Shadows of Bankor

Vaya stumbled out of the engine room at the very rear of the ship and leaned on the intercom.

"False alarm. No leak. Just a sensor knocked out of alignment when Sinnya did... whatever it was she did." She took her hand of the intercom. Then leaned back in. "Good job, Sinnya."

She'd been back there for a minute. Last she had left, Sinnya was at the controls, Verse had taken the turret gun, and Quareme was managing the sensors. A minute ago, it seemed like they were clear, and the ship hadn't done anything that made her stomach flip since then. They were probably skimming the ocean right now.

Four years of running and hiding. Apart from the very earliest of days, it was never quite as bad as this. But the years *had* thought her to travel light, and be ready to move at a moment's notice. Really, what more did she need than that which she could carry? She'd burst into the ship carrying not much more than her lightsaber, a toolkit, some scrap, and a standard imperial blaster rifle which she must've picked up at some point.

Moments later they'd gotten underway, and Verse had gotten on the turret. Not that there had been too much to shoot at. and there certainly wasn't now, unless she was inclined to fall to the darkside and shoot a bunch of fish.

"I guess we're clear then," she said through the comms.

Qareme managed to be the image of calm, even as chaos surrounded the place. She hadn't rushed anywhere, taking a few moments to help others along that almost got her caught, but she was good enough at evading stormtroopers. In fact some thought she wasn't even there....

She made her way onto the ship with just the clothes on her back and her staff. Thankfully credits were easy to carry after all.

Now sat in what was her spot, eyes closed, she listened to the others. Calmly breathing in and out.

Sinnya was still in the cockpit, letting the adrenaline from their wild unsanctioned takeoff and escape flight slowly bleed away as she tried to convince her fingers to loosen their grip on the control yoke. She worked one hand free and flipped the intercom switch.

"Okay. Uh... I'm putting us on autopilot." Her voice wobbled up and down before settling to a more ordinary pitch. "I'm going to keep the sensor range pushed out to max. Could mean more false alarms, but... I don't want to miss anything."

She was oddly proud of herself for being here at all. She might have been safe as houses in a thermal tent under a rock in the desert with nobody the wiser right now. It wasn't just the small cache of her possessions stashed on the TBD that had impelled her to make for the ship instead; she'd guessed that the others might have a hard time getting out without her, and run toward probable trouble instead of away. It felt like she'd been doing that a lot lately, but so far... it seemed to be working out?

Vaya's possessions had been saved more by laziness than by preparedness. She had had to flee for her life once or twice, but never flee her life itself. But since her heaviest possessions -- survival pack, excavation tools -- were really only of use at places you could fly to, she had just left them on the ship. As a result, with the extra heads up from her across-the-hall neighbors' resistance contacts, she'd gotten out clean. It had involved some harrowing second-story-plus ascension gun adventures, but it beat getting shot at.

"Everyone to the lounge, then. Caf and --" she almost said family meeting but she was in no way there yet. "Let's see where we stand." She walked past the open third of the inner circle where the kitchen unit and two small couches were situated to the meeting room. It was time to get out The Board.

"I really don't think I want any caf..." Sinnya muttered to herself, shakily. She levered herself out of the pilot's chair.

Had someone cranked the gravity to double? Okay, maybe she did want caf after all. Or a nap. Probably a nap, but that wasn't forthcoming until they could put down someplace safe.

Trailing a hand down the wall for balance (psychological balance, if nothing else), she made her way to the briefing room.

Qareme rose, moving to the lounge. The tapping of her walking stick echoing as she moved in silence to where the others are gathered.

"Are you all well? No serious injuries?" she said as she arrived.

"I... think I'm fine?" She said as she entered the lounge and flopped herself down on a seat. "Didn't run into any serious problems along the way."

Vaya came in and set up the board.

"Glad to hear it. I know I can't sleep right now, so I thought maybe we could..." she pressed a button, bringing the board to life.

The board d5ln https://imgur.com/gallery/cQcCVh0

The board d5ln

"... go over what we know. I know that always helps settle my nerves." She's not joking.

The large Zabrak moved over to view the board.

"Speak, Vaya. What have we learnt."

Vaya happily complies. She had composed the notes, and gone over them so many times on her own she didn't even really need to look at the board. She emphasized the new (soon we can go to the moon! where maybe ex-sister Tirali will kill us?), and the dangling (were there actually smugglers with a map? Will that make the Temple vulnerable even if no-one follows us?).

She yawned. "Verse, weren't you making caf?"

"I was?"

Was I?

"I was!"

I'm not sure I was.

She shot up from her seat and happily; or as happily as she could given how tired she was; started making kaf.

Wait, I don't even like kaf.

"I did not think that would work, Vaya" Qareme said as Verse rushed off, turning back to the woman.

"I have a question. What is your intent if the temple does not allow non-Jedi to pass through to its halls?"

Vaya frowned. "I mean, uh, define 'not allow.' Plenty of sites were never intended by their original inhabitants to be touched by anyone -- although plenty are just the normal places they lived, too." She shrugged. "Having you with me is as much permission as I've ever had before, and more than I usually do." She raised her eyebrows. "Oh, you mean countermeasures! Like, swinging blades and poison and assassin droids and such."

"You are aware that the Force can do much. I cannot say that one of the countermeasures for a Jedi temple would not be a way to prevent those who are not Jedi from entering. Or, more specifically, those who are not attuned to the Force" Qareme offered.

Vaya opened her mouth, closed it. Opened it again. Left it there.

"Well that would be very inconsiderate and elitist of them," she said at last.

"We do not know what is there. I just wished to prepare you in case such a thing could have been placed upon the temple. I do not think it is something they would do unless it contained something of extreme importance" Qareme lowered her head to the woman "you have prepared for every eventuality after all."

Vaya bared her teeth a little. "Well, sometimes you have to fusion cutter some ancient masonry to get to the good stuff." She blinked, and looked around self-consciously. Verse was a few meters away in the kitchenette, and Sinnya seemed to have dozed off on one of the lounge couches.

"Sorry. Uh, long day. I promise I wouldn't take a fusion cutter to anything in the temple unless it was a matter of life and death." Besides, you have those cool plasma swords anyway. "Uh, let's have a seat?" She gestured at the not-Sinnya couch.

"You are forgiven. Once."

There was a smile from the large Zabrak. She was obviously joking, right? With her emotionless way, it was hard to tell....and Zabrak had a way of looking scary without meaning to.

"It has been a long day, and I am certain you would not wish to risk offending the Jedi order as well as potentially thousands of generations of Jedi by attempting to take away parts of the Temple by force. I would not recommend such an action."

Qareme nodded, following the woman to the couch.

"I can understand excitement, but temper your excitement with respect for those have tread the path before you."

Vaya let out an uncomfortable laugh, and glanced behind her. Verse was having trouble with the caf machine, but the kid had to learn sometime, and Vaya didn’t allow herself the easy escape. She and Qareme sat on the lounge couch, with Vaya angling her body towards her but having trouble actually looking her in the face.

“I didn’t really mean it. I’m not… I mean, I am in it for the archaeological value of the site…” she glanced at Qareme and then away again, but her antennapalps were focused on the woman. “This is a silly question and I know the answer is yes because you’re obviously not a nerfdrukker, but you meant what you said to Tirali about forgiveness and redemption and stuff, right?”

Verse had *indeed* been having trouble with the machine. But if there was one thing one could say about her, it was that she didn't give up. There were many other things one could say about her as well, but not giving up was one of them. So, after a suitable amount of time had passed, she returned with a bunch of filled cups of what one presumed was Kaf.

It actually tasted acceptably similar to the stuff too.

"What are we talking about? Redemption? That's a big one."

Vaya Mer'darrow wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:18 pm

“I didn’t really mean it. I’m not… I mean, I am in it for the archaeological value of the site…” she glanced at Qareme and then away again, but her antennapalps were focused on the woman. “This is a silly question and I know the answer is yes because you’re obviously not a nerfdrukker, but you meant what you said to Tirali about forgiveness and redemption and stuff, right?”

"No being is beyond Redemption if they wish to be redeemed. The Light and the Dark sides of the Force both flow around everyone, and anyone can be susceptible to either side. Where the Light is guided by those who believe in hope and peace, the Dark side influences those who have fear or greed in their hearts. Tirali was motivated by fear of the power that the Empire holds, which in turn caused the Dark side to guide her down a path of perceived power. I believe it still influences her, as she has acted more in fear for her life than in wish to be redeemed, but through our actions we can guide her towards the path. Only she can walk down it though."

Qareme paused, before adding "when I was captured by the Inquisitor, I was thrown to a cell bound with her standing over me. In my situation, how do you believe you would have acted?" her eyes looking at first Vaya then Verse.

"I'd have come up with a joke," she said, with a serious nod. "A good one, knowing me."

With the return of Verse the conversation hadn’t gone the way she had meant to lead it. Which was maybe okay; she was only half-convinced to reveal this particular part of herself to Qareme, and while she certainly trusted Verse (and Sinnya, although she wasn’t sure if she was truly asleep or not),

That question, though, poked her in a freshly uncomfortable place. “Cry and plead for my life, probably,” she said, fake-lightly. She held out a hand for caf.

There was a nod, as if the large Zabrak had expected such answers.

"Understandable. I invited her to meditate with me."