Private Conclave on Exis Temple Station (Ask)

[Romi Jade]

There had been a many -- in fact so many that she had been attending them since she was a little girl. Her Master had called a few of his own, and had attended if not all of the ones before his. Then, and even now she cared little for large gatherings...especially those of this nature. She came to rely more on action than drawn out discussions about what to really rally behind. When she was knighted, and it became her choice, she stopped going to Conclaves and Convocations altogether. She wasn't sure what changed, if anything at all about her sentiments but here she was...attending a Conclave.

She found herself perched up on the edge of the sleek table, reminiscing. She was here, on Exis, at the last Conclave led by then Grand Master Shmi Labooda.

Though was she really

Because the memories she held onto were those of her and Cedric running these halls when the Station was officially opened. Then, their minds were far from the things that burdened them now. She didn't even know where Cedric was at this point.

Beyond her training she'd been doing here with the archival network, she and Coren had a brief discussion during a check in. Cotan, Coren, and herself were all leaders at respective Enclaves now; it was strange because they've spent lots of time either in duos or a trio fighting on the front lines, exploring, training -- they still were but their contact had been briefer nowadays. They'd all somewhat outgrown interstellar governments, and had taken things into their own hands.

When she expressed concern about the security of the Order as a whole, and its ability to withstand what she felt was a growing storm...they agreed that they had to figure something out.

So here she was calling a Conclave. Over a thousand years ago, Jedi congregated at enclaves and would collaborate with various other far flung facilities to deal with various issues on a galactic scale. And when serious decisions would beckon discussion, the heads of these enclaves would gather, and confer. This concept brought forth the very first Conclaves. And so to her, she was stepping into something a bit different than what she'd seen done in her lifetime thus far.

The three of them were trying something new, starting small, and making use of the network they've built between them. They'd discuss what they could do about the state of the galaxy as a small group, and outside the major governments -- to help.

Over time she hoped to sell others on this method, and include them in the discussions to be had going forward. The lost of so many academies and enclaves during the last few years made the idea of keeping up with their status tiring, but she was hopeful they'd get there.

-------

Coren Starchaser
Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Coren Starchaser]

As always, the Jedi Master and Great Unifier – damn, he’d make a great Mandalore with that title—was at the forefront of everything. With Kattada safely in Silver Concord space but operating as an open house to all Jedi and light siders, it handled itself like its own Enclave. And for those who didn’t want to be under the banner of the Silver Jedi? The Oasis awaited them, helping ferry them to their goals, and worked as a mobile base for all involved. A small fleet, and a few safe ports within the Underground network, it gave the Jedi anything they could really want.

But today? Today he had taken one of his new protoypes of the ShortFin and made a run out to Exis. He had his beloved Tachyon Rising, the YT-2000 safe on the Oasis but the new ship was something more sporty, maybe a bit of a mid-life crisis?

It was a Conclave being called. He’d hosted his own in the past, to varying degrees of success. The most recent wasn’t even a Conclave but offering Jedi a place to air out grievances about the Concord’s plan to join the Sith against the Bryn. That one helped him find his own way. But he knew that this one, this Conclave of Enclaves, would be very important.

It was an ancient idea, depending on Enclaves and their general understanding that they’re all Jedi, but it was well worth it. The sporty vessel landed on the station as Coren found his way to where Romi was. He wore a typical spacer’s outfit, with a navy poncho over the top, two lightsabers on his hip, and his blaster notedly absent.

It was more the role of a Grandmaster for him to stand like this.

He smiled as he entered the room. "Master Jade."

Cotan Sar'andor Romi Jade

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"You know, I know I've made comments about flying too close to the sun before, Romi...but this station really takes the cake."

True to form, Cotan didn't enter with any semblance of a respectful greeting or proper decorum. No matter what role any of the three of them were fulfilling, as far as he was concerned, any emphasis on titles or bearing between them was a waste of time, energy, and wholly disingenuous, at least on his part. They were friends, not just leaders of random enclaves. Cementing his lack of reverence, he stepped in fully after Coren, clapping one hand down hard on the older man's shoulder.

"You, too? And here I thought she just missed me."

Releasing his death grip from Coren's clavicle and shoulder blade, he stepped between the pair, setting his various weapons upon the table and sitting down in a chair—only to promptly swivel it around, reclining languidly between the arms, one leg kicked up in the air with the other crossed over it. In larger groups, like he'd just dealt with on Tribunal station not long ago, he might play the role of a respectable master, turning up the diplomatic charm and Naboo culture.

Around these friends, though, he could relax away from that; now he could bring in the full Outer Rim swagger, with the rakish, pirate charm he'd taken up from Zonju V, only refined through experience with Jorus Merrill and Dax Fyre. For a well-to-do Naboo kid, he'd taken well to the rim style. "I only have one condition for this," he started, pointing at Coren as the swivelling chair slowly came to a complete stop, just ever-so-slightly beyond 360 degrees.

Perfectly askew.

"He has to take a break, and doesn't get to run this talk."

Romi Jade
Coren Starchaser

 

[Romi Jade]

When the static in the room sort of nips at the back of your neck -- she pushed off the edge of the table, whipped her head around to see Coren walking in.

Her face was an indication of her warm welcomes; she couldn't cut the smile. Pacing toward him, "Coren, I've known you for years now. No need for titles and such." Stopping just near, "How're you Star-guy? & Celeste?" smirking, she playfully and lightly jab his jacket arm before she caught a silhouette in her peripheral.

"You know, I know I've made comments about flying too close to the sun before, Romi...but this station really takes the cake."

She broke out in light laughter, lurching forward before extending her arms to embrace Cotan.

"I missed you the most Cotan!" she twirled and found herself floating away with the group as they strolled into the room, under her breath: "I bet you know all about cake." A butt joke. Whether he heard it or got the reference it brought her tons of snarky joy on the inside. Well it was true! Cotan did have a nice backside... so much he in fact he had a space inst -- ahem.

Strolling past Cotan to reach her seat on the other side,

"He has to take a break, and doesn't get to run this talk."

Aha!

She casually slide in between the chair and the table, "I'll count the seconds before he takes over." She couldn't help but smile really, she missed them both so much. "Well, I called this meeting because I am really concerned," she let her arm sprawl across the surface of the table. "I have this super eerie feeling that poodoo is gonna hit the fan soon...and I don't want to wait until things get worse for us to finally have a move to make." She took a breath. "I didn't want to this to become a conversation of ideals and how we need to mends fences and regroup yadda yadda, I'd like for us to really chat and leave with some actionable next steps." -- yes! the issue of the Jedi and their status as two separate orders will always be a topic, but it was an old one; they'd had these discussions a many time before. She wasn't a fan of re-hashing convos where her points were already made.

A beat.

"But really I'm worried about the security of the Order as a whole." She glanced them over, "Master Jend-Ro Quill is now stationed at The SIS, he left Hoth because it would seem the First Order has been active in the area...and they have a history of raiding and helping destroy facilities like the one on Hoth." She looked over at Coren, "We were defending H'ratth what? Just some several odd months ago? Maybe even a year ago at this point." And they had already lost Deneba, sure building more enclaves to replace the ones they lost was fine...but the impending rise of the First Order beckons something...

"We have the Empire of course...we've always had them, but I'm really worried about the Bryn'adul. They pose a serious threat to everything, like on a genocidal level."

She took a moment, "We've known Thurion for many years now, and look at what he's had to do to defend his homeworld from them. He's been King for I don't know how long and he's never had to side with the Sith to ensure its survival...least not to the point of where it has cost him his role as a Jedi." She rolled her lips, and bit down. "I don't know if we've got the strength and numbers to fight on all of these fronts, more importantly I don't know if we've got the numbers to take on the Bryn'adul...whom I think is the greatest threat amongst them all."

---

Cotan Sar'andor
Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

“Youre not so lucky, Cotan.” Coren started as he responded back to his brother in arms. He respected the Judge as much as any Jedi, sometimes more, with how Cotan fought on the side of light without the Jedi dogma always a constant reminder of where one should be, how one should be. He envied that, but Coren thought he himself would be similar to Cotan, hunting down the darkness in the galaxy. Just with more tenacity than he displayed as of late.

“Oh no, I didn’t call this one. You saw how my last talk went, I’m not running anything anytime soon.” He had his hands up, smirking belatedly at the butt joke, just getting it. He really had been nose to the Jedi grindstone, wasn’t he? But he also sensed that Romi was concerned, and looked to her as she sat down and started speaking.

“Its us, you know we are the action team.” He laughed and then gave a motion of him being quiet. With his role as what he felt was someone who was a Warden of the Jedi, not any one particular Order, he tried to keep tabs on everything, and there were some issues that were clear and present out in the galaxy. When she mentioned the First Order, he couldn’t help but take a breath.

“Something like that, yes.” Listening, when she brought up Heavenshield, he nodded again. “It is true. The Bryn are… dangerous, if they’re making him side that way, we do have to be careful. But I don’t think the Sith are the way. We need a way to keep the Jedi from collapsing, protect younglings, and share knowledge.” His first thought was the Oasis.

Cotan Sar'andor
Romi Jade

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"They're an infection that's been allowed to fester and grow, more like."

Cotan straightened in his chair, shifting into business mode...and denying Romi a view of his cake that she liked so much. "The Sith are a cancer that never fully goes away, always recurring as time goes by; but even without them, we've had all sorts of other diseases gain a foothold within the galaxy. Rarely are they so virulent or destructive, but there've been many more than the Bryn'adul throughout history. The issue we've run into is that nobody was proactive enough in dealing with them that they've managed to wreak havoc in the Kessel sector and beyond, just like the Sith have done themselves—the main difference is that between species and ideology, but even the Sith have been willing to wipe out entire species, depopulate and destroy entire planets just to have their way." He leaned forwards, into the table, glancing between Coren and Romi.

"We've certainly got our work cut out for us, but I'm with Coren; working with the cancer to remove the plague doesn't help anything. And clearly, in this metaphor, the antibodies of the Jedi and similar groups are struggling to keep up, especially with how localized they've all become." He pointed towards his sternum with one hand. "Here, we have the New Jedi Order on Coruscant and Tython, for the Thymus. And then here—" and he moved his hand, down and to the left, just below the lung— "Are the Silver Jedi, on Commenor and Kashyyyk. The Spleen. Where are the tonsils, the lymph nodes, where's the rest of the system? Even during the old order's prime, before the Clone Wars, the Jedi weren't so concentrated in such small areas. No other time in history comes close to this madness."

He let his hand drop back to the table, fingers drumming lightly. "Imperials, First Order, Galactic Alliance, Mandalorians, they're the rest of the microbiome that can help keep other things in check, or they're medicine to add to the system, take your pick of what any of them fulfill in this idea. Any of them get out of control, or mutate just right, and they turn into another problem to deal with. Before touching any of that, though, we need a treatment plan, and the first step of that is building out the system to deliver it."

Romi Jade
Coren Starchaser

 

[Ryv]

Hours earlier...

"Hey Cotan," Ryv called out to the Je'daii at the helm. "I got a question."

"What is it, Ryv?" Cotan inquired.

"Romi's pretty hot. Think she has any younger sisters? Maybe a daughter or something?" the kiffar grinned. "Galaxy is a lonely place, my friend. All you bastards have wives and girlfriends while I'm over here struggling to find a way to spend my days off. Just isn't fair."

"You got a weird sense of humor, kid. Anyone ever tell you that?"

Ryv chuckled. "Not really, no. But if it's worth anything, I think I'm pretty damn funny."

​

Not unlike Cotan, Ryv didn't care much for tradition or decorum. Being the Sword of the Jedi was cool, but it wasn't something that elevated him above others. At least, in his mind, it didn't work that way. Some folks considered it enough reason to follow him. Others needed to see what the kiffar was capable of firsthand before taking the oath to stand beside him on the battlefield. Truth be told, Ryv preferred the latter. The idea of blindly following another due to title alone had to be the dumbest thing the Jedi thought up, after taking up swords as a means of preaching peace, anyway.

Stepping into a room full of legends felt both exhilarating and terrifying. Coren Starchaser, Cotan Sar'andor, and Romi Jade. These were the Jedi who inspired him to take up his lightsaber once again. It wasn't the likes of Master Kenobi or Master Yoda who Ryv looked to emulate when constructing the New Jedi Order. It was the three Jedi Masters a few feet away from him. Even if peace was the goal, fighting for it was never out of the question. These Jedi knew that better than anyone else in the galaxy. It was always the Jedi first to the battle and last to depart. Sacrifice the expectation. Death the likelihood. No one understood him quite like they did.

Just don't freak out, he thought to himself. You'll look like a total tool if you freak out right now. Play it cool.

Ryv nodded to the trio and took up a position on Cotan's side, opposite of Coren. Ryv slipped his hands into his pockets while listening to the three speakers. He'd already heard a lot of what they had to say. The Bryn'adul wasn't a new threat. Numerous missions beyond Concord space saw him engage their forces across several planets already. It seemed as if their time spent in obscurity, ignored almost entirely by groups like the Concord and the Confederacy, had served the lobster folk well.

He leaned back in his chair, feet kicked up on the table while listening to Cotan's metaphor. Not much room for Ryv to complain.

"I think," he'd pause momentarily to ensure no one took issue with him speaking up. "- now that the rest of the galaxy is starting to take the threat God Lobster and his army of crab men pose, this would be a good opportunity to gather as much info as possible and deliver it to the right people. Romi, you have a pretty good relationship with the Silvers, yeah? Maybe you can talk some sense into them. Anything I have to say is immediately ignored. NJO is already down to scrap the Bryn, but we're much smaller than the Silvers. Getting them involved would help immensely."

Romi Jade | Coren Starchaser | Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Romi Jade]

She melted back into her seat as the discussion went on -- they could always talk business n a less formal way.

Her hair clung to, and hung over her clavicles, she puckered her lips in digest. "I'm with you...I don't fancy collabing with the Sith either. The risk. But I do want to examine all of the cards on the table despite what my preferences are. And the reality of it is, this whole situation effects all of us..."

She glanced over at Cotan when he chimed in, in full agreement. They'd known each other on a personal level beyond their careers and sometimes it was like catching each others thoughts before they could get it; she was already on his wave. "And to that I agree wholeheartedly Cote. It's exactly why I wanted to call this meeting because we need an actual strategy to see this system through. The debate over jurisdiction, ideals, and titles has thrown us so far off our game that we've forgotten our true roles. It really bugs me. I want an actionable next step, however small or large it may be. I want to leave here with something put in motion."

Ryv was here too, and she was glad for more than one reason. One, she thought he was extremely passionate and a great leader. He could move people and that was important in every generation, Jedi or not; those were the types of people who brought about change. His future was gonna be extremely bright. Two, he was her witness....

"Yeah I've just a bit of sway but not nearly enough to prompt their Assembly to action. They have to want to...and see a way to."

A beat.

"And I may have a way...I think. I took a trip to Prosperity recently, Ryv and Loske Treicolt let me see some Bryn bodies in the morgue. I was looking for some sort of insight into how they think, commune, the works...I used the Crown of Verity to tap into the emotional echoes the bodies left behind at death. And...I saw a stone? Whatever it was, it was something they were connected to. Like, connected through metaphysical means...I believe it's somehow connected to all of them, mentally."

She inhaled while leaning forward in her seat and uncrossing her legs, "My theory is...this stone could allow us to get inside their heads and learn their tactics, weaknesses, and maybe even influence them, all. On a larger scale." She scanned the room. "Master Jend-Ro Quill and I tossed around many different theories as to what this could mean...We both believe its essential to how they operate. There was some correlation between strange gems found on fallen Bryn bodies upon inspection and this. Quill believed if this stone is imbued with the Force perhaps a large enough Force disruption of some kind could render the effects of their weapons useles--kark it i'll just share the memories with you so you can see for yourself."

She went silent and fell back. While she was still hesitant in her ability to recall, it was for this very reason that Quill imparted this technique to her. She started to funnel her energy through the empyreal waves permeating between them. She connected to Coren and Cotan before via melds and found merging their minds when permitted to be easier each time. Ryv was new to the melding group, but she didn't intend on invading his mind. She just needed them to see things as they were with context.

She needed the facts.

Memories:
Black Nest -
X - X

Counterpoint -
X - X - X

"I just imagine how valuable this information would be for the major government in their fight against the Bryn. It just has to be proven first. I'm proposing to put together a small strike team to retrieve a larger portion of this stone...or just several smaller ones." She glanced over at Ryv, "We also need memories...any memories you and any others would be able to share from encountering them. It may be enough to convince the Silvers, and help put us on that path towards of figuring out what a greater system could look like?"

One issue at a time.

----

Coren Starchaser
Cotan Sar'andor
Ryv

 

[Romi Jade]

Ignore - idk how I double posted but I was sleepy when I wrote this lol