? A moment of uncertainty, but then in the Force she felt that she was right, a rightness indisputable. She grinned human-style and Tiss'shar style all at once, tongue lolling. She jumped up and waved at the new student. "Hey!"
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Post by Morndakiél on Nov 18, 2009 10:36:30 GMT -5
When the Twi'lek opened his eyes, Tranner narrowed his. This would be a lot more difficult if he had to <i>talk</i> to his victim! That always complicated things, brought in more variables.
Threats sometimes worked.
Tranner wrenched his lightsabers through the ship's skin one last time, creating a hole through which he could speak but the cockpit couldn't be entirely opened. He deactivated his blades and leaned on his elbows on the transparisteel, headtails draped across it, and spoke as the Twi'lek freed himself from his restraints.
"Hello, barve. You seem to be a bit entrapped."
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Post by Demarion on Nov 18, 2009 12:02:11 GMT -5
"Yeah." Kon coughed and spoke sarcastically. "Really." Waitaminute. His usual attitude wouldn't do in this case. Not if he wanted help. Not against a force-user. If that's what the Togruta was, in fact; he did have lightsabers after all.
The smuggler decided to fake naive. "You wouldn't be able to get me out with those fancy glow rods of yours, eh?" He tried to brighten up his expression.
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Post by surfersquid on Nov 18, 2009 17:31:16 GMT -5
Kyla watched, curious, as a packet of glow separated itself from the rest of the mass, traveling downward, toward her, out of the indefinite building-shadow, becoming more distinct as it approached and greeted her. From what she could see, this sentient wasn't Human (and thus not Luke), nor Humanoid in shape, and her curiosity peaked. The Force was pretty shoddy for discerning physical details. Faces were lost to her, as were patterns and trivial things like numbers of digits. But she could see motion perfectly, and often a being's life force sketched a reasonably good imprint of their basic physiology. Concentrating harder, she noted that this one had a long tail, a long neck and a long head, and walked with a sort of plucky strut, picking up its toes somewhat like a bird would as its tail waved behind it. Fascinating.
"Hullo!" she called, waving back as she sprung lightly over the turf, lugging her bags behind her. "My name's Kyla Jerrik, what's yours?" Already, she had found someone to make friends with. This would be a good day.
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Post by Morndakiél on Nov 18, 2009 20:12:36 GMT -5
"Sure I could," Tranner drawled. "If you've got anything that could help me." <i>And that woman that thinks of herself as a Sith Master</i>, he thought sarcastically. Everything he did would be for Darth Ruen's good...for now. He had a feeling, though, that it wouldn't take much to challenge her. She was no Emperor. Her desires didn't match his; he didn't want to take over the Jedi Order and make a Sith one. He just wanted the Jedi decimated. If that left only a few darksiders, so be it--then they wouldn't have to worry about so many rivals.
"Weapons, espionage equipment, credits...any of that." He said with a smile. "And what are you doing here?"
An X-Wing wasn't exactly the best thing to transport goods in, but if the Twi'lek were headed to the Jedi Temple he might have valuable information instead.
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Post by Demarion on Nov 18, 2009 20:35:54 GMT -5
"..." Kono'vus couldn't blame the guy for not doing it for free, he himself did it all the time. He didn't really have anything to offer but the glitterstim, and he was not about to drop the load. Nor tell him he had any. There had to be something...
"Oh. How 'bout the R2 unit?" He jerked is thumb back at the slightly smoking droid. "He's a bit banged up, but with a little fixin' you could get it to work." But still tampered with by the vandals. He thought. Hey, he was a smuggler and a thief, not a goody-two-shoes.
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Post by Cy Skywalker on Nov 18, 2009 20:36:07 GMT -5
Ka held out her hand to shake, then remembered that Jedi usually bowed and did that quickly instead. "I'm Ka-Du-Roan! Welcome to the Temple. Master Skywalker told me to greet you and show you around before your official classes start and stuff."
She noticed that the human's eyes were clouded, unhealthy-looking next to her clear, chocolate-colored skin. Blind? Ka could sense a...she wasn't sure what to call it yet, but a different quality about Kyla. Not in how she felt in the Force, but in how she felt it. Did she use it to see? Would it be rude to ask that? Well, things had worked out so far, so Ka thought she would play it by ear.
She gestured and turned to indicate that Kyla should follow her toward the ziggaurat, uncertain for just a moment whether the human would interpret the gestures. "So, ah, we're going to go through the hanger first--the staging area for the battle of Yavin. " Ka felt proud to be able to impart on another what she had learned about the Temple.
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Post by Morndakiél on Nov 18, 2009 20:46:09 GMT -5
Tranner could tell that he wasn't entirely being told the truth, and that what was being hidden wasn't dangerous, but beyond that, nothing. He looked over at the battered but functional R2. Those things did have computer slicing skills that could be helpful once he got closer to the Temple...could even disable security cams if they were smart enough, which was the sortof mundane thing that Lady Ruen tended to forget about.
Who knew what the Twi'lek would do when he got out--the ship was awfully banged up. But Tranner couldn't think of much else to say or how to turn the situation further, unless he was just gonna leave the guy stuck...which seemed a bit pointless.
"All right. But if you try anything unexpected this lightsaber's going in through your throat," Tranner muttered. He began to cut again, and said "Hey, get out of there." to the R2 to see whether it was coded to respond only to it's owner's commands.
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Post by Demarion on Nov 18, 2009 20:58:20 GMT -5
The droid twittered a few notes, it's yellow and red head swivelling around.
"He's stuck too." Kon said over the hum of the blades. "I'll have to override the restraints once I get out." The Twi'lek got his stuff together while he waited. The package of glitterstim was in a very sturdy case, which he stuffed into a back pack, along with other various items of importance. He made sure his blaster was charged and holstered it at his hip.
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Post by surfersquid on Nov 18, 2009 22:41:31 GMT -5
"Kyla Jerrik," the Human girl replied, beginning to extend her hand to shake the being's limb, but jerking it back in confusion and returning the bow instead. Peculiar, but nothing worrisome. Maybe that was just this species's particular greeting custom. "Nice to meet you, um, Ka-Du-Roan!" she repeated with a grin, feeling out the syllables in her mouth. As Ka turned and gestured, Kyla followed enthusiastically, making sure to keep directly behind the alien so she wouldn't have to expend extra effort to look out for walls and other nonliving obstacles.
"Wow, amazing!" she exclaimed, looking around with the Force though her empty gaze remained trained directly in front of her. Admittedly, to her, the hangar looked a bit bland, as most of the vehicles inside were not currently running, but she could faintly see the hum of power generators and other various energy-producing sundries amongst the confusing tangle of not-Force. The room must have been crowded, and she wondered what the various ships looked like. She would have liked to get closer to them to be able to discern them a little better, but she also had to keep up with Ka.
She had always felt a little jealous of the other children in her class at school during history. The teacher had used a holoprojector to augment the lessons so the students could see three-dimensional reproductions of things such as influential historical figures, crucial battles, and of course the various technologies used through the years, including ships.
But she had never gotten to see any of it.
Every time she saw a holoprojector or a viewscreen or a datapad, all she was able to perceive was a dim, blank droning of energy. She knew the energy couldn't help itself; it was oblivious to what it was supposed to be visually representative of, only worked in fluxes and transitions of power that happened to create visible-light images. It was times like those that she really wished she could see normally.
But she couldn't think of that now. She had to remain cheerful. There was much in life to be grateful for.
"So the battle of Yavin, that's where they blew up the first Death Star, right?" she chirped to Ka, determined to keep up the conversation. The fact that she was actually standing in such a hallowed place was amazing. She was walking the same floor as the heroes of the Rebellion-turned-Republic. She might have even been in the presence of some of their ships, indistinct as they were. One of them even ran the praxeum. Her grin widened. "This...is...awesome!" she squealed, unable to contain herself.
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Post by Cy Skywalker on Nov 19, 2009 12:04:16 GMT -5
Ka hoped that Kyla could sense how pleased she was to meet a fellow...enthusiastic person. All this stuff was awesome! To think that the dust on her feed may have been tread by the boots issued with Rebellion flight suits... "Isn't it! Yep. That's where Master Skywalker used the Force for, well, almost the first time. He trained with Obi-Wan Kenobi before that."
Noticing that Kyla had no trouble following her while looking straight ahead and emanating that particular Force...feel, Ka continued through the hanger, under the shadow of X-Wings, making for the stairs up to the first full level. It would be great to meet Master Kenobi, she thought--but how could she want anything when she'd seen Master Skywalker in person?
She made her way up the stairs. "Of course, there's classes and things, some really hard work. Running, ugh. But we can explore the jungle and the ruins--if you'd like to, of course."
And, it was nice to meet up with someone younger than her. A lot of the Jedi, even if they were apprentices, were older, more serious and quiet. Less fun.
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Post by Morndakiél on Nov 19, 2009 12:11:22 GMT -5
Tranner clambered around the X-Wing's nose and cut the cockpit all the way. He noticed the Twi'lek's blaster, but wasn't worried...he could face a blaster easily. And besides, they were in a business relationship. He had no reason to kill the barve.
He completed the circle and extended one hand. The transparisteel canopy screeched against the burnt edges, then lifted up and shifted sideways under the influence of the Force. Tranner dropped it on the starboard wing and walked back across the nose to jump down. He deactivated his lightsaber, folded his arms and stood waiting for the Twi'lek to climb down.
He asked, "What brings you here?"
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Post by Demarion on Nov 19, 2009 13:31:21 GMT -5
Kon got up and stretched his lean body, checking to make sure everything was working as it should. "I was on my way elsewhere, actually." He turned around and sat with the droid between his legs, flicking a few switches around the astromech's head. "My ship lost control and I ended up here." He left out details- no need to share his entire life with someone he didn't intend to spend too much time with.
"Thanks, by the way." He grunted as he pushed down on R2-T9, using the slight Force power he was attuned to to pop the droid free. The droid twittled as it fell to the ground.
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