Dantooine

[Trushaun]

The apparition came back a few more times, guiding her to the cavern. It was a magnificent site to see. Everything had a eerie glow to it.

”œTrushaun.”

[Reptilia]

Rep woke up after falling out of his seat, he quickly stumbled to his feet to see if he was in danger. Sensing Trushaun was near he stepped off the ship, he watched for a few moments as his padawan manipulated her crystal and some dirt. He was glad that she was picking up what he was trying to teach her and took the initiative to practice it on her own. He walked over to her, and sat down. He ripped up a few pieces of dirt and imitated Trushaun, he didn't have much of a plan at that point since they had covered the basics.

 

"So, what do you want to learn next?"

[Trushaun]

Sensing her master behind her she gently guided the crystal into her lap. Struggling, she wrapped the crystal in the cloth. Standing up, she let the dirt fall. Trushaun clasped the crystal in her hand. Thinking hard about what she wanted to do next she spoke out...

 

"I would like to learn how to control nature and the elements. I believe the Jedi Temple library computer called it the Force of Nature. Where one could come into tune with nature and stimulate growth and that lot."

[Reptilia]

"Okay, this will be tougher than what we did previously," He said as he adjusted to his meditative position. "First, you need to get attuned to the environment. Try to become one with it, if that makes sense. Manipulating nature it something that is challenging but is one of the more useful skills a Jedi can learn. After you feel confident enough in your connection I want you to concentrate on something, a flower or a bush, whatever strikes your fancy. Try to make it grow a bit, this will be difficult and I don't expect you to get it your first try. Just be persistent and try your hardest," As he finished he stepped out of his meditative state and relaxed for the moment.

[Trushaun]

Joining her master in the meditative stance Trushaun closed her eyes. She breathed soft, slow breaths. The breeze was a welcome feeling against her skin. Inhaling the particles that had been kicked up she smelled flowers. Trushaun flexed a small smile. After the physical tranquility she worked on her mental state of mind. Listening to the breeze, the grass rustle. It just set her in a peaceful state. She took a deep breath and held it for a moment. Focusing on the few grass blades in front of her she wished they would grow. She visualized it in her head. The Force would allow these few grass blades to grow and reach a new height. It wasn't working, she could feel it. Some how the Force wasn't touching the grass.

 

Time for a new approach. Letting her one hand dangle into the dirt she connected with the Force again. Everything living just hit her at once. The feeling was overwhelming but Trushaun took it. She let out a gasp as most of the plants feelings on Dantooine hit her. It was a monstrous task. She was quickly being overwhelmed. Trushaun concentrated on the grass, some of the feeling was gone. Harder, she concentrated on the grass blades in front of her. She tunneled the Force through her body and into the ground, specifically concentrating on these blades. Nothing happened. She tried it again, funneling the Force through her body and into these blades.

 

Looking up she saw that they had indeed grown just a few inches! She gasped for air and took her hand off the ground. She still felt connected but over the excitement in this task, she lost that connection. Trushaun failed twice but got it to work the third time. Thank Goodness. It was indeed harder than the other stuff they had done before. She was on her way to be a naturalist now!

 

"Master, I was wondering what class you were?" Glancing over to Rep, she remembered he never told her.

[Reptilia]

"Well, I still am a Sentinel." He said after witnessing his padawan progress towards knighthood. He was glad that she had managed to complete the task, it made training that much easier. The fact that she had done it so fast was impressive, Rep himself could barely do much more than that "I thought the idea of using illusions to get by enemies and deceive them was much more appealing than slicing them up with a lightsaber. Why do you want to be a Naturalist?" He asked, he mostly wanted to talk instead of think of another training exercise.

[Trushaun]

Trushaun leaned back and put her hands behind her body to support it. She sighed after her master finished. "Well...." She thought for a moment. "My people, The Fosh, are a conflicted species. We are few in number but we are very vocal about what we deem important. I was one of the ones that was brought up to preserve and defend our trees. I cannot tell you why our trees are very important to us. But a plague has come to our planet. It began to kill our trees slowly. I was sent to find a cure from the Caalmasians. Then I was kidnapped, escaped, brought to the Jedi. Now if I can become a full-on Jedi Naturalist, I can perhaps save the ecology on my Planet."

She looked up to see her master. This was the first time her plan has come out. It was strange she let a member of a different species in. Her species didn't trust easy, and often thought of other species as mere puppets. That is perhaps why she was sent off-world. Because she was one of the nicer Fosh.

[Reptilia]

Delete: Double post.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Guest

[Reptilia]

"That's quite a burden to be placed upon you, but also a great opportunity. You probably wouldn't have been able to leave your planet if it wasn't for this. Every tragedy births some good." Reptilia was a man of few words, of those words were a few thoughtful ones. Having some down time was nice, as it was the first chance he had gotten to speak with his padawan he was happy. "Back to when you were kidnapped, I'm curious to how you escaped, can you elaborate for me?"

[Trushaun]

Trushaun smiled to see her master came back after a momentary twist of reality. While he was away, she was praticing the newest technique she learned. To show him the extent of this she stood and planted a seed. Concentrating a small tree started to grow. It quickly grew to a height of about three feet. She broke the forced growing off and huffed, it was still a task as she was an apprentice still.

 

 

Not facing her master still. She smiled, still staring at her plant.

 

"The men in white....they...Forgot to keep up on their dosing charts. They were not prompt in my sedation. I slowly became aware of my surroundings. The medication they were giving me, well the tube was right by my hand and I pressed down on it for about two hours...."

 

She turned to her master. "I became more aware of the room I was being held in. They came in to dose me, and then I sprung into action. I grabbed a tiny knife and cut the man in white that was about to inject me. The rest....Well. I found a door and ran for hours, eventually losing the armed men in white. A kind old man, who was a jedi. He helped me. And now here I am." She dusted off her hands. She was becoming quite fluent in basic now.

[Reptilia]

"You killed," He said surprised, Trushaun had seemed so innocent before but as he spoke to her she became more and more real. He nodded at her improvement, slowly but surely she was getting a hang of the Force. He stood up, he knew that they needed to get to work on training and end their break. "Next," He paused for a moment and thought. "I think we should cover some more saber techniques. You have the basics down but I want to go over some more advanced types of attacks." He grabbed his hilt and ignited an end. He swung it around a few times. "Notice how far I can reach and how I leave myself open."

 

He grabbed his hilt reverse grip style, it felt uncomfortable to Rep but he wanted to give as many options to Trushaun as possible so she could choose what fit well for her. He swung his blade around again, this time he made sure to demonstrate his reach and how much torque he could get with it. "Holding it like this has its advantages, it's a little bit easier to slash with longs strides and take out multiple enemies with one attack. The main disadvantage is that if you lock up against another lightsaber user you won't be able to push back with as much strength as you could if you were holding it like I did previously. I guess, try both ways out for a bit."

[Trushaun]

"Killed?" She looked at the Kel'Dor. "No. He lived. I can feel it. I only stabbed him in the shoulder." She snapped to attention when the new lesson had begun. Trushaun ignited her training saber and followed Rep's movements. She rather liked the reverse hilt style. It was much easier on her bone structure. She would have to practice both for when she came into a pinch.

 

She switched to a more regular pose, like Rep had back on Gala. She admired how the saber glowed over he skin as the sun was setting. Trushaun felt tempted to dual-wield her training lightsabers, just to get a feel for it. But deep within her she felt that she wasn't ready for that. Just yet.

[Reptilia]

"That's good, it's useful to be familiar with both even though you'll most likely stick to one. Also, it's important to remember that if you ever do need to use your lightsaber against another force user is that they will have their own skill set complete with some tricks that you won't expect, so you need to constantly be on the look out for any sign, a twitch of their arm or an adjustment in their feet. Actually, that's a good thing to do all of the time, the Galaxy is full of shady people who might look trustworthy enough but could be waiting for you to let your guard down. Basically..." He stopped mid sentence as he lunged at Trushaun with his saber in hand. "Never," He slashed at her chest. "Let," another swing. "Your," A quick jab. "Guard," He kicked at her ribs. "Down," He finished with a wave of energy aimed at her legs.

 

"Any questions?"

[Trushaun]

Trushaun listened to her master like she always did. But what he did next was a surprise...but a flicker in one of her head-feathers told her something was up....

 

"Never," He slashed at her chest. She pivoted on her left leg, leaning back. "Let," another swing. She spun around again. "Your," A quick jab. She countered with her lightsaber. "Guard," He kicked at her ribs. He found his mark, she bounced a distance and landed on her feet. "Down," He finished with a wave of energy aimed at her legs. She had just enough time to jump, and using the Force she got clear, but still not far enough out of the range of all the dirt and debris.

 

She landed and knelt on one knee, deactivating her lightsaber. She looked down at the ground. Unsure if he wanted to keep going with this exercise, like a dual. Or what. She had an option to try and take him by surprise but didn't want to risk it.

[Reptilia]

"I'll take that as a no," He said, his padawan had paused and obviously couldn't decide what to do next. Rep, could sense that Trushaun wasn't going to attack so he relaxed, aside from testing her reflexes he was also testing to see what kind of combatant she was. She could defend herself well enough, but Rep would have liked to see her respond more aggressively.

 

"I'll give you one free shot, and we'll go from there."

[Trushaun]

(Sorry, Didn't see that last part. lol.)

 

"No, Thank you." Trushaun inhaled sharply. The kick he landed was a lesson. She knew he wasn't trying to kill her, this was still training. The Fosh stood up and clipped her lightsaber to her belt. A sharp breeze blew through the plains. Something dreadful had just happened. It was as if a world exploded. It was just a sudden black hole where thousands of lives used to be. It felt worse than the kick, it robbed her of her breath and strength for a moment. (Death Star Laser shot.)

 

She grasped her chest as she recovered. She looked up to her master for some sort of explanation, as his connection was still much stronger than hers. Her's was more raw, and she was unprepared for this.

[Reptilia]

At the same moment as his padawan Reptilia felt a disturbance, it was one that he had felt before. He shivered, the feeling didn't affect him as much as Trushaun but he was a little distraught. He shook it off and tried to explain it to his apprentice. "That feeling, it is almost like when someone pulls back on a slingshot, as far as it will go and then releases it. The slingshot it actually death, and when it releases such a large amount of lives it can be felt across the universe, especially so for those who are force-sensitive. It is something that you will feel from time to time unfortunately, the Galaxy is in turmoil. It isn't something to focus too much attention on at this time. We should just finish up training here, I feel that it might be best to get to the temple soon." Rep waited for everything to sink in with his padawan.

[Trushaun]

Trushaun tried to make sense of what Rep said. It made sense, kinda. But she would have to devote more time to think about it later. It was time to go back to the Temple. She couldn't say she wasn't excited. Many lessons were learned here on Dantooine, but it was time to leave. Come back at another time and progress her training further. She followed Rep's lead.

[Reptilia]

Reptilia went to the ship. Reptilia started up the engine. Reptilia set course for Gala. Reptilia waited for Trushaun.

 

((Really needed to get a post out.))

[Trushaun]

Ahhhh hyperspace was a wierd feeling. But it was good to get off Gala. But she sensed another disturbance in the force... She was eager to investigate it. She made sure her lightsabers were on her belt then strapped into her seat.

[Seraphis jai Skallu]

War was everywhere, no matter what people said. The holonets might be abuzz with news of the Galactic Alliance, which was so confident in the still-recent peace that they had abandoned their military in favor of planetary police and elusive Jedi. Most of the galaxy was settling in for what the media told them was going to be a long era of prosperity removed from the clutches of the battles between the Empire and whatever faction to which Starlisk claimed his military answered under some pretense of democracy.

 

Seraphis jai Skallu knew better. Certainly war was not as overt these days. And yet, festering just out of sight of the general populous was something just as horrible as the constant succession of war crimes that had been committed by both sides in the Galactic Civil War. Terrorism was at a high as the Sith who used to have Republic troops to slaughter found themselves without an Empire to give them shelter. They had turned to terrorism, and CoreSec was too slow and the Jedi too careless to do anything about it. In many ways, they were just too weak to deal with the problems that Seraphis saw.

 

And he knew war. The Kaleesh were raised on it. Normally, they killed each other in order to obtain godhood for themselves. Seraphis was a little more far-sighted, and he realized that there was an entire galaxy of better people to kill than other Kaleesh. So he had left his homeworld and come here to help found a secret organization that, altough extremely small, was going to show the galaxy what horrible things they were conveniently overlooking. Maybe the Jedi would learn something.

 

Presently, tall being, his face adorned as always with his war mask, strode through the streets to the Stormcloak hideout, which appeared just to be a small house from the outside. Tapping the security code with one of his four-fingered hands--two of which were opposable thumbs--he entered.

 

The inside of the hideout was actually very little more than the outside suggested. Seraphis headed straight to the stairwell and went down into the basement, which at least had an open space with a large table outfitted with a holoprojector. This was where most of the Stormcloak planning sessions took place, and he anticipated this day's discussion. It was time to stop hiding in the shadows, waiting for the moment to strike. They now had reached critical mass of members, and it was time to take real action.

 

Hunching over the table, Seraphis called up a galaxy map on the holo, projecting it to nearly fill the room, and started to study possible targets while waiting for everyone else to arrive.

[Grape]

Sleep. It rarely came to him. But when it did, he got lost in his mind. Grape was an interesting individual. It was all of him falling down a kaleidoscopic of bright colors and Ewoks with Jawa eyes. But suddenly, there was light.

 

It was like the Lord himself was walking through the room. But there was something odd about this messiah. Why was he in their base? Why was the messiah not giving Grape his medication. Then Grape raised his eyebrow. Was he on medication? Drugs? No. No no. No drugs for Grape. Just his purp-drank and his blaster. That's all Grape needed. Was he a simple man. Yes. Grape thought so. But that didn't explain who or what this messiah in the Trip Center was. Did he need a vacation? The messiah was coming to him for a trip? GLORIOUS!

 

His reputation will go through the roof. People will be lining up outside for his awesome trips! Grape rolled over onto his back on the couch he was sleeping on, and blinked his eyes for a few seconds, then violently threw the blanket off of him. Rocking his old body back and forth he sat up right, rubbed his eyes.

 

"Welcome, Welcome!" He got up, and stretched. "Welcome to Grape Travel Emporium!"

 

But then his eyes adjusted to the new light. He stopped abruptly. He realized who he was talking to.

 

"OHHH! Serap! Sorry, Grape thought you were someone else." He coughed and rubbed his sleeve over his mouth. "Grape has been here too long. Last Grape Escapade- Grape killed a ship of slavers. Grape was waiting for boys to get back."

 

The old man laughed, and leaned over the map.

 

"Grape want's to play!" He laughed a little as he looked over at his newly arrived friend.

[Seraphis jai Skallu]

Seraphis turned his gaze on Grape, his mask giving many humans the impression that he bore a constant look of condescension unless he made an effort with his eyes to make a motion otherwise. He had questions about this man's sanity, and that made him unpredictable, but he had proven himself a skilled combatant and so was probably enough of an asset to outweigh the chances of him going completely mad and turning on all of them. Sometimes he wondered if they were being tight enough on who they let into the organization; other times, he saw how few they were and wondered if perhaps they were being too restrictive. The galaxy had many problems, and there were man people that needed to be brought to justice. A half dozen individuals were unlikely to be able to do it on their own.

 

The Kaleesh didn't particularly care yet. He would find opportunities to make a difference in the galaxy and earn his godhood, and he would take them. Either an army would come together, the Stormcloaks would accomplish what before only an army could with their small group, or he would die short of his goal. If that happened, it would be because he was unworthy of it.

 

"Be patient, Grape," he said, his voice deep, gravelly, and bearing the expected Kalee accent. "There are a wealth of targets and time enough to test ourselves against many of them."

[Shadow Knight]

He was standing on the natural floor of Dantooine. More specifically he was inside of a cave on Dantooine. It was mid-evening long after most of the nocturnal animals had departed to take their place in their version of the great rat race. He stood on a great stone floor beside a rock wall leading up to the stalactite-fanged ceiling of what he considered the main chamber. Dark as it was he had no lights or other external aids to help him see. Still the world around him was in its own way quite riveting. In his vision the walls showed outcroppings of moonmilk, clusters of aragonite, dripping stone pendulites glistening with microbial slime, and a thin stream of water flowed away into a spill sink at his feet. Arthropods, some bigger than he would like, scuttled in and out of the groves of calcite- flowstone.

 

He smiled in the dark not that many beings could see such a thing. Then he removed the mask from his face and took a sip of water from his canteen. He had just finished performing his costumed gymnastics work out. He liked to come here in the dark, as he always fought better in the dark. He knew that a man such as he had to be constantly improving himself if he wanted to compete in this universe. There were beings that could subjugate a thinking being's will, force them to do any act, and that those beings were considered the good guys in this galaxy.

 

Then there were other far more sinister beings. They were full of greed, preying on the innocent, killing for money. It was all the same to him. He even heard that there were beings in the galaxy who could shoot lightning from their finger tips. He had to be able to kill all of them, and it wouldn't always be one vs one. So he had to train, he had to prepare, he had to do what was needed to make sure justice could flourish in this galaxy. A small beeping noise alerted him to what time it was. Placing his sword on his back he rolled his head around and began to walk out.

 

He soon arrived at the meeting location. A code he had memorized granted him access and soon he was in the basement of the house. Saying nothing he simply took up a position in the closest corner to the door and waited.

[Guest]

The wind...

 

It blew briskly by Kao, it's current wrapping around his body like a snake quickly groping a tree branch after launching it's self from it's previous location, waking the middle aged human from his meditation. Without the slightest hint of movement, he looked out from beneath his conical hat toward the distant stars, remembering his homeworld and it's destruction. With a grimace, Kao stood up. For it's destruction would not go unanswered. He vowed this the day he left behind Aeten II. And even the hatred he held for those who ripped apart his planet, in war or in commercialism of it's resources, he would never go against his word. Grabbing his gear, he left behind the cliff upon which he chose to meditate, and soon found himself before the house within which he now called home.

 

"Idiot." Was Kousen's only thought as he managed to catch Grape's last words as he entered the basement. He found the being to be quite nostalgic, as did he with most beings he could not trust. But for the most part, Grape was simply annoying, as was his way with words. "Seriously? Who speaks of themselves in third person?"

 

Not that he could truly trust any of them. For Kousen trusted no one. Everyone had benefited from his homeworld, and it was because of this solumn fact, that he could never go home. The prime example was the holographic rubble that appeared briefly upon the projector as Seraphis scrolled potiential targets. None knew his homeworld was Aeten II, but soon the Galaxy would remember why he made his choice to stand with the StormCloaks. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend... for now. This was a creed Kousen lived by. And as long as the group of misfits chose to stand against and terrorize those who brought destruction to Aeten II, he would stand with them.

 

"Any orders for deployment yet?" Kousen questioned Seraphis as he stepped up toward the projector, his fist so tightly gripped, the crushgaunt that adourned his hand echoed of metal scraping metal. "I am growing tired of playing this waiting game. The galaxy should know of it's wrong-doings, and i am ready to shove it in it's face."

[Seraphis jai Skallu]

More were coming, Seraphis was pleased to note. The Stormcloaks had no real heirarchy and no real structure, which meant that they didn't really answer to each other, only to the group as a whole. It was a good thing because then there was no power struggle amongst people who were supposed to be fighting for the same team. However, the disadvantages came in doing things like taking actual action, making real decisions, or getting everyone to show up on time to a meeting. So far, no one was late to this particular gathering.

 

The one that seemed to want everyone to call him Shadowknight was standing silently nearby. Seraphis generally thought it was ridiculous that someone would make up a name for themselves and then expect it to be spoken like something to be feared, but in this case, he suspected Shadowknight had the combat skills to warrant coming up with a monicker. Perhaps if the Stormcloaks were successful enough, fear of the name would come in time; here on Dantooine, it seemed a bit premature.

 

Then there was Kousen, willing enough to break the silence but thankfully not in the same way as Grape. He didn't know anything about Kousen's background, but from the way he spoke, Seraphis figured he probably fought in the war. That didn't change the fact that he spoke now of orders and deployment in a context where they didn't fit at all.

 

Seraphis turned the same gaze on Kousen that he'd given to Grape. "Just who do you expect to issue said orders?" he asked, his voice dry and rhetorical. "It is my recommendation that we begin preparing for an attack on the Sith by travelling to Myrkr and gathering ysalamiri. I understand that the creatures can place a victory over even their main Temples well within our grasp."

 

Truthfully, he'd be just as happy to attack the Black Sun, assuming they could find the criminal organization. But Myrkr could double as a team-building experience as they fought the indigenous vornskrs.

[Grape]

Orders? Grape snorted a laugh. Silly folks. There was no structure, no hierarchy of leaders. It was just a bunch of hoodlums doing what the law couldn't do. Even Grape knew that and he was mentally unstable. Dang spice mines.

 

But Serap quickly corrected Kouson. What a turd-beetle. And it was clear that Serap was the most- involved in this. A question for later.

 

"Can Grape throw in his two bits?" He spoke out. Grape knew he was not well liked, and that was ok with him. Within the next five months they would all either be dead, or captured. Grape knew how he was going to go. And instead of the usual going out fighting a losing battle, he already had designs for a Suicide bomb. No fishing, no happy retirement. He would fix things in his last few years.

 

"Grape has only worked by himself. And as far as Grape knows, we all have worked alone. We should go for a smaller, easier target to get to know one another."

 

He walked around the table, thinking. "We should attack the Hutts. There is no easier target to get acquainted with each others talents." He smiled as he returned to the table standing next to the one known as Kousen.

 

"Ysalamir are only a small species, not combat scenario. Grape thinks we need an easy combat scenario." He locked eyes with each member for a moment then looked at the ceiling.

 

The small moment of clarity was over. How could he tell? There was a blue Ewok yelling at him from the ceiling.

[Vayne]

Chorvat had entered the hideout quietly though not escaping notice. He had walked in during a conversation, enough to hear about attacking the Hutts. Wagging a sucker-tipped finger before him, he spoke in a heavily-accented basic, "If target Hutts, better wipe out completely. They avenge 'til dead."

 

With his 9118 heavy carbine slung across his back, the Ghestslayer gestured towards Seraphis while adding, "Much better kill Sith. No revenge. If die to us, then too weak and culled from herd." Giving a light shrug within his Stalker battle armor, the Rodian added, "No much for revenge on what considered non-threat."

 

It wasn't a secret that many of the Sith, if not all, considered themselves gods among insects when compared to any non-force sensitive. Shoot, many of them thought of themselves as such even when compared to Master Jedi, though at least the Jedi received recognition from them as a viable threat... usually. This current crop of Jedi weren't seeming to prove much.

 

Moving over towards the Kaleesh's side, Chorvat Chattza made his vote known, "Stand with Kaleesh. Kill Sith. Most evil. Most pain Galaxy. Least revenge." Holding up that singular, sucker-tipped digit again, the Rodian finished with, "Better have one indifferent enemy, than few determined."

 

In Chorvat's mind, targetting the Black Sun and/or the Hutts would only cause those criminal organizations to expend resources to hunt and kill the Stormcloaks. A person could only deal with so many enemies at one time. Not only that, both groups were -extremely- resourceful and this young group would be left consistently looking over their shoulder.

 

At least with the Sith, if one of them was slain, it was likely that the other Sith would assume that the dead Sith was too weak, and thus the Stormcloaks did them a favor, culling the weak and incompetent from their strong, mighty force. Or at least, that was how the Rodian saw it in his mind. Whether that would play out to be true in real life was yet to be seen.

[Shadow Knight]

Jerking up Shadow took initiative calmly. ”œEveryone knows the Hutts are an inconsequential player in the galaxy right now. La Mareaguerra in Coruscant's Upper Levels is a known high class establishment for scum and villainy. I say we burn it to the ground and send a message that we will be wiping filth such as it from the galaxy En masse!”

[Grape]

Grape hated to be the adult, but it was time.

 

 

"KIDS!" He bellowed. "Let's here some input here! Can't be just be Grape and Shadowman here."

 

That Ewok was really ticking him off, as well as the silence in the room. He contemplated walking over to his bag, grab the blaster in the bag, and shoot that blueberry frak from the ceiling.