Private At the Edge of War

[Valery Noble]

Archae Teuthis

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Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Alicio Organa

"I'll be right there with you," she promised but Valery knew he didn't really need it. The thugs attacking these people were expecting fairly low resistance, so for a senator trained by several Jedi to drop down on them was going to be an unpleasant surprise. Perhaps they'd even recognize him from the news, and end up shocked that he'd stop their advance. She'd have to make sure to get there in time to see the look on their faces.

So while Alicio made his elegant landing on top of them, Valery accelerated and brought her ship to the closest landing pad she could find. The Bastion settled down with as much strain as the landing gear could take without breaking it, and Valery rushed out to go find him.

By the time she arrived, Alicio had already cut his way through several of them, and the remaining pirates were pulling back chaotically to regroup. Valery took the opportunity and launched herself up into the air to land among the thugs, and as she connected with the ground, a wave of Force energy expanded from her. Those close to her were sent flying, while those further away were just knocked off their feet.

An opportunity for Alicio to follow up, though he had to be careful — from up ahead, one pirate leveled his rocket launcher and opened fire. The projectile moved passed Valery, but was heading straight for the Count.

"Alicio!"

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio's body had a mind of it's own.

That was how Alicio had known he was improving. No longer was each deflection calculated, each lunging slash devised beforehand. The Count's muscles remembered, all he had to do was let go, and he was a perfect storm. His blade angled close to his body as he redirected a pair of blaster shots towards the ground, closing the distance with the perpetrator, and disarming him in one fell swoop. Another, he hooked the leg out from under, and body-checked them into the water beneath the bridge.

Of course, nothing he did had as much raw impact as Valery's entrance, as she blasted a radius around herself, sending the already-regrouping opportunists back. Alicio didn't smile- none of this was enjoyable for him- but he felt a stab of relief. He may have come far in his training, but something about having Valery there made him feel safe.

"Alicio!"

The senator heard her call a moment before she shouted it, giving him a precious moment to prepare. There were defenders behind him, he couldn't just dodge. Alicio had to stop the rocket.

He set his feet apart, Introspect sweeping behind him as he held up a hand. The Force gathered around him, an abrasive seawater taste overwhelming his tongue. And as he rocket roared towards him, Alicio reached out with his feelings. The sudden strain was evident on his entire body, the muscles in his arm and under his face tensing.

The explosive slowed, as if forced to burrow it's way through honey, until finally, it flew suspended mere breaths away from Alicio's fingertips. Still, they pushed against each other, until the rocket's fuel finally ran out, and Alicio tossed it overboard with a telekinetic heave. The device exploded underwater, leaving Alicio heaving with exhaustion, but turning back to his enemies regardless.

He couldn't take Valery's opening in time, but he attempted to charge up with her regardless, if only to have her back.

- Valery Noble -

 

[Valery Noble]

Archae Teuthis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Alicio Organa

Valery had made her crashing entrance only because of her trust in Alicio — she knew that he'd cover her back against those who ended up behind her, and she was certain that he'd push up to join her as soon as he could. What she hadn't expected was for these thugs to turn weapons meant for heavy armor against people. The rocket had flown passed her at an incredible pace, and for a moment, she was worried that they wouldn't be able to stop it.

Until she saw Alicio.

He stood ready even before she had called out to him, and the way the Force flowed around him wasn't something she had felt before from him. There was no room for error, and he knew that, so with all his strength and focus, Alicio reached out to the projectile and before it managed to make contact, he stopped it. The explosive inside was still going to detonate, so he tossed it into the water and she felt the explosion only a second later.

A breath of relief escaped her lips, but there was little time to think on it. The pirates had used the opportunity to fall back and reposition themselves on the other side behind cover, so they'd have to move up before they could organize another attack wave. "We need to be quick, or the momentum will shift," Valery said once he had joined up with her.

"If I provide another opening, can you rush their position?"

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio jogged up to Valery's side, lightsaber batting bolts away from his center mass. He was moving a bit sluggishly as he recovered, but he tried to offset it with his precognition. The Count wasn't used to large applications of telekinesis like that- it wasn't one of his go-to moves. In fact, he barely used large applications of any Force ability. His techniques were often subtle, efficient, precise. Brute force was taxing.

Still, he pressed on, until he was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Sword of the Jedi. At least his form was solid, elegant, even if he was slow to move his muscles.

Her tactical plan seemed solid. He nodded, shouting out a brisk "On your mark!," before setting his sights a little further into the Future, to plan ahead. Figure out the best angle of attack.

- Valery Noble -

 

[Valery Noble]

Archae Teuthis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Alicio Organa

Valery took note of his slower movements, and figured it was because of his use of Telekinesis. With any other person, she would have likely raised it as a concern, but her trust in him was too great. He knew his limits far better than she did, and knew he wouldn't commit to her plan if he couldn't make it. So with his signal, Valery got to work.

Her mind and gaze shifted into the Force and connected not with the pirates, but the weapons in their hands. Every material, from simple durasteel to Beskar, had its strengths and weaknesses, and finding those fault-lines was no impossible task for her. She raised a hand, and the first line of defending pirates were left in shock, as their weapons shattered into tiny pieces in their hands.

The pressure on Valery and Alicio vanished almost entirely for a few seconds, before they would draw a sidearm or fall back to let others push back up. But Valery knew those few seconds were more than enough, especially with his precognition.

"Go now!"

 

[Alicio Organa]

"Go now!"

Alicio was already moving, his slender form approaching the enemy like a long-reaching shadow. Before the first line had a chance to recover, to even throw their chunks of weapon to the ground, the Count was upon them, blade slashing clean through their bodies. He wished he could have incapacitated them, let them live... But if they were allowed to recover, to get up again, they would cause more death, more destruction. He had to stop them here.

The wave broke before him, lines of marauders falling back in a panic, but already a second defense was beginning to push them again. It was Alicio's turn to open an opportunity. He focused on his connection to the Force, reached out his hand, and pulled.

Frost crawled up his hand, his sleeve, and the tresses of his cloak. rain turned to sleet around the Count, and a thin patch of ice crystalized under his feet. A line of approaching pirates started to seize and slow, as Alicio stole the heat, the life, from their bodies. He couldn't kill them, not at this distance, but he could certainly give the pirates enough pause for Valery to capitalize.

- Valery Noble -

 

[Valery Noble]

Archae Teuthis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Alicio Organa

Valery smirked just briefly when Alicio moved passed her before she had even called out to him. It allowed him to appear in their defensive lines the very second that their weapons fell apart, and he wasted no time - with swift and precise movements of his blade, one pirate after another went down, leaving behind a trail of bodies. Valery frowned at that, but she knew why he had to do it. Keeping them alive in the heat of battle would only endanger many more people, ans that was a risk neither of them were willing to take.

They had to end this swiftly and be realistic with their approach.

But as quick as their first defensive line fell, they also retreated to try and establish a new one. Alicio picked up on it, and all of a sudden, Valery felt a strange cold in the Force. She looked at the Count, wondering about what he was doing, but decided to leave it as a mental note for now.

The ability had seemed almost dark in nature.

For now, Valery closed the distance with a jump and moved between targets like a lightning bolt. They couldn't see her, they couldn't target her, and those she didn't take down in an instant, all dropped their weapons and raised their hands.

The battle here was over for now.

"You doing okay?" Valery asked as she looked at Alicio over her shoulder, but it was clear by the look in her eyes that she had questions for him.

 

[Alicio Organa]

Valery and Alicio's two-part assault had the enemy fleeing back. The bridge was theirs, for the moment, allowing the cephalopod and Rodian defense behind them to dig in. If he felt any sort of accomplishment at their victory, any kind of sick pleasure, he didn't show it on his face. Instead, his deep grey eyes told of tragedy. Sorrow.

"You doing okay?"

Alicio's lip twitched into a grimace. Something in his friend's face was curious. Perhaps cautious. The Count could only set his shoulders, shaking the rime from his fingertips. That was two major applications of the Force, but for whatever reason, the ice came easier to him. Though it left him numb, and cold inside. "I can keep going," he said, glancing around. Looking for the next battle.

That wasn't what she meant. Alicio sighed, his eyes catching the ground. "...I'll manage."

"Let's keep going."

- Valery Noble -

 

[Valery Noble]

Archae Teuthis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Alicio Organa

"Let's keep going."

While she always trusted his word, and would blindly put her life in his hands if she needed to, Valery didn't move this time. The defenders behind them had already caught up and were moving to take back what they lost, but she was far more focused on her friend right now. As experienced a Jedi as she was, there was still a lot about the Force she didn't know and never would know. It was infinitely complex, and even her kids helped her discover new aspects.

But what he did to give her the opportunity to strike had felt almost dark to her, and she wondered just how close to the edge it really brought him.

"What did you do to those people? To help me catch up to them?"

 

[Alicio Organa]

"What did you do to those people? To help me catch up to them?"

Alicio had been preparing to dash forward with Valery. This couldn't be the only battle happening in the city, there had to be more people that needed their help. But her insistence to get to the bottom of him caused him to stumble, his mind and body both stalling as he processed her questions.

His first thought was one of annoyance. He didn't want to talk about it, not when there were still people in danger. It flashed on his face, his desire to be honest with his friend conflicting with his need to help the innocent. But Alicio was more level-headed than the average warrior, and he was able to take a breath. Focus on the moment. He needed to recover anyways. The battle could wait for a conversation.

"I froze them," he said, turning to Valery, his eyes betraying some amount of guilt. "I discovered the ability on Zaathru. It's... healing in reverse."

"Instead of pushing my life essence into them, I... pull." Nobody had ever commented on the cold before. Not even Amani, when he'd used the power in front of her. But for whatever reason, he felt... vulnerable, being called on it.

- Valery Noble -

 

[Valery Noble]

Archae Teuthis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Alicio Organa

Valery's eyebrows visibly dipped into a frown when she noticed the air of frustration around him. She never wanted to be an annoyance to her friends, but she felt this was important to at least ask about. It had felt so... dark, and now he was feeling frustrated over being confronted about it too? Or was it just because they still had a job to do? She wasn't so sure anymore and decided to let him explain that himself.

His answer, at least initially, deepened her frown.

"Healing in reverse? That sounds..." Dark. She didn't say it out loud but healing was perhaps one of the most Light applications of the Force. To restore life and serve to protect it. Doing the reverse sounded like something the Sith would practice, and not one of her closest friends.

How did Amani feel about it?

"Don't you worry that this application of the Force can cause trouble? For it to so directly drain life, in a way, is just..." she sighed and looked him in the eyes for answers. Maybe she was entirely wrong, and she hoped she was, but she was also worried. What if the skills he developed only got darker from here?

 

[Alicio Organa]

"...Dark," he finished for Valery. The rest of the world seemed to grow quiet to his ears.

He didn't like the way Val was looking at him. He felt... scrutinized. Judged. As a senator, he was used to this, but never in this way, before. The Count pulled his cloak a little tighter around himself, as if to obscure his form. "I promise, I wouldn't use it when the situation didn't call for it, but..."

"Innocent people are dying, Val. If I don't use everything I have, I kill every person I could have saved, but didn't." There was a hint of the old Alicio, there. The overworked statesman, bearing all the Alliance's issues on his shoulders.

His thoughts traveled the Chaldea, before returning to the present moment. "I... I am worried, Valery. But I can't let that stop me from doing what's right."

- Valery Noble -

 

[Valery Noble]

Archae Teuthis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Alicio Organa

"But where does that line of thinking end?" Valery asked with a pained expression. She didn't like confronting one of her closest friends like this at all, but would she really be a friend if she just ignored it and pretended everything was fine? It sure didn't feel fine to her right now, and she worried that it was only going to get worse.

She wasn't just going to sit by and let it happen.

"Even neutral abilities or skills can be used to do wrong, but everything about what that ability did felt unnatural." She let out a soft sigh and looked around her for a moment. A lot of lives were lost today, and they would have been with or without his use of that ability.

But she still couldn't help but feel like the methods mattered.

"...what if it just gets darker?"

 

[Alicio Organa]

"I... don't know," he finally admitted, his eyes traveling to between his boots. Some selfish, insecure part of him wanted to raise his voice. Argue. Fight back against what was making him feel bad. But of course he didn't. Because it was Valery. Because he knew she cared for him.

The Count crossed his arms over his chest, still staring downward. "I... I need... to use it. I'm too weak."

He finally looked up again. "I can't do all the things that you can, Val. Without the cold, I can barely touch a battlefield. And in the wars to come, I can't... step aside. Not like I did with the Maw. I have to help." He sounded as if he were pleading with her. Either way, he'd feel guilty. Guilty that he danced with the Dark Side, or guilty that he wasn't fighting for the lives of others at his full potential.

"Wh... What am I supposed to do?"

- Valery Noble -

 

[Valery Noble]

Archae Teuthis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Alicio Organa

"Weak?" Valery asked, and it was clear by her tone that she did not agree. Finally, she decided to bridge the gap she had felt form between them, and stepped forward to place a more comforting hand on his shoulder. No matter what, even if he did something she wasn't fond of, she'd never just turn her back on him. He had helped her through very difficult times, and was among her closest friends.

One of few who she trusted to watch over her own children.

"I know you want to help, but I don't believe you need this. Think about the potential consequences too," she said with a frown. "What if it does push you over the edge? Think about what you'd lose if that happens. Amani, the kids..." She shook her head a little and looked off in the distance herself.

It wasn't easy to look him in the eyes. She had never confronted him like this before.

"Wh... What am I supposed to do?"

"...I-" she sighed. "I don't know, but I'm just worried about what happens if using something like this cold becomes passive. When it no longer phases you that it's dark."

 

[Alicio Organa]

"Weak," he said, a little louder. He tried to keep his face peaceful, tried to reign in control of himself, but something in Alicio shifted the moment Valery touched his shoulder. Facades began to crack. His eyes grew wet.

"Of course I know what might happen. I love Amani, and August, and Liana, more than anything. But you're asking me to put myself, my family, above every other person and family out there. I... I c-can't do that." The first tear fell from the corner of his eye, no matter how hard Alicio tried to fight it off, leaving a line of water down his cheek.

"So many times in my life, I haven't been enough to save people. I had to kill a friend that had turned, because I knew I wasn't strong enough to hold her. Dozens of guards have died preventing my death, because I couldn't do it myself. Refugees under my protection have been genocided in front of my eyes, and I was powerless to stop it!" Alicio's voice cracked, and he abruptly covered his face with his arm, hiding his shame.

"...I've s-seen so many people die, Val. And I... I couldn't do anything."

- Valery Noble -

 

[Valery Noble]

Archae Teuthis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Alicio Organa

"Really? Is that what you think I'm suggesting?" Valery challenged with a frown. "If you were to fall, it's not just going to be Amani and the kids who suffer. The people who get the life sucked out of them without your current restraint aren't going to be happy either, and what about all the people who currently rely so much on your help?" She sighed and looked around the scene of battle for a moment.

"We don't all have to be warriors to help people, Alicio. If you feel like you want to confront threats more head-on, I can respect that, but taking shortcuts like this will help nobody in the long-run." Valery felt her own eyes straining to stay dry, and seeing him get emotional over it just made it so much more difficult.

It was never easy to show vulnerability, and that was the same for her.

"You've saved so many lives, Alicio. There are better ways to save more."

 

[Alicio Organa]

"I don't want to hurt them!" Alicio's voice finally raised, emotion stealing his thoughts. His own words stung him, but he found he couldn't stop. "I don't want to hurt anybody! But I have to! To save people."

It was then that Alicio had lost himself to his own tears, Covering his face, turning away from Valery, the Count tried desperately to regain control. It was a losing battle, though Valery's words didn't help. It sounded to his scattered mind that she didn't understand. Or she didn't care. Alicio fought to find another sentence, his brain a little frayed by the high tension.

"T-the people in danger now don't have time to wait for the long-run." Despite his shattered posture, his broken voice was adamant. Who cared about cut corners, if they saved lives?

"You've saved so many lives, Alicio. There are better ways to save more."

"Not enough." Alicio had to choke out the words, tears freely streaming from his face. The guilt in his heart was nearly too much to bear. "Each person I let die... I kill, Valery. Me."

- Valery Noble -

 

[Valery Noble]

Archae Teuthis

​

Outfit: Factory Link | Wedding Ring
Appearance: Link
Weapons: Blasters | Lightsabers
Tag: Alicio Organa

The pain in Valery's eyes only grew, and she had no real way to place it. This wasn't something that happened often - am emotional argument with a close friend like Alicio - so she stood in front of him awkwardly while she rubbed the side of her arm. Though eventually, as she watched the tears run down his face, she knew she had to do something.

Gently, her hand reached for his shoulder, and she hoped he'd let her place it there. "You can't blame yourself for every person you can't save, Alicio. As much as we want to protect everybody, even the most powerful and experienced Jedi can't." She swallowed hard and squeezed down on his shoulder in an attempt to provide comfort.

"All we can do is give our all to make a difference for as many as possible. But as Force Users, with the risk of falling amd causing far more harm than we can imagine, we have an obligation to the Galaxy to approach it carefully."

"There are countless Sith who fell with good intentions, but their damage can never be undone and overshadows all the good they tried to do."

 

[Alicio Organa]

Alicio let Val touch his shoulder- of course he did- leaning into the contact for comfort. He wasn't mad at her. Frustrated, perhaps, at either her or himself, he had no way to tell.

"It isn't giving my all if I don't give my all." The conflict was obvious on the Count's face. What his friend was telling him didn't fit into the worldview he had built for himself, lesson after hard-fought lesson. "For years, one of my guiding principles has been to do good, no matter the cost. No matter how uncomfortable, how much it hurt, to do good. And you're saying I have to... let bad things happen. When I would have the power to stop it? Because you're afraid of what might happen if I try? I... I c-can't accept that..."

He paused, realizing he was slipping into unintelligibility, inhaled, and exhaled. Alicio took a few moments of deep introspection. He was sure he was right... which meant he could easily be wrong. There was nothing more dangerous than someone convinced they were correct. "I... I trust you, Val..." That was clear. A hand overtook hers, seeking comfort.

"Tell me I'm wrong. That everything I've said is incorrect. And... I'll try to believe it. I swear, I'll try." He was asking her to invalidate him. She was a Jedi Master, he didn't even belong to a group. She knew more than him, he trusted her more than he did himself. So if she stated in clear terms what was true, he would have to accept it. Right?

Even if he truly believed what his heart was saying.

- Valery Noble -