Dashel Illioni

Dashel acknowledge the Comm from the Link and then turned his attention to Knight Sunrider. "Well," said Dashel, "It seems once again I am dependent on my master for a ride somewhere. If you are going to Gala, Kirana, may I take a ride with you?" As he awaited for her to clean up after her dual with the apprentice and for her to reply, Dashel began making a list of things he had to do. Two things jumped out at him but neither of them was a genuine emergency. He stretched and then began some basic lightsaber routines to bring himself some balance.

:::Comm Message from Dashel Illioni to owner/opperater, the Link::: Attached to this message are technical specifications for a starship for the Jedi Knight Dashel Illioni. A down payment of the appropriate amount will be deposited once confirmation has been received of the viability of this project. :::End Comm:::

The working area of Kira's ship was nearly the same as when he had been her apprentice, if a bit sandy from Tatooine's wastes. Once he had located the cache of crystals and excavated it, the actual construction of his lightsabers proceeded uneventfully. He borrowed Kira's comm system, sending a rather detailed description of his next ship to the LINK, including the blueprints for Kala's integration chamber, for construction. A quick command or two insured that it was redirected enough to prevent their location from being revealed. Finished with those tasks, he wandered over to a convenient stone to watch the dual occuring between Kira and the Padawan Stephen in time to see Stephen flying backward through the air. Dashel momentarily debated joining Kira in challenging the Padawan, but decided that doing so uninvited would not be appreciated and would put his Padawan Odan in a similiar postion when he was ready to become a knight. The trials were tough enough without the pressure of one's master's problems. He took up a datapad and composed a quick message to Master Draygo considering his place in the Survivor's Foundation. With his padawan occupied on personal business, he needed to be about something that was oriented towards a greater good and he had pledger her his support.

Kala wandered away from Dashel, apparently looking for something she claimed to remember having been described by the Jedi Masters she claimed to have known. He let her go, figuring the droid was again displaying signs of needing a fairly aggressive mind wipe. The clone birthing process had removed his memories of his time as a force-ghost. Dressed in old robes, he found a convenient ruin to sit on and reach out to the force. Possibilities swirled through his mind until he found one that seemed somehow to resonate with his own needs. Following the guidance provided, lead him to see a forgotten tunnel, deep inside a praxeum hall where Jedi padawans had once learned the techniques to build their lightsabers. Inside the praxeum was a cache of raw crystals from various worlds suitable for the construction of a lightsaber, and one of them seem to call to him, so clearly did it resonate in the force. Dashel opened his eyes, and set about gathering the tools for a quick foraging expedition in the ruins. As he mounted the speeder bike Kala had brought him in on, he began musing on the configuration of his next ship and whom he should order it from.

Quietly, during the latest of the hours upon Ossus, an unmarked and ancient shuttle painted matte black lands at an out of the way dock in a manner guaranteed to attract notice, especially on a planet full of Jedi. Just prior to landing, the shuttle sends a burst transmission to Kirana Sunrider, identifying the shuttle as dropping off two individuals, on HRD named Kala and the Jedi Knight know as Dashel Illioni. Dashel is reported as being deep in a healing trance after entering the cloned body in an effort to acclimatize himself to any changes that were made. As soon as Kala departs the shuttles ramp with Dashel's sleeping form and a few basic items, the darkened shuttle immediately lifts off, heading away from Ossus. Kala crosses the tarmac, grabs a nearby speader, and loads the Jedi and their gear into and immediately begins to travel towards a location that Dashel had left mere days ago. Upon arriving, the HRD sought out Kirana Sunrider and explained quite simply that Dashel had said he would awaken shortly after arriving on Ossus. Dashel was true to his word, and woke an hour after their arrival. Once awake, he approaches Kirana and says with a grin, ”œOdd how things sometimes loop back upon themselves. You wouldn't happen to have somewhere handy where I could reconstruct my sabers, would you?”

At the mentioning of cloning, a stray though inserted into what passed as Dashel's consciousness. A little over a year ago, Kala had mentioned that the part of her that was Sith would never let him have peace. The memory triggered recognition of the force spark that was racing away from Korriban. Kala was racing somewhere to begin the process that would grant him a new physical existence. Dashel sat down, stared directly into Kirana's eyes, and said, "You don't need to do that. One of Kala's bodies that was stored on Korriban has activated and taken a shuttle somewhere to begin the cloning process already." He continued to assure her that as long as she need his friendship, he would keep returning. As he pondered the weight of that promise, the import of his spoken statement hit him fully and he again nearly faded from view. She had been next to him from almost the first day of his training and he had never realized that Kala was somehow force sensitive and had a place in the force. As he gazed at the happy look Kirana was now wearing, he put that mystery to the side. He probably did not want to know and knew that asking her would be borrowing more trouble than it was worth. He settled in to wait and turned his attention fully to Kira, collecting his scattered thoughts and focusing on the present. Her idea of contacting the Sith had merit for by doing so, the two sides would actually represent a united force. The question became how and when. He had never met a Sith and had no desire to outside of the clash of weapons and her thoughts on the matter were clouded beyond his ability to read. It was funny, that though the force was omnipresent, what could be learned depended on the limitations of the user.

The call from his old Master came from some distance and it took Dashel a long while to respond to it. He was blocked by something terrifying that left him only half of himself. Unable to do anything he did the first thing that every Jedi had to learn, he waited. Concepts from another existence had passed through his mind, shuttling back and forth as he tried to put names to them. The names of those concepts would unlock the memories, feelings and sensations he had associated with them. Though some part of him whispered that he should simply let them go, he struggled silently to remember as he waited. The wait was eternity. Stubbornly, Dashel kept trying to remember what he had forgotten. He was concentration on something particularly important when he knew that his wait was over. The force came flooding back to Dashel and he knew the concepts he had forgotten and why the force had left him in the first place. He also knew that he had no body and that getting there was simply a matter of willing his consciousness there. The Jedi had always taught that the force was omnipresent. When you were a part of it, you could simply move about it and be anywhere you needed or were needed. Even as he materialized before Kirana, glowing with the faint blue outline characteristic of force ghosts, he felt a weaker tug in another direction. Concentrating briefly, he sough the location of that minor pull and found it. Why something was pulling him to Korriban he had not the slightest idea, nor did he recognize the force user that providing that pull. Dashel ignored the pull and instead concentrated on communicating with his former master. "Kirana, Master, its good to see you. Your padawans," said Dashel, attuning to them and letting them see him, "seem to be starting well." A smile graced the translucent face at their reaction, and then he continued. "Master Hou Jo's action at Harumn Kal was not the betrayal that many people have assumed. Had the force been with us than those of us whom perished would have had plenty of warning on the need to be gone immediately." Dashel frowned at the emotions such a statement aroused in him. "Besides, there is worse news. A new threat has risen for the Jedi and the Sith against our ally the Force. Black sun has located and resurrected the devices called Force Harvester's in their bid to destroy all the Jedi and all the Sith." Again came that faint pull from Korriban. Dashel annoyed, focussed on the pull and the force user responsible for it. His form wavered as he realized that the pull was now moving from Korriban and disappearing nearly beyond the edge of the galaxy, to the stellar remnants of another galaxy that theirs had collided with and destroyed. Wherever it was going it was taking a long time to reach it and the force presence next to it felt grim determination to complete its duty. Remembering that he need to concentrate on maintaining his appearance for Kira he drew himself back from that presence and focussed on the three in front of him a moment before speaking again. "My droid, Kala was destroyed along with my ship when Hou Jo blew the temple by the reaction of the gasses of the Jungle planet to the explosions. A ship running on emergency power does not survive long to being dipped in a massive vat of acid."

When the force simply went away, Dashel felt the cold emptiness of not knowing that he was connected to the greater universe. Shocked, he wandered where he had felt this before and then remembered the Padawan exercises he had been through in the Yslamari Chambers in the old Republic Prison on Coruscant. There, he had learned that even without the force, a Jedi had training that he could fall back on. More, he was a soldier before he was a Jedi and had been through war without knowing what the force was. Training kicked in and he began to seek out weapons to combat what was invading Harumn Kal. He also began to reflect on the wisdom of the Jedi having bases at all considering the rate at which they were falling. Visions of them wandering the galaxy like hermits distracted him for a moment, before with a feline growl he focussed on the moment he was in. A coded, low frequency and low power signal alerted him that Kala had moved the Black Sunday to a safe location below the level of the trees using the maneuvering thrusters and repulsor lifts, and was well into the engine start up procedure. He doubted he would have time to get there, but that decision would be decided by the force even if it was seemingly absent from the planet. Grabbing some light battle armor to put over his robes, Dashel took the time to grab some ion weapons to deal with the composition of the forces attacking the temple. He clipped four ion grenades and two thermal detonators to his belt, grabbed a heavy blaster (with holster) and two ion pistols. Before leaving the armory he grabbed a couple of masks to deal with the jungles deadly gases. From a nearby terminal, he grabbed a quick download of several emergency routes that exited the base which was quickly sealing itself off. He followed the nearest one, which to his surprise headed directly towards the heaviest of the assaulting forces. A maniacal grin spread across his face. Dashel Illioni prepared himself to have some fun even without the support of the force. [/i]

Black Sunday arrived caustiously into the system. Carefull to keep to a flight path that would easily allow him to escape until committed to the planet, he crept into the system with his passive systems on maximum and reaching out to the maximum of his ability in the force. When nothing happened, he landed at the temple and entered into the landing bay to see Damon and Kirlocca leaving. Fully attuned to the force, the emotional storm roiling through the hangar casued him to pause and examine himself. He took a moment, calmed himself down and walked into the foyer of the Jedi council. He bowed to a young page and had him announce him properly to Hou Jo. As he waited, Dashel bowed his head and meditated on what it meant to be a Jedi and on what he had to lose by participating in the uncoming battle. He decided that he would not be part of the upcoming campaign, but that neither could he entirely he abandon his oaths as a jedi. Confusion reigned within his mind. When the doors were finally opened to him, he entered to catch the last portion of Hou Jo's speach. Considering the number of of Jedi that had so far left the chamber, Dashel wandered what support the Jedi would lend to this campaign. "Master Hou Jo, neither myself, my apprentices nor Knight Sunrider will lend our direct support to attacking Carida with Dark Sun support. They are safely away and are planning to stay away. As for myself, I will be with Admiral Starlisk to lend support to the operation if he will have me." He left the chamber before Hou Jo could reply, the full weight of his decision ruffling the light fur around his neck. Somehow, he felt as if one part of him was abondoning the Jedi while yet another told hm the moral stand was the one to take."

Dashel's departure for the Haruun Kal was anything but gracious or civil. He barely left enought time for himself to give orders to Odan before leaving. "Odan," said Dashel, "If any further padawans shop up before I return, then you will begin to instruct them in the basics of the jedi way. Make sure they know the code and how to suppliment their own natural body with the force." Reaching over to where several pads were stored in a locked case, he pulled one out, read it and then tossed it to Odan. "On this pad are instructions for how to attune yourself to a force sensitive crystal." He next through a small crystal at Odan. It was a minor treasure to Dashel but he felt positive his Padawan would take care of it. "Use this crystal for practicing your ability to attune a crystal." "If you need help with any of it, ask Knight Sunrider for help. I will be seeing with my own eyes what is occuring with the order. He sealed the door and left the planet, heading for a Jedi Base whose occupants were dangerously close to the darkside.

Dashel returned to the comm shack and input a quick, heavily encypted and mutiple path communication to Master Poleb. He closed that line and opened one to the apprentices circulating in the skies over Manaan. "Prosepective Apprentices, this is Knight Illioni. Open a direct channel to your ships hyperspace computers for direct data transfer. Acknowledge receipt and procede to indicated coordinates. He left the comm shack and went to his bridge. The force was fairly disturbed and it was bothering him severely. He would meditate enroute to Hou Jo's location, but for now he had new apprentices to collect and a mission of importance from the Master of the Jedi Order. A small, forbidden thrill coursed up and down his spine. He mastered it, sending it to the force and set about breaking orbit and leaving the system. ((ooc)) ok padawan's, you heard Hou Jo and know the destination, Harum Kal. Get there, everyone coming post landing on pad 8, We will meet there and go see Hou Jo. Odan, keep continuing with what you were doing 'cept it wil be over Harum.

:::Com Transmission for Hou Jo Poleb::: Encryption protocol: Jedi Secured. Routing: Multiple stream, multiple path burst projection. Origination: Stationary Orbit, Manaan. :::Message as follows::: Master Poleb, Knight Illioni and Knight Sunrider aboard Black Sunday will arrive your location by shortest hyperspace route. Embarked with minimum two apprentices possible more, two knights. Request details of summons upon arrival. :::End Message::: Black Sunday emerged from hyperspace, nearly at the same time as the signal had reached the council. Dashel's sensed were by this time fully engaged. as his meditations during the flight had been filled with an almost nightmarish clouding by the Dark Side. Still relatively new as a knight, the experience had left him shaken to the core and very ready to listen to the advice given to him by his former master. As was becoming standard procedure, Dashel arrived on the outskirts of the system and engaged his ship's long range sensors. What they discovered openly sitting there had him hastily modifying his ship's attitude and orienting it back out of the system. A Black sun fleet was hanging in orbit over the planet and no evidence of a continuuing battle appeared. Without speaking to Kira or seeking the guidance of the force, he programmed in an emergency set of coordinates into the navicomputer and using the pre-existing datalink to the various apprentice crafts to slave their computers to his and leap out of system. Once they were free and moving towards their destination, Dashel turned to Kira and summoned Odan to the bridge. He transmitted the conversation to those apprentices still with them "Okay, here is what we know. Someone or something claiming to be Master Poleb was transmitting from the HK base, the planet of which was surrounded by Black Sun ships. Master Kira will continue your training elsewhere. I intend to return to HK, infiltrate the system and see what's going on."

((ooc)) s'okay Kira...its not like there's been much activity anywhere. Dashel nodded to Kira. When he spoke, his voice was still pitched low and he kept an eye out for the approach of his now senior apprentice. "The worst part is how few Jedi there seem to be left. Its ironic, that after years of fighting the Jedi fold from within once again." He stopped, looked down at the ground in a moment of silence, then turned to back to her with a toothy grin in place. "Then again, we got this many together for the EV, maybe there is a great deal of hope." A beeping from the Comm shack alerted him to the presence of at least three hopefulls orbitting the planet. Leaving Kira's side, he entered the room and logged into the comm traffic and then contacted all three. "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Dashel Illioni, Jedi knight. I would be willing to take on all three of you (Scubby, Korin, and Malone, pm me if interested) until as such time as a more senior knight or master contacts you. If you do wish to go along, here are the coordinates where we will be heading." He closed the system, but monitored the airwaves should any of the prospects decide to respond. Looking over the status boards, he keyed an internal microphone to a speaker near Odan. "Padawan, when you are finished slaughtering my ships electrical system, please join Knight Kirana and myself in the comm shack. We might be taking on new apprentices and I wish to let you know your next assignment." He rose from the comm equipment, passed Kira where she remained in the passageway and began reviewing a list of planets acceptable to land the various craft on and then leave them there.

Once his Padawan was out of sight, Dashel grinned towards his former master. He spoke to her in a tone of voice guaranteed not to pass beyond the two of them. ”œWhat my Padawan is now dealing with I created when I upgraded the shields on Tatooine. Its something of a minor mechanical test, but even more so of his ability to process information on an intuitive level and then prove it afterwards.”

As he watched the momentus gathering that would slowly resurect the EV Dashel came to a conclusion. He was not needed here. He left the ship in orbit then proceeed to the back of his ship to find both Kira and his apprentice. Once they were all together, he stated his next goal simply. "On Tatooine, I took the oppurtunity to reinfore this ship's shields for a special occasion. We are headed to the remains of the Yavin system to see if we can locate some crystals that Odan will be needing for his lightsaber. It seems the only place that the Jedi ever found crystals of a natural red hue." A few quick taps on his keyboard prepared the neccessary information for them. Into their datapads went the information concerning the remaining systems that needed testing or maintenance before heading insystem.

Kira's look towards Dashel almost went unnoticed. He was concentrating instead on keeping the Black Sunday from crashing into any of the myriad cargo ships that were busy deploying Master Armenia's response to the damage done to the Eternal Vigilance. Once they were in a section of relatvely calm space, he turned towards Kira and broadcasted over an encrypted, "Fellow Jedi, I know the EV is an enormous vessel, but there is a Jedi Master, two knights and an apprentice in orbit of this planet. Should that not be enough raise the vessel to the surface to ease the efforts of the droids working on her?" He paused, considering what he had just said. "The effort should be know more than an extension of the principle behind Kira's Battlemind (?) coupled with Force telekinesis. In all probability, Master Armenia will probably have to be the focus point as she knows EV best, but I volunteer to be that point if she is unwilling." Almost as an afterthought, he added, "Besides, what better way to defeat Sith, psuedo Sith, or any other evil than showing that the Jedi will always rebuild and enhance what they destroy?" [/i]

Dashel blasted the Black Sunday from the hangar at barely below its max lift rating. He was in a hurry for Manaan. Reports indicated they were going to be too late for the battle, but he knew they could aid in the clean up shortly before heading to the remains of the Yavin System. ((ooc)) Kirana, Odan, next post is at the Manaan thread, sorry about the short post.

Dashel looked at his Master and let his amusement pass through the force to her. Wearing a grim continence, he turned towards Odan. With irony edging his voice, he said, "From what my old friend told me, you have indeed done well apprentice. Get aboard and get cleaned up, we are head to Manaan to help out there." He turned back towards Kirana, "I wish times were better for our reunion, but the life of a Jedi seems to be one adventure after another, no matter how we try to avoid it." His eyes and bearing turned grim. Quietly, so as not to be overhead by his apprentice, "Manaan is under attack by parties unknown. Reports are sketchy at this moment, but many agree on one thing, the ship has flooded and many are fleeing. Maybe we can arrive to help with damage control." "Do you wish to go with me?"

After studying the blueprints of the modifications neccessary for his ship's shielding systems, Dashel returned to the shield emitters to insure that he had made all the adjustments neccessary for what he was going to do. Once he was satisfied with everything, he ran a bench test on the entire system to make sure everything was interfacing properly. It was no surprise to him, when several key power relays reported massive power fluctations eminating from the new components he had installed. Muttering something un-Jedi like, he went back to the modifications he had made and begin studying his work. He sighed when he saw he had not used the correct wiring sequence for several energy fields into the shield reinforcement boosters. A wince creased his face when he realized that he left the current installation as is, the shielding system would have failed whenever he attempted to cross link some of his main weapons systems or under combat stresses. The rewiring and retesting was still proceeding when both his astromech and Kala informed him that his old Master had arrived outside the hatch to his ship and were requesting entrance. Hurriedly reading over the test results before answering the door, Dashel grunted with satisfaction that the shields would hold when extra power was called for. Wearing well stained cover-alls, he went to the main hatch to greet his old master.

The familiar touch of his Master startled Dashel so much he dropped a hydrospanner on his head. When he stopped laughing long enough to catch his breath, he returned the sensation to Kira, welcoming her back from her long exile. Then he laughed again at the excitement and happiness he felt at her pending arrival. She was always so much fun. Clearing his mind and settling into the moment as a proper Jedi, he reached out to his Padawans through the force and commanded that they return. Finished, he sent a brief communication through the holo-array, welcoming Kira formally and letting her know where he was berthed. Then he went back to work on re-inforcing the shields. There was much work to be done if the shields were to hold through the atmosphere of the gas giant Yavin.

Dashel, fresh and prepared to greet the twin suns of Tatooine, guided his ship into the nearest ship berth, this time free of any troubling sandstorms. He immediately sent out a comm and a mental suggestion for his Padawans to report on their mission or to his ship, whicheverbest suited their needs.

Triani senses, outside their noses, were for the most part no sharper than a humans. Dashel informed him that Master Armiena's attention was focussed on the departed male in way he had not been deluged with since the Mon Calamari shipyards. It was time to go for that reason and one other. His apprentices were on Tatooine and it was time ot retrieve them. As he raised the boarding ramp of his ship, it was with the certain knowledge that he would be soon returning to Ilum. One of his apprentices was ready to begin construction of his own lightsaber, while the other needed to select the crystal he would eventually use to do the same. Besides, Dashel knew that teaching his own Padawans to seek their crystals would help him strengthen his won techniques. There waqs always something about teaching that helped make sense of obscure practices one felt confusion about after learning. When the ship's pwoerplant and engines responded to his command and his ship was lifting towards the stratosphere, Dashel had Kala plot a course towards Tatooine. He went to the converted main hold and began to meditate. The meditation opened him to the force. dashel found himslef looking at a memory of his journey to the temple at Coruscant. An unstable alliance with the force and no knowledge of his limitations had let his subconscious mind do things beyond his ability now as a Jedi Knight. Kala called through the intercom, "Ten seconds till hyperspace, destination indicated is Tatooine." Still deeply enmeshed in the force, he reached out and activated activated the jump engines himself. When the meditation ended, dashel had failed to make the leap to the lesson the force had shown him. It was a lesson that he would have to learn the hard way. He rose and began to practice his lightsaber skills.

Editted to remove Double Post.

"Then," said Dashel, "it is time for each of us to continue on our seperate journeys, hopefully enriched by the time we have spent together." He chuckled after intoning the pompous phrase, amused and yet saddened his time with Master Armiena was ending. Yet, he knew that it was time to return to the duty of instructing his Padawans and give them at least one small gift. Lachelle's information concerning Ara Lai he filed away carefully. That was a visit he was not yet ready to undertake. Someday, when his knowledge of the force was more complete. For now, he had a learned a few techniques that he would need to meditate on and practice with before absorbing anything new. He turned to face Armenia before speaking next. "I too have had a small experience with the Chaos Gods. It was not something that I care to repeat and left my former Master in a severe state of disarray so severe she went in a voluntary exile shortly afterwards. Will the Jedi Order be pursuing this shard of chaos?"

Dashel emerged from the intial test of his abilities feeling as if he had hefted an Imperial Star destroyer. He was exhausted physically and mentally but delighted at the results of his first effort. Master Lachelle's extravegent praise lifted his spirits enough that he considered a setting for the five seperated parts of the crystal for the future. For now he wanted to rest, but the immediate future now held more questions than time and he sent a though to Master Lachelle. "I know there is more for me to learn. Is there any particular area you would suggest?"