Faction The Knighting Of Silas Westgard

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Selvaris
Objective: Wait for Master Valery
Tag: Thelma Goth / Valery Noble

In the forward operating base on Selvaris, many familiar faces were coming through. The battle was still being fought for the most part, with some bursts of explosions and blaster fire being heard in the distance. Ships constantly landed in the area from the battles that were fought off planet, something of which had been more than finished by now. All they wanted to do now was wind down and finally take a breather as they waited for pickup from the planet to finally get out of there. One of those was Silas, who was sitting on a crate in the courtyard waiting for a particular person to arrive, Master Valery.

Not long after his fight with the sith, she had contacted him to meet her at the forward operating base on Selvaris. It was strange as many of the Jedi participating in the space battle had also come here for their rest too when they easily could have flown elsewhere to do so. Either way, it didn't seem to bother Silas in the slightest. He was pleased many familiar faces had gotten through this chaos alive, even injured if necessary. Silas had been roughed up pretty badly. Cuts and bruises littered his body after the conflict, yet that was nothing the medical team on sight could fix.

With that in mind, all he could do for now was make himself comfy and sip on the caff he got from the makeshift mess area. Sooner or later, this time of peace was bound to break.​

 

[Valery Noble]

Selvaris

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Silas Westgard

"There you are," Valery said after she spotted Silas sitting inside the temporary base. Following her own clash on Selvaris, she had requested that he remained here and that other Jedi would also rendezvous at the same location. Not because she wanted to have them all depart together from there, but because she planned on something a little out of the ordinary.

Silas was ready to become a Jedi Knight.

But while that normally would have meant a ceremony at the Temple, the war had reached a stage that didn't allow them to return as often. Furthermore, this had been his last trial, and now that he succeeded in showing the Galaxy he was ready to serve as a Jedi Knight, she wanted to promote him here to remember it.

A battlefield Knight is what would follow.

"Are you holding up alright?" she then asked, before looking around to see if others were joining already. "You've come a long way, Silas. I remember our first missions together, and now you're out here doing what must be done without needing my help anymore." She chuckled at the idea and even struggled with it a little. Letting go of those closest to her had never been her strength.

"I believe you're ready for the next step."

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma was sitting nearby, wads of bloody tissue stuck up her nose. A medical droid had reset the broken cartilage so that it would heal properly, but the movement also triggered a fresh flow of blood as the wounds reopened.

Beaten up and exhausted, she really should have been resting. But she wanted to be here with Silas. The war had reached a frenzied pitch, and the movement of armies was unpredictable. He could be called away while she was asleep, leaving for another battlefield without even having a chance to say goodbye. She didn't want that to happen.

They weren't saying much, just enjoying each other's company, when Val showed up. Thelma stiffened. Master Noble's arrival usually heralded martial news or fresh orders. But Val wasn't using her Sword of the Jedi voice or wearing that hard warrior's mask her scarred features would arrange themselves in. She approached Silas as his master and friend.

The next step? Thelma blinked, looking from Val to Silas. Did that mean what she thought it did?

Silas Westgard Valery Noble​

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Selvaris
Objective: Wait for Master Valery
Tag: Thelma Goth / Valery Noble

"Ah, Master!" he said with a warm smile. Pushing himself off the crate he limped over to Valery who was in the middle of the courtyard. Coming to a halt, he briefly nodded to how he was "I've seen better days but I'll live" he replied with a sigh "I'm just happy Thelma got out of there fine too, she wasn't so lucky either" the both of them had faced a tough opponent way above their strength, getting out of it with their lives was a bigger victory than anything.

"I have master... thanks to you and Kahlil Noble I've come a long way from the kid on the farm" Silas chuckled with her and sensed a strange sadness. Not only had he come far but Valery too. Silas had been through every dark patch and positive memory in the last few years, from the loss of Kahlil all the way down to the birth of Vera. Each day she powered through and strived to give him the tools he needed to be a model Jedi like herself.

In his eyes, Valery was the strongest person he had ever met.

The thing she said next was something he wasn't expecting her to say, especially here. His eyes widened slightly as he took a few steps back, almost in shock at what it meant. All the training, bad times, and sacrifice had all come full circle in that very moment and it seemed to hit Silas's emotions like a truck "W-wait... you think so master?" he said in a quiet tone, a proud smile forming across his lips from the monumental achievement that was going to unfold.

It also wasn't just happiness going through, but sadness from the happy times he was going to leave behind. He felt the same sorrow in Valery too, one that always seemed to show when she let go of a padawan she had grown close to. Every padawan has to leave the nest sooner or later, the joy was watching them fly.

"I-I'm ready..."​

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Selvaris
Tags: Silas Westgard , Thelma Goth , Valery Noble

​

Jasper had been on Corellia when he had gotten the message from Valery. He was in the process of perusing Hutt Cartel remnants who had transitioned into the smuggling of force artifacts. It was a growing black market, and even things as simple as training lightsabers were fetching good credit. He had just finished taking out their boss and had begun restraining them for arrest. With a sigh, he turned to the local GA officer who had assisted him.

“Sorry, but I need to leave it to you from here,” Jasper relayed. “I’ve got urgent business to attend to.”

“A-are you sure, Master Jedi?” the Weequay officer stammered. “You we’re just stabbed. You should seek medical attention.”

Jasper glanced gown at his blood soaked left shoulder where the vibroblade dagger had sunk into his body. He had taken the blow for the officer, so Jasper figured the man felt guilty about it.

“No need,” Jasper assure. “I got stim packs and bacta pads. I’ll be fine.”

Was it stupid? Maybe, but there was no other time that this was ever going to happen in his life. Jasper needed to be on Selvaris. Pretty soon he had returned to the X-Wing he had borrowed from the temple (his own was undergoing repairs) and set off, tending to his wound while in hyperspace.

Jasper emerged above Selvaris to a problem. Sabotage. Apparently someone had tampered with his star fighter and it had just now begun to cause problems. An oil line to the left-top thruster had been cut and was now leaking into the exhaust. One small explosion was all he needed to hear to immediately cut the engine off from the rest of the system. He was now off balanced and coming down into the atmosphere of Selvaris hot.

“Chit chit chit chit-“ Jasper repeated to himself, scrambling to stabilize the vessel.

He wasn’t doing this the wrong way again. Not after losing his arm. The X-Wing steadied, but it ultimately hit the ground pretty hard. Jasper braced himself with his mechanical arm, but it didn’t stop his face from hitting the dashboard and splitting his lip. By the time he had climbed out of the vessel, Jasper had a black eye, bloody lip, a limp, and of corse a wrapped (clearly still bleeding) stab wound. He shuffled towards the meeting point, his silhouette appearing rather imposing on the horizon only to become rather sad and shambling. Master Noble was there, as was Thelma. Most importantly though was Silas. Jasper smiled, his mouth somewhat bloody from his split lip.

“I made it.”

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

"Uh, are you okay?"

Cora had arrived behind Jasper, having witnessed the unceremonious landing of his X-Wing as she'd been leaving one of the medical tents. Just as banged up and bruised as the rest of them, at least she wasn't actively bleeding from the face.

Balancing an ice pack on her shoulder, Cora carefully rifled through her pockets with her less injured hand and retrieved a high-quality cotton handkerchief monogrammed with her initials. She offered it to Jasper.

"You have a little...yeah." Cora winced and gestured to her own lips.

Then she noticed who'd gathered here, looking from Thelma to Silas and Master Noble—the latter two seemed to be having a serious conversation.

"Oh, what's going on?" She whispered.

Jasper Kai'el Silas Westgard Valery Noble Thelma Goth

 

[Amani Serys]

Silas Westgard | Valery Noble | Thelma Goth | Jasper Kai'el | Corazona von Ascania​

Amani's duties on Selvaris had since pulled her back behind the front lines, where her capability as a healer could be put to full use. It was always a conflicting outcome; Leaving the battlefield always felt like she was leaving people behind, but at the same time there were people already in triage that needed her help right then. Thankfully this time around, she spotted some of the troops she had been assisting prior, banged up but in one piece. It was some much needed closure.

Amani stepped out of a tent, rubbing the gauze wrapped around her left forearm. A bout of chatter from familiar voices drew her to see what was going on. It only took a quick study of Silas and Valery's interaction, before she had a suspicion. The mirialan smiled, before doing a double-take at Jasper in her peripheral, "The hell happened to you?"

 

[Valery Noble]

Selvaris

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Double-Bladed Lightsaber
Tag: Silas Westgard

"Good, I'm glad you're both alright," Valery said, her gaze briefly shifting from Silas to Thelma, to offer her a dip of her head. The two had only met fairly recently, but she was clearly very important to Silas. That alone made her important to Valery as well. Turning back to Silas, Valery smiled at the mention of being a kid on the farm. She had never seen that side of him beyond the early struggles of losing his parents, but he had changed a lot.

Everybody around her seemed to change, and sometimes she wondered if she could continue to keep up with it. But today, she didn't want to linger on those thoughts for long and focused instead on her Padawan and the next step in his journey as a Jedi. He had long proven himself to be capable, kind-hearted, and strong but it was after their recent trip to Dathomir that she realized he was no longer a Padawan.

"I do, and I know you can feel it, too," she said, her tone confident but not completely without somber undertones over having to watch him move on. "You've been an excellent Padawan, and it has been my pleasure to guide you these last few years. There is undoubtedly still much to learn, as any Jedi should always strife to improve themselves, but you are ready for the next step on that path."

She paused and glanced around for a moment, noting that several other Jedi had gathered as well. Perhaps she hadn't drawn their attention yet to what was happening here, but she was sure that would change.

"I know this isn't the hall of Knighthood, but I wanted to promote you somewhere you've helped make a difference for others. So if you're truly ready, please step in front of me and kneel."

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Selvaris
Objective: Wait for Master Valery
Tag: Thelma Goth / Valery Noble

"You've been an excellent Padawan, and it has been my pleasure to guide you these last few years. There is undoubtedly still much to learn, as any Jedi should always strife to improve themselves, but you are ready for the next step on that path."

Silas dipped his head slightly to her kind words and struggled to hold back his tears. He'd never forget what she did for him, not just as a master but as a person. That's why when this was all said and done, he'd be adamant about staying in close cabouttact with Valery. They had grown too close for their friendship to end along with his training, Silas wanted to keep Valery and the Nobles in his life going forward through being a knight and beyond.

Finally looking back up at her, he nodded slightly and gave the biggest smile he could. It truly was going to be a special knighting considering what it meant. Not many Jedi could say they were knighted on a planet they helped protect from drastic measures. Even though it wasn't the traditional way of doing the ceremony, it was still being done in front of most of his Jedi peers. Those in the outpost had already gathered but were distracted by the dramatic appearance of Jasper.

That man would do anything to reach a friend knighting on time.

Choosing to stay silent, he took a step forwards and carefully fell to one knee with a grit of his teeth. His leg still hurt, yet that wasn't going to stop him from gaining what he had worked hard for. Sometimes when times got tough he doubted his skill to become a knight, or the morality needed to be one. However, Silas always remembered how far he had come and knew a new life like this couldn't be let go. One day at a time he dragged himself through just to get to this point.

Thanks to his new family, they had given him a piece back that had gone long ago. A purpose. ​

 

[Valery Noble]

Selvaris

​

Outfit: Factory Link
Appearance: Link
Tag: Silas Westgard

Once Silas moved down to one knee, Valery froze one last time to look at him. This was it — a moment she knew would come the day she had accepted him as her Padawan, but a day that had always felt so comfortably far away at the same time. There was nothing more she hoped for any of her students than for them to reach this point in their journey, not for the title or prestige, but because it meant he had risen above all challenges.

But still, it was such a difficult moment as well.

Finally, Valery began to smile and after taking a deep breath, she began to speak, her voice calm but just a little emotional, "You've made me very proud, Silas, and there won't be a Jedi or soldier on this planet who could deny that you've earned this honor. In skill, mindset, and heart, you're every a Jedi Knight is supposed to be. "

Valery's hand now slipped down to remove the lightsaber from her belt. She ignited its violet blade, raised it high above those who had gathered, and gently lowered it to hover above his left shoulder. "By the right of the council.."

Slowly, the blade shifted to hover just above his head. "By the will of the Force.."

Finally, Valery lowered the blade again, hovering it over her now former Padawan's right shoulder. "I dub thee..."

"Knight of the New Jedi Order." ​

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma only had eyes for Silas and Valery as the latter ordered the former to kneel. This was it. Silas was being knighted. She watched the impromptu ceremony from her perch, practically vibrating with excitement.

"I dub thee... Knight of the New Jedi Order."

Thelma couldn't take it any longer. As soon as Val deactivated her blade, she leaped to her feet and pounced on Silas, throwing her arms around him. "You did it!" she exclaimed. "You're a Knight! Sir Silas Westgard!"

Only then did she notice the other people who had gathered around to witness the knighting. She smiled at them sheepishly, loosening her hold on Silas a bit, though she remained by his side as they came to congratulate him.

Silas Westgard Valery Noble Corazona von Ascania Jasper Kai'el Amani Serys

 

[Jasper Kai'el]

Selvaris
Tags: Corazona von Ascania , Amani Serys , Silas Westgard , Thelma Goth , Valery Noble

​

"Uh, are you okay?"

"The hell happened to you?"

"Nothing," Jasper dismissed. "I'm fine. Just had a rough outing on Corellia, that's all. Uh, you'll see what's going on in a second Cora..."

Sure enough, Valery drew her lightsaber, uttering the words that it seemed like had been spoken to him forever ago now. Silas Westgard, Knight of the New Jedi Order. He was one of them now. Jasper kept beaming though his swollen, bloody lip. The pain certainly wasn't going to stop him.

Jasper did laugh a little when Thelma seemed to throw all care for injury out the window as well, throwing herself onto Silas. And to think he had tried to deny that anything was happening between them when he first asked.

"I'll hug him later," the knight decided. "I probably shouldn't bleed on him and ruin the moment."

He tucked his organic hand firmly into the pocket of his flight suit.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

Cora blinked up at Jasper, then to Amani, then back to Valery and Silas. Oh, her Master's blade was drawn and Silas had dropped to one knee. Confusion crumpled her brow as they drifted closer. "Wh-"

"Oh!" Hands clasped over her mouth in surprise, Cora's eyes dawned in recognition as Silas was inducted as a Knight of the New Jedi Order. Shock dissolved into soft giggles as Thelma threw herself into the newly minted Knight's arms.

"If you don't want to bleed on him, then here." She pushed the handkerchief towards Jasper again, this time a little more insistent.

Cora had only attended knighting ceremonies at the temple. This had been sudden and unexpected, but heartwarming and just as meaningful. She could only imagine what must be running through Silas' mind.

Grinning broadly, she offered her own praise.

"Congratulations, Knight Westgard!"

Silas Westgard Valery Noble Jasper Kai'el Thelma Goth Amani Serys

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani just nodded slowly, and pulled her attention back to the man of the hour: Silas. His master went through the motions, and spoke the long-awaited words, completing his transition into Knighthood. It wasn’t the most “proper” of ceremonies given the setting, but it took nothing away from the achievement. If anything, it was a nice little morale boost.

Amani grinned as Thelma showed an uncharacteristic amount of enthusiasm for the occasion, and waited for the newly-made Knight’s friends to offer their congratulations first, before offering her own, “Well deserved, Silas. You bring honor to the title.”

Silas Westgard | Valery Noble | Thelma Goth | Jasper Kai'el | Corazona von Ascania​

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: Selvaris
Objective: Wait for Master Valery
Tag: Thelma Goth / Valery Noble

Silas knelt in front of Valery and looked up at her with beaming eyes. He was going to do his best to take in the moment, being knighted only happened once after all. Feeling the heat of the blade come close to his shoulders along with Valery's words the ceremony was all but complete. Silas wasn't a mere padawan anymore, he was a knight of the Jedi Order.

Taking a deep breath he got up to his feet and looked to say something graciously to Valery. Although, rather unexpectedly Thelma jumped into his embrace and sang his praises "Haha, thank you Thelma. I couldn't have done it without my family" he said with a smile before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. He was happy to have a girl like her at his side...

The others who had gathered also offered their congratulations two of which included Valery's newest padawan and a woman who he considered a friend. Looking to Corazona von Ascania first he gave her a respectful nod "I appreciate it, Cora. Soon enough you'll be in my shoes and going through the same thing. You have the potential to go far" he said with a smile as he turned his attention to Amani Serys "It means a lot coming from a Jedi like you Amani. I won't let you down" Silas bowed to the woman and took a step away from everyone else to finally say what he wanted.

"I-I just want to say a few things if you don't mind," he asked politely with a smile, tears filling his eyes again "During our time together we've gone through the brightest and darkest of moments, no matter what you've helped me get through them with a smile on my face. You never saw me as another padawan but as one of your own, and I can't appreciate how much that meant to me. In turn, you've made me into the person that I am today" opening his arms Silas moved forwards to wrap his arms around her for a big hug. At long last, a tear finally rolled down his cheek.

"Thank you for everything, Valery"​