Private An Eye for Talent

[Ali Kare]

Spoiler: Fleet Composition

Fleet Composition:
Destroyers:
All-Vision

*5 years before the present

Kriff. She'd been chewing so relentlessly on her bottom lip that it had started bleeding. Oh well, she would just have to conceal it when talking to her superior. But there were rumors that nothing could be hidden from the High Commander of the Lilaste Order. His name was Laphisto , and he was a dragon...thing? She didn't quite understand, but then again, she wasn't very well-traveled. So far, her experience as a captain in the Navy had been patrolling the Order's borders (which weren't very far from Kirima).

But travel experience wouldn't help her much in this situation. Resisting the urge to glance over her shoulder at the High Commander, Captain Kare looked down to her tacmap that was projected on the armrest of her command chair. A countdown was ticking slowly to zero from twelve. She didn't know what was waiting on the other side of the blue swirl that was currently enveloping her ship, but it had been that way many times. Her ability to both adapt on the spot, and plan extensively beforehand, was the main reason why she had been promoted to such a prestigious position not even a year into her military service with the Order.

She'd been informed of some suspicious subspace activity in this region, and had been dispatched to uncover the mystery. Of course, Lilaste space was never really busy with interstellar traffic, especially not in this area. So it made Ali's mission all the more important. If some malicious forces were thinking about using this space as a staging ground for a larger attack, Ali would put a stop to it. Of course, this thought only left her wishing that she had more ships. However, as a captain, she controlled her ship, and her's alone.

"Captain, exiting hyperspace now," reported Officer Haam at the helm.

"Acknowledged, Officer," Ali responded, leaning forward in her seat. The cloud outside the viewport warped into stars and the All-Vision had arrived at its destination.

Immediately, red lights began flashing on the bridge. Although it was hard to see with the naked eye, Ali's tacmap would report that there were two unidentified warships not a hundred kilometers off the bow of the Lilaste destroyer. Well, things would get interesting very quickly.

 

[Laphisto]

Laphisto stood on the destroyer's bridge behind the captain. He had gone over the reports time and time again. With his current high admiral stepping down due to medical issues - a fact that had not yet been disclosed to the order- he was pressed to try and find a replacement. He had already done seven other evaluations. and this would be the eighth and final candidate. each of which, if they passed this unknown test, would be ranked up to admiral. The next step in their journey to making it to high admiral

as hyperspace stopped, he felt it more than he saw it. His stance shifted just moments before the actual drop to better steady himself for when it came. With the destroyer out of hyperspace and facing down two warships, his eyes flicked to the young captain with curiosity. This was unexpected. When he used his precognition, he had only seen one ship. but then again, the force is unpredictable no matter what you do. Or how good you get at using it. Though granted, being locked in carbonite for several thousand years oughta put a dampener on things, one would guess

shaking his head off his thoughts, he turned to the captain expectedly. His eyes flashed a soft blue as he peered into her through the force, poking, prodding, and searching for her alignment. They say the force is in all creatures, big and small. Be it a small flicker of a candle flame or a raging wildfire. within

Ali Kare

 

[Ali Kare]

"Attention unidentified warships, this is Captain Kare of the Lilaste Order. You are currently trespassing in Lilaste space. State your intentions and loyalties. Failure to comply with these commands will find your ships riddled with holes, and a death by decompression will await you," Ali said confidently.

The All-Vision fired its drives and began closing the distance.

The comm crackled and a gruff voice filled the bridge. "Heh, our intentions? Our loyalties? Foolish to ask such a thing. We only have one loyalty; to ourselves."

Ali held back a laugh. "Really? Just two pathetic, welded-together buckets of bolts and scraps? Are you smugglers? Pirates, maybe? Because you certainly aren't part of any reasonably powerful faction," she confirmed as her scanners observed the ships. No markings. So they were under the law one way or another.

"Hmm, we like to call ourselves liberators, Captain Kare. Liberators of treasures that are held by high and mighty nobles, kept away from the desperate cries of the homeless and impoverished," the man claimed.

Ali froze, her mind racing back to all those years ago on her homeworld. Her parents, who used to be wealthy aristocrats on Coruscant, had built all their wealth on slavery and corruption. That was the source of Ali's hatred, which had been built up for years. And she'd never had a chance to let it out. Had this pirate known, somehow, about her? Was he hoping to poke at scars that hadn't yet healed?

Suddenly there was a feeling within her mind. It was some... subconcious feeling? As if something (or someone) was probing for information without her noticing. Her eyes widened.

It had to be the pirate. Whoever he was, now just fifty kilometers away, was somehow reaching across space and into her memories. The Force. That's how he knew about her parents, and how to reopen old wounds. Ali's eyes flashed with rage as she stood abruptly from her seat. Forgetting that the High Commander was watching, she pointed through the viewport at the larger vessel ahead.

"You speak lies!" she accused before inhaling sharply. She felt the High Commander's eyes on her. Regaining her composure as a captain in the military, she said, "On behalf of the Lilaste Order, you will not bring your piracy around here. I have no doubt that your friends (if you have them) will keep coming. But that is only because I will not allow you to go back and inform them of my competence and ability."

She turned to face the weapons crew...but something caught her eye. Commander Laphisto, his eyes teal blue. Strange. She'd never seen him like that. Even stranger, that sense of probing got stronger as she looked at him. Was the dragon searching her mind?

The captain dismissed the thought. This was battle. And battle required tactics. Already, the All-Vision's batteries were pounding away at the closest warship (a frigate), and receiving fire from both vessels. She needed to take them on one at a time. The way to do that was have her destroyer perform a hit and run attack on the frigate, and drive hard away to open space. Well... all of it was open space. But that didn't matter. She needed the frigate to chase her. Since it was faster than the cruiser, seperation would be created and take the cruiser out of the equation for a bit.

If only there were a way to get the enemy commander to think irrationally.

Then she remembered. Just a few minutes ago, when the pirate was probing her mind and she'd gotten angry... if she could do that to him. But she couldn't use the Force. Damn.

Laphisto

 

[Laphisto]

Laphisto watched the captain closely with a slight chuckle rolling from his throat. He caught wind of her thought of him, probing her mind. It wasn't ethically correct to do so, but to watch and listen to how a captain thought things through and acted was needed to ensure she would be a good candidate for high Admiral. It was curious how she assumed it was the pirate getting into her skull when, in fact, it was him, though he let her believe that.

When the captain began to act out their battle strategy, Laphisto was pleased with the ideas that crossed her thought process till the last thought about her using the force entered. he could already feel her sensitivity to the force. While not the most extreme connection, the connection was there nonetheless, so he pushed. Not physically pushing but more akin to pushing the thought into her mind. What IF, what IF she honestly could, has she even tried? What is stopping her from trying now? if she could use force, what possibilities could that open up to her? What is stopping her from trying? Could she turn the frigate captain against the cruiser with force, or maybe even crush the ship with the force itself? She could even see the future if she tried.

He went on and on down the rabbit hole of thoughts, tempting and pushing, trying to see how the Captain would react under the pressure of a force-sensitive and the stress of combat. After all, this was a test of her capabilities, and there would be no holding back. He wasn't worried about breaking the Captain's mind. After all, a small part of the order's military training was undergoing several weeks of force resistance training to ensure the common solder wouldn't be too susceptible to mind tricks to steal information or turn a command infantrymen against their commander mid-battle, so he new she could take it, or at least he had hopes for it

Ali Kare

 

[Ali Kare]

The strange feeling in the back of her mind persisted, and with it came ideas. She couldn't simply give up on her absurd thought about somehow discovering dark secrets of the pirate commander's, absurd as it was. Through the flashes of red turbolaser fire, Ali stared at the pirate cruiser's low bridge. The commander had to be there.

"Ma'am, shields down to 50%!" yelled one of her crew members in panic.

"Helm, change course. Vector forty-five degrees starboard. We will get them to chase us. Redirect all starboard shields to port as well," Ali ordered.

She needed an advantage in this battle. She grimaced, staring at the enemy bridge. She could picture the pirate sitting in his throne, laughing with a bottle of whiskey at his side. Ali was filled with determination to wipe the smugness of his face.

Subconsciously, she reached out with a plea. A plea for any advantage she could get. It occurred to her that she might have to try things that she'd never tried before. Just a minute ago, when she had given up on probing the pirate's mind in response to his pre-emptive psychological attack, she didn't even try to do anything to him. How could she know that she didn't possess those abilities if she never attempted to exercise them?

With these thoughts, her eyes narrowed to slits, and with eerie efficiency, she reached across space to the bridge. She could feel the wicked presences aboard, like ugly stains on a beautiful painting. The largest splotch of all had to be the commander. It was then that she felt something awaken within, a power that lay dormant for decades.

With great precision, she sifted through memories, secrets, and knowledge. Not hers, but theirs. With a single thought, she narrowed her search, honing in on the hideous blemish in the painting. Even farther she dove, feeling the fabric of the galaxy flying past her. Until she was stopped abruptly.

Some invisible wall ahead that stopped her from proceeding. She had to break it down. The commander's will was strong, but not as strong as Ali's conviction. The captain blasted down the wall with her inner strength, which became her outer strength in this ethereal battle.

And so, just ahead, seemingly on a golden pedestal, was what she was searching for. Some secret that the commander had buried away, deep down, that if unearthed could cause chaos.

Ali's eyes snapped open as the All-Vision was rocked from portside. "Ma'am, we can't take much more!" came the report.

Without responding, the captain opened a channel to the pirate.

"Ha ha! What have we here! It seems you're all bark, no bite!" the pirate said.

Ali smirked and merely asked, "Do you like using them?"

A pause, and then, "What do you speak of?"

"Your crew. Do you like using them?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the commander said, feigning confusion. And yet, the feint was so transparent.

"You promise them things. Money, power, status. And yet, I see no wealth: You can't even afford repairs on your ships. I see no power: a cruiser and a frigate. Really? I see no status: you are mere plunderers in this vast galaxy; nobodies. The only thing I see: lies. Lies to your crew, and to yourself. What you can't provide for yourself, you can't provide others. I know you're focusing on the former right now. Maybe that's all you'll ever do," Ali said.

Through the comm line, she could her muttering by the crew. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT I DO FOR THESE MEN! WHAT I SACRIFICE! PERHAPS I NEED TO TEACH YOU A LESSON!" he yelled.

Immediately, the frigate began accelerating, catching up with Ali's destroyer. However, the cruiser lagged behind, and soon its firing range was not sufficient to keep up the bombardment on the Lilaste destroyer. "Weapons, all port firepower on the frigate, aiming for the weapons suites," she ordered.

Without support from its larger ally, the frigate soon succumbed to the All-Vision's firepower. It was left disabled, but intact. And then it was time for the cruiser. "Helm, position the frigate between us and the cruiser. Just within firing range," Ali commanded.

If the pirate commander was as irrational as Ali was betting on, then he would be focused on his enemies, nothing else.

And her theory proved correct. The cruiser headed on a straight course, right for Ali. Ignoring the frigate that was in the way. "All batteries, fire on the frigate!"

The vacuum was lit up by dozens of laser flashes, each tearing away at the frigate's dilapidated hull. One shot was bound to-

A bright light erupted from the frigate, and Ali shielded her eyes. And she knew that was that. When the light subsided, all that was left was the cruiser, its starboard side completely blown apart, fires licking at the armor plating. "I want a reading on that cruiser, sensors," Ali said, manually clearing the frigate off her tacmap.

"Ma'am, the cruiser is completely disabled. Starboard weapons are reduced to ashes. Major damage to the bridge, communications systems, shield generators, and portside weapons suites. We've pretty much doomed them," the sensors operator said.

"That's good. Set a course for home."

Laphisto

 

[Laphisto]

the battle unfolded before him with calculated precision, and he kept himself on the fringes of Ali Kare 's mind, reading her thoughts as the engagement manifested itself, keeping himself more up to date on how she processed the stress of battle and the strategies that ran through her mind. All of which was helpful information to the commander. Out of six other candidates, he knew she was ripe for the position just as the others. now the only that was needed was to finish this battle and extend the offer to the academy towards her. He hadn't gone public with the High admiral's retirement plans. An injury that was keeping him from doing his job.

When the flash of light appeared from the ship's viewports, he looked forward, lightly squinting his eyes. While he was effectively blind by proxy, he wasn't entirely blind. With the distraction, his link to the woman's mind was broken. Though it didn't matter much, he got what he needed, and when the ship turned itself around and prepared to go into hyperspace, Laphisto looked down at Ali. "Most impressive, captain. I wasn't expecting two ships to be here, but I am impressed with your adaptability. You have far surpassed my expectations. And in fact, I have an offer for you. I have gathered six other candidates to partake in an academy that's being built on Kirima, and I want you to participate in the trials there."

he turned looking around the ship some one before then speaking in a lower tone towards her "your talents in the force could be strengthened, but not as a force sensitive on the battle field but as a commander. its not yet known to the public but the High admiral will be stepping down in a few months and there is an opportunity to apply for the position should you choose to accept. and if you pass all the trials needed"

 

[Ali Kare]

Ali turned from the viewport (the blue light of hyperspace might mess up her sleep schedule) and brought her gaze upon the dragon standing on her bridge. He spoke.

"Most impressive, captain. I wasn't expecting two ships to be here, but I am impressed with your adaptability. You have far surpassed my expectations. And in fact, I have an offer for you. I have gathered six other candidates to partake in an academy that's being built on Kirima, and I want you to participate in the trials there."

he turned looking around the ship some one before then speaking in a lower tone towards her "your talents in the force could be strengthened, but not as a force sensitive on the battle field but as a commander. its not yet known to the public but the High admiral will be stepping down in a few months and there is an opportunity to apply for the position should you choose to accept. and if you pass all the trials needed"

Ali's eyes widened, as did her jaw. The High Commander wanted her to be the leader of the Order's naval forces? The captain thought about the current High Admiral. She didn't agree with everything he did, and how he employed his ships in battle, but he was competent alright. Why would he step down?

It wasn't Ali's job to know, and yet she was suddenly plagued by an onset of curiosity for the man. She would have to look into him later. But for now, she had to focus on herself. And the possibilities that came with the dragon's offer. An image formed in her mind: High Admiral Kare, seated in her command chair, leading the forces of the Lilaste Order through a multitude of conquests.

First, though, she needed to figure out her abilities in the Force. Was reading minds the extent of her powers? Or could she merely reach out a hand, and cripple the mightiest navies? Those powers would need to be explored, but as ambitious as Ali was, she knew that she would need a mentor to teach her these things. Maybe Laphisto would be the one to give her the keys to unlock her full potential.

Closing the pot lid on her daydreams, she composed herself and said, "This would be an honor, High Commander."