Private Whistle While you Work

[Jax Thio]

Location: Terminus
Equipment: Work Clothes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Kristyl Arenais

Jax walked with his coworkers hydrospanner in hand and began to get to work in repairing an old starfighter that looked like it was from the Eternal Empire. Jax wasn't entirely sure considering his boss would never let them look over the entire schematics. It's probably a stolen model but Jax didn't care, he just needed the credits to finally get out of Terminus. By his estimation, Jax had 10 weeks of work to go before he finally had the credits. Might as well hunker down and get to work.

It had been a long time since Jax and Dreidi Xeraic had ended up in Dagobah and now the two are scrambling to get back to the Core Worlds. The ship they found on the Swamp planet only had enough power for one jump and the nearest that Jax found was in the Hydian Way trillions of miles away from Galactic Alliance territory. The only planet that contained "civilization" was in Terminus. Jax never been to Terminus but it was a planet that was highly trafficked due to the many Smugglers and corporates looking to make a quick buck.

As soon as Jax landed, the ship he was on shut down with the hyperdrive damaged and multiple parts needed to be replaced. It'll cost Jax a lot of credits to get off Terminus and get to the Outer Rim. Jax found some work as a repairman for incoming Starfighters, his boss is a Munn named Claik Fib. Jax heard of the Munn, he was once a lauded banker before he got bought by numerous scandals relating to embezzlement and investment fraud. Now Claik works in the fringes of the Galaxy and he wasn't happy based on how much he treated Jax and his coworkers like chit. At least he paid well.

"Damn!" Jax fumbled his hydrospanner and it fell onto the floor with a small clang. Frowning Jax stared at the tool wondering if maybe he could actually use the Force this time. Being disconnected from the Force felt like a piece of his soul was forced out of him. To not be able to feel the living Force, to embrace the harmony and chaos of life was agonizing it was like an itch that couldn't be scratched.

"Come on," Jax muttered reaching out trying to will the hydrospanner back to his hand. "I know the Force is with me......"

 

[Kristyl Arenais]

KRISTYL VAASHE-ARENAIS​

---

Location: Terminus.
Apparel: Knights Obsidian Leathers.
Inventory: Lightsaber.
Starfighter: REG-870 Golden Eagle.

---

Since the collapse of Confederate Space and the move to the Shiraya Expanse, Kristyl had been forced to grow up rather quickly. In the invasion that saw her homeworld of Naboo burn years ago, she had lost friends and, for the first time, been introduced to the devastation of the warfront. Then they had arrived upon the cusp of a wild and largely unexplored system playing host to a new foe that threatened the newly formed Asendency's survival and freshly established way of life.

Kristyl had stepped foot on worlds vastly unknown to the navigational charts on any core world, a system that fell under the unknown regions and successfully lived up to the name. She had become an adventurer, an explorer of foreign lands, encountering new and dangerous wilds and fighting to retain a sense of who she was, all the while throughout.

Her father, Caedyn Arenais, lived and served with the Jedi in the Core Worlds, and there was contact via the holo-net perhaps once or twice a month, but they didn't hold much of a relationship these days. Kristyl had come into her own, and her father was always so busied with his duties as a Jedi and the wars that always seemed to be waged when she tried to reach out to him.

Her mother, on the other hand, Kristyl, wasn't quite sure what Asaraa's job description was these days. Asaraa Vaashe had been a well-educated teacher at the Knights Obsidian Academy when Kristyl was younger. She was active in her duty to the Confederacy of Independent Systems in much the same way as her Father was the Jedi. Kris had come to believe that theirs was a family of sacrifice and service to others, and that's how she justified the distance between herself and her parents.

Today was not about family but rather a day for herself. She had come to the Terminus System to seek new parts for her Starfighter. The REG-870 was a fighter primarily used by the Regnum Star Legion of the Ascendency. However, she had "borrowed" one in the bid to get some time off on her own, to explore more of the Galaxy, and just be able to think for herself without worrying about responsibilities and obligations. Sure, it was selfish, but she felt the years had taken much from her, so she deserved the chance to be herself again. The only issue was that she eventually ran into pirates who had sought to take her fighter, so a fight ensued, and thus her ship was damaged. She'd fared better than they had, but she still had to explain herself when she'd get back home, and so repairing the vessel herself, she figured, would take some of the bite out of her superiors in the Medjai Order.

It just so happened that her big sister Dreidi Xeraic had found work in such a place, so Kris figured it would be much easier to bribe her Sister for her silence rather than answering her Mom or someone else in charge. As her vessel landed on the outskirts of the mechanics' yard, she hoped to see Dreidi walking out to meet her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Jax Thio

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Terminus
Equipment: Work Clothes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Kristyl Arenais

The Hydrospanner remained still there wasn't even a wiggle when Jax reached out to it. Jax closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Focus," he whispered. "Focus....."

He strained his arm trying to connect to the Force but instead of feeling the harmony and chaos of the Force swarming around him, Jax felt...... nothing. He heard nothing only the chatter amongst his co-workers while the repaired the ship, he felt nothing only the cold void in his stomach as Jax came to the startling yet very real revelation that he'd been denying for a long time. The Force had left him.

"I've made a mistake," Jax whispered tears starting to sting his eyes, his arm still reaching out. "Just one mistake and you choose leave me?"

Jax remained silent, that was a lie he made a myriad of mistakes that lead to Jax falling to the Dark Side. He didn't listen to Dreidi, he didn't listen to family, he didn't listen to his inner doubts and now the Force had abandoned him. "I'm sorry," Jax said not noticing a young woman was approaching him.

 

[Kristyl Arenais]

Wandering through the yard, Kristyl glanced at each of the mechanics and engineers as she headed toward the shop. Truth be told, she didn't know a great deal about upgrading or repairing fighters at all. That's what guys like these were for. Still, she needed to cover up the run-in she'd had with those pirates trying to take from her what technically wasn't hers in the first place.

Nonetheless, she walked into the shop and found another guy standing near the hull of a vessel, apparently trying to work on it while also talking to himself quietly. "Hey guy" she called to him from the door, "I've got a Reg-87 out back. Looking to get some repairs done. You guys got room for one more?" she asked while looking around the shop on her way towards where Jax Thio was stood.

The shop looked like your typical repair place. Scrap parts all over the place, shelves with stock, some of which seemed scarce but otherwise all of it looking grubby and dark. Kristyl wasn't by any means a 'Princess' but she certainly hadn't a lot of experience when it came to working on craft of any kind.

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Terminus
Equipment: Work Clothes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Kristyl Arenais

"Y-yeah," Jax said sighing heavily grabbing the Hydrospanner that was on the floor. "I'll get to it." The Jedi turned around to see who the client was only to look at her in shock.

"Wait a minute?" Jax muttered walking alongside the girl. "I recognize you..... are you Kristyl by any chance? I'm.... an acquaintance of Dreidi Xeraic she speaks fondly of you."

At this point, it'll be a mistake to mention Dreidi as Jax's stepdaughter. She still hated Jax for not only giving into the Dark Side but leaving her at the mercy of his father. "There's nothing Dreidi said that I haven't said to myself," Jax thought trying again to reach out to the Force but to no avail. "What matters now is that I need to find my way back to the Core Worlds and regain my Force abilities."

It was tough to get any news due to Terminus being located in so far in the Outer Rim. Jax only heard snippets from travelling Smugglers about the Galactic Alliance holding elections over the Supreme Chancellor. Intriguing, hopefully it'll be a person who could pull the Alliance out of future wars after the Brotherhood has been dealt with. "Name is Jax, a weary exile trying to make his way back home."

 

[Kristyl Arenais]

"Ah, yeah. She's kinda my Sister" Kristyl replied absently as she looked around the workstation, eying various parts for starships and other miscellaneous vehicles. Her relationship with Dreidi Xeraic was a little complicated. She wasn't Kristyl's real Sister and wasn't her Aunty but both at the same time. Kristyl's Mom Asaraa Vaashe trained Dreidi, and so Dreidi had become family to Kris. She didn't quite understand the relationship dynamics of it all but also tried not to put a lot of thought into it. Dreidi was awesome and Kris felt lucky to have her in her life, a big-sister figure to look up to.

"I didn't know she talked about me" Kris added, glancing back over at Jax Thio suddenly wondering how much the man had been told. Kristyl had a habit of getting herself into mischievous situations, and not always by accident. She was an adventurer at heart and loved to explore. The more dangerous adventures, the more appealing to her sense of adventure.

"How long have you guys been working here?" She soon asked, turning her attention back to the stocked metal shelves. The place really was a mess, but it was definitely her kind of a mess. Kristyl wasn't a princess by any means. "We don't talk often but I needed to make an emergency pitstop and I figured she could help me out...-Hopefully" she smirked a little as she laid down the last word with a little wishful thinking.

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Terminus
Equipment: Work Clothes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Kristyl Arenais

" Dreidi Xeraic hardly talks about you being like a sister to her." Jax said flashing the young girl a sad smile. "Hell, she hardly talks to me now and days and honestly given the chit I've pulled, I don't blame her."

Jax will have better luck pulling the ears off a Gundark than getting Dreidi to talk to him. She was furious with Jax for giving in to the Dark Side just as Dreidi started to warm up to him. "Too long," Jax said. "We need the money to get off this planet and get back home. Terminus is literally in the boarder of the Unknown Regions. I'm doubtful anyone from the Alliance knows we're here."

The Jedi approached Kristyl giving her a smile. "I can check out your ship," Jax said. "See if there's anything that needs repairing on the house of course."

The boss won't like that Jax is doing repairs for free, but he could care less with what he thought.