Ylesia

[Aidan Darkfire]

The trip had been long. While not entirely quiet (as the medical staff had been required to perform their duties), for Aidan it felt decidedly...muted. It was never fun processing the horrors he witnessed, but it was an important part of the healing process. At some point, one of the medics approached him, asking about his side. He hissed as he touched at the edge of the burnt stripe on his side, noting how weird it was to see himself through his armor.

 

"Put it like this, the Force helps those who help themselves. I don't really think I have the energy and focus to do it properly before it scars badly. So...I'm all yours. Of course, if it's just stabilizing care, I think I'll probably be okay until planetfall if someone else needs attention first."

 

He looked around, but nobody seemed to be in intensely critical condition that wasn't already receiving care. Still, Aidan wasn't the kind to take needed resources away from someone else when he could easily do without.

[Aidan Darkfire]

He flashed a very forced smile at her question. There wasn't a lot of anesthetic to go around, so he'd had to endure a fair bit of pain before the bactane finally began calming things back down. The disinfectant's notable sting made it feel briefly like his side was on fire, but it was only temporary.

 

"Yeah, something like that." He didn't, and he knew it. He was lucky to survive. He was always lucky to survive. But there was no honor in shoving wartime horrors off onto the nurse trying to care for him. That wasn't her job. But she still sat with him...which admittedly, Aidan found comforting. 

 

And then there was mildly awkward silence, which he chose to fill first.

 

"You said this was a lightsaber wound. You see a lot of those, then? Not many nurses outside the high and mighty order seem to recognize them, always try treating them like blaster wounds at first."

Edited April 30, 2022 by Aidan Darkfire

[Aidan Darkfire]

Aidan was rather dumbstruck as the Queen revealed her identity, though honestly it was more his muscle memory telling him this person demanded respect, and that he needed to be formal... now was clearly no time for formalities, even though it was clear she 

 

"That would explain the tiara, I suppose." He paused briefly as he measured the next few words more carefully. "I'm... I'm sorry about what happened to your people. I'd heard it was bad, but I had no idea." 

 

More stunted silence as Aidan had clearly gone straight for the tender spot. "It's, um...it's a pleasure to meet you as well, um... your Highness?"

Edited May 3, 2022 by Aidan Darkfire

[Aidan Darkfire]

Aidan turned shock and surprise into a forced laugh. Train an entire army, that was an absolutely great idea, let's have the mentally scarred lucky survivor be the training template for a whole new generation of political sacrifices. In fact, he'd never heard a better idea from a combat instructor except for every idea ever...oh. The realization was rather sudden, but it only caught him off guard because he wasn't expecting it. Of course, she was a politician, this might have easily been second nature to her and not an intentional slight.

 

"I always forget about the last name. It's kind of easy to get lost in the rank and file of the Imperial Knight uniforms, and frankly I'd gotten rather used to it. Look your highness, I can respect what you're trying to ask of me, but in good conscience I can't do what you're asking of me."

 

Aidan wanted to let it go, to let it be that, but here she was playing nurse in a warzone instead of still pretending she was royalty. She actually gave a damn enough to try and use his family name against him in desperation to help her people. If she were trained, this would be her weakness. There was the potential to do a lot more harm than good if she were trained and then fell, but the aggressions of the Sith demanded all hands on deck in the war effort to stop them, proven by her simple service with the medical crew. She had the willpower, and the drive. Aidan may have found his peace, but he still felt broken, scarred. At the least, he might be able to help sculpt something beautiful from the mistakes he'd made.

 

"But...you might be able to."

 

It felt like another of his classic moves, the Jedi would likely have rejected her long ago for her potential to fall, but they should have rejected him for the same warning signs. He proved those old stigmatized molds could be broken...and she also deserved a chance to prove it herself.

 

"Have you ever been tested for potential training in the ways of the Force?"

 

Desperate times. Desperate measures.

[Aidan Darkfire]

"Uh, well, it's not quite that simple..." Aidan looked around, realizing they did have plenty of medical equipment about them.

 

"If you can run a resonance scan on a sample of blood, we can get an idea from your midi-chlorian count. Other than that, we'd have to wait for one of the seekers from the Jedi or for the Imperial Knight HQ to reestablish itself. I think there's like some trick to telling, but I don't know it myself. I can say you have a rather strong and influential presence about you, a trait commonly found in those who learn the ways of the Force."

 

He sat back scratching his head.

 

"But...if this is something you're serious about doing, then we'll have plenty of time. This is more than some cool mind magic and flashy swords, this is a way of life. One that conflicts with a life of politics."

[Aidan Darkfire]

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?"

[Aidan Darkfire]

"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.

[Aidan Darkfire]

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.

[Aidan Darkfire]

"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 Darkfire]

"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?"

[Aidan Darkfire]

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.

[Aidan Darkfire]

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 Darkfire]

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?"

[Aidan Darkfire]

"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))