Why Must We Fight?

[Jamie Pyne]

Sullust // Morning
Temple Library

After considering her options, specifically the opportunities available to her on Sullust, Jamie decided to remain at the New Jedi Order temple if for nothing other than to study what she could of the Force. And what better place to learn in solitude than the archive? The girl had a basic understanding of the Force, and could perform a small number of things well enough to be considered dangerous. Though as far as being dangerous was concerned, if that was more to herself or to others was still up for debate. She had already not once, not twice, but three times nearly got herself and others killed, or at the very least seriously injured in trying to help. One would think she'd learn after the first near disaster, but the third time was the charm. Opting to stay on Sullust was likely the safest decision for Jamie as well as the galaxy.

At a terminal within the archive is where she sat, quietly reading through material on a subject that intrigued her: Soresu. The form of lightsaber combat that focused on sole defense. A lightsaber may have been the tool of warriors, Jedi and Sith alike, but she intended to be neither. Instead she simply wanted to be a protector, absolved of all titles and labels. A lightsaber in her hands would be used only as the tool for which she would fulfill that act. To her, all life was precious, and worth saving, even those who would do her harm. That was why her lightsaber had been constructed in the manner in which it was: to incapacitate, not kill. The weapon would be enough to injure, but not to sever limbs.

It seemed that a great many Jedi studied this particular form, and she was only skimming the surface so far. While Form II was something that was in some ways more similar to the training she'd undergone as a fencer, it was Soresu that grabbed her attention because of its' defensive posturing. Perhaps there was a way to blend both the lightsaber form and her own training methods into her own variation. Given that she would rarely resort to drawing a weapon in the first place, a form such as Makashi, specifically designed for dueling was likely unnecessary to focus on.

A number of proper students filled the archive as well, some sitting on opposite terminals quietly reading, while others sifted through materials and books on the shelves. Some were much younger than her, others much older. At least she didn't feel entirely out of place, even if she didn't quite have the same level of understanding of the Force as even a few of the younger ones. At least they wouldn't know by looking at her anyway.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela liked Libraries.

She'd always liked them, even as a little kid. Unlike her siblings Aela had never really been interested in going outside or playing in the trees, she'd always been far more interested in the world of books and what was going on inside of them. It had been a part of her so much that eventually her parents had considered it a concern, a thought that perhaps she hadn't been socializing enough. They had been right in a way of course, even now as an adult Aela had a...small amount of friends, and part of that was because she simply preferred to stick her nose in a book then sit with others in the cafeteria.

It was odd, but in truth no one judged her for it, they very well couldn't with how much she'd done for The New Jedi Order.

Or at least she thought so.

Either way Aela didn't really care. She was more then happy with her current place in the galaxy, especially since she was now taking a better roll within the SIS. That afforded her some more time to herself, more time to discover things, and to do as she pleased. That was why she was visiting Maleah next month, why she'd gone to Naboo with Adder, and why all around she was feeling just a bit better about herself lately. She smiled as she made her way through the library.

Things were looking up.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Oh gorram it! Stupid terminal! Just as the blonde clicked on the 'Submit' button for the practice exam on a set of questions regarding Soresu the screen froze, spitting out some gibberish error before crashing and starting a reboot. "Now I have to start over!" She said, mostly to herself, though likely loud enough for those nearby to hear her frustration. It wasn't intentional, more so just an involuntary reaction. A loud huff escaped her lips as she sat and waited for the HoloTerminal to restart itself.

These things are soooooo slow!

Spinning around in her chair the girl looked at a few of the others as they sat quietly reading, others pacing back and forth, likely practicing or thinking to themselves. A librarian passed by and offered the blonde a smile to which Jamie returned in kind. "Good morning" She said, offering a small waive out of respect for the older woman. Perhaps she didn't hear her though, as she continued walking, seemingly unaware of the girl.

Looking back once more at the terminal the girl gave a sigh, not wanting to redo the hours worth of work at the moment she hopped off the chair and began to walk the library. Maybe there was something else interesting to occupy her time until she had the desire to return to redo what she'd started.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

There was a small section of the library that interested her in particular today.

Work with the SIS was complicated, and although much of it was field work, Aela had found that she required a surprising amount of research for almost every single one of the missions that she took on. Unlike most SIS agents Aela had quite a bit of autonomy, being one of the few Jedi, and the only Marshall, assigned to work with the Intelligence agency. She could pick and choose which operations she went on and inevitably ran, and for her that meant meticulously researching the subject of each mission before actually picking it.

Jacen had made fun of her for that, Adder had rolled her eyes when she'd told her about it, but it was necessary. The research would save lives down the line, something that the members of the 5th Legion had already experienced. As Aela dragged herself deeper into the SIS, the 5th Legion had come with her. Though she didn't use the entire army for obvious reasons she'd made sure that each of the soldiers received a rotation to work with the SIS, allowing them to receive further training and help the Galactic Alliance in better ways. Right now she was prepping for a mission to the tingle arm, heading towards a planet called Bastion.

A major fortress world, and one well documented through history.

The library contained more than a few articles, books, and research papers on the planet, and Aela intended to read at least half of them while she took the week long trip towards the planet. Members of the Legion were already prepping a ship, gathering supplies and pulling a small SIS team before they were set to leave a few hours from now. Aela intended to catch up to them, with plenty of reading material at the ready.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Just about every row of textbooks had an occupant with their nose buried in a book sitting in the center of the aisle reading. It seemed they had all thought of the same idea before Jamie. And now, unless she wanted to share a space with another student she would have to sit at one of the tables with whatever book she opted for. With a small grunt she plucked a book from the shelf, half ignorant as to what it actually was, and meandered her way towards one of the only empty tables before dropping herself lazily down and opening it to the first page.

Hmm.

It was a data book on Hutt space, important locations, figureheads, known syndicates and types of trade. Hutts. Jamie had never seen one in person, but she'd heard stories of their depravity, and of course, their hideous looks. It was places like this that were home to the worst of the worst. Every low-life, callous, evil doer and bounty hunter eventually found themselves in the company of a Hutt. Not even their food was good. She'd been to a Pizza Hutt once, the food was downright terrible. If anything it was an accurate resemblance to their species. But nevertheless, she was interested in reading and learning more about them. After all, there was only so much one could learn from textbooks back home. To truly learn, one must study abroad, and often.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Eventually she managed to gather up about two dozen databooks and three or four scrolls on Bastion. Two of them were just packets of Census Data, and the rest were all mythologies and cultural practices of the planets. Apparently the world had been heavily Imperial for the last couple of millenia. Even while under the rule of many more...primitive galactic powers Bastion had always remained it's air of aristocracy and strength, retaining stature as one of the galaxies foremost fortress worlds.

"Alright." She said gathering it all up into her arms.

There was a ship to catch, and she couldn't make them wait too long. They wouldn't leave without her of course, couldn't actually leave without her, but she still didn't want to make them wait. A good leader inspired both hope and loyalty within their troops, and one way of inspiring loyalty was as treating someone as an equal. How did you start doing that? By being on Time.

Quickly Aela rushed through the halls of the library, heading towards the exit and quickly forging her path through a small barrier of people.

She only half focused on where she was going though, and a few seconds later she went crashing right into Jamie.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The blonde had no sooner sat down, turned over the book and opened the front cover than her whole world was flipped upside down. Or rather, she, the book, chair, and table were. Before she knew what had happened her butt was on the floor, a mess of papers falling from the air in no glamorous manner. The chair was now missing a leg somehow. There was so much to process in the next few seconds that Jamie was utterly confused. "Wha-" She started, before noting another girl flat-faced on the ground beside her.

"Are you okay?" She asked, sitting up from the floor. Her eyes passed over the rather large mess of books and papers on the floor. "You know they aren't going to take the books away right? You can read them one at a time." Jamie couldn't help but laugh, she wasn't hurt, though she couldn't say the same for the poor chair with a busted leg. "Here, let me help you pick this up." Without really waiting for a response she simply started piling the loose papers into a neat stack.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela let out a sigh.

The others would be displeased with her. She had already made them wait quite a bit with her little sidetrip to the Archives, and now she had to gather everything and bring it again. She frowned for a moment, then slowly dipped down to help Jamie gather all of the papers and datapads. A few times she considered simply going without them, but a week on board the freighter without anything to read...well that seemed like a sort of hell she couldn't really get behind.

"Thank you." She said quickly as she bunched everything up.

A brief glance up was enough to catch the girls face, though there was no recognition in her look. She tried to place the girl, but honestly there were so many Padawans on Sullust now that Aela had a hard time keeping track. It didn't help that the Marshall almost never actually got to meet any of the younglings. "What's your name?"

Aela asked as she gathered the last bit of paper.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie extended her hands towards Aela, offering the papers she had retrieved to the older girl. "Jamie, my lady." Is that proper here? Gosh, I still don't know these Jedi customs...

The woman looked rather flustered as she quickly gathered herself. "Is everything okay? You were running quite fast there to go tumbling so hard." In truth she was more worried that she may have injured herself and not yet noticed, judging by what she'd done to the table and chair alone during her race to wherever it was she was looking to go so fast. "Do you maybe need a hand carrying some of this to where it is you are going?" The blonde looked over to the book of hers she'd taken and picked it up.

"I don't exactly have a lot going on myself besides this book."

The Jedi had been kind enough to allow her visit to be extended, despite her not technically being a Padawan, or a Jedi of any real sense of the word. She had sat in a number of classes and taken part in a few demonstrations, though hadn't acquired any kind of mentor, and certainly wasn't anywhere near ready to be out on her own with the powers she could only loosely control. So reading and keeping others out of the way of her own clumsiness was the best she could do for now.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He perked an eyebrow? 'My Lady'? She supposed that was technically correct, but hardly anyone actually knew that she was royalty. Her head shook from side to side, a small smile perking at her lips. All of the Talith children were in a way, Princes and Princesses. Their grandfather had seen to that much, whether it had been wanted or not. A frown pulled her her lips for half a second as she thought of that, but it was quickly wiped away and replaced with a smile once more. "Marshall is just fine."

She paused for a moment.

"Or Master Talith." She had a lot of titles. "Or Aela."

She'd never really stood on formality, why would she start now? Quickly she nodded towards the padawan as she offered to move with Aela. The young Marshall doubted that it was really necessary, but she'd nearly killed the girl by running into her, might as well let her walk for a bit and hold a conversation. "Come on, we have to reach the hangars, people are waiting."

It was clear that Aela wasn't trying to be rude, just that she was rather rushed. She could already imagine Zven staring at her in disapproval, his one good eye following her along the edge of the hangar as she tried to sneak her way aboard. The old grizzled soldier offered a surprising amount of judgement to his commanding officer, something that annoyed Aela to no end.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Oh, I'm sorry." She still wasn't used to these strange Jedi titles, or who outranked who when it came to them.

The hierarchy was all foreign to her. "Marshall." That title seemed unbecoming to Jamie. It was neither appealing to say, nor to be thought of as one. It just didn't hold any beauty to her, but then again, she could hardly think of anything better to call what essentially amounted to a soldier wielding the galaxy's most feared Force. Aela might have been A master, but she wasn't her master, so to Jamie that also felt strangely inappropriate as well.

There was hardly any time for a debate on the subject though, as Aela promptly beckoned the younger girl to come along to the hangar. "Okay." She said plainly. "Where is it that you're going exactly?" Was that an appropriate question to ask a Marshall? Were their duties secretive? Gosh, there was so much she didn't know, so much that may have been common sense to those who called this place their home. "Who exactly is waiting anyway?" To Jamie, she felt like an outcast of climactic proportions. The girl clung to her book as Aela speed walked her way to the hangar with Jamie following closely behind, unsure of what exactly she was doing.

"I apologize. I'm not entirely familiar with this place yet."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"That's alright." Aela said pointing towards one of the hallways that was coming up. The path would lead them around the outskirts of the temple which would allow them to cut through the residential halls and get to the hangar more quickly. She shuffled along for a few moments, giving a hard stare to some of the Knights that passed by. Most of them were supposed to be training, so seeing them in the halls was something she rather frowned upon.

"My team is waiting for me." She explained as they moved through the hall. "Members of the 5th Legion."

Specially selected by her for this mission. One of them was from Bastion. He'd been born and raised there, though had eventually been relocated to Coruscant when the Primeval had taken the world as their capital. That was some years ago of course, but his knowledge would still be valuable. "I can't tell you where we're going."

For a moment she stopped, then frowned.

"Whose your Master?" The question hadn't come to her earlier for some reason. "Presumably you're not just running around here."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I see." That was more or less a response to just about everything Aela had just said. It wasn't as if she was going to question the Jedi Master about where she was going on this secret mission with what sounded like an army. She'd never heard of the 5th Legion, more than likely because she was still rather unacquainted with Sullust, its' structure, and its' people. But as they made their way towards the hangar that supposedly this military group was waiting on her, a question was posed that she didn't quite have an answer for, however was immediately followed by an even more surprisingly awkward question for Jamie to answer to the Marshall.

"I...Well..." The blonde sighed, her head turning momentarily to look towards Aela with a mixture of embarrassment and nervousness.

"I don't have one. At least, not here anyway." One hand held onto the book she was carrying while the other ran along the back of her neck anxiously. "I had one, for a time, away from here. But, its' been a while now, so I guess I am sort of alone in this whole thing. The others were kind enough to let me stick around for a bit and do some research, but, short of that, I don't really know."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Oh." Aela said a little more quietly. She felt a bit of pity for the girl.

The young Marshall hadn't ever had a Master either, not really. Her family had trained her. Of course that was in some ways better, but it also meant that she didn't quite have the mentor bond with anyone. The closest she had to that was her Grandmother, a fierce woman that most thought terrifying. Even then however she had always taken more to Maleah then to Aela. She wasn't jealous of course, Maleah was simply a better fit. Still, a part of her had always wanted what other Padawans had had.

"So you're just hanging around?" She asked quietly. "Wait, are you even a part of the New Jedi Order?"

It didn't really matter if she was or not, there was no prejudice in Aela's tone, just a simple question. "Research is fine and all, but eventually you have to put things into practice."

The words were really rather ironic coming from her.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie shook her head, "No. I'm not. I don't know if I am the type to commit to a particular cause and follow some kind of code." The girl wasn't exactly cut out to be some kind of soldier or anything like that. She hadn't had dreams of becoming some kind of galactic freedom fighter, or whatever it was that the Jedi did with all of their time. "I just want to do what I can with what I have to protect my home."

Perhaps that was one reason in particular that no other Jedi had sought much more than passing conversation with her, but she wouldn't lie about what she wanted. The galaxy was a big place. There would always be conflict, war, and nefarious people to do evil things. There weren't enough eyes in space to right every wrong. What she wanted was to be the eyes of Naboo, that was all.

"I do want to learn what I can, but I want to do it in a way that doesn't take more lives."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

More lives? Had she killed people? Aela frowned for a moment. She wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. The Marshall herself had never killed a single person. She'd been with the Alliance throughout the War Against the One Sith of course, she'd seen her soldiers kill and she'd seen other Jedi do so, but Aela never had. She always moved to make every blow non-lethal. Cutting only towards limbs, slicing blasters apart, using the force to incapacitate. She was always subtle, smooth.

She didn't need to kill.

"You don't need to take lives to train yourself." She finally decided to point out the obvious, or at least the obvious to her. "I've never killed a single person, neither has my mother. She was the one that taught me life was sacred, that it should be preserved, not taken. Even if it's the life of a Sith."

The Marshall frowned for a moment. "Death isn't necessary."

Death was easy. Killing was easy. A child with a blaster could kill, and the sad thing was, they did.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie shook her head, "No, no, you misunderstand my intention." She smiled, picking up the pace a bit as Aela had begun walking slightly faster. "I just mean that it's common knowledge that the Sith and Jedi have been at odds with one another for millennia. It's not as if hundreds of thousands, or even millions of lives haven't been lost in the power struggle between the two sides of the Force."

That was a mouthful!

"I just mean that I don't wish to continue that cycle."

Though what Aela had said did help alleviate a bit of her overall concern. "Though if what you're saying is true than maybe it's not impossible. I'm just nervous about accidentally hurting someone. I've been in a bit of a bind a few times and things just, well, happened out of fear or anxiousness." She held up her hand to prevent Aela from giving her a worried look. "I didn't kill anyone, but I didn't make the situation better either. It was like a panic reflex or something. I just want to learn how to control myself so that I don't put anyone in danger and actually be of help when I need to."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She frowned for a moment, remembering the words of her father when she had made this exact same point. Aela had been afraid of the darkside at one point, mainly because of the history of her family, and the current way that her family used...all aspects of the force. She frowned for a moment, chewing the inside of her lips before responding. "Unfortunately..."

Aela began slowly, recalling the words of her faster.

"That cycle isn't easily broken...if at all." She slowed down again, thinking this was too important a conversation to rush. "The Force isn't exactly gray, it's pretty much black and white. Sure people fall on the spectrum somewhat...but in the end there's two facts about the Force, there's the lightside and the darkside. The Darkside is power, it's an unspeakable force that can at best be guided, never controlled. It's like...like a raging river. Sure, you can control that river, you can even harness it for good by building a dam, but eventually...eventually the dam will break, and the river will flood and destroy everything below worse then it could have before."

Perhaps not the best explanation, but the only one she could think of for now. "Unfortunately, there will always be people who will want to build that damn anyway because of the short term benefits."

Did that make any sense? She'd never been a great teacher.

"That's why Jedi teach the calmer aspects of the force, the controlled ones. Peace and serenity." She nodded to herself, perhaps she wasn't half bad at this. "Instead of building a dam...we build a water wheel."

Would someone like Jamie even know what a Water Wheel was? What a dam was? They weren't exactly common technologies anymore. She frowned for a moment and then quickly shook her head, deciding that either she would get it or she wouldn't. "I can do that for you, if you like."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The unbroken cycle of light versus dark was a truth that was easily perceivable through the scores of books and archives the blonde had gone through over the years of learning back on Naboo, as well as more recently on both Cartao and Sullust. Though Jamie still had such a hard time wrapping her head around this hard and fast rule that the light is always good and pure and that the dark was always corrupt and evil. Such polar opposites were difficult to comprehend when it came to a person's choice to be moral or immoral, how could one ever allow themselves to be truly taken by darkness and evil unless it was what they truly willed? It was no use though, none of the Jedi seemed to really understand her stance, given that they had all more or less repeated the same answer to her thus far. Perhaps one day she could study the effects of both light and dark, or see for herself what was so fearful of the darkness.

"I see." She said, giving a slight nod of the head to acknowledge.

The two came to a large durasteel doorway that would open up to the massive external hangar, likely where Aela's group was waiting, somewhere in the swath of ships docked. It was hard to tell which they were, given the traffic throughout the area. It was like a small ocean of people bustling about, each with their own purpose, though functioning as a whole.

"You'd....Do that? Really? For me? Why?"

She was genuinely surprised that this woman would waste her time with someone who hadn't even been initiated into the Order, let alone have any practical skill with either a lightsaber or the Force.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She shrugged. "I wasn't exactly trained inside of the Order."

Not at all actually.

"My mother is a Jedi Master." One of the more famed ones in the Galaxy actually, though in recent years some of that fame had gone away. Kira had never really bothered or cared for it, so it didn't really matter, but when Aela's father had become a Senator they had returned somewhat to the limelight, not that it mattered much. "But my dad...he never really liked the Order, still doesn't. He thinks very differently about the force and I was taught to look at it from different perspectives."

A lot of them in fact.

Her mother, her father, her uncle, her aunt, her grandmother...well pretty much every family member that Aela had looked at the force in a completely different way. Even her sister, Maleah, had her own unique on the way the force operated and acted. It was all very different, and ultimately Aela had settled on her own thoughts on the matter. "I think it's only fair I offer those thoughts to someone else."