[D3LA] [Library conference room] Rygor Gentleman's Explorer's Club (expecting)

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya held up a pair of placating hands. "This room should be safe because no-one has time to monitor a random conference room I didn't even bother to reserve first. But," she looked at Verse, Qareme, and Sinnya, "Who we talk to about these things -- especially this thing -- is about more than if we trust them to not run to the Imperials. The less anyone knows, the less can slip out by accident, or if someone gets caught. Unless we decide we need more help than the people in this room, we shouldn't tell anyone what we know about the temple -- the site." She gave Verse a conflicted look. "If you want to run around being a symbol, I can't stop you, but it's not the way we're going to find this place. If you want to do that, you'll have to keep your head down for another while yet."

[Qareme Torth]

"This topic is one that should not be discussed beyond these walls" Qareme nodded to Vaya "and those who have links to the Jedi order that do not wish that known will also have their wishes respected. However, what Verse has spoken is also true; both Verse and I have openly fought the Inquisitor with lightsabers. I would be surprised if either of us are secret now."

There was a pause as she thought, before adding "I do not believe either of us put anyone in more danger than this planet is already in now."

[Verse Aura]

"Well, it doesn't have to be *me* who'se the symbol, and it's not like I'm *looking* to attract trouble. I'm not saying I'm going out on the news holos and read out a manifesto. I just mean..."

Why was she so bad at saying words and stuff?

"...It's just Jed... Jay things. I don't know how to explain. It's like you don't go searching for trouble, but sometimes life just throws trouble your way, and what defines you is whether you stand up or run away when it does. If that makes sense."

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus nodded solemnly to this last from Qareme. "It's true. Things have been getting worse for a while now. I think what happened yesterday was only the first step."

He looked at Verse with a smile. "And she's right too. I mean, we should do our best to keep ourselves and others safe. But... there does come a time for standing up."

[Jenna Karath]

"You can stand up in other ways too, ya know," she said, glancing to the Jedi in the room. Shifting her arms to a cross over her chest as she looked at the two. Jenna's gaze wasn't as harsh as it might have been prior, more concerned now. Almost as if she had some sense they didn't have any idea of any other way to be.

"Fight if you have to but, running around waving sabers and claiming yourselves as you are may inspire hope in some but it will only bring the Empire down on you and everyone around you, regardless of the circumstance. So, for all our sales, play it safer. Quieter," she shrugged, "just try to stay alive."

[Verse Aura]

Well, the woman seemed *not* to hate her, so that was a relief.

"I'll try of course," she said, an image of Yoda inexplicably popping into her brain, "but I have a feeling the Empire's not going to be content to just leave this planet and us be, no matter how quiet we are."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

"Which is why," said Vaya, cutting in and trying to steer the conversation, "we should find the site before any more destroyers start hovering ominously."

[Sinnya]

The cliff tribe, huh?

Sinnya crossed her arms. and watched the exchange between Jenna and the others with a skeptical expression. "You really think there's any choice you can make... short of playing dead full-time... that will protect you if the government decides you're inconvenient? After yesterday? All my mother's people did was live as they always have for hundreds of years, not bothering anybody. Didn't help." Her lekku twitched arrhythmically, bleeding off frustration in a gestural semi-language no one here was familiar with (hopefully, at least, because she wasn't watching her vocabulary). "If the rest of, uh, those people are like Verse and Horns here, it's not going to matter if they never say the wrong words or use the wrong tools. They'll stick out, because they wouldn't be what they are if they didn't. Dreaming that you can change that won't keep anybody safe."

"Anyway, uh." Sinnya seemed somewhat self-conscious after that outburst. "That connects to something else I want to say. You said the cliff people, the Chaldi, might know something about this 'site.'" She nodded to Vaya. "I am thinking that's why you brought me on. And that's fine, but," she paused to breathe past a pang of grief, "The offworld Imperials are already taking an interest in the tribes, not just in Rygor but in the forest too. In secret knowledge that isn't theirs to ask about. So if we're doing this, we have to be careful not to tip them off that there's even more for them to steal. And if the Chaldi tell us no, we take no for an answer."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

"That connects to something else I want to say. You said the cliff people, the Chaldi, might know something about this 'site.'" She nodded to Vaya. "I am thinking that's why you brought me on. And that's fine, but," she paused to breathe past a pang of grief, "The offworld Imperials are already taking an interest in the tribes, not just in Rygor but in the forest too. In secret knowledge that isn't theirs to ask about. So if we're doing this, we have to be careful not to tip them off that there's even more for them to steal. And if the Chaldi tell us no, we take no for an answer."

Vaya listened carefully, and responded slowly, considering each word. She wasn't great at charm, so it was even odds it came off as thoughtful and gracious, or calculating and condescending. Kid seems like a raw nerve. And who could blame her? "When Verse said she was bringing you on, she said it was because you know your way around the wilderness, and are no friend of the Empire," she said. "When I realized she was talking about the person I saw her with, getting Sister Viati out of the Refuge, the one who made sure to tell me I should keep my mouth shut about not only where, but why? I was glad there was someone who was good at keeping the Anzuri's secrets."

"So, agreed on both counts. We cover our tracks, and if the Chaldi tell us to take a hike, well, we chase those smugglers." She leaned forward over the table, making eye contact with Sinnya to an extent she hadn't anyone else yet. Verse said she's a pilot and a tracker. Not any others like that that I'd know to trust, let alone all three and Anzuri. I need her. "You in?"

[Sinnya]

Sinn took a few breaths, violet eyes meeting Vaya's. "All right."

These people were going anyway; much better if she was with them than not. Plus, Verse clearly needed someone to remind her when to run away from certain death.

"What are we going to do when we find this place?"

[Qareme Torth]

Qareme gazed at Verse for a short while as she listened to the conversation turn from 'don't be openly Jedi' to the Chaldi. The Anzuri would certainly have little reason to trust anyone after being so painfully attacked.

"I believe what we do when we locate it will depend on what we find" Qareme replied to Sinnyas question "for now we need to locate it quietly. After we have located it, that will be the time to decide what needs to be done."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya frowned at Qareme, both out of disagreement and because out of all the people in the room, it's her that she had the least of a feel for. "We don't know exactly what we'll find, but I still think we should start to think about the possibilities." She grabbed a piece of fimsy and sketched a pair of perpendicular lines. "Whatever we'll find will be somewhere on the two axes of dangerous and harmless, and portable and stationary." While talking, she labeled her graph and started scribbling in the quadrants. "Whatever it is, we document it. The knowledge won't be lost. If it's dangerous, we won't want it to fall into the wrong hands. But if it's not portable, we can't take it with us." She holds up the paper, each of the squares labeled: Dangerous/Portable with "Take", Dangerous/Stationary with "Destroy (?)", Harmless/Portable with "Take?" and Harmless/Stationary with "Hide?"

She made an ahem noise and tossed the paper down, self-conscious. "But that's getting ahead of ourselves. We need to figure out where exactly we're going on Yuvas," she looked at Sinnya, "and we need a ship."

"For the latter, like I said, I... know some people. They can set us up with a ship, but they'll expect to be paid back. They didn't ask how my friends and I would pay them back, and I don't think they care as long as they get their money." She shrugged. "But I expect that we'll be able to get to the site before that becomes a problem."

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus first raised one eyebrow, and then decide that really this required both eyebrows.

"With friends like that..." Petrus shook his head. "Well, at least it sounds like they don't ask questions besides 'where's my money' and 'left or right kneecap'."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

"With friends like that..." Petrus shook his head. "Well, at least it sounds like they don't ask questions besides 'where's my money' and 'left or right kneecap'."

"Actually, they promised they'd start with the antennapalps," deadpanned Vaya, and waggled them. It was a bit like making a joke about going for the eyeballs.

[Sinnya]

"Doesn't bother me, as long as it's not the Hutts," Sinn's lekku twitched in distaste. "They always find a way to get more than they're due."

[Verse Aura]

Verse nodded along as people offered their opinions left and right. "Sounds like everything's coming together, then? Get a ship, don't make the people with the money angry, go ask the Chaldi, go do the thing."

She clapped her hands together, "so the only thing we have to worry about now is what are we going to name our ship?"

[Qareme Torth]

"Does the name truly matter?" Qareme asked, not all that concerned with the name clearly.

[Petrus Karath]

Smiling, Petrus crossed his arms over his chest. "Maybe you should see what it looks like first? If it looks like a big bird or something, you can name it after some kind of bird."

[Verse Aura]

"Oh no, it's not 'you' can name the ship, it's *us*."

[Petrus Karath]

Petrus chewed his lip for a few moments. "I have to think about this a little. Getting in on a ship, I mean. Not the name."

He glanced at Jenna questioningly.

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

Vaya leaned on the console across from the table. "A lot of famous explorers had good ship names. The Endurance, the Hope. The Wayfinder. Ten thousand variations of, or references to, Freia Kallea." She snorted derisively, then smirked. "'Mer'darrow's Folly' has a nice ring to it."

[Sinnya]

"I'm not sure I want to ride in a ship piloted by a fool." Sinnya looked distinctly skeptical. "That has a bad-luck sound."

[Vaya Mer'darrow]

"That'll be fine," shot back Vaya gamely, "because I don't know how to fly it. That's your job."

[Jenna Karath]

"A ship," Jenna said, piping up on her brothers glance, "might be a bit too much for the Karath family to get in on. We're not really in a great position, lately, and putting our name to anything might tip over the boat. You'll still have our help, of course, but.." she shrugged, "family first, ya know?"

[Sinnya]

"Uh." Sinnya's poker face was belied by an excited twitch at the tip of one lek. "I'm airspeeder licensed, but I haven't actually... Well, except for..." Rather than actually finish that sentence, she just grinned at Verse.

"Okay. I can make that work."