Private Deals in the Dark

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Aperion
Ryloth​

Ryloth had long been Jonyna's place to reconnect with her past. The place of her family's grave, where she had once been trained by Sylvar, the home of former rebel group.

But nowadays it had become a place where she found new faces. New recruits. The jedi had failed to impress her. What had been claimed as a crusade, now felt like hot air. She'd answer their call if they did something, but she struggled to see anything of concrete evidence thus far.

That's why she had contacted this new face. Someone in the order who had too been disillusioned with the idea of a jedi order hitting back against the sith.

That's why she was sitting in a corner booth, idly stirring a martini, as she waited for her new arrival.

 

[Aperion]

Ryloth
Tags: Jonyna Si
​

Even after taking this form for years -the humanoid form, that is-, something about it never seemed right to Aperion. It was if gravity itself, all the forces in the universe were conspiring for one of your only two feet to mistep. Falling seems like destiny rather than possibility, and all humanoids fought against it with such determination... They make it look easy. And it was indeed automatic for Aperion now, but it didn't make it less strange, wrong, alien. The ideal lifeform would always be liquid, after all. But alas, the Force seemed to disagree, seeing the amount of humanoid species thriving in the galaxy compared to, what, the Polydroxol and a handful of others?

Aperion had a hard time to recognise people in the beginning, all humanoid seemed similar. Didn't matter much, did it? All had two arms, two legs, a head. Some had some more arms, some more legs, even some more heads... Well, it takes time to differentiate them. At least now, after years of study, he knows the server in front of him is a female Twi'lek, maybe 25-ish years old, a scar on her left cheek. The Jedi greeted her with a little nod, and made his way to a corner booth, where his contact would be waiting. Her presence could be determined out of all the people in the bar, such was her attunement to the Force. It was soothing, like the heat of a bright prairie fire in a cold, cold night.

There she was, right in front of him, stirring a drink Aperion couldn't quite name. He wasn't a fan of alcohol, even though he loved to frequent bars -full of life, those places.

"Greetings! Chow-neeh-na, is it?", his 'alien' accent still couldn't quite get some names right, but the Polydroxol was doing all he can to mimic the Republican accent. His voice was calm, lively, his bright silver face reflecting the woman in front of him, his white robes fluorescent in the dark. He remained still, rigid, waiting for a response.



​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Aperion​

Jonyna raised an eyebrow. That was a new one.

"Jo-Ny-Na, but yes. I take it you're Aperion? Your records tell an interesting story. Jedi Vanguard isn't doing it for you?"

Jonyna's eyes studied the strange being in front of her. She was used to reading body language, studying how a person moved, but this one...was something different.

At the least, they'd be an asset.

 

[Aperion]

Ryloth
Tags: Jonyna Si
​

"They are not organised. No head, no hierarchy, no underlying objective..." , the Jedi carefully sits in front of Jonyna, most of the silver body still hidden by the large robes. The Cathar didn't look quite like what Aperion had envisioned. No air of grace, no mistique. That was good: there's no need of those things in times of war, only humility, hope and determination. Simplicity is one's greatest weapons these days. "Controlled opposition, Jo-ny-na. Nothing more. No real challenge to the unnatural royalty that controls the High Republic, nor to the rest of the Jedi Order."

The Polydroxon sighed. It was not biologically necessary, and certainly not normal for his species, merely performative, one of the many things he learned how to mimic, and are now automatic. Aperion pressed his right hand against the table. A nailess, silver hand, similar to the many mannequins you see in the urban centres of the galaxy.

"I have been searching for a Rebellion. Akin to the stories of one Luke Skywalker, centuries ago, where a single spark could start a prairie fire. Aperion, the Unifying Force, has connected us both"​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Aperion​

"I've seen it." Jonyna answered, taking a sip of her martini. She didn't have a mystique, an aura, now. But she knew how to have one when it mattered. "They talk like they're the new bastion of hope. The new republic. They aren't. It's all a sham. A performance so that the nobles can feel good about themselves. I'll take it over the alternative, but..."

She couldn't help but chuckle at the mention of Luke.

"Luke wasn't the great hero everyone calls him. I met him, once, briefly. Good kid, but he was just that. A kid. A farmboy in over his head. You want a rebellion? Come with me, I'll show you what one looks like."

 

[Aperion]

Ryloth
Tags: Jonyna Si
​

" I'll take it over the alternative, but..."​

​

"The lesser evil is still evil", the Polydroxol's face remained inexpressive, but his voice carried a burden in it: the comprehension all his other colleagues wouldn't see or consider. The Galactic Alliance had degenerated into the High Republic, that much he knows. Some may argue it is better than the Empire or the Sith Order, and it may be. But degeneration after degeneration, 'lesser evil' after 'lesser evil', who's to say the Empire doesn't come as the 'lesser evil' in the near future? The time has come to act, to gather forces and to act.

Jonyna's mention of Luke would make Aperion smile, if he ever had a mouth. Not a mocking smile, but a confident, joyful one. "There are no heroes, Jonyna. There is just us, and the Force", all he wishes to is to correspond to what the people, the Pneuma, dream and hope. To achieve the bright future they're worthy of.

"Show me"
​

​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Aperion​

Jonyna made a gesture for Aperion to follow.

She led them both out of the cantina, her coat idly flowing as she didn't say a word.

One thing was for sure to her. One thing the two vehemently disagreed on.

There were most definitely heroes.

Jonyna would be one. She had been one. To her people, to the galaxy, to the Force.

Eventually, after wandering the streets for a few minutes, they made it to Jonyna's destination. Inside of a small starport, an old Skywatcher, modified to hell. Marked with tribal paint, and rebellion markings.

"Step into my office."

The ramp dropped, and Jonyna walked into the ship. Inside, the first room wasn't a cargo bay, but an arsenal. Swords, blasters, lightsabers, a sniper rifle large enough to dwarf even her.

 

[Aperion]

RYLOTH
Tags: Jonyna Si ​

The Jedi followed, his expressionless, passionless, passive face reflecting the world around him. Ryloth was indeed a beautiful planet, the cold night contrasted with the bright and almost-too-hot day. For now, the wind was slightly pushing Aperion's robes, his metallic skin getting colder and colder. All the pulsating lives around him, full of hope in their own way, living life with purpose, it filled the Polydroxol with the need to give more of himself to the Living Force, to the Unifying Force, to the Cosmic Force. The Force has its calling for everyone, and Aperion genuinely thinks this so-called 'Rebellion' might be the chance he so devoutedly pursued.

He stepped into the old ship, the smell of metal and -is that perfume- in the air. All those weapons, displayed as trophies in a museum, intrigued him. Aperion groped the extremity of his white robes in order to clean it -the surface of his hands suddenly liquifying, getting all the dirt into itself, and solidifying. It wasn't thoroughly cleaned, but it was better.

He was waiting for the speech that would most definitely come. ​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Aperion​

For the moment, the speech didn't come.

Instead, she gestured to follow her up a ladder, which she didn't seem to bother speaking as she climbed up.

Then, at the top...

A living room. Old couches, a table set up in front of a holo-screen, and a mug sitting on it that seemed to be filled with juice of some variety.

Jonyna didn't wait for Aperion's reaction. She threw herself over the back of the couch, and plopped right onto it.

"Here's how I see it. The galaxy is fucked right now. The High Republic isn't doing anything to unfuck it. So we're gonna have to. You hear me?"

 

[Aperion]

RYLOTH
Tags: Jonyna Si
​

The Jedi watched as Jonyna threw herself on the couch. If he had a human face, he would be visibly confused. Aperion came expecting a fellow Jedi, with all their moralistic, long, dreadful speeches about the galaxy. Instead, he found a pragmatist. She was no Jedi he ever heard or saw. But again - Aperion may as well not be a Jedi, too. If the Jedi Order followed the High Republic as their pets, and the Vanguard are controlled opposition, who is Aperion in the middle of this?

A rebel through and through. Just like Jonyna.

"We will. I have wandered the galaxy to found something like this Resistance of yours, Jonyna. And in this path, I have met people like ourselves, with nothing to lose but their own chains". It was then Aperion decided: where Jonyna showed pragmatism, fighting for liberty for the sake of it, he would show a way forward. Something for all the just to rebel for. Carefully sitting over the couch, his face fixated on the juice-filled mug, the Polydroxol said:

"Are there many of us in the Resistance, Jonyna? Or has the Jedi Order corrupted our minds so much, even a minority cannot see what the galaxy has become?", a rare instance of fatalism slipped through Aperion. If he didn't have his formation as a healer, a mystic, he would still be in the High Republic, being one of the various yes-men in the so-called Jedi Order.

Aperion never thought of that under that lens.​

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Aperion​

Jonyna went quiet for a moment, staring at the juice in her mug.

"...not enough. I've had more than a few jedi reach out, but none have stayed long enough to make a difference around here. They want comradery, and security. They're people. Just like everyone else. We're not like that. We can't be. We're survivors, survivalists. We're the people who throw away temporary security in favor of throwing ourselves at the long term problem. The imperials, the sith, the mandos. that's our problem to solve."

She took a long sip, before speaking again. "I've tried to pull as many people as I can into this. We're several thousand people strong, but that's still slim pickings against people like the sith."