Beyond Reasonable Certainty

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi smiled and bowed to the Twi'lek freighter pilot who had given her passage to Timbra Ott from Kal'Shebbol before she turned to walk down the cargo ramp. "Check in on the way back! Or if you're around ever again!" he called happily after her. He was young, but lively and resourceful, and had been pleasant company. The difference in age and species between them was enough to forestall any of the complications the travelling woman was not unaccustomed to encountering, but not too much to prevent rapport.

She pulled the hood of her grey robe over her head as she stepped outside into the chilly evening. This was the furthest Amilthi had ever been from the galactic core, and the journey had been long. After the unfortunate escapade on Bardotta, she had travelled along the Rimma Trade Route and the Trition Trade Route to the brim of the Kathol Outback. But her intended destination lay much further yet. How to reach the remote planet of the Aing-Tii in the Kathol Rift, with its alien and reclusive natives, was a question yet unsolved.

It was a sleepy and provincial spaceport, but the remoteness of the place made it perhaps more likely that she found find someone with a ship to sell for cheap, or with nothing better to do, and the right kind of inclination, to embark on a quixotic journey into little-known space. Amilthi directed her steps towards the spaceport guesthouse, where such characters might be found, but also a bed for the night. But when she had almost reached the door below the illuminated, neon-coloured sign, something compelled her to stop in her tracks and look back. Besides the ship on which she had come, whose inside was still illuminated, there was one more freighter parked in this bay, closed and seemingly deserted. She could see no movement around it, but suddenly there was the screeching sound of metal on metal - then silence again. Perhaps it was just a droid still busy with repairs, but it might also have been someone up to no good. Amilthi slowly walked towards it.

[member="Arcanus Sunstrider"]​

 

[Republic Engineering]

Outer Rim Territories // Kathol Sector // Timbra Ott
Provincial Spaceport // Omber - Class Medical Yacht // The “Avalon.”

​

As a reward for his valiant service to the Outer Rim Coalition during the First Order’s failed invasion of Skor II, the Jedi known as Arcanus Sunstrider found himself burdened with a Medical Yacht that he begrudgingly named the ‘Avalon.’ The man didn’t want anything for his troubles, as ensuring others were safe was payment enough. He actually refused, outright, on several occasions to take ownership of the vessel; even going so far as to climb into his own starfighter and begin the pre-flight sequence. However, it was at the behest of one of the Squib Orphans, that the Jedi finally relented. The Epicanthix found himself unable to say no when a child that he saved before the incursion began to pull at his ratty flight suit and tell him that looked like he needed a bigger ship - and a good night's rest. Both were true, as the Chronos was a sturdy fighter, but lacked the room a towering figure like himself required to fit inside its cockpit comfortably. As for the latter point, regarding his rested state, Arcanus couldn’t remember the last time he slept in an actual bed, or for a full cycle.

With those two points were brought into focus by the innocent logic of a child, the Jedi accepted his new starship with humility and gratitude. It wasn’t long after that he ended up bequeathing the vessel with the name ‘Avalon’ after someone that was near and dear to him - but whose mortal coil was severed long ago. While it was morbid, from a certain point of view, the man felt it was a fitting tribute to an old friend - who’s entire life was spent climbing a proverbial mountain in the face of insurmountable odds. He felt that her spirit would appreciate the gesture in some manner, but only after chiding him for hours on end until his ears fell off and he died of old age. Nevertheless, she was in a better place now and there wasn’t really a way for her to object to his decision; so if she could peer through the veil and bear witness - it was likely that she’d be huffing up a storm trying to find a way back into the land of the living just to tear him a new one.

His thoughts drifted away from the distant past and found themselves settling on the events of the present. Arcanus ended up taking the ‘Avalon’ on a shakedown run from the world of Skor II and found himself setting down on Timbra Ott to repair and refuel. There had been a few close calls along the way, as the man was a terrible navigator and found himself traversing the Rift without an updated starmap. While his new starship was capable of shrugging off all but the most grievous of blows due to its advanced deflector array, the Raptorian vessel still suffered some damage along the way. It was nothing that could be avoided; but alas here he was with a hydrospanner wedged between his teeth. The man’s hands busied themselves behind one of the many interior panels, that led towards a forest of connected cables housed within the Starship’s bulkheads. It seemed that there was some feedback from the deflector array that surged, and subsequently bled into one of the nearby capacitors - which lead to a failure that threatened to loosen one of the fuel lines. If he hadn’t chosen to touch down when he did, there was a chance that the ‘Avalon’ would’ve spontaneously combusted; once that line came loose and began leaking coaxium.

As the last vestiges of the day began bleeding away, finding themselves replaced by the cold embrace of night, Arcanus busied himself with cleaning up his scattered tools. The repairs were completed, at least up to a point where his new starship wouldn’t explode as soon as his next voyage got a bit rocky. Therefore, there was little need to clutter up the corridors with spilled boxes of connectors and discarded cables, alongside the odd hydrospanner or two. While the Jedi was no master mechanic - or an orderly one to say the least - the man did know how to put things back together. Well, until someone better came around. For what seemed like hours, the Jedi retraced his steps around the ‘Avalon,’ picking up his mess from earlier, only to drop one of his newly collected hydrospanner’s when a loud, metallic scrape boomed through the spinal corridors his ship. It wasn’t enough to cause his vessel to shake, but it scared the bejeezus out of the Warrior-Monk.

“What in blazes?” He said, after taking a breath and spilling the rest of his tools onto the polished deck.

Without a moment to lose, Arcanus rushed towards the loading ramp and slapped a hearty palm onto the activation panel. In response to such an act, the yawning metallic maw began to part from the ‘Avalon’ and descend towards the outstretched flight deck of the spaceport. When the two surfaces kissed, the Jedi almost ran down the extended plank and began scouring his surroundings for the source of the deafening noise. As his eyes darted from one side to the next, he spotted a woman slowly approaching in his general direction. She seemed familiar, but the man couldn’t, quite, put a finger on it. Maybe they had met in passing, and the stunted Epicanthix’s age was starting to catch up with him? He couldn’t tell, at least not yet.

However, as she got closer, there was a momentary flash of recognition that echoed within his mind. They must’ve met briefly on Centares! But, the name still eluded him. Ah well, the Jedi thought. There was no time like the present to remedy the mistakes of the past!

“Hey!” the Jedi began, as he slowly started to walk towards the approaching woman - clad in his ratty and lusterless emerald flight suit. “Did you hear something crazy loud, just a few moments ago?”

| [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] |​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

Amilthi gave a start when the ship's main cargo ramp hydraulics came alive. Either someone was inside after all and it was merely the cockpit lights that had been off, in which case that person might be exposing themselves to some danger by venturing outside; or someone had managed to hack the ship's electronics from the outside to get it to open. But still she couldn't see anyone else in the landing bay, and perhaps her worries were unfounded.

The tension within her lessened when she saw the figure emerging from the ship, suddenly there was a sense that things would be alright. The man's worn flight suit was that of a starfighter pilot, and Amilthi was amused by its slight incongruity with the circumstances. When the man's tall and handsome self finally came into full view, Amilthi's face lit up with a smile of recognition. Not that there had been much of an acquaintance between them, and while she felt that perhaps his name was buried somewhere in her memory, she would have to dig for it; but she was quite certain that he was one of the friendly souls she had once encountered on Centares. She wondered whether he would even remember her, for in the time that had passed, he had likely met with many more people than she had in her life of meditation and pilgrimage. It was unclear to her whether to regret that their meeting was being disturbed by some sort of a situation, innocuous as it might turn out to be, or to be glad that the fact they had something, however trivial, to do for now was to be welcomed and would help them over what might otherwise have been an awkward coincidence.

"Yes", she said, perplexed. She realised that her eyes were still glued to him and pulled them away to look around, her smile disappearing again. Even in the light that now shone from the open cargo bay, there was no-one to be seen around. But suddenly there was another noise, the sound of someone, or something, shuffling around. It seemed to come from above, and she immediately looked for a ladder to climb on top of the ship, but couldn't find it. Perhaps it was on the other side. "You didn't engage any clumsy maintenance droids or such?"

[member="Arcanus Sunstrider"]​

 

[Republic Engineering]

Outer Rim Territories // Kathol Sector // Timbra Ott
Provincial Spaceport // Omber - Class Medical Yacht // The “Avalon.”

​

​

When he had seen the spark of recognition flash within her eyes, Arcanus knew for certain that he met this woman before - and it seemed she remembered him from their previous encounter as well. While the details were fuzzy at best, there was a moment that the Jedi regretted how events played out. However, there was little to be done in order to change the events of the past, for they were set in opposition to an ever-mutable, and changing future. He would simply have to do better in order to make the mistakes of the past seem like nothing more than a distant, and fading memory. Thus, did the Jedi shrug off the seeds of doubt that began taking root within his mind, and embraced the almost accusatory inquiry. He had been within his starship the entire time, and was alone with the pleasantries of his memories; how could he have mistakenly activated a droid to cause such wrenching commotion?

Yet, while the man knew such a fact to be true, he had to consider her point of view as well - since it was highly unlikely that she believed the Jedi to be alone. It was a larger starship than he was used too, and such a beast of burden usually was populated by several beings from almost every walk of life. So, it was easy to assume that he had done something to trip the activation cycle of a maintenance droid - within the starship or without. Arcanus shook his head in response, however, and told her that he was performing repairs on his vessel alone. He made mention of the lack of maintenance droids, and how the Crew of the Flightdeck kept their ageing models enshrined within their charging racks this late at night.

“So,” the Jedi continued. “I'm afraid that the answer there is No.”

It seemed they had a little mystery on their hands, as neither party knew what was the source of the skin-crawling screech. What made itself clear not long after was the simple fact that they both wouldn't get the answers they sought by standing around. They had to investigate their surroundings in order to divine the truth of the matter at hand. So, without further delay, Arcanus turned back towards his vessel and began searching for any clues, or signs of recent activity that would warrant his attention.

“With that being said,” the Jedi stated, as his eyes scoured the exterior plating of his vessel. “I’ll take a look, and see what’s causing all the fuss.”

“You’re welcome to join if you’d like.”​

| [member="Amilthi Camlenn"] |​

 

[Amilthi Camlenn]

"An excursion to the roof of a ship. Who could say no to that", retorted Amilthi with a wry smile. She went over to the other side where a ladder was affixed in an indentation. She pulled it out and climbed up without any regard for the potential impropriety of using a perfectly vertical ladder while wearing a merely knee-length skirt.

She strolled over the upper side of the ship, keeping her balance with ease despite the fact that it was difficult terrain, and looked around attentive trying to spot anything unusual. Apart from their own steps, no sound was to be heard.

Suddenly, right in front of her, there was frightening-sounding beep, and a droid the shape of a flattened sphere floated seemingly out of the floor. Her lightsaber flashed only for the blink of an eye as she cut it horizontally in half - perhaps a rash reaction, but perhaps also advisable carefulness. To shoot first and ask questions later was something of a policy Amilthi entertained with respect to droids, as the only risk was material damage and the loss of information, so much less significant than the actual suffering one would cause to live beings.

The upper half of the droid fell off, tumbled across the slanted upper side of the ship, and fell off the edge to the ground. But astonishingly, the lower half simply continued to rise undeterred. It was already out of reach of her weapon, and perhaps unwisely, she did the first thing that came to mind: she jumped after it and held on to it with her bare hands from both sides. The fact that its upper half was missing made for good handholds, but the edges were still burning hot from contact with the lightsaber blade. Amilthi winced at the pain in her hands, but resisted it well enough not to let go. The half-droid continued to rise, albeit slowed down by the incumbrance, her legs dangling in their air.

[member="Arcanus Sunstrider"]​