An Unexpected Friend

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All the faces Cedric had seen within the depths of the empyrean had been previously unknown to him. Each soul he had approached had been a stranger, and that had suited his purposes quite well. To rebuild the Order in the proper image, one needed fresh minds uncorrupted by irrelevant age old dogma. Thus it was that he found himself taken aback as a familiar face coalesced within the depths of the Great Ocean. It was a friend, if he could wager to call it that, and one he had not seen in many years. Not since his adventures with Romi.

At first, he hesitated to reach out. Last he knew of [member="Arekk"], the warriors had cast aside his Jedi teachings and disappeared into the galaxy's underbelly. Cedric had lost track shortly thereafter: there were more Jedi today defecting from their teachings than he could keep count of, it was easier just to let them go.

A long time of deliberation was taken before Cedric finally elected to reach out to his old friend. The Well of Prophecy did not lie, though it could me mistaken at times, and Arekk would be important to the coming developments. Of that, the Jedi Master had no doubt.

Ghastly cyan smoke would appear a few steps near the Cedric's old friend. It moved with thin tendrils of vapor that twisted to coalesce into a vaguely human form. After a few seconds, the mist drew away, revealing the opaque, glowing view of a tall figure in full battle plate. The figure was adorned with a long cloak with cowl over its head in the color of a raven's feathers. It stood regal, as if the gods themselves had demanded that it be there.

"Hello Arekk." He spoke with a smile, his voice echoing with an ethereal quality.

 

[Arekk]

Aboard The Ebon Hawk, Somewhere in Space​

"It is such a quiet thing, to fall. But far more terrible is to admit it."
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[member="Cedric Grayson"]​

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Peace.

Venturing into deep space ocassionally brought Arekk some serenity to his soul and mind, something that he eagerly required for a few years now. It served as a way of clearing his head from any clouding or worrying thoughts but also to reflect deeply about his own persona. Drifting in the middle of nowhere, with the pitch black darkness sorrounding you was a proper, though a little strange, way of dealing with his inner demons.

The Ebon Hawk once housed a plethora of legends from ancient times dating back to the Old Republic days such as Revan and the Exile but now it was nothing but an empty vessel with one lost person at its helm. Strong with the Force were those individuals and so was the fallen Jedi himself until he decided to numb and cut himself off from the gift that he was priviliged to have been born with, reasons were more than clear in the present day. No more saving the world, no more feeling like a hero.

There are no heroes.

A faint whisper caught his attention while sitting in the Ebon Hawk's cockpit, as if a voice from beyond the unknown had reached to speak with him. "I must be going crazy", he thought but definitely wasn't until the presence of an old friend materialized itself in his presence. The look of awe in his face spoke a thousand words all by themselves, a furious rub of his eyes as if he was trying to wake himself up from a bad dream followed.

"Impossible." His cybernetic hand reached out Cedric's way, most importantly his index finger to point at him. "Cedric?"

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The Ebon Hawk was a place of legend.

Cedric's progenitors had worshiped it as a sign of the Republic's prosperity in their time. Their armies had rallied beneath the banners of Revan as he sought to cleanse the galaxy of the dark side's cancerous taint. The Jedi Master had read much of the lore that had been compounded around this great ship for centuries. To know that it had fallen into [member="Arekk"]'s hands provided Cedric with a surprising feeling of relief. There were few in the galaxy that he would have trusted to utilize such a vessel effectively, but the errant Jedi was certainly one of them.

Looking upon the bedraggled form of Arekk now, Cedric was unsure if the moniker of Jedi was truly fitting. His old friend had grown embittered with the years; Cedric could feel such displeasure rolling off of him in waves within the empyrean. Displeasure, and utter surprise at Cedric's being there.

The Jedi found that amusing.

"Improbable, not impossible," Cedric corrected as he strode across the room. His ethereal fingertips traced along the walls as he walked, though he felt no physical sensation. What a curious feeling.

"You've looked better," Cedric continued, a quiet chuckle following his words. "What's happened to you old friend?"

 

[Gaia Sunaris Cadera]

Eleutheria had one quest after her bartending gig the night before. Sneak onto this Ebon Hawk that [member="Arekk"] had so fondly mentioned. Her goal was simple and perhaps not the most moral but man. She just couldn’t give up the chance to find the ever famed Spaceshine 101010, from 100 ABY. How could she pass the chance to get even a sip of the savored drink? No, she had to find a way to get at least a taste.

The whole bottle would be lovely, of course, but Ellie could live with just a taste. A rare produced line whose recipe had been lost to the ages, Ellie had to at least try. Worst case, Arekk would likely just throw her out – he didn’t seem like the guy who could blame a woman for trying to get a taste. She created a variety of black tattoos on her arm and fingers, wearing a light pink top and skirt.

Who knew what awaited her inside his ship? All she had to go on was what Arekk had mentioned in a drunken stupor. To be fair, Ellie had no idea why he even bothered going to a bar with such a rarity chilling in his ship. Which… Was very impressive, in truth, even if she was completely lost. And luckily, there seemed to be almost no sentient life on the ship, too.

Luck was on her side! Although, she opened a door to see a groggy Arekk and a ghostly [member="Cedric Grayson"], someone she knew immensely. So Cedric was his name, not C. Oh crap, this was going to be awkward. Why the kark did she wear heels on a stealth mission?

 

[Arekk]

Aboard The Ebon Hawk, Somewhere in Space​

"It is such a quiet thing, to fall. But far more terrible is to admit it."
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[member="Cedric Grayson"] ~ [member="Eleutheria Overjerr"]​

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"Too many things. You wouldn't understand."

The question of how or why Cedric was manifesting himself as an ethereal being escaped his comprehension at that moment. Was he dead?

Bedazzled would be the right word to explain Arekk's feelings during the first few moments of encountering the ghostly Cedric as he moved around the cockpit while trying to strike him in conversation. Unbeknownst to him, the waitress from the bar back in Fondor had snuck into The Ebon Hawk to steal the very rare Spaceshine 101010 he was smuggling for a client back on Ethos City.

"What do you want from me?" He shifted around Cedric's presence like a caged lion, ready to strike. "I don't feel the Force anymore. Cut myself off, how is it possible that I can see you now?"

The fallen Jedi's questions would remain unanswered until his old friend spoke once again, wrapping the idea on his head that he was talking from a connection beyond his understanding was mind-blowing enough. Had he been chosen for a certain task or maybe this was the Force's funny way of working despite his best intentions to attempt and 'remove' himself from it? Perhaps there was no escape to such gift or maybe he was destined to keep using it.

"You can probably guess what happened to me."

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