Private Allies

[Tydeus of Tion]

Allies​

Nordra
///
Spaceport


A young man moved through the crowd of the spaceport, pale gray eyes stern as steel as he sought out his target.

Finding her took some digging, but this was much easier with the resources of the Tarkin Initiative now at his disposal.

For all his training, there was still one weapon that Tydeus had not mastered: the pike. Whether it was a force pike, or a lightspear, the principles were highly similar. If he wanted to have a hope in hell of taking on Kaine Zambrano in a fight, then he needed to be a master of more than just obscure Force abilities. He needed to understand every weapon and be capable of wielding it if the time came.

His Miralukan tutor had done well on Tion, but a student's journey is never truly over.

The muscles in Tydeus' jaw tightened as he reached out in the Force to try to sense her. Felt like she was still inside the tea shop. He'd tailed her here after the surprise realization that she'd already been freed from carbonite. He would have to approach cautiously. Something told him she might not be as approachable as Tansu had been.

People seldom were when they realized you had been following them.

And Tydeus was not exactly capable of hiding his signature. Not yet. The Force Wound from Tion still roiled inside him, making every day a fresh exercise in discipline to try to control it and himself.

Taking in a breath through the nose, Tydeus pulled down the hood of his gray poncho and stepped into the tea shop. It didn't take him long to spot her. She was the only Mirialan here.

Tydeus slid into a seat opposite her.

"Iona Starchaser?" his tone was clipped, like all Core worlders. "I need your help."

Iona Starchaser

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Nordra, Unknown Tea Shop | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Tydeus of Tion
​

Sitting at a small table against the window, Iona felt as if she was trying to sober up. Eyesight was still shaky. Up close was fine, if she held the to-go cup of her strong tea to her face she could make out the logo. Everyone else was amorphous blobs at the moment. A massive improvement. Nausea was getting better, so long as she didn't hang her down for too long or move too quickly things were looking up.

Navigating while using the Force was also helping.

Trying to get her bearings together and figure out how to get off this rock, her musings and self-pity moments were interrupted rather suddenly and rudely.

A white blob with a shock of black hair...or fur....no, his signature was human. Voice indicated Core world up bringing. Rich kid gone bounty hunter?

"Look." Voice was weary. "If you're here to collect a bounty let's just get it over with. We can go to an alley and you can just shoot me, okay? I'm too tired to play a cat-and-mouse game."

​

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

The Tionese boy's brows drew together sharply. Could this actually be the Jedi trainer? Younger than he thought. And apparently sick of living. For a moment, Tydeus wondered if he had wasted time and credits coming all the way out here. Time he could not afford. Every year that passed the Kainites continued to grow in power and burn more worlds and enslave more hundreds of thousands of beings. He'd already spent too long trying to prop up the Fels hoping that they would take the fight to the SIth.

And now here he was, getting told to just shoot her and take her bounty.

Tydeus snorted and shook his head.

"No," he said, voice the rasp of steel on leather, "You're barely coherent."

He couldn't hide the disappointment from his words.

Carbonite might have cooked her brain.

"I'm Tydeus, from Tion. And I'm not here for your bounty. I'm here for training... to kill Sith," gray eyes narrowed, "Not that you're in any state to give any right now. You need a medcenter."

And probably a bacta tank. She must have been in carbonite a while.

Iona Starchaser

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Nordra | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Tydeus of Tion
​

"I'm perfectly coherent."

Iona didn't feel as if she was slurring her words. Her eyes probably weren't focused in the right area and she redoubled her efforts to look at him. Gaze settled on his hair because it would give the illusion she was actually looking into his face. Seemed a great compromise and this...what did he say....Ty something of Tion would get off her case.

"No medcenters."

She was firm on that. Nor was she going to appear to be weak in front of someone harassing her. Given her eyes were still adjusting much of what he said she had to take his word on. Couldn't exactly use the HoloNet in her current state.

"Training? Here for a history lesson? I have not taught in years and when I did it was to children. Those under twelve. You seem older than twelve." Iona paused. "I am certain you have the wrong person. I cannot help you. The Iona Starchaser you seek died years ago."

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

“No, I don’t,” Tydeus looked at her flatly, gaze analytical as he started to piece her apart the way the Miralukan monk taught him. He primarily practiced Teras Kasi, but he knew Echani as well. Echani was less a combat style than a language one spoke with the body - and he looked her over the way only an Echani practitioner did, studying what he saw.

A noise of disapproval tsked from behind his clenched teeth.

Her eyes did not appear to be dilating correctly. Still suffering carbonite blindness? High likelihood. It was the most common side effect of carbonite freezing.

“Fine,” he stood, reached under his poncho, and pulled out a stim injector from a belt pouch. The combination of bacta and stimulants were meant for combat. But needs must.

He reached over and tried to jam the injector into her arm.

“No med centers.”

Iona Starchaser

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Nordra | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Tydeus of Tion
​

Iona didn't know what this guy's problem was. First he was judgmental and now he telling her what she was going to do. As if she was an insolent child. All without explaining who he was or why he needed her - beyond the use of Force pikes. Iona had no idea where hers were. Back on the wall of her former captor no doubt.

As he grabbed her arm, she acted quickly. The hot tea she was drinking was thrown in his face, hoping to knock some sense into the thick headed idiot.

"Hey!" The tea owner called out. "Get out of here if you're going to fight."

Iona took her arm back, reaching in her pocket and placing credits on the table she couldn't spare. Still it was only right by the shopkeeper. Shakily, she walked past the stalker and back out into the cold.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

The tea was hot. Scalding even. And for a moment Tydeus just stood there as she walked past him, struggling to maintain his composure and manage his pain response. He felt the burn on his cheek and neck, but it was just tea. Superficial.

The more important thing was her reaction time. The speed. The directness. The decisiveness.

Yes, this was the Jedi he had been trying to find.

Still with the stim in hand, Tydeus used his poncho to rub the dripping tea from his face, then followed her out into the cold at steady gait.

No hurry. They both knew she probably had nowhere to go on this miserable iceball.

"Stop," Tydeus said, then realized that was probably not thing to say in this moment. He let out a hiss of frustration and moved to catch up with her, boots thudding on partially frozen ground until he came abreast.

"Stop - I am," painful, "sorry. Here."

He held out the stim shot to her. "But you are the person I am looking for, Knight Starchaser. And I do need your help to defeat Kaine Zambrano."

Iona Starchaser

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Nordra | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Tydeus of Tion
​

Trudging through the cold, Iona was extending out her senses via the Force so she could navigate easier. Off to the spaceport to peddle herself to a freighter. Perhaps the Starchaser name carried some weight out here and she could earn passage as crew. Deckhand. Galley worker. Something.

Until she was stopped. Iona looked at his hand, she didn't trust him.

"One, keep it for yourself." A good night's sleep would do wonders, if she could get it. No luck with this guy around, she couldn't even enjoy her tea. "Two, I'm not a Jedi Knight. The Order is full of self-pompous egomaniacs who would rather sit high on their throne and start wars that children die in. I never completed traditional training nor would I ever. Don't lump me in with war criminals."

A shake of her head.

"Since you didn't do your research, you have me mixed with someone else. Maybe another Starchaser."

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

The lines of Tydeus’ mouth twisted just a fraction. The muscles in his jaw writhed as he clenched his teeth together. Did not do his research?

Maybe she is right. I am slipping. Too much time with the imperials, not enough on my true task.

He thought Caius Fel had been the answer to all his problems. The man who would set the galaxy back on its axis and right the injustices inflicted by the Sith.

What a fool I was.

The imperials were so fractured that Fel’s initiative splintered almost instantly. And the weight of it bore down on Tydeus.

Just another millstone to carry.

“No, it’s you,” Tydeus replied evenly, unable to hide the edge to his tone.

“Look, I don’t know what happened to you and to me it does not matter if you were or were not Jedi. I just need you to help me train so I can defeat Darth Carnifex.”

His fist clenched and unclenched.

“He burned my planet, Iona. I had to hold my sister afterward. She was the only one I could find. Do you know what the heat of a turbolaser does to a body, even a hundred meters away? There was hardly anything left of her.”

Emotion constricted his throat but he forged ahead, shoulders hunching.

“So I get it. You just got out of carbonite. You have a chip against the galaxy. And here I am ruining your tea. But none of it matters, ok? Every second I spend here arguing with you is another second that Carnifex gets stronger and closer to doing what he did to Tion somewhere else.”

Tydeus eyes were as intense as drawn swords.

“So I’ll ask again: I need your help.”

Iona Starchaser

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Nordra | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Tydeus of Tion
​

"Sounds like assisted suicide to me."

From what she had seen, this guy wasn't ready to take on a Sith Lord. Iona could respect the emotions were raw and she couldn't fathom seeing a sibling in the aftermath of total destruction, dead in her arms. However, she was also wise enough to know that attacking someone so quickly after, with so much emotion, would be detrimental to the mission. It would cloud the task at hand and make it easier to fall prey to attacks.

"I can assist but you are not allowed to blame me when you lose a limb, or a organ, or die. I do not think you are ready for the task at hand but I am also aware you won't listen to me because you haven't listened to me since our encounter."

Disaster all around. Maybe if she taught the wannabe hot shot some tricks he would slink off into the shadows and she would be free to figure out the next steps in her life.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

"If I was ready, I would not be here," eyes hard as iron stared at her without wavering.

He knew what it took to put down Kaine Zambrano, had heard the story. Jedi Grandmaster Kiskla Grayson had done it once decades ago. And even then the Iron Tyrant had still managed to return from the dead. So, Tydeus just needed to find a way to make the death more permanent this time.

"I fought one of his captains on Dromund Kaas. Barely survived."

A gust of Nordra's frigid wind cut through Tydeus, even with the poncho and tacsuit he wore beneath. He grimaced.

"I have been training ever since... and finding people to teach me."

Had it already been over a year since then?

"Do you have somewhere we can go?"

Preferably out of the cold. But if she insisted on training in the frigid air, so be it.

Iona Starchaser

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Nordra | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Tydeus of Tion

​

Iona laughed. A dry, humorless laugh.

"I just got out of carbonite, have no home nor did I have a home before the carbonite. I'm running on limited credits I managed to get from an old bank account."

The Mirialan looked incredulous.

"Do I have somewhere to go? Why didn't I think of that sooner while I've been freezing myself half to death trying to find work and passage on any vessel that will have me."

She was now positive he was going to die. Any moron who straight up asked if she had somewhere to go was missing some important connections in their brain. At least she would be comforted knowing he died young and didn't pass on his genetic material to poor, innocent children who would be equally moronic.

"I also don't have any force pikes. What you see I have is it."

And what did she have? A whole lot of nothing.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

Tydeus grit his teeth as the barbs from her tongue pricked at him.

Of course she was right. His intelligence on her was faulty from the beginning. But for the young man from Tion her words stung all the same. He tried so hard to be perfect. The dead of his homeworld demanded it of him. And yet here he was, unable to complete the simple task of correctly evaluating the capabilities of this Starchaser.

"Got it," he bit the words out, chewing on his frustration.

That frustration was only compounded by what he had had to deal with among the Fels. Trying to bodyguard their lineage only to find out that not only did the rest of the imperials actively disdain the Fels, but even sought them dead.

So much for a dream of a unified galaxy.

"Look. If you want to go, just go. But I do need your help. My ship is parked just over there. If you want food, credits, and to get off this rock... I can do that in exchange for the training."

He started walking in the direction of his ship.

"Or freeze again. Your choice."

Iona Starchaser

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Nordra | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Tydeus of Tion

​

"Pretty sure you're going to kill me in my sleep."

There were worse ways to go. There was also no guarantee passage on another vessel would be any better. Worse that would happen is she would be dead but standing out in the cold in thin clothing was going to make sure that happened soon enough. Squaring her shoulders and pushing down her pride, Iona followed after him.

Perhaps it would help her figure out her next steps. No way was she going back to teaching at the enclave, not that her time wasn't enjoyable. She was different now. It would be difficult to teach younglings without a less bitter view of the galaxy. Maybe she could join a merchant fleet as a mechanic once she had trained this kid.

"I can pay you back. In credits."

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

“Fine.”

Tydeus did not particularly care if she paid him back or not. The salary he received as a knight coupled with what remained of his family fortune afforded him enough to spend on gear, food, and equipment.

There was little else he needed.

He keyed the control panel on his vambrace as he walked toward his ship.

The J-type Nubian transport was sleek and silver. Tydeus appreciated the design, but that was not why he owned it. It had been one of his family’s transports before Tion burned and he’d found it in storage at a deep space station.

The ship’s ramp lowered with a hiss.

“Mind the gap,” he grunted sourly, clunking up the ramp and into his ship.

“Do you have anywhere you need to go? Family?”

Iona Starchaser

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Nordra | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Tydeus of Tion
​

"No." Iona tried to step over the gap and tripped. Eyes still were adjusting. Or trying to adjust. The transition into the vessel did not help any matters on that front. "I don't have any family."

Hand ran along the interior of the corridor, using it as a guide for a moment. The Force was great at times but she preferred to use her own wits and not her abilities as a crutch. Difficult in times such as these. Ears strained to hear anything unusual - breathing, coughing, shuffling - and came back with nothing. A good sign. He wasn't lying and there was no one else aboard.

"Do you have somewhere I can sleep? Healing trance? Preferably with a locking door."

One couldn't be too cautious.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

"Yeah."

The ramp hissed closed behind them. Tydeus walked further inside, shrugging out of his poncho as he entered the main hold. Beneath, he wore a simple black flight suit.

In one corner of the skiff's hold was a small kitchenette, with a table and lounge seating. But a large portion of the hold was taken up by a training mat and gear. Gear and weapons everywhere, neatly assembled. Various types of blaster and slug carbines hung from the walls, along with a number of vibroswords.

Tydeus pointed toward a doorway on the opposite side of the hold, "That's the spare cabin."

His finger shifted and he pointed to another door, "Refresher."

Turning, he looked at her, gray eyes looking her up and down as if she would fall over dead if he blew on her.

"But you probably need the medbay, which is right there. It has bacta. You should use it."

He grit his teeth, remembering how she'd thrown hot tea in his face.

"Or don't."

Shrugging, he started folding up his poncho.

Iona Starchaser

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Mr.Serious' Vessel | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Tydeus of Tion
​

Her eyes could catch the gesture across the way. So far, beyond the weapons and training equipment, the vessel was clean and neat. Well taken care of and much like the man who owned the vessel, a bit cold and lifeless. Didn't matter, it was better than the alternative.

"Perfect. Try not to need me for about ten hours."

Ignoring his comment about the medical bay, Iona didn't trust him enough to submerge in a tank. Besides it was just carbonite poisoning. Bacta they may need for more serious injuries, especially with whats-his-name trying to fight a Sith Lord. Alone. The medical supplies were too important to be wasted on her.

"Goodnight."

Shutting the door behind her, Iona locked it. Wouldn't stop him from murdering her if he was determined but it may jar her from her healing trance in just enough time to defend herself.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

The door locked shut and Tydeus let out a sigh, neck tilting back as he looked up at the ceiling.

Was he out here chasing ghosts? She didn’t seem to be anything like the stories.

Just the carbonite poisoning, he told himself.

“Ship, plot a course for the Wheel and jump.”

The engines kicked on. They were moving, then - hyperspace.

Grimacing, the young man finished folding up the poncho, then set it with his go-bag in his cabin. A small cache of the necessities, in case the Sith found him and burned everything down around his ears. A high probability, as it happened.

Walking back out into the empty hold, Tydeus pushed his concerns away, burying them with all his other concerns deep down. Clearing his mind with a breath, he began his evening regimen. He started with stretches, limbering up from the cold, then moved into body weight exercises. Sit-ups, squats, pushups for an hour until he thought his arms and legs would fall off. Which was when he increased the intensity, moving to the artificial gravity with bands on ankles and wrists until he wanted to vomit.

Only then did he stop, toss the bands aside, and pick up a sword. Muscles burning, he moved through the forms of the Sunguard, then the Echani, then Teras Kasi. The entire time his focus was singular: he had to be better. To be a human weapon. Only when he himself was forged into a blade could he hope to face Kaine.

When he finally finished and set the sword back, hours later, he found himself drenched in sweat. Tydeus walked to the refresher and palmed the door. Inside, he stripped off the soaked flight suit and stepped inside the sanisteam.

Only there, with the warmth of the steam flowing over him, did Tydeus let his guard down. He slumped his head against the wall, droplets of water coruscating down his form, and the exhaustion overtook him.

Iona Starchaser

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Vessel | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Tydeus of Tion

​

Iona didn't even start with a meditation trance. She had tried but couldn't focus. Too sick and too distracted. Instead she had taken off her boots and crawled into the bunk. Curled up in blankets dead to the world, until her stomach had other plans. Part of carbonite sickness was nausea and having been in a slab for years, it tended to do things to you.

Stumbling around, she found the refresher and lifted the lid just in time to vomit all the tea she had earlier. Not a easy feat trying to keep her hair back and also hunch over the bowl so she didn't miss. In between a bout of vomiting, she heard water. Steam. Brows furrowed and her head turned towards the sanisteam.

Eyesight was definitely returning because a pair of pasty white cheeks were staring back sat her.

Eyes went wide and she vomited again - partially at the sight, partially due to the carbonite sickness.