Crazy Like Me (The Galactic Alliance)

[Chevu Visz]

Chevu wasn't sure what to think of [member="Coren Starchaser"]. Starchaser didn't call himself a Jedi, and the blue eyed pilot seemed to spend more time tinkering around with starships than talking to people. But Master Oomomo insisted that Starchaser was the Force adept that would help train Chevu as preparation for the coming storm, or the reckoning as he called it. According to her Sullustan Master, it was time for the Force to be balanced, and the Mirialan was chosen as one of the many tools of the Light.

According to Master Oomomo, the root of the problem was the Sith's hold over the galaxy. The Sith snake needed to be cut off at the head, and it was people like Starchaser who would wield the machete. Sometimes, in moments of confusion or frustration, Chevu wondered if his words were the broken-Basic ramblings of a senile, old man. Of course, she would never say this out loud. She had grown attached to the Sullustan, and even loved the soft-eared, jowl-cheeked alien like a father. It was with deep frustration that she even accepted this training mission, as she would much rather be continuing her Makashi training with her Master at the temple in G'rinn Go City.

Chevu was scheduled to meet Coren Starchaser in the underground biosphere of Fulluusub which was a bit like a hippy dippy artist's colony. It was also the place where many Sullustans who failed SoroSuub's psychological screening ended up. In that vein, it was a fitting place for Chevu meet the iconoclastic Forcer. Lately it seemed like the whole galaxy had gone crazy, so why should this mission be any different?

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Right, someone was expecting lessons from Coren. He really needed to figure out his day job, didn’t he? Some days he was an instructor at the Levantines, some days he was a member of the Frontiers Corps, other days he was a member of the Underground and still more days he was working as a SpecOps Force specialist for the Alliance. All were out there, the first two being public, the latter… well you’d have to do some fishing to get that information. He was still trying to get his head wrapped around this Master Oomomo and how he knew about him.

Maybe people were watching when he was out there, fighting the good fight in the worst possible way. He needed to bring the Sith down, and the Galactic Alliance, they seemed to be the key here. Finally, the people in the galaxy he was hoping to gather, and attempted to once before, were assembling. The tides were going to be turning. The Aing-Tii made talk of it when he was out there.

Making his way to the meeting place, the Force user was a bit concerned. He was gimped for the Force, what was he supposed to teach this student? Was it more his goals, his direction? Or actual powers? Since the trip to the Aing-Tii, even those were changing, the load-out he knew was modifying. How silly was that? Losing powers because you gained new ones. He wasn’t in his armor, just his spacer gear, pistol on the hip. He was reaching out to the Force, and could feel familiar auras.

Then he saw her. Approaching, he nodded. “Chev, yeah?”

[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Rumors had reached him as of late. A new group was forming along the Rimma Trade Route. Some type of Alliance. Details had been scant thus far. Most of Judah's locations could be described as far-flung on the Rimma. Ceto itself was far off it, cutting down near the tail end of the Galaxy.


Sometimes one had to visit a situation first hand to find out the real issue. Judah was concerned there might be unsavory activity in the area. Salacia wasn't a corporation to skimp on taxes -- which any new group in the area seemed to demand almost immediately. After the Moross Crusade and their band of crazies, the farmboy just liked to keep a better eye of what was going on his own backyard. Couldn't run a business with people knockin' on your door, asking to worship one fake 'god' after another.


Sullust seemed to be as good of a starting point as any other. The planet was basically unusable on the surface. Yet with his foray into green energies and technology, a large part of him was curious if they could transform something toxic into something usable. One mans trash is anothers treasure after all.


Right now, in a transport flying low over the surface, it seemed like a whole lotta trash. Shaggy head went to look down, quickly scrolling through his comlink. [member="Danger Arceneau"] was watching his son for him. The trip was a little too dangerous for a semi-aquatic boy. He had left instructions about water and juice and the like. It didn't stop the redhead Trade Queen from making sure what was normal quite frequently. At least she was concerned. Judah had never seen a person love something quite so much than Miss Arceneau did for his boy. Grateful didn't even begin to cover his emotions on that front....


"We're going to have to find a way to stick some sensors around without getting engulfed by lava...."

 

[Chevu Visz]

"That's right, Mast..um, Coren." she returned. The Correlian did not like the title Master for some reason, but that fit his eclectic personality, of course. Starchaser was not like any other Force adept that Chevu knew. Even the sandy-haired Forcer's aura was strange, brimming with a mixture of Dark and Light. Then again, the Mirialan had spent the last year training in a three room temple training with a crazy Sullustan, so what did she really know about other Jedi?

Dressed in the brown robes of the Jedi, over a white tunic and white pants, Chevu felt extremely out of place among the Sullustan artists. Her brows were furrowed with a worry that she couldn't hide. Master Oomomo was ill and instead of looking for some kind of salve or cure, she was here in Fulluusub training with a Jedi Master-who-wasn't-really-a-Jedi-Master. It didn't seem right, but her Master had insisted upon it and above all, she would honor his wishes.

A small Sullustan drum circle appeared out of nowhere. Oblivious to the pair, the tattoo-headed aliens and began to beat out a staccato rhythm, first starting slowly and softly, then rumbling into a crescendo. Chevu had to raise her voice over the din.

"My Master says that you are skilled with a power called Force Absorb, a drain ability, but not harmful like the dark-sided version. He insisted that despite the dangers in wielding these types of powers, unorthodox methods must be turned to in this fight against the Sith. Can you teach me this ability?"

Hopefully somewhere more quiet?

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Yeah, none of that Master stuff. To military folk, he’d go by “captain” which was as formal as the man would want to be. He wasn’t part of an established Force tradition, he was a journeyman, he learned from wherever he went, his enemies, his friends, the Aing-Tii, Wardens of the Sky, and his own Dark Jedi training methods from his past. He didn’t play to the same scheme as the rest of the Force users ever did, looking instead, like the Aing-Tii did, many colors, many shades, full of nuances. He did want to see what her Master had taught her.

Probably more than he knew.

For him? It was all what was useful, and what he learned on the fly. Sure, he hunted down the Monks, but that was a very useful skill set to have. He was the type of person to wander around, learn how to interact with new peoples, understand their customs and be the cosmopolitan wanderer. But these kind of folks, vagrants for no other reason than ‘feth the man, man’ were not useful to Coren.

He blinked as he looked over at Chev, who hopefully wasn’t a chav, and shrugged. “I can show you how, it’s a matter that you need to concern yourself that you keep your heart in the right place. Silver and Republic Jedi seem to have a taboo against using the dark to fight the dark method, but who knows what the Grand Marshal will be saying.” He nodded down one of the corridor-street-things in the city.

For all that Coren preferred tropical locales, he loved himself some metro.

[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

S U L L U S T
Aurora Hawk

Awesome Playlist 1!
Come and get your Love


Six twin engines of cerulean blue would hit Sullust's arid atmo, the Aurora Hawk flying in through thick clouds of sulfur, ash, and volcanic heat. A red glow would flare over her glasteel view port, as a panning in of perspective would reveal the young blonde at the helm.

Music would prompt a faint tapping of her foot, her blonde head bobbing slightly as the upbeat song would bring forth the lip syncing.

"H-eyy.... " H-ey!, came the chorus beat. " What's the matter with your head, y-eaaah," the yoke would pull up slightly to avoid a mountain ridge. " What's the matter with your mind and your sign an-a, oh-oh-oh!"

The incognito Warden of the Sky was making her rounds down former Protectorate worlds. With the government turning back to its Private Military Company roots, the Corellian native sought fit to increase her patrols down the Mid Rim. Sullust was in between the black and a frozen grilled Nuna burrito, so the temptation of a burrito won out.

Flying low, her sensors were going crazy, and Chloe had to monitor as she sang softly to herself with an upbeat. It wasn't long however, before a beep in her sensors indicated another ship.

They were flying pretty close and low. Concern drew her brows together. Being the right helpful woman she was, a quick grab of her comm brought the black square mouthpiece to her mouth. Dialing it to an open frequency, Chloe Blake, freelancer for Omega Pyre, charter of hyperlanes, and a story teller of old of the Order of Selab sent her singsong drawled query through space.

"Khasaan'l, Unidentified vessel, this is the Aurora Hawk." she began with the traditional Old Corellian greeting," You seem to be inchin' real close to them volcanoes, you doin' alright?"

 

[Chevu Visz]

Chevu's heart? It was like a wild horse that followed no path, but galloped through the stars to the sound its own beating. Right now? Chevu's heart was with her dying Master. However, the Sullustan Jedi Master warned that the fear of loss was a path to the Dark Side, so to heed his admonishments, she buried herself in her own training. Sadly, those long days and nights, learning to swing a lightsaber and control the objects through the Force did little to help her escape the inexorable pull of his presumed fate.

"Master Oomomo's own feelings on the matter seem to be this: as long as they're not used in anger or aggression, that dark-sided powers can be harnessed to fight the Sith. However, he is a light-sided Master, so I've never touched the Dark Side yet. At least not on purpose."

There was a reason that Master Oomomo never taught her dark-sided powers. The young Mirialan's emotions were usually swimming right underneath her skin. Her anger at her kidnapping. Disgust at the Sith who had bid on her on Tattooine. Loneliness at losing her best friend, Lady Adasca. As skilled as both her blade work and telekinesis were, her emotions were still as raw as an uncut gemstone, ugly, crude and in bad need of polishing.

"How do you control your emotions, Commander Starchaser?" she asked. Perhaps it was an awkward question, but Chevu genuinely wanted to know.

Other questions lingered in her mind. How would they practice this power without Sith or Dark Jedi to battle?

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Chloe Blake"] | Siren's Song , Sullust Lava Flows



Brows knit together as he focused on trying not to crash into the mountains. Or lava. Or sulfur pits. Whatever other heaps of nasty below the hulls of the ship. Fingertips tapped against the controls as he tried to figure out exactly where to drop these sensors. Or if these sensors would even survive the drop. Or be able to collect enough information. One had to try at least. Especially with exciting new business ventures on the horizon.


Yet he jumped nearly a foot in the air when a voice came on the open comm. The Siren jerked a little with his own movements inside the cabin. His heart was racing as the sharp blue gaze immediately searched the sensors for the source of the voice. It took a moment to realize that there was another vessel near him.


"Aurora Hawk this is Siren's Song. Everything is quite fine here.....just,uh....looking to stick some sensors down. Geological survey and the like. I promise to try to stay away from the lava Aurora Hawk."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[ Glitchy double post ]

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Judah Dashiell"]

Aurora Hawk

Awesome Playlist 1!
Hooked on a Feeling


"Whoa, sure there Siren's Song?" Chloe's voice crackled through the comm. She saw how the freighter had jerked a bit, getting a bit too close to those lava pits.

The Warden would peer through her viewport, then after a moment, plop herself down on the pilots chair. Hmm... "There is quite a bit of activity down there..." it wouldn't be safe to do it alone.

"How bout I tail you? I ain't safe wandering out here alone."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Chloe Blake"] | Siren's Song



"Perfectly fine, Aurora Hawk. You just took me by surprise is all. Little focused on not dying an' all."


Judah couldn't help but chuckle to himself, enjoying his small bit of dark humor. Steadying the vessel once again, his gaze was redirected back down towards the surface. It was now or never. He let drop a sensor towards the planet's surface, using his rear-facing tractor beam. Normally it was for hauling in a starfighter but hopefully Judah had rigged it together well enough for his experiments.


Open datapad sat in the co-pilots chair, ready to collect data that should sync if the sensor worked properly.


"Speakin' of dangerous, why are you out here then Aurora Hawk?"

 

[Chloe Blake]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] | Aurora Hawk


The faint strains of the song playing on full blast in the cockpit would leak a bit every time her thumb depressed the comm switch.

I can't fight this feeling~

"Pit stop Siren's Song," Chloe chuckled out, reaching over her console to trace the wake of the freighter and ensure his safe route. A few more toggles were flicked, and she studied her sensor readouts.

....girl you just don't realize....

"And a want for frozen burritos." came the wry confession along with the impish chuckle.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Starchaser was a crappy teacher, that was the simple bit of it all. The fact that some Sullustan had entrusted his apprentice to him? That was something well beyond him. And he wasn’t one to worry about what the Force wanted, it had its flows and sometimes it just did what was needed. He didn’t care to learn. The Force moved, and he lived in it, rode its current. He was listening to the apprentice and nodding.

“Right, yeah… I mean, its all how you use something. I just simply don’t concern myself with morality when it comes to the Force. I concern myself with morality when it comes to the rest of existence. Doing things that oppress others? That’s bad. Doing things that eventually free those people? That’s good. It doesn’t matter the how it just matters your intention.” Maybe Coren Starchaser’s Center for People who Can’t Force Good and Want to Learn to Do Other Things Good Too wasn’t the best for someone who may claim they were a Jedi.

Luckily, Coren had no such delusions.

“You just need to think, and do. Know your intentions are pure, and the enemy absolutely needs to fall.” That was just how it worked. Sage Bane? He was the type to kidnap people. Coren… he rescued them, it was liberating, even if he was draining the life from that monstrocity.

Now though, he’d have a fun new set of skills and an elite unit at his back. Super.

[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Chevu Visz]

Chevu nodded in an affirmative gesture. She, like Commander Starchaser, shared a desire to free the enslaved and help those who had no defense against oppression and subjugation.

"Master Oomomo has warned me that even those with the best intentions can still be lead astray."

The Sullustan drumming was so loud, Chevu could barely hear herself think. She wrinkled her nose and flashed a glare at the leader of the Sullustan drum circle. He returned it with a cackle and began to lead his musicians into an even faster and louder beat. She pinched the bridge of her green-skinned nose, and then raised her gaze to Starchaser again.

"I was lucky," she murmured. "I was captured, taken to a slave fair, and put up for auction. I narrowly escaped being sold to the Sith. While I feel my main motivation for becoming a Jedi was to be a champion of the tyrannized, I often wonder if it's revenge I'm seeking?"

Force only knew whether or not she wasting his time with her questions. After all, the lesson wasn't a philosophical one. She began to see why Master Oomomo insisted on a new teacher for her. The young Mirialan was thirsty for different perspectives, and she'd heard all her Master's Nubisms so many times, she could mouth the words right along with him.

Chevu caressed the pommel of her lightsaber where it hung on her hip, and nervously shifted her weight. Patience wasn't her strong suit. Plus, she was eager to show Coren Starchaser what she was capable of, lest he begin to doubt her.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Starchaser-Commander was a varied person. He had training with the Warden of the Sky, and that meant he was around to free the galaxy, free the space lanes and that meant freeing oppressed people by the One Sith. They were going to go down. It was what he was build for. Coren was not pleased with the drum circle, and if he didn’t have Talith watching his every move, he’d disrupt the circle by hurling the drums across the room. He was trying to behave.

“He speaks the truth. Its not for the faint at heart.” Looking back at the drummers, he nodded. He could just stun them all and get some peace and quiet with… what, his student? Imagine that, the Prex sure as hell couldn’t. “Revenge is never bad, but you need to keep your focus, Chev.” He looked around. “There are other ways to knock the Sith down, to turn their energy against them.

“If you’re concerned where your intentions lie, it may be better to stick to the Jedi-style powers, until you’re more comfortable with yourself."

[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Chevu Visz]

There was so much Chevu wanted to learn. The storm was coming, the great reckoning, and time seemed to be moving at impossible speeds, hurtling towards the end of everything. She felt like a comet. The Mirialan would be fighting the Sith, and soon. Did she even have the luxury of sticking to light sided powers? They were harder to wield, from what Master Oomomo said, and Chevu did struggle with her lessons. Perhaps losing herself was inevitable? It wasn't as if there was much to lose anyway. She'd served others most of her life, as a handmaiden, and a slave. Almost. Now she served the Force.

Her time with the Hutt Cartel had eroded her trust in people, and as she met Coren's light blue eyes, there was an edge of apprehension. Master Oomomo spoke very highly of him, but he had touched the dark. Behind the steadfast determination was an edge that belied it. Starchaser had the look of a man who fought monsters, and vanquished them, but held onto a little piece inside.

"So how does the power work? This absorb? Can you demonstrate it for me?"

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren had some skills to teach, some he would guard fiercely unless they proved themselves worthy of those powers. That was the thing with the Starchasers, weak, until they found their skill set. It wasn’t typically in the Sith or the Jedi learning mills. He was the type who would keep the battle going, pulling energy from the enemy, and sometimes from his surroundings, so he could keep going, so he could prove to them what they were losing.

And he would slow his enemy down with stun. That beyond his Aing-Tii skills made him the master of his environment, sure, some would be able to sense worlds better than he could, or telekinetically embarrass him, but when it came to navigation and energy manipulation? He was a professional.

“I can. Its basis is in using the enemy’s skills and power against them. To give you the upper hand.”

[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Chevu Visz]

This absorb power sounded fascinating. Chevu had just spent a year practicing what some would consider to be the most basic Force powers, Telekinesis and Mind control, but she wielded them with utmost precision. With minimal concentration, Chevu could lift and manipulate some seriously heavy objects. At her most focused, she could almost throw a small speeder. For mentalism training, Master Oomomo gave her a mental maze, a small toy composed of many layers of concentric spheres. You projected yourself into it and then had to find your way out. She spent hours in the mental maze timing herself to see how fast she could make it out. There wasn't much else to do in a three room Jedi temple on Pirin, but it beat being auctioned off at a Zygerrian slave fair.

She was a decent practitioner of Makashi as well. It was quality over quantity.

Chevu shifted her weight from one foot to the other and, locking eyes with Starchaser, gave him a single nod.

"I'm ready."

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Having an apprentice, a student, someone to mold into a future leader… of what? Coren wasn’t a Jedi, he never claimed to be one, despite his father having worked within their Service Corps. No, he was something else, he was a mixture of at least four schools of thought, two shaping him to be a weapon, the other one providing him the tools he needed to become more useful. What was he supposed to pass on? Was Chev a Jedi? Her Master sounded like one.

A grin came across his face, not one that was too pleasant or either dark, just… a grin. A Coren grin. Something was on his mind. “First, we should find somewhere quiet. We will need some room to work on this.” He could still be the reason she needed to absorb something.

That much was useful and he figured Talith wouldn’t hunt him for that.

[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Chloe Blake"]


Judah stopped the Siren's Song, keeping one hand on the controls. He leaned his body over towards the co-pilots chair, looking at the readouts coming through on his datapad. He was getting some readings in already about the planetary surface. Geological surveys would have to be conducted but this would be a start. A hint of where to start.


"Frozen burritos?"


Color him curious.


"Good ones? Where? I didn't see a SpaceTrac orbiting station. Don't hold out on me Aurora Hawk."