Private A Little Less Action Please

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

The Bezharl
En route from Svolten

While this beautiful ship offered no dedicated imprisonment options, the Jedi had made do. There was a ysalamir behind at least one of these walls, the blast door had a sturdy lock, and the cuffs did their job.

Despite the soreness she'd accumulated fighting Drengir at Nighthunter Port, Ashin was up and moving. Her cuffed fists held an imaginary sword. So far as the small room permitted, she moved through classic Shii-Cho stances and kata, taking her time.

She paused when the door opened, so as not to seem like she was moving to attack Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

There was a lot of work to be done. They had succeeded in their goal of securing Ashin, but they had also come running across the Drengir, a group Starchaser had thought to be all but exterminated, or restricted to a few planetary bodies. Finding the proper weedwhacker, or the Jedi Blade of Grass Trimming was going to have to be a job for later on. But he did make a note to his droid Porter to ensure that he was doing the proper research when he got back to his data.

But the first things were first, and Ashin Varanin was aboard this ship. Coren had wanted to speak to this woman many times over. She was at once a Sith Empress, and in her own right, capable of doing awesome things with the Force. Terrible, but awesome. He had respect for what the woman had achieved.

He didn't exactly feel great about being alone with her, but the playing field was probably more evened out with the ysalamiri. He relied on the Force heavily, but he wasn't a slouch without.

"Ashin Varanin. Figured that letting yourself be captured was the way to get the Drengir off your tail?" He tried to wise crack, but it was true. If they didn't pull out the Jedi Avengers, he wasn't certain they'd be able to pin her down for long. "How about a little chat?" He couldn't hide the flinch as he entered the Force dead-bubble.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Without the Force on her side, Ashin found herself breathing harder than she should, sweating through her grimy clothes. She took a seat on the bunk. "You're Coren Starchaser ," she said, "aren't you. The Levantine explorer, the Silvers' old Grandmaster."

A bleak smile.

"Yes, your strike team was my ride off Svolten. The ysalamir coverage is convenient, too. I've had Drengir on my tail for months now. What would you like to know, Grandmaster?" She spread her hands harmlessly as far as the cuffs allowed. "I am an open book."

 

[Coren Starchaser]

"Among other things." He smiled as she brought up the Levantine Sanctum and him being an explorer. Those really were the days. Waking up from carbonite in the Fringe Federation space, then finding himself in the Free Space. Those were all before the Wars. He was hoping to put that behind him, and bring back to the Coren he used to be. But there were times where his skillset was directly required. And his combat and Force expertise.

"Grandmaster for a little bit at least." He was going to wash the posting with the Alliance under the rug. If she was not bringing it up, she may not have been… active at that point? Dark siders had a range of reasons for them not to be around.

He wasn't going of fault her for calling him Grandmaster. Taking a seat, he was looking at her. "Well, first, the Pomojema, she seems to be running the gambt around space. I'd almost say you're searching for something… But first, what did you do to get the Drengir to hound you like they are?"

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"I'll answer that question," she said slowly, "but the answer has a specific value to me. Tell me, friendly Jedi: to the best of your knowledge, does anyone aboard this ship know what my actual crimes are? Or am I the hapless casualty of symbolic victory?"

A dry laugh.

"And while we're at it, what's the over-under on execution for my unspecified sins?"

Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Some could say Coren had warmed, or cooled, from his war time face. He was not the person he was during the Sullust Alliance, throwing Sith in magma cells as holding cells. No, he was not that sort any longer. He was hoping to leave the galaxy in a better state than he found it. "Your crimes? To be honest, I came along as it was in my interest to keep them safe. And from your record?"

He let that statement trail off.

"Granted it has been a while since you've popped up on my radar. Your record is with the dark side. If we can ensure what you are doing, well, its in our best interest."

"Execution? I would need a compelling case for execution. But you ended up on our radar. The Pomojema seems to be full of the dark side… So you're shuttling… what Sith?"


Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Now now, Grandmaster, I think that falls under the heading of self-incrimination."

Ashin leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and let her cuffs dangle.

"Let's take a step back to your first question. The Drengir are chasing me because I intruded in their Root-Mind once too often, using one of these."

Despite the ysalamiri, impossibly, a wooden ring levitated slowly from her pocket and hovered where Coren Starchaser could snag it from the air if he chose.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

A grin found his features as he nodded. "So there is part of the Empress in there still. Good to know. It helps when neither of us are growing away from our highest positions." Smirking, he did not. "But it is a younger being's galaxy, from what I've noticed." It did appear that even she was off doing fact finding more than subjugation.

"I pride myself on being well traveled and knowing a few things about the galaxy, but this, I've never seen…" He reached out for it, possibly to the detriment of himself, but without the Force, he was curious as to why it was moving. No real idea on how to search for its power, but he still turned the ring over in his hand.

"Root-Mind, their hive mind?" There had been Killiks around again, and that wasn't a far fetched concept.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Ashin sat back on the bunk, leaned against the wall with her cuffed hands in her lap.

"Yes, and more. You can walk the Root-Mind in your mind's eye, though not physically. It's almost a plane — like the Netherworld in a way. The Root-Mind is that deep, that strong. It's a world unto itself. You can see visions, Drengir secrets, though it might just be what they let you see. It's much like having a conversation with a competent Sith: a give and take, shifting ground, uncertain implications. Just no conversation, because the Drengir only care about assimilating or eating us. We are meat and only meat."


Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Those were the things that Coren really should start working on, exploring the depths of the other worlds he could walk. The one he was most fascinated with was the World Between Worlds, fabled as it was. But for that, he would need to see where to find any kind of access. But there was something in Ashin's demeanor.

Perhaps accessing one side of the Force or the other could be taken out of context. The way someone could use their gifts were more important, perhaps, than where the power came from.

"I've seen old Jedi texts of the threat they portray, that the Drengir are something to be feared and removed. Is that what you are working on, or are you trying to tap into their hive mind for more… clandestine purposes?"

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"The core of being a Sith is intentionally choosing what matters most and paying any price for it," said Ashin with a shrug. "I first encountered the Drengir while trying to resurrect my wife — I hoped to see useful visions in the Root-Mind, and I did. But I overplayed my hand, overstayed my welcome, and now you could say I'm the Drengir's favorite food. They pursue me constantly.

"That's the situation you just saw on the ground. I put down the Pomojema for repairs, and the Drengir snuck up on me. They're smart, they're strong in the dark side, and they blended in well with the background noise on Svolten — an ancient Sith world. It's also worth noting that I traded sensitivity for power a long time ago. Throwing stones, not reading ripples. As a navigator, I'm sure you understand."


Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

"But there are points where the price is too great. Or at least it should be. Not all power is to be handled by everyone." It was following that thought process where absolute power corrupted absolutely. That was a theme with the Sith, he noticed. Were there times where their crimes against sentients were less? Sure, and those were the times he hoped for, where he was not needing to be on the war path. But with Ashin… it appeared that her reason for becoming hated by the drengir was… relatively sound. If Celeste Rigel were to fall, there would be many things Starchaser was willing to do.

He preferred to not think of that.

"Sounds to me like you need to find a few other ports of call. If they're hunting through the darkness… Couldn't the light turn them back?" Now he was considering how to protect even the darkest from some creatures who saw them all, perhaps rightfully so, as meat.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"I don't see why not. Master Korr burned a few with Force Light."

Ashin leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees, looking at Starchaser intently.

"You're absolutely right: for any sane adult, even a Sith, there's a point where the cost is too great. To save my wife, I would be responsible for a town's death, but not a galaxy's, for example. Call it the spectrum of acceptable sacrifice. We all fall somewhere along that spectrum. Approximately how much would you sacrifice to save your highest priority, Grandmaster?"


Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

There was never any issue with Coren for Jedi to be using Force Light. "As I got closer, I ended up throwing the same at them. Was a bit uncertain it would work." Coren always related the power to the sun, and solar energies… And well, chlorophyll was probably the powerhouse of a Drengir cell, much like a mitochondria. Still, that didn't matter, it worked, and Ashin was even supporting the idea.

If need be, a team of well timed Jedi could push the Drengir back.

"And that is where the real discussion comes in, isn't it? If I lost one I cared for, and there was a chance to get them back, I'd turn myself inside out, I don't believe I could bring my own wants down above a settlement, or any other being. But there is no death, there is the Force, is part of our mantra…" He peered at her, ice blue eyes tightening as he surveyed her. "Something tells me your days of subjugation are behind you. What is it you are looking for in this galaxy?"

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"You know, subjugation for its own sake really was pointless. I regret most of my conquests. I haven't conquered a world in thirty years — better things to do. Mostly I tried out the lives I never had. Spent a few years as my cousin, a Naboo civil servant; spent a few more years as one of my clones, a science ship's captain; spent a good deal of time dead in various ways, serving the Force, being part of it. All sorts of lives with their own excitements and rewards. I still have, oh, other faces and identities. It's as much a lifestyle as a hobby.

"See, I was fourteen when my parents shipped me off to study with the Jedi. My life wasn't my own for a very long time. I could be whatever I wanted on my own terms, intentionally. That's power. That's the best answer I can give you.

"Tell me, Grandmaster. Have you always been a Jedi?"

Coren Starchaser

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The Jedi couldn't help but laugh. With the Alliance of Sullust, he had been maybe just as bad as a Sith. He and his own constantly said how their own ends justified it. And they didn't come shooting at worlds that didn't have a Sith infestation already in progress. But following the collapse, and some time on the Rim and with the Concord, he realized there were softer ways to fight. "I've been on the warrior's path for a good number of years. It settled a few gripes I had, helped me protect from the expanses of a few different groups of Sith… But yes, there comes a time when one needs to separate themselves from the mess of war." He was an explorer. He was a researcher. Those were the heart and soul of who Coren Starchaser was.

"I'm sure they had their reasons. But it doesn't settle with everyone, hence the rise of Wayseekers among our ranks." She had answered in a way but not what her current goals were. Not that he really suspected he'd get that. "And if you have this power, it is best used when you can serve others. Protect that which you hold dear.

"As for being a Jedi? No. I was once, and its been known, a dark side enforcer. A decade or so before the Fringe Federation was founded I served an Imperial warlord. Helping repay old debts… My father taught me of the Force on the run, and the dark side was, as always, seductive. But when I realized who was pulling the strings, I vowed to make up for what I had done."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Now that...that's news to me. Of course the friendly one would be the one who knows what he's dealing with. Coren Starchaser a reformed Darksider — I honestly can't recall if I knew that.

"Fascinating. If I picture a trajectory between redemption and the man standing before me, how do your notorious Alliance years fit in? What drove you to such..."

She chewed on the appropriate term, savored it, perhaps even cruelly.

"...zealous excess?"

 

[Coren Starchaser]

"Its not something that's hidden, just something that's forgotten. But I share it as I've been where you are. Just for me, to right the jump I was on, it meant breaking myself down, and re-evaluating. I fought to protect the worlds around Csillia, just… in the way that was not working for me." Plus being under a puppet Sith… That was the real issue. A dark sider followed passions, the Sith followed subjugation.

As for zealous excess? He couldn't help but laugh slightly. "Its fair to call it that.

"But the years of the Republic's inaction, squabbling on what to do, and how to do it, rather than doing. That lead me and the leaders, Omai Rhen, Nemo Ven, Caita Xen to form the Alliance of Sullust. We moved to push the Sith back and to bring assistance to the worlds under our control. Looking back, would I make those same decisions? Maybe not with the zeal of the past.

"But it did bring me to where I am now."

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Oh, I remember that Republic. Inactive is putting it mildly. Stagnant and conniving and worthless on a good day. Don't ever tell another Sith I said this, but I had much more respect for the Galactic Alliance, even when you were feeling a bit fanatical. You people had initiative and follow-through and the courage to take actual risks, but not reckless ones."

A satisfied nod.

"Strong Sith traits. Most respectable."

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The Jedi Master could only smile. He wasn't going to go for the throat of an organization that stood for as long as the Republic did in front of a foe. But she wasn't wrong. "We trimmed the Senate out. Allowed people to self govern, without military rule, but the military was a focus, for certain." And aggressively negotiating Jedi.

"We struck when the Republic couldn't, and it rallied many to the cause. Unfortunately, during war times, Jedi and Sith are more alike than either care to admit. Its why… Why I'm working on becoming who I was before that time."

Or an even better person than he hoped. Why he was telling Ashin this, that was still to be seen.

Ashin Cardé Varanin