Ashin Varanin
Professional Enabler
To whom it may concern:
I find myself interested by the position the Rebel Alliance currently holds in galactic strategy. I've watched your growth for some time; I believe I've even crossed swords with some of your operatives on occasion. We've worked in conflicting directions at times, and I've had the opportunity to get a taste of your organizational culture, your preferences and institutional limitations. Nothing comprehensive, of course: my feeling is that, although we'd have happily considered each other to be enemies, we have relatively few reasons to be in conflict. We both have other priorities.
And, oddly, our priorities are currently similar. I've been an enemy of the Abrion Corporate Authority since it was the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and when it comes to opposing the ACA, I have a proven track record of fighting faithfully alongside those who would disagree with me in other circumstances. Your operations against the One Sith also have my attention. My armed opposition to their initial rise is a matter of public record. My support for them in later campaigns was a matter of my duty to the Fringe Confederation's elected leadership, a duty which no longer binds me now that I've retired from military and public service.
It should be clear by now that I'm making you an offer. I trained the trainers of the Dark Masters that give you grief; Darth Vornskr was once my underling. I've taught many Jedi and many Sith, and I know how to separate technical instruction from alignment. I've dealt with Grandmasters and Emperors as an equal, and I am intimately familiar with your enemies for a variety of reasons that should be obvious. I doubt you have any interest in my joining the Alliance, any more than I do. I believe, however, that your existing Force-sensitive membership might benefit from professional training in core skills, and I'm willing to provide that instruction as an outside contractor, pro bono, under whatever oversight you think best and in whatever venue you name.
I recognize that you have very little reason to trust me or take this offer seriously, despite the assurances I've given. That said, you've done well for yourselves by controlling the medium and range of your engagements -- insurgency, small craft, fleet combat. If there's one thing I've determined over my long career, though, it's that the enemy will inevitably find a way to bring you to combat at a range that is uncomfortable for you and comfortable for him. In the case of the Sith, that range is generally about one to ten metres. I make no promises of turning your Force-sensitives into blademasters or powerhouse Forcewielders, and I doubt you would want your people spending that much time away from the development of their conventional skills. However, my specialties lie in lightsabre combat and in defensive Force applications, and I am capable of teaching your Force-sensitive members the skills they need to occupy, delay, obstruct, and perhaps even defeat Darksiders on their own terms and at their preferred ranges. I can do this without editorializing or compromising their existing moral alignments; a Darksider and a Lightsider swing a lightsabre in essentially the same way. I also have experience in teaching Force-attuned persons of very minor potential, and showing them how to specialize in abilities that enhance their existing skills -- improved vision, projectile guidance, instinctive astrogation and the like.
There are contacts I prize who would be angry to hear I've made this offer, and I don't make it lightly. But I suspect you recognize the need for discretion in one's operations. You have my word that no offense will be taken if this offer is rejected.
Sincerely,
Grand Admiral Ashin Cardé Varanin (ret'd.)
[member="Wan Min Brightsky"] [member="Krasnaya Xue"]
I find myself interested by the position the Rebel Alliance currently holds in galactic strategy. I've watched your growth for some time; I believe I've even crossed swords with some of your operatives on occasion. We've worked in conflicting directions at times, and I've had the opportunity to get a taste of your organizational culture, your preferences and institutional limitations. Nothing comprehensive, of course: my feeling is that, although we'd have happily considered each other to be enemies, we have relatively few reasons to be in conflict. We both have other priorities.
And, oddly, our priorities are currently similar. I've been an enemy of the Abrion Corporate Authority since it was the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and when it comes to opposing the ACA, I have a proven track record of fighting faithfully alongside those who would disagree with me in other circumstances. Your operations against the One Sith also have my attention. My armed opposition to their initial rise is a matter of public record. My support for them in later campaigns was a matter of my duty to the Fringe Confederation's elected leadership, a duty which no longer binds me now that I've retired from military and public service.
It should be clear by now that I'm making you an offer. I trained the trainers of the Dark Masters that give you grief; Darth Vornskr was once my underling. I've taught many Jedi and many Sith, and I know how to separate technical instruction from alignment. I've dealt with Grandmasters and Emperors as an equal, and I am intimately familiar with your enemies for a variety of reasons that should be obvious. I doubt you have any interest in my joining the Alliance, any more than I do. I believe, however, that your existing Force-sensitive membership might benefit from professional training in core skills, and I'm willing to provide that instruction as an outside contractor, pro bono, under whatever oversight you think best and in whatever venue you name.
I recognize that you have very little reason to trust me or take this offer seriously, despite the assurances I've given. That said, you've done well for yourselves by controlling the medium and range of your engagements -- insurgency, small craft, fleet combat. If there's one thing I've determined over my long career, though, it's that the enemy will inevitably find a way to bring you to combat at a range that is uncomfortable for you and comfortable for him. In the case of the Sith, that range is generally about one to ten metres. I make no promises of turning your Force-sensitives into blademasters or powerhouse Forcewielders, and I doubt you would want your people spending that much time away from the development of their conventional skills. However, my specialties lie in lightsabre combat and in defensive Force applications, and I am capable of teaching your Force-sensitive members the skills they need to occupy, delay, obstruct, and perhaps even defeat Darksiders on their own terms and at their preferred ranges. I can do this without editorializing or compromising their existing moral alignments; a Darksider and a Lightsider swing a lightsabre in essentially the same way. I also have experience in teaching Force-attuned persons of very minor potential, and showing them how to specialize in abilities that enhance their existing skills -- improved vision, projectile guidance, instinctive astrogation and the like.
There are contacts I prize who would be angry to hear I've made this offer, and I don't make it lightly. But I suspect you recognize the need for discretion in one's operations. You have my word that no offense will be taken if this offer is rejected.
Sincerely,
Grand Admiral Ashin Cardé Varanin (ret'd.)
[member="Wan Min Brightsky"] [member="Krasnaya Xue"]