Private First Mission: Tour Guide?

[Jasper Kai'el]

First Mission: Tour Guide?
Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Orson Velus

It was strange to be a knight now. Of course, he had never received a master, but this was a level of freedom that even he was unfamiliar with. The ability to simply go out and do Jedi things on his own terms, though he had to keep the council updated every now and then. So, what was the first monumental task given to Jasper as a Jedi Knight? Tour duty. A new padawan was to be arriving at the temple, and Jasper was tasked with giving them the tour of the building. Underwhelming perhaps, but he didn't really mind. It just meant that he could introduce himself as a Jedi Knight, which still gave him a giddy feeling, though he did his best to hide such a fact.

So, bright and early in the morning, Jasper prepared himself and set off to wait on the steps of the temple, where the new arrival was intended to meet him. The tour would, theoretically, be a standard affair. Dining, housing, study, the training and sparing halls, then off to their own devices. Of course, the standard tour was boring, and sleep inducing to those who weren't enthralled with the grandiose architecture of the temple. So, Jasper had a plan to take the tour in a direction he felt was far more interesting. All he needed to do now was wait. Eventually the padawan would arrive, and he could get through this tour as quickly and interestingly as possible so he could get back to tinkering on his ship. A quick and easy hour-long assignment to officially kick off his knight exploits.

So, he waited.

 

[Orson Velus]

Orson had never really had any expectations of leaving Atoa, his people typically stuck very much to themselves, so coming to Coruscant was quite intimidating to him. He wasn't even sure how the whole Jedi thing would work, but it was infinitely more appealing than a life of serving the church.

After a while, it was time for Orson to depart from the ship, and find his way to the temple. There were no good byes or anything, just a nod of the head and the ship set back off just as quickly as it had landed. Orson looked around confusedly for a moment, before setting off. It was early in the morning, so his approach towards the stairs were fairly uneventful, and he simply took in the sights around him. A very different planet to Atoa, and his earlier feelings of intimidating weren't settled by the sheer scale of everything around him.

Eventually, he found his way too and up the stairs towards the palace. Once he was a good way up the stairs, he finally noticed a figure that looked to be waiting at the top, so he picked up his pace before shouting out, instinctively speaking in Atoan, to the figure at the top. "Hello?"

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Orson Velus

"Hello?"

A figure was approaching now, a young teen with black hair, who addressed him in an unfamiliar tongue. It was likely Atoan, as he was, after all, waiting for an Atoan padawan. He certainly looked like the kid he was waiting for.

"Hey," Jasper greeted, offering a half-wave with his mechanical arm. "Orson, right?"

He made his way up to the young padawan, extending a hand for Orson to shake. Jasper had to at least be polite, even if he spoke in a more casual manner.

"Jasper Kai'el," he introduced. "Jedi Knight. I'm supposed to be giving you the tour of the Temple."

The kid looked a bit shaken. Jasper wasn't surprised by this. The Temple, and everything else on Coruscant for that matter, was rather imposing to newcomers. Had he not grown up on the planet, he may have found such a place just as daunting in his younger years. To that end, he knew he had to at least make this place seem more inviting, at least if he wanted the tour to not be a complete drag.

"You ready, or do you need another minute to take in the sights."

 

[Orson Velus]

Orson had realised his mistake in calling out in Atoan almost as quickly as he'd shouted. It definitely would take some adjusting so that he would speak galactic basic as his primary language.

Orson returned the wave, reaching out to shake Jaspars hand once he was close enough. "Orson, yeah. Nice to meet you." He grasped the mans hand, his handshake slightly firm, but he seemed to be quite distracted by the mans mechanical arm. It seemed rude to him to ask about it, and he had to bite back every desire to ask about the arm. He also had a slight visible reaction by the mans rank, and while he wasn't too familiar with how Jedi stuff worked, the man looked fairly young, so he was quite impressed.

"A tour would definitely be good, everything is so big around here and I think I would of just got lost in some corridor forever." He glanced back over his shoulder, and down the stairs before shaking his head. "I'm ready, I probably did enough sight seeing on the way up the stairs."

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Orson Velus

"Don't worry about the size of it all," Jasper assured. "All you need to do is focus on a few key landmarks and getting around this place is a breeze."

After some trial and error of course, but that was a given. The size was intimidating. It always was, but it became much easier to navigate when you had a few locations in the back of your head.

"We'll hit the hangar first," he explained. "That's where you'll be going between the temple and off-world assignments, so it's probably a good place to start."

That and he was the most familiar with the hangar. He basically lived there. Well, lived in a ship that sat in said hangar, but it was basically like living in the hangar. It was a good place to start, given that many Jedi spent significant time using it to head off to distant worlds. As he began to head up the rest of the steps, assuming Orson would follow, he decided it was a good time to make some small talk.

"So, how'd you end up joinin' the order?" Jasper asked, his tone remaining casual.

 

[Orson Velus]

Orson nodded along with Jasper as he spoke, following along behind him. "Sounds good." He paused to think, frowning slightly. "If I do have to go off world, do I have to get my own ship or will that all be sorted by whoever did the assignments?" He did seem to be stuck to Coruscant for the time being, he now realised, not entirely sure if there was some kind of off world taxi system or anything.

As they walked towards the hangar, Orson constantly glanced around, trying to at least loosely remember the route they were taking, or at least remember anything notable around them. "Uh, I think it's probably a very common story. Atoa is a very religious place, and my parents were worried if more people caught wind of me being force sensitive then I'd probably be forced into some service to the church or something, so I was sent here instead" He finished, his hands idly tapping against his legs as they walked.

"How'd you become a Jedi Knight? Is it just like being around a while, or did you have to do some impressive feat?"

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Orson Velus

"If I do have to go off world, do I have to get my own ship or will that all be sorted by whoever did the assignments?"

"That depends," Jasper shrugged. "If you become a pilot, you may very well receive your own X-Wing to care for. Most Jedi use GA transports though. They got a pretty efficient system to get us out to the fronts, but you'll only really be using it for smaller assignments to start with."

Jasper listened to his story. It made sense. Many religious worlds sent kids off to be Jedi for one reason or another, be it respect for the order or to keep their children out of priestly life, like Orson here. He nodded as the teen spoke, signaling his understanding. He was caught off guard by his next question, however, taking a moment to formulate his answer.

"There's a set of trials that every padawan has to complete before becoming a knight," Jasper told him. "These trials generally take time, and even when they're complete, some choose to remain padawans for a little bit longer until they feel ready. It's a slow process, but not infinite. I only finished mine recently."

They would round a corner in the large, seemingly endless halls of the temple, coming into a large room filled with ships and the clattering of machinery. The Hangar was the largest space in the temple, housing enough ships for a small fleet, and flooded with the traffic of pilots and mechanics scrambling to prepare their vessels for their next assignments.

"Well, here it is," he confirmed. "I spend a lot of time in here. That's my ship over there," he paused to point at a Corellian Freighter. "I actually live on it right now. You don't need to worry about housing. They'll have you set up in a room of your own."

 

[Orson Velus]

"If there's a chance to learn, it's probably a good skill to pick up. A personal ship also sounds quite cool."

He listened along as he spoke about GA transport, which seemed convenient enough. It did make him start to wonder about what kind of assignments he would get sent on, and who would even assign them. He began to speak up, but shut up very quickly as Jasper began to explain the knight process.

"Oh, I see. That all makes sense, except from choosing to stay as a Padawan. Not sure why you'd choose that, except from I assume added responsibilities or something?" He asked, before quickly adding. "Congratulations as well if it was recent."

Orson slowed slightly once they entered the hangar, visibly surprised by the scale. which really seemed to be an ongoing theme with this tour. It was quite the shock to his system considering his family had been fairly isolated and removed, even on Atoa. He glanced around at all the ships present, his gaze eventually settling on the Freighter. "Not too knowledgable about ships but looks like a nice ship. How come you live on a ship though, if housing is provided?"

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Orson Velus

"It all comes down to personal preference," Jasper told him when he asked why some remain padawans for longer. "Sometimes people feel that their training should be more complete. Everyone has a different experience with this stuff. You'll figure it out as you go."

Jasper certainly considered it himself, but when the time came he knew that they needed more knights out there. Of course, nobody was ever truly ready. His good friend had said it best. That was just something Orson would have to discover for himself.

"As for why I live on my ship," he continued, "Its not too complicated. It may not look it, but that ship is a mobile workshop. It gives me extra space to build that Temple housing doesn't provide."

Now, what was closest... Probably the Cantina.

"Well, unless there's anything else you wanna look at here, we can set off to the Mess Hall next."

 

[Orson Velus]

"Sort of makes sense." He nodded along with the explanation. "Probably will be more clear though once I do some actual training."

He continued to look over at Jasper's ship for a another few moments, before looking around at the rest of the hangar. As he looked at more of the ships, the idea of owning his own became more appealing, so learning to fly definitely should be something that he should look into.

"I guess you can probably have more control over the space if you own it. I don't imagine they'd want you changing provided housing too much."

Once more, Orson nodded at his words, slowly beginning to back up out of the hangar. "Yeah, I think I've saw most of this room. A mess hall is definitely worth me remembering how to find it." However unlikely and stupid the idea was, Orson was slightly worried about the idea of not being able to find food if he was hungry.

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Orson Velus

It wasn't long before they had made it to the mess hall. It was a straight shot away from the hangar, and pretty easy to find given it's size.

"Alright," Jasper nodded, "This here is the most important landmark in the Temple. Easy to find and quick to navigate from. Also it helps to know how to not starve."

Jasper spoke from personal experience there. He had once gotten lost in the temple for three days and was forced to live on a candy bar. Not fun. There was many other reasons why this place had value, but not starving was a great place to start.

"The food is pretty decent these days," he added. "They've improved since the renovations to the temple were completed. It certainly makes eating a lot easier. Uh, just make sure you avoid the fried porg burgers on Tuesdays. Those things are always overcooked."

He paused for a moment to recompose himself. He needed to get back on track.

"Right then. Any questions?"

 

[Orson Velus]

Orson continued to look around as they walked towards the mess hall, grinning as Jasper voiced his concerns. "That was what I was scared of, but yeah doesn't seem too bad to find." He had a quick look around once they entered the mess hall, looking for any kind of food that he could have a look at.

"Porg burgers? I'll try to remember to avoid those then." He nodded. It was a relief that the food generally sounded to be okay, so assuming he didn't get lost then he would eat well. It was hard to really think of any questions about a mess hall, he'd learned what foods to avoid, and how to find his way here.

"Can't think of anything, I don't think there's really much to be said about a place to eat though."

Jasper Kai'el

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Coruscant, Jedi Temple
Tags: Orson Velus

"Then I guess next is the archives," Jasper informed Orson, less enthusiastic this time around.

Jasper wasn't really the studious type. The archives had great value, sure... just as long as he wasn't the one who had to read it. Regardless, Orson would likely need to spend a good deal of time in the library. Padawan studies often required great research. It wasn't long before they had arrived, as it was a straight shot from the Cantina.

"Now, I'm not gonna hype up the archives," he shrugged. "Not really my scene, but there's a great deal of value held within it's records. All of our knowledge is stored in this place, which is really important when some 'ancient and unknown evil' decides to rear its ugly head; That's happened before, by the way. In the library no less. Still, you can find a lot in this place."

He had made use of it himself to find his 'father,' not to mention countless other things. Jasper could research. He just hated the reading part of that.

"Jedi records, historical events, force abilities, philosophy," the knight rattled out, naming just a fraction of what could be found. "You'll need a lot of it in your studies."

 

[Orson Velus]

Orson was a bit more enthusiastic about the archives, partially because he knew he'd have to spent a lot of time here and otherwise just out of curiosity. He wasn't particularly studious himself, and his scope of knowledge was certainly quite limited, but it defiantly wouldn't harm him to do more reading than he probably needed to plug those gaps in his knowledge.

"Right." He nodded along as Jasper explained. "A great evil in the library?" He grinned, trying to imagine what could possibly be so evil and great within a library.

The force abilities were especially interesting to him, and he made a note to himself that he should try and return as quickly as he could to look into those. History could probably also be quite interesting he supposed, but he wasn't entirely convinced he'd do much reading about philosophy. "Can I take stuff out and away from here or do I really need to try keep it and read it in the library?"

Jasper Kai'el