Public Why No Officer, We Aren’t Supposed To Be Here (Ilum)

[Cale Gunderson]

For all he'd taught Aleks, the truth of it was that the former street rat had taught him things too, like how to discreetly leave a kyber crystal in the learner's pocket. It was pickpocketing, just in reverse, and sleight of hand happened to be something of skill of his if one rarely used. By the time Aleks found it though, he'd likely have already done something foolish, but Cale simply hoped the boy saw it for what it was, a promise of return. Cale would get back to him, one way or another, no matter what or who he had to go through.

He just hoped the kid kept his head.

The ride was, to his displeasure, decidedly uncomfortable. Every meter closer to the temple filled him with rising anxiety, a rapidly spreading dread. He'd not been to a temple, not in years, and he'd never wanted to go back. What if someone knew him after all this time? Recognized him in the force, either by who he'd been as one of them, or the enemy he'd been forced to be. Then another thought occurred to him, one that left him tinged with sadness more than fear.

What if there was no one left who remembered him? What if they were all dead and gone? He supposed that might've been more likely, any memory of his comrades had likely been erased along with all the good they'd ever done, swept away by the changing tides of the galaxy. If his gambit failed, if they saw him for who he was, there would be no one to argue that he'd ever been more than whatever had been written down in some file. Cale doubted anyone had written anything terribly kind.

"Why are you all out here now? Coruscant get sacked one too many times?" He questioned, an edge of frustration to his voice, aimed at nothing in particular. Some might've passed it off as a joke in poor tastes, but it wasn't. Cale wondered if the Order had become afraid if they'd run here to avoid an attack. It wasn't until the words had settled that he realized it might've been just the opposite, perhaps they'd shifted their base of operations to a place with less potential for collateral in an act of self-sacrificing altruism.

If that was the case, the Cale was just an ass.

"So, you on the council or just a master? A knight or a learner would've been jumpier." Small talk, he was trying small talk as they grew closer, and again letting on more than he likely should've. He didn't care, Cale had been alive half a century, he could chalk the knowledge up to frontier wisdom and call it a day, he hoped. Or, he could just lie again.

He'd probably just lie.

Valery Noble | Aleksandr Stirsea | Zev Wakeed ​

 

[Zev Wakeed]

Zev was ecstatic about everything that was happening there. He didn't know any of those people, but the very little he could pick up about the situation is there those two were sort of caught red handed, being a in a place that they probably should be. And the Jedi Master was onto them. That was so cool! He would be able to see a true Jedi Master in action.

He didn't even care that he would have to wait for her to deal with them, before talking to him. That whole message delivery crap could wait, he wanted to see some Jedi action. The younger human approached and tried something, and as he apparently failed, claimed to be joking. That did not amused the Jedi Master, it was noticeable.

As she was asking for ID cards, he decided to present his. Even if she did not requested, he wanted to show that he was interested in cohoperate with her. His ID had the regular info about him: a holo screen showing the planet he came from (Tatooine), his name (written in basic and aurek), that he was 19 years old, has knowledge and expertise in repairing starships and vehicles, was a trader back home (scraps mostly), and that he is Force Sensitive. In affiliation has clearance for Galactic Alliance – which was already obvious since he approached her with a message from the Faction.

Whe Aleksandr asked if he was friends with Valery, Zev immediately turned to him and said:
- Ibana, we friends. Mikee going Yua Ibee Ja'bo'ba someday.
(Yes, we friends. Me going to be Jedi someday.)

The way he speaks is a little broken. He did learned basic, sort of, but just enough to mix it up with Jawaese and try to make himself understandable.

Some tension was noted between Cale and Valery, even the Jawa could get that much. And he did not understand why he was not cooperating. Was he hiding something? Did he not like Jedi? But in the end, he and Valery seemed to had come to an agreement. When Valery turned to him, saying that he was welcome to accompany them to the Temple, he go very excited. He would see a real Jedi Temple, for the first time.
- Mikee going Tu. Going Yua see Ja'bo'ba temple, become Ja'bo'ba.
(Me going too. Going to see Jedi Temple, become Jedi.)

He could have offered to stay behind and keep company – and a watchful eye – to Aleksandr. And if Valery ordered him to, he would stay. Be he obviously preferred to go along to the Temple, and since nobody said anything against that, he was going no matter what. He went to his mount – a tauntaun, he did not like speeders – and followed Valery and Cale back to the Temple.

Being on a animal mount, he was always a little behind. But was still able to follow them without great problems, just, sometimes, had to pay extra attention to no lose them.
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Aleksandr Stirsea | Cale Gunderson | Valery Noble ​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Ilum​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Cale Gunderson Aleksandr Stirsea Zev Wakeed ​

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As Valery left with Calek, she could feel the tension and frustration even without her use of the Force, and she honestly didn't blame them at all. This whole situation was probably the last thing they wanted, but Valery wasn't active here to please everybody. She didn't ask him to come along just to be annoying or difficult, and part of her hoped they understood that as well. But whether they did or not, they were heading back to the Temple.​

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Along the way, the feeling that he wasn't entirely comfortable with going there grew — she was a very empathic woman, and even though he likely shielded most of what he truly felt from her, she could at least tell that he didn't want to be there.​

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"This hasn't become our Main Temple; perhaps Coruscant will be again someday. But we've been rebuilding a few Temples to act as places for Jedi to train or use as stops on their journeys. Ilum with its history and the crystal caves made for an interesting choice, although some argued that it was risky with how close it is to hostile territory." Valery said while her gaze was turned forward, to the Temple up ahead.​

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"There aren't usually a lot of Jedi here though, so I doubt it's going to be a priority target. But part of my job is to keep an eye on that." And she was determined not to expose her fellow Jedi to danger. It's why she spent so much time patrolling and gathering intel even from other systems around Ilum. ​

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The two then began to approach the Temple, and Valery would alter her course accordingly to head for the hangar area where they kept speeders and shuttles. She only briefly looked over her shoulder when he asked another question. ​

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"I'm a Jedi Master on the NJO's Council." She mentioned both mostly because the Circle also had Knights on it. Thinking about it, she hadn't actually met that many Jedi Masters since her awakening from stasis — so it made sense that Knights were more involved in leadership than they were in the past. "I don't believe a Jedi Knight would have jumped you in the caves either. A Padawan might have though, they can be unpredictable." she chuckled and stepped off her speeder before looking back out to watch Zev Wakeed moving in as well.​

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When he arrived, Valery guided them both back into the Temple, which likely felt rather empty. Everything had been rebuilt but as she explained earlier, there weren't a ton of Jedi around. Just a few who were getting ready to head out on a mission or the occasional Padawan who had proven ready for their own gathering.​

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"So while I look up the details for your ID, mind telling me why you're so apprehensive about coming here?" Valery looked up briefly from the console she had approached to gauge his reaction, but then looked back down to find out that the name he had given her brought up no useful results.​

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She knew he'd be able to notice that as well, and looked up at him, clearly expecting some kind of explanation for everything. But despite the confrontation, Valery remained calm and still showed no signs of escalating this situation further.​

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[Cale Gunderson]

"Uh-huh, Knights must be different these days." Cale grumbled and shrugged, remembering faces of those long dead, at his side or by his hand. Young and reckless, that's what they'd been. So full of purpose and pride that they didn't stop to think of the dangers. But it had been war, just as it always was, and good people died, just as they always did. Arrival made him even more uneasy as he took in sights both familiar and new, the former causing him a great deal more discomfort than the former. He'd wanted them to change, to be different than he remembered so that any lingering doubts could leave his mind, but it was not to be.

For all his effort, the first thing that crossed his mind as he took in the temple, was home. It wasn't, not his anyway, one like it had been a lifetime ago, but even it was not anymore.

Because he'd burned it down, he reminded himself, willingly or not, it had been his hands that helped put that home to the torch, and friends in the grave. But that was so long ago, maybe they'd forgotten, he prayed they'd forgotten. But as she questioned him again, he worried that his prayer would go unanswered. Things simply couldn't go well that well for him, so he'd have to take things into his own hands, and spin a believable lie.

And the best way to do that was to mix in the truth.

"People tend to change career paths when they get an arm blown off, then get told all the healing and science in the galaxy can't fix it." Cale gestured to the absence of his right arm, the clothes over that side decidedly absent of a sleeve. "I don't like retreading old ground."

He tried to calm himself, to ensure his mind that there would be no way for them to find a person that didn't exist, and that surely the constant shifting of powers would be a plausible excuse. He just needed to keep himself steady. He could do that, couldn't he?

Valery Noble | Zev Wakeed | Aleksandr Stirsea ​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Ilum​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Cale Gunderson Zev Wakeed Aleksandr Stirsea ​

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Valery had obviously noticed that he was missing an arm when they first met in the caves, but she didn't make assumptions about it at all and felt like it wasn't her place to really ask about it. Only when he brought it up himself to explain the uneasy feeling he had with this Temple, did she understand his situation better and dipped her head lightly.​

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"That makes sense," she said as she tried again to look up the name he had given her.​

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"But it doesn't explain why there seems to be nothing about you anywhere, Mr. Jorin," Valery said with a more skeptical tone as her eyes shifted back up to meet his gaze. One eyebrow slowly came up a little and her head tilted as she studied his reaction to it closely. It wasn't surprising that nothing came up regarding the loss of his arm, as medical records were always confidential, but there was literally nothing.​

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Valery was getting a bit more suspicious.​

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"I highly doubt no information exists at all, so perhaps it would be helpful if you shared your actual name? I could get something for a facial recognition attempt, but it would be much easier if you worked with me here." She narrowed her eyes and waited for his response to this confrontation. He could try to give her another name that brought no results, but now she was determined to figure out the truth.​

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Either he gave her a name with records that matched with the mand standing in front of her, or she was going to try to find his records without a name.​

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"I quite appreciate honesty."​

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[Cale Gunderson]

"Before this Alliance there was another one, before that another one, and the Republic before it. Four regime changes, millions of lives lost, trillions of records destroyed, and your first instinct is to call me a liar?" His voice went cold, like nothing she'd said prior had even registered to him. Cale looked to be in his late thirties, maybe even early forties, but he had a decade on even the highest guess thanks to some unfortunate misadventures. Would facial recognition even work? He had a beard now, and was hardly the well-featured fighter pilot he'd pretended to be for years after his emancipation.

There was no way it'd work, no chance in hell, but something twisting in his stomach told him otherwise. Maybe it was sentimentality brought on by his surroundings, or maybe he was just tired of having to lie. Cale stepped back from the Jedi, back towards an exit, though he did not break for it. His eyes narrowed, and he let the stimstick fall from his lips to the ground. He stomped out the tip, and took a read of the room.

They didn't know him, they didn't know what he'd suffered. He wasn't like the scores of other traitors twenty years prior, his fall didn't come from weakness, or lust, or greed, Cale had been a slave, and it hadn't changed anything but the type of cage they kept him in. Gilded or not, he would never spend his life in a cell. Once that determination had been a selfish thing, but now, it was because people needed him, and he couldn't let them down.

"You're right, of course. But you knew that. Careful, might not like what you find." If the warning was sincere or born of malice, none could say, but he kept himself well out of reach.

"Gunderson, Cale." A few had stopped to watch, one of them armed, but not terribly strong. Cale took note of that mentally and steadied himself for what came after. They might take him, he might even let them, but he'd burn another temple down to keep them from Aleks.

Valery Noble | Aleksandr Stirsea | Zev Wakeed ​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Ilum​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Cale Gunderson Aleksandr Stirsea Zev Wakeed ​

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When she confronted him about his lies, the atmosphere of the room very quickly changed again. Tension was finally released and replaced by a colder feeling she got from him through his tone and body language. But Valery didn't move or say anything, choosing to let him talk freely first. Even when he stepped back and in the direction of an exit, she made no direct move to stop it, although she kept her options in mind.​

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What was he going to do? Run across the deadly cold plains of Ilum on his own to try and escape? It would be a death sentence that she didn't believe he wanted to accept. No matter how he portrayed himself now, she knew he cared about the kid they left behind, and he wasn't going to abandon him with reckless actions.​

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"I did know, and all I need is the truth, whether I like it or not," Valery answered rather flatly, as she briefly glanced down to look up the name he offered her. The files that popped up alone made it rather obvious that he wasn't lying this time — no sane person would have chosen his identity to get out of a situation like this.​

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A few moments of silence passed and slowly, the woman's fiery gaze shifted back up but perhaps not with the expression he'd be expecting. Only recently, Valery had handled the case of another who had served the Sith as a mind-controlled slave, and it had opened her mind far more than she believed it would originally. While she'd never fully understand what he had gone through, she did understand the situation he found himself in now, in the aftermath of it all.​

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On the run for something that can't truly be blamed on him.​

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"Quite the record you have, and I understand why you were worried now," Valery said before she paused a moment to collect her thoughts. A moment of silence that was likely nerve-wracking.​

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"But as you said, a lot has changed — both regimes and the Jedi have. I've felt no darkness from you, no hostile intentions beyond the wish to protect yourself and even more so, the kid. The Silver Jedi may not have believed that you could be beyond the control of the Sith..." she said as she looked at the reports again. "But I don't believe they were right." No, she had felt too much that contradicted the Silver Jedi's call.​

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"I'm willing to help you clear your name within the Alliance, as I have with one other in a similar position, but I understand if you don't want to place that kind of trust in me." Valery gestured for the people who had stopped to move along again and looked Cale in the eyes.​

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"Regardless of the decision you make, you can take the kid and go. Or complete his crystal trial first, if he hasn't already." she smiled faintly but her kindness was sincere.​

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[Cale Gunderson]

His guard took a moment to drop, the spacer unable to discern if it was a ploy or genuine. He couldn't sense any danger, and no one moved to take him. Cale's body untensed, and he slowly began to breathe again. It was a selfish thing to think, but he'd always thought himself the only one. But it made sense that there would be others, One Sith or otherwise. It was indeed quite the record, a laundry list of war crimes, murders, and other heinous acts, for which he'd been little more than an observer at best, or the fuel for at worst. His own agony at the actions he was forced to take was used by the dark as kindling for its consuming flame. Cale had been in hell, and sometimes he wondered if he still was.

Cale's fingers unfurled from the fist they'd formed, and his mind lost focus on the saber hilt he'd zeroed in on. There was no fight to be had here, it wasn't some Outer Rim conclave full of hardliners, nor some ego-driven syndicate, she didn't want to fight him at all. Cale actually believed it then, that in truth, she was trying to help.

"I-" He needed to make it back to the ship, to the kid before he lost himself to anger, and before Ronan led him to doing something stupid. And she was just letting him go. That was all there was to it, no grand reckoning, no time for him to rage against the Jedi and their pointless struggles, they were just setting him free. And then, of course, Valery asserted something that no one else ever had, that she believed he was free. It meant more than he could say, but he was grateful.

"Thank you." He muttered, turning to go before she'd made the final offer, one that froze Cale in his tracks. Slowly he turned around, eyebrow cocked high, confusion wide across his face.

"Clear my name?" He asked, folding his arm over his chest and tilting his head. "How?"

Valery Noble | Aleksandr Stirsea | Zev Wakeed ​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Ilum​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Cale Gunderson Aleksandr Stirsea Zev Wakeed ​

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It took a moment before his body finally relaxed and he didn't seem quite as defensive anymore either. The worry he had about being taken captive or perhaps even fear for the kid's future — it had likely faded completely now. The tension in the caves, the anxiety during the ride here, all of it made sense to Valery and she was both happy and relieved that it had disappeared. All that remained was hope for a better future.​

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The man then thanked her, and all she did was offer a smile and bow of her head at first. He seemed ready to turn around and return to the kid, and she didn't want to keep him from it. But the offer she made had sparked something within him, and he froze in place for a moment before turning back to her.​

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"That's right, I believe I can clear your name." Valery said as she looked at the reports again, "It's already documented that you were under mind control, and all that kept you in custody was a fear that you weren't quite free of it. So all I have to do is vouch for your ability to be in control of your own mind and body."​

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She stepped around the console to get a bit closer and offered a more friendly smile than before, "My proposal to you is that I talk to the Council, which we call the Circle in the NJO. I will request for your status as a fugitive to be lifted on the grounds of there being no factual evidence that you're being controlled by the Sith."​

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"The Jedi are willing to help with the redemption of Sith who have committed atrocities without being controlled, so I do not believe they will be against your name being cleared, given the evidence I have and the recent case where I was trusted with my decision as well."​

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"You have my word that I will get this figured out," Valery said with great determination in her tone. She doesn't know what the Jedi were like in the last decades, as she was stuck in stasis. But the idea that he wasn't given the help and trust to be free bothered her a great deal. She hoped to show him that things really have changed and that there were Jedi out there willing and able to help.​

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[Cale Gunderson]

The words hung heavy, and for a moment he again Cale considered cutting his losses, running away. He knew what it'd mean to face the council, a long, agonizing trip through the memories he'd tried so desperately to forget. But once-Jedi thought of his companions, and what being free of his mistakes would mean for them, and all Aleks could learn if he could step foot on temple grounds. Cale was afraid, yes, but he would not be ruled by fear, not anymore.

"Alright." He relented, throwing up his hand to feign surrender, exasperation masking anxiety as he imagined what was to come. She was right though, he'd acknowledged as much through jaded frustration earlier, though not verbally. The Jedi had healed plenty who had done all they had with clear minds and perhaps even enjoyed it. But things had never played out in his favor, and until her, few Jedi had ever believed him. Why would they? The Sith had shown their ability to plant sleeper agents within the order time and time again. It paid to be cautious.

"Let's see them then." Cale sighed before allowing a small smile to tug at his lips. "Thank you, you didn't have to offer...all this"

Cale looked around and finally saw the temple without the veneer of fear, as it truly was. It was a place of good, perhaps pointless, fruitless good, but an effort was made regardless. He'd missed it for a long, long time. But something in the Jedi's words had caught his attention, and he could not let go.

"You said there was another, someone like me?"

Valery Noble ​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Ilum​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Cale Gunderson Aleksandr Stirsea Zev Wakeed ​

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"You can leave the Circle to me — I'll make my report and there won't be anything to worry about." Valery offered, knowing that confronting them wasn't always the greatest experience to some. But at the same time, she also felt that this wasn't going to be too difficult of a case for the others to accept. Recently, various situations had come up with former Jedi or fallen Force-sensitives seeking redemption, and while the Circle was careful and monitored them when needed, they hadn't turned their backs on those in need of help.​

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"Of course, you are still welcome to join me. But I don't believe it to be necessary." Valery smiled and looked at him as his gaze shifted around the Temple. Both because of the way he looked around and through the Force, she could tell that the way he felt about everything was beginning to change.​

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"You said there was another, someone like me?" He asked.​

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Valery nodded and moved around the table so she could guide him back towards the speeder. She had brought him here so if he wanted to return to his ship, she'd have to give him another ride. "Her name is Ran, a mirialan woman who was experimented on by the Sith. Mid-controlled to commit some serious war crimes." Valery explained while they moved.​

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"I was asked to interrogate her and during our conversation, I could feel the sincerity in her words." she paused, "She didn't have any evidence to back up her claims that she was under someone else's control, so I brought her with me and we traveled to find it. Now, like you, she's going to be as free as anybody else."​

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[Cale Gunderson]

"I'll talk to them. I-," Cale tried to think of the words, to find the right way to say such a thing. "I'll come back, if they'll have me. The kid too."

Their wars were pointless, doomed for failure, and Cale wasn't sure he was committed to fighting them again, but he was getting tired of dragging Aleks from slimehole to slimehole just to eek out an existence. He wanted to teach the kid without having to stop in order to figure out their next job, or just next meal. He wanted a home, though he lacked the words to say it.

Then there was this 'Ran', some woman more like him than anyone should've been. He wondered who's plaything she'd been, had the One Sith used her too, or had she'd been the thrall of a different, more recent vintage of Sith? Granted there wasn't much of a point in all his wondering, it wasn't as if he were going to track her down and compare notes, as much as that might've been a decent idea. Maybe they'd know enough together to help spot others, save others, free them from-

Cale stopped himself and tried to recall that he'd already had quite the day. But still, how strange it was to know for a fact his experience was, at least in part, a shared one. It'd been so damned isolating, so lonely, never once had he really stopped to wonder how many of the Sith he'd been made to march beside were truly in control of their actions.

"Well, glad you met her first then." He thought to ask after her, curiosity wriggling its way into the front of his thoughts, but he kept it back, sealed away. Cake tried to put himself into the shoes of someone else like him, and doubted they'd want to be hunted down to compare and contrast their horrific experiences.

The ride was the same, but somehow shorter, and as Cale departed, he looked back with some semblance of a smile, and called back to the master, "When they're ready, you'll know where to find us."

Valery Noble ​

 

[Valery Noble]

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Location: Ilum​

Valery: Appearance​

Tag: Cale Gunderson Aleksandr Stirsea Zev Wakeed ​

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"I'm sure they'd be happy to have you back," Valery said with a smile. "I certainly would, regardless of how you choose to help. There aren't as many Jedi out there anymore, but plenty of problems that need to be handled. Every bit of help is appreciated." ​

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That was perhaps one of the strangest things to Valery. Back in the old days, she was from, the Jedi were incredibly numerous and spread around the Galaxy to hold back the Sith Empire and deal with other problems. But after the purge and all the wars that followed up until now, the Jedi had dwindled in numbers.​

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"You should perhaps meet Ran — she's currently working on rescuing others who have been experimented on like her. From what she told me, there are quite a few." Valery said with a slight frown. "But it's up to you. Training a student is quite the responsibility to handle already."​

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The two then jumped back on the speeder and Valery would give him the ride back to his ship, which wasn't too far out. She met his smile with one of her own and dipped her head, "Force be with you." she said before she turned around to head back to the Temple. If Zev Wakeed was still looking to learn more or talk about Jedi business, she'd have plenty of time to help him out.​

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