Private Ghostly Encounters

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Never imprisoned? Jaster Awaud was lucky. Lori had been imprisoned twice during her fight against the Empire. Yet she was either rescued or had her release negotiated. She was the Face of the Rebellion. Killing her wouldn't of done the Empire any favours. But now that seemed to not matter anymore. The Empire was willing to take the risk.

"Welcome home then."

Lori didn't allow Jaster to detangle himself from her so easily. Afterall, it wasn't her job to make things easy for him! But of course he won out and she merely grinned as he rubbed her head like he used to. It was just like the good ol' days. And those days were sorely missed. "I don't think that the Force has anything to do with it. We make our own luck. I'm not following in anyone's footsteps but my own. Mom freed slaves and ran multiple worlds. Dad fought Sith and was a Jedi Master. My brother's doing the same as him, but isn't at Master level yet, and now he's starting his own Rebellion to fight everywhere else." She was a little miffed at that. Sibling rivalry was alive with her, and her brother was always the chosen one and always was much better at everything he copied her at. And now after hanging around for a mission or two, he went off to start his own. How typical....

"I'm not like my Mom or any of them. I stepped out of their shadows to live my own life." Or so she thought. In her mind she was the weakest out of all of them by far, so she went off to do her own thing instead.

 

[Jaster Awaud]

- Jaster knew that look in her eye, it was one he was all to familiar with and often what started many of their arguments before. Kay had big shoes to fill and Veiere cast a long shadow. She came from a long line of hero's and legends, Grey Raxis, Yasha Cadera, and many others. He knew them, worshiped them for their grand and revolutionary ideas. However, Jaster was no different. The last of the direct bloodline of Mand'alor the Uniter, thousands of years of great warriors. But they were both their own people now, and they followed their own paths.

- He smiled and tapped Loreena Arenais-Valhoun on her head again but this time attempting to mess up her hair, "I said you got your mothers luck, I have never seen two people of the same bloodline get in so much trouble for stuff they didn't even do." He loved the women of House Arenais, but the Force help them not get caught up in all this trouble. "You are your own person Lori, and you have no idea how proud I am that you have made a mark on history, its amazing."

- The mandalorian laughed at the women as she thought of him as comparing her to her mother and the rest of her family. After living together for so long he new better then to start that argument where he had to apologies in the end. Women were always difficult to live with, Arenais Women, even more difficult.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori smirked as Jaster Awaud messed up her hair. She was never one to worry about her appearance back then and she wasn't that way even now.

"Thank you. It means a lot coming from you. Guess I've got you to thank for that. And people like a scapegoat, Jaster. That's for sure. Only this time, I'm the scapegoat on purpose. It's all part of this position that I took up. I'm a good escape artist though, so that could be why The Voice recruited me after Bakura. I can think well on my feet and get people to safety."

Bakura was the starting point for her, and the starting point for the Rebellion. It was a great movement that spanned many worlds. It slowed down the expansion of the Empire. And for that she was thankful.

The Empire was weaker than before, and Lori liked to think that she had a part to play in that.

"You know the trade routes very well, both old and new. At some points I might need ways for myself and the Rebels to sneek into and out of the Empire's territory. Care to show me the way?" Kill/capture order or no, there was bound to be times when she needed to be there in the hornet's nest. It was best to be prepared.

 

[Jaster Awaud]

- He was happy to hear that she believed in him and it honestly gave him more hope to keep fighting to protect his people. Jaster knew there was so much he still had to do.

- "Oh yes, a scapegoat for a murder that you did not commit all to keep another Imperial in power and a void within their ranks so they could gain more influence by stating they will capture the Rebel Leader who is not really a Rebel Leader." He smiled at her and nodded his head, "I helped raise a fine young women who leads one of the greatest struggles against unsurmountable odds and yet still come back with weakening her enemies, you may not be the Leader of the Rebellion but who knows what the future holds."

- Jaster lifted his cybernetic hand up to her cheek and he wished he could feel her like he could before. He had done his digging about the Rebellion, and he was able to get close to the identity of who this Voice was that recruited his niece. Oh he was an Info Broker of the highest order and yet even with his resources he could not find the final identity of the individual. He realized why the EE Intelligence Services were having such a hard time, he paid for his information, they relied on fear and threats. Though he believed he was a lot closer then them, criminals were more willing to another criminal offering credits then the law offering a fist. However, it seemed that those that knew of the Voice only ever talked remotely, never in person. He did not like trusting someone he couldnt place a face to with his niece. Her mother would come back from the dead and skin him alive.

- She moved on to another request, something he was already willing to talk about. "Yes, well I was hopping to shoot this data to the Rebels all cryptic like the Voice does, but I guess handing it over now would not hurt." He turned to Twoozer and the droid took out a datachip that was then handed to him. Jaster held it up and chuckled, "This is one of the closest guarded secretes within my company and has been 30 years in the making, the full information I am handing to you is only stored in Twoozer over there and is protected by a massive fleet and these ten supercommandos at all time." He offered it to Loreena Arenais-Valhoun and smiled. "These are all the Hyperlanes that the UTC have access too, as well as planets that are long forgotten by the rest of the galaxy, many of them have long forgotten outpost and bases that some governments may have left behind."

- The data on the ship would show a Map with Hyperlanes crisscrossing around the galaxy. There was also another piece of information that could help the Rebellion a little more. It was a space lane that lead to a planet called Iskeria and a UTC Expeditionary Outpost. "Also there is an old outpost of ours that the EE probably forgot about, it was fully stalked with base equipment the last I checked, so it should help rebuild whatever base you guys have left." He chuckled a little, "Consider it a liberated from the corperate overlords for the freedom represented by the Rebellion, cuz Ill just call it theft once its taken."

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori wasn't quite sure if Jaster Awaud was making fun of her or not, for taking responsibility publically for something that she didn't do. She had done so in a bid to maybe help strengthen the support and memberbase of the Eclipse Rebellion. But if in doing so she was only strengthening the new Empress....

She was a pawn and she knew it. Not just for the Rebels but for the Eternal Empire as well. Each used her for their own propaganda. But at least with the Rebels she could help control the narrative.

Lori leaned her head against his hand, half closing her eyes. It was amazing to be with him again. And before when it seemed as though he'd be against what she was doing, he was now helping her out. And she couldn't be even more glad.

She smiled as he began about the hyperlanes, and even moreso about forgotten planets and bases therein. Lori took the datachip in hand. "Thank you. I'll have Arla watch over it. She'll keep it safe. And I'll check them all over personally before I let the Rebels in on any of it. I have to be sure that the Empire doesn't know of any of it before we start to take advantage of it.

Although Caedyn and I had attempted to see if the forest moon of Endor would be suitable, but we had discovered slaughterhouses for Ewoks....Some company raises them for food and sells them in some fast food chains. The Empire doesn't see them as sentient beings, but as animals. I've gotta be sure that that's happening nowhere else."

 

[Jaster Awaud]

- Jaster smiled at the young women again, Loreena Arenais-Valhoun seemed to think he was so protective of that information because the EE could get it. No he was fearful that any nation could get their hands on that data. Those hyperlanes where mostly forgotten, and lightly guarded due to their lack of use. The Sith used these lanes already to invade and destroy the old GA as well as appear suddenly to siege Commoner.

- He laughed while shaking his head. "Just be sure to protect that data, they can be used against you as much as for you, just be safe with that information, its worth trillions upon trillions to the right people and we dont want it falling into the wrong hands."

- The old man knew he could trust her, but could he trust her little rebel friends, he could not tell yet. "Data has a kill code, so if I find out your rebel friends are missusing it I'll be sure it overloads any reactor its attached to and turn the surrounding area into nuclear waste." He smiled at her, "You know me, gotta have insurance for my investments."

- Lori should have known this about Jaster, even his gifts came with a price and they were hard to break free of. Jaster was still a business man, and these hyperlanes and forgotten planets were a large income for him. Any Rebel Officer could take them and turn a tidy profit for them. Those credits fed over a million employees and thousands of refugees in the Nomad Fleet. He was not ready to let others take that away from his people.

- He let out a bellowing laugh at the last comment, "Yes I tried one of those things thinking it was promotional ploy instead of the real deal," Jaster made a discusting face. "I still dont know how they make a profit from that, they aren't even that good, it was worse then the Porg Pannini I ate on Nar Shaada, and I had to down a bottle of Nar Shaadenian Moonshine to get the taste out of my mouth."

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

"It won't fall to the wrong hands. Not while it's with me anyways. And as I said, Arla will protect it." No doubt her droid bodyguard would sooner blow up than give up the information on the datachip.

She understood Jaster Awaud 's caution. Lori carried it herself. The EE had infiltrated her life before and she wasn't going to let that happen again. There was only the Voice that she counted on. Everyone else was suspect and capable of being a spy.

Lori smirked as he let her be aware that he had eaten Ewok. "Glad it was horrible. Maybe all sentients are. Still, it shouldn't be allowed. No planet or government should allow such a company to operate." The very idea of it grossed her out. Yet so did stumbling upon the processing factory first hand. Not to mention the villages where the Ewoks were taken from.

"I miss travelling with you. Care to join me on an adventure some time?"

 

[Jaster Awaud]

- Jaster smiled as she offered the banter to make fun of him for trying new food. Mandalorians were never as picky about what they ate, though some took a great pride in eating what they hunted. However, his people never devolved to eating other intelligent species. Hells, he knew some that were vegan and only ate plants like the barbarians they were.

- He nodded, "I understand the meaning of doing do if you hunted creatures on a hunt, but species that are so primitive and intelligent just leave a bad taste in my mouth." He gaged a little.

- The old man would have wanted nothing more then to release all his responsibilities and go on an adventure with his niece. However, he had people that relied on him and she was rolling around with some dangerous ideals. He could not risk it all for a family reunion that he really did need. Though there was another reason he had to continue on his own way, and that was his own job that was slowly growing cold.

- "I would love to Lori," He looked over to Loreena Arenais-Valhoun as she suggested to join her. He shook it his head though, "Someone stole my daughters lightsaber crystal from my vault after a heist, I am currently looking for them to get her belongings back." She would have felt the pain he felt and couldnt control. "I cant continue living thinking that her light is being traded around by grubby and shadowy individuals."

- He missed his adopted children, as they were the light in his life. His daughter got him thought a lot in the early days and he loved his son for his constant attempts to follow in his footsteps. However, they were both gone. Shakk killed by a Sith protecting civilians and Tydus died in the criminal underworld by someone who was taken care of. There was nothing he could do for them anymore, all he could do is keep his momentos of them around to keep him grounded. Having his daughters crystal to be taken has unleased a new kind of anger that he had never known before. It felt like the Force amplified his emotions and there was no more middle ground.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Right away she knew that Jaster Awaud was going to decline. He had that look in his eyes that she had seen many times before from both him and others.

Upon hearing his daughter's crystal being stolen, she frowned both with concern and sadness. Lori knew what that was like first hand, and she knew of his love for his fallen children. They've spoken about it at length many times.

"I had my lightsaber stolen. I don't really use it, but I made it with my Dad. So it has more sentimental value than anything else. And you know me...I like to collect things from places or people that I love. I've named my ships after you, you know. So that you'd always be flying with me..." She chewed the inside of her cheek. "Send me a copy of what it looks like, and I'll keep an eye out."

Lori had her own losses to deal with. She was left some of their belongings, but had her brother keep them for fear that her enemies would take them or destroy them. And then there was that of her husband. She was married for just a couple of months before his presumed death. Their Force bond was severed and she couldn't sense him anymore. So now she was on her own. If it weren't for the Rebellion, she'd really be lost.

"I hope you find it. And sooner rather than later."