# A New Power



## Angcuru (Apr 9, 2005)

The gangster who was known on Ord Mirrit only as "The Boss" had a look in his eyes that, even though she wasn't acccustomed to reading quarren facial expressions, she could tell he was fuming to the point that one just might be able to melt durasteel on his face.  Kia Obscura glanced down at her pair of red dice.  Twelve. Then to The Boss's blue dice.  Eleven.  BOOYAH!  Kia raked the credit chips into a small pouch on her belt, and was about to take her leave when she heard the unmistakable sound of blasters powering up.  Not good.  The Boss's face was twitching so violently that it was difficult to determine if he was extremely put off, or having a small seizure.  He couldn't know that she had used her rudimentary skill with the Force to nudge one of his dice from a six to a five, could he?  Probably not.  But that didn't change the fact that one of the guards had just fired a blaster shot past her skull.  Time to get moving!

Kia reached a mental arm underneath the dice table and flipped it over onto The Boss, much to the surprise of everyone in the room, considering that she was running towards the landing pad like a bat out of hell.


Aasan Tom the Kel Dor found himself wishing once again that his breather mask allowed for even a small tube for him do drink out of.  The selection of beverages at the bar looked _so_ tempting.  No time for that, though.  He had recieved his payment for bringing in that smuggler, and now it was time to go find another job.  Well, he may have been paid for bringing in a smuggler who had betrayed The Boss, but it was one smuggler down nontheless.  Score one point for Justice.  And a good amount of credits for Asaan.

The Kel Dor headed for the landing pad, looking to find passage to nowhere in particular.  Whatever was convenient would be whatever he would take.  Aasan had just recognized the flight office when a young small-framed human girl bowled him over.  He quickly got to his feet, and was just about to tell her off when a blaster shot went right in front of his eyes.  Oh, what now?  Another blaster shot went by right past his head.  Were whoever was chasing that human after him now?  A streak of red light singed his cloak.  Yep, they were after him!  He didn't know where to run, but the stirring of spacecraft thrusters close by provided him a direction.  Aasan found himself running at breakneck speed towards a YT-1300 Corellian Transport, and noticed that girl running up the entrance ramp.  

A few seconds later, he got up the ramp just as it closed.  Heck, she got him into this mess, whoever she was.  She would get him out of it.  Aasan strangely found himself smiling.  It was a bit unexpected, but he had found his transportation.

Kia, not caring that she was still on the ground, thrust the throttle of the _Dawnsprinter_ straight from stall to full speed.  Of course, this would be hell on the engines, but with the credits she had just won, that wouldn't be too hard to undo.  Once free from Ord Mirrit's atmosphere, she flew straight for the nearest hyperspace jump point.  Home free.  A series of tremors rocked the ship, accompanied by a drop in shield power.  Or not.  Kia set the shields to full aft and checked the radar.  A wing of Z-95 Headhunters was right on the _Dawnsprinter_'s tail.  The shields kept dropping, no matter what maneuvers she tried.  The navicomputer beeped, indicating that the transport was out of the gravity well and could enter hyperspace, reminding her with big, bold, obvious letters to plot a course beforehand.  Kia was about to plot a course when she was jolted forward by further hits, this time on the hull from the creaking sounds and the dozens of flashing red lights in the cockpit.  90...80...70 percent hull strength.  With a mental note to give herself a beating if she survived this, Kia Obscura pushed the lever that sent the _Dawnsprinter_ into hyperspace.


Jorran Kaarai woke up in the pilot's seat to the beeping of the navicomputer.  The transport was so old and beat up that he was surprised that it could still stand up to the rigors of hyperspace travel.  Even so, he couldn't even remember its original name so he could wish it good luck.  He just called it _The Old Battleaxe_, a phrase used on some primitive planets to refer to old women who just wouldn't die no matter how old they got.

Jorran didn't know exactly why, but this particular area in the galaxy called to him.  The Force?  Definitely.  He had enough Jedi training to recognize the pull he felt.  Why?  No clue.  

He exited hyperspace to the sight of a blue-green planet ringed by an asteroid field.  Actually, the planet filled up most of his view.  That is, it did the until the YT-1300 Corellian Transport that exited out of hyperspace right next to his ship crashed into the _Battleaxe_, sending the ship spinning towards a VERY large asteroid.  The big red light that should never ever ever EVER be lit up....was lit up.  HULL FAILURE IMMINENT!  Well...damn.  Being sure to grab his lightsaber, Jorran sprinted into the escape pod and hit the ejection switch, seeing his ship explode into a brief ball of flames seconds after the pod shot away.  

Although logic told him that he should be panicing and soiling himself, Jorran was calm.  In over thirty years, his senses had rarely been wrong about this sort of thing, though he was technically still a Padawan.  Or would be if the Jedi Order still existed.  Trusting to the force, Jorran sat back and waited for the inevitable impact with the planet which had been calling to him.  Strangely enough, that Corellian ship which had collided with him was headed in the same direction.  At a much higher speed.


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## Galethorn (Apr 9, 2005)

Jorran woke to find himself hanging in the restraints of his seat. The escape pod was at rest, and seemed to be vertical; the front window showed only rocky soil, visible in the yellow glow from the emergency lights. Pulling the release-tab on the webbing, Jorran fell forwards onto the window with a thud. He stood up and grabbed the release lever on the exit hatch.

The mechanical door struggled to open outwards, letting out only an unpleasent grinding noise. Jorran pushed, and the door opened just a crack. Bits of dirt and gravel poured in.

"Spast!"

He climbed up to the back of the escape pod, clinging to the various protruding survival-gear compartments. Bracing his back against the floor, and his feet against the back of his seat, he pulled the lever on the rear hatch. Not surprisingly, the near-antique mechanical components had long since expired. So, he pulled the short, black-and-silver lightsaber from his belt. It was heavily battered.

"I hope I don't regret this."

He put the emitter of the saber near the 'ceiling' of the pod, and ignited it. The blue-white blade immediately melted through the thin durasteel of the hatch, and he slowly cut through where he expected the latch to be. He turned off the saber and pushed on the hatch. It swung open, and light streamed in. Jorran stood up to his full height, sticking out of the hatch, and surveyed his surroundings.

_(OOC: What do I see?)_


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## Super Girl (Apr 9, 2005)

Kia smirked as she reached for the pile of credits that had been in the pot, sliding them into her pouch, she looked up at the Boss, "I guess today is just not your day," she quiped after beating him for almost the entire game.  "I'll just use these to buy some upgrades and I'll be..." the teenager broke off at the sound of blaster pistols being drawn.  "Aww, come on, no need to get so serious." she admonishes, looking down at the table for an instant.  She connects with it through the force, and darts away from the table, using the force as runs to fling the table at the boss and the guards.  She may not know everything about the force, but tables throwing themselves at people would certainly be a distraction.

The CorSec girl ran at full tilt towards the landing pad, nearly knocking over a Kel-Dor.  Without even slowing she called back over her shoulder "sorry, you should watch were I'm going."  Her hair flapping in the wind as she runs, Kia makes it up the landing ramp of the Dawnsprinter just in time.  She slaps the close ramp button behind her and moves on to the cockpitt without slowing.  "No time for a full boot up, have to hot load." she muttered as she did exactly that, draining power from her Laser Cannon to feed into her engines.

Slapping the button for the repulsar lifts, she cut them in, bouncing her off the hanger floor and towards the open exit.  Goosing the throttle, the DawnSprinter screamed out of the Hanger and up to the relative safety of space, no one would come after her, not up here.  She congratulated herself on the escape, but it stuck in her throat as she felt the ship rock from the beating the shields were taking.  "A wing pair of head hunters? God, what is it with Quarrens and being disagreeable, its not like he knew I was cheating or anything, he couldn't."

Kia set the shields to double aft, and tried a reverse corkscrew maneuver that should have been enough to put her on their tails...if she had been in a snub fighter, but the YT 1300 was no snubbie, it was a transport, not made for fighting, it could be converted for more speed, and to add more weapons, it was what she had intended for the money, but intentions didn't count for much at the moment. The beep of the Nav computer told her she was clear to hyper space, but as she felt the Triple Lasers of the Z-95s eating into her ship, she knew she didn't have the time.  The girl punched the ship up into a blind hyper jump, willing all the hazards out of her path, trusting in the force to keep her safe, in the course she had randomly chosen.

The former would-be cop, sank back into her seat for a moment to catch her breath.  It had been a very interesting day.  She needed to know everything that was going on with the ship, how badly it was damaged, how much it would be to fix it, so she qued up a diagnostic program in the Ship's coputer and let it run.  She would go back over it, but at the moment she was pulling the ship out of hyperspace.  every second she spent in it increased the odds of bouncing through a black hole, or getting to close to a star.  She murmured a prayer and then cut out the hyper-drive, reverting to realspace.  She clipped a derilict as she was making her slow down, and it spun her out of control, ending the attempt to bleed off the extra speed from the jump.  "Sithspit" she cursed as she saw the planet approaching much to fast, "this is sooo gonna hurt."

In the minutes she had left to her before the oncomming crash, the pilot tried all the maneuvers that she could think of to slow her and stop the rapidly approaching pain, but it didn't look like it was going to happen.  Cursing up a storm, she clips herself into the pilots seat, and lowers the blast shield that would protect the transparisteel cockpit....Bammm....screee.... the strps broke sending the girl into the console, giving her a nasty concusion, and putting her out.

.......................................................

Rubbing her head, and the sore spot on her right temple, Kia groans herself to wakefullness.  She had no clue how long it was since the crash, the cockpit lights were out and she was in total darkness.  She knew the ship like the back of her hand, so it shouldn't be that hard to get out and start looking around.  "First things first, get outside, see what I have to work with...this could be Naboo, or Malistaire for all I know, hopefully its inhabited.  She shakily makes her way to the boarding ramp, and manually lowers it as much as she can.  The gears were out of alignment, or something, so she had to slide out on her belly, unable to get it full open.


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## Angcuru (Apr 9, 2005)

As Jorran pops his head out of the exit hatch, he is immediately greeted by a rush of warmth and humidity.  As he looks around, the padawan sees that the escape pod is buried up to half its length in the soft loam floor of a very peculiar looking forest...jungle?  It was hard to tell which.  There are trees as far as the eye can see, some _very_ tall and coniferous, reminiscent of some of the more temperate planets he had visited, while others are maybe twenty meters tall, but absolutely covered in leaves, vines, and condensation.  The flora is typical green and brown, which makes Jorran wonder why the large, predatory-looking creature streaking along the ground towards the escape pod is a bloody red in color.

(The creature is currently 60 meters away from the pod, approaching FAST.)

***​
Kia's first observation upon looking out of the exit ramp is one word.  Jungle.  Steamy, hot, humid, with plants _everywhere._  When Kia lowers herself to the ground, she hears a small splash and feels moisture around her ankles.  Looking around, she sees that the _Dawnsprinter_ has bisected a good-sized stream.  Not too deep, but almost as wide as the transport itself.  The stream has diverted to go around her ship, effectively surrounding it with water.


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## Galethorn (Apr 9, 2005)

With an air of calm, Jorran ducks back inside the escape pod, holding his lightsaber, ready to ignite it and fight if the creature comes in after him.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 9, 2005)

Aasan awakes to a headache, a neckache, and a backache. Really, nothing new these days. He was getting was getting to old for this kind of excitement. Of course, he only vageuly knew of where he was and how he'd gotten there. Again, nothing new. As events slowly came back to him, he took in the surroundings of the ship.

It looked as bad as he felt. With a sigh from within his breath mask, he sat up and allowed his head to stop spinning. Through his goggles, the world was slowly beginning to clear up. He saw some movement, and nearly reacted by drawing his blaster and firing. Quickly, though, he realized it was the same girl who's nearly run him over back on wherever that was. He lost track of planet names these days, too.

Or maybe it was someone different. Humans all had a similar look to them. After he'd watched her climb out of the ship, Aasan got to his feet and made sure he still had everything. His two reddish, claw-like hands patted himself down. Everything was still there, including the large blaster carbine slung in an old stormtrooper's holster. He still didn't remember exactly how he pulled that one off...

Another sigh, and Aasan decided that staying inside a ship that had gone down wasn't going to do him any good. Rubbing his forehead and trying to ignore the pain there, he walked over to the access ramp and saw the shape it was in. Yes, that girl could get through that...but him? Definitely getting too old for this. Standing on top of the access ramp and holding on to the wall, he kicked down on it hard a few times until there was finally enough room, he slipped out to see himself in water next to the human.

Calmly, so as not to startle her anymore that she might already be, the Kel Dor said softly through his breath mask, "I am assuming you didn't plan to bring your ship down into a river..."


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## Angcuru (Apr 9, 2005)

Jorran hears the creature rushing towards the pod, and then stop.  He can hear a snuffling, sniffing sound, as well as its paws crunching dead leaves and this world's equivalent of pinecones as it circles the pod.  There is a moment of silence, and the sound of the creature moving away from the pod.  Just as Jorran breathes a small sigh of relief, the 2-meter long, quadrapedal creature lands on top of the escape pod, thrusting its long neck into the pod, the head stopping barely ten centimeters in front of Jorran's face, giving him a good look at its five very large, very sharp fangs.


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## Angcuru (Apr 9, 2005)

(Kia and Asan go ahead and react to each other for now.)


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## Super Girl (Apr 9, 2005)

"Great, just great, I bet this place isn't inhabited at all, just my luck... I hope I can repair her, otherwise its going to be a real long wait for someone to show up." Kia complains, looking out into the jungle, and then down into the river.  "At least my boots are keeping me feet dry, it could be worse, not sure how, but it could."

At the sound of thumping on the ramp followed by the splash, Kia turns swiftly away from the jungle, and back towards her ship, her hand flashig to her hip, bringing her lightsaber around and up, calling the Violet blade to life.  She dropped into a guard position, or what she hoped looked like a guard position, she didn't really know how to fight with the weapon, but most people thought lightsaber meant Jedi and no one ever wanted to take the chance.  "What in the name of the Sith were you doing on my ship?  Not that it matters, but no, it wasn't planned to crash at all, let alone here, wherever here is."


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 9, 2005)

Aasan was surprised to see the lightsaber, but both that and his smile were hidden by the goggles and breath mask. He eyed Kia carefully for a moment, allowing the hum of the lightsaber to bring back old memories. So the question then became an important one...was she just carrying a lightsaber as so many others he'd found in the past years did?

Calmly, though, he raised a hand, though the Kel Dor's other was resting calmly on his belt...close enough to his blaster is necessary, "Calm yourself. I simply needed a ride and this ship was closest. I can pay for the ride if you'd like, though crashing isn't usually something worth paying for."

Aasan paused a moment, almost getting lost in watching the lightsaber blade, "Where did you get that weapon?"


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## Angcuru (Apr 9, 2005)

As the human and Kel Dor stood there talking, or arguing, depending on how one looked at the situation,  they both barely noticed the two dog-like creatures that burst out of the foliage and rushed them without a sound.

Initiative:
Aasan
Kia
Creatures


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## Super Girl (Apr 9, 2005)

Kia's eyes narrowed as she looked over the Kel Dor, she was not very good at reading non-humans, and the Kel Dor's breath mask made it particularly difficult.  She doubted he was one of the the Quarren's gangsters, one of those would have just killed her while she was distracted by the void-brawl with the star fighters.

When the older being raised his hand to calm her, Kia, wasn't fooled, she was paying more attention to his blaster pistol hand then the other.  "I'd be more friendly if you hadn't snuck aboard my ship, I doubt you work for he Boss, but I can't be too sure." she says, still watching him warily.  "I think we might have bigger problems though, help me fix the DawnSprinter and I'll get you as far as you want to go, with in reason."

The CorSec Academy candidate doesn't lower her guard,while waiting for ananswer, not being entirely willing to give the guy the benifit of the doubt, he had stowed away after all, but if they could get the ship repaired, well, it would be worth putting up with a lot. "I would think I have earned this Saber, I 'liberated' it from an Imperial sympathizer on Tattooine..."  she breaks off sharply, turning to face away from the stowaway and towards the creatures that were charging the pair of them.  Kias right hand shoots out towards the animals, leaving the lightsaber in her offhand.  The move looked rather foolish until the Blaster that was cradled on her shapely hip jumped from its holster into the outstretched hand that was already pointing at the dog-things.  She drew a quick bead on the closer of the pai, and caressed the firing stud with her finger.

OOC:
Move Action: draw the blaster via move object, 1 vitality point
Attack Action: Fire blaster, +4(+5 Point Blank Shot) [3D6+1]
Notes: Use Lucky to reroll if the die alone is less then 10.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 9, 2005)

"Yes, we can talk later, just don't turn that thing on me," Aasan commented more off hand than anything, though his breath mask didn't portray his change in tone very well. Either way, it didn't really matter at this point.

Turning to the creatures, Aasan was at least slightly surprised at their lack of sounds. Passing it off, he quickly drew his carbine and trained it on the nearest before squeezing off a single shot.

((OOC: Firing at the nearest of them...attack is a +6(+7 attack and +1 more damage if they're within 10m) and if it hits it does 3d8 damage.))


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## Angcuru (Apr 9, 2005)

Aasan raised his Carbine, aimed at the nearest of the two creatures, and fired.  The shot would have hit it right in the eyes, but the thing stopped in its tracks and ducked with obvious effort, the beam skimming over the top of its body by mere centimeters.

Kia fired off a shot towards the other of the pair which was now less than 10 meters from her, carefully aiming for what she hoped was a weak spot.  The blaster shot actually went into the creature's gaping mouth and down its throat.  It made an odd sound halfway between a startled yelp and a roar of pain, then collapsed to the ground, shaking for a moment before going still.

The first of the pair reeled back, scuffing the ground as it wheeled around and retreated.

(Aasan deals 17 dmg to the first creature.)
(Kia gets double critical on the second, dealing full damage straight to wounds for 18 damage.)

(Aasan may take a parting shot at the fleeing creature if he so wishes.)


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## Galethorn (Apr 10, 2005)

OOC
Ok, since I had an action readied to ignite the lightsaber...I go ahead and do that now. And, if there's time during my turn, attack.


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## Super Girl (Apr 10, 2005)

"Do you have any idea of where we are or what those things are?"  Kia asks the Kel-dor as she double taps the saber's power stud to turn it off.  She clicks the blade back to her belt, and lets it bounce on her thigh.  Kia lokked at her handywork for a moment before turning back to the Kel-dor, her pistol still in hand, though not pointed.  With her right hand, she sweeps the hair that had come out of her pony tail back in under the binder.

"So, can I trust you to play nice until we're back to civilization?"  she asks, smirking.


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## Angcuru (Apr 10, 2005)

As the dangerous-looking creature thrust its head towards his face, Jorran switched on his lightsaber, the blue blade coming to life and lighting up the tiny space.  The creature's focus turned from the human to this sudden rod of light.  Jorran thrust the blade at the creature, and it backed off out of his reach, but not out of view.  It remained pearched on the pod for a moment, watching Jorran's blade cautiously.  Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the creatured ran off.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 10, 2005)

Aasan watched the creature disappear before sliding the carbine back into its holster on his thigh. After a short moment, he looked back to the young human, "If I can trust you with that weapon..." he trailed off a moment and then looked around to take in their surroundings, idly commented, "You should not carry that weapon if you are not Jedi..."


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## Super Girl (Apr 10, 2005)

Kia rolled her eyes at the admonishment about carrying a Jedi weapon.  "I put it to better use then the Collector that possesed it, and unlike most people that carry them now, I can actually use the force.  That makes me the next best thing to a Jedi."  she says confidently, returning the blaster to its spot on her thigh.  The smuggler, sighs and turns back to the ship.

"First things first, we need to see what we can salvage in the way of supplies from the DawnSprinter.  Then we need to figure out what it'll take to get her running again.  We can sleep onboard her at night to avoid the predators, and there should at least be rations in her galley, not Luxury class, but they should do, if they survived.  You get started on the Inventory, I'll do what I can to get a diagnostic going."  Kia says, taking charge.  She slides back into the Darkened ship, and then ignites her Saber for light.  The girl heads back up to the cockpitt, intending to get whatever systems she can working.

The first thing she does is secure her lightsaber into a holder so tat she can have both hands free.  After that she works on getting power back, with lights being her main goal at first, figuring if she can get the lights back, it would at least allow the two of them to see and work more efficiently.

OOC: I guess a repair check?  Going for lighting, then try to get the computer up and running for a diagnostic,


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 10, 2005)

"If anything needs fixing, I've got some experience in holding hunks of junk together..." Aasan called down towards the cockpit before deciding that inventory was a good idea anyway. He had no idea how many supplies were on this thing in the first place, and couldn't help but wonder if she did.

So, he had a look over everything, trying to find anything useful, be it food, supplies, or simple spare parts. He'd have to speak with her later when things weren't moving too quickly as they seemed to be now. A Force user...this wasn't luck, and he doubted it was also coincidence that she happened to weild a lightsaber. Perhaps the Force did have something in mind for him, after all.


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## Angcuru (Apr 10, 2005)

Upon diagnosing the diagnostic computer for damage, Kia comes to the realization that whoever designed this ship didn't have planetary crashlandings in mind when he designed the shock buffer.  As she has considerable experience with making repairs, she can tell that nothing is where it should be.  If she were to try and attempt a repair on the diagnostic systems, she would need more reliable, and less dangerous light than that of her lightsaber.

Kia notices that the part of the control switch that feeds power to the lights on the ship has been damaged.  A few quick wire splices have the switch up and running as it should, but the lights still do not turn on.  A quick examination of nearby light panels and fixtures confirms her suspicions that the lights themselves have been damage.  Repairable, but it would take quite a while to get all of the lights on the ship working.  Kia surmises that it would likely take about ten minutes or so an average to fix each light...if she can find the proper materials.

Aasan's ventures prove a bit more fruitful.  He finds that the ship has enough food stored away in various compartments and suchlike to feed a single person for four months, given proper rationing.


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## Super Girl (Apr 10, 2005)

Kia groans when the lights fail to come back on after her efforts.  Sighing, she starts the process of canabalizing every other light panel for the parts needed to fix the other glow panels.  From her years of experience repairing things, especially the ship, she figured she could make things work with half-light, or even only a third.  Worst comes to worst, and she would strip all but one light out of everywhere that wasn't essential.  A single light in the galley, a single light in her cabin and the crew quarters, etc, to get the amount of light she needed elsewhere.  She wondered if the Cockpitt was the only place without light at the moment, if any of the lights had survived intact, if they had, she could just switch them in immediately and save time.

"I have the power back up, but it looks like a lot of the glow panels themselves are broken, I'm gonna see if I can canabolize some to get the rest running.  Are any actually working back where you are?" she calls out to her 'guest'.

After calling out to the Kel-Dor, she gets down to the repairing of the lights, wondering f she should close the hatch in case more of those dog things showed up, she decided against it, the ramp only opened so much, if she closed and opened it too much it might get stuck.

OOC: I think Kia would qualify as an expert in repairs.  5 ranks is considered the level of a professional, though a professional would most likely have 5 ranks in profession mechanic to give him a boost, as well as computers +5 for computer repairs(which she has), etc


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## Angcuru (Apr 10, 2005)

OOC: Ah, right.  Apparently when making that check I looked at your Ride score by mistake.    The result is the same, though.  Kia also surmises that to do what she has in mind will take two or three hours, scavenging included.


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## Super Girl (Apr 10, 2005)

Angcuru said:
			
		

> OOC: Ah, right.  Apparently when making that check I looked at your Ride score by mistake.    The result is the same, though.  Kia also surmises that to do what she has in mind will take two or three hours, scavenging included.




OOC: Sounds good


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## Angcuru (Apr 10, 2005)

After an hour or so of moving about the ship and trying to repair what light sources she can, Kia hears a series of odd sounds when she passes by the landing ramp.  She hears what sounds like the ripping and tearing of flesh accompanied by frequent growling, barking, and yelping.


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## Super Girl (Apr 10, 2005)

"Hey...uh...whoever you are, I think we have more of those dog things outside the ship.  I don't think they'll be able to get on the ship, but I'd like you to cover me with that Carbine of yours while I check it out." Kia calls out to the Kel-Dor wanderer.  She heads over to the ramp, and kneels down, to look out towards where she had killed the one animal, expecting to see it get torn to pieces by others.  She doesn't get too close to the edge, and she has her blaster pistol in hand pointing down the ramp.


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## Angcuru (Apr 10, 2005)

Kia looks out over the edge of the ramp and sees what has to be at least a dozen of those dog-things devouring the corpse of the one she had killed earlier.  They can't have been at it for long, but the remains were near skeletal now.  Now having a chance to look at them without worrying about her immediate survival, Kia sees that they are all gaunt, with barely any meat on them at all.  She is shocked to see that they have already finished off the meat on the recently dead corpse, and now appeared to be attacking each other.  The pack circled around the smallest of their number, slavering and growling, and then they all pounced at once.  Within seconds it was torn apart, limb from limb, the pack feasting on it before it was even properly dead.


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## Super Girl (Apr 10, 2005)

Kia watches in horror as the dog things tear ravanously into the dead, and then into their weaker members, it was horrific.  The Force Sensitive girl could almost feel the teeth and claws of the dog things digging into her, though it was most likely only empathising and no force gift.  She knew they would attack her given the chance, and she didn't want to give them that chance.  Lying on her belly, Kia lines up a shot on the largest of the animals, taking the time to be sure of a hit.  Just like her father had taught her, she pulled the blaster stud softly, sending out a glowing red line.

:OOC:
Spending 3 actions aiming
so +10(3d6-1) they lose dex because of a concealed attacker (outside 10 meters)
or
+11(3d6) they lose dex because of a concealed attacker


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## Angcuru (Apr 10, 2005)

Kia took careful aim at her chosen target, and fired.  Although her shot was well placed, the targeted dog-creature's constant movement from fighting over the scraps of meat on the corpse caused the shot to merely graze its shoulder, doing little more than singing some hair...and getting its attention.  

Although the others take no notice, the one she had shot at ran from the cannibalistic feast to the landing ramp of the _Dawnsprinter_, trying to leap up and get at her, but it can do no more than claw harmlessly at the edge of the ramp.


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## Super Girl (Apr 10, 2005)

*97/100 shots*

Kia growls in frustration at the glancing shot, she had hoped to do more.  She flinches at the creatures darting attack, even if she was safe, it still was startling to say the least.  She lines up on it again, this times, not bothering to aim as much, the entire pack was behind it, still feeding, so a miss might not miss entirely.  She strokes the firing stud, again.

"We have a whole pack of those dog things out here, eating the dead one from earlier, and they just killed another of their own, I think we are going to have to deal with them if we ever want to go outside the ship to do external repairs and stuff."  Kia calls out.

OOC: +6(3d6) damage


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## Angcuru (Apr 10, 2005)

Kia's next shot has similiar results, but this time she notices that her target is growing shaky and tired from trying to avoid her attacks.  Another shot just might do the trick.


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## Super Girl (Apr 10, 2005)

*97/100 shots*

Kia refuses to give into frustration, she knew that these creatures had to be dealt with and that patience is a virtue.  She also knew that it would take her guest a good bit of time to do a full inventory to be able to tell her what she had to work with to repair the rest of the ship.  Idly she wished that the ships laser cannon was operational and that the pack was in its arc.  It seemed over-kill, it would probably be wasteful, and until she knew just how much power she had, didn't want to waste any of it.  The CorSec hopeful carefully lines up a shot and then fires at the winded dog thing again.  Not needing to be concerned with safety, she takes her time, and lets off another 15 shots at the creatures, deciding to save the rest until it was more critical.  Between her power packs, she had about 200 or so shots, but there was no telling how long she would be here.

OOC:  Angcuru said that AMG and I were at different times because his inventory would take longer then my repairing the lighting that I repaired before I got side tracked, this post is intended to get us to the same time, however far in the future that is.

+6(3D6) for those 15 shots (it'll bring her down to 82 shots or so)


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## Angcuru (Apr 10, 2005)

Another shot from her blaster strikes the creature square in the chest as it tries to get at her again, bringing a yelp of pain as it falls the the ground and lays motionless.

Half of the pack leaps upon the fallen creature, tearing into the flesh with complete disregard to the fact this it was one of their own.

Horrified, Kia fires shot after shot into the mass of creatures, bringing two more of them down before the rest realize the danger and begin to back off.  Another few blasts send them scurrying into the foliage, but Kia has a nagging suspicion that they aren't gone for good.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 11, 2005)

"Any way we can close this boarding ramp?" Aasan suggests, finally catching up to the sounds. Inwardly, he wishes he hadn't kicked the thing down, but it was too late for regrets like that. Having at least caught a glance at the actions of the creatures, he wasn't at all phased by their eating of their own. It was ironic, really...no, not ironic, more nostalgic.

It reminded him far too much of the old days. The old days when he was young. After a moment, the Kel Dor brought himself back into the moment and said calmly, "We have food, at least, and there area a good amount of supplies. I assume the ship isn't in great shape, though, and there's only so long we're going to be able to stay cooped up in this thing hiding from those animals."


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## Super Girl (Apr 11, 2005)

Kia sighs at the question and then rises from her belly, holsteringthe blaster once again on her hip.  She shakes her head, "I don't know how difficult it'll be, I for one don't want to go out there at the moment, and they don't appear to be able to get in, the fit is too tight.  I think its okay for now, but before nightfall we should definitely do it."   Kia explains.

"Since it looks like we are going to be spending a good deal of time together for the immediate future, I suppouse we should introduce ourselves.  You can call me Kia, I'm a trader, I work the outer-rim, among other things, and since I'm the only crew on this bucket, I've had to be pretty good at repairing her.  Do you have any experiance with repair work...?" she trails off, giving the Kel-Dor time to respond before continuing.

"Our first priority should be to get as much of the lighting working as possible so we can see to work on the rest of the stuff, I've gotten about half of it, if you can get the rest going, I can start on the ship's computer, and figure out how bad off we are and where exactly we are.  After that, its just going to be going through system by system, seeing what we can get working.  I'd like to wait for tommorow morning before going outside to work on exterior repairs to the ship."


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 11, 2005)

At the mention of repair work, Aasan smiled under the breath mask, though it didn't show, he did his best to show a nod, saying calmly once she was finished, "I am Aasan. And yes, I have much experience with repair work. When you have been around as long as I have, you pick up a few things and learn how to keep things together. However the lights are a...ah...minor concern."

He paused for a moment, curious as to why Kia wanted the lights fixed first. He then remembered, and silently scolded himself for forgetting. It had been so long since he'd been around a human in the dark, "Ah...I apologize, it has been many years since I have been in the lower light with a human. I can see well enough and I truly am sorry, but it slips my mind much of the time that you cannot. If you would like, I can attempt to check on any of the more critical systems first, as I can see without trouble."

Another pause, and this time it lasted long enough that it was obvious the Kel Dor was slightly nervous, "I must...speak with you of something once we have the important systems back online. I have some questions I must ask...they are ah...important."


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## Super Girl (Apr 11, 2005)

"Feel free to ask while we work, its not like we have anything we need to talk about." Kia says, before nodding.  Of course, Ked-Dor could see in the dark better then humans, then again I didn't know if he was any good with repairs either.  "I need the lighting to see to make repairs.  The other thing it fixing them lets me do is got an eye for the rest of the ship and how it fared in the crash, sort of a visual diagnostic.  If you'd care to work on the fixing the landing ramp and getting it closed up nice and tight, now, we'll both be ready to move onto the ships main systems together.  I have modified her a bit so I could pilot her more easily, so it would be best if I was in on whatever we do."

"I don't think the thingns out there can get in here, but there might be other stuff to worry about, so get the ship shut up tight if you don't need more light to do so.  By the time I'm done. I should know what wrong with the ship, physically at least, and we can go from there."


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## Galethorn (Apr 11, 2005)

After the creature left, Jorran turned off his saber and pulled out his blaster. He proceeded to climb out of the escape pod and walk the perimeter of the clearing, looking aroud carefully.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 11, 2005)

Aasan nodded and moved carefully to the boarding ramp, pulling out a few tools from various pockets and trying to do what he can to get the thing working enough to close and open completely.

As he works, he calls back to Kia, though the breath mask makes it sound more echoed than it normally would be through the ship, "Skilled in the Force or not, you should not carry a lightsaber in this day. It is very dangerous, even with the Empire in decline. It is especially...especially not suggested if you are not a Jedi. Those weapons are not toys for every Force sensitive in the galaxy to play with."

Though his words are a bit harsh, Aasan is doing his best to convey a sense of understanding of the situation...asking questions through simple statements. It had worked in the past, so he had no reason to believe it wasn't the best tactic at the moment.


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## Angcuru (Apr 11, 2005)

After several minutes of circling the area immediately around his escape pod, keenly aware and ready for trouble, there is none coming.  As Jorran begins to think on his next move, he detects movement to his left, from the far edge of the clearing.  

The same creature from before comes trotting calmly into the clearing, and comes to a stop approximately 20 meters from him.  Jorran quickly raises his blaster, ready to defend himself.  He did not, of course, expect what he heard next.

"What is it, Alloj?"  A woman's voice?  At the words, the red predatory-looking creature's ears perked slightly, and it made a sharp hissing noise, raising an appendage towards Jorran.

A human woman walked out of the forest and into the clearing.  She wore simple clothes, something between a robe and a dress that Jorran hadn't encountered before, along with what looked like a brass circlet on her forehead.  Upon seeing Jorran, and his escape pod, she stopped immediately and regarded him with a shocked expression.


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## Super Girl (Apr 11, 2005)

Kia continues her work on the lighting as she converses with Aasan, removing the components from a pair of lights to get the parts for the glow panel between the two.  "I'm not worried about it, its been less dangerous to carry them ever since the Emporer died, and now even Imperial center has fallen to the Rebel Alliance.  Things have changed, the Empire just can't get after everyone carrying one, and now some wealthy people even carry them if they are afraid to carry a blaster." she calls out, laughing at the idea.

"I am actually passable with the thing, and even if I'm not a jedi, I'm sure that eventually there will be some Jedi again.  Its just a question of when, who knows, I might just be a Jedi Knight some day." she says the mirth carrying through her voice, if not through her facial expression in the dark.  "Skywalker was a farmboy before he became one, who is to say that a corellian trader can't be next."

"Look, I don't need a lecture, or a father, I used to be on a path not so different from a jedi's.  You wouldn't be able to tell, but I was accepted to the Corellian Security Force back home before the Diktat and the Empire purged it, just like they did the Jedi, I figure I have a lot in common with them, and thats really all that you need to know about it." The girl calls out defensively.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 11, 2005)

"What happened to CorSec was nothing like what happened to the Jedi!!" Aasan snapped back, a short burst of anger involuntarily grasping him. He puased a moment to calm himself, then spoke again, "I apologize for that...but it is a subject...very close to my life. I have seen enough young Force sensitives killed because of what they were or what they carried. Just because the Empire is dying doesn't mean it is any less dangerous. 

"I mean no offense, but the path of the Jedi is gone. Trying to bring back a dead time is useless...believe me, I have tried for many years," with a sigh, he turned back to the boarding ramp, trying to calm himself by trying to get the thing to close completely.

((Repair +12.))


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## Angcuru (Apr 11, 2005)

After some quick exploratory tinkering, Aasan finds that there are two main problems with the landing ramp.  The power feeds that allow it to be commanded by the various control panels in the ship have been nearly severed. The Kel Dor may be able to repair them to a point, but to bring them back to full functionality he will need several hours, and a whole lot of insulating material so that the power lines don't electrocute anyone.  The other problem is that the crash had apparently caused one the hydraulic arms that lower and raise the ramp had been bent near its center.  Aasan can probably get it to open up to halfway or close it completely, but to get it to do anything more than that he'll need to remove it and bend it back into shape.


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## Super Girl (Apr 11, 2005)

"I was there, I survived the purge of CorSec, my father and a lot of other Officers and their families were not so lucky.  Dead is Dead, both worked to protect innocent citizens, and both were betrayed by those they worked for, being hunted by the Government that they faithfully served because of a shift in the political climate.  I know of officers who escaped just ahead of Deathmarks being placed on them, I have one on me for escaping.  If the Empire is going to try to kill me for one thing, I might as well make them do it for 10, or 15."

"I don't think the Jedi will be gone forever, I'm sure that the Empire was as inept at killing all of the Jedi as it was at crushing the Rebellion, somewhere, someone survived, or wrote down what they knew, or passed it on to their children.  Somewhere there are Jedi just waiting to be found, and Luke Skywalker is already a Jedi Knight, or a Master, I'm sure he wont let the Jedi way die with him."

"Hey, if you can't get it totally working, just get it closed for now, we can always exit out the top hatch, or through the cargo ramp." Kia offers.

OOC: I'll take 10 on repairing the lights if its important


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## Angcuru (Apr 11, 2005)

Adrial Strogg sat cross-legged on a straw mat, feeling the force within and surrounding the the basket of stones that floated in the air in front of her.

"Remember, Adrial.  The force not only surrounds the physical materials of the universe, but is within them as well.  It is in you, me, everyone and everything.  Learn better to percieve the universe with the force instead of just your natural senses, and you'll be better able to control what you percieve."

Adrial nodded, concentrating on the basket.  Although she had considerable skill with this aspect of the force, it was by far her least favorite.  She felt the wicker weave of the basket, and the stones within.  So like the stones she had unknowingly moved so long ago...Adrial saw in her mind the day when she lost her mother, when her pitiful attempt to save her life with a child's wish had triggered a rockslide that killed not only the nightstalker that was trying to kill her mother, but her mother as well.  If only she had known what she was doing...

The basket fell to the floor with an audible crash.  Adrial didn't notice.  She was concentrating on holding back her tears.  She didn't want to show weakness to Miera, but it was too late, the tears were sliding slowly down her face.

Adiral's mentor sighed, and began to gather the stones back into the basket.  "You're improving, Idrial, but you must learn not the dwell on the past.  The more you think of the grief and sadness you have experienced, the less you can concentrate on the matters at hand."  Miera handed Adrial a small square of cloth to try her face with.  "Remember that you should never let go of the past and loved ones you have lost, but you should not let them drag you down with them, either.  You waited eleven years before you began to realize this and came to me for training, but I knew you could feel the force all along.  If you had come to me before then, I would have refused you, because your grief could only have been made greater with training in the force."

Adrial wiped the tears from her face and nodded.

"Good, now lets go out for a bit.  A nice long walk would do you good."

They left the large, elongated hut that served as a meeting hall and training center for Arias and Miera's Sethi learners, and after a quick gesture to one of the young wall guards, the northeastern village gate opened. A few more minues of walking and they left the edge of the croplands encircling the city walls and entered the wilderness.

Several hours of calm, wordless strolling through the heavily wooded area surrounding their village, Adrial felt a twinge in the force.  Something unusual that she hadn't felt before.  She turned to Miera, who was looking off to their right.

"I feel it too.  Something...unnatural has happened not far from here."

As if to confirm her words, a single red, four-legged, fearsome-looking creature padded calmly out from a copse of trees and approached Mieara.

Adrial felt a wave of hate flow through her.  A nightstalker.  The same kind of creature that had tried to kill her mother.  But despise them though she did, Adrial knew that this one was no threat.

Mieara reached out and scratched one of the nightstalker's ears.  "So you've felt it too, Alloj?"

Alloj's face was dominated mostly by her race's five large fangs, but the small, beady eyes closed halfway for a moment as Miera scratched her ears.  The nightstalker shook its head after a moment, and let out a short hissing sound, nodding off to their right.

Miera turned to Adrial, "I think Alloj has found the source of the disturbance."

Alloj hissed again, and started off into the forest, looking back towards them to make sure they were following.


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 11, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

As Alloj headed off away from them, Adrial nodded at her mentor. "Yes Master Miera." She began to go after the nightstalker. As they followed the beast she turned to Miera. "What can do you think it could be?" She gets excited at the thought of something new. "I feel... excited yet apprehensive at the same time. Is this a natural feeling?" Since loosing her all of her famaily she had always wondered if her emotion were correct. She always strived to 'feel' right. She smiled at Miera as they continued.


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## Angcuru (Apr 11, 2005)

"I'm not sure, Adrial.  It could be anything.  We'll just have to wait and see."  Miera said. "And it is quite natural to feel apprehension and excitement as well as fear together.  They are often one and the same.'"


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 11, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

Later...

Adrial continues to follow the beast, along with Miera. Adrial thinking she heard something stops and turns to look. When she turns back, Alloj and Miera have moved on. Just ahead she can see that Miera has stopped in a clearing. She moves quickly to join her. As she steps out of the forest and into the clearing she sees Alloj nearby. She also sees Jorran and his escape pod. Never having seen such a thing she waits for her tutor's lead. She remains silent and looks to Miera.


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## Galethorn (Apr 12, 2005)

"Were you in that ship that hit me?" Jorran asked, lowering his blaster. "And I hope I didn't hurt your...uhh...pet when it met me earlier. It gave me the distinct impression that it wanted to eat me."

OOC
I'd like to use See Force (which, come to think of it, I should have done earlier).


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## Angcuru (Apr 12, 2005)

Miera is speechless for a moment before she speaks quickly.  "What?  No, no.  You mean there is another ship out there?  Are the communicans systems in your pod working?  We have to try and contact it if we can!"

Jorran notices a very short woman standing next to Miera, looking unsure of what to do.  Adrial is surprised that Master Pannar has reacted in such a manner, having always seen her as calm and deliberate.

Jorran's attempt to detect force users in the area yields a feeling of strength somewhat lesser than his own from the short woman.  When he focuses on the taller of the pair, what he senses can only be described as instant sensory overload.


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## Galethorn (Apr 12, 2005)

After blinking a few times, Jorran regained his composure.

"I've got an short-range com system in the pod, but I'm not sure how it fared in the crash. Anyway, the other ship looked like it went down after it hit me. But...if you're not from the other ship, how did you get here? Are there others?"


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## Angcuru (Apr 12, 2005)

After a few hours of work, Kia has repaired enough of the lighting to be able to see in every room of the ship, though it still isn't as bright as she would like it to be.  Her work on the main computer was surprisingly quick and easy.  Apparently, it had very effective protection against collision damage.  Kia had but to replace a few loose wires, and the diagnostics screen sprung to life.

Landing ramp..............................damaged, extensive repairs required.
Sensors.....................................clogged, excessive organic matter suspected.
Communications..........................damaged, limited to short range.
Environmental utilities...................minor damage detected.
Repulsor Lifts..............................damaged, extensive repairs required.
Ion Engines.................................low power.
Hyperdrive..................................*ERROR*.  Recommend manual analysis.


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## Angcuru (Apr 12, 2005)

"You think the other ship crashed? Hurry, try and contact it!"  Miera hurries over towards Jorran and his escape pod.  "There are many more of us, in a settlement not far off.  We were on a refugee ship that crashed a long time ago.  Don't just stand there.  If the other ship you mentioned didn't crash we might not be able to contact it if it's flown off by now!"


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## Galethorn (Apr 12, 2005)

Jorran nodded and ran back to the escape pod. After climbing up the side, he lowered himself through the hatch. Inside, he brushed dirt off of the com system near the front of the pod. He set it to an open channel, and cleared his throat.

"Does anyone copy? I repeat, does anyone copy? Over."


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## Angcuru (Apr 12, 2005)

"D... ...... copy? I ..peat, does anyone copy? Over."

Kia is extremely surprised to hear a voice over the comm, slightly staticy at first, but it cleared up quickly.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 12, 2005)

Not wanting to tamper with the systems too much, Aasan will leave as much as he can as is...just doing his best to make sure the boarding ramp can close completely for safety's sake.

Once done with that, he'll head to find Kia and ask more politely than he'd been speaking before, "What's next on the list of things to do?"

((...that's assuming he's able to fix the boarding ramp enough to just close and at least open enough to get out later. Also assuming he gets to the cockpit after Kia hears what she hears.))


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## Angcuru (Apr 12, 2005)

(OOC - yeah, that works, AMG)


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## Super Girl (Apr 12, 2005)

Once Kia had gotten what lighting that she could working, she got down to the real work, the work on the computer system itself.  The ease with which she got te diagnostic routines working made her smile, but the damage report killed her lopsided grin.  It would mean a lot of work, if it could be done at all, and parts that she might have no way of getting.

"At least I have a hierarchy to work down, I can get Aasan to start clearing the organic matter off the top of the ship through the top hatch, away from those things."   she mutters to herself.

"Hey, Aasan, I got a diagnostic up, that ramp is going to take some pretty extensive repairs, we should hit the more vital systems first, just get it closed and we can use the top hatch.  After thats closed, If you can handle fixing some minor issues with the environmentals, I can work on the communications arra....." the girl breaks off in mid sentance as her comms crackle to life.  She darts over to the panel, and clicks it open.

"This is the DawnSprinter, we have crash landed on the planet and are in need of some repairs, Repeat this is the DawnSprinter, we are on the planet in the middle of a river, we need repairs to get off the ground, over."


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## Galethorn (Apr 12, 2005)

Glad to hear someone on the other end, Jorran responded.

"This is the escape pod from the Umber Dart, and I'm also planetside. I think we met in orbit. Are any of your crew injured?"


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 12, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

Adrial simply watched for now. She was in awe of someone off world coming here. Arias and Miera had always said that someday this would happen. But for some reason, Adrial had always imagined it would happen when she was much, much older. She also had visualized it quite a bit differently. She figured they would come and land right next to the settlement. A large shiny ship with many comforts. The crew would welcome them aboard. When they returned to where ever, they would be tagged as heroes. At least that was how she had imagined it. But these people seem to have crashed landed just like they had. Her thoughts return to that day so many years ago when she lost her uncle. She shivers just thinking about it.


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## Super Girl (Apr 12, 2005)

"No one is injured, just the ship is damaged, Repulsor Lifts, are out, Hyperdrive inoperable, and I don't know that we have enough power to lift us off again and get to orbit.  Everything else should be fine with a bit of work.  We might be able to repair the Repulsor lifts, but at the moment its difficult to get outside, theres a pack of Red Dog things in the area, we've killed a few, but they keep coming back to eat their dead."

"You can't have much in the way of supplies on the escape pod, bring what you have and join us, with another pair of hands, we should be able to get her working that much sooner.  Bring whatever you can,  power packs, energy cells, any parts you can pry off the Pod,"

"Uhh, Umber, exactly how many of you are there in that pod, I have myself and a Kel-Dor on the Dawnsprinter."


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## Angcuru (Apr 12, 2005)

OOC - Just a note to clear something up.  The creatures encountered by Jorrann and Kia/Aasan are two completely different species.  The dog-things are more of a brown mottled sort (sorry, should have clarified that earlier).


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## Angcuru (Apr 12, 2005)

Miera stands close the the pod, listening in on the conversation.  Her face is a mask of concentration, taking in every word exchanged like it might be the last.  At the mention of the dog-like creatures, she quickly taps Jorran on his shoulder, motioning for him to relay a message. 

"They're called masliths.  How many have you killed?!  You have to get the corpses as far away from your ship as you possibly can!"






********

OOC - That's just a little marker so can distinguish between story hour segments.


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 12, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

Adrial notices that Miera is standing close to the pod. So she walks over next to her mebtor and waits for a good time to ask a question. Once she sees an opportunity, she clears her throat. "Master Pannar! Will we need to lift this metal thing out of the ground?" If she answers in the affirmative, Adrial will continue. "You have taught me that size is not a problem as long as you use the force. May I try to lift the object when the time comes to move it?" Sheer excitement is all over her face.


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## Galethorn (Apr 12, 2005)

"It was just me, but I landed near a settlement," Jorran replies. "One of the locals says that those creatures are called 'Masliths'...you should move the corpses as far from your ship as possible."


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## Super Girl (Apr 12, 2005)

"So there are settlements here? Good, maybe we can get the ship repaired.  Look, I don't know about moving the bodies around, right now we have our ship sealed up so nothing can get in, we shouldn't be in danger from anything.  At the moment the only fully working access should be the topside hatch, so unless those things can climb a starship, we wont have issues.  Well, unless the reason you want them moved is so you can get here easier.  We've only killed a couple, maybe 4 or 5, just lowered the landing ramp a bit, but not enough for them to get in."

"Actually I think the things are more bown then red, if that matters to you.  Look, I'll get the things a bit further away from the ship, if you'll use it to get closer.  I'll even use my commlink to stay in-contact to you, just use the comm-gear to locate where this signal is coming from and get here." Kia says, frowning, not really wanting to go outside.

"Aasan, Lets get out there, I don't want to have to spend anymore time outside then neccessary, and I want cover while I do it.  Grab your Carbine, and I'll start moving them, cover me in case more ome while I'm at it." she tells him, setting her commlink to on, and heading to the ramp.

OOC: from what I gather it can open and close halfway with no issues, but more then that is a problem?


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## Angcuru (Apr 12, 2005)

OOC - it can close and open to halfway with no problem, but that's as far as it'll go.


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## Angcuru (Apr 12, 2005)

"Commlink?  Oh, just a moment."  Miera fished around in a pouch at her belt for a moment before pulling out a small cylinder with mesh covering one end.  She looks over Jorran's shoulder at the comm station, and sets the commlink to the comm channel she sees displayed. _I hope this thing still works._   "Hello?  Hello, can you hear me?"

"I don't see why not, Adrial.  But not yet though."  Miera says while waiting for a response.

***​
As Kia lands on the ground, her commlink buzzes and crackles for a moment before clearing up.  ".....   ..... ... ... hear me?"


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 12, 2005)

Aasan follows Kia out, keeping his eyes open and his blaster ready, "Ask them how far we'll need to move them. I can help you and keep a look out at the same time if we need to get these moved a long way."


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## Super Girl (Apr 12, 2005)

"This'll teach me not to make blind hyperspace jumps trusting in the force," Kia mutters, though its easily picked up by the commlink.  "Yea, I read you, I take it your one of the locals?  Exactly how far away do we have to move these bodies? Some of them don't have much left cause they ate each other, then again, the last few do sincee I killed them to chase he others off."   She clips the commlink to her vest, and then reaches down and starts to drag off one of her later kills, one that hadn't been gnawed on, pulling it down stream from the ship.

She intends to drag the corpse about 100 meters down stream, till its out of sight of the ship,  and then she'll head back for the next.


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## Angcuru (Apr 13, 2005)

"Just make sure that they are nowhere near your ship.  Masliths never leave a corpse alone for long, for any reason.  The planet is crawling with those things.  They're smart enough to leave you alone if you pose a danger, but if you get between them and anything even remotely resembling meat, they'll attack you regardless."  Miera pauses and thinks for a moment.  "Once you have that taken care of, try and locate the escape pod on your sensors."

Miera turns to Jorran.  "It could be some time before they can locate your pod.  You should return to our settlement with us."  Miera turns to head back towards the village, when she is struck by a sudden idea.  "Hold a moment.  I don't know how much technology has changed over the years, but I remember that all escape pod-type vehicles used to have emergency transponders.  If we can find that and remove it, we could take it back to the settlement with us."


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## Galethorn (Apr 13, 2005)

Jorran nodded and grabbed the transponder before following after Miera.

"So, just how big is this settlement of yours?"


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## Super Girl (Apr 13, 2005)

"Understood, DawnSprinter out," Kia replied to the commlink, before getting down to the task.  She drags the first of the corpses down stream using the water to make it lighter, as well as the smoothed stream bottom.  Once Kia had gone a hundred yards down stream, she splashed her way over to the bank, and dumped the Maslith's body in a hole on the sand streamside.  Then she headed back upstream to the Ship.

Kia repeated the process, dragging each of the brown corpses down through the water to the pitt that had been made by a tree falling and having its roots ripped free of the soft sandy soil.  Once all of the bodies were there, she draws her blaster and drops the power level, and increases the duration so that it would catch the bodies on fire.  Reseting the blaster to kill, she holsters it again and heads on back to the ship.

"Aasan, they want us to get to the pod and their settlement, but we need the sensors back online for that.  I'm going to go up the access Hatch and clear the vegetation away, you work with the computer to see if you can't pin down the Transponder for the escape pod."  she tells him.

Kia goes back in through the Dawnsprinter heading to her quarters.  The jungle world was a bit hotter and more humid then space, so she decided to change into more suitible atire.  Closing the door behind her, she changed into a pair of khaki shorts, and a black mid-drift that left her stomach bare.  She slipped her blaster belt and lightsaber on again, tying the bottom to her right thigh.

Once she was fully changed, she climbed up the ladder and out through the irising tophatch, getting her firstlook at the top of the ship.  She then starts to clear away all the debris from the sensors array.


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## Angcuru (Apr 13, 2005)

"Well, it's essentially a high wall surrounding about three and one half square kilometers of space.  It's not very large, but then again, there aren't many of us.  Considering that most of us spend our entire lives inside those walls when not tending our small crops, it's not large at all." 

She turned to Adrial for a moment.  "You go ahead and try to lift that if you want, Adrial.  You haven't had much of an opportunity to test yourself against something that large.  But be quick about it, we should get back home as soon as we can."

"You're lucky you crashed when you did.  The masliths are few in this area at this time of the year becuase they're up north for mating season."


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## Galethorn (Apr 13, 2005)

*Jorran Kaarai*

"Well, you could say that. I'm also lucky that I made it into the pod at all. Which reminds me...how long ago did your ship crash, anyway?"


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 13, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

Adrial nods, the excitement apparent in her face. But then she closes her eyes, relaxes her thoughts and then reaches out with the force to the pod. She wraps her mind around the pod, trying to control its mass. Then she starts to lift it from the ground.


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## Angcuru (Apr 13, 2005)

Adrial's attempt to move the escape pod causes it to shake slightly, freeing itself from the ground to a degree, but it remains immobile.  

"Not bad, Adrial.  You're improving.  Now lets get going before any masliths take interest in us."

As they walk back to the settlement, Meira regards Jorran.  "I cannot be exactly sure, since for a long time we focused on survival, and keeping track of time was unnecessary.  I would guess that we have been here for almost thirty years.  But what of you?  What was your purpose in coming here?  Our ship found its way here only through an astrogation error on the part of the pilot, or the hyperdrive, there's no use trying to lay blame."


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 13, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

Adrial nods at Meira's complement and smiles. While she was not able to remove the pod from the ground, she was able to free it somewhat. Meira has always taught that you should focus on the positive from any situation. That helps with the confidence. Then later you reflect on the negative in order to improve your abilities. But for now she focuses on her achievement. "Thank you Master Pannar. I appreciate your continued patience with me."

Adrial thought back to her first lessons. She always wanted to focus her attention on the negative of everything. It took many months of training and meditation for her to see the error in her ways. Although it was still natural for her to focus on the positive, she learned each time that she used the force how well this idea worked.

Adrial walked over to the others and walked with then toward the settlement. She began to think about the idea of leaving her home. She had never really given it much thought. She admitted to herself that the very idea was very foreign. her thoughts drifted to what was out there among the stars.


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## Galethorn (Apr 13, 2005)

"Thirty years?" Jorran asked, amazed. "I guess you may not have heard about what's happened in the last ten years, then. Palpatine's empire was overthrown by an alliance of rebels, and a new republic is said to be rising. But that doesn't answer _your_ question, does it?"

Jorran continued. "My...order...was destroyed with the rise of the empire, but I and a few comrades managed to stay hidden on the outer rim for almost thirty years. When I found out that the empire had fallen, I decided to search for other survivors from my order. I followed my instincts to this planet, had a bit of a collision with that other ship, and ended up down here."


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 13, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

At the mention of Palpatine, empire, rebels, and new republic Adiral gets a far off distant look. She seems to remember her parents speaking of a republic. But the others seem foreign to her. She merely listens to the conversation with Jorran and Meira, not wishing to interrupt. She turns toward Meira to see what she would say to Jorran's comments.


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## Angcuru (Apr 13, 2005)

"So Arias _was_ right," Miera sighs. "The Republic became an Empire and the Jedi were destroyed just as he knew they would be; the two of us were right to leave the order when we did.  You must have been just a young padawan when it all happened, by the look of you.  It's a wonder that you survived at all."  She rubbed her temples for a moment.  "Don't give me the details just yet.  It's better that we both hear of this at the same time."

OOC - Jorran - Intelligence check.  Jorran recalls hearing something about two Jedi generals who were killed during the clone wars when he was a new learner, though he doesn't recall their names.


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## Galethorn (Apr 13, 2005)

"Fair enough, Jorran says, following Miera.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 13, 2005)

Aasan nods and quietly moves to the main computer, waiting for the sensors to come online and then doing his best to sweep the area and see if he can find the transponder signal for the escape pod.


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## Angcuru (Apr 13, 2005)

Aasan's probing of the area with the ship's sensors yields nothing for over an hour.  As Aasan leaned back in the pilot seat waiting for _something_ to happen, he sees a quick blip on the screen which fades into static just as quickly as it appears.  A few seconds later, it blips again for all of two seconds, and then fades again.

On top of the ship, Kia's work on unclogging the sensors has been simply clearing off muck and grime that must have been kicked up when they crash landed.  She has gotten most of the heavy mass off, but a thick layer of caked algae clings stubbornly to the main dish.


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## Super Girl (Apr 14, 2005)

Kia redoubles her efforts and scrubbing the algae off

edit: not sure what to post, its not like kia would stop clearing off the sensors.  Also not sure how algea got caked on to an antenna on the top of the ship when the ship is rightside up.


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## Angcuru (Apr 14, 2005)

Aasan sees the sensor blip becoming more and more frequent on the screen.  It looks like it is off to the southeast, though he cannot approximate distance just yet.  A few minutes later, the flickering screen stabalizes, and the Kel Dor sees the sensor readout screen clearly indicating that the escape pod is to the southeast of the ship and....moving?  Apparently Kia had finished clearing away whatever was clogging the sensor, but something _had_ to be wrong with it still.  How would an escape pod be moving after it had landed?

OOC - Crash landing in a small river has the habit of kicking up water, dirt, rocks, etc.  River water has lots of algae in it, especially on the bottom. Algae has a nasty habit of getting all dry and hard to clean off when it's been left in the sun for too long.  It's also hard to know how long you've been unconscious in situations like Aasan and Kia were in.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 14, 2005)

Aasan will search around for a loose datapad or anything that he can download the sensor information onto. If they were going to go after it, especially if it was moving, they'd need to be able to see where it was going.

Curious as to why its moving, Aasan will also see if there's any way to get an exact reference on the distance of the signal.


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## Angcuru (Apr 14, 2005)

Aasan cannot find a loose datapad in the cockpit, but he surmises that Kia would likely have one in her quarters.  Of course, it would be prudent to _ask_ Kia before he went rooting through her posessions, seeing as humans tend to become emotional over such things.  

After recalibrating the sensors on a hunch that the crash might have knocked something important out of alignment, Aasan finally sees a grid fade in to the screen.  Automatically following up on the Kel Dor's enguiries, the grid expands, shifts, and contracts until it displays the _Dawnspinner_ and the pod transponder.  A faded dotted line continuously shifts to maintain a line-of-sight connection between the two, with a numerical readout placed at the center of the line.  

If the computer is correct, then the transponder, and by logic, the pod is approximately 97 kilometers to the southeast, and steadily moving farther away.


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## Super Girl (Apr 14, 2005)

After she had finished scrubbing away at the Sensor/Communication dish, Kia climbed back down into the ship, dogging the hatch behind her to prevent any alien beasties from getting in.  The girl proceded to the cockpitt to get the word from Aasan about what was up, and to see if she couldn't figure out where the Pod was in relation to the ship.  She was instantly conronted by the motion of the signal, and that didn't make sense, not unless the pod was in motion, and that wasn't likely since a landed pod was pretty much permanently stuck, or if the transponder itself was being moved, and that was much much more likely.

"This is the Dawnsprinter, we have a read on your transponder, but it seems to be in motion, whats going on?  Do you still want us to head in your direction?" she asks through the commlink.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 14, 2005)

"If you've got a datacard and a datapad I can get these readings onto it would really help," Aasan comments before even looking at Kia. He then glances over his shoulder to her and nods quickly, "It is moving quickly, and the sooner we can get after it the less likely we are to lose it."


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## Angcuru (Apr 14, 2005)

"This is Miera Pannar, I read you.  We've removed the transponder from the escape pod so you can track us as we head back to our settlement.  Can your sensors detect how far you are away from us?"

OOC - Intelligence check.  Aasan recognizes this name from his time as an Antarian Ranger.  Specifics escape him, though.


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## Super Girl (Apr 14, 2005)

"No need Aasan, there is no way I'm hiking across a 100 kilometers when we would need another 100 kilometers back, carrying whatever supplies we could get.  Our Sub-light drives are functional, and I'll see if I can't recharge the ships power.  More important though is just getting the repulsor lifts up and running.  If we get them going, we can coast our way to wherever we need to get to."  Kia explains.

"The repulsor lifts seem to be bad off, but between us we can probably get them going, and I think at this point, they are our number one priority.  So grab your toolbelt, and lets get working, otherwise we'll be stuck here for quite awhile."  Kia says to him, heading back out of the cockpitt, and down to the service tubes that ran beneath the cargo bay to get to the lifts.  Once she is down there, she'll get to work on reapairing the systems that would let the Dawnsprinter float above the canopy of tree tops, and coast towards the Pod and the settlers.

"Mierra, this is Kia Obscura, your about 97 kilometers out from our current position, and moving further.  Aasan and I are going to try and repair the Repulsor lifts, if we can get them running it shouldn't be more then an hour to your position, even coasting with minmal sub-light power."  

OOC:
if Aasan heads down to join Kia, Kia will spend her efforts on assisting him since he is a touch better at repair work.

Either way, she'll keep at it until it works, or its obvious that it is impossible to repair it.


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## Galethorn (Apr 15, 2005)

*Jorran Kaarai*

While he walked with the two refugees, Jorran turned to Miera.

"I was distracted before I could ask you earlier," he began, "but I sensed you were very strong in the force. You're stronger than most of the Knights and Masters I knew before the wars. I've met a few people in my travels afterward that were strong--some stronger than myself--who were born that way, but only a Jedi could be as strong as you are. So, were you a member of the Order before you crashed on this planet?"


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 15, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

When the word _jedi_ is mentioned, Adrial turns to Miera to see what her reaction will be.


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## Angcuru (Apr 15, 2005)

"I hear you Kia.  Do what repairs you can, and we'll send someone to help you if possible.  Just don't work outside of the ship after dark.  There are creatures on this planet far worse than masliths." Miera says into the commlink.

At Jorran's questioning, Meira halts and faces the man.  "You are clearly not fully trained, so I would not expect you to have proper insight into such matters.  However, I _would_ have expected that your master had taught you in your youth not to confuse power with morality."  She resumed walking.  "We will speak of this further once we are safe within our home, not before."


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 15, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

She continues to walk with the group. However, as they get within about a quarter of a kilometer of the settlement, Adrial takes off at a sprint. "I'll alert the others, Master Pannar." She sprints off with the news of the ship. She is very excited about the news and wants to tell the whole community.


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## Galethorn (Apr 15, 2005)

Jorran lowers his head at the rebuke, and continues walking in silence.


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## Super Girl (Apr 15, 2005)

"Worse then masliths...wonderful... Understood... We'll start work on the repairs, I don't expect us to have to leave the ship, there is more then enough stough to do inside until the morning, for many mornings to come." Kia says, and the comm-link carries the sigh through the transmission pretty well.

After that last exchange, Kia gets down to work, leaving the comm-link clipped to the top of her shorts.  The girl keeps working until her stomach tells her its time for a break, and even then, she only pauses in her repulsor lift repairs long enough to return to the lifts with a pair of pre-packaged meals, with one for her and Aasan.  Pressing the center button on them, causes them to open up, and the noodles in a naranja sauce with chunks or roast gorrnt to heat up.  She indicates the one closest to Aasan for him to eat, if he is hungry, though she wasn't sure about how he would eat through a mask, or even worse, get enough gas to breathe, he might be on a pretty tight time limit.  "Or you going to have enough gas or filters, or whatever to get this thing repaired and back to somewhere you can make more?"  she asks after getting back to work.


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## Angcuru (Apr 15, 2005)

After an hour so of walking in silence, Jorran, Adrial, and Miera see the forrested wilderness give way to a small stretch of plain, before plowed fields with small plants aligned in neat rows.  A short distance from the fields, Jorran sees a high wall of lumber the likes of which he had only seen before in historical Holos telling tales of ancient and primitive civilizations.  It apparently surrounds the settlement, as through a small gate at the northwest corner of the rectangular wall, Jorran can make out a series of huts, with a few people walking about their daily business.

Adrial takes off towards the gate, apparently excited over the day's events thus far.

OOC - Take a look at the OOC thread for a rough map of the settlement.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 15, 2005)

"If you can seal a room completely in the ship, I should be fine," Aasan says with a nod, and though Kia can't see his eyes or mouth, he's obviously distracted, "I need nothing to eat now...I do...I..."

He trailed off a moment, thinking on that name 'Miera'. Sitting down, he takes a few minutes to think on it and then sighs outwardly, which comes through as a scratchy noise through the breath mask, "I'm too old for this...I've heard that name before. Years ago...many, many years ago...probably before you were born. I just can't place it." sighing again, Aasan rubbed his cream coloured forehead before looking to Kia, "Lets just get this thing moving again and then we'll worry about things like breathing, eating, and old names."


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## Super Girl (Apr 15, 2005)

Kia just nods when Aasan says he doesn't need to eat, its fine with her, she jus slides his preprepared meal next to hers and kept workng, eating his portion as well, it wasn't like she would get fat, the extra food would go towards the energy she had been burning since the crash, repairing the ship and fighting the masliths.  The thought of something more dangerous then the masliths was frightening, but they were safe in the ship, and shouldn't need to go outside regardless.  "Feel free to seal off the crew quarters for yourself, or the escape pod, your pick, though if we get to the settlement, we might have people wanting to come aboard.  Whichever works for you, but he Escape pod has a double seal between it and the rest of the ship so it should suit being filled with gas much better."


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 16, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

Adrial runs up to the gate and through it. She makes a bee line toward the gathering hut looking for Arias. She yells out as she gets closer to the large hut. "Master Falm! Come look. Someone has crashlanded. Offworlders are here. There is a pod and a ship. The one from the pod is with Master Pannar." She stops as she gets into the hut, trying to catch her breath.


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## Angcuru (Apr 16, 2005)

A blue twi'lek woman whom Adrial recognizes as Ajoola is inside of the Sethi hut sweeping the floor.  She looks up from her sweeping at Adrial, who stands in the doorway, winded.  Well, maybe not _up_, but she does acknowledge the learner's presence.

"Calm down, Adrial! Master Falm isn't here.  He's been out in the woods training Kal for the past few days.  Now what's all this nonsense about ships and offworlders?  Did you eat some bad berries or something?"


***


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## Angcuru (Apr 16, 2005)

"Concentrate on my movements, Kal, not just my blade."  The crackling noise of two lightsaber blades colliding burst through the air.  "Remember that in a real fight, your entire body must wield your blade.  A simple repositioning of the feet or bending of the kness can grant you a new angle of attack, but your opponent has the same capacity."

To reinforce his point, Arias shifted his footing and brought the tip of his lightsaber's white blade within an centimenter of Kal Donoma's eye.  "Dead again, my young apprentice."  Arias took a step back and brought a single blade of his double lightsaber to a neutral position.  "Now we'll work on your attack. Come at me."

Kal rushed forward and brought the blade down in an overhead chop that was easily blocked.  The blade rose again for another strike, this time to the shoulder.  Blocked again.

"You're wasting your movements, Kal.  Once you strike, do not think about where to strike next, follow your instincts.  One attack must become the other; do not allow yourself to pause your assault to seek a weak point."  Arias held his blade at the ready, waiting for Kal's next move.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 16, 2005)

"I'll be fine for now, thank you..." he trailed off a moment, idly watching Kia, finding himself more curious than anything. There was much he wanted to know, but just couldn't bring himself to pry when they had a ship to fix, "Guess we should get this thing up and running again, hm?"

Underneathe his breath mask, Aasan grins and then moves to start making the necessary repairs to get at least the repulsorlifts online and operating.

((Repair +12.))


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## Super Girl (Apr 16, 2005)

"Getting the ship running is the plan, though I think it'll take awhile, I wish my music files hadn't all been purged, give us something to listen to, not that you'd like them, Gand music is an aquired taste, same with Twi-lek and Sullustun," the girl offers naming species with sensory abilities beyond that of humans.

"You've been out wandering the space ways for a long time I guess, since you were talking about before I was born, just exactly how long have you been out here, and how do you know about the Jedi, I mean, in my house, Jedi were always a taboo subject.  I kind of figured that I'm related to one, a little distantly, but its not the kind of thing you can ask with the Empire's hunters all around."  Kia said, working a bolt with a hydro-spanner.

(Repair 10, I think we should both take 20 on this check, otherwise it probably aint happening, just get the other character to watchout for the bad parts of taking 20 and prevent them, or whatever.)


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## Angcuru (Apr 16, 2005)

After Aasan and Kia pull up the floor panels to inspect the damage first hand, it becomes apparent that the diagnostic computer was not exaggerating.  Nothing was where it was supposed to be.  Wires that used to be contained in neat, orderly bundles were now all about the compartment.  At least two large cracks were seen in braces holding something that looked important, and it looked like a lot of the control circuitry was fried.  

The damage was repairable, but Aasan estimates that with Kia's help, he could have the repulsorlifts running within eight or ten hours, with another hour or so for the main computer to recalibrate the system and perform an additional diagnostic to be sure.  Just as well, because from the look of the light outside, it would be night soon.

The Kel Dor suddenly began to feel how tired he really was.  He hadn't had any sleep in at least twenty hours, not counting the time he was knocked out.  Because really, being unconscious isn't very restful.  Although the human girl didn't admit it, she looked like she could use a rest, too.


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## Super Girl (Apr 17, 2005)

Kia yawned and worked her neck around easing out some of the tension that had built up over the hours of lying out fixing things in cramped spaces.  She takes another gulp from her drink pouch before discarding it, and then gets back to work on the repairs.  She fought of the urge to sleep, it was more important to get the ship up and running, she could sleep later.  Idly wishing that she could use the force to rejuvenate herself, Kia sighed and kept on with the repairs

Half an hour later, she was ready throw in the towel for the night, she had been trying to tighten the same bolt for the past five minutes, and she kept having to jerk herself back to awake.  "I think I'm done for today, I just can't keep awake, and I'd rather fix it then make it worse.  I'll make sure the landing ramp is snug, and then I'm turning in, feel free to appropriate any berth or whatever and fill it with your gas, or whatever so you can sleep."   Kia says, before slowely and painfully extricating herself from the acces tunnels.  She is as good as her word in checking up on the ramp before heading into her quarters and securing her door for the night. She barely stops to stip out of her boots, shirt, and shorts before crawling into her bunk and falling asleep.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 17, 2005)

((Going to back up just a bit for Aasan to answer Kia's earlier comments, hope you don't mind.))

At Kia's comment, Aasan paused from checking over the systems for a short moment. After thinking about it, he then went back to work as he spoke through his breath mask, "I fought in the Clone Wars alongside the Jedi. No, before you ask, I'm no Jedi. I was part of the Antarian Rangers...doubt you've heard of them as they were hunted down just like the Jedi were. I ah, was young then...very young. Probably too young. I saw firsthand what the Empire was capable of when the Purge began and Jedi were murdered...a Jedi Master, my partner through the wars...he...he gave his life so that I could escape Coruscant.

Since then, just been out in the middle of no where trying to find others that survived. Not had much luck either...to be honest, you're about the only person I've run into in the last thirty years that I don't think is just joking around when you say you're Force Sensitive," he sighed and shrugged, "But its a big galaxy out there."

He does his best to work on the ship's systems for a while, but at the suggestion of sleeping, Aasan can't really justify disagreeing. So, with a nod, and a comment not to come into the quarters he plans to use before the gas is completely out, Aasan finds a place that he can seal up safely, and then uses one of the gas breather canisters to attach to the ventilation system only within the room. After letting the gas vent into the room, he lets out a sigh and finally removes the mask and goggles, glad to be rid of them for at least a short time before trying to get some sleep.


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## Galethorn (Apr 17, 2005)

Looking at the settlement, Jorran followed Miera in through the gate.

"This is quite an improvement over my pod.


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## Angcuru (Apr 17, 2005)

"That is an odd sentiment for someone who just crash landed on an uncharted planet."  Miera laughed.  "It's a simple way of life.  In some ways, I prefer it over the Old Republic.  The universe seems so much larger when you are in one place for so long a time.  Of course it has its hardships, like contending with the masliths, nightstalkers, and other undesirables, but we get by well enough."

Jorran was drawing lots of attention from the villagers, and several were staring openly.  He felt a small tug at his pant leg.  Looking down, he saw a young bright-eyed Twi'lek girl, oddly red in color.  "'Scuse me, mister, but I don' rec'nize you.  Wha's your name?"


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## Galethorn (Apr 17, 2005)

Jorran smiled.

"I'm Jorran. Miera and Adrial found me when I fell out of the sky."

After sharing a few more words with the girl, he turned back to Miera.

"I'm just glad I didn't land in an ocean, and that this planet has anyone on it at all. Just another step on the path, right? This isn't near as bad as hiding in that garbage facility on Nar Shaddaa..." He gets a wistful look in his eye for a moment, then it passes. "So, how can I make myself useful until the people in the other ship arrive?"


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## Angcuru (Apr 17, 2005)

Miera smiled as the young girl ran off to tell her friends about the strange man from the sky.  "It shouldn't be too long until Arias comes back from training Kal.  Until then, I'd suggest learning the layout of the camp.  I'll see what I can do about finding you a place to stay.  If you're hungry at all, Old Orran could use a hand getting tonight's meal together.  You can find her by the fire pits at the center of the village.  Or, if you're mechanically inclined, you could help Nikana fix our generator.  It's been acting up lately, and he thinks it might give out altogether one of these days.  He's just south of the fire pits in our crafting area.  Now if you don't have any questions I'll go find you somewhere to sleep for the night."


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## Galethorn (Apr 17, 2005)

Jorran thought to himself for a moment.

"I think I'll help cook--I don't think I'd be much help with the generator."

With that, he walked to the fire pits, looking for Orran.

(OOC: Assuming he finds her, he takes off his coat, piles it with his other stuff (out of the way), rolls up his sleeves, and starts helping)


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## Angcuru (Apr 17, 2005)

Following Miera's directions, Jorran finds an elderly woman along with several children huddled around a long table near two shallow stone-lined pits.  On the table are various unfamiliar vegetables and several large hunks of unidentifiable meat still on the bone.  At Jorran's approach, the children who were busy cleaning soil off of the vegetables stopped what they were doing.  Several elbowed each other and pointed at Jorran, whispering amongst themselves.

"Stop gawking and finish cleaning them veggies!"  Orran yelled at the kids.  They went stiff for a moment before going back to their chores, several of them muttering under their breath.  The old woman turned around as Jorran approached.  She did not seem in the least bit surprised or shocked to see him.

"I suppose you're the 'man from the sky' the kids have all been yapping about.  Well, for once they're not just making up some nonsense."  She looked him up and down  "  Well, save the life story for later, there's food to be prepared.  Damn arthritis, I can barely hold a knife anymore, and there's no way I'm going to let one of the children do it.  Give an old woman a hand and trim those maslith legs for us, will you?"

Jorran places his coat and belongings beneath the table and gets to work trimming the meat.

Orran notices the lightsaber amongst his possessions, and gives him a strange look before peeling the husk off of an odd-looking fruit.


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## P0L (Apr 17, 2005)

Sweat building up in hiw brow and matting his short hair, Kal fierecely tries to focus his will.
With a forward step, he slashes in a horizontal arc, immediately flowing into a vertical cut.

Master Arias is like a blur, he evades every swing, but Kael is determined not to lose his concentration, focusing, blocking out the jungle teeming with life and noise, until all he can see is the movement of the two shining blades of his opponent. He blocks one strike and another, trying to look confident. A well placed kick makes him stumble, falling backwards into a small pool of warm mud.

Kael grabs the helping hand of his master and springs to his feet, casting down his eyes as he starts to hear another lecture about his concentration..

_A year of training since earning the honor of being a Sethi padawan, and still I am defenseless before my Master. One day I will be as powerful as he is!! _


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## Angcuru (Apr 18, 2005)

"Better, Kal.  But don't concern yourself with matching my abilities.  Focus on improving your own, bit by bit.  If you look to the future, the now will pass you by and you will learn nothing."  

Arais scratched his beard, looking over his now mud-covered apprentice.  He grinned, and clapped Kal on the back.  "Ah, but that's enough training for today!  Lets head back home and get something to eat.  And maybe get you some clean clothes, too."  He headed off towards the settlement, beckoning for Kal to follow.


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## Angcuru (Apr 18, 2005)

Just as she had fallen asleep, Kia was awoken by a sudden, ear-splitting screech.  She sat bolt upright at the sudden sound, but then there was nothing.  After a minute or so of listening, Kia rationalized that she must have imagined the sound, and she lay back down to try and fall back to sleep.  Not ten seconds had past before there was a banging, scratching noise coming from all around her, as if she were in a metal canister and someone was assaulting it with rocks and sandpaper.


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## Super Girl (Apr 18, 2005)

"What in the name of the Sith is going on?" Kia yells as she bolts upright, she grabs her blaster pistol and lightsaber as she bolts from the room, not mindful of the fact that she is only wearing her under-garments.  She darts off the 8 meters from her door to the cockpit, and throws herself into the pilot chair, looking outside to see if she can see whats causing the racket.  She flips a switch on the upper control panel, that should cause the outer hull lights to come on, if they aren't broken.


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## Angcuru (Apr 19, 2005)

As Kia hit the switch for the external cockpit floodlights, she found the source of the disturbance.

There had to be at least fifty of the things out there, throwing themselves bodily against the hull and scratching, biting at it to try and get through.  They were obviously canine, reminding her of 'greyhounds' that some Corellian politicians kept as pets, only they were double the size, had razor sharp claws, and solid red eyes.  They took no notice of the sudden light that pierced the dark of night, and kept assaulting the hull.  Several of them were on top of the _Dawnsprinter_ now around the cockpit, slavering and trying to get at Kia.

***​
Although it was pitch dark in the wilderness due to the thick foliage blocking out the fading sun, at the settlement it was twilight.  With Jorran's help, Orran and the children have prepared a thick stew in a large cauldron.  If you could call it a cauldron, as it was actually the crashed transport's sensor dome covered with a sheet metal lid.  The villagers had gathered around for their evening meal to eat, socialize, and oggle the "man from the sky".

Suddenly, one of the wall sentries, and elderly man holding one of the settlement's few blaster rifles, gave out a cry for silence.  "Be quiet for a moment!"

From outside the walls, a faint cry was heard. "Close the gates! _Close the gates!_"  The sentry wordlessly fired his blaster rifle into a brazier at his corner of the wall.  The oil within ignited into a bright flame, a quick signal to the other sentries to drop the gates.  With four quick tuggings of rope, the gates fell to earth, blocking off entry to the village.

Several hundred meters out at the thinning edge of the forest, those who had quickly gathered at the gates could see Arias and Kal sprinting towards the village.  The reason for their flight was quickly evident.  Not far behind them were dozens of vicious-looking creatures twice the size of masliths and twice as dangerous looking.  Their red eyes burned as they chased the Sethi Master and his Apprentice at a relentless pace.  One of the forerunners was quickly catching up to Kal, who was having difficulty keeping his wind.  

It pounced, and would have brought the young man down but for the flash of white light that severed its head, the decapitated body landing heaviy on Kal.  "Go!  Get up the wall!"  Arias shouted at Kal as he charged the pack of hellish canines.  The white double lightsaber danced all about at blinding speed, with another beast falling as soon as it was within reach of the Sethi Master.  "_NOW!_" Arias shouted at his apprentice, who had only just pushed the fallen creature off of himself.

Kal didn't look back as he ran towards the wall.  Never before had his master ever sounded so urgent, and he wasn't about to argue.  Kal took hold of a rope lowered by a sentry, and was quickly resting atop the wall, regaining his wind.

Outside the wall, the beast kept coming and coming.  Arias took on five at a time, and with every other slash of his blades, another of the beasts died.  There had to be hundreds of them pouring out of the forest, and by the look of things, the lone warrior would soon be surrounded.


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## Super Girl (Apr 19, 2005)

Kia involuntarily flinches at a particularly viscious jumping attack by one of the hounds.  For once her sarcastic wit seemed to have failed her and she had nothing to say.  She didn't have any trouble imagining what those teeth and claws could do to her if she was cut out by them.  Shivering, she triggered the ship's inter-com.  "Aasan, can you come up her? We're under attack... I don't think they can get in though.  I'm gonna see If I can't get the Anti-personnel weapons to work.  The DawnSprinter has a pair of e-webs, it should be enough to put down the creatures."

The girl shivers, wearing nothing but underwear, but she doesn't notice it as she flips the switch to charge the ships weapons array.  Waithing a few seconds for the guns to charge, she flips another switch, one that was hidden and would lower the two blasters from their concealed positions, and allow the turrets to fully swing in a 360 degree arc.  The next thing the girl did was engage the ships fire-control computer, something that would make it much more accurate then she would be, assuming she was big enough to hold the weapon in the first place.  But with the fire control, all she had to do was operate the ships computer, something she was very good at, and the fire control subroutines would translate that into accuracy that would make a storm trooper envious.

OOC:  +9 (6D8 damage)  I don't know how fast the ship mounted weapon fires (autofire/multifire/rapidfire, whatever) she would most likely fire as fast as she possibly could, just mashing down the trigger, the thing is good for 500 shots, then it has to cool down.


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## Angcuru (Apr 19, 2005)

The ship's anti-personnel weapons popped out from their hidden compartments, or at least that's what _should_ have happened.  Instead, only one fully extended, while the other was half-buried in the stream and couldn't entend to a proper firing position.  Kia set the firing rate to maximum and slammed her fist down onto the firing button.  The one functional blaster opened up on the swarm of beasts, firing a mess of red streaks all around them.  Shot after shot streaked into them, with one beast falling to the fire every fifteen seconds or so.

After several minutes of enduring the continual fire, the pack of creatures had apparently pinpointed the origin of the blaster fire, and tried to move out of its arc of fire, while still keeping up their assault on the cockpit.  Eventually they all clambered up into the top of the ship out of the blaster's firing zone, swarming around the cockpit.  At least twenty of them had fallen, but that did nothing to dissuade their assault.  

The horrible scratching pounding noise continued.


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 19, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

As she watches the beasts attack, she turns to Adrial. "Master Pannar! Can we not help Master Falm?"


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## Super Girl (Apr 19, 2005)

Kia groans as the dog things climb up the ship and get away from the E-web.  Everything was sealed up tight, and there was no way they would get through the transparisteel of the cockpitt, and even less likely was them getting through the hull plating itself.  The girl didn't really think she was in danger, at least for the moment, but she couldn't really relax either.  She wanted the dog things off her ship in the worst way, and she came up with a plan to get that to happen.  As plans go, it wasn't particulalry elegant, but it should work.

Kia flips a switch to retract the e-web, and then she shuts down all non-essential systems.  Next she connects the power feed directly to the whole, where it should electrify the outside of the ship, sort of like those predator detterents that scientists used when they were in the field.

OOC: don't know what kind of check this is, but there are precedents from the novels for it.


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## P0L (Apr 19, 2005)

Kal desperately watches the creatures relentless advance, and his master efforts to keep them at bay.

_My place is at the side of my master, to help him or die trying! _
he thinks, igniting his lightsaber, and grabbing the rope. But a new idea dawns on him.
_Perhaps there is time to try one trick first.._

Kal turns off his lightsaber and sits with his legs crossed at the top of the wall. Eyes closed, the young apprentice tries to focus on feeling the force around him. Against the background of life-rich jungle he senses the aura of his master shining like a powerful beacon. Surrounding him Kal senses the auras of the feral monsters, dozens of them. Simple, vicious. Motivated by instincts like hunger..... or fear. What would scare them, make them hesitate enough for his master to reach the walls? Maybe a wall of fire, or a bigger predator...

The boy calls to the light side of the force, and summons his will to manifest the adecuate illusion between the monsters and his master, trying to fool their simple minds.


ooc: use illusion, spend a force point, to manifest some deterring illusion using his knowledge of the beasts..


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## Angcuru (Apr 19, 2005)

"No, Adrial.  Arias may be outnumbered, but that doesn't mean that he's outmatched." Miera watched the horde of beasts continuing to assault her lover.

Arias' voice entered her mind. _Is Kal safe?_

_Yes, he's on the wall now._  She replied telepathically.

_Good._ Arias executed a blindingly rapid series of strikes all about him, killing those beasts closest to him. Before he could be engaged by additional creatures, Arias pushed out with the force and flew back thirty five meters away from the pack and towards the wall.  As he landed and began to sprint back to the village, he felt an odd twinge in the force.  Looking back he saw a wall of fire spring up out of the ground between himself and the pack of beasts.  It deterred the beasts for but a moment, before they colllectively rushed through the flames towards Arias.  The gap wasn't much, but it was enough.  Kal's master rushed head on towards the wall, and just as he was about the crash face first into the wooden barrier, he shot up into the sky and landed on the wall right next to Kal.  Those around the wall heard the pack crash into it, with the sound of more than a few broken bones.

"That was a nice diversion, Kal."  Arias said, clapping Kal on the back.  "I would have gone with a gigantic Nightstalker myself, but the fire did the trick."

OOC - Wouldn't electrifying the hull also electrify the rest of the ship?  Sounds like a dangerous idea.


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## Galethorn (Apr 19, 2005)

After running back to the cooking area, and rearming himself, Jorran saw that Arias was already to safety. So, he holstered his blaster and walked towards the wall where Kal and Arias stood.


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## Super Girl (Apr 19, 2005)

OOC: shouldn't be dangerous, Anakin Solo did it successfully with the Falcon against a bunch of Vong biobugs that were trying to chew through the hull plating.


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## Angcuru (Apr 19, 2005)

Kia touched the power line to one of the cockpit struts, and for a moment there was a faint feeling of electricity through the ship.  A moment later, Kia saw an unmoving body fall past the cockpit to the ground with a satisfying *thud*.


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## Super Girl (Apr 19, 2005)

Nodding at the thud, Kia simply kept the powerline attached to the strut.  With all of them climbing on top of the ship, they would all have nowhere to escape except for a leap from the top of the space craft to the ground, at least a 15 meter drop.  She kept the charge up for 30 seconds before disengaging it, judging that that amount of voltage could have handled a rancor, or at least disabled it.  Against creatures more human sized, well except for the environmental seals, she almost expected to smell smoke rising off of them.

Kia sighs and watchesout in the dark for any of them that had not died.  _They should certainly avoid the ship from now on, they were chased from beneath by the e-web, and were blasted off the top by the electricity.  Hopefully that buys us a wide-berth to fix the repulsor lifts and get out of here,_ the girl thought to herself.  Convinced that she couldn't do anyhting more about it tonight, she locked down the systems and retreated back to her quarters.  Keying in the comm, she wished Aasan a goodnight, and told him that the issue should be dealt with until morning.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 20, 2005)

Aasan finds Kia later than he'd meant to, but having to get the normally noxious gas safely vented back to the small cannisters for his breath mask so that Kia didn't die took time.

After finding out that the problem had been dealt with, he sighed but decided it was pointless to try to deal with all of that again. If he can, he'll go ahead and get to continuing the repairs on the repulsorlift for as long as possible.


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## Angcuru (Apr 20, 2005)

"I'm _fine_, Miera."  Arias said as she fussed over some scraps and cuts he had gained during his earlier fight.  "It'll take more than a bunch of witless beasts to bring me down."  He took a gulp of vegetable juice, which next to water was their only beverage.

"Maybe, but that was still very reckless of you."  She looked down at Kal, who was busy answering questions about his encounter to a very inquisitive Adrial.  "It's a good thing that Kal had good enough sense not to stop and fight those things.  He wouldn't have lasted three seconds against even one of them."

"True enough, but his skills _are_ improving.  He reminds me of myself when I was his age.  But still, he shouldn't have had to face those things.  It's very unusual for them to come this far south."   Arias looked down the length of the community meal table at Jorran, who was being plagued by questions from small children.  "Do you think the new arrivals have anything to do with that?"

"Unlikely though it may be, that _is a possibility_."

"Have you asked him about the state of the galaxy?"

"No, he volunteered to tell me, but I said it would be best of you were with me when we heard the news."

"Hmm.  The meat seems a little undercooked.  Is Orran getting rusty?"  Arias held up a strip of maslith meat that wasn't thoroughly cooked.

"Actually, Jorran helped out with the cooking.  He wanted to do something to help out around the village, and I sent him to help out Orran."

"Apparently he wasn't properly trained as a chef."  He held two strips of meat next to each other, one triple the thickness of the other.


Several places down the table, Jorran could hardly eat for all the questions that were being thrown at him.

"What was your spaceship like?"
"How old are you?"
"Where did you come from?"
"You smell funny."
"Can I have your shoes?"
"What's your name?"
"Your cloak is soft, can I have it?"

***​
After working with the repulsorlift systems for several hours, Aasan has finished welding the cracks whole again.  All that was left to do was to repair the wiring and do a systems check.  Aasan found that he needed sleep, badly.  If he went any further without rest, he guessed that he would fall asleep while splicing power feeds and electrocute himself.  Kia could easily handle the finishing touches on her own, as he had taken care of the more critical, complicated components.  If all went well, the repulsorlifts could be up and running with only a few more hours of repair work.

***


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## Galethorn (Apr 21, 2005)

Jorran did his best to answer the questions one-by-one.
"My ship was an ancient transport...a YT-12. No, not 1200; a 12. I'm 41. I came this way from the direction of Nar Shaddaa, but I grew up on Coruscant. Oh, yeah, I got drenched in hydrolic fluid when my ship got hit. Yeah, by the other ship that's coming tomorrow. No, you can't have my shoes; I need them. I'm Jorran Kaarai. You can borrow my cloak if you're cold, but I'll need it back eventually."

After all the questions were over, and the meal had concluded as well, Jorran walked over to Miera and Arias.

"So, what would you like to know first?"


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## Angcuru (Apr 21, 2005)

"Direct and to the point, aren't you?" Miera said as Jorran sat down..

"There are many things we'd like to know, but you can fill us in on the minor details later on.  Right now, we just need to know three things."  Arias said. "What has happened to the the Jedi order?  How did the Empire come to power, and what is its state lately?"

OOC - Remember, this is 2-3 years after the Battle of Endor.


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## Galethorn (Apr 21, 2005)

"The Jedi order was destroyed utterly in Palpatine's 'Jedi Purge', and for all I know, there may not be more than ten or twenty survivors in the galaxy, including myself. Not too long after the purge, Palpatine used his 'Emergency Powers' to seize all the power from the senate and become emperor. He finally disolved the senate about eight years ago. Around that time, the rebel factions managed to unite, and the civil war began. It ended around three years ago at the Battle of Endor where Palpatine was killed.

Jorran took a breath.

"Now, the Rebel forces are trying to start a new republic, but there are still some fairly large remnants of the empire in their way, not to mention former governors who decided to become warlords in the systems they used to be overseeing for the empire."


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## Angcuru (Apr 21, 2005)

"In other words, the galaxy is in chaos now, correct?"  Arias said.

"I don't understand how the entire order could be destroyed.  There were thousands of Jedi, how could Palpatine have eliminated them all?"  Miera asked.


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## Galethorn (Apr 21, 2005)

Jorran lowered his head.
"He started by raiding the great temple on Coruscant and killing every Master, Knight, Padawan, and Learner there. After that, the remaining Jedi were hunted down one-by-one. The only reason I survived was beccause I was so far out on the Rim when the purge began, and luck, or destiny, or whatever you want to call it. I was with another Padawan, my master, and another master. We hid on a small planet for years, but the emperor's agents caught up with us, and both of the masters were killed in the attack. After that, I fled from place to place until the empire fell. Since then, I've been looking for any other surviving force-users, Jedi or no. And it seems that's why the Force led me here."


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## Angcuru (Apr 21, 2005)

"So.  The Jedi Order is no more and Palpatine's Empire is in decline.  The galaxy must be a very dangerous place these days." Arias said. "You were never able to complete your training because of this, were you?"


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## Galethorn (Apr 21, 2005)

"Pretty much. I've tried to limit my use of the Force as much as possible because of that...you know, trying not to get in over my head, and all. I've found that blasters really aren't as clumsy as they're made out to be, though, in the process. Well, if you get a nice one, that is."


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## Angcuru (Apr 21, 2005)

Arias looked to Miera, and to Jorran is was as if they were holding a silent conversation.  Miera nodded after about a minute of this, and Arias turned to face Jorran.

"We could complete your training, if you desire.  However, it would not be as a Jedi Knight."


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## Galethorn (Apr 21, 2005)

Jorran thought to himself for a moment, mulling things around his head. He stroked his beard, and seemed to come to a descision.

"With the galaxy as it is, I don't think there's any way I could _ever_ truly be a Jedi Knight, whether I wanted to or not. I would be honored to train with you...but I can't remember what I was working on last."

He paused, trying to remember.

"Ah, that was it; I had prepared to craft my own lightsaber before I got the last of my training. If this planet has the crystals, I could begin any day...well, I'd need an afternoon to practice what I've forgotten, but then I could begin...ah, but I've been living on my own for far too long; you are the masters, and it is your descision."


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## Angcuru (Apr 22, 2005)

"Do not worry about crafting a new blade.   Tonight you must rest, and forget anything that your old masters taught you concerning the nature of the Force.  In the morning, you will choose the focus crystal of your new lightsaber, and your training will begin."  Miera said.  With a nod to Jorran, and a wink to Arias, she got up and headed over to their hut.

"You will find that we Sethi have practices far different from the Jedi you remember, Jorran."  Arais said before following her.


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## Galethorn (Apr 22, 2005)

Jorran went to the sleeping quarters that had been found for him, and spent about an hour meditating on the day's events before he climbed into bed and dozed off.


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## P0L (Apr 22, 2005)

Sleep eluded Kal that night. His world was changing so fast! All the fantastic tales of a huge galaxy, with thousands of worlds and advanced technology his father told him when he was a kid were swirling through his mind.

He meditated upon the rumours that the foreigner´s news had spread through the refugee village. The republic turned into an empire, the Jedi order in disarray and hunted!... and then the Rebels, brave fighters gaining back the freedom for a New Republic.
Suddenly his small village seemed even smaller. Kal decided that he WOULD see this big galaxy, that many adventures awaited beyond his jungle world.

And the Sethi teachings would spread, we will be as powerful as the old Jedi Order.. he had seen his master TRUE power for the first time. With patience, he would grow to be as powerful as him.

One thing troubled Kal..  when he used the Force to help his master his first instinct had been  to channel all the anger he felt and use it to strike fear into the monsters. But then he had tried to calm his mind and let his powers flow from the light side of the Force. Maybe he was inexperienced, but the Dark side offered him MORE power than the light. Was it so bad to call to the Dark side to save a life? What if an innocent had been killed, just because it was more difficult for Kal to channel the forces of light and goodnes than to channel the forces of hate and fear?

He would have to voice this doubts to his mentor in the morning... 

Slowly, his exhausted mind drifted into sleep...


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## Angcuru (Apr 23, 2005)

The next morning, Jorran was wakened by the sound of little feet next to his bed.  It was more of a hurriedly set up cot, but a bed is a bed.  As he opened his eyes, he saw the same group of children which had been pestering him the night befiore.  

"You awakes?" Asked the red twi'lek girl, who was apparently the leader of the group.


On the other side of camp, Kal and Adrial woke in the larger hut which housed the Sethi apprentices and learners.  Each of them had their own quarters partitioned off from the rest, with a small communal living area at the center.  Early morning sunlight was just reaching over the edge of the wall, accompanied by soft, distant birdsong.

***​
At the Dawnsprinter however, the birds were quite a bit louder.  Actually, as the sheer volume of it woke Kia, she groggily though that if the ship hadn't been designed with sound insulation in mind, the sound just might be deafening.


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## Galethorn (Apr 23, 2005)

Jorran yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"I am now. So, I'm going to guess it's time for breakfast, or else I'm needed somewhere. Just let me get dressed."


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## Angcuru (Apr 23, 2005)

"Missus Miera wants you to come to the big hut when you ready.  You get brekfist there."  The children stared at him for a few moments before they ran off to find something more exciting.


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## Super Girl (Apr 23, 2005)

"Someone is getting strangled," Kia mutters as she sits up, removing her covers and rubbing at her eyes.  She had never heard such cacophony before, "Probably feeding on those dog things that attacked last night." she pondered aloud, rolling out of her berth.  Her cabin was fairly neat, not what one would expect from a teenager who frequented bars and casinos, nor was the decorations.  On the one wall, there was a full length mirror, and beside it a bunch of 2D still pictures of her Parents, and of her little brother Valin.  On her shelves, there were a variety of exotic things picked up along the outer rim.  In a special protective case, there were a pair of Quarren Crystal Goblets, and a bottle of Whyren's Reserve.  Elsewhere on the shelves, there was an antique blaster pistol dating back 20 years to before the clone wars.

Mussing her hair, Kia entered her private fresher, one of the major perks of being the captain of a space vessel.  She took a quick sonic shower, removing the sweat and grime of the previous day, and also to wake herself up with the sonics, water being scarce in space and all.  She dumped her sheets in the cleaner as well to be cleaned over the course of the day.  Humming a bit, she dresses in a sleeveless skin tight black body stocking, and a pair of boots, proud of her figure, and some small part of her wanting to look very good when she showed up as the rescuer of the crash survivors.

Half an hour after rising, the girl finally emerged from her cabin and headed back to the galley, grabbing a pre-packaged ration bar, she eads down to the access tunnel she would need to use to get to the repulsor lifts, wanting to get that accomplished before anything else.  The less time they spent around so many bodies the better, especially with the Masliths most likely scavanging, she wouldn't be able to move all the bodies.

OOC: Repair check?


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## Galethorn (Apr 23, 2005)

Jorran dressed in his clean change of clothes, leaving his coat and weapons-belt behind. He left the sleeping quarters and walked to what he could only assume was the 'big hut'.


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## Angcuru (Apr 23, 2005)

Upon reaching the area she had been working in the previous day, Kia sees that all she had left to do was splice a few wires together and do a diagnostic.  Apparently, Aasan had hauled ass last night while she was sleeping.  Kia couldn't help but be impressed with his handiwork.  All the better, as that left less for her to do, and the very easy part, at that.


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## Super Girl (Apr 23, 2005)

Kia smiles, impressed at what the Kel-dor had pulled off over night.  "I should really thank him, he had to have been almost as tired as I was, and he still pulled an all nighter getting her this close to being done."  the Corellian murmurs to herself as she gets into all the wiring, making all of the connections and splices.  She hums an old Selonian song as she works.

After she gets the wiring as done as she can, she moves on to the diagnostic, and while the computer is working on that, she does a bit of work, on the redundant systems, working on the lighting, and just cleaning up the ship.  She does her best to avoid waking Aasan up, trying to let the older Kel-Dor sleep.


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## Angcuru (Apr 23, 2005)

As Jorran enters the largest hut in the village, he is greeted by a young bothan who directs him to an area at the left end of the hut.  Miera is sitting on a small mound of cushions, eating...something out of a wooden bown while several large rocks float in midair to her right, continuously rearranging into difference geometric shapes.

"Ah, good morning, Jorran."  Miera indicates a cushion on the floor with a small, low table next to it.  On the table is a bowl of something resembling a foodstuff that on some worlds was called 'oatmeal'.  "Please, take a seat and have some food." 

After Jorran had been seated, Miera spoke again.  "If you can, I'd like for you to recite the Jedi Code."


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## Galethorn (Apr 23, 2005)

Jorran began.

"There is no emotion; there is peace. There is no ignorance; there is knowledge. There is no passion; there is serenity. There is no death; there is the Force."

He sighed after that last part, remembering his master, and everyone he had known that had been killed in the Purge.


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## Angcuru (Apr 23, 2005)

"Good.  Now recite the Sith Code."  Miera said.


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## Galethorn (Apr 23, 2005)

"Peace is a lie, there is only Passion. Through passion, I gain Strength. Through strength, I gain Power. Through power, I gain Victory. Through victory, My chains are broken. The Force shall free me.

He did not look pleased uttering the words; they obviously left a bad taste in his mouth. The look passed, though, and he resumed a more neutral expression.

"Just words, like the Jedi code. What matter is what you make of them, or so I've come to understand."


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## Angcuru (Apr 23, 2005)

Miera smiled. "It is good that you understand this.  While these two codes are simple words, they encompass the core values of each path.  The Jedi emphasize the light, defensiveness, and peace.  The Sith emphasize the dark, agressiveness, and struggle.  The two are polar opposites, but they have one important thing in common.  That their very code was the key to their downfall.

The Jedi would work together, becoming only as powerful as was necessary to maintain the peace of the Republic.  This caused them not only to become weakened through lack of struggle, but complacent in their roles as guardians of peace.

The Sith prefer to work alone and seek out struggle, thus the individual becomes more powerful.  But because of this, they turn on one another in a survival of the fittest philosophy.  They will work together to increase their collective power, but individual interests always dominate.

Jedi and Sith are both formidable in battle against the mundane, but when facing each other, weaknesses become apparent.  Because of the nature of their paths, a lone Jedi would always be an inferior to a lone Sith in battle.  Simply put, the Jedi are many, but compared to Sith, are also weak.  The Sith are few, but compared to Jedi, also powerful.

After many successive conflicts, the Sith became very few, but also, very powerful.  Is it not odd that the Jedi, a conclave of peacekeepers renowned throughout the galaxy, would fear the possibility that a mere two foes would appear to challenge them?

You know as well as I do that in the rise and fall of Palpatine's Empire, both were utterly destroyed."

Miera paused for a quick drink, clearing her throat before continuing.

"As with anything, the Force cannot be anything to you that you will not allow it to be.  To the Jedi, it was a divine power to be respected and used in moderation.  A veritable gift to be shared amongst the many who are blessed to be able to feel its presesnce.  To the Sith, the Force is no different than any other controlable thing in existance, no more sacred than physics or other laws of nature.  To them, the Force was a tool, a gateway to power to be used at will. 

Because of these perceptions, the Jedi became collectively weak and complacent, while the Sith became individually corrupt and arrogant.  Thus did they fall."

Miera looked Jorran up and down for a moment.  "My question to you is this.  What do you see the Force to be?"


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## Galethorn (Apr 23, 2005)

Jorran thought for quite some time.

"Hmmm...I think the Sith were on to something with their concept, but its goal is no less flawed than the Jedi concept..."

He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"I say the Force _is_ power, for lack of a better word. It's a just another way to influence your surroundings...the universe around you. And it carries the same potential for good or evil that a blaster or rulership over a planet does. With the Force, though, that potential is far greater than with blasters or money or anything else."


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## Angcuru (Apr 23, 2005)

After an hour or so of cleaning and polishing the insides of the ship, Kia hears a *ping* as she passes by the cockpit.

DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE. A mechanical voice sounded. As Kia looks over the readout screen for the results, she sees what she has been anticipating for nearly a day.

*Diagnostic of Repulsorlift systems completed.*
*Repairs successful.*
*Systems fully operational.*
*Awaiting command.*

***​
Miera nodded at Jorran.  "Thus do you see the truth behind it all.  You and I both were taught that the Force is divided into the Light and Dark sides, but that is not the reality of it.  There is no Light Side or Dark Side to the Force, it just is.  Light and Dark, Good and Evil, they are just words. Ideas created in antiquity by frightened peoples to rationalize the unknown, to encompass it in what they were already familiar with: morality.

But the Jedi caught on to one truth.  The Force it not simply a power of nature, it is something much more.  The Force really is, is the soul of the universe.  Everything in existance is part of it.  Life is able to exist because of the Force, and whenever life ends, the tiny portion of the Force that fueled that life returns to the Force.

When a creature is born, a soul is created from the Force just as the body is created from the matter of the universe.  Those we refer to as Force Sensitive are a different matter altogether.  We are something more than simple life forms, in that our souls are incomplete.  When we are born, we are left with a tangible connection to the Force which is unnatural and unintended.  While most souls are limited to their bodies, we are directly connected to the entirity of the universe.  Thus do we have the power that we do.

Although we live and die just like any other life form, we are living wounds upon the Force.  Wounds that the Force is continually trying to heal.  The more we concentrate on our connection to the Force, the larger the wound becomes.  As a Force Sensitive grows in power, so does the temptation of the so-called Dark Side.  The Dark Side is nothing more than a manifestation of the Force's attempts to destroy the Force Sensitive.  The stronger one becomes in the 'Dark Side', the more dessicated and corrupt they become, as the Force attempts to cause them decay and draw them into recklessness and hate that would end their lives and end the wound.

The 'Light Side' is simply a conscious path to avoid the 'Dark Side', and has no extraordinary intrinsic value."


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## Super Girl (Apr 23, 2005)

Kia lets out a whoop of delight that rivals the volume of the bird calls at the system operational report.  The ship wasn't ground bound, not anymore, it might not be spaceworthy yet, but she could at least get the Dawnsprinter up, and that was a major victory all on its own.  _I should let Aasan sleep, at least for a while longer, I want to get there soon, but he deserces it after last night.  Now that the lifts are woorking, I can call over, let them know we're coming, and then work on getting more power from the ion engines, we'll need it for space, but getting up in the air at all is good,_ the girl thought gratefully, _maybe I can reward him somehow, for all the hard work, once we get off this rock, anywhere he wants to go, he is there, no matter where._ she resloves.

She clicks on the commlink, "This is Kia over on the Dawnsprinter, we have our repulsor lifts fully operational, and our sub-lights have the power to get us to you, so light a fire and make a feast or something." she jokes, grinning to herself.  "I don't know how fast we'll make it to you, but it should definitely be withing 12 hours or so, just want to get some redundant systems working first, and let my Wiz Mechanic sleep in after his all nighter."

"We did have some company last night though, a whole pack of things bigger then the Masliths, at least 50 or more of them.  We burnt with an E-web, and then electrified the hull.  Do these things have a name, like the red ones do?" she asks.


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## Angcuru (Apr 23, 2005)

The comm buzzed just as Miera finished speaking.  She frowned at the interruption, and quickly clicked the comm on.  "Copy, Kia.  Call me again when you're halfway here, but not before, please."


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## Super Girl (Apr 23, 2005)

Kia raises a puzzled eye brow at the instruction, feeling a ouch un appreciated, here she was going to bring a working space craft to the settlement and maybe a way off the planet for them, and they didn't sound enthusiastic or even grateful.  "prolly back to nature Ithorian wannabes" she murmurs vexedly.  She runs a diagnostic over the entirety of the ship's systems, hyperdrive and sub-light engines included, figuring she might be able to get a bit of work in on them while she waits for Aasan to raise after the all nighter.

While the diagnostic is running, she runs the sensors as well to get an idea of what was going on around the planet, starting with what was outside, and on top of the ship.


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## Angcuru (Apr 24, 2005)

The sensors told Kia that the _Dawnsprinter_ and the surrounding area was absolutely covered in small life forms no larget and 0.1 Cubic Meters each.  Most likely the scavenger birds that had disturbed her earlier.  A wide range scan of the planet she was on revealed more or less what she had expected.  An extraordinary amount of life, with the only hint of anything even approaching modern technology being energy readings from approximately 100 kilometers to the southeast.


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## Super Girl (Apr 24, 2005)

Kia looks at the sensor read out curiously, but then shrugs, she hadn't expected for it to be any different.  Keeping the earlier diagnostic in mind, she heads down to check out the Hyperdrive, wanting to look it over in person, and assess the earlier warning about it.  She was still grumbling a bit about a lack of manners from the crash survivors when she had made her way down to the unit and opened it up.


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## Angcuru (Apr 24, 2005)

Upon opening up the hyperdrive casing, Kia discovered another reason why blind hyperspace jumps are not recommended.  It looked as if someone had set off a thermal detonator right in the center of it and proceeded to beat on the remains with a sledgehammer.  Kia had only heard of this happening once before, from a smuggler who had made a blind jump and skipped off the edge of a gravity well.  Just a few degrees difference in the flight path, and she would have been vapor floating in deep space.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 24, 2005)

After an extra hour from eating and venting the gas out of the sealed room, Aasan dons his breath mask and goggles and exits his small room to find Kia. Finding her back with the hyperdrive, he simply nods quietly while leaning over to look at the Hyperdrive.

"I believe that a replacement would be more important that just repairing that," he says quietly, "It is lucky we are alive though. I'm surprised that didn't take the entire ship with it..."


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## Galethorn (Apr 25, 2005)

Jorran thought for a long time after what Miera said.

"From the sounds of it, I don't think I'll have any trouble 'converting' and starting my training...I just hope I haven't gotten too old to learn everything all over again."


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## Angcuru (Apr 25, 2005)

"You are never too old to learn, Jorran.  The Jedi myth that one should not be taught of the Force past a certain age is their excuse not to train those they cannot control.  We can begin your continued training today.  What path do you train in, Jorran?  Do you focus on mastery in combat or control of the Force?"


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## Galethorn (Apr 25, 2005)

"I'd hardly call it 'mastery' as it is, but my focus _is_ on combat, if only because I'm better with my saber than directly with the Force. I haven't had much opportunity for practice with either, though.


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## Angcuru (Apr 25, 2005)

"In that case, you will be doing most of your training with Arias.  As you no doubt observed last night, he is a very skilled fighter.  Normally, I would send you to him to test your current skills, but he had a...tiring night."  Miera brought forth a small wooden box and placed it in front of Jorran.

"For now, we will see to the construction of a new blade.  Like our ways, our blades are different from what you are accustomed to.  As with the Jedi, we make a blade for our students to use until they are capable of constructing their own.  However, we only construct the lightsaber itself, and the student chooses the focusing crystal.  Inside this box is a lightsaber I have prepared for you, and several crystals which can be used as the focus of a lightsaber.  Remember what you have been told, and choose."

Miera lifts the lid off of the box, and inside is an incomplete lightsaber and three crystals.  The lightsaber itself is strange in that there is no activation button that Jorran can see.  Each crystal is of a different hue.  There is one red, one blue, and one white.


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## Galethorn (Apr 25, 2005)

"No green? Well, then I'll have to choose white."


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## Angcuru (Apr 26, 2005)

"A good choice, and expected.  Although the color of a blade may seem trivial, it should mark the path you follow.  Just as our teachings encompass the entirity of the Force, the white light encompasses all other colors.  It is only when one of these is broken that the others can be found."

Meira took the white crystal and inserted it between the two halves of the incomplete lightsaber.  She spoke as she completed the assembly

"Notice that there is no ignition switch on the handle.  This is for several reasons, but primarily to improve the quality of the blade.  This lightsaber can only be activated by one who has sufficient control of the entire force, and even then it is not that simple.  The crystal you selected is the only type which our order uses, and can only be used by those of our order.  As it is formed from the whole force and not simply one extreme, it has capabilities exceeding those of normal blades, as you will find out as you wield it."

Miera handed the blade to Jorran, and gestured for him to activate it.  Being accustomed to an ignition button, he is at first puzzled.  They can only be used by those who control the entire force.  Jorran concentrated on the Force, trying to find the perfect point of balance.  After a few moments of meditation, forcusing on the light, then the dark, he found it.  Strangely enough, he felt a sense of wholeness that he had never concieved of before.

Jorran looked down at the lightsaber blade in his hand, and willed it to activate.  

_*SNAP*-hisss..._

A blade of pure white light shone between Jorran and Miera.

"Now you are on the path that is niether Jedi nor Sith, but Sethi."

***


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## Super Girl (Apr 26, 2005)

"Sithspawn!" Kia curses as she examines the ruined pile of slag that is they hyper-drive.  Without a Hyper-drive, she isn't getting the ship out of the system and back to civilization, and its not like they grown on trees either.  She curses again and punches her fist into an innoculous grating in anger, her in-experience with the force and anger fueling the blow, causing the grating to bend and warp.  She looks up startled when Aasan leans over her and the hyper-drive.

"Replacements don't grow on trees, its not like I have a back up or anything.  Unless the original survivors have one, or we can find that other guy's ship...if it didn't break up on impact...we're stuck here, and I have no interest in being here any longer then I have to."  she says, almost in a growl.  Then Kia sighs and shakes her head softly, rubbing at her hand, "Its not you fault, now that your up, we can head over to the settlement, I figure, once where there, we can see about getting the ship more charge or something...work with what we actually have."
Looking at the grate with a hollow feeling in her stomach, the wannabe-cop turned smuggler gets up and heads up to the cockpitt.  "I'm going to run 1 last diagnostic then get us out of here." she tells the Kel-Dor, and then suits actions to words.  She runs the main diagnostic again, and then if she finds nothing wrong, she'll cut in the repulsor lifts, bouncing the ship up off the ground, climbing up till they hover 100 meters off the ground, and then she punches in the sub-lights, giving them forward momentum on a course that would take them to the transponder signal.


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## Angcuru (Apr 26, 2005)

Other than the wrecked hyperdrive and low power to the engines, all systems are go.  Within minutes the _Dawnsprinter_ is cruising above the trees.  According the diagnostic, the engines are running at 2% capacity.  ETA...approximately 6 hours.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 27, 2005)

While the ship is moving, Aasan will continue to attempt getting more power out of the engines and making sure to keep things from exploding. That is, of course, always the best thing to do.


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## Angcuru (Apr 27, 2005)

Aasan's attempts to bring more power to the engines at first seem to be having no effect.  Although he pushes the throttle to 50%, there is no response.  The ship's power generator is functioning correctly, so there's probably a faulty power conduit somewhere.  However, a little voice in his head told him that messing with the engines while they were 100 meters in the air about unscouted and very likely hostile territory was a bad idea.  If the engines gave out now, they would be stuck up in the air or on the ground(if they were feeling a bit masochistic) until they could get the engines running again.  That possibly meant external repairs.  Yep.  Bad idea.

Aasan knew that he could get he engines back to full functionality, but that is best done once the _Dawnsprinter_ has reached the settlement.


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## Super Girl (Apr 27, 2005)

"I don't think there is anything for it but to let the engines be til we get to the Settlement, I assume they have someway of keeping away the local predators, and fiddling with the engines while we ae moving ain't so hot.  We could still get there, eventually if they went out, but, I doubt we want to spend a week getting there, when we can be there in a few hours if we leave em alone for now."   the ship's pilot suggests, locking in the course, and hiting the auto-pilot to make any minor course corrections that would come up from the wind.

Figuring that it had been 3 hours or so, and it would only take another few to get there, she figured it qualified for that woman's restriction, even if she thought the woman had been rude, there hadn't been any pressing need to contact her, so she left it well enough alone.  "This is the Dawnsprinter, we are halfway to your settlement, moving at something like 2% engine power, which'll put us there in 3 hours give or take...Mierra, out of curiosity, do you need any meat?  Last night, we got swarmed by 50 or so things almost twice the size of Masliths, and they climbed on top of the ship to avoid my anti-personnel weapons.  I used ship power to fry the pack, and they are still up on top of the ship.  If you want em, ok, otherwise, I'm gonna roll and drop them off the top."


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## Angcuru (Apr 27, 2005)

Having sent Jorran to his room to meditate on what he had learned until Arias was awake, Miera was relaxing on a pile of cushions when Kia called.

"I hear you, Kia.  There should more than enough room near the center of out settlement for you to land your ship.  I apologize for being so abrupt earlier.  I was in the middle of explaining something very important to Jorran.  Anyway, those creatures are commonly called vornskrs in some systems, despite their rarity.  They usually hunt in small family packs, but they go absolutely mad when they detect a force sensitive being. You must have someone who is force sensitive on board your ship if they attacked in such numbers...interesting.  Go ahead and get rid of their remains, they aren't good to eat."


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## Super Girl (Apr 28, 2005)

"Great, first I have to watch out for Jedi Hunters, now its Jedi Dogs...whats next Jedi fish?"  she asks sarcastically, more out of reflex then anything else.  Kia blows out a sigh of irritation that pushes her hair out of her eyes, though the sigh was more for the news.  "I'm the one who's force sensitive, Aasan, used to be partnered with a Jedi Master back in the Clone Wars, like ancient history, so maybe it rubbed off on him too, though he said he isn't.  I take it you or someone in the settlement can use the force if you know so much about those vornsky things huh?"   she asks, pitching the ship up, 45 degrees to first one side, and then 45 degrees to the other figuring that would be better then a barrel role while surrounded by a planets gravity at least.


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## Angcuru (Apr 28, 2005)

"I never said anything about Jedi, only that they attack force sensitives." Miera said, "So you're force sensitive, are you...have you had any formal training?  There are quite a few of us here in our village who can feel the Force, myself included.  But...did you say that Aasan had a Jedi partner?  That must mean that he was an Antarian Ranger...interesting."


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## Super Girl (Apr 28, 2005)

"If they attack Force Sensitives, meaning they can sense the ability, Palpatine would have been using them with his Stormie's to hunt us all down, and he wasn't, are you really sure about them hunting Force Sensitives, I don't remember anything about them going on with the Jedi Purge when the Emporer and Vader hunted down all the Jedi."  Kia said dubiously.  She raises an eyebrow at the question of formal training, she had been born after the purge, if anyone had been teaching force sensitives they would have been slaughtered.

"No, I was born during the purge, if anyone had been around to teach, they would have been tortured then murdered, me with them.  I didn't figure it out til a few months ago, I can move things with my mind, and do the whole mindtrick thing.  I don't even think I could find anyone who survived the purge and was willing to teach me, maybe I could convince Luke Skywalker to do it, he's a Jedi Knight now, for the last few years, maybe he'll restart an Academy like people were saying he was gonna do, I don't know."


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## Angcuru (Apr 28, 2005)

"The creatures are commonly known to exist, but only those on the Jedi Council and their most trusted commanders were ever aware of the vornskrs' acute ability to detect force sensitives."  Miera said, thinking for moment before continuing.

"Vader would be Palpatine's apprentice, then?  Then he must be a fallen Jedi...I wonder which one it was.  This Luke Skywalker fellow...would he be the son of Anakin Skywalker?  If so, and he is anything like his father, he is inept and lacks balance.  I wouldn't recommend seeking training from him if he is."  She paused again.

"So there are Jedi in the Galaxy again.  Whether this is for good or ill is yet to be seen."


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## Super Girl (Apr 28, 2005)

"I didn't agree with the Empire, or the Rebellion, not entirely because of what some claimed to do in its name, but Skywalker has done more then anyone to end the Empire's cruelty.  He was the one that destroyed the first of the Emperor's Deathstars, and then on the Second Deathstar he defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, I don't think you get to call a Jedi who defeated two Sith Lords incompetent.  His actions against the Deathstar stopped the Empire from blowing up any planet besides Alderaan."

"You have to understand, the Skywalkers are some of the biggest celebrities in the Galaxy.  Princess Liea was the youngest senator before the Emperor disolved the Senate, and she went on to lead the Rebellion, and her twin brother Luke Destroyed the Deathstar, and slew the Emperor and Vader.  Both were instrumental in changing the Galaxy, and now Leia looks like she is on the short list to head up the entire government."


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## Angcuru (Apr 28, 2005)

"Well, I _have_ been stuck on a hostile uncharted planet on the fringe of the galaxy with no way whatsoever of recieving news of current events.  I tend not to know these things."  Miera laughed into the comm.

"Still, regardless of his achievements, this Luke may seek to teach the path of the Jedi.  If it is training you seek, there _are_ alternatives."


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 28, 2005)

Aasan listens quietly, deciding that some of his more intimate knowledge of the Empire and its beginning were best left to private conversation. Some things should not be spoken to the young about. Especially the things he saw.

But upon hearing Miera speaking of 'alternatives' to training, he frowns underneathe his breath mask. Making sure to speak away from the comm, the Kel Dor says to Kia, "I have a bad feeling about this. These are speaches I have heard before, and they never prove to be good ideas. Do not jump into anything without knowledge of it, especially the Force..."


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## Super Girl (Apr 28, 2005)

"I'm not planning on jumping into anything," Kia replies, answering both of their questions at once.  "I don't know about any alternatives, the Hunters would have slain those others just as readily as the Jedi, and there were a lot more jedi.  Look, I'm more worried about getting my ship up to working order and getting outsystem then learning some hokey religion, my abilities serve me just fine, If I need to learn to use the Force, I'm sure I will.  If Skywalker is really building an Academy, then that sounds like a place that I should at least check out.  I don't know anything about other Force Users, but I know that the Jedi are the good guys." she says with a cynical laugh, that betrayed a bit of discomfort in her current path.


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 28, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

As was common for her after a day of excitement, the sethi padawan slept in. She had not learned to control her feelings like Master Pannar had taught. She was relatively good at it until something big happened. Then she would exhaust herself and the following morning would inevitably sleep in. As she awoke she noted that the morning was almost gone. She quickly rises and dresses in her padawan robes and moves toward the common meeting hall. As she enters she sees that Master Pannar is talking on a comlink. As she hurries to present herself before Master Pannar, she hears the end of someone else’s voice over the comlink. "... know that the Jedi are the good guys." She stops before her Master and awaits her acknowledgement of Adiral's presence. Adrial stands there patiently as she has been taught.

OOC:
Vader: Luke! I'm your father.
Luke: Ben! Why didn't you tell me?
Vader: But wait! There is something else. I know what you are getting for Christmas.
Luke: How could you know what I am getting for Christmas?
Vader: Because I felt your presents...


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## Angcuru (Apr 28, 2005)

Miera nods to Adrial with a smile before speaking into the commlink.  "If you say so, Kia.  I must be going now, one of my students requires my attention."

She turned off the com and placed it to her side.  "Did you have a good rest, Adrial?"

OOC - Tailspinner -


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## Guest 11456 (Apr 28, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

She nods. "Forgive me Master Pannar. I know that I have been taught to control my emotions. But I allowed yesterday's excitement to get the best of me. I will strive to keep my emotions in better check rather then the reverse." She bows. "I am ready for today's training." But then her stomach growls very loudly and she gets very embarassed. "...of course after I have eaten breakfast..." But then she remembers the time of day. "...or lunch?" She stands, waiting for her Master's reply, thoroughly embarassed.


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## Angcuru (Apr 28, 2005)

"Do not worry about it, Adrial.  You should be able to control your emotions when necessary to keep them from blocking your judgement, but do not try to block them out entirely.  If you were to do so, you would be forsaking that which makes you human."  Miera said comfortingly.

"I'll wake up Arias, he should be starting Jorran's training today.  Why don't you go give Kal a nudge, see if you can wake him up, then rouse Jorran and meet us by the cooking area.  Orran and the children should have lunch ready soon.  We can eat as we watch Arias test his abilities, that should be entertaining."

Miera got up an headed towards the other end of the hut to rouse Arias.


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## Angcuru (Apr 30, 2005)

While pacing around the ship without anything better to do, Aasan begins to think back to his time with the Antarian Rangers.  Memories of his old partner, the strange thrill of thwarting the Seperatists while escaping almost certain death, the fear he felt during the Purge, it all came flooding back.  *WHAM*  Aasan dripped over an exposed power coupling and fell flat on his face.  After hurriedly checking his breath mask to make sure it wasn't dislodged, he grumbled his bad luck of late as he got back to his feet, and stared accusingly at the exposed coupling.

His accusing stare turned to one of confusion.  The coupling was seperated just where he had tripped over it, but he hadn't felt anything crucial on the ship fail.  Could it be...?  Nah, not likely.  Just in case, though, Aasan crouched down and joined the coupling back together, and suddenly found himself flat on his back as sudden jolt swept the ship.

At the cockpit, Kia was forced out of a daydream as a sudden boost of power found the engines.

*Ion Engine Maintenence Complete.....Power at 100%

ETA - 3 minutes.*​

***


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## Super Girl (Apr 30, 2005)

Kia lets out a cheer as the ships engines surge with the new power, driving her back into her seat.  With this much power, she could punch out of the gravity well of the planet and set up a distress beacon at center of the system, the place that 99% of hyper jumps were planned to go, just to avoid the very problems that the Dawnsprinter would run into. "Great work Aasan, not sure what you did, or why you did it while we are in mid-air, but it was a stellar job." the scoundral congratulates the scout.  She rules out telling the settlement that they would be there in a few minutes, not liking being dismissed for a second time in less then half a day.

"Come on up here Aasan, take the copilot seat, we'll be there in less then 5 minutes."   she tells him over the intercom.  Grinning tightly, she waggles the ship a bit out of the pure joy of flying again at more then a snail's pace.  This speed, this was her baby, the Dawnsprinter that she had fallen in love with.  After a minute, her antics settled down, and she watched the ETA swiftly count itself down to nothing as the ship roared to a stop over the settlement and the area that Miera had told her to land in.  She made a quick loop over the landing area, to make sure it was clear, and then cut power to the engines, easing her down smoothly on her repulsorlifts, til she settled softly on the ground.

Kia spent a moment smoothing out her sleeveless bodysock and clipping on her gun-belt, tying the bottom of the holster to her thigh.  Between the belt, the holster, and the lightsabr clipt opposite of the holster, it and the body sock did a very good job emphasizing her figure.  She winked at Aasan as she hit the landing ramp control.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 1, 2005)

Aasan had rubbed his skull idly while trying not to think too hard. After returning to the cockpit, he couldn't help but admit that he wasn't even completely sure what he'd done, but it had worked, and in the end, that was all that really mattered.

Once they were down, he pulled on his own belt and holster, and checked his breath mask one last time. With a bit of a worried feeling, he stepped up to follow Kia down the ramp, simply nodding to her to lead the way down since she seemed ready to do it anyway. He'd learned a thing or two about humans in his years, but sometimes, the eagerness of the young of any species still was beyond his grasp.


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## Guest 11456 (May 2, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

Adrial nodded to Master Pannar and went to go rouse the other two. First she headed to Kal's quarters and found the young Sethi still asleep. She shook his bed. "Kal! Wakeup! It's almost lunch time." Without waiting for him to get moving she is heading out of his quarters as he is starting to stir. "Meet at the cooking area." Next she goes to find the new arrival, Jorran. She finds him just outside the meeting hut looking up into the sky. As Adrial is about to ask what he is looking at, she sees the ship fly over the camp. It is the first working starship she has ever seen. She starts running to the cooking area while yelling over her shoulder. "Meet at the cooking area!"


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## Angcuru (May 2, 2005)

"Get up, it's almost time for lunch and Jorran is waiting for you to begin his training."  Miera nudged Arais, who was sprawled out on their bed. "It's not like you to stay abed this late."

"Bah.  It's also not like you to be so energetic."  Arias smirked.  "You try sleeping out in the wilderness for three days straight before coming home to such a _vigorous_ welcome."  He stretched, and scooted over to sit on the edge of the bed, pulling Miera down next to him.

Miera cuffed him upside his head.  "Are you referring to me, or the vornskr attack?  Don't answer that.  Anyway, that Kia girl will have her ship here in a few hours and Orran's gotten lunch ready, so get dressed."  She took his clothes from the edge of the bad and shoved them playfully in his face.

"Oh, wonderful, and I'd just gotten used to this planet."  Arais dressed, making sure to secure his lightsaber to the small clip in his robes that held it in place hanging between his shoulder blades, beneath the outer cloak.

"Would you like me to send her away, instead?"  Miera teased.

"Don't be fooling around, woman!  You know I hate this place.  It's always hot and humid, you can't stay outside the gate for more than fifteen minutes before something tries to introduce you to it's digestive tract, and every day it's the exact same thing for breakfast lunch and dinner."  Arias complained as he smoothed out the creases in his clothing.  "I swear, the first thing I do when I get off this miserable planet is find the nicest restaurant in the galaxy and get a private booth where it's colder than Hoth in the winter season!"  He paused for a moment.  "Well, maybe not that cold, but still pretty damned chilly."

They stepped out of the large hut just in time to hear the _Dawnsprinter_ shoot past overhead before coming back and hovering down to the ground not far from the fire pits.  

"I thought you said she was going to be here in a few hours."  Arais said.

"Well, over the comm she _did_ sound like the typical young, impatient sort."  Miera said as they headed over towards where Adrial was waiting for them..

"Traits that I'm willing to ignore if she can get us off this rock."  Arais smiled broadly.

***​
The landing ramp of the _Dawnsprinter_ touched down smoothly, letting a rush of hot, humid air into the climate-controlled starship interior.  Kia and Aasan descented down the ramp into the center of the village, where they were greeted by three figures.  

A tall, handsome man with a well-trimmed brown beard stopped several paces in front of Aasan and Kia.  To his left was a very short black-haired woman, and on his right, an attractive woman of average height with amber hair.  Both woman wore lightsabers at their sides, though the man appeared unarmed.

"We had expected you a bit later, Kia.  Lucky for you, you've arrived just in time for lunch." The woman said with a smile.


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## Super Girl (May 3, 2005)

Kia allows the motion of the lowering ramp to carry her to the ground, not even the jolt of the ramp coming to a stop fully extended made her lose her balance.  The former academy candidate smirked down at the group gathered to meet her and Aasan.  She tossed her head and her red hair settles back around her shoulders, it was the kind of personal motion that could get very annoying very quickly if repeated.  Kia smiled and stepped off the ramp, her hand travelining to her lightsaber when she sees the two women wearing their own sabers.  "I guess you weren't kidding about being force sensitive," Kia jokes, looking at the older of the women.

She extends a hand to Arias "Kia Obscura, Captain of the DawnSprinter, now lets see what we can do to get us all of this wonderful planet you've discovered."  She brushes the white locke of hair over her temple up and behind her ear to keep it from her face.  Standing a step from the landing ramp of her ship in a skin tight body sock, with a hand on her light saber, she looks every bit like a heroine from some insipid romance holo-drama.

At the mention of not being expected so early, and the mention of lunch, the force sensitive girl just shrugs, "Aasan is a tech wiz, he got Dawnsprinter up from 2% to 100% sublight while we were in the air. Look, I don't have enough for everyone to make it a habit, but I have enough meals for everyone to have a one, well, maybe not if you came here on a Star Destroyer, but anything smaller, and I should have you covered.  Climate control too, if you want to get out of the heat and humidity for a bit to talk about what you offered earlier..."  she says the last more hesitantly, the Sethi Master might be able tell that it came from what she had said about Jedi Hunters.


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## Galethorn (May 3, 2005)

Jorran chuckled when he saw a dent on the front of the Dawnsprinter--with bits of russet-brown paint in it.

"I thought I had seen the last of the Umber Dart when it exploded in orbit, but you brought some of its paint with you just to cheer me up."

He seemed to notice Kia finally.

"You seem a little young to be ramming older mens' ships out of the sky...but you made it here just fine, which is more than I could have done at your age.

He grinned.


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## Angcuru (May 3, 2005)

Miera was just about to speak when she noticed something oddly humorous.

The red twi'lek child had shown up and was tugging on Aasan's pant leg.  "'Scuse me mister space man.  What's tha' thing stuck on your face?  D'you need help gettin' it off?"

Miera covered her face halfway with her hand, not sure whether to laugh or apologize.


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## Guest 11456 (May 3, 2005)

*Adrial Strogg : Female Human Sethi Consular 3*

Adrial is speechless. She never really imagined she would ever see a working starship and now here one set before her. She stands and waits beside Master Pannar trying to remain cautious. But inside she is jumping up and down.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 4, 2005)

Aasan smiled under the breathmask, his attention suddenly drawn away from the others(and the lightsabers). With a slight grunt, he knelt down and rested a hand gently on the child's small shoulder, "I require it to breathe, little one. Believe me, I would take it off if I could."

He didn't get up, though, and instead simply looked up to Miera, "I am assuming you are the one on the comm, yes? I am glad there is a settlement here...wherever here is. Though, I must admit, I have not seen so many lightsabers in nearly thirty years."


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## Angcuru (May 4, 2005)

"That won't be necessary, Kia.  We already have a meal prepared, and the climate isn't so bad once you've gotten used to it.  And yes, Aasan, I am the one you heard over the comm."  She gestures towards a semicircle of wooden benches near the fire pits.  "Please, sit.  We have much to discuss, but first, we should have some food."


Kal was startled out of bed as the _Dawnsprinter_ shot past overhead.  He hurriedly donned his robes, and just remembered the grab his lightsaber before dashing out of the hut.  To his surprise, everyone was gathered near the fire pit and a large metal...thing, and seemed to be having lunch.  Kal quickly took a seat, hoping that his teachers wouldn't notice his tardiness.


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## P0L (May 4, 2005)

His muscles still ached from the last days exertions.
How could he fall asleep while the most exiting events in his life happened?
Strangers! A spaceship! Finally a way out of that little jungle planet and to the Galaxy!!

Kal strided deep in tought, to the fire pit. Then he realized that everyone was there, and that he was almost the LAST person on the village to join them.
Blushing he greeted his masters, friends, and the strangers. _ Wow! that redhead was HOT! but she semed what? 22??  a LOT older... _ Kal tried not to stare.


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## Super Girl (May 4, 2005)

"I'm not planning onbeing here long enough to get used to the climate." Kia said with a youthful smirk of impetuesness.  She  allowedherself to be led to a seat by the obvious leaders of the group, Miera and the bearded man.  She didn't accept any of the food from the group, simply ate a meal of roast nerf in naranji sauce with noodles, and then broke the desert bar that was with the meal into pieces and offered the sweet fruit bar to the children, especially the red skinned twi'lek child.

"Whats wrong kid, never seen a girl in an outfit like this before?" the youthful pilot asks Pol, teasing lightly, at the flush in his cheeks.  "Do you have any parts availible from your ship?  I got here from a blind hyper jump, just ahead of a flight of headhunters.  I bounced to close to a star and my hyper-drive was slagged.  Between your ship, if it still exists, and Joran's, if I can find it in orbit, hopefully we can get a hyperdrive functional enough to get us to couruscant, then we can get relief ships out here to you here."


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## Angcuru (May 4, 2005)

Kal's father, Nikama, patted an empty spot on the bench next to himself.  He sat not far from the Sethi, as his technological expertise would be needed.  Seeing his reaction to Kia, he gave his son a quick wink and an indescernable hand signal that looked like he was tracing the sides of an hourglass.  Kal noticed that Arias gave him a similar wink, but quickly turned his attention to Nikama.

Nikama responded to Kia's enquiry concerning the hyperdrive. "Actually, we scavenged what we could from our crashed transport a long time ago.  Hull plating, wiring, power sources, systems, we took them all and made them into things that were actually useful.  You see, when our ship crashed here about thirty years ago the only systems that were still functional were the engines, but our repulsorlifts and life support were completely shot.  There was no way we could repair them, so we were stranded.  The only thing we didn't scrap was the hyperdrive, since our transport was a very old model that used highly radioactive isotope fuel rods to power the initial boost to lightspeed.  The seperatists wouldn't let us have anything more advanced, the bastards.  If we broke that open, well...it would not be a good thing, to put it mildly.  I don't know if it would be compatible with your ship's sytems as they are, but between the three of us," He indicated himself, Aasan, and Kia. "we might be able to jury-rig a solution.  If not, we could try checking Jorran's ship if it's still intact, but that's a remote possibility, judging from the dent in your ship's hull."  Nikama waved towards the bearded man who sat next to Miera, and dug into his food.

The bearded man cleared his throat.  "You're already acquainted with my wife Miera, so I'll introduce the rest of us.  I am Arias, these two are Adrial and Kal, our most advanced students, and this is Nikama, our resident technicai, also Kal's father."  Arias said, indicating them each in turn.  "As you probably suspect from the lightsabers, Miera and I along with Kal, Adrial, and our newest student Jorran, are practicioners of the force.  And before you ask, no, we aren't Jedi.  If we get your ship up and running, we will of course get off this planet, but we are _not_ going to go about advertising the location of this planet to the rest of the galaxy.  Although this is a very dangerous planet, it is more important than you realize."


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## Super Girl (May 5, 2005)

Kia nods smiling at the introduction to the 30-something force apprentice, and then at the teenage one.  "How long is your training?"  Kia asks Arias, her eyebrow going up at the 30something woman being called an apprentice.  When she is told that there would be no mention of the location of the planet once the survivors are evacuated, Kia's suspicious nature kicked into over-drive.  All cops were suspicious people, and being surrounded by them growing up had shaped Kia as well.  "What is so special about this place?  The lovely animals?  The wonderful climate?" she asks jokingly.


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## Angcuru (May 5, 2005)

Arias took a long draught of water and pondered Kia's question for a moment before answering.  "The initial training is not long, but our training never truly ends.  If one has the capacity to feel the force, it takes but a short time spent training for them to be able to find some measure of control.  From then on, it is a matter of strengthening those abilities.  Depending on the focus of one's abilities, the methods of strenghtening those abilities differs.

Considering the state of the galaxy, I find it odd that you carry a lightsaber, and that I feel a measure of control of the force in you.  You could not have been trained as a Jedi.  Just as well, considering how poorly the Jedi trained their students in retrospect.  A significant factor in their demise, I imagine.

The significance of this planet is not in anything mundane, but that the force has an abnormally strong presence here.  Nearly all of the wildlife seems to have some ability to feel the Force, and the planet itself seems to be trying to hide from the rest of the galaxy.  I suspect this is why the system is uncharted as of yet.  What's more, there are many areas within a day's walk of this settlement alone that are extremely powerful focus points within the Force.  There is even a cave nearby where one can find crystals of extraordinary power, which are perfect focuses for lightsabers.  So you see, this planet is the perfect training ground for our order, hostile though it may be."


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## Super Girl (May 5, 2005)

"Carrying Lightsabers is coming back in fashion, during the purge with Vader and Palpatine hunting down and slaughtering anyone with links to the Jedi, carrying a Lightsaber was a suicidal death wish, anyone and everyone would be gunning for you to curry favor with the Imps.  After Luke Skywalker slew Vader and the Emporer and was declared a Jedi night a few years ago, wearing them is back in-style among the rich, some people even wear it if they are afraid to carry a blaster.  I wear this because I liberated it from an Imperial Collaborater who was holding out from the Emperor, and because my family and friends were purged by the Empire just like the Jedi were."  Kia says defensivley, narrowing her eyes at Arias.

"Lightsabers are the weapons of Jedi, if you think they are so incompetent and everything, why are you using their weapons?"   Kia shakes her head, sounding a tad offended, despite the Empire's attempts at spin, she still thought of the Jedi as the guys  wearing the proverbial white hat, and even if that wasn't her path, she had been raised to respect people who put the lives of others before their own.  "Look, lets just get my ship fixed, then I can get you to Couruscant or wherever refugees go and get what you need to start over somewhere on some nice boring planet like Dantooine, and we can go our seperate ways."


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## Angcuru (May 5, 2005)

Arias looked at Kia, unmoved by her glare.

"You exaggerate my comments.  The Jedi were noble, this is true, but they were not without fault.  I did not suggest that they themselves were incompetent, only their methods.  I said that the Jedi were poorly trained because the very code that they followed and glorified was their very weakness.  A Jedi was taught to only become as powerful as was necessary to protect the weak.  Centuries of relative peace made them complacent, and when a real conflict found them, they were unprepared and were destroyed.  

Miera and I were Jedi once.  We helped maintain peace in the galaxy for a time, and served  the Republic with distinction in the Clone Wars.  Yet we were looked down upon by our own order.  Unlike our bretheren, we did not limit ourselves in our training and did not forsake our emotions.  Because of this, we were able to find love with one another, and the fleets and armies under our command never lost a system to 'the enemy'.  

You speak of history, but do you truly understand what you speak of?  Unlike the rest of the Jedi, who blindly followed the council, which blindly followed the Supreme Chancellor, I questioned this 'grand crusade' our order was on.  I examined past events, and the course of the war, and eventually found that the entire war was the last step in a grand, elaborate plan to overthrow the Republic.  But by the time we realized Palpatine's plot, it could not be stopped.  Even if we were to reveal our findings to the Jedi Council, they would never beleive us.  We had disobeyed their mandates and found love and strength outside of their restrictions, and even though we remained loyal to the Jedi, we were scorned.  

The individual Jedi was strong, but as a whole, the Order was fragile.  Because of their self-imposed limits, they could not forsee or prevent their downfall until is was too late.  The thousands of Jedi were destroyed not by an army or a great fleet, but by _one man_.  Noble though they were, their nobility was no shield against their demise.

A lightsaber is simply a weapon.  Nothing more, nothing less.  It is the warrior who weilds it that gives it worth, not the weapon itself.  I carry one because a lightsaber is a powerful weapon with which I have significant skill.  If they are tools of the Jedi as you say, why do you carry one?  Would you disgrace the memory of those who fought in died in your defense by wielding one of their 'sacred' weapons?"

Arias turned to Aasan.  "What of you?  You fought along side a Jedi.  You were present throughout the whole ordeal of the Jedi Order's destruction.  What is your take on what happened?"


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 5, 2005)

Aasan had done his best to restrain himself and keep himself quiet. He would not eat or drink, but that did not mean he couldn't just sit there quietly, even if he was getting angry. But when he was directly addressed, everythint went right out the viewport.

A critical look in his eyes(though they couldn't be seen directly), he leaned forward and pointed to Arias with a single finger, "Arrogant and thick headed Jedi who thought they knew what was best for the galaxy while ignoring their duties and teachings were what caused the entire Order to fall. It wasn't Palpatine. It was Jedi who thought they knew better than the entire Council. It was arrogance and childishness," he paused, a slight hiss sounding through his breath mask as he exhaled, "It was Jedi like you, focused on glory and victory, and so sure of themselves that they ignore the combined wisdom of the greatest Jedi to do what you thought was best,  more than what really mattered, that destroyed the Jedi."

To say Aasan sounded angry was very much an understatement, especially for the many Force Sensitive around him.


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## Super Girl (May 5, 2005)

"You could have tried to tell them, tried to help them escape being hunted.  You got your wish, the Jedi are all gone, and a single Jedi Knight is going to try to rebuild the order.  If you had problems with policy, well heres your chance, rebuild the Jedi with him, I doubt much information survived the purge, he'd probably love all the help you can give him.  So long as the ideals stay the same, I doubt policies will matter much, I mean, things that worked before wont work now, new ways will probably need to be found."   Kia says solemnly.

"I keep this saber, I use it, because I agree with what the Jedi stood for, I was on a parallel, if force-free, path, before CorSec was destroyed by the remnants of the Empire.  We were dedicated to putting our needs behind those of others that needed help, protecting the weak and the helplesss, upholding justice and law.  I keep it because I don't trust the use to which someone who does not agree with those precepts would put it to.  It may sound foolish, but I keep it, because deep down, I want to make sure that the Jedi don't simply disappear, I want to make sure that they are reborn, whether I help someone do it, or have to fumble through it myself, because those are important things that the galaxy should not lose."  Kia says, putting a lot of feeling behind her words, she truly did believe them in the center of her being, and she felt guilt at the thought of having not lived up to the honor of them for the last few years as she drifted from system to system.  She had helped out a bit, here and there, but overall, she had fallen into a selfish spiral of despair, and turned her back on what she had hoped to be.  _I will do better, guilt wont help,  needed to come here, I needed to feel all of that, it only makes me more sure of what I have to do,_ she vowed to herself.

"Once we are away from here, I will be doing what I can to help Skywalker, if he'll have me, the New Republic is in its infancy, and I am sure that it will need all the help it can get."   she told the others simply.  "Even if I don't know everything about the force, using what I do know to help those in need cannot be wrong.  The worst thing the Empire did was not simply destroying the Jedi, it was in villifying them, making them feared."


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## Angcuru (May 5, 2005)

"Focused on glory and victory, were we?  Arrogant?  It was by our negligence that the Jedi were destroyed?  Strong accusations.  Or are they simply the words of someone who holds himself responsible for not being able to prevent the destruction of that which he cherished, and desires a scapegoat on whom to lay the blame?"  Arias said calmly to Aasan.  "The fall of the Jedi rests on the shoulders of Palpatine alone."

"Please, try not to be offended, Aasan.  If the blame is to be laid on anyone, it falls to those who acted with malice and hate, and actively sought the fall of the Jedi and the Republic."  Miera said.  "It is good that you understand that the Jedi are needed in the Galaxy, Kia.  We intend to meet this Luke Skywalker fellow, and perhaps aid him in rebuilding the order.  The New Republic will need the Jedi again, perhaps it will not rely so heavily on them as the Old Republic did.

We will help you repair your ship, of course, but that will take time.  It would be a shame if we were to spend that time on ill terms."  She looked around her as she spoke, with her eyes resting on Aason with the last words.


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## Super Girl (May 6, 2005)

Kia finishes her noodles and then presses the final button on the packaging of the meal that breaks the trash down into ashes.  "I don't know that calling Skywalker's teachers names will endear you to him.  Lets just get the repairs over with and go from there.  If you want to point out anything about the force while we work, I'll keep an ear out, but my main goal is getting off this rock." she says, dusting her hands off, and then standing.

"I would love some pointers on using a light saber though, or just about what is possible with the force.  I've figured out the best known Jedi tricks, I mean, the mind trick thing I can do, and the moving things.  I don't really know anything else, the Jedi hunters were too good at getting rid of stories and people passing on information."


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## Angcuru (May 6, 2005)

"You wish to know what is possible with the force?"  Miera asked Kia.  "Anything is possible.  What _we_ can _do_ through the force, however, is limited by the effort we put into expanding our abilities.  I'll give you a simple, tangible demonstration through contrast for now.  Adrial, levitate that stone if you would."  Miera pointed to one of the sizable rocks which lined the outer ring of one of the nearby fire pits.

"Of course, Master Miera."  Adrial smiled.  She always enjoyed practicing her abilities. Here she had an opportunity to both show her progress to Miera, and to show off to the new arrivals.  Adrial focused on the rock which had been pointed out to her and concentrated.  The stone was not very large, being roughly twenty five kilograms at the most.  It rose off of the ground slowly, and then floated over towards Adrial at the speed of a brisk walk to settle down on the ground in front of her.  Miera smiled approvingly at her.

"Adrial has been training for eleven years.  Normally we would start the training at around the age of four or five years, but she came to us late.  Her skill is representative of her time spent training, not her age.  Now, observe your ship." 

Miera waited until Kia was looking at her ship, and then concentrated on the_Dawnsprinter_.  The massive Corellian Transport was still, and then suddenly, it shot up into the air at incredible speed.  It rose above the wall surrounding the settlement, and then sped around the perimeter at more than one hundred twenty kilometers per hour before coming back to rest right where it had been sitting a moment before.

Miera observed the shocked and slightly annoyed espression on Kia's face.  "I have been training in the use of the force for approximately forty eight years.  The ability to move physical objects is one of the skills I specialize in.  But there are other, less observable applications."  Although still stunned by the earlier display, Kia is slightly confused.  Miera said she had spent nearly fifty years training in the Force, yet she doesn't look a day older than thirty.

"So you want to learn how to use your lightsaber properly, do you?"  Arais asked Kia.  "Luckily for you, I was planning on evaluating Jorran's proficiency with his own today.  You might as well observe, perhaps you will learn a thing or two."  Arias stood up and walked to a spot not far from the rest of them, but with a good deal of space to move about.  He took off his cloak and tossed it to Kal, with just a touch of the force helping it get over to him.  "Come on, Jorran.  Let's see just how skilled you are in lightsaber combat."  Arias flicked his wrist, and his double bladed lightsaber shot from its resting place on his back into his right hand, where a single white blade sprang to life with a snap-_hiss_.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 6, 2005)

Aasan watched the little demonstration and sighed, which came out sounding scratchy through the breath mask. Idly, he took a step next to Kia and said quietly, "Do not let their flashy displays cloud your judgement. I have seen many more elaborate displays of strength in the Force, but I learned quickly that it is restraint that proves to be the real power. I have a bad feeling about these...people."

He does his best to stand there looking as polite as possible. That is, thankfully, not too hard when his eyes and mouth are concealed, but it was keeping his mind calm that was the tricky part. One didn't have to be a Jedi to have strong control, but it had been years since he'd really thought about it.


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## Super Girl (May 6, 2005)

"My ship isn't a toy, at the moment its our only chance of getting off the planet."  Kia mutters grumpily.  She reaches out with the force to grab that same stone that Adrial had lifted, and without any real strain, does the same that Adrial had done, moving it to herself instead of the short woman.  "Like I said, I know how to move things, a starship is a bit out of my class at the moment, but with a bit more work I should be able to move heavier stuff without too much effort."  Kia said looking pleased with herself at learning on her own in a month or two what it took Adrial 11 years of training to do.

When Arias threw off his cloak and lit his saber, Kia grinned, and seated herself on a bench.  Her green eyes darted, following every movement, wanting to be that fluid and agile herself with her own blade.


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## Galethorn (May 6, 2005)

Jorran pulled his own saber from his belt--by hand--and ignited it.

"It's been a while," he said, whirling the blade around in a simple flourish. He proceeded to put his left foot forward and hold his saber in a high, attack-oriented stance.
"I take it you--errr, we--Sethi follow the traditional rules for sparring?

Standing ready, all of the signs of his age seemed to diappear; he may as well have been twenty years younger.


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## Angcuru (May 6, 2005)

"Rules only weaken the lessons learned from sparring."  Arias raised the blade in front of his eyes in a salute, illuminating his face.  "In combat, there are no rules, only the victorious and the vanquished."  He held the white blade off to his side.  "Now come at me."


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## Super Girl (May 6, 2005)

No rules? Kia mouthed confused...did he really mean that? It was dangerous, not having rules, it wasn't fair either, Jorran wasn't a master like Arias, or at least it didn't sound that way, and no rules sounded like a good way to get someone hurt.  "No rules doesn't sound very safe."  she says to Miera questioningly, wanting the woman to tell her she had heard wrong.  Kia's hand rested on her own lightsaber, ready to spring in to help Jorran if it looked like  he needed it, even if he was better then she, and Arias was every bit as good as his confidence made hm seem.


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## Angcuru (May 6, 2005)

***

"Don't worry, Kia.  He knows what he's doing."  Miera said to Kia.  "No one is going to be hurt."


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## Galethorn (May 7, 2005)

"Well, the only real rules I can remember are these; the fight is over if either of us (me, probably) is injured, or if either of us (again, probably me) has had enough. Common courtesy, right?"

(assuming Arias agrees) Jorran made the first move; a simple diagonal slash, neither overly aggressive or cautious.


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## Angcuru (May 7, 2005)

Arias gave Jorran a nod.  The attack brought the blade down towards the intersection of Arias' neck and shoulder, but was quickly nudged off to the side by the tip of Arais' blade.

"Good, but you can do better, Jorran. Even if just for an opening attack, never follow through with such a simple and predictable move.  If your blade is held high, your opponent will expect you to strike with a downwards slash, as you just did.  Instead, do the unexpected."

To demonstrate, Arais stepped back and copied the stance which Jorran had started from and began with a similar downwards slice, but halfway through the arc of the attack Arais flicked his wrist to the side. Instead of coming down straight on Jorran's head, neck and shoulders, the lightsaber blade wove around Jorran's high horizontal defense and came to a stop near his armpit, almost singing his robe.

"After so many years away from practice, it's not surprising that you may have forgotten that a lightsaber is not simply a sword of light.  The blade has no mass, no heft, leaving absolute control in the hands of it's wielder.  Do not be disappointed.  Mistakes are just as valuable as successes in your training.  In realizing a fault in your form, you don't fail to improve, but find a way not to succeed, which you can then avoid."

Arias stepped back and raised his blade in defense.  "Again."


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## Galethorn (May 7, 2005)

Jorran nodded, and made his next attack a bit more creative.

He continued exchanging attacks with Arias, recieving many blows that would have been fatal in real combat, and listened to the master's advice with each 'death' he suffered.


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## Angcuru (May 7, 2005)

"Good.  You learn quickly."  Arais deactivated his blade and patted Jorran on the back.  "Now let's see how you fare against someone of your own skill."  He beckoned towards Kal.  "Would you come over here please, Kal?"


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## P0L (May 7, 2005)

- Of course, master!..

Kal stood up, trying to show confidence, this stranger was FAST. He would do his best to represent the Sethi.

He had seen that Jorran opened his side a little while attacking. If he could parry his blow he might be able to land a good counteratack. As he ignited his blade, Kal cleared his mind of anxiety. Standing up in a defensive position, his blade low, waiting for the attack.


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## Angcuru (May 7, 2005)

"Be sure to use the non-lethal setting on your blades."  Arais reminded Kal and Jorran.  Not that he had to, at any rate.  The crystals used in their lightsabers by default produced a blade that temporarily disrupted the target's nervous system, rendering them numb, but still conscious.  That is, unless a blow landed on the spine or head.  In that case, unconsciousness was the usual result.  To actually harm each other, they would have to consciously alter the flow of the force through their blades and make them lethal.

"Fight to the best of your abilities."  That said, Arais took at seat next to Miera and waited for them to begin.

ooc - Initiative :
Jorran - 18
Kal - 11


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 7, 2005)

Aasan will watch them quietly for a few moments before giving the whole village a good look over. Or at least, as best he can while staying where they currently stand. He'll keep his mouth shut, though, and do his best not to comment on the flashy displays that these Force-Users seem to be so fond of.


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## Galethorn (May 7, 2005)

After making his salute, Jorran took a step forward, making a quick jab with his white blade.

(OOC: Plain old attack)


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## Angcuru (May 8, 2005)

Jorran's blade came straight at Kal.  In his haste to try and counter attack the thrust, Kal almost caught it full in the chest.  Kal reflexively dodged to the side, the end of Jorran's blade barely missing his torso.  So close!  If the thrust had been just a tad slower, Kal knew he could have turned it to his advantage.

Kal looses 14 vitality points = 15(29)

ooc - please note whether your attacks are 1 or two handed for purposes of damage calculation.


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## P0L (May 8, 2005)

Kal uses his lightsaber one handed, relying more in speed and reach than in strenght.
He cuts horizontally trying to slash under  the older man defense.

ooc: Declare dodge, normal atack


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## Super Girl (May 8, 2005)

Kia watches the more even fight with greater interest then the uneven one, this was something where she could actually compete, and competition was something that had been a constant in her life on Corellia, everyone trying to show everyone else up, it was second nature to her.  "I guess these blades are different somehow, otherwise you wouldn't be turning them loose on each other.  Once they are done...can I try, I'm not great with the saber...yet, and practicing without the threat of mass mayhem is pretty tempting, if Kal and Jorran are up for it, I mean." she says, excitedly to Miera.


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## Angcuru (May 8, 2005)

Kal's dodge of Jorran's thrust put him less than a meter from his opponent, close enough that he could easily reach out and touch him.  Kal took a step back, using that slight momentum to aid a swing at chest level towards Jorran.  Jorran saw it coming, and leaned backwards, pulling his blade back from the thrust, holding the hilt at head level with the blade vertical protecting his torso in time to block Kal's attack.

Miera looked at Kia, somewhat surprised.  "Kia, if your blade is that of one of the old Jedi and you are not skilled in its use, then you would likely end up killing one of them or yourself.  Our lightsabers...Sethi lightsabers, are constructed with crystals unique to this world.  They cannot be wielded by one who is not balanced and properly trained in the Force.  At the same time, the blade they produce subdues rather than slays its target, unless we specifically desire otherwise."  She hesitates for a moment.  "We could train you to use your blade without imperiling yourself, but anything beyond that and you would have to be one of our order."

Arais nods.  "Once Kal and Jorran finish sparring, Miera will give you a few pointers.  However, learning to use a lightsaber is no simple task.  Doing so requires devotion, discipline, and concentration.  If you really want to learn to use one, we can show you how, but know that it _will_ take time."


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## Angcuru (May 8, 2005)

mispost


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## Super Girl (May 8, 2005)

"I've handled things similair too it before, it wields sort of like a stun baton, except for the whole only lethal part.  I have something to build off of, its just the particulars of a lightsaber then I need to learn, I think, or at least I hope.  I do want to get out of here, but I think its more important to learn how to use the saber the right way, otherwise I'n like a baby with a blaster, and honestly, Hyperdrives are not my forte, especially ones 10 times older then I am."  Kia admits, accepting the sting to her pride of the admission of her inexperience.

"Those crystals sound very useful, it must be really useful to have a stun setting, to be able to resolve things with less force." kia commented, resolving to get one of the crystals before they left, _I don't know what to do with it, but I would like to build my own saber, I'm sure that eventually I'll work out a way to do it,_ she thought.


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## Galethorn (May 8, 2005)

Holding his saber--its blade still locked with Kal's--in both hands, Jorran quickly stepped forward and used his full height and strength to bear down on Kal's saber.

(OOC: Disarm attempt, saber in two hands, +8 mod for opposed roll (+4 BAB, +2 Str, +2 for using the saber two-handed))


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## Angcuru (May 9, 2005)

With their weapons locked together, Jorran took advantage of his superior strength and quickly pushed his lightsaber forward in an attempt to disarm Kal.  Kal deftly stepped back, the move neutralizing Jorran's strength advantage.  

Using a maneuver he had learned from Arais, Kal kept contact with Jorran's blade and twisted around so that he was actually between Jorran and their lightsaber blades. Before his opponent could react Kal pushed his blade out and over their heads, twisting again so that Jorran was forced to turn around or lose control of his weapon.  

The end result was another stalemate.  Throughout the exchange of moves, the two white blades never left contact with one another.  Now Jorran held his blade and waist level, with Kal to his right holding their blades in a cross shape between them.

ooc : According the to Core Rulebook, the only bonus derived from wielding a weapon two-handed is +4 on a defensive opposed roll.  Lucky for Jorran.   Kal's turn now.


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## P0L (May 9, 2005)

Kal steps backwards, disengaging the blades and then his backwards move flows into a forward thrust, trying to stab Jorran.

ooc: attack


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## Angcuru (May 9, 2005)

Kal quickly takes a step backwards, his blade pulling off of Jorran's.  He was now just in back of his opponent, and quickly lunged forward with a thrust to Jorran's side.  Jorran saw the stabbing blade just in time, and tumbled forward away from Kal, barely avoiding the attack.  

Jorran loses 17 vitality points - 14(31)


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## Galethorn (May 10, 2005)

In the same move as his dodge forward, Jorran used his momentum to make a powerful two-handed chop.

(OOC: Attack)


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## Super Girl (May 10, 2005)

Kia watches the duo spar with their stunning sabers, neither connecting, but with several close calls.  The Jedi hopeful ponders what she could do that they weren't when it came time to duel master Miera.  _Neither of them are really using the force, they're just swinging their sabers at each other.  I wonder what someone who is actually trained to fight with the force can do.  Pull the saber from his hand, deactivate it, push him off his feet.  Make him hear a charging Maslith behind him, get him to turn,_ she wondered.


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## Angcuru (May 10, 2005)

Jorran shifted his footing and struck down at Kal with a hard two-handed cleave, but Kal was ready.  Using Jorran's own momentum against him, Kal held his blade perpendicular to Jorran's, blocked, and used the force of the attack to sidestep and whirl around, bringing his blade down on Jorran's unprotected back.  The white blade passes through Jorran's clothes and partially through his back.  He feels an odd numbing sensation throughout his body, like his skin had gone numb.  Jorran was sure it wouldn't hinder his performance significantly, but another attack like that and he would be out of the fiight. 

ooc - Jorran looses 14 vitality 6 wounds(stun)  0/6
Kal's turn.


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## P0L (May 10, 2005)

"Fight to the best of your abilities" said his master, and Kal knew that it would take all of his skill to overcome the more experienced man. 

Taking advantage of his last blow, Kal strikes  before Jorran can recover his balance.


ooc: attack


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## Angcuru (May 10, 2005)

Just by luck, Jorran deflect Kal's next attack, which would surely have brought him down if it had connected..


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## Galethorn (May 10, 2005)

After reeling backwards and barely parrying Kal's second blow, Jorran immediately went on the offensive again.

(OOC: two-handed attack, followed by Heroic Surge and another two-handed attack assuming he doesn't both hit _and_ drop Kal with the first attack)


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## Angcuru (May 10, 2005)

Just after parrying Kal's attack, Jorran whirled on him with a furious assault.  He brought the blade down in a strong overhead chop that pierced Kal's defenses and grazed his shoulder, and again with a swipe that passed through Kal from neck to waist.  Kal stumbled back under the sudden offensive move, barely able to remain conscious.

Jorran hits Kal twice, once for 16 dmg and again for 14 dmg, total of 30, bringing him down to 1 wound point(subual).

Jorran 0/6
Kal 0/1


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## P0L (May 10, 2005)

*Kal Donoma, Human male Sethi Guardian 3*

[sblock] 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





[/sblock]

Sweat falling from his brow, Kal tried to focus his blurred vision on his opponent. He felt all his left side numb from the last two strikes. 

It´s all or nothing now he tought, with a faint smile. This guy is GOOD.

He had seen master Arias perform this move -on him, usually- countles times.. an overhead slash for diversion, flowing into a low sweep with the saber. Kal closed his eyes, trying to feel the aura of his opponent, letting the force guide his last attack, and raised his blade.


 ooc: attack!


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## Angcuru (May 10, 2005)

Kal felt Jorran's presence in the force, and brought his white blade down towards his head.  Jorran raised his blade in defense, but Kal sent the attack to the left over his opponent's blade and then into a diagonal slash.  Jorran felt a sudden increasing numbness in his side, and then everything went black.  As Jorran fell to the ground, his lightsaber falling from his hands, deactivating the moment it left his grip.

Kal hits Jorran for 9 dmg, bringing him to -3 i.e. unconscious


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## P0L (May 10, 2005)

Kal limps towards his fallen opponent, gives him a moment to regain his senses,and then extends a hand to try and help him stand up.

- It was a great fight! Thanks!


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## Galethorn (May 10, 2005)

(Assuming he's regained conciousness)
Jorran reached up and took Kal's hand, making it back to his feet.

"Almost had you," he laughed. "You're twice as good as I was at your age."

He reached down and grabbed his saber hilt and strapped it back onto his belt.


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## Super Girl (May 11, 2005)

Kia watches the duel in awe, lightsabers were such a rarity that seeing one, let alone two wasd a sight most people could go their entire lives without seeing, let alone an actual duel between two people that actually knew what they were doing.  She was a bit surprised that the young kid besed the older more experienced Jedi apprentice, and it gave her enough hope of winning against mierra to put a crooked grin on her face.  "Wow, that was intense, I'm sure I wont put up anywhere near the challenge that they would put up for you Miera, but I'm still up for it, if you are, and I can get one of your Sethi lightsabers to work." Kia offered.


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## Angcuru (May 11, 2005)

"Well done, both of you. That was an impressive display."  Arais said, patting Jorran and Kal lightly on their backs.  To their surprise, the numbness throughout their bodies faded, though they were still fatigued.  "Sit down and have a rest."

"It is very unlikely that you will be able to use one of our lightsabers, Kia."  Miera said.  "To even ignite the blade one has to be perfecly balanced in the force, which requires training to be able to center oneself.  Use your own blade for now, Kia."  She got up and went over to where Kal and Jorran had been sparring, and readied her blade.  "First, just show me how you would normally attack with your lightsaber."

Nakima tapped Aasan on his shoulder.  "While they're busy with that, I'll show you our old hyperdrive.  It'll probably take a while to make it compatible with the young lady's ship, so we should get started as soon as we can.  C'mon, this way."  The old man walked off towards a shack not far from the fire pit.


ooc - Jorran and Kal restored to full wounds.


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## Super Girl (May 12, 2005)

"I don't want to hurt you, I know that I'm not good enough to avoid doing it with a real lightsaber, thats why I only use it when I have to...but your the master I suppouse." Kia says uncertainly, she had thought that a mistake by her wouldn't be then end of the world, because she'd be using a Sethi blade, but if she truly couldn't use one...  Kia stepped forward, taking a steadying breath, she twirled her lightsaber's handle til it was perpendicular to the ground, point downward.  She used a flick of her thumb on a recessed button in the buttplate to ignite the violet blade.  Once it was ignited, Kia rested her other hand firmly on top of the of the buttplate to give her more power and control.

Kia faces Miera diagonally, putting all her weight on her rightfoot, ready to pivot away, and gives a small smile, and a nod of her head to show that she was ready.  As she nods to Miera, she looks about at the others for a moment, looking to see what is around her, and what everyone is doing.  Hwe wyes return to Miera, and then drop past her one last time, and suddenly a small tug of the force sends jorran's new saber hurtling in Miera's general direction.  The thing wasn't meant to hit, though it striking was not unwelcome, it was simply to distract the Master for a second or two.

OOC:
Full Round Action: Bluff +8 backed up by Move object +7 to make kit more convincing, 1 vitality point, full defense.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 12, 2005)

Aasan gave one more look to the others and then, shrugged to himself before silently following Nakima. After a few steps, though, he asks a question that he's going to have to bring up at one point or another, "How old is the hyperdrive you've got? The ship's not too knew, so it might not be too much of a problem...but then again, I've learned its best to not assume such things."


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## Angcuru (May 12, 2005)

"_Very_ old.  Not to mention that the thing malfunction the last time it was used, so it'll probably need some fixing itself before we even think of compatability issues."  Nakima said.  He slid the curtain in the doorway of the hut open and went inside, gesturing for Aasan to follow.  

The hut is a mess.  Wiring, sheet metal, and various torn apart tech devices litter the floor and several tool benches.  "Well, it's in here _somewhere_."  Nakima mutters.  He heads toward the back and starts digging around in a pile of various junk.  "Give me a hand with this, will ya?"


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## Galethorn (May 12, 2005)

Feeling his saber fly from his belt, Jorran let out a surprised "Hey!" and pulled back on it with the force.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 12, 2005)

"Of course," Aasan nods shortly before stepping over and doing his best to assist, "Most of this salvaged from your ship, I assume?"


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## Angcuru (May 12, 2005)

Jorran feels out for his saber with the force and _yanks_ back into his hand.  

Miera looks at Kia disapprovingly.  "This is supposed to test your ability with your weapon, not your ability to pull cheap tricks.  If you wish not to learn, by all means say so."

***​
"Yeah we tore that thing apart until there was nothing left.  All of this stuff I couldn't find a use for, or plain can't get to work. Aha!  Here it is!"  With Aasan's help, Nakima pulls a clump of tangled wire off of what looks like a cubic meter of burnished silver tinged white.

"It ain't pretty, but it was fast for its day.  Too bad its day was _waaaaay_ way back."  Nakima clears off some of the remaining clutter. "Y'see that silvery white sheen?"  He says, indicating the hyperdrive.  "Now, I have _no_ clue _whatsoever_ as to what it is.  I'm somewhat familiar with the model of hyperdrive our transport was using.  What with the Seperatist occupation and all, there was nothing left to work on.  I've _never_ seen this effect before.  The only evidence I have to work with is an anomoly.  Check this out."  

Nikama reaches over to one of the tool benches and pulls out an old blaster rifle.  Not pretty, but powerful by the look of it.  He set it to full power, aimed it at the hyperdrive, and fired off a series of shots.  The blasts hit it with full force, but simply disappeared as if they had ceased to exist the moment they would have impacted the hyperdrive.  Not even a mark remained.


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## Super Girl (May 13, 2005)

"I thought how I used it was the point...I know your better with it then I am, I thought the point was to show you what I would normally do." Kia said with a shrug, "guess not.  Like I said, I'm not very good, so when I use it, I do everything I can to win.  Normally when I light it, and people see me use the force, they give me a wide berth, so I am able to end fights without anyone catching a case of the deads." she offers.

Kia flicks the wrist of her right hand, sending a sweeping slash at Miera's leg,s in an ascending triangle of violet light, it wasn't a very strong stroke, not that it would have to be with a lightsaber, but it was weak on purpouse, or rather as part of Kia's saber stance.  The way she was standing, blade pointed down, just flexing her wrist one way or the other would make for a strong triangle of defense.  It was a natural stance considering that the activation button was on the butt of the saber and not the shaft, it was the only way to hold it and be able to quickly activate and deactivate it.  It also gave her the ability to make those same defensive strokes with just a bit more outward motion to make quick sweeps at the opponents legs, or even just a wrist flick bringing it paralel to the ground would split a person standing in front of her from their groin to throat, especially with the strength that the second hand on the butt of the saber added to it.


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## Galethorn (May 13, 2005)

Jorran offered a piece of advice.

"Unless I'm mistaken, this is just to see how you are with a saber. If you rely on tricks with the force when you spar, your saber technique will suffer, and you'll be much more likely to be killed in a real fight if, for whatever reason, you can't use your force powers. As well, if you can hone your force skills and saber skills seperately before using them together, you'll have a better grasp of the fundimentals of both when you combine them." He paused for a moment. "Well, that's what my former master taught me, anyway. I'm sure Miera has a much better-informed idea about this than I do."


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## Angcuru (May 15, 2005)

Miera stepped smartly to the side, easily avoiding Kia's attack.

"Jorran is correct.  You have a degree of control in the force, but you rely on that more than your blade.  I asked to see your attack, but you initially use trickery.  Let's try something different."  Miera deactivated her blade and returned it to her belt.

The stone which had earlier been levitated by Adrial floated up and over towards Kia.  It paused at a spot one meter in front of her blade, and proceeded to begin circling her with quick, irregular movements.

"Before you face a live opponent, you should be able to face an inanimate one.  Try and cleave this stone in two."

***


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## Super Girl (May 15, 2005)

Kia sighs and nods.  The girl narrows her eyes, and then lashes out at the stone with a sweeping diagonal upward cut that she hoped would do it, followed by horizontal slash that centers the blade in front of her, parallel to the ground.  "I rely more on the force then the blade because I'm better with it, but when practicng I guess I should avoid it."  she says.

She keeps up the saber strokes for as long as it takes, thrusting out once with the point, and then thrusting out and up, followed by a quick downward swipe that brought the blade back perpindicular to the ground in the stance the girl had started with.


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## Angcuru (May 16, 2005)

"Since you already have some ability with the Force, it would be wise to learn skills to complement your ability.  As I'm sure you know, drawing upon the Force is draining.  To rely on it too much when other methods would suffice is wasteful.  Besides, there are times when a blade would be more useful."

The stone dodged back and forth, evading each of Kia's strikes.  Although this was due more to Miera's manipulation of the stone than pure inability on Kia's part, it was still frustrating.  Little by little, each of her strikes became more precise than the last.  After fifteen minutes of this, Kia was just about to burst with frustration when her blade finally caught the stone and clove it neatly in half.

"Very good Kia, you are learning quickly.  You seem to have grasped some of the fundamentals of wielding a lightsaber."  Miera smiled.  "Wield the lightsaber itself, not the blade you see.  Because the blade is immaterial, it can be disorienting to use, but eventually you will find that intangibility to be to your advantage.  This may not take as long as I had thought, though it will still be some time before you are fully proficient with your blade."

"Miera is right, you are a fast learner, Kia."  Arias nodded, and looked about.  "Now that we have eaten and this bought of practice is concluded, we should see to your ship.  Has anyone seen Nikama, or Aasan for that matter?"

"Master Arias, I think they went over to Nikama's workshop to look at something."  Adrial spoke up.

OOC - Kia's non-proficiency penalty with a lightsaber is reduced from -4 to -3.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 16, 2005)

((...alive again. Catching up...))

Aasan stared, a confused and slightly worried look on his features. Not that they could be seen, of course, but they were there anyway. After a moment of thinking, he calmed himself and then looked to Nakima, "I assume it is not ray shielded...otherwise I...I am not sure. I've not seen anything like that before. That could cause a problem in repairs..."


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## Angcuru (May 17, 2005)

"Well, that's what I was thinking, but there may be another explanation."  Nikama said.  "The navicomputer was intact after the crash, so I examined it for any useful information before I broke it down for parts.  According to residual data, the pilot plotted the course correctly, but some sort of ion storm interfered and sent us off course.  If the computer is to be believed, we skipped off of the Endor system's gravity well and somehow ended up here.

Normally, that would cause us to disintegrate or at least come out of hyperspace.  Y'see, a hyperdrive doesn't really make a ship go fast fast, as some children put it.  It shifts the ship into subspace, more commonly known as hyperspace because of the drive's name.  Time moves slower in subspace, so a journey that would take eons with our sublight drives takes a day or two.  Not lightspeed at all, just going on ion engines in a sort of time crunch dimension. Celestial bodies such as stars produce a distortion in subspace that we call a singularity or gravity well, which is why hyperspace travel ends at or near the borders of most systems, and going on ions in normal time from there.

Now, my theory is that considering the temporal effects of subspace, a living being should shrivel up in an instant.  If there weren't a sort of time shifting field surrounding the ship, everything would start to decay.  Y'know, the whole entropy thing.  Thermodynamics and all that fancy stuff.

This may be a wild guess but...maybe when we skipped off the gravity well and ended up in whatever system this planet is in, the hyperdrive quickly ceased to function and then the time protection field...thing...went inside out, so now...umm.  I suppose you could sat that this thing is in a stasis field of sorts."  Nikama finally took a deep breath after speaking for so long.  "Anyways, that's just my theory."  He stared at the hyperdrive, and shot it a few more times for effect.

ooc - no prob. a case of the sickies is perfectly understandable


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 17, 2005)

Aasan listened for a moment and then shrugged, "That's all well and good to have a theory and such, but it still doesn't answer the important question. Is this...whatever it is going to cause problems with actually using this thing and getting it installed? I've got a feeling the answer to that is going to be 'yes', if only to keep things consistent..."

He sighed, the same scratchy noise sounding through his breath mask before inspecting the thing a little closer, "This is probably going to take a while...thankfully, it looks like you've got enough junk that we can fix up parts we'll need to get this at least connected to the ship."


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## Angcuru (May 19, 2005)

"Well,"  Nikama said to Aasan, "that's the trouble.  I can't figure out how to turn off the darned thing.  If my theory is correct, then it is more or less a paperweight untill we can turn the field off."


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 21, 2005)

"Have you tried hitting it with a rock? You'd be amazed how useful simple violence can be when it comes to technology..." Aasan said with a slight grin on his masked features. As he did so, he moved to the object and tried to see if he could figure out anyway to get it into workable condition again.


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## Galethorn (May 21, 2005)

Jorran got up from the log, apparently rested.

"Well, since we aren't doing anything else, maybe we could go help Aasan and Nikama."

He paused for a moment, remembering the last time he had tried to fix his own ship...before paying a trained mechanic to replace the bent hydrolic lift on the ramp, then fix the damage he had done to the surrounding components when he tried to 'weld' the hydrolic arm back to the ship with his lightsaber.

"Or maybe just watch."


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## Super Girl (May 22, 2005)

"Aasan is better at fixing things then I am, I'd probably just get in his way, and I'd rather have it fixed then not just because I tried to help, they'll probably ask if they need help." Kia offers, clipping the saber back on her belt.  "We can go watch though, I suppouse."  The girl wipes off her brow as she waits to see what the Sethi Masters were planning on doing.


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## Angcuru (May 22, 2005)

"Getting your ship back to full working order is priority, so by all means aid them if you can."  Miera said.  "If there is a problem, it would be best to have as many viewpoints as possible to find a way to fix it."  She and Arias got up and went over to Nikama's work hut to see what progress had been made.


"Hit it with a rock?  As if blasting it isn't enough."  Nikama said to Aasan.  

"What seems to be the trouble, Nikama?"  Arias asked as he pushed aside the cloth flap that served as a door to the hut.

"Ah, Arais.  Well, the trouble is not that we can't find a hyperdrive, since we have one right here.  The problem is that we can't seem to get rid of this crazy field surrounding it."  Nikama indicated the silvery-white sheen on the old hyperdrive.


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## Galethorn (May 22, 2005)

Jorran puzzled at the strange sheen.

"My first thought would be to see how it responds to the force, or a lightsaber, but I'm probably not the one to listen to when it comes to complex machinery. Have you tried, you know, poking it with a stick?"


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## Angcuru (May 22, 2005)

Nikama gave Jorran a blank look.  "Poke it with a stick, you say.  Genius.  Surely the space-time altering field will disperse when prodded with a simple rod."  

The middle-aged man picked up a stone from a workbench.  "See this rock?"  

He then picked up a piece of scrap metal. "See this junk?"

Nikama ground the stone against the edge of the metal for a moment, and when he was finished the previously sharp edge was dull and rounded.  "Abrasive, rough-surfaced, similar to what ancient builders used to call sandstone."

Nikama then placed the stone on the sheet of metal and tilted at at a 45 degree angle, but the stone did not slide off.  He then carefully placed it on top of the hyperdrive and flicked it with his finger.  The stone quickly slid off like ice from glass.  Nikama picked it up and repeatedly slammed it against the hyperdrive, chipping the rock but having no effect on the silvery-white sheen.

"There's some sticks outside the hut if you still want to poke it."  He grunted, before turning back to the hyperdrive.


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## Galethorn (May 22, 2005)

Jorran seemed even more intrigued by the hyperdrive's strange properties.

"Well, I think your demonstration showed me more than a stick could have...but now I'm eager to see how it would react to the force..."

Jorran put the fingers of his right hand to his temple and closed his eyes, looking at the hyperdrive with the force, and then (assuming it doesn't have any strange aura) attempting to shift its position a bit.

(OOC: See Force followed by Move Object)


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## Angcuru (May 22, 2005)

Jorran's attempt to detect the Force within the Hyperdrive yeilds a complete blank.  He can feel objects surrounding the hyperdrive, but once he starts to feel past the strange field, it's as if there is nothing there.  He tries to use the force to move it, but it is as if it is slippery even in his attempts with the force.  Jorran finds that he can budge it slightly by moving other objects against it, but he simple cannot get a hold on the hyperdrive itself.


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## Angcuru (May 25, 2005)

Miera walked in behind Arias, and did a double take when she saw the Hyperdrive.  "Nikama, why didn't you tell us that you have a working stasis field?!"

Arias and Nikama looked at her and simultaneously asked, "Working Stasis Field?"

Miera poked Arias on the nose and pointed.  "Shiny field around hyperdrive."

Nikama twitched.  "How do you know it's really a stasis field?  They're just speculation and whatnot, only theory!  No one has ever gotten one to work in this manner!  This thing is probably just a fluke, something different."

"Shortly before Arias and I...left...the Jedi, there was a report that the Techno Union, a faction within the seperatists, had managed to develop a containment field that slowed the progression of time on its contents to approximately one milisecond per trillion standard years.  In other words the contents are completely invulnerable while the field is active."  Miera said.  "Not that that helps us get it working."  She frowned.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 28, 2005)

Aasan looked to Meira with a curious expression on his hidden features before looking back down to the well protected item, "In other words, you know what it is, but not how it works or how to get rid of it. Wonderfully helpful. I've got a bad feeling it might be easier to build a new one from scratch rather than try to figure this thing out."


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## Super Girl (May 28, 2005)

"Great, we'll be getting off this rock about the time, I'm free floating carbon."  Kia offers sarcastically.  "At least I can take the ship up to space and leave a distress signal at the center of the hyperlanes that head through the system.  Then anyone stopping here will at least know we're here.  Space is big, but hyperjumps are always plotted to the center of a system, so arrival points should be within a relatively small area, theoretically." 

"She should be airtight, I mean the diagnostic would let us know if something was that wrong, but double checking it shouldn't hurt us either."


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## Angcuru (May 28, 2005)

"I know what it is, yes.  But even though I have no clue how to deactivate it, there must be some way to do so.  Techno Union engineers were paranoid about safety.  There must be a way to disable that field on the hyperdrive itself."  Miera stated.  "Nikama, see what you can do.  Aasan, please help him with this."

"I would have rather kept this planetary sytem a secret, but there seems to be no other choice."  Arais sighed.  "Kia, this bouy that you mentioned, go ahead and set it up.  If you can, try and block the signal from the Imperials.  If not, then we may have an opportunity to capture and additional ship.  I'll go along with you just in case.  Kal, Adrial, you two should come as well.  We will be doing a lot of space travel in the near future, you should start getting used to it."  With that said, Arais left the hut and headed towards the _Dawnsprinter_.

"Jorran, your ship had a working hyperdrive, right?" Miera asked him. "While Kia sets up the bouy, you could do a scan and see if you can find it.  Even if the ship was damaged beyond repair, you may be able to salvage the hyperdrive."


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## Galethorn (May 29, 2005)

Jorran stroked his beard.

"Good idea...I'll get right on it...but, uh, where would I be scanning from, exactly?"


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## Super Girl (May 29, 2005)

"Scan from the Dawnsprinter, sensors are working just fine, and with the ship, we can actually go wherever if you find it, especially if its still in space." Kia tells Jorran.  "I am not a fan of piracy in any form, the imperials do help crashed ships, no reason to expect them to be hostile right off the bat Arias." the CorSec hopeful told the master reproachfully.  The red head led the other force users to the ship, and through it, up into the cockpit.

"Strap yourselves in." she says, running her pre-flight list, checking for integrity, repulsors, etc, everything needed to fly out of atmo.  As she waits, she does a double check of the comms array, checking to make sure that the ships distress beacon was in working order.  It was standard operating procedure for escape pods, they set off a distress call when launched, unless disabled, simple plan, wasy to carry off, she could just drop the escape pod with the settlement's coordiates at the hyper point.


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## Angcuru (May 30, 2005)

***

Arias climbed up the landing ramp and took a seat in the _Dawnsprinter_'s Rec Room.  Although he hadn't been on board a working Starship in nearly thirty years, he didn't feel any sense of excitement or anticipation.  He motioned for Kal and Adrial to sit down as well, and briefly showed them how to strap themselves in with the crash buckles.

The quick diagnostic told Kia that all life support / atmospheric containment systems were opertaional.

***​
"Well, we'd better examine this thing while they're gone.  They might not be able to find Jorran's ship, and even if they do there's no guarantee that the hyperdrive will be intact."  Nikama said to Aasan.  "Well, lets get the hyperdrive outside where there's more light."

Nikama cleared most of the junk away from the shimmering hyperdrive, and scooted into a position behind it.  "Right, I'm going to try and push it out of here through that doorway.  You just make sure to 'catch' it if it gets away from me."  He placed his hands on the side of the hyperdrive, braced his feet against the hut floor, and pushed.  His hands promptly slipped off of the stasis field, and he fell forward, almost bashing his head against it.  In frustration, Nikama kicked out at it, but immediately regretted doing so without thick boots on.  "I hate my job."


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## Super Girl (May 30, 2005)

Kia nods in satisfaction, currently the only thing wrong with the ship was a lack of hyper-drive, pretty good for having crashed so recently.  Just use the credits she was going to use for upgrades for a new one, and get the ship refurbished and detailed, and it would about blow through all the money she had, but with the ship she could always make more.

"Get Ready, I'm taking off," she tells the ground pounders new to spaceflight.  She flicks the repulsor's on and raises the ship smoothly until they are 200 meters above the settlement, well out of range of engine back wash, before punching in the sub-lights, sending the nimble transport up hurtling into space towrds the most likely route through the system.  A line that would end just outside the Sun's gravity shadow.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Jun 1, 2005)

Aasan will do his best to help Nikama, though he'll stay silent as he tries not to suffer the same problems. Almost speaking under his breath, he says, "I believe you may find I'm not too useful with the details of how all this works...I just know how to put things together and keep them working."


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## Galethorn (Jun 1, 2005)

Jorran looked out the window as the DawnSprinter headed out of the atmosphere.

"I think it should be noted that this planet is a lot more pleasent taking off from than landing on. For me at least."

He began doing his best to read the sensors, looking for any sizable chunks of metal between where the DawnSprinter and his escape pod landed.


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## Angcuru (Jun 1, 2005)

The hazy blue sky rushing past the ship's windows slowly turned darker, until the _Dawnsprinter_ left the atmosphere completely.  The deep blackness of space studded with countless twinkling stellar gems filled the viewports, mesmerizing those who had not experienced space travel before.  Arias unbuckled his crash belt, stood up, and slowly approached the cockpit.

Jorran sat in the rightmost seat, waiting for the sensors' analysis.  Aborbed in the activities at hand, he and Kia almost didn't notice Arias quietly settling down into the co-pilot's seat.  He gazed silently out the cockpit window for a short while, occasional beeping and clicking from various instruments the only sounds before he unexpectedly broke the silence.

"It is a strange feeling, to see the stars from out here after all this time.  For nearly twenty years, from my earliest memories I was always on the move.  Seeing the stars and planets from a starship viewport was nearly a daily occurrance for me.  My teacher and master, Tabano, always preferred to keep moving.  He always told us, Miera and I that is, that staying in a single place for too long causes one to slow down, to have fewer experiences.

We would get a mission from the Jedi Council, head out to take care of the issue, and then on to the next problem to take care of.  But we would always work so quickly that we spent almost as much time in a starship as we did on habitable planets.  Even then we had little rest.  Tabano always stressed that we take advantage of every opportunity to train ourselves, to improve our abilities.  If we weren't fighting battles or mediating peace treaties, we were sparring and meditating.

Looking back on those years, it wasn't much of a life.  The time passed so quickly then that we didn't even think about it.  My entire youth was one long, elaborate training exercise, even after the end of our apprenticeship.  Because Tabano's training made us more skilled than most, we were given the more difficult, more violent tasks.  Then came the War, with more and more fighting, more battles, more conflict.  Our efforts brought peace to countless people, but the only peace Miera and I found was with each other.  We kept each other sane during those years of fighting."

Arais paused, and breathed a long sigh.

"Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if the Jedi hadn't discovered us.  Would we have lived lives of peace and tranquility, and love?  Or would we have been like so many of the people whom we could not aid, who ended up dead before their time?

It has been nearly thirty years since we crashed into that planet.  Thirty years of struggle and survival, yet these years have been the happiest of my life.  Our destinies have been our own, no longer controlled by the whim of some vaunted council.  Despite the danger, we've been able to live at our own pace, and finally enjoy living in peace, such as it is.

Yet after all this time, I feel no special emotion, no euphoria or excitement, at seeing this unending blackness once more.  Perhaps it is fear that I may be returning to my old life, perhaps simply old, unwanted memories coming back to taunt me."  He sighed once more.  "Time will tell."

After Arias' long, unexpected outpouring of thought, the loud beep signaling the end of the sensor sweep seemed like a tank of compressed hydrogen had burst right next to Jorran's ear.  

Readings on the planet came back negative.  No new metal densities since last reading.  In the asteroid field however, there seems to be one larger rock in particular with a small, dense patch of materials indicated with a notation to be identical with the molecular composition of durasteel and superconductor wire.

"That reminds me." Arais said, noting the lack off designation for the planet. "We have yet to name that big dirtball of ours.  We'll have to discuss that once we get back."  

***​
Nikama nods at Aasan.  After half an hour of pushing, shoving, pulling, levering, and sweating, they have managed to slide the stasis-clad hyperdrive out of the hut and into the open, where examination would be easier.  Unfortunately, they do not manage to find anything special on any side of the hyperdrive.  No suspicious bumps, indentations, bowls, curves, _nothing_.

"Well," Nikama said, "I say we go get drunk, because I'm all out of ideas."


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Jun 4, 2005)

"Landing a ship probably wouldn't crack that thing..." Aasan mutters through his breath mask after yet another sigh. It was just getting tiring to have no success at all. Reaching up and rubbing his forehead, he asked, "Between the ships we have and the parts you've got salvaged, do you think we'd have enough to put together a hyperdrive from scratch and just avoid dealing with this thing?"


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## Angcuru (Jun 5, 2005)

"Probably not.  There doesn't seem to be any way to get this thing to disable the stasis field.  None that we can find, anyway.  But making a hyperdrive is no simple thing.  We may have the parts, but we don't have the correct equipment to assemble it or compatible software to run it." Nikama replied.  "It looks as if we'll have to rely on Kia finding Jorran's hyperdrive, or waiting for a rescue."


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## Super Girl (Jun 5, 2005)

Kia remains quiet while the Sethi Master gives his soliloquy, it didn't seem appropriate to interrupt, or even to reply.  Who knew how nuts she would be if she was on some hostile planet for 30 years or however long.  Come to think of it, if things didn't work out, she very well could be.  She gives a small start at the beep, but quickly scans the information and nods hopefully.

"I'll get the emergency beacon up and running and then we can head out to the asteroid and  try to salvage what we can."  Kia heads back to the escape pod and removes its distress call broadcasting unit, next she programs it to send out the location of the settlement, and a message explaing what happened.  Once/if she feels its ready, she lets it out of the airlock, and fine tunes its positioning with the ship's tractor beam.


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## Angcuru (Jun 9, 2005)

***

With the distress beacon in place, all they had to do was wait for someone to show up.  Otherwise they were on their own, a though which prioritized investigating the possible shipwreck in the asteroid field.

Jorran's further examination of the sensor readout showed that the readings originated from an unmoving, very large asteroid smack dab in the middle of the field.  Given how densely packed the asteroids were, retrieving the detected object would be highly dangerous.


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## Angcuru (Sep 21, 2005)

Unfortunately, further analysis of the dense patch of metal revealed it to be only one of several space rocks that had a similar suface composition.  Roughly twenty seven percent of the asteroids in this particularly violent patch of the field seemed to have been coated in starship material.

"That doesn't look good..." Arias muttered.

Jorran cringed at the mental image of his ship being pummeled into oblivion by the vicious gauntlet of asteroids.  His hyperdrive was out there all right....in many many tiny pieces.

***​
"Back so soon?" Aasan asked Kia as she descended the ramp of the _Dawnsprinter_ with a rather glum look about her. "You didn't find the hyperdrive, did you?"

"If by hyperdrive you mean scattered particles of powdered hyperspace engine, then yes, quite."  She replied, taking a seat on the edge of the ramp.

"So what do we do now?"  Nakima asked.  "If Jorran's drive is dust, and the old transport's drive might as well be a lump of avipahine, we have no hyperdrive."

Jorran sighed, shuffling his way down the ramp. "We wait, and hope someone picks up the signal from that distress beacon."

***​
Later that evening the distressed group was gathered inside the Sethi hut, wondering what to do.  Arias was off in a far corner with Miera, discussing some private matter, likely the fate of the village.  Jorran leaned against the wall opposite the entrance, a discussion about the state of the Galaxy with Aasan having turned to a remeniscing about the good old days of the Republic.  Kia was pacing back and forth trying to figure out how to get her ship hyperdrive-capable, while ignoring Kal, who was practicing his lightsaber forms nearby, probably in an attempt to catch her eye.  Adrial however, was not present.  She had been fascinated by the workings of Kia's ship, and insisted upon spending as much time as possible looking at all the neat gadgets and readouts.  Kia had allowed her to do so on the condition that she keep an eye on the long range radar in case anyone had picked up their distress signal and managed to make the hyperspace jump into the system.

The chatting when on for a while, and was interrupted when Adrial burst into the hut yelling something about the radar screen she was watching being suddenly filled with little blue dots.


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## Super Girl (Sep 24, 2005)

The trip back down from the asteriod belt was one of irritation for Kia, she had hoped for some chance of salvaging the hyper-drive, but finding it destroyed, and that she was indeed trapped in the solar system was very vexing for someone who's survival had depended on her mobility.  While she could certainly learn from the Sethi while she was here, she hadn't wanted to be here at all, especially not now that she knew what it was she wanted to be doing instead of drifting from sysytem to system.

The former  security officer candidate spent the rest of the afternoon in silent but dogged pacing, going over in her head her options, and limited as they were, they kept ruunning the same narrow path that her feet were.  Being surrounded by people that were so much older then she was didn't help, with the exception of Kal, they could all remember the old Republic, had in fact been adults during it.  And Kal, well, he was just a kid from some backwater that was crushing on her since she was the first new female to show up in his entire life time, so she pointedly ignored his practicing, trying not to encourage him to show off.

When Adrial burst in Kia was in motion almost before she finished her sentence, all the pen up energy finally put to use in an all out sprint to the cockpitt of the ship.  She didn't intend to stop slow down til she hit the cockpitt, and she intended to make it there in record time.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Sep 24, 2005)

Adrial's words immediately cut any thinking that was going on in the Kel Dor's mind. He knew when to get back into business mode, and this was definitely one of those times. He was up on his feet as Kia was already leaving, but as he headed after her, decided a question was in order, "What do you mean little blue dots?"

He could only hope the breath mask didn't make him sound angry...though knowing how things usually worked with these humans, it would. Or worse.


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## Angcuru (Sep 24, 2005)

Adrial followed Aasan and Kia to the Dawnsprinter, trying to catch her breath while explaining what she saw.  "I was looking around the ship, trying to figure out what all the little lights and screens are.  I was checking out this little table in the um...recreation area...that's it, when there was this beeping noise from the front of the ship.  I went to look at it, and there were all these little blue dots moving around this screen that didn't have anything on it just a few hours earlier."  

They arrived at the _Dawnsprinter_ as Adrial finished speaking, and within seconds were looking at the ship's long-range passive radar screen.  From the looks of it, there were upwards of thirty ships on screen, and those were only the ones using active radar that the ship's sensors could detect.  Almost on cue, the console-mounted comms station lit up.

"...._Dawnsprinter_..........ead m-..............._ICS Interdictor_.........-opy?..-alling the........._inter_, do yo-....."


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## Super Girl (Sep 24, 2005)

Kia smacks the comm station in the time honored tradition of electronics users everywhere, letting the unit understand how vexed she would be if it didn't behave. She started to adjust the station, trying to clear away the static.  "That sounds like an Imperial capital ship, especially with such a large escort convoy.   I don't want to run into the Empire, but I don't want to be here on this planet more." she tells 

"ICS Interdictor, this is the Dawnsprinter, come in, I repeat this is the Dawnsprinter.  My Hyperdrive got slagged by the jump, and we are stuck on this dirtball.  Any assistance you can offer would be appreciated."


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## Angcuru (Sep 24, 2005)

Those at the _Dawnsprinter_'s controls hear a different, more authoritative voice on the other end swear in frustration.  "ICS _Interdictor_ to _Dawnsprinter_ crew member, you will identify yourself and all surviving crew immediately.  We are sending a transport to your present location, do not leave the area."

Almost as the trasmission is finished, the rest of those who were in the Sethi hut arrive on the Dawnsprinter.  Jorran tenses noticably at the confirmation of the Empire's arrival and Kal seems shocked at this voice coming from the controls, while Arias and Miera exchange a quick glance at the mention of the _Interdictor_.

"Kia," Jorran says quietly, "if the Empire knows the name of this ship, they'll know who owned it as well, wouldn't they?  Isn't there a price on your head?"


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## Super Girl (Sep 24, 2005)

"I'm not liking where you going with this Jorran, I am really not liking it."  Kia replies, "I think I am going to like where the Empire goes with it even less.  Governments are soo not opened minded about insurrection." she sighs in frustration.

"I'm not even 100% sure that the empire would rescue your colony if they didn't get something out of it.  Sending a task force this large to answer a distress call is all wrong, I'm small stakes to them, I have no clue whats so important to them here, and if they deem it important enough to send a fleet like this, then they might deem no survivors a good thing as well.  Decide for youselves, but I think your best chances, and mine, are appropriating one of their hyperdrives.  The empire isn't exactly known for being kind to force users."

"ICS Interdictor, This is Kia Obscurra of the Dawnsprinter, there are no other crew.  At the moment I am in the middle of a camp of people who were stranded here when their ship crashed back during the Clone Wars. I request aid and evacuation for them according to Galactic Law."  she comms up to the capital ship.

"Either way you decide, it'd be easy enough to tell that your villiage is here when they land, lying when the truth is so obvious isn't worth the effort." she says to the Sethi, loosening her blaster in its holster.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Sep 24, 2005)

Aasan cursed himself as he got into the cockpit as Kia was finishing her communication to the other ship. Too late now. He sighed(which sounded more like a loud scratching noise through the breather), and said, "The less they know, the better...I don't think our friends would really like any extra company. If it is Imperials, you might have just given them an excuse to come down here with blasters blazing..." he trailed off and tried to think of a way to minimize any more problems, "Don't tell them anything else. And if they send a ship down, tell them to track your distress beacon. We'll move it a good distance out of here so they won't be coming down right here in the middle of everything and we can figure out what these people plan to do."


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## Super Girl (Sep 24, 2005)

"The transport is already on its way here Aasan, it is going to see the villiage whether we tell them about it or not. It already had a fix on this location because these were the coordinates the distress beacon was broadcasting.  We cannot change that, telling them what is going to readily evident to them when they get here doesn't cost anything, since they will find it out no matter what."  Kia says with a shrug.  She turns to the Sethi Masters, wondering what they would have the settlers do.

Whatever the Sethi decided, she could at least ready the ship for immediate take off, she might not have to lift off, but if she did, it would be nice to be ready.  Kia also set about making sure the ship's armament was as ready as it could be.


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## Angcuru (Sep 24, 2005)

Jorran watched as the radar screen showed the Imperial Fleet closing in on their location.  The computer calculated their arrival to be within 2 hours.  

"If the Empire is as brutal as you make it out to be, I doubt they intend to leave any survivors."  Miera said.  

"Any right-minded strategist wouldn't let any non-military personnel leave the system."  Arias added, "Think about it.  The Empire is fighting a galaxy-wide civil war.  Here they've found a previously unknown system, with unknown stocks of resources and potential locations to set up military bases.  As far as we know, the Rebellion is clueless about the whole situation, and I think the Empire would want to keep it that way.  And the best way to do that is to make sure that no one lives to tell them about it."

An audibal *gulp* simultaneously escaped Kal's and Adrial's throats.

"Kia," Miera asked, "how many people can you fit aboard this ship?  Not for a long journey, but packed in for about ten minutes tops?"


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## Super Girl (Sep 24, 2005)

"If it were just for a short period, I could probably get 80 to 100*, if they were in the cargo bay, this is a transport ship after all, people are much smaller then my usual cargo.  The only thing in there now are, or were, my upgrade components which I canabalized a bit to get her in the air again, get people in there, and the corridors, I just wouldn't want to be responsible for the jouncing around they are going to get, especially when we are chased."   Kia offered.

*thats being very conservative too, this class ship has cargo room for 100 tons of cargo, and that doesn't include the people you can pack into the corridors, passenger rooms, etc.


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## Angcuru (Sep 25, 2005)

"Good, that's more than enough."  Miera said, sounding a bit relieved

"Good how?"  Jorran asked. "Without a hyperdrive, it's inevitable that they'll catch us and then, well..."  He drew his finger across his throat, clearly making his point.

"We don't need to outrun the Empire's thugs, just to hide the innocent people in this village."  Meira glanced towards Arias, who nodded. "There is a subterranian cave a few hundred kilometers out from the village where we could easily hide them."

"But they're tracking this ship." Kal added, "The Empire will know where we're moving them to, and slaughter them all."

"Not exactly."  Nakima chimed in, "They're tracking the _Dawnsprinter_'s IFF transponder.  If we remove it from the ship and hook it up to the village's power generator, we can move about with the Empire being none the wiser, as long as we stay close to this planet's surface."

"That's all well and good,"  Adrial piped up, "but what do we do after they're hidden away?  We can't just sit here and wait for them to come kill us!""


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## Super Girl (Sep 25, 2005)

"Ok, then thats what we'll do, gather up your people, and I'll start working on the transponder with Aasan, and Nakima if he'll help.  Once your people are out of here, I'll come back, and get ready for the Empire.  If I can get their transport's hyperdrive, we can repair the Dawnsprinter and get the heck out of here."  Kia says, sounding positive, like it'd be a stoll in the park, then again, she is a Corellian.

The Jedi hopeful turns to the transponder once she finishes double checking the ships armaments, and starts getting it ready to pull out of its casing.  (+7 repair, taking 10, +17, not sure if there is a synnergy from computer skill 5 ranks, if Aasan and Nakima do help, then she'll just do aid another since they are better techs then she is, not that its a hard task or anything, just speed is probably key)

"Do you have any weapons leftover from your crash ship?  The Dawnsprinter is, or rather was, a CorSec Patrol ship, so she has better armament then a normal YT 1300, but I don't know what there transport will be, maybe a Lamda, but it might be something worse, like an Assault Shuttle." Kia says with a soft sigh.  "I think the best bet would be to ambush the Stormtroopers.  10 Troopers per squad, probably 2 or 3 squads to secure this area, and then whatever crew on the transport, makes it 35 or so." she says, not sounding terribly pleased.


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## Angcuru (Sep 26, 2005)

With the three of them working on it, the transponder's transplant to the village generator goes over quickly and smoothly.  Arias and Miera have apparently explained to situation to the villagers, as when Kia returns to her ship, there are many of them sitting in the rec area, standing in the halls, and generally trying to get comfortable in a very unfamiliar environment.  Adrial had the good sense to remember to bring along a few day's worth of food just in case, as was evident by the baskets of fresh vegetables and suchlike now in the storage compartments.  

"That's all of them,"  Miera says to Kia regarding the new passengers.  "Arais and the others are preparing some surprises for the enemy troops.  They should be ready by the time we get back from where we're headed."  She indicates the pilot's seat.  "We're ready when you are."


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## Super Girl (Sep 26, 2005)

Kia nods, pleased at the quick response of the villagers to the summons.  "Ok, this could be quite rough, especially on people who haven't really gotten used to flight." she calls out in a loud enough voice to carry along the corridors.  The young pilot drops herself into her chair, and swiftly cuts in the repulsorlifts, lifting the ship to just above the tree line, she had already gotten the ship itself ready for flight, all that was needed was thrust and the ship would move out, hopefully low enough that they would blend in and catch the Imperials napping.

"Were to Miera?"  she asks, set to carry out the course as swiftly as possible, knowing time was critical.


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## Angcuru (Sep 26, 2005)

Miera points out a thin strip of blue than can be barely seen in the distance as the _Dawnsprinter_ hovers.  "There, that river flows from a lake to the west.  If we follow it to the source we'll eventually find a waterfall, and behind that is where we'll hide these innocent people."  She regards Kia curiosly for a moment.  "I think it's best to tell you before we get near it that it is very, _very_ strong in the force.  Even if you aren't actively trying to sense it, you'll feel it growing more intense as we get nearer."


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## Super Girl (Sep 26, 2005)

"Umm, ok, I don't actually have any experience with sensing things through the force, and I have never actively done it." Kia says, shifting the heading of the ship, and then powering up the thrusters.  With the repulsor lifts on, it was sort of like a surfboard, floating on top of the water, and the thrusters were her feet kicking against the water.  She gradually ramped the power up to max, trying not to discomfort her passengers, especially since she'd probably be the one to clean up the deck plating.


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## ShaggySpellsword (Sep 26, 2005)

Jorran hurries to aid Arais and the others left behind in the village with setting up some surprises for the incoming imperials.  Jorran's hurry doesn't look rushed however, he just simply moves with efficient deliberacy and speed.  

"So, Arais, what's the plan?  How many do you think we can actually take?  Or are we going to pull a diversion that will allow us to take their transport without having to eliminate the imperial threat?"


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## Angcuru (Sep 26, 2005)

Miera arches an eyebrow.  "You've never tried to feel out your surroundings with the Force?  Well, whatever your plans for your talents, I suggest you try it out sometime."

They heard a chorus of 'ooh's behind them in the rec room, where the young Twil'lek girl and her pack of friends have surrounded the holo table.  Apparently they'd figured out how to turn on one of the holographic games, and were taking turns making the pieces eat each other.  Kids.

***​
Aris regarded the walls they had built to keep out the local wildlife.  "Hmm.  If these Stormtroopers are anything like the Clones I commanded back in the war, they'll be tougher than your average soldier.  Whether or not we take their transport, we'll have to deal with them one way or another." He flexed his fingers, the joints popping in anticipation "I doubt they'll surrender, so we'll have to take care of them...permanently.  No point in fortifying the walls, the'll be no good against modern weapons." 

He regarded Jorran, Kal, and Adrial. "You three can probably take on a good number of them, especially working together.  Anyway, once the killing starts the whole area will probably be overrun with Masliths faster than you can blink."

Arias crouched down on a log near the fire pit and began to formulate his plan.  "Our best bet is to take out the troopers on the first transport as fast as we can, then get to work on removing the hyperdrive.  Aasan, that's where you come in.  Once the area is clear, you will start working on removal of the drive while Kal, Jorran, and Adrial guard the shuttle.  By that time, Miera and Kia will be back with the _Dawnsprinter_, along with Nakima, who can help Aasan with the drive transplant.  Once we've swapped the transport's drive over to Kia's ship, we'll still have to get another to move the villagers.  For that we'll have to get the Imperials to land another transport or shuttle.  It'd be best if we could get them to send a cargo ship, so I suggest we leave one of the assault transport pilots alive so he can put in that request for us."  He looked at Aasan and his gathered students.  "Any further ideas?"


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## ShaggySpellsword (Sep 26, 2005)

Jorran takes a few calming breaths as he thinks.

"Stormtroopers aren't quite the crack troops that the clones were back in the day.   We may need to be able to do something about either their communications or their ability to respond with air support.  That means eliminating them before they can communicate problems or stopping their com activity.  Unfortunately, I don't have ideas on how."


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## Super Girl (Sep 26, 2005)

Kia shrugs, "So far the only things that I have done with the force are moving things and clouding people's minds.  I haven't been using it that much, though I am a bit curious about how I was able to make a blind jump to here, I didn't have time to plot it out, I sort of just went with it.  That could have been the force, or it could have just been luck.  Either way, I think I am going to need both of them today."  The young pilot pushes the throttle up to max out the ships speed, intending to be back before the Imps got to the villiage, not wanting to give them any reason to wonder at what she was doing, intending to put them slightly at ease by thinking she had stayed put.

"Timing is going to be critical with pulling this off, if we can get back fast enough, the Dawnsprinter can make a difference, she was modified to be a system patrol craft by CorSec, so she is packing a lot more then one could normally expect from a 1300."


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## Angcuru (Sep 28, 2005)

"Good, unexpected weaponry might give us an edge if it comes to a fight."  Miera said.  "But I'm curious about what you plan to do with your abilities.  If you don't use them, they won't get any stronger." 

***​
"That leaves us in a bit of a dilemma."  Arais said. "If we don't take out their communications, they're free to send for support, and if we do, we can't call in another transport, plus it'll be suspicious."  

He looks over Jorran for a moment, his eyes focusing on his lightsaber. "Wait a second...what if we just disable them?  The nonlethal setting of our weapons is basically a rod of condensed electric interference.  So if we use that on the ship's communications array, we might be able to disable it long enough to clear out their troops.  Aasan, you're more familiar with tech than we are.  What do you think?"


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## ShaggySpellsword (Sep 28, 2005)

Jorran's eyes brighten up "So you mean the low setting on these things can act like a localized pin-point Ion beam?  Disrupting the electronics?  If it works that way, then we could use the lightsabers to disrupt all sorts of systems, especially their comm array."


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## Angcuru (Sep 28, 2005)

"In theory, Jorran.  We've never actually tested them like that since we'd rather not risk destroying what few mechanical devices we _do_ have here.  Trying to disable the comm array is a risk, but one I think we shall have to take."  Arias says.


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## Super Girl (Sep 28, 2005)

"I would certainly expect it to come to a fight, I doubt they will just give away their hyperdrive.  I doubt it even more highly that after losing a transport they will let us escape without a fight." Kia says, sounding amused.  At Miera's next question however the amusement fades, and her eye brow rises.

"Who said I was not going to use the force?  Once we get off of this rock, I intend to find Luke Skywalker.  He intends to rebuild the Jedi, I am going to be part of that.  You said that you at least wanted to meet with him, if not help him do it, second thoughts?"


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## Angcuru (Sep 29, 2005)

"Not at all, Kia.  I simply don't wish to see talent go to waste."  Miera gave Kia a wry smile.  "And I _do_ plan on meeting with this Luke fellow.  After all, if he claims to have become a Jedi, that merits some investigation.  Ah, that's it right over there."  She points out rising mist in the distance.  "You shouldn't have any trouble finding a spot to set down, the trees are quite sparse in that area.  I'll go get everyone ready."  With that, Miera leaves the cockpit and goes to ready the passengers.


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## Super Girl (Sep 29, 2005)

"He was trained by Jedi, so he probably counts.  Unless General Kenobi and Yoda weren't capable of training Jedi I guess.  I'd love to be there for this discussion." Kia says smirking.  The young pilot follows the path of the mist down to the cave, bringing her craft down into a gentle landing on the repulsor lifts, slowly cutting their power back until the ship was firmly on the ground.

"This is your friendly captain speaking, please disembark as swiftly as possible, I need to be back underway as soon as possible.  Remember, you must be ready when we get back, I'll need you to board as quickly as possible to have a chance to make it off planet."   The girl calls out to her passengers.  She doesn't bother to shut the ship down, knowing that even with her 800 kph speed the timing would be tight, and having to warm the ship up again would make it even tighter.

"Miera, and anyone else who is coming back with me to the villiage, stay aboard I want to be dirt free in 5 minutes."  she calls out.  "I think Miera and Arias should be able to handle the weapons, I can do the flying, If we can get Aasan and Nakima to handle the shields and any repairs we should be able to get out of here, maybe, if we can get a hyperdrive and Nav Data."

Kia will lift off as soon as the survivors are out and those who are coming with her are inside again.


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## Angcuru (Sep 30, 2005)

With the crash survivors-turned villagers all outside the ship, Miera carfully guides them along the slippery rock face of the cliffside bordering a small lake formed by the waterfall.  One by one, they disappear behind the waterfall, some of them making two trips to ensure that all their supplies have been unloaded from the _Dawnsprinter_.  Once they are all safely hidden, Miera and Nakima re-board the ship and take seats in the cockpit.  Kia notices that Miera is holding a small cloth bundle that, from its jagged appearance, looks to be holding a multidude of small rocks.  In her mind's eye however, she feels a slight...something emenating from them, like the feeling you get when someone is sneaking up on you.  

"That's everyone, right?"  Nakima asks Miera as he buckles himself in.

"Yes, they should be safe in there for a while."  Miera replies.  "We should hurry back now, we might get back just in time to help out."


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## Super Girl (Sep 30, 2005)

"Good, lets get going then.  I'm going to need you back in the engineering section if it comes to a fight Nakima, Dawnsprinter is a patrol craft, so she is armed, but I'm not sure how well she'll stack up against a military assault shuttle, or whatever is up in orbit.  Miera, do you think you'll be ok with running the ship weapons?  I might have to do some fancy flying and not having to do the return fire will make it easier."  Kia tells the Sethi master, powering up all the weapon systems as she lifts the ship off and maxes out the throttle, pushing it up to 800 kph staying just above the tree line.

She shifts the weapons controls from her primary console over to the co-pilots in front of the older woman.  "I have some fire-control computer power to help you, it'll tell you what weapons we have, It'd do some good to familiarize yourself with them now."  the young woman falls silent for a few minutes before speaking up again, "I don't know what I'm sensing, but I'm getting something from those whatevers your carrying, are they...are they those crystals that you were talking about?" she asks, opening herself to the force, as much as she is able, never having done so before.


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## Angcuru (Sep 30, 2005)

"Alright, then."  Nakima replies, and pulls up a schematic of the ship on his console to discern where the engineering compartment is.. "Do you want me to head over there now, just in case we get ambushed?"

"It's been a while since I've used one of these, but I'm confident it'll all come back to me at the right time."  Meira says, looking over the fire controls.

Having consciously tried to sense the contents of the pouch through the force, Kia feels as though they are glowing embers, radiating a soft heat.  At her question, Miera looks up with slight amusement.

"So you can feel it, then?"  Miera says, and draws a single faintly glowing white crystal from the bundle and holds it up for Kia to see.  "It's these crystals that initially drew me to that cave.  What most people know of such caves' existance normally don't realize is that like Force Sensitives, there are places in the Universe where the matter somehow maintains a connection to the Force.  If these places are relatively free of dramatic erosion such as caves, which is why such places are where we normally find these crystals, their Force connection further preserves them.  Minerals in these caves overflow with the Force, and eventually condense into gemstones infused with the force.  

"You probably know that such crystals are normally vibrant in color, such as the normal blues, greens, reds, and so forth.  Essentially, these force crystals are precious gems such as sapphires, rubies, emeralds and so forth, but unlike their mundane counterparts, they have power in the force.  This power allows them the focus the condensed light beams in a lightsaber without disintegrating, and thus produce the blade.

"These particular crystals I carry however,"  Miera says,  "are far rarer.  As force crystals are akin to gemstones, these are essentialy Force-infused Diamonds.  Appropriately enough, however, they are a great deal more precious than their colored relatives.  You of course know that diamond is condensed organic material, so in a way, the force infusion gives some of them a certain...life, but not in the sense of living beings.  It is as if they have their own spirit.

"Used in our lightsabers, they give our weapons certain abilities that normal force crystals cannot.  As you have seen, they can allow us to incapacitate rather than kill an opponent, a very valuable advantage over normal blades."  She is about to continue, but is interrupted when her commlink buzzes, and Arias' voice is heard on the other end.

"Miera, could you ask Kia how much longer do we have until the Imperials arrive?  We've formulated a plan, and I think we might be able to get ourselves a second transport sent down here if you are back before they are."  

***​
"Well," Arias says to his gathered students after speaking over the commlink, "you'll soon be in your first fight against other human beings.  It may be tempting to simply stun them, but remember that these troops you will be facing are trained killers.  If we let them live, they'll only continue killing those we may consider allies, and perhaps even innocents."


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## Super Girl (Sep 30, 2005)

"Yea, please head back there now, I might need you to transfer power around. At least until we have a hyperdrive you can reroute the power that should be going to it into the engines to get us more speed, just be able to reverse it quickly."  she tells the old mechanic.

"They sort of feel hot, like embers giving off heat, I guess thats force energy.  I can feel them even whe I close my eyes.  I feel more of a connection to those crystals then the one in my saber.  I suppouse that means that I need to build one for myself, with a crytal that I feel connected to truly be connected with my saber?" she asks the Sethi, but trails off when Arias interupts the conversation.  She begins to figure out how to give him an answer, both by checking the Chronometer vs the 2 hours that the imperials told them earlier, and also by seeing if she couldn't get a more precise estimate from the sensors.

Kia passes along all the information she can, both on the eta of the Imps, and their own eta. "After all, the cave wasn't that far, and we are moving 800kph, shouldn't be more then another few minutes for us to get back Arias."


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Oct 1, 2005)

Aasan will assist Arias everyway he can, though he generally kept quiet to as not to start any arguments that would slow things down. Eventually, though, he spoke up, "We need to know where exactly they're coming down before anything else. Disabling their equipment won't stop them from fighting, and if they aren't planning on coming out shooting, it will make them. I agree with the plan, but its useless if they set down too far from us..." he trailed off a moment, then thought about it, "They could come down right on top of us or out and away to move in. Depends on who's calling the shots. I've got a bad feeling we're going to be stuck trusting in the Force to predict that."

Obviously, the Kel Dor didn't like hinging everything on the Force, especially considering that it was just as easy to make a mistake with that as it was with anything else.


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## Angcuru (Oct 1, 2005)

"Gotcha."  Nakima got up and headed back to the engineering section of the ship.

"Actually, one very rarely feels a connection to their lightsaber simply by constructing it."  Miera says,  "It isn't unheard of for someone to find a crystal that they feel an odd connection too, but neither is it common.  The bond that you describe forms over time as one wields the blade and they become more comfortable with it.  Eventually, holding your lightsaber feels as natural as anything, as if it is a part of yourself.  So to answer your question, you _might_ be able to attain such a connection to your lightsaber if you use a crystal such as you describe, but using it more often would be more likely."

According to the chronometer, there is approximately 45 minutes remaining until the Imperial shuttle arrives, and 10-15 until the _Dawnsprinter_ returns to the village. 

"Alright, so we still have some time, thanks Kia."  Arias replies to Kia.

***​
"If we don't know where they'll be landing, shouldn't we spread out to cover more area?"  Adrial offers.

"Wait a moment," Kal adds "couldn't Kia's ship sense those ships to begin with?  Why don't we just wait until she gets back and use her ship to find out where the Imperials are going to land?"

"Hmmm..."  Arias mutters, "that's better than just waiting until they land to find out.  In any case, we still need a plan of approach.  Someone will need to stay out of sight when they land, so they can disable the communications array to prevent any alarms being sounded.  At least they'll have the cover of darkness to help."  He looked at the horizon, where the planet's sun was nearly set.  

"A diversion to draw away some of the troopers would help, but it can't reveal our intentions."  Arias said.  He looked over to the remains of the vornskrs whom he had escaped last night.  There was nothing but bone left, attesting to the voracious appetite of the masliths.  "Maybe we can get some help from the local wildlife."  He turned on the commlink.  "Miera, do you think you could you call Alloj's pack on your way over here?"


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## Super Girl (Oct 1, 2005)

"We'll be back well before they get there, probably by half an hour or so.  Dawnsprinter out."  she says, deactivating the comm, wanting to avoid comm traffic as much as possible, some equipment, specialized equipment, might actually be good enough to pick it up.

"So I should try and find one of these crystals for myself, one that I can feel through the force?" Kia asks with a sigh, "I doubt the Imps are going to give me time to come back here long enough to look around before we have to evacuate your people from the caves.  I just hope that whatever we capture will have enough life support capacity to get everyone off world.  It just depends on the type of landing craft they use.  A Lamb can get maybe 20 passengers, with a crew of 6.  Which is like half of your people, or they might just bring in an Assault Shuttle, which could fit pretty much everyone, but would mean 4 squads of Stormies, not to mention enough armament to turn the Dawnsprinter into flaming wreckage.  I have a bad feeling about this..."


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Oct 2, 2005)

"A good idea, Aasan said with a nod, then went to look around the general area. He tried to find the best place for an Imperial craft to set down and offload troops, and identify any kind of cover that was nearby. Getting in that ship behind the stormtroopers wouldn't be easy..."We need to position everyone a good distance away from wherever the ship sets down. The troopers will look for some kind of cover, and they'll probably try to stay close to their ship. If we can get a little help from the locals, we still need to be able to draw the troops away from the ship and get in there to take out any pilots before they can send a distress signal."


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## Angcuru (Oct 6, 2005)

"I doubt that you will have the time to do so while we remain under threat from the Imperials, but there _are_ other places where one can find force crystals.  How we're going to handle capturing an Imperial transport, avoiding annihilation, and fleeing through a system-wide barricade of warships though," Kia thinks she sees a slight _tic_ of nervousness appear in Miera's face, "I can't be sure."

The comm crackles into life as Arias asks his question.

"Are you sure about that?"  Miera replies.  "I can probably get her to bring them near a specific place, but after that there's no way of controlling them."

"Let's not worry about that yet."

"Alright, it's getting dark, so they'll be waking up soon.  I hope you know where you're going with this"  Miera says before flicking off the comm.  She settles back into her seat, closing her eyes with a look of practiced, relaxed concentration.

The chronometer Miera had set up on one of the free consoles ticks, down, showing ETAs for the Imperial shuttle and the _Dawnsprinter_ side by side.  

_Dawnsprinter_ - Five minutes
Imperial Ship - Fifteen minutes

***​
"I like the way you think, Aasan."  Arias grins.  "Remind me of myself back in by wartime days.  Right, then.  The Imperials will probably plan on landing as close to the _Dawnsprinter_ as possible, which would be just outside the village.  Aasan, Kal, you two should find a patch of vegetation to hide behind until they land.  Jorran, Adrial and I will divert their attention from you.  Then Kal, you disable their communications array, which it will be Aasan's job to point out to you.  After that any plan we have is likely to fall apart, as plans are wont to do but we'll try and take one of the officers alive."  As Arias finishes speaking, the last hints of sunlight hiding themselves over the horizon, leaving pale moonlight their only illumination.


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## ShaggySpellsword (Oct 6, 2005)

"Sounds like a plan to me.  We have what, fifteen minutes?  How long until they can see us...or we can see them for that matter?"


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## Angcuru (Oct 6, 2005)

"I"m not sure exactly, Jorran.  But considering all the very tall, thick trees that tend to grow around here, we'll see them when they see us."  Arias replies.  "Fifteen minutes, right Meira?"  he says into the commlink.

"Right."  Jorran hears her reply.

"Splendid."


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## Super Girl (Oct 8, 2005)

Kia watches the seconds til the estimated arrival of the imperials tick away, it was going to be tight, whether or not the empire would be able to visually detect the villiage before she got the ship settled back in again.  "I think we should leave the transponder in the villiage when we leave, it might buy us a bit of extra time to slip over the horizon and get the planet between us and the fleet before we slip away.  After this, it'd be too hot to run her as the Dawnsprinter anyway, just get a new transponder and register the ship again."


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## Angcuru (Oct 8, 2005)

It's a close call, but Kia's trusty ship pulls through.  Just as she sets down, the _Dawnsprinter's_ short-range passive radar starts to pick up not one, but _two_ ship signatures approaching from the east.  

"That is most certainly not good."  Miera says, unbuckling herself and heading towards the ramp.

***​
In the dim moonlight, the sight of the recently arrived _Dawnsprinter_ is complemented by the appearance of half a dozen red, long-necked, hugely fanged dog-like creatures that melt out of the shadows and wait patiently in front of Arias.  Adrial lets out an anxious 'EEP!', but otherwise retains her composure.

"Say hello to our distraction." Arias says, indicating the gathered Nightstalkers.


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## Super Girl (Oct 8, 2005)

"Sithspit" Kia curses "We have 2 incoming, ships here...an Asault Shuttle, and a Lamda Class Shuttle.  We can probably expect a good number of Stormies from the Assault shuttle since it was sent down to pacify and capture a settlement.  Lord knows they'd need to pack em in there to be cost effective." she comms out to Arias'sgroup, hoping they'd be able to get inside the assault shuttle quickly, the Dawnsprinter was no match for such a thing, on the otherhand, she might be able to take a Lambda Shuttle, especially if the shuttle was caught by surprise, with its shields down.

Kia typed in aquick command, searching the Dawnsprinter's police databases for the Specs for the the imperial craft, hoping to find a weakness, or an idea of what they could do.


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## LogicsFate (Oct 10, 2005)

Angcuru said:
			
		

> Arias grins.  "Aasan, Kal, you two should find a patch of vegetation to hide behind until they land.  Jorran, Adrial and I will divert their attention from you.  Then Kal, you disable their communications array, which it will be Aasan's job to point out to you.




 Kal nods, and moves to assist Aasan with his search "An illusion might distract them long enough for us to get behind them" Sounding very unsure


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## ShaggySpellsword (Oct 13, 2005)

"So, Arias... what exactly is our diversion?  Talking to them?  Convincing the local wildlife to cause some chaos?  There have been suggestions, but I think I've missed what exactly we decided."


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## Angcuru (Oct 31, 2005)

Those gathered outside of the Dawnsprinter begin to hear the unmistakable sound of a starship approaching.  Arais stiffens momentarily at Kia's news concerning multiple inbound ships.

"This changes things completely.  The Imperials could be sending in another group of ground troops in the other shuttle, which likely means they will try and encircle the village."  

Just as he finishes speaking, a large, bulky ship clears the treetops and slows to a stop approximately thirty meters from the Dawnsprinter, and begins its descent to land.

"Damn!"  Arais swears. "I thought we had more time than this.  Kal, Aasan, time to move.  Get as close as you can without getting spotted, we'll try and keep their attention on us for as long as we can."

***​A quick search of the CORSEC database and Kia finds a detailed schematic of a typical Imperial Assault Shuttle.  There is little detail in the internal workings of the ship, but extensive notation concerning the external armanents, armor plating, normative shield strength, etc.  There is also a listing of suggested tactics of evasion and combat maneuvers, but only a few lines concerning the craft while on the ground:

_While the shuttle is EXTREMELY dangerous while in flight, it is unusually vulnerable while on the ground.  Our forces rarely faced a ground landing of one of these craft, but debriefings indicate that the major weapons systems are routinely powered down while the ship is grounded and the energy rerouted to the shielding systems.  As yet we have not had an opportunity to attempt a capture, but this quirk could prove useful in a coordinated effort to seize one given the chance._

An alarm sounds from the chronometer.  The Imperials have arrived.  Just as Kia looks out the cockpit to see the shuttle hovering, slowly settling to the ground, a spotlight shines out from near the front of the craft, flooding the _Dawnsprinter_'s cockpit.


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## Super Girl (Oct 31, 2005)

"The good news is that when the ships on the ground, they tend to power down the weapons and put the energy into shields, meaning they wont be destroying the Dawnsprinter.  With that thing out of the fight, I might be able to handle the Lambda.  I'll wait for your go signal." Kia says, glad that she had been thinking ahead and had the shields and weapons at full power and ready.

OOC:Kia will ready an action to fire on any stormtroopers that emerge from the assault shuttle (but only once the guys move to attack the transmitter)  if the Lambda comes in, she will fire on it, especially if it appears to have its shield's down in order to land.


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