Aidan Darkfire

Everything was fuzzy. That was the first sensation Aidan felt as he woke from the abyss of nothingness. There was no cloning cylinder, he was laid out in a medical bed with a droid looking over him. The doctor came in and started talking, but it all blurred together. Something about...his telomeres? A cloning sickness or something. He tried to sit up but a sharp pain in his side paralyzed him back to the table. The droid administered some drugs, and he drifted back to sleep. It would be hours before he woke again. This time, a Jedi healer was by his side. He was lucky, she said, that the cancer hadn't spread before she had a chance to excise it. Cancer. Cancer. Several more hours later, when he got his strength up, he dressed in the robes provided by the Jedi, collected his belongings that had been collected from the battlefield, and set out to find Anne and Pandora.

The dance was on. The Sith was very deft on his feet, but Aidan had thus far managed to avoid the conflict almost completely, miraculously. A few nicks on his armor, but mostly from blasted dirt. If anything, Aidan was starting to enjoy the tempo of the battle. Except the Force chose just then to give him a choice in a split second vision: either watch things fail miserably or do what needed doing. So Aidan stepped into the swing, catching the blade through his arm and buried into part of his torso, but his left arm came up and gripped with all the strength he could muster amidst agonizing pain. He could feel himself slowly losing his strength as his right arm stump began gushing blood, but this was his only shot to fix the situation they'd found themselves in. Just another death for the Jedi, right? ((Aidan stepped into Vorin's swing, aiming to capture the weapon and the person long enough for his allies to do something. Honestly, I'll accept a death here, I realized this cheekiness isn't funny because Vorin can't reply in kind without risking everything, meanwhile I can safely hide behind allies. Not cool. So time to pony up and take one for the team, win or lose. GG boiz. 3))

Far from having to commit to death or battle, Aidan chose option C — backing the hell up away from the Sith's dangerous greatsword. To those ends, he summoned the Force to himself briefly, telekinetically blasting at his feet to assist with his quick leap backward to get away from the slash. Consequently, more dirt was lightly sprayed up toward the eyes of his foe. He was certainly a cunning one, Aidan hadn't found an opening at all to do nearly anything. ((2))

Aidan sidestepped the thrust directly at him, already positioned to do just that with the fencing stance he'd taken. Makashi wasn't nearly a strong enough style to be able to take on a greatsword like this head on, but it was lithe and nimble like Ataru while also being cunning and calculating. As it was, Aidan wasn't in much of a position to counterattack given the range, so instead he simply used the Force to kick up some dirt into the Sith's face. ((1))

As their assailant made themselves known, Aidan took up a defensive position in front of Anne. Either he or her were the likely targets here given the dark sider's opening gambit, and Aidan wasn't about to let his padawan-to-be get turned into mincemeat. Igniting one blade to use the full hilt for leverage, Aidan adopted a defensive Makashi stance, the blade pointed straight at his foe's head. This wasn't a fight he was going to back down from, not after he got to relive moments from one of his mother's most painful experiences. "'Scuse me, sir, you seem to have lost your way. I recommend you go about your business, preferably back to whatever snake-hole you crawled out of. Otherwise you're going to invoke Sugma." Aidan wore the most serious of looks as his strong gaze nearly pierced his foe. The tension in the air was palpable.

The hair on Aidan's neck bristled. He'd felt the darkness before, but this was just a slap across the face. Naboo was supposed to be a peaceful world, what about it kept attracting the scum of the galaxy to it like hotchflies to bantha skut? Aidan had hoped they would be able to train in peace, but the whims of the galaxy were always crashing down around him wherever he went. Now, he had to deal with the emotions and mental pain of his mother dying, and somehow his only thoughts as the mental assault began were not this again. His hand found his staff saber hilt instinctively, though for the moment its silver blades remained extinguished. Aidan wasn't sure exactly where the mental attack was coming from, but it did no good to induce a public panic before it was absolutely necessary. Instead, he looked around and located a security officer before responding to Anne. "Yeah, well, you're going to learn that in this galaxy there are big fish and there are small fish, and sometimes you can't help but be the small fish. You need to have spines to survive, you have that right. And right now, I need you to have spines, okay?" Through the Force, he barely managed to eke out one strong thought to her, but it was simple enough to break through the emotional static the dark sider was flooding the Force with: Sith nearby. She may have been able to feel it as well, though Aidan knew that Anne's connection to the Force was not as strong as he and his fellow Jedi. It might have instead manifested in her as a sense of extreme unease. The whole ordeal certainly had him queasy, and he kept a hand on his stomach as he tried to ignore the intrusive thoughts. Quickly, he walked to the security guard, flashing his lightsaber hilt as if it were a badge of authority. "Jedi business. I need this area cleared of all civilians, but I want you to claim it's because of a gas leak. No need to start a panic." The security officer simply gave him a "really, buddy?" look before walking away and going about his job. Welp. So much for that. Aidan turned back around to the other two and made his way back.

"Well, I'm only assigned to train you, the where was never stipulated. So if being on your home world helps, then I'm not going to stop us." Aidan joined the two, making small talk with the other Jedi as they boarded the transport, introducing himself and getting the lay of the land, as it were. In moments they were skyward bound, and shortly thereafter in the hyperlanes. ((If there's anything important to tell me, just OOC catch me up by the time we get there and we can say that's what they discussed))

Bureaucracy was such a pain. Aidan had been waylaid from his duties for several days due to processing out of the Imperial Knight ranks and into the Jedi. Now he found himself once again looking for his ward, finally finding her with another Jedi on one of the landing pads. "Hey! Your Highness! Anne!" Aidan waved them down as he jogged on over. The Jedi robes he now wore felt different, lighter. "Good lord, I'm very sorry about that, I trust you had an okay time while I was gone? What are we up to now?"

A sharp pain woke Aidan from his rest as he stirred, but muscle memory had by now been drilled into his weary mind that it wasn't some attack, but rather just the wound. It was about the sixth or so time he'd woken himself this way, and he knew he would run out of rest hours soon. He loosed a soft groan as he cracked an eyelid to check his chrono, confirming it was indeed time to get up and face the next standard galactic day. Part of him wanted to stay sleeping on the cot, to forget his responsibilities for a bit. Hadn't he earned it by now? But those kinds of thoughts were foolish and led to darkness. He had more than earned it, but he was needed. It felt like such a long time ago now that he'd hated his birthright, felt like the Force was a curse. But Aidan had been given a chance to do some pretty incredible things and save a lot of lives, and he knew if he had to look back on the choices he'd made, he would repeat them all without an ounce of hesitation. Such noble justification for rising out of bed in the morning and greeting one's responsibilities. Sitting up was not fun, but he managed. Thankfully the Jedi provisions included robes, which were much easier for him to don than his armor's bodyglove. Now properly dressed, Aidan checked his lightsaber before moving out, ensuring to stay quiet so as to not disturb the sleep of other refugees. He needed to find Anne. It was time for the most important part of Aidan's career as a teacher of the ways of the Light Side: His first lecture.

Aidan placed a hand on Sandy's shoulder and let his body mostly relax, reaching out to her in ways only he knew how. Their bond was scarred from past horrors, but for now it was enough. He delved deeply into the Force, freely giving her his energy as he poured most of what he had left into her. She would need it, and as soon as he was rested up he too would likely be back out with this crowd to assist Sandy and Anne as the casualties came in. Wearily he opened his eyes back up, looking back at her with a smile. Already the exhaustion was setting in around his eyes as he replied to her. "Thanks. A good shower sounds nice. Anne? We should settle in for now, find some beds. Tomorrow we might start your training, or we may get tasked to the casualties, we'll see what it looks like after a wakeup. And I suppose if all else fails, you can just meet me here in twelve galactic standard hours." He gave his comm's chronometer a quick check to verify the time and showed the young queen, then gave Sandy a short kiss goodbye before leaving in the direction she had indicated. He was mildly curious over what Anne would do, but he was also very tired at this point.

"Oooooooh, gods, that feels so damned weird every time." He reached a hand down to touch it, managing to finagle it a bit before Sandy slapped his hand away. It felt like a solid scab, and the skin underneath was still tender but nothing like the stinging burn it had been. It really was a sensation that he found difficult to describe, like being plugged into a wall outlet of life energy. Rapid regrowth was something the human nervous system was never designed for, and the nerves always tingled as if someone had dunked the skin in a carbonated liquid. Somewhere between non-painful electricity and static tingles. "I'm...well, I'm alive, I suppose...I almost wasn't. So there's that. But otherwise, exhausted. Apparently the Imperial Knights have taken heavy casualties, I have orders to assimilate into the Jedi. And, well, I also think it's time I took an apprentice. I even already found a candidate." Aidan tossed a thumb towards Anne. "It's been a day. How have you been?"

"Yeah, just...just Aidan is fine..." He trailed off as he craned his head around, catching sight of Sandy in a crowd just before wincing and hissing in pain as he carelessly also twisted his wound open with his torso movement. It only took a moment to recenter himself, take a breath, and start forward, waving a hand at Sandy as he made his approach. Weakly, he reached out to her, but he wasn't trying to distract her from her work, either, he was simply glad to see that she made it out okay. While the fonder memories of the last time he cloned her popped back up into his head, they were also tempered by the pain he'd felt at the time. The only thought in his head as he looked at her now was relief. Hi. It was time to start a new chapter in their lives.

Aidan's commlink chimed, and he nodded an affirmative at her as he grabbed for it to check the priority message. "Absolutely. I imagine you're not going to be a difficult face for me to track down." The shuttle shuddered as it touched down and initiated docking procedures, and he let her attend to her duties as he checked the message. Seconds later relief flooded his thoughts. This was an unfortunate thing, he'd lost many brothers and sisters in arms today, but on the other hand it solved quite a few issues he foresaw having with the upper leadership of the Imperial Knights. If this meant he was supposed to report back to the Jedi, that would mean a much more lax and receptive training environment. As personnel began milling about the shuttle, evacuating the critically injured first, he flagged Anne down, showing her the message. "War has a way of accelerating timetables. I can say with certainty that the Jedi will be far more receptive to your situation than the Knights would have been. As such, you're welcome to remain in my company effective immediately if you like, I just need to explain the personnel requisition to whoever has been giving you orders." He still needed medical attention, but it wasn't anything a long term bacta patch or two couldn't fix. There would be Jedi healers among the main body of medics, at least a couple if he knew his mother. They could point him toward the nearest Jedi outpost or enclave, likely a temporary setup among the rallying forces. They would have resources he could use, but more importantly, resources she could begin to use. Basic gear for training and the like. He would also need to file the official petition for her registration as his padawan with the Jedi archives, but these days it was digital and streamlined. He hoped. It was also probably high time he requisitioned his own ship...but it might take a journey beyond Ylesia to find one worth owning.

"Swear your oath to the Force, if you must." Aidan plugged the vial into the analysis unit, drawing up a resonance scan of her cells. A nearby screen showed a magnified view of one of her isolated blood cells, with a plethora of small specks swimming about. "There. You see? Hundreds, if not over a thousand or so. That's in every single cell of your body. Those things are called midi-chlorians, and they tend to be present in much higher numbers in those who sensitive to the Force. Your average galactic denizen might only have around ten or so per cell. Count itself isn't a completely accurate indication of ability or potential, but it tends to be a strong indication of ability to benefit from training." Aidan retrieved the vial and tucked it in a pouch just inside his armor. "I'll need that to make my case. I need to contact my chain of command and get authorization, but as far as a time frame, you'll probably be contacted inside of a week or so. After that, we'll begin." He flashed her a warm smile, but in his current state he couldn't help but still look a bit haggard. He knew she didn't understand what she was signing up for. Nobody ever did. But he had faith in her.

Her words hung on him, and he knew it was time to stop leading her on and fueling any fantasies about the glamor of a life like his. "Look, I wish I could just reach into your mind like that, but I never learned how. I don't know what specifically to look for. The blood test should easily confirm what I suspect, though admittedly sometimes false positives can just be coincidental." He wasn't worried about that in the slightest. It was more how she'd take this next part. "The only reason I'm making the offer is because there are so few of us left. Truth be told, you may have already been passed over by a Jedi seeker. You're already too old for their preferences, for one, and it doesn't take a psychologist trained at Coruscant's Ministry of Mental Health to see that you have a lot of pain related to what the Sith did to you. To use the Force in anger or frustration is to draw upon the dark side, and to become the very thing you want to protect your people from. I can help you help them, but maybe not in the ways you expected or even thought were possible." He took a breath, glancing down at his armor. He could pass her off to someone else. He didn't trust anyone else. Not in the Imperial Knights, and few among the Jedi. "And I'm not going to make you swear fealty to the Knights. Not if you don't want to. The Force does not bind us to its will, it is a choice, an acknowledgement, a symbiosis. I won't force military service onto you, but I will gladly show you what I do know. This life... it's a stark departure from everything you knew. Royalty, titles, you would leave it all behind. The rest of the galaxy doesn't tend to value us until they see our worth firsthand, and it's never about showing worth for its own sake." He grabbed a blood sampler and a blank vial from the nearby hovercart, and held it out to her symbolically. "Are you still interested?"