The Eternal Vigilance (The Maw)

[Ashley Jade Skywalker]

Ashley's wandering took her back to the main chamber, where she had begun. She paused for a moment, considering what to do next, when she heard a very familiar voice.

 

"Ash ... ? Ashley? Is it you? It's me...Jaina."

 

 

No way... It can't be... She whipped her head around, her eyes scanning over the crowd until they settled on a very familiar face.

 

"Jaina?" She felt a grin spread over her face as she made her way across the room to where she stood. "Jaina!"

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

"Oh, Ash!" Jaina wrapped her arms around her sister in an impulsive, teenage embrace. Turning to Ish, she smiled. "Ash, this is my friend Ish Ka Bibl. But you can call him Ish." She winked at him, and then squeezed Ashley's shoulders again. "And this is my long-lost big sister Ashley...the one I was telling you about."

 

She giggled with excitement. "You never said anything about going to the Jedi! At least, no one ever told me anything." Her face sobered a bit. "So much has happened to me, Ash..."

[Ashley Jade Skywalker]

"You and me both, little sister," Ashley said, wrapping one arm around her sister's shoulders. "If someone would've told me a month ago that I'd be here right now I probably would've laughed at them. But... things change." She paused for a moment, still grinning. "Geez, Jay, I can't believe it's been so long... and here I am forgetting my manners." She extended her hand to Ish. "Nice to meet you, Ish."

 

After shaking Ish's hand, she turned back to Jaina. "Now... if you'd like to meet the reason I'm here, I can take you to the hangar and introduce to you him."

[Ish Ka Bibl]

"If you would excuse me Ashley and Jaina, I'd like to return to my quarters and shower up before I get something to eat." Ish made his way down the hall, but quickly stopped and ran back to Jaina. "Here's my com-link number Jaina...If you need anything or want to meet up later, just give it a buzz"...."It was nice meeting you Ashley, I hope to see you around. Take it easy."

 

"Okay see you later Ish," both of them said it almost in unison. Ish could feel a bond between the two.

 

Ish scampereed off down the hall back to his quarters where he officially felt back at home. He disrobed, and entered his shower.

[Scorp Jedi Knight]

Scorp lost him self in all the different exrecises he preformed in order to keep his mind off things. Unfortantly this made him very sore.

 

"At least I felt like I did something." tired and hunrgy he decied he would go to sleep returning to his quarters he quickly went to sleep.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

"Him?" Jaina said, a hint of curious teasing in her tone. Ashely blushed, the hint of color setting off the delicate beauty of her slim features.

 

"Ash," Jaina continued, "who's in charge here? I have a relatively urgent problem that needs solving..." she glanced at her chrono.

 

"But I guess that can wait. Very well - take me to 'him'."

 

She grinned as her sister took her arm and escorted her back into the hangar.

[Ashley Jade Skywalker]

"To tell you the truth, I've got no clue who's in charge... haven't been here that long myself. Maybe Andon'll know..." Ashley bit her lip as they came to a junction in the corridors. "Hangar is..... this way." The two continued down the hallway until finally the door to the hangar came into view. Ashley led Jaina inside, her eyes searching the entire enclosure until she saw Andon off near one of the fighters, talking to Hale and someone else. "Come on, I'll introduce ya."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

It was very embarrassing: one moment she was milling over the thoughts churning around in her head, unconsciously led by her sister, and the next, she was falling backwards. Only the reprimanding tingle of her danger sense saved her. Using Force propulsion, she bounced up off of the ground to regain her standing position. Unfortunately, Ashley had already noticed.

 

"Jay - you okay?" she asked, concern mingled into her laughing tone.

 

Jaina smiled weakly, but genuinely. "I'm fine. Just a bit tired..." she trailed off.

 

A familiar presence seared her mind - so familiar, she wished she had been more cautious about opening her inner Force presence. Extinguishing the fire of her signature from inside of her, she broke contact with Searcy.

 

"...and I feel as if I have the weight of the world on my shoulders," she finished.

 

"I know what you mean," Ashley laughed. Jaina, though only left with a few memories of her older sister, was already beginning to adore her.

 

They stopped beside a youngish man who was conversing with two very familiar faces that had a set of even more familiar names: Airleas Lianahan and Hale Akturus.

 

Ashley laid a hand on Andon's arm, and Jaina sent her a quick wink and a smile before backing up a couple steps. Instinctively, she pulled out her comlink.

 

"Ish," she said, after keying the correct freq, "this is Jaina. I was wondering if you'd like to join me for lunch...Ashley and Andon may be coming as well."

[Airleas Lianahan]

Airleas listened to Hale and smiled. "So you want to destroy the hopefuls instead of the actual sith." She looked around as she saw the Jedi wandering around.

[Guest]

"If we find those who are apprenticed to the older Sith, we will no doubt find the older Sith, as well. I don't plan on specifically targeting children or the like. So, are you in?"

[Airleas Lianahan]

Airleas looked at Hale again, "I'm in, but I am not into killing children that have lost their way. Rumors are spreading that there are more then one base... Does anyone have any idea who is training the Sith hopefuls?"

[Andon]

While just standing there listening to the conversation between Master Akturus and Master Lianahan, Andon's mind was adrift. Usually he loved standing against the backdrop and listening to what people have to say, but for some reason he just couldn't keep his mind on the two Jedi before him. Nearly moments before he saw the two girls round the corner he sensed their presence in the Force...but he didn't turn his head in attention; he liked acting aloof. When they were finally just a few feet away from him he turned his head and rested his gentle hazel gaze on Ashley Jade and a girl he didn't know. He was thrown by the wink and smile the unknown girl gave him, but after using her comm the name Jaina was hard to miss...even more so he was thrown by Ashley's placement of her hand on his arm. With a quick glance at his Master, Andon motioned with his hand and led himself, Ashley, and Jaina away from the two Jedi's conversation.

 

"Excuse my rudeness..."

 

He said, switching his view from looking straight forward to Ashley, and then to Jaina.

 

"I'm Andon Colos...apprentice to Hale Akturus."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina gave him a warm smile. "It's a pleasure. I'm Jaina Jade Skywalker, apprentice to Adi-Wan Tinova - or sort of. I'm going to be knighted very soon."

 

The name Adi-Wan Tinova seemed to throw the room into a screeching halt. Conversations were carried on flawlessly, but nearly every Force presence in the room was turned to her. What have I done now ... ? she thought warily.

 

Though in truth, she had had no training under the great Jedi Master. She was reinstated into the order because of him, brought back from the very brink of her own destruction. But all of her training had really come from the Sith.

 

Which, she reflected, could be dangerous in its own right. But remembering the Code, remembering serenity, knowledge, compassion, love, the training she had gone through as both a Rogue Jedi and a Sith would come in handy. Not that there was much more any of them could teach her, anyways...

 

But that was irrelevant. Bringing her mind back to the present, she draped her arm around Ashley's shoulders. "I'm also Ashley's sister."

[Andon]

Adi-Wan Tinova, though he didn't know the name it was very familiar...where had he heard it from...could it be. Yes, it was the name that echoed in Orrick's thoughts before the Battle for Coruscant...Adi-Wan had been his Master and he the student. The apprentice's thoughts went further, no wonder Orrick seemed so ahead of his years, his grasp of the Force was incredible; Master Tinova must have been a great Jedi. Returning to his present train of thought his mind registered her last statement and he laughed slightly.

 

"You're Ashley Jade's sister? Why do I get the feeling this is going to be trouble?"

Edited July 5, 2004 by Guest

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina laughed, the musical sound echoing in the near-empty hangar.

 

"Come on, Ash," she whispered loudly enough so that Andon would have to try very very hard not to hear, with a wink at its intended recipiant. "We can take him on..."

 

As their giggles died down, Jaina glanced between the two of them. "Hey," she began, using her matter-of-fact tone. "How would you guys like to join me and Ish for lunch?"

[Andon]

Once more her wink was like a calm before the storm, he'd only known her for a few minutes and already he knew she would be trouble. Still, it'd keep him on his toes and ever since he landed on Manaan things had been incredibly boring, so if she could make things interesting it wouldn't be *too* bad. The mention of lunch sealed the deal for him.

 

"Lunch sounds good, I'm starving," he said with a smirk forming on his face.

 

Even while he was saying this he reached his thoughts beyond their conversation and connected his thoughts with that of his Master's, Hale Akturus.

 

"Master, what have I gotten myself in to?"

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

"I heard that," Jaina berated teasingly. "Or - well, felt it if you will. You'll have to get Master Akturus to work on your Force communication signal leakage." Again, she winked. "Come on...we've got to swing by Ish's room to pick him up." Taking her companions by the arms, they began walking slowly out of the hangar.

 

"So," she said lightly, "you guys know anywhere good to eat around here?"

 

Andon rolled his eyes.

[Andon]

Andon was a bit flustered after Jaina told him she'd felt that, no one had ever broken into his train of thought like that before and it kind of threw him. She wasn't mad though and surprisingly she winked at him once more and looped her arm through his and began leading them out of the hangar. Turning his head around he looked at his Master once more and he merely shook his head, hopefully he wasn't mad either...once they got back he would try and explain it to him though he had a feeling he already understood.

 

"Well there's a Mess Hall...and that's about it," he said, refraining from a comment.

[Ashley Jade Skywalker]

Ashley whispered something in Jaina's ear, a conspiratorial smirk on her face as she glanced at Andon out of the corner of her eye. He looked at the two sisters suspiciously, drawing a burst of laughter from both of them. "Poor guy doesn't know what he's getting himself into," Ashley joked, winking at Jaina. "C'mon, let's find Ish and head to the mess hall... Andon's not the only one who's hungry."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

They reached the door of Ish's room. Jaina pushed the call button, and seconds later, the door opened, Ish coming out with dampened hair. They made their way towards the mess hall, Ish and Andon having been introduced, and a merrier, happier group of friends couldn't have been found.

 

As they stood in line to order, Jaina seized Ashley by the arm.

 

"You guys go ahead and order for us...you know what we want..." Resolutely, she dragged her sister off.

 

"I've been thinking about taking Ish as my apprentice once I'm knighted," she told Ashley once they were in the safety of the women's restroom. "I haven't told him as much, but I think he suspects it. He'll be good. I would have liked to start out with a female Padawan...for my own sanity...but he seems like a fast learner, and what he learns I believe he'll learn well."

 

Ashley nodded. "I concur," she said brightly.

 

"So...where'd you meet Andon?" she said slyly.

 

(OOC: I dragged Ish out of his room for the sake of the story...us three are all on...and it would have stopped things a bit if we were to wait for him...meh. Hope you don't mind, Ish...)

[Andon]

Walking forward with Ish, the two Jedi just shook their heads.

 

"Well, atleast things will be interesting," he said laughing.

 

Having told his order to the auto chef he waited for the lunch to be made and out of the corner of his eye he saw the two sisters duck behind a corridor to the force knows where. With each hopeful Knight carrying a plate of food in each hand, the two sat down at a nearby table across from each other and waited for them to return. Though she was light-hearted, the young Padawan sensed a dark torment deep within Jaina's soul...one he would ask about when the time became right. For now he began eating his lunch, normally his manners would have made him wait for the girls to join them..but food was food and Andon was starving.

[Ish Ka Bibl]

(( Thanks Jaina, you can do that any time as long as it serves the purpose of furthering the story...Just dont make me do anything too stupid haha))

 

Ish reflecting on Andons previous comment about how things would be interesting decided to remark about the situation. "You know there is something about Jaina that just seems to spark up a hint of controversy...Almost a breath of fresh air." Ish stuffed his face with an unknown food which was usually the case here. It was good none-the-less. "She seems like a breath of fresh air....But"...Ish paused to ponder his choice of words."I don't know how I would put up with she and Ashley," Ish belowed with laughter to which Andon also laughed.

[Ashley Jade Skywalker]

Ashley ducked her head, a somewhat bashful grin on her face. "Um... Hoth. He's the reason I was there, actually." Jaina raised an eyebrow curiously, and Ashley elaborated. "I'd been hanging out on Tatooine for a while, and I had this vision. I got two words- "Find me"- and two images- one of Hoth, the other of Andon, though I didn't know it at the time- out of it... so off to Hoth I went, from one extreme to the other. I picked a great time to show up, too... right as the Jedi were being attacked. Long story short, Orrick- friend of Andon's- ended up keeping me safe through the battle until Andon showed up. We were at Helix Station for a little bit, then we came here... and that pretty much catches us up to the moment."

[ObliviousKnight]

OOC: Sorry about my absence. I've had horrible writer's block, and I've been trying to find my inspiration.

 

Refreshed but no less mystified by her new surroundings, Armiena decides to head back to the mess hall; she just realized that she was really hungry. Strange how confusion can make you hungry, she reflected.

 

She enters the mess hall again, and passes a group of Jedi that are flushed with laughter. One of the women grins sheepishly, and starts talking. Something about Hoth and visions... but Armiena tries to not listen in.

 

She orders randomly at the autochef and receives something that appears to be... a plate of unrecognizable mush with a piece of flatbread. Ah well. From what she heard of Jedi, they weren't much for materialistic delights such as flavorful food. She takes the plate to a corner, and starts eating.

 

The mush... well... it seemed to consist of mostly a bland-tasting meat and assorted vegetables. Not that her stomach minded; she was so hungry. The flatbread, on the other hand... Armiena tears a hunk off and chews.... As much as she so did not want to show weakness in the homebase of the Jedi, the flatbread had some spice in it that reminded her of home--of Alderaan.

 

Sithspit... not here, not now... She grits her teeth, trying to keep away tears. Although she thought she came to terms with her grief more than a year ago, the memory of that world's destruction still had a way of burning a hole in her heart.

[Dartha Athanth]

(Hey ObsidianKnight! My Char's from Alderaan too!)

 

List:

} A Recharge Socket

} A Focusing Crystal

} Cell recognition device

} Pressure grip

} Blade phase control switch

} Waterproof casing

} Modificatons kit

 

Recharge socket. The thing that looked like a razor? Well... that left all the female places out instantly.

 

Sinking into the force she concentrated on razors. Well, but there were far too many of them and all looked like razors.

 

Then she smacked hersel on the head. Didn't she carry two training sabers? She took out the blue one, distangled her hamster from it and concentrated on the recharge socket being all alone. A huge response, though, from a box in some storage compartment, and..... well well well, stuck under the table in her room.

-------------------------------------------------

 

Grinning, Darsha tossed her latest find into her bag and checked it on her list. NOw..... Cell recognition device. She had decided to leave the crystal for later.

 

Her first thought was of the dank cell she had spent some time in after some misappropriation, but, well, the cells here was reffering to body cells.

 

And the power houses of the cells were the mitochondria and mitochondria reminded her of crumpled chewing gum. Well that's a start, she thought.

 

A store of chewing gum? I suppose that idea came form you, she thought irritably.

Naturally. You might want to try it though.

 

All right.

 

Taking out a strip of chewing gum from her pocket, she concentrated on it.

 

The main source was a whole box in the food storage.

------------------------------------------

 

Darsha held up the device. Ryoo could have hidden it better in spaghetti.

 

Of course he did.

 

But........

 

He meant to hide the cell recog in the spaghetti and the Blade phase in the chewing gum. Got mixed up though, 'Aldy' said rather smugly.

---------------------------------------------

 

After finding the Blade phase switch, Darsha thought that she would never be welcome in the kitchen again.

[Draylo Khaar]

Draylo's stolen, damaged transport limped into the system and headed for the first planet on sensors. The boy wrestled with the controls as he tried to attempt some sort of an elegant landing. This, however was not possible. He threw his arms up in front of his face as the transport slammed into the waves, and blackness surrounded him.

[Tiana Calthye]

Giving up on finding whoever the Force was guiding her to, Tiana sat down on a bench in the halls, and tried to focus.

[Leonardo Stovachi]

Leo feels something through the Force. He could not place the feeling but he did feel it. He gives Mara one last kiss.

 

"I will be back I promise."

 

Leo turns and walks out of the door. He sees a woman sitting on a bench outside his room. He knew he had felt something. Now he knew what, or who it was.

 

"You gave up. That is not a good thing for a potential Jedi. Or at least thats what I have heard. As you see, I am not a Jedi nor am I a Sith. I am more like a Rogue ifyou wil. I believe there is no lightsideor darkside. I believe there is the Force and we must bend to its will and allow ourselves to be consumed by it. I can sense you werelooking for someone. Might I ask who you were looking for. Perhaps I can find them for you."

 

Leo says offering a smile.

 

"My name is Leonardo Stovachi. And yours is."

[Tiana Calthye]

Tiana jumped up. "Oh." Facing the newcomer, she looked up at him, and, with his question, answered: "I'm Tiana Elass." The Hopeful shook her head. "I'm really not sure who I was looking for, just that I had to look for someone. That's really why I gave up, and sat down here, because I didn't know who I sought."

 

She had a moment of silence, as she regarded this Leonardo Stovachi. "Neither Jedi nor Sith," she said after a moment. "That fits... you do not feel like the other Jedi." In her mind she added: They're so tightly held by rules... he seems... different. And what he says nearly fits... no Dark or Light. In the battle at Hoth... the Jedi were using the Force in battle... if there is a Dark and Light, why weren't they consumed, and pulled in by the Sith?

 

Tiana shook her head. "I really don't know where I'm going, or who I seek... it was just a dull pulling... as it if I was being guided somewhere. It seemed to bring me here... I don't know." She shook her head again, confused. She knew that she would have to spend some time to learn how to disern through her Force feelings.

[Leonardo Stovachi]

Leo listens to Tianas wordsas well as her thoughts. He knew he was invading her privacy, but the Force had brought her here for a reason. Right outside his door for a reason and he needed to know what it was.

 

"You say the Force ledyou here and just stopped telling you where to go. It sounds like you were meant to sit at this bench at this time outside this door. You were brought to me by the Force. Tell me, have you had any training as a Jedi?"

 

Leo begins to pry open hermind feeling around to find the answers as they came to mind. He needed to be ready to answer any questions that were asked.