Private Elysium Pit Stop

[Cody Schayll]

Location: Spindle VI
Tags: Martin Dux | Rex Valhoun |


“Are you kidding me?!?!” Cody yelled at the comm as he sat in the pilot’s seat of the Nargon Odyssey. He wondered what his ancestors would think about his giving that name to this ship. A UT-60D U-wing was an ancient ship, it was holding together just like it’s age would suggest, but Cody had learned a lot about the working of a ship before he discovered his Force talents and he continued to learn even after he gave up on most interests after accessing his ancestors’ holocron. And besides it wasn’t like he had a bunch of credits to throw at a new ship.

That being the case, he was not truly angry at the shop keeper he had commed, and was now yelling at due to the wait time of acquiring anything that could take the place of the B7Y plasma phase coil that had gone bad. He wasn’t even listening when the shop keeper explained that the part had been obsolete since before the oldest Wookiee in the galaxy was born. Cody knew that was the case. “Alright, alright. I know how hard it is to get parts for this hunk of junk,” it hurt him to call the Odyssey that, but he knew that’s what everyone thought about it. “So a couple weeks you say? That’s a promise or you just trying to get me off the line?” Cody was usually quite gruff while dealing with others, a product of nurture over nature and something he hoped would change now that he was away from his father. “Ok, I understand. Part will be here within two weeks, but no guarantees that it will be compatible with my ship. Thank you for your help. I will transfer the credits.”

Cody reached over to the ship’s computer and keyed the transfer of credits. He looked over to his workbench and saw his holocron floating, open though Cody hadn’t studied it in several days. The young Force-user gave a smile and held out his hand. The holocron floated over and landed in his palm where it closed it and he placed it in his pocket. He turned back to the computer and started looking over what the Elysium Empire had in the ways of Force learning. It did not take him long to find the Order of the Lion, but he wasn’t sure he could just walk up to the Order’s headquarters, the Vesti and knock on the door. In the end he decided there was nothing to hurt in trying. This Empire seemed quite structured, but not as secretive or evil as other Empires in the history of the galaxy. Cody was even able to find the name of the Leader of the Order on his computer.

Even though the Odyssey was ancient, beat up, and currently not capable of flight, Cody set the full security measures when he left the ship and headed out to see what kind of welcome he would receive from the Order of the Lion. Arriving at the Vesti, he asked for the Master of the House. He informed the gatekeepers he was a traveling student and was interested in what training in the Force meant in the Elysium.

OOC: Any other member of the Elysium Empire or visitor on Spindle VI can message me if they wish to join in.

 

[Martin Dux]

It was early in the morning, and unusually warm in the mountains. How quite, he thought, just when he got used to the cold, it turned around and became hot. He rubbed the side of his head, nursing a headache from the night before. These little headaches had become increasingly common, which Martin could help but hate. Walking into his small office, Martin threw on his grey robe, pulling the hood up. Just as he was about to sit down, he was interrupted.

"Master." Called the somber voice of the knights.

Martin turned around to see him standing there, solidly, completely still. Martin rolled his eyes, sometimes he doubted their training. In moments, they were too much like Jedi. "Yes, son?"

The knight cleared his throat. "You have a visitor."

Martin raised a brow. "All the way out here?"

"It would appear so." The knight stated.

Martin rubbed his head again. Slowly, ever so slowly, he sat down at the desk. "Who are they?" He questioned, pulling open his desk drawer, slipping a flask out of it.

The knight thought for a moment. "The gate guard mentioned something about a traveling student."

Martin grabbed his chin, furrowing his brow. "That's... interesting."

"Do you suspect foul play?" the knight asked, tilting his head.

Martin shook his. "No, but you can never be too careful. Send him in."

"As you wish." With that, the knight was gone, and the office door slid close.

Martin unscrewed the flask, taking a drink. It was good to know Vesti was attracting learners now, although they always choose the most inopportune times to show up. Still, Martin enjoyed the little talks. They were certainly better to talk to than military officers, and trying to explain to them why you can't have a knight on every street block at all times. So now, Martin waited.


Rex Valhoun | Cody Schayll

 

[Cody Schayll]

Location: Spindle VI | The Vesti
Tags: Martin Dux | Rex Valhoun


Cody was escorted into a small office by an attendant of the complex. He guessed more than a student, but it really didn’t matter. Cody was looking to learn not join. He nodded his appreciation to the knight as they left and turned his attention to the figure left in the room. Martin Dux sat at his desk, a gray robe pulled up over his head. Cody’s hand unconsciously went to his pocket and ran his fingers over the edges of the holocron he always kept within arms reach now that it was his. He wondered if it would open for the man behind the desk, if Cody wasn’t here to keep it closed.

“Good day, sir,” Cody said with a bow of his shoulders. “I’m unsure what I should address you as. I am a stranger here, so please take any lapse in manners as ignorance not disrespect. I am Kr…er…Cody Schayll. And I greatly appreciate the welcome and hope I will not be too much of a bother. I have spent the last year heavily engrossing myself in a family heirloom that has taught me much about my Force potential. I wish to learn more. Just so happens the Force may have taken control of the plasma phase coil in my ship and I have found myself here.”

Cody considered the rambling sentences he just spewed out and gave a bit of a sigh. “I apologize. You are actually my first stop in this self-started Force pilgrimage. And I was not terribly prepared. I am looking to learn, not to join. I was warned against Orders of the Force being short-sided and though I cannot tell the future, I would like to know all that I can before choosing a solid path.”

 

[Martin Dux]

Martin leaned back in his chair, listening to the younger man intently. He seemed to know what he was talking about, he knew of the force, and its way. Now he seeks a way forward, seeking the views of many masters along his path. Martin would be the first, there was a certain honor in that knowledge. Rubbing the side of his head again, Martin knew exactly how to approach this, the same way he'd told his many apprentices throughout the years.

"You can just call me Martin, son," He smiled, "No need for professionalism, let's just talk like normal folk."

He brought the flask up again, taking another swig. Screwing the cap back on, he thought of the proper way to say this. Then he felt it, the thing in the visitor's pocket. He'd bring that up later.

He coughed into his hand. "Well, Cody, I can attest to many orders being narrow-minded. It all goes with their recruitment method, I can't hate them for it, the method works. However, it does tend to hamper actually learning of the force." He smiled at that, remembering a past he wasn't too fond of disclosing.

"What I can tell you, is that the force is like an ocean. From the outside looking in, it's is the most beautiful thing you'll ever see. For the most part, it is. But it can also be filled with the vilest things you'll ever lay eyes on. It can pull the deepest fears from you, make you feel despair like you've never felt before. I've seen powerful men be brought low by the force. But to keep things simple here's a lesson you should always keep to heart along your journey." He cleared his throat.

"The stronger you are in the force, the more power it has over your emotions," he said, like he was reciting something he'd been told himself, "Just be careful, that's all."

He looked at the desk. "If you'd like I can give you a perspective on the force orders of the galaxy, or would you like to know something more specific?"


Cody Schayll

 

[Cody Schayll]

Location: Spindle VI
Tags: Martin Dux

Cody listened to Martin with great interest and respect. The analogy of an ocean had him a little confused. He had spent most of his life jumping from planet to planet. He had heard the term ocean of course. Knew it involved large amounts of water. Knew that several planets in the galaxy were dominated by them. But how they equated the Force that tugged on him he was not sure he understood yet.

Cody considered the question asked and slowly removed the holocron from his pocket. With the Force he floated it a few inches above his palm. "According to my many times great grandmother I have learned the very basics of how to use the Force that blesses my family. About half of what a young lung would have learned prior to becoming a Padawan at the time of the Clone Wars so many years ago. But I have learned nothing about the philosophy."

Cody gave a smile to the older man. "Thousand year old philosophy is not what I want anyways. According to my ancestors I can learn all the skills I need for a life serving the Force here." He nodded to the holocron. "But that won't help me in how to listen to the Force in today's world. That is a decision I will make for myself. So I have decided to travel and pick the minds of those more wise than myself. I hope to combine those lessons along the way and make this galaxy a better place. So in short, I want to understand how you think you can serve the Force best. Of course if I learn some new skills along the way I won't complain."

 

[Martin Dux]

Listening to the younger man, Martin felt a ping of envy. Realizing your place in the galaxy... The old dog wished he could've done that again. But that was the past, and he needed to be in the here and now. However, the last part, about serving the force, pinged something else in him. Martin didn't know the grand design it had for him, but he knew the force had some sense of sentience, it'd be stupid to think otherwise. He'd felt the pull this and that way, pulling him to worlds, to new apprentices.

Martin stroked his chin. "I admire you, and this journey you're taking. But when it comes to serving the force, even I can't find an easy answer for that." He looked at the desk, deep in thought.

"Teaching: teaching is my way of serving. But you have to understand that the force also serves you. I know that many jedi orders preached the idea of servitude to the force but it isn't that cut and dry. The force serves the people in many ways, the simplest is through force abilities. For example, it's granted me the power to sense others like me with great precision, although it's been getting muddy recently." he muttered that last part.

He looked up at Cody Schayll. "If you truly want to serve the will of the force, then heed its call. Whenever you have that gut feeling that something must be done, that subtle pull towards something, go to it."

 

[Cody Schayll]

Location: Spindle VI
Tags: Martin Dux

Cody thought the statement of Martin being envious of his journey a bit odd. Martin Dux was the leader of the Order of the Lion, could he not take a journey of his own? Cody shook his head, this Empire seemed to require loyalty and devotion to it not self-discovery and the link a person held with the Force. Perhaps in time Martin would be able to do what Cody did now, but it seemed he didn’t have the same freedom as a vagrant student of a Force cube.

When Martin expressed that his role was in teaching it made even more sense that the trainer of the Order couldn’t rush off on a philosophic pilgrimage. Cody wanted another teacher. His ancestors gave him lots to learn in ways of techniques. But Cody didn’t understand why he was learning them. He would not be like his father, taking techniques that would benefit only him and his desire to make credits. The holocron that demanded Cody not accept a certain Orthodox, also didn’t give him any foundations for forming his own philosophy.

Martin stated that the Force served as well as being served. That made sense to a degree. The Force gave Cody the ability to lift things without using his hand. A skill not all in the galaxy could claim. “My ancestors were all Jedi. Well all the men. It seems some chose mates that were not of the same dedication to the Light Side of the Force. Most were proud to be Jedi, but the last one to serve has warned extensively against following the Jedi idea of servitude. Though I think that was more because of the political affiliations than the connection to the Force.”

Cody released his Force grasp on the floating holocrom and after it fell into his palm he returned it to his pocket. “My father used to say you have to ‘listen to what the galaxy is telling you’,” Cody added to the Martin’s statement about serving the Force. “Of course the galaxy always told him to go hunt after some poor soul who went afoul of a crimeboss, or chase after a lady he met in the cantina of the night, but I suppose the spirit of the statement is the same. And here I am on Spindle VI for a couple weeks waiting on ship parts. If you do not have time to specifically see to my curiosities I would be happy to observe. To ignore the opportunity would not be wise on my part I don’t think.”

 

[Martin Dux]

Martin smiled at Cody Schayll, listening to his words. he took out the flask once more, taking another swig. He had to admit, he was happy the boy would be hanging around for a bit. He would break the norm, and his presence was certainly welcome.

"I'm not as busy as you might think, I usually have quite the amount of free time. I'd gladly show you whatever you wish to know, within reason of course." Martin's hand moved to the lightsaber on his hip, like an instinct of some sort.

He shook his head, silently shunning himself. It'd become a sort of trademark with Martin, presenting the hilt to those in a meeting like this. This, however, was not a meeting of master and apprentice, merely two scholars. His hand moved from the hilt.

"You spoke of your ancestors, they were jedi? And your father was a bounty hunter, I assume? That must have been quite the young life you had."

 

[Cody Schayll]

Location: Spindle VI
Tags: Martin Dux

Cody wondered if drinking this early was an Imperial thing or just a practice that his current host took to. It wasn’t a strange sight for the young pilgrim, his father drank no matter what time of day it was. Cody’s brow furrowed a bit when Martin suggested there were things to be taught that were unreasonable. Martin seemed like he might be a bit troubled, but was aware of his troubles and handled them. Cody wasn’t sure what he might know that Cody shouldn’t be taught. He gave a nod however in understanding that Martin’s knowledge sharing had limits.

“The ancestry that I have come to be aware of comes from Corellia,” Cody expanded upon his previous statement. “They served the Jedi Order of the Republic way back when until the Clone Wars. Unless there was a war going on most of them stuck to Corellia and the Corellian way of life, but when they were needed they answered the call. Several of them paid the price in service of the Order and the Republic, including the last two who were murdered by the troops they fought alongside. That Order has died however from all I can tell. I don’t know if the troops of Force users that have sprouted up in its place are much different, but I’d like to learn what they have to offer.”

Cody’s hand instinctively went back to his pocket, tracing the shapes on the holocrom that held his family’s legacy. “As to my father, yes, he is a bounty hunter. Sometimes he smuggles as well, but it’s not like he’s made much of a name for himself in either. Even with the help of the Force. I think he wastes his gifts. That’s why I got away from him as soon as I could.

“I have learned some of the basics from the holocron,” Cody told Martin. “Telekinesis, some minor precognition, stealth and augmented speed. My father uses the Force to get his way with people sometimes. I’m pretty sure the holocron taught him the technique. I don’t want to be like him. Use the Force only for what is good for me. I’m a little hesitant to move forward with techniques when I don’t know what I should and shouldn’t use.”