Private Lost Sheep

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Coren Starchaser, Cotan Sar'andor to Coren Starchaser, please pick up, over," Cotan muttered into a small commlink, tossing an imagecaster keyed to the commlink on the desk in front of him. It was a secret well-kept from the rest of the galaxy, that the pair had happened to find a set of the nearly-millennium old communication devices, repairing them and keying them to a single shared frequency. A few years before, it was a great way to make sure they could always immediately get in touch with each other if any other galaxy-ending crisis looked like it was about to spring out of the woodwork. Thankfully, the both of them had since been able to relax on their personal vigils over the galaxy, and now the rarely-used devices generally just took up space.

Until one of them decided they had something important enough they needed to get ahold of the other immediately. For the two of them, that had just as easily and as often been a particularly funny joke as it was some sort of important news. Sometimes it was restaurant recommendations in case the other should ever end up on a particular world.

Today...

"Sar'andor to Starchaser, please respond," he drawled into the commlink, lazily reclining in his hoverchair. He wasn't even sure where Prosperity was heading at this point, and as much as he wanted to run off back to his own ship, both Asmundr and Asha had seen fit to make him stay amongst the rest of the Jedi for at least the first few weeks of his recuperation after Tython. Likely they both thought he'd end up hurting himself if he didn't have the near-constant supervision.

They were probably right, but it was all terribly boring.

"Bloody hell, Coren, what are you doing right now? Normally you pick up faster than this!"

Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Tython was a trip. It was a difficult war zone. Coren and his team had barely scraped by, almost costing Midvinter their king, and the Jedi a high ranking Guardian. There were other cells of Jedi, or even whole damned wings of Orders that did not fair so lucky. Coren himself, now a Wayseeker, and am attempted part of every Order, felt the loss of Jedi the galaxy over. It was his goal to unite the Jedi, and keep the flame burning. That was his personal vigil now.

From the Sentinel of Sullust to the Galactic Wayseeker, Coren Starchaser had seen it all. But while he went through these metamorphoses, there were constants in his life. Working with the Underground, which had gone way underground, connections to his family in the Force, including Zark San Tekka and Julius Sedaire , protecting his blood family, and carrying a communicator for several of those he met.

And that was why it wasn't a surprise when he heard the communicator trill from Cotan Sar'andor . His droid, Porter was trilling outside the refresher. "Yeah, I'm coming, Porter." He called as he turned off the sanisteam. Grabbing a towel to quickly dry off, he heard what it was, and knew who it was. Hopefully Cotan hadn't run off into a new war zone already.

Coren was aboard one of the covert Cipaclti cruiser known as the Runaround. The ship was in hyperspace escorting a Pathfinder full of ExplorCorps Jedi, and some Underground troops through the space owned by the Maw. The ship would be designed to provide Jedi and Alliance brass with information on the enemy.

Stepping into his office, a navy cloak thrown over the wet clothes he now had.

"Cotan, sorry about that. Caught me at the inopportune time. Please tell me you didn't just go find us a war zone… Or are you chomping on the bit and need someone to pull you out of the Jedi hands?" Coren offered a laugh as he sat at his desk, looking at the image of his brother.

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Well, I wouldn't mind having someone to convince all these Jedi to let me get on my own ship and go back home, but Asha's decided she supports their decision to keep me here while I heal," Cotan replied, with a small shrug. "At least the food is decent, better than what they used to serve us in the temple on Coruscant." Not that it was inherently bad, but the meals had never been very inspiring either. It was much nicer when it was him and Asha just cooking for themselves.

Just a few weeks, Cotan, then they'll let you away, it'll be fine, you can last that long.

Maybe.

"No, I've got something else I need to tell you about, that I meant to get to after that meeting we had on my station. We've got a lost Jedi from the Silvers on my station, and he..." Cotan stopped, contemplating how to to most nicely put what he was about to say. The kid himself wasn't exactly stupid or anything like that, although he certainly seemed to be very good at keeping his head completely empty all the time. It had more to do with what he could-or-couldn't manage.

"I think he needs some specialized help. Training that the rest of the Silvers can't give him. There's something off about him—it's clear that the Force is with him, but between myself, Rhia, and from what he was saying, the training he did get with the Silvers before ending up down in my part of the galaxy, he's like the old Halcyon-Horn family but even more limited than they were. It's given him one hell of a road block, I think, because he still has yet to really get any sense of what the Force is, its actual existence, any of that."

Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

"Convincing Jedi is something I've been able to do in the past…But convicing Asha? I could send you to Celeste, she may have a better chance, but…" He laughed and ran a hand through his hair. When the lady of the pair stepped in for the situation, that tended to be in the best interest of the other. Especially if the other was anything like Team Same Name where running off to save the galaxy was kind of part of what they did. Even for a Je'daii, Cotan had his strong moral sense and the man did a feth ton at the battle of Tython.

"Could always get you transferred to Kattada. Work on a tan and fish while you recover." He offered, idly. Serious, but idly. The New Jedi Order was a great place for him at the moment. Silvers too, but Coren was between Orders, as he had been for many a year now. But as Cotan continued, the Jedi Master looked on. A Jedi from the Silvers on the station.

Listening to the plight of this other Jedi, Coren was nodding. Specialized training. And some issues. Well, he knew about that. Starchasers had a weird connection that his kids were working on find out for themselves. If they were fully aligned to the Light, they were better at using the Force. If they strayed, or Force-forbid, went dark, well, it messed them over aside from some very specific powers. Jared was working on finding ways to expand his own knowledge, all the while Coren was searching for more history on the Light side.

"Whats the student's name?"

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Take me to Kattada and I might just swipe some of your students," Cotan sarcastically warned. While that possibility itself was actually fairly low, given that he wasn't the type to try and take Jedi apprentices and convert them, he wasn't really the type to enjoy beaches and tropical islands either. He'd be more comfortable somewhere like Naboo's lake country, or in similar locations on planets like Chandrila and Bellassa. The thought gave him more places to consider after the wedding, at least.

"His name is Marus Saretti. About my height, hair's a bit more reddish, he has a permanently empty-headed look to his eyes. Hard to miss him, really, just look for wherever you can feel an empty space completely devoid of any detectable thought, and it's either him or a droid." Now that might have come out a bit too rude, but it wasn't inaccurate.

"Really, I wish I was kidding, but that's what it's like being around him sometimes...and I don't have the time to train him, and he doesn't know enough yet to even think about deciding if he wants to lean towards the Jedi or the Je'daii anyways. He needs someone a little more used to odd cases like his than I am."

Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

"The students here are all about learning and expanding their horizons." Quite literally, being the hub for the ExplorCorps. The Sentinel of Sullust had changed his magma cells in for datacrons and hyperdrives. "They're eager to master the Force however it presents to them. Back to Master Rhen's teachings of not-strictly-Jedi schooling." Master Omai Rhen had run the New Jedi Order based out of Sullust. As long as they weren't purely dark sided, they worked for that Order. And Starchaser was seeing the light, as it were, of that again.

Marus Sarettii… Coren felt he recognized the name. "Wasn't he with the Silvers months back. Wait… are you joking about kidnapping padawans?" With Cotan, it could really be either or. "How'd he get out there?"

Odd cases, so Cotan came here. "And what makes you think I'd be any better? I mean I have been studying more than fighting…" And expanding his knowledge from all corners of the galaxy. Chasing the Skywalker paths, really. "How are you going to get him here, or do I need to do a pick up?"

Cotan Sar'andor

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Well, it seems him and my former apprentice—I don't know if you'd remember Rhia at all—became good friends."

Understatement, and leaving out quite a few other details...but it would be enough for Coren to piece together why Marus had arrived at Tribunal station. "After he was involved in a fight against the Maw on Csaus. No clue just what transpired for him to end up there, something about trying to get information on a smuggling ring that turned out to be slavers. Typical young Padawan stuff, you know how it is. Always getting in trouble without a master around."

Not that that had ever happened to either Cotan or Coren, of course.

"Coren, you've got the teacher's mindset down better than I do, and you're a bit more used to strange, unique things like his case than I am, if what I remember of your kids or anything you've told me before is any indication—the best I could do is teach him how to fight and some philosophy, and I'm not about to start turning Jedi apprentices that don't even know enough to make an informed decision on whether they want to leave the Jedi or not. At the very least, it'd cause you hell having to keep Silvers off my back if I did." And, as much as messing with Coren was always a favourite way to pass the time, causing any more trouble for him with Silver Jedi leadership, after the fallout surrounding their thoughts on how to deal with the Bryn'adul problem, seemed cruel, not funny.

For now, at least. Maybe in another few years it would be something funny again. "He has his own ship, but you might be better off taking a shuttle or having one of your kids drop you off at the station, just to encourage him to actually head out again. Meeting you before he has to leave would probably work out better than sending him a message and the coordinates for Kattada and the two of us telling him he needs to go out and meet you."

Coren Starchaser