Aidan Darkfire Posted March 15, 2019 Share Posted March 15, 2019 Aidan's shuttle rocketed out of the starry expanse back into realspace, and immediately began the descent to Chandrila to reconnect with the Imperial and Jedi Forces. Their route kept them on a straight line towards the rendezvous, cutting through the atmosphere like a spear. Aidan steeled himself for the eventuality that the Mandalorians would invade well before they had time to get the civilians out, an eventuality he hoped would never come to pass. Then again, that was war. Still, his pilot was no slouch, and Aidan himself had a trick or two up his sleeve. He accessed the comms system on the shuttle, encrypting a message and broadcast a short message to his allies: "Imperial Knight Aidan Darkfire reporting in to the forces commander. Sorry I'm late to the party, let me know where I can best serve." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Darkfire Posted March 19, 2019 Share Posted March 19, 2019 Aidan's head cocked as he heard the reply. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it... Still, he acknowledged, and his pilot began a controlled descent. What he was met with was mostly chaos. Ships were departing without air clearance, there were telltale signs of smoke from several locations in the city already. Panic had set in, and with it rioters and looters. The hyenas who capitalized on discord to benefit themselves. Dishonorable scum. If Aidan had any say here, he would easily have left some to the coming wolves, but he knew the Jedi would try to save them all. Besides, he wasn't nearly experienced enough to play at judge, jury, and executioner. In what used to be the Empire, he would have been the law, but he dreaded the thought of making a misstep and condemning the innocent. And then Aidan felt his master. Impossible yet unmistakable. He'd watched her die; witnessed her become one with the Force. How was this possible? Her presence shone like a beacon from the very orphanage they were headed to, so Aidan knew he would soon have his answers. Moments later, the pilot had the shuttle in hover near the roof, allowing Aidan to drop off before lifting off to maintain a low orbit out of the way of most of the space traffic. Should they need him he would be close enough to hastily exfiltrate, but for now he'd only be in the way as the shuttle wasn't large enough to ferry a significant number of people to the larger capital ships. Several personnel were already inside coordinating the evacuation, giving Aidan the time he needed to track down Kyrie. As he neared, he unslung her lightsaber from his makeshift bandolier, gripping it tightly. It seemed to be drawn to her as well, confirming his suspicions. Finally, he rounded a door, catching sight of a young woman who resembled Kyrie slightly, but was definitely younger, looking to be still in her teens. He tensed, unsure what to do with this knowledge, his thumb hovering over the activation stud. If this were some trick of the dark side, an impostor, she would be short lived. "...Master?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Darkfire Posted March 29, 2019 Share Posted March 29, 2019 Aidan stiffened at her embrace, not returning it, though after a moment his tension eased. Every sense in his body except his eyes was telling him this was Kyrie. He was still confused, but he had no other choice but to accept what was. After the hug, he offered her the long-hilted lightsaber. "I don't understand. I saw you die. I felt you die. They didn't clone you, and you look...well...different." As soon as she would take her lightsaber back, it would become far more apparent to both of them the dark taint surrounding the other hilts Aidan wore at his waist. They were taken from the body of the Sith she had fought, and Aidan hadn't thought anything of them since their corruption had been more or less balanced out by Kyrie's saber. Even after death she had protected him, though in a way neither could have predicted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Darkfire Posted April 4, 2019 Share Posted April 4, 2019 There was a long moment of hesitation. Aidan felt what Kyrie had done, he knew what she wanted him to do, and still... there was doubt. Aidan's inner calm was little more than a joke at this point. His whole life had been consumed in strife, conflict, and abandonment. How could he tap into something so broken inside him to help these people? How could he fix them when he was such a tattered mess? He exhaled slowly and allowed his eyes to fall closed, reaching deep into the Force, connecting his minds with their own ever so subtly. Dashed hopes, fears, anxiety, and panic all plagued them whether they showed it or not. And for a moment, Aidan saw himself in them, a shattered mirror of what he was, what he wanted to be. And for a moment, he faltered. Briefly, there was more chaos. A dresser falling over, adults yelling at the children not moving fast enough. By instinct, he flexed his influence, shoving himself into their minds, forcefully quelling the anxieties, shoving them down and out of the way. The pain remained, but it was subdued, any attempt to focus on those negative thoughts would be met with mental needles of reprimand. He controlled them, forcing them to move faster, the hidden puppet master behind the metaphysical curtain. All dancing to the beat of his marching tune... Except one. She stood out from the others, a young girl of barely five or so. Her connection was stronger than the others as well, though it was something Aidan only briefly considered as he opened his eyes, gazing at her intently as she stared back at him, innocently holding her stuffed animal. She wasn't worried about evacuating, in fact she really was only focused on him. In confusion, he released the tension he didn't realize he was holding onto. His knuckles had already gone white as they tightly held the hilts of the Sith lightsabers, the weapons somehow finding themselves in his hands. What was she doing? What was- "It's going to be okay." What? "It's going to be okay." Aidan didn't know and couldn't know that her faith came from Kyrie's appearance, but it honestly didn't matter. The child's words hit him like a cargo hauler. They washed over him like Kyrie's own words never could, simply because Aidan would always think there was something behind them. This was different, the innocent faith of a child, blindingly pure. She held within her a strength he would never know again, a strength he'd once also had. It was from this faith that Aidan finally found the foundations to begin rebuilding his own. He was broken, and he knew it, but it didn't have to hold him back. He didn't have to accept fate. He'd felt the burden of every conflict he'd been party to in full force, the responsibility of being the savior, the knight in shining armor that could never deliver. Aidan was so torn over all his failures, and it had dragged him so far away from his potential well before he had ever had the chance to truly deepen his connection with the Force. Cancerous questions attacked his thoughts, doubts chewed at his confidence, but none of it mattered. It was going to be okay. He would make it okay. Live, die, or injury, he would accept his place within the Force, and would do what he needed to be the positive influence for these people. He felt the hope welling up inside him, ripping the stitches from his scars and cauterizing them with the eternal cleansing fire of the Exorcist. He smiled back at her, clipping the sabers to his waistband. His eyes glowed a soft silver as he finally replied to the young girl. "Yeah. It's going to be okay." She smiled back, returning to packing her things like she was told to; but silently she knew that the only thing she really needed was her stuffed animal. The Force finally began to flow through him with incredible strength as the mental dams of his own doubts and fears burst. He was the conduit, the catalyst, guiding the energies of purifying light to calm and reassure the people as they worked. His hope and faith that everything was going to be as it should was the bedrock lens that magnified the sense of calm he now felt, and it was as peaceful for them as it was cathartic for him. Organized movement and teamwork quickly became the theme that they all felt; where one stumbled another was there to catch them. Inside the span of twenty or so minutes, they would all be finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Darkfire Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 Twenty more minutes later, the last few people had boarded the escape shuttles which now began lifting off, headed for the safety of the Jedi ship formation, and then to hyperspace. Aidan was back on his own shuttle, having received orders to escort the shuttles. In the back of his ship, he began meditating, reaching out as best he could, subtly tying the minds of the shuttle pilots together so they could more easily function as a unit. It wasn't easy, but by now Aidan was used to struggling over his Force abilities. Minutes later, the shuttles flashed into hyperspace, winking out of the system. Aidan's group was safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts