Private Every Day a Little Death | Jax & Andromeda

[Andromeda Demir]

It was difficult to see it as anything less than a punishment.

Following her extracurricular excursion to Irvulix V and its cataclysmic failure, Andromeda had faced the consequences. She couldn't even be angry and sullen about that; she had slipped curfew without so much as a note, flown to a hostile planet at the edge of the galaxy, encountered a Sith, and killed two innocent people, to no great effect. There seemed to be some debate as to whether she had been lured there by a vision planted by the Sith, or if her dream vision had been genuine, but either way it would not excuse the crimes she had committed. She bore her punishment with as much grace as she could muster and took the lesson to heart.

Perhaps too much to heart.

Then she had been sent to Jedha, to help with cleansing the place of Mawite remnants.

Was it to demonstrate that she had so much left to learn, that she had been foolish in the extreme to try to face a Sith on her own, that she was a stupid child in a sea with only the New Jedi Order to cling to as a life raft? That was something she came to realize each day. Hard-fought victories with her fellow Jedi left her battered and bruised, exhausted. Jedha was an unforgiving desert, and the sand -- coarse and rough and irritating -- got everywhere. Her eyes. Her ears. Her mouth. She hated it. Message received, day after day, when she settled into her bedroll at the end of a day of combat or excavation or even travel. She knew acutely that she was out of her depth.

The upside was that Andromeda was too tired to dream. It felt like no sooner had she laid her head down on the insufficient pillow that she jolted awake at the bark of one of her betters.

In the third week of her expedition, Andromeda lost sight of the others in her party. Separated, she had been quickly isolated by the Mawite remnants, a pair of them that cornered her. She killed one with a second borrowed lightsaber -- the remnants of the first being tucked safely in her kit bag -- but in so doing she had tired herself out. Barely able to defend herself from the savage onslaught by the surviving Maw fighter, she had made the mistake of getting backed into a corner. Blow after blow after blow, and Andromeda's lightsaber came perilously close to her body, threatening to cleave herself from left shoulder to right underarm.

She tried a kick, managed to buy herself some room to breathe, but was rewarded when the Maw fighter harnessed his rage into a blast of the Force that slammed her into the rough brickwork of the corner Andy had been trying to get out of. She saw stars, and just before dropping unconscious into a heap, she thought she saw a blur of something, but then --

---

Andromeda became aware of the pain first, a dull throbbing in the back of her head like she had slammed her head into something hard. She didn't remember at first, and squinted away from even the dim light assaulting her eyelids, squeezing them shut. She heard -- nothing. No thrum of a lightsaber blade, no cackling of a Mawite, not the relieved voices of her companions having found her. Nothing.

Then, not nothing.

A ringing, a high-pitched squeal. She felt, rather than heard, footsteps, and forced herself to open her eyes although the pain of the light entering her eyes was unthinkable. Someone was there, in her doubled, blurred vision. No amount of blinks made it better; she felt she was only rubbing sand into her eyes. Her fingers groped for her lightsaber, but found only sand. "Who -- ?" she began, before coughing painfully. The convulsion of the cough set pain off in her head and neck, and she tasted blood.

A fine mess Andromeda found herself in.

Jax Thio​

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedha
Equipment: Travelling Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Andromeda Demir

Jax sensed a disturbance in the Force.

It came from the east of the village where he was meditating. The disturbance wasn't coming the from the Force echoes radiating from the battle but a recent conflict that was currently raging. Jax immediately got up having mediated for the past hour and began to run relying on the Force to guide him to the source of this disturbance. Part of the Jedi Master wondered if reopening old wounds was a good idea. Even though the battle was over, Jedha never recovered. The battle was so bloody and intense that the people were frightened to go back even after the Mawites were defeated and scattered. The citizens like the soldiers and Jedi who fought there were scarred and broken. The memories of that fateful day bought nothing but pain and the once sprawling planet began to die out.

"There is hope," Jax said running across the plains. "There just has to be."

But how can one move on, when they suffered so much?

The Jedi Master arrived seeing a young woman being surrounded by Mawite soldiers. Taking a deep breath, Jax flipped off the cliff landing in front of the young woman. "Run and hide," Jax muttered activating his Lightsaber. "I'll handle this."

 

[Andromeda Demir]

Andromeda squinted at Jax Thio as if she couldn't make out what he was saying, but after a moment she comprehended and nodded.

She pushed herself up, putting a hand to the wall to support herself. Running was more or less out of the question at the moment; her head was still ringing with the force of being bounced off the brick wall. She tried to move as quickly as possible, gaining momentum the more she moved. She dodged an errant Mawite's swipe before disappearing into a gap in the wall, delving into the shadowy warren of the ruins.

After turning a corner and finding herself in nearly pitch black, Andy decided that she was safely out of view of the attacked, she felt safe to put her lightsaber up to light her way.

The man that had leaped to her defense had been a Force user for sure, she thought as she slipped deeper and deeper into the ruin, taking seemingly random turns. Andy had detected no malice in him when he had jumped down before her. Andy thought it seemed like he was really there to help -- which was She knew she was leaving footsteps in the sand behind her, but that was by design. The Mawites would find her regardless, if they escaped this mysterious figure, but she would have time to prepare. And if the mystery man prevailed, he could use the footsteps to find her.

And if both fell, well, then Andromeda could use her footsteps to find her way back out.

She tried not to think about it.

Finally, she found another broken wall and kept going past it before doubling back to the broken wall and clambering through the gap. The chamber was small and dark, silent. She crouched there in the darkness, senses strained as she listened and waited for a sign of what had happened.

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedha
Equipment: Travelling Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Andromeda Demir


No chance for Jax to talk to the Mawites, he could sense their sheer determination to kill him and young woman. Even after they've been defeated and abandoned by the Sith, the Mawite remnant's faith remained unshakable. Jax felt pity for them, to fight and die for the Sith who only treated them like disposable Battle Droids and not know it was a tragedy. Jax felt many of the Mawites' turbulent pasts during the Great Hyperspace War, many of them were drug addicts, people who lost loved ones during past wars, or broken people who were desperately looking for a purpose in life.

"It's a shame that the Sith managed to wrap their claws around the Mawites." Jax thought as he began deflecting the blaster bolts fired by the cultists killing 3 in succession before leaping towards a charging Mawite who was equipped with a Vibroaxe. A single slash later, the warrior's upper part of his body fell onto the ground followed by his legs. From the corner of his eye, Jax saw the woman head towards a chamer attempting to seek refuge. Two Mawite's attempted to chase after her but a wave from Jax's hand froze them in place.

"You're not getting her that easily." Jax muttered spinning his body while simultaneously weaving his Lightsaber to deflect the many blaster bolts that were heading his way. Multiple Mawites fell down by the deflected shots and Jax flipped towards the closest Mawite his blade ripping through the Mawite's head like a hot knife cutting through butter.

Surrounded by the mangled corpses, Jax turned his attention towards the frozen Mawites. Deactivating his Lightsaber, he waved his hand around them and the Mawites collapsed on the floor unconscious. "I'm going to have a chat with them later." Jax said as he walked towards the chamber where the woman was residing.

"Hello there!" Jax called out as soon as entered. "It's safe! Come on out! You look like you've taken some grievous injuries, I can heal ya up!"

 

[Andromeda Demir]

The voice of a strange man echoed throughout the labyrinthine ruins, faint and distorted by the time it reached Andromeda's hidey-hole. She couldn't be sure, but she thought that it was the same man who had come to her aid, had called out for her to run and hide. She gathered her strength and called upon the Force, letting it refresh her, giving her the strength to pull herself out of the hole now that the adrenaline had worn off.

She retraced her steps, meeting Jax Thio in the antechamber near where she had come into the ruin. She stayed on the opposite end, lightsaber hilt in hand, thumb resting against the activation button. She didn't know him; she didn't trust him. Not yet.

"Who are you?" she called cautiously, regarding him curiously from behind a half-curtain of glossy black hair that had become dislodged from her ponytail in the kerfuffle. "I didn't see you with the Jedi I was traveling with earlier." Her voice, too, echoed and twisted off the old stone.

Andromeda Demir had learned hard lessons in the time since she'd left home, one of which being that you couldn't necessarily trust everyone you came across, even if they seemed friendly. And if she was going to put herself in the stranger's hands for healing as he proposed, she wanted to think she was smart enough not to do so without getting some details first.

Jax Thio​

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedha
Equipment: Travelling Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Andromeda Demir

"Oh I'm just the Pizza man who happens to know Jedi Martial Arts," Jax replied smiling. From the corner of his eye he could see the young woman brushing her fingers against the hilt of her Lightsaber. She was still shaken from her near-death experience might as well try to defuse the situation with humor. "The NJO ordered 40 boxes Pepperoni Pizza!" Jax continued. "With extra cheese, hand tossed crust, and with an emphasis with no fracking Pineapple."

The Jedi Master took a deep breath realizing what he just said. "Yeah, that was a bad joke," Jax said shrugging. "I'm a Jedi Master and I just returned from a long self-exile. I've been trying to reconnect with the Jedi but...... let's just say I have never been much of a people person and prefer to do things my way."

That's why he called himself the Jedi Maverick, Jax was always something of a black sheep amongst the Jedi. But now, it was coming back to bite him in the ass.

"My name is Jax Thio," Jax said slowly approaching the woman. "You sustained some nasty wounds, let me help you. It'll be a matter of time before your go into shock."

 

[Andromeda Demir]

Andromeda's bleary black eyes widened as the man announced himself as a pizza delivery man. I must have hit my head harder than I thought, she thought warily. What's fracking pineapple? The young woman blinked, as if she could blink away the confusion. A moment later, he changed his take and proceeded to identify himself as a Jedi Master named Jax Thio.

"Andromeda Demir," she answered, touching her free hand to her chest lightly to identify herself. "I'm a Padawan."

She regarded him warily a moment longer, then clipped her lightsaber back to her belt. Her other hand went to the back of her neck, pushing the mass of her black hair up a little, and brought her hand back out to see blood from where her head had slammed against the rough wall.

"I feel like I've been hit by a truck," Andromeda told Jax, her eyebrows knitting together with some concern. "If you can help me, I would be grateful." She took a few uncertain steps toward this Jedi Master who wasn't a people person. "Have you seen the others? I was -- helping to clear out the Mawites -- and I lost track -- " Andy looked around uncertainly, dark eyes scanning the area. Where have they gone? Did they really leave me behind?

Jax Thio​

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedha
Equipment: Travelling Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Andromeda Demir

"Nice to meet you Andromeda," Jax replied seeing her head being wet with blood. "Interesting the NJO sent a Padawan to be part of a strike team Do you have a Master?"

Not that Padawans without a teacher did missions on their own but they were usually supervised under a Jedi Knight or a Master. Otherwise, Padawans stayed in the Temple where they train until being assigned or chosen as an apprentice. Jax examined Andromeda's head wound noticing the nasty gash across the back of her skull. An exorbitant amount of blood slowly trickled down from the wound staining her robes. "It's a little wonder you feel that way," Jax chuckled placing his hand over the wound and channeled the Force accelerate the healing process.

The gash slowly began to close until it left a faint scar on Andromeda's head. "Force healing is my forte," Jax said ripping a piece of his robes and cleaning the blood that remained on her neck. "I know there's a strike team tasked with taking out a group of Mawite remnants but they're far away from your location. The bulk of the Mawites are further west from here."

With the blood cleaned, Jax casually placed folded the bloodied piece and placed it in his pocket. "When did you land on Jedha?" Jax asked. "The strike team was making their way to the capital and that was hours ago."

 

[Andromeda Demir]

Andy tensed as the man moved behind her. She resisted the urge to turn her head, but her shoulders hunched defensively. After a moment, she felt a cooling, tingling sensation at the back of her head. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up straight as she felt the Force flowing. It didn't take long -- no stitches, no gauze -- and then a moment later an intense stinging sensation. Andromeda focused on the sensation and could feel her flesh knitting together.

"I don't have a Master," Andromeda said quietly. She had not yet been one of the lucky ones to capture the interest of one of the Masters or Knights at the Temple. "I'm -- relatively new to the Order. Less than a year. And for reasons that would take a long time to explain, I think probably more trouble than it would be worth in most people's view." Mine included, she silently added, squeezing her eyes shut briefly.

"I came here with a group -- padawans and a couple of knights," she further explained, turning to face him once the worst steamed to be over. She reached back, touching her head. The cut was gone, and despite the blood in her hair, she felt better. "We were separated earlier, and -- " She shook her head. "This was the third group I'd come across since I lost my group."

Her head inclined toward Jax at his next question and she glanced uncertainly away. "I don't know, Master Thio, it was near a mesa in the desert. I didn't see anything else nearby -- no cities that I recognized. This is my first time on Jedha, so I'm afraid I'm not going to be very useful." Andy rolled her neck experimentally. The pain was all but gone.

"Thank you, Master Thio," she said gratefully. "I don't mean to take you away from your duties, but -- do you know where my group went? They must not have noticed I got separated."

Jax Thio​

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedha
Equipment: Travelling Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Andromeda Demir

So, there was another group that came with Andromeda after all. It wasn't like the Jedi to abandon people in need especially their own. "I don't have any duties to perform here Andromeda," Jax said with a solemn tone. "I'm just here to pay my respects to the men and women who died at the battle of Jedha."

"And to come to terms with my experiences," Jax thought.

Jax looked over Andromeda and while her wound was completely healed, she was still jumpy from the attack. Jax could feel the Force surrounding her but like many Padawans, Andromeda has yet to fully trust in the Force. "Breathe Andromeda," Jax said in a soothe tone. "Take deep breaths and clear your mind and allow the Force to put you at ease."

He's going to need her to stay calm because Jax had a feeling that something awful had happened to the group. "A Jedi doesn't give into panic," Jax said. "Because they have the Force as their ally, the Force calling to you Andromeda. Let it in."

 

[Andromeda Demir]

Andromeda reached down to clip her lightsaber onto her belt. She studied Jax curiously, dark eyes unfathomable.

"In my experience," she said after a moment, "the Force doesn't really put me at ease."

The Force was her ally, the Force was a tool, but at ease? Certainly not for Andromeda Demir. It energized her, truly, but it also fed into her anxieties. The Force had whispered its warning to her, had told her of the dangers that threatened Antares Demir . That had turned out to be very true, but the aftermath of her vision had been catastrophic. Therefore, Andy wasn't entirely in a position to trust blindly in the Force.

Still, it wouldn't do to panic. She took a deep breath, her nostrils flaring, and she nodded in agreement with Jax's urging for her to try to be calm. Still, all this emphasis on being calm made her stomach tighten into a knot. She looked up at Jax once more, one eyebrow arching delicately. "What aren't you telling me, Master Thio?"

Jax Thio​

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedha
Equipment: Travelling Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Andromeda Demir

"If I may ask," Jax said walking out of the cave alongside Andromeda. "What is it about the Force that makes you uneasy?" Andromeda is a woman who harbors great potential but chooses to cut herself off from the Force. It's not uncommon to see a Force Sensitive run away from their destiny. The thing about the Force though, is that it always finds a way to guide them back on their intended path. Perhaps it was the will of the Force that led Andromeda to Jax so she can gain some clarity.

"The Living Force binds all living things together," Jax said. "I sense that you're running from something and I'm not talking about the Mawites." Best not to push it but Jax could feel pain and confusion from Andromeda. It clouded her judgement and left her reluctant to embrace the Force.

The Jed Master was taken aback when Andromeda asked him what wasn't he telling her. "About what?" Jax asked. "All I'm saying is that you'll start to understand once you are calm. A worried mind leaves one vulnerable to doubt and fear."

 

[Andromeda Demir]

Andromeda followed Jax out of the cave, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the sun that was in the process of sinking toward the horizon.

"The Force is a great and powerful thing," she told Jax. He knew this, of course. He was a Master Jedi, which meant he knew more about the Force than she did, probably more than she ever would know. But her experience had taught her things, too. "But like any tool, in the wrong hands -- or even in very inexperienced hands -- it could be badly misused."

She glanced over at him, on the verge of explaining further -- the vision, the disastrous consequences -- but decided against it. She didn't know Jax Thio from the Star Wars equivalent of Adam. It was not his burden to shoulder, not his sin to carry. So she fell silent instead. Better to let that wound fester than to expose the infection to others.

He went on to comment that he suspected she was running from something. "Am I so transparent?" she asked. "And here I thought I kept myself to myself."

They continued along the path, and the further removed from combat she was, the calmer Andromeda felt. She still ached where she had slammed against the brick, but it was the ache of a fall she was already recovering from. She looked over at Jax. "I am feeling much better now, thank you," she assured him. "And quite calm, now." A deep breath in, and she exhaled her worries with a little sigh.

"What brings you to Jedha, anyway?" Andy asked after a moment.

Jax Thio

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedha
Equipment: Travelling Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Andromeda Demir

"Well judging by your facial cues you'll be a star in a Holo Soap Opera," Jax chuckled, it was good to see that Andromeda a sense of humor given what she'd been through. Jax wished he maintained his humorous side during his self-exile. It would've made traveling a lot less drab and it would've pushed the Dark Side from sinking its claws into his already shattered soul.

"Now who's the soap opera star?" Jax thought.

"The Force is NOT a tool Andromeda," Jax said when Andromeda commented on the Force. "The Force is life that is everywhere from the trees to the rock, to even the wind. The Force flows through us, not from us Andromeda. We are merely vessels for the Force to guide our actions."

To say that the Force was a tool was a Sith mindset, but Jax didn't need to tell Andromeda that. It was a common misconception about the Force among Younglings and Padawans as well. Even Jax had that mindset as a kid before Master Oda told him otherwise. "I just came here......" Jax said. "To bury the past. As you may have heard, Jedha was the site of a bloody battle between the Mawites and the Alliance. Hundreds of thousands lost their lives here."

The Jedi Master closed his eyes taking in the sounds of the battle through the rhythm of the Force. "I can hear the ghosts of Jedha," Jax said clenching his fists. "The screams and the sounds of the battle. I nearly died at Jedha."

 

[Andromeda Demir]

Andromeda considered what Jax had said, her eyebrows knitting together in deep thought and a little confusion. The Force had been described to her in these terms at the Temple, of course, but it had also been described as a tool. Sometimes as a weapon. She supposed it could be all things to all people, although this Jax Thio was fairly adamant about it not being a tool.

She looked over at him, dark eyes quizzical. "I... I think I understand what you mean," she said cautiously, but then a moment later she added. "But there's something I don't understand. What -- um -- what is a Holo Soap Opera?" She understood the words -- separately. But together? Completely foreign.

She was solemn as he recounted his purpose for being at Jedha. The description he gave sounded truly terrible, traumatic even. Andromeda chewed her bottom lip lightly as she considered this. "It sounds -- very difficult," Andy ventured at last, frowning gravely. "I'm sorry you have to endure it." Another beat of a pause and then Andromeda clasped her hands in front of her.

"Master Thio," she said quietly. "How do you do it? Bury the past, I mean? Can you show me?"

Jax Thio​

 

[Jax Thio]

Location: Jedha
Equipment: Travelling Robes, Jax's Prosthetic Arm, Jax's Third Lightsaber, Promise Ring to Jairdain
Tag: Andromeda Demir

Jax smiled. "I hope so," he said. "The Force is life and creates life, you must respect what it gives. Not many Jedi I'm afraid understand that concept. Not even me when I was your age."

It was a little strange that Andromeda didn't know what a Holosoap Opera was, then again, she probably grew up outside the core worlds. Jax on the other hand, was forced to watch Holodramas thanks BB-8's hogging of the Holotv. "Think of them as melodramatic shows," Jax explained his smile becoming more awkward. "Where the characters treat a paper cut as the worst thing in the world."

And Jax wasn't exaggerating, he remembered watching a soap opera where a Rodian wept for 10 minutes because he accidentally cut himself while chopping up Brocolli. To be fair, he was also thinking of his wife who was pregnant with her boyfriend's....... ugh soap opera's were weird. "It is difficult," Jax said walking along side Andromeda. "And it'll take years to heal but here's the thing Andromeda you just need to accept that what happened, happened and that you need to make peace with it."

He stared at the young woman. "That does require time and patience like I said," Jax said. "And you may carry those scars for the rest of your life but find something or someone worth fighting for and also meditation helps as well."

They were nearing the field where Andromeda mentioned that the Jedi Strike Force. "We're here," Jax said seeing a mixture of corpses, Jedi and Mawite alike. "Damn.... it looks like we're too late, let's investigate this area see what we can come with."

 

[Andromeda Demir]

Andromeda regarded Jax suspiciously for several moments. A careful examination of his words and the newfound context he had supplied made it clear that she was supposed to take an insult from the comparison to a soap opera, and in fact she did. Melodramatic, indeed. She took a breath through her nose but kept a firm control on herself, facially and in the Force. No need to make a federal case out of it, anyway.

Soon they crested a hill and came upon the field, and it was clear that it had been a catastrophe. Bodies littered the field, and as they approached she could recognize some of the faces as the Jedi with whom she had been traveling. "Oh no," she whispered, a hand going to her mouth. She felt the overwhelming urge to vomit, but she managed to control herself.

The other bodies were ones she didn't recognize, but they were in the same ramshackle armor and clothing as the Mawites she had faced; it seems they were among the dead, too. She followed onto the field, reaching out with the Force to see if she could detect any signs of life. She didn't feel anything, but she paused to kneel beside a fellow padawan, his grey eyes staring sightlessly into the sky. She reached for his neck to check his pulse, but his body was so cold that she recoiled.

Looking up at him, she subtly shook her head.

Jax Thio​