A ship for every Starchaser

[Coren Starchaser]

Sekot.

This was a world Coren had come across once, many moons ago. He’d passed by it on the records of the Fringe Federation, he’d seen it in passing, but it was one of those worlds, like the Aing-Tii, that had something unique to the galaxy, something he needed to protect. Now we all know Coren was not aware or a member of the Order of Selat, but he did concern himself with keeping secrets. Many things the Jedi and Sith shouldn’t know.

Nor should the wider galaxy.

There were groups, the Aing-Tii, with their living ships, that he should watch for, and was required to watch for from the Monks themselves. He had been working on learning their skills, and methods, moderately successful but always working to improve. There was the chance and the drive to improve. To master their skills. But that was not what today was about. The Warden of the Sky had made small talk with his niece, [member="Audrey Starchaser"], about the world of Zonoma Sekot. She was a Starchaser but she had a serious lack of technologic skills. But a strong connection to the Force.

Maybe this idea could work? He invited her to the Tachyon Rising, a bit of a training exercise and a bit of that ‘every Starchaser needs a ship’ mentality. Perhaps something she could bond with would work? Hurling from Sullust to the Unknown Regions, Coren was looking over a holo-map in the main chamber on his freighter.

 

[Audrey Starchaser]

Audrey Starchaser was super excited. Her uncle Coren had this crazy idea to build her a ship, something that would really help her better get the hang of piloting. Although she was still better at it than during her days on the Dawn Treader, Audrey was still pretty karking bad at flying. Was dying of embarrassment possible? She didn't want to find out, so she never mentioned just how bad she was at it. The downside to that is that people kept getting into ships with her and finding themselves, say, stuck in a swamp on Xagobah. Oops.

But this new ship was going to change all that, even if Coren was keeping it all super secret. She did know that it had something to do with this sentient world called Zonoma Sekot, a world which fascinated her the instant he told her about it. Apparently it was a planet, but it was more than just a planet. It was a living organism and it was capable of travelling through space. So weird! Audrey loved weird things, so she could tell that she and this planet were going to get along just fine.

She noticed him studying the Holomap in the Tachyon Rising's main chamber, and a question suddenly struck her.

"Uncle Coren. How do you find Zonoma Sekot if it's always, like, moving around?" She gesticulated wildly with her hands.

It felt kinda like they were hunting beasts, except it was a planet. How weird and cool was that?

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Yeah, the Rising had taken a bit of a hit when he let Audrey fly it, that he knew. But really, he taught how many Starchasers to fly in this ship? Well… none, but the ship was used by Lily Ardellian to teach Jared and for Jared to teach Kaia. This ship was the cradle for the Starchasers. Sure, Jacen, Jaina and Anakin didn’t exist any longer, but they learned in the Falcon. But Audrey was a special case. He wondered if [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] was similar, but he hadn’t seen that niece in a dog’s age. Still, he had a few ideas in his sleeve.

Coren was the type of man that was a galactic citizen. Sure, he claimed Corellia and Csilla his homes, but he was the type of being who would fit in everywhere. Cosmopolitan, was the word, sometimes. Other times it was a drink, or a woman’s magazine. Still, it worked here. But he wasn’t sure what he’d see when they got to Zonoma. It was going to be something new. But neither Audrey nor Coren meant the planet harm… And if worse came to worse, he had a back up plan.

Still, the drive was set, Sekot stayed out near the Unknown Regions, which were one of Coren’s old haunts. “Well, I had access to the Fringe Federation records, I kind of know the last few places its been. The Event Horizon,” Coren’s Frontiers Corps command, working on the Blood Trail in the Unknown Regions. “Has been keeping tabs on a lot out here. I’ve got a pretty solid lead on the planet.”

Getting there would be a little bit of a trick, this thread would be good for development. Hopefully Audrey was as good with the Force as he was hoping.

He’d use her. He’d use her like a divination rod. Plus, master level pilot and navigator, come at me, bro.

[member="Audrey Starchaser"]

 

[Audrey Starchaser]

Audrey began messing with the controls on the Holo-map, making some sectors larger, some smaller, exploring the Tingel Arm only to quickly switch to the Unknown Regions. She was a relentless bundle of energy, but Coren never seemed to mind. In fact, sometimes she even managed to eke a smile out of her jaded Uncle. Uncle Coren was weary, and who could blame him really? The Sith had a strangehold on the galaxy, and all the fighting he had done, felt like a drop in the bucket. Plus, he had a cybernetic arm from a fight with some Sith Lady who dressed like a crab. She'd be jaded, too, if she were him.

Audrey was dying to know all about her new ship, but so far, her Uncle was tight-lipped about it. Well, that was about to change. She was going to make him spill. Somehow. She sat spun around in one of the Tachyon's leather seats and directed her big blue Starchaser eyes at him.

"So this ship, it's like a living ship right? Like, how alive is it? Can I talk to it? Can it read my thoughts?"

Oh god, she hoped that the ship wouldn't be able to read her thoughts. She had the weirdest thoughts and she didn't need it judging her.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The holomap on the Tachyon Rising was a bit more extensive than most. It had been pieced together from Coren’s experiences as well as those of Jorus Merrill, who was probably the top name in astrogation and map making. He’d get there, some day. Once the war was through and he had nothing else to do with his time. No wars to fight meant more time to explore the galaxy, and all the worlds it had to offer. But the one thing was, when he needed it, it was there. Otherwise, the pilot would fall into the Force and through that, he’d be able to get where he needed to go.

Still, having [member="Audrey Starchaser"] around was nice. She was good company. Needed to learn a bit about the galaxy and all, but the over under was a positive. Reminded him there was good in the galaxy. Not everyone was a soldier, and that meant he had things to fight for.

“Read your thougths? I’m not so sure… how it works. I’ve heard stories, tales of these ships, they’re living. They bond with their pilots. I’ve always meant to come out here myself, but…” He ran a hand lovingly over the bulkhead that wasn’t far from where he was seated. “Can’t replace the Rising.” Even if he had ShortFin but that was for troop insertion. When he really needed penetrate someone’s outer defense and just get in deep.

"It might be able to?"

 

[Audrey Starchaser]

One thing Audrey liked about Uncle Coren was his tendency to treat his ships like sentient beings. It was kind of odd sometimes, but she herself had a similarly unique relationship with her little R5, so she got it. It made sense that his next foray into ship-making would be something like a living ship. Audrey needed to learn more about all of this stuff, so she was glad she was along for the ride, and if she could learn a little something about the galaxy, that was cool too.

"Shhh, don't listen to him, Rising," she joked, patting her hand on the ship's inner hull. "Uncle Coren'll never replace you."

She hopped up from her seat and paced back and forth across the map room.

"So we find Zonoma Sekot, and...then what? Do we work with ship builders or do we find a mom ship and a dad ship and play some soft music and light candles?"

Audrey shrugged her shoulders. She really didn't know how it worked, but luckily Coren seemed to have a lot of patience. She was sure if he got sick of twenty questions, he'd find ways of shutting her up.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

One thing that was a bit different from Coren was that things had a power to them. Even if they weren’t sentient per se, ships, droids, weapons, they all had this… signature about them. They had a point, a purpose and were tied to that whole lofty idea of destiny for so many people. The ship was the most important thing a Starchaser could have, but Coren was the type of person who had many vessels, from many chapters in his life. The Rising was the main vessel, but there was ShortFin, his E-Wing, a Rassilon fighter and a TIE Exalt. Not to mention the possibility of a living vessel.

Watching his niece, he grinned. She was right, though, the ship wasn’t going anywhere, regardless of what showed up. Every ship had its use, and second to the Dawn Treader, this freighter was his home.

He could feel the move through hyperspace, they were getting close. The world would hopefully be at these coordinates. He’d spend a few hours on it, calculating the route, hoping the world was there. “I don’t think it’s a bird and the bees thing. From rumors I’ve seen, its more… you get chosen by… ship seeds.”

Yeah, that sounded right, and normal, and like something that would totally happen.

It wouldn't be long before the klaxon would sound that the ship was reverting to real space.

[member="Audrey Starchaser"]

 

[Audrey Starchaser]

Ship seeds? That sounded weird. Were they going to grow things? Audrey couldn't help but fret. All she brought with her were these fetching little dresses and her flight suit. She didn't have any outfits at all appropriate for farming. And if this ship seed chose them, not the other way around, would it point and laugh at her terrible lack of piloting...

Wait a minute. Wait just a fething minute.

Suddenly it dawned on Audrey just why Uncle Coren wanted going to make her a living ship. He didn't trust her piloting skills. At all. Well then again, who would, but still, how insulting! Audrey's brow furrowed, lips turning down. This new secret ship was going to fly her, not the other way around. It made her feel like a gargantuan failure.

"Uncle Coren," she pouted. "How am I going to get better at flying if the ship does everything for me?"

Was she that much of a hopeless case?

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The ship was pulling from hyperspace and into real space. Coren could feel it in his implant. He’d been working, every time he got behind the stick, to use it, in gold mode at least. Something that was piloting plus, but not that he was becoming the ships. The Yuuzhan Vong did that, and there was reports, and an experience in a family datacron that Coren had actually tried one of the cognition hood.

That was an uncomfortable situation. Coren was all for things sharing a mind with him, that was one of the Warbird tactics, flying with a Force meld, but the hood was something completely different. More like the black-mode on his Liberation mod, from iBorg. iBorg, for all your cybernetic needs.

Was that a useful product plug? Probably not.

Still, he got up from the seat at the map table and looked at [member="Audrey Starchaser"]. “I don’t think it works that way. I feel… its something else. From reports it is something to do with pilot ability, but Force ability helps. And its not only pilots, the ship will… I’m hoping, make it easier.” They weren’t full on Vong ships. Still, he lead the way to the cockpit and began navigating the ship into the local system, there she was, the living world. He reached out to both Audrey and his target area in the Force, turning and bringing the Tachyon Rising into atmosphere.

“Unidentified ship, we have you on our scanners. Follow escort to your landing location, and you will be greeted by security.”

“Roger, Zonama control.” Coren looked at Audrey. “Can you feel it?”

 

[Audrey Starchaser]

Could she feel it? Did it snow on Hoth? Her fingers clutched at the edge of the Holomap display table. She felt it everywhere. In fact, the young Force adept, and hopefully soon ace pilot, had never felt anything like it in all of her twenty-two years in the galaxy. The intensity of a whole planet brimming with the Force was just...mind blowing. Better than...ok that was a thought she'd better keep to herself. Especially if the dang planet could read her mind.

She rose and crossed to the viewport, placing her hand against the window.

"I feel it, Uncle Coren," she said, blue eyes faraway. Whirling back to her uncle, her expression became curious.

"Wait. Aren't there Yuuzhan Vong on Zonama Sekot?"

Audrey wasn't sure how she felt about the Yuuzhan Vong to be honest. All she knew was that whenever she saw their armor it made her hungry for crab legs. That and they were fething terrifying.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The Force was one of those things that was just really… tricky? Tricky was a good word for it. Coren, and he knew Kaia was like this too, was very particular with it. Most Starchasers were. But then again, most Starchasers could fly. Seemed Audrey was the exception to both rules. Maybe there was a balance that needed to be made? Or maybe it was a destiny of hers, to own a living ship and be the scourge of the Vong.

The nightmare creatures would probably start to declare a jihad on her with the ship, and Coren wasn’t so certain that was a bad thing. He wasn’t sure the extent of Sekot’s ability, but he didn’t really want to find out. Even Coren was going to work on masking his own thoughts.

Reciting start up procedures for a variety of fighters, and ships. That could keep his mind going in a few directions, or just thinking in some bastardization of Cheunh and Huttese. That might throw most people. Still, he looked up to Audrey and grinned.

“There… were, I’m not sure if they’re all focusing with the Sith, or… what. We’ll be careful.” Meant he’d take his blaster. And rifle. And probably lightsaber. Time to test out his light armor design, he supposed.

[member="Audrey Starchaser"]

 

[Audrey Starchaser]

Audrey nodded and began to don an armorweave hunt suit. She was decent with a blaster, even better with a lightsaber. Against Yuuzhan Vong? Who knew? So just in case she grabbed not only her lightsaber, but the biggest rifle she could possibly find from Coren’s cargo bay, a shiny new BTI CC-13 Blaster Rifle. It was a big motherkarker, too.


Audrey had to admit the prospect of encountering any number of Yuuzhan Vong made her stomach do a slow somersault. The Vong were a brutal species who bled black blood, loved pain and worst of all, couldn’t be sensed with the Force (the thing she was actually good at!) What if she and Uncle Coren got ambushed? They probably be captured and forced into those things that like, hugged you with pain or something. Unlike a Yuuzhan Vong nervous system, Audrey’s was not wired to endure tremendous amounts of agony. For example, she once even cried from a bee sting.

Once Audrey was done zipping up her hunt suit, she gave her rifle a dramatic gun cock, and began to look around for some cyanide capsules just in case.

"Ready when you are Uncle Coren."

Well, she would be as soon as she found those capsules.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The trick with Coren’s armor was it was more lightweight than his preferred Vanguard Armor, but it also mirrored the ExCon suit by Silk pretty well. Lightweight, less for him to have to jump when he pulled off his teleporting moves, and allowed him a better range of motion. Light armorweave and some armorplast plating, hopefully to be used with Cortosis later on. That could do really well. Stall out a lightasber, allow him to use one himself, and still carry a side arm. And probably light repeater. Well, that was what he was looking to use right now.

He liked coming prepared to an assault, but really, what he was looking for was something to keep himself moving and pieces he could wave away as ‘protecton.’ Okay, maybe he’d leave the Merr-Sonn light repeater at home. Power nine, lightsaber, and armor. Looking over at Audrey, he grinned. “Sure you can hack that weapon?” He nodded to a Ripper. “Think you might be a bit too worried.”

Of course, he was ready for anything, but he was Coren. He opened the gangway, though, giving [member="Audrey Starchaser"] time to decide.

 

[Audrey Starchaser]

Audrey stopped in her tracks and blinked at Coren, slowly lowering her gaze to the ginormous rifle in her hands.

"Yeah, this might be overkill huh?"

She scurried back to the armory and switched it out with an E5 carbine. "Oh!" she cried, rushing to the cargo bay. Audrey soon returned to Coren with a smaller weapon as well as her heavily-modded datapad. Audrey was no Spark Finn, but she had tinkered with the operating system to install a NLUI or "Natural language user interface," which was basically a fancy type of interface that allowed her to search for information by asking questions instead of typing. The program had no natural intelligence, but even though it was nowhere near an AI, she'd given it a name: Miri.

"Miri, can you tell me what the weather on Zonama Sekot is right now?"

In a clipped robotic voice, her NLUI instantly chirpped back.

"It would be faster if your lazy ass looked out the viewport, Audrey."

Yeah she kinda gave it a snarky personality, but that was part of Miri's charm, Audrey felt.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren was all for overkill, but he was also much more of a fan of surgical strikes. Light weaponry, fast moving, and stealth ships. Getting in and out as fast as he could, folding space and working to perfect his way of doing everything. It was quick, it grabbed attention and it allowed others to catch up. When Audrey took her leave to change weapons, Coren looked around, it was going to be fine.

Sekot was not feeling violent. Zonama seemed fine. He looked as his niece came back, smaller weapon and the datapad. A grin found his face. “You really need that? We’re right near the boarding ramp.” He shook his head and accessed the switch, opening the boarding ramp.

They were going to be outside the city, but they were going to trust the Force to find what they needed, that was how Coren did htings. He found most of the items he needed when he was Quartermaster of Warbird Wing by using the Force, and here? Where it was so loud? He’d find the ship builders.

“Miri, just keep scanning for anything that looks… off about this world, or announcements on the ship.” Had he brought the ShortFin he could have had Lexi monitor, but the Rising didn’t have the VI. Not yet.

[member="Audrey Starchaser"]

 

[Audrey Starchaser]

She clutched Miri tighter to her chest. Did she really need the little piece of software? Not really, but she had grown attached to hearing Miri's gentle, sing-song lilt. On those lonely nights after lightsaber training, Starchaser often passed the time by asking Miri all sorts of questions, just to see what she would say. Stuff like "Do you believe in the Maker?" or "Miri, where should I hide the body?" Miri usually just responded that Audrey was funny but not "ha ha" funny.

Miri was such good company to Audrey that once she even strapped her Datapad to a chair and tried to get it to play "would you rather" with her. Miri didn't quite understand the nature of that game and just shut her datapad down.

At Coren's command, Miri's melodic answer came: "My user licensing agreement does not include taking orders from..." Audrey clasped her hand down on the mute button and gave her Uncle a sheepish smile. Then, she turned and ran ahead of him down the boarding ramp. What was the proper way to set foot on Zomana Sekot? Did you give the planet a formal greeting? If she hugged it, would that be too forward? After a few moments she deactivated the mute function on her Datapad.

"Miri, how do you say hello to a planet?"

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

That was very similar to the way Spark worked. Coren grinned as he shook his head. Both had an attachment to their technology, and this one? Well, maybe [member="Audrey Starchaser"] ‘s datapad would be able to work with the organocircuitry of any ship that she came away with from this world. He’d heard her dealing with the datapad during certain parts of this trip coming to Sekot, but was doing his best to not shake his head at the girl.

“You might need to work on that licensing, sweetheart.” He grinned, a stereotypical Corellian thing. Shaking his head, he stepped down from the boarding ramp. He wasn’t sure how to greet a living world, probably the same way one greeted a coralskipper, well, one you were trying to get to work with you. What he did was open himself to the Force, and toss a look over at Audrey.

He wasn’t quite as dark as he was in his past. Maybe it was the people he was meeting along the way here? “Just don’t… hurt anything.” He laughed. "I think."

 

[Audrey Starchaser]

The planet of Zonama Sekot itself was breathtaking. Once they studied their surroundings, the Starchasers found themselves surrounded by a lush tropical rainforest with rows upon rows of emergent trees, their tops canopying over the rest, their spiky vines danging all the way to the ground. Wow. Audrey looked up into the silvery clouds and took a deep breath of air, feeling peaceful, at one with the Force even.

"Where do we find these ship seeds, Uncle Coren? So we can, be judged by them and stuff?"

Audrey could have asked Miri but was a little embarrassed at her earlier attitude with Uncle Coren, so for now, the little NLUI would find herself neatly stowed away in Audrey's backpack. She clutched a ILF-5000 Life Form Scanner, and began to use it to read the planet's vitals. It was a bit tricky to search for life-forms when the planet was one big life form, but in a few moments, with a little bite of her lip, she adjusted the device to ignore Zonoma Sekot itself. In a few minutes, the dials on the scanner began to flip their chit.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Zonama provided the galaxy with something very undefined, very unique and very… revered? Coren couldn’t think of anything more to respect than a world that could jump into hyperspace and control ships that she created? He wasn’t sure if Sekot self-identified, but it was more the ancient mariner terms of referring to vessels as feminine. A world? Why would that be any different.

The former Sanctum Force users was walking and observing the area. This planet was alive. It was really alive. The writer knew this was the type of place Kaia would hate. She preferred her life among the Stars, but for Coren? Exploration and first-contact laws dictated he needed to be on planets. And tropics and aquatic worlds? They were the best ones.

“I… I think we’ll come across them when we come across the natives. There is a settlement not far, and from there, we speak, say what is needed to be said, and make the payments we need. Any luck?” He spoke, looking at the datapad.

[member="Audrey Starchaser"]

 

[Audrey Starchaser]

The world of Zomana Sekot felt extremely fertile. Audrey didn't know how else to describe it. Life was brimming, bustling, and growing before their eyes. In the Force and outside of it. The planet had a pulse, and they were standing right on it. Best of all the planet wasn't flinging them off.

"The life readings are off the charts, for sure. I just..." She bit her lip and blinked down at the screen. Were they friendly? Ok, acerbic or not, she needed Miri again. She dug around in her backpack, and freed her companion.

"Miri, what are the species indigenous to Zonama Sekot?"

"Just like I the last time I told you, there are many indigenous species to Zonama Sekot, Audrey. A smaller portion of the population is split evenly between the Ferroans and the Langhesi, with the biggest chuck belonging to the Yuuzhan Vong. Instead of asking a million questions, why don't you walk over there and find out which it is, 'fraidy cat?"

Feth, Miri was really in a mood. She was obviously miffed about the whole backpack thing.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]